Transparency
In Torg: Eternity, the characters (friendly and enemy) have a good read on the strengths and weaknesses of their tasks. Barring unusual situations, when a character attempts something, the Difficulty Number (DN) will be known in advance before rolling the dice. Most tests (term for the attempt to accomplish a task) are at DN 10 or against an opponent's skill or attribute value.
As a result, at the beginning of a combat situation, each NPC involved will have a stat block provided at the top of the combat thread that looks something like this:
Native Villager (6)
Intimidation 7
Maneuver 7
Taunt 6
Trick 6
Dodge 7
Melee 7*
Unarmed 7
Toughness 6
Willpower (Mind) 6
Shock 6
Wounds -
Possibilities -
The first line lists the combatant type and how many there are. Then the interaction defenses are listed, followed by combat defenses. I am listing Willpower defense as one of our characters targets it with a skill. If a "-" is listed for an interaction defense (such as "Taunt -"), it means the character is immune to it. If a "-" is listed for Melee defense, it means the character can't use melee weapons. Regardless, either Melee or Unarmed defense will have an "*" to mark which one is relevant at the start of the combat.
If a "-" is listed for Shock, it means the character is immune to Shock damage. A "-" for Wounds means the character is an Ord who drops after taking a single Wound. Elite Ords and
reality-rated characters will have a numeric value for Wounds taken.
Cosm Card Play
Cosm Cards are never put in Action Pools and are always playable from the hand. If the card says to play immediately, it will be. Otherwise, the player has full control over whether to play the card, but I reserve the right to delay the timing of the effect until a more appropriate situation arises.
Mechanics of Action Resolution
If a player does not know the difficulty of a declared task, I will offer it before asking for the roll. This gives the player a chance to change if the DN is not what was expected.
Once rolled, the player can then play available Destiny (and Cosm) Cards and spend a Possibility before the action is resolved. If the player wants to trade Destiny Cards with another player (on a 1-for-1 basis, and only from Action Pool to Action Pool if in rounds), ask for a pause to negotiate the trade.
A player may only spend one personal Possibility per test. A character can also play one Hero card and/or one Drama Card on the action, regardless of whether a personal Possibility was spent.
The basic flow of a test is:
- Roll the die.
- Apply Up results, Possibilities, Hero, and Drama Cards
- Convert the final die roll to a bonus number.
- Apply modifiers and cards that add modifiers to generate skill totals.
- Determine Success Levels and apply results.
