Combat Rules

Combat in Planetfall is simulated using Live Action Combat Roleplay using contact by LARP-Safe weaponry, and verbal calls made to signify powerful abilities and effects. This page details the mechanics of those calls and, broadly, how to play a combat encounter. Players shouldn't worry about remembering everything on this page - it's always okay to ask if you're unsure!

To get started straight away, here's what you need to know!

• Everyone in Planetfall has a number of Body Hits and ability to spend Energy to deflect hits (calling PING!)
• Body hits are precious and hard to recover. Energy is far more easily found.
• If you are hit with a melee weapon with no call, you lose a Body Hit UNLESS you call PING.
• If someone calls YOU: PEW, you lose a Body Hit and must stagger back a step UNLESS you call PING or MISSED.
• Anyone can spend 1 Energy to call PING to PEW or an uncalled strike.
• Anyone can take Cover to gain the ability to call MISSED twice.
• If you fall to zero Body Hits, you fall over and are Incapacitated.
• If you are Incapacitated for 60s you take a Severe Injury and stop counting.
• If you take more than your limit of Severe Injuries (usually 1 for Monsters, 3 for Players), you die.
• Anyone can wield a melee weapon and hit with it once per second.
• Anyone can wield a ranged weapon and charge it for 10s of roleplaying then spend 1s aiming to call YOU: PEW at a range of 10m.
• Most people have abilities that allow them to make Calls at the cost of Energy.
• Most people have a means of generating more Energy. By default, this is by Recouping (spending 30s of uninterrupted roleplaying patching up) which gains 5 Energy.

These rules apply to everyone and form the basis of how combat works in Planetfall.

• Health is comprised of your ability to physically withstand damage (Body Hits) and your ability to deflect damage (spending Energy to call PING)
• Body Hits are precious and hard to recover while Energy can normally be replenished.
• Everyone has base 3 Body Hits
• Anyone can spend 1 Energy to call PING to PEW and uncalled damage.
  • If you are hit by multiple calls at once (i.e. faster than you can process) that you can PING, it only costs 1 Energy to PING them all.
• When hit with a ranged damage call that you do not PING you lose a Body Hit and must stagger backward one step if it is safe to do so.
• When reduced to 0 Body Hits you become Incapacitated

• When you are reduced to 0 hits you are Incapacitated.
• When you are Incapacitated you should fall to the ground and start counting a Death Count.
  • You may ignore all negative calls that affect you while you are falling to the ground until you are there.
• While Incapacitated you may crawl slowly and call out for help. You may not fight while doing so.
• With roleplayed assistance from someone who is not using their hands for fighting, you can be supported to walk at a slow pace.
• If you reach 60s on your Death Count you fall Unconscious and suffer a Severe Injury.
  • With 10s of uninterrupted roleplay, anyone may call HEAL.
  • You start your Death Count afresh whenever you become Incapacitated.
  • Some Monsters may have shorter or longer Death Counts.
• If you are subject to BREAK / BREAK <X> while on your Death Count, immediately skip 10s of the count.

• While you are Unconscious you may not move or talk. It is advised OC you do not shut your eyes so you can continue to act for your safety.

• Severe Injuries are painful effects left by near death experiences and confer a roleplaying effect or mechanical penalty.
• The effects of Severe Injuries are discussed with the Player to choose consequences that are thematic and fun.
• Characters may suffer a maximum number of Severe Injuries before death. If you suffer your final Severe Injury you are dead.
• Player Characters by default may suffer a maximum of 3 Severe Injuries.
• Monsters and NPCs by default may suffer a maximum of 1 Severe Injury.

Anyone can:

• Cause Uncalled damage with any melee weapon by striking the target.
• Block damage with a melee weapon or a shield.
  • Effect calls still affect you even if blocked.
• Spend 1 Energy to call PING to PEW or Uncalled damage.
• Call CLUNK on an unarmed individual who is out of combat.
• Call PING to CLUNK if they are armed and/or in combat.
• Call BREAK / BREAK <X> after 10s of uninterrupted roleplaying on an Incapacitated or Unconscious character.
• Charge a ranged weapon with 10s of appropriate roleplaying, then spend 1s roleplaying aiming and firing to call YOU: PEW.
• With 10s of uninterrupted roleplay, call HEAL on a target within immediate reach who is Incapacitated.
• Take Cover to gain a pool of 2 MISSED calls.
• You may only make one call at a time: particularly noteworthy with negative effects. If you call a negative effect you do not cause damage even with a melee strike.

• If someone requires you to perform uninterrupted roleplay then you must perform appropriate roleplay uninterrupted for the duration. If you are interrupted, you must start again from scratch.
• You are interrupted if:
  • You take the effect of a Negative call.
    • It is not interrupted by PING or MISSED.
    • You are not interrupted if you parry strikes with no effect call made.
  • You make a call or uncalled damage.
  • You take damage.
  • You stop the roleplaying.
• Some Abilities may allow you to ignore some of these interruptions.
• You may not start uninterrupted roleplay while under the effect of an ongoing call such as TAUNT.

• Anyone may take cover by crouching behind an obstacle at least waist high in order to gain a pool of 2 MISSED to any “YOU” ranged call that originates from a direction you have cover from.
• You must be crouching to gain the benefit of cover even if the cover is above waist height.
• You do not benefit from cover that is not clearly between you and the source.
• If in doubt about whether someone is in cover, the person calling MISSED is authoritative.
• You may refresh your cover pool by moving to a new position at least 5m away from the previous one.
• Anyone standing up, wielding a shield, and not moving counts as a waist high obstacle for other people.

• Using some Abilities, and calling PING, requires you to spend an amount of Energy.
  • You do not need to indicate that you have spent Energy - it's up to you to track how much you've got available.
• Characters are able to gain Energy in different ways through their Energy Regimen.
• Characters may change their Energy Regimen between Missions.
• Characters may not store more than their maximum capacity of Energy (default starts at 5).
• The most common method of Energy gaining is Recouping (from the Generator Regimen), detailed below.

• You may recoup if you spend 30s of uninterrupted appropriate roleplaying patching up armour and pulling yourself together.
• When you recoup, you recover Energy up to your cap.

Damage in Planetfall comes in a few varieties. Resistance to damage comes in the form of the PING call (which characters will have a certain pool of per encounter and know if they can call against certain calls).

Strikes can either convey Damage or an Effect Call but never both.

If you take damage, you should roleplay pain accordingly, but this does not interrupt your ability to fight.

• Basic melee damage does not need to be called.

• Basic damage call at range from mundane powered weapons.

• If you are subject to the BLAST call you must immediately call KABOOM.
• As the source of the KABOOM you also take damage and cannot mitigate it by throwing yourself to the ground.
• You do not need to call OUCH

• KABOOM causes everyone within 5m of the source to either take damage or take a STRIKEDOWN (throw yourself to the ground OR drop to one knee for 5s).
• KABOOM cannot be mitigated by cover or MISSED.
• If you are already on the ground, you must take the damage.
• See also BLAST for causing a KABOOM at range.

Reaction Calls must be made in response to receiving calls made at range.

• Your armour or some ability has deflected the damage.
• If you call PING to a call, you do not take it.
• In order to call PING to a call you must have a specific ability to call PING to that call.
• You don't need to verbally call PING in order to PING an uncalled melee strike

• The shot hit cover or otherwise went wide.
• If you call MISSED to a call, you do not take it.
• MISSED works generally against all YOU calls but does not work against MASS or YOU LOT calls.

• Should be called (or clearly roleplayed) to signal that a negative effect call has affected you.
• E.g. “YOU: BREAK” “OUCH”.
• The exception to this is obviously when you are hit with BLAST (whereupon you should call KABOOM).
• You do not need to make this call in melee if you roleplay accordingly.

• Should be called (or clearly roleplayed) to signal that a positive effect call has affected you.
• E.g. “YOU: HEAL” “YEAH”

• At range, a target must be specified (e.g. “BREAK GUN”). In melee, the target is whatever is hit in melee (therefore, ranged weapons can only be BREAKed at range)
• If this hits a limb in melee, that limb is unusable for the next 10s.
• If this hits a melee weapon or shield in melee, that item is unusable until you spend 10s uninterrupted fixing it.
• If this hits your chest or is called at range without a target, you are in excruciating pain for the next 10s cannot make offensive calls. You must move at walking pace at most, but can still fight defensively with one hand.
• If you receive a BREAK while unconscious, you immediately suffer a Severe Injury.

• Non-lethal incapacitation damage.
• Only effective against individuals not engaged in combat who are not Incapacitated.
• If you take a CLUNK then you should fall over unconscious but are not bleeding out.
• You can be awoken again with appropriate roleplaying from other characters, or after an appropriate period of time as indicated by the GM.

• Something bad has happened.
• You are unable to gain Energy for the rest of the encounter.
• If you receive a second CURSE during an encounter you will be subject to a deleterious effect. Find out what the effect is at the end of the encounter.

• Your energy is sapped.
• You may not spend Energy for the next 5s
• Some creatures may be more susceptible to this.
• Some encounters may alter the nature of this call.

• You suffer the described effect for 10s, you must roleplay accordingly.
• E.g. “EFFECT: DEAFENED” - roleplay being unable to hear for 10s.
• These effects should be physical cannot be mind altering.
• Only Monsters will be able to call EFFECT - if a call is ubiquitous enough to warrant adding into the system it should be taken to the Core Team.

• You are pulled toward a source.
• Turn and move directly in a straight line toward the source or until you would hit a large obstacle or another character.

• You are flung backwards.
• Turn around and move directly in a straight line away from the source for 10m or until you would hit a large obstacle or another character.

• You are knocked to the ground.
• Part of your torso must touch the ground OR you must drop to one knee for 5s.
• You may choose to take this as a BREAK / BREAK <X> on your chest instead as you attempt to resist the impact.

• For the next 10s you must close in on the source of the call and meaningfully attempt to engage the source in melee combat.
• The effect ends if the source is Incapacitated.
• This overrides any existing TAUNT you may be under the effect of.
• If you are not holding a melee weapon, you should still attempt to close the distance while swapping to a melee weapon.
  • If you are not carrying a melee weapon at all, you may express your rage verbally but must still close the distance.

• You are healed:
  • by 1 hit up to your maximum (HEAL)
  • on a specified limb X suffering from BREAK (HEAL <X>)
  • to your maximum (HEAL FULL)
• You should call “YEAH” to confirm this has happened.

• You gain either (depending on the call):
  • the ability to call X one time
  • Y Energy immediately
  • the ability to call PING PEW for free one time
• The source should specify if this is by melee or ranged.
• You can only have one call from GAIN at a time.
• You should call “YEAH” to confirm you have gained this, or PING to indicate you've rejected it.

• You have disappeared and nobody can see you. Put two fingers in the air.
• To reappear, drop your fingers and call VA-WORP again.
• Other conditions may be specified by the ability that gives you VA-WORP.

• The Various may assimilate biological and mechanical components into themselves.
• If you are not alive then put two fingers up and disappear.
• If you are alive, call PING.
• It is apparent to all those nearby that the subject has been assimilated into the source.
• Some things may respond differently.

• If you are within 10m of the source then you must call out PING for free.
• If a type is specified (e.g. “Humans”) then only call out PING if you are that type.
• If you are unsure if you register as that type, then call out PING.
• Some characters and creatures may be able to ignore the effect of SCAN.

The <X> call applies to a specified target and is the standard way of specifying the target of ranged calls. “YOU” should be used when it is obvious to the target you mean them, otherwise a description of the target should be used, such as “YOU IN THE SHINY ARMOUR” or “MIKE”.

The <X> effect applies to everyone within 5m and within a 120 degree arc indicated by the arms of the person calling this.

The <X> effect applies to everyone within 5m. <X> may never be a damage call or BLAST.

This affects everyone in the party so long as they hear the call.

This affects every monster so long as they hear the call.

Start roleplaying!

Finish roleplaying!

Freeze what you're doing, something is happening faster than we can represent.

• A melee weapon is represented with a melee-safe weapon phys-rep approved as safe by the LARP Safety Official.
• All melee weapons can be used to strike for uncalled damage by default.
• Some weapons will allow you to make other calls. If you do not know what calls you can make with a weapon, assume only uncalled damage until you can confirm otherwise.

• A ranged weapon is represented with a strike-unsafe weapon such as an unloaded NERF gun, a coreless throwing weapon, or a stick.
• All ranged weapons must be charged or loaded.
• As standard, this takes 10s of appropriate uninterrupted roleplaying without engaging in combat and 1 Energy.
  • Example roleplay: loading rounds, tweaking settings, inserting charge packs, winding up, etc. You may fight defensively as per uninterrupted roleplay rules
• Standing or crouching still for 1s with a charged/loaded weapon, you may make a damage call at a target you can see within 10m.
• Safety note
  • You must never fight with a ranged weapon phys-rep in melee combat
  • When an enemy participant engages in melee combat with you, you must safely drop or holster the weapon (even if the weapon is a coreless throwing weapon)
  • All participants should be gracious in allowing this to happen so the game can progress safely (i.e. don't hit someone while they're putting down a phys-rep so they can fight safely)

• Grenades are physically represented by brightly coloured soft balls.
• All grenades are single use.
• If you throw a grenade and there is a target within 2m, call YOU: BLAST on the target.
• If you completely miss with the grenade, there is (usually) no effect and the grenade is not used up.
• Grenade variants exist that may allow you to call on a delay.

• Physical Shields can be used to block damage but not calls in melee
• At range, physical shields can be used to call PING to ranged calls from in front of you at the expense of halting your movement for 3s.
• Any call that strikes your shield in melee does affect you.
• While holding a physical shield and standing up still you count as cover for someone crouching behind you.
• This cover is not effective if you are under the effect of STRIKEDOWN.

Anyone can:

• Wield one of the following combinations at a time:
  • Up to two one-handed pieces of Equipment.
  • One two-handed piece of Equipment.
• Carry Equipment that you are not currently using and swap to it when out of combat. You do not need to physically carry it, it can be stored with the Monster crew:
  • Up to two one-handed pieces of Equipment.
  • One two-handed piece of Equipment.

• In some encounters, a terminal that requires Hacking will appear.
• Anyone can spend 3 minutes roleplaying hacking it open. This roleplay can be interrupted.
• Anyone with the Hacker skill can do it in 1 minute. This roleplay can be interrupted.
• When the hack is complete, inform the Ref and they will explain what happens.
• In the full game, this will be represented by an electronic prop which may contain instructions to be read live. For Playtesting, we will simulate this.