Man Down
This call is used in the case of an out of character accident or emergency. This call stops the game so that the casualty can have first aid or assistance. ANYONE can call a ‘Man Down’ for themselves or another player if they find themselves in a situation where it is necessary. If a player hears the ‘Man Down’ call, they should sit down and stay calm to allow appointed first-aiders and referees to deal with the situation.
Lay Off
During roleplay with others, a Player may at any time use the phrase ‘Lay Off’ to indicate their need for an OC accommodation or to leave the situation.
This can be used because something is making them uncomfortable and they need it to change or stop, they need to move elsewhere so they can hear, they are experiencing overwhelm and need to take a break, or simply because they urgently need the bathroom. These are not the only reasons it can be used, but just an example of why it might need to be used. Please refrain from speculating as to the cause of an exit made using the Lay Off rules.
A Player’s use of ‘Lay Off’ may be followed by their removal from the conversation or, in extreme cases, the room or encounter. This exit is considered an OC safety necessity and therefore should not be brought up IC. Players should do their best to ignore exits made using the Lay Off mechanic.
Alternatively, it may be followed with a short instruction to allow them to continue the scene with appropriate accommodations.
E.g Lay Off…lower your volume, take a step back, change the subject, move away from the loud sparring.
These requests are considered safety instructions and should be adhered to to the best of your ability.
If a Player uses this mechanic to disengage from a conversation or topic within the room, please do not attempt to re-engage them with the conversation until you have performed an OC check in on whether that is something they are comfortable doing.
If the player returns to the room and re-engages the topic themselves, conversation can continue as before.
This is an OC safety mechanic, please do not use it for IC reasons and avoid using the phrase ‘Lay Off’ in character.
Game calls should only be made by referees, appointed marshals and players who have been given special authority to do so.
Time In - This is used at the beginning of the game, to start ‘IC’ time.
After Time In players in the game space are considered in character unless they have their hand up.
Time Out - This is used at the end of the game, to stop ‘IC’ time.
Time Freeze - This is used to temporarily pause IC time, in order to facilitate a game effect or mechanic. Players should close their eyes during a time freeze unless told otherwise. They may also be instructed to hum or sing to cover incriminating noises.
Time Flow - This is used to restart IC time after it has been frozen.
Every blow and all damaging spells are accompanied by damage calls that state how much damage is being done and any special features of the damage. If no damage call is heard on a blow it is assumed to be a Single. e.g. Triple enchanted flaming or single through knock back or single enchanted flaming to all locations.
Normal - This spell, weapon or item does ‘ordinary’ physical damage.
Zero - 0 damage to the affected location/s (often used when sparring or unskilled)
Single - 1 point of damage to the affected location/s
Double - 2 points of damage to the affected location/s
Triple - 3 points of damage to the affected location/s
Quad or more - 4 or more points of damage to the affected location/s
Crush - Crush destroys an item or removes all points of armour on a location. If a location has no armour left, then the crush will take it to zero. A location on zero will go to negative endurance ranks.
These calls add an effect to the call, most can be called on their own for the additional effect, but these do not do any damage on their own and can be combined with damage calls or other modifiers to increase the effect.
Enchanted - This changes the nature of the attack to magical which can overcome certain immunities or exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Silver - This changes the nature of the attack to silver which can overcome certain immunities or exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Flaming - This denotes the attack is flaming in nature which can exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Cold - This denotes the attack is unnaturally cold in nature which can exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Iron - This denotes the attack is formed of pure iron which can exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Holy - This denotes the attack is divine in nature which can exploit certain vulnerabilities.
Knock back - Large weapons and some forceful magical effects cause characters to be knocked backwards. Knock back takes effect even if the character is immune to the damage being dealt. A character that has been knocked back should throw themselves approximately 6 feet backwards in the opposite direction to the swing or spell. It is not enough to possess an appropriately sized weapon and a weapons skill that allows you to do knock back, you must also role-play a sufficiently large blow in order to call ‘knock back’ as part of the damage call. This is determined as a swing of at least a 180 degree arc.
Strike down - The struck character must drop to the floor, their back must be flat on the floor before they are allowed to rise. If for safety reasons you are uncomfortable dropping to the floor you may elect to kneel and take no other action (such as parrying) for a slow count of 5 instead.
Through - This denotes the attack goes through a targets armour, ignoring any armour ranks and dealing damage to the location beneath.
Effect - The call attached to this modifier takes effect regardless of any immunities, vulnerabilities or other effects. This is an incredibly rare call reserved for Gods or God-like entities.
Impact – If the blow lands on a shield it ignores the shield and instead deals damage to the location wielding the shield, acting as all other damage does (removing armour first and then hitting the location itself).
Resist - This denotes that the effect has been ignored due to an ability, spell or similar that the target has which is of limited use, either due to a cost in resource (spell points etc.) or limited uses in a set period (once per day etc.).
Soul Drain- After dropping a creature to 0 Hits on the core with a melee strike, a character may call 'By My Nature, Soul Drain'. The character must loudly proclaim 'Purple Lightning, Purple Lightning!' loudly for 5 seconds, as purple lighting of the soul is transferred into them. After 5 uninterrupted seconds the soul is drained and the character gained complete healing. The targeted creature dies and their soul is irretrievable by any means. If the character is hit, takes any damage, is knocked back or struck down, effected by an offensive spell or moved away from the creature, the Soul Drain is interrupted, but this does not count as being used.
No effect - This denotes that the effect has been ignored due to an an inherent ability or immunity that target possess that prevents calls of that nature from effecting them. For example a zombie has no mind and "No effects" mind effects.
Ignite - This can ignite a target, the target is set alight and will take 1 point of enchanted flaming damage to the affected locations every 5 seconds, this will continue to burn until the target role plays putting the location out for a slow count of 3.
Fear - The target is filled with overwhelming fear for the caller, they must flee away from the caller as directly as they can for a slow count of 10, while fleeing you cannot cast spells. If you are unable to flee you can cower instead but cannot defend yourself while doing so.
Loc Zero - Takes a location to zero hits and armour regardless of how many endurance ranks or armour ranks it has.
Sever - This drops the location to minus it's current endurance ranks and renders it completely unusable.
Fatal - Takes all a character’s locations to zero hits and armour regardless of how many endurance ranks or armour ranks it has.
Rend - Tears the character’s soul in two, severing all locations and reducing the target's death count to 2 minutes. This can only be healed by restoring the body to full hits and then casting Complete Healing.
Weaken Soul - The targets death count is set to 30 seconds for 15 minutes/1 combat.
By my nature... - This call denotes that a character or monster has an innate skill or ability, such as a racial ability or a magical enhancement. The by my nature call is a game mechanic only, and cannot be interrupted in the same way as a spell call.
Endurance Rank Drain - This call denotes that a character or monster has drained an endurance rank from a target, this applies to all of the target's locations at the same time. This reduces the target's maximum endurance by one. An Endurance Rank Drain cannot be healed without use of the regeneration spell (or similar mastery effects).
Temporary Endurance Rank Drain - This call denotes that a character or monster has drained an endurance rank from a target temporarily, this applies to all of the target's locations at the same time. This reduces the target's maximum endurance by one. This effect ends after 15 mins/1 Combat or through being healed with the spell regeneration (or similar mastery effects).