Gods & Monsters

A fantasy game by Jerry Stratton

What is this game?

In “Gods & Monsters”, you and your friends take the role of fantasy heroes. Your heroes will meet, outsmart, and fight fantastic creatures, strange beings, and perhaps even representatives of the gods themselves. You will solve puzzles and riddles, and guide your heroes through the uncharted vistas of your imagination.

Most of the action in Gods & Monsters takes place within the minds of the players. The Guide describes what the heroes see, and the players describe what their heroes do in response.

Sometimes you will roll dice to determine how successful your heroes’ actions are, and you can use your heroes’ mojo to help ensure success.

Where the hand-scrawled sign warns “beyond here lie dragons,” your stories begin.

Jerry Stratton

http://www.godsmonsters.com/

July 10, 2008

Gods & Monsters copyright © 2008 Jerry Stratton. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1, published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”

What do I Need?

Besides this rulebook, you’ll want a notebook for writing your character’s information in and for remembering details about your character’s adventures. You’ll want a pencil so that you can write things down and easily change them and a pencil sharpener to keep your pencil sharp.

You will also need a set of dice. Look for a 10-die set: it will include one each of all the dice, plus an extra ten-sided die (for rolling d100) and three extra six-sided dice (for rolling abilities). You can also buy your dice separately. You’ll want four six-sided dice, one eight-sided die, one ten-sided die, one ten-sided die with tens on it, and one twenty-sided die. If you’re a completist, a sorceror, or an Adventure Guide, you’ll also want a four-sided die and a twelve-sided die. Any game store will have them.

Go to http://www.godsmonsters.com/Dice/ for a demonstration of what these dice look like and how to read them.

Players and Guides

There must be at least three players, four is usually best, and five is fine. Four is often best, because it provides the opportunity to roleplay a narrative of three unique heroes: warrior, thief, and mage.

One of the players will be the Adventure Guide. The Adventure Guide will present the adventures to the rest of the players, who will take the role of heroes in this fantasy world.

If the characters enter a town, the people living in that town are the Guide’s responsibility. If the characters open a trapped chest, the Guide not only knows what the trap is, but also what treasures or horrors are inside the chest. The Guide may choose to use treasures, horrors, towns, or complete adventures that were written by someone else. But the effectiveness and tenor of the adventure remain the Guide’s responsibility.

This is not to say that players cannot offer input to the Guide, nor that the Guide may not request such input. Both are recommended. But in the end, the Guide is the world that the characters interact with.

Narration

Gods & Monsters is a game. You roll dice to see if your character in the game is successful at doing adventurous things. Your character has resources. You will use those resources to gain more resources. Just like betting chips in poker, if you use too many resources (such as survival points) your character might die; use too few and your character won’t advance. You’ll use strategy in Gods & Monsters just as you would in Hearts or Yahtzee. You will maneuver your character into situations where their resources are most effective.

One of the cool things about role-playing games is the role-playing. You tell the Adventure Guide, “my character’s going to jump the fence” and then you roll the dice to find out if your character successfully jumped the fence. Or, “I’m going to try to convince the old man to tell us where the xolome went. I’ll offer him a little food first, and I’ll talk softly, and be very comforting.” Then you roll and see if your character is successful, or maybe your role-playing hit all the right buttons and the Adventure Guide just says “yes, you succeed” and then describes what happens.

In Gods & Monsters, much of the role-playing comes from your narration of what your character does. There are three kinds of narration:

Describe what your character is trying to do. The most basic narration is when you tell everyone what your character’s actions are. Whether it’s attacking a demon, sermonizing to a crowd, or offering food to a beggar, it doesn’t really happen unless you tell everyone that it happens. Also, when you describe what your character is doing, you’re really describing what your character is trying to do. Some things will be easy enough that when your character tries them, they are automatically successful. Other things are more difficult, and for those you’ll need to roll dice to see if your character is successful.

When you are describing what your character is trying to do, you can also describe how your character is trying to do it. Instead of saying “I’m going to search for a trap in this room”, you might say “ I’m going to search for a trap behind the tapestry.” This kind of narration can both help and hurt your chance of success. If the trap is, in fact, behind the tapestry, you’ll get a bonus on your die roll. If the trap is obvious once the tapestry is removed, you won’t even have to roll. If the trap is not behind the tapestry, however, you’ll either get a penalty or won’t have any chance of success.

Explain why your character is doing it. In fiction, there’s only one writer, so actions lead inexorably to the “correct” consequences. But in Gods & Monsters the Adventure Guide doesn’t necessarily know what consequences you’re hoping for from your character’s actions. If you’re offering food to a beggar in the hopes that the beggar will tell you whether he saw anything out of the ordinary, for example, you need to tell the Adventure Guide this. Or if you’ve decided that the beggar is really the prince your character has been looking for, you should explain how you or your character came to that conclusion.

Describe the success or failure of your attempt. After your character succeeds or fails, the Adventure Guide will sometimes describe how your character succeeded or failed, and sometimes will simply say that your character succeeded or failed. This gives you the opportunity to describe how your character succeeded or failed. You don’t need to do this; it isn’t in any way necessary. It can, however, sometimes be fun to describe how, for example, the nail snapped after your character hit their thumb with the hammer. Brevity is the soul of this stage of narration: the action has passed, and it is time to move on to the next scene.

Players and Characters

You as a player will play your character in the game. Characters in Gods & Monsters advance through a series of adventures. You will begin the game by assigning abilities, skills, and other capabilities to your character. Throughout your character’s first adventure you will add further capabilities. For the rest of the game your character will use those capabilities to defeat opponents, solve problems, and complete further adventures.

Your character will (if they survive their adventures) advance through a series of experience levels. At each new level, you will have the opportunity to assign new capabilities to your character’s repertoire. Each new level is a new chapter or book in your character’s story.

As you play the game, you will describe to the other players what your character is doing. During a game session, Sandy, playing the sorceror Gralen Noslen, might tell the group that “Gralen casts a spell of dazed enchantment on the Orcs”. Gralen is the one casting the spell. Sandy is probably just rolling dice. Each player will very likely end up playing multiple characters over time, as one character retires, dies, or temporarily goes off in another direction from the rest of the group. But when Sandy says that she’s going off into the kitchen to get a soda, that’s Sandy saying that, not Gralen.

There is also a difference between “player characters” and “non-player characters”. “Player characters” hold a special place in Gods & Monsters. They are the heroes and anti-heroes of the story. The game really does revolve around them. This doesn’t mean that the game is necessarily going to give them any special breaks--sometimes it will, sometimes it won’t. But the game does exist for their players’ amusement. If the players go somewhere else, the game ceases to exist.

Because the game, like a movie camera, focuses on the player characters, it gives them extra chances of survival in the form of survival, verve, mojo, and reaction rolls.

Here are some sample characters. I’ll be referring back to these characters as examples throughout the rules.

When thinking about the character you want to play, you should also be talking with the other players about what they want to play.

What does it mean to play a character?

Your character is the main character in a story. As a Gods & Monsters player, your part of the game is to find that story, to create it. This is not the Adventure Guide’s story; it is yours. The Guide doesn’t have a story, only a situation. It is up to you to create a narrative out of that situation. You need to create your character’s plot thread.

In any story, what matters are the special abilities of the main character. So, look at what your character can do, and think up scenarios for how those abilities might be helpful. Some of those scenarios will not pan out; that’s the life of an author. When one scenario doesn’t bring results, think up slightly different scenarios and think up radically different scenarios.

For example, you might be trying to solve the riddle of what happened in an ancient, deserted manor. You look at your character’s spell list and think, maybe “see whole” would be useful here. Maybe there’s something broken or torn that can be put together. Where would I be able to find such things? How would they have been preserved in all this time, after the building has been emptied? Perhaps some small animal took them away into its lair to nest with. If that’s your scenario, you look for nests. Or, perhaps they fell behind something that couldn’t be moved. Is there such a thing here? Look behind it.

Take the Adventure Guide’s descriptions into account. If it’s an empty house and you keep hearing rats, you might make the scenario “my character finds a lost item in a rat’s nest”. You then keep an eye out for places that rats might build nests.

Maybe your special ability is to beat things up. Who or what, that you could beat up, would help you further your character’s thread and make your character matter? Where would those persons or creatures be? What signs would indicate their presence? Start looking for those signs, and start asking the Guide about them.

Pay attention to the adventure’s backstory. If your character beats things up and the backstory involves goblin ambushes in this area, you might create the scenario “my characters foils a goblin ambush while we’re traveling through this area”. Start paying attention to places where goblins might hold an ambush.

Sometimes your first attempt will fail. You’ll look in the rafters in the first room of a four-room attic and find nothing. If it was a good narrative, don’t give up. Look in the rafters in all four rooms. If it was a flawed narrative, modify it. If you think of a better narrative, use the new one instead of (or in addition to) the old one. But don’t give up too easily. Characters in stories persevere. There are always false starts and slow starts. Characters become main characters because they don’t give up. They ensure that their special abilities matter.

Your goal is to make your character matter in the narrative. If one scenario doesn’t work, try a different one. Later, as your character gains additional abilities, keep two or three scenarios in mind at a time, looking for the things that would trigger those scenarios, occasionally modifying those scenarios according to what you hear from the Guide.

One tool that you have as a player to ensure that your scenarios make sense is that mojo use must always matter. You’ll find out about mojo later, but if you are willing to spend mojo to be successful, the Guide must tell you if your success doesn’t matter, giving you the opportunity to back out of spending the mojo. If you’re barking up the wrong tree, chasing a red herring, or otherwise following the wrong clichéd path, the Guide must tell you this if you successfully bid mojo on a roll to follow that path.

Rolling Dice

The most common dice you’ll be using in “Gods & Monsters” are the “d20” and the “d6”. You’ll use the “d20” on its own. This is a die with twenty sides, ranging from “1” to “20”.

You’ll usually use more than one “d6” and add them together. If you see the term “3d6”, this means to roll three six-sided dice. Unless the rules say otherwise, you’ll add those three dice together. If you roll a “3”, a “6”, and a “5”, this is a “14”.

You will also use four-sided dice (“d4”), eight-sided dice (“d8”), ten-sided dice (“d10”), and twelve-sided dice (“d12”), usually for things like survival points and weapon damage. You might see “2d4” for rolling two four-sided dice and adding them together, or “1d8” for rolling one eight-sided die. For all dice except d4, you read the top number (just as you do on a d6). The d4 doesn’t have a top number, so you read the bottom number, which is usually printed along the sides.

Adventure Guides will sometimes use a “d100”. It is unlikely that you have a hundred-sided die. You’ll generate a number from 1 to 100 by rolling two ten-sided dice of different colors or sizes. One of the dice will be the “tens” die, and the other will be the “ones” die. If you roll a “1” and a “9”, this is “19”. If you roll a “4” and a “2”, this is “42”. If you roll two zeroes, this is “100”. Most of the time when you are rolling d100, you are checking a percentage. So if something happens 65% of the time and you roll less than or equal to 65, this something has happened. If you roll 66 or greater, this something has not happened.

Go to http://www.godsmonsters.com/Dice/ for an interactive demonstration of what these dice look like and how to read them.

Create Your Hero

What do I need to do?

Your Gods & Monsters character will be one of five heroic archetypes: a Warrior, Thief, Sorceror, Prophet, or Monk. You will embellish that archetype using Specialties and Fields.

When you create your character, think about what kind of a hero you wish to play. Some things about your character you’ll choose. Others, you’ll roll randomly using dice.

1. As a group, decide on goals for the game and choose one to three goals for your character.

2. Choose a moral code for your character.

3. Choose an archetype: a warrior, thief, sorceror, prophet, or monk. You might also choose a specialty now, but you don’t have to. A specialty is some special ability that your character has, such as having a familiar or being an Elf.

4. Roll dice to find your character’s six abilities: strength, agility, endurance, wisdom, intelligence, charisma.

5. Read the checklist for your character’s archetype. It will help with the next few items.

6. Write down your character’s survival and verve.

7. Apply your character’s specialty, writing down any special abilities or restrictions it gives your character.

8. Write down your character’s first level mojo.

9. Choose your character’s initial fields and skills.

10. Write down your characters starting money.

11. Describe your character: what does your character look like, what is their background, why are they adventuring, which other characters does your character know, and why?

If you haven’t done so yet, you may wish to read The Order of the Astronomers for one idea of the kinds of things that can happen in a Gods & Monsters game.

Why are we playing this game?

The first thing you’ll want to do is talk with your friends and decide what the game will be about. You don’t need to get into details--your Adventure Guide will handle the details--but you’ll need to all be on the same page. For example, you might decide that this game will be about the quest for knowledge, or small-town heroes make good, black sheep redeem themselves, or military squabbling among nations.

Your game can be about a plot, such as “city resists invasion” or about a style, such as “old-style dungeon crawl”.

It should take five to fifteen minutes to talk about this. Once you’ve got the basic idea for the game down, there are three things you’ll want to talk about as a group, and choose as a group: your goals, your moral codes, and your archetypes.

Goals

Take a sheet of paper. On the back, write “goals”. Take five to ten minutes to choose your character’s goals.

Goals help to ensure that all players are on the same page, and they guide you as you create your character. You should choose one to three simple goals for your character. If this is a short game, a “one-shot”, you’ll choose one goal. If it’s a longer game, you’ll choose two or three.

Goals can be an abstract idea or a specific object. These are the things that your character strives to own, possess, or somehow have. Your character’s goal might, for example, be one or more of knowledge, power, heroism, wealth, contentment, family, revenge, war, glory, peace, fulfillment, love, solace, redemption, or adventure.

At least one goal should be a goal that drives the character to adventure with the other characters. That goal might be as simple as “adventure” but it might also be more specific, such as “knowledge” or “glory”, that reflects the kinds of adventures the group wants.

All of the character’s goals should in some way drive the character to action. Combined, they make up the character’s “story”, the theme for this character if this were a novel.

Often, the group (or the Adventure Guide) will set one goal that every character should have. If so, you’ll write that goal down for your character and then choose one or two other goals as well. For a moderately more interesting game, the group might decide that all characters should either have a specific goal (such as knowledge) or a goal that ties them to a character who does have that goal, such as loyalty or friendship.

Abstract goals should almost always be one word. You’ll expand upon that word in your character’s backstory.

One of your goals might also be a specific, named thing, such as a lost heirloom, a kidnapped friend, or a place. In this case, write down that thing’s name, even if it takes more than one word. Or it might be a desire tied to a person, such as a desire to impress them, earn their love, overcome them, or outdo them.

You may find it easiest to arrange your character’s goals in order from most important to least important. If your group specifies a goal that each character has, that goal should be first or second.

Your character’s goals can change as you play the game. For example, some goals are achievable and once achieved are no longer goals. If your character finds the lost family heirloom, that might no longer be an important goal for your character.

Depending how important the goal is, how it was achieved, and what other goals the character has, the character may become temporarily “lost” when that goal is acquired. What this means and how it affects your character is up to you: goals have no affect on the game’s rules. They’re there to help you and your Adventure Guide understand your character.

If the group decides on a group goal that all characters should have, that goal shouldn’t change unless the entire group decides it should change. Or unless you want that character to ride off into the sunset and be replaced with a new character that shares the group’s goal.

Adventure Guide

If you haven’t yet done so, you’ll need to choose one member of the group to be the Adventure Guide. The Adventure Guide will not create a hero of their own. The Guide will create the adventures that challenge the heroes. The Guide will act the part of most of the non-player characters, and the fortunes and fates that the characters meet. They will represent the world in which the heroes find adventure. The player chosen as the Guide should read the Adventure Guide’s Handbook for more information about being an Adventure Guide.

The Guide may also wish to read the adventures that can be downloaded for Gods & Monsters. The other players should not read these adventures, as it spoils the surprises and contests that the adventure contains.

Moral Codes

There is a lot more about moral code later in the book; it has its own section, and you’ll want to read it. A character’s moral code is their morality in the Gods & Monsters fantasy world. Good characters are honest, Evil characters are selfish, Chaotic characters value personal freedom, and Ordered characters value community well-being.

Player characters should almost always be Good if they have a moral code. They can be only good, or they can be Chaotic Good or Ordered Good. As a group, you may wish to decide whether you want Chaotic or Ordered characters, or a mix. This will depend on the goals of the game and what the game is about.

Archetypes and Specialties

It’s always a good idea to talk about the archetypes you’re going to want in your group, so that you know who wants to play which archetype and you know which of the mental archetypes (Sorceror, Prophet, and Monk) are available.

If there are four players, one will be the Adventure Guide, one will play a Warrior, one will play a Thief, and one will play one of the available mental archetypes. If there are only three players, one of the player characters must be a physical archetype, and one must be a mental archetype. If there are five players, the extra player can play a warrior, a thief, or one of the remaining mental archetypes (but not the same one already being played). If there are six players, the extra player can choose any archetype that isn’t already being played by two players.

Some archetypes won’t be available in your game’s world. The physical archetypes, warrior and thief, will always be available to play. But of the mental archetypes, often only one or two will be available for play. You’ll want to discuss this as a group: what kind of magic do you want to encounter?

In some fantasy worlds, only one of the “magical archetypes” will be available. In others, two or three will be available, but some will be extremely rare. It’s up to you as a group what kind of world your characters live in.

Sometimes the world will dictate the kind of magic available. If you’re adventuring in a Burroughsian world, you’ll probably need Monks available so as to have psychic powers in the game. If you’re adventuring in a world similar to ancient Greece, you’ll want prophets, and perhaps sorcerors.

Numbers

Throughout this game you will have “scores” and “levels” and other numbers that describe your character’s prowess and competence. The higher these numbers are, the better your character is at whatever the number describes.

The reason that higher numbers are better is that whenever your character does something at which there is a chance of failure, you will roll dice (usually a d20) and compare the number on that die to one of those scores. If the die comes up lower than the score or equal to the score, your character succeeds at the task.

For example, you might decide that your character is going to climb a rope thirty feet into a tower. The Adventure Guide tells you that this requires a Strength roll. You’ll roll d20 and if the die comes up less than or equal to your character’s Strength, your character successfully climbed the rope. If your character has a 13 Strength and you roll 11, you’ve succeeded by 2. If you roll 18, you’ve failed by five.

Sometimes there will be modifiers. For example, if the rope is slippery the Adventure Guide may say that this is a difficult task and give you a penalty to your strength. If you have a skill for climbing, that skill might give you a bonus for climbing the rope.

When circumstances, such as that the rope is slippery, affect your character’s chance of success, you won’t always know what that penalty (or bonus) is. Sometimes it will become obvious once you attempt the action. Other times it will not.

Ability Scores

On the front of your sheet of paper, make a space for your Charisma, Intelligence, Wisdom, Endurance, Agility, and Strength. These are your six ability scores. Each score ranges from 3 to 18.

Roll 4d6 six times, throwing out the lowest die in each case, to generate six numbers from 3 to 18. For example, rolling 2, 6, 4, and 3 will result in 13: we throw out the lowest number, the ‘two’. Six, four, and three added together give us thirteen.

Once you’ve rolled your six numbers, assign the numbers as desired to each ability.

At least one ability score must be nine or higher in order to choose an archetype. Any player can, after they roll, choose to throw out all of their rolls and instead use 15, 13, 12, 10, 8, and 7 as their rolls.

Mental Abilities

Charisma

Charisma measures leadership, self-confidence, and interpersonal skills (noticing how to act and react to others). Charisma is not physical appearance, although physical oddments that would cause ugliness in less charismatic individuals may add ‘character’ to the charismatic individual.

Charisma is not popularity. It is a measure of a character’s facility in interacting with others. A character with a high charisma is better able to perceive social constructs and the intricacies of interpersonal situations, and can, but does not have to, use this to be liked better. A character with a high charisma doesn’t have to be popular. It’s their choice, or at least more their choice than if they have a low charisma. Any character can try to be popular, hated, respected, or feared. A character with high charisma will be more successful at the attempt. A character with a low charisma who does lots of popular things might very well be liked by most people--even though the character would prefer to “strike fear in the hearts of men”. And this popularity will be fickle.

Like the other abilities, charisma has a lot bundled up with it, and leadership is the next biggest chunk of charisma. A character with a high charisma is not only better able to get their commands obeyed, they are more competent at being in command. Some may command through fear, others through respect, but the best commanders in the field have been highly charismatic, even to the point that some are not just respected but loved by the enemy population.

Intelligence

Intelligence is a character’s learning ability and ability to assimilate knowledge and remember facts. Characters with a high intelligence will tend to know more and learn new things faster. They will take all the facts at hand and rationally sift through them to find a course of action that they believe is best. A character with high intelligence is likely to be more curious than a character of low intelligence.

Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability to make moral decisions (‘tell good from evil’). Wisdom is also the courage of one’s convictions. It not only helps your character determine the right thing to do, it also gives your character the courage to perform the right act--however your character defines it.

Wisdom is also common sense, especially where common sense conflicts with learned knowledge. Wisdom might also be considered “intuition”. A character with a high wisdom can make good decisions without necessarily thinking logically through all the facts at hand. The wise decision will be the right thing to do, but not necessarily the most efficient or advantageous.

Physical Abilities

Endurance

Endurance is sort of a character’s “long term strength”. It is the ability to keep going, physically, as everyone else drops out of the race. It is the ability to stand against harm, disease, and discomfort. Characters with high endurance will tend to endure adversity longer and get sick less often, and will be able to withstand the rigors of battle for longer periods of time.

Agility

Agility is the character’s manual dexterity and overall speed. Running, acrobatics, and musical instruments all demand high agility. The agile character can move quickly and surely.

Strength

Strength is the character’s ability to lift, to bend, and to break things. The higher their strength, the more they than can lift. Characters with higher strength will be more powerful in battle, able to defeat their foes more quickly.

Ability Modifiers

Often, a roll or score will use abilities to modify the number associated with the roll or score. The ability can be a “major” contributor to the number or a “minor” contributor to the number.

In this table, any number with a ‘dash’ is a penalty to the action: it must always hinder. A number with a ‘+’ is a bonus to the action: it must always help. So, if Tony, playing Toromeen, needs to make a roll less than or equal to 6, modified by endurance (major) and by charisma (minor), this will be 6 with a bonus of 2 (endurance) and a penalty of 0 (charisma). So Tony needs to roll 8 or less for Toromeen to succeed at this particular task.

The “Special” column is used mostly for other species, some of which get bonuses based merely on the existence of an ability.

Character Archetypes

An archetype is the character’s role in the story. It is not the character’s profession or vocation. The character might well have been a smith, miner, or scholar before becoming involved in the adventure. Their community will probably still consider them a smith, miner, or scholar. But their role in the story is warrior, thief, sorceror, prophet, or monk.

Archetypes only apply to the adventurers and other major characters. Most other people are just their jobs, with no archetype at all.

There are five archetypes, each associated with one of the six ability scores and one of the six reactions.

As your character increases level, their archetypal reaction will improve faster than their other reactions.

* The character must have an ability score of at least 9 in their archetypal ability to become that archetype.

* Warriors begin the game with Fighting Art at +1 to the field. Everyone else begins with Fighting Art at zero.

* A character’s verve is affected by their archetypal ability and their verve contributor (see later).

After you go through your archetype’s checklist, you’ll also gain some initial resources for your character, such as skills and money.

Warrior

Warriors fight and make war. Their goals may be to avoid fights and make peace, but the skills they use to do this are their fighting skills and battlefield prowess.

Create Your First Level Warrior

A Warrior must have a strength of at least 9. Your Warrior begins the game with five survival points modified by endurance as a major contributor, and five verve points modified by strength and intelligence as minor contributors.

Your Warrior has the Fighting Arts field at +1. Within the Fighting Arts, your character knows the unarmed combat and unfamiliar weapons skills.

Choose one specialty. Choose a moral code. Choose one to three goals for your character.

Determine any other statistics you need to know about your character, such as reactions, surprise, defense, age, height, weight, movement, and carry.

If you have not already done so, create a backstory for your character.

Warrior Combat Bonus

Warriors may use their attack bonuses for more than just increasing their attack roll. They can also use it to avoid being hit, to hit first, or to hit more than one target at a time. A warrior may convert up to twice level attack bonuses into more general combat bonuses. A third level warrior could convert all three of their warrior attack bonuses into combat bonus points, as well as up to three other attack bonuses (such as attacking from higher ground or attacking an unaware opponent).

Warriors may “save up” points across rounds, as long as the total combat points saved and converted in one round never exceed twice their level (if it does, the extras are lost). A second level warrior might save their two points due to level in order to have four points every other round and gain an extra attack every other round. Saved points are lost when combat ends.

Combat bonus points are allocated on a per-round basis, and apply to all attacks that round. If a ninth level warrior applies four points to gain an additional attack, two points to increase damage, and leaves an attack bonus of three, the additional damage and bonus to the attack roll apply to both attacks that round.

The bonus to throw off surprise does not apply to the original surprise roll, since there was no opportunity to convert combat bonus points before being surprised.

Combat bonus points applied to damage with unarmed combat styles (such as simple unarmed combat or martial arts combat) do not directly increase damage. They increase the size of the die used for damage. For each damage bonus, the die is increased along the damage progression chart, starting from d2 or d3 to d4, from d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, or d10 to d12. Beyond d12, damage bonuses are applied as normal: modifiers to the damage rolled on the dice.

Fighting Arts

Warriors begin the game with the Fighting Art field at +1. They have the Fighting Art skills unarmed combat, all weapons, and unfamiliar weapons.

Thief

Thieves are masters of stealth, pilfering, and misdirection. Some thieves may specialize in one area or another, but all rely on their agility and cunning. Archetypal thieves are not always criminals: they might be scouts or spies.

Create Your First Level Thief

A Thief must have an agility of at least 9. Your Thief begins the game with five survival points modified by endurance as a major contributor, and five verve points modified by agility and wisdom as minor contributors.

Choose one specialty. Choose a moral code. Choose one to three goals.

Determine any other statistics, such as reactions, surprise, defense, age, height, weight, movement, and carry.

If you have not already done so, create a backstory for your character.

Thieving Fields

There are several special fields open only to Thieves. Starting thieves gain three Thief fields at +1, with one initial skill each. They gain one additional field bonus or skill each level, and may spend mojo as normal to improve their field bonuses and to add fields and skills.

Burglary Science: Locks & Traps, Search

Impersonation Art: Acting, Disguise, Forgery

Memory Science: Cram, Understand Languages

Misdirection Science: Camouflage, Concealed Item, Prestidigitation

Murder Craft: Backstab, Poison

Thief Culture: Bribery, Criminal contacts, thief’s cant, Underworld etiquette

Scaling Craft: Climb Walls, Tightrope

Stealth Art: Hide, Silence, Pick Pockets

Fighting Arts

Thieves begin the game with the Fighting Art skill basic weapons.

Sorceror

The Sorceror is a student of the arcane arts. Whether through intense study, bargain with strange powers, or natural aptitude, the sorceror can control magical energies and shape these energies to the sorceror’s will. The sorceror’s spells can create, control, and change the natural world. The sorceror is always seeking out new spells to advance their knowledge and power.

Create Your First Level Sorceror

A Sorceror must have an intelligence of at least 9. Your Sorceror begins the game with five survival points modified by endurance as a major contributor, and five verve points modified by intelligence and charisma as minor contributors.

Choose one specialty. Choose a moral code. Choose one to three goals for your character.

Determine any other statistics you need to know about your character, such as reactions, surprise, defense, age, height, weight, movement, and carry.

If you have not already done so, create a backstory for your character.

Choose the spells that your Sorceror already knows. Your Adventure Guide may limit, suggest, or require certain spells.

Number of Memorized Spells

Sorcerors must memorize spells before they can use them. The sorceror starts at level one with one spell slot. At each level advancement, they gain a number of slots equal to their new level. A second level sorceror will have three slots (one plus two), a third level sorceror will have six slots (one, plus two, plus three).

Each spell “costs” level slots. A first level sorceror may memorize one first level spell. A second level sorceror could memorize three first level spells (three spell slots), or one second level spell and one first level spell.

The sorceror gains a bonus to their total spell slots according to their intelligence as a major contributor.

Sorcerors may not memorize spells that are higher level than the sorceror.

For example, a first level sorceror with a 17 intelligence gains a bonus of three to their total spell slots, for a total of four spell slots. At second level, a sorceror with a 17 intelligence will have six spell slots, and could memorize six first level spells, four first level spells and one second level spell, two first level spells and two second level spells, or three second level spells.

Casting a spell costs two verve.

Mnemonic Magic

Magic in Gods & Monsters is mnemonic. Mnemonic sorcerors keep a spell book with all of their spells in it. In order to cast a spell, the mnemonic sorceror must first memorize the spell by impressing the spell formula into their mind. Once an impressed spell is used, it is gone and cannot be used again until it is impressed again. However, a Mnemonic sorceror may understand any number of spells and have as many spells as they can pay for, steal, or find in their spellbook. Mnemonic casters are limited only in the number of spells they may have impressed at one time.

It takes three minutes times the level of the spell to impress the spell into the sorceror’s mind. The mnemonic sorceror must prepare for memorizing spells by first meditating for ten minutes. For example, a sorceror memorizing two first level spells and one third level spell will require twenty-five minutes total (ten minutes preparation, and five times three minutes for the number of spell levels).

Memorizing a spell also costs verve equal to the level of the spell, plus two.

Spellbooks

Mnemonic Sorcerors always begin the game with Inscription in their spellbook.

Spellbooks will have a bulk of one, plus .05 per spell level of all spells in the book.

Prophet

The prophet is one favored or chosen by a god, demigod, or pantheon. Their patron’s favor comes in the form of spiritual aid. These spirits can be used to heal, aid, and protect worshippers, conquer unbelievers, and sometimes even to convince unbelievers to become believers.

Create Your First Level Prophet

A Prophet must have a wisdom of at least 9. Your Prophet begins the game with five survival points modified by endurance as a major contributor, and five verve points modified by wisdom and agility as minor contributors.

Choose one specialty. Choose a moral code. Choose one to three goals.

Choose the pantheon, deity, or power that has favored your Prophet.

Determine any other statistics, such as reactions, surprise, defense, age, height, weight, movement, and carry.

If you have not already done so, create a backstory for your character.

Spirits

Prophets call upon the spirits of their Gods. Once called, the prophet holds the spirit(s) until they need that spirit to manifest. It takes two minutes per level of the spirit to call on a spirit, and one verve per level of the spirit. Each spirit may create one a show of divine power. It costs one verve to manifest a spirit’s power.

The prophet must spend twenty minutes in prayer before calling any spirits, and the prophet must have their holy symbol.

The prophet may call a number of spirits according to the spirit’s calling cost and the caster’s level. Each spirit’s calling cost is the spirit’s level. The prophet begins at first level with one calling point. At each level advancement, the prophet gains a number of calling points equal to their new level. A second level prophet will have three calling points, a third level prophet will have six, and so on.

A prophet cannot call any spirit of higher level than the prophet’s own level, nor of higher level than the prophet’s wisdom.

Once called, a spirit may not be dismissed without manifesting the spirit’s power, except on special dispensation.

Prophets gain a bonus to “spirit calling points” according to wisdom as a minor contributor.

Spirit Types

Each deity and pantheon has a specific sphere of influence. Prophets of Poseidon might call on the spirits of wind and sea. Prophets of Ares the spirits of war, and so on. Spirits have “levels” that denote their power. A prophet may call on spirits of level equal to the prophet’s own level or less.

Every prophet can use the prophet spirit type automatically. Access to other spirit types will be acquired by spending mojo through the first level.

Within their sphere of influence, a spirit can manifest numerous powers. A first level Charm spirit, for example, could manifest the powers of Command, Animal Companion, Remove Fear, and any other first level charm manifestations. A second level Charm spirit could manifest those powers, as well as Enthrall, Hold Person, and any other second level charm manifestations. Where a spirit’s manifestations vary with level, the variation is by the spirit’s level, not the prophet’s.

Restrictions

Prophets may be limited in armor usage or weapon usage, depending on the requirements of their religion or order. Some prophets might also have special restrictions placed on them at ordination or at their calling, or at other important points in their service to their deity or deities.

Religious Symbols

Most, if not all, religions invoke symbols, special objects that symbolize the power or cause of their god or gods. Often, there will be one symbol which is most commonly carried. For Christians, there is the cross, symbolic of Christ’s sacrifice. Some Christians also carry the rosary, to remember and invoke the mother of their god. For ancient Egyptians, it might have been the ankh. For Druids, the mistletoe or holly. Prophets of Thor might carry a hammer, prophets of Ra a sun-like disc. The prophet will use this holy symbol to perform the important rites of their sect. And, where a spirit manifestation mentions a focus but does not describe this focus, it is the prophet’s holy symbol.

Symbols for such use are always blessed, and there are often more symbols that are less commonly carried but also have special purposes. The bread that is the body of Christ is an example of such a blessed symbol that must be carefully guarded, and many good religions will use blessed (or “holy”) water; water is the symbol of life.

Relics are similar to symbols, and are blessed by virtue of their existence. They are generally individual items that cannot be reproduced. The shroud of Turin is an example of a relic, created from the sweat of a dying avatar and the compassion of one of his most devoted followers. Often the bones or prized belongings of avatars or prophets will be considered relics to a religion. Some relics may have special powers, although they do not have to.

Monk

The Monk is a master of the powers of the mind. Monks are deeply in tune with their own mental and intellectual abilities. Monks train in psychic powers much as sorcerors train in spell casting. Examples of Monks in modern fiction include Marvel Comics’ Professor X. In the World of Highland, the Sentar Sentasi of the Kilir are Monks.

Create Your First Level Monk

A Monk must have a charisma of at least 9. Your Monk begins the game with five survival points modified by endurance as a major contributor, and five verve points modified by charisma and strength as minor contributors.

Choose one specialty. Choose a moral code.

Determine any other statistics you need to know about your character, such as reactions, surprise, defense, age, height, weight, movement, and carry.

If you have not already done so, make up a backstory for your character.

Using Psychic Fields

There are five psychic fields, each with a variety of available skills. Monks start the game with one psychic field at +0. They gain three field bonuses or skills within that field, modified by Charisma as a major contributor.

To use a psychic power, the player must make an ability roll as noted above, with their field bonus as a bonus (as normal for fields and skills).

Monks have a psychic pool with level points in it. This base pool can be re-allotted very round if the character has any effects that last more than a round. The monk can also transfer their field bonus into their psychic pool for that field.

The Monk’s psychic pool lets them add effects and increase the chance of success. One point can give them a bonus of one to their ability roll. Points can also be used to add or increase effects.

For example, if the character has Telepathic Science +4 and is level 2, they have six points to play with. The player might place three levels in ‘range’, one level in ‘targets’, and two levels in ‘reduce reaction’ to attempt to read the mind of a single opponent up to 40 yards away. The target will have a penalty of 2 to any reaction rolls against having their mind read.

Psychic skill use will also use up the character’s verve or survival. Verve costs are per round (or per use) and are listed in Arcane Lore.

Moral Code

Characters can choose to follow a moral code, or they can remain unaligned or unaware. You do not have to choose a moral code, although moral codes are required for certain specialties and may provide benefits (or penalties) in special situations.

There are two parts to a moral code: Order vs. Chaos, and Good vs. Evil. There are eight moral codes: Ordered Good, Ordered, Ordered Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic, Chaotic Evil, Good, and Evil.

The character may choose between Order and Chaos, or remain neutral to that part of the code, and the character may choose between Good and Evil, or remain neutral to that part of the code. A character who cares for neither order nor personal freedom may remain unaligned towards the order and chaos part of the code, but still be “good” or “evil”, for example.

Order vs. Chaos

Order vs. Chaos is the choice of following order or anarchy. Order is concerned with order, law, and community. Ordered characters promote hierarchy. Chaotic is concerned with individuality, personal responsibility, and rights. Chaotic characters eschew hierarchy.

The Chaotic character believes that the individual is paramount. The Ordered character believes that society is paramount. An Ordered character will be willing to sacrifice individuals to save the group; a Chaotic character would be more willing to put the group in danger in order to save an individual. Ordered individuals believe that the common good is more important than any individual’s well-being.

To an Ordered individual, authority is its own justification. Once authority is established, authority can create other authorities. To the Chaotic individual, authority must be earned, on an individual basis and according to the situation: the most appropriate person is looked to for counsel and guidance according to the needs of the situation. To an Ordered person, it may look like a Chaotic person “does not follow orders”. But give them an order worth following, and they will follow it.

Ordered individuals will say that when there are clear rules to be followed and a clear hierarchy, problems stand out. They are easy to see, and easier to fix than they otherwise would be.

As an example from American history, the Constitution is Order. The Bill of Rights is Chaos. The American Constitution sets down the order of the society. The Bill of Rights says that none of that order may override individual rights. Chaotics are not against freely arisen order. They are against imposed order, order that does not develop freely from the individual. Many of the teachings of Lao-Tzu in the Tao-Te-Ching are chaotic, where Confucianism is often on the extreme end of order. It is hard to find a better description of the beliefs of the Chaotic moral code than “The more regulations, the poorer the people will become. The greater the government’s power, the more unruly the nation will become. The more laws, the more frequently evil deeds will occur.”

Good vs. Evil

Good vs. Evil is the choice between caring for the well-being of others for their own sake, and of pure self-interest, of caring only for one’s self or a close circle of friends, whose friendship may well only last as long as it is useful. A “good” character is likely to keep their word to others, and value others’ friendships and lives. An “evil” character is likely to keep their word only if there’s something in it for them or they feel like it, and will value others only insofar as others are useful to them. Good is generous. Evil is selfish.

Good characters might be willing to die for the lives of others. Evil characters are very unlikely to do so. Evil is manipulative. Evil characters see others as tools for their own advancement. Evil characters will see their actions as “pragmatic”, but their pragmatism is a short-term pragmatism.

Players should only choose an evil moral code for their character with the consent of the other players.

Combined Moral Codes

Ordered Good promotes order, law, and community to enhance the well-being of the community.

Ordered Evil is uses order, law, and community to enhance one's own well-being, standing, power, and wealth.

Chaotic Good promotes personal responsibility and civil rights to enhance the freedom and well-being of all individuals.

Chaotic Evil uses the self-centered manipulation of others in order to fulfill the character’s own immediate desires.

Moral Code Examples

“Order” and “Good” are usually easier to understand than “Chaos” and “Evil”. A good example of “Chaotic” (or possibly Chaotic Good) in fiction is Alan Moore’s hero “V” in “V for Vendetta”, a character who believes that anarchy is the best thing for the well-being of others. Such a character might well hold, with Rousseau, that people are inherently good but become corrupted by civilization.

Good examples of evil moral codes may be found in Eddison’s “The Worm Ouroboros”. Lord Corund of Witchland is Ordered Evil. He works strictly within the confines of Order, and will not deviate from that order. He has a sense of hierarchy that he will not break merely to win battles against a hated enemy, even when his most trusted advisor recommends doing so. When he is assigned a lesser overlordship in Pixyland because the government believes him most suited to govern the newly-vanquished country, he accepts. He does not jockey for the overlordship of more desired lands as others within the court of Witchland do.

Lord Gro, his most trusted advisor, is an example of Chaotic Evil. He cares only for what will bring him and his close circle of friends greater reward. When Corund calls the lords of Demonland to parley, Gro recommends ambushing them; when Corund refuses because one does not do that to royalty, Gro encourages a lesser warrior to do so.

The Kingdoms of Witchland and Demonland are Ordered Evil and Chaotic, respectively. Witchland fosters a strict hierarchy within which advancement is possible. Personal power is gained only insofar as the individual advances the cause of the state, and only insofar as that individual’s promotion also advances the cause of the state. Demonland fosters a state wherein individual glory rules. Individuals who perform well on their own will gain power, regardless of whether such is good for Demonland and its peoples as a whole.

The classic example of an Ordered character is the bureaucrat who cares nothing for whether their actions are good or evil, but merely whether the paperwork is filled out and the trains run on time. However, a good example of a person devoted solely to Order, regardless of Good or Evil is d’Artagnan in “The Man in the Iron Mask” by Alexander Dumas. In that book, d’Artagnan is devoted to the preservation of the monarchy, and much of the book is about the conflict between that devotion and d’Artagnan’s own friends. In that book, Athos would tend towards Ordered Good and Aramis towards Ordered Evil. Both promote Order, but Athos for a greater good and Aramis for personal gain. Athos is an honorable man. Aramis will do anything to establish an Ordered society--with himself in control. He is always trying to twist his words so that listeners hear something other than what he is saying, and is willing to outright lie if it will further the cause of Order. Porthos is neither Ordered nor Chaotic, but simply Good. He tries to keep his word, and he tries to do the right thing, regardless of royalty or personal freedoms.

Conflicting Codes

Occasionally the two moral sides will conflict. An Ordered Good character might have to make the choice between something that is more Order or more Good. Different characters will come to different decisions. Different characters will have different commitments to their moral codes and to each part of their moral code.

A character may align themselves to a moral code, but fail to live up to the ideals of that code. The Guide will decide the implications of that failure (and the implications of success) in following a moral code. In some games, a moral code will be purely a personal choice. In other games, Order and Chaos, Good and Evil will be part of the unseen structure--or lack thereof--of reality. Your first level character is likely to be completely unaware of this when you make your choice to follow or not to follow a moral code.

Persons of opposing moral codes may have trouble “getting along” under some circumstances. Those following “Order” and those following “Chaos” are more likely to be able to put their philosophical differences aside than those following “Good” vs. those following “Evil”. Organizational enmities, however, are more likely to be built across the abyss of Order and Chaos. Even in the early days of the United States, with its “multiple-personality” constitution, the followers of Order and the followers of Chaos fought bitterly in public. The Chaotics called the Ordered “monarchists” and the Ordered called the Chaotics “guillotinists”.

Sometimes, people with the same moral code will also find themselves in conflict. People do not wear signs on their chest proclaiming their moral code. Lower-level characters will not even know that their choice means anything more than basic morals (and in some games, this may well be all that it is). In general, characters who are good will find it difficult to battle other characters who are good, without significant moral quandaries. This also applies to war. Evil characters and unaligned characters will generally not care about the morality of who they make war with.

First Level Mojo

Starting characters have 12 mojo, modified by their archetypal ability as a major contributor.

Players can increase their starting resources using mojo throughout their first level. Mojo are resource points within the game. Characters may use their mojo for any purpose listed in the rest of the rules, such as affecting archetypal die rolls. But first level characters can also use their mojo for things that non-starting characters can’t, and in some cases can use it for things that non-starting characters can but at a lower mojo cost.

Once your character reaches their second level, you may no longer use mojo to acquire equipment and money, nor may you use the discounted mojo rates for resources.

When a first level character’s player uses mojo to “gain” something, it is assumed that the character always had the resource in question; it only became relevant at the time the mojo was spent. If the course of play has made it impossible to assume this, then the resource cannot be acquired in this manner.

The same rules for gaining bonuses to die rolls when spending mojo to gain skills applies to discounted first level mojo. This means that it can be advantageous to wait until they’re needed to choose fields and skills. If you buy the skill or improve the field at the same time that you make the skill roll, you gain the mojo spent as a bonus to that roll. If you bid mojo on a skill roll, and that mojo is enough to improve the field bonus you used (or to buy the field), then you do.

Money

Whether farmer’s son or princess of the kingdom, player characters have no income. They have no money beyond what the game gives them. Some specialties, such as nobility may allot characters more money, and of course characters will find hidden treasure during their adventures.

Beginning characters can trade mojo for equipment: each mojo is worth up to 30 monetary units of equipment. They can trade directly for monetary units at the rate of 10 monetary units per mojo.

Fields and skills

Players can trade two mojo for one field at +1; this includes one initial skill within that field. They can use mojo to gain extra skills within a field or to increase a field bonus: one mojo gives one additional skill or one field bonus.

Players may spend mojo to gain Fighting Art skills but not to increase their Fighting Art field bonus. The field bonus is tied to their archetype levels. Players may not use mojo to gain the restricted Fighting Art skills of the Warrior or Thief archetype.

Psychic fields

Monks may purchase new fields, field bonuses, and skills as normal. Psychic Techniques cost 1 mojo during the character’s first level if the Technique applies to one Skill, and 2 mojo if the Technique applies to all skills within a Field.

Spells

Sorcerors must use their beginning mojo to purchase first-level spells. Each spell costs one mojo.

On paying mojo for a spell, the player may choose to have their sorceror have already memorized the spell, if the memorization points are available for that day.

Spirit types

Prophets must gain access to spirit types during their first level. The spirit types they choose must be relevant to their religion and deity. Each spirit type costs three mojo, except for war and healing which cost five mojo each.

On paying mojo for a spirit type, the player may choose to have their prophet have already called one or more spirits of that type, if calling points are available for that day.

Skills and Specialties

Specialties

The basic fantasy archetypes can be modified and enhanced through “specialties”. A specialty can turn a Thief into an assassin, or a Sorceror into a wu jen..

At first level, the character has one specialty.

Some specialties have requirements: the character must have a minimum ability score, or must follow a specific moral code, or must not follow a specific moral code. Some specialties also have prerequisites: an earlier specialty must be taken first.

Fields and Skills

When a player wants their character to perform some dangerous or difficult task, they’ll roll against one of their character’s abilities or reactions. To help them do this, each character begins the game with skills. When a character is skilled at a task, their player gains a bonus on any rolls to perform that task.

Each skill must be part of some field of knowledge. Fields are major areas, such as War Craft, Language Science or Gambling Art. Within each field, the character gains a bonus to ability rolls when using any skill within that field. For example, a character with Gambling Art at +3 might have the skills Carousing and Poker. Whenever the player needs to make a roll where Carousing or Poker skill is applicable, they will get a bonus of 3 on that roll.

In a way, having Gambling Art +3 is like being a third-level gambler.

Characters who have high mental abilities begin with a number of fields equal to intelligence as a major contributor and wisdom and charisma as minor contributors. The fields are at +1 and have one skill within them.

If the character has low mental abilities, a negative total can be ignored unless the character is old enough to have extra skills. Older characters will need to first overcome this negative number before gaining extra skills.

The Arcane Lore Lorebook contains a detailed listing of fields and skills within those fields, but you can also come up with your own fields and skills, subject to the approval of the Adventure Guide.

You can choose the same field more than once. The first time you choose a field, your character gains one skill and a +1 for skills in that field. If you choose the same field again, your character will gain either a field bonus or a new skill in that field.

Native Culture

Your character automatically gains the field “Native Culture” at +2, with the skills “Native Language” and one Etiquette from the available cultures. For example, a nobleman might choose “Court Etiquette”; a farmer “Backwoods Etiquette”, or a thief “Underworld Etiquette”.

You may choose to move your character’s Native Language skill into the Languages field if you have it. Your Native Culture field bonus remains +2.

The Fighting Art

Warriors begin the game with Fighting Art at +1. Monks, Prophets, Sorcerors, and Thieves begin the game with Fighting Art at +0.

Non-warrior archetypes are limited in the weapon skills they may choose. Thieves may choose any simple or basic weapon as a skill; and the others any simple weapon.

Simple weapons are small hand-held weapons such as the dagger, knife, or sling. Basic weapons are weapons such as spears, short swords, crossbows, and martial arts. Exactly what constitutes a “basic” weapon or a “simple” weapon will depend on the game world, but suggestions are given on the weapons table.

Prophets may have other restrictions according to their religion or sect.

When in combat, your character will get their Fighting Art field bonus as long as they are using a weapon they’re skilled with. If they are using a weapon they’re not skilled with, besides not getting their field bonus it will usually be at least a difficult roll.

Players may not use mojo to increase their character’s Fighting Art field bonus. Their Fighting Art bonus goes up as the character increases in level.

The Warrior skills unfamiliar weapons and all weapons are available only to Warriors. The Thief skill basic weapons is only available to Thieves.

A Few Good Numbers

Survival

Survival is the ability of your character to survive damaging events. Getting hit by a sword, falling from a large height, getting punched in the face, all reduce your character’s survival points. If your character’s survival drops to zero or below, your character risks unconsciousness and possibly death.

At first level, player characters gain five survival points. Survival points are modified by endurance as a major contributor.

The dice used to determine Survival is based on the character’s Archetype. The character gains one such die each level beyond first.

Verve

Verve is the ability of your character to survive damaging events that result from archetypal actions. Whenever a character loses survival points for an archetypal activity, the player may instead choose to have some or all of the damage come from verve. Warriors can use verve in combat. Thieves can use it after failing to climb a wall, for example, and Monks after a failed perception roll.

At first level, player characters gain five verve points. Verve are modified by the character’s archetypal ability and one other ability as minor contributors.

When the chance of success is governed by the character’s archetypal ability or archetypal reaction, damage resulting from that action can come from verve instead of survival.

Reactions

When your character is taking the initiative to act, you’ll make an ability roll. When your character is reacting to something or sensing something, you’ll make a reaction roll. For example, when their characters are faced with imminent danger, players will often be given the opportunity to react and avoid or mitigate that danger.

Reactions start at 4, modified by the character’s ability score in the major and minor contributors to that reaction. For reactions other than their archetypal reaction, the character gains a bonus of 1 to each reaction for each “even” level in any archetype: 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. For their archetypal reaction, the character gains a bonus of level to the reaction.

Reactions improve as the character becomes more experienced.

Here, for example, are Sam Stevens’ reactions, both as a first level thief, and later as a multi-typed second level thief/third level warrior. You’ll see that at fifth level her reactions are higher. Her fortitude has improved most, because she has three levels as a warrior.

If a wizard attempts to take control of Sam’s mind, and Sam needs to make a Willpower roll to avoid it, a d20 roll of 4 or less will let Sam avoid the spell when she is first level; and a d20 roll of 6 or less will let her avoid it when she is fifth level.

Movement

The character’s Movement rating is 10, with agility as a major contributor and strength as a minor contributor.

Players roll against movement just as for their character’s other abilities. A high movement will help them chase or escape opponents.

Carry

Your character’s Carry measures how many items they can carry during an adventure. Your character can carry up to half Strength items, modified by Endurance as a special contributor. Each item that your character carries must have a bulk that is less than or equal to their Strength.

An item’s Bulk is combines weight in pounds with the difficulty of carrying something. A bulky, light item may have the same Bulk as a compact, heavy item. An item meant for swinging (such as a weapon) will almost certainly have a greater Bulk than a similarly-shaped item meant solely for carrying. Items meant for wear will have a far greater Bulk carried than worn. An item’s Bulk will rarely, if ever, be less than its weight, but it can often be more than its weight if the item is unwieldy.

If your character needs to carry an item with too much bulk, you can use extra carry points to do so, but each extra carry point required gives your character a penalty of one to movement, to attack rolls, and to any agility-based rolls.

Characters can make use of containers, such as pouches, sacks, sheaths, and backpacks, to reduce the number of items they carry and to reduce their bulk. Normal clothing does not count against the number of carried items when worn.

For example, Sam Stevens has a fourteen Endurance and an eleven Strength. She can carry up to ten items; each item must have a bulk of eleven or less. If she carries a tent (bulk 40) her movement is reduced by 3, because she will need to use three extra carry points.

Items meant to be worn well, such as armor and backpacks, can use two Carry points instead of one with no penalty. Weapons or other items used two-handed (such as sacks) can also use two Carry points with no penalty.

Sam Stevens could use a battleaxe (bulk 20) with no penalty by using it with both hands. If she tried to use a great sword, however, its bulk 24 would give her a penalty of one while using it two-handed.

Surprise, Defense and Attack Bonuses

A character’s Surprise bonus is their agility as a minor contributor.

Defense is the character’s agility as a major contributor.

Close Combat Attack is the character’s strength as a minor contributor. Damage bonus is strength as a major contributor.

Thrown Weapons Attack is the character’s agility as a minor contributor. Damage bonus is the character’s strength as a minor contributor. Thrown weapon range penalties are reduced by the character’s strength as a minor contributor.

Propelled Weapons Attack is the character’s agility as a minor contributor. There is no damage bonus.

Age

The character’s starting age may be rolled as 15 plus 1d6 or chosen by the player. Older characters will receive a greater number of skills or field bonuses in one or more of their fields.

If the character has low mental abilities, such that their starting field count is negative, their bonus is reduced by that number. For example, a character with a 4 intelligence, a 15 charisma, and a 10 wisdom has negative 1 starting fields. Such a character would have to be at least 30 years old to gain extra skills and field bonuses due to age.

Height and Weight

Players can choose their character’s height and weight, or roll them randomly. If random, characters have a base height of 54 inches and a base weight of 48 pounds. Vary the height and weight by rolling 5d6. Add this to the character’s height, and add endurance as a minor contributor and strength as a major contributor to the character’s height. Modify the dice by endurance as a major contributor and strength as a minor contributor. Multiply by seven and add this to the character’s weight.

Money and Equipment

Characters begin the game with monetary units equal to their Archetypal ability.

Players may have their characters keep this initial money or spend it to have acquired starting equipment. They may also “have spent it” in the adventure during their first level: at any point during the character’s first level, if the player wants their character to have already acquired an item, they can spend some of this starting money and have the item. Either the money was spent back when it was most reasonable to have spent it, or the character always had the item, perhaps as an inheritance or gift.

As long as it makes sense for them to now have it, it can be assumed that they’ve been carrying it all along.

In some campaigns, monetary units will be gold pieces, in others it will be silver pieces or even conch shells.

The equipment that the character “purchases” does not have to have been actually purchased by the character. It might have been inherited, given as a gift, or found in the ruins of a destroyed farmhouse in the midst of the woods. “Starting money” is a measure of how much money and equipment the character starts with; it is not necessarily how much actual money the character has to purchase things. Because of this, characters can often start the game with items that are not for sale in their home town, as long as it is for sale somewhere where they or some member of their family might travel.

General Equipment

Characters will wish to equip themselves with many odd or normal items: lanterns, rope, walking staves, blankets, horses, horse equipment, and more. Prices for such equipment will vary depending on the area, the time period, and the time of year, but the following monetary unit costs may be used as a guideline or in a pinch.

Some items, such as torches, have an “activation” time. If the character attempting to activate the item is in combat, an Evasion roll is required to successfully activate the item.

Some items, such as the pick, might also double as weapons. Such items are not designed for combat and will have a penalty to attack of from 1 to 3.

Characters are not limited to the items listed on these tables, nor are items on these tables guaranteed to be available. It will be up to the adventure guide to gauge the availability and cost of all items. In some games, for example, gunpowder and firearms will be unavailable.

Food & Lodging

More than other equipment, food and lodging costs will vary widely according to quality and scarcity. Liquid pint bulks assume an open container. Closed containers are easier to carry. Liquids weigh approximately one pound per pint or eight pounds per gallon.

Animals & Containers

To assist them in carrying their equipment, characters will want to purchase sacks, backpacks, quivers, and pouches. Containers specifically designed for carrying food or ammunition will be listed under the appropriate section.

A well-designed backpack, quiver, pocket, or pouch will reduce the Bulk of items inside the pack by half. Sacks do not significantly reduce Bulk but do make it easy to lay down and quickly pick up en masse the items carried inside them.

For animals, the bulk carry listed assumes that the animal’s load has been packed reasonably, using saddle bags and saddles or other standard pack devices. Generally, reduce an animal’s movement by 1 for each 10% increase in bulk carried. Horses, ponies, mules, and donkeys may jog, run, and sprint at twice the speed of a person.

Ingredients

Bone and metal carvings cost twice as much as wood. Stone carvings cost four times as much, and have four times the bulk. The material can raise the cost of carvings. Bone and stone don’t generally cost anything extra, though they can if they are from specific animals or are specific kinds of stone. Metal “carvings” (usually worked metal) will generally cost at least an extra shilling regardless of how cheap the metal is, and can cost more depending on how expensive it is.

Extremely rare animal parts (such as the parts of Fantastic creatures) will usually be much more expensive due both to their rarity and to the difficulty of acquiring them.

Miscellaneous

Weapons

Anyone can attack with their hands for d3 points damage (d2 for Halflings, Goblins, and Gnomes). Most adventurers will prefer using a weapon, however.

“Damage” is the amount of survival points lost by the target of an attack with the specified weapon.

“Range” is in yards. Within “range” yards, there is no penalty to attack. There is a penalty of 1 after that, and another penalty of 1 for every “range” yards beyond. For example, an attempt to throw a spear at a target thirteen yards away will be at a penalty of 2: a penalty of one for being greater than six yards, and another penalty of one for being greater than 12 yards. A sling at thirteen yards would only have a penalty of 1, and a bow would have no penalty at all.

“Hands” is how many hands are required to use the weapon for mechanical reasons. One-handed weapons may be used with a shield (or, with the right specialties, another weapon). A two-handed weapon requires two hands to manipulate and leaves no free hand for a shield or other item. Note that a weapon’s bulk may also require that two hands be used to wield it with no Carry penalty.

“Bulk” is the weight and bulkiness of the weapon. If the character will never use the weapon, the Guide may allow it to count for half the listed Bulk. Staffs, for example, will have a six bulk when used as a walking staff but the listed twelve bulk when used as a weapon.

“Fire Actions” is the number of actions required to throw or “fire” the weapon if it is thrown or is a missile weapon. Some missile weapons require loading, lighting, or other preparatory actions. Weapons used to beat on opponents directly require but one action.

Warrior weapons

These weapons may only be used by warriors.