6 | Combat Time
Combat is a dangerous but inevitable part of the life of a Free Rad. When you come into conflict with a hostile force and cannot find a peaceful solution, the timescale of play shifts to track every movement and action.
Combat in RADS is fast-paced and unpredictable. Favoured approaches and day jobs mean little when it comes to conflict—whether they rely on force, speed or conscientiousness, all player characters are assumed to be equally competent in battle. Likewise Powers, whose effects are measured in minutes, hours and days, are insignificant compared to the immediate reality of violence.
Everyone has their own approach to fighting, which has a small impact on their inclination towards its various aspects, but what matters more than anything else are the choices you make from second to second.
Battle stance
Game Runner: The demon bears its teeth and howls at you, readying to attack. We’re entering combat time. Everyone pick an approach and roll tactics for turn order.
Sam (playing Sam Carter): I want to get in there quick and trip it over. I’m taking a focused approach and putting 2d6 on tactics.
Chelsea (playing Diana Weathers): I’m already low on Energy. I’m prioritising defence. I guess attack second, since my combat speciality is ‘brutal’? Ooh, and I want to delay the demon as well with my tactical move!
Will (playing Enoch Rutherford): I’m going d8s all round, see how this goes.
GR: Alright, roll tactics for me. Chelsea, roll twice and give me the lower result.
Chelsea: That’s a 2.
GR: Cool, what are you doing to slow it down?
Chelsea: It growled at us, I’m… going to growl back!
GR: That’s confusing enough to startle it into hesitating, reducing when it acts by 2. Good idea. Okay, I’m going to count down, when I reach your tactics roll result, you can act. 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10—
Sam: I got a 10! I’m going to sabotage the demon with my tactical move. I want to flash my torch in its eyes to blind it, so it can’t attack as easily. I roll 2d6 for a result of 7, and I have the ‘strategic’ combat speciality, so that’s a 9.
GR: That beats its defence score, so it’s now hesitant and partially blinded, making it less able to attack as well. Nice work! Make an attack?
Sam: I’m going to get up close and attack with my radknife. I’ve only got a d6… oh, that’s a 6!
GR: That meets its defence score, so you deal 3 damage from your blade. The demon roars in pain. You staying right up next to it?
Sam: I’ve moved as much as I can, so I guess so. Here’s hoping that being blinded will save me!
Aspects and spreads
In the RADS system, there are three aspects of combat:
- Attack represents your ability to hit and deal damage to another combatant.
- Defence is your ability to avoid taking damage.
- Tactics is your ability to act more quickly than other combatants and perform tactical moves.
At the start of each round, each player chooses which aspect they prioritise, and to what extent, by choosing one of three spreads and assigning dice to each aspect:
- A tilted spread gives you 1d10, 1d8 and 1d6 to assign however you like.
- A balanced spread gives you a d8 for each aspect.
- A focused spread lets you assign 2d6 to one aspect you wish to prioritise, giving 1d6 to each of the remaining aspects.
For , a player might decide they want to be aggressive, but not at the expense of their safety, while they don’t mind acting later than others. In this case, they would use a tilted spread and assign 1d10 to attack, 1d8 to defence and 1d6 to tactics.
Your turn
Combat time is divided into rounds and each combatant has their own turn to act in each round. From the characters’ perspective, a round lasts about 10 seconds.
You roll tactics to determine when you act in the turn order. On your turn, you can move up to your movement and take one action: by default, this is to make an attack, but you can also attempt something more inventive with an approach test, or simply turn tail and flee.
Once each round, you can spend 1 Energy to use a tactical move, and you roll defence whenever you are attacked.
After all combatants have taken a turn, the round ends. If one side hasn’t decisively won, a new round begins.
Turn order
Every combatant takes one turn per round. At the start of each round, after picking a spread and assigning their dice, players roll their tactics die for that round to determine the order in which they will act. The GR will count down from 15, with FRs acting when the result of their tactics roll is reached. Extras act on their tactics score.
Ties
Sometimes multiple combatants have the same tactics roll result or tactics score as one another. Ties are resolved as follows:
- In a tie between a Free Rad and a demon, the demon acts first.
- In a tie between an FR and a human Extra, the player acts first.
- In a tie between FRs, the players decide who acts first.
- In a tie between Extras, the GR decides who acts first.
Movement
On your turn, you can move up to 6 spaces. Each space equates to approximately 6 feet. You can spread out your movement between and around actions.
RADS is designed to be played on a hexagonal battle mat, using figurines or tokens to represent the combatants. Hexes are recommended over squares, because squares suck and hexes are great, but feel free to work with whatever you’ve got/prefer.
You can also play RADS without tokens or a map, instead approximating distances and keeping a rough mental picture of the orientation and positioning of combatants in your head. This is called ‘the theatre of the mind’.
Combat specialities
Free Rads each have a combat speciality reflecting their unique training, skills and experience. These bestow small passive benefits which improve the result of certain kinds of rolls you make. You choose one combat specialty when you create your character.
Bonuses from combat specialties only ever apply once per turn. If a tactical move has you roll twice, apply the bonus to the first roll you make.
| Combat speciality | Details |
|---|---|
| Brutal | +1 bonus to your attack rolls. |
| Tough | +1 bonus to your defence rolls. |
| Alert | +2 bonus to your turn order. |
| Strategic | +2 bonus to your tactical move roll. |
| Unconventional | +2 bonus to approach tests during combat. |
| Speedy | Your movement is 8 instead of 6. |
Attacking and defending
To attack, roll your attack die against the Extra’s defence score. If you meet or beat the score, you succeed. The target of your attack loses Energy equal to the difference between their defence score and the result of your roll, plus additional weapon damage depending on the implement you used.
When you are attacked by an Extra, roll your defence die against their attack score. If you fail, you lose Energy equal to the difference between the result of your roll and their attack score, plus their weapon damage.
Weapon types and damage
Every Free Rads’ primary weapon is their radknife, a short dagger made of a pale green, radioactive glass called trinitite.
Trinitite was created in the nuclear blast of the first nuclear bomb detonation at the Trinity test in 1945. A radknife deals +3 weapon damage against a demon. Trinitite has never been successfully replicated, making these weapons incredibly rare.
Anything other than a radknife has -3 weapon damage against a demon, making it almost impossible to injure a demon without this weapon. Against any opponent other than a demon, a radknife has no special benefits, acting like a normal dagger.
Other weapons fall into four abstract categories:
- Small weapons deal +1 weapon damage against non-demon targets. Lightweight and easily concealed, small weapons include knives, knuckle dusters and broken bottles.
- Large weapons deal +2 weapon damage against non-demon targets. Although they are more powerful, these weapons are hard to conceal or justify if seen by a bystander. A large weapon might be a golf club, a sword or a table leg.
- Guns deal +2 against non-demon targets and can be used at a distance, but will draw attention if fired in earshot of bystanders.
- Unarmed attacks and *thrown weapons deal no additional weapon damage. This means that if you exactly meet your target’s defence score with the roll, you hit but deal no damage. This still counts as a successful attack roll for the purpose of tactical moves.
Tactical moves
Tactical moves are fighting techniques that your FR has practiced until they are like second nature, and can be performed with minimal additional effort during a combat situation. You pick two tactical moves at character creation.
Tactical moves use your tactical die and cost 1 Energy to use. Tactical moves specify at what point during a round they can be used; you can only use one a round.
| Tactical move | When usable | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Advance | When you roll tactics for turn order | Roll tactics twice and add the results together to determine your turn order result. |
| Delay | When you roll tactics for turn order | Roll tactics twice. An opponent of your choice takes a penalty to their score equal to the lower result; use the other number as your turn order. |
| Aid | At the start of your turn | Choose an ally. You roll tactics and they roll defence. If your result meets or exceeds theirs, your ally gains a +2 bonus to all rolls of an aspect of their choice until the end of their next turn. |
| Sabotage | At the start of your turn | Choose an opponent and roll tactics against their defence score. If you succeed, the opponent takes a -2 penalty to one of their scores of your choice for the remainder of this round or the duration of the next round. |
| Quicken | At the start of your turn | Roll tactics. You can move additional spaces this turn equal to the result. |
| Slow | At the start of an Extra’s turn | Roll tactics. The opponent can move fewer spaces this turn equal to the result. |
| Flurry | When you make a successful attack roll | Make an additional attack against any opponent in range, using your tactics die in place of your attack die. |
| Savage | When you make a successful attack roll | Roll tactics. The target loses additional Energy equal to half the result, rounded up. |
| Counter | When you make a successful defence roll | Make an attack roll against your attacker, using your tactics die in place of your attack die. |
| Protect | When an ally fails a defence roll | Roll tactics and half the result, rounding up. Your ally gains a bonus of this value to their defence roll. If the defence roll is still a failure, you lose the same amount of Energy as your ally, using the revised defence score to calculate Energy lost. |
Other actions in combat time
Instead of attacking on your turn, you can spend 1 Energy to try something else to affect the situation. This could simply be replicating the effect of a tactical move you don’t have, or creating some advantage more specific to your situation.
Describe what you want to do to the GR, who will decide whether it is feasible to attempt this action within the timeframe of a single round of combat (5-10 seconds). If so, you can make an approach test.
Approach tests during combat cannot benefit from a bonus from your day job, and you can’t work together with another character.
Attempting something other than fighting exposes you to greater risk. On a round where you make an approach test, you cannot attack or use a tactical move, and your tactics and defence dice are both 1d6.
Fleeing
At any point, you can choose to flee combat. Your attack die becomes a retreat die, which you roll at the start of your turn, increasing the number of spaces you can move that turn by half the result (rounded up).
Civilians, opposing Rads and demons will usually also flee once they are sufficiently intimidated or injured.
Ending combat time
Combat time ends when the outcome of a fight is settled one way or another and it is no longer necessary to track actions from moment to moment. When combat time ends, you always return to scenic time to tie up loose ends and give a chance to heal anyone who has been injured.
When shouldn’t you fight?
Fighting is noisy and obvious, potentially drawing unwanted attention to the combatants. Tricking, trapping or otherwise overcoming an opponent without violence will often be a more sensible approach than all-out violence. Against an overwhelmingly superior foe, fleeing, surrendering or allowing yourselves to be beaten into submission are all reasonable alternatives to fighting until you reach negative Energy or die.