Conflicts

In scenes where clashes cause damage, physical or mental, it is called a conflict. The basic rules of conflict are designed for speed of play and simplicity in hostile interactions regardless of if the blows are delivered by fist or word. The simple nature of the basic conflict rules requires Storytellers and Players to pad out the skeleton of dice rolls with as much narrative set-dressing as they like.

Conflict Turns

Conflict scenes like all scenes are structured into turns. A turn lasts as long as it takes for each participant in the conflict to act. The exact span of time taken by each turn can therefore vary depending upon the actions being taken.

In basic conflict, there is no concrete initiative system. Instead, the side that initiates the conflict declares its commitments first. Once every participant on that side has declared, the opposing side does the same. After all commitments have been declared, the Storyteller tells the troupe which dice to include in their respective pools and they toss to see the outcome.

In basic conflict, commitments are not resolved in a strict initiative order. Instead, ongoing close-range clashes are resolved first, followed by ranged actions, newly initiated close-range clashes, and finally everything else.

Commitments

During a turn, a character may commit themselves to any conceivable and reasonable action. This is a commitment and it represents a meaningful intention instead of every movement or deed needed to carry it out.

A character may make more than one commitment in a turn, given that they could reasonably be pursued at the same time. Actions that would depend upon the completion or outcome of a commitment must instead be taken on a later turn.

Making multiple commitments divides a character’s attention. This is represented by stepping down the dice used in a toss by one level for each commitment rolled for after the first.

Clashes

Commitments made during conflict are often directly opposed or resisted by another character, causing their tosses to be resolved as clashes.
When a clash has the potential to cause harm, the margin is used to determine how much damage is dealt.

Defending

A character can passively defend against harm with a Resist Toss, but may instead make a commitment to actively defend themselves. This might be done by dodging out of the way, parrying blows, rebutting an accusation, or any other action which would directly oppose the attack.

In a clash where the winning toss is for a purely defensive action, it cannot inflict harm no matter how wide its margin. If both sides of the clash have the potential to cause harm, either may inflict damage by winning the clash.

Damage

Damage dealt during conflict can be either physical or mental depending upon the nature of the attack causing it. Mental damage injures stress, whereas physical damage inflicts wounds.

Mental damage dealt to a character is equal to the margin of the win. If an opponent cannot take on any more stress, a wound is inflicted instead, based on the remaining margin according to the physical damage rules.

Wounds

Wounds in Fayrewood come in three severities: minor, major, critical. A character can only sustain so many wounds of each severity. If a character has no remaining capacity for a wound, it escalates to the next severity. If a wound escalates beyond critical, the character dies. Instantly,

A single commitment dealing physical damage will ordinarily only inflict one wound. The severity of that wound is determined by the margin of the win.

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