Newbie Questions

[scott]

I have read the Final Haven rulebook and am interested in playing this LARP, but I had a few questions:

· According to the Costume section (page 32), a player can receive up to 2 Life Points based on costume authenticity. What are the guidelines for determining authenticity? What does a player have to do receive 1 LP? What more does a player need to do to receive the second?

· The only Path/Lifestyle/Discipline that has access to the Read/Write skill is the Sage. Other, non-sage, characters may purchase the Read/Write skill during character creation for 10 of their 20 starting “equipment” points. Can a player purchase Read/Write after character creation through the use of resources, or must he/she learn Basic Research and Read/Write from the Sage skill list?

· What are the in-game benefits of being from the Privileged lifestyle? According to the rules (page 57 – 58), Privileged characters receive 1 Life Point and “money or resources at each event they attend. The amount they receive is dependent on the game’s current economy.” Is there something more quantifiable than that? For example: X resources while the economy is depressed, x+1 resources when the economy is recessed, etc.

· Do Privileged characters receive these “money or resources” at their first game? Can it be used to supplement/augment the 20 “equipment points”?

· The player can purchase the “common” wealth level of resources during character creation (i.e., 3 food, 2 supplies, 1 clothing). Are these “spent” per event and more resources must be procured by the next event in order for the character to maintain his/her “common” wealth level? Or once they are purchased, they are permanent possessions, thereby making the character “common” until he/she loses the resources or gains a sufficient number to move to the Upper Class/Wealthy levels?

·When a character purchases his “supply” resources, what is the physical representation for this? If it is an actual supply (e.g., rope, bedroll, flint/steel) does that mean the character is actually limited to 2 supplies?

· How does upkeep work? What items have to be kept up (the rules only mention weapons and armor)? How often does an item have to be cared for? How long can an item be neglected and still remain functional?

· Do helmets prevent knockout attacks? There is no mention of this in the rules, but there was a thread on the board regarding this.

· Are the minimum and maximum weapon lengths (also found on page 108) referring to total weapon lengths (pommel + hilt + blade or haft + head)? What category does a weapon with a 37 or 38 inches length fall (they are neither short nor long)?

· According to the rules (page 108), every weapon does 1 point of damage. Is this correct? What is the advantage in having a “long” sword versus having a “hand and a half” sword versus having a “two-handed” sword? Can a long sword be wielded with two hands?

Thanks in advance,
Scott

[Onimaster]

I have read the Final Haven rulebook and am interested in playing this LARP, but I had a few questions:

• According to the Costume section (page 32), a player can receive up to 2 Life Points based on costume authenticity. What are the guidelines for determining authenticity? What does a player have to do receive 1 LP? What more does a player need to do to receive the second?

Well, the LP bonus for costume is pretty flexible. We usually award both or nothing depending on if effort is taken. Though we encourage you to be as extravagant as you can afford.

• The only Path/Lifestyle/Discipline that has access to the Read/Write skill is the Sage. Other, non-sage, characters may purchase the Read/Write skill during character creation for 10 of their 20 starting “equipment” points. Can a player purchase Read/Write after character creation through the use of resources, or must he/she learn Basic Research and Read/Write from the Sage skill list?

No, you cannot ‘buy’ read/write with resource tags in the same way you cannot use character points to amass wealth after character creation. Though I think if you wanted to have your character learn how to read through role playing you could then buy the ability with points granted by levels, or the higher GMs might grant you a special concession.

• What are the in-game benefits of being from the Privileged lifestyle? According to the rules (page 57 – 58), Privileged characters receive 1 Life Point and “money or resources at each event they attend. The amount they receive is dependent on the game’s current economy.” Is there something more quantifiable than that? For example: X resources while the economy is depressed, x+1 resources when the economy is recessed, etc.

The in game mechanic for privileged characters may be changed for the new year anyway, but basically you get your choice of resources and how many depends on how rare the one(s) you want are at the time. For example: food, supplies, and cloth are more plentiful than Steel or Mystic, so you might get 2 of the former and 1 of the latter.

• Do Privileged characters receive these “money or resources” at their first game? Can it be used to supplement/augment the 20 “equipment points”?

Yes to the first question. No to the second. Though if you want to see the extra resources you get as resources you don’t need to spend your 20 starting points on… then I guess it can be taken that way. However, you cannot turn resource tags into character creation points.

• The player can purchase the “common” wealth level of resources during character creation (i.e., 3 food, 2 supplies, 1 clothing). Are these “spent” per event and more resources must be procured by the next event in order for the character to maintain his/her “common” wealth level? Or once they are purchased, they are permanent possessions, thereby making the character “common” until he/she loses the resources or gains a sufficient number to move to the Upper Class/Wealthy levels?

Those are just an easy to buy bundle of tags. You need to turn in enough resource tags to maintain your desired wealth level for every event you attend… or starve.

•When a character purchases his “supply” resources, what is the physical representation for this? If it is an actual supply (e.g., rope, bedroll, flint/steel) does that mean the character is actually limited to 2 supplies?

All resources are represented by tags as there are too many to reasonably require physreps. A character mary carry any combination of up to 6 resource tags before being overloaded unless they have a chest/tote of adequate size, and then they can fill that chest with as many as they like a bag of holding.

• How does upkeep work? What items have to be kept up (the rules only mention weapons and armor)? How often does an item have to be cared for? How long can an item be neglected and still remain functional?

Upkeep are stickers you get from craftsman. Weapons, armor, magic items, and etc all need upkeep every game. If you do not pay the upkeep cost the next event it is non-functional. If two more events go by without paying it then becomes destroyed (at least I am pretty sure it is two, might be only one extra for a total of two events.).

• Do helmets prevent knockout attacks? There is no mention of this in the rules, but there was a thread on the board regarding this.

Helmets provide armor points and knockout is compared against your target’s current armor point pool. So, they help, but not any more than any other armor or combat reflexes. In an old rule version there were some skills causing similar effects that were blocked by a helm, but those rules were streamlined into the current much easier to use and remember ‘X-Knockout’ call.

• Are the minimum and maximum weapon lengths (also found on page 108) referring to total weapon lengths (pommel + hilt + blade or haft + head)? What category does a weapon with a 37 or 38 inches length fall (they are neither short nor long)?

Those measurements are total length from tip to tip. Did 37 and 38 get chopped from the chart? I guess they would fall into the long category. The lost and legendary ‘medium’ sized weapon category lol.

• According to the rules (page 108), every weapon does 1 point of damage. Is this correct? What is the advantage in having a “long” sword versus having a “hand and a half” sword versus having a “two-handed” sword? Can a long sword be wielded with two hands?

The only difference is personal preference, and character skill requirements. For example: a swashbuckler can only use short weapons dual-handed. Also, take note that ‘Two-Hand’ is just a size category not a requirement to wield. You could use a shield in one hand and say a spear in the other (Go Romans!). If you want to swing for more damage you need to take warrior or a discipline that gives a bonus to damage from specific weapons like knight, pikeman, undead hunter, etc.

[Brago]

A question about headgear: Would I get the same benefits wearing a hardened leather helm as I would with a chainmail coif? The rules say something about getting 1 point regardless of what category the armor falls into.
Also, armor points don't accumulate do they? For example, if I wore chainmail under leather armor, I would only get the points of the chainmail right?
Thanks

[Onimaster]

A question about headgear: Would I get the same benefits wearing a hardened leather helm as I would with a chainmail coif? The rules say something about getting 1 point regardless of what category the armor falls into.
Also, armor points don't accumulate do they? For example, if I wore chainmail under leather armor, I would only get the points of the chainmail right?
Thanks

At the moment all headgear counts as 1 point of armor, but I agree that this should be changed for the new season.

The head is the most vital part of the body and it makes much more sense for it to be a standard location that can be light, medium, and heavy. As it stands there is no motivation to wear a full enclosed helm as a leather cap adds just as much protection without becoming virtually blind and deaf.

[Donovan Thynedar]

Also, armor points don't accumulate do they? For example, if I wore chainmail under leather armor, I would only get the points of the chainmail right?
Thanks

That's right, Brago. Armor doesn't stack.

[GM_Chris]

The reason head gear is 1 is because if we made it more then we would have armor issues. Yes even adding 2 more points to the system can cause issues.

[Onimaster]

The reason head gear is 1 is because if we made it more then we would have armor issues. Yes even adding 2 more points to the system can cause issues.

I'd like to discuss this more somewhere.

[WayneO42]

I Moved the storage questions to its own thread.