Chapter 7: Outcomes

After the dice are rolled and the Difficulty is compared, the Phase Four: Outcomes determines what happens to the characters, the environment, and how Conditions change. Outcomes are the consequences of actions—whether the PC succeeded or failed, and by how much.

Understanding Effects

Effect: This is the Dice Roll minus the Difficulty. The Effect measures the Degree of Success or Failure of a roll. The Effect is used to prevent a lot of die rolls in the game.

To determine the Effect, simply subtract the Difficulty from the Dice Roll (including all modifiers):

Effect = Dice Roll − Difficulty

Importance of Effects

Because the Referee doesn't roll, the negative outcomes of rolls—Fail Effects—determine if Adversaries successfully attack and make Damage Rolls against the PC.

Multiple Attacks: Multiple Attacks by Adversaries and PCs are resolved through Effects.

Skill as Defense: Skill level reduces the amount of harm or negative effects of Failure.

Success Effect

When the Dice Roll is equal to or greater than the Difficulty, the Check results in a Success Effect. The degree of the Success Effect is equal to the Dice Roll minus the Difficulty.

Success Effect Degree = Dice Roll − Difficulty

Combat Applications: In Combat, the degree of the Success Effect determines the Number of Damage Rolls.

Damage Rolls: See Damage Rolls section below for how Success Effect translates to damage.

Fail Effect

When the Effect is less than the Difficulty, the Check results in a Fail Effect. The degree of the Fail Effect is equal to the Difficulty minus the Dice Roll.

Fail Effect Degree = Difficulty − Dice Roll

Consequences: The greater the degree of the Fail Effect, the worse it will be for the PC.

Combat Applications: In Combat, Adversaries who can attack back deal damage based on the Fail Effect degree.

Ordinary Failure

Ordinary Failure occurs when a failure doesn't cause the PC to suffer any harm, incur any injury, or be exposed to any sort of attack. The only thing lost is the opportunity that was spent.

Synonyms: Minor setback, harmless failure.

Mitigating Factors

The player may use Mitigating Factors (DMs) to reduce the degree of the Fail Effect. When the degree of the Fail Effect is reduced to zero or less, the Fail Effect becomes an Ordinary Failure.

There are three categories of DMs applied in the following order:

First Priority: Conditions like Concealment, Range, Size, Move Modifiers are first applied to reduce the Fail Effect.

Second Priority: Cover is invoked to reduce the degree of Fail Effect only after First Priority DMs have been applied.

Third Priority: Skill is invoked to reduce the degree of Fail Effect only after First and Second Priority DMs have been applied.

Example: Mitigating Factors in Practice

The PC rolls to attack with 2d6+4 against a 13 Difficulty with the following DMs:

Other Conditions: 3
Cover: 2
Skills: 2

If the PC rolls a 6, that gives them a Fail Effect with a degree of 7 (13 − 6 = 7).

The First Priority DMs (Conditions: 3) reduce the Fail Effect to 4.
The Second Priority DMs (Cover: 2) reduce the Fail Effect to 2.
The Third Priority DMs (Skills: 2) reduce the Fail Effect to 0, making it an Ordinary Failure.

Costly Success

A Costly Success happens when there is a Failure, but the Character chooses to pay any price for success.

Mechanic: Double the Effect of Failure and add 3, and gain a Success Effect of 0.; Costly Success Fail Effect = (Fail Effect × 2) + 3

Common Application: This is common in Melee Combat, where a Character may fail by a margin of −2 (missing), but decides to hit the other character regardless of the cost—suffering a −7 Fail Effect (−2 × 2 + 3).

Strategic Use: This option makes sense if there is not much left to lose.

Referee Discretion: The Referee may disallow this if they judge it as not applicable or irrelevant.

See Also: Reckless Action Option

Costly Failure

Costly Failure costs the PC more Time, Materials, Resources, and Opportunities. The Referee determines how high the cost is and what it entails based on the degree of the Fail Effect.

Determining Possibility: The PC can try to determine if certain Actions lead to Costly Failures before attempting them.

Damage

This is the most common outcome in combat actions.

Sources of Damage: Damage can come from:

Weapons
Environmental Hazards

Attack Resolution

Successful Attacks deal Damage to Adversaries
Costly Failures or Fail Effects mean Attacking Adversaries or Hazards deal Damage to the Player Character

Success Effect Application: Success Effect determines the Number of Attacks the Adversary takes.

Fail Effect Application: Fail Effect determines the Amount of Attacks the PC takes.

Example: Automatic Rifle Damage

An Automatic Rifle with 3d6−2 Damage has a Success Effect of 2. If the Character made as many attacks possible, and the Rate of Attack was 4, then the Automatic Rifle deals 3d6−2 damage 3 times:

First on the Success
Second and Third successful Attacks from the Success Effect of 2

If the Difficulty was 12, and the Character has a Dice Result of 14, then the success effect would be 2.

Weapons with Limited Rate of Attack

Weapons with a Limited Rate of Attack that have Success or Fail Effects exceeding the Rate of Attacks result in as many Damage Rolls, BUT only choose the highest Damage rolls equal to the Rate of Attacks.

Example: A Fail Effect of 3, after accounting for all Conditions and Mitigating Factors, means the PC will suffer 3 Attacks if the Weapon had a rate of attack of 3 or greater. But if the Weapon had only a rate of attack of 2, then 3 rolls would be made and the Two highest Rolls will be chosen as damage.

Damage Rolls

The Success or Fail Effect determines how many Damage rolls are made.

Definition: Damage Rolls are individual sources of damage (like strikes or blows or effects) made by Adversaries, or risk and harm in the Environment, and Strikes and Blows made by the PC.

Fail Effect Application

A Fail Effect of −1 results in 1 Damage roll against the PC
A Fail Effect of −2 results in 2 Damage rolls
Up to the sum of the Rate of Attacks of the Adversaries or Applicable hazards

Damage Sources: The Adversary weapon or the Hazard's damage determines the damage from a Fail Effect.

Armor Application: Apply Protection or Armor to each Damage Roll individually.

Example: Success Effect Damage Rolls

A Success Effect of 1 results in two (2) 3d3−2 broadsword damage rolls. Against an Armor of 3, roll two (2) sets of 3d3−5.
A Success Effect of 3 results in three (3) 3d6 automatic rifle damage rolls (if RoA is 3). Against an Armor of 5, roll three (3) sets of 3d6−5.

Targeted Damage

Targeting the Limbs, Extremities, or Vitals have special effects:

Targeted Damage Effects
Target Area	Threshold	Effect
Limbs	Taking ≥ 1/3 HP	Crippled
Extremities (hands/feet)	Taking ≥ 1/10 HP	Crippled
Head	Taking ≥ 1/10 HP	Stunned
Vitals	Taking ≥ 1/10 HP	Bleeding

See Also: Targeted Attack Location Table and Targeted Attack Option

Damage Scale

Scale Notation

Deka for tens (×10)
Heka for hundreds (×100)
Kilo for thousands (×1,000)

Typically these are used for weapons designed to take out Buildings, Vehicles, and Ships.

Scale Immunity: A vehicle, character, armor, or object of a Default Damage scale can ignore damage of a lesser scale.

Notation Examples

D 3d3 = 3d3 × 10
H 2d6−2 = (2d6−2) × 100
K 5d6−4 = (5d6−4) × 1,000

Armor

Armor reduces damage by the value of the armor.

Application: Every attack has their Damage Reduced by Armor.

Minimum Damage: A hit with Effect 6+ always inflicts at least one point of damage, regardless of the target's armor.

Example: Armor in Combat

A character suffers a Fail Effect of 3, after all conditions and Mitigating Factors have been factored, and there are multiple adversaries allowing for 3 attacks with a Broadsword of 3d3−2. The character has a Flak Jacket of Armor 4. The Adversaries will roll 3d3−6 three times.

Armor Scale

Armor also uses Deka/Heka/Kilo scale notation:

Notation Examples

DAR 2 = 20 AR
HAR 9 = 900 AR
KAR 3 = 3,000 AR

Fail Effect and Damage to Protection

Cover Takes Damage

In Combat, reduce the Fail Effect by the PC's Skill when determining Damage rolls made against the PC.

Cover Absorption: Take note of any Cover or Protection that modifies the Difficulty—that reduces the Fail Effect, that Cover or Protection takes the Damage.

Mechanic

Cover or Protection takes Damage equal to the amount of Fail Effect it absorbs
Damage is applied up to the Difficulty (AR/HP) of the cover or protection

Example: Shield Taking Damage

Assume a PC who got a Fail Effect with a degree of 3 is taking cover behind a Shield or a stack of Cinder Blocks. This means the 3 damage rolls that should have been applied to the PC are applied instead to the Shield or Cinder Blocks. If the attack does 3d6 damage per attack, all of these would be applied to the Shield or the Cinder Blocks.

If the Shield has a Difficulty (Protection value) of only 2, then:

The Shield takes two attacks of 3d6 damage
The PC incurs one attack of 3d6 damage

Application to Adversaries: This rule also applies to Adversaries.

Hit Points (HP)

Characters, Objects, Vehicles, and Infrastructure have Hit Points (or simply called Hits or HP).

Definition: Hit points are a Threshold—a value used to compare damage against to determine how badly injured the Character, Object, or Vehicle can be.

Character HP Calculation: Characters have HP equal to the sum of their three (3) physical characteristics (Str + Dex + End).

Character HP Thresholds

Character Injury Thresholds
Condition	Threshold	Description
Wounded	Any damage taken	Character is injured
Wound Penalties	Every 3 damage	−1 penalty to all mental and physical rolls
Seriously Wounded	≥ Best physical characteristic	Significant injury
Critically Wounded	≥ 2 × physical characteristic	Life-threatening injury
Dying	> HP (total damage)	Death imminent

Tracking Method: Recommend using Tally Marks in groups of 3.

Hit Point Scale

HP also uses D/H/K scale notation:

Notation Examples

20 DHP = 200 HP
3 HHP = 300 HP
67 KHP = 67,000 HP

Changes of Conditions

After every round, take note of the changes to Conditions:

Battlefield Conditions: Ranges, Cover, Visibility/Concealment, Terrain, Positions, etc.

Superiority: Adjust based on changing tactical situation.

Character Conditions: See Chapter 8: Character Conditions for Physical and Mental Conditions.

Healing and Recovery

Natural Healing

Healing is reducing Damage at a rate over a unit of time.

Full Rest: Full rest is 8 hours of sleep with No Light, Moderate, Intense, Strenuous, Stress, or Active Physical or mental Activity.

Interruption: Full rest is interrupted when Light and Strenuous Activity is taken. If interrupted, Full Rest can begin again on the next day.

Heart Rate: Maintaining a Resting heart Rate (40-80 beats per minute).

Medical Treatment

Natural healing is not the only way to recover damage. Characters can also seek out medical treatment.

First Aid

Applying first aid reduces an amount of damage equal to the Effect of the Medic check, at minimum 1.

Duration: It takes 3 minutes (30 rounds) to perform First Aid.

Action Cost

Minor action to get materials from a ready First Aid Kit
Significant Action to perform first aid

Difficulty

Difficulty 8 to perform First Aid on another character
Difficulty 10 to perform First Aid on oneself

Time Reduction: A character can shorten by a number of rounds by their Success Effect roll every round. They lose such progress by their Fail Effect.

Importance of First Aid

Stop Bleeding
Stop Dying Rolls temporarily for a number of Hours equal to the Dying Character's End

Surgery

A character that is seriously wounded (after first aid has been applied) requires surgery.

Difficulty: 8
Duration: 30 minutes Task Duration
Modifiers: Tools, Assistance, etc. modify the roll
Success Effect: Reduces damage equal to twice the Success Effect
Fail Effect

Reduce by Medic Skill
Any remaining Fail Effect multiplies the time of Surgery
Fail Effect exceeding half Character's End damages the Character by double the Fail Effect

Requirements: Surgery requires a hospital or sickbay

Medical Care

Medical care removes damage at an increased rate depending on resources, tech level, manpower, and tools.

Rolls: Typically no rolls on Medical Care, unless it's Intensive Care.

Capacity

Medic 0 can care for 8 light care patients
Every level of Medic above 0 doubles this capacity
Higher Level Medics (2+) can double the care capacity of medics they supervise

Healing Rate: Damage causing injury is reduced at double the rate with Natural Healing and Full rest.

Care Levels

Care Levels and Requirements
Care Level	Patient Condition	Equivalent Patient Load
Light Care	Damage < 1/3 HP	1 light care patient
Moderate Care	Damage > 1/3 HP	1 moderate = 2 light
Serious Care	Damage > 2/3 HP	1 serious = 4 light
Intensive Care	Damage > HP (Dying)	1 intensive = 8 light

Light Care

Characters that need little monitoring—just making sure the patient is resting, taking their medicine, drinking, and eating properly. These injured or sick can take most care of themselves.

Monitoring Capacity: A character with medic 0 can monitor 32 light care patients in a day.

Moderate Care

The caregiver must help in some minor therapy, application of medicine, and cleaning, other than basic care.

Conversion: 1 moderate care patient = 2 light care patients.

Serious Care

These sick and injured characters need to be fed, changed, exercised and moved.

Conversion: 1 serious care patient = 4 light care patients.

Intensive Care

These sick and injured characters are similar to Serious care but require Medic 2 character or AI sickbay supervision.

Without Supervision: The character has to roll Difficulty 8. Failure means the character has to make a Dying Roll. Success means healing 2 damage (or more depending on Tools and Technology).

With Supervision: Characters with Medic 2+ do not need to roll when they have tools, help, and resources.

Dying Characters: A character who is Dying but receiving Intensive Care is typically immobile and deducts 1 point of damage every 3 days.

Conversion: 1 Intensive care patient = 8 light care patients.

Healing and Mental Characteristics

Other than Psionic Strength, characters may also suffer damage to their Intelligence or Education.

Recovery: Characters can recover from Characteristic Damage once the character has fully healed.

Rate: The character reduces 1 stat damage per 3 days of Physical or Psychological Therapy. The character can have therapy for 1 stat at a time.

Note: Use of Psionics falls under Exhaustion Rules; each Psionic Point equals 1 hour of moderate activity.

Injury Conditions

Wounded

Definition: Synonymous with Injured. Taken any damage below 1/3 HP. Character can be considered Wounded from damage from Exhaustion.

Healing and Recovery while Wounded

Wounded Healing Rates
Activity Level	Care Level	Healing Rate
Moderate Activity	—	No healing
Moderate Activity	Light Care	−1 dmg / 3 days
Light Activity	—	−1 dmg / 2 days
Light Activity	Light Care	−1 dmg / day
Full Rest	—	−1 dmg / day
Full Rest	Light Care	−2 dmg / day

Lost Progress: Performing more strenuous activity loses the day's progress, and the character has to start their healing progress the next day.

Seriously Wounded

Definition: Taking damage equal or greater than 1/3 of HP (rounded down), but < 2/3 of HP.

Movement Effects

Cannot move that fast—movement speed is at 3/4
Cannot Dash

Healing Rates

Moderate Activity: No healing
Light Activity: −1 dmg / 3 days
Light Activity with Moderate Care OR Full Rest: −1 dmg / 2 days
Full Rest with Moderate Care: −1 dmg / day

Bleeding

Trigger: Taking damage equal or greater than Seriously Wounded threshold from one damage roll (≥ 1/3 HP rounded down).

Effect: The character continues to take 1 point of damage every minute, starting 1 minute after the damage was taken.

Observation: The character can feel getting weaker, and if the bleeding can be seen, other characters will be able to tell.

Treatment: Application of First Aid cancels this condition.

Critically Wounded

Definition: Damage is ≥ 2/3 of HP (rounded down).

Effects: Character is typically knocked out or Unconscious. A character who is Out is helpless.

Healing Rates

Full Rest: −1 dmg / 7 days
Full Rest with Serious Care: −1 dmg / 3 days

Special Conditions: Adrenaline Shots or Combat Stimulants can awaken the character. Violent Actions cause the Bleeding Condition.

Dying

Definition: Damage > Hitpoints.

Survival Rolls: Every Round, PC makes an End roll against Difficulty 4 (Wound Penalties apply).

Failed roll: Character is dead
Success: PC is still alive

Stabilization: First Aid stabilizes the character for hours equal to their End, where the character needs Medical Treatment.

Requirements: Dying Characters require Intensive Care.

Unconscious: Dying Characters are Unconscious and Immobile.

Natural Healing and Medical Care Table

Healing Rates by Condition and Activity
Condition	Moderate Activity	Moderate + Care	Light Activity	Light + Care	Full Rest	Full Rest + Care
Wounded (Dmg < 1/3 HP)	No Healing	−1 dmg / 3 days	−1 dmg / 2 days	−1 dmg / day	−1 dmg / day	−2 dmg / day
Seriously Wounded (Dmg < 2/3 HP)	No Healing	No Healing	−1 dmg / 3 days	−1 dmg / 2 days	−1 dmg / 2 days	−1 dmg / day
Critically Wounded (Dmg < 2/3 HP)	Immobile	Immobile	Immobile	Immobile	−1 dmg / 7 days	−1 dmg / 3 days
Dying (Dmg > HP)	Immobile	Immobile	Immobile	Immobile	−1 dmg / 7 days	−1 dmg / 3 days

Massive Damage

Characters who take more than their HP in total damage from an attack must roll End difficulty 8 with wound penalties.

Survival: Surviving could mean all the damage was concentrated on one area that allows survival—but the character would be crippled.

Medical Care: Characters with damage > HP need medical treatment until they recover.