TEXT: BIND
  The Open Source RPG
  Last edited June 8, 2020
  
  i
  1
  Character Creation
  3
  1.1
  Races
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  3
  1.2
  Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  5
  1.3
  Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  5
  1.4
  Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  8
  2
  Stories
  10
  2.1
  Story Points Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  11
  2.2
  Sample Stories
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  11
  2.3
  The Call to Adventure . . . . . . . . . . .
  13
  3
  The Rules
  15
  3.1
  Basic Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  15
  3.2
  Experience
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  18
  3.3
  Gold & Goods
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  19
  3.4
  Time & Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  23
  4
  Combat
  24
  4.1
  Overview
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  4.2
  Basic Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  4.3
  Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  27
  4.4
  Armour
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  28
  4.5
  Advanced Combat
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  4.6
  Fate Points
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  30
  4.7
  Fatigue
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  30
  4.8
  Complications & Manoeuvres . . . . . . .
  33
  4.9
  Ranged Combat
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  35
  4.10 Morale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  37
  4.11 Chases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  38
  4.12 Further Dangers
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39
  4.13 Combat Summary
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  40
  5
  Gods & Codes
  41
  5.1
  Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  41
  5.2
  Codes
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  45
  6
  Knacks
  48
  6.1
  Combat Knacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  48
  6.2
  Spellcasting Knacks
  . . . . . . . . . . . .
  50
  6.3
  Other Knacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  51
  7
  The Paths of Magic
  52
  7.1
  The Path of Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . .
  53
  7.2
  The Path of Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  53
  7.3
  The Path of Devotion
  . . . . . . . . . . .
  54
  7.4
  The Path of Runes . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  54
  7.5
  The Path of Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  55
  8
  Magic
  56
  8.1
  Casting Your First Spell . . . . . . . . . .
  56
  8.2
  Aldaron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  58
  8.3
  Conjuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  60
  8.4
  Enchantment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  62
  8.5
  Fate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  66
  8.6
  Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  68
  8.7
  Illusion
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  70
  8.8
  Invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  72
  8.9
  Metamagic
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  72
  8.10 Necromancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  74
  8.11 Polymorph
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  76
  9
  Races & Cultures
  79
  9.1
  Dwarves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  79
  9.2
  Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  80
  9.3
  Gnolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  81
  9.4
  Gnomes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  82
  9.5
  Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  83
  10 Games Masters
  84
  10.1 Basic Prep & Play . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  84
  10.2 Encounters
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  84
  10.3 The Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  86
  10.4 GM Suggestions
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  86
  10.5 The Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  88
  Appendices
  89
  A Character Creation
  89
  B Combat
  90
  
  Introduction
  Overview
  BIND1 is a zero to hero RPG designed to tell stories
  about a team traversing a dangerous and fanstastic land-
  scape while developing their skills. Thematically, BIND
  stands on the darker side of fantasy, with no possibility
  to heal damage through magic.
  The rules have an emphasis on getting an output
  quickly, and keeping players’ decisions in the loop.
  Character Creation
  Character backstories can be skipped at the start, and
  thrown in during play, when players know more about
  the world. Everyone may begin as a blank slate, but the
  backstories ensure they’ll soon become a well-integrated
  part of the world.
  Players roll up random characters, then interpret
  what those roles mean.
  What kind of gnoll is intelli-
  gent yet clumsy? What kind of dwarf if slow to run, but
  thinks fast?
  Gaining Power
  As time goes on, players spend Story Points to summon
  aid from their past. One character may ﬁnd everyone
  in the village knows them as a local hero, and everyone
  is willing to stand and ﬁght with them. Another may
  know a powerful mage. Once all Story Points have been
  spent, every member of the group will have told multi-
  ple stories of their past and introduced companions and
  locations from their history.
  Each character follows a God or personal honour
  code. Fulﬁlling this code allows players to assign skills,
  magical abilities, and raw strength to their characters.
  Combat
  Combat is focussed on giving players real choices, and
  typically ends quickly as enemies have few HP. Char-
  acters have a limited supply of luck which allows them
  to avoid damage. One this is gone, any wounds remain
  until the character has a suﬃcient time to rest, but the
  adventure can continue as luck regenerates long before
  wounds.
  Adventurers who are seriously injured can continue
  ﬁghting moments later, once their luck returns.
  This
  leads to a cycle of ‘damage, healing, damage’, but still
  recognises some wounds as serious, night-long aﬀairs.
  Further Reading
  If you’re looking for a pre made campaign world, ﬁnd
  yourself a copy of Adventures in Fenestra.
  1‘BIND’ stands for ‘BIND is not D&D’.
  1
  
  2
  Special Thanks . . .
  to the Artists
  Neil McDonnell for the basic photograph which became
  the Polymorph image,
  Boris Pecikozi´c
  for Thenton’s Story images, (pages
  17, 32, 46),
  Roch
  Hercka
  for
  the
  myriad
  wonderful
  pencil
  sketches (pages 3, 21, 30, 28, 18, 19, 63, 76, 54, 71 ).
  Find him at artstation.com/hertz.
  and to the playtesters
  Marri Russell, Ross Oliver, Reiss McGee, David Smith,
  Michael Dyson, Ryan Trotter, Maggie Anderson, D´onal
  Emerson, Christopher Taylor, June Strang, Aleksej, Mi-
  hailo, and Proxy; also thanks to Ari-Matti Piippo and
  Alice I. Cecile for their insightful comments.
  The Right to Improve
  This book has some serious problems, and that’s ﬁne.
  I’ve put this under a share-alike licence,2 so anyone can
  grab a copy of the basic LATEX document it’s written in
  and change things. This isn’t the Open Gaming Licence
  of D20 where they magnanimously allow you to use their
  word for a mechanic and let you publish things for their
  products – this is a publicly owned book.
  No longer do imaginative GMs have to scribble their
  inspired house rules onto the back of an old banking
  statement and cello tape it to the last page of the core
  book. Instead, you have the complete source documents,
  and can modify it as you please, creating a cohesive book.
  If you spot an error, you can correct it. If you want to
  add a couple of spells, it’s no problem. Just download
  the source from gitlab.com/bindrpg/, download a Latex
  editor, and make the changes you want.
  Once you’re
  happy with your changes, you might even send it oﬀ to
  a printing shop for a copy of your own version.
  And if you happen to make some useful additions,
  or even deletions, be sure to add them to another git
  project, where others can beneﬁt from your genius.
  With a little work, we could get real community-
  based RPG. Something that’s always free, something
  that gets a new edition as and when people want, with
  just the changes that people want – a continuously evolv-
  ing work.
  This particular version was last revised on June 8,
  2020.
  2GNU General Public License 3 or (at your option) any later version.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 1
  Character Creation
  Over this chapter, you can learn to craft a PC (Player
  Character). Either pick a race and an Attribute, or trust
  to fate and roll up random Traits, then interpret the re-
  sult.
  Once you think you know what kind of character lies
  on your character sheet, you can spend 50 XP (Experi-
  ence Points) and gain some Skills.
  Characters are deﬁned by Traits, and the two main
  types are Attributes and Skills.
  Attributes are innate
  Traits, deeply tied to who the PC is. The Physical At-
  tributes used here are Strength, Dexterity, and Speed,
  and the Mental Attributes are Intelligence, Wits, and
  Charisma. Skills, meanwhile, are things the PC learns.
  Typically, players take actions by rolling two six-
  sided dice (“2D6”) and adding a Trait and Skill to the
  result. If you roll high enough, you succeed. Otherwise,
  you fail.
  SECTION 1.1
  Races
  Race
  Roll
  Race
  Adjustments
  2-3
  Gnoll
  +1 Strength, +1 Speed, -1 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
  4-5
  Dwarf
  +1 Dexterity, -1 Speed
  6-8
  Human
  +1 Strength, -1 Wits
  9-10
  Elf
  +1 Wits, -1 Strength
  11-12
  Gnome
  +1 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity, Strength -2, Speed -1
  Character creation is random by default – it helps new
  players get started quickly.
  It’s been a while since I saw any humans so I’m go-
  ing to go and look up the race section detailing humans.
  Whichever race you’ve landed on, go and have a look at
  page 80. You will also ﬁnd suggestions on why someone
  3
  
  4
  CHAPTER 1. CHARACTER CREATION
  of that race might be adventuring.
  Either print out a character sheet or make some pa-
  per notes as we go.
  We begin by randomly assigning
  your race. Much of character creation is concerned with
  interpreting your character as it forms – what kind of
  person are you making?
  Result
  Attribute Bonus
  2
  -3
  3
  -2
  4-5
  -1
  6-8
  0
  9-10
  +1
  11
  +2
  12
  +3
  What
  do
  the
  At-
  tribute Bonuses say about
  them?
  You will later be
  deciding on what kind of
  Skills and training will
  compliment the charac-
  ter, but the basics will
  all be random.
  Grab a
  pair of D6’s and compare
  the result to the following
  chart.
  I’ve just rolled a ‘7’, so
  I’m playing a human. Being the tallest of the races they
  get +1 Strength. However, they’re also a little slow on
  the uptake, so they get -1 Wits.
  Next up, time to roll the Attributes – Strength, Dex-
  terity, et c.. Roll 2D6 for each of the Bonuses (or neg-
  atives). Continue rolling until all 6 Attributes have a
  value. Your race will give you modiﬁers to these results.
  Player Chosen Characters
  If players prefer, they can design their own characters.
  In this case they select a race and take the racial modi-
  ﬁers as a starting point to spend XP. They can choose to
  take a single -1 penalty to any Attribute of their choice
  in return for an additional 5 XP.
  The Story of Thenton
  After rolling the dice, my ﬁnal results are Strength
  +1, Speed 0, Dexterity -1, Intelligence 0, Wits -1 and
  Charisma +1. That doesn’t look it speaks of much, but
  consider what kind of human might be ‘Charismatic yet
  clumsy’. Perhaps a noble? It could be a performer, but
  what kind of performer doesn’t have the coordination to
  play the diﬃcult songs on the banjo? A poet! Imagine
  a minor noble, perhaps the third son of a townmaster
  or some such.
  He’s always rushing about then falling
  over. His poems aren’t terribly good (just look at that
  banal Intelligence score) but he can get better. Mean-
  while, he earns his pay, and perhaps attempts to chat
  up a few ladies, based on his dashing good looks and
  likeable personality.
  He just needs a name now – something which cap-
  tures the idea of a slightly silly fop, a knightly poet.
  ‘Thenton’ should do it.
  Have you ﬁnished yours yet?
  We’ll need it in a bit for practice rolls.
  The skinny man greets Thenton with overbearing en-
  thusiasm as he continues to explained the mission.
  “ The book was stolen from our library” emphasiz-
  ing “our” to make it obvious that it was as much his
  library as any other wizard’s. “ It is very dangerous and
  we must have it back. It contains a song - a bad one”.
  Thenton pulls his face to its own centre for a mo-
  ment. “ You mean, you think the song in the book is
  awful?”
  “ No no no. I mean yes”, the wizard replied, as hap-
  pily as ever. “ The book contains a song, the song con-
  tains the magic. When you play or sing it or whatever
  it is, things happen. Bad things”.
  “ Okay. What kinds of things?”
  “ That’s a guild secret I’m afraid, but the important
  thing to know is to never let him sing.”
  “ Might he do that while we’re charging towards him
  with swords and rope?”, Thenton asks.
  “ Oh yes”, the wizard grinned wider. “ After all, he
  is a bard. We allowed him into the college to show oﬀ
  his odd abilities - those sorcerer powers from his elven
  heritage. And he stole our book, from the secret section
  at the back with all the forbidden books. He must have
  stolen the key from me. Anyway - we can pay hand-
  somely.
  Perhaps two hundred gold in total.
  Do you
  think your friends would be interested?”
  “ I’m going to speak with my guys, but two hundred
  gold for a apprehending a single criminal? Easiest job
  we’ve ever had.”
  The wizard smiled again.
  
  1.2. ATTRIBUTES
  5
  SECTION 1.2
  Attributes
  These are the basics Traits which characters must use over and over again for every roll.
  Body Attributes
  These are the Attributes determined wholly by the char-
  acter’s body.
  Humans and gnolls tend to excel here,
  where elves and gnomes are smaller, more delicate crea-
  tures. Monsters, beasts and stranger creatures are all
  described with these three Body Attributes.
  Strength
  Strength represents a character’s muscles – their abil-
  ity to endure, to take damage, lift heavy objects, march
  for long distances and to wield heavy weapons without
  penalty.
  Speed
  Speed represents a character’s movement, how fast they
  attack, how often they can attack and how quickly they
  can run. Since it allows characters to ﬂee dangerous sit-
  uations, a group can be held back by its slowest member.
  A low Speed Bonus in a weak person might simply repre-
  sent small muscles, while a low Speed Bonus in someone
  with an excellent Strength Bonus might mean the char-
  acter is particularly fat. Speed might also be used in
  situations where a character’s muscle to weight ratio are
  important, such as when climbing up a cliﬀ or holding
  onto a ledge for a prolonged period of time.
  Dexterity
  Dexterity represents someone’s hand-eye coordination
  and natural grace. It’s used to dodge, parry, block and
  also to aim projectile weapons. It is slightly less visible
  than the other Body Attributes, but can still be seen as
  people are moving, especially when movement becomes
  diﬃcult, as when hopping across challenging and change-
  able terrain.
  Mind Attributes
  Mind Attributes determine the character’s personality
  and how adept they are with thought-based Skills such
  as Academics.
  It is also the basis of a lot of magical
  ability and defences against magical abilities.
  Intelligence
  Intelligent characters understand ideas, remember well
  and always come prepared.
  They ﬁnd their own way
  home and pick up new languages ﬂuidly.
  Intelligence
  also covers artistic endeavours and a multitude of crafts-
  manship, whether composing songs or forging armour,
  picturing the ﬁnished product ahead of time will take
  brains.
  Wits
  Where intelligence represents how well a character
  thinks, Wits just tells you how fast they think.
  The
  character’s ability to observe, to tell enemy from friend,
  to spot people hiding in the bushes, to notice an oﬀ taste
  in that poisoned casserole or to just spot the perfect
  joke for the occasion are all covered under Wits. Wits
  is also the primary Attribute for resisting magical en-
  chantments. Wits is the only Mind Attribute available
  to animals.
  Charisma
  Finally, a character’s ability to speak with people, make
  friends, lie convincingly, lead a group or barter for
  cheaper goods are all covered under Charisma. Charisma
  also covers characters’ luck, and therefore some measure
  of their ability to avoid being damaged, because the gods
  seem to love a chancer.
  SECTION 1.3
  Skills
  Skills deﬁne what a character does with most of their
  time – what they are practised in.
  They are always
  paired with an Attribute to give a bonus to rolls. We’ll
  go over how to give your new character Skills under the
  Experience section.1
  For now, just jot down a few of
  the Skills you think your character should have so you
  can see how they work with the basic actions in the next
  chapter.
  A basic Skill grants a +1 bonus to actions where it
  is used. This is the level of a very basic worker in that
  ﬁeld – those just ﬁnishing an apprenticeship in Crafts
  would have the basic Skill level.
  Advanced Skills are
  those with a +2 bonus, indicating an established mem-
  ber of the ﬁeld.
  Vigilance +2 might indicate a very
  shifty and paranoid person, while Athletics +2 would
  mean the character is persistently practising new ath-
  letic feats. Finally, experts with a score of +3 are very
  rare. A +3 bonus to Stealth indicates someone who has
  rare insights and keen instincts when it comes to going
  unnoticed, while someone with mastery of the Empathy
  Skill could talk a beggar into giving their hat away.
  1page 18.
  
  6
  CHAPTER 1. CHARACTER CREATION
  Specialised Skills*
  Some Skills are ‘Specialised Skills’, meaning that they
  are a broad category for a number of sub-skills.
  The
  Craft Skill covers metallurgy, wood craft, armour mak-
  ing and many more. Anyone taking such Skills gain two
  Specialisations per level. Using a Skill without the ap-
  propriate Specialisation is often impossible (for instance,
  one cannot use the Performance Skill to play a harp if one
  has never learned to play a harp) but at other times can
  be attempted with a -1 penalty. For example, someone
  attempting to remember a fact about history who has no
  Academics Skill is at a -1 penalty to the roll. Someone
  with Academics who specialises in alchemy and politics
  but not history could attempt the roll without penalty
  because they gain +1 for having the Academics Skill and
  -1 for not having the correct specialisation. Finally, an
  academic with a specialisation in history could attempt
  the task with a +1 bonus to the roll for having the Skill
  with the correct specialisation.
  Each level of a Skill one has grants 1 Specialisation.
  For example, someone with Survival 2 might know how
  to track and build temporary shelters but would count
  as having Survival 1 when marching.
  Each specialization can be used with any other spe-
  cialized Skill.
  If you have a Specialization in swords,
  bought with the Combat Skill, you can apply that to
  Crafts. If your Beast Ken Specialization is in griﬃns,
  you can also use this to use when tracking them with
  the Survival Skill.
  All specialist Skills are marked with an asterisk.
  The List
  Most Skills allow people to perform a range of functions
  depending upon which Attribute it is paired with. A few
  examples are given with the list below.
  The Skills here are examples, so this is not a com-
  plete list. If you want Skills not listed, just run them
  by the GM (Games Master) and discuss what kinds of
  tasks they cover. When thinking up a new Skill, try to
  think about how it would work with each Attribute.
  Academics*
  Question
  TN
  Simple
  7
  Diﬃcult
  10
  Obscure
  13
  Secret
  15
  Dangerous
  17
  The Academics Skill covers a
  love of learning facts, many
  of which can be useful.
  Aca-
  demics study history, architec-
  ture, local politics, literature,
  and (very commonly) how to
  study more.
  This ‘study of
  study’,
  can involve reading,
  mnemonics, and teaching.
  Characters
  without
  any
  levels in Academics are always illiterate, but those with
  some Academics Skill could also be illiterate. Various
  shamans practice memorizing long texts and generally
  consider books to be a dimwit’s crutch.
  Academics might be mixed with Charisma for sto-
  rytelling, Wits to pull out just the right information,
  Intelligence to write well, or even Strength for a loud
  speech.
  Specialisations
  include
  Mathematics,
  History,
  Alchemy,
  Politics,
  Biology,
  Law,
  Literature
  and
  Runelore.
  Athletics
  This covers all manner of fancy movements, from somer-
  saults and rolling to climbing and circus skills. It might
  be paired with Dexterity when a character is attempting
  to roll under then leap over tables or otherwise navi-
  gate uneven terrain. For ﬂat-out sprinting, the Speed
  Attribute is always preferred, while Strength is primary
  when characters are climbing.
  Craft*
  The Craft Skill allows players to make and ﬁx things,
  and occasionally break things.
  Designing new equip-
  ment requires an Intelligence roll, while making them
  requires Dexterity. Strength could even be used to gov-
  ern making simple things (such as a make-shift shelter)
  with unyielding materials such as green wood.
  Using moulds or other pre-set designing materials al-
  lows the character to perform the Craft roll as a Resting
  Action (see page 15) and may provide a bonus to the roll
  depending upon the quality of tools available.
  Specialisations
  include metallurgy, leather, locks, ar-
  mour, weapons, ﬂetchery, wood, traps and stonework.
  Beast Ken*
  Beast Ken covers training, handling, calming and gen-
  erally working with animals.
  It might be paired with
  Charisma in order to calm down a frightened horse, or
  with Intelligence in order to guess why a bear is behav-
  ing so unusually. Training animals is usually paired with
  Intelligence, though once the animal is trained, Wits al-
  lows a character to eﬀectively give commands.
  Specialisations
  are the diﬀerent types of animals:
  dogs, horses, birds, bears, cats, basilisks and snakes are
  all possibilities; not all animals can be trained but all of
  them can be understood.
  
  1.3. SKILLS
  7
  Deceit
  Someone proﬁcient at deception can make others see
  white as black by sheer conﬁdence. It is often paired
  with Charisma when creating such lies. At other times,
  when a quick excuse is needed after a character has been
  caught with their hand in someone else’s pockets, the
  Wits Attribute can be used to get out of trouble. Com-
  plicated lies, having to do with a long series of events
  or where a character wants to make someone hopelessly
  confused about the situation, might use one’s Intelli-
  gence Bonus.
  The Deceit Skill does not necessarily have to convey
  lies – it’s deals with situations that hinge on emphasis
  without care for truth. The Strength Bonus might also
  be used to intimidate people, whether the character’s
  intentions are in fact vicious or not.
  Empathy
  The art of understanding people is practised by kind
  souls as well as malicious. When paired with Charisma
  it forms a means of getting people to want things – or
  stop wanting them; most often this takes the form of ask-
  ing someone for help. It is used when characters want a
  price lowered, or are hoping to get someone to keep the
  bar open. If, however, the persuasive arguments are not
  concerned with making someone feel for the character
  but with the cold hard facts, the Intelligence Attribute
  is preferred. This might be used to convince someone
  not to go to war with a neighbouring nation or show
  how farming more land is not in their own best interest.
  Commonly, Empathy is used to spot lies when paired
  with Wits. Humans are famously bad at this, resulting
  in wildﬁres of bogus rumours around human communi-
  ties, while it can be very diﬃcult to lie to elves.
  Medicine*
  Medicine is a primitive but eﬀective art, regrettably full
  of nonsense and superstition, but mandatory when it
  comes to keeping someone with a serious wound alive.
  The Wits Attribute will allow someone to quickly patch
  up a bleeding wound, cutting or reducing the number of
  Fatigue points the bleeding character would otherwise
  have received.
  2
  Intelligence is used for creating poi-
  sons, or healing the eﬀects of a bad meal.
  Specialisations
  include bleeding, poisons, narcotics,
  bones, fatigue and burns.
  Performance*
  This skill covers every type of instrument, poetry and
  evocative storytelling. While academics might tell de-
  tailed stories which serve to persuade people of things,
  they are not nearly so entertaining as the dramatic sto-
  ries told by a true performer. Performance covers dra-
  matic acting, though Deceit still covers any real-world
  performances.
  This will often be paired with Charisma when a per-
  former wants to give oﬀ an entertaining performance.
  More technical pieces might require Dexterity instead.
  Performers wanting to create new poems, songs or the
  like add their Intelligence Attribute instead.
  Specialisations
  include the ﬂute, mandolin, singing,
  poetry and acting.
  Larceny
  Larceny is generally mixed with Dexterity for everything
  for picking pockets to juggling. It might also be used
  with Wits to spot rich pocket to pick, or with Charisma
  to dazzle someone with a magic trick. Characters at-
  tempting to spot slight of hand will use Wits + Vigi-
  lance.
  Stealth
  This Skill can be paired with a variety of Attributes.
  Remaining quiet while sneaking through an area could
  call for a Dexterity and Sneak check while ﬁguring out
  where in the shadows to best hide could use Intelligence.
  Intelligence might also be used to create a convincing
  disguise. Fitting into a noble soir´ee without an invite
  and only semi-decent attire could use Charisma. In al-
  most all cases, opponents resist with Wits + Vigilance
  to spot the character or spot the ruse.
  Survival*
  This covers all manner of skills useful for surviving the
  outdoors, from building things to forced marching. En-
  durance based tasks such as long marches or surviving
  a night on a mountain are covered by Strength. Build-
  ing a ﬁre in the rain might use Dexterity and tracking
  should always use Wits. Someone attempting to cover
  their tracks might resist such rolls with their Dexterity
  or Intelligence and Stealth added to the TN to resist the
  attempt at tracking.
  Specialisations
  include marching, ﬁre building, tem-
  porary shelters, traps, tracking and foraging.
  2Fatigue is covered later, on page 30.
  
  8
  CHAPTER 1. CHARACTER CREATION
  Tactics*
  Tactics allows people to plan concise victories. The util-
  ity quickly fades when battles become drawn-out and
  unpredictable, but the initial beneﬁts from going into
  battle with a good plan are great.
  It can be used to
  understand why people are employing apparently odd
  battle-tactics, or uses Charisma to impress people con-
  cerning one’s military ability.
  When going into combat, someone who has time to
  prepare for a battle by running through instructions with
  receptive troops gains a bonus to their Initiative equal
  to their Tactics Skill. This bonus only ever counts for
  the ﬁrst Round.
  Specialisations
  include
  massive
  creatures
  (5+
  Strength), leading many troops (more than 12), leading
  small forces (between 6 and 12), lone ﬁghting, forests,
  towns, plains, tunnels.
  Vigilance
  This is the ﬂip side of a number of Skill related to hid-
  ing one’s doings or presence. It is practised by guards
  or the eternally paranoid. It is most often rolled with
  Wits in order to spot people sneaking about, perhaps
  ﬁngering a purse or sneaking up behind a potential vic-
  tim to stab them in the back. One might also add this
  Skill to Intelligence to spot important facts written on
  dungeon walls, or use Strength + Vigilance in order to
  stay up late, despite being laden with Fatigue, in order
  to remain alert.
  SECTION 1.4
  Classes
  If you’re used to a more class-based system, or just want
  some suggestions getting started, you can use the follow-
  ing starting defaults. An alchemist is just someone with
  spells, and a rogue is just someone with skills. Once the
  game starts, you can continue with the same concept, or
  morph the character into something else.
  Alchemist
  Alchemists start with Academics 1, Invocation 2, Illu-
  sion 1 and MP 2. If their Intelligence or Wits is below
  0 then raise it by one level. If not, buy a single 1st level
  Skill.
  Their equipment is a notebook and writing equip-
  ment, camping equipment and a quarterstaﬀ. They wor-
  ship C´al¨e.3
  Bard
  Bards begin with Performance 2, Academics 1, Empathy
  1, Deceit 1, Larceny 1, Vigilance 1 and the ﬁrst level of
  the Fate sphere.
  Their starting equipment includes partial leather ar-
  mour, a dagger, an instrument, a longsword, lantern,
  camping equipment, notebook and writing equipment,
  and 50’ of silk rope. They worship Alass¨e.
  After time spent adventuring, many bards learn Song
  Magic in order to aid their party.
  Priest of Laiqu¨e
  Priests of Laiqu¨e make a good stand-in for druids or
  witches, given their aﬃnity for animals and ability to
  shapeshift. They begin play with Academics 1, Beast
  Ken 1, Survival 1, Combat 1, Aldaron 1, Polymorph 1,
  and 2 MP (Mana Point).
  Their starting equipment includes partial leather ar-
  mour, camping equipment, a spear, a dagger, 50’ of rope,
  and
  Priest of V´er¨e
  Priests of the god of honour begin with Fate 2, Aca-
  demics 1, Medicine 1 and MP 4.
  Their equipment is a quarterstaﬀ, medical equip-
  ment, partial chainmail shirt and camping equipment.
  After gaining XP, some adventuring clerics focus
  upon martial abilities, while others focus on prayer in
  order to work miracles.
  Rogue
  Rogues begin with Combat 1, 10 FP (Fate Points),
  Stealth 2, Larceny 1 and the Knack: Perfect Sneak At-
  tack. If they have a Body Attribute at -1, raise it by one
  level. If not, purchase one level of the Deceit Skill.
  Their starting equipment is a dagger, Complete
  leather armour, a longsword, 50’ of rope and lock picking
  tools. If they have the Deceit Skill, they begin play with
  a throwing dagger. They follow the Code of Acquisition.
  3See page 41 for more on character belief systems.
  
  1.4. CLASSES
  9
  Warrior
  Warriors begin play with Combat 2, FP 10 and the
  Knack: Adrenaline Surge. If the character has a single
  Body Attribute below 0 then buy it up a level; otherwise
  purchase the Tactics Skill at 1st level.
  Their starting equipment is partial chainmail, a
  longsword and a buckler shield. If they start play with
  the Tactics Skill they also get camping equipment. They
  follow the goddess Ohta.
  Paladin
  After progressing, particularly pious ﬁghters can gain a
  level or two in Fate, allowing them to ask for Divine
  Guidance, curse enemies, or even gain additional Fate
  Points before going into battle.
  Ranger
  Fighters with an aﬃnity for the wilderness may pick up
  nature-related abilities, such as talking with animals, or
  even summoning mists.
  Whether this comes through
  prayer or inborn abilities which develop over time, a
  little magic on the side of a character can make for a
  formidable ﬁghter.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 2
  Stories
  Players ‘write’ most of their backstory during play rather
  than before it. PCs can start oﬀ as blank slates with no
  history, but the history comes out of the woodwork soon
  after as players can spend 5 Story Points to bring their
  history into the current adventure. Let’s look at an ex-
  ample:
  Session 1
  has the characters running from the local
  law.
  Jane’s player spends 1 Story Point and declares
  “Luckily, Jane has connections with the local thieves’
  guild, so she nips into an alley in the slums where the
  party can lay low for a while”.
  Soon after, the characters need to sell the diamond
  they’ve stolen. Eric’s player knows there are dwarves all
  around town so he tells the group “I’ll see about help
  from the local dwarves. I learnt their language ﬁve years
  ago when I had to hide from the law for a while under-
  ground, and met a few of them that sell goods without
  much question”.
  Session 2
  ﬁnds the characters lost in deep, long cav-
  erns in the bearded mountains, wounded and low on sup-
  plies. Jane’s player spends 4 Story Points to declare she
  knows of a gnomish illusionist who frequents these deep
  caverns, looking for magical ingredients.
  “How?”, asks a rather suspicious GM.
  “Well, he used to work with the thieves’ guild when
  he was younger, helping us steal with his illusion magic;
  sometimes he would give us a magical item which would
  cast an illusion of something we wanted to steal, so no-
  body would notice it was missing for a while. The guild
  kind of fell apart after he left, which is why it’s nothing
  but slumlords and cutthroats now.”
  En route to a dwarven stronghold with Jane’s illu-
  sionist, the band are assaulted by a small army of goblins
  wielding strange magics. A dwarvish outpost is nearby,
  so the group run and bang on the great iron gate. Eric’s
  player spends 2 more Story Points, saying “This is the
  place I stayed – they all know me here. They should let
  us in, help us with some supplies, maybe even get me a
  new sword”.
  At this juncture we know a fair amount about Eric
  and Jane, where they come from, and who they are,
  while Sindon the elf continues to be a mystery.
  Session 10
  comes after some downtime. The group
  are lost in a mysterious forest, now teeming with the un-
  dead. Their arrows and rations have run out, the trail
  leading to the necromancer has gone cold, and they don’t
  think they have the strength to defeat him even if they
  could ﬁnd him.
  Sindon’s player decides to spend his 7 saved up Story
  Points.
  “You don’t happen to know any elves in the forest,
  do you, Sindon?”, asks Jane.
  “Yes”, says Sindon. “It’s been twenty years, so I sup-
  pose it’s time to go and see my father. You can come out
  now”.
  In the distance, six elves come out of hiding and walk
  towards the characters. Sindon’s father turns out to be
  a local warlord. The party receives whatever supplies
  they wish, a scout has recently found the necromancer’s
  lair, and four elven warriors agree to accompany them
  to ﬁght with the necromancer.
  10
  
  2.1. STORY POINTS RULES
  11
  SECTION 2.1
  Story Points Rules
  Players begin each with 5 Story Points and spend
  them at any point during the game.
  The encounters
  must take place in a rational manner – players might
  ﬁnd the perfect sellsword in a town, but if they’re in a
  dungeon, ﬁghting a hall of ghouls, there’s little reason
  for a random sellsword to be present and looking for a
  job – this is not an ability to magically summon useful
  tradesmen with a ﬂash of smoke and plot. As a result
  almost all stories will have to be told in populated areas
  such as towns and villages.
  The GM is, of course, free to veto any Story sug-
  gestions without explanation in order to maintain the
  integrity of the plot or stop cumbersome play issues.
  All stories should be noted down on the back of the
  character sheet, including any stats from companions,
  just in case they enter during a later adventure.
  Combining Stories
  Whether telling one story each adventure or letting ev-
  eryone know all about your character’s backstory all
  at once, players are encouraged to think about weav-
  ing their stories together. You may have told us that
  you learnt gnomish when staying with the gnomes. Now
  that you need a blacksmith in this village, why not spec-
  ify that he’s a gnome whom you once knew?
  And if
  you need a sellsword to join your group later, how about
  specifying that you once fought with him to defend the
  gnomes?
  Alternatively, if you are taking out all your stories at
  once, you might want to declare that you know a mage
  who lives in a place you can access through a nearby se-
  cret portal. You instantly adopt a safe space and a help-
  ful magical ally, then start expounding upon the days
  when the alchemist was proudly telling you about his
  impregnable home.
  Downtime
  ‘Downtime’ is when the current stories come to a close
  and the PCs take a rest. It can be weeks, years, or even
  decades. During a particularly long Downtime the GM
  may grant the players an additional Story Point, or even
  multiple Story Points for a downtime of many years.
  Some characters may save up their Story Points at
  this juncture just to buy something expensive later. Al-
  ternatively, characters can use those points to explain
  what they were doing during the Downtime. Perhaps the
  group earn fabulous wealth and split up for some years,
  then upon returning one of them has learned dwarvish,
  while another joined the military and gained friends will-
  ing to help out on some new quest.
  SECTION 2.2
  Sample Stories
  The following is a suggested list of Stories the players can
  tell and their costs. The players are strongly encouraged
  to suggest more to the GM who will either veto them or
  give them an appropriate cost.
  I know a guy who’d be perfect. . .
  Cost: 1
  You know someone in town who has just the skills you
  are all looking for. They might be a farmer, willing to
  put you and the group up for the night, or someone who
  knows all the local rumours. If they have some special
  Skill, such as a weapon smith with a workshop, then they
  will have a total bonus of +5 to such tasks derived from
  some combination of Attribute and Skill bonus.
  The character in question cannot have any martial
  or magical Skills.
  Perhaps we can make a detour. . .
  Cost: 1
  You know of a sacred location nearby, perhaps a church,
  or a shrine or just a sacred cavern where the land is teem-
  ing with magic. In this sacred area, anyone stepping into
  it receives 1 MP per Round. If the spot is guarded by
  a spirit then this spirit or other creature then they are
  friendly to you. The place will not necessarily help you
  hide or defend yourself unless you are also spending Story
  points to make it a place to rest. 1
  Oh! Don’t I know him. . .
  Cost: 1
  You recognise a friendly character from some previous
  Story you have told.
  The GM will explain why they
  are in town but you are free to oﬀer suggestions. Said
  characters won’t necessarily be as useful as they would
  be if they were brought into the adventure for the ﬁrst
  time with Story points and may only help for a scene,
  but they should be somehow useful. This may include a
  trader who was previously known to have valuable infor-
  mation about some situation, or a mage the characters
  had previously met who could cast a useful spell or two.
  I think I heard something about this. . .
  Cost: 1
  When the GM asks you to make a check to gain knowl-
  1Those following the Code of Experience gain no XP for ﬁnding this location.
  
  12
  CHAPTER 2. STORIES
  edge, you can spend a Story Point and mention how you
  know this one particular fact about this topic. You gain
  a +6 bonus to a single knowledge check. This does not
  count again for the same domain of expertise – it is only
  a bonus to knowing one, single fact about the subject.
  A failed roll indicates that while you have a lot of his-
  tory intertwined with this problem, you are still wrong.
  My uncle taught me something about this. . .
  Cost: 1
  You have a surprising Skill or Knack which will comes
  in useful. As you tell this story, you can buy a Skill level
  so long as you have the requisite XP. This cannot be a
  Skill which you have clearly lacked in the past, e.g. if
  your character has so far been illiterate then you cannot
  suddenly learn a level of Academics.
  However, if you
  have never wanted for Craft ability then you could de-
  clare that you have always known how to forge iron, or
  that you have a Seafaring Skill.
  Fun fact about the elvish ﬁrst person plural. . .
  Cost: 1
  You have spent a signiﬁcant amount of time in another
  culture. You know their language and enough of their
  background to transfer over basic Skill knowledge. If you
  have the Performance Skill and are familiar with elvish
  culture then you also know some Elvish songs. If you are
  familiar with gnoll culture and have the Empathy Skill
  then you know a range of details about gnoll etiquette
  and lineage.
  It’ll be just like the old days, remember that
  time. . .
  Cost: 1
  At the point a new character joins the group you can se-
  lect one other player and have a shared background with
  them (or with another, if your character is new). You de-
  scribe how you previously met and possibly adventured
  together. From then on, you can split the cost of stories,
  so if the group wants to ﬁnd a safe space to rest then in-
  stead of one character spending 2 Story points you could
  each spend 1. Each of you can use characters from the
  other’s background, because all your Stories have the
  option of being shared stories. If you are both of noble
  heritage, any money you get must be divided between
  you.
  If you are both friends with a skilled armourer,
  they will only be able to repair one piece of armour at a
  time.2
  I can talk to a guy who might be interested. . .
  Cost: 2
  You know a low-down thug, cut-throat, soldier, or sell-
  sword who’d just love to join you for this one adventure
  for cheap or for a simple favour. They’re a typical exam-
  ple of the race with an additional +1 to an Attribute and
  a +2 Combat bonus or Projectile bonus. Your contact
  also has 1 Skill at level 2 and one piece of armour, one
  weapon and one other piece of equipment. Each piece
  of equipment can be worth no more than 10 sp (Silver
  Pieces).
  For example, your friend might be a human ﬁghter
  with Strength +2, Speed 0, Dexterity 0, Intelligence 0,
  Wits -1, Charism 0, with the Skills of Combat +2 and
  Stealth +2. Their equipment might be Complete leather
  armour, a pole axe and rations.
  The Story told might be one of once serving in a mili-
  tia, or on the high seas. Perhaps you are a member of a
  thieves’ guild and know another who’d be willing to help
  you out. Perhaps you simply have a family member who
  was once a sellsword.
  We’ll get a warm welcome here. . .
  Cost: 2
  The players are in the character’s home town or some-
  where they’re famous. Everyone will receive them well
  and the character whose town it is should receive any
  normal information for the area. The character can call
  upon the aid of up to three specialists as per ‘I know
  a guy...’, above. If you are a human, you know the lo-
  cal language (an unusual occurrence since almost every
  human area has its own language).
  I know a place we can rest. . .
  Cost: 2
  You know of a secluded and secret location where you
  will be safe. Perhaps there is a safe spot in a tavern you
  know – a secret room in the basement, or maybe just
  an abandoned and deep cavern in the hills that nobody
  knows about.
  If your safe space is ever invaded due to events out-
  side your control, you receive both Story points back if
  it is within the same session or 1 Story point back if it
  during a later session where the same place is used again.
  Fancy seeing you here. . .
  Cost: 1
  You can add two to the cost of any other Story and tell it
  at an inappropriate juncture. Your characters might be
  locked in a dungeon and happen upon a weapon smith
  in the next cell, with his conﬁscated weapons lying in
  a nearby pile outside his cell. They might ﬁnd a place
  they can rest in secret inside the terrifying dwarvish city
  turned into an undead haunting ground.
  Or perhaps
  while on the run from bandits they ﬁnd a helpful soldier
  hoping to be hired.
  Actually, there were a few more. . .
  Cost: 2
  Increase the cost of any story you tell by 2, and raise
  the number of people or places to the number of story
  points you’re spending plus your Charisma Bonus.
  If
  telling the story of a safe space nearby, you might know
  about a few. If you know a sellsword interested in ad-
  venture, you might increase this to four people, so you
  now know four people ready to join you on a mission.
  Each location or person must be speciﬁed immedi-
  ately. If you have money, each source of money must be
  in a diﬀerent location. If you know where multiple mana
  lakes are, you must provide a good reason so many rare
  places are so close together.
  2This Story is transitive and symmetrical, so if player A shares a background with player B and player B shares a background with
  player C then player C also shares a background with player A.
  
  2.3. THE CALL TO ADVENTURE
  13
  Ah!
  This is near the spot we buried the trea-
  sure. . .
  Cost: 3
  You have access to large funds now that you have re-
  turned to this area. Perhaps you and companions, once
  buried treasure close by. Perhaps a local bank simply
  has your money, or a rich man owes it to you. The total
  amount obtained is 2D6 × 10 gold pieces.3
  There is a man whom they call. . .
  Cost: 4
  Your miraculous ally is a mage, or priest or some other
  miracle worker. They will not enter combat with you but
  will agree to employ whatever magics you wish. Their
  Attributes will be each 0 plus the racial modiﬁers, ex-
  cept for Intelligence, which will always be +2 precisely.
  They will have 1 Skill at level 2 and another at level 1.
  Their Mana points will be 6 in total, after the Intelli-
  gence modiﬁer. One magical sphere will be at level 4,
  another at 2 and another at 1. This mage walks only a
  single Path of magic.
  Do you know who I am!? Because I happen to
  be. . .
  Cost: 5
  You are the child of minor nobility – perhaps a knight
  errant or son of a Town Master. You can collect 2D6×5
  gold pieces from your homeland. If, on the other hand,
  the money is yours then you can start with it by taking
  this Story when you begin play but cannot ever double
  your money by asking parents for more. You have access
  to a minor keep – either your own or a parent’s – and
  can demand the services of any skilled tradesman in the
  land except for magical talents. You do not have special
  military access but can buy their swords for the usual
  rate.
  My father will give us a royal welcome when we
  get to. . .
  Cost: 7
  You are revealed to be the child of royalty or some other
  type of nobility, and you are returning to your kingdom.
  You can request almost anything from the royal family,
  within reason, including 3D6 × 10 gold pieces. While
  with your family, you can use up to 6 story points each
  adventure. With these you can purchase men at arms,
  demand the help of tradesmen or any other story except
  for learning a language.
  Since this Story costs 7 Story points, no player should
  expect to use it until there has been some downtime – if
  the character starts out claiming to be a prince then it
  will be a long time before the story recognises this claim.
  SECTION 2.3
  The Call to Adventure
  Just because characters can begin as blank slates doesn’t
  mean the story can. A basic premise can help tie those
  backstories together.
  If the GM has no deﬁnitive plans laid out for the
  campaign, players should suggest a good starting point.
  The Night Guard
  The world of Fenestra doesn’t have many wars or dis-
  eases, but it never becomes overpopulated. The reason
  is simple: monsters. There are giant arachnids in the
  forests, basilisks which belch poison and steal cattle, and
  the occasional dragon. If someone can’t ﬁnd a useful way
  to employ themselves, the Night Guard awaits.
  The majority of the Night Guard have boring, thank-
  less jobs such as guarding cattle, patrolling for goblins,
  and occasionally clearing an area where suspected mon-
  sters guard territory. A few go onto more dangerous jobs
  such as hunting ogres, tracking down criminal gangs, or
  espionage.
  Some rare few have been known to strike deals with
  dragons to leave an area, or assassinate rogue alchemists
  who are powerful enough to keep themselves free from
  the reaches of any magical guild.
  In general, the more dangerous and skilful the job,
  the higher the pay, so most of the Night Guard try not
  to do too well at their job. They train in archery well,
  take a pay cut in return for having more members in
  their group, and make sure nobody volunteers them for
  anything interesting.
  Of course, a lot of the jobs one
  takes depends more upon a captain of the Guard than
  the grunts.
  The Illusionists of the Bearded
  Mountains
  The characters are all gnomes, defending against en-
  croaching goblins who have come through a portal, while
  the elders constantly argue that if only somehow some-
  one could get down there and destroy the portal, every-
  one would be safe. But that “somehow” never comes,
  and the monsters are coming up faster and faster. Ru-
  mours abound of distant elves who might help, but those
  elves have their own problems.
  Meanwhile, the daily
  lives of the warrior-alchemists consists in setting and re-
  setting various traps made of pitfalls, illusions and rope.
  Each day the gnomes have to retreat farther from the
  deeps and closer to the Sun.
  Once each member of the group has expended three
  Story Points, an opening comes to travel to the nearby
  elves, and beg for an army to save your homeland.
  3Those following the Code of Acquisition gain no XP for gaining gold through Story Points.
  
  14
  CHAPTER 2. STORIES
  The College of Alchemy
  The characters are all alchemists in the service of the
  Alchemist’s Guild in Eastlake. The ﬁrst part of the cam-
  paign involves high-school rivalries against other Clans
  in the guild such as stealing their homework, or vying
  for romantic attention. Soon after, the characters be-
  gin proper guild missions, venturing out into the strange
  areas of the world where normal people will not tread.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 3
  The Rules
  SECTION 3.1
  Basic Actions
  TN
  Task
  2
  Automatic
  4
  Trivial
  6
  Easy
  8
  Serious
  10
  Challenging
  12
  Heroic
  14
  Extreme
  16
  Epic
  18
  Legendary
  20
  Impossible
  A basic action is performed
  by rolling 2D6 equal or higher
  than the TN for the action.
  The more diﬃcult the action,
  the higher the TN. Players add
  their character’s Attribute and
  Skill to the roll. Attributes and
  Skills usually go as high as +3,
  so a +6 bonus is possible. Very
  poor characters may be rolling
  with penalties if Attributes are
  suﬃciently low. All actions are
  assumed to have a TN of 7 un-
  less your GM states otherwise.
  Don’t ask – just roll!
  When they arrived at the town of Arano they could
  already see the mountain their bard was supposedly wan-
  dering over in the distance. It was peaceful, but Arano
  was in complete disarray. People were nipping back and
  forth with cartloads of breads and smoked meats while
  others were rushing past with no discernible purpose.
  Thenton needed information on whether or not that
  bard had travelled through here, how long ago and
  whether anyone noticed anything strange about his book,
  or singing. He had no desire to wait until things calmed
  down of their own accord - he would need to leave today.
  Thenton’s player uses his Intelligence Bonus (0) and
  Empathy Skill (+1). The GM stated no TN so the TN is
  7. Thenton’s player rolls 2D6 + 1 and the dice show a 4
  and a 1, for a grand total of 6. The roll is a failure. No
  information about the bard is forthcoming, but the GM
  still has some response to describe from the villagers.
  After stopping several people they frantically ex-
  plained that hobgoblins had attacked the last village before
  the South mountains - Casarenna.
  The strange man-
  devouring monsters had been pushed back but the village
  would still be in need of military aid.
  Apparently the
  mountains were full of hobgoblins, waiting to come down
  and eat everything.
  Thenton suddenly regretted his views on that two hun-
  dred gold coin reward. He was almost certain his com-
  panions would turn back, but his dwarvish companion,
  Hugi, surprised him.
  Laddie, listen. Them dwarves in that there mountain
  hae a pact wi’ a village o’ yonder side o’ the mountains.
  They telt them that if ever there was worry, they’d pro-
  tect them. As a result the village hae always gi’en em
  aw’re best meats fer cheap. An wan o’ them just hap-
  pens tae be ma cousin. A’m afraid Ah’m honour bound
  tae gang over the mountain and warn the village on the
  other side o’ the coming storm, e‘en if every last guid
  dwarf dwellin’ thar be deed.
  Thenton thought for a moment. If Hugi was at all
  upset by all the other dwarves in the mountain being
  killed by hobgoblins, his cousin presumably included, he
  didn’t show it. Still, it was important to warn anyone
  who didn’t know. An unexpected hobgoblin attack could
  spread like wildﬁre before being put down, at least if peo-
  ple are not prepared.
  Arneson nodded too. The three were in agreement.
  They would go across the mountains, capture their bard
  in the South Kingdom and then warn those people about
  the hobgoblins in the mountains. But ﬁrst Thenton would
  still have to get the villagers to tell him about the bard,
  and where he went.
  Resting Action
  The basic system assumes that actions are taken while
  the player is being hurried. When taking one’s time is
  possible, things become much easier. Exactly how much
  time is required is up to the GM, but it can easily be
  several nights. Sneaking into a house is a challenge, but
  much easier when one can take one’s time, looking at it
  night after night to see if there is any breach in security.
  Getting the latest gossip from a new village in a night
  is a normal action, but staying for a week and drinking
  every night with a diﬀerent local is a Resting Action.
  When taking a Resting Action, one die is presumed
  to have rolled a 6 and the player simply rolls the other
  die to obtain a result.
  15
  
  16
  CHAPTER 3. THE RULES
  Thenton’s player decides to retry his questions as a
  Resting Action. He already rolled the dice, so he cannot
  change the result by rerolling; the dice have decided that
  the village is far too frantic to help with random ques-
  tions about long-forgotten strangers.
  Thenton’s player
  instead takes the die that landed on a 1 and changes it
  to a 6. His total is now 8 and he has passed the test. This
  means the trio will have to spend longer than anticipated
  in the village and will not reach the other village until
  nightfall.
  After speaking with several villagers he found a sin-
  gle boy who remembered.
  These men came for him.
  They came and surrounded him and said they wanted
  his book, but then he just started singing, and they all
  went to sleep. After that he headed over to Caserenna.
  He must be trying to go over the mountain where the
  dwarves live.
  He had a funny accent and I think he
  came from the South, over those mountains. Thenton
  suspected that the spell in the bard’s book was some kind
  of sleeping spell. If he wasn’t simply a very boring singer
  then the trio would have to strike fast if they found him,
  before he could send them all to sleep.
  Teamwork
  Some tasks lend themselves to working with others. Oth-
  ers can be diﬃcult or impossible to do with companions.
  Some tasks, such as ﬂeeing or sneaking, do not beneﬁt
  at all from having a load of friends right behind you.
  When acting as a group provides no beneﬁt, one
  player rolls the dice and the same result counts for ev-
  eryone. If that player rolls a 9, then everyone’s score is
  9 and they add their own bonuses and penalties.
  If, on the other hand, working together can beneﬁt a
  situation, one character takes the lead, and up to three
  other characters can add up to half their bonus (rounded
  down). Two companions with a +3 bonus would add a
  total of a +2 bonus.
  Thenton wants to know what exactly that spell-song
  the boy was talking about means. He has the Academics
  Skill and never wrote down any specialisations so he asks
  the GM if he can take a specialisation in whatever it is
  he needs in order to know about that bard and what he
  was up to. The GM tells him to write down ‘Music’ – it’s
  a ﬁtting specialisation since he already plays the ﬂute.
  Thenton then needs to roll using his Intelligence
  Bonus and Academics Skill – the ﬁrst is at 0 but his
  Academics Skill grants him +1.
  The more academics
  you have, the better the chances that one of them knows
  something, so Hugi’s player wants to help using his +2
  Bonus. He has Intelligence +1 and the Academics Skill
  at ﬁrst level. He wants to use his specialisation in His-
  tory, and the GM allows it. Hugi is helping the action
  so he can add half his score of +3 (rounded down) for an
  additional +1 bonus. Arneson has no knowledge of aca-
  demic matters and an Intelligence Attribute at -1 so he’s
  better oﬀ staying quiet. Adding the bonuses together, the
  roll is at +2. The GM stipulates the TN of 14 – a tall
  order without a library to aid matters. The roll fails and
  the troop will have to go into the situation blind.
  Thenton recalled what the old alchemist had said
  about the book – surely the bard had sung the song from
  the stolen book and put the guards to sleep with this
  magic.
  He searched his mind for where such a song
  might come from and what else it might be capable of.
  He wondered if the bard had really come from the South
  and what he might want with that book. The entire thing
  was an impenetrable enigma.
  Resisted Actions
  When PCs come into disagreements with NPCs (Non
  Player Characters), the PCs pick up the dice, and roll.
  The NPC’s Traits add to the TN.
  For example, if a player attempts to pick someone’s
  pocket, the NPC never rolls Wits + Vigilance. Instead,
  if an NPC has a Wits + Vigilance total of +4, the TN
  for the roll is 7 + 4 = 11. The player then rolls against
  that TN. The results are exactly the same, but having
  Players roll for everything helps emphasize agency and
  can speed up the game.
  Arneson, Thenton and Hugi left that day, and as the
  sun was setting they saw Casarenna’s smoking chimneys
  ahead, reaching up to the imposing, grey mountains be-
  hind. The smell of roasted meat was coming from every
  house.
  Unknown to the characters, the hobgoblins returned
  to attack the village again some hours ago, slaughtered
  everyone and began to roast them. Hobgoblins tend to act
  quickly. The smell of roasted meat is coming from hu-
  man ﬂesh roasting over each ﬁre in the village, while little
  troves of hobgoblins each sit around one hearth, hungrily
  gnawing on undercooked dinners.
  The GM wants to know if the characters will notice
  the village is full of hobgoblins before hollering a greet-
  ing. They might manage to luck into stealthing through
  the environment, or might be caught unaware. She de-
  cides the appropriate roll is Wits + Stealth, and that the
  character with the lowest score should complete the task,
  since if any one of them give away their position it will
  spell bad news for each of them.
  The GM thinks about the diﬃculty. On the one hand,
  it is dark (which makes hiding easier) and there are some
  signs of battle in the village, such as blood on the grass.
  On the other hand, the darkness stops the characters see-
  ing the signs of battle. She decides that the various fac-
  tors cancel each other out and keeps the base TN of 7.
  She adds the hobgoblins’ score to this - the highest score
  counts since any of of the hobgoblins might spot the char-
  acters, but all the hobgoblins have the same score. They
  
  3.1. BASIC ACTIONS
  17
  have Wits -1 and no Vigilance Skill; the hobgoblins’ score
  is added to the TN for a ﬁnal TN of 6. Meanwhile, Then-
  ton still has a Wits + Vigilance total of -1.
  Thenton’s player rolls a total of 4.
  Thenton shouted out, ‘Hey there! We are here from
  . . . ’ but Hugi quickly jumps up to cover his mouth, say-
  ing
  “Nay, laddie! Can ye no smell wha’s cookin’? Can
  ye no see the blood on the grass?
  This place is deed.
  Them buggers musta returned, and they’re cooking the
  humans. We best be quiet”.
  Movement from the nearby cottages soon showed
  them it was too late. A full village of the enemy were
  here, and they were starting to react and shout warnings
  and orders to each other.
  Margins
  Most actions are either a success or a failure, but some-
  times the GM will request to know a roll’s Margin – i.e.
  just how well the character has succeeded at the task.
  The Margin is the number of points over the TN a roll
  has gathered. If the TN is 9 and a player scores 11 then
  the Margin is 2.
  The GM might use a Margin for some variable, for
  example a bard attempting to charm a crowd into giving
  him money might gain 2D6 copper pieces plus the Mar-
  gin, so if the Margin is 3 then he would get 2D6+3 cop-
  per pieces. Margins might also be used to gain bonuses
  on later rolls. Someone attempting to impress a noble
  court might roll Charisma with the Tactics Skill; the
  bigger the Margin the more troops they will be trusted
  with.
  While previously the players rolled to hide against
  their opponent’s ability to spot them, this time they roll
  to see if they spot a hidden opponent. The character with
  the highest score is Arneson, with Wits 0 and Vigilance
  +1. The GM decides that the hobgoblin should use his
  Speed Bonus of +1, and his Stealth Skill adds +1 again.
  The hobgoblins’ score of +2 adds to the basic TN of 7,
  producing a ﬁnal TN of 9. Arneson’s player rolls 2D6
  to produce a ﬁnal score of ‘12’ - the roll is a success
  and the margin is 3. Since the margin is quite good, the
  GM decides that the troop leave the area before they are
  engaged and gain a +3 bonus to running away.
  The thatched roof on the nearby cottage rustled and
  Arneson instinctively drew his companions back. They
  turned and ran before their adversary could make his
  leap down to meet them with his axe. They ran as swiftly
  as they could into the safety of the darkness surround-
  ing Casarenna but the hobgoblins stampeded fast behind
  them, running as swiftly as they could with guttural cries
  and war songs which Thenton could only guess translated
  to something about dinner.
  A
  scurrying
  of
  agile,
  hungry
  feet ﬁlled the lit-
  tle muddy rows be-
  tween houses. The
  trio
  looked
  about
  for an escape route.
  Unknown to them,
  one of the hobgob-
  lins was meant to
  be keeping a look-
  out from the roof of
  the cottage on the
  edge of town.
  He
  observed them for a
  brief moment and
  then
  jumped
  oﬀ,
  axe in hand, ready
  to make up for all
  the meals he had
  missed
  while
  pre-
  tending to keep guard.
  It was twenty long minutes of
  running before they were conﬁdent they were safe. Hugi
  and Thenton tenderly tried to regain their own breath
  while Arneson went to gather wood for a temporary shel-
  ter. Despite their distance from the village, they were
  kept awake by the wind bringing faint yet deep and rever-
  berating songs from the village over to them all through
  the night.
  What the Dice Mean
  You might think of the dice as representing random
  chance in the environment. Just how irritated is that
  person you’re trying to question, and how creative is
  that craftsman feeling today? Dice are never re-rolled
  for diﬀerent results on the same action because once the
  dice have told you what the situation is, the situation
  stays put.
  Characters attempting to change a Standard Action
  into a Resting Action do not reroll but rather keep the
  same roll and turn one die up to show a 6, because while
  spending more time on a task can be very useful, some-
  times the environment simply tells you ‘no’. Such a do-
  over still suggests initial failure; it just means that the
  character is trying over and over again until a better
  result is obtained.
  
  18
  CHAPTER 3. THE RULES
  SECTION 3.2
  Experience
  As the story progresses, the PCs gain XP. Each part of
  the character can be improved by spending XP. Buy-
  ing basic stats is cheap while higher level stats quickly
  become extremely expensive.
  Gaining XP
  Players receive XP from the GM for killing monsters, pi-
  ous endeavours or fulﬁlling one’s personal goals. Larger
  and more dangerous monsters garner more XP, as do
  grander missions. The personal goals and piety of a char-
  acter are denoted by diﬀerent codes of belief and gods.
  See page 41 for details on the gods and personal codes
  of honour.
  Training Time
  The GM may wish to only award XP at the end of a ses-
  sion, and may restrict when it can be spent. Each Trait
  should increase by no more than a single level during the
  course of an adventure – you might be lucky enough to
  get enough XP to raise your Strength from -2 to +1 in a
  single session, but nobody can accrue that kind of mus-
  cle mass in such a short period of time. Specialisation
  Skills such as Craft and Combat are diﬃcult to train
  with, so it’s recommended they only be bought during
  Downtime.
  What Counts?
  Enemies don’t have to be killed for the XP, merely ‘de-
  feated’. Any enemies ﬂeeing count for half their XP value
  so long as they engaged in one round of combat.
  Experience Points & the Discount
  Standing alone against a towering ogre is a nightmare,
  but three warriors standing against three ogres can be
  much easier. A battle against thirty goblins can really
  take its toll, but three diﬀerent battles against ten gob-
  lins can be child’s play. To represent this, we have the
  XP Discount – a price you pay for every member of the
  party.
  For every member of the party, that many points are
  deducted from one monster’s XP value (to a minimum
  of 0). If the party has two members, the ﬁrst two mon-
  sters have 2 XP deducted from their total value. If the
  party has ﬁve members, the ﬁrst ﬁve monsters have 5
  XP deducted from their total.
  If a single warrior defeats a dragon worth 22 XP,
  then the warrior receives 21 XP, because 1 XP is re-
  moved from the total. If he ﬁghts 10 ghouls worth 2 XP
  each, then he receives 1 for the ﬁrst, and 2 for the rest,
  for a total of 19 XP.
  However, if ﬁve characters are ﬁghting the 10 ghouls
  together, they each deduct 5 XP from a single monster.
  The ﬁrst ﬁve ghouls are worth nothing, because each net
  (2−5 =) 0 XP. Only the last 5 ghouls count, bringing 10
  XP in total. Dividing this among 5 players, each receives
  2 XP at the end.
  If players need to discount multiple adversaries, they
  are counted from highest to lowest XP value.
  Spending XP
  Each additional level of a Trait has a steeply progressive
  cost. The costs represent buying the next level; the ﬁrst
  level of a school of magic costs 15 and the second costs
  20 – buying up to the second level costs 35 XP in total.
  Knacks work similarly, where the ﬁrst Knack costs only
  5 XP, but the second Knack a Player purchases costs
  10, and so on, with each additional Knack costing an
  additional 5 XP.
  Attributes have
  a
  standard
  max-
  imum
  of
  +3
  and
  minimum
  of
  -3.
  This
  is
  adjusted
  by race, so for in-
  stance
  elves
  have
  a
  +1
  bonus
  to
  Wits
  but
  -1
  to
  Strength,
  so
  their
  maximum Strength
  score
  would
  be
  2
  and
  the
  minimum
  -4, while the maximum Wits is +4 and the minimum -2.
  Buying oﬀ a negative level increases it by 1 and al-
  ways costs 5 XP, so taking a character from -4 Strength
  to 0 would cost 20 XP.
  Attribute Level
  Cost
  Buy oﬀ negative
  5
  +1
  10
  +2
  20
  +3
  30
  +4
  50
  FP Base
  Cost
  10
  10
  15
  15
  20
  25
  25
  45
  30
  85
  Mana Base
  Cost
  2
  5
  4
  10
  6
  20
  8
  40
  10
  80
  Magic Sphere
  Cost
  1st
  10
  2nd
  15
  3rd
  25
  4th
  45
  5th
  85
  
  3.3. GOLD & GOODS
  19
  Skill Level
  Cost
  +1
  5
  +2
  10
  +3
  15
  Combat/Proj.
  Cost
  +1
  10
  +2
  20
  +3
  40
  Concept
  Now is the time to look at your character’s base At-
  tributes and think about what they might be good at.
  The best place to start is your highest Attribute.
  If
  you have a positive (or simply not negative) Intelligence
  score, making a spell caster is a good option. Buy oﬀ
  any Wits penalties and put a magic sphere down on the
  character sheet and a couple of Mana Points. Alterna-
  tively, if your highest Trait so far is a Body Attribute
  perhaps this character is more suited to being a ﬁghter.
  Don’t worry if you have negative Body Attributes – your
  starting XP can buy all of that up to 0 quite easily.
  Mixed
  charac-
  ters
  are
  easy
  to
  make
  –
  a
  spell-
  casting,
  sword-
  swinging
  elf
  or
  a
  dwarf
  who
  prays
  to dark gods and
  sneaks well through
  the shadows simply
  requires a couple of
  Traits. Think about
  which way the char-
  acter is headed and
  at this point write
  something down in
  the character’s ‘Concept’ section at the top. It might be
  something solid and classic, such as ‘sellsword’, ‘eager
  paladin’, ‘barbarian poet’, ‘wizzard’, or ‘greedy rogue’.
  You could also wander oﬀ the traditional RPG model,
  playing a ‘lost outlander’, ‘unwilling prophet’ or ‘dis-
  honoured noble’.
  My own character, Thenton, has a good Charisma
  score and some basic ability to ﬁght with his enhanced
  human Strength Attribute. I think I’m going to make
  him a ‘knightly poet’.
  Starting XP
  Characters begin play with an amount of XP stipulated
  by the GM depending upon the level of their campaign.
  The suggested starting XP is 50, with up to 150 XP for
  more advanced campaigns. With that in mind, it’s time
  for me to spend some of that 50 XP on Thenton, the
  knightly poet.
  For a start, he’ll need the Performance Skill, and he
  gets two specialisations with it because it’s a specialised
  Skill. ‘Poetry’ is a good start, and perhaps the ﬂute af-
  ter that, because why not? That costs 5 XP so I have 45
  left. He should have some basic Combat ability, so I’m
  going to give him +1 in the Combat Skill – that’ll cost
  10, and why not put him at +2 for another 20 XP? That
  leaves only 15 XP to go. Since he’s a ﬁghter he needs the
  Dexterity penalty removed. Removing the penalty costs
  only 5 XP, so with 10 left I’m going to buy a level of
  Empathy to make him a socialite. Deceit would also be
  good, but I think a knightly poet would be too naive for
  that. Finally, a member of the nobility, even a minor no-
  ble, should have some basic Academics knowledge, so his
  last Trait will be the ﬁrst level of the Academics Skill.
  SECTION 3.3
  Gold & Goods
  Money
  An open ended list of equipment is provided to give a
  basic idea of costs. The basic coinage covered here is
  human coinage, but each culture will use their own cur-
  rency and exchange rates. A hundred Cp (Copper Piece)
  is worth 1 sp. 10 sp is worth 1 gp (Gold Piece).
  An average villager will make little spare money –
  perhaps 10 sp in a year if they bother to save. Sellswords
  can expect to make upwards to 10 gold per year if they
  are hired by a villagemaster. The average free trader –
  a blacksmith or cloth dyer – can expect to make 5 sp in
  a month.
  Prices for weapons are placed next to the weapon in
  chapter 4, page 27.
  Animal
  Cost
  Dog
  2 sp
  Donkey
  2 sp
  Horse
  5 gp
  War Horse
  8 gp
  Buildings
  Cost
  Cottage
  20 gp
  Keep
  1,000 gp
  Small Castle
  4,000 gp
  Medium Castle
  10,000 gp
  Large Castle
  30,000 gp
  Clothing
  Weight
  Cost
  Peasant clothes
  -3
  50 cp
  Noble clothes
  -4
  1 gp
  Lavish clothes
  -5
  3 gp
  Travelling
  clothes
  -3
  5 sp
  
  20
  CHAPTER 3. THE RULES
  Professional
  Tools
  Weight
  Cost
  Cart
  11
  1 gp
  Grappling hook
  -2
  1 sp
  Ink bottle
  5 cp
  Iron rations
  -2
  10 cp
  Lantern
  -2
  3 sp
  Lock pick set
  10 sp
  Metallurgy set
  6
  40 sp
  Parchment sheet
  1 cp
  Quill
  4 cp
  Rope, 50’
  -1
  50 cp
  Rope, silk, 50’
  -4
  3 sp
  Travel
  Cost
  Ale
  1 cp
  Cart
  1 gp
  Camping equip-
  ment
  1 sp
  One meal
  2 cp
  Room
  for
  the
  night
  20-300 cp
  Working Beasts
  Animal stats vary, but you can use the below as a go-to
  standard for working animals.
  � Horse�
  Strength
  2
  Dexterity
  0
  Speed
  0
  Wits
  1
  Skills:
  Aggression 1,
  Athletics 2,
  Survival 1
  Abilities:
  Quadraped
  (double
  move-
  ment)
  Attack 9, Initiative 0, Damage 1D6 + 2, TN 7
  (12), DR 1 C, 8 HP
  2 XP
  � War Horse�
  Strength
  4
  Dexterity
  0
  Speed
  4
  Wits
  2
  Skills:
  Aggression 2,
  Athletics 2,
  Survival 1, Vigilance 1
  Abilities:
  Quadraped
  (double
  move-
  ment)
  Attack 10, Initiative 4, Damage 2D6, TN 7 (12),
  DR 1 C, 10 HP
  6 XP
  � Hunting Dog
  Strength
  -2
  Dexterity
  -1
  Speed
  1
  Wits
  1
  Skills:
  Aggression 1,
  Survival 2,
  Vigilance 2
  Abilities:
  Teeth
  (+1
  Damage
  after
  grapple) , Quadraped (dou-
  ble movement)
  Attack 9, Initiative 1, Damage 1D6 − 1, TN 6, 4
  HP
  1/4 XP
  
  3.3. GOLD & GOODS
  21
  Weight & Encumbrance
  We measure weight in broad terms. Characters have a
  weightrating equal to their HP (Hit Points), so elves tend
  to have 5, while humans tend to have a Weight Rating
  of 7. Items work similarly, with Weight Rating between
  -4 (for very light items) and +11 (for wardrobes, carts,
  and boulders).
  If an item’s Weight Rating is equal or below your
  character’s Strength, you can lift it easily.
  However,
  if the items has a greater Weight Rating than your
  Strength Bonus, you gain a point of Encumbrance for
  every increment that item is above your Strength Bonus.
  Encumbrance slows you down and makes you tired, de-
  tracting from your Speed Bonus, and adding to your
  Fatigue each Scene.
  Characters can carry items with a maximum Weight
  Rating of their Strength Bonus plus 6, so a man with 7
  HP could only be carried with a Strength Bonus of +1
  or greater. Depending upon the circumstances, the GM
  may allow heavier objects to be dragged or rolled.
  Services
  Money can buy you more than things. In fact, for the
  right money in a large city, characters can buy a full en-
  tourage. Villages, however, will not admit of the same
  opportunities.
  The costs below show the starting price for a few ser-
  vices, plus additional fees for the details. For example,
  hiring a guide for an uncharted and dangerous area for
  5 days would cost 800 cp.
  For example, Thenton, with a Strength Bonus of +1,
  picks up a weighty battle axe. The Weight Rating is 3,
  so this inﬂicts an Encumbrance Penalty of 2. Thenton’s
  eﬀective Speed Bonus drops to -2, reducing his Initiative
  (covered below) and ability to run. He will also gain 2
  Fatigue points at the end of each scene1 where he carries
  it.
  Items carried in only one hand count as having +2
  to the Weight Rating, so hefting a battle axe in only one
  hand would mean it has an eﬀective Weight Rating of 5.
  Characters cannot carry any item which gives them
  a -5 Encumbrance rating or higher.
  Services
  Sellsword
  10sp/ day
  Opponent
  XP3 sp
  Illegal Murder
  10sp
  Guide
  150 cp/ day
  Dangerous area
  1sp
  Uncharted area
  50cp
  Minstrel
  15 cp/ performance
  Large audience
  500cp
  Massive audience
  1sp
  Creating a new song
  2sp
  Illegal song
  5sp
  Tracker
  5 sp/ day
  Dangerous area
  2sp
  Uncharted area
  4sp
  Cultures & Exchange Rates
  Diﬀerent cultures have diﬀerent exchange rates – the el-
  ven versions of standard equipment are always artisti-
  1See page 23 for notes on scenes.
  
  22
  CHAPTER 3. THE RULES
  cally engraved and in high demand; the elves also value
  the coinage and materials of outsiders very little, so they
  will not part with their items for human or dwarvish gold
  easily. As a result, their – and other – culture’s items
  are more expensive than human items. The costs of the
  items here are based on the most common race – hu-
  mans. Other races have a multiplier eﬀect based on how
  expensive their equipment is.
  Race
  Multiplier
  Elves
  ×3
  Dwarves
  ×2
  Gnomes
  ×2
  Gnolls
  1
  2
  Diﬀerent races will also
  have diﬀerent items avail-
  able. In general, anything
  of a basic (non adjusted)
  value of over 2 sp will not
  be available in a village,
  while towns will not have
  anything of over 1 gp in
  value. Characters can only
  buy expensive, artisan, items in cities.
  Starting Equipment
  Characters begin with money, items, and Adventuring
  Equipment. Characters each start with 2 items of 10 sp
  value or less plus one items per Skill level. This might in-
  clude a sword, dagger, a donkey, or anything else worth
  10 sp or less.
  The player can decide to replace any of these items
  with a generic item called Adventuring Equipment. If
  a player has an Adventuring Equipment item, they can
  decided to describe exactly what it is at any point later
  in the game.
  Out in the forest, the group need some ﬁre starting
  equipment.
  Luckily, Arneson’s player put down three
  pieces of Adventuring Equipment, which could be any
  number of things. He marks that oﬀ, and decides this
  particular piece of Adventuring Equipment is a tinder
  box, so he can start a ﬁre.
  Meanwhile, Hugi is out of rations, so his player
  marks his last piece of Adventuring Equipment as a day’s
  rations.
  Adventuring Equipment can include any of the fol-
  lowing items:
  • Chalk
  • Lock picking set
  • Medical equipment
  • Mirror
  • Rations for a day
  • Rope
  • Tinder box
  • Torch
  • Wine
  • Writing equipment
  Starting Money
  The amount of bare money a character starts out with
  depends upon social class, which is indicated by their
  Skills. Starting money is 3D6 − 5cp. Multiply this by
  itself for every level of the Academics Skill you have, and
  then multiply it by 2 for every level of a Specialist Skill
  you have.
  For example, a character with Academics 1 and Tac-
  tics 1 might roll a 7. 7 × 7 × 2 = 98, so the character
  starts out with 98cp.
  Thenton now only needs his starting equipment. We
  covered already that he starts with any two items worth
  10 sp or less plus one more item per Skill. The Com-
  bat Skill, Empathy and Performance let him start with 5
  items in total. We’ll start with some shiny Partial chain-
  mail and a longsword. He also gains an item from his
  Combat Skill, so perhaps a dagger on top of that would
  be good, just in case he loses the sword. He could also
  do with a ﬂute so he can play, and ﬁnally since he’s
  travelling I’m going to mark down basic camping equip-
  ment. It’s pretty heavy, so it’ll give him a -1 penalty to
  all Physical Attributes due to the weight, but he can just
  place it down if he’s doing anything demanding.
  Rolling 3D6 for his starting money, I’ve got a ‘9’, so
  I’m starting with 4 (9 − 5 = 4). The Academics Skill
  multiplies that by itself, and Thenton has two special-
  ist Skills – Combat and Performance. All in all that’s
  42 × 2 × 2 = 64cp.
  ♂ Thenton
  Strength
  1
  Dexterity
  0
  Speed
  0
  Intelligence
  0
  Wits
  -1
  Charisma
  1
  Skills:
  Combat 2, Academics 1, Empathy 1, Performance 1
  Equipment:
  Longsword, partial chain armour , dagger, ﬂute, camping equip-
  ment, 64cp
  Attack 10, Initiative 1, Damage 1D6 + 2, TN 10 (13), DR 4 P, 7 HP
  5 XP . . . 6 FP
  
  3.4. TIME & SPACE
  23
  SECTION 3.4
  Time & Space
  This game uses the entirely abstract measurements of
  the ‘scene’ and ‘square’ for time and space. They are
  more compliant to narrative than physics, and form the
  basis of all movement and actions whenever people start
  tracking how long something takes and where everyone
  is.
  Time as Scenes
  When everyone wants to talk and act at the same time,
  time is tracked in Rounds. This period of time is used
  almost exclusively while tracking combat. The Round
  itself can then be further divided into Initiative Scores if
  you want real detail, but that’s covered later. All that
  matters is that a Round is a period of time in which
  people attempt to hit each other, then another Round
  occurs.
  Most of the time, actions will not occur through
  Rounds but rather scenes. A scene is just any unit of
  time in which the PCs take on a task or two, usually
  within a single area.
  We track scenes only because a
  few game eﬀects occur at the end of each scene – mostly
  these are narrative eﬀects such as regaining FP2 in order
  to regain plot-immunity from Damage. The scene lasts
  until the GM says that it’s over.
  Lastly, there is an adventure. The adventure lasts
  until the current plot-thread is resolved, or some period
  of ‘sandboxing’ through a world until a proper use of
  one’s time can be found.
  Space as Squares
  Space is tracked through Squares. A Square is just any
  unit of space within the battleﬁeld.
  If you are using
  a battlemap which has squares marked out on it, then
  those squares are the size of a square, even if those
  squares happen to look very hexagonal. A square might
  be ten metres wide as each one covers an entire house
  when the battleﬁeld is a large town, or it might be just
  two yards wide when moving through a detailed map of a
  dungeon. The precise distances represented do not mat-
  ter, just so long as they consistently balance one char-
  acter’s ability to run away with another’s ability to hit
  someone with a projectile.
  The next unit of space is the ‘Area’.
  An Area is
  just any Area which looks diﬀerent from another. While
  traipsing through a small dungeon, each room and cav-
  ern entered might be thought of as an Area. When gal-
  livanting through open plains one Area might be a copse
  of trees, another a lake, and then the next area a village.
  The ﬁnal unit is a ‘region’. Regions encompasses a
  full forest, a town, or a collection of villages. Each region
  has its own set of likely encounters, such as tradesmen in
  the villages, cut-throats in town, and elves in the forest.3
  2See page 30.
  3If all this looks like a repugnant abstraction, just set a square to two yards, an area to one mile, a Round to six seconds and a
  scene to one hour.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 4
  Combat
  SECTION 4.1
  Overview
  4.1
  Overview
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  4.2
  Basic Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  Quick Actions . . . . . . . . . . . .
  24
  Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  25
  Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  25
  Stacking Damage . . . . . . . . . .
  25
  Defence
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  25
  Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  26
  Hit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  26
  Healing
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  26
  Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  26
  4.3
  Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  27
  Light Weapons . . . . . . . . . . .
  27
  Medium Weapons
  . . . . . . . . .
  27
  Heavy Weapons . . . . . . . . . . .
  28
  Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  28
  4.4
  Armour
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  28
  Vitals Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  28
  Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  Perfect Strikes
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  Stacking Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  Aggression
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  4.5
  Advanced Combat
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  Stances
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  The Combat Bonus . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  29
  4.6
  Fate Points
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  30
  Regaining Fate Points . . . . . . . . . . .
  30
  4.7
  Fatigue
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  30
  Gaining Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  31
  Skills and Fatigue
  . . . . . . . . .
  31
  Healing Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  31
  4.8
  Complications & Manoeuvres . . . . . . .
  33
  Complications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Blindness . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Darkness
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Passing Attacks . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Spell Casting in Combat . . . . . .
  33
  Trapped or Entangled . . . . . . .
  33
  Falling Prone . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Manoeuvres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Brawling
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  33
  Blind Rage
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Drawing Weapons
  . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Dropping Weapons . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Flanking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Grabbing & Grappling . . . . . . .
  34
  Guarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Half Swording . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Holding Oﬀ . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Keeping Edgy . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Ram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  34
  Sneak Attacks
  . . . . . . . . . . .
  35
  Two Weapon Combat . . . . . . .
  35
  4.9
  Ranged Combat
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  35
  The Long Bow
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  35
  The Short Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  36
  The Crossbow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  36
  Thrown Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  36
  Impromptu Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . .
  36
  4.10 Morale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  37
  4.11 Chases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  38
  Fleeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  38
  Hunting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39
  4.12 Further Dangers
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39
  Falling Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39
  Marching
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  39
  4.13 Combat Summary
  . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  40
  These life and death rolls are handled somewhat dif-
  ferently from other tasks. Let’s start with an overview
  of the basic features then go over them again in more
  detail. You enter a dungeon, goblins are launching an
  attack from ahead. You grab the dice and roll Initia-
  tive for the entire party. The goblins have 9. You (and
  therefore the party) have rolled 5.
  Everyone adds their own bonuses to their Initiative
  score. You get +2 for using a rapier, for a total of 7.
  The party’s dwarf has just +1 and acts on Initiative 6.
  The goblins’ spears give them a total of 12.
  12:
  The goblins spend 2 Initiative to run forward to
  attack.
  10:
  The goblins spend 4 Initiative to attack, and every-
  one defends against the onslaught of spears. To simply
  defend, you spend 2 Initiative, putting you on 5.
  24
  
  4.2. BASIC COMBAT
  25
  6:
  The goblins stab at the party again, going down to
  Initiative 1. You decide to take your bruises and start
  swinging, without any proper defence.
  5:
  You hit back, killing your ﬁrst opponent. However,
  your heavy weapon costs 6 Initiative to take a swing, so
  you go down to Initiative -1.
  2:
  The rest of the party attack back. Any goblin hit
  has to defend itself, putting it on Initiative -1.
  1:
  Any goblins who were not attacked begin another
  assault.
  0:
  The round ends.
  A successful ﬁght depends as much on proper pacing
  and timing as anything else.
  Each Round you select your tactics anew and have a
  range of options for manoeuvres you can pull oﬀ.
  SECTION 4.2
  Basic Combat
  Initiative
  At the start of each Round the leader of each group
  rolls 2D6 and the result is the group’s Initiative.1 Each
  character then adds their Initiative Factor to get their
  Initiative Score. The Initiative Factor is given by char-
  acters’ Speed Attribute plus weapon modiﬁers. If you
  roll 5 and have a Speed Bonus of 1, your Initiative Score
  is 6.
  The GM then counts downwards from the highest
  Initiative score. When your number comes up, you can
  act. Each time the character takes an action they pay a
  cost in Initiative – once it reaches below 1 that character
  can no longer act. Moving costs only 2 Initiative, while
  swinging an axe costs 6. You can spend as much as you
  like, and even go down to an Initiative score of -5, but
  once the Initiative count reaches 0, the round ends.
  Heavy weapons are generally more eﬀective than
  Light weapons, but they cost 6 Initiative points to take
  a swing, while Light weapons cost only 4.
  Heavy weapons are those with a Weight Rating of -1
  or greater. Smaller weapons, those with a Weight Rating
  of -2 or less, and brawling attacks with ﬁsts, all count as
  light weapons.
  Quick Actions
  Quick Actions can interrupt the usual Initiative priori-
  ties. Any time someone attempts a Quick Action, they
  take their action immediately, even if they have a nega-
  tive Initiative score. If two characters interrupt the Ini-
  tiative ﬂow with Quick Actions then whoever currently
  has the highest Initiative Score goes ﬁrst.
  Quick Actions allow characters to guard someone as
  soon as they see an attack impending upon a friend, to
  defend against missile attacks, or to shout a few words.
  Characters on less than 1 Initiative can continue tak-
  ing Quick Actions, but suﬀer a -1 cumulative penalty for
  each Quick action below.
  For example, you can move, then Keep Edgy, even
  after you’re too disoriented to attack anyone, but that
  movement will suﬀer a -1 penalty. Meanwhile, Keeping
  Edgy requires no roll and has no associated numbers, so
  it does not incur any penalty. However, defending one-
  self after this point would have a -2 penalty, and further
  Quick Actions would suﬀer a -3 penalty.
  Attack
  To attack an opponent, you roll 2D6 as usual, but only
  add your Combat Skill. The TN is 7 plus your oppo-
  nent’s Dexterity.
  Damage
  If you hit, roll 1D6 plus your Strength Bonus to deter-
  mine Damage. The Damage is then taken oﬀ the enemy’s
  HP. Everyone has a number of HP to withstand Dam-
  age. When your opponent is reduced to 0 HP, they are
  defeated.
  Stacking Damage
  Damage Bonuses cannot extend forever. If the Damage
  bonus ever exceeds +3 then 4 points of the bonus are
  replaced with a die. Therefore, what might usually be
  1D6 + 4 Damage becomes 2D6 Damage.
  This applies to all Damage, including magical Dam-
  age.
  It continues through all Damage Bonuses, so
  1D6+9 Damage would be simply 3D6+1 Damage after
  conversion.
  1The “party leader”, here means ‘whoever rolls the Initiative dice ﬁrst’.
  
  26
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  Defence
  When the enemy attempts to hit you, roll for defence
  with your Dexterity at TN 8 plus your opponent’s Com-
  bat Skill. Defending costs 2 Initiative and counts as a
  Quick Action, so it can be done immediately.
  Characters on 0 initiative or below suﬀer a -1 penalty
  to defence for each additional defence action. You might
  block the attacks of three ﬁghters, but after that every-
  one becomes tired, so once initiative is down, defence
  becomes progressively more challenging.
  Initiative Costs
  Action
  Init. Cost
  – Striking
  Heavy weapon
  8
  Medium weapon
  6
  Light weapon
  4
  Drawing weapon
  2
  – Projectiles
  Crossbow
  3
  Guard Someone
  2
  Improvised projectile
  7
  Reloading
  2
  Shortbow
  4
  Thrown weapon
  4
  – Quick Actions
  Defence
  2
  Keeping Edgy
  2
  Moving
  2
  Speaking
  2
  – Magic
  Use magic item
  8
  Cast a spell
  3+level
  Dicey Damage
  If you prefer your Dice in a more old-school for-
  mat, you can easily give each weapon a diﬀerent
  Damage die. Weapons which would normally in-
  ﬂict +1 Damage can instead roll their Damage as
  1D8, while weapons with +2 Damage would in-
  stead leave players rolling 1D10, leaving weapons
  of +3 Damage to be replaced with a D12.
  Whether the players are rolling 1D6+1 for a dag-
  ger or 1D8, both have the same average of 4.5,
  so this system will not change things signiﬁcantly.
  However, Stacking Damage occurs less often, and
  the die rolls will tend to swing more wildly to the
  highs and lows.
  If you don’t own a D14, then simply add +1 Dam-
  age to all Damage totals above +3.
  +0 Damage should remain as 1D6 and anyone
  with a Strength score of +4 should replace the
  bonus with a D6 as normal. Spells are unaﬀected.
  Movement
  By spending two Initiative, characters can run as a Quick
  Action, acting before all other actions. Characters can
  run 3 squares plus their Speed Bonus during this time.
  This movement can be chopped up into any number of
  pieces – once the Initiative is spent, a character with
  Speed +1 might run only one square, then 2 more, then
  1 more square later.
  Characters who spend the entire turn running can
  move 10 squares plus their Speed Bonus plus their Ath-
  letics Skill Bonus; so someone with Speed +1 and Ath-
  letics +1 would move 12 squares per turn of ﬂat-out
  running.
  Hit Points
  Each character has a number of HP equal to 6 plus their
  Strength Bonus. Small gnomes typically have 4 HP while
  big, strong humans typically have 7. Losing even a single
  HP means the character has suﬀered serious Damage. A
  long fall might have broken the character’s bone. A dag-
  ger could have slashed open several veins. Characters do
  not have many HP so losing even one is a serious matter.
  Healing
  Characters heal a quarter their HP each week, rounded
  up.
  Death
  Once a PC reaches 0 HP they must make a Vitality
  Check in order to stay alive. This is rolled at TN 4 plus
  one for every negative HP level.2 For example, if some-
  one with 3 HP left were to take a further 6 Damage, this
  would put their at -3 HP. That makes the TN 7 for the
  Vitality Check.
  A failed Vitality check means that the character is
  dead. A successful one means that the character is un-
  conscious for the remainder of the scene but alive. At the
  end of the scene they can make further Vitality Checks
  to see if they wake up. When waking up, all actions re-
  lying on movement take a penalty equal to the number
  of HP beyond 0 the character has lost.
  NPCs roll Vitality checks at a basic TN of 7 instead
  of 4.
  2Traits such as Strength do not aﬀect the Vitality check because in a way, they already have. Stronger characters already have
  more HP, which has already kept them farther from death.
  
  4.3. WEAPONS
  27
  SECTION 4.3
  Weapons
  Weapons are a great way of inﬂicting additional Dam-
  age, but they are an equally excellent way of defending
  oneself. Having a longsword to keep scary opponents at
  bay is always better than trying to nimbly dodge about.
  Longer weapons also grant a bonus to Initiative, repre-
  senting the ﬁghter’s ability to hit opponents before they
  hit them due to the weapon’s length.
  Each weapons is rated for ‘Dam’ (the Damage
  bonus), ‘Init’ (the bonus to Initiative, generally through
  reach) and ‘Ev’ (the weapon’s Evasion bonus).
  Each weapon has a Weight Rating, just like any
  item.
  For every point a weapon’s Weight Rating ex-
  ceeds its wielder’s Strength Bonus, the wielder gains 1
  Encumbrance, which subtracts from the character’s Ef-
  fective Speed as they move slower and swings the weapon
  slower. Weapons held in only one hand add +2 to their
  Weight Rating.
  Finally, some weapons also have an in-built ‘knack’
  – a special ability they allow the wielder to use. These
  weapon knacks are not counted towards the character’s
  total knacks, except for the purposes of the weapon’s
  knack. See Chapter 6 for a full list of knacks.
  Light Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Cudgel
  +2
  0
  0
  -3
  Stunning Strike (page 50)
  Dagger
  +1
  0
  +1
  -4
  60cp
  Firepoker
  +1
  +1
  0
  -2
  Finishing Blow (page 49)
  Javelin
  +1
  +2
  0
  -2
  50cp
  Knife
  +1
  0
  0
  -4
  40cp
  Precise Strike (page 49)
  Log
  +1
  -1
  0
  -2
  Rapier
  +1
  +2
  +1
  -2
  15sp
  Rock
  +1
  0
  0
  -5
  Medium Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Boulder
  +4
  -1
  0
  6/8
  Finishing Blow (page 49)
  Chair
  +1
  +1
  +1
  1/ 3
  Club
  +2
  +1
  +1
  2/4
  Great Axe
  +3
  +1
  +1
  3/5
  8 sp
  Great Sword
  +2
  +1
  +2
  3/5
  8 sp
  Large Rock
  +2
  0
  0
  4/6
  Longsword
  +1
  +1
  +3
  1/3
  9 sp
  Shortsword
  +1
  +1
  +2
  -1/1
  6 sp
  Furious Blows (page 49)
  Spear
  +1
  +1
  +2
  0/2
  3 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Quarterstaﬀ
  0
  +1
  +2
  0/2
  2 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Whip
  0
  +2
  0
  -1/ 1
  Wood Axe
  +2
  0
  +1
  -1/1
  1 sp
  Heavy Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Great Club
  +4
  +1
  +1
  5
  Giant Sword
  +3
  +1
  +2
  5
  15 sp
  Poleax
  +3
  +1
  +1
  5
  6 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Shields
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Bucklar Shield
  +0
  0
  +1
  -2
  4 sp
  Solid Defence (page 50)
  Kite Shield
  +1
  0
  +3
  2/4
  8 sp
  Solid Defence, Dodge (page 50)
  Round Shield
  +1
  0
  +2
  0/2
  5 sp
  Solid Defence, Dodge (page 50)
  Light Weapons
  Light Weapons are those with a Weight Rating of -2 or
  less. People wield them in one hand only, without prob-
  lem, and can slash or stab with them in ﬂurries of blows,
  quickly. They require only 4 Initiative points to attack
  with, so while an axe is far more damaging than a dag-
  ger, a dagger can unleash a ﬂurry of blows before a single
  axe swing has taken place.
  Medium Weapons
  Swords, axes and all the regular weapons of warfare re-
  quire a full 6 Initiative points to be swung. They grant
  excellent Combat Bonuses, often increasing the eﬀects
  of all three Attributes. These weapons are the standard
  
  28
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  weapons which most people will be using throughout the
  campaign – they cover the Weight Rating from -1 to 4.
  Medium weapons are usually wielded in both hands.
  However, characters can try to hold one with only one
  hand, but the weapon’s Weight Rating increases by 2.
  For example, a great sword can certainly be held up by
  one hand alone, but it will move from a Weight Rating
  of 4 to 6, meaning that a normal human, with Strength
  +1, would suﬀer a -5 penalty to their Speed Bonus, and
  therefore Initiative. While this is a steep penalty to Ini-
  tiative, the price can be worth the wielding of a shield
  with a weapon.
  Anyone wielding a medium (or indeed heavy) weapon
  with a Weight Rating equal or greater than their racial
  maximum has an unwieldy weapon indeed, and suﬀers a
  -3 penalty to their Initiative.
  Heavy Weapons
  Giants, monsters and a few extremely strong humans
  have the ability to heft weapons so large that they
  can only be used with both hands together – all have
  a Weight Rating of 4 or more.
  They grant excellent
  Bonuses, but require 8 Initiative points to attack.
  Anyone insane enough to attempt to use a large
  weapon one handed must suﬀer through a +4 increase
  in the weapon’s Weight Rating, which would make such
  weapons prohibitively heavy for most people.
  Shields
  Shields are a special type of weapon used almost exclu-
  sively to defend. They have stats like any other weapon
  but with one important diﬀerence – their Evasion bonus
  always adds to the Evasion Factor, and can never be
  used to add to Strike.3
  Shields also have the option of adding +1 to Evasion,
  if the character’s other weapon would threaten to ren-
  der the shield’s Evasion bonus useless. For example, if
  someone were to carry a long sword and a shield, they
  would receive +4 to the Evasion Factor.
  SECTION 4.4
  Armour
  Armour
  DR
  Weight
  Price
  Elvish
  2
  -2
  3 gp
  Padded
  2
  1
  1 sp
  Leather
  3
  0
  5 sp
  Chain
  4
  1
  10 sp
  Plate
  5
  2
  12 gp
  Armour defends characters by lowering incoming Dam-
  age. In game terms, armours have a DR rating which
  subtracts from Damage.
  Armour can cover more or less of a character, and
  therefore comes with three ratings – Partial, Complete
  and very rare Perfect armour.
  Partial armour covers
  the basics – the character’s chest and probably head,
  perhaps a basic arm-guard on top of that.
  Complete
  armour covers the full character – almost. Complete ar-
  mour, whether leather or plate, will come with a helmet,
  a neck-guard, gauntlets, shin guards, foot coverings and
  will overlap to protect the joints. Perfect armour is a rat-
  ing used for certain creatures which have natural armour
  without weak spots (such as stone giants).
  Complete
  armour adds +1 to the Weight Rating and
  multiplies the price by 3.
  Complete leather armour
  would have a Weight Rating of 1, rather than 0, and
  would cost 30 sp rather than 10.
  Vitals Shots
  When attacking an opponent in armour, it is possible to
  make a shot so precise as to get a gap in a helmet, strike
  an opponent in the eye or slide a blade between overlap-
  ping plates. To get a Vitals Shot, one simply needs to
  roll high enough over the creature’s regular TN and all
  armour (meaning DR) can be ignored.
  For
  partial
  armour,
  anyone rolling a Margin of
  3 (i.e. 3 points above the
  TN) ignores the DR from
  the armour. If the regu-
  lar TN is 8 then any roll
  of 11 or greater counts as
  a Vitals Shot. Complete
  armour requires a Margin
  of 5 to ignore the armour,
  so if the TN were 10 then
  a Strike would require a
  total of 15 to bypass the
  armour.
  Perfect armour
  cannot be bypassed by a
  suﬃciently high roll.
  Many creatures have a
  DR from natural armour,
  representing especially thick skin or some other immu-
  nity to Damage. Natural armour always counts as Com-
  plete armour unless otherwise speciﬁed, because it covers
  almost all of the body, but often leaves weak spots open
  such as the eyes or the kneecaps.
  Vitals Shots not only provide incentive for people to
  3See below, page 29.
  
  4.5. ADVANCED COMBAT
  29
  push their Strike Factor as high as possible, even at the
  expense of their own defence. It also provides an equal-
  izer for weaker forces as even the most heavily armoured
  creature can be struck by a lucky blow.
  Weight
  All armour has a Weight Rating, just like any other item.
  The Weight Rating above are for Partial Armour. If any-
  one wears Complete armour the Weight is increased by 1,
  so Complete chain armour which comes past the knees,
  has a helmet and uses arm-guards, would have a Weight
  Rating of 2.
  Armour also inﬂicts Fatigue very quickly, as men-
  tioned above. Wearing armour in battle is a great idea,
  but characters attempting to sprint in full plate will ﬁnd
  themselves unable to run before long.
  Perfect Strikes
  Rolling a Natural Roll ‘12’ in combat, i.e. rolling two
  6’s, means the roll was a Perfect Strike. A Perfect Strike
  is guaranteed to hit even if it doesn’t reach the oppo-
  nent’s TN, it ignores both Partial and Complete armour
  (covered below) and it grants +2 Damage.
  Stacking Armour
  Characters gain DR from armour, but animals can gain
  DR from a thick hide, while the undead gain DR from
  having less need of a functioning body. When multiple
  types of Damage stack, the second counts for only half
  (rounded up), and any tertiary damage types count for
  a quarter, and so on.
  Aggression
  Animals use a Skill called ‘Aggression’ to Strike – Ag-
  gression works exactly like the Combat Skill but only
  adds to the Strike Factor, and never to Initiative or Eva-
  sion.
  SECTION 4.5
  Advanced Combat
  With the advanced combat rules, PCs have the option to
  change how they attack each round. Those who are cer-
  tain they can strike the shambling undead might focus
  more on defence than attack. Others, hoping to bring
  down a massive basilisk in one hit might put all their
  resources into an accurate attack with a high Initiative
  score.
  To keep track of all this, we track three ‘Factors’.
  The Strike Factor is to attack, the Evasion Factor to
  avoid being attacked, and the Initiative Factor to add
  to Initiative.
  Stances
  The Dexterity Bonus can be assigned to either the Strike
  Factor or the Evasion Factor. This includes the weapon
  bonus. Someone with a Dexterity Bonus of +1 and a
  longsword would have a total Dexterity Bonus of +4,
  and can assign that to either Strike or Evasion.
  This bonus cannot be picked apart - the entire thing
  must go towards only one of these two Factors.
  The Combat Bonus
  The Combat Skill can be added piece by piece to any of
  the Combat Factors. Those with Combat +1 can put it
  on Strike, Evasion or Initiative. Those with Combat +2
  allows you to place +1 on Strike and +1 on Evasion, or
  +2 on Initiative, or any other combination.
  The character sheet has a space for coins on top of the
  Combat Factors so you can place your Dexterity Bonus
  and the Combat Skill on top to remember what you have.
  At the end of the round, the Combat Factors reset,
  and everyone chooses what they want to do again.
  In all cases there is an optimal conﬁguration which
  will itself depend upon the enemy’s placement of re-
  sources.4
  4Players and Games Masters are free to cover their coins with their hand until everyone has placed their resources for the round.
  
  30
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  Characters can attack in an Aggressive or Defensive
  stance. This system takes the Defensive stance as default
  – the Dexterity Bonus is added to the Evasion score to
  keep the character safe. However, a character can forego
  safety for additional combat ability and add the Dexter-
  ity Bonus to Strike should they wish. Any Bonuses to
  Evasion from weapons also add to the Strike Factor. The
  score cannot be divided between the two – the Stances
  are an ‘all or nothing’ aﬀair. Delicate decisions concern-
  ing priorities require the Combat Skill, which can be
  added one piece at a time to any of the Combat Factors.
  If a character’s Evasion score ever becomes negative,
  it applies to the Strike score when using the Defensive
  Stance. It is possible to swap it back by taking the Ag-
  gressive stance but this almost guarantees that oppo-
  nents will hit the character every time they strike.
  SECTION 4.6
  Fate Points
  Base FP
  Regeneration
  5
  2 per scene
  10
  4 per scene
  15
  6 per scene
  20
  8 per scene
  At
  this
  point
  you
  might be wondering how
  anyone is going to sur-
  vive past their ﬁrst bat-
  tle. 6 or 7 HP is not a lot
  when the Damage is of-
  ten 2D6 or higher. The
  mechanism which saves
  the plot-important character is Fate Points. Every time
  someone would lose HP, the character marks oﬀ FP in-
  stead and it is stipulated that the attack in fact misses,
  because the gods have fated this person to live another
  day.
  Everyone in the world begins with 5 base FP. This
  is then modiﬁed by their Charisma Bonus, so someone
  with Charisma -2 starts with 3 FP. The diﬀerence be-
  tween the PCs and the NPCs is that PCs start play with
  a full allotment of FP at the beginning of each adven-
  ture. NPCs start with none, but regain FP at the end
  of each scene as usual. As a result, most NPCs eﬀec-
  tively have 0 FP. The GM can mostly ignore NPC FP
  and Damage will be applied directly to NPC HP.
  Regaining Fate Points
  At the end of each Scene, players regenerate 2/5ths of
  their FP. Those with 5 FP total regenerate 2 temporary
  FP, and those with 10 FP regenerate 4 temporary FP,
  and so on.
  While NPCs begin with 0 FP, they too regenerate the
  normal amount each scene. In this way, an NPC might
  accumulate quite a number of FP, and when some cli-
  mactic end scene arises where the PCs ﬁnally confront
  them, they will have a harder time of it, because the
  NPC has now become plot-important enough to merit
  some plot immunity, just like them.
  One exception here is creatures without a Charisma
  Attribute. Animals, undead and other creatures without
  any Charisma Bonus can never store FP except through
  the use of Magic.
  SECTION 4.7
  Fatigue
  Fighting, running and swimming can really take it out of
  you, especially when wearing heavy armour. Characters
  gain Fatigue Points for exerting themselves, and if they
  accrue too many then they will quickly start to become
  ineﬀective.
  Below the character’s HP bar are spaces for Fatigue
  Points to be gained. Once the character has more Fa-
  tigue Points than their current HP, they take a -1 penalty
  for every Fatigue Point in excess of their HP. This might
  happen because the character has, say, 6 HP but gains a
  total of 8 Fatigue Points, and then gains a -2 penalty to
  all actions. But it might also occur because the character
  has 4 Fatigue Points and then Damage reduces them to
  only 2 HP, leaving them with a -2 penalty to all actions
  yet again.
  Characters may reach a maximum penalty of -5 due
  to Fatigue Points, after which they die. If the charac-
  ter is accruing Fatigue Points from running or wrestling,
  they would normally simply pass out at this point, but
  if they are gaining Fatigue from swimming or bleeding,
  the character will almost certainly just die.
  Fatigue Points cannot be mitigated with FP. Charac-
  ters who can luck their way out of being shot by arrows
  and roasted by dragons can quite easily be punched and
  dragged away, or collapse after a long run.
  
  4.7. FATIGUE
  31
  Gaining Fatigue
  Fatigue is gained extremely quickly, for all manner of
  reasons. However, it is only applied at the end of the
  scene. Running, ﬁghting, and jumping generate a lot of
  adrenaline, which keeps any tiredness at bay while the
  action is on.
  The real danger in Fatigue is persistent
  action, when characters have no chance to recover from
  a previous battle.
  Fatigue Chart
  Action
  Fatigue
  Armour
  Wearing armour inﬂicts 1 Fatigue
  per Weight Rating of the armour.
  Bleeding
  1 Fatigue point per slashing dam-
  age.
  Climbing
  2 Fatigue per square.
  Fighting
  Each
  round
  inﬂicts
  1
  Fatigue
  Point.
  Holding Breath
  2 Fatigue per round.
  Marching
  1 Fatigue point per mile.
  Starving
  Each meal skipped inﬂicts 1 Fa-
  tigue
  plus
  half
  the
  character’s
  Strength Bonus (rounded up).
  Swimming
  Each square swum inﬂicts 1 Fa-
  tigue.
  Bleeding
  occurs when a character has lost HP to
  piercing or slashing weapons. They then gain Fatigue
  Points equal to the number of HP lost. These Fatigue
  Points are marked with a ‘B’ instead of the usual dash
  across a box and are healed at a rate of one per day
  rather than the usual, faster rate. If the bleeding is not
  stopped, the character should bleed for the same num-
  ber of points minus one on the next scene until they are
  dead or the bleeding has stopped on its own. The TN to
  stop the bleeding is always 6 plus the number of Fatigue
  Points being lost on the current scene.
  Starving
  is another special case.
  Fatigue inﬂicted
  from starvation is marked with an ‘S’, and each of these
  points only heal once the character has had a full meal.
  Skills and Fatigue
  Anyone used to ﬁring a bow or waving a sword can
  do so for much longer than the average person. Each
  Skill comes with one Fatigue Box per level, so charac-
  ters with Athletics 2 could put Fatigue Points gained
  from sprinting into the two Fatigue Boxes for Athletics,
  and those with Survival 3 would have three additional
  Fatigue Boxes which can only be used when marching or
  other activities associated with Survival.
  Healing Fatigue
  When the party take a quiet scene to rest, they can heal
  a number of HP equal to half their current HP; so some-
  one with 4 out of 8 HP would be able to recoup 2 HP by
  resting, either for a full night, or by taking some chunk
  of the afternoon to sit quietly.
  In most cases, Fatigue Points will heal faster than
  they accumulate, so tiredness can be safely ignored while
  are in ideal circumstances. However, persistent battles,
  sprints, and poisons can quickly incapacitate the most
  seasoned warriors.
  The next morning the trio gave a wide berth to the
  area between the fallen village and the mountain, in
  the hopes of avoiding attack from the rear.
  Unfortu-
  nately there was little they could do to hide themselves,
  and a band of hobgoblins from the village were following
  them. The trio had reached halfway up the mountain by
  this point but the hobgoblins were faster than them, and
  stronger. Thenton thought for a moment about abandon-
  ing Hugi if there was a problem - his little dwarvish legs
  were no good for sprinting. Of course Hugi’s death would
  not buy them much time, and Arneson would never stand
  for it. No, they would have to stick together to survive.
  The trio climbed for a while longer, looking back ev-
  ery few moments to note how close the hobgoblins were
  behind them. An ogre was among their ranks, so they
  must have come from a very deep cavern.
  Looking back, the enemy was nearing and everyone
  was out of breath. Arneson suggested a rest to make sure
  they would be ready for the ﬁght - they could ﬁght down-
  hill against an enemy fatigued from walking upwards. He
  calmly got out the rations - some cheese, smoked pork,
  oatcakes and a ﬂagon of wine.
  
  32
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  “May as well have the best of the rations now, eh,
  friends?”, Arneson said while smiling, and they slowly
  masticated their age-hardened meal and tried to smile
  back as the nine foot monstrosity which was so recently
  a man made its way up to them, pounding its great feet
  up the mountainous slopes, surrounded by half a dozen
  hobgoblins, each the size of a broad-shouldered man.
  As the hobgoblins neared the plateau where the trio
  sat they began to make their war cries, but Arneson just
  sat and ate his last oatcake slowly. They began to sprint
  upwards across the rocky ground.
  The GM decides that since the players have the higher
  ground, they will receive +1 to all rolls until the hob-
  goblins can reach slightly higher ground - probably after
  the ﬁrst action. One of the players must roll Initiative,
  so Arneson’s player take the dice and rolls, producing
  a ‘5’.
  Each character’s Initiative Bonus adds to this
  separately, so Thenton’s Initiative of +1 gives him a to-
  tal of 6; Hugi’s Initiative of +0 gives him a total of 5
  and Arneson’s Initiative Bonus of +2 makes his total 7.
  The group then gain +1 each due to the higher ground.
  Meanwhile, the hobgoblins have rolled a ‘5’ for their Ini-
  tiative as well. The hobgoblins each have a +1 bonus to
  Initiative and the ogre has a +0 bonus.
  The GM knows the highest Initiative total is some-
  where under 9 so she calls out,
  “Ten! The hobgoblins gather at the base. Nine! They
  cover their faces with their weapons and gang together.
  Eight! They push forwards and ....”
  “Eight!”
  shouts Arneson’s player.
  “I’m going at
  eight!
  I’m going for the ogre - you said he was un-
  armoured so we should be able to take him down with a
  couple of good hits”.
  Arneson’s player needs to roll an 8 to hit the ogre, so
  he rolls and adds +1 for his Combat Skill. His total is
  ‘11’ and he hits. He has already rolled his damage die
  at the same time. It landed on a ‘2’. He adds +2 for
  his Strength and +1 for the sword’s Damage bonus for a
  total of 5. The ogre shrieks in pain as Arneson’s sword
  sticks in. Arneson’s action took 6 Initiative points so he
  goes down to ‘2’, and the hobgoblin has spent 2 Initiative
  to defend himself.
  “Seven!”, she cries. Thenton’s player jumps in. He
  only deals 1D6 + 2 Damage but he has a much better
  Combat Skill of +2. He rolls to Strike but misses the
  ogre with a ‘5’. His Initiative score reduces to 1, and he
  reduces the hobgoblin’s from 6 to 4.
  “Six!”, beckons the GM, and starts to describe leering
  hobgoblins stabbing at everyone’s feet from the base of the
  great stone step the trio are sitting on. She gives them
  each a -1 to attack due to occupying the lower ground.
  A hobgoblin hits Arneson, so he spends 2 Initiative
  to attempt to Dodge. Arneson rolls a 7 but the TN is
  10. The hobgoblin’s Strength is +2 and the battle axe
  adds +3 Damage for a total of +5. 4 of the Damage is
  replaced with a die, so the hobgoblin is rolling 2D6 + 1
  Damage. The total is 6. Arneson’s player ﬁrst reduces
  that by his chainmail’s DR of 4, leaving 2 Damage. In-
  stead of taking that Damage he marks oﬀ 2 Fate Points
  and declares that the attack in fact misses.
  Hugi ﬁnally releases his crossbow, but in all the con-
  fusion misﬁres. He’s down to Initiative 1.
  8
  Arneson deals 5 Damage
  to a hobgoblin.
  7
  Thenton misses.
  6
  Most hobgoblins attack.
  5
  Ogre grabs Hugi, then runs
  away.
  4
  Two hobgoblins attack.
  “Four!”, shouts
  the GM, then she
  smiles.
  The next
  hobgoblin
  attacks
  and Arneson rolls
  a 5 – that’s a fail-
  ure with a Margin
  of 4, so it bypasses
  his chainmail. The
  axe is coming down
  towards his unarmoured shin-bone and the Damage rolled
  is 9. He marks oﬀ his last 9 FP rather than taking any
  Damage. Any further Damage is coming straight oﬀ his
  HP.
  “The ogre pushes forward with its club then reaches
  out to grab Hugi. Roll at Target Number 9”.
  Hugi’s player isn’t happy, as that is enough to hit
  him, or in this case grab him. In fact with his crossbow
  out rather than a defensive weapon, he’ll have a hard
  time defending himself.
  The ogre reached forward, grabbing Hugi by the beard
  and pulling him back through the horde of hobgoblins and
  out from the protection of his companions.
  The other players want to attack the ogre, but he’s
  making a movement action - these count as Quick Ac-
  tions so they are allowed to operate before other actions.
  Hugi disappears behind the crowd. The ogre’s Initiative
  reduces to 0 and he is done for the Round, but Arneson
  and Thenton each have one action left.
  
  4.8. COMPLICATIONS & MANOEUVRES
  33
  SECTION 4.8
  Complications & Manoeuvres
  Complications
  Blindness
  Fighting while blind is no fun – your opponent can see
  you coming, and you can’t see them. Blinded opponents
  suﬀer a penalty equal to -8 plus their Wits and Vigilance
  Bonuses with a maximum penalty of -6. For example,
  a character with With -1 would receive a -9 penalty to
  attack, except that the maximum penalty is -6. Some-
  one with Wits +1 and Vigilance +3 would suﬀer a -4
  penalty to attack because both reduce the basic penalty
  of -8.
  This penalty only counts when one side of a ﬁght is
  blind. When both sides are blind, we use the Darkness
  Fighting rules below.
  While ﬁghting blind, if the dice make a Natural Roll
  roll equal to the number of people on their side (including
  themself) then they hit a companion. If the character is
  ﬁghting with just one companion then there are two of
  them and they hit a companion on the roll of a 2. If they
  are part of a group of 5 people, any roll of 5 or under
  means they have accidentally hit a companion. Compan-
  ions who are are accidentally hit can attempt an Evasion
  roll by rolling with their current Evasion Factor against
  TN 10; failure implies normal Damage from that attack.
  It is quite possible to kill a companion while ﬁghting
  blind.
  Darkness
  Fighting in the darkness, or just twilight, can give a dis-
  tinct advantage to those with sharper senses. Those who
  retain some basic vision while their opponents have none
  are in a similar situation to ﬁghting a blinded opponent.
  However, when both sides suﬀer from the darkness, the
  battle changes very little. Neither side can hit very ac-
  curately, but then neither side can dodge or parry very
  well either.
  When ﬁghting in the dark, each side receives a
  penalty to attacking the other equal to the diﬀerence
  between their respective Wits + Vigilance totals, up to
  a maximum of -6.
  For example, a human guard has caught a room full
  of elves with stolen goods. Thinking quickly, one of the
  elves douses the room’s only lantern. The human has a
  Wits Bonus of -1 and no Vigilance Skill. The elves have
  a minimum Wits of +1 and many also have the Vigi-
  lance Skill; that means the elves will receive a +2 bonus
  to striking the guard and those with the Vigilance Skill
  will receive a higher bonus.
  Deep darkness can provide a maximum penalty of -6,
  while twilight is limited to a penalty of -3.
  Passing Attacks
  If you try to run past an opponent during combat, they
  may make an attack against you as a Quick Action.
  This might happen when someone is surrounded, but
  wants to run away.
  Spell Casting in Combat
  Spell casters are assumed to be focussing on their spells
  and using both hands for that purpose rather than
  weapons. They use their Wits for the Initiative bonus
  rather than Speed and receive no Combat Skill Bonus to
  Evasion – they only use their basic Dexterity score.
  Casting one-handed is possible, but diﬃcult.
  Any
  roll the spell requires receives a -2 penalty. Casting one-
  handed allows the caster to hold a weapon in the other
  hand, for either defensive or oﬀensive purposes.
  Spell casters who wish to both attack and cast spells
  within the same Round must use the lower of their Speed
  and Wits score when determining Initiative. They can
  then use their full Combat Skill Bonus for the Round to
  add to the Combat Factors but cannot take their Initia-
  tive Factor higher than their Wits Bonus.
  Switching away from one’s focus on spells or mar-
  tial combat must be decided at the start of the Round
  – mages who are not mentally prepared to cast spells or
  use a sword cannot do so at a second’s notice.
  Trapped or Entangled
  Characters caught in mud, who slip over, or get shack-
  led to a spot cannot move or dodge nearly as well as
  they could. They cannot take any Quick Actions except
  speaking, and receive no beneﬁts from their Dexterity
  Bonus or the Knack: Fox Hop.
  Falling Prone
  Characters who fall over lose their ability to defend
  themselves, as above. However, they can get up at the
  cost of 2 Initiative by using up their movement action.
  If they’ve already moved this Round, they have to wait
  until the next Round.
  Manoeuvres
  Brawling
  Punches and kicks all use the Combat bonus.
  Such
  attacks inﬂict Fatigue Damage. Everyone gains a DR
  against Brawling Damage equal to their Strength Bonus,
  which stacks with armour (DR cannot be negative). This
  counts as Complete armour, so hitting someone in Par-
  tial chainmail with a TN of 8 and a Strength of +1 would
  mean they have a total DR of 6. However, an attack
  score of 11 would mean that the Partial armour’s DR
  
  34
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  could be ignored, leaving only a DR of 1.
  An attack
  score of 13 would ignore both types of DR, leaving noth-
  ing at all. Attacks which bypass a body’s natural armour
  count as normal Damage as such attacks might hit vul-
  nerable locations such as the eyes or crotch or twist an
  opponent’s arm till breaking point.
  Blind Rage
  Weapons can grant a bonus to the wielder’s Evasion Fac-
  tor because the wielder is keeping people at bay with it
  – a spear might be waved in an opponent’s face in a
  threatening manner or a sword might be on the ready to
  attack if someone gets within its range. However, this
  marvellous defence only works against people who care
  about being hit. Anyone can choose to attack someone
  while ignoring their opponent’s weapon’s bonus to Eva-
  sion; the penalty is simply that the opponent can choose
  to make a single Sneak Attack immediately.
  Drawing Weapons
  Drawing a weapon costs 2 Initiative if it is placed in an
  easy place to draw, like a scabbard on the side of a belt.
  If a character holds weapons on the back or in a bag, it
  costs 8 Initiative to remove them. If a knife’s stuﬀed in-
  side a pack, the GM may stipulate a number of Rounds
  required to draw the weapon.
  Dropping Weapons
  Dropping a weapon is free, but if the character has not
  made an attack then the weapon’s Initiative Bonus is
  lost.
  Flanking
  Attacks from someone’s anterior side gain a +2 Bonus.
  Up to 4 opponents can attack a lone character, and any
  available walls can reduce this number.
  Grabbing & Grappling
  Grabs:
  A grapple always starts with a grab. A grab is
  a normal roll, made without any beneﬁts from weapons.
  If successful, the character has grabbed an opponent.
  Once two people are grappling, neither can move and
  so both can be struck as per a Sneak Attack by anyone
  nearby.
  No weapons can be used while grappling if they have
  a Weight Rating above -2.
  Grapples:
  Once two people are caught in the grapple,
  either can make a grappling roll at the cost of 4 Initia-
  tive. They can then roll with double their Strength, plus
  their Strike factor, against 7 plus the enemy’s Evasion
  score.
  A successful roll implies the character can break the
  grapple and move freely, or can inﬂict 1D6 plus their
  Strength Bonus in Damage.
  Weapon Grab
  This works exactly like a normal grab,
  except for two key diﬀerences. The ﬁrst is that the de-
  fending player cannot use the weapon’s Dexterity Bonus
  to defend – a sword which grants a +3 bonus to defend
  does not help when the sword itself is being grabbed.
  The second diﬀerence is that a grappled target can sim-
  ply drop the weapon at any point in order to ignore the
  grapple. If a ﬁghter’s shield has been grabbed, they can
  just let it go, and the same with any sword.
  Guarding
  If you guard someone by standing in front of them then
  all attacks have to go through you ﬁrst.5
  Any enemy
  making a successful attack on you can choose to damage
  you, or to make another roll (as a free action, costing no
  Initiative) at their real target.
  Guarding costs 2 Initiative, and after than any de-
  fence incurs the usual Initiative cost. If either character
  moves away from the other, the guarding stops.
  Half Swording
  It is possible to hold a sword by the blade and use the
  guard to bludgeon one’s opponent. This manoeuvre al-
  lows the weapon’s Speed Bonus to be added to its Dam-
  age instead. It takes 2 Initiative points to change how
  one holds the sword.
  Holding Oﬀ
  Anyone can wait to see what the battle brings – the char-
  acter simply lowers their Initiative and can jump in at
  any point, acting at one Initiative higher than a declared
  action.
  For example, someone might hold oﬀ their action at
  Initiative 5. They wait for the enemy to attack at Initia-
  tive 3 and notices that one of them is attempting to use a
  magical item. Immediately they retroactively performs
  an action at Initiative 4.
  Keeping Edgy
  The character can take a moment to note their long-
  range surroundings, including archers and potential spell
  casters. This takes only 2 Initiative points and for the
  rest of the Round, any time the character is being ﬁred
  upon in combat they can use their basic Speed Bonus in
  a resisted action to leap out of the way of an incoming
  missile or targeted spell, such as a ﬁreball. Spells which
  simply target people by gaze or magical eﬀects such as
  Polymorphing are unaﬀected.
  Ram
  In combat, it is possible to scare, push and stab at some-
  one to force them to move backwards.
  The attacker
  spends 3 Initiative points. The defender can either at-
  tempt to resist, or can simply acquiesce and move back.
  When moving back, targets are pushed back 2 square;
  the attacker’s Strength adds to this and the opponent’s
  5This includes missile attacks only if you could otherwise evade them.
  
  4.9. RANGED COMBAT
  35
  Strength decreases it. Characters can sacriﬁce the use of
  1 point of Strength to push back an additional person.
  Those who resist must also sacriﬁce 3 Initiative. A
  resisted Strength + Combat Skill check is made. Suc-
  cessful resistance means that the defender is not pushed
  back.
  A Ram action must employ normal movement, and
  cannot move any character farther than their normal
  movement. Characters who have been rammed but are
  unable to move far enough back fall prone.6
  Sneak Attacks
  When taking someone by surprise, the attacker gains a
  +4 bonus to the attack and a +2 bonus to Damage. Op-
  ponents cannot use any Evasion bonuses from Dexterity,
  weapon Bonuses or the Combat Skill.
  Sneak Attacks also gain a penalty equal to the
  weapon’s Weight Rating (if positive). Warhammers are
  not the best choice for assassination weapons, while dag-
  gers and hand axes do much better.
  Two Weapon Combat
  A character using two weapons – perhaps a shield in one
  hand and a sword in the other – can use the best Speed,
  Strength and Dexterity Bonus from all weapons. Each
  weapon will have to be held in one hand, increasing its
  Weight Rating by 2.
  Shields, uniquely, can add their Evasion Bonus to the
  character’s Evasion Factor even while the wielder is in
  the Aggressive Stance. As a result, someone could use a
  shield’s bonus to Evasion while using a sword’s Evasion
  Bonus to add to their Strike Strike score. In this case,
  Dexterity would always be added to Strike, along with
  the sword’s Bonus.
  Arneson decides he is going to ram the crowd of hob-
  goblins to save his friend.7 Pushing the half dozen hob-
  goblins back is going to be tricky. He launches himself
  from the stony step they are on, pushes his chest into one
  then grabs two more hobgoblins. Since he is pushing back
  2 extra ﬁgures, he takes a -2 penalty to the action. Ar-
  neson’s rolling with +2 from his Strength Bonus and +1
  bonus for his Combat Skill for a grand total of +1. The
  TN is 7 plus the hobgoblins’ Strength of +2 and Combat
  Skill of +2 for a total of 11. The GM allows him a total
  of a +2 bonus for jumping oﬀ the step. The dice come
  up with an 8 and his total of +3 just passes the test.
  Normally, he would only push the hobgoblins back by 1
  step, but they are on the side of a cliﬀ and being pushed
  onto their back feet.
  The GM decides some sort of check is in order to see
  how well the hobgoblins perform. Ordinarily, she would
  roll for each of them but there are six of them and that
  will take too long. Thinking quickly - because who wants
  to slow down combat? - she decides that all of them could
  potentially fall down the cliﬀ since the ﬁrst three are in
  front of the next three so Arneson is pushing against all
  of them one way or another. She gives them a TN of
  9 to stay up and a bonus of +6 because there are 6 of
  them. Each Margin they roll in the ﬁnal score is one
  hobgoblin that has not fallen over. Dice clatter, she has
  rolled a ‘4’ and that leaves a ﬁnal score of 10. Every-
  one falls down the mountain’s steep incline except for a
  single hobgoblin.
  Thenton, on Initiative 1, is the last to act. He jumps
  oﬀ the cliﬀ-side to attack the last hobgoblin. He strikes
  with a score of 11, bypassing the ugly creature’s Partial
  chain armour, then rolls 1D6 + 2 for the Damage for a
  total of 4. The creature is reduced to half its HP with a
  crimson gash across its throat.
  As Thenton’s sword swooped down it opened up his
  target’s arm. The last one standing cries out and with-
  draws his arm then backs oﬀ.
  “End of the Round!”, cries the GM. “Round two!
  Roll for Initiative”.
  SECTION 4.9
  Ranged Combat
  Projectiles have their own Skill which is bought just like
  the Combat Skill. Archers roll to hit with Dexterity +
  Projectiles, then roll for Damage, just as with Combat.
  The TN is always 6 plus one for every ﬁve full squares
  away the target is. Targets 14 squares away would have
  a TN of 8 to hit. Most targets cannot use any weapons
  to add to their Evasion Factor (except shields) but can
  use the Speed Bonus to evade missile attacks if they are
  on the run or Keeping Edgy.8
  Just as with weapon combat, a high enough roll can
  be a Vitals Shot, ignoring all DR.
  When someone with a bow is attacked, they can use
  their Combat Skill and Dexterity to Evade as per usual.
  The Long Bow
  Long bows (or ‘hunting bows’) are diﬃcult things to
  work but well worth it once the archer practices enough.
  To pull back the heavy load on a long bow takes 1 Round,
  and the arrow ﬂies at the very end of round. Each bow
  has its own Strength rating and anyone without at least
  that much Strength cannot use the bow; the bows deal
  1D6 +Strength Rating. So if a bow has a Strength rat-
  ing of 2 then it deals 1D6 + 2 Damage but requires a
  Strength of 2, at least, to operate. Having a Strength of
  3 will not increase the Damage.
  6See page 33 for details on falling prone.
  7See page 34 for details on the attack.
  8See page 34.
  
  36
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  Projectile
  Initiative
  Damage
  Weight
  Cost
  Crossbow
  3
  2D6
  1/3
  20 sp
  Longbow
  0
  varies
  -4/-2
  10 sp
  Shortbow
  +2
  1D6 − 1
  -5/-3
  5 sp
  Throwing knives
  +1
  1D6 − 1
  -5/-3
  100 cp
  Long bows can be ﬁred for hundreds of yards – the
  maximum range is generally more determined by the
  archer’s ability to aim than by the range of the bow.
  The Short Bow
  A short bow, or ‘trick bow’, is a smaller, lighter thing
  which can be used by anyone. What it lacks in punch
  it makes up for in quick draw time. As usual, for every
  ﬁve squares beyond the ﬁrst two the archer suﬀers a -1
  penalty to hit. The bow takes 4 Initiative points to ﬁre
  so many shots can be ﬁred in a Round.
  Short bows have a maximum range of 20 squares and
  deal 1D6 − 1 Damage. They often bring down prey by
  multiple arrows rather than the one.
  Firing a short bow requires 4 Initiative points but
  reloading takes another 2.
  The Crossbow
  Crossbows can be powerful, but are not easy to reload.
  They have a basic Damage of 2D6 though diﬀerent
  crossbows vary in quality.
  Crossbows take a number
  of Rounds to reload equal to 6 minus the character’s
  Strength score (minimum of 1). Firing a crossbow takes
  only 3 Initiative points.
  Thrown Weapons
  Thrown weapons such as knives, spears or others are typ-
  ically not great at killing enemies, but they can certainly
  wound them. They work just as shortbows, but their
  Damage is the normal weapon Damage -2. Someone with
  Strength +1 throwing a dagger would deal 1D6 Dam-
  age, while someone with Strength -1 would deal 1D6−2
  Damage.
  Impromptu Weapons
  Weapons which were never made to be thrown, such as
  swords, axes, or most knives, receive a -4 penalty to hit
  for every ﬁve squares distance from the target. Weapons
  also receive a -2 penalty to Damage.
  “Remember your attack stances this time everyone”,
  says the GM.
  The players wonder if they want to add their Dex-
  terity Bonus and Weapon’s Evasion Bonus to Strike op-
  ponents instead of Evading attacks, but at this stage de-
  fence is more important, especially for Hugi - currently
  being pinned down by an ogre, and Arneson, currently
  down to only his Hit Points.
  Next up, players assign their Combat Skill. On the
  last Round, they left it as the default - it added to the
  Strike Factor. Arneson repeats the move and Hugi has
  no Combat score to speak of, but Thenton has Combat
  +2. He knows speed is of the essence if he wants to save
  his friend, so he adds +2 to his Initiative Factor, giving
  him a total of +3.
  The characters roll to get their bearings but achieve
  only a ‘4’, so Thenton will act at Initiative 7. The GM
  rolls for the hobgoblins and achieves ‘9’ - with Speed +1
  they will act on Initiative 10.
  10
  The Ogre grapples Hugi.
  7
  Thenton moves to stab
  the Ogre.
  6
  The Ogre deals 5 Dam-
  age.
  5
  Thenton kills the ogre.
  “Twelve!”, the GM rolls a Morale Check for that last
  hobgoblin. It is wounded and outnumbered. The TN is
  12 and it can add its Combat bonus, but the roll still
  fails.
  “The last hobgoblin backs up. Eleven! It ﬂees down
  the mountain towards its allies, many of whom are still
  rolling down the hill.”
  “Ten!”, the GM continues, and immediately rolls for
  the ogre as it tries to eat Hugi’s face oﬀ.
  This will
  count as a grappling roll, so he and Hugi will use double
  their Strength Bonus added to their Combat Skill. Un-
  fortunately Hugi has neither Strength Bonus nor Combat
  Skill, so the ogre gets a straight +12 bonus; the roll suc-
  ceeds before it is even made, and succeeds by a margin
  of 3: that means Damage is inﬂicted, rather than just
  Fatigue Points. The ogre only adds Strength - of course
  his massive club is useless for the attack. His Strength
  of +5 means he will roll 2D6 + 1 Damage for a total of
  4. Hugi is safe for now as the ogre luckily bites down on
  dwarvish helmet as Hugi’s player marks oﬀ 4 FP.
  “Nine! The ogre pulls Hugi down. Eight! He bites
  down on Hugi’s face but gets a mouthful of helmet in-
  stead. Seven!” Thenton’s player is acting now and takes
  two Initiative to run over to aid Hugi. He asks the GM
  if he can sneak up on the ogre.
  “You mean in the middle of a ﬁght you want to back-
  
  4.10. MORALE
  37
  stab someone?”
  “Sure. He’s busy eating Hugi’s face, so can I stab
  him while he’s not bothering to avoid it?”
  The GM thinks about it - the action is not clearly
  covered in the rules, so she decides the following.
  “Okay - make a sneak roll. If he sees you then he’s
  going to stop the action and defend himself, otherwise
  your next attack can count as a Sneak Attack. Roll Speed
  + Stealth at Target Number 6.”
  Thenton has no bonus to either, but that ogre is so
  dim the test is easily passed.
  “Six! The ogre gnaws into Hugi’s face, this time with-
  out failure. 5 Damage!”
  Hugi’s player marks oﬀ his last 3 FP then 2 HP, not-
  ing that he could have just died.
  Arneson runs over to aid the ﬁght.
  “Five! Thenton rolls for attack”
  His Sneak Attack gives him +4 to strike the ogre -
  which he does - and +2 Damage, making his Damage
  roll 2D6. His total is 7 Damage.
  “Launching himself forward he lands the tip of his
  sword into the ogre’s back just as teeth are sinking into
  the dwarf’s face.
  It ﬁnds purchase and slides in only
  six inches before stopping. The giant whirls Round, rip-
  ping the sword out and pushing Thenton to the side. He
  screams and attempts to get up, then slumps back down
  onto the dwarf, blood pooling out of the gash on his back”
  “Finally!”, shouts Thenton.
  We’re done.
  It’s ﬁn-
  ished. We can . . .
  “Four! Over a dozen hobgoblins can be seen marching
  down from the mountain.”
  “What?
  We can’t handle any more. Hugi’s Dam-
  aged. Arneson’s in poor shape too.”
  “Three!
  They pull out crossbows and start cranking
  them . . . ”
  SECTION 4.10
  Morale
  Unsure if your NPCs want to ﬁght? Roll their Combat
  or Aggression Skill at TN 6.
  Most combats will end with one side or the other
  running away – few troops want to ﬁght to the last man
  when they could potentially be safe at home by the end
  of the day. At the start of each Round, the GM rolls a
  morale check for the enemy if they think the enemy have
  a good reason to ﬂee.
  The players do not take morale checks – they decide
  when it’s time to run away by the look of the situation.
  Usually a good time is when all the FP have run out.9
  Morale Chart
  TN
  Situation
  -4
  Monsters outnumber characters 3:1.
  -2
  Monsters outnumber characters 2:1.
  +2
  Characters outnumber the monsters.
  +2
  Monster is wounded.
  -2
  Character’s top Strength Bonus is lower
  than the monster’s.
  +2
  Character’s top Strength Bonus is higher
  than the monster’s.
  +1
  Players have displayed awesome magical
  abilities.
  Morale checks are rolled at TN 6 with a character’s
  Combat Skill (or Aggression Skill if the character is an
  animal). As usual, the GM rolls for an entire group with
  one roll. If the characters have just attacked a group of
  10 hobgoblins and injured 3 then the troop will roll at
  TN 6 to see if they should ﬂee, but the injured 3 hob-
  goblins roll at TN 8. If the ﬁnal result is a 7 then the
  three injured hobgoblins ﬂee, but the rest remain.
  When an enemy ﬂees the scene, characters still gain
  full XP for the ﬁght, since they still ‘defeated’ the enemy.
  Thenton’s mind was racing - searching for anything
  to help he remembered his acting classes, the roar they
  taught to open a grand scene and how actors said their
  roar was such that it would terrify local ruﬃans around
  the town.
  Thenton’s player asks the GM about making a moral
  check for the hobgoblins.
  “Well”, she ponders, “you certainly don’t outnumber
  them. They are not half dead. They might make a moral
  check at TN 4 but they would get a +1 bonus for their
  Combat Skill. So no, not really. They are not terriﬁed of
  Thenton waving his sword about, even if he took acting
  classes”.
  So much for that plan.
  9The GM may also wish to cut all Morale checks for any NPCs with remaining FP.
  
  38
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  SECTION 4.11
  Chases
  Fleeing
  Chases form some of the most dramatic scenes in an ad-
  venture. When running on an open ﬁeld without any
  barriers, everyone simply runs at full speed – whoever
  has the highest Speed + Athletics total succeeds in run-
  ning away or catching up with an opponent. But when
  running through marshes, down alleys, climbing up cliﬀs,
  or otherwise ﬁnding a reason to change direction, PCs
  must roll.
  The system is simple – one player rolls 2D6 for the
  group. Each person then modiﬁes this group score. Since
  the party will probably run at diﬀerent paces, they have
  the option of abandoning slower members or slowing
  down to the pace of the slowest member.
  The TN is 6 plus the enemy’s Speed + Athletics
  Bonuses.
  Failure means the characters are instantly
  caught, before they are able to run anywhere.
  If the
  players hit the TN they manage to run through 1 area
  while being chased. For every Marginal point, they run
  through an additional area. If the Margin is ever 3 or
  more then they completely evade the enemy. If the party
  obtain less than total success, they and their pursuers
  both move and must roll again.
  The table is a guide to an unaltered roll. In most
  situations enemy Traits will aﬀect the actual results of
  such a total by increasing or decreasing the TN.
  Total
  Result
  11+
  The characters immediately escape their pursuers.
  10
  The characters escape their pursuers after travelling through two areas.
  9
  The characters escape their pursuers after travelling through three areas.
  8
  The characters are chased through 3 areas and reroll.
  7
  The characters are chased through 2 areas and reroll.
  6
  The characters are chased through 1 area and reroll.
  <5
  The characters are immediately caught.
  The GM is encouraged to give a fast-paced descrip-
  tion of fast-moving scenery, hurriedly telling the play-
  ers about a new area before moving instantly on. Each
  area covered holds new opportunities for getting away,
  or trapping the quarry – whether that is the players or
  their prey.
  Characters running through forests might encounter
  a marshy area, a stream, dense thickets, an open plain
  and then a sudden, steep hill.
  Those crossing plains
  might ﬁnd a random encounter in their path, then a
  copse of trees. Those running up a mountain could ﬁnd
  an area of loose rocks where the ground slides away from
  under their feet, a narrowing path upwards as rocky walls
  envelop them and then a misty lake covered in low-lying
  cloud.
  Each area covered also inﬂicts 1 Fatigue Point in ad-
  dition to any for wearing armour or for Encumbrance
  Points. These Fatigue Points are applied after every roll
  rather than waiting until the end of the scene.
  Players are encouraged to suggest Skills which might
  help. While running away from a band of guards, a char-
  acter could use the Stealth Skill, quickly dipping into an
  alleyway to hide. When jumping around a busy area of
  town, the character might leap over a moving cart to
  gain some headway. Characters can, with GM permis-
  sion, use their Skills to aid an entire group. The Stealth
  Skill, in particular, might be used to aid the entire party
  to hide by ﬁnding the right spot. The Empathy Skill
  might be used to quickly convince farmers to hide the
  characters.
  Thenton’s next plan was to run away as fast as pos-
  sible. This was much more popular than his last plan
  of yelling at the enemy, though Hugi found it hard to
  be move enthusiastically with an arrow in his shoulder.
  The hobgoblins of course realised that they had no time
  to reload so they just gave chase.
  They dropped their
  projectiles, pulled out their shortswords and started to
  clamber along the rocky face of the mountain. The trio
  could not move clearly up the mountain until they had
  gained some ground between themselves and the hobgob-
  lins, and feared that there would be more openings to
  once-dwarven tunnels, now infested with hobgoblins, if
  they went further up from their present location.
  The basic TN for such actions is 6 and the GM low-
  ers it by 2 because the trio have a good head start. The
  hobgoblins add their Speed Bonus of +1 for a ﬁnal TN
  of 5. The party roll an 8 but unfortunately Hugi isn’t the
  fastest of people – he’s only four feet tall after all – so his
  score is 7. They needed that 8 to completely get away.
  Arneson and Thenton decide they’re going to keep pace
  with him rather than running ahead. They’re not caught
  yet, but run through three diﬀerent distinct areas before
  making another roll.
  The hobgoblins were fast on their trail as they clam-
  bered over the rocky mountain side. They soon headed up
  steeper, overhanging rocks and at one point had to help
  each other upwards across large rocks jutting out of the
  side as the hobgoblin horde came ever closer. Finally,
  they reached the peaks and gazed down the other side.
  Seeing only mist in the other side they decided to lose
  
  4.12. FURTHER DANGERS
  39
  themselves in the crevices there before the enemy could
  catch up enough to see their direction.
  Arneson’s player wants to roll again while adding his
  +2 Stealth Skill. He is the only one with this Skill but the
  GM says he can use it to help everyone hide. Arneson’s
  player takes the dice and rolls; he scores 11.
  They didn’t go far, but only hopped down a few stony
  crevices before Arneson beckoned them to the side and
  requested they creep into a nook he had found. Hugi and
  Thenton could only just ﬁt, with no spare room, so Ar-
  neson then bounded oﬀ to see what else he could ﬁnd.
  He was still out looking for a spot when the great axes
  scraping down the cliﬀ could be heard, and guttural voices
  complained about dangerously empty stomachs.
  Hunting
  Running after prey follows exactly the same rules, but in
  reverse. The party roll for catching up with their prey.
  As per the previous chart, a near-failure can be worse
  than a total failure. With a complete failure, the enemy
  simply gets away. With a partial failure, the party run
  a long way, get very tired, then fail. Such is life.
  Total
  Result
  10+
  The characters immediately capture their quarry.
  9
  The characters chase their quarry through three areas, then capture them.
  8
  The characters chase their quarry through two areas before catching up with them.
  7
  The characters chase their quarry through one area and then catch up with them.
  6
  The characters chase their quarry through three areas, then lose them.
  5
  The characters chase their quarry through two areas before losing them.
  4
  The characters chase their quarry through one area, then lose them.
  <3
  The characters immediately lose their quarry.
  SECTION 4.12
  Further Dangers
  Falling Damage
  Characters who fall from a height suﬀer 2 Damage per
  square the character fell. 2 Damage alone converts to
  1D6 − 2 Damage, while 4 Damage would simply be 1D6
  and so on. Characters falling straight downward can at-
  tempt to mitigate 4 Damage by rolling Dexterity + Ath-
  letics at TN 9. Those falling forward and down in an arc
  can try to roll along the ground to mitigate the Damage;
  they roll Dexterity + Athletics at TN 7 and a successful
  roll indicates that they reduce incoming Damage by 4.
  The maximum Damage someone can suﬀer from a
  fall is 18, equating to 4D6 + 2.
  Marching
  Every two miles walked inﬂicts a Fatigue Point at the
  end of the day. Additional Fatigue Points for carrying
  heavy items and wearing armour are added as usual. Hu-
  mans have an uncanny ability to walk all day without
  tiring, and only endure 1 Fatigue Point every 2 miles.
  “That’s the end of the scene”, the GM says. “You
  can each regain 2 Fate Points.”
  “I’ve got 10 Fate Points in total”, mentions Arne-
  son’s player, “So I’m getting 4.
  But doesn’t this rest
  period count as a new scene too?”.
  “Sure, says the GM. “Mark down another load for
  hiding in the tops of the mountains.”
  With their FP now replenishing quickly, the group
  can rest and worry less about being hit again.
  “Oh! I’ve been forgetting about the Fatigue”, says the
  GM. Your GM will probably say the same at some point.
  “Everyone got two Fatigue from being in two Rounds
  of combat and another for doing that in armour, so mark
  down three Fatigue points in your Combat boxes. Then
  four more for running through three areas in armour.
  That’s seven in total”.
  Hit Points and Fatigue
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  Thenton’s player has the Combat Skill at +2, so he
  marks those Fatigue points in the ﬁrst and second boxes,
  leaving him absolutely ﬁne. Then he adds another for
  wearing armour during that ﬁght; since there are no
  more Combat Skill Fatigue Boxes, that point goes into
  his normal Fatigue boxes. Then he receives three more
  for running across the mountain and another for doing
  that all in armour. Five Fatigue Boxes are marked down
  in total. If the characters had continued being active that
  would be the end, but since they have ﬁnished the scene
  while resting, Thenton heals 4 Fatigue points leaving him
  with only 7 in total.
  
  40
  CHAPTER 4. COMBAT
  Hugi isn’t doing so well. He only had 2 HP left by
  the time he was running. He has no Combat Skill so he
  gains the full 7 Fatigue Points. Finally, the GM reminds
  him that he is bleeding from his wounds. He is in no
  condition to patch them up while hiding, especially since
  nobody in the party knows anything about Medicine. She
  decides to only award one more Fatigue point since the
  arrow is also stopping the wound from bleeding too much
  - that makes the total 8. Hugi’s rest allows him to regen-
  erate 3 Fatigue Points (he’s not as strong as Thenton) so
  he receives 5 Fatigue Points in total. Dwarves, luckily,
  can withstand 2 additional Fatigue Points so 2 of those
  points give him no penalty. That’s 6 more than his HP.
  He gains a -4 penalty to all actions.
  The danger now passed, the warriors lie in their hid-
  ing nooks, watching the cold clouds whirl around them,
  hoping to never see any kind of goblin again.
  They
  breathe in and out gently, waiting for the heaviness in
  the chest to subside.
  Despite the winds, Thenton can
  hear a gentle drip, drip, drip from the slowly bleeding
  wound on Hugi’s shoulder where an arrow still lies.
  SECTION 4.13
  Combat Summary
  1. Characters publicly declare stances. If no stance
  is declared, assume a Defensive stance. The GM
  rolls for enemy Morale if appropriate. See page 29.
  2. Each character divides the Combat score (if any)
  between Initiative, Strike and Evasion. Page 29.
  3. The leader of each group rolls Initiative and each
  character adds their own Initiative Factor. Page
  24
  4. Actions are resolved in order of Initiative, each re-
  ducing the Initiative score.
  • Attacking with a medium weapon costs 6 Ini-
  tiative.
  • Attacking with a small weapon costs 4 Initia-
  tive.
  • Defence costs 2 Initiative.
  • Guarding another character costs 2 Initiative.
  • Movement costs 2 Initiative.
  • Speaking costs 2 Initiative.
  • Ramming into someone costs 3 Initiative.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 5
  Gods & Codes
  Players can receive additional XP for following their be-
  liefs.
  While anyone is free to give oﬀerings to any of
  the gods, most people have a primary god they worship,
  suggested by their birth but decided in adulthood based
  on shared values. Others follow no god but have a code
  of some type, guiding their actions. These codes are not
  formal beliefs, written as law and discussed at meetings
  but rather a set of aspirations which some have.
  The GM decides how much XP to give out for any
  given task – each path has a number of suggestions but
  the list should be understood as open-ended and entirely
  at the whim of the GM.
  Some codes give a reward for donating or gaining
  gold. Only the highest reward counts, so someone can-
  not gain 1XP for donating a gold piece to a temple, and
  then gain 10 more for donating 100GP – the highest sum
  takes precedence.
  SECTION 5.1
  Gods
  Some generic gods and codes follow, to be modiﬁed and
  slotted into other campaigns.
  Each god has a holy day marking its favourite time
  of year. During the holy day, anyone can earn XP by
  following the edicts of the god, even those who follow
  others. The day of Ohta is a day to remember war and
  settle disputes by ﬁst or steel, the day of Alass¨e is one
  of joy, to be celebrated with pranks and presents.
  The gods are most popular with humans and gnolls.
  Most dwarven settlements have a temple of some kind
  but it is not something all dwarves take much interest
  in except during odd times when they want to pay for
  a blessing. Gnomes’ interactions with the gods mainly
  consists in chronicling legends about them and debat-
  ing the nature of divinity, but not actively worshipping
  them. Elves, it is said, do not have the humility to wor-
  ship anything.
  The gods presented here are the most important –
  they are the ones featured in the larger tales and who
  have the most prominent holy days. There are, however,
  many more. Each region or individual tribe has its own
  little god. Players are encouraged to create their own.
  Each god has a holy day marking its favourite time
  of year. During the holy day, anyone can earn XP by
  following the edicts of the god, even those who follow
  others. The day of Ohta is a day to remember war and
  settle disputes by ﬁst or steel, the day of Alass¨e is one
  of joy, to be celebrated with pranks and presents.
  Alass¨e – Goddess of Joy
  (‘alAS-seh’)
  The goddess of joy delights in pranks and fun of all kinds.
  Her holy day is in the third season of the ﬁrst cycle – a
  cold time when people are in need of cheering up from
  the cold winds, when her followers stuﬀ snow down peo-
  ple’s back or balance ice-plates on the tops of doors to
  watch them fall on friends’ heads. An eclipse marks the
  actual day every three cycles.
  Her temples are always full of home-brewed beer
  served by attractive men and women. Often such tem-
  ples replace regular taverns.
  XP Rewards for Alass¨e
  1
  Playing a prank
  1
  Donating at least 1 gp to the church.
  1
  Drinking and eating to excess.
  1
  Giving food or shelter to the needy.
  3
  Winning a drinking competition.
  3
  Lifting the spirits of the downtrodden.
  3
  Creating a funny song. Requires at least a
  full night and an Intelligence + Performance
  action, TN 10.
  3
  Playing a prank set up last session.
  5
  Hosting a feast for a village.
  5
  Creating a new type of alcohol.
  5
  Saving someone’s life.
  10
  Playing a prank set up two sessions ago.
  10
  Saving a village or larger populated area
  from destruction.
  41
  
  42
  CHAPTER 5. GODS & CODES
  Spheres
  Priests of Alass¨e have access to the illusion and Poly-
  morph spheres. Their spells appear with a ﬂash of rain-
  bow colours, often accompanied by light, strange sounds
  similar to a harpsichord.
  Mana Stones
  Alassean magical items can be anything which is a sim-
  ulacrum of anything else – a toy dagger, a doll, a statue
  or a painting are all possible mana stones. Their mana
  stone spells are activated by a command word.
  C´al¨e – God of Illumination
  (‘Kaah-leh’)
  The god of light is popular among all the land, especially
  with scholars, as he is a god of knowledge.
  Followers of the god of light have access to the illu-
  sion and Force spheres. His mana stones always contain
  the writings of famous works – usually from the Holy
  Book of Light but potentially from any learned source.
  The item in question must be at least as large as a sheet
  of paper – commonly a book, potentially an armoured
  breast-plate but never a sword or rock. His spells appear
  in a warm glow of light, illuminating an area with a glow
  the strength of a few candles brighter than the ambient
  lighting. The mana stones of C´al¨e are always activated
  by a command word.
  XP Rewards for C´al¨e
  1
  Donating at least 1 gp to the temple.
  1
  Learning a new secret.
  1
  Gaining a new level in Academics or any
  sphere in the Path of Alchemy.
  1
  Crafting a new magical item.
  1
  Overcoming a tricky situation.
  3
  Solving a complicated puzzle.
  5
  Donating at least 10 gp to the temple.
  5
  Uncovering a conspiracy.
  10
  Solving a legendary puzzle.
  10
  Donating at least 100 gp to the temple.
  10
  Writing an informative book on some topic.
  Intelligence + Academics is rolled at TN 12
  during downtime.
  15
  Finding and preserving important knowledge
  that would otherwise have been destroyed
  forever.
  Laiqu¨e – Goddess of the Forest
  (‘Lie-queh’)
  Laiqu¨e is the mother of all the growing green plants and
  all the animals. Farmers worship her as they know their
  produce ultimately stem from the forest. Her holy day
  is a feast-day during the warm ﬁrst season of the third
  cycle. She has few temples but many followers. Those
  temples are usually arranged around some particularly
  striking tree, often magically altered to appear fantas-
  tically beautiful or just warped.
  Farmers are fond of
  putting up a little shrine to her with no more than a
  few rocks and a unique tree, and sometimes with a bird
  feeder.
  Her followers are numerous – they meet dur-
  ing feast days, especially Laiqu¨e’s own day of feasting.
  On other days, they simply travel, and expect Laiqu¨e’s
  blessings and the good will of the people around them to
  provide food for them, occasionally giving out her bless-
  ings if they have been initiated into the secrets of her
  divine powers.
  Those casting spells on her Path of Divinity ﬁnd
  things appearing in a wave of mist while ﬂowers bloom
  nearby. They are granted access to the Polymorph and
  conjuration spheres. The mana stones of her followers
  are always animals or plants. If the animal in question
  has access to a spell, the animal as well as the priest
  always has the ability to cast spells. Her followers com-
  monly have large dog companions which are able to give
  blessings or summon other dogs for help with the conju-
  ration sphere. Plants with a spell are always activated
  by a command word. Animals with a spell implanted al-
  ways activate the spell at their own behest and rarely at
  the right time; cats have been known to use implanted
  spells to hunt prey while a dog which feels threatened
  might reﬂexively turn into a rat when scared.
  XP Rewards for Laiqu¨e
  1
  Donating at least 1 cp to the temple.
  1
  Hunting one’s own food and dedicating it to
  Laiqu¨e.
  1
  Gaining a new level in the Survival Skill.
  3
  Building a shrine – requires 3 days work and
  an Intelligence + Crafts action, TN 8.
  3
  Donating all of one’s money to the temple.
  3
  Freeing a creature from captivity.
  3
  Destroying an ‘unnatural’ creature such as
  an undead creature.
  5
  Finding a new type of creature.
  10
  Composing a song to Laiqu¨e – requires an
  Intelligence + Performance action, TN 10.
  10
  Establishing a new temple.
  15
  Saving some miles of land from being de-
  spoiled.
  
  5.1. GODS
  43
  Ohta – Goddess of Battle
  (‘och-tah’, with a ‘ch’ as in ‘loch’)
  Qualm¨e’s big sister, Ohta, is a mighty warrior. To be
  worthy of her, people must train well and be fast in bat-
  tle.
  Her temples are few and are often no more than
  small rooms within a larger barracks, but her priests
  travel on almost every martial campaign – even those
  who follow other gods usually object to going into battle
  without the blessings of a cleric of Ohta.
  Ohta’s feast day ends the fourth and last season of
  the third and last cycle. On this day, if no battles are
  present, entire towns sometimes gather together to voice
  their frustrations, calling each other out to one-on-one
  ﬁghts. There is no reprisal for the result of these ﬁghts
  – they stand alone, and no redress can be made in a so-
  cially acceptable way until Ohta’s next holy day, three
  cycles later.
  XP Rewards for Ohta
  1
  Donating at least 1 gp to the temple.
  1
  Finding an interesting battle trophy.
  1
  Finishing a battle with 0 FP.
  1
  Fighting a new type of creature.
  1
  Gaining a new level of the Combat Skill.
  1
  Surviving a skirmish while outnumbered.
  1
  Going ﬁrst in the party when entering a dan-
  gerous situation.
  3
  Answering a one on one challenge.
  3
  Killing three opponents single handedly in
  one battle.
  3
  Killing a more dangerous opponent than ever
  before (danger is measured in XP).
  3
  Surviving a large scale battle while outnum-
  bered.
  5
  Donating at least 10 gp to the temple.
  5
  Killing ﬁve or more opponents single hand-
  edly in battle.
  5
  Killing a dangerous opponent (16+ XP) sin-
  gle handedly.
  10
  Killing a dangerous opponent (10+ XP)
  without wearing armour.
  10
  Donating at least 100 gp to the temple.
  10
  Defeating a previously victorious opponent.
  15
  Starting a war.
  Spheres
  Clerics of Ohta have access to the Invocation and Conju-
  ration spheres. They enjoy summoning weapons, hordes
  of helpers and raining down divine wrath in the form
  of ﬁre and lightning upon their opponents. Their spells
  are accompanied by loud, terrifying noises which can be
  heard for up to a mile around and shining, silvery ﬂashes
  from where ﬁre, wild dogs, bears or attacking swarms of
  bats might appear.
  Mana Stones
  Their mana stones are weapons, armour or hunting tro-
  phies. Weapons can only store 2 MP per point of Dam-
  age they inﬂict. Armour is the same but can only ever
  store 2 MP. Hunting trophies can hold up to 1 MP for
  every 2 HP of the beast killed.
  Qualm¨e – God of the Grave
  (‘Qual-meh’)
  Ohta’s less popular little brother rules over death and
  the suﬀering which precedes it. He teaches us to remem-
  ber our own dead fondly and to desecrate the graves of
  our enemies so that they can be forgotten. His feast day
  is during the great storms of the ﬁrst season of the ﬁrst
  cycle. Volcanoes often explode to mark this occasion.
  His temples are few and far between – a couple of large
  cities with important people buried, the occasional gnoll
  hut where a mad shaman of death collects skulls and
  speaks strange promises about a coming war or a deep,
  dwarven catacomb where the honoured dead of many a
  dwarf want to gain the promise of being lead to the halls
  of the honoured dead.
  XP Rewards for Qualm¨e
  1
  Donating at least 1 gp to the temple.
  1
  Desecrating the bodies of an enemy.
  1
  Gaining a new level in the Necromancy
  sphere.
  1
  Giving someone blessings upon their death
  bed.
  3
  Performing an outlandish burriel, with sacri-
  ﬁces and words appropriate for the deceased.
  3
  Erecting a shrine to the dead. Requires an
  Int + Craft action, TN 9, at at least 10 gp.
  3
  Summoning the spirit of a famous person.
  3
  Gaining a large body-part from a famous
  person, now deceased.
  5
  Donating at least 10 gp to the temple.
  5
  Falling below 0 HP.
  10
  Building or funding a mausoleum. Takes a
  year and requires at least 100 gp.
  10
  Falling below -3 HP.
  15
  Falling below -5 HP
  Spheres
  Clerics of Qualm¨e have access to the Necromancy and In-
  vocation spheres. Many burn their enemies to death and
  then raise the blackened corpses from the grave. Their
  spells arise in a pool of inky blackness and are accompa-
  nied by the foul smell of old, rotting meat.
  
  44
  CHAPTER 5. GODS & CODES
  Mana Stones
  Qualmean mana stones are always made from the glo-
  rious dead.
  Mana stone can hold half the FP of the
  original target (rounded down). The hand of a man who
  had 6 FP could store up to 3 MP. XP can also be used as
  a basis for establishing a glorious target – any signiﬁcant
  chunk of a corpse can hold one third of its XP cost in
  mana, so a dragon worth 22 XP could hold up to 7 MP.
  Spells implanted in those mana stones are always ac-
  tivated by a command word.
  V´er¨e – God of Justice
  (‘vEH-reh’)
  Warden to all oaths, lord of ten thousand holy warriors,
  leader of armies, the giver of vengeance and punishments
  – V´er¨e is a popular god. He is invoked during wedding
  vows and business deals. His followers are found among
  the politically inﬂuential and can be some of the most
  zealous of religious followers. He values obeying the law,
  making fair deals, being a good host and supporting the
  poor.
  His holy day is during the second season of the sec-
  ond cycle. It is considered extremely good faith to make
  an oath on this day, and mortally bad luck to break such
  an oath.
  Followers of V´er¨e who break any deal cannot gain XP
  until they atone for the crime.
  XP Rewards for V´er¨e
  1
  Donating at least 1 gp to the temple.
  1
  Enforcing a law.
  1
  Feeding the poor.
  1
  Hosting guests.
  1
  Punishing law breakers.
  1
  Returning someone’s valuables to them.
  3
  Enforcing a major law or imposing the law
  on a group.
  3
  Donating at least 10 gp to the temple.
  3
  Making an oath to begin upon a major quest.
  5
  Correcting the local law.
  5
  Creating a peace treaty between factions in
  danger of ﬁghting.
  10
  Creating a peace treaty between warring fac-
  tions.
  10
  Donating at least 100 gp to the temple.
  15
  Deposing a tyrant.
  Spheres
  V´er¨e’s clerics can access the enchantment and Force
  spheres. They use enchantment to gain followers, daz-
  zling them with the glory of the purity and strength of
  their god while force is used to protect the innocent and
  faithful. Their spells appear in a shimmer of gold.
  Mana Stones
  V´er¨e’s mana stones are always people who are followers
  of V´er¨e. Those believers alone can activate any spells
  which are stored inside them. Priests of V´er¨e often gift
  their followers with single-use magical powers, such as
  the ability to call upon a blessing or the ability to pro-
  tect themselves with armour. If the people who are be-
  ing used as mana stones are given spells then they can
  activate those spells at will with a short prayer at an
  Initiative cost of 8.
  
  5.2. CODES
  45
  SECTION 5.2
  Codes
  Those without a dedicated deity often dedicate them-
  selves to some informal code instead. The codes might
  be thought of as attitudes or philosophies for life. Fol-
  lowers of similar codes may well get along together but
  they will not recognise each other as members of a sim-
  ilar organisation. Those with a code as their primary
  motivator may also sacriﬁce to gods or even occasion-
  ally worship and donate to temples, but their ultimate
  aims lie with themselves. It is said those who do not
  fully dedicate themselves to any god must wander the
  afterlife without aid or guidance – such spirits always
  provide the most bizarre and contradictory accounts of
  death and can prove diﬃcult to summon.
  The Code of Acquisition
  The goal of life is acquisition. We all want things, there-
  fore people who get more things are doing better. Those
  on the code of acquisition are often those who can ac-
  quire more money – townmaster, dwarves in love with
  gold or gnomes who have dedicated their lives to ﬁnding
  the best rubies.
  Underneath the exterior love of wealth, those on the
  Code of Acquisition primarily desire respect. They have
  a deep sense of needing to be important in the eyes of
  others, and ﬁnd their acquisitions the most eﬃcient way
  to achieving that goal.
  XP Rewards for the Code of Acquisition
  1
  Buying an expensive item – worth 1 gp or
  more.
  1
  Being greeted deferentially by a stranger.
  1
  Conﬁrming you are the richest person in a
  new region.
  1
  Hiring a new servant.
  1
  Meeting a famous person.
  3
  Buying a very expensive item – at least 10
  gp in value.
  3
  Disarming a potential conﬂict.
  5
  Starting a successful new business.
  5
  Finding a magical item.
  5
  Gaining a new title such as a guild master or
  townmaster.
  5
  Buying an extremely expensive item – at
  least 20 gp in value.
  10
  Marrying into a prestigious family.
  10
  Acquiring a horde of new wealth – at least
  100% of the character’s current total.
  10
  Buying an expensive new home – at least 200
  gp in value.
  The Code of the Tribe
  What’s important is you and yours. Your children, the
  memory of your grandparents, the honour of the tribe.
  Your children will be your legacy, while you must die
  your legacy can live on forever. If you want to do well
  in this world, you have to put you and yours ﬁrst. This
  path is popular among gnolls, humans and dwarves, who
  can become very family-focussed. Exactly who counts as
  being ‘in the tribe’ does not have to be limited to blood
  relatives, however – it’s an intuitive thing. You know
  your own.
  Travelling companions do not automatically count as
  members of your tribe, but they may come to in time.
  Exactly what counts as a ‘tribe’ is mostly in the hands of
  a player, though the bonds should never be made lightly.
  XP Rewards for the Code of the Tribe
  1
  Helping out a member of the tribe.
  1
  Greeting a member of the tribe during a long
  time away.
  1
  Welcoming a friend into the tribe.
  1
  Testing a potential new member of the tribe.
  1
  Defending your tribe’s honour.
  3
  Spreading the honourable name of the tribe
  to outsiders.
  3
  Entering battle simply for the sake of the
  tribe.
  5
  Forming an alliance for the tribe.
  5
  Returning home after an extended trip away.
  5
  Acquiring a new home for your family.
  5
  Saving a member of the tribe from some ter-
  rible situation.
  5
  Fulﬁlling the ﬁnal wishes of an ancestor. The
  ancestor’s wish can be speciﬁed only while
  spending Story Points, and the XP can only
  be collected if the mission is completed in a
  later Story.
  10
  Starting a family.
  15
  Saving one’s entire tribe from destruction.
  The Code of Experience
  The world is here to be lived, to be known, to be con-
  nected with. You want all the experiences – unique expe-
  riences, sacred experiences, horrible experiences; it’s all
  good. You want to stare at the full moon while drinking
  with friends, to create some new piece of art and to feel
  enough heart-ache to make you physically sick. Elation
  and deep-rooted fear are equally valuable – they are both
  life. You also value giving life and meaning to the old and
  abandoned, to experiencing what few others have expe-
  rienced, whether it’s ﬁnding a lost and neglected poem
  
  46
  CHAPTER 5. GODS & CODES
  from an old language or visiting an area never before
  seen by people.
  XP Rewards for the Code of Experience
  1
  Finding a new type of food or drink.
  1
  Witnessing a ﬂower open.
  1
  Seeing a change in Season.
  1
  Greeting a new type of humanoid.
  1
  Per Story Point spent.
  1
  Learning a new type of instrument or any
  creative specialisation.
  3
  Learning a Skill or sphere to a level above
  any other Skill or sphere you have.
  3
  Finding a new friend.
  3
  Experiencing any emotion to heights never
  reached before.
  3
  Returning home after a long time away.
  3
  Finding a mana lake.
  5
  Experiencing deep tragedy.
  5
  Taking HP Damage for the ﬁrst time.
  5
  Falling in love.
  5
  Creating a masterpiece of some kind at TN
  12. Each Skill can only be used to gain XP
  once.
  5
  Discovering a lost piece of art or literature.
  10
  Finding an area lost to all contact for more
  than a century.
  15
  Finding an area never before visited by peo-
  ple.
  “Do you think the village on the other side of the
  mountain is safe to visit?”, asked Thenton with raised
  eyebrows.
  His companions did not really want to hear that ques-
  tion, but they had. It was impossible to tell from this
  distance if the hobgoblins had settled there already.
  “Ah dinnae ken, laddie”
  Hugi is resolved to just enter the next area, stoically,
  but his player is no stoic. It is decided that now is the
  time to expand Hugi’s backstory. He wants a place to
  rest, he wants more of an idea of what is happening here.
  He decides to spend a Story point to specify that a single
  dwarven outpost has a single person still there.
  “Why is just one person in an outpost?”, the GM
  asks.
  “Well, it’s my cousin. She was inside at the time.
  When the scouts returned from watching the side of the
  mountain, they all got eaten by hobgoblins. Only after
  that she managed to escape, helped by the men-dwarves.
  So she’s alone in the outpost”
  “So this is a safe space story?”, the GM asks.
  “No. No I just want to spend one Story point and
  get someone with a normal place to stay, and knows a
  little about what’s going on, and maybe some knowledge
  of Medicine”.
  Hugi’s player marks oﬀ a single Story Point and
  starts telling his story.
  “There’s an outpost over there”, Hugi remarked. “It
  looks mostly like the mountain but you can see a little
  dark bit that’s too straight-cut. They’re little windows.”
  Entering the building, Hugi found his cousin, Magda.
  Thenton expected them to hug after the ordeal, but Hugi
  just bowed low. Apparently he was proud of the honour
  of gathering news from her on account of their shared
  blood.
  As luck would have it, she was a proﬁcient medic, and
  helped patch Hugi back up, safely removing the arrow.
  While all the players are thinking about the next
  move, the GM adds up their XP. They defeated 6 hob-
  goblins and 1 ogre.
  Hobgoblins and ogres are worth 7
  each. There were seven in total, so that means 49 XP
  in total, minus one XP per member of the group. The
  ﬁnal result is that each character receives 15 XP and one
  more XP is left in the pot for later (because 46 cannot
  evenly be divided by 3). After that, each player wants a
  little additional XP for following their own God or codes.
  Arneson follows the Goddess, Laiqu¨e.
  He receives
  3 additional XP because the hobgoblins are particularly
  hated enemies for him - followers of Laiqu¨e believe they
  are either unnatural, or that their presence in the human
  realm is unnatural. Hugi, meanwhile, follows the Code of
  the Tribe; what’s important to him is his dwarvish clan’s
  honour. In coming here he has defended his tribe’s hon-
  our and claims 3 XP for coming to the rescue of dwarves
  in the name of his own tribe. He is additionally help-
  ing a particular member of the tribe whom he has met
  a long way from home.
  That’s another 2 XP. He be-
  lieves his arrival has saved this cousin. The GM thinks
  this is plausible, since his cousin Magda was previously
  stranded with little food. This grants him another 5 XP.
  
  5.2. CODES
  47
  That’s a total of 7 XP.
  Hugi decides to spend his 7 on his ﬁrst Knack, and
  selects ‘Chosen Enemy (Goblins)’.
  Meanwhile, Arneson purchases Dexterity +1 with his
  15 XP. The group is a little older and wiser, and are
  more conﬁdent about meeting danger in the future.
  Hugi was ﬁlled with pride to the point of forgetting
  about the pain when Magda pulled out the arrow which
  had so deeply penetrated his shoulder.
  He was almost
  caught smiling when Magda bandaged up the ogre’s teeth-
  marks on his face - it would make a good scar.
  The band took only a couple of hours before they set
  oﬀ again, hoping to ﬁnd that village, somewhere beyond
  the mist. What had happened to that bard, they could
  only guess, but there seemed little chance of ﬁnding him
  in that village.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 6
  Knacks
  Characters can individuate themselves by learning various Knacks – special talents for combat manoeuvres, magic,
  skills or other abilities. Most people can pick up a couple of Knacks easily but further Knacks become progressively
  less intuitive.
  SECTION 6.1
  Combat Knacks
  Adrenaline Surge
  The player can declare that super-human eﬀort is being
  thrown into an action, and gain +1 Strength for that one
  task. This can increase damage, but cannot increase Ini-
  tiative after a Round has begun.
  Adrenaline surge can be used once each scene for
  each knack the character has, and no more than once
  a Round.
  Back to the Wall
  You are particularly diﬃcult to ﬂank. So long as you are
  not surrounded on all four sides you receive no penalty
  for being Flanked. See page 34 for rules on ﬂanking.
  Berserker
  You enter a bloodthirsty rage when in battle. After the
  ﬁrst round, you gain a +1 bonus to Speed. After the
  second round, you gain a +1 bonus to Strength.
  Brawler
  The character receives +2 to Strike when making un-
  armed attacks or grappling.
  Charge
  If you spend a Round moving at your maximum speed in
  order to engage with the enemy, then on the next round
  you gain a bonus to your Damage, Initiative and Strike,
  equal to half the number of Knacks you have (rounded
  up), for the ﬁrst attack of the round.
  Cutting Swing
  The character can cut through more than one opponent
  at a time, or slice open multiple skulls with a single arc of
  metal. Any time the character reduces an opponent be-
  low 1 HP, they can immediately make another attack at
  no Initiative cost against anyone in range of the weapon;
  if that attack reduces the opponent below 1 HP then
  further attacks can be made until no further enemies are
  within range or the character fails to fell an enemy.
  Disarm
  With a ﬂick of your sword into an opponent’s wrist or
  by trapping the hilt you can throw an opponent’s sword
  away. This manoeuvre takes the normal amount of Ini-
  tiative for using your weapon. You and your opponent
  make a resisted Dexterity + Combat Action, TN 7. If
  the disarm attempt is successful, the weapon is thrown
  1D3 squares in a random direction.
  Defender
  For each Knack the character has, they can defend
  against one close-range attack per round at the cost of
  1 Initiative, rather than 2.
  Dodger
  The character is an expert at dodging long-ranged at-
  tacks.
  They need to spend only 1 Initiative point in
  order to Keep Edgy (see page 34) and can thereafter
  dodge all incoming missile attacks with their Speed +2.
  If this knack is taken multiple times, it adds +1 to the
  roll each time.
  This Knack grants immunity to all Sneak Attacks
  from Ranged weapons, such as bows or throwing knives,
  just as long as the user is Keeping Edgy.
  This knack is automatically granted by using a
  medium sized shield, so anyone who both has the Knack
  and a shield could spend 1 Initiative point at the start
  of the Round to be able to dodge all incoming missile
  attacks. If their Speed were +1, they would gain a +4
  bonus to dodging, or anyone attacking them would raise
  the TN to hit this character by 4.
  48
  
  6.1. COMBAT KNACKS
  49
  Finishing Blow
  Any attack the character makes of 12 Damage or more
  gains a number of additional Damage equal to the num-
  ber of Knacks they have, including magical attacks.
  Purchasing this Knack multiple times only adds +1
  to the additional Damage dealt. Many weapons, such
  as warhammers, come with this Knack in-built, so any-
  one with the Knack: Finishing Blow, who also wields
  a warhammer, would trigger +2 Damage any time they
  dealt 12 or more Damage, or more if they had further
  Knacks. Other Knacks from weapons do not count to-
  wards the total.
  First Strike
  The character is well practised at getting the ﬁrst hit in.
  They receive +1 Initiative on the ﬁrst Round of combat
  equal to half the character’s Knacks.
  This Knack can be taken any number of times, with
  all secondary uses granting an additional +1 Initiative.
  For example, while using a spear (which has the Knack:
  First Strike, in-built), and the Knack, a character would
  gain +2 Initiative on the ﬁrst Round if attacking with
  the spear.
  The knack resets if the PC ever spends a full round
  of combat moving.
  Flashing Blades
  The character is an expert with light weapons and only
  needs to spend 3 Initiative to attack with them.
  Fox Hop
  The character is particularly good at defending them-
  self by jumping about. They receive a bonus to Defence
  equal to half the number of Knacks they have, rounded
  up. This bonus does not stack with weapon bonuses.
  When using the Aggressive Stance, this bonus goes
  into the Strike Factor instead of the Evasion Factor, as
  per usual.
  Furious Blows
  You can wield large weapons exceptionally fast. Medium
  weapons (those with a Weight Rating of -1 to 4) cost 1
  less Initiative to make an attack with just so long as
  you have no Encumbrance penalty to wielding it. Using
  this Knack, an attack with a longsword would cost only
  5 Initiative. Buying this Knack multiple times has no
  eﬀect.
  Furious Rage
  You gain +1 to Strike when using the Aggressive Stance.
  Guardian
  The character receives a +2 bonus to their Evasion score
  for the purposes of defending people and can defend a
  number of people equal to the number of knacks they
  have. Guarding someone costs only 1 Initiative. Those
  being guarded must be close beside or behind them, as
  usual. When the character is defending themself they
  use their normal Evasion Bonus.
  Last Stand
  Any time the character loses their last FP they imme-
  diately gain +5 Initiative points plus one per Knack the
  character has. The Initiative Count goes back up to the
  highest Initiative to let you act (presumably) alone.
  The character also gains a number of MP equal to
  the number of Knacks they have.
  Mighty Draw
  You can draw back a hunting bow in a single Round,
  paying only 8 Initiative for the action, minus half the
  number of Knacks you have (rounded up, minimum of
  2). For example, someone with 3 Knacks would pay only
  6 Initiative for the attack.
  Those with a crossbow can reload it one round faster
  than normal, but the minimum is 1 round.1
  Perfect Sneak Attack
  Any Sneak Attacks you complete inﬂict an additional
  +1 Damage for each Knack you have. Normally, Sneak
  Attacks inﬂict +2 Damage, so someone with 3 Knacks
  would inﬂict +5 Damage.
  Precise Strike
  You require 1 less to achieve a Vitals Shot. For example,
  when targeting an opponent with a Evasion score of +2
  and Partial armour, they would normally require a score
  of 9 to hit and a score of 12 to make a Vitals Shot which
  ignores all armour. With this Knack they still require a
  score of 9 to hit but only a score of 11 to make a Vitals
  Shot. People with this Knack can also bypass Perfect
  armour by rolling 6 points above the target’s TN.
  Multiple purchases of this Knack allow you to bypass
  armour at an increasingly low TN.
  Quick Shot
  All long-range weapons take one less Initiative to use,
  such as throwing knives, crossbows, or chairs (if you hap-
  pen to be throwing the chair).
  Snap Shot
  You pay 0 Initiative to reload an arrow onto your bow, as
  opposed to the regular Initiative cost of 2. Additionally
  you can make an Sneak Attack with a bow by paying
  an additional 4 Initiative instead of spending a Round
  aiming. If you are interrupted after the aim, but before
  the shot, you lose all bonuses for a Sneak Attack.
  1This would normally be 6 rounds minus the character’s Strength score. See page 36 for more.
  
  50
  CHAPTER 6. KNACKS
  Solid Defence
  The character can hold their actions, persistently de-
  fending themself rather than attacking. They gain +2
  to their Evasion Factor during this time. At any time
  they can give up the protection just as if they had held
  their action normally; this allows their to act at 1 higher
  Initiative than the current Initiative Count.
  Stunning Strike
  You can declare that you are attempting to stun oppo-
  nents. You then take a -1 penalty to Strike but if you
  successfully hit an opponent, all Damage dealt reduces
  their current Initiative. The target is also unable to make
  Quick Actions until their current Initiative allows them
  to act. Multiple uses of this Knack add 1 each to the
  Initiative loss.
  For example, if someone were using a cudgel (which
  comes with the in-built Knack: Stunning Strike), and
  also had the Knack, then they smacked someone for 4
  Damage, the opponent would immediately lose 5 from
  their current Initiative Score, even if all of the Damage
  was mitigated by DR and FP.
  Unstoppable
  The character does not fall incapacitated when falling
  below 1 HP they makes the usual Vitality Check and if
  they survive they continue to act until the end of com-
  bat, though they also has to take the usual penalty: -1
  per Damage beyond 0 HP, in addition to any Fatigue
  Point penalties.
  Once combat ends, they fall uncon-
  scious.
  Each time they suﬀer further Damage a new
  Vitality Check is made.
  Additionally, the character receives a bonus to all Vi-
  tality Checks equal to half the number of Knacks they
  have, rounded up.
  Finally, the character gains +2 HP.
  Voice of Wrath
  Your battle cries and demeanour are particularly fear-
  some. Enemies receive a -2 penalty when taking Morale
  Checks where you are their enemy.
  SECTION 6.2
  Spellcasting Knacks
  Blood Caster
  The caster’s magic is fuelled by hatred and tenacity. If
  the character has 0 FP and loses a single HP then they
  gain +2 to their eﬀective Intelligence Bonus. If they lose
  half their HP then they gain an additional bonus equal
  to the number of Knacks they have.
  For example, a
  caster might lose 2 HP then gain an eﬀective +2 bonus
  to casting Fireball spells and a +2 bonus to the Damage
  inﬂicted by such spells. When they are later struck again
  and goes down to 1 HP then (since they have 2 Knacks)
  they gain a +4 bonus to such spells and a +4 bonus to
  Damage.
  This Knack can only be used when there is a legiti-
  mate grievance. The mage does not gain the bonus when
  they have harmed themself. It lasts only until the end
  of the scene and can reactivate only once the mage has
  lost further HP.
  The Knack might also be used when a member of the
  party has died, or when someone the character has spent
  Story Points on has been killed.2
  Combat Casting
  The mage suﬀers only a -1 penalty rather than the usual
  -2 when casting a spell using only one hand. Alchemists
  and divine casters unable to use their voice and hands
  suﬀer a -3 penalty rather than the usual -4. Polymor-
  phed creatures still suﬀer a full -2 penalty to all spell-
  casting in addition to any other penalties.
  Consume Soul
  The caster can suck the soul from dying humanoids.
  While something within their normal spell range is dy-
  ing, they can make a resisted roll against the target
  where both use their Intelligence Bonuses – the target
  receives a penalty for being below 0 HP as usual and
  the mage receives the normal range penalties for ranged
  weapons. If the mage is successful they gain back 1 MP
  + the target’s Intelligence Bonus (to a minimum of 1).
  This action requires 8 Initiative points and can only be
  performed when the character is prepared to cast spells
  that Round.
  This Knack may only be bought at character creation
  or immediately after the caster is required to take a Vi-
  tality Check to avoid death. It may not be taken while
  following Laiqu¨e, Alass¨e or V´er¨e.
  Extreme Focus
  The spell caster can focus on a spell to the exclusion
  of all else. During this time they automatically fail any
  checks to notice things. All ritual spells cast with this
  focus grant a bonus to the caster’s Intelligence score for
  the purpose of casting spells equal to half the number of
  Knacks the character has (rounded up).
  Quick Spell
  The character is particularly adept at casting spells
  quickly, and therefore in Combat. Spells cost 2 + their
  level in Initiative, so a 4th level spell would cost 6 rather
  than the usual 7 Initiative.
  2See page 10 for Story Points.
  
  6.3. OTHER KNACKS
  51
  SECTION 6.3
  Other Knacks
  Chosen Enemy
  The character has a burning hatred for a particular race
  of creature. The character gains a -2 penalty when inter-
  acting socially with such creatures and a +1 when per-
  forming actions such as tracking them, attacking them
  or intimidating them. The only combat bonus gained is
  for attack.
  For each Knack the player has, they may select a new
  chosen enemy, so those with a total of 3 Knacks may se-
  lect 3 chosen enemies.
  Those enemies may be chosen
  at any time, including long after a new Knack as been
  bought.
  Possible enemies include: Forest Creatures, bandits,
  magic users, any humanoid race (e.g. Dwarves, Humans,
  et c.), Underground Creatures and Undead. Chosen en-
  emies never stack, so an undead forest creature only
  counts as one chosen enemy. 3
  Fast Healer
  You regenerate unusually fast. Any scene which you end
  with a rest allows you to heal 2 additional Fatigue Points
  and 2MP.
  Hardened
  The character is particularly tough and gains +2 HP and
  immunity to the Knack: Stunning Strike.
  Specialist
  The character specialises in some non-combat Skill, be-
  coming exceptionally good at one particular action.
  They select a paring of some Attribute + Skill to gain a
  +2 bonus whenever the two are used. For instance, when
  using Charisma + Performance to sing a song they could
  gain the bonus, though when writing one with Intelli-
  gence + Performance the Knack would have no eﬀect.
  This Knack can be bought any number of times but
  only once for a particular Attribute + Skill pairing. It
  can add to rolls to cast spells, but not combat rolls, in-
  cluding ranged combat.
  3If your campaign includes nura, you can gain chosen enemies such as ‘goblinoids’ (including all sentient nura), and ‘nura beasts’.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 7
  The Paths of Magic
  There are various roads to learning magic – each
  allows the mage to invoke diﬀerent spheres and has a
  diﬀerent ﬂavour of magic. Any character with the ap-
  propriate requirements can learn to cast magic. Each
  school of magic has its own ﬂavour but diﬀerent people
  casting spells from the same spheres of magic will end
  up with exactly the same results, mechanically. A priest
  of war may call divine ﬁre to to destroy enemies where
  an alchemist uses precise gestures to summon the essen-
  tial form of ﬁre, but both are just using the Invocation
  sphere.
  People can pick up diﬀerent Paths of Magic by sim-
  ply fulﬁlling diﬀerent requirements. If someone has ac-
  cess to one sphere of magic through multiple Paths and
  has bought access to the sphere, then learning the same
  sphere through the diﬀerent Path simply requires some
  Downtime and study but carries no XP cost. If a blood
  sorcerer were to learn the Aldaron sphere as a natural
  knack and later decided to become an adherent of the
  goddess Laiqu¨e, she could channel the magic through
  divine means or through her innate abilities. All that
  is needed is a little time to pick up an understanding of
  how this same magic works through a diﬀerent lens.
  Path
  Spheres
  Flavour
  Alchemy
  Conjuration,
  Invocation,
  Force, Illusion, Metamagic
  Alchemists use sacred geometry and the power of precious
  metals and minerals to twist the world around them.
  Blood
  Aldaron,
  Enchantment,
  Force,
  Invocation,
  Poly-
  morph
  Creatures with innate magic simply call to the world to
  change the weather, change targets’ species, and move
  items with the power of their minds. It is used by elves,
  dragons, and sorcerers with elven blood.
  Devotion (Laiqu¨e)
  Aldaron, Conjuration, Fate,
  Metamagic, Polymorph
  Laiqu¨e blesses rare priests of the forest with the ability to
  change local weather conditions, and cast divine light.
  Devotion (V´er¨e)
  Aldaron,
  Enchantment,
  Fate, Force, Metamagic
  Followers of V´er¨e channel their god to protect the innocent
  and righteous with blessings and raw magical force. Evil
  creatures can be detected, then be ordered to stop, turn
  and ﬂee.
  Runes
  Conjuration,
  Fate,
  Force,
  Metamagic, Necromancy
  Rune magics take a long time as the spells must literally
  be painted or carved into items. The resulting spells are
  often placed into items for a quick release, or cast ahead
  of time. Rune magics are powerful but require craft and
  preparation.
  Song
  Aldaron,
  Enchantment,
  Fate, Illusion, Metamagic
  Song magic must be cast slowly, as the spells are literally
  songs. The spells have subtle eﬀects but song magic is no
  less powerful than other spheres.
  52
  
  7.1. THE PATH OF ALCHEMY
  53
  SECTION 7.1
  The Path of Alchemy
  Spheres: Conjuration, Invocation, Force, Illusion, Metamagic
  The alchemist learns magic through rote repetition and
  formulae which are usually be invoked through precise
  hand-gestures and mystical words which are attuned to
  the background harmonics of the universe. Alchemy was
  invented by the gnomes but has since become popular
  with various upper-class humans.
  This is the typical
  magic of a standard town wizard. Alchemy requires one
  slot of Academics in order to be learnt.
  Spells summoned by the Path of Alchemy are ac-
  companied by magical sparks and sometimes loud bangs.
  Their mana stones are always based on precious minerals
  or rocks such as rubies, sapphire or even diamonds.
  Special Considerations
  Without the ability to move one’s hands and use one’s
  voice, alchemy spells take a -2 penalty to any task roll or
  a -4 penalty if the mage can neither move nor use their
  voice.
  Alchemists cannot naturally intuit how the next level
  of any sphere works. Instead they must pick up levels
  slowly and through intense study. They only receive new
  levels during Downtime.
  Mana Stones
  Alchemical mana stones are always precious items, such
  as gold, rubies, or diamonds. A mana stone costs 10 gp
  per MP which can be stored inside it, so a mana stone
  storing 3 MP would cost 30 gp. The exact item might
  be a simply ruby which stores mana, a diamond-headed
  wand of ivory which blasts out ﬁreballs or a sword with
  jewels on the handle which surrounds the warrior with
  moving illusions of their. Alchemical mana stones with a
  spell always activate those spells with a command word.
  SECTION 7.2
  The Path of Blood
  Spheres: Aldaron, Enchantment, Force, Invocation, Polymorph
  Certain races, such as elves and dragons, are naturally
  magical and can learn forms of innate magic. Some hu-
  mans with a touch of elven (or even draconic) blood have
  been known to walk the Path of Blood.
  Blood magic spells cast quickly appear in a ﬂurry of
  inky darkness, meanwhile the caster’s eyes glow red and
  lightning ﬂashes around their head.
  Blood sorcerers need only use movements to cast
  their spells.
  Without the ability to move freely they
  suﬀer a -2 penalty to casting spells.
  Special Considerations
  Most elves look down upon people who learn magic
  through rote facts and dusty tomes, seeing their innate
  connection to the magic of the world as a higher and
  purer form of magical ability.
  Blood sorcerers are barred from ritual castings –
  spending all day trying to cast a spell will not help in the
  slightest. They cannot cast subtle spells, so enchantment
  eﬀects will always be at least a little noticeable to those
  watching out for them, at least at the time of casting.
  Blood magic casters who learn Metamagic through
  another path of magic cannot use Metamagic spells to
  modify spheres they only have through blood magic.
  For example if an elf learnt how to cast Metamagic
  through the path of song, they couldn’t use that Metam-
  agic sphere to modify their Invocation spells if they only
  learnt Invocation through the Path of Blood.
  
  54
  CHAPTER 7. THE PATHS OF MAGIC
  SECTION 7.3
  The Path of Devotion
  Spheres: Aldaron, Fate, Metamagic and two from the deity’s schools of choice.
  The character is devoted to a god and studies with
  priests in how to unlock the magic of the deity.
  The
  character’s god will determine their additional spheres
  of magic and their appearance.
  One slot of Academics is required to be able to suﬃ-
  ciently understand the precepts of the deity and the elab-
  orate prayers. Speciﬁcally, characters must specialise in
  Theology. Devoting oneself to multiple deities is possi-
  ble, so long as those deities are not antagonistic to each
  other, however, each deity requires an additional The-
  ology specialisation. The appearance of spells and the
  form of mana stones varies depending upon deity.
  This path is most commonly taken by humans and
  the occasional gnoll. Gnomes don’t acknowledge gods,
  elves think they are gods and dwarves tend to view their
  own rune magic as divine in a very general sense.
  Special Considerations
  The path of devotion requires casters to both use their
  voice and to move their hands, as per Alchemy. Failure
  to do either one results in a -2 penalty. So using one’s
  hands to wield a weapon while being underwater would
  give a -4 penalty to any spells cast.
  Mana Stone
  Each type of devotion has its own mana stone. See the
  individual references on page 41.
  SECTION 7.4
  The Path of Runes
  Spheres: Conjuration, Fate, Force, Metamagic, Necromancy
  Dwarves are skilled
  in the art of sum-
  moning
  magics
  through
  carving
  elaborate
  runes.
  Typically they are
  chiselled, but it is
  possible to simply
  ‘paint a spell’ onto
  a surface.
  When
  spells
  are
  summoned,
  the
  runes
  glow
  –
  whether carved or
  painted – then gi-
  ant,
  ghostly runes
  can be seen dancing
  around the source of
  the spell. Runecrafters summoning acid rain might have
  their spell appear with a ﬂurry of glowing symbols of
  trickery – each sphere of magic and indeed each spell
  has its own special runes.
  Runecasters must devote a single Academics special-
  ization to learning how to properly inscribe runes. Their
  mana stones are always precious metals inscribed with
  runes such as armour with platinum runes or swords with
  golden runic inlays. Those mana stones which have an
  imprinted spell can be activated by either a command
  word or a condition.
  Special Considerations
  Runecasters cannot cast spells in the heat of combat –
  inscribing runes just takes far too long for Quick Spells.
  They always use Ritual Spells for the highest level of any
  Sphere, and can use normal casting after that.
  However, in return for this deﬁcit, rune casters can
  learn their craft far more easily. Each level of a sphere
  they purchase costs 5 XP less than it normally would.
  While buying Fate 2 would normally cost 10 for the ﬁrst
  level and 15 for the second, rune casters merely need to
  spend 5 XP for the ﬁrst level and 10 for the second. If
  they ever want to use those same sphere through a diﬀer-
  ent path of magic, they must spend 5 XP to ‘repurchase’
  each level. For example, someone who could cast both
  alchemical and runic magic might purchase Conjuration
  at the second level for a total of 15 XP. They could only
  use it for runic magics, but later they could spend 5 XP
  to be able to cast the ﬁrst level with either the alchemy
  path or the rune casting path.
  Runes can never be cast in a subtle way. All cast-
  ings will be entirely obvious. Ritual castings are a par-
  ticularly long aﬀair, often taking an entire day’s work
  and always require runes to be dented or impressed into
  something rather than just written out.
  Mana Stones
  Rune casters mana stones are, of course, runic carvings,
  and can never be painted onto anything.
  
  7.5. THE PATH OF SONG
  55
  SECTION 7.5
  The Path of Song
  Spheres: Aldaron, Enchantment, Fate, Illusion, Metamagic
  The character has learnt the magic of song. They can
  sing illusions into existence, inspire people with great
  tales and enchant people with a lute. Any instrument,
  song or performance suﬃces for casting a spell so long
  as it is appropriate – a ﬂute is not usually a good way
  to magically make people scared.
  Song spells appear with a ﬂash of colour – generally
  on a cinematically appropriate note. They require some
  noise to activate so they are diﬃcult to hide, but people
  will not always make the connection between the start
  of a spell and the strumming of a lyre.
  In order to learn the Path of Song, the mage must
  have the second level of the Performance Skill.
  Special Considerations
  Just as with rune magic, song magic can never be cast
  in an instant. Their highest level of a sphere can only be
  cast as a ritual spell, and quick spells are entirely barred,
  as a song takes time to be invoked with magic. And as
  with rune magic, those on this Path need to spend 5 less
  XP each time they buy a level of some magic sphere.
  Mana Stones
  The mana stones of the Path of Song are actual songs.
  The bard composes a song especially for the purpose;
  when anyone – anywhere in the world – plays the song
  on the correct instrument the mana can be regained.
  Such songs can also become vessels for spells, becoming
  magical items which activate once played.
  If anyone ever pulls mana from the song (either for a
  spell casting or because they are low on mana) while the
  song-spell is empty, it is destroyed forever. The song will
  be diﬃcult for anyone to remember and will no longer
  store any mana until someone remakes the spell.
  Rare and powerful spell-songs are swapped as cur-
  rency among bards – spells which can protect the singer
  or enchant a crowd.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 8
  Magic
  A novice miracle worker begins by selecting one of the
  ﬁve paths of magic.
  Each path grants access to ﬁve
  spheres – ﬁve collections of spells.
  Each level of a sphere typically grants access to a
  few diﬀerent spells. For example, the ﬁrst level of the
  Aldaron sphere allows the caster to aﬀect local weather
  conditions, enchant animals, and summon light. Divine
  casters will think of this as a gift from their deity, while
  blood casters think of these eﬀects as a natural exten-
  sion of their own will. However, the basic eﬀects are the
  same.
  The Spheres of Magic
  Aldaron
  allows one to enchant animals then later to
  harness control of the local weather conditions.
  Conjuration
  changes things from one form to an-
  other, and eventually can summon items out of the air.
  Enchantment
  allows casters to calm people or panic
  people. How to confuse and impress them.
  Fate
  is divine magic and allows the caster to ask a
  question of the gods, then later to heal companions’ Fate
  Points.
  Force
  magic is a very versatile sphere, allowing the
  mage to protect themself, ﬁght with levitating weapons
  or just levitate any object or person.
  Illusion
  allows the caster to summon apparitions of
  anything. The caster might hide a door by making an
  illusion of a wall over it, or create the image of a sleep-
  ing bear to frighten people. More skilled illusionists can
  disguise themselves as other people or creatures.
  Invocation
  is the magic of ﬁre, lightning and destruc-
  tion. It begins with bolts of lightning and later allows
  the caster to incinerate large swathes of enemies with
  great balls of ﬁre.
  Metamagic
  is a sphere which enhances all other mag-
  ical spheres, allowing spells to be cast at long range, then
  enhancing the mage’s mana storage and letting their
  counter other magical spells.
  Necromancy
  ﬁrst deals with making the caster close
  to death so they can feel no pain and interact safely with
  the risen dead. Later the necromancer learns to summon
  simple spirits into the bodies of the dead to make them
  rise as an army.
  Polymorph
  allows the caster to transform into other
  races, and then into entirely diﬀerent species. Exactly
  which type of animal a caster can transform into de-
  pends upon their body type. Lithe characters will ﬁnd
  it easier to turn into a bird, while stronger people will
  ﬁnd stronger animals, such as bears or warthogs, easier.
  SECTION 8.1
  Casting Your First Spell
  Casting
  Spells are cast by spending a number of MP equal to the
  spell’s level, so 1st level spells always cost 1 MP and 3rd
  level spells always cost 3 MP. The character then spends
  the mana and makes a roll against some TN to cast the
  spell.
  Mana
  Anyone can buy some base MP which is then modiﬁed
  by their Intelligence.1 For example, someone with Intel-
  ligence +1 who buys Base MP 2 would have a store of 3
  MP to cast spells. Those with a Base MP of 0 can still
  have some MP if their Intelligence Bonus is positive.
  If a caster has no MP left, they can still cast spells
  by paying the cost with HP instead of MP. The magical
  energies pull the power they need from the blood and
  bones of the caster, leaving them with a bleeding nose,
  1See the section on Experience, page 18, for costs of base MP.
  56
  
  8.1. CASTING YOUR FIRST SPELL
  57
  raging headache and sometimes stranger eﬀects such as
  acidic pustules or discoloured skin patches. Many a des-
  perate caster has died through the use of their own magic
  rather than an enemy’s sword; a wizard with their back
  to the wall is a dangerous opponent indeed.2
  Mana is a ﬁckle thing – when lazing
  around a vil-
  lage it can take hours to regain even a little driblet of
  magic. When ﬁghting in deep caves, a few minutes’ fo-
  cus can summon most of a mage’s magical energies back.
  Every scene, characters regenerate 2 Mana plus their
  Wits Bonus. If this total would be 0 then the amount of
  time required to gather a single MP increases by 1 scene.
  Characters with a Wits score of -2 must wait 2 scenes
  before regenerating 1 MP while those with Wits -3 must
  wait 3 scenes.
  Range
  Wits
  Range
  -4
  1
  -3
  2
  -2
  3
  -1
  4
  0
  5
  1
  10
  2
  15
  3
  20
  4
  25
  Spells have a range of 5 squares
  plus 5 times the caster’s Wits
  bonus.
  A negative Wits Bonus
  decreases the range by one square
  per penalty.
  Magic extends all around the
  character but mages can rarely
  aﬀect targets anywhere near the
  range of a good archer. Metam-
  agic can dramatically extend the
  range, but the basic spell range is
  always rather close.
  Spells which aﬀect a large
  area are only restricted by where
  they start. A Wide Fireball covering 3 squares might
  be cast 5 squares away, but it could extend past that,
  reaching a total of 7 squares.
  This range limitation applies to all magic, including
  Song magic. While a tune may carry over the hilltops,
  the force of the magic usually remains close to the caster.
  Duration
  Some spells are instant – a ball of ﬁre ﬂashes from the
  mage and incinerates someone, or a touch grants the
  favour of the gods, healing FP – but most are continuous.
  Continuous spells can be cancelled at will or maintained
  indeﬁnitely. However, while they are being maintained,
  the MP required to cast them remains spent, lowering
  the mage’s maximum MP.
  For example, Tauron the elven sorcerer casts a spell
  on himself to appear as a gnome – all the better to blend
  into surrounding society.
  He spends 1 MP. Later, he
  enchants an animal to be his companion for 2 MP. Nor-
  mally, his maximum MP is 6, but he is currently reduced
  to a maximum of 3 MP so long as he continues to be a
  bear-riding gnome.
  These still-active spells are known as Standing Spells.
  Some mages operate by continuously casting diﬀerent
  spells and then going ‘empty’ when the mana is gone.
  Others typically operate with Standing Spell alone, cast-
  ing everything they might need before the day begins and
  leaving their useful spells ‘running’ but leaving them-
  selves unable to cast more.
  Spell Types
  Your standard spell takes a while to cast – normally 1
  Round per level, so a Level 3 spell would normally take
  3 Rounds to complete. Casters can go slower or faster
  and gain bonuses or penalties to their roll.
  Ritual Spells
  Mages who take their time over spells can attempt a
  Ritual Spell – they cast it as a Resting Action.3. The
  mage can gain mana slowly, spending some, drawing
  more from a mana stone or item, then spending more
  before ﬁnally casting the spell. The mage can gather a
  number of MP equal to double their normal maximum
  MP, ignoring Standing Spells. Ritual spells can also be
  cast as a team eﬀort – any number of spell casters who
  are on the same Path of magic can cast any spell they
  all know together. They can each invest MP to create
  Standing Spell, and thereafter any one of them can can-
  cel the spell.
  Subtle Spells
  Casting an illusion or enchantment on someone with a
  ﬂashing, loud and generally obvious spell can be quite a
  give away. Any caster can attempt to cast a spell while
  simply whispering and moving their hands slowly and
  subtly. The TN is raised by +2 as this is a very diﬃcult
  way to cast anything.
  People around the mage can still sometimes spot a
  spell being cast. They use their Wits + Academics in a
  resisted roll against the mage’s Dexterity + Deceit.
  Quick Spells
  Quick spells can be completed fast enough to cast in
  combat, costing 3 Initiative points plus the level of the
  spell. Such spells always force a little ‘ﬂash and bang’
  out as the raw magic hits the air. Some mages create
  sparks as they cast spells, others summon dark mists – it
  all depends upon the Path of Magic the mage is walking.
  Quick Spells are challenging, and require the mage
  know a spell intimately. They cannot be cast with the
  mage’s highest spell level. A mage with Polymorph at
  level 3 cannot cast level 3 as a Quick Spell.
  2Hit Pointss cannot be spent instead.
  3See page 15
  
  58
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Spell Enhancements
  Spells can be changed at a cost. Each enhancement re-
  quires the spell to be cast at a higher level, sometimes
  many levels higher. These enhancements always take the
  form of adjectives; For example, the ﬁrst level Fireball
  spell, has the enhancement “(1) Raging”, meaning the
  mage can cast a Raging Fireball, which would count as
  a second level spell.
  Some spells have their own enhancements, and all of
  them have two in common.
  (1) Wide:
  The spell extends to cover a wide area –
  a total area equal to the spell’s level, plus the caster’s
  Wits Bonus. The squares are always continuous, so a
  spell targeting four squares could form a 2 × 2 area, or
  four continuous squares.
  If the spell targets people, one person per square is
  always a reasonable baseline.
  (2) Massive:
  The spell spreads across a massive space
  – indoors this could be multiple rooms, outdoors it could
  be a ﬁeld, or a massive segment of a forest. Massive spells
  target a number of areas equal to the spell’s level plus
  the caster’s Wits.
  Now that the basics are covered, let’s have a look at the
  Spheres. There are ten in total, each of which covers a
  very diﬀerent range of spells. Most Spheres allow the
  mage to cast a diﬀerent spell at each level, though some
  grant multiple spells at each level.
  SECTION 8.2
  Aldaron
  The elves are intimately familiar with this sphere, and
  usually refer to it as a simple skill, like painting or any
  other trade. They call it simply ‘the knowledge of trees’,
  though it deals with much more than wood – animals
  can be turned into friends and companions, the weather
  can be controlled and at the ultimate level the forest
  itself can be called to uproot and give aid to the mage.
  Aldaron Level 1
  Forest’s Friendship
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Beast Ken
  Novices of Aldaron can befriend any beast, make them
  confused, send them to sleep or send them into a blind
  panic. Passive mammals such as sheep are easy to target
  while aggressive or strange creatures can be very diﬃcult
  to get to grips with.
  The TN for this spell is 7 plus the target beast’s Wits
  + Aggression Skill (the Skill which replaces Combat for
  beasts). The caster rolls their Intelligence + Beast Ken.
  For example, a creature with Wits +1 and Aggression
  +2 would be at TN 10 to aﬀect.
  Mages can use this magic to make animals easier to
  train, although most animals are not particularly useful
  – they cannot tell the mage important information or
  understand simple commands.
  Forest’s Friendship works on all creatures without an
  Intelligence score. Umber hulks, bears, birds, et c. – all
  can be aﬀected with the language of the forest. How-
  ever, mammals are the easiest to work with. The GM
  should add to the TN to aﬀect birds, insects and other
  non-mammalian creatures.
  Forest’s Friendship replicates the ﬁrst three levels
  of the Enchantment Sphere but the targets are beasts
  rather than people, and the TN and Skill is determined
  by this level, not the enchantment spell.
  Light
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  The mage casts a dim light, about the strength of a
  torch, which ﬂoats around a single point (but never very
  steadily). This light can blind an opponents in the dark-
  ness by casting it directly in their face. Anyone having
  the werelight ﬂare up in their face becomes blinded for
  a number of rounds equal to the spell’s level minus the
  target’s Wits Bonus. The average human, having a Wits
  Bonus of -1, would be blinded for 1 round. The blind-
  ness can be automatically avoided by anyone who was
  
  8.2. ALDARON
  59
  Keeping Edgy (see page 34), as quickly shielding one’s
  eyes averts any damage.
  Undead are terriﬁed of this light. Those aﬀected by
  the spell make a Wits + Aggression roll, TN 7 plus the
  caster’s Intelligence + Survival.
  Plantform
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  Young plants have a natural destinty. With this spell, a
  plant’s destined form can be changed. The caster needs
  to hold the spell until the plant has fully formed, which
  can stunt the caster’s mana for a year or more.
  The
  aﬀected plant cannot be larger than a man, unless en-
  hancements increase the area of eﬀect.
  The caster has various options for how the spell grows
  the plants:
  Edible
  plants produce a number of meals equal to the
  spell’s level plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus. Wide
  spells produce the same amount of food times the spell’s
  level, plus the caster’s Wits Bonus.
  Poisonous
  plants taste the same as the edible plants,
  but inﬂict a number of Fatigue Points when ingested
  equal to the spell’s level plus the caster’s Wits times 2.4
  Wildform
  plants are just plants with any shape the
  caster desires. They might grow into the form of a chair,
  or even a house if the spell is large enough. Anything is
  plausible if a plant could be carved into the right space.
  Freezing Touch
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  The mage can freeze solid any body of water, or even
  damage people by cooling their body.
  If cast on a person, they take 1 Fatigue Points plus
  the caster’s Intelligence Bonus.5 Exactly how eﬀective
  this is depends a lot on how tired the target already is.
  Bodies of water freeze over the moment the spell is
  ﬁnished.
  Such ice has an eﬀective Strength Bonus of
  1 plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus, and covers up
  to 1 squares plus the caster’s Wits Bonus. The spell’s
  Strength Bonus can test if the ice can trap people who
  are in the water, or if it can support people’s weight
  (it holds a maximum Weight Rating of its own Strength
  +4).
  Creatures only frozen up to their waist or ankles can
  gain a bonus to break out of the ice, and a further bonus
  if the spell is cast slowly. If the caster can extend the
  range, then the spell can travel any distance, although
  longer distances can make the spell rather a long-shot,
  with each area traversed raising the TN by 3.
  Wind Blast
  Type: Instant, Skill: Survival
  Wind can also be made to blow forward in a blast in
  front of the mage.
  The blast spans out, aﬀecting 1
  squares plus the mage’s Wits Bonus. Each person af-
  fected instantly loses 2 Initiative points plus the caster’s
  Intelligence Bonus, minus the targets’ Strength Bonus
  (minimum 1). The wind can emanate from any location
  in range and stop at any location in range but any wind
  coming from behind people will not be eﬀective in slow-
  ing them down. Those aﬀected by such a wind cannot
  move until their Initiative comes up again, i.e. movement
  is no longer a Quick Action. Finally, the wind moves the
  target back 2 squares plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus
  minus their Strength Bonus, since larger, heavier crea-
  tures are more diﬃcult to move, while smaller creatures
  (with a negative Strength) move farther.
  For example, Darren the druid blasts out a scathing
  wind against a row of goblins – his Wits of +2 means he
  aﬀects 3 squares; since his Intelligence is +1, each target
  would lose each 2 points of Initiative, however the gob-
  lins’ Strength Bonus is -1, so they ﬁnally lose 3 points
  and cannot move until their next Initiative action. Each
  moves back (in the direction of the wind) 3 squares mi-
  nus their Strength Bonus – again, since this is -1 they
  move back 3 squares.
  Aldaron Level 2
  The mage begins to commune with the weather sys-
  tems and inﬂuence how they go. They can even summon
  localised weather systems from the palm of a hand; mist,
  sunlight, wind and more are all possible.
  Air Bubble
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  Weather-workers can summon an air bubble anywhere
  within range, with a diameter equal to 2 squares plus
  the caster’s Wits Bonus. The air bubble can be used
  to walk underwater without getting wet (though drips
  through the bubble are common). It will remain despite
  any damage to its outer ‘wall’ – penetrating objects sim-
  ply slip in and out seamlessly. All air bubbles must be
  summoned while on the land, taking it down below – any
  bubbles which begin underwater will simply summon a
  bubble of stagnant water and will collapse under their
  own weight once brought onto the land. Air bubbles can
  also help stop invading winds, mists and such, but with
  such a limited range their usefulness is also limited.
  Any projectiles targeted at the airbubble lose a lot of
  their power – arrows, and ﬁreballs both become a little
  impotent when faced with it. It provides a total DR of
  2 + Intelligence against all ranged attacks.
  4(L + Wts) × 2
  5The elvish natural immunity to cold does nothing to prevent this damage.
  
  60
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Aldaron Level 3
  Forest’s Call
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Beast Ken
  The caster makes a call to the forest to come and at-
  tack the nearby target. If the target is a player, the GM
  rolls 3 times plus the caster’s Intelligence on the local
  encounter table, and the PC faces all encounters within
  the next day, and typically within the next scene. The
  GM is encouraged to combine all encounters into one.
  If the target is an NPC, they lose 3 FP + the caster’s
  Intelligence. If this leaves the target on 0 FP, the target
  meets with an unfortunate accident next time they enter
  a natural environment, and dies.
  The curse only lasts while it’s maintained, and only
  takes eﬀect in a natural environment where creatures
  roam – not in towns or otherworldly environments.
  Telos
  Type: Instant, Skill: Survival
  The spell reaches out to any plant, dead or alive, and
  fast-travels it to its natural conclusion. Seeds grow into
  plants and blossom, plants grow tall, and older plants
  whither and die.
  Margin
  Aging
  0
  1 Year
  1
  5 Years
  2
  1 Decade
  3
  5 Decades
  4
  1 Century
  5
  2 Centuries
  The
  result
  depends
  upon the margin.
  Poorly made weapons
  with wooden parts col-
  lapse once aged a decade.
  Most will collapse after 5.
  Bushes
  targeted
  by
  the spell can grow tall in-
  stantly, while trees can
  take decades, or even a
  century to grow to full
  height.
  The spell must target a complete ‘thing’, and never
  a piece of a thing.
  A basic spell can target a sword,
  therefore destroying its handle with age, but could not
  target a door in a house – the entire house would have to
  be targeted, or the spell would not work. Spells massive
  enough to target a building might aﬀect the exterior,
  but would to nothing to the interior unless it could tar-
  get every room within as each room counts as its own
  area.
  SECTION 8.3
  Conjuration
  Conjuration deals with changing matter.
  It starts by
  shifting water into mud, or stone into ice.
  Later the
  caster can change types of matter – liquids into solid,
  solid metal into air, anything simple. Higher levels are
  less limited, and complex items like a bow and arrow, or
  cart, can be made in an instant, as matter’s shape can be
  changed. Casters soon also learn how to change matter’s
  location, teleporting items from one place to another.
  Conjuration uses various skills to cast, but most com-
  monly Crafts for summoning or changing items, or Sur-
  vival for water or other simple substances.
  Conjuration divides the world into three essential
  forms – solid, liquid and gas. Gases are easiest to work
  with, liquids come shortly after, and solid objects are
  usually the most diﬃcult to work with.
  Conjuration spells targeting larger items are always
  more diﬃcult. The TN for anything besides a gas, such
  as air, is always increased by the Weight Rating. In the
  case of living targets, the Weight Rating is always equal
  to their HP, so targeting someone with 6 HP would in-
  crease the TN by 6.
  Any character can decide that a conjuration spell tar-
  geting them fails by spending 5 FP, if that spell would
  be fatal.
  Conjuration Level 1
  The mage can turn any single, cohesive, target into
  another of the same type. Mist can turn to air, or air
  can turn into mist. Ice can turn into rock, and water
  can turn into sludge.
  Food substances, gold coins with complex engrav-
  ings, bows, and other crafted items are too complicated
  for this spell – it only transforms matter into something
  simple of the same type.
  Choking Fog
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  The caster changes the nearby air into a caustic mess.
  When cast outdoors the mist disipates at the end of the
  Round. When cast in a windy area, the fog disappears
  instantly.
  Anyone Keeping Edgy can hold their breath. Others
  gain 1 + the cater’s Intelligence in Fatigue points each
  Round.
  The spell aﬀects a number of areas equal to 1 + the
  caster’s Wits.
  
  8.3. CONJURATION
  61
  Purify Air
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  Smoke, fog, or any other substance can be puriﬁed. The
  spell aﬀects a number of areas equal to 1 + the caster’s
  Wits.
  Stonespell
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Crafts
  The caster changes any solid target to stone, ice, or any
  other simple, solid, substance. The TN is 7 plus the tar-
  get’s Weight Rating.6 Once the spell is over, the target
  turns back to normal.
  Anyone may spend 5 FP in order to stipulate that
  the spell fails.
  Fast moving items, such as a spear used in combat,
  are additionally diﬃcult to target. When in use, what-
  ever skills the wielder is using add to the Target Number.
  Metal cannot be targeted by this spell.
  Slime
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  The caster turns any nearby liquid into a slippery slime.
  Anyone running across the area makes a Dexterity +
  Athletics roll, TN 7 + the caster’s Intelligence. Some
  kind of liquid must be in the right place for the spell to
  work.
  Casters acting quickly often carry their own water.
  Throwing water requires 8 initiative for using an item,
  as usual.
  Web
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  The caster turns any liquid into a vicious, sticky sub-
  stance. Anyone coming into the liquid gets stuck, and
  needs to take a full movement action to try to get free.
  Casters roll their Intelligence + Survival at a TN of 7
  + the target’s Strength + Athletics. Alternatively, play-
  ers can avoid being stuck in the web by rolling Strength
  + Athletics, at TN 7 + the caster’s Intelligence + Sur-
  vival.
  Anyone can attempt to break free instead of their
  usual movement action.
  Webbing cannot be used instead of rope – it’s too
  elastic, and tends to snap when stretched.
  (1) Artefact:
  The caster can now transform targets
  into detailed forms. Air can become a complex, and rich
  scent. Solid wood can turn into a sword, or rope. Water
  can become beer, wine or even acid.
  (1) Metallic:
  The caster can now target and create
  basic metals such as copper, bronze, or iron. Gold and
  silver cannot be targeted or created, nor can alloys, or
  weapons adorned with precious metals.
  (1) Transient:
  The conjuration spells can now move
  from any type of matter to any other. Webbing, slime,
  or acid can be created from any substance except metals.
  Casters turning air into rocks can rain a heavy load
  down on an enemy, inﬂicting 1D6 Damage, plus their
  Intelligence, plus the spell level.
  Living creatures turned using Stone Spell into a solid
  substance, and then turned into air or water using Form
  Breach, are dead.
  Conjuration Level 2
  Level 2 conjuration can use all the enhancements of
  the previous level.
  Acid
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  The caster can turn any liquid into a potent acid. Acidic
  substances deal 1D6 Damage plus the spell’s level, plus
  the caster’s Intelligence Bonus.
  Prison
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Crafts
  This spell is simply an example of stacking spell enhance-
  ments together. The caster freezes water around a tar-
  get, or turns surrounding air to stone, imprisoning them.
  While the spell is being cast, the target can attempt to
  break free as a Quick Action, costing 2 Initiative, by
  rolling Strength + Athletics. The TN is 7 plus caster’s
  Intelligence Bonus plus Crafts.
  If the spell completes, the TN to break free increases
  by 2.
  Conjuration Level 3
  Teleport
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  The mage teleports the target a short distance – up to
  3 squares plus the caster’s Wits. As with many other
  instant skill spells, the target can cancel the spell by
  spending 5 FP.
  If cast as a Massive spell, the portal gains can travel
  across multiple areas, but always remains as around the
  size of a doorway.
  6A living target’s Weight Rating is equal to their HP.
  
  62
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  (1) Gated:
  The mage can not simply teleport some-
  thing but open a doorway from one place to another,
  within the normal range. The magical portal can change
  direction, pour water from the sea to a rock, or form
  falling loops as one portal falls into another. If placed
  on a surface, it opens seamlessly, as if it were a normal
  opening. People can wander into another land entirely
  and never know it.
  The portals are always seamless – the edges contain
  no ﬂickering or wobbles. Portals must always rest upon
  unchanging surfaces; any movement destroys the circle
  instantly.
  TN
  Range
  16
  Somewhere the caster has heard of.
  12
  Somewhere the caster once was.
  10
  Somewhere the caster has visited a few
  times.
  8
  Somewhere the caster has lived.
  6
  The caster’s home.
  (1) Unrestrained:
  The mage can ignore all spacial
  barriers to the teleportation spell, allowing it to go any-
  where the caster is familiar with, up to a number of areas
  away equal to 3 plus the caster’s Wits Bonus.
  Particularly crazy casters have used such spells to
  open portals to strange etherial lands, ﬁlling the area
  with all manner of dangerous and bizarre creatures.
  SECTION 8.4
  Enchantment
  Enchanters open, tinker with and enslave people’s minds.
  At low levels they learn to charm people, or even let
  others charm people.
  Better enchanters can also con-
  fuse people to the point of being useless in battle, or
  to make targets sleep. Finally, the enchanter learns to
  bend people’s will to the point where they are completely
  subservient to them.
  This sphere of magic only works on people with an In-
  telligence Attribute and works best on humanoids. Cast-
  ers attempting to aﬀect the strange minds of outsider
  entities from other planes, the undead or other weird
  lifeforms should be given an appropriate penalty. Un-
  dead are particularly diﬃcult to contact through this
  spell, especially those who were never human; the TN
  for such a feat should raise by at least +6.
  Enchantment Level 1
  Calm
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  Enchanters can calm down scared people including those
  who have failed a Morale Check. While under the care
  of an enchanter, all Morale Checks gain a bonus equal
  to 1 plus the Enchanter’s Intelligence Bonus.
  Imbue Soul
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The caster pours a little life-essence into an object, ani-
  mal, or anything else. When used on animals, the crea-
  ture slowly becomes smarter, though this can take some
  days to have any real eﬀect.
  The spell attracts undead to the target, who feed on
  the destruction of life. Any undead in the area will fol-
  low the target, just as if it were a person. With mindless
  undead, this works without failure, though intelligent
  undead can plainly understand that the item is not a
  person if they can see it properly.
  Mind’s Healing
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The enchanter can cut any ill eﬀects caused by level 1, 2
  or 3 Enchantment spells. If used as a standing spell, the
  target becomes immune to such spells unless they want
  to be aﬀected by them.
  Fear
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  NPCs hit by this spell suﬀer a -2 Morale penalty. PCs
  hit by this spell are not allowed to know their current
  FP total – the GM tracks it instead.
  Reading the Ripples
  Type: Instant, Skill: Vigilance
  The enchanter can read any target’s Mind Attributes,
  see which Code or God they follow (if any) and sees all
  of their Knacks.7 This will not grant any information
  about what the target is thinking, merely how capable
  that mind is and its priorities.
  Unwilling targets resist this spell with their Wits +
  Deceit.
  7See page 41.
  
  8.4. ENCHANTMENT
  63
  Sending
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Performance
  The enchanter telepathically sends a short message to
  the target within normal range. If cast as a standing
  spell, the caster can telepathically send messages for as
  long as they are within range of the target.
  If the enchanter does not have any languages in com-
  mon with the target then the TN is 9 rather than 7. The
  target cannot send messages back.
  Enchantment Level 2
  Confusion
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  The enchanter gives someone a particularly oﬀ-
  putting look and they immediately stops what they were
  doing and loses their train of thought. They have trou-
  ble articulating exactly what’s wrong, but will remain
  confused for as long as the spell continues. The spell is
  sometimes initiated by eye contact, sometimes by song
  – any number of social interactions can suﬃce for trans-
  ferring the spell’s eﬀects.
  A resisted roll is made – the enchanter uses their In-
  telligence + Deceit Skill while the target uses Wits +
  Academics. If the target loses the roll they immediately
  loses all remaining actions for the turn but can still de-
  fend themself; the target’s Initiative score instantly re-
  duces to 0.
  Each subsequent turn the target makes a resisted roll
  of Wits + Academics against the mage’s Intelligence +
  Deceit. Failure indicates that they suﬀer an Initiative
  penalty equal to 2 plus the mage’s Intelligence Bonus.
  While the spell is in eﬀect, the target suﬀers a penalty
  to all Mental Attributes equal to 2 plus the enchanter’s
  Intelligence Bonus; so a mage with Intelligence +3 would
  inﬂict a -5 penalty. If the target attempted to cast spells,
  any rolls would suﬀer a -5 penalty and any spell-eﬀects
  which relied on the Intelligence Attribute would suﬀer
  as well.
  At the end of the scene, targets make one ﬁnal re-
  sisted roll against the enchanter’s Intelligence + Deceit
  (even if the enchanter is no longer present). Failure indi-
  cates that the target has forgotten the encounter entirely,
  including some moments before when the spell began.
  If an NPC enchanter intends to cast this on a PC dur-
  ing a scene, the GM is encouraged to simply make the
  resisted roll for the spell. If the player fails the roll then
  the GM can infer what probably would have happened
  had the scene played out and skip to the next scene,
  telling the player that something important might have
  happened, but that they cannot remember any of it.
  When this spell hits someone out of combat, perhaps
  during a conversation, targets tend to ﬂap their mouths
  open and shut like a confused ﬁsh as they try to recap-
  ture their train of thought. The use of magic will is not
  obvious to those unfamiliar with such abilities.
  Mind of Stone
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  Enchanters of this level can also cast a greater version
  of Mind’s Healing. The spell can cut the ill eﬀects of
  any Enchantment spell and if cast as a standing spell
  the target becomes completely immune to unwanted En-
  chantment spells.
  Enchantment Level 3
  The enchanter locks eyes or otherwise engages with
  the target and lulls them gently to sleep, forces them to
  repeat particular actions, or ﬁlls them with a dreadful
  fear. The target can reroll a failed resistance roll at the
  end of each scene.
  
  64
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Focus
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The target holds the last action performed and repeats
  it, again and again.
  If they were attacking, they will
  continue attacking until there are no targets left, and
  then go and look for more. If the target was attempting
  to mount a horse but the horse ﬂees, they will chase it
  until they can no longer move.
  The enchanter engages in a resisted roll of their In-
  telligence + Empathy versus the target’s Wits + Aca-
  demics. Targets can stop once their original action has
  become obviously impossible or is unmistakably com-
  plete.
  Panic
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  The enchanter and the target make a resisted roll; the
  caster adds their Intelligence Bonus and Deceit Skill
  while the target adds their Wits Bonus and Combat
  Skill. If the target fails, they automatically run away
  in fear, as the enchanter dictates.
  If the target would normally take a Morale Check,
  the caster’s Intelligence + Deceit are added to the TN
  for as long as the spell is in eﬀect. Targets completely
  unable to ﬂee can continue to ﬁght.
  Sleep
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  Enchanters who want their target to fall asleep can make
  a resisted Intelligence + Empathy roll against the tar-
  get’s Wits + Academics. The target can spend 5 FP to
  ignore the results of the spell. A successful spell means
  that the target has fallen asleep.
  Expectations
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Varies
  The caster can make someone believe something they
  were already expecting to see. If they thought they had
  beer in their cup, they will continue to drink it, even
  when it’s been replaced by something else. If they ex-
  pected to see a dragon in a cavern, they will walk round
  a corner and believe they are face to face with a dragon.
  The caster might look deeply into the target’s eyes
  and force them to hear music which is not in fact there
  but persists despite all attempt to stop it. They might
  sing to all present about a dragon, and one particular
  listener will actually see, feel and smell that dragon.
  In all cases a successful illusion will be complete, and
  the target will make every provision to interact realis-
  tically with the imaginary thing, be it a creature, an
  object or weather condition. It could even be something
  stranger, such as a box containing a spider’s voice, or a
  statue of a sunrise which glows in unknown colours.
  The caster and target make a resisted roll: the caster
  uses their Intelligence + some Skill relevant to the illu-
  sion being created. A caster making a dragon might use
  Ether Lore, while making an illusory cow would require
  Beast Ken. The target resists with their Wits and the
  same Skill as the caster.
  The GM should make this roll for players, in secret.
  The target gains a bonus to resist (or the caster takes a
  penalty) if the illusion is particularly unbelievable (such
  as a bizarre object or an unexplained dragon). Targets
  also gain a penalty to resist if they suspect that magic is
  being used to trick them, which often becomes obvious
  if lots of people around are insisting that rats are not in
  fact biting oﬀ their toes.
  Such mental illusions can inﬂict up to 4 Fatigue
  Points plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus and multi-
  ple castings allow the Fatigue Points to stack up. These
  Fatigue Points are healed as normal. The player may be
  told that this is Damage, but the GM should keep track
  of it separately to ensure that all the Damage is properly
  converted once the spell fails. Such Fatigue Points can
  kill a character in the usual manner, i.e. by giving the
  target a Fatigue Penalty beyond -5.
  Enchantment Level 4
  Domination
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  The target is given a simple command by the enchanter,
  consisting of no more words than 4 plus the enchanter’s
  Intelligence + Deceit. If the target fails the resisted task
  of their Wits + Academics against the enchanter’s Intel-
  ligence + Deceit then they must immediately obey any
  commands the enchanter gives them.
  If the enchanter maintains the spell then the target
  can reroll at the beginning of each scene to break the
  spell again, otherwise it ends when the enchanter drops
  the spell.
  
  8.4. ENCHANTMENT
  65
  Task Bonus
  TN
  Humiliation
  +2
  Any action which would humiliate the target grants a +2
  bonus to resist.
  Betrayal
  +4
  Targets who would otherwise be weak-willed and at the
  mercy of the enchanter gain a +4 bonus to resist attacking
  their allies. This bonus can increase up to +6 to resist
  attacking loved ones such as family and close friends.
  Code Violation
  Variable
  Targets forced to act against their own code or god gain
  an additional bonus to act equal to the amount of XP
  they would receive for completing the action. For exam-
  ple, those following the code of passion would gain 1XP
  for trying a new type of food or drink, so they gain a +1
  bonus to resist commands which inhibit their ability to
  act in this way. Those following Ohta, Goddess of War,
  gain 10XP for bringing down a suﬃciently large monster,
  so they would gain a +10 bonus to resist any enchantment
  which prohibits them from slaying such quarry. This can
  also be used against the target, with the enchanter gain-
  ing a bonus to aﬀect someone with an order if it adheres
  to the target’s code.
  Giving a command can take some time, so in combat,
  Enchanters have to spend the usual 2 Initiative to speak
  in order to actually make a target do something, once
  the spell has been cast.
  Some commands are easier to resist than others. Par-
  ticularly repugnant commands allow the target to reroll
  to break the spell with a bonus.
  Enchantment Level 5
  Mental Bondage
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  The enchanter locks down the target’s every thought and
  turns everything they know to a desire to serve only the
  enchanter. They will follow any command to the best of
  their abilities, and if asked why will proclaim an uncon-
  ditional love for or obedience to the caster.
  The target makes a resisted task of their Wits +
  Academics against the enchanter’s Intelligence + Deceit.
  Success (from the target’s point of view) means that the
  target breaks the spell but failure (a successful roll on
  the part of the enchanter) means that the spell is ﬁxed
  – for as long as the caster wishes the target will serve
  them loyally. Immediate threats to the target’s life, such
  as being told to jump oﬀ a cliﬀ or being told to drink
  something by an enchanter who was previously trying
  to kill the target call for a reroll, but there is no auto-
  matic reroll at the beginning of each scene. This spell is
  subject to the same modiﬁers as the previous level.
  Enchanters might use this to turn attacking ogres
  into a loyal group of warriors to use against other en-
  emies, or simply to turn a favoured artist into a per-
  sistent plaything of the local court. This spell may be
  expensive in terms of MP but over time the target may
  come to loyally serve the enchanter naturally, assimilat-
  ing the spell into normal, everyday habits. Every month
  of service prompts a new roll – success means that noth-
  ing happens while if the target fails they must serve the
  enchanter even after the spell has been cancelled, with
  full normal eﬀects. Enchanters do not know when their
  spells have turned into long-term spells, but they can of-
  ten guess by looking at just when the target has stopped
  trying to ﬁght the spell.
  If the enchanter ever dies, the target can reroll each
  scene to break the spell.
  Tabula Rasa
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Deceit
  The target’s memories can be ﬁlched – either selectively
  or not. The caster speciﬁes (through song, words, or a
  simple glance) which memories are to be removed. If a
  target loses access to a Skill due to this spell, they can
  no longer use it until the spell ends.
  The caster uses their Intelligence + Deceit while the
  target resists with their Wits + Academics.
  Success
  means that the caster has free reign, not to riﬂe through
  the target’s exact memories, but to specify that anything
  they wish is lost, up to and including all memories. The
  target always retains their ﬁrst language.
  
  66
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  SECTION 8.5
  Fate
  Fate deals with divine blessings and luck. At ﬁrst the caster learns to ask questions of the gods, or to perhaps
  reach into an inner intuition about the world. Next up the mage learns to heal people’s FP and increase targets’
  average luck. Finally, priests can help bring people back from the edges of death.
  Fate Level 1
  Curse
  Type: Continuous & Instant, Skill: Deceit
  Additionally, casters can curse a target. The target loses
  1D6 FP plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus. If the tar-
  get has no FP then this spell has no eﬀect. The mage is
  allowed to know how many FP the target has lost. The
  target cannot dodge in any way – the caster simply rolls
  their Intelligence + Deceit against TN 7.
  If cast as a standing spell, the target’s FP are reduced
  by 1 plus the mage’s Intelligence Bonus for as long as the
  spell endures.
  Eyes of Fate
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The priest prays for guidance, gains a keen insight into
  the fate of others.
  Once the spell is cast, the priest knows the current
  FP of everyone within the normal spell range.
  This spell grants total immunity to the Enchantment
  spell, Fear.
  Intuition
  Type: Instant, Skill: Varies
  When players search for an item, or ask around town for
  someone’s whereabouts, the GM often won’t tell them
  the TN. With this spell, the priest may demand to know
  the TN. The Skill used is the same as that being used in
  the task, so asking about a roll for Crafts means using
  the Crafts Skill for the spell.
  Lending Hand
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The priest blesses a target with +1 to any Skill, so long
  as the priest has a higher level than the target in that
  Skill.
  Fate Level 2
  Auguary
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  The character requests guidance about the future and re-
  ceives a cryptic message from their deity, from dreams,
  or simply the shape of nearby clouds.
  The GM should roll for the player so the player is
  unsure how accurate the information is.
  The GM might create some riddle, or describe a
  prophetic vision. Alternatively, if the Encounters or Side
  Quests systems are being used, the GM may choose to
  describe an upcoming encounter or read out upcoming
  boxtext.8 If it succeeds, boxtext or encounters can be
  taken from a diﬀerent area, or a later encounter. And if
  the roll succeeds with a Margin of 4 or more, the player
  can elect a speciﬁc area to receive the boxtext from. If
  the roll fails, the GM can create misleading information.
  If the party radically change their plans in order
  to avoid an encounter they think sounds bad, the Side
  Quests should be randomized, leaving some chance they
  will encounter the same place again.
  Characters who continue to cast Auguary receive the
  same answer each time until they have run into the en-
  counter, or somehow bypassed it.
  Nobody with this power ever says “you cannot
  change your fate”. Changing your fate is the entire point
  of this spell.
  Besides, if the spell ever appears to go
  wrong, the local priests will explain that it actually pre-
  dicted events correctly. It was simply your knowledge of
  the spell that – somehow or other – altered what would
  otherwise have been a ﬁne prediction.
  Blessing
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  The priest blesses the target with the favour of the gods.
  The target ‘heals’ or regenerates 1D6 FP plus the priest’s
  Intelligence Bonus. This cannot take the target above
  their maximum FP score.
  (1) Generous:
  The priest heals the target for an addi-
  tional 2 FP. These FP stack just like Damage, so 1D6+4
  FP becomes 2D6 FP.
  8See pages 84 and 85 respectively.
  
  8.5. FATE
  67
  Fate Level 3
  Fortune
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The priest blesses a target, who then receives a +1 to
  any Skill. This does not stack with any other Fate spells.
  Prayer of Gratitude
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  The caster rolls during any scene in which someone
  spends at least 2 Story Points. With a successful roll,
  one Story Point is returned to the character.
  Fate Level 4
  God’s Chosen
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  The target increases their maximum FP by a number
  equal to the spell’s level, plus the caster’s Intelligence
  Bonus. The character instantly heals a number of FP
  equal to 2D6 plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus. When
  the spell ends, the maximum FP return to normal. The
  spell does not increase the rate at which FP are regen-
  erated.
  Fate Level 5
  Divine Favour
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  The priest spends 1 Story Point and gains an addtional
  5 Story Points plus their Intelligence Bonus, which must
  be spent immediately. This can be used on a summoning
  miraculous help, such as a crew of soldiers who have a
  debt to the priest, or a magical ally.9
  Resurrection
  Type: Instant, Skill: Medicine
  The priest summons the soul of a recently deceased per-
  son back to their body. If they are beyond -3 Hit Points,
  they must roll a Vitality Check again to stay alive, but
  this time with a +5 bonus. There is no roll for the caster
  – the spell is automatic and the spell is instant, so the
  eﬀects need not be maintained. If the spell is made into
  a standing spell then the eﬀects count as being continu-
  ously cast.
  The spell also heals the target of a number of HP
  equal to half the Margin. This cannot bring the target
  above 0 HP. For example, if a PC were at -7 HP they
  would normally make a Vitality Check at TN 11. Adding
  in the Bonus would make the adjusted TN 6. If the Vi-
  tality Check were a roll of 11 then the Margin would be
  5 and the character would heal 3 HP, going up to -4 HP.
  This healing should be understood as a retroactive bless-
  ing from the gods, indicating that the Damage sustained
  was not nearly so bad as was once thought.
  The spell must be cast within the same scene as the
  target lost their last HP.
  If cast on a member of the undead, the target loses
  2D6 HP plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus. No roll is
  made, and no protection can be given from FP or SP
  (Shield Points).
  Mana Lake
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Empathy
  The priest spends a Story Point to sanctify an area, cre-
  ating a mana lake. Forever afterwards, the area spills
  out mana to be absorbed by anyone nearby with empty
  mana slots. The caster rolls at TN 12. Each Margin on
  the roll means one Mana Point is generated each round,
  so achieving a ‘14’ on the roll would produce 2 MP each
  round.
  9As usual GM is free to veto any ideas, but the player is also allowed to continue pulling new ideas out.
  
  68
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  SECTION 8.6
  Force
  The mage can shape pure energy, pushing and pulling at
  the world with the power of their will alone. They can
  create magical shields, pick up weapons and grind tar-
  gets into the ground as if with an invisible, giant, ﬂoating
  hand.
  Each spell can be cast at any level the caster pos-
  sesses, so a mage with the 3rd level of the force sphere
  could cast ‘Mage Armour’ at level 1, 2 or 3 – each with
  increasingly more expensive cost and a better shielding.
  Force Level 1
  Levitation
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Combat/ Craft
  This is a more generic version of ‘Dancing Swords’
  (above) where the mage can lift but not necessarily
  weaponize anything close by. The caster rolls their In-
  telligence and Craft Skill against a TN of 7 plus the
  target’s Weight Rating.
  The spell grants an eﬀective
  Strength Bonus equal to the level in the Force sphere
  being used. Any object with a Weight Rating of up to 4
  points higher than this Strength score can be lifted into
  the air but the heavier something is the slower it will
  move.
  If creatures are targeted for levitation, they have a
  Weight Rating equal to their HP and the mage rolls In-
  telligence + Combat to lift them. They can add their
  Evasion Factor to the spell’s TN in order to attempt to
  wriggle free of the telekinetic hold. Trying to wriggle
  free takes 4 Initiative points. Targets can be moved at a
  Speed rating equal to the level in Force.
  Mages attempting to lift people into the air can move
  the target only at the rate of a standard action – i. . 3
  squares per turn plus their eﬀective Speed rating. The
  eﬀective Speed rating is equal to the spell’s level, but the
  spell can be encumbered just like lifting a normal person.
  So casting a spell at level 3 means an eﬀective Strength
  and Speed rating of 3; if the target had Strength +1
  they would have 7 HP and therefore a Weight Rating of
  7. That’s 4 points above the spell’s rating so the Speed
  suﬀers a -4 encumbrance penalty, making the total move-
  ment 1 square every two Rounds. The target could roll
  to be free every 4 Initiative steps, rolling against the
  spell’s eﬀective Strength Bonus.
  While a target is being levitated, they are especially
  vulnerable to attack, and all attacks against them count
  as Sneak Attacks, gaining +4 to Strike and +2 to Dam-
  age.
  Lock
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Craft
  The mage can erect a magical force ﬁeld, similar to mage
  armour, over a doorway to make it more diﬃcult to break
  through. The TN to break through the door increases by
  an amount equal to double the level of the Force sphere
  being employed plus the mage’s Intelligence Bonus. For
  example, if a door were at TN 8 to burst through, a
  mage with Intelligence +2 could cast the second level of
  the Force sphere, raising the TN to 14.
  Mages can also create barriers of pure force to block
  passageways without a door, just as with mage armour.
  The blockade has a number of SP equal to triple the
  level of Force sphere being employed plus the mage’s
  Intelligence Bonus and must be battered through with
  repeated blows to get through the portal.
  Mage Sight
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Vigilance
  The mage can ‘feel’ by delicately touching things with
  mental movement rather than actually seeing them.
  They can see in complete darkness whether underwater
  or on land.
  The mage rolls Intelligence and Vigilance at TN 6
  plus the spell’s level. The spell covers a progressively
  larger area depending upon the level used.
  Mages able to perceive events multiple areas away
  make for legendary spies, although the power is limited
  by the fact that while the make can feel events at a dis-
  tance, they cannot hear voices or read anything.
  Any two mages ‘looking’ at the same area can feel
  each other’s presence and instantly understand that
  someone else is using Mage Sight. They can even identify
  the other mage with a Wits + Empathy roll.
  Slow Fall
  Type: Continuous & Instant, Skill: Athletics
  When people (or even items) are falling to their doom,
  force mages can slow the decent, limiting the Damage
  from such a fall. The total spell grants a resistance to
  any Damage incurred through falling equal to 4 points
  per level of the Force sphere used plus the mage’s In-
  telligence score. Therefore, a mage with Intelligence +2
  using the third level of the Force sphere would subtract
  14 from any Damage incurred through falling.
  If cast as a Quick Spell, it can be cast as a Quick
  Action, outside the usual Initiative order.
  
  8.6. FORCE
  69
  Telekinetic Fist
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Combat
  The mage uses powerful telekinetic blasts to hold and
  crumple targets in close combat. Unarmed attacks using
  Telekinetic ﬁst count as normal Damage instead of in-
  ﬂicting Fatigue Points. For the purposes of these attacks,
  the caster counts as having a Strength Bonus equal to
  the level of the Force sphere being used. For example,
  someone employing the third level of the Force sphere
  would count as having +3 Strength, and would inﬂict
  1D6 + 3 Damage with unarmed attacks.
  Telekinetic Retreat
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Athletics
  Mages can add their mental ability to move things to aid
  their movement. Any attempts to move, whether ﬂeeing
  or just ﬂitting around a room, gain a bonus equal to the
  level of the Force sphere being employed plus their Intel-
  ligence Bonus. The mage can cast the spell on others and
  it will automatically push them onwards in whichever di-
  rection they are running.
  Force Level 2
  Dancing Swords
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Combat
  The force mage can make a weapon levitate with the
  power of their mind. It can ﬂoat nearby to defend them
  and even ﬂoat oﬀ to stab at enemies who will be hard
  pushed to counterattack the wielder when they’re stand-
  ing some distance away.
  The caster rolls Intelligence + Combat to levitate the
  weapon. They gain an eﬀective Strength Bonus for the
  purposes of wielding the weapon equal to the level of the
  Force sphere being used minus one. This must be suﬃ-
  cient to lift the weapon without encumbrance, so a mage
  casting the ﬁrst level of the Force sphere would have an
  eﬀective Strength Bonus of 0 and could wield a dagger.
  To wield an axe a mage would have to use the fourth
  level of the Force sphere, gaining an eﬀective Strength
  Bonus of +3.
  While the weapon is next to the caster it can defend
  them just as any weapon. An axe would add +1 to the
  caster’s Evasion Bonus while a long sword would add +3
  to the caster’s Evasion total. The weapon can add this
  defence to anyone nearby but only one person at a time.
  To attack with the weapon, the mage spends the nor-
  mal amount of Initiative for that weapon; e.g. 4 for a
  dagger and 6 for a shortsword. They roll with Intelli-
  gence + Combat and deals the normal amount of Dam-
  age given the eﬀective Strength Bonus, so a fourth level
  Force sphere spell could wield a dagger to deal 2D6 Dam-
  age, or could wield an axe to deal 2D6 + 2 Damage.
  If the mage levitates multiple weapons (through mul-
  tiple castings or casting a Wide spell), each additional
  weapon adds +1 to their Strike score, adds +1 Dam-
  age and +1 to the Evasion Bonus.10
  In this way the
  mage can add up to a maximum of +3 to each stat,
  meaning only the ﬁrst four weapons can have an eﬀect.
  Additional weapons can add Evasion Bonuses behind or
  to the side of the mage to ensure they do not lose any
  Evasion Bonus when attacked from behind but a ﬁfth
  weapon cannot add additional Damage.
  If someone wants to grab one of the ﬂoating weapons
  they must roll with their Strike Factor just as when mak-
  ing a grab against any character. The mage defends with
  their normal Evasion Factor and a successful grab means
  that the weapon has been arrested. The weapon gains
  a Weight Rating equal to the Weight of the character
  grabbing the weapon (which is equal to their maximum
  HP). At this point the weapon is too heavy to lift and
  the spell ends.
  The levitated weapons do not add a Speed Bonus to
  the caster’s Initiative – they must use their Wits Bonus
  as usual.
  The caster may not employ any special combat ma-
  noeuvres such as pushing people back or ﬁghting in the
  Aggressive Stance. No Knacks concerned with Combat
  apply to the mage wielding such weapons.
  Mages who must slowly cast a spell can still weild
  weapons instantly.
  Runecasters might require a full
  scene to make a dagger ﬂoat, but the ﬂoating dagger
  can thereafter be used to attack or even defend at the
  normal Initiative rate.
  Mage Armour
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  The mage casts a shield of crackling energy around the
  target to protect from all harm, and most often mages
  target themselves. The barrier can shatter if attacked
  but can take a serious beating before breaking.
  Each
  barrier counts as a having a number of SP, which are
  destroyed by Damage like FP, but always before FP are
  targeted. The target gains a number of SP equal to the
  level of spell used times 3 plus their Intelligence Bonus.
  Those protected by the shield cannot attack others
  as the shield stops all attacks. However, casters are able
  to focus enough to use missile weapons and spells by
  allowing small breaches in the shield’s wall. 11
  The shields cannot ‘split’ into bubbles. When cast
  wide, it can cover a group of people, but the shield will
  cover all of them or none.
  For example, Annabel the alchemist has the Force
  sphere at level 3 and Intelligence +2. She’s low on MP
  so she casts it at level 2, gaining 8 SP. On the very next
  Initiative Count she’s hit for 10 Damage and loses all 8
  SP then 2 FP.
  10Casting over a massive number of weapons works ﬁne, but the mage cannot direct all weapons properly at the same time, so the
  maximum number of weapons in use is always equal to the spell’s level plus the caster’s Wits Bonus.
  11Allowing a target to use a missile weapon requies complete focus, and a Wits + Empathy roll, and can be performed as a Quick
  action, costing 2 Initiative Points.
  
  70
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  The spell must be maintained as a standing spell to
  function. Multiple castings do not stack – only the high-
  est casting it used. The shield can be placed on others
  if need be, not only the mage.
  Armour does not block Damage going onto SP –
  the character simply subtracts SP without any DR. The
  Mage Armour is not aﬀected by a Vitals Shot – it pro-
  tects all around, counting as Perfect armour, although
  not quite continuously enough to keep out water or
  gasses. Multiples of such spells do not stack – only the
  highest is used.
  Force Level 3
  Telekinetic Grasp
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Combat
  Force mages can wrestle with people from afar using
  telekinesis.
  One major advantage with this sort of
  wrestling is that the mage does not risk being hit back as
  they can cast the spell from afar. As per the Grappling
  rules, the mage ﬁrst makes a roll to capture the target;
  they roll Intelligence and Combat while the target resists
  with their current Evasion Factor. Targets can literally
  feel the force of the mage’s mind around them, often
  described as a hundred tiny, invisible hands or the feel-
  ing of an invisible wave. This force can be parried and
  pushed back like any normal weapon, so targets can use
  their full Evasion Factor, including bonuses from using
  a weapon.
  If the spell is successful, it inﬂicts no Damage nor Fa-
  tigue Points, but the target counts as carrying an item
  with a Weight Rating equal to the level of the Force
  sphere being used.
  For example, a mage using Force level 2, with In-
  telligence +1 and a Combat Skill of +1, could cast
  Telekinetic Grasp on a gnome. The gnome adds their
  Evasion Factor to the basic TN of 7 and then the mage
  resists this with their Intelligence Bonus plus Combat
  Skill. If successful, the gnome would count as carrying
  an item with a Weight Rating of 2. Assuming this gnome
  has the usual Strength Bonus of -2, they would then re-
  ceive a -4 penalty to their eﬀective Speed Bonus. Their
  Initiative Score would suﬀer and they would accrue ad-
  ditional Fatigue Points each time they attempted to run
  or ﬁght due to the added Weight Rating.
  When cast over a full area, all are eﬀected, and move-
  ment becomes extremely diﬃcult.
  SECTION 8.7
  Illusion
  Illusions create a facsimile of sounds and sights out of
  pure magic. The thing created might look like a hat, a
  coin, a rat or even a dragon at higher levels. Illusions
  also create convincing sound – loud echoes, the sound
  of nearby battle, perhaps even imitating an enemy com-
  mander’s orders in battle. However, illusions are little
  more than coloured air and noise – once touched they
  fade away.
  They are frightening and if properly used
  can defeat armies, but are not perfect weapons by any
  means.
  Seeing through an illusion is always an opposed roll
  – the victim uses Wits + Vigilance, while the Illusionist
  uses Intelligence + some appropriate Skill. If a PC could
  be tricked by an illusion, the GM should always roll for
  the illusionist, without informing the players. If some-
  one has a reason to suspect that something is an illusion,
  they should receive a +2 bonus to resist it. The party
  also receive a bonus for multiple people who might spot
  the illusion, as per the standard Vigilance Skill rules.
  Illusionists add diﬀerent Skills to the roll, depending
  upon what they are making an illusion of. An illusion of
  a cart or sword might require the Craft Skill. An illusion
  of a monster might use the Academics Skill. Specialisa-
  tions in the correct area are, as usual, a requirement if
  the caster wants to avoid the usual -1 penalty for lacking
  the appropriate specialisation.
  For example, a gnome creates an illusion of a ﬂeeing
  gnoll with a great bundle of treasure in his hand, hoping
  the PCs will chase after him immediately. His Intelli-
  gence is +2 and his Academics is at +1 though he has
  no appropriate specialisations, so the players are rolling
  at TN 9.
  The GM takes the party member with the
  highest Wits + Vigilance who has a score of +3 in total.
  The next highest score in the party is +2 but nobody
  else has anything to contribute. The total is +412 so the
  GM rolls for them and obtains a total of 8 – that’s not
  enough. As they begin to run, one of the PCs remembers
  they heard about a gnomish illusionist and asks ‘Are we
  chasing an illusion?’ - that puts that ﬁnal score up to 10;
  the TN is reached and the GM informs the player that
  she sees that the gnoll’s feet are not always touching the
  ground properly, so it must be an illusion.
  The GM should grant bonuses and penalties to illu-
  sions depending upon lighting conditions – illusions in-
  side a shadowy cottage seen from far away should receive
  an immense bonus, while far-fetched illusions on a sunny
  day seen up close might receive a penalty.
  Illusionists typically create images of things they are
  familiar with. Unfamiliar objects, such as an illusionist
  trying to recreate a dragon while never having seen a
  dragon, suﬀer a -2 penalty to the roll, at minimum.
  While most people are aware that illusion magic ex-
  ists and so are suspicious of anything outlandish or out of
  the ordinary, those who have never heard about illusory
  magics suﬀer a -2 penalty to disbelieve.
  If someone sees an illusion for what it is then the illu-
  12See the rules on teamwork, page 16.
  
  8.7. ILLUSION
  71
  sion remains, but of course will have less eﬀect. However,
  while someone fully believes an illusion to be real, they
  can be psychosomatically damaged by it simply by be-
  lieving that it’s real. All illusions can inﬂict a total of 1
  Fatigue Point per level of the illusion spell plus one per
  Intelligence Bonus of the caster. For example, a song
  mage might sing a griﬃn illusion into existence; all who
  are fooled by the illusion can be ‘attacked’ by it, receiv-
  ing up to 4 Fatigue Points. On later Rounds the song
  causes no more Fatigue Points, even if it keeps playing,
  but the bard could then create the illusion of a sword
  using the ﬁrst level of the illusion sphere. They could
  use the sword to attack as usual, but not parry blows.
  While attacking, they could inﬂict up to 2 Fatigue Points
  as people believe they have been wounded by the sword,
  but subsequent attacks would not increase the amount
  of Damage.
  Illusions must be summoned within the normal range
  of spells, but once summoned they can travel away from
  the caster without worry – so long as they are main-
  tained as standing spells, they endure, no matter how
  far away the caster might be.
  Illusion Level 1
  Illusion
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Varies
  The illusionist can make anything look like another of
  roughly the same size. A fox can look like a dog, a cop-
  per coin can look golden, or a gnome can appear like a
  gnoll.
  Illusionists can use this to hide by making themselves
  look like a bush, or slip unseen into a party by making
  themselves look like one of the other guests.
  Copying a person requires the Empathy skill, while
  copying furniture would require the Crafts skill.
  Anyone touching an illusion ﬁnds that it melts in
  their hands – a simple handshake can shatter a basic
  illusion, and handling fake coins quickly dissipates the
  magic.
  Illusionists cover both sound and appearance. Illu-
  sions crafted for sound can change a nearby river to
  sound like howling wolves, or make someone’s voice come
  out high-pitched.
  Illusionists who speak another language can make
  someone else’s speech sound like that language. If you
  speak gnomish, your colleagues can be made to sound
  like they speak gnomish. Another spell could make a
  number of gnomes sound like they’re speaking in the
  common tongue.13
  Seeing through an illusion requires a Wits + Vigi-
  lance roll, with a TN equal to 7 plus the caster’s Intel-
  ligence and skill (whatever it happens to be). Alterna-
  tively, when a player rolls for an illusion, the TN is 7
  plus an opponent’s Wits + Vigilance. Having multiple
  TNs can mean some opponents are fooled and some are
  not. Anyone speciﬁcally looking out for an illusion can
  gain a +2 Bonus on the roll, or a +4 if they have reason
  to suspect that the thing in front of them is an illusion.
  Illusions require a caste’s full focus in order to re-
  main realistic. A caster who make his friend look like
  an elf would have to pay attention to his friend to make
  sure the facial movements followed along. Casters can-
  not engage in anything more than simple conversation
  or walking while maintaining illusions.
  Illusions can only adjust something’s size so much.
  Something’s Weight Rating can increase or decrease by
  a number equal to the spell level plus the caster’s Intel-
  ligence. A ﬁrst level Illusion spell cast with Intelligence
  +1 could make an elf look like a gnoll, but could not
  make a gnome look like an ogre. Similarly, a shortsword
  could be made to look like a simple dagger, but turn-
  ing a chainmail suit into a small bird would extremely
  diﬃcult.
  Light
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Survival
  This replicates the Aldaron spell, Light, page 58.
  (1) Independent:
  Illusions can now be cast without
  any ‘base’ – they simply appear on their own. Coins,
  dogs, dragons, or more, can be fashioned from nothing.
  Independent illusions can continue acting in an intelli-
  gent manner without any intervention from the caster.
  People’s speech can be adjusted to another language long
  after the illusionist has left, or a rock made to look like
  a human soldier could continue moving and speaking.
  (1) Solid:
  Solid illusions are not all that solid, but
  they can be touched without disipating and hold all man-
  ner of nice details, such as smelling right, or stopping
  smoke from blowing through them. They are also far
  more realistic, and increase the TN to see through the
  illusion by 2.
  These illusions have a Strength score equal to -5, plus
  the spell’s level, plus the caster’s Intelligence and skill.
  13Of course at that point, everyone would understand each other, but have a hard time understanding themselves.
  
  72
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Solid illusions become an extension of the caster, and
  any caster can cast a spell through the illusion, as if the
  illusion were the caster. This might be used to cast an
  Invocation spell through a dragon illusion, or could em-
  ploy Force to help an illusory creature lift a sword.
  Once even a single point of Damage has been dealt
  to the illusion, it vanishes.
  (2) Negative:
  The illusionist ﬁnally learns to make
  less of something, rather than more.
  A single person
  can be silenced, or made invisible (or both).
  As usual, the illusion is still delicate, and if the person
  is struck or disturbed in any way, the illusion dissipates.
  Combat rolls, for defence or attack, always break such
  spells unless they are also make Solid.
  SECTION 8.8
  Invocation
  This is the ﬁrst choice of spheres for any battle-mage.
  It is designed speciﬁcally to destroy targets with balls of
  lightning and ﬁre. It also has more subtle uses as casters
  can extinguish ﬂames, plunging people into darkness.
  Armour functions as normal with Invocation, though
  like any other projectile bolts of ﬁre can attain a Vitals
  Shot (see page 28) and bypass armour entirely.
  All Invocation spells are rolled as Projectiles, using
  the mage’s Intelligence Bonus and their Projectiles Skill;
  casters must have a Projectiles specialisation in Invoca-
  tion or receive a -1 penalty to all spells. The basic TN is
  7 and the diﬃculty raises by +1 for every 5 squares away
  the opponent is, just as with normal missile weapons. As
  usual, opponents who are keeping edgy (see page 34) can
  use their Speed to resist the attack, adding it to the TN.
  Alternatively, if a player is keeping edgy, it is they who
  can attempt to dodge the incoming attack, rolling their
  Speed at TN 7 plus the pyromancer’s Intelligence and
  Projectiles Skill. Shields’ Evasion Bonus can add to the
  roll to resist such spells.
  Just like any other long-range spell, Fireballs and
  other Invocation spells can succeed in Vitals Shot, by-
  passing armour, if they strike precisely enough (see page
  28). Blast-radius spells such as a Wide Fireball can in-
  ﬂict a Vitals Shot on up to 1 person, speciﬁed by the
  caster, but not more as the mage cannot make precise
  attacks against a group of people simultaneously.
  Invocation Level 1
  Fireball
  Type: Instant, Skill: Projectiles
  The mage throws out a ball of ﬂaming, crackling light
  which strikes and burns the target. The Damage is 1D6
  plus the caster’s Intelligence.
  Spell Enhancements
  (1) Raging:
  The caster increases the spell’s level by
  one and increases the spell’s Damage by 2. A mage with
  Intelligence +2, casting Fireball at third level would deal
  2D6 + 2 Damage.
  (2) Internal:
  The pyromancer ﬁnally learns how to
  summon ﬁre upon a target without throwing it – no
  ball of ﬂame is thrown, ﬁre simply appears, surround-
  ing the target and instantly covers a target anywhere
  within normal range. It seeps into soft spots and gets
  into the chinks in armour, bypassing DR entirely, includ-
  ing Perfect armour such as SP from Mage Armour. The
  target cannot resist in any way.
  If cast with the Wide or Massive enhancement, the
  spell targets everyone inside the area.
  SECTION 8.9
  Metamagic
  Metamagic allows the miracle worker to enhance their
  other magic spheres – adding to their range, casting more
  spells in a Round, gaining more MP to power them and
  eventually includes the ability to create magical items.
  Metamagic spell enhancements are special. They can
  be used to enhance any spell from any other sphere.
  When Metamagic is used to create magical items by
  imbuing spells, spells come out in the same way they
  were put in. If a spell was cast as a quick spell, it comes
  out instantly. It it was cast as a ritual spell, it takes a
  full scene to take eﬀect.
  Magical items always cast spells with the Traits of
  their casters.
  Someone creating an item which raises
  people from the dead will have a magical item with the
  same eﬀective Intelligence, Wits and Academics as the
  caster.
  
  8.9. METAMAGIC
  73
  Metamagic Level 1
  Detect Mana
  Type: Instant, Skill: Empathy
  The mage casts the spell on any person or item and ﬁnds
  out how many Mana Points the target has, including any
  mana stones the target has.
  Spell Breaking
  Type: Instant, Skill: Sphere Rating
  The caster can destroy an existing spell, whether that
  spell is a persistent eﬀect, such as a Polymorph, or a
  magical item. The spell requires an opposed roll of In-
  telligence + the sphere being used. For example, a priest
  casts an Aldaron spell. She has Intelligence +2 and Al-
  daron 3. The TN is therefore (7 + 2 + 3 =) 12. Later,
  an alchemist attempts to dispel the magic. He rolls with
  his Intelligence Bonus of +3, but he does not have the
  Aldaron sphere, so he can add nothing more. If he fails
  the roll, he can attempt to try again, turning this into a
  ritual spell. However, if that fails, he simply cannot roll
  again.
  (1) Ranged:
  Any spell, from any sphere, can be tar-
  geted anywhere the mage can clearly sense, breaking all
  the normal range boundaries of spells.
  Mana Stones
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  A mana stone is an item which stores mana, and each
  path of magic has its own version.14 Once an item (or
  creature) is designated as a mana stone, the spell is cast
  and the mage forfeits any number of MP from their max-
  imum. For each MP forfeited, the mage can store 2 MP
  in the stone. These stones always start life empty, but
  regenerate 2 MP per scene until they reach their maxi-
  mum. Anyone on the same Path of Magic can retrieve
  the mana from the stone by simply touching it and con-
  centrating.
  The spell is always permanent – no addi-
  tional mana must be kept aside so that the spell remains
  active. Retrieving the mana takes the normal amount of
  time to use an item – 8 Initiative points
  The mana in mana stones cannot be used to create
  more mana stones and mages cannot enter their own
  temporary MP into the mana stone.
  Mana stones form the basis of all magical items,
  and miracle workers can only use their traditional mana
  stones to create magical items.
  Metamagic Level 2
  Pocket Spell
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Crafts
  Pocket Spell is cast on an item to implant a second spell.
  Both spells must be cast in succession.15
  Some mages create scrolls which are destroyed once
  read. Some priests of Laiqu¨e enchant animals with a sin-
  gle spell, just to see how the animal will use it. The only
  limitation is that the mana stone must have enough MP
  to cast the spell once.
  The pocket spell always produces a single eﬀect. The
  mage can create an item which casts an illusion of a
  dragon, but never a scroll where the user determines the
  illusion cast. Any continuous eﬀects last for 2 scenes plus
  the caster’s Wits Bonus.
  These magical items are activated by a ‘command
  word’. Command words do not necessarily have to be
  actual words – they could be entire phrases or gestures.
  Importantly, when activating an item people must spend
  the usual 8 Initiative points for using an item, because
  some concentration is always required.16 Once a spell
  has started, it cannot be stopped except by counter-
  spells, even by the original mage who crafted the item.
  (2) Mirrored:
  This Metamagic enhancement allows
  any spell be be doubled at the cost of raising it by 2 lev-
  els. A ﬁreball could turn into two ﬁreballs. An illusion
  could disguise two people instead of one.
  In each case the spell must have diﬀerent targets, be-
  cause two copies targeting the same person, would just
  result in one spell.
  Metamagic Level 3
  Magical Item
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  The mage takes a mana stone and allows it to cast a
  spell, forging a new magical item.
  A sword could be
  made which can summon blinding light, or a ruby could
  be infused with the power to teleport the caster to a
  nearby location.
  Just as with Pocket Spell, above, the mage casts
  Magical Item and the spell to be implanted in succession,
  while also relinquishing a number of MP. Any number
  of spells can be cast into the item, so long as each one is
  implanted within the same casting.
  Magical items function as mana stones and continue
  to store MP for use by people on that Path of Magic.
  However, each spell cast into the item lowers the item’s
  MP by one.
  14See page 52 for more on Paths of Magic.
  15The magic cannot regenerate mana between casting spells, but can use mana stones while casting a ritual spell in order to gain
  more mana.
  16Knacks cannot reduce this cost.
  
  74
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Such basic spells always take eﬀect in exactly the
  same way and use the mage’s stats for any rolls. A sec-
  ond level Aldaron spell set to freeze water will always
  do just that, and can never cast a Sunray. An illusion-
  generating mask, making the wearer into a bush, will
  always turn that wearer into a bush, regardless of what
  the user may want the illusion to be of.
  Magical items which do not have enough mana sim-
  ply fail to cast. The one exception here is the Path of
  Song, wherein spell-songs which have too much mana
  drawn from them simply break.
  Metamagic Level 4
  Greater Item
  Type: Instant, Skill: Academics
  This functions just like the Magical Item spell, except
  that the mage can imbue a full sphere’s level.
  If the
  item has Necromancy level 2, it can cast any Necromancy
  spell of level 2 or less. If it has Invocation level 3, it can
  cast any spell at level 3 or less. Each sphere (but not
  each level) reduces the item’s MP by 1.
  (1) Sentient:
  The mage can make any spell gain some
  measure of sentience. Typically, this is made to allow
  magical items to activate upon a condition, such as a
  door which turns from solid stone back to wood once
  the password is stated.
  The item acts upon its own Initiative score, and uses
  the mage’s Wits score as its Initiative Factor.
  Such
  items are never capable of a conversation - they only
  have enough instinct to carry out a single well-deﬁned
  function.
  (2) Forked:
  Any spell, whether Metamagic or other-
  wise, can now be cast at two levels higher, and gets a
  number of copies equal to the spell’s level plus the mage’s
  Wits.
  As with the Mirror enhancement, above, each spell
  must select a diﬀerent target.
  Metamagic Level 5
  (1) Potent:
  Magical items and stones cast with this
  enhancement store 3 MP per point sacriﬁced and regen-
  erate 3 MP per round.
  SECTION 8.10
  Necromancy
  Necromancers summon souls from distant, black realms
  and place them in appropriate bodies – those of the once
  living and now dead. The corpses are sometimes ﬁlled
  with their old hosts, locking people into a state of perma-
  nent semi-death, or more often with ravenous and ma-
  licious spirits from foreign realms. Mages of this sphere
  begin by imitating the dead, becoming half dead them-
  selves, which allows them to dissuade malicious spirits
  from attacking.
  Necromancy Level 1
  Preservation
  Type: Instant, Skill: Survival
  Trainee artists and necromancers have one thing in
  common – fruit. Students of Necromancy often begin
  their journey by stopping food from degrading.
  This
  spell gives a sort of ‘half-life’ to rot, such that any
  foods aﬀected slow their own aging process incremen-
  tally. They’re not sustained in perfect condition forever,
  but never quite reach an entirely spoiled stage.
  Torpor
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Medicine
  The targed enters an eltered state of semi-death. They
  ignore all Fatigue Point penalties (but can still become
  suddenly unconscious due to too many Fatigue Points).
  They gain a natural DR of 1 which is cumulative with
  armour – their corpse-like body bleeds less and feels lit-
  tle pain, only bare sensations written in the mind as cold
  information. While this spell is active, no undead will
  be able to feed from them and most will therefore not
  wish to attack them. While this spell is active, the tar-
  get suﬀers a -2 penalty to all Charisma checks, though
  this does not aﬀect FP.
  This caster rolls Intelligence + Medicine at TN 7 to
  activate this spell. It can never be cast on others. While
  the spell is in eﬀect they suﬀer no ill eﬀects from Fatigue
  Points but cannot heal them. Once the spell is over, the
  mage often comes crashing down, collapsing from the
  weight of the awful things they have done to their body
  while immune to Fatigue. The caster faces a real danger
  of death if ever they gain enough Fatigue Points to push
  them over a -5 penalty; they may not gain the penalty
  but must make a Vitals Check to avoid death and then
  make another roll each time they gain Fatigue.
  (1) Necrotic:
  By adding an additional level to the
  process, the target can gain the special sight of the un-
  
  8.10. NECROMANCY
  75
  dead (in addition to their normal vision). They can now
  see all living things, even in the darkness. Addtionally,
  the Charisma penalty for the spell raises to -4, as they
  seem permanently distracted and unable to focus upon
  the same world that everyone else does.
  Additionally, the target’s DR raises to 2 as the target
  stops feeling pain altogether. They can even hold their
  breath for one minute per spell level.
  Targets who die while this spell is in eﬀect raise from
  the dead as an undead creature.17
  Sickness
  Type: Instant, Skill: Medicine
  Even low level necromancers have the terrifying ability
  to pull someone’s soul out with a simple spell. The spell
  inﬂicts 1D6−2 Damage directly to the target’s HP. Fate
  Points and Shield Pointss can be bypassed entirely. The
  caster adds their Intelligence Bonus to the Damage.
  (1) Fetid:
  By adding additional levels, the caster can
  add 1 HP to the total Damage.
  Command the Dead
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Academics
  The mage can also command any one undead creature
  to perform any simple action – a basic phrase without
  caveats and no more than one verb. ‘Dig’,18 ‘kill them
  all’ or ‘wait here’ are all appropriate commands.
  To
  execute the spell, the mage rolls with Intelligence and
  their Academics score at TN 7 – undead creatures resist
  with their Wits score, though most have a negative Wits
  score, which makes resistance diﬃcult.
  This spell replicates all ﬁve levels of the enchantment
  sphere with the mage selecting any eﬀect they wish; how-
  ever, the mage uses Academics instead of any other Skill
  because the undead may only be ‘understood’ in some
  technical sense, and not truly empathised with. The Un-
  dead always resist with their Wits + Aggression.
  Necromancy Level 2
  Calling the Dead
  Type: Instant, Skill: Medicine
  The mage can create their own ghouls from easily ac-
  cessible realms of malicious spirits.
  The spell is cast
  on a small corpse and the corpse is imbued with one
  such malicious spirit. It retains the Strength score (and
  therefore HP) it had in life. The corpse has Dexterity,
  Speed and Wits scores of -2 – it can run, but not ter-
  ribly quickly. The creature has neither Intelligence nor
  Charisma scores. Most will attack all living things on
  sight.
  The mage rolls their Intelligence + Medicine at TN
  7 to cast the spell. Any Medicine specialisations dealing
  with the aﬀected species (e.g. ‘gnolls’, or ‘humans’), or
  specialisations concerning death rituals can be used.
  At this ﬁrst level, the mage is limited to fairly small
  creatures. The maximum HP of the aﬀected creature is
  equal to 4, plus the mage’s Intelligence. This allows the
  mage to summon cats, boars, and other animals back
  from the dead. More gifted mages might even be able to
  raise a gnome or even an average human.
  Once the spell has been cast, it need not be main-
  tained – once a soul has inhabited a body it remains
  there like the permanent resident of a house.
  (1) Clever:
  While the easiest spirits to summon are
  mindless creatures, more advanced mages can summon
  smarter creatures.
  The creature’s basic stats are now
  Intelligence -2, Wits -2 and Charisma -5. The mage’s
  Intelligence Bonus, plus each use of this enhancement
  adds 1 Attribute to the creature’s Intelligence and Wits,
  and 2 levels of any Skill. Such creatures have a basic
  mana pool equal to double their Intelligence Bonus.
  For example, a mage with Intelligence +3, using one
  Clever enhancement, would summon a creature with In-
  telligence +2, Wits +2, and 4 basic MP (6 MP in total).
  The creatures begin with Intelligence -2, Wits equal
  to -2 plus 1D6, and Charisma -5. For each level of the
  spell, the mage can add 2 Attribute levels plus their In-
  telligence Bonus. An Attribute point can be sacriﬁced in
  return for 2 levels in any Skill, or two Attribute points
  can be sacriﬁed in return for a level in a sphere.
  The TN is 7 plus one per spell level. For every mar-
  gin, the caster can decide where one of the target’s Skill
  points are placed. The GM decides places the rest of the
  creature’s points.
  When he was younger, Hugi witnesses his uncle torn
  apart by a terrible spirit. His uncle thought to contain
  it in a small creature, so he summoned the all powerful
  creature into the body of a little gnome.
  Hugi’s uncle, the runecaster, has Intelligence +2, and
  applies the enhancement twice. The resulting creature
  would have Intelligence and Wits at +2, and 8 levels of
  Skills.
  The runecaster rolls a 10, which barely passes
  the TN of 9. He assigns two of the Skill points to Aca-
  demics so that he can ask the spirit the question he wants
  to know.
  The GM decides to assign 3 Skill points to Vigilance,
  1 to Tactics, and another to Necromancy.
  The result was an uncontainable spirit which cast a
  death touch spell upon the old runecaster, killing him in-
  stantly.
  Hugi decided never to entertain learning necromantic
  rune magic after that day.
  17This spell cannot raise someone as undead if the necromancer’s spell level would not normally allow them to raise a creature of
  that spell level.
  18The undead are the worst workers due to their stupidity, and typically destroy their own hands before they dig very far. They can
  be used for anything, but are not necessarily good for much.
  
  76
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  (1) Greater:
  With an extra level, the mage can sum-
  mon the souls of the dead into large creatures. The max-
  imum HP of the target equal to the spell’s level times 4
  plus the caster’s Intelligence Bonus. A mage with Intel-
  ligence +2 could cast Calling the Dead at second level
  to raise a target with up to 10 HP, or at third level for
  up to 14 HP.
  SECTION 8.11
  Polymorph
  Animal
  Min Str.
  Max Str.
  Cow
  0
  +5
  Badger
  -4
  -2
  Basilisk
  +5
  +8
  Bear
  +4
  +5
  Beaver
  -5
  -4
  Bird/ Bat
  -5
  -5
  Cat
  -5
  -5
  Deer
  0
  +2
  Donkey
  0
  +4
  Frog
  -5
  -5
  Goat
  -1
  +2
  Griﬃn
  -1
  +2
  Horse
  +1
  +4
  Large Cat
  +1
  +3
  Pig
  0
  +3
  Rat
  -5
  -5
  Wolf
  -2
  +1
  The Polymorph sphere of magic allows the mage to
  grasp at diﬀerent strands in the tree of life, and move
  themselves or others along diﬀerent paths. Nearby forms
  include other races, such as elves turning into men, and
  later shapeshifters learn to turn into bears, hawks or
  other animals.
  Larger men ﬁnd it easier to turn into
  large animals such as griﬃns, while smaller, lighter peo-
  ple ﬁnd it easier to take on the form of birds. Master
  shapeshifters learn to go beyond the great tree of life
  and turn into arbitrary forms of their chosing, including
  living ﬁre, or a gust of wind.
  Throughout all these forms people maintain a univer-
  sal ‘face’ – a kind of likeness which they simply cannot
  get rid of. Many conjecture that the face is a facet of
  one’s soul showing in the world. A ginger person trans-
  formed into a cat would become a ginger cat. A skinny
  person with short hair who transforms into a sheep will
  become a skinny, short-haired sheep. Spotting someone
  who has been transformed requires a Wits + Empathy
  roll, with a TN of 8 plus the level of the Polymorph
  sphere being employed; e.g. if an elf used the ﬁrst level
  to transform into a gnome the TN would be 9, but if
  the elf used the ﬁfth level to transform into a magma
  elemental, the TN would be 14.
  Unwilling targets who are to be transformed with
  Polymorph can spend 5 FP in order to retroactively stip-
  ulate that the spell fails.
  The undead are completely
  immunte to the Polymorph sphere.
  Meldon the elf has 5 HP. He takes 3 HP Damage
  and already has 3 Fatigue Points leaving him with a -1
  penalty to all actions. He then transforms himself into
  a bird, lowering to 2 HP. He now has zero Damage but
  retains his -1 penalty due to Fatigue. After ﬂying away
  to safety he rests for a while and heals all his Fatigue
  Points, but when he turns back into an elf all his old
  wound reappear as his HP increases to the point where
  they can aﬀect him.
  As
  Polymorph
  changes people’s form it
  also changes Strength and
  therefore HP maximums.
  All HP lost to Damage
  remain as lost HP after
  transformation but might
  not have any eﬀect.
  If
  a player’s maximum HP
  is lowered to the point
  where they are no longer
  wounded then all wounds
  simply
  vanish,
  though
  they are still tracked and
  reappear once the crea-
  ture has transformed.
  If
  someone’s maximum HP increases, once again they
  count as having lost the same number of HP, with no HP
  being gained or lost through the transformation process.
  All Fatigue stays where it is and no Fatigue Points which
  previously gave no penalty move to giving the character
  a penalty.
  The new form granted by a Polymorph spell always
  feels a little strange, so anyone who transforms suﬀers a
  -1 penalty to Dexterity until they get used to the new
  form.19
  Nobody is terribly comfortable holding another crea-
  ture’s form. Like a newborn lamb, such transformations
  make people clumsy.
  19Any amount of downtime is a reasonable amount of time.
  
  8.11. POLYMORPH
  77
  Polymorph Level 1
  Polymorph
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Medicine
  The basic Polymorph spell allows someone to turn
  into another race, so long as the racial diﬀerence in
  Strength is not greater than the spell’s level. When cast
  at ﬁrst level, gnolls can turn into humans, humans can
  turn into dwarves, dwarves can turn into elves, and elves
  can turn into gnomes.
  Once the change has applied, the original racial
  Bonuses are discarded, and the new racial bonuses ap-
  plied.
  Gnomes who turn into elves gain +1 Strength
  and +1 Speed, and dwarves who turn into gnolls gain
  +1 Strength, +1 Speed, but -1 Dexterity.
  Various enhancements allow the spell to be cast at
  a higher level, meaning a skilled Polymorphing gnome
  could eventually learn to turn into a gnoll.
  Changing one’s own form is TN 7, while changing
  another’s is TN 10.
  Polymorphing into another race does not grant any of
  its racial abilities. Changing one’s shape to look like an
  elf will not grant cold-immunity, and Polymorphing into
  a human will not allow one walk long distances without
  fatigue.
  Animal Transformation
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Beast Ken
  This spell allows the mage to transform one animal into
  another.
  An animal is deﬁned as any living creature
  without an Intelligence Bonus. As before, the mage can
  increase or decrease the target’s Strength Bonus by the
  spell level, but have to keep within the normal size-
  boundaries of the animal. If a boar has Strength +1,
  turning it into a bear will require an additional 3 points
  of Strength, because bears have a minimum Strength
  of +4. If the caster instead tries to turn a dangerous
  bear into a housecat, this is a prohibitively diﬃcult task,
  as house cats have a diﬀerence of at least 9 levels of
  Strength.
  The TN for such a transformation is 12, as under-
  standing how animals function is a serious challenge to
  those used to walking on two legs.
  Such animal transformations are in shape alone, and
  do not grant any abilities. Polymorphing into a bird will
  not let one ﬂy, and taking the shape of a bear will leave
  a weakened facsimile of the bear’s strong teeth and hide.
  (1) Bolstered:
  While basic shapeshifters base their
  range on the Polymorph spell’s level, a Bolstered spell
  allows the caster to use a number of points equal to
  the spell’s level plus their Intelligence Bonus.
  If a
  shapeshifter cast this spell at the second level, with Intel-
  ligence +1, they could lower an animal’s Strength Bonus
  by 3, or could turn a human into a gnome, since that re-
  quires a Strength adjustment of 3.
  Those with the Realistic enhancement also gain a
  number of Form Points equal to the spell level plus
  the caster’s Intelligence Bonus, instead of simply gaining
  points equal to the Spell’s level.
  (1) Empathetic:
  Advanced shapeshifters can extend
  a little mana into their understanding of alternate forms,
  and discard the usual TN restrictions. All TNs become
  7, and the target no longer suﬀers a Dexterity penalty
  for transforming.
  (1)
  Realistic:
  The
  Realistic
  enhancement
  allows
  mages to take on creatures’ natural abilities with a num-
  ber of Form Points equal to the spell’s level.
  When
  transforming a target into an animal, the form of a bird
  can allow the target to ﬂy, the form of a bear includes
  teeth, claws and a thick hide.
  The Form Points can each be spent on one of the
  following:
  • Claws & Teeth: +1 Damage
  • Flight: The creature has wings, and can use them
  properly.
  • Thick Hide: The animal’s thick skin grants DR 2.
  • Underwater Breath
  When the target is to transform into an animal, all
  unused points are applied to the target’s Speed Bonus.
  Someone transforming into a bird with 3 Form Points
  could use one to gain realistic ﬂight, and then +2 Speed.
  When transforming into another race, the target
  merely loses their racial ability, and gains any racial abil-
  ities of the target which are concerned with the body.
  For example, elves who transform into dwarves lose their
  immunity from natural cold, but gain the dwarvish abil-
  ity to consume strong drink.
  (1) Trans Species:
  The Polymorpher can now cross
  the species boundary, making themself or another trans-
  form entirely into an animal.
  Alternatively, the Polymorpher can turn an animal
  into a person. This won’t yeild any fantastic results, as
  animals don’t suddenly become intelligent once turned
  into a gnome or dwarf, but it is possible. Such creatures
  start with Intelligence -5 and Charisma 0.
  This spell is cast at TN 12, as it either targets an
  animal, or makes a person into one.
  It uses the Skill
  associated with the creature the target will become, so
  turning a wolf into a man uses Medicine, while turning
  a man into a wolf requires Beast Ken.
  
  78
  CHAPTER 8. MAGIC
  Polymorph Level 2
  Freeform
  Type: Continuous, Skill: Ether Lore
  The shapeshifter can throw oﬀ the limits of existing and
  known creatures, and turn into ﬂamming bulls, acidic
  clouds, or anything else they might imagine. The basic
  TN for the spell is 14 as the alternative forms are alien
  even to those who are capable of adoptin them, but as
  usual the TN can be reduced by other enhancements.
  As with the Realistic enhancement, the caster gains
  a number of Form Points equal to the spell’s level. The
  caster can spend 2 form points to purchase any of the
  following:
  • Massive Claws & Teeth: +2 Damage.
  • Impenetrable Hide: +4 DR.
  • Etherial Form: The caster turns into a thick smoke
  or mist, becoming immune to almost all physical
  damage.
  • Fiery Form: The caster’s body is composed mostly
  of acid, ﬁre, or some other dangerous substance.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 9
  Races & Cultures
  SECTION 9.1
  Dwarven Citadels
  Far underground, below the soil or coiled up within
  mountains, the underwyrms roam.
  Some are as long
  as a castle, while others stretch only the length of a few
  horses. Their head is that of a streamlined lizard, and
  they snake, limbless through the bowls of the world, jut-
  ting aside or just eating earth and stone. They feed on
  a combination of minerals, rocks and the underground
  fungi. And in their path they leave wide, wide tunnels.
  After the tunnels are formed, little dwarves follow on
  – strengthening them with properly placed stone arrayed
  into an arch or packing the tunnel with clay and then
  setting a ﬁre of mushrooms, underwyrm droppings and
  underground oil. Then they carve and chisel for decades
  until they have a hall or room ﬁt to house a dwarf, or a
  deep fungal garden, powered by an underground lake or
  river.
  Almost all dwarvish communities are based around
  underground lakes – many are boating folk, though they
  do not understand the open sea, or its wind and tides.
  You know where you stand with a dwarvish lake – you
  stand still. It is often at the centre of the lake that one
  ﬁnds the day-bell, a massive bell which forms the pride
  and heart of any dwarvish community.
  The day bell
  rings after 20 hours to say that work has ﬁnished and
  then again 8 hours later to say that work has started
  again. Many communities buck this trend one way or
  the other, depending upon the whims of their queen.
  The outsides of a dwarvish citadel or undertown are
  reinforced with metals and very dense clays to discourage
  outsiders digging in. Dwarves have an excellent knowl-
  edge of where is dangerous, what might collapse and how
  to reinforce walls (or pull them down in a hurry).
  Dwarvish society is heavily matriarchal – only around
  one in every ten dwarves is female, so most never marry.
  Women stand at the heads of their society and are gen-
  erally considered too precious to go above ground for the
  menial tasks of trading for food or cutting down wood.
  Rich males compete in fashioning the most exquisite jew-
  ellery in order to win the hand of a fair, dwarvish maiden
  (or indeed, any dwarvish maiden).
  Dwarves are famed for their exceptional armour, be-
  ing the ﬁrst to invent full plate armour, and still the best
  at creating it. They can enter combat fearlessly, know-
  ing that little except an underwyrm can penetrate their
  thick, steel plates.
  What is less well known is the dwarvish skill at farm-
  ing – mushrooms, glow-worms for lanterns, underground
  jellies which feed on water and slime – all manner of un-
  derground delicacies are created deep below the earth
  (though it seems only dwarves actually ﬁnd them palat-
  able).
  Commonly, dwarvish tunnels to the outside will end
  in a gnome-warren.
  Direct contact with the outside
  world, opening into a forest or plain, is seen as ‘let-
  ting the sun in’, and generally frowned upon, but if
  the dwarvish tunnel ends in a gnomish village and those
  gnomes happen to let the sun in, well – that’s their busi-
  ness. This persistent crossing of paths means that the
  dwarvish and gnomish languages are very similar, and
  patient speakers of one can mostly understand the other.
  Commerce
  Dwarven commerce is based upon copper, bronze (worth
  2 cp), electrum (worth 200 cp), gold (worth 1,000 cp) and
  platinum (worth 2 gp). Each citadel has its own coinage
  and even some towns make their own pieces, each with
  runic carvings quoting their matriarch or boasting about
  their acidic jelly gardens. The exchange rates are ever
  shifting and far too complicated for most outsiders to
  keep up with but generally speaking a dwarvish copper
  piece will be worth 2 human copper pieces and can buy
  dwarvish equipment at normal prices.
  Racial Ability: Tenacity
  Dwarves are bred on the most acrid substances – they
  eat tough, deep mushrooms and occasionally munch on
  acidic jellies (after thoroughly cooking them). Dwarven
  ales are classiﬁed as spirits by any sane human and dwar-
  ven spirits are generally classiﬁed as poisons all other
  races.
  Dwarves take half Damage or Fatigue from any given
  poison. They suﬀer no ill eﬀects from eating rotten food
  (though it may not count as being nutritious) and the
  79
  
  80
  CHAPTER 9. RACES & CULTURES
  GM is encouraged to allow them to eat anything that
  might otherwise be damaging, within reasonable limits.
  Dwarves are also known for their hardiness in the
  face of awful working conditions. They have 2 free Fa-
  tigue Boxes which they can use before taking penalties.
  To put it another way, dwarves can sustain a number of
  Fatigue Points equal to their HP +2 before they begin
  to take penalties due to exhaustion.
  Starting Characters
  Dwarves who leave the mountain are generally traders,
  but since all male dwarves are required to be part of
  a standing army, almost all traders have some martial
  ability. Many traders often take on martial jobs if the
  payment is right. Female dwarves will have a hard time
  leaving the mountain as they are so in demand, but since
  few people are in a position to order them about they
  can ignore most objections if they are obstinate enough.
  Other dwarves will leave speciﬁcally in search of glory
  and wealth. They will introduce themselves in a formal
  manner as adventurers and inquire about local military
  tasks.
  Their wealth will be focussed on buying good
  quality weapons and armour and any spare will be do-
  nated to their local temple.
  SECTION 9.2
  Elven Glades
  Elves array themselves in a circular fashion around a sa-
  cred spot where mana springs up from the ground like
  a wellspring. Typically, elves base their society around
  ‘underglass’ houses. They ﬁrst excavate the entire house
  with two openings to the top – one as an exit and the
  other as an above-ground window. The window is com-
  posed of thick glass – thick enough for a herd of deer
  to gallop across. It lets in sunlight during the day, and
  at night, when elvish hearths bloom, little lights can be
  seen across the forest bed as the ﬁre-light shines out of
  the underglass houses.
  Elvish homes are sometimes solitary but more of-
  ten linked – they will share chimneys (which leak above
  ground, sometimes through a tree), exits and often a
  couple of communal rooms.
  Elves are ﬁercely individualistic, and do not hold
  with the concept of leaders or gods. Rather, they have
  a society based around experts. In matters concerning
  hunting, the master hunter will make all group decisions.
  In matters concerning statues, the master carver will
  make communal decisions. Each expert has their own
  strict domain of inﬂuence. Many elves translate these
  ‘masters’ as ‘king’ or ‘land master’ when speaking with
  human, and as a result nearly half the elves abroad in
  human lands claim to be the children of royalty – exactly
  how accurate this is depends upon one’s interpretation.
  Travelling elves often take griﬃns as their mounts.
  Rather than capture and tame them, they are expected,
  through natural magical talent, to instantly befriend
  them and leave them when the journey is over.
  The
  human method of keeping animals in a long-term man-
  ner, who then cannot fend for themselves is considered
  clumsy at best and cruel at worst. Elves pick up what
  they need as they go and discard it just as quickly.
  Very few elves have much to do with iron. They use
  short bows, spears and daggers to hunt, all made from
  ﬂint, wood or animal bone. Some use leather armour
  for protection but in general, since elves use weapons for
  hunting rather than warfare, they do not use armour at
  all.
  Elves live for long years – sometimes up to a millen-
  nium – and as a result become skilled artisans. Most
  of this time is often spent simply lounging about, but if
  they bother even once in ﬁve years to make an artistic
  piece then the forest is soon peppered with little artis-
  tic pieces. Trees carved (or magically shaped) into de-
  pictions of battles, or the face of a famously handsome
  elvish enchanter, or just intricate patterns of knots and
  spirals carved into stone, so often make an elvish glade
  look like an art-show. Some communities put the rubbish
  outside and leave the best pieces for the sacred centre of
  the community, where none may go. Others leave the
  centre empty, saving the best pieces for the outskirts of
  the village and throw the mediocre pieces away.
  Typical elvish communities seldom reach above a
  population of one hundred. Those that do are always
  based around some Tree Master who can grow huge
  amounts of food magically.
  The majority stay as low
  as twenty folk who travel long distances between com-
  munities.
  Commerce
  Elvish trade is based mostly on jewellery – one can tell
  how rich an elf is (or was) by the number of piercings
  they have. Typically these will be in the ears, but torso
  piercings are also common. Rings, necklaces, brooches
  and all manner of other precious art pieces adorn most
  elves with any interest in commerce. They can be quite
  snooty about these and only trade them away for excep-
  tional amounts of other race’s goods.
  However, trade
  they must, because few elves have access to metals,
  and without metal they can only fashion jewellery from
  things they ﬁnd in the forest, which soon degrade. Elves
  also typically trade in songs.
  The value of the songs
  changes as each person might share or refuse to share it.
  Cheap songs are simple melodies while more expensive
  
  9.3. GNOLLS
  81
  ones are mana stones for the path of song (see page 55)
  and may even allow the miracle worker to cast spells.
  Racial Ability: Thermal Resistance
  Elves are creatures of the natural world – they are in
  tune with the rhythms of the forests and planes and
  never harmed by them.
  Elves are immune to Fatigue
  Points from natural heat levels – they can sleep outside
  in the snow or wander deserts without sunburn. Addi-
  tionally, they do not sleep but instead require only four
  hours’ meditation per day. During these times, elves re-
  live their old memories as a way of hanging onto the very
  old ones so as to not forget who they are.
  Racial Ability: Longevity
  Elves age but not because they are degrading, rather
  because they are changing. Over the years they become
  progressively more fay looking and alien. Their minds
  sharpen, but their bodies degrade. After 100 years, an
  elf’s maximum Strength Bonus decreases from +2 to +1
  but their maximum Dexterity increases to +4. At 200
  years old the elf’s maximum Strength score becomes 0
  but their maximum Speed Bonus raises to +4. At 300
  the elf’s maximum Strength Bonus is -1 but they can
  move their Intelligence up to +4. Finally, at 400 years
  old the elf’s Charisma Bonus becomes +4 and their max-
  imum Strength becomes -2.
  Age
  Max. Strength
  Increase
  100
  +1
  Dexterity
  200
  0
  Speed
  300
  -1
  Intelligence
  400
  -2
  Charisma
  Additionally, elves’ long life grants them +1 Story
  Points.
  Starting Characters
  Player characters will start as younger elves, without the
  experience, keen intellect and amazing skill-set of their
  elders. Many adventure in order to gain the experience
  they see in their elders. Others simply want to see what
  the world has to oﬀer. Still others want to learn a spe-
  ciﬁc skill, perhaps to master the sword or a speciﬁc magic
  sphere.
  Elves tend to view their own young as expendable.
  They do not reproduce rapidly, but over long centuries
  a single elf can easily have many children.
  Since the
  youth tend to be stronger than their elders, these young
  things are encouraged to perform the most dangerous of
  tasks such as hunting large animals or defending a vil-
  lage through mˆel´ee rather than with a bow. As a result
  of this attitude, elves encourage many of their young to
  go out into the world and seek knowledge before they
  become old, frail and strange.
  SECTION 9.3
  Gnoll Hunting Grounds
  Small groups of gnolls mark out miles upon miles of
  ground as their own hunting grounds.
  They do not
  farm or make stone houses or metal instruments – they
  make only basic hunting weapons and temporary shel-
  ters. Generally, they are organised into families and a
  group of families will organise into a clan. People change
  from one clan to another depending upon romantic part-
  ners or where they ﬁnd themselves. The most important
  thing to a gnoll is their hunting party – gnoll hunting
  parties generally travel everywhere together.
  Gnolls have a hard time picking up other races’ lan-
  guages – they have their own, it doesn’t change and they
  like it that way. They speak naturally in a ‘verb – sub-
  ject – object’ kind of way and have such trouble changing
  this habit that many scholars think that their grammar
  is embedded somehow in their blood. This leads them
  to isolation from the other races and limits their ability
  to trade goods or culture.
  When a clan’s hunting ground is invaded, the entire
  thing can work together. The ﬁrst thing they do is the
  ‘big hunt’ – they gather all the food, and especially meat,
  that they can, then quickly go on a forced march until
  they meet with the host.
  They then engage in open
  warfare or, more commonly, guerilla warfare, until the
  threat has been well subdued.
  Gnolls have heads of clans who generally make deci-
  sions – the larger the clan the more ‘heads’ it will have.
  In any dispute the clan head takes the win, but when
  people of a similar status disagree, the argument is gen-
  erally settled by combat – usually, but not always, till
  ﬁrst blood.
  Commerce
  Gnolls trade little but do enjoy making bone jewellery
  and most especially ﬁnding new things to pierce. A par-
  ticularly striking bauble will catch their eyes easily but
  coins hold little value for them. They breed especially
  large dogs, not dissimilar to wolves, which can fetch high
  prices when sold to hunters, though most consider them
  too wild and violent to keep in a family home. Many a
  gnoll encampment is half composed of these dogs, which
  aid them in hunting as well as occasionally joining them
  in warfare.
  
  82
  CHAPTER 9. RACES & CULTURES
  Racial Ability: Animal Instinct
  Gnolls are naturally aggressive creatures.
  They start
  with an Aggression score of +2 – this can be used to
  add to their Strike Factor when making unarmed at-
  tacks. These attacks do not cause brawling Damage but
  lethal Damage as their claws and teeth can rend ﬂesh
  apart.
  Starting Characters
  Gnolls are highly tribal creatures, but can be excluded
  from their own societies for a variety of oﬀences, such as
  failing a martial challenge and then ﬂeeing rather than
  accepting death. These rogue gnolls who do not manage
  to join another tribe can end up wandering the lonely
  path of the adventurer. Others are ‘corrupted’ (as their
  fellow gnolls see it) by the worldly goods of the other
  humanoids – they gain a taste for wine, clothes, horses,
  jewellery and such then end up trying to grab money in
  order to get more.
  SECTION 9.4
  Gnomish Warrens
  Gnomes live in little warrens, under the ground, but en-
  joy lots of sunlit openings near the edge of their villages.
  Their network of tunnels and homes extend often up
  to ﬁfty feet below the ground.
  These little communi-
  ties often keep two-level farms – they tunnel beneath
  what others consider to be good farmland and then pull
  cabbages, potatoes, carrots and other rooting vegetables
  down from the ceiling rather than up from the earth.
  They consider humans to be quite backwards, since the
  vegetables clearly emerge at the bottom when they are
  grown.
  Gnomes take great pride in remaining ‘subtle’ – the
  openings to their houses are never glass but openings
  which can be closed in order to look as natural as possi-
  ble – the side of a hill may open to reveal a living room,
  or a large, apparently dead tree may have a door open-
  ing underground to a small pantry. Often, the only way
  to spot a gnomish village once the doors are closed is to
  note the bountiful ﬁelds of good crops. Unfortunately
  many gnomish gardens are not strong enough to sup-
  port a lot of weight. Many a ‘heavy thing’ has fallen
  through the soil of a gnomish garden and found a num-
  ber of gnomes wondering what to do with a wounded
  horse and a bemused human rider.
  Gnomish societies have complicated electoral systems
  where various members cast diﬀering numbers of votes in
  order to elect to create various positions of government.
  These positions are then voted upon with diﬀerent vot-
  ing systems, and a third is in place to decide how often
  votes will take place and how to vote on bringing in new
  voting systems. This can take place with villages with
  as few as ten gnomes, and often every member of the
  village will be in government in some sense or another.
  Any time a decision is called upon, gnomes will be de-
  lighted to help, and will often return a month later with
  a spreadsheet of exactly how to determine ‘Step A’. And
  if nearby dwarves and elves ignore this advice, it’s just
  further evidence that the other races are both impatient
  and a little stupid.
  The gnomish language is rather similar to dwarvish
  but can change almost as quickly as human languages.
  They have three versions – in addition to being able to
  speak and write, they can also whistle their language.
  The language has a strict way of making sound shifts
  form normal sounds to whistling sounds.
  This allows
  gnomes to communicate over massive distances – over
  wide plains, mountains or through several miles of un-
  derground tunnels. It also allows them to hold conversa-
  tions between each other while standing right in front of
  people, as most people do not understand that when a
  gnome is whistling they are also probably saying some-
  thing meaningful. Or meaningless. Gnomes are big fans
  of using language for its own sake.
  Upon greeting each other, gnomes do not give their
  names but ask for one – customarily each person a gnome
  meets will have one name for them, and a group name
  will soon emerge for each diﬀerent social circle.
  This
  causes no end of confusion when people ask a gnome
  what their name is, and the gnome takes this as a sign
  of an unimaginative companion, before giving the new
  friend a name without asking what they would like to be
  called.
  Commerce
  Gnomes trade with a complicated arrangement of other
  race’s coinage, promises, secrets, precious gemstones and
  paper. This paper money has its own value system which
  shifts depending upon who wrote the promised note and
  how well they have been trading recently. When dealing
  with other races, they try to ﬁnd something of the native
  coinage, so as not to confuse the poor big people.
  Racial Ability: Attentiveness
  Gnomes often have a hard time focussing on things, but
  once they successfully do so they focus to the exclusion of
  all else, often with amazing results. When gnomes take
  a Resting Action, rather than rolling 1D6 and adding
  +6, they roll 2D6 + 3. If they want to change a failed
  action into a Resting Action, they add 1D6 − 3 to their
  roll.
  
  9.5. HUMANS
  83
  Starting Characters
  Gnomes are fairly adventure-averse as a rule, but have a
  knack of ending up on them by accident. Many adven-
  ture in order to pick up rare jewels for alchemical mana
  stones. Some few gnomes take to thievery and don’t so
  much adventure as accompany adventurers in order to
  wait for lucrative opportunities.
  SECTION 9.5
  Human Towns
  Humans arrange themselves into towns at the centre of a
  sprawling mass of villages, reaching out across the land
  like tendrils. The houses in the village will each pay some
  portion of their goods to the Villagemaster who will live
  separately from the other humans in a larger house, of-
  ten with human servants. The villagemasters will then
  give a portion of their earnings to a Townmaster. The
  villages produce foods while the towns produce special-
  ist products from guilds. The guilds might be in charge
  of breads, horses, weapons, ale, clothing or anything else
  which humans can produce. Almost every human family
  in a town is part of a guild which then trades their pro-
  duce for the villages’ food. The townmasters then bring
  in more food by paying the guilds for produce with coin,
  which the guilds then use to buy more food. Humans
  love hierarchies and are often confused about what they
  are doing if they cannot identify a nearby leader.
  In the villages, houses are build half above ground
  and half below, with thatch or slate roofs. In towns, all
  houses are build well above the ground, sometimes with
  one house on top of another so that people must climb
  ladders to get to the top. Humans’ incredible strength
  gives them the ability to break stone and port it from
  far away quarries to build immense houses above the
  ground, sometimes up to four houses high.
  Humans become landmasters, guildsmen or villagers
  depending upon birth and sex, with men tending towards
  roles which involve travel while women tend to remain
  near their families.
  Human languages are incredibly changeable and gen-
  erally considered to be a mess, and not worth learning by
  other races because of how soon they will become some-
  thing new.
  This is mainly due to the fact that most
  humans never learn how to read.
  Each human region has enough in common – linguis-
  tically – that they can speak with each other, so anyone
  who knows a language from the Quennome region, for
  example, would be able to understand all the others.
  Commerce
  Humans trade in a combination of gold, silver and copper
  coins. The exact type of coin never matters – humans
  will trade with anything – although many Landmasters
  have produced their own coins and insist (to no eﬀect)
  that people in the area devalue foreign currencies.
  While some townmasters are independent entities,
  sustaining their own armies, most pay yet another layer
  of taxes to a landmaster, who in turn pays a tribute to a
  king. The land regions almost always encapsulates other
  race’s lands, such as an elvish glade or a gnomish village.
  Generally the other races ignore such people, but some
  landmasters and kings have come into conﬂict with other
  races over land rights simply because an elvish glade lies
  between two human villages and the king has decided to
  connect the dots.
  Racial Ability: Long March
  Humans have great stamina when it comes to walking
  or running.
  They half the usual Fatigue Points from
  any activity involving running, marching, swimming, or
  moving.
  Starting Characters
  Humans reproduce at an alarming rate – instead of sim-
  ply replacing themselves with two or three more humans,
  a couple might make as many as fourteen and then send
  the extra ones out to cause a mess – perhaps trying to
  steal other people’s farmland, or raise them to be mon-
  ster hunters who die in an eﬀort to protect other farms or
  sellswords up for use to the highest bidder. Of these, the
  less well connected ones often wander the earth aimlessly
  searching for the oﬀer of money for murder.
  
  CHAPTER
  CHAPTER 10
  Games Masters
  SECTION 10.1
  Basic Prep & Play
  The basic tools of the Games Master must begin with
  with the obvious – 4D6 per player with multiple D6
  colours so players can diﬀerentiate their Damage dice
  from their Action dice. Next, of course, one character
  sheet and pencil for each of the players. Since this can
  be a lethal game, especially for new players, consider
  adding a few ‘just in case’ character sheets.
  Coins
  To helps players understand the tactical elements of the
  game, consider setting a central initiative track on the
  table, with the number 1-18. Have everyone place a to-
  ken, model, coin, or whatever, on their own Initiative
  number as soon as combat starts so that they can see
  the Initiative count moving slowly towards them.
  As a GM, it’s always good to have at least 3 dif-
  ferent types of coins. Let’s say you’re orchestrating a
  battle with a hobgoblin leader, some hobgoblin troops
  and a goblin spellcaster.
  Assign each one a coin and
  make a little mnemonic – the spellcaster has dark magic
  so it gets the little copper penny. The hobgoblins get
  the silver coin to represent their use of weapons, and the
  largest coin goes to the hobgoblin leader. Don’t worry
  about the players’ Initiative – they’ll keep track of their
  own characters as you shout out where on the Initiative
  tree you are.
  Coins should also be used when assigning the Com-
  bat Skill. The character sheets contain a large space in
  the middle where players can add bonuses to their Com-
  bat Factors rather than attempting to remember where
  everything was placed.
  Coins can even be used to keep track of FP and Fa-
  tigue Points as they change so often. It’ll help cut down
  on wear to the character sheet.
  SECTION 10.2
  Encounters
  Random Encounters
  Whether you’re in the middle of an adventure or the
  PCs are just randomly wandering the world without any
  respect for local laws or plot, a random encounter can
  always add a sense of danger to a non-urban area.
  Each time the players pass through a region, roll 3D6
  on the encounter table and create an encounter from the
  result. You can make a unique encounter table for each
  region in your campaign to individuate them.
  As an
  example, have a look at Redfall’s forests:
  The forest can be a dangerous place, but not nearly
  as dangerous as the marshes. The entire Redfall area is
  infested with ghouls, but they get much more common
  once one passes beyond the forest’s edge and into the
  marshes.
  Some encounters presented are fairly benign. Wolves
  may try to steal the party’s food, but they’re not danger-
  ous, and human traders simply provide an opportunity
  to gain news, and travel with a little more safety. Despite
  the diﬀerent tables, the overlap provides some cohesion
  to the area.
  Encounters in Redfall
  Marshes Forest
  Result
  18
  Elven fortress.
  17
  2D6 − 1 elven hunters.
  16
  1D6 + 5 Hobgoblins.
  15
  18
  3D6 − 2 Ghouls.
  14
  17
  3D6 − 2 Goblins.
  13
  16
  1D3 Griﬃns.
  12
  15
  2D6 Bandits.
  14
  Bear.
  13
  2D6 Wolves.
  12
  2D6 − 1 Human traders.
  84
  
  10.2. ENCOUNTERS
  85
  If you reach a result which is not listed, there is no
  encounter. If you roll trips – three of the same number –
  roll again, and if you get another encounter, combine the
  two. If you get a griﬃn and a bandit, perhaps the players
  stumble upon bandits in the woods, attempting to pilfer
  griﬃn eggs for a patron. If you roll wolves and a chitin-
  crawler, perhaps the players hear persistent wolf-cries in
  the distance as a chitincrawler has caught some wolves
  in its web while the others watch and bark helplessly.
  You may want to set up your random encounter be-
  fore the start of the session, allowing you to review mon-
  sters’ stats and perhaps tie the encounters together, or
  integrate them with active characters from players’ Story
  Points, or recent events in the campaign.
  If you have a campaign book such as Adventures in
  Fenestra, you’ll ﬁnd stats for creatures, suggested en-
  counters, and random encounter tables for the diﬀerent
  areas.
  Side Quests
  Another way to add impromptu elements into your game
  is Side Quests. These are short encounters which slowly
  feed elements into the background of your game. They’re
  good for foreshadowing without too much planning, and
  good for adding things to the path of players who simply
  want to run around in a sandbox, without the constraint
  of a full-on plot-arc.
  Let’s look at an example from a village area:
  Villagers have been cutting down trees near a spot
  sacred to the elves. Negotiations have failed, and now
  the elves intend to drive the humans out like vermin by
  burning down their houses.
  Encounters:
  �� Villagers are burning a witch at the stake and will
  grab any known magic user or elf in the party.
  � The party notice a group of elves sneaking up to a
  village. If they don’t stop them, the elves attempt
  to set ﬁre to various houses.
  � Watchmen arrive in the villages, with orders to kill
  all magic users and elves on sight. Repeat.
  When the players enter the villages, you spring part
  1 on them, so they see villages burning a witch at the
  stake.
  The second time the players get a Side Quest
  in the villages, they might get part 2, where they see
  elves sneaking up to set ﬁre to human houses.
  Some
  Side Quests ﬁnish on a loop, so the players can repeat-
  edly encounter watchmen in the village who will not take
  kindly to known magic users.
  Notice that none of the encounters require the party
  to do anything. If they don’t want to engage in the plot,
  they can sit back and watch unless someone is actively
  trying to engage with them.
  One more example:
  A priest is using his ability to divine the future to
  capture criminals before they commit crimes.
  �� A local priest oﬀers to tell the party their fortunes.
  Combine this with the next encounter, then move
  it to Town.
  � (Town) The characters pass by men in stocks who
  keep shouting that they are all innocent, and were
  suddenly taken away by various guards after the
  local priest ﬁngered them for a crime. Move this
  encounter back to the villages.
  � A dozen guards are tracking the characters. Re-
  peat.
  The characters are now wanted by the guards who
  wander the villages, hunting for would-be criminals.
  Summary
  Think of your campaign in terms of areas; a mountainous
  area by the sea might have ‘Underground’, ‘Mountains’,
  and ‘Coast’, while a deep forest might have ‘Elfwoods’,
  ‘Villages’, and ‘Swampland’.
  Each encounter is tied to an area, so when the play-
  ers enter that area, they get the next encounter avail-
  able there. When the players enter the ‘Villages’, they
  encounter the next available a Side Quest.
  Since Side Quests can leave the ‘Forest’ area when
  the next part is in ‘Town’, players will ﬁnd themselves
  starting on a new Side Quest in the Forest, then return-
  ing to an old one once they enter Town again.
  This
  format will soon have them engaged with multiple plot-
  arcs at the same time. The party can often engage with
  these quests by seeking out a particular area, or going
  to preset locations, but if they choose the ignore any
  plot hooks then that’s ﬁne – the plot will march on and
  conclude one way or another without their input.
  If you want to run Side Quests as a secondary part
  of your game, you can just run them any time the group
  doesn’t get a random encounter.
  If you want them to be the primary mover in your
  campaign, you can run a Side Quest every time the group
  enters a new area. You can also make one plot line the
  primary quest by making it longer than the others.
  However you run them, players should each receive 5
  XP for completing a Side Quest for each part the party
  engaged with. A 2 part Side Quest grants 10 XP, while
  a 4 part Side Quest grants 20 XP.
  
  86
  CHAPTER 10. GAMES MASTERS
  Anatomy of Side Quests
  Side Quests often begin with an example to introduce
  the players to the scene. This example won’t work for
  every group in just any situation, but provides a starting
  point to picture how things might play out.
  As you sit down to write your ﬁrst Side Quest,
  you are assaulted by a blank white page!
  After that, you’ll ﬁnd details such as the NPCs, with
  their stats and motives.
  After the Side Quests have ﬁnished, you’ll ﬁnd details
  of any locations relevant to the Side Quests.
  Side Quests should never require characters going to
  a speciﬁc location, since they are something which hap-
  pen to the party, but Side Quests can still reference an
  area, such as the local priest’s church, or the sacred lake
  which the elves guard.
  Preparation
  Rolling up Encounters and Side Quests beforehand can
  really get a game rolling, and you’ll have more opportu-
  nity to integrate those encounters together. You’ll ﬁnd
  space on your GM sheet (back of the book) to write down
  a couple of Encounters and Side Quests per area.
  Once a Side Quest becomes available, tick the box
  next to it in the miniature table of contents (the ﬁrst
  one is ticked by default). Once you have completed a
  part, mark it with an ‘X’ and dish out the XP.
  SECTION 10.3
  The Undead
  Undead creatures have certain properties in common.
  Firstly they imperceptibly feed from the souls of the liv-
  ing. This is not performed with the mouth by merely by
  being close to dying things and absorbing them before
  they can wander to the next realm. Undead eyes gen-
  erally do not work, instead they ‘see’ the souls of peo-
  ple shining outward. Inanimate objects such as books,
  or even fellow undead, are not so clearly seen; the un-
  dead can avoid bumping into these objects but have
  great trouble reading anything or working ﬁne machin-
  ery. However, they can operate in complete darkness and
  even ﬁght without penalty, using the light of living peo-
  ple’s souls to see them. They can also see living beings
  from a great distance due to the soul-light they emit.
  Undead also feel no pain and suﬀer little from scrapes
  and bruises. As a result, they automatically have a DR
  of 2 which is cumulative with armour. This counts as
  Complete armour, but not Perfect – shots through their
  eyes or attacks which sever muscles still debilitate them.
  The undead do not tire – they take no Fatigue Points.
  They can walk or dig or ﬁght endlessly, without com-
  plaint. They enjoy feeding on souls, but it is not required
  for them to continue moving. Each has an Aggression
  score of +2.
  When the undead are newly created, they are clumsy,
  as they are not used to their own bodies, and suﬀer a -2
  penalty to Dexterity. Shortly afterwards, rigour mortis
  sets in, and then decay. Any undead more than a few
  hours old gain a -2 penalty to their Speed Bonus, but
  lose the Dexterity penalty.
  SECTION 10.4
  GM Suggestions
  Fast Initiative & Good Pacing
  You can give a good pace to combat by hollaring the
  Initiative count.
  “Twelve! The gnolls ready their weapons”
  “Eleven, ten! They move forward, bearing
  their yellowed teeth.”
  “Nine! Snarls abound as they speed up to a
  rush.”
  Nothing has actually happened by this point, but it
  sets the scene nicely.
  “Nine”, one of the players shout. “I’m going
  at nine. I move to protect Max.”
  “Two gnolls go for you, another two go for
  Amelia. Roll to defend at TN 11.”
  The initiative continues down quickly at all times,
  and the count always provides a sense of urgency.
  If
  players don’t notice it’s their turn when you’re shout-
  ing, that’s 1 Initiative point lost. Do it once, and they’ll
  never make the same mistake again.
  Damage, Death & Dismemberment
  Losing HP is a massive, screaming deal in BIND. It’s
  easy to take habits over from other games where losing
  one’s liver is all part of a normal Tuesday afternoon but
  here PCs should lose FP, then attempt to ﬂee and only in
  the most dire situations should they start to bleed. Dam-
  age which doesn’t hit home can be brushed over with a
  brief note about ‘avoiding the swing’ but if anyone loses a
  single Hit Point the GM should grind the description and
  combat to a halt to emphasise exactly how eyeball pop-
  pingly, knee-cap shatteringly painful and side-splittingly
  debilitating a knife can be. Take your time. Make the
  
  10.4. GM SUGGESTIONS
  87
  words secrete congealed blood. If the PCs start to lose
  HP and don’t realise how serious this situation is they
  might perish where they otherwise would have run away
  to ﬁght another day.
  If a PC dies, the player should be slotted into the
  adventure at the next available opportunity with a new
  character. If there is no plausible way to insert another
  character any time soon, consider providing an NPC for
  them to play - it doesn’t need to be one with amazing
  Traits, just someone who can speak and interact with the
  world. All unspent XP from the old character should be
  given to the new one, allowing the player to boost the
  NPC or save up more for when they ﬁnally make their
  own character.
  If the PC is wounded to the point of being useless
  then that player is not going to have a lot of fun with the
  character. If possible, the player should be given a new
  character for that one adventure, but all XP gained can
  be kept and given to the old character at the end of the
  adventure. To put it another way, players, rather than
  characters, hold XP values which can then be placed on
  any character.
  Rollplay Before Roleplay
  It’s hard to play ‘the social character’. You put all your
  XP into a high Charisma score because you want to build
  alliances and understand people, then the GM asks you
  to roleplay the encounter and all that comes out is your
  natural stutter.
  It’s also hard playing a non-social character.
  You
  have been lumped with a character with a Charisma
  Penalty of -4 and by all the gods you intend to role-
  play it, so it’s time to ask the town master which lady
  he stole his robe from and then wipe your mouth with
  the tablecloth. But the other players are not impressed;
  all they can see is someone intentionally ruining the en-
  counter rather than the fun-loving, amazing improviser
  that you are.
  Consider the following solution: tell the players that
  if they wish to speak, they must roll Charisma plus Em-
  pathy or Wits plus Whatever, then set the TN for the
  encounter. Getting information from the drunken pa-
  tron of a temple of Alass¨e might be TN 4 while get-
  ting a noble to stop and give everyone a hand might be
  TN 10.
  The player should not declare the result but
  make a mental note of the roll’s Margin. If the Margin
  is high, they should conﬁdently roleplay someone say-
  ing just what the situation appears to demand. On the
  other hand, if the roll was not only a failure but had
  a high Failure Margin, they should attempt to roleplay
  the worst kinds of insults – perhaps because the charac-
  ter is genuinely mean-spirited, perhaps because they are
  making persistent, accidental faux-pas.
  This method of players rolling before roleplaying to
  indicate their roll gives value to the social characters’
  Traits and legitimacy to the antics of more socially
  clumsy players saying all the wrong things.
  The roll
  of the dice also acts as a way of saying ‘I am about to
  speak’, so people can pace conversation without inter-
  ruption.
  NPC Fights
  Add a few too many NPCs to a ﬁght and you can end
  up either being a stumped GM or having players wait
  for you to roll an awful lot of dice on your own.
  “The goblin platoon start throwing more spears, but
  then from the side, the garrison of guards burst into the
  cavern’s entrance to join you.”
  If you need a quick approximation of a massive bat-
  tle, just have each NPC deal its own XP value in Dam-
  age each round (ignoring DR). A guard worth 10 XP
  who ﬁghts with the characters deals 10 Damage, which
  could mean killing a single creature with 10 Damage, or
  could mean ﬁnishing oﬀ 2 creatures the characters have
  already wounded, by dealing each one 5 Damage.
  The GM thinks for a moment.
  That’s 30 goblins
  and 12 guards. The twelve guards deal 10 Damage each,
  killing 10 goblins, then the 20 remaining goblins deal 20
  Damage, killing 2 guards and wounding another.
  If two NPCs ﬁght, whichever individual has the high-
  est single XP deals Damage ﬁrst. So if ten soldiers worth
  10XP each ﬁght a basilisk worth 24XP, the basilisk
  would deal 24 Damage, killing 3 soldiers. On the next
  turn, the 7 remaining soldiers would deal 70 Damage,
  killing the basilisk.
  “The guards spill in, massacring the goblin horde.
  You see some surrounded, and spears driven into them,
  but the rest keep ﬁghting.”
  Obviously, this system is not going to represent any-
  thing with much accuracy, but it’s better than halting a
  game so you can roll dice for twenty minutes alone.
  Tactics
  Nobody like an opponent who’s always letting them win.
  A GM pulling out three basilisks on new PCs is bad form,
  but it’s even worse when the players are allowed to win
  by poor tactics.
  
  88
  CHAPTER 10. GAMES MASTERS
  Basic Tactics
  Basic tactics include two things: it’s best to focus all at-
  tacks on single targets, and it’s good to ﬂank opponents
  whenever possible.
  If the PCs have left their anterior side exposed, ene-
  mies should spend initiative points to move to their side
  and allow half the group to ﬂank the PCs. Don’t parcel
  up opponents in a fair and even-handed way – they’re
  there to destroy the players, so set them all against one,
  and if that player wants their character to survive, they’d
  best move back, or the other PCs had better guard them.
  If the PCs want to survive, they’ll need to take start
  stepping back at the right time, guarding each other,
  and killing faster.
  Illusions
  Whether players are attempting to use illusions in com-
  bat, or trying to attack your NPCs’s illusions, the same
  rules apply; everyone attacks on the same initiative click.
  If the players are attempting to attack the illusion of an
  armoured knight, the (illusory) armoured knight gets a
  low initiative counter, and any players acting at a par-
  ticular step attack him. If they hit (and they probably
  will), the illusion is vanquished, and the players are left
  with a wasted action.
  Similarly, if a player attempts to cast an illusion of a
  strong man, and the horde of twenty goblins are acting
  on initiative 5, then each of them will attach the knight,
  and each of them pay the Initiative cost for attacking.
  Advanced Tactics
  So you have twenty goblins facing oﬀ against four of the
  PCs, but the PCs have plate armour, a round shield, and
  a bad attitude. They’re invincible. Their total Evasion
  Bonus is +7. The battle looks hopeless, despite the gob-
  lins’ tenacity, hunger, and greater numbers. Now is the
  time to think tactically.
  First, have the goblins attack with the Blind Rage
  manoeuvre, in the Aggressive stance.1 The ﬁrst couple
  may die, but only one needs to hit. They jump at one
  character’s face and attempt to wrestle them. It’s not
  hard to pull a single goblin oﬀ, but while the goblin is
  grappling them, they’ll count as being grappled, allowing
  the others to attack as a Sneak Attack.
  Once multiple goblins are attacking as a Sneak At-
  tack, they’ll each receive +4 to attack, so the TN to
  avoid them could move from 10 to 14, and any that hit
  will gain +2 Damage.
  SECTION 10.5
  The Players
  PC Creation
  For a slightly more even spread of pluses and minuses
  across the party, consider rolling Attributes in pairs
  when making a character.
  As you roll up Strength, you might select Intelligence
  as its opposite, and any gains in one become losses in the
  other.
  Result
  Attribute Bonus
  2
  Strength -3, Intelligence +3
  3
  Strength -2, Intelligence +2
  4-5
  Strength -1, Intelligence +1
  6-8
  Strength 0, Intelligence 0
  9-10
  Strength +1, Intelligence -1
  11
  Strength +2, Intelligence -2
  12
  Strength +3, Intelligence -3
  For each Attribute you roll, you can select any as its
  opposite before rolling.
  PC Death
  When characters die, it can be a real downer for the
  group. They’ve not only lost a companion, but after a
  few sessions, the may have lost a strong member of the
  party.
  Consider letting any dead players make a new
  character with 80% of their previous’ character’s XP.
  1See page 29.
  
  CHAPTER
  APPENDIX A
  Character Creation
  Okay, so you know how to make a character by now. But
  just for reference, let’s get some procedure down:
  1. Roll the dice to determine your race and At-
  tributes. Page 3.
  2. Spend 50 XP on Attributes, Skills, MP, Knacks, et
  c., with the Trait charts below, taking n as the cur-
  rent level of of the Trait (or the number of Knacks,
  or the level of FP). Page 18.
  3. Take 2 items worth 10sp or less, plus 1 item per
  Skill level your character has. Page 19.
  4. Select a God or Code to follow, so you can gain
  XP. Page 41.
  5. Starting money is (3D6 − 5)A+1 × 2Scp, where A
  = levels in Academics and S = combined levels in
  all specialist Skills.
  6. Start the game.
  Result
  Attribute Bonus
  2
  -3
  3
  -2
  4-5
  -1
  6-8
  0
  9-10
  +1
  11
  +2
  12
  +3
  Trait
  Cost
  Attributes
  5 × 2n + 10
  Skills
  5 × (n + 1)
  Combat/ Projectiles
  10 × 2n
  FP Base
  5 × 2n + 5
  MP Base
  5 × 2n
  Magic Sphere
  5 × 2n + 5
  Knack
  5 × (n + 1)
  Race
  Roll
  Race
  Adjustments
  2-3
  Gnoll
  +1 Strength, +1 Speed, -1 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
  4-5
  Dwarf
  +1 Dexterity, -1 Speed
  6-8
  Human
  +1 Strength, -1 Wits
  9-10
  Elf
  +1 Wits, -1 Strength
  11-12
  Gnome
  +1 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity, Strength -2, Speed -1
  89
  
  CHAPTER
  APPENDIX B
  Combat
  Initiative Costs
  Action
  Init. Cost
  – Striking
  Heavy weapon
  8
  Medium weapon
  6
  Light weapon
  4
  Drawing weapon
  2
  – Projectiles
  Crossbow
  3
  Guard Someone
  2
  Improvised projectile
  7
  Reloading
  2
  Shortbow
  4
  Thrown weapon
  4
  – Quick Actions
  Defence
  2
  Keeping Edgy
  2
  Moving
  2
  Speaking
  2
  – Magic
  Use magic item
  8
  Cast a spell
  3+level
  Armour
  DR
  Weight
  Price
  Elvish
  2
  -2
  3 gp
  Padded
  2
  1
  1 sp
  Leather
  3
  0
  5 sp
  Chain
  4
  1
  10 sp
  Plate
  5
  2
  12 gp
  Morale Chart
  TN
  Situation
  -4
  Monsters outnumber characters 3:1.
  -2
  Monsters outnumber characters 2:1.
  +2
  Characters outnumber the monsters.
  +2
  Monster is wounded.
  -2
  Character’s top Strength Bonus is lower
  than the monster’s.
  +2
  Character’s top Strength Bonus is higher
  than the monster’s.
  +1
  Players have displayed awesome magical
  abilities.
  Fatigue Chart
  Action
  Fatigue
  Armour
  Wearing armour inﬂicts 1 Fatigue
  per Weight Rating of the armour.
  Bleeding
  1 Fatigue point per slashing dam-
  age.
  Climbing
  2 Fatigue per square.
  Fighting
  Each
  round
  inﬂicts
  1
  Fatigue
  Point.
  Holding Breath
  2 Fatigue per round.
  Marching
  1 Fatigue point per mile.
  Starving
  Each meal skipped inﬂicts 1 Fa-
  tigue
  plus
  half
  the
  character’s
  Strength Bonus (rounded up).
  Swimming
  Each square swum inﬂicts 1 Fa-
  tigue.
  Total
  Result
  11+
  The characters immediately escape their pursuers.
  10
  The characters escape their pursuers after travelling through two areas.
  9
  The characters escape their pursuers after travelling through three areas.
  8
  The characters are chased through 3 areas and reroll.
  7
  The characters are chased through 2 areas and reroll.
  6
  The characters are chased through 1 area and reroll.
  <5
  The characters are immediately caught.
  90
  
  91
  Light Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Cudgel
  +2
  0
  0
  -3
  Stunning Strike (page 50)
  Dagger
  +1
  0
  +1
  -4
  60cp
  Firepoker
  +1
  +1
  0
  -2
  Finishing Blow (page 49)
  Javelin
  +1
  +2
  0
  -2
  50cp
  Knife
  +1
  0
  0
  -4
  40cp
  Precise Strike (page 49)
  Log
  +1
  -1
  0
  -2
  Rapier
  +1
  +2
  +1
  -2
  15sp
  Rock
  +1
  0
  0
  -5
  Medium Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Boulder
  +4
  -1
  0
  6/8
  Finishing Blow (page 49)
  Chair
  +1
  +1
  +1
  1/ 3
  Club
  +2
  +1
  +1
  2/4
  Great Axe
  +3
  +1
  +1
  3/5
  8 sp
  Great Sword
  +2
  +1
  +2
  3/5
  8 sp
  Large Rock
  +2
  0
  0
  4/6
  Longsword
  +1
  +1
  +3
  1/3
  9 sp
  Shortsword
  +1
  +1
  +2
  -1/1
  6 sp
  Furious Blows (page 49)
  Spear
  +1
  +1
  +2
  0/2
  3 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Quarterstaﬀ
  0
  +1
  +2
  0/2
  2 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Whip
  0
  +2
  0
  -1/ 1
  Wood Axe
  +2
  0
  +1
  -1/1
  1 sp
  Heavy Weapons
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Great Club
  +4
  +1
  +1
  5
  Giant Sword
  +3
  +1
  +2
  5
  15 sp
  Poleax
  +3
  +1
  +1
  5
  6 sp
  First Strike (page 49)
  Shields
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.R
  Cost
  Knacks
  Bucklar Shield
  +0
  0
  +1
  -2
  4 sp
  Solid Defence (page 50)
  Kite Shield
  +1
  0
  +3
  2/4
  8 sp
  Solid Defence, Dodge (page 50)
  Round Shield
  +1
  0
  +2
  0/2
  5 sp
  Solid Defence, Dodge (page 50)
  
  Glossary
  Adventuring Equipment Any of the items typically
  used by adventurers – you can decide exactly
  what this is later. 22
  Area The basic unit of large spaces. An area is a space
  made distinct by its features.
  In a dungeon,
  each room might count as an area, while out in
  the open plains a forest might be composed of
  the local areas: ‘the centre with the big, felled
  tree; the river’s fork; the priestess’s house and
  the griﬃns’ nesting site. 23
  Attribute One of the six Traits which form the basis of
  the character – Strength, Speed, et c. 3
  Copper Piece (cp) The smallest unit of currency. 19
  Downtime This is any long period of time between ad-
  ventures. It gives characters a chance to com-
  plete personal tasks and train in highly techni-
  cal Skills. 11
  Experience Point (XP) An abstract measurement
  of how much valuable experience and learning
  characters have acquired.
  PCs spend XP to
  buy Traits. 3
  Fate Point (FP) A measure of how much luck the char-
  acter has left, used solely to avoid Damage. 8
  Fatigue Point A measure of how tired a character is.
  Characters can put up with a number of Fa-
  tigue Points equal to their HP, after which they
  receive penalties to act. 30
  Games Master (GM) – the person running the game,
  playing all characters except the PCs, creating
  the story and making rulings. Everything rests
  in the hands of the GM. 2, 6
  Gold Piece (gp) One gold piece is worth ten sliver
  pieces. 19
  Hit Points (HP) The basic measure of a character’s
  health. 21
  Mana Point (MP) The “battery power” of a magic
  user, which allows them to power spells. 8
  Miracle Worker A generic term for any magic user
  which the author occasionally employs in a fu-
  tile attempt to seem more high-brow. 13
  Natural Roll A natural roll is a roll where the physi-
  cal dice land on some number. For example, a
  ‘natural 2’ is where both dice come up facing
  1, as opposed to a player gaining the result ‘2’
  from rolling a 3 and getting a -1 penalty. Sim-
  ilarly a ‘natural 12’ is when the dice land on a
  ‘12’ without modiﬁcation. 29
  Non Player Character (NPC) Non Player Character
  – anyone in the world played by the GM rather
  than a player. 16
  Path Each Path of Magic is a diﬀerent way to cast
  spells. Each path has its own available spheres
  of magic and restrictions. 57
  Player Character (PC) – one of the characters run
  by the people playing the game. 3
  Quick Action An action which can skip the normal
  Initiative order but still costs Initiative. Quick
  actions can even be performed when someone
  has a negative Initiative score. 24
  Resting Action An unhurried action, where a charac-
  ter can take time to do something right. 6
  Round A round is an abstract measurement of time
  during which characters can make a series of
  attacks or cast spells. Each new round players
  adjust their combat tactics. 8
  Shield Points (SP) Shield Points – magical shielding
  from the force sphere. 67
  Silver Pieces (sp) One silver piece is worth one hun-
  dred copper pieces. 12
  Skill Some training a character has, allowing them to
  be particularly good at one sort of profession
  or activity. 3
  Sphere One of the types of magic. Each sphere has 5
  levels, each more diﬃcult than the last to ob-
  tain. 58
  Square An abstract unit of measurement. We can imag-
  ine it about two yards long, as wide as the
  squares on your gaming board, or any other
  length. A more story-based game, without a
  board, might imagine each square is a ‘zone’ or
  room – it matters little so long as each square
  is a consistent size. 23
  Standing Spell A spell which stays put once cast for
  as long as the caster wants to maintain it. 57
  Trait Any gaming stat, such as a character’s maximum
  MP, a Skill or an Attribute. 3
  Weight Rating A measure of how heavy something
  is when compared to a character’s Strength
  Bonus. Creatures have a Weight Rating equal
  to their own HP. 21
  92
  
  Index
  XP, 18
  Acquisition, Code, 45
  Aggression, 29
  Alchemist, 8
  Alchemy, 53
  Aldaron, 58
  Areas, 23
  Armour, 28
  Bard, 8
  Blind Rage, 34
  Blindness, 33
  Body Attributes, 5
  Bows, 35
  Brawling, 33
  Camping, 20
  Character Creation, 3, 89
  Chases, 38
  Codes, 45
  Combat, 24
  Blindness, 33
  Brawling, 33
  Drawing Weapons, 34
  Grappling, 34
  Half Swording, 34
  Heavy Weapons, 28
  Holding Oﬀ, 34
  Keeping Edgy, 34
  Medium Weapons, 27
  Passing Attacks, 33
  Perfect Strikes, 29
  Ram, 34
  Sneak Attack, 35
  Spell Casting, 33
  Stacking Damage, 25
  Two Weapons, 35
  Vitals Shots, 28
  Combat Summary, 40
  Conjuration, 60
  Cultures, 79
  Damage, 25
  Darkness, 33
  Death, 26
  Dodge
  Long-range, 34
  Dwarves, 79
  Electrum, 79
  Elves, 80
  Enchantment, 62
  Encounters, 84
  Encumbrance, 21
  Equipment, 19
  Exchange Rates, 21
  Experience Points, 18
  Experience, Code, 45
  Falling, 39
  Fate, 65
  Fate Points, 30
  Fatigue, 30
  Force, 67, 68
  Gnolls, 81
  Gnomes, 82
  Gods, 41
  Alass¨e, 41
  C´al¨e, 42
  Laiqu¨e, 42
  Ohta, 43
  Qualm¨e, 43
  V´er¨e, 44
  Group actions, 16
  Guarding, 34
  Healing, 26
  Hit Points, 26
  Humans, 83
  Illusion, 70
  Invocation, 72
  Landmaster, 83
  Light Weapons, 27
  Magic
  Aldaron, 58
  Fate, 66
  Paths of Magic, 52
  Mana, 56
  Marching, 39
  Margins, 17
  Metamagic, 72
  Mind Attributes, 5
  Money, 19
  Morale, 37
  Movement, 26
  Necromancy, 74
  Paladin, 9
  Physical Attributes, 5
  Platinum, 79
  93
  
  94
  INDEX
  Polymorph, 76
  Projectiles
  Bow, 35
  Crossbow, 36
  Impromptu, 36
  Short Bow, 36
  Thrown Weapons, 36
  Prone, 33
  Race, 3
  Ranged Combat, 35
  Ranger, 9
  Resisted Actions, 16
  Resting, 31
  Rogue, 8
  Runes, 54
  Shield Points, 69
  Shields, 28
  Short Bow, 36
  Simple Actions, 15
  Skills, 5
  Space, 23
  Spell Enhancements
  Bolstered, 77
  Clever, 75
  Empathetic, 77
  Fetid, 75
  Forked, 74
  Gated, 62
  Generous, 66
  Greater, 76
  Independent, 71
  Internal, 72
  Metallic, 61
  Mirrored, 73
  Necrotic, 74
  Negative, 72
  Potent, 74
  Raging, 72
  Ranged, 73
  Realistic, 77
  Sentient, 74
  Solid, 71
  Trans Species, 77
  Transient, 61
  Unrestrained, 62
  Wide, 58
  Squares, 23
  Stance, 29
  Starting Equipment, 22
  Stories, 10
  Teamwork, 16
  Townmaster, 83
  Traits, 3
  Tribe, Code, 45
  Villagemaster, 83
  Vitality Check, 26
  Warrior, 9
  Weight, 21
  
  Describe more.
  Have fun.
  Make good art.
  Campaign
  Premise:
  Season:
  Area:
  Situation
  Player Characters
  Player
  Character
  Concept
  Notes
  Encounters
  Non Players Characters
  Notes
  18
  17
  16
  15
  14
  13
  12
  11
  10
  9
  8
  7
  6
  5
  4
  3
  2
  1
  
  BIND
  Name:
  Player:
  Code:
  Concept:
  Race:
  Culture:
  Attributes
  Penalties
  Bonuses
  Strength
  {zyxHxyz{
  Dexterity
  {zyxHxyz{
  Speed
  {zyxHxyz{
  Intelligence
  {zyxHxyz{
  Wits
  {zyxHxyz{
  Charisma
  {zyxHxyz{
  HP
  G H H H H H H H H H
  J J J J J J J J J J
  Fatigue
  J J J J J J J J J J
  J J J J J
      
  FP
  +Cha
  H H H H H H H H H H
  J J J J J J J J J J
  H H H H H H H H H H
  J J J J J J J J J J
  MP
  +Int
  H H H H H H H H H
  J J J J J J J J J
  18
  17
  16
  15
  14
  13
  12
  11
  10
  9
  8
  7
  6
  5
  4
  3
  2
  1
  Damage
  Initiative
  Strike
  Evasion
  Combat Factors
  Action
  Cost
  Draw Weapon
  2
  Guarding
  2
  Light Weapon
  4
  Med. Weapon
  6
  Projectile
  4
  Use Item
  8
  Spell
  3+lv.
  Quick Actions
  Evasion
  2
  Keep Edgy
  2
  Move
  2
  Speak
  2
  Abilities & Specializations
  Armoury
  Weapon
  Dam.
  Init.
  Ev.
  Wt.
  Knack
  Armour
  DR
  Weight
  Type
  Encumbrance
  Skills
  Combat*
  H H H
  J J J
  Projectiles*
  H H H
  J J J
  Academics*
  H H H
  Athletics
  H H H
  J J J
  Beast Ken*
  H H H
  Crafts*
  H H H
  J J J
  Deceit
  H H H
  Empathy
  H H H
  Medicine*
  H H H
  Performance*
  H H H
  Larceny
  H H H
  Stealth
  H H H
  Survival*
  H H H
  J J J
  Tactics*
  H H H
  Vigilance
  H H H
  H H H
  H H H
  J J J
  Spheres
  JJJJJ
  JJJJJ
  JJJJJ
  JJJJJ
  Equipment
  CP
  SP
  GP
  Total XP
  Remaining XP
  Knacks
  
  stories
  companions
  notes
  Stories
  Story Points
  JJJJJJ J
  
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