Scaling

At times you may wish to compare the relative scores of things that are vastly different in size. For example, how does a mouse's STR compare to the STR of an elephant? Is a mouse's LIF worth as much as the elephant's? Are small arms useless against battleships? What scale should we use for aerial combat?

Using these scaling rules, you can easily determine the relative scores of vastly different sized characters or objects.

The three basic scales used in the Core Rules are Micro Scale, Human Scale, and Mega Scale.

Human Scale is the default scale for the Core Rules. This is the scale that most games will use, whether the players realize it or not.

Annotating Scale

To indicate a score or statistic in Micro Scale, simply write "MS" after it, either in parenthesis or in superscript. To indicate a score or statistic in Mega Scale, simply write "MG" after it, either in parenthesis or in superscript.

For example, STR 5 (MS) or STR 5MS indicates a STR of 5 in Micro Scale. STR 5 (MG) or STR 5MG indicates a STR of 5 in Mega Scale

Attributes

Attributes in Human Scale have a value ten times greater than those in Micro Scale, and attributes in Mega Scale have a value ten times greater than those in Human Scale.

Primary Attributes

In Action! System, it is assumed that all living creatures have the six primary attributes that make up the Body and Mind Attribute Groups. That is, all living things have STR, REF, HLT, PRE, INT and WIL. They may have a score of 0 in one or more of the attributes, but for purposes of describing them, all creatures can be written to include all six attributes.

Of the primary attributes, only STR is scaled. That is, the relative values of all of the other attributes are on the same relative scale, regardless of the size of the creature. An elephant with a REF of 4 is roughly equal to a mouse that also has a REF of 4. The difference between the two comes in terms of their physical size, which is reflected in a DEF bonus for the mouse and a DEF penalty for the elephant (see the Combat Modifiers table in the Core Rules).

Strength (STR): Strength, on the other hand, is handled differently. STR is scaled in multiples of 10. For example, a mouse with a STR score of 5 in Micro Scale would have the equivalent of a STR of .5 in Human Scale. A human with a STR of 5 would have the equivalent of a STR of 50 in Micro Scale or a STR of .5 in Mega Scale. The Extended STR Table provides information for STR values ranging from .1 (1MS) to 120 (12MG).

Derived Attributes

Like primary attributes, all living creatures are assumed to have all of the basic Derived Attributes presented in the Core Rules -- Defensive Target Number (DEF), Initiative (INI), Toughness (TGH), Life (LIF), and Move (MOV). Of these, TGH and LIF are the only attributes that are affected by scaling.

Defensive Target Number (DEF): Differences between the DEF scores of creatures of different scales is handled by applying the DEF Modifier to each creature, based on its size (see Combat Modifiers).

Initiative (INI): Initiative remains the same.

Toughness (TGH): Toughness (TGH) may be scaled as for attributes. When calculating the TGH of a creature that has Mega Scale STR, convert the STR score to Human Scale and then calculate the TGH score normally. The resulting TGH score is still measured in Human Scale, however. GMs wishing to use a simplified Mega Scale TGH can simply divide the score by 10.

Creatures with Micro Scale STR should calculate their TGH as follows: (STRMS + WIL) /2.  The resulting TGH score is measured in Micro Scale. GMs wishing to convert it to Human Scale TGH can simply divide the score by 10. In most cases the result will be less than 1. We recommend that you allow even Micro Scale characters a minimum Human Scale TGH score of 1; even Micro Scale characters are supposed to be heroes, after all.

Life (LIF): Because LIF is derived from HLT and WIL, which are not themselves affected by scaling, a character's LIF score should be scaled. Each step up in scale represents a tenfold decrease in the relative value of the attribute, rounding up. For example, a mouse with a LIF score of 25 in Micro Scale would have the equivalent of a LIF of 3 (2.5 rounded up) in Human Scale. A human with a LIF of 30 would have the equivalent of a LIF of 300 in Micro Scale or a LIF of 3 in Mega Scale.

Move (MOV): This is perhaps the trickiest of attributes to deal with when it comes to scaling. Rather than assigning a straight conversion rule, we recommend using whichever scale is most convenient and dividing the score by the appropriate number. For example, in Human Scale, each hex on a map might represent 1 meter (the default measurement for a 1-inch scale map when using 25mm or 28mm figures). If you decide that during a scene in which the characters are participating in an aerial dogfight that each hex represents 100 meters, then you would simply divide the Human Scale MOV score by 100. So a human (let's say a superhero who can fly) with a flying MOV of 200 would have a scaled MOV of 2. Likewise, if in the same dogfight you decided that each hex on the map represents 200 meters, then an F-18 Hornet, which has a MOV of 1,800 in Human Scale, would have a scaled MOV of 9 when moving on the hex mat for the dogfight.

For the default (Human Scale) MOV values for various sample vehicles, see the Extended MOV Table below.

Extended MOV Table

Damage

Scaling damage is very simple. When converting randomly determined damage (i.e., when rolling damage dice), every 10 points of Micro Scale damage equals 1 point of Human Scale damage. Every 10 points of Human Scale damage equals 1 point of Mega Scale damage.

Be sure to apply damage to any TGH on the same scale. For example, if a tiny mouse warrior does 27 points of Micro Scale blunt damage to a human, be sure to convert that damage to Human Scale or convert the human's TGH to Micro Scale before subtracting the TGH from the damage.

Armor

All Armor Values for armor are given in Human Scale unless noted otherwise. Always convert armor to the same level as the damage that is applied to it, or vice versa.

Our tiny mouse warrior has 35 LIFMS (he's a stout little mouse!) and tree bark armor that affords him AV 10MS. But our brave mouse warrior has just been bitten by a dog for 4 points of Human Scale damage! Our hero's armor does not reduce the damage from the dog bite to 0. Instead, the bite is converted to Micro Scale damage (4 x 10 = 40 points!) and then the AV is subtracted from the damage. Our hero has taken 40 - 10 = 30 points of damage! Luckily he still has 5 LIF remaining, and an Action Point or two...

Skills

Skill scores are not scaled. A skill level of 4 for a Human Scale character has the same value as a skill level of 4 for a Mega Scale character.