Castles & Towers - Fantasy Adventure in the Wilderness and the Underground by DJB OLD SCHOOL ROLE-PLAYING GAME CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

You can contact the author at his personal blogpost.

The LATEX rpg-module class is Copyright ©2016 Michael Davis and is distributed under the terms of the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL) Version 1.3c, while the OSR logo is by Stuart Robertson under Creative Commons 3.0 Unported Attribution License. The title image is an unknown source. Some parts of this ruleset book are Copyright ©2000–2003 Wizards of the Coast and are distributed under the Open Game License Version 1.0A. This product is compatible with the OSR.

2 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

Castles & Towers - can: watching every video on Youtube, reading every fo- Fantasy Adventure in the Wilderness and rum or Blogpost I could find after many hours on the sub- ject, and so on. Everything has been made possible only the Underground because of so many Blogposts, other games, retroclones, books, and /tg anon’s work. This is not an individual work. In terms of official work, the main influence have been the Preface work of Gary Gygax, Jeff Perren and Dave Arneson, both official and unofficial, supplement and splatbooks alike. This book is an attempt to write a TTRPG Retroclone of the Additionally, I used in various ways (and would like to world’s first and most famous Role-Playing Game with its pre- thank): cursor in Wargaming. In other words, an oldschool RPG that uses only d6s and offer multiple combat system to suit the Referee and the player’s intent in resolving their conflict. • Aldarron (and Coffee, Finarvyn, Radagast the Brown, What it is not however, is a 1:1 port of both of those: the Rabbit, Stormcrow, the Grey Elf and others) for their goal is not to include the totality of the Wargaming precur- work on pre-role-playing game combat adapted to sor, as it is too detailed for the current work aim. Both orig- role-playing games; inal works need clarification to be played, especially when put together, and some aspect of the Wargaming portion are too lengthy for the need of a role-playing game. I tried to keep the tone (OSR), the tendencies of odds (how dis- • The Grey Elf for his blog and various work on OD& D and tribution is made) and the possibilities/options (for example, Chainmail subsystems or specific mechanics such as parrying in a duel) over a strict reproduction in order to conserve the integrity of the work and a simplified overall system. Notably, most terms • Philotomy’s (Jason Cone) Musing; name have been changed for easy of reading purposes or copyright purposes. Overall, I hope that some people can find a new love for the original RPG and integrate all of this • Jason Vey’s Forbidden Lore; into their game. As always, first try to understand and play the rules before breaking them !

• Jon’s D& D Blog for his Youtube videos; How to Use This Book

As Gygax himself says in the introduction to one of his work, • Delta’s various works on the original game, including his because fantasy adventuring possess too many variables, Book of War and Book of Spells; rules here are a framework to guide and help, at best pro- vide something that’s efficient. But it will never be perfect or even complete: it is up to individual Referee to supplement • Simulacrum’s author; it with their own imagination and alter the existing rules ac- cordingly. This book is to be used as a standalone as it reproduces all the rules necessary to play adventure fantasy. Key concepts • The Alexandrian; that have a section, subsection or formal definition some- where int he book will be bold-faced. Important notice will be italicized. • krusader74’s Goliath and Grognard;

Text in box will generally be an example of play for the • Reddit’s user ’scavenger22’ for his number calculations; rules explained.

In terms of equipment, you’ll need about 10 to 15 d6s, graph • The whole OD& D74 forum and their various contribu- papers, home made character sheets, pencils and a good tors; deal of time and imagination. It is possible to use miniature for combat, in which case you’ll need a 4’ by 6’ (or more, if available) table with appropriate miniature terrain, measur- • 4chan’s /tg/osrg ing tools and 25mm-30mm scale miniatures. They are gener- ally used because of their aesthetic value in the game. • Reddit’s /osr; Acknowledgments

First, I’d like to thank the creator of this inspired LaTeX tem- • Friends and wife for playtesting; and plate for the document itself: Michael Davis. This project is the culmination of a lot of enquiry, research and gaming the original Fantasy Role-Playing game. I have • Many others that I took from over the year but can’t worked on this with good faith, trying to learn as much as I remember or credit them appropriately.

3 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

For players, this means, as it was aptly put by Michael Mornard:

• You must be self-motivating: You explore and you deal with the world on your own. The Referee is there to cre- ate and run that fiction world.

• You are a team: It is not about how powerful you can individually be or how much you shine. It’s about what you can bring to the group to make it succeed.

• You have to be proactive: It’s important to keep mov- ing, to share information, to make decisions, even to have a Caller if need be.

• Combat is dangerous: It’s not about the fight but about the outcome. If you can "cheat" a fight by exploiting weakness or tactical opportunities, do it. If you can get out of a fight, do it.

• Describe, don’t roll: If a dice roll is needed, the Referee will know and ask for it. Otherwise, you describe what your character is doing in the fictional world.

• Reaction and morale: Not all creatures are hostile, and not all creature will fight to the death.

• Those who run away will live to fight another day.

Gameplay Loop

The basic gameplay loop of this RPG is both inside and out- side the world: characters delve deep into dungeons to What is an RPG? acquire loot for their own benefits in a world created by the Referee. This in turn will give opportunity for the play- A "RPG" is a Role-Playing Game. You play a fantasy ad- ers to have more powerful characters and equipment to venture game, derived heavily from wargaming, where you go back deeper. Then, they can try to participate side- control a (or many) character(s) in a breathing and living objectives, such as carving a name for themselves by cre- world. ating a stronghold and a domain, or accomplish any task It is a role: you play a part within a group to solve chal- that they set to themselves. It is first and foremost exploration lenges, and you play a role up to a certain extent in order driven. to have fun with your friends. Some will "act" their character and that is fine too. But in general, there are four main pillars 1. PLAYERS to this type of game: The normal pattern will be that players will prepare a wilder- 1. Exploration: Explore the world, its content and its lore. ness exploration to get to a dungeon, travel to the dungeon, Nothing happens in the safety of the cities. It only serves explore the dungeon and face its dangers and challenges, as a resting place between adventures. Treasures and then try to come back alive with as much treasures as they riches are deep underground and dangerous to access can. Back in city, they will spend their hard-earned treasures ! Each location has its own challenges and required for experience points and new equipment. thinking. For players, it is highly suggested to have three roles ful- filled (but not obligatory): 2. Social Interaction: You can interact with other players, with non-player characters and a wide variety of mon- • Caller: The caller’s job is to be the prime speaker for the sters. This can serve to further your goals, seek out help, group. When the group can’t decide, or the Referee or hinder foes. need an answer from the group, he will be chosen to do so. It is possible (and encouraged) to switch the Caller 3. Combat: Combat, although necessary, is very deadly between session of play. and dangerous. It is best to become creative with it, notably by outclassing your opponent through clever • Mapper: The mapper’s job is to, like his name, map dun- strategy, and try to dodge it when necessary. Don’t be geons and wilderness as it is being explored. The map- afraid to run from combat or from a dungeon ! per will need to have graph paper and pencil. It is sug- gested to Referee to grant a small 5 to 10% XP bonus for 4. Resource Management: Especially linked with 1 and 3. the mapper since his job is critical and difficult. You travel for long period of time and every combat tick away important resources that are necessary for • Scribe: He will take note of everything that was looted survival. Torches, food, water and all sorts of things we and put in who’s backpack. He will take care of nothing take for granted can become a burden, or a lack that things that were left undone, names of NPCs met, of leads to death for players that do not plan accordingly. locations and so on. He is the chronicler for the group.

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2. REFEREE It is possible to use dice when a situation occur without rules in this book and that has no clear outcome (because The main task of the Referee is to provide a world in which if the outcome is clear, then it should just be decided on the players can experiment, explore and engage. One of the spot without useless dice rolls) that can lead to impor- the main criteria for this is to maintain the integrity of the tant consequence (again, if there is no consequence, then world. This can be realism for realistic world, or a sort of ver- there is no need for a roll). To do this, roll 2d6, add any situ- scimilitude. But in any cases, the world must be both believ- ational modifier accordingly, and compare the result to the able and playable. following table: In other world, the Referee will maintain a fictional world where the player can have context, choice and conse- quences. To do this, the Referee needs to have a clear vi- sion of his world and even a consistency in his use of rules. As 2d6 Result Description Ben Robbins once said: "Same Description, Same Rules". The 2-3 Catastrophic Failure Something bad happen goal of the Referee is neither to pander nor to kill the players: 4-5 Failure The action doesn’t work his goal is to maintain the fiction. He can do this while also cheering the player, and it is even encouraged ! 6-8 Partial Failure The action barely fails, Things that can be physically be thought can be at- unless the character tempted: but not everything will succeed. To understand sacrifice something (time, object, etc.) what is "possible", ask yourself the following question: Is this 9-10 Success Work accordingly feasible ? Is this clearly defined with an end goal ? Is the ob- 11-12 Average Work accordingly with a small extra jective the logical outcome of the action described by the player ? The game then becomes a "conversation" between Modifications to the World First RPG player and Referee: although the Referee is the final judge and arbiter to make sure that the game move forward and Outside of the obvious wording because of copyright issues, that all players are treated fairly. This is why he uses dice as I made some modifications to the rules. Those modifications his main instrument: to determine uncertain outcome. were either to: include material from the fantasy wargaming This conversation also extends to the way the game flows: roots in the game; to clarify or simplify things; or rewrite the the Referee explains a situation thoroughly (no useless prose rules entirely. But in the three cases, I have tried to always is needed however), and then the players signal what ac- keep the "spirit" of the rules and never outright remove a rule. tions they want to take. The Referee determine what action Here are the changes from the world most famous RPG to happen in what orders, readjust the fictional world, and then the present book: describe the new state of the scene. • Added some information here and there to help new Referees. For example, a more detailed Reaction Roll What is an old school RPG? procedure.

In an old-school type RPG, player skill is valued above rules • Minor aesthetic (or tiny mechanical) changes to some mastery. This means that this book is not to be studied to find monsters, spells or setting implication. the best "combination" or "build" for a particular character: it is more important to understand the game world and what • Some change in Prime Requisite functionality. decision should be taken at what moment. Tactical clever- ness is rewarded - such as ambush, traps, use of items and • Change in titles for the cleric to be more setting- so on - much more than whatever may appear on the char- agnostic. acter sheet as a special ability. • No alternate combat system. The system is all based Why would you play this if it’s so deadly and difficult ? The on the wargaming precedent to the world first RPG. adventure ! It is thrilling to adventure into dungeons and into Some modification have been made to be simplified the wilderness. You are rewarded for yours efforts: you start and streamlined to fit the RPG mold. out as a seer or veteran and can end up as a powerful Arch- mage or King! You can play a Sword & Sorcery campaign • Scale is in 10’ increment with 1" on the game board be- and end up as a King of your own domain! ing 10’. There is no calculation in yards.

• Some odds have been altered regarding traps, reac- Resolving Action - Rolling Dice tion, morale and so on, but overall they keep the same mechanical role within the game. There are multiple actions within the game following the pil- lars enumerated earlier. Some of them have no need for ran- • Some items, both magical and non-magical, have domized resolution (such as walking), but others, because of been slightly modified to give them a reason to exist their stressful and imprecise nature, or because of the need (e.g., helmet), and others, mostly magical, have been for impartiality and detachment on the part of the Referee, slightly rewritten to make sure they are more seamless require randomisation to show for the tense and imperfect with the combat system (e.g., magic armours). aspect of some action that can result in failure (such as com- bat). When a situation arises where no failure can be had, • Magic kept the same spells and the same mechani- or that there is no stakes in the failure (such as having all the cal framework, but all damage mechanics have been time in the world to move something heavy), it is suggested adapted to suit the combat system and durations have to forgo any randomisation and instead have the action per- been rescaled. Some spells have been altered a bit to formed (if, for necessity, at a time cost in the gaming world). become more like their Fantasy Wargame counterpart.

5 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

• Some benefits for classes and races have been ported from the Fantasy Wargame.

Common Terms & References

Text

6 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CHARACTERS

• Intelligence (INT): Sagacity, memory, learning

• Wisdom (WIS): Insight, acuity, peace of mind

• Constitution (CON): Endurance, health, body

• Dexterity (DEX): Agility, speed, coordination

• Charisma (CHA): Personality, leadership, empathy

Each Ability Score is determined by rolling 3d6 for each of them and writing down the total. This score is abstracted from the possibility of an adventurer: a character with 3 in Strength doesn’t mean that he can barely walk or lift his arm, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to adventure. Generally, 3 to 8 means a weakness, 9 to 12 an average disposition and 13 to 18 an outstanding quality. Ability Scores offer therefore a description of the character. Referees might even use them sometimes (sparsely) to determine the outcome of some ac- tion that cannot be determined by common sense or the PART 1: CHARACTERS rule in this book. For example, can this warrior lift this object ? He could decide to have him roll 3d6 where a result under CHARACTER CREATION his Strength score would mean a success.

Players can play up to three different classes: Fighting-Men, Magic-User and Cleric. There are also three non-human Ability 3-8 9-12 13-18 Modifier races: Dwarf, Elf and Halfling. Combined, there is a total of seven character roles. Weak Average Strong Characters are created using the following steps: STR -1 0 +1 Forcing open doors and traps; Grappling 1. Determine Ability Scores INT +1 language for each point over 10 2. Choose a Class WIS -1 0 +1 Spells Saving Throw bonus 3. Choose Languages and Alignment CON -1 0 +1 Encumbrance bonus; System Shock roll 4. Determine starting Equipment DEX -1 0 +1 Missile weapon 5. Write down any remaining information taken from all bonus to attack the above steps, such as Hit Dice (HD), Saving Throws, CHA -1 0 +1 Loyalty; armour type, and so on. Reaction; 6. Choose a name, determine your age (3d6 + 14), your Charisma / 3 = height (5’ + 2d6 for human, 4’ + 3d6 for elves, 4’ + 2d6 for number of maximum dwarves, 3’ + 2d6 for halflings), write a small description Followers and start the adventure!

Although age has no direct influence, it could influence 2. CHARACTER CLASSES & ROLES life expectancy from various curses that cause age-based effect. Also, it is entirely possible that the Referee might grant Each classes represent an archetype of adventurer with a bonus to Wisdom and Intelligence with age at the cost of different progression. They all possess some common char- Strength, Dexterity or Constitution. acteristics:

• Combat Equipment Availability: All classes can wear Name: Hector the Bold, Class: Fighter, Age: 22, Height: and use different combat items (weapons and ar- 6’, STR: 13 (+5%), INT: 9, CON 11, DEX: 10, CHA: 14, Lan- mours), representing their specialized training or taboo. guages: Common, Alignment: Law, HD: 1+1, Death: 8, Wands: 8, Stone: 9, Breath: 9, Spells: 10, Troop • Magic Equipment Availability: All classes can wear Type: Heavy Infantry, Equipement: Sword, Shield, Hel- and use different magic items, representing their under- met, Chain Armour, Bedroll, Water Skin, 3 Iron Rations, 3 standing and affinity with the forces of magic Torches. • Prime Requisite: All classes have one Prime Requisite, representing what influences the most their long-term 1. ABILITY SCORES success in that class. Ability Scores represent the overall capacity in mind and body of the character, divided into six category. For each • Special Abilities: All classes have unique capacity and class, one of them is their Prime Requisite, which affect their abilities to help them survive. experience progression. • Saving Throws (ST) representing his capacity to with- • Strength (STR): Muscle, power, strength stand terrible dangers as an adventurer.

7 CHARACTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

• Hit Dice (HD) representing his overall fighting capabil- When the character is at 0 HD and have 15 or more ity (i.e. hit that can be both given and received) and Constitution, he enters a fit of rage and all his combat endurance. For each HD a character has, he can roll (including Saving Throws, Heroic Combat, and so on) take that many Hit in battle and will, in some circum- are at +1. stances, roll that many dice to determine the number of hit made upon the target. Some other effect, such as spells or traps, may also affect his HD. There is therefore a maximum amount and a current amount of HD. For more information, see the section on Injury and Com- bat. Title LevelXP Req. HD DeathWandsStoneBreathSpells Veteran 1 0 1+1 8 8 9 9 10 Warrior 2 2000 2 8 8 9 9 10 Swordsman 3 4000 3 8 8 9 9 10 Hero* 4* 8000 4 7 7 8 8 9 Swashbuckler 5 16000 5+1 7 7 8 8 9 Myrmidon 6 32000 6 7 7 8 8 9 Champion 7 64000 7+1 6 7 7 7 8 Superhero** 8** 120000 8+1 6 7 7 7 8 Lord 9 240000 9 6 7+1 7 7 8 Great Lord 10 450000 10+1 5 6 6 6 7

*Maximum level for Elves and Halflings **Maximum level for Dwarves

2a. FIGHTING-MEN Fighting-Men are warriors, soldiers, veterans and elite guards that use their body as their main means of survival, gen- erally through combat. Some can be gladiator, thieves, bodyguard or even kings: they all bear arms and are fight- ers. Examples of Fighting-Men in fiction: Conan, King Arthur, Aragorn.

• Combat Equipment Available: Can wear all weapons and armours

• Magical Equipment Available: All magic weapons and armours, limited in all other magical items

• Prime Requisite: Strength. They gain +10%XP if they 2b. MAGIC-USER have 15 or more, +5 % XP if they have 13 or 14, -10 % XP if they have 7 or 8, and -20 % XP if they have 6 or less. Magic-Users are sorcerers, sages and seers that use their If they have 15 or more in Wisdom or Intelligence, they mind to learn, understand and master the forces of magic. can also get an optional additional bonus of +5% XP. Examples in fiction: magic in Jack Vance’s "Tales of the Dy- ing Earth", Gandalf or Saruman (although both are actually • Special Abilities: Fighting-Men have the best progres- otherworldly creatures more than a Magic-User per se), Mer- sion in HD and are able to wear all weapons and ar- lin (same thing). mours because of their training. At level 3 (Swordsman), he can act as a Hero -1, at level 4 (Hero) as a Hero, • Combat Equipment Available: Cannot wear armour. at level 7 (Champion) as a Superhero -1 and at level 8 Can only wield and use staff and small weapons such (Superhero) as a Superhero. as darts, slings and daggers.

• Optional Rule: This rule is suggested for Referee that • Magical Equipment Available: All magical items except want a more Conan-esque approach to this class. for weapons and armours.

8 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CHARACTERS

• Prime Requisite: Intelligence. They gain +10%XP if they have 15 or more, +5 % XP if they have 13 or 14, -10 % XP if they have 7 or 8, and -20 % XP if they have 6 or less. If they have 15 or more in Wisdom, they can also get an optional additional bonus of +5% XP.

• Special Abilities: Magic-Users, although physically weak because of their learning and magical energies, can become powerful magician if they are protected. They wield Arcane Magic. See the section on Magic for more details. At level 7 (Enchanter) they act as a Hero, and at level 11 (Wizard) as a Wizard.

2c. CLERIC Title Level XP Req. HD Death Wands Stone Breath Spells Clerics are militant priests and devout man that can per- Medium 1 0 1 8 9 8 10 9 form miracles and exorcism, sometimes protectors of tem- Seer 2 2500 1+1 8 9 8 10 9 ples and holy sites. They are expert in hunting down un- Conjurer 3 5000 2 8 9 8 10 9 dead and protecting people from evils. Examples in fic- Theurgist 4 10000 2+1 8 9 8 10 9 tion/history: warrior-priests, Knight Templars, Van Hellsing, Archbishop Turpin. Thaumaturgist 5 20000 3 8 9 8 10 9 Magician 6 35000 3+1 7 8 7 9 8 • Combat Equipment Available: Can wear all weapons Enchanter 7 50000 4 7 8 7 9 8 and armours, except for bladed or piercing weapon Warlock* 8* 75000 5 7 8 7 9 8 (i.e. they need to use blunt weaponry), that is: club, quarterstaff, mace, and (war)hammer. Sorcerer 9 100000 6 7 8 7 9 8 Necromancer 10 200000 7 7 8 7 9 8 • Magical Equipment Available: All magic weapons and Wizard 11 350000 8 6 7 6 7 6 armours (except for non-blunt), and can use all sorts of Archmage 12 500000 8+1 6 7 6 7 6 magical items. • Prime Requisite: Wisdom. They gain +10%XP if they have 15 or more, +5 % XP if they have 13 or 14, -10 % XP if they have 7 or 8, and -20 % XP if they have 6 or less. If they have 15 or more in Strength or Intelligence, they can *Maximum level for elves also get an optional additional bonus of +5% XP. Here is the Spell Progression table. For each level, the • Special Abilities: Cleric have a middle ground combat Magic-User can memorize a number of spell based on his progression. They can also Revoke Undead starting at level. For more information, see the Spells & Magic chapter. level 1 and cast Divine Magic starting at level 2. For both of those, see the section on Magic for more ex- planation. At level 6 (Warder), they act as Hero and at level 10 (Justicar) as Superhero. A Cleric that changes his orientation (becoming a Chaos Evil Priest or a Law Patriarch) looses the benefits of the other orientation. Title Level SL1 SL2 SL3 SL4 SL5 SL6 Medium 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Title Lvl XP HD Death Wands Stone Breath Spells Seer 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 Conjurer 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 Acolyte 1 0 1 7 8 9 10 9 Theurgist 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 Adept 2 1500 2 7 8 9 10 9 Thaumaturgist 5 4 2 1 0 0 0 Hierarch 3 3000 3 7 8 9 10 9 Magician 6 4 2 2 0 0 0 Archpriest 4 6000 4 7 8 9 10 9 Enchanter 7 4 3 2 1 0 0 Keeper 5 12000 4+1 6 7 8 9 8 Warlock 8 4 3 3 2 1 0 Warder 6 25000 5 6 7 8 9 8 Sorcerer 9 4 4 3 3 2 0 Guardian 7 50000 6 6 7 8 9 8 Necromancer 10 4 4 4 3 3 0 Patriarch 8 100000 7 6 7 8 9 8 Wizard 11 4 4 4 4 4 1 Elite Patriarch 9 150000 7+1 5 6 7 7 7 Archmage 12 5 5 5 4 4 2 Justicar 10 250000 8 5 6 7 7 7

9 CHARACTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

Here is the Spell Progression table. For each level, the – During that adventure, they act as that class: Spe- Cleric can memorize a number of spell based on his level. cial Abilities, Saving Throws, equipment restric- For more information, see the Spells & Magic chapter. tions, and so on. The only distinction is that as a Magic-User, an Elf can cast magic in elven magical armour if he has any and can use any Title Level SL1 SL2 SL3 SL4 SL5 weapons. Acolyte 1 0 0 0 0 0 – They are limited to 4th level as Fighting-Men (Hero) Adept 2 1 0 0 0 0 and 8th level as Magic-Users (Warlock). Hierarch 3 2 0 0 0 0 Archpriest 4 2 1 0 0 0 • They have +1 in combat against kobolds, goblins, hob- Keeper 5 2 2 0 0 0 goblins and orcs Warder 6 2 2 1 1 0 • In combat, they can perform Advancing Fire with bows Guardian 7 2 2 2 1 1 Patriarch 8 2 2 2 2 2 • In forest terrain, they hide better in the foliage Elite Patriarch 9 3 3 3 2 2 Justicar 10 3 3 3 3 3 • In dungeon setting, they can see better secrets

2d. DWARF 2f. HALFLING

Dwarves are a sturdy race of small folk that delves into mines Halflings are a small and joyous folk of independent kind. and underground sectors. They can only be Fighting-Men They are rarely seen on the battlefield or in a dungeon, but with the following modifications: sometimes they’ll do as burglars and scouts. They have the following modifications: • They can only get up to 6th level (Myrmidon)

• They have a better resistance to magic and other ef- • They can only be Fighting-Men, and only up to level 4. fects, as shown in their Saving Throw progression (they count as being four level higher at all time). • They have deadly accuracy with all missile weapon (+1), have higher range with slings, and when attack- • They are the only characters able to employ dwarven ing with a sling in a missile attack, they will consider their magical weaponry such as the fabled +3 Magic War HD as being one step higher. Hammer • They are more difficult to hear and see, especially in • They note slanting passages, traps, shifting walls and brush or forest terrain. new construction underground settings. Refereee can either give them clue, or at the very least tell them when • They have better sense of danger, as shown in their Sav- the dungeon has changed since their last visit. ing Throw progression (they count as being four level higher at all time). • Apart from the common tongue and dwarven tongue, they also speak the language of Gnomes, Kobolds and Goblins. They hate both Kobolds and Goblins and will 2g. OTHER ROLES always try to attack them first. Any player might want to be something else than those pre- • They have better vision in the underground sented here, or they would like to "multi-class" as the elves. It is up to the Referee to decide what is fitting and how to do • They only take half Hit in combat against ogres, trolls it. The above class are excellent templates to create more, and giants even monster-class, as long as it is fair for everyone at the table and that there is a clear progression. 2e. ELF

Elves are a faerie race of magical beings. They have the 3. ALIGNMENT following modifications: Alignment represents the cosmic stance that the charac- • They can be either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users ter takes regarding the forces of Law and Chaos. Law rep- resents the cosmic order of the Gods, that is, civilization. – At the beginning of the game, and of every ad- Chaos represents the entropic force of the Abyss and dis- venture, they must choose which of the two they solution. Neutrality are those things that either can endure will operate as for the duration of the adventure both Law and Chaos, such as nature, or have no problem in living in either of those. It is suggested that players not take – They can switch freely between those in between Chaos since it will most likely affect the group cohesion. A adventurers, generally considered as being long player can only have one Alignment and cannot change rest within a civilized setting. it (unless the Referee deems it necessary, notably through – They gain Experience Points only in the class which magical items). Here is a non-exhaustive list of creatures and they chose at the beginning of the adventure. their alignment. If they appear in more than one column, it is They use the Prime Requisite of the associated because they can appear in different variant, or depending class. on their personal allegiance:

10 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CHARACTERS

Law Neutral Chaos EQUIPMENT

Men Men Men 1. MONEY AND COINS Halflings Nixies Goblins/Kobolds This game uses a Gold Standard: the basic coin for ex- Patriarchs Pixies Evil High Priests change is a gold piece (GP). Some particular setting or Ref- Treants Griffons Hobgoblins/Gnolls eree might instead chose to use a Silver Standard to make Unicorns Giants Giants Gold Piece more special. In any cases, 10 Silver Piece (SP) is Pegasi Orcs Orcs equivalent to 1 GP; 10 GP is equivalent to 1 Electrium Piece Hippogriffs Ogres Ogres (EP) Dwarves/Gnomes Dwarves/Gnomes Trolls 2. ADVENTURING UPKEEP Lycanthropes Lycanthropes Lycanthropes Giant Eagles Giant Eagles Undead It is important for the Referee to calculate cost of living and Elves Elves Medusae day to day expenditure in cities or during downtime be- Centaurs Hydrae Manticores tween adventure (especially if abstracted). One sure way of doing this seamlessly is this: when players come back from Gold Dragons Metallic Dragons Chromatic Dragons the dungeon to civilization, after having calculated the XP Purple Worms Gorgons gained (more on that later), subtract 1% of the player’s cur- Minotaurs Minotaurs rent XP in upkeep cost. Chimerae Chimerae Then, it is also important to calculate all the price of build- Sea Monsters ings, mercenaries, horses, and so on. It is suggested to have 1% expenditure for the total value of the player’s possession. Animals

3. ENCUMBRANCE & MOVEMENT RATE 4. LANGUAGE The base movement rate of a character is determined by his armour type (the conversion from other RPGs have been Each character know the language of their race (the hu- added in parenthesis): man tongue is the Common Tongue, which other races have 20% to know) and any other language in their descrip- tion. Also, they know the secret language of their related Armour Type Rate Description Alignment. Finally, for every point of intelligence above 10, a character can learn another language. Language can Light 12 Unarmored, leather armour, shield only also be learn through game development. It is highly sug- (AC 9, 8, 7) gested for Referees to come up with their own language or Medium 9 Leather and shield, chainmail, scale mail language-group. Each creature or creature group has their own language (trolls, ogres, orcs, giants, and so on). For (AC 6, 5) a list, see the previous subsection on Alignment for a non- Heavy 6 Chainmail/Scale Mail and shield, Plate armour exhaustive list. It is entirely possible for a Referee to create (AC 4, 3, 2) new languages, or have lost languages that no one can speak but are important to decipher ruins and so on. A character can wear equipment as per the following: • One item in each hand (or a two-handed item) 5. SAVING THROWS • One armour that determine his base movement rate ST are made rolling 2d6: if the result is equal or higher than (see above) the score of the character, he is able to evade the peril. It • One item as a bandolier, generally tools or small ob- is up to the referee to determine which ST, if any, is to be jects. For example: rope, rope and grappling hook, made, based on the different categories, and to what ex- hammer and iron spikes, quiver of arrows, a scroll case, tent the effect is evaded (half-damage or completely out and so on. of harm’s way). Here is a description of the six categories that represent the most dangerous and common threat to • One extra class item on his belt, to the discretion of the adventurers: Referee (for example, a Fighting-Man could have a side arm, a Magic-User a spellbook, the Cleric some holy • Death, Death Ray & Poison: Any attack from poison or water, and so on). that cause instant death. The most dangerous of all. • One back pack containing up to 2500 GP vol- • Wands, including Paralyzation and Polymorph: Any- ume/weight worth of equipment. thing that put instantly the character out of combat Items have a different GP volume/weight as per their type: and dangerously exposed. • Weapons and Shield: 500 GP worth of volume/weight. • Stone: Petrification and other such malice. • Armours: 1000 GP worth of volume/weight.

• Breath: Dragon’s breath or breath-like weapons. • Small Objects: 100 GP worth of volume/weight. Items in this category are: tools, rations, water skin, bedroll, • Spells: Anything that’s magical, generally from a spell. torches, and so on.

11 CHARACTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

• Tiny Objects: Small objects that fit in mouth, such as Name Cost in GP gems and rings, takes no space (unless in dramatic quantity, in which case they are considered as being Dagger 3 1 GP worth of volume/weight. Club/Staff 1 Hand Axe 3 Consult the following matrix to see the effect of objects War Club 3 carried on movement rate: Mace 5 Sword 10 Carried CON 3 to 12 CON 13+ Battle Axe 7 0-500 Nil Nil Morning Star 6 501-1000 -3 Nil Flail 8 1001-1500 -6 -3 Spear 2 1501-2000 -9 -6 Poleaxe 10 2001-2500 -12 -9 Two-Handed Sword 15 Lance 4 Movement also modify possible actions: Pike 5 Short Bow 25 Mvt Rate Action Penalty Long Bow 40 12 or more No penalty Light Crossbow 15 9 to 12 Can barely swim Heavy Crossbow 25 6 to 9 Can’t swim, climbing trouble Quiver of 20 Arrows 10 0 to 6 Can’t swim or climb Quiver of 30 Bolts 10 0 Can’t move or fight 20 arrows or 30 bolts 5 Silver Tipped Arrow 5 Mule 20 Draft Horse 30 Light Horse 40 4. STARTING EQUIPMENT Medium Warhorse 100 Heavy Warhorse 200 Saddle 25 Character will start the game with 3d6 * 10 Gold Pieces. Saddle Bags 10 With this, they can buy items. Alternatively, the Referee can give a premade backpack as per each class: Cart 100 Wagon 200 Raft 40 Small Boat 100 Class Content of Pack Fishing Boat 500 Cog 5000 Fighting-Man Chainmail, Sword, Helmet, Shield, Trireme 7500 Large Leather Pack, Water Skin, 6 torches, Birlinn 10000 50’ of Rope, 5 rations, Ballinger 15000 Battle axe if dwarf, Bow and arrow if elf, Caravel 20000 sling and bullet if halfling, 10 GP if human Carrack 30000 Cleric Chainmail, Morning Star, Helmet, Light Armour 15 Large Leather Pack, Water Skin, 6 torches, Medium Armour 30 3 stakes and mallet, steel mirror, Heavy Armour 50 garlic bud, silver cross, 3 rations Helmet 10 Magic-User Dagger, darts, one lantern, Shield 10 Large Leather Pack, 2 flask of oil, 3 rations, Barding 150 ink and quill, spellbook, hourglass, Tools and Equipment 1 wolvesbane Large Leather Backpack 5 Large Sack 2 6 Torches 5

5. EQUIPMENT LIST

12 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CHARACTERS

Name Cost in GP damage to determine Hits in normal combat, and subtract 1 from Duel attack). They also grant bonuses to Saving Throws. Lantern 10 Magic Arrows always hit their target (as long as they are Flask of Oil 2 within range). They also grant various bonuses for the op- 3 Stakes and Mallet 3 tional Heroic Combat rules. Steel Mirror 5 Magic Shield are indestructible and therefore always Silver Mirror 15 grant +1 to Breath Saving Throw. Wooden Cross 2 Silver Cross 25 Wolvesbane 10 NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS Belladona 10 1. GENERALITIES Garlic 5 Iron Rations (1 week) 15 Non-Player Characters (NPCs) are characters that follow the Rations (1 day) 5 same rules as Characters (except that some have no classes Animal food (1 day) 1 and are level 0), but are not played by players. Instead, the Referee will play them for interaction with the players. Some Weapons: Weapons are used in combat. It is entirely pos- of them, such as those that can be hired below, can be or- sible to have brittled Iron, or a setting where weapon are dered around by the PCs up to a certain limit. It is impor- made of stone or bones. In those cases, weapon can break tant to note that NPCs will not blindly jump into combat to after a couple of combat. It is up to the Referee. get killed: sometimes they will refuse death-sentence orders, Armour: Amours grant protection in combat. Light can and in dangerous situation ask for more money. Also, like all be padded, leather, or heavy hide. Medium can be chain NPC and creature, they have a Morale. or scale. Heavy can be plate or the equivalent. In some set- They have their own factions, their own obligations, their tings, armours can be made of special material, of bones, own motivations. It is possible to hire three types of NPCs: of carapace, and so on. It takes one move to don a shield; hirelings, mercenaries and specialists; all normal men. There it takes one combat turn to don light armour (1 minute); and is a fourth type that have a class and can also level-up, the it takes a one underground exploration move (5 minutes) to Henchman (also sometimes called "Followers"). don a medium or heavy armour. It is important to note that some armours will have adverse effect in particular weather (such as heavy armour in desert), or on the contrary a posi- 2. RECRUITING & HIRING NPCS tive effect (a hide armour in cold weather). Helmets: When wearing an helmet, you can’t listen at All of those four categories and every NPCs have a Reaction door and you have more chance of being surprised. When towards the player (see below). If they are hired by the PCs, falling to 0 HD, if you have an helmet, you fall unconscious, they have a Loyalty towards those. otherwise you die. In both cases, it is necessary to make a Reaction Roll to Shields: Grant protection as per armour type and bonus see if the NPCs is interested in being recruited by the PCs de- to Parry. Also, when making a Breath Saving Throw, you can pending on the offer made: the amount of money depicted block with your shield to add +1 at the cost of the shield. In- here is only based on their necessary wage to maintain destructible shield are effectively granting +1 to Breath Sav- themselves and their equipment, as well as base "salary". ing Throw. Small shield, Targe, can only give a bonus to parry Generally, more money will be required to hire them. Some and do not grant either protection or bonus to Breath Saving will even negotiate for healing or magical protection. Throw. Add modifiers +- depending on the fate of previous NPCs Animals: It is important that animals are nourished just hired, the Charisma modifiers and "rumours" about the as characters has throughout adventures. Also, they each group and how they treat their NPCs. It is entirely possible have an upkeep, outside of adventuring time, of about 10% that a vicious group of PCs will make enemies among mer- their value each month from their food, their training, their cenaries and they will end up being ambushed by them out- general maintenance (such as horseshoe). side of town. To recruit NPCs, the PCs must first find them by posting 6. MAGICAL ITEMS adds and have servants travel around in taverns, inns and other places to announce the need for people to be hired. Magical Items weight nothing. They come in various forms This have a variable cost depending on the location (big that are explained individually in the Treasure part. cities would be 1d6 x 10, smaller cities would require reach- Magic Weapon are indestructible and add dice to at- ing further and up to 1d6 x 100) and can take up to one tack roll for each bonus point (for example, a +1 Sword week before having any news or potential candidates. will grant one extra dice). They can destroy wooden struc- It is suggested to tell players about the advantage of hir- ture, including ships and gates. Some of them have special ing NPCs: they can protected them on the wilderness travel, powers. They are necessary to hit some types of monsters they can transport extra equipment in the dungeon, they that can be "immune" to non-magical item. Referee might can protect the camp outside the dungeon, they can be also include special case of weapon as being "like" magical torchbearer or equipment "mule" within the dungeon, and weapon for the sake of hitting creatures with such property: so on. This free up the PCs to do other things. They also have silver weaponry, mithril weaponry or using sharp diamond as their share of danger: they make more noise (more ran- tip for arrows, bolts or as sling bullets. dom encounters), they can be charmed, they can even be Magic Armours are indestructible and grant Resistance killed and replaced by sleeper agents with powerful magic to all combat damage (remove dice from each source of or shapeshifting !

13 CHARACTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

3. TYPES OF NPCS TO BE HIRED Specialist Wage Per Month 3a. HIRELINGS Alchemist 1000 Assassin 2000 Hirelings are normal men that may or may not have a for- (per mission) mal training and serve for general task. Some are guides, hunters, servants, and so on. But generally, for PCs, they Monster Trainer 500 will serve to bear torches and carry extra equipment. They Animal Trainer 250 will also maintain camp and so on. Their wages is generally Armourer 100 about 1 GP per month. Engineer 750 Navigator 150 3b. MERCENARIES Smith 25 Sailor 10 Mercenaries are paid men-at-arms. They are generally used Sage 2000 to protect caravan, adventurer’s camp, or to be garrisoned, Ship’s Captain 250 and so on. In times of war, they might request double their normal payment to cover for extra danger over a monthly Spy 500 period. (per mission)

3d. HENCHMAN Type Wage Per Month The fourth category, the Henchman are also paid with an Light Infantry 1 initial fee, but they have a class, personal motivation and Medium Infantry 2 follow the players for other reasons than just treasures. They Heavy Infantry 3 are generally paid in shares of the treasure instead of wages: Light Cavalry 10 therefore, the loot will be split with them just as PCs split the treasures between themselves. Medium Cavalry 15 They can level-up by the treasure found and can even Heavy Cavalry 20 attain high level. In other words, they are not normal men or Mounted Archers 15 "mercenaries" like the others. Those can be used for players Archers 5 to play as secondary characters if their main characters die. Crossbowman 4 They stay with the group from adventure to adventure. When given decent treasure, magical item and other Longbowmen 10 bonus, they will have a permanent increase in loyalty and morale score. When used for dangerous and special enterprise such as They can even be considered secondary character that dungeon delving, instead of using the default month wage can be played as the main character by players when their bellow, these men will ask for individual monetary amount main character is off to do something else: healing from to compensate for the danger. Also hiring an army of men an injury, training elsewhere, maintaining his domain, and to delve into a dungeon will result in the same thing as with so on. They can be useful therefore to accompany lower- any wars: they will be expected to pillage and the PCs will level characters on quest where the main character would no recover the full extent of the treasure. be trivial. Add +25% wages for elite, including race-specific (for ex- Some Referee might instead prefer to keep them strictly ample, elves archers). Most armoured troops (medium and as NPCs and control them himself. Also, some Referee might heavy) will require an armourer for long-term employment in also even accept monsters as Henchman if they are con- order to repair their equipment. vinced and subdued appropriately. In that case, the Ref- For Chaotic characters employing creatures such as Orcs, eree might also have them gain XP and obtain new abilities. the cost is half, but they have much less loyalty and are Finally, hired mercenaries and hirelings might also decide to prone to infighting. become adventurers and therefore considered Henchman instead from then on.

3c. SPECIALISTS 4. REACTION

Specialists are trade trained individuals. They are rare: roll A Reaction Roll is made in a multitude of occasions: 2d6, if the result is 7 or more, there is a specialist of the cho- • A random encounter is rolled sen type within that town at the moment open for work. It is possible to subtract 2 for small borderland town and add 2 • A monster or creature is encountered with no previous for bigger cities. adventure keys or role They can be armourer, alchemist, spies, monster trainer, doctor, and so on. Rates are difficult to ascertain, because • A drastic event changes a creature standing towards some specialists will join players for less time and less money, the player or will accept less money because of other benefits. • NPCs are met The price include their personal expanses and basic equipment. For more complex or specific equipment, such • Requests are asked by PCs to NPCs as a boat for Navigator, they have to be provided by the players. • And so on

14 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CHARACTERS

A roll should only be made if the roll can modify the situa- Result Need Type Activities Related tion realistically. That is, if the two groups share no language, no alignment, no needs, no common purpose, and so on, 1-2 Safety Lost, hurt, running then no roll should be attempted. This is why some type of away from threat, monsters, like undead, rarely if ever have any Reaction Roll. without light Attitude, gear, special items, class and so on can all mod- 3-4 Sustenance Hunting, hungry, ify a Reaction Roll if a Referee wants to. For example, a no- eating, preparing food ble seeing someone well dressed, with a banner, rich accou- 5 Comfort Link with own trements and jewellery and so on might have a positive view species (mating), warming, of this and modify the roll with a +1. An orc chieftain seeing a very tall man, powerful, with a special sword or armour might nap, shelter consider him mighty and therefore respectable, granting a 6 Territory Patrolling, tracking, +1 to the roll. It can also go both ways: a thief might have conquering a -1 on his roll if he sees riches on the PCs, and an Anti-Hero 7 Catharsis Sadism, anger, desperate, might take the mighty warrior as an decent challenge to revenge, corruption take on. 8 Luxury Looking for gold, The basic roll is made using 2d6 and adding all modifiers: for items, for alcohol, for slaves 9 Knowledge Direction, lore, spying neighbours 10 Allies or assistance Roll again to 2d6 Result see help for what 2 or less Hostile 11+ Actualization of the self Ideology, religion, 3-5 Negative training, cult 6-8 Uncertain 9-11 Positive 5. LOYALTY 12 or more Enthusiastic Loyalty for NPCs is made for any bribe, dangerous situation or motivation against those of PCs. It is resolved exactly like a new Reaction roll with any Loyalty modifiers from Charisma, but also from previous gifts (magical items especially) and For the "Uncertain" result, it means that the creature will how well the NPCs were treated. This is especially useful for revert to his base instinct if nothing is made to ameliorate the recurring NPCs, such as Henchman. situation. A new roll can be made with a positive modifier if Some hired NPCs, when hauling treasures, might run away the players try something, for example, gifting money to an with it at the first sign of danger: this is why it’s important to uncertain bandit. pay and treat them well. A more complete and specific reaction table can also be used: EXPERIENCE PROGRESSION

Experience Point (XP) are an abstract value used to deter- mined when a character get stronger through adventuring. 2d6 Encounter/Combat Trading/Civilization It is awarded by the Referee when there is some kind of peril or danger associated with the activities (mainly adventuring 2 or less Hostile, cruelty PCs as threat and gathering treasures) of the characters. and destruction Some Referee might want to also consider handing out 3-5 Needs more important End of negotiation less XP for high level characters delving in easier part of dun- geons or wilderness, and vice-versa. than PCs Here are the most common way of handling XP. ntrig 6-8 As per needs, leave Leave or bargain 9-11 Favourable, curiosity, Open to negotiation 1. GOLD AS XP evasion and exchange 12 or more Curiosity and help Service or help For every gold piece (or the worth of treasures in GP) brought back to civilization and spent by the players, add 1 XP to their character. It is highly suggested to share this XP between the group to make sure there is no infighting. Needs can be manifold for creatures. For ooze, plants Magic item also grant XP as per their GP worth, even if and unintelligent creatures, roll 1d3 on the following table. no one can buy those at their full price, or that nobody sell For semi-intelligent creatures and animals, roll 1d6. For hu- them. manoids, roll 2d6. For sophisticated creatures, roll 3d6 and As a side note, there are always people protesting that GP keep the two highest. for XP is unrealistic, doesn’t fit the fiction, is not reasonable, and so on. To this, we say that:

• It is fun for both players (tangible goal with in-game impact) and Referees (easy book-keeping and track- ing). It gives a goal for players in a tangible and non-

15 CHARACTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

arbitrary way compared to other goal-based progres- sion scheme. It also give players a good reason to in- teract with the world outside of simply combat. Also, if the treasure is separated evenly (as per a suggestion of yours truly), then it also force and engage players to form a cooperative group (which will, in turn, give ev- eryone a more fun experience).

• It is realistic. Why ? Because the characters have gold as their motivation: it is the most realistic motivator in such a society with gold and treasures hidden in dan- gerous ruins! This is the stuff of Conan and the likes. Therefore, gold is a character motivation and gaining it achieve their personal goals. The question then is not "why is gold XP?", but rather, "why does the char- acter wants to much gold?": and that question is to be answered at the level of the Referee, his creation (his gaming world) and the players. The game provide the framework for it, nothing else. It also provide player with an objective that isn’t reliant on the specific accom- plishment of a goal decided by the Referee, or through specifically combat: they can seek out their own av- enues.

For those that are yet not convinced, just consider this: his- tory of gaming proves that it works, and therefore you should give it a try prior to changing it!

2. OTHER FORMS OF XP It is possible to grant XP for other forms of action:

• Monsters: For each HD of monster killed, grant a num- ber of XP as per the setting and campaign. Generally, this will be 15 XP per HD with a possible bonus of 5 to 15 for special abilities.

• Exploration: For each hex completely explored, add 100 XP. For each dungeon room, add 10 XP. For every hex cleared completely of monsters and pacified, add 500 XP.

• Role: As said before, it is possible to give XP for the Caller, Mapper or Scribe of the group for their effort.

• Carousing: For a more Sword & Sorcery game, like Co- nan, it is possible to grant an extra 0.5 XP for each GP spent on carousing, party, and other "useless" enterprise that any low adventurer or bandit would do.

3. LEVEL PROGRESSION When players reach their next level in experience, they gain one level and obtain all the new abilities and modifiers from that new level. This can only be done in civilization, between adventure. XP is kept from level to level but the requirement goes up. Some Referee will require special training to obtain new skills. If used, cost 25% of XP required for the new level in GP of training.

4. LEVEL BEYOND It is possible to go beyond the level maximum shown here. It is important then to augment HD, Saving Throws, Spells and so on correspondingly.

16 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND SPELLS & MAGIC

PART 2: SPELLS & MAGIC

MEMORIZING AND USING SPELLS

Common magic, such as the one used by characters, is based upon memory. Spells can be knownand/or memo- rized.A known spell (that is inscribed in his spellbook that he transport with him) is within the general arsenal of the spell- caster and can be memorized. When a spell is cast, it leaves the memory of the spellcaster. At the beginning an adventure, a spellcaster can memo- rize a number of spell as per his character level (see the spell progression tables in the character class section). When they cast those spells, they are effectively un-memorized and cannot be cast until they are memorized again. The term "beginning of an adventure" can be modified as per the referee: it can mean a long rest in civilization prior to adventuring in the wilderness, or it can mean a night at SPELL LISTS camp prior to adventuring deep into the dungeons. A mid- dle ground would be that any spell requires 1d6 + (spell level) hours to be memorized. 1. ARCANE SPELLS Note that unless specified, every negative/damage spell will require a Spell Saving Throw to determine if the target(s) 1st Level 2nd Level 3rd Level is(are) affected. Detect Magic Detect Invisible Fly Hold Portal Levitate Hold Person Read Magic Locate Object Dispel Magic REVOKE UNDEAD Read Languages Invisibility Clairvoyance Circle of Protection Wizard Lock Clairaudience A Cleric can attempt to Revoke Undead, that is, repulse their Light Detect Chaos Fire Ball dark and negative energy from their world. To do so, the Charm Person ESP Lightning Bolt Cleric must brandish a divine symbol towards the undead(s) Sleep Continual Light Circle of Protection 10’r and make powerful prayer continuously. A zone of 50 feet (5") with a cone shape of 180 degree is affected in front of Phantasmal Forces Invisibility 10’r him in a blaze of light. Knock Infravision All affected Undead make a Morale check modified by Slow Spell the difference of the Cleric HD with the Undead HD. For ex- Haste Spell ample, if the Cleric HD is HD 8 and the Undead is HD 4, the Protection Normal Missile Undead will subtract 4 to their roll. Water Breathing

2d6 Result 4th Level 5th Level 6th Level Double 6s Evil protection, will not check again Polymorph Self Teleport Stone to Flesh More than Resolved Polymorph Others Hold Monster Reincarnation Equal Shaken Remove Curse Conjure Elemental Invisible Stalker Less Turned Wall of Fire Telekinesis Move Terrain Less than 2 Destroyed Wall of Ice Transmute Rock to Mud Control Weather Confusion Wall of Stone Projected Image Charm Monster Wall of Iron Anti-Magic Shell A Cleric using Revoke Undead cannot perform any other Growth Plant Animate Dead Death Spell action except moving, and he moves at 1/4 pace. A re- Dimension Door Magic Jar Geas treating or shaken undead cannot approach, affect, attack Wizard Eye Contact Higher Plane Disintegrate or do anything direct or indirect towards the Cleric for as Massmorph Pass-Wall long as the Cleric keep using this, and if able, will try to flee the zone. It is suggested for the Referee to re-use the same Hallucinatory Terrain Cloudkill undead in a further random encounter within the dungeon Feeblemind or the wilderness. Growth Animal

17 SPELLS & MAGIC CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

2. DIVINE SPELLS Phantasmal Force (range: 24", duration: special): A pow- erful illusion that’s as true as reality to people that sees it ap- Spells marked with a * means they can be reversed by an pear within range, in the shape of any image the Magic- evil or chaos Cleric for an inverted effect. It is possible that User can come up with. As long as the Magic-User doesn’t a Law cleric also reverse the spell, but at the peril of his cor- cast other spell and stays concentrated, the illusion stays. If ruption and turning into a Chaos cleric (Anti-Cleric). someone interact with the illusion, the illusion is revealed as a fake. 1st Level 2nd Level 3rd Level Locate Object (range: 6" + 1" per level of the Magic-User, duration: special): To cast this spell, the Magic-User must Cure Light Wound* Find Traps Remove Curse have prior knowledge of the object to be located (physi- Purify Food & Water* Hold Person Cure Disease* cal properties), or at least the general type of object for less specific research (for example, a stair). After using the spell, Detect Magic Bless* Locate Object if the object is within range, the user will know the direction Detect Chaos* Speak with Animals Continual Light* of it. Circle of Protection* Invisibility (range: 24", duration: until broken or 1 hour): Light* One creature becomes invisible until it interact with another creature (such as an attack or spell). Wizard Lock (range: within line of sight, duration: instan- 4th Level 5th Level taneous): Act like the Hold Portal spell, but stays. The Knock Neutralize Poison Dispel Chaos* spell can open it without breaking the lock. A Magic-User three level higher than the Magic-User that put the Wizard Cure Serious Wounds* Raise Dead* Lock can open it without casting any spell. Circle of Protection 10’r* Commune Detect Chaos (range: 6", duration: 10 minutes): Can de- Turn Sticks to Snakes Quest tect any object or person of the Chaos alignment, or any Speak with Plants Insect Plague direct evil intent towards the user. Create Water Create Food ESP (range: 6" (special), duration: 20 minutes): Can sense surface thoughts of creatures around. Rock will reduce range by 2" and lead will block it. 3. SPELLS DESCRIPTION Continual Light (range: 12", duration: special): A ball of floating light will create illumination for 24" within range. It 3a. ARCANE 1ST LEVEL stays until dispelled or up to one day. Knock (range: 6", duration: instantaneous): A secret mag- Detect Magic (range: 50’, duration: 10 minutes): Can de- ical force push that can open doors, secret passages, held tect magical aura or effect on creature, object and loca- gates or doors locked by magic. It can also be used to give tion. a little kick and push people off to make them fall. Hold Portal (range: 50’, duration: 2d6 x 10 minutes): Keep a gate (magical or not) or door closed. It can still be opened by powerful creatures or magic. 3c. ARCANE 3RD LEVEL Read Magic (range: visual, duration: 10 minutes): Can Fly read magical scrolls or devices. (range: self, duration: 2d6 minutes (rolled by the Referee) + 1 minutes per Magic-User level): Give a flying speed equiv- Read Languages (range: visual, duration: 10 minutes): alent to 12" per turn. Can read any language or symbolic script (such as treasure Hold Person (range: 12", duration: 10 minutes + 1 minutes maps). per Magic-User level): 1d3 + 1 humanoid will be paralysed. Circle of Protection (range: self, duration: 10 minutes): A If cast on only 1 target, it receives -2 to its Saving Throw. circle of magic appear around the user that keeps out en- Dispel Magic (range: 12", duration: instantaneous): If the chanted monsters attack (such as possession). Confer the user of this spell is higher level than the targeted spell’s origi- equivalent of a Magic Armor vs evil creatures. nal Magic-User, it is a success. Otherwise, roll 2d6 + user level Light (range: self, radius of 10’, duration: 10 minutes per - targeted spell’s original Magic-User. If the result is 7 or more, level of the user) : Equivalent to a torchlight. the spell is dispelled. A double 6 is always a success. It dis- Charm Person (range: 40’, duration: special, until dis- pels all effect from other spells, but not from magic item and pelled): Only affect humanoids. The target become under such. the influence of the user as if a best friend or ally. It can be Clairvoyance (range: 6" (special), duration: 20 minutes): given orders and act as a follower until dispelled. Can see within range as if present. Rock will reduce range Sleep (range: 40’, duration: 10 minutes): 2d6 HD crea- by 2" and lead will block it. ture will fall to sleep. Creatures with 4 or more HD are not Clairaudience (range: 6" (special), duration: 20 minutes): affected. Can hear within range as if present. Rock will reduce range by 2" and lead will block it. 3b. ARCANE 2ND LEVEL Fireball (range: 24", duration: instantaneous): Explode as a fire catapult (see Artillery in combat) in a larger area (2" Detect Invisible (range: 1" per Magic-User level, duration: 10 radius) but it doesn’t scatter and works every time. However, minutes): Locate and see objects and creatures affected it doesn’t outright kill characters and instead cause a num- by the Invisible spell (or effect). ber of Hit as per. Levitate (range: 2" of levitation per level of the Magic-User, Lightning Bolt (range: 24", duration: instantaneous): Is duration: 10 minutes + one per level of the Magic-User): The thrown as a lightning ballista, (see Artillery in combat) but user starts to lift in the air vertically. He can move horizontally it doesn’t scatter and works every time. However, it doesn’t by using his hands. outright kill characters and instead cause a number of Hit as

18 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND SPELLS & MAGIC

per. If the Bolt hit a solid object, such as a wall, it will bounce 2d6 Effect back until it goes full range. Circle of Protection 10’r (range: 10" radius, duration: 20 2-5 Attack the Magic-User’s party minutes): A circle of magic appear around the user that 6-8 Do nothing, fixing emptiness keeps out enchanted monsters attack (such as possession). 9-12 Attack other confused creatures Confer the equivalent of a Magic Armor vs evil creatures. Invisibility 10’r (range: 10" radius, duration: until broken or 1 Charm Monster (range: 40’, duration: special, until dis- hour): Creatures within the zone become invisible until they pelled): Only affect monsters (including animals). The tar- interact with another creature (such as an attack or spell). gets (3d6 HD in total) become under the influence of the user as if a best friend or ally. It can be given orders and act Infravision (range: touch, duration: 24 hours): The target as a follower until dispelled. can see up to 60" infra-red light as waves, seeing in total Growth Plant (range: 12" with radius up to 3", duration: darkness. special, until dispelled): Any kind of plants or trees grows Slow Spell (range: 6" x 12", duration: 10 minutes): Up to manifold to create a zone with vines, thorns and thick bush 4d6 creatures within the area that are of lower HD than the that cannot be crossed. Magic-User level are slowed. They have half mvt, cannot Dimension Door (range: special, duration: instantaneous): charge, can barely jump or climb, have half attack, etc. It The user decide of a direction and distance of up to 36" and counter the effect of the Haste Spell. he will open a single door that will teleport him there instantly Haste Spell (range: 6" x 12", duration: 10 minutes): Up to (and only him). He will arrive precisely where he said (for 4d6 creatures within the area are hasted. They have double example, "30" to the south"). mvt, double charge, can jump higher or climb faster, have Wizard Eye (range: 24", duration: 10 minutes): Allow the double attack value, etc. It counter the effect of the Slow user to create a small invisible globe that can move up to Spell. 12" per turn and can observe and send back information to Protection vs Normal Missile (range: 3", duration: 10 min- the user. utes): The target becomes protected against all normal mis- Massmorph (range: 24", duration: until dispelled): Up sile attack. Only magical missile can pass through. to one hundred creatures of humanoid size can be trans- Water Breathing (range: 3", duration: 1 hour): The target formed (illusion) as trees. They will be seen as trees even can breath underwater as if air. by those moving through. It can be dispelled by magic or through a special word of the command by the user. Hallucinatory Terrain (range: 24", duration: special): As long as the Magic-User is concentrated, in range and 3d. ARCANE 4TH LEVEL doesn’t cast another spell, the targeted terrain features can be transformed. It can either show something that isn’t there Polymorph Self (range: self, duration: 10 minutes + 1 minutes to be there, or the opposite. The limit of the size is up to the per level of Magic-User): Transform the user into a creature of Referee judgement of the power of the Magic-User accord- choice that is known to him. He will gain all natural capac- ing to its level (a good reference would be 10" per Magic- ities (such as flying), but not the special or combat-related User level). abilities. Polymorph Others (range: 6", duration: until dispelled): 3e. ARCANE 5TH LEVEL Transform the target into a creature of the user’s choice that is known to him. He will gain all natural capacities (such as Teleport (range: special, duration: instantaneous): Instantly flying), but not the special or combat-related abilities. The transport the user to the destination if he knows exactly target will also keep his immunities or resistance. where he is going. If it’s not the case, roll 2d6. If the user Remove Curse (range: touch, duration: instantaneous): have some clue or information about the place, add +2 to Remove one curse or possession from one creature or ob- the roll. If he has no information or only vague information, ject. A cursed object will lose both beneficial and negative add -2 to the roll. Then, consult the following table: powers that stems from the curse. Wall of Fire (range: 6", duration: special): Create an 2d6 Effect opaque wall of fire for as long as the Magic-User is concen- 2-3 Death in solid matter trated on it, within range and doesn’t cast another spell. Creatures of less than 4 HD cannot pass through. When 4-5 Arrived 3d6 * 100 feet too high breaking through, creatures will take 1 HD of damage, and 6-8 Arrived 3d6 * 10 feet too high undead, 2. It can be up to 6" in width and 2" in height and 9-10 Arrive in the general vicinity, can be in different shape. but not exactly on spot (up to 1 miles) Wall of Ice (range: 12", duration: special): Create an 11-12 Arrive safely at destination opaque wall of ice for as long as the Magic-User is con- centrated on it, within range and doesn’t cast another spell. Hold Monster (range: 12", duration: 10 minutes + 1 minutes It prevent all fire attack and all object or creature to pass per Magic-User level): 1d3 + 1 monsters (non-humanoids) will through. It can be up to 6" in width and 2" in height and be paralysed. If cast on only 1 target, it receives -2 to its can be in different shape. It can be broken as a wooden Saving Throw. wall by any creature of 4 or more HD, with fire being doubly Conjure Elemental (range: 24", duration: 24 hours or un- effective. til dispelled): The user choose either Air, Water, Fire or Earth Confusion (range: 12" and radius of 3", duration: 10 min- elemental to be conjured. Only one per day can be con- utes): Creatures with 2 or less HD are automatically affected jured of any given type. The Magic-User need to keep in without a Saving Throw. For those affected, roll 2d6 to deter- line of sight and concentrate on controlling the elemental, mine the result: or else he might rebel (make a Reaction Roll every time the

19 SPELLS & MAGIC CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

concentration is broken or line of sight is lost, with -1 added reversible to turn flesh to stone. every time this happens). Reincarnation (range: touch, duration: special): Can be Telekinesis (range: 12", duration: 10 minutes): Can move used to raise from the dead a character in another form. He up to 200GP of weight per level of the user. Using this against will obtain the new form powers and capabilities, and will characters will grant them a Spell Saving Throw at +1. retain some of its experience. The form will be determine by Transmute Rock to Mud (range: 12", duration: takes 1 the Alignment of the character. minute to have effect): Sand, earth or rock is transformed into mud in a 30" square. The same spell can be used to reverse the effect. 2d6 Law Neutral Chaos Wall of Stone (range: 6", duration: until dispelled or bro- ken): Create a solid stone wall (as a fortification) of 10" 2 Hippogriff Minotaur Medusae length. 3 Treant Nixie Troll Wall of Iron (range: , duration: minutes): Create a solid iron wall of 5" length. Wall of Iron count as being Stone Wall 4 Lycanthrope Pixie Kobold that takes 1/4 Hit and is immune to some type of attack, 5 Centaur Animal Hobgoblin especially from non-magical means. 6 Halfling Lycanthrope Gnoll Animate Dead (range: within sight, duration: until dis- 7 Men Elf Orc pelled or destroyed): Animate 1d6 undead per level above 8 Dwarf Men Goblin 8th. The strength of the undead depend on the type of creature reanimated. Basic men are reanimated as zom- 9 Elf Giant Animal Ogre bies or skeletons, depending on their physical state. 10 Unicorn Ogres Giant Magic Jar (range: special, duration: special): The user 11 Giant Eagle Chimerae Gorgon place his life-force in an inanimate object within 3". Then, this 12 Gold Metallic Chromatic "magic jar" can be used to try and possess the body of an- Dragon Dragon Dragon other creature within 12". If the creature’s body is destroyed while possessed, the Magic-User goes back to his body. He can return to his body or "magic jar" at any given moment. Invisible Stalker (range: special, duration: special): Con- If the jar or Magic-User body is destroyed while the life-force jure a powerful extradimensionnal being known as an invis- of the user is in the jar or the body of a possessed creature, ible stalker. He will accomplish one task (within his compe- the Magic-User is annihilated. tency) for the Magic-User and will be dispelled only when Contact Higher Plane (range: special, duration: instanta- the task is done or when he is destroyed. neous): The user can ask a question to a creature of great Move Terrain (range: 24", duration: 10 minutes): Can be knowledge from another plane (of unknown origin). Ques- used to either move large amount of earth at rate of 6" per tions can only be answered by "yes" or "no". The user can minutes, part a large body of water, or move water (includ- try to reach out to higher plane for more knowledge and ing lowering it to 50%) from a stream, river or lake. veracity, but at the cost of more chance of a backlash. Control Weather (range: special, duration: special): The 2d6 Lower Plane Middle Planes Higher Planes Magic-User can affect his local weather for the following ac- tions: rain (make or stop), temperature (cold or heat wave), 2-3 False Doesn’t know Feeblemind winds (including storms and high wind), tornado (make or 4-5 False Doesn’t know Feeblemind stop) and clear skies. 6-8 False Doesn’t know Knows Projected Image (range: 24", duration: 10 minutes): Cre- 9-10 Doesn’t know Knows Knows ate a powerful illusion from where all speech, spells and ac- tion will likely seem to come from. 11-12 Knows Knows Knows Anti-Magic Shell (range: self, duration: 10 minutes): A Pass-Wall (range: 3", duration: 10 minutes): Open a man- magic barrier prevent the user from being affected by any sized path through solid matter up to 10". spell or using any spell. Cloudkill (range: 12" and 2" radius, duration: 10 minutes): Death Spell (range: 24" with a 6" radius, duration: instan- Creates a slow-moving poison cloud (6" per turn depend- taneous): 2d6 creatures within radius with fewer then 7 HD ing on wind) where all creatures of 5 or less HD must make must save or die. a Death Saving Throw or die. Others suffer respiration prob- lem and suffocation. The cloud can be dispelled by magic, Geas (range: 3", duration: special): The target is forced to strong wind or trees. It is heavier than air and will always go performed a task for the user. If the target does not perform to the lowest areas. the task, or goes against it, he will be weakened (maximum Feeblemind (range: 24", duration: until dispelled): Can HD) and receive magical curses until the effect is dispelled. only be used against Magic-Users. Those affected can This can result in death (1d6 weeks). It lasts until the task is barely think straight or speak and cannot cast any spells. done. Magic-Users make their save at -2 against this spell because Disintegrate (range: 6", duration: instantaneous): Any of its specialized nature. non-magical object, creature or location (up to about 3" of Growth Animal (range: 12", duration: 10 minutes): A group solid matter) will be destroyed instantly. of 1d6 animals will grow to giant-size (with their capacities in combat also augmented).

3g. DIVINE 1ST LEVEL 3f. ARCANE 6TH LEVEL Stone to Flesh (range: 12", duration: until dispelled or re- Cure Light Wounds* (range: touch, duration: nil): Roll 2d6 versed): Turns stone to flesh (removing petrification) and is and apply the following:

20 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND SPELLS & MAGIC

2d6 Result 3j. DIVINE 4TH LEVEL 2-4 Nothing happen Neutralize Poison (range: touch, duration: instantaneous): 5-7 Wound is cautorized, Remove poison from one object or creature. there is no infection Cure Serious Wounds* (range: touch, duration: nil): Roll 2d6 and apply the following: 7-10 One HD is healed 11-12 Two HD are healed 2d6 Result *Inflict the amount of damage or cause an infection, as per the result. 2-5 Wound is cautorized, one HD is healed Purify Food & Water* (range: touch, duration: nil): Target 6-8 Two HD are healed food and/or water will be unspoiled for up to 2d6 portions. 7-10 Three HD are healed *Can spoil and corrupt the food, causing a weak poison (6+) 11-12 Four HD are healed or dysentery (1-5). Detect Magic (range: 50’, duration: 10 minutes): Can de- *Inflict the amount of damage. tect magical aura or effect on creature, object and loca- Circle of Protection 10’r* (range: 10" radius, duration: 20 tion. minutes): A circle of magic appear around the user that Detect Chaos* (range: 20’, duration: 20 minutes): The user keeps out enchanted monsters attack (such as possession). can sense evil intent, evil forces or even evil within object Confer the equivalent of a Magic Armor vs evil creatures. and location. *Detect Law. *Circle of Protection against Law. Circle of Protection* (range: self, duration: 10 minutes): A circle of magic appear around the user that keeps out Turn Sticks to Snakes (range: 12", duration: 10 minutes): Up enchanted monsters attack (such as possession). *Circle of to 3d6 sticks are turned to snakes. Each of their attack have Protection against Law. a 50% of poisoning. Light* (range: self, radius of 10’, duration: 10 minutes per Speak with Plants (range: 3", duration: 10 minutes): The level of the user) : Equivalent to a torchlight. *Cause a small Cleric can speak with plants to give them command (such area of darkness around the Cleric. as letting him through) or asking questions. Treants are not commanded by this spell but will have a more favourable Reaction. 3h. DIVINE 2ND LEVEL Create Water (range: special, duration: instantaneous): Find Traps (range: self with a radius of 3", radius of 10’, du- For every level above 8th, the Cleric can create and supply ration: 1 minute): The Cleric can find any mechanical or water for about 10 men. magical traps. Hold Person (range: 18", duration: 10 minutes): 1d3 + 1 hu- manoid will be paralysed. If cast on only 1 target, it receives 3k. DIVINE 5TH LEVEL -2 to its Saving Throw. Dispel Chaos* (range: 3" radius, duration: instantaneous): If Bless* (range: touch, duration: 10 minutes): Cannot be the user of this spell is higher level than the targeted spell’s cast during combat and affect any number of targets. The original user that must be of chaotic origin, it is a success. targets fight as if Elite (+1 to morale and +1 to attack roll). Otherwise, roll 2d6 + user level - targeted spell’s original user. Speak with Animals (range: 3", duration: 10 minutes): The If the result is 7 or more, the spell is dispelled. A double 6 is Cleric can speak and understand any animals. If a Cleric always a success. It dispels all effect from other spells, but speaking to animals makes a Reaction Roll, they have +1. not from magic item and such. If they had already made a Reaction Roll with a negative result, it is possible to make a reroll with the same bonus. The Raise Dead* (range: touch, duration: special): This spell Cleric can give the animals simple commands to obey. raise from a dead a killed human, elf, halfling or dwarf. The time limit between the death and the raising must be lower than four days per Cleric level above 7. It takes 30 days - 3i. DIVINE 3RD LEVEL Constitution score to recover from death and being raised. *The reverse spell is called Finger of Death (range 12", dura- Remove Curse (range: touch, duration: instantaneous): Re- tion: instantaneous): The fire of the cleric fires a death ray move one curse or possession from one creature or object. that instantly kill. A cursed object will lose both beneficial and negative pow- ers that stems from the curse. Commune (range: special, duration: special): The Cleric Cure Disease* (range: touch, duration: instantaneous): asks higher power three questions. It can only be used once Can cure any disease (even magical). *Inflict a powerful a week. Once per year during a special ceremony, the and debilitating disease (choose one at random from the Cleric can ask double the amount of questions. section on Disease). Quest (range: special, duration: special): The target is Locate Object (range: 9" + 1" per level of the Cleric, du- forced to performed a task for the user. If the target does ration: special): To cast this spell, the Magic-User must have not perform the task, or goes against it, he will be cursed prior knowledge of the object to be located (physical prop- until the effect is dispelled. It lasts until the task is done. erties), or at least the general type of object for less specific Insect Plague (range: 48", duration: 24 hours): A cloud (36" research (for example, a stair). After using the spell, if the square) of insects appears and obey the command of the object is within range, the user will know the direction of it. Cleric for the duration. They can obscure view, force crea- Continual Light* (range: 12", duration: special): A ball of tures of 3 or less HD to run away, or cause other mischiefs. floating light will create illumination for 24" within range that Create Food (range: special, duration: instantaneous): is equal to daylight. It stays until dispelled or up to one day. For every level above 8th, the Cleric can create and sup- *Create a ball of dark energy that cause darkness around it. ply food for about 20 men.

21 SPELLS & MAGIC CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

MAGICAL RESEARCH

Spellcasters (both Cleric and Magic-User) can perform mag- ical research to discover both new and ancient spells. To do so, they will make initial research to discover the level of spells the spell should be (decided and agreed by the Ref- eree). If the level is above what the spellcaster can cast with regards to his spell progression, then no further research can take place. When this is done, the real research can begin: 2ˆ(Spell level) * 1000 GP with one week per spell level. There is a base 20% chance of success with an additional 20% for each additional of investment of the amount required (so it needs five times the amount for a 100%). When the research is done, it is included in the spellbook of the Magic-User (or known as a litany for the Cleric).

RITUAL SPELLS

It is also possible for the Referee to include other spells. Some of them could even be "ritual" spells that take complex cer- emony, ingredient requirement, sacrifice and so on. In ex- change, they could grant more specific effect or wide rang- ing (in time and space) effect.

SPELLBOOKS

Whereas the Cleric knows the spell by litany and in various prayer books, the Magic-User needs to write spells in his spell- book. Therefore, if lost, it needs to be replaced at a cost of 2ˆ(Spell level) * 1000 GP. The spellbook needs to be with the spellcaster when he casts spells (to confirm his runes and other magic require- ments), and absolutely necessary to memorize spells.

22 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

TROOP TYPE

Each Combatant is assigned an abstracted value named Troop Type. That category determines combat capac- ity, movement and value and is based upon the armour, weapon and class (for characters).

Type Mvt Rate Charge Mvt Light Infantry 12 15 Medium Infantry 9 12 Heavy Infantry 6 6 Light Cavalry 24 30 Medium Cavalry 18 24 Heavy Cavalry 12 18 Light Archers* 9 9 Medium Archers* 6 6 Heavy Archers* 3 3 Artillery 6 Nil PART 3: COMBAT * Count as Light Infantry in melee. Medium archers are long- bowmen in armour, heavy archers are heavy crossbowman COMMON TERMINOLOGY with movable tower shield to protect in between shot. Here are examples for each of those to help determine • Men: Abstract name for one normal men on the field. Troop Types: Normal soldiers are all one Men, whereas characters and monsters are equivalent to one Men per HD they Type Description have. Light Infantry (LI) Wizards, lightly/unarmored fighters, • Combatant: A single figure, men, character or monster. missile troop in melee and peasants. In mass combat, this can be multiple men on the battle- field, but represented mechanically as one Combatant Medium Infantry (MI) Medium armour, and one Figurine on the board. including orcs, bandits, soldiers, men-at-arms, clerics, veterans • HD/Hit Dice: Special characters or monsters are worth Heavy Infantry (HI) Heavy armour, unmounted knights, multiple Men on the field, represented by them having heroes, sergeants. multiple Hit Dice. Light Cavalry (LC) Scout cavalry, horse archer, or • Troop Type: Abstracted category of combat to deter- shock light cavalry with little armour mine the effective worth on the battlefield of the com- Medium Cavalry (MC)Anyone wearing decent armour and batant. weapons on non-barded horse • Attack Roll: Rollng a number of dice as per the number Heavy Cavalry (HC) Heavy armour with shield of men/HD, comparing it to a particular matrix (either on a barded horse Missile or Melee), and scoring hits. Hits: One hit is one Light Archers (LA) Peasant bowmen & Hunters kill on normal men. On special characters or monsters, Medium Archers (MA) Armoured and trained longbowmen it deduces one Hit from the Hit Dice maximum of the Heavy Archers (HA) Armoured crossbowmen or target. armoured longbowmen • Turn: About one minute, when both sides have com- with a movable tower shield pleted their whole sequence of phases. to protect against missile attack • Phases: Simultaneous execution of action by type of action (for example, Movement). Additional notes:

• Initiative: Who can act first in any given turn, sequence • Commander: Commanders will grant +1 to the morale or phase. of their nearby allies, and in Mass Combat, their unit in which they are embedded. They will also be last to be • Resistant: Any case where a Combatant is Resistant to killed when embedded in a unit. something means that he will automatically deduce one dice from any attack roll made against him from • Hero Status: Heroes can fight as per the Heroic Combat that source, from any target. If there is no source writ- and are considered Commanders. Superheroes, when ten, then the Combatant is resistant to all sources of charging, will force a morale check upon their target. damage. If there is a number written higher than 1, for example "Resistant +2", that means that instead, two • Elite Status: Some fighter or group of fighters will be con- dice must be deduced. sidered Elite. They take twice as long before becoming

23 COMBAT CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

fatigued, take a half-move to change formation and trolled by the referee, and players) have played out a par- have a bonus to their Morale (+1). They are considered ticular sequence. It is an abstraction that represents every- as being +1 for the sake of their attack roll. thing that can happen in fighting, which explains why, for a scale of 1:1, it takes so long: people breaking line, get- Monsters • : Monsters and other heroic creatures will have ting some cover from projectile before charging, fighting dif- HD a number of that correspond to a troop type. For ferent opponent and being defensive, and so on. The se- Ogre heavy infantry example, an is equivalent to "6 ": quence is divided into 7 Phases: this means that he will move and act as heavy infantry, but will attack and receive hit as if being a 6 HD heavy 1. Intent Phase: Both group determine their intent for the infantry, like characters. turn: the Referee, secretly, the players, openly to the Referee. Spells begin their casting here.

HIT RESOLUTION 2. Initiative Phase: Both group roll 2d6. The highest result is the winner. The winner can either determine to move When an attack is made, either magical, melee or missile, first (Move) or last (Counter-move). the rules will say that a certain result on dice will be equiv- alent to a "hit". If a hit is scored, it means that the receiving 3. Move Phase: The group elected to Move perform all target will subtract one from their current Hit Dice pool. Nor- movement-related action as per both movement at- mal men and troops have only one hit or Hit Dice and will tribute and terrain modifiers, once per unit/combatant therefore be killed. Only special characters and monsters as per rules. will survive. If an attack roll is asked with a fraction, always round 4. Counter-Move Phase: The second group elected to down. In the case where the fraction (not any other type of Counter-move perform all movement-related action, as negative modifier such as subtraction) reduces the attack per the previous step. roll to less than 1, then no attack can be made with normal rules. However, a character or monster, because of their 5. Artillery & Magic Phase: Artillery Fire and Spells are re- special nature, can still make one attack by rolling two dice: solved if the result is 12 (i.e. double 6), then a hit is still scored. 6. Missile Phase: Missile Fire is resolved. Non-crossbowmen In the case where a modifier grants a +1 or -1, unless spec- that performed Stationary Fire can fire again. ified otherwise, this means that one dice per attack will be at +1 or -1. To determine this dice, either roll it separately or 7. Melee Phase: Melee is resolved. use a color/physical code (such as, "the dice furthest to the north"). This rule only apply to normal combat and not to 8. All steps are repeated until the combat is finished subsystems. 1. MOVEMENT TIME & SCALE The Movement distance is made as per the Troop Type Time: One round of Duel is about 6 seconds, where 10 value. It is possible to instead perform a Charge as per rounds will form a turn; one turn of Skirmish is about one charge value. minute, where 10 turns will form a manoeuvre. One ma- Additional notes: noeuvre (i.e. one sequence) of Mass Combat is about 10 • Other Actions: Any other random non-movement ac- minutes. It is important to note that normally duel should be tion, like putting spikes in the ground, climbing a ladder finished before carrying on with the rest of the melee and for siege, and so on, should be made during that phase the turn. It is even possible to handwave the time aspect for ease of track and cost either a half-move or a full- of the duel to make sure it is finished prior to continuing the move. turn. Space: For space consideration: all movement is denoted • Mounting and Unmounting: Mounting properly cost as inches (") where one inch is about 10 feet in the world. half-move. Unmounting properly also cost half-move. Only the Mass Combat needs to be calculated instead in yards to denote the greater terrain covered by such battles. • Advancing Fire: Some fighters, such as mounted Physical Representation and Theatre of the Mind: It is pos- archers or elves, can perform this action: make a half- sible to use figurine with this system. In that case, the basic move, shoot as per the Missile Phase, and then perform assumption is that one figurine is one "man" (1:1) on the field. an additional half-move. When using the optional Mass Combat rules, one figurine represents 10 men (1:10). Therefore, a Combatant can be • Reactive Fire: If a stationary Combatant with a ranged both 1 men (normal combat) or 10 men (in Mass Combat weapon has within line of sight either an opponent rules). In both cases, the rules for combat may use minia- charging or performing a Advancing Fire, they can per- tures. They are optional. When using miniature, consider form a Reactive Fire. To do so, perform a normal Missile that 1", 1 square for square grid or 1 hex for hexgrid in the attack. Some passby flying creatures, such as Dragon, physical world is 10 feet for normal combat and 10 yards for Griffons, Rocs, and so on, could be subject to this as per mass combat. All value given in the rules are 1 = 1" for ease the Referee. If such an action is taken, no move, Ad- of conversion. vancing Fire, Stationary Fire or other Reactive Fire can be done in the same turn. TURN SEQUENCE • Stationary Fire:A Missile fighter that didn’t move or per- formed a Reactive Fire can decide at the end of the Each combat is determined in turns of one minute. A turn is movement phase to perform a Missile attack. If they do accomplished when both sides (monsters/opponents, con- so, they cannot perform a Reactive Fire.

24 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

• Rally: Troops that are retreating will move in this phase. • Visibility: If there is a lack of visibility through fog, mag- Troops that are rallying from a Retreat will do so in ical darkness or night, consider all shot to be made at this phase (and therefore have no extra movement or one further range step. charge). For this, see the Morale rules further. • Indirect Fire: Any Indirect Fire is made at -1 on all dice. • Rest: Rest for the turn (no melee, missile, charge or move). Remove combat Fatigue. • Overhead Fire: Shooting over cover or line of sight, shooting at a target that is not in the front ranks, or • Passing Through:A Combatant can pass through an ally shooting from the back rank of a Melee require Over- combatant rank. A Combatant cannot pass through a head Fire. All overhead fire is made as if Indirect Fire melee. A Combatant cannot pass through or 1" from a and can only be make at targets at least 20" from the Combatant with a pike or polearm. shooter. This attack can be made against targets that are known but not seen as per normal line of sight. THEATRE OF THE MIND OPTIONAL RULES Javelins can be thrown as Overhead Fire without any minimal range restrictions. If using only the "theatre of the mind" to determine the out- come of battle, it is suggested that the Referee use the fol- • Cover: Shooting at targets behind cover must be done lowing model for terrain distribution (the players need not with Overhead Fire. see it, as long as it’s clear where they stand with regards to the opponents): • Crossbow: Crossbow have a fixed number of dice roll independent of the shooter. They start at 2 per Com- • Ranges: Troops are arranged within a spectrum of five batant (doesn’t consider HD) plus any modifier from ranges: range. Additional HD from the shooter doesn’t change this number. They cannot perform Advancing Fire, and Range Type Far Near Melee Near Far can only shoot once per turn, in the Missile Phase. Light crossbows have the same weapon profile, but half the Approx Feet 150 50 10 50 150 maximum range.

• Switching Ranges: Any unit can use one move to switch • Longbows: Longbows cannot be brought or fired into from one range to another. Mounted unit can switch a dungeon because of their great length. They might two ranges. add to overall encumbrance as per the Referee.

• Melee and Engagement: If multiple units are in the • Ammunition: For Slings, Bows and Longbows, every dice melee range, they are engaged in melee. If there are in an attack roll is considered as being about one ar- units from one group of fighters within the melee range row shot and should be subtracted from the overall ar- while their opponents are in the near range, then the row number the Combatant is carrying. All other range unit from the near range are put into melee range and weapons are one ammunition per attack. those in far range put into near range (i.e. you need to have unit protecting your front flank to stay out of bat- • Shortbows: Can be used on mounted archers. tle). • Shooting Against Horses: When a hit is scored, roll a d6: • Missile: Each range increment is considered one missile on a result of 5+, the horse is killed and the cavalry is range type also for the sake of range. To be adjusted thrown to the ground (cannot act this turn). by the Referee. • Shooting Against Shields: When shooting at an individ- ual Combatant with a shield, attack roll are made at 2. MISSILE -1. To resolve Missile attack, make an Attack Roll with the ap- propriate weapon and Troop Type at a target within line of • Melee: You cannot shoot in or from a melee. Referee sight and compare it to the following matrix where each suc- can use the following optional rule: you can do so, but cess is one hit: will hit a target at random on a 2d6 roll of 7+. • Guns: Optionally, here are rules for medieval firearms:

Weapon Light Medium Heavy Max Range – Shooting Rate: Guns take one full turn to prepare, and one full turn to shoot. They spend one bullet Throwing axe/knife/darts 5+ 6+ 6+ 5 and powder bag per shot. Throwing javelin 5+ 5+ 6+ 10 – Damage: They score a hit on 2+, 3+, 4+. They roll Slings 4+ 6+ 6+ 20 3 dice per attack made, with no modifier from HD Short Bows 5+ 5+ 6+ 30 as per crossbows. Longbows 4+ 5+ 6+ 60 – Range: They share the same range as the cross- Crossbows 4+ 5+ 5+ 40 bow. Additional notes: 3. ARTILLERY & SPELLS • Range: Starting at half range for each weapon, for each increment of 10" (i.e. 100 feet), halve the num- As a side-note, it is important to consider both artillery and ber of dice thrown. For example, a longbow shooting spells effect on things outside direct targets. For example, at 20 would roll 1 per men/HD; at 25, 1 per men; at 35, a fireball have a high chance of destroying everything in a 1/2 per men; at 45, 1/4 per men; at 60 or more they room, including equipments and treasure. A catapult can cannot shoot (out of range). break down house and kill civilian if they go over a wall.

25 COMBAT CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

MAGIC Artillery Crew Max Range vs Men vs Wood vs Stone Magic is made with the normal Magic rules with the added notes: Battering Ram 4 Melee Nil 1d6 HD Nil 2d6 vs gate 1d6 vs gate • Movement: A magic-user cannot move and cast in the Ballista 4 120 2d6 (l) 1d3 HD Nil same turn UNLESS he is using a wand. Catapult 5 100 2d6+1 (c) 1d6 HD 1 HD • Casting: In a chaotic battle where there is a lot of missile Mangonel 6 120 4d3+1 (c) 1d6 HD 1d3 HD attack made against the caster’s group or the caster Trebuchet 8 300 3d3+3 (c) 2d6 HD 2d3 HD directly, the magic-user needs to roll 2d6 - spell level + Bombard 6 200 2d6 (c) 2d6 HD 1d6 HD magic-user level. If the result is 7 or more, the spell is cast normally. If the result is less, then the spell is only • vs Men: Artillery hit kill any normal men. The symbol "l" cast on the next turn without any roll. Having any kind mean in a line and the symbol "c" mean in a circle at of magical protection add +1 to this dice roll. the impact (about 1" radius). Any character need to make a Death Saving Throw to die instantly or, if its a suc- • Melee: A magic-user caught in Melee automatically cess, receive the appropriate number of Hit. For others: lose his spell and cannot cast that turn unless he has magical protection against melee attack. – Line: Choose where the projectile fell. From there, roll the number of kill and go forward in a straight • Counterspell: It is possible to counter an opposing line. Magic-User. To perform a Counterspell, you need to be half or more level than the opposing Magic-User. – Circle: Choose where the projectile fell. From the Then, roll 2d6 + your Magic-User level vs their same roll. center, roll the number of kill and turn clockwise in If you score equal or higher, their spell is delayed one a spiral around the impact center. turn. If you score lower than theirs, you are stunned for – Monsters: Small creatures that are not resistant or a number of turn equal to the difference of level be- immune to missile or non-magical means are killed tween yours and his with a minimum of 1. as per characters. For large monsters, it removes a number of HD as per the number rolled. ARTILLERY • vs Wood: Number of HD removed from the wooden de- Artillery include ballista, catapult, trebuchet and bombards fences. with the following rules: • vs Stone: Number of HD removed from the stone de- fences. • Crew & Range: Artillery needs to be operated by a crew of a specific number (or more) or else it will either act • Magic Weapons: Magic melee weapons can strike slower and with less efficiently (50% crew) or not at all. down wooden defences. Roll 2d6, on a result of 12 or For the appropriate crew and range, look at the artillery more (add 1 for each +1 of the weapon), they act as matrix. a battering ram on the above table. This can also be used against normal doors and even ships in Naval War- • Cover: Artillery pieces provide a cover equivalent to fare. wooded areas.

• Movement: It takes a whole turn to set-up (or pack) a 4. MELEE normal artillery piece. Trebuchet takes two. It takes one Space:A Combatant is considered in melee when 1" from move to change orientation by up to 90 degree (a half an opponent. A rank of fighters is also 1". Only pikemens can move is 45 degree). fight from the second ranks. No more than 5 Combatants can attack a single Combatant of men size. • Firing: To fire any artillery except for the battering ram Time: A melee can last multiple turns. Duels can take that automatically succeed in melee, roll 2d6. Elite place within a single round of melee. crews add 1, engineers add 1, shooting at more than Hit Resolution: Roll a number of dice equal to the number half the range subtract 2. Then, consult the following of Combatant in melee (per type) or HD of individual Com- table: batant. Fractions within the table determine the number of dice that each Combatant can roll. Casualties are deter- 2d6 Result mined by comparing the attacker’s troop type with the de- fender’s troop type on the following table where every suc- 2-3 Malfunction cess is a hit. Multiple Combatant can group up to attain the 3 Too near (1d6", 2d6" at half range or more) appropriate number as a single attack roll (for example, 2 LI 4 Too far (1d6", 2d6" at half range or more) could group up to roll 1 dice against a Cavalry Combatant). 6 To the left (1d6", 2d6" at half range or more) The basic formulae is thus: if you have a higher troop type, you score a hit on a 4+; if you have the same troop type, you 7 To the right (1d6", 2d6" at half range or more) score a hit on a 5+; if you have a lower troop type, you score 8+ Direct hit a hit on a 6+; cavalry gets double the amount and take half; heavy cavalry has an overall bigger advantage by having When there is a hit, consult the following table: 3/1 and 1/3, respectively.

26 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

Attacker LI MI HI LC MC HC *Artillery and cavalry receive +1/4 movement on roads LI 5+ 6+ 6+ 5+ 6+ 6+ FATIGUE 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/2 1/3 MI 4+ 5+ 6+ 4+ 5+ 6+ A Fatigued Combatant cannot charge, and fight/defend as 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/2 1/3 one type lower. A Combatant become fatigued if they perform either 5 HI 4+ 4+ 6+ 4+ 4+ 5+ turn of move, 3 turn of melee or 4 turn of alternation be- 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 1/2 1/3 tween those. LC 5+ 6+ 6+ 5+ 6+ 6+ Additional notes: 2/1 2/1 2/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 • Fighters that are already fatigued because of adventur- MC 4+ 5+ 6+ 4+ 5+ 6+ ing are considered fatigued for combat also (including 2/1 2/1 2/1 1/1 1/1 1/2 their movement penalty). HC 4+ 4+ 5+ 4+ 4+ 5+ 3/1 3/1 3/1 2/1 2/1 1/1 • You recover from combat fatigue after one turn of in- activity. This doesn’t affect adventuring fatigue. Additional notes: • In extreme heat or cold, Combatants become fatigued • Initiative: Hits are scored in the following order (if it one turn earlier. doesn’t apply, then all hits are simultaneous):

– Troops with the high ground; unless WEATHER – Troops that charged; unless Weather can also affect battlefield in various ways. The most – Troops with polearm/pike prepared a counter- important considerations are: charge; • Pikes: Pikes can fight as polearm from one row behind. • Heavy rain will cause all terrain to be considered Rough They cannot charge. They have +1 against cavalry. and cut movement in half. It will also affect morale (-1). • Charging: Charging confer a +1 to infantry type and +1 • Some creatures, such as orcs and goblins, have -1 to all dice to cavalry types. If the charge is a success and the their roll, including their morale roll, during the day. target is destroyed or retreat due to morale, the charger must keep charging in the same direction up to his max- • Excessive heat or cold will cause more Fatigue. imum charge move previously made in the movement phase. Superheroes and Heavy Cavalry automatically • Excessive wind will affect missile weapon and aerial forces a morale check on their charge target prior to combat. the charge being conducted. Infantry cannot charge two turn in a row. • It is suggested to roll weather as per the Adventuring Rules prior to major battles. • Flanking Attack: Flanking is considered as attacking one higher type. MORALE • Rear Attack: Same as Flanking attack, but in addition, it prevents any retaliation hit. It also prevents retreat (the Morale is checked under the following conditions: target is instead destroyed or surrendered). • Excessive Loss: If a group is under 25% or has lost more than 50% in the same turn. ADDITIONAL RULES • Heavy Cavalry & Superhero: When Heavy Cavalry (or a TERRAIN Superhero) charge a group of non-cavalry (a Referee could include Light Cavalry as being affected). Terrain Mvt Impact Charge (Y/N) Other • First Kill: For weak leadership unit, if one of theirs is the Grassland, Nil Y Nil first to be killed in a battle, a Referee could make a plain and morale roll. even terrain Each creature have a Morale score (PCs doesn’t abide Hills Half N uphill Nil by the morale rule). The lower the score, the better. A Rampart As per Hills morale roll is made by rolling 2d6 and comparing it with the Light Wood Half Y 1/2 indirect fire score of the creature: Thick Wood Half N No indirect fire 2d6 Result Marshy Half Y No siege weapon Uneven 3/4 N Nil Double 6s Heroic Courage, will not check again Rivers Full move N Traverse More than Resolved Streams 1/4 N Nil Equal Wavering, need to reroll next turn Moat 1/4 N Nil Less Retreat or surrender if Roads +1/4* Y Artillery* no retreat is possible

27 COMBAT CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

State Modifier • Unit Integrity & Scale: As long as there is one Combat- ant/figurine (i.e. 10 men on the battlefield), it can carry Light Troops 7 on fighting and use the following rules. Below that, it Medium Troops 6 dissolves. Note that each "hit" takes down one Com- Heavy Troops 5 batant, i.e. 10 men on the battlefield. Chaos Troops -1 Levies and Peasants -1 Disorganized or -1 • Formation: Units need to have a facing (front) decided without leaders as they move. Formations can be adopted as per the Already checked -1 following list: in the same combat Elite +1 Cavalry +1 – Open Ranks: Missile is taken at -1. No charge pos- Additional notes: sible.

• In combat, generally a whole group of associated – Disorganized: When a formation or group breaks, creatures will be considered one unit and will perform it falls into that state. Any disorganized unit of their morale roll together. In the case of a very small fighter will fight as if always flanked and receive group of Combatants, it is suggested to instead per- -1 to their morale roll. form one roll per creatures. NPCs and important/unique monsters should make their own separate roll in either cases. – Column: Basic moving formation. • Units that retreat or surrender can be captured as pris- oners (or executed) by the winning side. – Shield Wall: Can only be done by Medium or Heavy infantry with shields. Any charge from the • Units or fighters that are retreating can be rallied by the front has no additional effect and the group de- action of an ally only if the ally is a commander, a hero, fend at one type higher against missile. Cannot a PC or a group of higher numbers. move.

• A unit retreating that is attacked will be automatically surrender. – Wedge: Form a triangle shape pointing towards the enemy. All charge are made at +1. Charge • Chaos unit, levies, peasants, and so on, will have - made against this unit are automatically a flank- 1 to their roll. Also, them and mercenaries have 1/6 ing. chance of refusing to fight and asking for something more to fight: money for mercenaries; something cul- tic (or chaotic) for chaos; food, liberty, a less dangerous – Hedgehog: Form a circle of spear 360 degree. task, or protection for peasants and levies. Can only be done by elite troops with polearms. Cannot be flanked or attacked in the rear. Can- not move. Can only be attacked by troops with SUBSYSTEMS polearms.

1. MASS COMBAT – Square: Cannot be flanked or attacked in the rear. In Mass Combat, every Combatant is worth 10 on the bat- Movement slowed 50 tlefield (10:1). Only Hero-type can actually operate alone and fight efficiently in such an environment. Since the time sequence is upscaled (one manoeuvre is ten turns, i.e. 10 minutes), the efficiency of those figures (and monsters) are • Failed Charge: In Mass Combat, any failed charge puts the same: a hero will be ten time more efficient in ten turns the unit in a disorganized state. compared to one, but since the scale is 1:10, he keeps the same efficiency with regards to gaming mechanics. It is suggested to use it to play out big battles of more than 30-50 Combatants, or in the background of a smaller skirmish • Melee Push-Back: At the end of each melee, the win- with the PCs taking place within an actual battle. This will ning unit (with the least kill/death ratio) can push back help the Referee to play out narratively what is happening, one half move the other. who is moving where and so on. In some cases, it could be useful to use a 10:1 ratio for skirmishes where a lot of the Combatants are of the same types and fighting other groups of same such. Additional notes: • Missile: Because in Mass Combat missile attack can create a "rain of arrow" effect, they are more potent. • Time & Space: One manoeuvre (i.e. turn) is ten minutes. For each 5 Combatant shooting, add an extra dice of Foot become yards. that same type.

28 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

* Uses two hands ** Can be used either two-handed or one- handed. In that case, add +1 to the roll.

Additional notes:

• Weapon Skill: If an opponent has more HD than the other, he will have +1 on his dice roll, impose an extra -1 for parry, and will score 2 hit for each success.

• Initiative: In the first round of the duel, the higher weapon class will strike first. In subsequent round, the lowest weapon class. In case of a tie, the one with the most HD will strike first. In case of a tie, the one with the lowest armour type. In case of tie, hits will be simultane- ous.

• Parry:A Combatant that is declared as being attacked but hasn’t attacked yet can choose to Parry:

– A Combatant with a higher weapon class cannot Parry a lower weapon class. – A Combatant with the same weapon class can Parry, he impose a modifier of -2 to the opponent dice roll. – A Combatant with the same weapon class can Parry. If the Parry is successful (i.e. if there is no hit), the Combatant can perform a Retaliation attack. – A Combatant with light or no armour instead im- pose -3. – If the result is exactly in the range of the Parry (i.e. that it was missed by that much), the weapon 2. DUEL used for the Parry breaks. Scale: Duels are made between two humanoid Combat- – A Retaliation attack from a Parry cannot be par- ants. It is not made to have multiple Combatants fight ried in return. against one another or against monsters. It shines mostly for • Dual Wield:A Combatant that dual wield can at- humanoids of the same calibre to give a more dynamic and tack with either weapon (but not both) and count his cinematic approach to combat. weapon as being one lower weapon class for the sake Time: Each round of Duel takes about 6 seconds. Gen- of Parry. erally, a whole Duel should last one normal turn or less. The combat takes place during the Melee Phase, but can be • Shield: Aside from protection bonus, a shield grant an declared as a Duel up to the Melee Phase. additional -1 to the opponent roll if there is a Parry. In- Hits Resolution: Hits are resolved on a 2d6 matrix that com- stead of the weapon breaking in the case of a break, it pare weapon (by Weapon Class and armour type. will be the shield.

• Mounted Lance: The mounted lance can only be used Class Weapon Skin Light Medium Heavy while mounted and can only attack if there was either 1 Dagger 6 7 9 12 a move of a charge. 1 Handaxe 7 7 10 11 • Weapon Class 1: Weapon Class 1 weapon (Dagger 2 Warclub 7 7 10 11 and Handaxe) can perform an attack AND a parry in 2 Sword 7 8 8 10 the same turn. 2 Mace 8 8 8 7 • Magic Weapon: Magic weapon confer +1 on the dice 2 Battleaxe 7 7 7 10 roll for each +1. They automatically add an extra hit on 3 Quarterstaff* 8 8 9 12 success. They cannot be broken on Parry. Club • Mounted: Being mounted for a Duel grants +1 and the 3 Morning Star 7 7 6 8 opponent has a modifier of -1. 3 Flail 7 7 7 7 3 Spear** 8 8 10 11 3. GRAPPLING 3 Bastard Sword** 7 8 8 10 When attempting to grapple, the grappling party is last to 4 Poleaxe* 6 6 7 10 attack. Then both fighter party roll all their HD pool. If the 4 2H Sword* 6 6 6 7 attacker has a higher total result, he effectively "grappled" 5 Mtd Lance 5 5 6 8 his opponent. If the defender has a equal or a higher total 5 Pike* 7 7 8 9 result, he defended the grapple attempt and the attacker

29 COMBAT CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

doesn’t act this turn. A bonus of Strength (13-18 score) will To determine the winner, jousting tournament will gener- grant +1 on each dice. ally use the following pointing system (Referee can modify it, If the creature being grappled is two size larger or more as long as it’s explained in-game): than the grappler, it automatically succeed in defending. If the creature attempting the grapple is one size larger or Result Attacker Defender more, it roll an additional dice to determine the success. If grappled, the defender can attempt every turn to break Breaks Lance -1 0 free by doing the same roll. While grappling, the attacker Helm Knocked Off +3 0 can chose once per round a non-lethal and minor action to Injured 0 -10 perform on the defender: pin, disarm (throw weapon at a Unhorsed +20 0 number of feet equal to Strength Score), move, throw (throw at a number of feet equal to half the Strength Score, or for larger creature, double the score), and so on. 5. HEROIC COMBAT The process is the same with multiple opponents (maxi- Heroic Combat is meant to represent strife and epic en- mum four for same size opponents, two for larger size and counters with dangerous and mythical creatures. Therefore, up to six for smaller size) trying to grapple the same person. the combat is a bit more ’narrative’: it is up to the Referee It is also the same with a giant monster that decides to grap- to describe what is happening. If you use Heroic Combat, ple (grab) someone and leave with him. non-Heroic creatures (as listed below) cannot harm heroic creatures through normal means (up to the discretion of the 4. JOUST Referee). This combat style is entirely optional since it is a parallel way of resolving fight against mythical and big crea- Jousting is made between two horsed fighters, generally in tures. a non-lethal way. There is three ’ride’ to finish one joust- Instead of rolling directly as per the troop type to inflict ing match. Each ’ride’ has both rider charge the other in damage, each creature wanting to affect another heroic a straight line while trying to unhorse him. To do so, each creature will roll 2d6 and compare the result as per the rider will secretly decide a Seating Position (defensive mode) Heroic Combat matrix: and Aiming Point (attack mode). Then both will reveal their choice and compare the result as per the following matrix. • If the result is equal to the number, the defender is Note that some Seating Position affect which Aiming Point pushed back (narratively) or the attacker gain a small can be taken. upper hand. Seating Position: • If the result is lower, the defender gain the upper hand • Lean: Shield top, Shield center (+1 to their own next roll) against the attacker.

• Shield Up: Helm, Shield top • If the result is higher, the defender is killed.

• Shield Low: Helm, Shield top, Shield center, Shield base Type A B C D E F G H I J • Steady: Helm, Shield Center, Shield Base A 7+ 10+ 11+ 6+ 11+ 12+ 9+ 11+ 12+ 10+ B 4+ 7+ 10+ 2+ 10+ 10+ 7+ 9+ 7+ 8+ Aiming Point: C 8+ 7+ 7+ 11+ 10+ 12+ 9+ 12+ 12+ 12+ • Helm D 9+ 12+ 12+ 7+ 12+ 12+ 9+ 11+ 12+ 12+ E 4+ 11+ 11+ 4+ 7+ 11+ 6+ 8+ 8+ 8+ • Shield Top F 5+ 10+ 7+ 2+ 6+ 7+ 5+ 9+ 10+ 10+ • Shield Center G 8+ 11+ 12+ 10+ 10+ 12+ 7+ 9+ 10+ 11+ H 6+ 10+ 10+ 4+ 9+ 9+ 6+ 7+ 7+ 10+ • Shield Base I 4+ 12+ 10+ 3+ 12+ 12+ 6+ 8+ 7+ 10+ Aiming Lean Shield Up Shield Down Steady J 8+ 6+ 5+ 6+ 7+ 9+ 8+ 11+ 10+ 10+ Helm M U I H Type description: Shield Top U B U B • Type A - Hero & Superheroes: Humanoid with the Hero Shield Center G G G B Status. Superheroes fight as +2 and receive as -2. Shield Base G I B U • Type B - Elemental & Constructs: Golems, elemental of Results: all sorts, magically created servants of power, and so on. • B: Break Lance • Type C - Incorporeal Undead & Spirits: All wraiths, • G: Glances specters, shades and other incorporeal undeads.

• H: Helm knock-off • Type D - Corporeal Undeads: All mummies, vampires, death knights, ghouls and other types of corporeal • I: Injured higher undeads.

• M: Missed • Type E - Greater Demons & Flying Monsters: All greater demons that can fly and large flying creatures, such as • U: Unhorsed giant eagles.

30 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

• Type F - Dragonkind: Include all types of dragons, but grappler, remove two dice from the grappler’s attempt. also giant wurms (Purple Worm) and Wyrms (such as However, it is possible for the Referee to use the cur- Wyverns). It also include subdragonkind creatures such rent HD of the monster instead, to allow for subdual. For as basilisks and cockatrice. each size of the defender above the size of the grap- pler, remove two dice from the grappler’s attempt. • Type G - Trolls, Ogres & Monstrosity: Large creatures that have special ability and can squish humans be- cause of their sheer strength. 6. AERIAL COMBAT Space: In Aerial Combat, there are three altitudes: low, • Type H - Giants, Titans & Cyclops: All members of the medium or high. giant class.

• Type I - Giant Animals & Treants: Anything that’s giant • Low Altitude (about 0 to 100 feet): From here you can and special without being a giant humanoid like class affect the battlefield. You can charge down to per- H. form a ground attack, perform a bombing, land safely, maybe survive a fall, use special attack (for example, a • Type J - Wizards & Powerful Beings: Any special dragon’s breaht), and so on. Alternatively, you can also humanoid-like creatures with magnificent powers such be affected by missile and magic from the battlefield. as wizards, lichs or psionics. • Medium Altitude (about 100 to 500 feet): From here, you To determine the turn sequence, follow the normal turn can see the battlefield but cannot affect it directly. You sequence procedure. In the Melee Phase, the Referee will can still perform bombing. For artillery (ballista) and mis- have to decide as per the actions who can attack first. Very sile, you can only be shot on a double 6. small creatures against very big creatures will generally hit first, aerial creatures will also generally hit first, and finally • High Altitude (500 and more feet): You can barely see creatures that are encircled will hit last. the battlefield since you are in the clouds. You cannot Additional notes: affect it and cannot be affected.

• Modifiers are more abstracted and depend on the Ref- You can use a half move to change altitude or a half move eree. Here are general guidelines: to change direction by 90 degree. Landing from the Low Altitude requires a full move. – Missile Weapon only roll one dice on the table in- When performing any action other than flying without af- stead of 2d6, unless they use magical arrows. fecting anyone, a rider must make an Air Mastery Check on – A good tactic and knowledge of the creature be- 2d6. If he is not being attacked or no one is affecting him, ing fought should confer +1 or -1, for example if a add +2: creature is being distracted efficiently. 2d6 Result Effect – Magic Weapons confer +1 per bonus of the item (for example, a +3 Sword will grant 2d6+3). 2-3 Catastrophic Failure Cannot act, 50% to fall – Some weapons will have superior effect on spe- 4-5 Failure Cannot act cific monsters as per mythological or literature 6-7 Partial Success Act at -1 trope. For example, a long spear should confer +1 8-12 Success Act normally against a Cyclops, a bow or ballista should roll as per a normal weapon against fly-by dragonkind, Additional notes: a sling should confer +1 against Giants, an axe should confer +1 against treants, and so on. • A rider that fall to 0 HD is automatically thrown off his – A minor version of a type could act as -1 and re- mount and falls unless he is attached or his mount can ceive as +1, such as a Wyvern in the Dragonkind catch him. type F. • There is no grappling in the air. • A double 1 is always a failure, a double 6 always a suc- cess. • Any flying creature that is hit by an attack have its rider make an Air Mastery Check. • Big creatures ignore terrain difficulties and effect, unless they are prone to this kind of terrain (for example, a very • High wind will cause flying creatures to move at 25% heavy golem or earth elemental could get stuck in a and their rider will have -1 on their Air Mastery Check. mudded terrain). • Any flying creature targeted by efficient missile and ar- • Very large creatures, especially with multiple extra tillery fire (being hit or not) will be affected as per high members (such as dragon’s tail), should hit multiple op- winds. ponents with normal attack even while battling on the Heroic Combat table. • In melee against another aerial rider, the higher ground is the higher altitude and will strike first. To charge, you • For specific rules about each creature and creature have to dive from a higher altitude into another rider. type, see Part 3 - Monsters. • To switch altitude if there is a dogfight between two rid- • Grappling: To grapple a heroic monster, use the same ers or multiple riders blocking the path, both sides roll rule as the Duel grappling rule, but only Heroic Crea- all the HD of their respective mount against all the HD tures (so Hero or above for PCs) can attempt it and of the opponent mount. The winner is able to switch or for each size of the defender above the size of the not altitude.

31 COMBAT CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

• To use bombing, the mount or rider will drop something • Armour Class (AC): This is a mix between both last point form high. Use the appropriate bombard or catapult mixed together to give the number necessary on 2d6 rules. If in Medium Altitude, consider it as being far to score a hit with ship armament. range for the sake of the artillery roll. • Movement (MVT): Movement rate per turn. • To use physical figurine, it is suggested to use a hexgrid (where each hex is about 20’) to represent the sky bat- • HD: Overall capacity to sustain damage and house tle and poker chip or other token to put underneath the crew to operate the various equipment. figurine for the altitude. • Transport Capacity (TP): An approximation of how many tens of men it can house. 7. SIEGE WARFARE

Siege Warfare should be done using Mass Combat in most Name SCL MAN AC MVT HD TP instances where small specified heroic action then takes place following the normal skirmish rules. Siege Warfare can Fishing Boat 1 4 7 1 1 1 be very complicated and difficult to accomplish. There, Cog 1 3 5 6 3 5 take care of noting the following: Trireme 3 3 6 2 4 4 Birlinn 2 3 6 3 4 5 • Morale: Attackers may check morale to see if they will continue assault when an assault is given. Defenders Ballinger 3 4 8 3 6 10 never check morale but might become unruly. Caravel 4 3 4 5 7 12 Carrack 6 1 7 3 10 15 • Fortress Defences: It is important to consider defences such as artillery, missile, boiling oil, throwing rocks, push- Shooting between ship with range weaponry is dealt at ing away ladders, and so on. All of this should be con- 1 + SLC range with artillery on the deck. When using those sider extremely strong and potent, causing a hit on a 3+ (if there is none, no shot can be taken), use the following of a single dice. formulae: 2d6 + Ship Class Level of the shooting ship (-1 if • Artillery & Magic: It is important to note artillery fire, the ship was shot to the front or back, +1 if it was stationary). but also the special abilities of creatures such as spells, If the result is equal or above, a Hit is scored. To determine dragon’s breath, giant’s rock throwing, and so on. For the effect, roll 2d6. If the ship is of lower class, add +1; if the each type of defence possibility and number of HD, see ship was already damaged, add +1. Compare the result the Stronghold portion in Part 6. with the following matrix:

• Breeches: When a wall or fortification is brought to 0 HD, 2d6 Result it is breeched. From there, a single 1" passage is open. It is possible to climb on top of either side, or to use other 2-5 -1 HD siege weapon and magic to clear the rubble to permit 6-8 -1 HD and one random crew dies a bigger passage. 9-10 -1 HD and one random weapon • Mines and Counter-Mining: Mining is best left ab- is broken (-1 to SCL) stracted with sappers working at the tunnels and gain- 11-12 -1 HD and MAN, AC & MVT goes down 1 ing a progression of 1" (10 feet) per hour. It can then 13 or more Downed to 1 HD or -1 HD cause breeches from underneath, or be used to put (whichever is worst) bomb to create bigger breeches.

• Movable Defences: It is possible to use movable When a ship is at 0 HD, it will sink in 2d6 minutes. mantlets (considered as being cover for a group of peo- Additional notes: ple) and siege towers (accommodate up to 50 men in • Movement: total and is used to assault directly a wall). – Halting: Require a full move. 8. NAVAL WARFARE – Reversing: Require a full move and a halted ship. Naval Warfare uses the same turn sequence at the Mass – Ramming: Roll 2d6 + HD of the ramming ship - HD Combat level. Each ship is considered as a small fortification of the rammed ship. If the result is a 7+, the ram- with a Ship Class Level that determine multiple value, ac- ming is a success and both ship come to a full stop. tion, and possible weapons (not the actual). It is suggested Ramming damage is calculated as one battering to play on a hex grid with each hex (or 1") representing 1000 ram per Ship Class Level. feet. Here are the attributes of ships: – Extinguish Fire: Require a half-move. • Ship Class Level (SCL): Determine the overall capac- – Turning: Up to 180 degree per half-move, once per ity for warfare at sea. A higher class means it’s more turn only (unless halted). equipped with weapons and the frame is bigger, stur- dier. – Weather: It is very important for the Referee to de- cide where the wind is coming from (1d8 for car- • Manoeuvrability (MAN): How the ship is manoeuvrable. dinal directions with modifier as per geography). For each point, make a fraction for move needed to Heavy rain will extinguish fire; storms will make ev- rotate 90 degree in one turn. For example, a ship with erything cost twice in movement; going against manoeuvrability 3 will require 1/3 of its move to turn. the wind will slow 1/2 movement.

32 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND COMBAT

• Magic: A ship is considered stable enough that a Magic-User can use magic, but he must make a magic roll as per.

• Missile: Missile can either affect the ship (fire arrow) or the troops.

– Fire Arrows: To put a ship on fire, roll one dice per Combatant that is shooting a fire arrow. On 6+, mark the shot as a success. If there are more suc- cess than the number of HD on the ship, then the ship is considered on fire. A ship on fire will lose 1 HD per turn and the crew will have -1 to all morale check. – Targeting the Crew: Normal fire missile rules apply and the crew is under cover. It is still possible to fire on them with no cover if both ship are grappling.

• Melee: A ship can grapple another one. They must be in contact of one another, side by side. Then, roll one dice per crew of the ship that want to grapple the other. For each 6+, mark a success. If there are more success than the number of HD of the target ship, it is grappled and a normal melee can proceed. Every turn the check can be remade by the grappled ship if they want to break free. A Magic Sword can affect the hull of the ship as it can a wood fortification.

33 ADVENTURING RULES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

7. STEALTH & CAMOUFLAGE

When players have a light on them, it is not possible to cam- ouflage or stealth (especially true in dungeons). Otherwise, PART 4: ADVENTURING RULES it’s up to the description of their placement and movement with regards to lighting, natural camouflage, line of sight, Adventuring is the main portion of the game up until a cer- and so on. It is suggested to tell players in advance that tain level. At level 8, some players will prefer to settle down, they are either camouflaged or not with regards to a partic- own a Domain and create for themselves a Stronghold. ular point of view (which should be informed by their plan). Some might become king! Those rules are not dealt with In doubt, use the general situation roll presented in the Pref- in this book. ace. But in all cases, all with start as a lowly adventurer. The Being in armour makes it more difficult and will provide ad- following rules describe how the game can be played out ditional difficulty if a roll is needed. to figure out both underground and aboveground adven- turing. 8. SWIMMING & UNDERWATER

Characters in heavy armour cannot swim and will sink. Char- GENERALITIES acters in medium armour will sink after their Constitution score in minutes. 1. ORDER OF MARCH In general, consider movement underwater as being 1/4. It’s possible to hold breath for one minute: afterwards, each In both dungeon and wilderness exploration, it’s important 10 seconds the character need to roll 3d6 under his Consti- to have players determine a strict order of march. This tution or drown. means that the Referee knows who is in front, who is in the middle and who is in the back. It is suggested to use the same combat rules for under- Alternatively, it’s important for the Referee to know, when water combat if both opponent are normal humanoid that they are sleeping and having guard, who is doing which have difficulty (for sake of balancing). If one of the two hour of the night. group is a water-borne creature, then their opponents will fight half as proficiently underwater. Therefore if a random encounter happens, the Referee will know who will be affected first. 9. TRACKING

2. CLIMBING It is possible to track creatures, but very unlikely. If the crea- Characters can climb normal surface if they take time. For ture is already some minutes or less in advance, use the nor- more difficult surface, they need either equipment (spike, mal pursuit rules. If they are further away, at least one of mallet, knife, special boots, and so on) or more time. the following condition must be met so that the players can Being in medium armour makes it more difficult and will track: provide additional difficulty if a roll is needed. Climbing small • The creatures being tracked are very large surface is possible in heavy armour (such as a small para- pet), but it all but impossible for climbing steep difficult sur- • The creatures being tracked are in a large group face (for example, a palisade or cliff). • The terrain gives away clear indication (snow or sand) 3. LIFTING • The creature being tracked gives out a clear sign to fol- A character can lift (deadlift) for a very short amount of time low (blood, odour, and so on) about 335 pounds + 15 pounds for any Strength point over 12. This is about 10 000 to 15 000 GP worth of material. Alternatively, very difficult situation for tracking might ren- der it impossible: a snowstorm, a heavy rain, within a dun- 4. JUMPING geon, and so on. Run & Jump: 16 feet + 1 feet for any Strength point over 12. 10. SEARCHING Jump: 5 feet + 1 feet for any two Strength point over 12. Vertical Jumping: 18 inch + 1 inch for any Strength point When searching for clues, traps, doors, and other hidden over 12. mechanism, it is suggested that Referee make the roll in se- Being in medium or heavy armour will cut down (by 1/3 cret and if the roll is successful, they give not the mechanism and 1/2 respectively) this distance. itself, but a clue to the mechanism. This goes hand in hand with the fact that most secrets, including traps, have an im- 5. FALLING pact on the environment. For example, if you have an acid shower trap in front of A character takes 1 HD of damage for every 10 feet after 20 a door. First, the Referee should say that there is a strong feet. If wearing a heavy armour, it starts at 10 feet instead. smell in the air. If the player search and the roll is a success, the Referee could then tell the player that there is a strange 6. SUFFOCATION chance of both color and texture on the ground in front of the door, as if it had been corroded. Then it will be up to It’s possible to hold breath for one minute: afterwards, each the player to look upward to find the hole in the ceiling, and 10 seconds the character need to roll 3d6 under his Consti- then find the actual mechanism at the door that trigger the tution or start suffocating. trap.

34 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURING RULES

In other words, as with tracking, character’s search only • Foraging and Hunting: Taking the time to forage and provide part of the answer that the player’s search will com- hunt takes 3 AP (2 for forest, 4 for desert and mountain). plete. The party can sustain itself for 1d3 day with this food. Searching takes one dungeon exploration turn (10 min- utes) for rooms or hallways. It can take less time as per the • Searching: Searching for hidden features (see below) Referee for smaller object or zones. It takes at least one com- takes the same amount of AP as traversing the hex (not bat turn. Searching requires a light source. counting road or mount bonus). • Marching Pace: There is three different marching pace. WILDERNESS EXPLORATION The marching pace must be decided at the beginning of the day (unless something special in the game hap- pen, in which the Referee will judge accordingly) and Wilderness exploration can be a very complicated or sim- will be kept for the day. ple matter. There are multiple ways of going about it: pointcrawl, hexcrawl, narrative iteration, and so on. Here, – Forced March: +2 AP for the day. For Wilderness one system will be proposed: the hexcrawl. This means that Roll, roll twice and take the worst result. Animals players will travel as a party along a hex-grid map using ab- can’t force march more than two days straight stracted resources and mechanics representing their strug- and need to rest afterwards (otherwise they will gle and walk along the land. refuse to obey). For this system to work, it is important to tell player what is – Slow March: -2 AP for the day. For Wilderness Roll, the hex in which they stand (and the type), and what they roll twice and take the worst result, and surprise roll see in the other hex in terms of terrain type. Consider that at -1 if a monster is encountered. the average human in optimal condition can see up to 3 miles, which would be the middle of every other hex around. – Normal March: Use the basic rules. Some special creatures (or even elves and dwarves if the • Fatigued: If the group is fatigued, they have half AP and Referee so wishes) can see further than this, up to two hexes have -1 to Wilderness Roll (see below). away. • Flying Travel: When traveling as a flying creature (or 1. TIME & SPACE - HEXCRAWLING mounting a flying creature), consider every hex as counting 1/4 AP. If there is strong wind or difficult TIME weather, it then cost 1 AP per hex. If the weather is extremely bad, they must continue on foot unless it’s a Each 24 hours (a day) is a hexcrawling (wilderness explo- very big creature (such as a Dragon). While flying, there ration) turn. At the beginning of every day, the party re- is no real Wilderness Roll, but the Referee might have to ceives 4 Action Points(AP). tell information about hidden feature or monster pres- ence if it’s pertinent.

SPACE • River: It is important that any special obstacles be dealt Each hex on a hex map is about 4-5 miles. It is entirely pos- with as part of a "zoomed" perspective. River crossing sible to use 6 miles hex or even 3 miles hex by changing ac- is one of them. If the players uses rivers and streams cordingly the different numbers and time consideration. with a boat to navigate, consider as if being on a road through the hex in terms of AP cost.

ACTION RESOLUTION • Large Group: Large groups travel slower, but have less chance of getting lost or getting into an encounter. For To enter a new hex, the party has to spend the appropriate groups of 30 or more, add +1 to AP cost. However, on number of AP. If they can’t, they will spend whatever AP they the Wilderness Roll result of 1 (Monster Encounter), con- have left and will have to continue the next day with new AP sider it instead as a loss (and include loss of hirelings allocation. Each hex terrain type and action have a specific as they can be picked apart more easily by preda- cost: tors if they go alone in the wood for whatever reasons). Searching is also easier and takes -1 AP.

Type Terrain AP Cost 1 Plains, Steppe, Farmland 1 2 Hills, woods, desert, rough 2 3 Mountains, jungle, swamps 4 4 Roads Half cost * Horse Half cost on type 1 and 4 * Carriage Each animal reduce group encumbrance * Heavy rain, thick fog, +1 storm or extreme cold/heat If someone is encumbered +1

Additional points:

35 ADVENTURING RULES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

1a. HEX FEATURES • Camp grant +1 Reaction roll to any creatures at night.

As is said in the section on creating a hex map, each hex has • Camp will make the group more visible and have -1 to features. Some are predominant and will be found every Wilderness Roll. time someone enter the hex (for example, a mountain, a big city, a river, and so on). Others will be "hidden" and found • Things can happen at the camp and it’s a good op- only if searched or through a Wilderness Roll (for example, a portunity for the Referee to include NPCs to make them hidden entrance to a dungeon, a glade, a small magical feel more alive. If the Referee wishes, he can roll on the shrine, and so on). following table:

1b. WILDERNESS ROLL 2d6 Result Every time a party enter a new hex or make a search within 2-3 Infighting a hex, make a Wilderness Roll on one dice: 4-5 Demand a higher pay 6-7 Tell a useful rumour 1d6 Result 8-9 Find something of value 1 Monster Encounter (for example, a rare plant) 2-3 Monster Omen 10-11 They were able to hunt 4 Party Loss and bring back some rations 5 Nothing 12 One of them is seasoned and 6 Party Find killed a creature hostile to the players Monster Encounter: Roll a monster encounter accordingly (+1 to next day Wilderness Roll as per the hex type. A basic random encounter table could Every night the party decides to sleep in the wilderness, look like: the Referee will make a Wilderness Roll. Then he will de- 2d6 Result cide if the result happens while finding a suitable location for camping (Hex Feature, Lair) or during the night (Monsters). 2 Dragon 3 High HD as per hex type 2. ENCOUNTER, SURPRISE & EVASION 4-5 Normal monsters of the hex type Surprise: If there is a random encounter with creatures, roll 6-8 Medium patrol of humanoids a d6. On a result of 5-6 the monsters will surprise the players; 9-10 Animals or native (giant/large) on a result of 1-2 the players will surprise the monsters. If 11 NPC (group) the monsters are a group, they will have circled the players. 12 Special event/encounter Then roll Reaction to see how they will react. A creature that has surprise over another will have a free move phase. Monster Omen: They encounter sign of regional monsters: Distance: Distance encounter is 2d6 * 30 feet. If it’s a bodies, lairs (1-5 on a d6 it’s abandoned; if its not aban- surprise, instead roll 1d6 * 30 feet. For clear areas, such as doned, then roll as per monster to see if he is present), mark- plains, farmlands, grasslands, deserts and so on, instead the ings, traces/paths, they see it from afar, they feel they are distance should be in yards (about 3x the distance). followed, and so on. Next omen roll during the same day is Evasion: Players can flee if the monster is surprised, not instead a monster encounter (ideally the same monster or aggressive (i.e. a favourable Reaction) or more than 3" (i.e. same type). 30 feet) away. Party Loss: Party loss is up to the Referee as per weather, Fleeing: Organized groups of humanoids will pursue on terrain, last encounter and so on. It can be food spoiled a roll of 4+ if they are hostile to the players, and only 1 if (jungle, swamp), AP because of getting lost (forest, jungle, they are neutral. For all other cases, roll 2d6 where 7+ is an mountain) or because of obstacles (difficult weather), or effective evasion using the following modifiers: very rarely, losing a hireling or health (being pursued, dan- gerous territory that’s patrolled, and so on). State Modifier Party Find: Party find means either that they found (by chance or signs) the hidden feature of the hex, or, if there Fleeing party is less than 30 +1 is none, they found something of interest such as the body Fleeing party is more than 30 -1 of a regional creature (they can harvest it, but it also gives Fleeing party is faster +2 them information), rare plants, some food, and so on. Pursuing party is less than 30 -1 Pursuing party is more than 30 +1 1c. CAMPING & RESTING Pursuit party is slower -2 At night, when sleeping, it’s possible to set up a camp (es- Fleeing party was surprised -3 pecially with hirelings). A camp is organized and has a fire. In wood, swamp or fog +2 It takes time to set-up. At night +1 • Camp with fire provide heating (which, in some type of terrain, is critical to survival). When the roll is a success, the fleeing party is safe and evaded the pursuing party. If the roll is a failure, then the pur- • Camp grant +1 Morale and Loyalty to the NPCs for the suing party meet again with the fleeing party (there might night, while having none will have -1 to their Morale and be an exchange of talk, some melee or attack, and so on). Loyalty. Another attempt can be made to either parley or evade.

36 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURING RULES

3. FOOD, WATER & FATIGUE underground. Monsters are empowered by the dungeon as long as they are acting against the players (for exam- Not eating for a day (equivalent of a ration) will grant the ple, they loose their infravision abilities if they start serving Fatigued combat status and halve max HD. If sustained for the players). Doors will close by themselves, walls will shift, seven days, it might lead to unconsciousness and death. traps will rearm, and so on. Not sleeping for a day (equivalent to 6-8 hours) will grant They don’t need to follow a specific logic: they organ- the Fatigued combat status and halve max HD. If sustained ically (and maliciously) spawn with all their mysteries and for multiple days (2 + Constitution score above 15), all roll treasures. It is not so much that the dungeon is conscious, are made at -2, and it might lead to unconsciousness and but rather it is a living entity like an undead: clawing and death. devouring both souls and body of the players. Both of those are also true of animals: they need to be fed It is important for players to understand that good player and they need to also sleep. skills are to know what to look for, what to bring and, espe- Not drinking for a day will grant the Fatigued combat sta- cially, when to run. tus and halve max HD. If sustained for three days, it might lead to unconsciousness and death. 1. TIME & SPACE & LIGHT 4. WEATHER Time: In dungeons, one exploration turn is 10 minutes. During one turn, there can be 2 moves or 4 pursuits. Every day the Referee should roll for weather, depending on Space: Each move is 12/9/6" (120/90/60 feet according the season or type of land. Every time he rolls below 6, his to group movement rate). While in pursuit, there can be no next roll will be at +1. Every time he rolls over 8, his next roll mapping or map and hidden things are not seen: charac- will be at -1. Every time he rolls the same result as what was ters are running (at something, or away from something). roll lastly, he doesn’t roll for another 24 hours. Light: Torches are lit for 6 exploration turns at 3" (30 feet), lantern are lit for 24 exploration turns at 3" (30 feet). 3" or 30 2d6 Normal Winter/Mountain Desert/Wasteland feet is about most small rooms or a corridor. Without light, the group cannot map, find hidden things (unless through 2-3 Thunderstorm Snowstorm Sandstorm touch), can surprise monsters and walk at the slowest move- 4-5 Wind and cloud Snow High winds ment rate (6" per move). Monsters do not need light if they 6-8 Clear Wind and cloud Sunny with clouds are inhabitants of the dungeon, as they can see in the dark. 9-10 Sunny Sunny Heatwave If they become allies of the PCs or come from outside, then 11-12 Heatwave Snow melt Heatwave they will use light or their other senses.

2. MAPPING 5. NAVAL EXPLORATION It is very important for players to map the dungeon. Some- It is entirely possible to make naval exploration a big portion times it will not be possible and Referee should adapt to this of the game through the use of ships, pirates, underwater possibility. But it is beneficial for interest, but also visualiza- ruins and others. It is possible to use the normal exploration tion, creativity, memory and information. It is a player skill ruin, but at a much higher rate: a transport ship can do up to that should be encouraged. 10 hex for one AP. It is therefore suggested instead to have a Technically, players shouldn’t map when they run (or in separate water map where each hex is instead about 20-30 pursuit). Neither can they do it in combat. In both cases miles and keep the same ratio (1 hex = 1 AP) and have the their character aren’t mapping either ! type of wind, water and obstacles be the deciding factor in For this to work, the Referee has to tell the players, when AP cost to traverse them. For example, a storm could slow to they enter a room or corridor, the following informations: 1/4 the mvt rate, while positive wind could hasten the ship’s movement. • Size of the room (in tens of feet) It is important to also consider underwater ruins with their various factors: seaweed, rock bed, coral reefs, sand, and • Exits (using cardinal points) so on, where both treasures and creatures can hide. • Major senses interaction (you see X, you smell Y, you hear Z)

• Any other oddities or things that stands out (including monsters or important decoration)

The the player will map accordingly, but they will also de- cide to explore/verify the different element in the room (a particular wall, a door, a chest, and so on). This is how they interact with the world, get information, make decision (and suffer the consequences !).

3. ENCOUNTER, SURPRISE & EVASION Random Encounter: Every turn of exploration, roll a d6. On DUNGEON EXPLORATION a 6, a wandering monster appears. On a result of 5, it is an "omen": noise, bones, blood, left-overs, markings, rattling Dungeons are ancient ruins imbued with mystical energies. noise, and so on, that denote what kind of creatures live They, in themselves, living entities. They represent a mythical here and what they do, or that create a sense of dread and

37 ADVENTURING RULES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

foreboding. If there is a wandering monster, roll on the ap- doors will close on themselves after having been opened. propriate table of the dungeon or area. It is entirely possible Generally, monsters will be able to used closed/stuck doors to add +1 or +2 to this roll if the group is noisy or in large and secret doors (unless they are located in another faction numbers, or if it triggered an alarm. zone or the equivalent). It is possible to wedge open a door It is possible to optionally start this countdown after a cou- with iron spikes, but on a roll of 5+ on a dice, the spike will ple of turn of exploration or after the players make them- end up breaking or slipping after a while and the door will selves known into the dungeon (breaking a door, looting still close. something, killing a monster, activating a trap, and so on). When listening at doors, if player make their roll and hear Surprise: If there is a random encounter, roll a d6. On a the other side, they will hear as per the creature types. Un- result of 5-6 the monsters will surprise the players; on a result dead never make any sounds. of 1-2 the players will surprise the monsters. Players cannot surprise within dungeon if they have a light, but without one, they can’t see either. Then, roll Reaction to determine how 6. TRAPS they will react to the players. A creature that has surprise over another will have a free move phase. All traps will only trigger on a 5+ of a dice roll. This means Distance: Distance encounter is 2d6 * 10 feet. If it’s a sur- that sometimes people will not trigger them (didn’t touch prise, instead roll 1d6 * 10 feet. the stone), or the trap didn’t register the weight change, Evasion: Players can flee if the monster is surprised, not and so on. This rule is to be adapted and considered with aggressive (i.e. a favourable Reaction) or more than 3" (i.e. the following: 30 feet) away during their move phase. Fleeing: If the characters flee a creature, they have to run • Large Mechanical Traps: Those are generally detected towards an opposite direction. They can decide to distract by anyone that look for them with light: a wire, a trigger, the monster with food or treasures. To determine this, roll a a floor tile that’s out of place, and so on. The Referee d6 as per the following matrix: will of course only tell the players what is being seen, not the mechanism itself. If the trigger is visible, not what is triggered; if what is triggered is visible, not the trigger. Action Monster Intelligence d6 • Concealed Traps: If searched for in the area (or object), Pursuers one full move behind N/A Automatic it can be found with the particular action. If very well Characters turn corner, N/A 3+ hidden, it can be found only on a 5+. take stairs, pass through door • Small Traps: Those need to be found by the right clue Monster distracted /w food unintelligent 2+ and reasoning. They are generally placed on handle, animal 4+ chest, in an handle in the wall, and so on. A very de- intelligent 6+ tailed search of the player could lead to finding it on a Monster distracted unintelligent 6+ 5+, but will take appropriate time (multiple exploration with treasure animal 4+ turn) with corresponding Random Encounter roll. intelligent 2+ • Pit Traps: They will inflict fall damage as per normal rule. If there are spikes in the trap, then they will inflict double 4. UNDERWORLD ACTIONS damage. It is better to have players describe their character actions Most trap will be deadly. Either they will inflict weapon and then from there judge if a dice roll is needed. Otherwise, damage (for example, a salvo of dart from a wall will attack here are a list of underworld actions and their corresponding as a group of crossbow weapon), some kind of condition odds on 1d6: (such as poison), or a death scenario (crushed by a rock). It is up to the Referee to decide if a Saving Throw is required Action Class d6 and to what extent each trap should be deadly. Listen at doors Default 6+ Note: when playing premade module of other gaming Dwarf, halfling, elf 5+ system with Health Points (HP) that aren’t present here, con- sider that each 2d6 of HP damage is equivalent to 1 HD Force Doors Open Default 5+ damage if no weapon equivalent can be made (for exam- Halfling 6+ ple, a wall scythe trap of 3d6 damage in a module could be Find Secret Doors Default 5+ interpreted as 3 attack of a Two-Handed Sword). Elf-in-passing 5+ Elf searching 3+ 7. TRICKS Spring Trap Default 5+ Tricks are dungeon challenges that protect the dungeon. Some of them are entirely structural (for example, having a 5. DOORS & DUNGEON GEOMORPH chasm) and are dealt with when creating the dungeon in Since dungeons are ancient ruins rifled with mysteries, their the next Part. doors are no exception to this. Normal dungeon doors are Some tricks will perform various action on trigger (gener- about 8 feet wide and event higher in length, and can be ally touch), such as: ageing the character, making him blind make of all strange of material. or deaf, teleporting him elsewhere in the dungeon, ringing Most doors are warped, ancient or broken and therefore a magical alarm, transforming into something else the char- stuck, and will require a 5+ on a dice to be opened. Most acter, and so on.

38 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURING RULES

INJURY AND DEATH 2d6 Disaese 2 Smallpox 1. SYSTEM SHOCK 3 Yellow Fever This rule is optional. When a character is polymorphed, 4 Malaria hasted, aged unnaturally for more than 10 years (for hu- 5 Cholera mans) or is raised from the dead, a System Shock Roll is 6 Crud made to see if the metabolic and body is too radical. To do this, the PC roll 3d6. If the result is equal or lower than 7 Grippe his constitution score, nothing happens. If the result is higher, 8 Spotted Fever the system is in shock. Roll a d6: on 5+ the character dies, 9 Dysentery on 3-4 he is permanently injured (looses limbs function, be- 10 Tuberculosis comes blind, disfigured, etc.), on 1-2 he suffers internal dam- 11 Typhoid Fever age and will be at a new 1 HD maximum until healed. 12 Leprosy

2. RECOVERY • Smallpox: This disease is extremely infectious (2+ on a dice). It takes 20 months - Constitution score to fully Characters can recover one HD from their pool for every two recover from it. Symptoms include intense rash and days spent resting. Permanent injury, curses and disease re- fever. The scars will lower Reaction and Charisma (1d3) quire a special or magical kind of attention. permanently. It is treatable with magical and natural health with a high survival rate amongst adventurers (2+ on a dice). 3. DEATH • Yellow Fever: Generally more frequent in jungle and When a character is at 0 HD, he dies. His body will start to swamp areas, it is contracted by mosquitoes. There is decompose as per a normal creatures. He can be brought a small chance (6+ on a dice) to spread it to others. back with Raise Dead, Reincarnation or with a Wish spell. Symptoms include intense fatigue and fever with a small Since with a helmet a character falls to 0 HD, it is possible (6+ on a dice) chance of lapsing into a coma for 1d6 that unconscious character will be captured and ransomed. days. Afterwards, the bearer is immune. Alternatively, monsters might force player to surrender in or- der to capture them. This will also provide the Referee with • Malaria: Generally more frequent in tropical area or much opportunity for adventures. temperate swamp and humid places. It causes intense pain, fatigue and fever. Rare herbs known as king’s herb When a character dies, it is suggested that the Referee can treat it with great efficiency. Otherwise, it will come have the player’s character control one of his retainers or a back every once in a while to affect the host. hireling at least for the reminder of the game night or ad- venture. Then, whenever possible, he should make a new • Cholera: Generally transmitted through flies, food or character. If it is suitable, a better option would be that the water that has been infected. It is highly contagious PCs find a prisoner nearby to be released and it becomes and virulent. It will spread at an exponential rate in a the new character of the player that just lost his! group. Some type of activities or location will help the If the whole group dies, then Referee should have them all spreading: ship, cell, siege, garrison, inadequate water, make new characters. Sometimes, they will follow the same and so on. Symptoms include vomiting, watery stools, adventure, sometimes it will make for a new adventure. fatigue, dehydration. If not treated rapidly, consider it Death can also be the beginning of a new quest: why not as being a weak poison (death in 1d6 days). go to Hades to recover the dead character ? • Crud: A type of heat rash or jungle rot that is generally present in hot weather and cause general irritation and 4. POISON unpleasantness.

When a character is affected by poison, he will lose 1 HD per • Grippe: General term for all sorts of symptoms and dis- a fixed amount of time determined by the type of poison (or ease. Generally cause fever, fatigue and overall body poison giver). Generally, this will be per hour. But some very ache. As many other disease in this list, it can be treated vicious poison will be per minute, and some less potent per mechanically as the reverse of the Bless spell. day. • Spotted Fever: A type of disease generally transmitted by ticks (2+ on a dice that it is carrying the disease). It 5. DISEASE causes severe fever (6+ on a dice that the fever will kill if untreated) and a chance of mentally affecting the Disease can be caught on low Constitution character, or character with a mild form of insanity (6+ on a dice), character that are fatigued or didn’t eat, when being in dif- lowering Wisdom score by 1d3. ficult condition (huge cities, swamp, sewers, and so on). It is possible to determine if the PC receives the disease by rolling • Dysentery: Generally caused by water and food being 3d6 and comparing it with the Constitution score where if corrupted or stored in bad conditions. It causes vomit- the result is equal or lower, the disease isn’t contracted. Oth- ing, intestinal problem, fever, dehydration and fatigue. erwise, use the normal distribution for each disease. In very bad condition, it can become worst and cause Here is a list of them and their description: coma or death.

39 ADVENTURING RULES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

• Tuberculosis: This disease can be contracted in humid • They have to feed with blood. If they don’t feed on and damp places, including dungeons, but also in cities human blood for a week, they will lose half their power (6+ on a dice). It is a very intense disease that has a high and HD and will be considered as being Fatigued. After rate of casualty (3+ without treatment, 5+ with treat- another week they will be under the effect of the Con- ment and rest). Even if survived, there is a 50% chance fused spell most of the time. As long as they rest in a of losing 1d3 Constitution. coffin, this process is halted.

• Typhoid Fever: Generally contacted by parasites in un- • Sunlight will kill them instantly (save vs death), unless it clean conditions such as cities, siege, food shortage is artificially created, in which case they will lose their and so on. It is a very intense fever and fatigue that power. Same thing with running water or being planted can lead to death (3+ on a dice). a wooden stake in their heart. • Leprosy: This disease affect skin and general immunity system. It has a high fatality rate (2+ on a dice after 3 • They can transform into bat and gaseous form and use days if not cured). Those who die from leprosy cannot their flying speed. They can use the spell Charm Mon- be Raised Dead. Mummy have a high chance to give ster on wolves and bats at will. this disease on every contact (2+ on a dice). • They are immune to non-magical or silvered weapon. When brought to 0 HD with weapons or magic, they will 6. CURSES automatically dissolve into a gaseous form and return Curses can come in a variety of form. Some are very spe- to their coffin to be raised again in 1d3 day. cific to particular item or location (for example, a cursed sword of berseking). Others are more generic, such as a • If they look intently on a humanoid, they can cast the curse spell. They can inflict all kind of curses as per below, Charm Person spell. or randomly. Here is a list of subcurses that can be added and are not touched here: dreamlessness, unable to navi- • They are turned from garlic, crosses or mirrors. gate or remember paths, unluckiness, compulsive liar, insom- nia, nightmares, heaviness, weak grip, and so on. You could • During the day, they must return to their coffin for rest. link curses to action, such as that using magical items is pre- vented, or causes pain, or causes darkness, and so on. Sky is the limit. 6b. LYCANTHROPY It is important that when a curse is thrown at a PC by a There are multiple types of lycanthrope, but the most com- creature or spell, if it is a generic curse meant to affect the mon type to affect humanoids is the werewolf. Most of the PC, it should therefore affect him based on his race, class, lycanthrope are either Neutral or Chaos, with only the were- alignment and so on: one curse might be laughable for a bear being Law. character but a severe consequence for another. For exam- ple, a dwarf transformed into an orc will be most distressed If wounded (1 or more HD lost in melee) by a Lycanthrope, ! there is a 50% chance of contracting this curse. It will start off Here is a list of more specific and interesting curses with as a slow disease (can be cured by the spell Cure Disease) methods to cure it and other oddities. with fever, fatigue and general illness, and it will evolve in 3d6 weeks into the curse. Note that characters won’t know they are affected until sometimes it is too late. Sometimes 6a. VAMPIRISM during that built-up period, the character will wake up with Being bitten by a vampire will contract this curse, although it torn clothes or making sounds. Eating belladona during that can also be given by other manners. When contracted, this time has a good chance of preventing the curse from taking curse will slowly turn the bearer into a corporeal undead. If hold (3+ on a dice). Holy water and wolvesbane can slow left untreated, it will take about 10 days minus the HD of the both the disease and the curse foothold. Vampire to turn the bearer into an undead. After the number of days have elapsed, the victim will To determine the outcome, roll on the following table transform into a werewolf at the next full moon and attack while comparing the overall HD of the bitten victim: anyone it sees. Afterwards, the victim will be considered a werewolf with the following details: 2d6 1-2 HD 3-4 HD 5+ HD • The victim will transform at every full moon. To deter- 2-3 Ghoul thrall Ghoul thrall NPC vampire mine sanity, roll 2d6 + half the HD of the victim. If the 4-5 Ghoul thrall NPC vampire NPC vampire result is 11 or more, the victim is conscious and can act 6-8 Ghoul thrall NPC vampire Vampire normally, although transformed. Else, it will be uncon- trollable 9-10 NPC Vampire Vampire Vampire 11-12 Vampire Vampire Vampire • Like many other curses, there is a strong social stigma. Seeing a werewolf or knowing the adventurer is a were- It is possible to slow down and break the curse prior to wolf can lead to a Angry Peasants (see below). the transformation. But once the transformation is done, it is permanent (unless through a Wish spell). • While in lycanthrope form, the character can’t gain any If turned into a vampire, the character acquire the follow- experience points. ing characteristic: • They are undead: immune to disease, poison and don’t • While in lycanthrope form, the character will be immune have to eat or drink normal food (they actually can’t to non-silver and non-magical weapon. It will also at- eat it). They don’t have to sleep anymore. tack as a lycanthrope in the monster description.

40 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURING RULES

6c. WRAITH-TOUCH 6e. PETRIFICATION When fighter against spectres (4+ on a dice) or wraiths (2+ Some creatures will have a curse effect akin to the Turn Flesh on a dice), a character that is hit by their or their weapon to Stone spell, effectively transforming someone whole body can become Wraith-Touched. into stone. Those creatures (Medusa, Basilisk, Cockatrice) will therefore turn into stone the victim. • While wraith-touched, a character will see ghosts, hear them and can be affected more likely by them (for ex- ample, possession saving throw would be at -2) 6f. TRANSFORMATION Some curses might bring about a transformation into a mon- • All wraith and spectres will sense their presence and ster (specific, roll a random creature) or cause mutations. In vice-versa. the case of mutations, use the following table (roll 2d6 for • All wraiths and spectres will hit at +1 against them, and rows and 1d6 for columns): vice-versa. 2d6 1-3 4-6 • When in contact with wraiths, ghosts and spectres, there is a chance (3+ on a dice) that the character will 2 New limb New Eye afterwards be Fatigued. 3 Skin color Beak • After some months (2d6), there is a chance (4+ on a 4 Fur Claws dice) that they will develop blindness and permanent 5 Cyclop Big head fatigue. After some years, they might shrivel and age 6 Small head New fingers rapidly (at a rate of 1 year per month) and end up dy- 7 Fangs Foetid odour ing. 8 Horns Black eyes 9 Transparent skin Large eyes 6d. DESECRATION CURSE 10 Leather skin Large ears This is actually not a specific curse but a subset of curse type. 11 Long arms Long legs It is basically a trigger for curse with general effects attached 12 Long neck Long torso to it. Triggers can be various: • Desecrating a ritualistic/sacred place Most of those result in being considered a social pariah, low reaction roll and other such modifier. • Stealing a sacred object

• Entering a prohibited tomb 6g. POSSESSION & HAUNTED Creatures can also possess humanoids. Either they will do • Robbing the dead so with magic (such as the Magic-User spell Magic Jar), or • Causing grave injustice to powerless people through their cursed nature (such as ghosts). It is possible to prevent some of that last category through rituals, circle of • Someone on his deathbed (to bring justice to light) protections and some rare and special plants. Possessed creatures will not be in complete control of their • Trespassing sacred boundaries body, although the possessor doesn’t necessarily force itself • Breaking an oath (a form of self-curse) at all time and will sometimes only act in decisive moments. A subset of possession is being Haunted. In that case, a • And so on spirit (generally a ghost or spectre) will follow around the character. It can haunt his dreams, force him into doing ac- Curses can even be seen, in some group of humanoids, tions, slowly siphon its life and dreams. An object or location as being a legitimate form of justice and reprisal. can also be haunted. Curses can have a variety of effects (or multiple of them) To get rid of a haunt, the character needs to either as per the following table: cleanse the curse by letting the spirit to rest (avenging the spirit, burying him properly, granting him a request, and so 2d6 Effect on; this depends on the type of spirit) or breaking the mag- ical curse that’s binding the spirit to the target as per any 2 Leprosy (as per disease) curse. 3 Deafness 4 Blindness 6h. ADDENDUM: DOMAIN LEVEL CURSE 5 Cause low morale to NPC 6 Permanent hunger Some curses can have wider effect, up to the domain level. For example: barren field, no rain, children getting lost in (5x rations per day) the woods, a generally low morale and down mood for the 7 Face rot (-2 Reaction roll) population, and so on. It can even affect objects, such as 8 Impossible to enter temples iron becoming brittled in an iron mine. 9 Arrows fly towards victim 10 Perpetual Sleep 6i. ADDENDUM: REMOVING CURSES 11 Petrification Outside of the spells (or other means discussed) that prevent 12 Cannibalism or remove curse, it is also possible to include in the game (can only eat flesh) other means of dealing with curses.

41 ADVENTURING RULES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

The first one is called the "Figurine Ritual". It is conducted 2a. CAROUSING by shaman, sorcerers and witches. What is needed is a fig- urine carved in the image of the person that bestowed the Carousing is the act of wasting money for relaxation and curse, the true name of the person and something from that amusement. It generally means indulging in drink, food and person (be it figuratively, such as an object, or literally, such sleep (or anything in between). Therefore, it involves mixing as hairs). Then, the ritual take place with animal sacrifice it with the crowd and either making friends or foes. This is the (specific to each curse), the burning of the effigy and the default downtime activity. To determine what happens, roll pronouncing of the curse upon the effigy. Generally, those 2d6 and add any Charisma modifier to consult the following performing this ritual will ask for something in exchange prior table: to the ritual (some kind of dark service). The second one is called the "House of Purification Ritual". 2d6 Result It needs to take place in abandoned temple, conducted by clerics or high priests well versed in the ritual. It requires a 2 Contracted a disease diamond (symbol of perfection), a 24 hours ritual of burning, 3 Made an enemy by speaking bathing and peeling onions (peeling of the sins). Then at the too much: 1-2 an official, end, there is an exorcism by divine means. It has a chance 3-4 a merchant, or 5-6 a smuggler of failure (on a 6+ of a dice) and cannot be attempted 4 Contracted a huge debt again until the victim has accomplished some good deed. The third one would be to make a pact with demons, so (500 GP per level) to a that with their power they stay the curse effect on the victim. criminal organization Generally they will do so requiring frequent (weekly, monthly for gambling and booze or yearly, depending on the curse) sacrifice to them (which 5 Lost at gambling 50 GP * level will depend on the type of demons). Sometimes they will use 6-8 Solid headache hangover their power over the victim to also exact extra requirements. 9 Obtained a useful rumours The fourth one would be to find a willing shaman and climb atop a pure and white peak. For three days and 10 Gambled and won 50 GP * level three nights, without failure, the shaman will perform rites 11 Made friend with (1d6) to ancient spirits while the victim will dance. If either stops 1-2 an official, 3-4 a merchant, (or are stopped), not only the curse will stay, but they can or 5-6 a smuggler both anger the ancient spirits (and therefore receive a fur- 12 Trade story with an old man ther curse). Finally, some strange creatures are said to be "curse- and received a treasure map in exchange eaters". Generally, this is made by stealing a part of them (a scale, a feather, and so on) while they don’t know, and 2b. PIT FIGHTING later returning it to them to have them eat the curse. Be- ware, because they are generally dangerous and if they are It is possible to do pit fighting and gladiator fight in some stolen something else or angered (woken up), they might in- bigger cities. There are two ways to perform this: either re- stead devour the curse-bearer. solve it abstractly by making three roll (3d6 to obtain equal or lower) against Strength, Constitution and Dexterity where 2 or more means a victory (and a benefit); or resolve it with CIVILIZATION either a joust (for higher society character) or a duel. The duel can either be until first blood (first Hit) or until someone Most of the adventure take place in borderlands or wilder- falls unconscious (or dead, with a badluck). Winning more ness regions. There are some strongholds, keeps, villages but of those matches will put the fighter in a higher category nothing of importance or considerable size. It is suggested which will grant more money every time. to keep it that way since the adventure is out there. Some players will prefer urban campaign and that’s also a possi- 2c. ECONOMIC ENTERPRISE bility that the Referee should envision. At the bare minimum, cities will be visited for supplies, information, trade, downtime It is possible to perform various economic enterprise such as and so on. investing in a merchant’s trade (or even helping that mer- chant trade route), smuggling goods, stealing goods from a trade route and many others. For this, roll 2d6 where 2-5 1. SERVICES means a problem with the law or bandits; 6-8 a medium re- 2. DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES turn or investment or at least development; and 9-12 a ben- efits. Living in the city for extended period of days is as per normal upkeep rules and include downtime activities as per below. 2d. RITUALS & RESEARCH For smaller amount of time, it will cost about 4 GP per week in an inn, 6 GP with a horse. That is without any activities or Either at the temple or at the mage’s library within cities, it downtime, with only the bare minimum. is possible to perform rituals, receive spellcaster’s assistance Downtime activities are various enterprise that characters (for example, paying a hefty some for a remove curse), or within the game world use to relax, share their adventure, in- perform research. Players can pay up to 1000 GP to a sage crease their fame, research, develop themselves or kill time. for him to perform research on locations, objects, creatures Those presented here are only the most common and clas- and so on. This will permit players to obtain information sic of them, but the Referee might include many more de- about things without having to sacrifice their live by getting pending on the wish of the players. there to obtain it!

42 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURING RULES

2e. TRAINING It is possible for characters to train during downtime. The ex- tent of the benefits are entirely up to the Referee: some will decide that it’s necessary to train in order to obtain the next level; some will let players obtain better knowledge (such as language); some will let players obtain new proficiency with exotic or strange weapon, or develop better control over weapon they already have and so on.

3. ANGRY PEASANTS & NPC WARBANDS When players mess too much with villages, cities and espe- cially people in general, it can lower their overall reputation. At some point, people might rise up in group with a clear intention of hanging the players. This is especially true when the players meddle with the affairs of peasants, steal from there, kill them, harass them, and so on. They might not de- cide to act on their own, but sometimes a leader from a city will regroup multiple village and march up to the players with a hundred strong to perform their own kind of justice. Within more civilized areas, such as cities, it could be the den of thieves that doesn’t want their activities disrupted; or the elite guard of the king, and so on. It is important to note the following to understand the power of nobles: a lord of a Stronghold is generally a level 8 Fighting-Man, which means that his guard captain will be about level 6-7 and his guards could be a group of level 6 myrmidon. This should be enough to keep in check any troublesome low- level group of adventurers that doesn’t understand that their action have consequences.

4. WARBANDS & DOMAINS

43 MONSTERS CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

any attack made against that creatures are made at - 1 dice per number in parenthesis (for example, a WR(2) will deduce two dice per attack on the creature, like PART 5: MONSTERS magical armours). In the case of NMI (non-magical immunity), the creature cannot be affected outside of magical weaponry, in and out of Heroic Combat. For MONSTER LIST Saving Throws, monsters have a basic Saving Throw of 12 - (HD/2), unless specified otherwise. The list is non exhaustive and is adapted to a particular set- ting. It is entirely possible to modify the monsters, their ori- gins and characteristics. It is also possible to mix two types • Special Abilities (SA): Any special abilities that the mon- of monsters to allow for a diversity, such as a spore zombie ster has. (Fungi + Zombie) ! Here are the characteristics for each monsters: • Lair: The chance of appearing in a lair of the creature type when in random encounter. For large group of hu- • Name (N): Name of the creature manoids, instead consider this number as being the per- • Category (C): Creature category is mostly informational centage of total number appearing. It is rolled on a d6 and is there to inform the general category/type of the where the result needs to be equal to or higher for the monsters. For example, an orc is humanoid, a zombie is creature to appear. undead, a dragon is wyrm, and so on.

• HD: HD total for normal mature version of the creature. • Number Appearing (NA): When encountered in an hex For younger version, it would be wise to diminish the in the wilderness, this will be the number present within number and for ancient or more powerful version, aug- the hex and/or lair. ment it. • Treasure Type (Treasure): When they are found within • Size: Size determine the space they occupy and how their lairs with treasures, the creature will have the fol- they react to terrain difficulty as per the following table: lowing treasure type to determine random generation.

Size Terrain Example • Biome: Where are generally the place where you can meet those creatures in terms of terrain and hex types. Small Worse penalties Kobold, dog, slime It is not exclusive and it is mostly for the Referee’s discre- Humanoid Humans, dwarves, orcs tion and understanding of the different biome. Here is Large Ogres, Griffon, Elementals the list of hex and terrain type: Giant Half penalties Giants, Cyclops, Dragons Gargantuan Ignore penalties Titans, Purple – Underground (U) Worm, Ancient Dragons – Water (W)

• Heroic Combat Capabilities (HC): This represents which – Hills (H) category in the Heroic Combat does the creature fall into. For most humanoids, and some other such crea- – Mountains (M) tures, they will be marked by a *. This means that they are equivalent to the Hero as per their HD, but always – Forests (F) at -1. For example, an Orc Chieftain of 4 HD would be considered an Anti-Hero -1 for the sake of Heroic Com- – Grasslands and Farmlands (G) bat. – Steppes and Prairie (S) • Troop Type (Type): When fighting normal combat, this determines the basic troop type that the creature rep- – Jungles (J) resents. This also include their movement rates. – Swamps (S) • Morale (M): Average morale score of the type. Un- – Deserts (D) deads have morale score only for the sake of the Cleric’s Revoke Undead and the score shouldn’t be – Wastelands (WL) used for combat. – Urban and Dungeon (UD) • Movement (Mvt): This represent the base value move- ment. The creatures can also be flying. This will be ei- ther F (for full) or T (for temporary, such as Manticore that • Intelligence (INT): This describe the intelligence and can temporary fly for some distance). This flying move sometimes specific behaviour or tactics. override their troop type movement and follow normal flying rules. • Description: For individual entries, it will describe the • Resistance (Resist): Any form of resistance and immu- creature and their overall organization and activities, nity. In the case of Weapon Resistance, consider that with potential hints at their tactics and views.

44 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND MONSTERS

MONSTER DESCRIPTION NAME

ABOLETH Characteristics Value Name Characteristics Value HD Name Aboleth Size HD 8 HC Size Large Type HC Type I* or J Morale Type MI Mvt Morale 2 Lair Mvt 3** NA Lair 6+ Resist NA 1d3 Treasure Resist Nil Biome Treasure F SA Biome U, W*** Description: Body. Tactics. Fear. Weaknesses. INT Very, predatory SA Telekinesis, Charm Person, ESP CREATING MONSTERS and slime coating ASSORTED LIST OF RANDOM ENCOUNTERS *Aboleth count as Wizard because of their psionic capabil- ity, but they can also fight physically as Giant Animals and Treants (Type I). **Can swim at 12. ***Rare Description: Aboleth are a giant fish-like monstrosities that can crawl on land. They are a race of evil psionic crea- tures that live underground and are extremely powerful and cunning and possess knowledge more ancient than all of humanity. They can cast Telekinesis, ESP and Charm person at will. They have a slime coating that can be transferred to other creatures in melee range (generally used on previ- ously charmed creatures), effectively transforming them in a water-breathing mutant that can only survive underwater.

BASILISK

Characteristics Value Name Basilisk HD 6 Size Large HC Type F Type HI Morale 4 Mvt 6 Lair 5+ NA 1d3 Resist Nil Treasure F Biome U, M, H INT Beastly, territorial SA Petrifying gaze

Description: Basilisk are very large lizard wurm-type. They have a petrifying gaze they can use every turn. The gaze can be reflected back at it to cause it petrification. They can also see the astral and ethereal planes.

45 TREASURES CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

PART 6: TREASURES

TREASURE TYPE

TREASURE GENERATION

ODDITIES

MAGICAL TREASURES

46 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CREATING A CAMPAIGN

1. ONLINE RESOURCES

Here is a list of free resources to help new (or old!) Referees PART 7: CREATING A CAMPAIGN to prepare their campaign, generate content or just lower the amount of time used for preparing games, divided by (somewhat arbitrary) categories. ORGANIZING THE CAMPAIGN AND THE PLAYERS Those resources are not meant to replace the Referee, but rather to help him flesh out some details for impromptu GENERALITIES last minute game, or for minute details: you don’t have to physically draw yourself every single building in your city for CREATE A CAMPAIGN IN SEVEN STEPS it to be a good city (even if it would be better!); instead you can generate it with one click, and then make sure that it fits your overall campaign world and ideas. 1. CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW It is also possible to find plenty of blogs online (the famous 2. REGIONAL MAP Delta and Alexandrian blog, for example) on the subject with excellent content. There exist also multiple community 3. FACTIONS on 4chan and reddit also. 4. MAIN TOWN One of them stand alone because of its sheer quality and amount of content: donjon by drow, found here. It provides 5. MAIN DUNGEON name generator, fractal world generator, calendar gener- ator, demographics calculator, dungeon generator, and so 6. LINKING THE WORLD on. If, as a Referee, if you a game coming on, and you don’t 7. MAP KEYS have the time to create the details of your campaign, this is the best place to start ! ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MAP MAKING In terms of "how to approach the game", my two best sug- AND CAMPAIGN DESIGN gestions would be Philotomy’s Musing and the the Original D&D Setting. 1. GENERALITIES NOTE: If ever some of the links are broken, try to do a search on the web with the title and author and you should 2. UNDERSTANDING GEOGRAPHY find most if not all of them through it (unless of course the 3. LANDMARKS AND % MAPPING tool has been taken off). 4. RANDOM TABLES MAPS DRAWING DUNGEON GEOMORPHS & MAPS Various tools for mapping, generating map or content for ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON DUNGEON KEYS maps.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS & OTHER TABLES • Medieval Fantasy City Generator by watabou: me- dieval city generator (graphic) THE DEFAULT SETTING • Dave’s Mapper by Dave: a dungeon mapping tool to Although it is strongly suggested that any Referee creates a create maps. world of its own, as if building a masterpiece painting that might go in very different directions, there is such a thing • Hexographer: tool mapping software with a free and a as an "implied setting" because of the various possibilities of paid version. characters, monsters and treasures. Considering characters, it is implied that the world is in- • Inkarnate: tool mapping software that requires sign-up. habited by various civilized humanoids where some have a knack for adventures. As anyone can see, there is more • DunGen by Ed Allen: generate map on a "pointcrawl" of humankind that other races. This is notably to create a format. logical anchor for players in an otherwise illogical world: a foothold into a fictional world where dragons and mytholog- • DunMap by Ed Allen: import one of your map to be ical beasts roam the land ! None the less, there are mixed able to put map keys with description inside of it. communities and segregated communities of the different races. • Mipui by amishne: a map making and sharing tool, es- pecially useful for players. REFEREE’S RESOURCES • Polygon Map Generator by Red Blob Games: a map Multiple books and resources can be used to help the Ref- generator for overland eree create his game and run it. Some can be inspirational or historical for the setting, while others can be more linked • GM Friend by Rhys Makes Things: a hexmapper. with the task at hand, such as creating maps and adven- tures. We will focus mostly on the second kind here: this • Hex-Based Campaign Design by Erin D. Smale: a series doesn’t mean that looking at history or fiction for inspiration of blogpost on how to create a hex-based campaign is not important ! from the mapping perspective.

47 CREATING A CAMPAIGN CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

GENERATOR • Any Dice by Jasper Flick: a dice probability calculator with some articles. Various generators of monsters, NPCs, treasures and so on. • Gygax 75 Challenge by Ray Otus: Information on cam- • First RPG Referee Tools by Mr. Josh Bear: multiple tool paign creation highly influenced by an article from and generator (mostly) compatible with the present Gary Gygax in 1975 book and ruleset.

• OSR Character Generator by chacowingnut: a charac- 2. BOOK RESOURCES ter generator that doesn’t use the same exact ruleset Just as with online tools, one of them stood out, there is one as the present book but can be useful nonetheless. book that stands out: the first (advanced) edition book for • RPG (list)by Alex Schroeder: a list of many varied gener- Referee. Here is a list of other resources, not categorized: ators and resources. • Judge’s Guild Ready Ref Sheets Volume I: An invaluable • Meatshields by Kiltedyaksman and cr0m: a hireling & tool to generate city encounter, social status, monsters, henchman generator. trials, crimes, fauna, trees, and so on.

• Behind the Name by Mike Campbell and Tara Camp- • Tomb of the Serpent Kings by Skerples (adventure mod- bell: a name generator ule): A good introductory adventure module.

• Fantasy Name Generator by Emily: a name generator • The Role-Playing Game Primer and Old School Play- that also include name for things. book by Chris Gonnerman: A good primer on how to play old school RPG. Easy found on the internet. • Chaotic Shiny by Demon Illusionist: various generator on culture, people, things, names, and so on. 3. ADVENTURE MODULE • LBB D&D Character Generator by Ramanan Sivaranjan: FURTHER READINGS a character generator for the present ruleset (you only have to disregard HP,AC and the attack matrix). The world first and most famous RPG already had something called "Appendix N", which was a collection of books sug- • D.M. Muse by DMMuse Conglomerate: various genera- gested for reading to enhance imagination, creativity, edu- tor of towns, rooms, wilderness, discoveries, and so on. cation or create a mindset conductive to how the authors • Hirelings by Hexed Press: generate 50 hirelings with a had envisioned the game. It is still a great resource and it curiculum vitae each. is suggested as a reading prior to reading any of what will follow in any cases. • A System for Creating Fantasy Hamlets, Villages, Towns, Here, in those day and age, I will attempt to create my Cities, Metropolises by Joe: a very good resource for own "Appendix N" by trying to reproduce as few title from generating manually villages and towns. the original as I can in order to "complete" it. I would say that some of the appendix N are mandatory as far as the RULES & COMPENDIUM history of RPG and Wargaming goes: • Original First Fantasy RPG Consolidated Rules by tamet- • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (the battle of the Five Armies ick is a must to understand Fantasy Wargaming and later on RPG development) • Old School Essential Classic Fantasy by Necrotic Gnome: a rule compendium for the OSE, an parallel • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien ruleset of the current one. • Three Hearts and Three Lions, the High Crusade, the Bro- • Links to Wisdom by Alex : a compendium of houserules ken Sword by Paul Anderson and blogpost on the subject of rules • Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock

THEORY, TOOLS & ADVICES • Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber

• Jaquaying the Dungeon by the Alexandrian blog: the Campaigns can have a multitude of tone and setting, best advance on dungeon making at the conceptual and that is represented by the choice shown here: level you can read • High or low fantasy • Grand Experiments: West Marches by Ben Robbins: the suggested way of playing a campaign for this book, i.e. • Medieval low fantasy a west marches open table campaign. • Sword & Sorcery • How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox by Robert Conley: an • Sword & Planet excellent (and complete) resource on how to develop a campaign for a "sandbox" format of play. • "Grimdark"

• Principia Apocrypha by various authors: a small primer • Sci-fi, hard sci-fi or fantasy sci-fi on how to play OSR or Old School RPGs. • Post-apocalyptic, or even medieval post-apocalyptic • Dungeon Mapping by Melan: an excellent analysis of dungeon design and "map flow". • And so on...

48 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND CREATING A CAMPAIGN

BOOKS • Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (video game) by Strategic Simulations • The Black Company by Glen Cook • Any game from the Gold Box Series by Strategic Simu- • Solomon Kane short story series & the Conan series by lation Robert E. Howard • Cave of Qud by Freehold Games • Dune by Frank Herbert • Fallout 1 by Interplay Productions • The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson • Early Heavy Metal: Rainbow, Dio, Cirith Ungol, Manilla • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Road, and so on • Iliad by Homer • Dungeon Synth, a musical subgenre with strong table- • Odyssey by Homer top RPG influence

• Aeneid by Virgil

• One Thousand and One Nights by Shirazad

• Beowulf by unknown

• Various tales by the Grimm’s Brothers

MOVIES AND SHORT FILMS • Conan the Barbarian by John Milius

• Conan the Destroyer by Richard Fleischer

• Kull the Conqueror by John Nicolella

• Lord of the Rings (1978) (animated movie) by Ralph Bak- shi

• Fire and Ice (animated movie) by Ralph Bakshi

• Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) (movie trilogy) by Peter Jackson

• Exordium (short film) by Gorgonaut (Morgan King)

COMIC BOOK • Berserk (manga) by Kentaro Miura

• The Savage Sword of Conan (comic book) by multiple artists with Marvel Comics

• Fafhrd & Grey Mouser (comic book) by Howarded Chaykin and Mike Mignola based on the books by Fritz Leiber

• Heavy Metal (comic book) by various artists

• Elric (comic book) by P.Craig Russell, Michael T. Gilbert and Roy Thomas

OTHER MEDIA • Dark Souls (video game) by FromSoftware and Hide- taka Miyazaki

• Age of Decadence (video game) by Iron Tower Studio

• Mount & Blade: Warbands (video game) by TaleWorlds

• Ultima Underworld (video game) by Origin System and Looking Glass Studios

• Legend of Grimrock (video game) by Almost Human Games

• The Bard’s Tale (video game) by Michael Cranford

49 APPENDIX A - CHARACTER SHEET CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

PART 8: APPENDIX A - CHARACTER SHEET

50 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND APPENDIX B - REFEREE SCREEN

PART 9: APPENDIX B - REFEREE SCREEN

51 ADVENTURE EXAMPLE - CASTLE DAWN CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND

PART 10: ADVENTURE EXAMPLE - CASTLE DAWN

52 CASTLES & TOWERS: FANTASY ADVENTURE IN THE WILDERNESS AND THE UNDERGROUND ADVENTURE EXAMPLE - CASTLE DAWN

CONTENTS of this License to Use, the Open Game Content. 5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License. 6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Preface3, How to Use This Book3, Distribute. 7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as Acknowledgments3, What is an RPG?4, Gameplay expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Loop4, What is an old school RPG?5, Resolving Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Action - Rolling Dice5, Modifications to the World First Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity. 8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content. 9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of RPG5, Common Terms & References6. this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License. 10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute. 11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the PART 1: CHARACTERS7 name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so. 12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected. 13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. Character Creation7, Equipment 11, Non-Player All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License. 14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable. 15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Reference Document Characters 13, Experience Progression 15. Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, but also the work within CHAINMAIL by Jeff Perren and E. Gary Gygax. PART 2: SPELLS & MAGIC 17

Memorizing and Using Spells 17, Revoke Undead 17, Spell Lists 17, Magical Research 22, Ritual Spells 22, Spellbooks 22.

PART 3: COMBAT 23

Common Terminology 23, Troop Type 23, Hit Resolution 24, Time & Scale 24, Turn Sequence 24, Additional Rules 27, Subsystems 28.

PART 4: ADVENTURING RULES 34

Generalities 34, Wilderness Exploration 35, Dungeon Exploration 37, Injury and Death 39, Civilization 42.

PART 5: MONSTERS 44

Monster List 44, Monster Description 45, Creating Monsters 45, Assorted List of Random Encounters 45.

PART 6: TREASURES 46

Treasure Type 46, Treasure Generation 46, Oddities 46, Magical Treasures 46.

PART 7: CREATING A CAMPAIGN 47

Organizing the Campaign and the Players 47, Generalities 47, Create a Campaign in Seven Steps 47, Additional Information on Map Making and Cam- paign Design 47, Drawing Dungeon Geomorphs & Maps 47, Additional Information on Dungeon Keys 47, Random Encounters & Other Tables 47, The Default Setting 47, Referee’s Resources 47, Further Readings 48.

PART 8: APPENDIX A - CHARACTER SHEET 50

PART 9: APPENDIX B - REFEREE SCREEN 51

PART 10: ADVENTURE EXAMPLE - CASTLE DAWN 52

Open Game License version 1.0a 53.

Open Game License version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved. 1. Definitions: (a) "Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Con- tent; (b) "Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) "Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equip- ment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement. 2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License. 3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License. 4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms

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