The Basics

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

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

• Percentile Dice: Also written as 1d%, these dice are not used as often. A set of percentile dice has a tens dice ("00") and a ones dice ("0"). Rolling those dice together is how you make use of percentile dice.
• d20: Also known as the 1d20 or the twenty-sided dice, this dice is the main dice in most game systems including this one. This dice is used for stat and trait checks, skill checks, and the like.
• 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. These typically come as the following:
  • 1d3: not so common in most dice sets. You can use a 1d6 for this dice with 4=1, 5=2, and 6=3.
  • 1d4: the 4 sided dice, often shaped like a pyramid.
  • 1d6: the standard 6 sided dice. If you ever played a board game you likely have used a 1d6.
  • 1d8: 8 sides
  • 1d10: ten sides, one dice that is also part of the percentile dice.
  • 1d12: 12 sides.

As noted above, the main dice that you will use is the 1d20 dice. 

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.

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.

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 Vitality, 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.

Status Effects can be found here: Status Effects. 

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”.

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: 

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.

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 Soulnd storms. Any of these could be strong enough to divert your adventure and force you to take Soulfety, 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 a hard luck to see if you get struck. Your GM may give you a modifier to increase your odds. Should you fail, you would take 2d12 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 a hard luck check. Should you fail, you will receive 2d8 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 2d20 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 normal endure 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 normal luck checks or suffer 1d10 damage each time hit with flying debris. While in a wind storm, your movement rates are decreased by ¾.

8) Stat and Trait 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. Trait Checks are the same as stat checks, except they are on the individual traits instead of the whole stat. Traits are things like focus, endure, and react for example. It is far more common to make a trait check then a stat check. When making a stat or trait check, your GM will tell you what kind of check it is. You will then need to roll 1d20 and add what you roll to the value of the trait for trait checks to see if you pass the trait check check. If it is a stat check, you will add the first digit to the 1d20 roll. If your stat is an 8, that first digit is a 0 as stats are 2 digit numbers. If you beat the challenge of the check, you succeeded at making the check. 

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.

8.1) Check Difficulty

Difficulties show you how hard or easy it will be to successfully perform that check. Difficulties are Easy, Normal, Hard, and Impossible. The difficulty shows you what you must beat on your check roll.

• Easy Difficulty: must roll 5 or greater
• Normal Difficulty: must roll 10 or greater
• Hard Difficulty: must roll 15 or greater
• Impossible Difficulty: must roll 20 or greater

What you roll plus any bonuses or penalties and what is in the trait you are checking give you your total. If the total beats the difficulty, you succeed. If the total is less than the difficulty, you fail. 

8.2) Critical Success & Critical Fails

Critical Success is rolling a 20 on the 1d20. This is also called a natural 20. If you roll this without any modifier, bonuses, or penalties, you succeed automatically. A 20 on the dice is instant success. Depending upon what you are doing, the effects or damage may be doubled as well. If this is a check to use a healing spell, for example, the healing spell will do double what is listed.

Critical Fail, also known as crit fail, is rolling a 1 on the d20. If you roll this, if a 1 is on your d20, you fail instantly. Your GM may then add in other effects of your failure depending on what is going on. Your GM may also have you make a luck check to see if your failure will still benefit you. 

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.

8.3) 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 whatever you have as your trait for a bonus.