Resources Primer


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Overview

Resources in Idalos are categorised in a system which allows the player to ascertain whether they can access these resources or not. Each step of gathering the resource is linked to a rough skill level - this will be specific to the context and to the individual resource. Players must craft a story, taking these criteria into account.

Skill Requirements

  • Knowing About It: How common is the knowledge of this thing's existence. Skills which might help here are research, intelligence etc.
  • Buying / Selling It: If it’s for sale- this is always easy. This only applies to things which can only be purchased on the black market.
  • Finding It: This is the skill required to actually get to the physical location where the Resource is.
  • Collecting It: This covers everything from collecting honey, skinning a creature, to picking a plant.
  • Using It: Using any of the properties of the resource. Is it volatile? Fragile? Etc.
  • Killing It: How hard is it to kill.
  • Capturing It: How hard to capture it alive.
  • Danger Level: Gives an indication of what will happen should one of the other things (using it, capturing it, etc) goes wrong. Consequence of failure level.
  • Tending It: For Resources which can be “kept” (eg: flowers / plants which grow or animals which can be trained / tended) - this is how hard it is to maintain, grow, and breed (if appropriate) this resource.

For each of the above, all resources are rated at a skill level from "everyone can do this" to "this is currently not possible"

  • Wealth Tier denotes what wealth tier the PC needs to be at in order to access this resource. If this resources is easily available to buy at your PCs Wealth Tier - you can ignore skill levels for all except 'Tending It' - the requirements here are for threads / stories where the PC acquires resources in some means other than simply purchasing.
  • Rarity denotes how rare a resource is. This is split into the following:
    • Everywhere
    • Common
    • Unusual
    • Rare
    • V. Rare
    • Not available

Using This Guide

There are no skills specifically named against each category here because we want to ensure that players have maximum creativity in working out how to access a resource. There is no “one skill fits all” approach here, and PCs will always find inventive ways to do things - so this gives you the skill level required only - you determine which skill(s) you use - and must be able to justify that as logical.

Please note: skill levels of different skills are not cumulative. So, 2 skills at novice does NOT equal competent, nor do 5 competent equal 1 expert.

But I don’t have skills at that level! What can I do?

We’re not in the habit of saying anything is impossible - and we want to always promote player agency. However - if your PC does not have the skill levels required then you will need to think outside the box! Maybe you have a blessing which helps - or have already done a thread where someone owes you a favour? There are still ways of achieving your goal but, if you don’t have the correct skill levels, you will need to get your plot approved with a prophet (via the PSF) in order to ensure that we are playing on an even playing field. Be assured, if there is a reasonable plot with appropriate difficulty, we always try to say yes. Equally, however, sometimes failing is as much fun for a player as success - and trying once, failing, and then planning better and trying again is a good story!

Example Scenario.

So, Player A has a PC Billy-Bobbity-Bob (known as BBB to his friends). BBB is looking at creating a series of threads where he finds, then captures a Big Bee. The Big Bee is rated thus:


Billy-Bob & The Big Bee

  • Knowing About it - Novice
  • Price - NA
  • Buying / Selling It - Expert
  • Rarity - Unusual
  • Finding It - Competent
  • Collecting It - Expert
  • Using It - Expert
  • Killing It - Master
  • Capturing It - Expert
  • Danger Level - Master
  • Tending It - Expert



First, the player needs to identify what they need to do.

  • Knowing about it - BBB has Intelligence at Expert, so knowing about it is fine.
  • Price isn’t relevant here - BBB isn’t going to buy it.
  • Buying / Selling - also not relevant here.
  • Rarity - it’s unusual - so this is something BBB will need to take into account.
  • Finding it - again, Intelligence at Expert will allow for this.
  • Collecting it - BBB’s Fieldcraft is only Novice - so that won’t work. But his Climbing is Expert - so what if the Big Bee was up a very difficult to climb mountain!? Ok. We’re going on here.
  • Capturing It - BBB doesn’t have the Trapping skill - but he DOES have Alchemy and Poison at Expert.

So - what the player needs to do is to come up with a scenario - and write the thread(s) where:

They find out about the Big Bee and where it is. Then they plan how they’re going to get to it, IC. This will involve creating an alchemical dust which should knock the Big Bee out. They do this, IC, and then go to the Very Hard To Climb Mountain - climb it - knock the Big Bee out - and go home.

Alternatively....

A different PC might have done this a very different way. They could have:

  • Knowing About It with their Research skill,
  • Finding It with their Cartography skill (they made a map of that place)
  • Collecting It with their Hunting skill and
  • Capturing It with their Trap-Making.



It’s all down to the PC, to the context of the resource (if it says it’s only underwater, for example, you have to take that into account) and the imagination of the player.

Legendary Resources

Legendary resources are Master+ rarity, Tier 10 equivalent resources that hold abilities of exceptional power that elevates them significantly beyond comparable ‘mundane’ materials of high rarity. These resources are capable of holding their own Renown levels, from Internationally Renowned to completely unknown, and can include one-of-a-kind creatures, plants, items or materials that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Due to their high status, resources can never be bought and hold unique requirements in order to be obtained by players - as such, in order to acquire a Legendary resource, one must submit a request to the PSF, including an in-depth plot outline for the attempted acquisition and all skills that will be necessary, spanning a minimum of three threads. If the resource is unknown, this will also need to include how the character has learned - or how they intend to learn - about the existence of the resource, and the necessary information on how to capture, kill, use or collect it. Legendary resources will always be connotated by the ‘legendary’ ranking in their official write-up.

Subcategories

This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.