How to Play

Actual gameplay for Book of Mudora generally follows that of Dungeons and Dragons (or whatever pen and paper system you choose to use) with Zelda-style characters, equipment, and enemies. However, we have made some changes to the game’s basics.

The character sheet for Book of Mudora is very similar to that used by D&D3.5 with a few key differences.

Health is measured in hearts, not overall hit points. Each heart is worth four hit points. Each character  begins with three hearts; fill this out by putting the number four in three of the heart boxes on the character sheet. At each level, characters roll a Heart Die to add hearts to their overall healths.

In the Skills section, note that all characters can use the Perform: Music skill. In the Zelda universe, musical aptitude is as important as Move Silently or Search. Book of Mudora utilizes music many ways, including songs as offensive attacks. A musical instrument (such as a flute or harp) increases the character’s ability to perform music well. If a character does not have an instrument, he can still hum or whistle a tune with no musical instrument bonus.

In the Skills section, note that there is no Knowledge: Arcana skill. In the Zelda universe, magic is generally related directly to the goddesses (example: Din’s Fire in Ocarina of Time) and therefore could be seen as more like clerical magic. If a character needs to assess a magical situation, the player should roll a Knowledge: Religion check.

A character’s six base statistics are sub-divided as follows:
Courage: Charisma and Dexterity
Power: Strength and Constitution
Wisdom: Wisdom and Intelligence

The Courage, Power, and Wisdom scores–not the base statistics–determine whether a character is capable of performing certain songs or casting certain spells.

Alignments are reduced from nine possibilities to four: Courage, Power, Wisdom, and Shadow. These do not bear nearly as much importance in Zelda d20 as they do in D&D.

Dungeons and Dragons is run by the Dungeon Master (DM); other games are run by the Game Master (GM). In keeping with the initials in this naming tradition, the person running a Zelda d20 game is properly called the SM, for Shigeru Miyamoto.