TOPSIDE

PLAYER'S HANDBOOK - PLAYTEST v0.1

A d20-based extraction tabletop system

PRINT-FRIENDLY EDITION

Fan-made tabletop rules prototype. Not an official Embark Studios product.

1.Contents

2.1. Core Concept & Play Loop

Raiders live in an underground central hub protected from the machines roaming the surface. From the hub, players equip gear, accept contracts, craft supplies, trade with vendors, and choose what they are willing to risk topside.

Item Rarity

3.2. Create a Raider

Attributes

Every Raider has five attributes: Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, Medical, and Charisma.

Generating Scores

4.Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die. Add the remaining three dice.

5.Repeat this process six times.

6.Assign five of the six results to the five attributes. The remaining result is discarded.

Starting Statistics

7.3. Core d20 Rules

Checks

If the total meets or exceeds the Difficulty Class (DC), the check succeeds. The GM determines which attribute and any applicable modifiers are used.

Natural 20

A natural 20 automatically succeeds. On an attack, it also triggers a critical confirmation roll unless the target is explicitly immune to critical hits. Make a second attack roll with the same modifiers. If that confirmation overcomes the target requirement, critical damage applies; otherwise the attack deals normal damage.

Natural 1

A natural 1 automatically fails and may create an additional detrimental effect at the GM's creative discretion. Examples include a jam, dropped equipment, exposed position, extra noise, or another situational complication. The exact consequence should fit the scene.

8.4. Turns, Actions & Movement

Action Economy

During a combat encounter, social challenge, or other turn-based scene, each Raider normally has:

1 Movement Action

1 Combat/Loot Action

1 Free Action

Movement

The game may use hexes or squares. Each space represents approximately 5 ft.

9.5. Combat & Defense

Attack Roll

A successful attack must meet or exceed the target's Defense after applicable attack penalties and situational modifiers.

Defense

Cover

Cover is a combat mechanic. It reduces the attacker's chance to hit based on how much of the target is physically protected.

Concealment

Concealment is a detection and stealth state, not physical protection. A concealed Raider is hidden from detection unless the enemy already knows their position or has a special means of locating them. Smoke Grenades provide full concealment.

Melee

Melee attacks use the Raider's Agility modifier unless a specific weapon or skill says otherwise. The basic Raider Tool is a two-handed hammer/pry bar that deals 1d8 damage and can breach certain loot containers and barriers.

10.6. Firing Modes, Criticals & Weak Points

Single Fire

Single fire uses one attack roll and consumes one round from the weapon unless a weapon description states otherwise.

Burst Fire

A burst is three rounds. Roll two differently colored d20s at the same time and declare which is the initial-shot die and which is the follow-up die before rolling.

Automatic Fire

Automatic fire is any declared attack of four or more rounds. Roll two d20s: the initial-shot die has no sustained-fire penalty, while the follow-up die uses the penalty for the number of rounds fired.

As with burst fire, the initial roll and follow-up roll each generate one damage roll if successful. Weapon, skill, augment, or attachment rules may change these penalties.

Critical Damage

A natural 20 triggers a critical confirmation roll. If confirmed, critical damage applies only to the specific shot associated with the attack roll that crits. Both the primary and secondary attack rolls can independently crit, so shots 1 and 2 could both be criticals, but later rounds do normal damage unless another rule says otherwise.

Weak Points

Weak points are machine-specific and are controlled by the GM. Some machines have visible weak points that can be targeted immediately. Larger or fully armored machines may require armor to be destroyed before a weak point becomes targetable.

The GM sets the threshold required to hit each visible weak point, generally as an amount by which the attack must exceed the machine's normal Defense.

11.7. Shields & Machine Armor

Raider Shields

A charged shield reduces incoming damage by its DR. If its charge reaches 0, the shield provides 0 DR until recharged.

Shield Charge Loss by Damage Type

Shield Durability

A fully repaired shield begins a raid at 100 durability. When the shield is hit, durability is reduced by the attack's full raw damage before DR. Special attacks do not physically damage the shield unless a specific rule says otherwise.

The shield retains full DR until durability falls below 10. Below 10 durability, its maximum charge becomes the same percentage as its remaining durability. Example: 8 durability allows 80% of normal maximum charge; 6 durability allows 60%. At 0 durability the shield is broken, provides 0 DR, and cannot recharge until repaired.

Machine Armor

Machine armor is location-based damage reduction. Individual machines may have one armor section covering the whole body or multiple armored body parts. Armor sections have their own DR and break thresholds defined in the machine's GM stat block.

When an armored section is destroyed, normal hits to that exposed section deal full damage. Some armor sections conceal weak points; those weak points cannot be targeted until the covering armor is destroyed. Armor break thresholds are generally lower than shield durability and vary by machine size and type.

12.8. Damage, Downed & Stabilization

Downed

At 0 HP, a Raider becomes Downed. A Downed Raider may only crawl at one-quarter of normal movement and cannot interact with their inventory. They lose 1 HP at the start of each of their turns until reaching -9 HP unless stabilization is actively in progress.

Downed Raiders can still take damage from attacks, Light/Heavy Bleeding, Burning, and other damaging effects unless a skill or augment explicitly says otherwise. Machines do not normally target Downed Raiders, but environmental effects and hostile organic enemies may still threaten them.

Incapacitated at -9 HP

At -9 HP, the Raider becomes Incapacitated. Their body may be looted by other Raiders. The character is assumed to have been left for dead, later recovered by a scouting team, and resuscitated in the underground hub. Unsecured gear is lost unless another Raider extracts it. Safe Pocket contents remain protected.

Manual Stabilization

Another Raider may attempt to pick up a Downed character by remaining adjacent and spending 3 consecutive full-round actions. While this process is active, the Downed Raider does not lose the normal 1 HP per turn from the Downed condition, but all other damaging effects continue.

At any one point during those three rounds, the stabilizing Raider may attempt a single emergency Medical check:

The check may be attempted during round 1, 2, or 3. Success immediately completes stabilization. Failure does not prevent the normal three-round stabilization from continuing.

If the rescuer moves away, becomes Downed, or uses their action for something else, stabilization is interrupted and all progress resets. The Downed Raider immediately resumes normal bleed-out on subsequent turns.

Successful manual stabilization restores the Raider to 10% of maximum HP, rounded up.

Emergency Injector

Using an Emergency Injector is a standard action and immediately stabilizes a Downed Raider at 40% of maximum HP, rounded up, unless modified by a skill or augment.

13.9. Healing & Status Effects

Healing While Downed

Status Effects

14.10. Inventory, Weight & Safe Pocket

Backpack Slots and Weight

Backpack slots determine space. Item weight determines whether the Raider becomes overencumbered. Both restrictions apply at the same time.

Stacking

Safe Pocket

The Safe Pocket is slot-based. Items stored inside it remain with the Raider after Incapacitation. It may hold stacked crafting materials and mission items. Weapons cannot normally be placed in a Safe Pocket unless an augment explicitly allows it.

Placing an item into the Safe Pocket requires 1 Movement Action.

15.11. Ammunition & Reloading

Ammo Stack Sizes

Magazine Handling

Players do not need to track separate physical magazines. Reloading automatically pulls ammunition from the Raider's carried ammo supply. Magazine attachments modify magazine size or reload behavior, but do not require players to pack individual magazines.

When entering a raid, each equipped weapon is automatically loaded from the amount of ammunition the Raider chose to bring. A weapon with a 17-round magazine loads 17 rounds plus 1 in the chamber, consuming 18 rounds from the carried supply.

Reloading

Reloading normally requires 1 Movement Action unless modified by a weapon, attachment, skill, or augment.

Ammo Crafting

16.12. Looting, Breaching & Surface Threat

Looting

During combat, looting is a standard Combat/Loot Action. Four items are revealed per turn. Outside combat, there is no turn-based reveal rate; available loot is revealed normally.

Breaching

Breaching creates significant noise and may increase Surface Threat when nearby machines or Raiders can detect it. Skills and augments may alter these timings or noise consequences.

Surface Threat

Surface Threat is primarily a hidden GM value. Machines, including large dangerous machines, may already be roaming the map independently. Threat represents how much additional attention the party is drawing, not whether dangerous machines exist at all.

Common Threat Changes

17.13. Extraction

Each raid has one or more extraction points selected randomly or by the GM. Extractions may close as the raid timer progresses. When only one extraction remains, Raiders must reach it before the raid ends.

Calling Extraction

Calling an extraction is a Free Action while in combat and immediately increases Surface Threat by 3. Once called, the scene becomes turn-based if it was not already.

Elevator Extraction Sequence

18.Call the extraction.

19.Survive 8 rounds while the extraction elevator rises and the doors open.

20.One or two Raiders may begin operating the extraction terminal.

21.Closing/committing the elevator requires 2 consecutive Full-Round Actions from an active Raider.

22.Taking damage does not automatically interrupt terminal interaction, but becoming Downed does.

23.A Downed Raider may operate the terminal, but it requires 3 consecutive Full-Round Actions.

24.After activation completes, the party has 1 full round to enter before the doors close.

25.If the elevator is missed, it automatically returns after 15 rounds, assuming the extraction remains available.

Downed Raiders and Extraction

A Downed Raider may crawl into a hatch or extraction point and successfully extract. A Raider who extracts while Downed receives normal XP. Raiders who fail to make it back through their own extraction receive only 50% of the XP they earned during that raid.

26.14. XP, Levels, Skills & Reputation

Levels

The maximum Raider level is 75. Players gain XP only when the raid is resolved and they return to the central hub or are recovered after a failed extraction.

The game is intended to level quickly: a typical successful raid should usually provide roughly one level, while exceptional raids may provide more. XP awards are controlled by the GM and may include contract completion, objectives, damage dealt, healing/support, challenges, discoveries, milestones, and other accolades.

A Raider who fails extraction receives 50% of the XP they otherwise earned. A Downed Raider who successfully crawls into extraction receives full XP.

Skill Points

Each level gained grants 1 Skill Point. Skill Points may only be spent in the central hub. Higher-tier skills have branch prerequisites based on the number of points already invested in that branch.

Players may reset their skills in the hub by paying Raider Coins. The first respec costs 1,000 Raider Coins. Each subsequent reset doubles the previous reset cost.

Vendor Reputation

Vendors increase reputation through contracts and challenges. Higher reputation unlocks items and services. Some contracts may conflict with other vendors and can reduce reputation elsewhere. Exact vendor progression will be defined with the vendor/contract system.

27.15. Hub, Vendors & Crafting

The Central Hub

The underground hub is the Raider's safe operational base. It contains vendors, mission contacts, crafting facilities, repair services, stash storage, and personal trophy displays.

Vendors

Vendors specialize in different categories. Permanent offerings generally include ammunition, basic medical supplies, simple gear, common weapons, and basic crafting components. Rotating stock may include rarer items, special equipment, and items that require both currency and topside materials.

Trophy Display

Players may move valuable or sentimental recovered items into a personal trophy display. Displayed items do not count against stash space. Once displayed, an item may later be sold but cannot be returned to usable inventory.

Crafting & Repair

Ammunition can be crafted, purchased, or looted. Gear, shields, augments, weapons, and attachments use item-specific recipes. Detailed crafting recipes remain in the equipment databases and will be expanded in later handbook revisions.

28.16. Quick Reference

Automatic Fire

Cover

29.16. Quick Reference - Gear & Survival

Ammo Stacks

Shield Charge Loss

Downed & Stabilization

Bleeding

30.Appendix A. Systems Reserved for Expansion

The following systems are intentionally not finalized in Player's Handbook v0.1. They should be added only after their equipment and GM rules are completed.