The Structure of Fast Action

Throughout the game, players will declare the actions of their characters. The GM’s role is to mediate between character actions, NPC actions, story events, and resolutions so that everybody has fun and a cool story unfolds. When things get tense and split-second actions determine what happens, then the game has stepped into what is called Fast Action.

In Fast Action, players take turns declaring and resolving the actions their characters take. The turn-based sequence of Fast Action allows for an organized and lightweight simulation of actions, attacks, and active defenses that all take place more or less simultaneously, and ensures that no single player or actor monopolizes the action.

Time

During Fast Action, time is divided into rounds and turns. Actors take turns acting in the round, with each actor that is engaged in fast action taking some number of actions on their turn, determined by their use of their AD pool.

It is important, especially for GMs, to understand how the abstraction of rounds and turns in the game world of the characters relates to time in the real world of the players. While a round represents 5 seconds of game world time, with subsequent rounds running after one another in sequence, a turn does not represent sequential time in the same way.

A turn is a useful abstraction that represents a given actor’s decisions and actions within the round. Turns are played out in turn order not because that strictly represents how events occur, but for the convenience of the players and GM.

Turns are a combination of simultaneous and sequential events. An actor might, on their turn, shoot one arrow, draw and nock a second, then shoot the second arrow. These are sequential actions. Simultaneously, the target of that second arrow might see the actor drawing and aiming, and dodge out of the way, attempting to spoil the shot. It is for this reason that certain actions may be performed before or after an actor’s turn in strict turn order: the target may spend AD (if they have any unspent) to dodge the attack even if it is not yet their turn.

Action Dice Pool

Each actor begins a round of fast action with a number of dice in their Action Dice (AD) pool. An actor’s AD pool is determined by various factors including their Prowess and their exhaustion status.

A human actor with typical PRW and no additional abilities or status effects will have 5 AD per round.

Determining Turn Order

At the beginning of fast action, all involved actors roll all dice in their AD pools (that have not been EX-bound) to determine the order in which they will take their turns, from highest number of successes to lowest. Ties in the number of successes are resolved by comparing the number of sixes in the roll. If this count is also tied, the number of fives is compared, then fours, and so on. If the numbers match at each level (ie: if the rolls are identical), the tied actors re-roll.

After determining the turn order, rolled ADs are returned to the AD pool.

Each Turn

Actors take turns in the order determined, proceeding in turn and repeating for each round until fast action ends. For each turn, a player or GM declares and resolves the actions their actor will take, as long as the actor has AD to spend on those actions.

Action Tests

Most actions use a test to determine success or failure. The test’s dice pool is made up of some number of AD and other dice determined by the action. These actions will always specify a base Success Target.

 

Benny is in zero-G and is trying to catch a stray wrench that wasn't stowed properly before it can do any damage to the ship's engines. At the speed it's traveling, the GM decides that catching the wrench has a base Target of 3S. Benny knows that the odds of success are low, so he takes care to line himself up for the catch. Benny spends his whole turn (5AD) to improve the odds, which are represented by 2 (typical PRW) + 5AD for a dice pool of 7, giving Benny a 43% chance of catching the wrench.

Some actions can be successful at a distance, but become harder as range increases. These actions will specify their base success target along with its effective distance, and a number of additional distances. Each additional distance represents an increase of 1 to the base target, with the last distance indicating the maximum range.

 

The Short Bow lists its base target as: 2S@10m,20,30,40,50. This means that the base target is 2 successes up to 10m, 3S up to 20m, 4S up to 30m, 5S up to 40m, and 6S up to 50m. The weapon is not effective past 50m.

Some actions can be successful at a given range, but become harder as range decreases. These actions will be specified much like the example above, but with the range values decreasing. The first value is the optimal range, and each shorter distance represents an increase of 1 to the base target, with the last distance indicating the minimum range.

 

The Halberd is a 4 meter long polearm with an axe-like blade at the end. Typically used in formation fighting against cavalry, it is a powerful weapon in specific circumstances, but because of its long shaft, it cannot be used effectively at very short ranges such as face-to-face. Its success target is listed as: 2S@3m,2

This can be read as, “requires 2 successes against targets at 3m, 3 successes against targets at 2m, and is otherwise ineffective.”

Most actions have degrees of outcome, and will specify their resulting effects in terms of a Success Margin.

 

A Flintlock Pistol does more damage to its target with a more accurate shot. It lists its damage as: 2HP/SM. Benny fires a shot with the pistol at a guard. Because of the guard’s distance from Benny, the success target is 2S. Between Benny's PRW, skill with pistols, and his AD, Benny rolls 9d6 with 3 successes, giving him a SM of 2. The guard is hit and takes 4HP damage.

Action Cost

On each turn, a player may choose any number of available ADs to use in one or more actions. Actions may have either a minimum or per-unit AD cost.

Minimum AD cost is indicated by the notation #AD with # equaling the minimum number of AD that can be spent on the action. Overspending AD on this type of action improves the character's chance of success.

 

Anders begins their turn with 5AD. They choose to shoot at The Midnight Lady with their weapon, which has a cost of 1AD per burst. They spend the 1AD and take the snapshot but miss. With 4AD left, they choose to aim a bit more carefully, spending 3AD on their next shot. With the extra dice from their AD pool, their second burst hits.

Per-unit cost is indicated by [unit]/#AD. If the number is omitted from the cost, it is assumed to be 1. AD spent on these actions provides the given unit of action per AD. AD cannot be partially spent. A per-unit cost is spent in increments specified in the cost, even if some of the unit goes unused.

 

Anders's movement is 7m/AD, and there’s a doorway 5m away. After their second successful shot, they spend their last remaining AD to run through the doorway to take cover from The Midnight Lady's expected retaliation.

Unspent AD are never carried over into the next round and are considered to have been spent in the Watch action. At the end of the round, all spent AD that have not been EX-bound are returned to the actors’ AD pool for the next round.

Ending Fast Action

Fast Action continues to play out round by round until the conditions that resulted in Fast Action have ended. This can occur through the player characters defeating (or being defeated by!) their foes, by negotiating an end to hostilities, by an emergency situation being resolved, or some other event the GM determines.