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.

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+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 ===
+=== Combat Safety ===
-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)'''.
+You must read the Safety at Games page, particularly including the [[Safety_at_Games#Combat_Safety|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.
-=== Universal Combat Rules ===
+* '''Ranged Weapons Require “Reloading”'''. This is a five second period that can represent cooling the weapon, recharging it or performing quick maintenance.
-In the game there are two distinct areas of combat '''Melee''' combat, which is based around striking your opponent with '''LARP-safe weaponry'''. And '''Ranged''' combat which is entirely based around calls.
-Where calls are used in both Melee and Ranged combat they may only be used '''once every three seconds''' – all calls, apart from '''Blam''' (which represents the most basic ranged attack), represent dramatic and decisive actions, they tend to be more limited in the number that appear in a combat, so when they do its supposed to be significant, its rare for NPCs to have calls more significant than ‘Blam’ unless they are intended to be dangerous threats or important characters.
+* '''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'''.
-If your call is not '''reacted''' to (this usually happens because it wasn’t heard) and it is a limited-use call, then you retain that use of it as if you hadn’t made the call. In a melee characters can ‘parry’ calls with melee weapons (or shields if they have the [[Endurance_Traits#Aegis_Training|Aegis Training]] trait) this is considered a reaction and thusly the call is spent, the call '''Sunder''' can be parried but destroys the parrying weapon/shield unless that weapon is a [[Wargear_Traits#Power_Weapon_.28Requires:_Assault_Weapons.29|Power Weapon]], or a [[Wargear_Traits#Relic_.28Requires:_Ref_Permission.29|Relic]].
+* '''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.
-The rules later will refer to a process of '''Brutalizing''' an opponent, this is the act of attacking a wounded individual on the ground to leave them bloodied and bleeding out it is done by the most dangerous and intelligent NPCs '''only''' in normal circumstances NPCs will not be briefed to Brutalize PCs. This is also only relevant for harming PCs; most NPCs will simply die when they become wounded and not need you to worry about keeping them down unless they have a specific nature that causes them to rise from what would be mortal wounds to a human.
+==== Cover ====
-=== Ranged Combat Rules ===
+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.
-Ranged combat is ‘calls-based’ in this game, what we mean by that is 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.
+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.
-'''Blam''' is the universal ranged call, all firearms physreps can ''always'' call Blam . For most common firearms this represents their weaker power compared to the more fantastic weapons in the universe, but for more powerful weapons this represents them firing at ‘low power’ or simply the shot only doing grazing damage to the target because it’s not hitting their center of mass. Where a firearm is used to ''only'' call Blam in a scene it does not expend '''Ammunition''' and a firearm does not need Ammunition to call Blam.
+Characters in Cover take no effect from '''Dakka'''.
-While in previous iterations of the rules it was required to carry a simple ‘backup’ weapon such as a Laspistol to make use of ‘unlimited Blam’, this iteration of the rules does not include that requirement.
+<hr>
-The DuD Game Team recognize the financial investment in buying special props as is required by the more powerful firearms wargear traits mean players might not be able to afford multiple weapons props as such whatever narrative convenience for your prop that is appropriate to explain this is up to you.
+=== Endurance ===
-To make '''any other call''' you must have '''Ammunition''' remaining, if you run out of '''Ammunition''' you may not make any other call with a firearm prop. This means that props designed to function with the [[Wargear_Traits#Purifying_Weapons_.28Ranged_Only.29|Purifying Weapons]] or [[Wargear_Traits#Heavy_Weapons_.28Ranged_Only.29|Heavy Weapons]] traits will cease to function when you run out of ammo as those weapons specifically cannot call '''Blam''', and you should be aware of this when purchasing those traits.
+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.
-'''Firearms have Ranges''', these determined by their size:
+* 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.
-* A Pistol (small prop, wielded in one hand) have a range of Five Meters and cannot be used to make calls at targets outside of that.
+* 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>''')
-* Larger weapons (must be wielded in two hands unless specific traits apply) have a range of ‘hearing’ i.e. they can affect any opponent who can hear them.
+Endurance is recovered by [[Recuperation]] - a short rest while a Medicae checks over their injuries.
-In the rare specific circumstance where a ref makes themselves available to ‘relay’ a very long distance shot a weapon must have a scope and has a range equal to that of the firers ability to make out their target to describe them accurately.
-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.
+=== '''<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.
-=== Cover (Ranged Combat) ===
-The benefits of taking cover only apply against calls made by a ranged weapon, also notably unless a character has a rule that says otherwise they do not apply against the call '''Burn''' or '''Sunder'''. 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. The Traits [[Endurance_Traits#Adept_Mortis|Adept Mortis]], [[Expertise_Traits#Vigilator|Vigilator]] and [[Endurance_Traits#Aegis_Training|Aegis Training]] provide alternatives to using hard cover to gain this benefit.
-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 [[Endurance_Traits#Adept_Mortis|Adept Mortis]], [[Expertise_Traits#Vigilator|Vigilator]] and [[Endurance_Traits#Aegis_Training|Aegis Training]] must take five long steps instead to refresh their unique forms of cover.
+=== 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.
-=== Combat Safety ===
+=== 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.
-* '''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.
+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.
-* '''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>'''
+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.
-* Where you are using a ranged weapon and enter Melee '''you are responsible for making your weapon safe''' this means if you are not using a LARP-safe prop you must move your weapon out of the way even if this involves you hindering your ability to react to an opponent. Accidents happen, but we do recommend that players planning to engage heavily in close-ranged combat consider carrying weapons that are easy to make safe, or physreps that are safer for those around them to collide with (these do not need to follow ‘LARP-safe’ construction rules unless you want them for striking an opponent, but weapons constructed from softer materials are inherently safer at close quarters).
+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.
-* '''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.
+* 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.
-* 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).
+They will also gain a [[Character_Advancement#Scars|Scar]].
-* '''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.
+[[Category:Rules]]