Roleplaying System Notes

General Rules

Action in a round
A combat round
Armour class
To-hit modifier
Class bonuses

Skill Rolls

Performing a skill roll
Skill roll failures
Critical failures
Skill rolls against abilities
Saving throws

Non-Combat Rolls

Falling damage
Holding your breath

Gaining Experience

Experience skill rolls
Experience required per level

Spellcasting

Casting a spell
Spells gained per level

Illusions

Bizarre Magical Effects

Buying and Selling Items

General Rules

Action in a Round: To perform an action, first make an initiative roll. This is done on a d10. Subtract from this the weapon speed factor or the spell casting time and any other initiative bonuses. This is your initiative for this round. Turns are taken in order of initiative, lowest first. Once your initiative has been reached you may take the action you have planned for that round. A typical action would be to remove or replace an item from storage, to wield or sheathe a weapon, or to engage in a single blow of combat.
A Combat Round: Add 2d6 to your To-Hit Modifier (thmod) plus any bonuses. Doubles add and roll over in the same way as a Skill Roll. The final result indicates what Armour Class you have hit.
Armour Class: Armour Class (AC) starts at 0 and increases with increasing quality of armour.
To-Hit Modifier (thmod): Your thmod is initially -5 for first-level characters. Fighters thmods increase every level by their new level number. Rogue's thmods increase by 1 per level. Mage's thmods never increase by level, only by Bonuses.
Class Bonuses: Fighters receive a +1 bonus to their thmod for every point of strength above 12, with a maximum of their level number. Ie. a level 4 fighter with a strength of 15 would receive a +3 to their thmod whereas a level 2 fighter with a strength of 16 would only receive a +2 bonus to hit.
Rogues get a bonus of +1 on their thmod for every point of luck above 12, with a maximum of their level, as calculated above.
Mages get a +1 bonus to hit for every point of dexterity above 12, their level number being the maximum possible bonus to their thmod other than by magical means.

Skill Rolls

Performing a Skill Roll: To perform a skill roll you must roll 2d6. On a double, the value is added to the total score and the dice are rolled again. This process is continued until a non-double is rolled. (Incidentally, this method yields an expected value of precisely 8.4.) To succeed in a skill check you must equal or exceed 5 x the level of the skill check.
Skill Roll Failures: A total of 3 is an automatic failure in any skill roll. If, however, a roll of 3 would have otherwise meant the player would have succeeded by one or more full levels (ie. 5 points or more) then there is the following proviso: A player can make one luck roll (see Skill Rolls Against Abilities below), at the level of the original skill roll for every full level they would have normally made the roll by. If any of these luck rolls are made then the skill roll is successful.
Note the term full level. If the player needed a 1 to succeed and rolled a 3 on their initial throw then they would have only made the roll by 2 points and not the full 5 needed to gain any further luck rolls. Their skill roll was unsuccessful.
Note further that the above proviso does not apply to any luck rolls made necessary by a potential automatic failure. A result of 3 on any of these rolls is simply a failure. Nor does the player gain any experience for these extra rolls. (See Experience for Skill Rolls below.) the experience gained is simply the amount the player would have received had the original roll not been an automatic failure. Thus it is not possible for highly skilled characters to gain vast amounts of experience by continually rolling automatic failures.
Critical Failures: If the player should roll exactly 1 point short of what they need for success then they have made a critical failure! This should be punished by loss of weapon, extra damage, specific injury or handicap, Bizarre Magical Effect or any other extreme consequence deemed appropriate under the circumstances.
Skill Rolls Against Abilities: To successfully roll against an ability of an opponent, you must equal or exceed their ability in a skill roll. To succeed in a roll against your own ability you must equal or exceed 20 - that ability.
Saving Throws: Most saving throws should be skill rolls made on luck. Skill rolls on other abilities can be made in exceptional circumstances but the vast majority of saving throws versus falling, poison, paralysation and virtually all forms of magic should be luck-based skill rolls.

Non-Combat Rolls

Falling Damage: Make a Luck roll of one level for every 10' of distance fallen, rounded up. 1d6 of damage is taken for every full level the roll is failed by.
Holding your breath: Make a CON roll of one level for every continuous round the character is unable to breathe. Every full level the roll is failed by subtracts 1d6 of CON. Zero or less CON is unconciousness or death.

Gaining Experience

Experience for Skill Rolls

Experience is gained on most skill rolls except for combat. Experience is gained in combat for overall results, not for individual attempts. On other skill rolls 10 XP is gained for each point the roll is made by, if successful, or 5 XP for each point the roll is failed by, if not.
Note that these rules in combination with the rules for Skill Rolls and Critical Failures imply that the closer a roll is to being achieved exactly, the less experience is gained and if the roll is exactly successful (a total of one higher than that for a critical failure) then no experience is gained at all. Mediocrity is punished harshly in this system.

Experience Reqired per Level

Level	Experience	Level	Experience	Level	Experience	Level	Experience
1	0	6	15,000	11	150,000	16	1,500,000
2	1,000	7	25,000	12	250,000	17	2,500,000
3	2,500	8	40,000	13	400,000	18	4,000,000
4	5,000	9	65,000	14	650,000	19	6,500,000
5	9,000	10	100,000	15	1,000,000	20	10,000,000

Spellcasting

Casting a Spell

When a spell is cast, a skill roll on strength is made at the level of the spell. If the spell roll succeeds then the spell is cast successfully and the spell is retained in memory. If the roll is failed then the spell is still successful but is no longer memorised and cannot be relearned until after a full night's sleep. On an Automatic Failure (a spell roll of three and all subsequent luck rolls fail) the spell is forgotten without taking effect. It can be relearned as normal.
Individual spells can be learned multiple times per day and a failed spell roll of either of the above types erases only a single learning of the spell for that day. On Critical Failure, however, all spells are wiped from memory and no further magic can be performed by the mage that day. In addition to this, for every full level the mage fails their spell roll by, there is a cumulative 10% chance of a Bizarre Magical Effect taking place.

Spells Gained Per Level

Mage Level  |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8   9  10  11  12  13
Spell Level | 01 12 12 31 23 41 34 25  61  45  36  27  45

Mage Level  | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21  22  23  24  25  26
Spell Level | 36 27 18 45 36 27 18 91 112 112 131 123 141