In order to play test some of the concepts for the new edition of Michael T. Desing's Army Ants, and to develop some game materials, I am going to run a solo play for a bit. I'll be sticking to the options in the Play Test Demo that's coming out later this week, at least for the first while here...

I'm going to make a Commando, level 5. This makes him pretty powerful, but I'd like to run him up against some more challenging foes and situations. I'll call him Troy. This was one of the names I had for my original team of ants, but he never made the final cut when I trimmed the core team to five. He's going to be a solo operative.

At level 5, he has 9 ranks in dice, and 19 ranks in talents. I'm going to make Prowess and Spirit my top priorities, since I need these for attacking, defending, and stealth; I want to make sure that I have enough durability to solo, so I'll make Body next. This leaves only 1 point to keep Mind from being sub-par; Troy is not the smartest cookie in the jar, but he's not a fool, either.

I'll set him right at the starting XP for level 5 (150). This means that he's pretty experienced; he's a seasoned combat veteran. If an average mission nets about 5 XP, this means that he has logged somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 missions. I could roll 30 times for promotion, but I'll take the averages and see what they tell me about his rank. If we say that he's been mostly successful if unspectacular, this allows him to roll D8 for each promotion... he would have a 33% chance of getting to Private, so would get that after three missions; he would have about a 20% chance of getting to Private First Class, so he would get that after about 5 missions; he would also have about a 20% chance (since he went up in level, and increased his Moxy) of getting Corporal, so again after 5 missions. He only has a 10% chance of Sergeant, so that would take nearly 10 missions (on average). 23 missions in, he'd be a Sergeant, and I like his odds of having earned Staff Sergeant by 30 missions. That's where we'll put him.

I roll 5D8 for his Hits, and end up with (actual rolls): 7, 7, 7, 5, 3. He has 29 Hits.

As far as his gear, he has 150 Clout from his progression, and another 75 from rank bonuses. He has 225 total clout to spend. I will purchase:

- An AM-15 A Submachine Gun (free)
- Aid Kit, Basic (D4) (Free)
- Aid Kit, Exceptional x2 (D8 each) (15 clout each, 30 clout total)
- Comm Kit, Basic (5 clout)
- Fatigues, Night (15 clout); +1 die shift to stealth in the dark (which he'll be a LOT)
- Night Vision Goggles (15 clout)
- Rope, 10 units (5 units were free, +5 clout for additional 5 units)
- Armor-piercing ammo (25 clout)
- Caltrops (15 clout; 3 uses)
- Grenade, Fragmentation x4 (15 clout each, 60 total clout)
- Silencer (15 clout)
- Scope, High Power (15 clout)
- Sidearm (15 clout)
- Melee Weapon (10 clout)

So, here he is:

Troy (150 XP; 29 Hits)
Commando 5; Staff Sergeant (A-6); Save +3; Munitions D8
Body D8; Mind D6; Prowess D10; Spirit D10
Attack +4; Arms +3; Medic +2; Moxy +3; Security +3; Stealth +4
Weapons: AM-15A SMG (Attack D10+4; Damage D8+3; Range 9); AM-45 Sidearm (Attack D10+4; Damage D6+3; Range 3); Survival Knife (Attack D10+4; Damage D8+3)

I've made some tweaks to the character progression of dice and traits. I've adjusted Troy's ratings to account for this (he lost 1 die in attributes, but picked up 2 trait points). I docked a die rank from Spirit, and added to Moxy and Stealth.

Troy (150 XP; 29 Hits)
Commando 5; Staff Sergeant (A-6); Save +3; Munitions D8
Body D8; Mind D6; Prowess D10; Spirit D8
Attack +4; Arms +3; Medic +2; Moxy +4; Security +3; Stealth +5
Weapons: AM-15A SMG (Attack D10+4; Damage D8+3; Range 9); AM-45 Sidearm (Attack D10+4; Damage D6+3; Range 3); Survival Knife (Attack D10+4; Damage D8+3)

Okay, ready to begin...

Troy's Journal #1 (October 7, 0415 hours)

We should have fragged these termites when we had the chance. We had intel that they were buggering around in the dark as early as 90 days ago. High Command kept saying that we didn't have 'reliable intel'... that our 'resources were elsewhere allocated'. Now look at the snot we're in. Scratch that. Look at the snot I'm in.

We finally have 'reliable intel', but still don't have resources – so High Command pulls me off of border security in a hot zone to stick me in a hole. Literally the biggest hole I've ever seen. It turns out these termites had been building a huge mound – I mean two fragging meters big. They've been conducting all sorts of experiments, building, modifying, and researching who all knows what.

That is some crazy snot.

So some ant way above my pay grade decides that we need to at least recon this thing – find out what the buggers have been up to. Our most recent intel said that something went way south here. The termites have either gone deep underground, or have been wiped out. I want to load the mound up with demo and pop the trigger, but High Command has other ideas. They want to know exactly what the termites have been up to, and they want me to find it out.

My lucky fragging day. They give me this greenie straight out of camp as my mission facilitator. He's maybe 90 milligrams soaking wet. I have to wonder who in High Command I've ticked off. The kid seems fine around a radio, but he can barely shoulder his rifle. If I can keep him from biting it on his first step into a firefight, I might just survive this thing myself...

Relay (10 XP; 4 Hits)
Technology 1; Cadet (A-1); Save +1; Munitions D6
Body D4; Mind D8; Prowess D6; Spirit D6
Attack +1; Arms +1; Coordination +1; Moxy +1; Technology +2
AM-3A Lite Rifle (Attack D6+1; Damage D6+1; Range 4)
Basic Aid Kit (D4); Satchel; Provisions; Bedroll; Entrenching Tool; Fatigues; Grapple; 5 units of Rope

So we are 15 meters up in a C-130, getting our orders from the Captain. He's shouting over the hum of the turbine. I look over at Relay, and the kid is white-knuckling it. It hits me that he's never jumped. I nod to the Captain to let him know I'm at least half listening ('recon' – 'careful not to engage' – 'an intel gathering operation' – the usual orders. Good luck obeying those) and I grab a tandem chute. There is no way I'm losing my link to the homefront because he can't pull a ripcord. I pop my chute off and slide into the tandem harness, grabbing relay and belaying him to my belly. For better or worse, we're in this thing together.

The Captain wraps up his orders, and the go light blares. Relay is in the middle of asking if I know what I'm doing as I lean back and let gravity take over. We're in freefall, and he's screaming like a stuck slug.

Design Session:
Hooray. Time to design some game mechanics. Paratrooping has to be a Prowess save, since it's a physical coordination sort of thing. The DT of a successful jump should be relatively low, while various factors should increase the complexity of the task. The basic framework for setting DTs is:

DT 4 = Easy
DT 6 = Moderate
DT 8 = Challenging
DT 10 = Difficult
DT 12 = Very Difficult
DT 16 = Nigh Impossible

The referee must determine the basic complexity of a task, and then consider every factor that complicates it. Each complication increases the task by a +1 shift to the DT. For instance, skydiving is DT 4 (easy if you know what you're supposed to do). He has a tandem chute with a freaked-out tag along (+1 shift); he's trying to hit a specific target (a point on the termite mound, so a +1 shift) and it's dark (+1 shift). We're going to call this skydive DT 10 to complete. I remember that Troy has night vision goggles, so this mitigates that complication, bringing us back to DT 8. Troy rolls D10 (his Prowess) +3 (his save) and gets 6+3=9. Nice. I wasn't too worried, because he has Moxy, and could have used a Moxy point for an automatic die explosion (taking a 9 on the die, and rolling again). As it is, he was able to do it and bank the Moxy point.

The kid is writhing around in the stirrups, but I'm able to get close enough to the target before pulling the ripcord that I'm able to glide us to our target with minimal fuss. We hit hard, and the kid has the wind knocked out of him. He doesn't realize that at this height (we're two meters up), a breeze can grab the chute and send us over the side. I set out chute loose, and the wind grabs it as I expected. The kid is speechless- I can see in his eyes that it's just hit him that we don't have a plan for getting home. Okay, we do, but he's not in on it. I don't want to freak him out too much, yet.

Time to set up an HQ for our stay... we're going to be here for a while, so may as well get comfortable.

I like reading your stuff here; keep it up!

Troy's Journal (0515 Hours)

We descended about 150 millimeters from the peak to an observation post on the eastern face of the mound. The whole time, Relay is whining about the wind, about the dark, about the difficulties of checking in with base. He's all concerned that we're already two minutes past our first check-in time. Rookie. They can wait. We need to establish a safe zone, clear the perimeter of hostiles, and take an inventory. I'm not reporting in that we're secure until I know it's a fact.

Right away, I know that this small observation post – a 30 millimeter square deck with a glass ceiling – is not going to be easy to claim. A young tree frog is nosing around down there, having cracked open the ceiling. It looks like he's already feasted on whatever was left inside the chamber, because it's just him, several workstations, and a lot of broken glass. I ask Relay how badly he needs the computer gear in there – and unfortunately he says he needs it. He's going to have to piggy-back off of a one of their transponders to get a good link with the Hill. So, I can't just frag the frog, and I'm going to have to take it out the hard way... maybe if I get creative, I can frag and save the tech at the same time...

Troy needs to roll stealth to get near enough to the frog to make his attack; he comes up with an elaborate plan (which seems appropriate. The game should encourage hair-brained schemes)... he's going to tether himself (with his ropes) to a solid point on the flea mound. Then, he's going to get the attention of the frog. When it goes to stick him with its tongue, he's going to drop a grenade in its open mouth. A lot of things could go wrong, but a lot could go right... Relay is going to hang WAY back. One hit and he'll be done.

First, the stealth roll. He rolls 7+5=12 to sneak into position over the frog; the frog rolls 6+3=9 to save. He's quite successful. No roll is required for the rope tethering, but the referee rules that this gives him a +2 shift to his Body resist against the tongue strike. It's not great, but Troy will take it (and he still gets to use Moxy if needed). He fires his rifle at the frog (to get its attention), and rolls 6+4=10 to hit. The frog (an unprepared target) suffers a -1 die shift on its dodge roll, so rolls D8+3 to dodge, rolling 4+3=7. Troy hits, and gets to roll damage. He rolls 3+3=6 hits. Hrm. The frog rolls to soak, rolling 10 and soaking the full damage. It notices him!

The frog now gets to act, rolling to hit with its tongue. It rolls 10+3=13 to hit; Troy won't roll to evade this, but immediately gets a body save against getting pulled into the mouth. Against this, he rolls (at a +2 shift) 10+3=13. Well drat. He has to spend a Moxy point (down to 3) and manages to keep from being pulled into the frog's gullet. The frog still gets to roll for damage, albeit at a -1 shift (since it can't pull Troy all the way into its mouth). It rolls 6+3=9 hits, and Troy rolls 4 to soak. He suffers 5 hits, and is down to 24.

The referee rules that the frog, while not a completely helpless target, sure is impeded by the fact that his tongue is stretched 3 units, stuck to an ant that's tethered to a chunk of flea mound. Troy pulls the pin on the grenade and drops it, rolling 4+4=8 to hit. The frog takes a -2 die shift on his Prowess save, rolling 3+3=6 to dodge. Troy barely gets the fragmentation grenade in, rolling it down the frog's tongue. Boom. He rolls for damage (spending a Moxy point right away) and gets 11+6+4=21 wounds. The referee rules that the frog takes a -2 shift to its Body soak roll, since this is going off inside its belly. It rolls a natural 1 to soak, meaning that it suffers 20 hits! It only had 26 hits to start with, so it's down to 6.

The frog can still use its tongue to try and crush Troy, but it will take a penalty of -1 shift to damage. It rolls 4+3=7 hits, and Troy rolls 2 to soak. He suffers another 5 hits, down to 19 remaining.

Troy now switches back to his rifle, firing into the open maw of the frog. He rolls 2+4=6 to hit; the frog rolls 4+3=7 to dodge. Troy will spend another Moxy point to bump his attack by +9 to 15. He now hits. For damage, he rolls 2+3=5, and the frog rolls another natural 1 to soak... he's getting VERY lucky. He'll spend a third Moxy point to bump his damage to 12, and that will finish the frog entirely.

Mmmm. The boys are eating good tonight!

***

Some Analysis:

I don't love how damage scales at this level. Troy should have the potential to dish out a LOT more damage than he does. He got lucky that the frog rolled so poorly to soak (twice), but a rifle should almost always deal more damage... What if (instead of a +1 to +5 modifier), your Arms rating granted you a second die when rolling weapon damage. So, instead of rolling D8+3 as he does now, Troy would roll D8 + D10 for damage... this gives him a result of 2-18 (average 9) instead of a result of 4-11 (average 7). I don't like how this complicates rolling (now you have to roll multiple dice, and have different combinations every time you roll)... unless of course the whole system did this. Then we have to get away from dice explosions, because with  two dice on every roll, you are going to end up with lots of exploding dice, and numbers going way off the scale. However, now a weapon with a D8 rating along with an Arms bonus of D8 gives you a solid damage probability against a creature with a D12 soak; you can potentially deal LOTS of damage. I definitely need to tinker with these numbers more...

I do like how the dice shifts give you lots of flexibility in play. The referee needs specific guidelines for assigning shifts as penalties, but the concept works nicely. A creature takes a situational bonus or penalty, and it's easy to make the adjustment on the fly and roll the appropriate die. It's a nifty mechanic.

Back to play testing…

Based on feedback to the initial play test/demo rules, the system has undergone some tweaking. If you want to know about the how and why, read my blog posts here and here. If you want to get back into the action, read on…

Troy Revised (150 XP; 29 Hits)
Commando 5; Staff Sergeant (A-6); Save +3
Body D8; Mind D6; Prowess D10; Spirit D8
Aim +4; Medic +1; Melee +2; Moxy +3; Munitions +2; Security +1; Stealth +3
Weapons: AM-16 (Attack D10+4; Damage D10+4; Range 6); AM-45 Sidearm (Attack D10+4; Damage D8+4; Range 3); Survival Knife (Attack D10+2; Damage D8+3)

Troy’s Journal (0527 Hours)

We had secured a small observation post on the face of the Flea Mound, and had neutralized the frog that had been its most recent inhabitant. Relay went right to work seeing what he could salvage from the half-dozen computer workstations spread throughout the chamber. At the west end, a pair of doors led into what I presumed was an elevator shaft. I was already itchy. Relay was happier than a maggot in rotten meat, but that elevator shaft taunted me. I knew that it lead somewhere, and I was ready to find out where…

Game Notes

The fight with the frog attracted attention: specifically, a team of four flea scavengers who’ve been moving around the upper levels of the complex trying to salvage what they can. I know that the elevator doesn’t work, but just climbing the chamber and prying the elevator doors open without being seen is going to be an issue. I’m going to say that the elevator is actually stuck here, halfway down to the next level (so you can stand inside the elevator itself and fire into this room as if you were in a fox hole- good cover from the flea perspective) and that they’ve cut a hole in the floor of the elevator that allows them to move up and down with some ease. In fact, the doors being closed (leading into the chamber where Relay and Troy await) means that they can prepare an attack relatively easily – two fleas pry the door open a bit, and a third rolls a stun grenade into the room. I’ll have these fleas be pretty typical versions (so only level 1 each) but with 4 of them and a handy stun grenade, they have at least a fighting chance against Troy.

Troy gets to roll to see if he notices them. We’re going to set this relatively low, so DT 6 (since he’s watching the elevator shaft). He makes a Spirit save and gets 4+3=7. He sees them trying to pry the door open quickly, and readies to discharge his rifle. He rolls 4 on his Sense roll and the representative flea rolls 6. Although the rules as written don’t say so, I think that this should be a save roll, and not a straight up attribute roll (since I never make a straight up attribute roll for anything!). Even with a save roll, this is a tie if I ignore the die explosion for the flea, which I won’t do. The flea rolls again and gets another 6, so he rolls again and gets ANOTHER 6 (I’m actually rolling this). I roll again and get 3 (whew). The flea rolled 5+5+5+3+1 (his LM) = 19 for sequence, and Troy rolled 4+3=7. This is a critical success. The referee rules that this allows the fleas all will act, not just the grenade thrower.

The grenade rolls into the room. The thrower makes an attack roll, DT 3 (base) +1 (the number of units he’s rolling it) and gets 2+2=4. He barely gets it within range of Troy. The referee rules that Troy is able to yell for Relay to duck, but he cannot evade the blast (unless he spends a Moxy point). It goes off. We’re going to see what happens here… he needs to make a DT 10 Body save. He rolls 5+3=8. Okay, time to spend some Moxy. He will use 1 Moxy point to automatically bump that roll to a die explosion, so he now gets 5+3+7=15 and succeeds.

The fleas now open a can of butt whumping on him. I’ll have them make an en masse attack (those rules aren’t in the playtest packet, but here we go)… they get to add the total number of attackers to the action roll. Since there are three of them firing simultaneously at him, they fire at +3. I roll for their attack, getting 5+2+3=10 to hit, and Troy rolls a natural 1 (ick) +3=4 to dodge. Epic. Fail.

For damage, they also get to add the bonus for number of attackers, so they roll 5+1+3=9 hits, and Troy gets riddled with small arms fire. He loses 9 hits and is down to 20.

He gets to return fire. Here I am house ruling again to try some things out. The rules only allow you to attack a single foe, but you need to have the option to hit multiple enemies at once. I think that you should be able to use an automatic weapon to strafe a unit, potentially affecting all targets in that unit, but taking a -1 die shift on your attack. That seems logical. In this case, he empties half of his clip into the elevator, rolling D8 (instead of D10) and getting 2+4=6 to hit. Decision time. He’ll hold off on spending another Moxy point for the moment, and see how lucky he gets. To dodge this attack, the four fleas roll 8 (so 7 explosion) +1 (second die roll) +1=10 to dodge. He drops below the gunfire. The second rolls 1+1=2 and is hit. The third rolls 2+1=3 and is hit. The fourth rolls 7+1=8 and dodges. Two fleas respond by dropping into the elevator, but two are caught in the hail of gunfire. For damage, Troy rolls 1+3=4 hits. Oh, come on! D8… how could you let me down like that?

I haven’t decided how many hits the fleas have, but I’ll do one roll and they will each have the same. I roll D6 and get 5. Of course. The fleas he has wounded each have 1 hit left. Seriously?

They return fire. All four of them now fire with auto pistols, rolling 2+2+4=8 to hit. Troy rolls 5+3=8 to dodge. Grrrrrrrrrrr. FINE UNIVERSE, HAVE IT YOUR WAY! He barely gets hit, and for damage the fleas roll 3+1+4=8 hits, and Troy is down to 12.

He decides that this has been fun and all, but he lobs his second grenade into the elevator shaft. He rolls to hit, getting 7+4+11 vs. a DT of 4. No problem. It detonates for  D12+2 hits. That will wake them up. Troy rolls a natural 12 (oops) followed by 2, so 11+2+2=15 hits of damage. This easily wipes out all four fleas (wounded and fresh), but also has a good chance of taking out the elevator as well. The referee hasn’t decided ahead of time how many hits the elevator could take, but this seems like it would be enough to wipe out the whole car… he rolls 3D6 to see how many hits it had, and gets 2+4+4=10. Oh yeah, that elevator is DONE.

The elevator bursts into flame, the doors burst inward, and the car breaks loose of its moorings, dropping half a meter to the floor of the shaft and landing with a decisive crash. Smoke pours up through the shaft and lingers in the chamber.

Troy’s Journal

It’s safe to say that our encounter with the fleas negated any chance we had of sneaking into the complex unnoticed.

Analysis

Well that was fun! I had to improvise a few rules (but not really – these were concepts I expected would be used the way they were) and things worked out well. I like how deadly combat is, and I like changes to soak. Now a weapon with a  D6+2 damage rating is a real threat – especially if you have 4 troops working together and firing simultaneously upon you!

Grenades are the bomb (sorry, I couldn’t resist). They ‘feel’ like grenades. They blow up, and baaaad stuff happens.

I barely know Troy, but I already like him, and I don’t want him to die. This means that my next play test scenario will spell certain doom for him, even if I put him up against a pacifist butterfly. He’ll find a way to die somehow.

FYI, I didn’t forget about his armor piercing ammo this time – I have decided that AP ammo only helps when your foe has armor, and these didn’t. It makes sense to me that AP ammo offsets up to 3 points of armor or protection, so a foe with Invulnerability +4 has +1 against AP ammo. Against an unarmored foe, AP ammo gives you no particular bonus.

Sorry to do this, but I am still in initial play testing for the new rules, and that means it's time again for a character upgrade! I'd like you to meet Troy Version 3.0... On my blog, I've discussed the rationale for making changes, but here's a quick primer on how this impacts Troy specifically.

As a level 5 ant, he has a total of 30 character points; at least 10 must go in attributes (dice), and at least 10 must go in traits. The other 10 are floating points that I may place where desired... I'll work out the dice first... I am able to replicate what he already had with spending only 13 CPs:

BODY D8 (3 CPs); MIND D6 (1 CP); Prowess D10 (6 CPs); Spirit D8 (3 CPs)

This leaves me with 17 CPs in Traits. Attempting to get as close as I can to my previous build, I'll invest:

Aim +3 (4 CPs); Medic +1 (1 CP); Melee +2 (2 CPs); Moxy +2 (2 CPs); Munitions +2 (2 CPs); Security +2 (2 CPs); Stealth +4 (4 CPs; +1 shift from specialty bonus)

This actually leaves me near where I was previously. The big difference is that I can have the game progress through level 10 without anything breaking, whereas before I was going to need some level caps on traits and dice to keep things from scaling out of control.

Troy Version 3.0 (150 XP; 29 Hits)
Commando 5; Staff Sergeant (A-6); Save +3
Body D8; Mind D6; Prowess D10; Spirit D8
Aim +3; Medic +1; Melee +2; Moxy +2; Munitions +2; Security +2; Stealth +4 (4 CPs/ +1 shift)
Weapons: AM-16 (Attack D10+3; Damage D10+2; Range 6); AM-45 Sidearm (Attack D10+3; Damage D8+2; Range 3); Survival Knife (Attack D10+2; Damage D8+3)

FYI, as I think about a fantasy hack for this, I really like it... your Fighter has D12 Body, which means that he has a lot of hits, and also that he deals a base of D12 damage with his great sword (which of course is rated +5). I could even see this working for a supers hack, although you'd have to at least consider allowing supers to open up dice beyond D12.

Here's the greatest ant superhero, Commander Adamant, just for fun: (He's built on 76 character points, putting him around level 13 or so...)
Body D20 (21 CPs); Mind D8 (3 CPs); Prowess D12 (10 CPs); Spirit D10 (6 CPs)
Invulnerability +5 (9 CPs); Flight +5 (9 CPs); Melee +5 (9 CPs); Strike +5 (9 CPs)
He rolls D12+5 to hit with his fist, and he rolls D20+5 for damage.

You can't say that I'm not using the play testing to change the game. Whew... I've changed Troy 3 times! Okay, back to the play testing...

Troy's Journal (0551 Hours)

Well, snap. Relay finally got some of the workstations online, only to find out that they run through a central processor and blah, blah, blah, blah blah (technical stuff) blah ... in short, he can't do anything useful with these stations until we get them back online. And, he can't get them back online until I throw a manual power switch that is somewhere three levels down. He's been able to bring up a partial map, but the place appears to be a huge labyrinth. Not surprising... termites are nothing if not paranoid, and anything of value they hide within a maze of deadfalls and traps. It's safe to say that this is valuable, because there's no clear way in or out. I'm going to have to repel in (since I sort of blew up the elevator) and hope I can find my way into the maze... and back out again. I've already cracked into my first re-supply case and reset my gear. I'd better pace myself, or I will be out of grenades and ammo before the resupply chopper drops another shipment in 24 hours.

Game Notes
I've developed a comparatively larger level map for Troy to spend some time in. This will give me a chance, in one location, to play test a number of different creatures and situations that I'm working on for the core rules. I don't expect that this level will hold up as a great example of internally consistent campaign design, but then again I don't need to fight a dozen squads of fleas to know whether or not fleas are working. I'd rather spend that time and energy on the variety of things that should make it into the game... I'm going to tinker with several things at once here: poison rules, stealth, webspinning, mysticism and some melee combat. Whew. That's enough for one encounter, I'd think!

Here's the stats for his foe...

Black Widow Spider
Level 5 (31 CPs); Feats +3; Hits 19
Body D6; Mind D8; Prowess D8; Spirit D10
Melee +2; Mysticism +4; Poison +3; Stealth +3; Webspinning (+2)
Sword +3
Sword (att D8+3; dmg D6+3 + poison)
The black widow will poison her blade, using her webspinning to trap her foes, her stealth to sneak up on possible prey, and her mysticism to enhance her attacks.

- Poison (trait) may be used once per scene. Targets affected by a poisoned attack must make a Body Feat roll, DT 8+ Poison Rating. The poison deals D6 Hits of additional damage for a number of rounds equal to Poison rating. A Poison +2 requires a DT 10 Body Feat to resist, and deals D6 Hits per round for 2 rounds, whereas a Poison +5 requires a DT 13 Body Feat to resist, and deals D6 hits per round for 5 rounds.

- Webspinning (2 CPs) is a perk that allows creatures to spin webs that have a durability of Level x2/Level, and which require a DT 8+ Level Body Feat to break free of. A level 5 spider with webspinning creates webs where each strand has a durability of 10/5 and which force creatures stuck in them to make a Body Feat (DT 13) to break free of. Creatures stuck in webs take a -1 shift to all rolls, and cannot move while trapped. Stuck creatures must use 1 turn to attempt to break free.

In Play
Troy has to repel to the correct level, and then force his way through the doors. Repelling should be relatively simple (a DT 4 Prowess roll), while forcing the doors open is going to be harder, requiring a DT 8 Body Feat. He can destroy the doors, but he loses all opportunity for stealth by doing that. He'd like to sneak in, and see if he can take advantage of his Stealth...

He rolls for the Prowess Feat and gets 8+3=11. No problem. He zips down the line, now hanging in midair (a meter over the bottom of the elevator shaft) at the steel doors (more like aluminum foil, but it's thick for an ant) and tries to pry them open quietly, creating enough space for him to slip through... on his Body Feat, he rolls 4+3=7. Hrm. So. Close. He has to wedge his rifle between the door and force it open, which makes a loud screeching sound and negates any chance he has to use stealth here.

Troy's Journal
I had to force the doors, and they parted to reveal a large roundish chamber about 3 centimeters across. Several halls lead out at the other side, but my most pressing problem was the spider webs that crossed and criss-crossed the room. I readied my rifle. I DO NOT like spiders... oh well. It's not like turning back was an option...

In Play
The black widow has crafted two decoys at shadowy spots in the webs, while she hides over the exit out of the south. The referee gives her a +1 shift to her stealth roll for the exceptional care she has taken to prepare the chamber... she rolls D12, getting 4+3=7. Troy rolls 3+3=6 to resist. She manages to just barely sneak up on him... and pulls a prepared web line to stick him.

- It's going to take her one turn to cross to melee with him (she wants to stab with her sword, and she's charging through the chamber at him), while he unloads his rifle into the shadows from which she leaps. Troy rolls 2+3=5 to hit, and she rolls 1+3=4 to dodge. She will use one of her 3 points in Mysticism to attempt to better the roll, and she rolls her Spirit, getting 7. Troy thinks for a moment that he has her dead to rights, but she suddenly lurches away from the hail of gunfire, twisting around and stabbing at him.

- To hit, she rolls 3+3=6 to hit, and he rolls (at a -1 shift) 6+3=9 to dodge. He manages to twist in the webs, evading her sword. She will use another mysticism point her, trying to better her roll. She rolls a D10, getting a natural 1. Okay, she'll keep the 3 and a normal miss.

- Troy's rifle is now stuck in the webbing, and he can't use it at close range anyway, so he lets it hang there for the moment, pulling out his survival knife. He swipes at the black widow, rolling 3+2=5 to hit, and she rolls 8+3=11 to dodge. No problem. She evades his slash. He could spend a Moxy point for an automatic die explosion, giving him +7... this would be a hit. He needs to hit, so he spends the point and gets 12. Now he hits! For damage, he rolls 4+3=7. She is now down to 12 wounds, and is quite unhappy!

- She gets to strike again, rolling 8 (so a die explosion) and 1, so a total of 7+1+3=11 to hit. Troy tries to dodge, rolling 3+3=6. She hits him. For damage, she rolls 6 (so another explosion) and 5, for a total of 5+5+3=13 wounds. She sticks him good, and he is down to 16 hits remaining. OUCH. He also has to roll to resist the poison... and suddenly I'm feeling like I made a premonition when I predicted Troy's death. He rolls the Body Feat, and gets 6+3=9. Nope. He's going to spend a second Moxy point to get the die explosion, and make this Feat – otherwise, he's probably going to die.

- He's got no Moxy left, so he's on the pure dice at this point. Instead of swinging at her (since he keeps taking penalties), he's going to spend his turn cutting himself from of the webs. He rolls his attack (against a static DT of 4) and gets 3+2=5. Well... at least he succeeds! For damage, he rolls 5+3=8. He's cut through a decent chunk. He's still stuck in the webs, but at least he is no longer taking a penalty.

- She goes to stab him through the thorax, rolling 2+3=5. He rolls (no longer taking a penalty) and gets 3+3=6 to dodge. He barely ducks her blow.

- He checks to see if he's been able to free his rifle (there's a 50/50 chance. He calls odds and rolls 1 – hooray!). He asks if he can swing in the web, grab his rifle, and discharge it at her as she carries past him with the knife strike that just missed... normally, he'd need to use a Moxy point to do something like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The referee rules that he'll have to roll at least +5 beyond her dodge with his attack for this to succeed. He rolls a normal attack with his rifle and gets 9+3=12 (whew. The die actually lingered on 1 for a second before rolling over to 9) and she rolls 3+3=6 to evade. He does it! He flips over the web backwards, grabbing his rifle as he does it, and opening up at her as he comes around the web and back to his feet. For damage, he rolls a natural 1 (NOOOO) +2=3 hits. She sees what he's doing almost too late, and takes glancing damage from the burst of hot lead that could have finished her off. She is down to 9 hits.

- She's going to get back in melee range again (he can use the butt of his rifle at this point, dealing only +1 damage instead of the +3 from the knife; changing weapons again cannot be done quickly, since he had to drop the knife to make the crazy move for the rifle). She rolls 8 (so an explosion) and another 8 (grrr) and ANOTHER 8 (oh holy snap) and 1. This is 7+7+7+1+3=25 to hit, and he rolls 5+3=8 to dodge. This wouldn't be bad in most circumstances, but she hit a die explosion 3x in a row! She gets to automatically have damage explode, so she rolls (on top of the gimme 5 points) a 6 (so an explosion. Sigh.) and 2. She gets 5+5+2+3=15 hits. He has 1 HIT REMAINING. Danger, Wil Robinson, Danger...

- Troy goes to strike her with the butt of his rifle. He lunges with it, rolling A NATURAL 10! He rolls again and gets 3, so his attack is 9+3+2=14, and she rolls 6+3=9 to evade. He pops her good with the rifle butt. For damage, he rolls 3+1=4. She is down to 5 hits.

- She spends her turn healing herself with her final Mysticism point, rolling 3+3=6. She is back up to 11.

- Troy tries to talk a half move backward to turn his rifle on her to open fire... the referee rules that he can move back almost a full cm (stretching the webs) and fire at a -1 die shift. He rolls 4 +3=7 to hit, and she rolls 5+3=8 to dodge. Gah!

- She closes again for melee, rolling 5+3=8 to hit, and he rolls 4+3=7 to dodge. She hits. He's in SO MUCH TROUBLE. For damage, she rolls 5+3=8 hits, and he's down to -7. He's dropped into unconsciousness, and must make a Body Feat to stay alive. He rolls 6+3=9, and he makes it... barely. He's just hanging on...

Fate (the REALLY nice kind) steps in, and the referee decides that Troy has a monitor going back to Relay, and that Relay keeps tabs on his vitals at all times – so when Troy nearly flatlines, Relay is well aware that something has gone very wrong. Troy's never disconnected his harness from the repel line, and it is possible that Relay can throw a switch and basically reel him back up. The winch would have a D10+5 Body for purposes of pulling him free of the webs, which are now right around DT 10 to break. Relay needs to roll a 5 or better on the die. He rolls a 2, but spends his only Moxy point to get a die explosion and barely drag the black widow's dinner out.

Analysis:

Apart from Troy getting OWNED, this wasn't bad. It felt like they both missed a LOT, but that was just how the dice went. In general, they both had a reasonable chance of hitting the other, and both were able to use a Trait (either Moxy or Mysticism) to improve some rolls. Moxy is inherently better than mysticism at modifying dice, but mysticism comes with other bells and whistles (only some of which she had time to use), so they feel balanced right now. It didn't feel like one was inherently superior to the other.

Again, I liked the variety of the fight, and the different things that came up. The system is pretty flexible, although I had to make some adjustments on the fly that I need to make sure to account for the in the rules. I need to formalize the damage from a rifle stock (assume +2 maybe as the default?) and make sure the rules about firing at foes within 1 cm is in there (unless the target is stationary, it's hard). I don't know if I like it that you simply cannot attack a foe in melee range with a rifle; it might be better to force a -1 die shift in close quarters with anything larger than a handgun. Not being able to use his rifle at all for a chunk of the combat was 1) cool for variety and 2) frustrating for the player of Troy (um, me).

The rules for webs and poison seemed balanced enough. I felt like the poison was enough of a threat (an average of 12 additional hits) that I was willing to burn a Moxy point to keep it from happening. Considering that poison can also explode and you have no way to soak it, I was glad to not worry about that, too. All in all, a productive fight. If I had it to do again, Troy would start by fragging the heck out of the room. Hmmmm. I don't know if I want to encourage that as a standard operating procedure. Then again, if you only have 3 grenades per mission (because that's all you could afford with your Clout), you are going to hesitate to lead off with grenades every time you walk into a room. I think the limitation on availability balances itself.

Cool.  I've been curious how Mysticism and Martial Arts would work in the new system.  Hey, next time throw Troy up against a Potato Bug!