CONFLICTS

Conflicts are of two kinds: physical and mental, differing in game mechanics terms only in the kinds of injuries they inflict. They follow a pattern,

INITIATIVE

Someone initiates the conflict. Who goes first is determined by a Quickie contest of the relevant conflict skills of each. People not expecting attack have a DM-3 to their check.

ACTIONS

In each round, a character gets two actions, choosing between handle, orient, move, attack and defend. Talking and so on are free actions. Actions must be decided at the beginning of the round, and can only be changed to Orient or Defend. Only attacks need be rolled for, unless a complementary trait is being brought in.

Handle means drawing or sheathing a weapon, reloading, and so on.

Orient means to look around the field and see what's happening, otherwise the character sees just who or what's in front of them.

A character may move Reflexes metres (adjusted for encumbrance, see below) in an action.

An attack roll is generally the 2d6 + skill + familiarities.

Defence doesn't require that the defender see the attacker, only that they decide to move evasively; it is their Reflexes + relevant skill level; using the skill does not take an extra action. Fire is used to defend against Fire attacks, and Brawling or Melee against either. Familiarities don't help with defence. An attribute may come in as a complementary trait, this takes an extra action. Each defence is against one attack only, and without a Defence action, only a 0+ roll is needed to hit them.

Ranged attacks

A character may only physically throw a weapon Strength x Strength metres divided by the weight of the weapon, weapons under 1kg are treated as 1kg.

Some ranged weapons such as bows have a Strength multiplier, for example shortbow x1.5, longbow x2, composite bow x3. Firearms typically have a Strength rating giving their maximum range, for example Brown Bess musket Str 15 (225m), FN-FAL Str 28 (784m).

Ranged attacks are affected by distance from target to victim. See the table to find the range number, rounding down.

Scopes, darkness and so on may also give DM. If not evading, then the victim's roll is automatically 0; the firer can still miss if they get a Balls-Up (rolling 1,1 or getting a roll with DM of 0 or less).

Ammunition

If a character misses in their attack and has doubles on their roll, the weapon goes "click", the magazine is empty and the character must do a handling action to reload.

Armour

Armours have a Coverage Rating. When the PC is struck, roll to see if it struck a covered place or not.  

There's also Armour Rating. The first level equal to Armour is stopped completely, the second lot is halved, and anything after that gets through fully.

COMBAT MODIFIERS

DM-1

• firing while running or airborne, or target running.

• firing “wild” (as in darkness, etc)

• firing from hip

• firing with both hands at the same time, that is, two weapons

• using two-handed weapon one-handed

• firing with off-hand

• target crouching

• target prone (DM-2, ie harder to hit than a Crouching person, unless the attacker is directly above them, then it's DM+1 instead)

• for ranged attacks, target running full-pelt (ie at full move). Melee, Brawling and Wrestling attacks are unaffected by the target running.

• For ranged weapons, targets cannot normally be hit beyond the triple-malus range, but effective ranges are doubled if a telescope is used.

• Aiming at large body part (chest, abdomen, leg)

• Aiming at medium body part (double malus, head, neck, arm)

• Aiming at a small body part (hand, eye, and yes boys, the groin is small).

DM+1

• firing a familiar weapon

• firing “steadied” – you have taken an action to rest and aim

• firing “supported” (includes tripods, etc) - doesn't require an extra action, can't be combined with "steadied"

• using two hands on a one-handed weapon

• not under fire (ambushing, target-shooting, sniping)

• taking 1+ actions to aim (patience is a virtue) - maximum DM+3

• Using scope (requires a full Action to use)