A pulp adventure roleplaying game featuring...

A pulp adventure roleplaying game featuring animals in aeroplanes .-..-. .-- .... . -. / --- -. -.-. . / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / - .- ... - . -.. / ..-. .-.. .. --. .... - --..-- / -.-- --- ..- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-. / .-- .- .-.. -.- / - .... . / . .- .-. - .... / .-- .. - .... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / . -.-- . ... / - ..- .-. -. . -.. / ... -.- -.-- .-- .- .-. -.. --..-- / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . .-. . / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / -... . . -. --..-- / .- -. -.. / - .... . .-. . / -.-- --- ..-

/ .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / .-.. --- -. --. / - --- / .-. . - ..- .-. -. .-.-.- .-..-.

Created by Max Tortoriello

[email protected]

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Alpha Version 0.4.1

Written and created by Max Tortoriello Character artwork provided by the absolutely spectacular Leah Fuhrman

Http://Altalamatox.deviantart.com/ Aircraft artwork provided by the ridiculously talented TheXHS

Http://TheXHS.deviantart.com Additional Character artwork provided by the fabulous Katie Larocco

Http://Pany-Chan.deviantart.com Tester and executive lunch-buyer: John Grinnell

Tester and all-around decent chap: Joseph Kearney Tester and generally handsome fellow: Nick Larocco Tester and senior doughnut provider: Tim Moncivaiz

Special Thanks to: Pandora Caitiff, and Chris Starr and his son

Fonts used under free use licence include:

Adventure by Neale Davidson Http://www.pixelsagas.com

Old Newspaper Types by Manfred Klein Http://www.manfredklein.de

Aardvark Café by Harold Lohner Http://www.haroldsfonts.com

Vanilla Whale by Ray Larabie Http://typodermicfonts.com

Material herein is ©2012 Max Tortoriello

Fonts and artwork are copyright their respective owners and used with permission or under free use licence This guide may be printed, distributed, or copied in its entirety, but may not be altered, sold, or copied for commercial use

Test Guide

Thank you for reading this test build of our little game, TailWinds. The rules and guide were written by one person, but the universe itself is a work of dozens. Originally created as a forum-based Roleplay, the TailWinds tabletop game has grown into something we want to share with everyone we can. We made the game with this idea in mind; that it can be taught in an afternoon to our non-game-playing friends, siblings, and parents. But we, as enthusiastic tabletop gamers ourselves, could not enjoy making a game too simple; so we also wanted it to be a deep, exciting, and roleplay-driven experience. We feel TailWinds is getting closer to becoming the game we want it to be, but it’s not there yet. That’s why we need and appreciate your help. Your advice, questions, and criticism—stories, playtests, and characters—we learn from every piece of feedback we receive. Thank you, from all of us, for reading even this. We hope you have an interest enough to try our game, send us your insights, and most of all—we hope you have fun!

Writer, designer, and Sky Pirate Captain

--Max Tortoriello

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TailWinds is a roleplaying game set in 1938, where the aeroplane is more common than the automobile, and the world is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. The system is designed to be easy to run, simple to play, and most importantly of all—fun. The game is light-hearted and silly, and often characters are more like caricatures. It is one part 1930s pulp dimestore adventure novel and one part Saturday morning cartoon show. This booklet is a list of guidelines—not strictly rules. At the end of the day, this game is about having fun and rules should never stand in the way of that. Not everything can be covered in these guidelines, and in many instances the pilots and Flight Control (that’s the narrator) have to do whatever seems most practical, most appropriate, and most entertaining. This game’s intention is to provide an interesting universe and a solid framework that is both engaging and simple that rewards players—and the FC—for being adventurous, creative, silly, and involved in an experience that is, when all is said and done, a game. To play the game, you will need one person acting as Flight Control to tell the story. Two to five people acting as pilots are the characters in that story. You should also have paper, pencils, note cards, enough dice (6-sided) for everyone to have a handful—and a mat, poster-board, or dry erase board to act as an Initiative line.

The Setting The universe of TailWinds is a parody of our own 1938, filled with WWII-era planes, airships, and pulp-style heroes. The aeroplane makes up a good deal of the world economy, and many successful businesses make a living manufacturing, repairing, and designing the latest aircraft of the day—facilitated by a universal and widely-used currency, the SkyDollar. Pilots and those brave enough to take to the skies are often seen as heroes, adventurers, and modern-day knights.

The skies are divided, roughly, into six major factions- groups of pilots allied under a single banner. After the Great War, there were just the Outlaws—those that flew for only themselves; soldiers of fortune out for glory and freedom taking to the skies. Then came the Sky Pirates—ravenous and opportunistic scallywags capturing cargo and wealth from passing planes. To combat them rose the Agency, a division of the ICPC, an aerial police force that protects all those that brave international airspace. And among those making a living in the air are the Mafia- a worldwide crime syndicate, the Kopfjäger—German soldiers for hire, and a secretive occult organization known by some as the Illuminati. The TailWinds universe is a malleable place—facilitating whatever is needed for the current story. Pilots may find themselves solving a murder, tracking down a stolen artefact, uncovering the plot of a secret organization, battling pirates or running from the Agency. They may be helped or hindered by elements of the occult, supernaturalism, super-science, curses, and even magic. The skies of 1938 need good pilots!

The Factions Most pilots find it helpful to work together with a faction, a group that provides work, contacts, friendly airspace, and a hangar to dock your plane. Here is a brief look at some of the larger factions in the TailWinds universe. The Agency In the 1920s, American president Woodrow Quillson created the United Air Service, a police force designed to protect the skies from mafia bootleggers. Recently, the UAS was purchased wholesale by the League of Nations, becoming the International Criminal Police Commission Aerial Agency. A multinational police and detective force, the Agency specializes in enforcing laws in international airspace. It is a difficult and mostly thankless job, but the Agency is filled with some of the best and brightest mystery solvers out there. Coyote sheriffs, mongoose gumshoe, and traditional Irish bloodhounds are common and interesting characters in the Agency.

The fox pulled the throttle out and turned the yoke, causing the cockpit to rattle unsteadily. It sounded as if the plane was ready to come apart any minute. “Ailerons again?” the boy mumbles, leaning back in his seat and placing a heavy leather boot up against the windshield. For all the noise the plane was making he didn’t look much more than annoyed- his ears folded forward and tail bristling. Reaching behind his back, Todd takes a long glass cola bottle out from a weather-beaten crate behind the seat- some leftover plunder from days past- and pops the cap off with the clip of his unfastened seatbelt. The vulpine takes a long sip of sweet soda and looks relaxed while a well-aimed bullet flies through the hull of his plane and cracks his window on impact. The deformed lead falls to the floor of the aircraft with a clatter while the young Captain Marley uses his other foot to steer into the squadron of oncoming Agency Mustangs; his face relaxed in a cheerful but lazy smirk. “Good day to be a Pirate.”

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The Illuminati The Illuminati does not exist. The Kopfjäger A German mercenary squad, the Kopfjäger possesses the best trained pilots and the most advanced technology in the sky. They also have no lack of grudges. Most of the current members of the Kopfjäger were Luftwaffe pilots in the Great War who opposed the Nazi regime and were exiled or had family disappear because of it. The Kopfjäger is filled with pilots with something to prove; for a scorned nation, for a coloured history, and a proud lineage. Noble wolves, half-mechanical snakes, and arctic rabbits with a penchant for sniping are common and interesting characters in the Kopfjäger. The Mafia Made famous by Chicago’s Al Capony, the mafia is an organized criminal organization well-known in America with branches all around the world. Though there was a brief lull in the power of ‘the outfit’ when Eliot Nest (the darned canary—Agency fink) took down the mafia’s leader for tax evasion, the family is still alive and well. Currently, the Agency believes the mafia’s head to be a fat cat named Giovanni “the Big Cheese” Ceccarelli. Today, “The Big Cheese” is interred at a wealthy hospital with feline leukaemia. The real power of the organization rests with his two daughters, spoiled flappers from the Jazz era, named the Calico Ceccarelli Sisters. Jimmy “The Rat” the Rat, British catnip-peddling foxes, and even Yakuza ferrets are common and interesting characters in the mafia. The Outlaws The outlaws are the brave and the reckless, the intelligent and the insane, the best of the best and the worst of the worst. Outlaws make up most of the pilots in the world; they function as a sort of union of the sky. They have no leader, no dues, and usually work together only for personal gain. They come from all walks of life, traders, fighters, bounty hunters, merchants, travellers, and adventurers. The only thing that unites The Outlaws at all is the code. A code of honour that, while not followed like a law, is held to great importance by most superstitious pilots in the world. It is: “If help is called for, give it.” Most Outlaws believe in karma of sorts—and if they don’t, they certainly believe in accepting a reward for

their help. Bengal tiger spice smugglers, American cowboy horses, and Louisiana voodoo gators are common and interesting Outlaws. The Sky Pirates The sky just happens to be the largest fairway of goods, treasures, loot, cargo, and trade; and where there are equal parts of relatively unguarded valuables and unlimited freedom, there is bound to be pirates. The Sky Pirates are the largest collection of organized criminals and madmen in the world, but that does not necessarily make them cruel or unruly. Their history is relatively unknown, though they only recently became more organized by just a few individuals. Each captain has different rules and laws that his crew follow, so Pirate’s behaviour and demeanour differs wildly from individual to individual. Calico Cat Jack leader of the Coast Brotherhood, Todd “Red” Marley the 14-year old leader of the Marley Red Squadron, and Li Xiao leader of the Chinese Black Dog pirates are common and interesting Pirates.

The System TailWinds is a roleplaying game that rewards players for being involved, and for being creative. The mechanics are a supplement to a setting that allows characters to be simple, but strong in their personalities—and therefore, easy to roleplay.

Paper and Pencil Any pilot worth their salt should keep these in ready supply. Specifically, each character in TailWinds needs to keep track of their character on a character sheet, and should also keep an Initiative card handy. Both of these are included at the back of this test guide. Because your character will be advancing and making changes often, it’s a good idea to use pencil instead of pen to keep track of these.

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Rolling Dice Often when describing an action, you will be asked to roll dice to determine the outcome of that action, or how well you perform it. This is called a ‘test’. TailWinds uses ordinary 6-sided dice, usually several depending on your Skill. Dice in the rules are often abbreviated as “D”, so any text that reads +1D, or -1D means one more or one less die is added to that roll respectively.

Failures, Successes, and Aces Almost any time you are asked to roll dice you will consider each die to be a success or a failure. For most tests a three or lower on a die is just ignored, but a four or higher is counted as a success. When rolling for a test, tell the FC how many successes you rolled for that test. Rolling a six on the die also grants you a bonus, called an ace. You get to consider it a success and roll it once more! You may only succeed or fail on an ace though, and you don’t get a third roll. Range In combat, you deal damage equal to the number of successes you roll on an attack. Unlike for most other tests though, each weapon has a “range” which tells you what counts as a success. A roll equal to or above a weapon’s range counts as a success. While most tests have a range of 4 (4 and higher counts as a success on each die), some weapons can have a 3 (3 and higher counts as a success on each die) or a 5 (only 5 and higher count as a success on each die).

Opposed Roll Most tests outside of combat are an opposed roll. This means that two people—often a player and the FC—each roll a number of dice and compare the results. The person with the most successes wins, with a tie falling in favour of the player. If two players are rolling against each other, you may wish to describe what happens on a tie, or roll another die to determine a winner.

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Your Attributes in the centre of your character sheet represent the limits of your character’s abilities. While they usually start between two and four, they will grow higher each time you play the game to a maximum of ten each. Characters that the FC plays and enemies in the game will use these instead of Skills, so each enemy only has five numbers to keep track of—this makes things easier for Flight Control! Muscle Your Muscle score represents your brute strength, endurance, dexterity, or hearty nature. It helps decide your Disposition in combat, and serves as the maximum for your Athlete and Scrapper Skills. Spirit Your Spirit score represents your personality, willpower, bravery, and strength of character. It helps decide both your Disposition and Expedition in combat, and serves as the maximum for your Deceiver, Diplomat, Mechanic, and Pilot Skills. Wits Your Wits score represents your brainpower, wisdom, reflexes, or quickness of wit. It helps decide your Expedition in combat, and serves as the maximum for your Acrobat, Detective, Linguist, Marksman, Medic, Scholar, and Scout Skills.

Advancements Each session, you will earn an Attribute advancement, which allows you to fill in one of the circles below one of your Attributes of your choice. Once you have a number of advancements equal to that Attribute, raise it by one and erase all the advancements. There are also other ways of gaining Attribute advancements through roleplay, like playing to your Drive or Quirk.

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Example: Rolling Dice FC: “The dust swirls on the floor around your boots. You can tell that this tomb hasn’t been disturbed in years.” Jack (a hare adventurer): “Right, I don’t think this bodes very well. Can I make a Scout check to look for traps or hazards or anything?” FC: “How about Detective?” Jack: “Even better.” Rolls 4 dice and gets a 6, 4, 2, and a 1. He sets the 2 and 1 aside and rerolls the 6. Another 6. “Two… With the ace, three successes.” FC: “Well this will be about average.” Rolls 6 dice and gets a 6, 5, 3, 3, 3, and a 1. He does not reroll the ace since the FC only rerolls aces for special circumstances. (see Challenges in the FC section at the back of this guide) “Two. You succeed by one. Your whiskers twitch as you hear a hollow sound in the wall and roll out of the way of a cloud of poisoned darts that shoot out of the wall.” Jack: “Golly! I roll forward and slide around the corner of the next hallway.” FC: “You come face to face with a snake—it looks like a cobra.” Jack: “Uh…” FC: “The snake pulls out a curved sword.” Jack: “Why did it have to be snakes?! I shoot it!” FC: “He’s slashing at you.” The snake’s Muscle score is 3, so the FC rolls a 5, 5, 4. Three successes. Jack: “I pull out my stub shotgun and knock him back!” He rolls his Marksman +2D (for his shotgun attack) and gets 6, 6, 5, 4, 3—but his shotgun has a range of 5, so the 4 counts as a failure. He rerolls the two 6s and gets a 5 and a 4—one more success. “That’s four.” FC: “A perfect success—a quick blast of buckshot knocks him against the wall, unconscious.” Jack: “I hate snakes…”

Aircraft Attributes These are the Attributes that represent your aircraft. Along with your own Spirit score, they help determine your Expedition and Disposition in aerial combat. These Attributes do not advance over time; rather, you need to put money into your aircraft upgrading your engine or plating to increase them—up to a value of ten each. The Aircraft Modifications section just after aircraft weapons in this guide will tell you more about how to upgrade your plane. Armour Your Armour score is your plane’s resilience, defences, and heavy ammunition. It is used instead of Muscle when determining your Disposition in aerial combat. Speed Your Speed score is your plane’s turning radius, acceleration, and quickness. It is used instead of Wits when determining your Expedition in aerial combat.

Luck The last of your Attributes, Luck, is essentially a number of dice that you can add to your Skill tests. Before you make a Skill test, you may spend any number of points from your luck to add that many dice to the Skill test. Your Luck goes up by 1 at the beginning of every session. You can also gain Luck by spending one of your Traits when you fail a test (which is explained in the Traits section) or as a reward from the FC for doing particularly fantastic stunts. Luck can also be spent to power certain aircraft modifications, which can be found just after aircraft weapons in the guide. Keep in mind that you may only have a maximum of 7 Luck points at any given time.

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-.. .-..-. / -....- .-.. --- ..- .. ... / .--. .- ... - . ..- .-.

Almost every time you roll dice in TailWinds, it’s because you are testing a Skill. Any time you are asked to make a Skill test, you roll a number of dice equal to that Skill, and count the successes. In combat you’ll use Acrobat or Athlete to dodge or withstand damage. You need Marksman to fire a gun, or Scrapper to swing a weapon, and Pilot to fly your plane. All Skills, even those that seem useless in combat, also give you access to unique Actions. There are only thirteen Skills, but each is useful! Acrobat (Wits based Skill) Characters trained in acrobatics are spry and quick. They can dodge attacks and jump over hurtles. They can easily scale walls and leap between spinning blades. Athlete (Muscle based Skill) Characters trained as athletes can endure attacks as well as difficult conditions. They can break down barriers, force open locked doors, and throw heavy objects. Shooting them only tends to make them angry. Deceiver (Spirit based Skill) Characters trained in deception are masters of legerdemain. They are stealthy, quiet, and good liars. They can disguise themselves in the shadows and stab (or shoot) their enemies in the back. Detective (Wits based Skill) Characters trained as detectives have an immaculate eye for detail. They reason, scrutinize, and infer. They can piece together a crime scene, tell if a person is lying, tail a suspect, and do it all with only a burnt-up dogend and a wry scowl. For every two ranks a character has in Detective, they may choose a city in which they are connected, and gain a +1D bonus to tests made in that city outside of combat.

8 Diplomat (Spirit based Skill) Characters trained in diplomacy tell people just what they want to hear, and make them an offer they can’t refuse. They can intimidate, negotiate, and make someone see their side of things. They make terrific strategists and leaders, and could sell an icebox to a penguin. Linguist (Wits based Skill) Characters trained in languages can speak many—eloquently. They can write speeches, decipher codes and cryptographs, and even translate hieroglyphics. For each two ranks a character has in Linguist, they learn another language. Marksman (Wits based Skill) Characters trained in marksmanship are experts with guns. They can shoot the weapon out of a target’s paw at fifty paces. Blindfolded. Under water. They can ricochet bullets off of walls, use them to cut ropes, and disable planes. Mechanic (Spirit based Skill) Characters trained as mechanics are geniuses with a wrench. If your plane isn’t running, they can start it with a rubber band and chewing gum. They can patch up the bullet holes with duct tape and it’ll fly better than the day you bought her. Medic (Wits based Skill) Characters trained in medicine didn’t get their doctorate to be called ‘mister’ or ‘miss.’ These battlefield doctors can solve all of life’s problems with a quick dose of adrenaline. Pilot (Spirit based Skill) All characters in TailWinds are trained as pilots in some regard. They fly bombers, fighters, scouts, and cargo. Trained pilots can fly from one corner of the globe to the other, through storms or under bridges, and they can land on a dime.

Scholar (Wits based Skill) Characters trained as scholars are fonts of knowledge. History, mathematics, biology, physics, occultism- there’s no area of study they don’t know more about than you. For each two ranks a character has in Scholar, they also learn another area of study, and gain a +1D bonus to tests made in that subject. Scout (Wits based Skill) Characters trained as scouts have the eyes of eagles. Some of them are eagles. A scout can see ten miles in a blizzard, and smell five miles in a tornado. They can spot an enemy plane against a night sky, follow a trail long cold, and survive in the harshest of environments. Scrapper (Muscle based Skill) Characters trained as scrappers are masters of handheld weaponry. Also hands. A sword, baseball bat, wrench, or even fist wielded by a scrapper becomes as dangerous as a bullet and sometimes faster than one too.

Advancements Like Attributes, there are a number of circles to fill next to each of your Skills. In Challenges and combat, you can gain advancements for succeeding with a Skill. Once you have a number of advancements equal to that Skill, raise the rank by one and erase all the advancements. A Skill can be raised up to the score of its governing Attribute. Advancing a Skill from 0 to 1 requires just one success, but if a Skill is 0 you don’t get any dice to roll—you need to be aided or spend Luck. Keep in mind that you may only receive one advancement per Skill in any given session of the game, so use a variety of Skills to get the greatest benefit from them!

Challenges Most of the time when you describe the actions of your character, it is simply taken as fact. Sometimes, what you describe is entirely impossible, and will lead the FC or other players to point out that an action simply cannot happen. Then there are times in the middle, where a situation can turn several ways and chance comes into play. These are Challenges.

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Challenges are fairly simple. Usually the FC will present a challenge or obstacle: a hallway filled with blades, a ticking bomb, a runaway stroller, or an argumentative antagonist. You may step forward, announce what Skill you wish to use, which can be any Skill that you can plausibly explain—at the FC and other player’s discretion—and describe the action that you are trying to take. The FC will assign a difficulty to the task: either 4, 6, 8, or 10 for easy, average, tricky, and unlikely Challenges respectively. Then you roll your Skill and the FC rolls the difficulty. Whoever has the most successes comes out victorious, with a tie falling in favour of the player. (If two players are rolling against each other, use another roll to break the tie, or come up with an interesting outcome) The victor then gets to describe the result. If you succeed on the roll and roll more successes than the difficulty of the Challenge, you succeed perfectly! This grants you even more control when describing the result, as you not only succeed in the action you describe, but do so better than you were expecting.

Providing Aid Let’s face it, we all need help sometimes. When an ally is testing a Skill, either for a Challenge or otherwise, you can help them out. As long as you have at least 1 rank in the Skill they’re testing, you can physically hand them an extra dice to roll for the test. You can receive only one dice on any given roll, (too many cooks and all that) and the character being aided is the only one that receives advancements on a success. Rarely is this performed in combat, but the FC may allow it if a character grants another cover, or momentarily distracts an enemy.

Combat Skills In a combat you will be using plenty of Actions, (which we’ll explain in the combat section) each governed by a Skill—most notably Marksman for guns, Scrapper for melee, and Pilot for aerial combat. Each weapon or Action will tell you what Skill to roll. If you roll no successes, you miss the attack. Alternatively, any successes you do roll are dealt as damage to the target, subtracting that number from their Disposition.

In a combat, you may gain Skill advancements, but only one for each Skill, as usual. Using a variety of Skills in combat is the best way to get the most out of it!

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- .. .-.. .-..

Every character begins with a Trait, a word that describes an aspect of their personality. Your aircraft also has a personality that you may utilize when in that aircraft. There is a list of examples below, but you are free to choose any adjective that describes your character best. You can use each Trait once every session to gain one of two benefits. You can use your Trait to reroll a failed test and take the second result by describing how that Trait helps your character. Alternatively, you can spend a Trait after you fail a test to gain 1 Luck by describing how your trait hindered you. This is used instead of the Trait’s benefit for the session. Traits can only be spent on a failed test, and only on your own rolls. When one of your Attributes reaches 6, you may choose another Trait that describes that Attribute. A character with a high Wits score might be “wise,” or a character with a high Spirit might be “brave.” You may have up to four Traits, three for your character and one for your aircraft.

Muscle Traits Spirit Traits Wits Traits Aircraft Traits

Burly Bitter Alert Acrobatic Graceful Bold Clever Aggressive Hardy Brave Cunning Antique

Muscular Calm Experienced Dependable Nimble Determined Inquisitive Experimental

Protective Driven Observant Flashy Scarred Extrovert Optimist Independent Short Fearless Pragmatic Quiet Steady Fiery Quick-witted Reckless Strong Honourable Rational Stubborn

Tall Independent Sceptical Sturdy Tough Innocent Speedy Unpredictable

Unstoppable Stalwart Wise Wing Leader

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Active 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Drive Your Drive should be an ambition that you can work towards during any given session of the game—a long-term goal. It can be something that instantly spurs your character into an adventure, or the reason they travel with the squadron. A few examples might include "Make the world a better place," "Become the head of the Agency," "Get rich," "Steal the world's largest diamond," "Feed the poor," or "Become the world's most famous Sky Pirate". Quirk For your Quirk, think of something that comes up often—at least once per session. It can be a secret, a trait, a behaviour, or other tic that makes your character unique. A few examples might include "Has an irrational fear of snakes," "Needs to use his paws to count above ten," "Is afraid of heights," "Uses words he doesn't know the meaning of," "Loses her temper easily," "Is afraid of his mother," "Has a poor memory because of his drinking problem," or "Learned everything he knows from Douglas Fairbanks films".

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-. - ..- .-. . .-.-.- .-..-. / -....- .- -- . .-.. .. .- / . .- .-. .... .- .-. -

To the left of your Attribute circle on the character sheet is a place for you to write your Drive and Quirk. These are very important, as you are rewarded with advancements for playing them! Each one should be a short sentence, like a mantra or a mission statement. They can and will change from time to time, as you accomplish goals, simply write a new one between sessions. Drive This is your character’s motivations or goals. What motivates your character to adventure? What does your character want to do or accomplish? Do they steal from the rich to feed the poor? Defend justice to make the world a better place? Maybe they just want to get ahead of everyone else, and that’s fine too. Quirk This is a complication or eccentricity your character has that makes them unique. What makes your character interesting? Are they naïve or inexperienced? Do they have an odd hobby or particular way of speaking? Do they have a drinking problem or smoke a lot? How about a fear of heights or small spaces? Maybe they just really hate snakes or the colour red!

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Guns, swords, aeroplanes, explosions—challenges are plenty fun, but combat is where the game gets exciting! For this part of the game, you’ll want to draw up or print out an Initiative line and cards for each of your characters and enemies. (It helps to print the player cards in colour and the enemies in greyscale to tell them apart) Keep this line and the cards in the middle of the table, so that everyone can see and interact with it.

Initiative This is the Initiative line, where each character is represented by a card. Each turn every character on the line moves one space toward the active position, while using Actions moves you away from the active position by the cooldown of that Action. (More on that in the Actions section!) When you reach the active position on the line, you may perform an Action. Several characters can be on the same Initiative and act at the same time. When every character on the active position has performed an Action, the turn is over and the line moves up.

Expedition When you find yourself in a fight, the first thing to do is find the number of Expedition points you have for that combat. This is your speed—your ability to avoid damage. It determines your starting position on the Initiative line and even allows you to dodge when attacked. Simply roll your Spirit value in dice and add the successes from the roll to your Wits value; write this down as your Expedition! The FC will then arrange everyone on the line by Expedition, highest towards the active position and lowest at the other end of the line. Characters with the same Expedition are placed together on the same place, and there should be no gaps between characters. Whenever you take damage in a combat, you will have a chance to spend some of your Expedition points to dodge. When hit by an attack, you may spend any number of points from your Expedition to roll an equal number of dice. For each success you roll, you may ignore one point of the damage. You can do this once per attack as long as you have Expedition to spend. If you run out of Expedition, it means your character is getting tired from dodging and might start getting hit.

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Optional Rule: Death and Dying Heroes rarely, if ever, die in pulp fiction or in cartoons. TailWinds- being based on both- works much the same. Planes go down, people are shot, things explode- but much like the A-Team, no one gets more than bruised. As an optional rule, if a character sustains enough injury, (more than 5 Wounds) or is caught in a situation that could mean certain death, they may be removed from the current session by the FC. At the beginning (or wherever is most story-appropriate) of the next session, you may restore the character to 4 Wounds and have them rejoin the game. They must, however, detail the miraculous nature of their escape to the rest of the squadron. “You thought I died when the mine collapsed, but I clambered to safety at the last moment, using an upturned mine cart to shield myself from the falling debris!”

Disposition Once you find yourself on the Initiative line, you’ll need to roll Disposition. This is your health, of sorts—your morale. To find your Disposition, roll your Spirit value in dice and add the successes to double your Muscle score. Write this down as your Disposition. Each time you take damage in a combat and do not soak it, it is subtracted from your Disposition. When this reaches 0 you have the option to flee from combat, taken out until it is resolved. You may stay, however, but at great personal risk. If your Disposition is 0 and you take any amount of damage from an attack, you take a Wound (or Wreckage if you are in a plane) on your character sheet. You can only take one Wound from an attack, but they are plenty bad! Enemies don’t have this option, and always leave battle when their Disposition reaches 0—in addition, when you remove certain enemies from combat, you and your allies gain 1 Disposition!

Wounds If you take damage from an attack when you are at 0 Disposition and are on foot, or sometimes from particularly dangerous Challenges, you may take a Wound. These are particularly dangerous; as you suffer a -1D penalty for each Wound you have to rolls for Expedition, Disposition, and Skills on foot. You can cure Wounds with the Medic Skill or by visiting a hospital. Alleviating one wound at a hospital usually costs S$10 times the number of Wounds you currently have. At the beginning of every session, you also recover from one Wound naturally. If you have 5 Wounds, you fall unconscious until one of them is cured.

Wreckage If you take damage from an attack when you are at 0 Disposition and are in a plane, or sometimes from particularly dangerous Challenges, you may take Wreckage. For each level of Wreckage your aircraft has, you suffer a -1D penalty to Expedition, Disposition, and Skill rolls in that plane. You can repair Wreckage with the Mechanic Skill or by visiting a repair shop. Repairing 1 Wreckage at a shop usually costs S$10 times the level of Wreckage the plane currently has. If your aircraft has 5 Wreckage, it is decommissioned until one of them is repaired.

Weapons Combat in TailWinds is fought with weapons. There are three types of melee weapons: unarmed, one-handed, and two-handed. There are four types of handheld firearms: pistols, rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns. In aerial combat, there are four more for planes: light machine guns, heavy machine guns, rotary guns, and autocannons. Each weapon uses a particular Skill—Scrapper for melee, Marksman for firearms and emplaced aircraft weapons, and Pilot for aircraft weapons. Each weapon has a cooldown—essentially how long it takes you to attack with that weapon. Lastly, each weapon has a range, the number you need to roll equal to or above on each die for a success. When you attack with a weapon, you use these values. Roll your Skill plus bonuses, count those equal to and above the weapon’s range, and then move back on the Initiative by the cooldown. This is the most basic of Offensive Actions—but it’s certainly not the only thing you can do!

Actions When you reach the active position, you have a chance to use one Action. Most of what you’ll be doing in combat is using the Actions you choose for your character. They come in three types, Offensive, Neutral, and Defensive. Offensive Actions Offensive Actions are Actions that can cause damage. Attacking with your weapon is a common example of one of these, and many Offensive Actions modify your weapon’s attack—raising the cooldown to deal extra damage, for example. On your turn, you may use an Offensive Action, allowing you to choose a target (or sometimes several) for the attack. When you roll the attack, count the number of successes to deal as damage. The target may then choose to use a Defensive Action, potentially lowering or negating the damage. Whether or not they defend, the target may then choose to spend Expedition to avoid the attack. If you still succeed, you deal damage equal to the remaining successes. After the turn, you move back on the Initiative line by the cooldown of your Action; the spaces are numbered so you’ll know where to go.

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Active 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Low Altitude

High Altitude

Neutral Actions Neutral Actions are the other Actions you may use on your turn. Neutral Actions often target allies or yourself, but they can sometimes target enemies. Neutral Actions do not trigger Defensive Actions, and never do damage, but their effects are explained by the Action itself. Most mundane Actions are also Neutral with a cooldown of 1. Throwing a switch, drinking a soda, or picking up a weapon are some examples of mundane Actions. Defensive Actions When you are the target of an attack, you may choose to defend yourself after the attack roll. Using a Defensive Action usually lets you lessen the damage you take or sometimes allow you to roll against the attack to deal damage. Using a Defensive Action sends you back on the Initiative by the cooldown of the Action, as usual. You won’t be able to use a Defensive Action that would send you past the 7th position on the Initiative, though. You may still choose to spend Expedition to soak damage after a Defensive Action. However, if you choose not to use a Defensive Action or if the enemy misses you, you may take advantage of expediency. Expediency You may take advantage of expediency any time you are the target of an Offensive Action and do not use a Defensive Action. This allows you to move up on the Initiative line by one immediately. This can only raise you to position 1, however, not the active turn. You may still take advantage of Expediency when spending Expedition to soak damage, as long as you did not use a Defensive Action.

Acting Simultaneously Often, more than one character will end up on the active position on the Initiative line. This means that anything they do happens at once! Remember that every character gets only one Action on each turn. Therefore, if you are on the active position and subject to an attack from another character, you have a choice—you can use a Defensive Action to try and evade, or use an Offensive Action against a target and take the full brunt of the attack! This can benefit you as well though. If your allies are on the same Initiative and you all attack the same target, that enemy only gets one Defensive Action for the turn as well.

The easiest way to determine the order of Actions on a turn is to start from the top of the line of cards in the active position, with the character that has been on that space the longest. As each character acts, tilt their card a bit, or place a marker on them to show that they have acted. Remember that even if a character falls to zero Disposition, they still get an Action on their turn—they’re not removed until the turn is over, since the actions are simultaneous. Once everyone has acted, move all the cards back by their cooldown and start the next turn.

- .... . / -- --- .-. . / -- . -.-. .... .- -. .. -.-. .- .-.. / -... . -.-. --- -- . ... / - .... . / .--

. .- .--. --- -. ... / .-- .. - .... / .-- .... .. -.-. .... / .-- . / ..-. .. --. .... - --..-- / - .... . / .-.. . ... ... / -- . -.-. .... .- -. .. -.-. .- .-.. / -- ..- ... - / -... . / - .... . / ... .--. .. .-

. .. - / .-- .... .. -.-. .... / -.-. --- -. - .-. --- .-.. ... / - .... . -- .-.-.-

Plane combat uses all of the same rules as ground combat. Any Skill Actions you can use on the ground you can also use in the air, unless stated in the Action itself. Instead of using Wits to determine Expedition, you use Speed; and instead of Muscle to determine Disposition, you use Armour. The key difference comes from the Initiative line. On the ground, you have one line that you move back and forth on—in the air, you have three: High Altitude, Mid Altitude, and Low Altitude. The Initiative line still works just the same, everyone on the active position taking an Action, then moving to the right, everyone else moving left.

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Altitude In aerial combat, most planes will begin at Mid Altitude and characters on foot or anything on the ground is at Low Altitude. You take a -1D penalty to hit a target above you for each Altitude. Planes can freely move up or down on Altitude just by increasing or decreasing the cooldown of any Action. You can climb by increasing the cooldown by one for each Altitude, and dive by decreasing the cooldown by one for each Altitude. Ranged and aircraft weapon attacks may be made against a target at any altitude, but melee attacks may only be made against targets on the same altitude as you. It’s rather difficult to stay at High Altitude for long without stalling. If you take an Action at High Altitude, you must dive at least one level lower or stall out. This means that after the second Action at High Altitude, you immediately fall to Low Altitude, but your cooldown is not lowered for it.

Passengers Any plane can carry passengers—characters that are in the aircraft but not flying it. When the pilot of an aircraft rolls their Expedition and Disposition, each passenger may roll their Spirit and add the successes to each roll, as if they were rolling for their own. The aircraft is represented by the pilot’s card, and only the pilot can sustain damage, spend Expedition, or defend. The pilot and all passengers act on the same turn, and travel down the Initiative by the highest cooldown they used. As a passenger, you have access to all of your normal Actions, but none of the aircraft’s; however, if the aircraft has a second weapon, you can use its basic attack. If you leave the aircraft during combat, you determine your Expedition and Disposition then. If you become a passenger of a plane in combat, you may keep your Expedition and Disposition, but only the pilot takes damage from attacks and may use Expediency. If the plane goes down or turns away from the pilot reaching 0 Disposition, any passengers on that plane are also removed from combat. When flying a plane that is not yours, you do not have access to the aircraft’s Actions. Instead, treat each attack as a Challenge. You can find more information about Challenges in the FC section at the end of this guide.

Falling If you jump out of an aircraft or fall out, you are considered falling. Each time you take a turn you fall one Altitude as part of the cooldown. This is not considered diving, so the cooldown is not lowered. As always, you may only make melee attacks against targets on your Altitude, but while falling you cannot use your Actions, only attacks. If you reach Low Altitude and take a turn, you are taken out of combat as part of the cooldown and take a number of wounds equal to the total Altitude you fell. While falling, you can try to grab another plane. You may catch any friendly plane on your Altitude and become a passenger of that plane freely. You may also, as a Challenge, try to grab onto an enemy plane (More information about how to do that in the FC section). If you match or beat their successes then you are considered to be riding that plane. While riding an enemy plane, you cannot use your Actions, only attacks. While the pilot may not use aircraft weapons against you, they may use a sidearm to make attacks against you. The pilot may try to shake you from their plane by starting a Challenge, usually their Pilot against your Acrobat or Athlete. If they are successful, you are shaken from the plane, and considered falling. If the plane is removed from combat, you are shaken off the same way.

Armoured Targets Normally, vehicles such as planes and cars take damage slightly differently than your average soft target. They have a special quality referred to as the armour trait. Armoured targets take half damage (rounded down) from most melee and light projectile weapons. Some weapons, Actions, or Abilities allow you to ignore the armour trait, allowing them to deal full damage to aircraft.

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.-..-. .... . .- ...- .. . .-. -....- - .... .- -. -....- .- .. .-. / ..-. .-.. -.-- .. -. --. / -- .- -.-. .... .. -. . ... / .- .-. . / .. -- .--. --- ... ... .. -... .-.. . .-..-. / -....- .-.. --- .-. -.. / -.- . .-.. ...- ..

-.

Actions were discussed briefly in the combat section, when we told you when to use them. Now let’s discuss how to get them. At character creation, you will choose a fighting style, an aircraft style, and weapons. These, coupled with Skills, will provide you with all of your available Actions—and you may take any that you qualify for. You cannot, however, be trained in more than six Actions. Weapons

Pistol

Ranged Attack

Test: Marksman Range: 456

This is the way that weapons are written in this guide, and on your character sheet. The name of the weapon is in bold and the cooldown is the number in the top-right. The second line tells you if the weapon is a ranged, melee, or aircraft weapon. The third line tells you what Skill to use when attacking with the weapon and any bonuses to that test. It also tells you the weapon’s range, the number you have to roll equal to or above on each dice for a success. Your most basic Offensive Action is to simply attack with your weapon, referred to as a “Basic Attack Action,” but you may also modify that attack with other Offensive Actions. Improvised Weapons When you pick up a weapon that you don’t know how to use, or that you don’t have Actions for, treat each attack as a Challenge instead. You can find more information about Challenges in the FC section at the end of this guide.

Actions

Ricochet

Requirements: Marksman 3

Offensive Action Pistol Attack -1D

On a successful hit, the target may not take advantage of Expediency. You also gain a +2D bonus to this test if the target uses a Defensive Action.

This is the way that Actions are written in this guide, and on your character sheet. The name of the action is in bold and the cooldown is the number in the top-right. The second line contains the type of Action (Offensive, Defensive, or Neutral) as well as the power’s source (weapon or Skill). The third line tells you the Action’s requirements, usually a minimum Skill rank to train that Action. The fourth line contains the effect, first by telling you what test to make and then telling you what the action does. For some Actions this line will have a Skill, bonus, and range to test. For most Offensive Actions, it will list an attack that the Action modifies. When using an Offensive Action, simply use your weapon’s cooldown, Skill, and range modified by the Action (for instance, cooldown +1 or -1, or Skill +1D or -1D). In this guide, Offensive Actions appear in red, Defensive in green, Neutral in blue, and Abilities are listed in grey. Trained Actions You may use any Action you have trained, which means you have written it down on your character sheet. If you already have six trained Actions and you meet the requirements for a new one and choose to take it, you must replace one of the Actions you already have.

Abilities Your character begins with a fighting style and an aircraft style—how they fight and how they fly. You may take up to two more Abilities later on that grant passive bonuses and abilities—lowering the chance of hitting you or giving you a +1D against Defensive Actions, that sort of thing. They are listed along with Actions in the Skill Actions and weapons sections.

3

+1

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Choosing a Species The advantages and disadvantages of certain species are left purposefully vague in the TailWinds system. This allows pilots to choose whatever they want to play, without requiring the rules for it. Your species benefits you in character creation, but the way you roleplay that character, describe their actions, and imagine them are the important areas. You won’t see any mechanical bonuses for species, at least not in the form of numbers. If your character’s species can see in the dark, or use sonar, or fly for short distances—then there’s no reason your character can’t as well. In the cannon, (that means the default. This can be changed, of course, for personal preference of the player or the FC. Please do not consider this a solid rule) there are no humans, though there are feral animals in the ways you would expect them. There is very little familiarity between a feral animal and their bipedal counterpart—about as much as there is between humans and apes in the modern world. Many species eat meat, although there is a much higher likelihood of herbivores being vegetarians or the like. Ageing and height are generally around human standards, with a deviation of about fifty years, or a metre in either direction. Where mice may live for fifty years at a height of three feet or so, an elephant may be ten feet tall and a hundred and fifty years old! There are also no half-breeds. While in some cultures mixed couples are still seen as an oddity, this is a more progressive age. Children will either inherit their species from the mother or the father, becoming one or the other, much like on Saturday morning cartoon shows.

.-..-. .. - / .. ... / - .... . / --. .-. . .- - . ... - / ... .... --- - / --- ..-. / .- -.. .-. . -. .- .-.. .. -. . / - --- / -... . / -.. --- .. -. --. / .-- .... .- - / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .-- .- -. - . -.. / - --- / -.. --- / ... --- / -... .- -.. .-.. -.-- .-.-.- / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-.. -- --- ... - / ..-. . . .-.. / .-.. .. -.- . / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. --- ..- .-.. -.. / ..-. .-.. -.-- / .-- .. - .... --- ..- - / - .... . / .--. .-.. .- -. . .-.-.- .-..-. / -....- -.-. .... .- .-. .-.. . ... / .-.. .. -. -.. -... . .-. --. ....

When creating characters for the first time, the FC should go around the table asking a series of questions to each pilot in turn, and these determine your starting Attributes and Skills. Afterwards, you will purchase upgrades and weapons for your aircraft, and then choose Actions. Let’s start simple though. The first thing you write down should be your name, species, age, gender, aircraft name, and faction. Then, think hard when you decide on your Drive and Quirk—these are important, remember? You should then choose a weapon, fighting style, and aircraft style.

Weapons Fighting Styles Aircraft Styles

Unarmed Grappler

Martial Artist Pugilist

Bomber Fighter Gunship

Interceptor Pursuit Scout

One-Handed Melee Cloak and Dagger

Duellist Florentine

Two-Handed Melee Savage

Staff Fighter Swordsman

Pistol Akimbo Pistols

Gunslinger High-Cal Pistol Aircraft Weapons

Rifle Carbine Sniper

Trick Shooter

Light Machine Gun Heavy Machine Gun

Rotary Gun Autocannon

Shotgun Buckshot

Slug Rounds Stub Shotgun

Submachine Gun Automatic Rifle Machine Pistol Shock Trooper

Attributes (8 Points) Begin with one point in Muscle, Spirit, and Wits.

Do you consider yourself brave, or are you more cautious? If you are brave, add one point to your Spirit; if cautious, add one to Wits.

Do you value brains, or brawn? If you values brains, add one point to Wits; if brawn, add one to Muscle.

Do you think it is more important to be strong, or to have strong friends? If you believe their strength is important, add one point to Muscle; if their friends are important, add one to Spirit.

Increase one of your Attributes by one to represent your character’s species. You may choose any of the three Attributes you like, but explain how that Attribute relates to your species.

Increase the lowest of your Attributes by one. If two Attributes are the lowest, you may choose which to add it to.

Aircraft (5 Points) Begin with one point in Armour and Speed.

If your Muscle is higher than your wits, add one point to Armour. If your Wits are higher than your Muscle, add one point to Speed. If the two are equal, you may add one point to either Armour or Speed.

If your aircraft is a Bomber or Gunship, add one point to Armour. If your aircraft is a Pursuit or Scout craft, add one point to Speed. If your aircraft is a Fighter or Interceptor, add one point to either Armour or Speed.

Distribute one point freely among Armour and Speed to represent your plane’s model and build.

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Skills (12-15 Points) Begin with one point in Marksman, Pilot, and Scrapper.

If your Muscle is higher than your Wits, add one point to Athlete. If your Wits is higher than your Muscle, add one point to Acrobat. If the two are equal, you may add one point to either Athlete or Acrobat.

Add one point to Marksman, Pilot, or Scrapper representing your preferred method of combat.

If your fighting style primarily uses Marksman, add one to that skill; if it uses Scrapper, add one to that.

What Faction does your character ally with? Members of the Agency add one point to Detective, members of the Chicago Mafia add one point to Diplomat, members of the Illuminati add one point to Linguist, members of the Kopfjäger add one point to Scholar, members of the Outlaws add one point to Scout, and members of the Sky Pirates add one point to Deceiver.

How do you speak to others? If you are intimidating, bossy, or charismatic place one point in Diplomat; if you are deceitful, flattering, or smarmy place one point in Deceiver.

What is your speciality in the squadron? Discuss this with the squadron and place one point in your speciality. Each member of the squadron should have a different Skill that represents their role in the group.

Do you consider yourself educated, or experienced? If you are educated, they may distribute three points as you like between any of your Wits based Skills; if experienced, distribute three points among your Spirit and Muscle based skills.

Distribute three points freely among your Skills to represent training, experience, education, and natural talent. Any number of these three points can be exchanged for another S$100 in starting wealth each.

Traits If you were to describe yourself in one word, what would it be? You

may choose from the list of Traits, or simply write your answer as a Trait.

If you were to do the same for your aircraft, how would you describe it? You may choose from the list of Traits, or simply write your answer as a Trait.

Rewards If a player has roleplayed the creation of their character particularly

well, then the FC is well within their rights to grant an immediate Attribute advancement to every pilot creating characters. The goal here is not to generate jealousy by allocating one character an extra point, but to motivate the squadron to match the quality of involvement by rewarding everyone and making sure they know why.

Every character should roll a dice and add one to the number on the dice, resulting in a number between 2 and 7. Write this value down as your starting Luck.

Every character begins with S$1,000 worth of gear, modifications, and weapons. Any money left over is discarded. If a character chooses not to have their own aircraft, they can use this to purchase modifications and weapons for the plane they will be a passenger on.

Every character begins with S$20 in starting wealth. Once you are finished with all of these steps, it’s time to decide on Actions. If any of your Skills is ranked 2 or higher, check on the Skill list to see if you qualify for any Actions. Next, find your chosen weapon in the weapon section and write down the cooldown, Skill, and range. There is a list of Actions under that weapon that you may qualify for. Next, purchase an aircraft weapon from the aircraft section and record the cooldown, Skill, and range. You may also qualify for Actions from the aircraft style section after that. Lastly, you may purchase Actions from modifications in the aircraft modifications section. Congratulations, your character is now complete!

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Finesse & Handling These Abilities are fairly easy to get early on, and are invaluable to certain characters. They are incredibly useful if you want to play a nimble or educated scrapper, or a strong and burly gunslinger. Once you have trained them, however, you cannot get rid of them if your Skills don’t match your Attributes. For example, if your Muscle is 2 and your Scrapper is 4, you cannot trade your Finesse Ability for something else until your Muscle score reaches 4. Set Up This incredibly useful Action requires cunning and guile to gain an advantage over your enemies. Whether this means moving behind someone with a dagger, setting up the perfect sniper shot, or flying in from the sun when launching an attack on an enemy plane, the benefit is worth the cooldown. This is especially true when using a rifle or Autocannon, as each dice has a higher chance of success. Since this is a Neutral Action, you can use it to set up an Offensive Action like ricochet, feint, or cripple—granting you even more dice!

This section contains a list of trainable Actions provided by your Skills. Unless it says specifically in the Action, these can be used both on foot and in an aircraft.

Acrobat The Acrobat Skill is useful if you want to land on an enemy’s aircraft, if you want to cartwheel through a hallway filled with poison dart traps, and for any act of acrobatics, dexterity, and flexibility. Characters who are experienced Acrobats are, understandably, harder to nail down, and at higher ranks in this Skill characters earn an Ability that makes them more difficult to hit.

Dodge Roll

Requirements: Acrobat 2

Defensive Action Acrobat

Subtract the number of successes on this test from the damage of the triggering attack. This Action may only be performed on foot.

Finesse

Requirements: Acrobat 3 Ability

You may use Wits instead of Muscle when determining the maximum for your Scrapper Skill.

Athlete The Athlete Skill is useful if you wish to knock down a wall, lift up a boulder, climb a sheer surface, or for any act of athleticism, strength, or force. Characters who are experienced Athletes are better at taking a hit, and at higher ranks in this Skill characters earn an Ability that lessens the damage they take from attacks.

Endure

Requirements: Athlete 2

Defensive Action Athlete

Subtract the number of successes on this test from the damage of the triggering attack. This Action may only be performed on foot.

Weapon Handling

Requirements: Athlete 3 Ability

You may use Muscle instead of Wits when determining the maximum for your Marksman Skill.

Deceiver The Deceiver Skill is useful if you would rather trick your enemies into a stupor than fight them. This underhanded Skill allows you to lie, bluff, flatter, disguise yourself, and for any act of deception, stealth, subterfuge, and misdirection. You can use trip up to impair your enemy’s movements and set up to move into position for a sneak attack.

Trip Up

Requirements: Deceiver 2

Neutral Action Deceiver

Target one enemy. That enemy takes a -1D to their next Action for each success you roll on this test.

Set-Up

Requirements: Deceiver 4

Neutral Action

Target one enemy. You can add ½ of your Deceiver score as bonus dice to your next Offensive Action against that enemy. You may perform this Action a second time to add your full Deceiver score, otherwise you lose this bonus after your next Action.

2

2

2

2

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Consolidate Fire While the cooldown for this Action seems a little high, it lets you take your Diplomat score in dice and hand them out to your teammates. You can diversify your Action, so that instead of performing just an attack, you’re adding your expertise to an attack, some healing, and whatever else your allies are doing this turn. This Action is best used when on the same turn as a lot of allies, but you can also just pool all your dice into one Action, making one incredible roll! Keep in mind that in order to use this Action, your allies have to be able to hear you, so in order to give this benefit to an ally in an aircraft, you’ll need a radio. Insult to Injury While Linguist doesn’t always seem like a particularly combat-heavy Skill, it can be invaluable when put to good use. Your opponent’s Disposition is a measure of how confident they are about this fight, and your baffling insults will cause them to turn tail just as well as any bullet. When using this Action, be sure to follow your attack up with a quip—puns work best!

Detective The Detective Skill is useful if you wish to find evidence, tell if someone is lying, to search a room for hidden devices or doors, and for any act of detection, insight, and keen perception. Your assessment Action lets you seek out your target’s weaknesses and strike them. For every two ranks you have in the Detective Skill you may choose a town or city. When making a Detective test to find people or information in a location you have chosen, you gain a +1D bonus.

Assessment

Requirements: Detective 3

Neutral Action

Target one enemy. You can add ½ of your Detective score as bonus dice to your next Offensive Action against that enemy. You may perform this Action a second time to add your full Detective score, otherwise you lose this bonus after your next Action.

Diplomat The Diplomat Skill allows you to let your teammates do the fighting, and make them better at it. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to convince, intimidate, direct, strategize, and for any act of diplomacy, haggling, or planning. Your skill with combat tactics can help you position your allies on the Initiative line, while your ability to synchronize your squadron’s actions gives them a generous bonus.

Combat Tactics

Requirements: Diplomat 2

Neutral Action

Target one ally. Move that ally up or down the Initiative by one space. This cannot move an ally onto the active position.

Consolidate Fire

Requirements: Diplomat 4

Neutral Action

Distribute a number of dice equal to your Diplomat score as you choose between allies on your Initiative as a bonus to their Action this turn.

Linguist The Linguist Skill is useful if you want to—well—speak other languages! More than that though, this Skill also allows you to translate an ancient language, decipher a complex code, write a moving speech or book, or for any act of linguistics, journalism, or eloquence in speech. You can use your Linguist Skill to add insult to injury, dealing more damage with an attack by punctuating it with an eloquent taunt. For every two ranks you have in the Linguist Skill you may learn another language.

Insult to Injury

Requirements: Linguist 3

Offensive Action Weapon Attack +½ Linguist

Add ½ of your Linguist score as bonus dice to your basic weapon attack.

Marksman The Marksman Skill is invaluable if you wish to use firearms. While this Skill provides no Skill Actions, it does grant you access to Actions in the weapon and fighting style sections after this one. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to shoot out a light, the gun out of someone’s hand, or a lever from across the room.

2

3

1

+2

19

Injections TailWinds is designed so that you don’t need a healer of any sort—this means that instead of a necessity, they’re merely a benefit. Mechanics and Medics can restore Expedition to planes and characters respectively, by comparing the successes from their test to the target’s current Expedition. This makes it less effective to use these on allies with lots of Expedition, because you’ll wind up ignoring a lot of successes. These Actions are best used on characters whose Expedition has run out; therefore every success is one Expedition back!

Mechanic The Mechanic Skill allows you to repair your squadron’s planes and to hotwire their engines into putting out a bit more performance in a pinch. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to build helpful devices, disable complex traps or explosives, repair any machine you come across, or for any act of mechanism, gadgetry, or technical know-how. Once per session, when you have ample time and opportunity, (Are on foot, with the aircraft, have an hour or so to work, and are not in combat) you may perform repairs on an aircraft. You can alleviate one level of Wreckage from an aircraft by making a Mechanic test, rolling more successes than the current number of Wreckage that aircraft has. At Mechanic rank 4, this can be done twice per session, three times at 6, and four times at 10.

Fuel Injection

Requirements: Mechanic 3

Neutral Action Mechanic

Target one ally. The target gains 1 Exposition for each success you roll on this test over their current Exposition.

Medic The Medic Skill allows you to heal your squadron’s wounds and pick them up in a dangerous situation. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to examine the cause of death of a body, discern what types of medicines or tools are useful in certain situations, tell what type of poison a person might be afflicted with and how to cure it, and for any act of medicine, pharmacology, or surgery. Once per session, when you have ample time and opportunity, (Are on foot, with the wounded, have an hour or so to work, and are not in combat) you may provide medical attention to the wounded. You can alleviate one Wound from a character by making a Medic test, rolling more successes than the current number of Wounds the character has. At Medic rank 4, this can be done twice a session, three times at 6, and four times at 10.

Adrenaline Injection

Requirements: Mechanic 3

Neutral Action Medic

Target one ally. The target gains 1 Exposition for each success you roll on this test over their current Exposition.

Pilot The Pilot Skill is imperative to almost every character in the TailWinds universe, and necessary for any character in a plane. Pilot’s licences are more common than driver’s licenses, so every character has at least some know-how of the workings of an aircraft. You Pilot Skill also gives you access to Actions from your aircraft weapons and aircraft style later in this book—in addition to being useful for performing aerial acrobatics, shaking unwanted passengers off of your plane, aerial stunts, and any time you want to fly under a bridge or through a narrow chasm.

Scholar The Scholar Skill allows characters with incredible knowledge and brainpower to think their way through any problem they come across. This Skill allows you to recall vast stores of knowledge on a variety of subjects, to outthink opponents and catch them up in their own logical fallacies, and for any act of scholasticism, reason, or logical thinking. For every two ranks you have in the Scholar Skill, you may choose a new area of study like chemistry, biology, or occultism. When making a Scholar test dealing with one of your chosen subjects, you gain a +1D bonus.

Strategize

Requirements: Scholar 3

Neutral Action

Distribute a number of dice equal to your Scholar score as you choose between allies on your Initiative as a bonus to their Action this turn.

1

1

3

20

Spot & Mark There isn’t much that can hide from an experienced Scout! The spot & mark ability reveals one of your enemies’ locations to an ally so that that ally can, well, pulverize them! This Action gives the greatest benefit when granting bonus dice to a character with a rifle, as each die succeeds more often. However, this is never a bad benefit to have, and your allies are sure to appreciate it! Keep in mind that in order to use this Action, your allies have to be able to hear you, so in order to give this benefit to an ally in an aircraft, you’ll need a radio.

Scout The Scout Skill allows you to assist your allies by spotting enemies and discovering obstacles. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to watch enemies from a great distance, discover imminent traps and hazards, to follow a trail left by a person or plane, or for any act of scouting, tracking, or trailblazing. You can use your Scout Skill to spot enemies to give your allies an important advantage, and also deal extra damage to enemies that you mark as your quarry.

Spot & Mark

Requirements: Scout 2

Neutral Action

Target one enemy. The next ally to target that enemy with an Offensive Action can add ½ of your Scout score as bonus dice to the test.

Quarry

Requirements: Scout 4

Offensive Action Weapon Attack +½ Scout

Add ½ of your Scout score as bonus dice to your basic weapon attack.

Scrapper The Scrapper Skill is invaluable if you wish to use melee weapons. While this Skill provides no Skill Actions, it does grant you access to Actions in the weapon and fighting style sections after this one. In addition, this Skill is useful if you wish to punch out someone’s lights, threaten someone with bodily harm, or cut an enemy’s gun in half.

This section contains a list of weapons, fighting styles specific to those weapons, and Actions that you gain from each of those. This list, obviously, is not comprehensive in a universe where rivet guns and tesla cannons are useable weapons—however, they are offered as broad headings for the way things work. You are free to wield any weapon you wish—simply choose one of these broad categories and re-flavour it to your liking. Ranged weapons can target and attack any character, but melee weapons may only be used against characters on the same Altitude as you.

+2

2

21

Improvised Shield At Scrapper rank 3 you gain improvised shield, a very respectable Defensive Action. Using a nearby piece of furniture, enemy, or item from your own equipment, you can lessen the damage dealt to an ally, even if they have already used a Defensive Action this turn. Disarm At Scrapper rank 4 you gain the ability to disarm opponents. While the cooldown of this action is high, if successful you can leave an opponent without useable Defensive Actions until their turn. This is better when performed against enemies farther back in the Initiative, and with Defensive Actions granted by their weapon, such as for shotguns or one-handed melee weapons.

Unarmed

Melee Attack

Test: Scrapper Range: 456

Though technically not a weapon, there are a myriad of weapons considered to be unarmed. Brass knuckles, metal gauntlets, boxing gloves, and your own bare paws (or bear paws) are considered part of this style. As long as you have a free paw you may train the following unarmed Actions, using Scrapper as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three unarmed fighting styles: grappler, martial artist, or pugilist. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Improvised Shield

Requirements: Scrapper 3

Defensive Action Scrapper

When an ally is the target of an attack, you may make a Scrapper test and subtract the successes from the damage taken from the attack. That ally cannot take a Defensive Action for the triggering attack and does not take advantage of expediency.

Disarm


Offensive Action Unarmed Attack

On a successful hit, the target cannot perform an Action until they reach the Active position. This Action cannot be performed against armoured targets.

Grappler Utilizing a strategy of grabbing, throwing, subduing, and piledriving your enemies, you turn your enemies’ momentum against them. Grappling is an unarmed style often synonymous with wrestlers or luchadores, but is also used by many kinds of subdual martial arts or when using garrotte wire. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain rapid dismantle, the ability to dismantle the gun or weapon that someone is trying to shoot, or stab, or bash you with.

Rapid Dismantle

Requirements: Scrapper 5 Ability

You may use Disarm as a Defensive Action. Subtract the successes from the damage taken from the attack. If this causes you to take no damage, any extra successes are dealt as damage to the attacker.

Martial Artist The martial arts are a time-honoured mystery of The Orient, taught only to diligent students over many years. The practice of using fast, precise blows to down an enemy rather than the brutish punches of a pugilist hones not only the body, but the mind as well. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain flurry of blows, the ability to attack faster with an open palm, and harder than most pilots who use their fists. This only applies to your basic unarmed attack, so it won’t lower the cooldown of your Offensive Actions like disarm.

Flurry of Blows


When making an unarmed attack you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 2.

Pugilist Pugilism is the most gentlemanly (or ladylike?) art of brutalizing another’s face with your fist. Brawling, boxing, or bartitsu—whether with gloves, brass knuckles, wrapped cloth, or just bare fists—your jabs will knock them down so hard they won’t want to get back up. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the one-two punch ability, strengthening successive attacks against the same enemy. This conveniently couples with other Offensive Actions as well, so you can punch an enemy back just to gain a bonus to shooting them in the gut, if you don’t mind sullying your honour for a moment.

One-Two Punch


When you deal damage to a target with an unarmed attack, you gain a +1D bonus to your next Offensive Action against that target.

3

2

+1

22

Parry At Scrapper Rank 3 you gain the ability to parry opponent’s blows. By raising your weapon, you may deflect the attack to eliminate the damage dealt, and even deal some in return. The cooldown is equal to your one-handed melee attack, but if you roll well you can turn an opponent’s attack against them. At Scrapper rank 6 you can also use this Action against bullets, knocking them out of the air or even sending them back at the attacker. Feint At Scrapper rank 4 you gain the ability to feint, taking your enemy off-guard. Moving deftly to the side, you land an attack that your enemy doesn’t see coming. This is a difficult Action to dodge, and is even better when attacking the same target as one of your allies—as you still gain a +2D bonus when the target is defending against a different attack at the same time.

One-Handed Melee

Melee Attack

Test: Scrapper +2D Range: 56

One-handed weapons are incredibly common, as almost any mundane item you pick up can be used as one. Pipes, baseball bats, swords, knives, whips and any other melee weapons held in one hand are classified under this heading. With a weapon held in one paw you may train any of the following Actions, using Scrapper as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three one-handed fighting styles: cloak and dagger, duellist, and Florentine style. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Parry


Defensive Action One-Handed Melee Attack

When you are the target of an attack, you may make a one-handed melee attack and subtract the successes from the damage taken. If this causes you to take no damage, any extra successes are dealt as damage to the attacker. This is useable only against melee attacks. At Scrapper rank 6, you can also use this against ranged attacks.

Feint


Offensive Action One-Handed Melee Attack -1D


Cloak and Dagger Using a small, often cruel implement, you take advantage of an enemy’s weakness, or even their obliviousness to your presence. You hide in the shadows, on rooftops, or under beds. You wait for your moment to strike, and you make it count. Cloak and dagger is an underhanded fighting style that uses poisons and subterfuge as much as simple one-on-one murdering. At Scrapper rank 5, you gain cruel opportunist—making your feint Action into a clever trap from which there is little escape.

Cruel Opportunist


When you target an enemy with an Offensive Action and they do not use a Defensive Action, you gain a +1D bonus to the attack.

Duellist Using a one-handed weapon and often leaving the other paw bare for taunting gestures or a shield, the duellist style places more emphasis in honour and bravado than pure battlefield prowess. You are a modern day musketeer, dancing about the battleground while your stupefied foes don’t even know that they’ve already lost. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the unflappable ability, demoralizing any enemy you hit (traditionally by carving your initials into the front of their shirt) and motivating them to seek easier prey.

Unflappable


When you deal damage to a target with a one-handed melee attack, the target takes a -1D penalty to any Actions against you until you perform an Action.

Florentine Using two one-handed melee weapons at once, you master a style that favours both offence and defence at once, leaving your opponents facing down a dangerous whirlwind of spinning implements. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the whirling blades ability. By alternating weapons in quick succession, you can make your usual basic attacks faster and more frequent than usual. This only applies to your basic one-handed melee attack, so it won’t lower the cooldown of your Offensive Actions like feint.

Whirling Blades


When making a one-handed melee attack you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 2.

3

+0

+1

23

Wide Swing At Scrapper rank 3 you gain the wide swing Action. You hit an enemy hard enough to carry the attack through to another. This haphazard attack has an incredibly high cooldown, but makes up for it with the ability to damage two targets in one swing. The best opportunities for this attack are when targeting an enemy that cannot dodge or defend. The higher the damage on the first attack, the more dice you can roll on the follow-through. Stagger At Scrapper rank 4 you gain the ability to hit enemies hard enough to stagger them, knocking them back on the Initiative instead of forward. This Action has a rather high cooldown and subtracts one die from the roll, making it slower and easier to dodge. It makes up for this, however, with its high damage potential and ability to slow down enemies. This Action works well against tougher enemies, as you can postpone their turn, allowing your allies a chance to attack in force.

Two-Handed Melee

Melee Attack

Test: Scrapper +1D Range: 456

Two-handed melee weapons are the slowest, heaviest, and hardest-hitting of all the melee styles. Large swords, hammers, staffs, pipes, wrenches, polearms, maces, and clubs all fall under this heading. You may also consider bows and crossbows as this type. With a weapon held in both paws you may train any of the following Actions, using Scrapper as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three two-handed fighting styles: savage, staff fighter, and swordsman. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Wide Swing


Offensive Action Two-Handed Melee Attack

On a successful hit, you may use a number of dice equal to the damage dealt with this Action to make an attack against another enemy.

Stagger


Offensive Action Two-Handed Melee Attack -1D

On a successful hit, the target moves back on the Initiative by one and may not take advantage of Expediency.

Savage Using blunt weapons like clubs, hammers, maces, flails, and other heavy weapons like axes; the savage style is simple and brutal. Using brute strength, this style—if you could call it that—is based upon simply hitting your enemy with a heavy weapon. Hard. Very hard. Until they stop moving. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the hack and slash ability, allowing you a bonus when you attack all out. As long as you keep on the offensive you retain this bonus, but you lose it the first time you defend.

Hack & Slash


At the beginning of every combat, you gain a +1D bonus to all Offensive Actions. You lose this bonus for the rest of the combat if you perform any Action that is not Offensive.

Staff Fighter With a quarterstaff, halberd, spear, or even nunchaku, staff fighters are masters of the defensive. Taking advantage of a longer weapon, you can defend and attack at once, adopting a spinning and acrobatic art that leaves no weaknesses. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the unbalancing stance which sends enemies who attack you and fail reeling back, fair game for you and your allies. The best way to take advantage of this is by using Defensive Actions and Expedition to avoid damage.

Unbalancing Stance


When an enemy targets you with an Offensive Action and deals no damage, all Offensive Actions gain a +1D against that enemy until they perform an Action.

Swordsman Using a two-handed blade, a huge sword, or a deadly katana, swordsman are dedicated masters of their art—so focused in their abilities that they can shear the wings off a flying plane. This style makes you just as deadly against armoured targets and vehicles as you are against anything else. At Scrapper rank 5 you gain the deepest cut, an ability that allows you to affect vehicles with all of your two-handed weapon attacks, including stagger and wide swing. Yes, even while falling through the air.

The Deepest Cut


Your Offensive Actions with two-handed weapons ignore the armour trait.

4

+1

+1

24

Ricochet A Marksman rank 3 you gain the ability to ricochet your shots off of walls, floors, and ceilings to catch your enemy off guard. Your attention to distracting your target gives this Action a higher cooldown than your basic attack. You can offset this, however, if the enemy decides to use a Defensive Action, which grants you two more dice to roll for the attack. This Action is best used when the enemy is low on Expedition, or has little choice but to defend. Quick-Draw At Marksman rank 4 you gain the quick-draw ability. Pistols are much easier to draw than most weapons, giving you the ability to fire off a quick shot before battle has even properly begun. You can only use this Action before the first turn of a combat. Even if you are not in the active position, you can use this Action to make an attack and then move back 2 spaces from your starting position, as usual. This is an incredibly useful way to dispatch a minion or get in a quick jab before your enemy is prepared.

Pistol

Ranged Attack

Test: Marksman Range: 456

One of the most common weapons in modern day, pistols have a myriad of uses and are easy to carry and conceal. Most pilots carry one as a sidearm even if they specialize in another weapon. From the Agency’s .38 revolvers to the Mafia’s semi-auto handguns, the Kopfjäger’s lugers, and the pirate’s .60 calibre cliplocks—pistols are quick, effective, no-frills implements. With a pistol held in one paw you may train any of the following Actions, using Marksman as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three pistol fighting styles: akimbo pistols, gunslinger, and high-calibre pistol. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Ricochet


Offensive Action Pistol Attack -1D


Quick-Draw


Offensive Action Pistol Attack

You may only use this Offensive Action before the first turn of a combat to make an attack, even if you are not in the active position.

Akimbo Pistols Using two pistols at the same time is flashy, exciting, and quick. You dash into battle, spinning your guns as you fire off a rapid volley of shots, flying through the air while shooting both at the same time. Akimbo pistols is a style that is straightforward and deadly fast; the Occam’s Razor of gunslinging styles. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the alternating fire Ability. By shooting one of your guns at a time, you effectively carry twice the amount of ammo and fire twice as fast as when just carrying one gun, lowering the cooldown of your basic attack.

Alternating Fire

Requirements: Marksman 5 Ability

When making a pistol attack you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 2.

Gunslinger Using a pistol in one paw and a melee weapon in the other, gunslingers are practiced and talented enough that the two become interchangeable. Enemies at range hold the risk of receiving a bullet between the ears, while those up close are just asking for a decisive swing of the arm. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the weapon focus Ability, allowing you to aim your melee weapon, parry with your bullets, and never be at a disadvantage if one of your weapons is lost.

Weapon Focus


You may use your basic pistol attack and basic one-handed melee attack interchangeably for one-handed melee Actions and pistol Actions.

High-Calibre Pistol Using an ordinary 9mm isn’t very effective against aircraft, cars, or armoured targets. That’s why some pistol aficionados modify their weapons to fire .45, .50, or even .60 calibre bullets, able to pierce through any plane, vehicle, wall, or—heaven forbid—person they aim at. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the anti-armour Ability, allowing your pistol to effectively damage targets with the armour trait.

Anti-Armour


Your Offensive Actions with pistols ignore the armour trait.

3

+1

-1

25

Aim At Marksman rank 3 you gain the aim ability. With the powerful scope mounted on your rifle, you can add half your Marksman to your next attack against an enemy of your choosing. You lose this bonus if you defend or take a different Action, but adding that many extra dice is certainly worth the extra two cooldown—especially considering your rifle’s already formidable range, accuracy, and damage. Cripple At Marksman rank 4 you gain the ability to hit enemies in the legs or engines, knocking them back on the Initiative instead of forward. This Action has a rather high cooldown and subtracts a die from the roll, making it slower and easier to dodge. It makes up for this, however, with its high damage potential and ability to slow down enemies. This Action works well against tougher enemies as you can postpone their turn, allowing your allies a chance to attack in force.

Rifle

Ranged Attack

Test: Marksman Range: 3456 Attacks with this weapon ignore the armour trait.

Powerful long range weapons, rifles are usually well cared for. They are favoured by snipers, trick shooters, assassins, and any pilot who plans to go up against an armoured target without a plane. From bolt, to lever, to semi-automatic rifles, most of these types of weapons have been retooled to fire higher calibre anti-armour rounds, making them powerful, accurate, and perfect for taking down aircraft when on foot. With a rifle held in two paws you may train any of the following Actions, using Marksman as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three rifle fighting styles: carbine, sniper, and trick shooter. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Aim


Neutral Action

Target one enemy. You can add ½ of your Marksman score as bonus dice to your next rifle Offensive Action against that enemy. You lose this bonus after your next Action.

Cripple


Offensive Action Rifle Attack -1D

On a successful hit, the target moves back on the Initiative by one and may not take advantage of Expediency.

Carbine Carbines are the bolt-action rifles issued in the Great War. Soldiers were trained to use their bayonets and the butts of their guns, and experience with trench warfare has made carbine users just as lethal at close range as they are at a distance. At Marksman rank 5, you gain the bayonet Ability, allowing you to train and perform shotgun Actions with your rifle.

Bayonet


You may use your basic rifle attack in place of a basic shotgun attack for shotgun Actions.

Sniper Skilled riflemen sometimes attach scopes and mounts to their rifles, extending the already impressive range of their weapons. Through the use of reinforced barrels, modified chambers, and heat sinks these sniper rifles can fire .60 to .70 calibre rounds with incredible accuracy. A skilled rifleman can sometimes hit the pilot of a plane in mid-flight, downing the aircraft in a single hit. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the long shot Ability, which deals extra damage to enemies further away from your Initiative.

Long Shot


When you target an enemy on a later Initiative than yours with a rifle Offensive Action, you gain a +1D to the attack.

Trick Shooter Lever-action rifles have been in common use since the mid-19th century, when Winchester’s popular .30-30 calibre weapons became a staple of the Wild West. They retained their popularity for their quick rate of fire, fine accuracy, and use in hunting. Modern versions of lever-action rifles are bored for high-calibre magnum rounds, but are mainly used by flashy performers and trick shooters. Most famously, this style is preferred by the idolized American raccoon Davy Crockett, as well as traveling performers like The Fabulous Topperweins. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the lever-action ability which reduces the cooldown of your basic rifle attack Action.

Lever-Action


When making a rifle attack you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 4.

2

+1

5

26

Dead Stop At Marksman rank 3 you gain the dead stop ability, which allows skilled shotgun users to stop an incoming attack with a quick shot from their gun. The cooldown for this Action may seem a bit high, since firing while defending can take a while to recover from, but it can be well worth it if you can turn an enemy’s attack against them. Kickback At Marksman rank 4 you gain the knockback Action, a quick blast of buckshot that can knock an enemy off their feet, fair game for your allies to hit. This ability is best used against an enemy that has plenty of Disposition, but very low Expedition. If they can’t dodge or defend, you have a good chance of providing a huge bonus to the next person to attack your target.

Shotgun

Ranged Attack

Test: Marksman +2D Range: 56

Shotguns are fearsome weapons, and incredibly powerful at close range. Originally only used for hunting, soldiers in the Great War quickly discovered that a blast of birdshot was more useful in a trench than a pistol round or a knife. Today, these weapons are in fairly common use because they are cheap and relatively easy to come by. While some pilots prefer to use concussive force by packing their shotgun rounds with slugs, it’s very difficult to dodge a cloud of buckshot from close range; and most pilots know better than to charge at an enemy with a shotgun. With a shotgun held in two paws you may train any of the following Actions, using Marksman as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three shotgun fighting styles: buckshot, slug rounds, and stub shotgun. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Dead Stop


Defensive Action Shotgun Attack

When you are the target of an attack, you may make a shotgun attack and subtract the successes from the damage taken. If this causes you to take no damage, any extra successes are dealt as damage to the attacker.

Kickback


Offensive Action Shotgun Attack

On a successful hit, the next Offensive Action against the target gains a +1D bonus for each damage dealt by this attack.

Buckshot By packing shotgun shells with loads of buck or birdshot, you can create a neigh-unavoidable cloud of lead with each shot. Pilots that use scattershot this way excel in close combat, hitting hard and often against enemies in close proximity. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the scattershot ability, which epitomises these attributes by adding extra damage to your up-close attacks.

Scattershot


When you target an enemy on your Initiative with a shotgun Offensive Action, you gain a +1D to the attack.

Slug Rounds Instead of creating clouds of bullets, some hunting shotguns can be made into precision weapons with the careful use of slug rounds. By firing a single bullet, a character can focus the concussive force of their shotgun and stagger their enemies on each hit. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the foster slug ability which staggers enemies and removes their ability to take advantage of expediency on a hit with your basic shotgun attack.

Foster Slug


When you deal damage to a target with a shotgun basic attack Action, the target may not take advantage of expediency.

Stub Shotgun By sawing off the barrels of an ordinary shotgun you can create an almost pistol-like weapon, less accurate but much faster than an ordinary hunting rifle. Because of their size, a stub shotgun can be reloaded and fired in closer quarters and much more rapidly than a full-length shotgun. Stub shotguns are also unique among their type given that they only take up one paw, allowing a pilot to use their fist or another weapon in tandem. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the snap shot ability which lowers the cooldown of your basic shotgun attack Action.

Snap Shot


When making a shotgun attack you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 2.

3

+0

+1

27

Autofire At Marksman rank 3 you gain the autofire Action, targeting multiple targets by laying down a thick cloud of lead. This Action has a fairly high cooldown, but to attack two or more targets with one Action makes it quite useable. This is best used against minions and characters that cannot defend, as you’ll be rolling about half as many dice as your usual attack. It is most effective against two or three targets, as spreading your Marksman Skill thinner than that isn’t a wise move. Covering Fire At Marksman rank 4 you gain the ability to lay down covering fire, staggering an enemy and making them easier for your allies to hit. This ability is best used against an enemy that has plenty of Disposition, but very low Expedition. While you will rarely be able to take advantage of this bonus yourself, but it can serve as a savage opener for an ally to take advantage of their weakness.

Submachine Gun

Ranged Attack

Test: Marksman +1D Range: 456

A relatively new invention, submachine guns combine the ease of use of the pistol’s clip design with the rate of fire of a trench machine gun. Submachine guns are cheap, easy to use, and commonly available. Thompson model guns, dubbed Tommy Guns, are widely used by local armed police and Mafia members alike. Germany has also been a large producer of 9mm submachine guns since as early as the end of the Great War. Much of the submachine gun’s popularity comes from its ability to lay down fire at a constant rate, and be reloaded quickly. They are incredibly effective against groups of enemies who stumble into each other when trying to dodge. With a submachine gun held in two paws you may train any of the following Actions, using Marksman as your primary Skill. In addition, you may choose one of three submachine gun fighting styles: automatic rifle, machine pistol, and shock trooper. This will give you access to features, Actions and Abilities from that style at higher ranks.

Autofire


Offensive Action Submachine Gun Attack +1D

Target every enemy on one space of the Initiative. Split the dice from this attack as evenly as possible between each target, then roll each attack in turn.

Covering Fire


Offensive Action Submachine Gun Attack


Automatic Rifle Widely used in the Great War, automatic rifles are very similar to the older carbines. They are accurate semi-automatic rifles, but can also be switched to fully automatic firing, allowing them to pull double-duty as a machine gun. They have a small clip size, but the ease of replacing the box magazines easily balances out their speed. They are easily the most accurate of the submachine gun styles. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the select-fire ability, allowing you to switch between using your weapon as a fully automatic machine gun and a single-action rifle.

Select-Fire


You may use your basic submachine gun attack in place of a basic rifle attack for rifle Actions.

Machine Pistol During the Great War, certain German pistols were modified to fire automatically, like a submachine gun. Some use drum barrels or extended magazines to compensate for the higher fire rate. These machine pistols can be concealed, aimed quickly in tight corridors, and fired and reloaded in a snap. This makes them the fastest models of all the submachine guns, as well as one of the easiest to carry and use—especially as a sidearm in the cockpit of your plane. At Marksman rank 5, you gain the short burst ability, lowering the cooldown of your basic submachine gun attack Action.

Short Burst


When making a basic submachine gun attack Action you take a -1D penalty, but the cooldown of your attack is reduced to 3.

Shock Trooper Specialists in heavy machinegun fire, shock troopers are front line, no-frills, lead-flinging beasts. Shock troopers focus in their ability to lay down large amounts of fire quickly, using techniques perfected in the trenches. Their strategy usually involves charging directly into combat and mowing down or trampling the poor sods unlucky enough to be in their way. At Marksman rank 5 you gain the run and gun ability which allows you to lower the cooldown of your submachine gun Actions at the loss of some accuracy.

Run & Gun


The cooldown of your autofire and covering fire Actions are reduced by 1.

4

+1

+1

28

Explosives are a frighteningly effective way of attacking multiple characters at once. They make a great supplement to any weapon and a great tool against groups of minions. They’re also incredibly volatile and often as unstable as the pilots who choose to carry them. Since this is a test with set dice rolls and not a Skill roll, you cannot use your Luck or Traits to modify these Actions. However, since they are weapon attacks, you may use them for Skill-based Offensive Actions. Where ranged attacks can target any character and melee attacks can only target characters on your Altitude, explosives attacks can target any character on or below your Altitude. Using Explosives Like bullets and fuel, you aren’t required to keep track of how many explosives your character is carrying at any given time. You are assumed to have enough of them, and characters that carry explosives can pull them out of nowhere when necessary. Simply write down the explosive attack or attacks of your choice in the weapon slots on your character sheet. Area Effects When an Action targets several characters, some complications may arise when it comes to bonus dice. For instance, what if you throw a stick of dynamite at an enemy that has been marked by a Scout? How about if you use your Deceiver to set up a bomb before setting it off? As a general rule, an area effect, like those provided by explosives attacks, you can only gain a benefit that applies to every target. For instance, if use your Diplomat to assess an enemy and your explosive only targets that enemy, you may add half of your Diplomat score to the test. However, if another enemy or one of your allies is on that space, then you do not gain any bonus.

Molotov Cocktail

Explosive Attack

Test: 3D Range: 56 Target every character on one space of the Initiative. Roll the attack once and apply it to every target.

Dynamite

Explosive Attack


Grenade

Explosive Attack


Gear has a relatively large space on your character sheet, under your character’s information. You may write here any piece of equipment you have procured in your travels or purchased. You may carry as many items as you can fit in the space provided, and have access to any reasonable piece of equipment. Their use makes no mechanical difference, but may sway the FC to make certain checks easier or harder depending on the gear being used.

3

4

5

29

This section contains heavy weapons used on aircraft and vehicles. You can gain any of these basic attacks by outfitting your plane with one or more of these weapon types and modify them with Actions from your Skills and aircraft style. This list, obviously, is not comprehensive in a universe where net guns and acid cannons are useable weapons—however, they are offered as broad headings for the way things work. You are free to wield any weapon you wish—simply choose one of these broad categories and re-flavour it to your liking. Aircraft weapons can target any enemy on the Initiative and ignore the armour trait. Any of these heavy weapons can also be emplaced. Emplaced weapons are usually placed on vehicles, either when used by passengers or on a turret. Often this is when a light machine gun is mounted on a jeep or when an Autocannon is used as anti-aircraft fire. When a weapon is emplaced it uses all of the same statistics, except that you use Marksman in place of Pilot for the test.

Light Machine Gun In the beginning of the Great War, the heaviest weapon a pilot could ask for was a rifle, a net, or a half brick. It wasn’t long before the light emplaced machine guns that were used to defend the trenches made their way onto the hull of German, British, and American biplanes. Today, many light machine guns are specially made to be mounted on aircraft—either timed to fire in between the propeller blades, from the wings, or mounted on a swivel. They are cheap, flexible, and readily available support weapons.

Light Machine Gun

Aircraft Attack

Test: Pilot Range: 456

Heavy Machine Gun As aircraft became better armoured—using steel instead of canvas, for instance—there arose a need for heavier firearms. The .303 inch rounds of Great War machine guns just glanced off modern aircraft. That is why effective heavy machine guns are so sought after. Using .50 calibre all the way up to 12.7mm shells, heavy machine guns keep the same rate of fire of their lighter counterparts allowing for a truly frightening level of anti-materiel fire. The heavier rounds require water or air-cooling systems, reinforced barrels, and larger ammunition boxes. Obviously enough, this makes the weapons much bulkier and slower.

Heavy Machine Gun

Aircraft Attack

Test: Pilot +1D Range: 456

Rotary Gun Gatling guns fell out of common use since the American military abandoned them in the early 20th Century. However, in the search for more powerful aircraft weapons and the constant problems with melting gun barrels with the higher calibre explosives, the rotary gun provided a quick and efficient option. With several rotating barrels, a rotary gun can safely fire thousands of 20-30mm rounds per minute.

Rotary Gun

Aircraft Attack

Test: Pilot +2D Range: 56

Autocannon The heaviest, loudest, and slowest of modern aircraft weapons, autocannons are capable of firing heavy 40mm shells with explosive heads, effectively penetrating the armour of enemy planes with terrifying accuracy and then blowing them apart from the inside. Autocannons are often used as anti-aircraft weapons when emplaced, and as ground attack weapons on an aircraft. The heavy armour-piercing rounds are effectively miniature bombs that can level buildings when not being used against aircraft. Even when they miss, the heavy explosives that an Autocannon fires can create a cloud of shrapnel that will still manage to damage their target.

Autocannon

Aircraft Attack

Test: Pilot Range: 3456

3

4

3

5

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Bombs are effective and dangerous heavy explosives dropped from an aircraft. They can be especially devastating against ground targets, both infantry and vehicles. Like explosives, you aren’t required to keep track of how many bombs your aircraft is carrying at any given time. Simply write down the explosive attack or attacks of your choice in the aircraft weapon slots on your character sheet. Since this is a test with set dice rolls and not a Skill roll, you cannot use your Luck or Traits to modify these Actions. Bombs follow all of the same rules as explosives, and can only target characters on or below your Altitude. These attacks all ignore the vehicle trait.

Iron Bomb

Explosive Attack


General-Purpose Bomb

Explosive Attack


Bunker-Buster

Explosive Attack


You may have heard the saying that pets resemble their owners. In the TailWinds universe, planes follow that same rule. A country horse might fly an old crop duster, a Great War veteran might fly a triplane, and a Louisiana crocodile may pilot a swampboat with canvas wings. Aircraft are personal, part of a character. They are living things with names, Attributes, and even their own personality Traits; all of which are represented on your character sheet. In the following section, you will find a list of aircraft styles, a way to describe the way you fly your plane. Like fighting styles, these are widely interpretative—just choose the style that closest resembles the type of plane you fly. All aircraft have the armour trait and may be fitted with weapons and modifications that give you additional Actions to train.

3

4

5

31

Bomber Usually considered to be huge and burly planes, more recently fast attack bombers have been changing that view. Fast or armoured, bombers are a frightening sight, usually carrying an intense payload and armed with defensive guns. Bombers focus in—what else—bombs, making them more effective and easier to carry. Their beginning ability, air raid, is a devastating attack that modifies their explosives. Being a Skill roll, it can also be modified with clever Trait or Luck use.

Air Raid

Requirements: Pilot 3

Offensive Action Explosive Attack +½ Pilot

Add ½ of your Pilot score as bonus dice to your basic explosive attack.

Blockbuster


Offensive Action Explosive Attack

If every target of this attack is on foot, you gain a +1D bonus for each target.

Explosives Expert

Requirements: Pilot 5 Ability

You may choose not to target up to one ally that would normally be targeted by an explosive attack when using bombs.

Fighter Fighters are the heads of the pack, the front of the squadron. They are greatly assisted by having their allies nearby, and often focus on the Scout or Diplomat Skills that let them return the favour. Good all-around planes, fighters come in all makes and models, focusing on armour or speed or somewhere in-between. Any plane that enters combat with a fighter on their side has a better chance of sticking around. Their ability, marked target, allows allies to steer an enemy into your shots, making for deadly coordinated strikes.

Wing Leader


Neutral Action

You may only use this Neutral Action before the first turn of a combat to grant yourself and each of your allies a +1D bonus to Disposition.

Marked Target


Offensive Action Aircraft Weapon Attack

For each of your allies on the same Initiative space as the target, you gain a +1D bonus to this test.

Formation Flier


When you target an enemy with an aircraft Offensive Action, any allies on your Initiative that target that same enemy gain a +1D bonus to their attack.

+2

+1

2

+1

32

Gunship Gigantic and heavily armoured, gunships are planes—or sometimes airships or zeppelins—built for multiple operators. They work best with a crew of two or three, with multiple guns and Actions. Since all the pilots in the aircraft share a Disposition, these aircraft need a high Armour and a liberal use of Defensive Actions. They also have the top gun Action, which allows a risky but effective way to turn the tides of an attack, turning a tailing aircraft into a sitting duck—but only if it works.

Top Gun


Defensive Action Aircraft Weapon Attack

When you are the target of an attack, you may make an aircraft weapon attack and subtract the successes from the damage taken. If this causes you to take no damage, any extra successes are dealt as damage to the attacker.

All-Out Assault



On a successful hit, any passengers of your aircraft that target that same enemy gain a +1D bonus to their attack.

Flying Fortress


For each passenger in your aircraft, you gain a +1D bonus to aircraft Defensive Actions.

Interceptor Interceptors are deadly predators of the sky. They pick their prey and tail it until it falls. Usually balanced and focusing on Detective or Deceiver Skills, they are difficult to shake and harder to dodge. Their seek and destroy Action allows them to mark their prey and pursue it relentlessly. They also gain the feint manoeuvre which, like the melee Action, grants them a bonus if their target attempts to dodge. While it is less accurate than a usual attack, it can be put to great use if the target is going to dodge or is looking to take advantage of Expediency.

Seek and Destroy



On a successful hit, you gain a +1D bonus to your next Offensive Action against the target. You lose this bonus after your next Action.

Feint Manoeuvre


Offensive Action Aircraft Weapon Attack -1D


Deadly Aim


When targeting an enemy below your Altitude with a basic aircraft weapon attack Action, you gain a +1D bonus to the attack.

+0

+1

+1

+1

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Pursuit Pursuit craft are speedy, manoeuvrable craft that become better as they climb and dive. They do best with light or rotary guns, which they can use to attack rapidly. They function best at high Altitude; spinning, looping, and divebombing their targets from above. While the cooldown for their initial Action may seem high, it will often be one or two points lower than this when you dive as part of the action. They can also use the fast attack Action to get in several speedy hits, or to climb Altitude without increasing their cooldown by much.

Divebomb



For each Altitude you dive as part of this Action, you gain a +1D bonus to this test.

Fast Attack


Offensive Action Aircraft Weapon Attack -1D

The cooldown of your basic aircraft weapon attack Action is lowered by 1, but you take a -1D penalty to the attack.

Rapid Volley


When using an aircraft Offensive Action with a cooldown of 2 or less (after climbing or diving), you gain a +1D bonus to the attack.

Scout Aircraft Small, incredibly fast, and at least as manoeuvrable as pursuit craft, scout aircraft are also highly defensive. With bonuses for being alone and effective defensive manoeuvres, scouts can stay around for quite a while; flying circles around their attackers and waiting for a moment to strike. Their Action, defensive spiral, allows them a high-risk high-reward manoeuvre that leaves their attacker at Low Altitude and further back on the Initiative.

Opening Volley




Defensive Spiral


Defensive Action Pilot

When you are the target of an attack, you may make a Pilot test and subtract the successes from the damage taken. If this causes you to take no damage, lower the attacker’s Altitude by 1. This does not lower the cooldown of the attacker’s Action.

Lone Wolf


When you perform an Offensive Action and there are none of your allies on this turn, you gain a +1D bonus to the attack.

+2

-1 4

+1

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Modifications for your plane are what the majority of your earnings go toward purchasing. They can raise and lower your aircraft’s Attributes, give you additional Actions to train, provide static bonuses and Abilities, and even change your basic attacks. Modifications may be purchased from most dealers and garages (at the FC’s discretion) for the price listed, give or take. Some garages might charge more or less, and sometimes you can haggle the price down a few SkyDollars. Each part has an associated requirement that you must meet in order to effectively use the part. There is an associated cost that you must pay to purchase the part and have it fitted. Speed and Armour Upgrades Unlike character Attributes, you must raise your aircraft’s Speed or Armour by purchasing upgrades to your engine or plating. In order to upgrade one of your aircraft’s Attributes by one, it will cost S$100 times the current Attribute score. An easy way to think about this is the same as advancements, if each advancement cost S$100. Upgrades like duralumin planform wing coating, compressed cowling armour, or a vulcanized self-sealing fuel compartment can increase your Armour by one. Ethylene glycol cooling, a two-stage centrifugal supercharger, or turbo-compound arrangement upgrades will increase your Speed.

Performance Modifications To the right is a list of modifications that you may purchase for your aircraft. Each modification gives you access to an Action that you may train. You may notice that the cost of each part is S$100 times the Skill requirement of each Action. Using these same rules, you may purchase any Actions from other aircraft styles by paying S$100 times the Skill requirement. For instance, if you want to turn your fighter aircraft into a fighter-bomber, you may want to purchase a bomb bay enhancement from the bomber style that lets you train the air raid Action for S$300.

Balanced Scoping System Cost: S$200 A balanced brass scoping assembly in the cockpit of your plane can allow you to make precision shots with your aircraft weapons.

Precision Scope


Neutral Action

Target one enemy. You can add ½ of your Marksman score as bonus dice to your next aircraft Offensive Action against that enemy. You lose this bonus after your next Action.

Secondary Ammunition Track Cost: S$300 A second line of heavy ammunition lets you reload faster than before, allowing you to lower the cooldown of an Action.

Rapid Reload

Requirements: Armour 3

Neutral Action

The cooldown of your next aircraft Offensive Action is reduced by 2 to a minimum of 3. You lose this benefit after your next Action.

Reheat Jetpipe Afterburner Cost: S$300 A quick injection of fuel in a crude metal pipe propels your aircraft forward like a rocket, at the cost of some stability.

Scramjet

Requirements: Speed 3

Neutral Action

You may only use this Neutral Action when you take advantage of expediency. You may move up 2 spaces on the Initiative instead of 1, but you take a -1D penalty to your next Offensive Action.

2

1

0

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This section of the rules is for the person playing Flight Control. It’s a hard job that requires you to narrate, plan, write, judge, referee, act, orate, negotiate, improvise, and a dozen other skills—often for just one session of the game. It’s also an enjoyable and rewarding task, letting you play a variety of fun and interesting characters, design and plan an adventure in a world that you make your own, and letting your players into a very piece of your imagination. While the book proper will have a large section dedicated to first-time FCs, we assume for the purposes of playtesting that you have played a game before and understand what it is a narrator, or dungeon master, or game master does. This section will be your toolbox instead, a list of advice and aids to help you run a game of TailWinds with as little planning and as much enjoyment as possible! Common Sense If a rule does not work in a certain situation, disregard it. If the rules don’t cover a situation, improvise. The rules, as written, are meant to be as sensible as possible—but not everything works the same way every time. Sometimes you need to interpret and improvise, but the rules are there to make those situations as rare and easy to handle as possible. Use the tools available—including the most important one, your best judgement! Be Friendly While you may sometimes play the role of bad guys, villains, and opponents of the players, they are your friends. You want them to succeed—to create adversity for them to overcome, of course, but overcome they shall and you can never take this as an affront. You walk every step with your players, as they walk with you—and when they succeed, when they enjoy themselves, and when they step across that finish line, so too do you!

Keeping Tone While you are really free to run the game the way that’s most fun for you and your group, TailWinds keeps its over-the-top, light-hearted tone best when no one is getting hurt. That’s the joke in a game involving guns and bar fights—that it still tries to maintain a PG-level of violence. Here are a few tips to make that tone work in your descriptions: treat bullets as solid objects that don’t pierce the skin. While people will be shot, have the bullet hit them, knock them out, and leave a welt, but not draw blood. For bladed weapons, use ‘Zorro’ rules, where an enemy’s clothing is cut and then they pass out. For explosions, treat the game by ‘A-Team’ or ‘Looney Tunes’ physics, where characters are charred by, launched by, or knocked out by an explosion—but not hurt so bad that a short hospital visit won’t heal them right up. Have Fun At the end of the day, the point of a roleplaying game is to be a game. What it should never be is an argument, debate, or a chore. It is supposed to be a source of conversation, stories, banter, adventure, and fun. The only way to play a game incorrectly is not to have fun doing it.

Challenges When one of your players asks to test one of their Skills to achieve an outcome, you will mediate the Challenge. Try not to tell the players what to roll, this should be up to their interpretation, though you can of course rule on whether or not what they want to use is plausible. Challenges can be done in several ways, depending on the situation. If the player is unopposed but there is a chance of failure, you should decide if the Challenge will be easy, average, tricky, or unlikely for the character. Take the situation into account when deciding a difficulty—where it may be average for a gorilla to lift a car, for instance, it would be a fairly unlikely task for a mouse. Tasks will also be easier if the player has the right gear for the job—for example, climbing a cliff that may be a tricky task would be about average with a rope and grappling hook. Use your best judgement and common sense. Feel free to negotiate with the players as to what they think is a fair difficulty.

36 For an easy task you will roll 4 dice, for an average task you will roll 6, for a tricky task you will roll 8, and for an unlikely task you will roll 10. You do not reroll aces (6s) on the dice. The player and you will make opposed checks and compare the number of successes. The player fails the task if they roll less successes than you, succeed if they roll equal to or above the number of successes, and gain a perfect success if they also roll more successes than the total number of dice you rolled. A player must roll at least 1 success to succeed in the Challenge. You may also make any of these Challenges an ‘ace Challenge’, which allows you to reroll aces on the dice. This is usually done if a situation is unfairly weighted against a player—for example, a card game may be an average task, but if the opponent is cheating, it may be made an ace average Challenge where you roll 6 dice and reroll aces. (Optional) If you prefer static numbers over opposed rolls, you may make challenges with static difficulties instead. The difficulty of any Challenge would be half the number of dice you would roll, instead of rolling. Ace challenges increase the number by 1. Therefore, a normally average challenge would be difficulty 3, instead of rolling 6 dice. An ace unlikely Challenge would be difficulty 6 instead of rolling 10 dice and rerolling aces.

Easy Average Tricky Unlikely

Dice 4 6 8 10

Cooldown 2 3 4 5

Static Rating (Optional)

2 3 4 5

Perfect Success A perfect success is when a player rolls a number of successes above the difficulty rating of a Challenge, or the total number of dice rolled against them. Outside of combat, this provides an additional bonus of some sort, appropriate to the situation. For example, a character trying to break down a door that is an easy challenge rolls 5 successes on the test. The door comes crashing down on an unsuspecting baddie on the other side, taking him out of the fight before it even begins! The player not only completes the task they were trying to perform, but does so in a spectacular way that they were not expecting. Some systems might call this sort of outcome a ‘critical success’. Combat Challenges In combat, a Challenge’s cooldown will be half of the number of dice you roll, so 2 for an easy task, 3 for an average task, etc. A perfect success lowers the cooldown by 1. There is no cooldown to defend from a Challenge, only to instigate one. If the player is opposing an enemy, use the enemy’s most appropriate Attribute instead of assigning a difficulty. If the enemy is an ace, you may also reroll aces on the dice. If the player succeeds and rolls more successes than the Attribute rolled, they achieve a perfect success as usual. If the player is actively opposing another player, then the two may describe their actions and roll appropriate Skills as an opposed test. In the event of a tie, the two players may roll another die each, and the character with the higher number on the die wins. Alternatively, you can describe the outcome of a tie if you prefer. If one player rolls more successes than the other, and more than their opponent’s Skill’s total value, they achieve a perfect success. In combat, the cooldown will be half of the defending player’s Skill.

37

Enemies No matter what faction a character belongs to, sooner or later they can wind up fighting someone from any other faction—or even a different part of their own! So TailWinds needs simple rules to make lots of baddies in a short amount of time. While the actual enemy creation rules will be saved for the book itself, the basics are covered here for the playtest. Enemies do not have Skills, instead only having the main Attributes: Spirit, Strength, Wits, Armour, and Speed. They roll these for appropriate checks instead of their Skill. Wits instead of Marksman or Strength instead of Scrapper for instance. They also do not get to reroll aces on the dice. Enemies come in four levels of importance: Minions Minions are nameless mooks that are knocked quickly out of a fight, but can be a nuisance in large groups. Minions have only 1 Disposition; and though they roll Expedition to determine their place on the Initiative line, they cannot use it to dodge. They usually only have one Action available to them, and a special action called “Look out, Boss!” which lets them jump in the way of an oncoming attack to save their leader. Rookies Rookies are throwaway enemies that last longer than mooks and have a variety of Actions available. Rookies have and can roll for Disposition, but like minions, they cannot use their Expedition to dodge. Wings Wings are tougher enemies, almost equal to a player character in terms of raw ability. They have and can roll for Disposition and Expedition, may dodge attacks, and have a number of Actions to use. Wings also get a Trait that can be used only to benefit them, allowing them to reroll a failed Skill test. When a wing is defeated in combat every player at the table gains 1 Disposition.

Leaders Leaders are big bads—tough boss characters. They have and can roll for Disposition and Expedition, dodge attacks, and have the widest variety of Actions. Like Wings, leaders get a Trait that they may use to benefit themselves. They also get to roll a Spirit test at the beginning of combat and count the successes to determine the amount of Luck they begin with. They may use their Luck much like a player to add to their Skill tests, but they may also add their luck dice to any of their allies’ Skill tests. When a leader is defeated in combat every player at the table gains 1 Disposition. Any of these enemy types may also be made ‘ace enemies’, which allows them to reroll aces on the dice, much like player characters. Antagonism Every enemy has a rating of antagonism, basically how powerful they are compared to an average player character. This number is often a fraction expressed as a sixth (to keep from having to add mixed fractions—ick!), but they can also be 1 or higher. When planning encounters, the antagonism of all of the enemies added together should roughly equal the number of players in the squadron. Try going over or under by about 1 to make harder or easier challenges, or accommodate for particularly powerful or unlucky squadrons. Minions have an antagonism of 3/6, so you can match two to each player. Rookies have an antagonism of 4/6, so pairing three of them to two players is a good match. Wings have an antagonism of 1, and are on even footing against a single player. Leaders have the highest antagonism at 1 2/6, leaving room for a rookie-level lackey against two players. Making an enemy an ace adds 1/6 to the antagonism rating.

Minion Rookie Wing Leader

Antagonism 3/6 4/6 1 1 2/6

Ace Antagonism 4/6 5/6 1 1/6 1 3/6

Bounty S$30 S$40 S$60 S$80

Ace Bounty S$40 S$50 S$70 S$90

38 Enemy Advancements Each session, your players will be gaining advancements, raising their Skills and Attributes, raising money and getting stronger. Don’t worry, you are too! At the end of each session, you gain an advancement that you may use on the encounters you create. You can use your advancements every time you plan a combat. That means after three sessions, you have three advancements to spend each combat, and after the next session you’ll have four! Each advancement raises one Attribute of one enemy by one point. You should make sure that each enemy has one advancement before giving any two—to be fair—but use your best judgement. Advancements can also be ‘purchased’ by increasing the antagonism rating of an enemy by 1/6 for each advancement.

Combat Combat was already detailed earlier in this guide. As the FC, you will keep track of the Disposition and Expedition of the enemies, move characters around the Initiative Line, and be more or less responsible for refereeing the events. There is one other aspect of combat you should be aware of, but it is an optional rule. (Optional) In the test adventure, you will find a table that comes with most combats. Any time the Initiative moves up and no character moves into the active space, you can roll (or have a player roll) on that chart to trigger a random event. Simply roll a dice and compare the number on it to the matching number on the chart. This can cause a random Initiative to be struck by lightning in a storm, a fire in the warehouse the squadron is fighting in, or other random occurrences. In the rule book proper, there will be tools for making your own charts as well!

Rewards As the FC, it will be your responsibility to hand out rewards periodically. This is where you have a chance to compliment players that did particularly well in your eyes, and also gives you a chance to discuss the session itself with your players.

Advancements At the end of each session, every player gains an Attribute advancement. (Optional) You may also choose to hand out up to three bonus advancements as merits. The way you choose to hand these out is up to you, but the suggested method is as follows. Have each player read their Drive aloud. Discuss with the players until everyone at the table is agreed as to who worked hardest to achieve their Drive that session, and grant that player one bonus advancement. This is not a vote, this is a consensus. Have each player read their Quirk aloud. Discuss with the players until everyone at the table is agreed as to whose Quirk was most entertaining this session, and grant that player one bonus advancement. Again, this is a consensus, not a vote. Lastly, discuss with the players what the most awesome, coolest, most interesting thing that happened this session was, and grant the player responsible one bonus advancement. Each player may only gain one bonus advancement from a session. Bounties Every enemy that the players fight will have a bounty on their head from someone. Heck, the players probably have one too. The Agency takes out rewards for capturing pirates, the mafia takes out hits on the Outlaws, and the Kopfjäger will probably pay for one less Illuminati flying around. Each enemy has an associated bounty; S$30 for a minion, S$40 for a rookie, S$60 for a wing, and S$80 for a leader. The bounty goes up by S$20 for an ace, and S$10 for each advancement. Luck Every player gains 1 Luck at the beginning of a session and when they spend a Trait on a failed roll. You can also hand out Luck as rewards for certain behaviour, valorous deeds, mission completions, defeating particularly bad villains, and—most importantly—for doing really awe-inspiring stunts. When a player performs an awesome feat worthy of reward, you should grant 1 Luck to every player at the table. Everyone should feel good about how amazing that was, not jealous! You may hand out more or less Luck depending on how much your squadron needs it, but handing out about 2-3 Luck per session is a fair amount.

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