Training

Training

Whether through drilling at an academy, attending lectures at a college or independently tinkering in a laboratory or magic circle, characters can learn abilities by in character effort at events, via training and research. Progress by these routes expends study units.

Abilities unlocked through training and research include the following:

• Skills: Training can teach any of the general and archetype skills listed in this book. Some organisations may also teach unique skills.

• Techniques: Research can unlock alternative uses of existing skills, especially new rites and recipes; it can also hone the techniques a character already knows.

• Improvements: Characters can improve the skills they know via training or research, granting e.g. more uses per day or greater effects.

All techniques and improvements build on archetype skills, some avenues of study, or study paths, are suggested under each Archetype. Any character may study in a maximum of three study paths, and may proceed beyond novice level in only one of them.

Examples: The skill Strikedown Blow can be trained to be used more often or with greater effect

Training and research are overseen by dedicated training and research referees. Every project must in the first instance be registered with a relevant referee, although daily progress may be logged with any game referee.

Study Units

Training and research are both tracked by a resource called Study Units. Every character may spend up to 5 study units per day, split any way they wish between projects (e.g. 5 Study Units on one project, or 2 on one project and 3 on another). Any character may spend a maximum of 70 Study Units on all projects per year.

Study requires at least 30 minutes of relevant roleplay per project each day, regardless of the number of Study Units spent; a character focusing on one project need spend only 30 minutes a day on it, while a character splitting their Study Units on five different projects will need to devote half an hour to each project, for a total of two and a half hours a day.

Unlike experience, Study Units cannot be saved up; if a character doesn’t do any research or training roleplay on a particular day, they spend no Study Units that day. If a player completes the required roleplay but is unable to find a referee to log Study Units on the day, the relevant staff member can, if they can confirm the roleplay took place, log the progress retroactively.

Complexity and Skill Level

All techniques and improvements have a complexity level, reflecting the degree of understanding needed to unlock them. Research can unlock novice, adept, expert or master abilities, while training is limited to novice or adept abilities. The training referee or research referee will advise the player of the complexity of the skill they’re attempting to learn.

Any character can begin learning novice abilities at any time, but learning more complex abilities requires a corresponding skill level in that study path, as follows:

• Adept: To start training or researching adept abilities in a given study path, a character must have completed at least three novice techniques for that path, or two novice improvements. On completing one adept project, the character becomes an adept.

• Expert: To start researching expert abilities in a given study path, a character must have completed at least three adept techniques for that path, or two adept improvements. On completing their first expert project, the character becomes an expert.

• Master: To start researching master abilities in a given path, a character must have completed at least three expert projects. On completing their first master project, the character becomes a master. Note that player characters are not normally expected to achieve master level, but may do so if they agree to retire their character as part of achieving this feat see Blaze of Glory.

Note: A character can only proceed to adept or greater skill level in a single study path.

Training

Training is provided by various in character organisations, chiefly the Bastion, an unaligned institute of learning that offers instruction to people of all factions. Other groups exist, some secret and some public, including institutions within individual factions.

These organisations are always facilitated by a training referee, a staff member who logs participation and tracks progress – usually while also playing a tutor non player character in the game – although most organisations also make use of player volunteers to support and oversee activities.

Training Objectives

Training can provide any of the standard general or archetype skills, some unique skills are only available through a specific organisation, or improvements in a character’s existing archetype skills. What it cannot do is allow a character to invent their own abilities – characters must choose a skill or improvement from a predefined list offered by the organisation training them.

Registering for Training

To begin training, a character must find an organisation that teaches the ability they want to learn, and register with the training referee. The referee will then discuss available abilities with them, tell them the character point value of the ability and a likely timescale for completing training, and open a project.

Note: Most trained abilities have prerequisites, including certain skills or a certain skill level, which the character must meet before learning them.

All training is tracked by Study Units. By default, characters are assumed to be spending the full 5 Study Units every day on one project, but if a character is pursuing multiple projects, whether training or research, they will have to decide how to split their 5 study units between them.

Training Sessions

Every organisation holds one or more training sessions per day at posted times. Sessions generally last around an hour. To spend Study Units, a character must be logged in by the attending staff member, and take part in the proffered activity. A trainee need only attend one session per day to spend their study units, although they may attend more if they wish.

Training sessions take many forms.

• Magical or technical characters may prefer to attend lectures, symposiums, debates or demonstrations, generally led by other players; aside from training, this can often convey valuable insights into the cosmology of the world (tutors can also sometimes be wrong, providing the opportunity to uncover new truths).

• More martial characters, in turn, may be more comfortable drilling, or playing in tactical games or boardgames; aside from training, these sessions can help the player hone their real-world skills in combat or tactics.

It’s not strictly necessary for the sessions a character attends to directly relate to the skill they’re trying to learn. It’s an extreme example, but a character can spend Study Units on the Body Development skill by playing chess – perhaps the mental discipline aids them in their physical training! Players are invited to work up their own rationale for why a particular session grants insight into the skill they’re learning.

Above all, training sessions should be fun, at least to those attending. The session represents in character effort, but LARP is still a hobby, and we’d much rather have you playing king of the hill for half an hour than doing fifty press-ups in armour.

Completing Training

On meeting the Study Units target, the character will be awarded the new ability, which will appear either on their character card next event or via an individual card for that ability. If the ability doesn’t appear in the rulebook, the player may also be given a lore sheet or card with the mechanics of their ability printed on it for reference.

Skills learned through training are always permanent, requiring no upkeep, and have a point value counting against the character’s points cap.