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Triumph A Triumph counts as one Success symbol. In addition,it indicates a spectacularly positive consequence or side effect that occurs regardless of the task’s success or failure,such as a Critical Injury with a successful combat check.Threat Threat indicates negative consequences or side effectsthat occur regardless of a task’s success or failure, e.g., taking longer to slice a computer terminal or leaving an opening in a firefight that allows an enemy to duck into cover.The GM decides how to spend Threat generated by thePCs. Each Threat is canceled by one Advantage .Failure Each Failure cancels one Success . Multiplenet Failure symbols do not influence the magnitude of the failure.Upgrading DiceSome game effects call for specific dice in adice pool to be upgraded. When an Abilitydie π is upgraded, it is replaced by a Proficiencydie º. When a Difficulty die π is upgraded, it isreplaced by a Challenge die º. First, the playerdetermines how many dice are to be upgraded;then he removes that number of Ability dice πor Difficulty dice π from the pool and replacesthem with an equal number of Proficiency diceº or Challenge dice º.If there are more upgrades to be made than Abilitydice π or Difficulty die π available in the dice pool,additional upgrades are applied in this order:1. Another Ability die π or Difficulty die πis added to the dice pool. If there are stilladditional upgrades, proceed to Step 2.2.Despair µDespair µ counts as one Failure symbol, in additionto a spectacularly negative consequence that occurs regardless of the task’s success or failure.DifficultyThe player adds a number of Difficulty dice π to his dicepool according to the difficulty of the task he is attempting, at the discretion of the Game Master. In addition tothe six different levels of complexity shown here, GMsshould remember to add Boost dice and Setback dice for additional bonuses and complications arising fromthe environment or circumstances. GMs can also upgradeDifficulty dice π into Challenge dice º to denote skilledopponents or when Despair µ should be a possibility.Simple Tasks (-)Routine tasks for which the outcome is rarely in question.Usually not rolled unless the GM wishes to determine Initiative (see page 8), know the possible magnitude ofsuccess, or indicate the possibility of complications.Easy Tasks (π)Picking a primitive lock, tending to minor cuts andbruises, finding food and shelter on a lush planet, interacting with minions and other faceless NPCs, shootinga target at short range.Average Tasks (π π)Picking a typical lock, stitching up a small wound, finding food and shelter on a temperate planet, interactingwith rivals and typical NPCs, shooting a target at mediumrange or trying to strike a target while engaged.That Ability die π or Difficulty die πis removed, then replaced with a Proficiency die º or Challenge die º, respectively. If there are still additionalupgrades, repeat Step 1.Downgrading DiceOther game effects decrease the difficulty of, ordowngrade, a skill check. When a Proficiency dieº is downgraded, it is replaced by an Ability die π.When a Challenge die º is downgraded, it becomesa Difficulty die π. First, the player determines howmany dice are to be downgraded, then he removesthat number of Proficiency dice º or Challenge diceº from the pool and replaces them with an equalnumber of Ability dice π or Difficulty dice π. Onceall downgradeable dice are in their downgradedform, any excess downgrades are ignored.Hard Tasks (π π π)Picking a complicated lock, setting broken bones or suturing large wounds, finding food and shelter on a rugged planet, interacting with charismatic or importantNPCs, shooting a target at long range.Daunting Tasks (π π π π)Picking an exceptionally sophisticated lock, performingsurgery or grafting implants, finding food and shelter ona barren desert planet, interacting with NPC movers andshakers or nemeses, shooting a target at extreme range.Formidable Tasks (π π π π π)Picking a lock with no comprehensible mechanism, cloninga new body, finding food and shelter on a planet withoutan atmosphere, interacting with heroes and faction leaders.RULES SUMMARYunder a black sun5

Building the dice pool for a Skill checkTo determine a skill check’s dice pool, the playercompares the character’s skill rank and characteristic rating. The higher of the two values determines how many Ability dice π are added to theskill check’s dice pool. Then the player upgradesa number of those Ability dice π into Proficiencydice º based on the lower of the two values.CharacteristicsCharm (Presence)In Edge of the Empire a character’s intrinsic abilities aredefined by six characteristics.AgilityThe Agility characteristic measures a character’s manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and body control.BrawnA character’s Brawn represents a blend of brute power,strength, and overall toughness.CunningCunning reflects how crafty, devious, subtle, and creative a character can be.IntellectThe Intellect characteristic measures a character’s intelligence, education, and ability to reason and rationalize.PresenceA character’s Presence characteristic is a measure of hismoxie, charisma, confidence, and force of personality.WillpowerThe Willpower characteristic reflects a character’s discipline, self-control, mental fortitude, and faith.SkillsAthletics (Brawn)Athletics serves as a measure of the character’s overallfitness. This skill governs climbing, swimming, jumping,pushing, and pulling for an extended period of time.Brawl (Brawn)Unarmed combat is governed by the Brawl skill and dealsdamage equal to the character’s Brawn characteristic.RULES SUMMARYunder a black sunCharm measures the character’s knack for saying theright thing at the right time, so long as the statement isgenuine. This skill is used for persuasion, appeals to atarget’s better nature, and sincere seduction attempts.Coercion (Willpower)When a character attempts to instill obedience in a target through the use of threats or acts of physical intimidation, including interrogation, he utilizes Coercion.Computers (Intellect)This skill indicates a character’s understanding of computer hardware and software. Attempts to bypass a building’ssecurity systems, search through encrypted records, altera droid’s programming, or recover data from a corruptedsystem are all under the purview of the Computers skill.Cool (Presence)The ability to stay calm and think as one’s life hangs inthe balance is represented by the Cool skill. A playercan test Cool to determine Initiative during encountersfor which the PC has calmly prepared to take action,such as when setting up an ambush.Coordination (Agility)This skill measures flexibility and sense of balance. Totraverse narrow or unstable surfaces, slip free from restraints, or even tumble down from a dangerous height,a character tests Coordination.Deception (Cunning)Skills represent a character’s training or experience inperforming specific tasks.6For instance, a character with Intellect 3 andMedicine 1 would have a dice pool of º π π. Acharacter with Brawn 2 and Brawl 3 would have adice pool of º º π. If a character has no ranksin a skill, he simply rolls a number of Ability diceπ equal to the related characteristic (found in parentheses after each skill).Being able to lie believably is represented by the Deception skill. It governs such actions as misrepresentingan object’s value, cheating during gambling, distractingan opponent through guile, feigning romantic interest,and leaving a false trail for pursuers.Discipline (Willpower)The ability to maintain one’s composure and react in aneffective manner is governed by this skill. Discipline allows a character to sense another’s motive, act normallyunder duress, ignore fear effects, and resist temptations.

Leadership (Presence)Ranged (Heavy) (Agility)Leadership means being able to make smart decisions,to remain firm and decisive when doing so, and to instillloyalty and respect. The skill can also be used to sway acrowd to take action, rally allies against insurmountableodds, and reassert authority over a wayward underling.Ranged weapons requiring two hands to wield or aim,including blaster rifles and large thrown weapons suchas spears and throwing axes, rely on this skill.Mechanics (Intellect)Ranged weapons requiring one hand to wield or aim, including blaster pistols and small thrown weapons suchas grenades, rely on this skill.This skill indicates a character’s familiarity with the inner workings of planetary and atmospheric craft, droids,weapons, and gadgets. Attempting repairs, modifications,and even new construction all fall under Mechanics.Medicine (Intellect)The Medicine skill encompasses the ability to recallanatomical and pathological knowledge, perform routine first aid or triage, treat poison, and conduct surgery (see Table 1–3: Medical Check Difficulty).Table 1–3: Medical Check DifficultyCurrent WoundsMedicine CheckHalf or less of woundthresholdEasy (π)More than half of woundthresholdAverage (π π)Exceed wound thresholdHard (π π π)Heal a Critical InjurySee severity rating (Table 1–6)Melee (Brawn)The training to use weapons to deadly effect while engaged with an enemy makes up the Melee skill.Negotiation (Presence)The skill of Negotiation deals with bartering, selling,and trading for goods and services, with the goal of receiving the best possible price.Perception (Cunning)Perception encompasses all of a character’s naturalsenses, which usually number five in Humans, but maycomprise more in some cybernetically enhanced beingsand alien species. This skill governs the ability to noticetraps or ambushes, pickpockets or sneaks, and subtleclues or faraway objects.Piloting (Planetary) (Agility)This skill allows one to use repulsorlift vehicles, watercraft, and aircraft under adverse conditions, or to outrun an opponent during a race or chase.Ranged (Light) (Agility)Resilience (Brawn)This skill reflects the body’s ability to push itself beyondreasonable limits. Make a Resilience check when trying to stay awake, resist toxins, endure hostile environments, or stave off the effects of starvation.Skulduggery (Cunning)Skulduggery encompasses a range of skills that are crucial to performing criminal actions. These include picking pockets and locks, breaking into and out of securefacilities, sleight of hand, disguise, setting traps, andother mischief.Stealth (Agility)This skill reflects the ability to avoid notice by an opponent, eluding any or all of its senses. Stealth allows acharacter to follow targets without being detected, usecamouflage, and conceal other people and objects.Streetwise (Cunning)This skill represents a character’s ability to navigatethe criminal underworld, be that finding a fence or infochant, picking up on subtle references, or knowing theright way to approach a person or group and to open aconversation without coming across as a threat. In Under a Black Sun, Streetwise also governs a character’sknowledge of specific facts and information involving local criminals, organizations, and schemes.Survival (Cunning)Recognizing the dangers of the natural environment,handling domesticated animals, finding food and shelter, and tracking a subject—whether game or bounty—are all determined using this skill.Vigilance (Willpower)In combat situations for which the characters are unprepared, test this skill to determine Initiative order.Additionally, a Vigilance check can be made to seehow well a character anticipated the situation and todetermine whether a piece of gear or an environmental advantage might be available.RULES SUMMARYunder a black sun7

CombatEEmpire strives to capture the pure cinematic thrill found in the Star Wars universe. Combatis frequent, fast-moving, and meant to showcase thetalents and abilities of the Player Characters. Whenrunning a combat encounter in Edge of the Empire,follow the steps detailed below.dge of theStep 1: DetermineInitiativeEach Player Character and Non-Player Character (NPC)makes a Simple (-) Cool or Vigilance check dependingon whether he was planning the attack or surprised. Rankthe results in order from highest number of Successes to lowest number. Each result creates a slot for a character action. Resolve ties by comparing the number of Advantages , with PCs acting first if the number is still tied.Step 2: Resolve TurnsEach round begins at the top of the Initiative order.The players and GM fill each Initiative slot one at a timewith a character turn. If the Initiative slot was rolledby a Player Character, then the players agree on onePlayer Character to fill the slot from among the PCs whohave not yet acted that round. That Player Characterthen takes his turn.If the Initiative slot was rolled by an NPC, then theGM chooses one NPC to fill the slot from among theNPCs who have not yet acted that round. That NPCthen takes his turn.During a turn the character has option of undertakingone or more incidentals, a maneuver, and an action.IncidentalsIncidentals are minor activities that require very littletime or effort. There is no hard limit to the number ofincidentals a character can perform during his turn, butthe GM may veto excessive numbers of them or actionsconstituting more complex maneuvers. Examples of incidentals include: Speaking to another character. Dropping an item held in one’s hands. Releasing someone the character is holding. Minor movements such as shifting position, peeking around a corner, or looking behind a person.ManeuversManeuvers are activities that are not complexenough to warrant a skill check, but do involve timeand effort on the part of a character. Characters areallowed one free maneuver during their turn and mayelect to suffer two strain in order to perform up to onemore. Maneuvers may be repeated this way (e.g., aiming twice). Examples of maneuvers include: Drawing, holstering, readying, or loading a weapon. Drawing an item from storage or putting it away. Aiming a weapon to gain one Boost die . Moving one range band closer to or fartheraway from an enemy. Opening a door, diving behind cover, droppingprone, or standing up.ActionsActions are any activities complex enough to warrant a skill check and can range from slicing open

a computer system to shooting a blaster. A charactermay only perform one action in a turn. He may exchange his action for a maneuver instead but may notperform more than two maneuvers per turn. Examplesof actions include: Slicing a computer or opening a locked door.Table 1–4: Ranged Attack DifficultiesRange Band DifficultyMelee or Brawl: Average (π π)EngagedRanged (Light): Average (π π)Ranged (Heavy): Hard (π π π) Firing a weapon or slashing with a vibroknife. Punching or grappling an opponent.ShortEasy (π) Performing first aid on an ally with Medicine or usingLeadership to bark a series of orders.MediumAverage (π π)LongHard (π π π)ExtremeDaunting (π π π π) Sneaking up on a vigilant foe or climbing a cliff.Performing a Skill CheckWhat a character can do with a skill outside of an encounter is the same as what he can do with it inside ofan encounter. However, actions that would take morethan about ten seconds in game time may require morethan one action to perform.Performing a Combat CheckA player makes a combat check when he uses a combatskill to attack a target. This is also referred to as an attack.Resolve a combat check by completing the following steps:1. Declare an attack and select targets.2. Roll the appropriate dice pool for the related combatskill. Add Difficulty dice π based on the range andtype of attack, and add dice for situational factors(see Table 1–4: Ranged Attack Difficulties).3. Determine success and deal damage. In combat,Range BandsRather than have a player’s attention focused on a grid,counting squares, Edge of the Empire uses more abstractmeans to represent position, distance, and range, thus allowing the players to focus on the action and adventure.EngagedIf two or more targets are close enough to interact directlywith each other, they are considered to be engaged. Engaged also indicates that a person is close enough to anitem to use it. Moving to engage with or disengage froman enemy within short range requires one maneuver.Short Range4. Resolve any remaining Advantage and TriumphShort range indicates a distance of up to several meters between targets. Moving to another spot withinshort range is usually easy to do and generally requiresone maneuver. Many thrown weapons and small firearms are most accurate at this range.5. Resolve any remaining Threat and Despair µ.Medium Rangeeach uncanceled Success adds 1 damage toa successful attack, affecting each of the targets ifthere are more than one. . See Table 1–5 on the following page for details.See Table 1–5 on the following page for details.6. Subtract the target’s soak value from the damageinflicted. Apply any remaining damage to the target’scurrent wounds or strain. Finally, apply any Critical Injuries by rolling a d100 and locating the corresponding effect on Table 1–6 on page 12.Step 3: Round EndsOnce all the PCs and NPCs have taken their turns, theround ends and a new one begins, starting from Step 2.Step 4: Combat EndsOnce the fighting has been resolved, the GM ends the encounter. Each Player Character has a chance to catch hisbreath and recover strain (see Strain and Strain Threshold on page 10), and may take steps to help heal anywounded Player Characters (see Table 1–3 on page 7).Medium range can be up to several dozen meters away.More reliable pistols can reach to medium range, but fewthrown weapons can reach this far. Moving from short tomedium range generally requires one maneuver.Long RangeLong range is farther than a few dozen meters. Blasterrifles can reliably reach this far without too much trouble. However, moving from medium range to long rangerequires two maneuvers.Extreme RangeExtreme range is the farthest range at which two targetscan interact. High tech sniper weaponry and some vehicle-mounted armaments may cover this range. Movingbetween long and extreme range requires two maneuvers.RULES SUMMARYunder a black sun9

Table 1–5: Spending Advantage, Triumph, Threat, and Despair in CombatCostResult OptionsRecover 1 strain (this option may be selected more than once).Add to the next allied active character’s skill check. or Notice a single important point in the ongoing conflict, such as the location of a blast door’s control panel.Inflict a Critical Injury with a successful attack that deals damage past soak ( cost may vary).Perform an immediate free maneuver. Do not exceed the two maneuver per turn limit. or Add to the targeted character’s next skill check.Add to any allied character’s next skill check, including the active character. or Ignore penalizing environmental effects, such as inclement weather or zero gravity, until the end of your next turn.Add to melee or ranged attacks targeting you until the end of your next turn.Force the target to drop a melee or ranged weapon he is wielding.Upgrade the difficulty of the targeted character’s next skill check. Upgrade any allied character’s next skill check, including the current active character.Turn the tide of battle by doing something such as shooting the controls to the nearby blast doors to seal them shut. or µ or µ or µµThe active character suffers 1 strain (this option may be selected more than once).An opponent may immediately perform one free maneuver in response to the active character’s skill check.Add to the targeted character’s next skill check.The active character or an allied character suffers on his next action.The active character falls prone (add to all ranged attacks and to all melee attacks targeting him).The active character grants the enemy a significant advantage in the ongoing encounter, such asaccidentally blasting the controls to a bridge over which he was planning to escape.The character’s ranged weapon immediately runs out of ammunition and may not be used for theremainder of the encounter.Upgrade the difficulty of an allied character’s next skill check, including the current active character.The tool or melee weapon the character is using becomes damaged.Note: This is an abridged version of the Spending Advantage, Triumph, Threat, and Despair tables from the Core Rulebook.Wounds, Strain, andCritical HitsIn Edge of the Empire characters track their health physically and mentally using wounds and strain, respectively.Wounds and Wound ThresholdDuring his adventures a PC may suffer physical damage, orwounds. When a PC suffers wounds greater than his woundthreshold, he is incapacitated until his wounds are reducedenough to fall at or below his wound threshold (likelythrough healing). He also immediately suffers one Critical Injury. While incapacitated, the PC is unconscious, unaware of his surroundings, or unable to interact with them.Critical InjuriesA particularly dangerous type of wound is a Critical Injury. These injuries continue to affect the character until hereceives the proper medical treatment to recover fromthe injury, even if the short-term effect has expired. Thedifficulty of the Medicine check is determined by severity of the injury (see Table 1–6 on page 12).10RULES SUMMARYunder a black sunWhen a character suffers a Critical Injury, he rolls ad100 and locates the corresponding result on Table 1–6on page 12. Each Critical Injury a character suffersfrom adds 10 to any subsequent Critical Injury check.Strain and Strain ThresholdWhile wounds represent physical damage, strain represents mental and emotional stress. Players may sufferstrain voluntarily to help accomplish tasks, but involuntaryor external stressors such as fear or environmental exposure also inflict strain, as do weapons with a Stun setting.When a character suffers strain greater than his strainthreshold, he becomes incapacitated until his strain is reduced so that it no longer exceeds his strain threshold.To recover from strain, the character need only catchhis breath, eat a good meal, or spend time relaxing withfriends by rolling a Simple (-) Discipline or Cool check(player’s choice). Each Success recovers one strain.

4 under a black sun RULES SUMMARY rules suMMary The following pages contain an abridged set of the rules found in the EdgE of thE EmpirE Core Rulebook, includ- ing all of the skills and mechanics needed to play through UndEr a Black SUn (starting on page 18). the core Mechanic The core mechanic of the game revolves around the skill check.