FAQ & Errata

How to use this page

Unless updating the "New Rules & Playtests" section, in most cases Do Not delete an entry. Cross it out by using <s> and </s>. Then add the new interpretation or change to the rule on the next line, and at the end include the date and the authority who made the change. This helps keep a clear record of changes and when they occurred. ~ Rasheab (assistant lore marshal and wiki guardian, 8/2021)

What is this?

"Frequently Asked Questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic." They generally clarify on a subject o rule.

Errata: "a list of errors and their corrections inserted, usually on a separate page or slip of paper, in a book or other publication." These are generally rule decisions by marshals or other officials on their area of purview, clarifying grey areas of the rulebook.

Terminology

There are terms which are (semi)commonly used. Mostly not rulebook stuff (with one or two one-off exceptions). When people say X, what they mean is:

• Posting a leg: when you have an (in-game) injured leg, and you choose not to go down on a knee.

• Sluff (Slough): to brush off or ignore a valid hit

• Rhino-hide (rhino-hiding; rhino-hider): to have "thick" skin. Someone who's hit calibration (or ego) is way off so they ignore *a lot* of valid hits. Sarcastic implication is that they can't feel the hits.

• Anvil-ing: placing a weapon against a shield or body location, so incoming otherwise valid hits "hit the weapon" instead of the target location. (This is one of the reasons why tonfa-like weapons aren't allowed.)

From the rulebook ("Melee Conventions"): "Blocking a Weapon strike by laying a Weapon against a Hit Zone and/or Shield is illegal."

• Hard Casting: when you cast a spell from scratch/fully cast it from the beginning, instead of using a shortcut such as "Pouch." (As an aside, "Pouch" is the only common casting shortcut.)

• Weapon terms:

Spear: a long stab-only pole weapon (only green)

Glaive: a long swung or swung-stab polearm weapon (can be red-green, or only red)

Dagger: short stab only weapon (ie a very short green)

Knife: short swing/stab weapon (ie a very short blue-green)

• Courtesy calls: non-required calls/terms that clarify something (generally why you aren't taking a hit)

Some common courtesy calls are: (remember, calls are against yourself, not your opponent)

Light: a blow that does not land with sufficient force

Garb: when a blow only hits garb/clothing

Glance: a blow that does not connect solidly

HEAD!: they hit you in the head (with a melee weapon, which is not legal)

Don't take that!: while you may not call hits against your opponent, you may tell an opponent to not take one of your hits.

• "Surcoat:" a piece of garb (often a belt flag or tabard) with the owner's country symbol on it. Designates/identifies what country (if any) a character belongs to. For more information see: "Surcoats" in the rulebook.

NEW! How to build things on the landmap

The rules on how to build things on the landmap have changed. But it is not hard; read on fair citizen.
TL;DR: things are now built from structures. In the short term, for practical purposes, armies and adventurers comes from your capital, ships come from your capital if its next to water.
Slightly longer answer: Once countries start expanding: armies are built at forts & castles, adventuring parties are built at settlements (hamlets, towns, and cities), and ships are built at settlements that are adjacent to water (and you can't build a ship level "larger" than the settlement level. So hamlets = caravels, towns = frigates & caravels, and cities = all ship types).

Headshot Rule

When using a melee weapon:

1. If you hit someone in the head, call yourself dead.

- If someone headshots you hard, let an elder or other leadership know, and please check in with one of the volunteer medics.

2. If you find yourself dealing/causing multiple headshots, take a break off the field and assess what the problem might be. (Some examples might be: needing more practice in safe fighting, not aiming for shoulder shots, using equipment that is weighted better for your current fitness level, or cooling off because you've become heated and aren't fighting safely.)

- It should go without saying, but if it becomes a pattern you'll be removed from the field by an elder for the day, and potentially future events, depending on the severity of the rule violation.

Additionally:

3. Deliberately taking head shots or blocking with your head is cheating and creates a very unsafe environment; not only are you dead, but you will be removed from the field for safety violations.

Weapons building tutorials

Our favorite go-tos are:

• http://www.foamsmithing.com/ (Website by the Dargarth nobles Bran, Andor, & Arminius)

• http://www.geddon.org/Category:How_to_build (Belegarth wiki)

Land Map & Land Actions

• Countries are required to have a flag and two surcoated members to perform land actions, including build actions.
  

Currently this is not how the rules read in the rulebook; this was an unintentional change that resulted from the semi-recent reorganization of the land action rules, and was only just caught. ~ Raven, Magistrate, Bitterbro, Land Marshal, May 9 2023

• Country actions must be submitted one week in advance, prior to a battle day. (Aka Sunday night)) ~ Tristan (land marshal), May 2015

(Aka by 12:01 AM Sunday morning) ~ Updated Kit Foxwyfe Land Marshal March 2020

• Roads - the starting and ending cities must be included in the hex road total; they do not come with a "free" hex of road under them. ~ Arminius(as 1st land marshal)

• Season change - land actions that are to count for the season change (settlements, roads, ships, invasions, etc) must happen before the equinox/solstice. ~ Arminius (as 1st land marshal)

• Country Build Actions during adventures - countries may (normally) submit a build order to take place on an adventure day, but units may not move (aka no explorations, no invasions, no ship battles). ~ Bodvarr (as 3rd land marshal)

There are no land actions on adventure days (regardless of type). It was decided that it increased inflation/bloat, favored certain country styles over others, and wasn't worth the bookkeeping headache for the land marshal. ~ Tristan (4th land marshal) & Rasheab (magistrate '14)

• Improved Land Search - if there are multiple rangers present on a team, this ability stacks. ~ Arminius (as 1st land marshal)

Only one (1) ranger may "lead" a search, but any ranger in an exploration party does not count against the party's maximum total.

• Undead: "a damaging attack" includes those that damage armor. Thus ghoul/flesh golem/wight attacks ignore armor. ~ Bodvarr (3rd land marshal)

The attacks of ghouls and flesh golems do not bypass/ignore armor. A wight's "curse" attack does bypass armor (because Curse does). ~ Tristan (4th land marshal) & consensus of marshal council ('14)

• Some countries are allowed two official surcoats; this is a case by case situation, based on country history. Ex: Holy Order of Mardur uses both their HOoM surcoats, and their older Mardur surcoats. ~ Bodvarr (land marshal, summer, 2013)

• If a defending country cannot make it to an event, they can hire or arrange mercenaries to defend in their stead. In this scenario, the number of defending "surcoated" individuals would be considered 0. ~ Tristan (land marshal) & Rasheab (magistrate), (2014)

• Raze Action (rule addition)
  

As a country's land action, it may raze/sack/burn/or otherwise destroy one or more assets it owns (fortification, settlement, or ship; not mines).

A fortification of settlement will return half its value to the controlling country, and will be downgraded by one step (castle becomes keep, town becomes hamlet).

Ships will be completely destroyed, but will return no value.

A raze action otherwise follows all the normal rules for submitted land actions. ~ Tristan, Rasheab, Arminius (May 17, 2015)

See: "Deconstruct" in the updated version of the rulebook

• "Moveable units build at the beginning of the turn, structures finishing building at the end of the turn." ~8+ years of precedence, and approved by Bitterbro the Magistrate Land Marshal 5-29-2022

• RP (Resource Points) that are not divisible by 4 at the end of a season are carried over to the new season. ~Bitterbro, land marshal, Oct 2nd 2022

Weapons & Equipment

• "Blue and red weapons can also be green." Aka swung weapons can also be built to stab.

• Cross-gaming arrows are allowed, but they must meet Dargarth's safety standards. ~ Sloane, archery marshal (added 12/10/12)

- (Fyi for Belegarth visitors, the standards are the same in both groups.)

• Titanium "sharkmail" will not be passed. ~ Kanon (weapon & armor marshal, 12/27/12)

- Aluminum chainmaile has already been disallowed by a previous vote of the marshal council.

• What qualifies as a wooden weapon can be found in the "Adventuring Rules" section of the rulebook, entry 6 ("Wooden Weapons" if you Ctr+F).

• Cored vs Coreless shields

A coreless shield is representational of lightweight historical shields, such as those made of wicker, or hide stretched across a frame. They are made entirely of foam, without a (1/2") wood backing.

"Cored" shields are representational of heavier, more durable historical shields which we are generally familiar with, made from boards and strapped with rawhide or metal. They are made with a wood backing (1/2") and the face and edges covered in foam.

Spells

• When Cure Mass Wounds is used as a potion, all charges are expended on the potion drinker and cannot be held. ~ Kestrel, assistant spell marshal (5/1/2023, discord)

General Rule Conventions

• Posting a Leg - be a slow zombie. Don't try to game this rule; if you choose to post a leg instead of taking a knee, then move slowly. And don't hop. ~ Rasheab & others (Added 8/28/12)

• "Significant deflection" of a missile weapon, for the purpose of what counts as a valid hit, is approximately 30 degrees. ~ Archery marshals (Cat & Alicaryn) @ 2/14 meeting

• Casters are not archers, and thus cannot "call" their hits. However we all agree that it can be hard to know if you've need hit, so casters can continue to "clarify" for game expediency. However, if it comes down to a disagreement, the recipient has final say in whether he or she was hit, same as in the rest of the combat rules. As always, if someone is deliberately cheating, please inform an elder (or a marshal or noble if an elder is not available). Triumvirate Meeting - 12/17/12

• Simply to clarify, shields and other physical gear are repaired by spending time in Hades, same as armor. ~ Rasheab & Froste (11/8/13)

- This might occasionally vary at specific adventures

Roleplaying & Characters

• Character race does not make a difference in the rules at Dargarth. You do not gain any bonuses or penalties from playing a race; it's entirely roleplay. No character classes are barred/required to be played by any particular character race. (Consequently, you do not need anyone's permission, because there are no benefits related to race.) ~ Rasheab & Dameaion (4/14/13)

• Character class is just a label, and only has as much impact on roleplay as you want it to. Out-of-game a class is a reference to a set of abilities. In-game the name of your class can have as much or as little influence on your character as you like. Reskinning a class to fit what you want to play is more than encouraged.

Example: a "rogue," with their wide variety of skills, can easily be a thief, an assassin, or an explorer (Indiana Jones and Flynn Rider are both examples). Rogues also make excellent pirates.

Example: a "ranger" can be a army's scout, a highwayman, or, well, a ranger (Robin Hood and Aragorn are both examples). They also make good barbarians.

Example: "monk" is a very flexible class. It can easily be played as anything from a kung-fu adept to a barbarian. (Conan the Barbarian types are likely monks mechanically.)

• Every character has spell points. (This is equal to double your character level.) It mostly doesn't matter for classes without spells (Fighter, Rogue, Monk), but sometimes it might: for example with certain relics (such as The Skull and the Bracer of Mending).

Class Playtests

• Arcane Archer is open to any archery certified individual to try out and give feedback on. ~Bitterbro, Magistrate, 2022

• Individuals playtesting Arcane Archer are not required to have correctly colored spell arrow covers. ~ Bitterbro, Magistrate, June 2022

• Pretty much any playtest "prestige class" may be tried out by anyone. (If you are concerned about it or want to know more, talk to the magistrate. ~Rasheab) ~Bitterbro

New Rules & Playtests

this section is outdated, but the wiki freaks out every time I try to edit it. it's in process

• Ironskin now provides AR1 and Stoneskin instead of AR 2
• Casters may not attack while castings spells but may actively defend themselves.
• Barkskin can now only raise a characters armor to a maximum of AR 2, down from AR 3.
• Entangle is now single target and produces 2 spellballs. Only one may be pouched.
• Fireball has been renamed Firebolt. It is now single target and produces 2 spellballs. Only one may be pouched.
• Mending now only affects a single hit zone of armor.
• Countries now generate Resource Points instead of gold. Excess resource points at season end become gold at a rate of 4:1.

• Crossbow Poundage:

The maximum poundage allowed on a crossbow is 450 inch-pounds.

Inch-pounds are measured by: measuring the length/distance of the drawstring from rest to its maximum draw (ie powerstroke), multiplied by its poundage at full draw.

Here is a neat chart about crossbows. Courtesy of Belegarth.

If a crossbow is capable of varying its draw-distance, a maximum poundage above 450 inch-pounds may be tested and approved on a case by case basis (no greater than 900 inch-pounds), so long as it can be set to 450 inch-pounds or less.

THIS IS A TEST TO SEE IF I CAN ADD TEXT IF IT'S NOT A NEW HEADER