Tales from the Rocket House
The three main Attributes are Combat, Stealth, and Will. All characters have these at some level. Attributes are rated from 1 to 10, with 2 being human average and 5 being elite level, the maximum a first-level character can start with.
When rolling a test, dice that roll an odd number count as 1 “success,” and dice that roll an even number count as 0. Tests are always Trait vs. Trait, even if the opposing “Trait” represents the slipperiness of a floor rather than another character’s ability.
Examples of Attributes in Use
Combat: When fighting, the dice must be split between Attack and Defense. This Attribute covers melee and ranged fighting.
Combat: When chasing someone down, the dice must be split between Pursuit and Avoiding Environmental Hazards. The GM or the scenario will have to rule on this, but failing to Avoid Environmental Hazards may get you hurt, may drop you into a spot you have trouble getting out of, and may even cause you to lose the pursuit totally. Likewise, the person being pursued must split his or her dice the same way, but may choose to use Stealth instead of Combat. This situation is called a “Pursuit” in game terminology.
Combat: When trying to get closer to someone who’s using ranged attacks against you, the dice must be split between Closing the Distance and Defense (works just like melee-range Defense). The GM will decide, based on the distance between you, how many “successes” you need to close the distance. The next turn, you’ll be one Range closer (from Bow Range into Thrown Weapon Range or from Thrown Weapon Range into Melee Range). The ranged attacker will have to decide how to split her dice, between Attacking and Controlling the Distance.
Getting away is exactly the same, just with a different objective (This may mean getting out of range, but more likely it means getting out of line of sight or leaving the room/cavern/etc.). Running from a Melee combat is the same, but if the attacker loses, she can immediately start a Pursuit by attempting to chase the fleeing character down. A fleeing character can choose to use Stealth instead of Combat to get away in either case (ranged or melee).
Stealth: When setting up a sneak attack, the dice must be split between Sneak Attack and Not Being Detected. If the sneaking character is detected, the Sneak Attack fails, melee combat begins, and the target gets a number of bonus dice equal to the number by which she beat the sneak-attacking character (these dice only last for the first Combat Round). If the sneaking character is not detected, she can immediately attack using the dice dedicated to the Sneak Attack part of the test (instead of her Combat dice). Additionally, the attacker will not be able to use Combat to defend against the Sneak Attack. The sneak attacker’s weapons and the target’s armor and shields apply as normal. Note: You can only sneak attack in the first round of the combat, not later on (unless you have a special ability). Note:
Stealth: When sneaking past someone, the dice must be split between Speed and Not Being Detected. The GM and/or scenario will have to dictate the specifics.
Will: Generally used to defend against attacks and magic. Many of the more powerful and flashy magical abilities will be based on Will, making it the attribute of magicians.
Most monsters and such will have a default Attack and Defense, Perception vs. Sneak Attacks (a few will have Sneak ratings of their own), Pursuit and Surefootedness, Ranged Attack and Controlling the Distance, and Closing the Distance ratings, as well as Toughness and any special abilities. In other words, most monsters will be “Set” targets, not “Tactical.” “Tactical” enemies will have pools, like the PC’s, and the GM will make tactical decisions for them, pool-wise, in all forms of contests, just like the players do for the PC’s.
Two Measures of Time: Combat Rounds and Exploration Turns
In the exploration of ancient ruins that this game is built around, the players and their characters are always racing the clock. Every moment that they linger is another moment some foul creature could stumble up from the ancient ruins and attack them. The ancients were powerful magicians, prideful, greedy, and willing and able to leave lethal creations to guard their tombs.Combat Rounds are about 12 seconds, and allow for maneuvering and fighting in combat. Each attack and defense roll does not represent a single swing of the sword, obviously, but a round of combat, which may include multiple feints, attacks, retreats, counterattacks, etc.
Exploration Turns are 2 minutes long, and allow enough time for one person to explore a small room or part of a larger room, such as one wall of a large room or half of a medium-sized room. Groups working together can cover more ground, of course.
Limitations on Exploring - because exploration is description-based, there has to be some limiting factor, or the players will simply do the “Castle Wolfenstein” trick, in which they methodically push at every brick and wall sconce, checking for hidden passages. That is boring and takes away from the mental challenge (instead of decision-making, you’re just doing a tedious grid-search). To prevent this, every ruin, every dangerous area, has a Frequency.
The Frequency is how often a random event will occur. In some areas, it may be “Roll 1d6 at the end of each Exploration Round. On a 1, a random event occurs,” or it may be “Every 3 Exploration Turns, a random event occurs.” It might even be “Every 3 Exploration Turns, roll 1d6. On a 1, a random event occurs,” but that’s awfully infrequent for this type of game.
