Review of fRáGiL (Part 4)

In this fourth part of the series about the post-apocalyptic role-playing game fRáGiL I offer you a sample using the STEN 2.0 ruleset.

To read the previous installments you may follow these links: #1 #2 #3.

Sample character: The Huntress

Rust texture by
NaamaYMStock on DeviantArt

To develop adequately this sample game I have created the following character:

The Hunger Games: Mokingjay Stock II
Model: KaylaDavion | Photographer: Tobias Ritter

The Huntress Old forest guard and survivalist
ATTRIBUTES
Physical(9 points)		Mental(7 points)		Psionical(5 points)
Strength (S) Agility (A) Resistance (R)	3 3 3	Will (W) Intelligence (I) Leadership (L)	3 2 2	Power (P) Defense (D) Extension (E)	2 1 1
BACKGROUNDS
Disadvantages Moral (Keep one's word) Madness (Trauma: Death of her sister)			Advantages Lone wolf Lived

SKILLS			QUALITIES
Skill Climbing Escapism Medicine Plunder Orientation Stealth Survival Swim Technology Theft Track down	LVL 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2	ATR S/A/R A I A/I I A/I I A/R I A/I I	Psionic ambits (= E) Unconsciousness (= 5xW) Death (= 10xS) Total stamina (= 5xR) Recovery (= R) Initiative (= A+I) Max. load (= 5xS) Max. load in hands (= S)	1 15 30 15 3 5 15 Kg 3 Kg

COMBAT
Combat skills Use edges (ie: knife, sword, etc.) Use axe		LVL 3 3	ATTR S/A/R S/R
Combat styles Combat with throwable weapons -------------------------------- Combat with projectile weapons -------------------------------- Combat with one weapon -------------------------------- Tactics	Special qualities Throwing Precision throwing Violent throwing -------------------------------- Quick combat with bow Positioned combat Aimed shot -------------------------------- Expert combat with one weapon Harmful combat with a weapon Reactive combat with a weapon -------------------------------- Appropiate position Exhaust	LVL 3 3 3 2	ATTR S/A S/A A L

INVENTORY
Knife Short bow and arrows Camping axe Pistol (with 6 bullets)	Armor (leather vest) First aid kit

WEAPONS
Impact Range Damage Type Weight Initiative Special	Knife 4 0 3 Edge 0,25 5	Short bow 0 5 5 Piercing 1 10	Camping axe 3 0 5 Edge 1 5	Pistol 0 6 10 Piercing 1 11 Ammo clip (6), Jamming, Penetration

DEFENSES
Armor Leather vest	Penalization 1	Blunt 1	Cutting 2	Piercing 2	Evasion 3	Cover 6	Weight 10
PSIONIC AMBITS
Extensions Arbitrium (Movement control)						LVL 1	ATR P
Pathological psionic ambits Summon fear

Before the coming of the EMP The Huntress (nobody, even herself, remember her true name) was a forest ranger working at national parks service and was part of the guide service of a forest reserve near the city which after the apocalypse will be pOZoAMaRGo.

During the turmoil happening after the EMP she and her sister Mary were caught by a gang of plunderers that without a doubt did not harbor the best intentions regarding the girls (and here you can imagine what you want, but I assure you that this would not have ended well for either of the two). The point is that The Huntress could get rid of the bindings holding her (it was then when she acquired the Movement control power) and free Mary to then try to escape from the building where they were held.

When they were about to get out one of the plunderers managed to catch Mary and before The Huntress could avoid it he cut her throat with the knife he was carrying. To see her sister dying brought out in her the power Summon fear, she used it to reduce the bandit into a tearful and babbling wreck before stabbing the man repeatedly with his own weapon and flee afterwards.

Since then he has roamed the nearby pOZoAMaRGo forests avoiding the savages that inhabit them and has survived thanks to his knowledge of the area and his ability to survive in a hostile environment.

Sample game

Rust texture by
NaamaYMStock on DeviantArt

To represent STEN dice I will use the following images:

Success   Failure

Let´s get started:

The Huntress is inside one of the forests near pOZoAMaRGo, she is following the trail of an animal hoping to hunt it to have something to eat, so the referee rules a Track down test is needed and the task difficulty will be Moderated [3] modified by a moderated climate [+1] (in this case I don't consider the fact of wearing a leather vest hinders the action with its penalty) for a total difficulty of 4), so an Intelligence [2] roll added to Track down [2] will be made:

+ 2 = 4

The test is successful, so she right away locate an elk and decides it's the time to use the bow to bring down the animal. The referee decides that first it will be necessary to sneak up with a test of Agility [3] and Stealth [2] with a Sophisticated [5] difficulty modified by the fact of being daylight [+2] and wearing a leather vest as a protection ([+1] penalty to difficulty because it can be noisy) with a total difficulty of 8 (the player don't know there are savage inhabitants of the forest observing the scene and the elk can detect all, so actually the difficulty is 10). The player decides to spend 1 stamina point to roll twice the runes (dice) (she has 14 stamina points left).

+ 2 = 5

Trying to aproach the elk has failed and the animal flees before The Huntress can react, when she gets ready to chase it a pair of savages (man and woman) who had been observing the scene (and surely also wanted to hunt the elk) appear. The savages take positions around her while they murmur in their almost unintelligible jargon something about the spirit of the forest...

These are the stats of the savages:

Savage (from the survivalist guide to pOZoAMaRGo)
ATTRIBUTES: S 2 - A 3 - R 2 | W 4 - I 2 - L 1 | P 2 - E 2 - D 1
SKILLS (all at level 2): Orientation, Survival, Track down, Climbing, Swim, Detection			Weapon: Crowbar Armor: Leather vest
Live: 20 Impact: 4 Evasion: 3		Initiative: 8 Damage: 5 blunt Cover: 4		Resistance: ● blunt 0 ● cutting 1 ● piercing 1

Combat example

The Initiative order will be:

• Savages have a natural Initiative of 5 [A 3 + I 2] and are armed with steel bars, so they add range [3] for a total Initiative of 8
• The Huntress had his bow ready to shoot, her natural Initiative of 5 [A 3 + I 2] adds her short bow range [5] for a total Initiative of 10, so The Huntress could attack first

First round:

The Huntress shoots an arrow with her bow against the man, to secure the hit spends 1 stamina point to roll twice the runes (6 dice) for Agility (13 stamina points remaining) and add them to the bow's impact value [0], she also rolls an extra rune (for a total of 7 dice) because she doesn't carry her total weight in hands (the bow only weighs 1 kg and she can carry up to 3 kg):

+ 0 = 6

The savage who is going to be hit also spends 1 stamina point to improve his chances to avoid the arrow (9 stamina points remaining) rolling twice the runes for Agility (6 dice) and adding the roll's outcome to his evasion [3] and his cover [4]:

+ 3 = 4

+ 4 = 4

Because The Huntress attack's outcome is more than the savage's evasion and cover the arrow fully impacts. Because both opponents had spent stamina points in this round they can't spent them again to increase damage or reduce it, so the Huntress arrow does 5 piercing damage points which can't be avoided by the target's armor, to calculate the final damage add a roll of as many runes of The Huntress' Strength (3 successful dice) substracting a roll of as many dice as the savage's Strength (2 failed dice) for a final outcomes of 8 damage points.

+ 5 - = 8

The damage effects are the following ones:

• The savage has lost 8 life points and 12 points remain
• The damage inflicted bay the attack [8] had been three times over the savage's Strength [3 x S =6]
• Because she wasn't aiming towards a given zone it can be considered the torso had been impacted, also causing him to lose 6 stamina points (3 points remain) and will lose 1 life point for every later round

. Combat goes on with the savage girl jumping over The Huntress and attacking her with the steel bar and spending 1 stamina point (9 points remain) to double Agility runes to roll (6 dice) and add the impact value of her weapon [2]:

+ 2 = 7

The Huntress prepares herself to resist the attack, but she can't spend 1 stamina point (she had done it before) to improve her dodge chances, so she can roll 3 Agility runes only (3 dice) and will add the outcome to her evasion [3] and her cover [6]. she will also add another rune (for 4 dice total) due she isn't carrying her maximum load in hands (3 kg):

+ 3 = 4

+ 6 = 8

The attack of the savage girl achieves a superficial impact of 5 blunt damage points because it has exceed evasion but not cover, so the blunt damage resistance of The Huntress' leather vest will be substracted from the damage's impact outcome following the example of the previous damage calculation:

+ 5 - -1 = 5

The damage effects will be the following ones:

• The Huntress had lost 5 life points and 25 points remain
• The damage caused by the attack [5] had not even exceed the double of The Huntress' Strength [2 x S = 6], so there won't be any type of secondary effect

Second round:

The Huntress attacks again first because she still retains the initiative and decides to use the knife and the combat maneuver Combat with one weapon against the girl, this allows her to roll two extra runes in the impact roll (I have obviated she had to grab the weapon as a combat action to speed up all the process). The procedure again implies spending 1 stamina point as in the previous round (12 points remaining) with the following roll:

+ 4 = 12

The savage girl who is about to get hit also spends 1 stamina point to improve her dodge chances (8 resistance points remaining) rolling double runes for Agility (6 dice) and will add the outcome to her evasion [3] and her cover [4]:

+ 3 = 3

+ 4 = 4

The outcome of the attack again overcomes evasion as well as cover and makes 3 cutting damage points, so the final damage will be calculated as follows:

+ 3 - = 5

The effects of this damage are the following ones:

• Damage caused by the attack [5] surpass the doubled Strength of the girl [2 x F = 4]
• So the additional effects of the damage (let's suppose an arm would have been hit) will be 1 damage point less for a final loss of 4 life points, the savage girl would have 16 life points left

Combat will go on, but I'm going to let it be you who practice a little...

Psionic powers use example

Let's supose for a moment that at the beginning of the previous combat The Huntress decided to use the psionic power Summon fear instead of facing in combat her opponents triggering, for example, an irrational panic related with the forest spirit (something they said whispering before combat started).

In the power roll The Huntress would roll as many runes as the Power doubled [2] and the outcome would be compared with the opponets Defense [2]:

= 3 > 1

Of course the roll outcome would be advantageous for The Huntress, so the savages would begin to experiment an irrational fear during a combat round and they would believe to see how the forest trees were leaning over them with not too flattering intentions...

Let's suppose the savages had captured The Huntress and tied up her waiting for their clan saying them what to do, the character would have used her psionic power Movement control (recquiring Arbitrium at level 1) to free herself from hes bonds adding her Power [2] to her Escapism [3] for an Agility [3] roll against difficulty [4] (sturdy ropes) for example:

+ 2 + 3 = 7 > 4

As can be seen The Huntress would easily free herself and try to escape.
In both cases using a psionic power also implies the character acumulating 1 tension point for every use and she must carry out a fragility check (something which also can occur in other circumstances) as can be seen in the following section.

Psychic disorder example

As I have explained in the first installment of this series the inhabitants of the fRáGiL world are victims of various insanities to a greater or lesser degree and can acquire others in the right circumstances (using psionic powers, contemplate situations that make them go crazy,etc.) and it will be necessary to carry out a fragility check. In The Huntress case it will be due to using psionic powers in the previous section or see something affecting her, like realizing that the savage girl looks too much like his sister Mary, theoretically dead a long time ago...

The fragility check is done rollin as many runes as the character's Defense and adding his Psionic stability skill, 1 resistance point can be used to improve the successful roll chance. The Huntress, with Defense [1] and Psionic stability [0] would make the next roll using 1 point of stamina:

+ 0 = 1

In this case because The Huntress had already obtained 1 tension point (using a psionic power or seeing something affecting her) and the outcome is less than or equal to the accumulated tension the following consequences will occur:

• The character will be stunned during the current round and the next one
• She will not acquire more tension or use her psionic abilities
• She can acquire a new madness or increase the level of an existing one if the number of madness she have is less than her Extension
• However, if the character has as many madness as his Extension he can not be used for the rest of the session or even the current campaign (and yes, if you notice, The Huntress already fulfilled this condition, so you have to ask yourself if everything you have seen or happened in this example it is the product of his madness 😱)

Next installment

Rust texture by
NaamaYMStock on DeviantArt

In the next installment of this series I will show you some guidelines about using fRáGiL with the CdB Engine ruleset.

This entry it's also available in the following languages:
Castellano Català