Sneaks and thieves, roguish activities in LoSS

And the work on the next issue of LoSS continues,
Below is another sneak peak of the next issue.
This time it's rules for activities usually relehgated to a thief or rogue class in traditional RPG's.
The rules aren't set in stone yet so feel free to chime in with your two cents in the comments section.

(Also please forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes, this one is again fresh text that hasn't gone through the editor yet)

~Ripley

Sneaks and thieves, roguish activities in LoSS

Sneaking, slipping past guards, staying hidden in shadows, these things can all occur in a game where the heroes are thinking of more than just attacking everything head on.

But allowing Sota roles for all of these things leaves too much up to chance. The heroes could sneak into a fortress with one roll, sneak past the guards with another, sneak up on the main target with another roll and slit their throat. End of Scenario.

But this sort of thing should definitely be allowed in the game. The heroes must be given the option of using these kinds of strategies. Unfortunately in the realm of the Demonboard these kind of actions are extremely limited.

When enemies appear on the board they already know the heroes are there and this highly limits the ability of the heroes to use any sort of strategy that involves sneaking.

The following are guidelines to add this level of play to you games of Loss.

They will be extremely useful to the heroes and Demonlord, especially in the story included with this issue, The Sorceress of Zhaan.

The modifier to the Quickness stat is applied to all Stealth rolls.

Stealth Mode

Initiating Stealth

In the game of LoSS, for the heroes to accomplish anything involving “Stealth” they must first choose to “Initiate Stealth” while no enemies can see them.

This may be while they are in “adventure mode” in a Lair, or before setting off to begin a Lair.

Most Lairs will have a period of roleplaying before entering to allow the heroes to prepare for the Lair.

They can choose to enter any Lair in “Stealth mode”

When initiating “stealth” the Demonlord rolls a Difficult Sota for every hero in the group, modifying the dice roll by any modifiers for quickness.

This roll is made in secret, where the players cannot see.

If all the rolls are successful, than the heroes are considered to be in “Stealth Mode”.

If any of the rolls fail then the heroes are not in “Stealth Mode”, though the heroes will not know whether they were successful or not until they encounter a group of enemies.

Stealth mode

When in stealth mode, any room that the heroes enter will still have their enemies placed in them, but they will not know the heroes are there. Perhaps they are speaking to each other, perhaps they are lost in their own thoughts or perhaps they are doing something which is taking up their attention. When placing these enemies on the board they are placed facing away from the heroes to show that the heroes are still in Stealth mode.

When in stealth mode heroes may attempt to:  move unseen through shadows, assassinate, steal or pick a pocket.

A hero may attempt a missile attack at any time while in stealth mode, at a +6 to their attack roll. This will cause them to immediately leave stealth mode.

While in stealth mode the Demonlord may not move any of the enemies on the Demonboard unless they are marked as “patrolling” an area in the scenario description.

Usually a patrol, is listed as the enemy moving between two points of the Demonbaord back and forth. The Demonlord must move the enemy on this pat the full movement rate of the enemy until the heroes leave stealth mode.

Ending stealth mode

Whenever a hero must open a door to enter a new area they must make a new “stealth” check. A difficult Sota roll. This one is not made in secret as the heroes will know immediately if they have failed or they will be attacked immediately if they were never in stealth in the first place due to a failed roll when initiating stealth.

Only the hero opening the door need make a stealth roll.

If the group of heroes is moving from one area to another without having to open a door they are considered to still be in stealth mode.

If a hero attempts an Assassination, or stealing they must make another stealth check to see if they leave stealth mode even if they are successful. If they fail at any of these activities they automatically leave stealth mode.

Moving Unseen

The hero does not need to make a roll to maintain stealth mode when moving through a room or area with no enemies in it.

If they attempt to move past an enemy then they must make a “move unseen” roll to not be noticed.

There are some limitations to moving unseen.

The hero may no enter the “detection” zone of any enemy. This is the area of squares bordering the enemy.

If the lighting in an area is considered to be “Dimly lit” then the heroes get a +2 to the roll. If the area is not lit at all and the enemy can’t see in the dark then the roll is a +4.

Indoors

If the lighting in an area is considered to be “Dimly lit” then the heroes get a +2 to the roll. If the area is not lit at all and the enemy can’t see in the dark then the roll is a +4.

Outdoors

During the day the area is considered “well lit” and no modifier applies.

During the night the area can be considered “Dimly” lit.

Asassination

Assasination can be considered the killing of an enemy with a single attack.

In terms of Rules it will lower the enemy to 0 endurance and casue them to make an immediate death roll.

If the enemy dies then the assassination would considered to be successful and the hero remains in Stealth mode.

If the enemy does not die they still have 0 endurance due to the assassination attack but the hero has left “stealth mode”.

To attempt an assassination the hero must enter the “detection zone” of the enemy. A missile attack would be too clumsy to guarantee a kill.

The hero must make a stealth roll to enter the detection zone of an enemy, and they may only do so from the rear squares of the detection zone.

If they fail the stealth roll then they leave Stealth mode and play continues as normal.

If the target is sleeping then the hero may make the assassination attempt from any square instead of from the rear squares.

Stealing

If a hero is in a room with no enemies in it, and they wish to pick something up and take it then, while it is technically stealing, it is not considered under game rules, to be considered stealing. There is no roll required to pick the object up and put it in their bag.

Stealing is considered to be taking an object while the owner is present, awake, and aware, without the owner knowing about it.

Stealing on the Demonboard

If a hero is in stealth mode, and there are enemies in the room, and the hero wishes to take something, they must be on a square bordering the object, which does not  lie in an enemies detection zone.

They may then make a stealth roll to pick up the object with no one noticing.

Stealing in a public place or while in adventure mode

When in a public place, such as a church, open air market, or a store, the hero may steal as well.

They must first enter “stealth mode” by making a the usual difficult sota roll with the Quickness modifier.

They must then be bordering the object while not in the objects owners detection zone.

They may then make a Stealth roll to steal the object with no one noticing.