The Maiden Saga: Role Playing Game (7 page)

 

This may not be an accurate or in depth recreation of how combat actually works, but it reflects the likely outcome well enough, so all those wishing to argue about reloading times or the merits of kung fu can now lower their indignant forefingers.

 

 

Damage

 

As a combat is played out, characters are likely to be damaged. This is expressed as a reduction in their Game Points in Constitution at the rate of 1 for every double your opponents throw, and vice versa. A triple means 2 points, a quadruple 3 points, five of a kind 4 points and six of a kind 6 points. If fighting as a group, then before the combat begins add together the characters' Game Points in Constitution to make a pool. Recognising that players generally prefer their characters to stand alone, such a group will usually involve one PC and one or more NPCs. At the end of the combat the remaining points must be redistributed between the characters involved in the original proportions, although a PC is always allowed to retain 1 point. If there aren't enough points to go around, one or more characters are dead and out of the game. In the event of a group of PCs not having enough points to go around, then those who started with the strongest constitutions take precedence. If two are equal, they must roll, with the highest total the survivor.

This reflects the effect of wounds and that even the victors in hand to hand combat don't necessarily survive. It also allows you to decide when to retreat, but if any character runs out of Game Points in Constitution that's it, curtains, you're off to the afterlife of your choice.

 

 

Fight or Flight?

 

At any point in a combat one or more characters may decide to flee. NPCs run when as many points have been lost from their pool in Constitution than their total Game Points in Pride. Players can make their own decisions for their PCs, but should take Pride into account. Once any character has run the figures need to be recalculated before the combat continues.

Any PC may run before the start of a conflict, at the cost of 1 Glory Point.

 

 

Victory

 

Victory in combat usually earns 1 Glory Point, or 2 for Aeg as Power is their Primary Drive, 3 for Aeg versus Aeg and 4 if you belong to another people and defeat an Aeg, or any group more than half Aeg. Additional points are earned for fighting against the odds, 1 Glory Point for each extra character in the opposing group, that one against two earns 1 additional Glory Point, one against three earns 2 additional Glory Points, three against five earns 2 additional Glory Points per victorious character and so on.

The GM should bear in mind that there are usually consequences to combat, win or lose. If two groups meet in the middle of the Great Parch the victors will probably be able to carry on as before, but the same combat fought in the main square of Vendjome is going to attract attention. (See Example 1.)

 

 

Berserk Rage

 

A rare condition generally restricted to Mund, but which can also be brought on by a potion. Berserk rage can be triggered by pain or by insult and results in greatly increased speed and power coupled with an indifference to wounds or exhaustion. In game terms this is expressed as a quadrupling of the character's Game Points in Power at the moment the rage is triggered. In combat, any triple thrown by the berserker triggers their rage, which is not expended until no opponents remain, or they themselves lie dead.

Mortal insult may also trigger berserk rage, in which case it is directed at the relevant individual and anybody else who objects. If a berserker PC feels they have been insulted, or if another PC or NPC insults them on purpose, they should make a throw of the dice. A triple triggers the rage.

The potion required to produce berserk rage has the same effect, but works on anybody and can be taken and activated with combat in mind.

 

 

The main combat rules will cover the majority of encounters, but there will always be exceptions.

 

 

Mounted Combat

 

Note to GMs – trained war elephants are seldom, if ever, found wandering about on their own. Wild ones might be, but only in the jungles of central Cypraea.

 

Mounted combatants gain a bonus on their Combat Points according to the following table –

 

The GM may choose to disallow mounted combat if the situation would be unfeasibly ridiculous.

 

 

Sniper Combat & Block Weapons

 

Shooting at people for the hell of it is only an option for those PCs whose Game Points in Greed are at least Double those in Pride, but can also occur in the event of attack by a group of NPCs with the same characteristics, or between groups when blows have previously been exchanged.

If this does happen, the same rules apply, expect in that if the group being attack have no missile weapons they must suffer the effect of three rolls of the dice before they are able to retaliate, unless they choose to run, which is an option after each roll. Individual NPCs always run when the reduction in their Game Points in Constitution reaches their level of Pride.

Those members of a group under attack who do have missile weapons may retaliate after the first roll, either singly or as a group, after which the combat proceeds according to the normal rules. It is assumed that if you kill an opponent you can take their weapon.

It is taken as read that PCs have enough ammunition have sufficient ammunition for several encounters, unless it has been taken during capture or they have not visited a town for some time, in which case the GM may wish to step in.

 

 

Melee Combat

 

If a combat involves more than five persons on either side it is up to the players and the GM to decide who will face who. The maximum number of combatants on either side in any conflict is five, and the maximum ratio between sides is five to one. If more than five PCs wish to assail a single opponent they must roll their six dice, with the five highest scoring players winning the right to being involved. When either a PC or NPC drops out of a conflict they can be replaced and the statistics recalculated.

 

 

Battle Combat

 

In the event of a full scale battle the PCs behave as if in a melee while the overall outcome is determined separately. For battle purposes, groups of 10, 100 or even 1000 similarly armed NPC combatants are treated as if they were individuals and the conflict play out according to the usual rules. Alternatively, the PCs may be commanders and control the groups themselves, again according to the usual rules. In the event of a naval combat each ship counts as one individual and each coastal fortress as five individuals.

 

 

Heavy Armament

 

Note to GMs – heavy armament is unwieldy and almost always well guarded. The Aprinians in particular are careful about not letting parties of wandering rogues pinch their ordnance.

With very few exceptions, Heavy Armament can only be employed in the open field by a group of ten or more. Parties must persuade NPCs to join them of purchase draft animals in order to make up their numbers if they wish to employ heavy armament, and the GM should bear in mind that a group of ten heavily armed Makean pirates dragging a trebuchet through the streets of Vendjome is sure to caused raised eyebrows.

The use of heavy armament follows the same rules as for Sniper Combat, but the attacking group are allowed only two rolls before retaliation, assuming the other group does not have its own heavy armament. In order to use heavy armament the party must work as a group, with the bonus added to their group Combat Points
after
the adjustment for numbers has been taken into account. Individual PCs may break away after the second roll.

 

 

Heavy armament bonus table -

In a battle these bonuses apply equally to groups of any size unless two groups are of uneven size. Thus, in a skirmish between a group of ten Vendjomois bomardiers and ten of their Oretean counterparts, each group gains a bonus of 35 and the same is true if both groups number one hundred, but if the group of ten Vendjomois meets a hundred Oreteans, then the bonuses are 35 and 350 respectively.

While it is possible to capture heavy armament and ammunition, both Aeg and Mund lack the technology to make canon or artillery. Only the Aprinians can make artillery and it is not for sale. Bribery and coercion may prove effective, but is never easy. Two horses or camels are required to draw any one piece of heavy armament, or one elephant. A horse or camel can carry 10 rounds of ammunition, an elephant 25.

 

 

Bombardment

 

Sieges and naval engagements follow the same principles, with ships or fortresses counting as individuals for statistical purposes. The following table of Combat Points takes into account numbers involved, defence and attack. These figures should be taken as guidelines, and both the GM and PCs may create exceptions according to circumstances –