Partida Rol por web

This section describes the rules and system we will be using during this game.

They are a quick adaptation of the WAB, WF and Mordheim miniature battle games. They are intended to be quick and easy to use for a dynamic roll by mail game, but they are however not designed for this specific purpose in origin, so please be mindful of that. Of course, since they are quite experimental, they are open to discussion and suggestions so we, together, can improve them to better enjoy this game.

For any question and suggestion, please feel free to ask/tell at the Off-topic.

The Characters:

In this game, each character have different abilities, some being better at certain actions, for example, fighting, shooting or climbing, than they are at others. This variety in each warrior is represented in the form of characteristics and skills. Right now don’t worry about skills – these come later with practice and battle experience and also all PCs will begin the game with some preset skills. For now we just need to consider the characteristics.

Each PC and NPC is defined by a set of characteristics: Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Wounds, Initiative, Attacks and Leadership.

WEAPON SKILL (WS): Weapon Skill is a measure of close combat ability (ie, how good the warrior is at hand-to-hand fighting). A deadly swordsman or a crazed berserker would have a high value compared to a lowly acolyte, for example. The higher the WS, the more likely your warrior is to hit his opponent.

BALLISTIC SKILL (BS): This shows how good a shot the individual is. When you shoot a bow or fire a pistol, the chance of hitting a target depends upon your model’s Ballistic Skill.

STRENGTH (S): Strength indicates how strong a warrior is! It is especially important for hand-to-hand combat, because the stronger you are the harder you can hit.

TOUGHNESS (T): This is a measure of how easily an individual can withstand a hit from a weapon or a blow from a club or fist. The tougher you are, the harder you are to wound or kill.

WOUNDS (W): A model’s Wounds value shows how many times the model can be wounded before it collapses, is killed or incapacitated.

INITIATIVE (I): The Initiative value indicates how fast and nimble the warrior is. It determines the attacking order in hand to-hand combat, and is particularly important for other non-combat dexterity actions.

ATTACKS (A): The Attacks value indicates how many blows the model can make in hand-to-hand combat.

LEADERSHIP (L): Leadership represents raw courage, self control and charisma. The higher the model’s Leadership value, the more likely he is to remain steadfast in combat while others run off or are slain.

Combat:

We could summarize the close hand to hand combat in four action items: Determine strike order, roll to hit, roll to wound and armor save.

1. Determine strike order: There are three options to determine who strikes first in a combat.

   1.1. Charge: If by narrative actions is quite clear that one or several warriors charged over one or several enemies, those who committed the charge will strike in first place.

   1.2. Special equipment/rules/skills: Sometimes, a character's special ability or weapon might make him strike first or last in close combat, i.e. characters armed with two handed weapons always strike last.

   1.3. Initiative: Normally, characters will fight in order of descending initiative with the highest striking first. If their initiatives are equal, a dice will be rolled to see who strikes first.

2. Roll to hit: To determine whether hits are scored, roll a D6 for each for each character's attack. The dice roll needed to score a hit on your enemy depends upon the Weapon Skills of the attacker and the foe. Compare the Weapon Skill of the attacker with that of his opponent and consult the To Hit chart below to find the minimum D6 score needed to hit:

3. Roll to wound: Once a charater hits a target he/she/it must test to see whether a wound is inflicted. Sometimes a strike may fail to wound simply because it causes an insignificant injury or glances off the enemy’s equipment. To determine whether the blow has caused a wound compare the Strength of the attacker (with any weapon modifier that may apply) with the Toughness of the target.

4. Armor save: Combatants that are wounded have the chance to avoid damage if they are wearing armor or carrying shields. For each wound suffered the player rolls a D6. If he rolls greater than or equal to the armour save of his fighter then that wound has been absorbed or deflected by the armor. Strength Modifiers: Some hits are so powerful that armor provides less protection against them. The higher a creature’s/weapon's Strength the more easily it can pierce armor. The following chart shows the reduction in the enemy’s armour saving throw caused by the attacker’s Strength.

An example:

This is an example to illustrate a combat situation and the rolls involved. Let's assume Thaumbax 'the bloated' is a PC with the next profile:

Suddenly, while wandering in the Mace of the Eternal Fart, he encounters two despicable goblins NPCs which profile is (the profiles of all NPCs will be available in the Bestiary as soon as they are encountered by the Heroes):

As soon as our PC sees the goblins he charges, sword up front.

Since Thaumbax is charging the filthy goblins, he will be striking first. He has 3 attacks, so he rolls 3d6 to hit. He scores 2, 4 and 5. Looking at the impact table, Thaumbax compares his WS with that of the goblins and finds out he needs a 3+ to score a hit which means he has managed to score 2 hits to the goblins.

Then he rolls to wound for the 2 hits. He scores 3 and 5. By comparing his Strength with the goblins Toughness, he causes a wound in a result of 3+, so he has managed to inflict 2 wounds to the goblins.

Finally, the goblins have the chance to roll for their armor save which in this case is 5+ as they are wearing light armor (armor save 6+) and a shield (+1 armor save). However, the strength of Thaumbax attack is 4, so the armor save is reduced -1 to a final 6+. The goblins roll and score 3 and 6. One of the lucky goblins is able to save the wound while the other dies in agony, sliced his throat by Thaumbax blow.

Now is the turn for the surviving goblin to attack. He needs a 4+ to hit Thaumbax. He rolls for his 1 attack and, unfortunately, scores 3 which means he fails his swing.

Next turn, the attacks will resolve in strict initiative order, for which Thaumbax has the upper hand... we can quickly guess that, unless the Gods of Luck fully support the lonely goblin, he might seal his fate as doomed against 'the bloated'...

Shooting:

Shooting follows pretty much the same procedure as hand to hand combat: determine order, roll to hit, roll to wound and roll armor saves.

1. Shooting order: Amid the combat turns, characters that are not embraced in close hand to hand combat can shoot if they are equipped with the appropriate weapon. Shooting occurs in strict Initiative order (unless special equipment or rules specify otherwise).

2. Roll to hit: To determine whether a shot hits its target, roll a D6. The dice score needed will depend upon how good a shot the firer is (as indicated by his Ballistic Skill). The chart below shows the minimum D6 roll needed to score a hit.

The values 2/6, 2/5 and so on indicate that, when a 1 is rolled, it can be repeated and will be a successful hit if the second dice is higher than the value indicated after the /

There are also several modifiers that may apply to this roll. They depend on the specific situation but can be quickly summarized:

- Target partly obscured (i.e. covers): -1

- Moving target: -1

- Target mostly obscured: -2

- Target in combat: -1 and if the shot fails, it must be rolled to hit for the other combatant (with a -1 as well)...

- Small or distant target: -1

- Big target: +1

3. Roll to wound: The procedure is the same as in close combat but in this case, the Strength of the attack will be that of the weapon rather than that of the attacker.

4. Armor saves. Same as for close combat.

Non combat rolls and situations:

While most of the actions developed during the game that do not involve combat and fighting will be resolved through narrative and interpretation, some situations might require rolls to overcome specific difficulties.

Thus, often in the game a character will be required to take a test on one of his own characteristics. In order to pass this test, the character has to roll a D6 and obtain a result equal to or lower than the value of the characteristic involved. Note that if you roll a 6, you automatically fail the test regardless of the model’s characteristic value.

i.e. Thaurbax wants to bring down a door by means of his own strength. Thus he will roll a Strength test with a D6. If he (who has S4) rolls 1-4 he will bring down the door. If he however rolls 5 or 6, he will fail and the door will withstand his mighty strength.

Notes:

- Abilities and actions that might require dexterity, use Initiative (for example, lock-picking, sneaking, and so on), so think about I, as a characteristic that combines both Agility and Dexterity, also in a non combat situation.

- Charisma actions (such as convincing people, orating, etc), use Leadership. However, Leadership rolls are taken in a slightly different way as described below, since they will also be used for special rules and actions involving psychology such as Fear for an specific enemy.

Leadership tests:

Tests against the Leadership characteristic are done in a slightly different way. In the case of a Leadership test, you should roll two dice and add the two scores together. If the result is equal to or less than the model’s Leadership characteristic, the test has been passed.

i.e. Dieter’s Leadership is 7, so to pass a Leadership test he must roll 7 or less on 2D6.

Magic:

There have always been those who have used magic: witches and wizards, wise women and warlocks. But as all scholars know, all magic is dangerous.

Spells are cast during the character's turn, and can be used even if the caster is in hand-to-hand combat. To use a spell, the wizard must roll equal to or greater than the spell's Difficulty score using 1D6 or 2D6 (to his choice) and adding his mastery level. If he fails, he may not cast a spell that turn. If the test is passed the spell may be used as described overleaf. A wizard may cast one spell per turn. If a result of double 2, 3, 4, or 5s is obtained, the spell fails automatically. If a result of double 1s is obtained, the spells fails and the caster will suffer a wound on a result of 4+ in 1D6. If a double 6 is rolled, the spell is cast independently of the difficulty, but the wizard will suffer a wound on a result of 4+ in 1D6.

Unless otherwise stated, a wizard may not use magic if he is wearing armor or has a shield or buckler

Example. Rudolf 'the Illuminated' is a level 2 wizard who wants to cast a potent fire storm. The difficulty for such spell is 11. He decides to use 2D6 and rolls the dices... He will add +2 to the result thanks to his Level 2, thus, with a total of 9+ the spell will be successful. However, he rolls double 5s, and the spell fails. He will have to wait until his next turn to try again, but he knows he was also lucky not to be punished by the Winds of Magic (two 1s or two 6s). Next turn, he decides to cast a less potent fireball. The difficulty for such spell is 5, so he decides to use just 1D6. He rolls 3, then adds +2 because of his level. The spell is successfully cast.

Types of Magic and Spells List: There are more than 10 types of Magic and spell lists. They are arcane knowledge and as such, only those characters versed in the mystic ways of the unknown will have access to them. And even those will have access to one or two types of such powerful supernatural knowledge (aka, only the characters that will be able to use Magic will have access to the spell lists in their particular character scenes)

Equipment:

This section describes most common equipment and its effects in terms of game play. Items are categorized according to a generic term, so 'things like a/an' follow the same rules as the verbatim they refer to.

Close combat weapons:

Fist. Strength: As user -1; Special Rule: +1 Enemy armor save (An enemy wounded by a fist gains a +1 bonus to his armour save, and a 6+ armour save if he normally has none)

Dagger: Strength: As user; Special Rule: +1 Enemy armor save (An enemy wounded by a fist gains a +1 bonus to his armour save, and a 6+ armour save if he normally has none)

One handed weapons (swords, axes, maces, clubs, etc): Strength: As user; Special Rule: Multiple weapons (A character armed with two one handed weapons has +1 Attacks)

Flail: Strength: As user +2; Special Rules: Heavy (a flail is extremely tiring to use and thus the +2 Strength bonus applies only in the first turn of each hand-to hand combat), Two-handed (as a flail requires two hands to use, a character using a flail may not use a shield, large shield, buckler or additional weapon in close combat. If the model has a shield he still gets a bonus to his armor save against shooting).

Halberd: Strength: As user +1; Special Rule: Two-handed (as a halberd requires two hands to use, a character using a halberd may not use a shield, large shield, buckler or additional weapon in close combat. If the model has a shield he still gets a bonus to his armor save against shooting)

Thrusting Spear: Strength: As user; Special Rules: Strike first (a warrior with a spear strikes first in the first turn of
hand-to-hand combat), Unwieldy (a character with a spear star may not use a second weapon or buckler in his other hand because it requires all his skill to wield it. He may carry a shield as normal though), Cavalry weapon. (a mounted character charging with a Thrusting spear receives a +2 Strength if he is charging the enemy)

Throwing Spear:  Strength: As user; Special Rules: Throwing at close range (a character armed with throwing spears may repeat his rolls to hit in the first turn of each hand-to-hand combat).

Double-handed sword, hammer, axe, etc: Strength: As user +2; Special Rules: Two-handed (a character armed with a double-handed weapon may not use a shield, buckler or additional weapon in close combat. If the model is equipped with a shield he will still get a +1 bonus to his armour save against shooting), Strike last (Double-handed weapons are so heavy that the character using them always strikes last, even when charging)

Equipment (cont.)

Range weapons:

Bow: Strength: 3; Special Rules: None

Long bow: Strength: 3; Special Rules: -1 Save modifier (a long bow has a -1 save modifier on armor saves against it)

Crossbow: Strength: 4; Special Rule: Move or fire (reloading a crossbow requires the character to remain stationary. He may not move and fire a crossbow on the same turn)

Sling: Strength: 2; Special Rule: Fire twice (slings are easy to reload. A character may fire twice per turn using a sling)

Javelin: Strength: 3; Special Rules: Stuck at shields (shields and large shields can not be used to confer armor save bonuses against javelins)

Daggers, knifes, throwing stars, throwing axes, etc: Strength: 3; Special Rule: Fire twice (A character may fire twice per turn using them), +1 Enemy armor save (An enemy wounded by a them gains a +1 bonus to his armor save, and a 6+ armor save if he normally has none)

Equipment (cont.):

Armor:

Light armor: saving throw of 6+.

Heavy armor: saving throw of 5+.

Complete armor: saving throw of 4+.

Buckler: +1 armor save only in hand to hand combat.

Shield: +1 armor save.

Large shield: +2 armor save. Only on foot.

Mounted: A mounted character receives +1 armor save.

Cover: different types of cover might be used during the game and will grant different modifiers according to each particular case (i.e. covering behind a felt over table against archers)

Special, rare and or magic skills, equipment, items and weapons:

In addition to the general rules presented before, there are special rules granted by special abilities, magic items, rare weapons, or many other, out-of-the-ordinary, capabilities of the characters and the world surrounding them.

Since they are unique in many ways, I will not present all of them here but explain them when needed. For example, those that affect a certain PC, will be described in his particular scene. In the case of NPCs, the particular special rules/items/weapons that apply to them, will be explained in the corresponding entry of the Bestiary as soon as you encounter the specific foe (although general lore might be obtained upper hand and will result in an updated compendium of special rules. i.e. undead foes cause Fear, which requires successful Leadership rolls to overcome)