Glossary

Ability

Abilities are things that a single character can do. They will state how long they take and if you need to spend stamina to use them. They all require appropriate roleplaying.

Armour

Armour refers to protective equipment made from padded cloth, leather or metal. Any character can gain 2 hits by wearing any armour that covers their torso (we call this an Armoured Vest). Characters that have bought the Armour skill can benefit from heavier types of armour. Read more..

Appropriate Roleplaying

Some skills require this. It means you should act out some sort of procedure that is appropriate to what you are trying to do and how your character would accomplish it. For example Healing can be performed by bandages, magical alignment of crystals or stirring motivational speeches.

Bleed Time/Bleed Count

Bleed time and bleed count both refer to the time a character must spend dying before becoming terminal. Some rituals and wounds can change this for the better or worse.

Call

A call is a sequence of words that has a special meaning in the game rules. Please see the calls section of the website, where the calls are defined; it is important that a player knows how to react to at least the damage calls and simple effect calls.

Character (PC)

When you LARP you invent a character according to a series of rules and then you pretend to be them. You can have several characters at once (though you can only play one at a time!) but most people prefer to have a main character who they focus on. Your character does not have to be anything like you, even down to gender and species, although many of the most successful characters have been very similar to their players.

Downtime

Downtime is the time that elapses in the gameworld between interactives. As well as any roleplaying that occurs during this time, it is possible to perform certain actions. For more info see Downtime.

Dying

A character is dying if they have lost all of their hits. They can take no IC action other than talking/yelling, they also cannot resist any action done to them. A character ceases dying if they regain hits. After 120 seconds dying a character becomes terminal. Read more...

Effect

A magical presence on a character, object or area. Effects may be detected with the Knowledge L1 Ability "Explorer's Gaze". Unless otherwise stated, lasts until midnight.

Encounter

The time between either calls of REFRESH or your character using the Catch Breath ability.

Enhancement

An Effect which may be expended with 5 seconds of appropriate roleplaying to cause something to happen.

Focus

A focus is an item relating to the user's Paradigm and used to channel Spells. A holy symbol for a priest, a candle for a pyromancer, a crystal for an arcane meddler.

Popular foci include embroidered badges that also serve as belt tags, alchemical bottles, and large chunky pieces of jewellery. Most foci are about the size of the user's fist.

God

See the churches and the gods pages.

Hit

Hits, or hit points, represent the amount of physical punishment someone or something can take before becoming dying. Characters may gain more hits by purchasing the Hits skill or the Armour skill.

IC

In Character. Anything which would be perceptible to anyone in the world of No Flag No Country under any circumstances. Whenever you are pretending to be your character, you are IC.

Instantaneous

This effect may be cast using the words BY MY POWER, followed by the target and the call for the effect.

Interactive

A session of the game held in the Portal Camp. The Portal Camp is represented by whatever room the Society has booked that week. Interactives are held on Friday evenings, usually at 7.30pm. In Interactives, your PCs stay in a building in the Camp and the events come to them.

Linear

A type of adventure where the encounters are laid out along a set route which the characters follow. Usually an NPC "character ref" accompanies them as a member of the character party to ensure they don't stray off course by accident or design.

Magical Item

An object with a blue ribbon on it is a Magical Item.This may be a focus, a one-use Talisman or a piece of Magical Equipment. You can see what a Talisman does by inspecting it (reading the card or ribbon on it). You can work out what Equipment does by attuning to it overnight or using the Knowledge 2 Skill. Read more...

OOC (OC)

Out Of Character. Anything which is not perceptible to anyone in the world of NFNC. Going OOC is denoted by raising one index finger in the air (visibly and obviously, please), and is in general discouraged in the middle of play except in emergencies.

Paradigm

A belief or ideal that the Character uses to project their Soul onto the world, spending Stamina to cause supernatural effects. For example "My faith in the Aspirant lets me Smite the Unbeliever" "Using the power of Alchemy I can transform these base elements" "I am a wizard and I am going to throw fireballs LIKE A WIZARD".

Physrep

A physical representation of an object (these are called "props" in the theatre). Debate exists over whether all props and costume are technically phys-reps, or only "pretend" items. Eg: a latex sword is clearly intended as a physical representation of a metal sword, but is a proper suit of reenactment-quality metal chainmail a "representation" or an actual suit of chain? Regardless of the outcome of this debate, they are all referred to as phys-reps. Communally-owned phys-reps are often stored in an armoury, even if they aren't weapons.

Reanimate

Reanimation: Brief the target “You are now a revenant for this encounter. You have X hits. Mindlessly attack the first target I command.”. Where X is determined by the skill you used to reanimate the target.

Ref

The Ref Team run the NFNC system; they try to provide all the relevant bits of the world not provided by characters. They can usually be identified by the high-viz jackets they wear while OOC.

Revenant

Revenants are mobile bodies that are created by either the Necromancy profession tree or the Corpus mystic tree. For more information see Revenant.

Ritual

An complex effort to exert your will on the world via spending Stamina. Every participant spends 2 Stamina to take part. The leader of the ritual controls the effect and other participants should join in with their form of roleplay to reinforce the Paradigm.

Rule 7

Do Not Take The Piss. Rule 7 is the foundation of all interpretations of edge cases of the rules.

Skill

Skills let your PC do new things. You buy new skills with XP. Skills come as Combat Skills that give you access to new weapons or more Hits or Stamina, Mystic Skills that let you make new calls in a fight, or Profession Skills that give access to more general-use Abilities and Rituals.

Stamina

Your character's stored energy that lets them perform supernatural abilities.

Strike

A supernaturally powerful blow, must be roleplayed and costs some stamina. Read more...

Spell

An ability channeled through a Focus that allows you to affect a target. Most Spells have a 10m range, some require you be close enough to touch the target at the end of the roleplay. By default, Spells take at least 5 seconds of appropriate roleplay including speaking, chanting or shouting. Some may be cast with the words BY MY POWER followed by the spell effect. These spells are noted as "instantaneous". Read more...

Talisman

A single-use device that your character may expend to perform a single spell or strike. Up to 3 Talismans may be bound within the same object. For example a large potion bottle could contain 3 CURE 2 talismans.

Terminal

When a character becomes terminal nothing more can save them. The player can choose when the character dies, though no longer than the end of the next interactive. Read more...

Valuable

Some items are valuable, and worth looting. To save players filling their bags with every physrep they see, Valuable items will be marked with a yellow ribbon. Characters with the Trade 3 Skill can determine the value of these items.

Wound

Physical, mental or supernatural injuries that your character has suffered. When your character becomes dying, they gain a Wound. Wounds may also be suffered as a consequence of IC actions. All Wounds may be suppressed or treated with the Healing Skill. Read more...

XP

Experience points are earned by adventuring and then spent on new skills for your character to reflect how their abilities improve over time. See character creation for information on how fast a character gains XP, and how to spend it.