The Basics

This page describes the basics of gameplay in Legends of Nor'Ova.

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1) Rolling the Dice

Legends of Nor'Ova is a tabletop RPG that uses stats and dice for gameplay. You have already experienced rolling dice and making stats while creating your character. This is simply a refresher as well as an explanation of some of the uncommon aspects.

First you should famaliarize yourself with the dice that you will be using in game play. They are as follows:

• Percentile Dice: Also writen as 1d%, these are the main dice that you will use. A set of percentile dice has a tens dice ("00") and a ones dice ("0"). Rolling those dice together is how you will do most things from stat checks to using skills.
• d20: Also known as the 1d20 or the twenty-sided dice, this dice is the main dice in most game systems. In Legends of Nor'Ova, it is only used for checking initiative in battle. The d20 is used for this because it is the largest common single dice, lessening the odds that two people will roll the same number.
• Other Dice: You should also have a full set of standard polygon dice as spells, skills, and some weapons will make use of the different dice.

As noted above, the main dice that you will use is the percentile dice. Reading the percentile dice is quite simple, you read the tens dice first ("00") followed by the ones dice ("0"). If you rolled a "10" and a "0", that equals 10. If you rolled a "00" and a "1", that equals "1". If you rolled a "00" and a "0", that equals 100. Pretty simple, right?

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2) Dealing With Decimals

Occasionally you might come across decimals. While most of the system is simple adding and subtracting, it does still happen. This is especially true in crafting. The rule for decimals is simple, round up.

Of course you might be wondering, do I always round up? Here's some simple rules on that matter:

• You always round up to the nearest whole number for all values except weight and cost.
• Weight and cost are rounded up to the nearest hundredth place ("0.01")
• If the value is 1.123432, you would round that up to 2, or to 1.13 if it is a weight or a cost.
• If the value is 1.012343, you would keep that as a 1, or round up to 1.02 if it is a weight or a cost.

Therefore, unless it is a weight or a cost, you only look at the number next to the decimal ("1.1"), and if that number is anything but a 0, you round up to the nearest whole number. Weights and costs though are kept at 2 decimal places.

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3) Duration

Many spells and status effects provide a duration. You might be tempted to think that if you recast that spell or poison that target again before the duration runs out, that the duration would be extended and maybe the effects increased. However this is not correct. You cannot, for example, increase the damage of poison by applying poison again. Nor can you increase the duration like this. If a target is poisoned, that target cannot be poisoned any further until the duration of the poison is complete.

Lets look at the spell haste, for example.

As you can see, it lasts for 1 hour. For 1 hour, the target's movement rates are doubled. If you cast this spell on that same target in round 2, it will not quadruple the target's movement rates nor will it increase the duration by an extra hour. It would have been a wasted effort.

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4) Status Effects

Status effects are any effects which alter your character’s status. These could be positive effects, such as increased speed or a slow regeneration of HP, however you are more likely to come across negative status effects. These could be effects from your own mistakes, such as drinking too much or not enough or even carrying too much weight. These could also come from spells, nature, traps, and other sources. The following table will show all of the negative status effects that you can encounter in the game, what they do, and some treatments for them. You should note that some campaigns will come with special status effects relevant to the story of the campaign and your GM may include his own status effects and cures.

Status Effects Table

Every listed medicine can be purchased from the alchemist. Some medicines will cure multiple effects, such as remedy, and some effects have multiple cures. Some effects simply have to run their course.

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5) Battles

Negative status effects aren’t the only dangers that you are likely to face in your adventure. No matter where you are, there is always a chance that you will find yourself in a battle against hostile foes. This could be a battle of survival against a pack of hungry lions out in the plains or giant rabid rats in the sewers. You could be defending yourself against a would be assassin in a dark ally way or some over zealous guard who has nothing better to do with their time than to pick a fight with you. You could even be the instigator, hunting a large, rare beast or getting caught by a regiment of guards after a heist and not wanting to be arrested. Whatever the reason, you are more than likely to find yourself in a battle, and therefore battles are one of the perils you need to be aware of. However, the rules for battles are too expansive to be included here, so for more information on how to deal with battles, please refer to the section entitled “Combat”.

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6) Traps & Obstacles

Another peril you will likely encounter are traps and obstacles. Traps can be found anywhere. They can be set up in otherwise peaceful looking roads, or deep in the middle of wild forests. They can be found in homes and sewers, and of course deep within ancient ruins. Traps do not always have to be man-made traps, but can include anything that could endanger your character or cause trouble in your adventure. To disarm traps you must have the right ability and describe how you are going to do so. The disarming trap abilities don't do the work for you, but they give you the knowledge to be able to disarm traps. The abilities you need are: Identify Traps (skill), Basic Traps Knowlege, Better Traps Knowledge, Complex Traps Knowledge, Advanced Traps Knowledge, and Magic Traps Knowledge.

You can also set traps in Legends of Nor'Ova. You will need the above listed abilities depending upon the complexity of the trap you wish to set. You will also need the Trap Setting skill. If you have all that and the material to set a trap, plan it out with your GM. Your GM will decide the difficulty of the trap based on your explanation, and how long it will take you to set the trap.

Traps are but one form of obstacle. Other obstacles could be things that require a skill to pass, such as having to swim across a river, or things that are impossible to pass such as a wall within an enclosed ruin that you cannot climb over. Many obstacles require you to backtrack back through dangerous areas that you have already passed through in order to find your way around the obstacle. Other obstacles could be a part of a puzzle that has to be solved in order to progress, or require a key or other item to get passed such as a locked door. Some obstacles may even include rare treasures such as chests.

What traps and obstacles you face are always up to the GM.

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7) Inclement Weather

Perhaps one of the most under-prepared for peril is inclement weather. Inclement weather can force you to take refuge within a dark cave or overgrown ancient ruin that you weren’t otherwise planning to visit. Inclement weather can ruin your supplies, delay your adventure, and even pose substantial risk to your character.

Of course, inclement weather is completely up to the GM. Only the GM can decide what kind of weather, if any, you would experience on your adventure. Inclement weather usually only would affect you while traveling in the world map, but it can also effect you in area maps if you are outdoors. Inclement weather typically does not affect inside locations.

Some examples of inclement weather are rain storms, thunder storms, wind storms, hail storms, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and sand storms. Any of these could be strong enough to divert your adventure and force you to take safety, however there are certain storms that could pose an immediate risk to your character.

• Lightning Storms, thunder storms, or any storms that have lightning: Lightning can severally hurt your character, no doubt about that. A character wearing a full suit of metal armor is just a lightning rod begging to be struck. Therefore should you be caught outdoors during lightning, you should make an evasion check using the 20 magic penalty to see if you get struck. Your GM may give you a modifier to increase your odds. Should you fail, you would take 10d10 damage. You will need to repeat this for each hour that you are exposed.

• Hail Storms: Balls of compacted ice falling at a great distance can also harm your character. If you are caught out in the open in a hail storm, you need to make an evade check. Should you fail, you will receive 2d20 damage. You will need to repeat this for each hour that you are exposed.

• Tornadoes: If you get caught in a tornado, you will receive 10d20 damage automatically. You should make haste to find shelter if you spot a tornado, because getting caught in one will most likely kill you.

• Sand Storms, Snow Storms, and Dust Storms: If you get caught in one of these storms, your visibility will drop to near zero, meaning you will not be able to see or know where you are going. Your movement rates will also be decreased by ¾. If you are caught in a snow storm you will need to make hourly resistance checks to avoid frost bite.

• Wind Storms: Wind storms can decrease your visibility if there is a lot of debris flying about. If the debris is large, you may be required to make evade checks or suffer 1d20 damage each time hit with flying debris. While in a wind storm, your movement rates are decreased by ¾.

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8) Stat Checks

Throughout this wiki, especially in this section, you may have read something about making some sort of stat check. A stat check is basically a check to see if your character is able to do or avoid something based on your character’s stats. When making a stat check, your GM will tell you what kind of stat check it is. You will then need to roll percentile nice to see if you pass the stat check. Typically, if you roll your stat and below, this would mean you succeeded at making a stat check. So if you had to make a perception check and your character’s Perception % is 20, and you rolled an 18, you succeeded. However the GM may decide to give you a temporary bonus or penalty for the stat in question for that stat check only, making it harder or easier to preform the stat check successfully.

But how do you exactly know what kind of stat checks you need to make and when you need to make them? Well this is entirely up to the GM and the situation. The GM will have to determine what the situation best calls for and should a stat check even be needed. A good knowledge of what the stats are and how they work is important here.

• Fortitude: You may want to make a fortitude check anytime there is a situation that involves a character’s HP or defensive ability. For example, a character enter into the boiling hot chamber of a volcano right above a lake of magma. As GM, you figure that just being in that room would quickly cook a character, doing 10 points of damage to their HP per minute. However you realize that some people can withstand heat better than others, so you decide to give them a fortitude check. If they pass, they cut their losses in half. Again this is just one example. Fortitude checks are also used to make so-called “Resistance Checks”. These are checks made whenever a character is encountering a negative status effect. For example, a character gets bit by a poisonous spider. Here the GM can ask for a resistance check to see if the character gets poisoned or only get dealt bite damage. If the character succeeds, no poison, if the character fails, the character is poisoned. Whenever making a fortitude check, you will be using the Fortitude stat.

• Speed: You may want to use a speed check for anything that would call into question a character’s speed or ability to maintain motion. A good example is getting stuck in quicksand. If the character can make a successful speed check, the character can escape the quicksand. Here you will be using the Speed stat. Speed checks are also used for checking agility actions such as the character’s ability to bend, flex, flip, or even stay balanced or stay standing comes into question.

• Evade %: If a character wants to evade anything, such as falling debris, arrows from traps or shot afar, or whatever, you will want to call for an evade check. A success here means the evade is successful.

• Mental: Anytime a character wishes to learn something new for that character, such as a new language, or try to understand something, you will want to use a mental check. This could even be used for trying to remember information. For example, a character is trying to remember something that they learned about at an earlier part in their adventure, but the player can’t remember what that information is. The player could ask for help, and the GM could then decide to make that character make a mental check. If the character succeeds, the GM will remind the player the forgotten information for the character to remember. If the check fails however, the character will not remember. You would not make a mental check to learn new skills or spells. Instead to learn new skills or spells refer to the skills system rules. Whenever making a mental check you will be using the Mental stat.

• Will: You will want to use a will check anytime your character’s will become challenged. This could be when trying to escape persuasion or mental effects such as charm, seduction, or confusion., prevent from being enraged or possessed, or even to keep from loosing yourself to emphatic or emotional attacks.

• Perception %: You would make a perception check anytime you are trying to see or hear something that is not clearly visible or easy to hear. This could be when looking for hard to see trap triggers such as trip lines of pressure plates, when looking in a room for small clues or even when eavesdropping or listening for possible danger. Perception checks are never used to see what is plainly evident nor does a failed perception check mean that you are blind. It just means that your character failed to notice anything not plainly noticeable.

• Strength: You will wish to use a strength check anytime the character’s strength comes into question. This could be for pulling, carrying, or lifting weight greater than what the character can do normally, or for freeing oneself from tight holds. For example, two characters are exploring an ancient ruin when the floor gives out and one character proceeds to fall. The other character, probably making a successful speed check, is able to quickly grab his falling friend by the hand but now needs to pull him up out of harms way. However the character weights more than what the other character can lift or carry, but not terribly much more. The GM could have the character that is pulling up the other character make a strength check. If successful, the character is able to pull up the other character out of harm’s way. If he fails however he drops the other character.

• Luck: You will want to make a luck check for any situation that can be explained by luck. This could be for finding treasure, or for escaping being noticed or even barely escaping with one’s life when the ceiling comes caving in. Luck is one of the most versatile stats in that it can be used for all kinds of situations, and even can be used to determine random battles and story-driven situations.

• Influence %: You will want to use a influence check anytime a character is attempting to use their influence for a purpose. This could be for trying to charm a price reduction with one’s good looks and flattery, or trying to coax information from a tight-lipped city guard. It could be used for trying to impress some tavern barmaid, or even trying to get out of a fight with some enraged ex-boyfriend. Influence can also be used to influence others to think the way your character thinks (or at least agree with your character).

With stat checks you can try out any situation. You are only limited by your own imagination and by what your GM allows. Stat checks can turn even the most impossible situations into possible situations, a gathering at a local tavern into a humorous event and bring life to trying to talk your way out of a jail sentence. However stat checks should never be used to prohibit actual role play, instead they should be used with role play to provide a way and means for things to be done.

8.1) Aiding With Stat Checks

It is possible to help another player who is making a stat check, as long as you can help with that player's character is doing. For example, you can help open a heavy door or lift a heavy boulder thus helping that player make a strength check. Or you could help convince the guard helping that player with his or her influence check. To help with a stat check, you simply declare that you are helping and you will give that player a bonus of 5. This bonus of 5 is added per player character that is helping the character making the check.

8.2) Stat Check Difficulty

Not every instance of making a stat check is going to be the same. Sometimes the situation will make for an easier stat check. Other times it will be more difficult. Largely this difficulty will depend upon the situation and the GM, however here is a simple table that can be used.

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