FASA Games, Inc.

• Ship-to-ship and mass-combat/boarding-battle turns are 1-minute in length. Each ship (or company) in the scene gets one major action (called a Maneuver) per turn, and may respond to other Maneuvers with a limited set of "reactions" (called Officer Maneuvers, limited to 1 for every 4 ranks in the Captain's ship-ability, with some opportunities to activate one for free). The rank for each ship-specific ability is called that character's Rating, and the total step for the ability is called the rating step (used in various tests). There are 4 core Maneuvers: Assault, Board, Break Off, and Ram. There are also 10 Officer Maneuvers available, but some of these must be used at the start of a turn during the Declare phase, or end of a turn during the Damage Control phase.
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• Maneuvers are chosen "in the open" at the start of the turn, as found in the previous system. Then, the captains all roll their Maneuver Tests (usually a ship's Speed or Maneuverability plus their Rating step). Maneuvers are then resolved in descending order of these Tests results, by comparing the acting captain's Maneuver result against a difficulty (usually the target's Physical defense, which is Maneuverability +5). If the Maneuver is a success, the captain nominates an officer to roll a bonus Maneuver test (same pool as the Maneuver tests, but with that officer's Rating step) in order to add successes to the maneuver. Each success in a Manuever like Assault or Board allows the captain to activate a unit (a ship-weapon battery, or a boarding party unit). Officer Maneuvers allow the acting captain or the target a chance to return fire (or hit with a full broadside), perform evasive maneuvers, counter-attack during a boarding maneuver, fire at ships attempting to ram yours, get first-aid to casualties, etc, etc.
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• When a unit is activated in ship-to-ship or mass-combat, it does not roll attack tests. Instead, an Attack Rating is calculated by adding the base unit member (or commander)'s Melee/Missile/Unarmed step, plus the Unit's Size (3-20), plus their Challenge Rating. This result is modified for the situation and compared to the target's Physical Defense (incorporating Cover or reactive skills like Avoid Blow), and a "hit" is scored for each success generated. Each "hit" activates a squad (in mass-combat units), or a ship weapon (in a battery unit) to roll for Damage. This cuts out a lot of "rolling to hit", but keeps individual ship-weapon Damage rolls (& aligns mass-combat damage to the same scale). So, we get to the really interesting part: how much Damage did we do/how many Casualties did they suffer.
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• All Adepts, and GMCs/Creatures of 9th+ Circle/Challenge Rating, are considered "individual units" in mass combat, although they can be attached to a unit as a commander. Adepts with the Leadership ability can lead up to 5 other Adepts as an "elite team" that can be activated as a single unit. During each mass-combat turn, all of these type of characters may take "one rounds worth of actions, rolling tests as normal, and may add their Circle/Challenge Rating to one Action test and one Effect test to represent multiple rounds of action or simply being in the right place at the right time". Spellcasters can trade one or both of these bonuses for an additional round or two of threadweaving.
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• Finally, there are 2 methods to "zoom in" while playing at the 1-minute turn scale. Player Characters can take a "Decisive Moment", taking 2 rounds worth of actions to handle a hazard or current combat scene, but may take fallout damage or be attacked directly by nearby enemies (this usually requires a Maneuver or Officer Maneuver). On the other hand, you can zoom in to regular 6-second combat rounds. In this case, ship Maneuvers (& reaction Officer Maneuvers) happen every other combat round and are used for the action that is outside the influence of the Player Characters. There are rules to break Units into Squads that are run as a "single character" but are limited to 1-5 individuals. Instead of the Unit's Size and Challenge rating bonuses, Squads receive a Squad Step bonus to one Action and one Effect test each combat round. The Squad Step starts at 0 for a single individual, and adds +2 for each individual after the first. This simplifies running masses of crew in boarding battles when you zoom in by rolling for initiative, but it is still aligned to the same Damage scale, so you don't have to worry about your player's turning their Fire Cannon against the incoming boarding party. It's already set up for that (interesting note, the Dragon's Breath weapon now does the same Damage step as a Drake's Dragon's Breath, etc, etc).

Telarus wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:13 pm

There are 4 core Maneuvers: Assault, Board, Break Off, and Ram. There are also 10 Officer Maneuvers available, but some of these must be used at the start of a turn during the Declare phase, or end of a turn during the Damage Control phase.

• Bosun's Shanty (synchronizes crew efforts)
• Look Alive! (used to roll additional Rating ability successes if your crew is too small)
• Push Speed/Maneuverability (the Crew Chief on duty, usually the Engineer, Sailing Master, or Drummer/Slaver can push speed, the Pilot on duty, usually the Navigator, can push maneuverability)

• Clear the Decks / Counter-Attack
• Broadside / Return Fire
• Evasive Maneuvers / Acrobatics

• Damage Control / Fire Control Teams
• Medic! / Recover Casualties
• Spot Weakness
• Superior Positioning

Scale of Play
Any reference to “individual combat” or “rounds” refers to the default scale of 6-second combat rounds. In order to represent the action at larger scales, a new unit of game-time called the “turn” will be used. A turn is an abstract length of time in which the player characters’ party and each group (ship or company) of gamemaster characters may take a coordinated action. The exact length of each turn will vary according to the current action of the game. The player group may move and take one major coordinated action each turn, similar to the combat round, except movement generally occurs throughout the turn.

At the beginning of each turn, the gamemaster will summarize the current situation or conflict. The players should then briefly discuss their intentions for this turn, decide on their group’s movement or action, and communicate this to the gamemaster. The gamemaster will then decide on any gamemaster character group movements or actions before narrating the scene, calling for tests, or asking for individual player actions. When resolving large-scale turns, it is often best to not ask individual players’ intentions until the scene has been set and the player character group’s action has been chosen. Individual players may always declare a Decisive Moment to directly respond to the action (see next section).

Some examples situations and recommended turn lengths are given here. Short range chases, called engagements, and ship-to-ship combat (including boarding battles or mass combat) occur in 1-minute turns. Exploration of adventure-sites (dungeons, kaers, or ruins) or pursuits through these sites occur in 10-minute turns. Long-distance pursuit or outdoor exploration may occur in 1-hour turns. Travel in possibly hostile territory occurs in 4-hour turns (called a "watch"). Travel may also occur in turns lasting 1 day or 1 week each, as the needs of the campaign require.

Because the length of a turn may change during a game session, it is essential for the gamemaster to communicate these moments to the players. For example, “Last turn the boarding maneuver was successful, placing your team of adepts along with a unit of air-sailors aboard the enemy vessel, and causing 3 initial casualties and 2 deaths among their ranks. The enemy succeeds on their Morale test and refuse to back down — so we are zooming in to combat rounds. Roll your Initiative!” or “After another hour of trailing the pirate vessel through hazardous fog, you succeed in cutting their line and closing to engagement range. A chase begins as they try to speed out of range of your cannons. Turns are now 1-minute long, roll to engage the enemy!”

Decisive Moments
Players will often want to respond to the current situation directly when the scale of play is larger than the 6-second combat round. These individuals may leap into action during times of hazard, including ship combat, often performing feats of such daring and perfect timing that they alter events that would otherwise be catastrophic. A crewman may save a comrade from serious injury or death at the last moment, pulling them from collapsing rigging, putting out fires, clearing tangled lines and tackle before they wreak havoc on the deck, noticing dangerous terrain features, or responding to other hazards.

Characters may use this option once per turn to take two 6-second combat rounds worth of actions in order to respond to the hazard, and players taking Decisive Moments at the same time may work together. For hazards other than combat, each acting character suffers a Hazard Damage test (step 6 plus the current Severity, see Hazards below) to represent the risk and consequences of leaping into a dangerous situation. When taking a decisive moment in combat, allow any gamemaster characters that are nearby 2 combat rounds of actions to respond to the characters. Use the Initiative step of all characters as their Initative result unless an ability requiring a test is used (Air Dance, etc).

It is recommended that gamemasters limit the number of Decisive Moments that gamemaster characters take per turn, to half the number of players present at the game session or less. Normally, only important gamemaster characters will take Decisive Moments, as this places the spotlight firmly on the player characters to influence events.

If the players are really invested in the outcome of a situation, it is best to shift scales to 6-second combat rounds and play out the scene in that mode. The gamemaster can then use the ship and mass-combat rules to track events outside the player’s direct influence (see Using Combat Rounds with Mass Combat in the Advanced Mass Combat Rules).