If you wish to use a less descriptive system of time, you can use the following Combat Turn rules instead of the Combat rules given later in this book.
There are 5 Combat Turns in a round. While Combat Turns are thus 10 segments long, this is unimportant: you’ll never divide a Combat Turn up that way. In a Combat Turn, combatants simply take turns making their action.
You can use this Combat System all the time, or you can use it when it’s not quite as important to play out everything segment by segment. You can switch back and forth between the simpler system and the standard system. It’s easiest to switch on segments that are a multiple of 10. If any actions are currently in progress when you switch to the abbreviated system, divide their remaining Performance Time by 10 and round down for the number of Combat Turns remaining, as below (Combat Turn). If any actions are currently in progress switching from the abbreviated system to the standard system, multiply their remaining Combat Turns by 10 for the number of segments. If no Combat Turns remain, use the character’s Initiative (subtracted from 10) for the number of segments that remain.
Combat Turn: Divide an action’s base Performance Time by 10 and round down, for the number of Combat Turns the action takes. If the action takes less than 10 segments, it takes one Combat Turn. Add 10 minus the action’s base time to the character’s Bonus Pool. An action with a Performance Time of 6 will take 1 Combat Turn and add 4 to the Bonus Pool. An action with a Performance Time of 24 will take 2 Combat Turns to complete.
Announcing (Order of Declaring Actions): Players announce their actions in order of learning (from lowest to highest). Players whose characters have the same learning announce at the same time.
Players can delay their character’s announcement. Each point of delay subtracts that much from their bonus pool for their action that Turn. A character with a Learning of 11 announcing on 15 will have a penalty of 4 to their bonus pool.
Initiative (Order of Actions): Each player rolls d10 at the start of each combat. This is the character’s base Initiative. The character with the highest initiative goes first. A player can, at the start of any Combat Turn, expend one Editing Point to re-roll their Initiative (and take the better of their previous Initiative or the new roll). These Editing Points are halved, then go to training in the action being performed.
Combat Roll: The same rules for the Combat Roll (and other Action Rolls) apply, except that Performance Time cannot be reduced below 1 Combat Turn. Quality Points can be used to increase Initiative for that Action on a 1 for 1 basis. Quality Points can be used to increase Damage on a 1 for 1 basis as well (instead of using the Doubling Chart).
A character can make a Combat Roll against anyone who is within range when it comes their turn to go.
Multiple Opponents: The Multiple Opponents system works the same. But rather than each attack working on subsequent Segments, the character’s Initiative is dropped by 1 for each attack.
Pushback: Pushback does not apply. If you want to, you can apply Pushback as a penalty to the character’s Action Pools next Combat Turn.
Passive Actions: A single passive Action Roll (such as Movement) can be made on the character’s Turn. This is in addition to the character’s normal Action Roll. Making a passive action adds a penalty of 1 to the character’s Action Pool for any other actions that Turn.
Ongoing Actions: Ongoing actions (such as movement or defensive shields) are paid for when they’re started, and at the end of every fifth Turn.
Movement Roll: Move at the end of the Combat Turn. At the end of the first Combat Turn of movement, the character can elect to continue moving (using normal movement rolls) or stop moving.
Multiply the character’s movement (in decimeters/segment) by 10 for the number of meters moved that Combat Turn. For example, Bear (with an Initiative of 9, and a Movement Roll of 21) makes a Movement Roll. He rolls (9,3) 12. His Quality is 9. He uses 4 Q to reduce the EP use to 1 EP/round, leaving 5 Q for movement. 5 movement Q is .5 meters/segment, so at the end of the Combat Turn he’ll move 5 meters.
To change direction (only in the initial Combat Turn—afterwards, direction can only be changed as normal), 45 degrees of change requires 1 point of Q: Bear, above, could have reserved 2 points of Q for changing direction (thus only moving .3 meters/segment), and thus could have changed direction by up to 45 degrees twice.
To change direction (only in the initial Combat Turn—afterwards, direction can only be changed as normal), 45 degrees of change requires 1 point of Q: Bear, above, could have reserved 2 points of Q for changing direction (thus only moving .3 meters/segment), and thus could have changed direction by up to 45 degrees twice.
Simpler Combat Example
Two grunts duke it out with their fists. Fists require 1 Combat Turn (15 segments divided by 10 is 1). The Grunts each have a Combat Roll of 10, a Combat Pool of 2, and a Movement Roll of 18. They do 6 points of damage in hand to hand combat. They have 32 EP.
Grunt #1 is Sinister. Grunt #2 is Dexter.
Sinister rolls 7 on his Initiative Roll. Dexter rolls 8. Dexter will usually go first.
Combat Turn One:
Dexter and Sinister are 10 meters apart. They each roll their Movement Roll. Sinister rolls (2,6) 8 and Dexter rolls (3,5) 8. This gives each of them a Quality of 10. They use 2 points to reduce EP use to 3 EP/round, and the other 8 to move at .7 meters/segment. They each move 5 meters and stop (they could have moved up to 7 meters, but would then have run right past each other). That’s the end of this Combat Turn. They’ve each used 1 EP (for movement).
Combat Turn Two:
Sinister rolls (10,8) 18 for his Combat Roll, failing by 6. Dexter rolls (4,4) 8, succeeding by 4. He uses 2 points to increase Attack and 2 points to increase damage by 2. On his Initiative (8), he does 8 points of damage to Sinister.
Sinister failed by 6. On his Initiative (7), his Defense decreases by 1 (to -1).
They’ve used 4 EP each (1 for the Combat Roll, 3 for the Damage).
Combat Turn Three:
Sinister rolls (3,1-4) 0, succeeding by 12. Dexter rolls (10,8) 18, failing by 6. Sinister uses 3 points to increase his Initiative by 3 (to 10), 5 points to increase Damage by 5 (to 11) 2 points to increase Defense to 1, and 2 points to increase Attack to 2. On his Initiative (10), he does 11 points damage to Dexter.
Dexter failed by 6. On his Initiative (8), his Defense decreases by 1 (to -1).
They’ve used 4 EP each (1 for the Combat Roll, 3 for the Damage), for a total of 9 EP each.
Combat Turn Four:
Sinister rolls (6,7) 13, failing by 1. Dexter rolls (4,4) succeeding by 4. He uses 3 points to increase his Initiative to 11, and the remaining 1 point to increase his Attack to 1. On his Initiative (11) he does 6 points damage to Sinister (who has now taken 14 points damage).
Sinister failed by 1, and doesn’t do anything.
They’ve used another 4 EP each (13 EP each total).
Combat Turn Five:
Sinister decides it’s time to leave. He makes a Movement Roll. He rolls (9,4) 13, succeeding by 5. This is .5 m/segment, or 5 meters total.
Sinister rolls (4,1-10) -5 on his Combat Roll, with a penalty of 1 (for using a Passive Action), and plus his normal bonus of 2, brings this to -6, or a Quality of 16. He uses 5 points to bring his Initiative to 12. He uses 6 points to increase his Defense to 3. He uses the remaining 5 points to reduce the EP cost to zero. Sinister has no plans to do damage this Action. Dexter rolls (10,4) 14, failing his Combat Roll by 2.
On 12, Sinister’s new Defense takes effect.
On 8, Dexter misses.
At the end of the Combat Turn, Sinister runs 5 meters, and elects to continue running.
Sinister used 5 EP for movement. Dexter used 4 EP (Combat Roll+Damage). Sinister has used 17 EP, Dexter 16 EP.
Combat Turn Six:
Sinister rolls (7,6) 13 for his Movement Roll. He has a penalty of 5 to his Pool (since he’s already moving). He succeeds by 0, and will continue his normal speed, moving at the end of the Combat Turn. Dexter decides to chase, and rolls (3,10) 13. for a total Q of 5. He uses all for movement, for .5 meters/segment.
At the end of the Turn, each moves 5 meters. They’re still 5 meters apart, and each is now using 5 EP/round. Sinister has used up 22 EP (since this is the start of a new round), Dexter 21 EP.
Combat Turn Seven:
Sinister rolls (6,9) 15, +5 is 20. He has failed by 2. Dexter rolls (4,4) 8, +5 is 13. He succeeds by 5.
Sinister failed by only 2, so this doesn’t reduce his speed or increase his EP usage.
Dexter adds his 5 Q to his Movement Q of 5, bringing it to 10. This is .9 meters/segment.
At the end of the Turn, they each move. Dexter moves 9 meters, Sinister 5 meters. Dexter moved 4 meters more than Sinister, so they are now 1 meter apart.
Sinister has used up 27 EP. Dexter is at 26 EP.
Combat Turn Eight:
Sinister rolls (4,5) 9, with a penalty of 5, for 4 Q. Dexter rolls (6,6) 12, with a penalty of 9, for 21, failing by 3. He continues to move at .9 meters/segment (10 Q). Sinister adds all of his Q (4) to his movement, for a total of 9 Q, and .8 meters/segment. Dexter also makes an attack. He rolls (9,4) 13. He misses by 1, but uses 4 EP for the attack.
At the end of the Turn, they move. Dexter and Sinister move 9 meters. Dexter moved 1 meter more than Sinister this time. They are on top of each other again. Sinister is at 32 EP. Dexter is at 35 EP, or 3 below zero. He decides to give up.
Combat Turn Nine:
Sinister rolls (10,1-2) 9, with a penalty of 8 (9 Q on movement already) for 17. He succeeds by 1, for 1 Q (which he uses to decrease EP use to 4 EP). Dexter, trying to stop, rolls (5,6) 11. He has a penalty of 10 to his Pool for movement, and 3 for his low EP. This is 13, or a penalty of 9 to the roll. This brings his 11 to a 20, which fails by 2. Since he’s trying to stop, though (see Move Roll) he can automatically decrease movement Q by the total movement Q (Sphere), minus half the 2 failure. He decreases speed by 9 (Move Q, Sphere) minus 1 (half the Move Roll failure) or 8. He has 2 Q in movement, and is moving at .2 meters/segment.
Sinister has moved 9 meters. Dexter has moved 2 meters. Sinister is at 36 EP, and Dexter is at 40 EP. They’re 7 meters apart and widening, and Dexter will stop on the next Turn.
