Last updated: 08 May, 2001

Circles is loosely inspired by several freeforms.

Doing Stuff

Common sense and drama always take precedence over anything else in these rules. If it doesn't make sense, ignore it. If it would be dramatically appropriate to follow a particular path, run with it!

Doing stuff is achieved using a Scissors Paper Stone challenge (usually just "challenge") and is graded as follows:

• Easy: Automatic success.
• Simple: You succeed if you tie.
• Difficult: You lose on a tie.
• Impossible: Can't be done without an ability of some sort.

Feel free to play around with the challenges - for example, two Difficult challenges might be required for something really hard, but not actually impossible. Character abilities will also affect challenges.

Abilities

Abilities let you do amazing stuff.

• One-Shots are powerful abilities that allow you to do something fantastic. They have only one use and you may not have more than one at a time. The only time you can get another One-Shot is when you achieve one of your goals.
• Temporaries also let you do strange stuff, but they aren't as impressive as One-Shots. They also have only one use. New Temporaries can be gained with Rewards. One way of thinking of Temporary Abilities is as automatic successes at something.
• Permanents are skills or natural abilities and may be used as many times as you wish. You can get new Permanents by completing your character's goals.

Combat

Melee combat is done by challenging your opponent. If you win, you do damage according to your weapon. If you lose, you take damage according to their weapon. If you tie then you either each take half damage (round down) or the fight continues with no advantage to either side. (The GM decides.)

If you want to do something slightly strange in combat, then the GM will decide how to resolve that. It may require an additional challenge - and normally you will still need to dodge any incoming blows.

(An example - if your weapon is holstered you will need to spend a moment to draw it. In that time you will have to dodge if your opponent is cowardly enough to strike before you are ready.)

Ranged combat is conducted as a normal challenge as above. All ranged combat is initially Difficult. (If you want to use a gun in both hands, you must make a challenge for each gun - but the difficulty is increased by one level.)

Skirmishes

Often a melee has several combatants on each side. Such skirmishes are resolved in two steps.

• Everyone simultaneously decides who they are attacking. One way of doing this: Ask all the combatants to make a challenge. However, instead of challenging normally (ie, they declare scissors, paper or stone) they should instead point at their target in the attack.
• Everyone then makes a single combat challenge. This then counts for all resolutions for this turn of combat - you defend and attack on the same result. However, you only inflict damage on the person you are attacking - if you succeed against someone else you merely parry their blow.

If you have enough players then those not involved can do the challenges for any background characters. Otherwise you will have to determine their choices.

Wounds

There are two ways of dealing with wounds and damage in combat.

First, go with whatever seems appropriate. Get your players to describe what they're trying to do - and simply determine whether they fail or succeed. Use your common sense and a sense of the dramatic, and go for it. (If you use this method you'll find that you'll have to bend some of the abilities - for example Lucky Hit won't do an extra "point" of damage, but it will do more than the character might otherwise have expected.)

Second, use the hit point method. Everyone has six hits. (At least, normal people have six hits.) If you take three wounds, you are injured. You cannot initiate combat (although you can defend yourself) and you always lose on a tie. If you take five wounds you fall unconscious. If you take six wounds you die - unless you receive some sort of treatment in the next few minutes.

Armour makes you harder to kill, and gives you extra wounds.

Typical weapons:

• Fist: one wound
• Club: two wounds
• Knife: two wounds
• Sword: three wounds
• Bow: two wounds
• Pistol: three wounds
• Rifle: four wounds

Rewards

There are rewards for behaving valiantly, solving your problems, and achieving your goals.

• Each session: At the end of any session, each player usually gets a Temporary. This can either be randomly chosen, or can be used to replenish one of the Temporaries on your character sheet. If a character gets Temporaries at a reduced rate during character generation (for example, a character with the Surgeon ability) then they can replenish their Temporaries at that rate.
• Good roleplaying: Good roleplaying should be rewarded with a random (or replenished) Temporary.
• Achieving Your Goals: If you achieve one of your goals, two things can happen. First, you can choose another One Shot, if you have already used yours. Second, you can either choose a new Permanent or Temporary. If you choose a Temporary, add it to your character sheet - you can replenish it later.