Generic Modular System

Attributes Skill Checks

Each character in GMS has six Attributes: To determine whether the use of a Skill Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Focus, succeeded, roll as many (six-sided) dice as its Charisma, Intelligence. A score of 3 is average, linked Talent and count the number of dice 6 is exceptional (sports pro, scientist,...) and 9 showing less or equal the Skill score. These are the absolute human maximum (Olympic gold called the Successes. They describe how well medal winner, Nobel laureate,...). the task was done. Normally, one Success is enough. The GM can modify the effective Skill or even demand additional Successes for tasks that are harder or easier than a routine job for Talents describe a character's natural aptitude an experienced person. for different tasks. They determine the number of dice available for the check. A Talent is the average of three Attributes, but can contain the Free Checks same Attribute multiple times. I recommended Some tasks just can't be linked to a specific Skill. In this case, each roll of three or less is using the following Talents; you may also considered a Success (unless the GM feels the define new ones if needed: need to change this threshold). Checks of Athletics (E,S,D) Diplomacy (C,C,I) Attributes are always handled as Free Checks. Driving (D,F,I) Fitness (E,E,S) Language (F,C,I) Logic (F,I,I) Melee (S,D,D) Perception (F,F,I) Contests Ranged (D,F,F) Stealth (D,D,F) Whenever multiple characters are using their Technics (D,I,I) Skills directly against each other (e.g. melee or spotting hidden characters), roll a Check for each character involved. The character with the Talents are nice, but won't get the job done. A most Successes wins. The difference is called Net Successes and gives the margin of victory. character needs Skills to use his Talents effectively. They give the highest number a die If necessary, the GM can use the following can show to still be counted as Success. Each criteria as tie breaker (in this sequence): Skill describes a broad set of actions or objects Higher Skill, higher Talent, Specialization, PCs before NPCs. a character can use, e.g.:

Talents

Skills

Athletics: Jump, Throw, Sprint Diplomacy: Negotiate, Bluff, Charm Driving: Car, Boat, Helicopter If timing is important, actions can be resolved Fitness: Climb, Swim, Dive in Rounds of approx. three seconds. The Language: English, Esperanto, Sign Language sequence of the characters' actions in each Logic: Computer, Chemistry, Tactics Round is determined by their Initiative. It is Melee: Brawling, Dagger, Spear the sum of Dexterity, Focus and Intelligence. Perception: Navigation, Surveillance A Round is enough time for a simple use of a Ranged: Bow, Pistol, Gunnery skill or a similar action (e.g. running through a Stealth: Camouflage, Sneak, Pickpocket room, firing a few shots from a weapon or Technics: Elektronics, Car Mechanics, First Aid jumping behind cover). The GM should apply a Unknown Skills have effecitvely the score zero. penalty to a character's Skills if he tries to do The GM can allow to learn all Skills linked to a muliple things at once. A character can walk Talent as a single Skill Group. If this is possible about as many meters per Round as his at all, and up to which level, should be decided Athletics score, and run about three times as for each individual Talent. fast (without a Skill Check).

Rounds and Initiative

Optional: Specialization

Characters can specialize on a specific aspect of a Skill, as long as it makes up less than half of its actual uses (GM's call). This effectively raises the Skill by one when used on this subset of actions. It is impossible to have multiple Specializations of the same Skill. Version 1.00 EN

Surprise

If one character hasn't discovered another one at the beginning of a fight, he is not allowed to take direct action against him in the first Round. Indirect action like drawing weapons or going for cover is allowed, though.

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2012

Fatigue and Damage

Each character has 10+E Fatigue Points (FP) and 10+S Health Points (HP). A character who lost more FP than his Endurance is exhausted, a character who lost more HP than his Strength is wounded. Exhausted characters have all Skills effectively reduced by one, wounded characters by two. The penalties are not cumulative. A character who lost at least ten FP or HP is unable to take any action. If he loses all FP, he is unconscious; if he loses all HP, he is dead.

Optional: Melee
Two characters attacking each other in melee in the same Round don't roll two separate Skill Checks, but a Contest. The winner can hit the loser with his Net Successes.

Modules

GMS is meant to be expanded with Modules. These Modules can contain additional rules or lists of items. Ideally, they should be designed to allow every single part of them to be treated as optional and have it ignored or changed without affecting anything else. The GM should decide in advance which Modules (or parts of A character needs to roll a Skill Check with the them) he will use in his game. Some rules or items may be contained in appropriate combat skill to attack another multiple modules. Should these versions be character. One Success is sufficient to hit. different (for example, one might provide more The effect a weapon has on its target is described with two numbers: Penetration and detail at the expense of simplicity), decide which one to use. Damage. Penetration describes the ability to punch through armor, while Damage is the number of HP potentially taken by each hit. Each additional Success can be used to increase Penetration or Damage by one. Some weapons do Stun Damage, which means they take FP instead of HP. These numbers are usually written with a slash in between; 3/5 would represent a Penetration of 3 and a Damage of 5. The Damage done by melee attacks often depends on the strength of the attacker; e.g. unarmed strikes do 0/S-1 Stun. Armor has Hardness and Absorption, which are written down the same way. If a piece of armor has at least as much Hardness as the weapon hitting it has Penetration the weapon will only do Stun Damage. Each additional point of Hardness halves the Damage. After determining the effects of Hardness, the Damage is reduced by the armor's Absorption. Finally, the remaining Damage is subtracted from the target's HP (for physical damage) or FP (for Stun Damage). Whenever a single hit costs more FP than the target's Strength, the target will lose the difference in HP on top of it.

Combat

Optional: Damage Types

The protection a specific piece of armor offers may depend a lot on the weapon used against it. This can be simulated by assigning each weapon a Damage Type (e.g. impact, ballistic, fire). Most armors are only designed against a single type of damage. Against all other types, their Hardness and Absorption are halved (round down).

Version 1.00 EN

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2012