RemnantsRPG 2

   

In a broken land In a broken future  fight for what’s left

role playing game 

I INTRODUCTION

Steve BErgeron   ntonio Santos (Order #35193571)

 

Remnants

They are artifacts left over from another age, built before the world burned and the lands were broken. They endure. Remnants is a mecha game unlike any other. Explore the Broken Lands, discover ancient secrets, and control the greatest weapons in the world. Fight for your family. Fight for your honour. Fight to survive. Fight for what’s left.

Outrider Studios II INTRODUCTION OS 201    ntonio Santos (Order #35193571)

 

role playing game 

Written By 

Steve Bergeron

Edited by

Caitlin Bergeron and Pat Patrick rick Riegert Rapidfire Rules by

Stevee Bergeron and Quinton Oliviero Stev Cover and Interior Art by

 Adam Wesierski Wesierski - dasadam.devianta dasadam.deviantart.com rt.com Map by

David Anderson - thistledownhair.deviantart.com thistledownhair.deviantart.com Playtesters

Kirk Bittman, eal Smith, Marcus Padgett, and Te Great Derek Breedon Special Thanks to

21 AC&W Squadron for telling me what they want in i n a tank. Nathaniel Southworth-Barlow for bookmarking the PDF. Published by

Outrider Studios - www.outriderstudios.com web

For more Remnants info go to www.remnantsrpg.com Remnants Role Playing Game is ©2011 Outrider Studios. All rights reserved. Second Printing, 2012. 1 INTRODUCTION

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction

1

Character Creation

43

Credits  W  Welcome elcome Overivew

31 4

Chapter 1 The Broken Lands

6

Te Past Map Te Remnants Battle Remnants

6 9 13 14

Building a Background  Assign Stats Skill List  Advantages & Disadvantages Gear and Money Te Near Humans Character Advancement

44 48 49 54 55 61 63

Chapter 2 Life in the Broken Lands

17

Life Adapted Humanity Adapted Cultures

17 19 20

Chapter 3 Rapifire Rules

26

Stats Skills Difficulty Reserve Rule of Awsome Critical Failures Help!

26 27 27 28 28 28 29

Combat Combat Sequence Combat Modifiers Environment Damage  Armoured Rules  Armoured Combat

29 29 30 32 34 38

Chapter 4 The Characters

41

Building a Group

41

2 INTRODUCTION

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Chapter 5 The Battle Remnants 65

Ishin Creation Remnant Srats Remnant raits

65 66 67

Remnant  rait List Remnant Specialties Remnant Advancement Duress and raits rait Descr Descriptions iptions Upgrades Powers Drones

69 69 71 72 75 75 77 84

Chapter 6 Game Master

89

Rewards Temes

89 92

Rules Options Managing Conflict Bad Weathe eatherr Sample Creatures Mercenaries  Artifacts Open Warfar arfaree

94 95 99 101 103 107 109

Character Sheet

114

Battle Remnant Sheet

115

 

 Any sufficiently advanced advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke  Any sufficiently advanced advanced magic is indistinguishable from techno technology. logy. - Larry Niven

Welcome to REMNANTS  What would happen if primitive peoples living in the burned out wastes of their forebears had access to the deadliest weapons of war? Would they ever rise above barbarism or would they remain locked in unending battles? Would they ever understand the war engines at their disposal or would they languish in ignorance? Remnants  is  is a game about answering these questions.

Players Players in Remnants  take  take the role of “Ishinari.” Tey are warriors who enter battle clad in armoured combat mecha known as Battle Remnants, or Ishin. Tey may fight for their clan, tribe, family or city-state, or they may fight for honour, money, power, or just to survive. Anyone can be an Ishinari and all must choose their own path.

Play Style  As a mecha game, the Focus of Remnants  is  is less on tactical details and more on cinematic action. Stats and rules are just complex enough to ensure maximum variety between each e ach character and their mecha, while things like Reserve, the Rule of Awesome, and critical failures add a more cinematic feel to the game. Tere’s no tactical map and while some exact numbers are listed in terms of ranges and speeds, they are intended more as guidelines than actual hard and fast numbers. Te GM of a Remnants  game  game is responsible for determining the exact style and pacing of the game, and his or her rough plans should be laid out in advance. Where to Start Chapter 1 explains the default setting of Remnants. Chapter 2 includes info about people and cultures that will help players flesh out their characters. Chapter 3 covers the Rapidfire rules system. Rapidfire is fast, flexible, and easy to learn. Chapter 4 has all of the rules for creating a Remnants  character,  character, while Chapter 5 is all about the armoured mecha that are the stars of a Remnants  game.  game. Chapter 6 is for the Game Master and contains information on running a Remnants  game  game and setting up encounters.

3 INTRODUCTION

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Overview Remnants  is  is set in the aptly named Broken Lands. Te Lands are the scarred remains of a once beautiful and verdant place. Most of the mountains are volcanic, the forests are filled with dead and petrified trees, the water is often poison, and wastelands are pockmarked with the bones of dead cities and the massive craters of ancient doomsday weapons.   Life in the Broken Lands is hell, but people adapt, survive, and might one day thrive. Wherever the lands are less than completely inhospitable, people can be found scratching out a living. Tere are plants and animals adapted to the tough conditions and people farm, herd, and make do. Te problem is that there is never enough. Every tribe, every clan, every village, and even the few great city-states live right on the edge of starvation, though few would ever admit it. All it takes is one failed crop, one bad birthing season, or even a bad ash storm and people will fall short. Often, the only recourse is warring on neighbours to try and take what is needed to survive. In hard times, the people of the Broken Lands are like wild dogs -- tearing at each other to get enough scraps to survive.

Then and Now Te history of the broken lands can be summed up as follows: • ere was a great civilization. • It destroyed itself in an apocalyptic war. war. • Now, many centuries later, the remaining people try to scratch out a living in the hell left behind. Te details are a little more complicated than that but that is about as much as the average person knows and few are curious about the past. Who wants to remember the ancestors that brought about the present doom?

Remnants In the context of this game, a Remnant, or Ishi Ishi,, is a piece of the past civilization. Remnants can be anything from tiny trinkets to grand ruins or the great engines of  war known as Ishin, or Battle Remnants. Remnants. Most Ishi are worthless; they are are dead, lifeless and depleted. Few people, if anyone, a nyone, knows how to return old Remnants to their former glory. Some of these ancient Remnants were tools or trinkets, but there are more than a few weapons amongst them. A functioning Remnant weapon can end -- or start -- a war. war. Te one small mercy is that after a fter centuries of treasure hunting and conflict, few of these devastating weapons remain.

4 INTRODUCTION

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The Battle Remnants  While the number of Remnants is decreasing over time, the number of Battle Remnants, or Ishin Ishin,, is slowly increasing. An Ishin is a towering, armoured combat robot. Tey stand between 10 and 20 2 0 feet tall, are controlled by a single pilot, and are armed  with an array of ranged and close combat weapons. Every Battle Remnant looks unique and adapts to the will of its pilot. Remnants repair themselves when damaged and never need to be serviced, refueled, or rearmed. Unless a Remnant is literally ripped to pieces, it rebuilds itself, even after falling in battle. If the Remnant’s Remnant’s pilot is killed, it reverts to a basic form, ready for the next pilot. Te number of Battle Remnants has slowly increased over the years, as a Remnant’s destruction is a rare event and Ishin are still discovered from time to time.   It is hard to guess the exact number of Ishin in the world. All of the strongest tribes and clans possess one or two. Tere are a number of independent mercenary companies with Ishin and all of the great city-states have at least 10 each, if not more. Te best guess is between 1500 and 2500 for the whole of the Broken Lands, but these numbers could be way off in either dir direction. ection. Te Broken Lands ar aree vast and difficult to travel; no one is quite sure how full -- or empty -- they might be. Life Adapted No living thing in the Broken Lands is the same as its counterpart in our world. In fact, most creatures have little or no resemblance to the plants and animals that we  would find familiar familiar.. Tere are two reasons for this. First, the Broken Lands are not a future Earth but rather are on another planet, dimension, or reality. Second, the ancients weren’t just masters of war. Tey cracked the code of life itself; they shaped themselves and the creatures around them to suit their needs. Teir legacy is rampant, rapid evolution. Without the ancients’ knowledge of how to control and direct the path of life, the many species of the Broken Lands took new and sometimes illogical forms. Te crucible that is the Broken Lands ensures that only the strongest, smartest, and most resourceful survived.

The People Surviving in the Broken Lands requires determination, grit, and more than a little luck. Te tribes and clans that scrape a living from the lands are a poor shadow of humanity’s former glory but are made of the toughest and luckiest people to ever take breath. Te people from the city-states might be a little softer, but not much. Regardless of one’s origin, life is short and often violent. When times are desperate, civility and respect often give way to theft and violence. Be careful in your dealings, as justice can be hard to come by. by.

5 INTRODUCTION

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Chapter ONE: The Broken Lands “Legends say that the world was once a beautiful place. Tey say that the lands were green and lush, that food was plentiful, and that our people knew peace. I have no use for legends. I live in a world that rains ash as often as water, where the land vomits fire, and our people bloody their swords to steal enough to survive the winter. Te lands may have been beautiful once but now they are broken.”  Tis chapter looks at the setting of Remnants,Te Broken Lands. In it you will find information on the the Lands’ history and geography. Te chapter ends with an introduction to the leftovers from a previous age known as Remnants.

The Past Te truth of the past is hidden amongst layers of superstition, legends, folk tales and myths. Scattered about are Ishi, or Remnants, left over from that ancient time. Te T e fantastical stories of Ishi further muddy the waters of the past. Written Written below is the closest thing possible to an accurate history of the Broken Lands. Some of it is conjecture 6 THE BROKEN LANDS

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and might be inaccurate, but it is far closer to the truth than most tribal folklore. Read on and form your own conclusions.

On the origin of humanity Humanity did not originate in the Broken Lands. Scholars of the great city-states have  written fragments that confirm it. Te old records records talk of the great journey journey,, or exodus, by  which people came to the Lands. None of the sources are clear on when or where where this happens. Some gateLands, of fire they whilefound othersatalk of a seaNo of one stars.has But they even all agree that  when peoplemention came toa the paradise. found a single  word written about where the first settlers came from.

On the Great Civilization It is most likely that the great civilization was not one but several cultures that rose toto gether in achieving prominence. Tere are several ancient languages that survive as regional dialect, though there was probably a common language that all cultures used for communication. ere is evidence that the great civilization lasted a very long time. In the city-state of Amantin there is massive Ishi that does little more than track the date. “Te Clock of Amantin” claims that it is the 6,543rd year. No one knows if the date is counting up from the founding day of the great civilization or if it refers to some earlier event. e vent. On the Breaking of the Lands  Why the Great Civilization destroyed destroyed itself remains a mystery mystery,, but there are a few a small inklings into how it happened. Te best theory claims that there were two factions. Perhaps they were separated by culture, geography geography,, or even philosophy. philosophy. When tensions arose, one group developed weapons based around living things. Now the Lands have Near Humans, the many different creatures, and the Monstrosities as a result of their efforts. Te other group built constructs of steel and fire. Teir legacy is the Battle Remnants. It  was probably both sides that developed de veloped the doomsday weapons of the apocalypse. As the conflict grew, one side grew desperate and struck with their weapons of last resort. Teir enemy, reeling, retaliated in kind. Teir final strikes destroyed lands that were already ravaged by war. It has been 9 centuries and there are only the smallest signs the land is recovering. Te date became much easier to determine after the discovery of Te Clock of  Amantin. Using the clock and what few written records remain, Amantin scholars deduced that apocalypse occurred sometime between 850 and 890 years ago. Tey have so far been unable to refine the date further. It is quite possible that the apocalypse was not one event but a series of events during those years.

The Broken Lands Te Broken Lands are an entire world with continents, oceans, islands, and icecaps. We  will just look at the north western-most chunk of the largest continent. While this area once had a name, it is lost to the ancients. Here it will be referred to as the Broken Lands or just the Lands, but it should be kept ke pt in mind that a whole world lays THE BROKEN LANDS

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beyond the borders of the map. Te GM’s discretion determines the contents of these distant lands. So, be nice to your GM lest they be filled with invading armies of Grand Monstrosities.

Overview On p. 9 is a reference map showing the notable parts of the Lands. Tere are no actual distances given, but traveling from Morat Kerr (#2) in the north to the southern tip of the Shattered would take aRemnant, slow moving Caravan making trading stopsa between 4 Road and 8(#17) months. A Battle running straight as an regular arrow for 10 hours day, could do it much, much faster but it wouldn’t see much. Numbers on the map correspond with the descriptions below. below. 1. Te Last Mountain Te Last Mountain is a towering volcano that has a minor eruption every few years. Even  when not erupting, it smokes, bubbles, and gives off a fetid odour. odour. Its western slopes drop right into the sea and its heat holds the advancing ice at bay. Te Last Mountain is of interest to many as its southern slopes are covered in the mostly buried remains of the largest known site of Ishi ruins. Tey remain well preserved beneath the layers of basalt and pumice. Successful expeditions bring back treasure troves of Ishi. Failed expeditions are consumed by the fires of the mountain, forever becoming part of the landscape. 2. City-state of Morat Kerr e ground in Morat Kerr is frozen nine months of the year. e summers are short, muddy,, and full of parasitic insects. Morat Kerr eexists muddy xists because it is next to the Kerr Forest. Te woods there are almost unscathed compared to the rest of the Broken Lands. About one in four trees are fit for harvest. Te Morati harvest the trees in early spring and late fall and export lumber and finished products when the Caravans arrive right before the spring thaw. It is a hard place to live, and Morat Kerr is the smallest of the city-states. If the Caravans were to fail to arrive in the spring, the Morati would suffer terribly. terribly. 3. Te Ice Fields Te beginning of the Ice Fields are marked by where the ground fails to thaw during summer. Tey include tundra, arctic lakes, actual ice fields, and glaciers. Animals and people this far north are sparse but well adapted to the frigid environment. Te ice fields are spreading. Every year for the last century or so, another half mile of the Lands fail to melt, becoming part of the frozen north. No one knows why this is happening, but if the trend continues, Morat Kerr will become part par t of the Ice Fields within a century. 4. Te Vast  Vast  Te endless rolling fields might have once been the bed of a shallow sea. Now the Vast is a sea of drab green stretching beyond the horizon. Only a few hardy species of grass take root in its poisoned soil and every ever y creature that roams its expanse either feeds on the grass or preys on the grazers.

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3.

1.

The

2.

Broken Lands 4. 8.

5. 7. 6.

10. 9.

11. 12.

15. 16.

13. 14. 18.

17.

13.

15. 19. 20.

5. Shieldstone Mountains Te Shieldstone Mountains are most likely a natural formation and not a product of the apocalypse. Tey are tall but rounded and well weathered. Tey have just two active volcanoes, both of which are small but unpredictable. Still, the Shieldstones are a rough place. Te peaks are tall enough that men trying to scale them lose their breath and their passes and lower altitudes are teaming tea ming with cannibals, creatures, and Monstrosities. 6. Te Broken Hills Te Broken Hills look like a lush place but almost every plant that grows there is poisonous. e hullserd, a creature that looks like a woolly, miniature oxen, is able to graze on some of what grows there. Te Hill Clans of the area base their success on managing hullserd, and failure can leave a clan choosing between starvation and raiding. Small raids and wars are more common in the Broken Hills than anywhere else in the Lands.

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 A scavenger searches the ruins at the base base of the Last Mount Mountain ain 7. City-state of Cradle Lake Morat Kerr has lumber; Cradle Lake has fish and lots of them. How fish arrived in the lake and why they thrive is a mystery, mystery, but the people of Cradle Lake are taking full advantage. o make matters even stranger, the lake has the characteristic shape of an “Ishik,” “Ishik,” or Remnant Lake, meaning it is shaped like an impact crater. Most Ishik are lifeless and barren, or dangerous even to approach, making Cradle Lake unique. 8. Te Marsh Coast  Marshes are excellent natural filters of poisons and toxins, and the further one travels into the marsh lands, the more vibrant and full of life they become. Te problem is that the abundance of life attracts more creatures and Monstrosities than anywhere else in the Broken Lands. 9. Te Bleeding Mountain For as far back as Amantin has records, the Bleeding Mountain has been oozing lava into the surrounding lands. Te cooled lava fields stretch for as far as the eye can see in every direction. If the mountain doesn’t let up soon, its lava fields will roll into the Forest of Glass. 10. Te Forest of Glass It might have once been a normal forest but the strip of land known k nown as the Forest of Glass is made thousands of spires of crystal. Like the crystals in a chemistry set, the crystals grow,, expand, and then shatter. Tere are several species of creatures adapted to grow live in the bizarre forest, but it is a dangerous place ffor or humans to travel. Still, 10 THE BROKEN LANDS

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humans make the dangerous journey through the forest, searching for Ishi and valuable gems. 11. City-state of Amantin Some call Amantin the center of civilization; others call it the deepest cesspool in the Broken Lands. Built on the bones of an Ishi ruin, Amantin is the largest city-state in the known world. It is also the dirtiest, most dangerous, and most corrupt. Its main trade is slaves, followed closely by the export of arms. Tough Amantin smiths lack the individual talents of those in the Hill Clans, they produce huge masses of weapons that are found in  warriors’’ hands thousands of miles away  warriors away.. Te Amantins do not fear the danger of arming their enemies. Teir vaunted Jade Guard contains no less than 15 battle-hardened veteran Ishin. 12. Forest of ears Te Forest of ears still stands, but the trees are long dead and rotted. Every year, more of the forest falls and crumbles as weather and time attack its outlying trees. Tere is little life in the dead mass, but the few things that do live there are scavengers feeding off the rot. Rumours persist of there being unexplored Ishi ruins at the forest’ forest’ss heart, but few f ew dare to enter the cursed place. 13. Te Burning Fields Te Burning Fields are not on fire but are massive stretches of land where the fires of the  world’ss core are too close to the surface. Tere are rivers of molten lava, boiling lakes,  world’ smoking earth, geysers, and poisonous gas. Minor eruptions are common amongst the  jagged rocks. Tere are a few Wastelander guides that can cross the Burning Fields, but everyone else goes around. 14. Te Great Canyons Te Great Canyons are far more complex than the basic map would lead one to believe -there are hundreds of small channels, islands, tributaries, and hidden valleys. As the great river carves deeper and deeper into the earth, it has exposed pockets of land that are free of the poison found elsewhere in the Broken Lands. It is possible in places to farm a crop, as long as the spring flooding isn’ isn’t too bad. While the great river itself is not safe to drink, many of its tributaries are pure enough for human consumption. Most of the tribes of the canyons are centered around these valleys and rivers that give life. 15. Deep Wastes Most of the lands are separated by the Deep Wastes. Te Wastes are places where almost nothing grows. Tey might be great flat expanses of dirt and stone, broken slabs of blackened rock, cratered moonscapes, or even plains of cracked glass. Tere are Wastes, most often near craters, where it is unsafe to even breathe the air. So-called “Wasteland Sickness” is one of the most unpleasant ways to die. Wastelanders seem to be resistant to the disease and are known to be able to survive multiple bouts of it. It should be noted, however,, that Wastelanders rarely live to see their 30s. however

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16. Fire Wall Mountains Te Fire Wall Mountains are a chain of active volcanoes stretching along the Broken Lands’ western edge. Teir frequent eruptions, combined with prevailing winds out of the  west, blow ash and smoke ov over er much of the Lands at least once a decade if not more. Even Even  Wastelander  W astelander guides refuse to climb or even approach them, and going around them means either a dangerous sea voyage or a long journey through the burning sands of the south. 17. Te Shattered Road  Te Shattered Road stretches for hundreds of miles between one of the Great River’s River’s main tributaries and the Oasis of Wosaro in the Southern Desert. Hundreds of feet wide at its narrowest and several miles across at its widest, the road looks like a flat expanse of polished steel spider-webbed with thousands of hairline cracks. It is smooth, easy to travel, and the preferred route for Caravaners. It is dotted along the way with Ishi ruins, since re-inhabited with people making a living off the passing Caravans. 18. Crater Lakes Waste Only the largest lakes are shown in an area a rea composed of thousands of water-filled craters. Believed to be the site of a massive ancient battle, the Crater Lakes Waste is one of the most dangerous Wastelands in the world. Wasteland Sickness is almost a certainty for people daring to venture here, and Grand Monstrosities are common, but the rewards of such a risk are hard to ignore. Even after centuries of pillaging, the area is full of Ishi artifacts and even a few ancient Battle Remnants. 19. Te Salt Flats Te Salt Flats are just that, a flat, endless plain of salt pans. Many have ventured into the flats, wondering what rests on the far side -- none have returned. Either they all died or found something so wondrous they refused to come back. While sober realists guess it is the former, a few dreamers set out for the flats, believing it’ it’ss the latter. 20. Southern Desert  It’s hard to think of a desert being a place untouched by disaster, but compared to the north, the Southern Desert has changed little in a thousand years. It grew hotter, and

Well-preserved Ishi relics litter the southern Desert. Some have small oasis towns built around them. 12 THE BROKEN LANDS

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dryer, but it is has always been a hot and desolate place. Parts of the desert are rolling sand dunes, but most of it is rocky and dotted with scrub and brush. Te barren expanse is interrupted by the occasional oasis, where one can find Ishi ruins and small pockets of Desert Clans.

The Remnants Te word “Ishi” means something that lasts or endures. Over the centuries, its meaning evolved now it translation refers only of to Ishi things that have endured since before the apocalypse. Tus, thesomodern is “Remnant,” or a piece of the ancient world. Ishi can take any form and do almost anything.

Ishi Ruins Te ancients were experts at architecture and they worked with all sorts of materials. For a building to have survived until today, it had to avoid destruction in the apocalypse, be made out of a long lasting material like stone or concrete, and be placed well enough to avoid the worst of the disasters and wars that have happened in the centuries since their construction. Te ancients were so skilled and so prolific that finding ruins is easy. Even the great city-states are built on the bones of ancient ruins. Te difficult thing is finding ruins with useful things within them. A millennium of pillaging and decay has left precious little of value for the intrepid treasure hunter.

Ishi Trinkets Most so-called Ishi “trinkets” and “charms” are worthless. Vendors and Caravaners sell a thousand fakes for every trinket that actually dates from the time of the ancients. Of those trinkets, perhaps one in a hundred does something; the rest are just dead fragments. ose few trinkets that do work can do amazing things. ey might knit together mortal  wounds, or purify water, water, or heat up enough to cook food without a fire, or produce music music from nowhere, or make light without fire, or do anything else e lse imaginable. No one knows how they function, but there are thousands such trinkets out there. Tere are Clan and ribe chiefs that derive all their power from such things, and such men are hungry for more of these trinkets. Ishi Weapons One of the small mercies of the Remnant weapons is that their power is tied to their complexity. Some of the great weapons of the apocalypse still linger, unused, but no one remains who understands them. Tere have been a few occasions over the centuries when these weapons were used accidentally. Te most recent occurred three decades ago when someone triggered a powerful Ishi weapon in the Amantin slave quarters. Over 200 slaves died but there was not a mark on any of their bodies. Te slaves all died in agony, agony, and their screams were heard even e ven beyond the city’ city’ss high walls. Ishi Limitations No one can say for certain what an Ishi can or cannot do. Te people of the Broken Lands lack the knowledge and background to even begin to speculate THE BROKEN LANDS

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on the intended use of most Ishi, let alone the limitations of an object’s design. Te only  way to find out the limits of a given Ishi is through the often da dangerous ngerous process of trial and error.

Battle Remnants Te subject of this game and much of its rules and literature centre around the towering armoured mecha known as Battle Remnants. Also known as Ishin, they are one of the highlights of the Broken Lands. Tey stand as a testament to the ingenuity of the ancients, the contrast between the old world and the present, and the constant threat of violence that hangs over all who risk living in the Broken Lands.

Why They Endure  A common question amongst scholars is “why did the Ishin endure while the rest of the world burned?” Te best answer is also the simplest: the long life of the Ishin was an unintended consequence of their design. Te records are clear in that today’s greatest weapons of war were considered little more than long range scouts and light harassment forces. Tere are rusted hulks of war engines (known as “Ishin Keth”) that would have stood twice as tall as the largest Ishin. Te difference between these great war engines and the smaller Ishin was a problem of maintenance. Long range scouts had to be self-sufficient; whoever designed the Ishin made them self-repairing to an excessive degree. While the greater war engines had no one to repair and rearm them, the lesser Ishin rebuilt themselves a hundred times over. It is unlikely that their designers intend them to be still making war almost a millennium later.

The Look of Ishin No two Ishin look alike. Some are armoured and plodding, others move with the grace of a dancer, and others move so fast it’s hard for the eye to follow them. Te smallest Ishin stand about twice the height of a man; the largest can stand taller than four men together. Tey can walk, run, roll, swim, jump, climb, and even fly. Some blister with long range  weapons, while others are covered covered with blades or spinning saws. Many Many can send out small automatons to fight for them and a few can disappear from sight. Tey come in every colour,, shape, and size. ere only a few general rules to which they adhere: lour a dhere: Ishin maintain the basic human form (two arms, two legs etc.); they tend to get larger the more time they are in the possession of a single warrior; and such a warrior can direct, with a great deal of precision, how the Ishin looks. 14 THE BROKEN LANDS

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The Toughness of Ishin Battle Remnants are incredibly tough. Tey can repair themselves even after suffering massive damage. Even destroyed limbs can be regenerated in the time it takes to get a good night’s night’s sleep. Tey will shut down if they’ they’re re hit hard enough, but will rise again in 8 hours even stronger than they were before. Still, they are not invincible. Tere are so many stories of normal men bringing Ishin low that they cannot all be discounted. Most often though, it takes heavy siege weapons, a Monstrosity Monstrosity,, or another Ishin to bring down the armoured behemoths. Ishinari Remnant pilots, most often called “Ishinari”, are nothing if not diverse. Te Ishin function the same for the young and the old, the weak and the strong, and the rich and the poor. Tere are tribal leaders who were groomed to be Ishinari almost from birth and others who stole or even stumbled upon their armour. Some are cruel, others kind, but most are in between. Many develop a fear of being unarmoured, while others dread using the machines at all. Tere is just one common thread amongst Ishinari: they are killers. In war, only a small percentage of warriors -- less than 1 in 10 -- do the vast majority of the actual killing. Ishinari are the exception. An Ishinari does not hesitate to lay waste to his or her enemies. Perhaps thebut armour does them, or that greatarmour. power causes a sense of detachment, Ishinari aresomething dangerous,toboth in and outsuch of their Tat being said, most are not true murderers or butchers. Rather they are men and  women who can and will kill their fellow man.

Debunking Rumours Te legends about Battle Remnants are endless. People are quick to accept rumours as truth, and the legends around Ishin grow constantly. A common belief is Ishin grant their pilots immortality. Yes, Ishinari live long (if they don’t die by violence), but in the Broken Lands it is a matter of food and status that grants long life (see Humanity Adapted, p 20). Another common myth is that Ishin “heal the THE BROKEN LANDS

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 wounds of the pilot. pilot.”” Tis rumo rumour ur stems fr from om a qu quality ality Ishin do possess; namely namely,, if a man  who was blind, deaf, mute, or lame were to control an Ishin, he would find those senses returned to him while in his armour. armour. Te Ishin would not heal or repair his deficiency but,  while he was armoured, it would be as though he were whole.

Ishin Limitations Te greatest limitation of a Battle Remnant is its pilot. A man can go perhaps a full day and almost night, sunrise to sunrise (24inhours), before he is too exhausted to control his speak armour. It’s impossible to sleep the cramped pilot’s cavity and many Ishinari of their armour sapping their strength if they wear it too long. It might just be that they suffer from the stiffness of joints that anyone finds from spending too much time in tight confines.

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Chapter two: Life in the Broken Lands It is surprising that anyone, or anything, manages to survive in the Broken Lands. Life endures despite the odds. In this chapter you can find information on the creatures of the Broken Lands, how humanity has adapted to survive the harsh environment, and information on the cultures that have risen in the Lands’ different regio regions. ns.

Life Adapted Life is tenacious and fragile. While any individual member of a species might die under the slightest duress, exterminating an entire e ntire species requires a lot more effort. Even in our  world where we have spent centuries destroying habitat and poisoning our air and water and have killed off our fair share of species, life resists and adapts. In the Broken Lands, that process of adaption keeps life thriving despite a hostile landscape.

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Evolution Rapid adaption is the cornerstone of survival in Broken Lands. Te air, land, and water are too dangerous and variable for any living thing that is resistant to change. Te people of the Lands know that creatures change a lot from generation to generation, but there is evidence in the histories that this is not a natural state of affairs. It appears that creatures once changed at rates slower than the advance of glaciers, if at all. However they did it, the ancients made it so that creatures and even people are quick to change, quick to adapt, and quick to lose undesirable traits. Tere are even a few creatures that affect intentional changes to themselves and then pass those changes on to offspring. Evolution, as the ancients called it, is rampant and its pace is increasing. Creatures Te world can be split into six rough groups of creatures: Humans, Near Humans, Far Humans,  Animals, Monstrosities, and Grand Monstrosities. While humans are known by explanation. all, the others need some Near Humans  Humans  are people who have split off from the main line of humanity far enough that they are a separate sepa rate species. Near Humans are usually optimized to live in a par particular ticular climate or extreme circumstance (see p. 61).   Far Humans are Humans are creatures that might have once been men but that are now just clever beasts. Te smartest can still speak and communicate with normal men but even they succumb to animal urges. Far Humans sometimes travel in great hunting packs and,  when food is scarce, these packs turn cannibalistic. Most of animals animals as their pets andshould creatures in the field, like every the useful hullserd or the think lumbering gurlak. asTe definition be extended further: bug, creature, and beast that roams the Lands is an animal. Te dividing line between animals and other creatures is their intelligence. Animals operate on instinct and can be quite clever but they are not aware of themselves the mselves as such. Even the most primal Far Human and the most vicious Monstrosity has some sense of self. Monstrosities are Monstrosities  are creatures that have no relation to men but are still aware of  what they are. Tey can be as clever and canny as men, perhaps even more so, but their interests are alien to human thought. Most Monstrosities are cruel and vicious creatures, but some only desire to be left alone. Grand Monstrosities are the Monstrosities that grow so large that their only remaining desire is to feed. Grand Monstros Monstrosities ities are rare but they are terrifying when they go on a rampage. 18 LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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Plants Tere were once hundreds of thousands of different kinds of plants. Most died out during the apocalypse. Perhaps a few thousand different species of plant and tree survive to the present day. Most leech poisons out of the ground and thus are poisonous themselves. Tere are a few that filter the poisons, and these rare treasures are safe to eat. Te one exception is the lands of the Canyon ribes. Teir farms are full of edible crops, and the relative bounty makes them a target for raids.

Humanity Humanit y Adapted  While the Life Adapted section covered the many changes to the creatures of the Broken Lands, it neglected to mention one very important creature: humans. People in the Broken Lands are not the same as those in our world. Some of their qualities are the result of the tinkering of the ancients while others are the result of the rampant evolution e volution affecting all creatures. Below are the most important differences: Everyone Is Immortal, but Immortal, but few survive to experience it. Te ancients cracked the code on life and then they cracked the code on death. As a person approaches the age of 40, their body stops aging andand enters a state ofold continuous regeneration. means everyone can live indefinitely never suffer age. It also means thatTis people will that recover from all but the most maiming wounds, and most illnesses are kept at bay. Te cost for this immortality is an increased metabolism as the body struggles to keep itself young. As one enters their 40s, the amount of food they need to survive almost doubles. In a place where food is scarce, people often start starving to death as they age. Called “the aging sickness sickness”” or “age decay,” the majority of people who make it into their 40s die emaciated, as their meager diet fails to keep up with their accelerating metabolism. Only the rich and the powerful can afford enough food to escape age decay decay.. Te fact that most Ishinari are wellfed and thus long-lived is probably the reason for the false rumour of Battle Remnants granting their pilots immortality. immortality. Tey Are A Lot ougher Tan Us, but Us,  but in ways that are pretty transparent. A human in the Broken Lands breathes in more dust and ash in a year than a coal miner breathes in his entire life. Tat human can digest “food” that would kill a normal person and endure levels of heavy metals and poisons that would cause organ failure in a normal person. Tey can endure higher levels of radiation and are even less likely to get infections from  wounds. Tat’s Tat’s not to say they’re they’re super human. Tey can be poisoned, it’s it’s just harder to do. Te same is true for f or radiation sickness and smoke inhalation. Tey are not any stronger physically than we are, and they will die just as easily by violence. Humanity Has Fractured , and the divisions are getting wider. Tere four known species of so-called “Near Humans,” and there might be more. It is not known if they were created for the wars of the apocalypse or were a result of it. Either way, as Near Humans optimize themselves towards the extreme environments they LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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call home, they become less and less human, both in appearances and attitudes. Player Characters can be Near Humans with the GM’ GM’ss permission. See p. 61 for info.

Cultures Tere are nine general regions that the characters can be from, but to say that each region represents a single, unified culture would be false. Te cultures of the people are as fractured as the lands in which they live. In the Hill Clans, for example, Clan Abal is a traditional patriarchy with leadership passing from father to son, with a set pecking order for each family within the clan and strict codes of honour and conduct for every member me mber..  When the clan raids, every able-bodied member over the age of 12, man or woman, takes up the sword. Te next clan over, Clan Neran, has a rotating leadership held by the women, who control all aspects of clan life. However However,, only the men are considered expendable ex pendable enough to fight in raids. Tis pattern of extremes in rules of life repeats itself hundreds of times over, over, and that is just in the Broken Hills. Te differentiation from clan to clan, tribe to tribe, and city to city is so great that any social structure the GM wants to be possible likely exists somewhere.   Te descriptions below cover just the broadest aspects of these regions, and any individual tribe, group, or clan will need some fleshing out to really come alive.

Te Hill Clans Te clans of the Broken Hills are small, proud, and warlike. Each clan traces its lineage to a patriarch or matriarch that dates back to the apocalypse. As clans split, merged, and died out over the centuries, many clans came to share the same progenitors. Allegiance between b etween clans is often based on this te tenuous nuous shared ancestry ancestry..   Tere are between 800 and 1000 clans in all the hills. Te average clan has between 5 and 20 extended families, with their numbers ranging between 50 and 150 clan members. Clansmen are dark-haired, light-skinned, stand between 5 and 6 feet tall, and dress in wool and leather. Te smiths of the clans make excellent steel and mail to outfit their warriors, while the dyes made from the many poisonous flowers of the region allow for bright, brilliant colours for their wool.   Given that most plants in the hills are poisonous to humans, their main source of survival is the herding of hullserd. Te hullserd is a perfect pe rfect example of the meddling of the ancients in evolution. It has wool like a sheep; milk and meat similar to a cow; and despite being only a little larger than a sheep, it has the strength and endurance of a heavy labour animal. Its stomach can digest almost any plant, no matter how poisonous, making it the perfect animal for the hills.   Raids between clans are common, with raiders after two things: hullserd and slaves. Te more hullserd a clan controls, the richer it is. Slavery is normal amongst all the clans, but slaves are not as mistreated as one might think. Te taking of slaves reduces the chances of inbreeding amongst the small clans, and almost all recognize the children of slaves as full clan members.   While raids are the norm amongst clans, the occasional feud can turn into a full clan war. war. Clan wars are vicious, bloody affairs, and any clan with more than 10 20 LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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 An Ishin of one one of the Hill Clans leads leads its people to war war.. families can be expected to bring at least one Battle Remnant to the fight.   It takes a very powerful or charismatic leader to unite the clans for any length of time, but it does happen. Over fifty years ago, the Great Chief Renkalat united over 200 clans and led them on a massive ma ssive raid of Amantin. While they did not burn the city as they intended, they managed to loot its food stores and slave pens. Te Canyon ribes ribes Te tribes of the Great Canyons are unique in the Broken Lands in that they are structured farming. As centuries of erosion at the canyon of floors exposedabundance. fresh, untaintedaround soil, farming communities sprung up to take advantage the relative Each tribe is tied to a piece of land, with villages farther up amongst the canyon walls and fields down on the flood plains. Te largest and most successful tribes are just beginning to experiment with dikes and canals to control the river’ river’ss floods and improve their crops.   Tere are about 150 tribes scattered along the river’ river’ss many tributaries and each has between 600 and 1200 members, depending on the size of the sliver of land that’s suitable for farming. Te average tribesman is fairly tall, has pale hair and eyes, and the tanned skin of someone who spends long days working the fields.  ribesmen ribesmen dress in linen and leather and prefer muted tans t ans and grays for their clothing.   Te tribes maintain lines of communication and trade thanks to a sub-culture of “river-runners.” “river-runners.” River-runners use canoes, boats, b oats, and even barges to travel between the tribes. Tey trade goods, rumours, and slaves, taking the wares of Caravaners LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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to the many tribes that the Caravans cannot reach. Most river-runners owe no allegiance to any one tribe and are a re often contracted to ferry warriors in time timess of war.   War between the tribes is almost always a matter of survival. Crop failures are frequent and most tribes would rather go to war than starve.  ribal ribal wars are brutal affairs. Te objective of an attacking tribe is to force out or slaughter the defenders and take over their lands. Battle Remnants see heavy use during tribal wars. When not warring, they are used in the fields and for construction. Te Marshlanders It is hard to believe that people survive sur vive in a place as miserable and dangerous as the Marshlands. Marshlanders live in a world that is always damp, where rain is the norm, and where almost every insect and animal is poisonous. Tey manage to exist in tiny villages raised above the bogs on stilts and they endure the environment with a combination of meticulous living, cautiousness, and innovation.   Marshlander villages never have more than 150 members and are separated by long distances. Te average Marshlander stands little over 5 feet tall, has dark hair, and tan skin. Marshlanders wear little clothing at all during the blistering hot summers and wear animal skins as the temperature dips towards freezing in the winter. As a people, MarshMarsh landers are cautious, observant, and alert to the many dangers of living in the marshes.   Te Marshlands are isolated from the rest of the Broken Lands due to the inhospitable terrain. A few Caravans skirt the area, trading with the villages on the outer edge, but as one digs deeper into the heart of the marshes, one finds more and more isolated and primitive communities. Some Marshlanders do not even possess basic iron or bronze and believe Ishin to be otherworldly demons.   Te large distances between villages means war is rare compared to other parts of the Broken Lands, but when Marshlanders choose to do battle, it is quiet, abrupt, and short. Tey use sneak attacks, poisoned weapons, and attack from range. Te Desert Clans Te Clans of the Southern Desert are composed of two groups: nomadic herders and oasis dwellers. Te nomads traverse the desert with their herds and keep one step ahead of dehydration and starvation. Oasis dwellers build towns and markets around their precious water sources, and the largest are now approaching the size and powers of city-states.   Te average herding group consists of one “tent” composed of three or four adults and accompanying children. Tese small family units meet and mix at oasis towns, establishing extended family relations, reaching back generations to form loose clan systems. Te number of clans, let alone the number of families, is hard to estimate, but there are at least a hundred clans -- perhaps many times that -- with a minimum of three to ve families per clan. e oasis towns range in size from a few dozen to several hundred people. Te largest, Wosaro Oasis at the southern tip of the Shattered Road, boasts almost 5,000 people and a nd there is talk of the “City-State of Wosaro Wosaro..”   Te nomads and the oasis dwellers have a similar appearance: they are tall, lanky, lanky, and dress in flowing robes. Tey range from tanned with fair hair and eyes to very dark  with hair and eyes to match.   When war comes to the desert, it is clan against clan, or clan against 22 LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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oasis. Tere are also herders who have abandoned their traditional way of life, and now live as raiding clans, surviving by attacking isolated families or raiding smaller oasis towns. e deadliest of these clans possess Ishin, which are often specialized for rapid, violent ambushes. Te Caravaners Te great Caravans are what bring trade, news, and any sense of a wider world to the people of the Broken Lands. A Caravan arriving with a load of foreign and exotic goods is a  welcome sight for any clan or tribe, and Caravaners find respect and admiration wherever they travel. Teir famous rolling cities can be found all over the Broken Lands, moving goods around for tidy profit.   Te smallest Caravans consist of a few wagons pulled by teams of hullserd, but they pale in comparison to the 30 or so grand Caravan cities. Each consists of five or six chains of wagons, each hundreds of feet long and pulled by massive Gurlaks. Each Caravan city has several hundred occupants. Every night, the wagons are pulled up next to each other to form miniature cities full of raucous music, and the chatter of half a dozen languages. Each Caravan has groups of followers that move with the Caravan for mutual defence, and some of these camp followers eventually become Caravaners in their own right. Due to the mobile nature of the Caravans, there is no single feature common to all Caravaners. Instead, they look like a mix of heritages and speak a mix of languages.   Carvaners do not go to war but war comes to them. Tey travel the dangerous  Wastelands  W astelands and face threats from raiders, creatures, and even Grand Monstrosities. M Most ost Caravans have at least a few Ishin for defence as well as some other Ishi weapons and items. Te Caravans themselves are more fortified than they appear appear,, and all have archery/ lookout towers several stories tall dotting their massive wagons.  Wastelanders  Wastelanders Tere are people that scratch some sort of living out the dead lands between the more survivable regions of the Broken Lands. Tey are the Wastelanders, and they defy the odds every day they survive. Te Broken Lands are a rough place full of hardy people but even the toughest people do not understand what it is that drives Wastelanders to travel the Wastes.   Wastelanders are almost all loners who leave their clans or tribes to wander the  Wastes.  W astes. With the exception of the Porteth people, Wastelanders do not form communities or even extended families. f amilies. Tey sometimes act as guides ffor or Caravans or foolish souls hunting Ishi. Tey look like whatever culture they came from but most often dress in the hides and shells of the creatures they’ they’ve ve defeated in the W Wastes. astes.   Te Wastelanders have no unifying culture and do not experience war in the traditional sense. However, However, each is a tough sur survivor vivor and a capable combatant. One has to be to survive the unforgiving W Wastes. astes. Te Ice tribes Of all the Broken Lands’ tribe and clans, none are smaller or more dispersed than the Ice ribes of the north. One can travel the Ice Fields for weeks without seeing a living person only to stumble upon one of their small, temporary settlements. LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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Tere are less than 100 tribes and each has no more than 30 to 5 50 0 members. Tribesmen are short and heavyset but much stronger than their size would indicate. e eyy have dark hair and eyes and wear clothes made of insulating skins and furs. Teir settlements can be made from ice, though semi-permanent settlements are made from bone and hide.   Living on the Ice Fields of the north is not as harsh as one might think. Te ice tribes have survived on the ice for centuries with a stable population. While conditions are harsh, major disasters are very rare when compared to the rest of the Broken Lands. Teir isolation, combined with strong traditions, make the tribes friendlier than the many  warrior cultures of the south, and any lost stranger can find hospitality with the tribe, as long as they stay friendly and help with the daily chores.   War is not an option for the tribesmen; they are too few and spread out too far. far. No army from the south has ever tried to invade the north since there’s nothing worth taking. On the rare occasion that tribes come into conflict, they settle disputes with sacrosanct duels. Te City-States Te three great city-states are full of people, corruption, crime, slaves, and filth. Tey are all surrounded by fields that manage to grow a minimum staple of foods, but the lifeblood of these states is trading their resources to Caravans and foreigners. Tey trade lumber in Morat Kerr, dried fish and oil in Cradle Lake, and the currency is slaves and weapons in  Amantin.   Each of the city-states has a population in excess of 15,000 people, with thousands more scattered in satellite villages in the surrounding area. City dwellers tend to be more diverse but less hardy than tribesmen and clansmen. Clothing for the city dwellers is a function of whom they trade with. Te Morati wear furs and skins. Cradlers import Hullserd wool from the east, and Amantin, located at the crossroads between north and south, see clothes and styles arrive from the whole of the Broken Lands.   Each of the city-states are well fortified against attack and possess powerful Ishi  weapons to ward off raids and creatures. Te Teyy also each boast a minimum of 10 Ishin. Ishinari in the city-states are well respected and many are powerful magistrates, generals, or members of the ruling class. Te Vast  Beyond the narrow passes of the Shieldstone Mountains lies what appears to be an endless sea of scrub grass. On these endless plains roam massive herds of creatures who feed on the grass. In lesser numbers are the predators that feed off the herds, and the deadliest of these predators are the riders of the Vast. Te V Vastmen astmen follow the herds, protecting them from other predators and even other V Vastmen. astmen.   Vastmen stand about 5 ft 10in, but it is hard to judge their height because they spend most of their lives mounted. Vastmen Vastmen are known for their light hair, often blond or red, and their blue, green, or grey eyes. Tey wear clothes made from leather and hide and carry weapons made from bone or imported iron. Tey travel in tribal groups of up to 150 people and the groups can amalgamate together into war clans of over 1,000 people. Te true number of Vastmen Vastmen is not kknown. nown. In fact, not even the VastVast24 LIFE IN THE BROKEN LANDS

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men know how far the Vast Vast stretches, but it seems to be many thousands of kilometers.   Te riding culture of the Vast is complex and considered sacred by its adherents. Tere are no less than seven creatures that Vastmen use as mounts. Some are suited for speed, others for long distance running, one is stealthy stealthy,, and there is one armoured creature for heavy combat. A successful V Vast ast warrior will own one of each, while a wealthy warrior  will own many more.   Tere are few things more terrifying than Vastmen riding to war. war. Tey use an all-cavalry force supplemented with Ishin. Teir tribes often war with each other, other, but the massive war clans can and do cross the Shieldstone Mountains and strike deep into the rest of the Broken Lands. Several decades ago, one war clan even raided Cradle Lake before returning back to the Vast.

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Chapter Three: Rapidfire Rules Remnants  uses   uses the high-speed, results-driven system known as “Rapidfire,” which works on the premise of eliminating complexity, speeding up play, play, and simplifying bookkeeping. In Rapidfire, all conflicts are resolved with a single d6 (regular six-sided die) roll against a difficulty number.   Tis system allows an element of chance to be incorporated into the game while eliminating the need for specialized or complicated charts, tables, math, or dice. It takes almost no time to swing a sword, and the Rapidfire system aims to preserve that spontaneity of action. It breaks down to one quick roll, with a higher number increasing the player’ss chance of success. Simply stated, all actions in Rapidfire are resolved with: player’ 1d6+Skill+Stat+Modifiers 1d6+Skill+Stat+M odifiers vs. Difficulty 

Stats Stats are the core virtually any RPG. Tese Stats generally determine how big, fast, smart, nimble, tough, or even good looking your character is. In the Rapidfire system, all of these attributes are reduced down to and covered by three Stats: Body, Mind, and Spirit. Tese Stats range from -2 (worst) to +2 (best), (b est), with 0 representing the average.   Te absolute human maximums are +3 and -3. Tese extremes are not options at character creation, however. however. A -3 Stat would be the result of a crippling injury or horrible disease. A +3 Stat is the pinnacle of human ability, and only a handful of people in the  whole world are capable of attaining it.

Body Tis is a representation of the physical capability of your character. It deter26 RAPIDFIRE RULES

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mines how well your character can fight in both close and ranged combat. In terms of non-combat action, it applies to how much weight you can lift or push, or how well you can maintain your balance. In terms of roleplay, it might affect the physical appearance of your character. It is easy to think of Body as being physical size or strength and, while that is true, it does not paint the entire picture. A common thief might have a body of +1 because he is especially spry and nimble, while the guard who chases him might have a body of -1 because he is so clumsy he can’t help but trip over his own feet. In general, however,, it can be assumed that someone with a good Body Stat is fit and muscular, however muscular, while someone with a poor Body score might be sickly sickly,, frail, or burdened b urdened by obesity. obesity.

Mind Tis is a representation of the wit and intellect of your character. Not only does it determine how smart or quick-witted your character is, but how aware they are of things and the intricate ways in which they interact. A character with a high Mind Stat is more likely to see a dangerous situation developing, figure out a way past a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, or fast-talk their way out of trouble. Spirit Tis is a representation of the will or faith of your character. Characters with a high Spirit can keep fighting when lesser men have succumbed to their wounds or the inevitability of defeat. Tey may even inspire those around them to keep fighting. It is a measure of your character’ss ability to press forth despite pain, fear, and hopelessness. character’

Skills Skills are purchased with experience points (XP) and affect how well your character performs certain tasks. Having a high Body Stat does not make you an acrobat, nor does having a high Mind Stat mean you can instantly speak seven languages. Skills are added to their associated Stat, and then added to your roll for that particular activity activity.. Skills range from 0 (completely untrained) to 6 (grand mastery). Te list of skills with their descriptions is on p. 49 in the Character Creation section.

Difficulty  All skill rolls in Rapidfire, are made with 1d6+Stat+Skill. Rolls are either opposed by another character, or against a set difficulty. Tis is the standard formula for all rolls in Rapidfire, with standard difficulties as follows: 2 - Routine; something a skilled person never fails at. 4 - Easy; there is a small chance of failure. 6 - Moderate; normal people manage this sometimes, but it is easy for the experts. 8 - ough; ough; default difficulty for things with a good chance of failure, even for the pros. 10 - Very Tough; only the crazy and the mighty try it. 12 - Near impossible; only attempted by the very talented and very skilled. 14 - Epic; the name says it all.

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Opposed Rolls Tere are some cases where opposed rolls are used instead of a set difficulty, difficulty, in these cases, the higher roll wins. Unskilled If the character lacks the appropriate skill, then increase the difficulty of the task by 2. Making the Numbers -- Reserve In Rapidfire, rolling a 1 does not always mean failure and a 6 does not guarantee success.  All that matters is whether the difficulty was met.  oo help characters meet the numbers, they each have a 3 point Reserve Reserve.. Te Reserve represents a bonus to the d6 roll that the player can add at any time, even after the dice are rolled. He can add +3 to one roll or split it up amongst several rolls. Reserve can also be added to a character’s character’s secondary Stats for a round (see below). Strategic use of Reserve can often be the difference between life and death. A character refills his Reserve when the GM dictates, when he does something  Awesome, or accepts a critical critical failure. The Rule of Awesome  Awesomeness should always rewar rewarded. ded.isWhen a PCthe attempts to do something the be GM thinks Awesome, PC can receive a +1 bonus to the roll and 1 point back to his Reserve. Tey can even gain a bonus XP for the associated skill. If the PC attempts something so brilliant, so amazing, or so cool that it wows the entire table, the GM can assign an even larger bonus, though it should not exceed +3. Awesome bonuses are important to re ward creative thinking and excellent roleplaying. GMs are encouraged to be liberal on the Awesome, but beware of players hamming it up excessively to try to get the bonus.

Critical Failure It is important to learn from our mistakes. While a 1 is not necessarily a failure in Rapidfire, it is most of the time. If a character rolls 1 and fails to meet the difficulty of the roll by a significant margin (3 or more), then the player can ask the GM for a critical failure. If the GM accepts, “something bad” happens to the character in addition to failing the roll. While what happens is up the GM, it should never be a lethal complication, just an inconvenient one.   Why would anyone ever ask for a critical failure? First of all, they are fun. For a little more incentive, critically failing a roll earns the character an XP for the skill being used and a point back into the character’s Reserve. Furthermore, if the character is in a Battle Remnant, he also gains a point of Duress (see p. 72). A character should not suffer more than 1 critical failure per scene. 28 RAPIDFIRE RULES

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Help! If two characters have the same skill, one can help the other.  oo help a character, character, the helper makes a difficulty 6 skill roll. Success gives the character being helped a +1 to the roll. Te max bonus from helpers is usually +2, but the GM has the final call on more or less people lending a hand. Te Rule of Awesome and Critical Failures apply to helpers, which will help or hinder the character being helped as is appropriate to the situation.

Combat Engaging in combat in Rapidfire is a risky endeavour. Fights are quick, bloody, and unforgiving. Fighting is best left to those who specialize in it, and even they should beware. Below are the rules for combat for characters without Ishin. Te Armoured Rules (see page 34) will contain some modifications for when characters fight using their Battle Remnants. Characters have three combat-oriented secondary Stats: Defence Defence  - A static value that represents a character’s ability to defend against attacks. Resist    - A static value that represents a character’s ability to shrug off damage without injury. Health Health  - Te number of points of damage a character can take before dying. As Health decreases, characters suffer penalties.

Combat Sequence Combat is split up in small snippets of time called rounds rounds.. A round is enough time to take an action and move a few meters at a jog. Rounds are resolved in four steps: 1. Initiative Initiative Characters make opposed Mind+Awareness rolls. Players with the lowest rolls have to declare their actions first, and then work up to the highest rolls. Te highest roll acts first, and work your way down to the lowest.  ies ies go to the player characters. Te initiative rolls create the order for all combatants’ actions and will remain in effect for an entire combat.  A player with a higher initiative can always choose to wait until later in the round to act, though delaying an action keeps the character at the lower initiative in later rounds.  Although not as a s vital in personal combat, the low roll declaring actions first is most important when Battle Remnants fight using abilities that require Focus, as initiative order  will have a direct impact on strategy. strategy. 2. Attacks Characters attack with a Body+Skill roll versus Defence. If the attacker meets or beats the defender’s number, he hits. How much the hit exceeds the defender’s number by is the Lead . If an attack meets the defender’ defender’ss number, it still hits but the Lead is 0.

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3. Damage and Resist Resist  Weapons  W eapons in Rapidfire do a set amount of damage plus the Lead. For example, a sword does Lead +2 damage. Te defender has a chance to reduce this damage with his Resist. Resist can reduce damage down to 0, meaning the attack hits but glances off or misses anything vital. 4. Health and Penalties Leftover damage after Resist gets applied to a character’s Health.. Te character sheet shows a Health track with Health penalties listed for the amount of damage taken. Te penalties apply to all actions and defences, but not Resist. If a character’ss Health track fills up, he is down and dying and character’  will be dead at the end of the scene without intervention. If he takes more damage than he has on his Health track, he dies. Characters who are down and dying can make a difficulty 6 Spirit roll to remain conscious (don (don’’t forget the  wound penalty). If successful, the character remainstoaware of his surroundings. If the character then attempts perform any strenuous action beyond a slow crawl, he passes out. Te GM has the final say on whether the attempted action has a chance for success.

Rounds Versus Scenes  While rounds are tiny snippets of time used to track combat, they exist in a larger chunk of time known as a scene. A scene, or encounscene. ter, is a chunk of session of unspecified length that is tied to a single setting, plot element, or subgroup of characters or NPCs. Like a writer creating a play or novel, each scene in a game  will serve a purpose to the greater narrative of a given session or address the goals of one (or more) of the PCs. Well-crafted scenes linked together create wellcrafted sessions.

Combat Modifiers  All-out Defence - If - If a character does nothing but try not to get hit, he gets a +2 bonus to his Defence. All-out Defence can be declared at any time during the round, even after an enemy attacks, as long as the character has not yet taken an action. Multiple Actions In Combat - aking more than one action is possible, buta it’s very hard. Whenever a character attempts multiple actionsinina around round, they suffer penalty to all of their actions and their Defence rating equal to the total number of actions being taken. For example, if a PC wants to attack two different enemies in the same round the character suffers a -2 penalty to each attack, and a -2 to his Defence. Both actions are rolled and resolved at the same time, but the Defence penalty persists for the entire round. Charging -  -  A charging character is using the shock of forward momentum to smash through an enemy’s defences. A charge requires about four meters of running room and gives the character +1 to physical attacks but makes him -1 to Defence for the round. Ganging up - Multiple attackers on a single target can coordinate their attacks for greater effect. Te second attacker on a single target gets a +1 to his roll. Te third and 30 RAPIDFIRE RULES

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all subsequent attackers get a +2. Mounted Combat - Fighting - Fighting from a mount gives height and leverage advantages, and a trained mount can attack during the round. Mounts use the initiative of their riders. Mounted fighters get +1 damage to all a ll attacks against unmounted opponents and can use lances for extra damage on a charge. When a character’s mount is attacked, he can abandon his actions (like an All-out Defence) to make a Ride check in place of his mount’s Defence Stat. Ranged Combat   - All ranged weapons have a range listed in meters. Tat is the maximum range that the weapon can be fired in single action. If a character takes a round to steady himself and aim he can fire 50% beyond the weapon’ weapon’ss maximum range with a -2 penalty. penalty. Surprise -  -  o make a surprise attack a character must win a Body+Stealth roll versus a Mind+Awareness roll for the attack. Success gives the character +2 to his first attack,  which is made before initiative is rolled. Darkness - Fighting - Fighting in the dark is difficult and confusing. All characters suffer a -1 penalty to attack in close combat and a -2 penalty to attack in ranged combat. Disarming/ripping - A - A disarm or trip is an attack that causes no damage but sends the target’s weapon flying or sends the target prone. Both action results require a Lead of 3. Te attack fails completely if the t he Lead is less than 3. Also, fa failing iling the attack gives the target a free chance to counter with a disarm/trip without using an action. Tere are no consequences if the counter fails. A disarmed character is weaponless, the blade on the ground. If the attacker gets a Lead of 4 or more, he can choose where the weapon goes or grab it himself. A tripped character is prone and at -2 to Defence and physical attacks until he takes an action to stand. Grappling - Some - Some characters and creatures may try to grab and pin an opponent. Tis requires a successful Unarmed Unarmed Combat attack with a Lead of +2 or more. If the target has actions remaining in the round, it can attempt an immediate escape but needs to make a Body+Unarmed Combat roll and get a Lead of 2 or more against the attacker’s grapple roll. Te round after throwing an opponent to the ground, the characters make opposed Unarmed Combat rolls. Te winner does Lead damage to the loser. Resist as normal. If one character gets a Lead of 2 or more, he can choose to break the grapple instead of doing damage.   While on the ground, both characters are -2 to Defence against attacks from bystanders, but if an outside attack intended for one character misses but beats the Defence of the other character in the grapple, that second character takes the hit by mistake.   Attempting to grapple an armed opponent is tricky and dangerous, and requires a Lead of 3. Failur Failuree to grapple an armed opponent opens the character up to an immediate free counterattack by the target.

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Called Shots - Characters - Characters can attempt to target specific parts of their enemies in the hopes of bypassing armour, removing a limb, or hitting a vital vita l point.  oo make a called shot, the character has to choose his target before rolling and needs a minimum Lead of 3 to hit  what he calls. A hit with a Lead of less than 3 still hits, but doesn’ doesn’t hit the called area.  Whether he hits or not, his attack is -3 damage, effectively eliminating the Lead needed to make the hit. Te advantage is that the attack might ignore armour, blind an enemy, cut off a hand, stun him, etc, making it effective despite the reduced damage. Te exact effects of a successful called shot are up to a GM, but a crippling hit might give the victim a -1 or -2 penalty penalty,, if appropriate. actical Advantage - Tere - Tere are a whole range of situations not covered where one character or another might have tactical advantage due to terrain, cover cover,, position, weather, gear, gear, or even state of mind. If the GM determines that a character has a tactical advantage, the character can receive a +1 to attack, Defence, or whatever else is appropriate to the situation. Stunning - A - A character can always choose to do stun damage instead of regular damage. Stun damage is applied in the same way, but a character falls unconscious instead of dying if his health trackiffills anddouble the lasttheir hit health. is stun damage. A character can die from stun damage but only theyuptake Healing - Characters - Characters heal 1 point of damage per week of rest. A character who is not resting does not heal. Stun damage heals 1 point per day of rest. If a character almost died, the GM may halve the rate of recovery recovery.. If an enemy makes a direct, successful attempt to maim a character, the GM can assign permanent penalties if appropriate. A professional healer providing care and treatment can make a difficulty 7 Healing roll to reduce recovery time by 2 days per point of damage, or double the healing rate of stun damage.

Environment Damage Tings like fire, lightning, poison, drowning, and even falling do damage, but without attack rolls. Instead, they have a difficulty rating that the character rolls against. If the character fails the roll, then the amount he fails by becomes the Lead of an attack against him. Characters can Resist environment damage, but the GM can rule when armour does not apply, apply, such as with poison or lightning. Te GM can dictate other consequences for a failed roll, as per pe r the guidelines below. Fire - Fire - Fire is avoided with a Body+Dodge roll with a standard difficulty of 6. If it gets a Lead of 2 or more, the person catches on fire and is dealt damage as a torch every round until the character makes the difficulty, smothers the fire with water, etc. Fire can cause horrendous scars and give a character the Unattractive Disadvantage at the GM’s discretion. Certain creatures may have fire attacks; the numbers listed in their de32 RAPIDFIRE RULES

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scriptions supersede these. Fire does the following damage: • Fire arrow or torch - Lead +0 • Campre - Lead +1 • Bonre - Lead +2 • Inferno or Lava Flow - Lead +3 Lightning - It is impossible to dodge a lightning strike, but the effects vary from person to person. Te character rolls the higher of their Body or Spirit against difficulty 7. A character who fails takes Lead +2 damage. However, pass or fail, the person is knocked unconscious for 1d6 minutes if they aren aren’’t struck dead. Poison - Characters roll 1d6 + Body against the rating of the poison. Lethal poisons have ratings of 7 or higher and do upwards of Lead +2 damage, while weaker poisons, like alcohol, have ratings of 3-6 and might do just stunning damage, or cause unconsciousness or illness on a failed roll. • Strong Beer - Diculty 3; does Lead +0 stun damage; dam age; unconsciousness on Lead of 5 or more; difficulty goes up by 1 every 3 doses; can be addictive. • Opium - Diculty 7; does Lead +1 stun damage: unconsciousness on Lead of 3 or more: addictive. •Characters Wastelandare Sickness 8; does Lead if+2they lethal damage hours afterbattle exposure. exposed- Diculty to Wasteland Sickness spend time24 near ancient sites (like impact craters) where weapons of the apocalypse were once used. Characters who spend more than a few minutes in a dangerous area will suffer a much more severe dose and will have to roll against Difficulty 10 only 1d6 x10 minutes after exposure. Spending more than an hour in a dangerous area without protection (like a Battle Remnant) is considered a death sentence. Drowning - Characters - Characters roll 1d6 + Body + Athletics against difficulty 6 for two minutes spent under water. Add 2 to the difficulty for every additional minute. Drowning does Lead +0 damage. Falling - Characters - Characters roll 1d6 + Body + Athletics against difficulty 4 for a three-meter (ten foot) fall. Add 2 to the difficulty for every ever y additional three meters fallen up to a maximum difficulty of 16. Damage varies depending on what the character hits: • Water - Lead -4 • Dirt - Lead +0 • Stone - Lead +2 • Spikes - Lead +3

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Armoured Rules Remnants  is   is named after its focus: large armoured mecha left over from a previous age.  Whether these mecha are technological or magical is up to the GM GM,, but what they do is the same regardless of origin. Te rules below cover the powers of these mecha, known as Battle Remnants, or Ishin.

Suiting Up Battle Remnants are bipedal armoured walkers between 10 and 20 feet tall crewed by a single rider or pilot. Te pilot sits, often curled up, in the armoured chest of the Ishin. His true body enters a kind of stasis safe inside the confines of his armour and the warrior’s mind takes control of the Remnant’s Remnant’s limbs and weapons. As far fa r as the pilot is concerned, he is the Remnant. While Remnants are similar to humans in their movements and range of motion, they are not identical. Using a Remnant requires learning new ways to move and fight. Situational Awareness Unlike when out of armour, physical actions in Remnants require Situational Awareness (SA) more than any specific Stat. SA is a measure of the character’s ability to control the many abilities of the Remnant and make it move more like a human. SA = Body + Mind + Spirit 

Skills Most skills are still used in the normal way described in the Rapidfire rules. Physical actions are the exception. Tere are three skills that govern all physical actions with Remnants: • Assault - Te - Te skill used for attacking att acking in close combat. • Strike - Te - Te skill used for ranged attacks. • Motion - Te - Te skill used for Defence and the measure of the warrior’s warrior’s adeptness in using the Remnant.

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Remnant Statistics  A standard starting Remnant has the following statistics (though they can be modified somewhat – see page 66 in the Battle Remnants chapter): • Armour = 5 • Speed = 3 • Structure = 5 • Assault Damage = Lead +4 • Strike Damage = Lead +2 • Inspiring = 1 • Terrifying = 1  Armour  A starting Battle Remnant has armour tougher than the heaviest full plate and is capable of turning aside most attacks. Armour for most Ishin ranges from 3 for the lightest, fastest designs to 9 for the toughest designs. Te armour of a Remnant is always equal to its Resist. Unlike living creatures, Ishin cannot bolster their Resist with strength of will. Tus, the Resist and armour of a battle Remnant are always the same and the words can be used interchangeably. Armour also adds Damage Resistance. See the structure section for details. Speed  In contrast with armour is an Ishin’s speed. Unlike characters and creatures, which all have a basic Defence of 3 + modifiers, the Speed Stat is the basis of a Remnant’s Defence rating. Ranging from 1 to 7, a high Speed makes a Remnant difficult to hit, while lower-Speed Remnants are more vulnerable to attack. When two Remnants are making opposed Motion rolls (during a chase, for instance), the GM can have both Remnants add a dd their Speed to the roll, if it is appropriate to the situation. Multiply the Speed of a Remnant by 10 to find out its normal running speed in kilometers per hour. A Remnant can sprint at double its running speed but cannot maintain such speeds for more than a few minutes. Tese speeds assume that the Ishin is moving over relatively level ground. GMs can cut top speed in half if the terrain is uneven or perilous.

Example: A Remnant with a speed of 3 can sustain a run at 30 km/h (3x10) and can sprint at up to 60 km/h, but for only a few minutes. A Remnant with a speed of 6 can run at 60 km/h and sprint at 120 km/h, while a Speed 1 Remnant would be limited to 10 and 20 km/h. In combat, where rounds are more important than hours (there are about 600 rounds in an hour!), it is important to know how many meters a Remnant can cover  when being hit by Strike weapons from 400 meters away away.. Te Speed rating RAPIDFIRE RULES

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conversion listed below is rounded off, but it doesn doesn’’t need to be pinpoint accurate. Speed per round is as follows: Speed Run Sprint  1 15m 30m 2 30m 60m 3 50m 100m 4 65m 130m 5 80m 160m 6 100m 200m 7 115m 230m Structure Living things have health; Remnants have Structure. Rather than getting too detailed about any specific damage to parts of the Remnant, just mark off damage on its Structure rating and apply the appropriate penalty to Assault, Strike, and Motion rolls (this includes the Remnant’s Defence rating). All Remnants start with 5 points of Structure. Tey also have 1 point of Damage Resistance for every point of Armour over 4. Tis means the Structure track for a starting Remnant with the standard 5 Structure and 5 Armour looks like this: Structure Penalty

O

O

O

O

O

0

0 -1 -1 -2

 Assault Damage Maybe a Remnant is covered with spikes or spinning blades, carries a giant sword, or has a hundred heavy chains hanging off of it. It doesn’t much matter how the Remnant does damage in close combat; this Stat just tells you how effective its close combat weapons are in practice. Assault damage ranges from Lead +2 for the most Strike-oriented Ishin all the  way to Lead +7 for Remnants that forsake ranged combat altogether. altogether. Strike Damage  As with Assault damage, the nature of a Remnant’ Remnant’ss long-range strike weapons are up to its pilot. Tey could fire traditional bullets, b ullets, crossbow quarrels, deadly flechettes, explosive shells, or even canisters of napalm and acid. Ammunition is generated internally, internally, so ammo is not tracked. Strike weapons tend to do less damage than Assault weapons and do between Lead +1 and Lead +5 damage. It is possible to trade off Strike damage to the point  where it is Lead +0 damage. IIff this happens, the Remnant is so specialized towards Assault  work that it no longer has Strike weapons and cannot eng engage age in ranged combat. Te range of a Remnant’s Remnant’s Strike weapons are a re determined by the pilot’s pilot’s Strike skill: multiply the skill level by 100 to get the effective range of Strike weapons in meters. Terefore, a character  with a Strike of 3 would have a range of 300 meters with his weapons.

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Inspiring/errifying   A starting Remnant looks like a 10-12 foot tall (player’ (player’ss choice) armoured a rmoured war machine. Older Remnants can top 20 feet. An army with a Remnant has a massive psychological advantage. Te Inspiring and errifying Stats range from 1 to 6 and are representative of how awe inspiring and/or terrifying your Remnant appears. Te two Stats are independent of each other, and an Ishin can be both inspiring to its allies and terrifying to its enemies at the same time. While these Stats do not determine the exact look of your Remnant, they do give an indication of how others perceive it.   Te Inspiring and errifying Stats are more than just abstract numbers -- they can be used in combat to bolster allies and weaken the resolve of enemies. It takes 1 round to inspire or terrify. Te character’s character’s Remnant does something appropriate for a round and rolls 1d6 + SA + Inspiring or 1d6 + SA + errifying against a difficulty of 6. Results are based on Lead: Inspiring  Lead Effect  1-2 Allies are +1 to attack for scene 3-6 Allies are +2 to attack for scene 7-9 10+

Allies are are +2 +2 to to attack attack and and +2 +1 Resist Resist for for scene scene Allies

errifying  Lead Effect  1-2 Enemies are -1 to attack for scene 3-6 Enemies are -2 to attack for scene 7-9 Enemies are -2 to attack and -1 Resist for scene, weak enemies might flee 10+ Enemies are -2 to attack and -2 Resist for scene, weak enemies will flee

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Tere are some limits to the abilities to inspire aand nd terrify: they don’ don’t work on creatures (or people) too stupid to understand what’s what’s happening; and they have no effect on Remnants, their pilots, or any creature the GM deems too powerful to be worried about inspiring and terrifying gestures.

Armoured Combat Combat with Remnants is very similar to regular Rapidfire rules. Te numbers are just a little different: • Initiative: 1d6 + SA + Awareness (SA is used instead of Mind) and highest goes rst, with ties going to the PCs. • Close combat: 1d6 + SA S A + Assault Skill. • Ranged combat: 1d6 + SA + Strike Skill. • Defence rating: Speed + SA + Motion Skill. (is Defence applies to both close and ranged combat) Calculate Lead as per normal: add the damage of the weapon, subtract Armour from the damage, and apply the leftover lef tover to the Structure. Below are the major differences.

Combat Modifiers Te modifiers listed in the Rapidfire rules work the same with the following exceptions: • Remnants cannot be disarmed. eir weapons are considered to be attached. • A Remnant is considered mounted when attacking creatures less than half its height. • Remnants grapple with a 1d6+SA+Assault skill roll. ey do Lead damage against simisimilar sized targets but get an extra e xtra +2 damage against targets half their size or smaller. • Remnants cannot be stunned. • Remnants are -5 to Stealth rolls (1d6+SA+Motion) inside 500 meters. Regardless of range, stealth is impossible for Remnants without sufficient cover (GM’s discretion.) • Remnants cannot re beyond their base range with strike weapons (as determined by the pilot’ss strike skill) without the Sniper specialty or the Far Strike rait (see p. 70 and 82). pilot’ • Remnants are good at ring on the run but not perfect. ere’ ere’ss a -1 to Strike rolls made  when a Remnant is running, and a -3 to Strike rolls rolls when sprinting. sprinting. Also, Remnants cannot Focus when sprinting.

Structure  When a character’s character’s Health track is all filled up he is down, probably unconscious, and close to death. Remnants are made of sterner stuff. When a Remnant’s Structure track is full, the Remnant is reduced to a crawl but b ut can still carry out actions at the listed penalty. penalty. If another point of damage is done, the Remnant becomes W becomes Wrecked  recked . A Wrecked Wrecked Re Remnant mnant is inert, prone, and defenseless. defe nseless. Its pilot is unconscious from the shock. Te Remnant and pilot will remain in this state for 8 hours while the Remnant repairs and reinforces itself.  At the end of the 8 hours, the Remnant is fully repaired and has an ext extra ra point of Structure. During those 8 hours, the pilot and Remnant are very vulnerable. If total damage is done to the Remnant equal to double the Remnant’ Remnant’ss Structure, it is destroyed de stroyed and the pilot is dead. It is a difficulty 6 Assault roll for another Remnant to 38 RAPIDFIRE RULES

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shuck the pilot out of his armour and it would take at least an hour for a group of men equipped with chisels and pry bars to accomplish the same feat.

Example: A starting Remnant has 5 Structure. If it takes 5 points of damage then it is reduced to a crawl, but it can still make actions at a -2 penalty. If one more point of damage is done (6 total), the armour is Wrecked and begins its 8 hours of regeneration. If the Remnant takes 4 more damage (totaling 10, double its Structure of 5), it is destroyed and the pilot is killed in the process. If both survive the 8 hours, even if the pilot is shucked out of the armour, armour, the pilot wakes up and the armour is repaired and now has a Structure of 6. In practice, Remnants are not destroyed very ver y often. Creatures won’ won’tt eat a W Wrecked recked Remnant, so they won’t won’t bother to tear it apart. People see Remnants as valuable, so they are far more likely to crack open the armour and kill the pilot, thus returning the armour to its starting Stats for the next pilot that it links with. If the armour is destroyed, the pilot is not likely to survive the shock of losing the link (GM’s discretion), discretion), even if he is not in it.

Repairing Damage Damaged Remnants need downtime to repair. A damaged Battle Remnant will not repair itself while its pilot is still using it. When the pilot gets out of the armour, it curls up, goes dormant, and starts repairing itself. For every hour the armour is dormant, it repairs 1 point of damage. If special attacks reduce a Remnants statistics, such as Armour or Speed, they can be repaired in lieu of damage at a rate of 1 point per hour. Tere are also drones and abilities that can do quick repairs.

Traits and Focus Remnants possess a number of special abilities listed in the rait section. Each rait has a quick description of what it does and how it works. A common listing amongst them is a Focus number, such as Focus 2. Te Focus number is the number of actions that the Remnant must charge or prep before it can use the power. F Focusing ocusing is impossible when a Remnant is sprinting and when on full defence. Example: Jeff wants his character to make a Precise Strike (F (Focus ocus 1) at an unsuspecting target. He spends one round Focusing, taking careful aim in this case, and then rolls his Strike skill (with the bonus) on the second round to make the attack. Once a character starts Focusing, he cannot take any other action or any Structure damage. If he takes an action or damage is done to his Structure, his Focus is broken and he must start over or take an action that doesn doesn’’t require Focusing. If a Focus is broken during the round in which the character declared an attack but before the attack occurred, the character can still attack his intended target t arget using a standard Assault or Strike roll.

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action to Focus. His enemy decides to fire off a quick burst. Te attack gets lucky and 2 damage  gets through Jeff’ Jeff’ss armour to his Structure. Structure. JJeff’s eff’s Focus is broken. He has to start over over on his next action if he still wants to do a Precise Strike. raits of the same type, like raits all with the name Assault or raits all with the name Strike, can be combined for even greater effect, and while their effects stack, so does their Focus time.

Example: After exchanging a few more shots, Jeff’s enemy decides to start closing the distance.  Jeff is not well fitted for assault work, so he gambles on taking one good shot. He combines a Precise Strike (Focus 1) with a Power Strike (Focus 1) and fires at his enemy just before they reach Assault range. He Focuses for 2 rounds and then rolls Strike in the third. He throws in some Reserve for good measure and Wrecks Wrecks his enemy moments before they reach melee range.

Focus and Initiative Focusing to bring more power to the fight is a strategic gamble, the outcome of which is often determined by initiative order order.. If a low-initiative character declares a round of Focus, the higher initiative opponent is in a good position. Te high-initiative character can delay until after his opponent starts Focusing Focusing and atte attempt mpt to break the target’ target’ss Focus in the current round; he can start a Focus himself and launch a high-powered attack in the next round before his opponent can act, also breaking Focus; or he can opt for 2 regular attacks (at the beginning of this round and next) before his opponent acts.   Te best use of Focus comes when the character with the higher initiative uses it, already knowing that his opponent has declared an action that has little or no chance of breaking it.   Te most exciting use of Focus comes from high level characters facing off for several rounds as they power up massive combos. At this level, where both b oth opponents are equipped with powerful defensive abilities, the characters have to weigh the benefits of striking first against the need to strike as hard as possible.

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Chapter four: The Characters Now that you have had a chance to look at the world and some of the rules, it is time for you to make your character and begin your trek through the Broken Lands. In this chapter,, we will cover the steps of character creation and go into details chapter de tails regarding building a group, character origins, playing Near Humans, skills, Advantages and Disadvantages, equipment, money, money, and character advancement.

Building a Group Before you start building your character, take a moment to broaden your perspective and look at how your character will interacts with his companions. Remnants  can  can be played as a solo RPG with a single PC and the GM or it can be played with 2 to 4 PCs. While the rules do not preclude larger groups, it is not recommended. Te game works best with few players for a few reasons. With more Remnants, the GM has to do a lot more prep on combat encounters and it becomes harder to balance and manage battles. Also, lots of Remnants acting together stretches the internal logic of the setting. No land or area but the city-states can even afford to employ more than one or two Ishinari, let alone a half dozen.

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Why Ishinari Team up  While many Ishinari operate as independent wanderers or mercenaries or as the lone d deefender of their tribe, just as many pool their resources and travel together. Tere are two very broad reasons for groups of Ishinari to exist: common origin and common interest. One does not preclude the other and both may be a valid reason for the Ishinari to be together. Common Origin If you and the other players can agree on a common background, it is possible to have Ishinari together because they are all of the same blood, tribe, or clan. Tey might not necessarily still be with said group, but they have known each other for a long time and share customs, traditions, and ancestry. Tis is a great option for your characters if you don’t want to worry about introductions and that initial building of trust/respect. It establishes a strong bond between the PCs right from the get-go and gives them emotional stakes in each others’ welfare. When your characters share a common origin, it gives the GM excellent plot hooks, since all of your characters can be motivated by situations and problems that arise from that origin. Common Interest  Some variety. up in opposite ends of the Broken Lands people but youprefer still want t hemIftoyour them workcharacters together,grew it is important to establish a common interest that is keeping them together. A simple common interest is the forming of a “blade” of Ishinari mercenaries. Mercenary blades do contract work fighting in clan and tribal conicts, as well as doing specialized work like escorting Caravans/envoys, protecting Ishi hunters, search and rescue, raiding, retrieval, and even assassinations. Another common interest may be a more short term objective related to a campaign. For example, several different tribal Ishinari might put aside their differences to track down a Grand Monstrosity or group of Far Humans that ravaged all of their lands. Another example would be all of the characters belonging to the Ishin contingent of one of the three city-states.

Balancing Groups  Whether your characters have common interests, origins, or both, once your Ishinari are together you should think about how they work as a team. Diversity is a strength and it should not be underestimated. Due to the nature of the SA Stat and how it will be the same regardless of how you spend your Stat points, it is recommended that you take different strengths and weaknesses for your characters so that they complement each other. other.  While you will be building characters before you build their Ishin in the next chapter, you should take the same philosophy regarding your Battle Remnants. For example, a three-Ishin mercenary blade might have a Striker (long range combat), an Assaulter (close combat), and a balanced Drone Controller Controller..  ake ake the time to have a brief talk about what role each of your characters will fulfill and try tr y not to step on each other’ other’ss turf. Nothing can upset a player faster than the impression that he is redundant.

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Command  An Ishin Ishin gro group up does not need a leader but it can be a gr great eat help in a difficult fight. IIshinari shinari are (or quickly become) warriors and recognize the value of a commander to coordinate actions. Tis does not mean that one character should become a despot, ruling over the others. Instead, there should be one character (preferably with the Secure Com rait, p. 79) that is in charge of tactical decisions. Te tactical leader does not necessarily answer the question, “Should we fight?” Instead the tactical leader lea der focuses on the question, “Now that we’re fighting, how will we win?”   Outside of combat, the tactical leader might be the leader of the group, subservient to a different leader, or the group might make decisions by consensus.

Character Creation Creating a character in Rapidfire can be done quickly, but that will just give you a bunch of Stats and numbers. If you follow the process below, you will end up with a character that seems like more than  just a few numbers on a page. Te numbers on the page are required, so print out a character sheet and start writing.

1. Character Concept  A character in Remnants  is   is a person with a unique advantage. While most people struggle just to survive the day to day trouble of the Broken Lands, player characters possess armoured war machines from ages past. Tey are called Remnant Warriors, Remnant Knights, or Battle Lords, but their most common title is Ishinari. Tey are the great heroes,  warlords, tyrants, wanderers, mercenaries, and liv-

Character Creation Steps Te following pages contain everything you need to make a character. Just follow the steps: 1. Character Concept (p43) 2. Pick a Name (p43) 3. Build a Background (p44) 4. Assign Stats (p48) 5. Choose Skills (p48) 6. Assign Secondary Stats (p53) 7. Choose Advantages and Disadvantages (p53) 8. Gear and Money (p (p55) 55) 9. Te Details (p61) 10. Building your Battle Remnant (p65)

ing legends of the Broken Lands. Most tribes and clans possess at least one Ishinari and even if he is not the tribal leader, he still holds a position of great esteem.   Your Ishinari can be an honourable clansman, a tribal warrior, warrior, a wandering mercenary, a city-state soldier, a treasure-hunting opportunist, a Caravan scout, or even a mundane heavy labourer. Te choice is up to you, but you should clear your concept with the GM before proceeding. It might also help to collaborate with the other players to ensure that your characters will not be too similar. If you’re not sure where to start, there’s a more in depth look at Step 3 to give you some ideas.

2. Pick a Name Tis is harder than it sounds. In fact, most players procrastinate and leave the name on the character sheet blank until the GM hassles them into a quick THE CHARACTERS

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decision. Tis step appears early e arly in the creation cycle so that you can start thinking about it early and come to a well thought-out decision. You want your name to reflect your character’s identity. Do you want your character to be cool, unique, common, frightening, noble, or to possess possess any number of other traits traits?? A name is a good place to start that reputation. Tink about what your character’s name means, how it sounds, and how it looks on paper. Characters might give themselves names or earn nicknames that somehow relate back to their actions, physical traits, or the nature of their Battle Remnant, though most have a traditional first and last name (often a clan or tribe name). Tere is a lot to a name, so choose well.

3. Build a Background Decide where your character is from and figure out how he got where he is now now.. First, you must decide your character’s character’s home region. A person’ person’ss homeland will say more about who he is than any other trait, skill, or ability he possesses. You will also want to look at the Near Human options on p. 61 if your GM permits Near Humans in your game. Once you know your character’s character’s heritage, you can continue building his background.   Answer the following questions in brief but don don’’t be afraid to elaborate. Te questions are not directed to you but to your character, so think not only about what but also how your character would answer answer.. • Where and when were you born? • Who are your parents; where are a re they now? • Do you have and brothers or sisters; where are they now? • What was your childhood like -- happy, happy, sad, lonely lonely,, hard, idyllic, crazy? • What is your most vivid childhood memory? Why? • Where, when, and how did you acquire your Battle Remnant? • Did you have a teacher? What was he/she like? • Do you maintain relationships with your family/clan/tribe/city? • Do you have any grudges, enemies, rivals, or old scores to settles? • What do you want most right now? • What are your long term goals? Te questions could go on, but this short list encapsulates some of the most important bits of your character’s character’s history and life.   Te story of where your character comes from can be tough to figure out. While  what happens to your your character in play is the most important part ooff the tale, the story of  where he comes from will help shape how your character reacts to those experiences and gives you jumping off points once the game starts.   One of the conventions of Remnants  is  is that a character’s actual skill and talent  with an Ishin has little to do d o with their skills and talents when not armoured. Because of the nature of the SA Stat and how Stats are bought, the skinny sixteen-year-old genius girl has the same talent for using an Ishin as the hulking but ignorant warrior, and the wizwiz ened old man. It is encouraged that you use this freedom of design to craft an interesting character full of quirks, habits, strengths, and weaknesses. 44

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  Te next convention of Remnants  is   is that the Ishin themselves do not discriminate when linking with a new pilot. It’s first come, first serve. When an Ishin’s pilot dies or an old Ishin is discovered, the first person to jump into its cockpit gets the link, be they young or old, brilliant or ignorant, cruel or kind, slave or chief. Your character can therefore have any background you choose.

Building the Background Tere are two character’s character’ background: origin Ishinari. Teyour origin of yours character is theparts storytoofyour where he wassborn and raised. Teand second part of character’ character’s story is how he came into the possession of an Ishin and what he decided to do with it.

Origins Below are some sample ideas for origins. Tey are split up by region, and there are a few ideas for each one. Te origins provide a few sentences to set you in the right direction and help you answer the questions in step 3 of the character creation process. You You are encouraged to expand upon it and build up your story to the point where your character becomes Ishinari. Tese are all just ideas and starting points, not hard archetypes. Tey should help you choose your character’s skills, advantages, and disadvantages, but not limit your options. Mix, match, and disregard them however you wish. Te Hill Clans • Warrior Warrior Born Born  - Y  You ou w were ere bro brought ught u up p to be one of the clan’ clan’s warriors. warriors. You learned the way of sword, spear, and shield, and grew up expecting to face your clan’s enemies in bloody battle as your father/mother did. • Smith’s Apprentice Apprentice - You  You grew up learning a respected craft. You showed an aptitude at an early age and received an apprenticeship to a respected master. Te Canyon ribes ribes • River-Runner - You lived your entire life on the rushing waters of the canyons and know them down to every rock and eddy, and expected your children to follow in your footsteps. • Ritualist - You grew up learning the tribe’s rituals, laws, and customs and inherited the position when the old master passed on. You then served as the tribe’s judge, priest, and records keeper. Te Marshlanders • Lone Hunter - You scratched out a life of solitude, hunting the dangerous creatures of the marshes, and the villagers avoided you and your strange habits on your rare visits to settlements. • Healer -  - Te marshes are full of dangers but they are also full of the secrets of life. You learned all the herbs and poisons, and used your knowledge for profit amongst the people. pe ople.

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Te Desert Clans • Herder -  - Te desert is not as barren as it first looks. You kept your herd just on the safe side of starvation star vation and provided for your family fam ily.. • Water Water Merchant - Life is good when you control the only oasis within three days’ walk.  Y  Your our lucky inheritance and canny haggling skills led to a comfortable existence in the otherwise unbearable heat. Te Caravaners • Driver - You You learned at a young age to steer and control the immense Gurlaks that pulled your wagons, and have a great love for the lumbering beasts. • Performer - e Caravans trade more than just goods between the peoples; they trade information, art, and music. You know plays, music, and dances from across the Broken Lands and performed them for all to see.  Wastelanders  Wastelanders • Pathnder - Many will pay top dollar for a guide through the wastes and you made your  way by taking the daring and foolish where only Wastelanders Wastelanders should go. • Ishi Hunter - Y  You ou spent your life hunting for Remnants from ages past. Most were just fragments and novelties, but you were always holding out hope for the big find. Te Ice ribes ribes • Champion - You were raised to follow your father and become your tribe’s tribe’s champion for the ritual duels common to the tribes. You You learned your tribe’s tribe’s way of war, war, but your father refused to hand over his position. • Builder - A talented builder can turn snow into a home, and an ice eld into a settlesettlement. You You learned how to work the ice and became an asset to your tribe. Te City-States • Slave - While slavery is common throughout the Broken Lands, it is rampant in the city-states. You You were captured young or born into bondage; you’ you’ve ve known no other life. • Ocial - You possess a rare skill in the Broken Lands: literacy. Your education gave you a comfortable position in the city’ city’ss bureaucracy and more power than is good for a person. Te Vast  • Outrider - Like all people in the Vast, you grew up in the saddle, but you also had the keen senses of a scout. You spent your life away from the herd, scouting for danger and opportunity. • War War Rid Rider er --   You You wer weree able to accurately fir firee a bow while at full gallop and joined the war riders of your people. You sought glory and victory on the battlefield, not knowing how elusive such things are.

Ishinari  What sets your character apart from th thee churning masses that engage in the daily struggle to survive is the possession of a Battle Remnant, or Ishin. While surrounded by men with simple swords and bows, you have a 10-foot tall walking tank 46

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able to tear the strongest warrior in half. You are a giant amongst ants; your mere presence commands respect. What you do with your new combination of social status and combat power is what this game is all about. What we’re we’re worried about right now is how you acquired your Ishin.   Your character starts out with low Ishin skills, implying that the Ishin is a recent acquisition. How you came about such a powerful vehicle is a story worth investigating. Tere are perhaps a few thousand Battle Remnants scattered about the tribes, clans, Caravans, and city-states of the Broken Lands. Te exact number fluctuates as Remnants are occasionally destroyed (instead of just Wrecked) and old Remnants, some unused for almost a millennium, are a re discovered.  Y  Your our character’ character’ss Remnant is from one of 3 basic categories: • Ancient Find - You You found a Remnant that has rested dormant since before the Breaking. • Old Find - Your Your Remnant was laid to rest sometime in the more recent past, but no liv ing soul remembers when. • New Find - e previous owner is recently deceased, perhaps by your hand.  Ancient Find  If your Ishin has laid dormant for the eight centuries since the end of the world, one question stumble comes toupon mind: how didcache? you come across it? aW Were ere you or looking ancient Ishi? you a hidden Did you hear rumour find afor map that led youDid to it? If so, where did the rumour/map come from? Finding ancient Battle Remnants has bebe come rarer and rarer over the course of the centuries, and now would be a phenomenal find. Old Find  More common than ancient finds, there are Ishin abandoned on forgotten battlefields and some great warriors of times past were buried with their Battle Remnants. Tere are people who spend their lives looking for these old finds. Tose who have little interest in taking power for themselves have been known to sell found Ishin to the three city-states for exorbitant fees. While you may have found the Ishin yourself, it’s possible that you bought it or that it was a gift to you for some great service.

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New Find  By far the most likely method for you to gain an Ishin: a pilot’s life ended and you, one  way or another, another, w were ere the next into th thee cockpit. Getting a new Battle Remnant Remnant is isn n’t quite quite as simple as killing the old pilot and jumping in; there is the slight problem of the Remnant resetting itself. When a pilot dies, the Remnant goes dormant for eight hours as it strips out all of the customizations and modications that the pilot gave it. It was probably a security feature to prevent fully-capable Remnants from being of immediate use to the enemy but still being salvageable for the next pilot. After the eight hours of dormancy, the armoured hatch pops open and the link initiates for the next person to jump in. (Tis is often followed by a lot of awkward stumbling by the unskilled pilot.)   How you became that next person is the real story. story. Was the Remnant handed down by a relative? Did you kill the Ishinari and then camp out on his armour until it opened for you? Did you find it amongst the recently dead from a battle? Did you get lucky enough to bring it down with your own hands or, more likely your own ballista, and take it as a spoil of victory?

4. Assign Stats  Assigning your basic Stats early in the creation process defines what your character’s character’s strengths and weaknesses are. In Rapidfire, characters only have three Stats: Body, Body, Mind, and Spirit. Tese Stats cover all ofyou a character’ character’s s innate All three default value of 0 three (human average) and have 1 Stat pointabilities. to increase one ofStats yourhave Statsa to a +1. You You may also lower Stats, to a maximum of -2 to gain an equivalent number Stat points. Common ways to set up Stats include: +1,0,0; +2,0,-1; +2,+1,-2; or +1,+1,-1. All of these combinations use all of the Stat points.   If you choose not to spend all of your Stat points or take a less than optimal set of Stats, you can add double of whatever you save to your skill points.  When making your Ishinari, you do not have to worry too much about these Stats in combat. While in your Battle Remnant, you use the Situational Awareness (SA) Stat for most rolls. SA is equal to Body+Mind+Spirit, and will be +1 for starting characters. Te question is who you want to be when not covered in three tons of armour. Check out the Rapidfire Rules (p. 26) for Stat descriptions.

5. Choose Skills Skills are broad areas of study that may encompass several disciplines at once. Tey represent anywhere from months to years of training, and even a low level in a skill indicates a significant level of proficiency, proficiency, or a great deal of ta talent. lent. Skill levels are as follows: • 0 - Unskilled. e character has no knowledge of the skill or is an apprentice. • 1 - Trained. Trained. e character understands the basics but still has a long way to go. • 2 - Skilled. e character could do this skill as his job. • 3 - Experienced. e highest level most people ever reach. • 4 - Expert. A character with this level is regarded as among the very best. • 5 - Master. Characters with this skill level are at the top of their elds. • 6 - Grand Master. Only the tiniest fraction of a percent of people reach this level. 48

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People with skills at level 5 and beyond seem almost supernaturally good at what they do and will be sought out as teachers and mentors. Tey Te y could open world-renowned schools and retire on the income. Most never do, as they spend all their time driving to perfect their art.   Skills in Rapidfire are bought just like Stats. As with Stats, the default value for skills is 0 -- this means m eans your character does not possess the skill -- but goes all the way up to level 6. Just like Stats, skills act as a straight bonus to d6 rolls.   At character creation, characters get a regional skill at level 1 for free, and have 10 skill points to spend however they wish. Skills cost their level. Te normal starting maximum is 2 points per skill (giving level 2), though GMs may adjust this amount. Characters can choose any skill off the list below below.. ..   Characters also receive the 3 Ishin Skills: Assault, Strike, and Motion. Tey are separate from regular skills and discussed in the Remnant Creation rules.   As stated above, every character gets a free level 1 regional skill. Te regional skill represents things the character would have learned in their youth related to where they are from. Choose based on the character’ character’ss nation of origin: • Te Hill Clans - Melee - Melee or Craft • Te Canyon Ca nyon  ribes ribes - Athletics or Sail Te Marshlanders - Archery - Archery •• Te Desert Clans - Awar - Awareness enessororMedicine Survival • Te Caravaners - Bureaucracy - Bureaucracy or Language • W Wastelanders all struggle jjust ust to survive)  Wastelanders astelanders - Survival (this is the only option; Wastelanders • Te Ice tribes - Stealth - Stealth or Trowing  • Te City-states - Larceny - Larceny or Etiquette • Te Vast Vast - Ride (everyone ( everyone on the Vast can ride)  After the free skill, spend the 10 points however you wish. It is a very  good   good idea to put points towards the Awareness skill. Below is a list of the most common and useful skills found in the Broken Lands. Te list is not inclusive and new skills can be added if appropriate.  Archery/Trowing (Body) Covers all manner of thrown weapons like knives, spears, and slings as well as bows and crossbows.  Athletics (Body) Covers strenuous physical activities, such as running, swimming, climbing, acrobatics, etc.  Awareness (Mind)  Awareness Te catch-all skill for noticing things, whether by sight or sound. Tis includes reading the intentions of other people (use the Spirit Stat instead of Mind) and initiative rolls when in combat. THE CHARACTERS

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Bureaucracy (Mind) Tis covers business, bargaining, negotiation, diplomacy, and managing money. Use this skill to haggle and barter ba rter.. Te winner of an opposed roll can adjust the cost of something Lead times 10% in his favour. favour. Actually swindling someone falls under the Larceny skill. Command (Mind or Spirit) Te Command skill is for leading and inspiring followers or troops. It covers things like rousing speeches, managing bureaucracy, and strategy and tactics. Commanders can be more intellectual or inspirational in their leadership, and can choose between using Mind or Spirit. Craft (Body, Mind or Spirit) Craft is a catch-all skill for trades work. Tis includes Brewing, Bar-tending, Carpentry, Smithing, ailoring, Bowyering, and Chandlery, just to name a few. When a character takes the Craft skill, he must choose his trade. aking the skill a second time allows for a second trade to be learned. Dodge (Body) Tis is the skill of not being there. It includes ducking, weaving, and taking cover from ranged attacks as well as blocking and dodging in close combat. It modifies a character’s Defence in personal combat. Etiquette (Spirit) Te fine art of saying the right thing at the right time to not upset people around you. It covers everything from being polite to being able to dance. A character with a high Etiquette skill can expect to be well liked or at least well respected and will know how to flatter, gossip, dance, and be able to quickly pick up local traditions. History (Mind) Te study of the past. History students spend most of their time trying to unravel the events that broke the lands. A skilled historian can read fragments of old languages and can even infer the use of surviving Remnants (other than Ishin). Investigation (Mind/Spi Investigation (Mind/Spirit) rit) Tis skill is used to find hidden information, whether by digging through records (Mind), examining physical evidence (Mind), questioning witnesses (Spirit), or following leads from contacts (Spirit). Language (Mind) Te ability to speak multiple languages. Each level adds another fluent language to the character’s repertoire. Although there are a few written records of the ancient times, no one knows what it sounds like, though many current languages still hold frag50

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ments of it in their dialects. Newly-added languages are always treated as being one level lower than the first language chosen. Larceny (Mind/Body/Spirit) Te catch-all skill for doing illegal and immoral things. It includes bluffing, lying, and cheating (Spirit); disguises (Spirit); finding out illegal information (Spirit); forgery (Mind); sleight of hand (Body) and lock-picking (Mind). Lore (Mind) Knowledge of the unusual and the fantastic. Areas of study are Ishin, Near Humans, Monstrosities, and other Ishi. Lore includes a general understanding of the subject as well as some detailed specifics. At level 1, the character picks an area of study and adds a new area each time the skill is increased. Tose new areas are always treated as being one level lower than the first area chosen. Medicine (Mind) Te medical profession. Level 1 is basic herbalism and bandaging wounds; level 2 might be possessed by a battlefield medic; level 3 is for surgeons; and level 4+ is for “gifted” healers. Melee (Body) Te popular art of fighting with close-combat weapons like swords, knives, axes, clubs, and pole arms.

Perform (Spirit) Tis skill covers all of the performing arts such as acting, dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments. At level 1, the character picks an area of study and adds a new area each time the skill is increased. Tose new areas are always treated as being one level lower than the first area chosen. Ride (Body/Spirit) Te Broken Lands contains several different creatures used for transportation. Tis skill covers riding (Body) and training (Spirit) them. Initial attempts to ride unfamiliar species have a +2 diculty until your character acclimatizes to the new creature. Sail (Mind/Spirit) (Mind/Spirit)  While the ocean is distant and dangerous, the Broken Lands are crisscrossed THE CHARACTERS

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 with rivers and dotted by massive ma ssive crater lakes that can be navigated by boat. When navigating, the Sail skill is modified by Mind, but racing a ship or attempting dangerous manoeuvres requires an intuitive (Spirit) grasp of Sailing. Sciences (Mind) Te Sciences skill covers an understanding of basic scientific principles. Te major areas of study are biology, engineering and chemistry (alchemy). A character chooses an area of study at level 1 and can add another at each level beyond. Tose new areas are always treated as being one level lower than the first area chosen. Social Sciences (Mind) Tis is the catch-all skill for political science, archeology, and sociology. Tis skill is only common amongst the educated. A character chooses an area of study at level 1 and can add another at each level beyond. Tose new areas are always treated as being one level lower than the first area chosen. Stealth (Body) Stealth covers both moving quietly and avoiding visual detection. Survival (Mind) In order to survive in the many extreme environments of the Broken Lands, this skill is a must. Unarmed Combat (Body) Unarmed Fighting without weapons is a skill common to boxers, thugs, and the patrons of any bar. Te skill suffers a -1 penalty to attack when fighting an opponent armed with a melee  weapon. Damage from f rom unarmed combat is non-lethal but a character can attempt lethal attacks by taking a -2 to his attack rolls.

Remnant Skills Tere are three that are only possessed Tey govern theskills use of Battle Remnants andby the Ishinari. their weapons. Tey are all modified by a character’s Situational Awareness, which is equal to Body+Mind+Spirit.

  Assault Assault (SA) Tis skill covers the use of a Remnant’s close combat weapons. Te actual nature of the Remnant’s attack -- be it swords, a hammer, fists, a chainsaw, claws, a jackhammer,, etc, -- does not matter; hammer this skill works just the same. It 52

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is also the skill for a Remnant to attempt a grapple, though the Motion skill is used to escape a grapple. Strike (SA) Tis skill covers the use of a Remnant’ Remnant’ss long-range weapons. It also determines the maximum range of those weapons. A Remnant can Strike out to a distance equal to its pilot’s Strike skill x 100 meters. Motion (SA) Tis is the “pilot” skill for a Remnant. It represents how skilled the Ishinari is at controlling the awkward and heavy limbs of a Battle Remnant. Characters with a high Motion skill can make their Ishin dance, for instance. A character’ character’ss Motion skill + SA is added to his Remnant’s Remnant’s Speed to determine its Defence rating.

6. Assign Secondary Stats  Y  Your our Character has 3 secondary Stats. Tese are modified by your Stats and skills. Y Your our secondary Stats are as follows: Defence 3+Body+Dodge Skill+Shield (if any) Resist  Spirit+Armour Health 3+Body+Spirit

7. Choose Advantages and Disadvantages  Advantages and Disadvantages Disadvantages make you yourr character unique unique and do not have a direct rules impact. Tese are things like fame, fortune, beauty, greed, vanity, or a bounty on your head. Advantages and Disadvantages come in two flavours: Minor and major. A Minor  Advantage or Disadvantage is enough to affect the game, but not enough to be character defining. Major Advantages and Disadvantages are character defining and a nd can have a significant impact on game play. Every player is allowed and encouraged to take one Major  Advantage, but they must m ust balance it with one Major Disadvantage. In addition, players can take up to 3 Minor Advantages but must balance each with a Minor Disadvantage. Below is a short list of sample Advantages and Disadvantages. Y You ou should not limit yourself to the ideas listed. In fact, it is recommended that you come up with your own Advantages and Disadvantages and present them to the GM for approval.

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Advantages Fame • Minor - You are well known and regarded. • Major - Who hasn’ hasn’t heard of you? ey must be living under a rock! Fortune •(Start Minor - You You never short of money orstep resources you manage your nances well with triple theseem normal funds listed in 8 or aand small piece of property). • Major - By inheritance or hard work, you you’’re rich enough to have great wealth or property (Start with 10 times the funds listed in step 8 or a large, profitable piece of property). Beauty  • Minor - Most people consider you to be very attractive. • Major - You You almost need personal guards to keep your admirers a dmirers at bay bay.. Friends in High Places • Minor - You You know some important ambassadors and chiefs. • Major - You You have a d direct irect line to at least one king or council of chiefs member. member. Friends in Low Places • Minor - You You know a few criminals or rogues that can help you out of a bind. • Major - Several criminal organizations would go out of their way to help you out. Good Luck  • Minor - e right place and the right time happen a lot for you. • Major - You You once slept through a massive assault without getting a scratch. Power • Minor - You You have a m minor inor clan/tribal position or a city guard rank. • Major - You’re a champion, chief’s lieutenant , or renowned knight/mercenary. Soothing Presence • Minor - You You are able to get out of most situations by talking it out. • Major - You You missed your true calling as a diplomat or ambassador.

Disadvantages Infamy  • Minor - Rumours circulate about your many misdeeds. • Major - Regular folks fear you and bounty hunters are itching to take you down.

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Poor • Minor - Your Your money disappears… somewhere. Other people buy your meals (Y (You ou start  with half the normal amount of funds listed in step 8). • Major - You are destitute. You haven’t bought new clothes in years (You start completely broke). Unattractive • Minor - Most people nd you hard on the eyes but are probably too polite to say any thing. • Major - Babies cry, children run away, and prospective lovers cringe at the mere sight of you. Debt  • Minor - You You owe someone either money or a favour and they will come to collect sooner or later. • Major - Criminals, a powerful Clan, or a city-state owns you. Hunted  • Minor - ere’s ere’s a bounty on your head, so watch out! • Major - Bounty hunters come from around the world to take you down. Bad Luck  • Minor - As rule, you don’t gamble. • Major - Death De ath isn isn’’t quite hunting you but no one else seems to walk into ambushes with such startling regularity. Dependent  • Minor - You You have a signicant other or a fam family ily to watch out for. for. • Major - You You family relies on you for regular protection from your many eenemies. nemies. Unsettling Presence • Minor - You You give people the creeps, making it dicult to interact with most people. • Major - People think you are a sociopath, and it is near impossible for you to interact  with the public.

8. Gear and Money Ishinari do not often carry much in the way of gear. Teir machines have little in the way of cargo space, and so most Ishinari travel light. Characters start with one or two weapons, some light armour, and a pack of basic survival gear (see Equipment, p. 57). PCs with the Fortune advantage can talk with the GM about starting with additional equipment. Characters also start with 20 points of “Easy Living” (written as EL 20), which represents their relative wealth. o learn how Easy Living works, see below.

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Money and Easy Living In Remnants , money is a real problem. While the city-states and some of the clans/tribes have local currency, such coins are worthless beyond the borders of the nation in which they’re issued. Most people just barter, and actual wealth is difficult to judge. Food, animals, salt, and slaves are often used for smaller trades and things like land, rarities, and minor Remnants (not priceless Battle Remnants) are used for larger trades. For ease of play, Remnants  uses  uses money system based on the concept of “Easy Living,” which ignores the complex maze known as bartering.   o put it simply, the Easy Living system tracks time instea instead d of money. Any day that a character is not on the job costs them 1 point of Easy Living in terms of expenses. Characters earn points of Easy Living by doing work. How much they earn is based on the danger and difficulty of the job (Te GM section has details on pay rates). Te GM may use this system for simplicity but can still require the Bureaucracy skill to barter over rare or valuable items.   With Easy Living, the measure of value of any good, piece of information, or service is based on how much time a mercenary could trade it for in terms of living a life of leisure. A life of leisure means all of the follo following: wing: • Sleeping in a comfortable bed (possibly with hired company). • Eating decent food. • Alcohol, entertainment, and gambling every night. So, instead of keeping track of a hard amount of money or trade items, just keep track of how much time you could live of the proceeds of what you have. Easy Living 1 (EL 1) equals 1 day of living the good life. Easy Living 7 (EL 7) s is about a week’ week’ss worth, EL 30 is a month’s worth, and so on. Every day that goes by that your character isn’t working, subtract 1 from their EL.   In general, most escort/guard jobs pay about a 1:1 ratio of work days to days of Easy Living. Tus, three weeks of escort work will give the character about Easy Living 21 afterward (in addition to any other funds the character has). Te Easy Living system assumes the characters will cover expenses of their time spent working out of their profits and that they have a good grasp on the relative worth of  whatever is being b eing traded. It also assumes they are just after Easy Living. Some characters may have higher aspirations: buying property, starting a company, setting up a Caravan, etc. If this is the case, the GM will arbitrarily set up some values a character needs to pay to do what they want. For example, bartering for a small plot of land from a tribe or clan might require Easy Living 180 (about 6 months), while a house in one of the city-states might cost a EL 1000.   Te temptation of the rich mercenary is to get only the finest goods. A mercenary who must have the best isn’t interested in Easy Living but wants Decadent Living . One point of Decadent Living is worth between 7 and 30 points of Easy Living, depending on the character’s desires and the GM’s discretion. Characters who have a decadent lifestyle in their downtime have to spend a lot more time working (or do much more dangerous work) to support it.   56

Te opposite of Decadent Living is Frugal Living. If a mercenary is

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hurting for work and doesn’t know any useful trades, he can try to get through day to day by spending as little as possible. Frugal Living allows the mercenary to stretch 1 point of Easy Living to last for 3 days. A PC that can make a difficulty 7 B Bureaucracy ureaucracy roll can negotiate that 1 point of Easy Living into Lead +3 days of Frugal Living. If the PC does have a useful trade, he can keep a reasonable level of comfort, depending on skill level (he can earn 1 point of Frugal Living per day per level of skill). Without a useful trade, the PC  will have to resort to Larceny or leave civilization and try surviving o the land.   Te Easy Living system ignores a few things in real economies to keep things simple. Unless you really want to try your hand at trading for profit, it ignores supply and demand, bargaining, and scarcity scarcity.. It also ignores the value of very high-priced items. If you find a rare and powerful Ishi, it could be worth decades of Easy Living, but there are few people who could afford such things. Finding a buyer for these items would be a challenge in and of itself and the payment would most likely be in land, other Ishi, or favours as opposed to a veritable mountain of trade goods. Terefore, finding the big score is almost as much trouble as it’ it’ss worth.

  Example: A mercenary Ishinari, Halian, has been living the good life for two months in Cradle Lake, but his funds are running short. He takes a job escorting a Caravan from Cradle Cradle Cradle Lake north to Morat Kerr. Instead of paying him in cash, the Caravan offers him a percentage of their trade goods. Halian quick math hismake head enough and figures outtrade that the tripfor will take about three months butdoes oncesome he gets there, he in will off the goods 3 months of living the high life even after all of his expenses. In Rules terms, Te GM tells Halian’s Player that the 3 month trip will give earn his character EL 90. Not bad for 3 months escort duty duty.. Easy Living versus actual money  Te great city-state of Amantin uses a coinage system called the Kay. A Kay represents the basic wage paid to laborers, soldiers, and menials. Earning “a kay a day” is the absolute minimum wage. Merchants, smiths, and tradesmen can earn between 2 and 4 Kay a day, day, depending on their skills. Educated professionals like scribes, surgeons, and engineers can manage 5 Kay a day. Te city’s Remnant warriors are kept loyal with the staggering  wage of 12 Kay a day day.. A Kay is enough money to buy a day’s day’s worth of food and lodgi lodging, ng, a simple but well-made knife, or a night with a prostitute. Slaves can be bought for as little as 30 Kay and mounts can cost between 40 and a nd 100 Kay. Kay. A set of full-plate battle armour a rmour could run upwards of 200 Kay. Minor Remnants could cost over 500 Kay. Battle Remnants are not for sale, but if one could be bought, it would be worth thousands of Kay. Under the Easy Living system, 1 point of Easy Living would be worth about 3 Kay, Kay, with 1 Kay going towards upkeep and covering expenses while the other 2 for living the good life.

Equipment Often, good gear can make the difference between life and death out in the wastes. What you can take with you is limited and finding what you need can sometimes be a real challenge. As with other Rapidfire rules, the Stats on equipment, weapons, and THE CHARACTERS

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armour are as simple as possible. Feel free to expand on the details of your gear but don’t don’t expect to get any in game bonuses for them.   Te list of gear below covers most relevant items. Battle Remnants are not listed as they are covered in detail in the next chapter.

Melee Weapons Rapidfire splits close combat weapons into 3 broad categories: light, medium, and heav heavyy. Tere are some exceptions, listed below. Light Weapons Weapons - Lead +1 damage  A light weapon is anything small enough to conceal on one’ one’ss person but still large enough to be dangerous. Light weapons include knives, daggers, hatchets, short swords, short staves and sticks, and improvised weapons like stools and rocks. Most people in the Broken Lands possess a light weapon or at least something that can be improvised as one.

Te advantages to light weapons are their ease of use, ubiquity, and their ability to be concealed. Medium Weapons Weapons - Lead +2 damage If it is heavy enough to see regular use in close combat but still light enough to wield with one hand, it is a medium weapon. Medium weapons include most swords, axes, spears, maces, flails, hammers, and picks. Unlike light weapons, medium weapons are too large for easy concealment. Tey are often worn as signs of rank amongst the more war-like tribes and clans, but anyone so heavily armed in the city-states can expect the guards to be keeping tabs on them. Heavy Weapons Weapons - Lead +3 damage wo-handed weapons that deliver grievous wounds fall into the heavy weapons category. category. Heavy weapons include claymores, great swords, war mauls, great axes, and pole-arms. Tese specialty weapons are so heavy that a minimum of Body +1 is required to use them in combat. While heavy weapons are often wielded by warriors on the battlefield, trying to carry one into a city-state or tribal village will invite hostility from the local authorities. Exceptions Tere are a few weapons that cross the boundaries: Bastard swords count as medium weapons when used in one hand and heavy weapons when used with both hands. Such swords are common in the Broken Hills but very rare elsewhere. Lances 58

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are medium weapons but count as heavy weapons when making a mounted charge. Tey see extensive use by the riders of the Vast. Pikes and other long spears are medium weapons that count as heavy weapons when set to receive a charge.

Ranged weapons Short Bows Short bows are common amongst many tribes and clans and see use in both war and hunting. Short bows do Lead +1 damage and have a range of 100m. Long Bows  Wastelanders,  W astelanders, guides, guides, and sharpshooters often u use se the long bow bow,, though though it is such a unique unique  weapon that it requires requires significant skill to use. Long bows do Lead +2 damage and can fire out to 300m but require Body +1 and Archery level 2 to use. Trown Weapons Knives, hatchets, spears, and rocks can all be thrown as weapons. Tey have the disadvantage of limited ammunition, but can inflict lethal damage. Trown weapons go about 10m and do their melee damage. Crossbows Based on old Ishi designs, crossbows are more powerful than bows but much slower on the reload. A standard crossbow fires a shot every other round, has a range of 100m, and does Lead +2 Damage. A heavy crossbow needs a winch to reload, fires every third round, has a range of 200m, and does Lead +3 Damage.

Armour  Armour is kept as simple as the weapons, with light, medium and heavy armour being available, as well as some shields. Light Armour (+2 Resist) Te most common armour in the Broken Lands, light armour is anything that provides protection without restricting mobility. mobility. Light armour can be concealed under clothes and be worn for extended periods without discomfort. It includes leather, hide, light mail, or any other light protection. Te armour still has some weight to it and requires a minimum of Body -1. Medium Armour (+3 Resist) Medium armour is the heaviest armour that most people in the Broken Lands will ever see. It is strong enough to provide excellent protection but limits mobility. Medium armour imposes a -1 penalty to all physical actions, but a character with a level 2 combat skill can ignore the penalty for all combat-related actions, like attacking, defending, or initiative. Medium armour includes mail from the broken hills, heavy hide armour, and specialty armour made from the carapace and bones of tougher THE CHARACTERS

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creatures. Medium armour requires its user to have a minimum of Body 0 to be able to bear its weight in combat. Heavy Armour (+4 Resist) Only a few people in the world have the skills necessary to make heavy armour, and not too many more can afford the great expense. expe nse. Te few suits of heavy armour out there often incorporate Ishi components to reinforce hardened steel plates designed to provide maximum protection from attack. Heavy armour imposes a -2 penalty to all physical actions, but a character with a level 3 combat skill can ignore the penalty for all combat-related actions like attacking, defending, or initiative. Heavy armour includes all variations of plate-and-mail and full plate suits. Heavy armour requires a minimum of Body +1. Heavy armour should be very hard to get. A full fitted suit is worth years of Easy Living and  would require over over 6 months to construct. Shields (+1 Defence) Te humble shield is one of the most ubiquitous forms of protection and is used by almost every tribe and clan that engages in the art of war. Tey work on the principle of intercepting attacks and thus improve a character’s character’s Defence instead of his Resist. Parrying daggers and the like also count as shields but only work in close combat. Ishi Equipment   When it comes to weapons of war war,, Ishi variants just improve on the numbers above. For example, an Ishi ranged weapon might do Lead +3 damage like a heavy crossbow but is small enough to be concealed and can fire every round. Ishi armour might weigh no more than normal clothes but provide +3 to Resist. Ishi weapons might also have special properties, such as stunning or armour piercing, as determined by the GM. Ishi equipment always looks distinctive and appears to be of the highest quality quality..

Optional Item: Guns. Guns.  At the GM’s GM’s discretion, the city-state of Amantin has unlocked unlocked the secrets of gunpow gunpowder der.. Modeling their weapons on Ishi relics, guns are powerful but unreliable weapons. A pistol can fire every third round, does Lead +2 damage, and is accurate out to about 20m. A musket requires two hands, can fire every fourth round, does Lead+3 damage, and is accurate out to about 50m. Guns are armour piercing and ignore 2 points of Armour when determining damage, unless the armour is of Ishi origin (this includes Battle Remnants).   Guns are not reliable. Tey do not fire if their powder gets at all wet and they always have a chance of misfire: If the attack roll is a 1, re-roll the die. 60

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If the re-roll comes up 3-6, the attack roll counts as a 1 and though it probably misses, there are no ill effects. On a re-roll of 1-2, the gun misfires and it requires an extra 2 rounds to clear the jam.

9. The Details  What does you character look look like? How is he dressed? How does he speak? Does he have any preconceived notions or attitudes? Any major fears? Any major goals? Your character not complete until you add thet worry details.if Make sure you have enough to give players. aisgood first impression, im pression, b but ut don’ don’t yo you u don’ don’t t have too m much uch figured outother in aadvance dvance. Some of the most interesting aspects of character’s personalities are often revealed in the middle of good roleplaying.

All Done… Almost Congratulations, your character is ready to take on the world, and it can be one hell of a  world. Still, you should should equip yourself with a Battle Remnant (p. 65) just to be safe.

Character Option: The Near Humans Tere are four major species of Near Humans in the Broken Lands and there might be more. Near Humans are specialized for their environments and have rules adjustments based on their natural strengths and weakness. Players need GM permission to play a Near Human character. Kesantra - Te Desert Walkers Walkers -Tese  -Tese Near Humans live in small tribes in the southern deserts. Tey have long legs, jet black skin and small, dark eyes. Tey are hairless but have long dreadlocks growing from their heads. Tese dreadlocks are similar in function to camel’ss humps, and store water and nutrients. Kesantra are clannish and insular, tending camel’ to shun contact with outsiders, although the occasional wanderer is found beyond their small clans. Characters playing Kesantra make the following changes: • +2 to all Survival rolls in desert environments. • +1 to all Athletics rolls for running and sprinting. • -1 to all actions when the temperature dips below freezing. • -1 to all social interactions with non-Kesantra. enik - Te Ice Men - e -  e Tenik are the result of extreme specialization amongst some northern tribes. Tey are short, thick, and have only the slightest protrusions for noses and ears. eir eyes are slits and polarized to prevent snow-blindness. eir bodies are protected from the cold by a thick layer of fat and they can even go into a state of hibernation during lean times. Unlike Kesantra, enik are welcoming of outsiders and live in  what resemble family communes. Te other Ice ribes have great respect respect for the enik and consider them a sacred people. Characters playing enik make the following THE CHARACTERS

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changes: • +2 to all Survival rolls in arctic environments. • +1 to Unarmed Combat rolls when grappling (they are both heavy and strong.) • +1 to all social interactions • -1 to all Athletics rolls for running, jumping, or climbing. • Hibernation: M Must ust make a diculty 4 Spirit roll roll every week to stay awake in above 0 temperatures. -2 to all actions when the temperature is above freezing and when the Tenik Tenik manages to stay awake. enik Ishinari must still roll to stay awake each week but can ignore the penalty while armoured. Battle Remnants all have air a ir conditioning and putting a sleeping enik enik in his Ishin would wake him up in just a minute or two. Porteth - Te Te  rue rue Wastela Wastelanders nders - While many W Wastelanders astelanders live in the Wastes, Only the Porteth thrive there. Porteth Porteth are of aaverage verage height, gangly to the point of emaciated, have ashen-gray skin, and are immune to many dangers of the Wastes. Tey are known for their cold demeanor, preference for silence, and brilliant shooting skills. While Wastelanders often sight small family fa mily groups of Porteth, and Porteth guides are considered some of tthe he best, no one has ever seen Porteth in larger numbers. Persistent rumours claim that the Porteth have an entire city-state hidden in the Deep Wastes. Characters playing Porteth make the following changes: • +2 to all Survival rolls in the Wastes. • +2 to Body rolls versus poison. • +1 to attack with all bows and crossbows (but not Ishin Strike weapons.) • Immune to all known diseases and infections. • Immune to Wasteland Wasteland Sickness (See page 33 for its eects) • -2 to all social interactions with non-Porteth. • -2 to Awareness rolls in crowded places (cities, villages, battleelds) • No sense of smell (but they still have noses) Dengir - Te unnelers -  -  Dengir are people who long ago retreated underground to escape the worst horrors of the apocalypse. Tey have re-emerged, changed by their long seclusion. Dengir stand with a stoop, have translucent skin, and albino white hair. Tey have large earshumans and wide, red eyesand thatseem can seenever into the Tey needhave less air than other to survive see m to tire infrared when onspectrum. the surface. Dengir tunnel complexes underneath each of the great city-states and can often be found doing underground mining work as well as any a ny job that requires night work (like guardsmen or lamp-lighters). Of all the Near Humans, the Dengir are the most likely to be sold as a s slaves. Characters playing Dengir make the following changes: Night Vision: Vision: Dengir can see in total darkness and have sharp vision as long as its not too bright out. • +1 bonus to all Awareness rolls for sight and hearing. • +2 to all Athletics rolls for climbing, crawling, and any long endurance activities. • -1 to all actions in full f ull sunlight. • -1 to all social interactions where appearance is important. • Agoraphobia: Dengir fear wide open spaces and need to make a diculty 6 62

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Spirit roll to willingly leave the confines of their city. Characters who are dragged out of the city after failing the roll are -2 to all actions for 1 week after leaving (2 weeks if the character has a -1 Spirit or lower).

Character Advancement  While the Broken Lands may be harsh and unforgiving, those who survive long enough can improve themselves and perfect their abilities. ime and experience will improve a character’s skills, abilities, and stats. Te Rapidfire system keeps track of a character’s progression using Experience Points, or XP, which can be earned both during a game and after a session. Tese Experience Points provide a statistical transcript of the various obstacles a player character has overcome during their adventures. Stats are improved separately using Stat Points. Tese points are earned through player dedication and by accomplishing major tasks.

XP Earned During Play Tere is no teacher as helpful as experience. A character will learn from a great success, a terrible failure, or a moment of pure awesomeness. Any character that uses a skill in any of these ways can earn XP for that skill. It is marked down in the XP box next to the individual skill and will contribute towards improving it. Characters may earn 1 XP for a skill by doing one of the following:   • Something Awesome: Awesome: If a character attempts something awesome like, “I grapple my enemy’s Ishin and use him as a shield against the explosion,” he can get a bonus to the skill roll. He can also earn 1 XP for the awesomeness of the attempt, whether it results in an astounding success or brutal failure. Te XP is immediately applied to the skill rolled.   • Spend Reserve: Reserve: Reserve is precious and powerful. It gives a character a chance to avoid a horrible roll and turn a good roll into a great one. If a character spends Reserve on an important roll, he can earn 1 XP for the skill he used.   •  Accept a Critical Failur Failuree: Although a roll of 1 does not guarantee failure under the Rapidfire system, if a character rolls a 1 and misses the required difficulty by a large margin (3 or more), he can request a Critical Failure. Te character earns 1 XP (and 1 point of Reserve) for the failed skill but the GM gets to have something terrible (but not quite lethal) happen to the character.   Te GM has final say over when XP are earned during play. play. Te general rule is a character can earn 1 XP per skill, per scene. Characters can earn multiple XP in a scene but each XP must be for a different skill. Tis limit is based on trust between players and the GM; players who squander Reserve Reser ve or push for Critical Failures too often should not receive XP for their frivolous actions.

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End of Session XP Unlike XP earned during play, play, which are handed out on the spot and tied to the skill used to earn them, XP earned at the end of a session has more flexibility. Te XP can be spent on any skill. A player will generally be awarded 1-5 XP per session at the GM’s discretion. discretion. End-of-session XP should be immediately assigned to skills, with no more than 2 XP going to any one skill.   Once a skill reaches level 4 it becomes more difficult to improve. Te maximum end-of-session XP that can be assigned to a level 4+ skill reduces to just 1 XP. Te GM has the option of reducing the amount of XP assigned to high-level skills down to 0. Tis makes earning XP during play even more m ore important and possibly the only way to earn XP for high-level skills. Improving Skills Improving a skill costs double its new level in XP XP.. Terefore, raising a skill from level 2 to 3 costs 6 XP, XP, going from f rom 3 to 4 ccosts osts 8 XP XP,, and getting ge tting a n new ew skil skilll costs 2 XP X P. (It is possible pos sible to get XP for using skills untrained. Earning 2 XP for an untrained skill gives the character the skill at level 1.) Multiple skills can be raised between sessions, but a player can spend no more than 2 XP per skill, per session, and 1 XP for f or level 4+ skills. If a player eearns arns XP during play to give him enough XP to raise that skill, he doesn’ doesn’t have to wait until the end of   the session or even the end of the scene to do so. Stat Points Stat Points Points are given out along with end-of-session XP and can be used to increase a character’ss Stats. A player is generally awarded 1 Stat Point per session, at the GM’ acter’ GM’ss discretion (see the p. 90 in the GM section for details on awarding Stat points).

Improving Stats It takes a while, but earning enough Stat Points makes it possible for PCs to increase their Stats. Te GM usually hands out 1 Stat Point at the end of each session, but this is at his discretion. For a longer and/or grittier campaign, the GM may make Stat Points harder to earn. Increasing a Stat costs 10 Stat Points the first time. Te second Stat increase,  whether it be to the same Stat or a different Stat, costs 20 Stat Points; Points; the third costs 30; and so on. Te human maximum for a Stat is +2 but, at the GM’s discretion, the players can increase one of their PC’ PC’ss Stats beyond the normal maximum to a +3. Tis represents a character with legendary ability. ability. An increase to +3 should not be the first Stat that a PC increases; such high Stats take time to develop. Every time a character’ character’ss Stats increase, their Situational Awareness, Awareness, being the total of their the ir their Stats, also increases. SA does not have the +3 limit of the other 3 Stats.

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Chapter five: Battle Remnants It’s time to equip your character with his armour. Te Battle Remnant is a powerful  weapon and a sign of high status. Te rules below will tell you how how to make and improve your Remnant, but what you do with it is ultimately up to you.

Ishin Creation Below are step by step instructions for building your own Battle Remnant. Be sure to grab a Battle Remnant sheet (p. 115).

Step 1 – SA and Skills  As mentioned in the armoured rules, Battle Remnants, or Ishin, do not use the standard Stats and skills listed in the main Rapidfire rules. Instead, there is only one Stat, Situational Awareness (SA), and three skills: Assault, Strike, and Motion.

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SA   Y  Your our character’ character’ss SA is equal to Body + Mind + Spirit. If your GM gave you the standard 1 Stat point to start, your character’ character’ss SA will be +1. Skills  Y  Your our character starts off with level 1 in all three Remnant skills, Assault, Strike, and Motion. Te GM will then give you a number of skill points and a starting skill cap. A standard game gives 1 additional point and a starting skill cap of 2. Tis means two of your Remnant skills will be level 1 and the other will be level 2. Te GM may raise the t he number of skill points and/or the starting cap, but that is his call.

Step 2 – Remnant Stats Te standard “blank slate” Ishin is a balanced design with a mind towards general combat at both short and long range. It has the same basic shape as a human: two arms, two legs, a torso, a head, and stands between 10 and 12 feet tall. With these general characteristics comes some general Stats. Just like character Stats, a Remnant’s Stats give basic information on its combat abilities. It has the following following basic Stats: • Armour: 5 (Damage Resistance 1) • Speed: 3 • Structure: 5 (Standard Structure Track: 0 0 -1 -1 -2) • Assault Damage: Lead +4 • Strike Damage: Lead +2 • Inspiring: 1 • Terrifyi Terrifying: ng: 1 Now that you have some starting Stats for your Remnant, you can customize it through the use of two optional  “rade-offs”.  “rade-offs”. Te generic Remnant is good all around, but you may  want to focus on one area of combat. Armour and Speed can be traded off, one for one, as can Assault damage and Strike damage. Tese can each be traded off once when the Remnant is first created. Further  rade-off rade-off are possible later on, but require  raits raits (see below).  Armour/Speed rade-offs  Adding armour slo slows ws an Ishin down, w while hile remo removing ving armour can make it lightning lightning quick. quick.  While the standard Remnant starts off with 5 Armour and 3 Speed, you can start with 6 Armour and 2 Speed, or 4 Armour and 4 Speed. Remember, you can only trade off 1 point when the Remnant is created. You cannot start with 7 Armour and 1 Speed, or 3  Armour and 5 Speed.   Exchanging Armour and Speed will change how often your Ishin gets hit but not how often it takes damage. Te difference is in what happens when the Ishin takes said damage. While high Speed Ishin can get anywhere in a very short time, they are fragile, and even light hits can be debilitating. If you reduce your Ishin’ Ishin’ss Armour to 4 or less, your starting Structure track looks like this:

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Structure   Structure  Penalty  

O 0

O -1

O -1

O -2

O -2

In contrast, heavily armoured Remnants have built-in redundancies and can take a beating without slowing down. Every point of Armour that your Ishin has above 4 adds 1 Damage Resistance and gives it an extra point of damage that it can suffer before it starts taking penalties. A standard Remnant with 5 Armour (Damage Resistance 1) has a structure track like this: Structure   Structure  Penalty

O 0

O 0

O -1

O -1

O -2

 An even heavier Ishin with 6 Armour (but a measly 2 Speed) is even more impressive.  While it isn’ isn’t quick and it isn’ isn’t the most graceful of vehicles, it can take a massive beating before things even start to break down. Structure   Structure  Penalty  

O 0

O 0

O 0

O -1

O -1

Damage rade-Offs  A standard Remnant starts star ts off doing Lead +4 Assault Damage and Lead +2 + 2 Strike Damage. Tis is good for general fighting with some bias towards melee combat. If you wish to optimize your Remnant for ranged or close work, you can do so with a damage trade off. rading off damage means starting with Lead +5 Assault damage and Lead +1 Strike damage, or Lead +3 Assault damage dam age and Lead +3 Strike damage.Tis is the furtherest that these numbers can be adjusted when the Remnant is first created, though later upgrades can push these numbers further apart. A Remnant can specialize in Assault to the point  where it no longer carries Strike weapons, but while a Remnant can specialize in Strike  weapons, it cannot do so to point where it can’ can’t use Assault.

Step Remnant raits are3the-nuts and bolts of aTraits Battle Remnant’s abilities. Tey represent any power or  weapon an Ishin possesses that go beyond its basic abilities as listed in the Ishin’ Ishin’s Stats. Can your Remnant swim like a fish? Can it fly? Does it have a special attack a ttack that hits every enemy around it? Can it deploy drones to fight for it? If your Ishin has the right  raits, raits, it can do all of these things and more. As you Ishin undergoes the stresses of combat, you  will eventually be able to customize it to th thee Nth degree by adding more and better Traits (See Remnant Advancement Section for info on aadding dding  raits, raits, p. 71).   Tere are 3 basic kinds of raits. Upgrades Upgrades allow  allow you to improve your Ishin’s Stats directly. Tey are powerful but difficult to get and your Remnant will not have any  when it is first created. Powers Powers cover  cover the widest variety of abilities ranging from special attacks and defences to things like flying, wheels, and sensors. Drones raits are a special subset of raits that focus on the deployment of small autonomous Drones BATTLE REMNANTS

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that scout and fight on behalf of the Ishin. Tere is special 4th set of raits called Innate raits. Tese are common to all Ishin and every Remnant gets them automatically when they are created. Tey are as follows: • Environmental protection – the Ishin protects against extreme heat and cold, and can even function under water (though it will sink to the bottom and run out of air after an hour or so). Characters in an Ishin are even protected from low-intensity fire, lightning strikes, and Wasteland Sickness. • Armoured Cockpit - e pilot’s compartment is uncomfortable and claustrophobic, but incredibly tough. Unless a Remnant is Wrecked or destroyed outright, direct attacks against the pilot of a Remnant are impossible while he is sealed in his armour. See the armoured rules (p. 34) for more details. • Link – every Ishin is linked to its user and will not function for anyone else. • Basic Senses - e Ishin has human-like vision/hearing and can project a voice through a small mouth/loudspeaker. It will even go so far as to provide the pilot with such senses if he is blind, deaf or mute. • Com - Battle Remnants can talk to each other on an open “radio”-style “radio”-style net. It has a range of about 10 km, but it’s open, meaning everyone can hear everyone. If the pilot wants to mute the taunts of an enemy, he has to cut off everyone trying to communicate with him. Battle Remnants get around this t his problem by picking up the Secure Com  rait rait (p. 79).  Add a rait  rait  In addition to the Innate raits listed above, you get to add one Power or Drones rait to your Battle Remnant’s list of starting raits. You cannot take an Upgrade when the Remnant is first created. ake a look at the chart, find a rait that looks interesting and then check out it’s full description descripti on in the  rait rait sect section ion starting start ing on page 75. You You may only choose choo se a rait rait that costs 5 “Duress” (See Remnant Advancement, p. 72 to learn about a bout Duress and how you use it to improve your Battle Remnant.)

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REMNANT TRAITS Upgrades  Assault Damage rade-off Strike Damage rade-off   Armour rade-off  rade-off  Speed rade-o rade-off  ff  Increased Assault Damage Increased Damage Increased Strike Armour Increased Speed Epic Assault Damage Epic Strike Damage Epic Armour Epic Speed

Powers Swim  Wheels Climber Digger

Stealth Night Vision  All Around Sight Motion racker Secure Com Self-repair

Smashing Assault Focus Mastery  Focus Guard Combo Mastery 

Guard Grappler Stabilized Precise Strike Precise Assault Power Strike Power Assault Breaching Strike Breaching Assault Bursting Strike Bursting Assault Crippling Strike Crippling Assault Far Strike

Drones Fast ough  Agile Improved Scout Improved Strike Improved Assault Flying Scout Repair Sniper  Artillery  Shield Heavy Assault  Additional Heavy 

Drones

 Jump/Flight  Jump/F light

Step 4 – Remnant Specialties By now your Remnant has Stats and raits. Now you will choose its Specialty. Most Ishin are optimized for ghting specic enemies or for certain kinds of combat. Specialties are areas of focus your Remnant excels at. Every Battle Remnant starts with one Specialty,  with improvements and additions available during play (see the Remnant Advancement section). Diversity is a strength when designing Ishin and players should consult with each other before choosing their Specialties. Below is a list of available Ishin Specialties: Ishin Slayer  Y  Your our Remnant is specialized for ghting other Battle Remnants and is +1 damage to all a ll attacks against them. Improved version: your Remnant is +1 to both attack and damage. Maximum version: your Remnant is +1 to attack and +2 + 2 to damage. Monstrosity Slayer  Y  Your our Remnant is specialized for ghting Monstrosities and Gr Grand and Monstrosities Monstrosities and is +1 damage to all attacks against them. Improved version: your Remnant is +1 to both attack and damage. Maximum version: your Remnant is +1 to attack and +2 to damage. Far Human Slayer  Y  Your our Remnant is optimized for ghting the hordes of vicious Far Far Humans wandering the the  wastes. You You Remnant can attack twice in a round without penalty as long as both targets are Far Humans and your Remnant did not Focus during the round. Improved BATTLE REMNANTS

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Version: You You Remnant can make three attacks, but the same restrictions apply. apply. Maximum version: your Remnant can make four attacks, but the same restrictions apply apply.. Tick of the Fight   Y  Your our Remnant is unfazed by being surrounded.  Y  Your our Ishin ignores the first attacker when calculating extra attacker bonuses (see p. 30) when enemies gang up on it. Improved version: In addition to ignoring the first attacker, the extra attacker bonus against your Remnant never exceeds +1, no matter how many enemies it faces. Maximum version: Extra attackers get no bonus against your Remnant under any circumstances. (Exception: Te perfectly coordinated attacks of Remnant Drones ignore this specialty) Duelist   Y  Your our Remnant works best in one-on-one fights. Your IIshin shin is +1 to Defence when facing a single opponent. It loses the bonus whenever it is facing two or more attackers. Improved version: Defence bonus +2 ,your +2, but the same restrictions Te Defence Te bonus remains at +2isand Remnant is also a lso +1 toapply. attackMaximum against theversion: opponent, but the same restrictions apply. Precision  Y  Your our Remnant excels at tricky attacks and takedowns. Yo Your ur Ishin gains +1 bonus to attempts at called shots, trips, and disarms. Improved version: Te bonus to called shots, trips, and disarms increases to +2. Maximum version: Te bonus increases to +3. Quick Reactions  Y  Your our Remnant’ Remnant’ss reflexes are especially refined. Your Your Ishin gains +1 bonus to all awareness and initiative rolls. Improved version: Te bonus increases to +2. Maximum version: Te bonus increases to +3. Sniper  Y  Your our Remnant is optimized for long range combat. Your maximum range for all Strikes is equal to your Strike skill x150 meters instead of the standard Strike skill x100 meters. Te bonus stacks with the increased ranges available with the Far Strike rait. Improved version: Range increases to Strike skill x200 meters. Maximum version: Range increases to Strike skill x250 meters.

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Step 5 – Final Calculations Go to your Remnant Sheet and fill in your Remnant’s Stats, the details of the rait you chose, its Structure track, and Specialty. Specialty. Ten find its Assault, Strike, and Defence ratings. • Assault: SA + Assault Skill • Strike: SA + Strike Skill (Strike Range is equal to your Strike skill x100 meters) • Defence: Speed + SA + Motion skill.

Step 6 can – look Appearance  Y  Your our Ishin any way you like. It might look like a high-tech war machine, a steampunk juggernaut, an almost-organic warrior, or a lumbering golem made of steel. If you GM is feeling generous, he might give you an extra point of Duress or two if you draw your Ishin, or better yet, make a little model of it (Lego is wonderful for this). In game terms, two properties are all that matter: m atter: Inspiring and  errifying. errifying. Both Stats be begin gin at 1 and increase when the GM dictates you have carried out a sufficiently Inspiring or errifying action.

Remnant Advancement  As a Remnants  game  game progresses, characters advance when they use their skills. Ishin don’t don’t quite follow the same rules. A Battle Remnant’s Remnant’s evolution is shaped by the ferocity of the combat it experiences and the will of its pilot.

Advancing SA and Skills Te Situational Awareness of your pilot is based on Body + Mind + Spirit. When any of these Stats increase, your SA increases as well. See the Character Advancement rules for details on how to increase your Stats.   Your Remnant skills -- Assault, Strike, and Motion -- are listed on your Remnant Sheet and advance in the same manner as your regular skills, as described in the Character  Advancement rules. Advancing Structure Tere is only one way to advance the Structure Stat: get W Wrecked! recked! As mentioned in the Armoured rules, having your Ishin reduced to 0 Structure without it being destroyed causes it to regenerate with an extra point of Structure. Te details of the process are listed in the  Armoured rules. Te maximum Structure rating for any Battle Remnant is 10.   Some players might try to exploit this mechanic by purposely fighting each other and Wrecking Wrecking each other’ other’ss Remnants. GM’s can do these two things to dissuade them: 1. Recovery ime Te shock of their Remnant getting Wrecked weakens them. Tey are -2 to all actions (both in and out of armour) until such time as GM deems them recovered (i.e., not exploiting the rules).

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2. Serious Complications Bad things can happen during those initial eight hours of unconsciousness. Capture, torture, blackmail, or serious disfigurement d isfigurement might be in the PC’ PC’ss future.

Becoming more Inspiring or Terrifying Tese both start at 1 and increase independently through roleplaying. o increase either, the player while in Battle Remnant armour must do something very inspiring or terrifying… with witnesses. Players may petition the GM if they think their actions warrant increasing these Stats, but the GM has the final call. Improving and Adding Specialties  While every Ishin starts with a Specialty Specialty,, it is very difficult to improve a specialty to its superior versions or to add a new Specialty. Specialties are awarded to players that go above and beyond the call, turning a good game session into a  great  one.   one. It requires a unanimous vote of all of the players and the GM for an Ishin to get a new Specialty or to improve an existing one. Only the GM can call for the vote but players may petition for it if they think a noteworthy event has occurred. Votes should be held immediately after the event and if the Specialty is approved, the player in question can immediately add a new Specialty or improve an existing one. Actions that might be worthy of a vote include: • Amazing Characterization - For a player who roleplays a scene so well it seems that his character comes alive. • Suicidal Bravery - For a character who sacrices himself to save the party... and survives. • Dramatic Reversal - When a character’s actions turn the tables at a desperate moment, turning a crushing defeat into a stunning victory. • Brilliant Strategy - For a character whose perfectly executed plan greatly furthers the group’s goals in a way that no one expected. • Show Stopper - When a character says or does something so awesome/shocking/insightawesome/shocking/insightful that it stops the GM cold.

Duress and Traits  When you subject a Remnant to stress, it adapts. Te Remnant’s Remnant’s pilot can control this adaptive process and craft the armour a rmour to his desires. Tis process is known as earning “Duress”. Duress is spent on Traits to improve, modify, and customize your Remnant. ink of Duress as being like XP XP,, except it is earned specifically for your Battle Remnant for the express purpose of purchasing raits. Duress Duress represents the Remnant’s Remnant’s ability to adapt to the needs of its pilot after af ter it undergoes significant strain. Unlike most machines, which weaken and wear down with repeated use, Remnants develop more like living things in that they become stronger stronger.. One point of Duress is gained during combat under each of the following conditions: • e Remnant engages in combat with a real physical threat. • e Remnant gets Wr Wrecked. ecked. 72 BATTLE REMNANTS

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• e Remnant defeats (or helps defeat) an enemy that is a real physical threat. • e Remnant’s Remnant’s pilot attempts something brilliant, daring, or jjust ust plain awesome. • e Remnant’ Remnant’ss pilot accepts a Critical Failur Failuree during combat. Most combat encounters will not contain all five conditions and some, like those against much weaker enemies, won’ won’t have any. If a condition is met multiple times during a combat, the Remnant only gets 1 point of Duress for the first time each condition is met. In other words, a Remnant cannot earn multiple points of Duress from the same condition during a scene.

From smallest to largest. Tis image show the relative sizes of Battle Remnants versus people. Te smallest Ishin barely has enough room to hold the pilot curled up in its chest, c hest, while the largest is an armoured behemoth towering over its adversaries.

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Quite often it is possible o earn both XP and Duress with a single action. If a character does something awesome using his Motion Skill, for example, he will earn an XP for his skill and  a  a point of Duress for his Remnant.

Example: Jeff’s Jeff’s character is fighting a rival next to a sheer cliff. Both of them are in Remnants and attacking each other at Assault A ssault range. Jeff’s Jeff’s Remnant gets 1 point of Duress for engaging in combat with a real physical threat. Both of them are heavily damaged when Jeff takes a gamble: He charges his rival and takes them both flying off the cliff. Jeff’ Jeff’ss Remnant gains a second sec ond point of Duress for attempting something daring. Te GM rules that an opposed Motion roll will decide which Remnant is on the bottom when they hit the ground. Jeff wins the roll and uses his rival to break his fall. Te GM rolls falling damage. Te rival’s Remnant is Wrecked and Jeff’s Remnant gains another point of Duress for defeating an enemy. Tere is still enough damage to Wreck Jeff’s Remnant as well, and he gains another point of Duress. Both Remnants start their regeneration regeneration process. When Jeff comes to, his rival is nowhere to be seen, but Jeff gained a  phenomenal 4 points of Duress Duress (and 1 point of St Structure) ructure) from the battle. battle. Spending Duress Remnant pilots direct the advancement of their Ishin by spending Duress on various raits. raits are the primary means by which Ishin are differentiated from each other, and PCs should take care when choosing how to improve their Battle Remnants.   Adding raits to an Ishin is simple. If the Ishin has the appropriate amount of Duress, the pilot can spend it to add a rait to the Ishin’s list of abilities. Remnant raits cost 5, 10, or 20 Duress depending on how powerful they are, and once a rait is purchased, it is quickly integrated into a Battle Remnant’s systems. As a rule, a Remnant needs eight hours of inactivity to modify itself and manifest the new  rait. rait. However, However, it is possible to speed this process up. If the pilot expends 5 points of Duress, he can make the Remnant undergo massive changes in just one action. After the 5 point cost is spent, the pilot may use whatever Duress he has to add any  rait(s) rait(s) he can afford. Tere is a rait rait list on Page 69 with full descriptions starting on page 75.

Changing Appearance Remnants are notorious for their ability to shed paint, and their self-repair and complex motion systems make it almost impossible for things to stay tied/bolted to them. It is fortunate that it is relatively easy to add small details and change the colour/markings of a Remnant. Any minor cosmetic changes, like markings, heraldic symbols, basic camouflage, colour, or artistic flourishes, can be had for 1 point of Duress. In other words, the Remnant can look however the pilot wants it to with minimal effort. Changing Size Remnants tend to get bigger as the pilot incorporates more raits and Structure. Every time the Remnant gets a new rait rait or increases its Structure, the pilot may add .33 meters (just over 1 foot) to its height up to a maximum height of 6 meters (about 20 feet). Te increase is optional, but many pilots prefer larger, more intimidating Rem74 BATTLE REMNANTS

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nants. e one mechanical advantage to larger Ishin is the size rule on page 38, as a Battle Remnant that is twice the height of an a n opponent counts as mounted when doing damage.

Remnant Traits Traits Some Ishin are walking tanks. Others are stealthy ambush vehicles. Still others employ the clever use of automated drones. It is the raits of the Remnants that determine their specific strengths and abilities.

Types of Traits raits come in 3 varieties: Upgrades Upgrades,, Powers Powers,, and Drones Drones.. Upgrades are raits that have a direct effect on the Remnant’ Remnant’ss combat statistics. Sometimes upgrades have built-in tradeoffs, while others are straight bonuses. Powers are the myriad of special combat abilities that Remnants possess. Tey allow for special attacks, stealth, improved awareness, mobility,, and a host of other functions. Drones are automated vehicles/creatures that can scout, ity fight, or even repair things on behalf of the Remnant. Adding Traits  As described in the Remnant Advancement rules, raits are added to Remnants using points of Duress earned during conflicts. A rait costs either 5, 10, or 20 Duress. Some raits have more powerful versions that cost more Duress. Such raits only require the Remnant to pay the difference in Duress to progress from one ability to the next.

The Trait List Upgrades  Assault Damage rade-off  rade-off  Cost: 5 Duress Tis rait rait subtracts 1 from the Remnant’ Remnant’ss Strike damage to add 1 to its Assault damage. dam age. It stacks with (or counteracts) any trade-off taken when the Remnant was created. T Tis is  rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Strike Damage rade-off  Cost: 5 Duress Tis rait rait subtracts 1 from the Remnant’ Remnant’ss Assault damage to add 1 to its Strike damage. It stacks with (or counteracts) any trade-off taken when the Remnant was created. T Tis is  rait rait cannot be taken more than once.  Armour rade-off  Cost: 5 Duress Tis rait subtracts 1 from the Remnant’s speed to add 1 to its Armour. It BATTLE REMNANTS

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stacks with (or counteracts) any trade-off taken when the Remnant was created. Don’t forget that every point of Armour that a Remnant has above 4 adds 1 Damage Resistance to its Structure track. Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Speed rade-o rade-off  ff  Cost: 5 Duress Tis rait subtracts 1 from the Remnant’s Armour to add 1 to its Speed. It stacks with (or counteracts) any trade-off taken when the Remnant was created. Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Increased Assault Damage Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait adds 1 to the Assault damage of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from trade-offs, it does not count as a more powerful version of them (you must pay the full 10 points). Tis  rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Increased Strike Damage Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait rait adds 1 to the Strike damage of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from trade-offs, it does not count as a more powerful version of them (you must pay the full 10 points). Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Increased Armour Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait adds 1 to the Armour of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from trade-offs, it does not count as a more powerful version of them (you must pay the full 10 points). Don’t forget that every point of Armour that a Remnant has above 4 adds 1 Damage Resistance to its Structure track. Tis  rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Increased Speed  Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait adds 1 to the Speed of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from tradeoffs, it does not count as a more powerful version of them (you must pay the full 10 points). Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than once. Epic Assault Damage Cost: 20 Duress Tis rait adds 1 to the Assault damage of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from trade-offs and increases, it does not count as a higher level version of either (you must pay the full 20 points). A Remnant may only ever have one epic e pic rait rait of any kind. Epic Strike Damage Cost: 20 Duress 76 BATTLE REMNANTS

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Tis rait rait adds 1 to the Strike damage of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from trade-offs and increases, it does not count as a higher level version of either e ither (you must pay the full 20 points). A Remnant may only ever have one epic rait rait of any kind. Epic Armour Cost: 20 Duress Tis rait rait adds 1 to the Armour of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from tradeoffs and increases, it does not count as a higher level version of either (you must pay the full 20 points). Don Don’’t forget that every point of Armour that a Remnant has above 4 adds 1 Damage Resistance to its Structure track. A Remnant may only ever have one epic rait rait of any kind. Epic Speed  Cost: 20 Duress Tis rait adds 1 to the Speed of the Remnant. While it stacks with bonuses from tradeoffs and increases, it does not count as a higher level version of either (you must pay the full 20 points). A Remnant may only ever have one epic  rait rait of any kind.

Powers

 

Swim Cost: 5 Duress Te Remnant can swim like a fish. It can move through the water at half of its Speed, and can float and dive at will. It also gains a system of gills that allow it to draw oxygen out the  water,, like a fish, giving it unlimited submerged time.  water  Wheels Cost: 5 Duress Not as useful as it once was, having wheels doubles a Remnant’s Remnant’s Speed for the purpose of moving along roads. Te wheels/treads are of little use in rough terrain, and do not adjust the Remnant’s Remnant’s Speed Stat during combat. How the wheels work is up to the player: Tey can deploy from the feet like skates or the Remnant can transform into a car-like vehicle. Climber Cost: 5 Duress  A common ability amongst Remnants in the mountains and out in the wastes, climber Remnants have deployable climbing claws, a grapple/cable system that can fire a grapple up to 200m, and structural enhancements to improve their climbing ability. Most Remnants can climb at rate equal to their Speed per round in meters and need to make m ake Motion rolls to avoid falling. Climbers can triple the normal speed of ascent, and only need to make Motion rolls if climbing sheer, slippery, or unstable surfaces (such surfaces would require a difficulty 10+ Motion roll to avoid a fall).

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Digger Cost: 10 Duress Digger Remnants have buckets, drills, and jackhammers for moving earth and stone. Most often used in mining, Digger Remnants can dig 1 meter mete r per minute (making a Remnant-sized hole) through soft earth and clay and 1 meter per 10 minutes through hard stone. Dug-in Remnants can carry out brilliant ambushes on their enemies (+3 to Stealth rolls stacking with the improvements from the Stealth rait) rait) but require a com-equipped spotter or the Motion  racker racker  rait rait to kknow now when an enemy is vulnerable to attack atta ck from below.. Diggers are also used to circumvent fortifications below for tifications by digging subterranean pa passages, ssages, but digging makes a lot of noise and vibration, giving enemies some advance warning if the diggers are not careful.  Jump/Flight  Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable  A normal Remnant can jump as high as its Speed Stat in meters. Tis  rait rait allows the Remnant to make wing/rocket/whatever assisted jumps up to its Speed x10m. Difficult landings may require a Motion roll. Spending another 10 Duress increases the jumps to actual flight. Te Remnant can fly at its sprinting speed up to an altitude of about 3 kilometers (about 10,000 feet). Remnants are not ideal aircraft and cannot fly for more than an hour a day before they need to rest/recharge. Hovering is much harder than flying and requires a difficulty 9 Motion roll for every round the Remnant wants to remain in a hover. Stealth Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable Under normal conditions, Remnants make an SA + Motion roll when attempting to be stealthy. At ranges of less than 500 meters, there is a -5 to the roll and it cannot be attempted without sufficient cover. Te Stealth rait gives the Remnant active camouflage characteristics, reducing the penalty to -2. -2 . Spending another 10 points to get Full Stealth allows the Remnant to appear almost invisible. Te Stealth penalty is reduced to 0 and the Remnant no longer needs cover to make Stealth rolls; it can hide in plain sight. Regardless of which version of Stealth the Remnant illusionwalk. breaks the moment Remnant makes an aggressive action or moves possesses, faster thanthe a careful Night Vision Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Tis rait gives the Remnant the ability to see in the dark, negating any darkness penalties. Spending another 5 Duress expands the Remnant’s Remnant’s sight into the infrared spectrum, allowing it to see through thin walls and even track quarry using residual heat signatures. In game terms, the Night Vision rait removes the penalty for fighting in darkness. Te improved rait rait adds a +1 to Survival rolls to track enemies.

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 All-Around Sight  Cost: 5 Duress  With All-Around Sight, the Remnant Remnant can see in all directions instead of just to the front. front. It gains a +2 bonus to Awareness rolls versus Stealth. Motion racker Cost: 5 Duress Essentially a short-range radar, the Motion  racker racker gives the Remnant advanced warning of incoming Strikes, granting +1 Defence versus Strikes from ranges outside 100 meters. Secure Com Cost: 5 Duress Tis rait rait gives the Remnant a more advanced communications system. It aallows llows it set up private, secure communications with any other Remnant within 20km. Only one Remnant in the loop needs to have this  rait rait for it to work for all Remnants participating; the one with the rait rait acts as a node for its aallies. llies. Self-Repair Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait gives the Remnant a one-shot emergency repair system. Once per scene, the Remnant can take tak e an aaction ction to repair 2 points of Structure, Armour, or Speed.  aking aking this rait multiple times allows the Remnant to engage the repair system more times per scene. Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than three times. Guard  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Tis rait gives the Remnant a quick, deployable defence system. A Guard can be used after an attack hits but before be fore damage is resolved. It grants the Remnant a +1 bonus to its Defence rating against the attack and stacks with the bonus from a full defence. Using a Guard does not require the Remnant to use an action -- it is automatic. Te problem is that a Guard causes the Remnant to be -1 on its next attack. Guards also break the Focus of a Remnant, forcing it to start over if it was Focusing for an attack. A Guard, regardless of the type, can only be used against one incoming attack each round. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Improved Guard. Te Defence bonus increases to +2, but the -1 attack penalty remains. Spending another 10 Duress to get Full Guard increases the bonus to +3 but increases the penalty to -2. Having the Full Guard  rait rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser versions. Grappler Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Remnants with the Grappler Trait are specialized for very close combat. ey receive a +1 bonus to all Assault rolls when grappling an enemy. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant the Improved Grappler rait. An Improved Grappler adds half of its Assault damage, rounded up, on any successful Assault roll in a grapple. BATTLE REMNANTS

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(Normally, grapples only do Lead damage.) (Normally, Spending 10 more Duress gives the Remnant the Full Grappler rait. Full Grappler Remnants have a +2 to their Assault rolls  when grappling and can automatically escape any grapple after the first round of grappling. It does not have to make a roll to escape. Stabilized  Cost: 10 Duress Stabilized Remnants do not suer the -1 penalty for using a Strike weapon on the run and they only suer a -2 penalty to Strikes when sprinting. Stabilized Remnants still cannot Focus while sprinting. Precise Strike Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Full  After a round round of Focusing, the Remnant can make a Strike roll with a +1 bonus. Spending Spending another 10increases Duress gives theHaving Remnant Precise Strike. Focus increases to 2, but the bonus to +2. the the FullFull Precise Strike  rait raitTe does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser version. Precise Assault  Precise Assa ult  Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Full  After a round of F Focusing, ocusing, the Remnant can make an Assault roll with a +1 bonus. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant the Full Precise Assault. Te Focus incr increases eases to 2, but the bonus increases to +2. Having the Full Precise Assault rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser version. Power Stri Power Strike ke Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full  After a round of Focusing, the Remnant can make a Strike roll with a +1 bonus to damage. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant the Improved Power Strike. Te Focus increases to 2, but the bonus increases to +2. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant the Full Power Strike. Te Focus increases to 3, but the bonus increases to +3. Having the Improved or Full Power Strike rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser versions.

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Power Assault  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full  After a round of Focusing, the Remnant can make an Assault roll with a +1 bonus to damage. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant the Improved Po Power wer Assault. Te Focus increases to 2, but the bonus increases to +2. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant the Full Power Power Assault. Te Focus increases to 3, but the bonus increases to +3. Having the Improved or Full Power Power Assault  rait rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser versions. Breaching Strike Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full  After a round of F Focusing, ocusing, the Remnant makes a Strike roll against an enemy. enemy. If it hits, the target takes no damage but its Armour is reduced by 1. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Improved Breaching Strike. Te Focus increases to 2, but it reduces Armour by 2 when it hits. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant a Full Breaching Strike. Te Focus increases to 3, but it reduces Armour by 3 when it hits. Armour cannot be reduced below 0. Having the Improved or Full Breaching Strike rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser version. Special: Breaching Strikes cannot be combined  with any other Strike rait other than Precise SStrike trike and Far Strike. Strike. Breaching Assault  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full  After one round of Focusing, Focusing, the Remnant makes an Assault roll against an enemy. enemy. If it hits, the target takes no damage but its Armour is reduced by 2. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Improved Breaching Assault. Te Focus increases to 2, but it reduces Armour by 3 when it hits. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant a Full Breaching Assault. Te Focus increases to 3, but it reduces Armour by 4 when it hits.  Armour cannot be reduced belo below w 0. Having the Impro Improved ved or F Full ull Breaching Breaching Assault rait does notcombined stop the Remnant therait lesserother versions. Assault cannot be with any from other using Assault thanSpecial: Precise Breaching Assault and Smashing  Assault. Bursting Strike Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for improved; 3 for Full Tis rait rait gives the Remnant an area-effect ranged attack. After Afte r Focusing for a round, the Remnant rolls to Strike as normal. Instead of attacking a single target, the burst hits every target in a radius equal to the Strike skill of the Remnant pilot in meters. For example, a Remnant pilot with a Strike skill of 3 can fire a ranged burst that will hit all targets in a circle 6 meters wide (3 meter radius). Bursting Strikes have only half the range of regular Strikes and have a -2 damage penalty penalty.. Spending 5 more Duress gives the RemBATTLE REMNANTS

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nant Improved Bursting Strike. Te Focus increases to 2, but the target radius doubles and the damage penalty is only -1. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Bursting Strike. Te Focus increases increases to 3, but the target radius triples and there is no damage penalty. Having Improved or Full Bursting Strike rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser versions. Bursting Assault  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full Tis rait gives the Remnant an area effect melee attack. After Focusing for a round, the Remnant rolls to Assault as normal. Instead of attacking a single target, the burst hits every target in a radius equal to the Assault skill of the Remnant pilot in meters. For example, a Remnant pilot with a Assault skill of 3 attacks every enemy in a circle 6 meters  wide (3 meter radius). Bursting Assaults have a -2 damage penalty. penalty. Spending 5 more DuDuress gives the Remnant Improved Bursting Assault. Te Focus increases to 2, but the target radius doubles and the damage penalty is only -1. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Bursting Assault. Te Focus Focus increases to 3, but the target radius triples and there is no damage penalty. Having the Improved or Full Bursting Assault rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser versions. Crippling Strike Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable Focus: 2; 3 for Full  After two rounds of Focusing, Focusing, the Remnant makes a strike roll against an enemy. enemy. If it hits, the target takes no damage but its Speed is reduced by 1. Tough multiple Crippling Strikes add a cumulative penalty, the Speed of an enemy cannot be reduced below 1 with this attack. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant a Full Crippling Strike. Te Focus increases to 3, but it reduces Speed by 2 when it hits. Having the Full Crippling Strike rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser version. Special: Crippling Strikes cannot be combined with any other Strike rait rait other than Precise Strike and Far Strike. Crippling Assault  Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Full  After one round of Focusing, the Remnant makes an a n Assault roll against an enemy. If it hits, the target takes no damage but its Speed is reduced by 1. Tough multiple Crippling  Assaults add a cumulativ cumulativee penalty, penalty, the Speed of an enemy cannot be reduced below 1 with this attack. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant a Full Crippling Assault. Te Focus increases to 2, but it reduces Speed by 2 when it hits. Having the Full Crippling  Assault rait rait does not stop the Remnant from using the lesser version. Special: Crippling  Assaults cannot be combined with any other assault  rait rait other than Precise Assault and Smashing Assault.

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Far Strike Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full Te rait of snipers, taking Far Strike allows the Remnant to double the range of its attacks. After one round of Focusing, the Remnant can Strike out to double its normal range without penalty. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Improved Far Strike. It takes an extra round of Focus but allows the Remnant to Strike targets at triple its normal maximum range. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Far Strike. It takes 3 rounds of Focusing but quadruples the Strike range of the Remnant. For example, a normal Remnant whose pilot has a Strike skill of 3 can Strike out to 300m.  With Far Far SStrike, trike, he can fir firee out to 600m. With IImproved mproved Far Strike that extends to 900m, and 1,200 meters with Full Far Strike. For a more extreme example, a pilot with a Strike skill of 6 can fire out to 2,400m with Full Far Strike. An added advantage of this power is that it allows the Remnant to see the extra distance, as if magnified by a sniper scope or binoculars. Smashing Assault  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Focus: 1; 2 for Improved; 3 for Full  A favourite favourite amongst Assault Remnants, the SSmashing mashing Assault hits enemies hard enough to send them flying. After Focusing for a round, the Remnant makes an Assault roll and does damage as normal. Regardless of the damage done, if the attack hits, the target goes flying back a number of meters equal to the Lead of the attack + Assault skill of the Remnant. Te target then makes a Body + Athletics (or SA + Motion) roll. If it meets or beats the roll of the Assault, the target lands on its feet. If it fails, f ails, the target is knocked prone. Even after the target takes an action to stand up it is -1 to all actions and defensive Stats for 3 rounds after getting hit. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Improved Smashing Assault. It takes 2 rounds of Focus, but the assault skill is doubled when determining how far the target flies and the off-balance penalty lasts 5 rounds. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Smashing Assault. It takes 3 rounds of Focus, but the Assault skill is tripled when determining how far the target flies and the penalty increases to -2 and lasts 5 rounds. Even if the target succeeds on the Athletics/Motion roll, it is still -1 for 3 rounds as a result of this devastating attack. Focus Mastery  Cost: 10 Duress Choose a rait with a Focus rating. When using that rait, reduce its Focus by 1. Focus can never be reduced below 1 for any rait. If the Remnant has multiple versions of a rait, like Breaching Strike and Full Breaching Strike, for example, this rait affects all of the versions. Tis rait rait can be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, it is applied to a new rait.

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Focus Guard  Cost: 10 Duress Te Focus Guard rait allows the Remnant to take defensive actions while Focusing.  When Focusing, Focusing, the Focus Guard R Remnant emnant is +1 to Defence. Te Focus Guard lasts until the Remnant takes the action for which it was Focusing. Te Focus Guard bonus drops the moment that the Remnant uses the regular Guard rait, starts sprinting, or takes a full defence action. Combo Mastery  Cost: 10 Duress Tis rait assists any attempt to combine multiple raits with Focus ratings. Whenever a Remnant combines raits, reduce the combination’s Focus by 1. Focus can never be reduced below 1 for any combo. If the Remnant also has Focus Mastery for one or all of the raits in the combo, the effects all stack but minimum Focus is still 1 for the combo as a whole. Tis rait rait cannot be taken more than once.

Drones Some Remnant pilots stay out of the thick altogether and concentrate on commanding various kinds of combat drones. It is a low-risk method of action and drone controllers tend Duress, to be thejust more and cerebral of the Ishinari. Drone actions earn a Remnant as ifcautious the Remnant was in danger itself. Furthermore, an can Ishin Ishin’ ’s Speciality applies to all of its drones (for the purpose of the Duelist Specialty Specialty,, treat all of the drones as if they are one character).   Most drones are a little smaller than a person, bipedal or quadrupedal, and lightly armoured. It only takes one action for a Remnant to deploy all of its drones, and they  will follow basic (mental, rradio, adio, whatever) co commands mmands as lo long ng as they are within the pilot’ pilot’ss SA +1 km of the Remnant. If they wander beyond control range, they will continue to attempt to fulfill their last command. Failing that, they will attempt to return to communications with their Remnant. Regardless of range from the Remnant, a drone has enough power for about eight hours of operation. When eight hours are up, it returns to its bay on the Remnant or falls in place, lifeless. A Remnant can regenerate all of its drones after its standard eight of dormancy. If a in drone recovered the Remnant, it can be reconfigured into ahours new drone or repaired just 1is minute (10by rounds).   Issuing commands to drones takes one action. Even if six drones are being issued six different orders, it still only takes one action. a ction. Drones always act on the same initiative as their controller. Commands issued to drones can include the following: • Attack Target(s) • Defend (Position, (Position, Person, Item) • Go to (Location, ( Location, Person) • Follow (Person, Creature, Vehicle) • Patrol • Return to Controller • Wait (with a condition)   84 BATTLE REMNANTS

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Te average drone has just 1 point of Structure. If a drone takes 1 point of damage, it goes down and cannot fight. wo wo points of damage or m more ore destroys the drone outright. Some drones can have more than 1 point of Structure. Such drones never suffer damage penalties, but when their Structure track fills up, they go down and 1 further point of damage still destroys them.   A single drone is not a major threat but the danger comes when they gang up on a target. For every two drones of the same type attacking a single target, each drone gets a +1 to its attack roll. Tus, two Assault drones attacking would each get a +1 to their  Assault rolls, and six Strike Strike drones would each get a deadly +3 to their rolls. rolls. While drones under the same controller have near-perfect coordination, they do not gain any bonuses  when working with drones fr from om another contr controller oller and they are not counted counted when determining multiple attacker bonuses with non-drone allies.   Drones come in three basic designs: Scout drones, strike drones, and assault drones.

Scout Drone SA: 0  Assault: 0 Strike: 0 Motion: 3 Speed: 6 Armour: 1 Structure: 1 No Weapons Scout drones are unarmed but they can make Stealth rolls using their Motion skill. In addition, any round in which the controlling Remnant takes no action, it can see through the eyes of its scout drones. Scout drones have double the control range of other drones. Strike Drone SA: 0  Assault: 0 Strike: 1 Motion: 1 Speed: 5 Armour: 1 Structure: 1 Strike Damage: Lead +1, 100m range Cannot Assault Strike drones are not as fast as scout drones but carry light Strike weapons. While a single strike drone presents little threat, a bunch of them together can be deadly. BATTLE REMNANTS

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 Assault Drone SA: 0  Assault: 1 Strike: 0 Motion: 1 Speed: 4 Armour: 3 Structure: 1  Assault Damage: Lead +2 Cannot Strike Te slowest of the drones, assault drones are built with close combat weapons and better armour.

Drone Traits Below are listed all of the drone  raits. raits. A Remnant must take the Drones rait rait before taking any found below. Drones Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Te Drones rait rait allows the Remnant to deploy a pair of Drones to act on its behalf. Both drones are of the same type, but the Remnant pilot doesn’t have to choose what kind of drones are deployed until the moment they are deployed. Spending 5 more Duress gives the Remnant Improved Drones. Te number of drones deployed increases to four and the Remnant canorchoose are deployed in pairs (two scoutDuress and two strike, strike Full and two assault, all fourwhat the same, etc.). Spending 10 more gives the two Remnant Drones, allowing it to deploy and command up to six drones. Each pair of drones must be the same, but the Remnant could deploy a pair of each type if desired. Fast  Cost: 10 Duress  Add 1 to the Speed of all drones. Tis rait can only be taken once. ough Cost: 10 Duress  Add 1 to the Structure of all assault and strike strike drones. Tis rait rait can only be taken once.  Agile Cost: 10 Duress  Add 1 to the Motion of all drones. Tis rait can only be taken once. Improved Scout  Cost: 5 Duress, Improvable Improved Scout drones have the Night Vision and All-Around Sight  raits. raits. Spending another 5 Duress gives the Remnant Full Scout drones. Full Scout drones are at +2 to Stealth rolls and can maintain Stealth even when moving at full speed.

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Improved Strike Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable  A drone controller with the Improved Strike  rait rait can deploy strike drones with a Strike skill of 2 and a Strike range of 200m. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Strike. Drones with Full Strike have a Strike skill of 3, a Strike range of 300m, and do Lead+2 damage. Improved Assault  Improved Cost: 10 Duress, Improvable  A drone controller with the Improved Assault rait can deploy assault drones with an  Assault skill of 2, and an Armour of 4. Spending another 10 Duress gives the Remnant Full Assault. Drones with Full Assault Assault have an Assault skill of 3 and do Lead +3 damage. Flying Scout  Cost: 10 Duress Instead of deploying two scout drones, a Remnant may deploy one flying scout drone. It has Stats as per a scout drone (including all improvements), but can fly at double its maximum sprinting speed, has 10 times a standard scout’ scout’ss control range, and can achieve altitudes of 3 km (about 10,000 ft). Repair Cost: 10 Duress Instead of deploying two scout drones, a Remnant may deploy one repair drone. It has Stats as per a scout drone (including all improvements), but instead of having Stealth, a repair drone can attach to any Remnant or drone and any round that the Remnant takes no offensive action, the drone can repair 1 point of Structure, Armour Armour,, or Speed. A repair drone can repair a maximum of 4 combined points per scene. Multiple repair drones (up to three) can gang up to repair a Remnant faster. Repair drones can also repair other drones that are damaged or down, but not those that are destroyed. Te danger of using repair drones is their relative frailty. Attacks directed at attached repair drones use the drones’ Defence, Armour, and Structure ratings. Sniper Cost: 10 Duress Instead of deploying two strike drones, a Remnant may deploy one sniper drone. It has Stats as per a strike drone (including all improvements), but can employ a Far Strike as per the Remnant rait. It can also perform a Precise Strike and combine it with the Far Strike. wo sniper drones attacking the same target still get the standard +1 bonus for drones ganging up.  Artillery  Cost: 20 Duress Instead of deploying two strike drones, a Remnant may deploy one artillery drone. It has Stats as per a strike drone (including all improvements), but BATTLE REMNANTS

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employs a Bursting or Improved Bursting Strike as per the Remnant rait. wo artillery drones attacking the same target still get the standard +1 bonus for drones ganging up. Shield  Cost: 10 Duress Instead of deploying two assault drones, a Remnant may deploy one shield drone. It has Stats as per an assault drone (including all improvements), but it has no weapons. Instead, it has a deployable defence shield that it uses to protect a subject (Remnant, person, ob ject, whatever). Te shield drone will interpose itself between the subject and any incoming attacks. Any attack aimed at the t he subject will automatically  hit  hit the shield drone instead.  A Shield drone must be destroyed before any attack on its subject can be successful. It has +2 to its Defence rating from its shield and will even protect its subject from bursting attacks. Shield drones cannot add a full defence bonus when guarding a subject since they are actively trying to get hit. When two shield drones work together, their Defence ratings go up to +3 each. Heavy Assault  Cost: 20 Duress Instead of deploying two assault drones, a Remnant may deploy de ploy one heavy assault drone. It has Stats as per an assault drone (including allan improvements), butand with extra 2a points of Structure, 1 extra point of Armour, does extra +1 damage, cananemploy Power or Improved Power Assault as per the Remnant rait.  Additional Heavy  Cost: 10 Duress o take this rait, a Remnant must have the Full Drones rait and be able to make sniper, artillery, shield, or heavy assault drones. Normally, the Remnant can deploy a maximum of three such drones. However, However, this  rait rait allows the Remnant to deploy a fourth f ourth drone, as long as all four drones are of the same type; this rait has no effect if the Ishin is mixing and matching drone types.

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Chapter si six: x: Game Master Being the game master (GM) is not easy. It requires planning, preparation, and a strong grasp of the rules. Tere is no right or wrong way to GM, and this section is not about telling you how to GM your game. What it will do is give you tips, tools, stats, and adversaries to make the job of running your game easier easier.. First, take a look at some ideas on how to reward your players when they succeed, then check out sections on Temes, Te mes, Rules Options, Managing Conflicts, Sample Creatures, Creatures, Mercenaries, Artifacts, and Open W Warfare. arfare.

Rewards Tere are a lot of good reasons to hand hand out rewards. Rewarding players gives them a sense of accomplishment. It shows that their characters are progressing and learning, and it motivates them to keep playing your game. Rewards are, for the most part, a good thing.   Te trick with rewards is giving out the right amount and right kind of rewards and giving them out at the right time.  oo oo much is just as bad as too little, so timing can be everything.  As a GM, it is important to remember what the characters can and cannot do.  As the characters acquire more rewards, you must keep in mind what abilities and resources they can bring to bear on a conflict you expect them to resolve. GAME MASTER

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 Y  You ou can also show them how far they have progressed by presenting them with a conflict that was once challenging but is now achievable. Tere are several reward options available to you. Look below and figure out  what works best in your game.

Social Rewards Reputation and renown can go a long way in a place as dangerous as the Broken Lands. Being Famous or Infamous influence opponents allies or alike. If afrom character earns it, he could become known can across the lands, granted and a favour boon a powerful individual or city-state, or even gain relief from a Disadvantage such as Hunted. Social rewards might just be recognition, but they might be new Advantages such as “Fame,” “Friends in High Places,” or “Power” “Power” (see p. 54). Such rewards might come with responsibilities that add to the plot of future sessions.

Material Rewards  Also known as “swag “swag”, ”, material rewards aare re objects and money that the characters seek after and find desirable. Te Easy Living rules (p. 56) gives you a quick way to give characters monetary rewards the characters can then spend on living the good life and acquiring  whatever stuff they desire. Other than money, there are a lot of things a character might want: a house, a fortress, a business, slaves, and servants, just to name a few. Characters can earn such rewards in game or purchase them with Easy Living. Beyond the mundane things listed above, many characters will seek out special items. Ishi items with powerful abilities will be high on the wish list of any character. Characters might go off in search of such artifacts dating back to the apocalypse, and a few might even find them. It is important to remember that powerful Ishi artifacts often come with side-effects and unforeseen consequences that can come back to trouble the characters at a later date.

Character Rewards  When characters receive XP, XP, Stat P Points, oints, and Duress they are receiving character rrewards. ewards.  A character reward might also be the granting of a new Advantage, changing a Minor  Advantage into a Major one, or lessening the severity of a Disadvantage. Stat Points Players save up Stat Points to eventually increase their PC’s PC’s Stats. Stat Points are intended to reward long-term dedication and the completion of major goals or story arcs. Giving out 1 Stat Point to each player for every three- to five-hour session is the standard. Y You ou can give them out less often if you have shorter sessions or want slower progression, and you can give a bonus Stat Point or two when your group accomplishes a maj major or goal. Not every player can be excellent all of the time, but there is something to be said for the player that never misses a session, always brings snacks to share, and offers rides home to half the group. Since Stat P Points oints come at a steady rate, they tend to reward your most reliable players. Players who miss sessions should not be “carried along” 90 GAME MASTER

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 with Stat Points. Points. Players need to be present to earn these powerful rewards. rewards. Experience Points Te Character Advancement section (p. 63) talks at length about the uses for XP. Your  job is to decide the rate aatt which characters receive XP. XP. Players can earn XP on the spot by using Reserve, accepting Critical Failures, and attempting awesome stuff. Yo You u have the final say on whether these actions warrant the handing out of XP. XP. It is recommended that you encourage more XP be earned e arned during play, play, giving players immediate rewards for their t heir actions, and give out a small amount of XP at the end of each session to allow players to customize their characters and reect on the game session.   Te standard amount of XP handed out at the end of a session ranges from 1 to 5. Te default amount for a standard three- to five-hour session is 2 XP per player. If the players accomplish a lot, have an excellent game, or play an extended session, you can give extra XP as you see fit.   You might want to vary the amount of XP each character receives, in which case there are a few options: • Group Rewards - By far the more diplomatic way to reward the players, it keeps the PCs on an even footing and will (we hope) encourage teamwork and cooperation. However, aspread few players aroundmight at the drift end. through your game on autopilot knowing the rewards will be • Individual Rewards - is system does not so much allow you to punish disruptive play ers as it does reward standout performers. Te danger of this system is that it can lead to favouritism (real or perceived) and can alienate players. Te other danger of this system is that it can unfairly penalize shyer and less experienced players as more experienced and more outgoing players steal the spotlight. • Combined Rewards - You can give out a standard amount of XP to each player and then give a small extra reward to standouts. Some groups use a player vote to determine  who deserves the standout award. V Voting oting systems have their own perils, but it is another option open to you.   Once you have awarded XP at the end of a session, remind your players that they should immediately assign the XP to their skills in accordance with the limits laid out on p. 64. Duress and raits raits raits advance at a steady pace, and players should have a reasonable expectation to earn some Duress for their Ishin each session. Tere are very explicit rules for the earning and spending of Duress in the Remnant Advancement section. As with Specialties, be fair with awarding Duress and give all players opportunities to earn Duress for their Ishin. GAME MASTER

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Specialties Remnant Specialties are character rewards that t hat are applied to a character’ character’ss Ishin when they meet the requirements laid out on p. 72. Improving and adding Specialties requires a vote adjudicated by you. Be sure to be fair with such votes, and give all players an opportunity to earn Specialties.

Themes Remnants   is is set in an apocalyptic wasteland full of tribal raiders, Monstrosities, and warriors with giant robots. Tat is the setting, but not the theme of the game. Te game has several implied themes that you can use or exclude at your leisure. Here we will examine some of the themes running r unning through the game and how you can use them.

Discovering the Past  Where does all of this stuff come from? Te secrets of the past are not easily discovered. Most just loot what’s left and try to make a profit off of it. A hunt for the truth (What broke the world? What makes Battle Remnants function?) may take years and lead to discovering little more than fragments. Still, a hunt for such information, if successful,  would be the stuff of legend.

The Edge of Survival  What would you do to survive? Even eight centuries after the apocalypse, the lands are not recovered and people are desperate. While there are a few who prosper, most people live short, difficult lives. Most of the wars in Remnants  are  are wars of survival, usually because a shortage of food. While Ishinari are better off than the average person, you can’t eat armour plate. A game set in the middle of a famine could push the characters to extremes that would make for very ver y interesting roleplaying. Exploration Te mapbut in Remnants    spans Itthousands  spans of miles has few details. isn’t because there is nothing there (though there are large tracts of wastes), but because they are unexplored. Who knows  what the characters might find! Even more interesting, what’s beyond the edges of the map -- an intact city from the time before, or is it a brutal civilization of reptilian Near Humans? e answer is whatever you want it to be.

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Power, War, and Conflict Ishinari are, above all, warriors. Tey possess the means to destroy, destroy, and it gives them great power. How do they use that power? Who do they fight? Why? Are they dedicated tribal  warriors, wandering mercenaries, or errant knights? Does the power ggoo to their heads? D Doo they become arrogant, swaggering bullies? Conversely, how do they handle being out of their armour? Do they develop paranoia when in their fleshy fleshy,, fragile forms?

Technology or Magic? Te rules are designed so the nature of the Remnants, Monstrosities, and any other Ishi is irrelevant. But players might still try to find out. Te choice of which answer, or even  whether to answer that question, is up to you. Below are some ideas if you choose to answer it. Tese are just ideas and not canon by any means. Question  Where are the Broken Lands?

echnology Answer Magic Answer Tey are a colony planet circling a Tey are a world sitting at a conflustar hundreds of light-years from ence of the four great elements: Fire, Earth. Earth, Air, and Water.

 What Broke  A thermonuclear exchange comthe Lands? bined with extensive chemical, biological, and nano-tech weapons.

Fire called from the sky through constructed gates, as well as poisons from the plane of water, water, and reverse gates that drained away the earth itself.

 Why don’ don’t people age past 40?

 After discovering humans are connected to the four elements, magi “pulled” the elements closer so that they would imbue more life into people.

Geneticists re-wrote the human genome, adding code to ensure health and longevity longevity..

 What created Te colonists mapped and altered  A side-effect of bringing the elements closer.. Life became not just more creatures and the genome of indigenous species closer vigorous but also more variable and Monstrosities? to suit their needs. Te rapidlyevolving creations designed for war adaptable. soon evolved beyond their original designs.  What Po Powers wers  An hydrogen-fusing micro-reactor micro-reactor  A miniature gate to the elemental Ishin? that draws it fuel from water va- plane of fire powers the machine, an pour, and the pilot’s own sweat. earth gate provides material for reIts peak power can exceed 10,000 pairs and ammo, and small water and air gates power special abilities. hp. It repairs itself and reloads  weapons by using nano-machines that draw raw materials from the ground, air, and anything nearby.

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Can The Lands Be Healed? Maybe. Or more accurately, they can be healed if you want them to, though this might end your game. Whether the lands could be healed is a question that should take an entire campaign to answer. Despite the appeal of removing the poison, fire, and dust, there are many who would struggle to maintain the status quo and would hinder anyone attempting to change it. Following the magic versus technology theme, here are two of many possible ways that the lands could be healed all at once (check out the Artifacts section for some smaller, more limited solutions). • echnological Solution Solution - Te Phoenix Project reached completion four years after the first nuclear exchange. Te constellation of Phoenix satellites are filled with radiationscrubbing nano-machines, specialized poison-ltering bacteria, and massive seed prepreserves. Designed to replenish the planet if the nuclear/biological/chemical weapons exchanges went global, the Phoenix satellite network was never triggered. Perhaps its control center took a hit or someone sabotaged the project, but the Phoenix satellites still sit in orbit waiting for the order to unleash their world changing cargo. • Magical Solution Solution - Te prime gates to the elements lay scattered about the lands, and they are far out of balance. Scattered amongst the ruins of a dozen sites are maps to the gates and archaic directions on how to adjust them to bring healing life into the lands. Te only survived problem the is that deciphering willinrequire the lost knowledge of an Ishiden, one  who apocalypse and them still lives the lands.

Rules Options  As the GM, you have the right to change, adjust, or ignore the rules at your leisure. Just because Remnants  is  is written one way does not mean you have to play it that way. If you read this game and want to say, “It seems really great, but…”, then change the parts you don’t like to something that works better for you and your group. o assist you in customizing your game, here are some optional rules that you can introduce, alter, or ignore in your game.

Reserve In general, the more Reserve players have, the more they use it, the more things they can do with it, the more powerful they will be, and the more cinematic the game will be. Here’ss some ideas to make Reserve Here’ Reser ve more powerful and interesting: • More Reserve Reserve - If you really want to amp up your game, increase the PC’s Reserve as their skills increase. Set their normal starting Reserve to be equal to their highest level skill. You might want to limit the maximum amount of Reserve that can be spent on a single roll. • Floating Reserve Maximum Maximum - With this rule PCs can exceed their normal Reserve maximums during a session by an arbitrary amount determined by you; for example, up to double their normal maximum. Te caveat is that any extra Reserve that the PCs don’ don’t use by the end of the session is lost. Tis encourages a “use it or lose it” attitude with Reserve. • Reduce Focus - If a PC wants to land a big hit with his Remnant, he has 94 GAME MASTER

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to wait for several Focus rounds. With this option, he can spend 2 points of Reserve to reduce Focus by 1 round for one attack. Focus should never be reduced below 1 round total, but if a PC has Reserve to burn, he can spend 6 Reserve to turn his Focus 4 super combo in a Focus 1 attack. • Re-roll - Players need a better roll? Tey can spend 2 Reserve and have it. Tere should be a once-per-round limit on this ability, ability, and the PCs have to take result of the re-roll even if it is worse than the original. • eam Reserve Reserve - Put a number of tokens in the middle of the table equal to twice the number of PCs. Tis is their eam Reserve. It doesn’t improve dice rolls like normal Reserve but it is the only thing that can be used to reduce Focus and re-roll failures. It only costs 1 eam Reserve to do these things instead of 2. For added tension, you may add a rule that spent eam Reserve goes to the GM to use in the NPC’s favour.

Scale Te default scale for Remnants   assumes that Ishin are powerful but not indestructible  when compared to a skilled, capable, and well-armed person. A Wrecked Ishin can be smashed to pieces by a few people with some heavy picks and hammers if given enough time. If you want your Battle Remnants to be tougher than that, just mess with the scale. • Standard - Te default scale of Remnants ; no modifications required. •Remnant Powerfulor Powerfu l -some Battlespecialized Remnantsanti-armour cannot be killed withWhen anything less thanscale another Battle weapons. a non-Ishin enemy at attacks an Ishin or Monstrosity, divide the damage by two (round up) before comparing it to the Resist of the armour or monster. Likewise, double the damage (before Resist) that is done by Ishin and Monstrosities to human-scale enemies. • Crazy   - Battle Remnants are 40-foot tall super weapons. Te rules are as above, but use a factor of five instead of two.

Managing Conflict  Y  Your our PCs have the world’ world’ss greatest armoured war machines. It would be shame to not let them use the damn things. Remnants  can  can be a very combat-heavy game (though it doesn’t doesn’t have to be), and this section is about the construction of different types of enemies and how best to use them in combat.

Know the Characters  As GM, it is your job to manage conflicts. In any serious conflict, there has to be a real threat. However, it should not be so great a threat as to entice the PCs to retreat (unless that is your intent). Te first trick is knowing what the characters can handle and what they can’t. You need to be aware of how much damage the PCs can take and how much they can give out. Te Weakest Remnant  Determine which character has the lowest total Defence + Armour. Tis is the “low man” (or “woman,” “woman,” but we’ll use man for typing convenience). If the characters were GAME MASTER

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 Monstro  Monstrosties can take forms.they It isactually your jobare. as the GM sties to decide howmany dangerous all created at the same time, chances are that these numbers are almost identical. As time goes on, they will diverge. Also, if new players join the game, they might have much lower numbers. Te oughest Remnant  Opposite of the “low man,” this is the character with the highest Defence + Armour and  will be called the “high man.” man.”  Attacking  Look at the regular regular,, unmodified attack and damage bonuses of all the characters. Find the best attack for each (be it Strike, Assault, or Drones), and find out who has the lowest total attack bonus and damage. Add the two numbers together, and add 6 to it (as if the player rolled a 6 to attack). Tis is your “low attack.” Now do the same with the highest attack and damage. Tis is your high attack.

Example: Matthew is GM for a brand new group: Jeff, Ethan, and Nora. All are starting characters with SA +1 and standard Remnant skills. Jeff is specializing in speed and striking, Ethan is the armoured assaulter, and Nora is a balanced drone controller.  Jeff: Skills: S2 A1 M1, Strike Dmg +3, Speed 4, Armour 4, Specialty: Sniper, Sniper, rait: rait: Power Strike  Ethan: Skills: S1 A2 M1, Assault Dmg +5, Speed 2, Armour 6, Specialty: Tick of the Fight, rait: Breaching Assault  96 GAME MASTER

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Nora: Skills: S1 A1 M2, Assault Dmg +4, Speed 3 Armour 5, Specialty: Quick Reactions, rait: Drones  In this case, Jeff and Ethan are tied for position of low man with a Defence + Armour of 10. Nora is the “high man” with a Defence + Armour of 11. Low attack is a tie between Jeff and Noraa at 12, with Ethan holding the high attack at 14. Nor

Enemy Stats Once you them. know Tere who your characters, can build withcan varying challenge are four types ofyou enemies thatNPCs characters face:levels of threat to • Non-reats - ey present little or no danger. • Minor reats - ey can damage the PCs, but not much. • Signicant reats -ey present a fair to tough ght for the PCs. • Massive reats - e PCs are completely outclassed. Enemy Attacks Non-threatening enemies will not be able to damage the low man, even if they gang up.

Continued Example: Matthew wants the players to be swarmed by small, angry ant-like creatures, but doesn’t want them to do damage; they’re just a distraction. With a low man of 10,  Matthew decides the ants are 1d6+1 to attack and do Lead +1 damage. With With the maximum multiple attacker bonus of +2, the ants can never get higher than a 10 and are no threat to the characters. Minor threats are those that can only inflict damage when they use special abilities, or gang up on the PCs.

Continued Example: Matthew also builds some more capable soldier ants that can whittle PCs down. Tese ants are 1d6+2 to attack and do Lead +2 damage. While a single ant can’t hurt the low man, just reaching 10, they can gang up to can get up to the +2 bonus and a lucky roll will total 12, which can even do damage to the high man. Significant threats can damage the low man on a good roll without using any special powers or abilities.

Continued Example: Matthew has an ambush planned involving an ant-eating Monstrosity upset about the characters killing its food. It has 1d6+3 to attack and inflicts Lead +4 damage on a hit. A max damage hit on the low man will inflict 3 damage and it can Wreck Wreck any of the PCs, including the high man, with just a few rolls of 5 or 6. Te PCs need to gang up on this thing and bring it down quickly. Massive threats can Wreck Wreck the low man with a single max-d max-damage amage roll. PCs should receive some warning about the danger of engaging in combat with such enemies.

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Continued Example: Matthew takes his ant theme to its logical conclusion with the Ant Queen. Tis massive beast cannot move very far, but if the PCs are crazy enough to engage her, her, she has 1d6+4 to attack and does Lead +7 damage. If she rolls a 6 to attack, she will instantly W Wreck reck the high man as 6 damage blasts through Nora’s Defence. Enemy Defence and Structure Te way to build your enemies’ Defence rating is to look at the low and high attack of the PCs and build Defence ratings based on how easily you want the enemy to be destroyed. Structure determines how much a fight can be drawn out but in general, lower Defence enemies also tend to have lower Structure ratings.   Non-threatening enemies might have a Defence several points lower than the low attack of the party and have just 1 point of Structure. Optional rule: Single hits kill multiple  weak enemies, with leftover damage transferring over to adjacent enemies.

Continued Example: Matthew’s non-threatening ant creatures are a little smaller than humans and very fragile. Tey have a Defence of 5, an Armour of 2, and a Structure of 1. Since they are living things, they go down and are dying if they take even 1 point of damage. Even the low attack character will kill one of these things on a roll of 3 or more. Minor threats tend to be tougher tougher,, but they can still be brought down in a single lucky attack, especially from the high attack character character..

Continued Example: Matthew’s Matthew’s soldier ants need a little more attention from the PCs to bring down. Tey have a Defence of 6, an Armour of 3, and a Structure of 3. If the low attack character rolls a 6, he gets the kill and still does damage on a 4 or 5. Significant threats are about as capable as the PCs. P Cs. Tey have good Defence and Armour, Armour, and comparable Structure ratings. Tey might be a little tougher to offset the PCs’ greater numbers or a little weaker if you you’’re planning on using several of them.

Continued Example: Te ant-eating Monstrosity is as tough as a Remnant. It has a Defence of 7 and an Armour of 4, with a Structure of 5. Te low attack characters can only damage it on a 6, and then they only do 1 point. If the group wants to take out this creature before it tears one of them to shreds, they need to work together, use tactics and special abilities, and concentrate concentra te their attacks. Massive threats cannot be damaged by the PCs with normal attacks. Tey can have high Structure numbers and several points of Damage Resistance (see below). Killing a massive threat requires good timing, good tactics, teamwork, copious use of special abilities, usage of the Rule of Awesome, and the burning of Reserve.

Continued Example: Te Ant Queen is massive and well armoured, but slow slow.. Her 98 GAME MASTER

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Bad Weather Not every conlfict has to be with people or monstrosities. Te Broken Lands are often besieged by dangerous weather. If you want to have bad weather complicate you PCs’ lives, choose one of the options below or roll a d6 for a random result: 1. Downpour Downpour - orrential orrential rainfall drenching the landscape. It turns dirt to mud and streams to raging torrents. Visibility is limited (-2 to all attacks and Awareness rolls from beyond 100m). Swollen rivers will be dangerous enough that even Ishin might require difficulty 8 Motion rolls to avoid being swept downstream. 2. Dust storm storm - Sudden dust storms can sweep across the Broken Lands. Visibility is limited to 25 meters (attacks and Awareness rolls automatically fail beyond that range), and everything is covered in a layer dust. Dust storms do not tend to persist for more than a few hours. 3. ornadoes ornadoes - ornadoes are random, powerful, and a common sight out in the  wastes. A very powerful tornado can lift and throw a Battle Remnant hundreds or even thousands of meters. Multiple Motion rolls will be required to avoid surviving a tornado unscathed. 4. Snow Squall Squall - While they are more common in the north, snow squalls can hit as far south as the lands of the Canyon  ribes. ribes. Tey occur in every ever y season and can bury people in over a meter of snow snow.. Visibility can be as bad aass a downpour or worse, and the slippery snow can cause -1 or -2 - 2 penalty to physical actions or Motion rolls. 5. Ash Rain  Rain  - Te result of distant volcanic eruptions, ash rain is toxic and very corrosive. For people breathing it in, treat it like a difficult 7 lethal poison (drop the difficulty to 4 if they use some kind of filter). It has little effect on Ishin other than scouring their surface for a day or two, meaning the Stealth rait will not function until the Battle Remnant gets a chance to repair itself. Te biggest danger is to crops and their livestock. A fewdie. days of ash rain can push a tribe or clan to war as their crops fail and Hullserd 6. Firestorm - Firestorms are rare and deadly. Tey come from regular storms interacting with the heat of the Burning Fields. Te storms pick up burning cinders and ash and race across the lands. Anything caught in a restorm suers from near-zero visibility and endures a difficulty 8 fire attack that does inferno levels (Lead +3) of damage. Firestorms may also contain tornadoes and leave behind ash rain. Te one blessing of a firestorm is its short duration; most firestorms pass through an area in  just a few minutes.

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Defence is 6, but her Armour is a whopping 8. She has 8 points of Structure and Damage Resistance 3. Te PCs are advised against engaging her in direct combat, but if they do, they will need multiple Breaching Assaults from Ethan, followed up with Power Strikes from Jeff while Nora sends her drones in as sacrifices to give Ethan time to Focus. Even if they do everything right, they could still get Wrecked Wrecked by the queen.

Tweaking the Numbers Tere few ways tweakofthe change the pace and outcomes of conflicts. Beloware areasome of thetomore thenumbers effects oftosuch tweaks. Defence and Armour: • High Defence enemies get hit less, so special attacks from the PCs also hit less. is can slow a fight down. • High Defence/low Armour enemies tend to get taken out by single lucky hits, making fights a little more random. • High Armour enemies get hit more, but often have Damage Resistance, limiting the penalties they suffer. suffer. • High Armour enemies tend to get chipped away at, rather than dying in one lucky hit. • Enemies with high Damage Resistance last longer in ghts and they also dish out more damage per hit because they are slower to start taking attack penalties. • It is possible to build enemies with Defence ratings too high for the low attack character to hit, even if his low attack number is higher than the enemy’s Defence + Armour. ry not to do this. It makes players feel frustrated and ineffectual. PC capabilities: • e threat represented by an enemy changes as characters take damage. As action penal penal-ties pile up, weaker enemies become much more dangerous. • If the PCs buy Traits for their Remnants, expect and encourage the use of those Traits and design your enemies enem ies with those T Traits raits in mind. Give a PC a big warm fuzzy by letting him use his brand-new brand- new Crippling Strikes to slow down a high Speed enemy enemy.. • Beware the lucky early hit! If the high attack atta ck PC rolls a 6 on his very rst attack, is charg ing, throws all of his Reserve into the roll, and does something completely awesome, he might turn your epic battle ba ttle into an assassination. If you think it’ it’ss cool, then let him. But if you want the fight to last, you can mitigate this by giving your enemies some Reserve to burn on Defence; by giving the enemy a companion that arrives late to the fight; or even a hidden shield/repair drone or self-repair system. Te best way to avoid this lucky hit problem is to make that initial attack more difficult. Give the enemy cover and minions. If the enemy is another Remnant, give it shield drones and defensive raits. raits.

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Sample Creatures  Y  You ou will not find a long list of creatures in Remnants . Instead, there are a few samples below that you can use as a baseline for making your own creatures.

Stats  When creating creatures, you can give them character Stats or construct them as though they were Ishin. Both methods work, and the choice is up to you. Generally, Generally, creatures are constructed with character Stats while powerful Monstrosities are written up as though they are Battle Remnants.  Waste Claw   Waste Body 0 Mind +1 Spirit +1 Skills:: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Dodge 2, Unarmed Combat 2, Stealth 2 Skills Combat : Defence 5, Resist 1, Health 5 (0 -1 -1 -2 -2) Initiative 1d6 Initiative  1d6 +3, Attack  +3, Attack  1d6  1d6 +2, Lead +1 damage for bite/claw  Description:: Waste Claw is a generic term for any small predator/scavenger that hunts Description out in the wastes. Small means weighing less than about 100 kg (220 pounds). Waste claws might have canine or feline features, but just as many look like lizards, or even invertebrates. While not dangerous to Ishin, they pose a serious threat to W Wastelanders. astelanders. Far Human Cannibal Body +1 Mind 0 Spirit +1 Skills:: Athletics 2, Awareness 2, Dodge 3, Melee 2, Unarmed Combat 2 Skills Combat: Defence Combat:  Defence 7, Resist 3, Health 4 (0 -1 -1 -2) Initiative 1d6 +2, Attack  +2, Attack  1d6  1d6 +3, Lead +2 damage for sword or club Description: Far Humans might or might not be able to speak, but all are more instinctual than intellectual. Tey can roam the wastes in large numbers when food is plentiful but they will turn on each other in lean times. Far Humans retain enough human features to be recognizable as such, but they are a re evolved to be optimized for whatever environment e nvironment in which they live. For example, northern Far Humans have fur and can hibernate and aquatic Far threat Humans haveanscale scales and Ishinari, gills. While single FarofHuman represents a very minor to even inexperienced largea numbers them can pull down an Ishin. However, However, Far Humans are too different from humans to pilot the Ishin, even if they kill its current owner. Gurlak  Body +5 Mind -3 Spirit 0 Skills: Awareness Skills:  Awareness 1, Unarmed Unarmed Combat 1 Combat: Defence Combat:  Defence 5 (includes -4 penalty for massive bulk) Resist 3 (tough hide) Health 8 (0 -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 -3) Initiative 1d6 Initiative  1d6 -2, Attack  -2, Attack  1d6  1d6 +2, Lead +4 damage for stomp/gore  Te Gurlak is so massive and slow moving that it suffers a -4 penalty to atDescription Te Description tack and defence. Gurlaks can stand over 8 meters (almost 30 feet) tall at the GAME MASTER

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shoulder, but are shaped more like elephants than dinosaurs. Tey are used in teams to pull massive trade Caravans and are notorious for their strength, endurance, and monumental stupidity. Tey have tough hides; either horns or tusks depending on the breed; and are most often brown, gray, gray, or faded yellow. Tey cannot run but can travel at a steady 5 kph for all day day,, and need less food than their size would imply. imply. Hullserd  Body 0 Mind -1 Spirit -2 Skills: Awareness Skills:  Awareness 1, Dodge 1 Combat: Defence Combat:  Defence 3, Resist 0, Health 1 (0) Initiative 1d6 Initiative  1d6 +0, Attack +0, Attack 1d6 +0, Lead +1 damage for horns Description: Te hullserd is the only domesticated livestock left in the Broken Lands. It is a little larger than a sheep, produces more milk than a goat (but less than a cow), cow), has wool similar to a sheep, and is known for its ability to digest almost anything. Different breeds of Hullserd in a variety of shapes and colours can be found throughout the Broken Lands. Loper Body +2 Mind 0 Spirit -1 Skills: Athletics Skills:  Athletics 3, Awareness Awareness 2, Dodge 1 Combat: Combat: Defence  Defence 6, Resist 0, Health 4 (0 -1 -2) for bite Initiative 1d6 Initiative  1d6 +2, Attack  +2, Attack   1d6  1d6 +2, Lead +0-1 damage Description: Lopers Description:  Lopers are bipedal mounts used by Vast Vast riders for long distance travel. Tey are about the size of a horse and shaped like an armless raptor dinosaur. A loper is faster than a horse over long distances but lacks the mettle and weapons to be used as a war mount. A loper will bolt at the first sign of danger, often bucking off an inexperienced rider. agon Body +2 Mind 0 Spirit 0  Athletics 2, Awar Awareness eness 1, Dodge 2, 2 , Unarmed Combat 2 Skills: Athletics Skills: Combat: Defence Combat:  Defence 7, Resist 3, Health 5 (0 0 -1 -1 -2) Initiative 1d6+1, 1d6+1, Attack   Attack  1d6  1d6 +4, Lead +1 damage for head-butt Description: A tagon is a ssquat, Description: A quat, six-legged creature creature with leathery hide and bony plates on on its shoulders and head. Tey are used as war mounts by V Vast ast riders and are known for their speed and toughness. Tey are not the largest or most powerful war mounts out there, but they are the most reliable. Basic Monstrosity  SA: +1, Speed: 3, Armour: 6 Skills: Assault Skills:  Assault 3, Motion 3, Awareness 3 Combat: Defence 7, Resist 6, Structure 7 (0 0 0 0 -1 -1 -2) Initiative 1d6 Initiative  1d6 +4, Attack  +4, Attack  1d6  1d6 +4, Lead +4 damage Description: ese are the Stats of a basic Ishin-sized Monstrosity. is parpar ticular Monstrosity is on the slow side, but has heavy armour and sharp claws. 102 GAME MASTER

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It is sentient enough to have desires and goals, but it is not human in mind or body. body. It has Battle Remnant Stats for easy comparison. However However,, you can split up its SA in a way that suits the creature you are creating. Feel free to customize it with Remnant T Traits. raits.   Note: Monstrosities Note:  Monstrosities are the most variable of all creatures. Tey can be almost as small as humans or larger than Gurlaks. Tey can be barely b arely aware of their surroundings or so brilliant as to be beyond human comprehension. Tey can be strong, weak, fast, slow, or anything in-between. Some might interact with people in non-violent ways, while others will see people as little more than food. It is even possible for groups of Monstrosities to set up tribes, clans, and cultures that mimic human developments. If there is one place  where the GM is encouraged to let his imagination run wild, it is in designing Monstrosities. Go crazy and design something the PCs will remember! Grand Monstrosity  SA: +3, Speed: 2, Armour: 10 Skills: Assault Skills:  Assault 4, Motion 4, Awareness 2 Combat: Defence Combat:  Defence 9, Resist 10, Structure 10 (0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -1 -2) Initiative 1d6 Tese +5, Attack  +5, Attack   1d6  1d6 +7,ofLead +7powerful damage Grand Monstrosity. It is enormous, are the Stats a very Description: Description: Tese very fast for its size, and possesses massive strength and armour. It most likely has several different Remnant raits. raits. Its only goal is to fee feed d and consume. It is dangerous enough that it would take more than a few powerful Ishinari to bring it down.

Mercenaries in Remnants  War between all of the clans, tribes,  War tribes, and city-states is common, and every nation employs mercenaries to some extent. Despite the frequency of conflicts, there are few professional soldiers or dedicated warriors in the Broken Lands. Most tribal and clan warriors are also hunters, herders, farmers, smiths, or craftsmen. Survival of the tribe and clan requires its people to be adaptable generalists. It is only the mercenaries who can specialGAME MASTER

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ize in combat and they are the often the best trained and most experienced troops on the battlefield.

Contracts Most mercenaries aren’t employed as part of a standing army. Rather, they are hired on commission and paid only after completion of their assigned tasks. With mercenary engagements being short and with so many different groups employing mercs, the negotiation of mercenary contracts has become a tradition. Contracts are written with specific clauses: • An agreement of loyalty until the end of a conict. • A list of basic duties required for the contract to be considered complete. • A statement of payment to be made upon the completion of the contract. • A list of possible bonuses based on proof of specic actions. Te reputation of both mercenaries and their employers spread faster than wildfire. If a mercenary company breaches a contract, by switching sides, for example, it will be unable to find work ever again once word spreads. Even worse, an employer who violates the terms of a contract will probably be attacked a ttacked by its former employees and black-balled by every mercenary unit with any talent.

Payment  A tribe or clan will pay however it can for skilled fighters, but to keep it simple the GM  will convert it to the Easy Living system discussed in the Building a Group section. As mentioned there, payment for low level, low threat mercenary work such as guard or escort duty is best estimated as a ratio of days worked to amount of Easy Living earned. • 5:1 or less - is is the routine amount paid to mercs for basic work. • 3:1 - Experienced mercenaries can earn this much. • 1:1 - Standard for an inexperienced Ishinari or a veteran warrior warrior.. • 1:2 - is is the t he payment for an experienced Ishinari or for a more dangerous job. • 1:3 - Veteran Ishinari can demand this much, as can less skilled troops on a prolonged but very dangerous job. Te above payment method is different from the commission a mercenary would make for a specific assignment like fighting in a tribal war, going on a rescue or assassination mission, or taking a dangerous journey into the Deep Wastes. Such Such short-duration, goaloriented contracts have one-time payments with a list of possible bonuses. Experienced troops can double the listed amount, veteran troops can triple it, and famous elite troops can multiply it by five times or more. • Fight in a battle or go on a mission with good odds of victory - EL 10. 10 . • Fight in a battle or go on a mission with even odds of victory - EL 20. • Fight in a battle or go on a mission with poor odds of victory - EL 30. 30 . • Fight in an almost hopeless battle or go on a suicide mission - EL 60+. • Bonuses (Kill certain enemies, acquire certain items or people, hold a posiposi tion) - 10% - 50% increase in above rate. 104 GAME MASTER

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Reputation Earning a reputation means working hard, working a lot, and succeeding. Whether a mercenary is considered a rookie or a veteran has a lot to do with the reputation he has acquired. Word of a good or bad reputation travels fast. A merc would have to travel for  weeks or even months to outdistance a notable rreputation. eputation. M Most ost mercs protect their reputations and anyone trying to defame defa me one is begging for a duel.

Optional Rules: Reputation  A long-term mercenary campaign will consist ofScore multiple contracts spread out over months and years. If a mercenary company is the focus of the game, you can assign it a Reputation score. Reputations range from -3 to +3 just like Stats. A mercenary unit uses its Reputation modifier when bargaining for pay using the Bureaucracy skill. Furthermore, a unit’s Reputation is added to the Battle Value of its army when using the Open  Warfare  W arfare rules (see p. 109). 1 09). At the GMs discretion, a merc’ merc’ss Reputation score can figure into any roll where a good or a bad reputation might have an effect. Most reputable employers will not hire mercenaries with Reputations lower than -1, though desperation or poverty can leave them without any other options. Below is the range of Reputation scores as well as brief idea of what each represents: -3 -- Infamously inept or untrustworthy untrustworthy.. -2 Seriously in skill or loyalty . -1 --- Word W ord has lacking gotten around of loyalty. deals gone bad or too t oo many battles lost. 0 -- Either unknown or considered average. +1 -- Known for getting the job done. +2 -- Crack troops with a near spotless record. +3 -- Legendary troops without equal. Earning Reputation is hard but losing Reputation is easy. o increase Reputation by 1 (from 0 to +1, for example) requires 10 Rep Points. When a merc unit completes a mundane task like escort or garrison duty duty,, it earns 1 Rep Point. Dangerous missions and battles can earn a unit 2 Rep Points. Extremely dangerous/suicide missions can earn the mercs 3 Rep Points if they survive. Mission failures, reneged contracts, cowardice, or ineptitude can cause a loss of 5 to 10 Rep Points (GM’s discretion). It is possible that a unit loses enough Rep Points such that its Reputation drops to next level. If a unit with a +1 Reputation and 4 additional Rep Points reneges on contract and fails to show for a battle, the GM could rule that this will result in a loss of 8 Rep Points. Now the unit has a Reputation of 0 with 6 additional Rep Points.

Employers Tere are thousands of potential employers for skilled mercenaries. Below are how each nation tends to employ them. • e Hill Clans - Most clansmen see mercenaries as noble, reliable, and experienced. Mercs are common in the area, but only in small groups, as few clans can afford larger units. • e Canyon Tribes - e tribes view mercs as specialists and will hire them GAME MASTER

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to ll specic niches, like Ishin or inltrators. e large size of each tribe leads them away from hiring rank and file. • e Marshlanders - Mercs in the Marshlands are almost always lone assassins or b bounty ounty hunters. Te tribal style of war does d oes not lend itself well to large me merc rc units. • e Desert Clans - e desert clans prefer not to employ mercs, but oasis dwellers em ploy all types of mercs and in very large numbers. • e Caravaners - e Caravans are in constant need of protection and will hire some before any trip through the wastes. • Wastelanders Wastelanders - Wastelanders are more likely to be mercs working for others than to hire them, though they might take on a few skilled fighters if they’re heading to a dangerous part of the wastes. • e Ice Tribes Tribes - is is the only place where mercs are not ffound. ound. • e City-States - ey are the largest employers of mercs, and they need a steady supply. supply. • e Vast - Vast riders hire mercs to do things their cavalry cannot do like breach city  walls or attack in rough terrain. Tey will not employ mercs mercs in open field battles.

Ishinari Mercenaries Few beyond the city-states can afford the long-term employment of Ishinari mercenaries. Most tribes either have their own Ishin or hire Battle Remnants for short contracts. Ishin mercenary’s rates can be high of buttwo none can. deny value in combat. mercs travel alone or in small groups to four four. Tesetheir groups, called “blades, “blades,””Ishinari travel far and  wide across the Broken Lands seeking eemployment. mployment. Blades composed of five Ishinari or more are rare; few could afford to employ such a large group. Tere are a handful of blades  whose exploits are famous across the Lands. Such warriors can command exorbitant fees, though they often have to settle for what their employers can afford.

Famous Merc Groups Below are some examples of different merc companies from around the Broken Lands. Te list is far from complete, and there is no shortage of different mercenary me rcenary groups. Lanker’s Heavy Cavalry  “Captain” Lanker has 30 former Vast riders working for him. Exiled from their clans, they traveled west past the Shieldstone Mountains to seek their fortunes. Lanker works for many of the larger clans in the Broken Hills, and will ride escort on large Caravans. His troops are well trained and coordinated, making the shock of their fabled charge even deadlier.. Lankers wear medium armour; are armed with shield, lance, and sword; and ride deadlier tough, fast creatures called agons. A tagon is a squat, six-legged creature with leathery hide and bony plates on its shoulders and head. Te Steel Storm Te Steel Storm is a very powerful Blade of four Ishinari drone controllers that can put up to 24 drones of varying types into combat. Tey take contracts from the city-states and often do cheaper escort work when traveling. 106 GAME MASTER

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Te Breachers Composed of a digger Ishinari and a dozen Dengir engineers, the Breachers are experts in collapsing walls, bypassing fortifications, and tunneling through old ruins. While a lot of their work comes from Ishi hunters, their most profitable jjobs obs come when V Vast ast clans travel through the passes of the Shieldstones to raid the better protected settlements of the west. Te River Cutters  Arlen and Myrna are a husband-and-wife Ishinari mercenary me rcenary blade that operates exclusively in the canyons of the Great River River.. Teir swimmer Ishin can destroy boats and rafts  while maintaining almost complete surprise. Sakina’s Knives Not all mercenary groups are suited for major battles. Te Kesantra known as Sakina leads a band of infiltrators and assassins. Her people are famous throughout the south for their stealth, discretion, and high success rate.

Artifacts Te Brokenand Lands arearefull of secrets,atlegends, and treasures. powerful, others dangerous, some worthless… rst glance, at least. le ast. AsSome your are players progress they can and should run across some of these things. Below are some ideas for unique rewards, unusual artifacts, and interesting plot items. Use them or make your own.

The Remnant Cutter Many tribes and clans have legends of warriors defeating Battle Remnants with nothing but a sword. Some of these legends are true, and most of these warriors possessed a Remnant Cutter. Cutter. Designed by the ancients and made of an unknown metal, these swords and knives seem to bypass an Ishin’s armour. Most Remnant Cutters are lost to the chaos of history but a few fe w are still out there. When a talented warrior finds such a blade, legends are born. A Remnant Cutter acts as a normal light or medium weapon but ignores 3-5 points of Ishin armour on a successful hit (GM’ (GM’ss discretion).

Limited-Use Weapons Te ancient’s equivalent to artillery or disposable rocket launchers, limited-use weapons are designed to be carried and used by Ishin, but they can only be used once or perhaps a few times before they are expended and useless. Limited-use weapons can have very high damage ratings and might emulate some Power raits without the need for Focus. Tere aren’’t many of these weapons left out there, as most have already be aren been en used or degraded to the point where they are worthless. GAME MASTER

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The Ishiden It is known that people can live a very, very long time, but there are few f ew in all the Broken Lands that wouldn’t wouldn’t scoff at the idea of an Ishiden; literally literally,, a Living Remnant. An Ishiden is someone who survived the apocalypse and lives on to the present day. Such old souls might be wise or insane, clever or foolish, powerful or pitiful, or some combination of each. Ishiden might possess a great deal of knowledge and would be worth a fortune to the leaders of one of the city-states. Ishin Keth Ishin Keth, aka Greater Battle Remnants, are machines of massive power. Ishin Keth tower over the battlefield and are bristling with weapons, armour, and abilities. Unlike the selfregenerating Ishin, Greater Battle Remnants need regular maintenance and power sources. If the PCs could find an intact example and the means to repair and power it, it would take at least a dozen Ishinari to bring it down. In game Stats, an Ishin Keth has a Structure of 10+, has minimum Assault and Strike Damages of +7, and possesses at least 10 raits off the rait list but doesn’t need to use Focus to activate them. It suffers from Defence penalties due to its great size (-2 to -4), but makes up for it with 10+ Armour. It is, however, limited by power and ammunition requirements. Strike weapons will have ammo in the hundreds, but special bursting and breaching style powers that would normally require Focus might be limited to a half a dozen each. Its Assault powers will be similar in that  while its basic Assault might not expend ammo, any use of special abilities will. Depending on the nature of the Ishin Keth, it might function for a few hours to a few weeks before it needs maintenance.

Doomsday Device  A terrifying Remnant left over from the apocalypse, a doomsday device is the equivalent of a nuclear weapon. Choose a blast radius between 200m and 10km. When activated, the device destroys everything within the radius. Alternately, it might be a weapon that only affects living things or only disables complex Ishi, including Battle Remnants, but they will regenerate in eight hours. It might have a timer or a launching mechanism, or it might not. Have fun. The Arc of Sura Tere are many legends about the Ark of Sura and no two are the same. It is agreed that the Ark is a great Ishi of massive power but beyond that, the stories and clans cannot even agree if Sura is a woman, a place, or both. Most legends say that the Ark is somewhere to the north; even the Ice ribe legends claim it to be so. While you can put the Ark wherever you want and put in it whatever you like, here is an interesting possibility: Sura is a person, she is within the Ark, and the Ark is an underground seed bank. Sura 108 GAME MASTER

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spent the last eight centuries using her vast knowledge to grow strains of plants that can filter poison and resist the harsh conditions of the surface. If the PCs could find the Ark, she could start a process that would heal the lands over the next few centuries.

Open Warfare  Battles in Rapidfire are fast, furious, and settled in a dramatic and non-strategic way. Te average player requires almost no knowledge of tactics, strategy, logistics or combat to have a good time. Instead of worrying about the minutiae of troop strengths, equipment, composition, experience, training and weapons, Rapidfire takes a generalist view and splits an army up into five traits with values that range from 0 (worst) to 4 (best). Tey are:

1. Troop Quality  A group of peasant soldiers is is much less effective than a unit ooff veteran armoured cavalry. cavalry. roop quality is a measure of a unit’s training, experience, equipment, and teamwork.  Approximate values: 0 – inexperienced, untrained, and poorly equipped (like mobs of civilians) 1 – Basic training, some experience, and basic equipment (trained militia) 2 – Well Well trained, well equipped, and eexperienced xperienced (clan warriors, mercenaries) 3– – Te Veteran Veteran gearwithout (expertpeer mercenaries) 4 besttroops of the with best, specialty elite troops (Amantin’ (Amantin’ss Jade Guard)

2. Relative Size Don’t worry too much about the number of people fighting on each side and how many die in a given engagement; just worry about relative numbers. Te smaller army always has a size value of 1. If the larger army outnumbers the smaller by two-to-one, then its value is 2. If it has a three-to-one advantage, the value is 3; and a four-to-one advantage or more gives a value of 4. 3. Tactical Advantages actical advantages can be had by both sides and will require some thinking by the GM.  While an army might have several tactical advantages working for it at once, the total value can never be greater than 4. Some examples of tactical advantages include: errain and Fortifications: 0 – Fighting on level ground. 1 – Holding the high ground or defending a low wall. 2 – Holding a choke-point like a bridge or defending a small fortress. 3 – Holding a narrow pass or alleyway, alleyway, or defending a well-fortified fortress. 4 – Defending a high-walled fortress or mountain pass.  Army composition: 1 – Home-army advantage. When not defending a fortification, the home army gets an advantage for knowing the terrain. 2 – Any large composition advantage like a cavalry army that can outrun inGAME MASTER

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fantry, or heavy infantry that can tortoise their shields against archers, or well-built siege engines for attacking fortifications. 3 - Ishin advantage. If only one side has Ishin, it has a massive tactical advantage. If both sides have them then this number is reduced, with the side that has more Ishin having a 1 point tactical advantage.

4. Morale and Fatigue Keeping an army happy happy, , and is one the keys When troops are unmotivated, theyhealthy, are more likely tofed break andofrun, whiletoavictory. motivated unitthe might fight to the last man. 0 – Te troops don don’’t want to be there, or they are exhausted and starving. 1 – Morale is low. low. Tis can be due ttoo things like recent casualties, corrupt command, bad food, or bad weather. weather. 2 – Average morale. Te troops are ready. ready. 3 – Eager. Tey might be riding high from a recent success, have good commanders, or  just a strong belief in their cause. 4 – Fearless. Te troops are willing to fight to the last man.

5. Leadership and Strategy Commanders have to inspire and protect their troops, make the hard decisions about sending them to die, and then react to the chaos of the battlefield. Commanders have to protect their flanks, exploit the enemy’s mistakes, and know when to send in a forlorn hope or commit the reserves.   Tis is the only trait of an army that is rolled. Te opposing commanders make an opposed Command roll. Te winner may add the Lead of the roll (up to a maximum of +4) to his army’s Battle Value for the engagement.

Battle Value and Engagements  After figuring out the above traits, add them together to get the opposing armies’ Battle Values. Battle Values range from 1 to 20. Once you know the troops’ Battle Values, you can have an engagement. Engagements are when the armies meet to do battle. Te winner of the engagement is the t he army with the higher Battle Value. Value. Te Lead of the higher Battle Value determines degree of success. An engagement might take a few minutes or a few hours and might consist of multiple scenes. Te details de tails of an engagement are up to you. Victory Conditions Every war is made up of multiple engagements that last until one side achieves its victory conditions. In open-field battles where two armies fight on open terrain, the standard rule is that any army with a Lead of 6 or greater in a single engagement routes his enemy and drives him from the field. In a siege on a fortress, the standard rule is that the defenders can hold the walls unless the attackers can get a Lead of 8 or more on a single assault. However, the attackers can wait as long as their supplies hold out in-between assaults to starve their enemies. In larger multi-battle wars, the opposing armies work 110 GAME MASTER

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towards aggregate Leads in that they add together the Leads from multiple battles. Te first army reaching a Lead of 25, 2 5, 50, or even 10 100 0 is the victor. Tese victory conditions are not set in stone, and the GM can adjust them as he sees fit.  However However,, once the battle has begun, the GM and the players must be in agreement on the victory conditions and they should not change for the battle’ battle’ss duration.

Indecisive Engagements Battles often have no clear victor. While one side may bloody the other, the armies will regroup and fight again if victory conditions are not met. Wars can drag on and on if there is a strategic stalemate. Te two things such indecisive engagements can affect are troop strength and morale. Te army with the higher Battle Value Value still wins an indecisive engagement, even if the overall battle is not yet won. Te losing side suffers about 2% casualties (if you want to keep track) per point of Lead that the winner has. While this is very little, it can add up over multiple engagements. Te winner suffers 1% casualties, but fatalities will be rare. Te other big killer is morale. For every three indecisive engagements that a unit loses in a row it suffers -1 to its morale. Running a Battle Incorporating a battle into a game can be a rewarding experience. Te trick is not getting bogged down in the details. o avoid that, here are the steps to running a battle for your players. 1. Te Setup Figuree out the setting, the reason(s) for the battle, and the makeup of the armies involved. Figur Pre-calculate their Battle Values Values minus the Command rolls and keep the numbers hidden from the players. Give the players an outline of the situation and give them a general idea of the traits of their own forces, but don’t don’t divulge the details. GAME MASTER

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2. Player Action Tis is where the magic of the system comes in. Te player characters can can affect  affect the Battle Values of the armies in significant ways with bravery, daring, sneakiness, or good tactical sense. Ask them each what role they want to play in the battle ahead and then roleplay it out. Tis could just take a few f ew minutes or it could take all night. If the character succeeds in his plan, he earns 1 or 2 points for his army’s Battle Value. Some examples of character action include: • Leading from the Front. Front. Te  Te character makes a rousing speech (MAKE HIM DO HE DAMNED SPEECH!) and leads the first charge or leads a forlorn hope (google is your friend if you don’t don’t know what it is). Give him some hectic combat rounds against multiple enemies, and if he survives or has a glorious death -- and gives a good speech -- add 1 or 2 to the army’s Battle Value. • aking Command. Tis Command. Tis is only for players with the Command skill and a real understanding of how armies fight. Te character takes the role of the army’s strategic commander and gets to make the opposed Command roll for the army. If he has a good strategy, or comes up with an unexpected manoeuvre, give him a bonus to the roll. • Covert Ops. Either Ops. Either alone or with a few cohorts, the character launches a surprise attack against a vulnerable area. He could destroy supplies, tunnel under fortifications (Digger rait), or assassinate important players, giving a bonus of 1 or 2 to the army’s Battle Value. • Striking and Support. Certain Support. Certain raits of Ishin lend themselves to acting in a support role. Drone controllers can scout, strikers can headhunt commanders, etc. Indirect support can add 1 or 2 to an army’s Battle Value. • Heavy Assault. Te Assault. Te gutsy move of powerful Ishinari is to attack the enemy alone and unafraid in attempt to unleash chaos, destruction, and bursting assaults. Tey can aim to cause maximum damage to the enemy rank and file or headhunt enemy commanders. If the character is  willing to t o wade into the enemy in such a fashion and he survives the waves of enemies enveloping him, his inspiring and crazy acac tions can give the army a bonus of 1 or 2 to its Battle Value. Value. • Duel. Duel. Characters  Characters can call out enemies, especially other Ishinari, roy   style. Winning a duel in front of the troops gives a bonus of 1 or 2 to the army’s army’s Battle V Value alue depending on the power of the enemy defeated. defeated . • Inspire and errify. errify. Characters  Characters with inspiring and terrifying Ishinari can inspire and terrify troops to affect morale. Tey need a Lead of 3 on a difficulty 6 Inspire/errify roll to adjust an army’s morale by 1 or a Lead of 6 to affect it by 2. Be sure to get 112 GAME MASTER

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a good description of what the PC does that is so inspiring or terrifying. Tey are trying to affect an entire army, not just a few people. 3. Resolution Calculate the new Battle Value of the armies, compare the Lead of the winning army to the victory conditions, and tell the players of the result. If it is a victory, great. If it is a defeat, be sure to roleplay a harrowing retreat. If the engagement is indecisive, tell the players why and have them get ready for the next engagement.

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Stats

Character Info

 

Character Name: Player Name: Nationality: Organization Aliations:  Appearance/Mannerisms:

Body: Mind: Spirit:

 

Stat Points:

Reserve: Secondary Stats

Defence:

3+Body+Dodge+Shield

Combat Gear

 Armour Bonus:

Resist:

Spirit+Armour

Shield Bonus:

Health:

3+Body+Spirit

 Action Penalty: Penalty:

Health Track

Adjustments 

Bonuses:

Penalties:

0 -1 -1 -2 -2 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 Skills

Level

Stat XP

Weapons

 Weapon  W eapon

Attack

Damage

1d6+

Lead+

1d6+

Lead+

1d6+

Lead+

Advantages 

Disadvantages

Gear and money 

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Total ratings

SA:

Body+Mind+Spirit

Initiative: 1d6+

SA+Awareness Skill

SKetch/notes

SA+Assault Skill

 Assault: 1d6+

SA+Strike Skill

Strike: 1d6+

Speed+SA+Motion Skill

Defence: Remnant Stats

 Armour:

Inspiring :

Speed:

errifying:

Stucture:  Assault Damage: Lead+ Srike Damage: Lead+ Strike Range: (Strike skill x100m) Structure Track Remnant Traits

rait Name and Effects

0 Character Skills

Skill

Level

XP

Assault Strike Motion Specialties

 

Current Drones

  Duress:

BATTLE REMNANT SHEET

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Focus