Glossary

LARP may be new to you and from the get go you may have several things that you won’t understand. This is perfectly natural and you only have to ask someone and they will happily tell you, but here are a few terms you may hear while playing Age of Essence.

**OOC –** This means out of character and refers to an action being taken outside of the game. The person making this action may also put their fist in the air showing others that they are doing something outside of the game. This term is often shortened to OC.

**IC –** In character is a term used when referencing in game activities. Any point you are not designated as OOC you are IC and actions and things said will be taken as being performed by your character.

**Time Freeze –** This is a pause button used when someone calls time freeze you are to stop what you’re doing and hold still like a statue. It is often used to enact an instant reaction or a moment to describe something to the players in a split second. It can also be used for traps, specific spell affects and if a ref needs to catch up before the party moves on. It is also used to allow member of the public to pass without risk to themselves.

**Time In** - Resumes a time freeze or begins the game. Often this is counted down from three to give you time to prepare.

**Time Faff** - This is a call not often used but when it is it means you need to hold your position. However during this time you can perform actions like discussions, healing or buffs while an encounter is being prepared or discussed away from the player group.

**Man Down** - Please see safety calls for this description. Do not use this call if a character is dying or bleeding out. Instead call for a medic or healer.

**Bleeding Out/Death Count** - This will be covered more later, but this term references to a character who is losing too much blood and may die.

**Single, Double, Triple…** - When you hear these, they are usually indicating an amount of damage associated with an attack. More of this will be covered in the combat section of this document.

**Ref/Referee** - This is a member of the Age of Essence staff who will help guide you and be a walking talking rulebook. They are the plot writers and the ones setting up the game, encounters and challenges laid out before you.

**Crush** – This call destroys any mundane item struck, including weapons and armour. If it is called on a body location that limb/location is broken. If armour was worn the armour will be destroyed first. It will only break magical items and will have no effect on artefacts.

**Fatal** – When struck with a fatal you are instantly put on your death count regardless of armour.

Coup de grace – You can only coup de grace someone when they are completely helpless and unable to fight back. It requires 10 seconds of role play to complete a coup de grace. The victim of a coup de grace is dead.

**PC** - Player character. A player character is a character that is playing the adventure and is able to level up and do whatever they wish within the game world.

**NPC** - Non-player character. An NPC is a character that is set in the world. These are often quest givers, boss characters, leaders and so on. Each one has a set amount of experience and skills and do not level any further than they already have done. These characters are often played by a member of the Ref Team.

**Monster** - A monster is a creature or person in the world. A person on the monster team is often out to contest the players. Anyone can volunteer to monster, including players. Sometimes you may be asked to monster. Monsters are a very important part of the game, so remember when someone is a monster for you it’s only good courtesy to be a monster for them.

**EXP/Experience** - Experience is used to raise your characters skill. You gain EXP from playing the game and when you have enough you can use it to buy skills in the game.

**Silver**- Almost all LARP systems have a form of in-game money that is used to buy in game items. Age of Essence is no different and we use different types of physical coins to represent money.

**Down time** - Downtime activities are done out of play and are usually tasks such as crafting, research and exploration. These tasks are often done over the Age of Essence forums. For advice on downtimes please visit out facebook page where you can find a how to document.