JUGGERNAUTS

A Gun Stroking Roleplaying Game

Written and Designed by Kevin R. Brown

Introduction
You can’t even walk over to the gas station for a few cigs anymore without
running into SOMEONE that wants to suck your brains out through your nose or
gift-wrap you in your own intestines. You don’t even know what you were DOING
before that gang-war broke-out in your neighborhood. Now breakfast is an
adventure of ducking under stray bullets and rooting for the guys in the skull-
emblem hoodies.
Hey – with any luck, you’ll be able to catch the tail end of that firefight that
the cops are supposed to be having with those damn Vampires just outside your
block!
Oh, but wait… You also wanted to go take a peek at that rumble going-on
between the local Lord of the Sewer and those Samurai Zombies from out of
town; and there sure ain’t time to see them BOTH!
Decisions are a real bummer, eh?

Oh, and hey – would you look at that.

The moon has a REAL big smile on it’s face tonight…

In a world where tuxedos are solely reserved for those with a grand
scheme that includes nuclear weaponry, where even the nice lady next door
whom you take the garbage out for every Friday has a sidearm strapped to the
back of her calf and where man’s worst nightmares make their presences’
blatantly known in public, YOU are the one with which to be reckoned.
The law is what you have made it. Justice is seen as whatever judgement
you pass. You are the master of every weapon – including your own body and
mind. You are an unstoppable force…

…A Juggernaut.

In order to play, you will need:

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 • This book
• 5 ten-sided dice (5d10)
• A few fellow players
• Someone willing to be ‘The Gavel’ (The guy who’ll be running the campaign,
making a lot of judgement decisions and puppeteering all of the baddies and
other non-player characters (NPCs) )
• A comfortable sitting area

Setting Information
The world serving as the backdrop for Juggernauts is an ultra-modern
Earth, soiled with the supernatural. Most folks blame the change in the moon’s
attitude for all the drastic transformations in our culture. Ever since that thing
started to grin down on the planet, the days have been nothing but strange…
…Then again, a change in pace every once in a while can be a healthy
thing.
Werewolves hold-up banks. Couples get mugged by unscrupulous
vegetation. Extraterrestrials drive REAL slow in the fast lane. The boss of every
minimum-wage employee is guaranteed to be involved in the global plot to forge
Armageddon. Demons steal everyone’s last slice of leftover pizza at the night’s
peak.
Mankind just got off the kiddie-coaster and hopped onto the ride for the big
kids – and he might just have forgotten to secure his safety bar.

Character Creation
In order to start playing Juggernauts, the first thing you need to do is
create a character for yourself. The easiest way to begin this process is to just
brainstorm up a concept. What kind of character do you want to play as? What
role do you intend on fulfilling in your party of accompanying PCs?
After you’ve decided on a concept, grab a blank sheet of paper, and write
your character’s full name at the top.

e.g. : Full Name: Stephen Blyte

Attributes
Your character’s physical being is represented by 3 different Attributes:

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 • Power – This represents a character’s muscle, stamina and raw resilience
against injury. The heart of every tough guy to ever walk the Earth. If you
want your character to lift heavy things, fire really big guns, swing really big
hammers or squeeze other people into submission, Power is where you
should be looking.
• Motion – The swiftness, fluidity and finesse of your character. A key to the
success of many ninjas, assassins and spies. If your character should be
creeping around and slitting throats, handspringing through a firefight to
dodge bullets and missiles or showing the average mummy how it’s done, Jet
Lee style, the Motion is your Attribute.
• Center – Mental focus, calmness, integrity and perception. A favored Attribute
of marksmen, monks and detectives. Will your character be camping-out on a
rooftop trying to get a bead on that dry-cleaning necromancer to snipe him out
or pulling a Sherlock Holmes on a nemesis, explaining in intricate detail what
fatal flaw he’d forgotten to take into account for his master plan? If that’s a
‘Yes’, than Center is where it’s at for you.

Write down these 3 Attributes after your character’s name, and give each
a value from 1-8 – the total sum of all of the values not exceeding 10. A value of
2 represents the human average. Any value above 3 is supernatural.

e.g. : Stephen’s player decides that he’d like to play a smooth & slick character,
so he decides on a Power of 1, a Motion of 5 and a Center of 4 (5 + 4 = 9, 9 + 1
= 10).

Skills

Your character’s mastership of given trades is spread over 3 broad areas,

as well as 3 measures of expertise:

• Exceptional
• Talented
• Competent

Think of 3 areas of skill that you’d like your character to be proficient in,
and then write them down below the Attributes – marking each skill
accordingly with the prior measures of expertise. Note that these should be
broad terms; instead of writing ‘Poker’ as a skill, write ‘Gambling’. Instead of
‘building rafters’ write ‘construction’. Note that NO skill picked here should be
combat-oriented (your character is already considered a master in every
respect of engagement).
After you have decided on your character’s skills, ask The Gavel about
them before marking them down. He has the right to veto any skill that seems
abusable.

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 e.g. : After consulting his fellow players, Stephen’s player decides that he’ll be
the driver, mechanic and general ‘fixit’ guy of the group. He writes-in ‘Exceptional
: Ground Vehicle Operation’, ‘Talented : Vehicle Maintenance’ and ‘Competent :
Electronics Repair’ down as his skills.

Executions

Your character starts the game with 6 Executions. Further details on the
use of these points will be described later. For now, simply understand them to
be a Very Good Thing.
Mark them down beneath your character’s Skills, and be prepared to keep
track of them.

Traits

Traits are ESSENTIAL to your character. They’re what sets them above
and beyond everyone else on this haywire planet.
A Trait is a unique ‘power’ that your character has been imbued with, by
whatever twist of fate. You get one ‘freebie’ trait for your character by default. A
Trait may be anything you can think of – although, obviously, all Traits are
subject to editing and potential disapproval by The Gavel.
Beyond your initial ‘freebie’ Trait, you may put other Traits on your
character by sacrificing their Execution Points for them (each additional Trait
costing you 1 Execution Point).
After you have chosen your character’s Traits, pass the piece of paper
that you’ve been recording all of the information on to the player sitting to your
left. Now, for each Trait that is listed on the character sheet you received, list a
Limitation in that Trait’s use (remembering once again that these are subject to
editing and potential disapproval by The Gavel).

e.g. : Stephen’s player decides that his character could gain a bit of an edge by
becoming rather ‘ghost-like’ at will, surprising enemies in gun-duels when their
bullets simply pass harmlessly through him. As a trait, he writes down, ‘May
become completely incorporeal at will (taking his clothes and weapons with him,
of course)’.
He then passes his sheet of paper over to Lacy, who decides that the best
way to limit Stephen’s Trait is to give an expiration and ‘charge-up’ time. She
decides that Stephen can only remain incorporeal for a maximum of 5 seconds at
a time, and after he becomes solid again, he has to wait a good 5 minutes before
going incorporeal again.

Weapons

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 While the rest of the world is filled with generally average folks toting
generally average hardware, your character gains the benefit of handling a truly
one-of-kind arsenal.
First, choose the type of weapon that you’d like your character to use:

Melee Weapons

• Short Sword: This includes daggers, combat knives, neko-de,

wakizashi and any other easily-concealable, short-bladed weapon.
These weapons may be VERY easily hidden on one’s person, and can
more easily inflict Crushing Blows.
• Sword: This includes broadswords, katanas, sabers, staves and any
other close combat weapon that is generally kept in a visible scabbard
holding, and would NOT be very easily concealed on one’s person.
These weapons are easier to defend oneself with.
• Club: This includes axes, hatchets, billy clubs, maces and any other
weapon with a longer haft and a crushing or bludgeoning end. These
weapons do a bit of extra damage.
• Polearm: This includes halberds, spears, glaives, lances and any
other weapon with a REALLY long haft and a thrusting (and
occasionally chopping) end. These weapons do a LOT more damage
and can deliver the initial strike at most foes due to their long reach,
but require a 2-handed grip and cannot be used by anyone with less
than 4 Power.
• Flail: This includes lengths of steel cable, kusari, morning stars,
wrecking balls or any other weapon with a haft made of chain links or
flexible fibres. These weapons are more difficult to defend against, and
can more easily disarm armed enemies.

Projectile Weapons

• Thrown Weapon: This includes shuriken, boomerangs, shot-put balls,

throwing knives and any other weapon specifically designed to be
tossed at an enemy. These weapons can more easily inflict Crushing
Blows.
• Pistol: This includes six-shooters, modern semi-automatic pistols,
service revolvers and any other firearm most easily handled in one
hand and designed for shorter-range combat. These weapons have
great accuracy.
• Rifle: This includes sniper rifles, hunting rifles, crossbows and any
other single-shot, long-range firearm. These weapons have the
greatest range.
• Sub-Machine Gun: This includes Uzis, Thompsons, AK-47s, M-16s
and any other fully-automatic magazine-fed firearm. These weapons
can fire several dozen rounds over the course of just a few seconds.

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 • Shotgun: This includes sawed-off shotguns, combat shotguns,
double-barreled shotguns, pump-action shotguns and any other short-
range, spread-fire firearm. These weapons do greater damage and
may hit multiple targets, but are only effective at shorter ranges.
• Machine Gun: This includes mini guns, man-portable machine guns,
vehicle-mounted machine guns and any other large, fully-automatic,
belt-fed firearm. These weapons do LOTS of damage and can fire
hundreds of rounds over the course of just a few seconds, but take a
considerable amount of time to reload, require a 2-handed grip and
cannot be used by anyone with less than 4 Power.

Now, give your character’s personal weapon a name. It will be unique

in a number of ways from the average person’s weapon (as will be described
later in the Combat section).

e.g. : Stephen’s player decides that Stephen would be most appropriately armed
with a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun, whom he affectionately names Lacy.

…And there you go! Not so big a chore, eh?

The completed form of Stephen Blyte is provided below, in case you were
wondering what your character sheet should sort of resemble:

Name: Stephen Blyte Executions: 6

Attributes Traits

Power: 1 May Become Completely

Motion: 5 Incorporeal at Will.
Center: 4
May Only do so for 15
Skills Seconds at a Time, and
Must Wait 5 Minutes
Exceptional: Ground Vehicle Operation Before Becoming
Talented: Vehicle Maintenance Incorporeal Again After
Competent: Electronics Repair Becoming Solid.

Skills and Actions

Sometimes, when your character wants to try and do something, there

may either be:
• Doubt that he or she may succeed in doing it

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 Or

• Someone that they are competing against in order to do the task (or
someone that they’re trying to do a better job at within the task).

In most circumstances, a character is generally considered quite

competent enough to do what they want to do. Bouncing a rubber ball,
microwaving a pizza pop, sprinting down a hallway, driving their car to the bank,
etc. In these cases, just assume that they know what they’re doing, and get on
with it.
In some circumstances, however, your character might be trying to do
something that requires a little more specialization in a given skill area. If your
character has not so much as attended a First Aid course, they aren’t going to
know how to properly treat more serious injuries or how to perform surgery.
Likewise, if they aren’t an electrician, mechanic or engineer of some kind, they
won’t be able to repair a fried television set.

Let’s use our character that we created earlier, Stephen, as an example.

His friend (and fellow PC), Laura, has taken 3 pistol rounds to the gut. She’s
unconscious, and The Gavel says that she will indeed perish if she doesn’t
receive proper medical treatment and surgery in short order. Stephen can’t even
come close to giving her any kind of aid on the scene – though, thankfully, his
other friend Bowser is also on location, and is something of a doctor.

Even if your character IS trained in a specialized area, however, they still

aren’t automatically able to achieve whatever they want to. The Gavel decides on
a Difficulty Number for the task being attempted (which should also reflect the
character’s expertise), ranging from 1-4 – and writes it down SECRETLY.
The player of the character making the attempt rolls 1 ten-sided die,
guesses high or low, and rolls a 2 nd ten-sided die. If they guess correctly, that’s a
success. Then, they can choose to continue-on with this High/Low game, until
they’ve either used 5 dice or they flunk a guess. They can also choose to stop at
any time, including after only making 1 success.
When the player chooses to stop, the number The Gavel chose is
revealed – and if the player’s successes match or exceed it, the attempt was a
success! If the number of successes is lower, however, or the player guesses
wrong at any time, the attempt was a failure. A failure should generally result in
something bad happening.

Bowser declares that he’s going to attempt to use his coat to plug-up
Laura’s wounds and slow the bleeding, applying his Paramedic skill (which he’s
Talented at). The Gavel secretly decides that Bowser should only need 1
success for this – writing it down out of sight. He then warns the player that
failure may indeed KILL Laura right on the spot. Bowser accepts that risk, and
proceeds to roll 1 10-sided die.

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 His first roll is a 10! He guesses ‘low’. A 9 results! With 1 success and a
good number, he chooses to go again, guessing ‘low’. A 1! That’s 2 successes –
and still a really good number! He goes gain, guesses ‘high’, and rolls a 6. That’s
3 successes – and Bowser is pretty confident that it’ll be sufficient for him
(whereas he ISN’T so sure about rolling against that 6). He chooses to stop.
The Gavel reveals the 1; Bowser is quick and efficient with the make-shift
bandages he makes by tearing-apart his coat, applying pressure in all the right
areas without using too much force. Laura will last a little longer… but she still
needs to get to a hospital. Fast.

In a situation where 2 characters are in opposition of each other in a

certain task, things work a little differently. A Difficulty Number is still chosen in
secret – but not necessarily by The Gavel. If it’s a contest between NPC(s) and
PC(s), a 3rd party chooses the number.
Additionally, this time it should range anywhere from 1-10 (based on the
‘average’ competency between the 2 competitors).
Both competitors roll 5 10-sided dice, and can keep as many of the results
as they wish. They may re-roll the rest of the results once if they are Competent
at the skill they are using for the contest, twice if they are Talented with the skill,
and 3 times if they are Exceptional at it.
The competitors are looking for 2 things:
• Matching numbers. The competitor with the highest number of
matches for a given number of their choice wins over the other
competitor.
• Value. After both players have chosen their number, The Difficulty
Number is revealed. If their number is lower than the difficulty, they fail
– and something bad happens to them. If both player’s rolls are over,
however, the one with the highest number of matches for their number
wins.

In the event of a draw, the contest is made again – and this is repeated
until somebody wins (or both players lose).

With Laura’s wounds treated but still a danger to her health, Stephen and
Bowser tenderly move her into the backseat of a van, and Stephen gets them
underway toward the hospital. Unfortunately, however, they’re only half-way
there when Stephen notices that they seem to have picked-up a tail. And they
seem to be closing in on them. And they seem to be ARMED!
Stephen decides that he going to get dangerous with his driving and try to
cut-across multiple lanes of traffic to try and lose those sons-of-bitches. The
Gavel announces that the Uzi-wielding FBI in the SUV just speed-up, prepared to
follow the van to their own demise if they must!
Bowser’s player, being the 3 rd party, chooses a Difficulty number of 4. The
FBI have been deemed Talented drivers, while Stephen is Exceptional – but this
is still a fairly tricky maneuver.

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 Stephen rolls, getting a 2, 2, 7, 8 and 4. He’s pretty sure that his maneuver
is worth a little more than 2 as far as difficulty is concerned, so he just holds the
8. Rolling again, he gets a 2, 5, 7 and 4. No good. He keeps hanging on to that 8,
though, and tries again. 1, 3, 7, 4. Ouch! Stephen only has 1 roll left, and no
matches to go with his 8. He just furrows his eyebrows and continues, though –
determined to score. 2, 5, 5 and 7. After a bit of hesitation, Stephen just picks the
5s – hoping it’s enough to pass the Difficulty Number test.
The Gavel rolls - 5, 1, 10, 8, 8. He likes those 8s, so he hangs-on to them.
The next roll turns-up 6, 1 and 6. He decides he wants to try for as many of those
8s as he can, so re-rolls everything else. An 8, 9 and 3 are his final results.
Bowser reveals the Difficulty Number of 4, and Stephen’s player shakes
his head as The Gavel nods triumphantly.
The SUV closes-in, and the agents shoot-out the tires. Stephen tries to
maintain control and stay on the road, but the FBI’s big truck forces them onto on
off-ramp – and to an inevitable halt. Looks like trouble is about to get stirred…

Combat

A session of Juggernauts is going to involve PLENTY of action. Between

hordes of re-animated skeletal remains trained in the discipline of Bushido, the
snarling extraterrestrial man-eaters and seemingly inexhaustible swarms of
generic Ninjas, The Gavel should have you building-up quite a sweat in almost
no time.
Thankfully, however, your characters aren’t just the average bunch of
punks, superheroes or badasses packin’ frag grenades – they’re Juggernauts!
Combat plays-out somewhat differently from the rest of the game, due to
it’s largely cinematic attitude. When the big fight scenes are about to start in a
decent action flic, the soundtrack flips-over to a heavy techno beat, the camera
zooms-in on the protagonist as they draw their weapon(s) and/or drop into a
fighting stance, and all sorts of neat special effects and movie magic is used to
make things much more livelier than would be in real life.
The rules for battling in Juggernauts are designed to emulate that feeling.

Melee Dueling

Melee (or Close Combat) situations occur when 2 characters decide to

duke it out up-close and personal, using fists, close-combat weaponry or point-
blank range gunfire.
Initiative is determined as follows:

• PC vs NPC(s): The PC will ALWAYS go first. No excpetions. The

NPCs may proceed in any order that The Gavel wishes them to.
• PC vs PC: Rock-Paper-Scissors, best out of 3. Winner goes first.

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 • NPC vs NPC: Whichever The Gavel deems should go first.

There are, of course, exceptions to these rules (if someone manages to

sneak-up behind someone else, for example, the sneaky bastard would have
initiative automatically. Just use common sense in exceptional circumstances.
Melee attacks are considered to be automatically successful. If you swing
something at someone, and they don’t defend themselves, they’re going to get
slugged. If an attacker declares just a basic attack against a defender, all that
needs happen to resolve the attack is the defender roll dice to try and defend
themselves.
All combat rolls are made with 5 ten-sided dice. After the dice are rolled,
any numbers equal to or less than your character’s Motion may be re-rolled, if
you wish. In a case where a defender is simply defending themselves from a
basic attack, they need to make 2 pairs of numbers out of their roll.
If the defender is armed with a Sword, they may re-roll the entire set of
dice once before making any individual alterations. If the defender is being
attacked with a Flail, they need to make an extra pair to defend themselves.

For example, let’s say that Stephen has infiltrated the outer perimeter of a
neo-Nazi death-commando training facility. He needs to get inside and use his
modest skills in electronics to try and disable the base’s basic security measures,
so the rest of the party can move-in and attack the bio-factory without being
molested by the patrolling sentries.
Unfortunately, there’s only one door to the portion of the installation that
Mr. Blyte needs to get himself into – and it’s currently being guarded by one of
the base commander’s primely-cut femme fatale, Sheila. Stephen decides that
his only option is to dispatch the lady quickly and silently enough that the rest of
the nearby security don’t catch notice of the struggle, and keep her too busy
during the fight for her to report him in.
Out from the shadows he springs, leading-In with a chop of the knife-edge
of his hand toward Sheila’s temple – but not so quickly that the guardswoman is
caught utterly surprised, catching Stephen out of the corner of her eye just fast
enough to maneuver to defend herself.
She rolls her 5 10-sided dice, and ends-up with a 2, 1, 9, 5 and 9. Those 2
9s will give her one of the pairs she needs – but she still needs another pair to
defend herself. She has a Motion of 4, so she can re-roll the 2 and the 1. Re-
rolling them both, she gets another 2 9’s. This is the other pair she needs (as well
as something a little more special – but for now, since she only declared a basic
defense, we’ll consider it the same as just getting a regular 2 pairs).
Sheila meets Stephen’s forearm with her own, slapping-aside his attack
and shifting into a combat stance.

Now, because it is generally fairly easy for a trained combatant to

deflect/dodge attacks, it’s usually in the favor of an attacker to go a little beyond
the bare-bones basics of fighting in order to get through their enemies’ defenses.
Firstly, you may attempt to study the body language of your foe and throw them

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 off with a good feint or two to try and throw them off-balance, then drive home
your attack.
Declare your intent to try and feint-out your adversary, and roll one of your
5 ten-sided dice. Guess high or low, and roll the second one. If you guessed
correctly, your enemy needs 1 extra pair to successfully defend themselves. If
you guessed wrong, however, your feint was sloppy – and your opponent has
read YOUR next move. They need 1 LESS pair to defend themselves this time.
After 1 success, you may continue to try and use-up all of your 5 dice
feinting – racking a potential total of a 6 pair necessity upon your foe.
Additionally, you may re-guess any roll(s) a number of times equal to your
character’s Center. However, after only 1 incorrect guess, your entire string of
feints has been telegraphed – and your opponent may defend themselves with
just a single pair in their roll.

Continuing from the prior example, Sheila determines from Stephen’s

incredible speed that he’s no average terrorist. She takes a few fractions of a
second to try and analyze his fighting style, then throws a series of phantom-
punches – trying to confuse him before delivering the real blow…
Sheila’s 1st roll is a 9. Naturally, she guesses ‘low’, and rolls the next die.
A 1! She goes for another roll, guessing ‘high’. A 2! She gambles again, and her
4th roll is – incredibly – another 9. She guesses ‘low’, and goes for her final roll. A
5.
Stephen falls for every punch, trying to slap-away fists that never come
within an inch of his person. He’s so distracted by all of Sheila’s feinting that he’s
almost caught totally off-guard as her high-heeled boot comes tearing through
the air toward his face in a leaping roundhouse kick!
Blyte rolls his defending dice, getting a 3, 9, 2, 2 and an 8. He has 1 pair –
and needs a miraculous 5 more to defend himself! He re-rolls the pair of 2s, and
gets a 4 and a 1. No good. This time he feels a lucky vibe coming from the 3 and
the 1, so he re-rolls those. A 10 and a 3! It ain’t his day – he only has 2 more dice
he can re-roll. Another 3, another 10. He gets to re-roll that 3 - but ends-up with
just a 7. He now has no chance of getting any more pairs, and takes the kick
right across the cheek, spittle flying out his mouth.

After just a basic melee attack connects with a victim, the Power of the
attacker is compared to the Power of the victim, and if the attacker is wielding a
melee weapon, they are given a bonus from it. Most weapons give a bonus of +1,
Clubs give a bonus of +2 and Polearms gives a bonus of +3.
If the total attacker’s Power, weapon bonuses included, is less than the
defender’s Power, the defender takes a Wound. If it is equal, the defender takes
a Heavy Wound. If it is more, the defender takes a Life-Threatening Wound.
A character may take Wounds equal to 2x their Power, Heavy Wounds
equal to their Power and Life-Threatening Wounds equal to ½ their Power
(rounded-up) before becoming incapacitated or killed (Whichever makes the
most sense for the circumstance).

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 Sheila has a power of 3, while Stephen’s power is merely 1. That’s a Life-
Threatening Wound! It’s lights-out for our luck-impaired hero, twirling in a 180
degree spin and slumping to the floor after the force of his enemy’s kick nearly
breaks his neck and knocks the consciousness right out of him. Sheila radios a
security team to drag Stephen’s sorry self to the interrogation room…

When faced with multiple foes, a character may attack as many and
defend against as many as his Center value.

Out cold, a large bruise forming on the side of his face (as well as his
ego), Stephen is being hauled-off by 4 of the base’s security guards (2 lifting him
by his feet, the other 2 by his wrists). As the security team reaches the door to
their destination on the compound, the 2 holding-up Stephen’s upper body let go
and let his head thud against the ground as they go to open said door.
The jarring shakes Stephen out of his state of unconsciousness, and
although it takes him a few seconds to assess his current situation, he manages
to figure-out his current predicament before the guards manage to figure-out that
he’s regained his senses. With a backwards hand-spring, Blyte frees his ankles
from the surprised grunts, and rops immediately into a fighting stance – pulling
the sawed-off shotgun that they had foolishly forgot to search his person for out
from under his trenchcoat.
Since Stephen has a Center of 4, he can quite easily manage to engage
the entire security team at once.

Another great way of getting around your enemies’ defenses is by

delivering Crushing Blows, and spending Execution Points.
Declare your intent to deliver a Crushing Blow, and spend 1 Execution
Point for the attempt alone. Roll your 5 10-sided dice, and try to get one of the
following results:

• 3 of a Kind: If 3 of your dice rolls are the same, it’s considered a

Mighty Success. A Mighty Success allows a character to perform a
fairly cool, and equally crippling move to an opponent. Stunning them
for a few seconds with an attack on a sensitive area, disarming them,
grappling/choking/throwing them.. anything that generally makes
sense, and that is generally consented with.
• 4 of a Kind: If 4 of your dice rolls are the same, it’s considered a
Magnificent Success. This allows a character to perform a REALLY
cool, and particularly devastating move to an opponent. Crippling a
limb, dismemberment, deafening them, blinding them, locking them
into a submissive hold… anything except outright kill the poor bastard.
• Flush, Straight or Full House: If all of your dice rolls are the same,
you manage to get both a pair and 3 of a kind or if all of your roll’s
results can be arranged into sequential order (1,2,3,4, etc…) it’s
considered a Master Success. This is an outright, instant kill – and the
player should do their best to make it absolutely spectacular.

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 If you struck with a shuriken or a short sword, you may choose to re-roll
this initial batch of numbers once before making any individual alterations.
If you succeed with a Crushing Blow, your Opponent MAY still defend
themselves. However, they must net 4 pairs to do so – and if you wish, you may
compound this with body language/feinting rolls, for a maximum potential of
lumping 8 pairs against them! If you try to feint them out and fail, however, they
may defend against the Crushing Blow as if it were a basic attack (although it will
still be a Crushing Blow if it hits home).
If you fail your Crushing Blow, it’s a wasted attack. You fumbled your
attempt at doing something cool, and the enemy quite easily deflects your attack.
Finally, if your Crushing Blow is scored, and you are fighting multiple
opponents, you may spend 1 Execution Point per additional enemy (that you are
capable of handling at once) to ‘share’ that Crushing Blow among all of your
targets.

The Gavel decides to allow Stephen the initiative, even though he’s still
shaking-off the effects of that massive kick, because the guards are busy
whipping-out their nightsticks. Blyte’s player is a little weary of that grin across
The Gavel’s face, fearing what might become of his character if another wound is
racked up on him with that Near-Fatal business still in the process of being
shaken, so he decides he’ll go for it and show these no-loads how it’s done.
A Crushing Blow is declared, and the dice are rolled. A 10, 8, 10, 6 and 3
are rolled. This is bad news! Only the 3 can be re-rolled in Stephen’s favor. He
re-rolls, and gets a 4. No match – but it can still be re-rolled. He rolls again,
crossing his fingers…
…A 10!
With 3 of a kind rolled, Stephen has a Mighty Success. He quite gladly
spends an additional 3 Execution Points to spread the Crushing Blow among all
of his targets. The Gavel decides that he’ll just use a single defense roll for all of
the security team, and comes-up with a 10, 2, 3, 4 and 6. The team only has 2
Motion to work with, so the roll is totally blown. They’re now at Stephen’s mercy
(or lack thereof).

Projectile weaponry can be used at point-blank range in melee combat,

although less effectively than at a range due to the fact that targets may defend
themselves against firearms as though the were regular melee weapons in melee
combat. A firearm in melee combat does NOT require reloading at any time –
due a little something we like to call ‘cinematic magic’.
Firearms shots are not at all factored with your character’s Power. Each
has it’s own individual ‘Power’ rating, which is used alone. Most projectile
weapons have a Power of 3, Shotguns have a Power of 4 and Machine Guns
have a Power of 5.
Also, a character may carry and effectively use 1 weapon in each of their
hands (presuming that they aren’t handling a 2-handed weapon). Other weapons
can be attained any number of ways, like through theft, corpse-looting and

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 disarmament. In a case where 2 weapons are being wielded at once, any strike
that character makes counts as 2 strikes – one with 1 weapon, another with the
other.
If anyone is struck with a Flail, they are considered automatically disarmed
of one weapon.

Stephen glides right into the center of the detail, while they attempt to
surround him and rush-in to attack from all sides. The Juggernaut’s reflexes are
impossibly fast, however, and he intercepts the haft of the club swung by the first
man to close-in on him – closing his fingers around it and twisting it from his
grasp. These guys are pretty tough - Power of 3 – but the awed guard proves
that even the heartiest of men will fall to the ground like a sack of dirt if hit well
enough, as Stephen raps the club against his throat. *Gurgle*. *Thud*.
The next one up tries to rush Blyte while he’s busy emptying a executing
round from his shotgun into the downed man’s skull, and has the butt of the club
rammed into his abdomen for his troubles in a well-timed backward thrust. While
he double-over Stephen takes the opportunity to blow a fist-sized hole through
his chest and send him tumbling back against the wall.
The last 2 charge simultaneously at the Juggernaut, trying to tack him
down, but Stephen simply spins out of the way in a blurring swirl – clocking one
over the head with the nightstick, and taking the other’s head off his shoulders
with a round to the neck. Dazed with his skull throbbing, the surviving guard
stumbles about on his hands and knees on the floor, trying get back on his feet –
but Stephen sends him back to the ground permanently with a spine-fracturing
thrust of the butt of his gun.

Traits, depending on their limitations and scope, should also probably play
a big part of your strategy in combat. A ‘round’ of combat (the time from when
your character finishes acting to when he gets to act again) is roughly 15-30
seconds of game time, depending on how much action is going-on. Something to
keep in mind for Traits with time restrictions.
Additionally, after each round of combat (after each combatant has taken
1 turn), Initiative is re-assigned. It might stay exactly the same – or The Gavel
might decide to change it, based on something that’s happened during the fight.

Out for a little vengeance, and well aware that he still has a mission to
complete for the sake of all he holds dear, Stephen skulks his way back over to
the door being guarded by Sheila. Sure enough, she’s still at her post – and this
time there’s not even the remotest chance of sneaking-up on her. Blyte is still
convinced that it’s entirely possible for him to take her out before she has a
chance to call for backup, however – and marches-over to meet her head-on.
She sees him coming quite some time before he reaches her position, and
gets ready put him down once again. This time, permanently.

Execution Points are awarded to your character by The Gavel for

descriptive and graphic details about how your mastered skills in combat are

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 employed, and good roleplaying on your part in general. The Gavel should be
fairly generous about handing-out Execution Points, but should not feel obligated
in any way to hand out any to players who just aren’t being very descriptive or
playing their characters like they should be.
Also, characters may not have more Execution Points during the game
than what they started-out with after they finished character creation. You
‘bought’ all those fancy Traits instead, remember?

Stephen is given the initiative once again, and his player decides to play it
a little more strategically this time. First, he spends his last remaining Execution
Point to declare a Crushing Blow. A 9, 6,6, 9 and 9 are rolled! That’s a Full
House!
Even with that huge Master Success, however, Stephen’s player still
doesn’t trust Sheila’s big 4 Motion. He decides that Steve should try to draw-off
her guard with a feinted kick.
His first roll is a 6. Ooh… not so good odds. He has to run with it, though,
so he chooses ‘low’. The next roll is a 3! He calls-off the gambling, deciding that
racking-up 5 pairs against Sheila should be enough.
Sheila rolls her defense – hoping for a lucky score on this one. 10, 4, 4, 2,
10! She has 2 of those pairs, and can still re-roll those 4’s and that 2. A 1, a 3
and a 3! That makes for 3 pairs. She re-rolls all of the dice again – but her luck
isn’t so sweet this time. A 5, 3 and a 6. That blows the roll.
Stephen kicks high for the guard’s head, and Sheila falls for it – leaning-in
to intercept his calf with the heel of her palm. Blyte pulls his kick and swings-
around his other leg before his opponent even knows what’s happening,
wrapping his thigh around Sheila’s extended head and forcing her down into a
crouch -–neck pinched between his legs. Stephen twists his hip hard, and
Sheila’s neck breaks with a *snap*. She goes limp, and slumps to the floor.
The Gavel awards Stephen for his roleplaying and descriptive play thus far
by handing him 5 Execution Points (1 for each baddie he iced in a badass
manner).

Gun Dueling

Firearm combat is considerably different in a number of ways from Melee

Combat – foremostly because it typically takes place over a significant distance.
Guns are more difficult to defend oneself against because bullets move so fast,
and they cannot be fired in continuous volleys due to the need to reload
ammunition.
Initiative in a Gun Duel works the same as it does in a Melee Duel.
However, unlike Melee Combat, the attacker is not always guaranteed to hit a
target that doesn’t manage to defend itself. The idea behind the difference
between fist-fighting and gun-fighting, as far as instant success vs rolling to hit, is
that in most good action flics the heroes don't seem to mis-place any punches,
but they can unload quite a few rounds out of a firearm without hitting anything.

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 The attacker rolls 5d10, and following the same rules for a combat roll in
Melee Dueling, attempts to get 2 pairs. If they’re using a pistol, they may re-roll
this entire initial batch of results once. If they’re using a rifle, they only need 1
pair. If they’re using a shotgun, and the shot is being fired from a bit of a distance
(when in doubt, it’s The Gavel’s decision), they need 4 pairs.
The defender then gets their roll, and needs 4 pairs to avoid being shot –
or, if they’re behind sufficient cover, 2 pairs (once again, The Gavel’s decision is
the final one if this is in debate). If they’re being shot at by a Sub-Machine Gun or
a Machine Gun, they need an extra pair to avoid being hit.

Stephen crouches-down and runs his hands over the skin-tight body
armor that Sheila’s corpse is clad in, finding what he’s looking for on her thigh – a
hidden pocket containing a security cardlock key. He slides it through the
cardlock slot on the door to unlock it, pockets the key, then bends-over to hug
Sheila’s body around the waist, lifting it up and slinging it over his shoulder –
intent on lugging it through the door and depositing it somewhere where it won’t
be immediately noticed.
Mr. Blyte opens the door to a bit of a surprise, however – namely, 2 armed
guards who seem very miffed to see someone trying to walk around with the
body of their commander’s dead bodyguard. They unholster their sidearms just
as quickly as Stephen droops Sheila’s body in front of him for use as an
improvised shield of sorts. He holds-up the dead female with one arm and grabs
for his shotgun with the other, but can’t caulk and aim it before the bullets are
already flying!
The Gavel gave initiative to the NPCs this time, due to the fact that
Stephen sacrificed speed for protection when he positioned his kill in front of
himself. They each fired a shot from their pistols, rolling their 5 ten-sided dice
(The Gavel once again opting to use 1 roll for both NPCs).
A 1, 1, 1, 4 and a 3. They decide not to use their pistol’s ability to re-roll
the initial results. With a Motion of 2, they choose to re-roll all of the ones. A 7, 4
and a 5 are turned-up. Tough luck!
Stephen winces as bullets ricochet off the walls around him, but he stands
his ground and aims his weapon – well aware that these boys are off their mark.

A Critical Hit may be scored by any combatant who manages to roll their
necessary 2 pairs for purposes of aiming, and ALSO scores 3 of a Kind. This
kind of gunshot not only wounds an enemy, but strikes a particularly sensitive
region of their body – leaving them stunned with shock for 1 turn.
Critical Hits do NOT have to be declared. Any roll that can be turned into
this sort of result is a Critical Hit.

Stephen fires his shotgun from around Sheila’s waist, hoping to catch both
of the guards with a spray of buckshot. The dice are rolled.
A 7, 5, 2, 8 and 2. He’s got a pair – but he really wants to try and score a
Critical Hit against these rookies, and that 7 and 8 really hurt his chances.
Nevertheless he re-rolls the 5. A 6 – really no good! Those 2 2s are his last hope,

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 so he gives them both a toss. Another 2 6s! That makes for 2 pairs AND 3 of a
kind!
The guards make a roll for defense. A 9, 7, 3, 4 and 9. One pair – but they
can’t re-roll anything else to try and make the 3 more that they need. It’s a hit!
These guys are a little less tough than those bruisers in the security team
that Stephen dispatched, with a Power of 2. Our hero’s shotgun has a Power of
4, and thusly dishes-out Near-Lethal Wounds.
The buckshot makes wet splattering noise as it impacts against the solar
plexus of either guard. Both double-over, nearly dropping their guns - the wind
knocked out of them.

Ammunition is a valuable commodity in ranged firearm battles. Your

character will never run out of bullets to reload any gun with (another bit of that
‘cinematic magic’), but a gun may run out of bullets and require reloading.
Reloading takes 1 turn – even if your character is claimed to be using things like
speed-loaders and magazines.
Generally speaking, The Gavel gets to decide when your character is out
of bullets (although they should generally be as fair as they can be with this sort
of thing).

Squeezing back the trigger for a second burst of gunfire, Stephen’s

shotgun only makes a mechanical *click* in a response. Between that show with
the security team and the one round he spent here, it’s run out of shells.
Stephen could spend this turn reloading – or he could rush the stunned
guards and continue this confrontation by way of Melee combat. The choice is
his.

Enrichment

The Grinning Moon

There’s only one thing that determines how good or bad anyone’s day is
going to be: That smirking face that lights the night sky each evening.
Nobody’s sure exactly how or when the moon grew it’s face – but
EVERYONE knows that the world just hasn’t quite been the same ever since. It’s
as if our satellite one day decided that it would like to be amused, so it amused
itself with us.
And hey, don’t go bother complaining about it, either. I’d hate to get
frowned upon by it – wouldn’t you?

Urban Gangs and Terrorism

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 You don’t have any comprehension of what the term ‘gang’ refers to until
you’ve experienced a full-fledged Pavement War, which seem to happen almost
too often in the more densely populated zones of urbania. Synthesized hit-men,
rail-guns and pulse rifles, road hogs that transform into fearsome suits of robotic
battle-armor… if it goes BOOM! or ZAP!, it’s somewhere in the stew.
Anymore, someone might take a department store hostage just for
something to fill their day with – and if the police show up, it’s just so they get the
chance to shoot at something else while they’re on the job. We’ve become just
about as nutty as the world we’re standing on, and military technology has never
been so readily available.

Extraterrestrial Incursions
Aliens. You love ‘em or you hate ‘em.
The first of them came screaming-in over Chicago, toppling skyscrapers,
tearing-up bridges and establishing fortifications as they went. We shut them up
with a tactical nuke here and there, and then we more or less started getting
along. More came, some left… it’s an average afternoon, nowadays.
Extraterrestrials come in every shape, size and color, and usually pack
around some nifty gizmo or two that nobody else has heard of before. We fight
with them, we joke with them, we sell them drugs and alcohol…
…They’re just another bunch of us with goofy looks, really.

The Undead
I don’t know WHY we ever started burying big heaps of dead bodies in
one place, but from the perspective of today, that was a REALLY stupid idea.
When the corpses first began to unearth themselves from the ground and
wander about, people went apeshit. Everybody’d seen one too many movies or
played one too many video games where undead zombies tackled folks to the
floor and tore their faces off.
If an undead sap blundered into town, they were riddled with shotgun
shells, bagged, and burned to ash. Made for one hell of a party, believe you me.
It took a few years before somebody finally managed to figure-out that the
brain-eating zombies, just by themselves, were entirely harmless. Utterly without
any thought, drive or ambition, they just… well… wandered. They wobbled
forward in a straight line until they smacked into a stationary object, then blunder
their way around it and keep going.
Of course, as soon as we figured it out, we had to go ahead and ruin it for
ourselves. One minute it looked like these zombie guys might not be a half-bad

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 bunch to have over at your midnight rave party, the next some bastard money-
bags decides to pay a research team to net a few up and start ‘testing’ them.
Funny that the word ‘test’ always somehow ends-up transforming into ‘create
super-powerful armies of invincible minions’ these days.
A little brain surgery here, and little chemical unbalancing there… viola!
We all get fucked! Some super-genius, indestructible undead with ninja-power
busted themselves out of a lab, began running amok, and using their brains to
manufacture more of themselves with all the people they started killing. Oh yeah
– and they could only sustain themselves with human blood and intestinal tract.
Fun shit.
Ah, it ain’t so big a deal these days anyhow. We’ve got enough nuts with
guns and something funky going-on for themselves on our street corners to blast
a few new assholes in any zombie or vampire that comes marching along,
thinking they own the place.

A Few Words from the Designer

Making this was a LOT of fun. I wanted to create something that was fairly
easy for a player to buckle themselves into, and allowed them to just go kick
some ass. I’d like to think that I succeeded.
It’s been a long process to get the game this far, through draft after draft of
writing and planning, and constant sparks of inspiration that pulled the project
one way or the other during the process of it’s birth. In the end, it consumed 2
years of my life – but getting to this stage was worth it, every second.
I’d like to thank a few sources from which I pulled my drive to carry onward
when it seemed like the gears were stuck, and a few that I was able to draw my
ideas from. Foremostly, I’d like to thank every single user who’s registered and
posted in the ‘The Art of Game Design’ forum at www.rpg.net. These folks
always have more than a few words of wisdom to say about designing
roleplaying games, and are always willing to listen to the new guy, and what
ideas they might have. I’d never have completed this game I hadn’t been lurking
over there. My hat’s off to those great folks.
I’d also like to give thanks to:
• Carmageddon ™ and it’s designers, for proving to both myself and
the rest of the world that regardless of how many people bitch about
violent media or how much they do it, running-over virtual pedestrians
all day is one of the most entertaining ways one can relieve stress.
• Michael A. Stackpole, designer of the entire Battletech universe, for
being a supporter of the achievements that are possible through game
design, and defender of our craft. There’s nobody I’m happier knowing
is pulling for us in the industry.
• Star Wars ™. I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for the story of how
George Lucas turned a dream into a phenomenon – and, regardless

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 of the blasphemy of film critics, there was nothing cooler than
watching Yoda pull his lightsaber and get jiggy with it.
• Ghost Bear. One of the many moderators of the Homeworld Universe
Boardwar Forums
(http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~homeworld/board/viewtopic.php?t=16
66&sid=93b096ae9c38feb46b2ebb2c4abc0848) . Before I met Ghost
Bear, I didn’t know anyone who saw me as a genius. Thanks for
believing in my talents – you breathed the life into this game.
Somewhere, deep down inside, I’ll always be a fellow Boardwarrior.
• Langy, the Mutant Dwarf – also a moderator at the HWU Boardwar
forums. He’s been the heart and soul of the community over there
ever since it began, and was one of the folks to get it off the ground.
He was the first person to ever compliment me as being way more
than average in roleplaying. My salute goes out to you!
• Patricia Pulling, and her many fellow collaborators. If there weren’t
more people like her in the world, I’d have nothing to build my own
worlds in small protest against. Kudos, Pat – I’m sure I wasn’t the only
designer out there to read your report and suddenly become inspired
to build a game.
• Magic : The Gathering ™, for teaching me that a game doesn’t need 4
buttons, a directional pad and a virtual environment to be fun.
• Stephen King, for teaching me that kicking ass doesn’t require a video
game.
• l33+ $p34k, +3h 0wnly univ3r$4l l4ngu4g3.
• Youthwrite ™, it’s coordinators and it’s instructors, for taking-in a
monster and accepting it for what it was.
• Sarah, for giving me all this warm fuzz.
• Uberness and leetness. Without them, half of my early fiction’s
descriptor’s wouldn’t have been nearly as colorful.
• Stan Lee, without whom the world be far too boring a place.
• Transformers ™, for being the cartoon super heroes of my youth.
• Joss Whedon, for demonstrating the effectiveness of comedy-blended
horror and action.
• The Speaker God, for showing that a computer speaker can grant just
as many wishes as any well when coins are tossed into it.
• Dave’s Ronchy Fun ™, for bringing light to the fact that hobbies really
CAN go the wrong way.
• Xenosaga ™, for showing me the strategy, tension and entertainment
of a game of solo-played Poker.
• Splattered with Gore, and it’s GM, Smiling Dag – for showing me that
an RPG doesn’t have to be given a deep and epic plot to be lots of fun
(just a few well-describe intestine spillings).
• Cola, for being there when I needed something cold, thick and sweet
to satiate my thirst.

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 I hope you enjoy playing this game, and that every adventure that
Juggernauts sends you on is one to remember. Thanks for looking into a little
piece of my world.
-Kevin R. Brown,
Designer

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