Aborea

Aborea is a German fantasy RPG designed by Sebastian Witzmann. It premiered at the Cologne Roleplay Convention 2011.

The game has a simple set of rules, and the rules box is designed to introduce new players into the hobby.

At its core, Aborea is a classic class-and-level fantasy game. A character has five attributes that range from 1 to 10. The attribute values are bought from a point pool at character creation. The attributes are modified by a character's race. Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes are available in the core rules. Every character also can buy some skills from the list of 13 skills available.

To use a skill, the player adds the skill value and the appropriate bonus or malus derived from an attribute. Then he rolls a d10 and adds the result. The final sum must reach a difficulty value determined by the GM for the character to be successful.

In combat the combat bonus is determined again by adding the weapon skill and an attribute bonus. The weapon determines the attribute to use. The character can divide his combat bonus between offense and defense. The attacker rolls a d10 and adds his offensive bonus. This must be higher than the defender's armor value plus his defensive bonus. The damage of a successful attack is the difference between the defense and the attack roll, plus a weapon's damage bonus. Damage is the subtracted from the defender's hit points.

Magic is divided into seven different schools: White, black, free, elemental, wild magic, and signs and wonders. Each school provides ten spells, one for each skill rank. By investing in a skill, a character gains access to new spells. Casting a spell is usually as simple as paying the spell's costs in magic points. Only when the character is wounded or otherwise distracted, a skill check is required.

A character gains experience points during his adventures. After collecting enough points, he gains an experience level. This grants him new points to buy skills, and new hit points depending on his class and constitution. The class may also provide new special abilities at certain levels. There are also optional rules for players to select special abilities from a talent tree at various levels.

The currently published setting (June 2011) only describes the prospering kingdom of Trion which is set on the continent of Palea on the planet Aborea. Trion covers about a sixth or seventh of the landmass. It is a rather civilized country with a number of large cities.