In Harm’s Way: Dragons! Dice Pool Conversion © 2014, Laura ‘Tamara” HensonThis is not an attempt to infringe on the copyrights of either Flying Mice Games or Better Mousetrap Games. This is not an officially licensed product nor has it any affiliation with either company.

Cover Public Domain art

All Illustrations are all copyright expired or copyright free artwork

Special Thanks to Clash Bowley and Flying Mice Games http://jalan.flyingmice.com From Better Mousetrap Games

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In Harms Way: Dragons! Is a role playing game designed by Clash Bowley and published by Flying Mice Games (Better Mousetrap Inc) in which corps of dragon riders fight in the Napoleonic wars. However the game uses a percentile dice system that is quite complicated for young or inexperienced gamers to learn. For this reason I have developed this dice pool conversion for faster play.

This version of the game require the book "In Harm's Way: Dragons", a pen or pencil, and twelve six sided dice to play.

Basic Rules:

In a dice pool system the characters have attributes and skills. Combining these two numbers gives one a dice pool. For example if the character Mike has an Agy of 3 and a Riding Skill of 2 he will have 5 dice to roll when making a riding check. In this version the dice rolled are the typical six sided dice commonly sold with board games or found in dollar stores.

Each dice roll will have a difficulty number ranging from 2 to 6. The higher the number the harder it is to perform that action. A player wants to roll the difficulty number or higher on each dice, the more successes the higher the quality of the roll.

Difficulty Dice Pool Difficulty Original DifficultyVery Easy 2 X5

Easy 3 X4Average 4 X3

Hard 5 X2Very Hard 6 X1

The skills given in the basic rulebook can be used as is. The modified attribute being one used with that skill. For example climb is modified by Agy so in this system the dice pool will consist of a characters Agy + Climb. The only new rule is that Zoology should be added to the Naturalist skill set.

For example: Mike and George are going to attempt to keep their dragons flying in formation while the enemy fires smoke bombs at them. The bombs do no damage; the enemy is simply hoping to scatter the formation to make them easy pickings. The Game Master (GM) decides that this is an average roll so is Difficulty 4.

Mike makes a riding check of Agy 3 + Riding 2 and rolls five dice. He gets a 3, 6, 5, 4, and 2. Three of these dice are four or higher so Mike has four successes and easily controls his dragon.

George makes a check of Agy 5 + Riding 1 and rolls six dice. He gets a 1, 3, 5, 6, 3, and 2 for only two successes. He controls his dragon and stays in formation but it was a struggle and he may be reprimanded by the leader of the squad.

Botched Rolls: If a roll gets nothing but ones it is a spectacular failure and something goes horribly wrong. In the above example a character that received all ones in a roll would not only find himself out of formation but would be automatically in range of enemy fire. In other situations the characters weapon may break, his rifle jam, or he may trip over a root and fall in the horse trough, whatever is most appropriate to the story. Alternately the character may automatically lose a point of Luck.

Skill Mastery and Edges: For every two points a character has in a skill he has a point of Mastery. So Mike with his riding skill of 2 has one point of Mastery while someone with a skill of 5 would have 2 points of Mastery. Each point of Mastery allows a player to re-roll a failed dice, even if it is a one.

Dragons also have edges. These are natural instinctive bonuses that allow the dragon to re-roll failed dice relating to that edge.

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Foe example, Jacob is flying his Dragon Tatiana, a Midnight Prowler, at night. The GM asks Jacob's player to make an End + Alert check at Average Difficulty. Jacob rolls and gets no successes. He has two points in Alert though so can re-roll one dice. Unfortunately that dice is a 2 so Jacob fails to notice the enemy dragon sneaking up on his tail. Tatiana has also failed her initial roll but her edge of Night 4 means she can automatically re-roll up to four failed dice if she is trying to detect something in the dark. By re-rolling these dice she gets three successes and notices the enemy.

Extended Actions: Sometimes the GM may tell you to make more than one roll to succeed at a task. An extended action allows you to roll over and over on subsequent turns until the right amount of successes is gained. Climbing is a common extended action; let’s say the GM says that you have to roll 10 successes to climb a 50 foot tree. Each success allows your character to climb five feet. On a failure he becomes stuck, on a botch he falls.

Resisted Actions: Often a character will be opposed to another. In these cases, both characters make rolls (with the difficulty usually based on a specific trait of the other character, such as Strength) with the character that rolls the most successes wining.

A good example of this is a captain trying to convince a commander that they are outnumbered and must turn the squad back. The captain rolls Char + Convince at a difficulty equaling the Commander's Int. The Commander, not wanting to be appear cowardly to his king, rolls Int + Evaluate at a difficulty equaling the Captain's Char rating. The one with the highest number of successes wins.

Contests: Sometimes a character will be in direct conflict with another person, as opposed to attempting an isolated action. Competing with someone to accomplish an action is known as a contest. To resolve a contest, the player rolls against a difficulty number as normal, but the opponent also gets to roll his own Trait against the same difficulty number. The contestant who scores the most successes wins. Ties re-roll.

For example, George (Strength 5) is arm-wrestling the local blacksmith (also Strength 5). The GM decides that the first one to score three successes wins. On Turn #1, George rolls two successes, and his opponent rolls one. George forces the blacksmith’s arm down ever so slightly. On Turn #2, the blacksmith scores one success, and George scores none. The opponents are tied and their arms are upright again. This battle will seesaw back and forth until one of the combatants is the first to arrive at three successes. If they win three at the same time, the contest continues until one participant simply gets more successes than the other.

Luck: Unlike most other traits Luck is most often spent rather than rolled. As in the basic rules one point of luck can be spent to dictate the story (see page 13). A character regains all Luck at the beginning of an Action (Game Year) but using these rules he can also regain Luck depending on how lucky his dice rolls are in play. Whenever a roll gives a character five or more sixes (without the use of Skill Mastery or Edges) he regains a points of Luck.

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Creating a Human Character

1 and 2. Culture and Character Concept are the same as in the original game.

3. Decide Physical Attributes: Divide 10 points between Strength, Coordination, Agility, Endurance, and Charisma. Each attribute needs at least one point placed within it and no attribute may exceed six points.

4. Decide Non-Physical Attributes: Divide 6 points between Intelligence (ignore IQ), Luck and Family Lifestyle. Intelligence and Lifestyle needs at least one point placed within it while beginning Luck cannot exceed three.

Family Class/InterestPoints Allocated French British American

1 Sans Culottes Lower Middle Class Lower Middle Class2 Paysan Middle Class Middle Class3 Percheur Upper Middle Class Upper Middle Class4 Bourgoisis Upper Middle Class Upper Middle Class5 Upper Bourgoisis Gentry Wealthy6 Gens Gentry Wealthy7 Lower

AristocracyLower Nobility Rich

8 Aristocracy Nobility Extremely Rich9 Upper Aristocracy Upper Nobility Plutocrat

5. Select 7 points of Background Skills as determined by your character concept and Family Lifestyle.

6. Choose an Avocation with two skill points.

7. Select seven points of Traits. Choose at least three Traits.

8. Calculate your base Constitution by adding together your Str, Coor, Agy, and End. Divide into four categories for Fine/Hindered/Stunned/Critical. For example is the total is 9 than divide the damage tract into 3/2/2/2.

9. Record Practicality and Honor. In these rules start with 5 points in each stat for a total of 10 points instead of 10 in each for a total of 20. Otherwise it works the same as in the basic rulebook age 78.

10. Congratulations your character is now a 12 year old youngster just starting to enter adulthood and leave home. Now you need to make a choice and choose either a Template character or create a directed one.

Template Characters: Template characters are general 18-20 year old Lieutenants. The statistics found on pages 26-27 of the basic rulebook can be used as is but no skill or attribute can be over six.

Directed Characters: These characters are more individualistic. First decide how old the character is from 13 to 20. Now add one skill point or one attribute point for every year in service. For every two years in service you can select one additional point in a skill you already possess. There can be no more than a total of six points in any attribute or skill.

11. Equip your character as in the basic rulebook. You are now ready to play.

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Converting a Dragon Breed

A dragon breed can be created as normal and converted in the following way.

Size: A dragon's size level remains the same. The number is important as is used in several ways.

Special Ability/Edges: type of breath, number of times it is used per day, and edges remain the same, See above for an explanation on how edges work. Damage is changed as follows:

Original Breath Damage New Breath DamagePetty Breath/+0 +2

+50 +4+75 +5+100 +6+125 +7+150 +8+175 +9+200 +10

Attributes: A dragon's attributes are comparable to other dragons not humanoids. To get the new attribute amount divided the old attribute two. For feats in which the larger mass of the dragon matters the size level of the dragon is added to the roll. For example, if a man tries to keep a Midnight Prowler on the ground against its will the man rolls Str and the dragon rolls Str + Size. IQ is dropped and not used.

Armor/Outer Covering: This remains as is. Make sure to round up to the nearest whole number.

Damage Base: This is now the same as the dragon's size. Pony Sized +0, Horse Sized +1, Draft Horse +2, etc. This is added to the dragon's strength and natural weapon modifier to determine damage in combat. So a horse sized Thorn dragon with strength of 4 will do the following dice of damage...

Teeth: 8 (Str 4 +Size 1 + Teeth 3), Claws 7(Str 4 + Size 1+ Claws 2), Horns 5 and Tail 5 (Str 4 +Size 1).

Attack Type and Skill/Damage: Attack type and Skill remains as is. Damage changes as follows...

Natural Weapon New Damage ModifierClaw Rend +2Horn Gore +2Tail Club +2

Teeth (Bite) +3Teeth & Horns +3/+2Teeth & Claws +3/+2Teeth & Tail +3/+2

Vigor: Use the following chart to determine vigor in a dice pool game...

Original Vigor Score New Vigor Score

Original Vigor Score

New Vigor Score

N/A N/A 16 68 0 18 710 1 20 812 2 23 913 3 25 10

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14 4 30 1115 5 35 12

The Vigor rating also works differently. Roll the dragon's Vigor as a dice pool. Difficulties are always 6 but your ground crew rating and supply officer's rating are subtracted from the Difficulty. Advance bases add two to the difficulty (to a maximum of 6). A Difficulty of one is an automatic success. When making a Vigor roll only a failure will result in trouble during a sortie. On a Both the dragon develops extreme trouble such as a severe illness.

Senses: The numbers remain the same but become plus instead of multiply. So Sight x2 becomes Sight +2. When making an Observe roll involving one of these senses the relevant one may be added to the dice pool.

Maneuver and Stability: The Maneuver rating is now a modifier used when making any Riding or Flying skill check when attempting Maneuvers. Stability is now a modifier used for the Riding or Flying skill when the dragon is taking off or landing. It is also a modifier used for all firearms, bows, or Observation skill checks when the dragon is in the air.

Convert this rating to the following bonuses...

Manuev & Stability Rating Difficulty0-4 +25-8 +19-12 013-16 -117-20 -2

Constitution, Diet/Habitat, Aggression, Acceleration, Max Speed, Ceiling, Range, and Break: Remain the same with no change.

Coloring, patterning, and ornaments: No change

Dragon Skills: The skills possessed by dragons are the same as listed on page 126-127 of the basic rulebook. These are summarized as follows for starting Adult PC dragons...

Automatic Skills: Linguistics 2 (Draconic and the language of their Nation), Alert (= Sight), Observation (= the average between their breeds Sight, Hearing, and Smell ratings), Natural weapons as pertaining to breed), and Flying.

Other Skill Points: one skill from the dragon skill list, and three skills from the dragon or it's captain's Skill List.

After Play begins dragons get one skill point from the dragon or it's captain's Skill List per year.

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Basic Combat Rules

Combat works like all other dice pool games by combining the dice for an attribute with a skill and rolling it against a Difficulty. Any armor being worn by the opponent subtracts one success. If any successes remain after subtracting armor than the blow hits the opponent and causes damage. Initiative is simply rolling one dice with the highest roll going first.

Combat Skills: There are several combat skills available to characters. This is a summary from the skill list on pages 42-49 of the basic rulebook plus any changes in description. Skills marked * can only be used by dragons.

Blade + Str (cutting weapons like swords and daggers)

Bombing +End (Throwing bombs and using explosives)

Bow + Coor (Using both typical long or short bows and crossbows) weirdly enough no bows were given with the basic rules.

Boxing + Coor (Using the sport of boxing to defeat an opponent uses this skill. For every point in this skill the player learns a special Maneuver)

Brawl + Str (This is simple street fighting. For every point in this skill the player learns a special maneuver).

Breath* + Coor (A dragon's ability to aim its breath weapon).

Claw Rend* + Str (A dragon's ability to strike with its claws).

Firearms + Coor (The ability to use guns, and other hand-held missile weapons).

Gunnery + Coor (The ability to shoot a cannon, catapult, or similar siege weapon).

Horn Gore* + Agy (The dragon's ability to strike with its horns).

Melee + Str (Using clubs, maces, axes, and pole-arms in combat)

Savate + Agy (This is fighting using any type of martial art. For every point in this skill the player learns a special maneuver).

Tail Club* + Agy (A dragon's ability to strike with its tail).

Teeth Bite* + Str (A dragon's use of it' bite attack).

Wrestling + Str (This is fighting using wrestling moves. For every point in this skill the player learns a special maneuver).

Difficulty Numbers: The difficulty for combat depends on how far away the target is. Each weapon has a Range that determines its default Difficulty. This Difficulty is 4 at that range and it increases by one per each higher step in Range the user attempts to wield it. For Ranges lower than the default the Difficulty is reduced by one per step. If the Difficulty exceeds 6 than the target is too far away and impossible to hit, but if the Difficulty is reduced to a 1 you can't miss and automatically hit the target.

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An example would be Mike who is using a Flintlock Pistol (Range of Short) to fight a group of three pirates. He first shoots at a target 15 feet away. This is well within the distance of short range so the Difficulty of the shot is 4. The next pirate is 50 yards away (medium range) so the Difficulty of this shot is 5. Meanwhile the third pirate has snuck up behind Mike and is only four feet away. Warned by his dragon, Mike whirls around and empties his last shot into the villain. The Difficulty of this last shot, being within Point Blank range, would be 3.

Range ChartRange Distance in Yards or Meters Distance in Feet

1- 6 feet (2 y/m) Within 2 1- 6 feet (2 y/m)7-30 feet ( 2-10 7-30 feet (

31-87 10-50 31-8789-750 50-250 89-750

751-3000 250-1000 751-30003001-6000 1001 + 3001 +

Weapon Damage: The damage a weapon does is equal to the amount of successes on your attack roll plus a damage modifier for your weapon. For example, Mike above shoots the first pirate with his flintlock pistol and rolls three successes to strike. The damage for a flintlock is +3, so Mike's shot does six points of damage. Cannons do an amount of damage equal to the number of successes multiplied by a certain number. For example a 6 pound howitzer does x2 damage. If a shooter rolls four successes than the cannon ball does 8 points of damage or 4x2.)

Below is a list of the weapons given in the basic rulebooks When importing weapons from other games just divide the original damage by 10 to get the new modifier, so damage +30 becomes damage +3. The range remains the same and Skills Req is no longer used.

FIREARMS COOR + FIREARMS

Weapon Damage Range Max Shots Per Round CostFlintlock Carbine +4 Short 3 Gentry/WealthyFlintlock Pistol +3 Short 3 Upper Middle

ClassFlintlock Rifle +3 Long 2 Lower NobilityFlintlock Volley Gun +3 Point Blank 1 / up to five targets hit SuppliedFowling Piece +2 Medium 3 Gentry/WealthyMusket +4 Medium 3 SuppliedMusketoon +4/+2 Point

Blank/Short3 Middle Class

BOMBS END+BOMBINGWeapon Damage Range Special Cost

Grenade or Petard +4 Short Must be lit before use Supplied

CANNONS COOR+GUNNERYWeapon Damage Range Max Shots Per Round Cost

Congreve Rocket Special Long 3 Army4-6 Pounder Howitzer X2 Medium 1 Army12-18 Pounder Howitzer

X4 Long 1 Army

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EDGED WEAPONS STR+BLADEWeapon Damage Range Special Cost

Cut &Thrust Sword +3 Point Blank - AnyCutlass +2 Point Blank - SuppliedDagger/Dirk +1 Short Can be Thrown SuppliedFoil +1 Point Blank - Gentry/WealthyRapier +3 Point Blank - Lower NobilitySaber +2 Point Blank - Gentry/WealthySinglesticks/Sai +2 Short Used in pairs, can be thrown SuppliedSmall Sword +2 Point Blank - Gentry/WealthyThrowing Knife +2 Short Can be thrown Any

MELEE WEAPONS STR+MELEEWeapon Damage Range Special Cost

Boarding Axe +3 Point Blank - SuppliedClub +1 Short Cudgels, Marlinspikes,

Nightsticks, etc.Supplied

Halberd +4 Short Includes most edged pole-arms SuppliedHatchet/Tomahawk +2 Short Includes all other throwing axes SuppliedBoarding Pike +2 Short Includes any spear Supplied

SIMPLE BRAWLING STR+BRAWLWeapon Damage Range Special Cost

Brass Knuckles +1 Point Blank Adds to punching damage Any

Boxing Special Maneuvers: Boxing is specialized combat with the fist. Unlike simple punching (a brawl maneuver) boxers are trained to do maximum damage to the opponent. You can choose one maneuver of your choice per point in the Boxing skill you have. Unless the entry says otherwise all boxing rolls are Coor + Boxing at Diff: 4 with damage being the number of successes. All boxing maneuvers are at point blank range.

Blocking: Actively trying to avoid a blow the character blocks the opponent's strike with one of his own. Roll AGY + Boxing (Diff: 4), each success minuses a success from the attackers strike roll

Combination: This is a sequence of blows in a row. Roll to strike at difficulty 5. If successful the blow does the number of successes +3 in damage.

Cross: A right or left cross is a knockout punch to your opponent's jaw. On a successful roll the opponent not only takes the number of successes in damage but must roll an End + Overdo roll (Diff = the Boxer's points in Boxing) or be knocked out.

Flurry: A flurry of blows is designed to overwhelm an opponent. The boxer rolls to strike as normal and, if he hits, applies damage. He then rolls again at +1 Difficulty and applies any damage from that roll. He can then roll at Difficulty 6 (and continue to apply damage) until his opponent is unconscious or he fails to get any more successes.

Haymaker: By putting absolutely everything into a blow, a character can do a devastating amount of damage. If the blow strikes the damage is equal to your amount of Successes plus your Str score. The downside to this maneuver is the opponent can dodge with a -2 bonus, reflecting the obviousness of the windup needed for this sort of maneuver

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Pull Punch: The character using this maneuver chooses to subdue instead of kill an opponent. The blow is meant to cause incapacitating pain instead of physical injuries so the damage does no actual injury. Mark all damage with an "S" and apply pain penalties as normal until the opponent reaches Stunned level. At this point he will be knocked out. Unlike real damage subduel damage heals at a rate of one point every two turns. This is usually more than enough time to tie him up or otherwise render the opponent harmless.

Brawl Special Maneuvers: This is the only combat style that gives combat maneuvers that can be used if one has no points in this skill. These free maneuvers can be used by anybody. In addition to these free maneuvers you can choose one additional maneuver of your choice per point in the Brawl skill you have. Unless the entry says otherwise all brawl rolls are Str + Brawl at Diff: 4 with damage being the number of successes. All Brawl maneuvers are at point black range.

Punch (free maneuver): Hit with the fist.

Kick (free maneuver): Hit with the foot.

Barrel Roll: if your character is the victim of a Charge or otherwise knocked down, you can make an AGY + Brawl check to see if you are able to roll with it and come back to your feet. If successful you do not lose a turn from being knocked down but do suffer a +1 penalty to the Difficulty of your next move.

Charge: Your character can run at and attempt to knock down an opponent. When struck with this maneuver the opponent makes an Agy + Overdo roll. If he gets the same amount or more successes than the attacker did then he remains on his feet. If not then the opponent falls. Knocked down characters lose a turn as they struggle to get back on their feet and may be hit again with a -1 difficulty bonus by any opponents who are still upright.

Cheap Shot: Your character is not afraid to fight dirty. If an enemy is immobilized, knocked down, or otherwise has lost a turn in combat than you can kick them, hit them below the belt, jab an eye, or otherwise harm them. Roll your STR score at Difficulty 3; the successes are the amount of damage that is inflicted. Damage done in this way cannot be dodged.

Dog Pile: Your character knows how to throw his body into the middle of a fight that is already in progress in such a way that the combatant at the bottom of the pile is squashed while the other combatants are unharmed. If an opponent is immobilized in a grapple or knocked down your character may join in by making a Str + Brawl roll at difficulty 5. All successes rolled after the first may immediately be applied as damage to the immobilized combatant.

Found Weapon: You are not above striking an opponent with a rock, beer mug, chair, or similar object. Damage is as normal with a bonus depending on the following modifiers...

Object is small (rock, ball, beer mug) +0Object is large (Table, chair, another person) +1Object is sharp or hard (glass, metal, stone, wood)

+1

Object is soft (cloth, plush, sand, a person) -1

Roundhouse: A vicious kick to a sensitive spot be it the head, throat, groin, or knee. If your character’s attack succeeds it does double damage. If the kick fails this move leaves you unbalanced allowing your opponent to make their next attack with a -3 difficulty bonus.

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Savate Special Maneuvers: This fighting style includes all martial art skills that use specialized kicks. including the La Savate and Karate. These are all specialized combat that used blows to pressure points, kicks, and quick movements to incapacitate foes You can choose one maneuver of your choice per point in the Savate skill you have. Unless the entry says otherwise all martial arts rolls are AGY +Savate at Diff: 4 with damage being the number of successes and are point blank attacks.

Catch Missile: The character can catch missiles fired at him, from darts and arrows to grenades. The martial artist must get more successes than the attacker or the knife will hit or the grenade will explode before it can be tossed away. Bullets and other firearm projectiles cannot be caught and only a single missile can be caught at a time.

Chopping Blow: The character can channel all his energy into a single blow using his hand. The blow hits a pressure point and does normal damage + Str.

Circular Motion Kick: Your character crouches while spinning around with his leg extended, knocking his opponent off his feet. If the roll succeeds the opponent is thrown to the ground. The opponent takes normal damage but and loses a turn, as he must climb to his feet. During this lost turn he can be attacked with a -1 Difficulty bonus.

Leap Attack: The character leaps past his attackers and strikes them in midair as he passes by. This maneuver takes up two attacks, one for the leap and one for the attack and can be considered a short range attack. The damage is the same as the number of successes plus the damage bonus from any weapons used.

Piston Kick: The martial artist makes a running leap to wards an opponent and delivers a powerful kick to her opponent's head or upper torso. If the user inflicts more damage than the opponent has dots in Strength (after soak), the opponent is knocked back and loses a turn while taking normal damage. The user lands properly unless they botch this maneuver.

Revere Spin Kick: The martial artist spins around once with incredible speed, his momentum adding bone-jarring force to his kick. The attack roll at difficulty 6 and the damage is doubled.

Wrestling Special Maneuvers: Wrestling is a combat style emphasizing holds, flips, and lifting your opponent only to slam him into the ground. You can choose one maneuver of your choice per point in the Wrestling skill you have. Unless the entry says otherwise all boxing rolls are Str + Wrestling at Diff: 4 with damage being the number of successes. All wrestling maneuvers are at point blank range.

Choke Hold: The character knows how to get a solid hold upon their opponent's windpipe. On a successful roll the wrestler catches his opponent about the throat with either his arms or legs. If the number of successes rolled is the same or larger than the opponent's STR than the opponent is knocked down and held in a chokehold. Opponents may try to escape once per turn by winning a contest of strength roll (diff 4) but after being held for an amount of time equal to his END the opponent will begin to take subduel damage. The opponent will lose one heath per turn, mark all damage with an "S" and apply pain penalties as normal until the opponent reaches Stunned level. At this point he will be knocked out. Unlike real damage subduel damage heals at a rate of one point every two turns. This is usually more than enough time to tie him up or otherwise render the opponent harmless.

Grappling: Your character can grapple with another. The attacker rolls makes a maneuver roll. The opponent may try to avoid your grab with a successful AGY roll at difficulty 4. If the attacker’s roll results in more successes than the defender’s roll does, the defender is grabbed. The

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attacker may inflict damage (equal to strength) automatically in each turn thereafter, and the defender is trapped until he strikes successfully and inflicts damage on the attacker.

Evade: The first rule of combat is not to be hit. When your character is facing a single opponent, he can roll AGY + Wrestling (diff 4) and if he gets a number of successes greater than his opponent's attack roll than he automatically dodges the attack.

Joint Lock Immobilization: Your character can catch his opponent's arm and, by using leverage and his opponent's own momentum, immobilize him with pain. The character rolls as normal and if he gets more successes than his opponent has points of AGY than the opponent is unable to move. Held opponents take no damage but are unable to attack and are helpless if another character strikes them. Once a turn held opponents may make an AGY check at a difficulty equaling the holding wrestler's STR to break free. If an attempt to free himself botches than the opponent takes an amount of damage equal to a roll of his own STR at Diff 4.

Takedown: Your character attempts to knock down an opponent with a swinging arm or leg. If the maneuver roll is successful the opponent falls, takes half the number of successes in damage, and looses a turn as he struggles to get back on his feet. Fallen characters may be hit again with a -1 difficulty bonus by any opponents who are still upright.

Taunt: Your character knows how to act in order to impress and intimidate his opponent. He may roar, flail about, or perform an intricate series of martial art maneuvers while moving towards his opponent. The character rolls CHAR + Intimidate and the opponent rolls CHAR + Psychology (both at difficulty 4). If the character gets more successes than the opponent than the difficulty of all the opponents rolls for a number of turns equal to those successes increases in difficulty by one. This maneuver is often performed to dissuade an opponent and thereby avoid combat altogether.

Dodging and Armor: Damage can be dodged or reduced using armor. If struck by damage a character rolls AGY (diff 4) and reduces the damage by one for each success. Armor also reduces damage, though in this case the amount indicated by the Armor rating is automatically negated.

For example, Mike is walking home on a cold evening when someone tries to shoot him with a flintlock pistol. The shooter gets four successes and the guns damage of +3 gives a total damage roll of 7 points. Mike rolls AGY for three dice and gets two successes. Lucky for Mike he is wearing a thick leather coat and cap over his clothes which give him an Armor bonus of 1. The shot is reduced to four points of damage.

The items below are armor types available in the basic rulebook. This is added to a characters normal armor to determine total armor. For example, Mike above was wearing normal clothing covered by a leather coat and wearing a leather cap. This gave him an armor modifier of Skin Only (0.0) + Normal Clothing (0.3) + Coat (0.7) + Cap (0.3) for a total armor of 1.3 rounded off to Armor 1.

Armor Type Armor Modifier

Notes

Normal Clothing 0.3 Does not include thick jackets or coatsLeather Cap 0.3 Includes leather helmetsFleece-lined leather Jacket 0.5 Includes uniform jackets

Cannot wear with Duster/CoatFleece-lined Leather Duster or Coat 0.7 Cannot wear with JacketDragon Armor 1.0 Can be worn only be dragonsDragon Breastplate 0.5 Can be worn only be dragonsDragon Faceplate 0.3 Can be worn only by dragons

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Cover: Sometimes a target will hide behind some object making it hard to strike them. Cover adds to the Difficulty to strike the target. If the difficulty exceeds 6 than no attempt to strike can be made without wasting a bullet.

Cover

Examples Difficulty Mod

25% Thin curtain, leaves, thick grass +150% Behind a tree, around a door +275% Through a window, behind a wall +3100% Completely covered by a large solid structure through which the target cannot

attack. If he steps out it becomes 75% coverNo target

Medicine and Surgery: Natural healing is slow and heals 1 point a day. However someone can use a healing skill to increase this time. Each successful healing attempt reduces the time spent healing by a day.

Surgery: covers operations caused by being wounded including extracting musket balls, stitching wounds, and amputations. Once a patient has been healed with surgery, all subsequent treatment uses the Treatment, Drug, or Herbalism skill instead.

Treatment: This includes setting broken bones, making sure stitches don't pull out, and bandaging wounds, and other basic first aid. Treatment cannot be used on the same day as Surgery.

Drugs or Herbalism: These skills use medicines derived from wild plants or other substances to medicate patients for pain, fever, stomach aches, and similar ailments. Such medications can also reduce infection and promote healing. They can be used on the same day as either Surgery or Treatment but cannot be used on the same day with each other.

Diagnosis: a successful Diagnosis roll reduces the difficulty of any Healing roll by one.

Exceptional Healing Rolls: If a healing roll gets five or more successes or all the dice are sixes than the roll was exceptional and the healer's skill of superior quality. In this case two rather than one point of damage was healed.

Debilitating Wounds: A character may choose to take a debilitating wound instead of simply taking damage. The advantage of this is that a character can still be active until after the fight or survive what would otherwise be fatal damage. After the fight the character will pass out now that the adrenaline has worn off. The type of damage chosen will depend on the amount taken.

Wound Damage Nullified Permanent EffectDisfiguring Scar 3 -1 CHAR

Loss of Ear 4 -1 to all Alert and Observe rollsLoss of Eye 5 -2 to all Alert and Observe rolls

Permanent Limp 6 -1 AGYShattered Elbow 7 -1 STR

Lung Injury 8 -1 ENDLoss of Hand or

Arm9 -1 COOR

Loss of Foot or Leg 10 + -2 AGY

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Dragon Specific Combat

Dragons have several rules to address their abilities to breathe fire and fly. This chapter details them.

Breath Weapons: To attack with its breath a dragon uses COOR + Breath (diff 4). Each success is added to the dragon's breath damage modifier to determine total damage. For example, a dragon with petty breath (+2) who gets five successes on its breath roll will do seven (5+2) points of damage.

Everyone in range of the dragon's breath takes damage equally. So if the dragon's breath strikes three people then the damage would be divided by three. In the above example each target will take two points of damage with one unfortunate person (the one closest to the dragon's maw) taking an extra point.

Dragon breath can be dodged but the difficulty varies depending on the target's location. Those directly in front of the dragon's mouth have a +1 penalty to dodge difficulties, those to the edges of the breath have no penalty or bonus to dodge, and those to the extreme outer edge of the breath have a -1 bonus to dodge.

Range of breath weapons is the same as on page 180 of the basic rulebook: Short for lightweights, Medium for middleweights, and Long for heavyweights.

This works fine when a dragon is attacking another dragon or a few opponents but what of an entire crew of people on the back of a large dragon get blasted by dragon fire or the muskets of another crew? To determine the results of these events the rules provide a way to determine abstract damage without doing a lot of math.

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Breath damage is determined as above but for rifle and musket fire do the following. For each turn the dragon is in range roll six dice representing the average COOR+Skill of the crewmen with the difficulty being 4 plus the dragon they are riding's stability. To that roll add the following modifiers...

+2 per crewman, +1 if using rifles and +1 if a successful Leadership or Discipline check was made this turnNow use the following chart...

Damage Rolled Result0 No Hits

1-2 0 crew down, 1 crew wounded3-4 1 crew down, one wounded5-6 2 crew down, 2 wounded7-8 Dragon hit for 1, 1 crew down, 2 crew wounded9-10 Dragon hit for 1, 2 crew down, 4 crew wounded11-12 Dragon hit for 1, 3 crew down, 6 wounded13-14 Dragon hit for 2, 2 crew down, 4crew wounded15-16 Dragon hit for 2, 3 crew down, 6 wounded17-18 Dragon hit for 3, 2 crew down, 4 crew wounded19-20 Dragon hit for 3, 3 crew down, 4 crew wounded21+ Dragon hit for 3, 4 crew down, 4 wounded

Lucky Shots: there are times when a single breath or rifle volley can change the tide of battle. In these rules this occurs when all the dice rolled for an attack come up sixes. Whenever all dice are sixes the player gets to roll 2 dice. The first roll determines what happens in the chart above while the second roll determines what happens to the enemy in the following chart...

Amount Rolled

Result

1 The cargo net is hit and the dragon and crew lose a percentage of their supplies2-3 The dragon is +2 to all Maneuvering rolls for the next 3 rounds4-5 The dragon is has +1 Difficulty to all Maneuvering rolls for the rest of the battle6-7 The dragon is +2 to all Maneuvering rolls for the next 2d6 rounds (as the crew work to make

makeshift repairs) and +1 for the rest of the battle8 The wound hits the dragon and causes massive blood loss in addition to damage. The dragon

loses double the normal amount of damage. 9 The dragon's harness is cut in a vital place and 1d6 men fall to their deaths10 The shot sweeps an area of the harness free of crew causing the loss of 1d6 men in addition to

normal damage. This is an ideal time to board11 The shot does double maximum damage12 All officers on the dragon are dead or severely wounded. The dragon is leaderless for at least

one round and no maneuvering rolls can be made. Roll 2 dice for the number of rounds it takes for the next in line of command to take over and get the dragon back under control.

Combat Maneuvers: For the most part combat maneuvers for dragons work much like they do in the basic rulebook. The exception is that the rolls have different difficulties due to the change in rules. Remember that a dragon's Maneuver rating is now a modifier (+2 to -2) used when making any Riding or Flying skill check when attempting Maneuvers.

Original Maneuver RollStat Difficulty+10 2

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0 3-10 4-15 5-20 6

Solutions: Solutions now modify the attack Difficulty. The new modifiers are as follows... 12 o'clock: -2 6 o'clock: -2 3 or 9 o'clock: +2 1,2,10, or 11 0'clock: +1 4,5,7, or 8 o'clock: +1 On the level: +0 90 degree oblique +1 Sharp oblique: -1

Any roll whose difficulty is one automatically succeeds while any that exceeds six is treated as Difficulty 6

Example: Your dragon is a midnight prowler (heavyweight, maneuver +1, Stability -1) is going to do a climbing reversal to get on the tail of a diving dragon. A climbing reversal is Difficulty 4 but the dragons maneuver of +1 makes the final Difficulty for the roll a 5.

It is now the next turn and the enemy dragon is at medium range - no problem for a heavyweight as the range of its breath is long so the base difficulty to hit is 3. However the target is now at a 90 degree oblique (+1) at 9 O'clock position (+2) so the final Difficulty is 6.

Crash Landing: If a rider fails his Riding check or a Dragon his Flying check on taking off or landing than the result is a crash landing. Have the dragon or rider roll again and count the successes on the chart below...

Roll Result EffectsBotch Disaster The captain, crew, and dragon is killed

1 Smashed The dragon smashes into the ground and takes 5 points of damage. The captain and crew also take 5 points of damage from the impact.

2 Pinwheel The dragon hits the ground wing first and flips across the ground taking 3 points of damage. The Captain and crew take 4 points of damage.

3 Pancake The dragon skids on its belly taking 2 points of damage. The captain and crew take 3 points of damage.

4 Crunched The dragon tries to take all the impact, taking 5 points of damage but the captain and crew only take 2 points of damage.

5+ Hard Landing The dragon lands hard and both it and the captain and crew only take a point of damage.

Horsing Around: A Captain can horse his dragon around as described in the basic rulebook, in these rules this gives a -1 bonus to the difficulty roll. Horsing a dragon triggers a vigor roll at +1 difficulty.

Vigor Failure: The consequences of failing a vigor check can be stimulated in these rules by rolling the dragon's END + Overdo (diff 4) and compare successes to the following chart...

Number of Successes Effect0 Wing muscles injured, - 4 to all rolls and must land immediately.

1-2 Wings severely strained, -3 to all rolls3-4 Spasms, -2 to all rolls, cannot control altitude and must land5-6 Major sprain, -2 to all rolls7-8 Moderate sprain, -1 to all rolls

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9-10 Severe cramping, -2 to all maneuver rolls11-12 Minor muscle cramps, -1 to all maneuver rolls

Boarding and Cutting Out: Boarding works the same way as described on pages 190-192 of the basic rulebook. The only changes are in the dice roll modifiers. All rolls are now plus or minus one instead of -10 and +5 and if a harness is missed the roll is COOR + React at difficulty 4. When cutting Out the bonuses are now plus 2 and minus 2 instead of +20 or -20, otherwise the description is the same.

AD Defenses and Congreve Rockets: The damage and normal firing rolls for AD defenses can be found in the weapon section above. AD fire is normally composed of a row of musket shooters, a row of medium howitzers, and a row of large howitzers.

The abstract bomb table is unused in these rules, instead to determine a random group of shooters just roll six dice to represent an average shooter's attribute + skill and add the following modifiers to any successes...

Your team has numerical superiority: -2 Your team made a Tactics check before flying in: -2 Shooter is an expert or crack shot +1 Heaver than normal AD emplacements: +2

Congreve rockets are fired in the same fashion as AD defenses but do no damage. These glorified fireworks blind and confuse night flying dragons. When confronted with Congreve rockets roll the dragon's AGY + React at a difficulty equal to the successes gained by the shooter of the rockets. To the number of successes add the following modifiers...

Dragon is startled -2 Dragon has Night Vision: -2 Dragon has Sight x3 or higher: -1 Dragon has hearing x3 or higher: -1

Now consult the following chart depending on your dragon's aggression rating...

# of Successes

Terrified or Wary

Skittish or Calm Docile or Stubborn

Defensive or Ready to

Strike

Aggressive or Raging

0-1 Composed Composed Composed Angry Angry2-3 Panic Panic Panic Panic Startled4-5 Panic Panic Startled Startled Composed6-7 Panic Startled Composed Composed Angry8-9 Startled Startled Composed Composed Angry10 + Startled Composed Composed Angry Angry

Panic: Dragon aborts mission and flees. Captain must make a Leadership or Discipline check at Difficulty 6 to regain control.

Startled: Dragon shies from target; Captain must make a Leadership or Discipline check to regain control.

Composed: Dragon ignores the distraction. Angry: Dragon aborts the mission and attacks the rockets. Captain must make a Leadership or

Discipline check at Difficulty 6 to regain control or the dragon is hit by AD fire for 12 dice of damage.

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And that's it, Enjoy your game!

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