Ranged Combat¶
Ranged combat works differently. A player chooses to engage another in ranged combat, takes aim and fires. The player who is being targeted has no chance usually has little change to evade (except on extreme distances). The difficulty of landing a successful hit depends on several factors:
- Size: The difficulty increases if the target is smaller or decreases if the target is bigger.
- Range: Depending on the weapon in question, targets get harder to hit at longer ranges.
- Stances: Various stances can decrease the difficulty. A person firing a fully automatic rifle while standing, has a low chance of hitting than a person who fires single shots from the prone position.
- Movement: A moving target is hard to hit, especially at further ranges. This also applies if the shooter is moving while trying to aim.
- Environmental: Darkness, strong winds and impaired vision can all affect on how well a character can hit a target.
The game master calculates the difficulty of the task depending on these factors and player rolls an appropriate skill check. If he reaches it or exceeds the difficulty he scores a hit.
Cover¶
The best way to protect oneself from fire is to hide beneath or behind cover. Depending on the material of the cover bullets may still be able to penetrate the cover and cause damage to the people behind the cover.
For example most bullets can penetrate a wooden cover, whereas a .50 BMG is even capable of tearing through brick walls.
Size¶
The game separates targets into size categories. An average human standing is considered a medium target. The same average human that is either sitting on the floor or kneeling is considered a small target. The same person in the prone position is considered tiny. These size categories do not change depending on the distance from the shooter. They just help to categorize the targets. For example a big dog would be considered a small target, while a sneaking would count as tiny.
Targets larger than a human also have their own size categories. A car, for example is considered a large target. So are some other vehicles that fit roughly the same size. Bigger targets are considered huge, for example large vehicles (main battle tanks, MRAPs, IVFs) or even space ships.
Range¶
The range to a target is always given rough estimate in metres. The game master should avoid making a science of it, and should operate in rough estimates.
The gun play mechanics then categorize these ranges into what is called an effective range. This is a metric used in conjunction with firearms to determine how effective they are at certain ranges. The authors know that firearms are more complicated than that, and much of it depends on the skill of the shooter involved. Still this metric is used for abstraction and for balancing reasons.
The effective range is broadly defined as the distance an average shooter should be able to hit a medium target half of the time. Other ranges are derived from this in fractions:
- Maximum: Between effective range and half the effective range.
- Far: Between maximum and a quarter of the effective range.
- Medium: Between far and an eights of the effective range.
- Close: Below an eights of the effective range.
For example, let’s assume a Glock 17 has an effective range of 50 metres. The ranges are thus as following: Maximum is between 50 and 25 metres. Far between 25 and 12.5 metres. Medium between 12.5 metres and six metres, and close is everything closer than six metres.
The size category of the target and the range category are combined and lead to the following table of penalties for the difficulty task:
| Size | Close | Medium | Far | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiny | +3 | +6 | +12 | +18 |
| Small | +2 | +4 | +8 | +12 |
| Medium | +1 | +2 | +4 | +6 |
| Large | -12 | -8 | -4 | -2 |
| Huge | -18 | -12 | -6 | -3 |
Movement¶
Movement is also categorized into four categories: still, subtle, slow and fast. A normal human being standing is considered moving subtly as no person normally stands perfectly still. Objects may as well stand perfectly still, as in their movement is not noticeable. So do living beings who are perhaps bound, unconscious or otherwise incapable of moving. Slow movement incorporates anything at the speed of an average human walking. Fast is anything that moves at a speed of an average human sprinting or above.
The penalties are as followed:
| Still | Subtle | Slow | Fast |
|---|---|---|---|
| -2 | 0 | +2 | +4 |
These penalties apply for both a moving target, and a shooter that is moving. So a player who is running and shooting at a target that is also running as a cumulative penalty of plus eight (+8).
Stance¶
A person firing can be in one of the following firing stances: standing, kneeling, prone firing, and prone. Standing also makes the person in question a medium target, kneeling makes him a small and prone and prone firing a tiny target.
The difference between prone and prone firing is that a prone firing is an actual rifle stance. The prone firing position gives an aiming advantage, while prone does not. If a person falls on the floor, or is knocked down he is considered prone instead of being in the prone firing position.
The penalties for the stances are as followed:
| Stance | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Standing | -1 |
| Kneeling | -2 |
| Prone firing | -3 |
| Prone | +2 |
Taking Aim¶
A character is always considered to at least raise is weapon, aim shortly and the fire by default.
But a character may expend an action to take careful aim. The difficulty is reduced by two (2) for each action he chooses to take aim for. The bonus is lost if he doesn’t fire in the same round he also take aim for.
Bursts and Full Auto¶
Each weapon which is capable of burst firing or fully automatic has a recoil modifier. Each subsequent bullet adds this recoil modifier to the difficulty. Regardless only one attack roll is made for the burst. As many bullets of the burst hit as the attack roll meets or exceeds in difficulty. While the progression is linear (per bullet) in a real life scenario it is perfectly reasonable for the first bullet to hit, the second to miss and the third to hit again.
Example: A player wishes to shoot a three round burst at a target. The difficulty is determined to be 16 and the recoil modifier of the gun is 2. The player rolls a 19. This means that the first bullet (difficulty 16) hits, the second does as well (as the player’s 19 is above 16 plus 2) but the third bullet does not (19 is below 20).
Suppressing Fire¶
Sometimes it is necessary to keep the enemy sitting ducks. Usually to allow someone else to flank around, or to cover the get away of others. With suppressing fire you have to fire a certain amount bullets towards the enemies you wish to suppress for each action you wish to suppress them. This includes your actions, those of your allies and the actions of the enemy. The amount of bullets required is determined by the game master. Depending on the situation. The game master may even allow you to fire and aim at an enemy out of turn if they leave their cover while you suppress them.
If you run out of bullets and have to reload you have to await your turn to reload and the suppression ends.
The game master has to determine the bullets required. For example, covering a simple narrow corridor (with enemies left and right of the door) usually requires just one bullets per action. While a wide open area with natural cover and enemies advancing may require a short burst per cover.
The rule of thumb is, that one shooter with one bullet per action can effectively suppress one lane of attack (i.e. one hallway, one street). If the area is wide and open, a small burst (of three to five bullets) is usually required to keep one group of advancing enemies at bay.
Despite common misconception it is not required to fire full auto to achieve a suppression effect. If a sharp shooter covers a narrow side alley and takes single shots at anyone who wishes to cross, the enemies will still think twice before crossing.
Reloading¶
Reloading a firearms takes a certain amount of actions. If not otherwise noted in the description of the firearm, it takes one action to reload the firearm.
If the firearm uses magazines, that means swapping the empty magazine for a new one and cocking the gun. Reloading magazines themselves is generally not possible during a firefight.
Drawing¶
Drawing a pistol or a knife from a holster takes one action. The same applies if you carry the pistol or knife conceiled on your body (but still using a holster). The same applies if you carry the knife or the pistol in a slot of a body armor.
If the weapon is not in a slot of an armor, or in a holster (i.e. hidden in a boot, in your pocket, a rucksack or shouldered) it takes two actions to draw the weapon.
Hiding¶
You can hide small weapons (Pistols, PDWs) on your body. This is not the same as doing conceiled carry. Use your stealth skill to hide the weapon on your body. Anybody searching you must use an apposing notice check to find the hidden weapon on you, but gains a -5 on his difficulty task, as finding a weapon is easier than hiding one. If someone wishes to determine from a distance if you are armed or not, he must also make a notice check, but does not gain any benefit.
Malfunctions¶
Firearms are mechanical devices that can fail. Wear and tear, or inproper cleaning and handling can contribute to these malfunctions or stoppages. There are variety of possible malfunctions, ranging from temporary to relative save malfunctions to potentially dangerous ones that can permanently damage the gun or cause injury or death.
These malfunctions are candidates for minor or medium negative effects.
A minor fault is a failure to feed (FTF) when the firearm fails to feed the next cartridge into the chamber from a magazine. It can also be caused by not holding the fire arm properly (``limp wristing’‘). It can usually be cleared in one action and does not immediately threaten the shooter. It does however stop a burst or fully automatic fire.
A stovepipe (failure to eject) occours when the spent casing is not properly ejected from the firearm, causing it to jam the ejection port. It presents no immediate danger to the shooter and can be cleared in one action. It does however stop a burst or fully automatic fire.
A severe major fault is a so called squib load where the projectile does not have enough force to exit the barrel and becomes stuck. A subsequent bullet fired afterwards can cause catastrophic failure, causing damage to the firearm and injury to the shooter.
Determining Difficulty¶
The base difficulty for ranged attacks is five (5). Then you combine the size category and the range category and add it. Then you add a movement penalty, if the target is moving or the shooter is moving. Then you add stance modifiers, any environmental modifiers and any miscellaneous modifiers.
Example: A player wishes to fire a three round burst with his rifle (recoil modifier of 2) (range 300 metres) at a small target roughly 100 metres out. It is dusk and the game master decides that he has an additional penalty of +2 for from low light conditions. The player as a dexterity and perception modifier of +1, and three ranks in the appropriate skill. The difficulty is determined as following:
The player rolls the following:
And scores one hit. The other two of his bullets miss.