Combat

Mechanisms of Conflict

"Every border implies the violence of its maintenance.” - Ayesha A. Siddiqi

Those in power, the Blight, and its minions will not easily be unmoored from the status quo. Violence is the lubricant that allows the wheels of revolution to turn. While every Sporebound plays their own role in the war, violence against the Blight is an expected outcome. The Combat Rules in Sporebound emphasize cooperation, threat assessment, and budgeting a limited pool of resources.

At the beginning of conflict, every team of people working together should explain what they hope to accomplish by having the conflict. It could be as simple as “escape with my life.” After that is done, players and storytellers should consider whether the fight is, out of character, actually necessary. Even for the winning side, prosecuting a fight expends a lot of resources. The alternative is Arbitration.

Arbitration is when everyone present agrees on what will happen as a result of a fight, including its consequences. Notably, it is the Players who arbitrate, not their characters. Your character may want to fight to the bitter end, but it is the player that decides whether or how to arbitrate. Expect some amount of Characters may take an amount of damage or need to play some number of cards as part of the arbitration, representing resources expended. Arbitration always requires everyone to play at least one card from their hand.

No player may force another player to Arbitrate. A Storyteller may force an arbitration, but should do so only in extreme circumstances or to address logistic issues, such as the venue closing. Arbitration may be asked for at the beginning of combat, and at the end of each Round.

Combat follows a few easy steps that repeat until combat is concluded.

  1. Set your Card
  2. Reveal your Card
  3. Take your Turn in Initiative Order
  4. Repeat steps 1-3 until only one team remains or arbitration is reached.

Select a card in your hand to play, then hold it out face down. If you do not have, or do not wish to play a card, then you may hold out an empty hand.

Once everyone has Set their card for the turn, they flip their card face up all at once.

Turns are taken in order from the lowest numbered card to the highest. Normally, this means you play in the order of: Ace (1) > 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8 > 9 > 10 > Jack and King > Queen > Empty Hand (not playing a card). While lower numbers are faster and more reliable, larger numbers are more impactful.

If multiple people act at the same time, their actions are simultaneous. The effects of their actions are applied at the same time, pretending all other simultaneous actions didn’t exist. If someone attacks you at the same time you attack them, and their attack incapacitates you, your attack still goes through. If you apply Defense at the same time someone attacks you, their attack hits you, and then you apply Defense. If you do not play a card and present an empty hand, the value of any action you take is 0.

When it is your turn, you may do one of the following things (note that unless a Royal power is involved, Jacks, Kings, and Queens have a value of 8):

Select another person in the combat. You deal damage equal to your card’s value to that person. Describe your attack however you would like, using whatever tools are at your disposal. The magic of the Mycos overrides any mechanism of harm, so a punch deals as much damage as shooting someone. Sporebound does not normally concern itself with distance in combat, although the STs may choose to break a particularly large combat area into “Zones.” If they do, you may only Attack someone in your Zone.

Select yourself or another person in the combat. You grant them an amount of Defense equal to your card’s value. Defense is a pool of temporary HP. Damage is taken from Defense before it is taken from HP. At the end of the Round, everyone’s Defense is set to 0. Defense is a catch all for dodging, blocking, taking cover, or anything else. Tackling someone out of the way, providing a barrier between them and someone else, or shouting warnings are all ways to Defend someone else.

This is a catch all to affect your environment in some way, and is highly context dependent. Use the interactive action if you have a unique idea. Sometimes, the STs will highlight possible Interact actions available to you. If the combat is using Zones, an Interact action is also how you move from one Zone to another. An Interact Action may become a Simple Test. You use the card you played, tested against a random card from the ST’s deck. If you fail, anyone who has not yet taken their turn may discard the card they were going to play to help you, providing the normal +2 bonus per person who does so.

Use an Active or a Royal Germ. To use a Royal Power, you must be playing the appropriate face card. To use an Active Germ, you must either be playing a card of the appropriate suit or you must discard a card on your turn in addition to the card you played. You use the lower of the card you discarded and the card you are playing when determining the Germ’s value.

Declare your intent to leave. At the end of the next Round, unless you are incapacitated or a Germ is used that would prevent you from escaping, you flee the combat. If you take any action other than Defending yourself (not someone else!), then you fail to escape. Once the Escape action has been used, Flinching will not prevent you from leaving. The Escape action does not care about your Card’s value, but your card will determine your initiative normally. If you wish to carry an ally to escape with them, that takes the Interact action to pick them up before you Escape. Alternatively, you may take one Incapacitated Sporebound’s Head with you as you escape, which does not take an additional action.

If you are not already Vulnerable, you may become Vulnerable to Immediately recover all of the cards in your hand, including the one you just played. While Vulnerable, if you are reduced to 0 HP you may perform an Emergency Refresh. If you can’t or won’t, then your character may be permanently killed. The Refresh action does not care about your Card’s value, but your card will determine your initiative normally.

You Remove an Anchor that isn’t exhausted or in crisis. You completely refill your hand, and heal up to your maximum HP. You may automatically perform an Emergency Refresh if you are reduced to 0 HP, allowing you to stay on your feet. Emergency Refreshing in this way does not take an action, and happens immediately. The Emergency Refresh action does not care about your Card’s value, but your card will determine your initiative normally.

Damage not only brings people closer to death, it also tends to hurt and disorient them. If you are attacked while you have 0 Defense and you have not taken an action this round, you Flinch. Discard the card you were playing, and skip your turn. However, you are immune to being Flinched on the next round.

Why don't we just Nuke them?
Simple answer? They did, and it didn't work. When faced with a particularly nasty Consumed, a Colony in Texas chose to respond by hand crafting a nuclear bomb and detonating it in the Undergrowth. The end result was a very pissed off Mycos, very pissed off local fauna, a Blight that had exploded in population rather than viscera, and being hunted by the Government for stealing radioactive material. Meanwhile, the Consumed took the same 6 damage it would have taken if that Sporebound had thrown a punch, and all of the surrounding Blighted entities were unharmed. That Colony did not survive long afterwards. Dropping buildings on the Blighted was likewise tried, failed, and rapidly went out of style.

In the world of Sporebound, supernatural creatures are elevated beyond the simple mechanisms of harm. The punch, or the knife, or the gun, or the Molotov is simply the means by which the user's intent and will is conveyed to the target. It is that intent, magic, and rebellious spirit that does the actual harm. Without the appropriate magic, a person can only muster enough of those things to hurt one supernatural entity at a time.

This does make them also highly resistant to environmental hazards. Why it's resistant and not immune is the subject of some debate, though many Sporebound believe that the planet (or some kind of God) has the required intent. If they are in a place that would deal continuous damage, such as standing in an inferno or at the bottom of the Marianna Trench, they take 1 to 3 damage at the end of each round, so long as they spent their entire round in that area. They also only take 1 Damage per 20ft they fall. Mortals take twice this damage, for context.

Because explosions and military grade munitions increase risk and collateral without increasing actual effectiveness, they are rarely used. Sporebound value flash and aesthetic to send a message, rather than concerning themselves with efficacy.