Murphy's Law (House Rule)

Sometimes when things go wrong, they go VERY WRONG.  And sometime, it's the wrongest of things that are the funniest, which is even wronger-er.  When a Unit rolls a 1 in relation to an Action or Test, apply the following effects:

When Shooting a Ranged Weapon

Rolling a 1 means the weapon's mechanism has jammed, decided to reboot, requires a new power-pack, AI's been offended or is just plain broken, rendering it useless until it is fixed.

Multiple 1's don't stack e.g., some weapons have a ROF of 2 or more.  Rolling 2 natural 1's doesn't mean the gun is doubly jammed.

To fix the weapon, the Weapon's owner needs to expend an Action (half an Impulse) and make a Skill check.  A result of 2+ results in the Weapon being fixed; however a further 1 results in the Weapon being damaged beyond repair for the remainder of the battle.

When making a Close Combat Attack

Rolling a 1 means the attack was particularly ineffectual, maybe the martial arts master slipped in a puddle of water, the knife fighter forgot to unsheathe his knife or cyborg's initiated the wrong subroutine and the attack failed miserably.

The Defender, unless they also rolled a 1, has the option of either:

• disengaging/breaking from Close Combat without being subjected to a follow-up attack; or
• Counter-attacking in Close Combat without applying a Done marker, regardless of whether they're done or not.

Targets that were Reeling have been snapped out of the befuddled state and may remove a single Done Marker - meaning the Attack may have actually aided their recovery!

When making an Armour Penetration Check

Rolling a 1 means that the hit was more of a glancing blow, might have shot the Target's hat off their head etc.  Granted a hit was landed, but it was hardly textbook worthy.

When the Target makes their Reeling check, they upgrade their Reeling die by one Factor e.g., a standard soldier who isn't presently Reeling would employ a d10 rather than d8.

When attempting a Feat

A 1 always spells failure when attempting a Feat.  For example, opening a standard closed/locked door requires a standard Skill Check with a 2+ resulting in the door being opened.  A 1 means the door remains closed.