Grace Tanaka: 1/2 American, 1/2 Japanese. Ex-nun turned ninja. Her quest for justice has taken her to the bowels of Independence City, a crime-ridden dark metropolis ruled from the shadows by the infamous crime boss, Marcus Buchanan, also known as the murderous Black Tiger.
Grace has been following leads that have led her to a bad bar in a bad part of a bad town. After getting nowhere with the patrons, she turns to leave, only to be surrounded by a gang belonging to one of Tiger’s sub-lieutenants. A huge, tattooed brute steps in her way. “Cute little girl – you’re a long way from home.” He cracks his knuckles and laughs.
With a steely glare back at him, she responds, “And you’re a short way from Hell!” And combat is joined!
Director: Nice line to get this fight started! This fight is taking place inside the dive bar. If it looks like it would be in a biker bar in a bad movie, it’s probably here. Even though it’s crowded and cluttered, I will not be using any of the rules for Environmental Hazards. Just use the scenario in your descriptions as you see fit. I’ll keep track of the time with a Time Roll, but we’ll just count it up from zero rather than having a formal Timer count down from 99. You will begin at Range 3 from your opponents.
Grace: How many thugs are there?
Director: Seven. Six thugs plus the leader.
Grace: I hope they’re not too strong. I’m only Power Level 1. So, since there are seven of them, that’s one Thug group of seven?
Director: Actually, no. Only Thugs of the same
rating can be in the same Thug group. So there is actually a Thug group of six thugs and a second Thug group of one thug, the leader. He counts as his own group even though he’s alone.
Grace: So what kind of Thugs are in each group?
Director: Well, that you’ll have to find out the hard way. OK. Time for Initiative.
Grace: I’m spending 1 FS on Initiative, increasing me to 1d10. My Control is 1d6.
Director: OK. The thugs have 1d4 and the leader has 1d6 for Initiative. Roll!
Grace: An 8! Guess that means I’m going first! And Control of…3.
Director: Great! The gang rolled a 2 and the leader rolled a 5.
Grace: What were their Control totals?
Director: Thugs don’t roll Control because they can only use Basic Moves and they can’t do Combos. It’s one less thing I need to worry about when running them!
Grace: Well, let me try to simplify things even more for you. Let’s get rid of these rank-and-file thugs first. I step forward 1 Range to Range 2 and use my Spinning Sweep on them. It’s Level 3, so I have enough Control. It has Accuracy +0, but I’ll get a -1 for the Range. How do the Thugs defend
themselves? Do they have all the options I do?
Director: No, Thug groups have a static number for Defense. They have no Evasion, no Tactics, and they have no Fighting Spirit. More not to worry about.
Their Defense is a 3.
5
Grace: OK. I won’t spend any FS. [Rolls] A 4! Hits!
My damage is 1d6+1, and this move Knocks Down.
Director: OK. Thugs also don’t have Life Bar. When you hit them, they are either still standing and unaffected by the specific amount of damage you did, or they’re out of the fight. This is determined by a Life Save: a number or less on a d10 to stay
standing. For these guys, only Thug 1s, their Life Save is 2. So I have to roll a 1 or 2 on 1d10 for him to stay in the fight. However, if you do a higher-damage attack, the Thugs’ Life Save drops even further. Every die size above 1d4 subtracts 1 from the Thugs’ Life Save. Because your attack is 1d6+1, their Life Save drops to a 1.
Grace: Does the extra +1 of the 1d6+1 matter?
Director: No; only the die size. So, a Life Save of 1.
[Rolls] A 3. One down!
Grace: That’s it? One down already?
Director: That’s it!
Grace: So, normally, they’d suffer Hit Stun, and they would be Knocked Back 1 Range and Knocked Down. How does this work?
Director: OK, first, Thug groups do not suffer Hit Stun. It’s one of the few things they have going for them against Fighters. They are also not Knocked Back by regular attacks. So you are still at Range 2.
Knocking Down a Thug group is special. Rather than Knocking Down the whole group, the effects depend on whether you took out your opponent or not. If you didn’t, they have to make a second Life Save as they hit the ground. If you did take out a Thug, then the rest of the group is Knocked Back 1 Range.
Grace: I knocked one over and the rest stumbled out of the way of the falling body?
Director: Sure! So, even though I said there was no Knock Back, the Knock Down effect pushes them back to Range 3 again. Now, before the Thugs get to go, you have Thug Thrashing Skill, right?
Grace: Yeah, Thug Thrashing 2.
Director: Cool! For every rank you have in Thug Thrashing Skill, you get an extra full turn’s worth of actions. You can move, attack, even go on Full Defense while you’re still attacking! The only difference is that your Control roll is considered halved, round down.
Grace: So I get two more actions, but only at Control 1 each?
Director: That’s right! Go for it!
Grace: OK. I’ll do a Jumping Basic Move. I close 2 Ranges for 1 FS, land at Range 1, and throw a kick into one of the Thugs. No modifiers for Accuracy at all.
Director: Remember, their Defense hasn’t changed;
still a 3.
Grace: Right. [Rolls] Another 3, another hit!
Director: As your Basic Moves only do 1d4 damage, the Thug gets his full Life Save: a 2. [Rolls] A 3. Nice try, guy! Two down! No Knock Back either, so you stay at Range 1. Next?
Grace: I whirl around and backhand another guy. All the same numbers apply, right?
Director: Yes. Go ahead and roll.
Grace: Another 3, and another hit.
Director: He rolls a 4 on his Life Save and he goes down too. Still at Range 1. Unfortunately for you, it’s their turn.
Grace: What about the leader? Is he at Range 1 too?
Director: Nope. He’s still back at Range 3. I track their distances from you separately. Their distances from each other is irrelevant. If you had an ally in this fight, things get a little trickier, but we could have put it all out on a very simple pattern on a piece of paper and everything would work smoothly. But we don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, the leader goes next. He advances two Ranges to Range 1. That’s all he gets to do. The rest of the Thugs get a single attack on you. How do you want to defend?
Grace: I will use Evasion. I have Evasion 2 and I will spend 1 FS on my defense. Defense Total 3.
Director: OK. Like Defense, Thugs’ Accuracy is standard and never changes except for Range, and even then, they usually choose to close instead of attack. These guys have an Accuracy of +0. [Rolls]
A 4. They hit! Damage is also, you guessed it, standard for all of them. Their damage is 1d4. [Rolls again]. A hefty 4 points of damage!
Grace: Nice hit. I’m down to 26 Life Bar.
Director: Thug groups do not do Knock Back with their attacks, so you are still at Range 1. That looks like the end of actions.
5
Grace: Yup.
Director: OK, so Grace stepped forward, dropped down, and swept the legs out from under one of the toughs. As he tumbled back into his friends, she bounced up and placed a high kick firmly in one of their faces, toppling that guy over a table, while one of her fists whirled and slammed hard into another guy’s temple. He stumbled back into the jukebox, which breaks on impact. Meanwhile, the leader moved up behind Grace. As she noted his approach from the corner of her eye, one of the other guys smashed her hard across the jaw!
Grace: Sounds good to me!
Director: OK. You get 3 Glory for the Special Move.
Check the time, which is 1d8 for a Thug fight…
[Rolls] 4. So all that happened in about 4 seconds or so. One last end-of-turn task: a roll on the Thug Event chart for each active Thug group. [Rolls twice]
An 8 for the thugs; all even results are no effect. The leader, however, rolled a 7: Exhausting Combat. He rolls his normal damage and applies it straight to your Fighting Spirit. [Rolls]. Six.
Grace: Wow. I’m down to 2 FS already.
Director: Despite her control of the battlefield, evidently Grace is a little unsure of herself now that she’s surrounded.
Grace: The experience is bringing up memories of the men who attacked her convent back in my past.
Director: That’s awesome! Love it! Next turn…
Grace: OK, to summarize: there are 3 thugs left and their boss, right?
Director: That’s right. Time to roll Initiative.
5
Grace: I can’t afford to spend any FS, so I’ll be using my normal rolls. Uh oh. Initiative 3 and Control 4.
Director: The thugs get a 4 and the boss gets a 1.
The Thug group goes first. Since they are at Range 2, they advance 1 Range and attack. How will you defend?
Grace: I’m still using Evasion and I’m going to have to rely on my skill alone. Have to save those last points of Fighting Spirit for when I really need them!
So my Defense Total is just a 2.
Director: OK. [Rolls] A 3. They took advantage of your obvious distraction and hit you again. Damage is… [Rolls] Another 4 points!
Grace: Ouch! 22 Life Bar remaining. Time to put an end to this. It’s my turn and I’m still at Range 1, right?
Director: That’s right.
Grace: OK. For my first action, I’ll use my Rapid Spear Hand. It has Accuracy +1, and I get another +1 for having more Control than I need.
Director: The Thug group’s Defense remains 3;
remember, it doesn’t change.
Grace: Right. So I don’t need to roll to hit with a +2 Accuracy. This attack does 1d6+1, so that’s -1 Life Save, right?
Director: Yup. 2-1 is one. [Rolls] 5. Thug number 4 goes down. Second action?
Grace: Well, half my rolled Control is 2. Can I do a Combo on Thugs?
Director: Yes, but you ignore the damage of the individual moves in the Combo.
Grace: Oh. So why do it?
Director: Three reasons. First, it’s worth more Glory.
Second, a Combo, even of all Basic Moves, also subtracts from the Thug’s Life Save, depending on how many hits are in the Combo. I suppose that reason doesn’t matter much against these guys.
Third, with a long Combo, you can attack more than one opponent at the same time.
Grace: I’ll do it. I only have Control 2, so a 2-hit Combo of Basic Moves. Accuracy +0 against Defense 3. [Rolls] A 4. Another hit. Damage is 1d4+
1.
Director: Right. Normally, 1d4 wouldn’t subtract from their Life Save, but a 2-hit Combo still subtracts 1. [Rolls] A 4. So, another one down.
Grace: Hey, this is getting easy! I’ll do the exact same thing on the last guy. [Rolls] 5! And that should take care of the Thug group, right?
Director: [Rolls] A 5. Yup, that’s it. It’s just and the leader now, and it’s his turn. He attacks with a +2 Accuracy. How will you defend?
Grace: +2? Wow. I’ll combine Defense and Evasion; I have 2 in each. I add 1/2 of the lower Skill to the higher, so that’s 3, right? And since that’s still not enough, I’ll spend one of my last FS to defend.
Defense Total 4.
Director: [Rolls] A 1! Not good enough! That’s the end of the turn. He still gets to roll on the Thug Event chart. A 5: Plenty of Room. Well, that certainly makes sense after this turn! His Initiative gets increased by one die size next turn.
5
Grace: Bring it on!
Director: You get a total of 7 Glory this turn: 3 for the Special Move and 2 for each of the 2-hit Combos.
Grace: 9, actually: the Rapid Spear Hand has the Increased Glory Element, so that’s plus two.
Director: Right. Time check. [Rolls] 4. The fight has lasted about 7 seconds. While Grace hesitated, the remaining toughs closed on her. One of them threw a kick into her side.
Grace: Yeah, but that was just what I needed to shake off the distraction. My hand shot out like a blur, driving dozens of spear hands into his face. I followed that with a knife hand and a jab to the next guy, and then a cartwheel kick on the last guy over the bar. Tables and chairs went flying.
Director: And then the boss moved into the space cleared out by you and threw a fast fist, trying to catch you off guard, but you dropped into a split and the blow whiffed harmlessly above your head.
Grace: So let’s get to the next turn already!
Director: OK. It’s down to you and the boss, and he’s using the space cleared out by the brawl. He’s flexing and throwing a few punches into the air. His Initiative increases to 1d8 this turn.
Grace: I’m still not increasing my Initiative.
Director: Then let’s roll it. [Rolls] 7!
Grace: Ha! 8! I go first!
Director: What was your Control?
Grace: Oops. Forgot to roll that. [Rolls] 3.
Director: You are at Range 1.
Grace: Perfect. I’m attacking with my Leaping Elbow Strike. No Accuracy modifier. What’s this guy’s Defense?
Director: He has a 5.
Grace: Oh! In that case, I guess I’ll use my last point of Fighting Spirit for a +1 Accuracy. [Rolls] A 4. Hit!
That worked out well. This attack does 1d8 damage normally.
Director: So that’s 2 die sizes above 1d4, which means -2 Life Save for him. His Life Save is normally a 4, so it’s reduced to a 2. Here goes nothing! [Rolls]
5. Despite his desperate attempt at intimidation, he’s felled in one blow!
Grace: Even if that hadn’t taken him out, I still would have had two more chances to attack him with Basic Moves.
Director: True. Let’s check the time… [Rolls] A 4. A total of about 11 seconds. You get 3 more Glory for the Special Move. What’s that make your total?
Grace: 15.
Director: Impressive. However, all Thug fights are only worth 1/3 Glory, so you end up with 5. Now that the men are sprawled all over the trashed bar, a mysterious figure who you hadn’t seen before steps out of a room in the back. “Ms. Tanaka, I think we should talk…”