Basics

If you’ve never played a TTRPG before, then welcome! A tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) is one where you play as a character within a world created or moderated by your Game Master (GM). It’s a cooperative storytelling experience, where the players and the GM work together to tell a story. You may be wondering “How does a TTRPG work?” Quite simply, you’ll make a character and then your Game Master (GM) will introduce you to the story/game. From there, you’ll make choices about what to do in the world while your GM moderates for you and your adventuring companions. While playing the game, some people really like to get into their character’s mindset and roleplay the character. Some people are more interested in the strategy of combat. There’s no wrong way to play, as long as you and friends are having fun at the table. When you do something that could succeed or fail, you’ll roll different dice to help determine the outcome of your actions. For example, you can lie to the shopkeeper, you’ll roll a die and find out if you can deceive them. This little bit of randomness helps to keep the game exciting and interesting, providing you with fun opportunities within your game that you may not have expected. If this seems like a lot, don’t worry, we’ll help you get a character ready to get you right into the world of VoL. The system for VoL was designed to give you the opportunity to have fun and roleplay without the game’s mechanics getting in the way. # Things to Know Before Getting Started As you read through the following rules, you’re going to see some abbreviations and terminology that may be confusing. This should help clear up any of that confusion, starting with D or Die. # D4, D6, D8, D12, D20, etc. This stands for the die that you’ll be rolling. For example, a D12 is a 12 sided die. If you’re asked to roll 2d12, then you would roll two 12 sided dice, and in most cases, add them together to get a result. # D+ / D- If you see a spell, feature, or other game text that tells you to roll D+, it is telling you to roll one die size higher than you would normally. Conversely, if it asks you to roll D-, then you should roll one die size lower than normal. You cannot roll a dice lower than a d4 and if you would D+ a d12 you would roll a D12+1 instead. If there is ever a number before the D+ or D-, then you increase or decrease that many dice by the number shown. Example // If you were to make a Spot Test and you would normally roll a D8 but were told to roll D+, you would roll a D10. If you were making the same roll D-, you would make it with a D6.