Full Rules

This system has been cobbled together by Joe Ghent, Brian Leddy and Ben Meredith.

Welcome
Welcome to Aftermath, a fortnightly game run on Sussex campus. We will begin each game at the Bridge Café and will run from 1800 till 2200. Please arrive sooner if you haven't played before, as we will need to give a safety brief, check any weapons and equipment you've brought and answer any questions you may have about the game.

Your Character
You are a person who has been caught up in the chaos in Brighton, and have begun to manifest "super powers". Having evaded capture by the British government, you are fighting for your freedom in a world coming to terms with the fact that super heroes and super villains can exist

The kit for this game is modern clothing, and any items or armour you acquire in game may need to be represented by appropriate gear, such as a tactical vest or a nerf gun.

There are five different strains of abilities, each with their own specialities and powers to help you get by in the new world. Each strain will excel at some tasks and fail miserably at others, so helping the people you've been thrown into this new life with will greatly increase your chances of success.

You can find out how to build a character here.

=HP, Fatigue and Death=

Health and Unconsciousness
Empowered characters, which includes all player characters start with 4 Global HP, and exist in one of three states. Any character is able to tell which state you are in simply by asking.

Conscious - If you have any positive number of HP you are in the Conscious state. You may move and act as normal. If you take sufficient damage as to go to 0 or less HP, you enter the Incapacitated state.

Incapacitated - In this state, you are seriously, but not life threateningly injured. You must fall to the floor, and cannot use any abilities. You may make slight movements and can be moved with help, you may speak to those around you. After 10 minutes in this state, you will regain 1HP and may begin acting normally again. If you take any further damage whilst Incapacitated, you move to the Dying state.

Dying - In the dying state you have sustained life threatening injuries. you are completely unconscious and unaware of your surroundings. You are also steadily bleeding to death. When put into the Dying state begin counting down from 180, when you reach 0 you have bled out and succumbed to your injuries. You are dead.

If you are put into the Incapacitated state by a call of Double you instead skip straight to the Dying state.

If you are put into the Incapacitated state by a call of Triple or higher, you not only skip straight to the Dying state, but your count to 0 begins at 120 instead of 18o.

Whilst Incapacitated or Dying you are vulnerable to the Execute call, which will significantly shorten your death timer.

Fatigue
Fatigue represents the internal power reserves of an Empowered, and are what is often used to fuel their abilities. A starting character has 10 Fatigue, which is regained between sessions.

Causing Damage
Most damage in Aftermath will be caused by swords or similar weapons. Any swing against you is assumed to have the Single call attached to it, unless its controller states otherwise.

Any character may take the force out of their swing and instead call Zero, thus causing no damage.

Ranged attacks, be it guns or abilities always have a damage call attached, for example, when shooting someone you will call: "[Name/identifying feature] Single!". All guns are considered to have Vocal range (see Ability Information) and must be wielded two-handed, unless stated otherwise.

All characters have the ability to fire a gun accurately enough to hit with one in three shots while standing still and holding the firearm in both hands. To do this, the player indicates their target and calls "Zero" until they get to a shot they will hit with, at which point they may call single. Each "Zero" uses up one point ammunition from the gun. For example, an entirely unskilled player might call "Man with red tie! Zero! Red Tie! Zero! Red Tie! Single"

If a character is interrupted by any call while taking aim their concentration is broken. This includes any calls of Zero, such as from an enemy shooter as the enemy takes aim.

=Abilities=

Your abilities are what sets you apart from the rest of the human race. Becoming Empowered has made you stronger and healthier: boosting your pain tolerance and stamina. Beyond that it's also manifested as strange and often otherworldly powers that you are only just beginning to understand. All abilities you have will be listed on your character sheet, which will explain what your ability does and the conditions of its use.

Ability Information
Each ability will have a set of conditions and parameters under which it will function, and they are listed as follows
 * Charge Time - The amount of time it takes to activate an ability.
 * Range - Where you need to be in relation to the target of the ability. The most common ranges are:
 * Self - The ability effects you and you alone.
 * Touch - The ability effects a target you touch with your hand.
 * Strike - The ability effects a target you can hit with a melee weapon.
 * Conversational - A short range ability that does not require contact. The target must be within 5 metres of you.
 * Vocal - The ability effects any target who can hear you when you make the call.
 * Duration - How long the effect of the ability lasts.
 * Call - The information that needs to be conveyed to the target. For example: "Mental Strikedown Single."
 * Effect - What occurs when the ability is used.
 * Frequency - How often you are able to use the ability.
 * Fatigue Cost - How much fatigue is used to enact the ability. Invested Fatigue is spent at the beginning of each game, please inform the refs of how you're investing fatigue.

Stealth
Some abilities will grant the power to be unseen, though there are powers and methods to work against this. If you see a character begin to use the Fade or Stealth signals then you will continue to be aware of that character and you are also aware that they are trying to stealth. If a character is already using the Stealth signal when you first see them, you are not aware of their presence. Bringing attention to a stealthed character that you are aware of will break their stealth, and force the character to cease making the Stealth signal.

If you break stealth by attacking a person, you must call "Appearing"

Armour Stacking
There are 2 types of armour in the Aftermath world, Mundane and Empowered. Each type of armour stacks with the other, but not with itself.
 * Mundane - Armour points given to you by something like a stab vest, or a flak jacket. This type of armour must be both acquired in game, and phys-repped. Most of the time these will only give you 1 point of armour, though an exceptionally well designed and crafted set may be awarded more.
 * Empowered - Armour points given to you by an ability. You can only benefit from one source of Empowered armour at any one time. If you receive a buff you may choose to accept it, and discard your current buff, or deny it and retain your current buff (or keep the slot empty).

Ribbons and Cards
Some abilities will interact with items, and alter their properties in some way. There are 3 common item modifications, which are represented by ribbons, anything more complex will require a playing card. Any hits taken to a weapon when it is sheathed or held by the blade will count as a hit to the owner, to stop players abusing OC items which are IC not there. Any weapon that is currently being held by the handle is visible to anyone.
 * White Ribbon - Indicates that the item it is attached to is invisible.
 * Red Ribbon - Indicates that the item is bonded to the user or a part of them. It is considered invisible when put away or held by the middle of the blade. A character with a red ribbon may resist a disarm to that weapon for 2 fatigue.
 * Green/Neon Ribbon - Indicates that the item is not currently part of the game world.
 * Playing Cards - Any item with a playing card on it is too complex for an untrained character to understand, and it is considered unusable until identified/fixed/attuned to you.

=OC Considerations=

Combat and Equipment
Combat in Aftermath takes place using a combination of LARP-safe foam weaponry and Toy guns. REPLICAS ARE NOT ALLOWED.

Melee Weapons
Weapons in Aftermath can be up to 50" long, and should be safety checked by a member of the crew before being used by any player or NPC. Weapons of longer length may exist, but by default receive "Shatter Weapon" whenever they make a successful strike or parry. Shields of up to 36" diameter are allowed, but by default a shield will add "Break Shield" to any damage call it absorbs, making them mostly useless. Dual wielding is perfectly acceptable as long as it is done safely.

Ranged Weapons
Any firearm in the Aftermath world must be represented by something clearly distinguishable from a real gun. Please do not bring cap guns or airsoft guns to use as props unless they've been heavily modified. Do not use guns to parry melee weapons, this is unsafe and will likely result in damage to both weapons.

There are three types of gun: Pistol, Shotgun and Rifle. These weapons have a magazine size of 6, and take 15 seconds to reload These weapons have a shell capacity of 2, and take 5 seconds to reload These weapons have a magazine size of 15, and take 30 seconds to reload.
 * A pistol should be a single handed, single barrel gun, we recommend the Nerf Maverick or Strongarm.
 * A shotgun should be a long, possibly multi barrelled gun. We recommend the Nerf Roughcut or the Buzzbee side by side.
 * A rifle should similarly be a long barrelled gun, but should have an obvious magazine or ammo clip attached. We recommend the Nerf Stampede or Longstrike.

Reloading is done in a similar manner to firing. You must be standing still, and using both hands to reload.

All guns must be shown to a ref before they can be used in the game.

The One Second Rule
Any character may only make one call per second. This rule stops abuse cases in combat and makes for more satisfying role-played combat. Note that this applies to any call with damage in it. If you feel that a player is not following this, please come and talk to a ref instead of causing an argument during combat.

Player Responsibilities
As this game will be free to play, there are a number of things to be taken into account. =System Calls and Signals=
 * You must know the details of your abilities, it is perfectly acceptable to have them noted down or printed off on paper, and this will be treated as an OC item.
 * If you acquire an item that requires a ribbon, you must either provide it yourself, or purchase one from GOD.
 * If your character uses a gun at any point, please take care to ensure that it doesn't look anything at all like a real gun. Aftermath crew heartily recommend Nerf and any other brightly coloured products. You are encouraged to modify/alter/paint these, as long as they're easily distinguishable from a real gun.
 * This game's combat will primarily focus on melee. If you do not own a safety passed sword, you will likely be able to borrow one from the crew or a fellow player. This is now your responsibility to look after, and should you lose/break/damage it any way you will be liable to fix/replace it.

Call Structure
Calls in Aftermath will take on a maximum of four sections, though will rarely reach that length. A call is made of a type descriptor, an active call, a damage descriptor and a damage amount.
 * There are three types, Mind Energy and Physical. The vast majority of effects are Physical, and thus if no type is stated, this is what it defaults to. Mind indicates that something is trying to interact with your brain and consciousness. Energy indicates some raw force of nature, like heat, electricity or intangible shadow bolts; anything which doesn't have much mass, but you wouldn't want thrown at your face.
 * The Active Calls are listed below..
 * Damage Descriptors are also listed below.
 * Any call without a damage element (e.g. Single) deals no damage.

OC Calls

 * Man Down - Stop the game. Follow ref's instructions.
 * Time Out - Stop the game. The refs have grown tired and hungry and will no longer put up with your shenanigans. They're going to go home and you probably should aswell.
 * Time Freeze - Stop the game. Please close your eyes and hum whilst the refs arrange a horrific ambush for you.
 * Time In - Resume the game. Also used at the start of each game.

Active Calls

 * Effect - Used in place of complex descriptions and the consequences of such a call will not happen immediately. If hit by an Effect please seek out a ref as soon as you can outside of combat to inform them, as well as reminding us during your downtime submission. Explain what it is that hit you with an Effect call, and the ref team will respond accordingly and tell you what is happening to you - this information might be given to you during the game, or in downtime. A few characters will have abilities which call Effect. Unless stated otherwise it's acceptable for the character to give a brief description of what is happening i.e. Healing or Fatigue manipulation.
 * Strikedown - Your character is forced to the ground. Both shoulders must touch the floor (if it is safe to do so) before you stand again. Alternately, you may crouch and not defend yourself for 5 seconds.
 * Root - One of your feet is firmly stuck to the floor. This effect lasts for 5 seconds.
 * Disarm [Object] - Something has caused you to drop an item you were holding. It must touch the floor before you attempt to pick it back up again. Please do not tie items to your wrists, apart from this being unsafe it's cheating.
 * Break [Object] - The object in your hand is rendered unusable, it may be repaired but for now it is useless. A call of Break with no object specified hits your armour, reducing the value of Mundane and Empowered armour to zero.
 * Fear - You must move away from the user of the power. If attacked by anyone, you may reassess the situation and the effect is broken. This effect lasts for 5 seconds.
 * Silence - You lose the ability to activate any abilities. Any static powers such as armour or other buffs will remain active. This effect lasts for 5 seconds.
 * Divulge - You must answer the question following this call truthfully. You may whisper it to them so that only they know. You will be unaware that this call has been used on you unless it is part of a larger call, often Mind Divulge.
 * Mass - Multiple people are being targeted, if the source of the call is indicating an area with their arms, only the people between their arms are being targted
 * Zero/Single/Double/Triple/Quad... - How much damage you are taking with this call.
 * Dis/Appearing - Someone is leaving or entering view with an audible noise, probably a crack or a pop.
 * Execute - You have made sure that the target is no longer among the living. With a melee weapon count down loudly for 20 seconds as you hack a character to death, followed by "Execute!". With a gun, spend 5 seconds lining up the shot at point blank range, and call loudly call "Execute!" to approximate the noise of a gun going off.

Responsive Calls

 * Resist - You nullify the effects of a call.
 * Dodge - You have physically moved out of the way of a call.
 * No Effect - You are totally unaffected by whatever just happened to you, and it will probably never be able to effect you.

Signals

 * OC - One finger in the air, above the head. This person is not here and does not exist. Anyone wearing a HiVis jacket is considered to be making this gesture at all times
 * Mass - Either two arms held in a cone or a single fist extended fully above the head. Anyone inside the cone is effected, a fist indicates that everyone is effected.
 * Fading - One hand clenching and unclenching from fist to palm. This person is steadily removing themselves from view, either through mundane or supernatural means.
 * Stealth - One arm held across the chest to the opposite shoulder.
 * Ref Please - Thumb and index finger held together in a circle, making the "OK" signal. This helps avoid immersion breaks from players shouting "REF" at someone who 'isn't there' 10 feet away.