Mano a Mano Role-Playing System

Version

This is version 2005.03.01. (See List of Changes for previous versions.)

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License

Explanation - The Mano a Mano Role-Playing System is free for anyone to use, modify and redistribute.

When you distribute the Mano a Mano Role-Playing System or modified versions of it, you are required to extend the same privileges to whoever receives a copy.

The Mano a Mano Role-Playing System is not specifically a computer program (although you can use it in one), but it uses a license originally designed for software libraries. References to the "library" refer to all types of content covered by this license.

Copyright Notice - The Mano a Mano Role-Playing System is Copyright © 1997 - 2004 by Seth Galbraith and Benjamin Galbraith. The Mano a Mano Role-Playing System is free software.

You can redistribute and/or modify the Mano a Mano Role-Playing System under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA


Table of Contents



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 2

Things You'll Need

Although the Mano a Mano Role-Playing System can be used many different ways, you can play a Mano a Mano game with just a die, a pencil, and a sheet of paper or similar tools.

You will probably want two dice or one die for each player, and a pile of hit point counters for each player. Use ordinary six sided dice. We prefer to use a hex board (or a dot-grid) with 2 centimeter spacing, representing a meter per 2 centimeters. Characters are represented by pieces that show their line of attack and location.


Player Point Value (PPV)

Many things described in the Mano a Mano Role-Playing System - including characters, equipment, Templates and abilities - have a PPV. This number is a rough estimate of how valuable that thing is.

This value can be used in various ways. For example, players could design characters within a PPV limit, or the strength of opposing teams could be compared by the PPV of their characters and equipment. Typically the "average beginning character" is worth about 25 PPV, not including equipment.



Rolling Dice

Success Level - If an action is successful, the roll for success, minus the highest roll against it, is the action's "success level." Actions with a success level of one or more are fully successful, and actions with a success level of 0 are half successful. Actions with a success level of less than 0 are not successful.

Single Action - When rolling for the success of an action not directed at another character, roll one die for success and one for failure. Add whatever bonuses apply to the situation to the rolls. If the success roll is higher than the failure roll by a full success level, then the action is successful. If the action is successful by 0, then the action is half successful.

Difficulty - Difficulty is the total bonus against the success of an action. An action with a difficulty of 0 is slightly difficult, an action with a difficulty of 5 is very difficult, and an action with a difficulty of 10 is nearly impossible. Environment and hastiness can effect the difficulty of an action.







Opposing Actions - If rolling for the success of two players' opposing actions, roll one die for the success of each action and add the bonuses. The action with the higher total succeeds and the other action fails, if it is successful by at least one success level.

If the rolls are exactly equal, both actions are "half successful." Depending on the situation, this may mean both actions fail. But usually, "half successful" means that both actions have half of the effect that they would have had, if they had been fully successful.

Multiple Opposing Actions - If two or more characters are trying to stop another character's action there can be multiple rolls against the success of that action. If any of those rolls are higher than the one action they are all trying to stop, by at least one success level, they interfere with the action they were trying to stop. If any of those rolls are equal to the roll of the action they are all trying to stop, then they only partially (½ effect) interfere with the action they were trying to stop. If the interfering action has a success level of less than 0, then it does not affect the action it was meant to interfere with.


Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 3

Characters

Template Creation

Templates - Templates are used to generate characters.

Player Point Value (PPV) - the PPV of a Template is the PPV of the Template's Natural Abilities, plus the PPV of the Template's average reach, stride and size, plus half of the PPV of the Template's natural weapons and armor. (See Equipment/Making Equipment for the PPV of weapons and armor, and Characters/Abilities for the PPV of abilities.)

Stride - To find the PPV of a Template's stride, look it up on the Stride PPV Table. (See Characters/Stride PPV Table.)


Limb PPV - There are some basic rules concerning limbs. If a character uses two or more limbs to wield a weapon, they get a +1 bonus to rolls with that weapon.

What we think of as a "right hand" is a "Primary Limb." Wielding a weapon with only a primary limb has a bonus of +0. Primary Limbs have a PPV of 3.

What we think of as a "left hand" is a "Secondary Limb". Wielding a weapon with only a Secondary Limb gives a bonus of negative 1. Secondary Limbs have a PPV of 2.

Wielding a weapon with two (or more) Secondary Limbs still provides a +1 bonus, even if there is no Primary Limb involved. Limbs that cannot be used to wield weapons but can still be used to attack with are called "Other Limbs" and have a Limb PPV of 1.

Each Template gets 1 Primary Limb, one Secondary Limb, three Other Limbs and a torso (main body) for no PPV. If the Template does not have any of these limbs, the PPV of the missing limbs is subtracted from the Template's PPV total.

For Example, a Snake has a head and a tail, (two "Other Limbs",) but does not use a third Other Limb, (PPV 1,) does not use a Secondary Limb (PPV 2) or a Primary Limb, (PPV 3,) and thus the Snake's Limb PPV is negative 6 (-1 + -2 + -3 = -6.)

Reach (in meters) PPV Table:

PPV  Reach    PPV  Reach    PPV  Reach
-6    0.38      1   0.96      8   2.4 
-5    0.44      2   1.1       9   2.7 
-4    0.5       3   1.25     10   3.0 
-3    0.58      4   1.4      11   3.5 
-2    0.65      5   1.6      12   4.0 
-1    0.73      6   1.8      13   4.5 
 0    0.8       7   2.1      14   5.0 


Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 4

Stride (in meters) PPV Table:

            Hit Points             Meters Per             Meters Per
 Level PPV  Per Meter   Level PPV  Hit Point   Level PPV  Hit Point 
  -5   -5      13          1    1      1         6    6       6     
  -4   -4      11          2    2      2         7    7       7     
  -3   -3       9          3    3      3         8    8       8     
  -2   -2       7          4    4      4         9    9       9     
  -1   -1       5          5    5      5        10   10      10     
   0    0       3          6    6      6        11   11      11     

 

Make a Template - Template Generation Tutorial

This tutorial shows how to generate a Template or character generation template. (See Characters/Template Creation.)

1. Dimensions, Abilities and Bonuses - First we need to determine the dimensions, abilities and and bonuses of the Template we envision. Let's say I envision a Template of nasty monsters called "Sabretooth Penguins."

  • I see them as being about 60 kg so they have 0 Size and 0 encumbrance bonus

  • An average Sabretooth Penguin has 0.5 meters reach

  • They have about 1 meters of stride, being super-fast waddling predators.

  • They have somewhat sharp teeth and claws, I'd say about -3 sharpness

  • The teeth and claws are retractable, giving them a conceal bonus of 3

  • Their flippers give them a +3 Swimming bonus


1. Player Point Value (PPV) - The next step is to determine the Player Point Value (PPV) of the dimensions, abilities and bonuses you selected for the new Template.

  • Our Sabretooth Penguine's 0 size is worth 0 PPV.

  • For a 0 size Template, 0.5 reach is worth -4 PPV.

  • 1 meter stride is worth 1 PPV, bringing the PPV total to -3.

  • The -3 sharpness is worth 3 PPV, bringing the total to 0.

  • The +1 conceal bonus is worth 2 PPV, bringing the PPV total to 2.

  • The level 3 Swimming ability is worth 4 PPV, bringing the PPV total to 6.

  • The total PPV of our new Sabretooth Penguin Template is 6.

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 5

Character Creation

Character Creation - Character generation begins by first determining how many player points can be used to generate your character. (This "player point allowance" is totally dependent on the specific game you are playing, as is your selection of potential Templates.) Then you select a Template you have enough player points for, and give those racial attributes and abilities to your character, from his selected Template. Then you finish your character, by selecting enough other abilities (and ability levels,) to top off your character's player point allowance, and by filling out any other appropriate details.

Size - To get the PPV of the character's size, take that character's size, minus his Template's average size level, and unless this difference is negative, multiply it by 2. (So if a character is size level 12, and his Template's average size level is 5, then the PPV of his size would be 14. On the other hand, if his Template's size was 12 and the character's size was 5, then that character's size PPV would be -7.)


Reach - On the Reach PPV Table, look up the PPV of the character's reach and the PPV of it's Template's average reach. Then subtract the Template's average reach PPV from the character's reach PPV. The new number is that character's PPV for his reach. For example, if the character's reach is 0.9 meters with a PPV of 1, and their Template's reach is 1 meter with a PPV of 2, his actual reach PPV is -1. (See Characters/Reach PPV Table.)

Stride - In order to modify his stride, a character may get Lame disability or Running ability.

Natural Weapons and Armor - List the character's natural weapons and armor from his Template, as equipment on the Character sheet. Add the character's Size bonus to his natural weapon power bonus.

Individual Character Limb PPV: If a Character lacks a natural limb from his Template, he should also count off the negative PPV for the missing limb.

(For example, if a Sword fighter looses his primary limb in a fight, his loss should be considered to have a negative 3 PPV to his PPV total. But if he still has enough of a stub left to attack with, then his maimed primary limb may still be counted as an "Other Limb", and in this case it would only be a loss of 2 PPV.)

Size Table

size   kg/lbs  PPV     size   kg/lbs   PPV      size tons  PPV
-6    3.8/8   -9        1    100/220   2         8   2.6   12 
-5    6.3/14  -8        2    160/352   3         9   3.8   14 
-4     10/22  -6        3    240/528   6        10   6.4   15 
-3     15/33  -5        4    400/880   7        11  10.2   17 
-2     25/55  -3        5    640/1408  8        12  15.4   18 
-1     40/88  -2        6    960/2112  9        13  25.6   20 
 0     60/132  0        7   1600/3520 11        14  40.9   21 

Encumbrance Table

Enc.   kg/lbs      Enc.   kg/lbs        Enc.  tons
 3    3.8/8        -1    160/352        -4    2.6 
 2     10/22       -2    400/880        -5    6.4 
 1     25/55       -3    960/2112       -6   15.4 
 0     60/132                           -7   40.9 

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 6

Character Sheet

-----MANEUVER---|-----DEFENSE------|-------WIND UP--------
 |N_______________Rce_________Occ______________Lth______| 
R|Age_____Mas______Size______EqE______Enc______Rch______|O
E|Sex____PPV(Rce_____Abil_____Oth_____All_____)Std______|T
A|ABILITIES        Bon / PPV |______________ _____/_____|H
D| Strength       _____/_____|______________ _____/_____|E
Y|_______________ _____/_____|______________ _____/_____|R
 |_______________ _____/_____|______________ _____/_____| 
_|_______________ _____/_____|______________ _____/_____|_
 |_______________ _____/_____|______________ _____/_____| 
D|EQUIP. Cmb Tgh Abs Cvr Rch Hft Pwr Shp Special ___ Mas| 
A|Naked  ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___|S
M|______ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___|T
A|______ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___|U
G|______ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___|N
E|______ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___| 
_|______ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _______ ___ ___|_
MEGA DAMAGE|©1997-2004 S.Galbraith & B.Galbraith|MEGA STUN

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 7

Description

A character's description can be found at the top of the character sheet. (See Characters/Character Sheet.) Certain parts of a character's description may have different names, options, measurements or limitations in various games. For example, some Templates may be sexless, or height may be replaced by length or wingspan.

Name - The character's name
Template - The character's Template (a template used to generate the character)
Appearance - What the character looks like
Personality - How the character behaves
Background - Where the character is from and what they've done
Sex - "male" or "female"
Age - "child", "youth", "adult", "old", or "ancient"
Height - Height of the character in meters or feet and inches
Reach - Distance the character can reach without taking a step
Stride - Distance the character moves for each hit point uses to move.

Mass - Mass in kilograms or weight in pounds

Size - is the character's default attack power and absorption bonus. Use the Size Table to determine the character's size from his mass. (See Characters/Size Table.)

(Also see Action Rules/Attacking and Equipment/Armor and Weapons.)

Encumbrance - is a character's attack and defense bonus, based on the effect of a character's mass and equipment on his dexterity and coordination. Use the Encumbrance Table to determine a character's natural encumbrance from his mass. (See Characters/Encumbrance Table.) To calculate encumbrance, add the character's natural encumbrance to his "equipment encumbrance."

Equipment Encumbrance - is 10 times the mass of a character's equipment, divided by the character's mass.

Occupation – is a title a character may have, which has certain advantages, disadvantages, duties or privileges associated with it. Occupations can provide character development opportunities for characters in a game.


Optional Occupation Examples:

Each game should have it's own occupation system. Just one example is that it may be helpful to rate the relative value of each occupation, perhaps on a scale of one to five (with one being “peasant” and five being “King.”) On this scale, a Knight or Assassin might be a three, while a Blacksmith or Robber might be a two.

Here are two optional examples of occupations: Knight and Robber. (It should be noted that if two characters are identical, except for their occupations, the Knight would be considered to have an advantage over the Robber.)

Knight – is required to have ability level 3 law and ability level 2 sword fighting (including Hand to Hand.) To maintain the occupation of Knight, the character must always obey the law in public, must always resist attempts to break the law in public, and must obey all direct orders from the King. Knights are always entitled to 50 PPV worth of equipment from the King. (If this equipment is damaged or lost, it may be restored at the King's armory.) Knights are entitled to the property of any Robber they capture. In this case, (in addition to that Robber's property,) the Knight also receives a reward of equipment from the King, equal to the personal PPV of the Robber.

Robber - is required to have ability level 2 stealth and ability level 1 in any armed combat ability. Robbers can always trade in stolen items for half of the item's PPV on the black market. A Robber may lose these privileges if he aids in another Robber's capture.

If a character meets both of these occupation's requirements they may begin as either a Robber or Knight. If this character begins as a Robber, but gains the reputation of being a hero who is loyal to the king, and if he ceases to take advantage of his robber privileges, the King may choose to give this character the occupation of “Knight.” If this character begins as a knight, but proves himself disloyal to the king by participating in unlawful activity, he may become a Robber, loosing all of his Knight privileges.



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 8

Abilities

Abilities allow a character to do certain types of actions. An individual ability has an ability level, which gives a character a bonuses to success, when that character attempts an action that would be enhanced by that ability.

Natural Abilities - A character's Template may give him abilities and ability levels. The PPV of these natural abilities and levels are part of the Template's PPV, but any ability or skill development beyond that adds to the character's total PPV.

Special PPV - Special Abilities, (or in other words exceptionally powerful abilities like flight,) have Special PPV. An ability's Special PPV is the player point value (PPV) of the having the special ability at ability level 0.

This does not include the PPV of any ability levels. The Special PPV of a natural ability is part of the Template's PPV, so it is not added again to the character's PPV.

For example, just to have ability level 0 flight, it requires 5 PPV. Ability level 3 flight costs the same as ability level 3, (4 PPV,) plus it's Special PPV, (5,) for a total of 9 PPV (for ability level 3 flight.)

Ability Levels - The player point value (PPV) of a character's ability level and their Template's ability levels are kept separate. (For example, a character's player can add 5 levels of ability for 16 points, even if his character's natural ability level is 4. The character's total ability level would then be 9.)

This table lists the PPV of each ability level:


Level 1  2  3  4   5   6   7   8
PPV   1  2  4  8  16  32  48  64


General Abilities

Some abilities are general bonuses which can be applied to many actions. For example: Hand to Hand ability gives a character a bonus to close range fighting with hand weapons or natural weapons.

Every game using the Mano a Mano should have it's own ability list, adapted to the needs of the game and it's setting, but here is an example of a general ability list:

Acrobatics     Art          
Climbing       Communication
Craftsmanship  Detection    
Hand to Hand   Marksmanship 
Music          Power        
Recovery       Regeneration 
Running        Stealth      
Strength       Swimming     
Teaching       Toughness    

Strength - This ability is related to hit points. (A character's total hit points is equal to double the character's Strength level.) It needs to be included in the game's list of abilities to use the hit point system. Strength reflects the character's general speed and strength relative to their size. (See Action Rules/Hit Points.)

Optional hit point abilities:

Power - The attack power bonus for size is increased by 1 point for every 4 levels of Power ability.

Toughness - The character's toughness bonus from size is increased by a 1 for every 4 levels of their Toughness ability. (See Characters/Description/Size.)

Regeneration - is the character's ability to heal quickly. Each level of regeneration is one extra hit point recovered from the character's damaged hit point pool each week. (Or, if the character does not have hit points in his damage pool, but he has hit points in his mega damage pool, a regeneration level moves one extra hit point from the mega damage pool to the damage pool.)

(Continued on next page.)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 9

(Abilities Continued)

Movement Abilities

Movement abilities like running, swimming and flight give the character special advantages, based on his movement ability level.

(See Action Rules/Maneuvering.)

Running - A character's stride is increased by another ½ meter for every 3 levels of running ability. For example, if a character's stride were originally level 1, and the character had a running ability level of level 6, then the character's stride would be level 2 .

Stride can be reduced by the "Lame" Disability (see below.) For every level of Lame, stride is reduced by another 1 level. For example, if a character had a stride of level 1, and a Lame level of 4, then the character's stride would be level -3. (See the stride table.)

Swimming - Swimming level is the number of quarter meters a character can travel, for hit point used to move when over half submerged or over his head in the water. In this situation, characters have a -4 to their combat rolls. For every level of swimming ability up to level 4, characters get a +1 to combat rolls when swimming. After level 4 they still only have +4 to swimming combat rolls. When attacking from a situation where swimming skill applies, the stun effect on hit points is halved, except in the case of grappling attacks.

Flight - Flight level is the number of meters a character can fly for hit point used to move. The Special PPV of this ability is 5.


Skills

Skills are specialized abilities. A character can use a skill's ability level as a bonus to related actions, or often a character can combine the bonus of a skill with the bonus of another ability (usually a general ability.)

A character may combine a maximum of two abilities at a time. When a character uses the skill with another ability, the character's bonus is the other ability's level, plus the skill's ability level. For example, if a character's Hand to Hand ability is level 5, and that character applies its level 4 fencing skill, the character's bonus with the fencing weapon is 5 plus 4, resulting in a bonus of 9.

These are some examples of skills:

Acting          Animal Handling
Cooking         Gardening      
Law             Literacy       
Medicine        Piloting       
Sailing         Sign language  
Slight of Hand  Speed          

The best bonus for the least PPV, is usually achieved by balancing the PPV of the general ability with the PPV of the skills used with that general ability. Sometimes a skill can be used with different abilities in different situations.

(Continued on next page.)


Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 10

(Abilities Continued)

Disabilities

Disabilities are a different type of ability. While other Abilities have a Positive PPV and a positive effect on a Character, Disabilities on the other hand have a negative PPV, and a negative effect on the character. Disabilities should be more general than "General Abilities." Here are some typical Disabilities:

Thumbless - is a negative bonus to any action using a tool or weapon that is not part of or "restrictively" mounted on the character's body. ("Restrictively" means that the character can't easily take it off by himself.) This disability is important for generating Templates that don't naturally use tools!

Farsighted - is a negative bonus to any close range action, particularly Hand to Hand and Craftsmanship.

Nearsighted - is a negative bonus to any long range action, particularly Navigation and Marksmanship.


Deaf - is a negative bonus to any sound dependent action, particularly detection and communication.

Lame - is a negative bonus to any movement ability, particularly Acrobatics, Running, swimming, and climbing.

Ignorance - is a negative bonus to any action for which you do not have an applicable ability.

Disability Levels - Disability levels are similar to normal ability levels, the main difference being that the Disability Levels inflict negative PPV, instead of adding PPV. (The Negative PPV actually subtracted from the Character's total PPV.)

Disability Level bonuses are totally accumulative: for example, if Mr. B had Level 3 Thumbless and Level 4 Nearsighted, then he would have a total of a -7 to use a crossbow (-3 for using a weapon and -4 for doing a ranged attack equals -7 for using a crossbow.)

Unless other wise specified, Disabilities have a maximum level of 4 (or in other words a maximum bonus of negative 4.)

This table lists the PPV range of each disability level:

Disability Level      1   2   3   4
Negative PPV         -1  -2  -4  -8

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 11

Make a Character - Character Generation Tutorial

This tutorial explains how to make a useable character. (See Characters/Character Generation.)

1. Choose the Type of Character You Want to Make - Consult the rules or the Game Master (or GM, the person in charge of playing the game,) to find out what Templates and how much Player Point Value (PPV) you can use to make characters. For our purposes here we'll assume that we are allowed 25 PPV with which to make a single character who's Template is "Sabretooth Penguin" (see Characters/Template Generation Tutorial.) His name is Modre.

2. Racial Dimensions, Abilities and Bonuses - Next we look at the effect of the Modre's Template on his dimensions, abilities and bonuses. Modre is a Sabretooth Penguin, so we know that unless modified, his size will be 0, his encumbrance will be 0, his reach will be 0.5 meters, his stride will be 1 meter, his claws and teeth will have -3 sharpness and +1 conceal bonus, and he will have a swimming level of 3. (See Tutorials/Template Generation Tutorial.) We make note of all this in the appropriate areas on our character sheet, listing the claws and teeth as an item in the equipment list. (See Characters/Character Sheet.)

3. Designate the remaining PPV - The next step is to designate the rest of our PPV allowance for enhancing Modre beyond his racial defaults. We know that the Sabretooth Penguin's racial PPV is 6, leaving only 19 undesignated PPV out of the 25 PPV allowance to enhance Modre beyond his racial defaults. As we designate PPV for Modre's dimensions, abilities and bonuses, we fill in the appropriate areas on his character sheet. (See Characters/Character Sheet.)

  • We'll start with the essentials by using 8 PPV on Strength and 8 PPV on Hand to Hand, adding 4 levels to Strength and 4 levels to Hand to Hand and lowering our undesignated PPV to 3.

  • Modre is a typical Sabretooth Penguin with average Size (0), Reach (0.5 meters) and Stride (0.5 meters), so these don't affect his PPV.


  • Finally, we'll designate the last 3 PPV for Swimming, for an additional +2 to his natural +3 swimming ability, giving him a total swimming ability bonus of +5.

4. Naked Bonuses - For convenience we can enter Modre's "naked" bonuses as a piece of equipment on the character sheet. These are the his bonuses without any weapons or armor except natural armor.

We don't even include natural weapons (we list those as another piece of equipment) so that we can quickly figure out a Modre's bonuses with any weapon by comparing them to his "naked" bonuses.

  • He has no natural armor, so Absorb and Cover (Abs and Cvr) are not applicable (leave them blank or write "n/a")

  • To enter his Encumbrance (+0) as Heft (Hft), we first multiply it by negative 1 (to get 0, his maximum Heft.)

  • Enter his Size (0) as Attack Power (Pwr)

  • Enter his Reach (Rch) - 0.5 meters (his natural reach bonus for using with hand weapons.)

  • Add Modre's Hand to Hand ability (3) to his Encumbrance (+0), and enter the result (3) as a Combat (Cmb) bonus. Combat bonus will be used to determine his Attack (Atk), Parry (Par) and Grapple (Grp) bonuses with hand weapons as well as his bonus to dodge attacks.

5. Natural Weapons - Now we enter Modre's claws and teeth as a piece of equipment on his character sheet.

  • Enter the natural weapon's Sharpness bonus (-3) under Sharpness (Shp)

  • Modre's natural weapons have no other bonuses, so copy the Reach (Rch), Heft (Hft), Attack Power (Pwr), and Combat (Cmb) bonuses from Modre's "naked" bonuses.

6. Equipment - The final step is to account for the character's equipment, but Modre isn't carrying any equipment at this time.

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 12

Equipment



Player Point Value (PPV) - is the PPV of this item (See Equipment/Making Equipment)

Mass (Mas) - is the item's weight in pounds, or mass in kg

Quantity - When listing equipment on the character sheet, you can use one line for more than one piece of equipment if the pieces are identical. Put the quantity in the same space with the name of the items, or label one of the blank columns "Qty" and put the quantity there. Multiply the PPV and Mass by that quantity. (See Characters/Character Sheet.)

Armor and Weapons

Equipment Lists vs. Character Sheets - The armor and weapon bonuses, listed on the character sheet, are determined by comparing the character's bonuses, to the armor and/or weapon's bonuses. The bonuses listed for a weapon on the character sheet may not be the same as the bonuses listed for the same weapon on an equipment list. When these rules mention the weapon's bonuses, they refer to the bonus on the equipment list (see Characters/Character Sheet.)

Special Bonuses (___) - Some weapons and armor will have bonuses not already listed on the character sheet. Label and use blank columns for these bonuses.

Reach (Rch) - character reach + weapon reach

Power (Pwr) - is the character's size or weapon's power, whichever is greater. (The power of a weapon is usually it's heft or slightly higher. Weapons with more power than heft are considered "well balanced".)

Heft (Hft) - is the character's encumbrance or weapon's heft, whichever is lower. The heft of a weapon, is usually the weapon's size, as if it were a character, plus 15. (See Characters/Description/Size Table)


Sharpness (Shp) - Sharpness determines how many hit points go into the stun and lasting pools based off of the "penetrating attack power." (The "penetrating attack power is attack power that gets through the targets absorb bonuses.) Negative sharpness, (-1 and below,) represents the number of effected hit points that go into the stun pool; the rest of the effected hit points go into the damage pool.

For example, if Mr. A hits Mr. B with 5 penetrating attack power and -2 (negative two) sharpness, 2 of character B's hit points go into his stun pool, and 3 go into his damage pool.

Positive (and 0) sharpness represents the number added to the hit points moved to the damage pool. (All of the affected hit points are moved to the damage pool.) For example, if Mr. B is hit with a penetrating attack power of 7, and the attack has 3 sharpness, Mr. B's player puts 10 of Mr. B's hit points in the damage pool.

Blunt weapons, including most punches and kicks, have a sharpness of -6. A weapon with a sharpness of 0 is extremely sharp, and -2 is considered to be the sharpest of natural claws, quills, and teeth.

(Continued on next page)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 13

(Armor and Weapons Continued)

Combat Bonus (Cmb) - is the character's Hand to Hand bonus + skill bonus (if one applies to this weapon) + encumbrance. This is a general bonus to attacking and parrying with the weapon, but it only applies if the weapon is used as a hand to hand weapon. Use the Attack (Atk) bonus instead this bonus for attacking with missile weapons like slings, bows and guns.

Attack (Atk) - character ability (such as hand to hand or marksmanship, plus a skill if one applies) + weapon attack + (character encumbrance or weapon heft, whichever is lower). This bonus is used instead of combat bonus (Cmb) when attacking. You need an attack bonus on the character sheet for missile weapons (such as slings, bows and guns,) and weapons that have an attack bonus. (See Action Rules/Attacking.)

Grapple (Grp) - is the character's Combat Bonus + weapon grapple bonus. This character's over-all grapple bonus is used instead of combat bonus (Cmb) when manipulating. Weapons that have a grapple bonus, require a grapple bonus on the character sheet. (See Action Rules/Manipulation.)

Parry (Par) - Combat bonus + weapon's parry bonus. This bonus is used instead of combat bonus (Cmb) when parrying. You need a parry bonus on the character sheet for weapons that have a parry bonus.(See Action Rules/Parrying.)


Toughness (Tgh) - When a weapon or armor is hit (by a successful attack, absorbing attack power, or hitting too hard,) the item's absorption is reduced by the attack power, minus the item's toughness. If the item's toughness is greater than the attack power, then the weapon loses no absorption at all.

Breaking - If the item is hit by more attack power than it has absorption, the item breaks. Usually this means that the item's reach bonus, parry bonus and cover bonus are halved, and 3 is subtracted from sharpness and heft.

Hitting Too Hard - If the attack power of an attack with a weapon is greater than the attacking item's toughness, and if the target's absorption is equal to or greater than the weapon's toughness, then the weapon is damaged instead of the target.

Cover (Cvr) and Absorb (Abs) - Cover is a bonus based on how likely a weapon or piece of armor is to provide protection against an attack. How likely the specific area of the body protected is to be attacked, is as important as the amount of the body protected. This bonus is used together by armor and weapons that can block some attack power.

Blocking - If the defense fails, (or if the cover bonus of the item is greater than the attack's success level,) then the attack is "blocked." This means that the item's absorption is subtracted from the attack power of the attack. If this happens, the item loses same amount of absorption as the attack power it absorbed.

But, if the cover bonus is equal to the attack's success level, then half the item's absorption is subtracted from the attack power, and the item still takes loses absorption based on the amount of attack power it absorbed.

(Continued on next page)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 14

(Armor and Weapons Continued)

Armor

Any equipment with a cover bonus greater than 0 can be considered armor. Every piece of armor worn, and any item used to actively defend that has a cover bonus, has a chance of blocking an attack. Use this rule instead of the blocking rule when the character has armor:

Each piece of armor is sorted from the highest absorb bonus to the lowest (unless that piece is being used to actively defend.)

Beginning with the item used to actively defend (if any), followed by the sorted list of armor pieces, compare the success level of the attack to the cover bonus of that item plus the cover bonus of all of the items before it.

If the total cover bonus is greater than the attack's success level, then the attack is "blocked" by that item. If the total cover bonus is equal to the attack's success level, then the attack is "half blocked" by that item and "half blocked" by the next item (if there is one.)


Organizing Armor - One piece of armor can be treated as several pieces of armor that have the same absorb bonus, if the several pieces cover bonuses add up to the single piece's cover bonus. Several pieces of armor, that cover the same area of the body, and have the same cover bonus, can be treated as one piece, with the same cover bonus. This one piece of armor will have an absorb bonus, equal to the absorb bonuses of the several pieces added together.

How to do it: Divide each piece of armor into different areas that do or don't overlap other pieces of armor, then combine the overlapping pieces. For example, if you have partially overlapping leather and chainmail armor, then you would have an area protected by leather and chainmail, an area protected only by chainmail, and an area protected only by leather. Each of these areas should be treated as a separate piece of armor.

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 15

Hand Weapons - example hand to hand weapon list

SHORT          Tgh Abs Cvr  Reach  Hft Pwr Shp Atk Par Grp  Mass 
WEAPONS                     ft  cm                          lb kg

Axe             3   4        3  90  +2 +3  -1           +1   9  4
Cane            2   2        3  90  -1  0  -5           +1   2  1
Baton           3   3        2  60  -2 -1  -5                2  1
Club            2   3        3  90  +2 +3  -5                4  2
Hammer          3   3        1  30  +1 +2  -5                7  3
Mattock         3   3        3  90  +3 +4  -2               11  5
Maul            3   4        3  90  +5 +6  -5               12  6
Pick            3   4        2  60  +1 +2  -3           +1   2  1
Knife/Dagger    1   1        0   0  -3 -3   0                0  0
Wooden Sword    2   2        2  60   0 +1  -4                2  1
Short Sword     3   3        2  60  +1 +2   0                4  2
Spike Knuckles  3   3        0   0  -2 -1  -3                2  1
Gaff            2   2        1  30  +1 +2  -3                4  2
Broadsword      3   3        3  90  +2 +3   0                7  3
Bastard Sword   3   4        4 120  +4 +5   0               11  5
Giant Sword     3   3        5 150  +5 +6   0               18  8
Pair of Spurs   1   1        0   0  -2 -2  -3                2  1

LONG           Tgh Abs Cvr  Reach  Hft Pwr Shp Atk Par Grp  Mass 
WEAPONS                     ft  cm                          lb kg

Pole            2   3        7 210  +2 +3  -6                7  3
Pike            2   2        8 240  +5 +6  -2               22 10
Spear           3   3        5 120  +2 +3  -1                4  2
Staff           3   4        4 120  +2 +3  -6                4  2
Trident         3   3        5 150  +3 +4  -1           +1`  9  4
Bardiche        3   4        4 120  +3 +4   0       +1      15  7
Halberd         2   3        6 180  +3 +4  -1               13  6
Glaive          2   2        4 120  +3 +4   0               11  5

FLEXIBLE       Tgh Abs Cvr  Reach  Hft Pwr Shp Atk Par Grp  Mass 
WEAPONS                     ft  cm                          lb kg

Ball and Chain  2   3        4 120  +4 +5  -4   +1      +1  18  8
Chain Whip      2   3        6 180  +2 +3   0   +1      +1   7  3
flail           2   2        3  90  +3 +4  -3   +1      +1   4  2
Bullwhip        2   1       10 300  +2 +3  -3   +1      +1   4  2
goad            2   1        4 120  -2 -1  -4           +1   2  1

               Tgh Abs Cvr  Reach  Hft Pwr Shp Atk Par Grp  Mass 
SHEILDS                     ft  cm                          lb kg

Buckler         3   4   ½    1  30  -1 -1  -5       +1       4  2
Wooden shield   2   3   1    2  60  +2 +2  -5       +2       7  3
Leather shield  1   2   2    3  90  +2 +2  -6       +3       9  4

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 16

Missile Weapons - example long range weapon list

THROWN       Tgh Abs         Reach Hft Pwr Shp Atk Par Grp  Mass 
WEAPONS                      ft  m                          lb kg

Boomerang     3   4          3 0.9   0   0  -5               2  1
Harpoon       4   4          4 1.2  +2  +2  -1               9  4
Javelin       2   3          3 0.9  +1  +1  -4               2  1
Tomahawk      3   4          2 0.6   0  +1  -3               2  1
Grapple       2   3          2 0.6   0   0  -4          +1   4  2

MISSILE      Tgh Abs Range   Reach Hft Pwr Shp Aim Pul K-D  Mass 
WEAPONS              ft  m   ft  m                          lb kg

Arrow         1  1           2 0.6   0   0  -2               0  0
Bolt          1  2           1 0.3   0   0  -4               0  0
Bullet        3  3           0 0.0   0   0  -5               0  0
Light Bow     1  2  500 150  3 0.9  -2  -2  -6      +1  +1   2  1
Compound Bow  2  2  500 150  3 0.9  -2  -2  -6      +2  -1   2  1
Heavy Bow     2  2  600 180  4 1.2   0   0  -6      +3  +3   2  1
Longbow       2  2  800 240  5 1.5   2   2  -6      +5  +5   4  2
Crossbow      1  2  700 210  2 0.6   1   1  -6     +10       7  3
Sling         1  1           2 0.6   0  +1  -6               2  1
Staff Sling   1  2           4 1.2  +1  +1  -6               4  2
Blowgun       1  1   50  15  3 0.9  -4  -4  -6               1  ½

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 17

Making Equipment

Weapon and Armor PPV - The player point value (PPV) of most weapon attributes is based on the Ability level scale, sometimes with special modifications explained below. For example the Attack Bonus is worth "3 times the normal PPV", so a +3 Attack Bonus is worth 12 PPV, 3 times the PPV of ability level 3. (See Characters/Abilities.)


Creating Armor and Weapons - To create weapons and armor, you add up your bonuses and roll against a difficulty level of zero. Your success level is the number of Player Points you may spend on weapon attributes.

Bonus  Time Invested  Industrial Influence  Tool Quality                 

 +1      15 minutes     Stone age           Makeshift / lacking materials
 +2      30 minutes     Bronze age          Low quality / cheap          
 +3       1 hour        Iron age            Typical / mediocre           
 +4       2 hours       Steel age           High quality / expensive     
 +5       4 hours       Industrial age      State of the art / very rare 
 +6       8 hours       Machine age                                      
 +7      16 hours       Cybernetic age                                   
 +8      32 hours       Future age                                       

(You can keep adding 1 to the time invested bonus by doubling the time)

Attack - This bonus is worth 3 times the normal PPV

Conceal - This bonus is worth double the normal PPV

Grapple - This bonus to manipulation is worth double the normal PPV

Parry - This bonus is worth the normal PPV

Cover - This bonus is worth the normal PPV

Absorb - This bonus is worth the normal PPV

Extra Absorb Bonuses - These bonuses are worth the normal PPV. These are absorb bonuses in addition to regular absorb bonus. Examples include absorbing extra stun or extra damage.


Toughness - This bonus is worth the normal PPV. This toughness bonus only affects the weapon or piece of armor even if it is natural armor or a natural weapon. It is not a bonus to the Template's toughness ability (which reduces attack power automatically regardless of armor.)

Power - No weapon may have a Power Level more than 2 levels higher or lower than it's Heft. To find the PPV of Power, subtract it's Heft from it's Power. Then find the normal ability PPV of this level and triple it to find the PPV of this Power.

For example, if I had a weapon that had a Heft of 5 and a Power of 3, I would subtract the Heft from the Power to get negative 2. The PPV of this weapon's Power would then be -6 .


Sharpness
- To find the PPV of a weapon's sharpness, find it on the following scale:

Sharp.  -6  -5  -4  -3  -2  -1   0   1   2   3    4    5 
PPV      0   1   2   3   4   8  16  32  64  128  256  512

(Continued on next page)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 18

(Making Equipment Continued)

Reach - The PPV of a weapon's reach is 5 PPV per meter, (or 1 PPV for every 20 cm, or 1PPV for every 8 inches.) However, natural weapons don't go by this rule, instead they use the following rules:

Reach for Templates - In the case of natural weapons for a Template, look up the PPV of the natural weapon's reach and the PPV of it's Template's average reach on the Reach and Stride PPV table. Then subtract the Template's average reach PPV from the natural weapon's reach PPV. This is the PPV of the natural weapon's reach. (See Characters/Reach PPV Table.)


Reach for Characters - In the case of reach for natural weapons of an individual character, look up the PPV of the individual character's natural weapon's reach and the PPV of it's Template's average natural weapon reach on the Reach and Stride PPV Table. Subtract the character's Template's average natural reach PPV from the individual character's natural weapon reach. This is the PPV of the individual character's natural weapon's reach. (See Characters/Reach PPV Table.)

Make an Item - Equipment Generation Tutorial

In this tutorial we'll use the rules for making weapons and armor to make a sword in 3 easy steps. (See Equipment/Making Equipment.)

1. Add up your Bonuses - Your bonuses are abilities, time invested, industrial influence and tool quality:

  • Let's suppose the the character trying to make the sword (the craftsman) is an expert, having a +5 craftsmanship ability and a +2 from blacksmith skill. So far this total bonus is 7

  • Let's say the craftsman works on the sword 4 hours per day for 8 days (a total of 32 hours) that's another +8, for a total of +15;

  • Let's assume that steel age technology is readily available, so add an additional +4; for a total of +19

  • Let's say the craftsman is using high quality tools - another +4; bonus - making the total +23

2. Roll vs Zero - The next step is to roll the total bonuses versus zero to get the success level of the craftsman attempt. Let's say we roll a 6, for a total of +29, and the opposing roll is a 2, so the success level for this action is +27.


3. Designate the PPV:

  • Since we are making a sword, we definitely want it sharp, so we'll designate the 4 PPV for -2 sharpness. That brings us down to 23 PPV left to designate

  • We'll take a heft of 3 and power of 4 to bring our undesignated PPV to 20.

  • Then we need some reach, so we bring our undesignated PPV down to 17 by using 3 to get 0.6 meters reach for the sword

  • A sword is supposed to be a durable weapon, so we'll drop our undesignated PPV to 9, by using 8 PPV to get 4 absorption for the sword.

  • Next we back up that absorption, by lowering our undesignated PPV to 1, by using 8 to get 4 toughness.

  • We can use that last 1 PPV to give the sword a very nice hilt with a parry bonus of 1.

In this example, we used a craftsman with a total of a +7 bonus for blacksmithing, who spent 32 hours working on the sword, who had high quality tools, using steel age technology, who did well on his roll (his 6 verses the opposing 2) to give us a total of 27 PPV for our sword. With that PPV we were able to make the equivalent of a shortsword with a +1 parry bonus.



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 19

Action Rules


Actions - Most actions require the use of at least one hit point. This hit point, and additional hit points, might be used to maneuver, manipulate an opponent, or add to the attack power of an attack. (See Action Rules/Maneuvering, Action Rules/Manipulation, and Action Rules/Attacking.)

Action Rounds - An action round is two seconds - enough time for most characters to attempt a couple of short actions, or to do part of a very large action.



Turns - Each round is broken up into turns. Each character has one turn each round. Each turn is broken into 3 phases:

  • Phase One: In the first phase, if the character has any hit points in his stun pool, one of those hit points are moved into the other used pool. IF the character does NOT have any hit points in his stun pool, AND he has hit points in his mega stun pool, than one hit point from the mega stun pool is moved into the stun pool.

  • Phase Two: In the second phase, of the hit points that are NOT in the stun, mega stun, damage or mega damage pools, up to the character's strength in Hit Points are moved into the ready pool.

    For example, if a character's strength was 3, (for a total of 6 Hit Points,) but 4 of those hit points were in his stun pool, only 2 of his hit points could go into the ready pool. If on the other hand only 2 of his hit points were in the stun pool, then all 3 hit points (his strength in hit points,) would be moved into ready.

  • Phase Three: In the third phase, each of the character's hit points in his ready pool are placed into either the maneuvering or wind up pools.

  • Phase Four: In the fourth phase, the character's hit points in his wind up and maneuvering pools may be "spent" (or in other words used by doing actions, and moved to the appropriate pools.) When the player is done moving hit points out of the maneuvering and wind up pools, the turn is over.

Surprise - if a character uses stealth or some other trick they have their turn first, regardless of other factors.

Initiative - Characters have their turns in the order their players are seated, going around the group of players clockwise. The character with the longest reach should have the first turn.

Interfering - Actions can keep other actions from succeeding. These actions are known as interfering actions. Interfering action rolls take place against action rolls on other characters' turns. (Attacks may be used to interfere. If a character is interfering with an action with an attack, in self defense, no other defense roll is made. In order for an attack to successfully interfere with an action, the attack must stun, damage or manipulate.)

Multiple interfering actions may be used to interrupt a single action. For each interfering action, another roll is made against the targeted action. If any of these interfering rolls are successful, the target action fails. The number of hit points used in the action being interrupted, is the maximum number of hit points that can be used from the interfering character's wind-up and/or maneuver pools.

Parrying - A parry is a one hit point action to interfere with an attack. Any special parry bonus that the character or his equipment may have is added to the parry roll, in addition to the character's passive bonus. (See Action Rules/Maneuvering, Equipment/Armor and Weapons/Parry.)


Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 20

Hit Points

Hit Points - Characters' hit points are used to make actions. A character's hit points are equal to strength times two. (See Action Rules.) Each individual hit point always exists in one of the various pools, and can be moved to other pools for various reasons.

Ready Pool - In the second phase of their turns, characters put their strength in hit points, in their ready pool, if there are enough non-stunned and non-damaged hit points to do so. This pool is emptied into the maneuvering and wind up pools in the third phase.

Maneuvering Pool - Hit points in the maneuvering pool count as a bonus towards rolls where a character is attacked but is not attacking. Hit points in the maneuver pool can be used to increase the bonus to hit of a combo of attacks. When hit points in the maneuvering pool are used for an attack, those hit points are moved to the defense pool.

The maximum number of moves in one combo is the number of limbs used to attack, plus one. (For example, if a character is attacking with two knives, one in each hand, the maximum number of knife attacks in that combo is three.)

Defense Pool - Hit points in the defense pool count as a bonus towards rolls where a character is attacked but is not attacking, in addition to any hit points in the maneuvering pool. (This sum is called the "passive bonus." See Action Rules/Maneuvering.)

Wind-Up Pool - Hit points in the wind-up pool can be used to add to the attack power of attacks and to do actions like standing up, parrying, and interfering. Hit points in the Wind-up pool can not be used for maneuvering. Characters may accumulate wind-up hit points and spend them on later turns, including using them to interfere with others' actions. Any amount of hit points in the wind-up pool may be used for an attack. When hit points in the wind up pool are used, they should be moved to the other used pool.

Other Used Pool - Any hit points that are used, but are not added to the maneuvering, defense, or wind up pools, should go to into the other used pool. Hit points in the other used pool can be moved to the ready pool in the second phase of a character's turn, like other hit points in not-damage and not-stun pools.


Stun Pool - Stun is the short-term effect of pain and injury. Hit points added to the stun pool of a successful attack, are the attack's attack power, minus the target's absorb bonus. Only half of the hit points are moved to the stun pool, if the attack is only half-successful.

Mega Stun Pool - When hit points are supposed to be moved to the stun pool, but all of the character's available hit points are already in the stun pool, then the same amount of hit points that were supposed to be moved into the stun pool, are instead moved from the stun pool to the mega stun pool.

Damage - Damage is the long-term effect of injuries that heal slowly, such as cuts, bruises, and burns. The hit points added to the damage pool by a successful attack, are the attack's attack power, plus the weapon's sharpness bonus, minus the target's absorb bonus. Only half of these hit points added to the damage pool, if the attack is only half-successful. (See Equipment/Armor and Weapons/Sharpness.)

Also, when hit points are supposed to be moved to the mega stun pool, but all of the character's available hit points are already in the mega stun pool, then the same amount of hit points that were supposed to be moved into the mega stun pool, are instead moved from the mega stun pool to the damage pool.

Mega Damage Pool - when hit points are supposed to be moved to the damage pool, but all of the character's available hit points are already in the damage pool, then the same amount of hit points that were supposed to be moved into the damage pool, are instead moved from the damage pool to the mega damage pool. Once all of the hit points are in the mega damage pool, the character is dead.

Receiving Stun and Damage - Hit points moved into the stun and lasting pools are taken from specific pools until those pools no longer have hit points. The hit points come first from the wind-up pool, second from the maneuvering pool, third from the defense pool, and fourth from the other used.

(Continued on next page.)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 21

(Hit Points Continued)

Regeneration - Characters recover from damage at the rate of one, plus their regeneration ability bonus, in hit points each week. Hit points recovered from the mega damage pool, are moved to the damage pool

Rest should be considered a bonus to any attempt to heal the character that week. Each day the character engages in no physically strenuous activity -


especially combat, training and travel - counts as a +1 bonus to the roll for that week. If the roll is successful, double the regeneration bonus of the resting character for that week. Opposition to this healing roll would include lack of resources, harsh conditions, poison or infection (easily up to +5 for each individual opposing factor.)

Maneuvering

Maneuvering - Maneuvering can be combined with most other actions by using extra hit points to maneuver during that action. A character can maneuver as an action.

Moving - The maximum distance a character can run is the number of hit points being put into his maneuver and/or wind-up pools, times the character's stride. (Hit points applied to maneuvering and/or wind-up pools can also be applied to other movement abilities instead of running.)

Maneuvering in Combat - Hit points in the ready pool may be put into the maneuver pool. Once a hit point in the maneuver pool is used to attack, it is moved into the defense pool.

Passive Bonus - A character's passive bonus is equal to the hit points in the maneuver pool, plus the hit points in the defense pool.

Optional Flanking Rule - The line of attack is an imaginary ray that starts at a character's location, and projects infinitely far in the direction they are facing. When a character is attacked by something other than a counter-attack or parry, and he is unable to face his attacker, the attacker gets a special bonus.

If the attacker is off the line of attack of its target up to 90 degrees, then he gets an addition of 1 to his combat rolls against the target . If he is more than 90 degrees off the line of attack but not directly behind the target, he adds 2 to his combat rolls against the target. When the attacker is directly opposite his targets line of attack he adds 3 to the combat rolls against the target.


Speed Damage - Traveling at high speeds causes a character's attacks to have greater attack power, AND attacks against him to have greater attack power. For every 5 meters a character moves per round, he has a +1 bonus to the attack power of his attacks, and he has a +1 bonus to the attack power of attacks against him. For example, if a character was riding on top of a vehicle traveling 15 meters in that round, every time that round the character hit a target, he would have a +3 bonus to attack power (15 meters divided by 5 is 3,) and every time he was hit that round, the attacks against him would have a +3 bonus to attack power.

If one character is following another, then Speed Damage works differently. First, the speed damage rule only works for the character who's moving the fastest. Second, it only applies by how much faster per round that character is going than the slower character. For example, if Mr. A is following Mr. B, and Mr. A is going 15 meters that round and Mr. B is going 10 meters that round, then if Mr. A hits Mr. B, then Mr. A only has the Speed Damage bonus of going 5 meters per round for that hit (15 meters -10 Meters = 5 meters.)

This "Speed Damage" rule acts in addition to and separate from Hit Point rules. (So for example, if a character had moved 15 meters in one round by spending his own hit points, he would have a +3 bonus to the attack power of his attacks in addition to any hit point attack power bonuses.) The Speed Damage rule applies to Thrown Weapons, but not other kinds of missile weapon attacks.

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 22

Manipulation

Manipulation - The attacker gets his size as a bonus to manipulate, plus 1 for every hit point he uses to manipulate. The total bonus is then compared to the target's size. The difference in favor of the attacker is subtracted from the target's next combat roll in either this round or the next. In addition a successful manipulation attack can be used to disarm, hold, choke, wrench or throw an opponent.

Manipulation with Missile Weapons - Most missile weapons (such as thrown weapons, slings, bows and guns) cannot be used to hold, choke, wrench or throw. When using a missile weapon to manipulate, use the weapon's attack power minus 5, ( instead of the attacker's size and hit points used to manipulate,) to determine the attacker's manipulation bonus.

Disarm - disarms an opponent if the opponent is armed with a weapon not attached to its body.

Hold - A hold attack can hold an opponent. The attacker must use as many hit points to maintain the hold each round as it originally used to manipulate the attacked character at the beginning of the hold. Each round the hold is maintained, the character being held gets the manipulation minus from all of his combat rolls.

If a holding attack is half successful, the attacker must use the same amount of hit points to maintain the hold, but the hold only gives half of the manipulation minus.


Choke/Wrench - A choke or wrench is an attack that acts like a hold. The large half of the attack power of the choke/wrench adds a manipulation bonus, and the small half of the attack power acts like a normal attack (using any appropriate bonuses if equipment used to perform the choke/wrench.) These effects are applied each round that the choke or wrench is maintained. If a choke or wrench is half successful, the attacker must use the same amount of hit points to maintain the choke or wrench, but the choke or wrench only gives half attack power and half of the manipulation bonus.

An example can be seen in a dispute between Mr. A and Mr. B, two unarmed clones. Mr. A successfully chokes Mr. B with 5 hit points used for attack power, so that Mr. B has a minus 3 to all his rolls, and is hit by an attack with +2 attack power, from Mr. A. These two effects on Mr. B are repeated every round Mr. A maintains the choke.

Throw - The thrown character ends up in a lying down or "prone" position (or crouching "semi-prone" position if half-successful.) The thrown character takes the appropriate stun or damage from any weapons or other objects they are thrown into. Most objects and surfaces are considered blunt weapons. The thrown character can also be considered a blunt hand to hand weapon in the hands of the attacker while being thrown. The thrown character's size is the power bonus of this weapon. The total reach of this weapon is 3/4 of the thrown character's height (or length or wingspan, whichever is longest,) plus the thrower's reach, all added to the product of the thrower's stride, times the number of hit points the thrower used to move during the throw.


Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 23

Attacking

Readying weapons - Unless surprised, characters will usually draw their weapons before the beginning of combat. If they have to ready the weapon during an action round, drawing the weapon from it's sheath, holster, scabbard, belt, or other convenient location, this act usually requires the use of at least one hit point.

Loading weapons - Some weapons must be loaded before each attack, or reloaded after a certain number of uses. If the ammunition is in a convenient location (a quiver, pocket, pouch, bandoleer, etc.) it can be drawn from that location with an action that uses one hit point.

Then the ammunition can be loaded into a simple weapon like a sling or a bow with another action that uses one hit point. More complex weapons may have extra steps that use more hit points. If you have to load a revolver one bullet at a time for example, you must use an extra one hit point action to load each bullet.

Unloading weapons - Most weapons are designed to be loaded quickly, but unloading them can be trickier. Unloading a weapon is usually a one hit point action, but then you are either holding the ammunition or let it drop (your choice.) Putting away the ammunition you are holding requires an extra one hit point action - assuming that you have a single convenient place to put it. (If you have to load several rounds of ammunition into individual locations, each round of ammunition will take a separate one hit point action.)


Attacking - Attacks are actions that stun and/or damage and/or manipulate a target. An attack puts at least one hit point into the maneuver pool, OR adds a plus one bonus to attack power (putting the hit point into the other used pool.) Additional hit points can be used to manipulate the opponent (See Action Rules/Manipulation), maneuver or increase attack power.

Attack Power - The attack power of a hand weapon, (including bare hands,) or a thrown weapon, is the weapon's power bonus, or the character's size - whichever is greater - plus the number of hit points used to increase the attack power. The attack power of a bow is the bow's pull bonus.

Minimum hit points to attack – This is an optional rule. The minimum number hit points required to perform an action with a weapon, is the heft of the weapon, minus the weapon-wielding character's size.

Target Size - Larger targets are easier to hit, so the encumbrance of a target is added to the roll against the success of any attack against that target, even if the target is not defending or inanimate. A character or object's encumbrance is only applied once for each attack, so if a character is parrying an attack, don't add their encumbrance because the parry bonus already includes encumbrance. (See Characters/Description/Encumbrance.)

Out-reaching - If a character is outreached and not using a missile weapon or similar long range weapon, he can only attack his target's weapon and not the target, and then only when his target attacks him. The exception is if when his target attacks the target's weapon's reach is shorter than the defender's (this character's) total reach.

Attacking from a Distance - Use the bonus from this table (based on the distance from the attacker to the target) instead of the attacker's encumbrance if it is less than the attacker's encumbrance:

       cm/in             m/ft           m/ft           m/ft            m/ft 
+30  18.8/7.50   +18  0.75/2.50   +6  3.0/10.0    -6  12/40.0   -18   48/160
+29  21.9/8.75   +17  0.88/2.92   +5  3.5/11.7    -7  14/46.7   -19   56/187
+28  25.0/10.0   +16  1.00/3.33   +4  4.0/13.3    -8  16/53.3   -20   64/213
+27  28.1/11.3   +15  1.13/3.75   +3  4.5/15.0    -9  18/60.0   -21   72/240
+26  31.3/12.5   +14  1.25/4.17   +2  5.0/16.7   -10  20/66.7   -22   80/267
+25  34.4/13.8   +13  1.33/4.58   +1  5.5/18.3   -11  22/73.3   -23   88/293
+24  37.5/15.0   +12  1.50/5.00    0  6.0/20.0   -12  24/80.0   -24   96/320
+23  44.8/17.5   +11  1.75/5.83   -1  7.0/23.3   -13  28/93.3   -25  112/373
+22  50.0/20.0   +10  2.00/6.67   -2  8.0/26.7   -14  32/107    -26  128/427
+21  56.3/22.5    +9  2.25/7.50   -3  9.0/30.0   -15  36/120    -27  160/480
+20  62.5/25.0    +8  2.50/8.33   -4   10/33.3   -16  40/133    -28  144/533
+19  68.8/27.5    +7  2.75/9.17   -5   11/36.7   -17  44/147    -29  176/587
+18  75.0/30.0    +6  3.00/10.0   -6   12/40.0   -18  48/160    -30  192/640

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 24

Thrown Weapons

Throwing Power - The throwing power of a thrown weapon is the weapon's power bonus or the character's size - whichever is greater - plus the number of hit points used to increase the attack power.

Maximum Range - The maximum distance you can throw a weapon is the throwing power of the attack, multiplied by your natural reach, plus any reach added by a sling or spear thrower used to throw the weapon. The thrown weapon's reach bonus is not included.


Optional Ability-Based Extra Distance Rule - Add 10% to the character's reach for throwing purposes for each level of throwing ability (plus the bonus of one skill if any applies.) A half level adds 5%. This reflects special types of strength, flexibility and coordination which contribute specifically to throwing ability.

Slings and Spear Throwers - Slings and spear throwers add to your reach to determine maximum range. They usually also change the heft and attack power of the thrown weapon.

Archery

Drawing a Bow - Before a bow can be aimed or fired, and after it has been loaded (i.e. after the the arrow is knocked) it must be drawn. This action requires one hit point or hit points equal to the bow's pull minus the character's size, whichever is greater. These hit points are moved into the other used pool. Your reach must also meet or exceed the bow's minimum reach requirement.

Releasing the Bow - Releasing the bow without firing the arrow is a one hit point action.

Drawing a Bow Half Way - If your reach is at least half the bow's reach you can draw it halfway instead of drawing it normally. This requires half as many hit points, or one hit point, whichever is greater. The bow fired this way has one fourth of the normal range and has 2 points less attack power.



Keeping a bow drawn - Once a bow is drawn you can keep it drawn for the rest of the round. To keep the bow drawn each following round until it is released or fired, you must use hit points equal to the bow's keep-drawn cost minus your size, or zero hit points if your size is greater. The keep-drawn cost is the same as pull for normal bows. Compound bows have a lower keep-drawn cost. You don't have to use any hit points to keep a crossbow drawn.

Crossbow Drawing Tools - A tool can reduce the hit points needed to pull a crossbow by splitting it into multiple steps. A simple lever can reduce the hit point requirement by 2 points, but requires 2 actions instead of 1. A crank that requires 3 actions instead of 1 reduces the hit point requirement by 3 points. A 4 action crank reduces the requirement by 4; a 6 action crank reduces the requirement by 5; a 8 action crank reduces the requirement by 6; and so on. (Doubling the actions reduces the requirements by 2.) Each action uses one hit point



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 25

Stance and Posture

Standing - This is the position where characters are ready to do most actions, but they are also fully exposed to missile weapon attacks such as thrown weapons, slings, bows and guns. While standing a character can move at normal speed and have no special bonuses from this position.

Crouching or Sitting - (This is also known as being "in the semi-prone position.") If a character is crouching or sitting they have a -1 bonus against their hand to hand rolls, and a +1 bonus against being hit by a missile weapon attack. A crouching or sitting character moves only 1/2 as far as they move while standing.

Lying Down - (This is also known as "being in the prone position.") If a character is lying down they have a -2 bonus to all of their hand to hand rolls, but they have a +2 bonus against being hit by missile weapons. A character lying down moves only 1/5 as far as they move while standing.





Getting Up Quickly - It takes one hit point to get from a crouching or sitting position to standing up, or from a lying down position to crouching or sitting. It takes two hit points to get from lying down to standing up. In order to get up this quickly the character must make a success roll using their acrobatics ability. The difficulty of this move is 1 to get from crouching or sitting to standing, or from lying down to crouching or sitting. The difficulty is 2 to get from lying down to standing.

Getting Up Slowly - If the character gets up slowly, they don't need to make a roll. Getting up slowly from a crouching or sitting position to standing takes 1 round. Getting up slowly from a lying down position to crouching or sitting takes 1 round.

Getting Down - The difficulty, time and hit points needed to get into a crouching or sitting position from standing, or to get into a lying down position from crouching, sitting or standing, is the same as going in the opposite direction and can be done slowly or quickly (using hit points and making the difficulty roll.)



Mounted Combat

When the Animal Attacks - When riding an animal, the animal will fight automatically if it is trained to do so. Every time the animal attacks or defends, the rider must make a roll using their riding ability to stay mounted.

Stopping the Attack - To keep the animal from attacking the rider must make an animal handling success roll every time the animal is attacked, and every round that the animal's attacker is visible. The difficulty of this roll is +2 bonus against success, or +4 if the animal has hit points in its stun or damage pools.


Animals that do not Fight - Animals trained to be ridden but not to fight, will not attack if they are being ridden, instead they will try to run unless a successful animal handling roll succeeds. The difficulty of this roll is +3 bonus against success, or +5 if the animal has hit points in its stun or damage pools.

Charging Attack - A rider's attack power is increased by the speed of his steed. (See Action Rules/Maneuvering/Speed Damage.)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 26

Combat Tutorial

Basic Hand to Hand Combat - Here is a demonstration of the basic combat system. (See Action Rules.) Modre (see Characters/Character Generation Tutorial) has a little brother, by the name of Fishy, who is exactly like Modre in every way, except that Fishy has less reach. One day they get into a fight. This is what happens, and how it works.

1. Establishing Initiative - Because Modre has a longer reach, he goes first.

2. First Round Begins - The Sabretooth Penguine brothers both have 8 hit points (4 strength times two is 8.) Modre and Fishy's players put their hit points into their maneuver and wind-up pools however they like, because they have no hit points in various damage or stun pools at the start. Modre and Fishy both put 4 hit points in their maneuver and wind-up pools. (See Characters/Character Sheet.)

3. First Turn - Because Modre has initiative, the first turn is his.

  • In the first phase, he has no hit points in the stun or mega stun pools, so goes onto the second phase.

  • In his second phase, 4 of Modre's hit points, (his strength in hit points,) are put into the ready pool. 2 hit points come out of the wind-up pool and 2 come out of maneuvering pool.

  • In the third phase, his player puts two hit points from the ready pool into the maneuver pool (for a total of 4 hit points in his maneuver pool,), and two into the wind-up pool (for a total of 4 hit points in his wind-up pool,). (see Action Rules/Maneuvering)

  • In his fourth phase, his player chooses to do nothing.


4. Second Turn - Now Fishy has initiative because his player is next in the circle.

  • In his first phase, he has no hit points in the stun or mega stun pools, so he goes onto the second phase.

  • In his second phase, 4 of Fishy's hit points, (his strength in hit points,) are put into the ready pool. 2 hit points come from the maneuver pool and 2 from the wind-up pool.

  • In his third phase, Fishy puts 3 of the hit points in his ready pool into his wind up pool (for a total of 5 hit points in his wind up pool,) and 1of the hit points from the ready pool into his maneuver pool (for a total of 5 hit points in his wind up pool.)

  • In the fourth phase he attacks Modre with his claws.

The 3 hit points in Fishy's maneuver pool, are moved into the defense pool, and add +3 to his attack roll. Fishy's player puts 5 hit points from wind-up into the other used pool, to add a +5 to the attack power of his attack. Fishy has a +4 combat bonus, so his attack has +7 to the roll (+4 combat bonus, plus 3 from the hit points from the maneuver pool.) Because the claws have a +0 power bonus, his attack has +5 attack power.

In order to defend himself, Modre attempts to interfere with Fishy's action, by attacking with his claws. His player moves 6 hit points out of the maneuver pool and puts them into the defense pool. He puts the 2 hit points from his wind-up pool into his other used pool, to give him +2 to his attack's attack power. Because he has a +4 combat bonus, there is a total of +10 to Modre's attack's roll (6 from his maneuvering, and 4 from his combat bonus.) Modre's claws also have +0 power, so his attack has +2 attack power (from the wind-up hit points going to the other-used pool.)

Now both rolls are made. Fishy's player rolls a 4 on his die, so that Fishy's total roll is +11 (7 plus 4 is 11.) Modre's player rolls a 2 on his die, so Modre's total roll is +12 (10 plus 2 is 12.) Because Modre's interfering attack was successful, (12 is greater than 11,) Fishy's attack fails and there is no penetrating attack power. Fishy is hit by Modre's attack with attack power of +2 and sharpness -3, so he puts 2 hit points from his defense into the stun pool (for a total of 1 hit points left in his defense pool.)

This is the end of all of the characters' turns and therefore the end of the round.

(Continued on next page.)

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 27

(Combat Tutorial Continued)

5. Second Round/ First Turn - It is Modre's turn again.

  • In his first phase, Modre still has no hit points in the stun or mega stun pools so he goes onto the second phase.

  • In his second phase, Modre's player takes 2 hit points out of Modre's other used pool, and 2 hit points out of Modre's defense pool, and puts those hit points into the ready pool. (The total hit points in the ready pool are now 4, Modre's strength in hit points.)

  • In the third phase Modre's player puts the 4 hit points from ready into wind up.

  • In the fourth phase, he uses those 4 hit points to add to the attack power of an attack against Fishy (landing those 4 hit points in his other used pool.)

Fishy has 1 hit points in his defense pool, and therefore a +1 passive bonus. Both players roll. Fishy's player rolls a 3 on his die so his total roll is 8 (3 plus a +4 combat bonus, plus a 1 passive bonus.) Modre's player rolls a 5 on his die so his total roll is 9 (5 plus +4 combat bonus.) Modre is successful (9 is greater than 8.)

Modre is successful and Fishy is hit by an attack with +4 attack power and -3 sharpness. Fishy's player puts 3 hit points from Fishy's other used pool into the stun pool (for a total of 5 hit points in his stun pool.) He also puts 1 hit point into the damage pool from other used pool (leaving 2 hit points in his other used pool.)


6. Round Two/Second Turn - It is now Fishy's turn.

  • In the first phase his player moves 1 hit point from the stun pool into the other used pool.

  • In the second phase Fishy's player moves the 3 hit points from the other used pool into the ready pool. (He can not have 4 in the ready pool, because the rest of his hit points are in his stun and damage pools.)

  • In the third phase Fishy puts his 3 hit points from the ready pool into the maneuver pool, to avoid being beat down again.

  • Fishy does nothing in the fourth phase.

This is the end of the second round.

7. Third round and beyond - The third round (and following rounds) follows the same general pattern that the first and second round followed, as far as what characters act in what order, while the players continue to control their characters by moving hit points around in the various pools.



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 28

GNU Lesser General Public License

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That's all there is to it!

Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 31

List of Changes

2005.03.01 - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/MaM.2005.03.01.html

Added .html format links

Clarified combat tutorial

2005.02.23 - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/hands/MaM.2005.02.23.html

Added a fourth phase to turns, with appropriate adjustments.

Added attack combo definition to maneuvering pool definition.

Added optional minimum hit point rule to attacking rules.

2004.12.24

OpenOffice SXW - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/hands/MaM-rps.2004.12.24.zip

Acrobat PDF - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/hands/MaM-rps.2004.12.24.pdf

Characters/Description

Removed “background”

Added “occupations” and related optional examples

Changed name of Role-Playing System from “Hack and Slash” to “Mano a Mano”

Mano a Mano” was a former name of the system from the 1990's

Mano a Mano” originally implied “player vs. player” or “playing without a GM”

2004.09.21

OpenOffice SXW - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/hands/hands-rps.2004.09.21.zip

Acrobat PDF - http://hack-and-slash.sf.net/hands/hands-rps.2004.09.21.pdf

Expanded license explanation

Reorganized Table of Contents (tables no longer seperated)

Created seperate loadable style sheets for internet and print formats

Cleaned up formatting to convert to HTML more consistently

Tested and fixed most of the links

Added links to PDF versions of the document

Arranged List of Changes into rows (easier to repaginate)

2004.08.19

Halved Encumbrance (supposed to have been done in last release.)

2004.08.07

"Race" changed to Template"

Redesigned layout in OpenOffice.org format for printing

Action Rounds section deleted and round rules moved to Action Rules

Character Creation, Race Generation, and Combat Tutorials updated

Size more clearly defined

"damage bonus" changed to attack power, or "penetrating attack power"

Spelling corrections and long paragraphs split

Reordered statements in Disability Level rule

New Character Sheet Design

Put List of Changes and LGPL at the end

Moved H&S RPS license to the 1st page

Tutorials renamed and moved to appropriate sections, Tutorial section removed

"Half Levels" of ALL KINDS removed from ENTIRE system

"Damage" changed to new kinds of hit point pools ("Stun pool, Mega Stun pool, Damage Pool, & Mega Damage Pool",) with accompanying new rules in appropriate sections, and with appropriate re-wording throughout the system.

Characters/Race Creation - Limb PPV changed

Characters/Race Creation/Tutorial - changed Gnome to "Sabretooth Penguin," "Podre" to "Fishy," and the characters are now "clones" instead of "brothers."

In the Equipment section "special absorption' was changed to "extra absorption" to avoid confusion with the new character sheet design.

Sharpness scale altered, -6 is now "blunt" sharpness.

Ability section slightly rearranged.


2004.03.19

Action Rules/Action Rounds -

the maximum hit points a character can spend per turn is their strength

removed carry-over hit points

added hit point requirement to interfering rules

Action Rules/Hit Points -

ready are equal to twice strength plus one

wind-up usage includes "now" maneuvering

"old" and "new" maneuvering and wind-up included in order of losing hit points

one hit point is recovered from stun at the end of each round automatically

one additional hit point is recovered from lasting if regeneration is successful

Action Rules/Attacking - attacking rules clarified

Action Rules/Maneuvering -

maneuvering is now "old" and "new", instead of "multiple targets"

passive defense bonus concept revised

Characters/Character Sheet - converted to 3x5 character sheet

Characters/Abilities -

ability scale updated

whole abilities added, max at 2 abilities

Characters/Description - new Size Table

Characters/Description - new Encumbrance Table

Characters/Race Creation (see also Character Creation) - new Reach PPV

Equipment -

Armor and Weapons - sharpness redefined

example hand weapons and missile weapons updated

Making Equipment - sharpness PPV scale

Hack and Slash Role Playing System - typical "average beginning character" PPV is mentioned

Tutorials - Updated ("Make an Item", "Make a Race", "Make a Character", "Combat Tutorial")

2003.08.26

All sections - "Table of Contents" link added to the bottom of each page

Action Rules/Action Rounds -

"Carry Over" hit points and turns introduced

Only half of "used hit points" must become ready at the beginning of the round

"Outreaching" changed to "Initiative" and revised. (Most "ready hit points" is the most important initiative factor.)

"Turns" changed to require at least 1 "ready hit point" to be used by a character, if they have one, each time it's his turn.

Action Rules/Attacking - The required hit point for an attack increases attack power

Action Rules/Maneuvering -

Maneuvering in Combat section added

Distant Maneuvering section added

Passive Defense Bonus section added

Offensive Maneuvering and Defensive Maneuvering sections removed

Charging modified

Opening paragraph modified

Optional Flanking rule modified

Characters/Abilities -

PPV scale of abilities and disabilities (1 PPV = ability level 1)

Maximum disability level is 4

Running ability modified to work with new stride table and hitpoint rules

Swimming combat rules modified

Special PPV rules updated



Mano a Mano Role-Playing System 32

(List of Changes Continued)

(2003.08.26 continued)

Characters/Character Creation -

Reach PPV modified for characters

Character stride modification rule changed

Characters/Character Sheet - updated and optimized

Characters/Hit Points -

Passive Defense Hit Points section removed

Maneuvering Hit Points section added

Hit Points equal strength plus 1

Wind-up hit points are explained

Characters/Race Creation -

"Reach and Stride PPV Table" changed to simply "Reach PPV Table" (also changes "Characters/Character Creation".)

Various PPV Rules adjusted (Limbs, Stride, Reach, Size)

New "Characters/Race Creation/Stride PPV Table" section added

Equipment/Making Equipment -

"Reach", "Reach for Races", and "Reach for Characters" revised

Various equipment bonuses' PPV modified

Heft and Power must be within 2 levels of each other

When creating equipment the PPV bonus is not multiplied

Tutorials - Updated ("Make an Item", "Make a Race", "Make a Character", "Combat Tutorial")

2003.03.19

Action Rules/Maneuvering - speed damage rule added

Action Rules/Mounted Combat - charging rule fixed using speed rule

Characters/Abilities -

Disability rules added

"Ignorance" disability replaced "Intelligence" ability

Running Stride rule replaced old running rule

Char*acters/Character Sheet - a "Running Stride" has been added under Stride

Characters/Race Creation - Limb PPV specified

Equipment/Making Equipment/Heft -

Heft can cannot be more than 5 levels higher than Power

Heft no longer has it's own PPV, but instead effects the PPV of *Power

2002.12.12

Characters/Abilities - Intelligence now applies to normal travel abilities

Characters/Hit Points - "Losing Hit Points" section added

Action Rules/Thrown Weapons - "Throwing Power"

updated/corrected

Action Rules/Manipulation - "Choke/Wrench" updated

Characters/Race Creation - "Reach" and "Stride" minimum PPV limit set

2002.08.03

Characters/Abilities - "Basic PPV" eliminated, replaced with "Special PPV" for special abilities only

Equipment/Making Equipment/Weapon and Armor PPV - Punctuation clarified

Equipment/Armor & Weapons/Cover - Cover definition explained

2002.07.19

Characters/Abilities/Skills - Skill rules clarified, example added

Equipment/Making Equipment/Sharpness - Sharpness PPV rules readjusted and clarified, examples added

Equipment/Armor & Weapons/Sharpness - Sharpness rules clarified, examples added

2002.05.25

Hack and Slash Role-Playing System/Hack and Slash Role-Playing System License - "OGL" license option removed due to anticipated incompatibility

Characters/Abilities/Intelligence - Intelligence Ability rule clarified

Action Rules/Manipulation - Grappling rules modified, wrench and choke now use same rules

Tutorials/Make a Race and Tutorials/Make a Character - Race described here changed to "Gnome"

Hack and Slash Role-Playing System/List of Changes - Zipped versions of H&S RPS now available by clicking on respective version numbers

Most pages - Copyright notices updated to 2002 and/or minor grammar corrections


2002.01.03

Characters/Abilities/Power and Toughness - new rule for how these really work

Characters/Character Creation/Natural Weapons and Armor - new rule

Equipment/Armor and Weapons/Toughness describes how weapon damage works

Equipment/Armor and Weapons/Hitting too Hard - use toughness instead of absorption

Equipment/Making Equipment/Power removed confusing rule for racial natural weapons

Equipment/Making Equipment/Toughness no longer applies to racial toughness ability

2001.12.14

Started this list of changes

Hack and Slash Role-Playing System (main page)

Added die type to "Things you'll need" rule (formerly in Rolling Dice section)

New Version "rule" with link to old versions and this list of changes

New License "rule" with link to license

New Table of Contents page

New Player Point Value rule

Added List of Changes, Table of Contents and license to left side menu

Characters

Race/character generation, the character sheet and it's sections are now in the main Characters category

Dimensions merged into Description

Encumbrance and Size definitions are now in Description instead of with the tables

Left-side menu changed to match the links on the main Characters page

Skills are now a type of ability and use the same PPV table for levels

Added basic PPV rule to Abilities and basic PPV for each type of ability

Moved Ongoing Character Development, Teaching and Experience out of Abilities

Renamed Race/Character "Generation" to Race/Character "Creation"

Equipment

Added Quantity rule

Reorganized, clarified and removed obsolete items from Armor and Weapons

Renamed the Equipment sections so the Equipment page and menu match better

Updated Hand Weapons and Missile Weapons example lists

Overhauled the Making Equipment rules - should be easier to use

Action rules

Combined Rounds and Turns into new "Action Rounds" page

Merged Hand to Hand and Missile Weapons rules into general rules

New sections - maneuvering, manipulation, attacking, thrown weapons and archery

Corrected and clarified Size (now "Target Size") rule

Attacking from a Distance - new scale and now applies to all attacks

Changed Crouching section to Stance and Posture, added Standing position

Tutorials

Renamed tutorials "Make [a|an] [Item|Race|Character]" and "Combat Tutorial"

All tutorials have been updated to reflect the new rules

Started adding link to license to each pages copyright line

Started spiffy new generic, style-less color scheme

Started removing rigid numbering system in favor of better section/rule names

Changed license to optionally LGPL or Open Game License

2001.11.08 - First official version