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CreditsEditor

Richard Ford

Cover Art Kieran Yanner

Interior Illustrations Chris Appel, Joe Boulden, Mike Bruinsma, Paul Burrow,

Dennis Calero, Scott Clark, Stephen Crowe, Eric Deschamps, Steve Ellis, Mark Evans, Peter Ferguson, Philippe Guyenne, Joshua James, Eric Lofgren, Sean McNally, John Moriarty,

Christian Pearce, Michelle Spalding , Simon Taylor, Chris Waller, Kieran Yanner

Character Sheet DesignSam Vail

RPG ManagerIan Belcher

Production DirectorAlexander Fennell

Proofreading Ron Bedison & Eric Michaels

PlaytestersSue Baxter, Tanya Bergen, Mark Billanie, Andre Chabot, Geoff Fitch, Mark Gedak, Robert Hall, Daniel Haslam,

Mark Howe, Ryan Kelln, Trevor Kerslake, Patrick Kossmann, Kent Little, Alan Marson, Michael Meunier, Alan Moore, Murray Perry, Dennis Price, Oliver Reynolds, Mark Sizer,

Daniel Scothorne, Matt Thomason, Sam Vail, Matthew Wilkins, Michael J Young

ContentsWelcome to WARS! 2

Basic Rules 5

Character Creation 22

Skills 56

Feats & Standings 87

Kizen 107

Combat 189

The Tools of WARS 215

Vehicle Combat 253

Factions of WARS 269

Games Mastering 291

Character Sheet 298

Index 300

License 304

The WARS Roleplaying Game is TM & © 2005 Decipher, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mongoose Publishing Ltd Authorized User. The WARS Roleplaying Game is released under version 1.0 of the Open Game License. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. See page 304 for the text of this license. With the exception of the character creation rules detailing the mechanics of assigning dice roll results to abilities and the advancement of character levels, all game mechanics and statistics (including the game mechanics of all feats, skills, classes, creatures, psychic abilities and combat) are declared open content. Printed in China.

G r e g Ly n c h & I a n ‘L i z a r d ’ H a r a cSa

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W e L c o m e t o W A R S !The time is the late 24th Century. The place – the Solar

System of Earth, but drastically transformed. An alien-made rift in space and time has slashed across

the system and from this wound in the universe have come invaders – not just their troops and ships, but a world, Seyal, which brought with it two races: the arrogant, wraithlike Shi and their enemies, the brutal Quay. The rift brought with it something else… a strange quantum energy that has granted certain select individuals exotic powers.

Five factions now war for control of the Solar System. The Earthers, ruled by giant corporations; the Gongen, descendants of those who fled the radiation-scarred wastes of Asia for the red sands of Mars; the Mavericks, pirates and rogues of the Outer Rim, who are as willing to modify their bodies as their vehicles; the Shi, imperialistic and domineering; and the Quay, former Shi slaves who rebelled and now wage war to destroy their former masters.

This universe of conflict and power was introduced in the WARS Trading Card Game from Decipher. Now, you can step inside, becoming a character battling in the eternal conflict.

Fo r P l aye r s o f t he Ca rd GameIf you are purchasing this book as a player of the card game, this section is for you. This game is not an extension of the card game, and does not directly interface with it. However, it takes place in the same universe. In the card game, the player controls an array of characters, ships and worlds, taking a high-level view of the ongoing war in the Solar System. In the WARS Roleplaying Game, the player is thrust directly into the conflict, taking on the role of a single character involved in the action. This character is created by the player, using the rules found in the Basic Rules chapter, and can be almost anyone who might reasonably exist in the world of WARS – a daring fighter pilot, a Gongen warrior, a Maverick gambler on the run from the Cartel, an Earther ‘grunt’ fighting on the front lines, or any other concept. Your Player Character will grow and change over time, becoming more powerful and more distinctive. He will explore the system, meet and interact with the characters from the card game and become a powerful figure in his own right.

The Ba s i c s o f Ro l ep l ay i ngA roleplaying group consists of the Games Master and one or more players (three to five is considered optimal), each of whom controls a single character. The Games Master controls the rest of the universe – he plays all of the other people in the galaxy (called Non-Player Characters), adjudicates disputes and describes the world.

The basic flow of play is simple: the Games Master describes a setting, event, meeting and so on, and the players describe what their characters attempt to do in response. The rules are used to determine which actions succeed and which fail. In some cases, the Games Master will simply decree what happens; this is good in situations where there is little randomness involved. For example, if a player says, ‘my character will walk up to the High Admiral in the pilot’s bar and dump beer on his head!’ there is little need to roll dice. The character simply does it and the Games Master does not need to roll to see that the High Admiral is furious and orders his personal bodyguard to take the character into custody. If the player then decrees his character will fight back then, because there is some randomness and uncertainty involved, the rules are used to resolve the battle.

A typical game session tends to contain a lot of side comments, chatter and joking – gaming is a social occasion! Stripped of the out-of-game comments, though, a session would look something like this:

Set Up: The characters are a group of two Mavericks and one Earther on Ganymede. A reliable source has told them a shipment of traginium has been hidden in a cavern complex after being ‘liberated’ from Gongen forces. The characters have been asked to retrieve it by an Accord leader. If they do so, he may ‘forget’ about that little incident back on Titan Station. Eager to be rid of the endless attacks by Accord hunter bots, they agree to perform this simple pickup…

The characters are Harriman Jones, an Earther pilot; ‘Lugnut’ Jill, a Maverick engineer and ‘One-Shot’, a Maverick soldier. All are 1st level.

Games Master: OK. Now that the pizza is here, we can finally start. Harriman, you have no trouble landing your shuttle at the coordinates. The jagged rocks your contact

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Welcome to WARS!

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described are clearly visible a quarter-klick away.Harriman (or, rather, the player running Harriman): I check the shuttle’s sensors. Is anyone else out there?Games Master: (He knows there’s nothing in sensor range, but he does not want the players to be 100% certain, so he makes a show of rolling dice and checking the results.) Nope, the sensors don’t pick up anything.Lugnut: Right, let’s get on with it. The sooner we’re off this rock, the better. What isn’t overrun with Quay is overrun with Gongen.One-Shot: We leave the shuttle and go towards the cave. (In this case, a player has chosen to speak for the group. This is good so long as the group agrees. If one of the other players did not wish to leave just yet, they might say ‘No, we don’t. I’m going to get something from the hold first.’)Games Master: You all have standard-issue space suits? Good. The surface of Ganymede is terribly cold, so cold you can swear it’s getting through even your suits’ insulation. It’s also oddly silent, the atmosphere too thin to transmit your footfalls. The light gravity makes the walk go by quickly and soon you can see the cave entrance. Lugnut: One-Shot, why don’t you scout ahead?One-Shot: Why me?Lugnut: You have the biggest gun.Games Master (eager to keep the game on track): One-Shot, are you going in or not?One-Shot: Yeah, yeah. I have my M44 out and ready for action. I head down the tunnel.Games Master: (Says nothing, but notes that One-Shot said nothing about trying to be stealthy. Secretly, he makes a roll to see if One-Shot noticed the odd, inhuman

footprints in the dust inside the cave entrance. Sadly, he did not.) OK, about 20 metres in, you see an airlock has been fitted into the cave. This looks like an abandoned mining camp.One-Shot: Is the door locked?Games Master: You’re just going to try to open it?One-Shot (recognising a warning when he hears it): Uh… no. I open my comm link and call Lugnut. She’s the tech; she can check out the door.Lugnut: OK, I go in. I’ll make a Perception check to see if I notice anything odd about the door. (The player rolls dice.) My total is… 22.Games Master: The door looks clean. Standard panel with no security system. Just hit ‘open’ and go in.Harriman: Am I still back at the entrance?Games Master: Did you go down the tunnel?Harriman: Uh, yeah, I went right after Lugnut did.Games Master: Fine. You’re all standing around the door, then.Harriman: I’m checking the door, too. Who built this place?Games Master: The door is clearly of Gongen design. It looks badly worn, though, as if it hasn’t been maintained for some time. Given the Gongen tendency to keep things clean, this base is likely long-abandoned.One-Shot: OK, I’m opening the door…Lugnut: Wait! Let me try something. I’m going to use my sense thoughts ability to see if anyone’s on the other side.Games Master: OK, mark off the kizen points. (The Games Master now consults his map and notes, to determine if the Quay on the other side of the door is

within the range of Lugnut’s kizen power. It is.) You sense another mind just beyond the door… not a human mind. The thoughts seem to roll violently, smashing against your consciousness.Lugnut: Quay?Games Master: Yup.One-Shot: How many?Lugnut: Yeah, how many do I sense?Games Master: Only one seems to be within range of your power. (He knows there is only one there, but Lugnut would not know this – only that she can only sense one.)Lugnut: Well, let’s go for it. Who knows? Maybe we can cut a deal! In case we can’t, I’m getting out my Spassky.

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Pronunciations in WARSCISyn – Sye-sinEichi – Ay-ee-cheeGongen – Gahn-jenKizen – Kee-zenQuay – KwaySeyalshi – See-all-sheeSeyal – See-allShi – SheeXeLabs – Zee-labs

Harriman: I’m taking out my Colt-Burton.Lugnut: Everyone ready? OK, I’m cycling the lock…

What happens next? The Quay might be willing to negotiate… or it might leap to attack the humans without mercy. The Player Characters (if they survive the encounter) will then have to deal with other mysteries – did the Quay just happen to find this base or was there a double-cross? Is the traginium still safe inside or did the Quay remove it earlier and leave behind a guard? Thus, the story unfolds… see the Combat chapter for some of what happens next.

Be ing a Good P l aye rRoleplaying games are a cooperative, not competitive, activity. Unlike the WARS Trading Card Game, where each player is struggling to eliminate the other and achieve total victory, in the WARS Roleplaying Game players and their characters are expected to work together to accomplish their goals. Furthermore, the game is not a conflict between the Games Master and the players – they work together to tell an interesting, memorable, story. A good player in a roleplaying game:

Works with the Games Master and the other players: He does not have his character act randomly or out of character just to ‘shake things up’. He does not try to sabotage other players’ actions or to hog the limelight.

Knows his character’s abilities: Characters in WARS are powerful beings with a wide range of capabilities and equipment. It is a player’s responsibility to know what his character can and cannot do, and roughly how good he is at it. No one is expecting you to memorise the rules prior

to play, but you should try to learn all you can about what your character can do, quickly.

Accepts the Games Master’s rulings: A lot of the time, the rules will not cover a given situation and a Games Master must make a judgement call. At other times, the Games Master will need to override the rules in a specific situation. Players should not get into long and drawn out arguments over these rulings, but should accept them in the game and move on, addressing them out of game.

Bas i c T e rms and Con cep t sPlayer CharacterA character controlled by a player. Each player normally controls one character, taking him through a series of adventures and seeing his powers and personality grow over time.

Non-Player CharacterEveryone in the universe other than the Player Characters. A Non-Player Character can be a superior officer, an enemy soldier, a mindless genetically engineered monster, a sentient computer, a cranky bartender on Ganymede or anyone else in the game. All Non-Player Characters are controlled by the Games Master.

Scenario or AdventureA single storyline, which may take one or many play sessions to complete. A typical scenario might be ‘A group of Mavericks who owe a lot of money to the Cartel are offered a chance to settle their debts by stealing some experimental AI circuitry from a Gongen lab’. The Player Characters would form a plan to get to the lab, break in, find the device and get out. Alternatively, they might try to lure the Cartel into a Gongen trap, or take some other course of action.

CampaignA series of adventures linked together. To continue the example above, after stealing the prototype, the characters are identified by the Gongen, who send a squad of assassin bots after them. Even if the players survive the bots, they will still be on the Gongen’s ‘hit list’ and may need to take some other action to get them off their tail. This provides an underlying thread throughout other, unrelated, adventures. Over time, Non-Player Characters may become ‘regulars’ – recurring friends or foes – locations become familiar hang-outs and the characters become more and more involved with the events going on all around them.

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Basic Rules

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B A S I c R u L e SThis chapter contains all the basic rules needed to play

the WARS Roleplaying Game. Use it as a reference for the other chapters which will refer back here as they

go on to explain special rules for specific portions of the game. For example, the Skills chapter will show players how skills work in this game and what they actually do but they can refer back here to see how the basic task resolution system (the rolling of a d20 and adding modifiers) is used when various modifiers and multipliers are used.

Dice and WARSBefore discussing the basic resolution system, players should become familiar with the concept of dice in a roleplaying game. Dice are actually very simple in WARS, though the terminology for dice rolls can get a bit confusing for anyone not used to it. The shorthand form of a die roll is ‘XdY’, possibly with a number after a + or – sign to indicate a modifier. The X is the number of dice to roll, while Y stands for the number of sides each die has. If only one die needs to be rolled, X will be 1 or simply left out altogether and assumed to be 1.

For example, a boarding axe does 1d8 points of damage. In the hands of Garth, a strong Maverick thug, it does 1d8+3 because of his high Strength score. When he hits in combat with his axe, he rolls one eight-sided die and then adds three. If he rolls a six, the total damage done is nine points.

Bas i c T a sk Re so l u t i on Sy s t emWhenever a Player Character attempts to perform any action in WARS that involves some risk of failure, the success or failure of the attempt will always be determined by using the same basic die mechanic, whether he is trying to break into a protected computer system or firing a rifle at a Quay warrior. The specifics of this will be covered in the appropriate chapters later on but it is illustrated briefly below.

1d20 + modifiers versus Difficulty Class (DC)

The modifiers and target number are determined by the type of task.

If the result of the d20 roll + the modifiers equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class, the attempt is successful.

Any other result is a failure. A ‘natural 20’ on the die roll is usually an automatic success and a ‘natural 1’ on the die roll is usually an automatic failure, with some exceptions that will be noted in the later chapters of this book. Skill checks, for example, have no automatic success or failure based on rolling a 20 or a 1, respectively, but attack rolls and saving throws do.

If there is a notation such as ‘make a Perception check (DC 20)’, it means a total roll of 20 or higher (the d20 roll + the modifiers for the ‘Perception’ skill) succeeds.

Modifying NumbersIn general, if a formula or rule results in a fraction, round down, even if the fraction is one-half or larger. However, certain rolls, such as damage and hit points, have a minimum of one.

Sometimes a special rule will require the multiplying of a number or die roll. So long as there is a single multiplier, multiply the number normally. When two or more multipliers apply, however, they should be combined into a single multiple, with each extra multiple adding one less than its value to the first multiple. Thus, a double (x2) and a double (x2) applied to the same number results in a triple (x3).

MovementIn WARS, every vehicle, creature and mobile machine has a movement score. This movement is assumed to be ground movement unless noted otherwise. Ground movement for a human being is 12 metres (six spaces) per round. This is a human’s base movement, but faster move speeds are possible. Some kizen can travel astoundingly fast, outrunning many vehicles. The drawback to running is that a creature moving at four times its base movement loses its Dexterity bonus to its Defence Value.

Ranges and Rates of MovementEvery creature or bot with a movement score is capable of moving twice, three times or even four times that distance in a single combat round. If the creature or bot has the Run feat, he can move up to five times his base distance. These movement rates are classified as follows:

Walk: This is the base movement rate for the character. In the case of humans, Shi and many bots, this is 12 metres (six squares) per round, which equates to about 7.2 km per hour, a steady, purposeful but unrushed pace.

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