Movement and Combat

Movement and Combat

Posture and Movement

Basic movement does not require a game board. Instead, the GM should have a general idea of the environment, and mentally keep track of relative distances between combatants or objects – possibly referring to maps, notes, or diagrams. Should the players ask about reach or distance ("I want to run up and swing at him ... how far away is he?"), the GM's judgment is final.

Since movement and facing issues are in the GM's head, it's up to the GM how much detail to give the players. The GM might carefully keep track of every yard of movement, taking notes on paper ... or he might only worry about exact distances when they are of vital importance. Most GMs will want to adopt a middle ground.

The GM should always provide enough detail to give the players tactical choices, but not so much as to overwhelm them. If things get confusing, a sketch map with a few notes can often help. Groups that desire more detail than that should consider using the tactical combat system – or at least adopting some of those rules to add extra detail to the guidelines given here.

Here are a few "rules of thumb" for movement and combat. See Mounted Combat and Vehicles for notes on mounted and vehicular combat, respectively.

Movement

A combatant can move a maximum number of yards equal to his full Move score if he took a Move or Move and Attack maneuver. He can move up to half his Move if he chose an All-Out Attack or All Out Defense (Increased Dodge) maneuver.

Obstacles and bad footing will generally slow movement. The GM decides how many yards of movement a fighter must give up to cover one yard of difficult terrain or to cross a given obstacle. For instance, tangled brush might cut Move in half, while climbing over a fallen body might cost an extra yard of movement.

You can move while in almost any posture, but you only get your full Move if standing. You have 1/3 your Move while crawling or kneeling – and you have a flat Move 1 while lying down (belly crawl or rolling). You cannot move at all while sitting!

Step

Most maneuvers allow you to take a step, either before or after another action. You may step a distance equal to 1/10 your Move, but never less than one yard. Round all fractions up. Thus, Move 1-10 gives a one-yard step, Move 11-20 gives a two-yard step, and so on.

If you are capable of steps greater than one yard, you may break up your movement in a turn. For instance, if you had a two-yard step, you could move one yard, make an attack, and move another yard during an Attack maneuver.

You can use a step to go from a kneeling to a standing posture (or vice versa) instead of moving. This requires your entire step, no matter how far you could normally move.

You may always turn to face a different direction as part of any step (or as the step, if you just want to change your facing).

Spacing

A human-sized fighter needs about one yard (3') of space; thus, two warriors could move down a passage two yards wide shoulder-to-shoulder – or hold it against a foe. A doorway is about one yard wide, so a single person could hold it. All this assumes room to attack and defend.

Noncombatants could be packed in much more tightly, but they would have no room to react.

Moving Through Other Characters

You can always move through space occupied by your allies in combat, and you can run around an adversary who does not completely block your path (see Spacing, above). But if the GM rules that the only way past an opponent is through him, you must either bowl him over (see Slam) or "evade" him.

Evading

"Evading" is moving through ground occupied by an opponent without trying to knock him down. You can attempt this as part of any maneuver that allows movement, provided you can move fast enough to go past your foe – not just up to him.

First, ask if your foe is trying to stop you. If he chooses to let you past, you "evade" him automatically – no roll is needed. If your foe wants to stop you, roll a Quick Contest of DX. Modify your DX as follows:

-5 if your foe is standing up.

-2 if your foe is kneeling.

+2 if you are approaching your foe from his right or left side.

+5 if you are approaching your foe from behind.

+5 if your foe is lying down.

If you win, you evade him and are free to move on. If you lose or tie, he got in your way and stopped you.

You cannot evade anyone while you are being grappled (see Grappling). You cannot evade a foe if there is no logical way you could avoid hitting him, either (GM's decision) ... but note that huge creatures can step over smaller ones, while small creatures can duck between the legs of larger ones!

On the other hand, if you can use an advantage such as Flight or Super Jump to move up and over the foe's reach in the vertical plane, you can evade him automatically!

Crouching

If you are in a standing position, you can elect to crouch at the beginning of your turn, as part of any maneuver. If you don't move, or if you only step, you may also crouch after performing another action such as attacking or readying. However, you may not move more than a step and then crouch at the end of your movement to avoid attacks – not in one second! But if you are already crouching, you may leave your crouch at any time as a free action.

See Postures for more information.