Chapter Nine: Vehicles
Heavy weapons are all about location; they're only as valuable as the targets within their attack radius. Sadly, it's rare to find an opponent considerate enough to construct targets within your weapons' ranges, or to allow you to construct weapons near the targets they already have, and even when you do, the weapons just end up destroying the targets and then they have nothing else to do.
Rather than limiting them to the targets supplied by a single location, it's handy to give your weapons a means of moving around. The value of a fine weapon can be increased dramatically by strapping a Vehicle to it.
9.1: Standard Propulsion
 Creations that move around are called Vehicles, and every
Vehicle requires at least one Propulsion system, even
if the method of powering that Propulsion is hard to explain. (Construction-brick
siege engines, for instance, are notorious for rolling around merrily
despite a lack of horses or slaves to pull them.)
For game purposes, all that’s
important is the Vehicle's type of movement. Whether or not it has
any means to power that movement is politiely overlooked.
All Propulsion systems should be represented by one or more specific physical elements. Most of the time this will be obvious; wheels and sails and zeppelin balloons will be represented by wheel elements and sail elements and zeppelin balloon elements. The components of a more esoteric Propulsion system, such as a series of levitation crystals transporting a floating bordello from one war camp to the next, should be pointed out to the other players.
Propulsion Types
| Propulsion Types |
| Type |
Cost |
Examples |
| Standard Propulsion |
1CP per 2" Move |
wheels, legs, oars, treads |
| Flying Propulsion |
(2CP + Structure Level) per 2" Move |
wings, antigravity, capes |
|
Most regular types of Propulsion (Ground, Water, and Underwater) cost 1CP per two
inches of Move (e.g., it costs 5CP to buy 10” of Ground movement). Flying is more expensive:
every two inches of Move cost 2CP plus
the creation’s Structure Level. (For instance, an armored space
transport with Structure Level 2 would pay
4CP for each 2" of Flight movement.)
More unusual Propulsion types (spider climbing, underground
tunneling, teleportation) may be allowed as well, if the players can
come to mutual agreement about an appropriate CP cost.
| Movement Speed Examples |
| Move" |
Creatures |
Ground Vehicles
default: 18" - (2xSize) - SL |
Water Vehicles
default: 12" - (½ Size) - SL |
Flying Vehicles
default: 24" - (2xSize) - (2xSL) |
| 3" |
spiders, scorpions, zombies |
wheelchairs, catapults |
rowboats, rafts |
hot air balloons |
| 5" |
minifigs, monkeys, octopi |
bulldozers, lawnmowers, golf carts |
galleys, steamboats |
zeppelins |
| 8" |
dogs, alligators, elephants, sharks |
bicycles |
galleons, submarines |
gliders, minicopters |
| 10" |
horses, lions |
tanks, trains |
clippers |
assault helicopters |
| 12" |
birds, flying dragons |
cars |
motorboats |
helicopters, light aircraft |
| 16" |
superheroes |
sports cars, motorcycles |
speedboats |
fighter planes, spacecraft |
| (upper limit for
regular propulsion types) |
| 20" |
flying superheroes |
- |
- |
fighter jets, starfighters |
| 24" |
- |
- |
- |
starfighter interceptors |
| (upper limit for
flight propulsion) |
|
Players choose the Move rating of their Propulsion system according to what they feel is appropriate; example Move ratings are given above. If players have a hard time choosing a Move rating, the following default rules apply:
- Ground Propulsion has a default Move of 18", minus twice the Vehicle's Size, minus the Vehicle's Structure Level. The Move rating of Vehicles on legs or treads is further limited to 5" times the Vehicle's Size.
- Flying Propulsion has a default Move of 24", minus twice the Vehicle's Size, minus twice the Vehicle's Structure Level. Vehicles that depend on wings for flight (rather than, say, helicopter blades or hover capability) need to have a Move of at least 10" in order to stay aloft.
- Water Propulsion has a default move of 12", minus half the Vehicle's Size, minus the Vehicle's Structure Level.
Alternate Movement
Vehicles may sometimes move outside of their usual medium if it’s
appropriate to do so. Common sense should be an adequate guide: automobiles
can move at lower speed through standing water, but they can’t
fly; airplanes can move at lower speed on the runway, but can’t
swim; submarines may move at lower speed on the ocean surface, but
can’t start rolling around on land.
Vehicles moving in an alternate medium move at Half Speed (4.1: Movement). No matter
how much Move they have to spend, no Vehicle can move more than
five inches in an alternate medium in any single turn.
Propulsion Damage
For most systems and devices, Damage is an all-or-nothing affair: a steering wheel
is either slagged or it isn’t, an elbow is either still attached
or it's not.
Propulsion systems are a little more resilient. If attackers
can destroy or disable a major propulsion component (one tire off
a dune buggy, one leg off of a RoboSpider), the vehicle's Move is
reduced by 1" for each lost component. If half of the propulsion
elements are destroyed (one leg off a Tyrannosaurus, one wheel off
a motorcycle), or if any part of the Vehicle is dragging on the ground, then the Vehicle moves at Half Speed, after applying all other applicable penalties.
If all the elements are destroyed (one pogo off of a pogo stick, one
balloon off of a balloon), the Vehicle's ability to Move is eliminated
entirely.
Air-based flight systems are especially fragile (as opposed to space or antigravity flight, which are damaged as normal) - the destruction
of one blade of a helicopter or one wing of a dragon is enough to
ground them immediately.
Loss of Control
A Vehicle can lose control for any number of reasons. The Operator might die, abandon ship, or become distracted by text messages at a crucial moment. The control systems might be disconnected, destroyed, or come into conflict with commands from auxilliary control consoles. The Propulsion systems might be damaged, disabled, or sabotaged to function perfectly but in the wrong direction.
If the Propulsion systems are undamaged, out-of-control Vehicles tend to keep going in whichever direction they were already going, at whatever speed they were already moving. Their movement continues in a straight line every turn until they Crash into something or exit the battlefield, unless players come up with a specific reason they should change direction.
A Vehicle that loses power (the fuel line is severed, the minifig working the pedals is killed, etc) or loses Propulsion effectiveness (a truck tipped off its wheels, a boat beaching itself) moves at half its current speed on the following turn, and then grinds to a halt. Flying Vehicles, in particular, grind to a halt by nosediving straight down from their final position and smashing into the ground.
9.2: Standard Maneuvering
Minifigs and unrestrained animals are used to unlimited maneuvering. Minifigs are free to spend their Move inches almost however they want - running, climbing, spinning, jumping, hopping sideways, and rolling around at will.
Most Vehicles aren't able to move quite this freely, and are subject to maneuvering restrictions. In most cases, a player's instincts about his own Vehicle's movement capability will be enough to do the job; players tend to have a pretty good idea of what a tricycle can and can't do as compared to a mechadragon or a hot air balloon. It's only when the maneuvering gets tight enough to matter that players should bother taking measurements.
Forward Maneuvering
Biplanes, monster trucks, and surfboards aren't able to spin in place or hop sideways under normal conditions, and when they do it usually means something's gone wrong. By default, all Vehicles depend on Forward Maneuvering - they must be moving forwards or backwards in order to turn.
A Forward Maneuvering Vehicle must move at least its own body length between Maneuvers. Note the position of the front corner of its main Structure (7.1: Structure) - when its back corner reaches that position, the Vehicle can make a turn of up to ninety degrees. When it's traveled its own body length again, it can turn again, repeating this process as many times as its Move allows.
Vehicles moving very quickly find it more difficult to Maneuver. A Vehicle moving 10" or more inches in a single turn (whether voluntarily or otherwise) can make body-length turns of up to only forty-five degrees rather than ninety. The fastest Vehicles of all, moving 20" or more inches in a single turn, must move twice their own body length between turns of up to forty-five degrees.
Like minifigs, a Vehicle can be made to Sprint (4.1: Movement) in order to exceed its normal Move limit in a straight line. As with any other unit, Vehicles cannot make any turns at all while Sprinting.
Some Vehicles, like naval vessels and siege engines, may be so large and so slow that it takes multiple turns for them to travel their own body length. In cases like these, you'll need to place a marker by the front corner of the Vehicle and leave it there for as many turns as it takes for the back corner to reach it. Once it does, the Vehicle is subject to the same speed limitations as smaller vehicles - if it traveled 10" or more on any of those turns, it's limited to forty-five degrees rather than ninety when turning. (For very large Vehicles, you may want to allow them to make forty-five degree turns at the halfway mark instead for the sake of convenience.)
Apart from airplanes in flight, almost all Forward Maneuvering Vehicles can move backwards, but they do so at Half Speed.
Stationary Maneuvering
Certain types of propulsion systems have the ability to Turn in Place while stationary. Rowboats, hovercraft, helicopters, antigravity spacefighters, and Vehicles on treads or legs all have the ability to turn and face a new direction without the need to move forwards or backwards. This is entirely up to the common sense of the players and costs nothing extra.
A Stationary Maneuvering Vehicle may use its Move inches for Forward Maneuvering as usual, but it may also use inches to Turn in Place at any point during regular movement. Find the point on the Vehicle's Structure furthest away from the center of rotation, and measure the rotational distance that this point travels as the Vehicle Turns in Place. The Move cost of this maneuver will be equal to that distance.
Flight Maneuvering
When Flying Vehicles use Forward Maneuvering, they are always limited to forty-five degrees per turn, including any pitch change, regardless of how fast or slow they may be flying. Except in outer space, a Flying Vehicle may never raise its pitch to more than forty-five degrees above the horizontal, although it can point as inadvisably far downward as it likes. If you aren't keeping track of Flying Vehicles' specific altitudes, consider them all to be five inches off the ground by default.
Flying Vehicles without a hovering ability must always be moving forward in order to stay in the air. They have to move at least twice their body length every turn or else they stall out and crash. A non-hovering Flying Vehicle cannot remain in the air if it is reduced to Half Speed for any reason - this means no moving backwards, equipping Armor Plating, or flying with half its Propulsion missing, for example.
Flying Vehicles may drop bombs or fire Rockets from any height, but for all other weapon types they must be no more than five inches higher than a target in order to attack it. For whatever reason, direct-fire weapons on a Flying Vehicle are always designed to attack targets at a similar elevation.
When dropping bombs or other objects, Flying Vehicles may only target spots directly underneath their own flight path. Like other ranged attacks, the dropped object may end up off of that path due to a Missed Shot (5.3: Ranged Combat); the Use rating for aiming dropped objects is equal to either the object's Size or the distance of the drop in inches, whichever is greater.
| When dropping Explosives, remember that the Use rating is based on the object's physical Size rather than its Weapon stats. Because Explosive Size is determined by bricks rather than inches (8.1: Weapon Size), a Size 3 Explosive might only be a Size 1" object for dropping purposes. |
Unlimited Maneuvering
While uncommon, there are a few types of Propulsion systems that can match a minifig's freedom of mobility. If a Vehicle's Propulsion system is based on sufficiently agile limbs (mecha, horses, robot velociraptors, minifigs) or hover flight (helicopters, flying carpets, flying saucers), then that Vehicle is Maneuverable and it has the potential to prance around as freely as any minifig.
In order to take advantage of its Maneuverability, the Vehicle must either be controlling itself or be controlled by an Operator with the Piloting Specialty. A Maneuverable Vehicle that's controlled by a non-Pilot Operator is limited to regular Forward and Stationary Maneuvering instead; full Maneuverability is too complicated for untrained minifigs to handle effectively.
Jumps
Vehicles with legs (or some other jumping system) can leap across any distance within their Move radius, although the height of the leap can't exceed twice the height of their legs (or other jumping system). Vehicles on wheels or the equivalent can only Jump by launching themselves off of ramps.
When a
Vehicle is launched off a ramp, it continues traveling in a straight line in the direction at which it left the ramp. (Non-Flying Vehicles generally have no ability to turn while in midair, but What I Say Goes exceptions might be made for Vehicles equipped with some kind of sails or airfoils.) The Vehicle can continue flying in a straight line for any distance up to the limit of its Move inches, and then drops straight down to end its Movement for the turn. (This means that Vehicles that start their turn close to a ramp will have more Move to use and can fly further in a Jump than Vehicles that reach a ramp later in their Movement. Properly-executed Jumping can depend on careful positioning on the preceding turn.) Depending on the height of the drop at the end, a Jumping Vehicle may take Collision Damage with the ground when it lands (9.5: Collisions).
9.3: Thrust Vectors
| Propulsion Types (continued) |
| Type |
Cost |
Examples |
| Thrust Propulsion |
1CP per 2" Thrust |
jets, propellers, sails, rockets |
|
In addition to the standard Propulsion system, BrikWars allows for Vehicles and objects that are moved by applying acceleration from individual Thrust forces. Thrust may be provided by dedicated Thrust-producing devices like rocket or jet thrusters, aerial or nautical propellers, or by sails and steering fins. In a pinch, Thrust can be applied in a more impromptu fashion by Shoves, Collisions, attacks, and weapon recoil, or by unusual devices like tractor beams and gravity guns.
Thrust can be more complicated to keep track of than standard means of Propulsion, and battles that feature Thrust heavily can become more about the maneuvering than about the combat. It's best to save heavy usage of Thrust for the genres for which it's thematically apropriate: age-of-sail naval engagements and zero-gravity space battles in particular, or the less frequent battles in grease pits or on fields of slippery ice.
Each Thrust effect is a vector with two parts: a direction and a number of inches. (The inches are always a whole number; fractional inches are rounded down.) Most Thrusts are resolved immediately and forgotten immediately afterwards. For the occasional Thrust whose resolution has to be delayed, pending Thrusts can be indicated by a one-stud-wide element (or combination of elements), as many studs long as the number of inches in the Thrust. One end is placed at the point where Thrust is to occur, while the other end points away in the direction of the Thrust. Done properly, these Thrust Plates can look like the flames of a rocket, the contrails of a jet, the wake of a ship, or dust kicking up from under the hooves of a charging nuclear rhinoceros.
The Finger
| “God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.” |
| - Albert Einstein |
|
As any mathematician will tell you, vector algebra is an infinitely bigger pain in the ass than either the vectors or the algebra would seem to indicate on their own. Worse, vector algebra becomes increasingly difficult to perform after a fourth shot of whiskey, making it useless for any part of BrikWars after the first seven minutes.
Fortunately, a BrikWars player's instinctive response to Thrust vector calculations turns out to be the correct one: Thrust is handled by Giving It The Finger. Place a fingertip at the point of Thrust (either an active Thrust device or a point of impact, usually), and push the object the appropriate number of inches in the appropriate direction. The model on the table will choose how far to move and how far to rotate on its own without any need for further calculation. (Wheeled models may need to be stopped manually at the end of each Thrust to keep them from rolling away forever, of course.)
For instantaneous one-time Thrust effects, that's is all you need. KnockBack from Shoves, Collisions, large Weapon strikes, and Explosions are all executed neatly and efficiently by Giving Them the Finger. For an object affected by multiple points of Thrust at the same time, on the other hand, or whose Inertia you need to track between turns, things can get a little trickier.
Simultaneous Thrust
When several sources of Thrust are acting on an object at the same time, the easiest means of resolving their effects is one at a time, in whichever order seems appropriate. If the object is using Thrust as part of its own Movement, then it can decide for itself when and how to apply the effects of each Thrust - before, after, or during whatever other maneuvers it makes during its turn, or even dividing a single Thrust into smaller portions according to preference.
There are a few special cases of simultaneous effects that are handled differently. When two sources of Thrust point in opposite directions along the same line, the inches of Opposing Thrust cancel themselves out until only one Thrust has inches remaining. When two opposite sources of Thrust don't share the same line, they tend to rotate the object instead; Give them the Finger and see. Sometimes it works best to Finger both of them at the same time, preventing the back-and-forth movement that can occur when opposing forces are resolved one at a time.
When two sources of Thrust point in the same direction, their inches of Parallel Thrust add together, regardless of whether they're on the same line or not. Place a Finger at each point of Thrust and push for all the Parallel inches at once. (If one Thrust vector has more inches than the other, save the extra inches to handle separately afterward.) It's possible to combine any number of sources of Parallel Thrust, but due to most players' limited number of hands, it's usually best to stick to resolving two at a time.
In the worst-case scenario, rather than resolving Thrust effects one at a time, a player may wish to determine the cumulative result of many simultaneous Thrusts and only then move the object from its initial position to its final one. This is a legal and sometimes even necessary option, but it's a pain in the ass and should be avoided.
Inertia
Under certain limited conditions, objects in motion tend to stay in motion. The most important requirement is for it to be worth the trouble of keeping track of an object's motion in the first place. In situations where no one cares, it can be quickly observed that objects in motion don't stay in motion at all.
An object whose motion carries over from turn to turn has Inertia. At the beginning of the object's turn, place a position marker on the battlefield behind the rearmost section of its central Structure (7.1: Structure). If the object changes position, whether due to regular Movement, KnockBack, Thrust forces, or any other reason, place a second marker behind its Structure at the beginning of its next turn. Measure the line between the two markers. The length and direction of this line are the object's Inertia vector for the turn, which serves as a special kind of Thrust.
Thrust from Inertia is always the very first thing resolved during an object's Movement, although the object may combine other forms of Thrust or Movement in Simultaneous Thrust in order to alter the course of its Inertia (for example, throwing all engines into reverse when Inertia is carrying the ship forward towards a black hole). Once Inertia has been resolved, remove the older position marker from the battlefield. The newer marker will serve as the point to measure from for the next turn's Inertia.
If an object with Inertia breaks into pieces, each piece inherits the full Inertia of the original object.
Because Inertia acts on the entire body of an object rather than being focused on a single point, you cannot Give Inertia the Finger in the usual way. Instead, select the appropriate method described below.
Nautical Inertia
As the name suggests, Nautical Inertia is most useful for tracking the movement of ships in naval engagements, but it is also used for Inertia anywhere where friction is a factor. Unmanned objects rolling out of control or down hills are a common short-term use for Nautical Inertia.
Nautical Inertia is subject to Drag from friction. The faster the movement, the greater the Drag - divide the number of inches in the Inertia by half, rounded down. If this reduces the Inertia to zero, then the object has no Inertia this turn.
For whatever Inertia remains, find the point on the object's Structure furthest forward along the direction of Inertia. Rather than pushing the object as you would when Giving It The Finger, you instead grab this point and pull it forward in the direction and distance indicated by the Inertia. Friction with the battlefield surface will often rotate the object to face in the direction
it's being pulled, as should be expected.
Frictionless Inertia
Frictionless Inertia is most useful for tracking the movement of objects in space battles, but can also come in handy on patches of ice or grease slicks. Frictionless Inertia is broken into two parts: Velocity and Angular Velocity. In order to track these, it's important to use positional markers that not only record the position of an object, but also the direction it was pointing.
When applying the effects of Frictionless Inertia, there is no pushing as with The Finger or pulling as with Nautical Inertia. Instead, pick up the entire object and move it the distance indicated by its Inertia. Next, estimate the rotational distance between the directions shown by the two positional markers, and rotate the object by the same amount. (The center of an object's rotation can be accurately located by trying to balance it on your fingertip. However, in most cases this is best left to rough estimation.)
9.4: Piloting
 Controls
As with Weapons (8.6: Manning Guns), a Vehicle should include some type of Controls for its Propulsion systems (steering wheels, flight sticks, computer consoles). A Vehicle that lacks specific Control elements
should still at least have a specified Control Area where a
minifig has to position himself if he wants to control the Vehicle. Different types
of Controls may provide centralized control of all of a Vehicle's Propulsion systems, weapons, and devices (a fighter cockpit, a starship's master computer, a remote drone control station,
a warhorse’s saddle), while other types of Controls may affect only a single system or device (individual gunners' stations on a Death Zeppelin, a ship’s wheel on a galleon, a self-destruct button in an ice cream truck).
Enemy minifigs can cripple a Vehicle by destroying its Controls.
But better still, they can kill the Vehicle operators and commandeer the Controls
directly. (Plastic-brick Control systems lack security precautions
like passwords or ignition keys.) If more than one team has minifigs
Controlling a Vehicle's Propulsion at the same time, whether at separate Controls or in the same Control Area, they can each use their Actions
to prevent the other from Controlling the Propulsion at all.
Systems
Assuming he has access to the proper Controls, a minifig
can use its Action to control one (and only one) System on
a Creation, against a single target (if any). This System may be any one of the following:
- Propulsion: driving the vehicle – any combination
of steering, accelerating, decelerating, etc. Charge attacks
are allowed as part of Propulsion (5.4:
Charge!).
- Ranged Weapons: firing a single weapon, or a
paired set of identical weapons, at a single target (5.3: Ranged
Combat).
- Melee Weapons: using one or two melee weapons in Close Combat against a single target (5.2:
Close Combat).
- Manipulators: any combination of lifting, carrying, throwing, dropping,
or otherwise manipulating one object or grouped set of
objects.
- Devices: activating, deactivating, or otherwise
controlling one special-purpose device, such as sensors,
shields, transporters, a cloaking device, a self-destruct
function, or an in-dash music system.
If no operator is actively controlling a System, it continues doing
whatever it is doing: shields that are up stay up, sails that are unfurled stay unfurled,
robotic hands with a bloody grip on crushed enemy heads maintain their bloody grip on crushed enemy heads. This
frequently becomes an important when an operator stops actively steering a Vehicle. If the driver
of a moving Vehicle switches his attention to firing weapons or operating
other devices or rapidly bleeding to death, the Vehicle continues moving in its current direction,
at whatever speed it was traveling at the end of its last turn.
The Pilot
Any minifig can drive a Vehicle or direct a steed, but if they try
to do anything else at the same time (applying makeup, talking on
a cell phone, targeting enemy airfields with roof-mounted artillery
pieces, etc.), then disaster is almost guaranteed. Steering a Creation
and operating its weapons or devices are separate Actions, and a regular
minifig can only do one or the other in any given turn.
The exception to this rule is the specially-trained Pilot,
who can steer and take a regular Action at the same time. Pilots will
usually use this ability to make attacks: a helicopter Pilot might
fly in and open up with machine guns, a gangsta Pilot might spray handgun rounds out the window while performing a drive-by, and a horse-mounted
Rider might charge past and cave in your skull with a spiked mace (H.2: Riding a Horse).
Less belligerent Actions are just as easy, although less destructive:
a starship Pilot might use his mid-maneuver Action to recalibrate
shields, warm up a cloaking device, or activate the passenger compartment
ejection system.
Stunt Driving
The purpose of Vehicles is to move personnel and equipment into position, but sometimes the nature of Vehicluar physics puts that position just out of reach - the Vehicle may not be able to speed fast enough, stop short enough, turn tightly enough, or make ridiculous acrobatic leaps ridiculously enough. In desperate situations, a Vehicle operator can push the evelope a couple of extra inches with Stunt Driving as part of a regular steering Action.
When a Vehicle operator wants to attempt a crazy maneuver, its player describes the maneuver being attempted, and determines how many Stunt Inches the Vehicle will travel away from what should normally be possible. If a StarShip is trying to exceed its maximum Move, for instance, then the Stunt Inches are the number of extra inches past the Move limit. If a FireTruck is trying to turn more tightly than Standard Maneuvering would allow, then the Stunt Inches are whatever amount of required distance between turns that the player is trying to ignore. If a MiniVan operator is pulling the e-brake to powerslide sideways into a crowd of soccer hooligans, then the Stunt Inches are whatever distance the MiniVan is sliding sideways.
Once the player declares the number of Stunt Inches to attempt, the minifig operating the Vehicle makes a Skill Roll for Stunt Driving. (Minifigs with the Piloting Specialty may roll 1d8 if this is higher than their regular Skill.) The number rolled is the number of Stunt Inches they were able to complete successfully. If this number equals or exceeds the number of Stunt Inches being attempted, then the Vehicle completes the entire Stunt without mishap.
Otherwise, for every Stunt Inch left over, the player's opponents get one Thrust Inch to use against the vehicle. After coming up with a story for how the Stunt went wrong, they can use that Thrust to (for instance) stop the Vehicle short of its goal, try to cause it to roll, push or turn it in the wrong direction, or even launch it into the air - whatever seems appropriate for the type of Stunt failure they described.
If the Vehicle operator attempting the Stunt rolls a Critical Failure, then not only does he fail at all of the Stunt Inches, but his opponents get to add an extra 1d6 to the inches of Thrust used against him.
| Sprinting can be thought of in some ways as a lesser form of Stunt Driving. While it also uses a Skill Roll to add inches to movement, Sprinting is more limited than Stunt Driving in that it requires the unit to be moving in a straight line. On the other hand, a failed Sprint Roll doesn't turn into Thrust inches that opponents can use against the unit. |
9.5: Collisions
The best thing about big Creations is smashing them into other Creations. For many plastic-brick fans, smashing their models is the first game they play with their brick constructions, and for some it's all the game they'll ever need. BrikWars salutes the human spirit and its fundamental drive to smash.
Limited versions of the rules for handling Collisions have been presented twice before, for two specific object Sizes. The rules given for minifigs (5.4: Charge!) are the rules for objects of Size 1", while the rules given for Horses (H.3: Fighting From Horseback) are the rules for objects of Size 2". The rules presented here are the generalized rules for objects of any Sizes running into one another, whether deliberately or otherwise.
Momentum
MOM = 1d6 per 2" of straight-line movement, maximum (Size)d6
| Knowing of Warhead's uncontrollable mom-lust, a mysterious entity creates an afterlife paradise for the souls of all hot moms. The ensuing momicide is the first step in a convoluted scheme to break Warhead down using the forbidden art of Psychotherapy. |
| Forum Thread: The Unmortal |
|
Collisions become much more satisfying as the colliding objects get bigger, but they also become more complicated. Where a Size 1 minifig can build up 1d6 worth of Momentum with a Charge of two inches (5.4: Charge!), and a Size 2 Horse can build up 2d6 worth of Momentum in a Charge of four inches (H.3: Fighting From Horseback), a larger Creation is able to build up a correspondingly larger MOM Pile of Momentum dice as it extends its Charge over a larger number of inches.
In order to build up the dice in its MOM Pile, a Creation must Charge in a straight line directly at its target. The path of the Charge may go up or down sloping terrain or over gaps and obstacles if they're small enough for the Creation leap over without slowing down, but if it turns to the left or right then all Momentum is cancelled and the Creation will have to start the MOM Pile over from zero. In addition, anything that would slow the Creation to half speed (such as climbing a ladder) or cause any kind of pause or Movement Penalty (such as opening a door) will also cancel all Momentum.
For every two inches in its continuous Charge, the Creation may add one d6 to its MOM Pile, up to a number of d6es equal to its own Size (or Effective Size, if it's taken Size Damage (7.2: Taking Damage)).
Even while Sprinting, a very large Creation may not have enough Move to build up to its full Momentum in a single turn. Fortunately, Creations can extend a Charge over multiple turns to travel the distance required. These Extended Charges are best used against inanimate targets like walls and security gates, since a more mobile target can casually walk off of the line of a Charge between turns and sidestep the attack entirely.
In the case of an Unintentional Collision, such as for out-of-control vehicles, minifigs running into invisible walls, or objects falling from great heights, it's up to the players to determine the Charge distance by estimating how much straight-line distance the objects traveled. Only the turn immediately prior to the impact need be considered; objects don't unintentionally make Extended Charges. (However, players should be generous in overlooking slight curves in the path of an Unintentional Collision, since Unintentional Damage is much funnier than the regular kind.) As a rule, all of a falling object's travel is counted as being in a straight line; players are expected to forget they know anything about parabolas for the purpose of maximizing Collision Damage from falls
Spending MOM Dice
When a Creation is involved in a Collision with a target unlucky enough to fall in the path of its Charge, roll all the dice in its MOM Pile and leave the roll on the table. The total from this roll will be used for KnockBack after the other effects of the Collision are delivered, but in the meantime, individual die results from the roll can be added to the effectiveness of the Collision.
| Spending MOMs |
| Collision Type |
Effect |
MOMs to Spend |
| Shove |
adds to Thrust inches of a successful Shove |
Shoving Weapon Size |
| Charging Weapon |
adds to Damage from a successful Charging Weapon attack |
Charging Weapon Size |
| Crash |
causes Crash Damage |
Structure Level |
|
Each type of Collision has a different effect that can be amplified by MOM Dice. The type of Collision will determine the number of dice a player can select from the MOM Pile to spend. Normally they will select the dice with the highest rolls, but this is not required - they may choose any of the dice they wish if, for instance, they're trying to limit themselves to a specific amount of Damage or to Shove their target a precise distance.
A unit making a successful Shove may spend as many dice from its MOM Pile as the Weapon Size of the weapon or appendages being used in the Shove; these add to the number of Thrust inches resulting from the Shove.
A unit making a successful Charging Weapon attack, similarly, may spend as many dice from its MOM Pile as the Weapon Size of the Charging Weapon it strikes with (5.4: Charge!). These dice add to the Damage dealt by the Charging Weapon.
Crash attacks require no Attack Roll. Unlike Shoves and Charging Weapon attacks, they automatically succeed, unless the target manages to Bail out of the way (4.3: Enemy Response). The Crashing unit spends as many dice from its MOM Pile as its own Structure Level, which it then deals as Crash Damage to the target of the Collision.
| Falling Damage |
Falling Damage is treated as a standard Crash between a falling object and the ground. This doesn't generally end in success for the object, since the ground has a Size rating of over nine thousand, making its potential Physical Opposition almost limitless.
For determining Crash Damage, the Structure Level of the ground is determined by its color. Green (grass), brown (soil), or tan (sand) ground is considered comparatively soft with Structure Level 1, and so never does more than 1d6 Crash Damage. Gray (stone) or black (asphalt) ground is considered much harder, with Structure Level 3, meaning it can do up to 3d6 Crash Damage if an object falls far enough. Other types of ground are considered on a case-by-case basis.
If the falling object's damage manages to exceed the ground's Armor rating (1d10 for soft ground, 3d10 for hard ground), players may elect to build a crater ring around the impact site, with bricks of height and inches of diameter equal to the number of dice in the falling object's Momentum.
It's a generally accepted action-movie fact that pools of liquid such as water or quicksand, no matter how shallow, will cushion Crash impacts safely and completely. Of course, if the liquid is something like dragon stomach acid or hot magma, it may then do other types of damage on its own. |
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Physical Opposition
Unfortunately for the attacker, the target of a Charge attack can also benefit from its Momentum of the Collision. Where the attacker's Momentum gives it a MOM Pile of dice to spend, the defender's Physical Opposition lets it add one die for every inch in its Effective Size rating to add to a POP Pile.
The defender rolls all the dice in its POP Pile and leaves the result on the table. Like the MOM Pile, the total from this roll will be used for KnockBack after the effects of the Collision have been resolved, but individual die results from the roll can be added to the effectiveness of the target's response.
| Spending POPs |
| Collision Type |
Effect |
POPs to Spend |
| Parry a Shove |
None |
None |
| Charging Weapon Counterattack |
Adds to Damage from a successful
Charging Weapon Counterattack |
Charging Weapon Size
or attacker's Momentum |
| Any Other Counterattack |
None |
None |
| Crash |
causes Crash Damage |
Structure Level
or attacker's Momentum |
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The ways that the target of a Collision can spend the dice in its POP Pile are similar to the ways that the attacker can use its MOM Pile, except that the target has no Momentum of its own and so can never spend more of its POP dice than the attacker has in its MOM Pile to begin with.
The target of a successful Shove may attempt to Parry the Shove as usual, if it's able (8.2: Basic Weapons). POP Dice do not affect this attempt in any way.
A target who responds to a Collision by using a Charging Weapon in a successful Counterattack may add a number of dice from its POP Pile to the Damage of the weapon, up to the Weapon Size of the Charging Weapon. (If the weapon is not a Charging Weapon, it may still Counterattack but it receives no benefit from the POP Pile.) If either the defender or the attacker is able to land its strike at least one inch before the other, then they strike first; otherwise, both sides strike simultaneously.
A target who responds (or fails to respond) by allowing the attacker to Crash into it will still deal Crash Damage to the attacker, spending as many dice from its POP Pile as its own Structure Level, limited by the number of dice in the attacker's MOM Pile.
| Crash Example: Don Coyote and the Fire Giant |
Example: The biker Don Coyote tilts his lance
at a rampaging Fire Giant. His motorcycle gives him
a Size rating of 2, so Don Coyote guns the engines along
the necessary four inches to build up his full Momentum
- 1d6 per 2", for a MOM Pile of 2d6.
The Giant has a Size rating of 4 and is wearing heavily armored shin guards, so he's not very worried. Rather than trying to dodge, he decides to allow the Joust in order to bring Don Coyote close enough to engage in Close Combat.
The lance is a Size 2" Charging Weapon, so Don Coyote can add both dice from his MOM Pile on a successful attack, raising its Damage from 2d6 to 4d6 against the 2d10 Armor of the giant shin guard.
Unfortunately he fails the Attack Roll, missing with the lance and Crashing into the Giant with the motorcycle instead. Because he missed the attack, none of the MOM dice were used, so he still has both of them to spend. Unfortunately the motorcycle only has a Structure Level of 1, so it's only able to deliver one of the MOM dice as Crash Damage.
The Giant has a Size of 4, and so he has 4d6 in his POP Pile automatically. The number of dice he can use for Crash Damage is first limited to the number of dice in Don Coyote's MOM Pile (only two), and limited even further by the Giant's own Structure Level. Although his heavy armor gives his leg an Armor Level of 2d10, this is just the effect of an equipment bonus. The Giant himself is only made of giant meat, so his "natural" Structure Level is 1/2, limiting his Crash Damage to zero dice. He does no Damage at all in the Collision.
The 1d6 Crash Damage from the motorcycle is easily deflected by the 2d10 Armor of the shin guard, leaving the Giant unharmed. Don Coyote's KnockBack Roll is similarly foiled (Don Coyote's 2d6 MOM versus the Giant's 4d6 POP), and so Don Coyote is brought to a halt and forced to engage in Close Combat with the Fire Giant automatically as a result of the Collision. The Giant Counterattacks with a mighty football punt. |
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KnockBack
Once all the main effects of a Collision have been resolved, regardless of type, all Collisions end with a KnockBack check for the target of the Collision.
First, check to see if the opposing object is capable of being Knocked Back. Objects that are Nailed Down to the ground can only be Knocked Back if the Damage from the Collision manages to break them off. Trees and walls can't be Knocked Back if they're still rooted.
If the target object is not Nailed Down, compare the total number rolled from the MOM Pile to that of the POP Pile. If the POP result is higher, nothing happens - the Charging object collided with the opposing object and was brought to a halt.
If the MOM result is higher, subtract the POP result from the MOM result. The Charging object may turn the remaining number into Thrust Inches, sending the opposing object directly away from the point of collision. If the opposing object is prevented from traveling the full Thrust distance, it takes one point of Smash Damage for each inch it's unable to complete.
If the Thrust is enough to land the object on its side or upside-down, the object is Knocked Over and Disrupted (4.3: Enemy Response), unable to take any Action or defend iself until it gets itself back upright. For vehicles, it's even worse: while a Knocked Over delivery truck is largely helpless, Knocked Over boats
are capsized and sink at the end of their following turn; flying vehicles
tend to crash. If the Charging object is larger than its Disrupted victim, it may proceed to run right over it, inflicting points of Trample Damage equal to the Size difference between the two. Both Smash and Trample Damage are cumulative with any other Damage dealt in the course of the Collision.
Plowing Through
In most cases, a minifig protester isn't big enough to halt the Momentum of his government's Size 5" BattleTanks. If an attacker would like to keep Charging after making a Collision, and the number of dice in its MOM Pile were greater than the amount needed to destroy or Knock Back its target, then the attacker has the option to reclaim the excess dice and keep right on going.
Once a successful Charge attack has been resolved, determine which dice in the MOM Pile were used up in the Collision. Any dice used to add inches to a Shove, or any dice added to the Damage of an unsuccessful Charging Weapon attack, are automatically used up. For dice used in a successful Charging Weapon attack, or dice used in a successful KnockBack, the minimum number of dice needed to overcome the target's Armor or Physical Opposition are considered used up.
Remove all the used up dice from the table. The remaining dice are returned to the MOM Pile (do not re-roll them) for use in subsequent Collisions. The object may continue its Charge, adding a new die to the MOM Pile after every two inches as usual, until it reaches its maximum again or ends up in another Collision.
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