Challenges
‘Challenges’ refers to any time a character attempts to
affect another character. This covers
not only combat, but social interactions, mind games, lies, and any other use
of an Ability.
There are three levels of
Challenges I suggest you use.
1.
2. Faster: The system below, but without the D6 roll. Just total up your
Attribute+Ability+Modifiers, compare to your opponent, and whoever’s higher wins. You don’t need to pull out your dice. This is good for challenges where one person
has a good advantage over the other.
3. Fastest: The players agree on who won. This is good for enhancing the roleplay, or
if one person has a clear and overpowering advantage over the other. You don’t even have to pull out your
character sheet.
Choosing Abilities:
Generally you will also use the same Ability as your opponent – Intimidation
resists Intimidation, Influence resists Influence, Science vs. Science, Politics
vs. Politics, and so on. There are some
exceptions; Alertness resists Stealth, Dodge resists Brawl, etc.
However, you may choose whatever Attribute or Ability you
want, as long as you and your opponent agree on it. (Heck, if you agree, you can use Etiquette to
resist being thrown out a window, I don’t care!). The important thing is to keep the game
moving, and don’t get hung up on the mechanics.
Normal Challenges
1. The ‘Attacker’ (the
person trying to do something) chooses an Attribute and an Ability, adds them
together, and adds any bonuses for Weapons or Willpower, to get their Trait Total.
2. The Defender does the
same, choosing their defensive Attribute and Ability.
3. They both roll a
six-sided die, and add that number to their Trait Total. Whoever has the higher Trait Total wins, and
ties go to the Defender.
(It may seem awkward
to use dice in a LARP, but it works well.
Practice holding your character sheet in one hand and rolling the D6 in
the other. It’ll become natural
quickly.)
Attribute
+ Ability (If you have one you can use) +
weapon/item bonus + 2 for spending Willpower (if
you wish to) + one D6 roll = Trait Total
Barb has Offense 4 and Brawl 3, and attacks Will. She rolls 4 on her D6, bringing her total to
11 (4 + 3 + 4).
Will has Dexterity 2 and Dodge 3. He spends a Willpower (+2 to his Trait
Total), then rolls a 3 on his D6, bringing his total to 10 (2 + 3 + 2 +
3). Barb successfully strikes Will. If Will had rolled a 4, he would have dodged
the attack – his Trait Total would also be 11, and the defender wins on ties.
Challenges allow you some control over your opponent, but
not too much. For example, you couldn’t say ‘I intimidate you into
telling me who’s behind this murder’, but you could say ‘I make myself intimidating and fearsome to you, hoping
to scare you into letting some tidbit of information slip out.’
The
exception is if you’re using Mind magic – then you certainly can control what the other person is
thinking!
Social Challenges can
be difficult to understand, so they have their own page for clarification.
Challenges and Objects / ST Obstacles /
Plot Devices
If you’re trying to
overcome an obstacle left by an ST, the obstacle will have a certain necessary
Ability marked on it. If you have that
Ability, you can overcome the obstacle – no D6 roll needed. If not, even your best efforts won’t be
successful. As an example, you might
come across a lock which says ‘Requires Larceny 2 to open, Larceny 3 to open
silently.’
Bonus for Weapons and Items
Weapons: If you’re bringing a weapon to the game, the ST will give
you a card with the weapon’s statistics on it.
Generally, these statistics will include:
Bonus: How many points the item adds to your Trait Total. Nearly all items will only give +1. Only exceptional items will give +2 or
+3. Your personal ability is more
important than what gun you’re holding.
Damage: Bashing or Lethal.
All weapons do one level of damage, unless clearly marked.
Range: The maximum distance the weapon can be used from. (Melee, 1 Turn, or 2 Turns.) Range is further explained in the Combat
section.
Durability: How much damage the weapon can take before it breaks,
either in Lethal or Bashing. If the
weapon can only absorb Bashing damage (such as wooden items) then the first
Lethal hit will break it. Opponents can
do damage to weapons by specifically stating they attack the item.
Items: If you’re bringing other items to the game, tell an ST, and
he may give you a card for them as well.
This includes incriminating photos (bonus on Influence), a beautiful
dress (bonus on Performance), a sports car (bonus on Drive), etc. These items will list the following
statistics:
Bonus: How many points this item adds to your Trait Total. Again, +1 is the norm, or even +0 if it’s not
significant.
Abilities: Which Abilities this Bonus can apply to.
Durability: If applicable, how much damage the object can take
before breaking.