5. Battle Scenes
5.1 Twelve Against One... Not Exactly Fair, But I Could Fight Left Handed
The important thing to know about a Micronauts battle scene is that most of the opponents are little grunts who will readily be defeated by the heroes, and only when the major villains turn up will things turn ugly.As with any other part of this guidebook, the One Rule stands: the most dramatically appropriate outcome is always preferred.
5.2 Combat Pool
Combat is resolved by performing a Pool Roll. The players all roll their combat pools (which contain a set of dice from different combat-related traits) and compare against a combat pool prepared by the Gamesmaster to represent all the foes. Often these will be extras, so each die in the Gamesmaster's pool will be one foe.A combat pool is built by combining the pools of four traits as follows:
- Strength (if engaging in melee) or Precision (if using a blaster of some kind)
- Duel (if engaging in melee, or fighting one-on-one) or Blast (if shooting)
- Agility (if on the ground) or Fly (if flying) or Pilot (if in space combat)
- Weapon (provided their preferred weapon is suitable to the type of combat, that is a blast weapon if Blast is used, and a melee weapon if Strength is used)
5.3 Basic Battle Scene
A basic battle scene occurs when the players are only fighting extras:- Build Pools
Players select the appropriate dice to build their combat pools; Gamesmaster builds combat pool for opposition (enemy pool). - Roll Dice
All dice are rolled. All the players' rolls are treated as being part of one large Pool Roll. - Pool Rolls
Resolve as a normal Pool Roll (see section 2.4). Players are always the lead pool; the enemy pool is always the opposition pool. - Players Victorious: No Dice in Enemy Pool
If all the opposing dice are removed, the player is victorious. They have won, and all the extras lie dead or unconscious, as desired. - Enemy Victorious: Dice Remain in Enemy Pool
If there are dice remaining in the enemy pool, the Gamesmaster rerolls them to produce the wound pool. - Players Roll Endurance-Armour
Each persona must beat all the dice in the wound pool using dice in their Endurance-Armour pool. Each persona does this separately, unless they have a protector. - Change Status
For each undefeated die in the wound pool, the player moves one step down the status ladder, although they can use Grit to reduce the number of steps (1 point of Grit removes one step). - Repeat
Repeat, starting with only the dice remaining in the next enemy pool.
If boosts (see section 2.3) are being used, only dice in the same player's pool can be combined to make a boost.
Duels may occur at the same time as basic battle scenes, or may be a battle scene all on their own. They never involve extras, only regular cast or guest stars.
Resolve a duel as follows:
Example
Periodically, the Gamesmaster will declare plot related healing. In general, as soon as personas make it to a safe haven, they will receive plot-related healing, which will usually restore them to Healthy unless dramatic necessity guides otherwise.
Round up the mean value. This yields a threat code, consisting of the basic threat e.g. T6 and the challenge e.g. (10-6)
Example
Players should be able to defeat anything for which they have more basic threat and at least equivalent levels of challenge.
An opponent with lower basic threat and greater challenge will present a more volatile situation, which could swing either way.
An opponent with higher basic threat but lower challenge can be defeated, but it will take time.
An opponent with higher basic threat and higher challenge will be very difficult to defeat.
Generally speaking, by making sure that the player's threats exceed that of their opponents, the Gamesmaster can ensure an easy ride. In fact, threat allows the Gamesmaster to guess at what sort of opponent would be needed to defeat them.
5.4 Duel Scenes
A duel occurs when two personas fight each other, usually a hero and a villain.
Often, if two opponents are well matched, a duel can go on for some time.
Player select the appropriate dice to build their persona's combat pool;
Gamesmaster builds combat pool for enemy persona (enemy pool).
All dice are rolled.
Resolve as a normal Pool Roll (see section 2.4, on page 3).
Players are always the lead pool; the enemy pool is always the opposition pool.
If all the opposing dice are removed, the player can roll any surviving dice as a wound pool (see above) for the enemy to survive.
If there are dice remaining in the enemy pool, the Gamesmaster rerolls them to produce the wound pool for the player's persona to survive.
The wounded persona must beat all the dice in the wound pool using dice in their Endurance-Armour pool.
For each undefeated die in the wound pool, the persona moves one step down the status ladder, although players can use Grit to reduce the number of steps (1 point of Grit removes one step).
Repeat, starting with the full pools, minus any lost dice as a result of personas being Wounded.
5.5 Wounds & Healing
Whenever a persona is injured, note the number of sides the highest die that wounded them had. This is the target number for a Technical Task Roll (or Technical-Calling, where appropriate) to heal wounds with triage or first aid. This roll may only be attempted once. Success moves the persona one rank up the status ladder.
5.6 Interference
Unless duelling immunity has been asserted (see section 4.7), other players may interfere in the duel. They may do this by adding either their Blast-Precision or Strength-Duel dice to the pool they are attempting to assist.
5.7 Protectors
A persona may designate themselves as protecting another persona in combat. In this situation, their combat pool is reduced to only the two highest dice. However, they may add their Duel-Armour dice to the pool of the persona they are protecting, to help keep them alive.
5.8 Threat
In order to judge how tough an opponent will be, Micronauts includes the concept of threat. The threat value of a given combat pool is: