Some Guidance for Referees

 Orn is designed as a long campaign, much of which involves wilderness settings.  It is also a campaign with many hidden things to discover, leading the players' understanding of the overall story arc.

While the game begins with a series of reasonably set adventures, as the campaign continues, a more braided narrative develops, and the player characters gain agency, so they can choose which challenges they wish to take on next.

Over time, the number of non-player characters grows significantly.

As such there are certain key tasks that fall to the Dungeon Master, or Referee.

- There is a significant need for journalling, to keep track of what has happened in each game and adventure, but also to manage the days and weeks of the campaign.  There are a number of activities which happen 'off stage', so keeping an accurate journal enables the referee to know when these will have effect.

- Although there is a lot of information provided on this site, the referee should also keep track of significant events in the lives of the NPCs.  Indeed, some NPCs will level up and increase significantly in ability and power during the course of the game.  Some NPC entries have details of likely character trajectories, to help with the management of this.

- From time-to-time the characters may randomly encounter a creature that is too powerful for them, and  (if they are sensible) they will seek to avoid it.  This should be encouraged.  Similarly, as the player characters advance through the levels, some creatures may avoid them.  Not every encounter should result in combat.

- There are NPCs dotted around the campaign who have abilities to investigate situations and discover what is going on.  Many spells  and objects can be useful in this respect, from basic Detect Magic and Identify, to Detect Thoughts,  Commune with Nature, Divination and scrying.  It is far better for the players to develop these capabilities and conduct investigations themselves.  They should only be given assistance in rare instances, when they might otherwise fail or miss a significant opportunity.

Because of the unusual nature of the setting, some elements in the published rules need to be adjusted for fairness.  An example of this is the way in which a Wizard acquires new spells.  Guidance on these elements are provided in the site.