Encounter

In most games, conflict will be inevitable, and depending on how hostile the situation gets the game will turn into an Encounter. Encounters switch the rules around from Roleplay and become more mechanical, time is also slower and more measured. Encounters are conducted by a system called Time-Frames, where a number of actions can be taken simultaneously providing they fit within 2 seconds of time. Each character gets three Time-frames per turn/round, meaning each turn/round lasts 6 seconds. For more clarity on Time-Frames, see Time-Frame. Combat Scenario Initiative When a Combat Encounter has been called, all participant characters must roll for Initiative. All characters should roll d12 + Reflex + Other bonuses, to determine turn order. A couple of order methods can be used: Direct Order With Direct order, every character is arranged from highest (fastest) to lowest (slowest). Alternating Order With Alternating order, the character with the highest value goes first, followed by the fastest of the other team, this continues with the next highest initiative character for each side until all participants are loaded into the turn order. "As the party journeyed through the forest, they were ambushed by a handful of Bandits! After rolling initiative, the player playing the Fighter goes first, followed by the fastest Bandit, then the Druid, then the second bandit and so on. When the order was set, the battle begins!" Before Turn Begins When a character begins their turn, they will be given 3 Frames to perform actions. A character typically can move and perform an action or task at the same time, provided there are no logical conflicts with appendages used. However, if a round begins and a character has not yet received their turn, or are caught unawares in a kind of Surprise-attack, do not gain any Frames to react with. During a Turn When a character starts their turn, they start with all of their Time-Frames, normally three of them. Each Frame allows a character 2 seconds worth of time to move and act. When each frame resolves, the character can continue until they have resolved all Time-Frames and then end their turn. After/Between Turns When a character ends their turn, they reserve at least one Reaction that can be used to take action outside of their turn. This reaction works the same as any Time-Frame, allowing actions to be used that fit within its limits. A character may be able to spend a Frame at the end to anticipate events ahead of time. This is known as a 'Ready Action'. When this occurs, the character may receive up to 2 Reaction Frames instead of the usual 1. When a character is readied in this way, they gain Advantage to checks to resolve contests. Next Turn Begins When a character turn begins, they regain all Time-Frames available to them. All unused Reaction frames are lost. Concluding a Combat Encounter Usually, a Combat Encounter is complete when combatants on one side are defeated, either by incapacitation, death or retreat. If the game uses Experience, then points can be reward for completion of an encounter like this based on the difficulty, either set by the Game-Master or by how much the characters suffered to get their win. "When the player characters defeated the Bandits who ambushed them, they won the battle. The Game-Master rewards XP to each character who participated and the characters may find loot on those they defeated" Likewise, if the player characters are all defeated, this will result in a TPK, a Total Party Kill. Depending on the Game-Master's decision, the character could wind up dead for good, reborn some other way (As Undead, Ghosts, Other...) or offer to restart the encounter like it were a videogame with save states. Attacking and Damaging Targets During a combat encounter, participants will try to attack each other to deal damage to each other's Health (HP). When a character's HP is reduced to 0, they are Incapacitated and unable to act. If a character's HP is reduced to a negative value inverse to their Body Core value, that character may end up dying instead. Not all creatures are equal in terms of game mechanics. While important characters and Player Characters may be Protected, allowing them to survive with negative HP lower than their Core value, lesser entities such as regular enemies may be knocked out or killed the moment their HP reaches 0 or less. This is to generally make encounters less tedious as only special opponents may use mechanics to revive fallen allies. "During the battle, a Bandit knocked out the Wizard who dropped their HP down to -4, but since the Wizard has a Body value of 10, they survive. The Fighter avenges the Wizard by striking a powerful blow to the Bandit, dropping them to -3. The Bandit is not a protected entity thus they were instantly killed/defeated, their Body value is irrelevant." ToHit Checks Attacks against targets are rolled as a ToHit check, rolling a d12 as well as any bonuses from the character's Metaphors and equipment, if they roll high enough, they may hit the target and deal damage. If the player rolls a 12, that die may explode, creating a Meta-d12 that can be used in a bonus effect. The Bonus effect can take a variety of bonus types, including extra ToHit, damage or inflict a Status Magnitude appropriate to the attack used. A ToHit check is the sum of: d12 + Total Metaphor Bonus (ToHit) + Appropriate Attribute Bonus + Other Modifiers The Appropiate Attribute Bonus is based on the attack method. Weapons relying on force usually benefit from Strength, while others valuing speed and precision can use Agility. Perception can be useful when predicting enemy movements, making it applicable to most other attacks. This bonus is only the Base value, Attribute dice are not used here. The target numbers needed for an attack to hit the target are as follows: ♦ Evasion: Tohit must be equal or greater this value to make contact. Otherwise the defender evades the attack. ♦ Deflection: ToHit must exceed this value or the attack may be reduced or negated by other means. Attacks mitigated by Deflection can provide varying protection depending on context. A well-defended defender can negate damage/magnitude of an attack, or reduce it to 1 point each. "The Wolf attempts to gnaw at the Fighter in heavy armour, the Wolf was able to hit, but failed to beat the Fighter's Deflection. The Game-Master could rule the Wolf's bite does nothing, or at most 1 point of damage." A partially effective defense can reduce damage/magnitude taken by half, or remove the base or bonus portion of the value dealt against them. "The Bandit strikes the Fighter with a metal mace, the attack hits but suffers Deflection. The damage dealt is 4+6 (10). With a moderately effective defense, the Game-Master can rule it does half damage (5), negates base damage (6), or negates bonus damage (4)." Whereas a weak defense may only reduce damage/magnitude by 1 period. Deflection always reduces damage/magnitude by at least 1 point regardless. "A Giant four times the size of the Fighter slams their club down on them. Dealing 16+24 (40) damage. As the Fighter is not equipped to deal with such a massive attack, Deflection may end up only reducing damage taken by 1. But at the very least, they do get to reduce it by 1 no matter what." Combat Actions Multiple actions can take place in a single Time-Frame, but there are limitations to which of these can be performed simultaneously. Attack Character strikes a target creature with an Unarmed strike or Melee Weapon. They deal damage equal to the attack's damage on hit (dX + X typed damage). Attacks normally only deal additional effects when augmented by a Special Attack, or by rolling the maximum value of a d12 to trigger a Bonus Meta-Dice, adding the option to inflict Status Magnitude. Special Attack Spending a Frame to prepare a subsequent attack allows the character to augment the next attack using an Attribute score. The effects depend on the Attribute and the attack used. The Special attack gives a Meta-d12 and Base value of their chosen Attribute and treat it as bonus effects, much like rolling a 12 on a regular die. "The Fighter sets up for a Special Attack using their Strength attribute, their Strength is 3 (Meta-d8). With this 'Power Attack', the Fighter chooses to add Meta-d8 towards beating any Deflection their target may have (requiring they only hit their target to succeed), then add 3 damage to any damage they would deal to their target. If they got lucky and rolled a 12 with their normal d12, they can use that Bonus dice to add more damage if they so choose." Movement Characters can move during Time-Frames up to their base move speed/distance. However, some actions require characters to stand still or limit movement in order to take proper actions, meaning characters may not always get to use all their movement distance during their turn. Characters who do not move for a Frame do not carry over unused movement to other Frames. Inversely, a character may lose opportunities to take actions if they don't meet the necessary range and line-of-sight requirements for their actions. If a character is able to move their maximum distance and be in range of their target they can still take an action to attack, but if they are short, then they must wait until the next frame to try to attack. "The Rogue sees one of the Bandits is distracted and tries to sneak around the battlefield to get them from behind. Armed with only a dagger and unwilling to simply throw it, they spend their first Frame moving to try to get into position, at this point they're too far away to stab. So they must spend the next Frame to get closer, once in range they can strike with their Dagger. They would have time to use their last Frame to attack again" Draw / Fire (for Bows and Arrows) For Bows and Arrows, two Frames are required to operate the weapon. This is common amongst projectile/ranged weapons. Draw is to load and prime an Arrow into the Bow, priming it so that it may be Fireed in a subsequent Frame freely. A bow does not need to be fired immediately after, but it can't be fired until it is drawn. "The Ranger's turn is up, she first has to prime her bow by Drawing during her first Frame. On the second Frame, she can fire her arrow immediately and then spend time to Draw another arrow into the Bow. This process repeats until her bow is Drawn, she can fire it as a Reaction even after her turn is over." Unload / Reload (for Firearms) Similar to Bows, Guns often have to be reloaded once they have depleted their number of shots. But given the complexity of such weapons, the character must take time to unload the empty weapon before they can load in more shots, only then they can continue firing. "The Detective hiding behind cover has already shot six times from their Revolver, thankfully they have a Speed-Loader ready to keep the gunfight going. They spend a Frame to Unload the chambers of the Revolver, then on the second Frame they use a Speed-loader to Reload the gun. By Frame three, they can fire their Revolver as many times as their particular weapon allows." Tap Mana / Cast Spell (for Spellcasting) Spellcasters sometimes require complex gestures and incantations they have to take into account before they can start bending reality to their will. While other spells are quite simple and only require a small amount of energy and concentration to use. Cantrips are simple spells with generally weak, but useful effects. A competent spellcaster can cast Cantrips once each Frame if desired as if it were a normal attack. Stronger Spells require the user to have a certain amount of Magical energy tapped, the action Tap Mana can be performed once per Frame to charge magical energy for use in spellcasting. Unlike Firing a ranged weapon, Casting spells also requires a Frame to complete. Tapping Mana once gives the spellcaster one charge of magical energy, enough to cast some spells. Other spells may need more than one charge in order to cast it properly. Tapped magical energy lasts until a spell consumes it, or until the end of the spellcaster's next turn. "The Wizard gets ready to cast Lightning Bolt at one of the bandits. First they gather magical energy by Tapping Mana on their first Frame, now channeling a small amount of magic, the next Frame to Cast Lightning Bolt at their target. If they spend their third Frame tapping Mana again, they'll be able to hold onto this charge of magic until the end of their next turn." Special Encounter Special Encounters occur when an Encounter is not against a particular foe, but to an event. It uses the same rules regarding time management but there is no Initiative, instead the participants have to achieve an objective or goal, the simplest form of goal is not dying, or avoiding a tragedy. Special Encounters are often under a time-limit, otherwise the need to have a Special Encounter would be pointless. "As Squad 119 entered the hallway of the space-station, emergency sirens ring out as the automated systems detected a threat. It begins to open the airlock, causing a huge atmospheric shift that will pull the team into outer space. They have only have four rounds to override the airlock system or be left breathless in the vacuum it creates!" A Special Encounter concludes when the event has been solved or the danger imposed by it no longer affects the player characters. "The Robotic Syn-frame of Squad 119 is able to hack into the Airlock systems using her Codex just before the atmosphere was depleted, shutting the doors and pressurizing the hallway. Everyone biological was able to recover from the ordeal a moment after"