This
documentation is Copyright ã 2003 Paul Jeffcoat. The pdf file is
free to download and can be copied and printed for personal use only. The
rulebook is about 3.3 MB and 570 pages, has a full Table of Contents and is
divided into the following chapters:
Chapters
1. Introduction
Overview of roleplaying, dice conventions, the structure of the rulebook, etc.
2. Character Generation
Describes the process that each player should work through to create his/her character.
3. Actions
Explains how the gamesmaster and players determine whether characters' actions succeed or fail, and how to keep track of the order and timing of actions in combat and other situations when characters are in danger.
4. Combat
Details the weapons available to characters, and gives rules for determining the damage that different types of attacks do against differently armoured targets.
5. Magic
Describes how magic works, and the spells that can be cast by characters.
6. Optional Races
A short chapter providing rules for several optional races for characters.
7. Character Development
Gives rules for enhancing a character’s skills and statistics with time.
8. The GM
Goes into more detail about the role of the gamesmaster.
9. The Bestiary
Lists the most common creatures that characters may encounter.
10. Psychoses
Provides rules for handling the gradual developing insanity of characters, repeatedly faced with frightening monsters.
11. Prices for Goods and Services
Lists prices for the equipment and services that characters typically wish to buy (including healing herbs and toxic poisons).
12. Treasure
Contains rules for randomly determining the nature of any treasure that characters may find.
13. Appendix
Pulls all of the most frequently used tables into one convenient place.
14. Character Sheet
A template for recording a character's details.
Old
Rule Updates
- Changes to Character Generation chapter. Altered the formula for Reactions stat.
- Changes to Actions chapter. Simplified rules for Reactions Rolls.
- Changes to Combat chapter. Altered Location Penalties. Altered Armour Action Penalties. Altered Injury Description Tables - made head strikes more deadly and added chance of disarming or knocking down injured foe. Gave option of stunning Mental Injury from Unarmed Combat kicks and punches.
- Changes to Magic chapter. Separate elemental spells for different elements. Altered Potion spell. Amended Guilds section.
- Changes to Prices chapter. Added rules for banks and treasure chests.
- Changes to Treasure chapter. Added Harm Potions.
- Changes to Treasure chapter. Reworked potions – added Enhance Physique Potions.
- Changes to GM chapter. Added rules for using Luck stat to select a PC.
- Reworked herbs and poisons.
- Added index.
- Changes to Magic. Completely new Conjuration discipline. Weeded out rubbish spells from Illusion, Nature and other lists. Converted circle spells to pentagrams. Made resisting spells always problematic for the caster (old rules made it a boon for the caster if the target had a low SD c.f. his SC). Increased maximum spell-casting skill bonus for non-specialist disciplines.
- Changes to Bestiary. Modified Hydra and Lycanthropes' regeneration. Improved fear effects for huge magical creatures.
- Changes to Treasure. Simplified process for randomly determining the powers of magic items. Improved the process for determining the value of potions to reflect the power of creator.
- Changes to Actions. Added optional Haggling skill.
17 May 2007
- More changes! Introduced concept of the Resistance Penalty - this simplifies/rationalises fatigue, prohibited movement rates, encumbrance, etc. Changed Armour Mobility Penalties, Attack Damage Bonuses, times for actions, and too much other stuff to mention.
- Am still working on making it available in print on http://www.lulu.com.
- Another mega edit.
- Added new monsters – Dire Wolf, Bog Kraken and Sea Kraken.
- Obtained a better pdf writer, so can now provide the rulebook as a single file for download.
- Am working on making it available in print on http://www.lulu.com.
General edit to all chapters to remove inconsistencies and enhance explanations.
- Amended Character Generation chapter to reflect strength difference between genders. Also removed the night-vision ability of Wood and Half-Elves (they are creatures of light not dark) and increased Halfling's LU stat. Amended rules for LURPs.
- Amended Actions chapter. Removed Research skill (easily replaced with IN stat roll). Simplified complimentary skills.
- Amended Combat chapter. Removed some errors in the Example Combat section.
- Updated the Magic chapter. Reworked Illusion to Wounding spells, minor tweaks to other disciplines.
- Amended Character Development chapter to allow skills >=20 to develop. Made the rules for tuition, study and practice more consistent. Required expenditure of LURPs to raise stats.
- Amended Bestiary - added Were-Bat, Wyvern, Banshee.
- Altered Character Development chapter to introduce idea of specialised attack and spell-casting skills. Development Rolls are now made at the end of the gaming session rather than the end of each day in game. Development Rolls are also made whenever a 20 is thrown in a skill roll.
- Altered Actions and Optional Races chapters following merger of Unarmed Combat attack skills. Introduced new skills for optional race natural attacks.
- Altered Character Generation chapter - added Acting and Pharmacy into the calling skills for Thieves and Rangers.
- Altered Combat chapter and Character Sheet to remove system for tracking damage to items - too complex. Also, the bonus of magical armour only reduces the Action Penalty now, and doesn't also reduce HIP loss directly.
- Altered Magic chapter - major reworking of the Combat and Elemental lists.
- Changed Actions and Character Generation chapters to divide the attack skills into categories - giving the callings a broader range of attack forms.
- Changed Character Development chapter – altered limits on attack and spell-casting skills so a character can now develop a very limited skill bonus in all Spell-Casting skills, rather than being restricted by his calling to spells of only a few disciplines.
- Changed Magic chapter – removed duplication of Harm spells from Wounding list, and made the durations of various Summon spells in different disciplines more consistent. Got rid of overcasting - too powerful.
- Changed Actions chapter – altered Subdual skill description to give rules for garrotes and blackjacks.
- Improved Treasure chapter to simplify random treasure generation. Tweaked some of the rules for gunpowder weaponry too.
- Changed Character Generation, Actions and Magic chapters and Character sheet following replacement of Attune spell with a skill. Reordered Alchemy discipline. Changed Healing discipline to reduce spell duplication.
- Total reworking of Character
Generation, Optional Races and Character Development chapters, and the
Character Sheet, to reflect changes to callings and skill development. The
semi-magician callings have been scrapped and there are now bigger
differences between the remaining callings. The minor, major, specialised
and difficult skills have been replaced with a simpler Development Roll
Modifier system.
- Actions chapter updated with
new skills - Influence has been split into Acting, Leadership and
Seduction, History replaces Etiquette and Heraldry, and Geography replaces
Region Lore.
- Magic chapter - Telekinesis has
been altered. Major changes to the Alchemy list to make the spells more
consistent and the Thief calling more useful for getting through locked
doors. Spell-casting no longer requires gesticulation.
- Simplified Two-Weapon-Combo.
Removed need for multiple skills; applied penalties instead.
- Altered Enhance Attack, Blur,
Enhanced Invisibility and Spirit Travel spells.
- New spells - The Iron Man,
Enhanced Cloak and The Two-Edged Sword of Glass.
- Gave Vampires a
beguile/seduction ability.
- Removed Item Familiar spell.
- Added Undead Familiar spell.
- Altered Detect spells,
Invisibility to Undead, Circle of Dead Soul Summoning, Invisibility to
Demons, Become Demon, Master Demon, Demon Familiar and Beast Familiar
spells.
- Reordered levels of Demonology,
Nature, Necromancy and Wizardry spells.
- Adjusted description of Ghost
to prevent them from becoming invisible.
- Changed chapter structure.
- Improved spell embedding and
attunement spells so that characters with poor Spell-Casting skills can
attune embedded spells and produce potent effects.
- Added rules for overcasting of
high level spells.
- Lowered the level of Beast
Familiar spell.
- Updated Two-Weapon-Combo skill
to make it more realistic.
- Altered rules for Troll -
changed regeneration, methods of killing and effect of sunlight. (Adjusted
Great Troll to reflect these changes.)
- Added rules for increasing
stats.
Combat
changes:
- Removed ST contribution to ADB
for unarmed attacks. Strength is already present in the stat contribution.
- Removed secondary damage types
- they were almost never used in play testing.
- Altered the statistics of
several one and two-handed weapons, and unarmed attacks. Two-handed
weapons are now faster, but do less damage.
- Changed stat contributions for
Shield Block, Pain Tolerance and missile/thrown attack skills.
- Action Penalties for some
armours have been rationalised, e.g. Soft Leather armour now gives no
Action Penalties.
- Halved the Action Penalty
applied to some moving skills because not all will be equally impeded by
encumbrance and armour, especially since armour is designed to not overly
impede the making of attacks. E.g. swimming and contortions are now fully
penalised by Action Penalties but attack skills are not.
Skill
changes:
- Changed skill development
(including rules for tuition and research). It is no longer possible to
shift skill advances to other skills - you must use the skill (or get
training) for it to increase.
- Introduced dire fumbles - these
cause skill bonuses to decrease.
Magic
changes:
- Time required to memorise a
spell now varies with the spell's level.
- Reduced the potency of the
Total Regeneration spell. Added two new Wounding spells - Curse and Doom.
- Simplified the rules for
improvised spells - dialects have been replaced with Spell-Casting skills
for each discipline. The new rules are less of a copy of other systems.
- Process for codifying new spells
has been streamlined so that characters can invent new spells whilst
adventuring.
Stat
changes:
- Changed how maximum HIPs and
POPs are calculated, so that they follow similar rules (maximum numbers of
POPs have been halved). The rate at which HIPs and POPs are regained has
also been simplified.
- Changed the high CO and MA stat
abilities.
- Monster changes:
- Undead drain POPs more quickly
now - in play testing, most combats were over before undead had had chance
to drain.