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About Combat and Combat Safety in Novitas
Combat in Novitas is a real life talent where character skill has only limited effect. Players over the course of an event will almost certainly find themselves in combat. There is no realistic way for a player to officially remain out of combat during an event. Ambush without prior warning is legal and fairly common. Should players have medical reasons to worry about these things they are the ones responsible for taking appropriate steps to safeguard themselves.
It is also a player's responsibility to respect other players. For example don't keep hitting someone who is down simply because you can. All players are there to have fun.
Combat and safety referees are always right. Failure to follow their instructions will result in immediate expulsion. Combat and safety referees have the right to inspect any weapon, shield, armor or tag bag at any time even if that item has already passed a previous inspection. Battle damage and wear happens. They have the right to have an item removed from the game for safety concerns.
Physical contact for combat purposes is never permitted. A player may not charge another player or do anything else that would force another player to move in order to avoid physical contact. Players may not grapple, wrestle, or otherwise entrap or impair limbs during combat. You may not grasp another player's weapon in combat. It is permissible to use a weapon to attempt to push or pull a shield or another weapon out of the way.
Players should never bring real world weapons into the game.
About Magic in the Kingdoms of Novitas
Magic represents the varied fantasy elements in Kingdoms of Novitas. Players are allowed to represent their magic as being from any source so long as casting the magic fulfills all normal magic rules.
Magic comes in several forms in Kingdoms of Novitas.
- Spells are skills learned by players that allow them to cast that specific spell. Casting spells expends magic power points from the caster which refresh at convergence.
- Scrolls require the read magic skill to use. They can contain any spell, and cost no magic power points but are consumed on use.
- Rituals require an appropriate skill to use. They are typically reusable but require special consumables called ritual components to use. Casting a ritual allows a character to create effects beyond the scope of normal spells.
- Magic items can have many different magical properties. They can be used by anyone who could normally use the prop they are represented by (which is generally anyone, but some weapons require specific skills).
- Potions (and oils) are consumables that can be used by anyone but can only be made from certain specific spells.
Acid Calls
Acid damage is a special kind of damage that can destroy shields.
When a shield blocks an attack with the acid call it prevents the effect of that attack to the bearer but this has an effect on the shield, which could become destroyed.
Should a shield block four points of acid damage during an event then that shield is temporarily destroyed. While it is destroyed the bearer automatically takes any damage that is inflicted on the shield, so it immediately should be dropped. In order to repair a destroyed shield, it must be set down, and someone must role-play repairing it while someone casts mend armor on it.
When the acid call is part of an attack, that attack never counts as a spell. This means that an immunity to spell effects does not apply. The attack is an acid effect.
Adventuring Groups
Creating encounters that are just the right amount of difficulty is an important part of the job game masters do. In order to make this very challenging job a little bit easier to handle, players sometimes need to organize themselves.
There are three concepts relating to collections of player characters that are related but not exactly the same. These are independents, adventuring groups, and adventuring parties.
Adventuring groups are important DURING games. Independents and Adventuring Parties are important for planning BETWEEN games.
The people who respond to a plot temporarily form an adventuring group. An adventuring group does not need to have a fixed roster of people, it can be anyone who happens to be standing around the inn at a given moment. What matters is that if a group goes off in search of adventure or to answer the quest of an npc they are limited to 6 players. This restriction ensures that game masters always have a rough of idea of how challenging a plot? will be. You are expected to respect this limit even if you aren't acknowledged by the group or they aren't aware of you. Which is to say if you tag along with a group that didn't invite you, and they are already at the group limit, if they then encounter something, creatures, a plot, whatever, you are expected to stay uninvolved in the encounter.
In order to help new players interact with adventuring groups, a group may bring one additional character that is under level 20, plus a further character under level 20 for each full 100 levels any player among the first 6 players in the group has.
Between games players will sometimes join together out of character in an effort to PC on the same shift so they can play together. We call this an Adventuring Party. Parties will often get preferential treatment when organizing special events (like dungeon crawls) so that the party can play together at the same time. Each party is limited to eight players. Character level has no impact on party size. When a player makes a new character they should not rejoin an adventuring party they were previously a part of. There are several reasons for this. Meeting new people is an important part of community building and avoiding cliques. Also because a new character should be distinct from an older one, rejoining an old party is going to cause many players to treat you much like the same character. Finally because there are weird power gaming shenanigans that can arise from changing characters and rejoining a group.
An independent is any person who is not a formal member of an adventuring party. Independents may collaborate with other independents or adventuring parties as they wish. They are free agents. While an independent might be in the same adventuring group as a party for an encounter, they are not formally affiliated with the party after the conclusion of that encounter.
Tinkering items that affect a "party" work on the items owner, plus 5 other people designated regardless of how many people are in the adventuring group or party.
Alchemy Production
Characters with levels of the alchemy skill can produce alchemical compounds of the same level or lower using production points. A character only spends production points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the preproduction system.
To produce most alchemical compounds it costs 1 production point and 1 coin per level of the compound. Some specific compounds have different costs listed in the items description.
Whenever a character produces an alchemy compound that causes damage (a thrown poison, a blade poison, or an ingested poison) they produce two units of that item.
Players with the alchemy one skill may also produce alchemical extract in either one point or two point versions.
Alchemy Items
Alchemical products, sometimes called compounds or admixtures, are a special type of consumable item created with the alchemy skill. These items represent the pinnacle of old world chemistry mixed with a bit of magic.
Alchemy can produce a wide variety of game effects often allowing those without magic to act as though they did. Some effects are the exclusive domain of alchemy as well, such as stopping the curse of lycanthropy or curing diseases.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
Archiving Characters
The archive is where logistics staff members keep copies of the character sheet of every character in the game. If you lose your character sheet this is where you will go to get a new copy. Keep in mind that if you lose your character sheet any experience earned between the last time you archived a copy of your sheet and the present could be lost. It is recommended that you archive your character sheet every event at check-in.
Armor References
The term armor can refer to several things in the system:
- Real life armor worn by players as part of their garb.
- The benefits gained for wearing real life armor during the game.
- Half-Plate and Plate armor have the monstrous armor rule, granting more protection.
- Armor points are often called "armor" or "physical armor", and are gained from wearing armor.
- Magic armor points can be gained from magical effects.
- Natural armor points are possessed by some monsters and rare magic items.
Armor Rules
Armor is something that a character must physically wear to benefit from. It must pass safety inspection to ensure safety for both the user and other combatants. Characters in armor must still also wear appropriate costuming. This includes wearing racial make up under helmets. Wearing multiple armors at once will only give you the bonus of your best armor.
It is the responsibility of those wearing armor to learn when a legal hit takes place even if the armor prevents them from feeling it.
Different armors grants between 1 and 4 points of protection in the form of armor points also called physical armor points. Should armor be made of ineffective material or be visibly damaged it may have its armor points downgraded.
These points of protection only apply to where the armor is physically on your body. A hit to a spot where the armor is not covering cannot be applied to your armor points.
Helmets
You can gain an additional universal armor point for a helmet. Because the head is not a legal hit location, the point of armor from a helmet works like body and covers any possible hit location. The point from a helmet can break the cap on armor points making the maximum possible benefit from armor 5 armor points.
Plate and Half-Plate
Half-plate and plate armors count as monstrous armor. This benefit only applies in hit locations where you are wearing the half-plate or plate armor. If at least 75% of the location is covered by half-plate or plate the entire hit location counts as covered by that half-plate or plate.
When less than 75% of a hit location has plate or half-plate and some of the rest of that hit location is covered by other types of armor, a hit to that other type of armor will not benefit from monstrous armor. Damage in full will be subtracted from armor points, which is likely disadvantageous.
Limbs cannot benefit from monstrous armor if the armor on a player's torso isn't of at least the same quality.
Players wearing plate armor are required to wear some form of padding or safety equipment that is hidden (such as modern safety equipment like elbow pads) or props approved (such as a padded gambeson or arming jack).
Armor Values
One point armors include:
- A full costume approved by staff. (may not be combined with a helmet or other armor)
- Studded Leather (Leather too thin to count as light leather must have studs to count as anything)
- Light Leather
- Fur (Real animal hides with the fur on, unless the leather itself counts for a higher value)
- Brigandine (Light leather backing with light plates)
Two point armors include:
- Studded Light Leather
- Heavy Leather
- Scale Armor/ Lamellar (Overlapping light leather pieces)
- Brigandine (Leather or light leather with heavy leather plates)
- Riveted Aluminum Chain Mail
Three point armors include:
- Studded Heavy Leather
- Scale Armor/ Lamellar (Overlapping heavy leather pieces)
- Chain Armor (Interlocking butted or riveted metal wire, note that aluminum is only 2 points)
- Metal Scale or Lamellar Armor
- Brigandine (Heavy leather backing with heavy leather plates)
- Brigandine (Any backing with metal plates)
- Half-Plate (Metal armor, no articulated joints, up to 25% chain/leather)
- Lorica Segmentata is half-plate armor.
- A 2-piece back-and-breast is half-plate armor
- Half-Plate armor counts as monstrous armor.
Four point armors include:
- Articulated Plate Armor
- Plate armor with flexible joints that can bend and move with the movements of the player while still providing complete coverage. Must be a complete harness. For example articulated arms would contain a full vambrace, articulated elbow, rerebrace, and pauldrons.
- Wearing incomplete articulated plate (such as wearing a back-and-breast without fauld, tassets, and a gorget) make it half plate armor.
- Plate armor counts as monstrous armor.
Armor (aka Physical Armor) Points
When a player wears armor as part of their garb their character gets to enjoy the benefit of gaining points of "armor". Armor points are sometimes also called "physical armor points" in order to differentiate them from magic armor or natural armor.
Points of physical armor only benefit you in places the armor covers. If an opponent hits a part of your body that is not covered by the armor you are wearing, you may not apply the damage to your armor points. Some rare magic items may give "floating" coverage which covers even places the armor does not.
Should your character take damage, physical armor soaks that damage. Attacks with the "Pierce" combat call, ignore any physical armor you might have (as well as any other armor such as magic armor or natural armor).
Monstrous armor points are gained from specific types of worn armor. These points takes damage just like ordinary armor points do but reduce any damage dealt to them without the "Slay" call to one. With monstrous physical armor only the physical armor points benefit from this damage reduction, damage dealt to magic armor and body are not reduced.
Your total physical armor is based on the armor you are wearing plus any effects that specifically improve your armor, such as a helmet, spells like enhance armor, or special magic items. Wearing a chain shirt and a leather vest will not stack together for a better armor value
Physical armor has a cap of 4 points.
Wearing a helmet allows a character to break the physical armor cap and have 5 points of physical armor.
At Will Abilities
Abilities listed as being used "at will" can be cast or used with no incant. At will spells and abilities have no magic power point cost. Spells that are cast at will still require a free hand.
Previously if an at will ability did not indicate how many times it could be used it could be used an unlimited number of times. This is being changed so that at will no longer indicates how many times an ability can be used (the ability should give that answer). If you encounter an at will ability that doesn't specify how many times it may be used please notify the site administrator.
Banish Calls
Banish is an effect that forcefully dissipates the person affected for 10 minutes. The target is helpless and cannot voluntarily dispel this dissipate effect.
The banish call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) banish is a nature spell effect.
Blade Poisons
A blade poison is a consumable item that is applied to weapons in order to make them more deadly. In order to use a blade poison you must role-play the action of opening the vial and applying the poison to your weapon, then tie a flag to the blade.
Once applied a blade poison will last for 10 minutes or until the weapon has successfully hit an opponent. Some blade poisons require that they can only be applied to goblin iron weapons. These poisons get no special increased duration benefit when applied to such a weapon. All other blade poisons when applied to a goblin iron weapon, last for 20 minutes or until the weapon has successfully made two hits. These poisons interact with blightsteel in the exact same fashion.
Elven steel and silver weapons may never have blade poisons put on them. If a blade poison is applied to one of these weapons it is rendered inert and useless immediately.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
Blue Bags
A blue bag is a special item used by NPCs, or sometimes acquired by PCs during Feb Feast, which cannot be interacted with by anyone except its owner. Anything stored inside of a blue bag may not be stolen, and characters can't see another character's blue bag if it is out in the open.
A merchant with the fifth rank of merchant gains an invisible magic lock box with a size no greater than 1728 cubic inches (for example 1' x 1' x 1'). This box follows the same rules as a blue bag, but must be a box (with hard sides, a top, and a bottom). You can identify it by orange markings put on it.
Blunt Calls
This combat call can be made voluntarily by someone wielding a melee weapon. When used the "blunt" call is added to the weapons normal call (instead of replacing that call). It interacts normally with magic armor and physical armor, inflicting lasting damage that must be mended normally. What makes blunt damage different is that any blunt attacks that cause loss of body points or wounds will only last for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes are up any wounds caused by blunt damage are automatically healed.
A character with the first aid skill can wake a character who is unconscious from a blunt torso wound before the wound heals from 10 minutes passing. This counts as healing the torso wound. Limb wounds and body points cannot be healed by first aid in this way.
Should a character take "blunt poison" damage, the poison condition will wear off in 10 minutes. A character with the first aid skill can remove the poison condition in this circumstance (and only this circumstance). "Blunt disease" damage works the exact same way including removing the diseased condition with first aid in this situation (and only this situation).
Body Stat
Body represents advanced physical conditioning that allows a character to take more hits in combat before succumbing to serious wounds.
Body is a stat possessed by both characters and creatures. When a character is damaged by an attack once the characters armor has been overcome the damage is next applied to the characters body. Location does not matter, body is applied to damage taken in any location. Limb wounds and torso wounds occur when a character takes damage after all body has been used up.
Effects that give characters additional body points can be healed for as long as the effect lasts.
Buckler Rules
Bucklers are a smaller type of shield and follow the same rules for shields except that they are smaller, and are the only shield that may be strapped directly to a character's arm. To use a buckler requires the buckler fighting skill.
When a buckler is strapped to a character's arm it is known as a "passive buckler". A passive buckler doesn't require a hand to hold it. So when you are using one you are free to grasp a weapon, use a blade poison, cast spells, or other effects that require a free hand. Furthermore a passive buckler does not count as carrying a shield for the reduced melee damage cap when carrying a shield.
Like weapons props, shield props must be approved by a safety marshal for use in combat, and require the buckler fighting skill or the shield fighting skill to use depending on the size of the shield.
Wielding a shield in combat limits your melee damage to a cap of 2. Note that passive bucklers do not have this cap.
If a shield is struck by a tag bag what happens is based on what kind of attack struck the shield. When the tag bag represents a spell or other magical effect you take any effects the tag bag would inflict to the arm holding the shield. When a tag bag deals normal damage with no additional calls it may be fully blocked by a shield preventing that damage with no further effect. A shield may fully block any attack that makes the poison call, preventing any effect to the bearer. When a shield blocks an attack with the acid call it prevents the effect of that attack to the bearer but this has an effect on the shield, which could become destroyed.
Should a shield block four points of acid damage during an event then that shield is temporarily destroyed. While it is destroyed the bearer automatically takes any damage that is inflicted on the shield, so it immediately should be dropped. In order to repair a destroyed shield, it must be set down, and someone must role-play repairing it while someone casts mend armor on it.
A player may only carry one shield at a time, and you may not curl yourself up such that a shield completely prevents you from being attacked from one direction.
Calls in Combat and Types of Damage
Combat calls are used to convey information about attacks and special abilities characters have. Some calls are used only with attacks, others are used to announce defenses, and some calls just let people know that you benefit from an ongoing effect.
When you make an attack you announce the damage you will deal to another character by making a combat call, such as "3" or "3 normal" both of which indicate that you are dealing 3 points of normal damage. If no number is announced when you attack with a weapon it is assumed that you are dealing 1 point damage with your attack. Some attacks have no calls at all in which case they inflict 1 normal damage. Other types of damage can be dealt by stating the type after the number, so "2 magic" means 2 points of magic damage.
An attack counts as all things called. Sometimes one call can change some properties of other calls attached. For example the poison call makes an attack not a spell even if the other parts of the attack normally indicate spells.
If a player is using a weapon they have not yet identified but they recognize it as being made of a special material because of the weapon's color that player should make the corresponding call when attacking with that weapon.
When an effect allows you to call for something different with a weapon than you would normally call, you must choose which call to use when you make your attacks. If the something different only applies to the "next successful hit", and you choose not to use it when you make that hit, the effect is wasted.
For example if a character who deals 2 damage with each melee attack has a sword that deals "Nature" damage and they apply Scorpion's Kiss to that weapon so that it can deal "poison weaken" damage for the next successful hit. When they make that successful hit against an opponent they can choose to call "2 nature" or "poison weaken". They may not call "2 Nature poison weaken". Regardless of the effect they choose, the Scorpion's Kiss will be expended after that successful hit.
Casting Spells
In order to cast a spell a character must know the spell and have at least as many magic power points as the cost (which by default is the level) of the spell they want to cast. Some spells may have additional specific requirements detailed in the spell's entry. Finally the caster must also have at least one hand free.
A hand is considered free if there is nothing held in that hand and the arm has free unrestricted movement. You must be able to fully raise your hand and can't hold anything between your arm and your body. When using an item to cast a spell if that item is not worn on your body you must have it in hand, in which case it does not count against your hand being 'free'. If the target of a spell is an object the caster has in hand, that does not count against your hand being 'free'. Characters with both arms wounded cannot cast spells. Worn gear never hinders casting by itself (such as armor and passive bucklers).
If these conditions are met, the player will then make a incantation for the spell. After this has happened the magic power points for the spell are consumed and the spell is successfully cast. If the spell requires a flag you must provide it at this time.
Spells have ranges to determine what they can affect. You are not required to be able to see your target in order to cast a spell.
- Tag Bag: This is the longest range a spell can have. These spells are delivered by a tag bag which is thrown at the target.
- Touch: A touch effect is delivered to a willing or helpless target by "touch"
- Self: A spell with a range of self can only benefit the caster. When a consumable is made from a spell with a range of self, only someone who knows that spell can use that consumable.
All spells have a duration they will last. When the duration runs out the effect is over. Each spell's description will indicate how long that spell lasts. Spells last their full duration unless the effect is dispelled first. A caster can voluntarily dispel a spell they have cast at any time by touching the spell's target. If the target is conscious and unwilling to have the effect dispelled then they may not be dispelled this way. If the caster of a spell dies, spells they have cast continue functioning as normal. A spell that is dispelled ends immediately as if its duration ran out.
After a spell is successfully cast you may need to explain to the target what effect the spell will have. Combat related spells typically explain what they do through combat calls made, other spells may require more explanation because players should not be required to know the effects of every possible spell. Try to be especially patient when explaining effects to new players who may be required to break character in order to understand what effect a spell will have.
Character Backgrounds and Concepts
Character names should only be serious names, never silly or insulting, and never taken from pop culture, history, literature or the name of another established Kingdoms of Novitas character. Staff have the authority to require you to change your character's name if they deem it unfit.
A good character background should be more than 500 words long and should contain "hooks" that can be used to give the game masters ideas to write interesting stories for you to experience in play. Submitting a background should be done by the Friday prior to the first event you wish to play a character at (or before the character has earned level 2). Doing so will earn you 5 experience points.
To submit a background use this form.
Players are responsible for having a reason for their character to be in Maplewood, the current setting of the game. It is hard to play a character who doesn't want to be part of the setting of the game, and this can be disruptive to the game.
New characters cannot be part of any social organization. Exceptions might be made on a case-by-case basis such as if a character has an appropriate role-playing skill. Keep in mind most titles are also associated with those same skills and can't be used without the appropriate skill. Players are allowed to attempt to create their own organizations if they wish by trying to establish those organizations in game through role-playing.
You are allowed to create your own hometown or village within one of the existing nations of the Kingdoms of Novitas, but you are not allowed to create new nations.
Characters should never have a burning hatred of another player character race.
Character Death and Retirement
A torso wound will knock a character unconscious. Once unconscious they will "bleed out" in 10 minutes. Characters with the first aid skill can increase the time it takes to "bleed out" by an additional 10 minutes with appropriate role-playing. If the bleeding isn't stopped in time the character will die. When a character is bleeding out an enemy can also deliver a killing blow to hasten the process. In this game, death is not the end of a character though. A dead character can still be revived which will return them fully to life.
A character is considered permanently dead only under specific circumstances. Some monsters can cause permanent death. The final rest ritual can cause permanent death to a dead character. Lastly if a character is killed in combat and they are not revived before two convergences pass that character will be permanently dead. Remember the Saturday morning of an event at 6am there is a convergence. Between events there is also a single convergence and characters can permanently die during that convergence while out-of-game. In the event that your character dies after midnight during the fourth shift and is not revived be sure to talk to the plot staff about what could happen to your character.
Each player is allowed a single "newbie death" that can be used only during the first event that a player character has been brought into play. The plot staff will come up with some forced plot element that will allow you to continue playing the same character.
Players are allowed to voluntarily retire their a character if they wish. This can be done in several ways. A retirement could be a PIP where the player works with plot to kill their character in some way (or otherwise make them no longer playable - such as becoming a werewolf). Alternately the character can become an NPC solely under the control of the plot to use when think it would be interesting (and you are available to NPC). Regardless of what happens you can no longer ever choose to play a retired character.
When a player decides to retire a character or when a character permanently dies the player should fill out this form as soon as possible. In the form you will list your characters level, any unspent xp on the character, and any loot that is leaving play with the character. Half of that character's xp will get passed on to another character of yours (which could involve creating a new character to receive it), as well as half of the value of that character's loot.
The props for any loot the character had will either go to logistics (if the prop belonged to the game), or kept (if the prop belonged to the player). These props are no longer game items, but could be used like any other prop, such as for crafting. A good way to tell the difference between which props belong to you and which ones belong to game is, did you pay real world cash for the prop? If you did, it's almost certainly yours, if you did not it is almost certainly property of the game.
Character Sheets
Each character must have its own character sheet. At the first event that you play a character you will get two blank character sheets when you check-in. If you have earned any experience points this is when you can apply them to that character if you wish to. Fill out the sheet, choosing any skills you wish to purchase with your available skill points. One copy will be turned back in to logistics to be put in the archives for safe keeping. The other copy you must keep on you at all times when you are playing that character.
If you wish to see what the sheet looks like, the most current character sheet can be found here:
Charm Calls
A charm effect forces its victim to become friendly with the charm's source. The target hit by charm is overcome with a powerful feeling of friendship towards the charm's source. Charm effects last for ten minutes during which time the victim will not harm or conspire to bring harm to the charm's source.
Sometimes charm only affects certain types of creatures. When this is the case, the attack that calls for "charm" will list what types of creatures in the attack, such as "charm nature". In this example if you were not a nature creature the attack would have no effect on you.
On some unusual occasions there will be no obvious source for a charm effect. If there is no obvious source for a charm effect, the character influenced will become charmed by the first person they see.
Charm effects do not allow a character to issue commands to the charmed character or otherwise compel them to act in any other way. The charmed character will not act in a fashion that will bring harm to themselves or their party members in an attempt to protect the charm's source.
The charm ends immediately if the charm's source attacks or directs an attack on the charmed character, this includes telling others to attack the character. Simply drawing a weapon or starting to cast an offensive spell in the presence of the charmed target does not warrant the charm being broken unless the charm's source directly voices their intention to attack the charmed player.
A charmed character will not give up their possessions without good reason, though they might sell or barter them away to the source for a better price than they would under normal circumstances.
A few rare creatures (and the third rank of status) allow characters to charm others without making an attack. A charm aura is generally communicated by the character looking someone in the eyes and saying "charm" as clearly as possible. Because this effect is unlimited use it is not broken if the charmer attacks the charm victim, but the charm victim may defend themselves (aggressively if desired) they just feel somewhat bad about it. A good example for some is how some siblings might defend themselves from another sibling in a fight.
The charm call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) charm is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Checking In to an Event
At the start of each event it is each player's responsibility to head to the Logistics desk and sign-in. Here you will pay the event entry-fee which is $30, and they will take your name to indicate you are present. The person taking your sign in will register what shifts you are going to PC. Players are expected to NPC at least half of the shifts they play during the weekend.
If you have a player character any experience you have earned since the last event you played will be applied to your character sheet. You may choose not to take that experience if you want to save it for a different character or for a point when you are going to immediately archive your sheet.
If you gain new experience points, calculate your new level and then record it on a new character sheet. Copy your existing skills over, and then, on the new sheet, spend any new skill points you wish to spend. Bring your new and old character sheet to the person running the archive on the logistics desk. They will double check your math and then file your old character sheet into the archive so that if you ever lose your current sheet there is a back up. If you lose your current sheet you will forced to make a copy from the archived sheet and any experience you have earned in the mean time may be gone. So seriously, back up your sheet regularly.
After you have done these things if you have any production skills and filled out a preproduction request before the event head down the table to the logistics person handling that. If a player is NPCing all 4 shifts, they may still select one character to use production points and crafting points.
Here you'll pay any in-game costs on what you are producing and pick up items slips, or item numbers of anything you had made. Remember that you are responsible for any props needed, you are only picking up the paperwork to make those props officially part of the game. At this point you are now successfully checked in.
During the shifts that you signed up to NPC be sure to once more check-in with the logistics personnel at the main desk to let them know you are there for the shift, and then one more time at the end of the shift to let them know you stayed the entire shift (and so they know they don't have to go searching the woods for you because no one saw you come back).
The first time a player signs-in with a new character they will receive a new character consumable package. When a character does preproduction for the first time they do not have to pay any coin costs to use production points or crafting points.
Coins and Currency
Coin is the basic unit of currency in the Kingdoms of Novitas. One copper piece is commonly referred to as one coin. A silver piece is worth ten coin. There are also "exotic" coins also known in-game as "slave tokens". These larger pieces of metal have symbols pressed into them and are notably heavier than a standard coin. Each is worth one hundred coin. There are no gold coins, and referring to how much gold something is worth is never appropriate.
Other alternate valuables exist such as the sea shells used by piscenes, or gems. The estimate value skill allows players to identify the coin value of any unusual item their character comes across, collectively referred to as "valuable items" in this wiki. There is no regulation of trading between two characters, a character can offer whatever price they deem appropriate for a trade and a seller can accept that offer or not as they wish.
Characters are not allowed to create counterfeit coins. Suspension of disbelief is an important part of larping and there would be no reasonable way for players to figure out what is fake and what is real.
Hit Locations and Legal Strikes
A legal strike is one that is clearly and distinctly felt on the receivers body in an eligible hit location.
There are 5 hit locations on a persons body. They are the Torso, Legs, Arms, Hands, and Head & Neck. The head & neck are listed here only to point out that they are off limits to weapon strikes. Feigning as if to hit someone's head is also off limits.
A player can take a wound in their Right Arm, Left Arm, Right Leg, Left Leg, and Torso.
As long as a player is carrying a weapon hands are treated as being part of the weapon, so hits to the hands don't cause the player to take damage. You should indicate this to your opponent by announcing "hand". Empty hands are considered part of their respective arms and in this case a hit to the hand will cause the player to take damage.
A person's torso includes, shoulders, chest, stomach, sides, back, groin and buttocks. Although aiming for a persons groin is forbidden, accidental hits should be accepted as torso hits.
Any effect that takes place on the next hit, must be used when the next legal strike lands or they are wasted.
Melee strikes need to be heavy enough to be felt but not so heavy that they inflict real injuries. If a player feels that an attack connected but was significantly too light (such as grazing a cloak) they can call "Light" to indicate this and disregard taking the wound. This should not be abused for tactical advantage (that's cheating and will be dealt with accordingly). Likewise strikes represent attacks with real weapons, and no melee strike should be a series of repeated taps. Players should call "Too Fast" when this happens to indicate the rapid hits. Again this should not be abused for tactical advantage. When hit too hard a call of "Hard" can serve to notify the attacker of the hard swing. As a general rule hits should be just as hard as is needed for the player to feel the hit connected.
Ranged weapons hits should be taken regardless of how hard they hit.
Missile weapon hits only count if you are hit by the head of the missile. For this one rule javelins and great javelins count as missile weapons. Missile weapons may not be deflected by weapons however, doing so will cause you to take the hit in the arm of the hand holding the weapon.
Thrown weapon hits count no matter what part of the weapon strikes you. These weapons may be blocked or deflected by both shields and melee weapons.
Spells and some items use tag bags. If a tag bag makes contact with anything worn by a player it counts as hitting that player where ever that item makes contact with the player (so arm for a melee weapon, torso for a cloak). Tag bags never hit too light. Although tag bags should not be aimed at the head if they happen to hit a player's head the player should take the hit to their torso.
Players will never inflict damage on themselves with their own weapons, this does not prevent "friendly fire" however.
Consumable Items
A consumable is an item that has a limited number of uses. Generally consumable items can only be used once but some items will specify a higher number of times they can be used. Sharing consumables is only permitted if the consumable has multiple uses, each person using the item counts as one use.
Consumables will nearly always (with the exception of things like wands) be represented by a piece of paper from logistics that has an official stamp on it. These papers will then be inside whatever container or prop represents the consumable item.
Some consumable items will be labeled as being scarce. These items can't be copied, reproduced, used without being consumed, or crafted by players through any means, including feb feast items. Scarce items are intended to only ever be available as loot.
Most consumable items require that you role-play out using the item. At minimum to use an item it has to be in hand (either in your hand, or easily and instantly accessible by a free hand) to use. Once the item is used, you must represent the consumption of the item by destroying the official paper from logistics included with the item.
Craft Points and Related Skills
Craft points are used with the ornamenter skill to craft magic objects, with the weaponsmith skill to craft enhanced weapons, and the tinker skill to creating tinkering items. A character only spends crafting points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the pre-production system. Unlike production points you may not purchase additional crafting points at check-in.
Spells (generally only third level and lower) can be imbued into magic objects to create per event items with one use per event. The spell being imbued must be known by the character crafting that object or be provided by a consumable such as a scroll (the character must be able to read magic to use a scroll). Other characters, or other imbued items do not count as providing access to a spell.
Characters are capped at a total of 20 crafting points from all sources.
Curse Calls
A curse call causes a character's body to be reduced to a maximum of 1 (curse has no effect if the target has one or zero body) for 10 minutes. If the character already had damage done to their body points they have 0 body remaining with a maximum of 1 body and do not take any sudden wound.
When the curse ends the character regains any body points they didn't have access to because of the curse but any damage taken remains the same.
The curse call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) curse is a necromancy spell effect.
Damage - Possible Meanings
Damage can refer to several different things in the game. Here are the most common possibilities:
- Inflicting Damage with attack on others.
- Taking Damage from the attacks of others.
- Taking wounds from an attack.
- Healing from damage taken
Damage Requirements
A creature with a damage requirement (almost always a non-player character) is immune to all damage from attacks that do not use a specific combat call (which will be listed with the damage requirement). If the correct call is used with a damaging attack the creature takes damage normally. A "No Effect" call must be made whenever an attack successfully hits you but does not inflict damage (or does not take effect in the case of spells) so that the attacker knows-that-you-know the attack successfully hit and so that they know they may need to attack with something different.
A damage requirement does not prevent effects that don't deal damage.
Detect <Type> Calls
Detect calls, such as "detect life" and "detect undead", are an out-of-game radar used by a spell and some creatures. When you hear someone call "detect <type>" you must answer by yelling that type back if you are part of that group. So "Detect Life" would be responded to with "Life!" (assuming you are a living creature and not currently dead or an unliving NPC). This is an out-of-game interaction, so your character would not be any more aware of whoever called "detect life" than you were before it was called and should role-play accordingly.
Disease Calls
When a player loses body or takes a wound from any attack with the "disease" call they gain the diseased condition.
Diseased Condition
A diseased character is not allowed to run, they are too ill to move quickly. Furthermore while diseased the character has -1 to their total body and -1 to any weapon damage.
The diseased condition is challenging to remove, there are no spells that accomplish this goal. Instead alchemical items must be used such as a Theriac, a Catholicon or a Rejuvination Elixir.
Disengage Calls
The disengage call prevents it's victims from attacking or otherwise acting in a hostile manner towards the source of the call.
When struck with a disengage effect, a target cannot make any attacks against the disengage call's source for one minute. The target is also afflicted with a mild compulsion to avoid approaching the source of the call. The target should be focused on always staying at least five feet apart.
During this time the person affected by disengage is free to attack other people or take other actions. They do not forget that a hostile effect has been used on them.
If at any time the source of the disengage attacks the target or moves within five feet of the target with an unsheathed weapon or active spell tag bag, the disengage effect is broken. The target is now free to once again attack the source if they wish. Due to the compulsion to avoid the source a target can't break the effects of disengage simply by moving towards the source with an unsheathed a weapon or active spell.
The disengage call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) disengage is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Dispel Calls
The dispel magic call represents focused anti-magic that can be used to disrupt all of the magical effects on a target. When a target is hit by the dispel call, all non-permanent magical effects currently active are said to have been "dispelled". This means that they end immediately. Any spell cast on you with a duration longer than instant creates a magical effect until the duration runs out.
Items such as dilution solution create the dispel alchemy call which removes all effects from alchemical compounds on the target, other than poisons.
Tinkering items hit by a dispel magic call, have any active abilities turned off and the item’s magic is suppressed for 10 minutes. The affected item(s) must be “turned on” again to work. Please note that this effect does not apply to ornamented or weaponsmithed items, only tinkering items.
It is possible to target a magical field (spells that affect an area instead of single person or object) with a dispel effect. Magical fields include effects like sanctuary or sanctify. To do so simply requires the dispeller to hit the specific object protected (such as a building protected by Sanctify?) by the field or the ground inside the field’s area of effect. Magical fields are always separate from the caster who created them, defenses their caster might personally have active are irrelevant to preventing the area effect from being dispelled in this way.
Once effects are dispelled, they may be reapplied at any time assuming the target has the means to do so.
It is possible for this call to affect other scenario specific magic, but a game master will deal with these situations on a case-by-case basis. As a rule of thumb, dispel affects only creatures and their spells.
A caster can voluntarily dispel a spell they have cast at any time by touching the spell's target. If the target is conscious and unwilling to have the effect dispelled then they may not be dispelled this way. If the caster of a spell dies, spells they have cast continue functioning as normal.
The dispel magic call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) dispel magic is a spell effect.
Dissipate Calls
Dissipate is an effect that allows a character to escape from a dangerous situation by merging with a surrounding element, magically melding with it. Most often this means dissipating into the air.
The result is that the being become invisible, intangible, and unable to move (except for real world safety reasons, see below) or take any action until the dissipate ends.
After being affected by dissipate a character they must raise a blue flag over their head and then call "dissipate". This effect does not begin until the flag is held overhead. The blue flag must be in an empty hand and can't be tied to anything. For up to 10 minutes maximum, as long as the blue flag is held up the character is dissipated. While dissipated the character can't move but others no longer "know where they are" (and should role-play accordingly). When the player lowers the blue flag the spell is voluntarily dispelled. Characters can always voluntarily dispel a dissipate effect as long as it was not caused by a banish call. A character that is dissipated can only be dispelled by a character who has a special ability allowing them to see someone who is affected by dissipate.
For safety reasons you should never dissipate while in front of a group of people who are running, or where you could otherwise be a trip or collision hazard. If you dissipate in such a situation it is ok to leave a marker such as a tag bag to indicate where you were and to step aside.
If a character uses the detect life call near you while you are under the effects of dissipate you do not answer.
Dominate Calls
A dominate call causes its victim to follow one of five standard orders from the dominate's source. It is also possible to issue custom orders. A dominate call lasts for ten minutes. Some domiante calls have limits on what type of creatures it can affect. If the call includes a creature type after the word dominate, only that type of creature is affected. For example if you are hit by a "dominate undead" call you will only be affected if you are playing an undead.
The five basic orders that can be issued to the controlled being are: “attack”, “defend”, “move”, "stop", or "loot yourself". A character affected by a dominate effect doesn't know in-character that they are being controlled and must role-play to the best of their ability following orders as if the order were their own idea.
When orders other than the five basic orders are issued, the person being commanded should exercise reasonable judgement on how to comply. If the spontaneous order is something the player is uncomfortable doing they are not required to carry out that command. This should not be seen as an excuse to avoid doing something you don't want to do in-character, but rather is specifically related to doing things you don't want to do out-of-character.
Attack: The attack order allows the dominate's source to point at a target and compels the controlled creature to attack at once. The controlled creature will attack the target without question or concern for its own preservation and will use every available power and ability to carry out the attack. It is possible to word the attack order in a fashion that will compel the controlled creature to attack multiple targets. For example the source could order the creature to “attack all humans”.
Defend: A defend order allows the dominate's source to point at a target, such as a person, and compels the controlled creature to defend that target. In this case the controlled creature will attack anything that comes near the object or person it was ordered to defend, and may never move more than five feet from the object it was ordered to defend. Like an attack order, it is possible to word the defend order in a fashion that will compel the controlled being to defend multiple targets or large areas. For example, the dominate's source could order the controlled creature to, “defend all living things in the town”.
Move: A move order simply compels the controlled creature to move in a direction of the dominate source’s choice for the duration of the effect. The controlled creature will move at any speed the source desires that it is physically able to do and will only walk/run/float when under orders to move. It is legal for the dominate's source to order the controlled being to follow them or walk in front of them. The creature will not perform even the simplest of actions such as the opening of a door or dropping of weapons, but will move into a situation that might cause it harm or injury, such as ordering a waspoid to walk into an open pit.
Stop: The stop order compels the controlled creature to halt a particular action, as demanded by the dominate's source. Some examples include: "stop talking", "stop moving", "stop killing my friends", and so on.
Loot Yourself: The affected creature should place any valuables not contained in a blue bag into a convenient pile on the ground
The controlled creature will not attack the source of the dominate that controls it, unless for some reason the dominate's source orders it to do so.
Living creatures who are dominated are allowed to deal themselves a killing blow at any time to represent their final act of defiance to their controller, or to avoid taking an action they cannot morally accept, such as murdering someone.
The dominate call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) dominate is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Durations
All spells have a duration they will last. When the duration runs out the effect is over. Each spell's description will indicate how long that spell lasts. Spells last their full duration unless the effect is dispelled first. A caster can voluntarily dispel a spell they have cast at any time by touching the spell's target. If the target is conscious and unwilling to have the effect dispelled then they may not be dispelled this way. If the caster of a spell dies, spells they have cast continue functioning as normal. A spell that is dispelled ends immediately as if its duration ran out.
Items that duplicate spells, such as scrolls and potions make the user count as the person casting the spell for the purposes of voluntarily dispelling an effect.
Items such as those created with alchemy last the duration listed and can't be voluntarily dispelled, but can be removed with items such as dilution solution.
Elven Steel Items
Attacks with elven steel weapons make the "elven steel" call. A elven steel melee weapon may also make "blunt elven steel" attacks. You must always use the "elven steel" call with your attacks unless an attack replaces the entire call such as if you have cast elemental weapon. Specifically this means you can't choose to make a "normal" or "silver" call with a elven steel weapon.
Elven steel and silver weapons may never have blade poisons put on them. If a blade poison is applied to one of these weapons it is rendered inert and useless immediately.
Elven steel can't be mixed with other magical materials in the construction of a weapon.
If a player is using a weapon they have not yet identified but they recognize it as being made of a special material because of the weapon's color that player should make the corresponding call when attacking with that weapon.
Elven Steel Calls
Elven Steel is a combat call that counts an advanced version of the silver call. If the target of an attack has a damage requirement or a kill condition that requires silver, or elven steel the character will inflict damage or kill the target respectively.
"Elven steel" calls is not prevented by effects which prevent or grant immunity to silver.
Encampments
An encampment is a location that parties of player characters use to represent where they are staying as a group in-game. These players then typically set their encampments up as both a living quarters and a base of operations.
There are no game mechanics for encampments beyond the fact that some tinkering items referred to as encampment items that require they be used in an encampment.
Once an encampment item is set up in a location for an event it cannot be moved to a new encampment that same event. Encampment items may not be looted by anyone and are generally only usable by the owner and sometimes their party.
For the purposes of Camp Kingsley:
- A lean-to counts as an encampment
- A tent counts as an encampment
- The Slap and Tickle counts as an encampment
- The Spinning Jenny does NOT count as an encampment
Due to the limited number of available of lean-tos you must reserve a lean-to and there may be a waiting list.
Epic Items
An “Epic Item” is not normally player craftable. These items have access to the same abilities that normally crafted items can select but are also allowed to use abilities listed in the epic item special table. The only time players typically create an epic item if they have a voucher for an item from a Feb Feast auction. All epic items need plot marshal and rules marshal approval, including epic items created by game masters to be provided as loot.
All Item Types
| Imbued Spells | Description | Craft Points |
|---|---|---|
| No Incant | Choose one spell this item can cast from a separate crafting point purchase. When casting the selected spell from the item it does not require an incant. Can take multiple times to affect multiple spells. | 12 (Epic) |
| Prismatic Level 1 | Can cast any 1st level spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 8 (Epic) |
| Prismatic Level 2 | Can cast any 2nd level spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 16 (Epic) |
| Prismatic Level 3 | Can cast any 3rd level spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 24 (Epic) |
| Prismatic Level 4 | Can cast any 4th level spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 32 (Epic) |
| Prismatic Level 5 | Can cast any 5th level spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 40 (Epic) |
| Imbue with a 1st Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level one spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 4 |
| Imbue with a 2nd Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level two spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 8 |
| Imbue with a 3rd Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level three spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 12 |
| Imbue with a 4th Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level four spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 16 (Epic) |
| Imbue with a 5th Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level five spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 20 (Epic) |
| Change Level 1 Spell | Choose one level one spell purchased separately with other crafting points. You may change that spell to another level one spell once per year. | 4 (Epic) |
| Change Level 2 Spell | Choose one level two spell purchased separately with other crafting points. You may change that spell to another level two spell once per year. | 8 (Epic) |
| Change Level 3 Spell | Choose one level three spell purchased separately with other crafting points. You may change that spell to another level three spell once per year. | 12 (Epic) |
| Change Level 4 Spell | Choose one level four spell purchased separately with other crafting points. You may change that spell to another level four spell once per year. | 16 (Epic) |
| Change Level 5 Spell | Choose one level five spell purchased separately with other crafting points. You may change that spell to another level five spell once per year. | 20 (Epic) |
| Other Abilities | Description | Craft Points |
|---|---|---|
| +1 Armor Point to Armor | Increase the armor points of armor by 1, (see here for details). | 8 |
| Nature Immunity | Grants immunity to nature damage until removed. | 12 |
Epic Ornamenting (non-weapons)
| Other Abilities | Description | Craft Points |
|---|---|---|
| Variable Slot | This item still takes up a slot but you can choose which slot it counts as occupying each event. | 4 (Epic) |
| Slotless | The item does not take up one of your standard item slots | 12 (Epic) |
| Counts as a Master's Staff | This item grants the benefits of a Master's Staff | 24 (Epic) |
| Stats Bonuses With Normal Caps | Craft Points |
|---|---|
| +2 Production Points | 4 |
| +4 Production Points | 8 |
| +4 Craft Points | 8 |
| +1 Magic Power | 8 |
| +2 Magic Power | 12 |
Epic Weapons
| Must Choose Exactly One | |
|---|---|
| Weapon Base Type | Craft Points |
| Non-Martial Melee Weapon | 0 |
| Martial Melee Weapon | 4 |
| Great Weapon | 16 |
| Thrown Weapon | 0 |
| Bow or Crossbow | 4 |
| Arrows or Bolts | 0 |
| Special Material | Craft Points |
|---|---|
| Primal | 20 (Epic)* |
| Goblin Iron (Poison) | 8 |
| Silver | 8 |
| Razorleaf (Nature) | 8 |
| Elven Steel | 20* |
- Newly made Primal or Elven Steel weapons may not be crafted with other special materials.
- Existing weapons that contain these materials do not have to be remade.
| Special Ability | Description | Craft Points |
|---|---|---|
| Extra Master's Strike | Grants a master's strike separate from other sources of master's strikes. Does not require being a weapon master. | 16 (Epic) |
| Masterwork | This weapon deals +1 damage, limited by cap. | 4 |
| Mage Blade | This rule is no longer available. Existing weapons get refunded this amount. | 12 |
| Master's Staff of Wizardry | Select a school of magic. If the wielder is a master of that school of magic some of their spells cost fewer power points. Automatically a great weapon at no additional cost. Requires ornamenting 5 to craft. | 24 |
| Master's Blade | If the wielder is a weapon master they gain an additional master's strike. Also gives 16 additional, free, craft points to spend on other features (such as weapon type). Requires Tinkering 5 to craft. | 24 |
Events
An event is the name for the full weekend of activities when game is happening. Events are broken down into four shifts (except during specific special events).
If it is your first event be sure to fill out this waiver and send a signed digital copy to: konwaivers@gmail.com
Preregistration
The old methods of preregistration are no longer applicable. New means of event preregistration will be announced in February 2023.
Feb Feast 2023 Registration
You can register for Feb Feast 2023 here: https://www.paypal.com/instantcommerce/checkout/T7FQX5P9ZFWC2
Please do so by Wednesday January 11th at the latest.
The Timeline of a Typical Event
- 4 pm Friday to 9 pm Friday: Set-up of logistics, the inn, and player encampments.
- Only staff should arrive before 4pm.
- Arrive at any time in this window.
- 7 pm Friday: Players may sign in when the logistics staff are ready for them.
- 8:50PM Friday (approximate): New player introduction is run. If you can't make it, talk to Marketing and Player Outreach staff (Brandon Febles or Michael Maneri) for additional times.
- 9 pm Friday to 2 am Saturday: 1st shift
- 9 am to 10 am Saturday: Some players make their own breakfast.
- The game itself will not have anything available until the start of 2nd shift.
- 10 am Saturday to 3 pm Saturday: 2nd shift
- 3 pm Saturday to 8 pm Saturday: 3rd shift
- 8 pm Saturday to 1 am Sunday: 4th shift
- 8 am Sunday to 11am Sunday: Clean-up
- Players should remove their personal belongings before helping with general clean up.
- Personal belongings should all be removed from site by 10am at the latest.
- After 10am if you are not helping with clean up you should leave so the people still cleaning can finish.
- It is common for people to go for lunch afterwards nearby.
Experience Points
Experience points are generally earned by performing activities that enhance the game. One of the primary ways to earn them is from your mandatory NPC shifts during each event. Assisting with setting up and break down, performing extra NPC shifts, writing post-event letters (PELs) are some examples of other activities that can earn you more experience. Experience points are earned by individual players, and can't be gifted by that player to other players. In the event that you have more than one character you may choose which character will receive any experience you earn.
A player will earn 1 experience point for each $10 given to the game, including the $30 sign-in. They earn one experience point for each of the first two shifts they NPC. If you choose to NPC additional shifts you will get 2 experience points for each additional shift you choose to NPC beyond the first two. Each player may also turn in 10 coin in order to gain 1 additional experience point once during each sign-in.
Experience points determine character level, which in turn determines how many skill points you have to purchase new skills. New characters begin at level zero with zero experience points. Each level up to level 20 requires five experience points. After level 20 each level requires an additional ten experience points.
Each character sheet has a box to record new experience points earned in. Don't immediately update your sheet with these points. Instead when you want to use these new experience points, fill out a brand new sheet, and on that sheet update your level with the new experience points. Take your new sheet to logistics to be approved and archive the old one.
Flags
Flags are strips of blue cloth that are tied to players or objects to indicate a spell is in effect on that target.
If a spell requires a flag and you cannot provide it then you cannot benefit from that spell. Flags must be put in place within a minute of the effect that created the flag or the effect will fail, doing nothing. An effect does not take place until any required flags are where they need to be.
Flags can be placed in the following locations:
- On a person, such as for the anti-magic shield spell.
- On armor, such as for the enchance armor spell.
- On a shield, such as for the enchant shield spell. Flags on a shield must be visible from the front of the shield.
- On a weapon, such as for the silvershine spell.
- Held above the head, such as for the dissipate spell.
- On the ground, such as for a the sanctuary spell.
- On a portal (door, window, etc) such as for a magic lock or the sanctify spell.
Forums for the Kingdoms of Novitas
The forums for Kingdoms of Novitas can be found here:
In the forums you can find major announcements, rules updates, ideas up for community review, and in-character boards.
Game Days and Convergence
A game day is the time between two instances of convergence.
Convergence represents the time in-game that the world's ley lines fluctuate with power. It occurs every six hours starting at midnight each day (so 12am, 6am, 12pm, and 6pm).
When convergence occurs any expended magic power points are restored to full and limits regarding usage per game day reset. Spells that have a duration of game day end when convergence occurs. Abilities that state they can only be used "once per game day" no longer count as having been used once a convergence happens.
It is not uncommon for players to yell "convergence" when the time comes so that other players are aware.
Non-player characters are affected exactly the same way as player characters are during convergence.
Game Hold Calls
A game hold is a special call reserved for situations where the real world could potentially endanger someone's safety. During a "game hold" the game effectively stops, no in-game actions of any kind can take place. This includes (and is not limited to) combat, conversation, using items or magic, travelling, etc.
The word "hold" should be avoided in normal conversation to ensure that the call "game hold" is something that players react to instantly and correctly.
When you hear someone yell "game hold" or "hold" you should loudly repeat it to ensure that others around you also hear it. Immediately stop what you are doing and if possible hold still. Once this has happened identify why the hold was called so you can determine if you are able to help (or if help is necessary).
Game holds should be called by the person who needs the hold unless that person is clearly incapable of doing so. Real world injury, broken glass that is about to be stepped on, other real world danger, or someone about to run into an actual spiked pit trap are all good reason to call "game hold".
It is important that you don't make this call without good reason so that it stays reserved for dangerous or serious situations. Bad reasons to call a "game hold" include when you fall but are not injured, you drop your weapon, you don’t agree with a rules matter, combat is going badly for you, or when there is no immediate danger to anyone.
After the situation that warranted the "game hold" is cleared up, everyone should return as close as possible to where they were when it was called, and then as a group call "game on". Everyone can then return to normal game play.
Game Master
Game masters are responsible for running the game during each shift of a typical event. A pool of game masters under the supervision of the plot marshal collaborate each month to plan both ongoing plots? and random encounters? to take place during a game. These plots? are then carried out by lead npcs who in turn organize any other NPCs needed to bring a plot? to life.
In addition to the game masters the logs building is also generally staffed with one or two members of props and atmosphere who take care of npc make-up needs.
Game masters are the right people to talk to about something that happened on the shift that they ran, but are typically the wrong people to talk to about something that affects more than a single shift. If you need a prop approved you should talk to the props and atmosphere marshal (Christina Mevec) or second (Liska Gutierrez), questions about rules or combat safety should go to the rules marshal (Pat Lane) or second (James Vertucci), and questions about stories that aren't specific to a shift should go to the plot marshal (Ryan Green) or second (Gabby Bonilla).
Game Status: In-Game and Out-Of-Game
In-game refers to people, objects, or places that can be interacted with in the game. That is to say things that are meant to be part of the game's world and setting. A player that is "in-character" can be interacted with as part of the game.
Out-of-game refers to anything that exists outside of the game, cars, real world conversations, your sleeping bag, etc. A player who is out-of-character is not at that moment a player character who can be interacted with and should be ignored by players who are in-character. At the end of an event, or during the overnight period between the end of one shift and the start of another, everyone and everything is out-of-game
Bright orange colors are reserved exclusively to be used to indicate items and people who are out-of-game. If you see someone with an orange hat on, they are out-of-character and should be ignored.
This is a game where in-game possessions can and sometimes do change hands from player to player. As a result it is important to designate what items are in-game and which are not. Taking someones out-of-game possessions is real world actual theft.
Your character's possessions can be in-game or out-of-game depending on circumstances. When those possessions are in-game they are subject to the possibility of in-game theft. As a result if a player is in-game and that player's character's in-game possessions are being stored in a designated out-of-game area (where they are safe), this is a form of cheating.
Non-player characters will often make wind sounds ("whoosh"), to indicate that they are not in-game. This is typically because they are headed to another location to enter character there, or headed back to logistics. When you see others out-of-game it is important that you remember not to use that information to benefit you in-game. For example it is unacceptable for a character to say I know there are npc's this way because I saw them headed that way out-of-character earlier.
As a player you can go out-of-game, with your possessions at any time as long as you are not doing it for a tactical advantage. So for example if you need to use the restroom that is fine. If you are overheating severely due to heavy armor, need to breath for a moment: you both can and should find somewhere quiet you can drink and recharge. Just don't do it in the middle of a combat situation (unless you feel its a medical emergency situation in which case you should call a "game hold" so you can take appropriate steps to alleviate the medical emergency).
Sleeping players are in-game unless they have marked themselves with orange. At the end of an event, everyone and everything is out-of-game.
Choosing Appropriate Garb
In order to be the most immersive game possible it is important that players wear appropriate garb to maintain the proper atmosphere. It is a requirement that players who are in-game be wearing appropriate garb at all times. Players can and often should have pieces of garb reviewed by members of the props and atmosphere staff to determine if they are appropriate for the game.
As this is a fantasy game with no specific historical time period to draw on, there is a variety of acceptable garb. Often accurate garb is a matter of making sure certain modern features are not present.
The most basic set of garb a brand new player should bring to game is a tunic and black sweatpants or scrubs. This gives them something to wear under NPC garb that won't clash. After about a year of coming to game, you should have your own NPC garb to work with. Players will need additional different garb to wear for a player character.
This article has useful guidelines on how to build your initial wardrobe.
Brains Calls
The brains call is used to announce that a character has an illusion that makes them appear to be undead to other undead. To other living creatures, the character appears normal.
Mindless undead will treat the character as one of their own as long as the character does not provoke them such as by attempting to attack them. Intelligent undead are not affected by the brains call.
Goblin Iron Weapons
Items made out of goblin iron are inherently poisonous. When attacking with a weapon made of Goblin Iron the weapon deals "poison" damage. A goblin iron melee weapon may also make "blunt poison" attacks. You must always use the "poison" call with your attacks unless an attack replaces the entire call such as when you have cast elemental weapon. Specifically this means you can't choose to make a normal attack with a goblin iron weapon.
Some blade poisons require that they can only be applied to goblin iron weapons. These poisons get no special increased duration benefit when applied to such a weapon. All other blade poisons when applied to a goblin iron weapon, last for 20 minutes or until the weapon has successfully made two hits. These poisons interact with blightsteel in the exact same fashion.
Goblin iron can never be included in the construction of a weapon with elven steel or silver.
If a player is using a weapon they have not yet identified but they recognize it as being made of a special material because of the weapon's color that player should make the corresponding call when attacking with that weapon.
Great Weapon Rules
A great weapon is any melee weapon over 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
Great weapons must be generally wielded with both hands. There are only two times that you are allowed to wield a great weapon with one hand; When making a straight thrust after which the weapon must immediately return to being carried with both hands. Or when blocking an attack with the weapon.
The damage a character deals with any melee weapon starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, consumables, spells and other similar effects that increase melee weapon damage. Melee weapons have a natural limit on how much damage they can deal.
When wielded by themselves melee weapons have a cap of 4 damage
The wielder of a great weapon is able to halve their melee damage (rounded down) in order to add the slay call to an attack. If the wielder is capable of overcoming the natural limit on melee weapon damage this ability continues to scale always dealing half rounded down "slay" damage.
A great weapon requires the great weapon training skill to wield. Normally great weapons may not be wielded with a second weapon or a shield, weapon's masters with great javelins are an exception this. With the correct skill a great weapon can be wielded with a passive buckler.
A weapon master may wield great javelins or great spears with a second weapon or a shield. When they do this normal caps apply. While this is taking place you are only allowed to make stabbing attacks with the great javelin, never swinging attacks. A weapon held in the off hand can be swung as normal.
Grounding Calls
A target struck by a grounding call is unable to utilize extra-planar movement effects or magical disguises.
Grounding prevents the following spells and effects from happening:
Grounding dispels the following effects:
- Ghastly Visage
- Dissipate if the caster has a method to see the target only.
- Banish if the caster has a method to see the target only.
The grounding call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) grounding is a nature spell effect.
Healing Damage
When your character takes damage from an attack you will eventually want to know how that damage gets repaired. Body points, leg, and arm wounds will heal automatically at the start of the next event you attend. Torso wounds lead to "bleeding out", so they do not typically heal between events, in fact if they are not treated soon enough you will be dead which could lead to permanent death if you are not revived. A character who has taken a torso wound but has been stabilized from an effect such as stabilizing concoction will heal that wound between events.
Naturally no one wants to wait a full month for damage to heal. To heal faster requires restoration magic or healing items such as a catholicon or rejuvenation elixir.
Characters can also acquire conditions that require healing.
A character who has the poisoned condition cannot have wounds or their body points healed until the poisoned condition is removed. Typically the poisoned condition is removed by the spell Purify Spirit or an item such as a Theriac or a Catholicon.
Another condition that must be cured is the diseased condition, it will not wear off naturally. The diseased condition is challenging to remove, there are no spells that accomplish this goal. Instead alchemical items must be used such as a Theriac, a Catholicon or a Rejuvination Elixir.
Helpless Condition
A character is considered to be helpless whenever they are affected by terror, unconscious, suffering from a torso wound, or dead. Whenever a character is helpless they can't execute any actions, even if they are conscious. Not even at will spells can be used because in order to cast an at will spell you still need to have a free hand.
Monstrous creatures who are helpless cannot remove mundane physical bonds for as long as they are helpless.
Immersion
Immersion or as it is also called "atmosphere" is the idea of making the game as realistic as possible. Good immersion makes it easy to forget that you are playing a game and makes it easy to remain as the character you are playing. Because you can't just feel the atmosphere simply because you want to, rules can't be designed to make you be more immersed, instead they focus on preventing you from breaking the immersion of others.
To help improve the immersion of the game:
- Make sure you are always wearing appropriate garb
- Break character as rarely as possible.
- If you do need to break character try to do so in a location that is also out-of-game such as logistics.
- Call game holds and time stops only when absolutely necessary.
- Keep conversations in-character while you are in-character. Assume others are listening to you at all times.
- Try to re-frame real world conveniences as in-game fantasy like this?.
Immunity
Characters can become immune to some combat calls by a variety of effects. When a character is hit by an attack that makes a call the character is immune to, that attack has no effect on the character. A "No Effect" call must be made whenever an attack successfully hits you but does not inflict damage (or does not take effect in the case of spells) so that the attacker knows-that-you-know the attack successfully hit and so that they know they may need to attack with something different.
If a character becomes immune to a school of magic, then any buffs from that school already on them remain for their normal durations, but no further effects can be applied to them for as long as the immunity remains. This includes spells cast, consumables (such as scrolls and potions) and rituals as well.
No combination of effects can make you invulnerable to all damage. The last effect received that would create an invulnerable situation is automatically prevented.
The following spells and effects may not stack with each other unless an ability explicitly allows them to:
- Poison Immunity Spell
- Battle Mastery Spell
- Nature Immunity Magic Items
- Mind Blank Spell
- The Rare Arcane Antiviral Ritual
- The Rare Elemental Shelter Ritual
- The Rare Vulnerability Trap
Inflicting Damage
Damage is dealt in combat through a wide variety of means such as: melee weapons, thrown weapons, missile weapons, spells, and items. If an attack connects to a legal hit location you have successfully caused your opponent to take damage.
When you make an attack you announce the damage you will deal to another character by making a combat call, such as "3" or "3 normal" both of which indicate that you are dealing 3 points of normal damage. If no number is announced when you attack with a weapon it is assumed that you are dealing 1 point damage with your attack. Some attacks have no calls at all in which case they inflict 1 normal damage. Other types of damage can be dealt by stating the type after the number, so "2 magic" means 2 points of magic damage.
Spells and items always deal a specific amount of damage based on the spell or item being used. Weapons deal damage based on the wielders combat skills. Some items will replace a weapons normal damage with a specific number.
Ingested Poisons
An ingested poison is a type of poison. Ingested poisons are consumables generally given to other characters through subterfuge and trickery (or just when they are helpless). It should be noted that ingested poisons only give the poisoned condition if they cause a poison call or otherwise specifically say they do. Even if they do not give the poisoned condition a character with an immunity to poison is still immune to ingested poisons.
To use an ingested poison it must be role-played being poured into a drink or onto food (assuming you can't somehow trick someone into drinking the poison straight out of the vial), then a green dot is applied to the container, typically on the bottom. This green dot gives characters with the herbalist skill a chance to identify that the food or drink is not safe before anyone ingests it. In the event that someone ingests the poison they should then be notified of exactly which poison they consumed.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
The Inn
In-game there is an inn where players can go in character to acquire real food and drink. Player characters must pay for any food they purchase themselves using in-game coin. The game by design is set up so that you should have no problem earning enough coin for food during play. Players are expected to bring their own setting appropriate bowl and mug, but sometimes bowls and mugs are available for rental for an additional in-game fee.
When a player is npcing they are able to get fed without need for any coin. This isn't a license to eat everything in sight, but rather to simplify things so that npcs don't have to get money from out-of-game and then spend it at the inn where it will return to the exact same pool it started from. Simply notify the innkeepers that you are npc by quietly mentioning it if they don't already know.
The food served by the inn is meant to allow players to eat while staying in-character and to keep the game rolling. While every effort is made to make sure everyone gets fed there is never a guarantee that anyone will get any food. Ultimately you are responsible for making sure you get sufficient food for the weekend and should plan accordingly.
Be sure to keep in mind that the inn is run by volunteers who often get there right at the start of a shift. Sometimes the food takes time to prepare, your patience is greatly appreciated.
Ingested Poisons
An ingested poison is a type of poison. Ingested poisons are consumables generally given to other characters through subterfuge and trickery (or just when they are helpless). It should be noted that ingested poisons only give the poisoned condition if they cause a poison call or otherwise specifically say they do. Even if they do not give the poisoned condition a character with an immunity to poison is still immune to ingested poisons.
To use an ingested poison it must be role-played being poured into a drink or onto food (assuming you can't somehow trick someone into drinking the poison straight out of the vial), then a green dot is applied to the container, typically on the bottom. This green dot gives characters with the herbalist skill a chance to identify that the food or drink is not safe before anyone ingests it. In the event that someone ingests the poison they should then be notified of exactly which poison they consumed.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
Item Slots For Magic Objects
With the use of the ornamenter skill and crafting points a character can craft magic items. Magic items may also be found in game. Characters are limited in how many magic items they are able to use. There are 20 potential slots available for PCs to wear magic items. When a character uses a magic item in an item slot, that slot is filled and that character may not use a different magic item in that slot during the same event. The exception to this are weapons, bucklers, and shields; the only limit to how many different weapons and shields you can use is how many you are willing to carry. Skills restrict what combination of weapons and shields you can use at one time however.
Those slots are weapon, shield/ buckler, torso, feet, head, legs, arms, waist, shoulder, back, hand, neck, wrist, ankle, an accessory and two rings slots. Characters are limited to either one rod or one tome. A character can use at most two wands per event.
Some rare loot items are considered "slotless". These items do not take up an item slot.
Magic items that get used by characters become "attuned". Attuning lasts for the event. When an item is attuned it cannot be used by other characters. During game when you use the magical properties of any item, that item becomes attuned. All epic items, master crafted items, and rods in a players possession must be attuned when a player checks in. Other items do not need to be attuned right away. Players do not need to attune all items they own if they do not wish to, but they need to decide at that time which items that they own that they will attune to. Any items not attuned may be loaned/ given to other players to attune to at check in but this cannot be done once the game has begun.
Player owned epic items, master crafted items, and rods which are not attuned at check-in may not be used by anyone that event. New items looted during encounters (recovering an epic item stolen from a PC doesn't count) can be attuned during an event even if they are an epic item, master crafted item, or rod .
Weapons can be used for combat by other players without needing to be attuned, even if the item is attuned to someone else. When this happens the user doesn't benefit from special abilities of the weapon except for properties that can be used unidentified (elven steel, silver, goblin Iron, nature, primal, or a magic weapon).
Kill Condition
After a creature (generally an npc) with a kill condition receives a torso wound, that creature will not die unless a killing blow is delivered that uses the specific type of combat call required by the kill condition. If an appropriate killing blow is not delivered the creature will arise again fully healed after a minute.
When a creature with a kill condition is injured but not killed (lost body or wounded) they heal fully if completely out of combat for one minute. Out of combat is defined as being both free from being threatened and not threatening anything else.
In the event that a creature is immune to killing blows, such as from the resilience spell an attack that would have met their kill condition will prevent the creature from healing.
A kill condition that requires a type of damage is a "kill condition (damage type)". When a kill condition require some other effect it is a "kill condition (special)".
Lead Non-Player Characters
Lead non-player characters (NPCs) are responsible for leading groups of NPCs in the field during the game. Their job is to make sure that plots? created by gamemasters (GMs) go according to plan, to answer any questions new NPCs might have, to report what happened back to the GM and if necessary to make minor adjustments to plans? if they go astray when a plot? makes contact with players.
Limits (Caps) to Character Stats
Each character has a natural maximum limit on certain stats generally referred to as a "cap" that can only ever be exceeded by rare effects which explicitly allow a character to break that cap. Rules and abilities that exceed a cap are said to "break cap" or say a character can go past a certain limit. Non-player characters follow these same rules when they are from the playable PC races but may be exempt from these limits if they are other races or creature types.
Weapon damage, body, magic power points, production points, crafting points, physical armor, and magical armor are all affected by these caps. There is also a limit on using spells imbued in magic objects.
- When wielded by themselves melee weapons have a cap of 4 damage
- While dual wielding your melee damage is capped at 2.
- Wielding a shield in combat limits your melee damage to a cap of 2. Note that passive bucklers do not have this cap.
- Thrown weapon damage has a cap of 2.
- Missile weapons have a cap of 4 damage.
- Body has a cap of 4 points.
- Physical armor has a cap of 4 points.
- Magic armor has a cap of 4 points.
- A character can only spend a total of 20 magic power points between any two convergences unless an ability or effect explicitly allows them to break that limit.
- Characters are capped at a total of 20 crafting points from all sources.
- Characters are restricted to a cap of 20 production points from all sources.
The Logistics Building
The logistics building is where most out-of-game organization takes place. It is where players check-in before an event, where players go to pick up their pre-production requests, where players go to be NPCs and where a game master runs each shift from.
If you have an emergency of any kind logistics is always the best place to go.
The term "logistics" is also sometimes used to refer to the volunteers who work with the logistics marshal.
Logistics Work Group
The logistics work group is responsible for checking players into the event, overseeing experience points and character advancement, processing production or crafting by characters, and creating loot that is used by the gamemasters during shifts.
The current logistics marshal is Frank Tamburrino. There is one logistics second, Taylor Dean who assists and works as backup when the marshal isn't available.
The members of the logistics team are responsible for the organizational activities that make the game function. They handle checking-in players, producing paperwork for in-game goods, and assist game masters in passing out NPC loot.
Looting Items
In-game theft is allowed but there are some rules to it. There are no skills that allow characters to steal, you must physically do it yourself if you wish to do it.
Only Coin, consumable items, and numbered items may be stolen. Non-lootable items (things that may not be stolen) can be moved away from a person, such as when you want to disarm a person as long as you don't take the item away with you.
Some very specific and special numbered items have special rules (Feb Feast Items) that prohibit them from staying stolen for more than a short period.
Each magic item or valuable object in the Kingdoms of Novitas is indelibly marked with one of these letters (followed by a number):
- "E": A Former Feb Feast Item - This item has lost its Feb Feast properties and is now keepable/ lootable (its easiest to turn an F into an E)
- "F": A Feb Feast item - Return it to its owner by the end of the event.
- "H": A hybrid item - a magic item that is also valuable
- "K": A keepable/ lootable item - This item can be looted. (The letter L is not used so it isn't mistaken for a 1)
- "N": A non-keepable/ lootable item - This item cannot be looted. Plagues are also listed with this letter.
- "Q": A quest item - Something that needs to be returned to logistics by the end of the event. It cannot be kept long term.
- "V": A Valuable item - This item needs estimate value to identify.
- None: Older items have no letter, some of these items are not on the magic item list, and are listed on the estimate value list.
When you search a NPC, if a magical lootable item has a value greater than 100 coin a visible blue glow will be created by the npc to represent the in-game glow that magic objects are meant to give off.
Items marked with orange ribbon/ tape or in designated out-of-game areas are off limits. Under bunks is always considered out of game for the storage of personal gear. It is cheating to intentionally keep in-game items that are out-of-game this way if you are currently in-game.
Props for stolen items that belong to another player must be negotiated for out-of-game after the event during which they were stolen. After-all they are often a player's real world personal property.
Props for stolen items that belong to the game must be returned to the game, at logistics, should you leave the game or should your character retire.
Magic Armor Points
A character can gain magic armor from spells like Magic Armor, magic items, and or other unusual abilities. Unlike physical armor, magic armor covers the entire body and applies no matter where a hit lands. Characters benefiting from magic armor must wear a visible blue flag on their person.
Magic armor does not stack with other sources of magic armor, if you are affected by multiple instances of magic armor only the greatest number applies.
Magic armor has a cap of 4 points.
Magical School Master Title
A character that has taken the magic power point skill 20 times, knows all 10 spells from a specific school, and knows the corresponding ritual skill for that school, earns the title "magical school master" or "master mage" for short.
A master mage can choose one spell from that school (on the character sheet circle the spell you select). When casting the chosen spell they pay one less magic power points to a minimum of 1. This does not stack with other reductions to cost unless the other source says it stacks.
Magic Calls
Magic is a combat call that will affect creatures with damage requirement: magic or kill condition: magic, inflicting damage or killing the target respectively.
The magic call always comes from spells.
Magic Item Crafting
Characters with the ornamenter skill can craft non-weapon magic items using crafting points. A character only spends crafting points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the pre-production system.
Magic objects created with the ornamenter skill can have multiple enhancements purchased for them. The crafting point cost to make a magic object is based on this table. For each craft point spent an additional 5 coins must be spent to create a magic object.
Objects have a maximum crafting point value based on the location on the body they are worn.
Magic Objects
All magic objects must have a treasure ID number. Items without this number should be assumed to be counterfeit. The ID number will inform you what abilities the object has. You must be able to identify magic to use the special abilities of an object. There is one exception to this rule. If a weapon is made with a special material (elven steel, silver, goblin iron, razorleaf, or primal) that requires a custom paint job to indicate it, you should still use that material call when attacking with that weapon.
There are four types of magic objects: temporary, per event, permanent, and enchantments. All types of magic objects that duplicate spells require an incant to activate the spell unless the object specifies something different in its description.
A temporary magic object has a finite number of charges which once used leave the object worthless. Temporary objects can typically not be recharged. Players are required to keep track of how many uses an object has remaining (and should the item change hands for any reason you should let the new possessor know how many charges remain).
Objects that are per event never wear out from use, but can only be used a limited number of times per event. These items cast spells but don't require any magic power points from the user to activate. Once the charges of one of these objects is expended it is useless for the remainder of the event.
Permanent objects are always active and are never expended. Because they are always active they should only require an incant to use if they explicitly say they do.
Enchantments are a special type of magic object that is not represented by a prop and thus cannot be stolen or traded. Instead an enchantment is recorded directly on a player's character sheet. In all other ways an enchantment is like other magic objects, including having a second magic object type of temporary, per event, or permanent.
Characters can always identify the presence of a magic object by the light blue glow the item emits in-game. As making every magic object actually glow would be grossly impractical this is represented by players being able to ask each other if an object is glowing.
The Magic Power Point Stat
Magic power points also called "power points" are a resource used to cast magic. A character gains a number of magic power points based on how many times they have taken the magic power point skill. These points automatically refresh to full each shift when convergence happens. If a player cannot remember how many magic power points they have spent they are honor bound to assume they have spent the highest number they believe they have spent, even if this brings them to 0 points remaining.
It is possible to refresh magic power points before convergence occurs, generally through alchemy items, but sometimes through other means. Even with the benefit of such items, a character can only use so many magic power points between convergences. A character can only spend a total of 20 magic power points between any two convergences unless an ability or effect explicitly allows them to break that limit.
At will spells and abilities have no magic power point cost.
Magic Weapons
This rule is obsolete and has been removed from the system
Marshals
The game runs because we all make it run for each other. To make that happen everyone who's been at game more than a year should join a working group (many of the groups are happy to take volunteers sooner). We're all in this game together, they all need help, they all need new blood, and you should have a good enough idea of how the game works after a year to make a good contribution!
Come get a look behind the curtain, because the curtain only needs to be there during your PC shift.
Working groups have someone leading them, called a Marshal. They're the final say in their little domain. Under them are people who are learning to be a marshal one day, we call them Seconds. Anybody can be in those positions, you've just gotta be competent, trustworthy, and around long enough to get the ambition (and pain) of wanting to manage your friends.
Once or twice a year the Marshals, Seconds, and one or two wildcards get together for something called a "Staff Retreat" where they talk about what worked, what didn't work, and where they're going to steer their working group in the year ahead.
Each marshal heads a different aspect of the Kingdoms of Novitas game. The marshals each oversee a variety of staff that work with them to help them make the game happen.
Marshal List
Links on players names will take you to their forum profiles on the Kingdoms of Novitas forums so you can contact them.
- The First Marshal: Oversees the operation of all of Novitas, has the final say in all matters. Is supported by the Ombudsman who can make high level decisions when he is not available. These are the people you should talk to about matters of extreme importance.
- First Marshal: Christina Mevec, James Vertucci, and Ryan Green
- Ombudsman:
- Logistics: Handles character sheets, running sign-in, managing magical loot, paperwork, assigning item numbers, assisting the GMs during shifts with loot, and more. Also handles all internal paperwork, manages waivers & releases.
- Marshal: Frank Tamburrino
- Second: Taylor Dean
- Marketing and Player Outreach: Covers recruiting new players, discreetly handling OOG conflict between players, managing player retention, and more. Manages advertising, KoN evangelism & recuriting on other forums & sites, sometimes t-shirts, conventions.
- Marshal: Brandon Febles
- Second: Michael Maneri
- Operations: Care and feeding of the ranger, care and upkeep of the site, taxes, corporate business, finances, and more. Handles all external paperwork, manages website back end stuff and forum administration. Oversees bookkeeping, maintains physical site repairs and improvements. Manages any corporate reporting.
- Marshal: Chris Soukup
- Second: John Spencer
- Plot and Continuity: Writing plots, approves backstories, runs the NPCs of each shift, responds to lore requests, manages PELs, and more. Handles metaplot, shift plots, continuity, post event letters, character backgrounds, world background, lore requests, and roleplaying skill adjucation. Selects and oversees the game masters who run stories during shifts.
- Marshal: Ryan Green
- Second: Gabby Bonilla
- Props and Atmosphere: Caring for our existing props, ensuring that every player/monster/prop fits with the aesthetic we want at KoN, acquiring new props, painting all you nerds, and more. Checks garb & encampments, handles prop maintenance, organized the prop shed, creates monster & npc costuming, builds npc weapons, and manages racial makeup
- Marshal: Christina Mevec
- Second: Liska Gutierrez
- Rules and Balancing: Making sure the rules are as simple as possible, making rules available to players & GMs who need them, carefully balancing rules while making changes as seldom as possible, and more.
Identifies rules & mechanics in need of fixing, handles playtesting, approves new creatures & epic items, manages the games economy, and issues errata or clarifications as necessary.
- Marshal: Pat Lane
- Second: James Vertucci
Other Staff
These individuals are NOT marshals or seconds, but still handle some of the labor that keeps the game functioning.
- Medical:Keeps the first aid kit stocked.
- Currently Vacant
- IT Services: Handles back end technical details for the Novitas Forums and this wiki.
- Frank Tamburrino
- Inn Director: Oversees the volunteers who run the inn during games. Manages the food: getting it to site, cooking it, and serving it. Takes care of the props and tools needed in the inn.
- Hannah Vary
- Set-Up/ Break Down Coordinator: Organizes volunteers to set up and break down the Logistics building before and after each event. Manages the storage shed.
- Make-Up Coordinator: Run's the make up table during shifts. In charge of keeping the table stocked between games. During games oversees scheduling of the table, training of people running the table, and consistency with creature make-up.
- Enya Patterson
- Wiki Administrator: Oversees the information in this wiki. Updates information as needed based on what other Marshals (particularly Rules) tell them.
- Ryan Green
Martial Weapon Rules
A martial weapon is any melee weapon at least 35 inches (88.9cm) in length but no longer than 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
Martial weapons can be wielded one handed or two handed depending on personal preference.
Damage for martial weapons starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, consumables, spells and other effects that increase melee weapon damage. Martial weapons have a natural limit on how much damage they can deal.
To wield a martial weapon a character must have melee training skill, they also require specific skills to dual-wield one with a non-martial weapon in their other hand, to dual-wield one martial weapon in each hand, or to wield one with a buckler or a shield.
Master Craftsman Title
Any character with 20 craft points and rank five in at least two of weaponsmithing, ornamenting, or tinkering gains the title of master craftsman.
A master craftsman gains 4 additional craft points that can break the cap on crafting points. Coin does not need to be spent when using these four crafting points. These crafting points don't count against point total restrictions.
For example a character with weaponsmithing five is normally restricted to crafting at most 20 point items, but a master craftsman can use these four points with their regular 20 to create a 24 point item.
Masterwork Weapons
A masterwork weapon (sometimes referred to as masterwork terran weapons in older days) once correctly identified using the estimate value skill strikes for +1 weapon damage of the appropriate type. A masterwork weapon also has additional monetary value beyond what an equivalent weapon would be worth.
Master's Blade Rules
A master's blade is an exceptional weapon that may only be used by a weapon master. In the hands of a weapon master a master's blade allows that weapon master to execute a third "master's strike" per game day. Weapon masters may not gain further "master's strikes" with additional master's blades.
All master's blades count as masterwork weapons.
A master's blade can only be crafted by a master craftsman with the tinker five and weaponsmith five skills. It costs 24 craft points and 200 coin total to craft a master's blade. When a master's blade is crafted 16 of the crafting points spent to create the weapon can be reallocated to pay for the type of weapon, or to purchase additional enhancements or abilities for the weapon. Thrown weapons and ammunition may never be made into a master's blade, but other non-bladed weapons are fine.
A master's blade must have an above average looking prop to represent it.
Melee Weapons
Melee weapons are hand-held weapons used for close-range, personal combat.
Melee weapons are further divided into three sub-categories based on length:
- A non-martial weapon is any melee weapon under 35 inches (88.9cm) in length.
- A martial weapon is any melee weapon at least 35 inches (88.9cm) in length but no longer than 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
- A great weapon is any melee weapon over 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
Carrying a melee weapon in each hand is referred to as "dual wielding" or "two weapon fighting". Players may not carry a melee weapon in each hand at any time unless they have the appropriate skills needed to dual wield.
The damage a character deals with any melee weapon starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, consumables, spells and other similar effects that increase melee weapon damage. Melee weapons have a natural limit on how much damage they can deal.
When wielded by themselves melee weapons have a cap of 4 damage
While dual wielding your melee damage is capped at 2.
Wielding a shield in combat limits your melee damage to a cap of 2. Note that passive bucklers do not have this cap.
Memory Loss Calls
A character struck by a memory loss call instantly loses all recollection of the previous ten minutes. This effect lasts indefinitely and will become permanent (uncurable and undiagnosable) if not cured by the end of the next event after the effect takes place.
Nothing physically happens to a character when they are inflicted with memory loss, wounds remain the same, gear remains the same. The target will simply concoct some reason why things are the way they are. No amount of logic or reasoning will ever make the subject remember the lost ten minutes. Players who are failing to play in the spirit of this spell may be directed by a game master or member of the rules staff on how to better role-play their loss of memory.
In order to cure memory loss the effect must first be diagnosed with the spell diagnosis. Once it has been diagnosed the effect can be removed by either the dispel magic or memory loss spells. If one subject has been affected by several memory loss effects, they can all be diagnosed with a single casting of the diagnose spell but each memory loss effect must be cured individually.
The memory loss call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) memory loss is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Missile Weapon Rules
Missile weapons include both bows and crossbows. Modern archery equipment is not allowed though there are some exceptions for fletching and nocks. Arrows and bolts must always be fired, they can never be thrown. Bows can never be used to parry or block. If a bow is struck in melee combat it is considered destroyed until it is repaired with an effect like the mend armor spell. If attacking at a range of less than 10 feet archers are required to only half-draw their bows. Crossbows may only fire at targets under 10 feet away if their bow has been tested to have a draw of 15 pounds or less.
Missile weapon hits to a wounded limb affect the torso. If a missile weapon strikes a weapon it deals damage as if it had proceeded unimpeded. Players may never use a weapon to intentionally deflect a missile, the penalty for doing so is taking the attack to the torso ignoring any armor the player might have but not body. Shields may be used to block missiles.
Archers within reason can call hits on their targets. Abusing this can result in being barred from using archery.
The damage a character deals with missile weapons begins at one. This can be improved by skills and sometimes magic items or other effects. A character using a bow may voluntarily inflict half the damage they are capable of (rounded down) to add the "pierce" call to an attack.
If a crossbow has a stirrup, goatsfoot lever, or other comparable device it calls for "pierce" damage.
In order to use a missile weapon a character must have the missile training skill.
Missile weapons have a cap of 4 damage.
Spells which enhance a weapon such as enchant weapon or silvershine are cast on the missile weapon itself not on the ammunition. Each attack made from such an improved missile weapon gains the effect of the respective spell.
Spells with a range of tag bag can be delivered by missile weapons. Bows and crossbows may be fired instead of throwing a tag bag, replacing the normal weapon call with the call for the spell. When this happens the projectile fired follows all the rules for a tag bag making the same call.
Monstrous Armor
Monstrous armor points are gained from specific types of worn armor. These points takes damage just like ordinary armor points do but reduce any damage dealt to them without the "Slay" call to one. With monstrous physical armor only the physical armor points benefit from this damage reduction, damage dealt to magic armor and body are not reduced.
Monstrous armor does not give any of the other benefits granted to a monstrous creature.
Monstrous Creatures
A monstrous creature is one that is so large and hulking that it gains several special rules that apply to it.
- Monstrous creatures only take, at most, one point of damage from any attack without the "slay" call.
- Monstrous creatures are immune to "Pin" attacks and Pit Traps.
- Monstrous creatures are immune to mundane (non-magical) restraints.
- Monstrous creatures can bypass the caps for dual wielding and for wielding a weapon and shield, allowing them to hit for up to 4 damage with any melee weapon if they have the correct skills to do so.
Natural Armor Points
Natural armor is a trait that some creatures have and is granted by some very rare magic items. By default natural armor behaves like magic armor: namely absorbing damage anywhere, not just locations covered by physical armor. Some specific creatures have their own rules for where their natural armor applies much like physical armor.
By default natural armor does not stack with other sources of natural armor, if you are affected by multiple instances of natural armor only the greatest number applies.
Nature Calls
Nature is a combat call that only has special meaning if the target has damage requirement: nature or kill condition:nature which allows the wielder to inflict damage or kill the target respectively.
Razorleaf Weapons
Razorleaf weapons represent enchanted gear that strike with the forces of the elements. They are made from the valuable razorleaf plant which requires a great deal of heat to grow. Razorleaf when properly prepared can be alloyed with metals that channel the natural elemental properties of the plant, allowing the blade to become super heated when striking.
Attacks with razorleaf weapons make the "Nature" call. A razorleaf melee weapon may also make "blunt nature" attacks. You must always use the "nature" call with your attacks unless an attack replaces the entire call such as when you cast the spell silvershine. Specifically this means you can't choose to make a normal attack with a nature weapon.
New Character Amnesty
Sometimes players make new characters and they just don't work out the way you want them to. Skills don't feel right for the character, or sometimes the whole concept just doesn't work. When this happens Kingdoms of Novitas allows an amnesty to change things about a character once per character before the start of the second event a player plays that character.
If you take advantage of the amnesty, you get to keep anything you acquired during play, as well as experience earned. To use the amnesty talk to a logistics official at logistics.
No Effect Calls
This is one of the few defensive calls in the system. It is used to indicate when an opponents offensive combat call doesn't have any impact on another character. This could be because of an immunity or because of a one use spell or effect such as from Spirit Shield.
A "No Effect" call must be made whenever an attack successfully hits you but does not inflict damage (or does not take effect in the case of spells) so that the attacker knows-that-you-know the attack successfully hit and so that they know they may need to attack with something different.
Non-Martial Weapon Rules
A non-martial weapon is any melee weapon under 35 inches (88.9cm) in length.
Non-martial weapons can be wielded one handed or two handed depending on personal preference.
The damage a character deals with any melee weapon starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, consumables, spells and other similar effects that increase melee weapon damage. Melee weapons have a natural limit on how much damage they can deal.
All characters get the skill to wield a non-martial weapon for free, but require specific skills to wield more than one, or to wield one with a buckler or a shield.
Non-Player Characters
A non-player character or npc is any character that is not a player character. These characters are sent out from logistics by game masters, such as townsfolk, bandits, and monsters.
During a shift various marshals will organize all players who are NPCing from logistics. NPCs will be given roles to play from the game master (GM) working that shift. A NPC will put on costuming based on that role, they will get make-up as needed, and be given loot that PCs might take or earn from them if appropriate. Generally each plot? will have a Lead NPC to organize it and answer any questions a NPC might have when out in play.
You may not use any of your player character's garb or other possessions while working as a npc. This could create a situation where you have lootable items that shouldn't be looted, and this should never happen. You also want your player character's garb to be easily recognizable as that belonging to that character.
When you are working as a non-player character you are allowed (and encouraged) to have a tote of your own NPC garb stashed in logistics. When you are done you should be sure to remove your stash immediately. After a player has been part of the game long enough (around a year) it is expected that they start bringing some amount of npc garb with them to improve their costuming options. Weapon props are especially important for the well prepared non-player character to bring.
While you are working as a npc you are expected to do any reasonable task asked of you by the game master, failure to do so could result in you not earning experience for the shift. Always make sure before you leave logistics that you have any required costuming or make up for the character you are playing.
Normal Calls
If a player calls "normal" during combat it means that their weapon has no special damage types. Players are not required to call "normal", thus calling "2 normal" has the same effect as calling for "2". If a player has a special weapon that makes calls other than normal, then they may not choose to call normal, they must call that special call.
When a tag bag deals normal damage with no additional calls it may be fully blocked by a shield preventing that damage with no further effect.
Novitas Holiday Events
Each year Novitas has a special out-of-character event as a party/ fund-raising event for Novitas. Currently there are two such events, a feast in February and the Junebilee (in June or July). The February Feast or Feb Feast ran for so long that it is still the term used to describe the items that come from these events even when they are not from the event of the same name.
Any rule or item that has an effect that is once per year, or refers to doing something yearly, marks the start and end of that year as the Junebilee event.
During these event there will be an auction, done as a form of fundraiser for the game. Magic items obtained from an auction during one of these special events have special traits unique to these items.
Feb Feast Items:
- Last forever: if the prop breaks you can replace it, unlike other props.
- The prop can be changed for others at any time as long as the new prop has any drawbacks the original prop had (some feb feast items are designed around the prop being used, and new props need to consider this fact).
- Can be transferred among all of your characters, which cannot normally be done.
- Can be looted, but with special conditions
- If the item is permanently transferred for any reason to a different player it loses all of these special traits.
Ornamenting Craft Point Costs
These are enhancements that can be added to magic objects, subject to normal stacking rules.
A +1 armor point bonus must be crafted onto a piece of worn armor. The bonus affects all worn armor not just the piece that has this ability. This bonus cannot be dispelled, it is treated as a permanent improvement to your armor's physical armor points that is always active. This bonus does not stack with the enhance armor spell. Physical armor has a cap of 4 points.
Items which grant +1 or +2 bonus magic power points are treated like gaining additional ranks of the magic power point skill which refresh at convergence as normal. A character can only spend a total of 20 magic power points between any two convergences unless an ability or effect explicitly allows them to break that limit.
Ornamenting Enhancement Costs
| Stats Bonuses With Normal Caps | Craft Points |
|---|---|
| +2 Production Points | 4 |
| +4 Production Points | 8 |
| +4 Craft Points | 8 |
| +1 Magic Power | 8 |
| +2 Magic Power | 12 |
| Enhancements | Description | Craft Points |
|---|---|---|
| +1 Armor Point to Armor | Increase the armor points of armor by 1, (see here for details). | 8 |
| Nature Immunity | Grants immunity to nature damage until removed. | 12 |
| Imbued Spells | Description | Craft Points
|
|---|---|---|
| Imbue with a 1st Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level one spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 4 |
| Imbue with a 2nd Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level two spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 8 |
| Imbue with a 3rd Level Spell | The item can cast the chosen level three spell once per event. Can take multiple times to stack more uses per event. | 12 |
| Wands | Craft Points |
|---|---|
| Lesser Wand | 4 |
| Normal Wand | 8 |
| Major Wand | 12 |
| Rods | Craft Point Costs |
|---|---|
| Rod of 1st Level Spell | 8 |
| Rod of 2nd Level Spell | 12 |
| Rod of 3rd Level Spell | 16 |
Pierce Calls
Damage with the "Pierce" call ignores any physical armor, magical armor, or natural armor the target might have. This means that damage not prevented by an immunity or a prevention effect is applied to the targets body first and as a limb or torso wound if they run out of body.
Pin Calls
A character affected by pin must keep their feet both firmly adhered to the ground for the next 10 minutes. The victim is otherwise unhindered and may turn and twist in any fashion they like so long as they do not move their feet. Nothing can prevent the character affected by pin from being attached to the ground by both feet. The only exception is that if the character is on their knees when the pin hits they will have their knees pinned instead of their feet.
If the pin was caused by a spell it represents the belief that you can't move your feet. When the pin come from a creature ability or an alchemy compound like a tanglefoot bag, it represents a substance keeping the character from moving their feet.
The pin call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) pin is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Pit Traps
A pit traps is a zero-level trap, represented in game by tarps on the ground. If a player touches the tarp in any way their character is considered to have "fallen" into the pit.
The default effect of falling into a pit is two automatic leg wounds. When an effect causes an "automatic wound", ignore any armor (of any kind) or body the character may have. An appropriate immunity effect can still prevent an automatic wound, however damage requirements will NOT prevent automatic wounds.
If a pit has other effects a NPC will be around to inform players of what those effects are. Once a character has fallen into a pit they are stuck in it until another character assists them in getting out through role-playing.
Player Characters
A player character (or PC for short) is any character created by and role-played by it's creator. Players are allowed to play a PC for up to 2 shifts per event as long as they NPC at least the same number of shifts that event.
Players are allowed to have more than one character. A player's primary character is referred to as a "main" while other characters are referred to as "alts". Alts follow normal character creation rules. Players with more than one character choose which character they assign any experience earned to. Gear (or any other resource) earned by one character may not be transferred to another. Each alternate character should have a different character background and should generally seek to interact with different player characters than other existing characters you have.
Players may have any number of characters at a time, but can only have two characters active in a one year time frame. If character death results in a situation where you can't play a PC due to this rule, be sure to talk to a marshal about the circumstances.
Player Initiated Plots (PIP)
One of the best parts of a roleplaying game is when you decide in character that you want to act out some self determined goal. Player initiated plots (PIPs for short) are there to help you accomplish these goals in Kingdoms of Novitas. With so many players and no direct interaction between game masters and players while an event is happening, there is no way for a game master to know what your characters want to do, unless you tell them.
This is where PIPs come in. This is your chance to initiate or advance a story for you/ your party and to request that the GM's take a look at the possibility of running that story.
To request a PIP fill out this form at least 2 weeks prior to an event. And remember that sometimes PIP's take more than one event to come about.
Here is some more information about the sections of the form:
- Who is planning on going.
- We are requesting that this be a party adventure, as going off and doing something solo will very likely eat up a bunch of NPCs, props, and time for only one person. Spread the love, invite some friends.
- What you're planning on doing, and what you hope to accomplish.
- Keep in mind that we need both parts. If you're going to Lootsville for trade, is one kind of adventure. If you're going to Lootsville to kill things and take their stuff, that's a very different kind of adventure. We need to know the full story.
- Any relevant history or NPCs that are important.
- If you're tracking down Farmer Joe, we need to be sure the Farmer Joe NPC is ready to go. If you heard about the place you want to go from some Adventuring Heroes, let us know that's where you heard about it so we can consult the GM who ran the plot you want to develop more and see if he had anything specifically in mind. Doing this homework makes sure that we can give you a better adventure.
- What shift are you planning to go do this.
- We'll need to handle logistics on our end, so knowing in advance what shift you're planing on doing this will make our lives easier. We'll send word into Maplewood to let you know when the scenario is ready to be run, and you and your assigned group can march out and take a whack at it.
We will not make any assurances or promises that the adventure you're going on is a good idea, won't kill your PCs, be easy, or won't change the world as a whole. It may not work out like you think it will, but we also won't immediately screw over anyone who submits these adventures. Anything can happen -- make your peace with it.
These requests must be in by the Friday before a game. Plot staff are going to need time to plan plots, prep props, debate amongst ourselves, and all that jazz. So we need time, and this due date gives you time to work out all the above and us time to prep the scenario. Fair, right?
Plot has the right to turn down your request and/or may not orchestrate it. There are a number of reasons for this. Please do not be offended.
Poisons Effects
Poison can refer to several things in the game each with slightly different rules for how they function. Collectively each of these things is a "poison effect".
- The poison call is made by some attacks.
- The blight call is made by some attacks and counts as a poison.
- Poisoned is a condition a character can get that prevents them from being healed. Not all poisons cause the poisoned condition.
- Goblin iron is a type of material items can be made out of that causes the poison call in combat.
- Blade poisons are poisons that are applied to weapons to improve their effectiveness in combat.
- Ingested poisons are poisons put in food or drink, they do not necessarily give the poison condition.
- Thrown poisons are consumable items that create tag bags to deliver special poison attacks. A throwing weapon made of goblin iron, or coated in blade poison is NOT a thrown poison.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
Poison Calls
When a player is successfully hit by an attack with the "poison" call they are now considered poisoned until the condition is cured.
When the poison call is added to any attack even a spell effect such as pin that attack no longer counts as a spell. This means that immunities to spell or compulsion effects no longer apply. The attack is now a poison effect.
A shield may fully block any attack that makes the poison call, preventing any effect to the bearer.
Poisoned Condition
A character who has the poisoned condition cannot have wounds or their body points healed until the poisoned condition is removed. There are a variety of different ways that a character might gain the poisoned condition but not all poison effects give the poisoned condition
Typically the poisoned condition is removed by the spell Purify Spirit or an item such as a Theriac or a Catholicon.
Post Event Letters (PEL)
A Post-Event Letter (PEL for short) is an optional recap of what you did during an event. Turning in a PEL will earn two experience points. The goal of a PEL is to give the game masters a good understanding of what happened during an event and why. Useful details to include in a PEL include major events your player character participated in, and any story impact that non-player characters you played might have had. It is also very useful to mention if an NPC you played might have value in appearing again at a future event.
A PEL must be submitted no later than 1 weeks after an event takes place by using this form. The information should be concise and proof-read, as there are often many of these for plot staff to read through. There is no specific format that what your writing needs to have.
Potion Production
Characters with the brew potion skill can produce potions using production points. A character only spends production points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the preproduction system.
To produce a potion you must know the spell you wish to make into a potion. It will cost 1 production point and 1 coin per level of the spell being made into a potion. The character producing the potion must also have enough magic power points to cast the spell being made into a potion. Not every spell can be made into a potion. You can find a list of spells that can be potions here.
A character with the brew potion skill can also produce potion water in either one point or two point versions.
Potion Rules
A potion is a one use consumable item. Potions that aren't for drinking are referred to as oils and follow all the same rules, except that they are applied to a subject instead of drank. To use a potion simply role-play drinking it, to use an oil role-play applying it to a subject. Using a potion never requires an incant and never costs magic power points.
No skill is needed to identify the contents of a potion. At any time a character can role-play looking in the vial, and may then look at the piece of paper inside the vial to learn what the potion's effect will be.
Items that duplicate spells, such as scrolls and potions make the user count as the person casting the spell for the purposes of voluntarily dispelling an effect.
To administer a potion to a helpless character you must have the first aid skill.
After using a potion you'll find both players and logistics staff alike will reward you for returning the now empty potion vial.
Preproduction of Goods
Before each event you should let the logistics staff know what items you will be crafting and producing by filling out the preproduction form.
This form lists the different ways your character might typically create new items and asks you to list what items you want to make. Filling the form out makes it much easier for logistics members to create the fairly sizable list of different things the player base create each event.
When you check-in to the event, logistics will confirm that you have the necessary crafting or production points, you will pay any associated costs (and turn in any consumables used to create the items) and then you can pick up the paperwork for your items. If a new item is a magic item, the logistics personnel will give you the number to mark it with an item code so that other players can use identify magic on it later.
It is the players responsibility to bring (and pay for) any necessary props such as potion vials (which are available at the desk for cost - 3 for $1), weapons, or clothing. These created items are almost always lootable.
The very first event that a character either crafts and/or produces goods there is no coin cost for those goods, even if this is not the characters first event. This only occurs once (i.e. if a player crafts for the first time one event, then produces for the first time at a later event, they will have already gotten their first time free when they crafted). A character can craft or produce during the same event they pick up the skills to do so with new skill points.
Primal Weapons
Attacks with primal weapons make the "primal" call. A primal melee weapon may also make "blunt primal" attacks. You must always use the "primal" call with your attacks unless an attack replaces the entire call such when you have cast silvershine on a weapon. Specifically this means you can't choose to make a "normal" or "nature" attack with a primal weapon.
Primal weapons may not contain any other special material in their construction.
If a player is using a weapon they have not yet identified but they recognize it as being made of a special material because of the weapon's color that player should make the corresponding call when attacking with that weapon.
Props - Creating and Using
Real world props are used to represent in game items. These can be made of many different materials, too much to give a definitive allowed and banned list here. Weapons in particular have very strict requirements for safety reasons. For props not related to combat a general guideline is that objects made out of historically appropriate materials are likely to be ok (though for safety reasons glass should generally only be used for encampment items - things that won't move around a lot or be near combat). For many props what materials are visible is more important than what the prop is made out of. It's worth noting specifically that duct tape which is a common feature of many other larps is not ever allowed to be visible at Kingdoms of Novitas.
A player's personal property such as the tunic you wear in game cannot be stolen in-game. However if you were to use that same tunic to represent a magic item with the ornamenting skill it would be given an identification number, so that players with identify magic can ID it. Props that have ID numbers, referred to as "numbered items" can be stolen during the game. Because you still own the tunic out-of-game the player who steals the tunic from you should contact you after the game is done to work out what will happen with the tunic. You can choose to sell them the tunic for in-game coin, real world money, or you can have them return the tunic to you, but you will not be allowed to use it any longer for your character - in-game it was stolen after all.
All non-personal treasure (the stuff that doesn't belong to a specific player) is the property of Kingdoms of Novitas. As such it can be stolen during the game.
At any time game masters can remove props from play (typically for story reasons), rules staff members can remove props from play (typically for safety reasons or to deal with rules issues), and props and atmosphere staff can remove props from play (typically for aesthetic reasons).
Players are responsible for keeping, between games, any props they acquire during the game. Should a prop become too damaged for play it should be removed from the game permanently. Retired props provided by the game should be returned to logistics so they can repair it to someday be introduced as a brand new different item.
A player can turn a prop into an item worth coin at any time by bring both the prop and the coin it will be worth to logistics. There a staff member will assign the prop an item number and from that point on, the prop will be an item that can be traded or looted, with an associated coin value. Some items are listed in the tinkering zero list that can't be given value.
Props and Atmosphere Work Group
The players who help out with props and atmosphere are responsible for making sure that items brought into the game look appropriate to maintain the proper atmosphere for the game. They also work on creating costumes for NPCs representing the creatures that players might encounter.
The Props and Atmosphere marshal is Christina Mevec and the second is Liska Gutierrez.
During a shift one or two members of the make-up team will be on hand in logistics to apply make up as needed to creatures before they head out the door. They are always in need of volunteers to work the table. If you are interested you should contact Enya Patterson.
Keep in mind they can be very busy depending on the needs of the game master, and it is not their responsibility to make sure you are properly garbed. If you have any questions about a plot's? costuming needs, the make up staff will try to help, but you may need to check with a lead npc, a member of the logistics staff or a game master to make sure you have your costuming right.
Between games Christina Mevec or Liska Gutierrez will periodically have special work days where everyone gets together and builds, repairs or otherwise works on some aspect of our props. One work day might be to build a new costume for a new monster that will be entering the game. Or to repair or upgrade the existing costumes for a creature. Watch for announcements about these events they are fun ways to help the game grow.
Remember at the beginning and end of every event needs your assistance in getting logistics set up and broken down.
Primal Calls
Primal is a special combat call that also counts as an advanced version of the "nature" call. Primal has a special meaning if the target has damage requirement or a kill condition requiring: nature or primal; allowing the attacker to inflict damage or kill the target respectively.
Primal damage is not prevented by effects which prevent or grant immunity to nature damage.
Production Points and Related Skills
Production points are used to create consumables such as potions, scrolls, and alchemical compounds. A character only spends production points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the preproduction system. Characters can purchase additional production points each event for 3 coin per point (this includes the cost to use these points to produce items). Some items may also be turned in at check-in for additional production points.
Tinkering is used with production points for the creation of trap tags which are consumed by traps when they go off.
Characters are restricted to a cap of 20 production points from all sources.
Ranges
Spells have ranges to determine what they can affect. You are not required to be able to see your target in order to cast a spell.
- Tag Bag: This is the longest range a spell can have. These spells are delivered by a tag bag which is thrown at the target.
- Touch: A touch effect is delivered to a willing or helpless target by "touch"
- Self: A spell with a range of self can only benefit the caster. When a consumable is made from a spell with a range of self, only someone who knows that spell can use that consumable.
.
Some items have ranges to determine what they can affect.
- Ingested: This item must be consumed either directly out of the vial it is in, or in the case of ingested poisons it can be concealed in a drink or food item.
- Thrown: This item in-game represents a delicate vial that will break when thrown at a target. This is represented with a tag bag that is thrown at the intended victim. The item must be close at hand before the tag bag can be thrown.
- Touch: This item must be applied like a balm or a cream to the intended willing or helpless recipient.
- n/a: This item is almost certainly a permanent item represented by a prop that is used by using that prop.
Ranged Weapons
A ranged weapon is any weapon intended for use outside of melee range.
This includes:
Rituals
Rituals are reusable items that allow a character to create effects similar to spells but more powerful. Some specific rituals are one use consumable items, the ritual will indicate if this is the case. In addition to the requirements listed here each ritual has its own additional conditions that must be met in order to cast it.
Most rituals will require specific components that are consumed or items that must be present to perform the ritual, these items must be on hand. Ritual components are always consumed unless the ritual says otherwise, other components the ritual will state if they are consumed or not. Some components list an item as a focus. A focus is an object that must be present for the ritual to work, but it is never consumed when the ritual is cast.
The caster of a ritual must have all appropriate ritual skills for each school in the ritual, a physical copy of the ritual that is being cast, and the correct ritual components to cast the ritual (which will be listed on the ritual you are casting). Some rituals require more than one eligible caster to perform.
Written items such as scrolls, rituals, and tomes have a fixed incant written down on them. When using one of these items you must read the incant exactly as it appears in writing. Even if you have these words memorized you are required to have enough light to read the text by and are expected to role-play reading the text from the paper.
If you meet all of these criteria all you must do to perform the ritual is follow the directions that are written on the ritual you are casting.
Some rare rituals can only be obtained by acquiring a variety of scarce components. At minimum these rituals require a ritual quill (which is consumed in the crafting of the ritual), 5 doses or ritual ink, ritual paper, ritual binding elixir, the essence of the ritual in question (which may list additional required components), and the intent for the ritual (which will determine the incantation the finished ritual will have). When these items are gathered and turned in via pre-production a permanent copy of a ritual is created. Some of these rituals can only be used by the person who created it and are labeled as "Creator Bound"
Rods
A rod is a handheld scepter that allows the wielder to cast a single spell that has been imbued into the rod using the magic power points of the caster. This removes the requirement for the caster to know the spell. In all other ways a rod follows the rules for casting a spell, including requiring a free hand other than the one the rod is held in. The prop for a rod must be between 18 and 36 inches in length. Characters are limited to either one rod or one tome.
Rods may not be used in combat as a weapon.
Role-playing
Role-playing is the term for anything your character does in the game. Talking to other characters is role-playing. Walking from the inn to a merchant's shop is role-playing. Anything done in character is role-playing.
When a game rule, make reference to a requirement to "role-play" out an action, it means that there is no single right way to do that action. Something in-character should be done to represent the task being performed. The goal of a rule requiring you to role-play a vaguely explained action is to give you the freedom to do that action however you see fit. What matters is that someone looking on who sees what you are doing clearly could reasonably guess what you are doing. And if you don't want people to guess what you are doing - then do it stealthily, but still do it.
For example if you want to put a poison in someones drink, there is no official way that you do this. However, you need to role-play the action of pouring the poison into the drink. You are not required to have witnesses, in fact you probably don't want any witnesses. So you could take the person's cup and put it below the table before pretending to pour your poison from it's container into the drink. Or you could create a distraction then turn your "poison" container upside down over the drink.
Runes
A rune is a partially completed magic item, preserved by arts currently lost to Novitas. Each rune will indicate the slot it is intended to occupy, and give rules for what the magic item it creates will do. Using pre-production any player can take a rune and assign it to a well made mundane prop of the appropriate slot. This costs no coin and no crafting points. Doing this will permanently transform the prop into the magic item described by the rune (giving it a brand new item number), and the magic in the rune will be drained (turn it back in to logistics so we can reuse the prop).
The magic stored in runes is unstable. Once removed from their resting places runes will not keep their magic for long. A rune that is not used within 1 year of entering play (the date will be listed in the item description) loses it's magic and must be turned back in to logistics. For this reason runes should get used before their expiration date; An unused rune will expire, but the item it creates is permanent.
Safety and Physical Contact
Safety is a paramount concern at Kingdoms of Novitas. Concerns about safety take priority over all other situations. Any player ignoring the safety rules will be dealt with more harshly than violation of other rules whether that violation is intentional or not.
All gear that will be used in combat must be inspected by an approved member of the rules workgroup before it can be brought into the game.
Real world weapons have no place at Kingdoms of Novitas. If you wish to carry a utility knife for camping purposes you MUST have it approved by Chris Soukup or John Spencer.
Physical contact is a very important subject that should be taken very seriously for the safety and comfort of all players. There is no physical contact allowed in combat ever. Contact with boffer weapons is different than physical contact for these purposes. Players are allowed to act as though they are physically fighting if all involved parties have given clear verbal consent in advance, these situations should be purely for theatrical purposes.
Other than weapon contact in combat situations, physical contact is permitted only when both players consent. Any rule that involves two players interacting where physical contact might get involved can be summarized by that last sentence.
Sanctuary Calls
A sanctuary is a twenty-foot diameter bubble of magical force, focused on a spot indicated by the source. Even though the bubble appears as a dome, it is assumed to form a complete bubble with the lower half manifesting below the ground. In order to use this effect, a blue flag or tag bag must be placed on the ground indicating the center of the sanctuary. The sanctuary does not move from that point and the source must stay within the effect's area or the sanctuary will end immediately. If the source of a sanctuary dies while within the sanctuary this does not end the spell, though the caster could be dragged out to force the effect to end.
Only magic spells and beings who have an effect on them making them immune to spells (such as from Anti-Magic Aura or Ethereal Sealant) can enter a sanctuary effect. This allows magic users to cast from inside the bubble but also makes them vulnerable to spell from the outside. Physical objects are prevented from entering the sanctuary, so those outside of the effect may not fire ranged weapons into the sanctuary.
Some effects that protect against magic can allow a character to enter a sanctuary. Gasses will not enter the sanctuary but it is assumed that the bubble contains enough air to support any number of people for the duration of the effect.
Physical objects, including characters may leave the sanctuary at any time. This means that ranged attacks may be fired out of the sanctuary bubble.
All beneficiaries may move around inside the sanctuary without ending the effect as long as they stay in its area of effect. If an occupant other than the effect's source decides to leave the sanctuary, the effect does not end and that character may not reenter the sanctuary. Any character, friend or foe, within ten feet of the sanctuary's center at the time of its creation are automatically enclosed in the bubble.
Because only magic may enter the sanctuary effect if a character partially exits the effect (including, but not limited to, swinging a weapon outside of the effect), the parts of the character (and any gear) that exited the sanctuary can't be brought back into the sanctuary effect.
If a sanctuary is raised in a place where a twenty-foot diameter bubble would not have room to form, such as a tunnel, it is assumed to manifest completely but will not effect adjoining areas that might contain other characters. This means that players with no reasonable way to know a sanctuary is in play are not affected by being within 20 feet of it until they move to a location where they can be made aware the effect exists.
Players in a sanctuary effect may call "sanctuary" at any time while the effect is up to make others aware of the effect.
Sanctify Calls
Sanctify seals a building with magical energy that prevents the undead from entering it. Sanctify will not protect temporary buildings. This effect also does not prevent undead from casting spells, tossing thrown weapons or firing missile weapons into the warded building.
When cast on a building, all of the building’s doors and windows glow with magical energy and no undead regardless of their strength may enter. When cast on a period tent, the doors are considered to be the only valid entry points; no other means of escape or access are permitted, such illegal actions include, but are not limited to: crawling under walls, disassembling tents, and so on.
Anti-magic shield will not allow any undead to pass through the barrier. An undead creature protected by anti-magic aura or an ethereal sealant may freely enter and move around in a sanctified structure as they desire.
The source of the sanctify effect must be inside the building when the effect is created but may enter or exit once the effect is in place. The effect will force out any undead that are in a building once cast. Undead being forced out of the building may cast spells as they are exiting, and any affected undead that become dissipated count as having exited the building. If the undead's only means of exit is blocked by enemies, the undead may fight their way out of the building. Should escape be impossible, affected creatures should cower in terror, taking no action.
Within one minute of creating this effect every ingress and egress point of the building must have a blue flag visibly attached to it. If the effect's creator fails to do this, the effect fails and undead may freely move in and out of the building. It is not legal to hang blue flags on portals in preparation to create this effect, however it is not required that the creator hang the flags personally and may employ as many free hands as needed to get the flags in place.
Savant Title
A character who has learned all of the following skills earns the title of "savant".
- estimate value
- first aid
- herbalist
- At least one extra language
- read magic
- scribe scroll
- alchemy rank 5
- brew potion
- 20 production points.
Savants may produce a copy of any alchemical item, potion, or scroll in their possession as if they knew/ possessed the requirements (such as the spell) to make it. All other normal production rules (such as costs) still apply.
Savants also gain an additional 5 points of production which break cap.
Scroll Production
Characters with the scribe scroll skill can produce scrolls using production points. A character only spends production points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the preproduction system.
To produce a scroll it costs 1 production point and 1 coin per level of the spell being stored in the finished scroll. In addition to the scribe scroll skill the producing character must know the spell being put onto the scroll and have enough magic power points to cast that spell at least once.
If the spell is a 5th level spell producing a scroll requires a ritual quill and one use of ritual ink.
Players may also choose to produce scroll paper in either one point or two point versions.
Scroll Rules
A scroll is a one use consumable item. Characters with the read magic skill can cast the spell listed on the scroll without spending any magic power points.
Written items such as scrolls, rituals, and tomes have a fixed incant written down on them. When using one of these items you must read the incant exactly as it appears in writing. Even if you have these words memorized you are required to have enough light to read the text by and are expected to role-play reading the text from the paper.
Scrolls follow all the other normal steps to casting a spell.
You can only use scrolls that contain a range of self if you know the spell on the scroll. When you cast such a scroll you treat it as if you cast the spell regardless of who wrote the scroll (this is important for ley lines).
Searching Other Players
Because not every player wants physical contact there are two methods to search other players for loot. These methods are referred to as "physical" and "detailed" searches. If the searcher has no wish to touch others they can by default do a detailed search. Physical searches only happen if both players allow it. When initiating a search, players can ask "Detailed or physical" or declare "I'm going to search you now" to the fallen character who should respond with their preferred method. Alternately a player can simply begin doing a detailed search right away "I search your pockets (etc)".
A detailed search is done by describing where on the other player you are going to search. Examples include: inside of pouches, pockets, boots, the character's mouth, hands, or inside of a skeleton's skull. It is often helpful to ask if anything on the target is glowing blue to distinguish if there are any magic items (which therefore are not garb and lootable). The player being searched is honor-bound to give up anything in the corresponding locations.
A physical search is exactly what it sounds like, you physically reach in pockets and other places to see what you find. The player being physically searched has no obligation to help you, but can't hinder you either. A player being physically searched can opt to go to a detailed search at any time if they don't wish to continue with the physical search.
Players also have an option to just hand over anything lootable on them when a search is declared.
After a NPC is searched it is common practice to drag the NPC's body off into the woods, indicating to other players the character has been searched, and indicating to the NPC that they can respawn or return to logistics as appropriate.
Second Breath Calls
This call is obsolete and should no longer be used.
Shield Terms
The term shield can mean several different things:
- The real world item carried by a player to use in combat.
- The smaller real world item which is sub-type of shield called a buckler.
- The rules for using any shield in combat.
- The differences in rules when using a buckler in combat.
Shield Rules
A shield is a defensive tool used to protect yourself from attacks. They are not weapons ever and may never be used to attack others. Intentionally making physical contact with another player or their shield with a shield is not allowed.
Bucklers are a smaller type of shield and follow the same rules for shields except that they are smaller, and are the only shield that may be strapped directly to a character's arm. To use a buckler requires the buckler fighting skill.
When a buckler is strapped to a character's arm it is known as a "passive buckler". A passive buckler doesn't require a hand to hold it. So when you are using one you are free to grasp a weapon, use a blade poison, cast spells, or other effects that require a free hand. Furthermore a passive buckler does not count as carrying a shield for the reduced melee damage cap when carrying a shield.
Like weapons props, shield props must be approved by a safety marshal for use in combat, and require the buckler fighting skill or the shield fighting skill to use depending on the size of the shield.
Wielding a shield in combat limits your melee damage to a cap of 2. Note that passive bucklers do not have this cap.
If a shield is struck by a tag bag what happens is based on what kind of attack struck the shield. When the tag bag represents a spell or other magical effect you take any effects the tag bag would inflict to the arm holding the shield. When a tag bag deals normal damage with no additional calls it may be fully blocked by a shield preventing that damage with no further effect. A shield may fully block any attack that makes the poison call, preventing any effect to the bearer. When a shield blocks an attack with the acid call it prevents the effect of that attack to the bearer but this has an effect on the shield, which could become destroyed.
Should a shield block four points of acid damage during an event then that shield is temporarily destroyed. While it is destroyed the bearer automatically takes any damage that is inflicted on the shield, so it immediately should be dropped. In order to repair a destroyed shield, it must be set down, and someone must role-play repairing it while someone casts mend armor on it.
A player may only carry one shield at a time, and you may not curl yourself up such that a shield completely prevents you from being attacked from one direction.
Shifts
A shift is a 5 hour block of time during which the game is taking place. During each shift a player must choose to either be a player character (PC) or a non-player character (NPC). Players are expected to NPC for at least as many shifts as they PC.
If you are going to be late for a shift or need to leave early for some reason, that shift should be one of the shifts that you PC.
Shift Balance
Shift balance is how the game tries to keep the number of players on each shift roughly even.
If there are too many PC's on a shift this results in very few people who can play NPC's, these shifts are slow without a lot happening at once, and the NPC's burn out and run out of energy very quickly. When there are too few PC's on a shift there is a massive horde of NPC's. During these shifts the PC's tire out or can't handle the volume of plots that might come out. Meanwhile the NPC's get bored and don't get to have any fun either. Neither of these situations is great.
Our solution to this is a program we call shift balance. The first step is for players to organize themselves into adventuring groups. You don't have to join a group, but there is preferential treatment for groups because we want to encourage them to exist. Groups are easier for GM's to create plot for, generally a plot aimed at one member of the group provides entertainment for ALL members of that group. It also makes it easier for logistics staff members to organize shift balance.
Once players have had a chance to join an adventuring group they apply for the shifts they want. This will typically be a window of time that opens every 6 months or a year. Groups and those wishing to remain solo request what shifts they would like to play. The logistics marshal then does their best to fill those requests.
Obviously not everyone will get what they request. If they did, we wouldn't need shift balance. But we will do our best to get you some of what you are looking for.
Considerations that impact shift balance include (but are not limited to):
- The Daylight Shifts (2 and 3) are more popular than the Night shifts (1 and 4)
- Some players have complicated make up to put on and prefer 2 back to back shifts (2 and 3) or (3 and 4)
- Everyone experiences this to some degree, so only very heavy make up (races) will get preference for this.
- Groups will always be prioritized over solo players, solo players will fill in the holes.
- Requests for 1st and 4th are generally easiest to fill.
- Groups requesting 1st AND 4th as their two shifts are very likely to get what they want.
- If possible no one will be forced into all night shifts (1 and 4)
- In order to make sure everyone can have a day shift, getting assigned to 2 AND 3 is very unlikely unless this isn't possible for some reason.
- While all efforts will be made to treat staff members with the same priority as everyone else, if staff schedules make certain combinations impossible they may end up in unusual combinations.
Shrines
A shrine is a sacred location which is typically created by a character with the chosen role-playing skill. All chosen are capable of setting up a shrine with an appropriate object to act as the centerpiece for that shrine. Shrines can be either holy or unholy which will impact what game effect the shrine generates.
Shrines are capable of producing a sanctify effect, an unhallow, or a sanctuary effect depending on who creates them and where they are created.
A shrines effect is constantly ongoing once activated and may not be dispelled. Desecrating a shrine through role-playing will end the effect generated by the shrine.
Shrines set up in a building provide an effect of either sanctify OR unhallow. Shrines set up outside provide the effect of sanctuary. These effects last indefinitely while the chosen prays at their shrine.
The effect created by the shrine is determined by the player, when the chosen one role-playing skill is purchased, and may not be changed at a later date.
The prop you use to represent the shrine must be approved by the props and atmosphere marshal, Christina Mevec.
Shrines must be activated by an obvious and audible ritualistic action. The first time a shrine is set up you must have it witnessed by a game master or marshal to verify that it was set up correctly. Subsequent activations are honor based. A shrine does not need to be kept in a fixed location, however it should not be trivial to set up. For example if you travel and find an interesting temporary location to build a shrine, and afterwards monsters attack that is fine. If while travelling you encounter monsters, and this prompts you to set up a shrine to create a sanctuary this is not what is intended by moving a shrine.
Only one shrine can be active in a single structure at a time. For an additional shrine to be activated in the same structure, the first must be disrupted or deactivated before the second shrine can be activated.
Silence Calls
A target struck by this a silence call is unable to speak for one minute.
Spellcasters who are unable to speak their incants cannot cast spells.
Players should still call damage in combat as normal, but may not call out or say anything in-character. It is possible to still make noise through other means, such as banging two objects together.
The silence call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) silence is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Silver Weapons
Weapons made from silver make the "silver" call with attacks. Silver melee weapons may also make "blunt silver" attacks. You must always use the "silver" call with your attacks unless an attack replaces the entire call such as if you have cast the spell elemental weapon. Specifically this means you can't choose to make a normal attack with a silver weapon.
Elven steel and silver weapons may never have blade poisons put on them. If a blade poison is applied to one of these weapons it is rendered inert and useless immediately.
Goblin iron can never be included in the construction of a weapon with elven steel or silver.
If a player is using a weapon they have not yet identified but they recognize it as being made of a special material because of the weapon's color that player should make the corresponding call when attacking with that weapon.
Silver Calls
Silver is a combat call that only has special meaning if the target has damage requirement: silver or kill condition: silver which allows the wielder to inflict damage or kill the target respectively.
Skill Points
Skill points are earned whenever a character gains a level. These points can be spent immediately to purchase skills or saved for later. Each skill lists how many skill points it costs to learn.
Characters should have a total number of skill points equal to their: (Character Level x 2) + 10
Slay Calls
Monstrous creatures only take, at most, one point of damage from any attack without the "slay" call.
Monstrous armor points are gained from specific types of worn armor. These points takes damage just like ordinary armor points do but reduce any damage dealt to them without the "Slay" call to one. With monstrous physical armor only the physical armor points benefit from this damage reduction, damage dealt to magic armor and body are not reduced.
Smite Calls
A target affected by "smite" loses (and can't gain) damage requirements as well as any kill condition (damage type). Furthermore a target affected by a "smite" call may not be affected by the dissipate effects or the ley lines spell. The effect lasts for 10 minutes.
A "smite" call does not remove a kill condition (special) from its target.
Sparks
Each character has a spark that represents the essence of their life force. A character without a spark can't benefit from any healing effects including but not limited to alchemy, scrolls, potions or spells. This means that a fatally wounded character without a spark cannot be revived.
When a spark is stolen the character who has lost their spark is said to have been "reaped". A character can only hold one reaped spark at a time unless they have a special ability allowing them to carry more. If a character holding a reaped spark dies, it will release the spark back to the person originally holding it. After 60 minutes a reaped spark automatically returns to its owner.
Only mediums are able to see that a character has a stolen life-spark. To check for stolen sparks, the medium must be close enough to whisper out-of-character, “I am a medium, are you holding any sparks?”. The person being addressed must then out-of-character give the truthful answer.
Medium's may also identify if a person is currently in possession of their own spark.
Diagnosis will detect the presence of the target's own spark.
Characters holding the spark of others are expected to remain in play to allow an opportunity for the owner to get back their missing spark.
Powerful rituals are capable of destroying stolen sparks forever, resulting in permanent character death.
Spell Calls Listing
There are a variety of spells that each have their own call that is used during combat. Most of these spells are fairly self explanatory. For example pin causes it's victims to keep both feet pinned to the ground for the duration.
Spell and Item Effects - Stacking Effects
Any time a spell, potion, poison, magic item, alchemical item, tinkering item, ritual, etc. does something to a player that is known as an "effect". When a character is affected by multiple effects there are rules on how they interact.
For the purposes of this page a one-time effect is any effect that has a limited number of times it happens. This could mean something that applies to your next attack, or your next four attacks.
A character cannot benefit at the same time from a spell (or effect) with the same name twice. In all circumstances the second instance of that spell (or effect) has no impact (as if it had never been cast or used).
Effects that apply to the "next" time something happens can't stack either. A character can't use two of the same blade poison that applies to their next attack, in order to have it apply to the next two attacks. The second blade poison in this scenario would be wasted.
If multiple spells (or effects) have different names but the same type of bonus (such as increasing body or magic armor) they can stack together. This will likely result in a character being impacted by a cap. Only effects that explicitly let you go beyond a cap of a stat let you break those limits. When crafting each bonus crafted onto a piece of gear is counted as a separate effect and therefore you couldn't craft the same bonus onto an item multiple times unless that bonus says it can be crafted more than once.
When an effect allows you to call for something different with a weapon than you would normally call, you must choose which call to use when you make your attacks. If the something different only applies to the "next successful hit", and you choose not to use it when you make that hit, the effect is wasted.
For example if a character who deals 2 damage with each melee attack has a sword that deals "Nature" damage and they apply Scorpion's Kiss to that weapon so that it can deal "poison weaken" damage for the next successful hit. When they make that successful hit against an opponent they can choose to call "2 nature" or "poison weaken". They may not call "2 Nature poison weaken". Regardless of the effect they choose, the Scorpion's Kiss will be expended after that successful hit.
With defenses a relevant immunity applies before any one-time effects apply.
If a character has two different one-time effects that both prevent an attack the higher level one applies first. Should two one-time effects be the same level, the one that is more limited in what it applies to is used first.
No combination of effects can make you invulnerable to all damage. The last effect received that would create an invulnerable situation is automatically prevented.
The following spells and effects may not stack with each other unless an ability explicitly allows them to:
- Poison Immunity Spell
- Battle Mastery Spell
- Nature Immunity Magic Items
- Mind Blank Spell
- The Rare Arcane Antiviral Ritual
- The Rare Elemental Shelter Ritual
- The Rare Vulnerability Trap
Master's Staves
A staff of wizardry more commonly referred to as a "Master's Staff" when used by a master mage with the great weapon training skill (which is required to wield the staff) allows the user to reduce the magic power point cost of all spells of the master mages chosen school by one to a minimum of one. This discount does not stack with the benefits of mastering a school. Each master's staff will only benefit a single school. Any given master's staff can only be used by one character per event. Once a master's staff has been used by one character other characters cannot benefit from it that event.
A master's staff may only be crafted by a master craftsman who knows the ornamenter five and weaponsmith five skills. It costs 24 crafting points and 200 coins to create a staff of wizardry. This is automatically a great weapon, which should be in the form of a staff, without paying additional crafting points.
Strike Calls
This call is obsolete and is no longer part of the game
Building Structures
A building is defined as any permanent structure with four walls, a roof, floor, and some sort of portal such as a door or window. Period tents and the Lean-to's of Camp Kingsley are also counted as buildings.
A temporary building is defined as non-period tents or open air extensions to buildings such as a porch.
Tents should only be put up in areas designated by the Props Marshal or Second. Modern tents can be used for sleeping at night but must be taken down during the hours game is taking place and are therefore not recommended unless they are very easy to put up and take down.
Players are allowed to designate a portion of a building as out-of-game using barriers such as screens, or hanging cloth. It is helpful to mark these areas with orange strips periodically along the barrier. When this is done only out-of-game activities should take place in the barricaded portion of the building. If a character is paying in game for a service, the roleplaying of that service should take place in an in-game area. Designated out-of-game areas should be for storing out of game items, personal gear, out-of-game sleeping, sanitary preparation of food, hiding obviously modern objects that can't be moved, and other similar goals. They should not be created for locations characters might go.
Any other barriers should be exactly what they are. If you create a blanket fort, it is not an in game fort, it is a series of blankets that anyone can bypass. A screen dividing a room is fine, understand that characters can and will move the screen. Buildings are what they are, you can't add fake walls using any material to change their appearance. If you do not like an arch that is present, you can hang a tapestry (or other approved setting appropriate item) to cover it, but characters can come through that area just fine.
Tag Bags
Tag bags are used as a form of attack for spells, items, and occasionally for monster abilities. When a tag bag hits a friendly target it still has its full effect. Tag bags that miss still expend a use of whatever attack was being delivered. Only the first object hit is affected by a tag bag, so if a tag bag bounced off the ground and then hits a target, that target is not affected.
A player can only throw one tag bag at a time unless an ability allows them to throw more than one. When an ability allows a player to throw more than one tag bag, a player that is hit by multiple tag bags at the same time only takes the effect of that attack once no matter how many tag bags hit them.
A player may not carry tag bags in their hands unless they have cast a spell within the last minute that has a range of tag bag. This is meant to ensure that if you see someone holding a tag bag, it is clear they have an active spell (they are "armed" with a magical ball of eldritch energy). Tag bags created by a spell become inert after 1 minute if not thrown.
In order to deliver a spell with a range of tag bag you MUST throw the tag bag, you may not reach out and touch the person with the tag bag.
Spells with a range of tag bag can be delivered by missile weapons. Bows and crossbows may be fired instead of throwing a tag bag, replacing the normal weapon call with the call for the spell. When this happens the projectile fired follows all the rules for a tag bag making the same call.
Spells and some items use tag bags. If a tag bag makes contact with anything worn by a player it counts as hitting that player where ever that item makes contact with the player (so arm for a melee weapon, torso for a cloak). Tag bags never hit too light. Although tag bags should not be aimed at the head if they happen to hit a player's head the player should take the hit to their torso.
If a shield is struck by a tag bag what happens is based on what kind of attack struck the shield. When the tag bag represents a spell or other magical effect you take any effects the tag bag would inflict to the arm holding the shield. When a tag bag deals normal damage with no additional calls it may be fully blocked by a shield preventing that damage with no further effect. A shield may fully block any attack that makes the poison call, preventing any effect to the bearer. When a shield blocks an attack with the acid call it prevents the effect of that attack to the bearer but this has an effect on the shield, which could become destroyed.
Taking Damage
When an opponent's damage dealing attack successfully connects with a legal hit location you need to figure what effect it will have.
The first thing you do when you take damage (or are hit by a spell call) is check to see if you have any immunity effects. So if you are hit for "4 Poison" and you have the spell Poison Immunity up, it will prevent that damage and you will not proceed any further in taking damage. An ability such as a damage requirement would also be checked at this time. A "No Effect" call must be made whenever an attack successfully hits you but does not inflict damage (or does not take effect in the case of spells) so that the attacker knows-that-you-know the attack successfully hit and so that they know they may need to attack with something different.
After you have checked for immunity effects you check to see if you have any limited use prevention effects. These are often called "one time" effects because they generally only work once. One example of such an effect is from the spell spirit shield. Remember to call ''No Effect" if the damage is prevented outright by an effect.
After prevention effects, apply any effects that change the amount of damage taken. Namely the monstrous rule.
At this point damage is going to be dealt in some form. Characters have four possible pools that damage might be applied to before the character takes a wound. Those pools are magic armor, physical armor, natural armor, and body. Damage is always applied to magic armor first, physical armor second, natural armor third, body fourth and finally as a wound last. If the damage has the "Pierce" trait it cannot be applied to any type of armor.
Applying damage to a pool is done on a one-for-one basis. For example if an attack deals 4 damage and have 2 magic armor, 1 physical armor and 3 body, after the damage is dealt you will now have 0 magic armor, 0 physical armor, and 2 body remaining.
Finally if you no longer have any magic armor, physical armor, natural armor or body left damage is applied as a wound to the location hit: Right Leg, Left Leg, Right Arm, Left Arm or Torso.
Keep in mind that a single hit can only ever cause one wound. If you are hit in the arm for 2 damage, you only take an arm wound, not an arm wound AND a torso wound.
If at any time you don't know how much damage you have taken, err on the side of the attacker by taking an immediate torso wound. Or in other words if you are in doubt or confused it's always ok to take more damage and remove yourself from the fight.
Thrown Poisons
A thrown poison is a type of consumable alchemical item that represents a small breakable vial being hurled at an enemy. To use a thrown poison the prop to represent the poison must be "at hand", easily reachable. As long as this is the case you may use a tag bag to make the attack described by the item. After this is done make sure you remember to destroy the piece of paper that represents the item, it was used when you "threw" it at your opponent in character.
Each item's call determines what rules it follows. So a thrown item that calls for 4 nature damage counts as a spell, even if it comes from an alchemical, because there is no way to distinguish the source of the call for the person getting hit.
A shield may fully block any attack that makes the poison call, preventing any effect to the bearer.
Blade poisons, ingested poisons, and thrown poisons all require the herbalist skill to use. If a character attempts to use any of these types of alchemy compounds they fail to use the item successfully and suffer the effects as if the item were used on them.
Thrown Weapon Rules
A thrown weapon is any weapon designed to primarily be thrown and are required to look like weapons (no throwing rocks). You may not fight in melee with most thrown weapons. Throwing weapons that contain a core can be used as a melee weapon. When used this way they follow all the rules for a melee weapon.
Thrown weapons are further divided into three subcategories based on length:
- A standard throwing weapon is one greater than 6 and less than or equal to 30 inches.
- A javelin is a throwing weapon greater than 30 and less than or equal to 45 inches.
- A great javelin is a throwing weapon greater than 45 inches and less than or equal to 84 inches.
The damage a character deals with any thrown weapon starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, and sometimes other effects that increase thrown weapon damage. Thrown weapons have a natural cap on how much damage they can deal. Great javelins may deal a characters melee damage instead of thrown damage.
Using throwing weapons:
- A standard throwing weapon requires thrown weapon training to use.
- A throwing spear requires both thrown weapon master and great weapon training to use
- A throwing javelin requires both thrown weapon master and
melee training to use.
Thrown weapon damage has a cap of 2.
Time Stop Calls
The "time stop" call indicates that game play needs to pause briefly for in-game reasons. This call is distinctly different from "game hold" because a "game hold" call indicates that play must stop for emergency out-of-game safety reasons.
When you hear someone yell "time stop" you should immediately repeat the call by also yelling "time stop". After doing this, close your eyes, and babble, ramble, mumble or hum as you prefer to reduce the chances that players can hear whatever is happening. The goal is for whatever is going on to be as much of a surprise to players as possible.
Once the person who initially called the "time stop" has accomplished what they needed to do, they must loudly and clearly count down from 3 before calling "game on!" to indicate a return to normal game play.
No normal player ability allows for the calling of "time stop". This is almost always an ability game masters will instruct an npc to do in a specific circumstance.
Tinker Crafting
Characters with the tinker skill can craft tinkering items using crafting points. In order to craft tinkering items a character does not need to know any particular spells even if the item being crafted casts a spell. A character only spends crafting points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the pre-production system.
Tinkering items cost a fixed number of crafting points to create. It additionally costs 5 coin per crafting point spent to create a tinkering item.
You can also use tinkering to change the prop for a magic item to a different prop of the same item type. This is done by following this table.
Tomes
Tomes are a type of spellbook that contain various spells from a single school of magic. A tome allows a character to cast spells they do not know. When you use a tome the spells are not consumed and can be reused any number of times. In order to use a tome a character must have the read magic skill and know at least one spell from the school of magic contained in the tome. Epic tomes may contain spells from more than one school of magic. Standard crafted tomes may only have spells from one school of magic.
Written items such as scrolls, rituals, and tomes have a fixed incant written down on them. When using one of these items you must read the incant exactly as it appears in writing. Even if you have these words memorized you are required to have enough light to read the text by and are expected to role-play reading the text from the paper.
Characters are limited to either one rod or one tome.
In all other ways using a tome follows the rules for casting a spell.
Touch Spells
Spells with a range of touch must be deliver by the touch of a hand. The hand delivering the touch can be holding the object being touched, but nothing else. If a characters hands are bound they can still deliver touch range spells if they can still touch their target.
Traps - Using and Encountering Traps
There are three types of traps in the game: level based traps, "zero-level" traps, and contraptions.
Zero-level traps are stationary, simple traps such as a pit trap. They can't be armed or disarmed, they simply exist. Each zero-level trap has a fixed effect on anyone who is impacted by it. If someone falls into a pit trap they take two leg wounds and cannot leave the pit, for example. Players can't normally create zero-level traps.
Level based traps may or may not be stationary depending no the trap, and are armed with a trap tag. A level based trap typically has a buzzer in it that indicates when the trap has been sprung. Other traps could potentially exist with rules and plot approval on a case by case basis. These traps must be created to be disarmable in some fashion. Any character can attempt to disarm a trap - prevent the buzzer or triggering mechanism from functioning. If the buzzer doesn't go off the trap has been avoided.
Level based traps are each armed with trap tags indicating what the trap does if the trigger is hit. A level based trap can be armed with a number of trap tags equal to or less than it's level. When the trap is sprung, each of these tags take effect going from front to back, then the trap tags should be destroyed. Only the player who triggers the trap is affected by any trap tags included. It is helpful if traps have a clothes pin inside of them to hold the trap tags, but this is not a requirement. When a trap has been disarmed, trap tags can be removed and even kept for later use. The exception to this is if the trap tag say it is "fragile". Fragile trap tags can be disarmed but should be destroyed immediately whether the trap went off or not.
Level based traps that are in containers can be armed and moved, but the person carrying the trap is the one affected by it if the buzzer goes off for any reason. Those which take the form of trip wires, pressure plates, etc should are stationary once armed and should only be moved if disarmed.
Contraptions function like level based traps in that they have a trigger, typically a buzzer that indicates when they are activated. Instead of being armed with trap tags though, a contraption is armed with a single beneficial scroll, potion or alchemical. The item is consumed when the contraption is triggered.
Contraptions are always personal items. When triggered, regardless of how they are triggered, the effect contained in the contraption affects the person who owns and is wearing the contraption.
Traps never inflict killing blows unless they explicitly say that they do.
Trap Tags
A trap tag is a one use consumable item. They are placed in traps to arm them causing negative effects on anyone who triggers the trap, and consuming any trap tags in the trap.
Each trap tag will have on it what type of tag it is. Either Alchemical, Physical, or Spell. Alchemical trap tags are stopped by any effect that prevents alchemicals (such as spirit shield, or poison immunity). Spell trap tags are prevented by any effect which prevents spells (such as anti-magic shield or anti-magic aura). Physical traps are just like getting hit with an attack to the torso, any relevant armor or body applies.
Some trap tags are hexes. A hex is a type of debuff that comes from traps that lasts for the game day, even if the effect is normally shorter. Hexes can only be removed by effects that specifically remove hexes. So if you are affected by a trap tag that is a Spell, which inflicts a Curse hex, unless you have an effect that prevents a spell from affecting you, your body will be reduced to one for the game day.
When a trap has been disarmed, trap tags can be removed and even kept for later use. The exception to this is if the trap tag say it is "fragile". Fragile trap tags can be disarmed but should be destroyed immediately whether the trap went off or not.
Unhallow Calls
Unhallow seals a building with foul magical energy that prevents the living from entering. Unhallow will not protect temporary buildings. This effect does not prevent creatures from casting spells or firing missile weapons into a protecting building.
Limited use effects like anti-magic shield and aura of reflection will not allow a creature to pass through the barrier. A dispel effect can end the unhallow effect. Living creatures under the effects of the spells ghastly visage, abomination, or anti-magic aura, as well as the alchemy compound ethereal sealant may enter an unhallowed area.
When cast on a building, all of the building’s doors and windows glow with magical energy and no living creatures, regardless of their level, may enter. When cast on a period tent, the doors are considered to be the only valid entry points; no other means of escape or access are permitted, such illegal actions include, but are not limited to : crawling under walls, disassembling tents, and so on.
An unhallow effect's creator must be inside the building when the effect begins but does not need to remain present for the effect to continue afterwards (and in fact they may be forced to leave the area by the effect). The unhallow effect will force out any living creatures that are in a building once the effect is created. Creatures being forced out of the building may cast spells as they are exiting, and any affected creatures that become dissipated count as having exited the building. If a living creature's only means of exit is blocked by enemies, the affected creature(s) may fight their way out of the building. Should escape be impossible, they will instead cower in terror, taking no action.
With in one minute of creating this effect every ingress and egress point of the building must have a blue flag visibly attached to it. If the creator fails to do this, the effect fails and creatures may freely move in and out of the building. It is not legal to hang blue flags on portals in preparation to create this effect, however it is not required that the creator hang the flags personally and may employ as many free hands as needed to get the flags in place.
Verbal Components for Spells
One of the requirements for cast a spell is for a character to speak an eight word (minimum) verbal incantation. The name of the spell must be used in the incantation and counts towards the eight word minimum.
An incant should be spoken loudly and clearly enough that players standing 10 feet away know that a spell is being cast. A gag will prevent a character from casting spells. Incants do not need to be spoken word, they can be sung, chanted, or otherwise role-played. You may not bluff one spell then cast a different one (such as by putting multiple spell names in your incant), the incant must clearly convey EXACTLY what you are casting. Likewise a spell cannot be gibberish or worked into a conversation, it must both be clear that you are casting and what you are casting.
If the incant is partially finished and a player takes a hit, the spell being cast is interrupted. This includes a hit that you are immune to. The assumption is that even if you are immune to a gout of flame (or whatever) it still is disrupting to be hit by it. Pausing in the middle of an incant for more than a moment will also cause an incantation to be interrupted. When an incant is interrupted nothing is lost, but the incant must be restarted from the beginning.
Written items such as scrolls, rituals, and tomes have a fixed incant written down on them. When using one of these items you must read the incant exactly as it appears in writing. Even if you have these words memorized you are required to have enough light to read the text by and are expected to role-play reading the text from the paper. For some rituals this also requires knowing the appropriate language for texts not written in common. Scrolls only ever require read magic to read.
Abilities listed as being used "at will" can be cast or used with no incant.
Wands
Wands are temporary magic objects that can cast a first, second, or third level spell. An expended wand's prop can be reused when creating an exact copy of the wand with crafting at check-in. There are three types of wands: lesser, normal and major. The number of magic power points a wand contains is based on what type it is. Lesser wands have 10 magic power points. Normal wands have 20 magic power points. Major wands have 30 magic power points. The prop for a wand should be between 8 and 16 inches in length. A character can use at most two wands per event.
To use a wand, the wand must be held in one hand. Magic power points to pay for the spell are taken from the wand. A wand can only cast the spell that has been placed in it. In all other ways using a wand follows the rules for casting a spell.
A wand cannot be used in combat as a weapon.
Weaken Calls
The weaken effect causes it's victim to inflict half of their weapon damage (rounding down to a minimum of one) for the next 10 minutes. Multiple weaken effects do not stack.
Weaken does not reduce the damaged caused by spells or thrown poisons. It does affect blade poisons and effects that increase weapon damage (magic weapons, weapon with Enchant Weapon cast on them, etc.).
The weaken call never inflicts damage.
Unless modified by another call (such as poison) weaken is a compulsion spell effect. Compulsion spells do not count as compulsion spells if there is a type listed, such as dominate undead.
Weapon Master Title
A character who has learned all 20 of the combat skills earns the title of "weapon master".
Twice per game day a weapon master may execute a "master's strike". This lets the weapon master add either the "slay" or the "pierce" call to a weapon attack. Furthermore that attack allows the character to hit for the appropriate amount of damage with a cap of up to 4 damage if they would normally be capped at a lower amount of damage.
A weapon master may wield great javelins or great spears with a second weapon or a shield. When they do this normal caps apply. While this is taking place you are only allowed to make stabbing attacks with the great javelin, never swinging attacks. A weapon held in the off hand can be swung as normal.
Weapon Crafting
Characters with the weaponsmith skill can craft weapons using crafting points. A character only spends crafting points when you first check-in for an event. In order to create items you'll have to learn to use the pre-production system.
Weapons created with the weaponsmith skill can have multiple enhancements purchased for them. The crafting point cost to make an enhanced weapon is based on this table. For each craft point spent an additional 10 coins must be spent to create an enhanced weapon.
If ammunition is imbued with a spell only one is produced at a time. When crafting other enhancements 4 pieces of ammunition are created with the enhancement.
Weapon Definitions and Rules
For the purposes of some rules and skills weapons are divided into different categories. The correct skill to use a weapon and the damage a weapon can inflict are based on what type it is classified as.
Melee weapons are hand-held weapons used for close-range, personal combat.
Melee weapons are further divided into three sub-categories based on length:
- A non-martial weapon is any melee weapon under 35 inches (88.9cm) in length.
- A martial weapon is any melee weapon at least 35 inches (88.9cm) in length but no longer than 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
- A great weapon is any melee weapon over 45 inches (114.3cm) in length.
Carrying a melee weapon in each hand is referred to as "dual wielding" or "two weapon fighting". Players may not carry a melee weapon in each hand at any time unless they have the appropriate skills needed to dual wield.
A thrown weapon is any weapon designed to primarily be thrown and are required to look like weapons (no throwing rocks). You may not fight in melee with most thrown weapons. Throwing weapons that contain a core can be used as a melee weapon. When used this way they follow all the rules for a melee weapon.
Thrown weapons are further divided into three subcategories based on length:
- A standard throwing weapon is one greater than 6 and less than or equal to 30 inches.
- A javelin is a throwing weapon greater than 30 and less than or equal to 45 inches.
- A great javelin is a throwing weapon greater than 45 inches and less than or equal to 84 inches.
The damage a character deals with any thrown weapon starts at 1. This can be increased by skills, and sometimes other effects that increase thrown weapon damage. Thrown weapons have a natural cap on how much damage they can deal. Great javelins may deal a characters melee damage instead of thrown damage.
Missile weapons include both bows and crossbows. Modern archery equipment is not allowed though there are some exceptions for fletching and nocks. Arrows and bolts must always be fired, they can never be thrown. Bows can never be used to parry or block. If a bow is struck in melee combat it is considered destroyed until it is repaired with an effect like the mend armor spell. If attacking at a range of less than 10 feet archers are required to only half-draw their bows. Crossbows may only fire at targets under 10 feet away if their bow has been tested to have a draw of 15 pounds or less.
Missile weapon hits to a wounded limb affect the torso. If a missile weapon strikes a weapon it deals damage as if it had proceeded unimpeded. Players may never use a weapon to intentionally deflect a missile, the penalty for doing so is taking the attack to the torso ignoring any armor the player might have but not body. Shields may be used to block missiles.
Archers within reason can call hits on their targets. Abusing this can result in being barred from using archery.
If a player throws a thrown weapon or fires a missile weapon at you and you have the appropriate skill to use the weapon/ ammunition you are allowed to return fire with it. However it is very important that you know that you cannot carry that weapon/ ammunition off with you elsewhere for any reason.
Wounds
When a character takes damage and they cannot prevent it, they receive a wound. A player can take a wound in their Right Arm, Left Arm, Right Leg, Left Leg, and Torso.
A wounded arm must drop anything it is holding. You may NOT use a still healthy arm to instantly grab an item such as a weapon. Drop it first, then you may attempt to retrieve it from the ground.
A wounded leg will no longer support weight. You may only drag your foot slowly across the ground to move around. If you are forced to put weight on the wounded leg, you must fall over. You should also act like the leg is injured and is causing pain.
You may also choose to drop to your knees. If you do, then your other leg will become wounded. This means you may not stand up after voluntarily dropping to a knee.
If you sustain leg wounds in both legs you MUST drop to your knees.
A torso wound will knock a character unconscious. Once unconscious they will "bleed out" in 10 minutes. Characters with the first aid skill can increase the time it takes to "bleed out" by an additional 10 minutes with appropriate role-playing. If the bleeding isn't stopped in time the character will die. Death requires stronger healing to recover from than a standard torso wound. Should your character remain dead at the end of the event you run the risk of permanent character death. If your torso is further wounded while you are already suffering from a torso wound with an attack called a "killing blow" you stop bleeding out and go straight to being dead.
If a character who has suffered a torso wound is in a location where others are likely to trip over them, it is appropriate and encouraged to move out of the way until it is safe to return.
When an effect causes an "automatic wound", ignore any armor (of any kind) or body the character may have. An appropriate immunity effect can still prevent an automatic wound, however damage requirements will NOT prevent automatic wounds.
Categories: Game Rules | Terminology