Vehicle Combat Rules

The following rules cover most of the things an Arisen is able to do during their turn while mounted on a Vehicle. For the purposes of these rules, an Arisen is 'mounted' if they are in the seat of a Sparrow or similar vehicle or in the cockpit of a Jumpship.

Rules Changes While Mounted

• While Mounted, an Arisen can perform attacks, however they can only make these Attacks using their Agility, regardless of what they would usually use as their attack stat. This cannot be overridden by a Talent or Perk unless it specifically mentions applying to Vehicle combat, and applies even to Brawl, Melee, Class Melee and Class Grenade checks (though they will still use the specified stat for calculating Damage and other effects).

• At the beginning of their Activation, if an Arisen wishes to make any Attacks during their Activation, they must allocate a number of points equal to their Agility, split as they choose between their Driving and Attack skills. These points replace the Agility stat in those dice pools.
  (so, for example, an Arisen with an Agility of 3 might choose to allocate two 'points' of Agility toward their Driving, adding it to their Driving skill of 1 to get a dice pool of dc, and allocating the remaining 'point' of Agility toward their Ranged skill of 3 to get a dice pool of ddc.

• In addition, Attacks made while Mounted are considered to be Dual Wielding/Two Weapon Fighting attacks (except that they cannot inflict a hit with a second weapon - the second 'weapon' is the Vehicle!), and so benefit from any Talents or Perks which would affect that.

• Light weapons, including Sidearms, Hand Cannons and SMGs, gain one additional 'point' of Agility when making Attacks, as they are designed to be used in one hand.

• Power Weapons cannot be used while Mounted. Affeixed weapons on vehicles use an entirely different set of rules, utilising the Gunnery skill instead.

Beginning of Activation - Mandatory Minimum Movement

At the beginning of a Mounted character's Activation, before anything else happens, a Vehicle with a Speed greater than 0 moves directly forward a number of Range Bands (5 Hexes) equal to its current Speed. This movement is referred to as Mandatory Minimum Movement.

Manouevres

Accelerate/Decelerate

An Arisen can change the Speed of their Vehicle by +/-1. This cannot be repeated in a single Activation.

Advance

An Arisen can move up to their Speed in Range Bands (5 Hexes). They may make up to one turn before each Range Band and an additional one at the end of the Advance. Turning 60 degrees does not require a check, however turns of 120 or 180 degrees count as Dangerous Driving, requiring the Arisen to spend their Action as well as pass a check.

Brace For Impact

Until the beginning of the Arisen's next Activation, each time they are hit by an Attack their Vehicle suffers 2 System Strain to reduce the damage of that attack by 2, and whenever they are Critically Hit by an Attack their Vehicle suffers 2 System Strain to reduce that Critical Hit by -20.

Evade - Speed 3+ Only

Upgrade the difficulty of all attacks targeting this Vehicle once.

Actions

Dangerous Driving

As noted above, Dangerous Driving requires the Arisen to spend their Action as well as a Manouevre. At GM's discretion, other feats such as jumps and collisions, as well as particularly bad skill check outcomes may qualify as Dangerous Driving.

Attack

Repair

Rule Changes Specific to Rolling Road Chase Sequences

• Initiative is not calculated as normal for the second and subsequent Rounds. Instead, the character furthest from the head of the pack has Initiative. If a character would Activate more than twice consecutively by this rule, they instead become a casualty - they have been left behind by the pace of the rest of the pack!

• To represent the winding roads and obstacles of the Dark Age's environment, the route will be randomly generated as the party advances in chunks, referred to as 'Macro-Hexes' (MH). The players will have a destination a certain number of MH in a particular direction (eg 20 MH South, as shown in the example image below the Sidebar). As a Player Character moves off the edge of a MH, they take a check to determine how favourable the terrain ahead is:
  • Cunning + Survival vs current Speed.
  • Upgraded difficulty once for each Enemy within Medium Range (10 Hexes).
    • If the test is passed, the player rolls twice on one of the tables below and chooses the MH they will be entering.
    • If the test is failed, the player rolls twice on one of the tables below, and the DM chooses the MH they will be entering.
    • Other results, such as Advantages and Threats, can lead to additional effects, as detailed below.
  • Once the MH has been generated and place, the character completes their Activation, including any remaining movement interrupted by crossing the border as normal.

Moving From Highway

Roll D6:

1. Highway Ends in Collapse
2. Highway Curves Left
3. Highway Curves Right
4. Highway Curves (placer chooses orientation)
5. Highway Continues Straight with Slip-Road (placer chooses orientation)
6. Highway Continues Straight

Moving From Slip-Road

Roll D6:

1. Slip-Road Curves Left
2. Slip-Road Curves Right
3. Slip-Road Curves (placer chooses orientation)
4. Slip-Road Junction (placer chooses orientation)
5. Slip-Road Merges with Highway (placer chooses orientation)
6. Slip-Road Ends (roll on Off-Road table)

Moving From Off-Road

Roll D6:

1. Curved Cliff Down Ahead
2. Curved Cliff Up Ahead
3. Slip-Road (perpendicular to angle of approach)
4. Slip-Road (parallel to angle of approach)
5. Straight Cliff Down, then Highway (perpendicular to angle of approach)
6. Straight Cliff Down, then Roll Again

Other Effects

Threats:

• Rubble, wrecks, or other terrain covering some of the roadway.

• Enemies in roadside cover firing at passing players.

Advantages:

• Cover.

• Ramps, to jump obstacles or to jump off Highway/Slip-Road/Cliffs to terrain below.

Despair:

• A wrecked bus, lorry, fallen tree, collapsed building etc which blocks the entire roadway.