Since March 2020 we have been locked down as a nation to the extent that Larping face to face has become an impossibility. To combat that, we ran a five month epic, online game, that came to an end as Lockdown one ended. Its style was unique.

And so, as time away from the woods increases and our itch to LARP isn’t being scratched. We are very happy to present to you the new version of RoC Online that we will be running for you, our Patreons, to help scratch that itch.

I have been playing roleplaying games for thirty years and been involved with RoC for over twenty of those. Over those years I have seen Stephen and the RoC team do some amazing things including immersive freeform events, epic battles in Forts, entertaining stag parties and witness them craft some of the best stories I have played in. However the introduction of RoC online is perhaps the most impressive thing I have seen them do. The world is tough at the moment and if we ever needed a time for fun and escapism then it is now. Despite all the challenges, the RoC team have found a way to break up the monotony of the lockdown and bring some adventure to people once again. The game is great and am so glad to be involved (and great to see that even someone who isn’t IT literate can manage it). Thanks to Stephen and the RoC team.

Jon aka Jay Dragonflight

How will it work?

As our Guild Head tier on Patreon, you will get access to a private Discord server that contains IC (In Character) and OOC (Out Of Character) channels. The IC channels represent specific locations with more IC channels unlocking as you discover new locations during your game. Only players that are in a channel can see what is happening in that channel.

You can chat in the OOC channels at any time about what you want to do next, questions you may want to ask DPCs, examining maps, handouts or codes, but you can not talk IC.

The IC channels will only be open, or “Timed in”, 6pm-8pm (UK time) Wednesday – Friday, and 12pm-2pm (UK time) Saturdays. Depending on the abilities of those you are in the channel with, you may communicate with your Ref via text or voice. Neither you nor your Ref will be forced to participate in a method of communication with which they/you are not, at that time, comfortable with. The entire channel will follow the method of communication of the member who is feeling most disassociated.

What can I do?

As those of you who are familiar with RoC would expect, it’s pretty freeform. You will have a Ref dedicated to your channel who you should @ should you wish to take a specific action.

When timed in, you can talk IC with those in your channel as much as you want. You will be presented with various maps that include the whole of the areas you can travel to, local areas as well as indoor locations. Unless combat occurs or it is otherwise stated, you may travel around wherever you’d like.

Travelling to a different area will take an allotted amount of time, declared to you by a ref. You may continue to talk IC as you travel and will be considered “Walking and Talking” until such a time you declare a “Time Faff” for movement. Now would be the time time to used abilities such as “Eagle Eyed” to check for ambushes and the like.

When your ref calls for certain skills to be used for specific tasks, you will be presented with a short block of texts headed with FEAT SHEET or with a graphic of the Feat Sheet with difficulties such as “Hearts only” or “-1 Suit”. These Feat Sheets are exactly like the ones you would come across in our games in the woods, returning with a success or failure.

Wait, there’s combat?

Of course!

When combat is declared the game moves into rounds, with players and monsters taking turns. The order is determined with card pulls; you can increase the value of your card by spending 1 Tactical Point per step increase. You and the monsters are then ordered from fastest to slowest as follows: negative numbers, no suits, spades, hearts, diamonds and finally clubs.

When the order is determined your ref will display a location map of you and the baddies on a grid where each square represents about 1.5m2 or 5 ft2.

On your turn, you can spend 2 points of action on the following:

  • Attack – Stab a Monster – 1pt
  • Defend – Make it harder for a monster to hit you or someone you are defending – 2pts
  • Cast – 1pt per MAG building cumulating per turn
  • Move – Move 1 or 2 squares 1pt per square
  • Use a thing – 1pt per rank cumulating per turn

Attacking and Defending

Each monster has a target suit attached toit and you must pull that suit or better in order to successfully hit it. You can, however, add suits if you are proficient with your weapon and for every unspent Tactical Point. One successful hit inflicts one point of damage as a base. You may choose to spend Tactical Points on abilities such as Mighty after they have struck but remember, that spent Tactical Points are then spent for the entire Combat scene.

A monster has a target suit attatched to itself that it must pull in order to hit you. If you chose to defend yourself or, instead, someone in an adjacent square you increase the difficulty by one. You may also spend Tactical Points after it has pulled to reduce its pull value but those Tactical Points are spent for this combat

Sometimes you will need to pull a wound card. To do this simply type !WoundCard and the Discord bot will pull one for you.

If your health is reduced to zero HITS, you have 2 rounds before you enter your Death Count; your Death Count lasts for 10 rounds, at the end of which you are dead.

Armour rules also apply during online combat which is determined by your kit at Character Creation.

Casting

To cast, you simply declare you are casting a spell, then your target and finally some exciting verbals! Spells follow the same rules for range and targetting online as they would in the woods.

At the end of the turn you finish casting, your spell takes effect;

– A COMAG 1 spell takes 1 point of action and completes in round One
– A COMAG 2  spell takes 2 points of action and completes in round One
– A COMAG 3  spell takes 3 points of action and completes in round Two
– A COMAG 4  spell takes 4 points of action and completes in round Two
– A COMAG 5  spell takes 5 points of action and completes in round Three

Once the combat is over, if you cast any spells, you will need to pull a Backlash card. To do this simply type !Backlash and the Discord bot will pull one for you

Moving and Using Items During Combat

Moving is pretty straight forward. You can move to any square next to or diagonally from the one you are currently in. You can’t pass through obstacles or monsters but you can pass through other players, you just can’t stay in an occupied square.

As for using something. You simply declare you are using that thing, it takes 1 action per rank of the item which can carry over into another turn. It takes effect at the end of that turn with times and mechanics following the same rules they would in the woods.

Wound Cards and Backlash

Wound Card and Backlash draws will still be used in RoC Online. Each player will be given a private draw channel where our Omnibot will make pulls from your unique deck at your command.

This gives our players the opportunity to roleplay injuries and backlash effects in the way they want, whilst keeping the mechanical effects private.