Grunts and Squads

This module provides a tiered system for building and running non-player characters. Not every NPC needs full character stats. Most need just enough to serve their role in the scene and get out of the way. The system scales from disposable opposition to fully realized villains.

NPC Tiers

There are four tiers of NPC. Each adds complexity and durability. Use the simplest tier that serves the fiction.

Grunts

A Grunt is built from a single number: the Rating (1–3).

The Rating serves as the Grunt's default Ability for any check. A Rating 1 Grunt is baseline — a civilian, an untrained conscript. A Rating 2 is a competent professional — a trained guard, a working engineer. A Rating 3 is notably capable — a veteran soldier, a seasoned operative.

Building a Grunt

1. Set the Rating (1–3).
2. Pick 1–4 Skills and rate them.
3. Pick a weapon (if armed).
4. Pick armor (if any).

That's it. Everything else uses the Rating. Defense defaults to the Rating but can be set higher — a nimble Grunt or one with combat training might have Defense 3 even at Rating 2. If a Grunt needs to make a check with an untrained Skill, they roll their Rating as Ability with +1 Risk as normal.

Grunt Durability

Grunts have no Condition Track. Any successful hit that deals damage drops them. They are out — unconscious, incapacitated, dead, or fleeing depending on the fiction. Grunts benefit from cover and armor Soak normally. A shot that does 0 damage after Soak does not drop them.

Grunts have no Reaction. They cannot Dodge or Parry.

Grunts have no Willpower.

Example Grunts

Security Guard

Rating 2
- Combat: Firearms 2
- CRG Handgun (Damage 3, Piercing 1)
- Armored Clothing (Soak 1)

Pirate

Rating 2
- Combat: Firearms 1
- Combat: Melee 1
- Blade (+1), Slug Thrower Handgun (Damage 3)
- No armor (Soak 0)

Scientist

Rating 2
- Science: Physics 3
- Medicine 1

Civilian

Rating 1
- No combat skills
- No weapons, no armor

Squads

A Squad is a group of Grunts acting as a single unit. One turn, one roll, one target. They share a Skill rating and equipment. The GM tracks one number: how many members remain. A Squad cannot exceed 6 members.

Building a Squad

From scratch:

1. Set the Squad size (3–6 members).
2. Pick 1–4 Skills and rate them.
3. Pick a weapon (if armed).
4. Pick armor (if any).

The Squad size serves as the Ability rating for all rolls. A Squad of 4 marines with Combat: Firearms 2 rolls 4 Ability dice + Skill dice against Risk. A Squad of 2 (after casualties) rolls 2 Ability dice + Skill dice. No separate Rating needed. The number of members is the stat.

From an existing Grunt:

Take the Grunt's stats. Replace the Rating with the Squad size. Everything else stays the same.

Squad Durability

Squads have no Condition Track. When a Squad takes a hit that deals damage (after Soak), one member is removed. It does not matter how much damage the hit deals — one hit, one member down.

When the last member is removed, the Squad is eliminated.

Reduced to one. A Squad of 1 is barely functional — rolling 1 Ability die plus Skill, weaker than most individual Grunts. The GM may allow the players to spend 1 Momentum to make the last member flee, surrender, or otherwise remove themselves from the fight without requiring a roll. Narratively, they've seen their squad wiped out and their nerve breaks.

Combining Squads. When two or more Squads of the same type are reduced, the GM may combine the survivors into a single Squad. Add the remaining members together (still capped at 6). This keeps the battlefield manageable without tracking half a dozen depleted Squads.

Squad Defense

A Squad has a single Defense rating, defaulting to 1. The GM may set it higher for trained or agile units — a Squad of Sooni infiltrators might have Defense 3. The Squad benefits from cover and armor Soak as a single unit.

Squad Actions

A Squad gets the same action economy as any character: 1 Action + 2 Minor Actions, modified by circumstances (but not the Condition Track, since they don't have one).

A Squad makes one attack roll per turn, not one per member. The threat of a Squad is in their dice pool, not their volume of fire.

Squads have no Reaction. They cannot Dodge or Parry.

Squads have no Willpower.

Example Squads

Marine Fire Team

Squad 4
- Combat: Firearms 2
- CRG Rifle (Damage 4, Piercing 1)
- Body Armor (Soak 2)

Pirate Boarding Party

Squad 6
- Combat: Firearms 1
- Combat: Melee 1
- Slug Thrower Handgun (Damage 3), Blade (+1)
- No armor (Soak 0)

Security Detail

Squad 3
- Combat: Firearms 2
- CRG Handgun (Damage 3, Piercing 1)
- Armored Clothing (Soak 1)