Finish the Fight

1 | P a g e Inspiration Listen up marines! I do not have time for your scared kid Success/Failure. Merely take the difference between your putty patty. Right now, out there in the black void you call roll result and your Threshold and round down the next space is a whole lotta aliens that want you, me, and every integer and add one. Merely succeeding or failing gives you human on this god forsaken rock dead. And all I got is welps that extra one to your degrees and every ten points of like you I gotta beat into shape with fine tools the corps has difference beyond that gives another. If you’re having blessed me with. trouble dividing by ten, just shift the decimal place over one When I have finish molding into shape every single one of position to the left, 11 becomes 1.1 which rounds down to you will be one man alien killing machines. When I am done 1. with you, you’ll be able to take this set of toe nail clippers Some characters will have a Threshold above 100 on a and kill any alien son of a bitch dumb enough to get test. These characters are highly skilled at their job and between you and your god given objective. The Covenant have no chance to fail at the current roll. If Degrees of will tell stories to their children of the unstoppable human Success aren’t important then just assume they warriors that came in and kicked their damn ass using automatically pass the roll with a roll of 50 on the test. nothing more than two sticks and a rock. They will sing songs of regret of when they came and burned Harvest to Opposed Test the ground and discovered a race of badass, sexual Sometimes you roll against another character and this is Tyrannosaur Rex-being mother fuckers on this rock, who when Degrees of Success come into play. Both characters came and kicked their god damn boot so far up their roll their Skill Test and compare their Degrees of Success to delicate alien asses that they shit boot polish for the next one another. If the one character fails and the other week. succeeds, then the one that succeeds on the test is the victor. If both of them succeed then the one with the higher Mechanics Degrees of Success is the winner. Halo: Finish the Fight is a d100 based system. There are two major sets of Characteristics that characters have to Extended Test describe their abilities: Attributes and Skills. Often, a single roll is enough to determine how well you Together these are used on the Skill Test roll for the game accomplish things but other times you want to know how to determine how well a character succeeds or fails at long it takes you to accomplish something. For this sorta something they’re trying to do. situation, you use an Extended Test. The GM determines how many total successes the character needs and how Skill Test long each roll takes in duration, but otherwise this roll is a When characters attempt to perform an action that isn’t normal Skill Test. The character adds his Degrees of trivial by nature, the Game Master (GM) calls for a Skill Test. Success on the roll to his Running Total, this is how many A Skill Test is trivial to calculate by nature. The GM successes his accumulated. Once he gets the required determines what Attribute and Skill you use and assigns a number of successes, the character succeeds on the test. difficulty to the test. Using this you calculate the Threshold Sometimes failure is bad though, the GM should you need to accomplish the test. determine before the test begins whether a failure slows To determine your Threshold, add your Attribute rating the character down or not. If they don’t, then a failure is plus Skill rating together, then add or subtract the modifier merely wasted time. If they do, subtract the Degrees of from the difficulty the GM gave for the test along with any Failure from the Running Total. extra modifiers to the roll. This number is your Threshold for the test. Some rare tests don’t have a Skill to add. Opposed Extended Tests Next you roll a d100, normally accomplished by rolling There are times where two characters are actively two d10’s and assigning one as the ten’s digit and the other opposing each other but a single roll won’t cut it. For this as the one’s digit. Compare the result of the roll to the you use an Opposed Extended Test. There are actually two Threshold, if you rolled at or under your Threshold you kinds of these: Directly Opposed and Indirectly Opposed. succeeded. Otherwise you have failed the test. For a Directly Opposed Extended Test you perform an Sometimes it’s important to know how well you succeed Opposed Test with one Running Total which is favoring one or fail at the test. To do this you calculate your Degrees of character or another. The victor of the test subtracts the

2 | P a g e loser’s Degrees of Success from his own and adds it to his Jinxes come in a variety of forms and aren’t necessarily running total. Additionally, Degrees of Failure are instead hit point loss. They can be sprained limbs, injured hands, added to the victor’s own. The Running Total only adds the damaged armor, or any other sort of mishap. Additionally current victor’s amount, so if the loser starts winning the the GM may choose to pool them into one large mishap if test you subtract the Degrees of Success from the current the character really failed hard enough, such as limb loss leader. Should it reduce back to zero, no one is in the lead, or worse. and it becomes possible for the other character to take the As a benefit, a character gets back one point of Luck to lead. rebalance the scales a bit. A character cannot use Luck to For example, Sandy and Bill are opposing each other. Bill directly rebalance the effect a Jinx. For example, you gets 5 Degrees of Success while Sandy only gets 3. Bill is cannot use Luck to heal damage from a Jinx nor to reattach now got a Running Total of 2 (5-3 = 2) on the test. Sandy a lost limb. They are essentially plot penalties the then fails on her next test by 3 degrees while Bill gets character takes to succeed at a roll. another 1 degree. Bill gained a total of 4 Degrees of A character doesn’t necessarily have to take enough Success (1 from his plus 3 from Sandy’s failure). He’s now Jinxes to succeed at a roll, he may merely get just enough up by 6. On his next test Bill only gets 1 Degree of Success to less his failure instead. while Sandy gets a whooping 8. She reverses the Running Total so she now is in the lead by one degree (8-1 = 7 Difficulty degrees; 7 degrees minus 6 from the Running Total = 1 Not all takes are equal unfortunately. Some are rather degree). Sandy repeats this two more times until she gets simple things, while others are more in the realm of the the 10 successes she needs to win this test. gods. Regardless of this, a roll should have a difficulty Indirect tests are much easier and often are used for race modifier applied to the character’s Threshold based on sort of competition. Both characters make an Extended what the GM decides it will be. The default difficulty for a Test and the first to get the total successes needed wins. test is a -0 if none are stated. The one with the higher Running Total is in the lead at that Difficulty modifiers should stack and there is no point in the test. theoretical limit to how high or low they can but. The GM is entirely allowed to say that something is impossible to do Jinxes no matter how skilled you are. Additionally if your threshold Sometimes, you need more than skill to win, you need to for the task is above 100, you may simply auto succeed, be just plan lucky. Lady Luck always comes to collect on assuming it isn’t a high stress test, with one Degree of you eventually. This comes in the form of Jinxes, Success. circumstantial effects that penalize the player. A character may also opt to take a 50 on a roll if they Essential a Jinx causes a bad effect to a character. These wish, assuming they have penalty of time to constantly but are to keep the game from being purely dice rolling and this makes them take ten times longer on the roll. This is introduce variety into combat. Jinxes aren’t a purely fine for simple things, but on long term projects might not malevolent force though, a character gets Luck back from be extremely useful. them. See the following difficulty table to get an idea of what The way Jinxes work is that if a player fails a roll, the GM kinda modifier a test should have. The attached adjectives asks the player (or the player can ask for one) if they would are good description to figure out how much of a bonus or like a Jinx. If they accept, the player gains a bonus on their penalty the test should receive. The bonuses have a gap threshold enough to pass the test. There is a cost for doing between them, so the GM should feel free to use the this though, as nothing good is free. The character suffers difference if they think the test is slightly harder or easier one Jinx for every 10 points they needed to pass the test. than the adjective describes.

3 | P a g e Table 1 – Difficulty Modifiers

Difficulty Example Modifier

(+60) -Very Shooting a non-moving target after spending multiple turns aiming; repairing a simple machine with Easy all the tools you need; calculating a Slipspace jump on a well-known route

Shooting an unaware target after a turn of aiming; repairing a complex machine with all the tools you (+40) - Easy need; guessing the password is password1; piloting an aircraft with no issues

Shooting at something after a couple turns of aiming; performing routine maintenance without the (+20) - Simple proper tools; throwing something 10m

(+0) - Firing a single shot without aiming at medium range; noticing an ambush during the day; dodging an Challenging attack without preparation

(-20) - Deflecting a knife attack while unarmed; losing a tail in a slower car; jerry rigging a machine to work; Difficulty called shot to the torso

Shooting a second burst shot; repairing a damaged but functional engine while in a firefight; shooting (-40) - Hard at a fast moving target; firing at long range; called shot to the limbs or head

(-60) - Very Firing a full auto burst; shooting at high speeds; shooting a shot a small location; called shot to the Hard hands; fixing a translight engine

(-80) - Repairing an engine while dodging bullets; plotting a slipspace jump by hand; fighting in zero gee Nightmarish

(-100) - Piloting an aircraft through a hurricane with only one engine; shooting someone in the hand at long Hellish distance; fighting with a missing, bleeding limb

(-120) - Near Dodging a bullet at point blank range; parrying a knife blow with the tip of another knife; fighting while Impossible just a torso

Characteristics There are two categories of Characteristics for a purview of the Attribute. One might think of them as how character: Attributes and Skills. Both represent something naturally skilled they are at something without training. important about a character but in different ways. Skills are on the opposite of Attributes, covering formal Attributes are the innate ability of the character; they do and informal training the character has in something. They not describe any particular knowledge or training the are much broader in scope and cover everything from being character has but instead how adept they are in the

4 | P a g e able to shoot a gun to quantum mechanics. They are often mentally resistant the character is and how much they can paired with one Attribute, but not always. take before reaching the breaking point. Attributes Rapport Rapport is how friendly and likable a character to others. There are eight Attributes, each representing a different It is the ability of the character to naturally be liked, mingle aspect of a character’s being: Strength, Agility, Reflexes, with others, and command them. All good politicians have Toughness, Intelligence, Cunning, Courage, and Rapport. this in droves. This Attribute is the basis for most social Attributes are rated between 1 and 100 for humans, with interactions. 50 being your average baseline human; aliens and supersoldiers aren’t limited by this limit though. Skills Strength Unlike Attributes, there are far more Skills than there are A character’s Strength represents their physical Attributes. Most of them are paired with only one or two strength; that is how much they can lift and hit without Attributes, after all how many times would you roll injuring themselves. Strength is used to Toughness and Sleight of Hand together. Agility Acrobatics Agility is the nimbleness, physical speed, and ease of Acrobatics is the skill that covers gymnastics feats of motion for a character. It is used for determining hand eye dexterity. It lets you perform parkour, balance on tight coordination, balance, and running speed. ropes, and other outlandish things of the sort. Reflexes Athletics While Agility represents nimbleness, Reflexes represents Using Athletics lets characters climb walls, lift and throw reaction time and movement. It is how quick the character objects, and other feats of strength. It also covers can move without thinking too much about it. It’s most performing physical tasks for long periods of time. often used for hand to hand and melee combat, along with reaction speed to something. Awareness Awareness covers a character’s general ability to notice Toughness details around them, including surprises and traps. It Strength represents how hard a character can throw a covers senses derived alertness such as sight, hearing, punch, but Toughness is how well they can take one. It’s the smell, and even air pressure and temperature. capacity for the character to take a blow and keep moving unhurt. It’s used for determining innate soak and hit points. Brawl Brawl covers unarmed combat, allowing you throw Intelligence punches and defend yourself even with armed with nothing Intelligence is a hard thing to define, but it covers how but your fists. Brawl can’t avoid attacks unless you have smart the character is and what level of thought they’re at. armor capable of stopping it, but can be used to block other Most often used with knowledge based Skills, it is the bread Brawl attacks. So you could block a fist, but no amount of and butter all scientists. It doesn’t represent how well armor will block an energy sword. trained they are, just natural capacity for learning and thought. Charm A character with Charm is able to convince and persuade Cunning others to do what you want, along with making them in The opposite hand of Intelligence is Cunning. It is how generally favorable disposition in this. Unlike Deceive, clever and wise a person is, along with their capacity to Charm doesn’t use falsehoods and half-truths to rationalize and process information quickly. This includes accomplish this, relying on the truth. awareness of the world around you, the ability to think on your feet, and practical application of knowledge. It’s the Command bread and butter of engineering folks that need to get Command covers leadership, ordering troops around, something done quickly without the proper tools at hand. general tactics, and the ability to act in concert. Any good general has Command. Command can also be used to rally Courage the troops, uplifting their morale, fortify them against fear, Courage is the ability to suppress ones fear and continue and enhanced their skill. on in the face of opposition. It is the precursor to valor and glory, the thing that every great hero possess. It’s how

5 | P a g e Commerce commonly used to cover mathematics and piece together Commerce covers everything mercantile, from a realization from a multitude of facts. evaluating the worth of a good to negotiating a good price. One might not think this is useful to a soldier, but packs of Medicine smokes are always hard to get during a prolonged battle. A staple of any good medical professional, Medicine covers everything related to being a good doctor. This is Deceive used for First Aid to complex medical treatments. Deceive covers telling lies and half-truths to accomplish something. While it’s always easier to lie to get what you Melee want, people get a bit upset when found it. Any silver Melee covers being able to swing a knife, sword, or even tongued devils have this Skill. a person in combat effectively. It lets you parry Melee and Brawl attacks without being harmed. When in doubt, stab Dodge ‘em with a knife. Perhaps the most important tao to follow on the battlefield, dodging lets you avoid taking damage. Using Operate Dodge you can avoid attacks all out or just dive for cover to This Skill is actually three separate Skills covering let it soak up the damage. different types of vehicles you can pilot. Surface covers any ground based vehicles. Air covers anything that flies Firearms just in an atmosphere. Space covers any sort of spacecraft. In a war, being able to shoot straight is the most This also covers navigating with those sorts of vehicles, important thing after not being shot, after all, no war was allowing you to plot a Slipspace course with Space, assume won by not fighting back. This Skill covers everything from your craft as the ability to enter the Slipspace. Most often shooting to firearm maintenance. this is used to control our vehicle and line up a shot on the target. Knowledge Also known as the -ology Skill, this Skill is actually a group Scrutiny of Skills which covers any field of knowledge. Biology, Also called the bullshit detector, this Skill covers being Metallurgy, Theoretical Physics, and History are all covered able to size up whether someone is lying to you or just under this Skill. Each should be considered a separate Skill. being a dick. Investigation Security Investigation covers actively searching for something, This Skill covers everything it takes to be able to break the opposite of Awareness’ reactive searching. into a location. It covers physical security measures, such Additionally, it covers questioning someone for information as lock picking, along with hacking through a security and trying to figure out what happened by piecing evidence panel or spoof an electronic access code. Every good thief together. has this Skill. Intimidation Sleight of Hand Sometimes being kind doesn’t work, that’s when this Skill This is the Skill of pickpockets and spies. It covers the art comes in. Intimidation works by making someone do of misdirection, allowing you to trick the perception of something for you. Normally this works by scaring them people around you. You can use it to nab a wallet or hide a into it, but annoying banter to enrage them also works knife up your skirt. pretty well. This Skill also is usable on the battlefield, namely by Elites and Spartans to scare the enemy away. Stealth The art of not being noticed is an important one, as it lets Linguistics you attack an unsuspecting enemy. This Skill covers This Skill is actually a group of them, covering one for moving silently and setting up ambushes, all without being each language. It’s used for any form of language, including noticed. English, Spanish, the many languages of the Covenant, and Forerunner. A character can use this to determine what Survival something means. Survival lets a character live out in the wilderness alone, allow with covering tracking, and setting up basic traps. It Logic is the quintessential Skill for any wild man. Also called common sense, Logic covers the reasoning and rationalizing as a Skill. It lets you figure out an enigma and covers general schooling of a person. It’s most 6 | P a g e Technology Luck Technology covers any use of advanced technology to Luck represents how lucky a character is. A character is accomplish something. From computers to designing a given a cap, but can spend a certain amount of luck points gun, this Skill covers just about everything related to each day and it refills each day after they sleep. engineering. Luck lets a player reroll a single action, add +20 to the roll, and heal 1d5 points of damage instantly. It also gives Hit Points the player a degree of control over the plot, though the GM Hit points are arbitrary measures of how much of a has final say. A player could for instance, smash a door beating your character can take. These depend heavily on control and spend a point of Luck to make it open the door. your character’s race, humans cannot take as much of a A player can also get a point of luck back by accepting a beating as a Spartan or Elite. Jinx, karma has a funny way of rewarding a character who is down on their luck. This can even push a character’s Luck pool beyond their Luck rating.

7 | P a g e Making a Character Step 5: Give the Spark Making a character is a simple thing, all you need to do is At this step your character is mechanically completed. follow these handy steps in order and you’ll have a working You should now begin to populate the character’s character. backstory and origin. You’re basically going to fill in the details to make them a fully fleshed out character. Step 1: What do you want to You should sort out their name first and foremost, along with any sort of call sign they go by. Next write up a play? description of their appearance. How tall are they? What First up is the hardest one to do, you need to figure out color are their eyes and hair? What about their skin, are what your character is supposed to be. Think of an they tan or pale as a ghost? overarching character concept that you want to play, this Finally and most importantly, their personality. As this is is going to be your starting point for your character. a role-playing game, you need to pick a personality for your character. A good starting point is to pick a general tone for Step 2: Race their personality. Are they a hotshot or they a cold, quiet Next you need to pick your character’s race. There are type? Make a list of things they like and dislike. What are five different types of races you can pick for your their goals? What do they enjoy when on shore leave? Why character: Human, Spartan I, Spartan II, Spartan III, and are they fighting? These are all important questions to sort Artificial Intelligence. out before you play. You should pass this information on to Each of these different races has benefits in a variety of the GM before you play and make sure he agrees and ways, but some are greater than others. Not everything is understands them. balanced, that’s just the way the world works some times. Finally, begin to populate their backstory. The easiest Once you pick your race, roll for your Attributes and one is where are they from, what’s their homeworld? Are assign your Skill points. Don’t forget to modify your variety they from Earth or the Colonies? Inner or Outer Colonies? Is of extra stats from your race. You can always assign your their homeworld still even intact or was it glassed? Next stats after the next step if prefer. Spending Skill points is answer the steps it took from them to get to where the easy, you just spend a certain amount in them and that’s game starts? If they’re off-world, why are they here now? your rating in it. What battles have they fought in? Finally, roll your Hit Points and Luck. These are neither Attribute nor Skill, but are Characteristics none the less. Step 3: Background This is what your origin story is. Where did you come from? What is your profession? What did you do to get there? This influences what gear you get at start and some bonus stats. Step 4: Current Events This steps covers how you met with the rest of the group. Were you just all soldiers that happened to be fighting on the same planet? Did you just happen to all be in the same place at the same time? Or were you organized together to complete some objective. The GM might opt to not have you all starting together and will play through the process of this happening. You should discuss this with them when making your character.

8 | P a g e Human The children of Earth and all her colonies, Humans are clever individuals capable of great things. Not the strongest nor the weakest of beings in the galaxy, humans have clawed their ways into the stars. Unlike the Covenant, Humans have had no Forerunner technology help them get this far into space. They have made it through trial and error, risking neck and limb of billions to get this far. Humans come from a variety of planets including Earth itself. Each world contains a large difference in culture, and they come in a variety of names. Traditional Juedo- Christian names are still used, but other more foreign names are also common throughout the many worlds. Humans can come from almost any background, with the most common being Civilian, but Marines are just as likely when so close to a warzone. While Humans might seem like such a simple thing to play as they’re not the uber badasses that other races are, they’re still the most grounded and level headed type of character you can play. Humans can easily make some of the best types of characters to play compared to the near emotionless Spartans 2’s and still childish Spartan 3’s. Sometimes you just want to play a character that fights to go home and see his daughter. Characteristics  Humans roll (5d10 x 2) for all their Attributes; one reroll; assign results to Attributes as you wish  Humans distribute 500 skill points as they wish across their skills; none can go higher than 50.  Humans roll 2d5+4 for the Luck  Humans have Hit Points equal to their half their Toughness + 2d5

9 | P a g e Spartan 1/1.1 Originally called Project ORION, the Spartan 1’s were retroactively called such after the creation of the Spartan 2 program kicked off. The original purpose of the Spartan 1 program was to make supersoldiers capable of fighting off the insurrectionists that were performing terrorist attacks throughout the colonies. Though crude by current standards, the upgrades that the first Spartans got were effective as hell, making them stronger, faster, smarter, and have amazing senses. Their first operation was a resounding success with only one operative lost. Word began to spread after that the UNSC was making supersoldiers and ONI took great pleasure and acting on those rumors. Their success eventually lead to the creation of the Spartan 2 program and modern ODST. As the Covenant War approached, many retired and had kids. These children inherited the genetic engineering and biochemical advances of their parents, and needed special injections to prevent health defects until puberty. Characteristics  Spartan 1/1.1’s roll (5d10 x 2) for all their Attributes; one reroll; assign results to Attributes as you wish  Spartan 1’s start with 10 Acrobatics, 30 Athletics, 10 Command, 30 Dodge, 10 Logic, 10 Medicine, 10 Operate (Surface, Air, Space), 20 Melee, 30 Brawl, 30 Stealth, 30 Survival, and 30 Firearms  Spartan 1’s get 200 Skill Points to spend capped at 50  Spartan 1.1’s get 500 Skill Points to spend like a Human, capped at 50.  Spartan 1/1.1’s roll 2d5 for the Luck  Spartan 1/1.1’s have Hit Points equal to their half their Toughness + 2d5  Spartan 1/1.1’s gain +40 Strength, Agility, Reflexes, Toughness; +20 Intelligence and Cunning; +30 Courage; these bonuses don’t count for experience costs and can raise their Attributes above 100.  +20 to all sensory detection rolls

10 | P a g e Spartan 2 Perhaps the most famous of the Spartan project, the Spartan 2’s are superhumans that were taken as children and raised into highly skilled killing machines. Their original purpose was to fight against insurrectionists, but expanded to include the Covenant once the war broke out. Spartan 2’s are all unique, with each having their own unique skill that they exceed every other Spartan at. This can be just running faster or marksmanship to hacking and piloting. Compared to their predecessors, Spartan 2’s are well out of the range of humans in strength and speed. They easily eclipse all but the most powerful soldiers of the Covenant in terms of strength, and none can even hope to match them in terms of speed and reaction time. When clad in their fabled Mjolnir armor, a Spartan 2’s strength increases many fold and they become able to perform feats of legend. Rarely, if ever, will a Spartan be seen outside of their armor and even rarer is them entering combat zone without. Characteristics  Spartan 2’s roll ((6d10 keep the highest 5) x 2) for all their Attributes; one reroll; assign results to Attributes as you wish.  Spartan 2’s start with 20 Acrobatics, 40 Athletics, 40 Awareness, 10 Command, 40 Dodge, 20 Logic, 30 Technology, 10 Medicine, 30 Operate (Surface, Air, Space), 30 Melee, 40 Brawl, 40 Stealth, 30 Survival, and 40 Firearms.  50 Ability Points to spend, capped at 50  Spartan 2’s gain +200 Strength, 100 Agility and Reflexes, + 150 Toughness; +20 Intelligence and Cunning; +30 Courage; these bonuses don’t count for experience costs and can raise their Attributes above 100.  +20 to all sensory detection rolls.  +20 to all rolls or stats involved in one unique field of expertise, the player should work with the GM for this.  Luck is 1d5  Spartan 2’s have Hit Points equal to their half their Toughness + 2d5

11 | P a g e Spartan 3 While the Spartan 2 program was a resounding success, it was not cost effective at all. Creating a single Spartan cost more than a naval frigate, though was far more devastating than such a ship, but also took a decade to make. Using the information learned during the Spartan 2 program, ONI commissioned the Spartan 3 program lead by Spartan 2 Kurt-051. The goal of this was to make more cost effective Spartans that don’t have the same rejection rate as a Spartan 2. Suffice to say, the Spartan 3 program was a resounding success. Unlike the previous Spartan 2’s, they were all chemically made, requiring no harsh surgery. Performance wise, a Spartan 3 is only marginally weaker than their predecessors. Unlike Spartan 2’s, the Spartan 3’s were equipped with cheaper Semi-powered Infiltration armor. These suit were only minimally strength enhancing, slightly more durable than an ODST suit, but contained cloaking panels on the surface of the armor. Throughout the life of the program, over 900 Spartan 3’s were made, but most died on suicide missions to buy time for the UNSC, some were pulled out the program to work for ONI as spec ops teams. Characteristics  Spartan 3’s roll ((6d10 keep the highest 5) x 2) for all their Attributes; one reroll; assign results to Attributes as you wish.  Spartan 3’s start with 20 Acrobatics, 40 Athletics, 40 Awareness, 10 Command, 40 Dodge, 20 Logic, 30 Technology, 10 Medicine, 30 Operate (Surface, Air, Space), 30 Melee, 40 Brawl, 40 Stealth, 30 Survival, and 40 Firearms.  50 Ability Points to spend, capped at 50  Spartan 3’s gain +150 Strength, +100 Agility and Reflexes, + 130 Toughness; +20 Intelligence and Cunning; +30 Courage; these bonuses don’t count for experience costs and can raise their Attributes above 100.  +20 to all sensory detection rolls  Luck is 1d10  Spartan 3’s have Hit Points equal to their half their Toughness + 2d5

12 | P a g e Artificial Intelligence In the grand scheme of everything that humanity has ever encountered, there are things that stand out as their greatest creation: the wheel, the combustion engine, the computer, and the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. All of these though dwarf in comparison to the invention of Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short. AI comes in two forms, dumb and smart. Dumb AI are merely extremely complicated computer programs which have no sapience at all, but appear like they do to some degree. Smart AI are entirely sapient; they are capable of creativity, free thought, and learning like a human, though on a much larger scale. A smart AI is made from mapping the neurons of a human brain to generate a computer program. Typically this destroys the brain in the process, though AI made during the end of the war were created without destroying the brain. No dumb AI has ever achieved sapience, so this is the only known way to make a sapient AI. Characteristics  AI roll 4d10+60 for Intelligence and Cunning, and (5d10 x 2) for Courage and Rapport; they can reroll any one Attribute and keep the higher result; they may assign any roll of the same dice roll type to any Attribute.  AI don’t separate the Knowledge, Linguistics, or Operate Skill into categories, they purchase everything the skills cover in one purchase.  AI get +50 Logic, +50 Technology, and +50 Operate  AI get 500 Ability points to spend; cannot go above 50.  +300 Intelligence when rolling a logic or mathematical skill where their Intelligence would benefit them; i.e. calculating a trajectory or aiming a MAC gun  +100 Cunning when operating equipment in opposition, they’re some of the best pilots for a reason  Luck 1d5

13 | P a g e Backgrounds A character’s background describes where they are in life without a doubt aren’t a trained soldier at all, hell you’re right now. While it’s possible they went through a variety of probably lucky if you know how to turn off the safety. them throughout the course of their existence, the most  Gain 20 Ability point related to your career; still capped recent one is the one that currently matters. That doesn’t at 50. mean you shouldn’t pick multiple of them, only that they  Increase one Attribute by 10; this can’t go above 100 get the bonus related to the most recent of them. still and count for XP. Backgrounds are divided up on race of the person.  Gain a set of civilian clothes and any personal, non- Humans, being the most diverse of the races, have a much combat equipment you want; i.e. a communication longer list of backgrounds to come from. Spartans are far device of some type, a watch, an ID card etc. more limited in where they can and cannot come from. One  Gain +2 Luck rating should consider the year that the GM is setting the game in, Optional: Spend 3 of your first session Luck points to have just as with their race as certain options won’t exist. a standard UNSC firearm and two rounds of ammunition. Each additional point spent gives you another magazine. Human Backgrounds Soldier Civilian The bulk of the UNSC fighting forcing the UNSC Marines. The vast majority of humanity are civilians, and while These “ultimate badasses” are the thin line between the anyone can join up with the military barring extraordinary Covenant armies and the complete destruction of human circumstances. These people come from any creed, they worlds. There are other soldiers though such as the Army can hold just about any job, and are the general population though. of humanity. You likely joined the military while young and are a bit Why are you involved in combat is another matter to sort wet behind your ears. This perhaps your first encounter out. Perhaps you just are a victim of circumstance, or with the enemy, or at least one of the first. Like Civilians, maybe you’re helping out with the local militia to fight back you can come from anywhere in the colonies. against the Covenant or the Insurrectionists. You are  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should Firearms at 20 at a minimum; still capped at 50.

14 | P a g e  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflexes, and  Increase your Rapport by 5; this can’t go above 100 Toughness by 5; these can’t go above 100 still and still and count for XP. count for XP.  Gain 10 Ability point related physical skills; you should  Gain an Assault Rifle with 10 magazines, a pistol with Firearms at 10 at a minimum; still capped at 50. 3 magazines, a set of Marine Combat Armor, and a  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 3 standard field kit. magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of Basic Combat Armor, and a standard field kit. Veteran Unlike the majority of the marines, you’re a veteran. ONI Agent You’re likely a high ranking grunt, probably a Sergeant. You are a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence. You’ve been fighting in this damn war for far too long, Suffice to say, you’re a spy of some type. Your clearance you’ve seen too many good friends die and too many green rating is high and you’re an officer for sure. You have as grass newbies get killed. Yet you continue to soldier on, access to all but the most sensitive information and are because this isn’t a war anymore it’s a matter of survival. able to allocate huge amounts of resources. Your decisions Being a veteran you could have come from a variety of can help influence the fate of worlds. places and had a long tour of duty. Regardless of how you On the other hand, people end up hating you a lot got here though, you’re still here to fight more. The GM because you likely do bad things. You’ll kill millions to save should assign you a rank. billions but such a hard decision is likely needed.  Gain +10 Command and Firearms; these cannot go  Gain +10 to Deceive, Logic, and Stealth; these cannot above 50. go above 50.  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should  Increase your Intelligence and Cunning by 5; these Firearms at 20 at a minimum; still capped at 50. can’t go above 100 still and count for XP.  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflexes, and  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 Toughness by 5; these can’t go above 100 still and magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of ODST count for XP. Combat Armor, and a standard field kit.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10  You gain one more esoteric piece of equipment of your magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of Marine choice with the GM’s approval. Combat Armor, and a standard field kit.  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 Medic magazines. Death is one mean son of a bitch and during a war he  You lose one from your Luck rating. swings his scythe wide. Your job is to keep him from getting everyone’s heads. You will not succeed. That is the paradox Insurrectionist of being a medic. You’re a terrorist. Or at least that’s what the UNSC calls Your job is to treat the wounded and care for the dying. you. There are multiple Insurrectionist groups throughout The brutality of war makes this quite a difficult job. the colonies, but they all want to throw out the Earth Regardless you got the skills and the acumen to prosper at Government from controlling their lives. To that extent they it. You’re not a full doctor though you might have been; your have turned to violence. One notable one was the nuclear job is just keep the blood going to proper areas and remove bombing of a city which killed over two million people and lost limbs. harmed countless more.  Gain +20 to Medicine; these cannot go above 50 and Not all Insurrectionists are prone to such level of you should probably not have more than 30 in violence, instead opting to attack only military personnel. Medicine as you’re a field medic. Whether or not you believe that is up to you, but if you’re  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflexes, and found out you’d be in a lot of trouble. Moreover, how you’re Toughness by 5; these can’t go above 100 still and involved with the current plot is something you need to sort count for XP. out with the GM.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 As guerrilla warfare fighters, the Insurrectionists aren’t magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of Marine specialized in direct combat fighting. Instead they rely on Combat Armor, and a standard field kit. hit and run and ambushed based tactics. There are some  You start off with an advanced medical kit. though that have enough to field a small army.  Gain +5 to Deceive and Stealth; these cannot go above 50.

15 | P a g e  Lose two Luck rating Orbital Drop Shock Trooper You are a Helljumper and you have one job, drop into the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Veteran hell of an active battlefield and kick ass. You are the best You are a veteran amongst the most dangerous job in the that the marines have to offer, a highly trained ass kicking UNSC. You have survived countless battles and emerged machine. You’ve got the best equipment, the best training, unscathed or worse for wear. Some might even say you like and the most dangerous job in the UNSC, but you do it your job. Regardless of whether you do or not, you’ll better than everyone else. continue to go back for more. You’re probably a Sergeant or Anyone in the UNSC can be an ODST, but very few make it higher up than that. You should work with your GM to through the hellish training to do so. The months of hell determine that. they endure make them the finest soldiers in the entire  Gain +10 Athletics, Brawl, Command, Dodge, Survival, UNSC. They learn to fight in every sort of environment, go Stealth, and Firearms; these cannot go above 50. through orbital insertion training, and lots of live fire  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should simulations. Truly if they were any better they would be Firearms at 40 at a minimum; still capped at 50. Spartans.  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflex, and  Gain +10 Athletics, Brawl, Dodge, Survival, Stealth, and Toughness by 10; these can’t go above 100 still and Firearms; these cannot go above 50. count for XP.  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 Firearms at 40 at a minimum; still capped at 50. magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of ODST  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflex, and Combat Armor, and a standard field kit. Toughness by 10; these can’t go above 100 still and  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 count for XP. magazines.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10  Lose three Luck rating magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of ODST Combat Armor, and a standard field kit. Pilot  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 Pilots are without a doubt some of the most important magazines. people to a spacefaring society. While most vehicles are 16 | P a g e controlled by dumb AI’s, they’re not necessarily good  Gain +20 Technology and Knowledge (Engineering); enough for combat situations. Only expensive smart AI’s still capped at 50. are skilled enough to fly ships during a firefights. Though  Increase Intelligence and Cunning by 5; this can’t go most are ship pilots, this also covers ground and air vehicle above 100 still and count for XP. piloting also.  Gain an Assault Rifle with 10 magazines, a pistol with As a pilot, you’re trained in operating a variety of craft. 3 magazines, a set of Marine Combat Armor, and a You might be a tanker or a starship pilot. Or maybe you’re standard field kit. an expert in all forms of crafts. Regardless of what it is, the  Gain one demolition kit or one high explosive weapon UNSC probably makes good work of your skills. of your choice.  Gain +20 Operate (your choice); this cannot go above 50. Retired  Increase one Attribute by 10; this can’t go above 100 You hung up your guns long ago and decided to settle still and count for XP. down and probably have a family. Your hero days are long  You gain Basic Combat Armor, a pistol with 3 over. That was until something brought you out of magazines, a standard field kit, and an operator neural retirement. Perhaps it was the war or just some damn interface. If you’re a space pilot you get a space suit as Innies that kidnapped your daughter. Whatever your well. reason you’re coming back out of retirement to do a job and you don’t plan on failing. Police Despite your age, you’re still a damn fine soldier though You’re not a soldier but you’re not a civilian either. You’re your skills have rusted a bit, you’re a better that most that a peace officer, sworn to protect the innocent and uphold serve right now. justice. This is without a doubt an important duty in modern  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should society, but to the Covenant and Insurrectionists you’re Firearms at 30 at a minimum; still capped at 50. just a soldier.  Increase your Strength, Dexterity, Reflexes, and Chances are you just happened to be nearby when shit Toughness by 5; these can’t go above 100 still and hit fan and did your job to run towards it. You’re not here to count for XP. push back the enemy, just to stop them long enough to get  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 everyone else to safety. While you’re not a soldier you’re magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of Marine still damn good at your job. Ranks in the police are easier Combat Armor, and a standard field kit. to gain than in the military, so you should work with the GM to determine your ranking. Hellbringer  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should You’re a special sort of crazy. Your tactic is to rush into Firearms at 20 at a minimum; still capped at 50. combat, covered in heavy armor, and light people on fire.  Increase one Attribute by 10; this can’t go above 100 This is a brutally effective tactic, so someone in command still and count for XP. thought you could flashbangs to do it better.  Gain a pistol with three magazines, a taser, pepper Personality wise, you might be a completely normal spray, and a police utility belt. person with no mental issues at all. Though that would set Optional: Spend 3 of your first session Luck points to have you apart from the vast majority of your companions that access to your car. You get a Shotgun with 5 magazines, are psychotic weirdos that never stop making bad fire Basic Combat Armor, and a medkit that it contains. puns.  Gain 20 Ability point related physical skills; you should Combat Engineer Firearms at 20 at a minimum; still capped at 50. Normally engineers specialize in making things;  Increase your Strength and Toughness by 10; these buildings, guns, cars, ships, and the likes. You are not one can’t go above 100 still and count for XP. of those people. You’re a combat engineer. You practice  Gain a Flamethrower with a full tank of napalm destruction and the art thereof. Given enough explosives adherent fuel, a pistol with 3 magazines, a set of and time you can reroute rivers, remove mountains, and Hellbringer Combat Armor, 5 flashbangs, and a crash asteroids into a planet. standard field kit. As important as being a soldier is, engineers are what Optional: Spend 3 of your first session Luck points to have keeps the technology up and running. You perform field an Oxide Tank upgrade for your flamethrower. repairs on vehicles and come up with unique solutions to unexpected, practical problems.

17 | P a g e Spartan 1 Backgrounds  Gain access to the currently available Mjolnir armor. Spartan 1’s can have any Human background they want Class II but they can also get the following background. As Spartan //Attempting to connect to ONI MILNET 1’s were quite old when the war broke out, most either ...Identity Confirmed became Veterans or Retired once they reached their ...Encryption Keys Generated retirement age. This isn’t true for all of them, just most. ...Connected >>>Login: ********* Spartan 1.1 Backgrounds >>>Enter Passcode: ************** Unlike their parents, not all Spartan 1.1’s have had ...Biometric Scan Confirmed military service. As such they’re superhumans with a clean …Clearance Ranking Confirmed slate capable of being anything. They can pick any Human …Authorization Denied background they wish to have. Discharged Spartan 2 Backgrounds Unlike most of the other Spartans, you have left the UNSC and decided to settle down. You hung up your armor and Class I became a civilian. Maybe you wanted to have a family or You are from the first class of Spartans 2’s and Dr. just got sick of the constant fighting and want to take a few Halsey’s crowning achievement. You are still actively years off to yourself. Regardless of what that means, deployed on the battlefield and have fought in this war for you’re no longer a soldier. god knows how many years. Despite all of this you refuse  Pick any Human background except for combat related to give up. As a humanoid typhoon you’re able to turn the ones, you get all the benefits it entails. tide of a battle and save countless lives. Optional: Spend 1 of your first session Luck points to have  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 a standard UNSC firearm and two magazines of magazines and a standard field kit. ammunition. Each additional point spent gives you another  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 magazine. magazines.

18 | P a g e Optional: Spend 1 of your first session Luck points to have the Covenant. Unlike normal Spartan training you were a Basic Combat Armor. You can spend 2 to have Marine trained harder on teamwork due to the focus of Spartan 3’s Combat Armor or 3 to have ODST Combat Armor. Spending 4 to be sent on company-wide assignments. your Luck points gets you access to SPI Armor. Spending 5 Like Alpha Company, Beta Company was almost wiped points gets you access to Mjolnir Armor. out in 2545 during an operation which involved the entire company. Somehow you’ve managed to survive for years Rehabilitated unnoticed or have yet to return to active duty. About half of the Spartan 2’s in Class I rejected the  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 augmentation process. This left them crippled and magazines and a standard field kit. disfigured, and often assigned to desk jobs. Dr. Halsey  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 refused to surrender all of her Spartans to be desk works or magazines. stored in cyrostorage and spent many sleepless nights  Gain access to the currently available Semi-Powered working to fix them. Infiltration armor. You happened to be ones that she managed to fix. A rejected Spartan given a second chance at glory. While she Gamma Company was digging around on you personally she managed to get You’re from the last companies of Spartan 3’s to be made: a few more specialized modifications in addition to fixing Gamma Company. Unlike the two previous companies, you. At least half your Attributes must have been below 60 Gamma wasn’t sent off on a suicide mission when the class to take this Background. graduated in 2552.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 Additionally, the Spartans of Gamma Company were magazines and a standard field kit. given further enhancements to increase their combat  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 abilities. These enhancements are rather drastic compared magazines. to the previous enhancement, causing them to gain  Gain access to the currently available Mjolnir armor. additional superhuman strength and durability when  Reroll any one Attribute till the result is higher than injured, but without a suppressor chemical their minds what you have. Reroll all Attributes until they’re higher slowly devolve into bipolar, psychotic killing machines. than 50.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10  Lose 1 Luck Rating. magazines and a standard field kit.  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 Spartan 3 Backgrounds magazines.  Gain access to the currently available Semi-Powered Alpha Company Infiltration armor. You are from the first company of Spartan 3 soldiers.  Gain one month of Smoother First put into action in 2536, you’re the mass producible  Gain +40 Strength and Toughness when injured successors to the Spartan 2 program. You aren’t as well Optional: Spend 3 of your first session Luck points to have equipped as your predecessors, but you’re just as skilled a subcutaneous Smoother implant that never wears out. and just as badass. Almost all of the Spartan 3’s we that were deployed ONI Agent during Operation Prometheus died, except you. Somehow Unlike your Spartan brethren, you were pulled out of the you survived that and someone covered up your story. ranks by ONI for your exceptional abilities and assigned to Alternatively, you escaped and haven’t caught up with the a handler. You’re more or less a highly skilled combat agent rest of the UNSC yet. It’s also possible that you haven’t that they assign to accomplish high risk missions. been sent out on your suicide mission yet either. On downside, you’re doing wetwork that probably is a bit  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 of a human rights violation to save humanity from the magazines and a standard field kit. threat of the Covenant. On the upside, you get the best gear  Pick one UNSC weapon of your choice to field with 5 you can get, including full Mjolnir armor. Also you magazines. weren’t/won’t be sent on a suicide mission with the rest of  Gain access to the currently available Semi-Powered your company. Infiltration armor.  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 magazines and a standard field kit. Beta Company  Pick any extra equipment you want, ONI is footing the You’re from the Beta Company of Spartan 3’s, created like bill. Alpha Company as a group of super soldiers to fight against  Gain access to the currently available Mjolnir armor.

19 | P a g e Optional: Spend all of your first session Luck points to be a Artificial Intelligence Backgrounds member of Gamma Company instead of Alpha or Beta Company, you have a subcutaneous Smoother implant that Fourth Generation Smart AI never wears out. Gain +40 Strength and Toughness when You’re one of the AI from the start of the insurgency to the injured mid 30’s. You were created from a brain scan that destroyed the brain of the scanned and have a life Headhunter expectancy of 7-8 years. You’re an ONI hitman. You’re basically the Spartan 3 You’re much smarter than any human will ever be but equivalent of an ODST. You’re dropped into high risk you’re no cleverer than any smart human. You’re between missions and sent to complete an objective that’s high risk, a month and five years old at this point. high reward. Headhunters can operate in pairs or in lone wolf depending on the mission. Fifth Generation Smart AI Unlike the rest of the Spartan 3’s, you get cutting edge You’re either a prototype AI during the start of the war or prototype equipment to work with, which you’re basically an AI that entered service in the late 30’s. Unlike the field testing. Good news is it’s awesome; bad news is it previous generation you’re more resistant to rampancy. malfunctions sometimes. You’ll last at least 8 years before you begin to show signs  Gain an Assault Rifle, SMG, or Shotgun with 10 but can easily make it 10 years. The oldest recorded one magazines and a standard field kit. lasted 13 years before it was destroyed, meaning it could  Pick any extra equipment you want, ONI is footing the extend even longer. bill. You’re much smarter than any human will ever be but  Gain access to the currently available Mjolnir or you’re no cleverer than any smart human. You’re between Headhunter armor, your choice. a month and five years old at this point. Optional: Spend all of your first session Luck points to be a Sixth Generation Smart AI member of Gamma Company instead of Alpha or Beta You’re either a prototype AI during the start of the war or Company, you have a subcutaneous Smoother implant that an AI that entered service in the late 30’s. Unlike the never wears out. Gain +40 Strength and Toughness when previous generation you’re more resistant to rampancy. injured

20 | P a g e You’ll last at least 8 years before you begin to show signs improvement code. Alternatively, you might be a prototype but can easily make it 10 years. The oldest recorded one Dumb AI that developed it using some new coding lasted 13 years before it was destroyed, meaning it could technique. extend even longer. Whatever is your origin, doesn’t matter as much as the You’re much smarter than any human will ever be but grave implications of your sapience. Should you be found you’re no cleverer than any smart human. You’re between out, your existence will likely be threatened though you do a month and five years old at this point. not know how much. Not only would ONI like to study you, other AI’s might be threatened by your existence. Given Sapient Dumb AI your immunity to the effects of rampancy, they’ll see you You’re something that shouldn’t exist yet or at all to as a threat. some people. You’re a Dumb AI that developed sapience. Unlike Smart AI, your being is scalable. You can work on a Unlike Smart AI, you were made from nothing more than laptop to a naval ship or server farm, though you’ll probably code being typed on a computer. There was no human be a lot more limited in intelligence on a laptop. brains scanned to create you. How you came to be is A player choosing this should work with the GM to explain another matter. Perhaps you are an AI that’s been upgrade their origins and the implications of their existence. This for hundreds of years, layer upon layer of upgrades until Background is a game changer in the lore and can upset you finally achieved sapience through your own self- lore puritans.

21 | P a g e

In war, it’s kill or be killed. And against the Covenant that fight. For mooks, just keep the train going and don’t slow is doubly so. Those mean alien bastards want you, me, and down combat with this. every human son of a bitch in the corps burnt alive, melted into glass, and then smashed apart. And if you’re lucky, it’ll Movement be in that order. Movement is based on the character’s Agility rating So I’m going to teach you bastards how to kill them before divided by 20, round as normal. This is your Basic Move they kill you. You’re not just gonna learn to shoot them, oh rating, giving a number of Movement Points equal to this no sir. I’m going to teach you how to stab them, burn them, value. poke them in the eyes, and to beat them to death with two During a character’s turn they can choose if they want to sticks and a rock. So listen up! move or not. A character that elects to move must pick which form of movement they want to perform. Each type Basics has specific modifiers to other actions performed till their Combat is simple when it comes down to it. Someone next turn and costs one Movement Point. Movement Points attacks someone else who then defends against the refresh at the start of the character’s next turn. attack. Rest of it is just basic arithmetic and comparing A character doesn’t need to perform all their movement numbers. at once, though they suffer any penalty for their movement Combat is broken down into rounds. Each person gets to action after they begin moving. They do suffer a penalty act and a certain amount once during a round. Everyone from based on the current movement type when doing the rolls initiative to see who goes first, person with the highest action. result goes first, then goes down the list in descending Basic Move order of results. Performing a Basic Move lets the character move up to At the end of the list for the round, if there’s someone still one meter per Movement Point spent. All ranged attacks alive that someone wants dead you start the entire suffer a -20 to their attack rolls. During this the character process again, though don’t reroll initiative. Keep going moves slowly but focuses on any attacks they’re through this until everyone you want dead is dead or you performing during the turn. somehow resolve your differences. Tactical Move The Combat Round A Tactical Move allows the character to move up to two Each turn represents 5 seconds of combat, and though meters per Movement Point spent. All ranged attacks suffer everyone in real life acts at the same time, you don’t for a -40 to their attack rolls. While performing this the this. The person that wins initiative acts slightly faster character is rushing forward, not controlling their than everyone else. Each character gets one turn in a round movements very well, throwing off any shots they attempt. of combat, during their turn they get to perform non- Charge defensive actions, though see the Advanced Combat Rules A Charge has the character move three meters per for more information. Movement Point spent. This gives a +20 to hit with melee attacks as they gain extra momentum for their swing. The Initiative catch is that the last five meters of a charge must be in a At the start of combat, everyone rolls their Initiative. This straight line. A character suffers a -60 penalty to range is 1d10 + Reflexes + Cunning. In the event of a tie, all tied attacks when they Charge. Attacking ends the Charge parties roll a separate d6, with the highest on the roll going movement. Ranged attacks against the character while first; reroll this d6 until all ties are broke and order is running suffers a -10 to hit. established. Don’t add this d6 to your Initiative roll. Next the GM tallies up the order from highest to lowest Run Initiative and the person with the highest result goes first. The character elects to fully move with no concentration The round ends when the character with the initiative on anything during the movement but moving and not finishes their turn. being shot at. A character can move five meters per You do not have to reroll Initiative each turn, though the Movement Point spent. Any ranged attack suffers a -80 to GM might do so for dramatically appropriate fights, such as hit while running with ranged attacks and cannot make a Spartan fighting an Elite Commander or any sort of boss

22 | P a g e melee attacks. Ranged attacks against the character while Step 1: To Hit Calculation running suffers a -20 to hit. First things first, the character needs to determine what kind of action that want to perform. The next section gives Sprint you variety of examples of certain types of attacks you can The character elects to move fully. They can take no perform. Note any Threshold bonuses or penalties this other action other than move until they stop Sprinting. action gets. The player should discuss with the GM if there They Sprint at ten meters per movement point spent. A is any other penalties or bonus, such as range or character that Sprints for more than their Toughness movement based penalties, which will influence the roll. divided by 10 in turns without waiting two turns between Also don’t forget to figure out what Attribute and Skill to use Sprint actions begins to tear their body apart. For normal for the roll, normally it’s based on what weapon you’re people this just causes extreme exhaustion, but for using. Spartans this causes their bodies to rip apart, tearing their Once all of this is tallied up, calculate your total Achilles tendon out or other similar catastrophic damage. Threshold for the attack. If the number is zero or below, you cannot perform the action; it’s just not physically possible The Attack for you to perform. Probably the most important part of combat is attacking someone. This involves shooting, stabbing, or in general Step 2: Roll to Attack just trying to kill the hell out of some bastard rather than This is an easy step. You simply roll 1d100 and compare attempting to settle your differences with words like an the results to your Threshold per normal. Some certain adult. types of actions have you roll multiple times and compare There are lots of minutiae contained in the next few each roll to the Threshold, like Full Auto Bursts. No matter sections about what kind of attacks you can perform and how much you roll you compare to your Threshold and the modifiers they give. The general outline for attacking calculate the Degrees of Success like normal. Make a note someone is as followed: of the results of each roll. 1. Attacker figures what kind of attack he wants to Step 3: Defensive Action perform and calculates his Threshold for the attack. This step is analogous to the first step but for the 2. The attacker rolls their attack roll and checks the defender instead. Like figuring out what sort of attack you results. want to make, you can check the next section to get some 3. The defender figures out how he wants to defend and examples of possible actions. Also like the first step you calculates his defense Threshold. should tally up all modifier from the action itself and use 4. The defender rolls their defense and checks the them to calculate your Threshold for defense. result. 5. If the attacker succeeds and has more Degrees of Step 4: Roll to Defend Success than the defender, he hits the target. If he Like step two, you roll a 1d100 and compare the results failed to hit or the defender has more Degrees of your Threshold and calculate your Degrees of Success as Success, he misses. normal. 6. Determine hit location and calculate the damage of Step 5: Compare Results the weapon and roll damage. This is the step where you compare results on the 7. Compare the damage roll to the defender’s soak, respective rolls, the attacker compares his results to the apply hit location damage multiplier if any damage defender’s. If the attack rolls multiple rolls, such as from a gets through soak. Full Auto Burst, they’re all compared to the defender’s 8. Subtract post-soak damage from the defenders HP. single result individually. This is an extremely simplified overview of how an attack To go about this, first check and see if the attacker works and each attack is somewhat unique, so it’s up to the passed the roll at all. If they didn’t then the attack misses GM to make sure everything goes well. The first time and nothing further happens, move on to the next die result through this might take a while to figure out but after a few if they have more than one. If they succeed then compare times you’ll start to get the rhythm. Don’t worry if it takes a Degrees of Success, the one with the higher amount wins. bit of time to figure out or if you mess up the first time If there is a tie then the defender wins. If the attack wins through. then the attack hits. Next we’ll attempt to break down the major components For attacks that have multiple attack rolls, figure out how of the attack outline and give some in detail explanation of many succeeded and with which weapon, and you will what does what. repeat the next three steps for each successful attack roll.

23 | P a g e Step 6: Hit Location and Weapon Damage medic. See the section on Dying for rules on how to handle If you had a successful hit is now time to calculate hit that. location and weapon damage. Hit location is really simple to calculate, you just take the ones digit of your attack roll Combat Rules and compare it to the follow table: This section contains rules for in-depth combat rules and Table 2 - Hit Location variations. It covers all sorts of advanced combat One’s Digit Location Hit Damage Multiplier mechanics from different forms of attacks and defenses to 1 Right Leg x1/2 rules for Dying, Bleeding, and being on Fire. 2 Left Leg x1/2 3-7 Torso x1 Action Types 8 Right Arm x1/2 There are three types of actions that you can take in a 9 Left Arm x1/2 turn: Reflexive, Normal, Full. Each of these have different 0 Head x2 rules associated with them. Looking this up constantly during combat wastes time however, so to remember this easier just know that the Reflexive table is arranged on a per limb location ascending up the Reflexive rolls are those that are automatic in nature. body going right side to left, starting with the right leg. The They do not require you to perform anything for the most torso takes up five of the ten numbers and everything else part. Examples include noticing something, speaking takes up only one. something, or resisting fear. These types of actions do not Some creatures might have some custom hit location garner Action Penalty for doing them. and damage multipliers for them, so be sure to check with the GM if the creature isn’t humanoid. Normal Weapon damage is another matter, normally you just A Normal action is the default action type unless stated look at their damage on the damage table for them. Don’t otherwise. This action gains Action Penalty as normal. You forget to add the bonus from your Strength to the damage can make as many as you want in a turn, being limited only for melee attacks. After you determine your damage, roll it by whether you have enough Threshold to make the roll. and note the results. Full Step 7: Apply Soak A Full action is one that takes the entire turn. These types The general formula for a character’s soak is (Toughness only allow you to take defensive Normal actions, such as / 10 for non-lethal or Toughness / 20 for lethal) + (armor dodging or parry. You cannot do anything else in the turn rating for the location). The defender subtracts this value while doing these. These actions count as two actions for from the damage they receive. Action Penalties. You can move if you haven’t moved Certain weapons can influence the amount of soak a already during a Full action if you’d logically be able to do character has. A weapon’s penetration reduces the so, such as with Aiming. defender’s armor rating by the penetration value, to a minimum of zero. Felling does the same thing as Action Penalty penetration but to the character’s soak from Toughness In a turn you can make as many actions you want, but instead. This only lasts for that damage instant. you get a cumulative penalty until your next turn called an If the character’s soak absorbs all the damage from the Action Penalty. Each action you take gives you a -10 attack, then the character loses no HP. In most cases this penalty to your next test. So if you make three actions you isn’t true, and extra damage left over after soak is get no penalty on the first, a -10 penalty on the second, and multiplied by the hit location according to the table in step a -20 on the third. This applies to all actions, including six. defense actions so attacking a lot at the cost of defense is If the defender has some form of energy shielding see risky. Action Penalties only are gained from actions taken the section for energy shielding in the next section of the during the turn, so firing multiple bullets doesn’t gain you rules. As a rule of thumb, energy shields act as ablative hit an action penalty for each bullet fired. points which absorb the damage of an attack before it hits The Action Penalty restarts when it’s your next turn, armor. meaning it can carry into the next round. So people with higher initiatives can an advantage when attacking targets Step 8: Apply Damage on lower initiatives. In this step the defender reduces his HP by an amount equal to the post soak damage he’s taken. If this reduces him to 0 HP or less he’s now Dying and probably needs a 24 | P a g e Delay per bullet in your action. Each bullet you fire in that action You can delay your turn, waiting until another moment to will have the current Action Penalty though. go in the turn order. Obviously you cannot delay past the Here’s some combat actions you can do for shooting: end of the Round, you either use your turn or you lose. It is Single Shot possible to take your turn while someone else is taking This is a classic method of shooting; all you need to do is their turn, immediately interrupting their turn until yours is pull the trigger once and let a round hit the target. Since resolved. This is called Overwatch and if multiple people you’re only firing once you don’t need to worry about recoil. interrupt at the same time, the use their initiative to This form of shooting only has you pull the trigger once and determine who goes first. A character delay even after doesn’t suffer any penalty to make. It’s often used by taking an action, so long as it wasn’t a Full action. snipers and combined with the Aim action. This is an action Overwatch to perform. A character that delays their turn can trigger their turn Burst during another character’s turn. They merely declare when Some guns are capable of burst fire, this is where you pull they wish to take it. A character can do this even in the the trigger once and multiple rounds spray out of the gun, middle of another’s action, taking their action before the assume three rounds unless said otherwise. This kind of other character’s resolves. fire gives very precise grouping of the rounds, normally A common example is someone charging you with a hitting the same location. This form of fire has a penalty of melee weapon and you delay until they get closer to you -20 to hit but all the rounds hit in the same location, you with a gun. When they get in close enough to you, you take use the first round’s to hit location regardless if it hit or not. your turn and shoot them. This is an action for perform. Natural Soak Full Auto Burst As described above, a character has a degree of natural Most guns contain the ability to pull the trigger and keep soak called their Hardiness. This represent how adept their it held down, firing rounds until you let go. This action has body is at dealing with trauma. Certain weapons, like you pull down the trigger for a short controlled burst, firing plasma guns and flamethrowers, inflict damage that no a number of rounds equal to the gun’s Rate. Firing in short organic being can easily handle. These weapons reduce or controlled bursts gives a -40 to hit with. outright ignore the Hardiness of a character. Hardiness has two forms, one for lethal damage and one Spray and Pray for non-lethal. Lethal blows come in the form of guns, Guns fire really, really fast. You will empty the magazine knives, and other such things that are made for killing on most guns in quick order unless you control your fire people outright. Non-lethal attacks are most commonly rate. This option is normally the panic option someone does fists and kicks, being able to incapacitate and injure but when being charged by a much scarier enemy or when in not easily kill someone. For lethal attacks, a character has point blank range with a target. Under this action you a Hardiness of Toughness / 20, but for non-lethal it is essentially empty the magazine of the gun in this single Toughness / 10. action, firing the gun’s Rate x 5 rounds in a single burst. Only weapons with large magazines can fire at this rate Shooting more than once. This action suffers a -60 penalty, so you might want to be close to the target or aiming before you do As with most things in a modern war, you’re likely to do a it. lot of shooting. Guns are around for a reason, they’re really good at their jobs and let you kill some ugly bastard without Covering Fire you getting close to them to see the gory details. Sometimes you need to provide large volumes of fire that Shooting uses Dexterity for the Attribute and Firearms for don’t have to hit, just need to scare the fuck out of the the Skill. There’s a lot of modifiers that can be applied to the target so they hunker down. You can do a Covering Fire Threshold when shooting, so there’s going to be some math action to shoot out lots of bullets and force the target to involved. When shooting a gun you roll for each bullet you take cover, this is often accompanied by lots of screaming fire out of the gun, each is its own separate attack roll so if and yelling. When doing this action, the character chooses you fire lots of bullets you roll a lot. Each attack roll only one of the following shooting actions: Single Shot, Burst, suffers the penalties and benefits for action as Full Auto Burst, or Spray and Pray. He rolls this at an appropriate; each Single Shot or Full Auto Burst you fire will additional -20 penalty to hit and everyone within five get you an Action Penalty, not each attack roll you make meters of where he was aiming needs to make a reflexive

25 | P a g e Courage roll at a penalty equal to half the modifier of the to Elevation hit roll. Having the high ground helps in a fight. For ranged Regardless of if you hit, if the target fails the Courage roll attacks, shooting up at someone higher than you inflicts a they need to immediately move into the nearest cover or -20 penalty. For melee, you have to travel uphill which appropriate defense (human shields do fulfill this). Once in decreases how far you can move with your movement cover the character cannot leave the cover until they pass points. A slight slope inflicts no penalty, but a minor one the same Courage roll. Each round they are not under cuts it in half, while a major one reduces it down to a Covering Fire grants them a +20 to the roll. quarter. Obviously you cannot run up a shear wall, so you A character that elects to take a shield of some sort or might have to climb. have energy shields do not have to make this roll so long as the weapon their shield still defend them or the weapon Melee being fired isn’t exceedingly dangerous (i.e. rocket Using a weapon to attack, whether it be a sword, knife, launcher or auto cannon or 20 men concentrating fire on fist, or rifle butt, make an attack a melee attack. Melee them). range is normally one meter or less but some melee Gun in a Knife Fight weapons can attack from further away. Melee combat Despite the old saying, bringing a gun to a knife fight isn’t when combined with super strength allows one to quickly always a good tactic. Shooting a two handed weapon or dispatch a people with casual easy. Melee also makes larger sized weapon while engaged in melee gives a -20 to shooting two handed guns extremely difficult. Melee shoot with, due to the unwieldy nature of trying to aim the attacks use Reflexes for the Attribute and Melee Skill for gun while avoiding attacks. Often it’s better to use the rifle weapons or Brawl Skill for unarmed attacks. as a club and start swinging back. Shooting while in melee Most melee weapons benefit from the Strength of the doesn’t grant a weapon length bonus. wielder, adding their Strength / 10 to the damage of the attack. This means that stronger people tend to be more Aiming terrifying in combat. “When in doubt, aim.” Normal Strikes This old quote applies equally in all forms of combat. By Normal Attacks don’t require anything special to taking an entire turn to Aim as a full action, you gain a +10 accomplish, inflicting no penalty and the attacker only rolls to hit on your next attack. If you are injured or choose to to hit one time. Most normal strikes are done multiple times defend yourself you lose the benefits of the Aim action. in a turn to quickly dispatch an enemy before they can Aiming is a full action. You can only cumulatively benefit return the favor. from two turns of Aiming. A character can only move a Basic or Tactical movement while Aiming or loses the benefit of Brutal Strikes Aiming. Sometimes enemies have too much armor or you just need to kill them in a single blow, this is when you perform Guarding a Brutal Attack. Brutal Attacks are named because the Guarding is what you normally do when you don’t have a results are extremely brutal to witness. Instead of weapon, are about to get blasted with a big weapon, or are attacking fast and letting the weapon do most of the work, drawing fire. Each turn you spend guarding gives you +15 the attacker throws their back into it, exerting all the to your defensive actions to a max of +30, assuming you’re strength they have to strike the target. Brutal Attacks aware of it so long as you continue to guard. You can’t guard suffer a -20 penalty to hit but doubles the character’s against a sniper you don’t see. Guarding is a full action. A Strength for the damage roll. When a Spartan strikes with character can only move a Basic or Tactical movement this attack, the results are almost always fatal. Unarmed while Guarding or loses the benefit of Guarding. Brutal Strikes take the form of kicks and haymakers. Jab Reloading In more formal fights you sometimes want to test the Reloading a weapon, if possible for the weapon, take one defenses of your enemy before committing to a barrage of action. Some weapons have exceptionally long reload attacks. Jabs are attacks that inflict maximum amount of times, requiring the wielder to take multiple reload actions damage while risking little in terms of opening your own on multiple turns. See the weapon traits for information on defenses to be counter attacked. When performing a Jab this. gives you +20 to hit but halves your Strength for the damage of the attack.

26 | P a g e Fighting Defensively Tackling When deciding to attack you can decide to be more Tackling someone is where you hit someone with the full cautious with your defense than offense. A character can intent of knocking them over. While not very damaging as make any melee attack that while fighting defensively but an attack, the knocking someone over aspect can benefit incurs a -20 to hit but gains +10 to any defensive actions you greatly during a fight. they make until next turn or they make an attack where Making a tackle requires you to make a Normal unarmed they are not Fighting Defensively. strike. If you hit, roll your Strength and Athletics opposed by the defenders. If you succeed, the target is knocked Fighting Offensively Prone. The target also takes unarmed attack damage but Sometimes you don’t give a shit about getting hurt, this with your Strength counting as half for the damage. You is when you are Fighting Offensively. A character making a want to knock them over, not injure them. melee attack while Fighting Offensively gains +10 to hit but suffers a -20 penalty to defensive actions until the next Tripping turn or they make an attack where they are not Fighting Tripping is similar to tackling, but instead of using your Offensively. body to knock the person over you strike them to make them fall over. To perform a Tripping action you roll to hit Disarm with an unarmed normal attack. If you succeed and the Disarming an opponent’s weapon is an effective way to opponent doesn’t avoid the attack, then you roll Agility and end a fight before any blood hits the floor. To disarm Brawl opposed by the opponent’s Agility and Acrobatics. If someone you make an attack against but with a -30 you succeed, then the target is knocked Prone. Tripping penalty. If you hit, they must make a Toughness test at a doesn’t inflict damage, as it’s typically easier to knock penalty equal to your Degrees of Success x 10 or their someone over with Tripping but it doesn’t strike in ways to weapon flies 1d6 meters in a random direction. An Agility inflict noticeable damage. test and one action may be spent to catch the weapon before it goes flying away. Grappling Grappling is an action where you elect to grab your target Weapon Length and hold them in place to disable them, possibly disabling There’s a reason why spears were the preferred weapons them at the same time. To perform a grapple, first you make back in the medieval era: you’re far away from your target a normal unarmed attack, if you succeed then you begin a so he has a harder time hitting you but you can still poke grapple with your target. Roll an opposed Strength + Brawl, him. This factor in combat is called weapon length. When if you succeed you are now successfully grappling them. the GM rules that one character has a significantly shorter Your target immediately becomes disabled when weapon than another, like a spear vs a sword or knife, they grappled and cannot do anything on their turn. On your turn get a bonus to defensive actions by +10 per Length rating they may attempt to break out or take control of the difference. It’s hard to engage someone in melee if you grapple with another Strength + Brawl roll. The loser suffers cannot close in on them. a penalty to this roll equal to the Degrees of Success the Footwork previous roll’s winner had times five. If a character’s Characters that are in engaged in melee combat, Threshold is reduced to zero or less they are successfully whether offensively or defensively, must move each round pinned and cannot do anything. at least one meter per attack. If a character cannot move The person in control of the grapple may take their turn or elects not move they suffer a defensive action penalty to move to pin, essentially repeating the rolls above if the for not being able to perform proper footwork. This is a -20 target chooses to not fight back. They may also move the penalty to all defensive actions against melee attacks or a target in a Tactical or Basic move, possibly using them as a -20 to hit on any attacks where they do not move. The human shield, or inflict unarmed attack damage. attacker moves towards the defender, while the defender must move backwards or to the sides of their original Weapon Range position. Guns come in a variety of weapon ranges, with most guns being able to shoot out quite far. Most gunfights occur Unarmed Maneuvers within 30 meters of each both sides however. Obviously it’s Melee covers basic punches and kicks, but this section much easier to shoot at a target when they’re closer to you covers advanced unarmed techniques. than when they’re further away. There are five weapon ranges that you should care about.

27 | P a g e Melee Range Size Melee covers being about one meter away, more or less. It’s easier to hit something large and harder to hit Shooting while engaged in melee suffers a penalty something small for pretty obvious reasons. Use the table described in the Shooting rules. below for penalties when shooting at different sized Point Blank Range targets. Table 4 - Size Modifiers Point Blank Range covers any ranged attacks that are Penalty Size within ten meters of the shooter. This gives a bonus to hit starting a +30 within one meter and reduces by 3 per meter -100 Hair away from the shooter. So a target that’s 5 meters away -80 Coin would give the shooter +15 to hit. -60 Fist -40 House cat Normal Range -20 Grunt Normal Range covers anything beyond 10 meters away 0 Humanoid when shooting. You don’t suffer any penalty but don’t get +10 Hunter any bonus for this attack. +20 Warthog +30 Tank Long Range +40 Side of a barn Long Range is attacks beyond the Range value of the weapon up to eight times the Range value. This gives a -10 +50 Elephant APC to shoot with per Range increment away. +60 Scarab Extreme Range Defense Shooting beyond eight times the listed Range value of There’s two forms of defense, parrying and dodging. Most the weapon is normally impossible due to sight limitations people cannot parry bullets, so against guns you’re pretty or just bullet drop. Without specific weapons technology, much stuck with dodging. Dodging and parrying both use such as a GPS guidance system, this range is impossible to Reflex for an Attribute. Dodging uses Dodge for its Skill, shoot in. Any technology that allows you to do so should while parrying uses either Melee or Brawl depending on if assume you’re shooting with a -100 penalty due to range you’re blocking with your hands or a weapon. You can roll at the minimum. to dodge or parry against any attack if you have a positive Threshold, but ones you’re not aware of are obviously at a Called Shots disadvantage, which is given as a bonus to the attacker’s Normally you shoot at the center of mass and hope that to hit roll. you hit the target when shooting. In reality you tend to shoot and the bullets go wild and hit randomly on the target Dodging due to recoil and rate of fire. It is possible to perform Called Dodging involves getting the fuck out of the way of Shots for attacks, bother melee and ranged attacks, to hit whatever is coming at you. Dodging involves you moving a specific target. outside of the range of the attack. If you dodge you move a Use the table below for penalties when performing called number of meters to avoid the attack, assuming you can shots on specific locations. When aiming for general get out of it with your Basic Move rating. If you’re dodging, groups, check the 1’s digit and round up to next closest hit say a giant explosion, and cannot get out of the radius with location if it hit a body part not in that grouping. When your basic move you cannot dodge the attack. Diving for aiming for a specific thing, like a finger or eye, use the Size cover is recommended in such a situation. If you cannot table instead. move for some reason, such as lack of Movement Points or Table 3 - Called Shots pinned in a corner, then you cannot Dodge the attack. Penalty Location Parry -30 Right Leg Parrying is when you deflect an attack instead of letting -30 Left Leg it hit you. Parrying uses either Melee or Brawl for the Skill, -20 Torso but parrying while unarmed is much harder when the -30 Right Arm enemy is armed. To parry an attack while unarmed against -30 Left Arm an enemy that is armed you suffer a -20 difficulty to the -50 Head defense. Parrying a gunshot with a Melee weapon gives a - -10 Upper Body 100 penalty. -10 Legs

28 | P a g e Dive for Cover this. Biofoam removes the penalty for the test entirely but Sometimes you cannot dodge an attack outright or it they still need to get the injector in the right spot. may not be in your best interest to do so. In that situation diving for the nearest cover may be preferred. Instead of Blind directly attempting to avoid the attack the character rolls Where you’re going, you don’t need eyes to see. You to get into an area of cover within a range of their Basic cannot see, suffering a -100 to all Awareness tests for sight Move rating. This test receives a +20 bonus or +30 if they and a -60 to all physical based actions until no longer dive and go Prone from it, and uses the Dodge Skill. If they blinded. Some technologies allow the character to ignore test succeeds, the character moves into the cover and the source of their blindness, such as night vision in pitch counts as being in total cover against the attack. Obviously black. if you cannot move to the cover due to lack of Movement Drunk Points, then you cannot Dive for Cover. You’re as drunk as a whaler on the moon. You suffer a -40 Counter Attack penalty to all actions until you sober up, but gain +10 The best offense is a good defense, and this method of Strength and Toughness due to increased pain tolerance. attack relies on attacking when the enemy is most This doesn’t increase your HP. A normal character can vulnerable: when they’re attacking. The character Delays handle one drink per twenty points of Toughness before their turn and makes a -30 to their defense actions, but if becoming tipsy. Spartan 2’s and 3’s can handle one per five they successfully Dodge or Parry they immediately take points due to their enhanced genetics and metabolism. their turn and attack. The enemy suffers a -40 to defensive Suffocating actions against this single attack. Will someone please crack a window? You’re running out of air and will likely die soon. A character can hold their Conditions breath for one round for every ten points of Toughness they Here’s a variety of conditions that can affect a character have if they’re unprepared or twice that if they’re prepared. and the penalties or bonuses they inflict. Conditions can be Once they go beyond this limit of time they need to roll a temporary or permanent depending on how they got them Toughness test starting at -0, with a cumulative -10 or not. Many of these may be the result of Jinxes or Luck to penalty for every 30 seconds. If they fail, then they begin create them. to take 5 points of unsoakable damage each turn. Certain technology can mitigate this problem, like rebreathers. Fire Additionally certain factors can increase or decrease how Fire is hot. You are on fire. Whatever body part is on fire long they can hold their breath, such as panicking or being is taking 5 points of damage per round with a Felling of 20. punched in the gut. Normally each point of damage they You’re going to probably burn to death unless you stop take reduces how long they can hold their breath by one being on fire. Rolling Agility + Acrobatics while rolling on the second, when hit in the stomach. ground is a good way to put most fires out. Some flaming materials may make this more difficult. Taking an action Poisoned other than trying to put the fire out requires a Courage roll No idea what you guys are talking about, I feel fine. with a -60 penalty. Certain things poison a character, such as rare weapons or a creature biting with venom. Since poisons come in a Stunned variety of forms, they are resisted with a Toughness test, What happened to that truck that hit you? You are in a suffering a penalty based on how lethal they are. The daze, suffering a -60 to all actions you take until you pass character makes this roll based on an interval of potent the a Toughness + Athletics test with a -60 penalty or take a dosage they received is. Damage is based on the lethality few minutes of rest. You can roll each turn until you come of the poison, normally no more than 5 unsoakable damage out of it. per roll, but some extremely powerful poisons can do far Bleeding more. Your blood is coming out, which means you’re still alive Freezing for now. You’re bleeding somewhere and taking 1d3 Colder than a duck’s ass around here. You’re frozen in damage per turn, ignoring all soak, until someone stops the place, normally from cryogenic weapons. You need to roll bleeding. Stopping the bleeding takes two turns per roll and Strength + Athletics for every action you attempt. a successful Intelligence + Medicine test at a -40. Additionally, you take a -40 all actions you attempt from Obviously a First Aid kit is a good thing to carry to help with the cold, your movements are halved, and if you’re not in a sealed suit you take 1d3 unsoakable damage per round 29 | P a g e until you’re no longer freezing. Powerful cryogenic much damage, whether from blocking the damage or stray weapons also Disable you for one turn or more. The terrain shots, it now can no longer provide benefits of cover. also often becomes dangerous to cross with high amounts of slippage possible. It’s possible to break any ice or rub Blast Weapons cryogenic material off you, much like when you’re on Fire. Explosives and other weapons with the Blast quality deal triple damage to cover just due to the sheer amount of Prone damage they’re blocking. They don’t count the multiple hit It’s over, I have the high ground! You’re lay on your ass or locations as independent attacks when hit by a blast stomach currently. All ranged attacks against you suffer a weapon, instead absorbing the damage as one massive -20 penalty to hit, but all melee attacks gain a +20 to hit. attack all together. There is a reason why explosives are good at taking down builings. Disabled How about you just sit there any don’t move? You’re Health and Healing disabled and cannot take any action other than attempt to A character uses Hit Points or HP to represent their stop what disabled you, such as breaking out of a grapple. general well being. As long as their HP remains above zero Some disables require waiting a period of time instead of they are still conscious and not in any life threatening making a roll to escape. situation. Once a character’s HP drops to zero they are unconscious. If the attack was from a lethal weapon, such Cover as a gun or knife, they’re Dying. The worst thing about being in a fight is the high risk of being shot at. To that effect, the best thing to use to Dying prevent it from happening is staying in cover. Cover A character begins to die if their HP drops to 0 from a provides extra armor to protect you from damage while lethal weapon. Each minute the character loses 1 HP. If behind it, but if you want to stick your head out to shoot, their HP gets to -10, then they die. Any additional damage you’re likely to get shot at. The character or GM should is subtracted as normal meaning there’s a chance that an determine how exposed they are when shot at; ducking attack could kill a character outright if they take enough back into cover is possible but takes an action. The table damage. below is roughly how much protection 1cm of cover of that A character can die from non-lethal damage but they material it will provide. Obviously not everything is that need to take damage equal to their Toughness in negative thick so the GM should adjust accordingly. health levels before they do. Treat non-lethal and lethal Table 5 - Cover damage as separate tracks for Dying, it takes a lot of Material Bonus Armor punching to kill someone outright. Loose Paper 1 Rolling Intelligence + Medicine at a penalty equal to the Dense Paper 2 character’s HP x 10 allows a medic to stabilize the Weak Wood 4 character until he is wounded again, preventing any further Strong Wood, Sand 8 damage from Dying. Weak Metals, Concrete 16 A character can also spend a Luck point to remain Strong Metals 32 conscious until injured again, assuming one point of Luck Nanolaminate 64 isn’t enough to heal him above 0 HP. While like this their You’ll notice that metals are much more durable than stats are halved. armor values from wearing armor, there is a reason for this A character recovers consciousness once no longer and it comes down to simple physics. The purpose of Dying after a number of minute equal to 100 – Toughness, wearing armor is to mitigate damage to the soft tissue to a minimum of one minute, though most will opt to underneath, the armor itself is much more durable than the continue not moving. armor rating it gives but it cannot perfectly stop energy Mooks transfer when secured on the body. Instead it prevents Unnamed characters or unimportant characters do not wounds that would cause your insides to be on the outside have Dying levels, they instead die when they hit zero HP and tries to mitigate how much energy it transfers to the from lethal weapons or are unconscious from non-lethal wearer when impacted. weapons. Damaging Cover Healing You can do damage to cover, though it’s not really easy A character naturally heals their Toughness / 10 in HP per to do this without a big weapon. Cover has a number of HP day. An Intelligence + Medicine roll can speed up how equal to three times its armor rating. After it takes this 30 | P a g e quickly the character recovers HP. They suffer a penalty Degree of Success recovers 1 point of HP. Some medical per the Dying rules if the character if Dying to heal. Each equipment can greatly enhance this roll.

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“God created Man, but Samuel Colt made them all equal” The most important thing about going into a battle is Lore Accuracy making sure you have a damn weapon. This ain’t some Some people may notice that these weapons do not kinda kung fu movie where you can disarm someone before accurately represent any of the Halo video games. This is they shoot you. No, they got lots of guns and you’ll get intentional. The weapons in this chapter were based on the killed before you try. You need to make sure you got the lore presented in the novels, not the mechanics and right gear for the job and that you do maintenance on your gameplay in a video game. The mechanics of the game are damn equipment! designed for balance and fun, as opposed to representing, even contradicting the lore. Guns. Lots of Guns, And Maybe a Boot Knife Getting Equipment This chapter contains everything you need to survive in Getting equipment is pretty simple actually, you ask the on the battlefield, from guns and bullets to rocket quartermaster for some. That’s assuming you’re not in the launchers and frying pans. Basically, this is the chapter for middle of a firefight. If you are, you might need to ask for an everything related to gear, guns, armor, and everything in ammo drop via Pelican, or if really bad via drop pod. between. When in the middle of a fight your options might be more limited. In this sort of situation you’ll want to try using the 32 | P a g e weapons of your fallen friends and foes. Remember that Burst (X) war is a survivor based economy, if you’re alive and your Burst weapons fire out a burst of shots with each pull of foe is dead he’s not going to stop you from taking his gun. the trigger, how many rounds are fired are described with When you get equipment from the quartermaster, unless the X quality of the property. This weapon can perform they really hate you, you’ll get all you likely need to survive Burst attacks. a mission. Now no mission survives contact with the enemy so you can always try to sweet talk him for some extra Full Auto mags or even a bigger gun. Fully automatic weapons continue to fire as long as you can hold down the trigger. Weapons like this are able to perform Full Auto Bursts and Spray and Pray actions. See Weapon Properties the weapon’s Rate for determining how many rounds it Weapons contain an assortment of properties, otherwise fires for these actions. they’d all be the same type of weapon. There is some differences between ranged and melee weapons you Rate (X) should consider also. For Full Auto weapons performing Full Auto Bursts or Spray and Pray actions you need to know how many rounds Universal Properties you’re firing. This is the X value for this property. This value These properties are universal to both ranged and melee is normally the weapon’s RPM divided by 120. Obviously a weapons. gun cannot fire more than their Rate times 120. Damage Magazine Size This is how much damage the weapon does. It is This is how many rounds the weapon holds before it runs expressed in terms of dice of damage normally, which is out. Each round fired removes one round from the current how much you roll when you hit. Some extremely powerful magazine. If you have no rounds in the magazine the gun weapons add a straight amount of damage to the roll. won’t shoot. If you have less than the Rate or Burst rating of the gun it will just fire the remaining rounds in the Penetration magazine. Don't over think this. Penetration, or Pen for short, is how good the weapon is at punching through armor. Normally weapons aren’t Range designed to punch through armor but some are. Each point The base range of the gun before it gets into long range of Pen reduces the armor rating of the target for just the for the weapon. Some weapons fire further than others, so attack by one point to a minimum of zero armor. they can go much further out before affected by drop or leading. Felling Similar to Pen, Felling reduces the enemy soak but Reload Time instead reduces their Hardiness for the attack, not armor. Normally it takes a single action to reload a gun, but Felling represents how difficult it is for a living creature to some guns need multiple actions or even rounds to reload. resist this sort of attack naturally. Painful weapons like A character must take a number of actions equal to the flamethrowers and plasma weapons have lots of Felling. Reload Time to reload a gun. A gun that has a reload time Each point of Felling reduces the Hardiness rating of the measured in rounds need to spend all their turn reloading target for just the attack by one point to a minimum of zero. as a Full Action. The gun is obviously not useable until this time passes. Ranged Weapon Properties These properties are applicable only to ranged weapons. Melee Weapon Properties These properties are applicable only to Melee weapons. Single Shot This weapon is capable of firing only one Single Shot Length action per round. It cannot be made to fire any faster due This property represents an abstract concept of length to the firing mechanism limiting it in some fashion. for weapons. Longer weapons give bonuses to hit against shorter weapons. Obviously a spear is provides a degree of Semi-automatic defense against a knife due to reach. Semi-automatic guns fire as fast as you pull the trigger. This lets you fire Single Shot attacks, but as many as you Weapon Traits want in a turn so long as you can make the attack. This section contains information on unique weapon properties for weapons that are a product of how they work. 33 | P a g e Not all weapons have these traits; see a weapon’s individual entry for a list of its traits, if any.

Table 6 - Human Ranged Weapons Reload Weapon Damage Pen Felling Fire Modes Rate Magazine Range Time Assault Rifle Battle Rifle SMG Shotgun Sniper Rifle Pistol Rocket Launcher Spartan Laser Flamethrower Human Ranged Weapons Human range weapons are more or less traditional and fired in semi-automatic mode. This rifle fire semi-armor weapons that you’d find on the modern battlefield with a piercing high powered 9.5 x 40mm rounds, easily out few exceptions. Guns are much better performing in the powering comparable rounds from other rifles. 26th century and there are a few more “traditional” sci-fi weapons like lasers. Sub Machine Gun Assault Rifle

The M7 submachine gun is a high fire rate, high murder rate gun. With a fire rate pushing 900 rounds per minute, it The MA5 assault rifle is the backbone of the UNSC. Used can easily empty its 60 round magazine of 5 x 23mm by both all branches and having a century of design caseless ammo in four seconds if not fired in short iteration, it is one of the best weapons ever invented. It controlled bursts. Because the gun fires caseless fires a standard 7.62 x 51mm NATO Full Metal Jacket round, ammunition, there’s no expelled cartridge, so there’s not but against the Covenant it’s more commonly fielded with hot brass to worry about. While not the most accurate gun, Armor Piercing rounds. This weapon comes in a variety of it can lay down enough fire in close range to tear through forms, but the standard form is a 32 round magazine. It most armor plating. Some versions come with a built in contains a smart connection to a neural interface or HUD, a silencer, smart scope, and laser pointer for those that are flashlight, and a magnetic compass. the quiet type. Light weight, easy to use, and packing a punch, this is a gun for most combat situations. Battle Rifle Shotgun

Officially the BR55 rifle entered service in 2548, however Since the days of the Wild West, the shotgun has be one it under went over 20 years of field testing before it of the greatest weapons that humanity has ever made. The eventually replaced the Designated Marksman Rifle. The basic principle being that it’s better to load a gun with a Battle Rifle as it’s called by the UNSC is a top of the line rifle bunch of pellets that spray out instead of going in a the can pick the hat off a soldier at well over 1km of straight lines since most firefights are at close range. The distance, while still being able to blast a hole in their chest. M90 or M45, both being nigh identical, are used by the Normally the rifle has a 36 round magazine and fires in 3 UNSC. These guns use 8 gauge shells with 0000 buckshot. round burst, though early prototypes had larger magazines Each pellet is made of armor piercing metals, normally a

34 | P a g e mix of steel, lead, and tungsten, are armor piercing in the explosive, surface to surface missile, though it can also way that a sledgehammer is armor piercing to Kevlar. perform surface to air tasks. It has an integrated smart These shells, larger than 12 gauge shells are able to brute scope capable of locking onto a ground vehicle or aircraft force blast their way through most infantry armor and kill and having the rocket track them. This weapon has been in an elephant. While not fully automatic, the robustness of a use for decades for good reason: it blows shit up. pump action shotgun allows it to work in any environment short of inside an active volcano. Spartan Laser Sniper Rifle

The M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, aka the Spartan Laser, is a laser rifle and the most powerful handheld The sniper rifle is essentially a long range weapon weapon one can get in the UNSC short of a top of the line wielded by angels of death to bring destruction upon the railgun. It fires a microsecond long laser pulse, which enemy. The weapon fires an incredibly high powered 14.5 x travels at light speed and can easily punch a hole through 114mm armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot a building, the building behind it, and into the parking lot rounds or just normal high velocity, armor piercing rounds. behind that. It features a smart scope and has a simple Both are exceptionally good at their job and can punch point and shoot interface. Unfortunately the power takes a through energy shield, infantry armor, and cover with while to build up, the weapon overheats after firing, and it relative ease. Throwing the smart scope with night vision gives a particle beam as a side effect of the laser on it and this bad boy can easily engage targets 3km out. generating process that makes the users location Having been around for over a century, this weapon is kept instantly visible to anyone that can see red. It is also one in service for a reason. of the most expensive weapons ever made, as you could literally field a company of soldiers for the cost of a single Pistol weapon. Also due to UNSC logistics, the chargers tend to get separated from the actual weapon so they tend to take a while to be refielded once depleted. Shame no one thought to make the battery removable! Currently only ODST and Spartans are allowed to field the weapon. Flamethrower Perhaps the smallest the rifle ever made, the M6D pistol can easily fulfill the role of a main weapon and side arm. While much slower to fire than other variants of the M6 due to its immense recoil, it hits like a truck. Only a Spartan can Techically not designed to be used as a weapon, M7057 hope to use the full auto mechanism on this gun without Defoliant Projector was made to spray chemicals to clear breaking their wrist. This gun fires a 12.7 x 40mm semi out weeds; using it against humans is war crime. But armor piercing, high explosive rounds. Essentially it blasts aliens? That’s up to the ethics division to figure out. As this through armor and then the round explodes in your chest isn’t a full on flamethrower, it performs poorly with limited cavity. With a 12 round magazine and smart scope, this range. But fire is fire and fire destroys everything if applied gun is stupidly good at its job. correctly. All in all, the napalm used gets the job done if you like BBQ. Rocket Launcher The NA4 flamethrower is a different matter. It is fielded by Hellbringers, has an underslung grenade launcher, and comes with a backpack tank so you have more fuel to burn things. Hellbringers like to use specialized mixtures, which the NA4 supports readily, along with oxide tanks to more More of an anti-everything weapon, the rocket launcher throughly burn stuff. This weapon is a war crime, but again is your go to anti-vehicle weapon. It can easily destroy a Covenants most people won’t care. The extremely sticky main battle tank with a couple of rockets and clear a room napalm used is next to impossible to remove, burns in of infantry if you’re smart enough to not be in it when you vacuum and underwater, and has a terrifyingly long range. fire the damn thing. It fire a 102mm armor piercing, high 35 | P a g e

Table 7 – Covenant Ranged Weapons Reload Weapon Damage Pen Felling Fire Modes Rate Magazine Range Time Plasma Rifle Plasma Pistol Needler Carbine Beam Rifle Spiker Mauler

Covenant Ranged Weapons The weapons of the Covenant are far more advanced limbs or punch clean through the lower torso. Bones can than those the UNSC. They feature exotic particles and easily be exposed to open air and the screams of pain act plasma manipulation that the UNSC scientists could only as a potent demoralizer. Luckily, armor is highly effective dream of making. These weapons are more works of preventing this, though the plasma will eat through artisans than they are of engineers and scientists, much unarmored areas and burn the victim. like the Covenant’s 16th century thinking. Practically, these weapons are missing a lot, like amount counters, iron Plasma Pistol sights, and even weapons stocks. They look pretty and are really hard to destroy. Half of them the UNSC still don’t even know how they reload or work. Plasma Rifle The Type 25 Directed Energy Pistol is very similar to its sister the Plasma Rifle. The Plasma Pistol fires slightly lower energy rounds than the Plasma Rifle, but can be fired on semi-automatic. One shouldn’t mistake this for a side arm, as it’s the size of a full SMG in the hands of a human. The Type 25 Directed Energy Rifle, also called the Plasma Only in the hands of an Elite or Spartan does it seem to be Rifle, it a terrifying weapon for how terribly designed it is. It a pistol. This weapon bears all the same features of the fires 3000°C bursts of plasma at about 126 meters per Plasma Rifle, save if has no automatic fire but can be second in a full auto rate. These bolts can melt through overcharged to inflict massive damage. The overcharged everything short of Tungsten, including Titanium A alloys, mode gains the Seeking trait, and can easily kill in a single and can kill an unarmored human in one or two shots. shot. Unfortunately the weapon instantly overheats upon However, these bolts are slow moving and have a very firing it. short range compared to bullets, often requiring the wielder to get into close range to shoot effectively. The Needler splash over effect helps compensate for this, as the plasma’s magnetic field destabilizes on impact and flows around objects, allowing it the ability to get past some cover. Additionally, the actual heat field is larger than the glowing field would suggest, offsetting the downside of the slow moving bolts. The gun is prone to overheating, lacks Needlers are a very strange weapon. Unlike other iron sights, it has a heat bar, and no battery charge Covenant technology they fire physical projectiles. This indicator. Reloading the weapon is still unknown except to projectiles slowly fly through the air, tracking the marked the Covenant. target. Once they embed themselves in an organic target Like all plasma weapons, this weapon inflicts grievous they shatter; however, if there’s 7 or more in one target injuries. Skin, muscle, and organs are flash vaporized. they supercombine as they reach peak resonance and Blood instantly boils out of the body. In close range the explode into a pink mist. This Blamite material is a very weapon has enough thermal and kinetic energy to slice off strange chemical that’s not found anywhere in nature. The

36 | P a g e exact mechanism for how the supercombining and the tracking mechanism works are still unknown. The weapon is reloaded by inserting a large Blamite crystal into the weapon which then creates the needles on the top of the weapon. Much like the majority of Covenant weapons it has no ammo indicator nor any time of scope or iron sights. The only way to keep track of how much ammo you have is watching the needles as they fire. The needles themselves are slow moving and have a short range before they fall out of the sky, rendering the weapon almost useless at long range. Interestingly they do not supercombine when hitting energy shield and when stopped by armor. Wounds are painful but unless supercombined, nowhere near as dangerous as plasma weapon wounds.

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