even unconscious.
Try to remember that Health is somewhat
Things to Remember About Hazards
• They may sometimes be avoided with appropriate
ability tests.
• Determine damage using the Hazard Category table.
• Ability tests may allow characters to mitigate
the damage. A successful test usually means half
damage (rounded down).
• Some hazards have special effects.
• Some hazards are one-offs, but others reoccur.
Category
Hazard Category
Damage Example
Floor littered with
Minor Hazard 1d6
broken glass
Moderate Hazard 2d6 10-foot fall
Major Hazard 3d6 Pipe bomb
Arduous Hazard 4d6 Freeway car crash
Harrowing Hazard 5d6 Landmine
Murderous Hazard 6d6 Collapsing building
How Dangerous is the Hazard?
Just as you assess difficulty for ability tests, so too must you
assess the danger of hazards. Consult the Hazard Category
table and pick the one which best suits the nature of the
hazard. This determines the base damage the hazard inflicts.
You might decide that falling from a balcony is a major hazard,
so it would inflict 3d6 damage. Only rare, very dangerous
hazards inflict more than 6d6 damage. Furthermore, note the
type of damage. Some hazards inflict wound damage; others,
stun damage. A few inflict both types of damage. In that case,
split the hazard’s total damage dice between the two types,
and apply stun damage after wound damage.
You can also allow an ability test to mitigate the damage. A
good standard is that a successful test means the character
only suffered half damage (rounded down). The PC falling
from the tower could be given a chance to make a TN 15
Dexterity (Acrobatics) test to halve the damage.
You also need to decide if armor protects against the hazard.
Toughness applies against hazard damage types just as it does
against combat damage types, as adjusted by the game mode.
If other armor doesn’t protect against the hazard, note it as
penetrating damage. Common sense should dictate whether
armor applies.
Finally, note that in Gritty and Pulpy games where charac-
ters have less Health, hazards are deadlier—characters may
have to stop their investigations to take time to heal. In
those games, the worst hazards should be triggered by lack
of caution, or some set of events characters can see coming,
rather than random dangers to slow them down.
Does it Have Any Special Effects?
Some hazards might impose a temporary penalty to an ability
or to Speed. They could reduce the number of actions a char-
acter can take in a turn. They could leave a character prone or
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abstract in the first place, so many hazards require no special
effects. When you do use a special effect, try to make it simple
and sensible.
How Long Does It Last?
Many hazards happen once and then end. An IED, for
example, explodes once when triggered. Other hazards can
be ongoing. Characters running through a burning building
suffer damage each round until they escape. Again, use
common sense to determine whether the hazard is a single
incident or reoccurring.
Sample Hazards
Here are three sample hazards to give you an idea of how to
implement the system.
Burning Building
During the night, black hat hackers engineer an electrical
fire by shorting out the climate control systems in a “smart
building”—one the characters happen to be staying in. They
wake up to the smell of smoke as fire quickly engulfs the
bottom floor. They can try to escape down the stairs and
through the common room. However, each round they take
3d6 damage (a major hazard), and their Speed is halved
because the smoke makes it hard to see where to go. They
could also leap from the windows of their room but the
distance and the fire on the lower floors makes this an arduous
hazard that inflicts 4d6 penetrating damage. A successful TN
11 Dexterity (Acrobatics) test halves the damage. Do the PCs
dash through the ground floor, or do they make the jump to
freedom and hope the penetrating damage isn’t too bad?
Killer Drone
Rounding a corner, the PCs discover a tracked robot armed
with a belt-fed, mounted machine pistol. Its computerized aim
is perfect. Anyone who passes through its line of sight suffers
3d6 ballistic damage—no attack roll required. It won’t run out
of ammunition any time soon, no amount of agility can evade
its bullets, and it can easily shoot multiple characters. How
to the PCs get past it? Solutions might include shooting out
its sensor (ranged attack roll against a 15 Defense), finding a
makeshift barrier to block incoming fire or conceal the pres-
ence of human targets, or, with the help of a Wi-Fi enabled
device, succeeding at a TN 13 Intelligence (Computers) test to
shut it down remotely.
Rushing River
A PC must swim across a rushing river to deliver a vital
message. Rocks beneath the surface make the crossing even
more perilous. They must make an advanced test with a
Success Threshold of 7 (see Advanced Tests in this chapter).
Each round the character must take a TN 13 Constitution
(Swimming) test. If they succeed, the result of the Stunt Die
counts toward the success threshold. If they fail, they take 2d6
damage from being dashed against the rocks and/or inhaled
water. They keep making tests until they make it across or are
reduced to 0 Health.
Chapter 8: Mastering the Rules