Developer Guide

Editor note: This document is intended for developers of Heimr game mechanics only. It outlines the basic principles behind the game mechanics in Heimr. This document is not under development at the moment.

Goals of Heimr RPGs

1. Players should be able to play as many characters as possible. From a poor farmer who can barely scrape by, to a royal prince who's family struggles to retain control of their country. Not every kind of playable character should be fun for everybody. But every kind of playable character should at least be fun to players who have a playing style that suits that character type.
2. Life in Heimr is difficult, painful and miserable for the majority of the population. The game systems must reflect that mood.
3. The relationship between a player and other PCs should be no different then that between NPCs. PCs have the same abilities and choices as NPCs, when they find themselves in a comparable situation. NPCs behave equally rational to PCs.
4. For every form of conflict resolution, there will be interesting choices for players to make. There is no clear 'best strategy'.
5. Because as many characters as possible should be playable, there are many forms of conflict resolution, like fist fights, high political games and sieges on cities. Determining the outcome of conflict must happen in such a way that it is perceived as fair by the players.
6. Where ever this makes sense in character, character should easily be transferable from one game to another.
7. The maximum grow a character can experience is proportional to how much risk that character takes. This must remain consistent across all games and events.
8. Where complexity is required, the learning curve of players must be managed.

Goals for domains

1. Every domain has a skill challenge. If possible this should be an unique skill challenge.
2. The Skill challenge should reflect the task that the character is actually performing.
3. A domain should have enough skill to create a 30 point character (so even if two starting characters both have all their points in the same domain, they might still be different).
4. Every domain has an introduction that explains what the domain is about and what a player can expect if he creates a character from this domain.
5. Skills are placed in skill trees.
6. Upgrades of skills share the same name with the lower version but have a higher level.
7. Dependencies on other domains and non-core mechanics should be kept to a minimum.
8. Items should have both a craft and shop price. The craft price should be around 10% lower than the shop price.
9. Every domain should contain templates. Every template should include the amount of copper that is spent on items. Templates are always dividable by 5. A domain should contain roughly 2 of every type of template.

Future texts

Use of Alcohol and Drugs

Editor note: This text should be included in most (if not every) future Heimr event guides!

Consumption of alcohol and drugs on Heimr events is allowed insofar as permitted by law. However, if you do so, you are no longer allowed to engage in physical combat for the rest of the day, this includes touch spells and throwing weapons. If you get into a fight and you have consumed any of these substances prior to that fight, you should consider yourself to be dazed and unable to attack or defend.

• Author instructions
• Creating a domain
• Pay Up Front Disadvantage
• Standard values