Actions
When you attune to the Way, you open your mind to the galactic energies underlying all of existence.
You might communicate with a non-sentient species or robot. You could safely handle Precursor artifacts or remnants that tap directly into the Way. You might sense unseen danger, or killing intent (though study might be better). When you command, you compel obedience with your force of personality.
You might intimidate or threaten to get what you want. You might lead an action with NPCs. You might order people to do what you want (though sway might be better). When you consort, you socialize with friends and contacts.
You might gain access to resources, information, people, or places. You might make a good impression or win someone over with your charm and style. You might make new friends or connect with your heritage or background. You could try to direct your friends with social pressure (but command might be better). When you doctor, you attend to the needs of another by lending aid and comfort, or you look scientifically at the world.
You might treat someone’s injuries. You might analyze a substance’s composition to learn how it functions. You might comfort someone in distress (but consort might be better). When you hack, you breach the security systems of computers or override their controls.
You might access a data console to find a captive being held somewhere on the station. You might scramble a drone’s control systems to keep it from firing on you. You might override a door’s controls to get it to open (though rig might be better). When you helm, you pilot a vehicle or use vehicle weapons.
You might plot a jump through a dark hyperspace lane. You might dive through a canyon to escape a chasing ship. You might fire quad-lasers at hostile pirates. You might reroute power on the ship to weather fire (though rig may be better). When you rig mechanisms, you alter how an existing mechanism works or create a new one.
You might disable a trap. You might repair a damaged ship system. You might crack a safe. You might overdrive an engine. You might program a bomb to detonate later. You might force a door open (though hack might be better). When you scramble, you lift, climb, jump, run, or swim, usually either away from or into danger.
You might vault over a turnstile while escaping authorities. You might climb up the side of a cliff to approach a secret base. You might dodge blaster fire as you cross the hanger to get to your ship. You might chase after a mark you’re following (though skulk might be better). When you scrap, you engage in pitched combat with the intent to harm or neutralize your opposition.
You might brawl or wrestle with your foe. You might use a melee weapon. You might storm a barricade or hold a position in battle. You might lay down blaster fire. If you’re using a vehicle or ship weapon, you should use helm instead. When you skulk, you move stealthily or without being noticed.
You might sneak past security or hide in the shadows. You might lift a cred-stick off a mark. You might sneak up behind someone to attack them by surprise (but scrap might be better). You could try to climb up the side of a building (but scramble might be better). When you study, you scrutinize details and interpret evidence.
You might gather information from documents, newspapers, and books. You might do research on an esoteric topic. You might closely analyze a person to detect lies or true feelings. You could deduce a person’s intention to kill you (but attune might be better). When you sway, you influence someone with guile, charm, or logic.
You might outright lie to someone’s face. You might persuade a sucker to believe you. You might argue the facts with an officer. You could try to trick people into affection or obedience (but consort or command might be better). Many actions overlap with others, which is by design. As a player, you get to choose which action you roll by saying what your character does. Can you try to skulk behind someone during a fight? Sure! The GM tells you the position and effect level of your action in this circumstance. As it says, scrap might be better (less risky or more effective), depending on the situation at hand. (Sometimes it might be the other way around.)
That doesn’t keep anyone from being attacked by creatures that can partially phase through matter or from suffering the strange and difficult to treat symptoms that come from mishandling Ur artifacts. Being in touch with the Way gives one options where such things are concerned. Over time, that connection can be honed.
Any PC can attune. It’s not a rare supernatural gift, or tied to specific bloodlines. The Way is always there for those with the willingness to push their awareness. Mystics can (and sometimes must) attune as the action for many of their strange powers, such as Sundering or Kinetics. Without access to the Way, these powers can’t manifest.
The Cults regulate artifacts and mystic power use, declaring anything that changes people both dangerous and forbidden. Be aware that manifesting such powers may put you under a spotlight. Some people will see you as blessed and ask for aid, while others will turn you in to Hegemonic Cults and the System Police for being a threat or menace.
You can lead a group of people by giving orders with command, or sending a group of NPCs to do something according to your instructions. Handle it as a “group action” teamwork maneuver with you rolling command and the group of NPCs rolling their quality.
You might be able to command another PC. Ask the player if their character has reason to follow your orders—fear, trust, respect, etc. If they do, then your action can force them to comply. If they don’t, then your action can only disrupt them somehow. You might frighten them with intimidation (inflicting harm), cause them to hesitate at a crucial moment, make them look weak in front of others, etc. Remember, command isn’t mind control, but it is an intense interaction. The other player will judge if their character can be ordered around or not.
To consort, you need an environment that isn’t totally hostile. You might consort with the Legionnaires doing a routine sweep of ships in the area (a desperate situation, to be sure), but it’s usually hopeless to consort with the assassin sent to murder you. When you consort with people related to your background or heritage, you can expect a better position and/or increased effect.
You might be forced to consort in an unfamiliar situation in order to create an opportunity for another action. For instance, if you want to talk to Governor Malklaith at a party, you’ll have to at least try to consort with the other guests to make your way his table. commanding or swaying are options, sure, but expect a rather sudden escalation of trouble if things go badly.
To doctor, you need to establish some level of control over your subject. You can doctor a patient in a med bay, or analyze a compound with a chemical analyzer. You can try to doctor someone to help them shake off the effects of Way influences (though command or attune may be more appropriate). When you doctor with the perfect tools, you can expect a better position and/or increased effect.
You can doctor someone to forcibly administer drugs or handle a hostile patient. In these situations, the subject must be vulnerable in some way. For instance, you may need to skulk up to a pirate before injecting them with a knock-out drug, or pin a hallucinating patient with scrap before giving them an antidote. Be mindful: doctoring an unwilling patient can ruin relationships permanently.
The higher the Tech rating of a planet the more likely things that can be hacked are common or available. A safe on a Tech 1 planet might be a heavy steel affair, with mechanical locking components, while those on a Tech 3 planet probably have scanners and biometric readers. Car doors, locks and lockers, security systems and such all become more automated and thus prone to hacking, including wirelessly.
To hack, you need a hacking rig to write the code and some way to deploy that code. Security is always being updated, so you can assume that an exploit that works in one place does not work everywhere. However, you can buy exploits—using an acquire asset downtime activity to pick up a custom hack will grant potency.
Consequences from hacking tend to be complications rather than physical harm. Systems may raise alerts. Attempts could take extra time. Unexpected parts of the system might be affected. Additional heat is frequent, as code signatures are of particular interest to the Hegemony. Urbots (despite their drone-like appearance) are not designed to be hacked. They require a combination of rig and attune to affect.
You can helm any sort of vehicle (like boats!), including animals trained for riding. Rolling attune or sway may work better for those though.
You can also use helm to fire vehicle weapons, such as those commonly found on starships. Most of these weapons are at least computer assisted, and require familiarity with the weapon system more than quick reflexes or keen eyes. For weapons that are simply mounted on top of a vehicle, you might consider scrap instead.
Spaceships are designed to enter and exit hyperspace lanes; in general, ordinary piloting does not require a roll. One does not need to chart jumps along well-established gates and Starsmith-maintained lanes. An enterprising pilot might want to enter or exit a hyperspace lane in the middle, without the benefit of the Guild’s buoys. Charting an unassisted and unexpected jump into and out of these lanes is usually a desperate position.
Equally unruly are the so-called dark hyperspace lanes—lanes which are uncharted and have no Guild buoys for route auto-correction. Travel along them offers plenty of opportunities for helm rolls when encountering pirates, Way creatures, and the simple dangers of unexpected gravity waves and lane shifts.
Use rig to physically make a device do what it’s supposed to, but outside of expected parameters. You can hot-wire systems and force them to run when they should be shut down, or shut down when they’re supposed to be running. You might overdrive an engine, or push all the power in your blaster out in one big burst.
You can also use rig to disable or destroy a device, causing it to malfunction or simply make it impossible to fix. Planting explosives is done with rig, though tossing them as weapons in combat might be scrap. You can also rig a bomb or other planted explosive to be detonated remotely. Almost all traps are rigged into place.
In order to rig, you need physical access to something, and at least a plausible facsimile of the tools required. You might be able to short a circuit with a hairpin instead of a wire, but you can’t cut through a wall without a saw, beam weapon, or explosives of some sort.
Consequences of rig vary, from additional parts frying, fires and shocks causing harm, or complications from security systems and additional time or tools required.
Often long-term projects in downtime use rig. If you can get access to the right materials and put in the effort, rig can be used to make almost any physical device you might want, though you may need to study a schematic first. Just as common is using rig to fix gear that gets broken while on a job.
You can use scramble as a group action, when the entire group is running away from the problems they’ve just caused. When you consider the scene, imagine what that action scene looks like. Perhaps there’s blaster fire raining down on them from across the courtyard. Perhaps all of them are scaling down a tower to the drydock below. All scrambling has an element of action or danger to it.
When a scramble roll goes badly, it’s almost never because the action fails outright. There may be unexpected complications, or trouble you didn’t see due to your speed. Let the action progress before demonstrating how it gets derailed. Push to the last possible moment to inject failure into the scene and scrambling will feel punchy and tense.
If you use fighting as a feint to distract, you might choose to sway instead. If you’re sneaking up on someone and want to take them out before the fight starts, you should use skulk instead. If you’re placing explosives to bring a building down, you should look to rig.
Generally, the consequences you suffer when you scrap come from the enemy. The more dangerous they are, the worse your position— and the more dire those consequences will be. More often than not, when you scrap you’re risking harm as your consequence.
If you find yourself in a fight and you want to do something besides scrap, you might face a consequence first—which you can accept or resist (or maybe have a teammate to face for you). Just because you really want to sway someone doesn’t mean they stop punching you so you can talk to them. If you’ve got vibro-blades locked with someone, you may have to scrap to get free before you can scramble away (or take a wound as you bolt, and maybe use armor or resist it).
If you fight alongside your cohorts in battle, you scrap. If you direct them but you’re not engaged yourself, you command them.
You might use this movement to ambush an enemy. If an enemy can be taken out with a single clear blow, then skulk can be used in place of scrap. For powerful or well-armored targets, you might skulk to set up an attack (improved position). You can also use skulk to create an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. For example the Pasha’s guards wouldn’t talk openly around a stranger, but a successful skulk roll may let you study them and overhear their gossip to gather info about the faction and locale.
When a skulk roll goes awry, it doesn’t always end catastrophically. Instead of a character immediately being discovered as a consequence, you can start a clock like “Discovered” or “Alert” and tick a segment or two. Guards might investigate something they think they saw, but they don’t sound the klaxons and lock everything down at the first sign of a flitting shadow. Unless the opposition is ready and alert, the clever scoundrel has a bit of leeway before they’re out in the open, fighting for their lives.
You can use study to “read a person”—this is a gather information roll to judge whether or not they’re lying, what they really want, what their intentions are, etc. (See the list of questions you might ask on the bottom of your character sheet.) When you study someone in this way, you can ask the GM questions while you interact with them if you want, so you might wait until they say something fishy, and then ask the GM, “Are they telling the truth?” If you want to know if someone plans to attack, you might instead want to attune to sense killing intent.
You can also study a situation or a place. Finding clues, finding out who’s in charge, figuring out why the gang you’ve worked with before is acting fishy might all fall under a study roll, assuming the information is there to find.
When you have all the data available to you, but you need to make sense of it, study is the appropriate action. Occasionally, it may be questionable if you have all the right data. For instance, you may need to attune to sense the weird Way energies at a house before you can study their pattern, or you may need to hack into the mansion’s security system before you can study the guards’ patrol schedule.
Research of all kinds (often a long-term project) uses study. Want to find out who has an interesting Ur artifact collection and inadequate security? Want to know where the Memish rebellion hangs out? Virtually any fact can be discovered through study.
Additionally, swaying someone isn’t mind control. You need some reason for the target to listen to you. That could just be because you’re charming or desirable, or it might be good evidence and solid reasoning that backs up your story. Which approach works best depends on the target and circumstance. What works on one person might not on another. If you don’t have any leverage, you can try fear or intimidation with command, or genuine connection with consort or doctor.
It’s not possible to use sway when the target won’t listen to you. No amount of fast talk will convince the pirates whose ship you boarded that you fell in through an airlock by accident. If you need to convince someone that you’re someone you’re not for a moment, look at the Mystic’s Psy-Dancing ability.
You might be able to sway another character. Ask the player if they have some reason they could be swayed by you—perhaps you’re the captain and it’s your ship, or they owe you a favor. If you don’t have anything, you won’t be able to convince them.
You might communicate with a non-sentient species or robot. You could safely handle Precursor artifacts or remnants that tap directly into the Way. You might sense unseen danger, or killing intent (though study might be better). When you command, you compel obedience with your force of personality.
You might intimidate or threaten to get what you want. You might lead an action with NPCs. You might order people to do what you want (though sway might be better). When you consort, you socialize with friends and contacts.
You might gain access to resources, information, people, or places. You might make a good impression or win someone over with your charm and style. You might make new friends or connect with your heritage or background. You could try to direct your friends with social pressure (but command might be better). When you doctor, you attend to the needs of another by lending aid and comfort, or you look scientifically at the world.
You might treat someone’s injuries. You might analyze a substance’s composition to learn how it functions. You might comfort someone in distress (but consort might be better). When you hack, you breach the security systems of computers or override their controls.
You might access a data console to find a captive being held somewhere on the station. You might scramble a drone’s control systems to keep it from firing on you. You might override a door’s controls to get it to open (though rig might be better). When you helm, you pilot a vehicle or use vehicle weapons.
You might plot a jump through a dark hyperspace lane. You might dive through a canyon to escape a chasing ship. You might fire quad-lasers at hostile pirates. You might reroute power on the ship to weather fire (though rig may be better). When you rig mechanisms, you alter how an existing mechanism works or create a new one.
You might disable a trap. You might repair a damaged ship system. You might crack a safe. You might overdrive an engine. You might program a bomb to detonate later. You might force a door open (though hack might be better). When you scramble, you lift, climb, jump, run, or swim, usually either away from or into danger.
You might vault over a turnstile while escaping authorities. You might climb up the side of a cliff to approach a secret base. You might dodge blaster fire as you cross the hanger to get to your ship. You might chase after a mark you’re following (though skulk might be better). When you scrap, you engage in pitched combat with the intent to harm or neutralize your opposition.
You might brawl or wrestle with your foe. You might use a melee weapon. You might storm a barricade or hold a position in battle. You might lay down blaster fire. If you’re using a vehicle or ship weapon, you should use helm instead. When you skulk, you move stealthily or without being noticed.
You might sneak past security or hide in the shadows. You might lift a cred-stick off a mark. You might sneak up behind someone to attack them by surprise (but scrap might be better). You could try to climb up the side of a building (but scramble might be better). When you study, you scrutinize details and interpret evidence.
You might gather information from documents, newspapers, and books. You might do research on an esoteric topic. You might closely analyze a person to detect lies or true feelings. You could deduce a person’s intention to kill you (but attune might be better). When you sway, you influence someone with guile, charm, or logic.
You might outright lie to someone’s face. You might persuade a sucker to believe you. You might argue the facts with an officer. You could try to trick people into affection or obedience (but consort or command might be better). Many actions overlap with others, which is by design. As a player, you get to choose which action you roll by saying what your character does. Can you try to skulk behind someone during a fight? Sure! The GM tells you the position and effect level of your action in this circumstance. As it says, scrap might be better (less risky or more effective), depending on the situation at hand. (Sometimes it might be the other way around.)
ATTUNE
The Way is a force that all manner of people theorize about. While everyday people are familiar with the idea of The Way, most believe it either to be a natural force trumped up by the Cults or a residual effect of the Ur Precursors and their physics-defying machines. Only those who are exposed to the Way tend to develop a connection.That doesn’t keep anyone from being attacked by creatures that can partially phase through matter or from suffering the strange and difficult to treat symptoms that come from mishandling Ur artifacts. Being in touch with the Way gives one options where such things are concerned. Over time, that connection can be honed.
Any PC can attune. It’s not a rare supernatural gift, or tied to specific bloodlines. The Way is always there for those with the willingness to push their awareness. Mystics can (and sometimes must) attune as the action for many of their strange powers, such as Sundering or Kinetics. Without access to the Way, these powers can’t manifest.
The Cults regulate artifacts and mystic power use, declaring anything that changes people both dangerous and forbidden. Be aware that manifesting such powers may put you under a spotlight. Some people will see you as blessed and ask for aid, while others will turn you in to Hegemonic Cults and the System Police for being a threat or menace.
COMMAND
When you command someone, you don’t care about what they want. You tell them what to do and expect them to do it—out of fear, respect, or some other motivating factor (this is your leverage over them). If you’re trying to get along with someone and work together, consort can be better. When you command a friend or contact, they may feel angry and disrespected, so your position will probably be worse. Common consequences of command can include clocks started for disobedience or reprisals, and breaking apart friendships and alliances.You can lead a group of people by giving orders with command, or sending a group of NPCs to do something according to your instructions. Handle it as a “group action” teamwork maneuver with you rolling command and the group of NPCs rolling their quality.
You might be able to command another PC. Ask the player if their character has reason to follow your orders—fear, trust, respect, etc. If they do, then your action can force them to comply. If they don’t, then your action can only disrupt them somehow. You might frighten them with intimidation (inflicting harm), cause them to hesitate at a crucial moment, make them look weak in front of others, etc. Remember, command isn’t mind control, but it is an intense interaction. The other player will judge if their character can be ordered around or not.
CONSORT
When you consort with someone, you care about what the other person thinks and feels and in turn they care about what you want (at least a tiny bit). You’re being a charming, open, socially adroit person. You can consort with people you already know, or try to “fit in” in a new situation so you make a good impression.To consort, you need an environment that isn’t totally hostile. You might consort with the Legionnaires doing a routine sweep of ships in the area (a desperate situation, to be sure), but it’s usually hopeless to consort with the assassin sent to murder you. When you consort with people related to your background or heritage, you can expect a better position and/or increased effect.
You might be forced to consort in an unfamiliar situation in order to create an opportunity for another action. For instance, if you want to talk to Governor Malklaith at a party, you’ll have to at least try to consort with the other guests to make your way his table. commanding or swaying are options, sure, but expect a rather sudden escalation of trouble if things go badly.
DOCTOR
When you doctor someone, you can tend to both physical and emotional wounds. You take responsibility for your patient’s wellbeing, and seeing to their physical and psychological needs. You can doctor someone to connect with them and ease their fears. It can be more appropriate to consort when the relationship is equal, or sway if you’re trying to manipulate them or lie to them, but doctoring is appropriate for giving advice and easing concerns.To doctor, you need to establish some level of control over your subject. You can doctor a patient in a med bay, or analyze a compound with a chemical analyzer. You can try to doctor someone to help them shake off the effects of Way influences (though command or attune may be more appropriate). When you doctor with the perfect tools, you can expect a better position and/or increased effect.
You can doctor someone to forcibly administer drugs or handle a hostile patient. In these situations, the subject must be vulnerable in some way. For instance, you may need to skulk up to a pirate before injecting them with a knock-out drug, or pin a hallucinating patient with scrap before giving them an antidote. Be mindful: doctoring an unwilling patient can ruin relationships permanently.
HACK
When you hack something, you access software and override the decision-making components of an electronic system. This means you need a vector—a way to deliver your malicious code. You can’t hack a blade, Precursor temple door, or blaster because there’s no code present to plug into. It also means you’ll have to have a way to access the systems ports and interfaces. With all these limitations you’d think hack would be the least preferred action for solving problems, but most electronic systems in the Hegemony are designed to be updated and are susceptible. If not, you should be using rig instead.The higher the Tech rating of a planet the more likely things that can be hacked are common or available. A safe on a Tech 1 planet might be a heavy steel affair, with mechanical locking components, while those on a Tech 3 planet probably have scanners and biometric readers. Car doors, locks and lockers, security systems and such all become more automated and thus prone to hacking, including wirelessly.
To hack, you need a hacking rig to write the code and some way to deploy that code. Security is always being updated, so you can assume that an exploit that works in one place does not work everywhere. However, you can buy exploits—using an acquire asset downtime activity to pick up a custom hack will grant potency.
Consequences from hacking tend to be complications rather than physical harm. Systems may raise alerts. Attempts could take extra time. Unexpected parts of the system might be affected. Additional heat is frequent, as code signatures are of particular interest to the Hegemony. Urbots (despite their drone-like appearance) are not designed to be hacked. They require a combination of rig and attune to affect.
HELM
When you helm a ship or vehicle, your guidance determines where the craft goes. In open space, there’s not a lot of meaningful choice. But in dense aircar traffic on a planet, dodging asteroids while escaping pursuing Hegemony forces, or riding solar winds in a race across the system, the ability to helm is critical.You can helm any sort of vehicle (like boats!), including animals trained for riding. Rolling attune or sway may work better for those though.
You can also use helm to fire vehicle weapons, such as those commonly found on starships. Most of these weapons are at least computer assisted, and require familiarity with the weapon system more than quick reflexes or keen eyes. For weapons that are simply mounted on top of a vehicle, you might consider scrap instead.
Spaceships are designed to enter and exit hyperspace lanes; in general, ordinary piloting does not require a roll. One does not need to chart jumps along well-established gates and Starsmith-maintained lanes. An enterprising pilot might want to enter or exit a hyperspace lane in the middle, without the benefit of the Guild’s buoys. Charting an unassisted and unexpected jump into and out of these lanes is usually a desperate position.
Equally unruly are the so-called dark hyperspace lanes—lanes which are uncharted and have no Guild buoys for route auto-correction. Travel along them offers plenty of opportunities for helm rolls when encountering pirates, Way creatures, and the simple dangers of unexpected gravity waves and lane shifts.
RIG
When you rig, you take apart a device, wire up new connections, add hydraulics, and replace parts. It covers the mechanical and physical parts of a device. You rig to rewire electrical systems, but you hack to alter software. When a device is damaged, you usually use rig to work around the problem, or repair it.Use rig to physically make a device do what it’s supposed to, but outside of expected parameters. You can hot-wire systems and force them to run when they should be shut down, or shut down when they’re supposed to be running. You might overdrive an engine, or push all the power in your blaster out in one big burst.
You can also use rig to disable or destroy a device, causing it to malfunction or simply make it impossible to fix. Planting explosives is done with rig, though tossing them as weapons in combat might be scrap. You can also rig a bomb or other planted explosive to be detonated remotely. Almost all traps are rigged into place.
In order to rig, you need physical access to something, and at least a plausible facsimile of the tools required. You might be able to short a circuit with a hairpin instead of a wire, but you can’t cut through a wall without a saw, beam weapon, or explosives of some sort.
Consequences of rig vary, from additional parts frying, fires and shocks causing harm, or complications from security systems and additional time or tools required.
Often long-term projects in downtime use rig. If you can get access to the right materials and put in the effort, rig can be used to make almost any physical device you might want, though you may need to study a schematic first. Just as common is using rig to fix gear that gets broken while on a job.
SCRAMBLE
When you scramble, you’re trading finesse for efficiency. You chase or evade, usually at a decent speed. If you’re attempting to do so without making a scene, you may need to skulk instead. If you are doing so on a vehicle, that’s helm.You can use scramble as a group action, when the entire group is running away from the problems they’ve just caused. When you consider the scene, imagine what that action scene looks like. Perhaps there’s blaster fire raining down on them from across the courtyard. Perhaps all of them are scaling down a tower to the drydock below. All scrambling has an element of action or danger to it.
When a scramble roll goes badly, it’s almost never because the action fails outright. There may be unexpected complications, or trouble you didn’t see due to your speed. Let the action progress before demonstrating how it gets derailed. Push to the last possible moment to inject failure into the scene and scrambling will feel punchy and tense.
SCRAP
When you scrap with someone, it’s a fight. You’re attacking and defending, whether you’re using fists, martial arts, blades, or blasters. You can scrap to start a fight, to survive a fight, and to end a fight—but it’s always a fight. Regardless of whether you get the drop on your target or get into a shoot-out with a whole crew of people, you turn to scrap, though the position may differ.If you use fighting as a feint to distract, you might choose to sway instead. If you’re sneaking up on someone and want to take them out before the fight starts, you should use skulk instead. If you’re placing explosives to bring a building down, you should look to rig.
Generally, the consequences you suffer when you scrap come from the enemy. The more dangerous they are, the worse your position— and the more dire those consequences will be. More often than not, when you scrap you’re risking harm as your consequence.
If you find yourself in a fight and you want to do something besides scrap, you might face a consequence first—which you can accept or resist (or maybe have a teammate to face for you). Just because you really want to sway someone doesn’t mean they stop punching you so you can talk to them. If you’ve got vibro-blades locked with someone, you may have to scrap to get free before you can scramble away (or take a wound as you bolt, and maybe use armor or resist it).
If you fight alongside your cohorts in battle, you scrap. If you direct them but you’re not engaged yourself, you command them.
SKULK
When you skulk, you conceal your movements and intentions. The environment can play a large effect on your position. More secluded, shadowy environments can be much more controlled to move in. But skulking is more than just “sneaking around”—it’s also sleight of hand or other misdirections. For general athletic ability (running, climbing, jumping, swimming, etc.), you should use scramble.You might use this movement to ambush an enemy. If an enemy can be taken out with a single clear blow, then skulk can be used in place of scrap. For powerful or well-armored targets, you might skulk to set up an attack (improved position). You can also use skulk to create an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. For example the Pasha’s guards wouldn’t talk openly around a stranger, but a successful skulk roll may let you study them and overhear their gossip to gather info about the faction and locale.
When a skulk roll goes awry, it doesn’t always end catastrophically. Instead of a character immediately being discovered as a consequence, you can start a clock like “Discovered” or “Alert” and tick a segment or two. Guards might investigate something they think they saw, but they don’t sound the klaxons and lock everything down at the first sign of a flitting shadow. Unless the opposition is ready and alert, the clever scoundrel has a bit of leeway before they’re out in the open, fighting for their lives.
STUDY
When you study, you concentrate on small details—expressions, tone of voice, innuendo, tiny clues—to find what’s hidden, determine facts, corroborate evidence, and guide your decisions.You can use study to “read a person”—this is a gather information roll to judge whether or not they’re lying, what they really want, what their intentions are, etc. (See the list of questions you might ask on the bottom of your character sheet.) When you study someone in this way, you can ask the GM questions while you interact with them if you want, so you might wait until they say something fishy, and then ask the GM, “Are they telling the truth?” If you want to know if someone plans to attack, you might instead want to attune to sense killing intent.
You can also study a situation or a place. Finding clues, finding out who’s in charge, figuring out why the gang you’ve worked with before is acting fishy might all fall under a study roll, assuming the information is there to find.
When you have all the data available to you, but you need to make sense of it, study is the appropriate action. Occasionally, it may be questionable if you have all the right data. For instance, you may need to attune to sense the weird Way energies at a house before you can study their pattern, or you may need to hack into the mansion’s security system before you can study the guards’ patrol schedule.
Research of all kinds (often a long-term project) uses study. Want to find out who has an interesting Ur artifact collection and inadequate security? Want to know where the Memish rebellion hangs out? Virtually any fact can be discovered through study.
SWAY
When you sway someone, you aren’t invested in their thoughts or feelings. You’re manipulating them—either with charm, lies, or arguments that can’t be easily dismissed. You’re trying to get them to do what you want, whether or not they want or need it. You can sway a friend or contact—they’re probably vulnerable to you—but the risks are higher if they figure out what you’re doing to them; it might be a desperate thing to try.Additionally, swaying someone isn’t mind control. You need some reason for the target to listen to you. That could just be because you’re charming or desirable, or it might be good evidence and solid reasoning that backs up your story. Which approach works best depends on the target and circumstance. What works on one person might not on another. If you don’t have any leverage, you can try fear or intimidation with command, or genuine connection with consort or doctor.
It’s not possible to use sway when the target won’t listen to you. No amount of fast talk will convince the pirates whose ship you boarded that you fell in through an airlock by accident. If you need to convince someone that you’re someone you’re not for a moment, look at the Mystic’s Psy-Dancing ability.
You might be able to sway another character. Ask the player if they have some reason they could be swayed by you—perhaps you’re the captain and it’s your ship, or they owe you a favor. If you don’t have anything, you won’t be able to convince them.