First time trying out Novus. Thought I'd share my experiences with it, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. So this are some first impressions and feedback I got from GM'ing and from my players. The focus was on the combat rules, of course.

I imposed upon myself the impossible task to show Novus to my gaming group while being the only one in possession of the Rule Book.
Let's say it was rough and a bit frustrating.

I provided the rules primer and some of the Novus starting characters for my players and gave a broad overview of the system. I dropped all the complex stuff like combat styles, adv. combat moves, Init-bonus of weapons, some casting options and such.

We played a simple straight forward adventure in a medieval setting about dark witches terrorizing the land. In the introduction scene there was a combat against a hag in a burning house. The platform was Roll20.

I already expected some problems because I knew it was much to swallow for my players who didn't know the rules.
But it took us 2.5 hours to kill that single foe with 5 players in 3 combat rounds, in fact with a single blow (type VI critical hit). Everything before that was administrating initiative and how and how not a player has to declare actions, how to abort and how to resolve them. Some characters had to traverse 100 yards to the combat scene (of COURSE they split up!), so all they did in that 2.5 hours was trying to reach the action.

Somehow some players couldn't understand how to declare an action without knowing if that action could actually be resolved (for example, "How do I know what to do in the future when Bob is blocking the entrance NOW?"). So the lack of a "waiting action" was a big hurdle for my players - an option they are used to from basically every other RPG.

Some of the criticism I couldn't understand as I think the system is neither too complex nor too slow. And I GM'ed Mythras with total newbies in the past!
I don't see a problem in declaring actions.. at all! When you're blocked, you simply do nothing or abort your action. I also don't think there are "too many actions to choose from" as 80% of them are just repeated with different costs; and the Fate list you also can get used to. Also they are not that much possible combinations of movement and attack that you can do, anyway.
But I do think the lack of a waiting action could be a problem. Tthere are indeed situations possible where you can do nothing at all.. yet.. and then lose your turn.


What I can say as a GM there are a few things that I think are problematic, though

- I don't think it's possible to have a smooth start with only one rule book at hand as it's too much to teach all that in a single adventure. If your players are already sceptical, you can't make a good first impression.

- handling a single initiative list is ok, but handling an additional dynamic initiative list where combatants switch places with every attack they do is just too much. So I ignored this instantly (because I knew this would brake my short-term memory).

- remembering all the actions of all combatants before they're resolved is much to ask. It's possible but exhausting on a permanent basis. At least the players should be able to remember their OWN actions.

- thers is no way to make NPCs quick&dirty. I think one get used to it with more experience in the system (so just guessing character values), but it would be nice to have a quick system to make NPCs with just the most necessary values and still know their XP Value.

- without a digital character sheet Roll 20 (or any VTT) is a huge detriment to the system. There are around 10 dynamic numbers that can change in an instant (Init, 3 stuns, 3 wounds, hits, bleeding, penalty, fate...). With pen&paper this is doable (hail to the combat tracking sheet) but on PC, it's dizzying. I think Novus works best at the table (that's how I like it).
The question is: What's the necessity to have three different kinds of wounds and stuns? What does it bring to the table that 1 Wound and 1 Stun level (like Savage Worlds for exmaple) doesn`t?

- the movement distances can be VERY long (3x Base Run). So when declaring actions everyone is counting hexes or measuring distances on a basis where everyone COULD BE to decide what to do for a few minutes or so. This felt a bit like a tedious TableTop game.

- my players were showered in Fate Points (every roll has the potential to generate one), so TN 15 usually was too easy to achieve, as they simply bought bonuses. I know that awarding Fate Points "is an art of itself" but as a GM you don't have much influence on the outcome of rolls.

- with Full Parry you're set to pull of a fumble as you only get +0 AB (~50%+ chance to fumble!). The solution my players used to get to this problem was just "not attacking at all" and I don't think that's the intention of the combat move Full Parry.





As a side note:

What bugs me, just in this single combat scene several new questions came up that I couldn't answer with the book or primer.
- can a move action be splitted? (move->attack->move)
- how exact has an action declaration to be?
- can I get past allies in combat ("walking through them")?
- when buying actions with Fate points, when do you have to pay the cost (when declaring, when acting? can I buy an action ahead and then just drop it for no cost?
- Is there a limit of 10 Fate points when accumulating Fate points by rolls?
- when using stealth against several guards, do you roll against all guards seperately (making the stealth action almost impossible to acomplish?) or does the whole group make a related skill bonus for perception?
- the combat move block lets you add Reflex (two primary stats) + AB (skill rank + primary stat) to the roll. So the block adds three primary stats to the role. This is a huge bonus which the opponent doesn't have, make it almost certain for a good fighter to block everything.
- does the blocked foe still gets his attack when blocked? A player can earn FATE points, for an NPCs its obsolete, imho.
- damage and wounds, the rulebook says "round down" when counting hits for wound. So when I get hit with 4 damage with 0 hits and 0 minor wounds, I get no major wound at all?


There are still 2 to 3 sessions to come but I feel I'm already loosing my players interest. The next combat has to rock!

I think it's way better now, also shorter. 

I also understood the arc as a "swing of a stick" but that let me think of it as a shape like a  wegde - and so as an "area of effect" - and so needed to place the point of origin (the "stick").
Showed the original version to an unbiased friend. He thought of it as a chain-lightning but couldn't make any sense of the 45°. My guess is the term arc may be too ambiguous in combination with some descriptions.

I don't know why the spell had to be that way, never seen a RPG spell with so many prerequisites but now I have a notion of how to use it a the table. I hope.

mmh, the glossary indeed says:

Non-Proficiency Bonus (NPB) – This is a modifer to the DT and a few other things. It is based on the character’s best melee skill bonus.

in contrast on p.22 (Skills)

... there is also a modifier that is used for both the character’s DT and for using any Combat Skill for which the character does not have any ranks. This is called the Non-Proficiency Bonus..

Which, now that I read it in a certain light actually means two separate things! As the name Non-Proficiency implies I already associated it with combat skills without rank.

So, the Non-Proficiency Bonus also applies when fighting proficient. I dare to say that's misleading. But thanks very much.

Hail to the Way Back Machine !

Thx for the effort, this clears things up, I hope. Enough to give it a try. I think it has something to do with the writing style I can't get through.
[As a side note; I also play a lot of board games, tabletops and wargames and am used to read rules word by word. I bet a visualization with the arcs in it would absolutely make it clear.]

I understand now that you add up additional Arcs adjacent to their flanks (like you said: \//\\//\), so this clarifies the "straight line out from the caster". Two paragraphs before that it says "they do not need to be in a line".
Ok, so both is true (that's why the part "it could ALSO travel straight.." was so confusing). I get now how to make a S-like shape or part of a circle (even a complete circle).

As a point of origin you simply choose one any of the tips of the "arc".

It will be interesting to see how this plays out at the table. I probably need cut-out shapes of paper for that in fringe cases.





I just now get he example with the three targets in the book. The example in the rule book is layed out as follows:
p.73: So, using this option, the first target could be within 5’ of the caster, with the second one behind him at 10’ and a ..
I read "behind him" as "behind the caster", so like  F · C · · F · F     (F=foe, C=caster) so this obviously couldn't work out . "behind the target" would've avoided the confusion on this part but I can also blame it on myself.

Next weekend I'm GMing my first One Shot with Novus. While time is running out, there are still some questions - in this case with the magic system - that I can't figure out myself.

Casting Spells:
p. 72 states you can pre-select a casting option but have to pay the Fatigue cost regardless if the spell suceeds or not. But you can also select the option AFTER rolling if you reach the TN and can (and want to) pay the fatigue cost, but you don't have to. Also on p.75 it states you do not lose any Fatigue in a spell failure.
So what's the benefit of pre-selecting the option? Why would anyone ever choose to pre-select an option?

Attack Spells:
p. 73 So this is a huge problem. I can not for the life of me understand the passage about arc spells, especially "Ranged Arc". I'm not even sure where to begin:

...each additional 45° of arc allows it to strike up to 2 or more adjacent foes.
On p. 72 it states Arc allows to attack any foes in a 45°,5´ area, so two of them in it? Or does the restriction only take effect with Ranged Arc?
The extra arcs do not need to be in line, they could reverse direction, allowing for a more S-like or jagged path.
What do you mean by "in line"`? As I understand these are cone like shapes, so where is the point of origin from each arc to put them in line? Is in line something like < < < < < ?
..With this option (which option, Ranged Arc? there's a paragraph before that!), the Arc could also travel straight out from the caster
I thought they do that anyway like p. 72 explains ("...in front or beside the character").
the target could be within 5´ of the caster, with the second behind him at 10´ and a third behind him at 15´...
If I would draw a line to each of these foes the range would be 25´, not 15´ (you have to go 5´ forward than 15´ in the opposite direction behind the caster, than 5´ to the third target). Or do you not draw a line at all? On the same page (p.73) it states the foes have to be within 5´ of each other, but in this example they are not.
I guess with +10´ range you have like 3 cone shaped areas that I can each place around the caster up to 15´ away. But that contradicts basically every rule before that.
so, my overall question is... uh.. Help?!

@chain:
dunno how I came up with this but they often seem to be on this kind of lists. I'm sure there is some appplication

@hourglass oh yeah, would be useful, also.

@repair kit:
I imagine a hammer, a saw, a file for mantaining, repairing things like a broken cart wheel for example.
But this way you'll find no end in adding items. That's why I really like the "kit" approach in Traveller, you have a lot of kits for certain skills, oftentimes they make actions easier, other times they're necessary to even try things.

@alchemy:
Mortar and pestle would definitely be in a "alchemist's kit". Another one would be a distilling device. Here is a mobile made of copper I once saw in the apothecarie's museum in Heidelberg (Germany) https://bawue.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=1800
you could put it in a oven (immobile) or just a bigger pot filled with water (basically everywhere at a campfire).
So it's possible but as mentioned above different "kits" would do fine, imho.

I just ask why my players always semm to bother me with this alchemy, even in games where there is not place for it in player hands (like D&D).

@cosmetics:
Disguises? Why not? but somethimes when attending certain events a certain kind of player sets great value on appearances (just like there a different qualities of clothing in Novus). Personally, I don't mind

@mobile shrines / idols were pretty common in ancient up to early medieval times where I like to set my campaigns in. People often made litte firing offerings (correct term?!) on journeys (aka Adventures ;-) ). This was before people had to attend to churches every other day.

looks thorough to me. What's the bone for  ?

just a few suggestions, assumed it fits in the setting (and I might have overlooked them):


- pick (or mining kit?)
- crowbar / chisel
.. a whole bunch of other tools for adventures (sewing kit, repair kit..)
- alchemist kit?
- grappling hook
- cosmetics
- sundial / clock
- compass / sextant
- cooking utensils (pots, pans, cutlery)
- Chain
- idol / portable shrine
- portable weighing scale


there are some very specific music instruments in a somewhat generalized list. Maybe group them
like small instrument, common (e. g. a flute, a drum), small instrument, fine/exquisite (e. g. harp, violine) and the same with "large"