Sentinel Comics RPG Core Rulebook

Elements of an Action Scene
Let’s examine the things you’ll find in action scenes.
The Scene Tracker: More GYRO
Most action scenes include a scene tracker,
made up of a set of spaces that get checked off
as the scene progresses. The scene tracker gets a
turn of its own, during which the environment (if
present) takes its actions. If there is no environment,
then the GM simply checks off the box and decides
who goes next.
START
GREEN ZONE YELLOW ZONE RED ZONE
END
The spaces are color coded — the first are green,
the middle range are yellow, the final ones are red,
after which the scene is out. Hey, it’s GYRO again!
The status is the color of the leftmost unchecked
space. The GYRO status indicated by the scene
tracker is the second factor in determining the
status of any character in the scene (the first
being their own Health). If the scene status and a
character’s personal GYRO status are different,
use the one that’s closer to Out. For example, if
the scene’s status is Yellow but your hero is unhurt
(hence Green), your status is Yellow.
When the scene tracker runs out of spaces
something bad happens — the reactor explodes,
the volcano erupts, the portal opens allowing the
alien army to march through. This often leads
immediately to a new scene, one with significantly
more dire circumstances for the heroes. The GM
describes the new situation and the heroes
respond accordingly.
The Environment
The locations where these stories take
place — Megalopolis, the Ruins of
Atlantis, the Wagner II Mars Base, etc. —
can be represented in an action scene as the
environment. If present, it takes a turn just like
heroes and NPCs, almost as if it’s a character itself.
Regardless of what else the environment does, the
first thing that happens on its turn is that the GM
checks off the next space on the scene tracker.
Each environment has special rules that govern
what it does (after the scene tracker is checked);
some may attack, some spawn enemies, some can
hinder both heroes and NPCs alike. These are
detailed fully in each environment’s write-up.
Locations
Many scenes take place in locations that have a bit
of complexity — not specifically in their mechanical
representation but in their thematic layout. In
such cases, keeping track of where the heroes are
in a scene is important. For instance, the city of
Megalopolis might be the environment for a scene,
but whether a hero is at Legacy Park, or on the
Monorail, or at City Hall is important for a wide
variety of reasons.
You can’t rescue the mayor unless you’re at City
Hall, but if you’re at City Hall you can’t try to find
the explosives planted in the Opera House, and
you can’t fight the malevolent spiderbots running
around Legacy Park. You can usually spend your
turn to change locations, but you can’t do much
once you get there — the GM might allow Boost,
Hinder, or Defend actions if you can describe how
you did it on the way — unless you can justify it
narratively by explaining how you arrive quickly.
Super speed, flight powers, detailed knowledge of
secret paths or short cuts, and the like are good
justifications for fast travel.
Heroes
That’s you: one of the heroes from Chapter 7: The
Archives, or a hero of your own invention using
Chapter 3: Creating Heroes.
Villains, Lieutenants, and Minions
These are your three types of opposition. Each
dastardly foe works slightly differently, and offers
varying degrees of difficulty for you to face.
Villains
are the big bad guys; primary
antagonists of the
heroes. They’re the major,
named foes that come up
with plots to threaten
the world, and taunt
every effort by the
goody-two-shoes
heroes to try
to stop them.
Villains have
entire character
sheets, similar to
heroes, with their
own sets of powers,
qualities, and abilities
to keep you on
your toes.
16
Action Scenes