Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game

Live 'Iron Sky' event!
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 06:20:47 PM

kHi everyone,

First off: these have been trying times for us all. The coronavirus lockdowns, the George Floyd atrocity and other stuff that has been happening around the globe have taken a large toll on many of us.

Coronavirus & more

As most of you probably remember, we moved to Ghent in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. We were supposed to move in on the 1st of April (no joke), but since we knew we probably wouldn't be able to return to Brussels without getting stopped by the police, we moved in a little earlier. Our belongings and furniture had to wait. We bought a lot of new furniture, but we were only able to get the rest of our tech and gadgets about a week ago, when Belgium further relaxed its lockdown measures (we weren't supposed to travel back to a second location up until last week).

In the meantime, I had several people dying. My best friend Sven's dad died 2 weeks ago, we lost several more people and while I'm sitting in the living room writing this, my fiancée is crying in the bed while battling a 39+ degrees Celsius fever. It doesn't seem to be SARS-CoV-2, though, but another viral infection.

On top of that, the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival got cancelled, the Cannes Film Festival got cancelled and Gen Con got cancelled. These are all events where I wanted to promote Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game, but even though the cancellations are hurting us (I organise acting workshops during all of these events) and I decided to work for free for 1 month in order to save my clients money, I do wholeheartedly support the coronavirus measures and I'm sure we should have stayed in a more vigilant lockdown for longer than we have. All three events (and especially the latter two) are crucial to the game's economic long-term survival and we will have a presence at next year's BIFFF, at Cannes and at Gen Con.

Blackout Tuesday 

I had to pull far longer shifts in order to recuperate the money lost because of the coronavirus crisis and after the George Floyd murder happened, my PR company and all of my clients scrambled to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I wrote maybe 12 blogposts about fighting intolerance and racism. I know it's going to be a long and protacted fight, but my PR company will always support anyone who embraces well-meaning strangers with open arms instead of judging them based on color, culture, race, gender, sexual preference or belief system. We also supported the music industry on Blackout Tuesday - another great initiative we were happy to shower with some love.

Art

Another disappointment was losing our artist, but I think I've found even better artists to step in her shoes and I'll make sure to show you some of the early illustrations during our live event... because, yes, we have recuperated our stuff now, I'm able to write again and I think I even found a great partner to do the accessories (instead of getting them done in China) - more about that next week.

Live Event

We will be hosting a live Iron Sky: The Roleplaying Game event on the 3rd of August, at 6.30 pm Brussels time, one day after virtual Gen Con. I can also already give you the link: https://app.roll20.net/join/7738735/EZMQow. Please register beforehand by sending me a mail at [email protected]. I have found Roll20 to be a little finnicky from time to time, though, so we will also be opening up Zoom at that time. The URL is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85813475354?, but you will need a password to enter, so please let me know if you'd like to have one. I'm hoping we'll be able to do everything through Roll20, but it's good to have back-up. 

Changes

Based on your feedback, we have made a few minor revisions to the rules, the main ones being that we've changed the Character Points needed to buy Abilities, Skills and Advantages to lower numbers (so no more 250, for example) and that we've renamed the Senses Skill to Perceive, keeping Sense as an Attribute, since having a Senses Skill and a Sense Attribute was throwing some people off. 

Toolbox

A few weeks ago, I was taken by complete surprise when I saw a lot of the first Example of Play had been taken out of context by one or two people who then misrepresented the entire idea behind the Example of Play and Iron Sky: The RPG, as if we were only doing a hardcore simulationist game. I'll be trying to make sure that everyone understands the generic rules powering Iron Sky: The RPG are more built like tools in a toolkit. There's often 3 options to choose from, but none of them change gameplay or Character Creation (other than needing players to also choose Focuses and - if desired - Specializations in Advanced gameplay) in such a way that you need to redesign Characters or restart a Campaign if you decide to swap one approach for another. For those who have already experienced Tick-Based Combat, Round-based Combat and Diceless Combat, the difference in how combat can be tailor-fit not only to your group's gamestyle, but also to the situation in the game is already obvious, but tomorrow I'll also be posting the Round-based (or 'Group') Combat and the Diceless Combat online. I'll make sure to notify you all through an Update as well.

Just a small recap:

- Tick-based Combat is pretty involved. Player Characters start off at a Tick based on their Initiative Roll modified by how fast they react and the count up. Each Move or Action costs a number of Ticks and this number is also influenced by how skilled the Character is. 1 Tick equals 1/10th of a second.

- In Round-based combat, each Player Character chooses everything (s)he will be doing in 1 second beforehand. The easiest way to do this is through the Action Cards we're providing. Each Action is worth a number of points (same as Ticks) and you get the cards ready that correspond with what you want to do, up to a count of 10 (if it's higher, the Action moves to the next Round). All cards are resolved in each Character's Round, but you can choose to leave some Ticks empty in order to react to what your opponent(s) will be doing (Reactions always cost 2 extra Ticks, by the way, but laying down 10 Ticks and then Aborting costs more). 

- In Diceless Combat, you compare relevant Shifts. If you're able to describe whatever you're doing well, you'll get additional Shifts. Each Character also gets more Awesome Points than in the standard rules and those can be expended to raise your Shifts as well. 

D type of play is built on exactly the same principles so you can pick and choose, try out different ways of handling Combat and the game isn't influenced even a little but if you decide to use seveal different types of play within a single Game Session - which is what we'll be doing on the 3rd of August.

Hope to see many of you in August, eager to read your feedback after we post the new Examples of Play tomorrow!

Dirk

d1000 / d100 / d10
about 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 07:08:56 PM

Hi everyone,

We decided to use a d1000 mechanic from the get-go because of multiple reasons:

- it's appropriately bombastic for a satirical pulp SF game about space Nazis

- it allows us to use a normal distribution, which makes converting real-world stuff to the rules a breeze if you'd like to add stats for weapons or pretty much anything else yourself

- it also allows for a single-roll mechanic since the dice will also tell you where an attack hits and how much damage it'll do.

However, some of you may not like rolling a lot of dice, so here's how the options included in the Basic book allow you to use a d100 or even a d10 instead.

If you have a S+0 to succed in an Action, the Target Numbers are:

DIFFICULTY OR RESISTANCE: Target Number on a d1000

S+10: Automatic Success

S+ 9: 001 (Automatic Success)

S+8: 004

S+7: 010

S+6: 023

S+5: 048

S+4: 091

S+3: 159

S+2: 252

S+1: 369

S+0: 500

S-1: 631

S-2: 748

S-3: 841

S-4: 909

S-5: 952

S-6: 977

S-7: 990

S-8: 996

S-9: 999

S+10: Automatic Failure

Since we run into single digits, why do Shifts of higher than S+4 or lower than S-4 matter? Well, because of Modifiers or other Characters Resisting. Very high or very low Shifts are far less influenced by Modifiers, which makes sense. Also, GMs are free to rule that anything above S+4 or below S-4 doesn't require a roll anymore, especially while doing things that don't cause a lot of stress. We definitely encourage using this option if the outcome of an Action isn't overly important as it eliminates the need for a lot of dice rolling and speeds up play. 

If you prefer using a d100, the Target Numbers are: Automatic Success, Automatic Success, 1-, 1, 2+, 4+, 9+, 15+, 25+, 36+, 50, 63+, 74+, 84+, 90+, 95+, 97+, 99+, 99+ and Automatic Failure. The - or + indicates you either only roll a third die if you hit exactly that number or you succeed partially, as chosen by the GM, the players and their preferred style of play. We use a similar optional rule if you prefer rolling only a single d10.

The distribution is fairly similar to using 3d6 (and adding the results), but we've already explained the reasons why we're using d1000 and a Target Number Table instead quite extensively.

Iron Sky: the RPG and Synthesis cater to many different kinds of play without tweaking the rules all that much, so you can add the level of crunch you like. Still, too many options can create chaos, so here's all of them:

- Genre

- Character Creation: year by year / Life Stage by LIfe Stage / single pool / Life Stage Board Game

- Dice roll: d1000 / d 100 / d10

- Attributes and Skills: with or without Focuses and Specialisations

- initiative: Tick-based / Group Combat

- Hit Locations: General Damage Track / Hit Location

- Basic Damage (without Attack and Defense Modifiers for each Maneuver and without Bulk and Speed Modifier) / Advanced Damage (with Attack and Defense Modifiers and with Bulk and Speed Modifier).

That's it. This allows for a sandbox game with a complexity level that suits your preferences. 

Example of Play with notes available in PDF format
about 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 04:14:01 PM

Hi everyone,

Wix started working again, so we uploaded the (unedited) Example of Play in PDF format. It's 15 pages and then some and you can find it in the Downloads section of www.ironskytherpg.com. Alternatively, here's a direct link: https://0e47257a-efe2-46a3-ab85-e0c54a438808.filesusr.com/ugd/74f20f_9cc43546c189408394c9aea1a1ecd08f.pdf

Example of Play with notes + Wix is experiencing technical difficulties
about 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 05:40:22 AM

Hi everyone!

Wix seems to be experiencing technical difficulties. I tried uploading the Example of Play PDF with notes on the ironskytherpg website, but I was unable to that right now. I tried Chrome as well as Explorer and I also tried to edit some of my other sites - nothing is opening, though.

I'll try to upload the PDF several more times today and will post an update as soon as Wix is back to its normal self. Unfortunately, I can't attach PDFs to an update, but here's the Example of Play with notes in png format. You'll have to click through 8 images, but if you're curious about how a certain rule works, why certain rules decisions were made, etc., you might already want to check them out!

Of course, we haven't edited yet, but this is 90% of the Example of Play we'll be including (with a different layout and illustrations) in the Quick Start, so have fun!

Example of Play - how it runs
about 4 years ago – Tue, Apr 21, 2020 at 07:27:19 AM

Hi everyone,

As promised, here's the Example of Play, written like play usually runs. We noticed some people thought Game Masters and Players would actually discuss every rule before rolling the dice. Obviously that's not what really happens, we only included the rules discussions to show you how a certain decision is made, what Skills are used, etc. For example: Player have their figured number of Ticks on their Character Sheet, so they'd just add the Tick without discussing how many Ticks the move would cost with and without being experienced. 

Up this night is the same Example of Play with notes on all the rules and dice rolls. In essence, the dice rolling is always the same: either an the average of an Attribute + a Declarative Skill, a Declarative Skill without an Attribute or the average of an Attribute + a Declarative Skill. Why sometimes only a Declarative Skill? Well, your Shift actually accurately says how much you know about a given subject. There's absolutely no need to figure out what 3x156 is if your Skill is already S+1, which is above average, for example. It eliminates the need for a lot of dice rolling and it allows for a very clear understanding of how much someone knows about a given thing.

Also, the d1OOO-roll is everything you need. Most games will have you roll to Hit (1 to 3 dice), roll for a Hit Location (1 to 3 dice) and roll for Damage (anywhere from 1 to a zillion dice). In Iron Sky, you always only roll once. The roll will tell you how well you succeed or fail and will tell you, for example, which Hit Location you struck, how much damage you did, etc. It speeds up play.

If you don't like Tick-based combat, don't forget Group Combat isn't played out in 1/10-second Ticks, but in 1 second Rounds. It's turn-based and more traditional, but it allows the same kind of moves. We feel it's less dynamic and strategic, but we encourage to use Group Combar whenever a lot of individuals are involved. 

So, on to the Example of Play, written as an actual game session and without all of the exposition you wouldn't use in real life. Expect all notes this night!

Friday night, seven pm: Game Master Marc and his players, Lucy, Darren, Michael and Michonne have just started their Iron Sky gaming session. It’s the third session in the campaign and they’ve having a blast. Last week, the four friends were hot on the trail of a suspect who may have kidnapped an acquaintance of them, Professor Gerhardt Shröder, who had been on the verge of publishing a book about supposed Nazi space technology schematics dating back to World Word II. They’ve now driving up to the outskirts of Chicago’s West 14th Street.

Lucy is playing metal singer and fashionista Anne LeBoeuve, Darren has donned the persona of cocky martial artist Rick Morales, Michael is wealthy anthropologist Lucia Lester and Michonne switched gender as taxi driver-turned-business adviser and closet psychopath ‘Smiley’ Dave. Before actual play started, Dave asked if anyone would like to recap last week’s gaming session and Michonne has just done a brilliant job recounting the events as Anne.

Michonne (as Dave): … So I’m driving everyone up here, blasting some thrash metal out of the speakers to get Anne into the mood.

Lucy (as Anne): Hey, I had to cancel a gig to get here!

Darren (as Rick): Yes, and you’ve been nagging about it for the last few days or so.

Lucy (as Anne): I have not [laughter].

Michonne (as Dave): You kind of have.

Lucy (as Anne): Anyway: Dave, that’s not thrash metal, that’s Youthanasia, one of Megadeth’s most commercial albums. It’s great, but I wouldn’t call it…

Marc [breaking up the conversation]: Anyway, that was a brilliant recap, Michonne. Here’s an Awesome Point for Dave.

Michonne: Yessss!

Michael: I’ve actually drawn one of last session’s most iconic scenes. Here it is.

Marc [looking at the Michael’s drawing]: That’s amazing, Michael! Cool! Here’s an Awesome Point for you as well.

Michael: Yeah!

Marc: So, everyone ready to start the next session?

Michonne: Of course we are!

Marc: Now, we’ve played Iron Sky as Pulp Adventure so far, but I’ve been toying with the idea of making the campaign a little darker, at least for a few sessions. Is it OK for everyone if we switch to Pulp Horror?

Michael: Oh oh.

Lucy: I guess that means we’re run into some major trouble soon, right?

Marc: It might!

Michonne: Let’s give it a shot!

Marc: Great. So, Dave, you’ve just round the bend. The location you were given by Caleb the Mad Arab should be to the left of you. This is a bad part of town, guys: there’s an empty construction site to your right and a run-down bar to your left. The bar’s neon sign looks like it might fall to the pavement at any moment and only half of the signs are still lit-up in a fluorescent green, reading ‘Twd Whes’ instead of ‘Twisted Wheels’. Outside are six well-kept motorcycles: four Harleys, a Shadow and a Ninja. They’re well-kept and glistening in the sunlight – in stark contrast to their surroundings. There’s only four buildings to the right of the bar, each of them two stories high, until the street trails off. Each of hem looks like they’re abandoned. The first buildings down the road are a hundred meters or so away.

Michonne (as Dave): Do the directions lead to any of those buildings?

Marc: Yup, the last one.

Michonne (as Dave): And there’s nowhere I can park out of sight, right?

Marc: Not unless you back up or park further away.

Michael (as Lucia): We would have to walk up there anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

Darren (as Ricky): I say we just park the car in front of the building.

Michael (as Lucia): Yes, if we have to get away…

Darren (as Ricky): I’m not thinking of getting away! I never run. Ever.

Michonne (as Dave): Remember who had to save your ass last time, Ricky?

Darren (as Ricky): I could have taken those thugs.

Michael (as Lucia): Talking to them worked just as well and we didn’t have to get into a fight.

Darren (as Ricky): You gave them money!

Lucy (as Anne): Stop fighting, guys. I definitely wanna check out that bar…

Michael (as Lucia): Wait a minute. Marc, is there anything particular about the address we were given?

Michonne (as Dave): I’ll drive past it very slowly so I can stop next to it if we don’t see anything too strange.

Marc: OK, that’ll be a Senses + Sense roll for everyone.  [Everyone rolls. Darren and Michonne fail, while Michael gets a Bump and Lucy succeeds with S+2 Margins of Success.]

Marc: Nice. So, you all see the building is pretty run-down. The marrow-white paint is cracked in random places, exposing the old, reddish-brown bricks underneath. The solitary, weary door must have once painted minty green, but the peelings have taken on all kinds of different shades because of exposure to the sun. The one window next to it and the two windows on the first floor have been boarded up with scaffolding wood. There’s some space between many of the planks, though… Lucia, you’re pretty sure trying to peer through wouldn’t work, as there’s not enough sunlight to lit up anything that might be inside… but you might be able to see something if you use a flashlight. Anne, you see a flash of red light coming from the left top window! It’s short, just a fraction of a second, but you’re sure you saw it.

Lucy (as Anne): Shit! Guys, I just saw a red light flash in and out of existence.

Michael (as Lucia): Where?

Lucy (as Anne): The top window. Left.

Darren (as Ricky): OK, that’s it! Let’s go in!

Michonne (as Dave): Wo-hooow! Wait! It’s not like anyone can run out of the building without us seeing him. Time is on our side. Preparation is key.

Darren (as Ricky): Someone is missing, Dave. Every second counts. And if there’s someone inside, he must have seen our car stop – almost in front of the building!

Michael (as Lucia): You’re both right. Does anyone have a flashlight? I think it’d allow us to peer in.

Lucy (as Anne): Don’t worry, I have one with me. There’s bound to be a small flashlight on our mobile phones as well, of course.

Michael: Marc, my parents were real estate brokers in this city and I know a lot about real estate as well. Is there anything I know about this neighborhood?

Marc: That’s acquired knowledge, so you’d only need to roll a Business & Economics check in order to recall that information. However: your family was dealing in expensive properties and this location wouldn’t be very profitable to them, so you’ll have to deal with a -2S Penalty.

Michael: I need a 500 and I roll… 647! That’s +2S Margins of Success.

Marc: Cool. Well, you know this whole neighborhood fell into squalor about a decade ago, mainly because of Der Arm von Odin, a right-wing biker gang that established a base of operations here around that time. You don’t now much about the gang itself, but you do know they scared away most of the people living here after they got accused of burning down the home of an African American family not too far away from where you’re all standing now. You’re pretty sure the gang hasn’t been active for a couple of years, though.

Michael (as Lucia): Guys, there’s something I should tell you. There used to be a right-wing biker gang active in this part of town. Der… Uh…

Marc: Arm von Odin.

Michael (as Lucia): Der Arm von Odin.

Lucy (as Anne): Well, there’s still a bar around here… Let’s go in.

Michael (as Lucia): What?

Lucy (as Anne): Bikers usually listen to blues, hard rock and metal. Maybe they’ll recognize me. I’m pretty famous, guys.

Darren (as Ricky): With Metalianne, a female-fronted metal band! Aren’t they bound to listen more to, like, Motörhead or something?

Lucy (as Anne): That’s so small-minded of you!

Darren (as Ricky): Just stating the obvious. Anyway, if you wanna pick a fight with a bunch of bikers first, I’ll go in with you.

Michonne (as Dave): Same here. Besides, racist nutjobs deserve to get punished.

Michael (as Lucia): Guys, aren’t you getting a little distracted? I mean, the clues lead us to this building, not the biker bar, right?

Lucy (as Anne): What do you propose we should do? There’s motorcycles outside, so there’s bound to be people inside. If we’d break into that house…

Michael (as Lucia): Wait a minute, break into that house? Why not try something totally outrageous first? Like – I don’t know – knocking on the door?

Michonne (as Dave): Come’on, Lucia, the entire building is boarded up. If there is someone inside…

Lucy (as Anne): There is.

Michonne (as Dave): Well, not likely he or she’d want to talk to us.

Lucy (as Anne): Sigh. Okay. Let’s get out of the car.

Michael: I get out.

Lucy: Same here.

Michonne: I guess we’re all getting out. I wait for the others to do so before turning off the engine and opening the door.

Marc: Sure. Only a few moments after you have, the door to the bar opens, creaking. There’s heavy music playing inside, but, surprisingly, the volume is pretty low, so you weren’t able to hear it now…

Lucy: Ooh, do I recognize the song?

Marc:  Maybe. I’ll give you a +4S on your roll. The band isn’t famous in the US but these guys certainly aren’t unpopular either, so no bonuses or penalties associated with that.

Lucy: Great… 871!

Marc: Nice. That’s a Margin of Success of 2 Shifts. Not only do you recognize the band, you also know what song is playing. It’s Ausländerby Rammstein, which isn’t about foreigners per se – it’s about life on the road.

Lucy: OK, so nothing that indicates these guys are white supremacists, then.

Marc: Nope. Anyway, three men and two women are appearing through the door. They’re all wearing denim pants, rock and metal T-shirts and denim vests with metal band patches stitched on them. In a sense, they couldn’t be more stereotypical: all three men have beards and long hair, the two women both sport long, raven-black hair and all six of them are wearing combat boots. However, none of them look particularly muscly or out of shape. They don’t look tense or excited, either. The man in the front, a gruff-looking fortysomething sporting a baseball cap made out of something that looks like snake leather, approaches you while the others stay in front of the door. (as Ludwig): Howdy, strangers.

Michonne: I wave my hand at him, smiling. (as Dave): Hi.

Marc (as Ludwig): So, what brings you all to this part o’ town?

Michonne (as Dave, shrugging): Just passing by and we all need a drink.

Marc (as Ludwig): Well, you would’ve come to the right place… If you’d been a member.

Michonne (as Dave): Of what?

Marc: He points at the sign.

Michael (as Lucia): Twisted Wheels? This is a… uh… private club?

Marc (as Ludwig): Sort o’.

Michael (as Lucia): Your group is called The Twisted Wheels?

Marc (as Ludwig, laughing): Nah! That’d be a stupid name.

Michael (as Lucia): Uh…

Darren: Marc, can I size up these guys? Do they look like they have any combat experience? Can I see weapons on them?

Marc: That would be a Sports roll, coupled with Senses.

Darren: OK. I need to roll 500 or higher. Hmm… 514!

Marc: That’s a 1 Shift Margin of Success. OK, by the way they’re standing, you don’t figure any of them practice martial arts – or have combat experience, for that matter. Half of them have their hands in their pockets, none of them are distributing their weight on their feet like well-trained combatants would do…

Darren: Got it.

Michael: Can we see if any of these guys are carrying concealed weapons?

Marc: Sure. That’s a Senses + Sense roll again.

[Everyone rolls. Lucy and Michonne make their Skill Checks with 1 and 7 Shift Margins of Success, respectively, while Darren and Michael both fail, with 7 and 2 Shift Margins of Failure, respectively.]

Anne, you don’t think any of these bikers have concealed weapons on them. Dave, there’s actually no doubt in your mind they’re all clean. Lucia, you have no idea… But Rick, you’re absolutely convinced they’re packing. Big time.

Lucy: Oh no. Why does it have to be Ricky?

Darren: Shit’s gonna hit the fa-aaaan!

Lucy: Aargh. I point at their patches. (as Anne):Listen, whatever group or organization you belong to, we’re all metalheads, right?

Marc: They all stare at you.

Lucy (as Anne): Well, you may know me. I’m Anne!

[Marc stares at Lucy]

Lucy (as Anne): From Metalianne?

[Marc rolls for the group and gets an obvious failure, so he decides to keep staring blankly at Lucy.]

Lucy (as Anne): Uh… Metalianne? The band? The metalband?

Marc (as Ludwig): Listen, lady, I don’t know of any band called called Metalyan and it’s not like yar in Nickelback or anything…

Lucy (as Anne): Nickel? Back? Seriously? Uuurgh…

Michael (as Lucia): Shhht!

Marc (as Ludwig): … But, still, it were up to me, I’d let you in. You, not your female friend there.

Michael (as Lucia): Hey!

Lucy (as Anne): That sounds racist. You do realize that Rammstein isn’t…

Marc (as Ludwig): Don’t care. Anyway, it’s not up to me. So, yeah, what I’m tryin’ to say is, just… scram.

Michonne: I step in front of them. (as Dave): We don’t want any trouble. We’re not even interested in your bar. Could you just tell us…

Marc: One of the women at the door yells (as the biker girl): What does he mean, they’re not interested in our bar? The guy next to her says (as the biker): Yeah! They thinkin’ our bar ain’t good enough for ‘em?

Michael (as Lucia): Shit. Uh, no. That’s not what Dave meant…

Michonne (as Dave): You know what? It is what I meant!

Michael (as Lucia): Damn it.

Michonne (as Dave): We don’t care about your stupid backwards little drinking hole or about you racist assholes.

Darren (as Ricky): Exactly! Besides, I’m pretty sure we could easily beat you all in a fight. Every single one of you. We just had some questions about this neighborhood.

Michael (as Lucia): Sigh. Great diplomacy, Dave and Ricky.

Marc: The guy in front grins broadly – it’s even a little unsettling to see how he’s able to smile from ear to ear. (as Ludwig): So, y’all think ya can take us on? Ya know what? If you can beat just one of us, we’ll tell ya whatever ya wanna know. Deal?

Darren (as Ricky): Deal!

Marc: He turns towards the door. (as Ludwig):Earle! Come on out, man!

Darren (as Ricky): Earle?

Marc: The bikers at the door all take a step to the side as a huge hulking brute appears. He’s wearing tattered jeans and a short-sleeved checkered shirt which looks like his barrel-chested torso might tear through it at any time. His bulging, muscled arms sport numerous tattoos, some of them depicting grizzly scenes of mass murder, others focusing on more intimate torture. Earl looks at you, smiling as he closes the door behind him.

Darren (as Ricky): Oh. Shit.

Marc: As he steps down to the pavement, he flexes his massive shoulders and wraps his hands into each other, cracking his knuckles. (as Earle): Howdy.

Darren (as Ricky): Uh. Hi.

Michonne (as Dave): Come on, Ricky, you can take this guy.

Michael (as Lucia): Told you this was a bad idea.

Marc (as Earle): I’m the owner of this bar. Couldn’t help but overhearing y’all. Seems like my fine establishment ain’t good enough for yar party, huh?

Lucy (as Anne): We were misunderstood. We…

Marc (as Earle): With all due respect, ma’am, I was talkin’ to him.

Darren: Marc,I’m going to try to size this guy up as well.

Marc: Sure. That’s a Senses + Sports roll again.

Darren: And I roll a… 781! That’s 3 Shift Margins of Success!

Marc: Great… But I do have some bad news for you. This guy is battle-trained. Big time. We’re talking elite troops here. From footwork, you can tell he practices Muay Thai, but there’s more. He’s keeping his arms slightly bent, probably because of Brazilian Jujutsu training… and judging by the way he’s keeping his hands open, you figure he also knows Krav Maga or maybe Jeet Kune Do.

Darren: Do I know what kind of special troops he may have been part of?

Marc: Nah. That knowledge would be too specialized for you. (as Earle): So, as I said, y’all hate my little business here, huh?

Darren (as Ricky): Ah, come on, let’s cut the crap here. We all know you’re just picking a fight, so why not get on with it?

Michonne (as Dave): You have poor impulse control, my friend.

Marc (as Earle): I’ll fight you, little man. I win, you all leave.

Darren (as Ricky): And if I win, we can ask you some questions while drinking a few shots of pepper vodka.

Michael (as Lucia): Come on, everyone, there’s no need to hurt each other… (as himself): Marc, can I use my Feels People Advantage and Personal + Social Sciences to figure out why these guys would rather pick a fight than let us in?

Marc: Hm. I’ll allow it.

Michael: Understood… 801! That would give me a whopping 11 Shift Margins of Success!

Marc: Well, I can tell you it’s not gonna be 11… but it’s still a lot. So: As you look at the gang members, you can feel a shiver run down your spine. There’s something about them… The animosity is palpable, but it’s just really weird only a few of them have said something up until now. There’s six of them and you’ve only heard two of them say more than a few words. They even hav That requires a lot of discipline – or maybe they all feel like they’ve got too much to hide.

Michael: You mean, like they’re afraid they’d give themselves away if they were to talk?

Marc: Possibly. Either way, it doesn’t feel like they want to stop you from entering the bar, necessarily.

Michael: They want us to leave because they figure they might divulge too much information if we’d start talking to them.

Marc: Maybe.

Michael: Hmmm… I look at the nearest gang member who hasn’t talked yet.

Marc: That would be a blonde-haired man with golden earrings.

Michael (as Lucia): You there. Could you please tell your friend he shouldn’t be doing this? There really is no need to be violent…

Marc: The guy just looks at you. If anything you just said has registered, it certainly doesn’t show. The big dude is clearly getting annoyed, though – no need for a roll. (as Earle): Hey, Ludwig, I think them strangers here are stalling. (as Ludwig): Yeah. Seems like they’re too chickenshit to fight me. Har har har!

Darren (as Ricky): OK, that’s enough! (as himself): I somersault over the big guy and follow up with a rear kick;

Marc: Not so fast, we’re not doing Group Initiative just yet. Still, you’re definitely starting something here, so let’s roll Initiative. You’re all very much aware of what’s happening, so you’re going to roll Body against S+0.

Michael: Damn. That’s 3 Shift Margins of Failure. So I start to declare at Tick 3.

Lucy: Tick 3 for me as well.

Michonne: I’ll declare at Tick 2.

Darren: 819! The dice are my friends today!

Marc: Wow. That’s 9 Margins of Succes! You’re gonna be first to declare at Tick 1. Your brawny adversary seems to be slower than you, so go ahead.

Darren: As I said, I’ll be somersaulting over this guy’s head so I can land behind his back.

Marc: OK. With your experience, that’ll take you 9 Ticks to complete. so we’re looking at Tick 11 here… We’re on to Tick 2. Michonne?

Michonne: I’m going to reach for my concealed knife – subtly. Don’t want to pull it out just yet, I only want to lay my hand on it without anyone noticing.

Marc: OK. Since you want to do this without anyone noticing, would you like to Double your Ticks?

Michonne: Definitely.

Marc: That means you will be ready by Tick 6. Now, the big guy is also at Tick 2, but he rolled lower than you did, so I’m gonna declare for him now. He’s Reacting to Ricky’s somersault! Let’s see… Ow. It did take him by surprise. He’s not swiveling around, though: he takes a step back in the hopes of throwing Ricky out of balance in mid-air!

Darren: Can I React to his Reaction?

Marc: Well, if you hadn’t been somersaulting… It’s really difficult to Sense what he’s doing while you’re in mid-air. Michael, what are you doing while all of this is going on?

Michael: I’m gonna sit this one out for now.

Marc: You’re Waiting?

Michael: Yup.

Marc: Don’t forget that anything you might wanna React to typically adds 2 Ticks to your Tick Count.

Michael: I know.

Lucy: I’m just backing up until I’m standing right in front of the car. The duel is between Rick and Mister Biker over there. I don’t want to motivate the other gang members to get involved.

Marc: No problem. It’ll take you 20 Ticks to get to the car while walking backwards, though… So, next one up is Dave at Tick 6. Michonne, could you make a Body + Manipulate Object Skill Check?

Michonne: Could I make a Senses + Fight - Melee Skill Check instead?

Marc: If you can explain to me why you would use Senses, yes.

Michonne: Well, I’m not really using sleight of hand here, I’m mainly looking at the gang members and when I’m sure no-one’s looking at me, I move my hand towards the knife – so I’m mainly being observant here. Also, because I am combat-trained, I know what it looks like when someone’s going for a weapon… and I want to avoid doing something that might cause others to realize I’m getting ready to draw a knife.

Marc: Fair enough. Now let’s see what happens.

Michonne: Let’s see… 502! That’s 3 Shift Margins of Success… If they have zero Shifts, that is.

Marc: Well, they certainly don’t seem to notice. Anything else you’d like to do?

Michonne: Nope.

Marc: OK, since no-one other than Richie and the biker is doing anything, you can make your Senses + Sense roll at Tick 8. Senses + Sense works for me but it’ll just give you some raw information on their behavior, it won’t let you interpret anything.

Michonne: Great. One Shift MoS.

Marc: Well, two of them are looking at Anne, who’s walking towards the car. Backwards. Both of them are frowning. The others are looking at the fight. They’re all smiling, by the way.

Michonne: Smug little bastards. OK, I’m not gonna roll again. Just waiting it out.

Marc: Sure. Ricky, the big guy is trying to push you backwards with his own back while your feet are still off the ground. He’s putting a lot of weight in it. He kinda knows where you’re going to land, but he can’t see you and everything’s going really fast, so I figure the Bonuses and Penalties pretty much cancel each other out here. Let’s make a roll… (Marc rolls the dice in front of everyone) Ouch! 013!

Lucy: Yes!

Darren: That’s just has to be a Critical Failure!

Marc: It is. He stumbles and loses his balance a little bit. It’s gonna be an extra 2 Ticks before he can declare anything again. Which brings us to Tick 10. Ricky, you land on your feet, gracefully. The guy you’re fighting doesn’t seem to be as agile as you are, though. He misjudged the distance and almost sidestepped you, but he’s close enough for you to smell spilled beer on his clothes.

Darren: Excellent! I grab him, plant my foot on his lower back and pull him backwards while falling to my back, like an inverse sacrifice throw or something. That’ll take me 13 Ticks, but I can Grab him faster than that, right?

Marc: Yeah, it’s just common sense. It only matters if he acts earlier than you do, though.

Darren: Does he?

Marc: Yup. He’s turning towards you, trying to hit you with a spinning elbow. He’s in Grappling Range, so he’s too close to throw a spinning backhand. You’re up first, though.

Darren: Great! That’s S+1 with the possibility a Bump. 503! Is 2 Shift MoS enough to grab this guy?

Marc: He’s good.You partially Grab hold of his sleeve. It’s tough to get a good hold on him while he’s spinning around, though. You’re getting a Bump, but no Interrupt.

Darren: OK, so that breaks off my sacrifice throw. I latch on to him as well as I can and use the momentum of his spinning backfist to take him down. Instead of planting my in his lower back, I’m going to drop to a crouch and throw him over me. Which’ll take me to Tick 24..

Marc: That’s it. Now for his punch… Oooh! 501! That’s a glancing blow to your face.

Darren: A Bruise.

Marc: To the head. His knuckles glance off your forehead while you’re both twisting and turning. You’ll be at an S-1 Penalty for the next 10 Ticks. He’s going to try to follow up with a Smash Drop, dropping his weight on you...

Darren: I still get to go first!

Marc: Actually, Anne gets to go first. She reaches the car on Tick 23. Anne, you’re backed up against the vehicle.

Anne: With several gang members looking at me, I know. I just grab the car handle behind my back.

Marc: Sure, that’ll be on Tick 27. Darren?

Darren: So, I’m dropping to one knee and trying to throw this guy.

Marc: He’s big.

Darren: I know, but I’m using his own momentum and I’m using my Bump. Let’s roll! Yes! 921!

Marc: Wow! That’s 6 Margins of Success!

Darren: So, 3 Damage Shifts to the right!

Marc: Exactly, but… He’s Aborted his next move in order to pull away from you. With his Body, he’s got a major advantage over you.

Darren: Uuurgh…

Marc: And I get… 2 Shifts Margin of Failure. That gives you an extra Damage Shift to the right.

Darren: Hahaha! I anticipate him pulling away from me and shift my weight just a little bit. I throw him over my shoulder as he flips over in mid-air, his feet above his head, before I pull him down onto the ground again.

Marc: And he lands on his head! You hear a harsh crushing sound as his nose splinters on the concrete pavement. Blood gushes out of his nostrils as his eyes go blank.

Darren: Uuuh… As his eyes go blank? Uuuuuhm…

Michonne: Time to get out that knife. Guys, maybe you should all stop Waiting…