The Galactic Realm of the Hyperspace Sea - Rules

For: https://itch.io/jam/gd20-jam 

See also: https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2023/09/four-civilizations-of-galactic-realm.html 

Core Rules: 

Action Roll: 

• When an action’s success is uncertain, a player rolls a d20 and adds appropriate Proficiency. If the total is equal or greater than the action’s Difficulty Score (DS) it is successful.
• Proficiency is the total bonus values of any Attribute Score, Skill or Possession that can be applied to the action being performed. Players may apply one of each of the above sources to an action test. The referee can add or subtract from the score of an action roll if they deem the in game situation/context appropriate to do so.  
• All Action Rolls carry some element of risk. On a failed roll the difference between the Action Roll and DS is the amount of Health, Reputation or Finances depleted. 
• Rolls of 1 (regardless of Proficiency) on the die always fail; rolls of 20 will always succeed. The referee will need to consider what events transpire when these particularly unlucky/lucky events occur. 

Difficulty Scores Guidelines: 

Easy: 12 Average: 16 Tough: 20

Economy: Buying and selling is handled through an Action Roll with an appropriate difficulty score. Forgo any roll if the purchase is trivial - the good or service is simply acquired. Player characters may be awarded/acquire credit chits that can restore any lost Finances (up to that characters’ maximum). 

Player Character (PC) Creation

Allocate the scores of 3, 2 and 1 to each of the following Attributes: 

• Strength. Gives Proficiency in actions of Fighting, fortitude, and toughness.
• Dexterity. Gives Proficiency in actions of Stealth, athletics, and reflexes.
• Willpower. Gives Proficiency in actions of Confidence, discipline, and charisma.

• Choose a Background for your character.
• Assign your character three skills based on your background. They can be Broad (+1) or Narrow (+2, as they are more specialized). Skills are here: https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2023/10/24-skills-of-galactic-realm.html

Player characters also have a score for Health, Reputation and Finances

• Health starts at 10 plus Strength score. PCs may sleep once per day in a safe spot, regaining all lost Health. If it is possible that this rest will be interrupted by aggressive interlopers it will be! 
• Reputation starts at 10 plus Dexterity score. Lost reputation is restored by a successful action roll risking reputation. The difference between the Action Roll and DS is the amount of reputation restored (up to maximum reputation). Low reputation characters will find themselves ostracized, characters with no reputation will be exiled or forbidden entry to most self respecting establishments. 
• Finances start at 10 plus Willpower score. Lost finances are restored by a successful action roll risking finances. The difference between the Action Roll and DS is the amount of finance restored (up to the maximum finance). The finance attribute may go infinitely negative. While a character has negative finances they will be hounded appropriately by debt collectors. 

Advancement:

• When deemed appropriate by the referee a PC gains a level. 
• Each level: raise an Attribute or Skill score by 1 (Narrow Skill by +2) (MAX +8) and raise either Health, Reputation or Finances by 1. Every 3rd level a PC may learn a new Broad Skill (at +1) or Narrow Skill (at +2) instead of increasing scores.

Non Player Characters (NPCs)

NPCS have three attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Willpower and a Health score. The guidelines for values for these attributes are: Weak: 12 (or below) Average: 14-16 Tough: 20+). Health is 10, but maybe higher or lower for particular weak/strong NPCs. 

A situation in which a PC is in opposition with another PC/NPC is a Confrontation.

The DS of the opposition is equal to the appropriate attribute of the NPC being confronted. When a PC rolls to act in a Confrontation the difference between the Action Roll and DS is the amount of Health depleted from the loser of the confrontation

Vehicles

Vehicle have three attributes: Comms, Engines, Arsenal and a Hull score. The guidelines for values for these attributes are: Weak: 12 (or below) Average: 14-16 Tough: 20+). Hull is 10,  but maybe higher or lower for particularly weak/strong vehicles. 

• When a PC is piloting a vehicle they roll a d20 and add the appropriate vehicle attribute minus 10 divided by 3 to the roll plus any appropriate Proficiency. 
• Confrontations are resolved normally between vehicles but they lose Hull when losing a confrontation. When a vehicle's Hull is reduced to 0 it, and all aboard, are destroyed. 
• All space vehicle rolls/scores are doubled against terra vehicles and tripled against on foot targets. 
• All terra vehicle rolls/scores are doubled against on foot targets and halved against space vehicles. 
• All on foot rolls/scores are halved against terra vehicles and quartered against space vehicles. 

Combat Confrontations

• All combat is MASS COMBAT resolved in a single round. The appropriate score for each NPC combatant are added together for each side, then a d6 is rolled for each NPC combatant. For each PC on a side in a conflict, they roll a d20 and add appropriate Proficiency as normal. Before resolving each side must designate the target/s of any HP/HULL damage, this can be as specific or broad as needed but must be assigned before the round has been resolved. Any additional HP/HULL damage left over after any identified targets are killed/destroyed when the round is resolved is wasted (it does not cascade onto untargeted combatants). Once targets are identified, and scores and rolls are summed the confrontation can be resolved as normal. 
• If appropriate to the conflict, different types of confrontations may take place in the single round mass combat. For example, some combatants may be engaged in ranged combat, others in melee, others in electronic or magical conflicts. The GM will need to determine scores for each side for each type of confrontation and resolve HP/HULL damage as they deem appropriate. 
• Regardless of whether all combatants on the losing side of the confrontation are killed or not, they are defeated, and the GM will need to extrapolate from the result of the round of combat what took place in the battle and what the aftermath is. 

Note: If a PC rolls a natural 20, but otherwise is on the losing side of a conflict, they either miraculously survive or achieve something of note in the battle. If a PC rolls a natural 1, but otherwise is on the winning side of a conflict, they take some grievous injury or suffer some misadventure during the battle. 

Death

When a PC or NPC Health reaches zero, they die.