Carefully tracking all passage of time is important for keeping tabs on light sources, rations, random encounters, as well as deadlines or delays in quests.
All time in Brigandine is divided into rounds, as explained below.
During combat, each round corresponds to 1 min of time in the game world. Each combat round is divided into several phases, which are only a few seconds of time each. See the combat order.
After five consecutive rounds of combat, soldiers will become weary, and will require one combat round of rest to recover. When weary, both their attack and defense type will drop one category, and they roll a step down in the dice chain.
While exploring an area (e.g. tunnels, a castle, a forest, or an outdoor garden), one exploration round corresponds to 20 minutes of time in the game world. Unlike combat rounds, there is no fixed schedule for when new exploration rounds begin. Usually, one exploration round is the time it takes to quietly enter and carefully explore one standard-sized room (think of your living room). After the PCs have interacted with one room or terrain feature as much as they can or care to, consider one exploration round to have passed.
After five consecutive exploration rounds, soldiers will become tired and need to rest for one exploration round. That is, while exploring they need to rest for ten mintues out of every hour.
Combat takes up at least one full exploration round (or more!), with any additional time being used to patch up wounds, clean weapons, fetch arrows, and other such tasks.
While traveling overland (through woods, mountains, or other long journeys) one round corresponds to 6 hours of time in the game world. During this time the PCs are consulting landmarks, listening for approaching footsteps, or checking for good campground. PCs must consume rations at the end of each overland round, and must spend every fourth overland round resting (i.e. must sleep six hours per day). The round of rest takes into account a rotating watch of one person every hour; a PC watching more than this is considered to have not rested and will be weary the next day.
Rather than traveling, the PCs may use an overland round to explore their location, to fix or replace equipment as possible, or to hunt for game.
The overland rounds assume normal breaks are taken, and that the PCs are being observant. The players may instead elect a forced march, taking no breaks and looking only at the trail ahead. This will increase the risk of encountering enemies and of getting lost, and will leave the PCs weary.
The distances a soldier can move during a combat, exploration, and overland round will depend upon the ½mv of the character.
The ½mv is equal to half the amount that the soldier can move during one combat round. In one combat, there are two movement phases, and the soldier may move up to ½mv each movement phase. Within combat, it is assumed the soldier is moving quickly, trotting if not running.
During an exploration phase, it is assumed the soldiers are moving deliberately, taking cautious steps. Soldiers
Characters need to consume rations to maintain their strength. These rations can be food brought for the journey, or game caught during the adventure.
Belowground, inside tunnels, dungeons, and caverns there is almost no visible light. It becomes impossible to see without a light source. Even aboveground at night, there is very little light to see by, often barely enough to walk. The PCs must carry and track light sources, which will gradually burn down over the adventure.
To carry a light source, it must be equipped in a hand.
You cannot swing a two-handed sword while also holding a lantern... that's just silly.
If the PCs run out of light sources while belowground, they are effectively dead. It is impossible to see, and they can only move stumblingly back the way they came; they move at one tenth their normal exploration speed, and can only feel their way back. They will not be able to return combat if attacked, and are likely to trip over obstacles or set off traps.
In the utter darkness beneath the earth, even the faintest of lights is a blaring beacon. Anything living in the caverns below will be immediately aware of the PCs from very far away. The PCs, however, will be light-blind, unable to see what remains outside the reach of their lanterns.
Torches, candles, and lanterns produce not only light, but also heat and smoke. The heat can cause accidental fires, and the smoke will fill the air or carry the scent of fire through the tunnels. Soldiers in a war camp ofen use torches as a bright light source. But in an enclosed space, the noxious fumes of burning pitch will quickly foul the air, making torches inadvisable within close confines.
The below skill check table, adapted from wargame to-hit matrices, can be used for skill checks. The referee will set a hit rating, and the players roll the appropriate dice (default 2d6). Checks may be cumulative or simultaneous.
The "number own figures" will almost always be 1, unless multiple characters are assisting, the character is particularly skilled, or the character is using a special tool. The referee may adjust up as deemed appropriate.
The number found in the table is the number of "hits" for the skill check, to be compared to its hit-rating.
| number own figures | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| roll | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 16 |
| 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 19 |
| 11 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 |
| 12 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 28 | 30 |
Rolls over 12 are treated as 12.
The PCs need to scale a very tall wall of hewn stone. The wall affords handholds, but is still not a trivial matter. The referee could handle this as an opposed roll against a d6. Or the referee could handle this as a skill check, setting a hit-rating of 2 simultaneous hits to climb the wall.
An infantryman attempting to climb is not particularly skilled, so will count as 1 own figure. He requires a 10 on two dice to succeed. However, if the infantryman were climbing with a rope, he may receive a bonus to count as 2 or 3 own figures, and require an 8 or a 5 to succeed.
A scout could be considered skilled at climbing over walls, so may count as 2 own figures by himself.
Several people on top of the wall, using a rope to pull a comrade, may count as many own figures. One player will be selected to roll for them all. In such a case, it may not even be necessary to roll at all, unless enemy forces are fastly approaching.
Tunnels and dungeons beneath a castle are normally built to hide things, be they prisoners, or treasure, or secrets. The builders do not want others sneaking in, or out.
Most doors will be either locked or stuck, requiring effort from the PCs to open.
Forcing a stuck door is part of normal exploration, and requires an opposed roll of ATK against a d6 for the door. If it remains stuck, continued attempts may be made at the cost of time.
If a door is locked, either the lock must be picked, or the door broken down. Either requires special tools, and the attempt takes an exploraton round.
A wooden door may be chopped down if the PCs have axes. A solid metal door can be torn open if the PCs have weapons such as warhammers, warpick, or a pollaxe. Each round attempting to break the door, the players will roll against the skill check table, and must score cumulative hits.
Breaking down a door will make a tremendous amount of noise, and alert nearby enemies of the PCs' presence. Continuing to bash one down, round after round, is sure to result in a confrontation.
Picking a locked door requires lockpicks and someone skilled in their use. Players roll againt the skill check table and must score simultaneous hits.
Many tunnels will be filled with traps. While any PC can discover a trap if properly searching, and any PC can purposely trigger a trap if he knows how, only someone skilled in the mechanical devices can disable a trap. Disabling a trap requires rolling against the skill check table, and must score simultaneous hits. The player will throw these dice behind the referee's screen, so that only the referee can see the result. On a low rolls, either nothing happens (but the PC doesn't know if he succeeded), or the trap will be accidentally triggered against the PC disabling it.