This section deals with the spending of points. See here for recovering points.
A character starts each day with 100 points allocated to each points set. Play Points dictate how many actions a character can perform in that day. Energy Points dictate how good a character's physical condition is, and Mind Points dictate how good a character's mental condition is.
Scenarios, which are discussed in more detail here, require Play Points to instigate. Normally, a player should only attempt a scenario if he has 4 or more Play Points. If he does not, he can either hand the scenario over, and ask another member of his team to help out, or he can Risk Play. The player first rolls a D4 to see how many Play Points the scenario will cost him. Characters can band together and assist; which does not require Play Points, but will still require physical or mental points.
Depending on what a character decides to use when in a scenario will affect the eventual outcome. Fighting, lifting etc., require physical points, whereas studying, bargaining etc. requires mental points.
The number of attributes and any skills used in the scenario will reflect the amount of points required. For example, if a character is fighting a giant troll, he might find it hard to win using just bare fists. Therefore, he might use his broadsword (weapon), his agility and strength to win the battle. He could also use a skill such as flexibility if it was higher than his agility. Since he has used three factors to win, three levels of points must be given. To do this, the player rolls a D10 three times. The total is then subtracted from the character's energy points. If he fails, he must still roll the D10 three times to see how many points he must spend, and then he must prepare to defend himself from the Troll's attack! With this type of play, players may be less tempted to use many factors to win if they wish to remain in the game!
As with Combat, Confront, and Escape scenarios, all rolls must be paid for. Magic users mostly use Mind Points when casting Spells. As discussed here, Megaspells require multiple casts (and rolls). Therefore, the amount of Mind Points required to pay for such power is high! Take fireball example again: The basic fireball Megaspell, discussed here, requires three casts: Summoning the fire, forming it into a ball, and launching it. That's the three casts, and as such three D10 rolls must be made to dictate how many Mind Points are necessary to be used up. If a spell botches, then the user only has to pay for the highest roll made. That is, if the user made the first cast (summoning the fire), but failed the second cast (forming the ball), they would only need to pay for the first cast. As you can see, Magic IS powerful, but also costly; this is why even high-end Magic users need some good bare-knuckle fighters in their party!
Sometimes a failed scenario will not cause a player to lose energy points. If he is attempting to charm a barmaid into revealing information, or perhaps bribe his way into a castle, then the character will simply lose the Mind points he needed for the scenario. Of course, if the barmaid happens to slap the character round the face, then possible he MAY suffer some energy loss, or perhaps just a big dose of embarrassment! (See Botch Rolls for more info on this.
If a character is flagging in Energy and/or Mind Points, he can elect to rest and attempt to recover them. A character can rest at any time, but doing so means he is unable to fight or engage in scenarios.
When resting, a character rolls a D20 to see how many points he can restore. He can take the points there and then, or elect to try and double them. He does so by rolling the D10 + D10x10. If he achieves 50 or above, he succeeds and doubles his resting points value. If he fails, he loses all points for that rest period. Points may be restored to one or both Energy and Mind. It does not matter how many points a characters restores to his values, but neither may exceed 100. Any points that carry over due to reaching 100 are lost.
At the end of each day, characters can rest at an Inn or other type of lodging. Overnight rest restores ALL Play, Energy, and Mind Points.
If a character loses all his Energy or Mind Points, he is knocked out and incapacitated. An incapacitated character can only be recovered by being carried to an Inn and allowed to rest, or he can try to wake himself up. In order to do this, a player must roll 2xD10. If he rolls a double, he wakes up and is given 1 point to whichever value fell to 0. He can then rest briefly and try to gain some points back. A character can try to wake up a maximum of three times. After that, he can only recover by resting overnight.
If a player has 4 or more Play Points, then he is able to instigate a scenario and proceed with no problem. If a character has less than 4, he can elect to Risk Play. The player rolls a D4 to see how many points the scenario will cost. If he has enough, then he proceeds as normal. If the die roll is HIGHER than the points he has, then the character is automatically incapacitated, the scenario automatically fails, and he must follow the rules for incapacitation. If he succeeds in waking up, his Energy and Mind Points remain the same, but his Play Points remain at 0. Therefore, he can assist, but not instigate. A character may Risk Play as many times as he likes, as long as he has at least 1 Play Point. If his total falls to 0, he is unable to instigate any further scenarios and may only assist.
©2007-2008 Tom Parker