Crossroads SF

Conflicts

Conflicts

The main types of Conflicts are Social Conflicts, Combat, and Simple Encounters.

Turn Order

Regardless of the type of Conflict, Turn Order works the same way.

Pick a side

Divide participants of the Conflict into teams. Every participant must be on a team, even if they are the only member of that team. Other members of a character’s team should be allies of that character.

Team Turns

Teams take turns one after the other. Only one team may act at a time, but each member of that team may act. Teams take their turns in order, but members of each team can act in any order they want during their team’s turn. This order can even change between turns.

Team Turns Example:
A group of Adventurers begins a Conflict with a mighty Dragon.
The Adventurers Team take the first turn and the Elf decides to go first, followed by the Human and then the Dwarf. They each resolve their Actions.
Next, the Dragon Team takes their turn, though the only member is the Dragon.
The Adventurers Team goes again after the Dragon Team, but this time the Dwarf decides to go first, followed by the Elf, and the Human goes last.
The Dragon Team goes again, and this repeats until the Conflict ends.

Declaring Actions

For simplicity, all Players should declare what they are doing before carrying out these Actions. Players may discuss what they will be doing, but should commit before anyone starts moving or rolling.

If a character is unable to perform their Declared Action for any reason (no target, obstructed, etc), pending GM Permission, they may perform another action instead. This Action might have Disadvantage because their plan changed.

Declaring Actions Example:
A group of Adventurers begins their turn in a Social Conflict.
They make their declarations: The Elf will perform a Manoeuvre and the Dwarf and Human will each perform an Offensive Action.
After this, they perform their actions and make their rolls.
In their next turn, they first declare they will all perform an Offensive Actions, but before rolling, the Dwarf decides to perform a Manoeuvre instead.
After the Elf makes their Offensive Action, the Human's target.

Who goes first?

The team that initiated the conflict should go first. This might be the team that attacked, or the team that started the conversation. Regardless of the type of conflict, the team that started it goes first.

In the case that no team can be blamed for starting the conflict, characters can roll 1d6 and add the average [A] of the members of that team. The teams go in order starting with the highest score. In the result of a tie, teams may roll 1d6 to decide who goes first. This order should not change.

Surprise Round

Sometimes, the first round of a conflict may be a special Surprise Round. If you decide to do a Surprise Round, each character may act individually before teams are set. Examples of Surprise Rounds might be a caravan ambush or two opposing groups stumbling across one another at a social event.

Any character that was not prepared for this encounter is “surprised”. Each “surprised” character may roll for turn order, using 1d6 + [A], [S], or [C], based upon what the GM deems appropriate. If a character is not surprised, they may act before any surprised participants for this round.

After a Surprise Round ends, Turn Order works as usual, and the team with the highest average score, or the fewest “surprised” members, goes first.

Resolving Effects

Any abilities, afflictions, or buffs that affect a character other than the caster go into effect at the end of a Team’s turn, just before the start of the next Team’s turn. This is intended to avoid confusing ability activation order and tactics demanding a character always go first or last.

Sometimes, it may be possible to resolve effects of the first Action on a turn before the second Action, though this should only be done with the GM’s permission. This entire rule may also be ignored if the players want, as per The Golden Rule.

While this is intended to simplify play, as with all rules, The Golden Rule always applies.

Waiting

If a character has more than one action, they may Wait for another character to act before they do. Their first action is effectively wasted, as they wait for the other character, but they may make their remaining action (or actions) normally. Any effects triggered during the action that was spent waiting will be in effect during this character’s other actions.

A character may also Wait for a specific character or action before taking their other actions. Similar to before, their first action is lost, but the other actions can be made even on another Team’s turn. These actions may require a trigger, such as attacking the first thing that runs around the corner.

Any Actions that have not been used before a character’s next turn are lost.

Allies and Opponents

Allies refers to other members of your team and Opponents means members of other teams. Other teams may be allied with your team, in which case members of those teams are also Allies.

In on the Action

If a Character is able to take part in a Conflict, they are described as being In Action. If a character has been removed from the action for any reason, they are described as being Out of Action.

Characters that are Out of Action may not act, but certain actions may be able to bring them back In Action. If an entire Team is Out of Action, the Conflict might end.

Simple Encounters

Sometimes an encounter might be very simple. Maybe a single guard stands in the way and the characters want to pass without a fight. In these cases, treating the situation as a Social Conflict or Combat may be unnecessary, and a simple Opposed Action may be all that is required.

A single Skill Roll may be performed, such as an attempt to Persuade or Intimidate the guard to let them pass, or a single attempt to Knock-out or Bind the guard.

However, these may become true Conflicts if the Opposed Action fails or has unfortunate results. This may become a Combat or a Social Conflict.

Combat

Combat Conflicts are detailed further in the Combat section.

Social Conflicts

Sometimes characters are forced to be polite and deal with opponents using their words and other skills rather than their weapons. These encounters are called Social Conflicts. Examples of Social Conflicts include debates, tense discussions, business dealings, and political intrigue.

Resolving Social Conflicts

Social Conflicts are resolved using words and other actions, meaning that [H]ealth is irrelevant. Instead, Social Conflicts use Standing and Decorum.

Standing

Standing is a measurement of how well a character or team is doing in a Social Conflict. Successful Offensive Actions by a character increase that character’s Standing, while Offensive Actions from an opponent might reduce Standing. A Team’s Standing is equal to the average Standing of each of the members of that team, rounding down.

Decorum

Decorum is used to determine whether a character is acting appropriately in polite company. Decorum may be reduced by Offensive Actions from opponents, or by failed Offensive Actions. Decorum may be restored by Manoeuvre Actions by a character or their allies.

If a character’s Decorum reaches 0, every member of that character’s team loses Standing. In addition, a Character may not make any Actions on their turn if they have 0 Decorum, though they also may not be the target of Offensive Actions.

Actions

There are three types of actions available to each character during a Social Conflict: Offensive, Defensive, and Manoeuvre Actions.

Each character in a Social Conflict has a single action on each of their turns. This may be an Offensive Action or a Manoeuvre Action. Defensive Actions are used only in response to an Offensive Action.

Offensive

Offensive Actions are clear actions against an opponent with an immediate effect. This might be an attempt to insult or impress somebody, for example. This action does not need to offend or attack the target, it only needs to affect them or another to your advantage. These actions require a detailed description of what action is attempted and what is the intended result before rolling.

These actions must designate one or more targets and a Skill Roll is made using the relevant statistic. Each target of this action is granted their own Defensive roll.

Offensive Actions are typically used to increase your Standing, or to reduce your opponent’s Standing or Decorum. The description of the roll may be used by the GM to give Modifiers to either the Offensive or Defensive rolls.

Defensive

Defensive Actions are performed when a character is a target of an Offensive Action. The character chooses a method to defend from the attack and rolls appropriately. A description of the response is required before rolling.

While each character may only make Defensive Actions if they are the target of an Offensive Action, each target of an Offensive Action gets to make their own Defensive Action against the Opponent.

Defensive Actions are used to recover Standing or Decorum, or to reduce the Standing or Decorum of the Opponent. Compensating Failures or Great Successes may also give modifiers for future actions.

Manoeuvre

Manoeuvre Actions are performed to give a character an Advantage on future actions, or to pre-emptively avoid actions. Characters must usually designate themselves or an ally to benefit from this action. A description of the action is required before rolling.

Manoeuvre Actions are used to recover Decorum for yourself or an ally, or to grant you or an ally Advantage in a future Offensive or Defensive Action. They may even be used (if possible) to remove a character from the Social Conflict, in order for them to avoid Offensive Actions temporarily.

Victory in a Social Conflict

Players are given a set Standing and Decorum at the start of a Social Encounter. Typically, each player starts with 2 Standing and 2 Decorum. These starting values may be affected by other factors, such as recent events, and may be modified by the GM. Certain characters may also have other abilities or items or other factors that affect their Standing or Decorum.

Victory through Standing

Characters earn Standing by performing successful Offensive Actions against opponents. Characters may target more than one character to score additional points, but may run the risk of having one of the targets turn the Action back on them, which might damage their own Standing or Decorum.

The GM may set a target Standing to reach for a team or individual. If this is reached, that team is the victor. Otherwise, the Social Conflict may continue for a number of turns and the individual or team with the highest Standing at the end is considered to be the winner.

Victory through Decorum

Characters are unable to perform any Actions if they have lost all Decorum, and are deemed Out of Action. If a team loses all Decorum, they are unable to continue and lose by default. If there is only one team left with any Decorum, that team wins.

The GM may also set a particular character or number of characters that need to be eliminated in order for one side to claim victory. This may be a form of Character Assassination or Protection.

Additional Rules

Hoist by your own petard

Failure in an Offensive Action will usually result in a character losing Standing or Decorum instead of their opponent. Partial Successes may also result in both parties losing Standing or Decorum.

Great Successes on Defensive Actions may also boost Decorum or Standing, so characters should be careful with who they target.

Repetition is the Mother of Boredom

Using the same action multiple times in a row gains Disadvantage as onlookers and participants grow weary of repetition. This counts for Offensive, Defensive, or Manoeuvre Actions. Using the same move as another character or picking only on one character may also have the same effect.

This is mostly up the GM, but should only happen if a character uses the same action or statistic that they used in the previous round, or tries an action another character already used this round. This should help to keep encounters interesting.

Social Encounter Example:
An Elf and a Dwarf are in a stand-off with a minor Noble.
The Noble attempts an Offensive Action, targeting both of them. He mocks them using his Knowledge of their adventures, calling them pathetic, hoping to upset them and reduce their Decorum. He succeeds and lowers their Decorum.
The Dwarf attempts a Defensive Action using Willpower to remain calm and ignore the insult, hoping to recover the lost Decorum. The Elf uses Social skills to play off the insult, trying to boost her own Standing instead. Both succeed, the Dwarf recovering the lost point, and the Elf trading a point of Decorum for a point of Standing. Their egos are bruised but everything remains formal, and the Elf even manages to get a chuckle from an onlooker.
On their turn, the Elf attempts a Manoeuvre, using Cognisance to discover something about the Noble. They roll a Success and notice that the Noble is holding a letter for the Queen, which can be used in future actions. The Dwarf makes an Offensive Action against the Noble. They decide to casually flex their muscles at the Noble, using Brawn and hoping to disparage the Noble’s own strength and reduce his Standing...

Breakdown in Communication

Certain actions, such as drawing weapons, casting certain spells, or attacking another character may cause the Social Encounter to end as characters no longer wish to talk. This may also happen if certain things are said, such as especially severe insults. Participants in the Social Encounter may fight or flee, which may lead to a Combat Encounter. Otherwise, the Social Encounter simply fails.

Sometimes, if a team loses an encounter due to losing Decorum, a Combat Encounter may begin.

Magic in Social Encounters

While [P] might be used to display magical ability for Actions, some magical spells or abilities might even be usable in Social Encounters. These spells or effects usually modify other ability scores or affect other characters, such as by causing mental interference. Care should be taken however, as use of magic may drop Decorum, or cause a Breakdown in Communication.