Agemegos
Over-educated dilettante
- Joined
- May 15, 2021
- Messages
- 1,783
- Reaction score
- 5,838
For reasons that are far too complicated to go into just now, the A.B.C. Effectuations Company — which consists of three characters — is going to travel across the Cumaean Steppe on the planet Sparta, trying to catch up with a large band of local nomads called the Budini Union before things get any further out of control.
The Budini have a head start of 45 local days, but their flocks only move about 16 km per day, and not in a straight line, so there is 458 km to make up. A.B.C. determined the current location of the Budini using publicly-available satellite data when they set out from Kiddervik, and their plan is to drive directly to that location and then follow the tracks of the herd from there.
The Cumaean Steppe is mostly FLat Light Vegetation, so it has a Terrain Value of 1.
A.B.C. are travelling in a rented "rover", a 6WD all terrain vehicle that is an import from a planet with TL6, but that has been in use for eight years on a planet with only TL4, so the maintenance is not up to snuff. The GM has applied the Old modifier to its stats. One of the PCs is an excellent mechanic, but a brief consideration of the repair rules suggests that overhauling it would take about thirteen hours, so they just see to the basics and decide to go with it. One of the players suggests that the "rented" modifier ought to make it go faster, but the GM shoots him down.
The stats of a "rover" are
The 6WD vehicle type applies a -1 modifier to the Terrain value of land terrains, which means treating the Terrain Value of Flat Light Vegetation as 0. And that means that none of the rover's stats get adjusted for terrain value in this example.
So off we go! The character Anton Amehara is going to drive (he is also the mechanic). I will put his character sheet behind a spoiler to save space.
Amehara starts by making a Navigation roll. There is no cellular network out here on the Steppe, but he has a GPS navigation tool that takes data directly from the Imperial GPS satellites good for a +2. Amehara's PCS in Navigation is 15. The BEF of Navigation is E+3, and Amehara's E in Flat Light Vegetation is 3. BEF 6 + 2 for the GPS: EF = 8. SC = 15 × 8 = 120. The player rolls 43, which is greater than 36 but not greater than 90. Amehara has QR 3 Navigation and isn't going to get lost.
Amehara is using Hasty Travel (§5.2) because they really want to make up time. He rolls Groundcraft. His PCS is 25, the BEF of Groundcraft is E+4 and his E in FLat Light Vegetation is 3. BEF = 7. No EFM. SC =25 × 7 = 175. The player rolls 88. That's more than half the SC, but neither more than the SC nor a 00 (automatic failure). Amehara has a QR4 driving roll.
Now we take the worse of Navigation and Driving, which is the Driving QR4. Consult the rules for hasty Travel on p.502. QR 4 yields that the average speed is the Cruise speed of the vehicle adjusted for Terrain, i.e. 56 km/hr. Amehara's Willpower is 7, so he can continue driving for seven hours before he needs a rest. That gets the party 392 km towards their goal. Amehara stops for everyone to irrigate the steppe a little, then takes a nap on the back seat while Oliver Bahree takes over. I will put Bahree's character sheet behind a spoiler to save space.
Bahree doesn't actually have the skill Navigation, so he asks Sigurd Claudius Pulcher, but Claudius Pulcher doesn't have it either. Okay then. The formula for Navigation is (Intelligence + Perception)/2. Bahree has IN = 11, PC = 16. Formula evaluates to 27/2 which rounds to 14. The Base Ease Factor of Navigation is E+3, and Bahree's E value for FLat Light Vegetation is 2. 2 + 3 = 5, -2 for not having any skill levels, +2 for the GPS. EF = 5. SC = PCS × EF = 14 × 5 = 70. The player rolls 91, which is greater than SC, but does not end in "0". So that's a failure, but only a QR7 and not a QR 10. Bahree gets kinda lost.
Then Bahree makes his Groundcraft roll. His PCS in Groundcraft is 15. The BEF of Groundcraft is E+4 and Bahree's E value in FLat Light Vegetation is 2. BEF = 6, and there are no modifiers, so EF = 6. SC = PCS × EF = 15 × 6 = 90. The player rolls 58, which is more than SC/2 but less than SC, and therefore a QR4.
Following the rules for Hasty Travel we take the worse of Navigation and Driving, which in this case is the QR7 navigation result. "The vehicle has suffered an accident of a minor sort and is delayed a few hours, but otherwise has a mean speed as under QR4, i.e. the Cruise speed adjusted for Terrain. The remaining distance of 166 km would take three hours anyway, and the GM capriciously decides that the "few hours" delay was three hours back-tracking to find a river crossing they ought to have taken earlier. It is now 13 hours after they set forth. The day on Sparta is 31 hours, so there is about 15.5 hours of sunlight and they still have an hour and a half left.
The players debate what to do. Claudius Pulcher wants to follow the track of the Union and their herd right now, catch up to them about 16 km from here in about twenty minutes, and approach them openly, probably while they are setting up camp. Bahree calls that "stumble in blindly". He wants to take advantage of at least one night to scout the nomad camp, infiltrate if necessary, and then make an open approach only if the intelligence indicates that it is prudent, and in the morning. Amehara wants any potential contact to take place at such a time that if they have to flee at speed they can do so by driving in daylight. They agree to bivouac for the night, first driving a couple of kilometres perpendicular to the trail.
None of the player characters actually has the Survival skill. They brought food and water, so they won't go hungry or thirst, but they need a Survival roll to recover Fatigue. Survival has a Formula of (Intelligence + Willpower)/4, which is 5 for Amehara, 4 for Bahree, and 4 for Claudius Pulcher. And its BEF is E + 3, but they are all on E + 1 because of the -2 for having no levels.
Claudius Pulcher's player suggests that Bahree is too tired to do sneaky commando stuff, but Bahree's counter-asserts that (1) Bahree is good enough at that sort of stuff to wear a -1 and not care about it, and that (2) in character Claudius Pulcher can't tell how tired Bahree is. So they go ahead with The Plan.
Using night vision gear rather than the headlights, Amehara drives the rover along the swathe of grazed vegetation and multitudinous tracks that the nomad band has left, being careful not to overtake them. The GM rules that the camp comes into sight at Observation Range for the terrain value, and that is 1 km for terrain value 1. Amehara then parks the rover in the closest he can find to concealment — a slight declivity in the landscape, a stand of taller-than-usual grass, perhaps? Improvising desperately, the GM asks for a roll against the lower SC of Stealth and Groundcraft, in FLat Light Vegetation, at -1 for using light intensification on Perception-related skills. Amehara's Stealth PCS is 25, and his E in this terrain is 3, which makes the BEF 6, and the EF 5 with the vision penalty. SC = 125. His Groundcraft PCS is also 25, and the BEF is E+4, so with -1 for vision that works out to SC=150. His player rolls 30, which is ≤SC/5 (just). Bahree has a QR 2 result at "Drive Casual", and the GM interprets that he not only has the rover very well concealed, but that he even managed to get in to only 600m from the camp. That is well within range of the radio controls of Amehara's observation drones.
Amehara puts up one of his UAV drones, and uses IR and LI to figure out where the herds and night-watchmen are. This allows Bahree to plan a route to get in to the middle ring of wagons while passing the minimum number of men and beasts likely to notice him. The GM decides that one nightwatchman will get a chance to notice Bahree, and that he will make one roll for the herd to startle.
Bahree prepares by dressing in a high-tech ghillie suit. Not that it will make much difference in the darkness. He draws a couple of pockets-full of bugs and spycams from Amehara. And then, after a pause to think, he leaves his pistols behind and goes in with only his knife and his Advanced Standard Medical Kit. "I can't shoot my way out of a bandit camp with these stupid six-shooters anyway. Best to seem harmless." Claudius Pulcher and Amehara aren't planning on being caught anyway, and reckon that their guns will be just as incriminating unloaded as loaded, so they load them up. Each has a cap-and-ball revolver and a breechloading caplock long gun (Claudius Pulcher a rifle, Amehara a carbine). The propellant is "packaged" in thin papery red "cartridges": it grew that way on a guncotton bush.
To sneak through the outskirts of the camp, Bahree rolls Stealth in FLat Light Vegetation. His E is 3, so the BEF of Stealth is E + 2 = 5. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity for exhaustion. The EF is 4. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. His player rolls an 01. That's ≤ SC/10, so Bahree has QR1 Stealth. That means an EF = QR = 1 Scan roll to notice Bahree. Moreover, there is -3 for darkness (Sparta has no moon, but the stars are bright out on the steppe and there is sound as well as sight to consider), and the nightwatchman has no night vision gear. -3 on an EF1 roll leaves him with no chance. (-1 would be treated as Ease Factor ¼, but -2 and less is treated as 0). The animals make better use of sounds and scent, and suffer only a -2 for darkness, but they are still on EF = ½. The GM consults HindSight briefly, assigns herding dogs a Scan PCS of 20. 20 × ½ = 10. The GM rolls 99 and the dogs notice nothing. "Oops! I didn't think of dogs." says Bahree's player.
Bahree figures that the most important figures in the Union will occupy wagons in the innermost circle of the camp, so he resolves to plant an audio bug in each of them, a spy camera on each of two large wagons facing the middle, and to peer into each wagon of the inner circle using his datastick on active IR mode. The GM advises that that will involve a Stealth roll for each, with a chance of being heard, and that there are fourteen such caravans. That's too risky, but just planting the bugs and spycams will be only two stealth rolls. Bahree goes to make a stealth roll and the GM says that inside the camp, among all the wagons and tents and campfires and stuff does not count as FLat Light Vegetation, and that Bahree must used default Environment E = 2.
Bahree has Stealth PCS = 25. The BEF is E + 3 = 5, and Bahree has -1 for exhaustion: EF = 4 SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. The player rolls 17, which is more than SC/10 but not more than SC/5. Bahree has QR2 Stealth. One person is on EF = QR - 3 for darkness = 2-3 = ¼, with a PCS of 15 in scan, to be woken. The GM rolls 86. Slumberfest. One dog is on EF ½ and PCS 20; SC = 10, the GM rolls 31. No disturbance. Bahree makes his second roll at the same SC = 100. The player rolls 80, which is a QR4. One sleeper gets EF = QR - 3 (for night) = EF 1 at PCS 15; SC =15% chance to wake. The GM rolls 90, which is a QR10. One of the nomads wakes, totally fails to notice Bahree, and stumps off to the edge of camp for a piss, creating noise that will cover Bahree's movements without making anyone alert. A dog gets a Scan roll at EF 2 (Bahree's QR4 Stealth result, -2 for night-time) with PCS 20. SC 40. The GM rolls 85. A failure, and the noisy dog is silent.
Finally, Bahree goes to sneak out of the camp the way he came in. Bahree rolls Stealth in FLat Light Vegetation again. His E is 2, so the BEF of Stealth is E + 3 = 5. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity for exhaustion. The EF is 4. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. His player rolls a 71. That's more than SC/2 but not more than SC and not an "00", so it's a QR4. One watchman and one dog get scan rolls. The man has -3 for darkness leaving him on EF 1, and has PCS 15. SC = 15 × 1. The GM rolls 85. But the dog has EF 2 and PCS 20. SC = 20 × 2 = 40. The GM rolls 27, which is a QR 4. That's enough to make the dog alert and suspicious, but you need QR 3 on a Scan roll to actually spot something you aren't particularly looking for. The dog whuffs a couple of times, but raises no alarm and does not find Bahree.
Meanwhile, Amehara and Claudius Pulcher have decided to set an ambush along the route by which they expect Bahree to return, as a contingency plan. We will use the rules for Resolving Encounters in the Wilderness. The character with the better SC in Scan must roll against it, and the character with the worse SC in Stealth must roll against that. Add the two QRs, and subtract 4 for a prepared ambush, 2 if the "side" is moving cautiously.
The higher SC is Amehara's 125. Ama5hara's player rolls 71, which is more than SC/2 but not more than SC, so the Scan roll for the ambush is QR4.
The total for the Ambush is Scan QR + Stealth QR -4 (for ambush). That's 4 + 1 -4 = 1.
The only person coming along, it turns out, is Bahree. Normally he'd be moving carefully, but the player didn't mention it, and the GM figures that it's a likely mistake for Bahree to make in his fatigued state. Bahree's Scan PCS is 25 and his E value in this environment is 3. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity from exhaustion. The BEF of Scan is E + 3 = 3+3 = 6, but -1 for exhaustion gives 5. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 5 = 125. Bahree's player rolls 90, which is greater than SC/2 but not greater than SC, so that's a QR4. Bahree's Stealth PCS is 25 and his E value in this environment is 3. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity from exhaustion. The BEF of Stealth is E + 3 = 3+3 = 6, but -1 for exhaustion gives 5. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 5 = 125. Bahree's player rolls 61, which is greater than SC/2 but not greater than SC, so that's a QR4. The sum of Bahree's Search and Scan rolls is 8. The other "side"'s total is less than his by 4 or more, so he is Surprised. "If an ambush was set, the character walked right into it". The first thing that Bahree notices is the clicks as Amehara and Claudius Pulcher uncock their guns to the safety notches. He says "Oh! You surprised me!"
You may have noticed that these characters are extremely competent. I wrote them that way so that they would be easy to play under time pressure in a one-off demonstration game.
The Budini have a head start of 45 local days, but their flocks only move about 16 km per day, and not in a straight line, so there is 458 km to make up. A.B.C. determined the current location of the Budini using publicly-available satellite data when they set out from Kiddervik, and their plan is to drive directly to that location and then follow the tracks of the herd from there.
The Cumaean Steppe is mostly FLat Light Vegetation, so it has a Terrain Value of 1.
A.B.C. are travelling in a rented "rover", a 6WD all terrain vehicle that is an import from a planet with TL6, but that has been in use for eight years on a planet with only TL4, so the maintenance is not up to snuff. The GM has applied the Old modifier to its stats. One of the PCs is an excellent mechanic, but a brief consideration of the repair rules suggests that overhauling it would take about thirteen hours, so they just see to the basics and decide to go with it. One of the players suggests that the "rented" modifier ought to make it go faster, but the GM shoots him down.
The stats of a "rover" are
Vehicle TL PUR MAN RED Cruise MAX CLG DT SIZ TYPE CGO/PAS
"Rover" 6 0 +1 -1 70 110 na 4 0 6WD 1000/6
Old -1 -1 +1 0.8 0.8 — 0.8 — — —
Old rover 6 -1 +0 +0 56 88 na 3 0 6WD 1000/6
The 6WD vehicle type applies a -1 modifier to the Terrain value of land terrains, which means treating the Terrain Value of Flat Light Vegetation as 0. And that means that none of the rover's stats get adjusted for terrain value in this example.
So off we go! The character Anton Amehara is going to drive (he is also the mechanic). I will put his character sheet behind a spoiler to save space.
Amehara starts by making a Navigation roll. There is no cellular network out here on the Steppe, but he has a GPS navigation tool that takes data directly from the Imperial GPS satellites good for a +2. Amehara's PCS in Navigation is 15. The BEF of Navigation is E+3, and Amehara's E in Flat Light Vegetation is 3. BEF 6 + 2 for the GPS: EF = 8. SC = 15 × 8 = 120. The player rolls 43, which is greater than 36 but not greater than 90. Amehara has QR 3 Navigation and isn't going to get lost.
Amehara is using Hasty Travel (§5.2) because they really want to make up time. He rolls Groundcraft. His PCS is 25, the BEF of Groundcraft is E+4 and his E in FLat Light Vegetation is 3. BEF = 7. No EFM. SC =25 × 7 = 175. The player rolls 88. That's more than half the SC, but neither more than the SC nor a 00 (automatic failure). Amehara has a QR4 driving roll.
Now we take the worse of Navigation and Driving, which is the Driving QR4. Consult the rules for hasty Travel on p.502. QR 4 yields that the average speed is the Cruise speed of the vehicle adjusted for Terrain, i.e. 56 km/hr. Amehara's Willpower is 7, so he can continue driving for seven hours before he needs a rest. That gets the party 392 km towards their goal. Amehara stops for everyone to irrigate the steppe a little, then takes a nap on the back seat while Oliver Bahree takes over. I will put Bahree's character sheet behind a spoiler to save space.
Bahree doesn't actually have the skill Navigation, so he asks Sigurd Claudius Pulcher, but Claudius Pulcher doesn't have it either. Okay then. The formula for Navigation is (Intelligence + Perception)/2. Bahree has IN = 11, PC = 16. Formula evaluates to 27/2 which rounds to 14. The Base Ease Factor of Navigation is E+3, and Bahree's E value for FLat Light Vegetation is 2. 2 + 3 = 5, -2 for not having any skill levels, +2 for the GPS. EF = 5. SC = PCS × EF = 14 × 5 = 70. The player rolls 91, which is greater than SC, but does not end in "0". So that's a failure, but only a QR7 and not a QR 10. Bahree gets kinda lost.
Then Bahree makes his Groundcraft roll. His PCS in Groundcraft is 15. The BEF of Groundcraft is E+4 and Bahree's E value in FLat Light Vegetation is 2. BEF = 6, and there are no modifiers, so EF = 6. SC = PCS × EF = 15 × 6 = 90. The player rolls 58, which is more than SC/2 but less than SC, and therefore a QR4.
Following the rules for Hasty Travel we take the worse of Navigation and Driving, which in this case is the QR7 navigation result. "The vehicle has suffered an accident of a minor sort and is delayed a few hours, but otherwise has a mean speed as under QR4, i.e. the Cruise speed adjusted for Terrain. The remaining distance of 166 km would take three hours anyway, and the GM capriciously decides that the "few hours" delay was three hours back-tracking to find a river crossing they ought to have taken earlier. It is now 13 hours after they set forth. The day on Sparta is 31 hours, so there is about 15.5 hours of sunlight and they still have an hour and a half left.
The players debate what to do. Claudius Pulcher wants to follow the track of the Union and their herd right now, catch up to them about 16 km from here in about twenty minutes, and approach them openly, probably while they are setting up camp. Bahree calls that "stumble in blindly". He wants to take advantage of at least one night to scout the nomad camp, infiltrate if necessary, and then make an open approach only if the intelligence indicates that it is prudent, and in the morning. Amehara wants any potential contact to take place at such a time that if they have to flee at speed they can do so by driving in daylight. They agree to bivouac for the night, first driving a couple of kilometres perpendicular to the trail.
None of the player characters actually has the Survival skill. They brought food and water, so they won't go hungry or thirst, but they need a Survival roll to recover Fatigue. Survival has a Formula of (Intelligence + Willpower)/4, which is 5 for Amehara, 4 for Bahree, and 4 for Claudius Pulcher. And its BEF is E + 3, but they are all on E + 1 because of the -2 for having no levels.
- Amehara has E = 3, EF = 4. PCS × EF = 5 × 4 = 20. His player rolls 59, which is over SC (and therefore a failure), but does not end in "0". QR7.
- Bahree has E = 2. EF = 3. PCS × EF = 3 × 2 = 6. His player rolls 50. That's more than SC and ends in "0", so Bahree has a QR 10, a botch.
- Claudius Pulcher has E = 2. EF = 3. PCS × EF = 4 × 3 = 12. His player rolls 24, which is over SC (and therefore a failure), but does not end in "0". QR7.
Claudius Pulcher's player suggests that Bahree is too tired to do sneaky commando stuff, but Bahree's counter-asserts that (1) Bahree is good enough at that sort of stuff to wear a -1 and not care about it, and that (2) in character Claudius Pulcher can't tell how tired Bahree is. So they go ahead with The Plan.
Using night vision gear rather than the headlights, Amehara drives the rover along the swathe of grazed vegetation and multitudinous tracks that the nomad band has left, being careful not to overtake them. The GM rules that the camp comes into sight at Observation Range for the terrain value, and that is 1 km for terrain value 1. Amehara then parks the rover in the closest he can find to concealment — a slight declivity in the landscape, a stand of taller-than-usual grass, perhaps? Improvising desperately, the GM asks for a roll against the lower SC of Stealth and Groundcraft, in FLat Light Vegetation, at -1 for using light intensification on Perception-related skills. Amehara's Stealth PCS is 25, and his E in this terrain is 3, which makes the BEF 6, and the EF 5 with the vision penalty. SC = 125. His Groundcraft PCS is also 25, and the BEF is E+4, so with -1 for vision that works out to SC=150. His player rolls 30, which is ≤SC/5 (just). Bahree has a QR 2 result at "Drive Casual", and the GM interprets that he not only has the rover very well concealed, but that he even managed to get in to only 600m from the camp. That is well within range of the radio controls of Amehara's observation drones.
Amehara puts up one of his UAV drones, and uses IR and LI to figure out where the herds and night-watchmen are. This allows Bahree to plan a route to get in to the middle ring of wagons while passing the minimum number of men and beasts likely to notice him. The GM decides that one nightwatchman will get a chance to notice Bahree, and that he will make one roll for the herd to startle.
Bahree prepares by dressing in a high-tech ghillie suit. Not that it will make much difference in the darkness. He draws a couple of pockets-full of bugs and spycams from Amehara. And then, after a pause to think, he leaves his pistols behind and goes in with only his knife and his Advanced Standard Medical Kit. "I can't shoot my way out of a bandit camp with these stupid six-shooters anyway. Best to seem harmless." Claudius Pulcher and Amehara aren't planning on being caught anyway, and reckon that their guns will be just as incriminating unloaded as loaded, so they load them up. Each has a cap-and-ball revolver and a breechloading caplock long gun (Claudius Pulcher a rifle, Amehara a carbine). The propellant is "packaged" in thin papery red "cartridges": it grew that way on a guncotton bush.
To sneak through the outskirts of the camp, Bahree rolls Stealth in FLat Light Vegetation. His E is 3, so the BEF of Stealth is E + 2 = 5. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity for exhaustion. The EF is 4. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. His player rolls an 01. That's ≤ SC/10, so Bahree has QR1 Stealth. That means an EF = QR = 1 Scan roll to notice Bahree. Moreover, there is -3 for darkness (Sparta has no moon, but the stars are bright out on the steppe and there is sound as well as sight to consider), and the nightwatchman has no night vision gear. -3 on an EF1 roll leaves him with no chance. (-1 would be treated as Ease Factor ¼, but -2 and less is treated as 0). The animals make better use of sounds and scent, and suffer only a -2 for darkness, but they are still on EF = ½. The GM consults HindSight briefly, assigns herding dogs a Scan PCS of 20. 20 × ½ = 10. The GM rolls 99 and the dogs notice nothing. "Oops! I didn't think of dogs." says Bahree's player.
Bahree figures that the most important figures in the Union will occupy wagons in the innermost circle of the camp, so he resolves to plant an audio bug in each of them, a spy camera on each of two large wagons facing the middle, and to peer into each wagon of the inner circle using his datastick on active IR mode. The GM advises that that will involve a Stealth roll for each, with a chance of being heard, and that there are fourteen such caravans. That's too risky, but just planting the bugs and spycams will be only two stealth rolls. Bahree goes to make a stealth roll and the GM says that inside the camp, among all the wagons and tents and campfires and stuff does not count as FLat Light Vegetation, and that Bahree must used default Environment E = 2.
Bahree has Stealth PCS = 25. The BEF is E + 3 = 5, and Bahree has -1 for exhaustion: EF = 4 SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. The player rolls 17, which is more than SC/10 but not more than SC/5. Bahree has QR2 Stealth. One person is on EF = QR - 3 for darkness = 2-3 = ¼, with a PCS of 15 in scan, to be woken. The GM rolls 86. Slumberfest. One dog is on EF ½ and PCS 20; SC = 10, the GM rolls 31. No disturbance. Bahree makes his second roll at the same SC = 100. The player rolls 80, which is a QR4. One sleeper gets EF = QR - 3 (for night) = EF 1 at PCS 15; SC =15% chance to wake. The GM rolls 90, which is a QR10. One of the nomads wakes, totally fails to notice Bahree, and stumps off to the edge of camp for a piss, creating noise that will cover Bahree's movements without making anyone alert. A dog gets a Scan roll at EF 2 (Bahree's QR4 Stealth result, -2 for night-time) with PCS 20. SC 40. The GM rolls 85. A failure, and the noisy dog is silent.
Finally, Bahree goes to sneak out of the camp the way he came in. Bahree rolls Stealth in FLat Light Vegetation again. His E is 2, so the BEF of Stealth is E + 3 = 5. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity for exhaustion. The EF is 4. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 4 = 100. His player rolls a 71. That's more than SC/2 but not more than SC and not an "00", so it's a QR4. One watchman and one dog get scan rolls. The man has -3 for darkness leaving him on EF 1, and has PCS 15. SC = 15 × 1. The GM rolls 85. But the dog has EF 2 and PCS 20. SC = 20 × 2 = 40. The GM rolls 27, which is a QR 4. That's enough to make the dog alert and suspicious, but you need QR 3 on a Scan roll to actually spot something you aren't particularly looking for. The dog whuffs a couple of times, but raises no alarm and does not find Bahree.
Meanwhile, Amehara and Claudius Pulcher have decided to set an ambush along the route by which they expect Bahree to return, as a contingency plan. We will use the rules for Resolving Encounters in the Wilderness. The character with the better SC in Scan must roll against it, and the character with the worse SC in Stealth must roll against that. Add the two QRs, and subtract 4 for a prepared ambush, 2 if the "side" is moving cautiously.
- Amehara's Scan PCS is 25, his E value here is 3, the BEF of Scan is E+3 and he has a -1 for using light intensifying vision gear. EF = 3+3 -1 = 5. PCS = 25, SC = 25 × 5 = 125.
- Claudius Pulcher's Scan PCS is 20, his E value here is 2, the BEF of Scan is E+3 and he has a -1 for using light intensifying vision gear. EF = 3+2 -1 = 4. PCS = 20, SC = 20 × 4 = 80.
The higher SC is Amehara's 125. Ama5hara's player rolls 71, which is more than SC/2 but not more than SC, so the Scan roll for the ambush is QR4.
- Amehara's Stealth PCS is 25, his E value here is 3, and the BEF of Stealth is E+3. EF = 3+3 = 6. PCS = 25, SC = 25 × 6 = 150.
- Claudius Pulcher's Stealth PCS is 20, his E value here is 2, the BEF of Scan is E+3. EF = 3+2 = 5. PCS = 20, SC = 20 × 5 = 100.
The total for the Ambush is Scan QR + Stealth QR -4 (for ambush). That's 4 + 1 -4 = 1.
The only person coming along, it turns out, is Bahree. Normally he'd be moving carefully, but the player didn't mention it, and the GM figures that it's a likely mistake for Bahree to make in his fatigued state. Bahree's Scan PCS is 25 and his E value in this environment is 3. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity from exhaustion. The BEF of Scan is E + 3 = 3+3 = 6, but -1 for exhaustion gives 5. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 5 = 125. Bahree's player rolls 90, which is greater than SC/2 but not greater than SC, so that's a QR4. Bahree's Stealth PCS is 25 and his E value in this environment is 3. But Bahree has a -1 to all activity from exhaustion. The BEF of Stealth is E + 3 = 3+3 = 6, but -1 for exhaustion gives 5. SC = PCS × EF = 25 × 5 = 125. Bahree's player rolls 61, which is greater than SC/2 but not greater than SC, so that's a QR4. The sum of Bahree's Search and Scan rolls is 8. The other "side"'s total is less than his by 4 or more, so he is Surprised. "If an ambush was set, the character walked right into it". The first thing that Bahree notices is the clicks as Amehara and Claudius Pulcher uncock their guns to the safety notches. He says "Oh! You surprised me!"
You may have noticed that these characters are extremely competent. I wrote them that way so that they would be easy to play under time pressure in a one-off demonstration game.
Last edited:
?
.
.