Rules

TERMS

GM

The Game Master is the storyteller, rulesmaster, and judge of the game, controlling the setting, plot, and all non-player characters.

PLAYER

A participant in the game who is not the GM, usually controlling only one character.

DICE

The Aquila RPG uses six-sided dice, or d6's, only. The players will need a number of dice of at least two colors.

ACTOR

When a character performs an action, for the purpose of the rulles, he or she is considered the 'actor' of that action.

TARGET

When an action is performed, if it directly affects another character, the character so affected is the action's 'target'.

SCENE

Gameplay is broken down into Scenes, where-in action, drama, or any interesting or important activity or interaction occurs.

ROUND

Combat scenes, or any scene in which order of actions is important, are broken down into Rounds of six seconds each.

CLOSE COMBAT

When two or more combatants are engaged in melee or brawl fighting, they are considered to be in Close Combat.

INITIATIVE

Group Initiative

In combat, or any other encounter where action order is important, initiative is between the party of pc's and any npc's involved in the encounter. The party chooses one player to roll his or her individual initiative (usually the one with the highest personal initiative) as their group's initiative. The GM rolls the npc's group initiative. The group with the highest total goes first each round for the encounter. When a group takes their actions, they choose who acts in what order within the group each round.

Optional rule: instead of using group initiative, have each participant roll their individual initiative separately, and each individual acts in order of their own initiative.

Individual Initiative

Each character has an initiative pool of dice equal to their Agility, plus any traits or flaws that add or subtract from initiative. Unlike most rolls, initiative rolls do not have a difficulty; simply total the dice rolled, and compare totals to see who goes first.

SKILL TESTS

To use a skill, the player rolls a number of dice equal to the character's Skill plus a number of dice equal to the corresponding Attribute (determined by the GM). These dice are called the 'skill pool'. The player also rolls a number of dice equal to the difficulty of the task being attempted. The difficulty dice should be of a different, distinct color from the player's skill pool dice. The player rolls both the skill pool dice and the difficulty dice, comparing the totals of both. If the skill pool dice total exceeds the difficulty dice total, the player has succeeded.

Difficulty Dice

The difficulty dice of any action is determined by the GM. For unopposed actions, the difficulty is 1 die for simple actions, 2 dice for easy, 3 for normal, 4 for challenging, 5 for hard, 6 for severe, and 7 for titanic difficulty actions.

For opposed actions involving a player, the player rolls any skill, attribute, and bonus dice that apply to the action. These dice are the 'skill pool' and should all be of one color. The difficulty dice pool should be equal to the opposing characters skill, attribute, and bonus dice that apply. Whether the player is the actor or target of the action, the player rolls the skill test. If the player is the actor, the skill pool needs to equal or exceed the difficulty for the player to succeed in the action. If the player is the target, the skill pool needs to exceed the difficulty for the player to successfully defend.

If an opposed action is between two players, no difficulty dice are rolled. Instead, both players roll their own skill pool.

DEFENSES

Characters may defend themselves from attacks in several ways. Passive Defense is automatic, as long as the character is alert and aware of the attack. Passive Defense is equal to the character's Agility. Whenever a character is attacked, they roll their Agility dice against the difficulty of the attack. If the defense total exceeds the difficulty total, the attack is unsuccessful.

Active defenses include Dodge and Parry. If a character sacrifices either a move or an action for an active defense, they add one die to their Agility for defense. Active defenses may be used even if the attack comes before the character's turn to act, as long as the character is aware of the attack, but the sacrificed move or action must be spent on the character's next turn.

There are traits that improve active defenses, enhancing parries and dodges.

Defense/difficulty is +2 dice when making ranged attacks against targets engaged in close combat.

HEALING

Characters heal naturally with normal rest at the rate of one Wound per eight hours of sleep. Crippling Injuries heal at the rate of one per day of complete rest. Complete rest must be uninterrupted by any strenuous activity, including work, travel, and combat.

MAGIC

Any character with the sorcery skill may attempt to cast a spell, at the cost of one point of Fate, or one wound. For those who merely dabble in the arcane arts, it is costly to cast even the simple and limited spells available to them. For those with magical strand traits, however, there is a deeper inner resevoir of magical energy, as their ability to manipulate the strands of fate is more refined and subtle. Characters with strand traits have an additional pool of magical energy, called Mana. They have a number of mana points equal to their strand traits multiplied by their sorcery skill. Mana points may be spent in place of Fate points or Wounds when spellcasting. Mana, Fate, and Wounds may also be spent to enhance spells when casting, providing greater range, number of targets, and intensity or effect.

FATE

Fate may be spent to heal one's own wounds in combat, but not crippling injuries. If a character takes no other actions for a round, including movement, they may spend a Fate point to heal one Wound. Only one Fate point per round may be spent in this way.

STATES

Sometimes, a character may be affected by attacks or other actions that do not cause Wounds, but instead inflict harmful States on the character, until the character is healed of the State, either by magical healing, medical treatment, or natural healing.

Winded

The character is exhausted, and may only take a move or action per round, not both. In addition, the character may not sprint or run, may not take any full-round action, and automatically loses initiative. Lasts until the character rests for a full eight hours.

Frenzied

The character enters a berserk state (not to be confused with the Berserker Trait). The character will blindly attack either the nearest character, or the nearest source of annoyance or aggression (determined by the GM). After the first attack, the character must make a Willpower roll at Challenging difficulty to end the frenzy.

Confused

The character is in a weakened mental state, and suffers a one die penalty on all physical actions, and a two die penalty on all mental or social actions. Lasts until the character makes an Intelligence roll at Challenging difficulty.

Cowed

The character is intimidated and fearful, suffering a one die penalty on all physical actions, and automatically loses initiative. The cowed state lasts for the duration of the scene.

Dominated

The character is in a weakened mental state, and is easily manipulated and commanded. The character must make a Willpower roll at Challenging difficulty to disobey a command or deny a request. If the command or request is particularly harmful or violates the character's code of ethics, the GM may lessen the difficulty.

Disarmed

The character has had their weapon taken away, and lose the benefit of any weapon-based traits, and cannot use the Melee or Archery skills. The character may rearm by retrieving their weapon, skill and difficulty determined by the GM, the standard being an Athletics roll with a difficulty of the opponent's Melee (or Brawl as appropriate) skill.

Sickened

The character is weakened by illness, suffering a one-die penalty on all actions, may not sprint or run, and automatically loses initiative. Lasts until the illness is cured, either by medical treatment or healing magic, or the body successfully heals itself. After each eight hour period of rest, the character may make a Toughness roll to naturally heal an illness.