Well, you guys asked for it, you got it! Hopefully I've included everything and more that a player needs to know about how this RPG works. If you still have questions, let me know and I'll see if I can answer them.
Sections
1. Attributes, statistics and how they affect you
2. The Joys of Combat
3. Magic in its Grisley Detail
4. Arms and Equipment
5. Combination Attacks
1. Attributes, statistics, and how they affect you
Some of this is a brief review of what was mentioned in the character creation sheet, but goes a little more in depth on what they do.
The initial 90 points you distributed among Muscle, Stamina, etc. are called "attributes" (or as I tend to refer to them "scores"). They influence your character's statistics, which are Attack Power, Magic Endurance, Reaction, etc. The greater your attribute, the greater the increment by which your stats increase each time you gain a level.
What exactly does each attribute effect? Well, by now you have your character sheets and you can look at your scores in front of you. And you can figure out what the heck went wrong when you created your character. :) (Well, at least that's what happened to me once I learned the system.)
Muscle-As you know, the higher the Muscle, the higher your character's strength is. Muscle affects your Attack Power. Naturally someone like Kadan must have a macho Muscle value since he keeps whomping on all our monsters, eh? Muscle also counts for half of the multipler I use to help determine your new HP for each level you gain.
Stamina-Stamina directly affects your Defense Power. Can't take a single hit without getting your face pounded into the turf? Now you know why. Stamina counts for the other half of the multiplier for your HP. So if both Muscle and Stamina are low, your HP is gonna be low. But you could conceivably have high Muscle and low Stamina and wind up with average HP.
Intelligence-This attritube only effects the rate at which you gain levels. I still have yet to determine whether it pays off to have low intelligence and simply rely on your other stats being higher, or to max out your int and hope that will compensate for the rest. :) So don't look for any loopholes here.
Talent-Talent is probably the most important stat if you plan on associating with any magic whatsoever. And by associating, I *mean* associating. Talent determines your MP, Wisdom (how effective your spells are), and Magic Endurance (how effective your enemies' spells are on you!).
Dexterity-In my humble opinion, this is a pretty worthless attribute unless you jack it up to the max (or close to that). But that's just from my own experience. Dexterity only influences your chances of hitting and getting criticals (Hit%). And when we get down to the section on combat you'll see why I don't have a high opinion of it. (Although for some bizarre reason I decided to nearly max it out for Lou's Lunar RPG.)
Agility-This attribute is why some of you blaze ahead of the others in combat and why Tarrant is as slow as a snail. (No offense to Tarrant of course, as he was the one who first said that!) Agility also effects your ability to dodge (Dodge%). Reaction is the determining statistic that I look at to determine the order of who goes first in combat.
2. The Joys of Combat
This is the detail that most players are left wondering about because the GM does everything outside of the computer.
When a normal attack is made, I roll 1d100. Any of you who play pen and paper RPGs are probably with that terminalogy, but for those of you who aren't, that means roll a100-sided die once (or if you're like me, you roll percentile dice, but that's beside the point).
I take the result of that roll and add it to the Hit% of the attacker. If it exceeds the target's Dodge%, then the attack hits. If the sum is greater than the dodge by 90 or more points, then it's a critical hit. (So now you can see why crits don't come easy.) Criticals do roughly two or three times more damage than they normally would.
Assuming that the target takes a hit, damage is determined in this fashion. I take the attacker's Attack Power and roll 1d20. For each number it is higher or lower than 10, I add or subtract 1% of the attacker's Attack Power respectively. I then take this adjusted Attack Power, subtract the target's Defense Power from it, and then get the damage.
So now you know why battles can get a bit slow sometimes. I'm rolling dice and punching numbers into my calculator. And I have index cards up the wazoo containing all your character stats and monster stats for supposed quick reference. I know a lot of GMs fudge things, and I admit I've done my share of that, but I try to be consistent with things like XP, silver, MEXP, so I'm actually compiling something resembling an AD&D Monstrous Compendium of monsters, based off of my own monster creation rules.
Also, this rule is new relative to our game. I meant to introduce it earlier since it's needed help make the magic system work right (and it makes the battles more realistic). And that rule is combat lines. Starting from Session#6 on, I will ask you for which combat line you are standing in before the start of the battle. Combat lines are front and back. Characters in the front can attack monsters directly with melee weapons (swords, claws, etc.) as well as use their magic. They are also the only ones who can be hit by opposing monsters' melee attacks. So while the back is safer, people in the back can only use magic or attack with missile weapons (as well as be hit by them). Monsters will make use of combat lines as well, though admittedly not as often.
3. Magic in its Grisley Detail
Okay, magic is probably one of the most annoying things for a GM to handle, but a fantasy RPG wouldn't be the same without it!
Before we go into the combat aspects of magic, we'll deal with the basic system. I think Arzel will appreciate this since he hasn't played Lunar: Eternal Blue. :)
Many of you chose to learn various elemental magics for your characters skill groups. Elemental magics are those like water, air, thunder, light, plant, acid, etc. They are all listed on the player creation sheet. Each elemental magic is strong against one element and weak against another, thus forming a giant ring of what beats what. This can come in handy or act as a hindrance when fighting against a monster strongly aligned with a certain element. For example, an air elemental would take extra damage from fire (smoke pollution and heat expansion), none from air, and very little from earth (since air causes erosion).
And for those of you using weapons skills, this may sound redundant. But you must have that weapon in order to use your skill! You can't use blade magic while holding on to a set of claws! (Thankfully no one is guilty of doing this yet, but one never knows...)
You people may have noticed that after each battle you get this little thing called MEXP. This is what lets you make your magic more powerful. Just like a character's stats become better each time he/she advances a level, magic groups get more powerful each time *they* advance a level. Players have the option of either getting a new spell or an upgraded form of an old one each time one of their magic groups reaches an odd-numbered level beyond 1. However, unlike L:EB, you won't loose the old spell once it's upgraded. :)
If you look at your character sheet you'll notice the spell effects listed underneath the spell. And you'll see abbreviates like OS, 1E, 1A, etc. These basically tell you who the spell effects. OS means "on self". 1A means "one ally", AL "ally line", AA "all allies". And 1E, EL, and AE are the same as the ally ones, except substitute "enemy" for "ally". (GMRune suddenly notices someone made a dipstick mistake in the magic chart. "1E/EL/AE: Transform player(s) into fire"? The players aren't the enemies...)
And magic gets more complicated once we get into battle (because whoever hacked up Hahn's rules before I got them seems to have forgotten a few things; either that or Hahn did), so I'm sort of redesigning the magic rules as I go. So far though, combat magic works like this. I take the attacker's Wisdom + magic level * form (if it's an upgraded spell) to find the "effectiveness" of the spell. I subtract the effectiveness from the target's Magic Endurance to get the damage.
Weapon skills work slightly differently. I take the effectiveness, divide it by 4, and add it to the attacker's AP. The result is subtracted from the target's DP. This might seem a little weird, but so far it seems to be doing okay.
Non-attack spells also use the idea of effectiveness, however no Magic Endurance is subtracted from its result since the target typically isn't resisting the effects of the spell (unless the target happens to be Kadan).
4. Arms and Equipment
This section is sorta slapped together at the last minute, but when I think about it, it has a valid reason for being here. Your choice in weapons can affect what kinds of armor you may use on your arms. And your weapon's capabilities are always handy to know in battle. Even though I know we have no people who use bows and maces, I'm including them for the sake of completeness.
Axes-Nothing special here. :D They are normally wielded in one hand and thus the wielder can use anything he/she wants in the other hand (although I might later make larger varieties that require two hands, and therefore the wielder can't use a shield).
Bows-Bows allow their wielders to attack from the back row. They also require the use of two hands. Thus archers can only use bracers on their shield arms.
Canes-These tend to be the weapon of choice for wizards and usually give a bonus to Wisdom. On the other hand, they aren't very useful in combat. Canes are used with one hand, so technically the wielder can use anything else in the off-hand (although the wielder is usually a mage and so shielding options are somewhat limited).
Claws-Claws are worn one strapped to each hand/arm, thus giving the wielder an extra attack a round. However, since the wielder's other arm is occupied, claws may not be used in conjuction with any sort of armor for the arms.
Mace-Like axes, they are wielded in one hand and any sort of armor may be used on the off hand.
Staff-Staves are harder to use than canes, requiring a little more skill. They are used with two hands, so the wielder cannot use a shield in his/her other hand. However the usage of bracers is allowed. Staves also tend to give bonuses to Wisdom, although not as much as canes.
Swords-Same as axes. The wielder holds the weapon in one hand and can use any sort of shielding in the other.
Lastly, you can't wear two types of armor for your arm. So just like you can't put two shields on one arm, you can't use a shield in conjuction with a bracer.
5. Combination Attacks
I've been asked about combo attacks in battle and indeed there are some. However, like in Phantasy Star IV, you must discover them on your own and the two characters performing them must be attacking one after another. Combos only occur when magic is being used. However, unlike PS4, where combos could be interrupted by other characters/monsters taking their actions in between those of the participants, I will give those involved the option of delaying their turns and going together at the end of the round. However, both of the participants must agree to delay for that to happen.
How do combination attacks work? Why are they better than using the attacks separately? What I do is I take the effectiveness of the two or more spells involved (or the adjusted AP if it involved a weapon skill), add them together, and then subtract that from the target's Magic Endurance (or DP if a weapon is involved). So one may ask, what's the big deal with that, it would be subtracted anyway. Well, the two spells separately would be subtracted twice. But they are only subtracted once as a combo. If you're fighting an enemy with a lot of Magic Endurance, you can see how much that would help you!