Checks and Combos

Let's say a Cast member is being ruthlessly chased and decides to jump from the top of one building to the next to run away. Do they safely make the jump or do they burst into a spray of blood on the ground below? When we want to determine the success or failure of a Character's action like this it's time to make a Check.

Checks are called for by the RL when they become appropriate, though of course if a Player wants to do something they may explain what their Character is trying to do and ask to make a Check. With the RL's permission they may do so.

However, don't go wasting time with Checks for trivial actions like whether or not your Character is capable of breathing or for completely impossible actions like whether or not your Character can split the Earth in two with their fist. Checks are made for actions with a potential for both success and failure, and not just one or the other.

Basic Checks
The most basic type of Check is when the RL indicates a specific Suit(such as Clubs) and if you play a card with that same Suit from your hand you succeed. Basic Checks are not concerned with the Card's Value(CV), but simply the Suit. Obviously, if you play a card of a different Suit or don't play a card at all you fail the check.

Your Hand
At the beginning of an Act, shuffle your prepared playing cards and distribute 4 cards to each Player and the RL. This is your Hand, and playing cards from it will be the fundamental way you make Checks.

Playing a Card
When playing a card, place it face up in front of you so the RL and the other Players can confirm the card you played and determine the Check's success or failure. Once the Check is over, and regardless of its Result, the played card becomes discarded and placed in a pile next to the Deck.

Replenishing Your Hand
Immediately after a Check draw a new card to return your Hand to 4. Essentially, any time a card is discarded from your Hand you immediately replace it with a new one from the Deck.

Blind Draws
What if you don't happen to have the right Suit to make a Basic Check in your Hand? Well, you don't have a choice but to accept failure. Or, if that doesn't suit you, you can attempt a Blind Draw.

In place of playing a card from your Hand you may instead draw a card directly from the top of the Deck and place it face up in front of you. If it matches the Suit you succeed, if not you fail. The drawn card then becomes discarded afterwards.

Fumble
Making a Blind Draw comes with large risks. If you happen to draw a Face Card on a Blind Draw you Fumble your Check, resulting in a greater than normal failure. When it comes to a Fumble it doesn't matter if the Suit matches or not; Blind Drawing any Face Card of any Suit is a Fumble. It's up to the group to figure out an interesting and exciting way to fail spectacularly.

Aces
Whether it's played from your Hand or the result of a Blind Draw, if you succeed on a Check with an Ace it becomes a Critical Success：a greater success than usual.

Jokers
Jokers are Wild Cards and can be played in place of any other card in the Deck. If you need to play a card with the Hearts Suit you may designate it a Heart card, and choose any applicable CV for it. You could even make it an Ace of Hearts and get a Critical Success. Of course, if you feel like, you may also purposefully fail the check with a Joker.

Attribute Checks
Characters possess 4 Attributes, and these Attribute Values are used in Checks to determine the degree of success or failure of an action. Attribute Checks are typically used in a situation where there isn't any applicable Skill to use.

Attribute Check Process
Attribute Checks follow the below process.


 * 1) Choose an Attribute
 * 2) Choose a Target Number
 * 3) Make a Check
 * 4) Calculate the Check's Result
 * 5) Determine the Check's Success or Failure
 * 6) If Successful, Calculate the Degree of Success

Choosing an Attribute
The RL chooses the Attribute to use for an Attribute Check based on what's appropriate for the situation. Of course, the Player is free to suggest what Attribute they think they should use, but the RL has the final say.

Choosing a Target Number
The Target Number(or TN) of a Check is decided by the RL and represents the difficulty of an action. The higher number the higher the difficulty. It is up to the RL whether or not to divulge the exact number to the Player, but it is highly recommended to do so. [TNX] is a game of careful resource management, and knowing the Target Number allows Players to make the informed decisions necessary to do that.

Please use the below chart for reference when deciding Target Numbers.

Making a Check
Similar to making a Basic Check, play a card that matches the Suit of the designated Attribute. If you do, the Check is Valid and you may move to the next step. If not the Check is a failure.

Calculating the Result
The Result of a Check determines how well the Character's action went. Use the below formula for determining a Check's Result.

Attribute Value
Your Attribute Value is derived from the Attribute that matches the valid Suit of the check. [Reason] for Spades, [Life] for Hearts, [Passion] for Clubs, and [Mundane] for Diamonds.

Card Value
While a Basic Check isn't concerned with the CV of your played card, Attribute Checks are. The higher the value the better.

Modifiers
Not every action occurs under the same circumstances. If the RL feels something in the situation can help or hinder a Check, then they may place a positive or negative modifier onto the Check. As a standard, you should typically go for a +2/-2 for a Check, and it's recommended not to go past +5/-5.

Certain Rules, Skills, and Outfits can also supply modifiers to a Check.

Determining the Success or Failure of the Check
Compare the Target Number and Result to each other. If the Result is equal to or greater than the Target Number then the Check succeeds. Otherwise it fails.

Calculating Degree of Success
Certain Skills require the Degree of Success(DoS) as part of their effect. On a successful Check, simply subtract the Target Number from the Result to receive the DoS.

Note that this is a step you only do on a successful Check. There is no such thing as a Degree of Failure.

Skill Checks
Characters possess a wide arrangement of Skills and are capable of performing a wide arrangement of actions with them through Skill Checks. Skill Checks are the most often-used Check in [TNX].

Skill Check Process
Skill Checks follow the below process.


 * 1) Determine the Skill Being Used
 * 2) Choose a Target Number
 * 3) Play a Card
 * 4) Determine if the Card is a Valid Suit
 * 5) Spend Credits if Necessary/Capable
 * 6) Calculate the Result
 * 7) Determine Success or Failure
 * 8) If Successful, Calculate the Degree of Success

Determining the Skill Used
Normally, a Player will explain a certain action they wish their Character to take, and then the RL will determine which Skill they should be using for their Check. A Player can of course also ask to use a specific Skill for their Check and explain their reasoning, but it is the RL's decision at the end.

Determining Target Number
Fundamentally, this is no different than with Attribute Checks. However, Skill Checks are often made with another Character as the Target of the action. In this situation, the Target Number of your Check becomes the Control Rating of the Target's Attribute that matches the Suit you played in your Check. For example, if you played a Spade card then your Target Number would be your Target's [Reason] Control Rating.

In this situation, your Target Number is undefined until you play a card.

Determining Valid Suits when Playing a Card
When you acquire or level up a Skill you also choose a Suit for that Skill, and you must play a card of a Suit your Skill possesses in order for the Check to be Valid. If you have a high-leveled Skill with multiple Suits than you may use cards of any of those possessed Suits when playing a card. For example, if you had [: ♥♣♠(SL3)] then you may play any card from the Hearts, Clubs, or Spades Suits. Like Attribute Checks, you may play a card from your Hand or perform a Blind Draw.

Spending Credits
If the Skill you are using allows it, you may spend Credits after playing a card. Declare the amount of Credits you are spending and raise the Result of your check by that same amount.

For further details regarding the usage of Credits, please see the Ruler Rules section and consult the General Skills section for Skills that can be used with Credits.

The Rest of the Process
Calculating Results, determining success/failure, and calculating DoS all follow the same process a Attribute Checks.

Opposed Checks
When a Character makes a Check against another Character, or one Character wishes to somehow obstruct another Character's attempted action, that Character has the right to make a Reaction Check to avoid or prevent their success.

In an Opposed Check the Character who first initiated the confrontation is known as the Attacker, and the Target of their Check is the Defender. Each Character makes a Skill Check and the one with the higher Result wins the Opposed Check, and only they may activate the effects of their attempted Skill Check.

Opposed Check Process
Fundamentally, an Opposed Check is simply the Attacker declaring a Skill Check and the Defender declaring their intention to Oppose it with their own Skill Check. After which the Attacker performs their Check, followed by the Defender. Simply reference the Skill Check rules for how each Check should work.

Defender Declines to React
If the Defender wishes, they may refuse to make a Reaction Check in response to their Attacker's Check. If they do, then the Attacker's Check follows the normal rules of a Skill Check and the Defender's Control Rating becomes the Target Number.

A Defender may do this because they do not have a card to play, want to save a good card for later, or simply trust their Control Rating to see them through.

Defender Takes Priority in Ties
If the Attacker and Defender's Result are a tie then the Defender wins the Opposed Check. This advantage is the result of the Defender making their Check after the Attacker. Essentially, the Attacker's Result is the Target Number of their Check and per the game rules meeting the Target Number results in a success. If it is unclear who is the Attacker or Defender then simply redo the check until a winner is decided.

If you feel that this advantage is too large for the Defender, then you may instead ask the Attacker and Defender to both choose a card and play if face down, flipping them over at the same time. This may result in slowing the game's pace down a lot though, so it's not entirely recommended.

Degree of Success
To determine DoS, simply subtract the loser's Result from the winner's Result. If the loser did not play a Valid card on their Check then their Result is 0. If the Defender declined to make a Reaction and lost then instead subtract the Defender's Control Rating from the Attacker's Result.

Combos
Using your familiarity of the area to quickly run through it or keeping yourself hidden while you hack into a computer terminal; situations such as these are common in stories. When you wish to perform such an action that falls under the scope of multiple different Skills, just what should you do when making a Check?

The answer is simple, use each Skill together in a single Skill Check known as a Combo.

Combo Limits
When initiating a Combo, first decide what the Base Skill of the Combo is. The Base Skill represents the core part of the action taking place. Using the previous example of running through a familiar area, for instance, the Base Skill would likely be  and you would combo it with something like  or .

The maximum number of Skills that can be used in a Combo is equal to the Base Skill's SL+1. Or in other words, when making a Combo with this Base Skill, you may only add a number of extra Skills equal to the SL of the Base Skill. For example, a Combo with an SL3  action could have 3 other skills attached to it, for a total of 4 Skills Comboed together.

Sometimes the Skills someone is trying to Combo together may not make any sense for the situation or action being attempted. Doing a  and  Combo would typically make sense, but unless there's a really specific situation allowing it  and  is likely not to be seen as a valid Combo. As such, it should be noted that just like a Check, a Combo needs the RL's permission to happen.

Action Skills
Certain General Skills are denoted as Action Skills. Generally these are skills that have to do with combat like  or . For a full list, see the General Skills section.

Action Skills cannot be used in a Combo together, and an Action Skill included in a Combo must be the Base Skill. If there is no Action Skill in the Combo, the Base Skill becomes the Skill that best represents the core part of the action being attempted.

Info-Gathering Checks
Info-Gathering Checks(covered in the Situational Rules Section) must use a valid Info-Gathering Skill(such as a  or  Skill) as their Base Skill. Since Action Skills must be the Base Skill of the Combo, you cannot include them in an Info-Gathering Combo.

Valid Suits in a Combo
When performing a Combo Check, you do so with a single card from a single Suit. And this Suit that you play must be a Valid card for every single Skill in a Combo. If even one Skill isn't Valid with the played Suit then the entire Combo and all of its Skills fail.

Combo Rules
Combos have the following specific rules associated with them.

Combo Targets
The Target of each Skill/Effect in a Combo must all be the exact same Target of the Combo itself. You cannot pick and choose a different Target for each Skill in your Combo or exclude the Effect of one Skill in the Combo.

Target Number
When using Multiple Skills in a Combo, particularly Style Skills, it is possible for their to be different Target Numbers for each Skill. When such situations arise, use the highest Target Number among your Skills as the TN of your Combo Check. If you fail to meet or beat this number the entire Combo and all Skills fail, even if you beat one of the lower TNs of one of your Skills in the Combo.

Opposed Checks
Attackers and Defenders are both free to make Combos in Opposed Checks. In this situation, pay close attention to the Result or Control Rating of your opponent, as you still need to set your Combo's TN to the highest possible value.

Modifiers
If you have a Skill, Outfit, or Situational Modifier that affects one Skill in your Combo, then that Modifier affects the Result of the entire Combo.

Substitute Skills
If you are called to make a Skill Check but do not possess the appropriate Skill then you cannot make a Check and the action is considered a failure. However, with the RL's permission you may make a Skill Check using the below method.

If you need to make a Skill Check with a specific Skill that you lack, you may use another Skill similar to it to take its place. However, doing so incurs a -5 penalty to the Result of your Check.

Situational Modifiers
If you are in a situation that may negatively or positively affect an attempted action, the RL may impose a Situational Modifier on the Check. Fundamentally this should be a ±2 to the Result.

If there's a situation that affects the entire Scene and would impose a modifier on every Character, then it's probably best to omit the modifier since it's still technically an even playing field. It's usually only when one or a few specific Characters are especially affected that you add a modifier to a Check.

Self-Control Checks
Sometimes there are situations; such as getting dizzy from blood loss, getting injected with a Drug, or resisting temptations; where a Character must exhibit their Self-Control and willpower to see themselves through a situation. At such a time, the RL will call for a Self-Control Check.

On a success, a Character suppresses an instinctual reaction, urge, or temptation and maintains control over themselves. On a failure, they relinquish control to the whims of their instincts.

When to Make a Self-Control Check
Self-Control Checks are typically brought about as the result of an Outfit/Skill Effect or as a result of receiving a particular Wound when damaged. Though an RL may call for a Self-Control Check in other situations when deemed appropriate.

Self-Control Check Process
Self-Control Checks follow the Below Process.


 * 1) Determine the Attribute
 * 2) Play a Card
 * 3) Determine Success or Failure

Determining Attribute
Often times the particular Skill, Outfit, Wound, or Rule will specify which Attribute to use in a Self-Control Check. If they do not, the RL decides the Attribute.

Play a Card
Play a card that matches the Suit of the determined Attribute. If you do not, the check is not Valid and you automatically fail.

Determining Success or Failure
Compare the Result of your Check to to the Control Rating of the determined Attribute. If the result is at or below the Control Rating the Check is a success. If it exceeds the Control Rating, it is a failure. In other words, the lower the value of the card you play, the better.

Modifiers and Effects
Self-Control Checks are their own type of Check separate from the normal Checks mentioned above. Any Effect of an Outfit, Skill, or such that modifies a Check does not apply to Self-Control Checks unless it specifically states it is affecting Self-Control Checks.