We have a rule around these parts. If you can’t roll dice, you fail. Just fail. If you’re taking a contested risk (that’s a risk against another character) and you can’t roll any dice, they succeed and you fail. They get to use all their wagers and you get nothing.
Now, let’s talk about murder.
If you successfully get the drop on someone, if you gain surprise, if your Revenge roll is higher than their Revenge roll, they have no idea what’s about to happen and… they get no dice.
None.
That means you get to put all of yours into wagers.
Remember when we said a Wound 5 was debilitating enough to knock you off your feet and make you completely incapable of defending yourself?
No dice.
See, I’m sick to fucking death of catching someone off their guard in an RPG and getting something as lame as double or triple damage. Or even quadruple damage.
No. If I have a knife and that person doesn’t know I’m there, and I put that knife through their throat, that person fucking dies. Dead-dead-dead.
Not ten hit points. Not thirty wounds. Not two wound ranks. Bullshit.
Dead. Dead. Dead.
That’s the Murder Rule. Catch someone off-guard and they can’t use any dice.
The only kind of dice they can spend is Style Dice. And even then, maybe not. But Style dice are the out. And you can only blow five of those in one roll. But for this… if you miss a Revenge roll and someone’s coming up on you with a long knife… sorry, that’s the game, my friend.