Editing Dear Darkness:Main Page (section)

==Combat System==


All combat rolls are opposed rolls. If you are attacking an enemy goon from far away, armed with a pistol while he only has a wicked-looking machete, and so can't harm you, then your opponent isn't going to do any damage to you, but may gain some sort of advantage over you if his roll beats yours. Abilities which reward taking cover, evading, etc will be most useful in this situation. Otherwise, assuming two opponents able to harm each other, both you and the GM choose relevant abilities for the combat roll, and make rolls normally as above. Compare the results  to find the baseline damage inflicted by the winner on the loser. A critical success or failure results in a base of 6 damage being done to the loser, a normal success or failure results in a base of 4 damage, a partial success or failure in 2 damage, and a draw in neither side doing any damage. Think of a combat situation as taking place over a nebulous or variable amount of time as you both attack and counter-attack, etc, with one of you gaining the upper hand and inflicting damage on the other. 


When you know what baseline damage has been done, you can then make a second Wound roll, using abilities that protect you in some way from harm, whether those are abilities based on the use of armour, an innate toughness, or the mental fortitude to ignore wounds. Don't use evasion abilities for this stage - they're best used in the previous combat roll. The person inflicting damage will be able to use any abilities which reflect extra harm done - Armour Piercing Ammo perhaps, Monomolecular Blade, or even just Fucking Huge Machete might be useful here. The person inflicting damage also adds the baseline damage done to his or her roll. Compare rolls as usual, to see what the result is. A Draw means you will take the baseline damage; for each level of success, you will reduce the baseline damage done by 1 point, while for each level of failure, the baseline damage will increase by 1. Thus if you get shot by an enemy sniper, with a normal success, you'll have a baseline of 4 damage. Making your Wound roll, you end up with a normal success, which means you only end up taking 2 damage after all. Mark this in the Temporary Abilities section of your wiki page with a relevant description, such as "winged in the left arm +2." Wounds of values of between +1 to +3 are flesh wounds, bruising, minor cuts, being a little winded etc. Wounds of +4 to +5 are more serious wounds (large bleeding cuts, broken ribs, nasty burns), and wounds of 6+ are major wounds - anything from broken legs to organ injuries, having a hand cut off or an eye put out. You'll need medical help for the latter ASAP, and they may lead to permanent Flaws being granted. 


You have a total of 12 Hits. If the sum of all the wounds you have taken reaches 12, you'll be unconscious and dying. Most mooks in the game will have fewer hits, and a single major wound will probably be enough to knock the fight out of them. Any Wounds you take are a form of Temporary Ability that will fade with time, healing, and medical intervention, though some may last for a while as you heal up. 


You have a lot of leeway when describing the wounds you're inflicting and taking - in both cases, once you know the level of damage inflicted, you can describe the wound inflicted, whether it's by you or to you. I'll sometimes be making combat rolls first, sometimes you'll be taking the inititative and attacking someone else, in which case I'll roll second; in either case, make two rolls when you're fighting; a Combat Roll and a Wound roll (for the wound roll, add bonuses for your armour in the event you take damage, and using the same D20 roll, add bonuses for any extra damage you're lkely to inflict in the event that you're successful). Once we know the results of both rolls, you can then describe the combat that took place and the damage inflicted.