Dark Passage

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Back to SCIENCE FICTION URBAN COMBAT RULES

Getting Started

To begin with, Dark Passage is a scenario-based game. That is, there is no "game" as such without someone having first made up a scenario. The rulebook provides a detailed 6-page example scenario - Rat Catcher, about a "Resource Acquisition Team" (RAT team, or kidnappers...) trying to abduct a top scientist from a corporation's research world. Unfortunately, their rescue ship has been delayed, and now they must hold out in a remote Refuge Shelter from an assault by the corporation's special forces. Just to make matters more complex (or fun...), this happens to be a low-gravity, high-heat world, so everyone better suit up (or suffer the consequences...).

Once players have read or participated in the sample scenario, they should be able to design their own, or at least tweak the original scenario enough to give it some replay.

All characters in the game have two vital statistics, the value of which is set by the scenario designer prior to play. OP Allotment Per Phase is how many OP's (Option Points) a character can spend per turn - with more points, you can do more. Awareness Level controls when in a turn you get to take your actions, with higher scores meaning you get to act rather than be acted upon.

Beyond these scores, most characters will also have two or more skills. Anyone who expects to fight should have both Ranged Combat and Close Combat skills. Other skills - there are 13 in the game system - give characters competency with special equipment (such as tool kits, security systems, or combat suits). The Group Leader skill gives leaders the ability to influence their companions - on the right dieroll, all characters in a leader's vicinity may "share" his Awareness Level for one turn (i.e., move together, hopefully before most of the enemy).

Characters will also be packing weapons and other equipment with them (again, as assigned by the scenario designer). The rules specify 11 ranged weapon types, which vary chiefly by the number of shots per magazine, which modes they can fire in (single, semi-automatic, and/or full-automatic), and their Impact rating (damage):

• automag
• shotgun
• carbine
• rifle
• assault carbine
• S.M.G.
• E.M. rifle
• laser carbine
• laser rifle
• hydroplasmer
• stealth rifle

There are 8 categories of ranged weapons, with modifiers for Attack and Defence, and Impact ratings:

• bare hands
• club/improvised weapon
• armoured glove
• combat knife
• long blade
• fixed bayonet/polearm
• force blade
• power glove

Armour is rated from 0 to 8, with the types being:

• none
• synth-leather
• evap
• flak
• battle suit
• combat armour
• power armour

The rules also cover Hype weapons (designed to inject various drugs in their targets), Electro-Stunners ("fires" a conductive filament through which an electric charge can be sent) and the Packer system (a family of specialty grenades, which can be thrown or fired from a launcher).

Other equipment, though not deadly, should prove just as useful to mission teams. The book covers respirators, optical compensators, protective clothing, tool kits, hand scanners, and electronic scrambling equipment.

How the Game is Played

The game is played in Phases (turns), with characters activating one-at-a-time in Awareness Level order. If two or more characters have the same Awareness Level, dice are rolled to determine which activates first.

When a character activates, he (or she) spends Option Points (OP's) to accomplish various actions. More than 30 possible actions are defined, costing between 1 and 6 OP's each, such as:

• firing a single shot (1 OP)
• upright, moving forwards 1 movement unit (1 OP)
• change weapon firing mode (1 OP)
• turning, 90 degrees or less (1 OP)
• opening a hinged door (2 OP)
• lifting a heavy object (3 OP)
• crawling 1 movement unit backwards, in difficult footing (6 OP)

A character can choose to Delay his actions, letting other, lower-Awareness characters take their moves. However, a delaying character can interrupt at any time to resume his turn. In addition, if a character wants to be able to do something later in the phase, he can set up an Aim Zone (allows him to "save" OPs to use when firing at anyone entering that zone) or put himself in a Defensive Posture (allows a character to "save" OP's for use if attacked in close combat).

If a skill is used, the result is determined by rolling a 6-sided die, adding the character's skill level modifier, and comparing the result to the required Success Number (set by the scenario designer).

When a weapon is fired, a similar procedure is used. Two dice are rolled, with the character's Ranged Weapon skill modifier added to the result. In addition, there are sixteen possible modifiers which may apply, depending on the situation (i.e., +1 for "using a braced weapon"). If the final modified result is "7" or more, a hit is scored.

When a character is in close combat with an enemy, his attack is resolved by rolling one die, and adding his Close Combat skill modifier and the weapon's Attack rating. The defender also rolls a die, adding his Close Combat skill modifier and his weapon's Defence rating. The results are modified, if any of the eight close combat modifiers apply. The results are then compared:

• if the attacker wins, a hit occurs
• if they tie, there is a "stand off" (no damage)
• if the defender wins, he gets a chance to counter-attack (but only if he has OP's to pay for the action)

When combat causes a hit to occur, damage is resolved by rolling the number of dice indicated by the weapon's Impact rating. The total is compared against the target's Armour value. If the damage exceeds the armour rating, the difference between the two is permanently subtracted from the target's two vital statistics (Awareness Level and OP Allotment per Turn).

The combat rules also cover speculative fire, guided attacks, the benefits of cover, and semi-automatic and fully-automatic firing modes.