From Light To Darkness: Rules: Conflict Resolution

From Light to Darkness, like most roleplaying games, includes rules for resolving combat. Under most circumstances, simple non-physical mechanics are used to simulate the rigors of battle. However, under certain circumstances, From Light to Darkness does include rules for players who want to do battle with safe, padded weapons.

When a character suffers a wound to a limb, the wounded character may no longer use the Injured limb. If the character does not have their wound Treated within 15 minutes, they suffer an automatic torso wound as well.

When a character suffers a wound to the torso, the wounded character is immediately incapacitated, and may no longer fight or use any form of magic or ability. They may speak, but should roleplay the agony of their injury. If the character does not have their wound Treated in 5 minutes, they die.

A character with Treated wounds may act freely, but if they engage in combat or take any additional wounds, all of their Treated locations are considered Injured again. This means a limb wound will open a torso wound in 15 minutes, and a character with a torso wound will bleed to death in 5 minutes.

There is no explicit way to kill another character. If you want to kill another character, injure them and ensure that no other character can tend to their wounds until they die. Decapitation, corpse mangling, and other similar efforts will not hasten a dying character's expiration date.

Between sessions, all of a character's wounds are considered healed. A character with the Physician or Chirurgeon trait can instantly make another character's Injured locations Treated. A character with the Physician trait can also heal wounds. If a physician treats another character, the injured character may heal one wounded location every thirty minutes until he takes additional wounds or reopens his existing wounds. If the subject remains stationary, he may heal one wounded location every fifteen minutes. A physician may treat any number of characters simultaneously, but multiple physicians do not speed healing.

To build a dueling pistol, get a prop that looks like a 17th century matchlock or wheel-lock pistol, ten toothpicks and an opaque film canister. The color of the toothpick tip represents the results of a pistol discharge. Uncolored tips are misses, black tips are Hits, and red tips are Criticals. A typical duelist has four Hits, one Critical, and five Misses.

Pistols have a normal range of approximately 20 feet. A loaded dueling pistol can be discharged in the time it takes to open the canister, draw forth a toothpick, and shout the result of the attack at your target. "Alessandro, Hit," is an appropriate indication that you are firing on the Crown Prince, for example. Pulling the toothpick and shouting the result represents firing the pistol; until this happens, the gun has not been fired. After firing a pistol, return the toothpick to the canister and close the canister. Reloading a pistol takes two working arms and ten seconds of immobility, and all characters are assumed to have unlimited rounds.

A Hit incapacitates the target with a torso wound, but may be avoided by calling a Dodge. If the shooter knows the Twilight Crux rite of "Blessing the Barrel," a Critical represents a Critical Hit. Critical Hits incapacitate the target with a torso wound, and the target may not call a Dodge to avoid the wound. If the shooter does not know the rite of "Blessing the Barrel" and they draw a Critical, their pistol explodes (destroying it) and they suffer the effects of a torso wound that cannot be Dodged. Armor never prevents the effects of a Pistol Hit or Critical, and will prevent a target from calling a Dodge when fired upon.

A shooter may optionally call a Hit or Critical Hit to a location other than the torso by calling the hit location as well as the effect. "Alessandro, Hit, Right Arm" is an example of a called shot.

Storyguides may occasionally specify that a pistol has been discharged at Point Blank or Long range. When firing a pistol at Point Blank, a shooter may draw two toothpicks and use the better result. When firing a pistol at Long range, the shootist must draw two toothpicks and use the least favorable results. Many inexperienced shootists have observed that pistols tend to explode more frequently when fired at distant targets.

To participate in combat as anything other than a victim, a player must possess a weapon prop that simulates their character’s weapon. Props for melee weapons should be made of foam, plastic, or wood, and clearly identifiable as fake. Do not bring actual weapons to a game. Samples of good weapon props include foam boffer weapons, bokken and shinai (wood and bamboo practice swords for kendo), and plastic toy swords.

One-Handed Weapons: These are standard one-handed weapons, large enough to be impossible to conceal while light enough to be used in one hand. Most weapons are one-handed.

Short Weapons: Weapons that can be concealed in a kimono sleeve are short weapons. Short weapons can be used for Assassinations. In combat, they confer a MINUS (-) to Initiative.

Two-Handed Weapons: Weapons that must be wielded with two hands. In combat, they confer a DOUBLE PLUS (++) to Inititative when wielded with two hands. However, a character who takes an arm wound while wielding a Two-Handed Weapon receives a DOUBLE MINUS (--) on Initiative instead of a DOUBLE PLUS.

Off-Hand Weapons: Off-Hand Weapons are technically either Short Weapons or One-Handed Weapons. Having a second weapon (whether Short or One-Handed) confers a PLUS (+) to Initiative.

Combat begins when one or more character tells another character, “I attack you,” or something similar. Combat is divided into rounds, and during each round every character involved in the combat gets to take one action. For timing purposes, combat rounds are assumed to take 5 seconds each.

Each combat round begins with an initiative auction. Characters may bid any number up to their maximum Dodges in a combat as their Initiative Value. These Dodges are not spent – they simply determine the sequence of actions in a combat round. This Initiative Value includes any Initiative bonuses or penalties the character receives from weapons or wounds. Bonuses in the form of PLUSes (+) or MINUSes (-) modify the base Initiative Value; a 6+ is better than a 6 but worse than a 6++, while a 6 is better than a 6-. A + and a – cancel each other out.

The character with the highest Initiative Value goes first, and the others follow in descending Initiative Value order. Tied Initiative Values are assumed to happen simultaneously. Initiative Values are constant for the round, but may change or be changed at the beginning of any round.

Some combat actions, like firing a gun, have PRIORITY Initiative. These actions go first in the round, and all happen simultaneously unless modified by bonuses or penalties. Other actions, like those taken by a character with two wounded legs, have LAST Initiative. These actions go last in the round, and all happen simultaneously unless modified by bonuses or penalties.

When a character’s turn in combat comes, they can make an attack against one other character if they have a weapon. After designating a target, the attacker chooses where to attack (high, middle, or low), while the defender chooses to defend high, middle, or low. Both reveal their choice simultaneously; any method will do, although the storyguide recommends revealing one (high), two (middle), or three (low) fingers on the count of three. If the attacker and defender choose the same level, the defender has blocked the attack. Otherwise, the defender is hit. If they cannot Dodge or otherwise avoid the hit, they take a wound. Note that defending does not require possessing a weapon.

When hit, characters who are Good Fencers may call a Dodge followed by the number of Dodges used in that combat immediately upon being hit to ignore the effects of a blow. (Example: “Dodge One” for someone who has been attacked, initiating the combat.) Dodges may also be used to avoid Pistol Hits, but not Pistol Criticals. Dodges may not be called to avoid surprise attacks. If you did not expect the attack, you cannot call a Dodge. Characters may normally call two Dodges per level of their "Good Fencer" trait during each combat.

Characters who have purchased Armor may call "Armor" followed by the number of Dodges used in that combat immediately upon being hit to ignore the effects of a blow. (Example: “Armor One” after that lovely Sone lady sticks a dagger in your back, initiating combat.) Unlike Dodges, Armor does work against surprise attacks and does not work against Pistol Hits or Criticals. Additionally, characters wearing any Armor may never call Dodges against Pistol attacks. Characters may normally call two Armors per level of their "Armor" trait during each combat.

A character who has not yet acted and who chooses to give up their action for the round may declare “Desperate Defense” repeatedly while resolving being attacked. They may defend two locations each time they are attacked in the round.

Firing a dueling pistol in combat occurs with PRIORITY Initiative, and counts as the character’s action for that round. It takes two actions and two arms to reload a dueling pistol.

Other actions occur according to their specific instructions or storyguide arbitration. For theurgy and other actions involving specific gestures or acts, the storyguides reserve the right to use a stopwatch to time players as they perform them ahead of time, and then allow them to happen in the appropriate number of rounds if the character is still able to do so.

When a character takes a wound, they may choose the location of their injury, subject to some restrictions. First, the wound must be taken in an unwounded location. Second, the location is limited by how they were attacked:

If attacked HIGH, they may take a wound in either arm or in the torso.
If attacked MIDDLE, they may only take a wound in the torso.
If attacked LOW, they may take a wound in either leg or in the torso.

Torso wounds, as usual, incapacitate their subject.
Arm wounds prevent the use of a weapon in that arm.
One leg wound gives the victim a – penalty to Initiative, starting next round. *
Two leg wounds gives the victim LAST Initiative. *

*: Attacks from characters with leg wounds do not count when determining whether or not a character can escape from combat.

A character may attempt to escape from combat as their action. If, at the end of the round they have not been attacked or have defended all attacks made against them, they escape the combat. Attacks by characters with leg wounds do not prevent escape. Once a character escapes, they obey the normal Fleeing rules.

To assassinate someone, a character must either possess a Short Weapon or be concealed using some flavor of the Stealth power. The would-be assassin must take a 1/2” red dot and stick it to their unsuspecting target. The location the tape is stuck to marks the location of the wound the target takes; as always, the head and groin are not legal targets. Dodges may not be used to avoid an assassination, but other damage-avoiding powers (like calling “Armor”) may be used as normal.

Assassination may only be attempted on an unsuspecting target, and not in combat. When faced with an assassin who has not yet launched his attack, initiating combat or declaring “I flee,” are the best ways to avoid being taped. After an assassination attempt, Stealthed characters are no longer concealed, and in all cases the victim can be considered aware of their attacker if still conscious.

From Light to Darkness was originally designed to use a boffer-based live combat system. However, over the course of a year of play, it became apparent that safety, availability, and simple maintenance issues prevent many players from participating in boffer combat. While boffer-based combat may still be fought using the pre-existing rules, all participants in such combat must agree ahead of time to do so and have a storyguide present to serve as a safety officer.

Live action combat can be safe if certain guidelines are obeyed. The following rules should be obeyed by all players at all times:

Live-action combat uses foam weapons. Before a live combat, each and every foam weapon brought on course must be checked with the storyguides for safety. Do not bring real weapons to the game, even if you will only be using them as costuming accessories.

If a live combat breaks out, any character may call a "Hold" and ask that the combat be moved to a safer location. This is particularly important if the combat is happening indoors and there are breakables about. Combats should ideally occur outside, in a grassy location.

Combat resolution is simple. If a weapon strikes your arm or leg, you lose the use of the arm or leg. If you lose a single leg, you may hop or drag the leg without bending the knee. If you lose both legs, sit or lay down. If you are struck in the torso or back, you are incapacitated, and cannot continue to fight. You must sit or lay down immediately.

Once per combat, a character may call a "Light Touch" after being hit by a glancing blow. They may then ignore the effects of the hit. This represents a blow that the player believes did not hit firmly enough to actually cripple the area struck. Light Touches are not a substitute for Dodges or Armor, and should not be used to avoid the effects of solid blows.