MythWrack, compressed combat for Mythras & D100 RPGs.

Houserules for The Design Mechanism’s Mythras RPG http://thedesignmechanism.com/

MythWrack is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by The Design Mechanism.
Author:[email protected] with a lot of help and contributions from Raleel and others.
Mythras Discord: https://discord.gg/mythras-469341944888164352
Updated frequently. Comments are open.

How do these houserules change the game?

No more confusion between Turns, Cycles, Rounds.

Combat takes place within a Round, with no sub-round cycles.
The use of Special Effects, especially defensive SEs, are increased.
“Draw” results, where nothing happens to either combatant, are reduced.
The difference between 3 Action Point and 2 Action Point characters is reduced.
Higher Initiative attack advantage is reduced. Faster acting combatants do not get more attacks
than their slower acting opponents if their action points are the same.
Using Opposed Roll resolution increases Offensive and Defensive special effects which makes
combat deadlier and faster.
Stalemates between highly skilled opponents are much reduced.
Movement is dramatically simplified by replacing movement by metre with described movement.
Theatre of the Mind is better supported.
Ranged weapon modifiers are simplified.
Ranged fighters are more on a par with melee fighters since reloading is usually contained within a
single turn alongside an attack. No more “I guess I am just reloading ... again” player turns.
“Boss Battles” or opponents with high action points have better defence versus a party without
having overwhelming offensive power or impenetrable defences themselves.
Combat System Changes
1. Combat is measured in 5 second Rounds. There are no turn cycles.
2. There are 4 types of action: Major, Minor, Reactive and Free actions.
3. Only 1 Major action per 3 action points total each Round is allowed.
4. Where turns are counted in core Mythras for timings, actions are now counted.
5. Melee combat uses both Differential and Opposed Rolls to resolve exchanges between
attacker & defender.

Rounds & Actions

There is no change to calculating action points or initiative.

On a character’s initiative they take their turn, this is the only time when Major and Minor
actions may be used. A character may make as many actions as they like on their turn.

Reactive actions are taken in response to a threat at any time.

Free actions may be taken at any time in the Round.

Major, Minor and Reactive actions cost one action point to take.
Action Types - Major, Minor, Reactive, Free

A character is allowed a maximum of one Major action for every 3 action points or fraction
thereof that they have per round.

Taking a Major action uses one action point. You may choose to spend all your action points on
Minor actions and not make any Major actions, or reserve all your action points for Reactive
actions, but you may only take one Major action per 3 of action points you have in total, and only
on your Turn initiative.

Example: A character with 4 action points may take 2 Major actions and 2 Minor actions per
Round, or 1 Major action and 3 Minor actions, or 4 Minor actions. (Note that 3 AP is the maximum
a non-enhanced human can have, but action point increases are possible with magic).

Major actions: Attack, Counterattack, Cast Magic, Struggle

Minor actions: Brace, Break Engagement, Delay, Dither, Hold Magic, Mount, Outmanoeuvre,
Prepare Magic, Ready Weapon, Regain Footing, Take Cover, Reload, Feint.

Reactive actions: Counter Spell, Evade, Interrupt, Parry

Free actions: Assess Situation, Drop Weapon, Signal, Speak, Use Luck Point, Ward Location.

In the case of Minor actions which are opposed (Outmanoeuvre, Regain Footing), it requires an
action point to oppose.
New Actions

Minor Actions:
Feint
You attempt to put your opponent off, causing their next attack or defence (you choose which) to
be one grade Harder if you win the opposed skill test against them.
Make a successful Deceit or Influence roll, opposed by your opponent’s Insight.
Note that using a Feint costs an action point, but opposing a Feint costs none.
Spot Rules

Fatigue Checks
Everyone makes Endurance skill checks for fatigue at the start of every 5th Round, the
Constitution characteristic has no effect.
Ie. Check at the start of Round 5, Round 10, Round 15 and so on.
Special Effect changes when using MythWrack Rounds:
Flurry & Remise
Allows for an immediate follow-up attack as an additional Major action, it will cost an action point to
make the attack, and the attack has one level of difficulty penalty. This allows a character to break
the “only one Major Action per round” rule.

Entangle
Note, the follow up action on this is a Major action.

Impaled Weapons
If your weapon is impaled in an opponent you must use a Major action to remove it from them.
Conversely, if you are impaled by a weapon, you may use a Minor action to attempt to remove it.

Pin Down (firearms)

This does not prevent a Major action, or even an attack, just exposing oneself to enemy fire.

Overextend Opponent
This prevents the opponent from using a Major action against that attacker on their next turn.

Press Advantage
This prevents the opponent using a Major action against that attacker on their next turn.

Blind Opponent
For the remainder of this Round and next Round any skill using vision becomes Herculean
difficulty.

Bleed
Fatigue loss happens in the Book-keeping phase of every odd-numbered Round.

When using Range Bands:

Disarm
The weapon gets flung somewhere in the Scene position, based on the strength of the hit and the
description of the location. GM adjudicates exactly where this is.

Bash, special effect

The combatant using the Bash should say how they are using the Bash, given the scene
description from the GM. A combatant who has been knocked away from their attacker back
through Bash or other means is considered out of contact. If the scene suggests it, they may be
knocked into an obstacle which requires a Hard Athletics or Acrobatics roll to avoid falling Prone.
New Special Effects (Untested)

Defensive Stun
The defender parries in such a way that they stun their attacker. The attacker rolls an opposed test
of their Endurance against their own attack roll. If they fail, they lose an action point in the next
Round.
Opposed Rolls Combat
The change here is that melee exchanges are resolved as a special Opposed Roll test. This
means there are fewer instances of a “null” result, where both combatants succeed (usually a
successful attack and successful parry). Since Major actions are now limited in number, defenders
are more likely to use Reactive actions in parries and so generate defensive special effects.

On the attacker’s Turn initiative, using a Major action, they roll their Combat Style.

If the Defender wishes to, and if they have action points to spare, the Defender rolls their Combat
Style as a Reactive action using a parry. The attack and parry rolls are compared as an Opposed
Roll, whoever gets the highest successful roll wins the opposed test.

The attacker succeeds in their roll and the defender fails their parry
The attacker gains a special effect, and determines damage caused and hit location.
This is unchanged from the core rules.

The attacker wins the opposed test but the defender succeeds in their parry
The defender protects themselves from damage using the core rules in the usual way (ie. parrying
weapon is compared to attacking weapon size), however the attacker also gains a Special Effect
against the defender.

The attacker succeeds in their attack but loses the opposed test
When the defender succeeds their parry and wins the Opposed Roll the defender may apply a
defensive special effect even if they are hit and damaged by the attacker.

The attacker fails in their attack and the defender succeeds with their parry
The defender may apply a defensive special effect.
This is unchanged from the core rules.

Using this system a Special Effect may always be generated if at least one
side is successful. It is possible that both will fail and in that case no hit or
Special Effect is generated as per RAW.

*Note: Some special effects may only be chosen if a level of success difference is generated.
See next page
Opposed Rolls Special Effects

All these Special Effects are legal to attempt when using Opposed Rolls Combat:

Offensive:
Bash, Close Range, Damage Weapon, Disarm, Duck Back, Entangle, Feint, Force Failure*, Rapid
Reload, Remise.

Defensive:
Arise, Close Range, Damage Weapon, Disarm, Entangle, Feint, Open Range, Prepare Counter,
Slip Free*, Stand Fast, Withdraw.
Special Effects Exceptions

Some special effects may only be used if there is at least one level of success difference
generated by the combatant using the special effect.

These exceptions are:

Bleed
Compel Surrender
Drop Foe
Impale
Overextend Opponent
Pin Down
Press Advantage
Take Weapon
Trip Opponent
Sunder

Effectively these Special Effects are used as per standard Mythras rules.

Critical-only Special Effects are still critical-only as per standard Mythras.

Movement, Position and Action in Combat
MythWrack imagines combat in terms of Scenes, as in a film, television or comic book drama.
During a combat encounter, PCs, NPCs and creatures may have Positions of: in the Scene,
Outside the Scene, Away from the Scene, or Distant.

On a player’s Initiative Turn, they declare their Gait, move and take any Major or Minor Actions.
Free actions are taken at any time, Reactive Actions are taken in response to another action.
Movement inside Positions does not cost any action points.

Moving in a Combat Round

At the start of your Turn, the player declares their Gait and either Stands, Walks or Runs.

Gait Description

Resisting Trips is Easy. Gain the benefits of the Braced action when Standing. May not
Stand
move unless they are Engaged and they choose to follow their opponent’s move.

Move to any location within the Scene, including into Contact melee.
Walk
No skill penalties.

Move across 1 range boundary (eg. Scene to Outside, or Outside to Away)

Run
All skills at Hard penalty.

Note: It is not possible to use the Walk gait to move across a range band boundary, Run must be
used, with the listed penalties, even if the character is considered to be “walking” the penalty still
applies to skill usage that Round.

Position Description

Contact When two or more are engaged in melee.

Scene In the immediate scene, eg. inside a tavern, a forest clearing, a small cave.

Outside Outside of the scene, eg. outside the tavern, in the trees around the
clearing.

Away Away from the scene, eg. on a hill overlooking the scene.

Distant Beyond combat range.

Charging
A charge may only be made from Outside into Contact melee, or Outside into Scene if attempting
to charge past the target while making an attack. Skill penalties are at Hard for the Round in which
a charge is being made.
A Gait of Run must be used.

Moving to Distant
Note that once a combatant has moved to Distant, they are considered to have fled the scene and
they may not return until the combat is over.
Engagement and Breaking Engagement
Engagement
Engagement is defined when two enemy combatants are in “Contact” range. Once engaged,
combatants may not freely move out of engagement. A combatant may effectively “drag” their
opponent around a Scene, but only through breaking engagement, and subsequently allowing their
opponent to re-engage.

Using Evade
A combatant does not go prone when using the Evade skill to break engagement.

Breaking Engagement
Once engaged, engagement may be broken by:

1. Using the “Withdraw” special Effect.

2. Getting Bashed out of Contact by their opponent or other attack or force.
3. Using the Break Engagement Minor Action.

A combatant who wishes to break engagement may do so on their turn by using the Break
Engagement Minor Action. The following assumes their opponent attempts to prevent them leaving
by spending an action point. If their opponent does not oppose them (and not spend an action
point), treat the Engagement-break as a success (see below).

The combatant rolls their Evade Vs their opponent’s Combat Style in an opposed check.

Success:
If the opposed check is successful Engagement is broken and they may relocate in the scene.

Failure:
If the opposed check fails, the combatant may choose to flee or stay. If they choose to stay, there
are no further consequences and engagement remains in place.

If they choose to flee they are treated as if their opponent has hit them in a successful attack, with
special effects and possible injury generated as normal. As long as the combatant is still able to
move after getting hit, they have broken engagement and may relocate in the scene.

A Note on Reach
MythWrack does not change anything with the optional Reach rules, although if you use them, it
should not be too difficult to incorporate into these rule changes.
Ranged Weapon Bands

These Range Bands should match up to the same ranges that the GM has decided for the
encounter.

Max Range Ranged Weapons

Contact Melee weapon range.

Ranged weapons may not be used while in contact, with the exception of
modern pistols, which have a Hard penalty and may be parried.

Scene Dagger, dart, net, muff pistol, blunderbuss. [Choose Location*],hatchet, spear,

Outside Javelin, discus, bolas, blowgun, flintlock pistol.

Far Bows, crossbows, slings, flintlock musket, flintlock rifle, all modern firearms.

Distant Siege weapons, cannon, modern rifles.

Ranged weapons may hit targets within their band or closer.

*Choose Location for all ranged weapons is only available at “Near” range except for modern
sighted firearms which can use “Choose Location” at any range. Atlatls allow for darts to be thrown
at Medium range, as well as increase their Force. They only increase the Force on javelins.

Ranged Weapon Combat Style Skill Adjustments

The Difficulty of hitting a target increases with range. The Size of the target also comes into play:

Combat Style Ranged Distance Penalties

Target is: SIZ 10 or under SIZ 11-20 SIZ over 20

Scene 1 Step Harder No effect 1 Step Easier

Outside 2 Steps Harder 1 Step Harder No Effect

Far 3 Steps Harder 2 Steps Harder 1 Step Harder

Managing Combat Scenes
The descriptive Positions and Ranges are designed to be used in typical combat situations - ie.
small encounters within a single scene, at modest ranges.

Outside of these typical combat encounter scenes, the players and GM will have to interpret
movement and ranges as makes sense for their situation.

For example, a purely ranged encounter between two groups may happen, with both groups
starting at “Far” range to each other. In this case both sides may snipe at each other with ranged
weapons while melee combatants from each side charge into contact. The GM adjudicates where,
when and how such a melee clash meets according to the situation. In this particular case, the
melee combatants would charge into contact ending up in the “Scene” Position, with the ranged
combatants at two separate “Outside” Positions.
Examples
High Action Points
Noor uses sorcery to raise her Action Points to 4, (Enhance INT and Enhance DEX) she can now
take two Major actions on her initiative.
Later in the campaign Noor improves her sorcery skills so that she has 6 Action Points, her Major
actions remain at 2 but she has 4 Minor actions available.
If Noor increased her Action Points to 7, she could make 3 Major actions and 4 Minor actions.

Reloading
Chadi is using a heavy crossbow against Noor who is closing in on her, she looses a bolt at Noor
and then starts reloading. Reloading takes 4 actions.
In Round 1 Chadi uses one Major action to shoot a bolt and 2 Minor actions to reload.
In Round 2 Chadi uses her 2 Minor actions to complete reloading, and then looses her second bolt
using her Major action on her Turn initiative.

Magic
Voz (2 Action Points) the sorcerer is casting Wrack at his rival, Zandari and his group. It will take
Voz 3 actions to cast the spell, in Round 1 he spends 2 Minor actions using “prepare magic”,
readying the spell for the next round.

Voz’s rival Zandari (3 Action Points) is casting a group Teleport spell which also takes 3 actions,
he uses 2 Minor actions as “Prepare Magic” and his 1 Major action “Cast Magic” to cast Teleport,
he disappears on his initiative in Round 1 leaving Voz in Round 2 looking at thin air.

Combat
Wulf attacks with his 2H Longsword (75% combat style), he rolls a 56, a success.
Cuthbert will attempt a parry (60% combat style), he rolls a 42, also a success.
Cuthbert made his parry but he lost the opposed test since he rolled 42, which is less than 56.
Since Cuthbert is parrying with his Broadsword, which is one size smaller than the Longsword
(Large Vs Medium), half the damage will get past his parry.
Wulf also gets to choose and apply a special effect in addition to the attack damage.

Multiple Actions on a single Turn

A character may take as many actions on their Turn as they have remaining Action Points left as
long as they keep to the Major Action restriction. Actions may be taken in any order.
For example, the adventurer Saddiqi (3 Action Points) who in the previous Round was thrown from
his horse, on his Turn he stands up (Regain Footing, minor action), draws his scimitar (Ready
Weapon, minor action), casts Fireblade on his blade (Cast Magic, major action).
(Old options) Combat Round Phase Order
The first two phases should get resolved very quickly, Bookkeeping takes a few seconds. Try to
keep Movements discussion and statements to under 30 seconds at the most. Players do their
own bookkeeping and assist the GM. The Action Phase is where most of the combat time is spent.

After initiative has been rolled, each combat Round is structured in this order:

1. Bookkeeping Phase
Fatigue is checked at the start of Round 5, and every 5th Round thereafter with an Endurance roll.

Action Points are refreshed.

Note that Action Points are not carried over or saved between Rounds.

Timed effects are checked - such as Bleeds.

Fatigue loss happens in every odd-numbered Round after a Bleed is inflicted.

2. Movement Phase
Everyone involved in the combat may move unless physically constrained or Engaged in melee.

Reverse Initiative Order

Movement happens in reverse initiative order.
The lowest initiative character states whether they are Standing, Walking, or Running.
If they have chosen to Walk or Run they say where they are going, based on the Scene.
Then on up the initiative order.

Choosing a Gait.
In the Movement phase, each character must choose a Gait - Stand, Walk, or Run.
Choosing to Stand means the character may not move themselves. Engaged characters may only
Stand. A standing character may not move themselves into Contact within the Scene, although
they may come into Contact through another’s actions or movement.

Intercepts
A higher initiative may choose to interrupt a lower initiative move by making an intercept. The
result of this intercept must wait until combat results are dealt with.

3. Action Phase
The Combat Round then proceeds in initiative order, highest first to lowest last.
On a character’s initiative, they may take their Turn.