The year is 1467 WEYR (year of Weyrth). The world has been at peace for nearly 600 years, after Xanar and the Dark Betrayer fought their cataclysmic battle, which shattered the north and caused the two to disappear. Now, however, the King of the country of Gelure declares himself emperor of the continent, and begins a violent campaign in conquest of his neighbours. He has nearly taken Farrenshire and Oustenreich - the neighbours to his north east - and has now began attacking Cyrinthemeiran, to the west.

In the Seat of the Xanarian empire, everyone prepares for combat, knowing that with Gelure as neighbours, it will only be a matter of time before the fight is brought to their borders. And this is where we begin our tale...

This game takes place on the world of Weyrth. It is somewhat similar to Earth. It is roughly the same size, has many different nationalities, and roughly the same climate.

Weyrth has 364 days in a year, and has 6 moons, each of a different colour. These moons are found in one long cluster. It is said that three suns once circled the world, but now only one shines on it's ground.

The world consists of one massive continent, called Weyrth. The continent is divided into three sub continents: Mainlund (the west), Tegaarn (the east), and Maraiah (the south). Some explorers claim to have seen other lands, but nobody thinks too much on this topic, calling it the delusions of sea sick men.

Mainlund
The subcontinent of the Mainlund stretches from the Xanarian peninsula to the icy northern shores of Savaxen and Stahl. Its western border extends to Zaporozhya and Sarmatov. The climate is generally temperate, with colder temperatures in the north and warmer temperatures in the south. Much of the Mainlund is covered in Mountains and forests, while still maintaing a high population of both urban centers and rural estates. Most of the Mainlund was once under the control of the old Empire of Xanarium and bears deep cultural and religious ties to that heritage today.

Tegaarn
The largest of Wyerth's continents begins roughly at the worlds equator - near the southern borders of Otamarluk - and reaches all the way to the frozen seas north of Zibhara and the Northern Wastes. Tegaarn is relatively flat, with very few mountain ranges except for its borders with the other two sub continents. In the north and west, this featureless terrain appears as steppe and plains, dry in the summer, cold and wet, in the winter. Deserts and wastelands spot the middle and southern end of Tegaarn, based along the eastern shores of Vhedij and Tengoku. Centuries ago, this was weakened by the incursion of Svarstran religious philosophies and practices, which in some form or another dominate the entire east. The western half of the subcontinent attributes major religious and cultural influences to the theologies of Mainlund, Ixliaph, and even Fahal.

Maraiah
The warm climate of Maraiah ranges from the far corners of Fauth to the savage jungles of Savari. The western reaches of Maraiah are covered with treacherous mountains that smooth out to flat plains and hilly woodlands, eventually drying up into the deserts of northern Tez'hamun and the east. As with Tegaarn, the eastern shores are thickly vegetated with harsh jungle badlands. Religiously and culturally Maraiah is the most diverse of Weyrth's three sub continents, despite its smaller land mass; western religion is common in the mountains, Savrstan philosophy in the middle and east, and countless indigenous and national cults and variations.


Your adventure will start from the Seat of the Xanarian Empire. Does this mean you have to be born there? Of course not. You could be a traveler, or a prisoner. It's all in where you're willing to go with your persona.

In the Riddle of Steel, any given person has a set of 20 attributes. These can be divided into four groups: Temporal, Mental, Spiritual, and Derived.

Temporal
Temporal attributes deal with the tangible, physical realm. An average score is 4, while 10 is the maximum degree attainable.

Strength is a measure of physical power and brawn, and has a great influence on damage dealt in combat, as well as some physical feats.

Agility is a measure of nimbleness, dexterity, speed, and hand-eye coordination. Agility is the key element in all physically active characters, such as warriors, thieves, and some entertainers.

Toughness is a measure of physical grit and hardiness. A high toughness protects a character from bodily harm.

Endurance is a measure of general "fitness" and plays a large roll in any long term physical activity.

Health is a measure of one's immune system and healing capabilities.


Mental
Mental attributes deal with the mind and thought process. An average human's ability is ranked at 4, with 10 being the maximum attainable.

Will Power is a measure of mental endurance and determination. This extremely useful virtue often means the difference in tight spots. This kind of determination and grit is best found in hardened soldiers and those fiercely dedicated to their causes.

Wit is a measure of mental reflex and sharpness, best exhibited in comedians and fencers. This trait is a key element for both good fighters and those who deal with the cutthroat intrigue of royal courts and palaces.

Mental Aptitude is a measure of how quickly one learns and how much they retain, exemplified by scholars, know-it-alls, and the finest pupils. This is not a measure of intelligence (that's up to the players, not the paper!) This trait has a great effect on skill advancement. This attribute is extremely important for Skill-based characters, such as courtiers, thieves and academics.

Social is a measure of how charismatic, empathetic, and culturally adept your character is. This is a crucial ability for entertainers, courtiers, leaders, wheelers and dealers.

Perception is a measure of alertness and awareness to one's surroundings. This attribute can warn your group of an impending ambush, or nighttime attacked, or help you find the key to the king's secret passage... Woodsmen and rogues are often noted for their keen senses and Perception.

Spiritual
Spiritual attributes differ from other attributes in many ways. There are no averages. These traits fluctuate often during a character's lifetime. Unless modified by nationality, spiritual attributes cannot be raised above 5. Each spiritual attribute must be defined for each character, resulting in a unique combination of beliefs, values, and motivations. The exceptions are luck, and conscience, which do not need to be defined.

Throughout the game, many things will happen which deal directly with your spiritual attributes. Whenever such an event happens, you may add a number of dice equal to your attribute to the roll.

While there are 6 spiritual attributes, any character only chooses 5. None of the traits may be taken more than once, except for passion, and it must be separately defined

Conscience refers to ones desire to do the "right thing," be it compassion, heroism, or any other manifestation of "right and wrong."

Destiny signifies a higher calling. Perhaps you are to be a king, perhaps bring down an empire, or just be killed by a man "not of woman born." Whatever it is, chances are the character is aware of his destiny, and may just be in denial.

Drive defines an extra level of determination and a powerful sense of purpose. Someone with Drive has a worthy cause that they would die for.

Faith reflects the bond between deity and man. Belief is an important issue in Weyrth, for a man without belief is not a man. Any character may possess a degree of faith, even atheists if they hold strongly enough to their atheism.

Luck is a reflection of fate's tendency to smile on you. Arrows narrowly miss, archenemies leave their grunts to "finish the job," and the cute barmaid notices you instead of your other manlier traveling companion. (at any point, you may permanently spend one luck point to gain automatic success on a roll. This loses the luck point, but that is better than nothing considering that the other option could be death!)

Passion entails a specific love, hate, or loyalty - to a single person or entity - that occupies your characters thoughts and actions constantly.

Derived
Derived attributes come from a combination of other attributes.

Reflex is a combination of agility and wit, and determines how quickly a character can react to external stimulus.

Aim, extracted from Perception and Agility, is one's natural ability to hit a target over a distance.

Knockdown is a measure of how solid and balanced one remains after taking a blow.

Knockout is a measure of how hard it is to knock a person unconscious, based on toughness and will power.

Move is a measure of how much distance - in yards - one can move on foot in approximately 1 or 2 seconds.

In The Riddle of Steel, there are six main aspects to a character:

Race
Social Class
Attributes
Skills
Proficiencies (and Vagaries)
Gifts and Flaws

And, as we all know, not everyone is the same! Priorities must be set for your character! You choose priorities by giving each of these six issues a letter from A-F, with A being the best and F being the worst.


Race
In this game, for ease of relations, I would like everyone to choose human as a race. However, this still leaves two choices for racial priorities:

B) Gifted Human. These Humans are able to use magic, which is a very rare and destructive power in Weyrth.

D), E) or F) Human. Just a run of the mill human.

Social Class
The six choices for Social class are:

A) Landed Nobility. This social class has all rights possible in their own land. They possess land, and income. They begin the game with 250 golden standard, (the equivalent of 250,000 modern day USD).

B) Landless Nobility. This social class does not possess land, but still has the same rights as Landed Nobility. They begin the game with 100 Golden Standard (the equivalent of 100,000 modern day USD).

C) High Freeman. This social class represents the well to do people of the world who aren't nobles. They are permitted to bear weapons, and wear non metal armours, unless their lord dictates otherwise. The begin play with 50 Golden Standard (the equivalent of 50,000 modern day USD.) May also own a horse.

D) Low Freemen. Similar to the High freemen, the Low Freeman are simply poorer. They have similar rights to the High freeman, and may bear weapons and non metal armours, though a horse is usually out of their means. They begin the game with 15 golden standard.

E) Peasants and Serfs. This social class may not own forged weapons (though there is no law against staffs and bows.) They begin the game with 5 Golden Standard.

F) Slave. Slaves are the lowest of the low, and begin play with nothing. They have no rights, and are either kept in prison, or hard at work. Occasionally, a noble will take you in, and you will gain some privileges... but no income is made.

Attributes
This is the number of points which you get to distribute between the Temporal and Mental attributes.

A) 47 points

B) 43 points

C) 39 points

D) 35 points

E) 31 points

F) 27 points.

When distributing points, you must nominate an attribute to be "high." No other attributes may be the same or pass this one prior to nationality modifiers. No attribute may be higher than 7 or lower than 2 prior to racial modifiers.

No matter what selection you take for points, you get 7 points to spend on your 5 spiritual attributes.

Skills
Characters can choose from "skill packets" to show which skills they are good at, and which they aren't. The lower the Skill Rating (SR) the more developed the skill is.

A) Two Packets at SR 6.

B) Two Packets, one at SR 6, one at SR 7.

C) Two Packets at SR 7.

D) Two Packets at SR 8.

E) Two Packets at SR 9.

F) One Packet at SR 9.

After choosing skill packets, a character can either improve their skills, choose new skill, or choose new languages for each point of Mental Aptitude they possess.

Proficiencies and Vagaries
Proficiencies refer to weapon training, and vagaries refer to magical training. Each proficiency covers one style of combat of weapon group, each vagary covers one level of training in a school of magic.

A) Grants 14 points that may be spread among any amount of training, so long as none exceeds 8.

B) Grants 9 points, spread out among any training, but none may pass 7

C) Grants 6 points, spread out among any training

D) Grants 4 points, spread out among any training

E) Grants 2 points, spread out among any training

F) Grants 0 points.

These may be improved later in the game.

Gifts and Flaws
These represent special abilities - or problems - that any character may possess. They come in two varieties: Major and Minor.

A) Two Major Gifts

B) One Major Gift

C) One Major Gift, One Minor Flaw

D) One Minor Gift, One Minor Flaw (or none)

E) One Major Flaw, One Minor Gift

F) One Major Flaw, One Minor Flaw

One Major Gift or Flaw equals two Minor versions of the same.


Each character may pick one category to cover A-F. An example might be:

A) Attributes (47 points)
B) Social Class (Landless Nobility - 100 Golden Standard to start, many rights.)
C) Proficiencies (6 points, distributed any way.)
D) Gifts and Flaws (One minor gift, one minor flaw.)
E) Skills (Two Packets at SR 9)
F) Race (non magical Human)

Or, an example for a magic user could be:

A) Proficiencies and Vagaries (14 points - good for magic users.)
B) Race (Gifted Human)
C) Attributes (39 points)
D) Gifts and Flaws (one minor gift, one minor flaw)
E) Social Class (Peasant - 5 Golden Standard to start, few rights.)
F) Skills (One packets at SR 9)

Or a skill based character:

A) Skills (Two Packets at SR 6)
B) Attributes (43 points)
C) Social Class (High Freeman - 50 golden standard to start, right to bear weapons and wear armour.)
D) Proficiencies (4 points)
E) Gifts and Flaws (One Major Flaw, One Minor Gift)
F) Race (non magical Human)

Please, if it isn't too much trouble, shoot me a PM with these answers, then we can help work together or your character. Depending on where you're from, you will get bonuses and penalties to stats, and have cultural differences.

Name: ?
Strengths: ?
Weaknesses: ?
Traveler or Native (to The Xanarian Empire): ?
Philosophy: ?
Character Concept: ?
Any Items that absolutely MUST be on the character: ?
Personality: ?
Magic or no Magic: ?
Appearance: ?
Enemies or Allies: ?

Background/History:

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Ah, question. I don't know anything abou this came Therefore I do not know what I want to play or what there is to play. Are there classes? what are the classes? You gave a few examples but it is not enough for me to figure things out..

I say the first part about some of the physical attributes and will wait for more to figure things out.

IS there a book or information on the web about this game and its system.

Ah yes, I forgot to mention that. This is not so much of a fantastical game as a possible real event. There aren't so much "classes" as there are "jobs." It's like real life... you don't go around calling yourself a fighter.

There are no classes, no levels, no HP.

Here is a link to the official site... I'm still hunting down an online version of the book, but I haven't found one yet.

http://www.driftwoodpublishing.com/

Again, with it being a new system, I completely understand. Come to me with many questions, I will give answers.

I do not understand all the diffent number of points.

I'm going to guess that is Brianna, not DM.

What do you not get? How they are distributed, or what?

why can't race be "A" or "C"?

No, that was DM. She did not realize you already were full of players. She was asking for herself.

Character will be in end of the week if thats ok !