Unknown Armies:Combat

Somewhere out there is someone who had loving parents, watched clouds on a summer's day, fell in love, lost a friend, is kind to small animals, and knows how to say "please" and "thank you," and yet somehow the two of you are going to end up in a dirty little room with one knife between you and you are going to have to kill that human being.

It's a terrible thing. Not just because he's come to the same realization and wants to survive just as much as you do, meaning he's going to try and puncture your internal organs to set off a cascading trauma effect that ends with you voiding your bowels dying alone and removed from everything you've ever loved. No, it's a terrible thing because somewhere along the way you could have made a different choice. You could have avoided that knife, that room, and maybe even found some kind of common ground between the two of you. Or at least, you might have divvied up some turf and left each other alone. That would have been a lot smarter, wouldn't it? Even dogs are smart enough to do that. Now you're staring into the eyes of a fellow human and in a couple minutes one of you is going to be vomiting blood to the rhythm of a fading heartbeat. The survivor is going to remember this night for the rest of his or her life.

Six Ways to Stop a Fight

So before you make a grab for that knife, you should maybe think about a few things. This moment is frozen in time. You can still make a better choice.

Surrender. Is your pride really worth a huma life? Drop your weapon, put up your hands, and tell them you're ready to cut a deal. You walk, and in exchange you give them something they need. Sidestep the current agenda. Offer them something unrelated to your dispute, and negotiate to find a solution.

Disarm. Knife on the table? Throw it out the window. Opponent with a gun? dodge until he's out of bullets. Deescalate the confrontation to fists, if possible. You can settle your differences with some brawling and still walk away, plus neither one of you has to face a murder charge or a criminal investigation.

Rechannel. So you have a conflict. Settle it a smarter way. Arm wrestle, play cards, have a scavenger hunt, a drinking contest, anything that lets you establish a winner and a loser. Smart gamblers bet nothing they aren't willing to lose. Why put your life on the line?

Pass the Buck. Is there somebody more powerful than either one of you who is going to be angry that you two are coming to blows? Pretend you're all in the mafia and you can't just kill each other without kicking your dispute upstairs first. Let that symbolic superior make a decision. You both gain clout for not spilling blood.

Call the Cops. If you've got a grievance against somebody, let the police do your dirty work. File charges. Get a restraining order. Sue him in civil court for wrongful harm. You can beat him down without throwing a punch.

Run Away. The hell with it. Who needs this kind of heat? Blow town, get a job someplace else, build a new power base. Is the world really too small for the both of you? It's a big planet out there.

Oh well

Still determined? Backed into a corner with no way out? Have to fight for the greater good? Up against someone too stupid to know this is a bad idea? Or maybe just itching for some action? So be it. The rest of this guide contains rules for simulating the murder of human beings. Have fun.

Combat Overview

Combat consists of a few main concepts: who goes first (initiative), how do you hurt someone (attacking), how do you avoid getting hurt (dodging), what happens when you get hurt (damage), what else you can do besides fight (non-combat actions), and what to do after the fight (wounds and healing).

Fighting is unpredictable and often unexpectedly dangerous. You aren't a bulletproof hero who can swagger through gunfire with a wicked grin, bowling over scads of inferior opponents. Even punks can get lucky and even bad-ass street fighters can take hard falls onto broken bottles.

Your combat skills are calibrated on the assumption that they're being used in chaotic, confusing circumstances. Your skill of Firearms 40% doesn't mean you have 40% chance to hit a paper target down at the shooting range. It means you have a 40% chance of hitting a moving, screaming, dodging enemy in a dark rainy alley while she does her damnedest to fire the steel back at you.

Furthermore, your combat skills measure your ability to do something effective. A single Struggle attack may be one haymaker, or it could be a series of slaps, gouges, bites, and hair grabs. Mechanics-wise, there's no difference between a single elegant kick and the aggregate damage of several hasty rabbit punches, but for storytelling style it helps to really visualize your personal technique.

Something to Think About

Combat Strategies

Fighting in Unknown Armies is different from many games in some very important ways. Psychology, in the form of Violence checks, can matter as much as physiology. Combat is extremely dangerous and unpredictable, even for experienced and skilled fighters. It is not something any reasonable person takes lightly. To get a better grip on what the system actually does, and on how you can handle it best for a fun and interesting game, here are some strategies and observations to keep in mind.

Weapons Make a Difference. The bigger the weapon, the more difference it makes. Fist fighting, while not “safe,” is much less likely to leave you dead or permanently crippled. As soon as a deadly weapon enters the scene—a big knife, a hatchet, or a baseball bat—matched successes become really, really painful because they inflict firearms damage. Suddenly, 10% of all the hits are extremely bad news. Once guns come into play, it’s even worse. On a rough average, a gunshot does four to five times as much damage as an equivalent hand-to-hand roll.

Keeping this in mind, you should realize the following:

• If you’re armed and your opponent isn’t, you have a big advantage.
• If the situation is reversed, you should run away.
• Once weapons are involved, fights can get fatal much quicker. Three rounds of successful punching means less than one successful gunshot.

Fools Fight to the Death. The difference between unconsciousness and death is pretty thin when weapons are out. That means you want to get out of the fight before you’re unconscious, because most gunshot damage can skip right past the KO and into the Undiscovered Country. If you’re hit with a weapon, you might want to run. If you’re unwilling (or unable) to get away, consider dodging or diving for cover.

Fools Also Give No Quarter. Living problems are—in the short term, at least—preferable to dead ones. Sure, the guy you roughed up and let go may come back and jump you later. But if you kill him, even in self defense, you’ve got major problems with the police, who are almost assuredly more trouble than any individual GMC you can put down. Besides, a living enemy is one you can pump for information, one you can intimidate more easily, and one who’s a walking testimony to your bad-assitude. Furthermore, the guy you let go with a beating today may be the guy who returns the favor next month—whereas if you kill him, you may get that deed repaid in kind by his son, his sister, or his vengeful ghost.

The First Round is Different. The first round in a fight sets up a lot of what happens later, and it gives a good sense of what kind of fight you’re in for. If all your enemies are sticking their hands in their pockets, odds are good they’re drawing weapons. (Remember, it usually takes a round to draw.) If you’re unarmed, you may want to spend that first round grabbing their weapons, getting some cover, or running the heck away.

Ambushes Work. Going first in the round can be an important advantage. If you get at the top of the initiative ranking, your attacks are less likely to be dodged. This also means that if you get ambushed, your best option is to get away—at least long enough to catch your breath and resume the fight on more even terms.

Watch Out for Sucker Attacks. A sucker attack is a powerful move, especially if you’re using a +6 or +9 weapon or if you’re an obsessed martial artist. However, it is not without risks. If your skill isn’t very high, you can easily end up with a matched failure and screw yourself. Of course, sucker attacks work both ways. If you see an opponent ducking and weaving and distracting you, next turn may be a good time to Dodge. If you’re fast enough.

The Initiative Skill is a Good Deal. Let’s do the math with the Initiative skill. It’s half your Speed stat by default, so even if you roll against Speed successfully, there’s a 50% chance that your roll is worse than what your Initiative skill already is. Furthermore, rolling allows for the possibility of failure, while the Initiative skill even at its worst, never leaves you with a fail. Most people use the Initiative skill most of the time: Rolling is really only smart if you know your opponent is going to beat your Initiative skill anyhow.