Central to the rules of the game is the Trait roll:
| 2d6 + Trait |
|---|
All skill checks in the game are performed as opposed rolls. If two characters are in conflict, both roll their appropriate Traits as indicated above. The higher roll wins. Ties may mean equal success or may go to the defender, depending on the situation.
If a character is trying to perform some task unopposed, the Space Master must assign a challenge level. This number is then rolled as if it were a Trait.
Subtracting the roll of the loser from that of the winner gives the Degree of Success (DoS). This number indicates how well the winner succeeded. If the "winner" is a force of nature, the DoS indicates how badly the character failed.
Conflict
Conflict is handled by dividing time and space into discrete units.
Time is measured in rounds; each round is six seconds in duration.
Space is measured in spaces; each space is an area two meters across.
Each round of conflict has three stages:
Initiative
At the beginning of each round, characters roll Awareness to determine initiative. High initiatives act before low ones.
Environmental factors (such as surprise) or minor actions (such as darting a single space or drawing a weapon) may give bonuses or penalties to Initiative, at the whim of The Master.
Any trait bonuses or penalties that result from a character's actions last until the character's next turn - i.e., the character's initiative on the next round.
Action
The next step is the action phase. Characters take their turns in order of initiative. A character disabled before his turn gets no actions.
Some actions are free. Drawing a weapon, shouting to a comrade, moving a single space, and the like; these take little time and require no trait roll. If such actions must be done before more important ones, the character might have a penalty to Initiative (-2 or so per minor act).
Other actions do require a trait roll or take significant time; these are important. Characters may take two important actions per round of conflict. A character can move and attack, attack and move, move twice, attack twice, grab an object and move away, jump off a ledge and tackle someone, etc.
Some actions may require more than one round to complete. If the character is injured during this time, the action fails.
Recovery
A character who rests for a round recovers one Stun.
Resting characters take no actions, not even defensive ones. Defense and Defiance are reduced to zero. If the character takes damage or is forced to act, he gets no recovery.
Round Zero
Round zero marks the beginning of any conflict. Whoever acts first automatically gets the initiative regardless of Awareness. This usually applies to a single individual, but can apply to a group if the action is set to occur on a prearranged signal. After the initial round zero activity, conflict progresses to round 1 and participants roll initiative.
If the initiating individual or group has taken their opponents completely by surprise, then the opponents may take no actions at all on round zero - not even defensive ones. This simulates situations such as ambushes or knives thrown by hidden assassins.
Movement
Characters may move a single space per round for free. Characters can move [10 + Athletics] spaces per action.
Other moves - standing from a prone position, mounting an animal, entering a vehicle, making a leap, etc - take one action.
Falling prone is a free action.
If the ground is not level, The Master may give a character bonuses or penalties to his movement. If the terrain is treacherous, The Master may require an Athletics roll.
Individuals may sometimes need to jump over things. The Master should require an Athletics roll based on the distance - two challenge levels per space on average.
Combat movement is automatic. When finer detail is required - for races or chases - participants should roll Athletics. Each level of the Dos gains the victor one space of distance.
Range
Distance causes penalties to Aim and Awareness.
Range penalties to Aim are based on the attack. Every ranged attack has an effective range; each multiple of this range gives a -1 penalty to Aim.
Thus, an attack with an effective range of 10 spaces will be -1 at 11, -2 at 21, and -3 at 31. An attack with an effective range of 20 will be -1 at 21, -2 at 41, and -3 at 61.
Penalties to Awareness are based on the sense in question. Smell has an effective range of 1 space, hearing has an effective range of 5, and vision has an effective range of 10.
Personal Combat
To make an attack, roll the attacker's Trait against the target's. Hand-to-hand attacks use Fighting for offense; ranged attacks use Aim. The defender rolls Athletics or Fighting (whichever is greater) to dodge.
When an attack hits, subtract the defender's roll from the attacker's to determine the DoS. If the target is a creature or object with obvious weak points, the DoS influences the damage. Ignore the DoS if the target is a wall or a rock.
To determine damage:
Characters who take 20 Stuns fall unconscious. Those who take 20 Wounds die.
A round of rest removes one Stun. A day of rest removes one Wound.
Medicine can quicken recovery. Once a day, a doctor may roll Medicine versus the number of wounds taken by a patient. If successful, the DoS is the number of wounds recovered.
Space Combat
Rounds are sixty seconds in ship-to-ship combat.
Vehicles have four traits important to combat: Thrust, Firepower, Endurance, and Aux.
Aux is short for Auxiliary Power. This can be allocated to any of the other three traits on a round-to-round basis.
Example: Crewman Dusty is flying a prototype space fighter.
The fighter's base stats are Thrust 10, Firepower 2, and Endurance 0.
It has 2 Aux; this can lead to any of the following configurations:
Thrust 12 10 10 11 11 10 Firepower 2 4 2 3 2 3 Endurance 0 0 2 0 1 1
Thrust rolls determine who gains in a chase. Piloting can help with this if the chase takes place in a hazardous area (a canyon, an asteroid field).
Vehicle combat uses Aim for offense, Piloting for defense. To make an attack, roll the gunner's Aim versus the target's Piloting. If the attacker wins, subtract the defender's roll from the attacker's to get the DoS.
The range increment for ship-to-ship weapons is 10km.
To determine damage:
Surges are temporary damage; blown fuses, melted circuits, and the like. Ships that take 20 Surges are disabled.
Assuming sufficient spare parts, engineers can repair surges even in deep space. Once per hour, the chief engineer rolls his skill vs the number of Surges taken by the ship. If successful, the DoS is the number repaired.
Hulls are serious damage. These hole the ship, causing bulkheads to close and making some sections of the craft inaccessbile without spacesuits. Ships that take 20 Hulls are destroyed.
Hull repair requires large amounts of metal and a stable ship. Those in need of such repair must set down on a planet, moon, or asteroid. The chief engineer may roll his skill vs the number of Hulls taken once per day.
Advanced Options
The following rules exist for those who want more tactical flavor in combat.
Extra Time
A character can choose to focus his energies on one trait to the detriment of others. Doing so gives a +1 or +2 (the player's choice) to that trait for the round, but a corresponding -1 or -2 penalty to all others.
A character who chooses to take only one important action instead of two can apply +2 to one trait for the round with no penalties. One who takes no important actions gets a +4 bonus to Awareness and defensive rolls.
The Space Master may allow players to divide their bonus among multiple traits. A character may want +1 Aim and +1 Piloting instead of +2 to one or the other.
Taking no important actions is not the same as resting - those who rest can make no trait rolls at all.
Desperate Defense
A character attacked before his turn can choose to abort his turn in exchange for the +4 bonus to defensive actions.
Wait
A character is not required to act on his initiative. He can wait to see what others with lower initiatives will do.
A waiting character may take its action at any time, even within the action of another character.
Example: Ensign Smith encounters a savage humanoid on an alien world and instinctively draws his atomic pistol. He wins initiative, but waits to see what the alien will do.It charges. Smith won the initiative, however, so he may choose to attack before the savage has covered the distance between them - he was only waiting for his enemy to get within optimum range. If the creature survives the attack, it may then take the rest of its action.
A waiting character may also hold action until the next round, in which case that character gets +10 to initiative for that round. He gets no extra actions, however.
The Waiting Game
This rule simulates scenes in books and movies in which two opponents stop and stare one another down, taking no actions, in the middle of a fight.
If two characters both decide to wait for the other to act and there are no other characters with actions left, then the action passes to the next round. This can even involve more than two characters.
All characters involved in the waiting game get the initiative bonus over characters who acted in the previous round.
Haste
A character may choose to sacrifice accuracy for speed. A character who is determined to go first may add +2 to his initiative roll, but that same number must be subtracted from all trait rolls that round. The decision to haste must be made before anyone rolls initiative.
Example: Captain Steele is forced into a Western-style draw with a communist spy. Winning initiative is paramount. He opts to haste to insure that he shoots first. He adds a +2 bonus to his Awareness roll; all other trait rolls suffer a -2 penalty for the round.