HAIDUK RPG is built on the dice pool variant Free League’s Year Zero Engine with many significant changes. Combat can be unpredictable and deadly but that is a part of the experience. Fights can break out of many common situations and may similarly end abruptly. This is the outline of the procedure:
- GM announces that combat has begun.
- An opposed roll on a single die determines who acts first in subsequent rounds.
- Movement is declared and resolved.
- Melee attacks are called and played out.
- Ranged attacks are announced and rolled.
- GM notes defensive actions carrying over into the next round.
- New round begins, procedure repeats from step 2 until the fighting stops.
There are three special ways to start a combat – surprises, sneak attacks, and ambushes. Surprising attacks are single attacks made without warning that are resolved before entering the full procedure. Sneak attacks are prepared ranged or melee attacks that receive a positive modifier if the attacker succeeds a Stealth check. Ambushes are group attacks set up for a passing enemy, if successful the attackers get a whole free round before the combat procedure starts.
Attacks are resolved through skill checks, damage being dealt on successful rolls and boosted with additional 6s.
Movement has its own rules – fights play out over three distances:
- engaged (close enough to strike or shoot at),
- ranged (firing or throwing range, must move to strike), and
- far (seen or heard, but too far to attack).
Even simple movement is potentially dangerous in the presence of enemies. Characters who close in or withdraw from an enemy must succeed on a Mobility check or suffer an attack outside of turn order. Retreating characters make that check with a -1 modifier. The movement happens even on a failed roll, if the character survives the damage.
Lastly, there are a few defensive options available. Shields stop all incoming damage but are then destroyed. Armour reduces the incoming damage and degrades in the process. Cover can be taken in many fights, it functions like a shield or armour depending on what it is.
| Cover | Rating |
| Furniture | 1 attack |
| Wooden door | 1 |
| Wooden wall | 2 |
| Tree trunk | 3 |
| Trench, stone wall | 4 |