Anam:Conflict

Conflict

From time to time, characters will come into conflict, either with each other (rarely) or with non-player characters (NPCs). Conflict need not be physical – it can be mental (mind to mind conflict), or social (persuasion, intimidation, diplomacy, debate). Regardless of the arena of conflict, the basic processes occur the same way – there are no subsystems for different forms of conflict.

Time

Conflicts always occur in turns. This is the one area where the type of conflict determines differences in the specific rules. The length of a turn is determined by the arena of conflict.

Mental Conflict is the fastest form of conflict, each turn covering roughly 1 second.

Physical Conflict is the next fastest form of conflict, with each turn covering roughly 6 seconds.

Social Conflict is the slowest arena, but also the least consistent. A round in Social Conflict is anywhere between 1 and 10 minutes, or more, depending on the form and substance of the conflict.

A turn ends when all involved in that conflict have taken the actions that they want (and are able) to perform.

Actions Characters may perform the following actions in a single conflict Turn, as appropriate.

Free Actions. These are actions that take very little time (in comparison to the length of the turn) and which are not Tested. Drawing weapons from well-fitted sheathes, dropping items held in the hands, snapping quick instructions to allies (remember the time frames here – you might be able to get one or two words off in mental conflict at best, and as much as two sentences in physical conflict. Since social conflict is all about talking, any speaking that isn’t part of the Test action will tend to be a negative Circumstance on the Test.)

Movement. If appropriate and applicable to the arena of conflict, a character can make a single Move action. The distance of that move is determined by the arena of conflict. Perform a Task. Barring any special attributes or other mechanics, each character can perform one Task in a Turn. That task may be an attack, an Active Defense, an attempt at manipulating the circumstances of the conflict, or some other action which requires a Test.

Attack. This action involves the character trying to overcome, immobilize or hurt another. The Task Level is the Defensive ability appropriate to the Arena of conflict and the attack being made. Successful attacks will either Bruise or Injure their targets, or may inflict specific Conditions upon the target.

Active Defense. While all aware targets have a Defense value appropriate to the Arena of Conflict and the attack in question (Acrobatics, for example, as a defense against Physical Attacks, or a Weapon Level to parry melee attacks.), it is possible that a Player might want to try for a stronger defense. Doing so comes with a risk - normal defenses are assumed to be operating on the level of reflex, so their Level is set. Active Defenses are a Task, meaning that there's potential for the character to choose poorly when defending, and actually reduce their defense.

Manipulation. This is a catchall option. Any time that the character is trying to gain the high ground in a fight, taunting their opponent, trying to flank, to gain insight into their opponent to use against them, they are Manipulating the Conflict - or attempting to, anyway. A successful Manipulation will provide a Circumstance Modifier which can be used for that player's attack, as a penalty to their opponent's attack, or a bonus which can be used by the character's allies. Such bonuses are not persistent - the target can adapt to their use, reducing their value. Each time the Modifier is used, it reduces by 1 until it’s no longer a viable circumstance.

While the Manipulation does provide a Circumstance Modifier, it acts more like a temporary Advantage – meaning that it will stack with normal Circumstance modifiers.

Other Task. Any other Task which can be performed during the current Turn. Attempting to perform any Task during Conflict is stressful by default. This will be true unless the character can somehow be shielded from the conflict completely.

Range Like much else in this system, Range in conflict will tend to be abstract, though you can get as detailed as you want.

In the abstract, ranges are: Close, Melee, Short/Thrown, Medium, Long and Extreme.

Some of those are pretty clear – Close and Melee shouldn’t be too hard to grasp – but again, at the default level, we’re keeping them abstract.

Close range is for wrestling, grappling and very short weapons.

Melee range is for most weapons that would be used in what tends to be called ‘hand to hand combat’. Swords, axes, spears, etc.

Short/Thrown is for weapons that are within normal throwing range (generally not much more than 40-60 feet, depending on the weight and design of the weapon). Some ranged weapons will have difficulty firing at such ranges, while others will not.

Medium range is the ‘average’ range for ranged weapons, such as bows, crossbows, and in higher tech games, firearms.

Long range comes in when the distance to the target is far enough that – without mechanical aids – it becomes difficult to aim properly.

Extreme range is the limit of the weapon, and is often so far that any shot at that range is effectively blind.

Weapons all have a ‘Base’ Range. The base range is the optimum range for the weapon. All weapons can be used up to 1 range closer or farther from the base range, but at a cost.

Attacks at a range that is not the ‘base’ range of a weapon suffer a -1 CM to the Test.

In some cases, using your weapon at a range other than the base range will also make it unusable until an appropriate action has been taken – for instance, throwing a sword means that you don’t have it to hand anymore and have to pick it up.

Effect When engaged in conflict, people are going to get hurt. This is just as true with mental conflict or social conflict as it is with physical conflict. So, how do we measure that harm? There are a myriad of ways – stress tracks, conditions, the ever present ‘hit points’. As with much else here, the choice will be yours as GM. The default option, though, is a kind of hybrid of a ‘stress’ track and a ‘conditions’ track.

Every character has a dual level stress track, consisting of Bruises and Wounds. Neither of these has any effect on skills or conflict, outside of accruing to show the cost of exhaustion and minor damage.

The number of Bruises and/or Wounds that a character can take will be a Characteristic Attribute, generally determined by a base value, plus adds for Stamina and Willpower. (In most cases, this should run between 4 and 6.)

Once both Bruise and Wound tracks are filled, the character is Out of Combat (abbreviated HC for ‘Hors Combat’).

This doesn’t mean dead – far from it. It means only that, for whatever reason, the character is no longer able to fight. Why the character is out of combat is dependent upon the intent of their opponent and the situation that exists when they are taken out of combat. (As you should always do, make sure that you’re getting your player’s acceptance).

HC only lasts a brief time if brought about by loss of all Bruises and Wounds – basically, one scene.

The second part of the default system is Conditions. Conditions are a way to avoid taking Bruises or Wounds that would take the character HC, but can also, under specific circumstances, be dealt directly as part of the conflict.

A Condition is a problem for the character. Maybe the character is Paralyzed, or Bound. Maybe they have a Broken Leg, Maybe they’re Intimidated, or Blind with terror. Maybe their Will is Showing Cracks.

In many cases, the GM can (and probably should) pre-define Conditions that can be placed, but the option exists to create them ad hoc, as it were – within, of course, certain guidelines. First – and the most important guideline - Conditions do not take the character out of combat. Even if paralyzed or bound, the character can still try to overcome the Condition. Just because the character has a broken limb doesn’t stop them from acting – though depending on the action, it may impose a Circumstance Modifier.

Second, the Condition should fit the attack. A sword stroke can place a Bleeding Condition, or a Broken Bone Condition, but isn’t usually going to place a Shattered Will Condition. On the flip side, a Telepathic probe isn’t going to be breaking any bones.

As noted, Conditions come in two types. They are; Injury Conditions and Imposed Conditions. Within a Combat, these are treated similarly – they place limitations upon a character’s actions.

Out of Combat, Imposed Conditions can be removed quickly – they generally don’t just go away, but removing them is often little more than a simple Task.

Injury Conditions are almost always a choice that the player makes. An Injury Condition can be taken to avoid damage that would inflict 3 Wounds.

An Imposed Condition is the result of a specific attack or action by an attacker, such as throwing sand in the character’s eyes to blind them, casting a spell to paralyze them, or attempting to pin them by a grappling action.

Imposing a Condition requires that the attacker achieve sufficient damage potential to deal 5 Bruises/Wounds. This cost can be mitigated by means of Special Attributes or certain Advantages. Under no circumstances, however, should it require less effort than an Injury Condition.

As noted above, Imposed Conditions can be fought – the character may be able to overcome them while still in Combat, removing their effect and either the character or their associated may attempt to remove it outside of combat.

This is a Task for an appropriate Ability. If attempting to remove the Condition in Conflict, the Test is required, as Conflict is inherently Stressful. The Task Difficulty is Adept (5). Injury Conditions must heal, either naturally or via some outside intervention. Barring some Special Attribute, Injury Conditions will remain in effect for weeks or longer. Their effect on the character’s actions will be lessened once the conflict is over and the character has an opportunity to bind their wounds, splint their limbs, etc., however they are not removed for some time. Again, the time involved will be dependent upon the Injury itself, though it will never be less than four weeks of in game time.

With a high degree of medical care, that time can be reduced, up to half. With Special Attributes or Special Abilities (such as Magic, Super-Science, etc.), Injury Conditions can potentially be healed even in the middle of Conflict. The Task Difficulty for healing Injury Conditions is the same as for removing an Imposed Condition. Each Injury Condition must usually be removed individually, though powerful enough Healing may be able to attempt Healing of multiple Injuries at once.

In the default system, a character can accumulate no more than a set number of Conditions before the damage – to their body, psyche or social standing – is too much to bear. Upon accumulating that maximum number of Conditions, the character is HC – out of combat.

That maximum number of Conditions will generally be a Characteristic Attribute, possibly set by the character’s Species, Culture and/or Profession. There is a way for an attacker to make an Imposed Condition last as long as an Injury Condition.

When, in Conflict, an attacker wishes to impose a Condition that will affect the Target for as long as an Injury Condition would, the attacker must attempt to Impose that Condition repeatedly, so that the Condition fills every open Injury and the target is taken out of Combat.

At that point, the target is subject to the Imposed Condition for at least four weeks of game time, barring Special Attributes or Abilities that would allow them to break the Condition more quickly. Depending on the Condition, the time frame could be longer.

Not all Imposed Conditions can be enhanced in this way. This option is primarily for Transformation attacks and the like – Conditions which, in fiction, are long-lasting.

Damage Dealing it, and Dealing with it

Now that we know what kind of effects damage can cause, we need to know how to do that damage.

The default damage system shown above is a measure of all damage that a character can sustain – whether physical, mental or social. Pain is pain, and you can take a character out of combat with social attacks as readily as with a sword.

Damage in the default version of Anam is fairly abstract as a result, and is more a measure of skill than the type of attack.

An attack that successfully meets the TD of a target’s defense does 1 Wound. For each level of effect greater than the TD, the attack does 1 additional wound.

In general – and, specifically with the Default system – weapons don’t tend to add damage. The damage one does is, as noted, more a matter of the attacker’s skill than what they’re attacking with.

This doesn’t mean that the attack is meaningless. However, a skilled warrior can kill as readily with a dagger as with a great sword. Granted, the wounds a great sword will do are more grisly, but the target will be no less dead.

Where the type of attack will come into play is in Circumstance Modifiers (A Pikeman against a charging opponent gets a positive modifier to attack, for instance, but if a swordsman gets inside the reach of the pike, the swordsman will have a positive modifier) and bonuses or penalties to the final Wound total when the target is wearing armour (or isn’t).

Speaking of armour – or rather, protection in general – all characters have an innate protection value (in the Default system, anyway).

Every character in the default system has an attribute called Wound Threshold. It’s not armour, just a measure of a character’s luck, speed, and general ability to avoid the worst of a blow.

Wounds done by an attack against an unarmoured target are reduced by a character’s Wound Threshold. Any Wounds left over will be just that – Wounds that are applied to the character’s Wound track. Characters will be able to take as many Wounds as they have Stamina.

If the number of Wounds is reduced to 0 or less, this does not mean that the attack missed – instead, the character suffers a Bruise instead, indicating that they were able to avoid the worst of the damage, but at a cost.

As noted above, if both the character’s Bruise and Wound tracks are filled, the character is HC (Out of Combat).

This is important to remember because if the Bruise track fills up in a combat, any new attacks will do at least 1 Wound even if the character’s Wound Threshold would reduce the Wounds to 0.

This is where Conditions (especially Injury Conditions) come in.

If your character would suffer Wounds enough from a blow to put them HC – or you just don’t want to risk it – you can have the character suffer an Injury in place of 3 Wounds, as noted above. Anything left over will still have to be taken on the Wound Track. Only one Injury Condition can be taken from a single attack.

In the default system, characters will have 4 Conditions slots to use – this equates to 12 Wounds avoided.

Of course, as noted previously, Injury Conditions are much more restrictive than Bruises or Wounds. Neither Bruises nor Wounds will have any particular mechanical effect on a character. Injuries, however, will.

For one, they last longer – an Injury will generally last weeks or months, depending on the type of care the character receives.

Furthermore, Injury Conditions will have an effect on the character’s actions in combat. If the character’s leg is broken, they’ll be slower to move. If an arm is broken, they may not be able to attack – or defend – as well as otherwise.

In addition to the narrative issues above, Injuries make it harder to function in general.

This is mechanically supported by the imposition of a Circumstance Modifier. Each Injury Condition the character receives inflicts a -2 CM to Ability Tests which would be affected by that Injury. As usual, the maximum penalty value is -6 – however, once a character has suffered 4 Conditions, they are HC, just as if they had filled all their Bruise and Wound slots.

Healing

The Bruise track clears entirely at the end of the scene in which they bruises were taken.

The Wound track requires a bit more time, representing as it does the collection of small cuts, sore muscles, weariness, etc. Wounds require a full scene of rest before they fade away. Conditions are the hardest to get rid of – a scene must be spent getting them seen to (a hospital or doctor visit for physical injuries, a therapist or psychiatric visit for mental / social injuries), which will remove the Circumstance modifier, showing that the Condition is healing.

However, the actual condition slot remains filled for several weeks of game time, or the next game session, as long as at least 2 full weeks have passed in game since the last. The sole exception to that is the final Condition slot. If the character has filled all of their slots, they must be hospitalized for the entire time needed to clear that final slot before they can engage in any activity again.

Obviously, in some games, there will be other means of healing which will shorten these times, and maybe even allow the clearing of Bruise or Wound slots in combat. Healing a Bruise or Wound slot won’t generally be difficult – a single box can be cleared for an Apprentice level Task.

Healing Conditions will be somewhat more difficult. Remember that a Condition is a measure of actual harm to a person – physical, mental or social – and that healing such damage requires knowledge of how to do so. Thus, healing that damage is generally at least a Master (6) Task.

Defending All that I’ve written so far is about dealing damage and healing that damage. But how can it be avoided?

First, of course, is not getting hit. Dodging or Parrying an attack.

Parrying at attack uses the same Ability (or a similar ability), and is applied as the Task Difficulty for the attacker.

Dodging an attack is generally a specific ability (Dodge for Physical attacks, Evade for Mental attacks and Avoid for Social Attacks). As with Parry, the Ability level is the Task Difficulty for the attacker.

When both can apply, the defender gets the benefit of the higher Ability.

That value is a passive defense, however. As noted at the beginning of this chapter, it is possible, as an Action, to actively defend, giving the possibility of a higher Ability level against all attacks of that type for that round – though multiple attackers will get a Circumstance Bonus for their numbers.

Aside from not being hit, it’s often useful to Armour one’s self.

Unless gained as a Special Attribute, Armour is not something that is constantly in play. Whether physical, mental or social, Armour is something that must be worn or activated, and doing so will tend to have downsides.

Armour comes in two forms – soft and hard.

Soft armour (leather armour, cloth armour, furs, etc., or the equivalent in mental or social protection) provides a small increase to the character’s Wound level for determining whether an attack causes a Bruise or a Wound.

Soft armour is ablative – damage wears it down quickly. At Protection Value (PV) 1, it can function for no more than 5 attacks. That number increases by 3 for each additional PV. Soft Armour provides no more than 3 PV (11 attacks).

Hard Armour, on the other hand, actually stops damage – to a point. A successful attack has its damage reduced by the Hardness of the Armour, usually from H1 to H5. The remaining damage is then compared to the character’s Wound Level as normal, except that, if the damage is reduced to 0 by the armour, the character suffers no damage at all.

Hard Armour is very difficult and tiring to utilize. Just having it ‘on’ (worn or activated) inflicts a -2 Circumstance Modifier to certain Abilities. Maintaining it for long will tire a character more quickly. For every two hours the armour is maintained, the character will have a -1 CM modifier from Fatigue, which applies to all Abilities. (Though as CM’s don’t stack, it won’t impact the specific Abilities directly affected by the armour until after six hours.)

As noted, some characters will have a version of soft or hard armour purchased as Special Attributes. Those attributes do not have the same limitations (unless the player has defined them as such to decrease the cost of the armour).