While the fundamentals of how to run Events were covered back in the Basics chapter, we will give some of the more critical information alongside the new information as it is necessary, but please make sure you have recently read that section. Specifically, go back and read the part about Initiative if it isn’t fresh in your head.
The Zone of Attention
You have probably seen this term used over and over again in the manual up to this point and have been dying to know just what the heck it means. This refers to the area around a character in which they can perceive the world. What the zone looks like varies a lot depending on which sense we are talking about, but on average a Human’s Zone of Attention will be approximately 30 meters around them, though it is strongest within 10 meters. If you are playing the fast and loose style, basically treat it as if your characters can react to things within 10 meters and can aim at things up to 30 meters away unless a projectile Weapon or Ability specifically grants you more range; cut it in half in limited light, and further in half again in the dark. If you are playing full rules, each value of the Zone of Attention will be listed below.
- Sight: Within 10 meters, Humans can typically clearly identify most objects, obvious threats, and standard-sized signs, or even aim a projectile without any handicap. Between 10 and 30 meters, Humans can still recognize faces, possible threats, or track motion and general intent, but aiming a projectile in this range reduces accuracy by -25%. Aiming and identifying past that range without a sight will result in an additional compounding -25% for every additional 10 meters (unlike other percentage debuffs that cannot reach a number below 1, if a result is compounded enough times that it lands on a decimal, it is rounded down to 0; i.e, 5 tiers down would be (Difficulty x 0.75) x 0.75) x 0.75) x 0.75) x 0.75)). If your character has some type of sight, whether binoculars, a telescope, or a ranged weapon, you can see and aim at that range using the sight at no disadvantage.
- Sound: For a normal Human, auditory acuity is clearest within 5 meters, which is where normal speaking voices can be reasonably understood in most environments. It decreases by half (50% compounding) every additional 5 meters, up to 30 meters, and Difficulty thresholds will be a CoS (ATN – threshold) x adjustment%. For example, if the sound was 10 meters away, the adjustment would be 25%, and the CoS would be (ATN – threshold) x 0.25. Exceptionally loud or alarming sounds can be clearly heard up to 30 meters away. Non-Human Races or Pets may have their own modifiers that make it easier or harder to hear.
- Smell: The easiest sense to handle in gameplay. The character smells anything pungent enough to pick up that drafts within a meter around them. Smells will have relatively easy Difficulty thresholds unless they are things Humans generally wouldn’t pick up, with a CoS ATN – threshold, and non-Human Races or Pets may have their own modifiers that make it easier or harder to smell. It is a simple pass or fail Task Check, and on a pass, they can follow the smell back to its source.
- Touch: Obviously, this mostly just applies to anything within a character’s reach they can physically touch, but most characters can also feel currents if they are standing in a fluid, like air or water. If they are standing within the current (up to a meter from their position), they can tell which direction it is flowing, including finding drafts. Difficulty ratings for being alerted to these are typically very low, so it is simply a CoS ATN – threshold. Something moving within this single meter around them is also their personal self-defence reaction zone.
- Extrasensory Phenomenon: Also known as ESP, this sense typically ranges up to 10 meters naturally. This sense is unlike the previous ones and acts more like a general, spiritual danger sense. Situations will have either a WIL or FTH Difficulty threshold, and if the character is above the threshold, they can roll against either a CoS (ATN + WIL) – threshold or (ATN + FTH) – threshold (based on the initial type) to find the Difficulty. If they are allowed and pass the check, they are immediately aware something is off and cannot be surprised or caught off guard by the source of the Task Check.
- Entropic Senses: By default, Humans do not generally have active Entropic Senses. The base for them is there, but they are inactive. Some Humans are born with it, some manage to learn how to use it, and some get it activated by higher powers. If activated, it typically gives a near-perfect 3D map of a 5 meter radius sphere around them. This map gives them information of all other senses in that range. Even in extreme dark or light, everything appears as though it were normally lit. Abilities may allow this range to be expanded (or even activated in the first place). Task Checks for this sense will either follow WIL or CHM in addition to your ATN.
If you aren’t playing a Human, just assume all of these are the same unless it is specifically mentioned under their Race information in their Settings Guide or on the website. There are always numerous ways in which someone who was once a normal Human is no longer limited by their prior senses. Whatever the method, how it changes your Zone of Attention will be detailed there.
Event Structure
Everything in this game that is either high impact on the narrative or requires a lot to happen in a short amount of in-game time takes place in Events, including Combat. Events revolve around Rounds and flow in the order of Initiative Phase, then Action Phase on repeat until the Event is resolved. In more simplified formats, your table may choose to run Events the same as Dungeon Turns and only roll a single Initiative Phase to cycle back-to-back Action Phases until resolution, and that is a perfect functional way to run your table. It will lead to less variance and surprises in Combat, but can speed up Rounds.
A Refresher on Rounds & Turns
A Round, as implied before, is the entire cycle from Initiative Phase through Action Phase, while a Turn is your character’s personal set of Actions within the Action Phase. If your character is incredibly faster than the slowest entity in the Initiative Order, you may even get more than one Turn per Round.
The Initiative Phase
The Initiative Phase is in full detail back in Chapter 1 Basics, so we won’t be repeating it all here. The only thing we will add is that of the two options laid out, official prefabricated campaigns and anything we at Ex Dynamis Chaos run ourselves will be built around Method 1 of how to resolve Initiative.
If there is a conflict where more than one character is on the exact same Initiative value for some reason, the recommended solution is to prioritize in order of highest SPD, then DOG, then ATN, then WIL. If there is somehow still a conflict after all that, your GM just needs to make an executive decision. Or your GM can already decide after you have already prioritized past SPD. Whatever feels fair and speeds up gameplay.
The Action Phase
After you figure out the Initiative Order, it is time to enter the Action Phase. You don’t want to be the person who holds up the Turn rotation and slows the Event down for everyone else, so if you aren’t first up to bat, think about what you plan to do before your Turn comes up. Obviously, what happens prior to your move will alter your plans, so don’t retreat into your own head while the others make their moves. You’ll get used to it in no time if you actively try.
At most tables following official standards, a Turn will consist of a single Full Action and two Empty Actions, one of which can be your allotted Movement equal to how far your character can travel in one second (see the real number attached to your SPD rating). Your GM could choose to make your Movement a separate resource from your Empty Actions if that’s what your table finds more fun; just know that isn’t what our prefab content will be built around. Full Movement, or Sprinting, which gives twice your allotted Movement, should always require the use of a Full Action, but could free up your Movement Empty Action for something else. You also do not have to take any combination of your Full or Empty Actions if it isn’t what your character would do that Turn.
In general, move Actions will happen immediately on Command that Turn. Some Channel Abilities, however, may have an Initiative, Turn, or Round count attached to them as defined in their description. These abilities will either not activate or last until the Initiative Order counts down the specified value, or that many of your own Turns or total Rounds pass. These types of Abilities can be interrupted in different ways, stopping all Channeling at the Initiative value it was interrupted at, resulting in continuous Abilities ending early or delayed Abilities never activating.
Resolving Events
After you either finish the challenge by figuring out the puzzles, killing all the enemies, or whatever was set before you, it is time to collect your rewards. Events will almost always give some appropriate amount of EXP for the level of the encounter, divided amongst the participants, and at least 1 AP per PC. In addition, if you had to use your Weapon and happened to land any hits with it, you will receive the number of Talent Points for said Weapon equal to the Successful hits. Many events may also have Treasure, which can range from Money, Consumables, Equipment, important items, to even junk. Typically, if it is money, it is fair to split it evenly amongst the Party, but all Treasure is up to the group to decide how to split through Role Play. Basically, for the theater and film nerds out there, rewards like EXP, AP, and Talent Points are non-diagetic, while anything that can go in your inventory are diegetic and should be handled narratively.
Specific Events
Events can be genuinely anything, but there are some types that are more likely to appear than others, especially in prefabricated content.
- Combat: The most common type of Event that will likely occur throughout your adventures. It shouldn’t make up more than 50% of Events in a longer campaign, but unlike the other types that will more often rotate, Combat will often appear at least once a session in most cases. More details on Combat in the next section of this chapter.
- Negotiations: Most of the time, delegating with one or more NPCs will only be a quick Task Check using the Negotiation Talent, but sometimes you find yourself in an important hostile Negotiation environment, such as at a diplomatic table, in court, or held up by a rational entity far beyond your current capability to fight. In these cases, you will enter into an Initiative Order using a d100 + MRL adjusted to the same order of magnitude of your CHM, as a substitute for the methods in the Basics chapter, but in Negotiations you only get a single Turn per Round no matter what. The NPC you are arguing with will have a hidden Diplomacy rating assigned by the materials or the GM that starts hallways between the rating and 0, and assigned values to topics you might bring up. On your turn, you will make your statement, roll a d100 against your CHM ± Topic Value. If your roll is above the Difficulty, the NPC moves the difference between them toward Diplomacy, and likewise, the NPC moves the difference away from Diplomacy if you roll below. The Event resolves when the NPC finally reaches either Diplomacy or 0.
- Auctions: These operate similarly to negotiations where entities only get one Turn per Round. Initiative rolls are instead d100 + INT adjusted to the same order of magnitude of your DOG, as a substitute for the methods in the Basics chapter. The overall flow is simple, an object or subject is announced for bid, priced on a Currency or some other type of resource, and Turns and Rounds continue on that entity only one bidder remains, either because everyone else lost interest or the bid outgrew their resources.
- Puzzles: Definitionally, these are events with some solution that can be achieved through Actions, but also requires a time or Turn limit. Because of this, Puzzles and Traps are not mutually exclusive, but we prefer to use Puzzles to describe when your life is not in danger. An example could be a mechanism that would destroy itself or an alarm that would go off if you don’t solve the Puzzle by a certain Initiative Value or Round Count. Puzzles use standard Initiative rules.
- Midway Games: These don’t specifically have to be actual games you’d play at the midway of a carnival or fair, but refer to any game within the game that requires Initiative Order to resolve. Could be a sport or anything, as long as it requires the characters to Succeed in specific Actions to achieve a goal with a Win-Lose state. These are great fun ways to have the Players compete against each other without dissolving the Party or leading to someone dying, or even to bond them as a team by playing together in the local bowling league or something. Midway Games can sometimes come with their own unique ways of doing Initiative.
- Traps: As mentioned before, Traps can be similar to Puzzles, but the big difference is they are inherently dangerous. They could be as simple as Escaping before being crushed by the ceiling or the floor giving way beneath, or as complex as disarming a bomb. Traps are usually defined in two types: either you have a specific Initiative Value or Round Count before failure, or a certain number of attempts before failure. In the latter, sometimes it is better to just Defend or Wait to pass your Turn to someone else who has the answer if you don’t know what you are doing.
Combat
The most straightforward part of the game and the thing for which half your table showed up, for better or worse. Combat follows the flow of other Events fairly closely, but since it is your opportunity to use all those Abilities you’ve been unlocking, the following sections explain what you can do and mostly in what order.
Entering Combat
A good majority of the time, Combat will begin on neutral terms. This means that you and your targets are aware of each other. In this case, all Initiatives are rolled at the same time on the first Round. Sometimes you or the enemy may have the upper hand. These are called Amushes, and can go in either direction.
A Party Ambush means you have the jump on the enemies. To do this, your entire Party must get in position to take advantage of it. Your longest range member attacking while you are all next to them is technically an Ambush, but they are the only ones who get that turn before the enemies are aware and neutral Combat begins. If a Party Ambush is set up, your entire Party gets a free Round before the enemies get to roll Initiative and act back.
An Enemy Ambush is the opposite, where one or more members of your Party are caught off guard and lose a Round to react to the Ambush. Your GM will give you a roll with a Difficulty of each (PC’s ATN + DOG) – Enemy DOG Average. Anyone who fails the Task Check is surprised and cannot act until the next Round. The GM or materials can decide your characters would not be able to react, but this should be a very rare circumstance that has a good reason.
Targeting
Before deciding what you are going to do, it is important to know what you can target, as well as considering what is either the most valuable target for your character at the moment is, whether it is due to mechanics or personality.
The main decision will be which part of the field you should target. Depending on the Abilities you have available, your options are Self, Ally, Enemy, or Any (sometimes Indiscriminate). One thing to note is that anything labeled as Ally or Enemy are actually the same target type, just by default toward either friendly or hostile entities, so you can still choose to use an Ally targeting Ability on an Enemy or vice versa. It isn’t recommended in most cases, but you can.
Abilities can also affect either one or multiple targets. Most Attacks and Abilities will be Single-target, but some will either be labeled AOE [Area of Effect] or All. AOE Abilities will have a specific targeting shape, such as a cone or a circle around the main target, while All simply affects every target of the type in range. Some Abilities are wild and are labelled All Any, and those could either accidentally harm Allies or benefit Enemies, so be careful how you aim.
Ranges
All Weapons and Abilities have a set Range they can operate in. For Attack Actions, an Unarmed Human gets 1 meter of Range (roughly the length of a punch if you throw your body into it), and any Weapon Attack adds the Weapon’s Range to that. A Sword with a Range of 0.8 meters would give your Attack a maximum Range of 1.8 meters.
Some Abilities have given Ranges, but any that don’t have a Range specified and don’t require you to be touching the target will have a Range limit equal to your Zone of Attention, or usually 30 meters unless you have something to modify that. If something does mention a Range, than assume that means the Ability or Weapon has some attribute about it that allows you to grasp the target at that distance when you normally couldn’t. This makes the most sense with Guns as they often have sights affixed to them.
Attacking
Most of you will be carrying some type of Weapon Equipment in at least your Main Hand, but even if you just want to use your bare fist, at some point you will probably want to hit something. It may not always have the highest impact out of everything in your kit, but Attack Actions are practically resource-free at the low cost of just your Full Action that Turn.
Step one is rolling to see if you land your Attack. It’s a little complicated compared to most other games, but it flows pretty quickly once you set it up. The Difficulty of the roll will be based on aspects of the Weapon you are using, so to make the formula less wordy and easier to read: WT will stand for the current rating of your Weapon Talent, and WS will stand for the associated Stat that appears in your Weapon’s damage formula, which will appear like “N x Stat + nd#”. With that in mind, the Difficulty for landing a Weapon Attack Action will be ((ATN x 2) + (WS / 2) + WT) – Target DOG. Also, if for some reason you even happen to come across some rare weapon that scales off ATN, you can instead use ((ATN x 2.5) + WT) – Target DOG. This follows the rules from the Basics chapter of Percentile Rolls, so if the Difficulty is above 100 you automatically hit no matter what, and if it is below 0 you automatically miss no matter what. The best way to handle this is to treat your half of the Difficulty formula as a secondary Stat and update it whenever you either get a new Weapon, your ATN raises, or your Weapon Talent raises. Then you can just tell this number to your GM, and they can worry about the mid-Combat math; that is their job after all.
Once you land a hit, follow your Weapon’s damage formula minus the Target’s PHD (unless the weapon specifies another damage source, like magic) to see how much damage you dealt. If you don’t have a Weapon or some Ability that makes your Barehanded Attacks stronger, you will use this formula for Barehanded Attacks: STR + d8.
If a Weapon Attack is made with an Off Hand Weapon and you do not have the Ambidextrous Advantage, any Attack from that hand does -25% (or 75% of the total) of the damage roll before mitigation. Any one-handed Weapon can be held with both hands for additional benefits. Melee Weapons used two-handed do +25% damage (or 125% of the total) before mitigation.
All Attacks can possibly Critically Succeed or Botch. In the case of a Critical Success (≥ 96), your Attack does an additional +50% (or x1.5 the total) before the Target’s damage mitigation. In the case of a Botch (≤ 5), your Attack misses, even if the Difficulty was above 100, and may even end up with some catastrophic result, such as you doing 50% of your Attack Action to an Ally in reach or yourself (to your GM’s discretion). The Difficulty will often remain hidden by your GM, so you still have to roll to see if you Critically Succeed or Botch even on automatic outcomes.
Defending
If you aren’t sure what to do, often a good idea is to Defend. Defence Actions take a Full Action and must be done after any Empty Actions you may still do that Turn. If you Defend, any damage you would take until your next Turn gets reduced by -25%, but you lose –50% of your Initiative Value on the next Round. This also reduces any damage Negative Statuses would do to you at the start of your next Turn.
Abilities
All Abilities will tell you how to use them and could be any Action weight. The main difference between Abilities and other Actions of the same weight is that Ability Actions that can be used on Command or Channeled will have some TP or SP cost. These will often have greater impact, but may need to be reserved in long expeditions where you don’t get to Rest often. If an Ability is Conditional, then it will activate in Combat if the Condition is met, even if it isn’t your Turn.
Waiting
Sometimes, the best thing to do is just to Wait. A PC could choose to skip their Turn altogether this Round and Wait to roll Initiative again, or they could choose to Wait a specified Initiative Value to take their Turn after the condition of the battlefield has changed some. Waiting counts as an Empty Action, so if you choose to Wait 25 Initiative Value before acting, you will only have a Full Action and a single Empty Action when you get there, but if you Wait until your next Turn (often next Round unless using Initiative method 2), then you will have all your Actions as usual. Waiting until the next Round also gives you +10% Initiative Value for that Round.
Resource Management
In Combat, you have three main resources to keep track of: HP, TP, and SP, in addition to any Equipment you are carrying. It is your responsibility to keep track of your Current values of those three, as well as knowing your break points for different Advantages, Disadvantages, and Abilities that may need them. Typically, the most important point to know is 25% of your Max HP, which is known as the Danger Zone. If you can’t do the math on the fly or eyeball it reliably, be sure to write it down somewhere.
Equipment and Consumables
You can also use Consumables or swap your Equipment in Combat if necessary. Both have different conditions depending on what you want to do. If you need to swap out a Weapon or piece of Armor that is in your Inventory, you must use a Full Action. If you just want to drop a piece of Equipment on the ground, that only takes an Empty Action. If you do not say that your character goes back and retrieves their Equipment after Combat resolves, it is considered abandoned. It is your job to retrieve your gear, not your GM’s to assume you did.
If you want to use a Consumable, you can use anyone in your 4 base Small Storage Slots (usually your pockets), it only takes your Full Action that Turn. If the Consumable you wish to use is in a Storage Accessory, like a Satchel or Backpack, you must also use an Empty Action in addition to the Full Action to retrieve it. It is a good habit to announce to your GM outside of Combat that you are moving certain Equipment from your additional Storage to your base Storage so that your most important items are within quick reach. The exception is that if you have the Hammerspace Ability, anything stored within is treated as if it were stored in your pants pockets and takes no additional Actions.
Death’s Door
I bet you are wondering, what happens if my HP reaches 0? Do I die? If not, how do I die? These are good questions, because you can, in fact, die, and often probably should. If you reach 0 HP, your character is immediately Unconscious, but is also considered on Death’s Door.
If you reached 0 HP exactly with no Overkill damage, then you are safe and don’t have to roll to leave Death’s Door, but your Party does either need to heal you soon or get rid of all threats, because you can still be Executed. If there was Overkill damage, then you have to roll to Resist Death with a CoS Overkill – WIL, equalized until the Overkill damage is only three orders of magnitude. For example, if the Overkill damage brought you to -2573 HP and your WIL is 156, the CoS would be 257 – 15, or 242, which you couldn’t pass even with a Miracle Success. If you Succeed, you leave Death’s Door. If you Fail, the original Overkill damage is added again, and you repeat the process. The next Success or Fail continues to add or subtract the Overkill damage until you either make it back to 0 HP or it reaches the negative equivalent of your Max HP. If the Overkill damage, either initially or from Failed rolls, ever reaches or surpasses your Negative Max HP and you Fail that Resist Death roll, you are finally dead. If something hits you with an attack twice your Max HP or more, even when you were at full HP, then you only have one chance to Resist Death.
Execution works the same way. While you are Unconscious, an Enemy can move you onto Death’s Door, or even straight past it to Death, if it does more damage to you. If it doesn’t do enough damage to reach your Negative Max HP, that Attack is now considered Overkill damage and you try to Resist Death as normal. If the Attack does push you to your Negative Max HP, even while you are in the cycle of Resisting Death, it is counted as an Execution, and you don’t get to roll on that last Attack. Many enemies have no desire to execute you, so this usually only happens with heinous people and beasts. But also, sometimes accidents happen, even if they don’t want to kill you.
Allies can also heal you during this time. Unless they have an Ability that takes you off Death’s Door or prevents you from having to Resist Death, they cannot bring you above 0 HP until you pass a Resist Death roll within the range between the initial Overkill damage and 0 HP. They can, however, heal you and reduce the accumulated Overkill damage to increase your chances of surviving. Any normal healing Ability can reduce accumulated Overkill damage by the normal amount it would heal otherwise.
Fleeing
If at any point, a PC thinks the battle is too much for them, they can choose to Flee. Sometimes it may not be possible to Flee, but if they have a possible Escape, the Player may declare during the Initiative Phase that they are taking the Total Action Flee. To Flee, a player must be able to Move in a direction opposite of any threats and then make a Task Check against any Enemy whose Movement or Attacking Range they are within. Each participant will roll d100 + SPD + Escape (or DIS / 2 if they don’t have the Escape Talent learned), with the ratings equalized down to the entity whose ratings are the highest order of magnitude. If one entity has a SPD of 1032 and an Escape of 53, but the other entity has a SPD of 574 but no Escape and half their DIS is 102, then all numbers would be reduced until the largest is only three figures, leaving one entity with a roll of d100 + 103 + 5 and the other with d100 + 57 + 10. If the Fleeing entity lands a Critical Success (96 through 100), than they can still get away, even if a single threat rolls higher than them, as long as the difference in scores isn’t greater than 150. If they Botch (1 through 5), they fail even if they naturally out-roll the threats, and those threats have a +50% CoS advantage that Round for Attacks and Abilities against them. If a PC manages to Succeed Fleeing from a Miracle Critical Success (the roll difference was between 101 and 150) and they didn’t know Escape, they then immediately learn it at 10 rating. Also, despite the earlier example, if half your character’s DIS is higher than their Escape rating, as it likely will be unless you are playing around the Escape talent out of Combat, you may choose to use that instead.
Status Conditions
[Will be added later]