Matters of Life and Death

Hit Points

Your character’s health and the quality of his or her armor are represented by the use of Hit Points. They are distributed at check-in according to your class, level and the type of armor worn. Hit Points represent the amount of damage you can actually sustain before dying.

There are two types of Hit Points: Armor Points and Body Points.

Armor Points represent the additional protection that is gained from armor. These points are usually lost first. The defensive spells Shield and Greater Shield provide additional armor points.

Body Points represent how strong and healthy your body is at that moment. The defensive spells Bless and Greater Bless provide additional Body Points.

When in a battle, armor usually takes damage first and then Body Points. There are exceptions. Some spells and skills state that only body or only armor is affected.

You will be given tag representations of armor and body points as well as a key ring on which to hold them. Body Points do not regenerate from day to day but you will receive your full amount of Body Points at the start of each new NERO event.

Lost Armor Point and Body Point tags must be adjusted at the end of the battle. Armor tags must always match the physical representation worn. You cannot use a tag representing 14 points of armor while you are only wearing 6 points.

Life and Death

Knowing the rules in this section can literally make the difference between life and death. Some of this will be confusing upon a first reading, as this section makes references to rules that have not yet been covered. If this is your first reading of the NERO Rule Book, get the general idea of this section and then come back after you’ve read more.

Unconscious: If you are reduced to exactly zero Body Points, then you are unconscious. You will regain consciousness (at one Body Point only) after ten minutes.

You can make no sounds at all while unconscious or dying. If your party doesn’t notice you lying there, you can’t moan or say “Well, it looks like I’m unconscious.”

If you wish, your character may opt to stop struggling to regain consciousness and die. Upon being reduced to zero Body Points, you can declare that you are “choosing to die” (This is an out-of-game statement). At that point your Body Point total drops to -1 and you will begin dying. This option is to allow you to “choose to die” rather than be captured by an enemy.

Carrying the Incapacitated: To carry another character or creature who is incapacitated, you must place a hand near the torso and tell the other player “I am carrying you”. The recipient must get up and stand in front of you. Then, hold both hands over their shoulders to indicate you are carrying them. You must walk at a normal pace. You may work forward or ‘drag’ them by walking with them backwards. If you have Superhuman Strength or you use an Endow, both of you may run together for 10 seconds, without keeping your hands over their shoulders. Whether walking or running you must wait for the person playing the body to get up and follow you. You cannot “tag” them and sprint, claiming that you have the body. The person must move with you. You cannot carry bodies when in combat. If a packet, weapon, or other game effect strikes you, or the body being carried, you must drop the body (if still able to drop it) that you are carrying until the attacker has moved on, or has been otherwise disabled. The effect is applied to whomever it hit, following all normal NERO rules. Likewise, all of the same rules apply if you use a game effect upon yourself, including Imprison, healing spells, or gaseous form. (If you cast Imprison upon yourself or go gaseous, the carried body must be dropped and hence cannot be included in the effect.)

Dying: Any time you are reduced below zero Body Points, you drop to -1 and no further, even if the last blow on you did 48 points of damage. Once you are reduced to -1, then your character is dying. You will die unless given First Aid or curing within one minute. This one minute is referred to as your “death countdown.”

First Aid takes a complete uninterrupted minute to be successful. Once First Aid has begun, the one minute death countdown freezes. If you receive another hit while in this condition, then the aid is considered to be interrupted and you will continue the death countdown from where it was interrupted by the First Aid.

If the First Aid is completed, then you will be at zero Body Points (unconscious) and will wake in ten minutes with 1 Body Point. First Aid is not required if you are at 0. Curing that brings you to at least 1 Body Point will immediately bring you to consciousness without the minute needed for First Aid.

If you are at -1, then for all healing, it only takes 1 point to reach zero. So, for example, after a Cure Light Wounds spell, you would have 1 Body Point. After a Cure Mortal Wounds spell, you would have 23 Body Points (if you can handle that many!).

Dead: If you are reduced to -1 and you are not given either First Aid or some sort of healing within the one minute period, then you are dead. If you are given a Killing Blow at any time, you are dead. All of your active spells, alchemical substances, and other effects will immediately disappear. The only things that will remain are Gypsy Curse, Vampire Charm, Forget-it-Well, Forget-me-Not, Enslavement, Euphoria, Love Potion #9, Paste of Stickiness, and Physical Pin/Bind/Web/Confine. Sometimes, a Curse of Transformation or an Infection might disappear when a character dies. No other game effect is active after death, except for certain Formal Magics (this will be stated on the tag).

The only thing that can save you now is a Life spell delivered within five minutes. Even if a Life spell is given to you, all your active spells, alchemical substances and other effects (except those listed above) are lost. If the five minutes pass without a Life spell, then you must immediately become a spirit and can only be brought back by a resurrection.

Example one: Dreyfus has a total of 14 points counting his Armor Points, Body Points and all protective spells. He is in a fierce battle and takes exactly 14 points of damage. He falls to the ground unconscious. Nobody gives him any curing, so he awakens in ten minutes with only one Body Point.

Example two: Dreyfus takes 20 points of damage in the battle and falls to the ground. He is now dying. He begins counting down in his head the minute before his death. Before he gets to “60” he is reached by Chelsea the healer who gives him First Aid. After a complete minute of receiving First Aid, he will no longer be “dying” and will now merely be “unconscious.” In ten minutes, he will awaken at one Body Point.

Example three: Dreyfus takes 20 points and falls to the ground. He begins the death countdown but almost immediately is hit with a Cure Wounds spell (worth 4 Body Points) from Chelsea. Since he has no Shield Magic defensive, he is affected by the spell, and he jumps back up and runs back into battle. He now has 3 Body Points.

Example four: Dreyfus takes 20 points of damage and begins the death countdown. A minute goes by and no one gets to him with First Aid or any curing. He now begins a five minute countdown in hopes that someone happens by with a Life spell. If no Life spell arrives within the five minutes, he is dead and must be resurrected.

Note that in even though there was no mention of exchanging of tags, it is imperative that all appropriate tags be removed after a battle.

Spirits

When your character dies (after the point at which a Life spell will no longer work), you must become a spirit. You must put on a white headband and head immediately and directly to your chapter’s resurrection point (usually the Healers’ Guild) to register your death.

The spirit is completely invisible to the world around it and may not interact in any manner with other characters (no noises, no charades. . .nothing!). Spirits travel only as fast as the player walks—no running to the Healers’ Guild.

A Life spell requires the portion of the body in which the “spirit” remains when death occurs. Thus if a body is dismembered, the spirit will remain with the part of the body that it chooses; however, it must choose a part of the body that was a functional part of the body at the time of death (no leaving hair follicles with friends before dying!). The player that makes this choice accompanies the body part they have chosen to remain within until the chance for a Life spell is past. At this point they become a spirit and must proceed directly to the Healer’s Guild or some other permanent Earth Circle.

For example: Dreyfus the fighter is killed by the Order of the Axe bandits. The bandits sever Dreyfus’ arms, legs, and head. (“One I cut off your arm, Two I cut off your arm, Three I cut off your arm.”) and send each piece off with a different person, hoping to prevent the use of a Life spell. Dreyfus may choose to travel with either the torso, either arm, either leg, or the head. In order to deliver a Life spell to Dreyfus, the spell must be delivered to the portion Dreyfus chose.

Anyone (absolutely anyone) can tell if a spirit is present in a particular body piece and thus would know whether a Life spell is possible. Well, poor Dreyfus isn’t having an overly good day, and nobody arrives with a Life spell in time (five minutes from the point of death). Dreyfus dons the white headband and heads directly to the Healers’ Guild.

It is impossible to burn or otherwise completely destroy the body before the five minute Life spell requirement is used up. Therefore, any effects that accelerate the destruction of the body, or otherwise change the way the Life Spell works (like Mummy Curse or Disintegrate), are currently not allowed. We know this doesn’t make complete in-game sense but this rule is to prevent every single kill from turning into a “Let’s burn the body!” situation.

The five minute time period for a Life spell continues to elapse even if you are raised as an undead after being given a Killing Blow. If you are raised, you cannot then “choose to die.” If during the five minute period you are “killed” as the undead and then given a Life spell, you will reawaken alive but with no knowledge of your time spent as an undead. If the five minute period expires and you are still an undead, you will remain an undead until destroyed, at which point your spirit will immediately head to the Healers’ Guild for resurrection.

For example: Poor Dreyfus falls fighting against a necromancer and his undead abominations. He is at -1 Body Points. He lies there for a minute but no one comes to him with First Aid. (Dreyfus is keeping track of the time.) At the end of the minute, he is now dead and all of his Spell Protectives gone. The necromancer sees Dreyfus and then casts a Create Undead spell on him. Dreyfus rises as a zombie. He attacks his party, and the battle lasts more than two minutes. During this period, they throw Life spells at him, but they have no effect because he is a zombie. Finally, they knock him back down to zero body points. He is no longer a zombie and is merely a dead body. Since the five minutes since the time of his death are not up, a Life spell will still save Dreyfus, but since the one minute period for First Aid has expired, he can lo longer be saved by First Aid or a curing spell. The countdown did not stop when Dreyfus became a zombie.

Resurrections

Upon entering the Healers’ Guild, the spirit remains unable to interact with characters, but anyone inside the Circle and Invested in the Circle will “sense” a presence and will know the identity of that presence if it is someone they know. They may then resurrect that spirit, and after fifteen minutes the body will be restored to the spirit. The identity of the spirit does not have to be known in order to be resurrected.

You must be Invested in the Circle to be able to start the resurrection, but once it is begun, anyone with the skill of Healing Arts can complete it. If no one is available with Healing Arts, then the spirit can resurrect on its own once the Invested member has begun the resurrection. However, in-game, this is very painful emotionally to the recipient.

For example: Guildmistress Gina is in a quandary. It seems the entire town is fighting a huge battle against Destructo the Chaos Elemental, and she has been left alone in the Healers’ Guild. Over ten spirits have arrived and are waiting to be resurrected. If she tried to resurrect them all personally, it would take over two hours! Instead, she does the best she can under trying circumstances and goes to the first spirit (a poor human fighter named Dreyfus), starts the resurrection, moves onto the next one, starts that one, and so on down the line. Fifteen minutes after she started Dreyfus’ resurrection, he will awaken. His mind is confused and angry as if he had just risen from the most hideous nightmare he had ever experienced.

A spirit can reject a specific healer but stay in the Circle waiting for another person to perform the resurrection. The rejected healer will be aware that the spirit is refusing to resurrect under his or her guidance but will not be able to tell which healer the spirit is “requesting” or waiting for.

The spirit is not aware of any character plans to resurrect in specific circles based on the means of death. Thus you cannot say to your friends “If I resurrect in Bristol, that means that Enemy X killed me; and If I resurrect in Wildwood, that means Enemy Y.”

The spirit will normally go to the closest permanent earth Circle of Power to resurrect. No in-game knowledge is necessary for your spirit to find the “closest” Earth Circle. This includes Circles that your character has never seen in-game. A spirit can choose to go to a different Circle than the closest one if the closest Circle is hostile, but the character, once resurrected, will not be aware of this decision.

The Player, not the character, determines “hostility”. This is a fine point, at best, but it means that out-of-game knowledge is used when deciding whether to resurrect at a given circle. For example, let’s suppose your character dies, and a Forget poison is used. When your body dissipates, you go to the Earth Circle. When you get there, you see your character’s killer hiding behind the cabin where the Earth Circle is located. You decide to resurrect elsewhere because the circle is “hostile” to you. This is allowed and is well within the rules. As a matter of fact, no one in the game, not even a marshal, can ask another player to justify why they decided that a particular circle is “hostile”. It’s an out-of-game decision, made by the player, and can be made for no reason at all. The decision to resurrect elsewhere can even be made after the resurrection has started. Of course, once the resurrection is finished, it’s too late.

If your character decides to go to another Circle other than the designated in-game Circle during a weekend event, you must go to the resurrection point out-of-game to record the death and let them know what you are planning. You may be required to stay out-of-game for a period of time to represent the amount of time it would take for your spirit to travel to the next closest permanent earth Circle and for your body to then travel back.

Example one: Dreyfus is killed by his arch enemies the Order of the Axe. The player waits where Dreyfus died hoping someone with a Life spell walks by, but no one does. He puts on his white headband and heads to the closest permanent earth Circle, which is at the Healer’s Guild. Inside, the Guild is a friendly and inviting place. Outside of the Guild, he sees the Order of the Axe waiting for him to resurrect so they can follow him and kill him again. He can choose to resurrect elsewhere.

Example two: Dreyfus’ spirit goes to the Guild and discovers that the person who will be resurrecting him will be Vorin, a member of the Order of the Axe. Dreyfus can decide to take his chances with Vorin (after all, would Vorin really try anything with all these witnesses around?) or, if he chooses, he can go to the next closest Permanent Earth Circle. He may also refuse to be resurrected by Vorin, in the hope that some other healer will then come by and perform the resurrection. However, once an invested character begins the resurrection, and the spirit accepts the resurrection it must be completed..

Example three: Poor Dreyfus is wanted by the Town Guard for crimes he has committed. He has been hiding out in the woods, but his luck ran out and he was killed by trolls. He feels that if his spirit were to resurrect in the Healers’ Guild, he would be immediately arrested. He can choose to go to another Circle.

Example four: Dreyfus is killed by the Order of the Axe in their very own permanent earth Circle hidden deep in the woods. Dreyfus does not want to be resurrected there and can choose to go to the next closest Circle.

When the spirit appears at the Circle, it appears intact and whole, even if the body had been hacked to bits and separated. All body parts remaining will disappear when the resurrection is completed. (That’s why many monsters don’t like to eat adventurers—one hour later and they’re hungry again.)

It is impossible to tell how someone died from looking at their spirit. When looking at a body that has just died, a person with the skill Healing Arts can tell if the person probably died from weapon wounds and whether the weapon was edged or blunt, but cannot tell if the person was killed by spells or poisons. Once the resurrection begins, though, there is only a spirit, and all of this evidence is no longer discernible. Determining the method of death at that point is no longer possible.

Many resurrections are performed by a character who tells a story about the events of what occurs during the fifteen minutes and the person receiving the resurrection may choose to have their character believe that story, or any other as they prefer. Each and every story should abide by NERO rules and any problems should be reported to a Marshal.

For example: Dreyfus’ spirit heads to the Healers’ Guild Circle once again. Upon entering the Guild, Cap the sailor (an invested healer) senses that a spirit is present. He has met Dreyfus before, so he knows the identity of the spirit and begins the resurrection. While doing the resurrection, Cap tells Dreyfus a story, describing the feeling of a ship traveling through a storm and then safely into a harbor. The character playing Dreyfus may then choose whether Dreyfus recalls the experience of Cap’s story or not.

At the end of the resurrection, the person must say “I reform one, I reform two, I reform three”. Ther is nothing that will successfully affect a resurrecting body during a three count. The last three seconds are considered part of the time in which the spirit “cannot interact with the world around it” and hence nothing will affect the character. You cannot begin a three-count, including a killing blow, upon a resurrecting body until after the resurrection count is over.

A newly resurrected character has his or her maximum Body Points and will awake from resurrection completely naked and without any game possessions at all (unless, of course, the character’s friends have brought the character’s possessions to the Guild). All remaining spells and elixirs that were present on the character will be gone, including Gypsy Curse, Vampire Charm, Enslavement, Euphoria, Love Potion #9, Paste of Stickiness, Physical Pin/Bind/Web/Confine. Most of the time, a Curse of Transformation or an Infection will disappear when a character is resurrected. Note that the lost memories from Forget-it poisons are not restored by resurrection. No other game effect is active after death, except for certain Formal Magic (this will be stated on the tag).

Each time your character dies, he or she adds another Death to their Death Total. Every character gets two guaranteed resurrections. After that, there is a chance of dying permanently and not coming back.

When you show up at the earth Circle to resurrect, a Marshal will update your Death Total and then will ask you to choose from the Bag of Chance.

In the bag will be ten stones. There will be one Death Stone for each time you have died beyond the two free resurrections. In addition, there will be a number of Life Stones put into the bag so that the total number of stones is always ten. If you choose a Life Stone, then you can successfully be resurrected.

If you pick a Death Stone, then your character has permanently died. At this point, your character’s body reforms exactly where it dissipated. The body will remain there until someone finds it and takes it.

However, lying out in the middle of the woods all night hoping someone finds your body is not fun for most players. Therefore, it is completely acceptable to leave a note saying “You see Deathbringer’s body here.”

In rare instances, you may choose to have your body crumble into dust. Any spirit-linked items will remain there and will be spirit-linked to the next appropriate person who touches them. (Some chapters have different rules regarding spirit-link.)

Note also that in some chapters, the resurrected character does not remember the half hour previous to its dissipation. In these chapters, one or more of the Life Stones may be a special Life Stone: the Memory Stone.

If you choose the Memory Stone, you will have a “perfect resurrection,” with complete memory of your death. In-game, only the character being resurrected knows whether a Memory Stone has been pulled. It is not something that cane be determined by the invested member or by Healing Arts.

Life Tickets

You are given a Life Ticket at check-in. This must always be carried with you on your skill ring. The Life Ticket lists your name, your character’s name, and the date of the event. At the bottom of the Ticket is a flag labeled “Alive.” The Life Ticket represents your last body point (as long as the “Alive” flag is present).

If you die, you are required to rip off the bottom “Alive” flag of the Life Ticket. If you die and are given a Life spell in time, you will attach the Life spell tag to your skill ring (with the “uncast” flag ripped off, of course). If you are not given a Life spell in time and must be resurrected, the Invested healer at the Earth Circle will give you a Resurrection Ticket.

Example one: Thornheim the Barbarian falls in a battle and is unconscious at zero Body Points. The monster that fought him takes all relevant spell tags and hit point tags but leaves the Life Ticket because there was no Killing Blow. After ten minutes, Thornheim awakens. His Life Ticket represents his one Body Point.

Example two: Thornheim is given a Killing Blow. He gives the monster the “Alive” flag from his Life Ticket as well as all other relevant tags. Fortunately, Sindranimus the Healer walks by, and seeing Thornheim lying there, casts a Life spell in time. Sindranimus rips off the “uncast” flag from the Life spell tag and hands it to Thornheim who places it on his skill ring. The Life spell tag now represents his one Body Point.

Example three: It is a few hours later and Thornheim is now fully healed. His Life Ticket is still missing the “Alive” tag but he has a Life spell tag to replace it. Suddenly his arch enemy Tyrannus jumps from behind, kills him and gives a Killing Blow. Thornheim hands over the Life spell tag which represented his last point. No one comes along with another Life spell in time, so his spirit goes to the Healers’ Guild where it is successfully resurrected. The Healer there rips off the “unused” flag from the bottom of a Resurrection Ticket and gives it to him. This now represents his final Body Point. The Healer will also give him the extra Body Points he needs to reach his maximum.

When you check out, you must turn in your Life Ticket. If your “Alive” flag is missing, then you must attach either a Life spell tag or a Resurrection Ticket to it. If you do not, your character will be listed as having taken a death. In-game, your character would have died through an accident. You might also be required to choose from the Bag of Chance, if applicable.

Be aware that checking out without a Life Ticket or with a Life Ticket that has the “Alive” flag missing but with no Life spell tag or Resurrection Ticket attached will certainly cause the NERO staff to look into the situation to make sure you are not cheating.

Experience Points

Experience Points (XP) are used in NERO for the advancement of a player’s character.

Whenever you attend an event in NERO, you will receive a certain number of experience points just for attending the event. These points are known as your Base Experience Points. In NERO parlance, this has become known as your “blanket.”

Base XP represent the things your character does on an event that may not be able to be rewarded in other ways. You may kill monsters and get no treasure, or perform some sneaky act that has no monetary reward, or otherwise roleplay to the benefit of all but to no great personal advantage.

Base XP are determined by your current total Build Points (see below), including the initial 15. If you currently have 40 BP, then you will receive a base of 40 XP for the event. This is based on a typical NERO weekend, which consists of two game-days (that’s half a “blanket” per game-day). On long weekends (three game-days), you will receive 150% of your “blanket” (or 60 XP in our example), and for an Adventure Day module, you will receive 25% of your “blanket” (or 10 XP in the example). As already stated, a full-fledged Adventure Day counts as a half blanket. If a chapter wishes to award more than ½ blanket per calendar day, they should get approval in advance from the NERO Int’l office.

In addition, you can turn in extra Experience Points, represented by game money. Each silver piece is worth one XP. The maximum number of silver pieces you can turn in is equal to your Base XP. If you have 40 Build Points at the beginning of a weekend event, you will earn 40 Base XP and can turn in up to another 40 silver pieces to earn a maximum of 80 XP for the entire event. This is known as “maxing out.”

Example: DiGiacomo the Jester spends the entire event entertaining (and stealing swords when no one is looking) and so has earned over a hundred silver pieces. His character card shows that he has 36 BP (which includes the original 15), so when he checks out, he hands over 36 silver pieces, representing 36 Loose XP. This means he has earned a total of 72 XP for the weekend (36 Base XP and 36 Loose XP).

You can earn money in-game in many ways. You can sell scrolls, spells, potions, or elixirs; you can repair armor; you can hire yourself out as a bodyguard; you can entertain in the tavern; you can kill monsters and hope they have treasure; you can beg; you can borrow; you can steal—the possibilities are endless. Keep in mind however, that you will have expenses as well (such as armor repair, healing, taxes, and weapons) and not every silver you find will necessarily be used for Experience Points.

One way to earn game money is to sell food, costumes, weapon phys reps and other items for game money (as well as real money). NERO encourages real merchants since it adds to the atmosphere of the game.