THE RULEBOOK

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PLAYER GUIDE

1. Game Overview

Solar Flare is an interactive role playing game (RPG) created with the aim of allowing players as much freedom to innovate and be as creative as possible within a fantasy apocalyptic game world setting.

The game can be played as a Play by Post RPG, a Live Action Role Play (LARP), or as a tabletop game (TT). It can also be played via email and Skype.

This site is a dedicated play by post forum and resource for the Lore of Solar Flare for other forms of the game.


2. Aim of the Game


The aim of the game is for the player's character to survive as long as possible in the post apocalyptic world of Solar Flare.


2.1 Playing the Game


Players can complete quests and resolve specific problems alongside acquiring equipment and making alliances to strengthen their characters and help them in their task for survival.

You can develop your character through the story, becoming stronger wiser and more versed in the strange and esoteric world of the solar flare. You should aim to build the strongest character possible by building attributes and collecting artifacts through quests.

Each race and faction within Solar Flare also has a specific aim. For instance the aim of the Frith faction is to defeat the Rabbels. The aim of the Rabbels is to defeat the Frith.


3. How to Play


Solar Flare is set in a post apocalyptic world approximately three hundred years after a catastrophic event. You can play Solar Flare here by simply creating a character, then interacting with other characters/storytellers though posting in the location forums. Once you are ready simply write your post in the location forum.

Your first step in entering this world is to familiarise yourself with the basic back story behind solar flare. See: The Apocalypse

Once you are familiar with the back story you will need to create a character See: Character Generation. You should then run your character past a Storyteller (ST).

You will need to decide on a name for your character and a race.There are 12 races within solar flare and each has their own skills and disciplines. See: Races We would recommend a "Rabbel" for your first outing as they are the race most numerous in the world. Each race has three specific disciplines, for more detail see the disciplines thread.

You will also need to decide on a Class. <See Linky> Class defines the type of character.

For Rabbel characters you can choose from Warrior, Thief, Druid, Ranger or Engineer for Rabbel characters.

Warriors are characters with predominantly physical attributes and disciplines. They tend to be strong and good with weapons.
Thief characters tend to have skill and physical disciplines. They tend to be quick and agile. The thief is an important class, you should also consider picking abilities like lockpick.
Druids are healers and have access to esoteric abilities.
Rangers tend to have good physical attributes and skill based disciplines. They tend to be good survivors and well rounded characters.


You can discuss any ideas you might have as to your characters goals and mission with your ST. You should remember that certain character classes will have particular goals and targets. Indeed a good Out of Character (OOC) discussion about your character is recommended before you start.

You should then present your character at their starting location by posting in the appropriate thread. The storyteller will control a character which interacts with your character and you will be given one of the basic quests to complete.

You then through either through telling the story of how your character would face challenges or by making appropriate dice checks when called for attempt to complete the quests set by the ST. Through doing this you can create the story of how your character survives in the post apocalyptic world of Solar Flare.

In the Play by Post version, the story is told in the exchange between the players posts and the storytellers posts. There exchanges predominantly take place in the “Locations” <LOCATIONS LINK> thread. These locations may be like dungeons in themselves. A good starting location is the Tavern at Ridora.


4. Characters


Survival is not easy in the Post Apocalyptic world of solar flare, and many things have changed since the great disaster. People are just not the same any more.

Some have mutated to become stronger or stranger beings, hardly human at all. Some have lost their humanity altogether.

Each race will have different strengths, weaknesses, disciplines and abilities. You should choose a character class which interests you, which you can picture in your mind and write stories for. The more creative and interesting characters are, the more likely the are to last!

Once you have chosen a class you will need to generate a character sheet. There is more information <HERE LINKY PLEASE> on how to generate a character.


4.1. Telling your Characters Story


This may happen in one of two ways.


4.1.1 Storytelling for TT and LARP players.


If you have been playing the game at one of the Solar Flare games nights you can use this site to write up your evenings adventure. You should clearly detail at the start of your thread whether the play is TT or LARP. (Don't worry about this if you have just come to this site to play the game here by posting to this forum we call that PBP)


4.2 New Players


If you have not played Solarflare LARP or TT, don't worry you can play by post. If you have never played before fret not! Solar Flare storytellers are a friendly bunch and are always looking forward to meeting creative players. They will guide you through every step of the process. Once you have created your character you should have an OOC discussion with an ST in the OOC thread.


4.3 Locations:


You will need to choose a starting location. This may either follow from a discussion with the ST or where your character wakes up this morning. Your first post, after your character approval will be in the location thread at your chosen starting location. The current recommended starting location is the Tavern at Kastor

Characters will move from location to location as the story progresses.


4.4 Time:


Solar Flare operates in a fluid time. That is the players posts can occur any time within a 3 month period depending on the season in the game world. This allows for actions like traveling to occur without having to actually wait days in between posts. Once your character has run out of time you will have to wait until next season to catch that character up.

Do not worry though, players can hold up to five characters at any one time, though that is rather a lot and most players should find one or two sufficient.


The current time in game is Autumn 2142.

It is recommended players timestamp all posts in the the roleplay.



4.5 Timestamping


A timestamp is simply a brief sentence which lets readers know when the players post is occuring in game. For instance Joe Sanders could post:

“September 1st 2142

Joe Sanders enters the Tavern at Bluecester.”


The beauty of a website over a book is that it is interactive, any thing can happen, character adventures can take twists and turn and several events can occur all at once.

Sure the storytellers here have ideas on how they want the story to go, but if players can storytell effectively and take the story off at tangents that is great, this site becomes the work of many contributors instead of the few, and this is strongly encouraged!

Story telling is an art. You should try and write the best posts possible. That said there are no real rules as to style. You can adopt whichever style interests you the most, you can write 1st person, 3rd person, use illustrations (providing you are not posting copyrighted material), maps, diaries and more to progress your character.


4.6 SPAG!


Without wanting to sound like a strict school teacher, good grammar and good spelling are important here. Try and always check your spelling and punctuation, the easier the post is to read the better your story will be.

That said, at the end of the day it is up to you to adopt your own prose which reflects the style of your character, perhaps your character has a strong accent so words are often spelled to reflect their dialect. This is acceptable.


4.7 Be Creative!


Try and really think like your character, how would they react in a situation? What motivates your characters? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how can you use these to reach your character or factions goals.


4.8 Good Characters


Good characters are well thought out, and develop a life of their own. The fist thing you will need to do is name your character.

Then you will have to think about what race your character is; remember each race has a particular aim, and each faction has a particular aim and you should familiarise yourself with these before making your final decision as to class and faction.

You need to think about what your character looks like, how old they are and a little about how they would react in a situation. A good way to think about it is why a character reacts like they do. The key to a good character is a good backstory. Perhaps your character is a Doctor and he will try to get out of situations by offering his help, or perhaps you character is a hot headed warrior who will often fight first and then think later!


Try to keep you character within the spirit of the game world. Whilst the world is a big and pretty empty place in 2042 and there are many strange and individualistic characters try to keep in with the overall feel of the game. Aside from this it is up to you!

Once you have a backstory, you can post this in the approval thread along with you chose character stas and attributes.


4.9 Creating Characters.

You need to consider what type of character your character is. Is he a physical character or more of a thinker?

You will need to create a character sheet.

If you go to your profile and click the “character sheet”tab you will be able to generate a character sheet.

You can also the blank CS template in the character creation thread.

Attributes and Abilities:

Certain actions in Solar flare are dictated not by the story but by the rules of chance. Solar Flare uses a dice check system for actions and events in the story.

The dice checks for character actions are based on the characters attributes and abilities.

There are 3 attribute types (Physical, Skill and Intelligence Abilities) and 3 ability types (Talent, Knowledge and Proficiency) Within the three attribute types there are 9 Attributes and over 30 Abilities you can choose from.

You should choose attributes and abilities which reflect your character. A Warrior character who has little in the way of physical ability would probably not be a very good warrior.

4.1.9 Quick Character Generation.

Go to your profile by clicking on your username.

Click on “Character”

Scroll down and click modify. You can now edit the fields in the character sheet.

Name – Choose a name for your character. Try and make this in keeping with the story. No characters names which are blatent rip offs of other stories (No Dracula's Gandalfs or Margeret Thatchers please!)

Race - Select your race carefully. Each race has different skills, disciplines and abilities. Also remember that each race has a particular overall goal.

Gender – Self explanatory.

Attribute type:

There are 3 attribute types (Physical, Skill and Intelligence Abilities) detailed in the character sheet.

Choosing Attributes: (7/5/3)

There are 9 attributes.

Each character must have at least 1 Experience Point in each attribute.

Starting characters cannot have over 3 Experience points (XP)in any attribute.

1 XP would have very little skill that area, 5 XP would be almost superhuman.



Choose the attribute type which most reflects your character. This becomes your Primary Attribute Type. For warrior type characters for instance you will probably want Physical Attributes, for more magic characters you will want to choose Intelligence Attributes.

You can assign a total of 7 experience points to your Primary Attribute Type.

Example:

Ben Sheppard is a warrior type character. He chooses 7 points in the Physical Attributes. He assigns 3 to strength 2 to Dexterity and 2 to Stamina. He has a total of seven point in his primary attribute category, and at least one point in each of his attributes so this is allowed.

Secondary and Tertiary attributes.

In the same way select your second favourite attribute type(say Skill for example) and assign 5 experience points. Remember you need at least 1 experience point (XP) in each category and no more than 3 XP in any category as a starting character.

In the final attribute type assign 3 XP (one point in each ability.)

Example:

Ben Sheppard is a warrior type character. He has 7 Experience Points in Physical Abilities, 5 XP in Skills and 3 XP in intelligence.

He chose Physical Attributes as his primary attribute type and Skills as his secondary attribute type.

Physical Attributes:

Strength 3
Dexterity 2
Stamina 2

Skills:

Agility 2
Celerity 2
Stealth 1

Intellectual Attributes:

Intelligence 1
Perception 1
Manipulation 1


6. Choosing Abilities

In the same way as you chose attributes you should choose ability.

Again starting characters can have a maximum of 3 XP in each category. There is no minimum however for abilities and characters can have 0 ability. A character for instance with 0XP in Driving would not be able to drive a car at all.

The Ability Types are; Talents, Proficiencies and Knowledges.

Choose the attribute type which most reflects your character. This is your primary Ability Type. Warrior characters should pick Talents, Druids should pick Knowledges. Thief type characters should probably pick Proficiencies.

You can assign 12 XP across you Primary Ability Type. Remember you can have no more than 3 in each category. You may for instance choose proficiencies as your Primary Attribute Type and choose 3XP in Flying 3XP in Driving 3XP in Animal Ken and 3XP in Survival.

In the same way you should choose your Secondary Ability Type and place a total of 9 XP across the categories. You should then place 5 points in your last ability type.

Example: Ben is a Warrior type character who choose Talents as his primary ability type. He chooses to assign his 12XP by placing 3 XP in Athletics 3XP in Brawl 2 XP in Awareness, 1XP in Creativity and 3XP in Trickery.

He chooses proficiencies as his Secondary Ability Type. He assigns his 9XP by placing 3XP in Survival, 3XP in Ranged Weapons and 3XP in Animal Ken.

Finally Ben places his 5 XP points in his final category, Knowledges by placing 3XP in Burglary and 2XP in Medicine.

Ben has nearly finished his character!

Books, Training and Encounters can improve both abilities and attributes throughout the game. XP can also be given as a reward by ST's upon the completion of certain quests.


7. Character Approval:


Once you have finished a character sheet you should post your new character sheet in the character approval thread.

This is not to hamper you creativity, it is simply for the ST to check the Character Creation Rules have been followed and to allow the ST to select and devise the appropriate quests for your character.

Once you CS has been posted in the Character Approval Thread you will get a message from an ST as soon as the ST picks it up. Once your character has been approved the ST will then direct you to the appropriate starting location thread. It is quite normal for ST's to request minor changes to ensure the character fits in with overall story arc and meets the starting character requirements. Please don't worry! This is not an attempt to hamper your creativity, merely an attempt to ensure the Game World is as exciting as it can possibly be.


8. Dice Checks


Some elements of the game are not down to the storytelling abilities of either the storyteller or the player. Some events in the game happen at random. For this reason ST's will often ask players to take a dice check.

There are three types of dice check

1. Action Dice Check
2. Event Dice Check
3. ST Dice Check.

For an Action dice check solar Flare uses Attribute + Ability.

Different actions require the use of different attributes and abilities. Attacking with your fists for example requires a roll of Strength + Unarmed.

Event Dice checks require the rolling of a d20.

Some ST dice checks may use either a d2 (coin flip), a d6, d10 or a d20 (see the Storyteller Guide <LINK>)

Performing a Dice Check

Where a dice check has been called in order to perform the check you should click:

I.“Post Reply” (note -quick post will not work)

II. You will need to put a subject in the post, this will normally be the quest name.
III. Type your action into the text box (For instance “Ben Sheppard Attacks the Orak with his Fists”)
IV. If you look below the the text box you will see the “Dice” and “Dice Roll”drop down tabs.
V. Select the appropriate die in the Dice Roll# tab

For an Event check you use 1 x d20 (a twenty sided die)
For an Action check you use d10(s) (10 sided die/dice)

VI. Select the appropriate number of dice. If you are attacking for instance and you have 2 experience points in your strength category you would use 2 x 10)
VII. Click “Send”

Note if you edit the post this will change the dice roll, so don't edit dice roll posts. If you edit one by accident you will have to enter the original roll into the text box manually.

9. Rolls:

This is a list of some of the rolls in the game, it is not an extensive list. Your storyteller will be able to help further. ST's can refer to the ST guide for an idea of more Action and Event rolls.