The Manual

Mechanics of Play

fudgeblack.jpg
Above: Fudge dice

Fudge Dice

The Far Recon roleplay uses the FUDGE dice system. The fudge die is a three-sided die that can come up +, -, or 0. A + adds one to the roll, a - subtracts one, and a 0 makes no change. For example, rolling the set (0, +, 0, -) equates to one +1, one -1, and two 0s, for a combined roll of 0 to be added to the character's base skill.
The basic command for rolling dice within the IRC is "4df+X", where X is the combination of your skill and situational modifiers, both concepts which will be explained later on in this document.

Resolving Skill Rolls

There are two types of difficulty rolls: Opposed rolls, and Difficulty Checks (DC).

An Opposed Roll are used when two or more character's skills are engaged in conflict with each other. For example, if Alice wanted to sneak past Bob, Alice would roll her Stealth skill against Bob's Perception. If Alice's roll is higher than Bob's, or if the rolls are tied, then Alice would win the conflict and succeed at sneaking past Bob. The winner of the roll would typically roleplay the action out.

A Difficulty Check is when a character uses their skills against a static value, usually when a character must interact with or apply their skills with a degree of focus. For example, For instance, using Strength to climb a wall, or using Electronics to crack a computer's security. The GM would assign the DC for the action, and any character that rolls their relevant skill at or above the set DC passes the the check. Difficulty Checks are also used to heal wounds.

Action Points

Action Points are a sort of character currency, representing those moments of inspiration and bursts of energy that can turn a bad situation around or cement a victory for good. All new characters begin with a pool of 3 AP; this pool is reset to full at the beginning and end of a run. This pool can be tapped for various actions during the course of a run. Replenishing the pool during runs is a rare event, only possible via accepting compulsions, so any AP expenditures should be carefully considered.

Although AP is used in multiple situations such as Aspects, Powers, Feats and Masteries, there are some applications of AP that don’t fall under the above. A player may re-roll any roll in any situation for 1 AP, while 2 AP may be spent forcing a success on a non-combat roll without the need to roll.

Healing

The Medical skill allows lost Body points to be regained while in the field, allowing a wounded character to get back in the fight after being injured. Healing is accomplished by using expendable items that the character is carrying with them. When an item is used, it isn’t automatically spent. Rather, the amount of Body the item heals is used, and the remainder can be used later to treat other injuries. Normally, healing supplies are not spent if the healer fails the DC. Only if the roll is a critical fail (-,-,-,-) are healing supplies expended.

In order to heal, a character must roll their Medical skill against the damage caused by the specific wound the medic wishes to treat. If there are any additional wounds on the same place, the DC increases by 1 for any additional wounds on top of the first one. For example, if Alice had a wound that caused 4 damage to her, the DC that Bob would have to defeat in order to heal that damage would be 4. Should Alice had another wound at the same place that caused 3 damage, the DCs for both wounds would be 5 and 4 respectively. Note that wounds must be treated individually, even if they are located on the same place.

In the event that a character’s health drops to 0, they become incapacitated and are left unconscious, but stable. Their health remains at 0 in the absence of further damage or medical attention. In order to heal incapacitated characters, the medic only needs to treat the wound that incapacitated the character in the first place. Once this is done, they regain consciousness on their next turn.

Should a character’s health drops below 0 into the negatives, they enter a critical state where they could die outright, and if left too long, could succumb to their injuries. The window of opportunity is very small: The medic must give medical treatment to the fallen character before the beginning of the next turn or they may die (unless they pass a check, see Combat). Healing critically wounded characters involves successfully treating the offending injuries that caused them to become critically injured. Whether or not the character’s health was brought back to the positive digits, any successful medical roll on a critically wounded character automatically stabilizes them. Should the medic be successful in reviving the character and brings their health back into the positives, the character wakes up in 1d4 turns.

In the event that medical supplies have been exhausted, a character can still attempt to heal someone who's injured, but it won't be as effective. After all, even the most skillful paramedic or surgeon needs tools to work with. When attempting to heal without supplies, a character must find something to improvise with (such as using scraps of a torn shirt to fashion a bandage, or sticks to brace a sprain or break), but otherwise rolls as normal. If the roll succeeds, 1 Body is restored. Note that a given wound can only be treated once this way, unless the character has been injured on the same place again. It is impossible to stabilize critically injured characters without supplies.

Treating an injured character can take up to two turns in an active combat situation, or even longer if things are particularly hairy.

All characters who are injured must make a trip to the infirmary after the mission for follow-up treatment.

Maneuvers

Maneuvers allow a character to take advantage of proficiency in one skill to improve their rolls with other skills. To call a maneuver, you must roll the skill in question and state the skill or situation to which the maneuver will be applied (along with whatever explanation is necessary to justify the maneuver). The maneuver rolls are either made against a DC of 3, or against a skill roll by the target, depending on whether the roll is directly opposed.

Should the roll succeed, the maneuver may be applied to subsequent rolls, as befitting the nature of the maneuver. For example, a Perception maneuver could be used to scan an enemy for weaknesses, and if successful could provide a +2 bonus to attack rolls against that enemy. Setting up a maneuver takes up your turn, meaning you will have to wait until your next turn to perform the boosted roll yourself. If the maneuver is of a sort transmissible to others, however, those others may make use of it in the same round as it was rolled.

While maneuvers are similar in function to Aspects, they do not normally require the expenditure of AP for their use. However, if characters are attempting to maintain maneuvers across multiple rounds of combat, they may be required to spend AP to do so. If, for example, a character was using a Perception maneuver to focus fire on a specific enemy, but was attacked or otherwise distracted in between turns, they would be required to either spend one AP in maintaining the maneuver, or lose the maneuver bonus while keeping the AP.
Bonuses from maneuvers may not be added to further maneuver rolls.

Example Maneuvers

Load Limit

Load Limit is a measure of how much the character can carry, without becoming overburdened and decreasing their effectiveness. This particular stat is derived from the sum of 4 + Agility + Strength. Only weapons, particularly bulky or heavy items, Equipment from the Pre-run equipment repository, and unlockable equipment count for load. Everything else does not cost load, within reason.

Determining Load

Far Recon's Load system takes two variables into account when determining the Load of a particular item: Weight (how much the object will weigh the carrier down) and Size (how large and unwieldy the object is to carry around, and how much room it takes up).

NOTE: The examples are not exhaustive. They merely give you an idea of what sort of size and form factor you are looking at for each category.

Size Weight Examples Carried Load
Tiny > 500g A grenade, other small handheld items Anywhere you like 0.5
Small ~500g - 1.5kg Most handguns, a large torch, knives, small pouch of things Clipped to a belt, in a holster, in a backpack 1
Medium ~2 - 4kg Assault rifles, SMGs, briefcases, laptops, standard body armour, things generally requiring two hands to use Shoulder strap, in hands, backpack/back 2
Large ~6 -12kg Light Machine Guns, large cases, rocket launchers, heavy body armour Carried by hand or on the back 3
Extra Large 15kg+ A backpack welding kit, very large and bulky items Carried on the back 4

GMs are to be consulted regarding load at the beginning of character creation, as well as when adding any items to a character's load post-creation.

Flavour Items

As of 21/09/2013, 'Flavour Items' no longer cost any Load to carry. Flavour Items are here defined as items:

  • Smaller than 2-3 Load;
  • That are not weapons;
  • That do not grant any bonuses.

A character is allowed to carry/use a reasonable number of occupation-appropriate Flavour Items. This is at GM discretion, and exceptions may be made, particularly if an item is large, or it is felt that a player is abusing the system by taking excessive amounts of 'free' items. As with all items, they must be GM approved, and cannot be added to a character at a whim.

The following are good examples of Flavour Items:

  • A light source
  • Camelbak or water bottle
  • Gloves
  • Department specific items:
    • Espionage
      • Basic Lockpicks
      • Binoculars
    • Medical
      • First aid kit
    • Security
      • Flexicuffs
    • Maintenance
      • Toolkit

XP

XP, or experience points are awarded at the end of a run or at GM discretion. They may be used to buy equipment or upgrades for your character.

XP is automatically granted to:

  • Players who actively participate in a run to its end
  • GMs who execute a given run

XP is generally limited to 1 XP per character and GM per run, with the following exception:

Double XP

Double XP, or 'DuxP', is given to players in special circumstances, based on their performance. As might be gathered, it is 2 points of XP, rather than the standard 1. It is awarded on the following principles:

  • DuxP is going above and beyond the 'confines' of the run. It is coming up with solutions and actions that are innovative and interesting, beyond simply standing out.
  • For instance, the player's character is fighting a mime that puts up an invisible wall. They make their character walk over and open an invisible window, then punch the mime.
  • DuxP isn't you making a right and clever choice of talking to the bird instead of shooting it - it's doing more than that. For example, convincing said bird that you are messengers of the god it worships and having it lead a crusade in your name.
  • DuxP is given for really changing the narrative with your actions - it's based almost exclusively on how you respond to, and RP in, a situation, rather than rolls of the dice.

DuxP will not be awarded for the following actions:

  • Simply 'standing out'
  • Using actions, which although creative, are suggested by other people
  • Killing everything

NOTE: These guidelines are not set in stone, and admins or GMs may also give extra XP for other reasons. Please be aware that this is a rarity.

Birthday Points

Is it your birthday? Tell the GMs. They'll reward you 4 XP as consolation for being one more year closer to your impending death.

Using XP

So you have all your precious points. Now what? Well, XP can be used to boost your character. How is that, you ask? You purchase Unlockable Equipment.
For instance, Bobby has 6 XP and he wants to purchase some new armor for use by his character. He spends the XP, RPs requisitioning them from the Armory and bam, he has the armor unlocked. All going well, his character will keep the armor until they dies.

XP Conversion

Should you have a character made prior to the 7/19/14 reboot, all your equipment and upgrades will revert to XP, in which you get to keep 8 XP to start out with. The remainder is rendered null and placed under “XP Used”..

LP Conversion

Should you have Legacy Points given under the previous LP/XP system, these are to be converted to XP using the following conversion rate: 2XP per LP, but only 10XP of this can be given on to one character. The remainder is stored, and given to your next character upon creation.

Equipment Buybacks

Should a character have purchased equipment for XP that they no longer want or need, they may return it to the Armoury, and gain back 50% of the price paid, rounding up where that value is a fraction. This only applies to physical, returnable items - upgrades (or downgrades) granted by the Improver and courses/training (including that given by handbooks, guides or primers) cannot be redeemed.

Character Death

As stated in greater detail in the Combat page, If your character’s health either drops to the additive inverse of their base Body (e.g. Falling down to -8 Body if you have 8 base Body), or they fail their saving throw against death, or their Mind drops down to the negative numbers, your character will die.

Once a character dies, their player has two choices:

  1. They can transfer one piece of equipment from the old character to the new one. If that piece of equipment is Department-specific, then the new character gets the closest equivalent in their Department list that is not more expensive; OR
  2. They can convert the character's equipment to XP, using the rate specified in the buyback section, capping out at a maximum of 10XP. The same restrictions on what can be redeemed apply..

Character Leave and Retirement

Sometimes, if you play the same character for a while, you'll crave a bit of a change of pace. You can put your character on leave, allowing you to play a new character while your old character is off-base for whatever reason. If you tire of playing this backup character, however, you cannot bring in a third character: you must return to your old character or keep this one around. Characters put on leave do not transfer equipment or XP to their replacements, nor vice versa.
If you've played the same character for at least three months (discounting any significant absences on the part of the player), you may retire that character: they're taken off-base permanently and you get to make a new character. If your new character dies or is put on leave, you may choose whether to bring your old character back, or create a new one. Retired characters may transfer one piece of equipment to their replacement.

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