Rules
Last updated
Last updated
Rules tagged with [streamline] exist to create a rules light version of the game. The main rules are a "full fat" wargame. Disrupter is flexible, and you should adapt different aspects of these rules as you see fit within your home game or commercial product. Disrupter is a generic, miniatures agnostic open source wargame system focused on customization.
Rules tagged with [mothership] are tips for Wardens who may wish to incorporate aspects of Disrupter in their Mothership campaigns. YOU DO NOT NEED A COPY OF THE MOTHERSHIP RULES TO PLAY DISRUPTER. DISRUPTER IS NOT A LICENSED MOTHERSHIP PRODUCT. Much like how Striker was its own generic wargame that happened to include some Traveller hooks and equipment, Disrupter is its own game with Panic Engine in its bones. This comes from Mothership and the Mothership community, but it is not a Mothership module.
Disrupter is currently designed for two-sided battles. Rules for having three or more platoons facing each other will probably come later with the addition of further game modes. However, each side is cooperative and can be asymmetrical. It is best suited to games that are 1v1 all the way up to games that are 3v3. When multiple players are on the same side, they play cooperatively with each player taking on the role of an Officer within their Platoon (see ). It is possible to play the game solo as well, you just have to control the opposing force, there are no special solo rules at the moment. Having someone who knows the rules well play as a referee can definitely make gameplay smoother, but a referee is not a requirement.
1v2+ (up to 5) games take on the vibe of a ttrpg with one player operating as referee to provide a co-operative experience for the other players at the table. See the game mode for more ideas about how to play this way.
Disrupter is designed for 24"x24" or 36"x36" boards containing approximately 50% Terrain. This is to ensure that games stay short and engaging unlike with a larger board.
Buildings
Light Cover
Forest, Jungle, Undergrowth, Barricades, Unmanned Vehicles, etc.
You can build your own terrain if that's your thing, but we highly suggest using things you already have or using play surfaces from other games and from toys. We want you play, not worry about your crafting skills. For a city environment, we suggest using the tiles and buildings from a Dropzone Commander /. For a jungle environment, we recommend a . There are plenty of digital maps available that you can adapt if you are wanting to play using a VTT.
8 differently colored d100 sets - Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Pink, Red, Black, and Ivory
The different colors help yout multiple rolls simultaneously
1 red d20 per player
We make some unorthodox suggestions about basing, but please use based models that you already have, use movement trays, or move individual Units. Our suggestions for basing seek to make bookkeeping and measurement as simple as possible while playing.
1
2
3
Instinct (I)
Class
Armor (A)
Equipment
Wounds (W)
Equipment
Movement (M)
Equipment
A Critical Success or Critical Failure is rolled when the dice are doubles (11, 22, etc.).
Advantage [+] means to roll twice and take the most favorable result.
Disadvantage [-] means to roll twice and take the least favorable result.
Critical Successes and Critical Failures are always used even with [+] or [-].
Stress is a counter with a maximum of 20 representing the stress levels for each Platoon as a whole.
[streamline] Do not track Stress and conduct Panic Checks.
At its heart, Disrupter is a game about managing a chain of Command.
The Commanding Officer (CO) Commands the entire Platoon. There is only one CO per Platoon.
Non-Commisioned Officers (NCOs) Command Squads.
Officers must be a member of a Team or occupy a Vehicle, there are no individual Infantry.
An NCO may assume the role of CO if the CO is incapcitated or killed.
If all Officers for a Platoon are incapcitated or killed that Platoon automatically Surrenders.
Officer, I:80
Soldier, I:60
Bot, I:40
Orders for NCOs should be broad enough to give them the autonomy to complete their outcomes. You are not giving turn-by-turn instructions. Orders for Soldiers should be more specific.
These rules are fuzzy on purpose. Striker takes a lot of space describing what Orders look like, and I think it sucks a lot of the fun out of giving Orders.
The Intelligence Briefing functions much like a session zero in a ttrpg. The Intelligence Briefing may take place on the table right before a game, or it can take weeks of negotiation, or anything in between.
The following decisions are first made during the Intelligence Briefing:
Designate Rally Points on the Board
Place the Platoon on the Board
Every turn of the game consists of an Initiative Phase and an Action Phase. During the Initiative Phase Turn order is decided. During the Action Phase Teams may choose to take a Movement Action followed by a Battlefield Action. Actions must be performed in that order during a Turn.
Successful NCO goes first
If both are Successful the highest roll goes wins Initiative and goes first
A Critical Success always gives first turn, if both COs roll a Critical Success, the higher roll wins Initiative
If both COs Fail, roll again until someone wins Initiative
[streamline] Conduct this Initiative Check only during the first turn and then use a set turn order
[optional] Resolve: once per game gain [+] on this Instinct Check
All NCOs make an Instinct Check
Successful NCOs are part of Group 1
Failed NCOs are part of Group 2
[streamline] Eliminate this check, all Squads become members of Group 1, simplifying the Turn Structure
COs take their Actions first.
CO 1 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 1 - Battlefield Actions
CO 2 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 2 - Battlefield Actions
COs can instead choose to relieve 1 Stress, replacing both their Movement and Battlefield Actions for the turn.
[streamline] COs operate as part of Group 1
CO 1 - Group 1 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 1 - Group 1 - Battlefield Actions
CO 2 - Group 1 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 2 - Group 1 - Battlefield Actions
CO 1 - Group 1 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 1 - Group 1 - Battlefield Actions
CO 2 - Group 1 - Movement and Reaction Fire
CO 2 - Group 1 - Battlefield Actions
If you can draw a straight line between any portion of two Stands, there is LOS.
Friendly Stands and Vehicles are ignored as Obstructions.
Stands that fire while Under Cover lose Cover.
Only 1 Team or Vehicle may inhabit a hex.
Teams and Vehicles are able to move through friendly Teams and Vehicles..
If an enemy with LOS has orders that indicate they should Fire in that situation, they have not yet Fired during the current Movement Phase, and any of their weapons have range on the moving Team or Vehicle, the enemy must fire on the moving Team or Vehicle. Enemies may use their discretion to Spot Teams or Vehicles or to Fire if they are attempting to stay Under Cover.
Resolve actions one Team or Vehicle at a time, one Unit at a time. Units must declare targets and the action they will take before resolving actions for the entire Team or Vehicle.
[streamline] All Spotting Checks are automatically Successful.
Units may choose to Fire on individual Units or a whole Team or Vehicle. Units with multiple Weapons may only use one Weapon per activation.
Success
Success
Inflict Wounds-1
Success
Failure
Inflict Wounds
Failure
Success
Attacker Instinct [-] for next Turn
Failure
Failure
No effect
When Firing on a Team, the total number of Wounds landed is divided evenly amongst the Units in the Team. Randomly assign Wounds if they don’t split evenly.
Giving Orders is automatically Successful.
[streamline] Rally Checks are automatically Successful. And, if you aren't tracking Stress and making Panic Checks, you will never even need to Rally Teams.
We suggest drawing or overlaying a 50mm hex grid on top of the terrain (see and ). This is very simple to do if you are playing using a VTT or with taped down transperency sheets (which also allow you to write on them with wet erase markers).
Disrupter is a d100 roll under system (see ), so it uses a subset of a full Mothership Dice Set.
Disrupter is designed for use with 10mm miniatures that have been based individually (See ). They are really easy to paint, and we suggest spending as little time as possible painting your miniatures to get on the board. We suggest using white primer and solid color (red and blue) Speedpaint for human miniatures and black primer and metallic (gold and silver) applied via a dry brush (Slap Chop Method) for .
However, we encourage you to re-use miniatures that you already have. It is easy to scale up and down the model size and measurements (see ). You can use chits, coins, or even meeples. A standard meeple is at a 15mm scale. Get a Platoon on the board!
We suggest sticking onto . We suggest drilling small holes in the individual Unit bases and then gluing into the hole. This way, you are able to remove Units from a stand, and they stay in place more solidly than if using a movement tray.
These 50mm hex bases allow you to play on a hex grid, or you can use extra bases as rulers if you are playing using measurement instead of a grid (see ). The thick plastic base also allows you to label the bases with a code for their team and squad designation, making for easier tracking of Orders (See ) and Wounds (See ) on your . A paint or white out marker or a label maker work best for this.
For traditional basing, miniatures for Infantry should be based four to a Stand (See ). You need some way to remove or mark (small rubber bands are recommended) Units when they need to be removed from the Board if you want to use traditional basing.
Movement and Range are indicated in hex measurements (see ).
You do not need to play on a hex grid (see (./#rule2)) and ); it is possible to use ruler measurement as well. Measure from the same part of the stand to the same part of the stand (center to center, front to front, etc.) using the following conversion factor. You can use this conversion factor to help you scale up or down your miniatures as well, depending on what you have available to you.
All statistics are provided as a percentage likelihood of completing a risky Action (See ) unless stated otherwise. The maximum level of all Stats is 80% to accomodate for the boost given by Advantage (See ).
Likelihood of making Battlefield Actions (See )
Likelihood of taking damage from Fire (See )
Number of Wounds taken before incapacitation or death (See )
Number of hexes that can be traversed during a Movement Action (See for Measurement Conversion)
[streamline] All Units only have 1 Wound, regardless of . This makes the game more lethal, and it means that you no longer need to track Wounds on your .
Success and Failure in disrupter are determined entirely by d100 dice rolls (See ). Rolling under a Stat leads to Success, rolling at or over a Stat leads to Failure. A roll of 00-0 is the number 0, not 100.
You make an Instinct Check to attempt risky Battlefield Actions (See ). You make an Armor Save to attempt to avoid being Wounded (See ).
A Panic Check requires rolling over current Stress with a d20 (See ) or the rolled effect occurs from the appropriate (See ).
Gain 1 Stress during the Initiative Phase of each Game Turn (See )
Gain 1 Stress for every Critical Failure (See )
Lose 1 Stress for every Critical Success (See )
Gain 1 Stress and make a Platoon for every friendly human death
Make a Team for each Team within Close Range of a human taken off the board, including the Team with the Wounded soldier
Bots do not Panic (See )
Squads consist of 2-4 Teams, with each Team consisting of 1 Stand or Vehicle ().
Every Unit within Close Range of an Officer receives [+] on all Checks and Saves (See ).
See the to better understand the basic structure of a Platoon.
[streamline] Make sure every Team with a human contains at least 1 Officer. Officers act on their own volition, so this eliminates the entire Command aspect of the game, making the game play like a more traditional, direct control wargame. If a Team consists entirely of Bots it still needs to be led by another Team with an Officer. This eliminates the need for written orders (see ). If you combine this with the [streamline] single Wound rule (See ), your only serves as a reference that you do not have to keep up to date with Current Orders and Wounds.
There are three Classes of Units that enable the Chain of Command. All Units are equipped with chosen by each CO during the Intelligence Briefing (See ). Instinct is determined by class and Wounds (W) and Movement (M) are determined by equipped for humans and model specifications for (See ).
Officers are able to give Orders to lower ranking Officers (CO to NCO) and Soldiers. Orders may be given over the radio. There is no range to radio, and you may assume that every Unit has access to a helmet radio. Orders are short written statements recorded on a . They take the form of a single, direct sentence. Units follow their Orders without deviation with small exceptions for Taking Cover (See ), avoiding Fire (See ), and returning with Reaction Fire (See ) for self-defense.
Officers and anyone they Lead are able to freely use Movement Actions (See ) and Battlefield Actions (See ). An Officer is able to Lead any Units that are within Close Range (See ). Bots are unable to follow Orders and can only be Led. Bots can only Retreat and Take Cover and conduct Reaction Fire (See ) for self-defense if they are not within Close Range of an Officer ((See )).
The number of players (see )
The specific rules being used for the game including the
The size and composition of forces, documented on
The Board (see )
Once the structure of the game has been decided, COs (See ) are able to:
Create up to four Code Word Commands for Orders for each NCO (See )
Halt, Rally to specified Rally Point, Retreat (See ), and Resume are also default Code Words in addition to CO created orders
Give initial Orders to NCOs and Squads (See )
Each Platoon gains 1 Stress (See )
Both COs make an Instinct Check (See )
Actions take place in the order determined during the Initiative Phase (see ). Each NCO and the Squad they Command (See ) must take their actions at the same time during each portion of the Action Phase.
Infantry Line of Sight (LOS) is determined by Stand bases (see ).
Facing does not matter for Infantry and the one Vehicle currently in the game (See .
Vehicles have different LOS rules than Infantry (See
Hexes with Light Cover (See ) allow stands to choose to Take Cover. Taking Cover grants I [-], A [+].
A stand can Take or Leave cover as a Movement Action (See ) or as a Battlefield Action (See ).
Movement is conducted by Teams or Vehicles. Not all Teams or Vehicles are required to move (See ).
A Stand’s Movement is determined by the Unit with the lowest Movement Stat in the Stand (See ).
All Units have Movement 1 when fording streams or rivers. Units may not otherwise move over water unless otherwise noted by Equipment (See and ) or .
Vehicles use different Movement rules (See )
After each hex or Vehicle Template for Movement (See ), check if any enemy Teams or Vehicles have LOS on the moving Team or Vehicle.
You can attempt to Spot an enemy within LOS by making an Instinct Check in order to draw a target out of Cover, paint a target for a missile, or identify a target for a sniper. You can track spotting on the or using markers on the board.
The attacker must have LOS on the target. The attacker makes an Instinct Check and the target makes an Armor Save (See ). Use the following table to resolve Fire.
[streamline] Only the currently active Platoon makes Checks and Saves (See ). They make Armor Saves during Reaction Fire, and they make Instinct Saves when necessary for Combat Actions.
[streamline] [variant] Player Facing Rolls are used. All weapons automatically hit unless the target Successfully makes an Armor Check (See ). If you combine this with the [streamline] rules to make Spot and Rally Checks automatically Successful (See and ) and eliminate the use of the Slide Movement Template (See ), you can completely eliminate the use of the Instinct Stat (See ).
If a whole Team is fired on, only one Armor Save (See ) is made for all of the Units with the same Armor Stat (See ).
If multiple Units with the same Instinct Stat (See ) are firing at the same target only one Instinct Check (See ) is made. [+] is given to this role if multiple units attack the same target.
The number of Wounds inflicted with a Successful attack is listed for each range for each .
[streamline] All weapons hit for 1 Wound. This way, you only need the Max Stat (See [Weapons][weapon])to determine if a Weapon hits. If you combine this with the [streamline] rule for all Units to have 1 Wound (See ), you have a very quickly moving game. If you then use either [streamline] variant for single Checks or Saves to resolve Battlefield Actions, your game has barely any tracking or in-the-moment rules. You can see how much damage your Platoon can take just by looking at the number of Units on the board. This combination of rules is what makes the [streamline] version of Disrupter special.
[mothership] You may use these rules to up the size and scale of encounters in a Mothership game. If you use the [streamline] or [streamline][variant] rules for Battlefield Action Checks, these rules can help you resolve combat with larger numbers of contractors supporting your players. In a normal Mothership game, controlling one PC and one Contractor is about the most one player can track, these rules would let you have your PCs be part of a larger Team or Squad within your Mothership game (See ). You will still need to roll damage dice rather than consulting the weapon table for damage. You will also want to make sure that the contractors are all equipped with the same weapons and have the same Stats because these rules streamline nothing if everyone has to roll differently.
With one Battlefield Action an Officer can give one set of Orders to a single NCO or Squad (See ). A CO can give Code Word Orders to as many NCOs as they want with a single Battlefield Action (See ).
CO orders to NCOs with Code Words are executed immediately (See ). New CO to NCO orders are executed starting the next turn. All NCO orders to Squads occur immediately.
Officers can attempt to Rally Teams within Close Range (See ) with a Successful Instinct Check (See and ). Rallying troops brings Routed Teams (See and ) under the Command of the Rallying Officer.