Grappling!

News

So, someone on RPG.Net asked for spoilers about grappling in the God-Machine Chronicle, and it occurred to me that I had meant to post an extra spoiler or two, but never got back around to it. So what the heck? I’m not opposed to grappling.

Grapple

To grab your opponent, roll Strength + Brawl – Defense. On a success, both of you are grappling. If you’ve got a length of rope, a chain, or a whip, you can add its weapon bonus to your Strength when grappling. If you score an exceptional success on this first roll, pick a move from the list below.

When grappling, each party makes a contested Strength + Brawl versus Strength + Brawl action on the higher of the two characters’ Initiative. The winner picks a move from the list below, or two moves on an exceptional success.

• Break Free from the grapple. You throw off your opponent; you’re both no longer grappling. Succeeding at this move is a reflexive action, you can take another action immediately afterwards.

• Control Weapon, either by drawing a weapon that you have holstered or turning your opponent’s weapon against him. You keep control until your opponent makes a Control Weapon move.

• Damage your opponent by dealing bashing damage equal to your rolled successes. If you previously succeeded at a Control Weapon action, add the weapon bonus to your successes.

• Disarm your opponent, removing a weapon from the grapple entirely. You must first have succeeded at a Control Weapon move.

• Drop Prone, throwing both of you to the ground (see “Going Prone”). You must Break Free before rising.

• Hold your opponent in place. Neither of you can apply Defense against incoming attacks.

• Restrain your opponent with duct tape, zip ties, or a painful joint lock. Your opponent suffers the Immobilized Tilt. You can only use this move if you’ve already succeeded in a Hold move. If you use equipment to Restrain your opponent, you can leave the grapple.

• Take Cover using your opponent’s body. Any ranged attacks made until the end of the turn automatically hit him (see “Human Shields,” below).

If more than one person tries to grapple the same victim, count the attempt as a teamwork action (World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 134). On the team side, both primary and secondary actors roll Strength + Brawl – Defense to engage, but the victim’s Defense is unaffected by how many people are involved — even if five people try to grab him, he treats it as one attack. In the grapple, both primary and secondary actors roll Strength + Brawl in a contested action with the victim. If the defender wins, any chosen moves only affect the primary actor.