Games, all sorts

We will allow stunting, but only on non-channeling rolls. Stunts will mostly apply to instant, contested actions. There is no limit to the number of stunts in a scene save that it must drive to dramatic action.

Possible game effects:

• +1 to +3 bonus dice
• +1 or +2 defensive modifier
• 1 regained Mana

As the world plays off of the battles of Law versus Chaos as much as Good versus Evil (as may be found in some iterations of a popular role playing series), we need to tweak morality a bit. The concept of alignment is not to be emulated directly, however. To this end, we're going provide a 2 axis mechanism (with 9 discrete positions on each axis) for dealing with morality.

The up/down axis will track virtue ↔ vice (note the small “v”s). Virtue is synonymous with “good,” where vice is synonymous with “evil.” We're going to use small “V's” as indulging a vice won't move you down the ladder immediately.

The left/right tracks dogmatic adherence to the rules (on the left) with a more personal view of responsibility (whatever that may mean) on the right. This is almost exactly the law/chaos.

Characters will start in the dead middle. I'm not going to even try to codify the rules for this. If after a game session, movement on the graph will happen as I see fit. Unlike alignment, this isn't supposed to be a static value, rather, it is expected to change over time.

Unfortunately, we need a system like this to determine the “faction” (to use an MMORPG concept) of the various angels and demons the characters will interact with (given Farne is fairly replete with them), and the effects of various items and locations.

An attack pool cannot be reduced to a chance die. This means critical failures cannot occur. In the event of an attack die pool of 0 or fewer dice, a 10 (with rerolls allowed) will always hit.

In addition to their damage bonus, melee weapons provide Defense¹⁾ equal to one-half their damage (round down, minimum of one) rating to their user. This Defense rating stacks with that granted by other sources.

Rationale: Rapid parries and turned blows are staples of melee combat in modern cinema.

Bashing: When a character’s Health track is filled with bashing damage, he is staggered (suffering a –2 penalty to Speed and Defense), but does not need to roll to avoid falling unconscious.

Lethal: When his wounds are filled with lethal damage, he must roll Stamina every turn to remain conscious, as described for bashing damage on p. 173 of the World of Darkness Rulebook.

Aggravated: When his Health track is filled with aggravated wounds, he is unconscious and bleeding out, as described under lethal damage on pp. 173–174 of the World of Darkness Rulebook.

Grievous: After aggravated wounds, the character gains one new “layer” of wounds called grievous wounds. No attacks inflict grievous wounds innately; grievous damage only comes from aggravated damage rolling over. Mark grievous wounds by completely shading in the Health boxes on the character sheet. When a character’s Health track is completely filled with grievous wounds, he is dead.

A grievous wound takes one month to heal. For supernatural creatures that heal at an accelerated rate or may expend stores of mystical energy to heal, grievous wounds take four times as long, and requires four times as much energy, as healing an aggravated wound. Supernatural powers capable of healing aggravated wounds can also heal grievous wounds, but likewise any requirements (such as energy expenditure or number of successes rolled) is multiplied by four.

Rationale: Heroic characters being able to take a truly savage beating and yet keep on going is a common staple of heroic fiction.

Rather than strictly representing the physical endurance of the human (or inhuman) form, a character’s Health track represents a combination of physical endurance, mental fortitude, and the will to press on in the face of adversity. Instead of Stamina + Size, Health is determined by (Stamina or Resolve, whichever is higher) + Size.

Rationale: Divorcing Health from direct, physical trauma makes the game feel more like an action movie or an epic myth. Folklore is full of stories of leaders who inspired their men to keep going despite fatigue and injury and deprivation. In addition, the Inspire action is added to the Expression Skill (see sidebar).

Roll: Presence + Expression (Instant Action)

Whether it’s the heartfelt expression of the absolute faith a loved one has in you or a drill sergeant’s command to get the hell up out of the mud and keep fighting, your character’s inspirational words can push an ally to keep going when lesser men and women might curl up and die.

You can inspire your allies once per scene, but any given character may only benefit from being inspired once per chapter.

Dramatic Failure: Your character stumbles over her words or flubs her line, inspiring not so much confidence and resolve as despair and hopelessness. All allies who can hear your character suffer a point of bashing damage instead of regaining Health.

Failure: You fail to inspire a morale boost in your allies.

Success: For every success you earn, you can heal one ally who can see or hear you (a live video link or radio communication is okay, but not a prerecorded message) of one point of bashing damage. For every two successes rolled, you may heal one ally of one point of lethal damage. You may spend this healing as you see fit, dividing it up among multiple allies if you wish, provided they can all see or hear you.

Exceptional Success: No additional effect beyond the exceptional degree of healing.