Although the imaginary game setting is a communal affair, each player’s experience is different. Regardless of how well a person role-plays personal feelings are always invested in the character. A player should be mindful of the boundaries between reality and fiction. Role-playing should not be an excuse to belittle or attack other players in the game. Although evil characters can commit evil deeds, care should be taken to avoid the overflow of negative emotions from the fantasy setting into the real world. Be respectful of the GM and the other players.

Arguments – sooner or later arguments regarding some ruling or situation in the game will arise. It’s ok to inform the GM of a rule’s infraction or an omission, but loud arguing or bickering is not helpful. In these cases, try to avoid a direct confrontation with the GM during the game – save your disagreement for a discussion after the session has been concluded. It’s never a good idea to leave the gamming session with unanswered questions or unresolved issues. In most cases, the GM cannot guess what is troubling you unless you communicate it.

Preparation – players should always be prepared to play. This means bring a current copy of your character sheet to the game along with any supporting documents, books, reference materials required, or dice. Preparation does not end here. A player should memorize critical information about his character, know its motivations, and keep notes of contacts, important places, and contracts made in-game. Taking good notes will aid a player especially when discussing long ago and forgotten encounters, allies, or contacts. Finally, keep accurate track of possessions, money, and resources – do not assume that food will magically appear in your pack, or money will automatically replenish itself in your money pouch.

Dice (#D#) – Dice are represented with a ‘D’ or ‘d’ and are often preceded by a numeric value.  This preceding value refers to the number of dice to be rolls.  The number that follows the ‘D’ value determine the size of the dice.  For example; 2D6 or 2d6 equates to 2 six sided dice.  A d8 refers to a single 8 sided dice. 

Damage Reduction (DR) – commonly annotated with an acronym where the first few letters determine the type.  Physical Damage Reduction (PDR) is the most common form of Damage Reduction.  Other types include (PsiDR, FireDR, FrostDR, ElecDR, etc.) Magical Damage Reduction (MDR) is the second most common type of DR.  Each type of DR comes with a rating; this value automatically deducts damage in its respective area. 

Devotions – psionic abilities that come in three power levels Minor, Major, and Grand Arts. 

Hit Points (HPS) – a value that determines the amount of Physical Damage a character can sustain before death. 

Mana Magic Manipulation (MMM) – is a Tier-7 skill used to cast spells.  It is often pared with a given stat associated with a school of magic from which the spell is associated. 

Non-Player Character (NPC) – character/personas in the game commonly controlled by the GM.  These individuals can be common or powerful based on the GM’s whishes.  They can be good, natural, or evil and can function as aids or antagonists to the adventuring party.  They are the avenue in which the GM interacts with the players. 

NSA - No Special Abilities (standard; no other, auxiliary, elevated abilities)

Point System Gaming (PSG) – name of this gaming system.  Point System Fantasy (PSF) refers to only fantasy related rules. 

Ranks – a term used with magic, and sometimes with skills, to describe power levels within a given frame work.  For example, a Spell may require 3-ranks (levels) of Earth knowledge to cast. 

Resistances – there are three basic types of resistance possessed by all character, creatures, and supernatural entities.  Physical, Mental, and Social/Spiritual resistances are rolled to resist a variety of effects that fall into these categories. 

School of Magic (SoM) – magic is divided into schools (10 total), such as Earth, Power/Forces, or Probability.  Each schools as seven levels/divisions (Ranks) of power.  Immortals are able to progress to level eight to ten in power level. 

Spiritual Hit Points (SHPS) – a value that determines the amount of spiritual hit points a character possesses.  Often, but not always, equal to HPS.  Spiritual damage is harder to heal than physical damage. 

Target Difficulty (TD) – commonly used with skill and resistance rolls to determine the value on the dice that must be rolled to achieve success.  A TD:7 requires a 7 or greater roll to achieve success. 

Tier – tiers are used to provide a power level gauge of a given skill, talent, enhancement, spell, ritual, item, or psionic ability. 

In general terms the Tier system will be employed throughout this gaming system to provide a scalable understanding of the power level, value, and difficulty of varied skills, abilities, and items.  A tier-2 item would be quite common, mundane in nature, and often easy to make/find.  A tier-6 item would be very rare, difficult to find, and often require a great deal of skill and resources to produce.  The same applies to psionics, spells, and rituals where a tier-2 spell would be common, easy to find, cast, or research, and require low monetary compensation to hire someone to cast.  A tier-6 psionic power would be those reserved for grandmasters that have devoted years of study to master these abilities.  A tier-6 psionic power can be used to make epic alterations to the fabric of reality, slay a creature outright, or create permanent psionic items. 

TIER-0 Notes: There are total of 8 Tiers in the gaming system where Tier-0 is reserved for character generation abilities, enhancements, talents, and racial alterations.  Once the game actually begins Tier-0 items/abilities/powers are no longer available for purchase/procurement through the use of experience points. 

Special Note: Some Tier-0 abilities (vocations as an example) can be purchased later in the game giving characters a second vocation.  Secondary purchases of vocations are ALWAYS weaker than the same vocation purchased at character generation.  Such variations will be described in the specific vocation details. 

TIER-8-10 Notes: Although abilities, items, or powers at tier-8-10 exist these are reserved for extremely powerful characters (read as NPCs, immortal creatures, gods, and primal deities).  They are normally not accessible by mortals or purchased with experience points.  Purchasing a tier-8+ ability, item, or power can only be done through the expenditure of immortal power points.  Artifacts are common items that exist in this realm of power (tier-8 to 10).  When used by mortals these abilities, items, or powers often extract a high price and nearly all of them come with negative effects.  Immortals that use these abilities may ignore some, or if they are power enough, all these negative effects. 

Another way to look at Tiers is by rarity.  Almost everyone/creature may possess a Tier-1 ability, item, or power.  However, only a select few will possess a Tier-7 ability, item, or power.  GM are encouraged to tailor this aspect to the campaign they are crafting.  Additionally, this varies by race as well as societal beliefs often instilled/regulated by religious organizations. 

Critical hits, often employed in combat, can add excitement to the game.  However, they also increase the lethality of the game considerably.  Further, critical successes can be applied to non-combat rolls, raw stat rolls commonly with Luck, and in rare cases resistance rolls.  A critical hit/success is defined as rolling the maximum value for each dice rolled.  Thus, if 2 D6s are rolled and both roll a 6, that is a critical success. 

Some GMs believe that a critical hit should always hit a given target even if the dice value, even with a maximum roll, cannot hit a given target (AC).  This rule champions the players but can also be detrimental as low power creatures that could not normally hit or damage a player are able to roll critical hits.  This makes a group of goblins potentially dangerous if a few of them roll a critical hit. 

In PSG, a critical hit can be handled thusly; if a character (or monster) can actually hit the target with the dice rolled, then a critical hit automatically scores maximum damage.  If, however, a character cannot hit a given target without a critical roll, then damage is rolled normally. 

Critical success non-combat rolls are arbitrated by the GM always.  Such success should be important but not overpowering.  It is quite feasible that a character with a D4 Skill in Painting and a D8 Dexterity could roll a 4+8 or 12 achieving critical success while painting a landscape scene.  The GM could decide that it is a superior piece of art fetching +10 to +15% bonus when sold.  If, however, the painter possessed a D12 skill and a D10 Dexterity, and rolls a critical success, he may have produced a masterpiece fetching 2 to 3 times the base value.  The same holds true to raw Luck rolls, a individual achieving a ‘6’ on a D6 roll may find a club-like weapon within reach after being disarmed.  While a person with a D12 rolling a ‘12’ in the same situation may be able to pull out the rug under the feet of the opponent knocking him to the floor.  In all cases, roll, especially with Luck, cannot create something that does not exist in the setting nor can it produce more treasure than what already exists. 

Expanding Dice Option - Expanding dice rule allows a critical roll (or fumble) to roll again, if another critical value is rolled then another roll is available and so on.  This of course compounds damage on a critical hit but it also compounds negative effects on a fumble.  Excessive fumble tables can be developed, but often take up valuable game time for additional rules and also not recommended.  In the end the players should place their trust in the GM and allow him to arbitrate the fumble.