Foot Movement: Movement rates for walking, run- ning, and sprinting are given in the "System Guide" section. For purposes of the two-action rule above, only one movement action may be chosen for a turn. Obviously, the more time and energy devoted to movement, the less of them that remain available for other actions. Consequently, the GM may allow you to conduct more than one other action if you are moving slowly or standing still, or possibly no other actions if you are sprinting. Some example combina- tions might include standing still and firing at a sta- tionary target multiple times, walking up to a target and striking it twice with your fists and/or feet, run- ning up to a target and tackling it, or sprinting across a battlefield doing nothing else but dodging enemy fire.
Remember, however, that because circumstances can vary so widely in the far future milieu of The Galactos Barrier, these are only suggestions; your GM i s responsible for deciding exactly what can and can- not be achieved in a turn. Those decisions will be based upon such details as combatants' relative posi- tions, combatants' comparative purposes, current combat environment (including weather conditions, and sometimes even gravity level), even dramatic appropriateness of the scene (such as unusually heroic actions during the climactic battle of an adventure- when the characters' adrenaline is really pumping!).
Vehicle Movement: Personal combat movement rates for vehicles are listed with each vehicle. A vehi- cle can travel at less than or equal to that speed.
Characters driving a vehicle have their hands full, so to speak, and will seldom be able to take any other actions, though the GM may allow them to fire a one- handed weapon in some circumstances, provided that the vehicle is traveling fairly straight and level for the duration of the turn.
Characters riding a vehicle generally have little to occupy their minds, so they are relatively unrestricted as to actions during combat. The exception to this is if the vehicle is jostling them about much, as from sud- den turns or travel over rough ground, in which case their possible actions may be reduced or even cur- tailed, as the GM sees fit.
Attack in Melee: Actions that fall under this head- i ng involve sub-specialties of Barehanded Combat and Melee Weapon, which are themselves specialties of the Hand-to-Hand Combat skill. They include such actions as blows with fist, foot, or head (Brawling or Martial Arts-attacker's choice); strikes with knives, clubs, spears, power staves, and other such hand- held weapons (Primitive or Modern sub-specialties of Melee Weapons); bites and claw attacks (Brawling again); and tackles and grapples (Wrestling).
Typically, only one such attack will be allowed in a turn, but your GM may allow you to conduct more under special circumstances.
Fire Weapon: This heading includes ranged attacks with such things as blaster rifles and the like (Heavy Weapons), laser pistols (Sidearms), thrown objects ( Throwing), or even primitive bows and arrows ( Archery). The number of attacks that can be made in a turn are dictated by the weapon's rate of fire. Rates of fire higher than 1 allow attacks to be split among multiple targets in a reasonable arc of fire
Perform Musical Piece: Performing a Musical Piece may take one or more turns. The description of each piece reveals the time required. When perform- i ng a Musical Piece, a character may take no other actions: All the character's concentration is devoted to calling the piece's effect into being. Anything which might break that concentration-being on the receiving end of an attack, for instance-may require the character to pass a Willpower roll (GM's deci- sion). If the roll is failed, the character's concentra- tion is lost, and the attempt to perform the Piece i mmediately ends in failure.
Other: There are multitudinous other actions possi- ble in the high adventure atmosphere of the game's combat. Some possible examples could be diving behind a desk for cover, jumping over a force fence, climbing a ladder into a hovering ship, wresting an i tem away from an opponent, or pulling a tapestry down on a band of foes. Use your imagination hero- i cally. When you state an intention to take such an action, your GM will decide upon the skill or attribute test to be made (if any) and whether or not other actions may be combined with it.
I n personal combat situations, initiative is deter- mined as explained in the "System Guide" section of this book.
Damage caused in personal combat depends upon the type of weapon being used, and upon whether the target is a character or a vehicle.
Character to Character: Attacks upon characters by means of weapons carried by other characters causes damage as explained in the "System Guide" section. This is the same whether the attacker or tar- get character is on foot or mounted on a vehicle.
Often, however, characters mounted on a vehicle will have a good portion of their bodies covered by that vehicle, which makes them more difficult to hit. A typical penalty to an attacker's chance to hit in such situations would be -30. If an attack misses its target because of this modifier, but would otherwise have been successful, the vehicle is hit instead. See the next heading for the effects on the vehicle.
Character to Vehicle: The fact that most vehicles
are fairly large targets works to make them easier to hit than a character. On the other hand, the higher speed at which they can travel has an opposite effect, making them more difficult targets, and the psychological effect of a vehicle bearing down at high speed upon an character makes attacks by that character more difficult as well. But even if hit, most vehicles are difficult to damage with most hand-held weapons.
Hand-to-hand Combat:
Melee attacks against astationary (or nearly stationary) vehicle automatically hit, but normally do only superficial (scarring) dam- age, with no real game effect. The exception involves attacks against more vulnerable components, such as viewports, radio antennas, engine intakes, and the like. (Historically, for example, a number of battle tanks have been disabled by a well placed grenade i n the treads, or even a can of gasoline poured into an engine compartment.) GMs may require a suc-
cessful Intuition check to identify such vulnerable components on a vehicle. Typically, some sort of melee weapon and a successful Fitness test will be required to damage them, and the GM may apply modifiers to the attempt, based upon the compo- nent's durability.
Melee attacks against a moving vehicle require an attack roll for even superficial damage. This is because attackers mounted on the vehicle have to devote some attention to avoid falling off, and attack- ers on the ground have to time their attack for the moment when the vehicle comes adjacent to them. Depending upon the vehicle and its current speed, the GM may rule that in order to target a vulnerable component and do more serious damage, the attacker must pass an Intuition test as above, and/or apply modifiers to the chance to hit. What's more, immedi- ately after attacking, a character on the ground must succeed at a Reflexes roll to avoid being accidentally struck by the vehicle. For possible penalties to this roll, for the damage effects to the character on foot, and for rules concerning intentional ramming by the vehicle's pilot, see the "Vehicle to Character" head-
i ng, below.)
Ranged Combat:
The GM may assign bonuses forthe target's size and/or penalties for the target's cur- rent speed for ranged attacks against vehicles. If the vehicle has a screen up at the time, further penalties should be made to the attack chance.
Successful sidearm attacks normally do only super- ficial damage to vehicles, though those which pass a success rating of the GM's devising (typically S1 or S2) may be considered to have damaged a more vul- nerable component. Attacks by heavy weapons suffer roughly half the penalty for screens and have roughly twice the chance of damaging a vulnerable compo- nent, because they are able to penetrate slightly more durable materials to get to them.
Vehicle to Character: Weapons mounted on vehi-
cles fall under two different categories in this game, based upon their intended category of target: vehi- cle or personnel. Antipersonnel weapons-such as heavy blasters-use the normal character to charac- ter attack rules, because they are, effectively, charac-
ter weapons that simply happen to be mounted on a platform, the vehicle.
When vehicles attack characters with weapons normally intended only for attacks against other vehi- cles, the chance to hit is much reduced, because the targeting equipment is not intended for such rela- tively small, organic targets. Use the Gunnery skill for such attacks, but make them at only half the normal chance to hit.
On the other hand, because these weapons are i ntended to breach vehicle shields and armor and do damage to rather durable components, if they actu- ally hit a character, it is pretty much a sure thing that the target is dead-utterly disintegrated, blown to tiny fragments, etc. Your GM may allow characters a Luck test to avoid death, but as that skill explains, even if the test is successful, the character will still be in very bad shape.
There is a final attack type that must be discussed concerning vehicle attacks on characters. This is the ramming attack. A character driving a vehicle may attempt to run over a character on foot, or (as ex- plained under the Character to Vehicle heading, above) a character making a melee attack at a mov- i ng vehicle may be struck. In the case of a character trying to run over another character, a Piloting skill
roll must be passed and the target must fail a Reflexes roll in an attempt to get out of the way. Modifiers to these rolls, and damage done to the standing charac- ter, depend upon the GM's judgment of whether the vehicle is traveling slowly (up to roughly 15 meters per turn), quickly (roughly from 16 to 30 meters per turn), or extremely quickly (roughly from 31 to 60 meters per turn-at speeds above this, it becomes effectively impossible to ram a character). Slow-mov- i ng vehicles impose no penalties to either skill roll, and cause 2d6(1) damage if they hit; quickly moving vehicles impose a -20 penalty to each roll and do 2d8(3) damage; extremely quickly moving vehicles i mpose a penalty of -30 to each roll and do 2d12(5) damage.
Vehicle to Vehicle: When vehicles are attacking
vehicles, use the dogfighting rules on page 112 in this chapter.
Given the emphasis on space travel in this game, it shouldn't be surprising that much of the personal combat in its adventures occurs on board starships. Unfortunately, given the compact nature of these ships, such combat is as apt to damage the interior of a starship as it is to damage the combatants. It is even possible to breach a hull, exposing everyone present to the vacuum of space!
Hand-to-Hand Combat: With the exception of
combat involving Fugues (which are covered under Sidearm Damage, below), there is no risk of breach- i ng a hull from hand-to-hand combat, thrown weap- ons, and primitive ranged weapons such as arrows. But a critical failure at any of these attacks can dam- age control panels, tear wiring loose, or perhaps sever fluid lines, etc., at the GM's option. This is con- sidered ancillary damage, as explained below.
Firearms Combat: Firearms and Fugues have a greater chance of causing ancillary damage. At the end of a turn in which firearms have been fired or Fugues have been used, roll 1 d10 and compare it to the number of attacks that missed their targets, count- i ng heavy weapon fire as double. If the number rolled i s greater than this total, the missed attacks cause no serious damage to the starship's interior (just scorch marks and the like). On the other hand, if the number rolled is less than or equal to the total missed attacks, the combat area suffers ancillary damage. If a 1 is rolled, a bulkhead has been breached as well (depend- i ng upon the circumstances, the GM may choose to have this be a hull breach instead, likely at a viewport or other such relatively weak spot).
Ancillary Damage Effects: For dramatic purposes,
the effects of ancillary damage are immediately obvious: Sparks fly, power lines jump about, fluids might spray, acrid smoke arises, warning lights flash, buzzers go off, or suchlike, or the area might sud- denly lose all light, heat, air circulation, artificial gravity, etc. The ship might even suffer an overall diminishment in function due to this localized dam- age, though large ships are less likely to do so than are small ones (because the circuitry, hydraulics, etc.