Units, Special Units, and Ultimate Units
Units are primarily the tools of the Story Guide. There are three basic types of Units mechanically, these include units, special units, and ultimate units. Units also have Categories and Classes. Categories tend to be biological separations and Classes note tactical cooperation or difficulty.
Facing Mortality
High Stakes makes combat intense. Nearly every fight is a fight to the death, a fight to stay alive. There is also the other side of the coin. The power game fantasy where the enemies go down easy because the character is just that guy. Making their way through the villains compound one quick fight after another.
Categories
Adversaries
When we look at the game from a purely mechanical perspective, our enemies have hit points and other stats. On a whiteboard the bigger sword wins most times with the dice being the only chance for the underdog in most situations. The fight scene regardless of how powerful your players are or the foes they face mechanically, can feel like a struggle with good use of the environment and tactical potential.
Running Units
Unlike characters, Units follow an Tactical Action Pattern (TAP). As a Story Guide you’re not required to follow these suggested patterns, but should at least use them as a guideline for how many actions in a full round the unit may take. Tactical Action Patterns tend to have conditions stated as well. Avor Stalker Snatchers for one behave a specific way due to their nature.
Difficulty Ratings
Difficulty is simple. It is a total level. For instance, your group of five is level two, the group’s difficulty is ten. Your party has three level fives, their difficulty rating is fifteen. Just add up all the levels of the characters on each side. If difficulty is close to even, it’s a relatively fair match. Their are outliers to this rule, but we work with this formula in development to create an easy slider during prep.
As for notes, difficulty ratings can also be misleading when combined with complex environments, home turf advantages can exponentially complicate an otherwise easy match up for the party.
When it comes to determining experience, an easy fight should be worth an experience point, or if it is too easy, maybe nothing. An evenly matched difficulty rating to party level should boast three or four experience points. Any match up with a difficulty ten or higher than the party should wipe the floor with them whatever outcome you choose. I would give them the full 10 experience for their level. The conditions of victory in those cases may be complex or nearly impossible. I wish your table the best of luck!
