Interludes

An interlude is a fast way to summarize lengthy endeavors that the players and Storyteller wish to avoid role-playing in detail.

To conduct an interlude, first identify the overall objective. Then, identify 3–9 skill checks required for success and assign separate difficulties to each, along with the consequences for failure. Put all the checks in order and have the players decide who will make which rolls. Run down the list, make the necessary rolls, and determine the result. If most of the rolls were successful — including those necessary for success — the party succeeds. Otherwise, they fail and are forced to quit, withdraw, get captured, etc.

There are two ways to adjudicate major battles. The first is by having the party make a series of skill checks and run 2–4 small encounters representing crucial moments in the battle.

The second is with a summarization roll. To calculate this, first determine the party’s average proficiency bonus (rounded up) then add +1 per party member. This is their base battle score; a reflection of their competence and prowess. Then determine the party’s level of risk in the battle: light, moderate, or heavy.

The target difficulty is determined by the Storyteller. Below are some guidelines for reference.

If a party member has the tactics skill and is permitted to author their allies’ battle plan, have them roll off against the enemy commander’s tactics skill. Assuming both parties have adequate time and resources to prepare, the victor increases or decreases the battle’s difficulty by the difference between the two rolls. This can have a significant impact on the difficulty of a battle. This is intentional: defeating a superior enemy with a lucky tactics roll is the meat and drink of a heroic narrative. Unless doing so would derail the plot somehow, Storytellers are encouraged to just let it happen.

Once the party’s battle score and the battle’s difficulty have been determined, a simple roll is made to determine the outcome. Each party member also sustains a certain amount of damage, minus their defense bonus and soak pool. These values assume the party is fighting alongside allies to avoid being singled out or surrounded. If they attempt to fight entire hordes single-handedly, use the rules for hordes.

Results

A running battle is an interlude where the party blitzes through hostile territory on a time limit, fleeing or battling swarms of enemies along the way. The party is not exploring or looking for treasure: they are rushing through areas along a route. Conducting a lightning raid on a fortress, escaping a city under attack, or fleeing captivity through a forest swarming with orcs are all good examples. Running battles are meant to feel frantic and fast-paced — cinematic action sequences that would otherwise take hours to resolve using standard rules.

To design a running battle, first establish a point value for the interlude and a victory condition at the end. Then create a list of 3–6 areas the party must run through, and divide the points up between these areas however you wish. The goal is to amass victory points until the total is reached, the party is defeated, or they find some means to quit the interlude.

Each area should have X opportunities for characters to make skill checks to win victory points, and X+1 should be the total number of victory points assigned to that area. No character can attempt more than 2 skill checks per area. Party members can freely use healing and enhancement spells while these skill checks are made, to bolster their rolls or recover between combats. Most skill checks should have a difficulty of 10–20. For each successful check, the party accrues 1 victory point. After all checks are made for a given area, the remaining points must be accrued by defeating opponents. Afterward, the party has a few rounds of grace before progressing to the next area. This means the combat difficulty of each area will depend on how many successful skill checks were made first. Note that even if the party succeeds on every possible skill check, there will still be 1 point worth of enemies to deal with per area.

Skill checks to accrue victory points can represent many things: smashing a door down (athletics), using parkour to run up a wall and drop a ladder (acrobatics), spotting a shortcut (perceive), slipping around a patrol (stealth), shouting confusing orders at enemy troops (subterfuge), scaring opponents into not attacking (intimidate), etc. Because intellect skills don’t relate well to running battles, it’s appropriate to let spell casters creatively use magic and roll arete instead. In this case, the arete roll determines whether or not their spell was aimed and timed well enough to offer an advantage worthy of a victory point. Once the party reaches the end of the running battle, the interlude is over.

Chase scenes can be summarized with a simple skill roll. This check is always made by the players, regardless of whether they are the pursuers or the quarry. The difficulty is 10 + opposing party’s skill bonus.

Environmental factors can complicate chase scenes. If one party is faster, or the quarry can create obstacles to deter pursuit, increase or decrease the difficulty accordingly. If a pursuer cannot keep the quarry consistently in sight (night, fog, trees, alleys, etc.) or it gains the support of allies who can intercept, the roll may have advantage or disadvantage. If the entire party is engaged in a chase scene, treat this roll as a group skill check — half the team must succeed for the entire group to succeed. This is not realistic (in real chases the fast people leave the slow people behind), but not splitting the party is more important.

A stalking duel is a battle of agility and cunning where two (or more) individuals (or groups) enter a region and hunt one another. Each group is trying to locate and ambush the other while avoiding being seen. There are three ways this contest can resolve: one party ambushes the other, neither party is ambushed, or the duel is abandoned.

Each participant (or group) must first roll stealth vs. opponent’s Alertness, and all are considered to be on high alert. A participant must win two of these rolls consecutively to win the duel and achieve surprise. If both participants succeed in the same round, neither is surprised, and initiative is rolled out normally.

Alternatively, the victor can attempt to lure their opponent into a preexisting trap of some sort. In this case, the duel loser may still roll perception to notice and avoid the trap.

The dramatic tension of a stalking duel is the meat and drink of rangers and rogues. These rules are intended to speed up guerilla warfare and allow players to showcase their hunting abilities — or be hunted by enemies with such skills.

Ransacking is a type of interlude — a fast way to summarize the process of exploring a new area: a stretch of wilderness, a room in a dungeon, an empty house, etc. It is best used when a location has no special or plot-vital qualities.

First, have every player write down their character’s passive role in the ransacking process. This absolves players of the need to declare their actions in painstaking detail every time; it is enough for the caller to discuss with the group and then say “We ransack the area.” It also removes the need for excessive paranoia, which might otherwise slow the game to a crawl.

Once the party has a ransacking routine worked out, they can (and should) expect the Storyteller to make the proper skill checks in secret. Once these rolls are established, the players cannot retroactively attempt additional re-rolls if they suspect they failed a test. The results are final.

Carousing is a staple of the adventuring lifestyle in most classic fantasy settings. Adventurers risk their lives for great wealth and glory, then unwind with bouts of revelry and vice. While not all players may be comfortable portraying their characters in this fashion, there are rules in place to reward carousing so it is not simply viewed as a frivolous waste of time and money.

Every week a character spends carousing, they lose silver equal to 3 × experience level to represent their heroic appetites. They also roll on the table below.