Tricks
Heroes often attempt fancy maneuvers or clever tricks to distract their foes and set them up for deadly follow-up attacks. This might include throwing sand in an opponent’s eyes, ducking between a tall foe’s legs to stab him in the back, and so on. Tricks do not include weapon feints—those are already “assumed” in a character’s Fighting and Parry scores.
To perform the trick, the player must first describe exactly what his character is doing. Next he makes an opposed Agility or Smarts roll against his foe. The GM must determine which is more appropriate based on the player’s description of the maneuver.
If the character is successful, his opponent is distracted and suffers –2 to his Parry until his next action. With a raise, the foe is distracted and Shaken as well.
These penalties do not stack. Tricking a foe twice has no additional effect.
Example: Buck is backed into a corner by a very large and dangerous thug. Our hero pulls the oldest trick in the book. He says “Hi Virginia!” and pretends to smile at someone behind his less-than-brilliant foe. He and the thug both make Smarts rolls, and Buck wins with a raise. The thug swirls about, expecting an attack from behind, and is momentarily Shaken. The unfortunate goon also suffers –2 to his Parry until his next action, giving Buck time for a quick rabbit punch that just might put the big fellow down.