Simon's PBEM Rules (Modern)
© Simon Newman, 1999.
The following simple personality template is suggested for modern-era PCs:
Name: Role: (cop, journalist, hitman, etc) Age: Height: Weight: Sex: Appearance: Background: Personality: Notable Skills: A picture or celebrity likeness of the PC is also useful as an aid to visualisation.
Characters have the following five stats: Strength, Speed, Skill, Agility, and Stamina. The average stat, based on an 18-year-old human male, is 3. Attribute checks are made when a character attempts a task they might fail - roll a d6, if the number rolled is equal to or less than the stat, they have succeeded. The roll may be modified (eg +1 or -1) for particularly easy or hard tasks.
Characters do not usually have Mental attributes because the GM should adjudicate use of mental and other abilities depending on the character and the situation. (But if the GM prefers, characters may be assigned stats in Intelligence, Willpower, Knowledge & Charisma, etc).
Characters
While the player should detail the character's appearance, personality, etc, the GM should assign attributes based on that description.
Typical Human Stats.
Character Strength Speed Skill Agility Stamina
Male, 40-yr-old 4 2 3 2 3
Female, 40-yr-old 2 2 2 2 3
Male, 18-yr-old 3 3 3 3 3
Female, 18-yr-old 2 3 1 3 2
Male, 12-yr-old 1-2 3 2 4 2
Female, 12-yr-old 1-2 3 1 4 2
Random character generation.
If desired a normal character may be generated randomly by rolling 1d3+1 (a d6 divided by 2, rounded up) per attribute.
An heroic character may be generated by rolling 1d6 per attribute. The character's age, appearance, etc must then be assigned to conform with the stats rolled.
Fixed-Point Character Generation.
A player may be given a set number of points to allocate to character stats, at least 1 point per stat.
A normal character gets 15 points, an heroic (modern) character typically gets 17 points.
COMBAT.
The combat round is about 6 seconds, in which time a character may attack, run away, etc.
In 1 round character may move 3m per point of Speed, double if running, treble if sprinting (but may not then attack).
The Combat Sequence:
Each character rolls the following
1. Initiative: d6+ Speed, highest rolling character goes first.
2. Attack: Need to roll (4 - Skill + target's Agility) or more to hit.
3. Damage: Strength + weapon damage.
4. Wounds are applied to target's Stamina.
Stamina/Wounds System
Average Stamina: 3.
NB: All effects are cumulative.
Damage Roll Result
< Stamina. Scratch - Stamina check or lose next action.
= St, < 2 St. Minor Wound. 2 Minor = 1 Major.
= 2 St, < 3 St. Major Wound. All stats halved (round up). 2 Major = 1 Critical.
= 3 St, < 4 St. Critical Wound. Unconscious, requires hosp*. 2 Crit = Dead.
= 4 St + Dead.
*Without medical attention, must pass 1d6 Stam check, or die in 0-9 hours + 1-60 minutes.
Example: Blake has Stamina 3.
He is punched by Jill (Str 2), d2 roll 1, < 3, so Scratch. Loses his action.
He is then punched by Jim (Str 3), d3 roll 3, = 3, so Minor Wound.
He is then shot by a 9mm bullet, dam 2d6. Roll 4. Minor Wound. Has taken 2 minor, so 1 Major Wound. All stats halved, Stamina reduced to 2.
He is then shot by a .357 bullet, dam 3d6. Roll 8, = 4 x current Stamina, so he is dead.
Damage Roll Result
Less than Stamina. Scratch*
Stamina Minor Wound.
2 x Stamina. Major Wound. Stats halved (round up).
3 x Stamina Critical Wound. Unconscious**.
4 x Stamina Dead.
2 Minor wounds = 1 Major, 2 Major = 1 Critical, 2 Critical = Dead.
*Scratch: Stamina check on 1d6 or lose actions for rest of round.
**Without medical attention, must pass 1d6 Stam check, or die in 0-9
hours + 1-60 minutes.
Hit Location
At GM’s option, a hit may always be declared to be against the target's torso. Optionally roll d6 or d6+4 (for melee), or d10 (for missile), on the hit-location table.
1: Head.
2: Right arm.
3: Left arm.
4-6: Torso.
7-8: Right leg.
9-10: Left leg.
Head hits do double damage (roll damage, deduct armour points, then double the remaining damage). A major wound to a limb is reduced to a minor wound, but the limb is used at -1 on all operations. A critical wound to a limb is reduced to a major wound, but the limb is unusable until healed. A dead result to a limb is reduced to a critical wound, but the limb is destroyed/permanently disabled.
Called shots: An aimed attack to head or limb will be at least -2 to hit or more (GM’s ruling).
HEALING OF WOUNDS.
Recovery Without medical attention With medical attention
Minor to none 2d6 days 1d6 days.
Major to Minor 4d6 days 2d6 days.
Critical to Major 8d6 days 4d6 days.
Weapons.
Weapon Damage Notes
Fist dSTR 1 att, or 2 attacks at -1.
Kick +1 1 attack at -1.
Club +1d6 or more. Improvised att at -1.
Knife +1d6 Lethal damage.
.22 pistol 1d6 Lethal damage. 2 atts at -1, 3 at -2, etc. +1 aimed.
(9mm pistol 2d6, .357 pistol 3d6, .44M pistol 4d6)
12G Shotgun 6d6, Buckshot, Lethal at close range, about 20 metres.
Armour: some characters may have armour. This reduces damage by 1 point per point of armour.
Armour. Armour Points
Leather 1
Light kevlar (I) vest, no plate 1 (4 vs bullets)
Flak Jacket (Lead) 3 (3 vs bullets) -1 AGL
Flak Jacket (Lead/Kevlar) 4 (6) -1 AGL
Kevlar w Plate (I) 3 (5)
Kevlar w Plate (IIa) 3 (6)
Kevlar w Plate (II) 4 (7)
Kevlar w Plate (IIIa) 4 (8)
Kevlar w Plate (III) 5 (10) -1 AGL
Kevlar w Plate (IV) 6 (12) -1 AGL