Clarity on Range Categories & Encounter Zones

Hey everyone! I've been hard at work preparing for playtests at CanGames Anime North this month. While doing that, I managed to write clearer guidelines on range and encounter zones. They are currently live on Itch!

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Range categories are used to help organize a character’s position relative to their allies and opponents in combat. These categories are used to determine if a character’s weapons or techniques can be used on an opponent. Whether combat is facilitated using theatre of mind or tracked on a map, broad engagement zones are used to divide a map into manageable areas of conflict such as rooms, courtyards, and corridors. 

Weapon and martial art techniques each align with one of the following effective range categories below. When making an ATTACK ACTION outside of a weapons effective range, rolls are HINDERED. 

• Close Range: close proximity between combatants - within arm’s reach or the range of close combat weapons like swords. Combatants are within the same engagement zone.

• Mid-Range: moderate proximity between combatants - within the range of reach weapons such as spears and staves, or thrown weapons like knives. Combatants may be within the same engagement zone or in an adjacent one.

• Long Range: long distance between combatants - beyond the reach of melee and thrown weapons. Examples of weapons include bows and crossbows. 

On a player’s turn, one MOVE ACTION can be used to move a character one range category increment relative to another combatant (ex. moving from Mid-Range to Close so they can use a Close Range weapon). Within the narrative, moving may reposition a character from one engagement zone to another. During combat, everyone should keep track of their relative positions within the engagement zones laid out by the GM. The GM has the ability to make decisions about movement and range when there is uncertainty.