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Seekers of the Inner Flame uses the rules presented in the Laws of the Wild. Since this is not a crossover game there was no reason to complicate matters with a cross-genre system. We have made a few minor modifications and clarifications to those rules (very similar to the Laws of the Bayou v1.1), outlined below.
Influence is a background trait like all the rest. We're using the general backgrounds from Laws of the Bayou, including Resources and Training.
Willpower has the following powers:
Willpower refreshes at the beginning of each game session.
You can cancel an opponent's retest by declaring a retest of your own, as per the following from the Laws of the Hunt:
Certain Traits and powers grant retests. A retest allows the player to ignore the first result of a challenge and test again for a new outcome. Retests are most commonly gained through the use of Abilities. In general, expending an Ability Trait in an appropriate situation allows one retest.
Retests can be cancelled by an opponent who is able to match the conditions of the retest. For example, if a player uses Melee to retest when striking with a sword, the opponent could expend a level of Dodge in order to cancel the retest and force the attacker to accept the results of the original test. Alternately, the opponent could wait to see if the retest succeeds, then call for an additional retest with his Dodge Ability. This tactic holds the Ability in reserve but risks losing on the successive retest if the attacker succeeds on his first retest. (LotH 140.)
We're using the new MET mass challenge system, outlined below.
First, decide who is challenging whom. The easiest way to do this is to count to three, with everyone pointing to the person being victimized at the end of the count. If there are no cases of multiple people attacking one individual, then you can resolve all of the challenges normally.
Deal with each group from largest to smallest. Each attacker in a group bids a Trait or Traits appropriate to the challenge. The group can consist of up to five individuals, although exceptions can be made for large or small targets.
Next, the defender must bid enough Traits to counter each attacker. If the defender does not have enough Traits, then she must relent to some or all of the attackers, although she can choose to whom she relents. Resolve the effects of those challenges normally and BEFORE the main challenge. The defender may fall before the rest of the group attacks.
Finally, the defender and attackers engage in one simultaneous test. The defender then compares his challenge against each of the individual attackers' challenges, applying the appropriate results. Thus, if a defender throws Rock and his attackers throw Rock, Paper, and Scissors, the defender is considered to have tied the first attacker (resolved like any other tie), lost to the second attacker and defeated the third attacker. The defender and attackers lose the Traits they bid in any given loss. In the above example the defender would have lost one Trait, plus possibly another one if she lost the tie as well.
Once all the tests have been made, they are resolved in the normal order of actions and initiative. A defender may lose Traits due to the first few attackers and then lose a tie to an attacker later in the same mob challenge. That's all right - the first attacks "softened up" the defender. However, unless the defender has a special power allowing her to take multiple actions, she can only choose to affect one of the attackers, and it must be one who has lost a challenge. If none of the attackers lose, then the defender simply suffers the results of their actions.
When the defender in a mob scene uses Abilities or other tactics to gain retests, each attacker's challenge is treated as a separate test. (LotH 142.)
As a reminder, we are using the old system of Health levels - each character has five, not ten, health levels.
There are three types of damage: Bashing, Lethal, and Aggravated. Usually, the type of damage from an attack is fairly obvious, but if both players agree to an outcome, they can set the damage differently (like striking with the flat of a sword to cause Bashing damage).
Bashing damage is any damage that is painful but fades relatively quickly, such as punching, kicking, tackling, and falling from a height. Open-handed combat generally causes Bashing damage. Bashing damage heals in half normal time for those creatures with natural healing. Bashing damage usually does not cause any damage past Incapacitated (though particularly persistant sadists can eventually beat victims to death).
Lethal damage is damage that is intended to kill. Bullets, knives, and metal baseball bats all deal out Lethal damage. Generally any weapon will inflict Lethal damage, though if both players agree, some weapons may be used to inflict Bashing damage (by using the flat of the blade, going light with a bat, etc.). Note that this not an option with every weapon (bullets always inflict Lethal damage, knives don't have enough mass to inflict any damage with the flat of the blade, etc.). Lethal damage heals at normal rates, and can cause a character to become Mortally Wounded.
Aggravated damage refers to damage that is especially harmful to supernatural creates (such as sunlight to vampires and silver to werewolves). These wounds are beyond these supernatural creature's normally fast-healing abilities and reduce them to mortal limitations. Garou heal this damage at the rate of one per full evening of rest.
©2000 Brett Peters. Last revised April 3, 2001 23:27 EST.