Codex Jorunis

In order to get a good feeling for the game I have combined parts of several game systems to suit the needs of myself and my players. Especially the feeling that you are "in charge" of your character during combat was needed. Too many games simply rely on a dice roll to decide every detail of the combat.

The garbled rule system that we use is the result of inspiration from Harnmaster, Role Master, G.U.R.P.S. and Jorune. They could sometimes be better, but we have settled with these. The rules are explained briefly below and no doubt cause many additional questions. Unfortunatley I don't have the time or stamina to explain all the rules in detail, but I hope that you will understand the main idea. The linked various combat charts, character sheets etc also gives some explanation.

Advantages of the Codex Jorunis:
- Great when it comes to combat. Many options to choose from and it is easy to use different fighting strategies depending on opponent, injury and surrounding circumstances.

Disadvantages of the Codex Jorunis:
- Too many die rolls in combat. Would like to reduce these, but without loosing the decision-making grip on combat that exists.
- Slightly slow, tedious healing process. Might change/simplify this.

Summary of Codex Jorunis files

Player & Sholari Aids
Character Sheet 2.0 (player)
Drennpoint Sheet 2.0 (player)
Isho Info Sheet 1.0 (player)
Experience Point Sheet 1.0 (sholari)
Dyshas & Isho Summary 1.0 (sholari)
Combat Options Sheet (player)

Character creation & skills
Skill list
Occupation list

Combat
Combat Summary
Combat Charts 1
Combat Charts 2
Range Modifier Chart
Armour
Weapons Chart
Injuries & Healing
Limilates

Character Creation

Characters are created in these steps:

1. Choose/define character background
Choose race and culture (I only allow humans, boccord and muadra), religion, family history, etc. Especially the Character Virtues are colourful   (divide the value 6 or 10 between the various opposite virtues to find out exactly what kind or moral the character has. I also give XP to those that follow their virtues, even if these would impair on "safe" or optional gaming.)

2. Roll and allocate stats (3 sets of 4 x 3D6 stats are rolled and allocated in each of the 3 stat groups. After allocation 1D6 bonus points is rolled for each group.) Max stat = 18

3. Define stat-dependent skills and bonuses, along with skills, languages etc  the sholari might grant the character for his background.
    - Size bonus ( -1 for muadra, +1 for boccord )
    - Strength bonus ( -1 for STR stat 5 and under, +1 for stat 16 and above )
    - Injury bonus ( Add size and strength bonuses )
    - Dodge value ( based on AGL - printed on character sheet )
    - Initiative value ( based on stats - printed on character sheet )
    - Automatic skills ( already printed on character sheet - Moon skills not included. Start at STAT x  3 )
    - Encumbrance penalty & Max Lift weight ( Based on STR and AGL. Printed on character sheet )

4. Choose an occupation (optional). Skills gained here start at given level + STAT. Note occupation cost, which cannot exceed EDU stat

5. Allocate EDU x 15 points among Practical Knowledge skills. 70 is maximum starting value

6. Allocate AGL x 5 points among jump, climb and swim skills. 70 is maximum starting value

7. Allocate EDU x 15 points among Common skills. 70 is maximum starting value

8. Allocate COL x 5or10 points among Moon skills. 70 is maximum starting value

9. Allocate Remaining EDU - Occupation cost x 15 freely among other skills. Either choose new skills for 5 points each (they start at STAT x 2, Weapons at STAT x 3) or raise skills already chosen in step 4-8. 70 is maximum starting level for all skills

10 . Equip the character. Sholari and background decides starting funds. Fill in armour and weapon values on character sheet.

Stats

Born with certain traits or player choice?
This is the main dilemma of creating stats for a character. I chose the first, but modified it slightly.


Constitution
Physical stamina. Used to fight disease, poisons, shock (faint) rolls etc.

Social
social prowess. How easy a character understands social behaviour of different creatures and how well he perfoms social skills, such as singing, etiquette, seduction etc.

Colour
How well the character sees the seven polarities/colours of the isho.

Speed
How fast the character runs. Not definitve term in meters, but as a comparison between creatures.

Strength
How strong a character is. Often challenged when wrestling, lifting objects etc.

Education
The initial knowledge of the character during character creation. Could be the theoretical skills of the iscin or the practical skills of a village hunter. Sometimes challenged when it is deemed possible that knowledge about something might have been optained by the character during his education.

Isho
The initial isho strength of the character. His ability to accumulate isho.

Spot
Often challenged with 2-6D6 to see if the character has detected something around him (and especially what the others are doing around him in a combat). Have the characters rolling their spot often, even if there is nothing to see/notice. Keep them on their toes!

Agility
Characters agility both when it comes to physical skills and when it comes to finger dexterity.

Intelligence
How bright he is. Something the character could figure out - but the player can't - challenge this stat. In lack of a better stat it is also used for mental endurance rolls.

Aim
Seldom used more than as a natural determination of a characters aiming skills. Determines his starting and max ranks in missile weapons.

Listen
Works the same as with spot. Even more fun if the player isn't informed at first what he is rolling for - sport or listen?


Stats range from 3-18, but in game play extraordinary circumstances or temporary circumstances (dyshas, limilates, illness) might lower or raise the stats beyond these boundaries.
The stats are divided into three groups. I purposely avoided to place all physical "fighter" stats or the "isho" stats in one group, making it easier for a fighters, iscin etc to create character with the stats they want.
Stats are challenged during game play by 2-6D6 depending on severity/difficulty of task.

Skills

Skills are grouped under Combat, Practical Knowledge, Common, Animal, Occupational, Iscin, Languages, Interaction, Isho, Hishtin and Weave Tricks. Some of these groups are only open to certain races or occupations. Only some of them are open to pick from freely.
All skills are of three types:

Normal skills
All rolls under the skill value are successfull. A roll ending with 0 or 5 (45, 50, 55, 60 etc) is either a Critical Success or a Critical Failure, depending if it was above or below the skill value. Normal success and failures are called Marginal Successes and Marginal Failures. Some skills can increase beyond 100 (taking penalties into account). The characters stats determine the skill maximum - ranging between 100-140. Skills with 100+ still fail on a roll of 96-00.

Combat skills
In attack, 1D100 is rolled and the skill added to the roll .
In defence, a defence value is calculated and rolled against with 1D100 under the skill defence level . The rule with Critical Success and Critical Failure also applies to combat defence rolls.

Certificate skills
These skills are learnt at a certain rank, normally 1-4 or just bought once and can then always be used without a roll. No rolls are ever made against these skills. They are simply a measurement of how well that skill is mastered. Language skills, contacts and streetwise/city lore skills are examples of these. Weave tricks are also certificate skills, but come with a penalt to the weave 

All skills have a cost defined by either stars (**) or a number. This number of stars equals the cost in experience points to increase the skill during play. Fixed numbers indicate the fixed one-time cost for a certificate skill or per skill level of a certificate skill.
A skill is also dependant on a stat. The stat determines the starting level of the skill, its maximum level and how much it is increased with experience.

Rolling the die

D100 (two 10-sided die) and D6 are used.

Normal skill rolls and defence rolls are 1D100 under the skill value. ROLLING LOW IS GOOD!
Attack rolls are 1D100 open ended* and added to the attack skill. ROLLING HIGH IS GOOD!
D6 are used for STAT rolls under the relevant stat. ROLLING LOW IS GOOD!

*Open ended die rolls means that 96-00 gives another roll that is added to the first, while 01-04 gives another roll that is subtracted from the first (resulting in a negative number).

Hidden rolls: I often let the players roll their SPOT and LISTEN hidden (behind my book/hand etc), so that the players don't know if they've successfully searched a room for hidden doors, spotted a suspected ambush etc. The same goes for stealth rolls (its more fun if the sneaking or hiding character doesn't know how silent he is or how ell he has hidden himself. All kinds of rolls can be hidden for the fun of it. (Never combat though! It takes away the self-governing fun of the player.)

Lastly: For all those dorky game creators out there who made rules about GMs rolling everything...........are you totally deranged????!!!! Whats the fun in that?????!!!!! I played with a GM who rolled all attack rolls and defence rolls for the characters - while we all sat their listening to a storyteller and giving hints to our character's actions. Some Swedish RPG have this rule. I don't know if something was lost in the translation - but its sick!

Combat

Definitions

Before going into combat, we must first go through hit locations of the body, the traits of weapons and armour and the definition of a combat round.

Hit locations
All humanoid creatures are divided up into the following hit locations:

Skull Eyes Face Neck Shoulders Upper Arms Elbows Forearms Hands

Thorax Abdomen Hips Groin Thighs Knees Calves Feet

Weapons
All weapons will have 1-3 injury classes. These are blunt (B), edge (E) and point (P). A weapon will do different amounts of damage depending on how you use it. Additionally, a weapon will have a quality factor (for parrying, hitting walls etc) and a range class. An example below from the Weapons Chart:

Armour
All armour is described by type of material and which hit locations it covers. It is given defence values for blunt (B) edge (E), point (P), fire (F), squeeze (S) and teeth & tear (T). An example below from the Armour table:

Combat Rounds
A combat round is not exactly a fixed amount of time. I generally say that a weapon can be swung and a defence made by each combatant in a round. The time of a round would therefore be roughly 4-6 seconds.

With these factors in mind we go through the order of combat and how to resolve combat results. As I try to explain it in detail it might seem difficult at first, but all it needs is a two-sided combat chart (Combat Chart 1 and 2). Try it a few times and the steps will come naturally with the chart in front of you.

Melee Combat

1. Determine initiative
Only first round of a combat or when a new combatant enters the fray or a character switches opponents etc.
Roll 1D100 + Initiative bonus. Character with highest result acts first in the round - lowest last. Missile weapons always act before melee weapons, regardless of roll.

2. Attacker states attack type
A -      B, E or P with weapon (if nothing said, it is assumed the one with the best value)
B -      Swing, thrust, lunge, overhead, double attack etc. See combat Options Sheet for more details on
           combat options (If nothing said the most obvious is presumed - swing for sword, thrust for a spear etc.)
C -     Aiming for body parts? -20 head, -15 arms, -10 legs, +-0 body. (If nothing said, body is presumed)
D -     Add or subtract special bonuses/penalties for prone target, from behind etc etc.

3. Defender states defence type
Dodge               - simply avoiding blow .
Grapple             - tries to grapple arm or weapon of attacker with hos own hands
Block                 - with weapon, shield or even arms
Counterstrike    - trying to strike the attacker when he opens his defence. Risky and might result i both getting injured
Ignore               - if defender is unaware of the attack or can't do anything to avoid it

4. Roll attack
1D100 + weapon skill +- bonuses/penalties

5. Roll defence
1D100 under defence value (normally 60% of combat skill)

Critial Success = full combat skill value subtracted from attack value
Marginal Success = 60% of combat skill value subtracted from attack value
Marginal failure = 30% of combat skill value is subtracted from attack value
Critical failure = Nothing is subtracted from attack value

6. Consult attack charts
Subtract defence value from attack value and consult Melee, Missile or Grapple Attack Chart. Result is shown as either:

7. Roll Hit Location and Injury Points
A D100 is rolled and the Hit Location Chart is consulted. There is one column for head, arms, legs and body (depending on what the character was aiming at). The last number of the roll (the 7 in 47) represents the Injury Points.

8. Roll Injury
The number of D6 generated from the Attack Chart are rolled. Add weapon injury (B, E or P) plus extra bonuses for character Injury Bonus,    
special attack bonuses etc. Subtract armour protection for B, E, P, F, S or T and subtract sixe modifier.
Find appropriate injury column to the right of the Hit Location. Results are as follows:

E = Shock. #D6 vs CON or faint . (Tactical advantage to opponent if fainting)
F = Fumble. #D6 vs AGL or fumble (Loose weapon + TA to opponent)
S = Stumble. #D6 vs AGI or stumble (Fall prone + TA to opponent)
K = Kill. #D6 vs CON or die (The End)
A = Amputate. #D6 vs 1/10 of weight or amputate
B = Bloodloss per round. Die if CONx5

Note: 
More than 15 Injury Points to a limb (arm or leg hit locations) = limb useless until healed.
More Injury Points than STR against Body or Head hit location = 3D6 vs STR or knockback and stumble (Tactical Advantage)

Missile Combat

Missile combat is resolved just like Melee Combat, except that there are fewer attack options and fewer defence options.

Unarmed Combat

Slightly different. The unarmed skill can be used in several ways : 
* Punches, kicks, headbutts are resolved as the melee combat order above.
* Knockbacks and trips go from a successfull attack (A#) to stat vs stat challenge. (There is no resulting injury, but Tactical Advantages instead)
* The rest of the attack demands a successfull Hold (AHd in the attack charts) in order to perform their secondary attack (Grapple & Throw)

Unarmed attack options :

The same defence options apply as in melee combat above.

Combat Modifiers

All combat systems need them..........

Examples of other actions during combat:

Combat Tips & Hints

The combat system relies heavily upon gaining Tactical Advantages. Gain one and you have an extra chance to attack your target again. This is especially important in unarmed combat.

Dare to change weapon properties. Vary between Blunt, Edge and Point.
-  Blunt to the head gives more Shock (unconscious) rolls.
-  Blunt delivers more Injury Points at weak hits than Edge and Point.
-  Point causes more death rolls.
-  Edge causes more bleeding and amputate rolls.

Aiming causes different effects
-  Legs = more stumble ( an opponent that has stumbled gives you a Tactical Advantage against a prone target )
-  Head = more knockouts ( opponent knocked out gives you a Tactical Advantage against a target that Ignores attacks )
-  Arms = more fumbles ( an opponent that has fumbled gives you a Tactical Advantage against an unarmed target )

Combo attacks are good. With good Unarmed skills target can be knocked back, tripped, kicked etc.

Choose effective attacks (overhead, aimed attacks, double attacks etc) against injured or poor opponents.

Counterstrike against weak or poor opponents – or simply for Fun & Excitement.

Long weapons (C) are good against short weapons (A). Long weapons are however useless in close quarters.

Short “A” weapons & combined with unarmed - use unarmed grapple & strike for efficiency (opponent can't use full dodge) .

Look for cover. Cover forces opponent to aim for uncovered hit locations.

Look for special bonuses (partial cover, trees to make right hand swings harder , sand in eyes etc)

Injuries & Healing

Injuries are noted on the character sheet by hit location. Serious wounds are harder to treat than minor wounds and requires more than mere first aid skills.
After a wound has been treated it is given a Healing Rate (HR).
After the first day of rest (or non-exhausting action) a healing roll is made. Success depends on the HR for the wound and a certain amount of Healing Points (HP) are appointed that wound. Each day, the wound's Injury Points (IP) are subtracted by the Healing Points.

Limilates, healing dyshas, good treatment and other factors can regenerate IP directly or raise the HR or HP factors.

Dyshas and isho

Dyshas are woven and thrown in 1 rnd (in order to make it more fun for the muadra)

1. Muadra chooses which dysha to weave and adds any bundles or weave tricks
2. Roll under dysha skill rank to succeed (taking into consideration any weave trick penalties)
3. Roll attack roll (normal missile combat rules with aiming, rolling hit location etc)
4. Determine dysha effect. Some dyshas will roll normal combat injury (lightning blast, crater etc) while others will have other effects (cage, suspensions orb etc)

Dyshas are described as in the normal 3rd Edition Skyrealms rulebook, but I have modified their costs somewhat. I have also added injury or effects to suit the Codex Jorunis.

Isho Tech is used by rolling tra-sense (+ any lore isho tech skills the character might have), required moon skills for the device and spending colour

Gaining Experience & Improving the Character

XP
As a rule I hand out experience after each adventure (or campaign if they are interlinked). We have gone through countless expeience systems and have finally settled for this homemade and highly sholari subjective system.

1, or sometimes up to 3 points are allocated for various deeds, successfull rolls, ideas, clever plans etc. The Experience Point Sheet gives a clue to what actions give experience. I also add to this the adventures difficulty and success rate (I think uninterested players just sitting through adventures shouldn't be rewarded as much as those adding to the story).

Improvements
Stats are never raised with XP
New skills are generally not allowed (must be good reason and education to gain a new skill. This to prevent all older characters to have all skills - regardless if they are condrij or iscin.)
Skills can be raised twice with the character's Raise Factor for that skill, if it has been used during the adventure or taught especially by an NPC. The XP cost to raise a skill is equal to the number of stars it has been ranked with (or its one-time cost for Certificate Skills). The raise factor depends on the stat linked to the skill.

The Flesh Wound Rule
After a combat has been fully resolved and all fighting is over, I have allowed characters to spend 3 XP to get rid of their serious wounds. It is a high price, but in game terms means that "Oh, under all that blood you weren't so injured after all.". This to avoid too many limping and infectious characters and to sometimes give the adventure a bit of that Indiana Jones fist-fighting-and-hanging-under-cars-although-he's-been-shot-action in critical phases of the story.
DO NOT allow characters to use this during combat.

Summary of Codex Jorunis files

Character creation & skills
Skill list
Occupation list

Combat
Combat Summary
Combat Charts 1
Combat Charts 2
Range Modifier Chart
Armour
Weapons Chart
Injuries & Healing
Limilates