Scene oneAn investigation
The party has been given access to a storeroom where a shipment was logged and then apparently vanished. They have maybe twenty minutes before someone notices they're in there.
GMConcrete room, strip lights, shelving to the ceiling. There's a clipboard on a hook by the door and a pallet in the middle of the floor with the shrink-wrap cut open. What are you doing?
TomasI want to read the clipboard. Is that a Research roll?
GMIt's one sheet of paper — you can just read it. It's a manifest, twelve crates, signed for at 04:20 by someone whose initials you can't make out.
Note
No roll. Reading a document that's right there isn't in doubt, and calling for dice on it would only create a chance to fail at something trivial. Rolls are for when failure is interesting.
RashaI'll look over the pallet. Notice?
GMGo ahead.
Rasha rolls Notice d6 and her Wild Die d6 → 3 and 5. She takes the higher: 5. Target is 4. Success.
GMThe shrink-wrap's been cut, not torn — a clean blade. And there's a stain on the pallet slats. Dark, dried, maybe a day old.
RashaCan I tell what it is? I've got Healing d8.
GMHealing covers forensic evidence, so yes. Roll it.
Rasha rolls Healing d8 and Wild Die d6 → 8 and 2. The d8 came up max, so it Aces: reroll and add → 4. Total 12. That's 8 over the target of 4 — two raises.
GMIt's blood, and it's not human. Too much iron, wrong colour as it's dried. And with that roll — you'd stake your licence on it not being any mammal you've handled.
Note
The Ace is why that roll landed so hard: max on a die means roll again and add, as many times as it keeps maxing. A raise is every 4 points over the target. Rasha said her total rather than "I made it," which is how the GM knew to give her the better answer.
TomasNon-human blood is my department. Occult?
GMYes, but you're working from a stain rather than a body, so −2.
Tomas rolls Occult d8 −2 and Wild Die d6 −2 → 3 and 1, so 1 and −1. Best result is 1. Failure.
TomasI'll spend a Benny and reroll.
Reroll: 6 and 4 → 4 and 2. Best is 4. Success. He keeps the better of his two attempts.
Tomas: 2 Bennies left.
GMYou've read about this. Not confidently, not with a name, but there's a category of thing that bleeds like that, and the accounts all agree on one detail: it doesn't happen anywhere near running water.
Note
A Benny reroll can never make things worse — you keep the best of all your attempts. That's why hoarding them is a mistake. Note also that a failure wasn't the end of the thread; the GM had a worse-but-not-dead-end version ready if the reroll had missed too.
BenI'm not much use for this. Can I do anything?
GMYou could watch the door. Give me a Notice roll.
Ben rolls Notice d4 and Wild Die d6 → 1 and 1. Both dice show 1. That's a Critical Failure — it cannot be rerolled, not even with a Benny.
GMYou're watching the corridor so intently you don't hear the fire door at the other end of the room. Everyone, we're going to initiative.
Scene twoA fight
Three figures come through the far door. The GM has them as Extras — Fighting d6, Toughness 6, no armour.
Round one
GMCards. Ben, Jack of Spades. Tomas, eight. Rasha, four. The three of them share a card — they've got a King, so they go first.
Note
Cards are redealt every round, so this order won't hold. Extras usually share one card as a group. Ties break by suit: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs.p91
GMTwo of them go for Ben, one goes past him at Tomas. The one on Tomas swings first.
Attacker rolls Fighting d6 → 7 (Aced: 6, then 1). Tomas's Parry is 2. That's a hit with a raise.
Damage Str d6 + club d4 → 4 + 3 = 7, plus 1d6 for the raise → 3. Total 10 against Toughness 4.
10 beats 4 by 6 — that's one raise. Shaken, and one Wound.
TomasThat's most of me. I'll Soak it — spend a Benny, roll Vigor.
Tomas rolls Vigor d4 and Wild Die d6 → 2 and 5. Best is 5: a success, which cancels one Wound. That's all of them, so he sheds Shaken too.
Tomas: 1 Benny left. No damage taken.
Note
Soak is the most important habit in the game. After damage is rolled but before Wounds land, spend a Benny and roll Vigor — each success and raise cancels one Wound, and cancelling them all clears Shaken as well. Without it, Tomas would be at −1 to everything for the rest of the fight.p96
GMThe two on Ben. They're adjacent to each other and both on him, so each gets +1 for Gang Up.
First: Fighting d6 +1 → 3+1 = 4 against Parry 6. Miss.
Second: Fighting d6 +1 → 5+1 = 6. Hits exactly.
Damage Str d6 + d6 → 4 + 5 = 9 against Toughness 8 (2). Beats it, doesn't reach 12. Ben is Shaken.
GMJack of Spades — Ben, you're up.
BenI'm Shaken. I get a free Spirit roll to shake it off?
GMAt the start of your turn, yes.
Ben rolls Spirit d6 and Wild Die d6 → 2 and 3. Best is 3. Failed — he stays Shaken and can only move.
BenThen I'll spend a Benny instead and clear it immediately.
Benny spent, Shaken removed. Ben still has his action.
Ben: 2 Bennies left.
BenI step between them and Tomas and hit the one nearest him. Wild Attack.
Ben rolls Fighting d8 +2 and Wild Die d6 +2 → 7+2 = 9 and 3+2 = 5. Best is 9 against Parry 5 — 4 over, so a raise.
Damage Str d8 + rifle butt d6 +2 (Wild Attack) → 6 + 4 + 2 = 12, plus 1d6 for the raise → 5. Total 17 against Toughness 6.
He's an Extra, so one Wound removes him. Down.
Note
Wild Attack gives +2 to hit and +2 damage, but Ben is Vulnerable until the end of his next turn — everyone attacking him gets +2 for a full round. Worth it here because it removed a threat. Note also that damage rolls get no Wild Die, though they still Ace.
GMTomas, you're on an eight.
TomasI can't fight. Can I do something with Taunt?
GMThat's a Test. Roll Taunt against his Smarts.
Tomas rolls Taunt d6 and Wild Die d6 → 4 and 6, and the 6 Aces → +2 = 8. Best is 8.
The Extra rolls Smarts d6 → 3. Tomas wins by 5 — a raise.
Tomas chooses Vulnerable: +2 for everyone to hit him until the end of his next turn. The raise also leaves him Shaken.
Note
Test is how a non-combatant contributes. Any plausible skill, opposed roll, and success makes the foe Distracted (−2 to everything) or Vulnerable (+2 for others to hit). Tomas can't swing a weapon, but he just made someone considerably easier to kill.p108
The alternative was Support — an unopposed roll giving an ally +1, or +2 with a raise. Lower risk, smaller effect, and it doesn't inflict a state.p106
GMRasha, four.
RashaShooting the one Tomas just rattled. He's Vulnerable, so +2?
GM+2, and he's in melee with Ben — but Ben's not between you, so no other penalty. Short range, so no range modifier.
Rasha rolls Shooting d6 +2 and Wild Die d6 +2 → 6+2 = 8 and 2+2 = 4. Best is 8 against the standard 4 — 4 over, so a raise.
Damage 2d6 → 4 + 6 = 10, and the 6 Aces → +2 = 12, plus 1d6 for the raise → 2. Total 14.
Extra, one Wound, down.
Round two
GMNew cards. One of them left, and he's watching two of his friends on the floor. He's an Extra without a leader nearby — he breaks and runs for the fire door.
BenI want him alive. Can I tackle him?
GMGrapple — opposed Athletics.
Ben rolls Athletics d6 and Wild Die d6 → 5 and 2 → 5.
The Extra rolls Athletics d6 → 2. Ben wins by 3 — a success, not a raise.
The Extra is Entangled: can't move, and Vulnerable. A raise would have made him Bound.
Note
Two rounds, three enemies, done. That's typical: Extras drop on a single Wound, so fights against ordinary opposition resolve fast and turn on one or two rolls rather than grinding.