Post by Chibi Akagi on Nov 8, 2007 8:56:02 GMT -5
Combat in QAGS is divided up into rounds. These are similar to rounds in boxing, only without Don King. A round is defined as "the amount of time it takes for everyone in the scene to take one action." The round does not represent a set amount of game time--its simply a convenient way to break up combat. In spite of this fact, the GM may occasionally rule that an action will take multiple rounds to complete (usually when the action being attempted is a complex non-combat action).
Who goes first?
Since a lot of things are going on at the same time, the order of actions in a combat round is not usually important. The GM will go around the table asking each player what he plans to do during the round. once everyone has declared his action, the GM will ask for rolls in the order that makes the most sense. For example, if one character is shooting at a bad guy with his pistol and another is attacking with a ceramic lawn knome, the character with the gun will probably go first. If for some reason exact timing does become important (for example, a character is attempting to keep the bad guy from attacking his young ward), the GM will either compare the appropriate scores (usually Nerve or Body) of the characters involved or ask for a resisted roll of some kind.
Hand to Hand combat
Each round of Hand-to-Hand combat between two characters is resolved with a resisted roll. Each person used the word that best describes the type of attack he is making. The roll represents a series of feints, parries, ineffective blows, and other aspect of the brutal ballet of combat. The winner of the roll gets to inflict damage upon his opponent.
Ranged Combat
Ranged combat is also handled with a resisted roll. Unlike hand-to-hand combat, however, a single roll in ranged combat represents only one attack (not a complete "exchange of fire" between the two combatants). Therefore, there is always an attacker and a defender. The attacker is the person firing the gun, launching the cathedralpult, or throwing the rock. The defending player is the guy he's shooting at, flinging a church at, or throwing towards. While the attacker uses whatever word is most appropriate to the sort of attack hes making, the defender uses whatever word best reflects his ability to avoid the attack. This is almost always Body, though a few Jobs or Gimmicks can be used instead. While either participant in hand-to-hand combat can cause damage to the other, only the attacker can cause damage in ranged combat. If the defender wins the roll, the attacker simply misses his target.
Damage
Whenever the result of a combat sequence indicates that a character takes damage, simply subtract the losing roll (or zero, if the loser failed his roll) from the winning roll. The result is the base amount of damage caused by the attack. If the character who caused the damage is using a weapon, add the weapons damage bonus to this total. Subtract the result from the injured characters Health Points.
Damage Bonus
The basic damage bonus for an attack is based on the size of the weapon:
For most ranged weapons, size is based on the size of the missile being fired--an arrow is small, for example. For guns, size is based on the power and ammunition of the weapon, not the physical size of the gun or the bullets:
While size matters, its not the only thing that determines a weapons ability to deal damage. When figuring out how much damage an attack does, consult the additional damage modifiers table and all appropriate modifiers. For example, a broadsword is big and pointy, which means it has a damage bonus of +4 (big = +3 pointy = +1). A chainsaw is big(+3) sharp(+1), mechanically assisted(+1), and scary(+1), for a total damage bonus of +6. A cathedralpult is frickin' huge(+4), mechanically assisted(+1) and building destroying(+50) for a damage bonus of +55!
Death
Plainly put, if your character is important enough, you get to make a body roll. If you fail, you die, if you win your alive, but in serious danger of shedding the mortal coil. Until you get medical attention you cant do anything other than bleed, gurgle, and perhaps cry for mommy. For every hour you go without receiving treatment, another body roll is required. If the roll fails, you permanently lose 1 from your body score. If your body score reaches 0 your dead.
And uhm, when you're dead you just make up another character quickly.
Combining Hand-to-Hand and Ranged combat
If someones attacking you with a shotgun and you've only got a rusty can opener, chances are you're not going to just stand there and let him shoot you. instead, your going to attempt to get close enough to take a swing at him. The GM will decide exactly what is required to close into hand-to-hand range (usually a series of Body rolls will do the trick). Until this happens ranged attacks are resolved normally. The ranged attacker gets free attacks until his opponent is:
If A occurs combat is over. If B occurs, use normal hand to hand rules. Assuming the ranged attacker is still trying to shoot at his opponent (and the GM rules that the ranged attack will still work at such a close range), he uses his ranged attack Word and normal weapon modifiers.
Armor
Sometimes your character will wear armor. Armor prevents damage. How do we convert this simple observation to game mechanics? Simple! Just subtract the armors armor rating from the damage total of the attack. See dumb table 5 for some sample armor ratings. Sometimes, characters can get the advantages of armor without having to wear elaborate bondage gear. For example, if your characters ducking behind a car door, its a lot like wearing plate mail, only without so much chafing. Such "hard cover" works just like traditional armor.
Ganging Up
When multiple people attack the same opponent, that opponent becomes much easier to defeat. You remember when they used to gang up on you back in high school right? This is the same kind of thing. The first attack against an opponent during a combat sequence is resolved normally. For each subsequent attack, the character being ganged up on receives a -2 penalty to his combat number (-2 for the second attack, -4 for the third attack etc). Unless the creature being attacked is exceptionally large (like godzilla), no more than four people can attack him in a given combat round. This rule does not apply to ranged combat--a character can dodge each ranged attack that comes at him using his full Body Number.
Area Attacks
Sometimes an attack has a good chance of hurting more than one opponent. Explosions, dragons breath, and machine gun fire are a few examples. Whenever this happens the GM decides who has a chance of being affected by the attack. The attacker makes a single attack roll and each of the characters in danger of being hit by the attack makes appropriate rolls to dodge or otherwise defend themselves. If the attacker tries to focus the attack on a particular enemy, that character receives a -3 penalty.
Combat Modifiers
Many situations can give a combatant an edge against his opponent. In hand-to-hand combat, size, reach, and the conditions of the battlefield can all affect the outcome of an exchange of swings. For ranged Combat, the distance between the attacker and defender, targeting equipment, and visibility can affect the outcome of an attack. Assigning the comprehensive modifiers to every single thing that could affect combat would be really hard, and waste valuable time that could be spent making bisexuality jokes. Therefore, the GM should arbitrarily assign modifiers whenever she feels like it. Generally no single circumstance should result in a modifier worse than -5 or better than +5.
Setting People on Fire
Sooner or later, somebodies going to want to set somebody else on fire--its a classic literary device, after all. If fire just burned for a minute and then went out, it would be handled like any other attack. However since fire keeps burning until it is deprived of oxygen or fuel, and because its so much fun, we feel that fire deserves its own set of rules. Whenever a character takes damage from a fire-based attack, he is on fire. If the character is in danger of being set on fire in some other way, he must make a body roll against a difficulty number determined by the gm. If the character fails the roll, he takes damage as if the dn of the fire were a successful attack. In either case, the amount of damage a character takes from the fire becomes his on fire number (ofn). If the character remains in a fire-setting predicament, he must make a new body roll every round. If the roll fails, his new ofn is added to the old one. Assuming the character gets out of the fire, his ofn automatically drops by 2 every round. Usually, when someones on fire, he will attempt to put the fire out. To do so, the character forgoes all other actions for the round and makes a body roll. If the body roll succeeds, it is subtracted from the characters ofn. At the end of each round, the character takes damage equal to his current ofn. If his ofn is zero, the fire has been extinguished. A third party may attempt to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, bucket of water, etc. by making an attack roll resisted by the ofn. If the attack is successful the damage is subtracted from the burning characters ofn. However if the ofn wins the attack the person trying to help the burning man catches fire himself, with an ofn equal to the damage caused by the fire.
Other Exotic Forms of Damage
In addition to being stabbed, shot, and set on fire, there are many other ways a character can be injured--car wrecks, poison, drowning, falling off of buildings, watching to much "Must see TV"--the possibilities are endless. Sometimes the GM can simply announce that the injury has killed the character. If, however, the GM wants to give the characters a fighting chance, she can use a variation on the standard combat rules. The main difference is that, instead of rolling against another character, the person being attacked rolls against the Cruel Forces of the Universe (CFU) The CFU succeed on any roll except a natural 20. Damage modifiers are up to the GM, based on what exactly the CFU are trying to do to the character. For attacks by the CFU that take a while to kill the character(poison, suffocation, etc) The GM may instead decide to use a variation of the setting people on fire rules.
Healing
Once the characters have been stabbed, beaten up, set on fire, and struck by lightning, the players will probably start to wonder how healing works. Because we anticipate everything, we have included complete rules for such an occurrence. To determine how much damage a character recovers, simply refer to dumb table 6.
Who goes first?
Since a lot of things are going on at the same time, the order of actions in a combat round is not usually important. The GM will go around the table asking each player what he plans to do during the round. once everyone has declared his action, the GM will ask for rolls in the order that makes the most sense. For example, if one character is shooting at a bad guy with his pistol and another is attacking with a ceramic lawn knome, the character with the gun will probably go first. If for some reason exact timing does become important (for example, a character is attempting to keep the bad guy from attacking his young ward), the GM will either compare the appropriate scores (usually Nerve or Body) of the characters involved or ask for a resisted roll of some kind.
Hand to Hand combat
Each round of Hand-to-Hand combat between two characters is resolved with a resisted roll. Each person used the word that best describes the type of attack he is making. The roll represents a series of feints, parries, ineffective blows, and other aspect of the brutal ballet of combat. The winner of the roll gets to inflict damage upon his opponent.
Ranged Combat
Ranged combat is also handled with a resisted roll. Unlike hand-to-hand combat, however, a single roll in ranged combat represents only one attack (not a complete "exchange of fire" between the two combatants). Therefore, there is always an attacker and a defender. The attacker is the person firing the gun, launching the cathedralpult, or throwing the rock. The defending player is the guy he's shooting at, flinging a church at, or throwing towards. While the attacker uses whatever word is most appropriate to the sort of attack hes making, the defender uses whatever word best reflects his ability to avoid the attack. This is almost always Body, though a few Jobs or Gimmicks can be used instead. While either participant in hand-to-hand combat can cause damage to the other, only the attacker can cause damage in ranged combat. If the defender wins the roll, the attacker simply misses his target.
Damage
Whenever the result of a combat sequence indicates that a character takes damage, simply subtract the losing roll (or zero, if the loser failed his roll) from the winning roll. The result is the base amount of damage caused by the attack. If the character who caused the damage is using a weapon, add the weapons damage bonus to this total. Subtract the result from the injured characters Health Points.
Damage Bonus
The basic damage bonus for an attack is based on the size of the weapon:
- +0 for tiny weapons (pea shooter)
- +1 for small weapons (small pistol)
- +2 for medium sized weapons (Magnum)
- +3 for big weapons (Gatlin Gun)
- +4 for frickin' huge weapons (telephone poles, thrown cars)
For most ranged weapons, size is based on the size of the missile being fired--an arrow is small, for example. For guns, size is based on the power and ammunition of the weapon, not the physical size of the gun or the bullets:
- BB guns are tiny
- .22 rifles are small
- 9mm pistols are medium
- .44 magnums are large
- .50 caliber machine guns are frickin' huge
While size matters, its not the only thing that determines a weapons ability to deal damage. When figuring out how much damage an attack does, consult the additional damage modifiers table and all appropriate modifiers. For example, a broadsword is big and pointy, which means it has a damage bonus of +4 (big = +3 pointy = +1). A chainsaw is big(+3) sharp(+1), mechanically assisted(+1), and scary(+1), for a total damage bonus of +6. A cathedralpult is frickin' huge(+4), mechanically assisted(+1) and building destroying(+50) for a damage bonus of +55!
Death
Plainly put, if your character is important enough, you get to make a body roll. If you fail, you die, if you win your alive, but in serious danger of shedding the mortal coil. Until you get medical attention you cant do anything other than bleed, gurgle, and perhaps cry for mommy. For every hour you go without receiving treatment, another body roll is required. If the roll fails, you permanently lose 1 from your body score. If your body score reaches 0 your dead.
And uhm, when you're dead you just make up another character quickly.
Combining Hand-to-Hand and Ranged combat
If someones attacking you with a shotgun and you've only got a rusty can opener, chances are you're not going to just stand there and let him shoot you. instead, your going to attempt to get close enough to take a swing at him. The GM will decide exactly what is required to close into hand-to-hand range (usually a series of Body rolls will do the trick). Until this happens ranged attacks are resolved normally. The ranged attacker gets free attacks until his opponent is:
- A: Dead
- B: Close enough to take a swing
If A occurs combat is over. If B occurs, use normal hand to hand rules. Assuming the ranged attacker is still trying to shoot at his opponent (and the GM rules that the ranged attack will still work at such a close range), he uses his ranged attack Word and normal weapon modifiers.
Armor
Sometimes your character will wear armor. Armor prevents damage. How do we convert this simple observation to game mechanics? Simple! Just subtract the armors armor rating from the damage total of the attack. See dumb table 5 for some sample armor ratings. Sometimes, characters can get the advantages of armor without having to wear elaborate bondage gear. For example, if your characters ducking behind a car door, its a lot like wearing plate mail, only without so much chafing. Such "hard cover" works just like traditional armor.
Ganging Up
When multiple people attack the same opponent, that opponent becomes much easier to defeat. You remember when they used to gang up on you back in high school right? This is the same kind of thing. The first attack against an opponent during a combat sequence is resolved normally. For each subsequent attack, the character being ganged up on receives a -2 penalty to his combat number (-2 for the second attack, -4 for the third attack etc). Unless the creature being attacked is exceptionally large (like godzilla), no more than four people can attack him in a given combat round. This rule does not apply to ranged combat--a character can dodge each ranged attack that comes at him using his full Body Number.
Area Attacks
Sometimes an attack has a good chance of hurting more than one opponent. Explosions, dragons breath, and machine gun fire are a few examples. Whenever this happens the GM decides who has a chance of being affected by the attack. The attacker makes a single attack roll and each of the characters in danger of being hit by the attack makes appropriate rolls to dodge or otherwise defend themselves. If the attacker tries to focus the attack on a particular enemy, that character receives a -3 penalty.
Combat Modifiers
Many situations can give a combatant an edge against his opponent. In hand-to-hand combat, size, reach, and the conditions of the battlefield can all affect the outcome of an exchange of swings. For ranged Combat, the distance between the attacker and defender, targeting equipment, and visibility can affect the outcome of an attack. Assigning the comprehensive modifiers to every single thing that could affect combat would be really hard, and waste valuable time that could be spent making bisexuality jokes. Therefore, the GM should arbitrarily assign modifiers whenever she feels like it. Generally no single circumstance should result in a modifier worse than -5 or better than +5.
Setting People on Fire
Sooner or later, somebodies going to want to set somebody else on fire--its a classic literary device, after all. If fire just burned for a minute and then went out, it would be handled like any other attack. However since fire keeps burning until it is deprived of oxygen or fuel, and because its so much fun, we feel that fire deserves its own set of rules. Whenever a character takes damage from a fire-based attack, he is on fire. If the character is in danger of being set on fire in some other way, he must make a body roll against a difficulty number determined by the gm. If the character fails the roll, he takes damage as if the dn of the fire were a successful attack. In either case, the amount of damage a character takes from the fire becomes his on fire number (ofn). If the character remains in a fire-setting predicament, he must make a new body roll every round. If the roll fails, his new ofn is added to the old one. Assuming the character gets out of the fire, his ofn automatically drops by 2 every round. Usually, when someones on fire, he will attempt to put the fire out. To do so, the character forgoes all other actions for the round and makes a body roll. If the body roll succeeds, it is subtracted from the characters ofn. At the end of each round, the character takes damage equal to his current ofn. If his ofn is zero, the fire has been extinguished. A third party may attempt to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, bucket of water, etc. by making an attack roll resisted by the ofn. If the attack is successful the damage is subtracted from the burning characters ofn. However if the ofn wins the attack the person trying to help the burning man catches fire himself, with an ofn equal to the damage caused by the fire.
Other Exotic Forms of Damage
In addition to being stabbed, shot, and set on fire, there are many other ways a character can be injured--car wrecks, poison, drowning, falling off of buildings, watching to much "Must see TV"--the possibilities are endless. Sometimes the GM can simply announce that the injury has killed the character. If, however, the GM wants to give the characters a fighting chance, she can use a variation on the standard combat rules. The main difference is that, instead of rolling against another character, the person being attacked rolls against the Cruel Forces of the Universe (CFU) The CFU succeed on any roll except a natural 20. Damage modifiers are up to the GM, based on what exactly the CFU are trying to do to the character. For attacks by the CFU that take a while to kill the character(poison, suffocation, etc) The GM may instead decide to use a variation of the setting people on fire rules.
Healing
Once the characters have been stabbed, beaten up, set on fire, and struck by lightning, the players will probably start to wonder how healing works. Because we anticipate everything, we have included complete rules for such an occurrence. To determine how much damage a character recovers, simply refer to dumb table 6.