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Stargate SG-1: The Rules
This text is ©1999 John Tynes
The Stargate intellectual property is owned by MGM/UA.

Chapter Four: The Rules

Like most military-training simulations, Stargate has rules. As an SGC Supervisor, you need to learn and understand these rules. They have been developed to make the simulation as simple as possible, while emphasizing the consequences of decision-making and rewarding initiative.

Rolling Actions

Characters roll their skill dice (or their attribute dice if they haven't improved the skill) whenever they do something important and there's a risk of failure.

A player makes a skill roll when his character is trying to shoot an opponent, fix a truck, or get information from a prisoner. A player doesn't have to roll to see if his character can walk down the street.

The Wild Die

Whenever a character makes a skill or attribute die roll, the player must choose one die of a different color to be the character's wild die (this is not an extra die; it's just a different color).

  • Whenever the wild die comes up as a 2, 3, 4, or 5, just add it into the die total normally.
  • When the wild die comes up as a 6, add it to the die total. Roll it again and add the new number to the total, too.
  • If the new roll is a 6, add it to the total and roll the die again. You can keep on rolling as long as you get sixes. (As you can see, it's possible to get really high totals if your wild die rolls several sixes in a row.)
For the first roll only, if the wild die comes up as a 1, the player must tell the supervisor. The supervisor can choose one of three options:
  • Add up the dice normally.
  • Total up the skill dice normally to see if the skill roll succeeded, but a "complication" occurs. (These are described in the next section.)
  • Subtract the one and also subtract the highest other die. The wild die counts for all die rolls in the game, including skill and attribute checks, weapon damage, and rolling the Flex attribute for initiative.

Why the Wild Die?

The wild die represents the quirkiness of fate and luck. Sometimes characters are really, really lucky--and other times, nothing seems to go right. Although the simulation already factors in a substantial degree of randomness, we need the wild die to trigger the extremes of good and bad fortune that occur in real life.

Complications

Complications are unexpected, unwanted consequences of an action--specifically, of a wild die roll of 1 on a check of any sort. When such a wild die result occurs, the supervisor may choose to introduce a complication to the game.

The supervisor should use complications to help tell a more interesting story with more of the randomness of life. Complications shouldn't happen too often--the other possible penalties of a bad wild die should be used as well--so try to keep them down to one or two per simulation session. They should offer a special challenge to the players. When you use a complication, the players should be asking themselves, "What do we do now?"

Complications should be fair and balanced: they may put characters in danger, but they shouldn't be immediately fatal unless that's the only option that makes sense. They should challenge the characters, forcing them to be clever and courageous in dealing with the situation.

Complications should be directly related to what the character was doing when the bad wild die occurred. If a character gets a complication while repairing a headset walkie-talkie, he might accidentally destroy the headset, or disable the headset's ability to change channels or encrypt communications from eavesdroppers.

Difficulty Numbers and Opposed Rolls

When the characters make a roll, what are they rolling against? They're rolling against a difficulty number or they're rolling directly against another character to see who does better. (That's called an "opposed roll.")

Never forget our basic rule of thumb: Pick a difficulty number. If the player's skill roll is equal to or higher than the difficulty number, the character succeeds.

Difficulty Numbers

You should pick a difficulty number when the characters are doing a task and not rolling directly against someone else. For example, you'd pick a difficulty number when a character tries to repair a vehicle, run across a rickety rope bridge, or pick a lock.

First, you decide how hard the task is: Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, or Heroic.

Then, pick a number from the difficulty's range as given in the table below. If the player's roll is equal to or higher than the difficulty number, the character succeeds; if the roll is lower, the character fails.

Difficulty Description Difficulty Numbers
Very Easy 1-5
Easy 6-10
Moderate 11-15
Difficult 16-20
Very Difficult 21-25
Heroic 26+

Heroic difficulty numbers may be any number above 25. Difficulty numbers can hypothetically go as high as 100, or higher.

Here are some guidelines for choosing a difficulty:

Very Easy

Almost anyone should be able to do this most of the time. Example: Shooting someone with a handgun at point-blank range. Driving a car at a safe speed on a good road. Knowing that those lights in the night sky are stars and planets.

Easy

Most characters should be able to do this most of the time. While these tasks aren't too difficult, there's still a chance of failure. Example: Shooting someone with a handgun at short range. Driving a car at a safe speed on a rough road. Knowing which light in the sky is the North Star.

Moderate

This kind of task requires skill, effort, and concentration. There's a good chance that the average character could fail at this type of task, but most highly skilled characters can succeed at something this hard. Example: Shooting someone with a handgun at medium range. Keeping control of a car when jumping a ditch. Picking out the twelve constellations in the night sky.

Difficult

Difficult tasks are hard and average characters can only succeed at them once in a while. These tasks take a lot of skill. Example: Shooting someone with a handgun at long range. Driving a car at high speed around moving obstacles. Picking out other solar systems and galaxies in the night sky.

Very Difficult

Even professionals have to work to pull off Very Difficult tasks. Only the top achievers in a given field are likely to succeed regularly at a task this tough. Example: Shooting someone with a handgun at long range when that person is mostly behind cover. Driving a car through a shopping mall in high pursuit without hurting anyone. Recognizing anomalous bodies in the night sky (such as undiscovered comets) and plotting their trajectory in three dimensions.

Heroic

This is almost impossible and calls for extraordinary effort and luck. Example: Shooting a moving human target three times in five seconds at three hundred yards with a bolt-action rifle. Jumping a city bus across a thirty-yard gap in an unfinished overpass. Cracking the code of the Stargate's navigation dial.

Supervisors can choose any difficulty number in the difficulty's range. Normally, the higher the difficulty number, the tougher the task.

When choosing difficulties and difficulty numbers for skill attempts, check the skill's description in Chapter Three--many descriptions include difficulty guidelines.

Opposed Rolls

When one character acts against another, both roll their skills (or attributes); the higher roll succeeds. This is called an "opposed roll." (If the two rolls tie, the person who initiated the action succeeds.)

Here are some examples:

  • Two characters playing poker make opposed Talent (Gambling) rolls; the higher roll wins.
  • A merchant and a player character are haggling over the cost of a rug. While the supervisor could just pick a difficulty number, an opposed roll could be used instead. Both characters make opposed Talent (Bargain) rolls. If the merchant rolls higher, the rug will cost more than the character wanted to pay.
  • A character shooting a handgun rolls the Firearms (Handgun) skill; a target may use the Dodge skill to avoid the shot. If the Firearms roll is equal to or higher than the Dodge roll, the attack hits; if the Firearms roll is lower than the Dodge roll, the attack misses.

Opposing Modifiers

If one character has a clear advantage over another in an opposed-roll conflict, the supervisor may want to assign a modifier. Modifiers aren't used when one character simply has a better skill than the other; they're used to reflect unusual situations where skill isn't the only determining factor.

Add the modifier to the die roll of the character with the advantage.

Example: The characters are racing each other through the woods to a village. If one character is a native and knows the area well, and the other is an SG-1 operative who just stepped through the stargate, the native might get a +10 bonus to his Run die roll.

Situation Opposing Modifier
Character has only a slight advantage. +1-5
Character has a good advantage. +6-10
Character has a decisive advantage. +11-15
Character has an overpowering advantage. +16 and up

Difficulty Number Secrecy

Should the players know the difficulty number or opposed skill roll they're rolling against? Generally, no--on real-life SG-1 ops, no one will be around to tell your trainees just how hard something is.

However, if a player specifically asks how hard a possible action is and has the appropriate skill at 3D or higher, the supervisor may elect to state the difficulty description--Very Easy, Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, Heroic--but not reveal the specific number. This reflects the character's ability, through experience and training, to roughly gauge how hard the action might be.

If the player has the appropriate skill at 5D or higher, the supervisor may elect to reveal the specific number that the player is rolling against. If it's an opposed roll, the supervisor may elect to tell the player what his gut reaction is as to the level of skill of the person he's dealing with--which may be moderately or very accurate, depending on what opportunities the player has had to observe the character in question.

Scenes and Rounds

This simulation uses two kinds of time-keeping during play: scenes and rounds.

Scenes

Scenes are used when second-by-second decisions aren't very important. The supervisor simply describes the situation and the setting, the players say what they want their characters to do (and make skill rolls if necessary), and the supervisor tells them what happens and how long it takes.

A scene can cover a couple of minutes, a few hours, or even days or weeks of time.

A scene could show a conversation between two characters. Another scene might cover several hours in which a group of characters are negotiating a peace treaty or building fortifications to repel attackers.

When describing scenes, the supervisor can just state how much time has passed, let the players explain what their characters are doing, and get on with the next scene.

Example: Joe is the supervisor, and Don is playing a character named Jedberg.

Joe: "You've crept up to the clearing where the stargate is. It's dusk."

Don: "I take up a surveillance position in a tree where I'm camoflauged with leaves and branches, then keep a silent watch on the clearing."

Joe: "You get set up. Make a Sneak roll to camoflauge yourself."

(Don rolls.)

Joe: "Okay, two hours later the stargate activates . . ."

Rounds

Stargate uses rounds to keep track of time when every second counts. Each round represents about five seconds of game time.

Rounds are used most often for combat, but they can be used any time there's an critical conflict or battle. The supervisor may use rounds for the climactic elements of an intense chase, or when the characters are racing a deadline, like trying to defuse a bomb before it explodes.

Rounds are also used when it's important to know who acts first, such as when a character wants to grab a homing beacon off the floor before an opponent kicks it away.

Each round has two phases:

1. Initiative

2. Roll Actions

When both phases are finished, the next round begins. Rounds continue as long as the supervisor thinks they're necessary--often until the end of a battle. Once the round-by-round action is finished, go back to using scenes.

1. Initiative

Decide how many sides there are in the conflict. Normally there's just two: the player characters and whoever they're opposing. However, sometimes there will be three or more sides, such as a scuffle between a Go'ald bodyguard, a crazed native, and an SG-1 operative over a Go'ald staff.

The character with the highest Flex attribute on each side makes a Flex check. (In the event of a winning tie, roll again between the tying opponents.) The character who gets the highest roll may then decide if his side acts first or last in that round. (Sometimes it makes sense to act last--by letting the other side go first, you can react to their actions.)

Rolling for initiative doesn't count as an action--it's an out-of-character determination among the players and the supervisor. However, if the character making the initiative check is wounded, any wound penalties applied to die rolls are applied to this check.

2. Roll Actions

The first side acts now. The character on that side with the highest Flex attribute (not a Flex roll--just the attribute number) goes first. The player tells the supervisor how many actions he's making this round and the supervisor assigns the multiple actions penalty, if there is one. ("Multiple actions" are described later in this chapter.) Then the player rolls his character's first action.

The rest of the characters on that side then do the same, in order of their Flex attribute numbers from highest to lowest. In other words, each player tells the supervisor about the actions his character will take, the supervisor assigns penalties if needed, and then the player rolls his first action.

(If the characters played by the supervisor go first, you just do the above steps yourself.)

This process is repeated for each character on the second side. If there are three or more sides, each subsequent side takes its turn, in order of initiative.

After every character on every side has taken his first action, the characters on the first side take their second action, in the same order as before. Characters without second actions are skipped. This process continues until every character on every side has taken all declared actions.

In game time, each action occurs as it is rolled--a split-second after any actions that have already been rolled and a split-second before the next action to be rolled.

Characters can't skip actions and wait to go later in the round.

After everyone has completed all actions, the next round begins or the supervisor can switch back to scenes if the conflict is resolved.

Multiple Actions

Characters can try to do several things in a round--but the more they try to do, the greater the penalties they'll suffer on all their actions during the round.

Number of Actions in the Same Round Penalty
One None
Two -1D
Three -2D
Four -3D
Five -4D

. . . and so forth.

Reaction Skills

When a character is attacked, he can react by trying to get out of the way. This is governed by the Dodge skill and the Acrobatics plus skill (and possibly others of your own devising). These are reaction skills, which means a character doesn't have to declare he's using one until the moment he's attacked, right before the attacker makes his die roll.

When a player uses a reaction skill during combat, he has two choices: a regular reaction and a full reaction. He can either stop taking any remaining declared actions (a full reaction)--which means he'll be doing nothing but avoiding attacks for the rest of this round--or he can continue with his planned sequence of actions and just use the reaction skill this one time during the round (a regular reaction).

Either way, both the reaction check and any remaining actions are subject to the multiple-action penalty, which goes up by 1D because of the reaction skill. However, there are some differences in the penalties applied to the two types of reactions.

Full Reaction. If the player chooses to react for the rest of the round and do nothing else, the multiple-action penalty applied to the reaction check is assessed only for any actions taken so far this round plus the 1D penalty for the reaction itself--in other words, you drop any penalties for the other actions you were going to take this round which have now been replaced by the full reaction. For example, let's say a player declared that he was taking five actions this round, for a multiple-action penalty of -4D. If he chooses to make a full reaction after his first action but before the rest, those other actions (and their penalties) are erased. He now has his first action (already completed) plus the reaction itself, so the multiple-action penalty is only -1D. If he did the reaction a little later, the penalty might be -2D or -3D, but it would only be the full -5D if he did the reaction after his final declared action of the round. If the reaction occured even before he got to take his first action, he does nothing but dodge this round--but at a 0D penalty, since he didn't have a chance to do anything else.

Regular Reaction. If the player chooses to react only to the present attack and then continue with his planned actions, both the reaction and the rest of his actions suffer from the multiple-action penalty, at an increased penalty of 1D.

Round Tips

While the rules for rounds are fairly specific, they're intended to make the simulation more manageable. What follows are some tips for the supervisor and some options you may want to use in your simulation sessions.

You may want to use some of them all of the time. Others you may want to use only once in a while. Still others you may never use--it's up to you as the supervisor to make such decisions.

Speeding Play

The supervisor is encouraged to seat the players in order of their characters' Flex attribute, so you can simply go around the table in order each round.

Don't let a player hesitate when it's time to decide what to do. If the player is dragging his heels, count out loud to three. If you get to three and the player hasn't decided what to do, the character hesitated and can't act that round. Go straight to the next character.

Roleplay it Out

It's often a good idea to use a combination of roleplaying and die rolls to figure out what happens.

If a player comes up with a brilliant plan and explains it in character, that should count for a lot more than a bad die roll.

On the other hand, if a character has a high level of skill but the player isn't very good at getting into character, the die rolls should play a larger part in determining whether the character succeeds (as long as the player is making an honest effort).

You may want to reward players' ingenuity and their intelligent roleplaying with bonus modifiers. Conversely, if the players insist on doing something that isn't too bright, the non-player characters should get a hefty bonus modifier to reflect the poor decisions of the players.

Interpreting Rolls

You can use the die rolls as an indication of how well (or poorly) a character did. If a roll beats the difficulty number by only a few points--less than five, say--the character may have only barely succeeded. If a roll beats the difficulty number by 15 or more points, the character may have made a spectacular success.

Likewise, if a roll misses the difficulty number by up to 5 points, the character may have just barely failed. When a roll fails by 15 or more points, the character has failed spectacularly. (This kind of failure can be similar to a complication.)

Free Actions

Free actions are anything that a character can automatically perform except under the most extreme conditions. They're very simple actions that don't require a skill roll or much effort; if something requires significant concentration it's not a free action.

Examples of free actions include:

  • Rolling Flex to determine initiative.
  • Shouting a sentence or two to someone across a corridor.
  • Taking a quick look around a room. (At the supervisor's discretion, characters may be allowed to make Savvy rolls to see if they spot something that's unusual or hidden.)
  • Grabbing something off a counter. (Of course, this action may be difficult in the midst of battle--in that case it wouldn't count as a free action.)
  • Making a Body roll to resist damage in combat. (A character always rolls his or her full Body to resist damage (even if wounded), although diseases and other circumstances may reduce a character's Body dice.

Non-Roll Actions

Characters often attempt non-roll actions. These are actions that don't require a skill roll but are complicated enough to count as an action (reducing the character's die codes for all other skill and attribute rolls that round ).

Examples of non-roll actions:

  • Reloading a weapon.
  • Getting very basic information out of a computer.
  • Anything that requires a lot of concentration but doesn't require a skill roll.

Preparing

A character willing to spend twice as long to complete a task receives a +1D bonus for the die roll. The character can do nothing else in this time.

The supervisor has to use good judgment when deciding whether "preparing" can be used for a given task; if in doubt, ask the player to justify the preparing bonus.

Preparing is often used for firearms attacks by aiming at a target for an extra round. This rule can be applied to many long-term technical or mechanical tasks, such as making a repair or building something. The extra time is spent by making slow progress, examining everything, testing it out, and so forth.

Of course, preparing doesn't make sense for many tasks. Characters generally should not be allowed to prepare for dodges or transport skills. Characters probably won't be able to prepare for skills like Special Ops or Academics, but there may be circumstances when the bonus is justified.

Rushing

At the supervisor's discretion, characters can try to rush an action that normally takes two rounds or longer. (Actions that take one round cannot be rushed.)

A rushing character is trying to do the task in half the time, and the player rolls only half the character's skill.

You have final discretion as to whether a task can be rushed. With some tasks--like fixing a broken homing beacon in a hurry--it's reasonable to say a character could rush, especially if the character is trying to beat a deadline. In other cases, rushing doesn't make much sense. If in doubt, ask the player to justify how the task could be rushed.

Alternate Between Scenes and Rounds

You'll want to use a good mix of scenes and rounds to keep the simulation tense and challenging. For example, what if the characters have 10 minutes to race to a stargate before the dial-home device is destroyed? While this certainly sounds like a challenging situation, it would take 120 rounds if you played out every round. That's a good way to kill the tension and destroy the challenge.

Instead, use a combination of scenes and rounds to move the action along. The scenes describe the characters racing down hallways and up stairwells. Tell the players how long these actions take--and you might want to have the players roll a relevant skill to see if something unusual happens. (A character who rolls poorly may have tripped over something, slowing the entire group down. A character who rolls really poorly or gets a complication may have twisted his ankle in a fall or gotten separated from the group and is now lost.)

After establishing the tension and the basic action, you can use special events--run in a round-by-round format--to highlight the most important moments. Perhaps a handful of Go'ald guards ambush the characters, or a Go'ald fighter strafes the ground as the characters bolt for cover. Play these out in rounds, and then switch back to scenes when the special event is resolved.

Secret Checks

There are times when the supervisor needs to know if a character notices something, but doesn't want to alert the players that something's up. (This is especially handy if the characters are walking into an ambush.)

Before the game, make several rolls for each die code (1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, etc.), and keep a record of each player character's attributes, skills, and equipment. (Photocopying their character sheets is ideal for this.)

When you need to know if a character noticed something, find the character's Savvy die code and choose one of the die rolls you made (add the + 1 or +2 as necessary).

If the die roll is higher than the difficulty, the character noticed something; if not, the character remains unaware. Cross off each die roll as it's used. This is a good way to give the characters a fair chance while not arousing the players' suspicions.

Combined Actions

Two or more characters can sometimes work together to more effectively accomplish a single task. This process is called combined actions. Combined actions can be used for combat (several guards shooting at a single character) or a situation where several characters are working closely together (a group overhauling a downed Go'ald fighter or building a rope bridge across a canyon).

The characters must agree to combine actions. The only other thing a combining character can do is roll reaction skills.

The character in the group with the highest Command skill (or Savvy attribute) is the leader. He can only command as many characters as he has relevant skill or attribute dice.

You have to use your best judgment in selecting a Command difficulty. Here are some factors to consider:

  • How hard or complex is the task? (The easier the task, the lower the Command difficulty.)
  • How much precision is needed? (A task where the end result must be very precise--components must line up to the millimeter, for example--is a lot harder to combine on than something where "that's good enough" is, indeed, good enough.)
  • How many characters are involved? (Generally, the more people who have to work together, the harder it is to get them to work together effectively.)
  • How much skill or experience do the characters have? (Characters with a very high level of skill in the task or who have done this type of task in the past will be better able to understand what's expected of them and do their part. Characters who've never done anything like this before are going to have a tough time figuring out what to do, especially if the task is of any complexity.)
  • How well do the characters know each other? (People who barely know each other sometimes have trouble working together effectively. And people who can't stand each other probably aren't going to be very easy to combine either.)
  • How much time is being taken to complete the task? (If no extra time is being taken, the difficulty should be higher. If half again as much time is being taken, the difficulty should be lower.)

Sample Difficulties for Combined-Action Command Checks

Difficulty Explanation
Very Easy The task isn't too complicated or is not at all precise. The characters are highly skilled or work together regularly.
Easy The task is fairly easy or requires a minimal amount of precision. The characters are skilled or work together well.
Moderate The task requires a good deal of effort or requires precision. The characters have a modest level of skill or have worked together before (although not all that often) .
Difficult The task is difficult or requires a high degree of precision. The characters don't have very much skill or have seldom worked together before (if at all).
Very Difficult The task is very difficult or requires extreme precision. The characters are completely unskilled in the task or have never worked together (or despise each other).
Heroic The task is incredibly difficult or requires an almost impossible level of precision. The characters are completely unskilled, despise each other, or don't even speak the same language.

You can increase or decrease the difficulty based on other factors, such as weather conditions (people are going to have a harder time working in torrential rains than in pleasant weather) or anything else that affects the commander's ability to get the characters to work together as a unit. If a task is very easy and the characters are highly skilled or experienced, you may even allow a leader to combine actions for more characters than he has Command skill dice.

If the Command roll is successful, the combined action bonus is +1D for every three characters combining. If the number of characters isn't divisible by three, add a +1 for one extra character and a +2 for two extra characters.

If the Command roll is unsuccessful, there may still be a smaller combined action bonus. Subtract -1D from the bonus for every point the roll failed by. (A bonus cannot go below 0D.)

The combined action bonus is added to the character with the highest skill who's working on the task.

If a group of characters are combining actions on a combat task, the bonus can be split between the attack roll and the damage roll. Likewise, if the task requires two or more skill rolls, the bonus can be split up among any of these rolls.


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