mechanics Violence and Environmental Hazards

[Essence]

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"Violence is the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived." - Robert A. Heinlein

In a world where resources are scarce and ruled by the dead, conflict inevitably arises. Whether it's food, water, or shelter, survivors often find themselves in competition with others, leading to violent confrontations over limited supplies. The world of the dead is without a doubt a dangerous place, so your characters will definitely end up in combat situations or situations where your life is on the line - either by your own volition, bad luck, or because someone is out to get them. The Walking Dead Universe RPG isn't a combat-focused game system, but it acknowledges that violence is a foundational part of the franchise and something that your characters will either commit, witness, or become a victim of. Overall, there are two types of combat: Duels, and Brawls.

DUELS

The most basic way of fighting is when you are up against a living opponent, either with guns, knives, or your bare hands. It is handled as a simple opposed roll. The fighter with the most successes wins, and they inflict damage on the other fighter equal to their own weapon’s Damage rating.

Should you and your enemy get an equal amount of successes when you roll, you will hit each other simultaneously, both inflicting damage on the other. If both fail the roll, neither of you deal damage.

If you roll extra successes beyond what's needed to win the roll, each extra success increases the damage done by one point. If you and your opponent are still standing after the opposed roll, you may attack each other again.

WEAPON BONUS
When you use a weapon, you can add a number of dice equal to the weapon's gear bonus to the skill roll.

HELP
If someone helps you attack your opponent, for example, by distracting them while you strike, you get an additional die to your roll.

RANGE
Distance between combatants is managed, at least - in how I'm running the game, using an abstract zone scale. Short Range is less than 25 meters or within a single zone, close enough for you to run up to your enemy and attack in close combat or fire a revolver at them. Long Range means that you need to use Ranged Combat to attack your opponent. You could be anywhere between 25 - 100 meters, or two zones, from your enemy. Anything beyond two zones or 100 meters is considered Extreme Range. Only some special weapons can be used at that distance.

Do note, however, that engaging with a target at Short Range will always be a Close Combat roll, even if you're attacking with a ranged weapon. You will, instead, use Agility as your base attribute to pair with Close Combat in that event.

COVER
If you are behind solid cover, any ranged attack against you needs an additional success to hit you. Remove one success from your enemy's dice roll before comparing the results. If both of you are behind cover, remove a success from each of your rolls. Cover does not protect you from close combat attacks.

DEFENSELESS OR UNAWARE
Should you attack someone who is unaware of the attack or otherwise unable to defend themselves, it is not an opposed roll. You simply need to succeed with the skill roll to hit, and each success beyond the first increases the damage done by one point.

MOVEMENT
In some situations, you may focus on avoiding getting hit or fleeing the fight instead of counterattacking. In a case where you can't, or won't, shoot or fight back, you can instead try to seek cover or reduce/increase the distance to the enemy by one zone (but not both). Both of these actions require a straight Mobility roll to succeed. If you manage to find cover (above), you do so before the attack roll(s) against you are made, while any effects of a range change are applied after the attack(s).

MULTIPLE COMBATANTS
If two fighters gang up on a single enemy, the lone fighter must first decide who to roll an opposed roll against. The lone fighter is then considered a defenseless target against the other opponent. All attacks happen simultaneously.

If there are several fighters on both sides, the GM can split them up into several duels, or decide to use the rules for Brawls.

MESSING UP
Messing up in combat typically means that you have made noise and attracted the undead. The GM raises the Threat Level by 1 or informs someone that the undead are attacking them.

Messing up can also mean that your un out of ammunition or do something that helps your opponent. Perhaps you could even accidentally shoot your friend! The GM should decide upon something that is plausible.

BRAWLS

When several people are involved in a fight and the situation is complicated and intense, the rules for Brawls will be used. The rules for range, movement, and defenseless targets in Duels apply in Brawls as well. The GM starts by drawing a map of the area, marking out places where you can take cover and possible obstacles, such as walls, doors, bodies of water, or cars. Note on the map where everyone is at the start of combat. Decide if anyone starts out in cover and say something about the distance between enemies: Short, Long, or Extreme.

Brawls are divided into rounds, and in each round everyone gets one action. Actions normally require a skill roll. Besides this single action, you may also do quick and simple things such as shouting a few words, picking up a gun from the counter next to you, drawing your knife from its sheath, or pressing a button. The brawl ends whenever the story calls for it. This could be because all the enemies are dead, have given up, or run away. Or because you have been defeated.

In a Brawl, actions are divided into six categories, resolved in phases numbering from 1 to 6. During each round, the GM calls out each phase, and then all NPCs and PCs that want to perform their action in that phase declare it. NPCs declare first, then PCs. Fights are chaotic and hectic, so choosing an action should be done quickly. If a player can’t decide, the GM should tell them that there is no time to ponder and will keep it at an interval that is decided between the players and the GM. Lingering further means the PC takes one point of stress and must respond to any actions that would be taken upon them due to their inaction to the degree that I deem appropriate. If the player’s inability to decide is a result of the player not knowing the rules, combat will be paused, and the rules explained. No player should be punished for not knowing the rules.

1 - TAKING COVER
Roll Mobility to take cover. If you succeed, you are in cover immediately. attacks require one more success to hit you than normal when you are in cover. If you fail the roll, finding cover takes time, and you are not considered to be in cover until the round has ended.

2 - RANGED COMBAT
NPCs state targets first, then the PCs select theirs. Then start resolving skill rolls. This is handled as an opposed roll, as in a Duel. When done, resolve any situation where someone shoots at a person who does not shoot back (resolved as a straight roll).

OVERWATCH: Overwatch is a Ranged Combat action that may be used to secure a certain area of the map or a designated sub-zone within a zone that I'll outline if necessary. If anyone moves into this area, you are ready to shoot them. This means that you may fire in the Movement phase in the round; however, if no one moves into the area, you’ll end up essentially doing nothing that round.

3 - CLOSE COMBAT
You can only use Close Combat against enemies within Short range. Close combat is handled in the same way as ranged combat. First, everyone states who they attack. Then the skill rolls are resolved, starting with opposed rolls. Cover does not apply.

4 - MOVEMENT
You may move one zone closer or further away from your opponent. Roll Mobility. If someone chases you, make an opposed roll, Mobility versus Mobility. The winner moves one distance closer or further away from the opponent. An equal result means the distance stays the same. When someone gives up or the range goes beyond Extreme, the chase is over.

5 - FIRST AID
You may give first aid to anyone within Short range. You cannot give first aid to yourself.

6 - OTHER
If you want to barricade a door, hotwire a car, set off explosives, get the radio working, or attempt any other action that is not covered above, it will be covered in the Other phase. The GM decides if your action requires a skill roll.

DAMAGE AND HEALTH

All living PCs and NPCs have three Health Points. When you take one point of damage, you lose one Health Point. If you lose all three Health Points, you are Broken. A PC or NPC naturally recovers one point of Health each day, as long as they are able to consume one ration of food during that day. A PC that has no food cannot heal. When you accumulate three or more points of damage, you’re Broken. This means that you are down – you cannot do anything meaningful. You may say some words or crawl behind the nearest bit of cover, but you cannot walk. As soon as a character becomes Broken, they take one stress and take a critical injury. Also, all skill rolls fail automatically while you are Broken. Taking more than three damage from a single attack does not have any extra effect. A Broken person who gets injured again dies. Attacking a Broken person requires a normal skill roll.

When you are Broken, someone else can give you first aid. This requires a Medicine roll. It only takes a couple of seconds of in-game time. If the roll is successful, you get back on your feet. You still suffer from the critical injury, but you’re not Broken anymore, and you regain one Health Point. Each extra success on the Medicine roll heals one additional Health Point. If there is no one to give you first aid, or if they fail their skill roll, you are Broken for D6 minutes. The GM makes the roll in secret. After the allotted time has passed you are no longer Broken and heal one Health point, but you are still critically injured.

Wearing armor may protect you from damage. It also makes you less agile. Armor gives you an Armor Level. When hit by an attack, roll a number of dice equal to the Armor Level. Each success reduces the damage you take by one. On the other hand, the armor’s penalty value is the number of dice you need to subtract from any Mobility skill roll while wearing it.

CRITICAL INJURIES
When you are Broken, you suffer a critical injury. All critical injuries give you a penalty. As long as the injury remains, a number of dice are subtracted from all skill rolls you make. If you have more than one critical injury, the penalties from each are cumulative.

LETHAL INJURIES: Some critical injuries are lethal, meaning they will kill you after a certain amount of time unless you are stabilized before it runs out. The time limit is decided by rolling a die, indicating the number of minutes, hours, or days you have left, as specified for each injury. The GM makes this roll secretly. If someone attempts to stabilize you and succeeds at a roll for Medicine before the time limit runs out, you survive. The time limit also states what kind of medical equipment is necessary to help you, either basic (B) or advanced (A); advanced can be used in both cases. Without the right equipment, there is nothing to be done. Stabilizing a lethal critical injury takes time and demands that you are in a safe place with enough food and water. Only one attempt can be made each day.

Medical Equipment

Basic Medical Gear (B) involves things a field medic would carry with them in a bag: scalpels, bandages, basic medication, disinfectants, and other similar objects. If you do not have basic medical gear, you cannot create it by tearing some sheets into bandages or sharpening your bread knife. You need real medical equipment.

Advanced Medical Gear (A) is more specialized stuff that you find in a hospital. It could be a supply of blood, medicines, surgical equipment, or an operating table. Advanced medical gear is hard to find, and you might need some means of transportation, like a car, to move it around or bring people to it.

RECOVERY TIME: Each critical injury has a listed recovery time, indicating how long it takes to either heal the damage or adjust to it. You won’t, for example, heal a destroyed eye, but you can adjust to the impairment and learn to function with only one. The GM rolls a die for recovery time secretly – you won’t know how long it takes. When the recovery time has passed, the penalty is removed. If you are tended to by someone who uses basic medical gear and makes a Medicine roll, recovery time may be shortened by one hour/day/week for each success. A failed roll means the recovery time is increased by one. Only one Medicine roll can be made to tend to you while you heal unless your group gains access to more advanced medical gear – in this case, a new roll is allowed.

 

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Just like in the old world, there are many ways to get hurt and killed other than a stray bullet, a knife in the back, or a bite from a walking corpse.

EXPLOSIONS
When something explodes, it hits everything at Short distance from the impact point. Explosions have a Blast Power (BP). Roll a number of dice equal to the Blast Power; each success means one point of damage to all targets. The Blast Power roll cannot be pushed. A successful Mobility roll negates all damage from explosions.

EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS: Attacks with an explosive weapon are rolled using Ranged Combat. If you hit, all targets within Short range of the impact point suffer blast damage as per above. Extra successes on your attack roll increase the damage on all targets. A failed skill roll means that you hit the wrong location and your target(s) escape damage. Unless you mess up with your attack roll, you do not take damage from your own attack.

FIRE
Fire is measured in Intensity. A typical fire has an Intensity between 4 to 8. When exposed to fire, roll a number of dice equal to the Intensity. For each success, you take one point of damage. The roll cannot be pushed, and Armor does not protect you. If you stay in the flames, or if you keep burning, you keep taking damage. As the fire spreads, Intensity increases. The Survival skill is typically used to stop the fire from spreading. It is handled as an opposed roll against the fire’s Intensity.

POISON
Poison has a Toxicity rating, typically between 4 to 8. When you are exposed to poison, roll for your Endure against the poison’s Toxicity. If you win, the poison doesn’t affect you. If it is a draw, you are still affected by the poison, but you do not take any damage. For each success the Toxicity gets more than you, you take one point of damage. You must make a new opposed roll against the poison each hour, until you manage to successfully fight off the poison, or it kills you. If you are Broken by a poison, you take a critical injury.

If you are already Broken and take one more damage from the poison, it kills you. A person with the right equipment and medicine might try to treat you. Once every hour, one person may treat you by making a Medicine roll. Each success is added to your Endure roll. While poisoned, you have a –1 penalty on all dice rolls, including the Endure roll.

DIESEASE
Diseases have a Virulence rating, typically between 4 to 10. When you are exposed to a disease, make an opposed roll for Endure against the Virulence of the disease. This is called a sickness roll. If you get more successes than the disease, your body has fought off the disease and you are well. If it is a draw, you are infected but don’t take any damage. For each success the disease gets more than you, it inflicts one point of damage. If you are Broken by a disease, you take a critical injury.

If you are already Broken and take one more damage from the disease, it kills you. Make an opposed roll against the disease each day. While you are sick, you don’t heal damage. A person with the right equipment and medicine (such as an antibiotic if the disease is bacterial) may try to treat you. Once every day, one person may treat you by making a Medicine roll. Each success is added to your Endure roll. As long as you are sick, you have a –1 penalty on all dice rolls, including the Endure roll.

FALLING
Falling on a hard surface automatically inflicts damage equal to the height in meters divided by two, rounded down. In a controlled jump, roll Mobility. Each success reduces the damage by one. Armor does not protect you.

TRAPS
Walking into a trap is a common way to get yourself killed when you are near the base of a hostile NPC. If you are in an area that is likely to be trapped and explicitly looking out for them, or other dangers, make a Scout roll to discover them. Most traps that you find can be avoided or destroyed without much effort. Others are more complicated and require a Tech roll to disarm.

If you spring a trap, you get to make a Mobility roll to avoid its effect. Should you succeed, you are safe. But remember that loud noises, for example an explosion, will attract the dead and probably raise the Threat Level. Should you fail to avoid the trap, you are affected negatively in some way. Some traps simply hurt you. They have an Attack rating and a Damage rating. Roll a number of dice equal to the Attack rating. Each success means one point of damage. Add the Damage value to find out the total amount of damage inflicted. Traps might also mean that you are exposed to poison, disease, an explosion, or a fall.

THE DEAD

The greatest environmental hazard there is now in the new world. Wherever you are in the world of the dead, swarms are a constant threat. You might be temporarily safe, but the undead are always out there, hungry for your flesh. The undead don’t have skills, attributes, Health Points, or any other mechanical characteristics. A group of undead, typically five or more, is referred to as a swarm. The size of a swarm is its Swarm Size.

Swarm Sizes

NUMBER OF DEAD	SWARM SIZE
5-10	1
11-20	2
21-50	3
51-100	4
100+	5
1000+	6

THREAT LEVEL
The constant threat from the undead is measured by a Threat Level, on a scale from 0 to 6 indicating both how active the dead are in the area and how close they are to you.

SETTING THE THREAT LEVEL: When a scene starts, the GM sets the Threat Level according to the situation. It measures undead threats in the immediate surroundings and may thus be changed just by moving from one room to the next. If the situation in the game changes, the Threat Level changes accordingly.

The Threat Level can be increased in four ways:

• Rolling a walker on a stress die and messing up
• Failing a skill roll to avoid the undead.
• Facing a group of undead that has been placed in a location beforehand by the GM
• Doing something in the game that attracts the dead, such as making noise

In situations where increasing the Threat Level seems illogical or not appropriate, the GM may instead do one of the following:

• Let a PC or NPC suffer a single attack from the dead.
• Increase the Swarm Size by one step

Threat Levels

THREAT LEVEL	SITUATION
0	You are in a cleared area and safe. For now.
1	There are dead around, but they have not noticed you. You might suffer a single attack if you mess up.
2	There are dead close by, but they are not aware of you. Yet. The GM can draw a map of the area and point out where the dead are located exactly.
3	The dead are aware of you. All nearby undead will shamble towards you, and you must fight to get out alive.
4	The dead are closing in on you.
5	They are at arm's length away from you.
6	The dead are in your face, surrounding you. Good luck.

AVOIDING THE DEAD
At Threat Level 1 or 2, you can still try to avoid the dead, for example by using Stealth to sneak around them or running past them with Mobility. Failing the skill roll means that the GM can have one of two things happen:

• The Threat Level is increased one step
• You suffer a single attack

Should you also mess up on the skill roll, both things happen.

REDUCING THE THREAT LEVEL
There is no easy way to reduce the Threat Level. At Threat Level 2 and below, you can generally just wait for the dead to leave. You can even attack them first, to clear out the area. At Threat Level 3 and above, the dead know you are there and won’t just go away. Even if they can’t currently attack you, they might just mill around the area aimlessly. To get rid of them, you’ll need to cause some kind of distraction. Describe what you want to do, and the GM will decide what rolls (if any) are needed to lure them away or direct their attention elsewhere.

SINGLE ATTACKS
A single attack is used when you encounter or are encountered by just one or a few undead (less than a swarm). If you want to determine the exact number, the GM can roll a double low, but it has no mechanical effect. A single attack can result from a mishap during a skill roll. This means that you have not alerted the larger group, but one or two of them are definitely approaching you.

ONE ROLL: A single attack is resolved with one skill roll by you. You can roll for any skill that makes sense in the situation. The GM has the final word. Others may assist you with the roll.

DURING COMBAT: If you suffer a single attack while already engaged in combat or a confrontation, you still get to make a roll to avoid it. This does not count as an action.

SUCCESS: If you succeed, you have dispatched the undead, evaded them, or in some other way stopped their advance. This doesn’t ensure safety, however. You could still find yourself barricaded in a room with undead waiting outside the only exit.

FAILURE: If you fail the roll, your outcome will be determined by the GM. This might entail taking damage, getting bitten, or dying instantly. If you become Broken, you will also sustain a critical injury. Even if you fail, the single attack is concluded.

Amputation

For some results as dictated by the GM after failing a roll, such as being bitten on a limb, you must amputate a body part to survive. The person who is cutting off a piece of you must make a Medicine roll. Both of you take one point of stress. Whether the roll is successful or not, the amputee takes the critical injury “severed limb”. But if the Medicine roll is successful, the injury is not lethal, as indicated in the table. Should the skill roll fail, the injury is lethal and handled as normal.

FIGHTING A SWARM
Once the Threat Level reaches 3, when the dead are aware of you and move in for their meal, the situation is dealt with in rounds, as in brawls. Basically, they attack while you fight to get to safety. Each round, up to three chosen PCs and NPCs in the fight roll for skills and add up their number of successes. Which skills can be used depends on the current Threat Level and is indicated by the Swarm Attack table on the next page. Additional PCs and NPCs present can assist with help dice (page 51), but no more than three may roll.

SMALL GROUPS: If just two characters face a swarm of dead, they still make three skill rolls, with one of them rolling twice. The second of those roll gets a –2 modifier. If a single PC fights a swarm, they roll all three rolls themselves, with a –2 modifier to the second roll and –4 to the third roll.

LEADERSHIP: A PC who is not making one of the three skill rolls during a round may bark orders and roll for Leadership. If the others do as they are told, the PC may hand out one extra die per success on the Leadership skill roll. No more than three dice can be given to the same person. Only one person per round can roll for Leadership in this way.

SWARM THREAT: You win and lose as a group, by comparing your number of successes against the current Swarm Threat. The Swarm Threat is calculated round by round by adding Swarm Size to the current Threat Level.

WINNING THE ROUND: If you get a total number of successes equal to or greater than the Swarm Threat, and the Swarm Size is 3 or lower, you win the fight. The Threat Level goes down to 0, 1, or 2, as decided by the GM depending on the situation and what fits the story. As long as the Swarm Size is 3 or less, you only need to win one round to end the fight, either because you killed all the undead, or you managed to run away or hide. If the Swarm Size is 4 or higher, winning a round just means the Swarm Size is reduced one step. Even if you win the round as a group, any PCs who mess up their skill roll suffer a single attack (page 80). This does not increase the Threat Level.

LOSING TO THE DEAD: If you get fewer successes than the current Swarm Threat, the dead win the round. The GM chooses one of the following options:

• The Threat Level is increased one step.
• The Swarm Size is increased one step.
• The Swarm attacks.

If one or more PCs messed up in a lost round, the GM chooses two options instead of one.

ALMOST MAKING IT: If you fail the roll but get at least half the successes you need to beat the dead, you have accomplished something helpful, even if you still lose the round. You get one free extra success the next round.

SWARM ATTACKS: A swarm can perform three types of attack.

• SINGLE ATTACK: A single undead attacks one PC or NPC with a single attack. Roll a random die to see who is targeted.
• BLOCK: The swarm block off all escape routes. Until the fight is won, all rolls for Mobility or Stealth need one extra success to succeed.
• MASS ATTACK: Roll a random die to see who is attacked by the swarm. No skill roll can be made to avoid this.

For every attack the swarm makes, Swarm Threat is calculated with a –1 modifier. If Swarm Threat is reduced to zero this way, the attack is over, and the undead move on.

SACRIFICING ANOTHER: At the start of a round, one or more PC can try to sacrifice someone else to the dead to get away. Make an opposed roll for Force. If you win, you are out of the fight, while the victim must suffer the consequences. If you lose, you will instead. The Force roll counts as one of the three rolls you are allowed as a group.

BRAWLS AMONGST THE DEAD
If you are fighting a living enemy in the middle of a swarm, the rules for brawls and the rules for fighting the swarm apply at the same time. Each round, PCs and NPCs choose whether to perform regular actions in the brawl or fight the dead. Fighting the dead counts as the Other action.

CLEARING OUT AN AREA
Clearing out an area means that you attack the swarm before they spot you, while the Threat Level is still 2. It works exactly like fighting a swarm, but since the Threat Level is low it will be easier. Another positive effect of such a preemptive strike is that the PCs do not take stress when alerting the swarm, as the Threat Level is still only at 2.

Should you fail to clear out the swarm on the first round, the Threat Level goes up, either to 3 if you are shooting at them, or to 5 if you fight them in close combat. At this point, you will take stress for alerting the dead.

Edited April 28 by Essence (see edit history)