System Rules

Headline text

EDITS to this document made on 11/22/2021 are WIP and are pending Final Staff Review.

System Protection

Conflict: Guardian Regions

PvP, PvE, and PK are perfectly possible within all towns except for Root Towns without recourse. Within Root Towns, when an Adventurer initiates Deadly Conflict or extreme emotional distress to the protectorate (Anyone within the town), the System Protected (damage immune) Guardian Constructs teleport into the space of conflict and almost instantly annihilate the offending actor. This has forced many kingdoms to post powerful warriors into their non-root towns. And their Heroes roam their holdings to keep the worst kinds of people at bay.

Note: The only exception to this is the Duelist League system, which allows friendly dueling without the risk of permanent harm within the city limits of Root Towns. All Duelist League sparring ends when either opponent reaches low health.

Immortal Objects usually give a distinct visual effect to those who try to manipulate them.

Region Protection

Root Towns and Dungeons, as well as special areas like the walls of Aincrad Tower and Chaos Gate Instance regions, are under special System Protection. This stops walls, or even sometimes special NPCs, from being damaged by Adventurers. And some regions are even not damageable by the People of the Land.

Movement

Flight & Glide

Flight and Gliding are not possible due to the effects of the mysterious Cursed Wave. Those species who have wings can, at best, use them to ‘feather fall’ down large heights, and only carrying themselves, or at well-diminished ability, one unarmored person. The same effects encompass all non-monster races.

Swim & Climb

Swimming and Climbing skills are stats on a character trained by use. But in general, one can be assumed they can swim and climb standard things anyone else can climb or swim. These are generally not in-mush represented stats, so be reasonable on their use. When it comes to Swimming, diving and holding breath and the like are harder, but potions are available to aid in this. These are expensive unless you know someone who can make them.

Land & Sea

Most Adventurers, by default, travel on foot by land. Many are quick to acquire an animal mount, which can increase movement speed. The most common mount is a Peko Peko, with Grunties as a slower/cheaper alternative. Horses are extremely rare. Other, large, horse-sized animals could be potentially trained as mounts, but are likely only utilized by Animal Handlers. Monster Handlers may utilize certain monsters as mounts. Within the Tower, there is a steam-rail line created by the Scale Emblem Alliance which allows faster movement between floors.

Sea travel is usually handled by means of various types of ships. The people of Yamato have regular transport ships between the major Kingdoms and Adventurers can purchase passage on these ships to move from location to location. Faster ships are often supported by Air or Water mages, though the fastest type of over-sea travel is a specialized steam-ship created by the Olympus Alliance.

Real Life Sense™

The Five Senses

Aside from Pain, all five senses are 1:1 scale. This means that severe scents can overwhelm, and sonic attacks cause deafness in a very real sense. However, there are plenty of skills that enhance various experiences, such as Dark Sight. And some species, such as certain breeds of Were-Fangs and Cait Sith, may come with such enhancements innately.

Pain

Unless the Pain Limiter is turned off through some kind of system command within an area, or on a person, pain is experienced as 20% of what it’d be in real life. Losing limbs and the like is still strictly painful, and Death is not pleasant of an experience. But stab-wounds and slash-wounds will not distract anywhere as much as they would in real life, and most Healing Artes eradicate a certain level of Pain.

ALTIMIT: Logging in

ALTIMIT, being a system that is designed to prevent hacking attempts like those which impacted the world so often in the past, has a high level of security built into its identity verification system. Each In-game Region (Land of Dragons, Yamato, etc) is locked to a specific real-world Region (Oceana, East Asia, etc). An account cannot be accessed cross-region (ie. If you have a United States/FM World account, you cannot log in while visiting Japan/Yamato). In general, you can only log on under your own account, in the specific Region/Country it is linked to, which you are a permanent resident with established national identification.

Appearance & Chargen Generation

An Adventurer's appearance is created in one of two ways. It can be chosen at random by the system, or through the Bodyscan system. There is no way to truly 'customize' an Adventurer's appearance, however the randomized selection often will get a person close to what they are looking for. Details on both options are available below:

• Body Scan System - The body scan system utilizes various sensors within the Dive Gear to map an individual's appearance. This will map all aspects of the individual's physical appearance, including measurements, hair length/color, eye color, scars, and other defining features. A body scan can only be performed on the actual individual logged into the system. Only limited modifications (Race, Class, Kingdom, Occupation) are allowed post-scan. Race, Class, Kingdom and Occupation may also be randomized.
• Randomized Appearance - All aspects of the Adventurer's appearance are determined randomly. This includes measurements, hair length/color, eye color, fantasy markings, and other defining features. While the randomizer can be run multiple times, it has a remarkable ability to find something 'close to what you're looking for' the first time. The Adventurer's Sex, Race, Class, Kingdom and Occupations may be selected post-randomization. Race, Class, Occupation, Kingdom and Sex may also be randomized.

Appearances may be influenced in-game by use of makeup, clothing choice and hair styling, but the base features of the character will generally always remain the same. It is rumored that there are elusive 'sex change' potions in the game, but most believe this is only folklore.

(OOC Notes: This means that you have a wide variety of description customization, as long as you stick to a race’s main themes and looks.)

Interaction

An overview can be found here: Game Interface Evolution

Statistics

• Health (HP) - The amount of life-force a being has remaining. This slowly regenerates over time or can be replenished using potions or Pharmacy/Light concept techniques. (OOC Note: Represented by HP in the Combat System or as Health Bars in Boss-Combat. May be RPed as impacted by failures in +duties as well.)
• Mana (MP) - The amount of special combat energy a being has remaining. Mana is used across both physical attacks and magical spells. This slowly regenerates over time or can be replenished using potions or Herbology concept techniques. (OOC Note: There is no OOC game system utilizing this directly. However, it is considered the force behind Sword/Wave Artes.)
• Equipment Bonuses - There is a variety of equipment available to Adventurers. Each of these offers different bonuses to in-game statistics. Characters may don/doff equipment using menus or manually. When something is equipped with a menu, it automatically adjusts to the size of the Adventurer equipping it. (OOC Note: This is generally just RP-flavor. Weapons/Armor/Equipment is represented by your Card Deck)

Concepts & Skills

Elder Tale Online has a wide variety of skills which characters may develop and train over time. Each Concept actually encompasses a number of individual skills, each of which can be increased. Increasing a skill also increases the overall rating in the Concept. A character can check their ranks in a Concept/Skill by visualizing a window in the menu system.

As an example:

• The Physical Concept may contain skills such as: Unarmed Combat, Acrobatics, Strength (etc.)
• The Melee Concept may contain skills such as: Daggers, Swords, Hammers, Staffs (etc.)

(OOC Note: This is generally just RP-Flavor. Your Adventurer's +sheet Concepts are an abstraction of what is actually an extensive IC skill system. For example, a character with a max rating in Physical may be fantastically limber and acrobatic, but not particularly muscular or strong, depending on how their underlying skills might have been laid out.)

Concepts Rank Description

• (0) - Untrained- An Adventurer can attempt a roll on a Concept they have untrained, but success is more likely a stroke of luck than any actual skill.
• (1) - Trained - An Adventurer is considered capable in that Concept. This is equivalent to an individual who has trained in this particular statistic as a major, important part of their career or focus. Most Lander craftsman would have this level of rank in their chosen Concept. Considered 'Above Average'.
• (2) - Exceptional - An Adventurer is considered to be exceptionally capable in that Concept. This is equivalent to an individual who has many years of training in their field and is seen as far beyond the Average. Only a percentage of Lander craftsmen would be able to reach this level of skill in their chosen Concept.
• (3) - Renowned - An Adventurer is considered to be renowned for their skill in that Concept. This represents an individual who is remarkably talented within a specific Concept. They would be well sought after as one of the best at that particular range of skills. Very few Lander craftsmen would be able to reach this level of skill in their chosen Concept.
• (4) - Mythic - An Adventurer is considered to be the best of the best in their chosen Concept. They are considered to have a wide range of mastery which includes most skills under a specific Concept. Landers are unlikely to reach this level of skill outside of a rare few exceptions.

Special Ranks

There are three types of special ranks a person can acquire for various non-combat Concepts. These ranks come with a measure of renown in the world beyond the individual's skill alone. It usually requires the completion of some task which gains the attention of one of the Godesses, representing the individual's influence within the world.

Rank Levels: Unknown, Renowned, Legendary
Rank Types:

• Novasphere Pioneer - (OOC: Awarded for progressions in the Gather or Tactical categories)
• Moonlight Crafter - (OOC: Awarded for progressions in the Create category)
• Sage of Knowledge - (OOC: Awarded for progressions in the Communicate or Discover categories)

Friend List

All Adventurers have access to the Friend List feature. This feature allows them to interact with other Adventurers in-person and request access to view that person as a friend. Friend permission may be removed by either party at any time.

Friends have access to the following benefits:

• They may utilize direct chimlink communication to those on their Friend list.
• They may monitor certain information about those on their Friend List.

The Friend List displays the following information:

• Name: Adventurer Name (Short/Display Name Only)
• Online Status: <Online>, <Dead>*, <Unavailable>
• Region: The region the Adventurer is located in.

(OOC Notes: *<Dead> in the context of the Friend List, means the person has been killed in-game and is currently in their 24-hour respawn window. Location, in this case, is the location of their gravestone/place of death.)

Crafting

In order to get a Real Life Sense experience out of an item, it must have been created by the player’s own physical actions, rather than just a UI command. It’s easy to create food in bulk through UI commands, but it will lack anything beyond basic texture. The same will go for making weapons that ‘feel’ metallic, etc. This system may have other undiscovered effects.

Communication Limitations

It is impossible to communicate utilizing chimlinks outside of a party/raid group while in battle, being actively aggressed, inside a dungeon's danger zone, or inside a raid zone; Be it PvP, PvE, or even a Kingdom War Region. This is a new mechanic for the Apocalypse era.

In order to communicate with someone via chimlink, they must be on your Friends List, in your Party, in your Guild, your Kingdom, or in your Alliance. You still need to know their exact player name as well.

Additionally, on Death, the player stops being able to communicate properly. See Death and Memories.

Inspect

Inspect is a core feature to a lot of MMORPGs, including Elder Tale Online. It’s the ability to analyze objects, buildings, people, and learn details about them through observation. In the case of armors and the like, one would need a compatible Job Class (Profession). The same goes for things like reading ancient texts, understanding the difficulty of a lock or a trap, etc.

Inspecting People of the Land and Players will reveal details like Name, Status Effects, and their general health bar status. However, Levels, Class, etc are not revealed so easily, unless one is partied, friended, or in the same guild. An Alliance is not enough to learn info about another. One will, however, see an ‘Green, Yellow, Orange, Red’ indicator for how powerful a target is. And some people have spoken of enemies with a ‘Black’ bar causing entire raid-wipes.

Adventurers carry a Wing Icon, as well as an I. People of the Land carry a Castle Icon as well as an I. Monsters and Beasts carry a Monster Icon, but Beasts also have a Hand Icon.

Aggression Flag

When INSPECTing a Lander or Adventurer, the color of that individual's name gives information about their current and/or recent aggression status. Below is an outline of what the various name colors means and the length of time these markers remain. When a higher level marker expires, the individual is dropped to the next level of aggression marker. Aggression cooldown does not begin until after combat has stopped. Landers generally treat anyone with an aggression flag as suspicious and may avoid interactions. Region Protection (Root Town Guardians) do not interact any differently with flagged individuals than they would otherwise.

Red - The individual has actively aggressed and killed an Adventurer or Lander recently. (Lasts: 24 hours)
Orange - The individual initiated aggression against an Adventurer or Lander recently. (Lasts: 24 hours)
Yellow - The individual has been involved in combat against an Adventurer or Lander recently. This includes retaliating when being attacked. (Lasts: 12 hours)
Green - The individual has not been involved in combat against an Adventurer or Lander recently.

Minimap

Elder Tale Online introduced the idea of a context-based mini-map, though this feature used to be disabled within the chaos gates, and other special areas such as Dungeons – with a big red-lettered ‘ERROR’ along with ‘static’. The Mini-map displays any NPCs and the like that have been detected by one’s self or nearby allies. The mini-map, however, is purely 2D within ‘context range’. The Minimap stops functioning when in combat.

A world map is only available as an item, and it only shows topography and major city features.

Party

A party has no real limit on membership. Larger groups are expected to form a small guild and to have multiple parties within. The game uses this to balance its healing distribution and combat difficulty.

It is not possible to party Monsters or Beasts - though a tamed beast will appear in the party interface under its owner if they are within context-distance. People of the Land can be in a party, but the general player consensus is that they can clearly not earn or share XP through such means. They're basically 'guest characters' in such situations.

Taking Damage

When taking damage, the area wounded is traced by a glowing light. This area remains lit for only a second and can be used as a good indicator that one’s attack has landed. This holds true to players, people of the land, and monsters.