About Legends of Nor'Ova
Legends of Nor'Ova is a passion project that has been in development, in one form or another, since 1996. What began as a humble attempt by a teenager to create his own tabletop role-playing game has grown over the decades into something far more substantial - a complete, original game system with its own world, magic system, lore, and now a full online encyclopedia.
The game has gone through many iterations, rewrites, and overhauls across the years. Early versions were written by hand and photocopied for friends. Later versions moved to digital documents. The current version represents the most ambitious revision yet - a complete rewrite of the underlying system from a percentage-based model to a d20-based system, designed to be more accessible to new players while preserving everything that made Nor'Ova distinctive.
This site serves as the living rulebook, lore repository, and reference document for the game. It is intended to be used at the table - pulled up on a laptop or phone during a session to look up a spell, a stat block, or a calendar date. It is always being updated, expanded, and improved.
Legends of Nor'Ova is a labor of love. It has never been commercially published and is made available freely to anyone who wants to play it. If you play it, enjoy it, or find it useful - that is reward enough.
About the Creator
Legends of Nor'Ova was created and is maintained by Travis, with extensive early assistance from Thomas Danztler III, who contributed significant creative work to the early development of the game and whose influence can still be felt throughout the world of Nor'Ova. His contributions are remembered and appreciated.
Project Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Legends of Nor'Ova first conceived and developed as a handwritten tabletop RPG. |
| 2000 | First digital version of the rules compiled. |
| 2008 | Legends of Nor'Ova Encyclopedia website launched on Drupal CMS. First time the full rules and lore were available online. |
| 2010 | Major rules revision. Significant expansion of the spell library, profession system, and world lore. |
| 2015 | Additional major revision. The world of Nor'Ova expanded substantially, including the development of the Chacepheran calendar, the elemental affinity system, and the current profession structure. |
| 2025 | d20 system rewrite begun. Complete overhaul of the underlying game mechanics from a percentage-based system to a d20-based system, including new challenge tier structure, revised profession and talent balance, and redesigned character sheet. |
| Early 2026 | Decision made to migrate the Encyclopedia from Drupal to Backdrop CMS following a failed Drupal update. Migration used as an opportunity for full content review and improvement rather than a straight copy-paste. |
| June 2026 | First d20 system playtest. Core mechanics validated. Challenge tier system adjusted - six-tier scale (Easy/Normal/Challenging/Hard/Impossible plus modifier notation) established based on playtest feedback. Crafting systems tested. |
| 2026 | Backdrop CMS migration completed. Full content overhaul including revised spell library (656 spells across 8 elements and 16 affinities), complete Equipment & Goods section with weapon crafting, armor crafting, and the Arcane Forge, restructured Gameplay Rules section, and the Lore section including deity pages, world geography, and the Forgotten Stories archive. |
| July 2026 | Second d20 system playtest. Continued validation of revised mechanics, undead encounters, and Bestiary system. Ongoing. |
Accreditation
Legends of Nor'Ova is built on the work of many open-source and community projects. The following are credited for their contributions to making this site and this game possible:
- Backdrop CMS — This site runs on Backdrop CMS, a free and open-source content management system and a fork of Drupal maintained by the Backdrop CMS community. The flexibility, stability, and extensibility of Backdrop made the full migration and overhaul of this site possible.
- The Nor'Ova Playtesting Community — Every person who has sat down at a table and played Legends of Nor'Ova across the decades has contributed to its development, whether they knew it or not. Feedback, enthusiasm, and the particular creativity that players bring to a game system have shaped every revision.
- The Open Game Community — The broader tabletop RPG community, whose decades of innovation in game design, open publishing, and shared knowledge have informed the development of this system throughout its history.
Permissions
Legends of Nor'Ova and all content on this site — including rules, lore, world material, spell descriptions, and illustrations — is the original creative work of Travis and is protected by copyright.
You are welcome to:
- Use the rules and content of Legends of Nor'Ova for personal, non-commercial play at your own table.
- Share links to this site freely.
- Reference this material in fan works, provided that Legends of Nor'Ova and its creator are credited.
You may not:
- Reproduce, republish, or redistribute the content of this site — in whole or in part — without explicit written permission from the creator.
- Use the content of this site for commercial purposes of any kind without explicit written permission.
- Present the content of this site as your own work.
For permissions requests or inquiries, contact the creator through this site.