The Sussex Wargames Treasure Trap system works by means of OOC 'calls' - specific things said in a voice loud enough for the desired target to hear, accompanying an action and describing the in-game effect of that action. Although the effects of the call are visible, the words of the call themselves are not IC. Within this website system calls should be denoted by all caps.

OOC Calls

OOC calls are used to tell the players (not the characters) what is going on, and in cases of emergency.

MAN DOWN

The most important call in LARP. MAN DOWN means there has been an injury, or someone has lost their glasses in combat, or some other kind of emergency. As soon as MAN DOWN is called, the action suspends entirely and appropriate action is taken. Please stop moving (in case you stand on glasses) and repeat the call if you think not everyone in the vacinity is aware. Once the emergency is over, if the game is to continue then people are asked to return to where they were when MAN DOWN was called and TIME IN restarts the action. If you suffer an OOC injury, lose your glasses, or for any other reason do not feel it is safe for you to continue roleplaying, please make this call.

FIRE

The reason that magical damage does not name the elements is that FIRE is an OOC call, and refers to the outbreak of an OOC fire. Please react to FIRE as to MAN DOWN, but with different appropriate action.

TIME IN

The call to start roleplaying. Once TIME IN is called, the game has started. This may only be called by a Ref.

TIME OUT

The call to stop roleplaying. Once TIME OUT is called, the game is over for that evening, or in a small number of rare special cases such as everyone teleporting to another physical location and needing to walk there OOC. This may only be called by a Ref.

TIME FAFF

The call to continue roleplaying, but not move forward. On linears, occasionally additional time is needed to get a big encounter ready; in this case, TIME FAFF will be called and the party will spontaneously stop for a quick IC break. This may only be called by a Ref.

TIME FREEZE

This is close to a system call in its application. Upon hearing TIME FREEZE, all players should remain motionless, close their eyes and hum loudly so as not to hear what is going on. TIME FREEZE is typically used for dramatic effect and the entrance of powerful beings from nothing. Use of the Ultimate Faith and Overcast powers will generally evoke a TIME FREEZE as the first part of the response. TIME FREEZE may only be called by a Ref.

APPEARING

When something appears from being OOC it may call "APPEARING". This may be felt unnecessary if it is otherwise obvious that something has appeared.

VANISHING

When something vanishes from view and the person representing it goes OOC they may call "VANISHING" as they raise their arm in the air to indicate that they have disappeared. This may be felt unnecessary if it is otherwise obvious that something has vanished. The calling is VANISHING and not “disappearing” as the latter sounds quite similar to APPEARING.

IC Calls

Damage calls

Certain system calls are used to indicate to a person that their character has been injured. The source of the injury may vary, but the most common source is from the weapon of a monster. In most cases, the damage call will be a single word, as detailed below. You only need to take these calls from a weapon blow if the weapon actually hit you (ie. not if you parried or the attacker missed.) Please try not to make a damage call if someone successfully parries your blow or misses. The location struck by the weapon is the one which will take damage.
If the damage comes from some other source (ie., you are targeted by a damage call while not being struck by a weapon,) the damage should be dealt to the torso.

NOTHING: No damage. Can only be called by atrained duelist.
HALF: A solid blow without finesse. Strike by an untrained normal person.
SINGLE: A solid, well-aimed blow. Strike by a trained warrior or experienced thug.
DOUBLE: A powerful, skilled blow. Strike by a veteran warrior.
TRIPLE: A devastating blow. Strike by one of the most skilled of warriors.
QUAD: A blow that would fell even the combat-savvy in one stroke.
QUIN: This amount of damage and up can only be reached by magic, spirit, or the mad strength of a berserker.
HEX: No standard (i.e. non-eighth-level) miracle does more damage than this.
SEPT: A crippling blow that is rarely possible without magical or alchemical aid
OCT: This is the most damage known to be available to magic without a ritual.

Damage types

If a character is struck by supernatural forces, or by a weapon augmented with such forces, the call will usually be accompanied by a particular damage “type”. In most cases, this can be ignored unless you know that a particular damage type will affect you differently (for example, hydrokin are Resistant to GREEN damage and Weak to RED damage.) Some creatures may not be harmed at all by “mundane” damage, and can only be effectively combated using magical or spiritual powers. The damage type also gives clues as to the nature of the source of the power. The damage types are listed below. In rare cases, some damage calls may have multiple types (eg. SPIRIT VENOM SINGLE.)

Unless you know it will have a special effect on you (for example, if you are an elemental elf,) you do not need to be concerned with damage types other than SUBDUAL, CURE and VENOM.

SUBDUAL

This is a special type of damage type that indicates that the blow is being struck with non-lethal force: any damage taken in a call accompanied by the word SUBDUAL will disappear in 5 minutes time, as its intent is only to stun or temporarily disable. Damage from multiple subdue calls stacks, and taking more subdual damage will reset the five-minute counter.

CURE

Not strictly a “damage” type, this keyword indicates that the effect of the action causing it is to restore your hitpoints. This may be from an alchemical potion, or a healing miracle. If the priest casting the healing miracle specifies a location, or set of locations, the healing goes to those locations as directed. Otherwise you may allocate the healing points across your locations as you see fit.

Elemental elves take one less degree of healing from spiritual sources..

Eg/ casting CURE 3 on a pyrokin will allow them to heal 2 points of damage.

VENOM

This damage type indicates that the weapon being used to strike you has been coated in venom. If a VENOM call hits you and is not taken entirely on your armour, please consult a ref as soon as possible to find out about any additional effects the venom may have on you. For example, you have 1 armour point left on the torso, and 4 body hits. A wild animal claws at your chest, calling VENOM DOUBLE, destroying your armour and doing a single point of damage to your torso. As your torso has been damaged by this venom call, you must consult a ref at the next available opportunity to let them know you have been poisoned.

Kender are resistant to VENOM damage (but must still inform a ref if hit with a venom call past their armour.)

SPIRIT

This damage type indicates the blow being struck has some divine blessing: either as a direct channeling of divine will through a miracle, or as an empowerment a priest has bestowed upon a weapon.

RED

Red damage is fiery in nature. Its most commonly caused as the direct result of a RED spell, or a weapon enchantment. RED damage may also be the result of an IC fire; for example, your character runs into a burning building to save the orphans trapped inside – the overwhelming heat causes a RED HALF damage every few seconds.

Pyrokin are Resistant to RED damage, and Hydrokin are Weak to RED damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to RED damage.

GREEN

GREEN damage is watery in nature. It is relatively uncommon, as GREEN magic is poor at being directly offensive, usually preferring to take more indirect methods of incapacitating a foe. Green damage may sometimes result from situations in which large bodies of water are involved.

Hydrokin are Resistant to GREEN damage, and Pyrokin are Weak to GREEN damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to GREEN damage.

BLUE

BLUE damage is associated with the air: it is usually manifested as a bolt of lightning between the source and the target. While normally caused by BLUE magic, BLUE damage may also result from certain natural phenomena.

Aerokin are Resistant to BLUE damage, and Tomten are Weak to BLUE damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to BLUE damage.

GREY

GREY damage is generally the result of some tumulteous force just beneath the surface of the earth, or as the result of falling rocks underground. The root cause of this is usually a GREY spell or weapon empowerment. It is often accompanied by localised fluctuations in the surface of the earth which knock people off their feet.

Tomten are Resistant to GREY damage, and Aerokin are Weak to GREY damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to GREY damage.

WHITE

White damage is associated with light so bright that it burns the eyes and sears the skin. Its is usually caused by a WHITE spell or weapon empowerment.

High Elves are Resistant to WHITE damage, and Drow are Weak to WHITE damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to WHITE damage.

BLACK

BLACK damage is associated with extreme cold, or temporary unconsciousness. It is generally caused as the result of a BLACK spell or weapon empowerment.

Drow are Resistant to BLACK damage, and High Elves are Weak to BLACK damage. Dwarves are resistant to all magic damage and hence are resistant to BLACK damage.

MAGIC

MAGIC damage is caused by raw, unchanneled magical power, and is not associated with any element. It may be caused by COLOURLESS spells, but more commonly results from malfunctioning or misbehaving ritual circles.

Dwarves are resistant to MAGIC damage.

RANGE

In most cases, damage calls will have a single, clearly defined target (for example, a weapon will hit one person per call, or a spell will be targeted at an individual.) Occasionally, powerful effects or large-scale natural occurances can result in damage calls (or other types of call) affecting an area. There are two differently defined Areas of Effect in Treasure Trap:

MASS

This call affects everyone within three metres of the location where the call was made. As a rough approximation, if you image yourself and the person who made that call holding out swords towards each other at arm's length, you are in range if your two swords would touch. The refs will point out if you should have been within range of a call, but repeated failure to take MASS calls may be viewed as cheating.

WIDE

Affects everyone within 10 meters. For the purposes of interactives, this is considered to target everyone in the room, even if the room is technically greater than 10 metres in one direction.

Example: A mage has lost consciousness mid-ritual, causing the ritual circle to become unstable and vent power in unexpected ways. It belches forth a wave of chaotic power that fills the room and crashes against the walls, calling WIDE MAGIC SINGLE.

SMITE <TARGET>

Affects you only if you are of the class specified by <TARGET>, for example ELEMENTAL, EXTRAPLANAR, or UNDEAD. You will know whether this is the case from your racial briefing, any any other effects on your character. If you have any doubts, please ask a ref. These effects may be fairly powerful but only target the specific type that they target. You are affected by calls which begin with SMITE LIVING unless explicitly briefed otherwise.

Sample call: SMITE LIVING REPEL 30

Status Effects

Some system calls, rather than directly causing physical damage to a character, affect them in other (generally negative) ways. Some of these effects come with a duration, which is given at the end of the call as a number in second. Only certain durations are used: 5, 10, 30, 60, and 300, but the first two are by far the most common.

STASIS N

You must stop moving immediately, for N seconds. You retain the ability to keep a grasp upon any item held in your hand, which may not be removed from you without doing damage to and thus breaking the STASIS. You may talk whilst under STASUS; however you may not cast spells or miracles (which require a somatic component), or use any other non-language skill, with the exception of the priestly ability of "Ultimate Faith". If someone is trying to pour a potion down you, you may open your mouth and drink it if you want, but you don't have to.
If struck by any new effect call or any damage call that is not [DAMAGE TYPE] ZERO, this effect is broken, unless the [DAMAGE TYPE] causes you to take damage (for example, you are vulnerable to that damage type.)

** Examples **
NOTHING : will not break STASIS
MASS NOTHING : will not break STASIS (damage call is still precisely NOTHING)
STRIKEDOWN 10 : will break STASIS (but you are now under the effects of STRIKEDOWN)
STASIS 5 : will break STASIS (though you are now under the new STASIS effect for 5 seconds)
CURE N : will break STASIS (effect call)

STASIS always has a duration in seconds.

REPEL N

You are forced to move as swiftly as possible, directly away from the caller until you are over ten metres away. This represents being literally pushed forcibly away, rather than being caused to flee in terror. You must remain more than ten metres away from the caster until N seconds expire. If you are prevented from doing so by an obstacle, you remain pinned to the obstacle until either the caster moves more than 10m away from you or the duration of the REPEL is over. You may not attack the source of this effect, but you may attack things which are In your way as you flee, or anything else once you are outside the 10m duration.

Repel always has a duration in seconds.

STRIKEDOWN [N]

You are struck to the ground and must fall over immediately (in as safe a fashion as possible), touching at least both knees and one hand to the ground; if it is unreasonable to do this, then you must crouch down (and may not strike or parry) for at least 3 seconds. If a number N is called, then you must remain on the ground for N seconds. If affected by strikedown, you may either crawl or fight but not both simultaneously.

Strikedown may have a duration, or may be an instantaneous effect, in which case you must still fall over but may immediately get up again.

PARALYSE [N]

You are frozen in place and must stop moving immediately, for N seconds. You may not speak, but are aware of everything that happens. This pose is rigid in the fashion of rigor mortis; it is only possible to remove a weapon from the grasp of an individual suffering from a PARALYSE call if the arm holding the weapon is reduced to zero hits or lower. If your mouth was open when the PARALYSE call was uttered, it stays open - opportunistic people might take this opportunity to pour potions down your gullet.

PARALYSE always has a duration given in seconds.

DISARM that item [N]

The item mentioned slips through your grasp and drops to the ground. You must drop (or quickly place on the floor, if dropping it is unsafe) the item in question. If a number is called, you may not pick up the item for N seconds, as it slides from your grasp again. You may pick up other items or draw another weapon. If a shield is held in the hand then it can be disarmed, but a shield strapped to the arm cannot.

DISARM may have a duratione given in seconds, or may be an instantaneous effect, in which case you must still drop the item but may pick it up again as soon as it hits the floor.

FULL DISARM [N]

Everything you are holding slips through your grasp and drops to the ground. You must drop (or quickly place on the floor, if dropping them would be unsafe) everything you are holding. If a number is called, you may not pick up any items or draw any weapon for N seconds, as they slip through your hands. If a shield is held in the hand then it can be disarmed, but a shield strapped to the arm cannot.

FULL DISARM may have a duratione given in seconds, or may be an instantaneous effect, in which case you must still drop the items but may pick them up again as soon as they hit the floor.

BLIND N

This call indicates that your vision has been substantially impaired. You are unable to attack, parry, or cast targetted spells for N seconds while under this effect. You can still see well enough to move around and run. The effect of this call is modified by the Blind Fighting skill, available to Warriors.

BLIND always has a duration given in seconds.

OBEY <command>

You must endeavour to carry out the command given. For PCs, you must try to fulfill this within 5 minutes, and need only fulfill the letter of the command. If you are playing an npc or monster, please carry the command out immediately if possible, as you think the caster intended. Certain NPCs will not be as strongly effected. If you are genuinely OOC confused by the command or if the command directs to your character or npc to injure themselves, you are instead confused for a few seconds and the effect ends. Commands that cause indirect injury (eg. OBEY: Insult that orc!) are fine.

SILENCE N

You may not speak, hum, whisper or otherwise vocally communicate. This prevents the casting of spells or miracles, including Overcasting and Ultimate Faith.

SILENCE always has a duration given in seconds.

THROUGH

This modifier comes at the end of the damage call, indicating that the associated damage bypasses all armour, without damaging it, but causing damage directly to the location beneath. THROUGH damage cannot be dodged.

EXAMPLE: TRIPLE THROUGH

CURSE

You have been struck by a person empowered to deliver a curse onto you. You must find them within 5 minutes to have the effects of the curse explained to you; if you are unable to, then ask a ref. A CURSE will generally affect a character until midnight, but some curses may have different durations.

DROP

Fall to the floor, unconscious; a ref will get back to you about what happens next. This call is generally used when either an effect that there is no system call for has been used on you or one which requires a lot of explaining.

SLAY

You are now dead. Short of divine intervention, this is irrevocable.

Negation Calls

Sometimes, when a blow hits a character or a monster, they have a means of avoiding damage from that blow. If a character or monster has avoided damage in this way, they MUST make one of the following three calls, as appropriate. These calls give some clues as to the origin of the resistance and how long-lasting it is.

DODGE

The character or monster has thrown themself out of harm's way at the last second, avoiding damage by a hair's breadth. They can do this only a finite number of times, and these must be during the first blows landed on them in a fight.

RESIST

The character or monster has some form of protection which wards them from the damage or effect targetted at them. This resistance is finite and may be exhausted by repeated application of the damage or effect.

NO EFFECT

The monster is completely immune to the damage or effect targeted at it. This kind of attack will never be effective, no matter how often you try.

Example: Frederick the warrior is ambushed in an alleyway by a spectre. He swings at it with his sword, calling DOUBLE. The blade passes right through the spectre, causing it no obvious discomfort. The spectre calls NO EFFECT. Frederick is in a lot of trouble.

Non-combat calls

Some system calls are usually only made out of combat, due to the nature of their effects. They may take some time to explain, or pertain to things which generally don't happen in a battle line.

DETECT <Thing>

If you are, or are currently in possession of, 'thing', then reply "Ping!". Only one 'ping' is required, no matter how many 'thing's you have on you. No response is a negative answer. The call is either WIDE or targeted, in which case the it is the responsibility of the one calling DETECT to indicate the proper target.
Examples:
Magic: if you are a mage, your focus will 'ping' to 'DETECT Magic'. If you are an elemental elf, you will 'ping'. If you are a pyrokin mage you still only ping once.
Spirit: Both living and dead mortals 'ping' to 'DETECT Spirit'. This includes elemental elves.
[Race]: respond if you are a member of the race named - both True and Elemental elves respond to "DETECT Elf".
Please note that you are not automatically aware of the result of a detect call someone else makes. If you wish to make a detect call and are concerned that other people's game may be adversely affected by gaining this knowledge IC, please enquire what the result would be from a ref as soon as possible.

RECOGNISE (thing)

If you are, or are currently in possession of / affected by, 'thing', then reply with what sort of 'thing'. No response is a negative answer. If in doubt, get a ref. RECOGNISE is almost always at touch or 6" range. Here's a list of the things currently with a 'recognise' spell or skill, and what to say:
Wounds: reply with your current hit points remaining to each location, and your normal maximum totals; you may omit non-damaged locations. (For instance, if you have a maximum of 6 HP on the torso and head and 3HP on limbs, and have taken a single to the right leg and a double to the head, you would report "two out of three right leg; four out of six head".)
Poison:, Disease: reply with all you know about current poisons and diseases affecting you.
Potion: reply with all you know about current potions affecting you.
Spirit: default is 'Living Mortal', unless you are a dead mortal who has not been laid to rest, in which case it's 'Dead Mortal'; elemental elves should refer to their player guide. If there is a level N effect affecting you (including one that was delivered by a spell), then you must add 'Level N effect'.
Magic: default is not to answer. Mages and elemental elves should refer to their player guides.  When responding to a Rec Magic call targetted at you, your response is a list of all the rec magic responses you give. Therefore, if you are a aerokin warlock carrying an empowered magic weapon you would respond "Aerokin, Warlock Focus, Empowered Magic Weapon", (in any order).
Undead: respond with the stats portion of your monster brief - this is typically type, hits and abilities. "RECOGNISE Undead" reflects a detailed examination by someone with the Undead Lore skill.
[Race]: respond if you are a member of the race named - both True and Elemental elves respond to "DETECT Elf".
Please note that you are not automatically aware of the result of a recognise call someone else makes. If you wish to make a detect call and are concerned that other people's game may be adversely affected by gaining this knowledge IC, please enquire what the result would be from a ref as soon as possible.

LEVEL N EFFECT

Something is affecting your character, and will continue to do so until at least midnight if it is not purged. This may be a blessing, a curse, and alchemical effect, or something stranger. A level N effect may only be removed by a purge of level N or above. If you are under an effect (no matter what the source), this will show up on your soul if you are not an elemental elf.

Example: Joe the Crofterite is given a level 1 Blessing by his local priest for his exemplary support for his community in the last week. Later, while a priest of Aten is performing a routine sweep for demonic posession, he calls RECOGNISE SPIRIT on Joe. Joe answers “Living Mortal, Level 1 Effect.”

PURGE N<thing>

This call removes all effects up to level N stemming from a particular source from the target. This includes beneficial effects as well as negative ones! Three possible purge calls are PURGE SPIRIT, PURGE ALCHEMICAL, and PURGE DISEASE.
Example: Later, Joe the Crofterite is cursed with a level 3 effect by a priestess of Luca. He visits the friendly Servant of Aten, who casts a brief miracle and calls PURGE SPIRITUAL 4 for good measure. The curse is gone, but so is Joe's level 1 blessing.

Gestures

Some things in system are indicated by gestures, rather than calls out loud.

INVISIBLE

This is represented as a clenched fist placed on the head. This may represent a character or monster being invisible, or simply some OC passing through the IC area.

FADE N

Clench and unclench your fist above your N seconds. This represents something fading into or out of visibility. In general, it will be possible to attack and otherwise interact with something as it FADEs.

LANGUAGE

Raise one finger in the air when talking to someone in a language which isn't COMMON. You should also endeavour to say the name of the language you are speaking at regular intervals, at least at the start and end everything you say.

eg. "QUENYAR - lovely day we're having, isn't it? - QUENYAR"