General Overview
Energetics aka Magic
Essence and Energy has a system known as energetics, which is like other roleplaying games that use the term “magic” to represent it. The reason this game’s “magic” system is called energetics is because of the game’s lore. Energetics (magic) is the combination of energy in the atmosphere and your internal energy (known as essence) combining to produce a magical effect or ability, known as spells.
The energy used in energetics is all around you as the character. It makes up the world and the life that lives within it. It is not from some otherworldly dimension or special realm. Some inhabitance of this world worships the energy as gods while others study it as science. Either way, the energy used is within the same dimension, realm, existence, etc. that the character you play exists in. If your character has figured out how to channel this energy, they can create what commoners would refer to as magic and the educated refer to as energetics.
With the way people connect with the energy in the world, it is common for energetics to be part of people’s everyday lives. Technology within this game is the combination of mostly mechanical devices and energetics. The devices typically use energetics as a power source to fuel the device’s effect or purpose. Therefore, for example, arms (armaments or guns) powered by compressed steam are a common sight throughout the world. The energetics chapter has more information about energetics.
The world of energetics is a very vast experience you can choose to discover as you play Essence and Energy.
Experience Points
Experience points are a numerical value that is used to determine the strength and power of the player’s character. The more experience points the character has gained, the more powerful they become.
This game uses a combination of two types of experience point systems: the leveling system and the point buy system. Players will collect three types of experience points used to develop and grow their characters. The three types are: Knowledge Points, Reputation, and Talents.
Knowledge Points
You use this type of experience point for the crafting mechanics of the game. We gain them from performing different tasks and functions related to creating items as you play the game. Knowledge Points use the point buy system and do not contribute to the leveling system.
Reputation
We use this type of experience point in the social system of the game. We gain them from performing different social interactions and succeeding in them. Reputation uses the point buy system and does not contribute to the leveling system.
Talents
We use these experience points as universal experience that are used in any area of the character’s development. They are the key type of experience points rewarded and use both the point buy system and the leveling system. They are the only experience points that determine the character’s level.
The game master chooses how many, and the type of experience points to award you depending on the situation. See Experience Points in the Game Rules chapter for more information.
Levels
The more talents you gain, the higher your level increases. Each time you gain a level, you get additional bonuses on top of what you already purchased with your experience points. The maximum level you can achieve is ten.
Immersion Incentive
Players who stay in character by reacting to how their character would can earn special coins called Lucky Coins. The more immersive the player is, the more they can earn Lucky Coins. See Lucky Coins in the Luck section of the Game Rules chapter for more information.
Leave Meta Gaming at Home
There is lore that explains a lot about the creation of the world. Along with other explanations that the people of the world might not know. The lore provided in this book is for you to get a better understanding of the game world. It’s used to help you understand why and how the mechanics function in the world. An example of this is the mechanics and terms used for energetics (also referred to as magic), and how it is based on energy within the atmosphere, which also represents the deities of those who are religious.
When reading the lore, please keep in mind that just because you (the player) know the truth about the world, it doesn’t mean your character knows. Almost every character (NPC and PC) except for the gods wouldn’t know a lot of the lore provided.
For example, the people living on Nisumari do not know there are other floating continents with Unkai. They have no evidence to even think there is life beyond the clouds. People cannot explore beyond the clouds yet because of the lack of advanced technology in AGE vessels (airships). The technology in this world is still very primitive, so ask yourself “Would my character know this?” before roleplaying. Please keep this in mind when determining what your character would know about the world.
Terminology
Many terms can have multiple meanings. Some of these terms are interchangeable, such as energetics and magic. Please, when reading through the game, have an open mind and use common sense when interchanging different terms with the same subject.
The reason behind having different terms is based on the lore. For example, energetics and magic. Within the lore of the world, these terms are based on how educated the individual is. An uneducated commoner is more likely to call energetics, magic. While an educated individual will know that the proper term for magic is energetics.
What is a Role-Playing Game?
Players play a role-playing game around a table or online using a virtual tabletop with friends. Although you can have miniatures, maps, and other art to aid in the game, most of what happens is all in your imagination and theater of the mind.
A role-playing game has two positions: the players, and the game master. There are typically four players in a game, but some games can have more (or less) players if the game master allows it. It is also possible to have as little as one player, but typically role-playing games are more enjoyable with more people. Players are the main characters in the game master’s story. As a player, you create a fictional character and roleplay their life as an adventurer, set in the fictional world the game master provides.
As a game master, you control the world and roleplay non-player characters (NPC) that the players interact with. Being a game master is more complex than a player, as it involves controlling a story that the players have their adventures in. This story is sometimes pre-made by a publisher, or it is a homebrew adventure—a story you or another game master wrote—that puts the player’s characters through challenging quests and missions.
The game master must keep the story going, even when the players derail the story away from the plans they created (or a pre-made adventure-created). The game master must think on the fly and come up with new ideas and concepts when this happens, and it will happen often.
It’s kind of like the game master is the director of the movie and the players are the actors. Only there are no predetermined lines for the players to memorize and recite. The game master is the one with the story and you, as the player, change the story based on your character’s actions in the game world.
Role-playing games don’t have a way to “win” the game. The point of the game is to have fun telling a story that is created by its players and game master. It’s about enjoying the moment of gameplay and living the life of a fantasy character in an exciting immersive world while leaving the real world behind for a few hours and having fun with friends.
What is this game?
This game is a role-playing game where you use your imagination, theater of the mind, and creative skills to create the aspects of the game and characters that live in a fantasy world.
In this game, you start as a new adventurer. You have no experience being an adventurer therefore; you don’t have any idea what to do. Your past has taught you some skills and abilities, but nowhere near enough to prepare you for what lies ahead. You start with very little and must earn the experience you gain. Each time you gain more experience and treasure, you can use it to improve your skills and equipment to take on more challenging adventures.
Improving your skills and developing your character is the most important thing you can do as a player. It helps with providing a more immersive experience and allows you to better understand how they would react to a unique situation.
This game helps you to roleplay a character in a fantasy world where you can essentially do anything your character feels like doing. Keep in mind the fantasy world still has limitations, just like the real world. The game rules represent these limitations.
Ultimately, this is a storytelling game that uses the mechanics to help you tell a story and play the role of its characters. The more in-depth of a character you have, the more exciting and immersive the story can become.
Dice
Essence and Energy is a game that uses polyhedral dice. The game requires at least a standard set of polyhedral dice, with the ten-sided die being used the most. Players should have at least a standard seven-piece set of dice: one four-sided (d4), one six-sided (d6), one eight-sided (d8), two ten-sided (d10), one twelve-sided (d12), and one twenty-sided (d20).
Always Roll First!
Whenever you decide to use a skill, try to remember to make the skill check BEFORE roleplaying the results. Acting out the skill you are trying to perform before you are aware of how well your character performed makes you retro your excellent roleplaying. This can cause the immersion to break, which can make the game not as exciting. The information on your character sheet and the dice determines how successful (or horrible) your character is in the moment; not your extremely moving speech you made before you rolled your skill check.
Think of it this way: in combat, you always make the attack roll first before describing how you successfully defeated the enemy. You don’t explain how your titanium energy-infused long sword decapitated the ogre with one powerful swing and then roll to see if it happened. No, you make the roll first and then describe what happened. Therefore, it is important to make your skill checks before roleplaying out how your character would react. Act out the situation based on the environment and your roll results.
There are going to be plenty of times where you simply forget to roll first or in the heat of the moment the game master asks you to make a skill check based on the situation you are in. When this happens, try not to get worked up that you weren’t able to roll first and just play it out. Perhaps you can make your character retract what they said and try to phrase it a different way to recover from a stumble (low skill check result). In the end, having fun is more important than nitpicking at mechanics.
Always Round Down
Always round down when dividing in half or using fractions. Some rules will explain exceptions to this rule. The exception overrules this rule.
Dice Rolling Limitations
Energy and Essence have mechanics that allow a player to “chain” their rolls. A feature that allows multiple rolls of the dice to be added together to determine their chance of success. Players typically use a difficulty scale when chaining dice. Meaning the higher the total result, the better the character performed at the specific task. However, just because a player rolls as high as possible doesn’t mean they are suddenly a divine being related to the topic or task.
For example, if a player needs to know how much information they know about a specific area of the world. They would make a knowledge check (d10 + a statistic or skill). If they rolled as high as possible, they only know as much information as people in the world know. The information they know would be at a master scholars’ level, but they wouldn’t suddenly understand the unknown. This also applies to physical tasks and other skills or statistics.
