Ways of Darkness (FRPG)

The original Ways of Darkness FRPG was the very first incarnation of the Ways of Darkness franchise, a forum-based roleplaying game beginning in 2009. It is also the source, the birthplace of the legacy characters and legacy stories.

Other than this wiki, the Hungarian version remains the only reliable source of canon information: as such, although the forum is still standing, it is a ghost town - with Zsolt Tóth and Kriszta having given up on reviving it for a long time, it is mostly a fossilized relic from which the earlier is in the process of porting all the relevant information to this wiki.

History
The original creator of Ways of Darkness, Zsolt Tóth, has considered the idea of an FRPG set in a medieval fantasy setting after the failure of various non-fantasy FRPGs, the most successful out of them the Doom FRPG (Hungarian - the English version can be seen here). The Doom FRPG was the first time Zsolt and Kriszta were co-admins on the same site, but they first got introduced on another FRPG, the Age of Boulderons.

In the December of 2009, Zsolt - with the encouragement of Kriszta - has launched Ways of Darkness, the FRPG, originally on ProBoards. However, after a limited amount of time, rumours have reached the creator's ears - via a more knowledgeable player - that ProBoards was deleting non-English language message boards, meaning that Ways of Darkness was in imminent danger of deletion.

On the April of 2010, the final migration from ProBoards to Forumotion was made, but the original forum on ProBoards was never deleted - the deletion of non-English boards has made a scandal, due to its violation of American laws, eventually letting the original ProBoards version of Ways of Darkness remain a fossil.

Just like it's ProBoards predecessor, the new forum on forumotion attracted only a miniscule amount of players, and endured periods of dying down, revival, then dying down again.

Nevertheless, in the hopes of attracting more foreign, non-Hungarian players, Zsolt has decided to begin the project to create an English version. In Late October of 2010, the English version was up and running, but due to various delays, the translation was only completed by the March of 2011.

Unlike what Zsolt has hoped for, the English version failed to attract a meaningful amount of players, and no roleplaying was actually done on it at all, while the Hungarian version continued going through periods of revival and neglect.

System
The "game" is freeform - there are no hitpoints, no dice rolls, or anything like that. There is no pre-defined list of spells either, as the admin said, "As long as the spell is not overpowered, the limit is only your imagination". Being a play-by-post RPG meant that one player (or narrator/DM) could just write a post/premise, another player would reply to it, and players (and optionally a narrator/DM) would keep replying back and forth in a pre-defined order.

Players were required to find an avatar for their characters, come up with a name, select a race and optionally a class, and write a backstory at least 10 lines long (at least 20 lines at the English version, at least 120 lines for dragons at both versions), fill out the attributes, and then wait for approval by one of the administrators.

Attributes
During character creation, the player has to divert 18 available points to increase the various attributes of the character attributes from their minimals, which depend on the race.

For example, Humans have a minimum of 8 from all attributes and a maximum of 18, meaning that anything more or lesser is only accepted if justified in the character backstory. Out of the 18 available points, 10 can be spent to increase the character's Strength from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 18, but it is considered unwise to divert all points to only two or three attributes.

The attributes are:
 * Strength: determining the character's physical prowess.
 * Dexterity: wrongfully translated as Agility in the English version, it determines how good is the character at tasks which demand fine motor skills, such as archery, lock-picking, pickpocketing, tailoring, etc.
 * Intelligence: determining the character's intelligence, and also how many spells they can cast before they need to rest.
 * Wisdom: determining the character life experiences and maturity prior to character creation, also the strength of the character's spells.
 * Endurance: determining the character's durability, resistance to diseases, how long can he/she run continuously, how much physical damage can he/she sustain before his/her body finally gives up, how much time can be spent without sleeping, etc.
 * Charisma: determines how charismatic the character, and also makes it easier for Good-aligned characters to use Dark Magic, and Evil-aligned characters to use Light Magic.

The formula for most traits is this: below 8 is considered to be very weak / clumsy / stupid / uncharismatic, between 8-9 is considered slightly weak / clumsy / stupid / uncharismatic, 10 is considered average, 11-12 is considered slightly above average, 13-14 is considered strong / dexterous / smart / durable / charismatic, 15-16 is considered very strong / dexterous / smart / durable / charismatic, 17-18 is herculean / silk-handed / genius / stone-durable / super- charismatic - anything above 18 is considered to be of superhuman strength / dexterity / intellect / durability / charisma.

For the record, each point in intelligence is equivalent of ten times that IQ. 80 IQ for an Intelligence of 8, 100 for 10, 180 for 18, etc.

Skills
Skills, or rather, Feats are indicator of a character's profession. During character creation, the player is asked to spend 10 skill points to various skills.

The formula is that skills have 3 levels (Basic, Advanced, Expert), and being at Basic level at a skill requires 1 skill point, being Advanced requires 2, being an Expert requires 3. However, these points add up, meaning that it takes a total of 6 points to go from Untrained to Expert. The only exception to this rule is the Armour-wearing skill, where the point cost does not add up, meaning that it takes only 3 points to go from zero tolerance to armour to being a wearer of Heavy Armour.

While this may sound scary, there is no reason to be afraid: all classes grant several skills at basis, for example Warriors start with all three armour-skills, and Basic at all weapon skills (Swordsmanship, Archery, Blunt Weapons, Polearms).

The skills are:


 * Armour-wearing
 * Stealth
 * Forgery
 * Smuggling
 * Tracking
 * Swordsmanship
 * Archery
 * Blunt Weapons (mistranslated as Blunt Weapons in the English version)
 * Polearms
 * Knowledge of the Ancient Language: the knowledge of either Ancient Elven or Despotanfras. All Magicians start with at least Basic from it.
 * Knowledge of Nature: exclusive to the Hungarian version, focuses on the character's ability to survive in the wild
 * Exotic Weapons: exclusive to the Hungarian version

Playable Races

 * Humans
 * High Elves
 * Wood Elves
 * Dark Elves
 * Half-Elves
 * Orcs
 * Half-Orcs
 * Lizardmen
 * Dwarves
 * Gnomes
 * Halflings
 * Goblins
 * Ogres
 * Nereids
 * Dragons
 * Liches
 * Vampires
 * Therianthropes
 * Winged Cobras (Hungarian-version only)
 * Demons (English-version only, non-playable in the original Hungarian)
 * Draconians (non-canon, English-version only)

Playable Classes

 * Warrior
 * Thief
 * Assassin
 * Headhunter
 * Cleric
 * Druid
 * Inquisitor
 * Knight
 * Ranger
 * Magician
 * Battlemage (Hungarian-version only)
 * Necromancer
 * Death Knight
 * Bard (English-version only)

Visitable locations

 * Overground
 * Northern-Etrand
 * Zorod Naugi im Pkhaur: The Unforgeable Chainmail Tavern, Blacksmith's Foundry, Mines, Checkpoint
 * Zorod Koldo im Neuna: The Fiery Steed Inn, The Fur-Hiding Bear Gathering Place The Lava Towers of the Zorods, The Hall of Blacksmiths, Funturium Institute of Science, Ebony mines, Houses, Craters
 * Steelhelm: The Skinned Bear Inn, Citadel, Barracks, Blast Furnace, Blacksmith's Foundry, Church
 * Headquarters of the Black Eagle Company
 * Western-Etrand
 * Grandfolk (spelled Grandfolc) 
 * Headquarters of the Knights of the Blood Red Light (Fort Redlight)
 * Inner City: Fighters' Guild, Rocky Prison, The Left Hand of Salashi, Mages Guild, White Church, Cathedral-Palace
 * Industrial Quarter: Blast Furnace, Blacksmith's Foundry
 * Shanty Quarter: The Drunken Raven Inn (black market), The Black Finger, The Sizzling Sun, The Purple Brothel, Common Shrine
 * Inner-Etrand
 * Headquarters of the Order of the Eternal Crystal Flower
 * Dracfold: The Rested Wolf Inn, Blast Furnace, Blacksmith's Foundry, Merchants' Guild
 * Southern-Etrand
 * Southern Swamps + Abandoned Fort
 * Talon: Lamrion, The Wounded Lion Inn, Dougfrál-household
 * Copperport
 * Citadel
 * Inner City: The Earth-Running Snake Inn, Blacksmith's Foundry, Blast Furnace, Barracks, Church, Mages Guild
 * Harbor District: The Bloody Bear Inn, Ship Factory, Marketplace, Warehouse, Docks
 * Etrocast: The Cut-Down Candle Inn
 * Etrancoast
 * Yrvhaven (spelled Irvhaven)
 * The Earl's palace
 * Inner City: Titanius-church,The Rusty Battleaxe Tavern, Barracks, Marketplace
 * Harbor District: Docks, The Let-Down Harpoon Tavern
 * Waterburcht (spelled Vaterburcht)
 * Inner City: Titanius-church, The Rusty Sword Tavern, Barracks
 * Harbor District: Docks, The Picked-Up Anchor Tavern
 * The Gray Mountains
 * Needle Rock
 * Antanath
 * Zargonath
 * Helixia: Town Hall, The Blue Dragon Inn
 * Northeast-Dragoc
 * Architon
 * Northwest-Dragoc
 * Minosa
 * Southeast-Dragoc
 * Helpulus
 * Southwest-Dragoc
 * Rodiou
 * Artaburro
 * Alta Gon: The Sylvan Bow Inn, Titanius-church, Nature-shrine, Common shrine
 * Yaara Linde: Willem's Tavern, Barracks
 * Kelu e Taure: The Scrawny Oak Inn
 * Inner-Froturn (spelled Phroturn)
 * Yanus: (spelled Ianus) The Finger of Fire Inn, Spa, Mages Guild, House of Light, Church of Sun
 * Wohun: (spelled Vohun) The Thrown Javelin Tavern, Spa
 * Southeast-Froturn (spelled Phroturn)
 * Noldo Ranga: The Split Sling Tavern
 * Edhel Yaara: (spelled Edhel Iaara) The Broken Triangle Tavern
 * Northwest-Brutang (Hro'z lands)
 * Southwest-Brutang (Kro'm lands)
 * Northeast-Brutang (Bru'k lands)
 * Throm'Fa's mausoleum
 * Southeast-Brutang (Pri'd lands)
 * Keldorn (spelled Celdorn) and Gabyr
 * Magnus Nex Urbs: Killer Life
 * Atrum Libri: Necromancers Guild, Library of Darkness, The Dead Man
 * Nex Mucro: Fortress of the Death Knights, Barracks, Bloody Ground (Nex Mucro)
 * Gabyr
 * Underground locations
 * Dhaeraow Loomin lands: Living quarters, Marketplace, Black market, Spy Centre, Prison, Thieves Guild, The Poisoned Sword Inn
 * Gurtha Ndengin lands: Katanon Fortress, Living quarters, Marketplace, Siege Workshop, Blacksmith's Foundry, Mages Guild
 * Mori Templa Mellon lands: Dark Mages' Guild, Living quarters, Dark Sanctuary, House of Darkness
 * Underground cave systems