Phoenix RPG

Upon entering a combative situation, usually one group initiates the battle. Many factors may influence who attacks first: mental disposition, the element of surprise, terrain, etc. When circumstances do not make it obvious, there are two ways a Game Overseer can decide which group goes first.

1- A spokesperson (perhaps a chosen leader) among the players rolls a ten-sided die. The GO also rolls a ten-sided die. Whoever has the lowest roll acts in the first moment. The remaining group acts in the next moment.

2- Players all roll a single ten-sided die. The GO rolls a ten-sided die for each non-player character (NPC) in the opposing group. The group with the greater amount of low rolls acts in the first moment of the sequence. Then the opposing group acts in the next moment.

3- Same as 2, but each character both player and non-player act according to their initiative. This is more difficult to track but makes it interesting.

Regardless of how initiative is determined, once a character has acted, the recovery rules for weapons, actions, and Effects come into play and are used for the remainder of the encounter.

Optional: If the GO does not want to worry about tracking actions and recovery times, they can just have each character and NPC act consecutively in round-robin fashion. Though not realistic, it is easier.

Time

Time within the setting of a game passes at different rates, depending on the situation. Therefore, there is game time and real time. Game time is the time that elapses for the characters. Real time is the time that elapses for the players.

When wandering around town, or traveling, a lot of game time passes during very little time for the players. For example, a player states that their character is going to walk across town to get to a particular shop. In game time, it might take up to an hour to get there. For the player, however, mere seconds pass. The GO passes over the time during travel, since it is uneventful.

During a conversation among characters (as enacted by the players) or between characters and non-player characters (such as shopkeepers), game time passes at the same rate as real time. The conversation happens as the players speak. They do not pass over any time.

The reverse is true for encounters that involve combat. Fighting happens very fast. Characters defend against attacks and then counter them. People dodge and move, run, and create Effects. All this happens at the same time. To do this in real time would be very difficult. For this reason, the GO and the players deal with the events in combat a one action at a time, moment to moment.

For this reason, we divide encounters into two temporal segments: moments and sequences. A moment is a brief period of time during which a character can perform one action or can maintain an Effect without concentrating. Within combat the type of actions taken are quick, so a moment is very brief: a second or two, no more. To organize these actions, we group moments into sequences. There are 10 moments in one sequence. Therefore, a sequence may be 10-20 seconds of game time, but could be several minutes of real time.

When not in combat, the character can safely take actions that are more complex and so a moment may be more like 6 seconds or more. This means we could consider a sequence to be approximately one minute long.

Out of combat, when the character holds an Effect for a period of time, the player can consider a moment to be a minute. This large difference stems from the fact that when not faced with immediate peril, the character can easier keep their concentration. During combat, every second counts and a lot is happening from one moment to the next. The person creating the Effect has to keep tight concentration and there is a lot to distract them. Therefore, the character must keep their concentration every second. Outside of combat, once the Effect is created, it does not take a lot of concentration to keep it going, since the creator has very little to distract them. Therefore, a sequence of Effect time outside of combat is 10 minutes. This means there are 6 sequences to an hour. Keep these differences in mind, especially when calculating duration for Effects in and out of combat.

mmt = secs	Combat	Normal
Action	1	6
Effect	2	60

Actions

Because the action is fast-paced in a combat situation, the player must carefully choose the actions of their character. Every action takes an amount of time that must be considered.

Donning or removing armour is not something that is usually done during combat. However sometimes circumstances may require it. Removing armour takes twice the DR rating in moments. Donning armour takes five times the DR in moments. This applies to each piece of armour. Some pieces of armour require assistance to put on or take off; this should be considered. In addition, some high quality armour is actually lighter and easier to wear despite having a higher DR. The GO should consider this also.

Changing weapons takes one moment plus half the recovery speed of the new weapon.

Whether it is weapons or armour, no additional actions can be attempted during this time. This, of course, makes the character vulnerable.

With both weapon skills and the Spheres of Influence, additional actions per moment are acquired as the skill improves. With weapons, this means more opportunity for attacking and defending in a single moment. With the Spheres, multiple Effects can be created simultaneously, provided the character has the required Influence.

One additional action is gained when the skill level reaches each level of mastery. This means an initiate can only attempt one weapon or Sphere attack in a given moment, whereas a grand master can attempt up to six in that same moment.

When a character first learns a weapon, they usually only know one way of attacking with it. Though there may be a specific name for the move, in general it is a full swing or thrust. This uses up the single action the initiate can perform.

When the character reaches novice level, they gain an action. They also learn how to better control their swing: putting more force behind it, even learning how to pull it up short. For this reason, even though the character has two actions now available, a full swing takes up both if it makes contact. However, if the character misses on the first try, they have learned to recover and attempt a half-swing. This move only causes half the normal damage but is twice as fast and thus only uses the remaining action. Alternately, the character could have deliberately attempted a half-swing first and then hit or miss, swing again. This allows two attacks at half-damage, half-speed in the space of a single moment using two actions.

The basic rule is that a full swing uses up two actions, misses and half-swings use up only one.

As an example, here is a diagram showing the possible actions that can be taken by a character whose weapon skill level is 80. This means they have three possible actions. There are only three possible results of these actions. The character can attempt either a full swing or half-swing and in either case, they might miss. This affects what can be done in the next action.

From this, it can be seen that there are only 12 possible combinations based on chosen action and the result of circumstance. The player must carefully choose what their character does.

When the character uses a style, the skills they are combining might be at different levels. Therefore, they would each have a different limit on the number of actions that can be performed with each skill. At the beginning of the character’s turn, each skill has their full number of actions. However, an action with one skill immediately reduces the number of actions possible for each of the other skills used within the style.

A character likes combining a long sword, short sword attack with a martial art kick and flame blast.
This style combines four skills whose levels are LS = 100, SS = 80, MA = 40, Fire = 60.
This means that their potential actions are LS = 4, SS = 3, MA = 2, Fire = 2.
After a go with the LS/SS combination, the remaining actions are LS = 3, SS = 2, MA = 1, Fire = 1.

Note that although they did not kick or flame, they used up an action as a potential attack. At this point, they can kick, flame, or continue with their weapons. If they choose the latter, they can no longer kick or flame.

Movement and Encumbrance

Both during encounters and when adventuring in general players will require their characters to move. During combat, this will be to get into a better attacking position or to avoid a problem. When adventuring, the character will need to get from place to place. The distance a character can move in a single moment is called their move base (MB).

Keep in mind the time span differences for a moment, given the situation. When not in combat and outdoors, movement is measured in metres per moment. This means with a MB of 10, the character is moving at 6 km/h, which is a nice fast walking pace for a human. It means if the character can maintain this pace for eight hours (typical time spent moving during a 10-hour day of travel), they will travel 48 km. If breaks are kept to a minimum, the standard 50 km/day travel time can be achieved. The calculation is:

10 m/mmt, 1 mmt = 6 secs; x10 = 100 m/seq, 1 seq = 1 minute; x60 = 6000 m/hour or 6 km/h

In melee combat situations and when indoors (or underground) movement is reduced to one-tenth (¹/₁₀) normal, or decimeters per moment (0.1 m/mmt). With a MB of 10, this means that the character moves 1 m/mmt. Effectively, this reduces movement to the length of a stride every second during melee. Overall speed becomes 3.6 km/h or a slow walk. The calculation is:

1 m/mmt, 1 mmt = 1 sec; x10 = 10 m/seq, 1 seq = 10 secs; x6 = 60 m/min; x60 = 3600 m/h or 3.6 km/h

Each race has a different maximum move base that is related to the size of their stride as measured in decimeters.

Humans, elves, and orcs have a move base of 10.
Dwarves have a move base of 9.
Gnomes have a move base of 8.

These move bases are only true if the character is not wearing any heavy armour, carrying many or large objects. Some types of armour have a movement penalty associated with them that reduces the character’s normal move base. This can be counteracted if the character is strong of agile, or a combination of both. With their agility they can better balanced the load or their strength can compensate for the added weight. Every 20 points of combined strength and agility can counteract one point of movement penalty.

The character’s Physical and strength skill levels indicate the amount of weight in kilograms that they can carry and lift. Twenty percent (20%) of Physical added to strength determines how many kilograms can be carried before being penalized. Every 10 kilograms beyond this limit (starting with the first kilogram over) lowers the character’s movement by one. The amount of weight the character can lift is twice the amount they can carry.

Another factor in adjusting movement is the number and size of items being carried. Both the players and the GO must use common sense here.

A kilogram of lead is heavy, but fairly easy to carry. A kilogram of feathers weighs the same but is most likely in a large sack that might be difficult to carry due to its size and therefore might lower the move base by one despite weighing the same as the lead.

Sometimes the environment can impede movement. Penalties of this type lower movement after weight penalties have been considered. This means that if the character already has a low move base, the environment penalty could make their movement a negative number. This does not mean they cannot move at all. Prevention of movement is not the same as movement penalty. If the character cannot move at all, their move base is 0. Keep in mind that if a character has a MB of 1 and the environment has a MB penalty of -1, this makes the character’s MB 0, but unless the character is held and cannot move at all, the GO should adjust the MB to -1 instead. A negative number adds to the number of moments it takes to move a single MB point. This means that in a non-combative situation, if the character’s movement is negative one (-1) it will take two moments to move one metre, negative two (-2) means that it takes three moments to move one metre and so on.

If the character is trying to create an Effect and needs to move while they are concentrating, a penalty is imposed. For every step of movement, a 10-point cumulative penalty is imposed against successfully creating the Effect. This can be overcome if the character has the skill of concentration. This can be checked for each step with success eliminating the penalty for that step.

Moving the full move base is considered to be a complete action and therefore no further action can be taken that moment. To take an action at the end of movement, at least one point of movement has to be sacrificed. If a player wants their character to move and then attack and their MB is 6, they can only move up to 5 MB point before attacking. Only a single attempt at attacking at this point is possible, regardless if the character can normally attack multiple times.

Characters can also run. This doubles their move base but is tiring. This is compensated by the person’s health or if they have related skills under Training that provide a bonus. If the character runs beyond this limit, every movement point spent running beyond this imposes a –1% penalty on all skills used afterward. To recuperate, the character must spend time resting (inactive). The penalties will decrease at a rate of two (2) percentage points per moment.

So if the character ran (MB of 6 * 2) for two moments beyond their limit they imposed a penalty of –24% to any actions afterward. It will take 12 moments for their skills to be back to normal.

If the player just wants their character to run and then make a quick attack, they must hold back at least two (2) MB points per moment running to allow for a single attempt at attacking.

With our example of a character with a move base of 6, running would normally be 12. To attack, the character could only run 10 per moment.

Combat

When character decides to attack on their turn, they must inform the GO how they intend to do so, with what weapon and against which opponent. If the character has a long sword and intends to make a full swing against the fire-slug, then they say something like “I going to take a full-swing at the fire-slug with my long sword.” If they choose to create and Effect, they must describe their intent: how big, how far away, what type of Effect, how much damage, etc. For example: “Ice Shards, 10m away, 5m radius, 20 points of damage.” In either case, once the GO tells the player to proceed, they check the character’s skill to determine success.

If the player successfully checked the character’s skill, they tell the GO (although the dice are usually rolled in front of them). In the case of a weapon attack, the player calculates the total damage caused and informs the GO; they would say “I hit it with the full MPD of 80” or “I only grazed it for 20 points.” The GO then informs the player of the result: the attack was defended or it made contact. If it made contact, the GO will determine where on the opponent the hit struck, depending on the opponent type. Wit the Effect, it could be countered, successful or have a chain-reaction with something.

When the character is attacked with either a weapon or an Effect, they must decide what to do in defense.

If they are attacked with a weapon, they can attempt to defend themselves by dodging, parrying, or using either bracers or a shield. This uses up a defensive action. The skill level of the defense method determines the amount of defensive actions available. Therefore, if a character is adept at parrying with their weapon, they can defend themselves three times per moment with that weapon.

If the player successfully checks the defensive skill of their character, this usually means that the character takes no damage or that the defense reduced the damage. If the character does take damage, the GO will inform the player of the amount that is resistible (can be reduced by armour) and the amount that is unresistible (cannot be reduced, usually by enhancements or Effects). The player then calculates the amount of damage that the character actually takes. They deduct damage if they parried, used a shield or bracers. Otherwise, they determine how much is resisted by their armour on the part of the body that was attacked. If no armour is worn, the double caused is double and for each hit the character must check Health. Failure means the character has lost consciousness due to system shock. They will remain unconscious for 10% of the damage caused in moments.

Some types of defense are better against certain types of attack. Parrying only works well against other melee weapons. Parrying against creatures using natural weapons such as claws and biting actually causes half the parrying damage to the attacker. Shields work well against melee weapons and all projectiles. This is also true of projectiles created with the Spheres of Influence using Create Tangible. Dodging can be used against melee weapons and thrown projectiles.

With an Effect, the character must check the corresponding Sphere skill if they have it. If successful, half of their SoI is used to represent the percentage of damage or effect that is resisted. This only works with Effects that are not Create Tangible. Therefore, if a character is attacked with a 20-point mind-bolt, they must check the Sphere of Air. If they are successful and have a skill level of 40 in SoI, they can resist 20% (40/2) of the attack and only take 16 points of damage.

Recovery

When the character takes certain actions, they require some time to recover before they can take similar actions again. This is most noticeable with the use of weapons and Effects.

Each weapon has a speed associated with it. This speed when added to the moment within a sequence, in which the weapon is used, indicates in what moment the weapon can be used again at full force. This is reflective of the fact that once an attack has been made, it takes a moment or two before being able to before being able to bring it back into position to effectively attack again.

A long sword has a speed of 3. If the character uses the weapon in moment 1, they can use it to attack again in moments 4, 7, and 10. Between attacks, they can only defend with it.

This does not affect the multiple attacks gained by increased skill. In the example, if the character were adept, they would have the opportunity to attack three times in moments 1, 4, 7, and 10 for a total of 12 attempts at attacking in the sequence.

The speed and recovery for an Effect is derived from the base concentration it requires. The more concentration, the more time passes before the Effect happens, and the more time it takes before another Effect can be attempted.

Since weapon-use is physical and Effect creation is mental, their recovery times are exclusive. Therefore, although someone using a two-handed sword has to wait 5 moments before being to attack with it again, they can create an Effect the moment after they swing their sword. The reverse is also true. If the character creates an Effect, they can use their weapon the moment after the Effect occurs. The player can make efficient use of the Spheres and weapons by coordinating their respective recovery times. Keep in mind though, that if the character is engaged in melee combat, creating an Effect may be difficult since every blow they receive imposes a 10-point penalty to create the Effect. This can be counteracted with successful checks to the concentration skill if they have it.

Based on the recovery speed, if the next moment an action can be taken is within the next sequence it is carried over accordingly.

A character swings their mace (speed 4) in the 8^th moment. They can swing it again in the 2^nd moment of the next sequence, (8 + 4 = 12, 12 – 10 = 2).

Encounters: What's Involved

Initiative

Time

Actions

Movement and Encumbrance

Combat

Recovery