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Chapter 1: The Basics

Terms

In Future Imperfect, there are a few terms used throughout the book. The players will be referred to as Crew, the GM as Master and player characters as Heroes. Enemies may be referred to as antagonists, henchmen, masterminds or villains. Character will mean any individual in the universe.

The Core Belief

Future Imperfect is not like every game on the market. This book and entire family of products is built on a single mission statement (expressed as a user story): As a player of tabletop roleplaying games, I want an immersive and consistent science fiction gaming experience, so that each session is as close to the best game for this Crew (group of players) as possible.

Those of you experienced with agile development will notice the format is the same as those used in software development sprints. Those of you with strong backgrounds in such will be saying to them self that those requirements are pretty soft. While the authors of this book agree, quantifying user experience in a tabletop RPG is very difficult. Put simply:

Future Imperfect strives to deliver the best game for your Crew every time. How do we do that? We do it by recognizing that the game is made up of players, and no principle or outside force (especially a set of rules and abstractions made by strangers) should get in the way of that experience. The Master should do his best to deliver the game the players want, every session, every scene.

This does not mean being weak or a pushover. More on this in Chapter: XX Crafting Stories.

Other Supporting Ideas

Besides the core belief, Future Imperfect is built on a foundation of ideas that we believe are simple and intuitive, but are not often represented in RPG design. The reasoning behind our design decisions are clearly laid out in Game Designer's Notes sections so that you and your Crew can understand the intent rather than just the letter.

One idea that was strongly influential is that we should have one card, one resolution. This is something we stuck to* even when other ideas seemed like they could be viable. Another is that any chain of events should be able to resolve in 30 seconds or less, no matter how complex, and without referencing charts and tables all over the book. The necessary info should be on the cards, dice and character sheets - and easy to read and interpret.

That last one needs a little more elaboration. Why 30 seconds? And why no references? The game should move quickly. Not because it is a race, or a contest to see how many resolutions we can cram into a session. Instead, by freeing up game time that was previously used to reference this or figure out that, we have more time to actually play the game. More time to describe, to banter, to discuss...to enjoy.

But being the demanding sort, we wanted to deliver this speed and clarity without sacrificing detail. Plenty of games resolve in 30 seconds without referencing anything. But do they deliver scene enriching detail and intellect engaging freedom of choice? We posit that they do not, at least not to the level that Future Imperfect can with the skilled used of action cards.

But enough puffery. On to the game itself!

*We do not consider increased effect or exploding results to be a second card. All the resolution is still on the first card, this just allows for extreme results to continue to be possible.

What you need

Besides some pencils and paper, other items will be needed based on how you and your Crew choose to play the game. A set of poker chips will be needed (described below). You may need dice, and you may need action cards. Future Imperfect can be played solely with dice, like most RPGs on the market. It can also be played using the provided Action Cards. It is also possible to playing using dice in combination with Acton Cards.

Dice

Future Imperfect is a collaborative exercise, so we need some way of randomizing certain actions such as determining whether or not your Hero hears the alien creeping up behind him. This is achieved this with dice and/or cards. Future Imperfect requires the full array of standard RPG dice (4-, 6-. 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice). These are abbreviated as d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20. If there's a number in front of the type of die, such as 2d6, it means you should roll that many dice. If you see "5d8," for example, you should roll 5 eight—sided dice.

Sometimes there's a number added to or taken away from the roll, like "2d12+2.” You always apply the modifier after you roll the dice.

Cards

Future Imperfect can also use decks of 54 playing cards. The game comes with one or more special sets, but you can also use any set of playing cards with jokers, with the included table for conversion (see Appendix 1). Special card decks are also available for some types of characters or action mini-games (discussed in Chapter XX), though they are a playing aid and are not necessary.

The most common set of special cards are called "Action Decks". One deck will be shared by the Master and Crew. Further instructions on how to use them follow here, with a more in depth discussion in Appendix 1. Certain character types (those with psionic powers, for example) can use their own decks (Ability Decks). Be sure to be properly prepared, before starting the game, with the appropriate number of card decks. The Master should also have an extra deck or two for extras to use as Ability Decks.

Ability and Acton decks are to be shuffled when directed by the cards or at the end of a scene (see the appropriate description). Note that Action decks can be used with dice, or completely instead of dice.

The Action Deck

The action deck is 54 cards, with results in each corner as well as different sections of the card face. Each card contains many colored numbers and symbols (if you are colorblind the same color always correlates to a specific location on the card, so color perception is not necessary) as well as many sets of values, each with their own use cases. That may sound complicated, but in the appendix we show you how to use any standard poker deck with Jokers as an action (or ability!) deck. And because each deck has all of the results and modifiers printed right on it, even complicated actions with many variables are easily described.

Chips

Future Imperfect uses standard poker chips for a great number of purposes described throughout the book. The standard mix at the beginning of any story arc is 50 white chips, 25 red chips, and 10 blue chips. Put all of these into a big cup or "Story Bin" so you can draw them out of the bin without looking at them. Once you've set up the crew's Story bin, put unused chips away.

Only under special circumstances do you ever add new chips to the bin. Whenever you spend a chip (again, more later), toss it back into the Story bin.

Traits & Skills

Heroes, extras, and other characters are mostly made up of Traits and Skills. Traits are things like Strength, Reflexes and Acuity. These are expressed as a number of dice and die type (such as 2d8), which correlates to the appropriate column when necessary. A really strong alien might have a 2d12 Strength, while an elderly IRSOL probably has a 1d6 or even a 1d4.

Skills are the experiences your Hero has collected during his life, quantified by a set of numbers. These are rated from 0 to 4 initially and tell you how many Trait dice to roll when using that Skill. A skill rated zero is considered trained, this means a number of dice equal to the trait's training level are rolled. Each additional skill level adds one die to the pool.

Future Imperfect uses fairly broad Skill descriptions, so you often need to choose a "specialization". The fighting skill does not exist by itself, it requires a specialization such as brawling, knives, or swords. The same is true for a skill like science —you need to specialize in biology, chemistry, or engineering.

Abstraction

The key to consistency in application of the rules is abstraction. Does this situation relate to one skill, or another? Likely, it could be either. In cases like this, judgment of the Master is necessary, but Crew input is welcome and even encouraged. As the Master, feel free to adjust the difficulty based on the skill the player wishes to use. For example, a Hero with medicine might have a difficulty of 7 to determine time of death of an alien corpse, while an investigator with a specialty in forensics could have 5. Both skill are applicable, but they are not equal in this case.

In general, the Master should strive to avoid telling players no. Sometimes it is inevitable, but in many cases an onerous difficulty number accomplishes the stated goal more effectively. Consider what these things actually mean: That is not possible vs That is extremely difficult, would you like to risk an attempt? Which one of those fosters the core belief of Future Imperfect (play the game the players want to play)?

Unskilled Checks

When a character attempts an action for which he does not possess the necessary skill, the result is an unskilled check. Perform the check as if the skill were possessed at rank 0, then divide the result in half, rounding down.

For instance, Antares Darkeye, a notorious space pirate, has a Dexterity of d10 with a training of 4, so he rolls 4d10 to make an unskilled Dexterity check. If he were to roll 7, 3, 6 and 4, his result would be 3 (7/2, rounded down).

Alternatively, draw an action card and consult the appropriate column/row in the cause section of the card (round down as above, of course). We suggest using action cards as much as possible (because who knows what kind of situations can arise even in the most simple circumstances), but some players really enjoy the visceral experience of dice. During a simple check, dice can be just as effective as cards.

Mixing Skills

Skills have a default trait association, but this is by no means the only possible usage. When the Master asks for a Skill task (such as a climbing) just use the physical trait associated with climbing (because climbing is a physical skill). But sometimes he might ask you for a climbing/Knowledge roll. This means he wants to see how much your character knows about climbing, not how well he can actually scale a cliff.

Interpreting Die Rolls

A character's Trait value tells you what kind of dice, and the Skill or Training tells you how many to roll. Your result is the highest number you get on any die face when you roll all your dice together. So if you roll 3d6 and get 2, 3, and 5, your result is a 5.

Allison McGee is sliding down a hill on her sleek and reliable hovercycle, although she is headed into the clutches of a particularly nasty bug. The Master wants a standard (5) Ride: Cycle check. Allison's riding is 2d8. She rolls and gets a 3 and a 4, not good enough for a success.

If there are any modifiers, they are applied after the dice are rolled. Negative modifiers are penalties of some sort, and positive modifiers are bonuses.

Unskilled Checks

If the Master requests a skill check for a skill your Hero does not possess, it is considered unskilled. In lieu of Skill dice, roll your character's Trait dice (using its Training as its Skill level), but divide the highest result by 2. Alternatively, if your character has a related skill, roll that instead, with a penalty of 2. Specializations within a Skill are always related, such as shooting pistols, flamers, and rifles. Other Skills may be related depending on the situation. Work with your Master to figure out if a Skill might be used in place of another. Only Skills may be considered related, never Traits.

Sid Scorpio has escaped from capture on a Kyr stronghold, and after subduing a guard he takes the fusion pistol from the guard's holster. Sid does not have the Shooting: Pistols - fusion skill, but he does have Shooting: Pistols - blaster, which is a related skill. He will be at -2 using this fusion pistol, which is just fine with him. Much better than nothing!

Later, after the fusion pistol is out of ammo, he finds himself in a firefight with a collection of guards hellbent on returning him to captivity. He sprints to the location of an enemy he dispatched earlier, and finds the only weapon this former antagonist has is a fusion LMG. Sid does not have the heavy weapons skill, so using this will be considered unskilled and his result will be divided by two. But as above, better than nothing!

Exceptional Success

Trait and Skill checks are open-ended, this means if you roll the highest possible number on any of your dice, you can roll that die again and add the next roll to that die's current total. The maximum number on a die is called the "Max". You can keep rolling the die and adding it to the running total as long as you keep getting the Max.

If you should get the Max on several of your individual dice, roll them one at a time and choose to either keep the number rolled or discard that result and roll the next Max die. Once you leave a die behind, it can no longer be used. This is only relevant with Skill and Trait Tasks, always roll for all Max on effect rolls.

Allison is hanging on to the hillside for dear life after her hovercycle's unfortunate demise. The Master wants a climbing total. Allison has 2d8 climbing and rolls two 8s. Lucky dog. She now has two Max results on the table, but can only keep the highest. Rumi (Allison's player) picks up the first 1d8 and rolls it, getting an 8. These dice are hot, another max! She rolls the last 8 again and gets a 3 for a grand total of (8+8+3=) 19. Her other max result is still sitting there, but she reasons that the chance of her doing better than that is slim (under 8%, in fact), so she is satisfied with this result and chooses not to risk rerolling the final max. Allison scampers up the hillside deftly, just as the thing below devours her hovercycle and snaps at her boots.

It should be noted that this is only relevant with dice rolls, since action cards already factor in all the appropriate rolls and present the final result.

Game Designers Note: Why not just reroll all Max results and take the highest? You can, if that is how you want to play, but we don't recommend it. The reason is simple: speed. Multiple Max results are relatively rare, but can slow the game down, and be more confusing than you might first think*. Give it a try, and if you decide that you still like rerolling all of your Max results, by all means, play the game you want to play.

The essence of all games of import is choice. Keep what I have or take a risk? You decide. A well done RPG is more than a storytelling exercise, it is a game at it's core that also produces an engaging story. Difficult choices make the game worthwhile. The story is interesting, the mechanics make it more so.

*For example, one solution to the exploding dice conundrum (where you cannot get the highest result on an exploding die) is to simply subtract 1 from the final result after rolling the second die. But what happens if you roll the Max again? Do you now subtract 2? Of course, for consistency you must. Is this really how you want to handle max results? Hence action cards, but, I am getting ahead of myself...

Critical Failures

If more than half of your dice come up 1 (or if the action card result is CF), you have achieved a critical failure, and something unusually bad happens, at the Master’s discretion, and the task fails automatically. Players should also be encouraged to narrate consequences of critical failures on their own. Be creative! Appreciate the result as a complication rather than a failure. Additionally, you cannot spend Story Chips (Chapter XX) during a critical failure. Ignore any Max results during a critical failure.

Tasks

In Future Imperfect, dice and cards can work synergistically to determine success as well as interesting details that occur within the game universe. In the real world, as well as in great fiction (and games), some things are pretty simple, while others are more complicated undertakings. To this end, Future Imperfect provides two resolution systems to be used as necessary to simulate the game world. Simple situations, like changing a weapon magazine or climbing a cliff face, are simple tasks. For more complicated endeavors, where multiple external and personal factors could be at play, the complex Task system is here to help you bring these situations to life. Give them the depth and coverage they deserve! In some cases, where a task might be performed over multiple combat rounds, a continuous task may be necessary

Simple Tasks

That furrow in your brow tells me you are wondering what the hell the difference is between a simple and complex Task (possibly even a continuous one). Good question, to be answered presently. As previously mentioned, simple tasks are straight-forward things in the abstract. They may not be simple to do, per se, but the outcome is a binary result, and other external factors are unlikely to come to bear. Anytime you would roll some dice, check the result, then move right along you are likely to be dealing with a simple task. The Master will tell you the skill and trait, as well as the difficulty, you prepare the dice, roll them and read them as above, then check the following table. If you meet or exceed the Task Number (TN), you have succeeded. There are no effects in simple tasks. The players should be able to describe all possible outcomes in a sentence or two before the dice are rolled.

Antares Darkeye wishes to switch magazines in his blast pistol using his speed load skill so that he still has an action to blast that space bozo Grun right in the puss. The possible results are he succeeds in changing the magazine with his action remaining (a success), he changes the magazine, but it takes his action (a failure) or he is unable to change the magazine at all (a critical failure). Because it is basically a binary result (ternary, so close enough), and it can be easily explained in a sentence or two, it is a simple task.

Not all gamers want to play the same game. The kind of adventure your Master has in mind could be John Carter of Mars high adventure just as easily as Neuromancer street level action. One of the most fundamental choices that must be made about the game you will play is the scope. Future Imperfect can be played (at least) two ways: Pulp and Gritty.

Pretty simple, right? Exactly as it was meant to be. Keep the game moving, keep the action foremost and let the players play. In this case, the dice roll and get out of the way, facilitating a fast paced game.

Just as her father dies, he whispers a plea into Allison's ear. He wants her to go to Denoba VII and protect an accused prisoner from certain doom. Allison is a Hero; of course she will set off for Denoba.

The Master asks Allison’s player for a Standard area knowledge check to know the location. Since this is a pulp scoped game, the TN is 5. She throws her dice for results of 3, 7 and 8. Success! The journey to Denoba is ready to begin.

And now some words on descriptions. Players should describe what it is they are attempting as clearly as possible. If it succeeds, if it fails, the player has every right to participate in the description. However, the Master is the final arbiter of exactly how most elements of the universe interact, sometimes even the Hero (you can't effectively disbelieve gravity) can't control everything about himself. The best case is when the Master and Crew work together to paint the surroundings in the most vivid canvas they can create.

Best case...your mileage may vary. Some groups prefer to describe their action and let the Master describe the effect. Others prefer the Crew take the lead and describe as much as possible. As a group, know the game you want to play. The philosophy behind Future Imperfect encourages creating a shared game world, remember the number one rule: work together to create the game your group wants to play. How else can you achieve maximum enjoyment?

Scope: Under the Hood

How much difference does this choice make? Why wonder, here is a chart showing the approximate difficulties for checks and tasks at the various scope levels.

Where it says 0, it means approximately 1-2%, due to the nature of the open ended card system. Excel doesn't know how to handle it.

Complex Tasks

In most games, Complex Tasks are the foundation of exciting scenes. When a Hero needs to do something great, almost certainly that is a complex task. In most cases Tasks are much more than a binary result. There are potential complications, deviations and unintended results. By utilizing the complex Task system you can draw one card and resolve a series of events without needing anything further.

To resolve a complex task is a simple process. When performing a task, take the top card from the Action Deck and compare the number in the appropriate column to the TN on the difficulty table above. This number must be equal to or greater than the TN to achieve success. Consult the other sections of the card as necessary to resolve related situations, such as damage, hit location and hitting bystanders.

Need some examples? Keep reading, the rules that follow will have plenty of tasks described in them.

The Skinny

Want to understand the difference between checks and tasks in a single sentence? Checks use only a single throw of dice and generate binary success/fail results (with possible critical fails as well), while tasks may use cards and possibly dice, and can quickly simulate long chains of related outcomes.

The game can be played exclusively with one or the other, but is much richer when both are used in tandem, as the situation warrants.

Continuous Tasks

Continuous tasks are special cases where once begun, they continue indefinitely until the character chooses to stop it. Some examples of continuous tasks are driving, covering fire and operating machinery. In some cases, other actions may be performed in tandem with continuous actions as described below.

To perform a continuous action, declare your intent on your turn and describe the action. Resolve the action as normal. During the next turn, after drawing and discarding action cards, discard your highest remaining action card to maintain the action. The continuous action occurs automatically on each of the continuous action phases.

Continuous Action Phases

During each turn there are 4 continuous action phases. All continuous actions occur during these continuous action phases. The order of action is determined by the handling of the action. For vehicles, each has a handling rating. For covering fire, the handling is considered to be 1. Ties are resolved in order of highest reflexes of the acting characters. If there is a tie, perform a simple reflex task, with the winner going first. In cases where a tie persists, the highest remaining action card breaks that tie. If somehow there is still a tie, the actions are simultaneous.

The first continuous action phase occurs after the last Step 4 action, with each successive step leading to another continuous action phase. Therefore, they occur after Step 4, 3, 2 and 1. Continuous actions phases occur even if no actions were performed in the given Step.

The continuous action occurs during each continuous action phase. In the case of movement, this is when the vehicle moves, it is not tied to the character or their action cards in any way. See driving under Vehicles in Chapter XX for the full vehicle movement rules.

What Happens?

During a continuous action phase the stated action occurs. This means that if you are driving, the vehicle moves during the continuous action phase. Each character performing a continuous action may attempt a maneuver during a continuous action phase that the given action is eligible for. Each character may perform a number of maneuvers equal to his level with the particular skill +1 during each turn. Other actions are done with his standard action cards. A character that is forced to discard all of his action cards or does not draw any action cards also has no maneuvers. The action must continue without adjustment.

Sid Scorpio is a pretty cracker jack pilot, his skill (TISA) is 2. While piloting an Avenger starfighter, during any turn he could do up to 3 maneuvers during the continuous action phases. He could turn, accelerate or perform any other standard maneuver. On his action cards he would be able to do other actions, such as firing the weaponry or using jamming equipment.

Escalating Success

During simple and complex Tasks, when you exceed your Task Number by 5 points, you get an extra success level. This is called a "bump". Bumps are sometimes used to show your character has achieved something above and beyond the norm. Heroes are achievers, they escalate often. Work with the Master to make the details of your bump come to life!

Results and Effect

If a task generates a value equal to or greater than the given TN, there is some measure of success. To see how much, check the effects section of the Action Card. Apply the number in the appropriate column/row toward generating effect. This is called effect level. The Master will tell you how much effect is necessary to generate one effect level, generally the number is 6 or thereabouts.

The entire amount of necessary success need not be accrued in a single action (if it is a continuous action), and multiple characters may collaborate to produce greater effect. However, partial effect levels are truncated.

Harry Greenhill wishes to assemble an explosive device as quickly as possible, so he can evacuate the premises. The Master informs him this will be a 7 TN Dexterity and Demolitions check, with 3 success criteria required at 6. He throws his dice and gets an 8. This is a success, but no bump. In the effect column he finds a 13. Two effect levels are generated, leaving one more necessary. He is partway done, but will need at least one more action (or help) to complete the device.

Game Designers Note: You may be thinking to yourself, this is unnecessarily complex! Why would this be necessary? In fact, it is not complex at all. It is an exact analog to combat. In combat, each multiple of the target's size (generally 6) delivers one wound. And this gets to the core of Future Imperfect.

In most RPGs combat is a detailed minigame, but every other resolution is not. When mechanics to support other parts of the game are introduced, complexity is often touted as an argument against the mechanics. Why do only combat focused characters get dedicated minigames?

Future Imperfect aims to right this wrong by creating detailed and interesting minigames for characters of many ilks. The way this is done is by abstracting the combat system to handle non-combat situations. By using a single, unified mechanic, everything becomes clear. Once that single type of resolution is mastered, and it can be done quickly, the essentials of every part of the system is mastered. It is true that this game has a relatively steep learning curve, and it is not for all gamers, but once that learning curve is bested, a moment of clarity is reached: the entire system comes into focus.

Contested Tasks

Occasionally, your Hero may attempt a task that is also being attempted by another individual. If this is the case, the Master relays the difficulty (usually 5) and success criteria, and all parties make their check (or task, Master discretion). There are three possible types of contested checks and tasks: races, contests or competitions.

When using action cards, all types of ties in contests are handled exactly the same: in the event of a tie otherwise, the action card with the highest impulse wins. All tie mechanics that follow are for situations involving dice only.

In a race, the object is to be the first to successfully complete the task. In this case, successive rolls are made until at least one party succeeds (accrues the appropriate success criteria). If multiple parties succeed on the same battery of attempts, the one with the most success criteria succeeds first. In the event of a tie, give all parties an opportunity to secretly play a chip. Reveal these chips simultaneously. Whoever has played the highest chip spends it and wins. All other parties lose, and any wagered chips are not spent. If no party plays a higher chip than other successful parties, a contested (contest, see below) Trait check should be performed, Reflexes for a physical task or Acuity for an intangible task.

In a contest, parties are attempting to achieve the best result. All parties roll the appropriate Skill or Trait, and the highest result is the winner (regardless of success or failure, there is no TN). In a tie, each draw an Action card and compare Impulse (upper left). Highest number wins. Note this is always just a single roll.

A competition is exactly like a contest except that ties are possible.

In some cases, the Master may declare that escalations have value in the contested roll. Escalations are counted from the opponent's total.

Allison gets to Denoba just in time. Now she has to convince a crowd of rowdy locals not to bust through her and the few IPA deputies that have stayed on duty in the face of such overwhelming odds.

The Master asks for a persuasion total, indicating she needs to beat the crowd twice, or get a single bump. Allison gets a 7 and the leader of the mob gets a 5. The citizens back down, but since she didn't bump they haven't given up just yet.

Using Action Cards

Action Cards are what set Future Imperfect apart from every other RPG on the market. With a single draw, action cards can provide all of the necessary information to simulate countless situations that may occur in your game, all with amazing detail. Many games have rules that cover some or even all of the situations these cards can handle, but none of them handle the resolution so smoothly. No referencing tables, no looking in books, no memorizing information. Everything is clearly printed right on the card.

Card Layout

Each card is broken down into three sections, the outer edge, the upper results (causes) and lower results (effects). Each of these areas of the card contain information that can be used to determine events in the game.

Outer Edge

The outer edge of the card contains information on timing as well as action outside of the intended effect. The area in the picture below that is not grayed out is the outer edge.

The upper left corner contains the Impulse. Impulse is the most granular timing handled by the action card system. There are 54 impulses, numbered 0 to 53. Timing begins at the highest impulse and counts down. In other words, the impulse number always determines play order. Since action rounds are 10 seconds long, one impulse is approximately .19 seconds (10 seconds/54 impulses).

Fragments are a granular measure of action time. There are 15 Fragments, from 0-14. There are 4 each of fragments 1-13, and one each of 0 and 14. The higher the fragment number, the faster the action. When two actions take place in the same step, break the tie with the fragment number.

Step is the standard measure of action time. The Master will count down steps during action time for players to act. Steps represent card suit, in reverse alphabetical order (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades). Determining which step an action occurs is covered in the initiative section, below.

In the bottom right of the card is the toggle section. We have chosen to represent this as Yes/No, but it could be any binary result such as left/right, up/down, 0/1 etc. Between the step and toggle sections is the unintended targets lineup. Before firing a weapon, if unintended targets exist (see Chapter XX, Combat), declare what number of priority each will have, from 1 up to 10, with no duplicates (generally number order, but not required). If any fired round misses, check the unintended targets column starting at the top (this is #1). If a figure in the column has an X over it, and a target with that number exists, that target is hit. Repeat this procedure for each round that misses. A target can only be hit by a single stray round. Note that unintended targets may be hit even if the intended target is hit, provided that at least one round did not hit the intended target.

Between the impulse and the fragment is the additional initiative section. This section has an action key as well as 4 squares divided into 4 quadrants each. The key at the top lists, F, N, S, V: Fast, Normal, Slow, Very Slow. These are the action speeds. Each bold square below has these four quadrants. Each quadrant has a number inside. This number is the TN for acting in this Step. For example, to act in Step 2 on the example card shown here, the generated result must be 5 for a fast action, 7 for a normal action, 9 for a slow action or 11 for a very slow action.

On the lower edge between the fragment and toggle is the shuffle section. If it says shuffle here, then shuffle the deck immediately after resolving this event. Note that it does not matter what the toggle says, when the shuffle result is pulled the deck is always shuffled.

Upper Results

The upper results section is also referred to as the "causes". This is because the results here are used to determine whether something happens, as opposed to how well. There are four sections: skill results, hit locations, burst effects and extra effects.

The Skill Results are the test numbers generated for events and tasks. The numbers across the top row represent the die type of the assigned trait, while the number in the column outside the outlined squares is the skill level (or training, if a trait). Simply cross-reference the column and row, and use the number indicated. If the background is filled yellow (such as the 8 in 4d4), then also draw another card and add that value to the result. Continue this process until you no longer get highlighted results. If the result reads CF (such as 5d10) then you have critically failed. For the vision impaired, exceptional successes are not only highlighted, but also italicized and bolded.

You may notice that the results are not linearly distributed across the card. This is because each column/row pair is randomized individually. The results in the 2d6 column are generally better than the results in the 1d6 column (sample the card set to prove it, or consult the tables in Scope: Under the Hood above), but this is not true on each card individually. For this reason, all modifications should either be a straight add/subtract (such as -2 to your result for using a related skill when the actual skill is not possessed) or applied before drawing the card. These results are akin to the following procedure (for column I): roll d4, notate result in 1d4; roll 2d4, notate highest result in 2d4; roll 3d4, notate highest result in 3d4 etc. Each result set is independent of the others.

The hit location section is used whenever a bipedal (or similar) creature is being attacked. The standard hit location is the red font, which also happens to be in the rectangle with the rounded corners. Hit locations can be bumped with skill or because of circumstance (see Chapter XX, Combat). When unintended targets are hit, the first target is hit in the standard location (even if the intended target was also hit), the second is hit one bump up, the third one bump down, and the fourth would be two bumps up.

Burst effects indicate how many rounds from an automatic weapon find their target. The naked number to the left is the size of the burst, the number inside the burst icon is the number of rounds that hit the intended target.

If any text appears in the extra effects section, below Skill Results, follow those directions. In the case of Extra Damage, this means draw another action card and add that result to the damage result. Continue to follow this procedure until a card that does not say Extra Damage is drawn.

Lower Results

The Lower Results section of the card is also called "effects", because it is where the extent of a task or event is measured. There are four sections in the lower results: Effect, ablation, breakage and clock face.

The majority of the Lower Results section of the Action Card is reserved for the Effects. These numbers represent how well some task or event resolved. This could be damage, psionic effects or anything else your Master and Crew can devise. Simple cross reference the row and column and use the number provided.

The Effects table is linearly distributed within columns, unlike the Skill Results. In other words, a lower result in the same column is always equal to or better than the result above. If the results are bolded, and shaded in red, this is "Increased Effect", meaning a second card should be drawn, and the effects added together. Continue drawing until a standard effect card is revealed and total the approprate row/column on all cards.

The armor penetration is within a shield icon. The results range from -2 to +2. Apply this modifier to the armor value before comparing it to the weapon penetration. If the weapon penetration is 2 or more greater than the armor value, the attack penetrates. If it is equal to or one higher, the attack ablates (apply reduced damage and decrement the armor value), if it is less, the attack deflects.

Below ablation is the breakdown and reliability section. There is a symbol here, and also, possibly, a number. If an intact wrench is present, there is no possible breakdown. If a broken wrench is shown, compare the number to the breakdown value of the equipment being used. Consult Chapter XX for more detail.

In the lower right corner of the section is the clock face. This can be used for direction and times. For example, if a missed shot (such as a thrown grenade) may need to scatter, simply consider the intended target to be in the middle of the clock face, and the 6 to be toward the thrower, and scatter the projectile in the direction given. The odd numbers from 1-12 are evenly distributed, the even numbers occur one extra time compared to the odd (54 cards, not 48 or 60).

Game Designers Note: Regarding Action Cards, you might wonder why they are used instead of dice. Players like to roll dice, and they do a fantastic job at producing results that are quite random. This is all true.

Yet with dice, you need to know or consult a lot of places in the book to achieve detailed results. You might need to roll for this, then that, then this other thing. Some players remember stuff, other player do not. Did I hit? Where? How much damage? Then come the peripheral effects, which many systems ignore, and those that do not have players often ignoring it. By having all of it easy to use on a card, with no referencing required, you can get all the detail you want virtually instantly. Not only do you get exceptional results, you get them fast. Within an hour of your first session your whole crew should be able to resolve any action in 30 seconds or less.

Another issue is that with exploding dice, unless you implement some kind of guard condition, you cannot roll the highest number (what we call Max) on a die. If you roll a 6 on d6, you roll again and add. This causes a hole. You can correct that by saying you do some other roll to see if you get to roll more, or by saying that you subtract one from the subsequent roll (if the die explodes twice, do you now subtract 2?), but these are substandard solutions at best. The cards as written produce results that have the exact same average as the given exploding die, though not the exact same distribution.

One action card deck has over 500,000 skill/damage/hit location/penetration combinations. This does not include all of the extra effects such as breakdown and scatter. If your group is rolling dice at a rate of 10 tests per hour, and your sessions are 6 hours long, you would need over 3000 sessions to start duplicating results. Of course, since some combinations are much more common, duplication may occur before that, but the point is the cards are extremely flexible and cover a wide array of possibilities.

This leads to the next point. Some players have mentioned that they might come to think of some cards as better than other cards after playing a while. This may or may not be true, however there is no card that is universally good or universally bad. But, to combat this, we have created multiple card sets. This game comes with 2, and others are available. Switching them out from time to time could keep things fresher.

But in the end, do players not think certain die rolls are better?

Another thing action cards can do is something that cannot be done with dice: simulate result sets of any size. If we were constrained by the limitations of dice, the column after d12 would need to be a d20. That is a significant jump from 12 to 20; untenable. But given the nature of cards, it is simple to create a result set modeled on 1-14 (d14), 1-16 (d16) etc. This amazing flexibility will allow the system to maintain extensibility on many fronts.

Even with those facts, some players will resist the change. This is inevitable. Remember the core belief: play the game you want to play! You can easily extrapolate the probabilities behind the cards and create tables to allow you to play the entire game with dice. If that is the game you want to play, I invite you to do so. If there is enough demand, we could even produce official versions of the game using those rules.