Longbow versus Swordsman: Genesys

 

Genesys is the generic iteration of the mechanics that power FFG’s line of Star Wars RPGs.

 It is a dice-pool system that will not only return success/failure but also extra good things/extra bad

 things.

Movement and range is a bit more abstract in Genesys and is handled by Range Bands:

Extreme: ?

Long: across a stadium

Medium: across a hanger

Short: same room

Engaged: dancing range

Going from short to medium is one maneuver, two to go from medium to long. 

In Genesys you get an action and a maneuver, and you can get another maneuver 

by spending strain, but you aren’t going to go from long to engaged in one round.

Similar to Savage Worlds, there are different scales of NPCs, ranging from Minions

 to Rivals to a full blown Nemesis that is treated the same as a PC.

Like we did for the Savage Worlds example, we will treat this as PC vs PC.

Bob the Bowman in Genesys (condensed format):

Brawn 2 Agility 4 Intellect 2 Cunning  3 Willpower 1 Presence 2 

Wounds 11 Strain 11 Soak 3 Defense Melee 1/ Ranged 1

Skills: 

Perception 1, Stealth 2, Vigilance 1, Ranged 1

Talents: 

Nimble(In stats), Hamstring Shot “Once per round, your character may use this 

talent to perform a ranged combat check against one non-vehicle target within range

 of the weapon used. If the check is successful, halve the damage inflicted by the attack

 (before reducing damage by the target’s soak). The target is immobilized until the end of

 its next turn. “

Equipment: 

Longbow Damage 8, Crit 3, Range Long, Skill Ranged, Qualities Unwieldy 3

Dagger Damage +2, Crit 3, Range Engaged, Skill Melee(Light), Qualities Accurate 1

Leather Armor Soak +1

Steve the Swordsman is a bulky monster of a human being:

Brawn 5 Agility 2 Intellect 2 Cunning  2 Willpower 1 Presence 2 

Wounds 17 Strain 9 Soak 7 Defense Melee 3/ Ranged 2 (Due to shield)

Skills: 

Athletics 1, Resilience 1, Vigilance 1, Melee(Heavy)1, Melee(Light) 2

Talents: 

Tough as Nails: Drop a critical to a 01 once per session with a story point

Equipment: 

Sword Damage +3, Crit 2, Qualities Defensive 1

Large Shield Damage +1, Crit 5, Qualities Defensive 2,Deflection 2, Inaccurate 2, Knockdown 1

Chain Armor Soak +2

Initiative is either Vigilance or Cool depending on whether or not the conflict was expected.

 Instead of this being per character initiative, each character creates an initiative slot for their

 side and they can change order as they go.

Since this is one on one and they are 100 yards apart with Steve screaming about how he is 

going to kill Bob this time, this is a Cool check.

Initiative Order:

Bob

Steve

Round 1. Steve is at Long Range from Bob

Bob is going to spend two points of strain (now at 9) to Aim twice at Steve and then uses his

 action to shoot.

Steve is at Long Range, so the check has 3 difficulty dice. Bob will roll 1 Proficiency die and 3 

Ability dice plus two Boost dice for his Aim maneuver. Steve’s shield adds two setback dice.

5 Success and 1 Advantage

This may be a short fight…

Bow damage is 8 plus 5 successes for 13 damage. One advantage is not enough for getting

 a crit, but Bob can use that to recoup 1 strain.

Steve has a soak of 7, so he takes 6 wounds putting him at 11 remaining.

Steve runs to Medium range by spending two strain (now at 7)to get two Maneuvers. 

Round 2. Steve is at Medium Range from Bob

Bob needs to end this quickly and aims and shoots, followed by an extra maneuver to step

 back (Taking 2 strain).

He is also going to spend a Story Point to increase one of his ability dice to a proficiency dice.

He gets 3 successes and 3 advantages which he puts into a critical hit.

Steve immediately spends a story point to downgrade the critical to a Minor Nick and takes one

 more strain (now at 6).

Steve takes 4 wounds after soak, so he is now at 7.Steve runs forward again getting to Close

 range, but not able to Engage. 

He is at 5 Strain

Round 3. Close Range

Bob maneuvers TWICE to extend the range between him and Steve (taking 2 strain, now at 7).

He is shooting before he moves, and at Close range that difficulty is now 1.

Bob hits with 4 successes, inflicting 5 Wounds after Steve’s soak (2 remaining)

Steve is going to run again, maneuvering twice  just to keep the same distance, putting him at 3 strain.

Round 4. They remain at Close Range 

Bob is going to spend a story point to add a proficiency dice and spend strain for an extra aim 

maneuver.

Steve is going to spend his story point to upgrade the difficulty of Bob’s shot, reflecting 

Steve’s desperate maneuvering.

Bob rolls his attack pool and nets 3 Successes which will inflict 4 wounds after soak,

 putting him below 0. 

Bob now rolls a Critical roll at plus ten, due to the other critical and has been dazed.

He is also down.

Thoughts:

Bowman still wins, but needs to 'kite' the swordsman. Like in Savage Worlds, this swordsman 

was 'special' and geared towards taking hits.

Also like Savage Worlds, the bowman would drop many minion/mook swordsmen that started

 at that range.

The shield did not seem to make as much of a difference here as it did in Savage Worlds and

 Against the Darkmaster.

Next up: Sword Chronicle (i.e. the generic version of Song of Ice and Fire, now with corrections…)