A complete 'house' revision of the Fading Suns system.
The various skills, be it learned or natural, represent a characters general ability and understanding of the field. All the skills cover a broad area of learning and so a person skilled in the art of Stealth knows how to shadow, sneak, hide, make it difficult to follow peoples tracks, etc.
It is assumed that a person knowledgeable of one of the various natural or learned skills has the knowledge of operations, use and procedures of that skill. For example, a person talented in Shoot, has the relevant knowledge of how to hold a firearm when not in use, knows the effective range of the weapon, etc. A person possessed of the Inquiry skill knows if something has been purposefully hidden, how to take care of their equipment etc.
Skills are rated from 1-10, 1 representing minimal knowledge and/or talent and 10 representing a master of the field.
A number of D10's are rolled equal to the rating of the skill, and depending on the score rolled, each dice is worth a varying amount of Victory Points. Each skill is paired with a statistic; the relevant statistic determines the actual Victory Points the rolled dice is worth. The chart below shows the Victory Points scored against the statistic.
Stat Victory Points
0 1 2 3 4
20 - - 1-3 4-8 9-0
19 - - 1-3 4-9 0
18 - - 1-4 5-9 0
17 - - 1-5 6-9 0
16 - - 1-5 6-0 -
15 - 1 2-5 6-0 -
14 - 1-2 3-5 6-0 -
13 1 2 3-5 6-0 -
12 1 2 3-6 7-0 -
11 1 2-3 4-6 7-0 -
10 1 2-4 5-6 7-0 -
9 1 2-4 5-7 8-0 -
8 1 2-5 6-7 8-0 -
7 1-2 3-5 6-7 8-0 -
6 1-2 3-5 6-8 9-0 -
5 1-2 3-6 7-8 9-0 -
4 1-3 4-6 7-8 9-0 -
3 1-3 4-6 7-9 0 -
2 1-3 4-7 8-9 0 -
1 1-4 5-7 8-9 0 -
0 1-4 5-7 8-0 - -
The Victory Points scored on each dice are added together to determine the Success Score. This is compared with the Goal Score required for success.
These are;
Difficulty Level Goal Routine 1 Easy 3 Difficult 5 Hard 9 Extremely Hard 13
How successful a test is depends on how much the Success Score exceeds the Goal Score. This level of success is called the Victory Score, and the criteria are below;
Victory Level/Ability Victory Score Minimal/Hack 0 Reasonable/Competent 2 Good/Professional 5 Excellent/Expert 9 Superb/Master 13 Near Perfection/Grandmaster 17
A 'Minimal' Success (the bare minimum required to succeed) is a successful action - whatever the person was aiming to do, they have succeeded. A 'Reasonable' Success indicates that the action was performed with better than expected results - perhaps with greater speed or greater performance. A 'Good' Success indicates that the action was done well; a professional job. An 'Excellent' Success indicates the action was executed extremely well; an impressive job (perhaps done fast and to the point). A 'Superb' Success indicates that the action was executed far beyond what was expected; an astounding feat. A 'Near Perfection' Success indicates that the action was executed with fantastic ability, just falling short of perfect; leaders of the field take note of the beauty of the performance.
For example; Enzo severely wishes to repair his damaged main propulsion unit before he crashes into Planetoid N-Z-90. The machine is thoroughly wrecked, but he can hope to jury rig something. Because he has little time and the machine itself is almost destroyed, This is considered an Extremely Hard task. Fortunately, Enzo is a good engineer and has the necessary skill and ability. He has a Tech stat of 7 and a skill of 6. He rolls his 6d10 and rolls, 1, 5, 7, 8, 8 and 10. Cross-referencing this with his Tech of 7, he scores 0, 1, 2, 3, 3 and 3, for a total Success Score of 12. The Goal is 17, so Enzo has failed. Time to assume crash positions…If he had scored 22, he would have scored a Good Success (22 - 17 = 5 Victory Score compared against the Victory Chart).
Sometimes it is possible to take extra time over a task, rather than it being a case of do or die. Doing so turns the action into an Extended Action. Extended Actions allow people to make more than one die roll with each roll adding to the original score. Although, there is a Tedium/Tiring Factor involving a -2 Penalty to the Success Score for every additional roll. Also - for each additional roll, an extra unit of time relevant to how long the initial roll took is added on, i.e. if the first roll took an hour, subsequent rolls add additional hours (one per additional roll). Examples of Extended Actions are; hacking a Think Machine, deciphering an old text, fixing an engine, writing a novel, and so on. Anything which can be deliberated on can be turned into an extended action.
For example; Maria, a member of the Slayers Guild, has just landed her space flitter in the deep forests of Gwynneth. Having remained undetected she now wishes to hide her vessel from detection. She has a Sneak of 9 (she's not a member of the Slayers Guild for nothing) and a Perception of 6. The Ref rates this as a Extremely Hard task. She rolls her 9 dice and scores 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 7 which translates to 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 for a Success Score of 9. 9 is 8 less than the Goal (17), so she decides to take a little extra time and rolls again. This time she scores a 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9 - a Success Score of 16! Reduce this by 2 (the tedium factor) add this to the previous 9 and the total Success is 23….a Victory Score of 6 (23-Difficulty Score of 17) a Good Success.
It is also possible for a person to use a skill to complement another. If a character is in possession of a skill which would aid the use of another (for example, a criminal wanting to fast talk his way into a building may use a show of strength to aid this, thus his Impress skill is used to complement his Knavery skill). This requires a character to make a skill roll utilising his/her supporting skill - the Success Score yielding a bonus to the Success Score of the supported skill.
Victory Level Success Score Complementary Bonus Minimal 1 1 Reasonable 3 2 Good 5 3 Excellent 9 4 Superb 13 6 Near Perfection 17 9
It is also possible for a character to make that little bit of extra effort on a roll, wearing them down a little for greater success. Any character may choose to Exert themselves before they make a roll. This has the effect of adding the appropriate statistic to the Success Score at the cost of adding an Exhaustion Point. The effects of Exhaustion will be discussed later, but at this stage, it is important to note that each point of Exhaustion reduces a characters statistics (for the purposes of determining Victory Points) by one until after a period of rest.
For example; Killick is in mortal combat with Hazzri. Their skills are equally matched, and the fight has been raging for sometime. Wanting to end the fight here, Killick throws everything into the swing and Exerts himself (adding his Dexterity to the Success Score of 9) for a total of 15. The blow isn't enough to kill Hazzri, but she is certainly feeling unwell. For the rest of the combat, Killick's statistics suffer a -1 when checking for Victory Points.
During the course of play, a character will want to perform an action which another character will want to stop. When such an action is called for, it is labelled an Opposed Action. This is any action where another person may directly influence the outcome. An Opposed Action is made by two persons making the relevant skill roll against a Goal of the opposing persons skill. The highest of the two Success Scores is reduced by the lowest and the excess is the new Victory Score, further modified by any existing Victory Score (either added or subtracted dependent on who the Victory Score belonged - if it is the current victor, then it is added to the current Victory Score, if it is the opposition, then it is subtracted from the current Victory Score). Subsequent rolls are made in this manner until one of the parties involved reaches the Goal. Examples of Opposed Actions are; arm-wrestling, two people trying to out wit one another, a person trying to lie convincingly to another person.
For example; Iol and Monarch are playing Dozack (an Ukar chess-like game), the outcome of which will decide who inherits the family estate. Iol has a Wits of 7 and a Tactics skills of 6. Monarch only has Wits 5 and a Tactics skill of 3. Each player rolls their dice (Iol 6 and Monarch 3), receiving a 1, 2, 2, 7, 8 & 0 (yielding 0, 0, 0, 2, 3, 3 for a Success Score of 8) and a 3, 9 & 9 (yielding 1, 3 & 3 for a Success Score of 7). After the first roll, Iol is leading by 1 (his score of 8 minus his opponents of 7). They roll again, Iol receiving a Success Score of 4 and Monarch receiving 7. Monarch trounces Iol that round, with a total Victory Score of 2 (a Victory Score of 3, reduced by Iol's previous Victory Score of 1 to 2). The two roll again, with Iol receiving 11 and Monarch receiving 0. Iol's Success Score is therefore 11, minus 7 (Monarch's previous success), for a Victory Score of 4. This continues…
Standard Action = Roll x D10 (where x is the skill level)
Cross Reference Individual D10 Score with relevant Statistic for Victory Points
Total Victory Points to determine Success Score
Compare Success Score with Goal, excess is Victory Score
Compare Victory Score with Success Level to determine quality of success
Extended Action = as per Standard Action
May choose to make an additional roll, each subsequent roll adding it's Success Score minus 2 to the previous Success Score and an additional unit of time (if the action takes 1 hour, every subsequent roll adds an additional hour)
Compare Total Success Score with Goal, excess yields Victory Score (to determine quality of success).
Opposed Action = Each character rolls as per Standard Action
Character with highest Success Score applies their Success Score minus the opposing characters Success Score and any previous Victory Score accumulated to determine Victory Score of current score.
Make subsequent rolls until one characters Victory Score equals or exceeds the opposing characters skill.
The basis of all combat is the Combat Action. This is the method of attack - be it skilled or unskilled. Each character has a basic knowledge of combat learned from their skills (Fight, Melee or Shoot) - but more difficult techniques (such as sweeping the legs out from underneath someone) are taught (or devised) by the character.
Also important to combat is the Time Unit - an abstract unit of time which represents how long it takes for a character to perform a Combat Action (with each action having it's own Time Unit Cost) and the Time Track - a measure of time units passed in combat. Each action has a Time Unit Cost - the quicker the action, the smaller the cost - which adds to the total amount of Time Units spent.
The Time Track begins at 0 and once combat begins, it increases until a character acts. After every characters action, the Time Track is then increased again until another character has an action.
When the Time Track reaches a characters Time Units, they get to perform an action. Choosing from their repertoire of Combat Actions, a character decides upon a course of action and then executes all the necessary dice rolls.
Once the action has been completed, the length of time it takes for the character to perform this action is added to their Total Time Units and the Time Track continues.
For example; combat begins between Combatant A, Combatant B and Combatant C. The Time Track begins at 0. The first action takes place at Time Track 2 (Combatant B) whose action has a Time Cost of 3 (his total Time Units are now 5), the next action doesn't take place until Time Track 4 (Combatant A) so the Time Track increases to 4 and she takes her action. Both Combatant B and C take actions at Time Track 5, so the Time Track increases, and so on.
When combat begins (i.e. when someone declares they are 'whapping' someone else) the initiating characters' Time Units begin at 0, all other characters must determine how long it takes them to react to combat starting.
The Reaction Roll involves a standard die roll (rolling one die) against Wits - the resulting Victory Points (if any) being subtracted from a reaction time;
Combat Active - 3 Time Units
Character is aware that combat is about to begin and is prepared
Character is Combat Ready - 4 Time Units
Character is expecting trouble and is ready for it
Standard Reaction Time - 6 Time Units
Character is aware that other combatants are present but is not prepared for combat
Character is Surprised - 9 Time Units
Character is completely unaware that combat could occur
The minimum result a person can get is 0 (the moment when combat begins).
For example; Kans (a Scraver), Baron Molin Decados and Dinzis (an Ukar) are all playing a friendly game of cards. Dinzis suspects Kans of cheating (since no Ukar can lose that much money to a Scraver) and so he decides to prove the matter (by the use of knife to the belly). Kans is suspecting trouble (he's played against Ukar before) so he is considered combat ready, but the Baron is too caught up in his winning hand to worry about combat, so he is considered surprised. Kans has a Wits of 7 and the Baron has Wits 5. Kans rolls a single die against his Wits 7, rolling a 7 (2 Victory Points) - this is subtracted from 4 (the reaction time for a combat ready character) for a Reaction Time of 2. Baron Molin rolls 0 (Victory Points of 3) subtracted from the reaction of 9 for a Reaction Time of 6. So - the Time Track looks like this - Dinzis at 0, Kans at 2 and Molin at 6.
Every time the Time Track equals a characters, they get to perform an action - this is called an Action Opportunity. What they choose to do with their opportunity is up to the character but act they can. It is possible for a character to perform multiple actions at the same time (such as firing two pistols, a parry and an attack with two swords, making a dodge/sweeping some and then kicking them, etc). The maximum number of different combat actions a character can perform in one Action Opportunity is 3 (the maximum any humanoid can do in one turn - they physically cannot do any more). When a character wishes to make more than one action, there is an Action Penalty of -4 for two actions in one opportunity and -6 for three actions in one opportunity.
When a person finally decides on how many actions they are taking, and indeed what they are going to do with those actions, the character will need to check whether they were successful and how much damage the attack yielded.
They must make a basic skill roll versus a difficulty set by the manuever attempted.
These difficulties are;
Ranged Attack Goal Melee Attack Goal Point Blank 1 (Routine) Close-In Varies Short Range 3 (Easy) Standard Melee Range 3 (Easy) Medium Range 5 (Difficult) Long Range 9 (Hard)
These are the basic Goal difficulties (without complications) required to strike your opponent.
If a character successfully strikes another character, the damage of the weapon is added to any Victory Score the character may have and this is checked against the Success Level for damage.
Damage Victory Score Bruise 0 (Minimal Success) Graze 2 (Reasonable Success) Wound 5 (Good Success) Gore 9 (Excellent Success) Maim 13 (Superb Success) Eviscerate 17 (Near Perfect Success)
When a character is in combat, often they will decide upon a course of action but because something unexpected happens, they will wish to alter their decided course (whether it be to shoot something which has just come into view, or to simply get the hell out of the way of an attack).
After a character has decided what they are going to do with their current Action Opportunity, any other character who is aware of this may choose to React to the acting character.
To react, the character must be aware of the action they are reacting to and not have more Total Time Units minus their relevant skill score.
E.g. Markon wishes to react to Lio's attack by dodging. Lio acts on Time Track 13 - Markon's Total Time Units are 16 (that is when he is due to receive another Attack Opportunity), subtracting his Dodge score of 6 from his Total Time Units (10) means that he has Initiative enough to react.
Then - the character must use an action to react with (either an action held from a previous Attack Opportunity or an action from a subsequent Action Opportunity).
They then resolve their reaction before the acting character, with the Time Cost of the action they have just performed adding to their Total Time Units (pushing their next Attack Opportunity further down the Time Track).
If a character has not held an action specifically for a Reaction (called Opportunity Action) then they may only peform a defensive action (such as parrying or dodging).
Due to the fact that people tend to object to being whapped, a character will often try to avoid that fate. A character has two options - Dodging (ducking behind cover, hitting the ground, sidestepping a blow) or Parrying (sticking your weapon in the way of your opponent's).
When a character chooses to Dodge - they must decide BEFORE the opposing character makes their roll (they see a gun coming in their direction so they jump out of the way, regardless of whether they were going to hit them or not). This has the effect of adding the dodging characters Victory Score to the opposing characters Goal to hit.
The Goal of the Dodge roll depends on what the character is doing;
Diving into heavy cover 3
Diving into light cover 5
Hitting the floor 8
Dodging a melee attack 4
When a character chooses to Parry - they may their roll after the opposing character has made their roll to hit. They must make a their roll with a Goal of the attacking characters Success Score. If they parrying character succeeds, they have blocked the blow - yielding in no damage. Failure indicates that they were hit by the blow with full force.
When a character receives damage, several things occur.
Each level of wound delivers a varying amount of damage called Wound Points, which in turn has various effects.
Bruise 1 Wound Points
Graze 2 Wound Points
Wound 3 Wound Points
Gore 4 Wound Points
Maim 5 Wound Points
Eviscerate 6 Wound Points
For every wound you receive record the Damage delivered.
Every 3 points of Wound Points a character takes reduces their statistics by one until healed.
If a character takes 3 or more points from one wound, the character begins bleeding.
If a character takes 4 or more points from one wound, there is a chance of bone breakage (5 WP from one would will shatter the limb and 6 WP from one wound will blow the limb off rather than break it).
If a character takes 5 or more points from one Wound, they must make a Demise Check.
If a characters statistics are reduced to half by damage, then the character must make a Demise Check.
If the characters statistics are reduced to 0 by damage, then the character must make another Demise Check.
If a character receives massive shock to their system either through attrition of hits or by one strike, they must determine whether their body can withstand such punishment without giving up on the character.
When a character either receives 5 or more Wound Points from one wound or their Endurance is reduced to half it's total or to 0, then the character must make a Demise Check to see if they do just that.
This is done by rolling a number of dice equal to the unmodified Endurance statistic (the usual stat) against the modified Endurance statistic (i.e. the Victory Points earned from each dice are determine by the modified Endurance stat).
If the character fails the roll, then they are dead. A new character must be generated.
Should the character succeed, then they are alive and unwell.
Attacks of a certain power have the power to break or even shatter limbs, rendering that limb useless until repaired, and if set badly can lead to permanent damage. Such is the risk of combat.
An attack delivering 4 WP is enough to break a limb. The character rolls a number of dice equal to their unmodified Endurance score against their modified Endurance statistic. The Goal required is 2 plus the number of WP taken from the attack (so Goal 6 for a Gore, Goal 7 for a Maim and Goal 8 for an Eviscerate). If the roll is failed, then the limb is broken.
A broken or shattered limb is a dangerous thing - using it is extremely painful and damaging; any rolls made requiring the use of that limb are at -4 and the character adds 1 WP to their current total. Obviously a limb which has been blown off cannot be used.
If the chest is struck, then there is still a roll for breakage of ribs. If ribs are broken, they automatically reduce the characters Endurance by one until healed. If the attack is an Eviscerate, then the attack passes through the body, striking a vital organ, which will not kill the character of it's own accord but will impair them.
For every wound which causes the character to bleed (4 WP or more), the characters Blood Loss Rate is increased by one.
When a character begins bleeding they incur more wound points every 10 Time Units from the instant they begin bleeding, at a rate of 1 WP per Blood Loss Rate. This is added to the characters current total Wound Points. So if a character is Wounded at Time Track 4, they will take an additional Wound Point at Time Track 14, Time Track 24 and so on. Should they receive another Wound (or more) the BLR is increased by one again (so at Time Track 14 they take 2 more Wound Points, and so on and so forth).
Energy Shields work in this system by stopping all attacks which have a Victory Success within their range. I.e. if a character shoots someone else and gets a Victory Success (including damage of the weapon) of 7 indicating a Wound, then the shield stops the hit - no damage. If they score 4 (a Graze) then the shield does not activate and the character takes a Graze.
If an attack yields a Victory Score above the Shields rating, then the Victory Score is reduced by the Shields rating. E.g. a Victory Score of 14 against a rating 5/10 shield delivers a Victory Score of 4 (a Graze).
Armour works differently. This has three ratings, an Armour Rating (the overall strength of the armour), Hard Armour and Soft Armour. Hard Armour automatically reduces the Victory Score of an attack equal it's rating (Hard Armour of 6 reduces a Victory Score by 6). Soft Armour requires the character to roll a number of dice equal to it's rating against the Armour Rating - the Success Score (in addition to any Hard Armour it my possess) reducing Victory Score by it's amount.
Even if armour reduces damage to 0, the character still takes 1 Wound Point (due to inevitable bruising damage).
When armour is impacted upon, if the attack (without any modifications) delivers more Wound Points than it has Hard Armour then the Hard Armour is converted over to Soft Armour by the excess (e.g. Hard Armour 3, and the unmodified attack deals 6 WP, then the Hard Armour of 3 is converted to Soft Armour). This is due to the massive damage the armour has taken. Once all Hard Armour is stripped away, Soft Armour automatically loses a number of points equal to amount of damage it stops.