Credits

Concept

and

Design

Devon Oratz

Art Director
Mikaela Barree

Layout
Mikaela Barree

Graphic Design
Mikaela Barree

Cover Art
Robin Wallin

Contributing Artists
Mikaela Barree
Pierre Carls
Earl Geier
Barrie James
Miguel Santos
Jason Strutz
Robin Wallin
Jeff Ward

Proofreader
Mikaela Barree

Index
Mikaela Barree
Devon Oratz

Playtesters
Mikaela Barree
Emily Foley
Matthew Hecht
Mairi Hunter
Brendan King
Jacinda Moore
Evan Smith
Rachid Yahya
Copyright 2013 End Transmission Games,
All Rights Reserved. No part of this work
may be reproduced without prior permission
in writing of the Copyright Owner, nor be
otherwise circulated in any form other
than that in which is it published.
www.endtransmissiongames.com

Email us at endtransmissiongames@
gmail.com

Personal Combat
Due to the high-tech, vehicle-saturated
nature of the game, Personal Combat may
be one of the less important and less
frequent events that the Singularity System
is designed to model. However, this chapter
provides the basic framework and building
blocks for the combat systems at every
other scale.

Initiative
The first thing that happens at the start of
any combat is that all participants roll
their Initiative to determine the order
of actions. A characters Initiative is a
number of d6 equal to their Perception
+ Intelligence. This is not a success
test, and is the one time in the entire
Singularity System that you add up the
results of the dice.

During the combat turn, the character with

the highest result on their Initiative
roll goes first, followed by the character
with the next highest Initiative result,
until all combatants have acted and a new
combat turn begins.
In the event of a tie, increase the
Initiative result of the character with
the greater Perception + Quickness by
one. If those are tied as well, increase
the Initiative result of the character
with the greater Perception by one; if the
characters Perceptions are of identical
value, compare their Advent Attributes and
increase the Initiative of the character
with the higher Advent by one. If the
characters Perception and Advent scores
are identical, then decide which one goes

first randomly and adjust their initiative

accordingly: the Singularity System does
not allow for simultaneous actions. Due
to the granularity of Initiative Scores,
Initiative Ties are unlikely to need to
be resolved often.

Surprise
If the situation dictates that one party is
COMPLETELY unaware of the other when combat
begins, then the members of the ambushing
party each get one free turn of actions
outside of the regular initiative order
before initiative is rolled. The GM is the
ultimate arbiter of when surprise applies:
generally this should be used sparingly.

Readying Actions
A character can spend their turn preparing
a major or minor action (see below) to go
off on a predefined trigger. For example,
I ready an action to shoot the first
person that comes through the door or
I ready an action to shoot Rigil if he
makes any sudden movements. To have any
value a readied action must be precisely
defined, but dont be excessively wordy
or rely on information that your
character could not possibly have. If
the condition for a readied action never
occurs, the characters action for that
turn is lost. Readied actions cant be
changed or edited. Aborting a readied
action is a Hard Quickness test. Readied
actions do not alter anyones place in
the initiative order.

your action, you may act normally at any

subsequent initiative count, however,
that becomes your initiative for the
rest of the combat.

Example:
Johns character Zeta goes on
Initiative 48 and decides to delay
his action. On Initiative 31, two
new combatants enter the combat.
John decides to have Zeta react to
those combatants (namely: by shooting
them). His new Initiative becomes
30 for the duration of the combat.
If you delay your action, but do not
act at all by the end of the round,
you lose your action for that turn
and act on your normal initiative
count on the next turn.

Actions
The combat turn is really an
abstraction, but can be considered
to be approximately ten seconds. This
does not mean that if there are twenty
combatants, each combatants turn takes
half a second. Everything is happening
approximately at the same time. The
initiative order is effectively a
mechanical conceit necessary for
smooth gameplay. However, there is a
limit to the amount of the things a
character can do in one turn.
Namely, in each turn, you can perform
one major action and one minor action.

Delayed Actions
Distinct from a readied action, a character
who wishes to delay their action is deciding
to wait and see. If you choose to delay

39

Tactical Vehicular Combat

This chapter covers the rules for combat
with ground vehicles, naval vehicles,
mecha, aircraft, and unmanned drones
of all kinds, as well as starfighters.
Primarily, these are vehicles that are
operated almost entirely by a single pilot
as opposed to a large crew of people. For
situations where combat at the tactical
vehicular scale may intersect with
personal or strategic (starship) combat,
see the Scaling Combat chapter (p. 110).

determining the advantage in chase

combat, but it is also used to
calculate ramming damage.

Overland Speed
Not actually used in tactical combat,
this is the approximate traversal speed
of the vehicle in kilometers per hour.

Hull

See p. 53 for a detailed description

of ReAct.

Health for vehicles, which in spite of

the name also covers systems integrity.
Many vehicles have multiple parts,
each with their own Hull value. Unlike
humanoid Health, Hull can be reduced by
Pulse Damage.

Handling

Armor

This is a dice pool bonus or penalty

added to all Maneuver tests made by
the vehicles pilot.

Works the same for vehicles as it

does for people (see p. 42).

Vehicular Attributes
ReAct

Mobility
This is the base number of range
categories the vehicle can shift with
a successful Change Range and Facing
Maneuver test.

Tactical Speed
This is the approximate number (midway
between average speed and maximum safe
speed) of meters per second a vehicle is
traveling at in combat, but do yourself
a favor and dont attempt to make any
actual velocity calculations based on
this number: it is an abstraction. The
primary purpose of Tactical Speed is

Weapons Systems
Vehicular weapons systems are complex
enough to warrant their own Attributes
and their own section (beginning on p.
69).

Systems
Information Warfare strength, as well
as the Skill/Attribute rating used
by the Autopilot when the vehicle is
piloting itself.

51

Vehicular Initiative

Surprise

Vehicular combatants roll their Vehicle

Initiative dice and add the total pips
showing at the start of each turn.
One turn of tactical vehicular combat
is abstracted as being a number of
seconds equal to the highest Vehicle
Initiative result rolled. For instance,
if the highest Vehicle Initiative total
rolled is 48, then the first action
of the turn takes place forty-eight
seconds from the end of the turn.
Vehicle Initiative is equal to (Pilots
Relevant Skill +/- Vehicle Handling) + (Pilots
Cyber Attribute) d6, modified by any special
traits the vehicle or the pilot might have.
Remotely operated vehicles receive
a penalty to their Vehicle Initiative
dice based on the distance between the
operator and the vehicle (see table below).
If this penalty reduces the vehicles
Initiative dice to zero, the vehicle
cannot participate in a meaningful way
in this combat due to the delay.

Distance Between Pilot Initiative

and Vehicle
Dice Penalty
1+ Kilometers

-1d6

10+ Kilometers

-2d6

100+ Kilometers

-3d6

1,000+ Kilometers

-4d6

10,000+ Kilometers

-5d6

100,000+ Kilometers

-8d6

1,000,000+ Kilometers

-15d6

and

Vehicular Combat

In the event that a vehicle scale

combat begins with one side aware and
the other completely unaware (i.e.
an ambush), then the members of the
party with the element of surprise
all get to make one free maneuver
and one free action before Vehicle
Initiative is rolled. During this
Surprise round, vehicles do not get
extra maneuvers or actions from ReAct
(see p. 53 for more information).

Actions

and

Maneuvers

Every pilot/vehicle participating in

tactical combat can perform (at least)
one maneuver and one action each turn
in which they act, in any order. On
a vehicles first initiative (and only
its first initiative) it may take two
maneuvers instead of one action and
one maneuver, giving up its action
for an extra maneuver.
Maneuvers
primarily
involve
the
positional game of combat, whereas
actions can actually inflict damage
and otherwise impact the outcome of
the fight. If a vehicle has weapons
subsystems that are being manned by
someone other than the pilot, then
the characters manning those weapons
systems are allowed an action on
their initiative (using their Personal
Combat Initiative result), but cannot
maneuver.

Delayed Actions

52

See p. 59 for rules on delaying actions

in vehicle combat.

ReAct
Vehicles and pilots are not created equal,
and dogfights are not won by waiting
your turn. One Attribute every vehicle
possesses is ReAct. After every combatant
has acted, each combatant subtracts their
ReAct value from their Vehicle Initiative
result (keep your original Vehicle
Initiative result in mind!).
If even one combatant still has a
positive Vehicle Initiative result
after subtracting their ReAct value,
the combatant with the highest Vehicle
Initiative can take one more action or
make one more maneuver not both.
Once everyone has acted again, each
combatant subtracts their ReAct value
from their Vehicle Initiative score again
and acts accordingly until everyones

Vehicle Initiative has zeroed out, at

which point a new turn starts. Nonpilots (such as a vehicles gunner)
dont benefit from ReAct.

Range

and

Facing

Because tactical vehicular combat

is three-dimensional and can cover
a massive amount of terrain, it
is not possible to plot it out on
a hex map or a battle grid. As a
result, position is abstracted to
two values: range and facing, both
of which are relative.

53

Strategic Starship Combat

In The Singularity System, starship

combat is handled in a completely
different way from personal combat; it
has some similarities to how tactical
vehicular combat is handled, but there
are more differences than similarities.
Strategic starship combat can scale
easily enough with vehicular combat
(for rules on this, see the Scaling
Combat section on p. 110), but starship
combat cannot be scaled to integrate
personal combat, or vice versa. If
the two do intersect, they should
be resolved as two different planes,
happening simultaneously, but not
having any intricate mechanical effect
on each other outside the obvious
(i.e. the starship that two humans are

sword-fighting on explodes, killing

them both). This doesnt mean that
there is no boarding action in the
Singularity System, only that it is
primarily the purview of mechs. There
is nothing that personal combatants
can do that will have any meaningful
effect on a starship (short of powered
armor, which makes them behave more
like mechs). The Singularity System
considers starfighters vehicles, not
starships.

75

Roles
There are five kinds of roles in
Starship Combat: Helmsman, Weapons
Bay Operation, Turret/Point Defense
Operation, Information Warfare, and
Damage Control. Each ship has only one
slot for the Helmsman, for Information
Warfare, and for Damage Control, but
ships can have practically any number of
individual bay weapons, weapon turrets
and point defense systems. Each role
(including individual Weapons Systems)
that goes unfulfilled by a flesh-and-blood
character, the ships computer attempts
to fill in for using its appropriate
subsystem. The computer of each starship
has five subsystems, ranked from 0 to
6. They are: Autopilot, Ordnance, Point
Defense, ECM/ECCM, and Repairs.
For example, there are only four
individuals on a starship with all
subsystem Attributes at three. When
they receive the call to battle
stations, one mans the helm, one mans
the primary (and in this case, only)
weapons bay, one mans the sensors,
and one goes to engineering to handle
damage control. The ships Point Defense
subsystem takes control of the turrets,
which will be treated as having Skill
values of 3. This means that nearly
any starship can be manned with a
virtual skeleton crew, but starships
that are properly crewed (by dozens or
hundreds of crewmen directed by the
role characters) receive a substantial
bonus (see Starship Initiative on p. 77).

76

When a combat starts, each character on a

ship declares which role they are filling.
A character may change roles later without
any test, but loses an action doing so.
A character can successfully change roles
without losing an action only by making a
Hard Quickness test.

Pre-Initiative Actions & Advent

Pool
Before rolling for Starship Initiative,
there are three preliminary steps to
beginning combat.
1 Determine initial range of
combatants. (This is usually
Extreme, but special circumstances
can cause it to differ.)
2 Declare which roles are being
filled by which characters on which
ships.
3 Bid Advent Pool. If the PCs are
crewing a ship, they can each
contribute any number of Advent
Tokens to be used collectively
by the ship for this particular
starship combat. These Tokens can
then be spent by anyone on that
ship on their action (following
the rules for spending Advent
Tokens on p. 4). Unspent Advent
Tokens beyond the first can be
claimed by PCs at the end of
a combat using any method the
players see fit the first unspent
Advent Token is lost. GMs can
assign any portion of their Advent
Pool to their side at the start
of the combat; unspent Advent
Tokens return to the GMs AT Pool.

Laser Rapier

Fire Axe

When inactive, this weapon is just a

slender gray cylinder, no larger than a
disposable lighter. When ignited, a narrow
suspended electromagnetic field the length
and width of a rapier blade extends from
the hilt, made visible by a blue photon
laser. Originally derived from a safe
training tool for fencing practice, the
laser rapier is now the ultimate personal
defense weapon against androids, robots,
and other synthetic dangers. (Though, for
the purposes of crafting, this weapon is
an Energy Weapon, it is wielded with
the Low Tech Weapons Skill.)

This tool is encased in emergency

glass on nearly every starship, and is
designed to break down malfunctioning
steel doors and bulkheads in the event
of a fire. You can imagine what it does
to a human being.

Naginata/Halberd
A double-bladed staff with a six-footlong steel haft in the center, this
prestigious and functional weapon is
a favorite of bodyguards and honor
guards alike.

Firearms
Ammo

Damage

Accuracy

Firearm

Maximum
Rate of
Fire

Notes

Strength
Needed

Cost

Pistol (10x17mm)

12

Single

--

400 Credits

Anti-Materiel
Revolver (12.7mm)

Single

Piercing 2; Major
Action to reload

1,200
Credits

Machine Pistol
(9x19mm)

24

Burst
Fire

--

900 Credits

Taser

Single

Non-Lethal

NA

1,000
Credits

SMG (10x17mm)

30

Full Auto Recoil Negation 1

1,000
Credits

Tactical SMG
(.45 Caseless)

40

Full Auto Recoil Negation 2;

3-Round Burst

3,500
Credits

Combat Shotgun
(14 Gauge)

-1

12

Single

4,000
Credits

Assault Rifle (4.7mm 1

Caseless)

50

Full Auto Recoil Negation 3

3,000
Credits

Tactical Assault
Rifle (5.56mm)

30

Full Auto Recoil Negation 2;

3-Round Burst

7,000
Credits

Marksman Rifle
(.308)

10

Single

Piercing 2

4,000
Credits

Sniper Rifle
(.633 Caseless)

Single

Piercing 3

8,000
Credits

Flechette 2; Major
Action to reload

Pistol

Taser

This small personal firearm is a favorite

sidearm of galactic and planetary
naval forces, as well as police officers
and criminals alike. It fires caseless
ammunition and can be fitted with a variety
of accessories, not discussed here.

Using two wireless capacitor darts, the

old fashioned Taser is still a favorite
nonlethal weapon for personal defense,
especially among defenseless civilians.
Its potential for incapacitating an
enemy, however, would make it foolish to
relegate to this role, and hence it also
sees use by operatives and bounty hunters
for capturing their targets alive.

Anti-Materiel Revolver
Marketed as an Anti-Tank Pistol, itd be a
foolish man indeed who attempted to test
such claims against a main battle tank.
Nonetheless, this massive hand cannon
packs more stopping power per shot than
any other sidearm on the market.

Machine Pistol
This cheaply made, noisy, inaccurate weapon
is a favorite of gangers, space pirates,
and the like.

SMG
Smaller than an assault rifle but more
effective than a pistol, the SMG is
the standard weapon for rear echelon
support troops. This particular model is
mass-produced in massive quantities, and
its parts and ammunition are completely
interchangeable. It is also favored by
corporate security units, who are often
not authorized to use assault weapons.

121

Generic Hostiles
Hostiles or enemies are a form of
Opposition, the antagonists trying to
prevent the PCs in your game from
doing whatever theyre trying to do.
Of course these ready-made stats are
just the tip of the iceberg when it
comes to the antagonists you can
create with the Singularity System.
Humanoid antagonists should be statted
as characters (p. 18); however, you
might want to use different numbers
of Attribute Points, Skill Points,
and Perks, and will almost certainly
want to give them simplified and
limited equipment. Goons and mooks
opposing the player characters for
one battle should be statted with 5075% of the SP and AP that the PCs

have. Recurring NPCs and mastermind

villains can be statted with anywhere
from 100%-200% of the SP and AP that
the PCs have, as well as their own
Perks and Weaknesses (along with the
important stuff every character should
have, like backstory, personality,
appearance, motivation, and so on, and
even special powers and abilities as
appropriate to the campaign setting).
These core rules dont include any pregenerated humanoid NPCs.
Enemies or hostiles in vehicle combat
should generally use the stats of
the appropriate vehicles, piloted by
humanoid NPCs generated as indicated
above.

The hostiles and enemies in this

chapter are non-humanoid foes that
the PCs might typically face (usually
in personal combat), like robots or
hostile creatures. They are designed to
be as generic as possible, and therefore
applicable to as many settings as
possible. The stat-blocks are written in
a bare bones, just the facts style to
streamline the process of accessing the
information you need when you need it.
Hostiles and enemies dont need to follow
the same rules as PCs and NPCs; they
dont serve the same purpose. Skills
can exceed their governing Attributes,
point totals dont need to add up to any
specific number. This makes them easy to
make and easy to use; just keep an eye
on the PCs own numbers to ensure that
what youre creating isnt tissue paper
or an unstoppable death machine. The
following handful of stat blocks should
get you started.

Energy Sucker(Organic)
An energy sucker is a slimy cephalopod parasite
the size of a small dog. A frequent nuisance
on starships and space stations, they are
capable of absorbing and metabolizing energy
of any kind and at nearly any intensity.

Strength:
Quickness:
Perception:
Health:
Evasion:

4
3
3
8
3

Fortitude:
Intelligence:
Cyber:
Initiative:

2
1
5
6d6

Skills
Athletics 3
Electronics 3
Engineering 3
Low Tech Weapons 5
Stealth 3

Traits
Energy Sense
(An Energy Sucker is always aware of all
sources of energy; thermal, biological,
electrical, and so on; it receives +3 dice
to Perception tests to detect energy,
and Perception tests to detect energy
always have a Difficulty Stage of Easy)
Adaptable Absorber
(An Energy Sucker basically has no
maximum Health)
Pulse Absorption
(Energy Suckers are not only not
damaged by Pulse, but whenever they
take Pulse damage, they increase their
Health by a like amount instead)

Attacks
Tentacles at 5 Dice for 1 damage plus
energy drain.
Energy Drain: The target makes an Easy
Fortitude test and automatically suffers
4 Fatigue Damage, minus one point of
Fatigue damage for every success they
rolled. The Energy Sucker gains the same
amount of Health, which can exceed its
starting Health.

197