[00:00:02] Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome to the first Zoom call of 2025 wherein we shall discuss and go over, um, the combat rule update, the healing rule update, and the artifact update. Um, so what I’m going to do is I’m just going to, uh, go ahead and, um, share each document with you. I should have muted you all, which I shall do now.

[00:00:25] Speaker 1: So, you worry about you and what you’re doing, and you’re making good hits. Uh, let other people discover when they have suddenly been hit ten times in the same place. One thing that is not fun and that we try to keep out of the Hynafol experience is constantly calling out other people – “Hey, I got you.” “No, you didn’t.” It sounds like an argument between five-year-olds. I have children and they used to do this all the time. It’s not fun or cool when grown people do it on a LARP battlefield. So, the big idea here is be in control of your swings, make sure that the things you do are intentional, make sure that you use appropriate force always when you’re fighting.

[00:00:45] Speaker 1: And worry about the hits that you do, not what your opponent takes. We have stewards on the battlefield that will be around, and we try to watch for people who deliberately don’t take their hits, but it is hard. So your best bet is to continue to play defense and attack people, and if somebody is egregiously not taking their hits, we will notice eventually. So that’s basically what this note says here: we want to make sure that you maintain your weapon control at all times. Every player should maintain full control of their weapon at all times, avoiding wild or flailing movements. That means the player can stop or adjust the force mid-swing if necessary, demonstrating restraint. It might be fun to role-play a full arm swing, but you should never come down with a full arm swing. We’re not aiming to be Conan the Barbarian here; we’re aiming to play a beautiful game. So feel free to role-play it out, but do not hit people with full striking.

[00:01:40] Speaker 1: Uh, I think I went the wrong way. OK. Um, Adam, anything here? Keep going. You good?

[00:01:45] Speaker 1: Right, you good? You gotta unmute yourself.

[00:01:47] Speaker 2: Nope.

[00:01:50] Speaker 2: Ha ha. There we go, thanks. Yeah, it wouldn’t let me unmute. Thanks. Uh, yeah, basically I just want to echo that everything Jordan said is key. Let’s make one clear point: your opponent chooses the hits they take – it’s an honor game. There’s no way to enforce it, so as annoying as it may be if someone isn’t taking hits, we will catch it eventually. You just gotta let it happen, and the best thing is, somebody who’s not taking their hits, they’re not playing the game. Just move on and fight somebody else.

[00:03:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody’s asking about catching arrows. You can’t use your hands on somebody else’s weapons, shield, armor, arrows. It’s not that kind of game. So that answers that pretty simple.

[00:03:10] Speaker 2: Uh, can you wear sunglasses during the event? Taylor, Jordan, what do you guys say?

[00:03:15] Speaker 3: If they’re medically necessary.

[00:03:18] Speaker 1: You know, somebody busting out a pair of Oakleys because they think it looks cool is definitely not medieval and strays away from our decorum standards. That would be the answer. We have had people in the past that medically needed them, and that’s fine. Anything medically necessary – we want you to come, be comfortable and be OK. I just don’t like bright sunshine.

[00:03:40] Speaker 1: That’s your call. We’re trying to create a particular atmosphere. So, just like everything else, we say it’s not required, but it’s always nice if you try and make it as decorum as possible.

[00:04:00] Speaker 4: Um, can you block arrows with hand weapons?

[00:04:02] Speaker 1: It’s an interesting one. In general, it isn’t the safest thing to block an arrow with a hand weapon because you can deflect it off and have it spin around, and that’s where real damage can come. So I would absolutely say you should not do that. Is it currently in the rule book? I don’t believe it is. So that’s something we can amend and change. But in general, actively blocking with a weapon is not good; actively blocking with a shield is fine.

[00:04:20] Speaker 1: So don’t swat at arrows; that’s a change we have to add.

[00:04:24] Speaker 4: OK.

[00:04:25] Speaker 4: Mhm.

[00:04:26] Speaker 1: Cool. All right, moving on then. All right, so here are the legal target areas… (continues explaining combat rules)

[00:05:20] Speaker 4: (Unmuting) Uh, I did have a question about the halberd. I actually have that halberd you’re speaking of, and I have thrust with the axe head and hit people with the axe head, but I could also see how that’s kind of like, well, you’re really close to thrusting with the point that’s not thrust-safe. So is that just like a no-go period for thrusting for that weapon in general, just for safety?

[00:05:36] Speaker 2: So, yeah, I can answer this. If Epic have told us “Hey, don’t thrust with that weapon,” we have to abide by their rules. That’s how we’ve done it, yeah.

[00:05:46] Speaker 4: I can work around that. That’s not a problem, thank you.

[00:05:49] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[00:05:50] Speaker 1: Mike, (next question)…

[00:05:52] Speaker 5: Um, what about flurry hits?

[00:05:55] Speaker 5: Do they have to be individual pulled-back hits, or…?

[00:05:57] Speaker 1: So, this is one of the coolest things about the system, right? The player is gonna choose what they take. If you go up to somebody and you flurry them and in their mind they’ve only counted two hits because the speed you’re hitting them is just so fast, then they’re gonna count it as two hits. So, you know, your goal is to make sure you’re getting some deliberate hits in that they can clearly see, right? If I vibrate my weapon on someone like ten hits and they’re like, “That felt like one,” they’re gonna, you know, they’re gonna read it as one.

[00:06:30] Speaker 1: We’re not gonna mitigate and say, “Oh, a blow has to take over half a second or have a 90-degree arc” – we’re not doing that. You choose what you take. So we’re not adjudicating that. It’s up to the receiver to take the hit they’re gonna take.

[00:06:40] Speaker 5: All right.

[00:06:41] Speaker 6: (Unmuting) Hi, I have an interest in making homemade weapons. I wanted to ask if the process is completely documented – shows the materials, shows everything used, photos of the entire process – and I’ll even provide a weapon that you could cut into that would be a similar build.

[00:06:55] Speaker 6: Uh, could that be allowed and inspected and potentially approved?

[00:06:58] Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean… make it really simple. We have a weapons check process. The weapons checkers like 100% know how the weapons are done. Oh, you may not know – I’m one of the people that invented latex weapons in the ’90s. My company’s actually older than Calimacil’s. So in fact, me and Brandon were doing this recently, right here – we have examples I cut through… (video demonstration inaudible)

[00:07:30] Speaker 2: …We’ve been pulling weapons apart and teaching all of the weapons checkers and creating documentation, showing how they’re made, what makes them safe, where real damage is. We’ve even been teaching how to weapons-check without damaging weapons because some weapons checkers are a bit too, um, overly… zealous. All I’ll say is this: if the weapon is safe and the weapons checker feels safe, it’ll pass. If there’s any concern and it’s a homemade weapon, it’s unlikely to.

[00:07:58] Speaker 6: Can I ask you one more question?

[00:08:00] Speaker 2: Sure.

[00:08:01] Speaker 6: Could I contact you later on for potential materials and recommendations to make weapons more safe?

[00:08:05] Speaker 2: No, no – only because I don’t have them anymore. I can tell you that Epic Armory sells them.

[00:08:11] Speaker 6: Ah, OK, cool. Thank you.

[00:08:13] Speaker 2: Yeah, just on that note, we cannot and will not instruct how to make weapons. Not now, not ever. That is our official policy.

[00:08:21] Speaker 1: Anna, you are next.

[00:08:23] Speaker 7: Uh, can you hear me?

[00:08:25] Speaker 7: OK, I’m gonna turn my camera on real quick because I actually have a very specific question… yes, allow using the site, stupid thing… OK, sorry for the mess, but my main thing is about this little guy (showing an item), which I do not plan on using in actual combat, but mostly for, uh, use out of combat – which I do not need to get into now, but will probably get into later at night. But would this be a thrust – would this be something that I… I know that it is a LARP weapon. It is safe, I’m pretty sure, but would this be a thrusty – a pokey or thrusty?

[00:08:59] Speaker 2: It’s a great question. So currently that doesn’t count as a weapon in the game because it doesn’t have a core. With no core there’s no stability. So if somebody… like, if you think about the way that’s designed, it goes in a fist – basically it’s a piece of foam stopping somebody punching somebody in the face, which is what that really comes down to, um, the design. Having said that, if you and another player are playing a game and you’ve consented and there’s a, you know, a role-play threat element where you’re not really gonna stab anybody, then that’s…

[00:09:30] Speaker 2: …It’s more of a role-play tool than a fighting tool.

[00:09:33] Speaker 7: OK, I just wanted to know if I should even bother taking that to weapons check, ’cause this was one of those things where I was like, it’s not a weapon, it’s a cool prop, and anyone in their right mind at Hynafol should absolutely role-play it accordingly off the battlefield.

[00:09:48] Speaker 1: Speaker 1: OK, thank you. I just wanted to ask.

[00:09:50] Speaker 2: No problem.

[00:09:52] Speaker 1: All right. (After a brief pause) Um, so battlefield limits… should we pause here and do questions? If you have questions at this part, anybody, you can do that.

[00:10:00] Speaker 1: (scanning participants) If you have a question, feel free to raise your hand. Um… there it is, Brandon.

[00:10:05] Speaker 9: Hey, I’m sorry, I’m trying to read the document and I don’t see it, but I wanted to address it with Adam. Uh, Adam, you and I did it… yesterday – no, Monday – we talked about the, oh…

[00:10:15] Speaker 4: (Unmuting) Oh hello. Can I… can you hear me?

[00:10:17] Speaker 1: We can hear you.

[00:10:18] Speaker 4: Sorry, the app still said I was muted. Um, were we limiting or checking people’s, like, uh… we call them fletchings – the back of the arrows – like if they have less than three or zero, they definitely can’t use those, correct? Like, do we have a rule on that?

[00:10:32] Speaker 2: So currently, um, we haven’t added it yet. Jordan, this actually raises an interesting point. Brandon was saying – how many missing fletchings would we allow on an arrow or crossbow bolt? I was saying my default is none missing, but he said some people have one missing and it’s OK because the weight of the arrow is on the head. And actually, uh, Ben, I would default to you on this – you’re actually more of an archer than I am.

[00:10:58] Speaker 7: Actually, let’s just do the same thing, Adam. Let’s just ask the manufacturer for recommended use and go with that.

[00:11:02] Speaker 2: Sure.

[00:11:03] Speaker 4: Sure, sounds cool. Yeah, sounds great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just didn’t want to pass anybody, especially this weekend, with no fletchings or just one fletching or so on and so forth.

[00:11:09] Speaker 1: Perfect, we’ll make sure that gets updated. Great question, Brandon.

[00:11:12] Speaker 1: Uh, Chris Olsen.

[00:11:14] Speaker 6: Hey, so, um, I know a few Golden Blades have the small hand crossbows from Mytholon. I think we have four of them in our ranks. But I know the draw, I think, is about like 30 pounds, so it’s over the new recommended, like, 10-inch draw for crossbows. I just wanted to ask if those would still be considered legal.

[00:11:33] Speaker 2: So the crossbow rules I got sent from, um, two different crossbow manufacturers said that this is the correct pull to be equivalent of the bows that we use.

[00:11:42] Speaker 2: Um, myself, I am not an expert crossbow maker, so I would want to run that by somebody else. Along the same lines as Jordan – if you can take a picture of you doing the official pull and show us what the measurement is, I’ll send that to one of the weapon manufacturers and get feedback.

[00:11:57] Speaker 6: Awesome. We have, uh, I think two or three of them that are gonna be here this weekend, so we’ll be able to do it then too.

[00:12:03] Speaker 2: That’d be great.

[00:12:04] Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks – and thanks. We don’t own every weapon, so there are some things like that… it’s a good example.

[00:12:10] Speaker 1: Of course.

[00:12:11] Speaker 6: Awesome. Thank you guys.

[00:12:12] Speaker 1: Thanks.

[00:12:13] Speaker 1: All right, you found us.

[00:12:15] Speaker 7: Testing 1-2-3, can you hear me? Hello?

[00:12:18] Speaker 1: Yeah.

[00:12:19] Speaker 7: Uh, OK, so, uh, before, when you’re doing line archery, you’re obviously closer than ten feet. We used to half-draw for that. So that is now gone – you cannot half-draw at all, at all. I, in general, I wouldn’t shoot somebody within ten feet. Arrow injuries are still the main thing on the battlefield. Um, step backwards.

[00:12:40] Speaker 1: OK. All right. So, but like—

[00:12:42] Speaker 8: Can I full-draw at ten feet, or do I still half-draw? I would still half-draw, right?

[00:12:45] Speaker 2: Your goal is not to kill your opponent.

[00:12:47] Speaker 8: Right, right, OK, I’m just double-checking.

[00:12:49] Speaker 2: I would not shoot at all within ten feet – it’s against the rules. So yes, you cannot shoot within ten feet.

[00:12:54] Speaker 8: OK, but also like, just in general, in safety – like, just dumb.

[00:12:57] Speaker 1: OK.

[00:12:58] Speaker 1: OK, Philip.

[00:13:00] Speaker 11: Hey, yeah, uh, can you hear me? Am I coming through? Cool. Uh, so I’m bouncing off that comment about the hand crossbows. I personally have one, and we’re talking about the Golden Blades – we have a whole bunch of them. Uh, we’re going to be doing, or at least Anton is going to try to bring, uh, a draw for the bow to measure the draw poundage. Like it was previously stated, the website – at least from the sellers – they sell it and market it as 30 pounds, and the draw length is 11 inches.

[00:13:30] Speaker 11: So is there someone that I can send that information to when we find it out, or how should we go from there?

[00:13:35] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, send us the link, send us all the information, and then let’s have a look at it.

[00:13:40] Speaker 11: Sure, all righty. I just wanted to touch base.

[00:13:42] Speaker 2: Yeah, perfect, no, thank you – appreciate it. Hand crossbows are the thing that we have the least experience on, so yeah.

[00:13:48] Speaker 2: (Laughing) I love hand crossbows too, so yeah.

[00:13:50] Speaker 1: All right. Uh, sorry if I butcher your name – Reynos?

[00:13:55] Speaker 4: (joking aside) He muted it when he said it specifically so you don’t know. Oh my goodness.

[00:13:58] Speaker 14: (technical difficulties) I don’t know what’s happening. I’m hitting unmute and then… sorry, dude.

[00:14:01] Speaker 14: Can you hear me?

[00:14:03] Speaker 1: Yes.

[00:14:04] Speaker 14: OK, mine’s insanely stupid.

[00:14:06] Speaker 1: I doubt it – go ahead.

[00:14:08] Speaker 14: I can’t find a weapon I want to buy beforehand. I’ve never done anything like this. I know the weapons training is mandatory, but I was planning on buying one from a vendor while I was there. Is that OK?

[00:14:20] Speaker 1: Yes – easy peasy.

[00:14:22] Speaker 14: Is there like a weapons training session where here’s your default, and then I can go find something that works for me later?

[00:14:28] Speaker 2: If you come to the training, there will be extras you can borrow for the training. That’s not a problem. Now I can’t say I’ll have extras of every single type of sword under the sky, but we will have extras you can try. And then we will have a weapons vendor on site that— (overlapping dialogue)

[00:14:42] Speaker 14: I’ve got five years of fencing and two years of saber. I just need to find something that’s one-handed.

[00:14:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, not a problem. There will be one-handed weapons available for training, not a problem.

[00:14:50] Speaker 14: Yeah.

[00:14:51] Speaker 14: Cool.

[00:14:52] Speaker 1: All righty.

[00:14:53] Speaker 4: Um—

[00:14:54] Speaker 1: Um—

[00:14:55] Speaker 1: OK, back to the document. Um, so where are we at… we’re getting close. So weapon carrying capacity and max length… there’s lots of information here. You have to know how long is your weapon, and then how that dictates how you can use it.

[00:15:10] Speaker 1: OK. Um, so some things that, uh, get complicated in this. So first, all players are entitled to carry one shield. You can have one shield, you can strap it onto yourself however you wish. A weapon up to 44 inches in length is a single-handed weapon. Uh, weapons 45 inches or larger must be wielded with two hands, right? So you can’t use a big, huge, long greatsword and swing it with one hand. And then, um, there’s maximum length for a weapon that can both swing or thrust – it is 7 ft or 84 inches. And then a weapon up to 9 ft or 108 inches in length is only used for thrusting attacks – you can no longer, uh, you know, chop with it.

[00:15:50] Speaker 1: And then, um, a player may only wield a single item in one hand at a time. For example, you may not carry a sword and a dagger in the same hand, or a two-handed weapon and a dagger in the same hand. And a shield that is slung over a shoulder or strapped to an arm does not count as being held in a hand, and therefore may be used in addition to a two-handed weapon or two single-handed weapons. Um, looks like we got lots of questions on this, so let’s hop over there.

[00:16:15] Speaker 1: Brandon, what you got?

[00:16:17] Speaker 9: Yeah, so this one is one of the first ones I noticed – you’ve got a maximum length of 44 on the one-hand and a minimum of 45 on the two-hand. So you’re leaving anywhere between 44 and 45 open to speculation. Uh, can we just say 44.5 is two-handed, or are we saying 44.5 is one-handed?

[00:16:35] Speaker 1: Let’s go with that. Makes it easier. Everything above 44 is gonna be two-handed at that point. Makes it easy. It’s done.

[00:16:41] Speaker 9: Yeah, that was most of the questions. That was most of the questions, that’s good. I got lots of questions, but it can be answered in one statement – it was good.

[00:16:47] Speaker 1: All right, Kenton.

[00:16:49] Speaker 15: Hey y’all, sorry to belabor the Fake Steel point, but I believe in the second paragraph of their email, they had said that their polearms were thrust-safe. I may have read that wrong, but I wanted to confirm and ask if their polearms would be OK to use.

[00:17:02] Speaker 1: That is what it says, and that would be OK. That is what they’re designed for.

[00:17:06] Speaker 15: OK, thank you so much.

[00:17:08] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:17:09] Speaker 1: Sweet.

[00:17:10] Speaker 1: Um, someone said, “What’s the maximum size for a shield?” Please, please don’t do that. Just don’t—don’t make that a thing. There isn’t a max size, and the larger it gets, the more unwieldy it gets. We’ve had people bring extra, extra, extra-large shields. They become impossible to use and move around. It is not as good as you think it is, but hey… but also, please “do you,” boo. Um, Adam and I disagree on this, and I think it’s funny.

[00:17:40] Speaker 1: OK, uh, timing of attacks. So an attack in motion is not prevented by a blow from your opponent. This may allow for simultaneous strikes from each player counting against one another. Now, a really important part: we do have some prohibited actions in combat. So number one, there’s no weapon grabbing – you may not grab, hold, or block another player’s weapon with your hands or any other part of your body. Weapons are to be engaged only through strikes, blocks, or parries using your own weapon or shield. So, as Adam said earlier, no grabbing things.

[00:18:15] Speaker 1: No body-to-body contact, OK? So direct physical contact between players – such as grappling, pushing, or any other form of body-to-body contact – is not allowed. Combat interactions must be conducted using only weapons and shields, ensuring each player maintains a safe distance. No shield-to-body contact – so you cannot shield-bash people. Shields must be used strictly for defense against weapons. Using a shield to make contact with another player’s body – shoving or bashing – is not permitted.

[00:18:45] Speaker 1: And then no shield-to-shield contact. Shields must be used strictly for defense against weapons; using a shield to make contact with another player’s shield – for example, shoving or bashing – is not permitted. We see this often in shield walls when they press together and start leaning into each other and pushing one way or another, and that is just a proxy for you and your body toppling onto another person. So we do not allow that. In general, at Hynafol, your body should not be touching anybody else’s body without their consent. So on the battlefield that applies. Make sure that you do not break any of these rules. We do take them pretty seriously.

[00:19:20] Speaker 1: Mike, question?

[00:19:22] Speaker 5: Yeah, what about trapping a weapon with a shield up against something like a tree or a doorway?

[00:19:27] Speaker 2: Don’t do it. You’re trapping somebody’s potentially $700 sword. Don’t do it.

[00:19:30] Speaker 2: You break it, it’s not cool – don’t do it.

[00:19:33] Speaker 5: Can that be put in there, that you’re not supposed to be doing that?

[00:19:36] Speaker 2: I think it does say something very similar to that… it says something very similar to that, but there are gonna be people that argue that, you know, “you trap it up against a tree, I’ve got a two-handed weapon, you trap it.” I think it says “don’t”—I think it says “don’t trap it.” I don’t know if we need to specify “against a tree,” but we can have a look. I’m open to it. Let’s have a look and see if that works, because that has happened.

[00:19:58] Speaker 5: Yeah, I’ve had that happen to me, and then it’s like I can’t pull the weapon back because it’s—

[00:20:02] Speaker 1: OK. We’ll review that and make sure that that’s clarified. Thanks, Mike. Good point.

[00:20:06] Speaker 5: Thank you.

[00:20:07] Speaker 1: All righty.

[00:20:08] Speaker 1: And then we have our trusted brands list – it does not guarantee that a weapon from these brands will pass. All weapons are a case-by-case basis, but these are the ones that we know are the safest and have the highest quality standards for manufacturing.

[00:20:22] Speaker 1: And then all weapons – all melee and ranged weapons – are checked, including arrows, bolts, etc. They must all undergo a safety inspection before each event. We put tags on each of your items, and then, you know, some kind of marker to make sure that it is easily recognizable. For each event, you must come and bring your thing for each event. At the Grand Gathering, we do not check before each and every battle. We inspect at the beginning of the week. We expect you to use your own agency and responsibility for the items that you use on the battlefield. So make sure that you continue to examine them every single time before you use them to make sure that they are safe.

[00:20:58] Speaker 1: And then we get into hit points and armor. Adam, do you wanna take this part, ’cause you wrote this bad boy?

[00:21:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. To keep it really simple – it’s funny, when we described this, everyone was like, “Yeah, that’s already how I knew it worked,” but we didn’t have the official wording. So basically what happens is you’ve got heavy armor, medium armor, light armor, and then your body. When you get hit on a location, that location deteriorates until you just have your body left, and then the body’s gone.

[00:21:25] Speaker 2: The complication, in case anyone wants to think this through, is when you layer armor. If I put plate mail over chain mail, what happens? So if plate mail’s heavy armor – giving me three extra hits on top of my body for a total of four hits – and chain mail is medium, giving me two extra hits on top of my body, what happens? Like, how many hits do I have? And the reality is you do not get extra armor for layering, right? So if I’ve got chain under plate, there’s no real benefit – with the exception of maybe it gives me a bit more fluidity in the area where it is. But the strike on the armor on the location is what’s hit. So if somebody is skillful enough to hit that piece of chain that is in your armpit, then they’re hitting you and they only need three hits instead of four to take out that location.

[00:22:09] Speaker 2: In the wording it talks about “cascading hits,” which is basically just a way of explaining something that I think most of us get intuitively – which is if I’m hitting the plate mail above, I am damaging the chain mail below. And that’s an easy way of thinking about it, but it explains it in full, and that’s kind of how that works. So pretty simple. My favorite bit is actually what I’m about to share in the chat – one of my favorite armor manufacturers is from the UK, called Wormwick Armouries. If you guys don’t know Wormwick, they make movie—

[00:22:40] Speaker 1: Sorry to pause you, can you talk about the incapacitated arms – single-arm fighting – this section here, before you move on?

[00:22:45] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And then what happens when you have a disabled limb and how the hit points transfer – absolutely.

[00:22:50] Speaker 2: So, you’ve got six locations: you’ve got head, body, left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg for people that don’t know. And once a limb is disabled – if it’s an arm – you drop what it’s carrying. That’s very important. I’ve seen some ninjas who have their arms cut off and they throw their sword in the air and catch it with the other hand. You know, that’s not what happens when your arm comes off. So you drop the weapon and then you can pick it back up again with the other hand. If you’ve lost an arm, you can no longer use a two-handed weapon. That’s an important point, because a two-handed weapon requires two hands.

[00:23:25] Speaker 2: If you – well, if you’re holding a two-handed weapon, any further strikes to that two-handed weapon, if it is in the dead arm, are gonna count on the torso.

[00:23:33] Speaker 2: This is super important to understand: if you lose an arm, if you continue to carry something in that arm – you can’t use it – and further strikes to that dead limb or anything you’re continuing to carry in that arm (which you shouldn’t be carrying anything) are blows to the torso. The idea being if your arm has been hacked off, you don’t suddenly have a, you know, a floppy shield that’s now covering your body. That really affects leg hits. If you lose one leg, you drop to a butt-cheek or a knee, right? Because one leg’s gone. With one leg still available, you can still pivot in place, but you are stuck in that position. With the second leg gone, you lose the ability to pivot and you’re stuck in one direction. Further hits to a disabled limb do count as blows to the torso.

[00:24:20] Speaker 2: There is absolutely a route to take somebody down by hacking off their limbs and then hitting their torso. Your dead limbs are not protection. And the – yeah, the really big one is that if I’m holding a two-handed weapon in one hand, it is not a new shield. It is now counting as part of my limb, because I can’t fight with it; it counts as equipment being held. So if I’ve got a spear and you take off one of my arms and I continue to hold the spear in my good arm, blows against that spear count as blows against the good arm.

[00:24:50] Speaker 2: I think that just about covers that piece. Questions on this part? Because it is new.

[00:24:55] Speaker 1: Mike?

[00:24:56] Speaker 5: OK. Um, two questions. First – you cannot “post” a leg, correct?

[00:25:00] Speaker 2: Define “post.”

[00:25:02] Speaker 5: That is when someone gets hit on the leg – the leg is dead – and instead of going to a knee, in some games you can just straighten the leg, right?

[00:25:09] Speaker 2: Yes – you go down. You go down.

[00:25:11] Speaker 2: But – this is key here, right? This is absolutely key, providing it’s safe to do so.

[00:25:16] Speaker 2: Everything is predicated on it being safe to do so. I just want to be clear: there are definitely scenarios, right? If it’s unsafe to go down on that leg, you cannot go down there. And that’s something that, again – this gets situational, where you’re gonna have to look at the scenario. And I’ll tell you what I would do – I would kill myself. I’d be like, “OK, I’m dead.” If I’m looking at the terrain below me and I’m like, “I can’t go down here,” I’ll just be like, “I’m dead, I’m good, I’ll go and respawn.”

[00:25:45] Speaker 5: OK. The second one is – you’ve got a spear and you’re thrusting it. In the act of thrusting it, you lose your arm. You want to pull back the spear so it is no longer a hazard on the battlefield.

[00:25:55] Speaker 2: Mhm.

[00:25:56] Speaker 5: Does it count then – if you’re holding on to the spear because you’re getting it out – it’s like, you go and—

[00:26:00] Speaker 2: So this is— I can help you. Remember: you take your hits. If I’m pulling my spear out of the way for a safety reason and somebody’s whacking it over and over and I’m like getting it out of the way, this is where, you know, you have to make that choice. Are you like, “OK, I’ve only got one arm, I’m useless anyway – I’m dead,” or are you gonna say, “Well, they’re only hacking my spear and I was just getting it out of the way, that isn’t fair – I’m gonna stay alive.” You do get to make that call.

[00:26:24] Speaker 2: But at that point, that’s when you have to start questioning – it’s an honor game. You’re a spearman, you’ve lost an arm, you’re effectively dead. It’s a good time to respawn – get, you know, get your arm back.

[00:26:37] Speaker 5: Yeah, that’s why I carry— that’s why I carry a sword and charge in with one arm.

[00:26:41] Speaker 2: Sure, I get you. But again, that’s the piece that you’re gonna decide as a player. Just – it’s a fun game, right? Our goal is to have fun and don’t cheat.

[00:26:49] Speaker 9: Brandon?

[00:26:51] Speaker 9: Yeah, so this case came up at one of the practices this weekend. If somebody’s got a shield strapped to, like, their left arm, and they lose the right arm and pick the weapon up with their left, the shield is still a viable and good hit point, correct? Like it’s not a… it’s just indestructible – nothing changes. They can wield the shield and the weapon as long as one is strapped to the arm.

[00:27:11] Speaker 2: Everyone’s allowed one indestructible shield.

[00:27:13] Speaker 9: Cool – but the shield’s indestructible, not the arm underneath it.

[00:27:16] Speaker 2: No, no, no, for sure. But it’s strapped to the arm is the important part. They can’t carry their shield and their weapon at the same time.

[00:27:22] Speaker 1: Right. Now if the arm is destroyed and the shield’s attached to that arm, the shield’s gone – they gotta drop it.

[00:27:27] Speaker 9: Cool.

[00:27:28] Speaker 1: Um, OK, and then… oh, Logan’s got a question. Go for it, Logan.

[00:27:33] Speaker 12: Um, so what about in the case of if the shield is strapped to your arm, the arm dies and you can’t drop the shield? Is that just a viable hit point for your torso now?

[00:27:42] Speaker 1: Uh, I mean, yeah – technically it is a viable hit point for the torso. And again… but, like, in that situation, I’d back out – back out, get out of the way and fix it.

[00:27:52] Speaker 12: OK.

[00:27:53] Speaker 2: So, um, while I’m on armor, I do want to mention something. Wormwick Armor – I mentioned this before – they make armor for movies. The stuff looks really good. It’s a polycarbonate, it’s a type of plastic, but it’s not like a… it’s not like toy armor; it looks really, really good. It is approved as medium armor – it would count as sort of like a medium-level armor. The reason I’m saying this is I just put it in the chat. They have a 25% discount right now on in-stock items, and they usually ship rapidly.

[00:28:23] Speaker 2: Every time I’ve ordered from them, I’ve managed to get stuff well in time.

[00:28:27] Speaker 2: (reading chat) Uh, Matt says, “I thought plastic armor was voted down.”

[00:28:30] Speaker 2: So first of all, it was voted to not be heavy armor, which was the discussion. However, Wormwick stuff looks beautiful – I mean, it looks like actual metal. It’s lightweight; we’re fighting in Texas, so it counts as medium. It’s the equivalent of chain or hardened leather, right? So it’s not like it’s counting as plate mail even though it looks like plate mail. But you can buy an entire chestplate and shoulders for less than 400 bucks right now. It’s cheap and it’s good and it looks beautiful. So I put the link in the chat for the discount – it’s not an affiliate link or anything, it’s just a thing in case people wanna get cheap, good armor. It counts as medium, though – not heavy – so just remember that.

[00:29:12] Speaker 9: Cool.

[00:29:13] Speaker 1: Matt, you got a question?

[00:29:15] Speaker 16: Uh, yeah, not about the armor thing, but about the, um, the rules before with, like, hitting a disabled limb.

[00:29:21] Speaker 1: Yeah?

[00:29:22] Speaker 16: Is it just going to be considered, like, bad taste – you shouldn’t count it – if people were purposefully attacking a dead limb to try to get torso hits?

[00:29:30] Speaker 2: No, no. If they’re doing it, they’re doing it on purpose – that is the goal. If you’ve got a dead limb and they’re striking it, they’re striking your torso.

[00:29:37] Speaker 16: OK.

[00:29:38] Speaker 2: And just to be clear, that’s to prevent what we’ve seen a few times now – the flappy limb of indestructibleness.

[00:29:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, dead limb blocking was a thing, and not anymore.

[00:29:48] Speaker 16: Cool.

[00:29:49] Speaker 16: OK, cool.

[00:29:50] Speaker 1: Um, so we’ve got descriptions of the different kinds of armor and the amount of additional hit points it gives you. You can read through this. Oh, somebody mentioned, um, leather shoes – this comes up every so often. For the armor to count on the foot, it does say this in the book: it has to be on top of whatever shoes you’re wearing. So having steel-toed boots does not count as having plate on your feet. You would have to have plate above those, just so everybody knows. The armor has to be above the shoe.

[00:30:20] Speaker 1: Cool. Great.

[00:30:22] Speaker 1: Um, and then this is how armor damage works. Adam, anything you want to… this is pretty complicated.

[00:30:28] Speaker 2: I explained it earlier – that’s the mathematical explanation for what we all understand.

[00:30:32] Speaker 1: And so there’s some good cases here, so you can check those out on your own. They’ll probably answer most of your questions regarding that. And then this just references healing rules. Uh, Tom, got a question?

[00:30:43] Speaker 17: (Audio issue) Oh, there you go.

[00:30:45] Speaker 17: Mhm. Uh, so does plastic lamellar count as two also now, since lamellar armor counts as armor?

[00:30:52] Speaker 2: The actual official – you should read the official book. It specifically states plastic that looks like plastic doesn’t. In order for it to count, it’s gotta be aesthetically pleasing. Like, when you look at a suit of Wormwick armor on a screen, no one thinks, “Oh, that’s plastic armor,” right? But I have absolutely seen people try and spray-paint American football shoulder pads and claim that it’s armor – that isn’t gonna pass. But there’s a company that sells plastic lamellar that looks pretty realistic. So that’s gonna be the factor – the factor is gonna be: does it look real and does it look metal, or has somebody attempted to paint it chrome, you know what I mean? That’s gonna be a factor. If someone’s wearing black plastic plates that look like black plastic plates, that’s not gonna pass.

[00:31:30] Speaker 2: That makes sense, Tom?

[00:31:32] Speaker 17: (muted)

[00:31:33] Speaker 1: Oh, he muted himself.

[00:31:35] Speaker 1: Raise your hand if you’ve got another question – happy to answer.

[00:31:38] Speaker 1: All right. And then, um, there’s some Frequently Asked Questions here, but it has already been an hour and a half, and we have at least two more quick documents to get through. So I want to make sure we get on over to them. So you guys can read through those.

[00:31:53] Speaker 1: So, uh, yeah… OK, Brandon – last question on this.

[00:31:57] Speaker 9: Yep – it’s technically one that wasn’t addressed. I mean, Adam had spoken about it previously. Uh, what is the official rules for dragging? Are we removing dragging from the game, or are we—

[00:32:06] Speaker 1: Are we going to get to that? All right, cool, then I’ll shut up.

[00:32:09] Speaker 1: OK, so we did release, um, some healing rules today, but I’ve made some changes based on feedback and things that we missed. So instead of a fancy document, you get to look at my notes here in my handy-dandy notebook. (laughter)

[00:32:22] Speaker 1: (Laughing) That’s a Blue’s Clues reference if you’re sleepy… and/or don’t have children.

[00:32:27] Speaker 1: So, healing rules at Hynafol: there are two scenarios in which denizens require healing – on the battlefield and in and around the village.

[00:32:35] Speaker 1: OK, so first: on the battlefield, when a character loses all of their hit points to body or head, they’re considered dead. When your character falls in battle, you stay where you fell and await healing. So you go down on one knee as described previously. As a player, you may choose to either wait for healing from a Priest or High Priest, or turn your weapon upside-down, signaling that you are dead and walk to a respawn point. If you decide to stay where you are, then you… so you enter the two-minute rule. As a player, you may choose to either wait for healing from a Cleric, Priest, or High Priest. If you are not healed within two minutes, your spirit leaves your body. And you may also choose to become a spirit at any point before the two minutes are up.

[00:33:17] Speaker 1: In order to receive healing, if there are no Priests or High Priests nearby, a character can be moved by role-playing with another player, moving to a healing shrine – so this is, you know, off the battlefield. This can be done in whatever way is agreeable to both players – hand on shoulder, walking with a limp, etc. The key is that it should be role-played that you cannot move on your own, so you don’t need to pick anybody up, you don’t need to carry anybody – just make it look as cool as you possibly can. After that, it is your role-play to do how you want.

[00:33:50] Speaker 1: And then again, you must turn your weapon upside-down to indicate that you are a spirit. Spirits may not be healed by any method other than touching a spawn point. So once you get up and walk – and you’re not role-playing being dragged or moved so you can get to a healer – then you have to go to the respawn point. You cannot—

[00:34:10] Speaker 1: You cannot receive healing if you happen to pass by a Priest or High Priest at that point, OK? And then again, if your character does die in an unsafe area or active combat zone, you are free to move to the nearest safe spot and then begin your count from there, right? So, for instance, last year the first battle at the Grand Gathering was at the front gate. If you go down in a tight area like that, we want you to move somewhere and be safe before you do that, and then—

[00:34:36] Speaker 1: —there are no consequences to characters that die on the battlefield.

[00:34:39] Speaker 20: (“Bear Claws” raising hand)

[00:34:40] Speaker 1: Bear Claws got a question.

[00:34:42] Speaker 20: So this is a bit more of a meta-gaming question with the bleed-out rule, with the strategy of, like, when you’re doing contested points where you just want to leg somebody and leave them there so you can keep on fighting. Are you saying that at any point in the game somebody who has – like, in any condition – can just say, “All right, I’m dead, I’m gonna go respawn”?

[00:35:04] Speaker 1: Um, yeah – I mean, that’s… yes.

[00:35:07] Speaker 20: OK, OK, OK. I don’t disagree with that ruling. I just had seen confusion before where people are like, “No, I legged you – they can stay there, they have to wait for their bleed-out counter.” In my Airsoft background, that’s like a really big strategy – if you can eliminate a huge part of the team, then you can do a big push. So I didn’t want to see people that just, you know, lost a leg and they’re like, “Well, I’ll just go respawn,” and then now they’re back in the fight, and that can affect the dynamic of the battle. But if that is the official ruling – that at any point you can just say, “Yep, I’m dead,” then cool.

[00:35:40] Speaker 1: Yeah, you can.

[00:35:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, you can.

[00:35:42] Speaker 20: All right, thank you.

[00:35:44] Speaker 1: Uh-huh.

[00:35:45] Speaker 1: OK, and then… so that’s the battlefield.

[00:35:48] Speaker 1: And then in and around the village is slightly different. So at any time when a character loses all of their hit points to body or head, they begin a three-minute bleed-out, right? So this is to simulate role-play from receiving their last wound to be able to receive healing. In order to receive healing – this is the same exact thing – if there are no Priests or High Priests nearby, a character can be moved by role-playing with another player, moving to a healing shrine. This can be done in whatever way is agreeable to both players – hand on shoulder, walking with a limp, etc. The key is that it should be role-played that you cannot move on your own. If no aid is given, the character dies. There are consequences to characters that die in this manner, as explained below.

[00:36:30] Speaker 1: So what happens when you die in and around the village: first, the Mist harnesses your spirit and body and takes you – and takes a price – to return you to the land of Hynafol. Your character’s memory of the last 30 minutes is entirely misted over and is forgotten. And that’s important because it comes into all kinds of fun role-play that has to do with the guilds – previously vocations.

[00:36:54] Speaker 1: And so you would head to the Archives to travel through the Mists and check in – your character is dead. You may choose to take a character flaw or to perform a 30-minute shift as a nighttime monster that evening, which you can then sign up for a time slot on. So this is to give you a little bit of variety – some people like one or the other. It’s all opt-in, but we do want you to have some kind of consequence for running around and dying.

[00:37:20] Speaker 1: It is not listed here, but if you die too many times, you will have a visit from the Magic GM team to find out why you are dying way too many times. But that’s pretty rare.

[00:37:30] Speaker 1: And then, if the Archives is closed at the time of your death, you simply respawn into the game with the last 30 minutes of memories gone – the Mists have let you go without a quirk.

[00:37:40] Speaker 1: Philip, question.

[00:37:42] Speaker 11: Yeah, I was reading this. I’m gonna bounce Tionis’s question from the chat – is the amount of lives you have for your character being permanently dead gone?

[00:37:50] Speaker 11: So, like, I think it was like five or six times previously, and then your character’s like dead-dead.

[00:37:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, so for now that’s on hold.

[00:37:59] Speaker 1: So for now it’s on hold. We’re going to play the rules as they’re written for this year, and just like we do with all other things, we’re constantly assessing. Like I said in the email and in the Discord posts, we’re going to run with these rules through, uh, July of ’26. So this is how it will be. So for now we still have all that information, but we’re going to play it like this. Again, that’s why I threw in the comment – if you die too many times, you’re probably playing the game wrong, and we will have a nice, gentle, “Hey, are you doing this on purpose?” conversation. You know, we don’t want somebody to be dying too many times because they’re not being a good addition to the community.

[00:38:45] Speaker 11: Um, yeah, that makes sense. Yep, thank you.

[00:38:48] Speaker 1: Cool.

[00:38:49] Speaker 1: All right, Justin.

[00:38:51] Speaker 21: Yeah, so my question is, if you choose to die – or if you die – and it says you can take a character flaw or a 30-minute shift, what do the character flaws look like?

[00:39:00] Speaker 1: So you will roll some dice, and then there is a chart, and you get an option of a very funny character quirk that you then go and role-play out. It’s like a—you can think of it as like a curse or a little flaw that belongs to your character then for a certain amount of time. They’re a surprise – they’re fun.

[00:39:18] Speaker 21: Oh, OK, that’s fine.

[00:39:20] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:39:21] Speaker 1: OK.

[00:39:22] Speaker 1: And then the loot drop rule: all items your character has on them go with them, except for one coin. If you die, you drop one coin you hold on your person – the highest denomination of coin you possess. For example, if you have one crown, one bit, and one copper, you would drop the crown.

[00:39:40] Speaker 1: So if you have lots of money on you, you may want to spend some of it hiring guards in the darker times of the evening. I am going to say at this point we have this in here. We are also increasing how the Guardians work to help balance this out. So if some of you have read this and thought, “Aha, I’m going to rob everybody and get super-duper rich,” the Guild document that will include the Guardians – who are our town militia who protect the village – will be on your case. And if you get busted for being a thief, the ante has been upped this year. So prepare thyself.

[00:40:14] Speaker 22: (“Zach” raises hand)

[00:40:15] Speaker 1: Zach.

[00:40:17] Speaker 22: Uh, a little question about the character flaws. Is it just RNG – like just random – or can you actually just go through the list and pick one out yourself?

[00:40:25] Speaker 1: You roll and you get what you get.

[00:40:27] Speaker 1: It’s fun.

[00:40:29] Speaker 22: OK.

[00:40:30] Speaker 1: Mundane healing is no longer part of Hynafol, so the age of bandages and herbs has passed. True healing now flows only through divine will or alchemical craft. If you wish to be a healer in this realm, you must walk one of two paths: study under the arts of the Alchemy Guild, or devote yourself as a member of a religion and the High Priests’ Guild. Each of these guilds has its own rules, powers, and responsibilities, and those are all outlined in the forthcoming Hynafol Guild document.

[00:40:58] Speaker 1: Ryland.

[00:41:00] Speaker 8: Um, my main question is, um, why are we getting rid of mundane healing? ‘Cause from my perspective, as someone who is fairly new, I figured it was like a cool role-play thing of like, “Oh no, you’re dying – here, let me help,” or something like that.

[00:41:14] Speaker 1: Sure. So you can still absolutely do it as only a role-play thing that you do, right? So Hynafol’s a big sandbox and we have rules to guide how certain things are done. Everything else is up to interpretation. So for instance, if somebody’s bleeding out in the town and you want to whip out bandages and be like, “Hey, do you consent to me bandaging you up or pretending like I’m giving you herbs, etc., etc.?” – that’s all fine, not a problem. But it doesn’t count as stopping them from dying from the timer. The idea is to get them to a place where they can be healed, because we have mechanics that work with the different guilds – including the Priests, High Priests, and Clerics – so that they can do that.

[00:41:54] Speaker 1: And then it also gives the Guardians something to go investigate. So there’s some intertwining dynamics here in order to give people some conflict and not just make it so that anybody can heal you at any time in the village. If you think about it like this from a, you know, kind of realistic standpoint: if you stabbed me with a sword and only had bandages and herbs, I would be in bed for months, right?

[00:42:16] Speaker 8: Right, right.

[00:42:17] Speaker 1: So it’s kind of that. To get magically healed through a Priest, High Priest, or a Cleric, then I can be magically revived.

[00:42:24] Speaker 8: Yeah, that makes sense.

[00:42:26] Speaker 8: No, yeah, it makes – that does make sense. I especially because, like, before with mundane healing, I was always under the assumption that, yeah, sure, like, I give you a Tic Tac, I say, “Oh, it’s from this person’s woods, blah blah blah,” and you still have to go find a Priest or something, and that’s what I thought stabilization was.

[00:42:47] Speaker 1: Sure. So now just anybody can help guide you there through role-play, right? So if you want to role-play that, that’s however you want to role-play that – that’s fine, as long as everybody consents.

[00:42:57] Speaker 8: OK, cool. Understood. Just wanted to figure that out. Thank you.

[00:43:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, no problem.

[00:43:03] Speaker 1: All right. So religious shrines and healing – each religion may have one sacred place known as a shrine inside Hynafol where dying players can be healed by any Cleric or above station of that religion. High Priests of each religion should email GM@hynafol.com to register their location before the Grand Gathering. We’ll work with you on that.

[00:43:25] Speaker 1: So how healing occurs – this has changed. High Priests may now heal near-instantly by making contact with another player and speaking their religious phrase while holding their religious artifact. Some of this has changed from what I released earlier. So High Priests must have the artifact in hand to perform healing. While healing, High Priests must say their entire religious phrase to perform healing. This should take approximately five seconds. We hope that High Priests will make it something, you know, interesting, decorum, cool – and that they will enjoy saying it, obviously, because they’re going to say it a lot. While healing, High Priests may not attack, right? So they have – you know, they’re carrying around this religious shrine, and they should role-play that out and it should be fun.

[00:44:12] Speaker 1: And then, um, all High Priests should register their religious phrase by sending an email to GM@hynafol.com.

[00:44:18] Speaker 1: Priests heal using a prayer scroll, so they must touch the injured player. Both of these things say “touch” – you don’t have to touch them in any kind of fancy way. You can be foot-to-foot with them – boop, that counts. You know, you can ask any other, you know, normal regular consent – “Can I place my hand on your shoulder while I heal you?” etc. Whatever you want to do. You just have to make some kind of contact.

[00:44:40] Speaker 1: And then, um, so Priests – they must touch the injured player and recite the approximately 30-second scroll aloud without interruption to complete the healing. While healing, Priests may not attack. Priests should submit their prayer for review to the GM team, and we will print it for you. Each prayer is individual to each Priest.

[00:45:00] Speaker 1: And then Clerics also use a prayer scroll – it’s basically the same. We will have one that will be given out, and then it can be used only in the shrine, right? So Clerics can’t go all over the place and heal people; it has to be purchased – which we’ll get to in just a second.

[00:45:19] Speaker 1: And so, um, all Cleric scrolls must be returned at the end of each event, or a fee will be assessed to your religion.

[00:45:26] Speaker 1: And then healing is never passive – it must be role-played, spoken, and physically enacted. So that’s one of our principles here. We want it to be a bit more engaging than it has been in the past.

[00:45:34] Speaker 1: Emily?

[00:45:36] Speaker 23: Hey, uh, just wanted to know how we would time those three minutes. Is there somebody out there with stopwatches in their pockets, or are we just going by our best intuition?

[00:45:45] Speaker 1: Best intuition. We believe in you.

[00:45:47] Speaker 23: Oh, when do you start counting?

[00:45:49] Speaker 1: You don’t have to, uh, count, you know… it isn’t “180 Mississippi,” but, you know, do your best.

[00:45:54] Speaker 23: All right.

[00:45:55] Speaker 1: Anna.

[00:45:56] Speaker 7: (possibly technical issue, repeated name)

[00:45:57] Speaker 7: Yes. What are the rules for alchemy healing? I didn’t see any rules about that.

[00:46:02] Speaker 1: Uh, that will be in the, uh, the – sorry – the Guild… I’m having a hard time, just like most of the rest of you, with “vocation” – not calling it a vocation. But they will come out in that document.

[00:46:12] Speaker 7: All right, thank you.

[00:46:14] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:46:15] Speaker 1: OK, so battlefield limits. So High Priests have only one life during battles. Once down, they may only be revived by using a Potion of Holy Reviving obtainable via alchemy. So there’s one alchemy thing. This potion must be turned in to a Steward by an additional participant – so the High Priest that is dead can’t whip it out of their back pocket. The High Priest has to be with them, and then the potion scroll is taken by the Steward and considered consumed. High Priests cannot be healed by other Priests, and High Priests – be cautious when entering combat zones. Upon death, High Priests must turn in their artifact to a Steward. They may then re-enter the battlefield as a normal participant without their artifact, right? So then you’re just a regular fighter, and you can get out there and get after it.

[00:47:00] Speaker 1: OK.

[00:47:01] Speaker 24: Um, so, do they get their artifact back at the end of the battle?

[00:47:05] Speaker 1: Yes, OK. It’s just so that you can’t use it on the battlefield anymore because…

[00:47:09] Speaker 1: You’re dead.

[00:47:10] Speaker 24: Cool.

[00:47:12] Speaker 1: Oscar.

[00:47:14] Speaker 33: So this question isn’t actually for me – it is for Ophelia Persik. Uh, she is a non-Priest healer. So how does that go about working?

[00:47:22] Speaker 1: A non-Priest? So these are the healing rules.

[00:47:24] Speaker 33: So I don’t know what a non-Priest—

[00:47:26] Speaker 33: Uh, she was accidentally given healing powers by the Lady of the Lake in GG2, I think, somewhere around that time.

[00:47:32] Speaker 1: She’ll need to become affiliated somehow with some kind of divine power.

[00:47:36] Speaker 33: OK, so she— OK.

[00:47:38] Speaker 1: Email GM@hynafol.com. We’ll adjudicate it.

[00:47:41] Speaker 33: All right, I’ll tell her to do that.

[00:47:43] Speaker 1: All righty.

[00:47:44] Speaker 1: All right, uh, “iPhone.”

[00:47:46] Speaker 34: Oh – whoops, I didn’t change my name. Uh, real quick question: as far as people coming to the sacred spaces for healing – are they required to pay? Because I remember in previous game documents, that was essentially like a pseudo or soft rule for people to show up, get healed by Priests at their sacred spaces in order to pay your Priest. Are players being – not forced, but like encouraged – to do that again? Or, like, I’m all for not doing it (sorry, Masquerino) and just doing it for free.

[00:48:14] Speaker 34: But I just want to make sure that that wasn’t like something written somewhere that people had to pay.

[00:48:20] Speaker 1: I mean, how much is your life worth? If somebody saved your life, maybe you should pay them. Yeah, I mean – and then Priests, High Priests and Clerics, they’re part of a religion. It is their choice on whom they heal and for how much. You know, you might not have any coins on you and you might really need healing, and they might say, “Well, I’ll heal you, but you gotta pay me whatever – a bit or a tower,” and you’re like, “Oh, OK, but I don’t have it.” And they’re like, “All right, well, what Guild are you or what House are you from? What Kingdom are you from?” And then they’ll go and they’ll collect. That’s your role-play choice.

[00:48:54] Speaker 34: All righty, sounds good.

[00:48:55] Speaker 1: Cool.

[00:48:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, if you really, really wanna not charge somebody, like – obviously that’s totally OK, right? Like if that’s your choice. But it’s worth noting there is a cost and an amount of effort and resources to become a Priest, and one way to recoup that is through charging for healing.

[00:49:12] Speaker 2: Now, you might wanna gift your own House or, you know, maybe your House gets it for free.

[00:49:17] Speaker 2: But, you know, you’re sitting there doing a shift and healing.

[00:49:21] Speaker 34: OK.

[00:49:22] Speaker 1: Hayden.

[00:49:24] Speaker 12: Um, earlier you said that the healing rules are not going into effect at the October event. Are the combat rules going into effect at the October event?

[00:49:32] Speaker 1: Combat rules are, yes. I should have said that at the beginning – just making sure.

[00:49:36] Speaker 12: Mhm.

[00:49:37] Speaker 12: Yes.

[00:49:38] Speaker 1: All right. You guys are all asking really good questions, by the way. I just want to point out this is really valuable – so thank you all for your time and helping out.

[00:49:46] Speaker 1: Valentino.

[00:49:48] Speaker 26: Hey, can you hear me?

[00:49:50] Speaker 1: Yep.

[00:49:51] Speaker 26: Yes, so just wanted to get some clarification. I know that the High Priest artifact can be stolen. I wanted to clarify in battles – how does that work?

[00:50:00] Speaker 1: It’s yours in battle, and when you die you have to turn it in to a Steward.

[00:50:04] Speaker 26: So— so it can’t be— so it can’t be legged or armed, it gets dropped and then someone picks it up and then runs with it?

[00:50:11] Speaker 1: No, that would not be appropriate, because it’s your personal item on the battlefield – just like you can’t steal a sword. Yeah, it’s not a stealable item on the battlefield.

[00:50:19] Speaker 26: OK, perfect. Just clarifying, thank you.

[00:50:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, great question.

[00:50:23] Speaker 1: All right, Ashley.

[00:50:25] Speaker 35: Hi. So I was wondering, would High Priests be able to choose not to do the instant healing on the battlefield so that they can fight? Like, it sounds like it was supposed to be an offset – you know, make them a glass cannon – but if they really wanted to fight, could they just not instantly heal?

[00:50:41] Speaker 1: Don’t carry the artifact and take out a sword and get to fighting. That’s not a problem.

[00:50:45] Speaker 35: All right, thanks.

[00:50:47] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:50:48] Speaker 1: Let’s see. Doctor Brenda.

[00:50:50] Speaker 36: Yeah, hey, quick question – because the chat’s gone like really bonkers crazy – for those of us who are like noobs first-time, want to do the healing… obviously I have the “Dr.” in front of me anyway. I, you know, I’m not a Priest or Priestess or whatever, but I’m really into the Alchemist role. So if I make my own potions, I could use that to help heal people, correct?

[00:51:12] Speaker 1: Yes.

[00:51:13] Speaker 36: Cool.

[00:51:14] Speaker 1: You can make a healing potion, but there is a mechanic in the game on how to do it.

[00:51:17] Speaker 36: Sure, not a problem. I’m enjoying the mechanics and I want to create that.

[00:51:20] Speaker 1: Cool, thanks. Bye.

[00:51:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, you’re welcome.

[00:51:23] Speaker 1: All right, Chris?

[00:51:25] Speaker 10: Hey, so I was just curious – since it costs two crowns to make a Cleric, are there gonna be incentives on the expeditions for, like, healing in that sense, like in the future? Or is this strictly a Grand Gathering thing?

[00:51:37] Speaker 1: Uh, possibly.

[00:51:39] Speaker 10: Mmkay, thank you.

[00:51:41] Speaker 2: But also remember – that’s what comes back to what we said earlier: you should be charging for healing.

[00:51:45] Speaker 10: Oh, that is true, yeah, Masquerino – you literally asked. Yeah, that’s how it should be. You should recoup that money by charging for healing.

[00:51:52] Speaker 10: All right, thank you guys.

[00:51:54] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:51:55] Speaker 1: Calvin.

[00:51:57] Speaker 30: Um, not so much a question as a possible suggestion.

[00:52:00] Speaker 30: Maybe make the High Priest “role” the one of whoever is carrying the artifact – meaning that if a Priest or a High Priest want to interchange roles… ’cause there’s gonna be a lot of, myself included, High Priests who don’t want to play that role that it’s being assigned.

[00:52:15] Speaker 1: OK, we’ll consider it.

[00:52:17] Speaker 1: Hayden?

[00:52:18] Speaker 12: Oh, my question was just answered. My question was: can the High Priest assign the artifact to another – just a normal Priest – in order to go through and heal on the battlefield, so if they’re not there or if they don’t want to?

[00:52:30] Speaker 1: OK, yeah, we haven’t discussed it. But we’ll discuss it, and it is a good idea, though – it sounds pretty cool.

[00:52:36] Speaker 12: OK, thank you.

[00:52:38] Speaker 1: (laughing) Temporary High Priest.

[00:52:40] Speaker 1: OK. Uh, the next thing is – since we’re done with this – oh, Mike’s got a question. What’s your question, Mike?

[00:52:45] Speaker 5: Um… is it going to be that the two crowns is per event, or is it gonna be for the year?

[00:52:50] Speaker 1: Well, currently shrines are only active at the Grand Gathering.

[00:52:54] Speaker 5: So—

[00:52:55] Speaker 1: They haven’t gone that far, but if you want it at the Grand Gathering, that’s how you do it.

[00:52:59] Speaker 5: OK.

[00:53:00] Speaker 1: Oh, Caroline?

[00:53:02] Speaker 24: So sorry to jump in with one more question. I just want to— I said I’d do it all night until I fall asleep on my keyboard, and I meant it – though I do have to go to—

[00:53:10] Speaker 24: Thank you. I saw my name in the chat.

[00:53:12] Speaker 1: (chuckles)

[00:53:13] Speaker 1: All right, if anybody has any other questions – burning questions about anything we discussed tonight or you’re like, “Hey, I’m new and I just really need to know this – that’s why I jumped on this call and you guys didn’t answer it” – love to answer that now.

[00:53:28] Speaker 1: Anybody have anything else? And then I will pause the recording, start it again, and talk about artifact creation.

[00:53:34] Speaker 1: Sweet. Justin.

[00:53:36] Speaker 21: Yeah, hi. So, um… this has nothing to do with the, uh, healing or anything, but I was wondering if— my plane’s not gonna get into Austin until like 7:40 at night, so—

[00:53:46] Speaker 1: On the day of the Grand Gathering – yeah, on Tuesday, sure, yeah.

[00:53:49] Speaker 21: I mean, you’ll still be able to get in, if that’s what you’re wondering?

[00:53:52] Speaker 21: Like, you—

[00:53:53] Speaker 21: Yeah, that is what I’m wondering. I’ll just miss, like, the orientation and stuff.

[00:53:57] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:53:58] Speaker 1: No, uh, what package did you have?

[00:54:00] Speaker 21: The Immersive package.

[00:54:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, so your tent will be set up and you’ll just have to bring your stuff in, and we’ll have like some carts and stuff there available for you, so you can put it in there and cover it and keep it, um, decorum.

[00:54:12] Speaker 21: OK, will I have to arrive in decorum, or can I make my way to my tent first?

[00:54:17] Speaker 1: You’ll need to— inside you’ll need to be in decorum, right. Ideally, yeah. So there’s a – if absolutely needed – there’s a, you know, a restroom where you could change really quick before you wander through the village, only because you’ll stick out like a sore thumb and it’s a rule that we try and keep.

[00:54:32] Speaker 21: Yeah, awesome. And so the gates close at a certain time, or would I be OK if I arrived late?

[00:54:38] Speaker 1: You’ll be OK if you arrive late.

[00:54:40] Speaker 21: All right, thank you. That was all.

[00:54:42] Speaker 1: Mhm.

[00:54:44] Speaker 22: (New speaker with a question) I had purchased the Immersive package, and just one thing that’s been on my mind – my friend and I want to make sure that we are able to tent together.

[00:54:52] Speaker 1: Um, so you’ll be receiving forms about that shortly, and you’ll just select each other and you’ll be in the tent together, no problem.

[00:55:00] Speaker 22: OK, that’s it. Thank you.

[00:55:02] Speaker 1: Mhm. No problem.

[00:55:05] Speaker 1: All right, going once, going twice…

[00:55:10] Speaker 1: Sold on questions, so I’ll stop here.

[00:55:14] Speaker 1: Thank you very much for being here.