ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/frp/grim/grim3.1a

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Article 20463 of rec.games.frp:
Path: pitt!dsl.pitt.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!cd1i+
>From: [e-mail] (Christopher Bradley Devlin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: GrimRules 3.1 Part 1
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 25 Apr 90 10:04:48 GMT
Organization: Class of '92, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 641

Here it is, folks - GrimRules 3.1 (I'm finially getting into updated versions
instead of completely rewritten ones... :-)

This installment of GrimRules comes in three parts:  Part 1 (Characters),
Part 2 (Game Rules), and GrimTables.  There have been numerous minor
changes made to each part, and some clarifications on how the rules really
work have been added.  Major changes were made to the sections on Technology
and Magic (the introduction of Tech and Magic Level, and an increase in the
difficulty of casting powerful spells.)

I'd like to thank everybody who helped me out with suggestions on how to
improve (well, OK, fix :-) GrimRules.  Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted
the file I was keeping all your names in... so, if you see one of your
suggestions implemented here, drop me another message and I'll post a "Thanks
To" message and include everybody in the next update.  OK?

As usual, comments and suggestions are more than welcome; please email them
to [e-mail], NOT to [e-mail].  I am currently
mailing from a friend's account because part of our system (my part!) is
down, but it
should be back up again in a day or so.

Finally (thought there'd never be an end to this, eh?) I am currently working
on Part 3 of the rules, which details the history of Cynosure, the way things
work there, and gives lots and lots of info on the characters from the comic
book (Including John himself.)  So, I'm soliciting input from whoever is
willing
to offer it, of whatever type - NPC stats, notes on the legal and social
systems
of Cynosure, etc.  Once _that_ gets done, I'll be working on an adventure for
the system (The Manx Cat, of course!), and then a DemonWars supplement
detailing
your favorite horrors from Hell and how to kill 'em.

Thanks again!
-Samrobb
[e-mail]
-"True friends never die."  Katman Du in GJ #72
-Corrolary:  Neither do true enemies...

-----------------------------------------------

GrimRules Version 3.1
Part I - Characters

[Copyright 1989 by Samuel Joseph Robb.  All rights reserved. Cynosure,
Grimjack~, et al Copyright ~ 1989 First Publishing, Inc.]

1  INTRODUCTION
    1.1  Game  Mechanics
2  CHARACTERS
    2.1  Attributes
        2.1.1  Attributes Effects
    2.2  Races
    2.3  Skills
        2.3.1  Default Skills
        2.3.2  Bought Skills
        2.3.3  Maximum Skill
        2.3.4  Learning Curves
3  SKILL LISTS
    3.1  Attribute  Related Skills
        3.1.1  STRENGTH
        3.1.2  AGILITY
        3.1.3  DEXTERITY
        3.1.4  HEALTH
        3.1.5  INTELLIGENCE
        3.1.6  PERCEPTION
        3.1.7  MAGICAL APTITUDE
        3.1.8  MECHANICAL APTITUDE
    3.2  Non-attribute Related Skills
        3.2.1  Physical
        3.2.2  Mental
    3.3  Class Skills
    3.4  Related Skills
    3.5  Interrelated Skills
    3.6  Experience
4  EQUIPMENT
    4.1  Money
    4.2  Weapons
    4.3  Armor
    4.4  Misc. Equipment
5  MISC INFO
    5.1  Movement
    5.2  Languages

1  INTRODUCTION
    "Cynosure.  Sweet, cynical Cynosure - where the dimensions meet.  Magic
works here, science works there.  Swords work everywhere."

    "GrimRules" is set in the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure, a place
where hundreds of dimensions coexist side by side - cross the street,
and reality changes.   Many dimensions are 'stable' as they relate to
Cynosure, while others move into and out of phase with the city.
Dimensional 'gates' can exist anywhere in the city - in back alleys,
abandoned buildings, in the offices of the Beta-Marhuk Megacorporation;
they can even be created spontaneously by the release of large amounts
of energy in a small area...  The sentients that inhabit the city are
often as weird as the dimensions they come from, and life in Cynosure
does tend to be interesting, to say the least...

    GrimRules is designed to let you have fun in the incredible City of
Cyn.  The rules are set up so that they can handle a multitude of
situations, from fixing an interstellar transport to calling up Demons
to a barroom brawl.  The best things about the rules, though, is that
they are yours to tinker, play with, and ignore, if that's what you feel
is necessary for your game.

    As for source materials - anyone who's read Neuromancer,  Count Zero or
Burning Chrome by William Gibson will know the type of atmosphere these
rules are intended to present.  Any of Jack L. Chalker's Well World
books, or the Soul Rider series, will give you a good idea about mixing
technology with magic.  And finally (and most importantly) there is
First comic's Grimjack~  - which is where I got the idea for all this in
the first place.

1.1  Game Mechanics
    To play GrimRules, you'll need at least two ten sided dice (more is
better; it's best that every player have a pair) and the standard
pen/pencil, paper, and imagination combo.

    In almost all cases, the lower the roll of the dice, the better.  This
applies mostly to skill success rolls and rolls against attributes.  If
you roll against a skill, or roll against an attribute,  you are
successful if your d% roll is less than or equal to your skill or
attribute.  Modifiers are applied to your chance of success, NOT to your
dice roll.  For example, a character  has a skill of 50% with Swimming,
and decides to take a dip in a turbulent river.  The GM determines that
he's at -25% chance of success, which means his chance of safely
negotiating the river is (50% - 25% = 25%.)  If he rolls less than or
equal to 25% on d%, then he'll be successful.

    Also, any character can perform any normal, simple skill successfully,
given enough time.  Exactly how much time is up to the GM.    However,
if there is any sort of negative modifier to the chance of success, the
player should have to make a roll against his/her character's skill to
see if their character is successful.

    As an example, consider programming a computer.  A normal character
with minimum experience with that skill could program a computer to do a
normal, simple task, given enough time (say, 2 hours.)  On the other
hand, if the job had to be done in 10 minutes, or if the program was
anything complex or difficult, there would be some sort of negative
modifier, and the player would have to roll against his/her character's
skill to see if the job was completed successfully.

2  CHARACTERS
    Players are allowed to create whatever characters they can within the
constraints of the rules.  If you want a six armed Martian Acrobat, you
can do it.  The GM has final say in the matter, though, and may decide
to prevent characters from taking certain skills.

2.1  Attributes
    All characters begin with a score of 40 in each attribute, and 100
"attribute points" to assign as they wish.  An attribute may be lowered
by one or more points (which gives an additional "attribute points"on a
one-for-one basis) or raised by one or more points (which costs
"attribute points" on a one- for-one basis.)  For example, a player
could decide to lower his/her character's STR by 10 points; this gives
an additional 10 "attribute points".

2.1.1  Attributes Effects
Physical:
STRENGTH (STR): Physical strength.  +1 point of damage with an HTH
    attack per 10 points, rounded down.
AGILITY (AGL): Affects whole-body movement.  -5% on opponents chance to
    hit with an HTH attack per 10 points, rounded down.
MANUAL DEXTERITY (DEX): +5% to hit with an HTH attack per 10 points,
    rounded down.
HEALTH (HT): the amount of damage the character can take before dying.
    Your Healing Factor (HF) is Health/10, rounded UP.  HF determines
    how fast you recover from injuries.

Mental:
INTELLIGENCE (INT): Mostly conventional knowledge, but also includes
    street-smarts, common sense, etc.
PERCEPTION (PER): How well you notice what's going on around you, and
    how you see the world.
MAGICAL APTITUDE (MAG):  Determines magical ability, and your chance of
    success in using spells.
MECHANICAL APTITUDE (MEC):  How well you work with equipment (from
    low to high tech).

2.2  Races
    Players can create non-human characters by selecting certain "skills"
when generating their character (see the note following the listing of
non-attribute based skills.)

2.3  Skills
    GrimRules is a percentile based system.  Skills are measured as
percentages, though they can exceed 100%.  There are two types of
skills, default skills and bought skills.

2.3.1  Default Skills
    Default skills are determined by a character's attributes; all default
skills are ATTRIBUTE/5, rounded up.  STR related skills default to
STR/5, DEX related skills default to DEX/5, etc.  Default skills are
automatic - your character "knows" how to do them without any formal
training.  They are a combination of natural skill and limited
experience.

2.3.2  Bought Skills
    Bought skills, on the other hand, are skills a character has increased
beyond the default level of ATTRIBUTE/5.  An initially generated
character has a number of "skill points" that he/she/it may use to
increase skills beyond default level; one "skill point" must be spent to
increase a skill by one point.  The number of "skill points" is
determined by (3xMAIN ATTRIBUTE) plus (SUM OF OTHER ATTRIBUTES).  The
MAIN ATTRIBUTE may be designated by the player; however, 50% of the
character's initial "skill points" must go into skills related to this
attribute (for example, if a player selects DEX as his/her MAIN
ATTRIBUTE, then 50% of the character's skill points must go towards
increasing DEX based skills.)  Interrelated skills count towards this
requirement.  Skills can be increased to any level desired by the
player. Remember that you are building on your default skills; so, if
you have a default skill of 10 with Lying, then you only have to spend
10 "skill points" to get a skill of 20 with Lying.

2.3.3  Maximum Skill
    The maximum ability a character  may  have  with a  skill  is (2 x
ATTRIBUTE), where ATTRIBUTE  is the attribute that the skill is based
upon.  For example, a character with a DEX of 40 has a maximum skill of
80 with any DEX based skill.  If a character's attributes increase, the
maximum ability with skills relating to that attribute also increase.

2.3.4  Learning Curves
    After you generate your character's attribute scores, it's important to
know what his/her/its "learning curves" are - how fast your character is
going to be able to pick up certain skills. Take your character's
INITIAL STRENGTH and divide it by 20, rounding up.  This number is the
MAXIMUM number of points that the character can increase a STRENGTH
related skill by during any one-week period of game time after the
character has been created and initial skill levels assigned.  For
example, if your character had an initial STR of 80, they could increase
any STR related skill by up to four points during any one week of game
time, while a whimp with an initial STR of 20 couldn't increase
his/her/its STR related skills by more than one point at a time.  NB:
Learning curve restrictions do not apply in initial character
generation, only to skill increases afterwards.  Multiple point
increases to skills may either be gained ~all at once~, or be spread out
over the week in which they are gained (depending on the GM and how much
bookkeeping he/she/it~s willing to do.)

    Now, repeat the "learning curve" calculation for the other attributes -
AGL, DEX, HT, PER, INT, MAG and MEC.  These are your "learning curves"
for skills in these areas.  YOUR "LEARNING CURVES" DO NOT CHANGE, EVEN
IF AN ATTRIBUTE IS INCREASED!

3  SKILL LISTS
    These lists are by no means comprehensive.  GM's and players  should
create skills to suit their game and their characters.  Most skills are
presented with only a brief description; it is up to the GM to determine
what skills and penalties are needed for a particular character action.

3.1  Attribute Related Skills
    These skills were described in section 2.3, and follow the rules given there.

3.1.1  STRENGTH
    Garotte -  victim must roll vs. current Health (HT) or loose
        consciousness
    Mace: Club, Morning Star
    Martial Kick
    Martial Punch
    Staff: Quarterstaff, Sap
    Sword: Small, Medium
    Sword:  Huge
    Weightlifting - characters can lift 1 kg per point of STR; a
        successful roll can double this.

3.1.2  AGILITY
    Acrobatics
    Climbing (STR)
    Dancing
    Dodge - doubles AGL bonus vs HTH attacks in following round
    Florentine - fight with a weapon in each hand
    Jumping (STR) - characters can jump around 2m from a standing
        start, 5m from a running start; a successful roll can double
        this.
    Martial Throw  - if successful, target must roll vs. current HT or be
        stunned  and prone for 2 sec.
    MoveSilent (PER)
    Prone Fighting - no penalty to hit; Dodge is impossible
    Riding
    Wrestling (STR) - immobilizes opponent

3.1.3  DEXTERITY
    Bow: Crossbow
    Dagger: Knife
    Lockpicking - couple with Electronics to disarm hightech locks
    Painting (PER)
    Pickpocket
    Pistol: Small Cal, Large Cal
    Rapier: Foil
    Rifle: Small Cal, Large Cal
    Sculpture (PER)
    Shotgun
    SMG
    Stone: other similar objects (bottles, etc)
    Thrown Dagger: Knife
    Whip: Chain

3.1.4  HEALTH
    Drinking
    Endurance - can remain awake & active w/o penalty for up to 24
        hours
    Interrogation Resistance
    Running
    Sport (Class Skill)
    Survival (Class Skill; PER, INT) - survival techniques for hostile
        environments (space, desert, mountains, tundra, etc.)
    Swimming

3.1.5  INTELLIGENCE:
    Acting
    Appraising (PER) - appraise items to determine value
    Computer - programming & use
    Contacts (Class Skill) - each contact is an individual with some
        particular  area of expertise (for example, a Megacorp exec, a
        mercenary, an informer, etc.)
    Demolitions
    Disguise (PER)
    FastTalk
    Fencing (PER) - illegally sell items
    First Aid - will halt HT loss, stabilize at negative HT; allows
        healing at "Non-professional Aid" level.
    Gambling (PER)
    GDK - General Dimensional Knowledge; a knowledge of many known
        dimensions, their peculiarities, features, etc.
3.15  INTELLIGENCE (cont.)
    History - general knowledge of historical trends & patterns
    Insults (PER)
    Interrogation (PER)
    Intimidation
    Language (Class Skill) -written and verbal usage
    Memorization - allows simple recall of complex  facts, etc.
    Military - general knowledge of military  units and tactics
    Physician (Class Skill; PER) - allows healing at "Professional Aid"
        level
    Politics - general knowledge of many political systems
    Psychological (PER)
    Religious - general knowledge of many  religions
    Social - how  to interact and get along with many different races
    Trade

3.1.6  PERCEPTION
    BlindFighting - fight in darkness at no penalty
    Bragging
    Bribery
    ConArtist (INT)
    Evasion (AGL)
    Hiding (INT)
    Lying
    Sentry - opposite of Hiding
    Singing
    Tailing (AGL)

3.1.7  MAGICAL APTITUDE
    Alchemy (INT)
    Charm (LM, M & HM)
    Cognative Magic (M, HM)
    Combat (LM, M & HM)
    Combined Spells (PER) - allows the caster to combine multiple
        spell    effects into one single spell.
    Contagion Magic (LM, M, HM)
    Demonology (INT)
    Divination (LM, M & HM)
    Elemental (Air, Earth, Fire, Water) (M & LM)
    Enchantment (LM, M & HM)
    Illusion (LM, M & HM)
    Item Analysis (PER) - for magical properties
    Spell Recognition (PER) - general type & nature only
3.17  MAGICAL APTITUDE (cont.)
    Spell Analysis (PER) - detailed info after Spell Recog succeeds
    Magic Analysis (PER) - of a dimension or area
    Necromancy (M & HM)
    Planar (HM)
    Protection (LM, M, HM)
    Spiritology (INT)
    Summoning/Binding (M & HM)
    Sympathetic Magic (LM, M, HM)
    Tantric Magic (LM, M, HM)

3.1.8  MECHANICAL APTITUDE
    Computational Systems (T & HT) (INT, PER)
    Chemical (T & HT) (INT)
    Civil (all) (INT)
    Electronics (T & HT) (INT, PER)
    Materials (all) (INT)
    Mathematics (T & HT) (INT, PER)
    Mechanics (all) (INT, PER)
    Physics (T & HT) (INT, PER)
    Specific Equipment (Class Skill)
    Weaponry (all) (INT)

    MEC skills have two modifiers:  LowTech, Tech, or HighTech, and Usage,
Repair, and Construction.  (EX:  LowTech Mechanics Construction is NOT
the same as Tech Mechanics Construction.)  Specific Equipment is a Class
Skill, and includes Usage, Repair and Construction.

3.2  Non-attribute Related Skills
    These skills were mentioned in section 2.2, and are separated into two
categories, Physical and Mental.  They do not default to any attribute,
can only be selected when a character is initially generated, and may
not be increased.  Players interested in a nonhuman character should
examine the Physical skills; those interested in having a different
mental outlook should examine the Mental skills.  Points spent on these
skills are activation rolls, and are subject to normal skill success
evaluation - for example, using Enhanced Hearing in a relatively
peaceful setting is automatically successful; using it while you have
lead flying at you is less certain, and requires a skill success roll.

3.2.1  Physical
    Chameleon Ability
    ~Cold Resistance
    Damage Resistance - remains conscious at negative HT scores if
    activation roll is made
    ~Disease Resistance
    ~Electrical Resistance
    #Enhanced Hearing - infra or ultrasonic
    #Enhanced Vision - IR, UV, or Lowlight (colorblind in extended range)
    Extra Limb(s) - prehensile tail, pair of extra arms or legs, tentacles,
        etc.      Unless skill is 100% or better, the limb(s) will be
        impaired and a roll must be     made every time they are used.
    ~Fire Resistance
    Flying -  move rate while flying is 200 meters per minute, while
        walking is 50 meters per minute.
    Healing - fast recovery; HF is (100% + skill%) times normal
    ~Magic Resistance
    Natural Armor - no activation roll; 1 point = 1/2% effective
        protection
    Natural Attack - claws, talons, bite, etc.  Damage base is 2d10.
    Poison Natural Attack - paralysis (lasts 1 min/5 points), or
        venomous     (1 point of damage per second for 1 second per
        point of skill.)
    ~Poison Resistance
    ~Radiation Resistance
    Swimming - move rate while swimming is 200 meters per minute,
        while walking is 50 meters per minute.

~:  Resistances (Poison, Radiation, Fire, Magic, etc.) give 1/2 damage
if the activation roll is successful.  If the resistance is greater than
100%, a successful activation roll at -100% to chance of success
indicates no damage.

#:  Non-attribute related skills (Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Vision,
etc) that have more than one option (ex, Enhanced Hearing - Ultrasonic
and Enhanced Hearing - Subsonic) count as two separate skills.

3.2.2  Mental
    Cryokinesis - PSI (attack); lower temperature of an object by 1
        degree C per second.  Maximum decrease is 1 degree C per
        point, range is 1 meter per 30 points.
    Danger Sense - similar to Sixth Sense, but more specialized; keeps
        character from being surprised in combat.
    Direction Sense
    Empathy - PSI (attack); you receive emotions.  Range is 1 meters per
        5 points.
    Levitation - PSI (neutral); applies to self only, plus 5% of body
        weight added weight.  Rise or descend 1 meter per second, for
        a maximum of 1 second per 10 points.
    Lifesense - PSI (attack); monitors lifeforce of living beings within 1
        meter  per  5 points.
    Mindburn - PSI (attack);  stuns victim for 1 second per 10 points.
        Range is 1 meter per 30 points.
    Mindprobe - PSI (attack); retrieves specific information instantly.
        Range is 1 meter per 20 points.
    Mindshield - PSI (defense vs. Empathy & Lifesense)
    Mindwall - PSI (defense vs. Telepathy)
    Mindweb - PSI (defense vs. Mindprobe)
    Pyrokinesis - PSI (attack); raise temperatures of an object by 1
        degree C per second.  Maximum increase is 1 degree C per
        point, range is 1 meter per 30 points.
    Reflecting Shield - PSI (defense vs. Mindburn)
    Second Sight - see auras
    Sixth Sense - unusual intuition about people, places and things.
    Telekinesis - PSI (attack); move objects by  mind power.  Range is 1
        meter  per 20 points; maximum weight is 10 grams per point.
    Telepathy - PSI (attack); 2-way communication.  Range is 1 meter
        per 10 points.
    Teleportation - PSI (neutral); applies to self only, plus 5% of body
        weight added weight.  Maximum range is 1 meter per point.

    PSI defenses activate immediately when an attack is sensed, as an
semiconscious reflex action; they may be voluntarily negated  through an
act of will.  A PSI defense acts as a penalty on a PSI attack's chance
of success.  For example, an NPC with Mindprobe 80% trying to extract
information from a  character with Mindweb 50% would have a -50% chance
of success.

3.3  Class Skills
    Though similar, each of these skills is separate and distinct from the
others, and must be learned that way - languages, sports, medical
skills, etc. all fall into the category of Class skills.

3.4  Related Skills
    These are skills that are similar enough to each other that there is
essentially no difference between the two.  Examples include "Sword:
Small, Medium" and "Rapier: Foil".  For example, a character who had
skill with a Small Sword could use a Medium Sword in essentially the
same manner and with the same effect (at the same skill level); however,
Huge Sword is a separate skill, and would have to be learned separately.

3.5  Interrelated Skills
    Interrelated skills are those that relate to more that one attribute
(for example, Disguise relates both to INT and PER.)  For these skills,
default skill is (ATTRIB1 + ATTRIB2)/5; the learning curve for that
skill is the sum of the individual learning curves; and the maximum
skill possible is two times the lower of the two attributes.

3.6  Experience
    At the beginning of each gaming session, starting with the second, the
GM will hand out skill points for you to use or abuse as you see fit.
They can be awarded in a certain areas (ie, Magic or Misc only) or
certain skills (ie, Tech Repair or Demolitions) depending on which
skills your character used the most the previous session.  General
awards of "OK, your character has ten skill points" can also be given,
but should be rarer, reserved for when the character has done something
significant towards accomplishing a goal.  Your skill points can be used
to increase your expertise with various skills.  They may also be used
to increase you attributes; for each skill point used in this fashion,
you may increase any one attribute by 1 point.  Only generally awarded
skill points may be used to increase attributes; skill points awarded in
a specific skill area can only be used to increase skills in that area.

    As a guide, any skill used consistently and successfully should be
awarded an increase of  1 or 2 points.  General skill points should be
given by the GM as a bonus for good role playing, accomplishing a given
task or achieving a certain goal, or surviving a night out with the boys
at Munden's Bar, etc.

    EX:  After singlehandedly saving the Multiverse and Life As We Know It
from the fearsome Renegade Time Kittens From Hell And Beyond, my
character, Lord Flatulence the Inept, receives the following skill point
awards:
    +2 points in Shotgun, +1 point in Dagger, +3 points in Self-Delusion
and +15 general points, just because he's such a nice guy.  He tacks the
2 points from Weapons onto his Shotgun skill, which was originally 15,
so now he's got a Shotgun skill of 17.  Similarly, his skill with Dagger
increases from 18 to 19 and Self-Delusion from 98 to 101.  Finally, he
decides to use his 10 of his 15 general points to increase his Health
from  10 to 20, and the other 5 points to increase his Intelligence from
1 to 6.

4  EQUIPMENT
    Equipment of any sort can be found in Cynosure.  Aardvarks, Light
Infantry Units, Zeshiril Dream Lube - you name it, somebody out there's
got it.  Of course, they might not be willing to sell it to you; if
that's the case, see the section on Combat.

4.1  Money
    The monetary unit throughout Cynosure is the credit (1 credit is
approximately equal to $1 for game purposes).  Also, the monetary system
is decimal - so 1 centicred (the lowest denomination) is 1/100th of a
cred, 1 decicred is 1/10th of a cred, a dekacred is 10cr, a hectocred is
100cr, and a kilocred (the largest denomination) is 1000cr.  At the
start of the game, you will have 500 cr to your name in cold, hard cash.
 Spend it wisely.

4.2  Weapons
    Table 1 lists most common weapons, along with cost, range, damage done,
and any special notes.  GM's interested in creating their own weapons
should compare their effects with those listed, and then decide on
range, damage, etc.  A handgun has a load capacity of 15 rounds; larger
weapons have a 30 round magazine.  Energy weapons hooked up to a large,
continuous power source can effectively fire forever.

4.3  Armor
    Table 2 lists the percentage protection given by wearing various types
of armor.
    Armor works in the following manner:  each piece worn has a certain %
protection (ie, leather headgear gives 3% protection, a copper
breastplate 10% protection, etc.)  These percentages are totaled for all
armor worn, giving an effective % protection.  When you are hit in
combat, this is the percentage chance that your armor was effective in
stopping part of the blow.  If you armor was effective in stopping the
blow, the normal damage is multiplied by your armor's d.m. to obtain the
actual damage done.

    The damage modifier (d.m.) is determined by  the type of armor worn.
Leather armor gives a d.m. of 90%;  copper armor, a d.m. of 85%;  bronze
armor, a d.m. of 80%;  iron armor, a d.m. of 70%; iron alloy armor, a
d.m. of 60%;  and hightech alloys, a d.m. of 50%.  If mixed armor is
worn, the d.m. is the weighted average of the d.m.'s of the pieces.  For
example, an iron breastplate, a pair of leather bracers, and copper
leggings would give

[(1 x 70%) + (2 x 90%) + (2 x 85%)]/(1 + 2 + 2)

or ( after some simple math) a d.m. of 84%.

    EX:  Lord Flatulence the Inept, after being assaulted by street
urchins, decides he needs a little something to keep him more alive than
dead in combat; so he goes into his attic and scrounges up a few family
heirlooms - an iron breastplate, a pair of leather bracers for his
forearms, and some copper leggings.  His effective % protection, with
all this junk on, is 19% (15% for the iron breastplate, 1% for the
leather bracers and 4% for the copper leggings).   The d.m. for his
armor is (hey, we already figured it out!) 84%.  If Lord Flatulence was
hit in combat by, say, Grimjack~ for a mere 95 points of damage, there
is a 19% chance his pitiful armor would absorb part of the damage and
that he would only take 84% x 95%  = 80 points of damage.  As far as
Lord Flatulence is concerned, this is all academic, since he only had an
HT score of 20; but for you stronger types, it could have  meant the
difference between life and (shall I say it? YES! <gasp!>) death.

4.4  Misc. Equipment
    Table 3 lists some common misc. equipment and services, along with
their costs and any special notes.  GMs and players are highly
encouraged to create their own devices, equipment, specialists, drinks,
etc.  My own game has seen players looking for camcorders, furniture,
and an exorcist.  Create!

5  MISC INFO
    This is the kind of stuff that you~ll eventually need to know sometime,
but which really doesn~t mean much until then...

5.1  Movement
    Move base for any character is 100m/min walking.  Modifiers are: Fast
walk, x2;  Run, x4;  Sprinting, x5.  You can typically walk all day,
keep up a fast walk for up to an hour, run for 30 minutes at a time, and
sprint for up to 30 seconds.  Somebody with running skill can try to
run/sprint for twice as long (-25%) or three times as long (-75%).  If
you try to run/sprint twice as long, etc. and fail your roll, you can
still do it - but will collapse when you're finished for a number of
minutes equal to (100-Current HT).  If you "collapse" after running, you
can still move, fight, etc., but your maximum move will 50m/min for the
stated time.  If you "collapse" after sprinting, you are unable to do
ANYTHING except pant for a number of minutes equal to the time you
sprinted, then you are able to move at 50m/min for the remainder of the
stated time.

    (NB:  For combat situations, where action takes place in 0.1 second
segments, a walking pace covers ~0.15 m/segment,  a fast walk ~0.3
m/segment,  a run ~0.7 m/segment, and a sprint ~0.8 m/segment.)

5.2  Languages
    You can assume your character will know at least two languages when you
begin playing - one native language (from his/her/its home dimension)
and the Trade Language of Cynosure (which, not surprisingly, happens to
be English, since that's what we happen to speak).  Your character has
both language skills, free & gratis, at 100%.  If you want your
character to know additional languages, they can be taken as INT skills.