Introductory Recap

This is the third post on the development of a bespoke game system for use in my latest campaign, which is now scheduled to start play on October 21st – so finishing this has become a priority.

Let’s start with a recap. A couple of minor details that weren’t properly explained the first time around are presented in italic bold.

Stats:

In the first article, I listed the 18 stats that I expected to use, with some notes on how they would tie into the game system. I have re-ordered them slightly in the list below to move most of the calculated stats to the bottom of the list.

• STR – Strength, i.e. physical force.
• CON – Constitution, i.e. health.
• RES – Resistance to physical harm, assuming maximum defensive armor. Lighter armors subtract from it.
• NIM – Nimbleness. Heavier armors will subtract from it.
• DEX – overall measure of manual Dexterity, used for manipulating tools and keyboards. The stat rolled is averaged with NIM to get the actual stat value. Hand protection will subtract from it.
• ACC – Accuracy with aimed weapons.
• MEL – effectiveness with Melee weapons & unarmed combat.
• PRAC – the character’s aptitude for Practical skills.
• THEO – the character’s aptitude for intellectual/analytic/Theory skills.
• ENC – Encyclopedic Knowledge, the character’s knowledge bank of facts and processes.
• LAN – the character’s capacity for quick-learning Languages. Discussed below.
• AWA – Awareness of the environment around the character, used for “spot” and “listen” checks.
• PERS – Personality, a combination of Presence, Charisma, and Persuasiveness, the foundation of any interpersonal skills.
• END – Endurance. Starts equal to CON.
• INT – Intelligence. Equal to 1/4 of (PRAC + THEO + ENC + LAN), + 1d6, -1d6.
• HP – Hit Points. Equal to 2 x CON + RES + NIM.
• SHK – Shock Threshold. equal to 1/5th HP, round up.
• KARMA – The universe’s debt to the character’s good fortune. Initially 10, -1 for each stat with a score of 17 or better, +1 for each stat with a score of 8 or less. Karma can be sacrificed in-game to gain a lucky advantage or to buy off a restriction placed on the PCs by the campaign background, the latter at prices to be determined by the GM. Some penalties must be bought off collectively by all PCs contributing to a pool. The GM can also throw unlucky circumstances at the PCs which turn into a Karma boost if the PCs overcome the circumstance indirectly, i.e. without directly countering with PC Karma, effectively adding to the XP that the characters get for the adventure.

It then went into the stat population process – how stat values are generated and allocated – in some detail, so I won’t repeat it here.

Stat Checks

Roll 4d6 + modifier from the GM. The character needs to get stat or less on this roll to succeed in the challenge.

Improving Stats

During Character Generation, +1 to a stat for -3 skill points or -1 to a stat for +2 skill points.

Skills

Skill Base Values

Stat / 2 +2, round up.

Skill Points

Starting skill points = INT x 2.

Skill Definitions

Characters define their own skills. Their profession must be the first such skill listed.

Skills are then classified by the GM as Specific, Narrow, or Broad. Specific skills are only useful for one small, closely-related set of tasks; Narrow skills are useful for a somewhat wider variety of tasks; and Broad skills are useful in a wide variety of applications. These cost 1, 2, or 4 skill points, respectively.

Skill Checks

When the PC attempts a task, he lists any skills he feels are relevant. The GM selects a stat basis that he thinks is most relevant and picks the single skill that is most appropriate from the list offered by the player.

Skill ranks + stat basis + modifier = target value. Player rolls 3d6 and must get less than or equal to the target value to succeed.

If a character has more than one skill that might be relevant, he must select the most relevant one, breaking ties in favor of narrowness. Each additional skill, if the GM agrees that it is also relevant, adds 2 to the target value for the check.

Weapon Skills

Characters can take weapon skills. These are broadly defined, and cost 2 skill points each, or general category skills, costing 3 skill points each. “Gun” is a general category, and so is “Firearm”. “Handgun” or “Pistol” or “Rifle” are broadly defined weapons types. If characters want to waste their points, a specific skill in a specific model (1 point) can also be applied.

Unproficient

If a character has no ranks in the skill he is attempting to use, his chance of success is defined by the relevant Skill Foundation alone, +1 for each indirectly-related skill the GM deems appropriate.

Improving Skills

Additional ranks in a skill cost 1 skill point per rank.

Skill Standards [from article 2]

Expert/Professional = 3 ranks
Skilled Assistant = 2 ranks
Trainees/Junior Assistants = 1 rank
Unskilled/Support Staff = 0 ranks

Eventual Success

If the referee deems a circumstance to be such that the characters will eventually succeed and is more interested in how long it takes to achieve that success, instead of applying “Extra Time” as a modifier, he can use the degree of success or failure on the skill or stat check as an index and interpret the “extra time” as an indicator of how long success takes to achieve. He may apply a modifier to this result based on the degree of success that the characters indicate is desired.

For example, if setting up a camp site, the characters may deem a marginal success as undesirable. Based on the standards that they describe, the GM may decide that success by 5 or more is what they want to achieve; when they make their check, he reduces the margin of success by 5, accordingly, before consulting the extra time chart.

There is a trade-off possible in which quality of outcome is further traded for extra time taken to achieve it, or vice-versa, and the GM may also interpret the results for the players in such a way that they have the choice of accepting an outcome or of spending more time to achieve a better result.

Disadvantages

These are ranked in terms of applicability of circumstance by the GM and awarded values of 1, 2, or 4 points, (specific to general). Specific disadvantages cause a reduction in proficiency in one particular skill or similar area of activity. Two points affect a broader range of activities, while 4 point skills affect a very wide range of activities. For example, “Poor at Mathematics” is a 2-point disadvantage.

If the Disadvantage is one that isn’t readily/directly applicable to skill checks, the impact on the character’s life and freedom of choice should be assessed and a value chosen based on a skill penalty of similar impact.

Multiple ranks can be taken in a Disadvantage; each confers the equivalent of two negative ranks. Each additional rank reduces in value by 1 point to a minimum of one point.

Disadvantage Points add directly to the number of Skill Points available to the character.

Karma Limits

There is a limit to the total number of ranks that a character can have in a given disadvantage equal to his starting Karma divided by 3, round up.

There is a limit to the number of disadvantages that a character can earn points from that is equal to his current Karma.

Removing/Reducing Disadvantages

Before a Disadvantage can be removed, it must be reduced to a single rank. Normally, only one rank can be removed from a given disadvantage per adventure but this restriction can be varied by the GM if it seems appropriate.

To remove a rank in a disadvantage, the character expends 1 point of Karma, reducing his Karma total accordingly.

Karmic Debt

If a character’s Karma drops in the course of an adventure to the point that he is forced to reduce one or more disadvantages because they would exceed the Karmic Limit described above, he is forced to experience a Complication.

A Complication is a player-invoked setback that worsens one or more other disadvantages by one rank for each rank in the Disadvantage being nullified. If he can no longer do so because his disadvantages are at the maximum permitted level, a stat other than Karma is semi-permanently reduced as a consequence of the setback. Note that this has to happen in-play.

The nature of the setback offered by the player and the number of stat points lost determine the value of the Complication – minus one point in one stat is worth one rank in the setback. That means that the scale of the Complication should be set to match the total unpaid Karmic Debt accrued by the event.

Another form of setback that is acceptable is for the player to deliberately blow a mission-critical roll for his character and refuse a re-roll.

Setbacks are treated as disadvantages worth “negative karma” and can be paid off whenever the GM deems it appropriate by the expenditure of earned Karma, i,e, XP (see below).

Karmic Starvation

If a reduction in disadvantages means that a character has expended more on skills than his disadvantages can pay for, he experiences Karmic Starvation. This mandates a Complication, as above, but instead of reducing ranks in Disadvantages, it temporarily reduces the amount of skill points expended by two skill points per rank in the Complication.

Other Uses For Karma

• Karma can be used to re-roll a failed roll at the player’s discretion, or to give another character a +5 in a mission-critical roll. These applications consume one Karma.
• Karma can be converted into additional Skill Points at the rate of 2 Skill points per point of Karma consumed.
• Karma can be converted into a stat increase at the rate of 2 Karma per +1. Once a stat exceeds 25, this cost doubles, and for every +5 to that limit, it doubles again. Note that this is far more expensive than during character construction.
• Karma can be expended during character construction to modify rolled stats. Every point of Karma consumed permits one stat to be reduced by 1 and another to be increased by 2. Note that this also affects the character’s Starting Karma.
• Karma can be expended to obtain a stroke of good fortune in the course of an adventure. The player tells the GM what “good luck” he would like to have and the GM counts the number of successful rolls that he would normally require in order to achieve the same outcome. That count is the cost of the stroke of good fortune, in Karma. If the cost is more than the character can or is willing to pay, the GM may propose a lower-cost variation that gives the PCs some or even all of what they want; the GM is expected to work with the players in this respect.
• Karma can be expended to reduce or remove a limitation placed on the characters by the campaign setup or background, for example to expand a character’s Meitner Field Radius, permitting them to carry more equipment through a Zener Transition. An explanation for this change will be incorporated into the next adventure by the GM, and the benefit will take effect from that time, NOT immediately.
• Finally, Karma can be expended to delay the next Zener Transition long enough for the PCs to complete their current adventure. The cost in Karma is the Time Shift shown on the modifiers table. This will only be possible after three specific campaign upgrades are purchased – enlarged Meitner Fields (PCs can carry equipment), Limited Comms to Zener Command (who design a detector), and Zener Transition Threshold Detection (when the PCs build the device designed by Zener Command).

Experience

Experience is earned for surviving an adventure.

More experience is earned for helping the locals deal with whatever problem they are experiencing when the PCs arrive. +50% XP for a solution to be implemented by the locals following PC advice, double XP for a solution to the problem that is put in place by the PCs, and these are doubled again for a permanent solution to the problem. Typical BASE xp will be 1-3 per game session, lower more often than higher, based on the length of the adventure and the difficulties that have to be overcome.

Selfish or amoral behavior reduces XP award is by 1, but this will be waived if the whole purpose of the plotline is to benefit the PCs in some way.

XP is paid in additional Karma.

The GM can (and probably will) choose to introduce an additional complication into an adventure at any time, at the cost of immediately giving the directly-affected character or characters 2 Karma, or he can give an NPC +10 to a roll (GREATLY increasing their chances of success) and increasing the Karma of one or more PCs by 1. He can do this AFTER a roll is made, turning a failure into a success . These immediate payments are in addition to any Karma earned in the course of the adventure. Increasing the difficulty can also increase the Karmic Reward at the end of the adventure. However, setbacks and complications from Karmic Debt or Karmic Starvation do not affect the Karmic Payout.

If a PC chooses to, he can sacrifice Karma to nullify or redress this interference through a stroke of good fortune, as described earlier; doing so means that the complication introduced by the GM also doesn’t count toward the end-of-adventure bonus. You get “paid” to solve your own problems through game-play, not use the game mechanics to do it for you.

Unspent Karma is always useful to have, but spending it improves the self-reliance of the PCs. Having too much unspent Karma effectively reduces the effectiveness of the PCs, having not enough can induce Karmic Debt or Karmic Starvation. The margin that a player considers safe is up to him!

As the PCs discover the situation that they are in, the GM may choose to symbolically reflect each piece of bad news for the players with a token representing an increased XP value for the adventure. The more impossible the situation seems to be, the more Karma he makes “up for grabs” – if the PCs are clever enough to earn it!

Equipment

Equipment in general is defined in the same way as skills (broad, narrow, specific) but is never the basis of a check. Equipment does count for the purposes of “other appropriate skills” or “indirectly-related skills”, provided the equipment is actually being used for the task – actually having a “.33 special” doesn’t help in firing that 44 Magnum.

Unless noted otherwise as part of the circumstances, a skill implies having the appropriate equipment; buying the equipment specifically in addition to the skill implies that the character has something that’s been customized or modified to suit them. So “Fisherman” implies having a rod and reel, or the means to improvise something. Actually buying a Fishing Rod in addition is unnecessary (but does provide a bonus to your fisherman skill checks).

If circumstances have left the character without those implied tools, that’s a factor that the GM takes into account with his circumstantial modifiers.

Three exceptions are weapons, armor, and Campaign MacGuffins.

Weapons

The cost and characteristics of a weapon are calculated as follows:

• The base damage inflicted by a weapon is up to the GM. As a rule of thumb, most melee weapons will be 1d6 or smaller, most handguns will be 2d6, most rifles will be 3d6, most shotguns will be 4d6, most grenades will be 5d6, most anti-vehicle weapons will 6d6 or more. Base Damage: 1 point for 1/3 d6, 2 points for 1/2 d6, 3 points for 1d6, 4 points for 2d6, 5 points for 3d6, and so on.
• Rate Of Fire: 1 point for 1 shot per round, 2 points for a short burst per round (conferring an extra d6 on the damage), 3 points for full auto (confers an extra 2 1/2 d6 per round).
• Additional Damage: 1 point for each +1 to damage.
• Maximum Range: The above costs are added together and compared to the universal index table (see below) to determine the base range. The GM can then restrict this to an “effective range”, reducing the cost of the weapon 1 point for every 2 steps up the table. Weapons defined as “Melee” automatically have zero range, but additional range can then be bought as “reach”.

This cost is halved (round up) if the character takes an appropriate skill in the weapon’s use.

Note that until PCs buy an Expanded Meitner Field, there are limits on what weaponry a character can carry.

Equipment that PCs obtain in the course of an adventure but can’t take with them costs nothing.

If the equipment is completely consumed or used up in the course of an adventure, the PC is refunded all but 1 point of the actual cost.

Armor

The cost and characteristics of armor are calculated as follows:

• Hardness (1-10 scale) – each step on the scale increases the protection provided by the armor in the form of bonus Resistance.
• Coverage (1-4 scale) – each step on the scale increases the amount of protection provided by the armor by approximately 25%, so one-quarter coverage, half-coverage, three-quarters coverage, or whole-body coverage.
• These are multiplied together, The penalty imposed to Nimbleness is then decided based on what the GM considers reasonable and added to the total.
• The result divided by three is the cost of the armor in Skill Points.

This cost is halved (round up) if the character takes an appropriate skill in the armor’s use.

Note that until PCs buy an Expanded Meitner Field, there are limits on what weaponry a character can carry.

Equipment that PCs obtain in the course of an adventure but can’t take with them costs nothing.

If the equipment is completely consumed or used up in the course of an adventure, the PC is refunded all but 1 point of the actual cost.

Campaign MacGuffins

Some of the campaign limitations are so “big” that they have to be bought off in stages, for example constructing a reliable communications link back to Zener Command. Less-reliable comms will become available as plot devices in the meanwhile.

Each point of Karma expended for the purpose by any PC adds to the total invested in “Campaign MacGuffins” and is translated into a component of the whole or a refinement of the design or construction that will be incorporated into the next adventure.

These tangible Campaign MacGuffins will be given suitable names in-game, e.g. “crystal radio set”. When the GM feels that the characters have accumulated enough of them, an improvement will be made in one restriction. These amounts are being left flexible for now, but the rough scale is intended to be 4 points for a minor improvement, 10 points for a new capability, 20 points for the complete removal of a limitation.

A couple of side-notes before I continue.

XP Balance

First, part of the rationale behind the point costs for Campaign MacGuffins suggested above is that I want time for the players to get used to a given “state of the campaign” before the next upgrade, part of it refers to the value that I expect it to have in terms of advantages to the PCs, and part of it is controlling the amount of XP that the characters have available for improvement in their abilities.

Take another look at that XP-earning profile. To make an adventure interesting, there might be a couple of setbacks thrown into the plot. There could be as many as 3 base XP. That gets us to 7. If the PCs provide a permanent solution to whatever the problem is that the locals are experiencing when the PCs arrive, that gets multiplied by 4, to 28, and there are two PCs in this campaign, so that’s effectively 56 between them. On top of that, there’s 4-8 instant XP for those setbacks – so, “best-case” scenario from the PC’s point of view gives them as much as 64 xp to spend.

If a couple of points get expended by each on re-rolls, and maybe a couple more on “stroke of good luck” – call it 8 points between them – and if each keeps 8 points unspent for the next adventure, that leaves 40 points. 20 points spent on a major Campaign Macguffin, and that will leave 20 to spend on skills and stats – from a major adventure.

A smaller adventure might have one setback affecting both PCs, and would only be worth a base of 1 xp. Again assuming a best-case scenario, that’s (2+2)x4=16 xp each, or a total between them of 32 xp. With the same 8 spent, and the same 16 held in reserve by both, that leaves 8 – enough for a minor Campaign Macguffin and 2 points each for a small skill or stat improvement.

Those aren’t huge amounts, given perhaps half-a-dozen to a dozen skills and 18 stats.

Of course, the players might spend less, and keep a smaller reserve, and might already have a reserve from previous adventures – so they might have more to spend. At the same time, as the campaign proceeds, they will also have expenses for equipment to eat into those past reserves.

Although the numbers were tossed out fairly quickly in the first article, there was actually a lot of thought given to campaign balance behind the scenes. The goal is to give away enough experience that the campaign and PCs keep progressing, while not being enough to produce overwhelming change, and keeping the PCs hungry for more..

Min-Maxing is extremely difficult

Another key consideration behind the scenes is that the system is designed to give players multiple priorities to choose between, several of them contradictory if not competing. The goal is to make min-maxing very hard to achieve.

This mattered in the design because one of the expected players is very good at doing this sort of thing almost instinctively, while the other is not. Making it more difficult to find a clear path to overwhelming advantage should equalize the two.

In particular, the stat roll selection mechanism is intended to ensure that all characters have room to develop. Choosing a high INT brings skill flexibility, which will pay off over the longer term, but sucks a lot of points out of the character in the short term, when stat improvement is at its most efficient, and well-chosen skills are at their most valuable.

But each of the stats brings a benefit to the character, there are no obvious dump stats, and that’s not by accident.

Which brings me to the second article, and the populating of the Modifiers Table. This is a central feature of the game system. I have compiled everything into a single table (which fits on two pages) but I’ll break it down below. First, incidental rules; second the base values and progression rates; and third, the actual tables. In addition, near the end of the boxed-off recap, a two-page PDF putting everything together into a single two-page table (A4 in size, so if you print a copy you will want to take that into account).

Additional Rules

Impossible Chances

If it is impossible for the character to succeed, a character can try for a miracle success. For every extra dice they roll and count toward the total, they increase the target by +2, up to the point where a possible roll is achieved.

If a character can’t fail, the character can choose to add “extra benefits” to their attempt. The GM evaluates what benefit or trick the player wants to add as an increase in the difficulty. For every 2 over 18/-, the difficulty target gets reduced by 2 for every extra dice that the character gets to roll, while ignoring all but the lowest 3.

These are intended to (1) give PCs a chance at achieving a hail-Mary pass; and (2) offer them a benefit if they increase the chance of failing when success would otherwise be automatic, both as optional rules that the player (not the GM) can invoke.

Loads

A Balanced load counts for 1/2 of its actual weight. An unbalanced load counts for its full weight. A Distributed load counts for 1/3 of its actual weight.

Shared loads are calculated by dividing the total load by the number of participants gives each individual load, and the group can only move as fast, and as far, as it’s most heavily-burdened character.

Vehicle STR defines their carrying capacity, which is used for fuel, passengers, and luggage. These are considered balanced loads.

Target Size Adjustment

If the range modifier is greater than the target size modifier, add the Range Adjustment Modifier based on the difference. If the range modifier is smaller than the target size modifier, subtract the difference.

Cover

Cover reduces the effective size of the target as shown. So does choosing a more precise target vs attacking the full body of an opponent.

The system is based on +0 for fully-exposed human. -1 for head & torso or aiming for a flesh wound; -2 for head and neck; -3 for an open hand or a weapon in hand; -6 for an eye socket.

Extra Time Spent/Rushing

Taking extra time or rushing a task produces the modifier shown on the time chart. This does not apply to aiming weapons, which have a special interpretation of the time chart (see below). Simply pointing a weapon in the general direction of a target and pulling the trigger (i.e. suppression fire) is defined as having a -5 chance to hit.

Aiming

The time spent aiming is converted to a bonus to hit according to the time chart. Pistols capped at 2 sec, Rifles capped at 10 sec, Sniper attacks capped at 10 min.

Assistants

The number of assistants of skill level 1 less than the lead operator for a given bonus is shown on the table of values. For assistants of skill level 2 less, drop one level on the table, and so on.

Table Summary

Base Table Values:

Weight/Load: index 10 = 30kg
Distance/Range: index 0 = 1m
Target Size: index 0 = 1m² at 2m, 10=1000m² at 2m.
Aiming/Extra Time: This is non-linear, consult the table.
Delicacy: index 0 = 1 cm
Scaling: index 0 = x1
Assistants: 0 = None at skill -1, 1 step down for additional reductions in skill

Table Value Progressions:

Weight/Load: x2 Weight for +7 index value.
Distance/Range: x10 distance for +10 index value
Target Size: index +1 = Approx x2
Aiming/Extra Time: This is non-linear, consult the table.
Delicacy: index +1 = /2, index +2=/10.
Scaling: index +1 = x10
Assistants: index +1 = +(index+1), +1 after index 2

Tables

In addition to being presented below, the Zener Gate system tables have also been compiled into a 2-page PDF (in the format they were ultimately intended to take), which can be downloaded by clicking the icon to the left.

Weight/Load Table: -24 1.5 kg pistol + holster; two grenades, 4 loaves of bread -11 4 kg rifle, lightweight sleeping bag -8 5 kg pickax, riding saddle -7 6 kg portable astronomy telescope -6 6.5kg heavy sleeping bag -5 7 kg folding cot, cloth & aluminum -4 8 kg shot-put, baby -3 8.7 kg sleeping bag, arctic weight, wide-band radio receiver -2 9.6 kg large baby -1 10.5 kg typical overnight bag, portable TV set 0 12 kg aluminum 12′ ladder, M-60 light machine gun 1 13 kg 25 gallon barrel of water, western saddle, bicycle 2 14 kg heavy overnight bag, small wood & canvas folding table, 1-man tent 3 15 kg large metal toolbox, man-length of light rope 4 17 kg block-and-tackle 5 18.5 kg Encyclopedia Set 6 20 kg Small Child, Chainsaw, 2-man canvas tent 7 22.5 kg Small Missile, goat 8 25 kg Full Suitcase, Small TV 9 27 kg 4-man canvas tent 10 30 kg Movie camera 11 33 kg 12 36 kg 13 40 kg child 14 45 kg small sack of mail 15 50 kg older child 16 55 kg 17 60 kg early teen 18 66 kg 19 72kg 20 80 kg teenager, slightly-built adult 21 88 kg 22 100 kg healthy large adult 23 110 kg overweight/large adult 24 120 kg 25 132 kg 26 144 kg 27 160 kg 28 175 kg 29 200 kg piano 30 220 kg 31 240 kg 32 265 kg 33 290 kg 34 320 kg 35 350 kg 36 400 kg Large motorcycle 37 440kg

 

Distance/Range Table: -8 16cm pistol barrel, female hand -7 20 cm male hand & wrist -6 25 cm 1′ -5 32 cm -4 40 cm forearm & hand -3 50 cm forearm, hand, pistol barrel -2 64 cm ~2′ -1 80 cm arm’s length 0 1m 3′ 1 1.3m ~4.25′ 2 1.6m ~5.25′ 3 2m 3 normal steps, 4 2.5m ~8′ 5 3.2m ~10.5′ 6 4m 13.1′, approx length of a small car 7 5m ~1.5 small cars or approx 10 sec walk at slow pace (2km/h) 8 6.4m ~21′ (length of a semitrailer) 9 8m ~26′ 10 10m ~33′ 11 13m ~42.5′ (distance traveled in ~0.5 sec at 60mph or walked in ~10 sec at normal pace (4 km/h)) 12 16m ~52′ (distance traveled in ~0.5 sec at 75mph, or 1 sec at 35mph, or walked in ~10sec at brisk pace (6 km/h)) 13 20m >65′ 14 25m railway carriage, ~82′, distance traveled in 0.93 sec at 60mph) 15 32m ~105′ (distance traveled in ~2 sec at 35mph or walked in ~1min at slow pace (2km/h)) 16 40m ~130′ (distance traveled in 1.2 sec at 75mph) 17 50m 164′ 18 65m ~213′ (distance traveled in 2.4 sec at 60mph or walked in ~1 min at normal pace (4km/h)) 19 80m ~262.5′ (distance traveled in 2.4 sec at 75mph) 20 100m 328′ (distance walked in 1 min at brisk pace (6km/h)) 21 130m 426.5′ 22 160m 525′ 23 200m >655′ 24 250m ~820′, about 1 city block 25 320m 1050′ or 0.2 miles, ~1 sec at Mach 1 26 400m 1/4 mile 27 500m 0.31 miles 28 650m 0.4 miles, ~1 sec at Mach 2 29 800m 1/2 mile 30 1 km 0.6 miles, 1 sec at Mach 3 31 1.3 km 0.8 miles, 1 sec at Mach 4 32 1.6 km 1 mile (distance traveled in 1 min at 60 mph or 1 sec at Mach 5) 33 2 km 1.25 miles 34 2.5km 1.55 miles (distance traveled in ~1.25 min at 75mph, or in 7.33 sec at mach 1) 35 3.2km 2 miles 36 4km 2.5 miles (~6 sec at Mach 2) 37 5km 3.1 miles (2.9 sec at Mach 5)

 
Target Size Table:

Target Size Table (at 2m): -8 Keyhole -7 Ring, Bulls-eye -6 Eye Socket -5 Finger -4 Fist -3 Open hand or weapon in hand -2 Human head and neck -1 Human head and torso, or aiming for a Flesh Wound 0 1 square m Whole Human Body 1 Large Motorcycle, Doorway 2 Small Car Side View 3 Truck Side View 4 Aircraft control cabin 5 Fishing Trawler, Barn Door 6 Locomotive, Barn Side 7 Small Train 8 Large Train, Freighter (Side view), Small House 9 Large House 10 Small Mansion, Lighthouse 11 Large Mansion, Eiffel Tower 12 The Pentagon (top view) 13 Small Skyscraper (side view) 14 12,000 square m 15 25,000 square m 16 50,000 square m 17 1 square km 18 2 square km 19 4 square km 20 8 square km 21 15 square km 22 30 square km 23 60 square km 24 120 square km 25 250 square km

 

Range Adjustment: +1 1 +2 3 +3 7 +4 12 +5 18 +6 25 +7 33 +8 42 +9 52 +10 63

 

Aiming/Extra Time Table: -6 < x 0.1 -5 x 0.1 -4 x 0.2 -3 x 0.4 -2 x 0.6 -1 x 0.75 0 x 1 1 x 1.5 2 x 2 3 x 5 4 x 10 5 x 20 6 x 50 7 x 100 8 x 200 9 x 500 10 x 1,000 11 x 2,000 12 x 5,000 13 x 10,000+

 

Delicacy Table: -2 1m -1 5 cm 0 1 cm A marble, Bone thickness 1 5 mm Ants, Seeds 2 1 mm Pixel, Furniture tolerance 3 0.1 mm Human hair, Resolution limit – naked eye 4 0.05 mm Thickness, paper sheet; Human skin cell 5 0.01 mm Silk fiber, 1971 transistor 6 5 µm Cell nucleus, X Chromosome, Red blood cell 7 1 µm (1 micron) Y chromosome, clay particle, e coli bacterium 8 500 nm largest virus; 750 nm = red wavelength, 400 nm = violet wavelength 9 100 nm HIV Virus; Resolution limit – optical microscope 10 50 nm Hepatitis B virus Infrared wavelength 11 10 nm 25 nm = 2017 transistors 12 5 nm Cell membrane, DNA 13 1 nm = 100 Angstroms Buckyball 14 50 Angstroms Glucose molecule, Cesium atom 15 10 Angstroms 34 Å = Carbon atom 28 Å = Water molecule 16 5 Angstroms Resolution limit – electron microscope 17 1 Angstrom 3.1 Å = Hydrogen atom, 2.5 Å = Helium atom 18 0.5 Angstroms 19 1 picometer Gamma Ray wavelengths Resolution limit – theoretical gamma-ray microscope 20 50 femtometers 21 10 femtometers 15 fm = Uranium nucleus 22 5 femtometers 3 fm = Helium nucleus 23 1 femtometer Proton, Neutron 24 500 attometers 25 100 attometers smallest confirmed objects in existence

 
Scaling Table:

Scaling Table: 0 x1 1 x 10 (Magnifying glass, Jeweler’s loupe) High-quality precision manual tools 2 x 100 Scaling limit, precision manual tools 3 x1000 Primitive process-based designer tools, Computerized scaling tools 4 x10k Generation-2 process-based tools, Computerized scaling tools 5 x100k (Resolution limit, optical microscopes) Generation-3 process-based tools, Light/laser-based scaling tools 6 x 1M Generation-4 process-based tools, Energy-beam-based scaling tools 7 x 10M Virus-based nanotechnology, Generation-5 process-based tools 8 x 100M True nanomachines, the Nanocar 9 x 1000M (Resolution limit – Electron Microscopes) Process-based chemical tools, Buckyballs 10 x 10G or more (Sci-Fi Only)

 

Assistants Table: 0 None @ skill -1 1 @ skill -2 2-3 @ skill -3 4-7 @ skill -4 1 1 @ skill -1 2-3 @ skill -2 4-7 @ skill -3 8-12 @ skill -4 2 2-3 @ skill -1 4-7 @ skill -2 8-12 @ skill -3 13-18 @ skill -4 3 4-7 @ skill -1 8-12 @ skill -2 13-18 @ skill -3 19-25 @ skill -4 4 8-12 @ skill -1 13-18 @ skill -2 19-25 @ skill -3 26-33 @ skill -4 5 13-18 @ skill -1 19-25 @ skill -2 26-33 @ skill -3 34-42 @ skill -4 6 19-25 @ skill -1 26-33 @ skill -2 34-42 @ skill -3 43-52 @ skill -4 7 26-33 @ skill -1 34-42 @ skill -2 43-52 @ skill -3 53-63 @ skill -4 8 34-42 @ skill -1 43-52 @ skill -2 53-63 @ skill -3 64-75 @ skill -4 9 43-52 @ skill -1 53-63 @ skill -2 64-75 @ skill -3 76-88 @ skill -4 10 53-63 @ skill -1 64-75 @ skill -2 76-88 @ skill -3 89-102 @ skill -4 11 64-75 @ skill -1 76-88 @ skill -2 89-102 @ skill -3 103-117 @ skill -4 12 76-88 @ skill -1 89-102 @ skill -2 103-117 @ skill -3 118-133 @ skill -4 13 89-102 @ skill -1 103-117 @ skill -2 118-133 @ skill -3 134-150 @ skill -4 14 103-117 @ skill -1 118-133 @ skill -2 134-150 @ skill -3 151-168 @ skill -4

What Remains

At the end of the first article, in addition to the tables listed above (the populating of which consumed the entire second article), I listed a number of things that still needed to be completed before the rules would be ready to play – plus a few things that have come to light since. Answering those questions is what this third and final article is intended to achieve.

Hit Location

I have something of a love/hate relationship with Hit Location systems. They can greatly add to the verisimilitude of combat, or they can stifle it. They can be a pain to use, and a bigger pain to create, and they take up an inordinate amount of space in the rules. They make hidden assumptions – the Hero Games version assumes a bullet or other point attack, and don’t work well when considering a slashing attack or beam attack that transects the body in a relatively straight line that can start anywhere and go in any direction. It also fails spectacularly when shrapnel-style area attacks are involved. But, worst of all, I can never be sure that the modifiers applied to different locations are correct, and distrust the conflation and compounding of Hit Locations and Critical Hit damage.

I want the combat system in the Zener Gate campaign to be cinematic and fast-slowing, and that usually doesn’t accord well with a Hit Location mechanic.

Nevertheless, I have reluctantly convinced myself that a simple Hit Location system is required because of the presence of the target size / aiming rules, which distinguish between whole-body, head-and-torso, head, fist/heart, and eye-sized targets with different degrees of difficulty. If you hit with an attack in one of those bodily subdivisions, you need to know where; and if you miss with one of the smaller areas, does that mean that you’ve missed the entire target?

Because characters are already rolling multiple dice, I want to minimize the additions that this will entail, so I have decided on a simple d20-based system. However, under certain circumstances, the GM can mandate that a smaller die be used, increasing the likelihood of a particular result.

Hit Location Table: Whole-body Head & Torso Head & Neck Left Hand Right Hand    Eye    Location d% d% d% d% d% Skull/Scalp (automatic critical location) 1-5 1-7 1-10 1-2 1-2 1-15 Face 6-10 8-14 11-21 3-5 3-5 16-40 Neck (1 in 6 critical location) 11-15 15-21 22-28 6-10 6-10 41-55 Left chest (d12: 3 in 12 critical location) 16-30 22-35 29-42 11-20 11-15 56-60 Left upper arm (d6: 1-2=shoulder, 6=elbow) 31-35 36-42 43-49 21-30 – – Left abdomen/groin (1 in 6 critical location) 36-40 43-49 – 31-35 16-20 – Left forearm (d6: 6=left hand) 41-45 50-56 50-56 36-50 21-30 61-65 Right chest (1 in 6 critical location) 46-60 57-70 57-63 51-55 31-40 66-70 Right upper arm (d6: 1-2=shoulder, 6=elbow) 61-65 71-77 64-70 – 41-50 – Right abdomen/groin (1 in 6 critical location) 66-70 – – 56-60 51-55 – Right forearm (d6: 6=right hand) 71-75 78-84 71-77 61-70 56-70 71-75 Left leg (d12: 1-6=upper leg, 7=knee, 8-11= lower leg, 12=foot) 76-85 – – 71-80 (Upper Leg Only) 71-75 (Upper Leg Only) – Right leg (d12: 1-6=upper leg, 7=knee, 8-11= lower leg, 12=foot) 86-95 – – 81-85 (Upper Leg Only) 76-85 (Upper Leg Only) – Attacker’s choice, automatic critical location if one available 96-00 85-00 78-00 86-00 86-00 76-00

Hit Location Effects:

• Undefined Critical Location: +2 Trauma, -1, (-d3 on a crit) dmg to stat as shown below
• Non-Critical Location: +0 Trauma, -1 dmg to stat as shown below on critical

• Skull/Scalp +2 shock, +4 trauma, and (d8): 1-2=THEO, 3=ENC, 4-5=AWA, 6-8=PERS.
• Face +4 shock, +2 trauma and (d5): 1-2=CON, 3=THEO, 4-5=AWA.
• Eye +2 shock, +6 Trauma, and (d10, 2 rolls): 1=DEX, 2=ACC, 3-4=PRAC, 5-6=THEO, 7-9=AWA, 10=PERS.
• General Neck +1 shock, +2 Trauma, and (d5): 1-4=CON, 5=RES.
• General Chest +2 shock, +1 trauma, and (d8): 1=STR, 2-3=CON, 4-5=RES, 6=MEL, 7-8=END
• Shoulder (d4): 1-2=STR, 3-4=MEL
• General Upper Arm (d6): 1-2=STR, 3=DEX, 4=ACC, 5-6=MEL
• Elbow (d6): 1=STR, 2=DEX, 3=ACC, 4-5=MEL, 6=PRAC
• General Lower Arm (d6): 1=STR, 2-3=DEX, 4=ACC, 5=PRAC, 6=THEO
• Hand (d10, 2 rolls): 1=STR, 2-4=DEX, 5-6=ACC, 7-8=MEL, 9-10=PRAC
• General Abdomen/Groin +1 shock, +1 trauma, and (d12): 1=STR, 2-5=CON, 6-7=RES, 8=NIM, 9=MEL, 10-12=END
• General Upper Leg (d5): 1=STR, 2-3=NIM, 4-5=MEL
• Knee (d5): 1-2=STR, 3-4=NIM, 5=MEL
• General Lower Leg (d5): 1=STR, 2-4=NIM, 5=MEL
• Foot (d5): 1-3=NIM, 4-5=MEL

For the record, the risks by stat are:
STR: 14, CON: 12; RES 5; NIM 11; DEX 12; ACC 9, MEL 18; PRAC 10; THEO 8; ENC 1; AWA 10; PERS 5; END 5

or, to put them in sequence from greatest risk to lowest,
MEL 18,
STR 14,
CON, DEX (tie) 12,
NIM 11,
PRAC, AWA (tie) 10,
ACC 9,
THEO 8,
RES, PERS, END (tie) 5,
ENC 1

Initiative & Surprise

The GM should be aware of a character’s current AWA at all times, and have determined the collective AWA of the party using the “Assistance” rules. Whenever there is an opportunity for characters
to be surprised (Initiative 0) he should make a secret AWA check.

Initiative is based on 1d6, plus:

• 0 for the character with the lowest AWA, +1 for the character with the next lowest, and so on;
• 0 for the character with the highest MEL, +2 for the character with the next lowest, and so on.
• If it is more appropriate, the GM can use ACC instead of MEL.

Characters who cannot move automatically roll “1” on the d6. Characters who are surprised automatically roll “0” on the d6. Characters who are prone (GM determination) have their roll automatically capped at “3”. The modifiers given above only apply in rounds in which the character is not surprised.

Time

Time will be handled in three different ways within the campaign: Ordinary Time, Combat Time, and Micro-Time.

Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time is the most flexible. The Players tell the GM what they are doing and the GM advances time either to the conclusion of the task or to the next significant plot development, whichever comes first before prompting for a new choice of action by the PCs.

Combat Time

Combat Time is somewhat less flexible. Combat is cinematic in style, which is achieved by varying the length of combat turns. A combat turn is defined as the length of time required before a character has the opportunity to attack, based on their initiative numbers and combat abilities, in other words, until there is the opportunity for some change to occur in the status quo – typically 10 seconds, but it may be more or less at the GM’s discretion. If both sides have cover and are firing semi-automatic weapons with plenty of ammunition, it might be a minute or more before there is any opportunity to change the combat situation, for example, especially if both sides are concentrating on suppression fire, i.e. preventing the other side from getting a clean shot.

It follows that only a limited number of events can actually change the course of combat and end a combat turn. A mistake by one side or the other, a change in tactics, a change in the ammunition status of one or both forcing a change of tactics, the arrival of reinforcements, a lucky shot, or the conclusion of some sort of countdown.

The last requires some amplification – I was thinking of a situation in which characters are stalling for time while awaiting the outcome of some prior action already instituted, for example a character trying to pick a lock, or a grenade exploding, or some other such event.

Micro-Time

When characters have the same initiative value, combat will briefly enter micro-time. In sequence of lowest RES to highest, the characters with the same initiative value choose and announce their actions without those actions being carried out. This gives those with higher defensive values the chance to choose their actions taking into account what those of lesser values are going to attempt to do. The GM then resolves all those announced actions simultaneously.

The other function of micro-time is when fractions of a second make a difference. Without the internet, it’s hard to do basic research, but let’s assume (for the sake of argument) that a weapon/ammo combination has a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s and the target is 250m away. That means that a single bullet will reach that target in 0.25 seconds. As noted in Article 2, “Mean Reaction Time for college-age individuals is about 160 milliseconds to detect an auditory stimulus, and approximately 190 milliseconds to detect visual stimulus. The mean reaction times for sprinters at the Beijing Olympics were 166 ms for males and 189 ms for females, but in one out of 1,000 starts they can achieve 109 ms and 121 ms, respectively.”

1000m/s is also near enough to the speed of sound, so there would be no auditory stimulus from the shot, but there might already have been some stimulus to which the target can react, or he might see a visual cue and react accordingly – 190 milliseconds would give just enough time to start doing something else if the character already has something in mind or is trained to react automatically to such cues. This can be enough to change the hit location roll, for example. Micro-time may be required to deal with events between the pulling of the trigger and the arrival of the round.

If the target has the next initiative, they can preempt their next action and automatically react. If not, they may attempt to do so by making a NIM save. The base modifier for such a save is determined by dividing the milliseconds by 60 (round off), finding the result on the time chart, and subtracting 10.

For example, 250ms = 4-and-a-sixth when divided by 60. That rounds to x4. Times four isn’t quite enough to get to the x5 value of +3, so the value is +2. Subtracting 10 gives a -8 modifier. Not good, but it could be worse!

The more time the target has to react, the easier this save becomes. 1000 ms divided by 60 = 50/3 =16 & 2/3, which rounds to x17. That isn’t enough to reach the x20 so the base modifier is the index that goes with x10, or +4. Subtracting 10 gives a -6 modifier.

Endurance

Ordinary activities cost 1 END per half hour. Strenuous non-combat activities (exercise, manual labor, forced march, etc) costs 4 END per hour. Combat costs 0 END per round, but each physical attack costs 2 END and each non-physical attack (just pull the trigger) 1 END..

Combat

I was going to look at d20 vs 3d6 or 4d6, but that choice was made for me when I thought up the extra dice for impossible results rule (summarized in the part 2 section above). But I haven’t talked about why some rolls are to be made on 3d6 and some on 4.

In a nutshell, it comes down to chance of failure. Skill checks operate on 3d6+modifiers vs half the stat+2, or less. So a stat of 20 needs 12 or less on 3d6, which is about a 65% chance of success if the modifiers are 0, about 55% for modifier of 1, and about 45% for a modifier of 2. A stat of 24 needs 14 or less on 3d6, so there is still a chance of failure even without modifiers. Stat Checks are run on the full stat value or less vs 4d6+modifiers. So a stat of 20 gives about 97.3% chance of failure without modifiers – but I expect to apply more modifiers to such rolls – and a stat of 24 gives a 100% chance of success without modifiers.

What should Combat rolls be made on? Well, it depends on the target numbers to be achieved. Defense will define what needs to be rolled for attack.

Defense

Defense = RES-15 + Armour, which is rated on a 0-10 scale (where 0 is none).

Attacks

A stat of 20 gives a defense score of 5+Armour. The attacker subtracts this from his attack stat roll + weapon skill ranks – if he has three of the latter (the maximum), and a stat of 20, that’s 15-5-armor, or 10-armor. To this, he adds any modifiers for target size, range, and aiming. For a human-sized whole-body target, that’s +0, and the range and aiming modifiers are designed to permit the attacker to cancel out one with another. So he needs to roll 10-armor or less on Nd6.

No armor: 10 or less. 1d6 and he always hits. 2d6 and he hits most of the time. 3d6 and it’s about 50-50. Adding armor reduces those chances – by up to 10. At maximum armor, he needs 0 or less – which says he can’t do it, regardless of whether N is 1, 2, 3, or 4. However, the “impossible result” rules offers a way out – he can increase the chance required by +2 and add a dice, repeating until he gets a possible success. 0+2=2 or less on N+1 dice – which works for 1d6. 0+2+2=4 or less on N+2 dice – which works for 2d6. 0+2+2+2=6 or less on N+3 dice, which works for 3d6. 0+2+2+2+2=8 or less on N+4 dice, which works for 4d6.

On 1d6, he would need 2 or less on 2d6 – a 1 in 36 chance.
On 2d6, he would need 4 or less on 4d6 – a 1 in 1296 chance.
On 3d6, he would need 6 or less on 6d6 – a 1 in 46,656 chance.
On 4d6, he would need 8 or less on 8d6 – a 1 in 1,679,616 chance.

Which of those results seems appropriate?

The only way to judge is to look at lesser armor values, and see how the chance changes – something I had hoped to avoid by going straight to the maximum-armor result.

• No armor: 10 or less. 1d6 and he always hits. 2d6 and he hits most of the time (~92%). 3d6 and it’s 52%. 4d6 and it’s about 17%. I have an immediate liking for the 2d6 and 3d6 results. The 4d6 roll is definitely out, and the 1d6 option doesn’t have enough variability, so forget it.
• Armour 1: 9 or less. 2d6 and he hits 83% of the time. 3d6 and it’s about 38%.
• Armour 2: 8 or less. 2d6 and he hits 72% or so of the time. 3d6 and it’s about 26%.
• Armour 3: 7 or less. 2d6 and he hits 58% of the time. 3d6 and it’s about 16%.
• Armour 4: 6 or less. 2d6 and he hits 42% of the time. 3d6 and it’s about 9%.
• Armour 5: 5 or less: 2d6 and he hits 28% of the time, a decline of about 1/3. 3d6 and its 4.6%, a loss of roughly half.
• Armour 6: 4 or less: 2d6 hits 17% of the time, a decline of almost half. 3d6 and it’s 1.85%, a loss of close to 2/3.
• Armour 7: 3 or less: 2d6 hits 8% of the time, half what it was. 3d6 hits 0.46% of the time, a massive loss.
• Armour 8: 2 or less on 2d6, i.e. 3% of the time, a loss of two-thirds. 2 or less on 3d6 becomes 4 or less on 4d6 hits 0.08% of the time, one sixth of the previous value.
• Armour 9: 1 or less on 2d6 becomes 3 or less on 3d6, a 0.46% chance of success, a massive drop of 85%. 1 or less on 3d6 becomes 3 or less on 4d6 becomes 5 or less on 5d6, a 0.128% chance of success – and, again, 1 sixth of the previous value.
• Finally, Armour 10: 0 or less on 2d6 becomes 2 or less on 3d6 becomes 4 or less on 4d6, a 0.08% chance, a loss of about almost 83%. 0 or less on 3d6 becomes 2 or less on 4d6 becomes 4 or less on 5d6 becomes 6 or less on 6d6, which is
  again exactly 1/6th of the previous chance of success, or 0.021%.

The pattern is clear – the 2d6 option is beset with wild inconsistencies in the change of chance of success as armor value rises, while the 3d6 option gives a neat, smooth pattern.

To sum up:

• Attacks cost 1 or 2 END (has to be paid before the attack proceeds).
• Subtract the target’s Defense score from the attacker’s attack stat roll (ACC or MEL).
• Add the attacker’s weapon skill ranks in the weapon being employed.
• Add any modifier for Target Size.
• Subtract any modifier for Range.
• Add any modifier for Aiming.
• This is what the attacker has to roll on 3d6 + any circumstantial modifiers applied by the GM in order for the attack to succeed.
• If the character rolled all 1’s on the dice and that is less than what they needed to hit, they have achieved a critical hit. This may do additional damage as indicated on the hit location table.
• if the attack succeeded, roll d% on the appropriate hit location table. Roll on any hit location sub-table. Roll to select the stat impacted as indicated on the hit location effects chart.
• If a critical hit results in no additional damage, the attacker is at +2 to attack the same target next combat round.

An attack that misses by no more than 5, when the target was smaller than whole-body for reasons other than cover will hit the next larger area, but will achieve -1 Shock and -1 Trauma.

An attack that misses by no more than 10, when the target was smaller than head+torso for reasons other than cover, uses the hit location chart two steps up, achieves -2 shock and zero trauma.

Damage & Recovery

Damage in the Zener Gate system comes in 4 varieties: Trauma, Shock, Stat, and Radiation.

• TRAUMA is physical damage. It is based on the weapon type as was described under equipment in the first article, plus any bonus trauma from hit location, and less any armor worn by the target. It subtracts from current hit points. Characters heal 1/3 of the total trauma inflicted (round up) after 1 day’s peaceful recuperation & rest, plus any healing ranks in medical equipment or skill ranks from a medical professional. The balance is healed at the rate of 1 point per additional day of rest, again plus 1 less per day than any healing ranks in medical equipment or skill ranks from a medical professional (minimum 1). This is deliberately unrealistically fast.
• SHOCK is stun damage that may produce unconsciousness, but not death. It’s base value is 1/2 TRAUMA done in an attack (round up), plus 1d6, plus any bonus trauma from hit location. If Shock exceeds the character’s Shock Threshold in 1 round, the character must make a CON save or be rendered unconscious for d10-4 seconds of time on the universal scale. For every point that the shock threshold is exceeded, there is a -1 penalty to the save and +1 modifier to the time roll. If the character makes this saving roll, he suffers only 1/2 the trauma indicated on the die roll + any bonus from hit location. If the cumulative Shock received over all attacks exceeds the character’s Hit Points, he falls unconscious for d10-7 minutes time on the universal scale. A character recovers 1/3 of accumulated shock damage at the end of combat or by skipping an action during combat, recovers another 1/3 from 40-CON minutes rest post-combat, and recovers the remainder after at least 4 hrs sleep.
• END is expended by various actions. d6 END can be recovered by skipping 2 successive rounds in combat or resting for 30 minutes in non-combat. The balance of any loss is recovered at the rate of 1 point for every hour of rest, or 30 minutes of sleep.
• Stat damage is inflicted by trauma according to location. The GM will incorporate any stat damage in his description of the outcome of an attack. Players are encouraged to roleplay accordingly. Stat damage reduces the affected stat by the indicated amount. 1/2 (round up) of any stat damage to 1/2 of the stats which have been reduced (round down) is recovered by 8 hours of sleep in a comfortable setting, or 1/4 (round up) to 1/4 (round down) from 8 hours of sleep in a less comfortable setting e.g. when camping. If multiple stats have been reduced, the character selects which stats experience this recovery. Half of the remainder (round up) can be healed at the same time as trauma at the rate of 1 point to 1/2 (round down) the affected stats. Medical care (ranks in appropriate skill) and equipment (ranks equivalent) increases one or both of these values, the player decides how this bonus is to be distributed. The remainder also heals at this rate but such healing can only commence when the character is completely free of Trauma damage. Note that stat losses reduce a character’s abilities immediately, which may detrimentally impact his combat capabilities.
• Radiation Damage is a special case that is dealt with separately below.

A quick example: A character is shot with a rifle for 2d6 trauma. He has armor 5. The attacker rolls 8 points of trauma damage. The hit location adds 1 additional trauma, for a total of 9-5=4 points. This is halved to give base shock of 2, plus 1d6, plus 2 additional shock from the hit location [chest], for a total of d6+4; the attacker rolls an 8, exceeding the SHOCK threshold of the target by 2. The character must make a CON save at -2 or fall unconscious for d10-4+2 on the time chart in seconds. The character fails and rolls a 6; adding the modifiers shown results in a 4. The character is unconscious for 10 seconds, and is forced to miss an action. He recovers 1/3 of the shock damage inflicted, rounding up, i.e. 3 points, at the end of that missed round, and since he was at -2, he awakens with 1 point of Shock Threshold; he would be well advised to take an additional round or two to steady himself.

The attack was not a critical hit and did not strike a Critical Location, so it inflicts 1 point of damage to a stat. The character rolls 1d8 as indicated on the Chest Effects chart and gets a 4, so the character loses 1 point of RES, effectively reducing his defenses by 1 for subsequent rounds of combat.

Death

If a character reaches zero or less in any stat other than their Shock Pool or Threshold, they are dying. Each round, they must make a CON roll to survive, with a +1 penalty cumulative per round including the first round affected. Medical attention (an appropriate skill check) each round can convert that +1 to a -1. If the character receives such attention with no penalty in effect and makes his CON check, he is restored to 1 point in the traumatized stat and is no longer dying.

For example, a character goes to -2 hit points in round D of combat. He must make a CON roll immediately or die. He succeeds and can act in round D. Next round, he must make another CON roll at +1 to the die roll. He again succeeds, and can act in round D+1. In round D+2, he must make another CON roll at +2 to the die roll. He succeeds and once again can act. In the round D+3, he receives medical attention which succeeds (an appropriate skill check is made), so the CON check penalty reduces from +2 to +1 instead of worsening to +3. He again succeeds, and can act. In round D+4, he again receives successful medical aid, so the +1 becomes a +0 instead of worsening. He makes his CON check at +0 to the die roll, so he is restored to 1 HP.

Other Armour Effects

Armour comes in 10 grades of effectiveness, which carry various effects on the stats of the wearer.

Resistance Modifier

Armour type 0 (i.e. none) reduces Resistance by 4.
Armour type 1 reduces Resistance by 3.
Armour type 2 reduces Resistance by 2.
Armour type 3 reduces Resistance by 1.

Nimbleness Modifier

Armour type 10 reduces NIM by 4.
Armour type 9 reduces NIM by 3.
Armour type 8 reduces NIM by 3.
Armour type 7 reduces NIM by 2.
Armour type 6 reduces NIM by 2.
Armour type 5 reduces NIM by 1.
Armour type 4 reduces NIM by 1.
Armour from a low-technology world adds 1, 2, or even 3 to the armor type for the purposes of determining NIM modifier.
Armour from a high-technology world subtracts 1, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 from the armor type for the purposes of determining NIM modifier.

Accuracy Modifier

Odd-numbered armors of type 5 and above reduce Accuracy by 1 every second armor type, i.e.
Armour type 10 reduces ACC by 3.
Armour type 9 reduces ACC by 3.
Armour type 8 reduces ACC by 2.
Armour type 7 reduces ACC by 2.
Armour type 6 reduces ACC by 1.
Armour type 5 reduces ACC by 1.
Armour from a low-technology world adds 1, 2, or even 3 to the armor type for the purposes of determining ACC modifier.
Armour from a high-technology world subtracts 1, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 from the armor type for the purposes of determining ACC modifier.

Melee Modifier

Even-numbered armors of type 6 and above reduce Melee by 2 every second armor type, i.e.
Armour type 10 reduces MEL by 6.
Armour type 9 reduces MEL by 4.
Armour type 8 reduces MEL by 4.
Armour type 7 reduces MEL by 2.
Armour type 6 reduces MEL by 2.
Armour from a low-technology world adds 1, 2, or even 3 to the armor type for the purposes of determining MEL modifier.
Armour from a high-technology world subtracts 1, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 from the armor type for the purposes of determining MEL modifier.

Dexterity Modifier

Every 2nd Armour type starting at type 4 confers a DEX penalty
Armour type 10 reduces DEX by 6.
Armour type 9 reduces DEX by 4.
Armour type 8 reduces DEX by 4.
Armour
type 7 reduces DEX by 2.
Armour type 6 reduces DEX by 2.
Armour type 5 reduces DEX by 1.
Armour type 4 reduces DEX by 1.

Languages

Languages are defined by era, and subdivided into spoken, heard, written and read. “Spoken” is the character’s ability to speak the language, “Heard” is the character’s ability to understand it when it is spoken to them. “Written” is the character’s ability to write something in the language, while “Read” is the character’s ability to read something written in the language.

Spoken and Heard form a natural pair, as do Written and Read.

Languages also have a different meaning by Ranks. 3 ranks = colloquial, 2 ranks = functional, 1 rank = conversational, 0 ranks = marginal.

Characters only purchase one aspect of a non-native language. They automatically get 1 rank less in the other part of the natural pair and 2 ranks less in the others. Each step removed from the defining era also reduces the ranks by between 0 and 0.5 – the amount varies. Ranks are rounded down, but this means that several eras will be at the same rank. Ranks round down except for ranks 0-point-something, which round up, i.e. once you have a language, you always have at least one rank in that language if the reduction is due to era.

Which aspect of a language that a character purchases will depend on in-game circumstances and opportunity, except when buying starting languages.

Example: 1920s Spanish:

The next significant event in Spanish history at the international scale was the formation of the EU, which saw a number of words from other languages start to migrate across borders. As a result of that, plus technological change, the language of the early 21st century is also a little different from the pre-EU language. In particular, cultural referents have changed. To an NPC from that time period, a PC with the example dialect would have an old-fashioned, almost archaic manner of speaking.

Era differences are not precise and are usually simply estimated by the GM.

Starting Languages

Characters are possessed of a rare genetic quirk that enables them to survive transit through a Zener Gate Transition. This genetic anomaly, for a still-unexplained reason, also makes Chronosquad members able to learn languages really quickly. This gift will be largely untapped prior to the start of play, but that doesn’t mean that a character starts without language skills.

For every 5 points in the INT stat, the character may select one free language to have at one rank in one aspect.

The character gets their native language for free, 3 ranks in all four disciplines. However, for each rank that they reduce one of these values, a character gets two to use in purchasing other languages. In addition, the character may spend ranks equal to their LAN skill in improving or acquiring additional languages.

It costs 1 point to buy a language skill at 0 ranks in all four aspects, Each additional point spent improves one of the aspects by 1 rank, with the others automatically increasing as explained above.

In-game language usage

Language skills are used primarily as an aide to roleplaying. When necessary, the GM may require a language roll (which is why the system is modeled on the skills system – most notably, when acquiring additional language skills in-game, as described below. Zero ranks gives a modifier of +15, one rank gives +10, two gives +5, and three gives +0.

In-game language acquisition & improvement

Languages can be obtained through immersion and attempted usage. To do so, the character spends the required time period as indicated below and makes a LAN check. If he succeeds, he acquires a rank in the language skill.

3 hours acquires the local language at 0 ranks, 6 hours more adds a 1st rank in one discipline, 12 hours more adds a second, and 24 hours more takes the ranks to 3.

If the process is interrupted by a Zener transition, it resumes at the next opportunity. If there is an era shift (quite likely), the modifier due to era must be “paid off” first.

Example:
A character acquires 1 rank of 16th century French “in the field” before a Zener Transition. At a future point, he finds himself in Russia during the Napoleonic invasion, surrounded by Troops speaking 18th century French (1 era difference). If not for the era difference, 12 hours of exposure to the more modern language would suffice to add a rank to his 16th century French, but because of the era difference, he has to first spend 6 hours (1 rank) adjusting his “ear” to the more modern usage. At the end of that time he needs to make a LAN check at +15 to complete that adjustment period. If he succeeds, the clock starts on the 12-hour interval; if not, the 6-hour interval restarts.

Alternatively, the character can choose to begin acquiring 18th Century French in addition to his 16th Century French. This restarts his “language experience clock” at zero, but his expertise in 16th Century French counts as a related skill, giving him +2 to his Language Rolls and avoiding the -1 (or whatever it might be) for era differences.

Of course, the normal mechanics surrounding die rolls are also in force – characters can use experience/karma to improve their chances or re-roll a failed roll, and in particular, characters can choose to delay the roll, spending extra time to improve the likelihood of success.

Spot/Listen Checks

From time to time, it will be necessary to determine whether or not characters notice something. This is handled as a simple AWA check, but (unlike most skills), the Range and Size modifiers are relevant. In addition, if the characters advise that they are actively looking out for something, they may get up to -5 improvement in the modifiers.

Radiation Damage

Performing a Zener Gate Transition exposes the Temporanaut to an unusual form of radiation consisting of accelerated particles and energies. Much of this will be Gamma Radiation but some will be other forms in which atomic particles within the bodies of the Temporanauts are subjected to extreme accelerations. One of the principle side effects of the unusual genetic makeup required to serve on a Chronosquad is a resistance to this radiation, which would otherwise kill quite quickly. (Side-note: It is anticipated that anti-radiation therapies of varying efficacy will become available to PCs from time to time. Supplies of these therapies will be strongly controlled by the GM to ensure that Radiation Damage remains a subject of concern to the PCs).

Radiation damage is handled as a separate category of long-term damage to the CON and HP of the character. Each time a character transitions between worlds/times, the character must make a CON roll at +15. If the character succeeds, he takes 1 point of long-term CON damage and d3 points of Trauma and Shock. If the character fails, the consequences are more severe. According to the circumstances, the GM rules the Zener Transition to be a category 1, 2, or 3 Event.

Category-1 events are the least damaging, and reflect a tranquil jump with minimal temporal change. Category-2 events are normal Transitions. A category 3 would represent entering a Zener Transition while under fire from particle-beam weapons or something of the sort, i.e. some sort of external conditions that make the Transition more damaging or problematic.

In a Category-1 Transition, the GM rolls 1d6. The character takes 1/2 of this as long-term CON damage and the entire amount as ordinary Shock and Trauma.

In a Category-2 Transition, the GM rolls 1d6. The character takes this amount as long-term CON damage and the result+6 as ordinary Shock and Trauma damage, some of which may be caused by an awkward landing on “arrival”.

With a Category-3 Transition, the GM has a choice: long-term damage or more severe short-term damage. The latter makes life more difficult for the PCs in the long term with less immediate threat, the latter reduces the long-term dangers but puts the characters at greater risk of imminent death and will almost certainly produce short-term complications in the form of a period of unconsciousness, which the GM is fully entitled to take advantage of in terms of capturing the characters or otherwise putting them into challenging circumstances in order to kick-start the adventure.

Category-3A Transitions are the long-term options. The GM rolls 2d6 long-term CON damage and halves the result to determine the Shock and Trauma suffered. Category-3B transitions do 1d6 long-term CON damage and 2d6+3 Shock and Trauma. The frequency of both types of Category-3 event will be about the same, with the GM favoring Category 3A early and saving his Category 3B events for when long-term CON loss begins to threaten the lives of the PCs.

Every successive Zener Transition after the first adds +1 to the damages experienced by the Temporanaut. If the fourth Zener Transition is a Category-1 event, for example, the character would experience 1/2 d6 +3 temporary CON damage and 1d6+3 shock and trauma. If the fifth transition is also a Category-1 event, the character would suffer 1/2 d6 +4 temporary CON damage and 1d6+4 shock and trauma, and so on.

Long-term CON damage is recovered differently to other forms of stat
damage. 24 hours after first exposure, the character regains up to 6 points of such damage, provided that this period includes at least 6 hours of restful sleep or 9 hours of less-comfortable rest. Then it’s 4, 2, and 1. Thereafter, it’s one every 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, and so on.

Anti-Radiation Therapies have four aspects.

• 1, 2, or 3 points of Immediate long-term CON loss healed.
• d3 to 3d6 reduction in the “extra damage” caused by repeated Transitions.
• d3 to 3d6 reduction in the steps down the “Recovery Time” track.
• d6 to 3d6 additional Shock damage suffered.
• d3 to 2d6 additional Trauma damage suffered.

Most Therapies will represent a combination of all four in some measure. As a general rule, the more advanced the treatment, the more effective it will be with fewer side-effects. Characters may choose to experience up to 1/2 the Shock and Trauma damage inflicted as END damage, recovered normally after a delay of 4d6 hours, but the reduction has to be the same in both – if you reduce trauma by 4 you must also reduce shock by 4, suffering 8 END loss while the treatment takes effect.

Note that in most societies, significant radiation exposure (warranting the issuing of Anti-radiation Therapies) is a politically/criminally significant event that will attract unwanted attention to the Temporanaut. This can only be avoided by stealing the Therapeutic medication from an appropriate facility.

Some anti-radiation therapies reduce in efficacy with repeated usage. These are potent medications that are not intended for repeated exposures – that simply doesn’t happen in normal life, and the developers would have no reason to test for it. The obvious exception would be any world which had suffered a nuclear war, where repeated exposures to radiation would be more commonplace (though no less concerning to officials).

At a metagame level, Radiation Exposure is intended to serve as a handicap to the PCs, not a punishment or direct threat. Rather than kill a PC with CON Loss, the GM is free to “transfer” the long-term CON loss to some other affected stat. This is healed as though it were still long-term CON loss.

If characters continue to Transition without receiving appropriate treatment for the accumulated radiation damage, their health will deteriorate (CON loss) to the point where other bodily functions begin to break down.

Note that CON losses from radiation have no effect on calculated stats – Hit Points, END, and Shock Resistance remain at the values set during character generation except as indicated by combat damage.

Cybernetic Enhancement

It may become possible for characters to undergo Cybernetic Enhancement in some time frames through the purchase and installation of appropriate “equipment”. Characters should think about this very carefully; side-effects and complications are always possible, power supplies may be affected strangely by Transitions, and repairs might be difficult or impossible to achieve in other time frames. Biological functions might be more limited, but they are also going to be more reliable, and the GM should have no compunction about taking advantage of the opportunities they afford for making life more difficult for PCs.

Other Drugs and Medications

It is anticipated that in some time frames, the characters will be able to come into possession of various other medications that are “Stat Enhancing”. These provide short-term gains in one stat or another, usually in the form of a die roll, and a loss to another stat (which may be deferred until after the medication wears off). As a general rule of thumb, the costs of using such a medication will be twice the short-term gain. There may be other side-effects as well.

For example, “Stimutabs” provide +1d3 STR for 1d3+3 hours (the players should know the first result and not the second). Using the enhanced STR costs 1 additional END and when the drug wears off, 1d6+6 points of damage divided evenly between NIM, DEX, and ACC – the character experiences “The Shakes” – for 60 x 1d6/4 minutes.

Are such drugs worth the consequences? Depends on the circumstances, that’s something that only the PC can judge (or, in some cases, a medical professional).

Other Medical Treatments

It is anticipated that some time-frames will have other forms of advanced healing treatment. This may be as simple and effective as the use of a hyperbaric chambour (can increase recovery from trauma and some stat losses 3-fold) or as complex as nanotech “restoratives” that repair stat damage, heal broken bones, etc. All of these technologies are “use at your own risk”. But remember that the goal is for the PCs to have adventures, mostly action-oriented; crippling that capability is not in the GM’s game plan.

Character Sheet

Although it’s untested and may require tweaking, I have also created a two-page character sheet to accompany the game system, which can be downloaded by clicking the icon to the right.