Combat require a lot of dice-rolling. Play- ers need to keep track of various stats and modifiers. To make this quick and easy, Dominion Rules use a straightforward sys- tem which divides play into rounds and stages. Swifter characters act before slower ones, and Injury is resolved immediately. The Order of Play rules explain who goes first, who goes last, who goes in between, and which actions affect or do not affect other characters. This will make more sense as you read on.
WHEN TO USE THE ORDER OF PLAY RULES
RPGs can be divided into two types of play: roleplaying and roll-playing.
Roleplaying is the sort of interaction be-
tween characters and the Games Master that requires all involved to play a role, like actors in a play.
Example
Sir Gavin is trying to gain entry to Broadkeep Jail. His friends languish inside, unjustly impris- oned by the crooked captain of the Broadkeep City Guard. Sir Gavin is played by Scott. Scott decides that rather than attacking the guards, Sir Gavin will try to talk his way past them. In other words, Scott is going to try to roleplay through the situation.
“I walk up to the guards”, says Scott, playing the role of Sir Gavin. “May I help you, sir?” re- sponds the GM, playing the role of one of the guards.
“I am Sir Gavin Strong, His Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons”, declares Sir Gavin—telling a little white lie! “I am commanded to inspect this prison. You have, of course, been informed of
my visit.”
“First I’ve heard of it, mate”, replies the guard, “I can’t let you in without authorization.”
“This is outrageous!” replies Sir Gavin, “I com- mand you to step aside, in the name of the king, or I shall see you sacked.”
“Sacked? Er...will you wait a moment, sir? I’ll check with the sheriff.”
You do not need to use the Order of Play rules when roleplaying. You just act out the parts as needed.
Roll-playing is determining the conse-
quences of character action by rolling the twelve-sided die: making Skill rolls, Timing rolls, WithIn rolls, applying Action Penal- ties and other modifiers to these rolls, and so on. This can get complicated. The Order of Play rules are the way to keep it simple. Just because you are rolling the die doesn’t mean you must use the Order of Play rules. If the die-rolling is simple to resolve, don’t bother using them.
Example
Dame Beatrice Rideout and her party find themselves in the ruins of an ancient castle. Dame Beatrice discovers writing in Croellic carved round a stone door-way. She wants to try to read it, so she will use her Croellic Skill (6). The other party-members take no actions. This is a simple situation: only one player is acting, and the action is straightforward. There is no reason to use the Order of Play rules here. The GM simply tells Dame Beatrice that there is a -1 penalty to her Skill roll caused by the difficulty of reading the worn stone. Dame Beatrice rolls a 4: she succeeds. The writing says, “The entrance is easy; the exit is peril- ous!”
Usually, Order of Play rules will only be necessary in Combat (ordinary as well as magical and priestly) or when several characters are acting at roughly the same time—especially when their actions are somehow in competition.
Example
Otto the Rat spies the key hanging on a hook on the south wall. But so does the drunken sailor! To determine who gets to it first, use the Order of Play rules.
The Order of Play rules apply somewhat differently when catching up with retreat- ing characters. See chapter seven, Combat. ROUNDS AND STAGES
Character action in DR is divided into pe- riods called rounds. Some actions are complete in one round (for example, rac- ing a drunken sailor to a key hanging on the wall). Other actions, especially Com- bat, last many rounds.
A round consists of four Stages. They are the Timing Stage, the Strategy Stage, the Modifier Stage and the Resolution Stage.
The Timing Stage. In this stage, characters
determine Timing Order for the round by making Timing rolls. Timing Order is the order in which characters act in the Strat- egy and Resolution Stages.
The Strategy Stage. In this stage, characters
declare what actions they will take this round based on the Timing Order: from the slowest character to the fastest.
The Modifier Stage. In this stage, charac-
ters roll all Skills that produce modifiers to other Skills. These include all Defensive Combat Skills, Defensive Beast Skills, some Priestcraft Skills and certain Spells.
The Resolution Stage. In this final stage,
characters resolve all Skills declared this round and not resolved in the Modifier Stage (notably Offensive Combat Skills and Offensive Beast Skills). Skills are resolved in reverse Timing Order: from the fastest character to the slowest. Injury is resolved the moment it occurs.
Each Stage is explained below. THE TIMING STAGE
A round begins with the Timing Stage, in which characters determine their Timing Scores for the round.
To determine a Timing Score, roll the twelve-sided die and add the character’s Timing stat to the result.
Example
Alas, Sir Gavin’s attempt at a peaceful entry into the Broadkeep Jail has failed. The guards don’t believe his story. Oh well, Sir Gavin pre- fers a fight anyway...
There are two guards, Brutus and Groth. Bru- tus’s Timing stat is 3. Groth’s is 4. Sir Gavin’s is 6.
Brutus rolls 5 on the twelve-sided die, so his Timing Score this round is 8: 5 [Brutus’s roll] + 3 [Brutus’s Timing] = 8.
Groth also rolls a 5. His Timing Score is 9: 5 [Groth’s roll] + 4 [Groth’s Timing] = 9.
Finally, Sir Gavin rolls 10. His Timing Score is 16: 10 [Sir Gavin’s roll] + 6 [Sir Gavin’s Timing] = 16.
Use the Timing Scores to establish the Tim- ing Order for the round. The Timing Order goes from slowest score to the fastest score.
Example
The Timing Order for this round is Brutus (8), Groth (9), and finally Sir Gavin (16).
The Timing Order determines two things: the order in which characters declare their Strategies in the Strategy Stage; and the order in which characters resolve their ac- tions in the Resolution Stage.
When characters’ Timing Scores are tied, the tied characters roll again.
Example
A soldier and his drunken mate attack a mer- chant in a half-empty pub. The Soldier gets a Timing Score of 10. The Drunk and the Mer- chant both end up with Timing Scores of 7, so they roll again.
Note that characters who did not get tied Timing Scores do not roll again.
Example
The Merchant rerolls his Timing Score and gets a 9. The Drunk rerolls and gets a 6. The Timing Order is as follows: the Drunk (6), the Merchant (9), and the Soldier (10).
Timing rolls are like all other rolls in that a roll of 12 always fails. This means that a character who rolls 12 on his Timing roll goes to the bottom of the Timing Order. Note that only a rolled 12—before adding the character’s Timing stat—is an auto- matic failure. If a character’s Timing Score equals 12, that is not an automatic failure.
Example
Had Sir Gavin rolled a 6, his Timing Score would have been 12 (6 + 6 =12). But this would not put him at the bottom of the Timing Order, because he did not roll a 12. However, had he rolled a 12, he would have had the lowest Tim- ing Score—even though 12 + 6 = 18. That’s because a roll of 12 always fails.
Timing rolls made for the purpose of de- termining a character’s Timing Score for the round do not attract Action Penalties.
Example
Later this round, Brutus, Sir Gavin and Groth will each declare and perform various Skills. These Skills will not be reduced by a -1 Action Penalty simply because each character made a Timing roll in the Timing Stage.
Some weapons force their wielders to for- feit their Timing stat when calculating their Timing Scores. See chapter eight, Weapons and Armour.
The Timing rules described here apply in exactly the same way to the Beast Skill called Timing. See chapter fifteen, Beast Skills.
THE STRATEGY STAGE
In this Stage, characters declare their Strategies for the round. To declare your character’s Strategy is simply to announce what your character proposes to do this round.
Characters declare their Strategy in Timing Order: from the slowest character to the fastest. This means that characters with poor Timing Scores have to declare their Strategy before characters with good Tim- ing Scores. So characters with good Timing Scores have the advantage of waiting to see what others (especially their oppo- nents) intend to do before deciding what they themselves will do. This is especially important in Combat.
Example
The Timing Order is Brutus, Groth, and Sir Ga- vin. So Brutus declares his Strategy first: he intends to Strike Sir Gavin once. Groth declares next: he intends to Strike Sir Gavin once as well, while also using his Heraldry Skill to iden- tify his attacker by the colours he wears. It is now Sir Gavin’s turn to declare his Strategy. Knowing that both his opponents have declared Strikes against him, he declares a Dodge.
Once a character has declared his Strategy, he is committed to it. He cannot change at any other point in the round. (There is an exception to this rule for the Stealth Skill; see chapter four, Skills.)
Example
Groth declared a Strike against Sir Gavin, while also using his Heraldry Skill to identify his at- tacker. If, during the Resolution Stage, Groth successfully identifies Sir Gavin and decides he doesn’t want to Strike such a famous knight, that’s too bad. He cannot change his Strategy now. He should have thought of that during the Strategy Stage, before he declared a Strike.
THE MODIFIER STAGE
In this Stage, the GM and players make rolls for all Skills declared this round which create modifiers to other Skills de- clared this round. That sounds compli- cated, but it’s actually pretty easy. You roll Defensive Combat Skills, Defensive Beast Skills, some Priestcraft Skills, and some Spells (Witchcraft Skills) in this Stage. You then apply the penalties and bonuses gen- erated by these rolls to the Skill rolls which you will make in the Resolution Stage. The following Priestcraft Skills are rolled in the Modifier Stage: Bless, Consecrate, Curse and Defile.
Certain Witchcraft Spells are also resolved in the Modifier Stage. To know when to roll a given Spell, consult the Spell’s De- scription (in the case of Known Spells) or consult you GM (for New Spells).
All Defensive Combat Skills and Defensive Beast Skills are rolled in the Modifier Stage. The difference between Offensive and Defensive Skills is that the former are used to Injure or otherwise harm an oppo- nent, while the latter are used to defend oneself from harm or Injury. Defensive
Combat Skills protect characters by pro- ducing penalties that make Offensive Combat Skills harder to use.
Example
Of the three combatants in our example, only Sir Gavin declared a Defensive Combat Skill: he declared a Dodge. Sir Gavin now makes his Dodge roll. His Dodge stat is 7. If he rolls higher than 7, his attempted Dodge is unsuc- cessful. But if he rolls 7 or under, his Dodge succeeds. Sir Gavin rolls: a 4! A successful Dodge.
When a Defensive Combat Skill roll suc- ceeds, the result of the roll is applied in the Resolution Stage as a penalty to the rolls of attacking opponents. These are called Defence Penalties. Defence Penal- ties last only for the duration of the current round.
Example
Sir Gavin rolled 4, a successful Dodge. So the guards are assigned a Defence Penalty which will modify their Offensive Combat actions in the Resolution Stage. The Defence Penalty lasts only until the end of the current round. The penalty is -4 (because Sir Gavin rolled a 4).
If a character rolls two or more successful Defensive Combat Skills in the same round, the Defence Penalty is equal to the sum of the successful rolls.
Example
Imagine that Sir Gavin declared two Dodges this round, and that he rolled a 4 and a 1. Both these were successful Dodge rolls. So the total Defence Penalty created by Sir Gavin’s Dodges this round would have been -5: -4 [first Dodge roll] + -1 [second Dodge roll] = -5.
It may sometimes happen that a Defence Penalty makes an action impossible that round.
Example
Brutus’ Strike stat is 5. But what if it were 4? The Defence Penalty is -4. So Brutus could not possibly Strike Sir Gavin this round: 4 - 4 = 0, and you can’t roll 0 on a twelve-sided die! This would mean that Sir Gavin had totally outma- noeuvred Brutus this round. Brutus would just have to wait and try again next round.
Defence Penalties apply to Offensive Combat Skills only. No other Skill is sub- ject to Defence Penalties, even if the Skill seeks to cause Injury (for example, a Sor- cery Spell) or cause harm in some other way (for example, the Priest’s Smite with Infirmity Skill).
For more on the difference between Offen- sive and Defensive Combat Skills, see chapter seven, Combat. For more on Of- fensive and Defensive Beast Skills, see chapter fifteen, Beast Skills.
THE RESOLUTION STAGE The last Stage of a round is the Resolution Stage. It is called the Resolution Stage be- cause it is the Stage in which characters ‘resolve’ (complete or finish) all the actions declared in the Strategy Stage that haven’t yet been dealt with. These actions include any Offensive Combat Skills declared this round (if the characters are in Combat), Offensive Beast Skills, and any other Skills they declared (such as reading a text, Smit- ing an opponent, casting a Spell or picking a pocket).
Offensive Combat Skills and Offensive Beast Skills are subject to any Defence Penalties established in the Modifier Stage, as well as any other applicable modifiers determined then. No other Skills are sub- ject to Defence Penalties.
In the Resolution Stage, all rolls are made in reverse Timing Order: the fastest goes first, the slowest goes last.
Example
We are now in the Resolution Stage. The re- verse Timing Order is Sir Gavin (16), Groth (9), and finally Brutus (8). So Sir Gavin goes first. But Sir Gavin has not declared any actions this round other than his Dodge, which was dealt with in the Modifier Stage. So we skip to Groth. Groth has declared a Strike and a Heraldry Skill action. He can roll either one first; it doesn’t matter.
Groth’s Strike roll is subject to a -4 Defence Penalty created by Sir Gavin’s Dodge. Groth is also subject to a -1 Action Penalty for doing two things in one round: a Strike and a Heraldry Skill action. Groth’s Strike stat is 7. But it drops to 2 because of the Defence and Action Penal- ties: 7 [Groth’s Strike] - 4 [Defence Penalty] - 1 [Action Penalty] = 2. So Groth needs to roll 2 or less to Strike Sir Gavin this round. He rolls a 7. He misses.
Groth now rolls his Heraldry Skill. His Heraldry stat is 6. It is not affected by the Defence Pen- alty because it is not an Offensive Combat Skill. But it is affected by the Action Penalty. So Groth needs to roll 5 or less to use his Heraldry Skill successfully this round. He rolls: 11, a fail- ure.
Now it’s Brutus’ turn. His Strike stat is 5. The Defence Penalty is -4. So Brutus needs a 1 to Strike Sir Gavin. He rolls: a 1! Incredibly, he manages to Strike Sir Gavin.
THE RESOLUTION STAGE: INJURY
Of the five Offensive Combat Skills, three are capable of causing Injury: Strike, Mis- sile Strike and Brawling. Several Beast Skills cause Injury. There are also others ways in which Injury is caused. See chap- ter six, Injury.
No matter how they are caused, Injuries are always dealt with the moment they oc-
cur, before moving on to resolve the next action.
Example
Groth’s Strike attempt failed. But had it suc- ceeded, the Injury it would have caused Sir Gavin would have been determined immediate- ly—before moving on to Brutus’ actions.
Injury is determined immediately because of Injury Penalties. Injury Penalties are modifiers to Skill stats caused by Injury. They must be determined immediately be- cause they can affect a character’s actions later in the Resolution Stage.
Example
Imagine that Sir Gavin had declared a Strike against Groth this round.
The reverse Timing Order is Sir Gavin, Groth, and Brutus. So Sir Gavin goes first. He suc- cessfully Strikes Groth, causing a -2 Injury
Penalty.
Now, Groth rolls for his Strike and Heraldry at- tempts. But both these rolls are subject to a -2 Injury Penalty. This renders Groth’s Strike im- possible: 7 [Groth’s Strike] - 4 [Defence Pen- alty] - 1 [Action Penalty] - 2 [Injury Penalty] = 0. So Groth won’t roll the Strike he declared, be- cause he is now incapable of performing it.
Injury Penalties, and Injury in general, are explained in chapter six, Injury.
THE END OF THE ROUND The Resolution Stage continues until all the characters have resolved the actions they declared in the Strategy Stage—in- cluding any Injury caused by those ac- tions.
When that’s done, the round ends. A new round now begins, starting with the Timing Stage.
INJURY
Part of the thrill of roleplaying is the dan- ger: risking your character’s life and limb in pursuit of justice, glory, or loot. In Combat or in other ways, characters stand to injure others and to get injured them- selves in the course of their adventures. This chapter explains how injuries occur, how to keep track of them, and how (when possible) to heal them.
OVERVIEW OF INJURY
Later in this chapter we address specific types of Injury arising from Combat, Priestcraft, Witchcraft, Hazards, and Illness and Disease. But we begin with an overview of how Injury works.
Injury is physical damage to a character’s body. Characters can only tolerate so much Injury before they begin suffering penalties to their actions arising from pain, distraction or disability. These penalties are called Injury Penalties. Characters who are very seriously Injured may become inca- pable of performing certain Skills, because their Injury Penalty is greater than one or more of their Skill stats. This is called Par- tial Incapacitation. When a character is Incapacitated in all his Combat Skills, he is Defeated. When a character is so gravely wounded that his Injury Penalty is greater than any of his Skill stats (Combat or oth- erwise), he is Totally Incapacitated. Finally, a character whose Injury Penalty is -12 or greater dies.
All sorts of actions can cause Injury: a Strike from an enemy’s sword, a dragon’s maul, a wizard’s lightening strike, a thirty- foot fall, a nasty disease, or any other dan-
gerous turn of events. When a character is confronted with such an Injurious act or event, she is permitted to make a With- stand Injury roll. (See chapter two, Skills.) Withstand Injury (or WithIn) is used to de- termine the consequences of Injurious ac- tions or events upon PCs and GMCs. Either the Injured character will take the full damage caused by the Injury (because she failed her WithIn roll) or she will take only