3.7 Combat Sequence

Combat Sequence Example:

Mockingbird (+sheet Mock) vs Madame Masque (+sheet mas)

Scene: Mockingbird finds Madame Masque in a warehouse down by the seaport. They are 3 areas away from one another (area = 15 feet). The heroine yells to the villainess, “Stop!”. Madame Masque has no intention of surrendering or doing anything that Mockingbird desires so she draws her blaster.

Round One

Mechanics: The scene is entering combat so both parties need to roll initiative. (+roll/init).

Mechanics: Mockingbird rolls a 6 and Madame Masque rolls a 4.

Mechanics: Mockingbird has a movement score of 2. This means she can cover a distance of 2 areas in 1 round and still take an action. If she were to opt for a double move, she could cover 4 areas. She knows she cannot cover the distance in time before Madame Masque fires her blaster so she will throw one of her Javelins while moving into one of the tall crate lined hallways of the warehouse. She will then type her attack +roll/th equipment/javelins=Madame Masque . The result will read that she scored a Green result and does 10 points of damage to Madame Masque. The damage is only 10 because Madame Masque wears 20 points of physical armor and Mockingbird’s Javelin does 30 points. (30-20=10). This means that Madame Masque now has 70 of her 80 health points.

Scene (Mockingbird poses): Realizing that she cannot cover the distance, Mockingbird throws one of her javelins and strikes Madame Masque. Mock then disappears between the tall stacks of crates and will begin trying to weave herself within the maze while hoping to draw closer to Madame Masque for the next attack.

Mechanics: Without a shot, Madame Masque will need to close on Mockingbird or obtain line of sight (LoS). Therefore, she will rush forward to the edge of the crate alleyway. Masque moves 3 areas per round. This means she can cover the distance to the opening and still have an attack or an action. It is then up to the judge whether or not the winding of the crates is enough to obscure Mockingbird from the Line of Sight. The judge (or emitter of the scene) decides that there was an opportunity for Mockingbird to have turned just after entry, and since it was her intention to ‘weave’ through the crates, then she is out of sight. Madame Masque can then claim to do a double move and move another 2 or 3 areas into the crates hoping to pick up Mock’s trail. As you can tell, this will take OOC communication between the players and the judge. The judge will then tell Masque to roll an Intuition FEAT. This roll will determine if she can pick up Mock’s trail. The player types +roll/feat I and scores a White result. This tells everyone that she doesn’t have a clue where she’s going.

Scene (Masque poses): Being struck with Mockingbird’s javelin, Madame Masque is unable to get off her shot in time before Mockingbird ducks between the crates. Masque rushes forward, weapon to the ready and rounds the corner to find Mockingbird still out of sight. She penetrates the twisting crate alleyway and realizes that she has no clue where Mockingbird went. She maintains a vigil, and is ready for action.

End of Round

Round Two & Three

Mechanics: With the scene set, the players only need to decide who goes first. That is up to the initiative roll. Both players type +roll/init .

Mechanics: Mockingbird rolls 8. Madame Masque rolls 4.

Mechanics: Mockingbird had full intention of circling back around to engage Masque. She will spring the attack. Mockingbird has a fighting rank of Remarkable (30) which accounts for her weapons expert skill and she carries Battle Staves that do 20 points of damage. She fully intends to smack Masque and she rolls her attack +roll/ba equipment/battle_staves=Madame Masque . She scores a Red result and the code automatically rolls to see if Madame Masque is stunned. The stun roll reveals that Masque is stunned for 1 round. This means that Masque does not get to act this round and Mockingbird will act twice. Instead of writing up a pose for the first and another for the second, Mock decides to roll another attack. She types +roll/ba equipment/battle_staves=Madame Masque and scores a Green result. Meaning she hit again. The problem is, Madame Masque has body armor that’s equal to Mockingbird’s attack. Therefore, Madame Masque did not take any physical damage, just stun damage. This implies that Mockingbird needs to step up her game and come up with a different attack.

Scene (Mockingbird poses): Leaping from the shadows, Mockingbird lets loose a stunning bash to Madame Masque’s head and then follows it with another attack to the villainess’ midsection. Neither causing damage, but definitely getting Masque’s attention.

End of Round

Round Four (round three showed Mockingbird acting twice since Masque was stunned)

Mechanics: Once again the players roll for initiative. (+roll/init)

Mechanics: This time Mockingbird scores a 3 and Madame Masque scores a 9. Masque goes first and she still has a blaster.

Mechanics: Wanting to shoot Mockingbird and get some distance on her, Masque notes that she intends to step away and shoot Mockingbird. She rolls +roll/fo equipment/blaster=Mockingbird . She scores a Green result and it does 20 points of damage to Mockingbird. Mockingbird wears 20 points of armor and Masque’s blaster does 40 points. (40-20=20). Mockingbird is reduced from 66 health points to 46 health points. Ouch.

Scene (pose by Masque): Madame Masque leaps back to try to get some space; she manages 10 feet before shooting Mockingbird square in the gut with her force blaster.

Mechanics: Mockingbird wants payback, but she realizes that she has to be smart about the combat. She has far fewer hit points, weaker attack, and equal armor than Madame Masque. So she intends to disarm Masque before the villain can shoot her again. She will need to close the distance (which is doable) and then she types +roll/gb to see if she can snatch the weapon. She scores a Grab (yellow) result. Consult the Wrestling MSHRPG page for detailed information on Grabbing objects. In this case, Mockingbird just snatched the weapon out of Masque’s hand. Mask is furious. It should also be noted, Grabbing an item is also her attack action. So she does not get another attack this round.

Scene (Mockingbird pose): Knowing that she needs to disarm Masque, Mockingbird rushes forward, and using her martial skill, snatches the blaster out of Masque’s grip.

Mechanics: It is now Masque’s turn. She’s disarmed, but she’s not a weakling. She has mad Martial Skills and intends to use them against Mockingbird. Masque chooses to roll a Hand to Hand attack and picks kick. She types +roll/hth Masque . She hits hard, but not hard enough to stun Mockingbird. Since Masque does not have super strength and she’s not using a weapon, then she will only do 10 damage which bounces off Mockingbird’s armor.

Scene (Masque’s pose): Masque rushes forward, raises her leg and kicks Mockingbird.

End of Round

Round Five

Mechanics: Initiative is rolled again. Mockingbird rolls 9 and Madame Masque rolls 4.

Mechanics: With the blaster in hand, Mockingbird chooses to use it against Masque. She does not have the blaster in her +sheet write-up so she must improvise. Ranged attacks use Agility to determine whether or not there is a hit on the target. Mockingbird will then need to roll +roll/feat A . The A is for agility. She scores a Red result. She then consults the Universal Table to discover that a Red is a Stun. Therefore Masque is instructed to type +roll/st . She obtains a Blue result and it lists that Madame Masque is stunned for 11 rounds. This is essentially the end of the combat and the end for Madame Masque’s nefarious criminal activities.

Scene (Mockingbird poses): After being kicked, Mockingbird turns Masque’s very on blaster against her. She pulls the trigger and the blast strikes and stuns the criminal mastermind.

Scene (Madame Masque poses): Madame Masque is struck by her very own blaster. She cringes and drops to the hard concrete floor with a thud.

End Combat

Combat Sequence Example Number Two

Ranged Attacks

Wasp (+sheet JVD) vs Whirlwind (+sheet WW)

Scene: Whirlwind is ripping down the middle of the westbound side of 32nd street. He’s being a real jerk using his arm blades to rip the sides of motor vehicles he passes between. It’s broad daylight and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Police tried to give chase, but they got stuck in traffic. So the Avengers were called in. The Wasp is first on the scene and she swoops in from above and behind wanting to get the drop on Whirlwind.

Mechanics: Because Wasp is tiny, the Judge decides that Whirlwind will need to make a successful Yellow Intuition FEAT to detect her. He types +roll/feat I to get a result of Green. Not good enough. Therefore, Wasp gets a surprise attack before initiative is rolled.

Mechanics: Wasp will close to within range (40 feet based on her 40 rank Sting (energy blast)). She will then type +roll/en Wasp_Sting=Whirlwind . She will score a Green result, which is a hit, and do 40 damage to the villain. Whirlwind does not have resistance to energy attacks, therefore he now has 50 of his 90 health points left.

Scene (Wasp’s pose): Zipping around a building, Wasp spots Whirlwind wreaking havoc down 32nd street. She dives down to get within range, but still maintains a 39 foot distance high and behind. She aims and releases a Wasp-Sting ™ to strike the villain in the back. Pzzzzat!

Scene (Whirlwind’s pose): Just minding his own business, having a great day out among the people and the chirping birds, Whirlwind wasn’t doing anything but a little malicious vandalism when he was wrongfully attacked by one whom calls herself a heroine. How dare she! Blasted in the back, Whirlwind was taken completely by surprise and he careens into the side of a Dodge Charger. Skipping off the vehicle, he whips around and tries to spot his assailant.

Mechanics: Wasp has size on her side, at least for this first round. She is 39 feet away and 5 inches tall. Therefore Whirlwind will need to make a successful Intuition FEAT; a Green result will do. He types +roll/feat I and scores a Yellow result. He spots her. It is now time to roll initiative and enter combat.

Round One

Mechanics: Both characters type +roll/init to determine who goes first. Wasp rolls 3 and Whirlwind rolls 7. Whirlwind goes first.

Mechanics: Whirlwind knows that he can only take one, maybe two more hits from Wasp before he goes down. She hits hard. He will need to make this fast. Whirlwind’s attack. He continues moving down the street (at half his speed) and will attack with his shuriken throw. Therefore Whirlwind will roll his attack twice since he has two shuriken throws per round. He types +roll/ea equipment/shuriken=Wasp twice. The first is a Green Result doing 30 damage, the second is a Yellow result doing 30 damage and requiring Wasp to automatically roll for Stun. She fails the roll and the system reports that she is stunned for 1 round. Being 39ish feet in the air and stunned is going to hurt when she hits the ground. She will then type +roll 1d10 and score a 3, thus taking an additional 3 points of damage upon ground strike. Therefore, in this attack, Wasp took 30+30+3=63 damage. That puts her down to 17 health points out of her original 80. Additionally, she loses the opportunity to act in the next round.

Scene (Whirlwind’s pose): Maintaining his movement, albeit half his normal speeds. Whirlwind throws two shuriken toward the flitting Wasp. Both strike true and do some significant damage to the heroine. Such that she will find herself stunned by the attack.

Scene (Wasp’s pose): Struck twice by the deadly blades of the Whirlwind, Wasp finds herself hurt badly and stunned due to the significance of the blow. She falls from the sky, strikes the back windshield of a Ford Probe and rolls off onto the street. Luckily traffic is stopped due to the hostilities going on, otherwise she may risk subsequent injury from being run over.

End Round

Round Two

Mechanics: Both characters will roll for initiative. Wasp scores a 2 and Whirlwind scores an 8. Wasp can’t seem to get a break.

Mechanics: Wasp did not get to act in the last round because she was stunned. Further, since Whirlwind won the initiative he will act first again.

Mechanics: Three things to consider here; Whirlwind isn’t an outright killer, he likes to make the heroes look like saps, and he also has a canonical crush on Wasp. So he’s not going to search for the tiny body of the Wasp and step on it like an offending bug. Instead, he will take this time to play the good villain and escape to fight another day. Plus, he can’t take many more of her hits.

Scene (WW poses): Knowing what’s best for him and suspecting that the other Avengers will soon arrive, Whirlwind chooses to make his escape. Spinning faster now, he speeds away as fast as he can travel.
Scene (Wasp poses): Having spent the last 6 seconds counting all of her lucky stars, Wasp finally rises from her supine position between a car tire and the curb. She stands, brushes herself off and flies upward to address the approaching police officer. Flitting around his face, she scans around the area while she asks, “Did you see which way he went?”..

End Round

End Scene

Combat Sequence Example Three

Defensive Maneuvers (Dodge, Evade, Block)

  • Dodge – A means to try and avoid a ranged attack.
  • Evade – A means to try and avoid a hand to hand attack.
  • Block – A means to try and resist or deflect a force based attack.

Consult http://sniktbub.wikidot.com/defensive-actions for further details.

Sunspot (+sheet SU) vs Marvel Boy (+finger AST)

Scene: In a typical Marvel fashion where miscommunication and egos get in the way, Sunspot finds himself answering to a distress call inside the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Rushing inside, he notes a costumed individual who has his hand raised in a threatening gesture toward the bell clerk demanding to know what room someone is staying within. Taking it as the threat that he’s here to address, Sunspot yells, “Hey, you in the cape, hold it right there!” Sunspot is only 2 areas away inside the lobby of the hotel. There is a clear path between them and people start spreading out to watch the fight.

Scene: Marvel Boy turns, his cape whips around behind him, and sees the black mottled form of Sunspot. Not recognizing the mutant and knowing that people in black are evil, Marvel Boy pulls up his force field and gets ready to engage the enemy.
Round One

Mechanics: It is now time to enter combat and the characters roll for initiative (+roll/init). Sunspot scores a 6 and Marvel Boy scores a 4. Sunspot acts first.

Mechanics: Sunspot will close the distance and punch MB. Sunspot will +roll/hth Marvel Boy and score a Green result to do 10 points of damage. (50 strength attack – 40 force field = 10 points of damage).

Scene (Sunspot poses): Rushing forward, Sunspot balls up his fists and when in hand to hand range, punches Marvel Boy in the chest. His force field stops most of the damage inflicted.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy will attack with his TK Blast by typing +roll/fo telekinesis/Tk_blast=Sunspot and score a Green result to inflict 10 damage. (40 TK attack – 30 body resistance=10 points of damage).

Scene (Marvel Boy poses): Yelling, “Oh no you did not!!!”, Marvel Boy will retaliate with his own type of attack, a Telekinetic Blast that strikes back at Sunspot blasting him.

End of Round

Round Two

Mechanics: Initiative time again. (+roll/init). Sunspot rolls 3 and Marvel Boy rolls 4. Marvel Boy goes first.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy indicates secretly to the judge that he wants to fight defensively. The Judge will ask Sunspot what he wants to do (essentially saying that Marvel Boy is holding his round). Sunspot will want to punch again (he will +roll/hth Marvel Boy and get a result). Marvel Boy intends to use Evade to ‘bob and weave’ in hopes of avoiding Sunspot’s next attack and gaining a bonus to his own attack. Therefore he types +roll/ev . Doing his results in a Red result which gives him +2CS to his next attack which will occur in round three.

Mechanics: Sunspot will be informed that his next attack will miss since Marvel Boy’s Evasion Roll wasn’t a Autohit or Hit +1CS result.

End of Round

Round Three

Mechanics: Initiative. Marvel Boy rolls 8, Sunspot rolls 4.

Mechanics: In the last round, Marvel Boy fought defensively using Evasion. This essentially meant that all he did that round was dodge Sunspot’s attack and look for a better opportunity to hit. He rolled successfully and now has a +2CS to this round’s attack. +2CS means he gets a bonus to his attack rank. Marvel Boy will use his TK Blast again but instead of it being based on his Agility of Good (10) it will be based on two columns to the right of Good which is Remarkable (30). Because this is not directly coded in the system, one will need to consult the Universal Table for details.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy wants to blast Sunspot with his increased attack rank. Instead of typing +roll/fo Telekinesis/TK_Blast=Sunspot, he will do a manual attack to base it on Remarkable. So he will type +roll RM and score a Yellow FEAT result. Consulting the Universal Table, one will look under the Force Column and determine that a Yellow FEAT result is a Bullseye. Bullseye is translated by the Judge. If it’s a called shot, then the attacker will have accomplished something (like disarming). But in this case, the Judge will rule that Sunspot will need to roll for stun (+roll/sl).

Mechanics: Sunspot will roll well enough to get a result that states, “Not Slammed”. Therefore he will be able to act this round after Marvel Boy poses.

Scene (Marvel Boy poses): Having spent the last second or three observing Sunspot, Marvel Boy sees his ‘in’ and will swing upward with a TK Strike that hits Sunspot.

Mechanics: Sunspot will strike back. He doesn’t want to miss and wants to do enough damage that Marvel Boy will be put out of the battle. However, Sunspot only strikes for 50 points and Marvel Boy’s shield is 40. So the most he can do is 10 points. Except when it comes to Stun damage. Therefore, Sunspot wants to shoot for the stun. Meaning he will have to roll a Red FEAT result. To ensure this happens, he announces before he +rolls, “I’m spending XP to get a Red result!”. By saying that he’s spending XP, he automatically spends 10 points regardless of how many points he will need to buy to reach his red Fighting result. His fighting is Good (10) and he needs to roll a 98 or better to score a Red result.

Mechanics: Sunspot types +roll/hth Marvel Boy and scores a 65. He needs 33 points to reach 98 so he spends an additional 23 points to add to his original 10 and scores a Stun Result. However, Marvel Boy still needs to roll to see if he’s actually stunned.
Pose (Sunspot poses): Growing angrier by the second, Sunspot draws back and punches, landing it squarely against Marvel Boy’s force field. If the field wasn’t up, he would have been nailed in the face.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy then types +roll/sl to determine if he is slammed. He will succeed his roll and gain a result of “Not Slammed”. However he did take another 10 points of damage from that most recent attack.

Scene (Marvel Boy Poses): Nailed, Marvel Boy takes some damage from the punch delivered by Sunspot. He steps back, but not out of range, trying to cushion the blow.

End of Round

Round Four

Mechanics: Sunspot is down to 76/96 health points. Marvel Boy is down to 13/36.

Mechanics: Initiative. Sunspot rolls 9 and Marvel Boy rolls 8.

Mechanics: Sunspot announces that he’s fighting defensively and will move at half his speed because of this. This does not prevent him from attacking. He will want to hit Marvel Boy and be done with the fight. But he doesn’t want to take more damage and potentially be stunned. So he chooses defense mixed with his offense.

Mechanics: Sunspot will type +roll/hth Marvel Boy and score a White FEAT which translates to Miss.
Scene (Sunspot poses): Stepping with Marvel Boy, Sunspot intends to knock the crap out of Marvel Boy, instead he misses and wiffs.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy will need to make this count. So he announces that he wants to spend XP to modify his roll result. He wants a Red FEAT to have the chance to stun, so he will need to have enough to score a 98 in his +roll to achieve this. Marvel Boy types +roll/fo telekinesis/TK_Blast=Sunspot and scores a 78. Therefore he only needs to add 10 points to the 10 points he spent for announcing. He blasts Sunspot.

Mechanics: Because Sunspot was fighting defensively, he gets to type +roll/do and will gain a result of -2CS. This translates to shifting Marvel Boy’s attack rank down 2 columns on the Universal Table to the left. In doing this, it adjusts the attack from a Red to a Yellow FEAT result. Thus not acquiring the Stun Marvel Boy desired, but still does damage and potential slam.

Mechanics: Sunspot is required to type +roll/sl and obtains a Not Slammed result.

Scene (Marvel Boy poses): Another TK blast is emitted from Marvel Boy’s gesture. The attack strikes, but Sunspot remains ever steadfast. Marvel Boy calls out during his attack, “Stand down, miscreant!”

End of Round

Round Five

Mechanics: Marvel Boy 13/36 health and Sunspot 66/96 health.

Mechanics: Initiative. Marvel Boy scores 7 and Sunspot scores 9.

Mechanics: Sunspot suspects he’s close to finishing off Marvel Boy. So he attacks again. Not having the XP to spend on every attack, he opts for another standard attack roll. He types +roll/hth Marvel Boy and will score a Green FEAT result. A solid hit. Marvel Boy will be dropped from 13 health points to 3 health points and must do something or else he’s going to go down in the next round.

Scene (Sunspot poses): “Never!” is yelled in return as Sunspot draws back and lands another punch against Marvel Boy’s Force Field allowing just a fraction of the damage to leak through.

Mechanics: Marvel Boy is desperate. He knows he’s about to drop. Being the hero he is, he chooses not to run away but to fight it out. He cannot allow all of these innocents with their camera phones to be left alone with the evil Sunspot. So he once again calls out that he’s spending XP and wants to get a Red result. He types +roll/fo telekinesis/tk_blast=Sunspot and will roll a 94. He only needs to spend 4 points to reach 98, but since he was required to spend 10 when he announced, he scores a 104 on the roll. Which is definitely a Red FEAT. Sunspot automatically rolls for a stun result and the system reports that Sunspot is stunned for 6 rounds.

Scene (Marvel Boy poses): For all the marbles, Marvel Boy strikes out with a determined look on his face as he yells, “GO DOWN!”. The strike rings true and Sunspot is hit with such force that he will be stunned.
Scene (Sunspot poses): Sunspot is knocked back, falls to the floor and is stunned. Unable to react, he’s down for the count (at least of 6) and will have issues focusing and forming words. Other than ‘ow’.

End of Round

Mechanics: Because Sunspot will be down for 6 Rounds, Marvel Boy can tag him 6 more times until he’s fully unconscious (without having to roll a to-hit) or really whatever Marvel Boy wants to do. When someone with limited health and armor is stunned, the fight is pretty much over.

End of Scene
