FMA Draft part 1B

CHARACTERS: Each miniature figure used in the game represents an individual
"Character". In the Core system each such character is graded in his/her
ability by a single factor known as EXPERIENCE. The five possible levels of
Experience are UNTRAINED, GREEN, REGULAR, VETERAN and ELITE, and the level
attained by a particular character is denoted by the COLOUR of its activation
marker (see later). Note that the terms used for the different Experience
levels are actually quite loose, as the level does not refer solely to the
degree of Combat
experience - it also reflects the amount of formal or informal training
the character has received, their general level of competence, skill with
weapons, coolness under fire and many other factors. In broad terms, the
different levels are defined thus:

UNTRAINED characters are just that; they are ordinary civilians,
non-military personnel and so on, with virtually no training or
experience of combat situations. This level should be used for noncombatants
forced to take up arms by circumstances (eg: citizens protecting their homes
and property), as well as for unarmed "innocent bystanders". An Untrained
character will just about be able to point and fire a weapon if given one,
but in general will be more of a liabilty to his/her own side. The
QUALITY DIE of an UNTRAINED character is a D4.

GREEN characters are those who have had at least a little relevant combat
training (either in Military terms or through life on the streets), but have
seldom if ever had to fire a shot in anger. Such characters would be new
recruits to either Military or Security forces, or perhaps the
less-experienced members of street gangs and the like. They can fight,
but are by no means very good at it. This Experience level could also apply to
members of Militia and National Guard type forces, who have received some
formal training but have little real knowledge of combat. The QUALITY DIE for
GREEN characters is a D6.

REGULAR characters are "average" in terms of combat training and experience;
they will form the bulk of most Military units, and also the more experienced
core of gangs and other such groups. In general terms it
will be unusual for non-Military/Security characters to rise above
REGULAR,
except for the occasional "hero/heroine" or charismatic gang boss.
Characters of REGULAR status normally have at least some experience of being
under fire, know how to react in combat conditions, and are reasonably
competent with weaponry. The QUALITY DIE for REGULARS is a D8.

VETERAN characters are particularly well-trained and experienced in
combat; they will be either professional soldiers with a good few years of
service, or else those that are just naturally good fighters. VETERANS know
what it is like to be shot at, and to shoot people in return. They know how to
follow a good leader, but it should be remembered that they probably survived
this long by knowing when NOT to follow a bad leader..... Most professional
Mercenaries, Bounty Hunters and the like will be of VETERAN
status, as may some long-service Security and Police characters.
The QUALITY DIE for a VETERAN is a D10.

ELITE characters are the deadliest and most effective fighters around. Few
characters will aspire to this level unless they are combat-enhanced in
some way. Combat Cyborgs, "wired" characters and BeeCees will usually be
classed as ELITE, as will the occasional real hero or heroine. Even
"Special Forces" personnel are not automatically ELITE - usually it will
only be a few special individuals in such a unit that will warrant this
highest level. Combat Bots (of the SmartBot variety) are rated as ELITE simply
because they are DESIGNED to be very, very good! The QUALITY DIE of an ELITE
character is a D12.

As mentioned above, the level of EXPERIENCE a character has is denoted during
the game by the COLOUR of the activation marker placed by the figure, as
follows: UNTRAINED = YELLOW marker GREEN = GREEN marker REGULAR = BLUE marker
VETERAN = ORANGE marker ELITE = RED marker.

Each Activation marker (so-called because one of its uses is to be
flipped over to indicate when a figure has used its Activation for that turn)
also carries a number, which represents the character's MOTIVATION LEVEL. This
Motivation Level is a measure of the state of the character's morale, "nerve",
coolness under fire and general will to fight; it strongly affects
the probability that he/she will actually be able to do something
constructive as opposed to hiding in a quivering lump behind the dumpster!
Note that the Motivation Level is also used as the "Leadership" value for any
figure that has been designated as a Leader, as troops or other subordinates
are much more likely to take notice of a leader who has his act together than
one who is cowering in cover....

EXAMPLE: FORMING A UNIT OF CHARACTERS: To give a practical example of how a
small group of characters might be formed for a typical game, we will create a
team of five Police troopers
-
nothing special, just a typical squad of street cops. Choosing five miniatures
to represent the team, we name them and designate the team leader: one female
figure is a particularly dynamic miniature, so we decide she will be the squad
leader, Lt. Morgan. A male trooper is picked as the
second-in-command, Sgt. Lewis. The remaining three figures are all
ordinary officers: Holloway (female), Parnell and Krapski (both male).
Now, we pick activation markers for each figure from a random face-down
assortment. As they are all supposed to be pretty average types, we leave out
any ELITE markers (no heroes!) and UNTRAINED markers (all are assumed to be
trained officers), so the mix contains some GREEN, some VETERAN and a
predominance of REGULAR counters. At least two counters in the mix per figure
in the group is a good rule of thumb.
For Lt. Morgan, we pick a GREEN "1" counter - motivated and gutsy, but
inexperienced; Sgt. Lewis gets a VETERAN "2" - a long-service
professional who knows what he is doing, but wants to live long enough to
collect his pension...
Officer Holloway gets a REGULAR "2" - a good all-round average, while
Parnell and Krapski get REGULAR "3" and VETERAN "3" respectively - both
OK on experience, but relatively unmotivated.
So, we have our basic stats for the five characters - not a lot of
detail, but by applying a bit of imagination we can already see how the group
fits together: Morgan is probably young, not long out of the academy and has
reached her present rank quickly through confidence, nerve and intelligence.
She has not seen enough action to raise her rating above "green", but her
leadership is well respected by her unit. Lewis is a
long-term Sergeant, a career cop with a reliable but unremarkable
service
record - he will probably act as a steadying infuence on Morgan's
impetuousness. Holloway is a fairly experienced officer with several years'
service, but may well be new to this squad. Parnell and Krapski are the
"Laurel and Hardy" of the unit - a pair of old-timers who are quite good
at their jobs but not likely to put themselves in danger if they can help
it -
they will need good leadership and firm motivation if they are to contribute
much to the action.

Five 25mm metal miniatures have thus, with only two "game stats" each plus the
addition of a little storytelling and artistic interpretation, become five
quite different "characters". If we are playing a simple combat game
rather than a role-playing session, this is all we really need - already
you can see that one of them getting shot during the game is going to be a
serious matter, and not just another metal figure taken off the table!

RATING WEAPONS:

Almost any weapon type you can think of can be integrated into the FMA system
by allocating it suitable weapon stats. A weapon type is described by three
RANGE BANDS (Close, Medium and Long ranges), each range band having a die type
for the weapon's FIREPOWER at that range, and an IMPACT die type that
represents the weapon's potential to damage a target once a hit is achieved.
The RANGE BANDS of a weapon determine how far it may be ACCURATELY fired in
typical snap-fire conditions; taking time to AIM the weapon more
carefully will double the length of each range band. In general, the accuracy
of a weapon will degrade as the range increases, so the FIREPOWER DIE for each
range band will be smaller than the previous band - most weapons will
drop one die type per range band, but some whose accuracy drops off sharply
(eg:
Machine Pistols, which output a large volume of fire but with little regard
for accuracy) may drop TWO die types per range band. In general terms, the
Medium range band will usually be twice the Close band, and the Long band
three times Close.

For example, a typical Military Assault Rifle might have a Close range band of
up to 12", Medium band of 24" and Long band of 36"; its Firepower die types
for these ranges are set at D10, D8 and D6 respectively. A Machine Pistol, on
the other hand, might have Range bands of as little as 4", 8"
and 12", but might have Firepower dice of D12, D8 and D4 - the MP is
more
likely to hit than the rifle at point-blank range due to its very high
rate of fire, but its effectiveness drops off very sharply with increasing
distance.

The IMPACT die type of the weapon is a combined measure of its
armour-penetration capability and its actual lethality - these are
definitely not the same thing, but for simplicity of play they are averaged
into the single Impact factor. In the above examples, the Assault Rifle might
have an Impact die of D10 for its reasonably powerful rifle rounds,
while the Machine Pistol gets a D8 to represent its lighter pistol-type
ammunition.

To write up the game stats for each weapon, we suggest the following notation:

ASSAULT RIFLE: 12" (D10), 24" (D8), 36" (D6); Impact D10.

MACHINE PISTOL: 4" (D12), 8" (D8), 12" (D4); Impact D8.

ACTIONS AND ACTIVATIONS:

One of the key parts of FMA is the INTEGRATED TURN SEQUENCE. Basically, each
player takes it in turn to ACTIVATE ANY ONE of his figures and make that
figure perform actions (2 actions per activation in most cases). Once that
figure has completed its activation, it may not normally perform any further
actions in that game turn; the opposing player now activates one of his
figures, and so on. Unlike many skirmish rules, we do not use any kind of
"initiative" system to decide when certain figures may (or must) be
activated - each player has a free choice of activating ANY one of his
as-yet-unactivated figures when it is his turn to do so. This removes
any lengthy procedures of rolling dice, drawing cards or allocating chits to
determine order of play; while it gives the players more freedom to TRY and do
what they want, it also means they have to be making constant value
judgements about what order to do things in - remember, with freedom
goes responsibility! We have found that this method gives a simpler game, with
much more fun than being forced to move a particular figure when the dice tell
you to.

Of course, there are a few instances where the rules and the situation limit
the choice the player has as to which figure to activate when; there are also
some cases where more than one figure may activate simultaneously, or may even
be activated twice in one game turn. Where such special cases arise, however,
they are clearly identified and explained.

Many actions that characters may perform can be assumed to be automatically
successful, if they are something that a normal person could do without
difficulty or any significant chance of failure (eg: we assume that most
characters are able to walk and chew gum at the same time without falling over
or choking....). Whenever a character wishes to attempt something that may or
may not succeed, however, then an opposed roll is made between the character's
skill die type and a Task Difficulty die type that should be assigned by the
Umpire (or by agreement between the players if no umpire is present). If the
character rolls higher than the task difficulty die score, then the character
succeeds in the attempted action; if the character's roll is less than or
equal to the difficulty die score then the attempt fails.
[Option: if the character rolls a ONE, then this may be considered a
CRITICAL FAILURE, and something goes nastily wrong.]

Example: a character with COMPETENT weapons skill manages to jam his rifle;
unjamming it is judged to be an AVERAGE task, so the character rolls his D8
against another D8 rolled either by the umpire or opponent. If the character
rolls better than the difficulty roll, the weapon is unjammed and
may be fired again; if he rolls equal or less, then it is still jammed -
he
may re-attempt the clearing in his next action. If the character rolls a
ONE, then he has actually made the jam worse and the rifle is probably out of
action for the rest of the game.

SKILL DIE TYPES: MASTER: D12 EXPERT: D10 COMPETENT: D8 POOR: D6 HOPELESS: D4

TASK DIFFICULTY DIE TYPES: VERY DIFFICULT: D12 DIFFICULT: D10 AVERAGE: D8
EASY: D6 VERY EASY: D4