Basic Rules

Hit Points and Basic Combat

Beings have one or more hit points. Weapons do SINGLE damage by default - that is, being hit by a weapon causes you to lose one hit point. You don’t need to call this when you strike with a weapon, but you may if you wish to make it clear that you intend to cause a point of damage.

Noncombat Characters

Some players may be unable to take part in physical combat or not wish to for personal reasons. In this case, they should make the organisers aware so that they can brief other players to not attack them. Instead of attacking a non-combat character, you should call IMPALE against them once you are in range to make an attack. If you are playing a non-combat character, take such an IMPALE as incapacitating you. (If someone mistakenly thinks you are a noncombat character and tries to do this, politely correct them and continue.) If a noncombat character calls RESIST to an IMPALE, you can’t call it again until three seconds have passed.

Wounds and Dying

If you are reduced to zero hit points, your character is now incapacitated. You can’t fight and can only stagger around. You should make it clear that you’re wounded, incapacitated and (mostly) helpless. If you regain hit points, you cease to be incapacitated.

If you have been injured in combat to the point where you were incapacitated during an encounter, a ref will give you a trauma card, usually after the encounter has ended.

An incapacitated character can be executed by taking thirty seconds of appropriate roleplay to do so, at which point they die.

If you have been incapacitated for at least two minutes, you may recover one hit point on your own. If you do this, notify a ref and they will give you an additional trauma card.

Trauma Cards

From being heavily wounded, and through many other sources, your character may receive trauma. Each trauma has a type - physical, mental, magical and soul trauma are the more common types. These are represented by a trauma card that will be handed to you by a ref. It will specify the roleplaying effects of the trauma, along with any mechanical effects that it has.

A character has a trauma limit of three - they can have three trauma at a time. If they ever have four trauma at the same time, that character must retire by the end of the current event. They may be terminally injured and dying, or otherwise unable to continue being an adventurer.

At the end of each interactive, your character naturally recovers from one trauma of your choice. Traumas can also be healed in play by the use of alchemy, divine magic, or the healing arts. Some more severe trauma cards may have additional requirements to recover from them.

Range

• Touch range is close enough that you could reach out and touch the other character. This does not require you to actually touch them, and you should not touch another player unless you already know they’re comfortable with you doing so.
• Close range is five metres. This is generally the range for spells and small arms fire.
• Long range is beyond five metres. There is no maximum to long range except for the ability to get other players to realise you’re targeting them.

Bows and Crossbows in Combat

Bows and crossbows are not safe to block with in a melee. If your bow is struck, you take the hit as though it had struck your body, but you should not aim to strike someone’s bow when in melee.

Arrows and crossbow bolts do DOUBLE CLEAVE when they hit you - that is, they deal two points of damage and they ruin a limb if they strike that limb. They can be blocked with shields but not parried with weapons for safety reasons - if you parry an arrow or bolt by accident, you should take it as a torso hit.

Under Pressure

Some skills can only be used when not under pressure. If a combat encounter is occurring, you are always under pressure. Some other situations may count - in this case, a ref will inform you.

Appropriate Roleplaying

Some skills require appropriate roleplaying. This means that you should act out doing something appropriate to the effect of the skill - for example, with the Field Medicine trait, you can restore a ruined limb with appropriate roleplaying. Examples might include acting out a healing magic spell that you know, tying bandages around the affected limb, or breaking and re-setting the bone. If you’re doing an effect requiring appropriate roleplaying on a willing target, they are expected to follow your lead as long as doing so isn’t an issue for them.

Searching

A large part of Falling Sky is looting things for resources. You can search a fallen foe when not under pressure. To do so, approach to touch range and inform them you’re searching them. They will give you any resources that they have been instructed to drop. You should not touch another player when searching them.

Calls

This is a list of the calls that you might hear and what they mean. A call is a word or phrase with a specific OC meaning. If you hear it directed at you, your character takes a specified effect.

Calls might be: Used alongside a melee attack, to indicate that the call is associated with that strike. Used with a description of a character. E.g. “You in the blue hat! TRIPLE!” Used as an area of effect - see the MASS modifier.

Some traits will change or resist the effects of calls that “don’t make contact”. This means any call that doesn’t involve something physically touching you. A call delivered by weapon attack makes contact. A call delivered by an arrow or bolt, even the unspoken DOUBLE CLEAVE, makes contact. A spell call does not make contact.

Some calls may be preceded by a descriptor for flavour. This is mostly to let you know how to react to it - e.g. LIGHTNING! TRIPLE! might be a blast of electricity.

STOP THE GAME

This is an “emergency stop” call to indicate that there is an OC reason to halt gameplay and sort something out. This can be used for any hazard, not just injury. Lost glasses, a player panicking OC, or someone looking like they’re about to fall backwards over a log are all valid reasons to use the call.

WOULD YOU KINDLY

This call, which can be inserted into normal conversation, indicates mind control. Your character does their best to obey the command for a minute, or until you take damage. When the effect ends, you’re aware that something unusual happened.

RESIST

This call is used in response to being targeted or struck by another call, to indicate that you haven’t been affected by it.

ZERO

This effect deals no damage. This can be used if sparring in-character for deliberately non-damaging strikes.

SINGLE

This effect deals one point of damage. This is the default for melee weapons, and can be omitted unless it’s needed for clarity.

DOUBLE

This effect deals two points of damage. You must visibly react to the damage.

TRIPLE

This effect deals three points of damage. You must visibly react to the damage.

QUAD

This effect deals four points of damage. You must visibly react to the damage.

CLEAVE

This effect ruins limbs. If it strikes a limb, that limb is ruined until it is restored such as by the Field Medicine trait. Ruined limbs are unusable and in pain. You must roleplay accordingly. You specifically cannot use a weapon with an arm that has been ruined. If one leg is ruined, you cannot run or walk, only limp. If both legs are ruined, you can’t use them to move, only stand in place. If you are targeted by a CLEAVE effect that isn’t a physical strike, you choose which limb it affects.

(You may choose to take the effects of CLEAVE more dramatically, but the intention is that people shouldn’t have to drop their expensive weapons or fall over in the mud unless they want to.)

IMPALE

This effect represents a deadly strike. If it strikes a limb, take it as a CLEAVE. If it strikes your torso, or it doesn’t make contact (e.g. a spell), you lose all of your hit points.

CURE

This effect restores four hit points, or restores a ruined limb of the target’s choice.

REPEL

This effect knocks you away. You must move away from the source for FIVE seconds. If you block a weapon blow with this effect on your weapon or shield, you must still move away from the source but you are not damaged.

WEAKNESS

This effect saps your strength. When affected by this call, you cannot make calls except RESIST, and you cannot attack with weapons for FIVE seconds. You can move, dodge, and parry normally.

PARALYSE

The target of this effect cannot move for the next FIVE seconds or until they take damage.

SMASH

If this call strikes a shield, the shield is broken and can’t be used. If it is an effect that isn’t a physical strike and you’re carrying a shield, the shield is broken. This call is also especially effective against construct enemies.

DISRUPT

This call does not affect player characters. It instead disrupts effects and creatures that are magical in nature. Monsters may be briefed to take additional effects from DISRUPT. For example, an ethereal ghost monster might only take 1 damage every 10 seconds until it’s hit by a DISRUPT.

DEMON <CALL>

This call only affects Demons. Player characters shouldn't be affected by this.

MASS <CALL>

This call affects every target within close range. If the user indicates a direction (with their arms or with a device they’re using for the effect), it instead affects everyone in a ninety-degree cone in that direction within close range.

EFFECT: <SOMETHING>

This is a catch-all for stranger things. If you are targeted by an EFFECT call, you should listen for what the effects are. An EFFECT can only occur outside of combat.

EXECUTE

With an exaggerated deathblow, any player may call EXECUTE on an incapacitated monster. Some monsters must be EXECUTEd to stop them rising again.

Weapon and Armour Types

Weapons are divided into classes based on their length:

Weapon Class	Length
Light	8-24"
One-handed	24"-42"
Great weapon	42"-60" (up to 5')
Polearm	60"-84" (up to 7')

Armour must be phys-repped by gear that looks protective or combat-ready, but doesn't have to be "armour".

There are no formal rules on armour coverage; plate bracers and greaves might suffice for heavy armour, for example.

Armour Class	Look
Light armour	your character visibly appears prepared for a fight
Heavy armour	your character visibly appears to have equipment designed to cover and protect their body

The key distinction is: if it’s more graceful than bulky, it’s probably light armour.

Experience and Traits

Characters have a collection of Traits. Each Trait defines something about a character’s abilities and what they know or can do. A character’s experience and skills are measured in experience points, or XP, and each Trait has an XP cost associated with it.

Currently, newly created characters have [5] XP worth of traits. As the system goes on, experience points will be periodically awarded. At that point, all characters receive 1 XP, and newly created characters will enter play with an additional XP as well, with this document being updated to reflect the new starting XP total.

When characters gain XP, they can spend it immediately, or between events.

Some skills, especially Lore skills, may come with additional briefing packets. Access to these will be granted once you purchase the skill and ask a ref.