Chapter 06: Cinematic Battle System

Large scale epic battles such as those you see in Lord of the Rings have a way of being a major headache plus five when you're responsible for every single action. That's why we've coopted the Cinematic Battle System, a generalized mass combat system for the Unisystem RPG that can be used for any scenario, from epic historical fantasy to the post-apocalyptic alternate to a weird World War II type setting.

The Cinematic Battle System is a quick and dirty system designed for you Directors who like to play fast and loose with numbers so they can concentrate on describing the action. Battles are fought in rounds, an arbitrary measure of time created mostly to distinguish it from Turns. Things happen a bit slower in battle because more folks are doing more things. The exact amount of time in a round depends on what’s going on. If the armies are fully engaged in hand-to-hand combat, each round might only be a few minutes. If they’re still maneuvering and only firing occasional volleys as targets come in range, the round might be half an hour long or more. Given the concentration on the action (not the mechanics), your description does actually matter even though it’s a fairly subjective summation of how you think the battle is going. The heroes’ plans and reactions must make sense within the context of your interpretation of the battle results.

For example, let’s say that the human army meets a group of orcs in an open field battle. The first couple of rounds don’t go so well and the humans are starting to lose. You describe the warriors falling back and getting flanked. In response, one of the Cast Members decides to lead a hidden cavalry reserve to attack the orc flankers and relieve the frontline troops. You say that’s a fine plan and grant the heroes a bonus for the round of the cavalry charge.

Before the battle, the Cast should be given a written list of the forces at their disposal, and at least a sketch map of the situation. For instance, you’d tell the group they have 30 swordsmen, 20 archers, and 10 knights besides the named characters. Then you should sketch out a rough outline of the castle, point out the moat, show them the orcs' most likely direction of approach, and so on. If they have good intelligence about their enemy, this intelligence should also be part of the summary - but may not be accurate!

Providing a good description and at least a quick sketch map gives the players a clear understanding of what they’re up against.

Once the group knows what their troops and terrain are like, they can start kibitzing about their plan. Even though the Cinematic Battle System boils down to die-rolling, the Cast’s plan still matters. Some of the actions they take might gain them bonuses on their Battle Test. They might also be able to take advantage of certain narrative situations as the battle rages if they’ve properly planned for it. Seems a bit vague? Ah, you’ll see exactly what we’re talking about as we continue.

Cast Members shouldn’t sit back and let the army do all the fighting for them. Most have huge egos when it comes to combat and will want to dive right into the carnage.

Such homicidal maniacs can choose whether to fight in hand-to-hand combat or stand back and fire their guns, arrows, and so on. To spill some blood, the player first describes his hero’s action in general terms. This should be something like “I draw my sword and and dive off the wall into the orcs.” Or, “I take a crossbow with explosive bolts and try to pick off the orc shaman.”

The narrative description determines what roll the character uses for the round; this is usually Dexterity plus weapon skill, but the GM may rule that specific actions may require specific rolls. Once that’s determined, check the tables below to see what happens. Use the standard target number (ah … nine, remember?) for this roll, not a foe’s Combat Score (this roll simulates several minutes worth of fighting against multiple foes). In the Thick of It is the chart for those who want to get medieval; Sniper is for those who want to hang back and pick off their targets from afar. The Success Level determines the effect the hero has on his side’s Battle Test. Use these as guides for unusual plans and events that Heroes may use to sway the flow of battle.

Some of the entries state that the hero suffers a “counterattack.” This is an automatic hit from the most common weapon wielded by the enemy in that type of combat (hand weapons in melee, missile weapons at range). The character gets his armor against the counterattack as usual. If a hero fights the orc army in hand-to- hand combat and gets hit with a counterattack, for example, he suffers the axe-blow of a orc. It does its usual damage of 20, doubled to 40 (for Slash/stab) and the character loses 40 Life Points (might be a good time for Drama Point spending). If wearing a chain mail (Armor Value 8), he’d only lose 24 Life Points. Note that Cast Members can’t go after specific foes whenever they want - that requires a Plot Twist Drama Point expenditure (see above). In that case, arrange for the two foes to meet up in the field of battle. That might take some doing narratively but make it happen anyway - those Drama Points are pretty special things. Once the two foes come face to face, shift over into regular Unisystem Turns for a while. The battle can rage around them but it becomes mostly backdrop. Then again, at a dramatically appropriate time, a stray arrow, grunt soldier, collapsing wall, or some such may intrude to mess up the dandy little duel going on.

Failure: The hero wades into battle and finds himself overwhelmed by his foes. He suffers three counterattacks. Life sucks that way.

1-2 Success Levels: The hero slays his fair share but pays for his heroism in blood. He adds +2 to his side’s Battle Test for the round but suffers two counterattacks.

3-4 Success Levels: The hero rages through his foes, splitting skulls like melons at a Gallagher show. He adds +3 to his side’s Battle Test for the round and suffers one counterattack.

5+ Success Levels: The hero covers himself in glory (as well as brains, blood, and bits of bone)! He adds +4 to his side’s Battle Test for the round and no counterattacks can be made against him.

Failure: The hero pops his head up and the enemy spots him. He inflicts few casualties this round and suffers two ranged counterattacks (assuming the bad guys are range attack capable) - now he knows what a pincushion feels like.

1-2 Success Levels: The warrior picks off several foes but suffers some return fire as well. He adds +1 to his side’s Battle Test but suffers one counterattack from enemy missile fire (assuming they have such weapons).

3-4 Success Levels: This guy could shoot the wings off a fly. He puts down a number of foes and adds +2 to his side’s Battle Test for the round. He is unscathed by counterattacks.

5+ Success Levels: Don’t give this guy a bell tower and a box of Oreos! He nails more opponents than he can count. He adds +3 to his side’s Battle Test for the round and ignores any missiles targeted at him.

Dice meisters rejoice - it’s time to roll the bones. The leaders of each side make an Intelligence and Influence (or just use their Brains Score) roll and add or subtract the modifiers from the Battle Test Modifiers Table. The leader with the highest total wins the round; ties are just that - ties. You should narrate the action, covering the next round of the battle.

So how do you judge relative strengths between the armies? Good question. Compare numbers, types of troops, individuals who make up the types of troops, weapons, armor, training. The King’s Guard, a group of heavily armed and armored cavalry, can probably handle three or four times their number in orcs. In such a battle, the abilities of the Guard outweigh the numbers of the orcs, so no modifier would be applied. Once you consider all those “power of army” things, remind yourself that the storyline is paramount. What do you think would make for a good tale? All in all, there’s no need to sweat the exact decision made regarding relative strengths. Make a call and move on.

For situation-specific modifiers, consider what’s different about the Battle Test for this round compared to any other. Did the cavalry get into position to charge this round? Are the front ranks in range of the catapults for the first time this round? Is the final route of retreat cut off so the troops know it’s kill or be killed time? These are the situations that call for special modifiers.

Finally, your judgment calls aren’t set in stone. Assign modifiers, roll the dice, and see what the results are. Next round, adjust your modifier calls depending on new circumstances, your re-evaluation of the army strengths (taking into account casualties on both sides), or where you want the story to go.

Now both sides make Constitution (not doubled) rolls for each type of troop in their force. The side that lost the round subtracts two from each roll. (Neither side suffers the penalty if the Battle Test was a tie.) If a troop type fails its roll, it suffers 10% of its commencement-of-battle number in casualties (round normally). If an army has 120 archers when it marched into battle, and it suffered 10% casualties, 12 archers become casualties that round and may no longer participate in the battle. This 10% number remains constant even as the total fighting force decreases. In subsequent rounds, 12 more archers are lost until there are none (but mostly likely someone will retreat before then). Make sure you write down your different troop types and their starting number before you get to this step so there’s no “cheating.”

Remember that “casualties” means killed or wounded. Some of those who took a dive might be just fine for the next battle - if there is one.

The final step is for the general who lost to check the morale of this troops. He should make a Willpower roll. His Willpower is doubled as long as he still has half his force left. The moment it drops below that, he must roll Willpower without doubling. Failure means his troops are ready to retreat. The general can keep fighting, but his losses from this point on are doubled (20% of commencement-of-battle numbers per roll instead of 10%). This often happens when troops can’t retreat—such as those in a besieged castle or other fortification.

The leader of each side can spend Drama Points as usual. Only one Drama Point may be spent per round. When using a Heroic Feat Drama Point to add +10 to his Battle Test, the player must describe what brilliant plan, stirring speech, or unexpected event caused this bonus, but it otherwise works as usual.

The I Think I’m Okay Drama Point expenditure is treated a bit differently in the battle context. Such Drama Points can be used to negate half an army’s losses for the round. The point may be spent after results are determined. This represents the general yelling or encouraging the walking wounded to get back into the fight, rallying deserters, or simply stirring his men to greatness by his own daring do. Alternatively, an I Think I’m Okay Drama Point may be spent to negate any losses from a particular type of troops. The other types suffer full losses as dictated by their Constitution rolls.

The good guys are composed of Edward the knight, Jacob the knight, Justin the Cleric, Ericka the Sorceress, and Silverleaf the Archer. They lead 30 swordsmen, 20 archers, and 10 knights.

The army of the Dreadaxe Orcs has 450 orcs, 50 orc sergeants, and 25 goblins. Their characters are the orc warchief, the orc shaman, and a harpy.

Now we go through the modifiers. You decide the orcs are roughly equal to the human archers and swordsmen, so that makes the bad guys easily three times more numerous (i.e., powerful) than the Heroes men. The army of orcs adds +4 to their Battle Test for outnumbering the humans by more than three to one. They also add +2 because the orc war-cry instills bone-chilling fear in the humans. That’s a total bonus of +6.

The humans get +2 for fortifications. You also decide to give the humans a one-time bonus of +2 for the catapult bombs, +2 for the black powder bombs on the arrows, and a whopping +4 for the sorceress's “Ball of Abyssal Flame”. Each of these bonuses may only be used once, however, and they can only be used when they make sense narratively. For instance, the catapults can’t be used once the orcs have broken into the castle courtyard.

Edward’s player decides he will use the catapult’s black powder bombs first, while the armies are still at a distance. Edward’s Intelligence 3 and Influence 4 combine for a total of seven. He rolls a below-average four and gets a Battle Test total of 13 before any modifiers. With the +2 for the castle walls and +2 for the catapults, he has a respectable 17.

The orc army advances and the skeletons fire flaming arrows. The orc warchief has a Brains Score 12 (which already includes his roll result of six). He gets to add +6 to his Battle Test for his numbers and the orc fear factor. That’s 18 total. Yowch!

The first round goes to the orcs. Each group of Jacob's men must make a Constitution roll at –2. He rolls for his Swordsmen first (Constitution 3). They roll a four, add three, but have to subtract two, so their total is five. They fail, so one out of every 10 drops like a sack of potatoes. Since there were 25, 2.5 guys—rounded to three - are out of the fight.

The archers have Constitution 2. They roll a six, add two, subtract two because they lost, and get a six. They also suffer 10% casualties, or two bowmen. Jacob’s knights get a little luckier. Their Constitution provides a bonus of four, and they roll an eight. Subtracting two gives them a 10. They suffer no casualties. If they had failed the roll, one knight in shining armor would turn into a knight in a shining pile of goo.

Now it’s the bad guys’ turn. You make a Constitution roll for the orcs. They have Constitution 3, so their bonus is three. They get unlucky and roll a one, so they suffer 10% casualties, and 45 of them splatter beneath a barrage of black powder arrows and catapult-bombs. The orc sergeants have a Constitution 4. They roll a five and get nine, so they’re fine.

The goblins dodge around the battlefield like crazed dope fiends but roll a four. Combined with their Constitution 3, that’s less than nine. Three of those nasties get caught in the crossfire. Huzzah! You describe numerous orcs and goblins blowing up, but a number of archers and swordsmen are pinned by crossbow bolts or flee in terror at the advancing orcish horde.

Now it’s time for the good guys morale roll. Do they really want to stick around and fight some more? The troops are still at over half strength so Edward’s Willpower Attribute is doubled (to eight). He can’t fail. That’s good - at least until his troops suffer more than half casualties.

Whether to make the orc warchief roll for morale depends on how mindless you think the orcs and goblins are. They could be immune to fear but, at least with the orcs, it seems unlikely. If you go that route, The orc warchief’s Willpower 4 also leads to an automatic success.

Time to move on to the next round … and pray for rescue.