First game / A couple of rules questions

I'm running my first session of The Regiment tomorrow. I'm using kind of a funky setting: Time travelers taking over ancient rome with modern weaponry.

A couple of rules questions:

* Is it intended that grit be a permanent attribute and tough be expended per use?

* Awww, no moves from other playbooks unless you're the Commando? But they're so neat.

* I'm trying to stat up swords and javelins and junk. I want to make the inferiority of ancient weapons kind of a big deal (It is about a bunch of dudes with machineguns taking over rome), but it doesn't make sense to me for swords to be less effective than combat knives, so, I'm thinking swords are 2d tight quick, javelins are 1d close expend. Unless it breaks the system to have 1d weapons.

Cool!

1) Tough and grit can come from both temporary and permanent sources. If you have a move or an advancement that gives you tough or grit, it will either give you a flat out, unconditional bonus or it will give you a conditional bonus (i.e. when you or someone else makes the move).

2) Yep, and 6 advances max for a character too. 4th advance gets you to the really good advances. The lives of characters in the Regiment are often short and brutal, so start thinking of character #2 rather than the one character that does it all.

3) Ancient killing weapons are crude, messy, and up close and personal. So, dice-wise, they should be comparable to modern weapons; but, their ranges will generally be limited to tight or close -- that's where modern firearms will prevail -- at a distance.

A "0d" weapon would be trivial. 1d weapons are a threat; but, probably not, under chaotic circumstances, one-hit lethal -- basically hand-to-hand, knives, etc. 2d weapons could result in serious, life-threatening injury. 3d weapons are lethal -- generally resulting critical injury. 4d+ weapons are often game over. Play with VOF too -- melee combat is probably direct, single combat is probably concentrated; the fray gives messy, incidental fire.

A knife/dagger is quick. A short sword (e.g. gladius) is quick. A broadsword (e.g. spatha) probably isn't. I'd give the gladius 2d, tight, quick and the spatha 3d tight. The Javelin, I'd give 3d close (thrown) expend / 2d tight (melee). A short bow vs. point targets is probably 2d close reload (direct); en masse vs. area targets, 2d close, near, messy (incidental). Full up Roman armor gives 1 tough vs. melee but not vs. gunfire. Modern body armor gives 1 tough vs. gunfire; but, probably not vs. melee weapons -- that's up to you. Note: you can only ever have 1 tough; it doesn't stack (never goes higher). Siege weapons are probably 4d+ and have the reload and terror tags, possibly messy or area too.

So, what happens when they run out of bullets -- gear and supply are finite? I ran a fantasy game with the Regiment and the answer was: magic. I had them do evil shit to appease dark gods. That's how they got more, and other things too... What are you thinking for your game?

I'm running my first session of The Regiment tomorrow. I'm using kind of a funky setting: Time travelers taking over ancient rome with modern weaponry.

This is hilarious, because right after returning from my first game of The Regiment, I stumbled on a lovely old map of ancient Rome that's been folded in my basement for two decades, and precisely the same thought occurred to me - time-travelling special forces doing missions in ancient Rome.

1) Okey dokey, so 4th advancements that say "+1 grit" and "1-tough" mean "permanent grit +1", "1 expendable tough"? Cool.

3) If you say so! I will probably try to emphasize that long ranges and medieval armor penetration are totally awesome, because again, I want to make sure to emphasize "It is good to have guns when no one else has them"

Finite Ammo: The PCs have the possibility of being resupplied, but its contigent on raiding ancient treasures (And some combination of corporate realpolitik) to send back to their original timeline - The PCs are part of a quirky time traveling mercenary organization that isn't super flush on funds but is capable of sending supplies at considerable cost.

1) No, those are both examples of permanent bonuses. It's +1 grit because it stacks with other grit bonuses. 1 tough means you have 1 tough (you can never have more than 1 tough). If you buy a move and the move says, "When you do X, you/they get Y tough/grit," then it's temporary - while X is true.

Good luck with your game!

More questions!

1) The Officers' Logistics: So it sounds like its similar to Wealth / Fortunes... sooo... what's surplus? 3ish gear? a Unit Supply? What's troubles? No toilet paper? The only food left is completely tasteless? Half the squad's sick?

2) Would you suggest using "gangs" against PCs, like in AW? If there's an abstract group of 15ish dudes that throw javelins agaisnst a squad containing two pcs standing together, is that a javelin attack rolled against each PC, with the VOF increased by 1 because its a bigger group? Do gangs take damage like a normal Enemy, 3 hits and they're out? Do they have damage reduction like gangs in AW?

3) End of session checklist... Is this "Do the Hxy thing from AW but for Bond, and also give them XP for stuff. Figure it out yourself." or is their an end of session checklist I'm missing?

4) I find the PCs interested in socially dealing with neutral NPC parties... allying with them, intimidating them... is that something that is intentionally not very rules-addressed? I kinda want the partisan move from 1.0... was that move removed because it was sucky in play, or because it just never came up?

5) How much Gear do people start off with? How much unit Supply? Does it default to "Not enough"?

1) The logistics stuff is addressed on the Unit sheet, which is in v.2.1 that I'll post later today.

2) Yep, that's right. +1 VOF when bigger attacks smaller, and vice versa. You can treat a gang like one "unit" with 3-5 HP, when doing unit-on-unit action.

3) That's also in 2.1.

4) The partisan move didn't get used much. But it's a good example of a custom move that you might add to your campaign. The GM should create moves like that when needed.

5) Each soldier has 6 gear when they're fully supplied. The unit has surplus according to their profile, which you'll see on the unit sheet. Feel free to alter starting gear/supply based on the circumstances.