Player Guides

Glossary of World of Imarel Gaming Terms - by T.A. Saunders ©2012 v1.5

Our game has some specialized lingo that might be difficult for new players to get around. Below is a list of of those terms and their definitions:

Armor Rating

Armor Rating is the total percentage to be subtracted from an enemy attacker's chance of hitting your character. Whenever new armor or enchantments are used, this percentage should always be reviewed. It is also important to include this total percentage in Random Encounters, Quests and GM Events to ensure a fair resolve.

Chronicle

A Chronicle indicates a change in the game's setting. The World of Imarel game has seen four chronicles online and one offline: Anthalas (offline), Anthalas: Post Cataclysm, Anthalas: The Dark Enforcers, Sundown and Blackgate. The setting changes when events have been been settled in one part of the world and all the storytelling that could be explored with reasonable interest has been addressed. Moving the setting to different places around Imarel gives the players a chance to explore the world and keeps the game fresh.

Event Points (EP)

Event points are given out for participation in events (random encounters, quests and GM events). These points can be then spent on skills, dual-classing/paragon class, languages or trade skills.

GM Event

A GM (Game Master) Event is a large scale channel story-related event. These events have combat and often require problem solving and cooperative role-play to progress through. GM Events follow the same rules as Random Encounters/Quests (see below) and are handled in the same way. GM Events are often much longer than a Random Encounter and often as long as Quests, however and are both scheduled roughly a week in advance and held in a separate channel. These are 3 EP.

Mystic Defense

Mystic Defense works like Armor Value does (see above) in that it's a negative number and the larger that negative number is, the better it is. Mystic Defense is used to check against specific effects, such as illusions, certain magical crippling or environmental effects created by directed spells. Whenever new armor or enchantments are used, this percentage should always be reviewed. It is also important to include this total percentage in Random Encounters, Quests and GM Events to ensure a fair resolve.

Non-Player Character (NPC)

A NPC is exactly what the name infers; a character that is not controlled by a player, but by the GM for purposes of advancing the channel story or to add flavor to the setting. There are two kinds of NPCs: Pantheon and Interactive. Pantheon NPCs are largely pivotal figures of Imarel lore, such as powerful mortals or deities. Fighting such NPCs is usually the stuff of GM events and should never be handled lightly. Interactive NPCs are on par with the characters or possibly less powerful and serve to fill in the setting. Interactive NPCs also change with the chronicle.

Quest

 Is a longer, possibly more than one night event that takes place in a separate channel that is meant to involve players in a joint activity. These events can be channel story related or may not be. Often these events can involve combat but not always. Quests are one of three kinds of channel events that involve the use of a basic dice system we've implemented to ensure fairness. The rules for quests can be found on the Rules page. These are worth 2 EP.

Random Encounter (RE)

 A random encounter is a short (no more than two hour) event that takes place in the channel that is meant to involve players in a joint activity. These events can be channel story related or may not be. Often these events can involve combat but not always. Random encounters are one of three kinds of channel events that involve the use of a basic dice system we've implemented to ensure fairness. The rules for random encounters can be found on the Rules page. These are worth 1 EP.

Resolving Combat

 When a GM says he or she is resolving combat, it means they are looking at all the actions characters have taken, rolling dice if appropriate and deciding the response and attack of the enemy as needed. Sometimes resolving combat can take a little while because the GM has to take into consideration several factors and must ensure that they get all the characters' actions.

Round

 A round is a combat action for a player, during a random encounter, quest or a GM Event. When you read the term, “Your character can attack once per round.” it means your character can take only one action. Certain spells and attacks will take more than one round to use, so a character may not be able to attack every round. A round represents roughly one minute of actual time.

To Hit Percentage

 The To Hit Percentage is the overall number that reflects how skilled your character is at hitting something. There are three types of To Hit Percentages: Melee Hit, Ranged Hit and Spell Hit. Since characters can potentially have all three sorts, we divide them up as separate to hit percentages. Be sure to include the total number each time your character attacks in an event, to ensure a fair resolve from the GM.

Turn

 A turn represents all combat action taken by both the characters and the enemies. A turn doesn't have a set length of time, because a turn can have only a few rounds or many rounds, depending on how many characters are in play.

Vapor Gaming

Sometimes it's simply not feasible to role-play every scenario, every event that can happen in a character's life, but those events should happen. In those cases, we allow players to state their character is doing whatever that is, without the expectation that it'll be role-played out. Vapor Gaming would be like making the statement, “My character is going to disappear for roughly a week. In that time he's going to be questing for the Lost Helm of Kethyon.” Some vapor gaming will need GM approval, especially if it involves world lore, etc. However, the vast majority will not and merely needs to be stated in the OOC channel.