COMBAT
What Combat is in Bright-Dark
Combat in Bright-Dark is not something heroes seek out. Most characters are ordinary people trying to solve a problem, and danger is something they walk into because the world demands courage, not because they crave violence. Combat may not be the solution to a problem and often it gets in the way of the solution. That said, Bright-Dark characters can be warriors, but even warriors are shaped by the world’s wounds, not by glory.
This makes combat in Bright-Dark rare, dangerous, and emotionally charged. It happens when fear, grief, or desperation spill over, when a wounded being lashes out, when corruption twists something gentle into something violent, or when a moment of misunderstanding becomes a moment of crisis. Fights are short, messy, and costly. Combat is not about defeating enemies; it is about surviving encounters with wounded beings.
Combat should feel tense, intimate, and human-scale. Every strike matters. Every choice has weight. Violence always leaves a mark either on the mind, the body, the story, or the world.
Combat should feel like brief struggles for life and death, not a sport.
Why Combat Happens
Combat occurs when a creature lashes out from fear or pain, a corrupted place reacts violently, someone is protecting something fragile, misunderstanding escalates, desperation overwhelms reason, etc.
Combat is never the first option. It is what happens when gentler paths fail.
What Combat Costs
Violence always carries consequences: Physical injury, emotional strain, dimming wonder, worsening corruption, broken trust, lost opportunities, lingering guilt, etc.
Victory hurts. Survival scars.
How Combat Works
Bright-dark combat is fast and decisive. A few exchanges can determine the outcome. Characters act with urgency, not strategy. The goal is not to “win”, it is to end the danger with as little harm as possible.
During combat, characters may:
- Defend
- Flee
- Attempt to calm
- Restrain
- Protect
- Plead
- Sacrifice
- Attack, but hopefully only when necessary
Killing is possible, but never ideal. Mercy is powerful, but never guaranteed.
COMBAT PROCUDURE
Transitioning into combat in Bright-Dark should feel seamless. Rolling to see who goes first is immersion-breaking, so combat begins when the fiction demands it. The side that acts first in the narrative acts first in the game.
Side-Based Turn Order
Turn order is per side, not per character.
Each combat round has two turns:
- Player Side Turn
- GM Side Turn
After both sides act, the round ends and a new round begins. This keeps combat fast, tense, and focused.
Turns
On your turn, you may:
- Move without acting,
- Act without moving,
- Or move as part of your action.
*No tactical clutter. There are no double moves, no double actions, no delaying actions, and no interrupting another turn. Combat is decisive and immediate. Remember to describe your action like writing a line in a book!
Player-Side Turn Structure
Player turns have two phases:
1. Declaration Phase
All players declare what they intend to do. Once declared, actions cannot be changed. This reinforces Bright-Dark’s tone: fear, urgency, and commitment.
2. Resolution Phase
All players roll their dice. The GM determines and describes what happens based on the fiction and the rolls. This keeps combat flowing and prevents tactical micromanagement.
Resolving Combat
Combat ends when one side is defeated, surrenders, flees, or if both sides agree to cease fighting and parley.
Combat is not about killing enemies, it is about surviving encounters with wounded beings.
Retreat, Pursuit & Mercy
Retreat, pursuit, and mercy are moments where characters choose how violence ends, not how it continues.
Retreat
Retreat in Bright-Dark is not a tactical disengage, it’s a narrative choice to stop fighting and escape danger.
A side may retreat on its turn if the fiction allows it; if there is a path, if the characters are not surrounded or trapped. Retreat ends combat immediately. No roll needed. The GM adjudicates whether escape is possible.
Pursuit
The other side may pursue if the fiction supports pursuit. Pursuit is not a chase scene; instead, combat continues in a new space.
Mercy
A side may offer mercy for its turn. If the other side accepts, combat ends immediately. If the other side refuses, combat continues.
Concluding Combat
When the threat is gone, combat ends immediately.
There is no lingering initiative or round structure.
1. Apply conditions only if they matter.
Conditions should be narrative, emotional, or tied to the wound.
2. Breather
The players may opt to take a short rest.
3. Check on unconscious characters.
Unconscious characters wake up within about 10 minutes; they do not benefit from a breather (short rest). Apply unconsciousness, wake-up, magical recovery, and deathblow rules.
4. Narrate the aftermath.
The GM describes how the world settles, how the wound reacts, and how the tone shifts.
5. Loot only if meaningful.
Looting bodies spoils the tone of Bright-Dark. Items should matter emotionally or narratively, not mechanically.
Combat cleanup should be simple, quiet, and narrative; a moment of breath before the world’s wounds speak again.
Combat Mechanics
Attack Rolls
Roll 3d6 + Attribute + Talent against the opponents Defense TN. On a hit, roll damage.
Damage Rolls
On a successful hit, roll damage. Damage is subtracted from Health.
- Barehanded damage: 1 damage + Strength + Talent
- Weapon damage: Weapon Damage Die + Attribute + Talent.
Critical Hits
If your natural 3d6 result before adding modifiers is 17 or 18, that's a critical hit. Critical hits are rare moments of precious luck, not skill. They are the hit that somehow bypasses defense and lands just right. They are dangerous. On a critical hit, add 2d6 damage to your damage roll.
- Natural 17-18 = critical hit
- Natural 3-4 = miss; narratively appropriate but not punishing fumble at GM discretion
Dual-Wielding
Characters holding a weapon in each hand may choose which weapon to strike with. If they want to attack with both weapons, they:
- Make one attack roll with a situational modifier of -1
- Roll both damage rolls, but take the best result and discard the lowest result
Defending
When you defend, add +1 Situational Modifier to your Defense TN until your next turn. Your unarmored Defense TN is 8. Defense TN is based on armor; see the
Equipment section for armor values.
Defending does not stack with other defensive actions. It simply represents bracing, guarding, or taking a more cautious stance.
Range
Range describes the distance of attacks, including spells. Bright-Dark assumes 5 feet as a grid space if gridded combat is used. One pencil or pen is about 6 inches and can represent 30 feet. Use these!
- Close: Within 5 feet. Melee attacks. Long weapons may reach 10 feet.
- Near: 6-30 feet. The limit of thrown weapons.
- Far: 31-60 feet. Ranged weapons and spells take -1 Situational Modifier to hit.
- Distant: 61-120 feet. Ranged weapons and spells take -1 to hit Situational Modifier; this is the limit of most ranged weapons and spells.
Range penalties apply to the attack roll, not to damage.
MOVEMENT SPEED
Movement is intentionally simple. There are three movement speeds:
Normal Movement
30 feet (one pencil length) per combat turn. Most creatures, including humans, move at Normal speed.
Slow Movement
15 feet (half a pencil length) per combat turn.
Used when:
- Injured, Sick, Poisoned, Encumbered (within the fiction, not a mechanic)
- Restrained if the fiction still allows movement
- Crossing hazardous or difficult terrain
- Affected by a condition that reduces movement
- Humans use Slow Movement when climbing, swimming, crawling, or burrowing
Fast Movement
45 feet (one and a half pencil lengths) per combat turn.
Used by:
- Creatures we assume are much faster than humans (horses, etc.)
- Flying creatures
- A character benefiting from a magical condition
Flying creatures fall if their flight is impaired, hitting the ground in the same combat round and instantly taking fall damage (1d6 per 10 feet).
UNCONSCIOUSNESS
When a character reaches 0 or less Health, treat as 0 Health, and they fall unconscious.
Waking an Unconscious Character
An unconscious character does not get their own rolls to wake up. Another character may spend an action to shake or rouse an unconscious ally. Roll an unmodified 3d6 vs TN 14, and the character wakes with 1 Health.
Environmental effects that vigorously shake or jolt a character may also trigger a wake-up attempt using the same TN.
If multiple characters help, the GM may grant a Light Bonus depending on the situation.
A Bright-Dark setting is low-magic. If Health is magically restored to 1 or more, consciousness is immediately regained.
Radiant Moments (see the Game Master section) automatically succeed at TN 14 or less, allowing a guaranteed wake-up.
Automatic Recovery
An unconscious character wakes automatically after 10 in-game minutes, unless the GM determines the situation prevents it (ongoing danger, magical effects, etc.). They awaken with 1 Health.
Critical Hit or Massive Damage
If the unconsciousness was caused by a critical hit or massive damage, the character is dizzy for the rest of the day. Massive damage means the character loses half or more of their maximum health in a single hit.
Dizzy
A character suffers a brief loss of balance and clarity. They take a situational modifier of -1 on rolls involving balance, precision, or focus until they rest for a full night.
Death
If a character is unconscious and is attacked, the attack hits automatically and is treated a deathblow.
Don't do anything you wouldn't do in real life and play your character like you care what happens to them!
COVER
Cover is intentionally simple.
- Half Cover: The character is partially obscured by a solid obstacle. Apply a -1 Situational Modifier to hit characters in half cover.
- Full Cover: The character is fully obscured by a solid obstacle. The character cannot be targeted directly.
Characters can be obstacles. If cover is involved and the attacker rolls a natural 3–4 fumble, the attack automatically hits the obstacle providing cover, even if that obstacle is another character.
CALLED SHOTS
Attacks normally target the torso. If a character aims for a specific body part, use the Situational Modifier rule:
Called shots are used to impose penalties or effects in addition to damage. Examples include:
- Disarm a foe (limb)
- Impair attack or damage rolls (limb injury)
- Blind (head)
- Stun or stagger (head)
- Reduce movement speed (limb injury)
- Trip (limb)
When players get creative, reward creativity. Strict mechanical interpretation of rules discourages creative play. Bright-Dark thrives on flexible, narrative adjudication.
SUBDUING ATTACKS (NON-LETHAL ATTACKS)
NPCs reduced to 0 Health are normally dead. A character may declare a subduing attack to knock an opponent unconscious instead of killing them.
Subduing attacks use the same attack roll but take a -1 Situational Modifier.
If the attack reduces the target to 0 Health or less, treat the target as having 0 Health and unconscious, not dead.
Intent matters. Using the pommel of a sword or striking with the flat of the blade is subduing. Stabbing someone in the gut is not.
Striking an unconscious opponent is a deathblow. It counts as beating them to death.
SPELLCASTING ROLLS
Spellcasting uses the same core mechanic as attacks: Roll 3d6 + Attribute + Talent vs the spell’s TN.
- Minor Spells: TN 9
- 1d6 of damage / healing, or one condition to one character or object
- Major Spells: TN 12
- either 2d6 damage / healing to one character or object, or
- 1d6 damage / healing and one condition to one character, or
- 1d6 of damage / healing, or one condition to a space up to one pencil length in diameter. Players may describe the space.
The Attribute used depends on the caster’s magical style. Players choose this at character creation.
- Mind: Arcane, studied, or knowledge-based magic
- Will: Spiritual magic
- Emotion: Wild or emotional magic
Results of spellcasting rolls:
- On a success: The spell works as intended and the caster spends the Ether cost.
- On a failure: The spell fizzles; the caster spends 1 Ether.
- On a critical hit: The GM applies a bonus effect appropriate to the fiction.
- On a fumble (natural 3-4): The spell miscasts; the GM applies a complication appropriate to the fiction.
One Action, One Roll
Spellcasting is intentionally fast and intuitive. Never break down actions into multiple steps with die rolls to resolve each step.
A successful spell roll means the spell works exactly as intended. Players do not roll to cast and then roll again to hit or apply effects. Minor and Major spell TNs keep spellcasting simple and prevent multi-roll magic. Magic is balanced by Ether, a limited resource.
NPC Spellcasting
NPCs do not use the player spellcasting system. They either roll to hit or the player rolls to avoid depending on the spell’s delivery.
If the spell works like a melee or ranged attack, the NPC rolls: 3d6 + Attribute vs the PC’s Defense TN
If the spell splashes, flashes, mists, flames, bursts, radiates, waves, or relies on eye contact, sound, or presence, the player rolls to resist, avoid or endure. The GM chooses the appropriate defense based on the fiction.
- Must Be Dodged: 3d6 + Agility + Talent
- Must Be Endured: 3d6 + Endurance + Talent
- Must Be Resisted: 3d6 + Will + Talent
This subsection is about spellcasting mechanically in combat. Read the Magic section for more on magic.
Miscellaneous Movement
This subsection is about concepts, not mechanics or rules. Let these concepts live in the fiction. Don't worry about them mechanically.
- Turn Speed: Sometimes creatures must move forward to turn around. They cannot pivot in place and change direction. This can be creatures with long, inflexible bodies, creatures at full stride, and many creatures that fly or swim.
- Hover: Hovering describes a creature who can stop in mid-air and move in any direction (omni-directional) like a helicopter, a honeybee, or a hummingbird. Some winged creatures can hover in place in short bursts, for simplicity, we do not treat them as having hover flight.
- Flying: Describes a how creatures with wings like airfoils fly. They must constantly move forward and generate lift to stay aloft. Some can compensate for their turn speed with an aerial maneuver. For simplicity, they cannot ascend more than 10 ft per combat turn, but they can descend any distance rapidly.
UNDERWATER COMBAT
Humans and similar fantasy races cannot hold their breath for very long while engaging in extraneous activity such as combat. Characters can fight underwater for four rounds. Each round after that, characters automatically lose 1 Stamina at the end of their turn. At 0 Stamina, they're unconscious even though they may have plenty of Health (see unconscious rules in the Combat section).
All actions within reason are considered situationally penalized by -1 while underwater including escaping grapples and attack rolls with all weapons except for attacks made with a dagger or spear. The range of Ranged all weapons are reduced to Near range (30 feet).
Mundane fire does not harm characters underwater. Magical fire is half as effective.
FALL DAMAGE
Characters who fall great distances get hurt when they hit the ground. Roll 1d6 damager per 10 feet fallen. For simplicity, characters fall the entire distance to the ground in one turn.
RIDING A MOUNT
Horses are considered a mount. When a character rides a mount, the mount's movement speed replaces the characters automatically. If the mount is trained to accept a rider, they automatically obey the rider's commands. For simplicity, we assume a player character knows how to ride a mount; no roll needed.
A GM may call for a reaction roll to determine if a mount is willing to accept a rider. Many animals used as mounts are skittish including horses; The GM may make a morale roll for the mount if the rider steers them into danger or frightening situations. A war horse is trained to ride into danger and does not need to roll for morale.
If the mount rejects the rider either due to a poor reaction roll or a failed morale roll, the mount may retain its turn. It can move independently and it can use its action to attempt to buck the rider. The rider must succeed a 3d6 + Strength roll vs TN 12 or fall off and take 1d6 damage.
Jousting, Charging and Trampling: A rider armed with a lance adds an additional 1d6 to damage rolls when charging. If struck in this way, that character falls prone unless they make a 3d6 Strength Roll vs TN 12. If the character is riding a horse when struck by a lance at charge, they must make that roll or fall and take 1d6 fall damage. If a horse tramples on the prone body of a character, the character takes 1d6 damage.
