Below are resolution methods for the types of tasks that ancient warriors would face. Some more modern or fantastical tasks will be covered under Mind and Spirit. Any task that is not here, that the players or GM regard as physical, like flying a plane, driving a car or riding a motorcycle or mountain bike, I encourage those people to make up rules based on these models. At the bottom of this section under strongman stunts and diving, I have suggested an alternative use of the 1d6, that, it is hoped, will suggest another tool for some development innovations on the part of the players.

Body Actions

The 3 Body Abilities combine to 3-18 points for 1d20 action attempts. They are also used for specific 1d6 checks

Strength: factoring damage, checking for injury, determining load limit

Stamina: vigorous actions per day, rounds of un-impeded action, exhaustion

Agility: limiting blunders, avoiding/reducing damage

Marching: The distance one can cover on foot per day ranges up to 30 miles. To arrive at a maximum distance on a given day, add the Body & Spirit scores, including mania factors, subtract a roll 1d20, then divide the distance marched by 1 for level road, round it down for easy track, divide by 2 for rough track, divide by 3 for trackless & broken terrain and divide by 4 for trackless rugged terrain.

Running

Simple

A messenger is sent to run for a day. This is a function almost exclusively of stamina. Rate his daily base run ability at 3XStamina, for a range of 3-18 miles. Have him check for additional miles by doing a Strength and Agility check, with the margin over the score subtracting form the mileage and the 1d6 difference under the 1-6 scores adding that much to the mile distance. If the runner makes both of these checks, then permit him to attempt an heroic run by doing an Animism check, and applying the die difference in the same way.

[An example of running skill use will be given under Mind, or, might have been, had not Fate averted my eyes when I woke to write and rolled a 20. I believe I was thinking of the Athenian runner who died after delivering his message concerning the battle of Marathon. It was said he spoke with a god upon the way from Sparta in a previous run.]

Interactive

A race is simple, with an even start. But for pursuit of foes, establish a lead for the fleeing foe. For instance, if Achilles is running down some doomed Trojan hero, who has a 9 Body, with his 18 body, and they both roll a 9, then Achilles has gained 9 [of whatever measure the GM sees fit, be it strides, stades, days if it is a long hunt, etc.] and the poor Trojan improves not a wit. If the Trojan rolled a 3, gaining 6 against his potential of 9, and Achilles rolled an 18, then that lucky fellow has made some distance.

Climbing

Establish a difficulty from 1 to 6.

For every number of difficulty the climber must make a specific ability check.

1st point of difficulty requires an overall Body Check, a 1d20 against the 3-18 score. You are now climbing.

Next, by stages, you must make the following 1d6 checks. If you fail 1, you must now re-roll your successful Body Check, or fall.

2nd point of difficulty, also requires a Wit check to determine if the climber picked the right path/method.

3rd point of difficulty, also requires an Agility check.

4th point of assent peril, also requires a Strength check.

5th point of assent peril, also requires a Stamina check.

6th point of assent peril, an icy cliff at night, requires an Animism check.

Falls damage the character like so, 1 point per every level of difficulty, plus a check against his best body ability, Strength, Stamina or Agility, with 1d20, with him also sustaining the difference between a roll higher than that ability—Yikes! If he rolls lower, then he has caught himself somehow and the difficulty damage is reduced by whatever the lower die difference is, and the monkey can keep climbing. Any fall that does not kill the character increases his Body Mania [Discord] and Pathos by 1.

Jumping

The distance to be jumped is determined.

20s fail no matter how easy, and 1s succeed against all odds.

A standing jump is done by a Body check, with a successful check indicating the covering of a distance equal to the Body score, plus any negative difference in the roll and score, or minus any positive difference between roll and score.

A Running Jump is done in the same fashion, except, the Overall Body ability is added. So, if Achilles rolls a 2, for a 16 die difference, it is added to his 18, for a new world record by a foot of 34 feet.

Stalking

Hunting a man or beast, by day or night, by sound, sight and scent, requires full body integration, intelligence and instinct. This ability includes hiding and ambushing and sentry removal. To get close enough to strike or shoot, or be able to avoid the enemy’s stroke or shot, a stalking score is determined:

Stalking score: Body + Discord [Body Mania] + Wit + Animism = STALK

Skill Note

The stalk skill permits the addition of Wit and Animism, from outside the Body suite, to be added.

The stalk of both parties is compared, with the normal range around 10 but master stalkers such as Liver-eating Johnson, Body 14 + Discord 5 + Wit 5 + Animism 5 = 29 may approach or even exceed 30.

Let’s say Liver-eater is stalking a gunslinger with his same scores. The gunslinger, since he does not have the stalking skill, only uses his body score of 14 for the hunt.

Liver-eater rolls a 16, which would have failed if he was not an experienced tracker.

The gunslinger rolls a 13.

Liver-Eater’s die difference is13 to the gunslinger’s 1, for a difference of 12. The 1st point gives Liver-Eater an advantage. The 2nd point gives the gunslinger a disadvantage. The remaining 10 points are applied to damage against the gunslinger, IF Liver-eater strikes him on his first stroke or shot, of which he will get two chances, as he has an Advantage re-roll.

Pathos is not factored in stalking, yet may be affected.

A person who succeeds in a stalk, ambush, hunt, in this way, gains a Discord Body Mania point and a Pathos point, as this teaches a lot, as does climbing.

Riding

Riding a horse is physical.

You must have the horsemanship skill.

[Skills are discussed in more detail under Mind.]

A body check is made to determine if the beast will perform it’s best for you.

If you do not have the horsemanship skill, this is done at a disadvantage, re-rolling a success. One may learn to ride a horse in this way, becoming a horseman after succeeding in this trial by era 6 times minus your Knit ability score. That is right, a man with a 6 Knit will learn very quickly.

Once one is riding, how fast one goes is up to the horse, who has a body rating and is run like a man. In the case of a horseback fight, horse race, etc., the horsemen first make a Knit check to see if they get an advantage and then make a Body check to see if they incur a disadvantage.

Driving

A chariot team is handled in the same way. But rather then a Knit check for advantage, the driver makes a Kit check.

Skying

Using skies is done like handling a chariot, except the character’s own body, rather than a horse’s is used for the Body check.

Rowing

Working at the oars requires a Body Check with a Strength check to determine if there is an advantage and a Stamina check to determine a disadvantage.

Sailing

Sailing, that is handling the sails and operation of a sailing vessel, not piloting or navigating, calls for a Body Check with an Agility Check to determine Advantage and a Stamina check to determine disadvantage.

Advantage and Disadvantage

Both of the competing crews at the sails, at the oars, might generate advantages and disadvantages. In such cases, these numbers cancel each other out until only one player, or neither, has an advantage or disadvantage. Disadvantages cancel rival Disadvantages. Advantages cancel rival Advantages.

So, if Olaf at the oars has 3 advantages and 1 disadvantage in his pursuit of Loki working his oars across the Baltic, who has 2 advantages and 1 disadvantage, then neither player has a disadvantage and Olaf has 1 advantage. This is done to quicken play. In some special episodes, involving great peril, or which perhaps represent a terminal manhunt, the GM might want to have the characters retain all the Advantages and Disadvantages to increase play length and suspense.

Wielding

The characters are all regarded as fighting men, able to use hand weapons. Particular Kit based weapon skills are limited to dueling and shooting.

Using any weapon or tool or object in hand-to-hand combat requires a body check for success. If one has made a body check they have struck the foe.

The wielder must possess a strength score equal to the weapon strength requirement [WSR], or damage is reduced by the negative difference. If a scribe with a strength of 0 uses a war ax which requires a 3, then his damage is reduced by 3, which happens to be the WD of the war ax.

Damage is factored like so: Strength + Knit + Weapon Damage [WD] = Damage. Example: Achilles Strength +6, Knit +6, + 3 spear = 15.

From this, Sarpedon’s armor of 3 and agility of 3, reduced the stroke to 9 damage. Sarpendon had a 4 Strength, 3 Stamina and 3 Agility, for 10 points, so that unhappy hero stands at Death’s door, with 1HP, where he may keenly appreciate the attention of the starving stray dogs that will come out at night to feast upon his barely living body. An indulgent GM might have some wench drag him off to the camp follower’s tents to repair him.

I got ahead here: all this damage stuff will be covered with proper nuance in Chapter 5. In combat Achilles will have a chance to knock Sarpendon over and deliver a stroke. I have gotten ahead of the design here and have given a partially accurate example of combat, that is also incomplete. This paragraph above is retained as a developmental example. As I am unable to develop these rules, I am retaining some “muddy” superseded mechanics, for the player/developer.

The damage equation is:

Damage: Strength+Weapon+Knit

Minus: Armor+ Agility

Equals damage sustained, placing offense in the assent where it should be and leaving open a Knit-based damage reduction option for a fighter who focuses on defensive weapon use.

Agility/Knit Note

There was an option, in the first draft, suggested above for agility being withheld from combat to be used for defense. Agility should remain as a basic ability to evade damage. The option should, and will, under specific rules for combat instead use the Knit ability, being withheld from potential damage, to guard against potential damage, achieving play balance, it being the odd factor in the 3 to 2 damage verse protection equation.

Upon review of these rules, it seems important to use agility as a standard damage reduction against the strength damage, with armor against weapon, which still grants the knit advantage to offense over defense. This Knit factor may be countered, as described later under Combat, by using the weapon for defense, as a kind of armor.

The context in which a weapon is wielded, varies from duel, battle, brawl, stalk, skirmish, rout and capital punishment. In some cases both do damage, in others one or the other.

Lifting, Bending & Breaking

Rolling high with 1d6 is the method here used.

These are strict strength tasks, with a task rating of 1-13 against the strength score of the hero. If Achilles, with a 6 strength wishes to move a boulder rated at 9, he must roll a 3 or better. Note that a 13 object is immovable or unbreakable by a man, unless one rolls a 1. Miracles will be covered in more detail in Chapter 5.

Throwing

A body check is made to strike the target. An evasively moving or cover-using target must be hit at a Disadvantage. A target moving forward or away is done without advantage or disadvantage. A still target in the open is targeted at an Advantage. Damage is factored by adding strength, weapon & knit and reduced by armor and agility. Weapons that are thrown are thrown directly by hand, without rotating: spears, lances, javelins, darts, rocks.

Hurling

Hurled weapons rotate, or are thrown in rotation: like, axes, hatchets, hammers, knives, bolos, etc. These weapons, to be thrown without damage reduction, require a Knit check. If this check is failed, the damage is reduced by the positive die difference.

Slings require possession of a specific skill. The damage of this weapon is a flat expression of the slinger’s strength, like a bow.

Swimming

Requires a Knit check to learn and is accomplished with a Body Check. Swimming while encumbered, like Beowulf, or in averse situations, like Alexander’s men swimming the Danube by night in armor with inflated and stuffed tent canvas, may be replicated according to the climbing or strength method, whichever the GM thinks most closely simulates the action.

Diving

Diving is the opposite of climbing and is simulated in the very same way, by assigning a difficulty rating to the dive. Succeeding in operating under water, requires a successful body check, then the graduated difficulty checks as in climbing. Success of a new crisis diver brings skill.

Notes

Some of the mechanics from this section will be expanded to play out chases, battle routs and posse pursuits in Chapter 5. Likewise, leadership and inspiration, effecting more than a single hero, will be covered under Mind and Spirit. Skill development and use will be fully covered under Mind.