Crafting

Crafting is the art of refining, cleaning, and shaping mundane materials – cloth, stone and metal, wood, glass or gemstones – into useful forms. Skilled crafters can make items of greater quality or special properties, or temporarily improve or enhance normal objects. Crafting is also ideal for preparing items or materials to receive magic, via Invocation, Ritual Magic or other forms of investment.

Superior Items Deprecated All superior quality items have been deprecated. Existing superior items will be treated as mastercrafted and can be maintained as mastercrafted items using repair kits. All undated superior items will expire in May 2028 by default. The exception to this is Superior Workshops and Laboratories, which have been reclassified to Mastercrafted Adept versions. See Workshop Quality for details. These items will be assumed to be the updated Mastercrafted Adept version but will require swapping out at GOD by the end of 2026.

Crafting Skills

There are three main crafting skills, each of which paves the way for two or more specialised archetype skills:

Artisan

A character with Artisan skill can refine bone, cloth, glass, leather, paper, stone or wood from the relevant raw materials. They can also craft any mastercrafted quality items other than weapons, armour, jewellery and mechanisms, per the tables at the end of this chapter, or identify any item made with this skill or any of the below skills.

Artisan is a prerequisite for the following archetype skills:

• Carpenter: A carpenter can craft mastercrafted items from wood.
• Glassblower: A glassblower can craft mastercrafted items from glass.
• Papermaker: A papermaker can craft mastercrafted items from paper.
• Artist: An artist can craft mastercrafted items from stone, clay, or other artistic media.
• Tailor: A tailor can craft mastercrafted items from cloth, leather and fur.

A character with three of the above specialisms can also learn the skill Jury Rig, which draws on the breadth of their knowledge to improvise structures and simple devices in the field.

Blacksmith

A character with Blacksmith skill can refine metal, wood or leather from the relevant raw materials. They can craft any mastercrafted quality weapons or armour, or most items made from base metal, per the tables at the end of this chapter, or identify any item made with this skill or any of the below skills. They can repair any armour, even if they don't have the skill to wear it; with repair kits, they can do so in a fraction of the time.

Blacksmith is a prerequisite for the following archetype skills:

• Armourer: An armourer can craft mastercrafted armour and shields.
• Ironmonger: An ironmonger can craft mastercrafted items made of metal (not jewellery metal) other than weapons and armour, and mastercrafted tools of all sorts.
• Weaponsmith: A weaponsmith can craft mastercrafted weapons.

Jeweller

A character with the Jeweller skill can refine copper, silver and gold from the relevant ores. They can craft any mastercrafted quality jewellery and mechanisms, or identify any item made with this skill or any of the below skills.

Jeweller is a prerequisite for the following archetype skills:

• Gemsmith: A gemsmith can cleanse, cut and etch seals into gems, unlocking and focusing their magical potential. See Gemsmithing for full details.
• Goldsmith: A goldsmith can craft mastercrafted jewellery.
• Mechanician: A mechanician can craft mastercrafted locks, mechanical traps and other mechanisms.

Identifying Crafted Items

Any crafter can, after a few seconds' handling and examination, identify crafted items as follows:

If the crafter knows how to make the item, they recognise exactly what it is, including its quality, the materials and work units required to make it, and any specific mechanical effects it has.

If they don't know how to make the item, but it lies within their skill tree (e.g. a character with the Artisan skill examining an item that requires the Carpenter skill to make), they can identify its quality, and a brief summary of its effects.

Any crafter examining a signature item made with any skill within their skill tree can recognise the crafter's distinctive style.

Example

Torja the Mighty has the skill Weaponsmith, and is examining a suit of mastercrafted armour hardened to resist the call Through three times per day. She knows it's mastercrafted, and that it has been reinforced in some way, but not the specific mechanical effects.

Workshops

Any use of crafting skills that expends work units or study units, including creation, alteration, repair or research, requires the use of a suitably equipped workshop.

As with all equipment, a standard quality workshop has no in-character cost; all that's needed is a physical representation. Higher-quality workshops must be bought or made in play and provided with item cards. Research specifically requires a Mastercrafted Adept or higher quality workshop.

There are five standard types of workshop, corresponding to the general skills required to use them: an alchemist's laboratory, an artisan's workshop, a blacksmith's forge, a jeweller's bench or a surgeon's bed.

Although consisting of several parts, a workshop is treated as a single item in game; a higher quality workshop receives a single item card to track its existence, which must be attached to the work surface (table, bench etc.).

Representing a Workshop

At minimum, a phys rep of a workshop must consist of a surface to work on – a table, bench or bed, or even a roll-up mat or blanket – and at least three appropriate tools or fixtures, as follows:

• Artisan's Workshop: Tools and fixtures for a workshop vary hugely depending on the materials the Crafter is working on, including chisels, hammers, saws and files, lathes and vices, potter's wheels, crucibles and blow irons, needles and thread, looms, frames and shuttles.
• Blacksmith's Forge: Tools and fixtures for a forge include hammers, tongs, files and anvils, crucibles and moulds, and furnace and bellows.
• Jeweller's Bench: Tools and fixtures for a Jeweller's bench include hammers, pliers, vices and dowels, crucibles and moulds and Jeweller's loupes.

Tools do not necessarily have to be constructed to the same standards as LARP weapons, but should be safe and suitable for use in play, e.g. no sharp blades, saws or needles or delicate glass vessels.

Very enthusiastic players may wish to bring phys reps that incorporate real fire, moving water, smoke or other practical effects. Anything along these lines must be submitted to the player's Faction Command and members of the Event Team to ensure they are safe and that suitable precautions (including e.g. access to fire extinguishers) are being taken, and must never be left unattended.

Note: The intent is to promote an engaging and immersive experience, not to present an insurmountable barrier! As with all phys reps, any sincere effort will be accommodated, and other players and staff may be able to lend props or give advice on how to source them.

Transporting a Workshop

Transporting a workshop (e.g. to steal it) does not require any special skills or numbers of people; as long as the players carrying the workshop can physically move it, they can move it in character. This requires transporting the table, bench or mat and at least three tools or fixtures, although it is permissible to pack it up or carry it in parts.

Workshop Quality

Like all equipment, workshops vary in quality. A higher-quality workshop can be configured by its owner, optimising it for their use. A configured workshop grants the crafter who has configured it (only) bonus work units and allows them to conduct research. Other characters can use the workshop (i.e. can make use of the phys rep), but gain no benefits from the workshop's quality unless and until they reconfigure it for themselves.

To configure a new workshop, the owner must register it with a Crafting Referee, and then spend a day using it without any benefit (as they work out how to arrange it best, etc.). The benefits come into effect the next day.

• Standard: As with all standard equipment, a standard workshop is un-carded and has no in character cost; the player need only provide suitable props to represent it.
• Mastercrafted Adept: Once configured by its owner, a Mastercrafted Adept workshop allows research up to adept complexity, and grants the owner 3 bonus work units per day.
• Mastercrafted Expert: Once configured by its owner, a Mastercrafted Expert workshop allows research up to expert complexity, and grants the owner 6 bonus work units per day.

With research, a crafter may learn to configure a workshop to give different benefits for specific tasks.

A damaged or broken workshop becomes unconfigured; once repaired, it will need to be configured again as though new.

A stolen workshop, or one that has been sold or traded in play, can be reconfigured by its new owner to benefit them. In both cases, this requires the owner (or new owner) to register the change with a crafting referee and use the workshop for a day without benefit. The new owner of a stolen or traded workshop cannot start reconfiguring it until the day after acquiring it.

Making a Workshop

Any crafter can make their own higher-quality workshop, at a cost in materials and work units.

Workshops	Skill	Costs	Work Units
Superior artisan’s workshop	Artisan	2 metal (H), 5 metal (O), 2 wood (O), 7 Charcoal, 2 oil	40
Mastercrafted artisan's workshop	Carpenter, Glassblower, Papermaker, Sculptor or Tailor	9 metal (H), 2 wood (O), 9 charcoal, 2 oil	70
Superior blacksmith’s forge	Blacksmith	2 metal (H), 5 metal (O), 2 wood (O), 7 charcoal, 2 oil	40
Mastercrafted blacksmith’s forge	Armourer or Weaponsmith	9 metal (H), 2 wood (O), 9 charcoal, 2 oil	70
Superior jeweller’s bench	Jeweller	2 metal (H), 3 metal (O), 2 glass (O), 2 wood (O), 7 charcoal, 2 oil	40
Mastercrafted jeweller’s bench	Gemcutter, Goldsmith or Mechanician	6 metal (H), 2 glass (H), 3 glass (O), 2 wood (O), 11 charcoal, 2 oil	70
Superior alchemist’s laboratory	Artisan	2 metal (H), 4 glass (H), 2 wood (O), 6 charcoal, 2 oil	40
Mastercrafted alchemist’s laboratory	Glassblower	3 metal (H), 6 glass (H), 2 wood (O), 9 charcoal, 2 oil	70
Superior surgeon’s bed	Artisan	1 metal (H), 3 metal (O), 3 cloth (O), 2 wood (O), 4 charcoal, 2 oil	40
Mastercrafted surgeon’s bed	Carpenter or Tailor	6 metal (H), 3 cloth (O), 2 wood (O), 6 charcoal, 2 oil	70

Note: All designs using charcoal yield 1 unit of ash as a byproduct, and all designs using metal yield one unit of powdered metal.

Upgrading a Workshop

Mastercrafted Adept workshops can be upgraded to Mastercrafted Expert at the following costs:

Workshops	Skill	Costs	Work Units
Mastercrafted Expert alchemist's laboratory	Glassblower	1 Mastercrafted Adept alchemist's laboratory, 3 glass (H), 1 metal (H), 1 wood (O), 4 Charcoal, 1 oil	40
Mastercrafted Expert artisan's workshop	Carpenter, Glassblower, Papermaker, Artist or Tailor	1 Mastercrafted Adept artisan's workshop, 7 metal (H), 1 wood (O), 7 Charcoal, 1 oil	40
Mastercrafted Expert blacksmith's forge	Armourer, Ironmonger or Weaponsmith	1 Mastercrafted Adept blacksmith's forge, 7 metal (H), 1 wood (O), 7 Charcoal, 1 oil	40
Mastercrafted Expert jeweller's bench	Gemsmith, Goldsmith or Mechanician	1 Mastercrafted Adept jeweller's bench, 4 metal (H), 2 glass (H), 2 glass (O), 1 wood (O), 8 Charcoal, 1 oil	40
Mastercrafted Expert surgeon's bed	Carpenter or Tailor	1 Mastercrafted Adept surgeon's bed, 5 metal (H), 1 cloth (O), 1 wood (O), 5 Charcoal, 1 oil	40

Tools

By default, a crafter's tools don't receive separate item cards from their workshop; in game terms, the tools are part of the workshop. That said, some of a crafter's actions can be performed away from their workshop, e.g. a Blacksmith can repair armour in the field with repair kits, or an artisan can use the Jury Rig skill to improvise a device; this requires some phys reps of suitable tools, which need not be carded.

A creator may make separate high quality tools, if wished (e.g. so that they can be enchanted). By default, this has no mechanical effect when using a workshop, but with research, special tools may grant specific benefits. All crafters can make their own tools; the Ironmonger skill grants knowledge of all tools.

Crafting Materials

Crafting makes use of a range of materials available in the Renewal campaign: stone, wood, metal, leather and other workable substances suitable for shaping as required.

There are two main types of materials in the game:

• Raw materials, which can be gathered in the wild in play using the Gathering skill.
• Finished materials, which may be created in game through the various crafting skills.

All materials can also be received via the Resources skill, bought from traders, received as a reward in plot or otherwise acquired in play.

Rarity A resource's rarity is a measure of how common it is. Standard creation materials come in four degrees of rarity: Very Common (VC) Common (C) Uncommon (U) Rare (R) Rarity reflects how easy it is to find in the game, and should roughly indicate value.

Raw Materials

Raw materials can be gathered in play using the Gathering skill. Crafters can refine these materials in various ways, creating finished materials; some designs for doing so are listed below.

A list of standard raw materials follow. Others exist, but may be harder to source, or require specific in character actions such as harvesting the bodies of fallen foes.

By default, all raw materials expire two years after being gathered, unless refined or used.

Common Materials	Rarity	Gems	Rarity	Ores	Rarity
Chalk	VC	Blue agate	U	Cold iron ore	R
Clay	VC	Crimson quartz	U	Copper ore	U
Fleece	VC	Green agate	U	Gold ore	U
Hide	VC	Navy quartz	U	Lead ore	C
Ore	VC	Purple topaz	U	Nickel ore	C
Rock	VC	Red agate	U	Platinum ore	R
Sand	VC	Sage quartz	U	Silver ore	U
Timber	VC	Turquoise topaz	U	Tin ore	C
Wax	VC	Yellow topaz	U

Note: Characters may not choose specific-colour gems with the Resources skill. They must specify agates, topazes or quartzes, but will receive random-coloured gems of that type each event.

Finished Materials

The following finished materials can be created from various raw materials. The required skills, materials and cost in work units vary, and are listed below.

Note that refining cold iron ore and platinum ore are both specialised tasks requiring research.

By default, all finished materials expire three years after being refined, unless used.

Material	Rarity	Skill	Costs	Work Units
Bone (O)	C	Artisan	1 body part, 1 sand	1
Bone (H)	U	Artisan	3 body part, 1 sand	3
Cloth (O)	C	Artisan	1 fleece, 1 fluid	1
Cloth (H)	U	Artisan	3 fleece, 1 fluid	3
Copper metal	R	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 copper ore, 1 charcoal	9
Glass (O)	C	Artisan or Jeweller	1 sand, 1 charcoal	1
Glass (H)	U	Artisan or Jeweller	3 sand, 1 charcoal	3
Gold metal	R	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 gold ore, 1 charcoal	9
Lead metal	U	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 lead ore, 1 charcoal	3
Leather (O)	C	Artisan or Blacksmith	1 hide, 1 cream	1
Leather (H)	U	Artisan or Blacksmith	3 hide, 1 cream	3
Metal (O)	C	Blacksmith	1 ore, 1 charcoal	1
Metal (H)	U	Blacksmith	3 ore, 1 charcoal	3
Nickel metal	U	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 nickel ore, 1 charcoal	3
Paper (O)	C	Artisan	1 timber, 1 fluid	1
Paper (H)	U	Artisan	3 timber, 1 fluid	3
Silver metal	R	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 silver ore, 1 charcoal	9
Stone (O)	C	Artisan	1 rock, 1 sand	1
Stone (H)	U	Artisan	3 rock, 1 sand	3
Tin metal	U	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 tin ore, 1 charcoal	3
Wood (O)	C	Artisan or Blacksmith	1 timber, 1 fluid	1
Wood (H)	U	Artisan or Blacksmith	3 timber, 1 fluid	3

Wire

Some crafting designs and surgical procedures call for wire, which crafters can make as follows:

Material	Skill	Costs	Work Units
Metal wire (for 3)	Blacksmith or Jeweller	1 metal (H), 1 charcoal	1
Jewellery metal wire (for 3)	Jeweller	1 jewellery metal, 1 charcoal	3

Note: Jewellery metal includes e.g. lead, nickel, tin, copper, silver or gold.

Gemstones

Jewellers can work with gems in several ways. When gathered in the wild, gems start out cloudy, with mixed colours. The Gemsmith skill allows the jeweller to cleanse stones to simplify their colours, cut them to unlock their magical potential, and etch seals into them to attune them to specific effects.

See Gemsmithing for full details on gem cleansing, cutting, etching and setting.

Making Crafted Items

A crafter may make any of the items known to them per their skills, or any unique designs they have learned through research or teaching. If a crafter wishes to produce a common item not listed in these rules, they may usually do so without special research; discuss with a crafting referee.

Every design has a cost in work units and materials.

Roleplaying and Logging Work

To craft on any day, the player must engage in at least 30 minutes' suitable roleplay at their workshop either all at once or spread out over several tasks through the day. Roleplay includes using their phys reps to mime cutting, sewing, grinding, polishing, melting etc. as appropriate to their craft.

They must then log their work with a referee, who will confirm that the character knows how to craft the items (checking design cards, if relevant), confirm any benefit they get from using a configured workshop, collect the resources consumed, and note how many work units the crafter is using.

A crafter may produce an item over more than one day to spread the cost, handing over all required resources when they start working; they don't need to finish one item before starting the next. In this way, they can have multiple projects in progress at a time.

Apprentices

A crafter can work with the aid of an apprentice, a junior crafter aiding them in their efforts for the purposes of production. The apprentice must at least know the relevant general skill (Artisan, Blacksmith or Jeweller) for the project, but does not need to know the design for the project — or the archetype skill, if any, the project is based on. The apprentice does not need their own workshop.

For every 2 work units contributed by the apprentice, 1 work unit is added to the crafter's total. The apprentice cannot contribute more work units (after halving) than the crafter.====Crafting Research====

Crafters can research new designs, techniques and processes to expand their capabilities. For details on the Artisan, Blacksmith and Jeweller study paths and their sub-paths, see Creator Study Paths.

Research requires a Mastercrafted Adept or higher quality workshop. Creators have additional research benefits; see Creator Research for details.

Completing the Design

Once the crafter has accumulated enough work units to complete the project, the referee will confirm any features or signature style the crafter wishes to add to the item and then issue an item card for the item. Every crafted item must be represented by a suitable phys rep, to which the card must be attached.

Note: By default, mastercrafted items expire after three years, degrading (e.g. rusting, blunting, fading, cracking etc.) to uselessness. Crafted items may be maintained before expiring using repair kits, extending their useful life. Expired items may be restored by a crafter with the skill to create the original, at the same cost in materials and work units as making the item.

Features and Details

Generally, purely cosmetic details of a crafted item needn't be noted on the item card; but if the crafter wishes (e.g. if it is important for plot purposes), they may stipulate an item's appearance, colour or other details, which will be recorded on the item card. Any crafter may add a "maker's mark" to an item at this time, to show it is their work, although note that such a mark can be imitated by others.

Very skilled crafters can research how to make signature items, crafted in highly distinctive style that is unique to them, and which can be readily recognised by characters with the Evaluate skill, even without a maker's mark. A crafter's signature style cannot usually be imitated by another crafter.

Ornate Items

The costs listed under Crafting Designs reflect the minimum materials and labour to produce functional but plain items; crafters may wish to spend more on materials and finishing to make their goods beautiful. These items are referred to as ornate.

Ornate isn't a standard trait, but a range of options: bright dyes for cloth or leather, intricate woven patterns and engraving, gold or silver flourishes, gems and cut glass stones. Material costs vary depending on how the item is embellished, but the work unit cost of an ornate item is always 1.5× the base cost of the item.

When making an ornate item, the crafter describes the embellishments they wish to add and discusses costs with the crafting referee. An ornate item's extra features are described on the item card.

Example

Tornak Goldentouch fashions an ornate mastercrafted longsword for a wealthy prince. The item card describes it as "a longsword with an engraved blade and a gilt hilt set with 3 gemstones," and the Evaluate box lists it as "Mastercrafted Longsword (3 common + 3 uncommon + 8 WU), Ornate (4 uncommon + 4 WU)."

Covens

Three crafters can work together as a coven to produce more complex items. See Covens and Collaborations for the general rules on forming and running Covens.

• Only one coven member needs to know the design.
• WU target and materials are as per the design card.
• All WU is pooled into a single pot with no minimum/maximum contribution for any member.
• All members may use their own workshops.
• Covens may not use apprentices.

Teaching

A crafter may teach any researched designs they know to another character with the prerequisite skill to learn it. The teacher explains the design to the student, detailing the process and materials required and explaining the underlying principles, and then leads them, in sight of the relevant research referee, to demonstrate understanding.

If the research referee is satisfied that the student has understood the lesson, the student may proceed to refining and practising; the teacher is not required after this point, but can continue to work with the student as they complete the project if they wish.

As with all study, this process should entail at least 30 minutes of roleplay.

Note: Creators with the Teaching skill can accelerate a student's research by contributing Work Units. See Creator Teaching for full details. This benefit is specific to the Creator archetype.

Repairing Crafted Items

Any Crafter can repair any damaged or broken item they already know how to make.

• Damaged: Repairing a damaged item is trivial; the crafter can restore it in their workshop with about 2 minutes' roleplayed effort (retying straps, welding cracks or knocking out dents etc.), at no cost in work units or materials. If for some reason a damaged item must be repaired perfectly, leaving no sign of the damage, this generally costs 1 work unit and 1 unit of an appropriate resource.
• Broken: Repairing a broken item (e.g. burned, melted or heavily rusted) requires substantially recrafting it, at some fraction of the work units and materials needed to make it, depending on how badly broken it is (minimum 25%, rounded up).

It is not possible to repair a destroyed item.

Repairing an object made up of many easily removable parts (e.g. a workshop) may take longer, and additionally require work units from someone skilled in its use, to assemble and identify components; a referee can give guidance on requirements.

Field Repair

While the above rules apply to repairing any crafted item in a workshop, a character with the Blacksmith skill can quickly repair battle-damaged armour in the field, using a phys rep of smithing tools and consuming repair kits:

• Repairing the armour on one location takes 15 seconds and consumes 1 Blacksmith's Repair Kit
• Repairing a whole suit of armour takes 30 seconds and consumes 3 Blacksmith's Repair Kits.

Maintaining Crafted Items

Crafted items may be maintained at regular intervals to extend their useful life, using repair kits. Items must be maintained before they expire (but see below for restoring expired items).

Maintenance is a simple transaction that can be performed by any player at GOD. A crafter does not need to be present, nor does the character need to be able to produce the original item.

The cost to maintain a crafted item, in repair kits, is listed on each recipe. As a general guide, the repair kit cost is approximately 15–20% of the original material cost, converted to repair kits.

Items made using advanced materials, such as Cold Iron or Imperial Steel, require at least one Care Kit of that material in addition to any standard repair kits.

Maintaining a crafted item resets the item's expiry date to three years after the date it was maintained.

Note: Standard quality items do not require maintenance (they have minimal resources to make and no functional effect). Etched gems cannot be maintained; see Gemsmithing for gem expiry rules.

Repair Kits

Repair kits are single-use items used to maintain crafted items. They can be crafted by any character with the relevant general skill.

There are four types of repair kit:

Repair Kit	Skill	Materials	Work Units	Used For
Blacksmith's Repair Kit	Blacksmith	1 metal, leather, or wood	3	Weapons, armour, and tools
Jeweller's Repair Kit	Jeweller	1 jewellery metal or glass	3	Jewellery, mechanisms, and gem-socketed items
Artisan's Repair Kit	Artisan	1 wood, stone, bone, cloth, glass, or leather	3	Clothing and general items
Care Kit (specific material)	Researched ability	1 researched material	10 (makes 2)	Items made with advanced materials (e.g. Cold Iron, Imperial Steel, Platinum)

Repair kits have a one-year expiry and cannot be converted back into resources.

Note: See Equipment and Resources for additional details on repair kit usage.

Restoring Crafted Items

If a crafted item has actually expired, it can no longer be maintained, but may be restored. Unlike maintenance, a crafter must be sufficiently skilled to work the materials in the original item to restore it (e.g. if the original item was made from metal, the crafter requires the Blacksmith skill), although they don't have to know the specific design.

The cost to restore an expired item, in work units and materials, is equal to 100% of the original cost of creating it in the first place.

Restoring an item will reset its expiry date to three years after the date it was restored.

Example

Tythus Garmaul spends 15 work units on a suit of mastercrafted heavy armour. His apprentice Genevieve Beauchamps spends 16 work units, which adds 8 work units to Tythus's efforts, for a total of 23 work units for the day.

A crafter cannot benefit from more than one apprentice on any day, although that crafter and apprentice can work on multiple designs in that day.