Different Terrain in a Firefight
The Firefight can take place in various types of Terrain, that have an impact on the actions the Shooters can and will perform.
Acrobatic Environment: It is more difficult than normal to move around where the Firefight takes place: you are all climbing in scaffolding or in fire escapes outside of a building, or making your way through a cluttered apartment. If you lack the Skill Running/ Climbing, you get an extra Disadvantage to all Skill-Checks, including Shooting. Note that if you are an Attacker, the Disadvantage transfers to the Defender reacting as an Advantage, as in all other instances.
Awareness: This "tag" on an environment means that you have momentarily lost sight of each other; everybody’s next action will use the Test Score Awareness instead of Shooting or Fitness.
Tactical Modification: If you have the Skill Tactics, you receive an Advantage, but if you lack it, you receive a Disadvantage instead.
Civilian (x-y): There are civilians moving in the area. If a Skill-Check for Shooting fails, and the die that counts shows the numbers written within parenthesis, you have hit one of them, and after the firefight is over, you must determine how serious their injuries were. To get them out of the way is an Objective with the Value 1.
Open: The Firefight takes place in an open field, with no or very little cover. The only way to move around is to dash across the killing fields. In mechanical terms: Maneuvering is only possible by using an Advantage on your Skill-Check.
Dangerous (x-y): The Firefight takes place in an area where it is dangerous to move around; a burning building, a road where traffic speeds by, someplace high up where you risk falling down. If a Skill-Check for Maneuvering fails, and the die that counts shows the number within parenthesis, you have been injured as if being shot by a Firearm — Nicked, gotten a Fleshwound, or been Put Down.
Very Dangerous: As above, but you receive two points of damage.
Deadly: Everybody receives one point of damage at the beginning of every Beat. Typically, moving out of a Deadly environment takes one Beat.
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The random tables
If you wish to escalate the fight, or if it is getting boring, roll a dice on the appropriate random-table. A suggestion is rolling once every other or every third Beat, and adding the numbers up; you will rarely need to roll more than twice. If you feel that the result does not match the general tone or terrain of the fight, or if it is a result that has come up in a recent fight, feel free to select a higher or lower result.
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Indoors
1. The lights get shot out; the place becomes darker; you are all half blind, shadows, before your eyes adapt. Awareness.
2. The Detective with the highest Awareness does an Awareness-Check. If he succeeds, he notices a mirror, a dark window, or some other reflective surface where he can see an enemy maneuvering, and get a free Shot at him; a straight roll; if he fails the initial Awareness-Check, however, the tables are turned. The Shot is not modified by Posture, and the target may not Return Fire.
3. A civilian shows up out of nowhere; with no sense of where to find cover, panicking. Civilian (7-10).
4. An enemy jumps behind a flimsy wall or some other cover, and you hear a scream that sounds like it is coming from a civilian; somebody was already hiding there! The Detective with the highest Awareness may immediately attempt to shoot at the enemy with one Disadvantage, and the enemy will not get to Return Fire. Unfortunately, should you miss, you may very well hit the civilian. Count this result as Civilian (6-10), but only for that particular enemy, for as long as he stays behind that cover; to flush him out counts as an Objective with Value 2.
5. Flying sparks, shards of glass or some other shrapnel. The Detective with the lowest Awareness must spend on point of Posture, or become Nicked. If he is already Nicked, he may not choose to be injured more, but must instead loose Posture.
6. The ceiling or a wall caves in, leaving rubble and smoke everywhere. Awareness. Acrobatic Environment.
7. Light conditions get suddenly and unexpectedly better; perhaps someone shoots holes in a wall or breaks a window, leading to a sudden increase in visibility. If the environment is already well-lit, pick the next result. The Detective with the lowest Awareness needs to do a Stealth Skill-Check or loose one point of Posture, as you are suddenly exposed.
8. An enemy who appeared to be Put Down lifts his gun and Shoots at a random Detective one last time, with one Disadvantage, before coughing and properly being Put Down.
9. Members of a rival law-enforcement agency arrive, presumably called by some civilian. They begin attacking their mutual enemy with little or no regard for the safety of their colleagues; they consider themselves to be the only ones with jurisdiction. Every Beat, starting the next one, one enemy is Put Down by these cops, but the environment has also immediately become Dangerous (5-10) due to flying bullets and the risk of crossfire. If it is not feasible or suitable that other cops show up, select the next result on the table.
10. The Detective with the lowest Awareness does an Awareness-Check. If he fails, he steps on some part of the ground och floor that is weakened, either by general wear and tear or, possibly, by the firefight, and falls through, in a cloud of concrete dust, possibly landing at a lower level, possibly finding himself dangling over the ledge and needing to crawl up. Either way, he looses two points of Posture. If he succeeds, the same misfortune instead befalls the enemy.
11. An enemy throws a heavy object down some stairs, or shoots out a window above him so that shards of glass rains down. The Detective with the lowest Initiative needs to make a Fitness-Check to get out of the way or take one point of damage, that armor will not protect against.
12. A pipe or vent near the Detectives is hit; hot steam sprays into the air, blinding and painful; both Detectives need to do a Skill-Check for Awareness, with one Disadvantage; and if both fail they loose one point of Posture as the enemy takes advantage of their temporary blindness to move around. The hot steam makes the environment Dangerous for the Beat, and then clears.
13. A rabid dog jumps out and bites the leg of the Detective with the lowest Awareness; if you shoot it, it will cost you one point of Posture; if you struggle to kick it off without taking your eyes of the enemy, you receive one point of damage but do not loose Posture.
14. An electrical device gets shot up, crackles and starts smoking; curtains, garbage or other flammable objects catch fire. This Beat the environment counts as Dangerous (8-10), the next Beat it counts as Very Dangerous (7-10), every Beat after that it counts as Deadly.
15. A pipe filled with gas is hit, and starts to hiss. From now on, every Shooting action risks settings he whole place ablaze: if the die that counts shows (9-10), regardless of if it is a success or not, the air itself ignites, and immediately makes the environment Deadly.
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Outdoors, street etc.
1. A sudden sound from somewhere; a helicopter, a siren; something. Awareness.
2. The Detective with the highest Awareness does an Awareness-Check. If he succeeds, he notices a mirror, a dark window, or some other reflective surface where he can see an enemy maneuvering, and get a free Shot at him, with one Disadvantage; if he fails the initial Awareness-Check, however, the tables are turned; the Shot is not modified by Posture, and the target may not Return Fire.
3. The Detective with the lowest Awareness does an Awareness-Check, using the Skill Tactics. If he succeeds he notices someones leg or feet sticking out from under cover, and get a free Shot at him, with one Disadvantage; if he fails the initial Awareness-Check, however, the tables are turned, and he has left a part of himself exposed; the Shot is not modified by Posture, and the target may not Return Fire.
4. An enemy jumps behind a car-door or some other flimsy cover, and you hear a scream that sounds like it is coming from a civilian; somebody was presumably already hiding there. The Detective with the highest Awareness may immediately attempt to shoot at the enemy with one Disadvantage (negated by the Firearms Skill), and the enemy will not get to Return Fire; however, you can not be sure that you will not hit the civilian. Civilian (5-10) — but only this once; the enemy will move away from the cover.
5. Someone throws something from high up — from a balcony, a window or bridge — at the Detective with the lowest Awareness. He must succeed with an Awareness-Check to notice the falling object, and can then choose to also spend on point of Posture to jump out of the way; otherwise he takes one point of damage (the object will be of a suitable size to deliver a Nick, a Fleshwound and so on; it could also be several small objects, like bottles, thrown by numerous people).
6. A car turns a corner and gets caught in the middle of the fire-fight; the passengers crawl out, but leave the engine turned on — perhaps the driver is shot. Civilian (6-10). The car slowly rolls through the theater of combat, and can actually be used for cover; the Detective with the Skill Tactics, or with the highest Awareness, gets to take a free Maneuver action, without Advantage or Disadvantage, and without anyone getting to Shoot at him.
7. Members of a rival law-enforcement agency arrive, presumably called by some civilian. They begin attacking their mutual enemy with little or no regard for the safety of their colleagues; they consider themselves to be the only ones with jurisdiction. Every Beat, starting the next one, one enemy is Put Down by these cops, but the environment has also immediately become Dangerous (5-10) due to flying bullets and the risk of crossfire. If it is not feasible or suitable that other cops show up, select the next result on the table.
8. A rabid dog jumps out and bites the leg of the Detective with the lowest Awareness; if you shoot it, it will cost you one point of Posture; if you struggle to kick it off without taking your eyes of the enemy, you receive one point of damage but do not loose Posture.
9. An enemy who appeared to be Put Down lifts his gun and Shoots at a random Detective one last time; that Detective needs to make an Awareness-Check or get hit and take one damage.
10. People who film and take photographs have shown up; either concerned citizens or media; they are quite reckless, and concerned primarily with getting good pictures; unlike other civilians, these can not be removed. Civilian (7-10).
11. An enemy throws a heavy object down some stairs at the Detective with the lowest Initiative, or perhaps someone shoots out a window above him, so that heavy shards of glass rain down. He needs to make a Fitness-Check to get out of the way of the falling object, or take one point of damage that armor will not protect against.
12. A lift-car has been hit by stray bullets, and now comes spinning out of the sky, right for the position of the Detectives, forcing them all to scramble for new cover. The Detective with the lowest Fitness, need to succeed with a normal Skill-Check for Running/ Climbing, or their side will loose one point of Posture. In addition, the fuel-cells of the car have been injured, and from now on, every Shooting action risks setting the whole car ablaze. Whenever someone Shoots, if the die that counts shows (10), the car starts burning and the fire quickly spreads in garbage, in leaking fuel, immediately making the environment Dangerous (7-10). The Civilians in the car may be injured or not, but they stay in the car; if it starts burning, it becomes an Objective with Value 2 to get them out of there before they die.
13. The Detective with the lowest Awareness does an Awareness-Check. If he fails, he steps on some part of the ground och floor that is weakened, either by general wear and tear or, possibly, by the firefight, and falls through, in a cloud of dust, possibly landing at a lower level, possibly finding himself dangling over the ledge and needing to crawl up. Either way, he looses two points of Posture. If he succeeds, the same misfortune instead befalls the enemy.
14. The firefight has been going on for a long time, making people exhausted and slow, and therefor easier to hit. Mechanically, this means that anyone who is not wearing a vest or armor, get +2 to their Shooting Score for the remainder of the fight.
15. A tanker looses control and skids into the scene; it is filled with gas or dangerous liquid; if it is hit, it may explode. From now on, every Shooting action risks settings he whole place ablaze: if the die that counts shows (9-10), regardless of if it is a success or not, the air itself ignites, and immediately makes the environment Deadly.
Bara för att förtydliga så menar jag alltså inte att ställa jättehöga höga krav på detaljrikedomen utan det handlar om ett tillägg på "...i armen" jämfört med standard, '"jag hugger med yxan". I de flesta rollspel så är det superviktigt om man har ett kortsvärd eller ett bredsvärd men inte om man högg mot huvudet eller fötterna vilket jag tycker är konstigt. Jag skulle säga att det är minst lika viktigt för inlevelsen, det roliga och även för simulationen av verkligheten.