Basic Rules (TBD)

Introduction

Crimson Blues is a worldbuilding project set in an alternate Cold war, similar yet vastly different to the one we remember. It includes a hybrid tabletop roleplaying and wargame system in which players assume the roles of adventurers, soldiers, partisans, mercenaries, criminals or else, navigating the strange and dangerous world of The Oceanykan Federation and beyond. While storytelling and improvisation remain central to gameplay, a robust ruleset governs certain aspects such as combat.

The system supports both small-party campaigns and large-scale battles, with the former conducted using RPG Mode (the rules described here) and the latter using a variation known as Wargame Mode. RPG Mode's core loop blends tactical grid-based combat with classic RPG mechanics, using a mix of roleplay, dice rolls, and strategic decisions to determine the fate of player characters and their surroundings. The heart of RPG Mode is the Party, a collection of Player Characters (PCs) with unique stories, strengths and weaknesses, thrown against an uncaring world. Each player is free to create their own character, but the Party is a collective endeavour. Teamwork will be the difference between glorious success or lethal failure.

Crimson Blues encourages gritty realism, meaningful choice, and calculated risk. Death is real and quick to come for the reckless. The world does not care if you're a hero, unless you make it care.

In Crimson Blues, all individual entities (whether a player character, a wild animal, a monster, or an enemy soldier) are classified as Creatures. These represent any active participant in the world capable of movement and action.

Collections of creatures are known as Unit. Some types of units include the Troop 🪖 (a squad of foot soldiers), the Horde (a group of animals or monsters) and any Vehicle (because they rely on a crew).

A Character refers specifically to a named Creature of narrative importance. Amongst these, the most important by far are the Player Characters (PCs), under a player's direct control.

All Creatures possess Creature Stats which define everything from physical fitness and mental acuity to proficiency with weapons, knowledge of machinery, and ability to resist fear. They are governed by the same rules and can possess unique abilities, weaknesses, or special conditions that set them apart from regular humans.

Some important mechanical elements include:

• Health Points (HP) & Critical Health Points (CHP) - These dictate how much damage a Creature can resist before dying.
• Stamina (STA) - A Creature's physical resilience, expressed in short bursts of energy.
• Movement Range (MOV) - How fast a Creature can move, expressed in distance-per-action.
• Armour Rating Metric (ARM) - How well-protected a Creature is from piercing damage, either by wearing Armour 🛡️ or by Natural Armour.
• Unarmed Attack (ATK) - How much damage a Creature does. This is typically just STR unless they possess Natural Weapons, as most animals and monsters do.
• Action Points (AP) - How many Regular Actions and Special Abilities a Creature can take in a single turn. By default, most creatures possess 3 Action Points.
• Threat Level (THRT) - How much of a threat the Creature presents to a typical person. This metric is most useful for planning balanced encounters, battles and for Wargame Mode.
• Carrying Capacity (INV) - How much a Creature can carry, though it can be surpassed in exchange for debuffs. Most relevant for Player Characters.
• Creature Attributes - Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and Determination, the basic building blocks of all Creatures which dictate their possibilities and limitations.
• General Skills - Specific skills and knowledge which are useful in certain niche circumstances.
• Specialty Skills - Very powerful, single-task skillsets.
• Special Abilities - Unique combat Actions that can help during an Engagement, taking the enemy by surprise.
• Special Attributes - Permanent or semi-permanent modifiers to a Creature's strengths or weaknesses.
• Status Effects - Temporary buffs or debuffs, typically inflicted during an Engagement, which severely affect a Creature's capabilities.

A creature is active if it has not yet acted in the current round, and inactive once it has completed its turn. This distinction is crucial in tactical play and certain abilities that rely on timing.

Dice & Rolling

Skill Checks are dice rolls used to dictate whether an action is successful or a failure. They are the foundation of all TTRPGs, and Crimson Blues is no exception. Skill checks are performed using Creature Attributes coupled with any modifiers they might possess.
General Skills can be used to bolster one's efforts in a specific area or field of knowledge. On some occasions, passing a Skill Check may be impossible without the appropriate General Skill.

For most regular actions in RPG Mode, the d20 dice is employed.

• 20 -> MIRACULOUS SUCCESS
• 19 OR 18 -> CRITICAL SUCCESS
• 17 TO 4 -> If below Skill Check Level, FAILURE. If equal or above Skill Check Level, SUCCESS.
  • Skill Check Level refers to the relative ease of passing a Skill Check by a character. It depends on their Creature Attributes.
  • For example, if a character must perform a DEX-based d20 roll to grab a ledge while falling, and possesses 10 DEX, then their roll must score 10+.
• 3 OR 2 -> CRTICAL FAILURE
• 1 -> CURSED FAILURE

Critical successes and failures, if rolled naturally, offer no specific advantages but ensure a positive or a negative result regardless of Creature Attributes, unless the task is too difficult or too easy, in which case at least disaster is averted or induced respectively.
Miraculous Success and Cursed Failure, if rolled naturally (no modifiers), can defy fate itself.

If the modified result of a Skill Check is 20, 19, 18, 3, 2 or 1, these do not count as any of the aforementioned results, only as either Success or Failure.

A Hit Roll is a term used for ranged attacks but is functionally identical to a Skill Check.

One of the most common ways in which Skill Checks are modified is by means of Difficulty Modifiers (DM). These serve a number of functions:

• The GM can assign any task a natural DM, that is, how naturally hard a task is (for example, an encrypted computer might require a Very Hard DM skill check to hack into).
• DMs are typically assigned as buffs and debuffs by Special Attributes, Common Attributes, Unique Attributes, and a myriad other sources.
• The Difficulty Modifier directly acts on the result of a roll. For example, if a player were to roll 4 in a Skill Check in which they required a 9, but they possessed an Easy DM, the result would be a 9 and they would pass.

Difficulty Modifiers stack and combine. For example, a Hit Roll that suffers from two Hard DMs acts as if it had a Very Hard DM. Similarly, if it were affected by an Easy DM and a Hard DM, they would cancel each other out.
The following Difficulty Modifiers exist:

• Piss Easy -> +15
• Very Easy -> +10
• Easy -> +5
• Normal -> 0
• Hard -> -5
• Very Hard -> -10
• Insane -> -15

A final category of Difficulty Modifiers are Minor Difficulty Modifiers with numbers that are not multiples of 5. An example of an MDM would be the Medium Guns in General Skills, which affects Hit Rolls with Medium firearms on increments of +1 per skill level.

Some Skill Checks are considered Contests when directly opposed to another Creature's skills or attributes. An example of this is the Melee Attack (1 AP). In these cases, the difference between the opposing Creature's attribute and one's own becomes a Minor Difficulty Modifier. For example, if a STR 10 creature performs a Melee Attack (1 AP) against a STR 14 creature, and chooses to perform a STR-based roll, then they will suffer a penalty of -4 to their roll, whereas the enemy will suffer a boon of +4 to their roll when they decide to counter-attack.

In an Engagement, the Contest mechanic is limited to a simple MDM. However, when Roving or anywhere other than in combat, the Contest shall take place as an agreed-upon number of skill checks performed by both parties, taking into account the MDM. The side with the most successes will be victorious.

Maps & Metrics

There exist three types of maps.

• Strategic Map
  • A map of the wider region or continent, typically within The Oceanykan Federation, and perhaps a few surrounding regions such as The Republic of Indonesia or The Republic of Mardasia.
  • The Strategic Map has no preset rules and player agency is limited beyond the actions of their own party. It is a brutal and uncaring world driven by invisible social forces... unless the players do something extraordinary that suddenly becomes everyone's problem.
  • The only form of combat that occurs in the Strategic Map is through strategic weapons. However, all wars and conflicts are waged in the Strategic Map.

• Operational Map
  • A map of the Area of Operations (AO) where the player characters are currently at. Locations within this map are typically connected by plot points or a single quest.
  • The Operational Map has no preset rules, but player's actions can have a profound impact beyond the actions of their own party.
  • Long-range combat may take place in the Operational Map using real distances.

• Tactical Map
  • A map of the immediate location where a party is Roving. It is the player's stage and battlefield; all cards are in their hands.
  • In RPG Mode, distances in the Tactical Map will be as follows:
    • Point-Blank Range: 1 Square
    • Close Range: 2 Squares
    • Short Range: 5 Squares
    • Average Range: 10 Squares
    • Medium Range: 25 Squares
    • Long Range: 50 Squares
    • Very Long Range & Extreme Range: Well beyond a Tactical Map. More suited for combat in an Operational Map.

Roving & Engagement

Roving, also known alternatively as adventuring, reconnoitring, exploring or scouting, is when players are doing something within a Tactical Map, but no combat is taking place. When Roving, there is no limit to the actions a player can take in their turn, though the GM can limit them to let another player act. All interactions with the world are compromises, narratives and skill checks between the players and the GM. However, when the GM declares a fight has begun the Party will be considered to be Engaging. 

An Engagement occurs when the Party or their adversaries initiate combat. This is the moment when the abstract narrative flow of exploration shifts to tactical play. In an Engagement, the Tactical Map becomes fully active. Every square and action counts. Creature turns are taken in a set order based on Determination (DET) in which the highest DET creature goes first, followed by the second and the rest. This is called Initiative and under certain circumstances can make or break an Engagement. All Actions are performed during one's own Turn unless specified otherwise. Normally, Creatures will be performing Regular Actions, but many possess a few aces under the sleeve in the form of Special Abilities. How many Actions a creature can perform depends on their available Action Points (AP). 

While manoeuvring around the terrain, the possibility of attacking the enemy will appear. All attacks possess a Damage Profile which indicates two factors: how much Damage (DMG) it inflicts and how much Armour Penetration (PEN) it possesses. There are two basic attack types in Crimson Blues: the melee attack and the ranged attack.

• A melee attack can be a Melee Attack (1 AP), a Melee Frenzy (2 AP), a Charge (2 AP) or any similar Special Abilities.
  • Melee attacks are resolved by a Contest, a type of Skill Check in which the enemy's Creature Attributes become a modifier, based on the difference between theirs and one's own.
  • Firstly, the attacker must choose a Target within Point-Blank Range, unless using a melee weapon with Stand Fast or specified otherwise.
  • The attacker then chooses between resolving this contest through STR or DEX and rolls away.
  • If the attack or attacks land, the defender must perform an Armour Saving Throw and/or, if the GM allows, any other kind of Saving Throw.
    • In this phase a Critical Hit may be landed.
  • Finally, the number of attacks that got through the Saving Throws must roll for DMG, unless they possess fixed DMG.

• A ranged attack can be Reaction Fire (1 AP), Aimed Fire (2 AP), Suppressive Fire (2 AP), Indirect Fire (2 AP) or any similar Special Abilities.
  • Ranged attacks are resolved by means of a Hit Roll, which is no more than a typical Skill Check with a multitude of environmental factors.
  • Firstly, the attacker must choose a Target within Line-of-Sight (at least 20% visible) and within Range (specified by their weapon and ammunition).
  • All environmental and battlefield factors (typically DMs) are taken into account, and the shot or burst is made.
  • If it's a hit, the defender must perform an Armour Saving Throw and/or, if the GM allows, any other kind of Saving Throw.
    • In this phase a Critical Hit may be landed.
  • Finally, the number of attacks that got through the Saving Throws must roll for DMG, unless they possess fixed DMG.

Note than in ranged combat, some or most combatants will typically Take Cover (1 AP), thus granting them Half Cover or even Full Cover. One way to dislodge an entrenched enemy is to flank them. Flanking refers to moving into an advantageous position at the flanks or rear of the enemy, allowing either for enfilading fire or the demoralising effect of being surrounded. For flanking to be successful, the enemy must typically be fixed in their position by defilading fire from the front, as otherwise they would simply rotate to face the flanking unit.

Another way to dislodge an entrenched opponent is to use explosive munitions, as PBR attacks ignore Half Cover. Because that Status Effect affects only the Creature performing Take Cover (1 AP), but not the terrain, any Grenade 💣, Grenade Launcher 💣 or Anti-Tank Launcher 🚀 with an explosive charge can be tossed into their close proximity, dealing full damage.

An Engagement ends when one's sides objectives are complete, one side retreats from the battlefield, all enemies are killed, or whenever the GM declares it so. The players' Party then immediately returns to Roving and can continue their adventure, reorganise, treat their wounds and/or prepare for evacuation.

Supplementary Rules

There exist specific rules for a few mechanics (such as explosives, shotguns and aerial combat). They are the following:

• Frag Rules
• Saving Throw Rules
• Scattergun Rules
• Special Damage, Damage Modifiers & AOE Rules
• Run & Gun Rules
• Terrain & Darkness Rules
• Reliability & Maintenace Rules
• Stealth Rules (TBD)
• Travel Rules (TBD)
• Loot Rules (TBD)
• Diplomacy Rules (TBD)
• Trade Rules (TBD)
• Command Rules (TBD)
• Psionics Rules (TBD)
• Aerial Combat Rules (TBD)
• Naval Combat Rules (TBD)
• Operational Combined Arms Combat Rules (TBD)
• GM Tools (TBD)