7th Sea Mechanics

[Leitz]

Heroes have 5 traits, all of which are used in combat. PC traits run from 1-3, but can go to 0, or eventually 6-ish (or more). A trait of 1 is an average person.
Brawn Strength and Endurance. Adds to HTH damage.
Finesse Coordination and Agility. Used for attack.
Resolve Willpower, and how many Dramatic Wounds the character can take.
Wits How quickly the hero can think on their feet. Active Defense.
Panache What sets heroes apart from Jo average, number of actions per round.

Chargen (to be described later) is based on points. You can raise your stats, buy skills, improve/buy knacks (subskills), or purchase advantages like "Noble", "Ordained", or "Appearance".

All dice are d10, and you need to use the underscore "_" in your macro since each die can be significant.
There are two types of roll: Simple and Contested. For a Simple roll, the player states the action desired, the DM sets a Target Number (TN), and the player must roll that number or above. For a Contested roll, against another character, the TN is 5 + (Other Character's relevant stat * 5). So the TN against a 2 Brawn character is 15 (5 + (2 * 5)).

Many rolls are "Trait Plus Knack, Keep Trait". This is where the phrase "Roll and Keep" comes from. Let's say you have the Medic skill at 1, and your Wits are 2. To bandage someone up, you would roll _3d10, and keep 2. You roll the total, and keep the number equal to your trait.

Dice "explode". If you roll _3d10, and one of them is a 10, then you roll another d10, and add that to the exploded dice. That roll counts as a single die. For example, you roll 1, 4, and 10. For the exploding die, you roll a 5. So your three dice are 1, 4, and 15, and you can keep two of them. Keeping the highest is usually the plan, so on two dice you score a 19. A die can explode any number of times, as long as a 10 is rolled.

Raises. This is a game of flair and style, so you can take a "raise", which makes your TN harder to achieve. If you need a 10 to hit the noble lady's surly guard, you can "take a raise", and try for a 15 because you want to pause the swordplay to bow to the lady and say something seductively attention getting. You could take two raises, and kiss her hand in an almost chaste manner. Think of those over the top pirate or hero movies, and you'll get the idea.

Drama Dice. You begin the game with a number of drama dice equal to your lowest trait. Once you roll something, but before the DM declares the results, you can spend one of your drama dice to roll another d10 and add it to your roll. As above, if you really needed to make that medic roll, you would roll your 3 dice, keep 2, and then roll a drama dice and add it to the 2, letting you keep 3 dice total. You can choose to do over the top actions to earn a Drama Dice. Like kiss the Lady above, etc.

Rounds and Phases. There are 10 phases in each round. Each character in an action rolls 1d10 for each point of Panache. These dice do not explode, and this is one of the few times you want to roll low. Total your score, and keep them separate. The DM will begin counting at 1, and go up. Those who act in that phase go. If there are ties, the character with the highest total score goes first.

Attacks and Defense. The attacker must roll vs the defender's TN, which is usually 5 + ( 5 * Defense Knack). If the defender has a Footwork knack of 3, then the attacker must roll a 20 (5 + (5* 3)). The defense knacks are Footwork, Parry(specific weapon), Balance (on an unstable surface, like a moving ship), Swinging (on a rope), or Leaping (from hither to yon).

Damage Values. Weapons have a Damage rating, for example, a Fencing Sword is 2k2. That means you roll your Brawn + 2 dice, and of those, keep 2.

Wounds. Two types, Flesh Wounds and Dramatic wounds. When you are wounded, they are Flesh Wounds. You keep track of them, and each time you're hit you roll vs Brawn. If you roll less than the current number of Flesh Wounds, your Flesh Wound count goes to 0 but you take a Dramatic Wound. If you have taken a number of Dramatic Wounds equal to your Resolve, your dice (except for Drama dice) do not explode. When you have Dramatic Wounds equal to 2 times your Resolve, you are knocked out. Depending on the type of weapon (firearm or not), if you roll significantly less than your Flesh Wound count, you can take more than one Dramatic Wound at a time.

Unskilled Rolles. If you have no skill in something, the TN is raised by 5, and your dice do not explode. If you have a 0 in a Knack, you have no additional dice, but you don't suffer the unskilled penalty.