Lore and Rules

Each Ritualist begins the game with 20 rune stones (provided by the participant). These stones have two sides: a POSITIVE side (marked with a rune) and a NEGATIVE side (blank). These runes should be balanced, meaning there is a 50/50 chance of success or failure.

For each ritual, the “cost” is indicated, during the ritual, you will throw a certain number of runes and let them land randomly.

Positive runes count as successes.
Negative runes are removed from play
- (some dark rituals can even remove positive runes).

Results can be roleplayed based on the rune outcome. This method encourages careful management of runes while allowing rituals to proceed without direct game master intervention.

Fair play is essential.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!

While solo rituals are sometimes necessary, it is often much more enjoyable to perform them together. Ritualists can support each other by using their own runes in another Ritualist’s ritual.

The same positive and negative rules apply.

Types of Runes

1. Normal Runes: One positive side and one negative side.

2. Special Runes: Only obtainable through in-game events or game master approval.

Double Positive
Two positive sides; cannot fail.
Double Negative
Two negative sides; always fails.
Red Rune
Causes 1 damage point to the Ritualist, regardless of outcome.
Green Rune
Heals 1 health point, regardless of outcome.
Yellow Rune
If positive, counts as two successes.

Iron and Its Effects

Iron affects the spirts a ritualists works with, such as fire affects mortals: it burns and weakens them. Holy sites are sometimes protected with metal chains or barriers to weaken spiritual forces, and graveyards are often fenced for similar reasons.

Impact on Ritualists:
While Ritualists can carry iron, large amounts negatively impact rituals, causing nausea and loss of focus. A short sword / dagger is manageable, but more iron nearby can become overwhelming.

What You Need for Rituals

Talisman
This is your sacred focus, either passed down through generations or given by a teacher. Without it, no rituals can be performed. It should be a large, noticeable necklace or object worn visibly.

Runes
You cannot perform rituals without runes. Keep them handy, as they are physically present in the game and can be stolen.

Props for Rituals
Enhance your roleplay with items like musical instruments, incense, candles, smoke effects, bowls, bones, herbs, or anything else fitting your character concept.

Info About Spirits

Spirits are a wide variety of supernatural entities. These can be the souls of the lost, unable to find their way onward. They can also be the souls of those who have passed peacefully, like an ancestor briefly crossing through the veil to offer aid or advice. Alternatively, they may be powerful manifestations of nature, memory, faith, deity’s or more sinister forces.

This gives us three simplified classes of spirits:

Lost Ones (Deceased spirits who are struggling to move on…)
Guides (Ancestors, spirits of wisdom / nature.)
Powerful Manifestations (Verry powerfull deity’s)

There can be many more types of spirits, or overlap between these simplified classes.
In most cases, the more followers or believers a “spirit” has, the more power it possesses.

As a Ritualist working with spirits, it is important for your character to know what kind of forces they deal with. Perhaps your character follows spirits that have been worshipped in their family for generations. Or perhaps they have made contact with a powerful manifestation that grants them their connection and power.

Most benevolent or neutral spirits will not appreciate darker or more sinister rituals. If your character wants to learn curses or other darker rites, they will likely need to be in contact with a more sinister force, along with all the risks that come with it.

Starting Ritual Knowledge

Every Ritualist begins the game with knowledge of the following basic rituals:

Summon Spirit
Oracle
Healing Ritual
First Hit Blessing
Vow of Trust

These form the basic foundation of Ritual practice and are considered known to all Ritualists at the start of play.

Stronger, darker, or more specialized rituals are not automatically known. These must be learned during the game through roleplay, contact with spirits, teachers, old texts, or other meaningful in-character progression.

In some cases, a player may start with one of these more advanced rituals if it strongly fits their background or character concept and has been approved beforehand.

Common Rituals for Beginners

Summon Spirit

Effect: The player can summon a spirit. Depending on how the ritual is performed, the will and presence of spirits and other factors, a spirit may or may not appear. Spirits summoned cannot give blessings or curses by request and may or may not tell the truth when answering questions.
Successes Needed: 6 successes.Oracle

Effect: The player receives a vision or insight into an event. The game master will provide this information within 30 minutes of the ritual.
Successes Needed: 3 success.

Banish Spirit

Requirements: 1–5 extra participants.
Effect: To successfully banish a spirit, its name must be known. This ritual can exorcise a spirit from a person. Requires strong roleplay.
Successes Needed: Varies based on the spirit, contact the game master.

Vow of Trust

Requirements: Player with a talisman and two people willing to swear an oath of loyalty.
Effect: This ritual binds the two participants in a pact that punishes betrayal with the Haunting Curse. If the vow is broken, the cursed person will feel it immediately.
Successes Needed: 4 successes.

Healing Ritual

Effect: The power of healing depends on the number of runes used.
1 success = 1 damage point healed.
To revive someone from 0 HP (unconscious) requires 2 successes.

Important RP Note: Wounds heal in their current state. Dirty wounds may become infected, and broken bones will heal as-is unless properly set beforehand.

First Hit Blessing

Effect: Blessed individuals can ignore the first hit in an upcoming battle. This does not work against especially heavy weapons such as siege weaponry.
Successes Needed: 2 runes + 1 extra per person.

Advanced Rituals

A player may start with one of these more advanced rituals if it strongly fits their background or character concept and has been approved beforehand. A fair warning: Some of these rituals are dark and evil in nature, the world will respond accordingly.

Banish Spirit

Cleanse the Haunting Curse

Effect: Removes the Haunting Curse from a cursed person (marked with white paint).
Successes Needed: 4 successes or more, depending on the severity.

Cleanse the Damnation Curse

Effect: Removes the Damnation Curse from a cursed person (marked with black paint).
Successes Needed: 4 successes or more, depending on the severity.

Vow of protection

Effect: A powerfull blessing protects the Ritualist against physical harm. (not against Magic or special attacks such as SMITE, “Ignis” and “Nexoris” also still hurts.) The ritualists can NOT do physical harm in any way, doing so violates the pact with the spirits they worship, causing a great offense and this will have consequences for your character.

Extra info: This ritual can only be done on the Ritualists themselves, not on others.

Successes needed: 5

Facial paint: Purple markings appear on the Ritualists face.

Spirit Touch

Effect: The cursed person becomes extremely sensitive to metal, unable to wear metal armor or carry metal weapons.
Successes Needed: 5 successes (success runes are removed from play).

The Haunting Curse

Effect: The cursed person permanently loses 1 hit point on it’s torso for the rest of the event,
Successes Needed: 5 successes (success runes are removed from play).

Facial paint: White markings appear on the victim’s face.

Special note: This curse can stack and in theory bring someone to 0HP (unconcious, it can not cause an “execution”.)

The Damnation Curse

Facial Paint: Black paint.
Effect: The Ritualist makes a request to the spirits to curse someone. Since casting a curse requires an offering, the Ritualist also loses their success runes. The cursed individual can no longer be healed. A curse that you have cast yourself can be undone by you, but if another Ritualist cast the curse, you cannot undo it.

Extra: The Ritualist can sacrifice extra runes to make the curse stronger. This will make it harder to remove the curse.

Granted by: Player with talisman.
Successes Needed: 6 successes (successful runes are removed from the game after this ritual). The Ritualist can also sacrifice extra runes to make the curse stronger, making it harder to heal.

Pestilence Curse

Requirements: A blood offering.
Facial Paint: Brown paint.
Effect: The Pestilence Curse makes the target feel sick and weak, which must be roleplayed. The target loses 2 health points gradually over 30 minutes. After losing these health points, they will begin to feel slightly better and no more health points will be lost.

Successes Needed: 4 successful runes.

Blood Offer

Requirements: A (sacrificial) victim that loses 1 HP per “flipped” rune.
Effect: A negative rune is turned positive through a blood offering. The target, willing or unwilling, loses 1 HP for every negative rune turned positive. The offered blood must be poured around the inactive runes, after which the Ritualist may flip the rune, which then counts as a success.