Combat and Injury

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.

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.
• 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. If you fail to follow this you can be excluded from the event.
• 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.

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.

• 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.

• • Entering Overwatch takes 5-seconds in Cover, bracing or otherwise readying the weapon.
  • 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.

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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 Bleeding 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 Bleeding (this can be done even if you are already Bleeding)

Endurance is recovered in two ways;

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.

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 Bleeding or have untreated Complications from a Triage check.

Bleeding

• A Bleeding character is catastrophically and potentially fatally injured. They must collapse and roleplay devastating injury or, if they prefer, unconsciousness.
• If they remain Bleeding for longer than 100 seconds they will become Near Death (see later).
• A Bleeding 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 Bleeding by the I Am A Knife In The Dark cue.
• A character who is Bleeding can be restored to health via treatment from a Medicae or Chirugeon, which will restore them to 1 Endurance. They pause bleeding 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 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 will begin Bleeding 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 Bleeding 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 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 beneath options - a character may not spend Fate in the same way twice in one Scene;

• 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. Your character now has a Bleed Count of 0 for the rest of the Scene.
• 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.

If at any point you have Embraced Death, you can change your mind, 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 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.

• 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