We’re nearing a point where we’re comfortable playing 2d20. This weeks session was more going over characters and the house as well as as a group navigating through the game system basics, including a couple of very very basic practical examples. We all wept when we tried starting from how the Duel system works and moving assets/etc (as I’ve seen a few posts indicate - not the most intuitive way to start learning 2D20). So then we messed with a Skirmish - just a character and 3 of the Harkonnen mooks from the Wormsign adventure.
Please help me be sure we got this right…
Character (Steve) and the Harks are all in same zone (easy enough).
Steve ‘attacks’ one with his knife (uses knife asset offensively to act).
As a Contest, Hark 1 rolls to set the difficulty for Steve’s skill tests (only sets once, not rerolls each action, correct?) and gets 3 successes.
Steve then rolls his dice using Battle and Power (we decided). He has dirty fighting as a focus so we said that would apply.
He also added one die of Momentum for a 3rd die to roll. He rolled all failures.
He decides to use a Determination point to reroll all 3 dice.
He gets 3 successes, eliminating the Hark since it’s a grunt.
If he had generated 4 successes he could put the 4th into the Momentum pool.
Hark 2 attacks Steve.
Steve rolls and sets his defense at 2 successes (again, does this lock him in for the entire fight?)
Hark 2 attacks with 3 dice (spent a Threat), but no other special assets involved (or are there always assets?)
Scores 3 successes.
Steve suffers 2 ‘damage’ to his Battle (‘HP’?) as it’s an extended task…plus 1 more from the extra success/Momentum generated.
Steve is unhappy…and now has 4 Battle remaining toward being defeated.
The book’s examples made it sound like all of an enemy type act at once and apply their results to the target as a whole, or is that over the round they were talking about? Or something else? Should ‘mobs’ of same type grunts be one roll plus assist rolls or in the above the two remaining Harks would both take individual swings?
We’re working through the other systems, but they are making sense alongside this, assuming we were doing Skirmish correctly.
Any insights would be great, thanks.
That all looks fine to me.
The only oddity is that technically you can’t spend Determination unless you have a statement that counts to the action. But there is no reason not to allow free spending of it.
Mobs are interesting as one roll for all seems a bit easy and rolling lots of attacks is a nightmare. Instead, I’d frame it as an obstacle for the PCs to get past rather than a skirmish or conflict. They would make Move or Battle tests to see if they could overcome it. It might be an extended test with them getting X amount of tests to beat the requirement before they are overwhelmed.
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Ok, thanks. I think that’s where we’re going to have some challenges figuring how to apply the system. So you’re saying that a group of thugs blocking their process through an alley/wants to rob them would be more an obstacle than a ‘fight’ in the traditional RPG sense. Interesting, kind of cool. Complications in that could be them getting injury traits or other issues that came from the scuffle.
For Determination, sorry, I did neglect to mention we were using the Drive that had an associated statement.
I’m still not 100% good on when a statement comes into conflict and the Determination point offering takes place. I sort of get it, but might need to play it out and get a feel for things. Like if the player accepts the point and a complication, do they still test and get to use that drive since the other option of losing the statement still allows the test.
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Drives is the aspect most people have trouble with. 
Page 147 in the corebook has the best detail to help you pick what to use and why.
For either complying or challenging a Drive you still get to make the test using that Drive.
The effects (complications or removing the statement) happen after the test has been made.
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@keltheos thanks for bringing this up. Its answer cleared a few things up for me for my next session.
@Andy-Modiphius in and extended task, like escaping a collapsing tunnel or something, is the difficulty of the individual tests within the ET static at 1 or does the GM set those per test? I kind of have a good idea that’s it’s up to GM discretion but I could be wrong and wanted to check.
Thank you and loving this game.
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You set the requirement for each individual test.
It might vary depending on if it is based on a skill
But if everyone is doing the same thing (such as escaping a cave in) they’d all have the same requirement for that one.
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