Gameplay
The Big Idea
Naevis is a game about dungeon crawling. It is sometimes also about other things, like scheming wizards and evil cultists, but the focus is always on exploration. That means that players have two main goals in any given session:
- Survive.
- Collect treasure.
The Typical Dungeon
An average session consists of the party exploring a map made of index cards. Each Room may contain some manner of threat, treasure, hazard, or oddity. As the party explores, more of the map is revealed, with most single-session dungeons containing roughly twelve rooms.
Threats
Some rooms have an obvious hostile force in them. Parties will generally have one chance to try diffusing the situation before swords are drawn. Diplomacy, bribery, and roundabout tactics are encouraged. But should cooler heads fail to prevail, a fight will break out. By design, combat will rarely last for three rounds.
Hazards
Other Rooms will present challenges that can’t be resolved through combat. Boiling hot springs, toxic mushroom spores, and jagged cliffs can also impede progress and require careful planning to safely cross. Many are hiding valuable treasures behind greater danger.
Oddities
Not all Rooms include a barrier to progress. Some are simply strange, or have wholly optional elements. Rooms with riddles, mysterious shrines, exotic plants, and other static features fall under this category.
The Little Ideas
Short Rests
A dungeon is no place for leisurely napping. Long rests are prohibited while exploring. Short rests can be taken using rations. Spellcasters are advised to stock up on scrolls.
Loot and Encumbrance
Given that loot is valued by weight, the Variant Encumbrance rules encourage strong characters that can carry their own gear and treasures. Bags of Holding and similar items do not exist in this setting.
Languages
The Common tongue is not so common beneath the earth’s surface. Adventurers hoping to try diplomacy with monsters, make peace with beasts, or talk to ghosts will need the right language proficiencies to do so. This also means that the character with the highest Charisma score is not necessarily the one who will be handling negotiations.
More
Other mechanics, like Downtime, Attunement, and Multiclassing are discussed in their own sections.