Nyroth Island Exploration Rules

A map of Nyroth, illustrated by the ancient Nyrothian, who was apparently not an artist.

The continent of Nyroth is surrounded by ten islands, spaced at strangely regular intervals. While the mainland is lethally toxic to Nyrothians, they have survived on these islands—or, at least, on some of them. The League is attempting to impose order on the exploration (or looting) of these islands by opening them up progressively.

Getting access to an island

The main way to gain access to one of these islands is to win a set of weekly Featured Matches:

• If a faction wins 3–0, they may freely select any (unexplored) island to explore.
• If a faction wins 2–1, they are limited to the current quadrant. To start with, that encompasses Avalon, Emain Ablach, Argyre, and Daeyux. (Meanwhile, the faction that scored a single match victory will get a mini-adventure on the mainland.)

Bilgewater gets the first shot at island exploration, due to its initial victories in the first phase of the dispute. It will begin with Avalon.

Assets

Factions have various assets that they rely upon when exploring islands.

Stats

Each faction’s World Systems stats come into play during challenges. For example, Research is rolled when tackling magical or technological challenges, like discovering a monster’s weakness or repairing a nexus.

Military

Each faction starts with a third of its total available Military Strength deployed to Nyroth. (That’s about 15 points, for a typical faction with 50 Military.) This represents their vanguard: scouts, rangers, veterans, and other exceptional units that are ready and able to “rough it” in Nyroth. (Remember that only Champions and Summoners have the innate magical power necessary to use teleportation circles, and they cannot transfer meaningful quantities of material in this way: everyone else is on their own.) These troops do not consume barracks space.

• Note—lost vanguard units. If these units are lost in combat, they are not automatically replaced. The assumption is that every faction has a limited number of “vanguard” troops.
• Note—mercenaries. If a faction hires mercs, one-third of them are assumed to be vanguard. For example, if a faction hires 30 Strength of mercenaries, its vanguard increases by 10.

Bringing in reinforcements requires infrastructure, constructed primarily through the Industry system. Each barracks structure provides space for 15 points of non-vanguard reinforcements from Valoran, which will be automatically sent over.

Navy

Factions may, if circumstances permit, bombard their enemies from the sea once before the battle begins. This applies instant casualties to the enemy force. The magnitude of the damage is equal to one-fifth of their Navy stat plus or minus up to 50%.

Champions

Factions can assign their Champions to missions. This increases their odds of success, but brings a risk that they will be injured (or otherwise incapacitated) in the field, sidelining them from matches for the next week.

Buffs

Factions can pick up small buffs. A typical buff gives +10 to a particular type of roll. (The bonus is added on at the end, after mods are applied.) Factions with designated leaders get buffs based on their choice of leader; others get buffs based on their overall theme.

Here are the starting buffs:

• Bilgewater: Nami and her Marai companions give +10 to Research checks. (This buff was enhanced as part of their reward for their victory in the first phase of the arc; they also increase the magnitude of Research gains from lore events by 10%.) She tilts the faction toward Research rewards.
• Ionia: Karma is a masterful diplomat who has been instrumental to the success of the League of Legends. Under her leadership, every Major reward Ionia receives also gives +10 to Favor, while every Minor reward gives +3 to Favor. (This would not apply in cases where Ionia chose the “evil” option. You’ll know what those are because the description will say something about Karma opposing them.)
• the Shadow Isles: The Isles’ ability to communicate with the spirits of the slain Nyrothians has given them a deeper understanding of the cataclysm that destroyed Nyroth. They gain +10 to Research checks in lore events.
• the Freljord: Queen Ashe is focused on developing trade relations and otherwise giving the Freljord the material assets it needs to grow. The Freljord gains +10 bonus Commerce for every Major reward, and +3 for every Minor reward, regardless of type.

Mainland adventures can give additional buffs.

How island exploration works

Island exploration is essentially an interactive lore event. The faction will be presented with an initial setup, and will then be given one or more decisions to make. Those decisions will then play out. Their odds of success in various endeavors will be principally determined by their stats. They also generally will have an option to dispatch one or more Champions to personally lead missions; this will boost odds of success at the cost of risking injury to that Champion. Injured Champions are removed from play for one week. Depending on the circumstances, “injury” might be a literal injury, or going MIA, or simply needing to stick around after the exploration is finished to complete some task.

Setup

Each island exploration event begins with a brief lore setup. This is coupled with the decision vote.

Decisions

Each faction will then have a couple days to vote on its decisions. Each decision will have different pros and cons: for example, there might be a “safe” option and an “ambitious” option. Some options may be benevolent, and others callously amoral or vindictive.

Decisions are often coupled with challenges tied to a stat.

• Military challenges are resolved using the Military system.
  • Up to three Champions may be deployed to each Military challenge. Adding a Champion adds a Strength 5 (1d9) military unit that rolls twice for Strength and uses the higher roll. Each Champion has a 10% chance of being injured in battle, win or lose. They are also injured if they are lost as a casualty, which is more likely to happen if they’re on the losing side.
  • Factions may, if circumstances permit, bombard their enemies from the sea once before the battle begins. This applies instant casualties to the enemy force. The magnitude of the damage is equal to one-fifth of their Navy score plus or minus up to 50%. (Gangplank’s ult still has RNG here.)
• Research challenges are resolved by rolling faction’s Research stat: take their Research stat, then increase or decrease it by up to 100%. Then, compare that to the target number.
  • Specifically, roll a d101 and subtract 51, yielding a modifier from -50% to 50%. Double that to get an increase or decrease of up to 100% in either direction.
  • On a natural 1, they automatically fail.
  • On a natural 10 or below, their Research stat is halved.
  • On a natural 80 or above, their Research stat is doubled.
  • On a natural 90 or above, their Research stat is tripled.
  • On a natural 95 or above, they automatically succeed.
• Espionage challenges are resolved essentially like Research challenges.
  • Factions may assign up to one (suitably sneaky) Champion to personally carry out an especially important Espionage challenge. Doing so gives them a reroll; they take the better result. However, if they fail, or if either roll is a natural 10 or below, the Champion is injured.

Resolution

We will then roll to determine how the scenario plays out. We’ll publish a short lore update explaining the aftermath. Through island exploration adventures, factions can shape the story of Nyroth piece by piece.

Rewards

Depending on how it goes, a faction might gain a reward from the island. A typical take for a moderate success would be one Major reward and one Minor reward. A dramatic success might earn two Major rewards, and a failure might still provide at least a Minor reward or two, depending on the specifics.

These rewards are organized into categories. Examples of typical rewards in each category are listed below. These are only examples.