Chapter 5: The Count

“In a duel, time doesn’t move like it does in a church service. It stretches. You see the sweat on the other man’s brow, you hear the hammer click back, and you realize you have a lifetime to decide whether you’re going to live or die. Then the gun goes off, and that lifetime is over in a heartbeat.” — Duncan Maddox, The First Psy-Slinger

Combat in The Veil & Lead is not a polite exchange of blows. It is a chaotic, desperate scramble for survival. It does not use “Rounds” where everyone politely waits their turn. Instead, it uses a continuous timeline called The Count.

The Timeline

The Cylinder

Combat is tracked on The Cylinder — a circular track numbered 0 to 19, representing the spinning chamber of a revolver. Twenty segments. Two Red Lines at segments 0 and 10 (the Tension Lines — significant for GM pacing tools). One marker — The Hammer — that advances clockwise as time passes.

Each character has a token on the track showing when they next act.

The Flow of Combat

1. Roll Initiative. Each character rolls QUICK + Awareness vs. TN 11. The Margin determines their starting Tick (see Initiative below).
2. The Hammer advances. The GM moves The Hammer clockwise: 0, 1, 2, 3…
3. Action trigger. When The Hammer reaches a Tick containing a character’s token, that character acts.
4. Resolve and advance. The character resolves their Action, then advances their token clockwise by the Action’s Tempo value.
5. The Wrap. If movement takes a token past 19, continue counting from 0. (A character at Tick 18 performing a Tempo 6 Reload lands on Tick 4.)
6. Continue. The GM keeps counting until the next token is reached. Repeat until combat ends.

Player Tracking (The d20 Method)

To speed play, each player tracks their own position with a d20.

• Place a d20 in front of you. The face-up number is your Current Tick.
• When you act, calculate Current + Tempo and turn the die to the new number.
• GM: “Hammer is at 12. Who is at 12?” Player: (glances at d20) “I am.”

This decentralizes the bookkeeping. The GM tracks The Hammer; players track themselves.

Initiative

When violence erupts, everyone rolls to determine where they enter the timeline. This is not about who is “fastest” — it’s about who was ready when the hammer dropped.

Pool: QUICK + Awareness. TN: 11. Apply relevant modifiers: ambush prepared +2, caught completely off-guard −2, supernatural senses as specified, Fatigued −1 die.

The Surprised State

Characters who fail Initiative are Surprised until their first turn:

• Cannot spend Mettle on Reactions (Dive, Dodge, Parry, Intercept).
• Cannot use Held actions.
• Flat-footed: Attackers gain −2 TN against you.

The Surprised state ends the moment you take your first action.

Initiative Ceiling

Achieving Tick 0 is exceptionally difficult. The maximum natural roll for a starting character is QUICK 5 + Awareness 4 = Pool 9, Max Sum 16, Margin 5 → Tick 3 (Ready). Tick 0 requires Margin 10+, which demands Roll Modifiers or extraordinary luck.

This ceiling is intentional. No one should consistently act before everyone else without significant investment or narrative setup.

Handling Ties

When multiple characters share the same Tick, resolve in order: PCs before NPCs → higher Initiative Margin → higher QUICK → simultaneous. Simultaneous resolution can result in mutual kills. The Frontier is not fair.

Tempo and Actions

Every action has a Tempo — the time it takes to execute, in Ticks. After acting: Current Tick + Tempo = New position.

Fast actions let you act again sooner. Slow actions create gaps where enemies respond. This trade-off is the tactical heart of combat. The full action list with Tempos is in the tempo-reference table; weapon-specific Tempos are in weapon-base-tempos. A summary by speed class:

Instant Actions (Tempo 0)

• Speak — a phrase, warning, or command, not a speech.
• Drop — release a held item.
• Free Reaction — spend Mettle for Dive, Dodge, Parry, Intercept, Steel, or Push outside your turn.

Fast Actions (Tempo 2–3)

Sacrifice thoroughness for speed. Most trigger the Exposed condition (attackers gain −1 TN against you until your next turn).

• Draw Weapon (2): ready a weapon.
• Aim (2): bank +2/+3/+4 Roll Bonus to next attack against same target.
• Scramble (3): Speed + 4m of erratic movement; attackers suffer +1 TN.
• Quick Shot (Base − 1, min 3): ranged attack with −2 dice Pool Penalty.
• Take Cover (3): inherently defensive, exempt from Exposure.
• Stand Up (3): leave Prone condition.
• Shiv (Base − 1, min 2): light-melee attack with −1 Step to damage.

Standard Actions (Tempo varies by weapon)

• Steady Shot — full-pool ranged attack at weapon’s Base Tempo.
• Strike — full-pool melee attack at weapon’s Base Tempo.
• Reload (Speed Loader) (4): if you have a speed-loader, moon clip, or break-top mechanism.
• Grapple (5): IRON + Brawl vs. Defense; both become Grappled on success.
• Interact (4): flip a table, pick up an item, kick a door.
• Channel (4–9 depending on Talent Rank): manifest a Psionic Talent.

Slow Actions (Tempo 6+)

• Reload (Manual) (6): tube-fed rifles, single-shot weapons.
• Recover (6): make a check to clear a Condition (see below).
• Called Shot (Base + 2): target a specific location for tactical effect (head Stuns, arm disarms, leg slows).
• Heavy Cleave (Base + 2): two-handed weapon attack; target must save vs. Prone.

Damage and Vitality

Vitality

Your maximum Vitality (HP) is IRON × 3 + 5. An IRON 3 character has 14 HP; an IRON 1 character has 8 HP. Healthy combatants stay above half HP; combat-effective threshold is the Wounded line.

Calculating Damage

Successful attack damage:

Damage = Weapon Rating (WR) + Steps − Target’s AR

The Weapon Rating is the weapon’s base damage. Steps come from Margin (one per 3 Margin). Armor Rating (AR) subtracts directly.

Caleb shoots his Peacemaker (WR 3) and scores Margin 6 (+2 Steps). The target has AR 1 (Duster). Damage: 3 + 2 − 1 = 4 HP.

Damage cannot reduce below 0 — a hit always deals at least 1 damage if it lands, regardless of armor (the glancing minimum), unless a weapon specifically says otherwise.

Wound Thresholds

The Wounded penalty is a Pool Penalty and stacks with other Pool Penalties to the −5 cap.

Grievous Wounds

When a single attack deals 5 or more damage after Armor, the target suffers a Grievous Wound on top of the HP loss. Roll 1d8:

Multiple Grievous Wounds stack. Called Shots that hit a specific limb mean that limb takes the Broken Bone effect automatically. Armor with the Hardened property (Boiler Plate) negates the first Grievous Wound of the scene.

Death and Dying

Bleeding Out

At 0 Vitality you are Downed:

• You collapse.
• You cannot take Actions except Crawl (2m, Tempo 6) or Speak (Tempo 0).
• At the start of each of your turns, you lose 1 Vitality.
• You can be Stabilized by an ally with medical training.

A Downed character is not out of the fight — they can call out warnings, share information, even crawl toward cover — but they are dying.

Death Threshold

You die when your Vitality reaches −(IRON + 2).

Higher IRON gives you more time — but not much. An IRON 1 character has three rounds between Downed and Dead.

Stabilization

An ally can attempt to stabilize a Bleeding Out character with a Medicine check (Tempo 6, TN 11 + how far below 0 the patient is). Success stops the bleeding; the patient stays Downed at current Vitality but loses no more HP. Failure means they continue to bleed; try again. Fumble inflicts an additional 1 Vitality loss. A Medical Kit grants +2 Roll Bonus to this check.

Range Bands

Distance is abstracted into five Range Bands. The full table is in range-bands; the short version:

• Engaged / Point-Blank (0–2m): melee range. Ranged attacks penalized; melee attacks at advantage.
• Close (2–10m): pistol’s sweet spot.
• Near (10–30m): standard combat distance.
• Far (30–100m): rifle territory; pistol penalized.
• Extreme (100m+): rifle range; even rifles lose accuracy.

Weapon-specific range modifiers are in range-weapon-modifiers. Pistols are penalized beyond Near; rifles are penalized at Point-Blank.

Cover

Cover increases TN against you. Three tiers:

• Light Cover (+2 TN): furniture, foliage, thin wood, smoke.
• Hard Cover (+4 TN): stone wall, iron plate, overturned wagon.
• Fortified (+6 TN): bunker slit, murder-hole, arrow loop.

Take Cover (Tempo 3) is the only Fast Action exempt from Exposed — its sole purpose is defense.

Combat Conditions

Conditions are mechanical states inflicted by attacks, abilities, or environmental factors. Each has a trigger, an effect, and a clearance method. The canonical list lives in the conditions collection — Stunned, Suppressed, Exposed, Wounded, Bleeding Out, Frightened, Open State, Prone, Grappled, Disrupted, Encumbered, and Hollow.

The condition you will see most in any given fight: Suppressed (−2 dice from near misses and Fear) and Exposed (−1 TN against you after Fast Actions). The condition you will fear most: Stunned (you miss a turn worth of Ticks) and Bleeding Out (you are dying).

Most conditions clear with the Recover action (Tempo 6, appropriate check vs. TN 11) or with specific Talents. Spending 1 Mettle clears Suppressed without using an action.

A Worked Combat Example

Caleb (Tick 2), a Consortium Enforcer (Tick 4), and Maeve (Tick 6) are in a gunfight.

Tick 2: Caleb acts. He fires his Peacemaker (Tempo 4) at the Enforcer. Pool: QUICK 3 + Ballistics 3 = 6 dice. TN: Enforcer’s Defense 10 + Light Cover (overturned wagon) +2 = TN 12. He rolls [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Two highest: 7 + 8 = 15. No Roll Modifiers. Final Sum 15 vs. TN 12. Success, Margin 3, +1 Step. Damage: WR 3 + 1 Step − Enforcer’s AR 1 = 3 HP. Enforcer takes 3 damage. Caleb advances to Tick 6.

Tick 4: Enforcer acts. He takes a Steady Shot (Tempo 5) at Maeve. Pool: 5 dice. He rolls. He hits, deals 4 damage to Maeve. He advances to Tick 9.

Tick 6: Both Caleb and Maeve act (tie). PCs go first; both happen to be PCs, so they resolve by Initiative Margin. Maeve had Margin 5 (Ready), Caleb had Margin 3 (Slow). Maeve goes first.

Maeve Quick Shots (Tempo 3, −2 dice) the Enforcer and takes the Exposed condition. She advances to Tick 9. Caleb takes Aim (Tempo 2) for +2 banked. He advances to Tick 8.

The Hammer keeps advancing. At Tick 8, Caleb fires again — this time with his Aim bonus. At Tick 9, both the Enforcer and Maeve act (tie); they resolve in order. The clock ticks on.

The Count creates a continuous, fluid combat where every weapon choice and every action has rhythmic consequence. There are no “rounds” — only the slow, inexorable advance of The Hammer.