Lore
While traveling the world, players will learn things that are either secret or are forms of specialized knowledge. This can include facts about the Antagonists, facts about the history of the world, facts about its culture and people, and specialized academic or scientific knowledge. In Last Odyssey, information of this type is referred to as Lore. When players learn a piece of Lore for the first time, they will be granted 1 XP for each small piece of Lore that they learn about something, with the total amount of Lore available on a certain topic depending on how important it is to the campaign. Generally speaking, Lore about an adventure-level topic will grant up to 5 XP, a regional topic will grant up to 10, and a campaign-defining topic may grant a total 20 XP or more. Players are also able to learn more than one Lore statement at a time, but each individual piece is worth 1 XP. By the end of a Lore-heavy campaign, the players will have an extensive Lore bible that they can refer back to when needed. Player characters cannot earn XP for learning the same piece of Lore more than once.
Players can use relevant Lore that they have learned to solve puzzles, bypass Skill Challenges, or succeed on investigation rolls. This does not require the expenditure of Anima, the use of XP, or any additional dice rolls. If the players and the GM agree that an item of Lore will help them succeed on a task, it simply does. This aspect of Lore makes it useful for simulating certain forms of player character knowledge that are otherwise outside of the mechanical scope of Last Odyssey. Here are some examples:
- Language. GMs that want to make language a centerpiece of their campaign can represent it as Lore. The more adept the player characters become at a language, the more XP they earn, and the more they can say, write, and understand. This applies equally to living languages and dead ones.
- Technology. In some settings, remnants of past technology are scattered around the environment. Learning to use and operate this technology is a matter of Lore. The more technological Lore the players gather, the more they can use the technology of the ancients, allowing them to solve puzzles, gain equipment, and sometimes even gain advantages in combat.
- Ritual Magic. While player characters may innately use the power of Mana, there are certain uses of it that require more involved study. In settings with high magic, or with occult or spiritual elements, certain powers can be invoked by elaborate series of steps that the players can perform. The players should know all of the steps of a ritual to use it, and learning each step will net them 1 additional XP.
- Etiquette. High-risk social situations such as courtship or diplomacy will have strict rules around how to behave. If players are not already well-versed in matters of etiquette, its rules will count as Lore. Players’ relative skill at a given type of etiquette would correspond to the amount of Lore XP they have earned during the learning process.
- Exploration. Learning the locations of lost trade routes, ruins, or hidden temples also counts as Lore. In this case, the players earn 1 XP per clue as to where the thing they are seeking is located, and also earn additional Discovery XP when they arrive.