Conflict in Dawn of the Merciless
What would a ttrpg be without some dice rolling? In Dawn of the Merciless, you will need several d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 dice (or an online dice rolling app) to help you solve conflicts in the game. There are a few different types of conflicts you may see while you play:
Opposed Conflict – Character v. Character such as in combat, arguments, or a race to grab a priceless object.
Test – Character v. Environment or Character v. Self such as looking for clues, attempting a feat of strength or agility, or sneaking about.
Timed Test – Character v. Countdown such as putting out a fire, stopping an attack on the city, or preparing for a character’s arrival
No matter what kind of conflict you run into, you will roll a number of dice to determine the outcome. The dice you use will depend on the situation. In any conflict, you might use some or all of:
Assets (both permanent and temporary items your character has access to)
Attributes (use as many as are relevant)
Abilities (all abilities begin with an 8 rating – they give you a d8 to roll)
Distinctions (roll a d8 if they are helpful or d4 if they are not)
You can learn more about all of these on the Building a Character page.
Sometimes you can use your Distinctions or Ability special effects (SFX) to modify the conflict, typically at the cost of a character point (CP). You will begin each session with 3 CP and gain more through rolling hitches or using SFX.
How an opposed conflict is decided:
Evaluate your situation - Take dice for every Asset, Attribute, Ability, and Distinction that makes sense. This is your dice pool. Try to have at least three!
Roll those dice - Take the two highest numbers and add them together (ignoring any 1’s). Set aside a third die as your effect die. If you have no more dice to set aside, your effect is a d4.
Determine the winner - Compare your total to either the GM’s roll or another player’s roll. Whoever has the higher number wins. Whoever has the larger effect die (example: d8 beats a d4) wins a tie. Defender wins an effect die tie.
Complications for the loser - The loser gains a d6 complication or steps up a complication they already have. For every 5 the winning roll result has over the losing roll, they add an additional step up for the complication (example: player 1’s total is 14, while player 2’s total is 6. Player 2 will gain a d6 complication and step it up to a d8).
Knocking a character out of a scene - If a complication ever gets stepped up to become a d12, that player or GMC (GM’s Character) is out of the scene! But don’t worry, complications reset every session, and there are ways to heal yourself and others.
Rolling a 1
What the heck is a Hitch?
A hitch happens when you roll a 1 on any die. That die does not count in your roll result and cannot be your effect die. Additionally, you will be given a couple things:
A complication - the GM will begin to roll an extra die against you during opposed conflicts. This can represent physical injury or mental stress. It can be removed by certain actions or get worse with further hitches.
A CP - This is the main way to gain CP, a currency in the game that can unlock cool stunts and powers
What if the GM rolls a 1?
That is called a complication. Keep track of them, as you will be able to cash them in for in-game benefits!
Step up an asset for the remainder of a scene (example: sharpen your sword, turning it from a d6 asset into a d8 asset)
Step down a complication (example: bandage a wounded leg, turning a d6 wound into a d4 wound)
Help your friends!
If another player is taking an action and you have an idea how your character can help theirs, declare it and add the relevant die to their dice pool.
Tests
Follow the steps for rolling in a conflict. The only difference is the GM, instead of rolling character traits, will roll two dice based on the difficulty (laid out below), plus any other dice relevant to the environment, scene, or GMCs.
2d4 - Very Easy
2d6 – Easy
2d8 – Challenging
2d10 – Hard
2d12 – Very Hard
Timed Tests
Timed tests work like a series of normal tests that must be succeeded within a certain number of story beats in order to win.
Succeeding one of the tests uses up 1 story beat. Failing a test uses up 2 beats. A heroic success (beat the difficulty by 5+) uses up 0 beats.
There are no effect dice in timed tests.
The GM will set the difficulty for each test. One of the players will roll to beat that difficulty like in a normal test, describing how they work to solve the problem before the story beat is over.
Other players can increase the number of beats allotted by succeeding their own tests (distracting bad guys, looking for escape routes, etc).
If the player in the timed test solves their problem before the time is up, they win! But even failure can propel the characters forward to new adventures! Failures can result in CP, complications, and a new path for the storyline.
Variations on a Bad Guy
Sometimes you will be fighting a mob, dismantling a large network of cultists, or fighting a boss. There will be slight variations for each
Mobs
A group of baddies is called a mob. They will have a set of dice to represent the entire group and work together as one. The number of dice is determined by the size of the group:
3 dice - a handful of people
4 dice - a room of people
5 dice - a crowd
6 dice - a small army
Instead of giving the mob complications, each success by the players takes away one of the mob’s dice.
Bosses
Bosses work like mobs, except they are a single character. Their toughness is depicted in the number of die used and their power lies in the rating of the die.
They also have distinctions and abilities, and can spend CP to use SFX.
Factions
Factions (large-scale groups) tend to work from the shadows, such as bandit groups or cults, or from on high, such as the king’s army or the board of a university.
They are represented by a large dice pool, from which they can dole out mobs to oppose the players’ actions. Factions can also use SFX.