LANIK 2.0 - Players Handbook

Contents

Introduction
What is Lanik?
Optional rules
Throwing dice
An example of play
Character Traits
Abilities
Secondary characteristics and appearance
Personality
Background
Talents and skills
Introduction
Talents
Skills
Physics
Scalar classes
Moving
Miscellaneous physical feats
Physical damage
Life
Basic creature classes
Personalities
Social standing
Adventuring and game-play
Campaigns
Player co-operation
Adventuring

Introduction

What is Lanik?

Lanik is a roleplaying game (RPG). In it, the players assume the role of an imaginary Player Character (PC), wording the character's actions and comments. The PC's enter an equally imaginary world created by the Game Master (GM). The GM describes the background of and situations in the game world. He plays the role of all Non-Player Characters (NPC's), i.e. the characters that are not being directed by players, and is the final arbiter in rule interpretations. The players, through their characters, can interact with this world. They tell the GM what there characters do and say and the GM tells them how the world and everyone and everything in it reacts. Thus a kind of story starts to unfold, the outcome of which is unknown to both GM and players in advance (though they may make good guesses at it).

Winning the game?

A rpg is a game that has no predefined goal. The fun is in the playing, not the winning. The absence of a fixed goal makes winning (and losing) very hard, too. If wanted, GM and players can set a goal, or multiple ones. Players may set goals of their own, some public, some secret.

Sessions and campaigns

Time in the game does not always pass at the same speed of real time. An uneventful journey of several days in the gameworld may be handled in just seconds by GM and players. On the other hand a fierce combat of a few minutes with many things happening in a very short time may take an hour to play.

Thus a storyline / adventure / game may fit into one game session of a few hours, if it is not too complex and GM and players keep up the speed. If not, it may stretch over multiple game sessions (it takes real fanatics to play RPGs for days on end). During these sessions, new storylines may develop, sideplots emerge, adventures initiated by the players themselves. This is called a "campaign". It takes a lot more time, patience and persistence to play a game to its end than a single game session does, but it is usually more rewarding as the game world starts to take on a history and a clear mental image for all players.

Optional rules

Some rules are non-essential to the game, but can provide more detail for specific situations. They can be declared valid for an entire campaign, one game session, be used ad-hoc or not used at all, this at the discretion of the GM. The wise GM will of course make clear to his players which rules he will use when and how. Optional rules are denoted by the following label:
    ◎Optional rule

Throwing dice

To introduce an element of chance into the game, Lanik uses several types of gaming dice. These includes 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice. Gaming dice as these are available at most specialized game shops. When referring to dice roll outcomes, the notation [n]d[s] is often used. [n] denotes the number of dice, [s] their number of sides and [n]d[s] the sum of all [n] dice rolls.

An example of play

A group of four player characters take part in adventurous quest to retrieve the crown of the long-dead king Themiklos, hidden in the ruins of his former castle, on the island of Krenzos (you can see where the GM got his inspiration from). The characters hope that they get a rich reward from the current king Nazandros if they bring the crown back to him. The characters and players are:

• Menaion, a mariner-swordmaster, played by Kevin. He is more or less regarded as the group's leader, though they have not formally appointed him to this position.
• Cholai of the Black Rock, an obscure wizard, expert of metamorphosis magic, played by Alexander, an experienced player.
• Sorgan Dwarfreaper, a Germanic barbarian warrior, played by Mike, who likes to play barbarians.
• Aleya, a priestess of Tyche, played by Barbara. This is only the third time she is playing the game.

The adventure spans multiple game sessions, forming a "campaign". This friday evening the group has come together to play the third session of this storyline. In the previous two they had an audience with king Nazandros and got a ship from him, sailed to the island and talked to the few fishermen that inhabit it. These sent the party to the ruins of the old castle, which they have entered at random, not knowing where to start. Let's drop in.

Kevin: Allright, last time we were just about to descend from the stairs at the back of the hall we named the 'Eagle Hall' because of the eagle-like statue there. We should arrive at the main sewer tunnel, shouldn't we, Cholai?
Alexander: Yes. If I'm right that runs straight under the castle in the middle, from the temple hill to the sea. I think that there may be a passage bypassing the rubble that blocks the entry to the library. There we may find some maps or reports on the downfall of the dynasty. (What Alexander does not mention is that he thinks that the chance on finding maps or reports is very small, but he hopes to find some ancient texts on magic, something that the others think is a waste of time).
Kevin: Allright, lets go. I'll light a torch because its dark there, isn't it?
GM: Indeed. What is your marching order?
Kevin: I'll lead, with Aleya in 2nd position, Cholai in 3rd and Sorgan covering our rear.
GM: The stairs descend for about 3 or 4 meters. You must take some care because it's slightly slippery, but none of you is heavily loaded so I think that should go well. At the end you can see an old wooden door to the left and a passage to the right. Menaion, you're at the front, please make a perception check, modified 4 points downward because this is a difficult one.
Kevin (rolls a d20): 7, that's below my perception score of 13, even with a 4 point penalty.
GM: You hear a muffled sound of feet coming from that passage.
Kevin: Shhh! Watch out! There may be some animal lurking around that corner.
Mike: I'll handle it, let me through.
GM: The stairs are rather narrow, that would require some shifting and squeezing.
Kevin: You wait, I'll take this one. After this, you may lead. I sneak up to the corner and cautiously peer around it, what do I see?
GM: Silent, eh? Make sneaking/prowling check, please. Stone floor, near-total silence, you have soft boots, that comes down to a modifier of -1.
Kevin: I have a skill level of 6 in that, so I should roll a 5. I ...
Alexander: Wait a minute, you're still carrying that torch. Sound is not the only thing that can give you away. Give it to me, please.
Kevin: Right. Here you have it. Now, I roll a 11, that's not enough.
GM: You're not exactly noisy but some muffled sound is already noted here. Around the corner steps a big man with muscles like cables and the head of a ... bull! He carries a huge double-bladed axe.
Kevin, Alexander & Mike: A minotaur!
GM (assuming the role of the minotaur): Ah! Visitors! What brought thee down this passage, strangers? I must warn thee, now that thou have cometh this far thou must prove thy wisdom, or feel the bite of my blade!
Mike: Shit! Eh ... By Nike! Let's hack him down!
Kevin: No, let's hear him out. What's that wisdom talk about, you monster?
GM: Provideth me with the answer to my riddle, and thou willst passage. Fail, and thou willst perish. Listen: Always working, never resting. Strong enough to lift ten of its kind. Housing in the dark, an armored soldier. What is it?
Kevin: Eh ...
Mike: Strong enough to lift ten of its kind? Most be some kind of giant! Or a dragon.
Alexander: Living underground? Always working? More like a kind of super dwarf. They are quite busy people too, strong and wear armor.
Kevin: Yeah, what about that?
GM: A super dwarf?
Kevin, Alexander: Eh ... well ...
GM: Wrong! Time to say farewell to thy heads!
Barbara: No, wait! I know the answer! An ant!
Kevin, Alexander, Mike: An ant?!
Barbara: Yes, you know, ants can lift things much heavier than themselves. They live underground and their skin is very hard, for their size that is.
GM: You wisdom is supreme, mylady. Thou may pass.
Kevin: By the gods, I didn't know you knew so much about insects. Allright, let's go. Goodbye, horned guardian!

The party proceeds down the passage, on to more monsters, traps, and riddles. Who knows what other dangers they may face? The next riddle may prove too difficult for them, so Sorgan can let his sword drink some blood, or they may have to negotiate passage from a group of goblins who resent intrusion but love gold. Who knows? The only way to find out is to step into the adventure.

Character Traits

Abilities

Every human character has 8 ability scores:

These abilities determine your character's qualities. Often, when the character is tested to his/her limits on a point where the player cannot exert any influence. The ability scores are used to determine success or failure.

Every ability score is rated on a scale from 1 to 20, average is 10½. To give the reader an idea about the various ability score levels, the following table displays some references.

The basic score for each ability is determined at random, by throwing 3d4 and adding 3 points, thus arriving at a range of 6 through 15 and emphasizing on the average scores. The ability scores are developed, or underdeveloped, during one's youth, expanding the range to 3 through 18. See ability skills for details. Scores of 1, 2, 19 or 20 are possible only by means of very low or high age, diseases, invalidity or magic.

Alternative rules, allowing players to set their character's ability scores to their ability needs, can be applied if agreed by the GM:

◎Optional rule: Adjustable scores

Some people object to the fact that random determination of ability scores leads to unfair advantages and disadvantages for some player characters. If the GM agrees with that, he can consider an extra rule to smoothen the effects of the dice. In this case players are allowed to shift points between ability scores, by adding 1 point to a score when subtracting 2 from another score. Minimum and maximum values allowed using this mechanism are 6 and 15 respectively.

◎Optional rule: Rotating scores

If the GM wants a powerful mechanism to have players select their own abilities, he can have them throw scores without any assignment order. Once eight values are rolled, players assign these to the abilities as they see fit.

◎Optional rule: Fixed score total

If the GM feels that the adjustment of ability scores does not sufficiently reduce the differences between characters, he can consider an alternative method. A fixed number of points is assigned to each player character and the player can distribute these over his character's scores Minimum value for each score is 6, maximum is 15. A total of 84, leading to average scores of 10½, is recommended. If the GM likes, totals of for instance 100 (special people), 120 (superhumans) or even 140 (demi-gods) can be used.

Ability descriptions

The eight abilities are outlined below:

Comeliness (CO)

Comeliness is physical beauty (or ugliness). It includes visual appearance and body odor. It is the most unadjustable of all abilities, but can be enhanced by grooming, decoration and clothing or be dimmed by neglect. Comeliness is useful at first contact, but later on charisma takes over.

Strength (ST)

Strength is sheer physical strength, both in arms, legs and other parts of the body. It determines how much weight you can lift, how far you can throw, how fast you run in a sprint and how hard you can hit, amongst others.

Max. press = maximum weight in kg that can be lifted over the head and held steady for a short period (NB: The unencumbered limit is 1/5 of max. press)

Health (HE)

Health is a measure of physical health and endurance. It is a measure for all kinds of physical endurance, including long distance running, holding your breath, etc. It also includes resistance against injuries, regeneration speed, diseases and poison.

Cooper = average distance run for humans at Cooper running speed test (12 minutes). This does not mean that every person with health 12 can run 2840 meters on a Cooper test, as this is just a test of endurance and running power. Effective endurance may be lower or higher, with other health attributes like resistance to disease higher or lower to arrive at an average of 12.

Dexterity (DE)

Dexterity is the sum of physical suppleness and agility, balance, (hand-eye-) co-ordination and reaction speed, as well as finger dexterity and a little sensitivity.

Perception (PE)

Perception includes the six senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and the eye in your back), but also the ability to interpret the signals that your senses send to you. This means it also includes pattern matching and alertness to aberrations.

Charisma (CH)

Charisma determines basic convincing power and ability to befriend (or intimidate) people. It includes reasoning power, speech intonation, debating tricks and more, plus much body language.

Intelligence (IN)

Character intelligence is a ability that is frequently confused with player intelligence. In this system, it only represents game-specific matters like the ability to solve problems with information that the player lacks. It includes memory, reasoning ability, pattern recognition, power to abstract, learning speed, etc. Also an amount of experience is included, so this is not entirely a ability score.

Willpower (WI)

Willpower is strength of will, combined with a sense of wisdom and intuitivity.

Secondary characteristics and appearance

You as player decide the sex, age, appearance and other secondary characteristics of your character, based on his background and what you want him to be. Feel free to use your imagination to shape your character into a whos appearance in time will be remembered by people just as if they met a real human. If you want some reference material though, walk through the following section, where some averages and tips are listed.

Gender

The Lanik system does pose any limits on gender. Males can play females and the other way around, if they like. Sex poses no measurable adjustments or restrictions on abilities or skills.

Age

To keep the system simple, the Lanik system discerns eight categories of age. Each class modifies the ability scores, representing the rise and decline of human ability through the years. The adjustments in the following table are not cumulative: each category's numbers replace those of the previous one.

Minimum scores for small infants are 1, for infants 2, children 4, adults and older 1. Maximum scores are 18 for all age categories.

Handedness

Your character can be either right-handed, left-handed. Throw a d10 to determine the balance: 1 - 9 = right-handed, 10 = left-handed. Ambidexterity is a talent only very few people acquire by nature. In Lanik it is a skill which can be learned.

Height and weight

To determine your character's height in centimeters, throw 2d20 and add 150 for men or 140 for women. Furthermore add your character's strength ability score to the total.

To determine the normal weight in kilograms for your height, divide your height by 2 and subtract 17. To introduce some variation, add an adjustment which increases with height as displayed in the table below.

Of course more extreme examples are possible, as dwarfs and giants, super-skinnies and mega-fatto's are noted in regular human history and certainly fantasy. The guidelines listed above are limited to the normal ranges for 21^st century West-European humans, to keep the tables and formulas simple. Note, though, that the weight formula and table allow for serious under- and overweight. If you want you can add modifiers for other races or time periods. The average medieval human was a lot shorter than the tall modern westerner, as is the average modern world citizen!

Physical appearance

The range of possibilities is so high in this case that is too much work to give tables for all parameters. Use your imagination at this point and mind features like eye color, skin color, hair color and style, amount of body hair, form of face, nose, mouth, eyes, distribution of weight, musculature, scars and pigments, etc.

Voice

To determine the pitch of your character's voice, throw a d10. For males: 1 - 4 = bass, 5 - 8 = baritone, 9 - 10 = tenor. For females: 1 - 2 = contralto, 3 - 7 = mezzo-soprano, 8 - 10 = soprano.

Personality

Lanik presents no rules on character personality. You as a player decide how your character thinks and behaves. It is a challenge to play a character with a different personality than your own. When creating a character, ponder all aspects of your creation. Is he shy or extravert, courageous or easily scared? Is he a warrior by heart or a man of science and culture, is he young and rash or old and throughtful? What are his goals in life, what are his desires and fears?
You decide on all this. Try to construct a personality that both fun to play for you and to the other players and ... is one that you actually can play.

Background

Another important aspect to a character is his background. It is nice to flesh out the skills, appearance and personality of your character, but of course one of the first questions that pops up next is: How did he become that way? While this is not so very important to detail for short game sessions, for campaigns it is.
Think where your character was born and raised, in which area and culture, by which parents - or is he an orphan? Try to explain how he learned the skills that he knows. You may want to discuss this with the GM, if your character came from the gameworld that the GM has created.
By doing this you create not just a sheet of statistics, but a persona that is a real entity in the gameworld. This will gave you hand- and footholds for roleplaying him and make interaction with other characters much more interesting. It will also help the GM to create storylines that befit the characters of the players.

Example character background

Chusuk was born into a tribe of the wild steppe nomads, the tribe of the Black Hawk, as the second son of one of the many hunter-warriors of the tribe, with one elder brother and later a younger sister. He grew up without worries to the life of a steppe nomad. When he was 12 years old, plague swept the tribe and killed his father and sister, after which his uncle took the decimated family under his care. Chusuk clung to his elder brother, who was strong-willed and cautious, a lighting example for the young warrior.
When Chusuk was 17 years old, already initiated and considered a man, the tribe raided a town on the border of the Onethean empire, after having suffered a harsh winter and running low on food. The raid was a success, but the inexperienced Chusuk was captured by the townsmen and sold as a slave to the rich silk-merchant Yorud, living in a port city far to the south. Yorud first used him as a laborer to break his spirit and when he felt safe, allowed him a position as house-servant and the services of one of his courtisanes, aiming to use him as a bodyguard later on.
However Chusuk's spirit was not quite broken and one night he fled the house and the city. He wanted to take the courtisane with him but was forced to leave her behind. After a barren journey through the swamps bordering the city he managed to flee to the east. Returning home was no option, because the tribe of the Black Hawk considers men that allow themselves to be captured unworthy and outcasts. So he found work at a farm, working as a laborer for some years.
This was a peaceful period but at at the end the area was raided by nomads (from another tribe) and most farmers were killed, including the family where Chusuk was staying. The former slave himself had not forgotten how to fight and stayed alive.
After this incident Chusuk concluded that there was no safe place for him. He gathered some weapons, armor and a horse from fallen nomads and took to the eastern mountains, where orcs and humans contested a few gold mines, planning to test his luck in war, living from day to day. He may team up with other adventurers over there.

Chusuk is now a bitter and harsh man. He mistrusts wealth and luxury and takes pride in his ascetism. He has learned the ways of civilization a bit but in a city he will quickly be recognized as a stranger. He speaks little and is quick to fall in love with pretty young girls, often to his demise.
Chusuk has no real goal in life but to survive, though hate against Yorud and his tribe smoulders in his heart. If he makes a fortune and gains power he may return to them in the future to take his revenge, unless he learns forgiveness along the way.
From his childhood he inherits a decent skill level in hunting, foraging, camp-making, horse-riding and fighting with spear, bow and arrow. He is strong and agile, but not very witty.

Of course this background could have been shorter and sketchier, or much longer and more detailed. It could have been supplemented by a drawn picture of the character. Design a background that fits your interests and those of the GM.

Talents and skills

Introduction

In Lanik abilities, talents and skills represent the ability of a creature to act. Their level of refinement depends on both talent, knowledge and practice. The basis of all skills is formed by eight talents, which determine the starting point from which a learning character sets out.

All skills are arranged in a tree, the skill-tree. Just below the top of this tree are the eight talents. One level lower the talents are divided into a number of primary skills. These in turn are divided into several secondary skills at the next level of the trees. This branching has no theoretical limit, though in the basic Lanik system the number of levels is limited to a few. Not every branch is equally detailed, though.

Talents

Descriptions

Below are listed the eight talents:

• Body: Body workers are sportsmen. They excel in physical feats and display superb strength, endurance, and dexterity.
• Wilderness: This talent represents the ability of humans to get into focus with nature and their own bodies and survive in wild surroundings. Characters with much wilderness talent have a strong animal intuition and a good perception of aspects of nature.
• Martial: The nature of fighters changes but little through history. All train a healthy body, have nerves of steel, a good understanding of tactics and strategy and display a fierceness which makes them search for conflicts rather than evade them.
• Craft: Craftsmen are excellent builders and handlers of artificial objects. They design, build and handle tools, machines, vehicles, buildings and other constructs which are always functional and useable. Craftsmanship ranges from carpentry to weaving, from bookbinding to charioteering.
• Art: Artists are creators like craftsmen. The difference is that they do not build for usefulness, but for beauty. The work of an artist might be functional, but that will not be its main objective. Artists of course are very creative and often unconventional.
• Science: Scientists are workers of knowledge. They want to understand and explain things. Scientific minds are intelligent, able to abstract and think outside normal patterns.
• Social: Socially talented people work with other people. They thrive on contact with other humans and often perform advisory, managing or communicating functions.
• Magic: Wizards, shamans, priests and other magic-users have the ability to tap into the powers of the supra-natural. They need to control their thoughts and co-operate with strange powers and minds.

Scores

Each talent score has a value in the range of 0 to 3. Each player receives 6 points which he/she may distribute over the talent skills of the character, max. 3 points per talent. The GM may opt to increase or decrease the number of distributable points.

Skills

Where abilities and talents are generic, skills are specific. They show how good a character is in performing certain taks.

Skill level

Each character is assumed to master each skill to a certain level. This skill mastery is called skill level and is again measured on a scale of 0 through 20. Though most skills must be learned before they can be practiced effectively, every character has a basic skill level of zero or greater for each skill. The height of this basic level varies. In some skills, for example writing, basic level is quite low, in others everyone may claim a solid basic level, for instance with speak language. The basic score levels are based on varying combinations of the ability and talent scores, plus a skill-specific factor. The formulas are different for each skill and are detailed in the skill list.

Contrary to talent level, skill level can be improved by studying, exercising and through raw experience - or better, a combination of these three. Characters devote more attention to some areas and less to others, thereby specializing. Talent scores modify both the basic skill level and rate of improvement, thus steering the direction of specialisations quite a lot. Every skill can be elevated to a level where it starts to take on magical properties.

For some skills the range of skill levels is sometimes expanded to 1 through 100 by a 1 to 5 mapping, to get a more precise estimate of chances. This means that 1 on the 20-scale corresponds with 1-5 on the 100-scale, 2 with 6-10, etc.

Over the detailed range of 0 to 20 is laid a rougher measure of just 7 levels. These are the expertise levels, see the table below.

Advancing in skill level can be done by studying, training and exercising (see ahead). But when an expertise level is reached, the student cannot advance any further on this skill until he/she has received instruction from a teacher of appropriate level, i.e. somebody who has already mastered the expertise level in question.
When such an expertise level is mastered, they often come with advanced appliances of the skill. An advanced practitioner cannot only do things better than a lesser student, he can do things others simply cannot do.

Instructors will often demand that students prove their worth by performing tests or doing quests. These can be demanding jobs and the difficulty increases with each level - but then, so also does the ability of the student.
For example, consider the requirements to reach guru level in the broadswords skill:

• An unskilled fighter may learn novice level from a friend, colleague or family member.
• When he joins the militia to defend his village against the local barbarians, a veteran drill instructor elevates his skill to skilled level, in return for his service in the militia.
• Having acquired the taste of combat, our fighter next joins a group of mercenaries for hire. They'll teach him expert level, but first they test his skill in mock-combat and send him on a few dangerous solo recon missions.
• Our broadsword slinger continues to advance and rises to a high position in the troop. He wishes to improve his sword skill to master level, but there is no suitable teacher to be found, so he travels to the big city to seek out a master duelist. This man agrees to teach the student master level if he beats one of the master's pupils in fight, while being blindfolded. This fight proves almost impossible to win, but the fighter wins by driving his skills and wits to their limits. After paying a solid fee he is educated further and becomes a master himself.
• Our hero persists in training and after many hard working hours he is up for grandmaster training. The only broadsword grandmaster known to him is a half-orc, living deep in the orc-infested mountains. The fighter travels there, surviving many a perilous adventure and finally meets his teacher. The half-orc is reluctant and wants to send him off on a quest to assassinate a rival leader, which is refused by our man. A conflict and fight ensue in which the hero and his assistants manage to capture the broadsword grandmaster. He then buys his freedom by giving the fighter what he wants.
• The new made grandmaster spends two years training, fighting and adventuring before he is ready for guru training. After much checking with sages he tracks down a guru broadsword fighter, who lives deep beneath the earth. An months-long adventure brings our hero to him. The guru is not impressed by his performance and demands that the fighter travels to Hades to slay a certain demon and bring its eyes, that can be used to make a magical focus, back to him. He warns the student that the demon cannot be harmed by swords, except in his neck. Our hero agrees, descends into the underworld, manages to find the demon, only to find that the creature has equipped himself with a very elaborate helmet. He fights it, but falls short and is killed by it. The test proves to be one step too far ...

The exact tests, fees and requirements for expertise level training depend on the difficulty of the skill and the nature of the trainer. Sometimes students might wish to evade certain trainers and seek out others.

◎Optional rule: The maximum expertise skill level that a character can reach in a skill, depends on his talent where that skill is ranked under:

Skill-tree

See the skill list for a complete listing of all the skills.

Note that in the skill-tree, the eight ability scores reappear - they are sometimes used to determine basic skill level. But here we refer to the so-called ability skills, which are original talents modified for training. The effective level of talents when determining other skill scores is based on ability skills, not on basic ability scores. See the document on ability skills for details

Skill improvement is possible only at the lowest levels of the skill tree, i.e. where there are no more skills that specialize further.
However, if a certain skill is trained, ability with comparable adjacent skills does not remain unaffected, though always lagging behind on skills where the focus is on. Skill level for these adjacent skills is always maximum 6 levels lower than that of the most advanced skill in a subtree, i.e. two expertise levels, unless the character specializes in this skill too.
For example: A character has reached level 14 in missile weapons. This includes some knowledge about timing and aiming which is useful for artillery weapons too. Though he is but level 3 in artillery, this skill level is increased to 8. The artillery training for the first 3 levels seems wasted, however the character may want to get his artillery skill to a decent level long before missile weapon skill reaches level 14 - as skill advancement slows down significantly at higher levels (see below).
This rule applies only to skills that are part of a parent container skill. Names of container skills are listed between square brackets in the skill list.

Skill advancement

To advance in skill level, your character must study and practise, or simple said, train. One day (8 hours of focused activity) of training yields one skill point (SP), specific for a certain skill. When a character has accumulated enough points, he will advance in skill level, until the expertise level limit is reached. Receiving expertise training takes 1 day per expertise level, i.e. between 1 and 7 days.

The number of points needed to advance increases with each level. To be exact: the number of points needed to advance from level X to level X + 1 is [X+1]. The table below displays the cumulative totals.

This table is for simple skills only. Some skills are more difficult to learn and require two (medium), three (difficult) or even four times (very difficult) as much SP to advance a level. For these skills, use the values from the table and multiply them by two, three or four as needed.

Talent influences skill advancement heavily, especially in the first stages, as a character with a high score on a talent applying to a skill will have a higher starting level than a less talented character.

For example:

Two characters want to learn to shoot missile weapons, which falls under the martial talent. The first has a martial talent of 0, the other of 3. With missile weapons, starting level is exactly equal to talent level. This means that the second character will start at level 3, making him a novice right from the start! - novice expertise training is assumed to be included in his youth.
Missile weapons is a medium difficult skill, requiring double normal amount of SP. His friend will have to accumulate not [1 + 2] = 3 but [2 * (1+ 2)] = 6 SP to reach level 2. After he has earned [2 * 3] = 6 more SP he is egligible to apply for novice training, which he can learn from his friend.
This person, meanwhile, has been training for 12 days too. He would normally need [2 * 4] = 8 SP to reach level 4, but his talent reduces this to [2 * (4 - 3)] = 2. Level 5 takes [2 * (5 - 3)] = 4 days, level 6 takes [2 * (6 - 3)] = 6 days.
This means the two characters are up for expertise training at the same time. The second character cannot train and be trained at the same time (unless he's capable of doing some very heavy 16-hour working days), so the first character must look for a different trainer or they must allow for more time.

◎Optional rule: Container SP

As an alternative to the strict SP-per-skill rule, the GM ay opt to hand out SP per container skill, or even per parent skill that is not a container skill. He may even go further and give SP per "grandparent skill", "grand-grand parent skill" etc., all the way up to the talent.

For example if a character has been practising five or six different wilderness skills over a span of three days, frequently switching from on to another in intervals of varying length, then the GM may simply hand out three "wilderness" SP. The player must then assign these to individual skills that fall under the wilderness talent.

◎Optional rule: Training and experience

Another intermediate rule divides the SP in two classes. The first is theory and exercise, together called training, and the other experience. This leads to two separate SP totals for each skill. Ideally, these two should go up at about the same rate, by circumstances may dictate otherwise. In this case the skill becomes unbalanced, reducing the efficiency of SP gathered.

The following example illustrates this. Suppose a young aristocrat is trained in sword-play by a hired army-veteran. This man will boost his training skill up, making him an able fighter. But outside, confronted with a street fighter who learned his trade in the slums, knowing every dirty trick and fighting only to win, the noble will encounter things he may never encountered in training: muddy footing, distractions by bystanders, dirty tricks, etc. He will thus be at a disadvantage, having specialized solely on training.

The street fighter in turn also lacks efficiency from lack of proper training. He doesn't know how to fight a sword-armed opponent, always having to combat knife and fist fighters. He persistingly neglects his cover on his left side for instance, something no teacher ever unlearned him. So he too is not the fighter he could have been. Only a man with training and experience combined can rise to the highest levels.

That is not to say that progress is impossible with unbalanced skills, it just is not that effective. With this rule skill levels are split into two separate levels, one training level and one experience level, each half as "large" (in number of SP contained) as the original level. The training SP apply to the first, the experience SP to the latter. To determine effective skill level, take the lowest of the two levels and add half of the highest (round downwards). This means that a completely unbalanced skill (all SP to one of the two levels) will have a level-progress half as fast as a completely balanced one.

◎Optional rule: Skill maintenance

Skills, to be effective, must be maintained. A character who doesn't practice his trade for a long period will loose some of his skill.
Per month, a character must spent as many SP on maintenance as he has expertise levels in the skill. These SP can still be used for skill advancement - practise is enough for maintenance.
Every month this requirement is not met, the SP total for the skill drops by as many points as the character has expertise levels in the skill. If it drops below the minimum number required for the current skill level, this drops one level. Minimum skill level is 4 skill levels lower than the highest level ever reached by the character. This represents the fact that a skill is never completely forgotten.

Skills, professions & activities

Professions

If a character is studying under a tutor to learn a profession, he will not always focus on a single skill. Many professions require a set of skills to combine into one whole. A hunter for instance, will probably be skilled in hunting, tracking, hiking and camp making, direction sense and maybe more wilderness skills too, plus stealth. While learning, SP will be distributed unevenly over the various skills, with focus on more some and less on others, depending on the preferences of both tutor and pupil and the environment.

Learning "on the job"

It may not be possible for a character to train whole days on a single skill, when he has a busy schedule. However, training days may be split up into half-days, hours or any other time unit that the GM and players deem feasible. Multiple skills can be trained side-by-side this way. Some examples:
Consider a young wizard studying the magic arts while on route to a caravan serai. He is supposed to help guarding the caravan from danger, but nothing much happens and he can affort to spent quite a lot of time on other matters. However, daytime is filled with travelling. So the young apprentice dozes a little and spends 3 hours on average in the evening studying in his books. Thus, he gains 1 SP every 2+2/3 days. Besides this he gains about 1 SP in tracking (travelling) skill, just by exercising and learning from the caravan leader, while travelling 8 hours per day.
His elder colleague disdains this skill and has enchanted a carpet to fly and carry him so he can learn while moving with the column - a wagon ride would be too bumpy to study effectively. He studies about 8 hours per day and spent his evenings drinking and engaging in campfie stories, not learning very much except skills that are not measured in this system, though the GM may grant him 1/8 or 1/4 SP in storytelling per day if the wizard doesn't drink too much.
Another apprentice, a ranger this time, is also part of the caravan. He accompanies an elder tracker, who learns him tracking (travelling), horse riding, tracking (finding tracks), direction sense, camp making, finding water, missile weapons and storytelling (they too join the ranks around the campires at night). The exact time spent on these activities varies per day, so the GM just hands out 1 SP for every skill after 8 days.

Quality, success and failure

Skill checks

Sometimes, when a character tries to complete a non-trivial task, a die-roll is required to determine whether the attempt succeeds of fails, and by how large a margin. In this case a skill check is made. The player must make a d20 roll. To succeed, the roll result must be equal than or lower than the score of the appropriate skill. For some actions, like making an attack in combat, the skill is predetermined. In other situations which are unforeseen and ambiguous, the GM selects the most appropriate skill.

The difference between skill score and die roll is called the skill check result. It tells you whether the attempt was a close call or grand failure/success.

Product quality

The quality of goods made by a craftsman, services executed, or any task executed by a skill practitioner, depends on his skill level. If he is up to the task, the quality will usually be "normal". A more proficient man can do the same task and generally achieve a better result. If his skill expertise level is one higher than the level required, the result on average is ranked "good", at two levels or more the result is called "superb".
Likewise, somebody who is not up to the task can attempt it. This requires a skill check. If the attempt succeeds, the quality will still be lower than normal. If the skill practitioner is one expertise level short, the quality is ranked "poor", at two levels it is called "shaky" and at three levels or more the quality is so bad that the result is effectively a failure.

Good and superb quality results tend to be stronger, more refined, last longer, etc. Poor and shaky work are the negative counterparts of these. In game terms, good results often give a +1 bonus, superb +2. Poor gives a -1 penalty, shaky a -2.
For instance a master leather worker who makes a boiled leather armor, which requires expert level, can make a good quality armor that absorbs 3 points of combat damage rather than the normal 2 points.

Good quality goods or services can usually be sold at two times the normal price, superb quality at five times. Likewise, poor is two times as cheap and shaky five times.

Physics

Scalar classes

Lanik does not measure sizes, lengths, durations and many other kinds of scalar values exactly, as this is often hard to do. Instead, it divides the range of scalar values in so-called "scalar classes" giving a rougher but simpler measure.

Size

In order to easily discern between creature and object sizes, the Lanik system discerns seven size classes. Below is a list with example creatures (all adult size).

-4. Extremely minute: humming bird
-3. Very minute:
-2. Minute:
-1. Extremely tiny: field mouse
0. Very tiny: large rat
1. Tiny: housecat, hobgoblin
2. Small: wolf, sheep, halfling
3. Medium: human
4. Large: gorilla, lion, bear, horse
5. Huge: walrus, hippopotamus
6. Giant: elephant, tyrannosaurus rex
7. Gargantuan: whale

Range / area

For range and area too, a set of classes is discerned. The multiplication factor between each class is about five. With areas, the figures listed are average lengths / diameters for the range / area.

1. short / small: a few meters (8 mtrs)
2. medium: accross a large hall (40 mtrs)
3. long / large: bowshot (200 mtrs)
4. very long / large: about a kilometer
5. extremely long / large: about a league (5 kms)
6. daytrip / enormous: length of a short day's travel on foot (25 kms)

Time

The time classes are listed below.

Short scale:

1. Minimum: A few seconds, max. 12 sec. Time unit = 1 sec.
2. Very short: A few segments, max. 1 min. time unit = 1 segment = 6 sec.
3. Short: Up to a few minutes, max. 5 min. Time unit = ½ min.
4. Medium: Up to ½ an hour. Time unit = 5 min.
5. Long: Up to a few hours, max. 3 hours. Time unit = ½ hour.
6. Very long: Up to a day, max. 16 hours. time unit = 1 hour.
7. Maximum: Prolonged periods of more than one day. Time unit = 1 day.

The short scale time classes can be used for most effects. Very long time effects can be measured on the long scale:

1. ( 7) Minimum: Up to a week, max. 7 days. Time unit = 1 day.
2. ( 8) Very short: Up to a month, max. 30 days. Time unit = 6 days.
3. ( 9) Short: Up to ½ year, max. 6 months. Time unit = 1 month.
4. (10) Medium: Up to 3 years. Time unit = ½ year.
5. (11) Long: Up to a life stage, max. 15 years. Time unit = 1 year.
6. (12) Very long: Up to a century, max. 100 years. Time unit = 10 years.
7. (13) Maximum: Prolonged periods of more than one century. Time unit = 1 century.

Temperature

There are fourteen temperature classes, with classic breakpoints at the borders between 4 & 5 (freezing point of water), 9 & 10 (human body temperature) and 11 & 12 (boiling point of water). Numbers listed below are in degrees Celcius.

1. Minimum: -273 to -71
2. Freezing III: -70 to -21
3. Freezing II: -20 to -7
4. Freezing I: -6 to 0
5. Cold: +1 to +7
6. Cool: +8 to +14
7. Moderate: +15 to +21
8. Warm: +22 to +29
9. Hot I: +30 to +36
10. Hot II: +37 to +50
11. Hot III: +51 to +100
12. Hot IV: +101 to +400
13. Hot V: +401 to +2000
14. Maximum: +2001 and higher

Moving

Walking and running

Basic speed

Central in the description of rules for traveling and generally moving around is the concept body speed. This score denotes how fast your character can move, and up to what level of agility. Optionally, the sprinting skill score determines your body speed for short distances, running skill for longer ones. The base speed for walking humans is 1.5 mtr/sec.

Because the human body tires from exertion, the actual speed at which you move depends on the time of travel. In a sprint a very high speed can be maintained for a short period, whereas a day-long march requires an easier pace and some pauses.

Normal and maximum speeds (when calculated in mtr/sec) are listed below by time class:

^(*) Including rest periods.

In game situations, distance/time traveled can almost always be scaled in one these six classes. For example, consider an unhappy adventurer who runs into an encounter with a hungry dragon. Use minimum trip speed to determine whether the oncoming victim of dragon breath will be able to duck aside before the beast breathes out. If he does, use very short trip speed to see if he can sprint to cover before the next dragon exhale. If he succeeds again and flees, use short trip speed to check whether he will be able to outrun the angry dragon which will try to pursue him. Medium trip speed tells you how much time the adventurer will need to reach his friends which are camping at a few kilometers distance. Very long trip speed will set the length of the journey back to the civilized world, some days from the dragon's lair.

◎Optional rule: Fitness effects

Maximum walking and running speed depend on one's health. The rules below modify the base speed to reflect this.

• For minimum, very short and short trips, multiply the base speed with [sprinting skill level / 10]
• For short trips, multiply the base speed with [(sprinting skill level + hea) / 22)]
• For medium, long, very long and maxium trips, multiply the base speed with [hea / 12]

If moving in a group, faster travellers will of course have to slow down to keep the others from falling behind.

Terrain

The figures presented above are for unencumbered humans walking or running on solid ground without severe obstacles. Carrying loads and/or moving through rough terrain slows you down. These effects are represented by multiplication factors. The following sections give rules for slowing factors.

Also four classes of terrain are considered:

1. Light terrain: flatlands with solid ground with few obstacles, gently rolling hills, light forest
2. Medium terrain: plains with boulders and pebbles, sand-deserts, steep hills, medium forest
3. Heavy terrain: mountains, dense forest / jungle, swamp, flatlands covered with a thick layer of snow
4. Ultra-heavy terrain: steep cliffs, lakes of quicksand, water, underground caves

Medium terrain slows travel down to ¾ normal speed. Heavy terrain brings the speed back to ½ normal.
There are no simple rules for ultra-heavy terrain, which forces humans to climb, swim, slide or move in another difficult way. Day-journeys across ultra-heavy terrain are at ¼ normal speed at best.

The presence of a well-maintained or -built solid road lowers the terrain category by one. So a good road through heavy terrain makes it equal to medium terrain for movement purposes and a similar path through medium terrain enables you to travel full speed. A road through light terrain offers no substantial advantages to humans traveling on foot. It can still be (very) useful for carts and wagons, however.
Lesser roads, like dirt-roads, also lower the terrain category by one but are prone to detoriate in bad weather like heavy rainfall. In this situation their movement acceleration effect is lost, but they may still be necessary to drive carts and wagons as the surrounding terrain may be too uneven or littered with obstacles.
Minimal roads like forest animal tracks are assumed to be part of the terrain and be used during travel. If they are absent or purposefully evaded travel becomes harder, for instance a medium forest may count as effectively heavy terrain.

Encumbrance

Encumbrance can heavy severe implications on movement speed. A character who carries a weight equal to or below his unencumbered score denoted in the strength parameters table (no encumbrance), may move up to full speed. If he carries a weight up to two times that amount (light encumbrance), multiply his speed by ¾. Up to four times unencumbered score (medium encumbrance) gives a factor of ½. At maximum eight times (heavy encumbrance) the factor is ¼ and at sixteen times (maximum encumbrance) you can only stand still.

Effective speed

Basic speed, terrain and encumbrance modifiers are multiplied to arrive at an effective speed. For example: A human on a day-long trek through the mountains with encumbrance between 1 and 2 times his unencumbered score will move at [1 mtr/sec * ½ * ¾] = 0.375 mtr/sec on average, or 1.35 km / hour, or almost 11 km on a 8-hour day trek.

Stealth

Normally walking makes sound and makes oneself visible. Moving stealthy requires care, skill and depends heavily on environmental factors. To keep things simple, the environment is designated a "rank", based on several factors.

For moving silently, the rank is based on noise, type of surface, undergrowth and footwear worn:

For moving hidden, the rank is based on light, cover and camouflage:

Characters unskilled at stealth can move stealth in rank 0 conditions. More difficult conditions requires skill.

Jumping

The maximum distance you can jump depends on your jumping skill score level, which is derived mainly from strength. Lanik considers three kinds of jumps:

• High jump: vertical jump. Maximum distance = [0.5 + (jump skill level * 0.1)] mtr, you have no room to maneuver for a safe landing.
• Standing broad jump: horizontal jump from standing position. Maximum distance = [jump skill level * 0.2] mtr, you are assumed to land on your feet.
• Running broad jump: horizontal jump preceded by a forward run. Maximum distance = [jump skill level * 0.4] mtr, you land more or less on your feet.

Encumbrance lowers these numbers. Multiply the results by ¾ for light encumbrance, ½ for medium, ¼ for heavy and 0 for maximum.
If you reach out with your hands, add your body length to the jumping distance. With broad jumps, there usually had better be something to reach for!

Swimming

For swimming speed the same table as for walking and running is used.

Humans with only basic skill level in swimming cannot swim, they can only tread water. Normal swimming speed for novice swimmers is 0.25 mtr/sec, 0.4 mtr/sec for skilled or higher characters. Humans can swim long trips at best, very long and maximum trips are beyond human endurance.

Fitness rules can be applied for swimming too, terrain modifiers are not applicable.

Climbing

Horizontal surfaces can be travelled without problems by humans. Tilted surfaces make progress more difficult. To keep things simple, all climbing surfaces are designated a "rank", based on slope, surface, slipperyness and encumbrance.

Characters unskilled at climbing, without tools, can climb slopes with a rank of 3, maximum. With proper climbing tools this limit is raised to 4. More difficult slopes require trained climbers.
Characters with rope climbing skill can help others of a party by inserting hooks and securing ropes. This effectively increases the skill of the entire party to two expertise levels below that of the most proficient rope climbing mountaineer.
This means that a party with an expert climber can operate at novice level and negotiate a rank 5 surface, with tools.
Note (1) that when climbing with a party, the highest encumbrance among its members counts and (2) free climbers cannot assist other party members with their skill, only rope climbers can.

Though easy climbs (rank 1, 2 or 3) can be done by unskilled climbers, this requires extra effort and slows down. A rank 1 climb is done at ¾ speed, rank 2 at ½ speed and rank 3 at ¼ speed. More severe climbs are done at far lower speeds.

Miscellaneous physical feats

Lifting, dragging and pushing

As mentioned earlier, the maximum weight you can lift over your head is equal to your maximum press score. There are other ways of moving loads, of course. Most are less exerting and allow for greater weights:

• Lift two-handed (up to the point where the legs are straight, the load is no higher than your waist): maximum load = 3.2 * maximum press, assuming you can lift with your back straight.
• Lift one-handed (ditto): maximum load = 1.2 * maximum press.
• Carry on your back: maximum load = 1.6 * maximum press ("heavy encumbrance").
• Drag or push across the floor: maximum load varies wildly, depending on the smoothness of the object bottom and the surface it is dragged or pushed upon. Values lie somewhere between 1 and 4 times maximum press.
• Pull on wheels: maximum load = 10 * maximum press for a two-wheeled cart, 20 * for a four-wheeled wagon. Double these weights on a good (hard-surface) road. This is at a minimal speed, you pull ½ this weight at ¼ normal speed, ¼ this weight at ½ normal speed, etc.

Speeds vary accordingly to encumbrance. For example, a man who with strength 11 can lift 24 kg and be lightly encumbered (move at ¾ speed). He can pull a two-wheeled cart on a good road with a load of [24 * 10 (cart) * 2 (road)] = 480 kg and move at the same speed.

Throwing

Below are some rules-of-thumb to determine throwing distances.

You can throw your maximum press weight about 1 meter. If you have to throw an object that is X times as light, you can throw it about X times as far.
An example: A character with a strength of 13 has a maximum press of 86 kg, which he can throw 1 meter. He holds a chair weighing about 10 kg. This is [86/10] = 8.6 times as light and can be thrown 8.6 meters. A rock weighing 1 kg. can be thrown up to 86 meters by this person (his maximum throwing distance).
This holds for compact objects only, that do not have too much friction from the air. Therefore the Lanik uses a minimum throwing weight of 1 kg and a corresponding distance. This is not to say you cannot throw object lighter than 1 kg, only that you cannot throw them any farther than a 1 kg object. In fact, some light objects have a relatively large size, for example a sheet of paper, and have so much air friction that the cannot be thrown far at all.

The figures listed above are for a thrusting method of throwing (like that used in an olympic shot or javelin-throw) or with a brief swing (like that used for throwing a light axe or knife). If the throwing character uses a slinging throw (like with an olympic discus or sling weapon), the distance is about 2 - 3 times greater, depending on the radius of the swinging circle.

Objects can be thrown as weapons, but are not very effective. They have attack factors between 0 and 1, depending on streamline, and a damage score between 0 and 3, depending on weight. Damage type is bludgeoning for must objects, piercing for some sharper ones. The GM sets rules for this.
These rules should never be used for actual weapons, check the ranges from the weapon table for these. For non-weapon objects, maximum distance is extreme range. Long range is ¾ of this figure, medium ½, short ¼.

Digging

Rate of digging depends on the hardness of the soil, the ability of the digger and the quality of the tools. Average digging rates for a normal man equipped with adequate tools (shovel, plus pick for harder types of soil/rock) are:

• Loose soil (sand): 1.5 mtr³ / hour
• Normal soil: 1.0 mtr³ / hour
• Hard soil, clay: 0.5 mtr³ / hour
• Soft rock (limestone): 0.04 mtr³ / hour
• Hard rock: 0.01 - 0.02 mtr³ / hour, depending on the hardness of the rock

Physical damage

Physical damage in general

Damage points

The general state of health of a creature is measured by his health score. All skill scores of a creature are aligned to his basic health score. This health can be attacked in many ways. In order to keep things simple, all damaging effects are measured in damage points, that are subtracted from the health score. Multiple effects are considered cumulative.

The total physical damage divided by three, [(basic health - current health) / 3], rounded down, counts as a penalty on all skill scores that require substantial physical effort. So for example a character that has a health score of 12 and skill of 6 in dancing but has suffered 8 points of physical damage, has an effective health of [12 - 8] = 4 and an effective dancing score of but [6 - (8 / 3)] = [6 - 2] = 4. If the skill is partially based on health score, like running, the effect is even worse, as the basic skill level may be lowered.
Prime examples of "physical" skills are the body and most martial skills, but many wilderness, craft and some art skills also fall in this category. The physical damage penalty is also applied to mental skills, but in this case it is halved (again round down). So the 8/3 points of damage of the previous example count as [8 / 3 / 2] = 1 point penalty on the character's etiquette skill, for instance. The reason for this is that physical damage hampers concentration, but is not as direct as with physical skills.

Body points

There is a limit to how much damage a creature can take. In Lanik, this is at the point where the effective health score reaches 0. At this point the character cannot operate normally anymore. The counting of damage switches from damage points to body points. A creature has as many body points as his health score.

The effects of body point loss depend on the percentage of total points that has been lost, numbers are rounded down. A short example: A creature with 7 body points has lost 3 of them, that is [3/7 * 100%] = 42.857%, rounded down to 42%, a "decisive" wound, see the table below.

Extreme damage

• "Crippled" means the creature is severely wounded. He receives an extra -6 penalty on all physical skills and his movement is halved. Furthermore he is bleeding so badly that he loses one more body point every minute until tended by an expert healer - better quit the fight immediately.
• "Down" means the creature is almost completely incapacitated. He receives an extra -12 on all skills and can no longer walk, only crawl. Blood loss is also one body point per minute.
• "Dying" means that his final hour has struck. He is totally incapacitated and will die from internal and external bleeding and other damage in 2d100 minutes. This can be a tragic affair ...
• "Dead" means just that: the creature is instantly killed and can only be brought back to life with powerful magic.
• "Destroyed" means that the creature is irreversibly damaged: his head is severed, his torso smashed to soup, his hart torn out, or something like that. This means that only extremely powerful magic will be able to revive him.

Injuries

Injuries occur when a character is hit be something or hits it in a way that is too rough. This can include falling damage, being hit by a weapon in combat, crashing through a thorn-bush, etc.

Recovery of wounds is, unless supported by magic, generally slow. It takes one week to heal one damage point, two weeks to restore a body point (with help of a skilled healer).

Combat damage

See combat guide.

Falling

Falling is dangerous business in Earth gravity. Every meter falled (measured from lowest point of the body to the landing surface) will inflict d4 points of damage (increase/decrease proportionally for higher/lower gravity forces). This assumes the fall is on a hard surface and no substantial fall breaking is done. Soft earth or grass will subtract 1 point of damage, a gym mat 2 points, a thick mattress 3, a bush 2 - 4, depending on its size and sturdiness and number of sharp branches and thorns. Water subtracts 2 points. Trees subtract about 1 point per meter of height on average. Advanced absorption devices, like nets, inflated cushions etc. may absorp dozens of damage points. Minimum damage is of course 0 in all cases.
On a slope a falling creature will not fall free, but roll and slide. This inflicts about d2 points of damage per meter of height loss, regardless of the angle of the slope. NB: Vertical distance is of course smaller than rolling/sliding distance. This assumes that the descent is a rough ride with many small obstacles. If it is a slide down a snowed slope the creature will not suffer significant damage, unless he is stopped violently at the bottom, in which case damage can be nearly as great as free falling the same vertical distance.

Frostbite

A creature that is unprotected in a very cold environment will suffer damage from frostbite. Humans can protect themselves with thick clothing, animals usually rely on fur. Should a creature be unprotected in very cold (freezing I) temperatures he will suffer one damage point per 15 minutes. Partial protection (insuffient clothing) can increase this interval, depending on how much sufficient it is. In freezing II temperatures the rate of damage is twice as high, in freezing III temperatures tree times as high, etc.
Frostbite is dangerous as fingers, toes, noses and the like may wither and die off - this cannot be healed by normal means.

Fatigue

Fatigue comes from from overexertion. Extreme exertion can be maintained for only short periods, but recovery is also fast. Long-term extertion will allow for a lot of time to pass before it makes itself felt, but is hard to cure.

Lanik uses a simple system to determine these effects. For every level of exertion there is a set period of time (the exertion interval) until a breaking point is reached. After this period a health check must be made. If the result is negative, one point of fatigue damage is inflicted. If the result is positive, another period elapses before a second check must be made, this time with a -4 penalty on health score. Failure means that a damage point is suffered as yet, success means another period of undeterred performance until a third check, with a -8 penalty. This goes on and on until a failure, which eventually will happen due to the increasing penalty.
If the exertion continues after a check failure, new checks must be made after the exertion interval has elapsed once more. After each failure the check penalty is reset to 0 and gradually builds up again.

The length of the exertion interval depends on the level of exertion:

Effects from different interval lengths are cumulative.

Recovery from fatigue effects also depends on the level of exertion. Resting for one exertion interval will restore one damage point from exertion of the same interval. Resting restores short term fatigue first, long term after that.

An example:
An adventurer has been tracking hard for half a day to outdistance a band of orcs. His health is 12 and he has made a forced march of 5 hours, which requires 5 checks. The first die roll is a 8, he makes it. The second is a 9, but as his check is now 4 points lower, at 8, this is a failure. He suffers one damage point and this lowers his effective health to 11. Of the three remaining checks he fails two and makes one, so after the total five hours he has accumulated 3 damage points and his health is now 9.
Weary, he decides to rest. After half an hour the orcs come up from behind and he is forced to defend himself. After a furious melee of 10 minutes he has suffered 7 more damage points, 4 from exertion and 3 from wounds. His health is now but 2, he is just standing. To restore all his fatigue damage he must rest for 2 hours and 34 minutes. The first 4 minutes will restore his melee fatigue at one per minute, the next 2½ hours his travelling fatigue, at one per hour, as he already rested for half an hour before the fight. The wounds from the fight will take several weeks to heal.

Starvation & thirst

Starvation

Modern adult humans doing heavy labour (quite common in Lanik worlds) need about 12 MJ of energy through food per day. Women may do with 9 MJ, a child with 8 MJ, an infant with even less. Our ancestors, using to small diets, could do with somewhat less. In a European Medieval diet, 80% of the energy comes from grain-based foodstuffs (mostly bread), 20% from meat, dairy products, vegetables and beer.
Starvation can seriously harm humans, but they can keep going for a long while. A adult human can go on without eating for [health / 3] days without severe ill effects, using his body reserves and losing up to 10% of his body weight. Two days of eating half the normal amount of food, or four days at one-quarter ration, or any other equivalent, counts as one day of not eating.
After this period a man starts to weaken. For each day of not eating after the initial period, a person suffers one point of starving damage. In this period one loses a further 10% of body weight.
Once damage points match health score and the switch to body points is made and the underfed character is forced into helpless suffering. He loses only one point per 4 days of not eating.
If after this period the person is still not fed he will have lost about 40% of his body weight and die.
A day of normal eating restores one point, being able to eat as much as you can for one day restores two points.

Note that these figures are made up for humans. Animals with big fat layers like bears and camels, or cold-blooded reptiles, can often go for months without eating and still suffer only very mild damaging effects.

Thirst

An adult human needs about 2 ltrs of water per day, double that amount when doing hard labour or in hot weather and even more in desert environments. A human can go about one day without water without suffering anything more than a feeling of thirst. After this limit one damage point is suffered for each 2 hours. Restoring damage with fresh water is rapid: A half-day complement of water will restore all thirst damage within one hour.

Again some desert animals like camels and desert mice an survive without water for weeks, though most amphibians won't last more than a few hours.

Consumption levels

The amount of food needed per day depends also on the level of exertion. Resting and lazing requires ½ as much energy as normal activity, very havy extertion about 1½ as much.
The same modifiers apply to water consumption. The amount of water may further be increased in dry and hot environments (up to 2 - 3 times as much in the desert).

The GM may adjust the amount of food required per day, and the rate of damage in case of malsupply, on these figures.

Disease

Diseases vary wildly in type and severity. Many of them can be measured by damage points. A mild disease like the common cold inflicts about 1 - 4 points of damage, but infections like the flue deal out about 10 points - enough to incapacitate average people and kill the very weak.
Most infectuous disease have an incubation period in which little harmful effects are suffered, then quickly build up in strength and gruadally subside. Translating to damage points, this means they are not all inflicted immediately, but build up and decline over time.
Healers of skilled and higher level can cure diseases by banning infections, administering medicine, etc. However, to really cure a disease one must tackle its cause, which can often be mental. Diseases often manifest themselves in malvolent spirits, which can be driven out if the cause of the disease is treated appropriately.

Drowning and suffocation

A breathing creature can hold his breath only for a limited period. When this period has passed, he loses consciousness and starts suffering damage. For humans, 2 damage points (or body point, if health drops below 0) per segment are inflicted.
If the victim is saved before he dies, recovery is quite fast: 1 point of suffocation damage restored per segment.

Poisoning

Poison also comes in many varieties. Lanik discerns four types of poison and five categories of strength for each. All cause physical damage of different types and can have special effect at higher levels.

Whenever a person comes in contact with poison, he is allowed a health check to (partially) evade / withstand its effects. If the check is successful, the effect of the poison drops to the next lower strength category and another check is allowed. This process goes on until a check is failed or the poison effect strength drops below "mild".
Stronger poison can increase effects, but higher doses of weaker poison also can. For instance, a double dose of a poison of strength 2 (moderate) counts as 4 (very strong). If the strength goes beyond 5, for instance when 1½ times a standard dose of stength 4 is applied, the effects are that of strength 5 (maximum), but require more health checks to suppress onto safer levels.
Big creatures can handle more poison than small ones, so apply a basic modifier to the strength category as follows: Tiny +2, Small +1, Medium 0, Large -1, Huge -2, Giant -3, Gargantuan -4.

Poisons can be applied in different ways: ingestive (by drinking or eating), insinuative (directly into the blood stream, for instance through weapons), by (skin) contact and through inhaling.

Structure damage

The strength of constructions is measured in structure points. They depend heavily on the size, form, building materials, age and state of repair. Small items generally have but one structure point. Larger ones may have more, the following table gives some guidelines:

Only attacks by heavy weapons, force of nature and magic can seriously damage large structures. When a structure loses structure points it may start to malfunction. At 0 or less structure points it breaks down completely.

Life

Basic creature classes

In the modern 21st century all creatures can be divided into three simple categories: plants, animals and intelligent beings (thus far only humans), though there are border-cases.
In the Lanik game world this is not so easy. All creatures of legend tend to show up very regularly. Sprites, dragons, unicorns, krakens, devils and angels, gods and godesses, genies and many more fantastic creatures all await the inquisitive adventurer. Many of these are intelligent, some (much) more than humans! All have different appetites and desires, capablities and limitations, culture and character.
To survive among this bewildering "fauna" an adventurer must both have a good basic knowledge of the creatures around him and the ability to adapt to unknown species. Of course you can read the creature guide from front to back, but that is not recommended. Part of the fun of the game is to encounter unknown species and get to know them. Besides a good GM will introduce variations, crossovers and inventions of his own.

To help the new adventurer on his way we outline some rough classes of creatures below.

• Plants are mostly just plants. They are stationary and grow on sunlight, water and minerals. Note however that in Lanik some of them are intelligent, meat-eating or capable of movement!
• Animals are moving creatures with basic needs of food and shelter. Some eat plants, others meat, some minerals or even more exotic resources, like mental energy ...
• Triek are higher beings that are not only intelligent, but have a soul. This discerns them from other intelligent beings in a way that is explained in the magic guide.
• Spirits are conjured beings that are tightly connected to the world around them. They may or may not have a material body and often wield "magical" powers.
• Undead are the spiritual residues from dead beings, that linger in the living world, clinging to unattainable goals and ideals, often working evil.
• Deities are spirits of a special kind. They exist largely because of the faith of their followers and are often hard to distinguish from certain forces of nature.

Personalities

As explained before personalities are part of the mental body, thus only beings with a mental body act according to the four forces.

Below the personalities of different classes of beings are explained.

• Beings with only elemental bodies do not have a personality. They do not act according to any of the six forces, do not know hatred, envy, love, or any other higher emotion. Survival is their only goal. They have a gray aura.
• Higher animals do have a personality and act according to it. This personality starts as a gray one and develops quickly during youth, slower at higher ages.
• The same holds more or less for triek. Young triek have a gray personality which matures slowly.
• Undead have a fixed personality. When a shade is bereft of its soul, it can no longer change. Their personality is never gray, as a gray spirit would not remain to roam the earth.
• Spirits also have a fixed personality, which is determined at their creation. A spirit will act according to this personality for the rest of its life.
• Deities have complex and many-faceted personalities, being the result of the thoughts, ideas and hopes of many triek. As the ideas of their followers change (usually but very, very slowly) the deities change also.

◎Optional rule: Social standing

Social standing is a measure of the esteem at which a man is held by his society. It is neither governed by forces of nature, nor by skills, but by conforming to social and religious ideals.

Social standing can have many different meanings and forms, depending heavily on culture. A viking warrior for instance wants to die - when his time comes - gloriously in battle. An adept of the White Ring, who looks upon all violence as useless, will disdain this. For a christian knight theft is unacceptable, but for a master thief a skillful robbing is a source of pride. An Arab nomad has absolutely no trouble raiding a neighboring tribe, but will abhor stealing from a friendly host, even in dire need.
The social standing may apply to an individual, but in some societies also to families or even whole peoples. Thus the actions of one burden others with the consequences. For instance, when an Arab boy commits adultery, it is the duty of his entire family to punish him. When Smaug the dragon conquered the Lonely Mountain and killed and drove out the dwarves, the duty of revenge of the dwarves was passed on from father to son through many generations until the circumstances allowed them to act.
Social standing may provoke many different kinds of deeds. For one it is heroism and bravery, for the other adherence to the law and to strict social rules, while a third may seek to detach himself from earthly desires. An artist may strive to create many a monumental work of art, a knight to do good deeds or fulfill a quest of virtue, a bhuddist tries to reach the nirvana.
Sometimes social standing has a name, like honor, fame, maät or karma. The list is not limited to the examples given above or below, GM and players may invent or import new ones.

Social standing usually has a strong impact on interactions between characters. High social standing may inspire things like respect, awe, fear or love. It may bestow all kinds of special favors, material wealth and/or protection. Low standing on the other hand calls up rejection, contempt and even hate. It may lead to banishment, imprisonment or even execution. Of course most characters try to achieve a high standing.

Lanik measures social standing on a nine-point scale. The upper (+4) and lower (-4) extremes fall into the supernatural range, reserved for spirits, undead and enlightened beings. Below are some example ratings:

It is up to GM and players to decide on which scales social standing is measured and to set initial ratings for starting characters. During the career of a character his standing may rise through good deeds and fall through bad ones. Rating fluctations may be slow due to sustained behavior, or sudden through extraordinary deeds. The GM controls a character's ratings, i.e. he decides what the actions of the character are worth.
Likewise, he decides the worth of each rating. Some GMs may decide that a +3 rating opens nearly any door, while others adopt a more moderate view.
A rating of -4 or +4 is often simultaneous with the character's (physical) death. For example a warrior who already has a +3 honor rating may be promoted to +4 by the GM when he fights to the death - against a worhty opponent of course.

◎Optional rule: Inner and outer standing

This is an optional rule within an optional rule. The social standing ratings can be split into an inner rating and an outer one. The inner rating is the social standing of the character as he knows it, the outer is how the world perceives it. Mostly these ratings will be the same, but secret deeds can make them diverge.
For example if a rightuous judge is accused of having himself bribed by certain parties and their pleas sound credible, his outer virtue rating may drop severely. But if he knows he is innocent, he is inner rating remains as high as ever. It is now up to him and the people who remain loyal to him, to restore his reputation.

The inner rating is usually known only to the character himself or his circle of close friends and relatives, but certain supernatural beings are able to perceive it from the outside.

Adventuring and game-play

Campaigns

Campaign styles

When viewing Lanik game campaigns, different styles appear. Many consist of heroic fantasy. Others center on a political plot, are mysterious magical experiences, can be compared to humorous silly fantasy stories, reflect popular soap series, etc. etc. Everything is possible, nothing prohibited. The outcome depends on what type of campaign both GM and players want. Don't let the idea of a straightforward fantasy campaign bind you down, use your imagination!

Campaign setting

Lanik was designed for role-playing games in a fantasy-world. A classical fantasy world is an environment often dominated by humans, but also populated by many other humanoid and exotic creatures. Monsters and magic abound, as do heroes and villains. Technology and culture are more or less on a medieval level, though heavily influenced by magic and non-human races.

Of course you can use the system for a different environment, like a prehistoric age, a modern environment, a science fiction setting or an alien world. The basic rules still apply, though you'll probably have to introduce some new skills and equipment (or scrap some) and reconsider population effects, science level, social organization, etc.

It can be fun to introduce your players to another time or place for a one-time adventure, to break the routine. But if you want to make this other setting a permanent home, consider adopting another RPG rule system, for Lanik is not well-suited to alternative settings.

Player co-operation

Player activity

Whereas many types of player characters are possible in Lanik, mostly but a few prove to be exciting. Of course you can play a baker running a baker's shop in a nice little town where nothing ever happens, but is that interesting enough to spend all those hours in Lanik game play? Maybe for some people it is, but to them we have only one advice: get yourself a job as a baker or whatever you like. Real life is exciting enough that way.

What Lanik offers is an opportunity to get into a character which you yourself in reality can never be. Mostly these characters turn out to be fantasy heroes. That's fine, because that is where the system centers upon.
This means that you often end up to be a knight fighting for the good cause, a wise and cunning wizard deciding the fate of his liege, or the liege himself. Of course you can also play the bad guys, or characters which are neither good nor evil.

What all these popular characters have in common is that they are adventurers. These are people who for most part stand apart from of society, though still being connected to it. Most people view them as troublemakers or even bandits, but they also respect and often envy them for their powers and deeds. Adventurers are the people who go out into the unknown and the danger, and often return in one piece. They perform great deeds (and crimes) and are a force to be reckoned with, though they will almost always need the help of non-adventuring people.

A beginning player character with little skill points is of course not so powerful and famous, but as his list of adventures grows, his star will rise. This climbing on the ladder of skill is one of the strong points of the game. Most players enjoy "building" their characters through time.

Character parties

Lanik is a group game. This does not mean that solo-adventuring is impossible or prohibited, but we assure you it is much less fun. In a group, different ideas, temperaments, styles and skills will make the game much more interesting.

During play, the players can work independently. This type of play is served best by a political or espionage campaign where the player characters only loosely interact with each other. Most fun is derived from working against each other without knowing exactly what the other is up to. If you want to play this style, consider some extra GM's, for one will have a hard time serving all his players.

The more common and usually more interesting type of game is one where all players work together as a group. This means that the culture, morals and ethics and goals of the characters should more or less align with each other. Though the system pur sang does not place any restrictions on group homogeneity, group play does.

Consider this when you assemble a party. Especially pay attention to a common (set of) goal(s) and make sure that the GM agrees with it, otherwise the play can be very frustrating for all participants.
Also make sure that most of the time your party members employ activities that can be done by the whole party together. If there are too much solo-activities, most of the time one player will be busy while the others sit and wait. While this can be fun (especially if the play is good), a large part of group-activities is necessary.

When building a party whose members will work close together, make sure the characters have complementary skills. A whole band of knights can be a formidable force, much stronger than a single knight, but a few healers, wizards or craftsmen could just provide a very welcome addition to the group. Who's going to heal their wounds, defend them against black magic, or repair their armor while they are days from the nearest city?
Also try to have a group of players / characters (the distinction becomes a bit vague here, depending on your role-playing skills) with complementary psyches. A group consisting of a natural chairman, somebody who likes to finish things, a philospher who turns every problem around and a social person who functions like a kind of oil in the group machine may just work well. A group with four natural chairmen however is likely not to function very well - they just have nothing to be chairmen for!

Henchmen, hirelings and retainers

At times, expecially when your party is small, you will feel the need of reinforcement. You need expert skills that your characters lack, or just sheer manpower. This can be accompliced by hiring non-player characters. Contracts can be short-term ("guide us through that swamp and we'll pay you 30 in silver") or last longer, up to indefinite length. Some hirelings want to be payed a wage, others want a share of the loot, or demand a counter-service. Some may be villains who plain to betray you at a suitable moment, others may be devout followers who risk their life for you.
All these characters are usually played by the GM, who will have a busy task managing them all, so they often tend to remain in the background a little. However they are there and they can provide valuable services. But always keep in mind that they are persons too, with fears, desires, quirks and tricks of their own. Treat them as you would your fellow party members and things usually go well with hirelings.

Adventuring

Creature encounters

Often highly skilled parties develop a great combat potential. They tend to use this potential more and more in encounters with unfamiliar creatures. "If you don't recognize it, try to smash it, before it smashes you." While this is fine for a pure hack-and-slash campaign, in normal campaigns you're missing something.

Though Lanik abounds with monsters, not all creatures are necessarily hostile, even the ugliest and the meanest. Some are just scared, neutral, indifferent, friendly, curious or willing to trade goods or information. Always consider parley as an option in encounters.

If the other side turns out to be hostile, fighting is not the only way out. You can also flee, threat, bluff, try to bribe or think up a ruse of some sort.

Wilderness adventures

The wilderness is a dangerous place, where unskilled and/or unprepared people a prone to perish quickly. Though it helps to be a powerful adventurer, one should always be alert on danger. Good preparation also helps, especially for beginning parties. We outline some basic concepts and strategies below.

To survive in the wilderness you must know how to secure the basic needs: water, food, warmth, and safety from environmental dangers. It is very useful, often vital, to have one or more members in the group who have extensive knowledge of the environment. This includes knowing which plants are edible and which are not, where and how water can be found, how to build shelters, which animals and monsters abound and how they behave and how to evade or counter elemental dangers (dehydration in the desert, freezing in the polar fields, avalanches in the high mountains, etc.). Supplementary skills like hunting, fishing, tracking, swimming, skiing etc. can be very useful.

Be aware that the abilities to move fast, detect dangers and help in advance and evading enemies are often more important than your martial or magical powers. So, when preparing camp, choose a site which can be defended well, has a water supply nearby and is hard to detect. Search the environment for tracks of animals, monsters and enemies. Be aware that sight is not the only sense, many wilderness inhabitants hear and scent well. Scout ahead and when laying down to rest, always post one or preferably more guards. When on the march, establish a keen marching order in which the most sensitive people are on the sides of the formation and the most vulnerable in the middle.

When preparing for a wilderness journey it is wise to gather the right equipment. Very basic stuff like rope, wood-axes, dried food, tents , blankets, pack animals can prove invaluable in the wild. Make sure you've got everything you need but you're still able to carry it. Plan routes and look for supply points (streams of water, oases, human settlements, etc.)

Travel at sea is a discipline in its own respect. Your ship and the ability to row/sail it is everything. If you can swim that is nice, however if your ship sinks 50 kilometers from the nearest shore you won't be able to swim it - better keep the ship floating. Carry plenty of fresh food and water, the sea is a very dry place even with all that water because it is salt. And of course keep your sailing crew in one piece, because a small party of adventurers is often not enough to handle a large ship.

Underground adventures

Expeditions below the surface of the earth require special measures. Many best practises from the wilderness apply here also, but the environment is quite different from the upper world.

First, you'll probably need light too see. Bring torches, lanterns and oil, or better, magic means of illumination. Many inhabitants of the underground world see well in near darkness, but humans and the like don't.

Again bring food and prepare for a different diet. The absence of sunlight bars many plants from deep earth, though some fungi and mosses can do without it.

Deep earth is large and it is a maze. Make maps along the way, or buy them in advance if possible. Keep constant track of your position and make sure you always have one or more ways to get out again. It's very easy to get stuck somewhere and simply starve to death.

Combat in the underground world is different. Little light and room make missile weapons, especially the ones which operate at great ranges, far less effective. Narrow corridors can be defended against overwhelming odds for very long times, as long as the defenders are capable. Bring stabbing weapons and use phalanx tactics with only two or three in a row.

Adventure in civilized areas

Most dangers which threaten adventurers in wilderness and underground areas are absent in civilized places. Food is always obtainable with the nearest restaurant, the terrain is easy to travel in, monsters are banned by walls and guards, etc. However, people provide dangers too, especially in large cities.

Acts of violence which you can get away with in the wilderness will be frowned upon by civilized people and often strongly repressed by guards and militia. Remember, these are often not the tightly controlled police of the 21^st century, but more frequently semi-military troops operating in an environment where the universal declaration of human rights has not yet been invented. Many people, especially the commoners, have little rights and adventurers are usually regarded with suspicion before even any contact has been established.

Money is important in the civilized world, it opens many gates. Therefore many people are hunting for it. Beware merchants trying to swindle you, thieves trying to pickpocket you and ruffians trying to beat it out of you.