System Guide

Table of ContentsIntroduction and Welcome ..................... 2The Player Core and Player Character ...... 4

The Ability Pools .............................. 5The Attributes ................................. 5

Generating the Player Core and PlayerCharacter ....................................... 6

Life and Death .................................... 9Beyond the Core ................................. 11

Professions and Skills ........................ 12Starting Skills ................................. 14Ability Checks .................................15Unskilled Characters........................... 16Margin Ratings ................................. 18

Experience ....................................... 19Awarding and Earning Experience ......... 20Experience and Multiple Universes ......... 20Taxing Abilities................................. 21Improving Your Player Character ............ 21Improving The Player Core ..................22Transfer to New Characters ..................22Experience and Character Death ............ 23

Movement..........................................23Measurements ................................. 23Speed............................................. 23Carrying Capacity .............................. 24Pushing the Limits.............................. 24Resting .......................................... 25

Vehicles and Special Movement ............... 25Combat .............................................25

Combat Sequence ..............................26Advantage.................................... 26Declaring Actions...........................27Initiative .................................... 27Hitting Your Target ........................ 28Target Areas ................................. 29

Ranged Combat.................................30Combat Modifiers ..............................30Damage ..........................................30Lethality Ratings ..............................31

Magic, Psionics, and Special Powers .........31Player Core Sheet ..............................32

2

Credits:Original Concept by the "Old Worlds" Product Group

Designed by David "Zeb" CookEdited by Karen S. Boomgarden and Michelle Carter

Special Thanks to Tim Beach, Colin McComb, and Lester Smith

Copyright © 1993 by TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

AMAZING ENGINE, BUGHUNTERS, MAGITECH and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR,Inc.

All TSR characters, character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR,Inc.

Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for Englishlanguage products of TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSRLtd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction orother unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the e x p r e s swritten consent of TSR, Inc.

TSR, Inc.POB 756Lake GenevaWI 53147 U.S.A

TSR Ltd.120 Church End, Cherry Hinton

Cambridge CB1 3LBUnited Kingdom

3

Introduction & Welcome

Welcome to theAMAZING ENGINE™ System

What is this?

The AMAZING ENGINE™ game system ismore than just a single role-playing game, be itfantasy world or science fiction universe. Instead,the AMAZING ENGINE system provides thebasics for creating a wide variety of role-playingsettings — anything from consulting detectivesinvestigating fairy realms to deadly aliens stalk-ing hi-tech space marines — and as much as canbe imagined in-between.

To do this, the AMAZING ENGINE systemconsists of two parts. The first part is this book,the System Guide. Here one finds the basic rulesfor creating player characters and having thosecharacters use skills, fight, and move. These rulesand procedures are found in all AMAZINGENGINE settings. The System Guide also detailshow players and GMs can change settings whiletransferring benefits player characters havegained from previous play.

The second part of the AMAZING ENGINEsystem are the different settings to play in. Eachsetting is called a universe and is described in itsown book, naturally called Universe Books. EachUniverse Book is a complete role-playing gameand only requires the System Guide to play. It isnot necessary to buy every Universe Book inorder to play in the AMAZING ENGINE sys-tem. Universes range from hard science-fictionworlds to strange fantasies set on alternateEarths. Gamemasters can run campaigns in just asingle universe, run science-fiction or fantasyuniverses only, or play in both trying whateveruniverse catches their fancy.

The AMAZING ENGINE system is more thanjust a collection of universes. In the AMAZINGENGINE system the advances a player charactergains in one universe can be used to help playercharacters in another universe. Starting in a new

AMAZING ENGINE setting does not meanstarting over from the beginning; this means play-ers and gamemasters can experiment with thewide range of universes. For example, the experi-ence earned when playing space marine SergeantKilrake in the BUGHUNTERS™ universe canbe applied to Lord Manchester, Ambassador tothe Court of Queen Titania, in the For Faerie,Queen, and Country universe.

The Player Core andPlayer Character

The heart of the AMAZING ENGINE game isthe combination of the player core and the playercharacter. The player core is the framework fromwhich player characters are built. The sameplayer core is used from universe to universe.

The player character is the actual collection ofnumbers, skills, and other abilities used to role-play in a given universe. A player will have a dif-ferent character in each universe, but thesecharacters may all be generated from the sameplayer core.

When the player core is created, the playermust make certain decisions about the type ofcharacter he wants. He can choose differentemphases for the four different pools (see below)that define a character: Physique, Intellect,Spirit, and Influence. These choices, made whenthe player core is created, are reflected in all theplayer characters spun off from that core. Eachpool offers a pair of choices. Does he want hischaracters to be generally strong and influential,or does he prefer ones who are intellectuallysuperior and athletic? For example, physicalcharacters can choose to be muscular or quick;spiritual characters can be endowed with psychicpotential or strong wills.

Of course, the same ability is not always thebest in every universe. A muscular but psychicallyweak character who does quite well in theBUGHUNTERS universe may be at a disadvan-

4

The Player Core & Player Character

Ability Pools (the player core)

Physique Intellect Spirit Influence

Attributes (the player character)

Fitness

Reflexes

Learning

Intuition

Psyche

Willpower

Charm

Position

tage in the MAGITECH™ universe, where wiz-ards who need strong psyches to manipulate magicare a common sight. Therefore, the same playercharacter is not used in every universe. Instead, theplayer core allows each character to be tailored tothe needs of that universe — within the limits ofthe player's original choices. Players who empha-sized physique will still have characters who areeither faster or stronger than most others. Thosewho chose intellect will have smarter characters,either in learned skills or intuitive understanding.The player core forms the archetype aroundwhich a single player's characters are all set.

The Ability Pools

The player core consists of four different abilitypools: Physique, Intellect, Spirit, and Influence.Each ability pool has two attributes that definethe player character. When creating the playercore, only the ability pools are used. When creat-ing a player character, or playing that characterin a single universe, only attributes are used.Once the first character is generated, abilitypools never affect the actions of a player charac-ter and attributes do not affect ability pools. Thefour attribute pools are:

Physique. This pool is used to measure allthings physical about the character. Fitness and

Reflexes are the two attributes of Physique.. Intellect. This defines the character's mental

power for learning useful skills. Learning andIntuition are the two attributes of this pool.

Spirit. This ability pool is the source of thecharacter's mystical potential and strength ofwill. Psyche and Willpower are paired underSpirit.

Influence. This pool is used to generate the val-ues that affect the character's abilities at relatingwith others. The attributes of Charm and Posi-tion are grouped under this pool.

The Attributes

As noted, each ability pool has two attributes.These eight attributes are more precise break-downs of each ability pool, and define a specificcharacter in a specific universe. Beginning char-acters' attributes have values from 3 to 50, with25 being the approximate average score. (Char-acters generated later in a campaign may havehigher scores.) The eight attributes are:

Fitness: A measure of bodily strength, Fitnessreflects the character's muscles and his ability touse them effectively. Fitness affects the amount ofdamage a character can cause in hand-to-handcombat, and the amount of body damage he cantake.

5

The Player Core & Player CharacterReflexes: This attribute measures the charac-

ter's reaction speed and hand-eye coordination.It is used for scoring a hit in combat, and (alongwith Willpower) determines the amount of sta-mina damage the character can take.

Learning: This measures the character'sknowledge in areas requiring long training orstudy. In some universes, it may represent adegree or period of schooling. Learning affectsnumber and type of, and chance of success at,skills.

Intuition: This encompasses the character'sinnate wit, street smarts, ability to remember ran-dom trivia, comprehension, and worldliness.Intuition is applied to skills picked up throughobservation and practice without long periods ofstudy. Like Learning, Intuition affects the num-ber and type of, and chance of success at, skills.

Psyche: The universe is filled with morethings than can be measured or imagined byphysical science — or at least an AMAZINGENGINE™ universe may be. Psyche representsthe character's potential to perceive and manipu-late the spiritual and metaphysical world. In agiven universe, this may determine the charac-ter's magic ability, psychic powers, or just plainold luck.

Willpower: As a measure of mental fortitude,this ability indicates how well the character canendure pain (in the form of fatigue points), blockmental attacks, or resist psychic possession. Italso determines the character's chance to tax hisattribute scores, pushing himself to the utmost.

Charm: In role-playing games, player charac-ters must interact. This attribute rates the char-acter's personality and the way others are disposedtoward him. Charm is used to influence reactionsof NPCs and can affect the success of some magi-cal and psychic skills.

Position: This attribute provides a rough rankfor the character on the ladder of social climbing,whatever form the rungs take in each universe.Depending on the universe, Position may trans-

late into class, title, military rank, fame (orinfamy), wealth, or even occupation. Position isused to secure special resources, deal with offi-cials, and finance large purchases, and at specialsocial functions.

Generating the Player Core andPlayer Character

The process of creating the player core is woveninto the steps of creating the first player charac-ter. As you create this character, you will have tomake a number of choices for the core that affectthe character. In later steps, numbers rolled forthe player character's attributes will affect thefinal results of the player core. Thus the proce-dure for creating your first character (and playercore) is slightly different from that used whencreating later characters from the same core.

The first task in creating a character is to de-cide what kind of character you like. You can dothis before even knowing what universe yourGM is going to use. Do you prefer strong char-acters, able and ready to fight; charmers whocan talk their way out of any situation; intellec-tuals good at solving problems; or magicallycharged wonderworkers? Think about your idealcharacter.

The next step is to translate your ideal intogame form by ranking the four ability pools of theplayer core from best to worst. Using the PlayerCore Form provided at the back of this booklet(or a sheet of paper), write the numeral 1 (best)

Wolfgang is ready to create his first charac-ter for an AMAZING ENGINE game andso spends a little time thinking about whathe wants. Having just read an interestingstory about thieves, Wolfgang decides hewould like a confidence man, quick-fingeredand smooth-talking with a modest chance ofmagical skill.

6

The Player Core & Player Character

Based on his ideal confidence man, Wolfgang now must decide how to rank the four ability pools.Since he wants his character to be a very smooth talker, somewhat light-fingered, with a smattering ofmystical ability, he rates the pools as shown.

Physique

2

Intellect

4

Spirit

3

Influence

1

next to the pool you want to have the bestchance for high scores. Then rank the remainingpools (2,3, and 4), remembering that the oneranked lowest will usually have the lowest scores.Later die rolls do not guarantee anything.

In the third step, you begin to create your firstactual player character by choosing four of theeight at tr ibutes and rolling 4 ten-sided dice(4d lO) for each of these. Add the four dicetogether and note the total in the space next tothe attribute name. (Do this in pencil, since theattributes may be modified in a future step.) Theattributes chosen need not correspond to theranking of attribute pools already done. You canchoose one, both, or no attributes of a particularpool in this step.

Now, scores are generated for the four remain-ing attributes by rolling three ten-sided dice andtotalling the result for each.

Once the basic numbers have been generated,modify the attributes based on the rankings youmade to the ability pools of the player core. Therankings determine the number of points avail-able to divide between the two attributes of thatability pool. You can divide these points howeveryou wish, but no ability can have more than 50total points. The table below lists the pointsavailable for each ranking.

The modified numbers are your player charac-ter's attribute scores.

With the player character attributes deter-mined, you can now finish creating the player

Wolfgang now selects four attributes as his primary concerns. Since he really wants to have a per-sonable character, he chooses Charm. To ensure his light-fingered abilities, his second choice isReflexes. After pondering, Wolfgang realizes his character could end up short in street smarts, so hechooses Intuition, even though it is in his lowest ranked ability pool (Intellect). For his last choice,Wolfgang decides to take a chance and chooses Position, so he can have a sophisticated con artist. Hethen rolls four ten-sided dice for each ability and gets the following results.

PhysiqueRank: 2

Fitness

Reflexes: 31

IntellectRank: 4

Learning

Intuition: 28

SpiritRank: 3

Psyche

Willpower

InfluenceRank: 1

Charm: 17

Position: 23

7

The Player Core & Player Character

Wolfgang now fills out the remaining attribute scores by rolling 3d 10 for each and notingthe number. When he is finished, his character sheet looks like this:

PhysiqueRank: 2

Fitness: 16

Reflexes: 31

IntellectRank: 4

Learning: 23

Intuition: 28

SpiritRank: 3

Psyche: 21

Willpower: 7

InfluenceRank: 1

Charm: 17

Position: 23

core by figuring your ability pool ratings. You dothis by adding the two attribute scores of the pooland dividing this total by ten. Fractions shouldbe rounded up to the next larger number. Writethis number next to "Dice." Although this totalhas no effect on a character during play, it is nec-essary for the creation of characters in other uni-verses.

Creating Characters from thePlayer Core

Once you have created a player core, you areready to create new characters for otherAMAZING ENGINE™ settings. These charac-

Ranking

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Points

15

10

5

0

ters are made using the player core, and followdifferent steps from those you used for your firstor prime character.

Characters built from the core are made byassigning dice to the different attributes. Eachability pool has a dice rating. These dice aredivided (in whole numbers) between the pairedattributes of that pool. In addition, every newcharacter has seven "free" dice that can beassigned as the player wishes. However, unlessstated otherwise by the rules of the new universe,no attribute can have more than five dice as-signed to it. Once all dice have been assigned,the appropriate numbers are rolled and totalled,just as before.

After the dice are assigned and rolled, the nextstep proceeds just as with the first character youcreated. Using the same rankings you assigned toyour ability pools, you use the points each rankgives (15, 10, 5, and 0) to modify your character'sattributes. As before, no character can have anattribute rating higher than 50.

Once the attributes have been modified, thecharacter creation process stops. Do not recalcu-late the dice ratings for the player core. The diceratings can only be altered by spending experi-ence points your characters earn.

Multiple characters can be created from thesame player core; however, you should have only

8

The Player Core & Player Character

one character per universe. Multiple charactersper core in the same universe would give you anunfair advantage over players with only a singlecharacter per core.

Life and DeathA crucial part of any role-playing game is the riskof injury and death to your character. Every timeyour character tries something dangerous or getsin a fight, he can suffer damage. This damage is

Having created his character statistics, Wolfgang now finishes creating his player pool.

PhysiqueRank: 2Dice: 6

Fitness: 21

Reflexes: 36

IntellectRank: 4Dice: 6

Learning: 23

Intuition: 28

SpiritRank: 3Dice: 4

Psyche: 21

Willpower: 12

InfluenceRank: 1Dice: 6

Charm: 32

Position: 23

(21+36)/10 = 5.7 (23+28)/10 = 5.1 (21 + 12)/10 = 3.3 (32 + 23)/10 = 5.5

Wolfgang starts with his first ranked ability pool, Influence. He had bad luck rolling for Charn(and he really wants a personable character), so he adds all 15 points to Charm. In Physique, Fitness ia little low, so he splits the 10 available points between Fitness and Reflexes, 5 each. Under Spirit, thcharacter's Willpower is dangerously low, so Wolfgang feels he has no choice but to add all 5 points tcthat score, even though he would like a better Psyche. He rolled well for his Intellect attributeswhich is fortunate since he cannot modify either score.

PhysiqueRank: 2

Fitness: 21

Reflexes: 36

IntellectRank: 4

Learning: 23

Intuition: 28

SpiritRank: 3

Psyche: 21

Willpower: 12

InfluenceRank: 1

Charm: 32

Position: 23

Looking over his final attributes, Wolfgang decides his character is nimble-fingered (high Reflexes)and smooth (good Charm) with a good sense for danger (from his good Intuition). His character isnot the strongest or healthiest (only about average Fitness), and he needs to work on his psychic abil-ities (only average Psyche). Finally, with a Willpower of 12, Wolfgang decides his thief is somethingof a craven fellow, who "runs away, and lives to fight another day," more often than not.

9

The Player Core & Player Character

After playing for some time in a fantasy campaign, Wolfgang's GM decides to switch to a science-fiction universe. Since there is no magic in this SF universe (and since he's getting tired of playingthieves and scoundrels), Wolfgang once more chooses a role he might like to play. Knowing from hiscore that his characters will tend to be strong in Physique and Influence, Wolfgang decides to try for aiard-bitten smuggler captain. He divides his pool dice and then assigns his "free" dice to Fitness,Willpower (because it was very low), and Position.

PhysiqueRank: 2Dice: 6

Fitness: 5 dice

Reflexes: 3 dice

IntellectRank: 4Dice: 6

Learning: 3 dice

Intuition: 3 dice

SpiritRank: 3Dice: 4

Psyche: 3 die

Willpower: 4 dice

InfluenceRank: 1Dice: 6

Charm: 4 dice

Position: 4 dice

After all the dice are assigned, Wolfgang rolls and notes the totals for each to get the followingresults.

Fitness: 26

Reflexes: 13

Learning: 18

Intuition: 29

Psyche: 23

Willpower: 17

Charm: 24

Position: 25

Once again, Wolfgang has rolled incredibly well for Intuition and not as well for Willpower.

Looking at his new character, Wolfgang once again starts with the first-ranked ability pool, Influ-ence. For this universe, he wants an important character and so puts all 15 points to Position. In thesecond ranked Physique pool, he give 4 points to Fitness and 6 to Reflexes, while for the third-rankedSpirit, he gives all 5 points to Willpower.

Fitness: 30

Reflexes: 19

Learning: 18

Intuition: 29

Psyche: 23

Willpower: 23

Charm: 24

Position: 40

With these points, Wolfgang's new character is ready.

10

The Player Core & Player Charactermeasured in points, subtracted from a character'stotal. In the AMAZING ENGINE™ system,there are two types of damage a character can suf-fer: stamina and body.

Stamina damage is caused by the host ofbruises, grazes, cuts, nicks, burns, jolts, and effortspent avoiding serious harm. A character wholoses all his stamina points does not die — shefalls unconscious. (This may result in her death,of course). Unconsciousness comes from thecombined effects of pain, blood loss, concussion,shock, and just plain exhaustion. If an attackcauses 10 points of stamina damage and yourcharacter has only 4 remaining, the excess pointsare ignored. Your character just falls unconscious.However, future attacks will automatically causebody damage.

Body damage represents wounds and injuriesthat seriously threaten the health of your charac-ter. These include bullet holes, stab wounds, bro-ken bones, serious burns, and other unpleasant-ries. When your character loses all her bodypoints, she is dead.

Just how many stamina and body points yourcharacter has will vary from universe to universe.In some universes, such as BUGHUNTERS™,combat is one of the main character activities.Here, your character will need lots of staminaand body points. In other universes, For Faerie,Queen, and Country for one, combat is a lastresort when all other options have failed. Char-acters in such a universe will have lower bodyand stamina points to discourage the desire tosolve every problem with guns.

In all universes, however, stamina and bodypoints are calculated from the same ability scores.Fitness is used to figure body points. Characterswith high Fitness scores will always have morebody points than those with poor Fitness scores,no matter what the universe is. Willpower andReflexes combined are the base for staminapoints, so that those with high scores in theseareas will have more stamina points than those

with low ones.Injuries and wounds do heal, allowing your

character to regain lost stamina and body points.Because the two types of damage reflect differentcauses, each heals at a different rate. One sta-mina point is regained in 10-60 minutes (1d6 x10). Remaining stamina points are regained atthe rate of 1d10 per eight hours (2d10 per eighthours of bed rest or sound sleep). Body points arehealed at the rate of 1 point per week. Rest, nurs-ing, and hospitalization can increase the rate ofhealing — how much depends on the universe.After all, the hospitals of a pseudo-VictorianEngland are nothing like the facilities of a 23rd

century starship!

Beyond the Player CoreIn any AMAZING ENGINE™ universe, yourplayer character is more than just the sum of hisability scores. There are many other choices tomake; however, these depend on the universeyour character is playing in. While all the choicesare defined for your character in the appropriateuniverse book, the range of options you face areexplained in general terms here.

Base Adjustment

Every universe of the AMAZING ENGINE sys-tem is different, so a suitable starting characterfor one universe may not be suitable in another.Therefore, a given universe may apply a baseadjustment to your character's ability scores. Thisadjustment increases every ability by the sameamount. The adjustment must be made after yourcharacter's Attribute pools are calculated.

Species

Up to now, nothing has been said of just whatyour character is, and from the examples it is easyto assume everyone is human. However, this does

11

The Player Core & Player Characternot have to be the case. In some universes, youmay have the opportunity to create charactersthat are members of some other species. Yourcharacter could have fairy blood, be an intelli-gent being evolved from dinosaurs, belong to analien race from another star, or even be a combi-nation of man and machine. The universes of theAMAZING ENGINE™ system have all of sci-ence fiction and fantasy to choose from, so thepossibilities are near endless!

Gender

There is nothing in the core rules that deter-mines the sex of your character. In most uni-verses you can choose your character's genderfreely. However, in some cases there may be spe-cial restrictions or different choices (particularlywhen playing an alien race!). The universe bookwill describe any of these that apply.

Handedness

For convenience, your character uses the samehand as you do in real life. Of course, if you'replaying a six-armed alien from Tau Ceti, specialrules will apply.

Appearance

Again, unless your character is an alien, you candescribe your character's looks however it pleasesyou. He could be tall and willowy or she could beshort and blunt. It is recommended that you cre-ate a character description that matches the abil-ity ratings. If your character has a miserableFitness, it doesn't do to imagine him as strongand muscular, for example.

Professions and SkillsAt some point in her imaginary life, your charac-ter probably went to school, learned a trade, or at

least got an education on the street. In theAMAZING ENGINE system, what your charac-ter knows is defined by her profession. No matterwhat the universe, every character has a profes-sion, but these vary from universe to universe. Ina Victorian fantasy your character might be aconsulting detective, navy ensign, consul of theForeign Office, Oxford don, or medium. A com-pletely different set of professions exist in a worldof high space opera — space freighter captain,smuggler, alien spy, and psychic are only a fewpossibilities.

Likewise, the exact benefits of a profession canvary from universe to universe. The Victorianconsulting detective (i.e. Sherlock Holmes)might know chemistry, fisticuffs, craniometry(measurement of people's skulls), heraldry, fenc-ing, and material analysis; his counterpart in aworld of modern magic could well possess empa-thy, spell analysis, handgun, karate, and flyingcarpet driving.

When you create a character for a campaign,your character must be given a profession fromthose offered in that particular universe. Thesewill be listed in the universe book the GM has.This profession does not mean you must be asoldier, private detective, scholar, or whatever;it only says what you were and therefore whatyou know at the start of the campaign. Fromthis basis you can make what you want of yourcharacter.

Skill Groups

Every profession includes a listing of skill groupsthat fall within that profession's purview. Theseskill groups form the basis of what a character canlearn given his profession. The skills categorizedunder each skill group are all related to that areaof study or use, although the skills themselvesmay be very different. For example, a scholarlycharacter could have "Humanities" as a study.Checking the information in that universe book,

12

The Player Core & Player Character

you find the listing for Humanities. Under it areseveral different scholarly areas and skills that allhave to do with the humanities, though they arenot always related to each other.

Certainly not every profession has the sameskill groups. The scholar's studies in humanitieswould be ill-suited to the needs of a soldier of the22nd century. Her skill groups would be thingslike Sidearms and Comm-Gear. The skills of theSidearms group are vastly different from those ofHumanities.

In addition to organizing skills, the skill groupsalso show the skill's order and ability check score,both important to using skills in play.

Skill Order

In each list, skills are arranged in ever-smallersteps of specialization. Before a skill can belearned, your character must know all precedingsteps. For example, on the Sidearms list given,your character must learn about Projectile Weap-ons before learning Energized Projectile Weap-ons. Each level of specialization is indicated byindentation, just as in an outline.

Once your character has learned the skill, hehas a basic familiarity with everything groupedbelow it, allowing the character to attempt anyspecialty grouped underneath it. However, yourcharacter's chance of success decreases whenattempting things of greater specialization thanhis or her training level. The degree of penaltydepends on the number of levels between whatyour character knows and what he is trying to do.The exact penalty can vary from universe to uni-verse. A typical penalty is -10 to your character'schance of success per level of difference.

Enhancements

Some specialized skills do not require your char-acter to gain new areas of learning or technique,but only call for the refinement of existingknowledge. Your character does not "learn" any-thing new; he only improves what he can alreadydo. These specialties are called enhancements andare noted by an asterisk (*) on the skill groups.

For example, under Antique Weapons, Blun-derbuss and Rifled Musket are enhancements.The basics of loading and firing each are essen-tially the same, and the same goes for any otherantique weapon (the larger skill category). Thedifferences are that a character skilled in Blun-derbuss is more familiar with the particular quirks

13

HUMANITIESArt History

by time periodby country

Historyby time periodby country

Library ResearchLinguisticsLiterature

by time periodPhilosophyRhetoricTheology

Sidearms

Coherent BeamLaser rifleParticle Beam

ProjectileAntiqueAssistedEnergizedFlechette

The Player Core & Player Character

of that weapon. The same does not apply whencomparing Antique Weapon to Modern Weapon,or Medicine and its specialty Xeno-Biology. Inthese cases the skills involve new learning, newtechniques, and new facts that must be masteredin addition to the basic understanding of Firearms(or Medicine).

Knowing an enhancement gives a character abonus (typically +10) when using that particularskill — but only that skill. A character whoknows Blunderbuss and uses that weapon gains a

+ 10 to his skill roll. He would not gain the samebonus when using a rifled musket, however, eventhough both weapons require the Antique Weap-ons skill.

The bonus for an enhancement does not accu-mulate across levels the way that penalties forlack of a specialty do. For instance, a characterwith Blunderbuss skill gains only one bonuswhen rolling versus the Firearms skill, despite thefact that there are two levels between the skills.

Starting Skills

After you have chosen a profession for your char-acter and noted down the skill groups, you canselect skills for the character. The number ofskills your character can have depends on hisLearning and Intuition scores.

First you must choose those skills known byyour character because of his profession — thethings that allow him to operate effectively inwhatever career he has chosen. You can chooseany skills from the skill groups named by thatprofession. Your character can have one skill forevery ten points (or fraction of) Learning. Spe-cialized and sub-specialized skills can only bechosen if the preceding skills are also learned.

After you have chosen those skills based onyour character's profession, you can choose otherskills from any skill group, regardless of yourcharacter's profession. These skills represent yourcharacter's interests, hobbies, curiosity, and gen-eral knowledge. Select one skill (from any skill

While on a smuggling in deep space, Wolfgang's character and his friends are suddenly attacked bytheir Arcturean navigator, who is clearly ill. After overpowering the deranged pilot, Arves uses hisMedicine skill to diagnose the cause of the alien's sudden outburst. Arves studied general medicene,which is good enough to treat his companions after a fight, but never studied Xeno-biology or Arc-turean medicine specifically. Wolfgang never expected that his character would have to treat an Arc-turean, after all. Thus, Avres does not know the specialty he needs and will suffer a penalty in anyattempt to determine the cause of their pilot's strange behavior.

14

Skill OrderBasic Skill

SpecialtySub-specialtyetc.

Example #1Firearms (Basic skill)

Modern weaponsAntique weapons (Specialty)

Blunderbuss* (Sub-specialty,enhancementRifled Musket* (Sub-specialty, enhancement)

Example #2General Medicene (Basic Skill)

Xeno-Biology (Specialty)Arcturean medicene(Sub-specialty)

The Player Core & Player Charactergroup) for every 15 points of Intuition your char-acter possesses. (Ignore fractions in this case.)Additional skills gained may be within the char-acter's profession or completely outside it. Asbefore, your character cannot learn specializa-tions or sub-specializations unless all previousskills are known.

As you select skills, note the names and abilityused (noted in parentheses after each skill) onyour character sheet.

Ability Checks

Although your character may know how to applya skill, this is still a long way from using the skillcorrectly and successfully. As a real person, youmight "know" a foreign language, but could stillmake an error when talking with a native. Fur-thermore, not everyone is equally adept — notevery first-year French student speaks first-yearFrench equally well. The same is, of course, truefor your characters.

Every time your character attempts to use askill, a check must be made to see if the effortsucceeds. This is done by rolling percentile dice

and comparing the result to one of your charac-ter's ability scores. The ability score used is notedin parentheses after the listing in the skill group:Fitness, Reflexes, Learning, Intuition, Psyche,Willpower, Charm, Position.

If the die roll is less than your character's abil-ity score, the attempt succeeds. If the die roll isgreater than the ability score, the attempt fails. Askill check always fails on a roll of 95-00, butthere is no chance of automatic success.

Easy and Difficult Tasks

Skills are applied to tasks of varying difficulty. Foryour character with mechanical skill, fixing astubborn lawnmower is jus t not the same asrebuilding the engine on a sub-orbital jet. Thefirst is a task of basic simplicity, the latter ahighly demanding and complicated job. Clearly,your character's chance of success in each en-deavor should not be the same.

A skill check is not required every time yourcharacter does something skill-related. For exam-ple, driving to the supermarket does not require askill check. A character trained as a spaceshippilot does not need to make a skill check everytime he travels through space. It is assumed thatevery skill provides a level of basic understand-ing. Thus, skill checks can be ignored for simpleand familiar tasks.

When the result is uncertain, a skill checkmust be made. Characters with Firearms skill canhandle a gun (without a skill check) but theymay not hit the target — a skill check is requiredto find out. If the check succeeds, your characterperforms the action successfully — hitting thetarget or whatever. If the check fails, the actionfails with appropriate consequences.

Your character can also attempt actions ofeven greater risk and skill, so much so that a nor-mal skill check is still too easy. She may want toshoot an item out of a person's hand or calculatean obscure scientific formula. Based on the situa-

15

HUMANITIESArt History (L)

by time period (L)by country (L)

History (L)by time period (1)by country (L)

Library Research (I)Linguistics (L)Literature (L)

by time period (L)Philosophy (L)Rhetoric (C)Theology (I)

The Player Core & Player Character

Examples of Skill Checks

Wolfgang's character (now named Leonardo "Big Shark" Accardo) needs to make a hasty getawayfrom the law. Flying Carpet skill, which Leo has, uses Reflexes to determine success. Wolfgang knowshis character's Reflexes score is 36.

Wasting no time, Leo jumps onto his Mach flying carpet, recites a quick incantation, and zips intotraffic on Michigan Avenue. No Skill Check Required

Starring and flying the carpet is a common enough action, one Leo does every day, hench no skill check isneeded.

As he weaves through the late rush hour traffic, Leo looks back. Chicago's finest are in hot pursuit.Leo's in trouble! He can't outrun a police special carpet, especially not in this traffic. His only hope isto lose them with some quick turns. A gap in the traffic appears just ahead, so the Big Shark commandshis carpet to pour in on. He darts across the lanes and whips onto a side street faster than is safe.

Skill Check RequiredWolfgang is having his character take a chance, the equivalent of skidding around a corner during a highspeed chase. Wolfgang rolls percentile dice and gets a 21 , which is less than Leo's Reflexes score. Themove succeeds and Leo does not crash his flying carpet.

White-knuckled, Leo careens around the corner, narrowly missing an oncoming bus golem and theplate glass window of Bessom's Department Store. Unfortunately, the cops make the turn too, and arenow gaining on him. Still speeding, Leo banks his carpet again, this time aiming for an alley. Just as hebegins the turn, a giant steps from a service entrance blocking the opening! It's too late to changecourse, so the only thing Leo can do is try to shoot between the fellow's legs.

Modified Skill Check RequiredTaking the turn too fast already required a skill check, so the GM gives a -10 penalty for the added trickof trying to steer between the giant's legs. This reduces Leo's Reflexes score to 26 for this check. Wolfgangrolls 57 on percentile dice. The check fails and Leo doesn't make it.

Oh no! Startled, the giant instinctively moves to protect himself, closing the gap Leo was aimingfor. Too late to stop, the carpet hits the brute right at the knees, crumbling like a limp rag. As Leo isflung from the wreck, he hears the howls of the police as they too bank into the pile-up.

tion, the GM can reduce the chance of success toreflect the difficulty of the action. Guidelines forthe modifiers are given in the appropriate uni-verse books.

At other times your character may attemptsomething more specialized than she is trainedfor. In this case, even the simplest task requires askill check (with the penalty for not knowing thespecialty applied), since any specialized knowl-edge is assumed to be beyond your character's

basic understanding. Tasks that would require anormal skill check from a trained specialistbecome extremely difficult for those without theproper background, while things difficult for aspecialist become nearly impossible.

Unskilled Characters

No matter how well-rounded and prepared yourcharacter is, there are always times when he is

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The Player Core & Player Characterfaced with a problem for which he simply is nottrained. Faced with such a situation, your charac-ter may have little choice but to try his best.

Whether your character can even hope to suc-ceed depends on the skill normally required toperform the task. If this is a Learned skill (onethat uses the Learning ability score for skillchecks), the task is impossible. Surgery, computerprogramming, and biochemistry are all examplesof learned skills. Without the proper training,your character simply has no clue as to whatshould be done. Without the proper training, forexample, your character simply cannot repair amalfunctioning high-energy gas laser. The onlything she would be likely to do is increase thedamage.

Actions requiring non-Learning skills can beattempted even by those who lack the propertraining. In this case, the character has a defaultchance equal to half the attribute score. Even themost basic actions require a skill check (there isno automatic success) and the ability score ishalved for the attempt. The other penalties —for specialization and difficulty — still apply.

Leo "Big Shark" Accardo has a tip on ashipment of smuggled magicical artifactsstored in a warehouse near the trainyards,just the evidence he needs to spring hisclient. All he has to do is break in and get afew pictures. That night at the back door,Leo figures he ought to check for burglaralarms before forcing his way in. Leo knowsthe basics of glyphs (Glyph Analysis skill)but is no expert in burglar alarms (Protec-tion Glyph specialization). Checking thedoor for alarms is pretty basic for a specialist,but for Leo a skill check against Learning(which is only 23 with an addiitonal -5 fornon-specialization) is required. The check ismade and a 12 is rolled — success. Sureenough, the door is enchanted.

Now Leo tries to deactivate the alarm.This would require a skill check for a special-ist, and so is very difficult for Leo. The skillcheck is made with a - 1 5 applied to the abil-ity score (-5 for non-specializiation, -10 forthe action) for a total 8 or less chance of suc-cess. Amazingly enough, a 04 is rolled andLeo manages to temporarily dispel the alarm!

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The Player Character & Player Core

Margin Ratings

Many times, it is interesting or important toknow not just whether your character succeeds orfails at a task, but also to what degree. Was heable to sail through the task with no difficulty orwas it an edge-of-the-seat near thing? If he fails,will there be disasterous consequences? Thedegree of success or failure can add an excitingelement of story and color to the game session.

In most cases, the actual outcome of the skilldoesn't change, regardless of how well the char-acter did, so you can simply translate the skillcheck into story details. Roll well below the suc-cess number and your character did the taskextremely well. Roll high — close to failing —and it was a struggle, but your character suc-ceeded. Roll drastically greater than the numberneeded and your character botched things upbadly. For example, your character, Anya, andher companion, George, are trying to jump acrossa pit, with a villain in hot pursuit. Your charactersucceeds, rolling a 17 (a 54 or less was needed),while her companion barely rolls under the nec-essary number (69 out of 71). Right behind you,the villian attempts the jump. The die roll is 93,well over the 51 needed for success. In this case,the GM might say, "Anya — you clear the piteasily, then bend down and help George, whonearly failed, and is clinging to the edge by thevery fingertips. The thug chasing slips just as hegoes to leap. There's a horrid scream as he fallsout of sight." Both player characters succeededand there was nothing gained by doing better,while the thug failed and would have fallen inany case. If Anya had not been there, Georgewould have simply hoisted himself over the edgeto safety.

Sometimes you need to know not only if yourcharacter succeeded or failed but by what degree.These are known as critical successes or failures.Skills that require them are defined in the uni-verse books. In For Faerie, Queen and Country,

Lewis the Forger is altering a will. A success-ful forgery checks results in a will that foilsmost people, but Lewis needs a critical successto fool the court's handwriting expert. In theBUGHUNTERS™ universe, Harmon, the demo-litions man, is faced with a complicated timebomb. Success will obviously defuse the device,but there is the risk he will pull the wrong wire.This would be a critical failure, causing the bombto immediately explode.

Critical successes and failures are defined bymargin ratings. Success margins are noted as S# —S2 or S5, for example. Critical failures are notedby F# — F8 or F7 are examples of these.

In such instances, the success or failure marginis found by reading the "ones" digit of the skillcheck roll. For a critical success, the skill checkmust be successful and the ones digit must beequal to or less than the success margin. For acritical failure, the check must first be failed andthe ones digit then be equal to or greater thanthe failure margin. For example, Lewis has a 45on his attempt to forge a signature. The skillnotes a success margin of 1 (S1) for a perfectforgery. You roll the skill check and the result is40. Lewis succeeds! Not only that, it is a criticalsuccess since 0 is less than the success margin. IfLewis had rolled a 29, the forgery would havebeen successful but not perfect. On a roll greaterthan 45, the forgery was a complete failure.

Note that, statistically, margin ratings givecharacters with higher skills a greater chance ofamazing successes and a lower chance of horriblefailures at any particular task than characterswith lower skill levels have. In effect, success andfailure margin ratings serve as fractions of a char-acter's skill, so as that skill increases, the marginsbecome automatically more beneficial. Applyingthem to the ones digit of a roll simply makes itvery quick and easy to identify them during play.

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Experience

Experience

Part of every role-playing game is improving yourcharacter — adding skills and increasing abilityscores. This way your character gains new powersand improves old ones. This is done by earningexperience points to be used by your characters.Experience points are a simple way to measure allthe intangible things your character gains fromsurviving dangerous adventures, risking heroicperils, and "living" an everyday life through yourrole playing. After all, it stands to reason thatwhen your character survives a dangerous shoot-out, uses his skills, or fast talks his way past aspaceport customs inspector he improves. Hishand-eye coordination might get a little better,his confidence grow. Experience points are a wayto measure these slow improvements.

The Goals of the Game

Experience points are not the be-all and end-allof role-playing. If you hope to a good role-player(or already are one) then your reasons for playingshould be more than just earning more experi-ence points and making your character morepowerful. .

Once in the warehouse, Wolfgang's char-acter, Leo "Big Shark" Accardo, beginssearching through the crates. Suddenly, justas he finds a suspicious looking one labeled"Excalibur," a footstep scrapes behind him.Leo spins, pulling his gun as he does, to findhimself facing a centaur thug. A quick kicksends Leo sprawling, gun clattering acrossthe floor. A second blow just misses, shatter-ing the crate next to his head, spilling thecontents — a sword — half out of the box.In desperation, Leo grabs the sword andpulls it from the box. "Ain't the same as bul-lets but you'll have to do." As he clumsilyswings the sword up, it starts to glow.

Wolfgang never thought his character wouldneed a sword, so Leo does not have Fencingskill. Since Fencing uses Reflexes, Leo can trysivordfighting, but only at half his normal abilityscore.

A role-playing game is a game, first and fore-most, and games are meant to be fun.

This should seem obvious, but too often it iseasy to lose sight of this fact in the pursuit ofmore experience for your character. Good players

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Experiencedon't focus on the powers and items their charac-ters possess, whom they have defeated, or whatthey might rule. Naturally, they strive for thesethings, but they also get involved in the stories,act out their character's personality, and workwith the GM and other players. For these players,it is perfectly possible to have an exciting, enjoy-able game session without ever once earning apoint of experience for their characters.

Place the following goals above the mere"earning" of experience points. If you do, rewardsfor you and your character will come automati-cally.

• Have a good time playing.• Act the part of your character when play-

ing.• Don't let your good time ruin everyone

else's fun.

Awarding and Earning Experience

It is not the place of this rule booklet to list every-thing your character can do to earn experiencepoints. In fact, because the AMAZING ENGINE™system has so many different universes, a singlelist is impossible. Your character can't earn expe-rience for fixing a computer when you're playingin a fantasy universe of faeries and boggarts.

Each universe has its own list of experiencepoint awards, designed to suit the needs of thatuniverse. In a universe where high-tech spacemarines battle hideous aliens, combat is impor-tant. Players can expect characters to be rewardedfor surviving battles, defeating enemies, andshow tactical skill. At the other extreme, anotheruniverse casts the player characters as ambas-sadors and detectives in a fairy-filled England.Shooting an attendant of Queen Maeve's courtor blowing up a fairy ring with a keg of gunpow-der are not the goals of that universe. Insteadplayers are rewarded for solving problems, pre-venting wars, and talking their way throughsticky situations. The experience awards for one

will not work for the other. Nonetheless, all sharesome general features in common.

Successful adventures. In any universe, a suc-cessful adventure warrants some experiencepoints. "Success" depends on the universe andthe adventure. Sometimes it is enough to justsurvive; in other instances, a specific foe must bedefeated or a problem solved.

Using skills. People learn by doing. In theAMAZING ENGINE system this is noted byrewarding characters with experience points forusing their skills in ways relevant to the adven-ture. Relevant means your character just can'tspend the day shooting at bottles to increase hiscombat skill — bottles don't shoot back, after all.(If the skill were target shooting, it'd be a differ-ent story.) Using the skill has to involve somerisk or real chance of failure for the character.

Role-playing. Role-playing is the object of theAMAZING ENGINE system, so good role-play-ing is rewarded with experience points. This is avery subjective call. It depends on the personalityyou have established for your player character,the GM, and the situation at the moment. Goodrole-playing also means keeping what you as aplayer know separate from what your characterknows. You as a player know that sticking yourhand into a fire is a bad idea, but your character,Oog the caveman, discoverer of fire, hasn't hadthe chance to learn that lesson.

Experience and Multiple Universes

In most role-playing games, you play only a sin-gle character at a time, and so only have to trackthe experience points earned by a single charac-ter. In the AMAZING ENGINE system, how-ever, situations are often different. The mostcommon possibility is that you will play in oneuniverse, where your character earns experience,and then change to a different universe. Whathappens to all the experience you have earnedto date? Few players want to just give up all their

20

Experienceadvantages and start over. In the AMAZINGENGINE™ system you don't have to.

Whenever your character earns experiencepoints in an AMAZING ENGINE universe, youmust immediately assign these to either your cur-rent player character or your player core. Pointsthat assigned to your player core are foreverbeyond the reach of your current player character(or player characters). These points can onlybenefit characters created in future game ses-sions. Points assigned to your player character areavailable for immediate use, but cannot be givenlater to another player character in a differentuniverse.

Within these two areas — player core andplayer character — you have four options forassigning your experience points. With pointsassigned to the player character, you can tax yourcharacter's abilities, spending experience pointsduring play to temporarily improve ability scores,or you can use these experience points to makepermanent improvements to your existing char-acter. With the points you give to the playercore, you can buy extra dice for that player core,thereby improving future characters, or transferexperience points to a new character in the sameor different universe.

Michelle's character, Pit. Sgt. Adrian 2Selinko, United Terra Reconnaissance andPeacekeeping Force, has just returned to the"booze-barge" (as UTRPFers refer to theirHQ on Earth's L-5 station) from a bug-hunt-ing mission on a mining outpost at Barnard'sStar. The GM awards experience for thatmission, and Sgt. Selinko receives 75 experi-ence points for repulsing a swarm of chiti-nous predators. Michelle must assign theoints immediately, so she adds 50 to Adrian'sxp total and the remaining 25 to the PlayerCore XP line of her character sheet.

Taxing Abilities

The most immediate use of experience points isto spend them during the course of play to tem-porarily increase an ability score. This is calledtaxing your character — forcing her to think a lit-tle more or strain a little harder. Taxing canincrease her chance of success with a skill, makea heroic effort to lift a great weight, or pour onthat extra burst of speed in a chase, for example.

When you want to tax your character, youmust tell your GM before you roll any dice. Oncethe dice are rolled, your chance has passed, so beready to make up your mind quickly. At the sametime, you should tell the GM how much experi-ence you will spend to make the effort.

There are four limitations on how much expe-rience your character can use to modify the abil-ity score.

• Your character must have unused experi-ence to spend on the attempt. (This is truefor all uses of experience. There is no suchthing as negative experience.)

• Experience is spent in increments of 5points (5, 10, 15, etc.).

• The chance of success can never be greaterthan double the normal chance for the situ-ation.

Points spent to improve an ability check aresubtracted from the character's total, regardless ofwhether the check succeeds or fails.

Improving Your Character

A more permanent method of improving yourcharacter is to buy points to add to your charac-ter's ability score. Unlike modifying an abilityscore, these purchases are permanent. They arealso more expensive. The cost of these improve-ments varies from universe to universe. In one itmay take three experience points to raise an abil-ity one point; in another the same change mightrequire ten experience points.

ExperienceThere are two limitations on buying increased

ability scores.• No ability score can be increased beyond

90.• Permanent improvements cannot be

bought during the course of an adventure.They can only be bought after your charac-ter has had time to reflect on his accom-plishments.

Increases bought this way are permanent foryour character. Erase the old ability score andwrite down the new one, then subtract the expe-rience points spent.

Players can also buy new skills for their charac-ters, improving by increasing the range of theirabilities. The experience point costs for buyingskills can vary widely from both skill to skill anduniverse to universe. Costs and procedures aredescribed in each universe book as needed.

Improving the Player Core

For long-term planning, you can look beyondyour immediate character and instead assignpoints to your player core. With these points youcan improve your player core. By spending expe-rience points, you can buy additional dice foryour attribute pools. The purchase of additionaldice has no effect on current characters; it onlyhelps characters created in future universes andgame sessions.

Each die of improvement to an attribute poolcosts 100 experience points. Since improvementsto the player core have no effect on your currentcharacter, the purchase can be made at any time.

Although theoretically there is no limit to thenumber of dice you can buy for a single attributepool, AMAZING ENGINE™ universes mayhave attribute or ability score limits on charac-ters in that universe. It is best to check with yourGM before over-investing in an attribute pool foryour character.

Colonel Sir Jameson Pickering, K.C.M.G.,ret., (Wolfgang's character in For Faerie,Queen, and Country) suddenly senses a waveof magical power while attending an impor-tant diplomatic ball. Frantically lookingabout, he sees the vil lainous sorceress,Countess Angevin, standing in the shadowson the portico. Their eyes meet and beforeSir Jameson can warn anyone, a magicalparalysis creeps over the colonel as thecountess imposes her seductive will. The sit-uation is dire, so Wolfgang decides it's timeto tax Sir Jameson's abilities to break thespell. The normal chance to resist possessionis equal to 1/2 Willpower. Sir Jameson'sWillpower is 46, halved to 23 for the check.Wolfgang spends the maximum, 20 points,to bring his ability score back up to 43 forthis check. The dice roll is 32 — with strainSir Jameson breaks the sorceress's gaze.

Transfer to New Characters

One unique feature of the AMAZING ENGINEsystem is the opportunity to role-play in a varietyof different universes. In other role-playinggames, this would mean giving up any experienceyour previous character had earned. In essence,all the time you had spent playing would come tonaught when you started in a new game world.

That is not the case in the AMAZINGENGINE system.

Each time you create a new character, you cantransfer experience from the player core to thatcharacter, with the following limitations.

• Both the old and new character must comefrom the same player core.

• The two characters cannot be active in thesame universe. (A new character can appearin the same universe if the previous charac-ter is dead or permanently retired.)

22

MovementThus, in the MAGITECH™ universe, your

new character could profit from the adventures ofthat old BUGHUNTERS™ marine sergeant.Consider the transfer like a withdrawal from abank account. The points you assign to the newcharacter cannot be "redeposited" later on,although new experience points can be earnedand assigned to the player core.

Experience and Character Death

Unpleasant as the thought is, your characters can(and will) die. When this happens any experi-ence assigned to that player character is lost(assuming you have not used it all attempting tokeep your character alive). Experience pointsassigned to the player core are not lost. Thesepoints can be used by future characters createdfrom the same core.

Once a character dies, you can create a newcharacter (using the old player core) for the sameuniverse. This character can be assigned experi-ence from the player core under the restrictionsgiven above.

MovementCharacter movement is divided into three differ-ent speeds: walking, running, and sprinting. Eachspeed is defined by a speed in meters per turn anda duration in minutes or turns.

Measurements

To ease the transition from one universe toanother, the AMAZING ENGINE™ game sys-tem uses a consistent set of measures for figuringmovement, weight, and game time.

In the AMAZING ENGINE system all dis-tances, weights, and volumes are given accordingto the metric system. Although unfamiliar tosome, the metric system is best suited to meet theneeds of universes that range from high fantasy to

hard science fiction. Distances are given inmeters and kilometers, weights in grams and kilo-grams, etc.

Game time — the imaginary time spent byyour character to do anything (as opposed to thereal time it takes you to describe your character'sactions, roll dice, think, etc., while playing) —game time is organized into turns, minutes,hours, and days. A turn is roughly equal to 10seconds of action and is used for combat andother time-important actions. Minutes, hoursand the rest are self-explanatory. A given uni-verse may have weeks, months, and years equalto those of our Earth or may be quite different(especially in science fiction universes).

Speed

Walking is the slowest and most common move-ment. A person walking can cover up to 15meters per turn. (In general people unconsciouslyadjust their strides to that of their companions towalk at a uniform rate.) Characters can walk foran indefinite amount of time, although thehourly movement rate of 5,000 meters should beused if characters travel for more than 30 minutesat a time.

Running is a brisk jog or long loping stride,good for covering considerable distances at aquick pace. It is not as flat out fast as your charac-ter can run, since your character is trying con-serve some of his strength for the long haul. Mostcharacters run their Fitness in meters per turn. Acharacter with a 32 fitness could run 32 meters ina single turn. Notably unfit characters (thosewith a Fitness of 14 or less) run and walk at thesame speed — 15 meters per turn. A charactercan run for minutes equal to his Fitness rating.

Sprinting is a burst of speed, in which yourcharacter tries to cover a short distance as quicklyas he can. Each turn your character can sprintmeters equal to twice his Fitness. (A characterwith 32 Fitness sprints 64 meters in 10 seconds.)

MovementSprinting can be kept up for turns equal one-tenth your character's Fitness (rounded down).Amazingly unfit characters (those with a Fitnessof 7 or less) cannot sprint or run, although theystill walk at normal speed.

Carrying Capacity

Another important modifier for your character'sspeed in any situation is the amount of weightshe is carrying. The movement rates given as-sume your character is not loaded down withexcess goods that would slow her pace.

Your character can carry goods (in kilograms)equal to her Fitness score without penalty. Acharacter with a Fitness of 21 could carry 21 kilos(approximately 46 Ibs.) of gear without significantdifficulty. When carrying up to twice this weight,your character's running and sprinting are halved.At three times the base weight, your charactercannot sprint or run and may only walk metersequal to her Fitness score before having to rest.

If a player tries taxes his character's Fitness byspending experience points (so that she can lift agreater than normal weight) the benefit lasts

until the character fails a Willpower check. Likean Olympic weightlifter, the character puts herlegs and back into a heroic effort to lift the greatweight. Every muscle in her body strains until herWillpower finally gives out. If the character failsthis check, she suffers a point of fatigue damage.Players can use can use experience to tax improvetheir chances of passing this check, too.

Pushing the Limits

It is possible for characters run and sprint fasteror farther than their normal allowances by taxingtheir Fitness score and making ability checks.

Any character can sprint faster in a given turnthan is than normally allowed by taxing his abil-ity (spending experience points to increase Fit-ness). However, a character never increase hisspeed by more than 50% this way (thus he can-not add more than half his Fitness score). Thisincrease is effective for only a single turn, thusthe character must continue to pay experiencepoints to maintain the pace the next turn.

Any character can also try to exceed her dura-tion. At the start of each turn (when sprinting)

Movement Rates

MovementType

Walk

Run

Sprint

Distance per:Turn

15m.

Fitness

Fitness x2

Minute

90m.

Fitness x 6

Fitness x 12*

Duration

Indefinite

Minutes =Fitness

Turns =Fitness/10

EnduranceCheck

None

Yes

Yes

* If character has sufficient duration.

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Combator minute (when running) that your characterattempts to run in excess of her normal duration,a check must be made against Willpower byrolling percentile dice. If under the character'sWillpower score, she keeps going for that turn orminute; otherwise, she must stop since she isexhausted. Characters who fail the check suffer1-2 points of fatigue damage. Note that experi-ence can be spent to increase your character'sWillpower.

Resting

Flat-out sprinting and long-distance running isan exhausting business and your character mustrest at the end of any dash. The time spent rest-ing is minutes equal to the minutes spent runningor turns spent sprinting. Sprinting three turnscalls for resting three minutes. Characters restingcannot run or sprint but can still walk up to tenmeters per turn.

Vehicles and Special Movement

Since the AMAZING ENGINE™ universemight encompass anything from lizard-drawnchariots to anti-gravity sky-sleds, rules for vehiclemovement are part of the universe books. In

addition the universe books may present uniquemovement rules to reflect special conditions ofthe that universe. Weightlessness, heavy gravity,magical terrains, or other dimensions are all pos-sible complications unique to particular uni-verses.

CombatSooner or later fighting becomes a part of everyrole-playing game. The AMAZING ENGINEsystem is no exception, although the emphasis onfighting (and just how dangerous it is) will suitthe story needs of the universe. For example,combat in For Faerie, Queen, and Country is aninfrequent thing and dangerous when it occurs.A character can be killed with a single shot. Atthe other extreme, battles are frequent andheroic in Galactos Barrier, a swashbucklinguniverse of high space opera. The universe ofBUGHUNTERS™, where characters are theelite of the interstellar armed forces, is almostentirely combat-centered.

Because of the differences between universes,the things described here are basic proceduresthat do not change from universe to universe,such as how to make an attack roll and the differ-ences between range combat and melees. Every

Carrying Capacity

Kilos Equal to:

Fitness score

Fitness score x 2

Fitness score x 3

Effect on Movement:

No effect

Sprinting and running halved

No sprinting or running allowed,must rest after walking meters =Fitness score

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Combatuniverse book has additional combat rules. At aminimum these include weapons available inthat universe — a maser rifle just won't be foundin a world of armored knights and dragons. Itcould appear in a world of cybernetic knights andchrome steel dragon tanks, however.

Some universes, such as BUGHUNTERS™,place a greater emphasis on combat than others.Accordingly, the combat rules for these universeswill incorporate detailed rules for things likerecoil, penetration, knock-back, even specialcombat maneuvers. Other universes may keepthe combat rules to the barest minimum in favorof other role-playing aspects.

The Combat Sequence

Because combats can be confusing events withsix or seven characters to a side each trying to dosomething different, the AMAZING ENGINE™system (like most role-playing games) organizescombat into a series of steps, each completesequence taking one round, each round beingroughly 10 seconds of time (to allow the GM flex-ibility in resolving combat actions.) Each roundrepeats the sequence of events until one side isdefeated or manages to escape.

Advantage

Advantage is the "jump" one character or groupmight have on another when the encounterbegins. It is used in situations such as two groups(friend and foe) stumbling onto each other unex-pectedly, a group being betrayed by someone theytrusted, or the party walking into an ambush.The character or party who has the advantageautomatically gets the first action and may have abonus on chances to hit the targets.

Advantage is checked at the beginning of anyencounter, before any other actions are taken.After the first round of combat, advantage is nor-mally no longer checked, since both sides are

perfectly aware what each group is up to — atleast in general terms. In some instances, how-ever, additional advantage checks may be needed:a new attacker appearing from an unexpecteddirection, or an event occurring that was unan-ticipated from one or both sides.

The basic method for determining advantageis for both sides to roll percentile dice and com-pare the result to the highest Psyche score in theparty. If the check is passed, the group is fore-warned, however slightly. If the check is failed,the group is unprepared and the other side gainsthe advantage. If both sides succeed, no one iscaught unprepared. If both sides fail, everyone iscaught flat-footed. If either side rolls a 95-00,that group is surprised — caught completely off-guard — and is particularly vulnerable. (Theproperties, equipment, and situations of differentuniverses can modify a character's check. Somepossibilities include psionic powers to detectthoughts, or thermal sensors to spot what is nor-mally unseen. Any modifiers will be noted in theuniverse book.)

The side with the advantage automaticallygoes first on the opening round of battle. Theygain a +5 modifier on any attack or action op-posed by the other group. The side withoutadvantage goes second and suffers a -5 modifieron any like action.

If one party is surprised, they essentially donothing for an entire round during which theiropponents have the freedom to move, attack,talk, run away, or whatever (with the +5 modi-fier) without having the surprised group react. Inthe next round, the surprised group is consideredunprepared while their attackers have the advan-tage (they act first and gain the +5 modifier,while their opponents act second and suffer a -5modifier).

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Combat

Declaring Actions

Except for situations of advantage and surprise,you must declare what action your character willtake before knowing in what order both sides willact (the same applies to the GM). Tell your GMwhat action your character will take in the com-ing round. Try to be as specific as possible, giventhat you don't know the intentions of the otherside. For example, if your character attacks, statehis target in advance. Your GM has many thingsto keep track of, so the more you help, thequicker and more exciting the game will be.

In general, it is best to keep actions short, ide-ally something that could be completed in tenseconds. Not only does this help prevent confu-sion, it also means your character is ready to reactto new situations in the next round. You shouldalso be ready to say quickly what your characterwill do, since your GM can penalize your charac-ter for your hesitation. Combat requires snap

Combat Round Sequence

I Determine Advantage (1st Com-bat round only)

II. Players declare character actions;GM decides NPC actions

III. Determine order of actionsIV. Resolve actions

judgments and you should be ready to play thepart accordingly. Reasonable questions areallowed, but delaying the game while you try tomake a decision is apt to result in your characterlosing his action that round.

Initiative

If neither side has an advantage or surprise incombat, you need to know what order everything

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Combathappens in. This is done by determining initia-tive. Initiative is determined at the beginning ofevery combat round, unless one side has advan-tage over the other (because of die roll or GM'sruling). A single initiative is normally deter-mined for the entire group, although universeswith detailed combat rules may require each indi-vidual to roll initiative.

Initiative is checked by rolling 1dl0 and modi-fying the result. The modifier is equal to 10%(rounded down) of the character with the bestReflexes score. (For simplicity, the modifier isequal to the tens digit of that score — a characterwith a 37 Reflexes adds 3 to the die roll.) Onlythose characters present and active in the com-bat are considered. The side with the highermodified die roll acts first.

In addition to characters, any thing or eventbeyond the control of either group has its ownunmodified initiative roll. If the enemy lobs agrenade at your character's feet, at the start of thenext round the GM secretly rolls 1dl0 to see

when it explodes. Your character may have achance to throw it back or dive for cover — or hemay not.

Prepared actions — like holding a gun onsomeone and demanding surrender — are specialinitiative situations. Normally the prepared char-acter automatically goes first. ("Move and Ishoot, you ugly bug.") However, your charactercan try to beat out the opponent if you roll aReflexes check. (The GM may apply modifiers toyour chance of success.) If you succeed, yourcharacter can take an action before his chal-lenger reacts. Fail, and he just was not quickenough.

Hitting Your Target

Whenever your character attacks (or is attacked),actually hitting what was aimed at is no guaran-tee. Virtually all attacks require a die roll to see ifthe target is hit or missed. Only the inescapableare exempted from this rule.

Surprise Outcomes

Condition

P

LAYER

SuccessfulPsycheCheck

FailedPsycheCheck

95-00

NPC

SuccessfulPsyche Check

No advantage

NPC hasadvantage

NPC hassurprise

Failed PsycheCheck

Player hasadvantage

No advantage

No advantage

95-00

Player hassurprise

No advantage

No advantage

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Combat

WO1 Selinko (having been promoted toWarrant Officer status for her skilled han-dling of the Barnard's Star mission) is lead-ing her squad through a nasty piece of grass-forest on "Acey-Two" (Alpha Centauri's sec-ond planet). Just ahead, hidden in the thickblades of grass, is a nest of "Stalkers" —vicious, carnivorous reptiles the size oftigers. In single file, the squad advances; thepoint trooper enters the clearing, and . . .

The GM calls for a Psyche check fromSelinko's player, Michele , as her character is theleader of the squad. At the same time, the GMnotes that the Stalkers, not expecting an attack,have a chance to be surprised, and makes acheck for them too. The GM's roll is 83; thecreatures have a Psyche of 73 , so the checkfails. Michele rolls an 18; her character's Psycheis 37, so the check succeeds. Selinko's squad hasthe advantage on the first round of the en-counter.

Spotting the beasts, Selinko orders thepoint trooper to open fire while the rest ofthe squad fans out. The Stalkers are hit by aburst of flechette rounds and out-flankedbefore they even have a chance to react.

For melees and ranged combat your character'sbasic chance to hit is equal to his Reflexes. How-ever, this chance is modified according to the tar-get area and the circumstances of the instance. Ifthe roll is equal to or less than your character'smodified Reflexes score, the attack hits the targetand damage is determined. If the roll exceeds thescore, the attack misses.

Target Areas

Anytime your character makes an attack (or any-thing makes an attack), you must specify one ofthree target areas — general, non-vital, or vital.Each target area has different chances to hit and

Although Selinko's men have managed tocripple the bugs, the battle is far from over.As the haze from the plasma bolts clears, thebugs spring through the grass forest, theirwicked talons gleaming in anticipation ofthe easy kill. In the flash of a photoceptor,they clear the space separating them fromthe advancing squad. "Hose 'em!" Selinkoshouts over the squeals of the hideous aliens.

At this point the GM calls for actions . Theplayers, following Michele's lead, announcetheir intentions to shoot. The GM notes whichaliens will attack and calls for initiative rolls.Anthony's character has the highest Reflexes onthe squad (56) so he rolls the die and gets a 5,which is modified to 10 (+5 for his character'sReflexes) . The GM rolls a 9 for the bugs,adding 6 for their Reflexes . The bugs attack first.

Before her command can be followed, thebugs spring forward, talons flashing!

different damage effects if your character doeshit.

General targets are anywhere on the oppo-nent's body — your character is just trying toland a fist or make a shot without concern forpinpoint accuracy. General targeting allows yourcharacter to use his full Reflexes score beforeother modifications and does not alter the dam-age done by the attack.

Non-vital targets are those areas of the oppo-nent that will stun, wound, or injure, but areunlikely to kill. Trying to knock someone out orwing them in the arm is a non-vital attack. Yourcharacter's Reflexes are halved when making anon-vital attack and the chance of body damageis reduced by 2.

Vital targets are just the opposite — vulnera-ble areas that could lead to sudden death ifinjured. On humans, for example, these includethe head and the area around the heart. Attackson vital areas are particularly difficult, and so the

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Combatchance of hitting is only 10% your character'snormal Reflexes score (rounded up). The chanceof body damage, however, is increased by 3 whensuch an attack is made.

Ranged Combat

Ranged combat (attacking with a weapon thatshoots, flies, or is thrown) has special rules.While many of these depend on the universe(and its technology), certain features are com-mon to all.

In each universe book, missile weapons (ifany) are listed for range and damage. Ranges aredivided into short, medium, and long categories(extreme may also exist in some universes), mea-sured in meters. When shooting at targets greaterthan short range, your character suffers a penaltyon his chance to hit. The exact penalty dependson the universe, since weapon effectivenesschanges with each technology.

Furthermore, every character has a sightingrange, normally of 50 yards. Characters can seebeyond this distance, of course, but when firingat targets beyond the sighting range, only generaltarget areas can be used.

Combat Modifiers

Few battles are straight-up matches where heroesand villains battle it out toe-to-toe. Most aremoving affairs with unique situations — armor towear, things to hide behind, and things to get inthe way. These situations are handled by combatmodifiers, which are given in the universe books.In general things that modify combat include:

Movement. Movement affects ranged combat,making targets harder to hit, but has no effect onhand-to-hand combat.

Armor. Depending on the universe, charactersmay have some type of armor, be it the leather

and metal of fantasy or the suit of spun-fiber bodyarmor and force-field projector. Most armorreduces the amount of damage a hit causes. How-ever, a few types — particularly things such asmagnetic force fields or slippery suits — maymake the character physically harder to hit.These types of armor modify the attacker'schance to hit.

Cover. The most common type of protection isgetting behind something, preferably solid, soyour character can't be hurt. Cover is dividedinto soft and hard cover. Soft cover is anythingyou can shoot through that still conceals the tar-get — bushes, leaves, tall grass, curtains, evensmoke are all types of soft cover. Soft coverreduces the attacker's chance to hit. Hard coveris anything solid that conceals the target —rocks, walls, sandbags, or tree trunks, for exam-ple. Hard cover has modifiers like soft cover andmay limit the target areas that can be chosen.What can't be seen can't be shot.

Damage

Every weapon in a given universe, be it fist,enchanted saber, or accelerated magnetic fieldrifle firing depleted uranium flechettes, is ratedfor damage.

TargetArea

General

Non-vital

Vital

Chanceto Hit

Reflexes

50%Reflexes

10%Reflexes

Dam.Effect

None

-2 totype

+3 totype

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Magic, Psionics, & Special PowersDamage is given as two numbers — a die range

for the number of points of damage caused, and alethality rating. For example, in For Faerie, Queen,and Country, the service revolver's damage is2d6/5. It causes 2-12 points of damage per hit andhas a lethality rating of 5. Whenever a hit isscored, the dice are rolled and that amount issubtracted from the target's fatigue or bodypoints.

Lethality Ratings

It is possible to seriously injure someone withanything, but it is a lot easier with some weaponsthan others. A hit from a club hurts but mostoften only raises ugly bruises, while a shotgunblast tends to have much more fatal effects. Thedifferences between weapons are reflected, inpart, by their lethality ratings, the chance that anyhit will cause body damage instead of the normalfatigue damage.

Each time you roll for a hit, you must note notonly whether your character hit or missed but, ifhe did hit, what the ones digit rolled was. If thisnumber is equal to or less than the lethality rat-ing of the weapon (modified for the target areachosen), the damage caused by this hit is sub-tracted from the target's body points, otherwiseall damage comes from the target's fatigue points.Lethality numbers can never be less than 1 orgreater than 10 (0 on the die).

Magic, Psionics, and SpecialPowersSince the AMAZING ENGINE™ system coversthe span of universes from science-fiction to fan-tasy, mysterious magic, awesome mental powers,super science, even superpowers are all possibleelements of any universe. You could play a magic-wielding fairy in Victorian England, an empathicalien from Alpha Centauri, a bio-engineeredtrooper of the distant future, or a psychic private

WO1 Selinko watches in horror as thexenoforms outmaneuver her squad, three ofthe creatures lunging in for the kill.

The GM rolls three attacks, one for eachstalker, and decides that all attacks will be atgeneral target areas, as this is easiest. The Stalk-ers have Reflexes of 62. The die rolls are 83,1 7, and 23, so two of the creatures hit and onemisses . Each attack causes 3d6 points of dam-age and has a lethality rating of 4- The first hit(17) causes 6 points of fatigue damage, sub-tracted from the trooper's 25 total. The secondattack does 8 pints of body damage (because theones result was 3) , but the trooper has only 7body points .

One of the soldiers reels back, cut, but notseriously, be a xenoform's slashing claws.The other trooper isn't so lucky, as a Stalkerstrikes him dead in front of platoon leaderSelinko.

"Eat this," she snarls while unloading herflechette clip into the creature's gaping maw.

detective in the modern day. These are only afew of the possibilities that might appear for yourcharacter — it all depends on the universe youplay in.

Because there is such a wide range of possibil-ity, each universe must have its own rules forsuch powers — if they exist. These differencesensure that no two universes will ever be alike,but it also means that no rules can be given here.

As a player or GM, you must be aware thatgreater opportunities may await your character(or non-player characters) in the universe openedby the AMAZING ENGINE game system —magic, psychic powers, cybernetics, genetic engi-neering, and other things more bizarre than canbe imagined now. All these are potentials foryour characters and campaigns!

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AMAZINE ENGINE™ SystemPlayer Core Sheet

PhysiqueRank:

Fitness:

Reflexes:

IntellectRank:

Learning:

Intuition:

SpiritRank:

Psyche:

Willpower:

InfluenceRank:

Charm:

Position:

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