Appendix B: Optional Rules and Tactical Tools

Grid-Based Combat (Optional)

Use a square or hex grid with Zones of Control (ZoC).

ZoC rules:

• Entering an enemy's Zone of Control ends your movement — you are engaged.
• You cannot move through an enemy's ZoC.
• Leaving a ZoC requires the Disengage action (DV 4) or spending 1 Boon.
• Flank: +1 die to attack. Rear: +1 die and +1 Effect.

Push-Through: Roll Body+Athletics vs. DV 4. Choose a cost on success: Position worsens by one step, −1 die on the action, or the enemy gets a free opportunity attack. A tougher enemy does not raise the DV — it worsens your Position, as everywhere else in the game.

Detailed Warfare (Mass Combat)

Treat an army as a Follower with a high Capability and its own timers. It assists at min(Cap, the relevant Skill) like any other Follower, and no roll takes more than +3 dice from all sources combined.

• Supply Timer [6] or [8]: starts full and empties through use. When empty, the army suffers severe penalties — every roll it assists is one Position step worse.
• Morale Timer [6] or [8]: starts empty and fills through loss. When full, the army routs.
• Sway rolls (Presence + Sway or Wits + Insight) advance objective timers (e.g., Break Their Line [6]).
• Battle's Edge: Story Beats generated by command rolls can be spent on fog-of-war complications — false orders, broken supply wagons, or a messenger's death.

Worked example. The Forge of Souls is built entirely on this section plus Miniatures Mode below — forces as Followers with Supply and Morale, command rolls filling objective timers, and one module-specific consequence layered on top. Read it if you want to see the warfare rules carrying a whole adventure rather than a single battle.

Hex-Based Exploration

Map a region in 6-mile hexes. Entering a hex requires a Wits + Lore roll (DV set by terrain). Outcomes determine discovery (find a point of interest), danger (ambush, hazard), or becoming lost (add a timer segment to find the way out).

Miniatures Mode — Speed Defaults

Base DV: start at DV 3 and add 1 per complicating keyword (elevation, [WARD]), to a maximum of DV 5. Disengage is DV 4. A tougher opponent does not raise the DV — it worsens your Position, which is what Position is for.

Tens: a 10 is 2 successes, as everywhere else. In miniatures mode you may spend the surplus success to Push or Pull the target 1 hex.

Zone of Control (ZoC): Entering or leaving a hex adjacent to an enemy provokes one Reaction (Free Strike or Shove 1 hex).

Heat: On a critical hit, the GM may spend 1 Heat (a resource tracked per scene) to degrade Position or trigger a terrain hazard.

Hex Keywords

Difficult: Costs 2 movement points per hex. Elevation: Attacks from lower ground suffer +1 DV. ZoC: Provokes a Reaction on crossing.

Altar [WARD]: −1 die to attacks (or attacker may spend 2 Fatigue to ignore).

Incorporeal: Ignores Difficult terrain; can pass through occupied hexes but cannot end movement in one.

Common Rolls (GM Screen Reference)

Fast Boundaries:

• Locks & Traps: Mechanical = Attribute + Craft; Arcane = Attribute + Arcana.
• People vs. Mechanisms: Deception for social infiltration; Stealth to avoid detection; Craft or Arcana to bypass a physical or magical barrier.
• Formal vs. Informal: both are Sway — Presence+Sway for courts and treaties, Wits+Sway for bargaining and personal persuasion. The register is the attribute, not the skill.