PHOBOS: Main Rules Book

A Roleplaying Game of the Wonders and Terrors of Technology and Magic

by Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>

Beta version 2005Nov08

"If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?" -Voltaire

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Table of Contents

Preface Credits Materials For Play Task System Summary Character Creation Stats Strength (STR) Endurance (END) Dexterity (DEX) Agility (AGI) Intuition (INT) Logic (LOG) Presence (PRE) Wyrd (WYR) Skills Acting Athletics BFG Business Coercion Computers Craft Defense Engineering Etiquette Firearms Guts Knowledge Language Locksmith Magic Medicine Melee Weapons Missile Weapons Perception Pilot Research Science Security Systems Stealth Survival Tricks Unarmed Combat

Advantages Disadvantages Experience Equipment Tasks Difficulty Result Total Opposed Tasks Result Quality Action Initiative Movement Encumbrance Combat Ranged Combat Hit Location Damage Armor Applying Damage Damaged Stats and Recovery Glossary Odds

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Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2000 by Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>, All Rights Reserved. All trademarks and copyrights referred to herein that are not owned by Mark Hughes are owned by someone else. You are permitted to download, print, and use this document free of charge, but you may not redistribute it except as provided in condition 6 below. Always refer others back to this original at <http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/Phobos/>. You may create derivative works (including but not necessarily limited to additional rules, sourcebooks, settings, adventures, and characters) of Phobos, with the following conditions: 1. Such materials MUST NOT contain any of the copyrighted works of Mark Hughes, except for the disclaimer below. 2. Such materials MUST be identified as being merely "for use with Phobos", not represented in any way as being official Phobos supplements. 3. Such materials MAY use specific game terms from Phobos, including but not limited to the names of the stats and skills, the result qualities, and references to other mechanics. 4. Such materials MUST be provided free of charge or in a magazine or other periodical. 5. Such materials MUST contain the following disclaimer text in its entirety at the beginning or the end, with other credits, substituting your title, name, and publisher (yourself, if you have no other publisher) as appropriate: DISCLAIMER The following materials based on Phobos, entitled WORK'S TITLE, are created by AUTHOR'S NAME and made available by PUBLISHER'S NAME, and are not authorized or endorsed in any way by Mark Damon Hughes or any publisher of other Phobos materials. Neither Mark Damon Hughes nor any publisher of other Phobos material is in any way responsible for the content of these materials. Original Phobos materials Copyright © 2000 Mark Damon Hughes, All Rights Reserved. Phobos may be obtained at <http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/Phobos/>. Mark Damon Hughes can be contacted by email at <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>. 6. If you want to distribute copies of Phobos itself, in whole or in part, or distribute derivative works for a fee or charge, other than in a magazine or other periodical, or publish an official Phobos supplement, you MUST first obtain written permission from Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>.

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Preface

Being a number of observations, comments, and rants from the author.

•    Phobos is a fast, simple, free role-playing game system, with a universal task system based on result qualities and one twenty-sided die. Phobos is intended for modern fantasy/horror, and has its own specific game world in the Phobos GM Book. While Phobos is not a completely universal system, it can be used for a wide range of alternative settings, including the very strange world of my multiplayer computer game Techies, or for any fairly realistic or gritty genre; low fantasy, science fiction, and film noir are easily done with it, while action-movie, high fantasy, swashbuckling, and superheroics would require some extensive modifications to the magic and combat systems.

     While the Game Mastering section is partially a tutorial, any GM using Phobos is assumed to be an experienced role-player. However, this would be a good system to teach new players with, as there is very little to teach, and it all works in the simplest and most consistent manner I know how to create.

•    This system is greatly simplified from my first design notes for it, back in 1989 - the only part even remotely resembling the original is the task system, and even that's changed dice, modifiers, and result quality numbers radically, so it is only the original system in the same sense as "Grandfather's axe", which has had two new handles and a new axe head since Grampa had it. The skill category/skill distinction is the sole remaining trace of my original skill system, which was based on 1st Edition Paranoia's skill trees. I loved it, but playtesters were uniformly confused by it <sigh>.

•    One of my many eccentricities is that I do not subscribe to the notion that people are stupid. This insidious and vile meme has crippled billions of people, convincing them either that they're just too dumb to understand [computers, math, grammar, spelling, history, literature, plays, or whatever] because of their upbringing, age, or gender; or it convinces many marginally-talented people that they're gods in comparison to the "<sneer>Common Man", and gives them license to be assholes. Fuck that. I assume that each and every reader is at least smart enough to count to 20 without taking their shoes off, can comprehend proper English sentences with multi-syllable words, and can think for themselves. Please do not disappoint me.

•    This text is normally published as a web page, which makes the inclusion of page number references for paper versions impossible. The table of contents above should make it fairly easy to find any specific section you want, and the rules are brief enough that this should not be a great difficulty. I apologize for any inconvenience, but this is the best available compromise between online and paper.

•    The current edition has no art, mainly because I am spending no money, and as a notable figure in the gaming industry once said: "We pay the artists first, and then the writers if there's anything left over, because artists won't work if you don't pay them". If I don't get paid for this, NOBODY gets paid. In addition, I'm deeply apathetic about art in RPG books, except to illustrate specific items or NPCs; I may perpetrate some of my own art for that or swindle it out of friends, where necessary. If you really like art for art's sake, don't buy RPGs, that's silly. Go to your local comics shop and buy Masamune Shirow's Intron Depot art collections, or buy some Picasso or Nagel prints (okay, Nagel had only one subject on his mind, but I love his minimalist style), or something. To replace the traditional role of art for setting the mood, I have filled this game with quotes from various books, movies, and songs; I'm a media junkie who quotes incessantly (yes, it's as obnoxious a behavior as it sounds, and I've conducted entire conversations in quotes), so it seemed the thing to do.

•    I use the metric system throughout these rules. I think in the metric system, it's easier to work with, and I want people outside of the U.S. to be able to play this with minimal difficulty. And frankly, it is insane for the U.S. to be the sole significant country not using the metric system at this date. We've lost an expensive Martian probe because of this stupidity. We've cost ourselves and other countries billions, both in lost or reduced sales and in expenses in duplicate tooling for metric and American measures. And it makes us look like idiots to the rest of the world. Get over it, buckle down, and learn it, already. See the National Institute of Standards and Technology <href="http://www.nist.gov/> for more information.

  -- <a href="http://kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu/~kamikaze/"> Mark Damon Hughes </a>

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  Credits

  Phobos could not have been completed without the playtesting, advice, suggestions, and friendship of the following people. Thank you.

  • Hasan Edain
  • Julie Hoverson

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  Materials For Play

  You will need the following materials to play Phobos:

  1. A GM and 1 or more players. Many GM's find groups larger than 6 players inconvenient, while some can handle MUCH larger groups. I like having 5-8 players, and can handle up to 12 when caffeinated without going completely insane. One GM I've played with, the amazing Rob Bromeley, had 9-12 players on average, and there were 18-25 at a few sessions; play was marginally slower than usual, but there was a lot of player interaction and competition.
  2. A copy of these rules - preferably one copy per player at least during character creation. Since Phobos is free, this costs only the printer paper and toner. Even better, Phobos can be loaded onto a laptop or PDA, saving paper, allowing you to use the hyperlinks in the document, and allowing you to update it to a new version without having to reprint it.
  3. Paper and pencils - you will be making changes to your characters often enough that a pen is not really a good idea.
  4. An adding machine or scratch paper for character creation. There is no math in Phobos that cannot be done in your head, but keeping track of points spent and left in character creation is best done with a calculator.
  5. One twenty-sided die per player. Having several different-colored dice is a good idea for the GM, so multiple NPCs can be rolled for at once.
  6. Snacks and caffeinated beverages - I don't recommend alcohol or other recreational chemicals in gaming, even if you're 21 or older, it's just not a good combination. Maybe in Ghostbusters or Toon, but not here.
  7. Miniatures, a vinyl mat, and wipe-off pens are VERY helpful, but not essential. If you have no appropriate miniatures, you might use other kinds of dice (with the upturned number showing identity) or LEGO^® mini-figures. I don't recommend using edible miniatures, even if it is fun to eat the corpses of your enemies, it's just not sanitary. Even cannibals cook the bodies before we eat.

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  Task System Summary

  This is a duplicate of the first section of the full task system, which is described after character creation, and it is included here so you will understand the task references given throughout the character creation section. See Tasks.

     Any action can be defined as a task, and is usually written in the form: {Skill\Difficulty (+/-Mod)\Time} or {Stat\Difficulty (+/-Mod)\Time}. The time or difficulty element may be left off in many cases.

     The term "dXX" is used to indicate an open-ended twenty-sided die: Roll a twenty-sided die. If the die shows "1", subtract the roll of another dXX. If the die shows "20", add the roll of another dXX. The subsequent dXX rolls are also open-ended (it can happen that you ping-pong up and down one or more times before getting a 2-19 roll).

     The term "d20" is used to indicate the roll of a normal twenty-sided die. When "d20" is written (as opposed to "dXX"), it means exactly that - "1" is read as 1, "20" is read as 20.

  The Central Mechanic of Phobos: Result Total (RT) = dXX + difficulty modifiers + stat or skill score An RT of 20 or more succeeds; an RT of 19 or less fails

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  Character Creation

  "Where you come from is gone!  Where you thought you were goin' to weren't never there!  And where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it!  You understand?!?" -Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hot Rod (redline-whiteline version)"

     Characters are built by assigning a certain number of Character Points (CP) among stats, skills, and advantages; additional CP may be gained by taking disadvantages. The Power Level of a campaign, set by the GM, determines how many CP each character gets. Unless otherwise specified, the Power Level is assumed to be Gritty, so characters start with 400 CP.

  Power Level	CP
  Brutal	200
  Gritty	400
  Heroic	800
  Hollywood	2000
  Saturday Morning Cartoon/Lensman	5000

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  1. Choose a name, personality, and background for your character. It is possible to make a "random" character, but you will find it more difficult to choose skills without a guiding concept, and your character will be hard to role-play. This is greatly discouraged, but do what you like.

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  2. Purchase any Advantages and Disadvantages that fit your background. See those sections for the CP costs or rewards.

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  3. The eight stats (see Stats) each have a starting score of 10. The CP cost for any given stat score is shown on the table below. Scores above 10 have a positive cost, reducing the number of CP a character has left to spend, while scores below 10 have a negative cost, increasing the number of CP the character has to spend. The costs climb exponentially. No stat may be reduced below 5 or increased above 20 during character creation. You should probably not spend more than one-quarter of your CP on stats; save the rest for skills.

     Write down a descriptive word or short phrase for your stat - "LOG 13 (Clever)", "AGI 8 (Stiff)", "END 12 (Small, but tougher than he looks)", etc. The GM may use these descriptors for additional modifiers or penalties to some actions, and they help in roleplaying your character.

     If you cannot decide on an appropriate score for a stat, you may want to consider rolling 2d20/2, and then paying for that score.

     The Skill Base of a stat is 50% of the stat score, rounding fractions up. It is the stat's influence on a skill, and the remainder of a skill score is the character's training and practice with that skill. Record the Skill Base next to each stat.

     Stat Score CP Cost Skill Base 1-2 N/A 1 3-4 N/A 2 5 -125 3 6 -80 3 7 -45 4 8 -20 4 9 -5 5 10 0 5 11 +5 6 12 +20 6 13 +45 7 14 +80 7

     Stat Score CP Cost Skill Base 15 +125 8 16 +180 8 17 +245 9 18 +320 9 19 +405 10 20 +500 10 21-22 N/A 11 23-24 N/A 12 25-26 N/A 13 27-28 N/A 14 29-30 N/A 15

        If you were wondering, the cost is calculated as: [5×(stat-10)×(|stat-10|)] ("|x|" means "use the absolute value of x").

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  4. All characters are assumed to know the following "universal skills" (see Skills) at basic level - assign the Skill Base of the associated stats to each. The character does not have to pay 10 CP to learn these.
     • Athletics: <any one of choice, often Running> (AGI)
     • Defense: Dodge and Use Cover (AGI)
     • Etiquette: <any one of choice> (PRE)
     • Perception: all five senses (INT)
     • Pilot: <any one, usually Automatic or Manual Automobile> (DEX)
     • Unarmed Combat: Punch (STR)

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  5. Assign the higher of your LOG or PRE Stat Scores (not just the Skill Base) to Language: <native language>.

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  6. Select and improve your skills. Learning the basic level of a skill costs 10 CP, and this gives the character a skill score equal to the controlling stat's Skill Base. After this, each one-point increase costs a number of CP equal to the new skill level. Characters cannot just buy skills up from 0, they must pay the 10 CP first to represent the initial training where the basics are laid down.

     For any skill, even those examples listed and the universal skills, players should write a sentence to a paragraph of description, of where, how, and why they learned the skill, who they met while learning it, and what it does.

     Nota Bene: Keep in mind that skills are very broad, and in most cases you can use the half-skill default within a category. A 400-point character will likely have a half-dozen to a dozen purchased skills in addition to the universal skills. This may not seem like many skills until you realize how broad they are, and this avoids the syndrome some games have of having 5-page character sheets, 4 of which are endless skill listings.

     The cost to improve a skill from its current score to any given new score (not counting the initial 10 CP) is shown on the table below. It is unlikely that anyone will reach a skill score of 30, but it could happen, and there was room to go that far across.

     	New Score
     Current Score	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
     0	1	3	6	10	15	21	28	36	45	55	66	78	91	105	120
     1	-	2	5	9	14	20	27	35	44	54	65	77	90	104	119
     2	-	-	3	7	12	18	25	33	42	52	63	75	88	102	117
     3	-	-	-	4	9	15	22	30	39	49	60	72	85	99	114
     4	-	-	-	-	5	11	18	26	35	45	56	68	81	95	110
     5	-	-	-	-	-	6	13	21	30	40	51	63	76	90	105
     6	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	15	24	34	45	57	70	84	99
     7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	17	27	38	50	63	77	92
     8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	19	30	42	55	69	84
     9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	21	33	46	60	75
     10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	23	36	50	65
     11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	25	39	54
     12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	27	42
     13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	29
     14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15
     	New Score
     Current Score	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
     0	136	153	171	190	210	231	253	276	300	325	351	378	406	435	465
     1	135	152	170	189	209	230	252	275	299	324	350	377	405	434	464
     2	133	150	168	187	207	228	250	273	297	322	348	375	403	432	462
     3	130	147	165	184	204	225	247	270	294	319	345	372	400	429	459
     4	126	143	161	180	200	221	243	266	290	315	341	368	396	425	455
     5	121	138	156	175	195	216	238	261	285	310	336	363	391	420	450
     6	115	132	150	169	189	210	232	255	279	304	330	357	385	414	444
     7	108	125	143	162	182	203	225	248	272	297	323	350	378	407	437
     8	100	117	135	154	174	195	217	240	264	289	315	342	370	399	429
     9	91	108	126	145	165	186	208	231	255	280	306	333	361	390	420
     10	81	98	116	135	155	176	198	221	245	270	296	323	351	380	410
     11	70	87	105	124	144	165	187	210	234	259	285	312	340	369	399
     12	58	75	93	112	132	153	175	198	222	247	273	300	328	357	387
     13	45	62	80	99	119	140	162	185	209	234	260	287	315	344	374
     14	31	48	66	85	105	126	148	171	195	220	246	273	301	330	360
     15	16	33	51	70	90	111	133	156	180	205	231	258	286	315	345
     16	-	17	35	54	74	95	117	140	164	189	215	242	270	299	329
     17	-	-	18	37	57	78	100	123	147	172	198	225	253	282	312
     18	-	-	-	19	39	60	82	105	129	154	180	207	235	264	294
     19	-	-	-	-	20	41	63	86	110	135	161	188	216	245	275
     20	-	-	-	-	-	21	43	66	90	115	141	168	196	225	255
     21	-	-	-	-	-	-	22	45	69	94	120	147	175	204	234
     22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	47	72	98	125	153	182	212
     23	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	49	75	102	130	159	189
     24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	51	78	106	135	165
     25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	53	81	110	140
     26	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27	55	84	114
     27	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	28	57	87
     28	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	29	59
     29	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30

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  7. Roll dXX × your occupation's skill score × 10. This is how much starting available money your character has, in US dollars (those playing characters from other nations, adjust for that country's currency). If you rolled a negative number, that's how many debts you have - roll again for your available money. Your character may have considerably more total assets, depending on your background (work this out with the GM, do not just assume that you get whatever you ask for), but this is all you have immediately available without disposing of property. See any catalog for prices of mundane items - this is assumed to be exactly like the real world, with the exception of magic. Wealth and Poverty advantages and disadvantages should give or cost a character $50 × (CP spent × CP spent) (that is, $1250 for 5 CP, up to $2M for 200 CP).

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  8. You are ready to play!

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  Stats

     Stats are innate abilities that all characters have, and determine the character's basic competence in broad areas - thus providing a base to all related skills. While stats can change with practice and exercise, this is rare and difficult.

     There are eight stats, each usually ranging from 1-20 for normal humans, though they can go higher; 30 is generally the upper limit of human ability. Though they will usually be the same, every score actually has both a current and maximum score. The score determined in character creation is the maximum score; skills are based on the maximum scores. Current scores start the same as the maximum scores, but stat-affecting damage, spells, or conditions, or the spending of Wyrd points can reduce them.

     Every stat is given a descriptive word or short phrase during character creation - "LOG 13 (Clever)", "AGI 8 (Stiff)", "END 12 (Small, but tougher than he looks)", etc. The GM may use these descriptors for additional modifiers or penalties to some actions, and they help in roleplaying your character.

     The Skill Base of a stat is 50% of the maximum stat score, rounding fractions up. It is the stat's influence on a skill, and the remainder of a skill score is the character's training and practice with that skill. The Skill Base is usually only applied once, when the skill is first learned. However, future changes to a maximum stat score will affect skills that have already been learned - whenever a stat is increased to an odd number, increase all of the related skills by 1. For example, a character with a LOG of 8 has a Skill Base of 2 in all LOG skills, and so the character learns Business at an initial score of 2. Later, the character increases LOG to 9, and the Skill Base increases to 3. The character's Business skill score is increased by one, and if the character now learns a Language skill, it starts at a score of 3.

     Whenever current stat scores are lower than the maximum stat scores, all skills dependant on those stats are also reduced by half as much as the stat is. For example, a character who has lost 10 points of current STR in injuries is at a -5 to all STR-based skills. Wyrd is the exception; characters are never reduced in skills for being low on current Wyrd, but will be reduced in ability at purely Wyrd tasks (sensing Wyrd in others, resisting Wyrd effects).

  Strength (STR)

  Raw physical strength, ability to lift heavy objects, and increased damage of physical attacks.

  Endurance (END)

  Health, toughness, resistance to wounds, and resistance to fatigue.

  Dexterity (DEX)

  Fine manipulation, hand-eye coordination, and reaction speed.

  Agility (AGI)

  Whole-body fitness and coordination, and balance.

  Intuition (INT)

  Holistic or subconscious reasoning, creativity, practiced talents, and empathy.

  Logic (LOG)

  Objective conscious reasoning, education, memory, and willpower.

  Presence (PRE)

  Charm, savoir-faire, leadership, appearance, and sex appeal.

  Wyrd (WYR)

  Luck, fate, destiny, and magical power. Wyrd has a number of special applications, including modifying dice, performing Magic, and sensing Wyrd in others. Most people have no idea of how to use Wyrd, but do have an average amount of it. Use of Wyrd is the factor that divides Actives from Mundanes; a very small fraction of humanity are born able to use Wyrd, depending on the local ML, while all others can only do so if they are "activated" with a ritual.

     Active characters may, after the roll, spend points from their current Wyrd on a one-for-one basis to adjust almost any die roll that affects them directly (GM's judgement call), up or down. Actives may alternately spend 4 Wyrd to re-roll one of their own die rolls (and only their own), and may continue spending more Wyrd to re-re-roll or modify the rolls, until everyone is satisfied with what they got, or unwilling to spend more Wyrd. If a dXX is rerolled, the roll must be started over from the beginning - you cannot roll 20, roll 1, and just spend 4 Wyrd to reroll the 1; you have to scrap the 20 and reroll from scratch.

     The effects of spending Wyrd are not obvious in the game world; the characters should think they just narrowly pulled off a task, got a lucky break, or had a fortuitous coincidence. No concentration or even consciousness is necessary to use Wyrd, once you are aware of it.

     Characters may not spend Wyrd to affect their own or others' use of Wyrd-based skills. When supernatural powers are drawing on Wyrd, nothing further can affect the outcome.

     Characters with Wyrd-based skills recover current Wyrd at a faster rate, based on their highest Wyrd-based skill score. If that skill score is 15 or less, they recover 1 point of Wyrd every (16 - skill score) hours of rest or light activity (study, meditation, etc.). If a character has a Wyrd-based skill of 16 or more, the recovery time is instead one hour divided by (skill score - 14). For example, a character with Magic: Cantrips 14 recovers 1 Wyrd every 2 hours, while one with a score of 24 recovers 1 Wyrd every 6 minutes (10 per hour). Characters without Wyrd-based skills recover 1 point every week of rest, just like any other stat.

     Characters with Wyrd skills, both PCs and NPCs, may try a {Wyrd stat score\Average (+0)\instant} task whenever they meet someone else to gauge how much Wyrd they have, or to sense Wyrd in enchanted objects; this takes but a quick glance at the target, and works as long as the target is within a few meters. This task should be rolled by the GM, out of sight of the players.

  Result Quality		Effect
  Extreme Failure	(0-)	Completely wrong answer, selected by the GM to be as misleading as possible.
  Great Failure	(1-10)	No information is gained.
  Normal Failure	(11-19)	No information is gained.
  Borderline	(20)	You can tell if the target has more or less maximum Wyrd than you do.
  Normal Success	(21-30)	You can tell, to within 5 points, how much maximum Wyrd the target has, and whether or not the target has any Wyrd skills.
  Great Sucess	(31-40)	You can tell, to within 5 points, how much maximum and how much current Wyrd the target has, and if the target's highest Wyrd skill is higher or lower than yours.
  Extreme Success	(41+)	You can tell exactly how much maximum and how much current Wyrd the target has, and the score of the target's highest Wyrd skill.

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  Skills

     Skills are trained, practiced, or innate abilities not possessed by everyone. Each skill covers a much smaller range of abilities than stats, and skills are relatively easily learned and improved.

     Skills are rated 0-20 for most people; there is no absolute upper limit, but scores over 20 are unlikely.

  Skill Score	Description
  0	Untrained
  1-4	Minimal training
  5-8	Competent
  9-12	Professional
  13-16	Superb
  17-20	Master
  21-30	Grand Master

     There are 28 skill categories, divided into fairly freeform individual skills; players are encouraged and expected to make up many of their own skills, within these categories or even adding new categories, with the GM's permission. For any skill, even those examples listed, players should write a sentence to a paragraph of description, of where, how, and why they learned the skill, who they met while learning it, and what it does.

     There are often distinct similarities between skills in the same category, and you may be able to "default" from one skill to another in the same category that you do not possess. The default is at half the skill score of the known skill, or less, depending on how much the character's background and experience indicates any familiarity with the subject. For example, most characters with Knowledge: Sumerian History do not even get to roll for Knowledge: Baseball Stats, unless they have specifically also taken that, but a character with Knowledge: Baseball Stats may get a half roll for Knowledge: Football Stats, from exposure to other sports fans and sports shows; likewise, the Sumerian History student would probably get a half roll at any ancient history.

     If a character does not possess any skill in a category, the GM may permit the character to use half the Skill Base of the associated stat as a default.

     Variant Rule: The GM may decide to use the categories as very broad skills instead of individual skills in the campaign. This has several effects: it makes characters more competent, careful monitoring of their skill use is necessary to make sure it's consistent with their background, and CP costs for skills may need to be doubled or more. In the long run, it is less effort, makes for more detailed character descriptions, and is a better-balanced game if you use the skills, but some GM's may prefer this variant.

  Acting (PRE)

  "Why don't you just try acting, dear boy?" -Sir Laurence Olivier to Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man

  Convincingly showing false emotions, wearing disguises, and playing the role of another person.
  Example Skills: Disguise, Performance, Memorizing Lines, Stage Technician, Voice Mimicry.

  Athletics (AGI)

  "Do you still run?" "Only when chased." -Dr. Hathaway and Chris Knight, Real Genius

  Playing a sport, competing in an athletic competition, or applying those athletic skills to real-world situations.
  Example Skills: Acrobatics, Baseball, Soccer, Cross-Country Running, Rock Climbing.

  BFG (LOG)

  "We need some big, BIG fucking guns!" -Detective Dick Derkin, Split Second

  Firing and maintaining large assault weapons; any man-portable, squad, or vehicular weapon larger than a normal firearm, from gatling guns at TL 5-6, to bazookas, support machine guns, and grenade launchers at TL 7-8, man-portable missile racks and mass drivers (gauss rifles) at TL 9, BFG9000's at TL A, and the Lazy Gun from Iain M. Banks' Against a Dark Background at TL X.
  Example Skills: Grenade Launcher, Mortar, Heavy Machinegun, Rocket Launcher.

  Business (LOG)

  "Greed... is good." -Gordon Gecko, Wall Street

  Running a business, playing the stock market, accounting, and making investments; at decent levels, the equivalent of an MBA degree.
  Example Skills: Stocks, Small-Business Management, Corporate Management, Investments, Accounting, Tax Law.

  Coercion (PRE)

  "You've gotta be asking yourself just one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, DO YA, punk?" -Harry Callaghan, Dirty Harry

  Impressing, terrifying, confusing, or torturing (psychologically or, if you must, physically) others into doing or telling you what you want. Warning: Continual inappropriate use of some Coercion skills may provoke the GM into taking your character away after a warning or two, and running the ex-PC psychopath as an NPC villain. Be gentle with this skill.
  Example Skills: Blackmail, Intimidation, Torture, Fast-Talk.

  Computers (LOG)

  "A computer is essentially a trained squirrel: acting on reflex, thoughtlessly running back and forth and storing away nuts until some other stimulus makes it do something else." -Ted Nelson, Literare Machines

  The theory and practice of programming, software development, computer science, digital electronics, computer security, and (unfortunately) intrusion.
  Example Skills: Cracking (intrusion), Computer Science, Death-March Programming, Debugging, Computer Repair.

  Craft (INT)

  Any practiced, rather than intensively trained, professional, productive, or creative craft. Craft is a catch-all for a vast number of skills. See also Engineering, Knowledge, and Science.
  Example Skills: Automotible Mechanics, Pottery, Painting, Tracking.

  Defense (AGI)

  "Think you're pretty smart, college boy? Think you can outsmart a bullet?" -Robocop

  Any defensive maneuver or technique. Dodging melee and unarmed attacks, using cover against firearms, blocking unarmed attacks, and parring melee attacks.
  Example Skills: Dodge, Sword Parry, Billyclub Parry, Use Cover, Block Punches, Block Kicks.

  Engineering (LOG)

  "You canna break the laws of physics, captain!" -Scotty, Star Trek Classic: just about every episode

  "Uh, they tell me the generators can't take it, and we're going to break up. Just FYI." -Fred, GalaxyQuest

  Specific practical application of science and technology. Many Engineering skills will also require similar Science or Knowledge skills. See also Craft, Knowledge, and Science.
  Example Skills: Automobile Mechanics (yes, this may also be a Craft), Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering.

  Etiquette (PRE)

  [ptomblin's etiquette rule]

  Knowledge of, and interacting well with, a social group, and persuading members of that social group to consider your proposals or otherwise manipulating them. The kind of arguments that work with gangbangers are unlikely to work well when dealing with corporate lawyers (though you never know...).
  Example Skills: Gang Culture, High Society, Business Culture, Japanese, Seduction, Debate, Taunt, Teaching.

  Firearms (DEX)

  "Jane, it's time for our William Tell routine." -William Lee, Naked Lunch

  Shooting a target with small arms, and maintaining them.
  Example Skills: Revolvers, Semi-Automatic Pistols, Submachine Guns, Bolt-Action Rifles, Shotguns, Assault Rifles.

  Guts (PRE)

  "'Tis but a scratch!" -The Black Knight, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

  Keeping your head despite pain, distractions, or other stresses.
  Example Skills: Blasé About Ickiness, Coolness Under Fire, Meditation, Fearless, Withstand Hellish Agony.

  Knowledge (LOG)

  "Now you know... And knowing is half the battle!" -G.I. Joe

  Information and training in a specific field that relies on memorization and education; generally (but not always) without direct practical application. See also Craft, Engineering, and Science.
  Example Skills: Roman History, Comic Books, Hockey Stats, Anatomy, Law, Occult Lore.

  Language (LOG)

  "They speak the universal language. LOVE!" -Better Off Dead

  Speaking, reading, and writing specific languages. Closely-related languages (dialects of Gaelic) should get a default of one-half, more distantly-related languages (German to English) should get a default of the Skill Base, and languages with no relation should get no default.
  Example Skills: English, French, German, Latin, Russian, Japanese, Cantonese.

  Locksmith (LOG)

  "Someday when you're a big girl, mommy will teach YOU how to pick locks... Of course, she may still be picking this one." -Jeff Blue, Undercover Blues

  Picking, constructing, and repairing locks. Note that in the U.S., it is legal (though not necessarily wise) to possess lockpicks, but use of them in a crime is a greater crime than doing the crime without, and cops will take a dim view of misuse. A competent locksmith can open most locks in d20 rounds, while more difficult locks may take much longer or be impossible, depending on the available tools.
  Example Skills: Picking, Building, Repairing, Safecracking.

  Magic (WYR)

  Harry: "Did your life turn out to be the magical triumph you expected?" John: <glare> Harry: "It happens to us all. We get a sniff of sorcery and Oh! what plans we make! We'll shake creation and leave nothing but smiles and wit and a reputation all men envy!" -Harry and John Constantine, Hellblazer: Fear and Loathing

  Available only with the GM's permission, Magic is the training and ability to research and cast magic spells. Note that there are no defaults between any Magic skills - each one must be learned completely independantly to have any chance of success. See the Magic Book.
  Example Skills: Cantrips, <specific Thaumaturgic Force>.

  Medicine (LOG)

  "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" -"Bones" McCoy, Star Trek Classic: "Devil in the Dark"

  "Kidney dialysis? What is this, the dark ages?" -"Bones" McCoy Star Trek IV

  Giving medical assistance to another, from first aid to brain surgery. High skill scores in a number of skills are necessary to qualify as a medical doctor.
  Example Skills: First Aid, Surgery, Pharmacology, Psychiatry.

  Melee Weapons (AGI)

  "Making sharp things go through soft things that scream and bleed." -HOL

  Striking with specific types of melee weapons. See also Defense: <weapon> Parry.
  Example Skills: Broadsword, Fencing Foil, Billyclub, Nunchuks, Knife, Improvised Weapons.

  Missile Weapons (DEX)

  "Hey... Will ya look at that. It's right through me. Guys, look. It's cut a hole right through me. Guys, this is starting to really hurt. Just look at it. It's poked a hole right through me. Guys? Guys, don't you think maybe somebody oughtta call a doctor for me or something? This isn't the kind of thing you just ignore, guys. Guys?" -Stuka, The Big Fat Kill, by Frank Miller

  Shooting someone with primitive or muscle-powered missile weapons.
  Example Skills: Longbow, Shortbow, Compound Bow, Crossbow, Knife Throwing, Hatchet Throwing, Grenade Throwing.

  Perception (INT)

  Spotting hidden or difficult-to-notice details. A Perception roll should not be required for most obvious details; in general, if the player asks for more detail it should be given.
  Example Skills: Sight, Smell, Hearing, Taste, Touch.

  Pilot (DEX)

  "Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dustin' crops, boy. Without precise calculations, we'd fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?" -Han Solo, Star Wars

  Piloting any vehicle, especially in difficult conditions. In most cases, there is no need for a skill roll, even at Trivial level. A Trivial Piloting task is something where there is a small risk of accident if you're unskilled, but is otherwise automatic. Higher-difficulty Piloting tasks are reserved for only high-speed or "combat driving", tailing and evading a tail, and so on.
  Example Skills: Bicycle, Automatic-Transmission Automobile, Manual-Transmission Automobile, Motorcycle, Semi, Motorboat, Sailboat, Cargo Ship, Single-Engine Airplane, F16, Glider.

  Research (LOG)

  Locating information in a library, through connections, or online.
  Example Skills: Library, Contacts, Online Searches, <specific field>.

  Science (LOG)

  "Science RULES!" -Bill Nye, The Science Guy

  The knowledge, theory, and application of specific scientific fields. Science is of slightly more direct practical use than Knowledge, but less so than Engineering. See also Craft, Engineering, and Knowledge.
  Example Skills: Biology, Chemistry, Physics.

  Security Systems (LOG)

  Setting up, maintaining, operating, and disabling security systems.
  Example Skills: Alarms, Cameras, Booby-Traps, Human Guards, Animal Guards.

  Stealth (AGI)

  "Here, Jonesie, Jones, Jones, puss-puss-puss. Stupid cat." -Brett, Alien

  The many aspects of not being noticed.
  Example Skills: Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Camouflage, Conceal Item.

  Survival (INT)

  Finding food, water, and shelter in hostile environments.
  Example Skills: Temperate Forest, Arctic, Desert, Urban.

  Tricks: (DEX)

  "Watch me pull a rabbit out of mah hat!" "AGAIN? But that trick never works!" -Rocky and Bullwinkle

  Fine manipulation and sleight of hand.
  Example Skills: Picking Pockets, Juggling, Pushing Tiny Little Buttons on Your Digital Watch.

  Unarmed Combat (STR)

  "Boot to the head." <WHUMP> "OW! You booted me in the HEAD!" -The Frantics, "Boot to the Head"

  Smacking some punk upside the head when he needs it, whether with boxing, martial arts, or ad-hoc brawling.
  Example Skills: Punch, Kick, Throw, Disarm, Foot Sweep.

  ---

  Advantages

     Advantages are special capabilities the character has that most people do not. New advantages can be gained as time passes, either given freely by the GM, or purchased with CP if the GM allows it. Likewise, old advantages can be lost during play, and the character may either lose the CP or be allowed to replace the advantage with a new one.

     Most advantages are entirely freeform - you describe what advantage your character has, determine what the effect and frequency are, and that determines how many CP it costs. See Ye Olde Grande Liste of Advantages <http://members.aol.com/SercCircle/advantg.html> if you need any ideas.

     The effect does not have to be a die roll modifier - those are simply listed to show the relative scale of the effect. The frequency is how often the effect applies in relevant situations - a 90% frequency on a social advantage, for instance, will not apply 90% of the time when wandering alone in the wilderness, only in 90% of all cases where you are interacting with someone.

     Advantages should not directly affect specific skills or stats - instead they should come into play in specific situations that could be covered by any number of skills or stats. If you are capable of buying a skill or stat to do the same thing as an advantage, you must do that intead. In particular, Luck is not appropriate as an advantage, as it is covered by Wyrd.

     When you record an advantage on your character sheet, be sure to include the level of effect and frequency, for instance "Attractive (Mild, Common)", which costs 30 CP.

  Effect:

  Trivial	10 CP	(+1 on a roll at most)
  Mild	20 CP	(+3 on a roll, or equivalent effect)
  Strong	40 CP	(+5 on a roll, or equivalent effect)
  Total	100 CP	(+8 on a roll, or equivalent effect)

  Frequency:

  Rare (10%)	CP×0.5
  Uncommon (25%)	CP×1
  Common (50%)	CP×1.5
  Routine (90%)	CP×2

  ---

  Disadvantages

     Disadvantages are special disabilities the character has that most people do not. New disadvantages can be gained as time passes, and the GM may allow the player to spend the new CP, or they may just appear with no kickback. Likewise, old disadvantages can sometimes be "bought off", either with CP from experience or traded for new disadvantages.

     Like advantages, disadvantages are freeform - describe what you want and then determine approximately what it's worth. You may find the Big Big List of Disadvantages <http://members.aol.com/SercCircle/bigbig.html> useful.

     Unlike advantages, disadvantages may directly affect specific skills or stats, as well as coming into play in specific situations that could be covered by any number of skills or stats.

     The cardinal rule of disadvantages is: Disadvantages are only worth points proportional to how much they limit characters. A disadvantage that does not limit a charcter is worth no character points.

  Effect:

  Trivial	-10 CP	(-1 on a roll at most)
  Mild	-20 CP	(-3 on a roll, RQ×0.5 damage, etc.)
  Strong	-40 CP	(-5 on a roll, RQ×1 damage, etc.)
  Total	-100 CP	(-8 on a roll, RQ×2 damage, etc.)

  Frequency:

  Rare (10%)	CP×0.5
  Uncommon (25%)	CP×1
  Common (50%)	CP×1.5
  Routine (90%)	CP×2

  ---

  Experience

  "I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel,  I'm cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor.  Illusion never changed into something real,  I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn." -Natalie Imbruglia, "Torn"

     At the end of every adventure, the GM will award the characters' increased experience with additional CP. The following extremely simple system works well, but any method that ensures everyone some points and rewards the behaviors the GM wants to encourage is just fine. A good guideline is that a well-played character should get 10 to 15 CP per session; lower awards should indicate to players that they need to improve their role-playing, while higher ones are for exceptional players during their best sessions. It should be made clear that this is not a value-judgement on that player as a person or their friendship. It's an evaluation of how well-developed the player's role-playing skill is, and an encouragement to always work on improving that skill.

     Rate each player/character on a scale of 0 (complete failure) to 4 (perfect) on each condition. If you cannot decide, just assign a 2 and move on. The GM is highly encouraged to keep the specific evaluations private (telling only that player, at most), and tell the group as a whole only the total. This avoids a lot of resentment, arguments, and envy around the gaming table.

  CP	Condition
  0-4	Participation: The player showed up, played, and was not disruptive to role-playing - perfect players participate fully and actively in every scene their characters are involved in, but don't try to be "Mister Everywhere".
  0-4	Roleplaying: The player stayed in character, maintained a strict firewall between player and character knowledge, and interacted well (or at least appropriately) with the PC group and NPCs.
  0-4	Creative Problem-Solving: The character solved a difficult puzzle or resolved a complex situation through wits.
  0-4	Personal Goals: The character made advances towards accomplishing his or her personal goals.
  0-4	Heroism: The character faced serious risks and acquitted itself well.
  0-4	Quest: The character helped complete an adventure. Unlike the others, this is not given every session. Usually all PCs will get this at the end of each adventure. If the group isn't doing much in the way of adventures with discernable endings, this should be given out every 4 or 5 sessions if they are succeeding in whatever they're up to. If there's no way to discern even that, just give out 0 or 1 CP every session.

     CP are usually spent during a game session (or at least in "down time" between adventures, discussed with the GM) to improve stats, improve or purchase new skill specialties, or create or gain magic, spiritual, or psionic powers, and are spent in exactly the same manner as in character creation.

     To increase a stat by one point, a character must have spent a number of weeks at least equal to the new stat score using that stat (or skills based on it) heavily every day. The CP cost to improve the stat is equal to the difference between the CP cost of the current score and the new score:
  [5×(new stat-10)×(|new stat-10|) - 5×(old stat-10)×(|old stat-10|)] ("|x|" means "use the absolute value of x"). There is no absolute upper limit, but high stats are obviously very difficult to improve. Characters may improve their stat scores over 20 after character creation.
  For example, going from 14 to 15 requires 45 CP and 15 weeks of training - the old score of 14 cost 80 CP, and the new score of 15 costs 125 CP.

     To increase a skill by one point, a character must have spent a number of days at least equal to the new skill score using that skill at least once every day, and the CP cost is equal to the new skill level desired. For example, a character wants to improve his current Etiquette: Business Culture of 12. Increasing it to 13 costs 13 CP and takes at least 13 days of study, and increasing it to 14 costs 14 CP and takes at least 14 days of study, for a total of 27 CP and 27 days.

     To purchase a new skill, the character must have some way of learning it - whether from a teacher, textbooks, or practice. Learning new skills can take a varying but usually long period of time, a month, 6 months, or even years, as the GM sees fit for the character, the skill, and the character's situation. A character may be permitted to "study" several new skills and/or study to improve existing skills at once, at the GM's pleasure. It costs 10 CP to purchase a new skill, which then starts at the associated stat's Skill Base. From here, the character must improve the skill as explained above.

  For example: For a character with LOG 16, learning the basics of a Chinese language while living in China (and immersed in the Chinese language and culture) might take 3 months, cost 10 CP, and give that character a starting skill level of Language: Chinese 8 (the skill base for a score of 16). The character could also be studying Etiquette: Chinese and even Medicine: Immunology, if there as a medical intern.

     New advantages and disadvantages may be assigned by the GM for no points, traded for other advantages or disads, or bought/paid off with the usual CP.

     Creating a new Cantrip, Ritual, or Thaumaturgic Charm requires 5 CP and a task roll - see the Magic Book for details.

  ---

  Equipment

     No detailed equipment list is provided. For the modern world, any catalog, especially for police, military, and spy specialty stores, can give you useful prices, weights, and pictures of equipment.

     Weapons can be rated by size and relative effect: RQx0.25 to RQx0.5 is for small weapons, RQx1 is average, RQx2 is a large weapon, RQx3 or more is for assault weapons. For example, a 9mm pistol would be RQx1, a .45 would be RQx2, and a shotgun would be RQx3.

     Armor can be rated as 5 points per protection class (if you look at military/police catalogs, they'll rate armor as class I to class IV). Medieval armor is considerably less effective, no more than 10 armor value.

  ---

  Tasks

  "Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true, Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil, and Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet. All of a sudden I found myself in love with a girl, so there was only one thing that I could do, was ding-a-ding-dang my dang-a-long-ling-long." -Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hot Rod"

     Any action can be defined as a task, and is usually written in the form: {Skill\Difficulty (+/- Mod)\Time} or {Stat\Difficulty (+/- Mod)\Time}. The time or difficulty element may be left off in many cases.

     The term "dXX" is used to indicate an open-ended twenty-sided die: Roll a twenty-sided die. If the die shows "1", subtract the roll of another dXX. If the die shows "20", add the roll of another dXX. The subsequent dXX rolls are also open-ended (it can happen that you ping-pong up and down one or more times before getting a 2-19 roll).

     The term "d20" is used to indicate the roll of a normal twenty-sided die. When "d20" is written (as opposed to "dXX"), it means exactly that - "1" is read as 1, "20" is read as 20.

  The Central Mechanic of Phobos: Result Total (RT) = dXX + difficulty modifiers + stat or skill score An RT of 20 or more succeeds; an RT of 19 or less fails

  ---

  Difficulty

     Difficulties are modifiers to the skill or stat score, usually determined by the GM's whim best judgement of the situation. If specific difficulties are listed for a task, the GM may adjust it by as many or as few points as seem necessary, or by moving it up or down an entire line.

  Difficulty	Modifier
  Trivial	+10
  Easy	+5
  Average	+0
  Hard	-5
  Terrible	-10
  Extreme	-20

  ---

  Result Total

     Add the difficulty modifier, the skill or stat score, and a dXX roll to get the Result Total (RT). The higher your RT, the better the result will be. For quick pass/fail results, any total of 20 or more is a success, while any total of 19 or less is a failure.

  ---

  Opposed Tasks

     If the task was opposed by another active character, that character also makes a task roll and adds up a Result Total. Each character than subtracts the others' RT from theirs and adds 20 to determine their opposed Result Total. For example: Arvo and Bill are arm-wrestling, which is a {STR\Average (+0)\1 round} task. Arvo's roll of 12, plus STR of 10, gives him an RT of 22; Bill's roll of 7, plus STR of 10, gives him an RT of 17. Arvo's final RT, then, is (22-17+20)=25, while Bill's final RT is (17-22+20)=15. Arvo's Result Quality is a Normal Success, while Bill's is a Normal Failure.

  ---

  Result Quality

     Look your RT up on the table below to get a descriptive measurement of the Result Quality (RQ). The RQ can also be represented as a number: subtract 20 from the RT, and this gives a value centered on 0, with positive values being successes, negative being failures, zero being borderline. RQs are used to determine damage in combat, but very rarely anywhere else. RTs are used almost everywhere.

  Result Total	Result Quality
  0 or lower	Extreme Failure (RQ -20 or lower)
  1 to 10	Great Failure (RQ -10 to -19)
  11 to 19	Normal Failure (RQ -1 to -9)
  20	Borderline (RQ 0)
  21 to 30	Normal Success (RQ 1-10)
  31 to 40	Great Success (RQ 11-20)
  41 or more	Extreme Success (RQ 21 or more)

  ---

  Action

     Action scenes are broken down into rounds of 3 seconds, during which most characters may take one action each.

  ---

  Initiative

     Initiative, the order in which characters in an action scene will act, is determined by all involved characters making a {DEX\Average (+0)} task roll. The character with the highest Result Total may act first, and then the character with the next-highest, and so on down to the last character. Roll d20 against each other to resolve ties. The usual way to work this is for the GM to count down from the highest initiative score achieved, and the players interrupt the GM when their initiative is called or the GM interrupts after calling an NPC's iniative.

     For any action, a character may move, attack, use a skill, speak a few words, open an unlocked door, or otherwise do anything that takes 3 seconds or less. If a character starts an action that takes more than 3 seconds, the character cannot act on subsequent rounds until the action is completed or the action is abandoned.

     Alternately, characters may "hold" their action once their initiative number comes up. A character with a held action may wait until just after a character with a lower initiative Result Total declares an action and then pre-empt that character's action, or may wait until after another character and then act, or wait for the end of the round. Character who do not use their held actions at the end of a round lose that held action, it is not carried over into subsequent rounds.

  ---

  Movement

     Characters can walk AGI×25% meters per round (keep fractions, or round up if the GM does not want the bookkeeping), run AGI×50% meters per round, or sprint AGI meters per round. Walking and running may be performed in addition to another action, but the other action is penalized: walking gives a -5 modifier, while running gives a -10 modifier. Sprinting consumes a character's entire attention.

     Running may require an {Athletics:Running} roll with difficulty based on the terrain: road or track is Trivial, clear ground is Easy (+5), rough, uneven ground is Average (+0), and ground with obstacles is Hard (-5) or Terrible (-10). Sprinting is one difficulty level harder. If the GM wants to keep this simple, success indicates full movement, while failure indicates half movement. For more detailed resolution:

  Result Quality		Effect
  Extreme Failure	(0-)	Character falls and injures self - take d20 damage to a random hit location.
  Great Failure	(1-10)	Character comes to a complete stop
  Normal Failure	(11-19)	Character moves only 50% of intended distance
  Borderline	(20)	Character moves 90% of full distance
  Normal Success	(21-30)	Character moves full distance
  Great Sucess	(31-40)	Character may move 150% of full distance
  Extreme Success	(41+)	Character may move 200% of full distance

  ---

  Encumbrance

     Characters cannot carry an unlimited amount of gear, though many will certainly try. Common sense and a few object examples to the players (loading a player up with a 50kg backpack, three 5kg bandoliers, a football helmet, a ski jacket, and a paintball gun, then forcing them to run 10 blocks...) should be enough to restrain them from loading up too badly. However, hard and fast rules are useful for those times when they ARE willing to deal with the consequences.

     The numbers below are for poorly-distributed or bulky items. Balanced backpacks and the like may encumber a character far less than their mass would indicate; a soldier wearing a 30kg pack and carrying 10kg of other gear should be encumbered by only the 10kg of gear until fatigue sets in.

  Encumbrance	Weight	Movement	Task Penalty
  Unemcumbered	STR×1 kg or less	100%	+0
  Lightly Encumbered	STR×2 kg or less	50%	-5
  Heavily Encumbered	STR×5 kg or less	25%	-10
  Overburdened	STR×10 kg or less	0%	-20

  ---

  Combat

  "Security forces may have killed thousands of people in crushing the anti-government rallies. Fascists and terrorists are responsible for the violence." -KMFDM, "Godlike"

     Attacks are an opposed task roll - the attacker's weapon or combat skill against the defender's Defense skill, using the most appropriate specialties. The defender does not have to use an action to defend, but may choose to move, which will provide a defensive bonus against ranged attacks and could move the character out of range of melee attacks.

  Result Quality		Effect
  Extreme Failure	(0-)	Fumble, see below.
  Great Failure	(1-10)	Attack fails, and you are at -20 initiative next round.
  Normal Failure	(11-19)	Attack fails with a near miss.
  Borderline	(20)	Attack succeeds, and does standard damage (see below).
  Normal Success	(21-30)
  Great Sucess	(31-40)
  Extreme Success	(41+)

     An attacker who is also under attack may become nervous and unable to fight back effectively - try a {Guts: Coolness Under Fire} task, with a difficulty depending on how many incoming attacks there are. A failure gives the character a penalty to attack equal to the RQ; an Extreme Failure indicates that the character breaks and must try to withdraw from combat; a success allows the character to attack as usual (no bonuses are gained).

  ---

  Ranged Combat

  Attacks with ranged weapons have the following additional modifiers, which the GM can assign or ignore as the situation warrants:

  Situation	Modifier
  Point Blank Range	+10
  Short Range	+5
  Medium Range	+0
  Long Range	-5
  Extreme Range	-10
  Target is moving	-1
  Target is moving fast	-3
  Target is prone and at Medium range or futher	-3
  Target is half size or less	-3
  Target is roughly normal size	+0
  Target is double size or more	+3
  Target is zigzagging	-5
  Attacker is moving	-3
  Attacker is moving fast	-5
  Attacker is zigzagging	-8
  Attacker has braced the weapon and aimed without moving for 1 round	+3
  Ditto, aimed for 3 rounds (there is no further benefit for additional time)	+5

  ---

  Hit Location

  "You put one in his brain. The first shot puts him down, then you put one in his brain. Then he's dead. Then you go home." -[x]

     Roll a d20 to determine hit location, or the attacker may select any hit location if the attack roll hit with a Great Success or better (31 or more). If the GM does not want to deal with hit locations, all attacks can be assumed to strike the Torso, but this does mean that damage will not affect any stats except END, and therefore characters may die somewhat faster than they should, unless the GM remembers to vary it. Using the hit locations is recommended, they're fast and easy enough to use, and they determine armor protection as well.

  d20	Location	Stat Damaged
  1-2	Head	Roll another d20: 1-7=INT, 8-14=LOG, 15-20=PRE
  3-4	Left Arm	STR
  5-6	Right Arm	STR
  7-10	Torso	END
  11-12	Abdomen	END
  13	Left Hand	DEX
  14	Right Hand	DEX
  15-17	Left Leg	AGI
  18-20	Right Leg	AGI

     High attacks can be represented by rolling a d20 and rerolling any result of 15-20, low attacks by rerolling 1-6.

  ---

  Damage

     When characters take damage, it impairs them in two ways: first, it reduces their current END from shock, blood loss, and pain, and second, it reduces one other stat, depending on where the damage hit, to represent the physical impairment.

  There are two ways to determine damage, Result Damage and Random Damage:

  "Result Damage":

  Most weapons or attack forms list a specific amount of damage they do in a formula involving RQ, like "RQ×2" or "RQ-1". To determine how much damage an attack does, plug the Result Quality (Result Total - 20) into the formula in place of the "RQ". For example, an attack with a Result Quality of 5 and an "RQ×2+2" weapon does (5×2+2) = 12 points of damage.

  "Random Damage":

  Damage from other sources will most often be in the form of a dice formula, like "d20×2+2 <STAT>". Roll these like any other die roll. For example, a "d20×2+2 STR" attack with a roll of 10 does (10×2+2)=22 points of damage; as explained below, half would be applied to END, and half to STR. This form is mostly used for environmental damage or area effect attacks, where there is no attacker, or the skill of the attacker is irrelevant to damage done. If there is no stat listed, roll a hit location as usual.

  ---

  Armor and Cover

     If the defender has armor covering the area hit, the armor value is subtracted from the damage. If the GM wants to be concerned with this level of detail, a natural 20 on Random Damage or an Extreme Success in Result Damage will reduce an armor's value by 1 on that hit location, even if it did not penetrate the armor. Some weapons may reduce armor more often than this, some armors may deteriorate faster, and some kinds of armor may be repaired. These will be handled on a case-by-case basis in the equipment section, or as the GM sees fit.

     Cover usually works like armor - it protects whatever hit locations are covered, and if the weapon blows through the cover the character is hit. Some cover penalizes Perception rolls, and some can even penalize attack rolls. Brush would provide a Perception penalty, but provides no armor or attack penalty. A barricade provides armor, but unless the character is completely hidden provides no perception or attack penalty. A clear riot shield provides armor, but never a perception or attack penalty. Common sense on the GM's part will resolve the specifics of any given situation better than a complex set of rules would; please use it.

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  Applying Damage

  "I've been machine-gunned handgunned hijacked left for dead   Dive-bombed napalmed nuclear warheaded   Dropped from a jet plane with no parachute   Shot by a firing squad and raped by a business suit   I'm dancing on a land mine baby one leg left   And I can still crawl and I'm not dead yet" -Styx, "Not Dead Yet", Edge of the Century

     First, the player or the GM should describe the effect of the weapon or other source of damage, whether it's a blade running through muscle and scraping along a character's ribcage, a fire burning a character's flesh with the aroma of barbecue and burned hair, or an electric shock making the character jump and twitch. Then describe the character's reaction to this effect... And finally apply the damage as described below. Detail and roleplaying are always to be preferred to merely calling out "you do 5 points of damage".

     Subtract half the damage remaining after armor (rounding up) from the character's current END, and the other half (rounding down) from the stat damaged by the hit location or attack.

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  Damaged Stats and Recovery

     As noted in Stats, whenever current stat scores are lower than the maximum stat scores, all skills dependant on those stats are also reduced by half as much as the stat is.

     If any head or torso stat (END, INT, LOG, or PRE) is reduced to 0 or less, the character must try a {maximum END\Average (+0)} task; on success, the character may continue to act (though at the usual penalties); on failure, the character falls unconscious for d20 rounds, and then awakens. After awakening, until the character is fully healed, if any of those stats are reduced to 0 or less, or any of those stats that still have scores of 0 or less are damaged again, the character passes out again. This represents actual physical trauma - damaged organs, bleeding, concussion, and brain damage.

     Damage to a limb stat (STR, AGI, or DEX) merely penalizes skills based on those stats. People rarely feel much pain from wounds until after the situation is over, so only the actual physical impairment causes any problem until then.

     After a combat scene is over, a {Guts: Withstand Hellish Agony\-(total points lost to all stats)} task must be made to continue acting despite wounds reducing any stat below 0

     If any head or torso stat (END, INT, LOG, or PRE) is reduced to its maximum score below 0 (-10 for a stat score of 10, etc.), the character falls into a deep coma and will begin to die; reduce all stats by 1 every 10 rounds, until all of the character's stats are reduced to their maximum score below 0, at which point the character is irretrievably dead. If a character in a coma is revived with {Medicine\Hard (-5)\d20 rounds} or with magic, all coma-inducing stats permanently lose one point from their maximum score, and the current scores raised to one point above their (new) maximum score below 0. Every brush with death brings the character closer to final mortality.

     If a limb stat (STR, AGI, or DEX) is reduced to its maximum score below 0 (-10 for a stat score of 10, etc.), the last limb struck is maimed and rendered useless. If it is reduced below twice its maximum score below 0 (-20 for a stat score of 10, etc.), the last limb struck is severed. Prompt refrigeration of the limb and modern surgery can re-attach severed limbs, but short of that the character will soon be discovering the world of amputation and prosthetics.

     For example: Phil, a character with 10 END and 8 STR, takes 19 points of END damage. Phil is currently at -9 END, so is unconscious but not in a coma. Phil takes another point of END damage, and is now at his maximum END score (10) below 0 (-10), and is in a coma. Every 10 rounds (30 seconds) thereafter, Phil loses one point from every stat. In 200 rounds (10 minutes), all of Phil's stats will be at -10, and Phil will be permanently dead. If Phil is revived before this point, he loses one point of maximum END and his current END is (-9+1) = -8. If Phil had instead taken 18 points of damage to an arm, he would be at 1 END and -1 STR, and that arm would be maimed and useless until healed.

     Current scores which have been reduced below their maximum value generally recover one point every week of total rest (with no more than 4 hours of light activity per day). Amateur medical treatment (First Aid or equivalent, in non-hospital conditions) doubles this healing rate, while professional medical treatment quadruples it, if the doctor or healer succeeds at a {Medicine\(-points lost from most injured stat)\1 hour} task every day. Wyrd is the exception to this, as explained in Stats: Wyrd.

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  Glossary

  [Author's Note: The author has a tendency to use acronyms for just about anything. However, he also has a poor memory of his own, and so wrote a glossary for himself and others.]

  Active	People who can use Wyrd to influence their fates. See Stats: Wyrd.
  Adept	Out-of-character term for a practitioner of Magic: Cantrips.
  AGI	Agility - see Stats: Agility
  CP	Character Points - see Character Creation and Experience.
  d20	A twenty-sided die, available at all decent hobby stores. When "d20" is written (as opposed to "dXX"), it means exactly that - "1" is read as 1, "20" is read as 20.
  dXX	An open-ended twenty-sided die: Roll a twenty-sided die. If the die shows "1", subtract the roll of another dXX. If the die shows "20", add the roll of another dXX. (called "dXX" because XX is the Roman numeral for 20)
  DEX	Dexterity - see Stats: Dexterity
  END	Endurance - see Stats: Endurance
  GM	Game Master/Mistress - see GM: Game Mastering
  INT	Intuition - see Stats: Intuition
  LOG	Logic - see Stats: Logic
  ML	Magic Level of a world - see GM: Magic Level.
  Mundane	People who cannot use Wyrd to influence their fates. See Stats: Wyrd.
  NPC	Non-Player Character - a character created and run by the GM.
  PC	Player Character - a character created and run by a player.
  PL	Psionic Level of a world - see GM: Psionic Level.
  PRE	Presence - see Stats: Presence
  RQ	Result Quality - see Tasks: Result Quality.
  RT	Result Total - see Tasks: Result Total.
  Round	The standard period of time, equal to 3 seconds of game time, in which most characters can perform one action.
  SL	Spirit Level of a world - see GM: Spirit Level.
  Sorcerer	Out-of-character term for a practitioner of Magic: Ritual Magic.
  STR	Strength - see Stats: Strength
  Thaumaturge	Out-of-character term for a practitioner of Magic: Thaumaturgy.
  TL	Tech Level of a world - see GM: Tech Level.
  WYR	Wyrd - see Stats: Wyrd

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  Odds

  dXX Roll Chance >= <= -20 or lower 0.24% 100.0% 0.24% -19 0.0% 99.76% 0.24% -18 0.25% 99.76% 0.49% -17 0.25% 99.51% 0.74% -16 0.25% 99.26% 1.0% -15 0.25% 99.0% 1.25% -14 0.25% 98.75% 1.5% -13 0.25% 98.5% 1.75% -12 0.25% 98.25% 2.0% -11 0.25% 98.0% 2.25% -10 0.25% 97.75% 2.51% -9 0.25% 97.49% 2.76% -8 0.25% 97.24% 3.01% -7 0.25% 96.99% 3.26% -6 0.25% 96.74% 3.51% -5 0.25% 96.49% 3.76% -4 0.25% 96.24% 4.02% -3 0.25% 95.98% 4.27% -2 0.25% 95.73% 4.52% -1 0.25% 95.48% 4.77% 0 0.0% 95.23% 4.77%

  dXX Roll Chance >= <= 1 0.0% 95.23% 4.77% 2 5.02% 95.23% 9.8% 3 5.03% 90.2% 14.82% 4 5.02% 85.18% 19.85% 5 5.03% 80.15% 24.87% 6 5.03% 75.13% 29.9% 7 5.03% 70.1% 34.92% 8 5.03% 65.08% 39.95% 9 5.03% 60.05% 44.98% 10 5.02% 55.02% 50.0% 11 5.03% 50.0% 55.03% 12 5.02% 44.97% 60.05% 13 5.03% 39.95% 65.08% 14 5.03% 34.92% 70.1% 15 5.03% 29.9% 75.13% 16 5.03% 24.87% 80.15% 17 5.03% 19.85% 85.18% 18 5.03% 14.82% 90.2% 19 5.02% 9.8% 95.23% 20 0.0% 4.77% 95.23%

  dXX Roll Chance >= <= 21 0.0% 4.77% 95.23% 22 0.25% 4.77% 95.48% 23 0.25% 4.52% 95.73% 24 0.25% 4.27% 95.98% 25 0.25% 4.02% 96.23% 26 0.25% 3.77% 96.49% 27 0.25% 3.51% 96.74% 28 0.25% 3.26% 96.99% 29 0.25% 3.