Rules and Guidelines

[Mr. Handy]

This thread is where I'll post rules and guidelines to help players learn how the game is played. This first post will contain the basics you'll need to learn how to play this game and point to instructions for using the built-in dice roller for dice rolling. Following that will be important information that was posted on the Rules and Guidelines thread in the old game. Each player should read the posts in this thread. This game does streamline the rules somewhat at least as far as the players are concerned. I'll be implementing a lot of the rules behind the scenes, but what players need to know is fairly straightforward and I'll help ease you into it.

Zombie Apocalypse is definitely rated R. There will be blood, gore, and violence throughout. There may also be adult content in various forms, including the possibility of sexual violence. Foul language may occur, though I'll bleep out the worst words in my own posts. There will be characters who perpetrate racist speech and actions, which you could probably guess with a look through the character sheets. There are also child and dog characters in this game, and there is the distinct possibility that they will be the subjects of violence and may just die gruesome deaths.

This is a very lethal game, so it is highly recommended that you play multiple characters. You may play a maximum of four at any one time, but three is the recommended number. If one of your characters is killed, you may choose an available character as a replacement by posting in the Character Selection or Discussion thread. Any character that is not labeled as deceased, played by Keeper, or played by someone else in the character sheets thread is available. You can catch up on that character's story so far by checking the locations thread and following the hyperlinks to his or her IC threads.

To avoid spoilers, please do not read any In Character (IC) threads that do not contain at least one of your characters, except for Introduction. The Introduction thread gives a good overview for players of what to expect, and it is told by Robert and Beth in the future in flashback form. They are guaranteed to survive, but nobody else is. You should also not read portions of threads before your character enters them or after your character leaves them (or dies), unless you have another character in those portions. Please refrain from reading the original version of the game if you are playing in this one. While things will happen differently this time, there are still spoilers. Also, spoiler buttons will sometimes appear in the IC threads. You may only click on them and view the contents if at least one of your characters' names is displayed in the button's text.

I plan to make major updates two or three times per week, though sometimes this may drop to one when I am extremely busy and lack time for a major update. Players are expected to post once for each of their characters between major updates. Characters who do not do so will be assumed to take some default action unless previous standing instructions exist, which will usually be standing around and doing nothing. This is not the best use of your time. If you are going to be absent, please post in the Absence Announcements thread to let me know, and I will do the same. You may also let me know what you want your characters to do. Unannounced absences may result in the loss of your characters, either through attrition in the game or by being given to other players who want them. If you don't post for two weeks, your characters will be officially up for grabs for anyone who has an open character slot. Major updates will usually cause the game clock to advance by one minute, though combat rounds will take about twelve seconds. You can identify major updates because there will be a bolded and underlined timestamp at the top of the post with the current game time. Minor updates may occur between major updates, such as when doing quick actions or conversing with each other and NPCs. I will respond to your posts in minor updates as time allows.

I'll handle all the bookkeeping in this game. When your character takes damage or loses Sanity points, I'll update the character sheet. When you expend ammo, reload your weapons, or acquire new ones, I'll update the weapons list to reflect this. When your character moves to a different location or thread, I'll update the location list. When you succeed at a skill check, I'll make a note of it. You should refer to these lists frequently in the following thread if you want to know where you are and what you've got: https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/vi ... 436&t=6470

You can find instructions on how to use the dice roller here. Almost all of my rolls are also made in public, using the built-in dice roller in the same way. This also means that I don't fudge my dice rolls, and I let them fall where they may. If someone shoots your character and the damage roll is 15, then that's what you'll take. Combat in this system is extremely lethal, and characters will die. There are often ways to avoid combat, or at least to adjust the odds in your favor, if you use some ingenuity and common sense.

This game uses the 6th edition Call of Cthulhu rules. For those familiar with 7th edition or with earlier editions, most things are the same, except that in 7th stats are multiplied by five and some skills are different. I'll post the rules you need to know in this thread.

[Mr. Handy]

Here's a link to the original Rules and Guidelines thread: http://archive.nma-fallout.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=19252

In the early posts it describes the T-Bone. the motel, and the surrounding area where most of the characters start out. There's a lot of useful information there as well as several links that are good for background information. I won't reproduce all of that here, but you can go to the above link if you're interested. What I'll put in these posts are actual rules that we'll use to play the game.

Here's a link to the Rules and Guidelines thread from the previous run of the game on this site: https://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/pbp/vi ... =90&t=1114

As I explained above, to make a roll, look at your character's score in the relevant skill. Then roll 1D100. If you get less than or equal to that score, you succeed. If you roll higher, you fail.

There are also degrees of success or failure. Lower numbers are better, and higher numbers are worse. A roll of 1-5 is a critical success (provided it's a success at all), and means you succeded wildly. Maybe your hit in combat does extra damage, maybe your skill takes less time than normal to use, or perhaps you get some other benefit. A roll that's less than or equal to 1/5 of your skill score, is an exceptional success. Not as good as a critical, but still better than a normal success. If you have a skill of 50%, you get an exceptional success on a roll of 10 or less. If you roll 96-100, you have a critical failure (provided it's a failure at all, but 100 always fails). Something very bad happens, even worse than a regular failure. However, criticals will only occur if your skills are not too low or too high, to prevent every success from being critical when your skill is 5% or every failure from being critical when your skill is 95%. Critical successes happen only if the roll is also 1/5 of your skill or less, so if your skill is 10%, you will only get a critical on 01 or 02. When your effective skill is 76-80, critical failures only happen on 97+. When it's 81-85, critical failures happen on 98+. When it's 86-90, critical failures only happen on 99+. When it's 91-95, critical failures only happen on 100. If it's 96 or higher, you will never critically fail, though a 100 is always a failure. Note that weapon Malfunctions can still happen regardless of whether a roll critically fails, or whether it fails at all. There may also be degrees of success that are short of an exceptional success but better than a regular success, such as for rolling half or less of your effective skill.

Sometimes your skill scores will be modified based on the situation. You may get a bonus to your score for a particular roll (+5, +10, etc.), or there may be a penalty (-5, -10, etc.). Sometimes you'll have to roll against half of your skill (rounded down). Sometimes your skill may be doubled. I'll explain when these situations come up. These modifiers only affect the current roll and do not change your actual skill score.

There are many skills on the character sheet. Usually what they do is fairly intuitive, but some skills are similar to each other and you should know what the differences are.

Social skills: Fast Talk vs. Persuade
Persuade- normally takes time to persuade someone. You have to talk them into it, but once they are convinced, they are on your side.

Fast Talk- is quick talk. You are trying to convince someone fast. They may change their mind in the future, but are momentarily convinced.

There is also the Credit Rating skill, which is basically a kind of status skill. It isn't how wealthy you are, but how wealthy you appear.

With the sudden collapse of civilization, wealth will no longer be measured in dollars, but in resources that are important to survival. Water, food, bullets, guns, medicine - these will become the new currencies. Negotiating trades becomes more important, and that's where the Bargain skill comes in. You would use this skill to barter with someone, or to make any kind of deal (even if nothing physical changes hands).

Psychology vs Psychoanalysis
Psychology is basically a human skill to get a read on a person. Is this person probably lying? Is this a person I can trust? Is this person concealing something from me or are they about to lose control of themselves?

Psychoanalysis involves actually working with someone who is suffering psychological damage- the ability to diagnose and treat mental disorders. This is normally a time consuming process but those characters that have lost significant sanity points (and have flipped out), might be brought back (at least a little) to their normal sane selves.

Note that Psychology will not tell you everything about someone, or even close. Psychoanalysis is a kind of mental first aid. It can immediate snap someone out of temporary insanity with a successful roll, but it won't restore any Sanity points in the short term. That process takes at least a month, and if successful restores 1D3 Sanity per month. Don't expect to get any Sanity back any time soon.

Unarmed combat:
Sometimes you won't have any choice but to fight without a weapon, and it's possible to become very good at this. There are four skills used for personal attacks, and each has a base skill level and damage. Your damage bonus, if any, is added to this damage. Fist/Punch has a base skill of 50% and damage of 1D3, and it requires one hand free. Grapple has a base skill of 25% and has special results, and it requires two free hands. Head Butt has a base skill of 10% and damage of 1D4, but you can use it with your hands full or even tied. Kick has a base skill of 25% and damage of 1D6, and also doesn't require the use of your hands.

If you have the Martial Arts skill, you may get to double your damage dice. This only applies to basic damage, not to your damage bonus. If your attack roll was less than equal to your skill in Martial Arts, you do double damage if you hit with an unarmed attack. If it's higher, you only do normal damage if you hit. For instance, if you have a Fist/Punch skill of 50%, Martial Arts skill of 25%, and a +1D4 damage bonus, you would make a Fist/Punch roll. If your roll is 1-25, you do 2D3+1D4 damage. If it's 26-50, you do 1D3+1D4 damage. If it's 51 or higher, you miss. Martial Arts has a base skill of 1%, so even if you don't have the skill you still get the damage increase if you're lucky enough to roll a 1. If you have at least 10% in Martial Arts, you may choose which opponent to parry on the fly. Otherwise, you must declare which opponent you want to parry at the start of a combat round.

[Mr. Handy]

Spot Rules for Combat-

A- General rules-

Armor-
-Some creatures have armor, representing toughness of hide, a thick layer of muscles and fat, or an ‘unusual’ body. Humans have worn a variety of body armors, from boiled leather to bullet-stopping vests. How much and what sort of damage armor stops is for ingenious investigators to explore.
-Armor is not lost if one attack penetrates it. Armor has a lot of surface area and bullet holes and knife holes are generally rather small. The chance of penetrating armor in the same place twice is too small to consider.
-To account for armor in the game, subtract the listed hit point factor from the damage actually rolled.

Dodge-
-Every investigator has this skill. Along with the Luck roll it can be the roll of last resort in a time of damage. Remember to call for it.

Impales-
-An impale result can be achieved by pointed hand-to-hand weapons and by all firearms. Blunt weapons and personal attacks cannot perform impales.
-If an attacker gets an 1D100 result equal to or less than one 1/5 of his or her skill maximum for the attack, then an impale occurs. This means that the thrusting weapon or bullet chanced to strike a vital area, drove deeply through arteries, or slashed crucial tendons or muscles.

Example- Luke has a Handgun skill of 20%. Dividing 20% by 5 gets you a 4. A .22 bullet does 1D6 damage, but an impaling .22 bullet does 2D6 points of damage. Theoretically a .22 automatic could impale three times in one round (as it has a rate of fire of 3) doing 6D6 damage.

-Note- Some creatures are immune to impales.
-If a hand-to-hand weapon impales, it sticks in the body of the foe. In the next combat round, the attacker must pull it free by means of a 1D100 roll equal to or less than his or her skill with the weapon. An impale does no extra damage when removed.

The Parry-
-A parry is the blocking of or the diversion of a hand-to-hand attack. It does not work against firearms. The parry skill always equals the skill percentage held by the defender in the weapon or object being used for the parry. A parry is always defensive. A parry does no damage to the attacker.
-One parry per participant can be attempted during a combat round. The player states which potential attacker will be parried at the start of the round. If the defender is knocked out or stunned before the attack occurs than the parry is foregone. If the attack does not occur the parry is forgone. If a character has Martial Arts at 10% or higher, he or she may declare which enemy to parry at the time of rolling for the parry.
-An object used to parry absorbs all damage from the parried blow. If the damage exceeds the object's hit points, the object breaks and the defender absorbs any damage exceeding the object's hit points.
Note-
-personal attacks can parry each other.
-an edged or impaling hand-to-hand weapon can be parried with most other hand-to-hand weapons and with rifles and shotguns. Personal attacks cannot parry weapon attacks with risking normal damage, but if the range is such and the person parrying has the higher DEX he or she could grapple for a weapon, yielding the effect of a parry. This is the only way a firearm attack may be parried, if the target is close enough (you are trying to grab the gun).
-Foils, rapiers and most swords and sabers can attack and parry in the same round.
-Rifles, shotguns, and the largest submachine guns can parry, but they cannot fire and parry in the same round. When a firearm's hit points are exceeded in a parry, it no longer fires but does not break.
-Two successful Grapples can in effect parry an attack and disarm an opponent: one to grab the weapon or weapon hand (you are both struggling for the weapon, and it cannot be used until someone gains control) and the next to grab the weapon. These rolls must be made in separate combat rounds, and the owner of the weapon may use a Grapple roll to try to regain control of a weapon after the first successful Grapple on it by an opponent).
-a character can both parry and dodge in the same round.
-Bullets cannot be parried (but they can be shielded).

Surprise-
-The first round of a surprise attack, halve the DEX score of the defenders. Those with unready guns would get at most one shot. For extreme surprise, allow no defender’s attacks in the first round. Defenders can still parry or Dodge attacks coming from the front or sides.
-Note to players- A surprise attack means the defenders get no chance to defend for that round. Thus it is better to surprise than be surprised.

Dimness, Darkness and Invisibility-
-If something cannot be seen, there’s little chance to hit it, to find it or to notice it. If the interest of the game situation demands that the investigators nevertheless act, then the Keeper lowers relevant skills by at least half in moonlight, or makes their successful use a function of some low multiplier of POW. If the intention of the darkness is that the investigators will find it difficult to act in it, then the keeper lowers skill thresholds to 01. Some tasks, such as reading a map, are plainly impossible without sight.

Hand-to-Hand combat-
-Most hand-to-hand weapons can perform one attack and one parry per combat round, while personal attacks have limited parries.

Martial Arts-
-With a successful martial Arts skill roll, double the damage roll done by a successful personal attack. A single roll is made. If the result is less than or equal to both your personal attack skill and your Martial Arts skill, you do the extra damage. Damage bonus is not doubled. For instance, if you succeed with both Fist/Punch and Martial Arts and your damage bonus is 1D4, you do 2D3+1D4 damage. If you roll less than or equal to your personal attack skill but more than your Martial Arts skill, you hit for normal damage.

Knockout attacks-
-Use this rule to render a target unconscious rather than to do physical harm. The player or Keeper should state the intention before making the attack. Perform knockout attacks only with Fist/Punch, Kick (but only under unusual circumstances, such as if your target is prone and the head can be reached with your foot), Grapple, Head Butt, clubs, or other blunt instruments.
Roll the damage as in an ordinary attack, but match the result against the target's hit points on the Resistance Table. A success knocks the target unconscious for several minutes, and the target takes one third of the damage originally rolled (round down any fraction). If the attack succeeds but Resistance Table roll does not, then there is no knockout and the target takes full rolled damage.
-Knockout attacks work against humans, but not against most creatures.
-At the Keeper's option, knockouts may work against certain nasties.
-A successful First Aid or Medicine roll immediately wakes a victim of a knockout attack

Partial Concealment-
-A target partially concealed should not normally reduce the attacker’s chance to hit or the observer’s chance to notice the target. If the target does seem difficult to notice, allow a Spot Hidden roll or an Idea roll to locate it.

Thrown Objects-
-If a character throws an object, add half of his or her damage bonus to the damage done (1D2 instead of 1D4, or 1D3 instead of 1D6).

Two weapons-
-In a combat round a hand-to-hand weapon might be held in each hand, but only one attack and one parry could be made in the round.

Firearms-

Telescopic and Laser sights-
-For rifles equipped with telescopic sights, double the base range. If both telescopic sights and precision aim apply, quadruple the rifles’ base range. Laser sights quadruple the base range without requiring the precision aim modifier.
(it pays to have laser sights).

Suppressors (Silencers)-
-A silencer is a long, thick tube filled with baffles. It can be machined to attach to the muzzle of a firearm in order to muffle the sound of its shots. In doing so it slows each bullet’s velocity and halves the weapon's range. A silencer is made to order. It wears out completely after 1D100+10 bullets have been fired through it. The more powerful the cartridge, the more quickly the silencer wears out. A silencer cannot be attached to a shotgun or to a heavy machine gun, but a small automatic gun such as an Uzi can be silenced.
-Silencers are illegal almost everywhere by the 1920s and up to the present.

Automatic weapons- bursts-
-Fully automatic weapons, such as a Thompson SMG, may fire a burst (multiple shots) on the shooter's DEX rank. For each shot fired in a burst other than the first bullet, raise the attacker's chance to hit by 5 percentiles. No matter how many shots are fired, the shooter's chance cannot more than double.

- Roll 1D100 once for all the shots fired against a single target. If the attack roll is a success, roll an appropriate die to determine the number of hits. Thus if eight shots are fired, roll 1D8 to determine the number of hits. Per target only the first bullet impales if an impale hit is rolled. Some keepers ask that burst occur only quantities easy to roll, such as 6, 8, 10 and so on (that is not the case here, as we use an online dice roller; if you want to fire 7 bullets in a burst, that's okay).
-if multiple targets are spread across a field of fire, the shooter's chance to hit does not change - the opportunity exists to hit each target at normal chance, and each target is rolled for separately. The shooter allots how many bullets head toward each target.
-if a single target or multiple targets are within a narrow cone of fire, such as a group coming down a hallway or a tunnel, increase the shooter's chances to hit, but never more than double the chance to hit.
-in either situation, the Keeper's description should include the information necessary to allow a player the best tactic.

Big Targets-
-Big things are easier to hit. For monsters of a SIZ of 30 or more, every 10 SIZ above SIZ 30 adds 5 percentiles to the attacker's base chance to hit with bullet, thrown objects, or shotgun round. Point blank and extended range modifiers apply.

Choosing a Shotgun-
-Commonly shotguns come in multiple single-shot barrels with one barrel fed by a pump action and with one barrel fed by semi-automatic, and a few are double barreled. A double barreled shotgun may fire both barrels simultaneously at DEX in one round, one barrel at DEX and one at half DEX in the same round, or one barrel each in different rounds, Depending on the gauge, a pump action shotgun fires once or twice in a round. Any semiautomatic fires once or twice in a round.

Extended range-
-A character may fire up to double a weapon's base range at half normal chance to hit. He or she may fire at up to triple the weapon's base range at ¼ the chance to hit, 1/8 a chance to hit at quadruple the base range. At extreme ranges the damage done lessens as the bullet slows.

Examples- (some of this is drawn from Delta Green stats)
Pistols have a base range of 3 yards (derringer), 10 yards (for a .22), or 15 yards for most other guns. Rates of fire can be 1, 2, or 3 depending on the weapon. 9mm handguns have a rate of 2 or 3. .45s have a rate of 1, .38s have 2.

Rifles- have a range of 90 yards for a .30 lever action carbine. An M1 Garand has a range of 110 yards. A .30-06 has a range of 110 if bolt action, 130 if semi-automatic.

Assault Rifles- normally have a range of 100 yards (AK-47) or 110 yards (FAL or M16).

Submachine guns- have a range of usually 20 yards, though some like the HK MP5 has a range of 45 and the Uzi has a range of 40.

Shotguns- depend on the type of shell which determines range and damage. For example, a 12-gauge shotgun normally has a range of 10, 20 or 50, depending on the kind of shot you use. (don’t use birdshot!)

Loaded revolvers-
-when revolvers were more common it was a common safety practice to leave empty a chamber under the hammer, on the theory that if five bullets didn’t stop some malefactor, the sixth was unlikely to do so. A fully loaded revolver may go off accidentally. Resolve the situation with a Luck roll (note: I will not be using this in this game, as modern revolvers are double action and do not carry this risk; feel free to fully load a revolver).

Malfunction Numbers and Jams-
-If a firearm skill roll is equal to or higher than the weapon’s malfunction number, the weapon cannot fire.
-If the weapon is a revolver, bolt-action rifle or double barreled shotgun, the problem is probably a dud round
-if the weapon is automatic, semi-automatic, pump action or lever action, then the malfunction is probably a jam.
-Fixing a jam takes 1D6 combat rounds plus a successful Mechanical Repair roll or skill roll for the jammed firearm. The owner can keep trying until succeeding or until ruining the gun on a 1D100 roll of 96-100.

Point Blank-
-Point Blank Fire is that distance equal to or less than the shooter’s DEX in feet. The shooter's chance to hit is double at point blank range. The damage done is unchanged.

Precision Aim, Laser and telescopic sights-
-The shooter traces the weapon or takes other care in bringing the weapon to bear, shooting just once a round at half their normal DEX rank. The effect is to double the point blank and base ranges for the firearm.

Note- say Luke has a base range 130 yards with a .30-06 at 60%. He decides to take careful aim - he can now hit at 260 yards. Add that he uses a telescopic sight - he gets 520 yards at 60% or 1040 at 30%. But note that his rate of fire is reduced for careful aiming.

Reloading–
-Allow one combat round to load two shells into any handgun, rifle or shotgun. Allow one round to exchange a clip or magazine. Allow two rounds to change a machine gun belt. In a round it is possible to put one round in the chamber and get off that shot at half the DEX.

Two handguns-
-One person can hold and fire two handguns during a combat round. However, the shots will be unaimed.

Unaimed shots-
The shots per round entries for firearms assumes that the shooter has an earnest desire to hit a target and thus aims with care. As a general guide, unaimed fire allows twice the number of attacks per round listed for the weapon on the Weapon Table. Reduce the shooter's chance to hit to one fifth of normal. If there is more than one target, determine randomly who gets hit. Impales occur normally. But given laser sights and training, and a Handgun skill of 60% and above, increase the chance to hit to normal.

[Mr. Handy]

Zombies in this game are best killed by shooting or hitting them in the head. At this point no characters know this, however. 5 or more damage to the head will kill most zombies by rendering the brain non-functional. It will also prevent a human from rising up as a zombie. Any head wound that doesn't kill a zombie will still slow it down if it's one of the faster varieties, and severe head wounds may also have an effect on slow zombies.

Doing damage to other parts of a zombie is less effective. High damage to a limb may disable it. Crippling a zombie's leg can force it to limp or crawl and slow it down. Crippling a zombie's arm reduces its ability to Grapple.

Unless you're making a called shot, hit locations are random. However, any critical hit (not merely an impale) on a zombie is an automatic hit to the head. If it's a critical hit on a called shot to the zombie's head, damage will be doubled (i.e., 2D10 instead of 1D10). Roll 1D20 on the appropriate table below for each hit to see where it hits:

Missile weapons:
Roll 1D20:
01-03: R. Leg
04-06: L. Leg
07-09: Abdomen
10-14: Chest
15-16: R. Arm
17-18: L. Arm
19-20: Head

Melee weapons:
Roll 1D20:
01-04: R. Leg
05-08: L. Leg
09-11: Abdomen
12: Chest
13-15: R. Arm
16-18: L. Arm
19-20: Head

If you're going to shoot at a zombie's (or a human's) head, you'll need to use precision aim. This means you can only act in the last part of the round, almost always after the zombie gets to attack. You get a penalty to your skill as well; your effective skill is halved. This is offset somewhat by doubling the range at which you can hit before you suffer range penalties, and it is canceled out when at point blank range, which doubles your effective skill. If you are in close combat with a zombie, you probably won't be able to aim at the head with a gun. You can run away to a safe distance and then take a shot at its head - provided the zombie isn't too fast. You cannot make a called shot with a burst, and each individual bullet in a burst that hits will be rolled for separately on the random hit location table. Targeting a specific part of the zombie's body in hand-to-hand combat (such as the head) is easier; you only take a penalty of -5 percentiles to your chance to hit. Note that this is only against zombies, which do not try to avoid being hit. Targeting a specific part of a human's body in hand-to-hand combat will halve your effective skill.

Body Armor:
Lt. Vest (cl. I, I+): -5 percentiles*, 6 AP
Hvy. Vest (cl. II, II+): -10 percentiles*, 8 AP
Lt. Body Armour (cl. III, III+): -20 percentiles*, 10 AP
Hvy. Body Armour (cl. IV): -30 percentiles*, 12 AP
Riot/Nylon Helmet: -5 percentiles**, 5 AP

* Skills affected: Climb, Dodge, Jump, Swim, Throw, all Melee/Parry
** Skills Affected: Spot Hidden, Listen

Armor reduces each hit by the listed amount for the areas it protects. Kevlar vests protect the chest and abdomen, and helmets protect the head. Kevlar protects for full damage against firearms, but only for half (rounded down) against other kinds of combat damage. Armor also causes penalties to certain skills while it is worn.

Leather jackets that are short-sleeved only protect the chest and abdomen. They reduce all types of combat damage by 1 point, and they come with no skill penalties.

[Mr. Handy]

When you encounter a monster (such as a zombie) or a traumatic or horrific situation, you'll need to make a Sanity roll. Making a Sanity roll is a lot like making a skill roll. Just roll 1D100 and hope you get less than or equal to your current Sanity score to succeed. Each Sanity roll will have two numbers and/or dice to roll separated by a slash. For instance, whenever you see a zombie you must make a 1/1D8 Sanity roll. If you succeed, then you lose the amount of Sanity on the left of the slash. Sometimes this is 0, so you lose nothing, but some things will cause you to lose 1 or even a few points of Sanity even if you succeed. If you fail the roll, you lose the amount of Sanity on the right of the slash. Thus, if you see a zombie and fail your Sanity roll, you lose 1D8 Sanity points. If you succeed, you lose nothing. The more Sanity you lose, the harder Sanity rolls will be to pass in the future, beginning a downward spiral into madness.

If you lose 5 or more Sanity points from a single Sanity loss, you may go temporarily insane. To find out, make an Idea roll - but this is one roll you want to fail. Your character's Idea score is listed on the character sheet, and it's equal to INT x 5. If your roll fails, you do not realize the full significance of what has happened and are able to trick your mind into functioning relatively normally. If you succeed at your Idea roll, though, your mind is exposed to the horrible truth and you go temporarily insane. This will usually last 1D10+4 combat rounds. I'll tell you the kind of insanity you suffer (either determined randomly or based on what caused you to lose the Sanity points). You may faint, flee in terror, go catatonic, scream, go berserk, or various other fun possibilities. You may continue to roleplay your madness during the temporary insanity, and I'll let you know when you come to your senses. If someone succeeds with a Psychoanalysis roll on you, that will end your temporary insanity immediately. The Sanity points you lost are still gone, however.

There is also indefinite insanity. This results when you lose 20% of your current Sanity or more within the space of one game hour (even from a combination of losses). For instance, if you start with 60 Sanity and lose 12 or more within an hour, you will go indefinitely insane. I'll keep track of this and let you know when this happens and what the nature of your madness is. This is a long-term mental illness that can greatly debilitate a character, though sometimes the onset is delayed. This takes months for a character to recover from, and most people are never the same again even then.

Finally, there is permanent insanity. This happens when your Sanity score drops to 0. At this point your character goes completely mad and becomes an NPC. While it is remotely possible to come back from permanent insanity and begin regaining Sanity points, this process takes a minimum of one year, usually a lot longer, and for most people permanent insanity lasts a lifetime. Don't count on recovering from this.

Frequent exposure to horrific things will desensitize you to them. Chances are you're going to see a lot of zombies during this game, for instance, and after a certain point they will cease to shock you the way they used to. During each chapter you can lose no more than the maximum amount of Sanity from a particular type of Sanity loss source. For instance, you can lose a maximum of 8 Sanity from seeing a zombie (or group of zombies). If you lose 6 Sanity from seeing zombies early in the chapter, you can lose at most 2 more Sanity for seeing them throughout the rest of the chapter. Any Sanity loss roll of more than 2 on 1D8 counts as 2. Once you have lost 8 points, you no longer need to roll Sanity at all for seeing zombies for the rest of the chapter. Once a new chapter begins, enough time has passed that they will shock you again and you can once more lose Sanity from them.

[Mr. Handy]

Stat rolls work a lot like skill rolls. They are also rolled on 1D100, and you are trying to get less than or equal to a certain number.

Your character has three special scores based on stats. Idea is equal to INT x 5, and may be rolled fairly frequently to see if you think of something or, as mentioned above, to see if you go temporarily insane. You also have a Know score, which is equal to your EDU x 5 (with a maximum of 99 for those who spent an awful lot of time learning). This is your chance to know a simple fact or recognize something you've seen or read about before, in general. This can apply to basic scientific knowledge too - not everything requires a Biology, Chemistry, or other skill roll. Then there is your Luck score, which is equal to POW x 5. This is a general catch-all type of roll to see if things go your way or not. It could be for something minor, but it could also be your last chance to survive when all else fails. I'll let you know when these rolls are needed. Sometimes I might roll Luck for your character, possibly without even telling you. There may be things going on behind the scenes of which you're unaware.

Other stats can be rolled against similarly. You may have to roll DEX x 5 to see if you keep your balance, or CON x 5 to see if you stay conscious after taking a lot of damage. Again, I'll tell you when this is needed. The difficulty of these rolls can be adjusted by changing the number by which your stat is multiplied. Increasing the multiplier makes the roll easier, and lowering it makes the roll harder. If you're drowning, for example, you'll roll CON x 10 the first round to avoid choking on water. If you succeed, then you'll have to roll CON x 9 the next round, and so on until you either get rescued, rescue yourself, or fail a roll. To recall an obscure fact might require an EDU x 3 roll. The base level for your Dodge skill is DEX x 2.

[Mr. Handy]

Your character's Hit Point total determines how much damage he or she can take. Maximum HP is equal to (CON+SIZ) divided by 2 (rounded up). As you take damage from combat or other sources, you will lose HP. When your current HP drops to 2 or less, you immediately fall unconscious. When your current HP drops to 0 or less, you are dying. Unless your current HP total is raised to 1 or more by the end of the following combat round, you will die at that time.

Injuries may also impair a character if they are severe enough, sometimes resulting in sprained or broken limbs. I'll let you know when this happens.

A character can be stunned by certain types of attacks and other hazards (such as tasers, pepper spray, electric shocks, knockout attacks, or sometimes when receiving a critical hit). A typical stun lasts for 1D6 combat rounds. While stunned, you cannot attack. You may parry and Dodge to defend yourself, but you cannot act in any other way.

Taking a lot of damage from a single source can cause shock, which could render you unconscious. If you lose half or more of your current HP from one source, you must roll CON x 5. If you fail, you go unconscious, just as you would from dropping to 2 or less HP.

Unconsciousness will eventually wear off. A victim of a knockout attack usually wakes up after several minutes. If your HP have fallen to 2 or less, you will awaken when your HP rise to 3 naturally. An unconscious person will also be revived from a successful First Aid or Medicine roll.

First Aid and Medicine skills can be used to heal injured people both in the short and the long term. In the short term, each successful roll will restore 1D3 HP once per injury, up to the total damage sustained by that injury.

Long term healing is very slow. Everyone recovers 1D3 HP naturally per week, but if a successful Medicine roll has been applied, you get back 2D3 HP instead. This healing will be spread out over the course of the week, but as we are still on the first day, it will be a while before anyone sees this. Medicine must be applied again each week to speed up natural healing.

Some injuries are so severe that they will actually permanently reduce a characters stats, such as CON or APP. Enough damage or an impale with a chainsaw can also sever a limb completely, thus maiming a character.

Acids deal damage per round after exposure. Weak acids cost 1D3-1 HP per round, strong acids cost 1D4 HP per round, and very strong acids cost 1D6 HP per round. Significant contact (such as immersion) is required to deal this damage, not just touching the acid.

If you are drowning (such as after failing a Swim roll) or suffocating, you must roll CON x 10 in the first round. If you succeed, you must roll CON x 9 the next round, then CON x 8, and so on until you get to CON x 1, where it stays. If you fail one of these rolls, you've inhaled something you cannot breathe or have begun to asphyxiate. You lose 1D6 HP immediately, and another 1D6 HP per round after that. You will keep rolling (or taking damage) until you are rescued, you escape, or you die. If you are caught by surprise, you will start rolling on a lower multiplier determined by the Keeper (often CON x 6).

Explosions do damage to everyone and everything within their area of effect. For instance, a hand grenade does 4D6/4y damage. This means it does 4D6 damage to everything within 4 yards. For each interval of equal length, reduce the dice of damage rolled by 1. Thus, if you're more than 4 yards away but within 8, you take 3D6 damage. You take 2D6 if you're more than 8 yards away but within 12, and 1D6 if you're over 12 yards away but within 16. Beyond 16 yards, there is no damage.

Falling causes 1D6 damage for the first ten feet, and an additional 1D6 for every ten feet (or fraction thereof) beyond that. If you fall, roll Jump (the base skill level is 25%). On a success, you reduce the damage you take by 1D6 to a minimum of 0. Thus, if you fall ten feet and pass your Jump roll, you take 1D6-1D6 damage. If you fall twelve feet and pass your Jump roll, you take 2D6-1D6 damage. If you fall 25 feet and fail your Jump roll, you take 3D6 damage.

Fire can cause severe damage. If you lose half or more of your HP from fire, you may lose CON or APP points. A flaming torch causes 1D6 damage, and the target must roll Luck or his or her hair and clothes catch fire. This causes an additional 1D6 damage per round until the fire is extinguished (with another Luck roll, or perhaps a First Aid roll). A large bonfire causes 1D6+2 damage per round, and clothes and hair automatically ignite. A flaming room causes 1D6+2 damage per round to each person trapped inside it, and they must make Luck rolls each round or begin to suffocate from smoke inhalation as described above.

Many substances are poisonous, and each poison has a POT (Potency) rating. When exposed, I'll make a roll on the Resistance Table comparing the poison's POT rating to your CON. If they are equal, this has a 50% chance. Each point of difference adjusts the odds by 5 percentiles in the relevant direction, so a poison with a POT of 18 versus a CON of 13 has a 75% chance of succeeding. Even if the Resistance roll is failed, you may still suffer damage or ill effects. Some poisons take a while before their effects are felt and the roll is made. Poisons can cause HP damage, unconsciousness, and/or other symptoms (possibly even death). Typical poisons do their POT in damage if they succeed, and possibly 1/2 POT if they fail.

[Mr. Handy]

Resistance Table rolls are rolled on 1D100 just like skill and stat rolls. However, in this case you are generally rolling in opposition to someone or something rather than just testing your own abilities. A Resistance roll has an Active Characteristic and a Passive Characteristic. For instance, if a zombie has Grappled you and you are trying to break free, the Active Characteristic is your STR and the Passive Characteristic is the zombie's STR (which is often something like 20). You would look these numbers up on the Resistance Table to see what number you need to roll equal to or less than in order to succeed. You can find it on Page 10 of the 6th edition Quick Start rules, though those are apparently no longer available. Find the Active Characteristic on the top row to get the column, and find the Passive Characteristic on the left to get the row, then find the number where they meet. If your STR is 14 in the above example, the appropriate number is 20. This means that you'll only succeed on a 20 or less on 1D100, which isn't likely. If the Active Characteristic exceeds the Passive one by 10 or more, success is automatic without rolling. If the Passive Characteristic is at least 10 higher, failure is automatic without rolling. If your STR is 10 or less in the above example, you cannot break free of the zombie's grip.

You can also find the number you need to roll against without looking it up in the table. Just take the Active Characteristic minus the Passive Characteristic, add 10, and then multiply the total by 5. If both characteristics are equal, this gives you a 50% chance. I'll also tell you what your chances are when I call for a Resistance Table roll.

Resistance Table rolls can be used for many other things. If you're chasing someone (or you are being chased), this may call for a DEX vs. DEX Resistance roll, with the character or monster doing the chasing making the roll and having its DEX as the Active Characteristic. The two things compared don't need to be the same, either. If you're trying to move an unconscious person out of harm's way, you may need to roll your STR against his/her SIZ. Resistance Table rolls can also use things other than stats. If you're trying to knock someone unconscious with an attack of the sort that allows knockout blows, for instance, you would compare the damage you inflicted to the victim's current HP. The damage is the Active Characteristic and the remaining HP would be the Passive Characteristic.

[Mr. Handy]

The instructions that follow aren't related to the game rules, but they describe a feature of the boards that we'll be using: the spoiler and spoiler-button tags. Note that the spoiler-button tag does not work with apostrophes in the button text (though they are fine in the spoiler text). There are buttons to add them into your posts on the toolbar above the text box when you make a post. The tags are simple to use. Here's an example of the spoiler tag:

Spoiler:

Comments go here

And the code that makes it work:

Code: Select all

[spoiler]Comments go here[/spoiler]

The spoiler-button tag is even better, as it can do everything the other can do and more, so that's the one I'll be using. While the spoiler tag puts "Show" in the button text when the spoiler text is hidden, the spoiler-button tag lets you put whatever you want. For OOC comments that everyone can read, I'll put "OOC" as the button text. In order to do that, I'll type the text "OOC" (without the quotes) after the spoiler-button tag, then a comma, then a carriage return, and finally the spoiler text itself. If you see a spoiler button that says "OOC" in an IC thread, you may read it provided you have permission to read the thread in the first place, and in fact you should read it. It often has important game information describing what you need to roll against. Here's an example:

OOC,OOC comments go here.

And the code:

Code: Select all

[Spoiler-Button]OOC,
OOC comments go here.[/Spoiler-Button]

Some spoilers will be directed to one or more specific characters. Rather than bog everything down in PMs, sometimes I will use the spoiler-button tags to give bits of information just to those characters' players. Other players are on their honor not to read spoilers not meant for their characters, and non-players just reading along can still get the information. To indicate one of these spoilers, I'll put the characters' names in the button text like so:

Dr. Dale Owens,You're not playing Dale Owens! You shouldn't be reading this!

And the code:

Code: Select all

[Spoiler-Button]Dr. Dale Owens,
You're not playing Dale Owens! You shouldn't be reading this![/Spoiler-Button]

[Mr. Handy]

You are only allowed to read IC threads where you have one or more characters present. If your character was only present for part of a thread, you are only allowed to read that part of the thread during which your character was present. There will be links in each thread when a character leaves, pointing the player to the first post he or she may read in the character's new thread. Additionally, the Current Locations thread will list every IC thread that your character has passed through, in order. This list includes hyperlinks that will take you to the exact post in which your character enters that thread, to make it easier for you to catch up on a character's story. Also be aware that even within an IC thread where your character is present, you may not read spoiler buttons that have a name or list of names for characters that do not include one of yours. This is private information just for the players of those characters listed. If you want to post something just for your own eyes and those of the Keeper, place your own character's name in the spoiler button to keep other players from reading it. Spoiler buttons that say "OOC" are free for all to read. Anyone reading along who is not playing is of course free to read everything.

I intend to update each IC thread at least twice a week. Every player is expected to post at least once for each character in his or her IC thread between major updates. Minor updates, such as when holding a dialogue with a Keeper-controlled NPC, do not count. Even if your character is doing nothing, you should at least make a post describing your character's inactivity. If you do not post, I will assume your character is doing nothing and move events forward. This may place inactive characters at a disadvantage, and in extreme cases could be fatal. It is also better for everyone if you do post. That way I will not waste time waiting for players who don't post, which slows the game down for everyone. If you do not post for an extended period of time, I will declare you MIA and your characters will be up for grabs (if they aren't killed in the meantime, that is)! If for any reason you are unable to post or will be absent for more than a few days, please let me know in the OOC thread. If possible, give me instructions for what you would like your characters to do and how they should act until you return.

In a combat situation, please try to post at least once per day if you can. Combat rounds take up less game time than between two major updates, so I'd like to get multiple combat rounds done in that time to avoid threads going out of sync with each other.