Fight Scenes
In Media Res attempts to create quick and fluid fight scenes which are more faithful to the action/adventure genre than they are to reality. Throughout this chapter, the terms aggressor and target are used in reference to the participants of a fight. An aggressor is any character who attempts to use an ability on someone without their consent. The target is the target of the attack or ability in question. Typically a character is both an aggressor and a target at multiple points throughout a fight scene, often simultaneously.
Split Seconds
Rounds are a measure of game time during fight scenes. Each feat a hero attempts requires a variable amount of game time (actions or rounds) to perform, as described by the particular ability. At the beginning of each round of a fight scene, feats must be declared for each character involved in the fight, including reactions to expected events (evade attack from x), and 'held initiative'. One round of a fight scene is roughly ten seconds of game time.
Actions
An actions time ability requires very little time to perform. A hero may perform one or more actions time feats during any given round of a fight scene. The hero's initiative skill must be divided amongst the feats they intend to perform in a given round. Each added level of initiative (after the first) assigned to a feat at the beginning of the round applies a +1 success bonus to the skill roll. A minimum of one level of initiative must be applied to any feat attempted.
At the end of the round, skill rolls are made for any feats attempted during the round and effects applied. Players should note that a single skill roll does not necessarily represent a single 'strike' or 'parry' but rather a certain amount of time and energy spent attempting the feat as described by the amount of initiative assigned to it. The end results of an initiative bonus may be due to a single well-placed attack, or a multitude of less devastating injuries.
EXAMPLE: Joe Gamer has six levels of initiative and marksmanship skills. At the beginning of the round, he assigns three levels of initiative skill to fire his grappling gun at a fleeing blood-sucking lawyer and holds the remaining three levels of initiative to defend himself with. He rolls the normal six dice for his marksmanship skill to fire the grappling gun, although he receives a +2 success bonus which will only offset any success penalties applied by the lawyer's movement or active defense.
{1} Contingent Feats are performed by readying ones self for an opportunity to perform a particular feat so that when the opportunity presents itself, you need only act. When a player decides for their hero to perform a contingent feat, they must state what feat they will perform, and what circumstance under which they will do so. Examples include, attacking the first person or thing to round a corner, or casting a spell on a charging enemy once they are within range. When a contingent feat is stated, no initiative is assigned to the feat. When the feat is performed, any initiative used applies a bonus to the hero's skill as normal.
{2} Held Feats are made with initiative which is not assigned at the beginning of the round. A held feat may be performed in response to any other action, however, the bonus provided by the initiative assigned to a held feat is only half the bonus applied by normal and contingent feats (round down).
Rounds
One round is approximately ten seconds. A hero begins a feat of rounds time at the beginning of the round the feat is declared. The skill roll for the given feat is then made, and results applied at the end of the last round for its time. Time spent performing a 'rounds' time ability with greater than second nature (or timed) duration is assumed to be committed duration, decreasing the hero's initiative and other skills.
EXAMPLE: Devon is playing the hero Magron the Magician. Magron has a spell which requires rounds to cast. With a difficulty of two, the spell requires two rounds to cast. Devon declares that Magron will begin casting the spell at the beginning of the first round of the fight. At the end of the second round, Devon makes a skill roll for Magron, and the affects of the spell are applied.
Ambush
Either heroes or villains may choose from time to time to begin a conflict by surprise, giving them a significant advantage. An individual (or group) who makes the first attack in a fight scene from ambush receives a passive resistance level bonus to their initiative skill for the first round of the fight scene. Further any individuals surprised by the ambush are treated as "holding" their initiative for the first round, reducing any initiative bonuses they receive by half. Both bonuses and penalties received from an ambush wear off after the first round of the scene. p. 8: 2nd Action Modifiers, p. 12: 3rd Difficulty, Passive Resistance, p. 23: Actions, Held Feats
EXAMPLE: Several blood-sucking lawyers have gotten the drop on Captain Acme, shooting at him with pistols from behind a hedge. The lawers each receive a +1 level bonus to their three level initiative skills, while Acme who is completely surprised receives only half of his normal initiative bonuses for the first round (6-2=4). Realizing that he is in serious danger, Acme uses all of his initiative for the first round to evade and manages to avoid being too seriously injured in the first round of the fight. During the second round, the lawers no longer receive their ambush bonus, and Acme no longer suffers the ambush penalty.
Using A Map
A map of the location will greatly enhance the players’ comprehension of a fight scene, and allow them to think and act quickly and accurately. A square grid map is suggested, wherein one inch represents one meter (and three inches equals ten feet). Diagonal distance is roughly one and a half times straight distance. Thus, each space on the grid is considered to be one and a half meter (1.5m) diagonally. When judging distances at odd angles, count the distance to the target’s row, then add one half of the distance to the side. Of course, if a ruler or tape measure is available, the map lines may be eliminated. Terrain may place a skill level penalty on one or more types of movement. If this reduces the hero’s movement skill below level one, they may not use the movement skill.
Surveillance
During a fight, a hero who is able to use a targeting sense to locate their opponents suffers no penalties to their attack and defense skill rolls. Normally, however, they are only preoccupied with one or a small number of individuals. Surveying a large area during a fight is assumed to be a rounds time, committed duration feat. No skill roll is required although initiative and other skills will be hindered. This is useful for generals giving orders to their troops, as well as to common troops who are not engaged, to determine if they are being assailed from behind or if one of their comrades is about to suffer such a fate.
A hero who is not able to use a targeting sense may rely on an active sense, however, all aggressive and defense skill rolls will be made at a skill level no greater than the passive resistance value of the total attack or defense skill. A larger area may not be very effectively 'scanned' with an active sense. This makes fighting blind a very dangerous prospect, as a hero must have at least six levels of a given attack or defense skill before they will even be allowed two dice with which to make skill rolls. Even an active defense of two levels against many weapons will be inadequate. A passive sense may never be used to target other abilities or defenses.
Aggression
Aggression in a fight scene can take many forms, including common melee or ranged attacks intended to injure the target, explosions and other uses of mass-area weapons, wrestling or other attempts at stopping an opponent without causing them injury. The rules for most forms of aggression follow similar guidelines.
Difficulty
The difficulty of an attack determines the aggressor’s chances of striking their target. The difficulty for any attack is range. For many ranged weapons, this is a somewhat subjective measurement. For instance, a three-level weapon with a range of 10 meters has a difficulty of two at one meter, three at up to three meters, four at up to nine meters (3x3=9m), and five at up to thirty meters (3x10=30m). A five-level weapon of the same range has a difficulty of three at up to five meters, four at up to fifteen meters (5x3=15m), and five at up to its maximum range of fifty meters (5x10=50m). These ranges are also further multiplied by the hero's scale.
The Narrator may assign skill level and or difficulty penalties to attack skill rolls as she sees fit. An obstructed target is one of the more common circumstances which would cause a penalty. In this case, the aggressor is less likely to strike their target in favor of an object in front of them.
Mass Effect Weapons
Some weapons, such as grenades affect larger than object or individual areas. When a cone or globe area weapon is used, a weapon skill roll must be made against each potential target within the area of the weapon. The net success of the weapon skill roll is used to determine the damage or injury inflicted. Obstructions between a target and the source of the weapon may apply penalties to the weapon skill roll.
EXAMPLE: Acme's stun grenade is a five level weapon with globe area and meters range. When he throws it, five dice are rolled against the difficulty for range between the grenade and each potential target within its area. The target's armor and the passive resistance value of their build skill are then subtracted from this value to determine injury.
A throwing or other weapon skill roll may be required to place the area of effect where the hero wants it, such as with grenades. If this skill roll fails, the weapon will deviate from its intended path. The Narrator must determine exactly where the weapon lands and what area it affects.
Movement
Movement will increase the difficulty for any attack. While the aggressor’s movement will only cause the normal skill level penalty for the duration of their movement ability, the target’s movement causes a -1 success penalty per three paces (the target's scale in meters) they move in the given round (round down). This penalty is easily found by using the passive-resistance table on page twelve, substituting the number of paces moved for the resisting skill level. This excludes any distance the target moves toward the aggressor.
Pinpoints {1T}
Pinpoint attacks are aimed at a specific portion of a target's body or equipment. To determine the difficulty, add the difference between the aggressor's scale and the target's estimated scale to the difficulty of the attack.
EXAMPLE: A normal human's head is approximately -2 scale, so a normal human (scale 1) attempting to strike another normal human's head suffers a +3 difficulty penalty. A hand would be roughly -4 scale, imposing a +5 difficulty penalty.
{2} Disarming maneuvers cause no damage, although they relieve an opponent of their weapon. A disarming attack is a pinpoint attack with the normal difficulty penalty. Instead of inflicting injury, the target object is thrown from the defender's grip. The Narrator must determine where the object lands.
If a disarming maneuver is performed with wrestling skill, the attacker may arrest the object from its wielder to then use it themselves. A net success of one will cause the defender to drop the object while a minimum net success of three is required to take the object for immediate use. While a disarming maneuver may always be performed with the wrestling skill, the Narrator must determine when it can be applied with other skills.
{2} Attack to Cover is a specific type of pinpoint attack, which serves a function different from most. An attack to cover allows a hero to swing or thrust a weapon at melee range and stop the attack just prior to striking, usually followed by a command to surrender. This is primarily performed in an attempt to end a fight without further bloodletting.
When a hero attempts an attack to cover, they make a normal attack skill roll with a +3 difficulty penalty. If the attack fails by one to three points, it causes injury as an attack with a net success of one to three. If the attack succeeds, the hero may then perform any other feats while sustaining the attack to cover with committed duration. The attack may be completed without any additional use of initiative. The drawback is that this gives the target an additional opportunity to evade or parry.
An attack to cover may be performed with a ranged weapon. The attack roll is made with no penalty, and failure will not cause injury to the target. The attack to cover is still maintained with committed duration, and the target is still offered additional opportunities to evade, or parry.
Injury
Injury is determined when any attack strikes a target. To determine precisely what happens to a character when they are injured, you must compare the damage of the weapon against the target's build skill and any armor they have. First add the net success of the attack skill roll and the scale modifier (the target's scale minus the aggressor's scale) to the level of the weapon, then subtract the skill level of any applicable armor and the passive resistance of the victim's build skill. The following paragraphs describe the results.
EXAMPLE: Captain Acme is wearing his patented padded armor suit which provides three levels of armor against blunt attacks. A thug hits Acme in the back using his fist fighting skill which has a damage value of two (the passive resistance value of his build skill of level seven). The Narrator rolls a total of six for the thug's attack with the difficulty for touch range, resulting in a net success of four (6-2=4). The total damage for the attack is thus six (4+2=6) which is then reduced by five (three levels of armor, plus the passive resistance value of two for Acme's build skill of seven levels). Acme is fatigued by the attack (6-5=1).
Unharmed (Result < 1): If the result is less than one, the victim is not significantly affected by any minor injuries caused, and may continue to act without penalty. This represents minor cuts, scrapes, burns and bruises, though nothing that couldn't simply be shrugged off. Victory dice on the attack skill roll may cause the victim to be stunned, suffering a penalty to their initiative during the next round.
Fatigued (1-3): The victim suffers from pain and injury which causes them to act as if sustaining an ability of constant duration. Victory dice may cause the victim to lose consciousness for one round per victory die. After receiving a number of fatigued results equal to the character's stamina skill level, the victim becomes injured (losing all levels of fatigue) and loses consciousness for one hour per level of injury, divided by their stamina skill level.
Injured (4-6): An injured individual suffers from severe pain and injury which causes them to act as if maintaining an ability of committed duration. Victory dice may cause the victim to lose consciousness for one minute per victory die. An individual is incapacitated after being injured a number of times equal to the passive resistance value of their build skill.
Incapacitated (7-9): An incapacitated individual has lost almost all ability to function, and acts as if maintaining an ability of total commitment duration. An incapacitated individual will die after being incapacitated again, or after a number of hours equal to their stamina skill level unless they receive immediate medical attention. First-aid skill may be added to the character's stamina skill, though rest and medicine skill will be necessary to save their life. If not already unconscious an incapacitated character will lose consciousness for several hours if they become injured again, or several minutes if they become fatigued. An incapacitated individual is on the brink of death, and their condition may improve or deteriorate at any given moment. Victory dice on the attack roll may cause the individual to slip into a coma, or instantaneous death (see below).
Killed (10+): If the result is greater than nine, the victim is killed instantaneously and may not be revived by paramedic skill.
Objects and Props
Damage to objects and props is determined the same way injury is determined for living creatures. Objects and props suffer all the same penalties of damage, indicating the breaking of wires and bolts, or for more primitive devices, the dulling, bending and breaking of blades, etc. An object or prop (which has no stamina skill) will have sustained one level of damage (injury) after having sustained a number of levels of fatigue equal to its build skill level. While this is more than a living creature sustains before becoming injured, remember that without any stamina skill, an inanimate object will not heal from its own injuries, and must rely on the active efforts of a mechanic or other skilled person for repairs. Even an android or robot which performs repairs on itself must expend time and effort to do so, with the damage it's sustained applying penalties to its repair skills.
Charging {2}
This option allows a hero to use their size and speed to trample and stampede another individual. The passive resistance value of the movement skill used is added to the damage caused by the given weapon. Charging adds no bonuses to the hero's weapon skill. This may be performed only with fist fighting and touch-range weapons. The hero's movement does not cause any of the penalties to charging attacks normally caused by maintaining the movement ability at less than second-nature duration.
EXAMPLE: The Rhino is charging at Captain Acme. Rhino uses six levels of running skill, and thereby adds two points to the total when determining any injury caused by the attack. Rhino's weapon skill and the difficulty for his weapon skill roll are not penalized or otherwise affected.
Bleeding {1}
Bleeding results from edged weapons, ballistic firearms, and some beam weapons. When victory dice are rolled for one of these weapons, the victim may bleed, suffering one additional level of fatigue during each hour they are without medical aid. Attacks which produce less than injured results don't typically produce this kind of massive blood loss, although even some blunt injuries can cause internal bleeding. Through the use of first-aid skill, a hero may quell the effects of blood loss. The difficulty for this is five, minus the scale modifier. Blood loss is then slowed by one hour per net success of the first-aid skill roll. If the time is increased to more than one day divided by the victim's stamina skill level, the bleeding is stopped completely. Internal bleeding can only be stopped with surgery.
Knockback {3}
This special affect is caused only by blunt weapon attacks, and may occur even if the object or individual struck is not damaged or injured in any way. With a victory dice result, the victim of the attack is thrown back a number of paces (the aggressor's scale in meters) equal to the damage value of the weapon, plus the net success of the attack skill roll, divided by the victim's build skill (or its passive resistance value for more cinematic games). The victim may then sustain further injury as from a fall.
EXAMPLE: Rhino has charged Captain Acme, with a net success of two, which he adds to the weapon value of his fist fighting skill of three, and the passive resistance value of his running skill for a total damage value of seven (2+3+2=7). Since this is a supers campaign, Acme is knocked back seven paces (Rhino's scale in meters), divided by the passive resistance value of Acme's seven levels of build skill. This is a total of four meters (7/2=4).The damage value of seven is then reduced by Acme's five levels of armor, and the passive resistance value of his build skill to a total less than one (7-5-2=0) resulting in Acme being unharmed by the charge, although he is still thrown more than ten feet across the room by the impact.
{2} When determining knockback from an impact, such as a car crash, the knockback distance should be subtracted from the impact velocity of the vehicle to determine the remaining distance that the vehicle will travel toward the impact. If the result is a negative value, they will 'bounce', or be 'pushed' away from the impact.
{2} Objects involved in impacts which cause knockback may 'roll'. This is particularly appropriate for vehicular combat. A vehicle will flip or roll if it is knocked back a distance greater than its length or width respectively. Flipping or rolling will not increase the distance the vehicle is knocked back, although individuals inside will sustain injury as if from a fall. The Narrator must determine what side the vehicle lands on when it stops rolling.
Defense
There are two ways in which a hero may actively defend themselves from various forms of attack: parry and evasion. Use of these two skills increase the difficulty of an opponent's weapon skill rolls, rather than decreasing injury as armor does. If used as a contingent feat, the player must define which opponent the hero is expecting to defend against and how they are going to defend themselves. If used as a held feat, the hero may defend if they spend held initiative when they become aware of the attack and before the weapon skill roll is made.
A hero may choose to passively defend against any type of attack with object or individual area. In this event, some initiative must still be allotted toward defense, and added initiative spent for defense will increase the penalty applied by the hero's defense skill with an additional -1 success penalty per level of initiative applied. This initiative penalty may not exceed the aggressor's initiative bonus for the attack skill roll. The success penalty for a parry is halved against ranged attacks, and the penalty for evasion skill is halved against touch-range attacks.
EXAMPLE: Captain Acme chooses to passively resist a thug's advances during this round, using one arm to put a chair between them (parry) while he aims his glue gun with the other. Acme uses six levels of parry skill, imposing a -2 success penalty to the thug's fighting skills, plus an additional -2 success penalty for the three levels of initiative allotted to defense for a total success penalty of -4. Acme would have caused only a -2 success penalty if he'd used evasion instead of parry.
If evasion or parry skills are used as active resistance, the player makes a skill roll as normal for active resistance, and the hero is considered to be maintaining an ability of committed duration for the remainder of the round. Each added level of initiative applied toward active defense applies a -1 success penalty against the aggressor's weapon skill roll, with a maximum equal to the aggressor's success bonus for initiative. For active defenses, parry skill is reduced to its passive resistance value against ranged attacks, and evasion is reduced to its passive resistance value against touch-range attacks.
EXAMPLE: Captain Acme is facing a blood-sucking lawyer with an Uzi. Acme doesn't much feel like sucking up any of his own blood today, so he actively defends with six levels of evasion skill. Acme makes an evasion skill roll which is then used in place of the normal difficulty for the attack skill roll if it is greater, and the lawyer suffers a two level success penalty to his weapon skill roll thanks to the three levels of initiative Acme allots to evasion.Acme's only hardship is that his marksmanship skill of six levels is reduced by its passive resistance value to a total of four levels when he chooses to fire his glue gun (since he is evading with committed duration). If acme had attempted to use his six levels of parry skill instead of evasion to defend against the Uzi, he would have only been able to use two levels of parry skill to defend.
Mass effect weapons, such as grenades and other explosives, may only be evaded by using movement abilities as passive resistance, although a particularly large object may be used to parry such an attack (the success penalty for a parry is still halved for ranged weapons).
Scale Modifier | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Target's / Aggressor's Scale | ||||||||||
-4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | -0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
-4 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 | +9 |
-3 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 | +8 |
-2 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +7 |
-1 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 |
0 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 |
1 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 |
2 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 | +3 |
3 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 | +2 |
4 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 | +1 |
5 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | 0 |
- Springer, Transformers the Movie
The rules for scale have been developed to help manage fight scenes involving characters and or creatures of drastically different sizes. When a character attacks another character, creature or object which is much larger or smaller than themselves, the odds of success and injury are increased, or decreased, respectively. Subtract the scale of the target from the scale of the aggressor. The result is applied as a success penalty (or bonus as the case may be) to any attempts by the target to parry or evade. This bonus or penalty is also directly applied to any damage or injury caused by the attack. The scale modifier table simplifies these bonuses and penalties.
EXAMPLE: Captain Acme is firing a rocket-launcher at a scale 4 UFO within the 3 meters range class for the rocket launcher. The pilot of the spacecraft may take evasive action, although they suffer a -3 success penalty to evade. Acme makes his weapon skill roll with a net success of five. This is added to the weapon’s basic damage of ten for a total of fifteen, though the difference in scale (-3) is again subtracted from this damage in addition to armor and build skill modifiers for the UFO.
Falling Velocity | |||
---|---|---|---|
G | First Round | Second Round | Third Round |
0.2 | 10 (3mph) | 20/30 (7mph) | 30/60 (10mph) |
0.4 | 20 (7mph) | 40/60 (13mph) | 60/120 (20mph) |
0.6 | 30 (10mph) | 60/90 (20mph) | 90/180 (30mph) |
0.8 | 40 (13mph) | 80/120 (27mph) | 120/240 (40mph) |
1 | 50 (17mph) | 100/150 (33mph) | 150/300 (50mph) |
1.2 | 60 (20mph) | 120/180 (40mph) | 180/360 (60mph) |
1.4 | 70 (23mph) | 140/210 (47mph) | 210/420 (70mph) |
1.6 | 80 (27mph) | 160/240 (53mph) | 240/480 (80mph) |
1.8 | 90 (30mph) | 180/270 (60mph) | 270/540 (90mph) |
2 | 100 (33mph) | 200/300 (67mph) | 300/600 (100mph) |
When falling, all objects fall at the same rate, until they reach their terminal velocity. This rate is equal to one and a half meters (1.5m) per second, per second, under earth’s normal gravity. With the length of a single round of a fight scene being ten seconds, this results in most falls, even from significant heights, lasting less than one round of time as an object or individual usually falls fifty meters per round, per round. This turns out to be fifty meters at 17mph (27kmph) the first round, one-hundred meters at 33mph (53kmph) the second round and one-hundred and fifty meters at 50mph (80kmph) the third round.
To determine the exact amount of damage caused, to each object or individual, divide the impact velocity (miles per hour) by its scale, add the passive resistance value of the build skill of the impacting object or surface, subtract any applicable armor and the passive resistance value of the hero's build skill, and compare the result to the table as normal for injury. If the hero is conscious and capable of moving, they may also actively resist with leaping skill by subtracting their leaping skill from the result as if it were armor, or subtract the passive resistance value of their gymnastics skill. A character with swimming skill (if landing in water), may use their skill to actively resist impact damage.
Example: A human falls nine meters (30ft), striking the pavement. The pavement has a build skill of fifteen levels. The impact velocity of nine miles per hour is divided by the individual's scale of one resulting in a value of nine, minus two points for the passive resistance value of their build skill of seven levels yields a total of seven. Since the human has no armor against this sort of impact, and they do not have any levels of leaping skill (beyond one level), the best they may do is passively resist the fall with their gymnastics skill of six levels, reducing the result from seven to five (6/3=2, 7-2=5). The fallen hero is thus injured. Were it not for their exceptional gymnastics skill, they would have been incapacitated.
Extras {1}
Due to any single extra's lack of importance in the overall scheme of the game, the Narrator may wish to use certain optional rules to decrease the amount of bookkeeping necessary to handle them. The Narrator should remember that these rules may severely affect the outcome of any fight scene.
{1} Extras may be defined with zero initiative skill, and allowed only one passive defense and one additional feat (or active defense) each round of the fight. An extra with zero initiative skill will receive no initiative bonuses.
{1} Particularly in more cinematic stories, the Narrator may elect not to keep track of an extra's injuries. Thus if an extra is injured (even fatigued), they are removed from the fight, typically unconscious.
{1} Multiple extras using the same weapons might be allowed to use them cooperatively. The extras need not have their weapon skills defined with the cooperative option. This is partly due to the fact that extras using weapons cooperatively will often cause less injury than if they each succeed individually. Extras using weapons cooperatively also allows the hero to defend against all of them as a single assailant.
Rioting {2}
When a large area of space is covered by general, free-for-all fighting, and it isn’t particularly important to know what every Tom, Dick and Harry is doing, the riot rules may be used. During a riot, the narrator uses a blanket penalty to all initiative, movement, sense, weapon and defense skills used during the fight scene. In addition, any fumble die result for a skill roll indicates that the individual suffers one level of fatigue as a result of injuries sustained by the press of the crowd. {2} Alternately, the Narrator may choose to add the number of fumble dice rolled to the blanket modifier value and apply the result as injury normally, using blunt, crushing, cutting and piercing damage as the most common causes of injury.
{2} If the crowd is particularly dense, it may become like a raging river, dragging the heroes (and others) with it like a current. In this case, the blanket penalty is applied to movement abilities when trying to move faster than the crowd, or in another direction. The penalty is doubled when trying to move in the opposite direction. A character attempting to stand their ground will have to use a number of levels of movement skill equal to the blanket penalty for the riot.