Utgard Odyssey Rulebook

Transcript

Utgard Odyssey Rulebook The introduction and core rules for the Utgard Odyssey LARP campaign April 2013 Document notation www.heimr.nl Created By Brian Bors Wilco Copperjaw Arjen-Wander Hiemstra Copyright 2009-2013 Heimr and Contributors. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the contents of this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. For more information about Heimr or this document please visit the Heimr website at www.heimr.nl or mail us at [email protected] --I-- TABLE OF CONTENT Table of Content...........................II 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 5.6. 1. Introduction..............................1 1.1. The Campaign..........................1 1.2. New Kind of LARP......................1 1.3. Future Plans.............................1 6. Combat....................................6 2. Before You Start........................2 6.1. Weapon Types..........................6 6.2. Effects.....................................6 6.3. Movement and Restraint............8 3. Safety......................................2 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. Safety Calls..............................2 Combat Safety..........................3 Equipment Safety......................3 Physical Contact........................4 White-red Ribbon......................4 7. Health......................................8 7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.4. 7.5. 4. Game Progression......................4 4.1. Game Masters..........................4 4.2. Time Calls................................5 4.3. Raised Hand.............................5 Willpower.................................5 Skills.......................................5 Conditions................................6 Concentration...........................6 Cards And Counters...................6 Short Rests..............................8 Injury effects............................8 Injuries....................................8 Unconsciousness.......................9 Dying......................................9 8. Items.......................................9 5. Characters................................5 8.1. Physreps..................................9 8.2. Toughness................................9 8.3. Item cards...............................9 5.1. Hit Points.................................5 9. Changed Rules.........................10 --II-- 1. INTRODUCTION The Utgard Odyssey campaign is centred around a Midgardian merce­ nary group (The Terendil Reavers) on an expedition through a region of the world of Heimr known as Utgard. 1.1. THE CAMPAIGN The Utgard Odyssey campaign will be a regular series of LARP events, held every two months on a Saturday. The events last for an afternoon and will be held in the forests of Soest. Regular attendance will not be required, though players that have a regular character will have priority over those that do not in case the event is full. The events of Utgard Odyssey will be free of charge as long as we can manage a free terrain. Attendants of the events must be 18 years or older. Use of alcohol or drugs is not permitted during the events. Donations are very much appreciated. They help us pay for costumes, equipment and server space. For details about specific events check out our website at http://www.heimr.nl/. 1.2. NEW KIND OF LARP In most LARP games the rules are very similar. This is because they bor­ row many of their rules from other well known LARPs. Heimr LARP rules are build from scratch. Much thought has gone into understanding what parts of common LARPs work well, and what parts do not. This has resulted in a rule set that is somewhat experimental and may contain some ideas unfamiliar to you. The most important differences are as followed: • Most weapons do more then one HP damage. • • Characters with zero or less HP are injured. If you are not injured and take a short rest, you regain your HP. • Every character has willpower, which they can spend to activate specialized abilities/powers. • The lower a character's willpower, the less likely it is they will survive getting injured. • There are cards for skills/conditions so you can reread them, and for items so that if you steal some­ thing, you only take the card. • Character skills are grouped in domains. Each domain is like a class, except you can have as many as you like. 1.3. FUTURE PLANS Heimr LARP is still in it's early stages. Though much has already been done, there is still much more remaining. Because of this, new player options will become available as the campaign progresses. It also means that we may come across unforeseen problems and we might have to update some of the rules between the events. We will try our hardest to keep the impact for players to a minimum. Characters have total body HP. --1-- If attendance keeps up, we hope to run this campaign at least until September 2014. In this time we have added and will add several new domains. These will include; Battlefield tactics, which empowers teams who cooperate effectively on the battlefield. NPC organizations, which gives players control of NPC's during downtime. In addition to this LARP Campaign, the Heimr world is also represented on Vortex Adventure LARPs. We are also currently running the very first Heimr Tabletop Campaign using a rule set similar to the LARP rules. For more information about any of these, or if you are interested in contributing, please contact us. 2. BEFORE YOU START This document is written for people familiar with the basic concepts of Role Playing and Live Action Role Playing. You can read more about this on our website www.heimr.nl. No previous knowledge about Heimr is required to read this document. For any LARPs taking place in the Heimr setting, the Heimr Character Guide is available in which skills, conditions, rules on character creation can be found. This document, as well as the Heimr Tabletop RPG Core can be found at www.heimr.nl/game_rules/. In the following chapters you will find rules which are common to all characters in a Heimr LARP. Players should know all of the rules in this document before attending a Heimr LARP based on this rule set. Any character specific abilities are documented in the Heimr Character Guide. These do not require memorising. The Heimr LARP is designed to create a highly immersive game environment, in which players can bring their characters to life. Because players are required to know all the rules, this document has been designed to be as short as possible, given the complexity of the LARP for which it is written. 3. SAFETY LARP is a game which involves some risk. Therefore this chapter is the most important chapter in the LARP Core, because it contains rules regarding safety. If you violate one of these rules, you can -and will- be taken out of the game and sent home. Do not risk your own health or the health of other players for any reason. 3.1. SAFETY CALLS You must call Man down! if you or another player require immediate medical attention. When this happens the game is stopped so that medical personnel can attend the injured player. If you are near the injured player you should keep shouting Man down! and wave your arm until medical personnel knows where to go. If you hear somebody call Man down! you should stop playing and sit down. You are only allowed to move if you are in the way of medical personnel. The game will resume after medical personnel have given the 'all clear'. No Play should be called when a player has trouble coping with the mental or emotional stress of the game. LARP events can be tough on a person. Your character is likely to go through stressful experiences which can effect a player personally. If a player calls No play this means they are out of character and require some space. You may continue the game without this character, or pause the game temporarily. --2-- 3.2. COMBAT SAFETY The most important rule when dealing with LARP weapons and combat is to never stab with these weapons. LARP weapons contain a fibre core which will break out and hurt people. For the same reason, do not place your LARP weapon on its tip. Avoid hitting a person's head, neck, groin or breasts. Note that if you duck suddenly or move unexpectedly during combat, you risk getting hit on the head yourself. Take care not to force your opponent into dangerous terrain. Warn him if he is about to run into trees, camp fires or other obstacles. Do not use effects that force people to act in a certain way. Instead, wait until you have cleared the obstacles and continue fighting. Do not put your full force behind your swings with LARP weapons. Instead, swing like you would normally but just before hitting your opponent slow down your swing, such that it becomes a light tap. You will not do more damage if you hit harder, instead you will hurt people. When you hit, or if your weapon is blocked in some way, pull back your weapon. LARP weapons rubbing against each other might tear the latex. Great weapons and pole weapons should always be held with two hands while fighting. Also, pole weapons may not be held with both hands at an end. Throwing weapons should not be thrown in an arc over people or objects, as you are very likely to hit someone on the head. You are not allowed to hit enemies with a shield but you are allowed to block enemies with your shield by placing your shield against them. Bows may only be fired by people that have a licence to do so. These licences can be obtained on every event by completing a small test. Ask the game masters for more information. You are not allowed to use a bow while within two metres of an opponent. 3.3. EQUIPMENT SAFETY All equipment must be inspected prior to the game. All equipment deemed unsafe will be taken by the game masters. You will get them back after the game. You will only receive item cards for equipment that has been inspected. Any equipment that does not have an item card is not allowed to be used in the game. One last important rule to consider is that if the game master checking your equipment does not consider this equipment to be safe, you are not allowed to use it. This it not negotiable. Weapons must meet the following requirements: WEAPONS • Weapons should have a single-piece glass-fibre core. • Every part of the core should be covered in at least half a centimetre of soft foam. Exception for the part used to hold the weapon. • The foam should be attached tightly to the core. • All parts of the weapon not directly connected to the core, should be flexible enough to contract and compress. • Weapons should not bend or create a whip-like motion. • The entire weapon should be covered by a layer of latex, except for the parts that are used to holding the weapon, which can be covered by leather or a similar material. --3-- • A few small holes in the latex of up to one centimetre in diameter will be accepted, though they should be fixed as soon as possible. • Throwing weapons should not have a core. However. it is allowed to slightly weigh them using leather. 3.4. PHYSICAL CONTACT BOWS • Only 30-pound bows or lower may be used. • Only flat headed LARP arrows may be used. SHIELDS • Shields should consist of a relatively hard grip attached to a core of harder material and padded with foam. • The foam should be covered by latex, similar to weapons. • At least all of the front surface of the shield should be covered with half a centimetre of foam, with about a centimetre of additional foam around the edges. This means that shields made out of a single piece of hard material (like wood) with soft foam around the edges are not allowed on Heimr events. AND LARP involves physically interacting with other players. It is important that players respect each other's private space. Therefore only light physical contact is allowed without consent. (for example: touching a shoulder, shaking a hand) If you are unsure the other person minds physical contact, refrain from it. Be careful when pushing or pulling people as this may lead to people falling over. 3.5. WHITE-RED RIBBON If you have an injury which might make it dangerous for you to be attacked during combat, you can get one of a white-red ribbon from game masters during check-in. People wearing red-white ribbon may never be attacked with LARP weapons. If you wish to attack the character of a person wearing this, you instead say you attack them. For every second you remain within two metres of this character you deal weapon damage. 4. GAME PROGRESSION • Shields should be able to bend slightly, but not enough to create a whip-like motion. ARMOUR Note that this applies primarily to custom made equipment. Most forms of normal armour do not feature large enough protrusions to become dangerous. LARP games should progress smoothly, without big interruptions. This chapter explains the mechanisms used in Heimr to prevent the game from stalling. CLOTHING • Try to avoid wearing armour and clothing that easily strangles people. For example, try to avoid overly long or wide sleeves. 4.1. GAME MASTERS • Spikes and other dangerous protrusions should be made from foam and covered by latex. The rules for throwing weapons apply to these protrusions. Game Masters are the directors of the game. They make sure the story progresses as it should and direct the NPCs to that end. Game masters are also there to help you if you are unsure about the rules and to referee when players have a conflict. You should follow the instructions the Game Master gives. --4-- If you do not agree with a ruling you may make one, and only one, appeal to the Game master. If he or she is not convinced by your argument, the ruling is final and the game continues. You may discuss the issue after the game. 4.2. TIME CALLS There are four time calls. These calls can only be made by a Game master: • Time Freeze: The game stops and every player must close his or her eyes while humming to drown out any noise • Time Stop: The game stops. The calling Game Master usually has some instructions for you after this. • Time In: The game restarts • Time Out: The game stops completely 4.3. RAISED HAND A raised hand indicates that this person is out of character and should be ignored. You may only do this with permission of a game master. 5. CHARACTERS There are four things that make up a character: Hit points, Willpower, Skills and Conditions. These thing will be explained in this chapter. Which and how many a character has depends on things such as race and equipment. Instructions on how to create a character can be found in the Character Guide at: www.heimr.nl/game_rules/ 5.1. HIT POINTS Hit points (HP) represent the likelihood of a character surviving an attack. Things that increase your chance of survival, such as armour or a strong body, can increase your hit points. When a character is hit by an attack, they lose hit points equal to the damage of the attack. If a character reaches zero or fewer hit points, he or she becomes injured. As long as you have more then 0 hit points Hit points you are not injured. Uninjured characters can restore hit points by taking a short rest. See "Short Rest". 5.2. WILLPOWER Willpower (WP) is a character's way of pushing through tough situations or achieving extraordinary things. When your character is losing or spending willpower he or she is going through something emotional. This could be courage, fear, sorrow or anything else. You should role-play these emotions while your character is experiencing them. Characters with high willpower will feel like things are looking up for them, whereas characters with low willpower will be more inclined to give up and surrender to the situation. Once per day you can regain 1 willpower by doing something you enjoy. For more willpower other player may be able to help, or you can buy items for this purpose. 5.3. SKILLS Skills let you fight better, help others, create items, etc. Players must carry skill cards for every skill they have. These are provided by the event organization. Do not use the skill if you do not have the card. A description of the skill is provided on the skill card. You can only use one skill at a time. Using a skill may cost one or more willpower. --5-- 5.4. CONDITIONS 5.6. CARDS AND COUNTERS A condition is a character's state of being. This may be physical or mental. The event organization will provide cards for all conditions. Players must carry all condition cards of their character. Conditions include such things as race, social disorders or disfigurement. A condition can override rules in this rule-book for individual characters. For some skill, condition and item cards you have to keep a counter. This is simply a number that it put on the corresponding card. On the bottom of the cards are flaps with numbers on them. Fold the flap forward with the right number of that card's counter. The other flaps are folded back. For high numbers add multiple numbers together. 5.5. CONCENTRATION 6. COMBAT Skills, conditions and items that require Concentration, require you to perform some action uninterrupted for a certain period of time. An action is interrupted when you receive damage, or are subject to an effect. You cannot perform any other actions than described in the skill. 6.1. WEAPON TYPES In Heimr LARP any character can wield any weapon, as long as he has an item card and physrep for it. There are several different types of weapons, depending on length and usage. When you are hit by a weapon, subtract the damage corresponding to the weapon type from your HP. If an attacker makes a damage call (e.g. Hit 3) subtract the called number rather then the default. Weapon Types and Damage Weapon Damage Description type Throwing 1 LARP weapons without a solid core. Light 1 LARP Weapons with a maximum length of 60cm. Medium 2 LARP Weapons with a length between 60cm and 110cm. LARP weapons meant to resemble spears and similar Pole 2 weapons with a length between 150cm and 215cm. Two handed LARP weapons with a length between 110cm Great 3 and 150cm. Bow and LARP-safe arrows. 30 pound bows are the Bow 3 maximum. 6.2. EFFECTS Effects are ways in which a character is influenced by the game. Effects can be called by characters or by a Game master. Effects have a default number. If a number is called with the effect, use this number instead of the default. With Hit and Drain the number indicates how much you lose and with Break the number indicates how strong the break effect was. These have a default of 1. With all other effects the number following the effect is the --6-- number of seconds it lasts (default 2). An effect always works when it is For example "Stumble four" is a called. Players are thus not allowed to stumble effect that lasts four seconds call an effect when they are not sure and "hit two" is a hit effect that costs all the requirements needed to call it two hit points. If a term is called are met. before the effect, this indicates the effect source. For example "Divine stumble" is a stumble effect that is caused by a divine source. Unless you have a specific weakness or defence against that source, this is a regular stumble effect. Effects and Description Effect Default Description You lose one hit point. If this effect is called while you are hit Hit 1 with a weapon, the effect replaces the normal damage done. Drain 1 You lose one willpower. This effect can be called on items. If the break effect is strong Break 1 enough the item is destroyed. (See Toughness) You fall to the ground. After two seconds you can stand up Fall 2 again. You let go of the item in the hand, it drops to the ground, Drop 2 after two seconds you can pick it up again. You stumble about two meters away from the opponent for two seconds while you regain balance. This is the default Stumble 2 effect of getting hit by a blow dart. No call will be made. The stumble must be performed to show the person using the blowgun that the dart has hit. You are disorientated for two seconds. You cannot attack, Daze 2 defend, use skill or run. This effect is called on a body part and lasts two seconds. Binds can be done on the following location: Hands: You cannot pick up any items or use your hands. Keep your hands together. Arm: Keep your arm attached to whatever it is touching at Bind 2 the moment. Feet: You cannot walk or run, keep your feet together. You can only jump or crawl. Leg: Keep your leg attached to whatever it is touching at the moment. Body: You cannot move from your current position. Your character feels ill for two seconds. During this time skills Weaken 2 cost one willpower in addition to the normal cost of the skill. The effect of an attack was negated/blocked/resisted or Resist all reduced by the number called. An opponent's attack didn't do damage and the effect was Miss resisted (see above). --7-- 6.3. MOVEMENT AND RESTRAINT Some characters can not move, or do not want to be moved. Do not go tugging or pushing people. To keep it friendly the following rules apply: • One character can move a willing character with a leg injury • Two characters can move a character unable to stand and resist • Three characters can move an unwilling bound character • Four characters can move an unwilling character 7. HEALTH A character's health is of critical importance. This chapter explains what you can do to stay healthy, and what will happen if you do not. Skills for healing can be found in the various domains. 7.1. SHORT RESTS By taking a short rest, characters who have more than zero HP can restore all their HP. Characters who are injured (zero or less HP) can not take a short rest. The short rest must be uninterrupted for at least five minutes. During this time a character may not use skills, engage in combat, do physically straining activities such as running, get upset or angry. Any player that is not very active will find themselves meeting the conditions of being at rest most of the time. 7.2. INJURY EFFECTS When a character is hit with an attack that causes an injury, they receive an effect based on what body part got hit by the attack. The effect lasts as long as the character is injured. Characters can have additional effects from injuries, if they are hit on multiple body parts while injured. The effects are as followed: Either arm Leg(s) Torso Drop item Fall Daze 7.3. INJURIES There are three levels of injury, depending on how low your HP is. The three levels are: HP 0 or -1 Resulting injury Bloodied This injury requires treatment. You can't take a short rest The character dies in 10 minutes, and falls unconscious Mangled -2 or -3 half way through (5 minutes) The character falls unconscious instantly and dies after two Mutilated -4 or -5 minutes Some skills allow characters to be Stabilized. When a character is stable they are no longer dying and regain consciousness. Moving the injured body part will reopen the injury. Restart counting your injury from zero when this happens. --8-- 7.4. UNCONSCIOUSNESS When a character becomes unconscious for a longer time, the player might at some point want to leave. You can leave your unconscious character behind. To do so, leave an article of clothing of roughly the length of your body, in the place where your character lays. Leave behind all your item cards, money and your character card. Items can be stolen by taking the item cards. You can kill an unconscious character that has no player present, by ripping their character card. 7.5. DYING If your character dies you should remain lying on the spot for as long as necessary for people to finish playing with your remains. After this you should go see a game master to create a new character or help the team by becoming an NPC. 8. ITEMS Items are things of value which characters own in the game. Every item must have an item card and will usually require a physical representation (physrep). 8.1. PHYSREPS A physrep is an object that looks like the item it represents in the game. Players must bring their own physreps. The only exception are coins. Only coins provided by Heimr may represent money inside the game. You are allowed to carry one item for which you have no physrep. This is a concealed item. If a player searches you for concealed items you must show the item card from the concealed item. A Large item may not be concealed, this will be noted by the term "Large" on the item card. One large item can be carried in your hands without a physrep. You should indicate you are carrying an item by holding your hands out in front of you, with the card resting on your palms. You should take this item to a concealed location as soon as possible and leave it there until you acquire a suitable physrep. 8.2. TOUGHNESS Every item has a toughness value. This number indicates how difficult it is to break that item in such a way that it becomes useless. If an item has a toughness of 0, any character can destroy it simply by smashing it. Any item with a toughness of 1 or higher can only be destroyed by the break effect. If the break is equal to or stronger than the item's toughness, it is destroyed. For example a sword with toughness 2 can only be broken with a break 2 or higher effect. When an item is destroyed you must take the item card to a game master for a "broken item" insert. 8.3. ITEM CARDS On a Heimr LARP, all items that are of any value, except coins and throwing weapons, have an item card. An item card contains the name, average price, toughness, the kind of physrep that is required and the effect given to its owner. The item card must be attached to the physrep. A physrep without an item card does not exist inside the game and should be kept at the edges of the playing field. Stealing, looting or exchanging items should only be done by exchanging the item card. Do not take other player's physreps without their permission. If you steal an item you must take the item card and attach it to your own physrep. Because most items can be concealed (no physrep), you can steal something without having the physrep with you. --9-- If a physrep is on the player's body you must remove the physrep before you can take the item card. For example if you want to steal someone's chain mail you should actually get him out of it, before you can take the item card. Difficult to remove items (like a chain mail) can only be removed from unconscious or willing characters. The unconscious character's player must help removing the item. 9. CHANGED RULES There have been a number of changes in the rules since the last version. These are: 1. The Willpower threshold has been removed from the core. 2. Counters were added as a feature of any cards. 3. Break now simply requires players to go to a game master for a Broken Item insert. --10--