3. Rules of Engagement
Combat in Wasteland Chronicle is intended to create tension, movement, and consequence without forcing players to stop a scene and calculate complicated damage. These rules do not attempt to simulate every detail of real violence. They provide a shared language for deciding when an attack lands, what that attack does, and when a survivor can no longer continue fighting.
The system uses location-based damage. Arms, legs, and the torso are tracked separately. Injured limbs become unusable, while repeated damage to the torso eventually incapacitates a character. Most attacks cause one Wound to the location struck. Firearms, siege weapons, and scenario effects may cause more.
Combat is a collaborative performance. Every attack must be controlled, every valid hit must be acknowledged, and every injury should affect how the character moves and behaves. Winning a fight is less important than creating a dangerous and memorable scene that everyone leaves safely.
NPCs, zombies, massive creatures, vehicles, and scenario threats may follow special rules provided by a Guide. When a scenario rule contradicts the general combat rules, follow the instructions given by the Guide or the marked scenario prop.
Safety Comes First
Safety always take priority over character actions and game mechanics. All strikes must use controlled, light contact. Never deliberately target the head, neck, throat, groin, or hands. Do not punch, kick, tackle, grapple, body-check, shield-bash, grab another person’s weapon, or make unapproved physical contact.
A legal hit occurs when the approved striking surface of a weapon makes controlled contact with a valid location. A hit to clothing covering that location still counts. Contact with a weapon, shield, or loose piece of equipment does not count as a hit to the character unless a specific rule states otherwise.
If unsafe contact occurs, stop the exchange and check on the other player. The event-wide safety call is “TIME-OUT.” When anyone calls TIME-OUT, stop moving, lower weapons, and wait until staff restarts the scene. TIME-OUT is an out-of-character safety call and must never be ignored or used for an in-character advantage.
The rules never require someone to fall, crawl, limp, run, or be carried in a way that is unsafe for them. Players may portray injuries in whatever clear and physically safe manner works for their body and the terrain.
Taking Hits and Wounds
Each legal attack normally causes one Wound to the location struck. A single attack may cause additional Wounds when its weapon, prop, or scenario rules state that it does. If there is a scenario with a train coming directly at you, one hit may be all the train needs.
Arms and Legs
● Each arm and leg can take two wounds.
● When an arm is hit twice (two wounds), that arm is disabled. It cannot attack, block, hold a shield, operate equipment, or support a two-handed weapon. Anything held in that hand should be safely dropped or stowed.
● When a leg is wounded, that leg cannot support normal movement. The player must clearly portray the injury by limping, dragging the leg, crawling, kneeling, remaining in place, or using another safe method. Do not hop, roll, or move in a way that creates a greater risk of falling.
● Any further hit to an already disabled limb causes a Wound to the torso instead.
● Losing two limbs (of any combination) counts as incapacitation and you fall down to the ground in need of medical assistance.
The Torso
● Most survivors can take two Torso Wounds.
● After the first Torso Wound, the character is seriously injured but may continue fighting. Their breathing, balance, speed, and movement should become visibly more difficult.
● When the character takes their final available Torso Wound, they become incapacitated and are removed from active combat.
Selling the Hit
Every valid hit must receive a visible reaction. Flinch, stumble, cry out, protect the injury, lose your balance, or change how you are fighting. The exact reaction is up to the player, but ignoring a valid hit is not acceptable.
A player may be tracking their Wounds correctly while still failing to support the scene. Combat works only when players make one another’s actions matter.
Melee Exchanges
An Exchange is a short sequence of melee combat between two characters. During one Exchange, only one damaging melee hit can be dealt between those two characters.
The first legal hit that lands causes the Wound. This opening strike happens at a fast but safe competitive LARP combat speed and acts as the combat “tag.” Once the hit is acknowledged, the two players have a few seconds to turn that exchange into something bigger and more theatrical. Additional strikes, blocks, recoils, and weapon contacts between those same characters can be used to sell the fight, but they do not cause additional Wounds. To deal damage again, the characters must clearly disengage, reset, and begin a new Exchange. In the end, the person who was hit by the initial tag sells taking the worse of the exchange.
Disengagement requires a visible reset. The combatants create distance, stop attacking for a moment, and then reapproach. Leaning back briefly while continuing to swing does not create a new Exchange.
When two characters are attacking the same target, the target has a separate Exchange with each attacker. Each attacker may therefore cause one Wound before their individual Exchange must reset.
The Exchange rule applies to melee combat. Each successful firearm, bow, thrown weapon, or scenario projectile is resolved separately.
An Exchange does not make anyone invulnerable. Players may not trap someone in continuous combat, ignore attacks without reacting, or use the rule to prevent another player from creating distance. After taking a hit, use the rest of the Exchange to portray the injury and create a natural break in the fight.
Engaging in Combat
No more than three people may actively attack one person at the same time. This limit applies to player characters and nonplayer characters except for zombies, regardless of whether the attacks are melee or ranged. Zombies can swarm with four to five on a target because, well, that is what zombies do.
Massive creatures and specially marked scenario threats may allow more attackers. A Guide will identify those exceptions. These sorts of scenarios will probably be obvious at a glance.
Begin combat by clearly engaging the target. Make eye contact, raise your weapon, point, call out a threat, give a nod, or use another visible gesture. The target must have enough warning to recognize that combat is beginning and respond safely.Combat is about the experience not a “gotcha” or most efficient combat scenario.
An ambush may still surprise a character, but the attacker must give a brief verbal cue immediately before striking. A whispered threat, warning, or other in-character sound is enough. The purpose is not to remove surprise. It gives the target a safe chance to receive and portray the attack.
Combat is not a contest to permanently eliminate another player’s character. Becoming incapacitated does not automatically mean death. Permanent character death occurs only through separate event rules, staff-supported story, and the choice of the player whose character would die.
Theatrical Combat After Contact
Combat should look believable without attempting to reproduce real violence. The goal is not to strike harder or move faster. The goal is to make each action readable, dramatic, and safe. Rapid wrist strikes, small taps, repeated weapon flicks, and other forms of tag style fighting are not appropriate. They give the other player little time to react and make the fight difficult to understand.
Use clear attacks with visible preparation. Allow the other player to see the strike developing, then deliver it with controlled, light contact. A swing should be large enough to read from a distance but slow enough to block, avoid, or receive safely.
Good combat gives everyone time to attack, defend, take a hit, portray an injury, and reposition. Wasteland Chronicle combat is an experience, not a sport. The scene is the point. Fight to create danger, reversals, injury, rescue, and consequence. Do not fight merely to overwhelm the person in front of you.
Incapacitation
A character becomes incapacitated when they take their final available Torso Wound or lose 2 limbs. An incapacitated is out of the fight and unable to move well under their own power other than to slowly and painfully drag themselves. They may speak in pain, call for help, and must painfully drag themselves as they portray their injuries unless another effect prevents them from doing so.
Another survivor may help move an incapacitated character. Physical lifting, dragging, or carrying is never required. The movement may be represented by the injured player walking slowly with assistance. Do not run while physically supporting another participant.
An incapacitated character remains in the scene until recovered, removed to the Triage/Morgue, or directed elsewhere by a Guide. Incapacitation does not automatically mean that the character is dead. A character that is Incapacitated at the end of a combat that was not carried out will be collected by guides and brought to the morgue for a near-death morgue scene.
Treatment and Recovery
In Wasteland Chronicle, basic battlefield recovery is something any survivor can attempt. You do not need a specific Profession to help an injured person. What you do need is time, active role-play, and one of the recovery ties provided by the game. A Medic Profession may provide advantages when a scenario or item specifically calls for medical training, but the basic recovery rules are available to everyone.
Recovery ties are part of the mechanic, not just costume. You cannot makeshift ties. They represent the limited amount of medical supplies available during a fight. If you do not have an unused recovery tie with you, you cannot recover another survivor. There will intentionally be more wounded people than available supplies, so deciding who gets treated and where the remaining bandages go is part of the experience.
Recovering an Incapacitated Survivor
When a survivor becomes incapacitated, another survivor may begin treating them. The person providing treatment must remain with the patient and perform active medical role-play for the entire recovery time. This might involve applying pressure, cleaning injuries, setting a limb, checking responsiveness, or otherwise portraying emergency treatment.
Taking a hit, attacking someone, leaving the patient, or stopping treatment interrupts the recovery and resets the timer. Multiple people may assist with the scene, but additional people do not reduce the treatment time. A completed recovery restores all wounds to the Torso and restores the use of any disabled limbs. The survivor may then return to the fight.
Each time someone is successfully recovered, the person treating them must tie one of the game-provided recovery ties around the survivor's arm. These ties show everyone how many times that character has already gone down during the current conflict. These ties must remain on for the duration of the fight, and cannot be taken off to hand over to someone else.
● First Recovery: The first time a survivor becomes incapacitated, treatment takes 1 minute. After treatment, place one recovery tie on their arm.
● Second Recovery: The second time that survivor becomes incapacitated during the same conflict, treatment takes 5 minutes. After treatment, add a second recovery tie.
● Third Recovery: The third time that survivor becomes incapacitated, treatment takes 10 minutes. After treatment, add a third recovery tie.
The recovery ties remain on the survivor for the entire conflict. They cannot be removed and given to someone else simply because another person needs treatment more. Once a recovery tie has been used, that supply is committed. The only way to reclaim Recovery Ties is if a character has had the black “Deaths Door” tie applied to them. A player may choose to take the black Death’s Door tie before it’s their 4th wound, but cannot be forced to take it early.
Death's Door
The fourth time a survivor becomes incapacitated during the same conflict, they cannot be recovered and returned to that fight. Instead, place a Black Field armband on the survivor. This marks the character as being at Death's Door. They are out of the conflict and will take part in a post-combat near death “Mortis scene” dealing with their near-death experience. When people are nearly dead in this post apocalypse to the point of not being able to recover, something about the post-death biology of the Infection changes them and lets them get back up.
When the Black Field armband is placed on the character, all of their standard recovery ties may be removed and returned to circulation. Those recovered supplies may immediately be used to treat other survivors. This is the only way standard recovery ties may be reclaimed during an active conflict. A player may choose to take the black Death’s Door tie before it’s their 4th wound, but cannot be forced to take it early.
If you do not have a Black Field armband available, you cannot remove the recovery ties from a survivor who has reached Death's Door. The physical armbands are part of the rules and must actually change hands for the resources to become available again.
Recovery Ties During a Fight
Recovery ties create a visible Recovery Count and a limited medical resource at the same time. One tie means the survivor has already been recovered once. Two means the next time they fall will require ten minutes of treatment. Three means that if they fall again, they are going to Death's Door.
Do not remove a standard recovery tie during an active conflict unless a Black Field armband is being placed on that character. You cannot take a bandage from someone who appears safe, pull one from a survivor who has left the immediate fighting, or otherwise recycle supplies before the rules allow it.
When the conflict is declared over, standard recovery ties may be collected and returned to the event's medical supply. Recovery Counts then reset unless a Guide specifically states otherwise. Characters marked with a Black Field do not simply reset with everyone else. Their next step is their post-combat Mortis scene.
The intent is simple: every time people go down, bringing them back becomes harder, and every recovery consumes a resource that someone else may desperately need. There will always be more wounds than bandages.
Shields and Armor
All shields must be approved for contact use. They must have padded edges and be built so that accidental contact will not injure another player or damage approved weapons.
Shields may block melee weapons, arrows, and thrown weapons. Firearms ignore shields. Siege weapons follow the rules printed on their scenario card. Shields may not be used to strike, shove, trap, or pin another player. Costume armor provides no mechanical protection but should look cool as hell.
Genre-Appropriate Melee Weapons
All contact-safe melee weapons must fit the early-Fall post-apocalyptic setting of Wasteland Chronicle. Weapons should look practical, familiar, scavenged, repaired, or improvised. Clubs, axes, knives, bats, hammers, machetes, tools adapted for defense, and damaged pre-Fall weapons are appropriate starting points.
Clean fantasy weapons, glowing energy blades, oversized decorative weapons, elaborate ceremonial blades, and unsafe spikes do not fit the setting. A weapon should resemble something that could reasonably be found, built, or maintained by survivors after the Fall.
Safety is more important than appearance. Every weapon must be properly padded, securely constructed, and approved before entering play. Staff may inspect its padding, core, flexibility, construction, condition, and overall design. Damaged or inappropriate weapons will be removed until repaired or replaced.
Professionally produced LARP weapons are strongly preferred. Homemade weapons may be approved, but they should expect closer inspection and must meet the same safety requirements.
Firearms
Wasteland Chronicle uses approved band guns to represent functioning firearms. These weapons release bands of latex or rubber tubing, creating both a physical projectile and a sharp snapping sound via poppers or snappers to recreate the bang.
All firearms must be used from their approved safe distance. Never aim a firearm at another player’s head or groin. This remains true when the weapon is unloaded, has misfired, or is not being actively fired. Treat every firearm as ready to discharge whenever it is handled in play.
A firearm attack is successful only when both parts of the shot occur:
● The weapon produces an audible snap or bang.
● The projectile physically strikes the target.
A shot that produces no sound has misfired. A projectile that misses has missed. Players should not react to the sound alone, and near misses do not cause Wounds.
● A successful firearm hit ignores shields and causes two Wounds to the location struck.
● A firearm hit to an already disabled limb applies both Wounds to the torso.
A character may carry no more than two firearms in any combination of rifles and handguns. Rifles may be used at greater distances but cannot be fired inside their marked minimum range. A character who is too close must create distance, switch weapons, or disengage.
Local laws and event equipment standards may place additional restrictions on firearm props. Site-specific rules always take priority.
Bows and Arrows
Only approved LARP bows and arrows may be used. Bows must fit the post-apocalyptic setting and may use longbow, horse bow, or recurve designs. The maximum permitted draw weight is 25 pounds.
The approved arrows are teardrop-shaped iDV LARP arrowheads mounted on fiberglass shafts between 28 and 34 inches long with plastic nocks. Damaged, modified, or improvised arrows may not be used. The type may be updated as technology improves, please check regularly for updates.
● Every arrow must be inspected before every shot. Check the head, shaft, fletching, nock, and draw stop.
● The foam head must compress and return to shape. Remove the arrow if the head is cracked, torn, loose, twisted, or waterlogged.
● The head must remain firmly attached and may not rotate independently from the shaft.
● The shaft must be one solid, straight piece without cracks, bends, curves, or sharp edges.
● The nock and draw stop must be present, secure, and undamaged.
● Run your fingers carefully along the shaft before firing. If anything looks or feels wrong, remove the arrow from play immediately.
● Never intentionally aim at the head, neck, hands, or groin. Do not fire into a crowded group where a safe target cannot be identified.
A successful arrow hit causes one Wound to the location struck. Bows do not consume an in-game Ammunition resource, making them reliable as long as the physical equipment remains safe.
Thrown Weapons and Javelins
A successful hit from a thrown weapon causes one Wound to the location struck. Thrown weapons must be made for LARP combat, fit the post-apocalyptic setting, and be soft enough to strike someone safely. They may not have exposed cores, hard edges, narrow points, metal parts, or rigid decorations.
● Thrown weapons must be large enough to see clearly while in motion. They must be shaped so that no end can enter an eye socket.
● Thrown weapons must normally be completely coreless. A javelin may use a flexible internal core, but both ends must be heavily padded. Its striking head must be broad, soft, and securely attached.
● Javelins may only be thrown. They may not be used for stabbing, thrusting, or close-range melee attacks.
● A thrown weapon must be at least the size of a standard LARP-safe throwing knife. Packets, beanbags, and other abstract projectiles are not acceptable substitutes. The physical representation must look like an in-character weapon.
● Never aim a thrown weapon at the head, neck, hands, or groin. Do not throw at close range or into a crowded group where the target cannot safely react.
● Inspect each thrown weapon before use. Remove it from play if the foam is torn, compressed, loose, waterlogged, or otherwise damaged.
Cannons and Siege Weapons
Cannons and siege weapons may appear during vehicle combat, settlement defenses, convoy battles, attacks on fortified positions, or conflicts involving massive infected creatures and vehicles. These devices use contact-safe projectiles. Because they operate at low velocity for safety, their mechanical effects are broader than the physical impact alone.
● Once a cannon or siege weapon has been fired, its attack cannot be blocked. Players should not attempt to catch, strike, or swat the projectile. Characters directly beneath the projectile’s flight path are affected even if the projectile passes overhead. When the projectile lands beside a group,everyone within roughly 10 feet is hit.
● The weapon’s scenario card states what effect an anti-personnel hit causes.
● When firing at a ship, vehicle, building, fortification, massive creature, or other large scenario target, the projectile must physically strike the marked target unless the scenario instructions state otherwise.
● Cannons and siege weapons have slow loading and firing procedures. They normally require several people to operate and consume resources such as Ammunition, Building Materials, or specialized crafted components.
A Guide briefing or scenario card may modify any cannon or siege rule. Those instructions take priority.
