Combat and Injury: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:56, 25 February 2023

DuD is a game where melee combat is Big, Dramatic and Cinematic. The goal of any fight in this game is for it to look impressive and cinematic. The weapons of the 41st millennium are brutal and weighty, and we want to show this. To this end, we want players to react to every blow in a fight, in an overt and dramatic fashion.

Please read The Social Contract page on cinematic combat to understand we ask you to fight at a Death Unto Darkness event.

Combat Safety

You must read the Safety at Games page, particularly including the Combat Safety section, before engaging in combat.

Combat

Principles

DuD combat should feel cinematic for everyone. You should always roleplay a reaction to melee blows and melee/ranged calls regardless of whether your traits permit you to take no mechanical effect; while your character might not be fully human they are still impacted by the physical force of the attack or forced to dodge out of its way. Simply calling a Reaction call such as Dodge or Deflect is not sufficient.

Always consider what a damage call represents: while the rules do allow you to survive a shot to the face at point-blank range by simply losing a point of Endurance, you should consider how you manage to soak it. Even if you don’t choose to become mechanically affected, it would at least be appropriate to fall to the ground clutching your face.

Mechanics

When you are struck by an uncalled blow in melee you will lose 1 Point of Endurance. You can lose no more Endurance than that, no matter how many blows you take and from whome, every 3s unless a melee blow is accompanied by a Call or Cue.

Any Called Melee Blow, or a Shot with a Ranged Weapon may be performed once every 3s.

The call Sunder may only be used Once regardless of how many sources of it you may have before you have to Recuperate.
- In most cases uses of "Ranged Sunder" follow these rules: after 15s of aiming (or charging) a weapon you may expend a Supply to call Sunder. You must focus on a single target while doing so; if you lose sight of this target you must restart this count.

Ranged Weapons Require “Reloading”. This is a five second period that can represent cooling the weapon, recharging it or performing quick maintenance.

1-Handed ranged weapons must Reload every Five Shots and are considered to have a range of ten meters but may make ranged calls in melee.

2-Handed Ranged weapons must Reload every Ten Shots and are limited to the hearing of your target. They cannot be used in melee without certain traits.

Cover

A character is considered to have Cover if they have a solid object between them and the source of a call - such as a tree, building or other solid piece of the terrain that they could reasonably duck behind to protect themselves.

A character who has Cover may call Deflect to the first two calls made from a direction they believe they have cover from. They can never benefit from the same object as cover more than once per combat - in order to get cover again they must move to hide behind a new piece of terrain. They may not call Deflect against Burn, Sunder and calls with Warp attached.

Characters in Cover take no effect from Dakka.

Endurance

Endurance is the measure of your character's ability to endure suffering. Whether that is through how tough they are or how fast they are is down to your personal roleplay.

When you are reduced to 0 Endurance you enter the Bloodied condition which represents that your character has been pushed to their physical limits and has become critically injured.

If a Hostile Character tells you I’m taking you in, alive! Your character will be Subdued, rather than Bloodied (this can be done even if you are already Bloodied)

Endurance is recovered by Recuperation - a short rest while a Medicae checks over their injuries.

Bloodied

A Bloodied character is catastrophically and potentially fatally injured. They must collapse and roleplay devastating injury or, if they prefer, unconsciousness.
If they remain Bloodied for longer than 100 seconds they will become Near Death (see later) this timer is called their "bleed count".
A Bloodied character can barely move faster than a slow crawl, only physrep/roleplay their injuries and cannot make any action or use any traits unless their traits specify they can be used while in this state. They can scream or shout for help, unless they were rendered Bloodied by the I Am A Knife In The Dark cue.
A character who is Bloodied can be restored to health via treatment from a Medicae or Chirugeon, which will restore them to 1 Endurance. They pause their bleed count when either First Aid or Triage is performed on them - their bleed count only resets after Triage has been successfully performed.

Subdued

A character who is Subdued has been beaten into painful submission. They are unconscious or barely conscious, and may not talk. They may move for OC safety or comfort, but lack the IC wherewithal to seek IC safety and once OC comfortable or safe should then collapse unconscious or exhausted.
A character who is Subdued will become Bloodied if a Non-Player Character moves close to them and directly attacks them, or if they are caught in the area of effect of Burn or Boom.
A character can recover from being Subdued by either another character spending 30s roleplaying bringing them around which restores them to 1 Endurance, or if Combat ends, at which point they come around without aid at 1 Endurance.
A Subdued character can be captured by their enemies.

Near Death

When a character who is Bloodied hits the end of their count, or experiences a fatal game effect, they become Near Death. They are outwardly unconscious, unable to move, and must be silent - they may experience things in this state but that is at Game Team discretion.

A character who is Near Death has two choices: Embrace Death, or spend Fate to avoid it. Fate is a limited resource. A character has only three points of it for the duration of the current DuD campaign. When spending Fate to avoid death, a character may select one of the options below; a character may not spend Fate in the same way twice.

Back from the Brink
- You recover consciousness, but you are horrendously injured, and can do nothing but crawl or stagger.
- You require Surgery and must Recuperate before your character can act normally again.
One final Push - Regain all Endurance and get to your feet. Your character now has a Bleed Count of 0 until they can Recuperate, meaning that the next time they become Bloodied they will immediately go to Near Death again.
Marked by Dark Fates - Player characters may gain the attention of the God Emperor, dark powers, or the touch of mysterious and arcane technology.
- You may choose to have survived even certain death by the attention of… something.
- In such situations it is best to step OC and talk out options with the Game Team before your character is reintroduced.

Embracing Death is simple. You will not be able to use mechanical skills, but will be able to stagger about and roleplay for a little time before you die. A character who has Embraced Death needn’t use this for an affectionate passing on a death bed - an alternative take on this is to dramatically assure your friends that everything is fine and normal before you turn to face them showing half your head is missing due to being blown off by plasma, before collapsing - it needn’t be a touching moment.

If you choose to have Embraced Death, at any point you can change your mind. Simply talk to the Game Team and spend Fate to evade it.

A character may instead Embrace Death by making a heroic last stand. To do this, call This is my Final Stand! - for the next two minutes (or shorter if you prefer) you take no mechanical effects from attacks against you, with the exception of the call Sunder, which instantly kills you. This has additional effects on your foes - for example, they may take more damage from you, or be drawn to fight you rather than your allies.

A character that spends Fate to evade death will suffer one of the following Impediments, a lingering effect on body or soul that will stay with them for the rest of the event.

Choose an appropriate card from the Medical deck. Your character will suffer the effects for the rest of the event.
If your character was injured by something supernatural, you may instead choose a card from the Exorcism deck to suffer the effects of for the rest of the event.

They will also gain a Scar.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 DuD is a game where melee combat is Big, Dramatic and Cinematic. The goal of any fight in this game is for it to look impressive and cinematic. The weapons of the 41st millennium are brutal and weighty, and we want to show this. To this end, we want players to react to every blow in a fight, in an overt and dramatic fashion.
-Weapons are divided into two categories '''1-Handed''' and '''2-Handed'''. DuD does not make use of specific weapon length restrictions but the UK Weapon Safety standard of 42” maximum for 1-Handed Melee weapons is a good guideline, 1-Handed ranged weapons should be ‘pistol’ sized which we feel is clear enough guidance. A 2-Handed weapon can only be used ''if both your hands are on the weapon''. There is no trait required to wield a 1-Handed weapon in each hand. The Game Team reserves the right to re-classify a prop as 2-Handed if we do not think you are safely wielding it in one.
+Please read [[The Social Contract]] page on cinematic combat to understand we ask you to fight at a Death Unto Darkness event.
 === Combat Safety ===
-* '''All weapons intended to be used in melee must be LARP safe.''' This means they have been tested by a member of the Game Team and conform to our safety standards.
+You must read the Safety at Games page, particularly including the [[Safety_at_Games#Combat_Safety|Combat Safety]] section, before engaging in combat.
-* '''Ranged weapons do not need to be LARP safe.''' However, if converted from firing props/airsoft/nerf weaponry they must be unloaded and made safe so they cannot fire and '''no ammunition for them may be brought to DuD games'''. '''<span style="color:#DC143C">If you fail to follow this you can be excluded from the event.</span>'''
-* '''Where you are using a ranged weapon and enter Melee you are responsible for making your weapon safe.'''
-** If you are not using a LARP-safe prop you '''must''' move your weapon out of the way.  '''Props made of hard materials or not judged to be LRP-safe by the Game Team must be holstered or placed in a position where you can control their movement to prevent accidentally striking another participant.''' Charging melee combatants will -always slow- to give you time to do so, do not use this as a chance to retreat, be courteous
-* '''All blows in Melee must be pulled.'''
-** For anyone not used to LARP combat, pulling a blow is the act of slowing the weapon before it strikes the target, so that it hits with a minimal tap.
-(* Sometimes people will misjudge this – it happens – but you should always be trying your best to pull every blow, and slow down or back off from a fight if you begin to find it difficult.
-* Blows to the head are discouraged
-** We believe they are more risky than other elements of combat, and you should avoid them unless the player does not present another valid target. It is the discretion of the struck player whether to take any effects to the torso or a limb.
-* The use of hands and grappling in melee is specifically restricted to controlled situations where both parties have exchanged enthusiastic consent immediately beforehand. This should never occur where there is a danger of running into other participants or terrain. E.g. near a mass combat, or in a cramped space.
 === Combat ===
-'''''DuD combat should feel cinematic for everyone.''' You should always roleplay a reaction to melee blows and melee/ranged calls regardless of if your traits require you to take no mechanical effect, while your character might not be fully human they are still impacted by the physical force of the attack or forced to dodge out of its way - simply calling a '''Reaction''' call is not sufficient.
+==== Principles ====
+'''''DuD combat should feel cinematic for everyone.''' You should always roleplay a reaction to melee blows and melee/ranged calls regardless of whether your traits permit you to take no mechanical effect; while your character might not be fully human they are still impacted by the physical force of the attack or forced to dodge out of its way. Simply calling a '''Reaction''' call such as '''Dodge''' or '''Deflect''' is not sufficient.
 Always consider what a damage call represents: while the rules do allow you to survive a shot to the face at point-blank range by simply losing a point of Endurance, you should consider how you manage to soak it. Even if you don’t choose to become mechanically affected, it would at least be appropriate to fall to the ground clutching your face.''
-* When you are struck by an uncalled blow in melee you will lose '''1 Point of Endurance'''. You can lose no more Endurance than that every 1s unless a melee blow is accompanied by a '''Call''' or '''Cue'''.
-* '''A Called Blow or a Shot with a Ranged Weapon''' may be performed once every 3s. When a ranged call has a locational effect the target chooses where the shot lands, but may not choose a location already effected by a call.
-* A character may enter '''Cover''' placing a solid object that cannot be seen though that covers most of their body from their attacker.
-** This allows them to negate the first two ranged calls made against them, after which they must move to a new ‘piece’ of cover to refresh their protection.
-** The calls '''Burn''' and '''Sunder''' ignore Cover.
-* '''Ranged Weapons Require “Reloading”''' this is a five second period that can represent cooling the weapon, recharging it or performing quick maintenance.
-* '''1-Handed ranged weapons must Reload every Five Shots''' and are considered to have a range of five meters '''but may make ranged calls in melee'''.
+==== Mechanics ====
+* When you are struck by an uncalled blow in melee you will lose '''1 Point of Endurance'''. You can lose no more Endurance than that, no matter how many blows you take and from whome, every 3s unless a melee blow is accompanied by a '''Call''' or '''Cue'''.
+* '''Any Called Melee Blow, or a Shot with a Ranged Weapon''' may be performed once every 3s.
+* The call '''Sunder''' may only be used '''Once''' regardless of how many sources of it you may have before you have to [[Recuperate]].
+** In most cases uses of "Ranged Sunder" follow these rules: after 15s of aiming (or charging) a weapon you may expend a Supply to call Sunder. You must focus on a single target while doing so; if you lose sight of this target you must restart this count.
+* '''Ranged Weapons Require “Reloading”'''. This is a five second period that can represent cooling the weapon, recharging it or performing quick maintenance.
+* '''1-Handed ranged weapons must Reload every Five Shots''' and are considered to have a range of ten meters '''but may make ranged calls in melee'''.
+* '''2-Handed Ranged weapons must Reload every Ten Shots''' and are limited to the hearing of your target. They cannot be used in melee without certain traits.
+==== Cover ====
+A character is considered to have Cover if they have a solid object between them and the source of a call - such as a tree, building or other solid piece of the terrain that they could reasonably duck behind to protect themselves.
-* '''2-Handed Ranged weapons must Reload every Ten Shots''' and are limited to the hearing of your target. They cannot be used in melee but may be used to enter '''Overwatch'''.
+A character who has Cover may call '''Deflect''' to the first two calls made from a direction they believe they have cover from. They can never benefit from the same object as cover more than once per combat - in order to get cover again they must move to hide behind a new piece of terrain. They may not call '''Deflect''' against '''Burn''', '''Sunder''' and calls with '''Warp''' attached.
-** Entering Overwatch takes 5-seconds in '''Cover''', bracing or otherwise readying the weapon.
+Characters in Cover take no effect from '''Dakka'''.
-** Traits specify if they grant bonuses when in Overwatch.
-** Overwatch ends when the user exits the piece of cover they first set up in or moves and cannot be gained again unless the character moves to a new piece of cover and spends 10-seconds repeating the process of entering Overwatch - this resets to the normal 5-second count to enter overwatch when combat ends.
 <hr>
 === Endurance ===
-Endurance is the resource that measures your characters ability to endure suffering, be that though how tough or fast they are is down to your personal roleplay.
-* When you are reduced to 0 Endurance you enter the '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' condition which represents that your character has been pushed to their physical limits and has become critically injured.
+Endurance is the measure of your character's ability to endure suffering. Whether that is through how tough they are or how fast they are is down to your personal roleplay.
-* If a Hostile Character tells you '''I’m taking you in, alive!''' Your character will be Subdued, rather than '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' (this can be done even if you are already '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''')
+* When you are reduced to 0 Endurance you enter the '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' condition which represents that your character has been pushed to their physical limits and has become critically injured.
-Endurance is recovered in two ways;
+* If a Hostile Character tells you '''I’m taking you in, alive!''' Your character will be Subdued, rather than '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' (this can be done even if you are already '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''')
-'''Second Wind''' - Any character can spend 1 minute of appropriate recovery roleplay (eg. bandaging wounds, praying, etc.) to activate their Second Wind. If they are attacked during this time, all progress is lost. Activating their Second Wind sets their Endurance to half its maximum (rounding up), if it was below half. The character cannot use Second Wind again until they have '''Recuperated'''.
+Endurance is recovered by [[Recuperation]] - a short rest while a Medicae checks over their injuries.
-'''Recuperating''' - this is a ten minute short rest where the character role plays the act of resting, drinking water, and having a Medicae check over the minor injuries and strain of the physical efforts they’ve expended earlier.
-A character cannot Recuperate if combat is ongoing nearby or they are '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' or have untreated '''Complications''' from a Triage check.
+=== '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' ===
-=== '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' ===
+* A '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' character is catastrophically and potentially fatally injured. They must collapse and roleplay devastating injury or, if they prefer, unconsciousness.
+* If they remain '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' for longer than 100 seconds they will become '''Near Death''' (see later) this timer is called their "bleed count".
+* A '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' character can barely move faster than a slow crawl, only physrep/roleplay their injuries and cannot make any action or use any traits unless their traits specify they can be used while in this state. They can scream or shout for help, unless they were rendered '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' by the '''I Am A Knife In The Dark''' cue.
+* A character who is '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' can be restored to health via treatment from a '''Medicae''' or '''Chirugeon''', which will restore them to 1 Endurance. They pause their bleed count when either '''[[First Aid]]''' or '''[[Medical_Treatment#Triage|Triage]]''' is performed on them - their bleed count only resets after Triage has been successfully performed.
-* A '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' character is catastrophically and potentially fatally injured. They must collapse and roleplay devastating injury or, if they prefer, unconsciousness.
-* If they remain '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' for longer than 100 seconds they will become '''Near Death''' (see later).
-* A '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' character can barely move faster than a slow crawl, only physrep/roleplay their injuries and cannot make any action or use any traits unless their traits specify they can be used while in this state. They can scream or shout for help, unless they were rendered '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' by the '''I Am A Knife In The Dark''' cue.
-* A character who is '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' can be restored to health via treatment from a '''Medicae''' or '''Chirugeon''', which will restore them to 1 Endurance. They pause bleeding when either '''[[Medical_Treatment#Providing_First_Aid_Treatment|First Aid]]''' or '''[[Medical_Treatment#Triage|Triage]]''' is performed on them - their bleed count only resets after Triage has been successfully performed.
 === Subdued ===
-* A character who is '''Subdued''' has been beaten into painful submission if they are not unconscious then they are barely conscious and may not talk. They may move for OC safety or comfort, but lack the IC wherewithal to seek IC safety and once OC comfortable or safe should then collapse unconscious or exhausted.
+* A character who is '''Subdued''' has been beaten into painful submission. They are unconscious or barely conscious, and may not talk. They may move for OC safety or comfort, but lack the IC wherewithal to seek IC safety and once OC comfortable or safe should then collapse unconscious or exhausted.
-* A character who is '''Subdued''' will begin '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' if a Non-Player Character moves close to them and directly attacks them, or if they are caught in the area of effect of '''Burn''' or '''Boom'''.
+* A character who is '''Subdued''' will become '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' if a Non-Player Character moves close to them and directly attacks them, or if they are caught in the area of effect of '''Burn''' or '''Boom'''.
 * A character can recover from being '''Subdued''' by either another character spending 30s roleplaying bringing them around which restores them to 1 Endurance, or if Combat ends, at which point they come around without aid at 1 Endurance.
 * A '''Subdued''' character can be captured by their enemies.
 === Near Death ===
-When a character who is '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bleeding</span>''' hits the end of their count, or experiences a fatal game effect, they become '''Near Death'''. They are outwardly unconscious, unable to move, and must be silent - they may experience things in this state but that is at '''Game Team''' discretion.
-A character who is '''Near Death''' has two choices to '''Embrace Death''' or to spend '''Fate''' to avoid it. Fate is a limited resource a character has only four points of it for the duration of the current DuD campaign - when spending Fate to avoid death, a character may select one of the beneath options - a character may not spend Fate in the same way twice in one '''Scene''';
+When a character who is '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' hits the end of their count, or experiences a fatal game effect, they become '''Near Death'''. They are outwardly unconscious, unable to move, and must be silent - they may experience things in this state but that is at '''Game Team''' discretion.
+A character who is '''Near Death''' has two choices: '''Embrace Death''', or spend '''Fate''' to avoid it. Fate is a limited resource. A character has only three points of it for the duration of the current DuD campaign. When spending Fate to avoid death, a character may select one of the options below; a character may not spend Fate in the same way twice.
 * '''Back from the Brink'''
 ** You recover consciousness, but you are horrendously injured, and can do nothing but crawl or stagger.
-** You require '''Surgery''' and must '''Recuperate''' before your character can act normally again.
+** You require '''Surgery''' and must [[Recuperate]] before your character can act normally again.
-* '''One final Push''' - Regain all Endurance. Your character now has a Bleed Count of 0 for the rest of the Scene.
+* '''One final Push''' - Regain all Endurance and get to your feet. Your character now has a Bleed Count of 0 until they can [[Recuperate]], meaning that the next time they become '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</span>''' they will immediately go to '''Near Death''' again.
 * '''Marked by Dark Fates''' - Player characters may gain the attention of the God Emperor, dark powers, or the touch of mysterious and arcane technology.
 ** You may choose to have survived even certain death by the attention of… something.
 ** In such situations it is best to step OC and talk out options with the Game Team before your character is reintroduced.
-'''Embracing Death''' is simple, you will not be able to use mechanical skills, but will be able to stagger about and roleplay for before you die. A character who has Embraced Death needn’t use this for an affectionate passing on a death bed - an alternative take on this is to dramatically assure your friends that everything is fine and normal before you turn to face them showing half your head is missing due to being blown off by plasma, before collapsing - it needn’t be a touching moment.
+'''Embracing Death''' is simple. You will not be able to use mechanical skills, but will be able to stagger about and roleplay for a little time before you die. A character who has Embraced Death needn’t use this for an affectionate passing on a death bed - an alternative take on this is to dramatically assure your friends that everything is fine and normal before you turn to face them showing half your head is missing due to being blown off by plasma, before collapsing - it needn’t be a touching moment.
-If at any point you have '''Embraced Death''', you can change your mind, talk to the Game Team and spend Fate to evade it.
+If you choose to have '''Embraced Death''', at any point you can change your mind. Simply talk to the Game Team and spend Fate to evade it.
-A character may '''Embrace Death''' by making a stand, they do this by calling '''This is my Final Stand!''' - for the next two minutes (or shorter if they prefer) they take no mechanical effects from attacks against them with the exception of the call '''Sunder''' which instantly kills them. This has additional effects on their foes.
+A character may instead '''Embrace Death''' by making a heroic last stand. To do this, call '''This is my Final Stand!''' - for the next two minutes (or shorter if you prefer) you take no mechanical effects from attacks against you, with the exception of the call '''Sunder''', which instantly kills you. This has additional effects on your foes - for example, they may take more damage from you, or be drawn to fight you rather than your allies.
-A character that spends '''Fate''' to evade death will suffer '''an Impediment''', a lingering effect on body or soul  that will stay with them during the event.
+A character that spends '''Fate''' to evade death will suffer one of the following '''Impediments''', a lingering effect on body or soul that will stay with them for the rest of the event.
 * Choose an appropriate card from the Medical deck. Your character will suffer the effects for the rest of the event.
 * If your character was injured by something supernatural, you may instead choose a card from the Exorcism deck to suffer the effects of for the rest of the event.
-They will also gain a [[Character_Advancement#Scars|Scar]]
+They will also gain a [[Character_Advancement#Scars|Scar]].
+[[Category:Rules]]