Laundry Files: System
Skill Rolls
Skills are rated from 0 to 5, based on the characters proficiency in that area:
0: Untrained
1: Amateur
2: Proficient
3: Professional
4: Expert
5: World Renowned Expert
To determine if a skill is used successfully, roll a d6 and add your character's rank in the Skill.
If the result is a 6 or higher then the roll succeeds, with higher totals indicating better success.
Sometimes rolls may be contested by another player, for example when trying to use Perception to see someone hiding using Stealth, in contested rolls the GM may decide that the aggressors roll is penalised by half of the defenders skill (round up).
A character with zero in a skill might still be able to use it successfully due to luck, in this case they simply need to roll a 6 on the d6.
Note that some skills are marked as not being usable untrained, this means that a character with zero in that skill cannot attempt to use it, they simply fail.
Since characters with 5 ranks in a skill will succeed on the roll of a 1 or higher, they effectively always succeed unless there are situational modifiers that lower their chance. However a roll can still be made to determine how well the character succeeds.
For example an investigator with 5 ranks in Perception might never fail to notice the obvious but the GM might impose a penalty for things particularly well hidden or might grant more information on a high roll compared to a low roll.
Combat
Combat is split into rounds, with all combatants taking one action per round.
Characters will most commonly act in whatever order the GMs determine, generally with all PCs counted as acting at the same time.
NPCs may be slower or faster than the PCs at GM discretion.
In a situation where it's really important to know who goes first, a simple d6 may be rolled by each combatant with highest roll going first.
During a character's turn, they may move up to 3 steps which is not an action, or up to 6 steps which uses up their action.
Dropping an item or speaking a short phrase (about 5 words or less) is also not an action.
The most common action during combat is attacking:
The player simply makes a Skill roll using whichever weapon skill is most appropriate, if their target is aware of the attack then this roll is penalised by half the target's Dodge rating (round up).
If their roll is successful then they deal damage based on the weapon.
Health and Death
Most humans have 2 Health and falling to zero results in either unconsciousness or death at the GMs discretion.
Fortunately the Laundry outfits all their staff with personal wards that help protect from death and other less fortunate conditions.
Healing is generally a slow process and occurs between sessions.
Lasting Scars
If a character falls to zero in Health or Sanity, then - at the GMs discretion, if it is in fact possible for them to survive - the character may return to play with a Lasting Scar befitting their trauma. This will be a personal Flaw, with no corresponding benefits.
Sanity
It's not just exposure to nameless things that erode an agents sanity, humans are quite capable of committing atrocious acts that can leave an agent retching.
Bloody sacrifice and rituals of flesh and bone can leave an agent a little green around the gills.
Whenever your character is exposed to something suitably horrifying, the GMs may ask you to make a Sanity check.
Roll a d6, if you roll equal or above your current Sanity then you may be a little shaken but you suck it up and get on with the job, if you roll lower then you lose a point of Sanity as your mind gives in to panic and you either freeze up or flee (your choice). Extremely terrifying things may impose a penalty to the roll at GM discretion.
Sometimes Sanity checks will also list a rank with them (e.g. "Rank 3 Sanity check"). If your Sanity is lower than the rank listed then you don't need to make a check, you are already so jaded that whatever horror lies before you no longer phases you.
A low sanity has the following effects:
- 5 - All fine
- 4 - Magical effects and creatures may gain a +1 bonus to affect you.
- 3 - Magical effects and creatures may gain a +1 bonus to affect you. You also suffer a -1 penalty on perception rolls (because you keep seeing things moving in the shadows).
- 2 - Magical effects and creatures may gain a +2 bonus to affect you. You also suffer a -2 penalty on perception and social rolls (because people are put off by your creepy twitchy attitude).
- 1 - magical effects and creatures may automatically affect you without a roll. You always fail perception and social rolls. Why are you still on active duty?
- 0 - Incapable of day to day actions, sent to St Hildas Home for Waifs and Strays, probably never to return.
Sanity may be regained by taking R&R at Dunwich during downtime instead of going on a training course. Unlike other training courses, this one you can do without your team.
Status
A character's Status indicates not only their rank withing the organisation but also how they are currently viewed by their superiors. Characters with higher Status are given more information, allowed larger requisitions and generally have more authority.
A character's Status may rise and fall throughout the game, it is usually rated between 0 and 5 and may be measured in fractions as well (e.g. a character could have 3.5 status.)
In between each session, the GMs will award (or penalize) each person based on how well they did in this mission. These awards will be run past all the GMs during downtime to make sure we are all awarding at the same rate, we also have a system in place which we use to determine how much each character gets but we're keeping that a secret. We will be giving status out in decimals, so you could for example be awarded 0.2 status for a session. You can also be penalized if you harm the mission in some way. It's also possible to have both happen: "Well we liked how you took care of all those zombies so +0.2 status for that, but you crashed the company car so -0.1 for that."
Merits and flaws which affect how quickly status changes will be also be applied, so if a character earns 0.2 status from a mission and has the On The Way Up merit (+50% status gains) they will earn 0.3 instead.
The general idea is that if you do well, you should go up by 1 full status point per game chapter (4 sessions), and you shouldn't lose a full point unless you intentionally undermine the mission or really screw up very very badly.
Status indicates the maximum class of Ward a character is usually able to requisition and can determine what resources they have available for a mission.
Training Courses and Character Advancement
The Vespertine Amendments does not use an XP system for character advancement.
Instead, between each session characters will have the opportunity to attend Certified Training Courses which will provide bonus skill points.
In between each session, the Department Head chooses which training course their department will be attending and this affects which skills their agents gain. Due to bureaucracy and budgeting constraints, the entire department is booked into the training course together and players cannot choose which individual courses to attend.
However players can swap with one another: If you'd like to attend a training course being undertaken by another department, you just need to find someone in that department that is willing to swap with you. This is usually something Department Heads negotiate with one another during games:
e.g. Plumbers to Computation Demonoligists: "We need someone with some computer expertise and you could use someone who knows how to defend themselves. We'll take one of your members on our military training program if you take one of ours through basic IT"
Training Courses are divided into two categories: Basic and Advanced. Departments may attend one Basic training course at the end of each session, unless it is the last session of the chapter in which case they may choose an Advanced Course. (So all together characters will attend 8 Basic courses and 2 Advanced courses)
See the List of Training Courses for more information.
Weapon Certification
Firearms are heavily restricted throughout the UK and The Laundry requires all agents to be certified competent with a weapon before they are permitted to carry one. Simply training on the range isn't enough, you have to have undergone one of their certified training courses to prove that you're not only able to fire a gun without shooting yourself in the foot, but that you're also not going to shoot a bystander and create a PR nightmare that they have to clean up.
Without the proper certification, it's a violation of procedures to use any kind of firearm or occult weaponry.
The Laundry divides certification into several categories:
- Class 1 Weapon Certification: Trained with the use of common firearms.
- Class 2 Weapon Certification: Trained in the use of military grade firearms.
- Class 3 Weapon Certification: Trained in the use of explosives and heavy weaponry.
- Class 1 Unconventional Weapon Certification: Trained in the use of basic occult weapons.
- Class 2 Unconventional Weapon Certification: Trained in the use of explosive or extremely destructive occult weapons.
- Class 3 Unconventional Weapon Certification: [CLASSIFIED]
Some character creation options allow a character to begin with a certain level of certification, and more can be gained through training courses.
See the Equipment List for more details.