Movement and Position

Your Movement

Your movement is measured in Speed.

• This is how many zones you may move when you take your Move each round
• The default is 1; you may move into a single adjacent zone on your round
• You may take the Sprint Action; this raises your Speed to 3

This Speed measures how far you can move in one Round while taking an Action, pacing yourself for stamina, maintaining full situational awareness, and protecting yourself against opportunistic attacks. In other words, your Speed is your sustainable pace with no penalties or drawbacks.

When you Move

• You may move through zones containing other characters
• You do not provoke Opportunities from foes unless they have an Art or effect to cause it

Partnering Up

You may Partner with one other ally in a zone. This represents fighting together and making full use of each other’s abilities for tactical advantage.

• Choosing a partner is a declaration; it does not require an Action
• Your ally must consent
• You count as your Partner’s Partner, and they count as yours.
  • In other words, this is an exclusive pair between two and only two characters. No daisy chains.

You and your Partner must be in the same zone.

• If your Partner moves to another zone, your Partnership ends
  • See the next section for a way to preserve

Many effects in the game rely on Partnership to grant bonuses!

Moving with your Partner

You and your Partner may move together to preserve any partnership effects

• You both must have your turn available
• You or your partner, whoever goes first, moves you both
• You both spend your Movement
• If moving multiple zones, you both must have sufficient speed for the movement
• If there is an obstacle such as Difficult Terrain, you both Challenge independently
  • Your partnership effects, if any, count for this challenge
• If any effect would separate you two into separate zones, the partnership ends
  • In particular, watch out for Throws!

Zones

A zone is the basic area of this system. Each zone defines a space where every character and effect within are considered to be capable of mutually interacting. Examples:

• Four martial artists fighting in a room
• Two characters racing down a trap-ladden hallway
• An elemental vortex raining down on everyone in a field

Exact movement within a zone is not tracked. For example, if one zone is “the dining room”, then you may interact with or Attack foes in that room without expending your Movement.

Zones may have elemental effects that help or hinder; traps that trigger based on luck or effect; and consumable items that anyone within that Zone can use for an edge.

How big?

The storyteller decides exactly how big a zone is.

Generally, a zone should:

• Be a limited area defined by natural boundaries (such as walls)
• Be small enough that it makes sense for two folk on opposite ends to be able to interact in the timespan of a few seconds
• A good rule of thumb in abstract: a 5m cube of space

However, the storyteller may freely adjust zone sizes.

• For example, in a forest clearing, the storyteller may use a single zone to represent its open nature

Effects that apply against a zone touch everyone inside.

• An elemental storm that passes through a zone impacts every character
• AOE attacks hit the entire zone

Difficult Terrain

Zones marked as Difficult Terrain have a movement penalty to enter or exit. When crossing the zone border:

• You must Challenge Air or Earth (your choice) against the Difficult Terrain rating
• Disaster, Failure: You spend your Action when crossing this border
  • If your Action has already been spent, you may not cross the border
• Success, Flourish: You cross the zone border at no penalty

You must declare your intent to cross the zone before you Challenge. You must then abide by the Result. In other words, you can’t Challenge, see it would cost an Action, and then decide to move somewhere else instead.

Some suggested values for Difficult Terrain Ratings:

The storyteller may waive Difficult Terrain if you work to avoid it. For example, you might Throw an ally over a patch of mud.

Adjacent zones

Adjacent zones are those zones you can reach from your current position. For example, if you are in a hallway zone, then the adjacent zones might be the three rooms on this hall and the stairs down.

• If you cannot reach a zone, it is not Adjacent
• If you do not have line of sight into a zone, it is not Adjacent
• You may used Ranged weapons to target foes within Adjacent zones

Adjacent zones can be up or down as well. For example, a ladder might grant access to an attic zone, or a sharp drop may grant access to the Pit of Deadly Vipers zone.

Character limit

For small zones, the storyteller may declare that there is a character limit. After all, only so many cultivators can fit in a closet.

Once the zone fills up, additional characters (friend or foe) must challenge Earth against a chosen defender within the zone.

• Disaster, Failure: You are unable to enter
• Success, Flourish: You enter the zone and Throw the targetted character into a different adjacent zone of your choice

Spill-over

Here is an optional way to deal with character limits in zones that emphasizes the chaos of competing interests

Instead of the Challenge above, when an excess character enters a zone with a limit

• Take all characters currently in the limited zone
• Randomly distribute them into all Adjacent zones (for example, by rolling 1d6 and counting zones clockwise to find their new home)

Zone details

Zones are intentionally a very loose mechanic. As a cultivator and martial artist, you are assumed to be quick on your feet and willing to lunge a few feet for an opportunity to engage. The trade-off, however, is that zones do not exactly resolve to a specific position. You might say that you are in the bedroom; you cannot specify that you stand on the left side of the bed one foot from the post. (Or rather, you can say this, but it grants you no mechanical benefit)

Forms of movement

As a Cultivator, you are assumed to be generally mobile and athletic. You may move in all manners of heroic ways, including: run, slide, jump, running leap, dropping prone…

Climbing

Climbing without exposing yourself to fatal vulnerability is quite challenging. Attempts to climb come with Difficult Terrain challenges by default.

To enter a zone by climbing, you will need to defeat the matching Challenge.

• Default climb: Difficult Terrain 10
• Sheer or slippery: Difficult Terrain 20
• Crazy maneuvers: 30

Sneaking

Sneaking is any form of movement where you attempt to maintain a Stealth defense. This is covered in detail in Stealth (Earth).

Falling

Falling is easy, but the landing may be hard!

In general, you may fall into a lower zone easily.

Any aerodynamics will be greatly simplified.

• Accelerate by 50 meters / Round until you hit a terminal velocity of 250 meters / Round

Naturally, the landing is the dangerous part. Landing varies by surface:

• Water deep enough for a dive (about 5 meters)
  • Take 1 damage for every 20 meters fallen
• Soft landing material or padding
  • Take 1 damage for every 40 meters fallen
• Hard landing material:
  • Take 1 damage for every 5 meters fallen
• Ungodly suicidal landing:
  • Take 1 damage for every 1 meter fallen

If you take enough damage to exhaust your Aura, ignore the standard rules requiring two hits for a Wound; instead, take a Wound for your hubris.

Swimming

Water is a particularly difficult medium for Cultivators.

You can tolerate water levels up to half of your height without penalty. Once the water level reaches half your height or more, you must swim.

Swimming:

• Entering or leaving the zone costs extra movement
  • You must spend 2 movement to cross the border; this may require using Sprint and thus forfeiting offensive actions

Whie swimming:

• Take a Penalty equal to depth (minimum 1 and maximum 10)
• Reduce your range of all Arts and abilities by ½

You may hold your breath for Rounds equal to your Prowess. Once you exceed that value, you take a stacking Penalty of 5 per round. When that Penalty exceeds your Earth defense, you pass out. Better hope for a Siren rescue.

Forced Movement

Elemental explosions, map effects, and other characters can shove, throw, and trip you. Any external movement is called forced movement.

• When applied against you directly, this will be a Challenge against your relevant defense
  • You may choose to forfeit your defense if you see some advantage to the forced movement
  • You must accept the entire effect, good and bad, if you forfeit
• The target zone must be Adjacent
• When targetting a zone with Difficult Terrain, the Result on the forced movement must be higher than the Difficult Terrain
  • For example, if a foe rolls 25 to Throw you into a zone with Difficult Terrain 20, they may do so; upgrade that Difficult Terrain to 30, and the foe would need to choose another adjacent zone.

Certain forced movements are mandatory against an entire zone.

• Such as a raft on a river or a landslide
• Automatic movements are environmental effects and happen last in the round. Plan accordingly!

When a forced movement pushes you into a new square, you immediately trigger any location effects such as traps or damage. If the forced movement puts you in a square with a start of turn effect (such as drawing power from a ley line), you may do so.

Tactical tips

Have a really neat Trap that the enemy just refuses to step on? Throw them into it!

Fighting near a tall cliff? Pitch your enemy off it!

One enemy managed to break through your defensive chokepoint at great cost? Chuck them back over the wall and let them experience it all over again!

Have an ally that needs to move forward and doesn’t have the movement? Be a friend and throw them the extra distance!

Tile effects

Certain tiles can have effects that grant automatic movement.

Current

Currents follow predictable paths across the map. Think of a creek or river: you hop on at the top and end up at the bottom.

Elevator

Rather predictably, an elevator pushes you upwards or downwards.

Wave

Waves spawn at a central location and sweep outwards across the field, carrying anyone they encounter. Waves often occur every couple rounds.

Whirlpool

A whirlpool drags you down and prevents upwards movement.

Anti-gravity

When gravity turns off, everyone starts to float. Here the speed is how high you rise each round. Mind the fall when it turns off! While under anti-gravity, treat all terrain as Difficult Terrain ½

Line of sight

Can I see this target?

You have line of sight on anything within your current zone. Ignore corners and other obstacles. The assumption is that you may reposition anywhere within your zone to interact with your target.

You have line of sight into Adjacent zones by definition.

When standing on a perfectly flat field with no obstacles and perfect weather, you can assume your line of sight to extend 5 kilometers. (While Seln is not a planet, we assume that its volatile weather effectively limits long distance vision.)

In most cases, line of sight is a prerequisite to any further interaction. However, it is sometimes possible to see someone and be unable to interact with them.

• For example, you might spy an enemy through a hole in the wall but be unable to fit your hand through to slug them

You never have line of sight to any target of which you are unaware.

• For example, if the target is invisible and undetected

Vertical distance

You have line of sight into the sky unless obstructed.

Some edge cases

• When in the shadow of a tall object like a cliff, your line of sight extends up to 10 meters up
• Characters above follow the same rules as corners
  • For example, a target leaning on a banister is valid to target from ground level
• When looking into water, take Penalty 1 for each 5 meters of depth you’re trying to see through
  • Without Arts, your sight into water ends by 50 meters deep

Ignoring line of sight

Certain Arts allow you to ignore line of sight. These effects specify the range in which you can operate.

You may choose your target from within that range, ignoring all obstacles. In effect, you view the battlefield from the omniscient position of the map.

You gain general awareness of any targets (ally or enemy) within that radius. For example, if there were ten guards through a stone wall, you could use an Art that ignores line of sight to “feel” for them.

However, Stealth defenses apply even to these effects. You must defeat Stealth defense to be aware of and then target these opponents.

Cultivated radar

Using Arts that ignore line of sight to sense opponents is great! Go for it! Keep in mind, however, that Arts involve an interaction. In other words, the storyteller should feel free to give rival Cultivators a chance to Challenge against you to sense the effect and its source.

Ally awareness

In general, you have awareness of your ally’s positions. This does not require line of sight. It reflects team training, tactical thinking, and familiarity with their spiritual presence.

Quite frankly, this is more convenient as well. After all, as players, you can see each other already!

The storyteller may ask you to restrict this view based on reasonable circumstances. If you are in a situation where even Cultivators would not be able to communicate and coordinate, do your best to operate under that restriction.

Minimum opening

What is the minimum aperture necessary for interaction?

• Weaponry and projectiles need clearance enough to fit through
• Many of the Arts in this system have no real world analogue.
  • For these, assume you need an aperture wide enough to fit one hand through

Height and Depth

Your exact height is often less important than your relative position. Here is an optional system to easily track height or depth.

• Track height and depth as vertical zones
• From top to bottom:
  • Soaring
  • Flying
  • Floating
  • Ground
  • Swimming
  • Underwater
  • Depths
  • Far Depths
• You may spend your Movement to interact with your adjacent bands without leaving your own zone
  • For example, a character on the ground spends their movement to jump and hit a floating target
• Assuming you have the relevant movement ability, you may use your movement to change to the next adjacent zone
  • For example, levitating from Ground to Floating or diving from Ground to Swimming
• When falling or sinking, you descend 1 height band per round
• Ranged attacks and effects take a Penalty of 2 * the number of bands crossed
  • Penalty 0 for Ground attacking Floating
  • Penalty 2 for Ground attacking Flying
  • Penalty 4 for Ground attacking Soaring
• Swimming and below cause penalties as outlined in Swimming