Rules

Tests

In Hyperlite, resolving uncertainty by rolling the dice is called a Test. Test yourself by rolling at or under your skill plus an ability to succeed at a task. Roll higher than your opponent to win a competition like a race, or fight.

Tests of Self

When testing yourself, roll your ability plus skill or less. If you have no formal skill for what you are attempting, as long as you are eligible to make an attempt, you may choose one of your abilities, and as long as you haven't yet used it in the session and you can provide a satisfying narrative reason for it, you may test it alone for your action.

Tests of Competition

When testing against another (for example, Fighting) roll high, add ability, and skill if it's relevant, and the highest total wins. When testing against a target number, such as when resolving lifepath career terms, you must beat the target number.

Choosing and Using Abilities

You may use any ability you wish with a skill, as long as the table agrees it makes sense. You could, for example, use brute force (STR), be clever (INT), fast (AGI), contemplative (EDU), go nose-to-the-grindstone (END), or just do it with panache (PRE). However, once you use an ability with a skill, you may not use that particular ability again for a roll, until you've used all others in the session. Ability usage resets at the start of the session.

When To Roll

Pick up the dice when the uncertainty of the outcome of the proposed action or actions provides significant interest and excitement. Ask yourself, "How will the outcome of this roll affect this scene?" If it's trivial or mundane, or doesn't move events forward, elide the roll, and say, "You do that. What do you do next?"

Narrating the Event

Choose the skill you intend to use first -- you can use those as often as you like. Then, choose the ability to support it -- those can only be used once per session. Narrate your scene accordingly: say what you're going to do, then describe how you do it.

Moves

In a scene, characters get two moves every round, but only one if they are wounded. Moves are placeholders for the actions your character will perform in the scene and can be nearly anything: physical actions, preparatory actions, attempting parley -- whatever. Anything you can think of someone doing in a movie shot (about 3 seconds) you can do with one of your moves.

Moves as Actions

Lay down some high-energy steps followed by strong baseline grooves in the opening moves of a dance battle. Get out your hand-scanner and take a few readings in the room. Dig the nutri-snax out of the bottom of your giant rucksack and offer them to the threatening alien. Open your doctor bag, get out your tools, and save your crewmate who just took two to the chest. These are all actions that would consume one of your moves. If you can describe what you're doing in 3 seconds or less, you're playing in real time.

Moves as Movement

Of course, you may use a move to move as well. For purposes of Range, it takes 1 move to get from Near to Far, and then 2 more moves to get from Far to Too Far.

Moves as Fighting

Fighting is a move. All fighting rolls are opposed rolls. This means unless you've been ambushed when you are attacked, you have a chance to counterattack! This works both ways -- when you attack someone, they have a chance to counterattack. It does not matter who initiates; highest total wins and does damage to the loser by weapon type. You may counterattack any attack made on you of which you are aware, possibly granting you multiple attacks in a single round. If your total matches your opponent's total exactly you do damage to each other.

Size & Range

I've abstracted two of the biggest emulation requirements for TTRPG: How Far, and How Big.

Range

Hyperlite abstracts distance into three categories to help speed the action: Near, Far and Too Far. Each category also has a numerical value used for equipment, weapons, powers, effects to scale difficulty, cost, and effect.

• Near (Range 1). Something you can reach in a few steps at most. Brawling and fencing range.
• Far (Range 2). Requires a quick sprint to reach. Throwing and handgun range.
• Too Far (Range 3). It takes multiple moves to reach something that is Too Far. Long guns may shoot at things that are Too Far.

Size

Size uses the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34) to abstract an object's mass and volume to a single number to scale difficulty, effort, cost, and/or effect related to an object's size. Always round up.