Forward: I'm taking a departure from standard Delta Green rules to make combat more PbP friendly. Generally live sessions allow for more back and forth between handler and agents. But that level of back and forth would slow combat down to a crawl. I've tried to condense everything to a more manageable format. Hopefully this will knock combat down into quick actions rather than drawn out skirmishes. If I failed to cover something in this guide, don't be afraid to bring it up. This is my first experience using this system in this way.
At the start of combat post your buffs/debuffs (armor modifier or energy deprivation) & derived attributes (HP, WP, SAN, & Breaking Point) as well as your DEX score.
The highest DEX score goes first. If players get the drop on their opponent, that acts as a free round. For each round players will get 2 actions and one maneuver. The list of actions are as follows:
- Attack, roll your action with a 1d100 as well as the damage. Please also describe your intent as well. I.e 'Disarm', 'Pin down', 'Cover fire', 'Grapple', etc.
- Aiming, gives you a +20% bonus on the next action
- Call shot, the next action will be at a -20% penalty for effective range or -40% penalty for ineffective range, but the action will bypass cover or armor
- Stay Loose, you may choose to leave an action open in case you need to roll dodge or fight back on your next turn.
- Escape, if you are pinned or trapped you may roll either your DEX or your STR modifier to escape. But you will not know the result until your next turn. You may roll escape twice at the cost of not 'staying loose'.
Applying damage
Some opponents are so outside of human experience that you may not always know whether or not your attacks are effective. Nor will you always have an exact estimate of an opponents strength before they unleash it. Such is the life of a Delta Green Operative. That said, your HP is critical and you should be mindful of it. There are no negative values and once you hit 0 you're dead. While I may or may not allow for a cool death scene, I'm afraid there is no coming back... if you're lucky.
But your health bar isn't your only resource to manage. If your willpower gets below half you take a -20% penalty on all skill checks. If it hits 0 you collapse from exhaustion and fall unconscious.
Stay Loose: There are a few ways to avoid taking damage in certain situations. But these situations are only possible if you 'stayed loose' on the turn prior. These are as follows:
- Dodge, roll your dodge skill with a 1d100. (Success will protect you from all damage on the previous round. Critical success might grant you or an ally a buff.)
- Fight back, roll your melee or unarmed combat with a 1d100, then roll damage. (Success will protect you from all damage on the previous round. But you can only apply the fight back damage to one opponent. Critical success will grant you a x2 damage modifier.)
*In the case of a critical failure: You will have two options. Option 1.) You take double the damage. Option 2.) You take regular damage but give me the option to allow the crit to manifest elsewhere.
Maneuver: You can use your maneuver to move within range bands, or to find cover. Finding cover on unprepared ground will make it so that you are both harder to hit, and offer you damage protection as well. In the case of ambushes you may spend time before combat to prepare the terrain to your benefit.
Short to Engaged - 1/2 maneuver
Medium to Short or Engaged - 1 maneuver
Long to Medium - 1 maneuver - 1 maneuver
Light cover - 1/2 maneuver | +20% difficulty modifier to hit, (+3 protection) | -20% to firearms when improvised
Heavy cover - 1/2 maneuver | +20% difficulty modifier to hit, (+5 protection) | -40% to firearms when improvised, -20% on prepared ground
*Cautious advances between range bands may be made at double the maneuver cost. This will give the player a +20% difficulty to hit modifier without damage protection.
PvP & Opposed Rolls: Not only is it allowed, in some cases PvP will be encouraged. Players who hit their breaking point in combat will undergo temporary insanity. Doing so may make them lash out at the world, and in those moments they may not know friend from foe. This will lead to moments where players will be forced to make opposed rolls.
Opposed Rolls: In moments like these where it feels as though the world is turned on its head. It's only fitting that there will be a brief departure in the usual logic. When one player rolls to attack, and the other player fights back or dodges, the higher of the two rolls wins instead of the lower. A crit still beats regular success, higher crit will beat the lower crit. Make your rolls and may the dice gods favor you both.
Managing Sanity Loss
To a Delta Green agent, getting shot is nothing. Losing sleep is nothing. Wounds heal, and we'll all sleep when we're dead anyway. But trauma? Trauma sticks with you. Worms its way into every part of your life, on or off the battlefield. Trauma is the real killer for agents, and managing it should be their number one priority. With every breaking point hit, agents gain a new mental disorder. And the lower their sanity gets, the quicker their descent into madness becomes. Once zero is reached, the agent is effectively dead.
BONDS: A support system keeps the horrors at bay. However, just as in real-life, a burden shared takes its toll. There will come a time when this toll manifests. But one way of staving off sanity loss is to roll a 1d4. You may choose to trade that amount or less in bond loss, rather than sanity loss. However, doing so means subtracting the full result of that 1d4 roll from your willpower. Which effectively means you lose that amount of sleep in the process.
MOTIVATIONS: Motivations exist as more than just a way to roleplay your character. If in the course of your assignment you fulfill your motivation, you may gain a measured amount of sanity back.
Types of Sanity Loss
Sanity loss comes in three varieties: Helplessness, Violence, and the unnatural. If an agent has failed three sanity checks from violence, or helplessness, they become immune to future losses. But nobody is immune to the unnatural. Like radiation, it tears away everything that makes you you. It chips away at the bedrock of your world, distorting your perception of what's fundamentally true and untrue.
Temporary Insanity: When sanity loss is five or greater the agent will go temporarily insane. This manifests in one of three ways: Fight, flee, or surrender. The agent may choose how the insanity manifests, and they may continue controlling the character while they're temporarily insane. But they won't be able to stop fighting, fleeing, or surrendering until the insanity ends (i.e. when the GM says the insanity has ended).