Worldscar

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THE TURN SEQUENCE

A battle in Mortisphere is not a carefully ordered military engagement.

It is a violent collision between desperate things fighting over whatever remains.

A machine awakens.

A corpse moves.

A survivor raises a weapon.

A creature that should not exist charges into something even worse.

The battle is decided through a series of Clashes.

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THE ROUND

A game of Mortisphere is played in rounds.

A round ends once every active crew member has either:

- Taken their action.
- Been incapacitated.
- Been otherwise prevented from acting.

At the beginning of each round, determine which crew has Initiative.

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INITIATIVE

Initiative represents which crew is quick enough, desperate enough or reckless enough to begin the violence.

The crew with the lowest total crew value has Initiative.

A smaller crew is often faster and more adaptable, while a larger crew relies on greater individual strength.

If both crews have equal value, Initiative is determined by a roll.

The crew with Initiative begins the round.

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THE CLASH SEQUENCE

The player with Initiative chooses one or more eligible crew members in the same Area to initiate a Clash.

The opposing player then decides how to respond.

A Clash follows these steps:

1. The initiating player chooses which crew members participate.
2. The responding player chooses which crew members respond.
3. Players declare whether any units will use abilities, equipment or special rules.
4. Dice are rolled.
5. The results are resolved.
6. All committed crew members become activated.

After a Clash is resolved, the opposing player initiates the next Clash.

Players continue alternating until all crew members have acted.

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INITIATING A CLASH

A player may commit any number of unactivated crew members in the same Area to a Clash.

Each participating member chooses a target within that Area.

Multiple members may target the same enemy.

Multiple members may also target different enemies.

A player must decide how much of their crew to commit.

A large commitment can overwhelm an opponent.

A small commitment preserves options for later.

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RESPONDING TO A CLASH

The opposing player decides how their crew responds.

A responding player may:

- Commit one or more units to defend.
- Allow a unit to absorb the Clash without defending.

A defending unit becomes activated after participating in a Clash.

A unit that absorbs the Clash does not become activated.

The decision to defend or absorb must be made before dice are rolled.

Sometimes survival requires fighting back.

Sometimes survival means accepting the damage and waiting for a better opportunity.

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ABSORBING A CLASH

A unit that does not defend still suffers the consequences of the Clash.

The initiating unit rolls normally.

The target does not roll a defending die.

This allows a crew member to preserve its action for later, but risks suffering damage or becoming incapacitated.

A powerful unit may ignore a weaker threat.

A wounded unit may decide that every action matters.

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ACTIVATION

Once a crew member participates in a Clash, it has acted for the round.

A crew member may only act once per round unless a rule specifically allows otherwise.

Being forced to defend is therefore a tactical decision.

A weak creature can threaten something much stronger by forcing it to spend its action responding.

A powerful creature must decide whether removing a threat is worth losing the opportunity to pursue its own objective.

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THE FLOW OF BATTLE

Mortisphere battles are decided through choices.

A player may commit everything into one devastating Clash.

They may spread their forces across several targets.

They may sacrifice weaker members to disrupt a stronger enemy.

They may ignore damage and continue toward an objective.

The dice determine the outcome.

The player decides what risks are worth taking.

In the final age, everything is already lost.

The only question is what is worth losing next.

CLASH RESOLUTION

A Clash is the moment when two or more opposing forces attempt to remove each other from the battlefield.

A Clash may represent:

- A survivor firing an ancient weapon.
- A creature tearing into another organism.
- A machine engaging an enemy according to forgotten commands.
- A Mycelian host overwhelming another being.
- Two impossible entities colliding among the ruins of the final age.

Every Clash is resolved through dice.

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INDIVIDUAL CLASHES

Unless a special rule applies, each crew member resolves its own Clash separately.

The initiating unit rolls its die.

The responding unit rolls its die.

The highest result wins.

The winner deals damage to the loser.

A larger die does not guarantee victory.

A d4 can defeat a d20.

A d20 can still fail.

The universe does not care about probability.

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COMPARING RESULTS

The result of a Clash is determined by the highest rolled value.

Example:

A d6 survivor clashes with a d10 machine.

The survivor rolls:

5

The machine rolls:

3

The survivor wins the Clash and deals damage.

The machine may be more powerful, but it failed in this moment.

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DAMAGE

Winning a Clash reduces the opponent's remaining capability.

A crew member has a number of Health points determined by its profile.

When a unit loses Health, it does not change its die.

A d10 remains a d10.

Instead, its maximum possible roll is reduced.

Each lost Health reduces the unit's maximum roll by 2.

Example:

A d10 creature with 3 Health begins with a maximum roll of 10.

After losing 1 Health:

Maximum roll: 8

After losing 2 Health:

Maximum roll: 6

After losing 3 Health:

Maximum roll: 4

The creature still exists.

It is simply becoming less of what it once was.

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INCAPACITATION

When a crew member reaches 0 Health, it becomes incapacitated.

An incapacitated crew member:

- Cannot initiate Clashes.
- Cannot respond to Clashes.
- Cannot perform objectives.
- Cannot take actions.

They remain incapacitated until the scenario ends.

The final fate of an incapacitated member is determined after the battle.

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THE CAPTAIN

The Captain is different.

The Captain represents the will and identity of the crew.

While other members fall when they reach 0 Health, the Captain may continue fighting at reduced capacity.

The Captain's exact rules are described in the Captain section.

A crew may lose almost everything.

A Captain is expected to continue.

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SWARM CLASHES

Some creatures are dangerous because of numbers rather than individual strength.

When three or more identical dice participate together in a Clash, they may form a Swarm.

A Swarm represents creatures acting as one force:

- Packs.
- Hordes.
- Colonies.
- Coordinated organisms.
- Groups sharing the same purpose.

A Swarm follows special rules and allows several otherwise weak units to threaten greater beings.

However, a Swarm does not make its members invulnerable.

A powerful opponent may still destroy many members of the Swarm before falling.

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MULTIPLE CLASHES

When several units participate in the same Area, each Clash is resolved separately unless a Swarm rule applies.

A player decides how their units divide their attention.

A crew may:

- Concentrate on eliminating one threat.
- Spread damage across several enemies.
- Force valuable enemy units to respond.
- Ignore weaker threats while pursuing objectives.

Every choice changes the battle.

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SURVIVAL

Winning a Clash is not always about destroying the opponent.

Sometimes the purpose is to delay.

Sometimes it is to escape.

Sometimes it is to force a stronger enemy to waste its time.

A small creature does not need to kill a giant to matter.

It only needs to make the giant stop.

AREAS AND OBJECTIVES

Mortisphere does not use a traditional battlefield.

There are no required miniatures, measuring tapes or fixed terrain pieces.

Instead, every conflict is divided into Areas.

An Area represents a significant location within the battle.

It is not a measurement of distance.

It is a place where something important is happening.

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AREAS

A scenario contains a number of Areas.

Most scenarios use between two and five Areas.

An Area may represent:

- A ruined settlement.
- A collapsed industrial complex.
- A forgotten temple of a dead civilization.
- The surface of a dead organism.
- A battlefield among ancient machines.
- A place where something valuable remains.

Each Area has a name and a purpose.

Players record the current Area of each crew member throughout the scenario.

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MOVING BETWEEN AREAS

A crew member may move between Areas by spending an action.

Moving represents the time and effort required to cross the battlefield.

The actual distance does not matter.

A crew member travelling between Areas may be:

- Crossing dangerous terrain.
- Navigating ruins.
- Fighting through hostile environments.
- Moving through collapsing structures.
- Searching for a path through an impossible landscape.

The important question is not how far something is.

The important question is whether it can get there before something changes.

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OCCUPYING AN AREA

Multiple opposing crew members may occupy the same Area.

When opposing forces share an Area, conflict becomes possible.

An Area containing enemies is contested.

A crew may need to:

- Remove enemy forces.
- Protect an objective.
- Move through despite opposition.
- Delay an enemy.
- Complete a task while under threat.

Control of an Area is determined by the scenario.

Some scenarios reward destruction.

Others reward survival.

Others require something far stranger.

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OBJECTIVES

Every scenario contains objectives.

Objectives are the reason the conflict exists.

The goal of a battle is not always to destroy the opposing crew.

In the final age, there are many things worth fighting over.

Objectives may include:

- Recovering a forgotten artifact.
- Activating ancient machinery.
- Protecting a valuable individual.
- Gathering resources.
- Destroying a dangerous entity.
- Reaching a location.
- Surviving until a specific event occurs.

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INTERACTING WITH OBJECTIVES

Interacting with an objective requires an action unless the scenario states otherwise.

A crew member must usually be in the correct Area to interact with an objective.

Examples:

A survivor may spend an action searching a ruined facility.

A machine may spend an action repairing forgotten equipment.

A Mycelian organism may spend an action spreading into a biological resource.

The action spent on an objective is a choice.

Every moment spent completing a task is a moment not spent fighting.

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CONTESTED OBJECTIVES

Many objectives become contested when opposing crews are present.

A crew may begin interacting with an objective only to be interrupted by an enemy.

A powerful creature may dominate a location but fail to complete the task required.

A weaker crew may win by reaching the objective first and surviving long enough to complete it.

Victory does not always belong to the strongest.

Sometimes it belongs to whoever arrives at the right place.

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SCENARIO AREAS

Areas are not merely locations.

They define the story of the conflict.

A battle fought in a dead city should feel different from a battle fought inside an ancient machine or across the remains of something that was once worshipped.

The rules of the Area create the battlefield.

The scenario determines what the Area means.

The crew determines what happens there.

CREW PROFILES

Every member of a crew is unique.

A profile contains everything needed to understand what a crew member is, what it can do and how it contributes to the battle.

A profile is the record of a being's existence.

It describes not only its current capabilities, but also the potential it carries into the future.

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THE PROFILE

Every crew member has a profile containing:

- Name
- Type
- Existence Die
- Health
- Abilities
- Equipment
- Special rules
- Campaign history

Some profiles are simple.

Others describe beings that have existed longer than entire civilizations.

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NAME

Every crew member should have a name.

A name may be:

- Their original identity.
- A designation.
- A title.
- A description given by their crew.
- Something they have chosen themselves.

Names matter because crews remember.

A forgotten survivor is still a survivor.

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TYPE

A crew member's type describes what kind of existence they represent.

Examples include:

- Survivor
- Mycelian
- Machine
- Mutant
- Remnant
- Creature
- Construct

A type may affect:

- Available equipment.
- Abilities.
- How the member interacts with scenarios.
- How the campaign affects them.

The inhabitants of Mortisphere are not divided into simple categories.

Everything that remains has its own history.

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EXISTENCE DIE

The Existence Die is the most important part of a crew member's profile.

It represents the value and potential of that being.

The standard dice are:

Die| Value
d4| 4
d6| 6
d8| 8
d10| 10
d12| 12
d20| 20

The Existence Die determines the cost of recruiting that member and influences its performance in Clashes.

A larger die represents greater potential.

However, potential is not the same as certainty.

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HEALTH

Health represents how much of a being remains functional.

When a crew member loses Health, it does not become a smaller existence.

A damaged d12 remains a d12.

Instead, damage reduces the maximum result the die can produce.

Each lost Health reduces the maximum roll by 2.

A damaged creature is not a different creature.

It is a damaged version of itself.

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ABILITIES

Abilities represent the unusual traits that make a crew member different.

They may come from:

- Biology.
- Construction.
- Origin.
- Equipment.
- Experience.
- Evolution.

Abilities allow creatures to break the normal rules.

A Mycelian host may behave differently from a machine.

An ancient weapon may function differently from a crude blade.

A creature from a dead civilization may possess knowledge nobody else understands.

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EQUIPMENT

Equipment represents the tools, weapons and relics carried by a crew member.

Equipment may include:

- Ancient technology.
- Industrial weapons.
- Biological modifications.
- Forgotten relics.
- Items from civilizations that no longer exist.

Equipment changes what a crew member can do.

It may increase their capabilities, provide new abilities or change how they interact with the battlefield.

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CAMPAIGN HISTORY

A profile is not complete without its history.

During a campaign, record important events:

- Victories.
- Injuries.
- Discoveries.
- Equipment gained.
- Enemies defeated.
- Important failures.

A crew member that survives long enough becomes more than a profile.

It becomes part of the history of Mortisphere.

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NO TWO CREWS ARE THE SAME

Two players may begin with similar crews.

They will not remain similar.

One may lose members and rebuild.

One may discover impossible technology.

One may become stronger through survival.

One may become something entirely different.

The final age does not create legends.

It creates survivors.