Z-Day USA

Game Master Patrick Curtin

I'm sensing a theme...

Like all good things, it starts with a monkey. =)

One more question. The zombie is currently in the shaken condition. Now, assuming he makes it to his round, he has to make a spirit roll and success and failure are the benchmarks. But what is the threshold? I have his spirit roll, but I can’t seem to find out what constitutes a success or failure

I just found a reference online to a ‘standard TN of 4’, but I’m unsure what ‘TN’ stands for.

Target number

Yeah, for just about everything (I can't even think of a place where it's not) you're going for a 4 as the number. And every amount of 4 OVER the base 4 you get is called a Raise.

Note about hits and raises and damage. If you need a 4 to hit (in ranged. In melee it's the target's Parry) and you get 4 over that (so an 8, in ranged) that is a Raise and you get +d6 to damage.

YOU ONLY GET 1 d6 TO DAMAGE NO MATTER HOW MANY RAISES YOU GET ON THE TO-HIT.

(I have run into much confusion about that so I just wanted to make sure that was covered. ^_^)

I appreciate it. This seems like a cool, fast-paced system, but it’s one I’ve never dealt with before, and the info online and the book can be a bit murky.

While I’m thinking about it, any thoughts on good online resources? I saw the PEG forums, but if you old hands know any others I always like resources

Looking at the movement rules, the closest thing I can see is 2yds=1”, so one square on the map is 1”. Typical movement in a round without penalty is 6” so six squares. Limpy the zombie security guard only gets three (he’d get four but I’m assessing him a penalty because this leg is so badly damaged. You can call out a position if you like and I’ll move your token

OK. Help me dissect this roll:

Using his shovel as he was trained Nick attacks the attacker.

Attack: 1d8 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + (4) = 12

Explodin: 1d8 ⇒ 6

With a brutal swing Nicks shovel connects again.

Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 5) = 11

So the attack roll was an exploding dice becasue of the natty 8 so another is rolled, so the attack roll is 18? Or is that a second bonus attack?

Also- the damage noted gets one raise. that takes the zombie from fine to shaken and injured, correct?

so damage dice= one for attack that hits, one for attack raise, one for bonus attack...I think?

Am I missing anything?

Um, close.

1) Issue the First:

Nick, in the future, please separate the Attack die and the Wild die.

There are two ways to do this. You can either write both as a separate die roll:

{dice=Attack}d8{/dice}
{dice=wild die Attack}d6{/dice}

Or you can use a ; to differentiate two dice in one post. Hence:

{dice=Attack and Wild Die}d8;d6{/dice}

will come out as:

Attack and Wild Die: 1d8 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 3

This way they won't be added together and much confusion will be avoided. ^_^

2)Issue the second:

Nick's roll had the base attack as an exploding d8, and a Wild Die that came up as a 4.

The exploding d8 is added to, so his Attack was a (8+6) = 14.

This is compared to the Zombie's Parry.

I don't know what it is but I'll just grab a number and say it's 5.

14 is MORE than 4 greater than 5, so it is a Raise.

(Had the attack been anywhere from 5 to 8, it would have just been a hit. 9 and more is a Raise, and only 1 Raise counts on an attack roll because you only GET 1 d6 TO DAMAGE NO MATTER HOW MANY RAISES YOU GET ON THE TO-HIT. =-)

His damage is a melee attack. All melee weapons have a base damage, plus strength.

Nick's strength is d6.

His weapon is treated as a Heavy Club, which has a damage of: STR+d6

Hence his normal damage is 2d6.

He got a Raise on the attack (a reasonable assumption on an Attack of 14!) so he gets an extra d6 on the damage roll, which is how we get to 3d6 damage.

3) Raw conjecture!

Normally anyone except PCs and Bosses have only one wound. It seems that this zombie has taken one wound and is still standing. That is -fine-. It's a boss fight and it probably has three wounds. (Bosses are called GM Wild Cards because reasons.)

GM, don't forget that you get GM bennies. (pg 63) For each GM Wild Card they get 2 bennies you can spend. That means you can try to Soak, if you want. You also get a pool of GM bennies to start with. It's 1 per PC.

(You are of course free to make things up on the fly and not tell us. I'm just saying. =)

Oh, ok. So the one wound kills then? I thought they get one wound then the next wound kills. My mistake. Thank you for helping me understand the combat rolls. I need to read up on wild dice and exploding too

Now Nick referenced a second swing, which is what initially confused me. Was there just the one attack ?

I appreciate it. This seems like a cool, fast-paced system, but it’s one I’ve never dealt with before, and the info online and the book can be a bit murky.

While I’m thinking about it, any thoughts on good online resources? I saw the PEG forums, but if you old hands know any others I always like resources

Have I not mentioned these? What a silly little bin I am.

Free rules quick start

Things to do in combat that are not fighting.

Both me and Dennis have a d4 in driving. can anyone beat that?

I'm happy to let him drive for now.

Well, Dennis has been busy with various RL issues, so in order to keep things rolling I would suggest you drive

I also have D4 in driving... but go for it.

Yeah I think I took a d4 in driving too lol seems like a d4 skill

OK. Just setting up driving. You will encounter traffic, but DC is built as a walking city and has wide sidewalks. You can drive around traffic at a -1 for hopping the curb to avoid traffic. Is the TN 4 for a success? And are there any other modifications? I’ve found the ‘out of control’ table, but I just want to make sure I am getting the rules straight.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, a word on rolls in SW.

Consider if you will, an average man with a skill of d4 in something.

A d4 means that they are not un-trained. They have some experience with this thing. They've either had formal training, or have performed the thing enough times that they can avoid looking like a total tool when they're hot co-worker asks them what they're doing.

An average man, who is not a Wild Card, and has training enough to have a d4, only has a 25% chance of succeeding when he's called on to make a roll.

I say this so that I can frame the "atmosphere" of what it means to ask for a roll. Asking for a roll for a trait already implies that the normal, everyday circumstances have been koshed on the head by a drunken scot with a bottle of Gentleman Jack and someone needs to save our friend's girlfriend from having a good time in the bad way.

Hence, the "driving on the sidewalk and not hitting fire hydrants" condition -is- the difficulty. There's no need to add another -1.

To frame it a different way, adding a -1 penalty makes it a physical impossibility for the aforementioned average man to succeed, baring an ace (or, to wit, him performing well beyond how he has any right to think he can.)

For an example from the book, look at, say, oh, Drowning. It says if you have a d4 in swimming, you don't have to roll to tread water in calm water. Ever.
In rough water, you have to roll. But there are no penalties. The water itself is the hazard, and calling for the roll is the difficulty.

I know in Pathfinder there are so many pluses and minuses being tossed around it seems like if you're not throwing in a negative 2 to a roll, you just don't care about it.

But SW tries to pare all that down to a more simpler, less math-skull-crushing time, so just calling for a roll itself, is actually a risky proposition.

Does any of this make sense? =)

Edited: OK I think I get it.

So if you hop the sidewalk just a straight roll

Puts on his sheriff hat and slap pulls the peacemaker on that girl BLAM!!! Cue dramatic music...

You know, I usually hype me for posting by playing one round world war Z.

@Nick. A word on Jokers.

Jokers are amazing!

For starts, it means you can go any time.

Any. Time.

You just say so, and you get to go.

It also means everything you do is at +2.

Everything.

If you are rolling dice, add +2 to it.

Also, I think it means the rest of the group gets a Benny. Pretty sure on that.

So, if you wanna kick this party off, Lady Luck is with you, and she's had one too many Long-Island Iced Teas, she's handed you the keys to her car, her diary, and her house where her parents are away for a long vacation.

Super busy, will check in over the weekend.

OK. I want to dissect the combat to see if I am doing things correctly.

[dice=Shooting! SMG! 3RB! AP1!]d8+2

[dice=WILD Shooting! SMG! 3RB! AP1!]d6+2 hit not raise

[dice=Shooting Damage! 3RB, AP1!]2d6+2
[dice=Shooting Damage ACE!]d6 = 11 ._.

OK. Zombie has a toughness of 5. So I am assuming that would be shaken/wound in one round which for a baseline mook means death, yes?

You are correct sir!

Had I rolled 5-8 damage, she would only be shaken.

Mind you, you do have GM bennies, if you wanted to try and soak.

Nah she’s a speed bump at best. There’s more fun to come

If anyone could give me a quick précis of bennies. When to give, how to use, etc.

when to use? either when you want to re-roll a die or soak a wound. (note, if you soak a wound but roll bad, it costs a second bennie to re-roll that.)

they are given to players when any of them get a joker, or handed out as rewards for good role play.

For example on thursday in my 7 worlds round, one of our crew was badly wounded and received 6 wounds. He used a benny to soak a wound and got 5 raises or something like that. (SOAK)
Another was shot but not wounded, so he was just shaken. He botched his spirit roll, so he used a benny to fight again. (REMOVE THE SHAKEN CONDITION)
Lastely my teep tried to cast a spell on someone. I rolled 6. I used a benny and rolled an 11, granting me a raise. (REROLL)
Those are the three uses for bennies I know.

Bot me for the rest of the week, due to RL business I will not free up until likely Saturday evening at the earliest.

Dotting as an alternate. Hey, Storyteller, long time no see.

Hi Rigor,

I'll keep you in mind.

FYI folks. I will be headed on vacation Friday. So, any actions I will try to resolve quickly. I might have Internet access, then again, I might not. But if I go dark that is why :)

Dotting as an alternate. Hey, Storyteller, long time no see.

Hey Rigor!

Back, sorry for the long delay there folks. RL got a bit too busy to post. Should be back to normal now.

Please excuse this moment but I will be losing a family member today and will be out for three days of mourning returning on Mon or Tues. Please bot me as necessary.

Almost home. Hoping to update Sunday

Am back

Struggling with massive work backlog. Pick a likely place to stop. Assume any store you wish is available

Fleet farm has fire arms food camping gear and clothing!

Fun fact, in this part of the country it's called "Farm and Fleet".

Whose turn is it?

Sorry folks, been crazy in my life. I should update today

Looking at the door, Nick takes out his shovel and uses it as leverage.

1d6+1d6+1d4-2-3
Looking at Brian he just shrugs. He then whistles the first few tunes from Status Quos most well known song.
"Seems it was not properly fastened!"
** spoiler omitted **

It looks like I didn't explain what I was going for well enough, so I should give a longer version now. ^_^

1) rolls.

First, Nick, in SW all rolls are seperate, not added together. If you've noticed, I do all my rolls (like, main die and WILD! die) in two distinct rolls.
You can do them in one line (which I like to do when I'm just on my phone because its eaiser) by using a ;

Hence:

{dice=Shooting and WILD Shooting}d8;d6{/dice}

Would come out like:

Shooting and WILD Shooting: 1d8 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 1

2) Modifiers

Nick, why did you put on a -3?

What I meant was that there is a -2 to each die. Hence:

{dice=Untrained Lockpick}d4-2{/dice}
{dice=WILD Untrained Lockpick}d6-2{/dice}

Would come out as:

Untrained Lockpick: 1d4 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0
WILD Untrained Lockpick: 1d6 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1

Your Wild die aced, and you re-rolled it, which is great! And that was the success, but you can see how that might get confusing going forward. =)

Folks apologies, I have been busy these past few days. I’m going to be giving the PbPs some love today

Hi Folks, apologies for the long absence between work, side business and still getting organized at the new place I got way behind.

I also believe I am a bit burnt out on RPing. Ben doing it a long time and I think my muse needs a break. Going to withdraw from most games here on the boards.

Happy gaming to all!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gonna miss you Shadow. Should we give you a proper zombie send off?

Guys, apologies on not getting updated in a timely manner. My life is one big cluster duck right now. I am going to the main page right now

Sure! All Flesh Must Be Eaten!

Alphonso, you again missed the wildcard dice. If your wildcard manages an 8, you can add another dice to the damage. So always throw the two dices.