Generic Modular System

Attributes Skill Checks

Each character in GMS has six Attributes: To determine whether the use of a Skill Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Focus, succeeded, roll as many (six-sided) dice as its Charisma, Intelligence. A score of 3 is average, linked Talent and count the number of dice 6 is exceptional (sports pro, scientist,...) and 9 showing less or equal the Skill score. These are the absolute human maximum (Olympic gold called the Successes. They describe how well medal winner, Nobel laureate,...). the task was done. Normally, one Success is enough. The GM can modify the effective Skill or even demand additional Successes for tasks that are harder or easier than a routine job for Talents describe a character's natural aptitude an experienced person. for different tasks. They determine the number of dice available for the check. A Talent is the average of three Attributes, but can contain the Free Checks same Attribute multiple times. I recommended Some tasks just can't be linked to a specific Skill. In this case, each roll of three or less is using the following Talents; you may also considered a Success (unless the GM feels the define new ones if needed: need to change this threshold). Checks of Athletics (E,S,D) Diplomacy (C,C,I) Attributes are always handled as Free Checks. Driving (D,F,I) Fitness (E,E,S) Language (F,C,I) Logic (F,I,I) Melee (S,D,D) Perception (F,F,I) Contests Ranged (D,F,F) Stealth (D,D,F) Whenever multiple characters are using their Technics (D,I,I) Skills directly against each other (e.g. melee or spotting hidden characters), roll a Check for each character involved. The character with the most Successes wins. The difference is called Talents alone won't get the job done. A Net Successes and gives the margin of victory. character needs Skills to use his Talents effectively. They give the highest number a die If necessary, the GM can use the following can show to still be counted as Success. Each criteria as tie breaker (in this sequence): Skill describes a broad set of actions or objects Higher Skill, higher Talent, Specialization, PCs before NPCs. a character can use, e.g.:

Talents

Skills

Athletics: Jump, Throw, Sprint Extended Checks Diplomacy: Negotiate, Bluff, Charm Some uses of Skills do not consist of a single Driving: Car, Boat, Helicopter Fitness: Climb, Swim, Dive action, but rather of multiple small steps. In Language: English, Esperanto, Sign Language this case, the player may roll for as long as he Logic: Computer, Chemistry, Tactics likes, adding the Successes. The Check is completed once the sum of Successes has Melee: Brawling, Sword, Spear Perception: Navigation, Surveillance reached a specified threshold. Each roll takes a certain Base Time. Ranged: Bow, Pistol, Gunnery Stealth: Camouflage, Sneak, Pickpocket Extended Contests are handled in a similar Technics: Electronics, Car Mechanics, First Aid way, but one side's Successes are subtracted Unknown Skills have effectively the score zero. from the others'. The GM can allow to learn all Skills linked to a Talent as a single Skill Group. If this is possible at all, and up to which level, should be decided for each individual Talent.

Optional: Specialization

Characters can specialize on a specific aspect of a Skill, as long as it makes up less than half of its actual uses (GM's call). This effectively raises the Skill by one when used on this subset of actions. It is impossible to have multiple Specializations of the same Skill. Version 1.01 EN

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013

Rounds and Initiative

has at least as much Hardness as the weapon hitting it has Penetration the weapon will only If timing is important, actions can be resolved deal Stun Damage. Each additional point of in Rounds of approx. three seconds. The Hardness halves the Damage. After sequence of the characters' actions in each determining the effects of Hardness, the Round is determined by their Initiative. It is Damage is reduced by the armor's Absorption. the sum of Dexterity, Focus and Intelligence. Finally, the remaining Damage is subtracted A Round is enough time for a simple use of a from the target's HP (for physical damage) or skill or a similar action (e.g. running through a FP (for Stun Damage). room, firing a few shots from a weapon or Whenever a single hit costs more FP than the jumping behind cover). The GM should apply a target's Strength, the target will lose the penalty to a character's Skills if he tries to do difference in HP on top of it. multiple things at once. A character can walk about as many meters per Round as his Athletics score, and run about three times as Optional: Melee Two characters attacking each other in melee fast (without a Skill Check). in the same Round don't roll two separate Skill Checks, but a Contest. The winner can hit the Surprise loser with his Net Successes. If one character hasn't discovered another one at the beginning of a fight, he is not allowed to take direct action against him in the first Round. Indirect action like drawing weapons or GMS is meant to be expanded with Modules. going for cover is allowed, though. These Modules can contain additional rules or lists of items. Ideally, they should be designed to allow every single part of them to be treated as optional and have it ignored or changed Each character has 10+E Fatigue Points (FP) without affecting anything else. The GM should and 10+S Health Points (HP). A character who decide in advance which Modules (or parts of lost more FP than his Endurance is exhausted, them) he will use in his game. a character who lost more HP than his Some rules or items may be contained in Strength is wounded. Exhausted characters multiple modules. Should these versions be have all Skills effectively reduced by one, different (for example, one might provide more wounded characters by two. The penalties are detail at the expense of simplicity), the GM not cumulative. A character who lost at least decides which one is used. ten FP or HP is unable to take any action. If he loses all FP, he is unconscious; if he loses all HP, he is dead.

Modules

Fatigue and Damage

Combat
A character needs to roll a Skill Check with the appropriate combat skill to attack another character. One Success is sufficient to hit. The effect a weapon has on its target is described with two numbers: Penetration and Damage. Penetration describes the ability to punch through armor, while Damage is the number of HP potentially taken by each hit. Each additional Success can be used to increase Penetration or Damage by one. Some weapons deal Stun Damage, which means they take FP instead of HP. These numbers are usually written with a slash in between; 3/5 would represent a Penetration of 3 and a Damage of 5. The Damage done by melee attacks often depends on the strength of the attacker; e.g. unarmed strikes do 0/S-1 Stun. Armor has Hardness and Absorption, which are written down the same way. If a piece of armor Version 1.01 EN

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013