To select a character race or your language, you must bid on the appropriate thing. A bid is a roll of a d12 + whatever cash modifiers you wish to put on the roll. There are two kinds of cash modifiers – you may spend money in advance to raise your die roll (that money is non-refundable if you fail the roll.) and/or you may spend money after you make the die roll to raise it. The cash modifiers are usually listed in the form (preroll price)/(postroll price).
For example, if you are bidding on your race, you need to roll >11 (a 12) to become an elf. If you spend $600($100/point) before you roll the dice, add 6 to your die-roll; and if you roll a 10, you may spend $500 ($250/point) to raise that roll to a 12.
If the bid number is a ‘Yes’, this means that you automatically win the bid. If it is ‘no’, you cannot bid on this item. Otherwise, it will be of the form ‘>number’, which means that your bid must be above the number given. If the bid is >11.5, you must first bid a 12, then >6 (as 2 separate die rolls, each with their own set of cash modifiers.)
When you create a character, you may bid twice for your race.
Your initial characters will start out in Marrephilahd, which is in the Empire.
| Empire | Nerol | Balkanized | Barbarian Lands |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Orc | Yes | Yes | Yes | > 6 |
| Elf | >11.5 | >11.5 | >11 | No |
| Goblin | > 7 | >10 | >10 | No |
| Dwarf | >10 | > 8 | > 9 | >11 |
| Kobold | > 8 | > 8 | > 8 | >11 |
| Hobbit | > 8 | No | > 9 | >10 |
| Halfbreed | > 9 | > 8 | > 6 | > 8 |
If you are a halfbreed, roll on the following table for your parentage. If you manage to roll the same race for both parents, you will be that race.
| Race | Roll |
|---|---|
| Human | 1-4 |
| Orc | 5-7 |
| Elf | 8 |
| Goblin | 9 |
| Dwarf | 10 |
| Kobold | 11 |
| Hobbit | 12 |
After figuring out what race you are, you will need to apply some attribute modifiers to your character;
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orc | +1 | |||
| Elf | +1 | -1 | ||
| Goblin | -1 | +1 | <14 | +1 |
| Dwarf | +1 | +1 | ||
| Kobold | <13 | +2 | <14 | |
| Hobbit | -2 | +1 | +1 |
=Note 1= Come on, these are Kobolds we are talking about! They are vermin and the only reason they’ve survived up til now is that they’re quicker than anything else.
Another thing you need to determine is what languages you know. Each character starts out knowing the common tongue for the region where they were born. They may also bid twice for other languages (if you have mage skills, you have 3 bids.) It costs $100/$250 to upgrade your die rolls.
| Empire | Nerol | Balkanized | Barbarian lands |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venial | Yes | > 6 | Yes | > 9 |
| Marrephiligan | 10 | >11 | >11 | >11.5 |
| Nerolise | >6 | Yes | > 4 | >10 |
| Akzar | >8 | >6 | >8 | >11.5 |
| Venial Akzar | >8 | >10 | >7 | No |
| Elvish | >10 | >10 | >8 | >10 |
| Dwarrel | >11 | 9 | >6 | >9 |
| Naissa | >9 | >9 | >4 | Yes |
| Uruk | >10 | >9 | >6 | >2 |
| Latin | >11 | No | >11.5 | No |
=Note1= This is the common tongue for this region. =Note 2= If you come from Marrephilahd, your common tongue is Marrephiligan and you need to bid >4 to learn Venial. =Note 3= The bid is > 6 if you are starting from the Hobytha A.R. in the Empire.
=Marrephiligan & Venial= These are two closely related human languages (like Italian and Romanish, for example.) They are very very old and most people along the coasts and in cities have a smattering of either Venial or a Venial derivative. If you know one of the languages, add +1 to any bid for the other; +2 on any bid for Venial Akzar.
=Akzar= This is the primary tongue of the Ackza orcs (great surprise there, eh?) but most people around the inland sea know a smattering of it. It is very closely related to Dwarrel, and knowing one of these languages gives you a +1 on any bid for the other. Also, knowing Akzar gives you a +2 on any bid for Venial Akzar. =Venial Akzar= Think of it as English; Venial, Akzar, and every other language poured into a pot and blended enthusiastically, if not particularly skillfully. If you know it, you get a +1 on any bid for Venial or Akzar. =Elvish= The elves are a pretty boring lot, linguistically, so they’ve only got one language no matter where you go. The only thing stopping it from being the common tongue is that it’s close to impossible for anyone other than an elf to speak it. =Dwarrel= This is the primary tongue of the Black Dwarves. Akzar is descended from it. =Naissa= This language is a human import. It was carried in by the Naissa barbarians, and is not very common outside of Cinnabar. =Uruk= Is related to Elvish. It is one of the older Orcish languages, and the Uruk-Hai orcs are named for it. It’s similar to Elvish; if you know it, you get a +1 on any bid to learn that language. =Latin= is a trade tongue for Kobolds and, not unexpectedly, is used as a religious language by non-kobold Christians.