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This article is the first in a short series introducing Foundry's new Streetfight rules. This article covers the basic rules of the game, based
largely on Bryan Ansell's Rules With No Name, which some of you may be familiar with. Over the next couple of months we'll present
some additional rules for rapid fire, nerve, skills and so on. All this however, will still be just a small part of the final version of the rules,
which we hope to publish as a lavishly illustrated and presented volume some time in the next few months.
GETTING STARTED
Each player needs one or more models, each
representing a single person or character.
Each and every single model represents a
totally unique individual. They represent your
characters, the characters you will invest time
and energy in every time you use them in a
game. You will find that characters, despite
only really being inch high metal miniatures,
actually acquire their own personalities, histories and
idiosyncrasies, much like real people. You will find you become
quite attached to your characters.
In the game, there are four classes of character:
Plugs: Ordinary civilians or inexperienced or youthful
gangers, unskilled and nervy.
Gangers: tough individuals who carry a gun with the
expectation (and perhaps hope) of having to use it.
Killer: violent characters with violent histories who have
killed and will again.
Street Legends: cold-blooded killers, men beyond the
reproach of either the law or their enemies.
You will need something to note your characters' wounds and other
special rules on as you play. It is normally a good idea for each
player to keep a few sheets of scrap paper or a small notebook and a
pen handy during a game.
You will also need plenty of ordinary six sided dice and a tape
measure!
THE TABLETOP
Finally, you will need somewhere to actually
play your game! Any decent sized flat area
will do a desk, kitchen table or even the floor
(providing vagrant pets, children and
relatives can be kept safely out of stamping
distance). This is usually referred to as the
board or the table, since many experienced
gamers tend to have purpose built tables
specifically for use in gaming.
This is certainly not necessary when you are just learning the rules,
so for now just clear a space somewhere and place a few small
cardboard boxes or containers on the table, by way of representing
buildings. Again, most people who play games regularly amass
collections of purpose built scenery and terrain representing
everything from small crates, hedges and walls, right up to forests,
hills and buildings. If you have any such model terrain available to
you, it certainly adds to the ethos of a game, but is by no means
needed for your first few games, so don't worry about playing with
piles of shoeboxes or even bricks for now.
Ideally, terrain should be placed so that there is about 6" between
buildings, with these gaps representing the streets. If possible,
intersperse some smaller pieces of terrain, such as wire-link
fences, crates, oil drums or even parked cars around the streets, just
to break up any open areas. Some players find it is best to have a
few relatively open areas on the table, so if you like arrange the
buildings so that they form 'courtyards' or 'parking lot' type areas in
certain places. It is usually best if these open
areas aren't more than about a
foot or so square, again with
some small terrain pieces inside.
Gamesmasters
If it is the Joker, all discards are shuffled back into the Fate
Deck. Any action cards held by players must be played
immediately or discarded. Either way, they are shuffled
back into the deck too.
TAKING A TURN
Whenever a character is able to take a turn (either as a result of his
character card being drawn or an action card being played) he is
permitted to make one action. The character may choose his action
from:
Move
Fire
Move & Fire
Reposition
Aim
Reload
Recover
Get Up
Duck Back
Fix Gun
Moving Plugs
Once gunplay commences (i.e. once the first shot has been fired),
Plugs must move always the full distance rolled - they are too
inexperienced to think straight once bullets are flying. If this
means that an impassable obstacle would get in their way, then
they must move in another direction if doing so would allow them
to move the full distance (even if this is the opposite direction to
that desired by the player). If it is not possible to move their full
movement distance, they simply freeze in terror and stay exactly
where they are (or behave as the gamesmaster thinks appropriate if
one is being used).
Plugs may declare that they are either moving to attack an enemy
character, or to a specific position behind cover, before they throw
their dice. If they do so, they must then move towards their
objective, and will halt there if their throw is high enough. If the
score is not enough to reach their chosen enemy or cover, the
model moves as far as possible towards it then halts.
Tripping Up!
Any character who throws three 1's with the movement dice falls
over (treat as knocked down - see the injury charts later in the
rules), a Plug who throws two 1's falls over. This also applies when
a character is making a Move & Fire action.
FIRE
There are quite a number of things to consider when firing, but the
basic gist of this action is that you will roll a number of dice for the
firing character, depending on such things as what weapon they are
using, whether they moved, and so on. When you roll dice to shoot,
any dice, which scores a '6', is a hit on the target model.
ACTIONS
MOVE
When a character moves, throw three dice and total up the scores.
This is the maximum distance in inches that the character can
move.
So, for example, if the three dice came up as a 1, a 4 and a 6, the
character could move a total of 1 + 4 + 6 = 11".
When moving, a character may set off in any direction at the
beginning of his move (regardless of which way he was facing to
begin with), but must move in a straight line, making no further
turns other than detours of up to an inch to avoid obstacles and
other characters. Don't worry too much about the meticulous route
your character takes as he moves, or how precisely you measure
the distances of an inch.
When a character has completed his move, he must end his turn
facing the direction he has just moved in.
Clambering Over Obstacles
If an obstacle is too big to be gone around in a single move,
normally a character would have to stop, then move again in a
different direction the next time he gets a turn. However, if an
obstacle is no taller than the character model itself, he may clamber
over it. A character must be able to return to the ground within 1" of
the other side of such an obstacle, otherwise he may not climb it.
Similarly, the model must have enough movement left to reach a
point on the other side of the obstacle (measured in a straight line as
usual). This largely means that small fences are the only obstacles
a model will typically clamber over.
Providing these conditions are met, the character may clamber
over the obstacle. However, such are the difficulties in holstering
weapons, scrambling up wire mesh or bricks, lowering oneself
down on the other side and so on, that a character's turn is
immediately ended when he lands on the other side of such an
obstacle. Regardless of his maximum movement distance he may
not move any further, nor may he shoot!
A firing character may not move, but may turn to face any direction
he wishes and then fires. Characters can fire within an arc of 90
degrees; 45 degrees each side of straight ahead - this is known as
their Angle of Fire.
The best way to calculate this is by making a simple template from
a folded square of paper. If you fold the paper from corner to corner
diagonally and then open it up again, you can align the crease so
that it points in the direction that the character is facing - this is
straight ahead. This way, the edges of the paper will mark out the
edge of the character's angle of fire.
ANGLE OF FIRE
A
Straight ahead
90 DEGREES TO FRONT
B
C
Shooter can fire at A or B, but not C
Rate of Fire
The character rolls the number of dice shown on the firing chart,
subject to any modifiers which may apply. You will need to
measure the range from the firing model to his target, and look up
the relevant range on the firing chart. If the distance between the
firer and the target is greater than the 'Extreme' distance shown on
the Firing Chart, the target is out of range and the shot is wasted.
When measuring ranges, it is important to be consistent, so always
measure them from the head of the firing model to the head of the
target.
Types of Weapon
When shooting, all weapons are considered to be either one handed
or two handed, even though they may actually be something far
more specific or exotic than this. Any weapons held in a single
hand (usually pistols) use the one handed firing chart, weapons
held in both hands (rifles and machine guns) use the two handed
firing chart. Whilst a number of special rules may apply to
different types of weapon, this does not affect the basic number of
firing dice. It is useful to make a note of whether each character's
weapon counts as one handed or two handed before the game starts
to prevent argument where odd-looking weapons are concerned.
Some weapons have the option of firing either one-handed or twohanded, in which case the player must declare whether the model is
going to fire with one or two hands before measuring range.
FIRING CHART
1-Handed
RANGE
NUMBER
OF DICE
2-Handed
RANGE
NUMBER
OF DICE
POINT
BLANK
2
CLOSE
MEDIUM
LONG
EXTREME
12
24
POINT
BLANK
2
CLOSE
MEDIUM
LONG
EXTREME
12
24
IN SIGHT
MINUS
Modifiers
Add or subtract the following NUMBER OF DICE rolled by
the character:
Target in cover
- 1 Dice
If the target is behind cover, 1 less shooting dice is rolled. Deciding
which models are behind cover, and to what extent can be tricky, so
refer to the section entitled 'Cover' for details.
Firing after moving:
One Handed
- 1 Dice
Two-handed
- 2 Dice
This penalty only applies if the character moved as part of the same
action. It does not apply if the character moved in one action, then
immediately after fired as a separate action (usually due to the use
of an action card, for example).
Head wound
- 1 Dice
Flesh wound on firing arm for one-handed, or either arm for twohanded
-1 Dice
If a model has a flesh wound on his firing arm (or either arm if
firing two handed) use this modifier.
Each Serious wound
- 2 Dice
Each serious wound on any part of the body causes a 2 modifier
when shooting.
Target knocked down
or Stunned
+2 Dice
Plug
Killer
Street Legend
- 1 Dice
+1 Dice
+2 Dice
+6 Dice
+4 Dice
Gamesmasters may further modify the number of dice as they find appropriate.
Fumbles
If playing with a gamesmaster, you might like to
introduce a rule where if four or more 1's are rolled the
character "fumbles" and something terrible happens.
He could drop his gun (which might go off), catch it in
his clothing, shoot himself or someone standing
nearby, fall on his face, mistake a friend for an enemy
or vice-versa, bump into someone, bang his head on a
sign or post, a little old lady might launch a frenzied
attack with her umbrella, the sidewalk might collapse,
a stray dog might bite him, his gun explode, clothing
catch fire etc. Further suggestions are invited, if we get
enough we could do a big list or a deck of event cards,
but don't worry about using these whilst you are still
learning the rules.
COVER
Cover is an important feature of the game. Cover is anything that
obstructs line of sight, or line of fire between characters (literally
anything behind which a character can 'take cover'). Typically in a
streetfight this will consist of such things as the buildings that
border the streets, parked cars, trash cans, dumpsters, fences walls,
fire hydrants and so on. Anything that can obscure a model from
his enemies is considered to be cover.
A character behind cover is protected from some of the shots that
would otherwise hit him
.
A gamesmaster can be useful to adjudicate which parts of a target's
body are protected, but as a rule of thumb:
Characters firing round the corner of a building always expose
their head and chest. Pistol shooters (one-handed weapons) also
expose their right arm, and rifle shooters (two-handed weapons)
always expose both their arms. When firing over a wall or other
obstacle, the chest is not exposed. In cases where pieces of cover
might be unusually shaped, or the model is positioned oddly, trace
a rough line of sight from the firing model to his target and see
which parts of the body are obscured. Use common sense to agree
between all players which locations on the target's body are behind
cover and which are not.
Solid Cover
If a character has taken cover behind something reasonably
substantial, like a brick wall or a pile of trashcans, then shots that
would have hit protected parts of his body cause him to duck back,
but cannot injure him.
Light Cover
If he is only behind something like a pile of boxes or a fence, then
throw for each shot that hits cover:
1-2 - shot penetrates, target hit, subtract one from the damage
dice.
3-6 - shot is stopped, but the character must duck back.
Soft Cover
Some cover, like hedges or small trees, is too insubstantial to stop a
bullet, but hiding behind it still reduces your opponent's chance of
hitting by subtracting one of his dice (see firing modifiers).
Unless a character ducks back, his head is always visible when he
is behind cover.
Other characters provide cover too: if the firing line is obstructed
by another character, determine which parts of the targets body are
protected by him. Hits on these parts are rolled for again on the
unfortunate interloper, hitting a random location as normal.
ROLLING TO HIT
Once you have worked out how many dice a particular character is
entitled to when firing, you should roll them all to see how many of
them actually cause hits. Every dice that scores a 6 causes one hit
on the target model.
Lucky shots
A character who finds he must throw no dice (or less) after
applying modifiers may still fire. Such a character throws three
dice needing at least two 6's to hit. He is out of ammo as usual if he
throws more 1's than 6's.
Example: Ace, a Killer character, is firing his pistol at an enemy
10" away. This falls within the 'Medium' range category, and hence
gives him 2 dice. However, Ace's target is in cover (-1 dice) and he
himself has a flesh wound to his firing arm (-1 dice). He is a killer
though (+1 dice) to this gives Ace a total of 2 -1-1+1 = 1 firing
dice. He rolls it and gets a 4 - a miss.
Flesh Wound
Characters who are wounded must use an action recovering before
making any other action. This does not apply to grazed characters.
Knocked down
Lay the model down on its back. Characters must get up after being
knocked down, before making any action other than recovering.
Flesh Wounds & Serious Wounds to the Legs
Movement is reduced by one dice for each serious wound and each
flesh wound on a leg.
Serious Leg or Belly Wounds
No movement or turning is permitted with a serious leg or belly
wound.
Stunned
Lay the character face down on the ground to remind you that they
are stunned. Place a suitable marker next to the character. The next
time the character's card is drawn, remove this marker, but leave
the model face down and place the character's card off to one side in
a 'stunned' pile with all the other stunned characters' cards. Each
time the joker is drawn this pile is shuffled back into the fate deck.
When a knocked down character's card is drawn (and they have no
marker left on them), they may get-up, but may make no action
other than this.
HEAD
GRAZE
FLESH
WOUND
FLESH
WOUND
&
OUT OF
ACTION
DEAD
SERIOUS
WOUND&
STUNNED
throw 6 to
recover
OUT OF
ACTION
SERIOUS
WOUND
Cannot
shoot with
that arm.
Cannot
reload or
shoot rifle
SERIOUS
WOUND&
KNOCKED
DOWN
Cannot
shoot with
that arm.
Cannot
reload or
shoot rifle
SERIOUS
WOUND &
KNOCKED
DOWN
Cannot
shoot with
that arm.
Cannot
reload or
shoot rifle
STUNNED
throw 6 to
recover
CHEST
GRAZE
FLESH WOUND
FLESH
WOUND
&
KNOCKED
DOWN
RIGHT
ARM
GRAZE
FLESH WOUND
LEFT
ARM
GRAZE
BELLY
GRAZE
FLESH
WOUND no
movement
or turning
LEGS
GRAZE
FLESH
WOUND
Movement
reduced by
one dice
FLESH WOUND
FLESH
WOUND &
KNOCKED
DOWN
No
movement
or turning
SERIOUS
WOUND &
STUNNED
Throw 6 to
recover. No
movement
or turning
FLESH
WOUND &
KNOCKED
DOWN
Movement reduced by one dice
SERIOUS
WOUND
Cannot
shoot with
that arm.
Cannot
reload or
shoot rifle
OUT OF
ACTION
SERIOUS
WOUND&
KNOCKED
DOWN
Throw 6 to
recover. No
movement
or turning
DEAD
SERIOUS
WOUND&
STUNNED
Throw 6 to
recover. No
movement or
turning
RELOAD
If this action is chosen, the character reloads one of his guns. It will
normally only be necessary to do this after suffering an out of
ammo result. After choosing this action, the character is assumed
to have completely reloaded his weapon and may fire again as
normal from his next turn onwards. Reloading, however, can be
the character's only action for the turn.
RECOVER
As noted on the injury charts, characters who are wounded or duck
back must use a turn recovering before they can make any other
action. Any number of wounds and duck backs can be recovered
from simultaneously in one turn, so a single action will allow the
character to function as normal again from his next turn (assuming
he is not shot again or already has other injuries).
GET UP
MOVE & FIRE
When a character chooses to move and fire, he is permitted to first
make a move, exactly as described in the rules for moving, except
that only two movement dice are thrown. After moving, the
character must fire at an enemy model if at all possible, subject to
the normal rules for firing. However, the character is still only
permitted to turn once during his turn, at the start of his turn as
normal. He may not turn before moving then turn again to face his
target before firing.
REPOSITION
The character may do nothing except move up to 2" in any
direction. After he has moved the character may be placed facing
in any direction you wish. When repositioning himself, the
character may move over any obstacles that are no taller than
himself without penalty. Other obstacles are simply too big to scale
easily, so cannot be moved through! If you wish to get around such
large objects you will have to make a move action to do so.
This action may sound fairly paltry and pointless, but for Plugs,
who are otherwise uncontrollable and likely to race off in
unpredictable directions this is the easiest and safest way of
moving them around the table.
Characters who are knocked down must get up before they can
make any other action other than recovering. A character must
have recovered from any wound that required him to do so before
he can get up. When a character gets up, return the model to his
feet. The character may make actions again as normal from next
turn, subject to any other injuries or effects he may be suffering
from.
DUCK BACK
A character may voluntarily duck back, so that he can no longer see
or be seen. The character will gain all the benefits described for
duck backs in the section on firing, but remember that he must still
recover before he can make any other actions. See duck backs as
described in the section on firing for full details.
DUCK BACKS
Duck backs are an important feature of these rules; you can use the
duck back rule to pin and neutralise your opponents and provide
covering fire for your friends.
Only characters behind cover are subject to duck backs.
When a character behind cover is grazed or wounded, but his cover
stops a shot for him, he is forced to immediately duck back, getting
his entire body behind cover. You should move the character by the
shortest distance possible in order to get him completely behind
cover.
AIM
A character may choose to aim at an opponent as his action for the
turn. The character states who his target is, and turns to face him.
If the aiming character is able to take another turn before the target
makes a move or ducks back out of sight, he makes an aimed shot
and gains the modifiers listed in the rules for firing.
If the target does move or duck back, or the aiming character is
forced to duck back before he has chance to take his shot, he gains
no advantage from his aim. He may not use the aim to fire at a
character other than his original target.
FIX GUN
Bottling Out
Obviously, this means there is no point rolling one dice (you can't
get a double!) and similarly this rule is really intended for games
with fairly large gangs, say between 4 and 8 models a side. For
smaller games, just use the nerve rules presented next time, or stick
with the simpler method above.
JOKER
You now know enough to stage your first streetfight! Take out
eight miniature gangmembers: one each Plug, Ganger, Killer
and Street Legend for each side, give them all appropriate
names, make up a Fate Deck, then set the two sides up about
twelve inches apart.
Turn your first card, and let the battle commence!
Next time: Optional Rules, Shooting Chits, Automatic
Weapons, Hand-to-Hand Fighting, Special Rules & Civilians
JOKER
ACTION CARD
ACTION CARD
ACTION CARD
ACTION CARD
PLUG
GANGER
KILLER
LEGEND