Universal Rules

## Asymmetric Design, Resources, and Danger

It’s not needed to play the game, but there’s a principle that’s useful for understanding the back-end design at play in Bloodwine.

This is an asymmetrically designed game.

Fundamentally, monsters and enemies are just... different. While they obey pretty much all the rules here, expect them to be far better-equipped and stronger than adventurers could ever be.

The core of Bloodwine’s combat is as such: the enemies can be far stronger than the players; adventurers should try and be cautious, prepared, and high on resources.

This doesn’t always spread out of combat. Normal people are probably on the same level of preparedness, or less (after all, they’re hiring adventurers). NPCs generally roll checks like players do.

As a narrator, just remember: Give your players stuff. Make them need it. Your players are supposed to feel like their efforts are paying off, even if all the rewards of those efforts are about to be burned almost instantly in a hard fight.

Lastly: Bloodwine employs an in-place levelling system, so nothing is ever designed to be for a stronger party. Adventurers are the only bastion between the safe populace and hostile world, and there’s no reason for fights to be even fightable. This isn’t meant to be a hamper on fun – sometimes, adventurers need to retreat and regroup. Don’t pull your punches. If you don’t want a punch to land,aim wide, not short. There is a need for narrative and heroism, since we’re here to have fun and help people, but remember that sometimes, even the adventurers might need help from others.

## Performing Tasks

So how do you, like, do stuff?

For Civilians and Adventurers, your skill rolls determine what you’ll be rolling.

There are five\* categories of options one can take:

Trivial: A trivial action probably just works, but the narrator needs to know. If you want to pick up a box, you’ll probably just pick up the box. But maybe the box is an armed explosive, y’know?

Ludicrous: Sometimes, as a narrator, a player will throw something bafflingly hare-brained at you. Sometimes you’ll have to say “no” – try to avoid this at all costs, but let’s be realistic – but it can be far more constructive to ask “how”. Sometimes, a player will back down and re-evalute. Sometimes, the hare-brained scheme might actually be feasible.

Pass/Fail: It’ll work, or it won’t. This is a check.

Quality: It’ll work, it’s a question of how impressive it is. This is a check.

Debilitating: There’s no way to do this without expending energy. This is a check.

\*Contested: You’re working directly against someone else. This is not a category in itself, it is a version of the pass/fail or quality check.

So – checks?

A CHECK is a test to see if an attempt at an action passes. This involves a player rolling a skill roll, and the narrator checking against a numbered threshold to see how it plays out. Checks are meet-or- beat: if a player rolls the same number as the check’s threshold or higher, they pass.

Pass/Fail/Quality: How hard is this task, on a scale of 1-10? If you can gauge that, you can gauge a check – but this goes from 5 to 30. A 5 is probably just the difficulty of something conceivably failable, while a 10 is typical, a 20 might represent a tough task, and a 30 might represent something nigh-impossible. Quality checks are numerically indexed identically along this scale, but instead this is a scale from lackluster (5) to mediocre (10) to impressive (20) to astounding (30). Note that this is a spectrum – a check can be an 11, or a 25, or a 6.

Debilitating: Debilitating tasks are inevitably rough. These go from 25 to 75.You must take damage equal to the difference between your roll and the threshold to pass. If you meet or exceed the threshold, you pass without taking damage. All checks are always technically debilitating checks – you can take damage like this to boost the result of a pass/fail or quality check.

Contested: You must beat your opponent’s roll. If you roll the same, the contest continues. If one person rolls lower and takes damage to meet, the contest continues. At least one person must fail to end the contest.

EXAMPLES: Mikkelsen, Borru, and Malek are travelling to the next town over, and have been paid a pittance to clear a disused road along the way. After encountering bandits making camp (in a place they thought was empty), Borru (a civilian swindler) tries to convince them that they’d make far more money escorting travellers than harassing them – he rolls (3d6) a 16 over the narrator’s 14 – the bandits buy into the plan, and decide to leave travellers alone. A fallen tree spans the road – it’s a debilitating check, with a threshold of 40, to move this tree. Borru steps aside as Malek and Mikkelsen do the work, rolling a 9 and a 17 – Malek takes 31 damage, Mikkelsen takes 23 damage, and Borru takes a seat nearby, whittling while they work. He’s not a whittler, so he rolls (3d6) a 2. He clears half the bark then snags on a knot and gives up.

## Languages

Adventurers may travel, but most don’t. Peoples and cultures across the world speak a variety of languages, and adventurers may know only some.

### Spoken/Written Languages

Tradertongue: All adventurers speak Tradertongue, but many people don’t. This is the standardized travellers’ tongue; a patois of Loré and Gnar. Villagers, labourers, and tradesfolk probably don’t speak this language, but almost all soldiers, guards, merchants, and politicians do.

Westron: The everlasting, ancestral human language (since the gradual death of its two parent languages over the past several hundred years). Westron consists of germanic tones and tonalities, and it is the mother tongue of provincials, mudlanders, and stepperiders. Craglanders and Vineyard Islanders don’t consider this their mother tongue, but it is their dominant language.

Loré: The tongue of the Canis, after the Great Northron Standardization of 122. This language blends scandanavian and romantic tones with minimal lip movement. Tundra nomads, forest-runners, highlanders, and rock-jumpers speak this language as a mother tongue.

Draconic: The tongue of the Draconians and Pythona. Gradually overstepping the fading Pythonic over the years, Draconic is a frustrating language from a syntax and grammar standpoint after almost a thousand years of unbroken evolution without standardization. The language is composed largely of consonant-vowel pairs; draconians and pythona don’t have lips. The rain kingdom, sun kingdom, and cloud kingdom speak this language as a mother tongue.

Gnar: The tongue of the Ratfolk. Distant, dominant proto-rodentian roots are coloured by hundreds of years of evolution and distinct Draconic influence. The language involves lots of baring of teeth and compound vowel sounds, and comes out with a generalized NYC/Jersey accent. Roaders, Reconstructionists, and Sothites speak this language.

Chit: The tongue of the Mousefolk. If you speak Chit, you speak all forms of Chit. There are three heavily politicized dialects: High Chit, Ancestral Chit, and Low Chit. Ancestral Chit is an extremely old language used primarily for religious and artistic reasons, while High Chit is a proper and formalized form of the language spoken by Pacim, while Low Chit is a more loose and playful form of the language spoken by outgaters and expats. This language is distinct from Gnar, but shares its compound vowel sounds – while Gnar emulates Draconic syllabic grammar, Chit emulates Westron/Loré word-based grammar, and has an east-coast north american maritime bent. Gaters and Syndicalists speak Chit.

Flue: Long since its own language, Flue formed as a Chit-Draconic patois spoken in Wildur. The language forms words from Draconic syllabic style, with typical compounded vowel sounds. The language involves little lip movement, but still involves some. Flue comes across as a variety of southern accents, with Tortuga more often speaking in slow drawls, and Squirrelfolk more often speaking in terse and percussive variants. This is the mother tongue of the Henge and Grove Folk.

Torgish: Descended from ciphers and coded messages from Giant, Torgish is a deep and gutteral language. It shares the compound vowels and syllabic words from Flue, but originates in the deepest part of the throat, and word pronunciation is affected by their tusks. Torgish sounds like a snarly blend of an american accent with arabic tones, with (optionally) two fingers between the lower lip and teeth as “tusks” (try it at least once to hear how it sounds).

### Dead/Rare/Academic Languages

Welvic: Elven-influenced precursor to Westron.

Warvic: Dwarven-influenced precursor to Westron.

Elvish: The language of pre-apocalypse elves. Those of the Vineyard Isle speak a reconstructed version of the language, and consider it their mother tongue.

Dwarvish: The language of pre-apocalypse dwarves. Those of the Craglands speak a reconstructed version of the language, and consider it their mother tongue.

Northron: Precursor to Loré.

Old Draconic: Originator of Draconic.

Pythonic: Chronologically concurrent with Old Draconic, faded precursor to new Draconic.

Flit: Transitional patois between Chit and Flue, from the Great Forest.

Tortugar: Transitional patois between Pythonic and Flue, from the Wild Swamps.

Giant: Active language of the Giants. They don’t exactly engage in conversation. Understandable, but “unpronounceable” by most adventurers (considering you need a lung capacity the size of a house and the ability to speak in borderline subsonic tones to pronounce the language properly).

Magetongue: Not really a “language”, this is the language of incantations, runes, and ritual inscriptions.

Magetongue acts as a medium for magic – just speaking the language doesn’t make you a mage, but it can act as a verbal magical focus.

Celestial/Demonic/Dark: The language of Celestials/Demons/Dark creatures.

## Settlements

It’s dangerous to be alone, so folk group together.

### Structure: 0 permanent residents

A structure is any extant, utilized place that is used by people, but is not inhabited long-term. These can be hunting cabins, docks, watchtowers, logging camps, mines, or any number of other things that meet this definition.

A structure can be public (meaning it is owned by government but free to use), common (privately owned and maintained for public use), or private (privately owned and not for public use). This is sometimes labelled.

### Hamlet: 1-99 permanent residents

A hamlet is a settlement that can sustain a population independently for a short period of time – hamlets are typically reliant on trade, but otherwise contain the fixtures to provide for a permanent population. These can be homesteads, fisheries, ranches, refineries, labour camps, or any other things that meet this definition.

Hamlets generally contain some sort of informal ruling body to keep a network of workers and labourers coordinated.

By and large, hamlets don’t have markets – production is carted to the nearest village. Their defenses are often nonexistent (unless they’re garrisons or forts).

Hamlets are often within a quarter-day (2hrs/6-8km) or half-day (4hrs/12-16km) of a nearby village, so people from the hamlet can go to the village and back without staying at an inn or making camp.

There are about 15 hamlets for every village.

### Village: 100-999 permanent residents

Villages are the backbone of the world – where people live and work, walled and with formal organization. Villages often have meager, but present and maintained defenses. Villages tend to export raw materials harvested from the region, while offering amenities and services like mills, inns, taverns, and places of worship.

Villages are generally organized under formal governance. They often have a singular leader and little else in terms of government positions.

Village markets often serve to offload goods from the nearby hamlets onto caravans. Villages are often within a day (8hrs/24-32km) of each other so travellers can stay within walls overnight, and are within 2-3 days (64-72km) of a town so that travelling villagers can afford to travel there periodically.

There are about 10 villages for every town.

### Town: 1000-9999 permanent residents

Towns are important hubs for the rural world. Towns serve as a place for the residents of the hamlets and villages to purchase goods, and for uncommon trades to settle. In a forest, a town might have sawyers, whittlers, joiners, and carpenters to provide secondary or tertiary resource processing. Towns often have properly solid defenses, able to withstand some degree of warfare.

Towns are where governance from larger bodies makes its presence known. Villages’ mayors, knights, or reeves might have to answer to a town’s representative, lord, or sherrif.

Towns are where finer goods are sold off to travellers from the local villages and hamlets, and where caravans pick up refined materials to bring to cities. Towns are often within a week (150-200km) of the nearest city.

Cities need one town to sustain every 10000 city residents.

### Cities: 10000+ permanent residents

Cities are the places of political and national importance. While goods flow into the cities from the villages and back out in the nearby area, cities also trade with one another on a global scale. While the plains themselves might not provide everything, cities allow for non-local materials to flow into the local economy, covering the resource gaps to allow healthy and well-cared-for populations.

Cities are places of great political importance on the international scale. Cities are where governors, dukes, and councils make their seats – and while warring nations may attack and pillage towns and villages, they often seek to keep cities for themselves. Cities often need siege-capable defenses and easy access to international trade.

Cities are spread out based on how much population a region can sustain – but as a rule won’t be closer than two weeks (300-400km) apart.

Cities with more than 100000 residents have the economic infrastructure to import and export fine goods.

### Capitals: Minimum 100000 residents

Capitals are the seat of a state’s power. Generally, a nation with a capital with less than 100000 residents don’t have the bulk population and military power to avoid being conquered. A capital that doesn’t rule over any other cities is referred to as a city-state.

## Jobs

Food, shelter, and supplies don’t just happen. Someone has to make things and do work.

Common workers perform trades and services like woodcutting, board-making, threshing, brewing, reagent-hunting, and more. They are often underpaid, with workers making between 2 and 4 silvers a day.

Uncommon workers perform trades and services like carpentry, smithing, adventuring (That’s you!), leatherworking, and more. They are often paid 4-6 silvers a day.Artisans perform trades and services like jewelry, painting, fine masonry, and more. These trades aren’t often needed, and while they can be paid lump-sum for jobs in tens of gold pieces, they often average 6-8 silvers a day when accounting for travel and work lulls.

Nobles and aristocrats might not reeeeally perform trades and services – when they do, this involves things like land ownership and banking. They often make several gold a day, usually scraped together from the extracted value produced by their workers.

Adventurers, while by definition tackling a broad variety of unusual tasks, do have a few common mainstays. Escorting travellers and caravans, clearing dangerous areas near settlements, and clearing bandits from major roads are commonplace tasks most adventurers can find to make a living.

## Trade

Goods don’t just appear places – most things need to be shipped place to place, through a number of locations and processing stages. A village might chop trees, ship those logs to a nearby town to turn them into boards and dowels, then those boards and dowels might be shipped to a city to be turned into wagons, for example.

To make things a bit less labyrinthine, goods have three innate qualities for trade purposes: Value, Primary Type, and Source. More qualities exist, as defined in the Equipment section.

### Value

Value determines, well, what an object is worth. Using any Craft skill, you may create an item your craft produces by consuming 5 copper of materials, transforming the materials into your Craft roll (+5) in coppers of value every two hours. This is cumulative.

Example: Borru is trying to forge some letters from nobility to extort money. The noble’s letter and seal have a 2 gold value – for the first two hours, he uses 5 coppers of paper and ink to produce (3d6+5) 15 coppers (1 silver, 5 copper) of materials. This is gonna take a while.

### Primary Type

Primary Type is one of the following: Resource, Raw Material, Refined Material, Common Good, Fine Good, Masterwork Good, or Artifact Good. This determines the production stage of an item (resources like trees become raw materials like logs, then refined materials like boards. Common, Fine, Masterwork, and Artifact goods all require raw or refined materials to make).

Crafting requires Raw or Refined materials. Crafters must be Trained or higher to make Fine goods, Expert to make Masterwork goods, and require special benefits to make Artifact goods.

When purchasing goods in bulk, the following rule of thumb applies: resources are usually stuck to the ground, raw materials are 1 copper per encumberance, refined materials are 5 copper per encumberance, common goods are 1 silver per encumberance, fine goods are 5 silver per encumberance. It’s very, very hard to find bulk masterwork or artifact goods.

### Source

Source is often twofold – it refers to where a good comes from. This usually consists of a settlement type (hamlet, village, town, city, capital) and a biome (many).

EXAMPLES: Trees are classified as Primary Type: Resource with Source: Forest Hamlet. A gold ring would be classified as Primary Type: Fine Good with Value: 1g and Source: Any City. A ham sandwich would be classified as Primary Type: Common Good with Value: 5c and Source: Any.

In addition, the value of all goods at or above 1g in value (solo or in bulk – twenty ham sandwiches and a gold ring would both count) is affected by Rarity and Caravan Costs.

### Rarity

Every biome has resources that are Rare, Uncommon, Abundant, or Rich. If a resource is not listed, it’s common and has no rarity modifier. Rare goods cost 2d6 more to buy and sell, uncommon goods cost 1d6 more, abundant goods cost 1d6 less, and rich goods cost 2d6 less.

This biome-based rarity stacks with settlement-based rarity, based on the following table:

This d6 modifier reflects coppers added or removed per gold coin – which can be mathematically processed as a percent increase, if easier.

EXAMPLE: Our adventurers have been escorting some merchants, and Malek figures it’s an okay way to make money on the side. In a forest village, he loads up his cart with 5g’s worth of cut boards. Since this is a forest (so wood is rich, -2d6) and a village (so refined materials cost -2d6), so for every gold of value, he pays 4d6 less. While he does buy 5g’s worth of boards, he only has to pay (5g, minus 4d6\*5=70 coppers) 4 gold, 3 copper.

Later, Malek thinks of unloading in the nearby forest city – but the profits aren’t worth it. Continuing along until they reach a mountain city (wood is rare (+2d6), refined materials are +2d6), where this 5g of boards sell for (5g + 4d6\*5=60 coppers) 5 gold, 6 silver. Overall, Malek made 1 gold, 5 silver in profit – the same as three days’ escort pay. Luckily, since they’re their own escorts for this haul, it’s all profit.

### Caravan Costs

To simplify things, goods that come from more than 50km away cost 1 silver more on the gold per 25km away from the source by land. While shipping is faster, this assumes the benefit of speed is offset by shipping costs to render the prices identical.

EXAMPLE: This side gig isn’t bad. Soon, the trio decide to just... be their own caravan. They load up the cart with silk kimonos from a small city in the southern jungles, and decide to sell them in hamlets in the distant mountains. Silk kimonos are fine goods – clothes, made from silk, made from silkworm threads, cultivated from mulberry leaves (thus, a rich resource in the jungles). Hauling them almost 500km across the continent, each 1g of product has a (500 = 20\*25km, 20\*1 silver =) 2 gold markup per gold on the purchase price. In addition, buying fine goods from a small city made from the local rich resource results in -4d6 coppers on the gold in buying price, and selling those to hamlets where the same resources are rare results in a +4d6 markup to boot.

Thus, when buying, they average out paying (4d6) 15 coppers on the gold below base price when buying the kimonos, and when selling, can charge (4d6) 14 coppers more on the gold. With caravan costs and rarity, if they buy 50g’s worth of kimonos, they only pay (50\*15=750 coppers) 42.5 gold for the shipment when they pick it up, their goods are worth (1g base +2g caravan) 3g in base value when they finally cross the continent, meaning their shipment is valued at 150g, and with markups, the offload all their goods for (150\*14=2100 coppers) 171 gold. Splitting the profits three ways, each of the three travellers makes 43 gold, 8 silver, and 3 copper for the 500km journey – a fair bit more than the 10 or so gold they’d make as guards the whole way. Granted, with three people, the watch shifts get pretty long and grueling.

## Travel and Events

If you’re gonna travel the world killing monsters, this section’s kinda important.

### Biomes

Biomes are geographical areas with common threats, plants, animals, topography, and weather. While many more biomes can exist, the following are easy biomes to lift and drop into your games. Biomes have four archetypal resource types – wood, metal, stone, plants, produce, and animals. These are immensely loose categories; “wood” might be mulberry leaves, or construction lumber like oak, or aromatic wood like mesquite or hickory. “Stone” might be masoned blocks, or coal, or gemstones.

### Overland Speed

Walking, wagons, and typical riding all operate at a similar pace. Every two hours on a road, roll 3d6 – you move that many kilometers, to a maximum of 10.

Hard riding is strenuous on your mount, but can cover distance far faster. Every two hours of hard ride allows you to move +5km, but requires your horse rest for two hours later (outside of sleep). A horse cannot ride hard for more than 8 hours (and this is a trained riding horse – many draft horses or war horses may not be able to keep it up as long) – it will buck.

### Aquatic Speed

Small Boats (skiffs, rowboats, river barges, etc) are slow to move, but can be far more versatile and manoeuvrable. Every two hours on a small boat, roll as if walking – with +2km for every extra rower (if rowing), +1d6 if you’re moving with the wind (if sailing), and -1d6 if you’re moving against the wind (if sailing). Most small boats can beach, and be easily dragged onto shore or tied down.

Large Boats (galleons, sea barges, warships) are fast on open water, and can carry great quantities of crew and goods. However, this comes at a cost – many have hulls and designs that mean they can’t beach, travel in shallow water or rivers, and must anchor in deep water. Every two hours on a large boat, roll as if walking, but multiply the roll by 3.

### Events

Events are little things that happen in the world around you. Every two hours, draw one playing card per five people. Black cards deal damage based on their numerical value (face cards are 10), red cards heal based on their numerical value (face cards are 10).

These events are minor instances that are resolved easily as they are pulled. Black is negative, red is positive.

When drawing a black event card, whoever is keeping guard draws the card, and takes full damage. All others take half damage, rounding down. Players may take damage to defend each other.

When drawing a red event card, whoever is keeping guard (and them alone) heal the full amount, and may steal or redistribute the healing the others would get.

Citizens are not so safe. They do not take numerical damage – instead, they must survive that many rounds before fending off the problem, or figuring out how to solve it. For every round, roll long odds – odd and even mean the round is survived, double odds mean two rounds are survived, and double evens means the citizen must roll to avoid being hurt or injured.

When citizens heal, they gain a buffer for damage from event cards equal to the health an adventurer would gain, to a maximum of 20.

EXAMPLE: It’s lunch; Mikkelsen is keeping watch. He draws the 9 of clubs – as they eat, wild animals are drawing close. Mikkelsen, guarding and ready, fends off many of them, taking 9 damage. Malek protects Borru, taking his 4 damage and Borru’s 4 damage, for a total of 8.

EXAMPLE: Late at night, Borru is keeping watch. He draws the 5 of hearts – cautiously checking a noise in the woods, he sees fruit has fallen from an unnoticed tree. With a wry smile, he climbs and collects the ripe ones... and gains a buffer of 9 (5 + Malek’s 2 + Mikkelsen’s 2) stamina, keeping it all for himself.

EXAMPLE: The next day, Malek is keeping watch as they travel, and draws the ace of spades. A tree has fallen, blocking their cart from passage. Malek would take 10 damage, Mikkelsen would take 5, and Borru would take 5, but Borru decides to help, using his health buffer. He takes 8 damage, while Malek and Mikkelsen take 6.EXAMPLE: A little before making camp, Borru is keeping an eye out as they travel, and draws the 2 of clubs. Some small early-evening monsters (local badger-bats) are harassing the party from the trees. Borru decides to do his part, and loses his last point of buffer, deciding to see if he can last a round. He rolls odds and evens (4 and 1) – he fends off the bats as Malek and Mikkelsen take 1 damage each.

## Combat: Groups

Combat takes place within a structure of turns, rounds, and groups.

### Groups

A Group is an abstract amalgamation of combatants - “the enemies”, “the adventurers outside the cave”, “the adventurers still in the watchtower”, and soforth.

Within a group, players may take their turns in any order they choose. Once everyone in a group has moved, the next group may take their turns. Once all groups have taken their turns, a ROUND is over, and the first group may take their turns again, repeating the process until combat ends.

### Who goes first

If groups are meeting each other on perfectly equal footing, player and enemy groups alternate, from the smallest number to the largest, with players going first. If anything might realistically affect who would have the jump on the others – surprise, pulling a weapon first, pre-planned coordination – this takes precedence.

### Turns

Turns come in two forms: main turns, and off-turns.

During your MAIN TURN, you may move, take a major action, AND take a minor action.

Unless otherwise specified, you have two OFF-TURNS. During these turns, you may move, take a minor action, defend, onslaught, OR riposte. Off-turns act as interrupts.

You may HESITATE, switching a main-turn action for an off-turn action – such as moving your off- turn speed on your main turn and your main turn speed on your off-turn, for example.

Off-turns interrupt actions, one at a time. For example: when attacked, you can move using your off- turn, THEN the enemy attacks, THEN you can riposte, for example.

## Combat: Non-Attack Moves

These are some moves you can perform in combat. This is a game about imagination, so this is far from a complete list.

### Move actions

WALK: You have a movement speed, determined primarily by your armour (the first of two numbers – so if your speed is 8/4, that’s 8 squares). This consumes your move action. You may move a number of squares equal to your speed, splitting this movement between your other main turn actions as you see fit. If you hesitate and use this action on an off-turn, all unused movement is lost.

RUN: You must use your move action to walk before you may run. When running, you use your major action to add your Physical bonus to the number of squares you can move.SPRINT: When already running, you may additionally use your minor action to add +3 to the number of squares you can move.

REPOSITION: As an off-turn, you may move a up to a number of squares equal to the second number (so if your speed is 8/4, that’s 4 squares). Any unused movement is lost.

### Functional moves

Drawing or stowing an item from your backpack or back requires a major action. Drawing or stowing an item from your belt or person requires a minor action. Dropping an item, or picking one up off the ground, is a free action (within reason).

Any action that would have no bearing on your movement or actions (like talking, detonating a glyph, and more) is a free action. Any action that would dominate your focus (like picking up a heavy barrel to make last-minute barricades, or holding a door against enemies) is a major action. Any action that’s between these two categories is a minor action.

### Defenses

All of these are off-turns.

BRACE: When attacked, add the result of a Brawn roll to your Threshold. You must be conceivably able to tank a hit.

DODGE: When attacked, add the result of a Grace roll to your Threshold. You must be conceivably able to dodge the hit.

PARRY: When attacked, add the result of a Delicate roll to your Threshold. You must be conceivably able to parry the hit.

WARD: When attacked, add the result of a Ritual roll to your Threshold. You may wear a maximum of three pre-cast wards cast by other people at any one time (allowing you to use their Ritual roll instead). This is magic – it bends fate and luck to make you safe.

WARN: When an ally within 10 squares of you is being flanked and is attacked, you may add your Social bonus to their Threshold and nullify the flanking condition for that attack.

RIPOSTE: When attacked, take half damage and attack your attacker back, dealing half damage to them.

### Other

ALCHEMY: Applying a poison takes a minor action. Drinking a potion takes a minor action. If you throw a potion to an ally to drink, you may choose whose off-turn is consumed.

BANDAGES: As a major action, you may bandage a target. If they do not have a bandage buffer, you may roll Doctor, granting them a buffer to bleed damage equal to the result. The target does not heal, but when they take bleed damage, it's subtracted from the buffer first. If your buffer and stamina added together are greater than or equal to your Hurt/Tired threshold, bleed damage is paused until damage reduces this sum. A target must be Hurt to be bandaged.

COORDINATED MOVES: With your GM’s permission, you may temporarily ignore hesitation and off-turn interrupt rules to perform a premeditated, coordinated assault. For example, you might be waiting for the enemies to breach the door – when, on their group’s turn, they breach the door, all defenders can make their main-turn attack at the same time against the attackers. As another example,you can match a line – using your main-turn movement to stay in step with your allies and hold a secure front.

## Combat: Attack Moves

Here’s what you’ve all been waiting for.

Attacks are a Major Action. You may Onslaught as an off-turn, attacking again, but taking 10 damage, regardless of Threshold.

### Damage Types

Depending on how you attack your enemies and how you use your abilities, there are a number of ways to gain an edge on the battlefield.

Anyone can deal damage of any type, but players take the burden of dealing with damage types. When resistant to damage, you may double your Threshold against this damage. When vulnerable to damage, you can only gain Threshold from defenses and units. When an enemy is resistant to damage, it is obvious to most trained adventurers - you deal half damage, rounding up. Similarly, when an enemy is vulnerable to damage, it is obvious to most trained adventurers - you deal double damage.

Damage falls into two overarching categories: Magical and Mundane.

Magical damage includes damage from spells, alchemy, and more. Magical damage is typically straightforward. By default, armour is neither resistant nor vulnerable to magical damage, but enchanting armour can change this.

Mundane damage includes damage from weapons, non-alchemical explosives, non-magical damage sources of elemental damage (such as Pain damage from a migraine, Fire damage from a torch, Acid damage from lime, and soforth), and more. When attacking with weapons, you may select one of the four following damage types. All armour is resistant to, and vulnerable to, one of the four damage types.

Armour-piercing damage comes from weapons designed to bypass armour, as the name implies. Purpose-built weapons like the stiletto or bodkin arrow deal this sort of damage. Crushing damage comes from weapons designed to crush and collapse armour. Purpose-built weapons like the warhammer and the slug deal this sort of damage. Cutting damage comes from weapons designed to make deep cuts through cloth and fabric. Purpose-built weapons like the falchion and broadhead arrow deal this sort of damage. Neutral damage comes from weapons designed to be versatile across the board. Popular weapons like the longsword and the war arrowhead fall into this category.

The exact added damage type dealt by weapons, and damage types affected by armour, are listed in the Equipment section.

Multiple damage types may apply at once in some circumstances - when this takes place, in-game they are happening at the same time, but out-of-game the player must choose which damage type applies.

### Weapons

A weapon may fall into one of the following categories: polearm, two-handed melee, one- handed melee, compact melee, long-range, mid-range, close-range, exotic. Exotic weapons all have unique individual rules. All weapons deal damage equal to a Weapon roll, with type-based modifiers.

A Polearm has a reach of three squares (you, adjacent, accessible, accessible, inaccessible; in outward order). Using a polearm grants +5 damage at your maximum reach, but -5 against adjacent targets.

A Two-handed Melee weapon has a reach of two squares, and grants +5 to the user’s Threshold.

A One-handed Melee weapon can reach adjacent targets.

A Compact Melee weapon can reach adjacent targets. When flanking, you deal an added +10 damage when flanking (plus the normal flanking bonus), but when not flanking, you deal -10 damage.

A compact melee weapon, one-handed melee weapon, or one-handed ranged weapon held in a second hand grants +5 Threshold, but only when using a defensive off-turn. When fighting with two weapons, you may choose which to attack or defend with on an attack-by-attack basis.

A Long-range weapon can hit a target from 10 to 40 squares away.

A Mid-range weapon can hit a target from 5 to 20 squares away. Many polearms, and some two- handed and one-handed weapons, can be thrown as mid-range weapons. (A spear, longsword, or arming sword can all be thrown like a javelin, for example.)

A Close-range weapon can hit a target up to 10 squares away. Many compact or one-handed weapons can be thrown as close-range weapons. (A warhammer, hatchet, or dagger could be thrown like this, for example.)

It is very highly suggested that GMs and players ignore actual quantities of ammunition, and just buy abstracted "boxes" of bullets, "bundles" of arrows, "horns" of powder, and soforth.

When using ranged weapons with the added mundane damage types (armour-piercing, crushing, etc), it is the ammunition used that determines the added damage type, not the weapon. For example - using a recurve bow, you could fire a bodkin arrow to deal Armour-Piercing damage to an enemy fighter in plate, then fire a broadhead arrow to deal Cutting damage to another enemy fighter in gambeson.

BOMBS: Alchemical bombs can be thrown by anyone, up to 15 squares away. When a bomb lands against a hard surface, it shatters and explodes, dealing damage in a 5x5 area centered on the detonation site. Everyone in the area – allies included – takes this damage.

### Elemental

Elemental casters may evoke by combining a FORM, a STYLE, and a SUBSTANCE. Substances include fire, water, earth, air, cold, acid, lightning, pain, poison, or force. Style is your personal flair – you may cast any way you like, within reason, as long as you obey the mechanical spell rules. FORM determines the mechanics of your spell, as follows:

DART FORM allows you to target a single target within 20 squares of you. You must have line of sight, but translucent physical objects (like glass) do not break this line of sight. Adjacent darts are melee attacks, but are otherwise ranged.

CONE FORM allows you to target a triangle, outward from you, which has a 90 degree outward angle and 4-square reach. Cones are always melee attacks, and deal -10 damage, but deal damage to all (allies and enemies) within the affected area.

BLAST FORM allows you to target a 3x3 area within 10 squares of you. You do not need line of sight. Blasts are always ranged attacks, and deal -10 damage, but deal damage to all (allies and enemies) within the affected area.

BURST FORM allows you to target a 5x5 area, centered on (but not including yourself). Bursts are melee attacks against adjacent creatures, but ranged against non-adjacent ones. They deal -20 damage to all (enemies and allies) in the area, but push all targets within the area 3 squares away, in a straight line.

Pain, Force, Air, Water, and Earth damage follow special rules. Pain damage can be halved to exclude allies in the area. Force damage may be reduced by 5 to push a target one square (or by 10 to push 2, etc). Both damages cannot be reduced below 0. Air, Water, and Earth damage don't hurt the same way the others to - Air damage is considered Armour-piercing, Water damage is considered Cutting, and Earth is considered Crushing.

FREEFORM casting requires a Trained or higher caster. Starting from a source square within 5 squares of you, you may target any number of squares adjacent from the first (along edges, not corners). Every square targeted after the first imposes a cumulative -2 penalty to damage. You need line of sight to the first square only. All in the area (enemies and allies) are affected by the damage.

GLYPHS take one minute to cast, etched on a hard surface. They seal in one spell you can cast. Only one glyph may be active at a time – when a new glyph is created, the last active glyph is dispelled (odds and evens – odd it dispels harmlessly, evens it detonates). You may detonate a glyph you have cast at any time, at any distance, by snapping your fingers. If a glyph takes any damage, from any source, it detonates.

You need two free hands to cast spells, or a focus (wand, orb, rod, staff, or custom GM-approved item) and a free hand.

GRAPPLING: As long as you have one free hand, you may grapple an opponent. This is a Weapon roll – as long as you deal damage, your grapple connects. Once you connect with a target, you can throw them (Roll Brawn – they are moved a number of squares equal to the roll’s result divided by 5, rounded up), use them as a living shield (Roll an opposed Grace check – if you win, they take the damage of an attack that targets you), move with them (they stay adjacent and your speed is halved, rounding up), or disengage (free action). An opponent must be conceivably grapplable.

If YOU are grappled, you may roll Delicate to escape (opposed by their Brawn roll) or to perform a reversal (opposed by their Delicate roll). If you perform a reversal, well, the situation is reversed – you become the grappler and they become the grappled.

## Combat: Units and Tactics

You’re a team – work as one!

UNITS are formed by adjacent allies. Every member of the unit must be adjacent to at least one other member of the unit, and at least three people must be a part of the unit. For every person in the unit and every shield being used in the unit, add +1 to the unit's Threshold, to a maximum of +10. When a member of the unit is attacked, they add the unit's Threshold to their own. Unit threshold only applies when the unit would be able to defend itself - for example, if a member of the unit in the rear is attacked from the other side of a shield wall, the bonus applies, but if someone creeps up on them and attacks from behind, it would not.

FLANKING takes place when at least two allies are attacking a single enemy, within melee reach of both allies, and a line drawn between the enemy and both allies has a bend of 45 degrees or less. Any additional allies do not need to fit this definition, or use melee weapons/spells, to be considered flanking. While flanking, all parties deal +10 damage. Enemies can flank using similar rules.

LUNGING allows you to gain extra melee weapon reach. As long as you are targeting an enemy, and no other enemies can reach you with a melee attack, you gain one extra square of reach (two with polearms).

STEALTH is a powerful thing. As long as an enemy is unaware of your presence, you may add the result of a Grace roll (melee) or Delicate roll (ranged) to your damage. Unless otherwise specified, the first hit reveals your location.

A COMBAT FRONT is any sequence of adjacent allies or enemies. Allies and enemies may move through each other’s squares, but allies cannot pass through enemy squares and vice versa. If diagonal movement would break a front, it is possible against enemies/allies not in a unit, but not possible against allies/enemies in units. Otherwise, a combat front is treated as an impenetrable wall.

COVER consists of things that can protect you from attack. BAD cover is misshapen, uncomfortable to hide behind, or weak – such as piles of rubble, a paper wall, or a pile of bodies – and provides +5 Threshold. GOOD cover is solid and easy to hide behind – like a barricade, a tallish and sturdy crate, half-open door, or machicollations – and provides +10 Threshold. FULL cover is completely impenetrable, like a floor-to-ceiling stone pillar or building wall, and does not allow attacks through.

ARTILLERY is any weapon or attack strong enough to completely devastate an enemy – like a gatling gun, trebuchet, or giant’s fist. Artillery nullifies bad cover, turns good cover into bad cover, turns weak full cover (like a wooden wall or dirt mound) into good cover, and is only fully blocked by castle-scale defenses (like castle walls or large stone boulders). When artillery targets an area, this is usually TELEGRAPHED – meaning there’s some sort of warning (“a stone is hurling towards you”, “the giant is slamming down a fist”, “the dwarven mech’s gun starts to whirr”), which allows allies (and enemies) to reach before the hit. On a hit, all within the artillery’s direct hit area must make a Death roll, and all within shrapnel range take damage as if hit with an attack. As a rule of thumb, artillery targets a 3x3 area, and the next 3 squares outward are shrapnel range.