How to Play

Created By Warp 2

Last Edited @December 6, 2023 8:17 PM

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How to play
The GM describes a situation. You describe what your bot does. The GM will
describe the outcome. The conversation flows until the mechanics interject.

Role-playing
You are in control of - and acting in the role of - your bot. You can talk in first, second
or third person, or switch between them. You don’t have to do a voice, but it certainly
can’t hurt. Your GM may reward you with Destiny Points (DP) when you act in
character.

Best practices
If you’re stuck thinking of what to do when you’re playing Cybertron Chronicles, refer
back to these guidelines.

Ask lots of questions. Make notes. Draw maps.

Work together. Devise schemes. Recruit allies.

Dice are dangerous. Clever plans don’t need to roll.

Play to win. Delight in losing.

Fight dirty. Run. Die. Create a new bot.

Saves
When you describe your bot doing something risky where the outcome is uncertain
and failure has consequences, the GM will ask you to make a save using either STR,
AGL, or WIL. The GM will assign a value to the toughness of the action called the
Difficulty Class (DC).

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 To make a save, roll a d20. Add your relevant ability score to the result. If the result is
more than or equal to the DC, your bot succeeds, and suffers minimal
consequences. If the result is below the DC, your bot fails, and suffers the
consequences described by the GM.

Opposed Saves
If your bot and another character are competing, you both make saves. The highest
successful roll wins.

Advantage & Disadvantage

If you roll a save and are particularly well prepared or equipped, the GM may allow
you to roll with Advantage. Roll an additional d20 and take the highest result.
If you roll a save and are in a bad position or poorly equipped, the GM may ask you
to roll with Disadvantage. Roll an additional d20 and take the lowest result.
In the unlikely event that you have both Advantage and Disadvantage, ignore both
and roll as usual.

Combat
Combat is dangerous business for bots, even the most powerful. But sometimes it
cannot be avoided.
If you attack unsuspecting enemies, your bot and any allies aware of the plan go first.
Otherwise, each combat participant rolls a d20. The turn order begins with the
highest roll to the lowest roll. Each player rolls for their bot and the GM rolls for the
enemies and/or other parties. In following combat rounds, maintain this order.
On your turn in a combat round, your bot can move up to 5 feet and perform an
action. Actions can be anything from negotiating, attacking, fleeing or performing a
risky tactic (like tripping or disarming an opponent).

Attacks
Attacks take place when you target an opponent(s) with a weapon or other offensive
item. Most enemies have an Armor Class (AC). When attacking, roll a d20 and add
your STR modifier. If your result is greater than or equal to the enemy’s AC, you
successfully hit them. If it is less than the enemy’s AC, you failed. On a successful
hit, roll your weapon’s dice and do that much damage to an opponent.

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 When an attack is impaired, such as when firing into cover, or fighting while grappled,
roll d4 for damage regardless of weapon. When an attack is enhanced by a tactic or
vulnerable opponent, roll d12.

Hit Points and damage

Damage is dealt to a character’s Hit Points (HP). Once HP is depleted, the character
is unstable or dead. If they are a player’s bot, they must then roll death saves on
their ensuing turns. They roll d20 on each turn for their next 3 turns. If the result is 10
or above, they gain a success. If the result is less than 10, they suffer a failure. They
must roll 2 or more successes in order to be stabilized. Rolling a 20 results in an
instant stabilization. If they suffer 2 or more failures, their bot dies, and they must
make a new bot if they wish to continue praying. Enemies do not roll death saves.

Modifier loss
If a character has their STR reduced to 0, they are unable to deal damage. If DEX is
reduced to 0, they are unable to move. If WIL is reduced to 0, they are reduced to
insensibility.

Rest and repair

There are three ways your bot can rest and recover

Med Kit: takes 1 Turn. A med kit and a few moments of rest will restore d6 + 1
HP.

Rest: takes 1 Patrol. A cube of energon and some rest will restore all HP.

Long Rest: takes a week in safety. This fully restores your bot’s ability scores and
removes most long-term Conditions. A week of rest and repair in a settlement
usually costs 20 Shanix.

Time
For convenience and ease of reference, game time is divided up into three time
scales of expanding duration.

Round: the timescale used during combat. Each Round is less than a minute.

Turn: the timescale used during exploration. Each Turn is around 10 minutes,
and is enough time to explore one room or perform an action or two. A fight will
almost always last one Turn.

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 Patrol: the timescale used during travel. Each Patrol is 36 Turns, about 6 hours.
There are 4 Patrols in a day. You can usually travel 10 hexes or miles in a Patrol.

Overland Travel
Your team of bots can travel 10 hexes or miles per Patrol in alt modes. Difficult
terrain requires two Patrols per 10 miles traveled.

Scavenging
On the surface, your bot can spend a Patrol scavenging. If they do, they will find d3
uses of energon rations.

Advancement
Your bot earns Experience Points (XP) by bringing equipment and useful resources
back from places of danger to the safety of a faction settlement.
For every Shanix-worth of resources brought to safety (divided equally amongst the
party), your bot earns 1 XP.
Your bot can earn additional XP by spending their Shanix selflessly on improvements
for the whole faction. For every 10 Shanix spent this way, your bot earns 1 XP.

Level
Bots start at Level 1.

The following table shows the total XP required to advance each Level.
When your bot earns enough XP to advance to the next Level, use the following
procedure.

Roll for attribute increase: roll d20 once for each of your bot’s STR, DEX and
WIL. If a result is higher than the ability score’s current value, increase it by one.

Roll Hit Dice: roll the dice listed for the new Level’s Hit Dice. If the value is higher
than your bot’s current HP, replace your HP with the rolled value. Otherwise,
increase your bot’s HP by 1.

Resilience
Starting at second Level, your bot has Resilience. This allows your bot to ignore
Conditions.

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 For each point of Resilience you have, you may place one Condition into the
Resilience space on your character sheet. Once placed into the Resilience space, a
Condition cannot be removed until cleared.

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