Warriors Way Rules Skeleton

I have had many idea's regarding this game, though the one I am running with is the Energy pool. I thought it would be a good idea to get all of these idea's down, while at the same time get feedback from the RPG Lab crew. So, feel free to comment about what you think about the rules below.

The interesting thing to note about the game is that it is inspired by old Commodore 64 and arcade fighting games (such as Karateka, Bad Dudes, Yie Ar Kung Fu and International Karate). It is also inspired by old Kung Fu and 70's martial arts movies.

The final comment I will make is that the game is definately influenced by certain mechanics from MACE. However, while MACE represents what you might see in Anime or 2d Fighting Games, Warriors Way is a more realistic, face to face fighting RPG.

So, without further ado, here is the rough rules skeleton.

WARRIORS WAY
Playing Warriors Way
Warriors Way is an RPG for 2 or more people. One person takes the role of Game Master, while the other people are Players. Game Masters create the story and control the bad guys, while Players create a Fighter that represents them during the game.
To play Warriors Way, six sided dice are required. Warriors Way uses a lot of dice, so to comfortably play, at least five dice per Player and ten dice for the Game Master are needed.

Creating Fighters
Fighters represent the Players in a game of Warriors Way. All Fighters share some key Stats.

Energy
Energy represents the Fighters physical fitness, fighting skill and mastery of technique. It is a catch all for how strong the Fighter is through their years of training in the martial arts. A Players Fighter has a starting Energy of 5. Find below the averages for Energy.

• 1 Energy - Unfit Person
• 2 Energy - Fit Person
• 3 Energy - Beginning Fighter
• 4 Energy - Trained Fighter
• 5 Energy - Experienced Fighter (starting Fighter)
• 6 Energy - Exceptional Fighter
• 7 Energy - Master Fighter
• 8+ Energy - Godlike Fighter

There are also two other Stats that tie into Energy, but will be elaborated upon in Combat. These are Fatigue and Adrenaline. These do not have any points to begin with, but grow and shrink during Combat based on the choice of Actions you make.

Drills
Drills represent the training and excersise that a Fighter goes through to achieve the results they need. Warriors Way is different to many RPG's in that Fighters do not have inherent Strength, Agililty or other physical atrributes. Rather, how strong, fast or tough a Fighter might be is determined by how they train(see later about Training Drills)! Below are the five Drill categories. A Players Fighter has a number of points to distribute between these five Drills equal to their Energy Stat (five).

• Offensive
  Spend one point of Offensive Drill to re-roll a Strike dice.
• Defensive
  Spend one point of Defensive Drill to re-roll a Block roll.
• Evasive
  Spend one point of Evasive Drill to re-roll a Dodge roll.
• Footwork
  Spend one point of Footwork Drill to re-roll a Move roll.
• Conditioning
  Spend one point of Conditioning Drill to re-roll a Resist Damage roll.

Spent Drill points are recovered at the end of a Combat. See Combat for more information on using Drills.

Training Drills
During time in the game, a Player can choose to spend a week training in a particular Drill. If the player succeeds in training for that week period, they can re-allocate one of their points spent in a Drill to another Drill. Given enough time, a Player can totally retrain their Fighter.

Adrenaline Moves
Adrenaline Moves represent the special techniques and moves unique to a Fighter. Fighters have a number of Adrenaline Moves equal to their Energy-2 (3 for Players). See Combat for a list of Adrenaline Moves and their use during Combat.

Combat
Time and Space in Combat
Time is measured in Rounds. When a Round begins, each player gets one Turn to perform Actions. When all players have had their Turn, the Round ends and a new one begins if Fighters are left.
Space is measured by squares on a grid. Each square represents a single space, with a Players Fighter occupying a single space at any one time. Fighters can Move between spaces by using the Move Action.

Order of Turns during Combat
Fighters take their Turns in the following order.

1. The Fighter with the highest Energy goes first. For ties, see 2.
2. The Fighter with the least Fatigue goes before other Fighters. In case of ties, see 3.
3. The Fighter with the highest Adrenaline goes before other Fighters. In case of ties, see 4.
4. Roll a dice each. The Fighter with the highest roll goes before other Fighters. In case of tie, continue to re-roll until order is determined.

Energy in Combat
When Combat begins, each Fighter involved is allocated a number of dice equal to their Energy Stat. So, a player with 5 Energy would be given 5 six sided dice.

Spending Energy
During a Players Turn, they can spend Energy to perform Actions. To do so, take one dice from the Energy Pool, roll it to resolve the Action, then place it in the Fatigue pool. Players can spend as little as 0 dice to up to 3 Energy dice a Turn.

Actions
During their Turn, a Player can perform two key Actions. These Actions are Move and Strike. As mentioned above, these Actions can be performed on the Players Turn by spending a Energy Dice.

• Strike
  This Action covers the wide variety of attacks that are possible in martial arts. From head butts, punches and kicks to grappling, throws and vital points. There is no distinction, as this allows players to do what they want while keeping play simple.
  A Strike can only be performed when adjacent to another Fighter. Roll the Energy Dice spent to perform Strike. Target adjacent Fighter takes Damage equal to that roll.
• Move
  The Move Action reflects moving around the spaces on the map. Before rolling the Energy Dice spent, decide on how many spaces you wish to Move (between 1 and 6). Move your Fighter that many spaces, then roll the Energy Dice. If the roll is equal to the number of spaces moved or higher, the Energy Dice is returned to the Energy Pool and not placed in the Fatigue Pool. If lower, the Energy Dice is put in the Fatigue Pool as normal.

Defensive Actions
Whenever a Fighter is dealt Damage, the controlling Player can choose to perform a Defensive Action. They choose a dice in their Energy Pool and roll it. The effect of that dice depends on whether the Player chose to Block or Dodge.
Using a Defensive Action does not count towards the number of Actions performed during a Turn. So, you can perform as many Defensive Actions as you have Energy, and it will not affect the Recover Step of the Round (see below). Note that Energy Dice used are put in the Fatigue Pool (see Dodge for an exception).

• Block
  A Block Defensive Action represents physically dissipating or deflecting the attack. Roll the Energy Dice spent to perform the Block. Reduce the Damage dealt by the value rolled on the dice.
• Dodge
  A Dodge Defensive Action represents evading or avoiding the attack completely. Roll the Energy Dice spent to perform the Dodge. If the value rolled is equal to or higher than the value rolled on the opponents Strike Dice, negate all Damage. In addition, instead of placing the Energy Dice used for Dodge in the Fatigue Pool, return it to the Energy Pool.

Using Drills
When choosing to re-roll a Strike, you must first wait for the opponent to choose and roll for their Defensive Action before re-rolling.
When choosing to re-roll a Defensive Action, it can only be done after the opponent has chosen whether to re-roll their Strike roll.
You can re-roll a Move or Resist Damage roll any time after rolling the dice.

Damage
If a Fighter is dealt Damage and does not prevent it with a Defensive Action (or just chooses to take the hit), the controlling Player must roll one of their Energy Dice. If the value is equal to or higher than the Damage dealt, the dice is returned to the Energy Pool and no serious injury is caused. If lower, the Energy Dice is discarded.
If a Player has to discard a Energy Dice, the Player must choose another Energy Dice and roll it. This continues until either the Player has no more Energy or succeeds on a roll. If at any time a Player loses all Energy, Damage continues on to the Fatigue Pool of dice.
If a Fighter has no dice remaining in their Fatigue or Energy Pool, they are Knocked Out and removed from Combat.

Knockback
After rolling against Damage, for each Energy or Fatigue Dice that was discarded, the Fighter is moved away from the source of Damage that many spaces.

Adrenaline
If you ever cause an opponent to discard Energy Dice due to Damage you caused, each Energy or Fatigue Dice they discard is put into your Adrenaline Pool. You cannot have more Adrenaline than your starting Energy.

Fatigue
If at the beginning of your Turn, you have no dice in your Energy Pool and only in your Fatigue Pool, you cannot take any Actions. However, see Recover below on how to return Fatigue Dice to your Energy Pool.

Recover Step
At the end of a Round, when all Players have had their Turn, each Fighter regains Fatigue Dice to their Energy Pool based on how many Actions they took during their Turn. Note that this does not include Defensive Actions. It DOES include Move Actions if the roll was succesful and the Energy Dice was returned to the Energy Pool. Look below to see how many Dice a Player gets back.

• 0 Actions - Regain 3 Energy Dice from Fatigue
• 1 Action - Regain 2 Energy Dice from Fatigue
• 2 Actions - Regain 1 Energy Dice from Fatigue
• 3 Actions - Regain 0 Energy Dice from Fatigue

Ending Combat
Combat ends when there is only one Fighter or one team standing, or participants choose for it to end.

Adrenaline Moves
Adrenaline Moves
During a Players Turn in Combat, they can choose to use special Adrenaline Moves instead of their standard Actions. They can also use special Defensive Actions. Beginning Fighters have three Adrenaline Moves, which are chosen at creation. Adrenaline can only be gained by making opponents discard dice as Damage.

Using Adrenaline Moves
Adrenaline Moves are either Actions or Defensive Actions. To use them, instead of spending a dice from the Energy Pool, the dice is taken from the Adrenaline Pool. Adrenaline Dice spent do not count in regards to the number of Actions possible in a Turn, nor do they affect the Recover step. However, you can only spend one Adrenaline Dice a Round.

Below is a list of Adrenaline Moves.

COUNTER ATTACK
Defensive Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Counter Attack. If the roll is higher than the opponents Strike roll, negate all Damage and opponent takes Damage equal to Counter Attacks value.

TRAINED REFLEXES
Defensive Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Trained Reflexes. If the roll is equal to or higher than the opponents Strike roll, negate all Damage. In addition, if succesful, return the Adrenaline Dice to the Adrenaline Pool.

SOFT DEFENSE
Defensive Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Soft Defense. If the roll is lower than the opponents Strike roll, negate all Damage.

TARGET ARMS
Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Target Arms. Deal Damage to an adjacent opponent equal to the value of the roll. If the opponent discards Energy or Fatigue Dice to Damage, for the rest of Combat they suffer a -1 to all Block and Strike rolls.

TARGET LEGS
Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Target Legs. Deal Damage to an adjacent opponent equal to the value of the roll. If the opponent discards Energy or Fatigue Dice to Damage, for the rest of Combat they suffer a -1 to all Move and Dodge rolls.

TARGET HEAD
Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Target Legs. Deal Damage to an adjacent opponent equal to the value of the roll. If the opponent discards Energy or Fatigue Dice to Damage, for the rest of Combat they suffer a -1 to all rolls to resist Damage.

TRADING BLOW
Defensive Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Trading Blow. Deal Damage to the opponent equal to the value of the dice rolled.

JUMP KICK
Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Jump Kick. Move a number of spaces equal to the value rolled, then deal Damage to an adjacent opponent equal to the value rolled.

TIRING ATTACK
Action
Roll the Adrenaline Dice spent to perform Tiring Attack. Deal Damage to an adjacent opponent equal to the value rolled. If the opponent discards a Energy or Fatigue Dice to Damage, they must also put one Energy Dice into their Fatigue Pool.

Hyper Mode
Using Hyper Mode
A Player can choose to activate Hyper Mode at the beginning of their Turn. To do so, they must have at least as many Adrenaline Dice as they have Energy Dice available. There are two kinds of Hyper Mode, Hyper Rush and Hyper Recover.

Hyper Rush
Instead of spending Energy Dice to perform Actions, spend dice from your Adrenaline Pool. You can take as many Actions as you have Adrenaline Dice. You can choose to save Adrenaline Dice to Block or Dodge later in the Round. During the Recover step, any remaining Adrenaline Dice are discarded. You count as having taken 3 Actions for the purpose of Recovering Fatigue.

Hyper Recover
For each Adrenaline Dice you discard, return a Fatigue Dice to your Energy Pool. During the Recover Step of the Round, any remaining Adrenaline Dice are discarded.

Using Adrenaline Moves
You can still use your one Adrenaline Dice per Round in addition to the Hyper Modes. However, you must have as much Adrenaline as Energy at the START of your Turn in order to use a Hyper Mode.

Afterthoughts
There it is, a rough of my idea. The next step is to include a simple skill resolution mechanic that is in keeping with the system, then refine the wording and layout. It also needs a bit of playtesting, but feel free to post your comments/questions/feedback regarding this idea. If not, keep posted for a PDF version of this game in a much more polished format.