Unbound Tales throws open a world brimming with diverse landscapes, and navigating these environments is a key part of the adventuring experience. This section details the core rules for movement, allowing you to explore the world with both speed and strategy.
The world of Unbound Tales is measured in meters, providing a clear and consistent frame of reference for movement. Each character's speed, measured in meters per second (m/s), determines their base movement capability.
At the start of your turn, you have no movement available! You must perform an action to increase your movement. The standard actions to move are Charge, Step, Walk or Run. When you take a movement action, you must complete all movement offered by that action, or abandon any remaining, before you take another action.
Movement leaves your character open for a Counterattack. Any time that you leave a square that an enemy threatens, they may use their reaction to Counterattack. You can avoid this by taking the Step action.
When you are acting in minute scale, the party may, at the end of each minute, move a distance equal to the speed of its slowest member, times ten meters.
When you are acting in hour scale, the party may use the Travel Overland action to move a distance equal to the speed of its slowest member, in kilometers.
If you have more than one speed score, such as your ground speed and a flying speed, you can switch back and forth between your speeds during your move. Whenever you switch, subtract the distance you've already moved from the new speed, and then subtract one further meter to represent the momentary action needed to change movement modes. The result determines how much farther you can move. If the result is 0 or less, you can't use the new speed during the current move.
For example, if you have a speed of 6 and a flying speed of 12 because you are under the effects of a Flight spell, you could fly four meters, then walk two meters, and then leap into the air to fly four meters more. One meter of distance was lost when you changed from flying to walking, and a second meter of distance was lost when you changed back to flying.
You can move through a non-hostile creature's space. In contrast, you can move through a hostile creature's space only if you use the Enter a Threatened Square action.
Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space. If you try to enter another creature's space, and do not have the movement remaining to move out again, you fail to enter that space in the first place.
When moving on a grid, each square of movement counts as one meter. Moving diagonally on a grid costs three meters per two squares, with the first square counting as one and the second counting as two.
Difficult terrain is tricky to cross, due to badly uneven ground, slippery or sticky surfaces, friction due to water, lots of mud, or what have you. Each meter of difficult terrain costs two meters of distance to traverse. Moving diagonally, when on a grid, costs three meters of distance to traverse one square.
For most characters, climbing is handled using the Climb a Surface action. If a creature has a Climb speed, they traverse vertical surfaces as though they were flat ground, and they do not grant favour to attacks made against them. An unstable surface might still present difficult terrain for a creature with a Climb speed.
A character that can fly has a substantial advantage, but also suffers from some limitations and conditions. A character with a Fly speed may not fly unless their Body score exceeds the Minimum Body rating of their armour.
At the start of your round, if you are airborne, you automatically lose one meter of altitude unless you immediately spend two meters of your Speed to maintain that altitude.
Gaining altitude counts as difficult terrain—a flying character must expend two meters to gain one meter of altitude. Losing altitude costs no additional movement. A flying character might also encounter difficult terrain due to turbulent air.
Water is considered difficult terrain, so long as it is deeper than the character's knees. Therefore, most characters can swim at half their speed.
A character with a Swim speed disregards water as difficult terrain, and can swim at full speed. However, even such a creature can encounter difficult terrain underwater, caused by eddies or strong currents.
A character can be forced to move against their will. They can be shoved, or grappled and dragged. A creature that is moved against their will does not provoke attacks of opportunity due to their movement, but do trigger any other effects dependant upon movement. For example, a character pushed into a square that contains a trap will trigger that trap, if appropriate.
A character who is pushed is moved a stated distance directly away from the source of the push.
If the character encounters another creature during the course of the push, the other creature is pushed one meter, and the character being pushed ends his movement in the square previously occupied by the other creature.
If the character encounters a solid obstacle during the course of the push, he will take Vital damage equal to 1d10 plus one point of damage per meter remaining to be pushed, and his movement ends prior to entering the square containing the solid obstacle.
A character who is pulled is moved a stated distance directly towards the source of the pull. The pull cannot draw the creature closer to the source than the nearest adjacent square; any further pull distance is lost.
A character who is pulled through a square containing another creature ends his movement in that square, and the creature encountered is pulled one square towards the source of the pull.
A character who is pulled through a square containing a solid obstacle ends his movement in the square just before the obstacle, and takes 1d10 Vital damage plus one point per meter remaining to be pulled.
A character who is slid is moved a stated distance in a straight line as directed by the source of the slide. Unlike a push or pull, a slide that moves the character into a square containing another creature or a solid obstacle ends the character's movement before the character enters the square, and the character neither takes damage nor displaces a creature.
A character who teleports will move up to the maximum distance of the teleport, by vanishing from one spot and reappearing in another. Teleporting never provokes a Counterattack, and the character does not enter any intervening squares, so traps and the like will not be triggered by teleporting.