Combat and Injury: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:56, 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: @@
-=== Melee and Ranged Combat ===
+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.
-As the framing of ‘scenes’ suggests, 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.
-=== Dramatic Melee ===
-In order to deal Endurance damage, melee blows should be large, obviously telegraphed, and accompanied by a war cry or a damage call – like a computer game character using a ‘special attack’. Quick and rapid attacks do stagger and stun a character, and should be reacted to, but they leave superficial bruises and cuts rather than causing mechanical injury. Even when making rapid attacks, you should not strike someone any faster than once per second, and you should not ‘drumroll’ (rapidly strike the same area repeatedly).
+=== Combat Safety ===
-=== Melee Combat ===
+You must read the Safety at Games page, particularly including the [[Safety_at_Games#Combat_Safety|Combat Safety]] section, before engaging in combat.
-* Special calls in Melee can be used '''once every three seconds''', unless they have rules that state otherwise.
-* All melee weapons '''''must be LARP safe'''''. This means they follow our prop [[System Policies and Ethos|construction guidelines]] for LARP-safe weaponry and have been tested by a member of the Game Team prior to time in.
+=== Combat ===
-* 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.
+==== Principles ====
-* Blows to the head are discouraged, as we believe they are less safe than other elements of combat. You should avoid them – but if they occur by accident, treat blows to the head as if they are striking the body (including the effect of any armour worn).
+'''''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.
-* The use of hands and grappling in melee is specifically restricted to controlled situations where both parties have exchanged '''enthusiastic consent''' immediately prior to engaging in this roleplay. This should never occur in a situation where there is a '''mass combat''' occurring around the individuals, nor in an enclosed space where there is a danger of their physical roleplay leading to injury to themselves or accidentally striking those who have not consented to participate.
+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.''
-=== Ranged Combat ===
-* Special calls from ranged weapons or other powers can be used '''once every five seconds''', unless they have rules that state otherwise.
-* '''All pistol-sized weapons have a range of five metres'''; larger weapons (carried in two hands) and powers have as long a range as can be heard clearly, unless stated otherwise in their rules.
+==== Mechanics ====
-* Ranged calls should be prefixed with the name or an identifying description of the target – so "Ben, '''Rend'''!" or "Blue Hat, '''Blam'''!" This isn't required in melee – the blow hits whoever it hits. At night, torches are not viable targets – don’t call “Red lamp, '''Blam'''!” etc – but when you’re the one with the torch, do take care not to point it directly at your opponents to avoid dazzling them.
+* 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'''.
-* All ranged weapons with a damage call other than '''Blam''' require ammunition to function properly. If the character runs out of '''Ammunition''', they cannot use any ranged calls from their wargear (unless a trait says otherwise).
+* '''Any Called Melee Blow, or a Shot with a Ranged Weapon''' may be performed once every 3s.
-* Weapons which call '''Blam''' are sufficiently robust and Ammunition or power for them is so ubiquitously available that it will functionally never run out; this call is always available with any weapon which uses it.
+* 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.
-* Firing a couple of shots for roleplay purposes (for example executions, sabotage or warning shots) does not consume Ammunition. As a rule of thumb, if you could do it with a knife, it won’t consume a reload to use a gun for style instead.
+* '''Ranged Weapons Require “Reloading”'''. This is a five second period that can represent cooling the weapon, recharging it or performing quick maintenance.
-* Characters can '''Take Cover''' against ranged weapons. To count as '''Cover''', something must be a solid object that cannot be seen through, which covers most of your body. It does not need to be subjectively ‘hard enough to stop bullets’; soft items can still prevent you being hit, simply by meaning the enemy can’t quite be sure where to aim.
+* '''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'''.
-* '''Boarding Shields''' – large enough to mostly cover you – can be used by characters with '''Aegis Training''' to '''grant''' Cover. Rules for their use can be found in the [[Wargear Traits|Traits]] section.
+* '''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''' protects you from the first '''two''' ranged attacks made against you from the other side of it, after which you must move to a new piece of cover to ‘refresh’ this protection. Characters with Traits such as '''Aegis Training''', '''Vigilator''' and '''Adept Mortis''' must take five long steps instead.
-* The call '''Burn''' ignores cover, and you must leave cover when you retreat from it.
+==== Cover ====
-* The call '''Dakka''' is completely negated by cover; ignoring it does not count towards the two attacks your cover will defend you from.
+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.
-* No thrown weapons besides Grenades can be used at DUD. This ensures that if people see a thrown physrep, they know that it is a grenade and are more able to react appropriately.
+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'''.
-=== Special Calls ===
+<hr>
-* Special calls have a limited number of uses, governed by the Trait which granted them or by a resource such as '''Ammunition'''.
+=== Endurance ===
-* In addition to simply signalling damage, special calls are used to signal Status Effects. These are mechanical and roleplaying effects which must be acted upon if a character is targeted by them. Only characters with Traits that specifically allow them to resist a special call are able to avoid taking the action directed; they should still roleplay signalling their resistance in some way, so that the person making the call knows it was heard.
+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 the target does not notice or react to a special call, or calls '''No Effect''', it does not expend that use of the call. Uses are only expended when the call achieves an effect.
+* 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.
-* Special calls are optional – you do not have to call '''Shock''' with every blow of a shockmaul. Melee weapons default to dealing uncalled damage as normal via a dramatic blow, or no mechanical damage with quicker attacks.
+* 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>''')
-You can find out more about Calls in the [[Calls (Core Rules)|Calls]] section
+Endurance is recovered by [[Recuperation]] - a short rest while a Medicae checks over their injuries.
+=== '''<span style="color:#DC143C">Bloodied</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.
+=== 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 '''<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">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.
+* '''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 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 [[Character_Advancement#Scars|Scar]].
+[[Category:Rules]]