Having lined out how the basic mechanics work in the previous post, in this post I’m going to attempt to define the framework for melee combat.

Melee combat is inherently different from ranged combat. In Splintered Core, it is the goal to balance out melee and ranged mechanics so that melee specialist builds have a fighting chance against ranged specialists. In the most extreme case, a ranged master build would have around 50% chance of winning an encounter with a melee master build.

Before we begin, let’s examine a few ways unarmed/melee combat can gain the advantage over ranged builds. To do that, we first examine the drawbacks of ranged builds. All firearms have a minimum range, and usually cost more to fire a shot. This is due to the act of target acquisition; aiming and firing being abstracted into one single action, which is far slower than unarmed combat. Which brings us to a balance design decision: while which build (ranged or melee) is faster is certainly a highly debatable issue, I will be making a balance decision here to ensure that melee builds are always faster than a ranged build of the same level.

Ranged vs Melee

This is partly due to the stat requirements of a melee build: for ranged builds, the senses stat tree is important; while for melee builds the atheletics stat tree would have priority. Development along these two branches would ensure that range builds will become great in determining enemy positions (e.g. a ranger-like build in traditional RPG conventions), while a melee build would instead of a powerhouse in direct physical confrontations (e.g. a warrior-like build in traditional RPG conventions).

The modus operandi of two builds would also be vastly different. Melee builds tend to have lots of special skills in negating reaction checks while maneuvering in the battlefield (mostly agility checks), and I would expect melee builds to invest extra stat points into either stealth or maneuvering, which is far more important to their survival on the battlefield.

The path to a target is always the most perilous of a melee build’s journey. Once the melee character enters a ranged build’s deadzone, tactical advantage would greatly favor the former as ranged characters suffer massive penalties when attempting point-blank shots. Sidearm masters would fare better in this case, but they would not have the necessary knowledge or experience to deal with disarming or grappling moves that melee characters would attempt once within melee distance.

Match Up

My intention in this design is simple. When a ranged build is matched up against a melee build, the tactical options for the former would be to maintain distance while attempting to successfully defeat the latter’s speed advantage. Shots from a firearm would deal lethal damage to melee builds who usually shun heavy armor in order to move faster or without encumbrance. Also, in this situation ranged builds would fair better if they changed to close quarter combat weapons like pistols, carbines, shotguns and submachine guns, sacrificing stopping power (damage and penetration) for volume of fire in close ranges (fire rate and AP cost).

Melee builds on the other hand, will spend most of their time plotting the approach. The key to a successful melee build is to know how to utilize the terrain to approach under cover, and undetected. Their lesser reliance on equipment protection allow them better chances against reaction and detection checks, and once they successfully make their way to the target they will have a wide variety of reaction-resistant movement techniques that would allow them to close the remaining distance without triggering deadly reaction fires.

And once a melee build closes to melee distance, the range build would have practically lost the battle already, unless he has some backup melee skills of his own.

Ranged builds, when fighting against melee opponents, would play a very defensive game while the latter would almost always be on the offensive.

Mechanics Test

It’s better for us to use a real-life example of how a fight goes, and then translate this into mechanics and combat rolls.

A is a master in striking arts, capable of delivering precise blows to vulnerable spots through his opponent’s guard with the “Serpent Strike” technique, and is a master of the “Three-inch Force” technique that allows him the capability to deliver full-powered blows from awkward and unpredictable angles with ease.

B is a grappler whose modus operandi involves taking down his opponent and then attempting to manipulate his opponent into submission holds.

A and B meets in the field. The bell rings, and the two combatants circle each other, looking for an opening. B is patient – he knows that a defensive starting strategy will give him a vast advantage against A, whose style he is familiar with. In fact, he had beaten several so-called grandmasters of said style before, and he knows the style inside out. He prepares himself for kicks that A’s style is so famous for.

A on the other hand isn’t that fortunate. He does not have much experience with grapplers, with rudimentary training in counter-grappling skills, but he knows he has one advantage: he had been training so hard in his style that he had reached the point where he can deliver a powerful blow from any angle, even from limited spaces.

Knowing that B would not take the first move, and that starting with a kick would be too predictable, A decides to switch it up and charges B. His tactic is to feint a charge and then at the last moment, sidestep and deliver a light, harassing cross to B’s jaw before quick stepping backwards to put distance between the two of them. He knows that close distance combat is B’s home ground, and thus keeping a distance would be his main strategy in this fight.

He executes his plan, charging in and then sidestepping. B couldn’t react fast enough and eats a light punch to his jaw, which dazes him for a split second. He tries to reorient himself and tackle A, but it is too late: A had moved out of his grappling distance. Knowing that A is much faster than he is, B changes his strategy. He takes the initiative instead and pressed forward, pulling up his guard to weather A’s flurry of blows to get close enough.

Bad idea. A does a spin kick and drives his foot between B’s guarding arms, landing a solid hit on his chest and knocking the breath out of him. B stumbles backward, his guard slackens, and A follows up with a vicious combo known as the “Hidden Tiger Pounce” where he closes the distance and lands a right hook; followed by a right uppercut, and then a one-two punch before ending it with a reverse leg sweep.

B successfully defends against the right hook but that leaves his guard open, and A slams the uppercut through his guard and flips his head backwards with the force of the blow. The one-two catches the rebounding head solidly, and B drops like a fly. The leg sweep was not needed at all.

Before B hits the ground, B realizes his fatal mistake. He had underestimated the striking precision of A’s techniques and the amount of force he could generate from virtually any angle. His guards were designed to block general blows, but to A they were laughable. Had it been any other striker, B would have gained the advantage by aggressively pressing on the attack with a strong defensive posture, but A had the ability to penetrate any guard with his style’s “Serpent Strike” and “Three-inch Force” techniques.

Fortunately, A deliberately avoided dealing B fatal blows, and B is merely knocked out.

I apologize for my horrible writing. I hope it does the job though, which is to give you a mental image of how the fight went. Now, to translate this into mechanics:

A’s stats:

Unarmed, Striking = 8, Mastery Level = 3 (Master, Three-inch Force)
Unarmed, Counter = 5, Mastery Level = 0
Dexterity, Agility = 8, Mastery Level = 3 (Master, Flash Step)

Equipment:

• Hands = Light Gloves (-1 Penetration, -2 Damage)
• Body = MMA pants (0 Penetration, 0 Damage)

Three-inch Force
+2 penetration and damage. Bonus applies even when clinching or grappling.

Flash Step
3 free movements immune to reactionary counters.

Hidden Tiger Pounce (Learned Technique)
Delivers a hook, followed by an uppercut, followed by a jab and a cross, and then ending with a reverse leg sweep. All actions are performed at 50% AP cost. If first hit connects, next hit is delivered with a +2 bonus mod; every hit that connects after the first gets a +2 accumulative bonus. However, if any move is dodged, the opponent gains the same amount of bonus to his counter-strike.

Striking Familiarity Level 3
Gives a +3 bonus to combat rolls involving striking maneuvers

B’s stats:

Unarmed, Grappling = 8, Mastery Level = 2 (Expert, Advanced Takedown)
Unarmed, Counter = 6, Mastery Level = 1 (Advanced, Flow Manipulation)
Dexterity, Agility = 5, Mastery Level = 0
Dexterity, Reaction = 6, Mastery Level = 0

Equipment:

• Hands = Light Gloves (-1 Penetration, -2 Damage)
• Body = MMA pants (0 Penetration, 0 Damage)

Advanced Takedown
Re-roll a takedown if unsuccessful on the first try with a -1 mod

Flow Manipulation (Passive)
+1 chance to divert damage from one body part to another

Grappling Familiarity Level 2
Gives a +2 bonus to combat rolls involving grappling maneuvers

Anti-Striker Familiarity Level 2
Gives a +2 bonus vs strikers.

The combat begins with both combatants aware of each other’s presence, so no surprise environmental factors are in play here. Also, since both of them are fighting in a ring, no external factor comes in either.

Thus it’s pure skill vs skill. One thing though… B has vast experience in fighting A’s style, and thus gains +1 familiarity level vs A.

Both roll initiative, but B wins the initiative. Both combatants are 2 tiles away from each other: within distance to kicks and extended punches, but beyond distance for grapples.

B prepares a counter vs kicks, giving him a +2 advantage towards kicking strikes.

A uses the flash step ability, which gives him 3 free moves. He takes 1 step towards B to close towards grappling/punching distance and throws a fast cross, targetted at B’s head.

A’s agility = 8, flash step = +2

Martial Technique Schools

Wildstrike

Wrestling

Archonite Hand-to-Hand Offense Neutralization System (ARCHON system)

Combine Grappling

Janissary’s Silakhas

Once again, my STEN system falls apart. Here are the things that I didn’t liked about it:

1. Too little room for modifiers
   With a modifier range of -3 to +3, it is kind of hard to create equipment with a wide variance in modifiers. Also, with the number of dices in the dice pool restricted to 15, I kind of feel like the game is much harder to design for. Too many factors to consider, but too little room for them.
2. Hard to determine framework for bonuses/penalties
   Again, with only a -3 to +3 range, it’s difficult to distribute these across equipments. Also, since it only modifies roll results, their impact is not as powerful as I originally wanted it to be.
3. Calculations are too complex
   If it is a good system, it should easily make sense. The basic mechanics should be simple enough to be explained on just one simple paragraph, but its simplicity should be flexible enough to accommodate more rules, factors and modifiers.

Thus, I’ve revised the STEN system into something that I really like so far:

Stats remain roughly the same, but instead of ranging from 1 to 10, the stats only range from 1 to 5. Added to this are “specializations”, which are sub-stats that provides an additional 1-5 levels to the main stat in special situations. To unlock sub-stats, the main stat must reach at level 5 first.

Game mechanics have been simplified too. Now, the character rolls SL+XL number of D10s, where SL is the stat’s level and XL is the specialization level. Equipment will further add 1-5 dice into the dice pool, while external factors might modify the number of dice in the pool from -5 to +5.

Having determined the initial dice pool, the player rolls the dice, and any score of 6 and above is considered a success. Any time the player rolls a 10, he is given an extra dice to add into the pool.

Mastery levels work by having the player roll ML number of 5D2 dice where ML is equivalent to the main stat’s mastery level, which should yield a range of 5-10 per roll. This score is substituted with the dice pool’s lowest score if it is higher.

Finally, if the total number of successful rolls are more than the success requirements of the task that range from 1 to 10, then the task is successful.

There, more room to breath. This basically means that there are only a few factors with wide ranges in the system:

Main Stat Levels = 1 to 5
Specialized Stat Levels = 1 to 5
Modifiers = -4 to 10
Mastery Levels = 0 to 3
Success Requirement = 1 to 10

Now, let’s revise the stats:

Combat Skills

• Small Arms
  • Sidearms - pistols, revolvers and submachine guns
  • Shotguns - hunting and combat shotguns
  • Rifles - carbines, combat rifles and sniper rifles
• Big Guns
  • Machine Guns – light, heavy and mounted machine guns
  • Explosives - mines, breeching charges and demolitions
  • Grenades - fragmentation, shock and smoke grenades
• Unarmed
  • Striking - forehead, arm, elbow, knee and leg strikes
  • Grappling - takedowns, ground-fighting and submissions
  • Counter - neutralizations, negations and intercepts
• Melee Weapons
  • Blunt Weapons - maces, hammers and knuckles
  • Bladed Weapons - machetes, polearms and axes
  • Piercing Weapons – crossbows, throwing knives and spears

Social Skills

• Intimidation
  • Coercion – force a person to change his stance/beliefs
  • Blackmail – exertion of pressure through threats of exposure
  • Deterrence – deter an action through intimidation
• Persuasion
  • Negotiation - discussion with the intent of leading to an agreement
  • Conversion - changing a person’s mindset/beliefs
  • Mediation - providing a voice of reason over two opposing parties
• Charm
  • Seduction - tempt or seduce a person through physical assets
  • Motivation - rouse another’s morale
  • Pacification - pacify an otherwise aggressive or hostile person
• Deception
  • Impersonation – pretending to be another person
  • Misdirection - attempt to confuse the target
  • Manipulation - influence a person through deceptive means

Utility Skills

• Fieldcraft
  • Stealth - ability to move around silently
  • Outdoorsman – knowledge of the wilds
  • Maneuvering – tactical movements in the battlefield
• Security
  • Lockpicking – ability to pick locks
  • Stealing – ability to pick pockets
  • Hacking – ability to bypass security measures or terminal
• Engineering
  • Manufacturing – creating new items using machining tools
  • Repair – fix existing equipment or vehicles
  • Computers – understanding and usage of computer terminals
• Medicine
  • Combat Medic - bandaging and healing with minimal equipment
  • Doctor – medical knowledge and usage of medical equipents
  • Surgery – knowledge of anatomy and general surgery

Attributes

• Athletics
  • Reaction - reflexes and speed in reacting to events
  • Agility - general speed and athletic capabilities
  • Coordination - hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity
• Body
  • Strength - physical might
  • Endurance - resistances and stamina
  • Recovery - healing rate and stamina recovery rate
• Mind
  • Willpower - courage, persistence and strength of mind
  • Concentration - mental focus
  • Comprehension - speed of comprehending information
• Senses
  • Hearing - aural senses and hearing range
  • Vision - visual senses, day and night vision
  • Awareness - general senses and perceptiveness of the environment

Phew. Now that’s the kind of depth in my character system that I’d love to have!

Here’s how it works. A character starts with 1 in every stat, and gains a number of development points during every level ups. Main stats have a level ranging from 1 to 5, where upon reaching level 5 will unlock 3 specialized stats, which the player can further invest up to 5 levels into.

The catch is, the cost to raise any stat by a level increases every level. To increase a level 1 stat to level 2, it takes only 1 development point; but to raise a level 4 stat to level 5, it takes 8 development points. Here’s a table to make it clearer:

• 1 to 2 = 1 point
• 2 to 3 = 2 points
• 3 to 4 = 3 points
• 4 to 5 = 4 points
• 5 to 6 = 5 points (level 6 is equivalent to a specialized stat’s level 1)
• 6 to 7 = 6 points (level 7 is equivalent to a specialized stat’s level 2)
• 7 to 8 = 7 points (level 8 is equivalent to a specialized stat’s level 3)
• 8 to 9 = 8 points (level 9 is equivalent to a specialized stat’s level 4)
• 9 to 10 = 9 points (level 10 is equivalent to a specialized stat’s level 5)

Therefore, given that we have 16 main stats (160 DP to max) and 48 specialized stats, to max out all stats would take 1840 development points.

The level cap for the first game is 15; while the second game is 30; and the third game is 45.

Thus, if a character gains 15 development points per level, by the time the character reaches level 45 he would end up with approximately 37% of his entire stat list maxed out. The development points gained per level can vary by plus or minus 5 points. This means that no character can be a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-all-too. They can only max out 1/3 of their stats, and that’s it.

Combat

Combat is still a one-roll affair. For ranged combat, the player challenges his skill + equipment against the difficulty of the shot (terrain cover + range).

Base Pool = Weapon Stat + Familiarity Level + Bullet Base Accuracy + Weapon Accuracy Mod – Morale Condition – Physical Condition – (Target Maneuvering / 2)

Weapon Stat = 1 to 10
Familiarity Level = 0 to 3
Bullet Base Accuracy = 1 to 4
Weapon Accuracy Mod = 0 to 3
Morale Condition = -5 to 0
Physical Condition = -5 to 0
Target Maneuvering = 0 to 5 (rounded down)

Success Requirement = Stance + Cover + Range

Stance = 0 to 2
Cover = 0 to 2
Range = 1 to 6

Therefore, let’s say in this scenario:

A:

Sidearm Stat: 7
Familiarity: 2
Mastery Level: 0
Bullet Base Accuracy: 2
Weapon Accuracy Mod: 3
Morale Condition: 0
Physical Condition: 0

B:

Maneuvering Stat: 8
Stance: 1
Cover: 1
Range: 4

Base Dice Pool = 7 + 2 + 2 + 3 – 8 = 6
Success Requirement = 1 + 1 + 4 = 6

Therefore, when A pulls the trigger,  he has approximately 8% chance of hitting B. Time to get a better weapon!

A changes weapon to his trusty sniper rifle:

Rifle Stat: 6
Familiarity: 0
Mastery Level: 0
Bullet Base Accuracy: 4
Weapon Accuracy Mod: 3
Morale Condition: 0
Physical Condition: 0

Since the sniper rifle has far better effective range than the pistol, B’s range ranking is reduced to 1.

Base Dice Pool = 6 + 4 + 3 – 8 = 5
Success Requirement =  1 + 1 + 1 = 3

Whoa, now A has a 53% chance of hitting!

Oh wait, A suddenly remembered that he has development points unspent. He quickly opens up the character screen and maxes out his sidearm stat, and changes back to the 10mm pistol:

Sidearm Stat: 10
Familiarity: 2
Mastery Level: 0
Bullet Base Accuracy: 2
Weapon Accuracy Mod: 3
Morale Condition: 0
Physical Condition: 0

Base Dice Pool = 10 + 2 + 2 + 3 – 8 = 9
Success Requirement = 1 + 1 + 4 = 6

A aims, and finds out that he has 40% chance to hit. Damn! Should have spent those points on increasing his rifle stat instead!

Post-mortem

It worked out pretty well. The modification to the success requirement turns out to give a far higher bonus than an increase in dice pool. Which works out to be realistic: a pistol is meant for close quarter battles, and it doesn’t make sense that a master pistol user would be able to hit targets at the same range as a sniper rifle.

This in turn gives equipment a vast advantage over stats, which fulfills the original objective of the character system I was looking for.

I’ll need more testings though, especially for unarmed combat.

In the next update I’ll be revisiting melee combat, task resolutions and opposed rolls!

I was about to write an article about Unarmed Combat but suddenly realized that I haven’t exactly noted down how ranged combat works.

In this post I’ll be explaining how ranged combat works.

In the Wildlands of Splintered Core, bullets are kings. They determine the base damage, base accuracy as well as base penetration level, while providing a bonus to range. Guns that fire them provide bonuses or penalties to damage and accuracy, and determines the base range. Here’re the formulas to make it easier to understand:

Penetration Level = Bullet Base PL + Weapon PL Modifier
Damage Level = Bullet Base DL + Weapon DL Modifier
Accuracy Level = Bullet Base AL + Weapon AL Modifier
Range = Weapon Base Range + Bullet Range Modifier

Simple eh? Now here’s how each variable plays into ranged combat:

Penetration Level is used to defeat Armor Penetration Threshold
Damage Level is used to defeat Armor Damage Absorption and deal HP damage
Accuracy Level is used to modify the combat roll
Range is used to determine the base modifier for the combat roll

Initiating a ranged combat roll

A ranged combat roll is performed when a character pulls out a firearm and fires it at something else. Each firearm is tied to a specific combat stat, and that particular stat’s level becomes the base number of D10s to roll.

Weapon Familiarity

Every firearm has a hidden counter in it that fills up every time the player pulls the trigger. Once the counter reaches a certain number, the player gains a level of familiarity on that particular weapon itself. For each level of familiarity, the player gains a +1 to his base dice pool, up to a maximum of +3.

Perk Bonuses

I haven’t decided what perks would be placed in the game but I think I can create a general category for them. There are 3 kind of firearm-related perks: Mastery Perks, Insight Perks and Unrealistic Perks. Mastery Perks basically increases the related stat by a certain number; Insight Perks give bonuses to familiarization speed; while Unrealistic Perks are those that are illogical or physically improbably like increasing accuracy, fire rate, and so on.

But when it comes to adding to the base dice pool, I think only “epic” level perks should be allowed to give a maximum of +2 dice to the pool.

Modifiers

In ranged combat, there are only 3 modifiers to worry about: accuracy, range, and cover. Accuracy provides the base modifier; range sets the success requirements; and cover adjusts the base modifier. Here’s how it works:

Every gun has a base accuracy level that ranges from -2 to +2. This is added to the cover modifier that ranges from -1 to +1. Range determines the success requirements that ranges from 1 to 5.

Accuracy Table

• Terrible Accuracy = -2
• Poor Accuracy = -1
• Average Accuracy = 0
• Good Accuracy = +1
• Excellent Accuracy = +2

Most firearms are either average or poor; mastercrafted firearms usually are either average or good; and only scopes firearms with custom forged barrels and action can have excellent accuracy. This value is added to the Base Accuracy Level of the bullet.

Cover Table

• Good Cover = -1
• Partial Cover = 0
• In the Open = +1

Good cover is defined by being dug in or protected by small arms proof obstacles like reinforced concrete walls, metal crates, trenches and so forth. Partial cover are items that provide concealment but does not do much to stop bullets from flying through. In the open refers to the character having no cover at all.

Range Table

• 1 = Within effective range
• 2 = Close to the edges of the effective range
• 3 = Within minimum range or just slightly beyond the effective range
• 4 = Point-blank, Grapple range or beyond the effective range
• 5 = Far beyond the effective range and near the edge of the weapon’s maximum range

Every firearm has three ranges: minimum, effective and maximum. Mastery levels in weapon skills extend the effective range of firearms.

Variable Constraints

So what do we have here? Before we go on, let’s look back at the constraints of the entire STEN system:

1. The initial dice pool can only range from 1 to 15 dice (not counting exploding dice)
2. The modifier pool can only range from 0 to 3 dice
3. The mastery substitution pool can only range from 0 to 6 dice
4. The success requirement can only range from 1 to 5

Initial Dice Pool

A stat has a level ranging from 1 to 10. It can never go beyond 10, or fall lower than 1. No items in the game world can increase or decrease stat levels. Perks and equipment familiarity DO NOT increase stat levels too; they merely give bonus dice in related rolls.

Perks can add up to a maximum of +2 levels. Equipment familiarity can add up to a maximum of +3 levels.

Not counting exploding dice, a character can thus only have a maximum of 15 dice in the initial dice pool.

Modifier Pool

I’ve been wondering, how many factors should I allow to every challenge roll and what kind of quota should I provide. Well, in most ideal cases, there should only be ONE factor that is calculated as a modifier. Only in special cases would a maximum of TWO factors come into play, and one factor should always range from -1 to +1 while the other factor range from -2 to +2.

Of course, there isn’t much of an issue to extend the modifier range to -4 to +4, which could theoretically make mixing of factors easier. But in any case, no more than TWO factors can play a part in the modifier pool.

Ranged Combat On Paper

Okay, having defined almost everything, let’s play.

Character A

Equipment

Sniper Rifle
Caliber: .50 AP
PL: 8
DL: 7
AL:
Min Range: 5
Eff Range: 15
Max Range: 20

Stats

Light Firearms: 8
Sniper Rifle Familiarity: +1

Character B

Equipment

Combat Armor
PT: 5
DA: 3
Condition: 10/10

Stats

Fieldcraft: 5
Perception: 3
OHP: 53

Let the combat begin!

B walks into the open, unaware that A is hiding in the bushes. He is walking at a comfortable pace, quietly pondering on life’s various mysteries.

A knows that B is 17 tiles away, and moving closer. He puts B in the crosshairs and pulls the trigger.

Combat Roll Begins!

Success Requirement = 3 (slightly beyond the effective range)

Modifier 1:

Initial Dice Pool = 8 + 1 = 9

Don’t shoot me. My previous post is about how the Magnum character system handles HP, and since I’ve switched to the STEN system, I’ve yet to discuss how HP works yet.

Like my previous philosophy of how HP works, I am a strong supporter of having epic level characters as fragile as level 1 characters. Years of experience makes you smarter, wiser and a tougher nut to crack, but it doesn’t magically make you capable of taking more bullets in the chest.

Granted, the term Hit Points is not a direct representation of a character’s health but rather a counter of how many hits a character can take before being incapacitated, I still think the mechanism needs a little more definition than being just an abstract numeric value for players to judge whether a character is still alive or not.

Another problem I have with most HP systems is that a character with 1 HP has the same performance as a character with 1000 HP. It doesn’t make sense at all.

So I’ve implemented 3 major concepts into my character system:

1. Conditions for each body part
2. Overall HP derived from 1
3. Efficiency system

This is notably different from my previous implementation, and here’s how it all works.

Conditions for each body part

Every character has these body parts:

1. Head
2. Torso
3. Left Hand
4. Right Hand
5. Left Leg
6. Right Leg

Each body part has a wound condition rating ranging from 0 to 5:

1. 5 = Disabled (Black) – 0% HP
2. 4 = Critically Wounded (Brown) – 20% HP
3. 3 = Heavily Wounded (Red) – 40% HP
4. 2 = Wounded (Yellow) – 60% HP
5. 1 = Lightly Wounded (Pink) – 80% HP
6. 0 = Healthy (Green) – 100% HP

Head

Any hit on the head is automatically counted as a critical hit regardless of whether the attacker had rolled a critical hit or not. Hits to the head affect social and perceptive stats like intimidation, persuasion, deception, leadership, insight, charm, engineering, crafting, science, willpower, perception and memory. Each increase in wound rating would incur a -x penalty to all the aforementioned skills where x is equivalent to the wound rating.

During character creation, the player rolls 4D6+10 dice to determine the HP for his head. This value never changes even when the character levels up. (In easy mode, players start with 34 HP).

Torso

Hits to the torso incurs a penalty to medicine, stamina and strength, which decreases by -y ranks per wound level. They are always hit in normal attacks, and losing hit points in this area does not affect any stats at all.

During character creation, the player rolls 6D6+10 dice to determine the HP for his torso. This value increases by 1 on every level up. (In easy mode, players start with 46 HP).

Hands

Critical hits of x3 and higher causes the character to drop his weapon, and each increase in wound rating would incur a -z penalty to the following stats: sidearms, light firearms, heavy firearms, explosives, heavy firearms, unarmed, melee combat, security and strength.

During character creation, the player rolls 4D6+5 dice to determine the HP for his hands. This value increases by 0.5 on every level up. (In easy mode, players start with 29 HP).

Legs

Critical hits on this area causes the character to stumble, and any critical hits of x3 and higher causes the character to fall flat on his face, suffering a heavy penalty to his agility and forcing him to expand AP during his round to get back up. Every increase in would rating to the legs would incur -a penalty (where a = wound level) to the following skills: fieldcraft and speed.

During character creation, the player rolls 4D6+10 dice to determine the HP for his legs. This value increases by 0.5 on every level up. (In easy mode, players start with 34 HP).

Overall Hit Points

Overall hit points are displayed next to the character portrait in the main screen’s UI, giving the player an easy way to gauge the general wellbeing of his character. To calculate overall hit points, use this formula:

OHP (Overall Hit POints) = Torso HP + ( Head HP x 0.5 ) + ( Arms HP x 0.25 ) + ( Legs HP x 0.25 )

So for example, a character has:

Head HP = 28
Torso HP = 30
Arms HP = 18
Legs HP = 20

OHP = 30 + ( 28 x 0.5 ) + ( 18 x 0.25 ) + ( 20 x 0.25 ) = 30 + 14 + 4.5 + 5 = 54 (rounded up)

Efficiency System

Now that we have an overall hit points to work with, it’s easy to calculate efficiency. In the original system, the lower a character’s efficiency, the harder it is to perform tasks (succeed in rolls). Looking back at the first concept… I wonder is it necessary to further penalize the player?

Hmm… I’ll need to sleep on this for a while.

The game world is called the Wildlands.

Geography

The wildlands consist mostly of jungles upon hilly terrain, and is located in a tropical weather zone that is hot and humid all year long. The average temperature is around 24°C during the day and 18°C at night. Rainfall is generous, especially towards the end of the year (June – December) where it rains almost every evening.

Part of the game world is located in the Malaysian Peninsular, with a third of the first game stretching a little into Southern Thailand. Country names and borders however have long been lost after the dark ages after the Exodus, and most cities have been reduced to ruins and rubbles in the Outsider Wars. What’s left had been swallowed up by the jungles that experienced exponential growth with the suddenly and dramatic reduction in lumbering activities.

The world is split into three distinct zones: Oasis, Gauntlet and Hades. Oasis covers the northwestern sector of the world; Gauntlet covers the entire Southern sector of the world; while Hades covers the northeastern sector of the world. Each zone has its own distinct geography.

Oasis

Oasis, like its name sake, is a resource-rich zone partially swallowed up by thick forests. Most merchant caravans originate from Oasis, bringing food from the rich northern farmlands and forests to the more barren Gauntlet.

The terrain in Oasis is generally hilly on the western side, leveling out towards the west where it meets the ocean. The continent is split in the center by a stretch of barren terrain called the bone basin where its low elevation allowed the flesh-eating virus in the Outsider Wars to survive and thrive. Any living being wandering into the basin without proper protection or natural immunity would be literally devoured alive by the microscopic viruses.

Western Oasis are relatively flat and consists of mostly patches of swarms in muddy fields. To the far west is the sea called the Black Sea (or the Flaming Sea in the dark age), where massive post-exodus oil spills and collapsed oil rigs had tainted most of the water and coast black.

Towns

Moonstone

Moonstone is a village a mere five miles away from Forchan that is famous for the liquor that they produced from coconut flowers called sakin. An isolated village like the rest in Oasis, they do not allow strangers into the village and only deal with merchants beyond the village walls. Strangely, Moonstone is untouched by bandits and raiders who believes raiding it to be taboo and bad for economy. The recipe for sakin is a closely protected secret, and never passed on to outsiders.

Allegiance: Awakened Order
Size: Small

Redwater

Redwater is located to the far north of Oasis, right next to the edge of rich paddy fields and lust fruit gardens that it zealously guards from external encroachment. The Red Guards have a notorious reputation of being a little too trigger happy at trespassers into their food production zones. They are major producers of food, and as a result Redwater is almost cramped with merchant caravans all year round.

Allegiance: Saberions
Size: Large

Whisper

Whisper is an isolated village situated directly next to the petrified forest. Air travelling through the hollow barks create an eerie orchestra of howls and whistles, which locals believe to be spirits talking to each other. They believe Whisper to be the nexus of spiritual energy and worship the forest as a beacon of the netherworld. They are unfriendly to outsiders and distrustful even to merchant caravans, and thus how the town can survive in isolation had always been a fascination of non-locals.

Allegiance: Awakened Order
Size: Small

Forchan

Forchan is built on top of the ruins of a pre-exodus city, and thus it spots an extensive underground network where thieves and bandits call come. Aboveground, the city is run by slavers who buy and sell slaves to merchant caravans. Forchan is a major trading partner of Redwater, who often exchange slaves to work in Redwater’s crops for food supplies and medicine.

Allegiance: Combine
Size: Large

Bleen

Bleen is located strategically between Redwater and Blacksoot, and thus many merchant caravans have settled down in the city to establish a checkpoint for their caravans along the Redwater-Blacksoot trade route. The city is jointly ruled by a council made up of leaders from each merchant caravan, and it is also home to many merchant guilds that compete to provide escort services for these merchants.

Allegiance: Saberion
Size: Large

Loreshone

Loreshone is a small and isolated village located in the Righteous Peaks south of Whisper. It is impossible to find without guidance, as the village is partly dug into the side of a clift and can be easily concealed from outsiders. It is rumored that the village holds the key to a mystical artifact said to contain the wisdom of the gods, but to get to that artifact one must pass through a ritual called the haunting, where they will need to survive the onslaught of dead spirits and ghosts.

Allegiance: None
Size: Medium

Blacksoot

Blacksoot is nothing more than a congregation of the wildlands’ biggest firearm and ammunition manufacturers, and is one of the most important trading towns in the Oasis. They supply weapons and ammunition to towns as far as Hades and Gauntlet, and is guarded by a mystical group called the Seven Eyes.

Allegiance: None
Size: Medium

Wrench

Wrench is a town where people go to find spare parts for vehicles. The town is basically a massive junkyard, where piles after piles of metal carcasses are scattered everywhere around the town, effectively turning it into a maze. To boost economy, the townsfolk change the layout of the town every night by shifting the junks around, and forces outsiders to hire guides to navigate the town.

Allegiance: Saberion
Size: Medium

Barnacle

Barnacle is a simple fishing village next to the Black Sea, surviving on clam fishing and trading. They also provide a ferry service for caravans who wish to sail around the bone basin to get to Gauntlet. If not for the constant feuds between fishing companies, the ferry service would have been the preferred method of transport for caravans wishing to travel from Oasis to Gauntlet as traversing the bone basin, even when well prepared, is often a risky task.

Allegiance: Combine
Size: Medium

Spike

Spike is a town situated high in the mountains with little economic value but of great strategic importance. It is easily defensible, and has an excellent vantage point that is capable of overwatching most of Oasis. Merchant caravans rarely travel to Spike due to the difficult mountain route, but those who do attempt it usually do so to avoid dealing with Combine red tape in Severim.

Allegiance: Saberion
Size: Small

Severim

Severim is a town to the far south that is known as the “Door to Gauntlet”. It belongs to the Combine, who established the town as both a military staging ground for their invasion into Oasis and also as an immigration center for caravans wishing to travel into Gauntlet for trading.

Allegiance: Combine
Size: Large

Locations

Bone Basin

Bloodsand Ruins

BPL stands for Base Penetration Level (range 1 to 10); BDL stands for Damage level (range 1 to 10); BAL stands for Base Accuracy Level (range 1 to 5) and weight ranges from 1 to 5.

Note that my philosophy when it comes to designing firearms is to let the caliber determine damage, penetration and accuracy, while the firearm determines range while adding on bonuses to penetration and accuracy.

How does it work? Remember in the previous post we talked about Calculating Penetration and Calculating Damage? The base penetration level (BPL) is added to the firearm’s penetration level modifier (PLM) to get the final Penetration Level (PL), which is applied to the opponent’s armor’s Penetration Threshold. The base accuracy level (BAL) is added to the firearm’s accuracy level modifier (ALM) to get the final Accuracy Level (AL), which acts as a modifier to the combat roll. Finally, the damage level (DL) is applied to the armor’s Damage Absorption (DA) to determine the final amount of damage done.

Firearm Calibers

9mm JHP/FMJ/M+
BPL: 1
DL: 1
BAL: 1
Weight: 1
9mm bullets are very common in the wildlands and machining tools can be easily bought as they are widely manufactured. The ballistic performance of 9mm rounds are reasonably reliable. They excel in short to medium range encounters, are relatively light and easy to find, making them excellent choices in repeating arms where accuracy is less important than rate of fire.

They come in 3 variants: Jack Hollow Pocketed rounds that expand upon impact (normal tip); Full Metal Jacketed rounds that have a bonus to armor penetration (blue tip); and Military Surplus rounds that are more powerful than FMJ rounds but degrades the weapon faster (green tip).

10mm JHP/AP/TS
BPL: 2
DL: 2
BAL: 1
Weight: 1
10mm bullets are extremely rare in the wildlands. The only known producer of the caliber deals exclusively with the Saberions. The 10mm outperforms the 9mm in all areas, and the TS variants have a notorious reputation in the wildlands to cause grievous flesh wounds that rarely heal properly.

They come in 3 variants: Jack Hollow Pocketed rounds that expand upon impact (normal tip); Armor Piercing rounds that have a bonus to armor penetration (red tip); and Traumashock rounds that tumble upon impact to deal massive tissue trauma (white tip).

5.56mm FMJ/AP/S
BPL: 5
DL: 4
BAL: 3
Weight: 2
5.56mm caliber bullets are normally fired by rifles, but there are some pistols that are modified to fire these full-powered rounds. The 5.56mm is the 9mm equivalent of rifle calibers – they are easy to find, reasonably powered and reliable.

They come in three variants: Full Metal Jacketed rounds that have a bonus to armor penetration (blue tip); Armor Piercing rounds that have an even higher bonus to penetration (red tip); and Special/Sniper rounds that have a vastly improved range and flatter trajectory (orange tip).

6mm SS/T
BPL: 6
DL: 5
BAL: 4
Weight: 2
The 6mm caliber bullets are produced exclusively by the Awakened Order, and thus are extremely rare in the wildlands. They have excellent ballistic properties, striking an almost perfect balance between range, trajectory, damage and reliability.

They come in two variants: Squad Support rounds that sacrifices quality for ease of manufacturing (normal tip); and Tactical rounds that are specially made in small quantities to excel in all ballistic properties (blue tip).

7.62mm JHP/AP/M+
BPL: 7
DL: 5
BAL: 2
Weight: 2
7.62mm caliber bullets are as common as the 5.56mm bullets but pack a stronger punch at the cost of lesser range and ballistic performance. They are very popular in Gauntlet, where the Combine uses it as their standard military ammunition.

They come in three variants: Jack Hollow Pocketed rounds that expands upon impact (normal tip); Armor Piercing rounds that have a high bonus to penetration (red tip); and Military Surplus rounds that are powerful but degrades the weapon faster (green tip).

9.5mm ME
BPL: 8
DL: 8
BAL: 1
Weight: 3
The 8mm Microexplosive round is used exclusively by the Combine Vicerons, although there are unique firearms (mostly machineguns) that have been customized to fire it. The bullet has a tungsten tip wrapped in a hollow bullet filled with nitroglycerin that is ignited by a primer that goes off when the bullet’s tip deforms, causing the round to explode violently. The explosion not only deals concussive and explosive damage, it also helps propel the tungsten core through armor, thus making the 9.5mm ME round the only bullet that has a frighteningly high damage and penetration levels in the world. All these damage comes at a cost though: the round is large, cumbersome and heavy, and thus suffers from short range and bad ballistic performance.

.357 JHP/M+
BPL: 3
DL: 3
BAL: 3
Weight: 1
.357 rounds, or more commonly known as magnum rounds, are moderately expensive but relatively common, especially in rural areas where they are used in hunting. Most city dwellers prefer the .357 round, and partly due to that the round has a perception of being a “gentleman’s round”.

They come in two variants: Jack Hollow Pocketed rounds that expand upon impact (normal tip); and Military Surplus rounds that are more powerful but degrades the weapon faster (green tip).

.45 JHP/FMJ/M+/ME
BPL: 3
DL: 4
BAL: 2
Weight: 1
.45 rounds are more commonly used in pistols and submachine guns than revolvers, and while easy to find they are much less popular than the 9mm and .357 rounds.

They come in four variants:  Jack Hollow Pocketed rounds that expand upon impact (normal tip); Full Metal Jacketed rounds that have a bonus to armor penetration (blue tip); Military Surplus rounds that are more powerful but degrades the weapon faster (green tip) and Microexplosive rounds that sacrifices range for dramatically higher damage (black tip).

.50 FMJ/S
BPL: 8
DL: 7
BAL: 4
Weight: 2
.50 rounds are massive rifle rounds that are used in machine guns and anti-material sniper rifles. They are naturally armor piercing and have excellent long range ballistic performances, but are heavy and rare.

They come in two variants: Full Metal Jacketed rounds that have a penetration bonus (blue tip); and Special/Sniper rounds that have a bonus to accuracy and range.

Shotgun Shell 12ga/slug
BPL: 2
DL: 5
BAL: 1
Weight: 2
Shotguns are extremely popular in the Oasis where it is covered with more foliage and thus the greater need to fend off wild beasts. They are easy to manufacture and machining tools are everywhere, but due to this their reliability varies widely across manufacturers.

Shells come in two variants: 12ga buckshots that fire a spread of small ball bearings (normal tip); and slug shots that are used against large game (purple tip).

Continuing from Part 1, in this part I’ll implement the system with a couple of examples. I’ll also explain a little of the one-roll combat system works.

Examples

Example 1: Attempting to pick a lock

A’s security (Stat Level, SL) = 5
A’s security mastery level (ML) = 0 (normal)
A is picking the lock with a set of normal lockpicks = +1 SL

Lock’s complexity (Success Requirements, SR) = 1
The chest with the lock is next to the sleeping owner. Situation is moderately stressful (-2 mod)

A rolls:

Natural Dice Pool (6D10) = 3, 5, 8, 8, 2, 5

Penalty Modifier Dice Pool (2D6) = 3, 4

Apply Penalty Mod to NDP
= 3, 5, 8 – 4, 8 – 3, 2, 5
= 3, 5, 4, 5, 2, 5

Successes = 0

Thus A fails the lock-picking attempt.

Example 2: Attempting to pick a lock, II

A’s security (Stat Level, SL) = 5
A’s security mastery level (ML) = 0 (normal)
A is picking the lock with a set of normal lockpicks = +1 SL

Lock’s complexity (Success Requirements, SR) = 1
The owner of the chest had been assassinated. Situation is stress-free (+2 mod)

A rolls:

Natural Dice Pool (6D10) = 2, 3, 1, 4, 2, 4

Bonus Modifier Dice Pool (2D6) = 3, 5

Apply Bonus Mod to NDP
= 2 + 3, 3, 1 + 5, 4, 2, 4
= 5, 3, 6, 4, 2, 4

Successes = 1

A successfully picks the lock!

Example 3: Attempting to pick a lock, III, mastery levels

Using the same stats and dice pool as example 1 except this time, A has 1 mastery level (advanced) in the security stat.

Natural Dice Pool (6D10) = 3, 5, 8, 8, 2, 5

Penalty Modifier Dice Pool (2D6) = 3, 4

Apply Penalty Mod to NDP
= 3, 5, 8 – 4, 8 – 3, 2, 5
= 3, 5, 4, 5, 2, 5

Mastery Substitute Pool (2D10) = 4, 6

Apply Mastery Sub Pool to NDP
= 3 -> 6, 5, 4, 5, 2 -> 4, 5
= 6, 5, 3, 5, 4, 5

Successes = 1

A successfully picks the lock!

So as you can see here, modifiers and mastery levels really do play a massive roll in affecting the dice pool outcomes. Arguably, penalty mods affect the dice pool more than bonus mods, but that’s the point of the system – tasks should have a higher failure chance, to reduce the “superhuman” effect in most RPG systems.

One-Roll Combat

Okay I’ll admit it, combat isn’t exactly one-roll. The one-roll term comes from the process of task resolution where passing the success requirements (SR) mean the attacker had scored a hit on the defender, while the quality of the success determines the armor penetration and damage to the defender.

Determining quality of success

Any die roll equal to or above 6 is considered a success. This means, on every roll of a D10, there’s 50% chance of success or failure. The quality of success however, is determined by taking the highest roll result, and comparing to the following table:

roll of 6 = 1 (Average)
roll of 7 = 2 (Good)
roll of 8 = 3 (Incredible)
roll of 9 = 4 (Excellent)
roll of 10 = 5 (Critical Success)

Every bullet caliber has a base damage level, and a penetration level. We’ll talk about penetration first.

Determining Penetration

Penetration happens when a bullet successfully pierces an armor’s penetration threshold. To determine this, simply add the bullet’s penetration level to the success quality level as shown in the previous table.

If the highest roll in the dice pool is 9, the bullet gains a +4 penetration bonus. The bullet has to have a penetration level higher than the armor’s penetration threshold in order to successfully penetrate the armor.

If we’re pitting a 10mm bullet (1 PL) against a metal-plated armor (5 PT), no penetration happens:

10mm PL = 1
10mm PL + success quality level = 1 + 4 = 5

Metal plated armor’s PT = 5

So since PL (5) = PT (5), no penetration happens. The armor loses 1 level of condition though, which in a metal plated armor translates to -0.5 PT. Since the game mechanics only work on round numbers, the armor suffers no changes to PT.

On the next shot however, another shooter with a 5.56mm FMJ bullet scores a hit on the same defender with a success quality level of 3.

5.56mm FMJ PL = 3
5.56mm FMJ PL + success quality level = 3 + 3 = 6

Metal plated armor’s PT = 5

Since PL (6) > PT (5), penetration happens, dropping 2 points off the armor’s condition (and subsequently causing the armor to lose 1 PT).

So from the examples we can see, a 10mm bullet needs a critical success in order to pierce the armor successfully while the 5.56mm rifle bullet needs only an excellent success to penetrate. All hope is not lost for the 10mm bullet though, because regardless of penetration, every hit degrades armor and if the player scores enough hits, the armor will degrade enough for subsequent shots to pierce easily.

Determining Damage

Damage is calculated the same way as penetration, where the bullet’s damage level (DL) is multiplied with the success quality level and pit against the armor’s damage absorption (DA).

Using the first example of a 10mm bullet vs a metal armor:

10mm DL = 2
10mm DL x success quality level = 2 x 4 = 8

Metal plated armor’s DA = 3

Since DL (8) > DA (3), 5 points of damage is done to the defender. Armor is not degraded in this calculation because it is already degraded during the penetration calculation beforehand. However, a reduction of the armor’s condition on the successful penetration (-2 condition causing -1 PT) causes -0.5 DA loss per condition level lost.

Assuming the next shot happens with the exact same success quality level, the next bullet would have done 6 points of damage instead of 5, due to the armor losing 1 DA.

Handling Critical Successes

Referring to the success quality table, a roll of 10 is considered a critical success. This will yank in the critical success mechanic, which in turn calculates the number of 10s rolled in the final dice pool to find out the quality of the critical success.

1 10′s = x2 critical
2 10′s = x3 critical
3 10′s = x4 critical
4 or more 10′s = x5 critical

This multiplier is applied to whichever quantitative result that is related to the critical success. For example, in a combat situation, the critical is applied to the damage level for the bullet. So, if normally a bullet does 10 damage, and the player rolls a x3 critical, the bullet will end up doing 30 damage.

Critical Failures?

There is no mechanism to handle critical failures. Due to the lethal situation of many task rolls, failure is a common thing, even expected. Critical failures in this situation will only cause frustration and will not add much to the gameplay experience, and thus I’ve decided to pull the plug from it. If I DO put it back into the game in the future, I’ll be using the same mechanism as the Storytelling system where a roll of 1 without any successes in the natural dice pool signify a critical failure. There will not be any multipliers for failures.

There you go, one-roll combat!

In the next post I’m going to talk about opposed/contested checks, and pull out my thinking hat and math glasses and calculate the probability (and hopefully, distribution graphs) of the current system and argue (with nobody) of the merits of the STEN system.

I’ve made some pretty huge changes over the basic ruleset, and came up with a (in my opinion) much more powerful and flexible ruleset which I call the STEN system. STEN is an acronym for “D6 & D10 with Explosion Numbers” system, which is basically a variant of a target number D10 dice pool system, like those used in the Storytelling System and its variants.

The basic rules still apply. You have 24 stats (renamed from property to make it more user-friendly) which makes no differentiation between attributes and skills, and each stat has a rank of 1 to 10. Also, each stat can have a mastery level between 0 to 3 (0 = normal, 1 = advanced, 2 = expert, 3 = master).

And that’s it for the basic character build.

Now, on to task resolutions.

Task Resolution – Basic System

In the basic system, the initiator of the action rolls X number of D10 dice where X corresponds to the stat level of the related stat. For example, if A tries to shoot a pistol with 5 levels in the sidearm stat, he will need to roll 5 D10 dice.

This is called the natural dice pool. Here, any 10s will allow the player an extra roll (Explosion dice).

NDP (natural dice pool) = xD10
where x = SL (stat level)
for every result of 10, get an additional free roll

Next, the player rolls the modifier pool. For each task, there can be modifiers ranging from -3 to +3. However, instead of rolling xD10, the player rolls xD6 instead, where x corresponds to the modifier amount.

Now if the modifier is a positive number, it is called a bonus modifier pool. The highest of the bonus mod pool is added to the lowest dice result in the natural dice pool; the next highest is added to the next lowest; and goes on until the modifier pool is empty.

If the modifier is a negative number, it is called a penalty modifier pool. The highest of the penalty mod pool is subtracted from the highest dice result in the natural dice pool; the next highest is subtracted to the next highest; and goes on until the modifier pool is empty.

After this, the initiator rolls the mastery substitution pool. The initiator rolls xD10 where x equals to twice the stat’s mastery level. The first re-roll of this pool is then substituted with the lowest of the natural dice pool; the next re-roll of this pool is substituted with the next lowest; and goes on until the mastery sub pool is empty.

Once the substitution is complete, the player is said to have arrived at a final dice pool. From this pool, the player discards any results lesser than 6. The remaining number of dice left in the pool must be equal to or higher than the success requirements of the task, which ranges from 1 to 5.

STEN Basic Task Resolution System

1. Initiator rolls xD10 where x = stat level to get the natural dice pool. On any roll of 10, the initiator gets an extra free roll.
2. Initiator rolls yD6 where y = modifier to get the modifier pool
3. From the modifier pool, if it is a bonus pool, add the highest mod roll to the lowest pool roll.
4. If it is a penalty pool, deduct the highest mod roll from the highest pool roll.
5. Repeat 3 and 4 until all dice in the modifier pool has been added/subtracted to the natural dice pool.
6. Initiator rolls zD10 where z = stat mastery level x 2 to get the mastery substitution pool.
7. On each mastery sub roll, substitute the lowest roll in the natural dice pool with the mastery sub roll if the latter is higher. What’s left is called the final dice pool.
8. Discard all rolls below 6, and count the number of dice left in the pool. If the number of dice is equals to or more than the success requirement, the task had succeeded.

Simple eh? In the next post I’ll get into more details, including examples and frameworks.