A good action story is more than just a series of battles. Maybe your character must escape an ancient temple before it collapses, search the castle ruins for a magical weapon, or steer their ship through the eye of a hurricane. Our favorite adventure stories are filled with exciting action sequences, and in a Cool Name RPG adventure we play these scenes out with Action Encounters.
Action Encounter Example
The party just saved their ship by fighting off a crew of bloodthirsty pirates. The Combat Encounter ended in victory, but the Gamemaster tells the party they aren’t out of the woods yet. When the pirate ship rammed their vessel, it damaged the hull and their vessel is taking on water! How will the heroes survive this predicament? This sounds like an Action Encounter!
Action Encounters use the rules described in Chapter 2: Action Checks and Challenges, Chapter 4: Action Types, and Chapter 6: Encounters. Be sure to familiarize yourself with those rules before reading this. In this chapter we will focus on aspects of those rules that are especially important to Action Encounters, and ways to use the rules to create exciting action scenes.
What is an Action Encounter? #
In an Action Encounter, the source of the Encounter’s Challenges is the setting itself. The world and the things in it are the obstacles the characters must overcome to reach their goal. Some of these are active threats, such as a terrible storm or a collapsing building. Others are passive, like a cleverly hidden trap in the hallway ahead or an enormous library that holds the one book the characters need.
The pace of an Action Encounter varies as well. Some are frenetic, fast-paced scenes, such as a race against time to pick the lock on the prison door before the jailers return. Others are unhurried and atmospheric, like the tense search of a burial cairn for a long-lost magical artifact.
Rounds #
The decision to track time with Rounds or not depends on the pace of your Action Encounter. If the characters are cautiously creeping through the halls of a dungeon, a freeform back and forth between the players and the Gamemaster might be the best way to run the Encounter. On the other hand, if the heroes are in an out-of-control wagon racing down a steep slope, switching to Rounds and rolling for Initiative will make the Encounter easier to adjudicate and help to reinforce the urgency of the situation.
Round Length #
In an Action Encounter, a Round might represent a few seconds, a few minutes, or even a few hours. The Gamemaster will let you know how long a Round is at the beginning of the Encounter. As always, Round length in Cool Name RPG is a rough approximation of time, not an exact measurement.
Like Combat Encounters, the rules presented here are not meant to create a simulation, but rather an impression of action. They exist to help you tell an exciting story and have a meaningful impact on the game and the adventure. The length of the Round exists primarily to give you a rough sense of what your character can accomplish on their Turn.
Round Length Example
The Gamemaster tells the party the ship is slowly taking on water. He declares that each Round of this Action Encounter lasts about an hour. Although each character still only gets a single Major Action each round, their Action might be to spend an hour working feverishly to repair the ship, scrambling to plot a course to a nearby island, hurriedly readying the lifeboat, or performing some other large task that helps the party to survive the Challenge of a sinking ship. The length of the Round is quite long, but the Action is still intense.
Initiative #
When time is of the essence, the Gamemaster should call for Initiative rolls. Initiative is helpful when the characters only have so many chances to overcome the Challenges, and any delay or a bad choice at the wrong time can result in terrible consequences.
Challenges #
An Action Encounter might consist of a single epic Challenge, or it might consist of many smaller Challenges. Challenges may occur all at once, like trying to keep your ship afloat as you pilot it through a storm, or in succession, like the traps and puzzles you might encounter while exploring a ruined temple.
Reducing Challenge Points #
Like Combat, you can (and should) come up with novel ways to reduce a Challenge’s Challenge Points, and not every character has to help in the same way. Each member of the party should consider their skills, talents, and experience, and think of the way their character can best help the party to achieve victory.
In our damaged ship example above, the characters might choose to sail the ship back to the island, and each successful Action Check reduces the Challenge Points bringing the party closer to safety. Alternatively, the characters might make Action Checks to repair the damage, and again, each success reduces the Challenge Points representing the slow restoration of the ship’s integrity. Or maybe they do both, with one group performing repairs and another navigating the ship to the island. Both activities reduce the same pool of Challenge Points, representing the effort of the party working together to overcome the Challenge.
Action Encounter Challenge Points Example
The party is a fair distance out to sea and the damage to the ship is significant. The Gamemaster decides that the Challenge of “Survive the Sinking Ship” has 14 Challenge Points. That’s a good-sized Challenge, so the team swings into action.
CHALLENGE: Survive the Sinking Ship CP 14
Jeff has his character, Spyder, head below deck with tools and extra boards to repair the damaged hull. The Gamemaster decides this is not a difficult task, requiring only novice skill to perform, so the Difficulty Score starts at 3. Unfortunately for Spyder, these are far from ideal conditions. Normally this type of repair requires a dry dock and a team of skilled laborers, and Spyder doesn’t have either of these. The Gamemaster adds +1 for each of these complications. In addition, the water in the hold is knee deep, creating a further complication and increasing the Difficulty Score by an additional +1.
ACTION: Repair the Hull DS 6 (3 + 1 Bad Location + 1 No Team + 1 Water)
Beth, on the other hand, doesn’t think her halfling Altiss will be much use down in the flooded hold, so she decides to have Altiss begin piloting the ship back to an island they saw a few leagues back. This is a pretty basic task for any sailor, and the Gamemaster decides a sailor of novice skill would have a reasonable chance of success. The biggest problem is that with everyone else doing other things, she’s working with a skeleton crew and steering the damaged ship is like dragging a whale down Market Street by the tail.
ACTION: Pilot the Ship to Safety DS 5 (3 + 1 Lack of Crew + 1 Damage to the Ship)
Both Altiss and Spyder make Action Checks, and if they succeed, the Challenge Points for the Survive the Sinking Ship Challenge is reduced by the Effects of their Action Checks.
Escalating Challenges #
Action Encounters are the perfect type of Encounter for an Escalating Challenge. The Challenge Points for an Escalating Challenge go up after the end of the Round. This may represent water seeping into a sinking ship, the slow approach of a powerful army, or any other situation where the longer the players take, the more dangerous the situation becomes.
Escalating Challenge Example
Altiss and Spyder do fairly well on the first Round of trying to Survive the Sinking Ship. Altiss manages to get the ship headed back toward the islands, and Spyder is making progress on the repairs. Their efforts have reduced the Challenge Points from 14 to 9.
CHALLENGE: Survive the Sinking Ship CP 9
Unfortunately for the party, the Gamemaster declares that the constant flow of water into the ship makes this an Escalating Challenge. At the end of each Round the Challenge Points increases by 2, as more and more water fills the hull. At the start of the next Round, the Challenge Points are back up to 11.
CHALLENGE: Survive the Sinking Ship CP 11 (EC +2)
Better work faster, heroes!
Trigger Events #
Trigger Events are events that occur at specific points in an Encounter, and they are a common Element of Action Encounters. A typical trigger is when a Challenge reaches a specified number of Challenge Points. Trigger Events might also occur after a certain number of Rounds pass, when a particular Challenge is overcome (or failed), or when the characters perform a specified Action. The Gamemaster decides what, if any, Trigger Events apply for an Encounter.
Trigger Event Examples
The following are some examples of Trigger Events.
Example 1: At the end of the fourth Round, an aftershock from the earthquake shakes rocks loose from the cliff and sends them tumbling down onto the characters. The heroes must make Dodge Action Checks to avoid being hit by rocks or suffer Body Vitality loss.
Example 2: When the characters reduce the Challenge Points for the Open the Door Challenge to 10 or less, a swarm of poisonous spiders are released into the room. The Action Encounter transitions (at least temporarily) to a Combat Encounter.
Example 3: Once the Replace the Bridge Challenge Points are reduced to zero, the support team immediately races across with much needed aid for the characters.
Example 4: If the Escalating Challenge’s Challenge Points reach 15, the walls start to close in.
Example 5: The heroes are trying to follow a faint trail in the dust, but at the end of the second Round the sun sets, and the deepening gloom makes the task more difficult, adding a +1 modifier to the Difficulty Scores for Actions requiring sight.
Depending on the adventure and the setting, the Gamemaster might also have a table of random Trigger Events. For instance, at the end of each Round the Gamemaster rolls on a Random Event table to see if an event occurs, and if so, what sort of event takes place.
Trigger Event Example
Just when our heroes trying to Survive the Sinking Ship thought things couldn’t get any worse, things get worse! At the end of the third Round, Altiss spots sails coming over the horizon. It’s the sister ship of the pirates they just defeated!
The Gamemaster declares that this adds a new Challenge to the Action Encounter, “Escape the Pirates,” with 6 Challenge Points.
CHALLENGE: Survive the Sinking Ship CP 11 (EC +2)
CHALLENGE: Escape the Pirates CP 6
Beth and Jeff discuss what they will do, and they agree that Spyder will continue to try to repair the ship, reducing the Challenge Points for Survive the Sinking Ship, and Beth will try to lose the pursuing pirates by piloting the ship through the deadly coral reef, with her successes reducing the Escape the Pirate Challenge Points. I’m not going to sugar coat it. It looks pretty bad for our heroes.
Action Encounter Actions #
The following are some of the most common Actions you might want your character to take during an Action Encounter and advice for how to use the rules described in Chapter 2: Action Checks and Challenges and Chapter 5: Action Types to perform the Action. As always, these are suggestions. In the end, it is always up to you and the Gamemaster to determine the best way to resolve an Action in your game.
Actions vs. Challenges
When following the guidance presented here, keep in mind the difference between Actions and Challenges. The Challenge is the problem you must overcome. When described properly, Challenges do not dictate the way you overcome it. The Action is the thing you do to overcome the Challenge.
For example, let’s say the characters are attempting to sneak into the Queen’s walled garden. As they stand at the base of the wall, the Challenge they are facing should be “Get Into the Garden” and not “Climb the Wall.” In other words, the characters shouldn’t be limited to a Climb Action Check. There are many ways one might get into the garden. A character with incredible leaping skills might make a Jump Action Check to leap over the wall while an exceptionally strong character might toss their ally over the wall.
Action Examples #
Listed in the table below are examples of Actions regularly performed during Action Encounters. The table contains the following information:
- Action: The name of the Action the character wants to take.
- Examples: Examples of this sort of Action.
- Attribute: The Primary Attribute typically used when performing this sort of Action.
- Difficulty: Things that are used to determine the base Difficulty Score for this sort of Action.
- Modifiers: Things that commonly modify the Difficulty Score or Action Score for this sort of Action.
Action Encounter Action Examples #
| Action | Examples | Attribute | Difficulty | Modifiers |
| Balance | Walk a tightrope, shimmy along a ledge, stand atop a pole | Coordination | Width of the surface | Slippery surface, strong wind, balance pole, angled surface |
| Break Down | Knock down a door, smash through a barricade | Strength | Thickness of barrier, barrier’s material, quality of barrier | Physical reinforcement, age of barrier |
| Climb | Clamber over a wall, climb to the top of a cliff | Strength or Coordination | Handholds and footholds, angle of surface | Slippery surface, strong wind, climbing equipment |
| Disarm Trap | Disable a mechanism, jam the gears, remove the trigger | Coordination or Intellect | Complexity of the mechanism | Low light, tool quality, mechanism quality |
| Drag or Push | Move an object that is too heavy to lift | Strength | Size and weight of the object | Handholds, footing, surface under the object, wheels or rollers |
| Hide | Conceal a person or object | Intellect or Awareness | DS 0 + modifiers | Lighting, clutter, color of hidden item, noise, movement |
| Jump | Leap over a pit, hop up onto a table, jump up and ledge | Strength or Coordination | DS 2 for horizontal, DS 3 for vertical, distance is reflected by Challenge Points | Slipper surface, strong wind, running start, vertical jump |
| Lift | Lift an object too heavy to carry, lift a portcullis | Strength | Size and weight of the object | Handholds, footing, bulk |
| Pick Lock | Use lockpicks to unlock a lock | Coordination or Intellect | Complexity of the lock | Lighting, tools, size of lock |
| Ride | Ride a horse, mule, or other animal | Coordination or Presence | Animal’s type and training | Tack (saddle, bridle, etc.), specialized training, animal condition |
| Search | Find a secret door, locate a hidden object, find a concealed person | Intellect or Awareness | Effect of the Action Check made to hide the object or person | Familiarity with the place, special means of detection, enhanced senses |
| Swing | Swing on a vine, rope, chandelier, chain, etc. | Coordination or Strength | Suitability of the thing for swinging, distance reflected by Challenge Points | Grip, running start |