I'm going to try to collect essential information in this thread. Let me know if I miss something.
This information is focused toward the players. If you haven't created a character, click here to find out WTF this is about.
The Realm of the Endless Woods:
The area around the city of Triln is where the main story is focused. Triln is a large trade city that has undergone massive growth in recent years and is spreading its influence over the nearby cities. The Elves have been gone for centuries, but their sudden return heralds dark events to come. An Archmage in Triln notices that something is amiss and sets out to discover, and prevent, whatever disasters lay ahead.
The peninsula southeast of Triln is the most densely populated human area on the known continent, but due to the Klesk Mountains it never received much contact with the Elves in the past. The large port of Aciadon is marginally larger than Triln, but the area is covered in marshes and swamps, so the lack of large arable lands has stunted the city's growth.
Success/Fail Scale:
I use random.org for things and do rolls from 1-100 to determine outcomes of things. Here is the general scale of things:
1 - Critical Failure. Don't be surprised if you die.
2-9 - Major Failure. You got quite unlucky and something bad might happen.
10-29 - Failure. Whatever you tried to do fails.
30-49 - Partial Success. You sort of get what you wanted, but not fully.
50-79 - Success. Everything goes as planned.
80-99 - Major Success. You are lucky today and something good may happen.
100 - Critical Success. For this moment, you are effectively a god.
For a disadvantaged situation, the requirements increase by 10 (i.e., Success is 60-89 instead). You are more likely to suffer a Critical Fail (1-11).
For an advantaged situation, the requirements decrease by 10 (i.e., Success is 40-69 instead). You are more likely to get a Critical Success (90-100).
Melee Combat Details:
All weapons have their uses and situations where they excel. Having the right weapon for the situation is good, and being trained with that weaponry is essential. Also, positioning and situational circumstances will have major impacts on how battles end up.
All weapons carry a risk of being damaged, cracked, broken, etc., and becoming disarmed in a situation is very possible. If your character has multiple weapons on their person, switching between them takes time. Additionally, drawing your weapon takes time and is not instant (smaller weapons are significantly quicker to draw).
Unarmed combat skills are common, and can be used alongside weaponry to help turn the tide to your favor. Additionally, combining archery or magic with melee combat can be extremely devastating.
Flowchart detailing melee combat: http://www.fcwars.net/node/images/soln/melee.png
Situational Advantage/Disadvantage:
Based on the specific circumstances, you or your opponent will have certain advantages and disadvantages. These can be gained from (but aren't limited to):
- Character off balance or otherwise hindered.
- Character suffering mental distress (fear, confusion, etc.).
- Training/familiarity or lack thereof with the weapon.
- Terrain.
- Character is unprepared.
- Character is stealthed.
- Character on horseback.
- etc.
Weapon Speeds:
-Light weaponry (fastest category)
---Unarmed Fists. (fastest)
---Knives/Daggers.
---Unarmed Kicks.
---Quarterstaffs.
---Shortswords/Hand Axes.
---Clubs/Hammers. (slowest)
-Medium Weaponry
---Rapiers/Katanas. (fastest)
---Staffs/Staves.
---One-Handed Flails.
---Sabers/One-Handed Longswords.
---Maces/Morning Stars/War Axes.
---Broadswords. (slowest)
-Heavy Weaponry (slowest category, usually require two-hands to wield)
---Bastard Swords/"Hand-and-a-Half" Swords. (fastest)
---Two-Handed Flails
---Two-Handed Longswords/Battleaxes.
---Warhammers.
---Flamberges/Claymores/Greatswords. (slowest)
Luck rolls may be used circumstantially to determine possible weapon damage or other consequences of a situation. May also determine if a shield gets damaged.
The above does not cover Major/Critical Successes or Major/Critical Failures, which may have other consequences and affect the results of a battle.
Archery Combat Details:
Archery is a rare skill in SOLN. It takes many years to master, but can be put to great effect if your opponent is at a distance. Training is essential, and otherwise your character wouldn't hit the broadside of a barn.
There is not a large variety of bows, only longbows, shortbows, and some in-between. The major distinction is workmanship. Some bows are of much higher quality than others, and will be able to perform much more effectively.
There are numerous types of arrows in the world. The most common types are steel-tipped arrows and stone-tipped arrows. Stone-tipped are usually hand-made by woodsmen who chip the stones themselves, while steel arrowheads need to be made by a blacksmith. It is possible to apply poison to arrows, and certain specialty arrows do exist, but these are harder to procure and it is up to the character when to use them.
Just like how an archer needs to be skilled and trained with the bow itself, they also need to be trained with their arrow type. Some archers may be able to make better use of a certain arrow type than others, and using a type you are not accustomed to results in your effective range being reduced.
Flowchart detailing ranged combat: http://www.fcwars.net/node/images/soln/range.png
Situational Advantage/Disadvantage:
Based on the specific circumstances, you or your opponent will have certain advantages and disadvantages. These can be gained from (but aren't limited to):
- Range of target compared to reliable range.
- Movement of target.
- Character on horseback.
- Terrain.
- Character is stealthed.
- Character is suffering mental distress (fear, confusion, etc.).
- Target has a shield.
A luck roll will often be used to determine possible secondary targets a missed/dodged arrow may hit. Also, luck roll will determine whether arrows break.
The above does not cover Major/Critical Successes or Major/Critical Failures, which may have other consequences and affect the results of a battle.
Magic Details:
Magic is very diverse in this world. I will include more information here later, but for now here is information on auras:
What Are Auras?
Everyone with magical tendencies exudes an aura around them that can only be felt by other mages. Normally, the auras are nearly invisible, but when the mage manifests their power or casts a spell, the aura grows and any mages in the immediate vicinity would know that a spell is being cast.
The stronger the spell or the more magic used, the larger and more noticeable the aura. The aura will be created around the caster, and also if the spell affects some other area (ranged spells), an aura appears around that area/person as well.
This aura is how the Mages Guild finds most of the young children with magical potential, and some have spent many years studying the aura. The Archmages of the Mages Guild can sense a nearby mage even without their power being manifested, and when a spell is cast they can recognize the aura. If a mage knows the spell being cast or has seen it before, they will be able to realize this even before the casting has completed and the spell activated.
Additionally, mages can tell if an aura is "familiar" to them if they have seen that spell cast in the past, but won't know any more details unless they have put years into studying auras.
How Are Auras Sensed?
Whether auras can be sensed or not is very situational, and whether a mage would be able to sense one, recognize it, be able to figure out characteristics of it, etc., is large dependent on the environment around them and numerous other factors, including the strength of the spellcasting mage, the spell itself, the mage's own capabilities, and more.
The sense of auras that mages have is probably closer to hearing than sight. It's not simply that they get a highlight or outline around someone that's casting a spell, it's more ambient and atmospheric. With hearing, someone can tell things like direction, distance, pitch, tempo, volume, etc., and auras have similar characteristics which are unique to the spells that are being cast, or for a passive aura relate to how the mage's magic has manifested in the past.
If someone is casting a spell from the midst of a crowd of people, a mage sensing it would feel a direction and distance for where it is being cast from, these are just senses of the location, not an exact statement like "36 degrees left, 27 feet ahead" or something. It's not enough to identify the individual unless they have some other visual cue that might help someone figure it out, such as recognizing the aura and person and identifying them because they know each other, or if they're doing a targeted spell and are pointing suspiciously, or the spell they are casting has another visual aspect such as a glow or fire on their fingers, etc.
Obviously process of elimination can narrow it down, such as if only a single man is standing still while everyone else is moving around in the direction you know it's coming from, but even this would take a few seconds to narrow it down. If there are only a few people or if the spellcaster is close by, this becomes a lot easier just like when identifying someone speaking.
Also similar to hearing, is that characteristics of auras can be drowned out or details missed. If you are distracted, busy, distressed, or if there's numerous mages casting spells simultaneously, figuring out details about the auras becomes much harder.
The distance from which someone can sense other auras is situational as well, since that's where the analogy to hearing breaks down. A spell being actively cast might be a yell, while latent magic might be speaking normally, and a passive aura around a mage would be a whisper, but it varies wildly between individuals and spells. If a group of Archmages got together and cast their most powerful spells, mages could sense it from miles away, while conversely some auras are too faint to be perceivable whatsoever.
