Scenes

Scenes are different sections of gameplay within a Chimera game session. A Scene is defined by the kind of actions taken and the goals of the players and/or GM. There are six main types of scenes: Combat, Social, Travel, Stealth, Chase, and Montage. Scenes exist to organize and to create different kinds of challenges for the players to cooperatively engage with and solve.

Magic Users and Scenes

GMs, please make note of which players decide to take Magical Abilities as this will affect how they regain energy; these players will need to know when scenes end.

Magic Users, or a player character that is able to use magic due to their abilities, does not regain Energy when they rest. Instead, magic users regain two energy every day interval, four energy every night interval, and additional one energy after every scene.

Universal Actions and Turns

Each major scene uses the same kinds of checks and actions. This allows for each scene to seamlessly flow into the next scene. For examples, let us imagine that player characters are engage in combat with a monster, but the monster is not fighting back; the player characters realize they may be able to reason with the monster and make a skill check to do so; on a success, they decide to stow their weapons, exiting their previous combat scene and entering into a social scene.

List of Actions

There are five main types of actions that players have access to in each scene: Complex Action, Quick Action, Reaction, and Free Action. A player has access to using their actions--except their reaction--on their turn. Each scene uses a different turn order--the order in which players take their turns--but each player and involved NPCs receive a turn.

Regaining an Action

By expending Resolve, a player character may regain an action at any point during their turn. When a player does this, they must choose the kind of action they want to regain (Complex, Quick, or Reaction). A Player character uses one energy to regain one and only one of the action type that they specify.

Complex Action

Complex actions are the main kind of action that players can take. These kinds of actions involve the most effort, focus, and time. A complex action allows the player to do the following:

• Attack - Use weapon to inflict lethal damage to health, or nonlethal damage to enemies using melee, ranged, or magic. An attack can also come from speaking or trying to stop the hostile creature from fighting; This is done using a Contesting Roll between both parties. On fail for the creature, it loses one energy and essentially functions as nonlethal damage.
• Ability - Use an ability that requires energy.
• Reload - Reload a weapon with the "reload" tag so it can be fired again.
• Slowly Traverse - The player's character moves into the next zone.
• Slow Interaction - Using great effort or concentration to move or affect the environment, a friendly or nuetral, or personal equipment.
• Help - A character who wants to give advantage to a target must help them. This can only be done 5ft near the target.
• Distract - A character who wants to give disadvantage to a target must distract them. This can only be done 5ft near the target.
• Grapple - A character who wants to grapple and hold a target must grapple. This can only done when engaged with the target.
• Dodge - A character wants advantage on saves and +2 defense until the start of their next turn must dodge.
• Drive - Pilot or ride and direct a vehicle or creature. When this action is used the creature or vehicle will continue at a set speed and in a direction the player sets and does not change without player intervention by way of using this action again.
• Hold - A character who wants to save their complex action until another character or target acts must hold their action. By doing this, the character spends both their action and reaction. Additionally, the character must specify what their action is and how they will want it to trigger.

Reactions

Reactions interrupt the natural flow of combat and can occur at anytime. A player may choose to react at any time and during any phase of combat for the round--even during another GM's force's turn. After a reaction is used, it is spent for the round and cannot be used again until the next round when all actions refresh. As a rule of thumb, only Players should be allowed to react unless a GM feels comfortable managing an NPC’s reactions. Here are a list of common reactions:

• Attack of Opportunity - When a target attempts to exit your space, you may use your reaction to give you a complex action which targets only that target. A character is always able to attack their target before the target has the opportunity to leave. Players may choose to not use their attack of opportunity and keep their reaction.
• Respond - When a player character speaks in character, other plays may choose to spend their reaction to respond.

No Movement? That's right; there is no specific movement characters can take, not from their race nor armor. Instead, movement is relegated to the Complex or Quick Actions. This is because Chimera uses Zones, which you can find out more by reading in the link provided.

Quick Action

Quick actions are the secondary actions a players can take. These kinds of actions are both fast and intuitive. A quick action allows the player to do the following:

• Skill - Roll for a skill. Must be previously agreed on by the DM with the players intent specified.
• Quickly Traverse - The player character makes a Agility Check. On Crit pass, they move to the next adjacent zone and regain their quick action. On pass, they move to the next adjacent zone. On Half-Pass, The player can move to the next adjacent zone at the cost of their reaction. On any kind of fail, they do not move to the next adjacent zone and lose their quick action.
• Fast Interaction - Using little effort or thought to move, to affect the environment, a friendly or neutral target, or personal equipment.
• Stand Up - The character moves from prone and onto their feet.
• Find Cover - The character finds and moves behind cover, giving others disadvantage to hit them.
• Shove - The character pushes past a hostile or neutral target or environmental target. performing the shove quick action ends the grappled status effect. If the target is hostile, the target makes a physical save if they are any type of creature and are shoved away. If the target is environmental, The player character make a physical save and on success shove the piece of the environment a short distance in the direction they shoved; it is up to the GM to determine the consequence of this action.
• Mount/Dismount and Start/Exit Vehicle - The character mounts or dismounts their creature, or enters or exits into their vehicle to begin or finish driving.
• Disengage - If engaged, the character safely retreats away from the enemy and does not evoke an attack of opportunity.
• Draw Weapon - The character draws their weapon--melee or ranged.

Free Actions

Free actions are actions that take little to no effort, time, or focus. While Chimera can in no way account for all the things a player may want to to within the game, there should be some actions that can be done at anytime without costing energy or penalizing the character. These actions should be moderated by the GM as they see fit, as usual. The following are a suggested list of free actions:

• Drop Item - The Character drops an item unceremoniously from their hand. If the object is fragile, it breaks.
• Fall Prone - Player self-imposes the prone status effect.
• Speak - The player character speaks aloud. Anyone in the same zone as them hears them, unless affected by a spell or other effect. Those in the adjacent zone may make a free perception check to see if they hear the player character. The player character should be limited to no more than 10 words, but GMs may modify this to their liking.
• Engage - If in the same zone as an enemy target, the player character chooses to engage with enemy targets and steps in melee range.
• Save - When a GM calls for a Save Check, a player may have the opportunity to roll and attempt to save against an effect. Players may choose not to save and keep their reaction.
• Taking Corruption - At any point during a round on anyone else's turn, you can take a point of corruption. Declare this to your GM, mark it on your character sheet, and gloat in silence until it is your turn. Then, on your turn, you may describe how corruption empowers your character, while everyone oos and ahs at the dark deal you've struck.

Turn Order

Turn Order refers to whose turn it is in any given scene. Each scene uses a kind of turn system, whether it allows individuals to act or a group to act using their Energy . In any case, the player's individual energy tells them when in their turn they can act. In a group, the player with the least amount of energy tells the group when they can act. When all involved parties have taken their turn, this is called a round.

Timekeeping Turns in Scenes

Time passes differently depending on the kind of scene, which is moderated by the GM. each player and NPC gets a turn, and when all turns complete, this is called a round. In a Combat Scene, a round takes 6 seconds per round, while a Travel Scene typically takes an hour per round. For Social, Chase, Stealth scenes, they will take a different amount of time depending on the GM. However, everything within each turns happens simultaneously. Social scenes, Stealth scenes, and Chase scenes work the same way.
In Travel scenes, each turn represents a collective effort made by the group. As such, each turn takes an abstract amount of time; the round ends when the result of the travel scene has been calculated. Montage scenes work similarly.

Scene Types

Both players and the GM work together to determine which scene is most appropriate based on the actions and goals of both the player characters and involved NPCs. Each scene type available make the game interesting and pose different kinds of challenges that players must cooperatively solve. When a consensus is reached, the GM is able to place challenges before the players to make reaching a desired goal interesting.
As previously mentioned, GMs and players have six main kinds of scenes at their disposal: Combat, Travel, Social, Stealth, Chase, and Montage.

Combat Scene

A combat scene challenges both the whole party's ability to coordinate with one another, to manage their individual health and energy, and to thereby outperform their opponents.

Travel Scene

A travel scene challenges the party to coordinate their roles as a leader, scout, navigator, and hunter to survive the great outdoors and reach their destination.

Social Scene

Social Scenes test the party's ability to roleplaying their character with their team in social situations to reach party-desired outcomes.

Stealth Scene

A stealth scene tests whether or not the party goes unseen to coordinate their roles as a leader, scout, navigator, and hunter to survive the great outdoors and reach their destination.

Chase Scene

A chase scene challenges the party to manage their energy in order to escape or catch up to an opposing force.

Montage Scene

A Montage scene does not necessarily pose a challenge; instead, the montage is defined by the goal of the party: to rest, to shop, to speak to NPCs without a goal in mind/because it can be fun, to travel somewhere they have been before, etc. Note, Montages are not transitions between scenes; instead they represent low or no-staked play for the party; as such, random encounters here that pose little to no threat are wonderful here as it gives players a chance to come out of their shell; questions like, what does your character find relaxing, what does your character do for fun, and the like should be asked and brainstormed on.