Gameplay Basics

“Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded.”

Chairman Sheng-ji Yang

Skill Checks

When a character or characters attempt to affect the game world, this is primarily done through skill checks. The mechanics for skill checks are as follows.

The character(s) will draw two cards from a deck held by the member of the Ref team who is adjudicating the check. This deck as standard is made up of five cards: +1 (Progress Made), +0 (War and Peace), +0 (Harmony and Unrest), -1 (Progress Lost), Proficiency. The Proficiency card, if drawn, will either represent +2 if the character making the check is proficient in the skill being used, or +0 if they are not. The total value of the two cards drawn will determine whether the action was successful or not. A positive result is a pass, a neutral result is a fail, and a negative result is a botch.

In order to improve the chances of success, the character making the check may use proficiencies which they hold at level 2 or higher to add cards to the check. The Ref will add a +2 card for each relevant proficiency used. If multiple characters are contributing to the check beyond the first, they may each add at most one card in this way. However, these cards may instead have a value of -2 if they are from unrelated proficiencies, representing sabotage. As cards are added to the deck secretly by the Ref, determining the source of any negative card may be difficult.

If a check is botched, the outcome will affect all participants. Depending on the type of action being taken, this may result in mental or physical damage, reputation loss, collateral damage or other environmental effects.

The ‘War and Peace’ card, which is normally +0, will count as -1 if any participant in the check is injured. The ‘Harmony and Unrest’ card, which is normally +0, will count as -1 if any participant in the check is shaken.

Each level of a proficiency above the first grants a card which can be used once during the session and once during downtime. Thus a character who has Exterminate 3 can add up to 2 cards for this proficiency to checks during uptime, and the same again during downtime. Simply having the first level of a proficiency means that the ‘Proficient’ card has a value of +2 instead of +0 but does not grant extra cards.

Worked Example - Solo Check

  • The base deck of cards is -1, +0, +0, +1, Proficiency (+0 or +2 depending)

  • The character initiating the check has a relevant proficiency at 2+ and chooses to add a positive card (+2)

  • The character then draws two cards: the -1 and the +2, giving a total result of 1. This is a success.

Worked Example - Group Check

  • The base deck of cards is -1, +0, +0, +1, Proficiency (+0 or +2 depending)

  • Three skilled characters are all contributing to the check. They add one card each, creating a deck of 8 cards.

    • Two characters added valid skill cards

    • One character added an invalid skill card in order to try and make the check fail

  • The lead character then draws two cards: the +1 and a -2 ‘invalid’ card, giving a total result of -1. This is a botch.

Worked Example - Unskilled Check while Wounded

  • The base deck of cards is -1, -1 (War and Peace), +0, +1, Proficiency (+0 as the check is unskilled)

  • The character initiating the check is not proficient in any relevant skill. They are also injured as a result of recent combat.

  • The character then draws two cards: Proficiency, which is +0, and War and Peace, which is -1, giving a total result of -1. This is a botch.

    • Had the character been proficient, the Proficiency card would have added +2 and the end result would have been +1, a success

    • Had the character been uninjured, the War and Peace card would have been +0 and the end result would have been +0, a simple failure.

Dramatic Scenes

“Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate.”

Spartan Battle Manual

When a dramatic event occurs, a time freeze will be called either by a Ref or by the character initiating the event through the ‘BANG’ rule detailed further down. At this point every character is asked what they are doing, and any relevant checks are made. When the checks have been done and the outcomes communicated, time resumes and the results happen. 

Combat

A basic successful attack (for example, made using the Exterminate proficiency) does one damage to the opposing side of the conflict, but some proficiencies (such as Weapon) can enhance this. As standard, damage from one side of a conflict will be spread evenly through members of the other side of the conflict. The distribution of damage points is usually ordered by proximity, however some advantages and drawbacks may change this.

Armour or similar proficiencies can be spent to ignore damage. Otherwise a point of damage is injury, a second point is life threatening and a third is fatal. Medicine proficiencies can be used to heal injuries. A second point of damage cannot normally be assigned to one person in a fight until everyone on their side has taken at least the first level. 

However, it is possible to attempt a called shot, where all of the damage from an attacker may be directed at a single enemy. This requires succeeding by at least +2 on the attack. Anything less will result in a miss and the attack will not damage any enemies.

BANG Rule

Where a weapon is being carried openly and obviously, the wielder may use their proficiency to attempt to shoot a target outside of combat - this is called the BANG rule. This will trigger a time freeze as normal for a dramatic event, but may apply damage before combat has begun.