House Rules for Combat

Ambush:

Attackers who can only see the ambush zone but not the targets (like those covering a door or window) gain a +2 "Drawing a Bead" bonus. Those that can see the targets approaching the kill zone and can track them have a +4. Attackers that have all the time in the world to line up their shot (like a sniper lining up a head-shot) gain the full +6 for Drawing a Bead prior to shooting.


Additional Combat Modifiers:

• Automatic weapons can Draw a Bead for their first burst (only). They may also use optical sights if mounted on a bipod or tripod for the first burst.
  
• Bipods and tripods also add +10 yards range to sniper rifles (only) due to their added precision.
  
• All MGs and SAWs have +10 yards range when fired while braced and from a bipod/tripod (as applicable, includes fired while wearing powered armour).
  
• Red Dot Sights: as per both laser scopes and illuminated tritium sights. $300 (U).

Clarification: Bracing modifies recoil by -1 per burst if properly braced. Hip Shootin' is reduced to -1. Bipods and tripods reduce recoil to 0.


Reminder: firing without first otherwise readying your weapon (cocking, taking off the safety and acquiring the sights) is considering Hip Shooting (-2). Although Speed is technically no longer in effect for most weapons, it is still in effect for bolt-action rifles.


Soldier Background: All soldiers are considered to have Rank 5 for purposes of military-issue Belongin's. This is an effect of the basic Soldier Edge.


For reference and RP: "5.56mm NA/NATO" is 5.56x54mm NATO. 7.62mm SA/SATO" is 7.62x39mm (so the M4/M10 share common ammo with the Kalashnikov/SK-70). 7.62mm NA/SA for a GPMG is 7.62x54mm NATO.[/list]
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:25, Fri 09 Feb.

1. Trait Checks: Coordinations have always bugged us, so we got rid of them. Sort of. They're now called "Trait levels," which in itself isn't a big change, but it changes the mindset of those who are frustrated that Traits are often better than skills, particularly when making the old style default rolls (see the change to those below).
   
   
   
2. Default Skill Rolls: Default Aptitude rolls work differently. Instead of using your Trait with a -8 penalty, you now roll one die of your Trait with a -4 penalty. This change was made for those who looked at their ld12 search skills and wondered why they wouldn't want to always roll their 4d12 Cognition instead - even with the -8 unskilled penalty - because their chances of going bust on the roll are much lower. Associated Skills are still at -4, but you use your full Trait Level for the associated skill.
   
   
   
3. Edges & Hindrances: The way in which a few Edges and Hindrances work has changed as follows:
   
   
4. Gift o' Gab: This Edge allows your hero to pick up spoken languages very quickly. Given a few minutes of conversation in a new language, your brainer can speak it as if he has an effective skill of 1. This doesn't give your waster any skill in writing the language.
   
   
5. Luck o' the Irish: Brainers with this Edge now simply get to draw an extra Fate Chip at the beginning of each session. (ed note. This edge also now costs 5 points)
   
   
6. Night Terrors: This Hindrance was a pain in the keister to keep up with. The new night terrors works like this. Make an Onerous (7) Spirit roll at the beginning of each session or lose your lowest Fate Chip. If you do lose a chip, however, your character receives a vision from the Hunting Grounds as before.
   
   
7. Movement: A hero's Pace no longer has to be broken up evenly between his Action Cards. He can move some, all, or none of it on any particular card, but he is still limited to a maximum movement each round equal to twice his Pace. A hero is considered to be running on any action in which he moves over his base Pace and he suffers the -4 running penalty.
   
   
8. Weapon Speeds: This is the big one. We eliminated weapon speeds for small arms and melee weapons. Speed 2 weapons were simply too much of a pain to keep track of and players generally forgot to apply the -2 hip shootin' penalty anyway, so we decided to get rid of them. This means that a loaded weapon can now fire up to its ROF on each action. The ROF for typical weapons is listed in the ROF Table.
   
   This change in weapon speed does not affect arcane powers with a Speed greater than 1 in any way. A nuke still takes 2 actions to cast. Note also that some large and/or complicated weapons may still take longer than one action to fire. Where this is the case, it is noted in the weapon's description. Most large weapons like tank cannons and howitzers have an ROF of 1 (it doesn't take long to yank a howitzer's lanyard), but it does take a number of actions to reload.
   
   

   Weapon Type                          ROF
   
   Single-action Revolver                1
   
   Double-action Revolver                2
   
   Bolt, Pump, or Lever Action           1
   
   Semiautomatic Pistol, Rifle, etc.     2
   
   Double-barrel Shotgun                 2
   
   Fully Automatic Weapon             As Listed
   

   
   Note: a bolt-action sniper rifle suffers a -2 to hit if an action isn't taken to ready the weapon after each shot (see below).
   
   
   
9. Double Tap: Weapons with an ROF of 2 can doubletap. These are two shots in rapid succession at the same target. As described in The Wasted West, a successful roll to hit with a doubletap means a single round hit. If your brainer gets a raise, the second bullet also hits. A double-tap is -2 to hit (-4 for some  higher recoil weapons).
   
   
   
10. Hip Fire: Readying a weapon (cocking and taking the safety off) is an action.  You may fire without taking an action to do so first, but this is considered Hip Shooting.
    
    New: If you are attempting to interrupt an action or are being interrupted, declaring you are Hip Firing gives you a +2 bonus on your Quckness check to act first.
    
    
    
11. Explosions: We've decided to standardize the way explosions work in the Weird West and Wasted West. The rules for explosions in the Weird West remain unchanged. Explosions in Hell on Earth now use the same system. Instead of losing a die of damage for each Burst Radius crossed, explosive damage is now reduced by a die type for each Burst Radius crossed.
    
    A 4d10 explosion with a Burst Radius of 5 yards, for instance, would do 4d10 damage within 5 yards, 4d8 between 5 and 10 yards, 4d6 between 10 and 15 yards, 4d4 damage between 15 and 20, and no damage beyond 20 yards.
    
    
    
12. Massive Damage You Marshals out there should be happy to see this. No longer will your posse be able to drop grenades at their feet, ride out the blast with a chip or two, and devastate all your lovingly created abominations. The current massive damage rules make explosions a bit wimpy, so we decided to modify them some.
    
    Attacks and other events, like falling, that cause massive damage, now inflict their full damage to ld6 hit locations. It is possible for the attack to inflict its damage to the same location more than once.
    
    In the case of explosions, the number of hit locations affected are reduced by 1 for each burst radius crossed. An explosion with a burst radius of 5 yards, for example, would affect ld6 locations within 5 yards, ld6-1 locations between 5 and 10 yards, ld6-2 locations between 10 and 15 yards, and so on. It is possible for an explosion to affect zero areas-your brainer just got lucky!
    
    

    Weapon                      Damage
    
    Automaton Death             4d10
    
    Frag Grenade (Thrown)       4d10
    
    Frag Grenade (40mm)         4d10
    
    Frag Grenade (20mm)         4d8
    
    HEDP Grenade                4d10(AP2) / 4d6
    
    M-200                       4d12 / 3d6
    
    Nuke Miracle                3d12
    

    
    
    
13. Armour Since damage is now applied to specific hit locations, armor works normally against massive damage, i.e. positive AVs lower the die type and negative AVs subtract from the damage.
    
    
14. Fate Chips: The use of Fate Chips remains mostly unchanged, but there are a few differences: Fate Chips can be spent on the Strength portion of a damage roll in hand-to-hand combat (because that's a Trait roll). They still cannot be spent on other types of damage rolls. Legend Chips can now be used to reroll any die roll - including table results for things like Overloads and Brainburn.
    
    
    
15. Hip-Shooting: Most weapons take an action to ready. It is assumed that you are using the sights on your weapons in the course of normal aiming. However, if you need to ready your weapon (draw, cock, etc.) and are unable to do so before firing you may suffer a Hip Shooting penalty (-2, -1 with bipod). Firing a bolt-action sniper rifle without taking an action to work the bolt is also Hip-Firing. In other words, if I think your characters have not had a chance to acquire your weapon sights you're Hip-Firing (mostly on the move).
    
    
    
16. Edges & Hindrances: The way in which a few Edges and Hindrances work has changed as follows:
    
    Gift o' Gab: This Edge allows your hero to pick up spoken languages very quickly. Given a few minutes of conversation in a new language, your brainer can speak it as if he has an effective skill of 1. This doesn't give your waster any skill in writing the language.
    
    Luck o' the Irish: Brainers with this Edge now simply get to draw an extra Fate Chip at the beginning of each session. (ed note. This edge also now costs 5 points)
    
    Night Terrors: This Hindrance was a pain in the keister to keep up with. The new night terrors works lake this. Make an Onerous (7) Spirit roll at the beginning of each session or lose your lowest Fate Chip. If you do lose a chip, however, your character receives a vision from the Hunting Grounds as before.
    
    
    
17. Movement: A hero's Pace no longer has to be broken up evenly between his Action Cards. He can move some, all, or none of it on any particular card, but he is still limited to a maximum movement each round equal to twice his Pace. A hero is considered to be running on any action in which he moves over his base Pace and he suffers the -4 running penalty.
    
    Marshall's Note: with the new Initiative rules, all movement is taken when actions are taken. House Rule: Running (-4) affects all Actions taken on that card.
    
    
    
18. Hit the Dirt: Per "Waste Warriors" a held card can be used as a Dodge for explosions. The Brainer merely spends a cardand dives for cover up to 5 yards away. House Rule: This is automatic if the projectile is a hand grenade or slower projectile. For faster projectiles like shells or grenade launchers at short range, an opposed Dodge vs. Quickness check must also be made.

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:46, Thu 11 Dec 2014.

Initiative/Action Cards

Per the cheat sheets and core rules, each turn Players draw a card for initiative and make a Quickness roll (TN 5) to add extra actions. A Bust is 0 actions, failure gives is 1 action, success gives 2, each raise (+5) is an additional action up to a maximum of 5.

All initiative cards are posted at the start of the turn.

THE MARSHALL WILL USUALLY POST ENEMY/NPC/NON-POSSE ACTIONS FIRST. Players can post actions after (although nothing is stopping them from posting before non-posse characters). After actions are posted they are resolved in order of initiative.

This posting after seeing what others do allows the players to better gauge their own actions. It can therefore be a small advantage, assuming the bad guys don't also have better initiative!

Held Cards (aka "Hole Cards", "Cheat Cards", "Sleeved Cards"): You can hold a single unspent action for as long as you like, until the end of combat. (The terminology is a little confusing because "Card" is a holdover term from the original rules, whereas in this case it's a held action.) Held actions ("Hole Cards") can be used as follows:

1. Dodge/Dive for Cover/Vamoosing.
   
2. Adds an additional action to a future initiative Card.
   
3. Improve a future turn's action card to any card (requires Quickness roll to beat an opponents card).
   
4. Opportunity fire or attack at a target that just appeared. Required an opposed Quickness Test.

Movement: Walking doesn't take an action and can happen any point in your initiative Card and doesn't take an action in and of itself. While running, all actions receive the -6 penalty . You can gain a little extra speed (1d4) by spending a card to "Pick up the Pace", which also costs 1 Wind. Do not forget to make it clear you're running.

Wait: You can always choose to go later in the turn, this doesn't cost any actions, but you still need to declare what card you're taking your actions on. Example: Rowan moves on Jack wants to wait for Barb to blind someone on Ten before attacking, she declares she's waiting to act on Ten (after Barb).

Leadership:

Coordinate: as a Speed 0 Action a the start of a turn, a Leadership check vs TN3 (Foolproof) allows everyone to go on the Action of the leader.

Rally: As a Speed 1 Action, a Leader may try to assist someone who's failed a Guts check. Each Raise adds an additional +1. The Leader doesn't have to have been previously exposed to whatever caused the Guts check. This bonus lasts until the next time the player makes a Fear check, and is cumulative with other Rally actions.

".Tac Bloc"

This is a play on ".sig bloc", and is something that needs to be included in each combat. It tells me important information for your combat turn, and it should be some different colour (usually Orange). Include your Initiative card/# of Actions, and if you are holding a card (includes a card held from previous turns)


King Club 4 Actions (1 Held Card)
Moving or Running (if applicable)

Action 1:
Action 2:
Action 3:
Action 4:


Dodge: Dodging usually requires a held action (hole/sleeve card) or sacrificing an upcoming Action. Once a PC Dodges is remains in effect until their next Initiative Card. You can also make a Dodge as a normal action. For example, if you have 1 Action you can combine it with moving during your turn.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:30, Thu 03 Dec 2020.

Ambush/Surprise:

When two groups make contact and neither is at a particular advantage, then the members of both sides make normal Quickness checks to determine Initiative.

When one side attempts to ambush another, the members must make Sneak checks, modified by time and available concealment/cover/distance. This becomes the TN to detect the ambush.

Ambush: to detect an ambush, roll a Search check with the TN being the result of the Sneak check, or TN determined by the Marshall. If you pass, check Cognition vs. TN5 to avoid being surprised. If your Search check failed, roll Cognition vs. TN11 to avoid surprise.

If for some reason it's obvious there's going to be an ambush or you are specifically forewarned, no Search check is required and it's a straight TN5 Cognition check. Likewise, if you are taken completely unawares then it is a TN11 Cognition check (as above).

If the Cognition check is failed you do not act that turn. At the end of that and every subsequent turn, make a Guts check TN5 to snap out of it and begin normal actions. A Routine TN5 Leadership test will snap everyone out of inaction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Mon 16 Nov 2020.

Denver

Pg. 38: Valkyrie battlesuits do not include Flight Packs. While these are common issue for this battlesuit they are not standard issue.

Pg. 51: Flight packs take up only 1 Mount in the torso. They also take 2 turns to activate: 1 to deploy, 1 to spin up to full thrust.

Pg. 51: Helmet Mounted Searchlights: these take up 1 Mount and may be located in the Head, Torso or Arms. Includes an IR filter. Provides light out to 5 miles.

Dodge and Fightin' (used defensively)

Increased TNs for Dodge and Fightin' (depending on the situation) stay in effect until the player's next Action. Dive for Cover actions are unchanged.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:17, Wed 27 June 2018.

Grazing Fire

This is a Continuing Action. This takes all your actions in a turn (minimum of 1). This also requires a machine gun of some sort, either an LMG, GPMG or HMG. You fire one or more bursts of suppressive fire in each CA phase (Ace, Jack, Eight, Five, Deuce). One each CA phase you fire one or more bursts of Suppressive Fire per Action (determine hits and effects as per Suppressive Fire).
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:38, Sun 04 Dec 2022.