Action!/System/Combat

Kiaii!.

Sequences
During combat, time is measured in Sequences (of Shots). Each Sequence is about 6 seconds.

Initiative
Your Initiative regulates the acting order during combat. At the beginning of each Sequence, your Initiative is set to the number of Shots in your Shot pool, and eventual modifiers. Each time your Initiative comes up, you may take an Action (which may be a Move), and a Move. You may act at any point during your Move.

Shot Count
Your Shot Count is a pool of Shot points usable to take out-of-sequence Actions in several different ways.Your Shot Count (and Shots pool) always starts at your [ Agility+Wits+Luck ] divided by 3, rounded down. By only using Actions that don't require a roll during a Sequence, like reloading or talking, you may raise your Shot pool by 1, up to your Shot Count. 1 Shot allows you to... 3 Shots allows you to...
 * Make an Active Defense at any time
 * Raise your Initiative for the current Sequence by 5. You may spend any amount of Shots this way.
 * Take an Action out of Sequence after your normal Initiative.

If two persons want to interrupt eachother, they may spend more Shots to act quicker (in essence they are raising their own Initiative).

Snapshots
You may split your Action into two or three Actions of the same type, if they require a roll. You receive a penalty for doing this. If you split your Action into 2 Actions you get -3 on both Actions. If you split your Action into 3 Actions you get -5 on all 3 Actions. This is called taking snapshots.

Heroic Multi-Action
With Heroic Initiative, the Snapshots rule is expanded in the following way:

The reason 1 is included in this table is that this table is also used, reversed, as multi-action penalties versus unnamed characters.

Damage
''The bullets inside are very hot. Why do I feel so cold?''. When you get hit you take Damage equal to the PV, which causes PV Shockpoints, 1 Wound at Wound Treshold (WT) PV, 2 Wounds at 2 x WT PV, and 3 Wounds at 3 x WT PV, and X Wounds at X x WT PV. If at any time you receive Shock Points equal to your Health, you fall down, unable to act. If you have Wounds equal to your Toughness, you're dying.

Normal Wound Threshold is 5.

If you do nothing but rest during a Sequence, you regain 1 Shock point.

Unconscious characters may roll to wake up (Willpower+Focus Difficulty 15) every time someone else rolls an Action, or they wake up in 10 minutes, whichever comes first.

Normal optional rules are Wound Penalty and Shock, and Unnamed Characters.

Falling
A character takes the falling distance in meters in Damage. This may be lowered by a Stunt+Agility/0. Every 5 PV lowers the distance by 1.

Shaken
When a target takes 1 or more Shock points it becomes Shaken. Shaken: You may not perform Active Defenses or Free Actions. At the beginning of an Action, you roll Willpower+Focus Difficulty 10+10 as an Action. If you succeed, you are no longer Shaken and may perform Actions normally.

Dramatic Card Draw
Every Sequence draw a card for each Faction from a normal Deck. Cards also indicates what the Favored Action is: Successful Favored Actions provide a pool point of choice.
 * Joker: All Shock points are regained, Wounds are bandaged and everyone is Inspired. All Actions are Favored.
 * Ace: All Actions are Favored and Inspired.
 * Face Cards: Faction is Inspired.
 * 5-10: Favored Action only.
 * 4: Stymie.
 * 3: Confused (no pool points may be used).
 * 2: Setback.
 * Spades: Combat (Attacks and Defenses)
 * Hearts: Interaction
 * Clubs: Other (Any other Action)
 * Diamonds: Deceit

Knockdown and Knockback
Knockdown causes you to fall down, requiring a Move or a Stunt+Agility Diff 15 to get up. Knockback is caused when you take more Damage than your Mass Value. For every 5 points of Damage more than your Mass Value, you are flung 1 meter backwards. You receive a Knockdown when you land. Knockback into a solid object causes Damage equal to the distance left to both you and the object. (40/20)

Wound Penalty
For each untreated Wound received, you get 1 point of impairment, a Wound penalty.

Shock
If you are hurt and take a Wound, roll for Shock: Focus or Interaction/Willpower+Focus with a Difficulty equal to 5+5 times Wounds inflicted in this Attack. If you fail this roll, you fall down unconscious. The negative margin indicates Sequences until you wake up and the Difficulty of any Physician+Wits roll to wake you prematurely.

Stun
For every Wound you lose in a single attack, you lose 1 Shot.

Massive Damage
Anytime someone takes Damage equal to 4 times the Wound Threshold, they are said to have taken Massive Damage.

Cinematic Wounds
Cinematic Wounds don't have a mechanism per se, but hamper the character in cinematic ways. Typical examples include burnt hands, broken arms and legs, blood in the eyes and twitching from electrocution. Also included are flashbacks, temporary insanity or amnesia. All cinematic wounds heal at the end of session, or when appropriate (Optional: Cinematic Wounds provide 1xp to the party when healed). A Character who takes a hit with Massive Damage, that is Damage [Wound Threshold x 4] or more takes a Cinematic Wound.

Variable
Instead of taking a Cinematic Wound each time you take Massive Damage use the following rules. Whenever the character takes one or more Wounds, roll Luck to see if the character gets a Cinematic Wound. The Difficulty is 5 per Wound rolled for in this instance. Eg if the character takes 3 Wounds she rolls Luck with a Difficulty of 5, 10 and 15, to see if she gets a Cinematic Wound. She may voluntarily fail this roll. Normally, you cannot receive more than one Cinematic Wound per attack.

Sand In Your Teeth
Every hit causes at least 1 Wound, +1 Wound per Wound Threshold Shockpoints.

Wound Seriousness
1 Wound (Light wound) causes -1, 2 simultaneous Wounds (Moderate wound)cause -2, 3 simultaneous Wounds (Serious Wound) cause -4, 4 Wounds (Deadly Wound) -8. Only the worst wound causes Impairment. More than 4 wounds in one attack makes the character fall down, dead.

Dark Times
After every hit, roll Willpower+Focus against the inflicted Shock points in this attack. If you fail this roll, you fall down dying. Dying characters must be stabilized with a Medicine/Physician Diff 25-Health+Woundsx5 taken within 1 hour, or die from their wounds. Use the dying table below. These rules make combat grittier, more film noir.

Unnamed Characters
There are several ways of handling Unnamed charcters, commonly known as Mooks.

Glass Jaw Mooks
Characters that have no name go down on a single Wound. If they perform an Active Dodge they also lose their next Action.
 * 0-4: Nothing Happens.
 * 5-9: Shaken.
 * 10+ Out.

Advanced Mooks
A Mook now follows the following rules:
 * Damage 0-4: Shaken.
 * Damage 5-9: Attacker gains Free d10 next Action.
 * Damage10-15: Mook is unconscious.
 * Damage 16-20: Mook is permanently out of Action.

Speed Bump Mooks
Characters that have no name are handled by Static EV. Compare the Skill+Damage of a player character with a group of Mooks Skill+Soak. For every [Mook Wound Threshold] EV a Mook goes down. No roll, except for extra positive dice. Every Action taken where the Mooks are ignored, allow the Mooks to make an Attack against the player character. Mooks also take an Action, last in the Sequence.

Bruised
5 point Impairment on next Action or Defense. (100)

Battered
No Free Moves. Full Move now provides a single Move. (60)

Broken
Next Hit Incapacitates. Requires Threshold x 4 EV.(160)

Alternate Combat System
All characters are ordered in Initiative order. Use initiative Cards. When a character acts, she is placed at the rear of the stack. Damage equal to Health/5 moves a card backwards in the initiative order, and if the character is moved one place backwards from last place, she is out of action( and possibly receives a Wound). An active Defense is only available if the character is not in last place and she is then moved one spot backwards from her original position. (Possibly she also counts as if she was in first place for damage purposes against the defended attack). Snapshots move you a number of cards upwards equal to penalty/3 taken on roll. Maybe there should be some padding cards that provide added Knockdowns, random effects (the cards have text printed or just 1, 2 and 3), and good old-fashioned Setbacks and extra d10s. Standard should probably be d10, Setback and Random Event (in that order). Padding cards are removed when they are reached, which makes a scene more and more dangerous. Padding could also be dramatic turn of events, dramatic bonuses and bad things for the villain. Cool.