J-RPG Blog!

Japanese Tabletop RPG Blog

• Vesper October 2009

  Me and my posse picked up a 2nd Ed book the other day. As we figure out the system, we'll drop info here.
  
  We'll release enough information to play the game; game rules, translated text, and a couple classes. But, those who own the book will of course have full access to all of the game's data (ie equipment and stat charts). So, go support F.E.A.R. and buy the book!!
  
  

  ---

  
  

  Game Mechanics

  
  Let's start by diving into the gritty details; the anime should've covered the flavor of the game sufficiently. We'll only cover judges and critical/fumbles for now; but there's definitely more mechanics behind this game than can be fit into a dozen or so posts.
  
  

  Judge

  
  This is simply a matter of syntax. A judge is a dice roll; it determines whether your character succeeds at something. It can be regular (you versus that there door) or opposed (you versus the kimaera).
  
  You win a judge if your success value is equal to or greater than the difficulty value, which may be a static number (15 from the door) or dependent on another character's success value.
  
  Your success value is:
  Relevant stat + 2d6
  
  For knocking down the door, the relevant stat might be strength. The stats are almost always specified in rules or skills. And yes, you can "pull punches" by reducing your success value, as long as it stays above zero.
  
  

  Critical and Fumble

  
  At the beginning of the game scenario, you roll a critical value and a fumble value. If they're equal, reroll the fumble value.
  
  Whenever the 2d6 part of your judge is a critical value, you score a critical; ignore your roll value, add +10, and roll again. So, if you score 3 crits on the same judge, your success value would be:
  Relevant stat + (10 x 3) + 2d6
  Once you're in a crit chain, fumble values are just an ordinary number, and like all non-critical numbers, will end your crit chain.
  
  Whenever the 2d6 part of your judge is a fumble value, you just get -10, and you stop rolling. In other words, your success value is:
  Relevant stat -10
  
  You can score criticals and fumbles on any judge, except an action value judge when deciding your count for the round.
  
  
  

  Character Mechanics

  
  A character's numerical "stats" are defined by two groups. Your Ability Values come from your two elemental attributes, which you rolled dice to decide. Your Battle Values are the actual numbers you use in combat, and are based directly from your Ability Values. (For example, your physical attack BV is the average of your strength AV and your dexterity AV, rounded down.) The base BVs from your element combination are already precalculated for you in the book.
  
  

  Ability Values

  
  AVs are your inherent abilities that your character is born with. They don't affect battle directly, but they may be used by GM whim to determine if you can break down a door.
  
  According to the Wikipedia article, they are called:
  
  

  筋力	Strength
  器用	Dexterity
  敏捷	Agility
  精神	Mind
  知力	Intelligence
  信仰	Faith
  知覚	Perception
  幸運	Luck

  
  
  They are determined by your first and second element, which are chosen from this list:
  
  

  天	Heaven
  冥	Hell
  地	Earth
  水	Water
  火	Fire
  風	Wind
  虚	Void

  
  
  Order matters. Heaven/Fire will give you different stats from Fire/Heaven, for example. So, there are 49 different combinations.
  
  

  Battle Values

  
  These are the numbers you use to fight with. There are 4 physical battle stats, 4 magical battle stats, and some miscellaneous ones.
  
  

  命中	Physical accuracy
  回避	Physical evade
  攻撃	Physical attack
  防御	Physical defense
  魔導	Magical accuracy
  抵抗	Magical evade
  魔攻	Magical attack
  魔防	Magical defense
  耐久力	Stamina (HP)
  魔法力	Magic Capacity (MP)
  行動値	Action value
  移動力	Movement value

  
  
  Damage is simple but elegant. If you use a physical attack on an enemy, you roll a physical accuracy judge against their physical evasion judge. If your value is equal or higher, it hits. Then, you roll a physical attack judge against their physical defense judge. The excess is dealt as damage to their hit points. Magic attacks work similarly.
  
  Your stamina number is your hit point total. Your magic capacity is your magic point total. Simple enough. Classes also have stamina+ and magic capacity+ stats; you add them to your total when you level up in that class.
  
  Your action value determines turn order in battle. At the start of a round, every character in battle rolls an action value judge (ignoring criticals and fumbles); the result is the number of count you have. Characters with the highest count take their turn first, then lose 10 count after. Some skills will cost count, which "delays" your next action for something special. The round continues until all characters have 0 (or less) count, or one side is dead. Battles can have many such rounds; details shall be covered later.
  
  Your movement value is your action value (before equips) divided by 10, rounded down, plus one. Most characters start at 2. Many enemies have 3.
  
  Why movement value? Because this is a tile-based game. Details to follow. >:D
• Vesper October 2009

  Class Mechanics

  
  
  Each player chooses one style class and one wizard class for their character. Some combinations are bad ideas (Magus/Attacker), some are debatable (Werewolf/Healer), and some can be good either way (Dream Hunter with Caster or Healer), but any combination is technically playable.
  
  Each class gives you bonuses to your battle values (not ability values), based loosely on the type of class it is. Edge Master gives you physical stats, while Ninja offers the highest action value bonus of all the classes.
  
  When a character is created, it starts with level 1 for the wizard class, and level 0 for the style class. You get 5 skills, taken from either of these classes. Also, each style class has a skill you get for free (marked with CL: auto).
  
  When your character levels up, you choose whether your style class or wizard class gets the level. You then receive the HP+ and MP+ bonus from that class, and you get 2 extra skills from that class. In addition to this, you gain +1 in a battle value of your choice. Leveling up also gives you experience points to spend, which can land you nifty bonuses; we'll cover this elsewhere.
  
  

  Style Class List

  
  Attacker - cheaper skills, improving physical attacks
  Caster - cheaper spells, improving magical attacks
  Defender - blocking hits for other players, improving defenses, taunting
  Healer - cheaper healing and buff skills, improving recovery effects
  
  

  Wizard Class List: Base

  
  Great One - pulling strings (dice fudging, cost manipulation, swapping crits for fumbles, etc.)
  Dark Lord - inflicts self with bad statuses to deal more damage, spreads status ailments around
  Card Master - offense and defense boosts to friends near the Card Master, reflecting magic attacks
  Vampire - huge magical damage, dodges attacks and comes back from the dead
  Killing Machine - high ranged damage and evasion
  Apostle - healing and reviving, "one-shot" miracles
  Homunculus - incredible defense and offense through passive stat boosts, suicide bombing
  Summoner - area of effect healing and magic damage
  Werewolf - passive stat boosts, highest end-game stats of any class
  Exorcist - buffs and healing, good self-defense
  Returner - artifact user (like Excalibur or Mjolnir), decent physical or magical offense, above-average luck
  Ninja - movement, evasion, escape, dodging death
  Edge Master - great physical damage, solid defenses, good "one-shot" attacks
  Magus - huge magic damage, multiple targeting, MASSIVE once-per-scenario nukes
  Tamer - huge passive stat boosts (damage, defense, range, movement speed)
  The Hero - huge flashy group attacks, but only during boss fights
  Dream Hunter - status ailments, count manipulation, party support
  Kung-Fu Master - unarmed attack master, highest damage boost from prana of any class
  
  

  Wizard Class List: School Maze

  
  Samurai - stances and momentum, powerful mid-range
  Taoist - crazy defense, decent healing, dependable ranged damage (physical or magical)
  Alchemist - multiple gadget user, leans towards magical damage and trickery
  Mutant - magical melee, proficient in blocking and dodging attacks, Rider Clock-Up and ZA WARUDO
  
  

  Wizard Class List: Soul Arts

  
  Medium Tuner - borrows skills from other classes, uses a summoned familiar
  Broom Rider - short range melee with incredible movement and damage
  
  
  

  Skills

  
  Skills are the signature abilities of each class. They range from passive stat increases, to long range attacks. Before expansions, style classes have 5 skills, and wizard classes have 14 skills. After expansions, style classes have 14 skills, and most wizard classes have 28 skills. (Expansion 1 wiz classes have 22, and expansion 3 wiz classes have 32.)
  
  There are class level requirements for skills. Most skills are available from the start; level 1 for wizard classes, and level 0 for style classes. CL 3 skills yield bigger effects. CL 5 skills can turn the tide of battle.
  
  Some skills can "stack" with themselves. You take the same skill multiple times, and you get a combined skill level. The Killing Machine has a skill called "Fast Targeting", which gives +[SL+2] to your physical accuracy. When you first take the skill, it's at level 1, and Fast Targeting gives you +3 accuracy. At level 5 (the maximum for this skill), it would give you +7 accuracy.
• Vesper November 2009

  Sample Classes

  
  
  The NW 2nd Ed book provides one sample character for each Wizard class; they're paired with a suitable Style class.
  
  These templates are enough to start playing with right away. It's also possible to post a couple sample characters without readers being able to reverse-engineer the game system; they should be fair game.
  
  

  Edge Master 1 lv, Defender 0 lv

  Fire / Wind

  
  

  Prana total 8	Prana Rate 2
  CF Adjust 2		Items
  Str 13	Mind 5	O-Phone	Cellphone.
  Dex 11	Int 5	Mugen-kun	Credit Card.
  Agi 7	Fth 9	Lucky Gem	Ignore 1 F per Scenario.
  Pcpt 7	Luck 6
  p.Acc 12	m.Acc 6	Equips
  p.Eva 11	m.Eva 6	Greatsword (w6)		0 Sq
  p.Atk 33	m.Atk 8	Kimei Gakuen Uniform+ (w2)
  p.Def 17	m.Def 10
  HP 31	MP 15	Total Weight: 8
  Act 13	Move 2	Total M-Level: 1
  Skills
  Covering (CL: Auto)		Auto, 3 MP 1 C	Take a Damage Roll in someone's stead
  Spells
  (None)

  
  
  

  Card Master 1 lv, Healer 0 lv

  Hell / Heaven

  
  

  Prana total 8	Prana Rate 2
  CF Adjust 2		Items
  Str 6	Mind 11	O-Phone	Cellphone.
  Dex 8	Int 11	Mugen-kun	Credit Card.
  Agi 7	Fth 6	Lucky Gem	Ignore 1 F per Scenario.
  Pcpt 6	Luck 8	MP Potion (w1)	+2d6 MP, one use.
  p.Acc 9	m.Acc 17	Equips
  p.Eva 8	m.Eva 12	Miko Clothes (w2)
  p.Atk 7	m.Atk 17	Exorcist's Bow (w2)
  p.Def 9	m.Def 16	Vortex (m1)	Attack (Hell), 2 Sq
  HP 18	MP 21	Total Weight: 5
  Act 10	Move 2	Total M-Level: 1
  Skills
  Spells
  Heal	Recovery, Major, m.Acc 12		Single (2 Sq), 2 MP	6+2d6 HP
  Revive	Recovery, Major, m.Acc 20		Single (2 Sq), 12 MP, 3 C	Revive, 3+2d6 HP
  Enchant Magic	Buff, Major, m.Acc 17		Single (3 Sq), 4 MP, 1 C	(Heaven) Magic Damage, p.Atk +5
  Defense Up	Buff, Auto		Single (2 Sq), 3 MP, 1 C	p.Def +7
  Dark Barrier	Buff (Hell), Auto		Single (2 Sq), 4 MP, 1 C	m.Def +7

  
  
  

  Killing Machine 1 lv, Attacker 0 lv

  Wind / Fire

  
  

  Prana total 9	Prana Rate 1
  CF Adjust 1		Items
  Str 10	Mind 6	O-Phone	Cellphone.
  Dex 12	Int 5	Mugen-kun	Credit Card.
  Agi 11	Fth 9	Lucky Gem	Ignore 1 F per Scenario.
  Pcpt 6	Luck 5	Crystal Bullet (x2)	Damage +3, one use.
  p.Acc 14	m.Acc 5	Equips
  p.Eva 14	m.Eva 8	Gunner's Broom* (w6)		4 Sq
  p.Atk 32	m.Atk 6	Kimei Gakuen Uniform+ (w2)
  p.Def 14	m.Def 7	Auto Field (m1)
  HP 27	MP 15	Total Weight: 10
  Act 15	Move 2	Total M-Level: 1
  Skills
  Physical Attack Up (CL: Auto)		Always	Attack +3
  Illusion Step (SL 3)		Auto, 1 Prana	Non-Fumble dice value becomes Crit, 3 per Scenario
  Quick Targeting (SL 1)		Minor, 4 MP	p.Acc Judge +3
  Inherited Weapon (SL 1)		Always	Pays for Gunner's Broom
  Spells
  (None)

  
  * Note: With Gunner's Broom, you can't attack enemies in the same square as you; it has a minimum range of 1 Sq.
  
  

  How to read the Skills:

  
  The Card Master uses a stock spell called "Heal". It's a recovery type spell, and takes up the major action of your main process. You need to roll a magic accuracy judge to use it, and you need to score at least 12. You can pick a single target within 2 squares. Pay 2 MP to use it. Roll 2d6 and add 6 to the result; that's how much HP the target gains.
• Diamond_Sutra December 2009

  Hey, I was curious, are you "Chipotle" over on RPGNet?
• Vesper February 2010

  Um yes, I am. xD
  
  Sadly, I haven't made much progress with sharing NW on either side. I'm still debating the ethics of posting an entire RPG system on the 'net.
  
  The database -is- online, though.
• Vesper February 2010

  Battle

  
  
  The previous sections should give you a good idea of what the fighting potential of each character may be. The next section describes the fighting system itself.
  
  There are 4 stages in a round of battle:
  
  

  	Setup Process
  	Initiative Process
  	Main Process
  	Cleanup Process

  
  You start at the Setup Process. Then, you run the Initiative Process and Main Process repeatedly until all players and enemies are finished acting. You finish with the Cleanup Process. If there are surviving enemies and players still, you enter another round of combat. Start over at the Setup Process and loop through battle until one side is toast (or the other side flees).
  
  
  

  Setup Process

  
  
  This step happens before every round of combat. Often, it decides how the rest of the round will flow. If you need an estimate, a round takes about 20 seconds of game time.
  
  

  Character Appearance

  
  First, you decide which characters and enemies will participate in this battle. (This section will likely get errata'd for an extra mechanic later.)
  
  

  Lunar Casket

  
  Each Wizard has their own personal Lunar Casket. It's a pocket dimension, good for storing anything. You can pull equips from it and put equips back into it, to prepare yourself for battle.
  
  If you swap items with your Lunar Casket, you may not use items or skills in this Setup Process, so choose wisely.
  
  My personal ruling for weight limits and Lunar Caskets? Weight only applies to what you can actively carry. Throw all the swords you want into your Lunar Casket. If you're rich and you want to pull the Gates of Babyl'OWNED from your pocket, so be it. Note that you still can't wield them all or shoot them as a special attack.
  
  

  Skills and Items

  
  There are certain skills from classes and items that are used specifically in the Setup Process. You may use them during this phase.
  
  The GM gives every player the chance to use these Setup Process items and skills. After all players pass on this, you decide action count.
  
  

  Action Count

  
  Each character rolls to determine their action count for the round. Typical values for beginner characters fall between 10-25.
  
  Action Value + 2d6
  This is the one judge in the game that you can't score critical or fumble effects from.
  
  Faster characters have higher act values and generally act sooner in the round, while their move range is farther. "Slower" characters simply have shorter move distances and begin acting later in the round. Some classes have skills that reduce count as a cost, so their next action becomes delayed.
  
  
  

  Initiative Process

  
  Once every player and enemy has their count, battle may begin.
  
  The GM chooses the chara with the highest count. That chara performs a main process, then drops 10 count. The GM then picks the chara that now has the highest count, and they get a main process. This continues until all chara's have a count of 0 or less.
  
  If a player is at the same count as another player, they talk amongst themselves and decide. Enemies at the same count go in an order chosen by the GM. If a player has the same count as an enemy, the player goes first.
  
  Also, a chara may choose to reduce their count by any (positive) amount. They don't lose an extra 10 count afterwards; they haven't performed a main process yet. The turn order may change from this.
  
  
  

  Main Process

  
  Once a character has been chosen to act, they become the initiative character. If the initiative chara somehow loses count before their main process is over (through costs or other things), they still get to finish their turn.
  
  They perform one minor action and one major action, in that order. They may choose to do one of the two instead of both. At the end of the main process, your count drops by 10 either way.
  
  If a skill requires that you take a bad status as a cost, you perform the skill first and get the bad status later.
  
  

  Minor Action

  
  For a minor action, you may do one of the following:
  
  A normal move
  Swap equipment and magic
  Skills or magic with timing: minor action
  
  

  Major Action

  
  For a major action, you may do one of the following:
  
  A normal move
  A full move (you roll Agility + 2d6 and look up the result on a chart, results range from 0-9 sq)
  A physical attack
  A magical attack
  Skills or magic with timing: major action
  
  Besides minor and major actions, there are other things a chara can do. Reactions are used to defend against attacks. Auto actions may happen at any time; the skill will tell you when to use it. Chara speech counts as an auto action with no cost, usable whenever you like.
  
  
  

  Cleanup Process

  
  You reach this stage after all chara's have finished acting for the round. Several things happen here.
  
  Poison damage occurs at this step.
  If your chara is absent minded at this point, they recover from it.
  You may use skills that have the cleanup process timing.
  If your chara is in the dying state, you perform the life-or-death-decision here.
• Vesper February 2010

  Movement

  
  Night Wizard is played on a grid of square tiles. Any number of characters can fit on any given tile, and distances are always measured from the center of tiles.
  
  You never move diagonally, you can only move north, south, east, or west. You can combine these in the same move, such as moving east, then east, then north (for 3 spaces total). Vertical movement is possible, but we'll leave that for another day.
  
  Flight is also possible, by mounting Brooms or using skills. This comes with bonuses such as +1 to your movement speed, in addition to whatever the skill may grant you. For now, assume that flight means you hover over the ground.
  
  There are generally two types of tiles in Night Wizard; ones you're allowed to walk on, and ones that obstruct you (like walls). Obstruction tiles cannot be stepped on at all; the hazard or obstacle occupies the entire square.
  
  
  

  Targeting

  
  You'll be performing attacks and using magic on specific characters and enemies. This is where targeting comes in.
  
  

  Single targets

  
  Most attacks and magics operate on single targets.
  
  If your attack's range is 0, you can only choose targets in the same square as you. A range of 1 means you can target something in your square, as well as the squares immediately north, south, east, and west of you; in other words, in any square you could reach by moving a distance of 1. Higher ranges work similarly.
  
  There is one additional rule about targeting; you must be able to see your target directly. Draw a line from the middle of your square to the middle of the square the target is in. If this line crosses any blocked tiles (like walls or trees), you can't see the target, and the attack cannot happen. Enemies and pits do not block sight lines, while smoke bombs do. The GM should use judgement on this.
  
  

  Area targets

  
  These work like single targets, but with an added mechanic. The effect (be it damage from an attack or otherwise) applies to every character in the affected tiles. An attack of "area (1)" will apply to every character in the target square only. Area (2) applies to the target square and the four squares immediately around it. Larger area numbers scale accordingly. Note again that there is no limit to how many characters can fit in a tile; one area (1) attack could very well hit over a dozen targets at once. You may cackle fiendishly now.
  
  "Area choice (N)" means that the character using the attack or spell can choose which characters in the affected squares are targeted, and which are spared. Generally, this is preferred for the gigantic area (3) nukes that your party's mage tosses around. Y'know, friendly fire and all.
• Vesper February 2010

  Sample Battle

  
  With the previous sections out of the way, we can now move into a short sample battle using Night Wizard's system; this is what you're here for, right?
  
  We will toss the Edge Master against the Killing Machine from the sample characters above, walking through the steps for one round of combat.
  
  
  

  Session Start

  
  Before any battles or role playing takes place, a few things must be settled for the day's session. The most relevant of these would be Critical and Fumble values. Each player gets a fresh set of these for every session. So, we'll roll 2d6 twice each for our two players:
  
  Edge Master: Critical 6, Fumble 2
  
  Killing Machine: Critical 8, Fumble 12
  
  So. Through some twist in the story, the Edge Master ends up squaring off against the Killing Machine on the following map:
  
  

  	A	B	C
  1	Edge Master
  2			Killing Machine

  
  Aaaaand the battle begins!!
  
  
  

  Setup Process

  
  Each player adds their Act value to a roll of 2d6; this becomes their starting count for the round.
  
  Edge Master: Count 13 Act + 6 (2d6) = 19
  
  Killing Machine: Count 15 Act + 5 (2d6) = 20
  
  From these results, the Killing Machine takes the first initiative in this round.
  
  Note that you cannot score a critical or fumble on this judge; the Edge Master only gets 13 + 6 count.
  
  
  

  Initiative

  
  The Killing Machine has the highest count, so she moves first. She is considered the initiative character, and remains so until she has finished with her actions in the main process.
  
  If there are any abilities that allow another character to act immediately, they would be used in this step. Because these abilities are only available on higher level characters, the initiative steps in this example will be very straight forward.
  
  

  Main Process - Killing Machine

  
  She is far away from her target, exactly where she likes it. This turn will be spent attacking rather than moving. The initiative character performs one minor action and one major action, in that order.
  
  Minor: Quick Targeting. Her physical accuracy judge in this main process gets +3.
  
  Major: Physical attack with her Gunner's Broom. The target is 3 squares away; easily within range of Gunner's Broom.
  
  To land a physical hit, you compare the Killing Machine's physical accuracy with the Edge Master's physical evasion. Magical attacks would work similarly.
  
  Killing Machine's physical accuracy roll: 14 (base) + 6 (2d6) + 3 (Quick Targeting) = 23
  Edge Master's physical evasion roll: 11 (base) + 9 (2d6) = 20
  
  23 >= 20. KM lands the hit!! Then, we calculate the amount of damage done.
  
  Killing Machine's physical attack roll: 32 (base) + 5(2d6) = 37
  Edge Master's physical defense roll: 17 (base) + 7(2d6) = 24
  
  KM deals 37 - 24 physical damage, or 13. The Edge Master started with 31 HP, and now has 18 left.
  
  KM started at 20 count. At the end of this turn, she loses 10 count, dropping to 10. Edge Master now has the highest count (at 19).
  
  
  

  Initiative

  
  Similarly, we aren't going to use any order swapping abilities here, so Edge Master is going to take the stage next. He is now the initiative character.
  
  

  Main Process - Edge Master

  
  Not one to let the KM snipe from afar, our gallant swordsman charges into the fray. His move power is only 2, so each normal move can only cover 2 squares. Thankfully, you can perform normal moves as a minor action or a major action; or both.
  
  Minor: Normal move to C1; 2 sq.
  
  Major: Normal move to Killing Machine's square; 1 sq.
  
  The two combatants are now in the same square. He loses 10 count for finishing the main process, and now has 9 count.
  
  
  

  Initiative/Main Process - Killing Machine

  
  The Gunner's Broom has the restriction that it can't attack targets in the same square as its user, which leaves us at a disadvantage now. As well, she would need to spend her major and minor actions to get away from the Edge Master (so she can't shoot back), but the Edge Master could just run up and bop her again in one turn. (See the movement section above.)
  
  However, all is not lost.
  
  Minor: Unequip Gunner's Broom.
  
  Major: Physical Attack with bare hands. >=D
  
  Killing Machine's physical accuracy roll: 14 (base) + 11 (2d6) = 25
  Edge Master's physical evasion roll: 11 (base) + 3 (2d6) = 14
  
  25 >= 14. It's a hit.
  
  The Gunner's Broom gives +11 damage. Without it, her physical attack is reduced to 21. To make up for it, she chooses to use her auto action ability....
  
  Auto: Illusion Step on physical attack roll. Any non-fumble roll becomes a critical.
  
  Killing Machine's physical attack roll: 21 (base) + 3->10 (Critical: Illusion Step) + 4 (2d6) = 35
  Edge Master's physical defense roll: 17 (base) + 6->10 (Critical: 2d6) + 6->10 (Critical: 2d6) + 2 (2d6) = 39
  
  By sheer force of luck, Edge Master gets two crits in a row. (You'll be surprised how often this happens if your C value is 7.) The third roll isn't a critical value, so the crit chain ends. Although the last number happens to be his fumble value, fumbles only end the critical chain like every other non-crit value.
  
  35 - 39 = 0. The Edge Master blocks the hit successfully.
  
  Note that a Killing Machine attack with Gunner's Broom plus Illusion Step is scary.
  
  Killing Machine loses 10 count for this main process. 10 count becomes 0 count, and she's finished for the round.
  
  
  

  Initiative/Main Process - Edge Master

  
  Minor: (none)
  
  Major: Physical Attack with his Greatsword.
  
  Edge Master's physical accuracy roll: 12 (base) + 10 (2d6) = 22
  Killing Machine's physical evasion roll: 14 (base) + 12-> -10 (Fumble: 2d6) = 4
  
  The KM rolls her fumble value. Instead of keeping the 12, she gets a -10. The result is 14 - 10, or 4.
  
  22 >= 4. It's a hit. Perhaps the bishounen charging at her made her heart race?
  
  Edge Master's physical attack roll: 33 (base) + 4 (2d6) = 37
  Killing Machine's physical defense roll: 14 (base) + 5 (2d6) = 19
  
  Edge Master deals 37 - 19 damage. Killing Machine started with 27 HP, and loses the 18. That's 9 HP left.
  
  At the end of this, he loses 10 count for the main process. He is now at 0 count, and has finished for the round. Note that he still loses 10 count, even though he didn't perform a minor action. Skipping actions does not reduce the amount of count you lose.
  
  
  

  Initiative

  
  At this initiative step, all characters are at 0 count or less. We then move on to the round's cleanup.
  
  
  

  Cleanup Process

  
  At the end of battle, both characters are still alive. There are no bad statuses to address, and no one has cleanup skills to use. The round is over.
  
  After this, you would typically start another setup process, recalculate Count for the round, and continue the battle. Hopefully, this is enough to get you started on playing Night Wizard.
  
  ( '.')b