Movement & Combat

Distance

Is measured in zones, the actual distance in feet is irrelevant once the zones are pre-determined. You can use approximate distances in feet as a guide to how big your zones might be, but once set the zone system makes linear measures irrelevant. Remember that we really are interested in the relative speed of creatures, not the linear distances they can cover. The relative speeds scale to the size of the zone and the time frame you might use.

Range in zones is not restricted to simply linear factors, a small zone may restrict range due to visibility issues or natural obstacles, making it harder to hit. A zone may even have an extra modifier applied to it due to visibility restrictions, such as a room full of hanging sheets or a forest. In general however try to avoid small zones unless you have a specific reason (they upset archers).

Movement

Rather than go into the detail of working out movement rates of feet per round, or hexes per round etc, I have decided to try for simplicity and abstraction.

In essence most movement occurs around a fairly closed area where the opponents bash each other until one side wins. This area is pretty small in 90% of cases and effectively a creature can move from one point in that area to another within a single action. The only thing stopping them is usually the presence of enemies, but seeing they can do exactly the same thing what does it matter. So the movement system that follows is based around this concept, that movement distances are not primary to combat, only the various combat areas are, and whether a creature can get from one area, or zone, to another within an action. Its more about what hinders you than what you are capable of.

Types of Movement.

Movement comes in three forms, Trivial moves, Battle moves and Zone moves.

Trivial moves are for Alone characters only, and can be done as part of any action that does not specifically prevent movement. A Trivial move allows the Alone character to change their position to anywhere within the zone, as long as they remain Alone.

Battle moves are performed as part of your actions during your turn and are limited to moves to and from combat or within combat. Another way of describing this would be moves into, out of or around InContact or InClose status. They can be performed in combination with other actions unless expressly denied. The only time a Battle Move will require a DX roll is if modifiers reduce your effective MR below 10.

Zone moves are moves from one battle zone to another and take up a whole action on their own. They must always start and end with the mover in Alone status, unless they are intercepted or they make a Charge move. You can only make one "Zone Move" per Round (but it might cover several zones).

Movement Speeds

In TFT humans have a movement rate (MR) of 10, which is a handy value to convert to 1 zone below. Movement rates slower or faster than a value of 10 will apply a modifier to the dice roll, so 8 will be a DX roll at -2 to the target and 12 will be at +2 to the target.

In the Zone system all humans have a movement rate (MR) of 10/1. This means they can move 1 zone during a Round using Zone movement, and a single Trivial or Battle move per action. They will roll 3d vs DX when required to determine if they succeed at these moves, if required, but a roll with positives should generally just be accepted unless the DX score is fairly low.

A creature with a move rate of 20+ would be able to move one or two zones, commonly still with 3d vs DX (although they will tend to have a modifier). They are still limited to one Trivial or Battle move (unless they are able to split move as noted below).

Essentially each 10 MR allows one zone of movement. If you have surplus MR, say 16, then the extra MR can be applied as a positive to a lesser move OR as a negative to a greater move. Eg a MR of 16 would allow a 1 zone move at +6 or a 2 zone move at -4 (the first zone automatically succeeding and rolling for the second).

Trivial and Battle movement is generally done before an action, or after an action. Normally this means you can only make one move per action. Some talents may alter this, some creatures may get more.

Trivial and Battle moves are performed as part of your action. Zone moves are an action in themselves and do not permit any other actions unless part of a Charge.

Armour Effects on Movement Rate.

Consult the piecemeal armour values in the Economics chapter.

The above are for human sized creatures. Larger and faster creatures will need to be accessed as the effect of armour may be greater but their strength may compensate.

Running

A character may Run to gain an extra +10 (extra zone) for their Zone movement target and should be marked as such. Running status is removed after any action where you don't run. It can also be removed due to involuntary actions, such as a Knock Down.

Running characters are harder to hit with Thrown or Fired attacks, used +1d for such attacks.

Running characters are less stable, use +1d for any balance/stability checks (such as Knockdowns/Knockbacks etc).

Split Moves

Any creature with this Edge/Talent may elect to split it evenly into two pools and attempt to make two Zone/Battle/Trivial moves in the one action. This may have limited uses as you can normally still only perform one attack. You could however use it to move, perform an action, then move again to allow you to take advantage on some battlefield situation.

Creatures with a MR of 20+ automatically gain this talent.

Charging

Creatures may do a Zone Move and then an attack by performing a charge. A charge does double damage but also suffers double damage from any attack that is able to interrupt it. Charges are not possible via Battle Moves, you need to leave the zone and re-enter. Sufficiently fast creatures might be able to do this in the one round. Charges are considered to be running, and will gain the benefits and hassles of that effect.

Move rolls

The following modifiers may apply, along with the standard difficulty modifiers which can be used to represent the terrain. Modifiers can be applied to the effective MR to see if they will hinder a move, eg a creature with 16 MR and -6 mod still has sufficient MR to make a 1 zone move without bothering with a roll (16-6=10). They wouldn't be able to attempt a 2 zone move any more.

+10 Running

-4 Stunned

Var Armour effects

Var Trauma effects

Var Rank effects (negative ranks)

Var Terrain penalties.

Var Magical effects

You only need to roll to make a Trivial or Battle move if you have a modifier for the movement attempt.

If a roll is made then any success indicates a Trivial or Battle move was completed successfully. A failed roll means your movement is finished at that point, and you may only perform actions appropriate to where you are.

For Zone Moves where no success is made then they remain where they are and their turn is over. Where a Zone Move requires a roll to be made then if the roll includes any 6s, and was a success, then the creature is moved to the border of the target zone and end their move.

Terrain and Difficulties.

A zone may have terrain effects, either throughout the whole zone or maybe in parts of it. It may also contain difficulties (linear obstacles such as fences, crevasses etc) that need to be overcome to continue movement. Most difficulties should be placed along the boundary if possible.

Terrain will act to reduce dice and hinder movement. If the terrain occupies the entire zone then anyone moving into, out of, or around the zone will have suffer movement restrictions. If the terrain only occupies part of a zone it is only considered when characters deliberately move onto it. Partial zone terrain should always be considered an InContact area - that is to say that anyone on it is automatically InContact with it and anyone else on it, purely for simplicity.

A difficulty can be 'Protected' as if it were another character, see below.

Linear obstacles

Difficulties are generally linear obstacles that must be overcome to get from one side of them to the other. Because of this the logic requires that it block the entire boundary connecting two zones (or you simply go around it), or it dissects a zone from one boundary to another (or, again, you simply go around it). Linear obstacles will present a target number to overcome them. You must use movement, or movement related skills (climbing, jumping), to gain sufficient success to get over the obstacle.

In a hex based game a fire wall of 7 hexes is a major obstacle to get around, but in an area based movement system it can be ignored. Accordingly the following effects will apply for such deliberate obstacles.

A creature that wishes to move from its current location to make contact with an Alone creature in the zone where an obstacle has been placed will need to make a DX roll to do so, with the size of the obstacle as a modifier. It may elect to ignore the obstacle and avoid the DX roll, and will be assumed to run through it and take appropriate damage. Where the target is a mixed group (InContact) then half the obstacles size (round down) will be used. If the DX roll is failed then the creature remains Alone by itself.

The exception to this will be the 7-hex obstacle. A 7-hex obstacle will be assumed to go from one side of a zone to another and splits the zone in two. To get past a 7-hex obstacle you MUST move through it, or exit the zone and re-enter it on the other side. A 7-hex obstacle laid on a boundary will likewise be assumed to cover the entire side it is applied to.

Where more than one obstacle exists within a zone then the target may elect which one applies.

The reasoning behind this is that the target is not static even though the turn based system makes them seem so, if they see someone moving to close on them they will use the available features of the zone to avoid it (if they wish).

A target that is unable to move will not gain this advantage.

Where an obstacle has been placed along a boundary then it will decrease the movement rate (MR) of any creatures trying to cross it. So a human trying to move from one zone to another with MR10 would normally be bale to do so freely. If a 3 hex fire wall is placed on the boundary then to cross it they will be considered to have a MR of 7 (10-3), and would need to make a DX roll at -3. Moving to a boundary will half the effect (round down). You may elect to ignore the penalty but will be assumed to cross the obstacle and suffer the effect of it.

The Boundary

The boundary line between zones is used for partially successful zone move rolls, plus it can be chosen as a target location for a trivial, battle move or a zone move. To move to the boundary line you must begin in Alone status, or have a split move that allows you to gain Alone status.

The advantage of sitting on the boundary is that you count as being in either zone at the same time, and can then chose to make a battle move next action into either one. The disadvantage is that you count as being in both zones at once for missiles, and the first opponent who moves into contact with you drags you into their zone.

If two opponents are both sitting on the same boundary and one moves into contact then they get to chose which zone you both move into. You cannot conduct melee at a boundary.

Intercepts

Whenever someone tries to use a Zone move to leave or arrive into a zone, others may be able to intercept the move. To qualify you must not have acted yet, and conduct a DX contest (3d6 vs 3d6 modified by half the MR difference between them). If you win you move to InContact with the mover. If they were trying to leave the zone they are prevented and you are moved to Incontact with them. If the target wins they complete their move as normal and you wasted a dice. Trying to intercept is an action.

Protections

You may announce on your action that you wish to protect another, preventing others from attacking them. You must both begin the action in Alone status. You expend your action as normal and move to InContact with the target you wish to protect (but because there are no enemy you both count as Alone).

Whenever anyone attacks or moves to attack the figure you are protecting you may announce you wish to protect them, stepping in front of the attack or the attacker. You DX contest roll. If you win you take the attack, or move to InContact with the target, and your protectee is moved away to Alone status. If you fail then the attack/move reaches the protectee but you may still then follow up with a move into InContact.

If the attack is ranged then you become the target of the attack. If the attacker was trying to move into contact then they are moved into contact with you, preventing them getting to the one you are protecting. Your action is completed immediately and can include any normally permitted actions. Then the original attacker completes their action (they are not considered to have done anything yet) but in compliance with whatever the situation now is (if InContact and wanting to continue moving to the original target they would trigger an opportunity attack).

Protection is an ongoing effort until you break it. ON the turn you announce it you use your action to set it up and thus have limited options (move to contact only), but on following turns you will be assumed to have taken a Hold action and can perform an action as part of your protection response.

Evades

If you are Alone and an enemy wishes to move to contact you, you may try to evade them. You may only do this if you have not yet acted. You expend your action and make a DX contest. If you win that completes both your actions, you remain Alone. If your opponent wins then they complete their action as normal (and you wasted your turn).

Bottlenecks

Movement is generally assumed to be unrestricted between zones, there are times however when natural or deliberate means prevent this freedom. Where movement between zones is restricted, by something like a passage or a door, a bottleneck is created. The GM should simply draw a square over the zone boundary affected and mark it with a score indicating the maximum number of creatures that may pass through it in a single round.

EG: (See the following image) The GM draws 7 large zones in a square, representing a small farm. One of the zones (bottom left) represents the farmhouse and has limited access points. The access points to and from the house (doors and windows) are all added together and considered one value, but this is a bottleneck. The GM draws a small square over the line joining the house zone to its three neighbouring zones and puts a value of 2, 3 and 2 on each. This means that only 2, or 3, creatures may pass through each bottleneck during a round.

Further, creatures may sit in a bottleneck and prevent passage through it. Generally the same number of people that can pass through a bottleneck can defend it. In the above example 2 people could defend the bottlenecks. This prevents anyone passing through until they are removed. As a defender is removed (killed or pushed out) of the bottleneck an attacker must move in to take up the spot. Once the attackers control all the spots then they can move through the bottleneck as normal. Once one person from your side enters the bottleneck then they are in the way of others until a defender is pushed out, limiting who can attack into the bottleneck (those with reach weapons might be allowed to). Timing of actions becomes very important.

A bunch of farmers are attacked by goblins. They hole up inside the farmhouse which has two bottlenecks of 2 size. The farmers fill the bottlenecks with 2 farmers each, thus blocking entry. The goblins must attack, one at a time, the defending farmers and defeat or force one out of the bottleneck before they can enter. As one defender is removed a goblin will rush into the bottleneck and take his place (assuming another farmer doesnt beat him to the spot). Once one goblin is in the bottleneck, along with one farmer, no others can get in or attack the defender. The goblin inside the bottleneck must defeat the last defender to free up the bottleneck and allow other goblins access, or withdraw and allow another goblin to move in before another farmer does.

A bottleneck will often come with a defensive advantage, so that those defending inside a bottleneck gain a cover bonus (either hard or soft). This advantage exists only to attacks from outside the bottleneck. Once an attacker has pushed into the bottleneck the advantage is lost in regard to that attacker. It would apply in both directions in many cases, but can be custom designed to work in specific ways.

You cannot sit on the other side of a bottleneck and claim to block exit from it. The bottleneck is the defence point. If you want to block the way in, stand in the bottleneck.

A good use for Knockback would be to push defenders out of bottlenecks, but at the same time you might give the defenders some sort of resistance bonus to being knocked back due to the nature of the defence.

Above is a more complex battlemap showing a possible farmhouse and barn, along with door ways and bottlenecks. There is no compulsion to use rectangles, you can quickly draw up any collection of shapes and sizes that you wish with lines connecting them.

If you use a white board or vinyl map you can quickly draw up battlemaps like the following: