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Rules • Themes • Bestiary • Religion • Races • Guilds • Families • Arlinac City • Maps • Adventures • Stories |
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Themes Table of Contents
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The other pages about rules and the sample setting include many short design notes to explain the reasons GAME uses its structures and themes. A few design themes require longer discussion and are presented here, after the rules but before the setting. |
A "frontier" setting works best with the Guilddom Adventures Made Easy rules to allow fun adventures with a GM and single PC.
What is meant by "frontier"? There are certain qualities common to this genre of adventure stories that allow a lone PC to survive and make a difference. Most traditional stories of this genre are set in the American West or in Edo-period Japan, but a fantasy setting works equally well.
First, the land around settled and governed territory is a frontier inhabited by dangerous animals and people. Nevertheless, most settled locations have a few loners living on the outskirts due to temperament, profession, or outcast social status. These loners are often in need of help from a single individual, or able to assist a single individual in efforts to clean up trouble in the nearby settled location.
Second, most adults (or perhaps only adults of one gender/class) carry weapons, because of the frontier's dangers. Also, most people cannot afford the price or encumbrance of significant armor, and wounds can be exacerbated by infection. Thus wounds from weapons are often fatal; a doctor near a conflict can only sometimes help the wounded. A lone protagonist need not be able to inflict tremendous harm to win most brawls and fights: being quick and agile enough to avoid being hit while hurting a few attackers will normally cause the rest of the attacking group to flee. Traditional frontier lone protagonists often have special options for effective healing involving rare medicines, herbal remedies, or meditative practices.
Third, society focuses on honor as much or more than law, because so many adults are armed with dangerous weapons. As a corollary, big government exists but does little, because it is annoying for big government to deal with an honor-focused, armed society at the geographical outskirts. Most adults pay little in taxation and receive little in services. When big government is present it is often an interruption to normal life (installing a trade route, chasing a criminal, claiming a resource, etc.). Local government is also of small scope, primarily doing law enforcement, because without big government bringing in wealth redistributed from a non-frontier location there is insufficient funding for local government to do much more that the basics. (Managing utilities, travel routes, and education may or may not be considered governmental basics.)
Fourth, most adults belong to multi-family social groups to provide support in crisis situations (births and deaths, loss of home or livelihood, natural disasters, etc.). Without government social services, people team up in other ways for protection from life's troubles. These social groups may be secular or religious; the various local groups may be peaceably cooperative or antagonistically competitive.
Fifth, corruption can control a settled location, because government is small and people are reliant upon social groups. A social group that grows into a dominating organization can often reign unchallenged. This allows for heroes to be "anti-heroes" who remain personally troubled and/or un-virtuous but are nonetheless able to save a settled location from local corruption or from dangers invading the settlement from outside.
How are these five elements of a fantasy frontier setting present in the sample setting?
Arlinac is isolated from other populated areas. The lands around it are dangerous because of monsters, bandits, evil lone Ogres or groups of Kobalts, and raiding Dweorgs. Yet Arlinac is strong enough militarily that the land just outside its city walls is the home of farmers, nobility, woodsmen, and others.
The culture of Arlinac allows carrying weapons. In theory alchemy can cure wounds very well but for most people such help is not reliably available or affordable. Fighting is accurately regarded as dangerous.
Arlinac lacks an effective central government. The city council claims to represent both the guilds and the nobility but in actuality does very little. Because the guilds maintain peace in their districts and the nobility on their manors, laws differ slightly throughout parts of the city and punishments can vary widely. Thus laws are few, government services are few, and the city's culture focuses on living a life that is respectable and honorable (at least when in public view) using broad terms.
Guilds, racial loyalties, family lineages, and religious groups provide support and security.
Most guilds and noble families govern their lands fairly. These factions compete with each other for power but treat their own members honestly and well. However, some leaders are corrupt and take advantage of their own people.
The GAME rules can be easily adapted for other settings: outer space science fiction, current day detective or spy stories, etc. When adapting the game mechanics please keep in mind the above five elements of a frontier setting which will help retain GAME's unique usefulness as a role-playing game designed for a GM and a single player.
The phrase "fantasy steampunk" is nearly meaningless. Many creative authors and illustrators have invented settings that blend magic and technology. In some settings magic fuels technology so that tiny fire elementals power steam engines, or airships are luxurious cabins mounted underneath dragons. In other settings technology fuels magic so that factories churn out not only steam but a magical shield around the city, or mass production allows even beggars to ride flying carpets. In yet other settings either magic or technology is forbidden or carefully guarded lore used only by a few. Perhaps magic or technology are forgotten lore from the ancients whose artifacts are a mysterious alternative to familiar; perhaps an invading army using one must be repelled by the locals using the other.
Nevertheless, through this great diversity of creativity a few themes do give some meaning to the phrase "fantasy steampunk".
Metaphorically, the introduction of machinery and golems into a fantasy setting symbolizes change, romantic scientific dreams, and wierd devices both impossible and replicatable. Most of all, the setting's heroes can no longer only be warriors because constructing or tinkering with gadgets is an important style of problem solving.
Visually, a fantasy steampunk setting is almost always urban. The city's machines and buildings have brass and rivets, boilers and gears, pipes, valves and thin smokestacks. In some areas of the city streets and machines are especially grimy and sooty, contrasted by other districts where the streets and machines are proudly polished and spotless. A few buildings seem almost alive, especially when deserted at night, because of the soft hum and rattle of lighting, heating or ventilation systems.
Culturally, a fantasy steampunk setting usually echoes the genteel etiquette of Victoriana, following after the earliest precedents of alternate history steampunk. Any character living outside the slums values art and in public will comport him- or herself with appropriate propriety. Yet the world is not prim and proper, for there is also an undertone of zaniness: absurd gadgets stand beside (or fly circles around) machines of gleaming grandeur.
Economically, a fantasy steampunk setting allows traveling merchants to thrive. In a setting without machinery, most settlements have craftsmen that make all common goods locally, which means only rare and luxury items are transported by merchants. However, in a fantasy steampunk setting a "rare" item can be any local inventor's specialty. Suddenly traveling merchants have all sorts of marvels to hawk and peddle in town and city. Small quests can focus on non-magical items: a family's unique and sentimental gadget built by granddad is stolen by orcs, or an important prototype device plays a role in political intrigue.
Historically, a fantasy steampunk setting needs some background explanation to describe how widespread are inventors, gadgets, and factory infrastructure. Has machinery revolutionized travel and warfare? Has mass production entered the economy?
The introductary chapter to the book Sorcery and Steam by Fantasy Flight Games (also reproduced at the end of the excellent City Works by Mike Mearls) was invaluable for writing the above summary of what "Steampunk" means. I have only minimal interest and experience with steampunk, and have not read many books nor seen many movies to personally gain an broad image of the genre.
The GAME setting seeks to enhance its role-playing game. Therefore no Build skill should be vital or underpowered, no type of item should be absolutely needed to get through an adventure, and no skill should become useless if countered with a certain other skill. For the sake of variety, some processes should help prepare for adventure whereas others are useful for improvising a character's way out of a sticky situation.
Furthermore, this particular fantasy steampunk setting aims to have magic (alchemy, transmutery, Bergtroll musing-enchantments, strange things from the Enchanted Forest) balanced in influence and power with technology (chemstry, machinery, Dweorg tempered tools and Sthelmi).
What issues need to be considered so game balance is maintained when a fantasy setting includes just a bit of steampunk?
First, the creation and use of technology should be not scalable. It would upset game balance if a character could gain power just by building a bigger bomb, rocket, armored vehicle, military golem, or rifle. For this reason it is wise to keep the setting free of gunpowder and dry cell batteries. Let the characters deal with springs, steam, and capacitors instead. The setting should explain why villains that use machines or golems as person-sized servants do not all also use them as centimeter-tall spies and towering war constructs.
Second, technological creations should be temporary. Mass-production has implications that ruin most fantasy settings, and the smoothest way to avoid it is through a lack of demand for mass-produced machines caused by technology needing constant maintenance by skilled tinkers. Factories will be rare if each requires an army of expensive engineers for daily upkeep. Exotic vehicles will be entertainingly uncommon and unreliable if each is the pet project of its inventor.
Third, technology should be vunlerable. Characters who decide to use technology should acquire new worries as well as benefits. A clockwork tank or military golem should not be indestructible or have only one kind of weak spot. Sabotage by tinkering should be difficult to prevent if an enemy gains access to the machine, and some monsters should interfere with or be drawn to technology.
Fourth, technology should be sufficiently fantastical and wondrous to resist reverse engineering. Even a skilled engineer will not be able to build a robotic armored battle lizard by studying the broken remnants of the example that just attacked him. New skills and recipes are gained by apprenticeship and practice, not salvage.
All four of the above issues tend to be standard parts of fantasy settings. Mages cannot create arbitrarily huge fireballs, cast charm spells of eternal duration, create spheres of protection from evil that no foes can overcome, or learn to cast a spell just by watching another mage do so. Thus these four issues have significance because they are not new: since they already limit magic, for game balance they should also limit technology. The result is that magic and technology become equally arbitrary: both are inexplicable yet partially understood, both are reproducible sources of the unique, bazzar, and useful.
In the GAME sample setting, most "magic" is artistic. Normally characters would not use the term "magic". Alchemy is an art as mundane as real-life baking or chemistry. Transmutery is a well-known effect of willpower that difficult to master: its practice is also considered an art. Bergtroll musing creates enchantments through a third artistic process. Only especially strange and mystifying items from the Enchanted Forest or certain gifts from the Powers or Vigor would be called "magical" or "mystical".
The artistic nature of alchemy, transmutery, and Bergtroll musing is not explicit in the game mechanics, but should be honored by the GM and Player(s). When used by a skilled practitioner these arts include all the synergy, intuition, and beauty of any real art. For example, an especially successful skill attempt with alchemy or transmutery can create a more pleasing, potent, or effective effect than described by the plain game mechanics. Two Bergtrolls can both use musing in similar ways to bestow similar effects upon identical items, with the results differing as much as if a professional and novice painter put the same scene on canvas.
"Science", in contrast, is not artistic in the GAME sample setting. Chemstry, Machinery, and Dweorg tempering are procedural crafts without artistic flavor or flair. An inventor can certainly decorate his or her golem, machine, or tool with artistic additions, but this does not enhance the actual performance of the technology (except for Bergtroll musing).
Both the "arts" and the "sciences" can produce grandeur, wonder, or even sublimity. Elegance and drama can shine equally from poetry and purposefullness.
Alchemy is an old, diverse, and widely-studied art. Its roots have flowed together from many cultures. Some recipes remain carefully guarded secrets, and a few have effects considered illegal or taboo in city culture. But alchemy itself is well-accepted everywhere in or near Arlianc City. The healing provided by alchemists has helped every family in the city. Professional alchemists are respected unless their business practices are unethical or their prices are unusually high. Amateur alchemists are common: knowing just enough alchemy to help heal scrapes, enhance a garden, or put a fussing child to sleep provokes neither distrust nor stereotypes.
Transmutery is even more ancient art than alchemy. It is viewed as comforting and respectable. Its roots are so far in the past that they have been lost, and all that remains of the history of transmutery are legends that differ among the the intelligent races. Transmutery is widely used, with many people learning enough transmutery to more easily light a fire, check if water is safe to drink, and boil water without a stove.
Machinery was invented hundreds of years ago but through most of history kept secret by Dweorgs. It was developed by an isolated group of scholarly Dweorgs, led by the genius inventor Fraklon, who lived under Arlinac Mountain during the 300 years that rival Dweorg clans fought over Arlinac Mountain during the Great Dweorg Wars. Only recently, as the number of Dweorgs who have made Arlinac City their home has grown, has machinery been seen or used by non-Dweorgs. Most of Arlinac City is still unaffected by machinery: its buildings and streets are lit by lamplight and served by pedestrian and cart traffic. The city's few electric lamps and steam-powered vehicles are either owned by Dweorgs or are the exotic toys of people both wealthy and eccentric. Machinery is not trusted, because it is too new, too unpredictable, and too often used for evil by members of the Square Table. Even among the Cart-Users machinery is loved but not trusted: machines are tricky, and hopeful inventors abound but their significant inventions are few. Because machinery is not trusted, machinists are shunned in most other parts of society (although welcome in the Cart-Users Guild and sometimes employed by the Grate family).
Chemstry is an ancient science whose use was lost until recently. For most of Arlinac Mountain's history, golems were simply other "monsters" that lived under the city in ancient tombs and storerooms. But then explorers and archeologists discovered tablets under the mountain whose inscriptions revealed the basics of chemstry. Golems quickly become a part of Arlinac City's economy, helping with agriculture and industry. Other explorers have since found more tablets, resulting an many chem symbols being the secret property of an individual or organization (requiring the golems using those symbols to also be protected). As news of golem use and construction spread across the continent, golems and chems have become trade goods exported from Arlinac City. Golems themselves are accepted as useful tools, although many people are wary of the spreading use of golems as stories spread of golems with poor chem design ruining irrigation systems, furnaces, and doorways. No modern chems instruct a golem to aggression: if anyone did learn how to make warrior-golemns then the people of Arlinac City might quickly become opposed to chemstry.
Neither machinery nor chemstry are scalable. Machinery is not scalable because of how its skill use works. The magic inherent in how chems work puts upper and lower size limits on golems, and how its skill use works limits the usefulness of golems.
Technology is temporary because the products of machinery only run for a few hours before needing skilled upkeep. Golems lack that limited duration, but have a spatial limitation instead: in practice they can only be instructed to be useful in a physically small area (guarding or moving objects in a room or hallway, for example).
The lack of factory infrastructure and isolation of Arlinac Mountain limit the amount of ore in the city. Since metal is valuable only very rare machines or golems are sturdy. Now and then a PC might meet an armored combat machine or a golem made out of metal, but most machines and golems are easily breakable.
The overall social effect is that only simple machines and golems are commonly bought or sold, and none are mass-produced. Notable machines and golems are the private or pet projects of their creators, the elites among those few city occupants posessing the skill required maintain and direct technological creations.
For most characters in the GAME setting, transportation is unaffected by technology. The common and economical methods of travel are still walking, riding an animal, using a wooden cart on a road, and sailing by boat on the river. Although trains and zeppelins are iconic in steampunk settings they are absent in the GAME setting.
Finally, magic and technology do not mix well in the GAME setting, except in a rule included in how Build skills work to preserve game balance by rewarding characters who diversify skill points among multiple Build skills. Also, neither magic nor technology can create intelligence. Thus there is no factory-magic that can mass-produce potions or scrolls, and there are no analytical engines working as the brains behind a city or army.
If a setting's evils are most often villianous people and corrupt government then a single PC can be capable in opposing those evils. Thus political intrigue is an ideal setting for a role-playing game with GM and a single PC.
How can a GM create a setting of political intrigue and fill it with interesting adventures?
In most ways a well-made setting of political intrigue is very like a well-made horror setting. This realization allows us to discuss the construction of political intrigue adventures using the clarity of compare-and-contrast.
I first read about this connection between intrigue and horror settings at the website Roleplaying Tips. The excellent book Heroes of Horror helped me generate the following lengthy list of similarities.
In both settings the player is never sure which NPCs are pulling which strings. Every opponent is actually controlled by someone else. There is always a deeper layer of intrigue. The adventures link together because each adventure's dénouement includes a clue about a deeper layer of intrigue (usually the next layer, but it works well to occasionally leap-frog with such clues).
For most layers of intrigue the plots begins on a personal note. The PC notices some small, intriguing situation that is gradually revealed as an introduction to a larger scheme. Sometimes this is a freakish thing that happens to the PC: for example, the PC might wake up in the night as a burglar flees the PC's home, or the PC might start the adventure framed for a crime.
For some layers of intrigue the plot ends on a personal note: the mastermind turns out to be a loved one or employer of the PC.
Not all the layers of intrigue involve problems that can be solved with a physical confrontation. There are many tensions but very few become violent. Furthermore, for some tensions the PC has the ability to either calm the tension or cause it to flare into violence, but the PC does not know which course is best.
In both settings some curses are real. Influence extending from a deeper layer of intrigue might be from a curse instead of political, social, or economic leverage.
In both settings deep evil forces are drawn to people of evil heart and deeds. Thus purity has real value in evading evil influence. The PC must not only investigage layers of influence, but he or she must remain pure to avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention.
In both settings many of the opponents are flunkies with good intentions but who are following villanous orders. This creates dilemmas because an evil plan must be stopped but it is implemented by people trying to do good.
In both settings many (if not most) opponents initially cannot be directly attacked. Each has a unique weakness or need that must be identified before the PC can visit, bargain, or fight with that contact or enemy.
Both settings have long-term villains that provoke the PC. These villains are initially untouchable. They are normally secluded or hidden but make brief appearances to mock the PC.
A setting of political intrigue resembles the subgenre of horror in which monsters exist but are always subordinate to villainous people (or a monster has escaped from a person's control). Furthermore, the PC might know about different kinds of monsters and how to best combat them but a specific monster is commonly different in some way and must initially be cautiously treated as an unknown.
In both settings a physical location can become infused with vice or virtue. The place is not haunted, nor does it possess someone. Instead, it affects the motivations or emotions of people in that location. Relationships are strained and broken as tempers flare or loves confessed.
In both settings diseases have no easy cure (unlike many fantasy settings). Furthermore, both settings commonly include a once-major person dying of disease, whose withdrawal from society creates a troublesome social vaccuum.
Finally, the typical creatures of the horror genre stand in for kinds of corruption that affect politicians or other leaders. Sprinkle these archetypes among the nobles, politicians, or guild leaders!
In both settings each of the PC's victories should give the player emotional satisfaction without significantly affecting the world. For example, someone can be rescued from a corrupt official but the official remains in power.
On the other hand, the PC can do some small good even though the larger forces are not yet seen or understood. The player knows there are layers of intrigue but each success is significant despite it not touching the enigmatic and deeper layers.
In both settings the town or city is decaying. The PC saves people with each small victory, but the town or city can only be saved at the climactic end of the entire campaign. This is noted each time the PC returns to the town or city after traveling to a distant dungeon, going underneath the city in the sewers, or otherwise being away. The PC always returns to witness that corruption has spread among political leaders; often there is a new traitor among old allies.
In both settings the campaign has an overall mood that builds slowly with a few releases of tension. Many small events contribute to this increase in mood. Most of these small events have the same type of mood but occasionally a secondary mood is developed.
In both settings it helps to construct a timeline of events that describes how the plot develops if the PC was not there. The adventure is made flexible by the GM knowing what would happen if no hero or heroine arrived to save the day.
Also, clues are distributed among witnesses in an overlapping manner. No one saw or knows the whole story, but everyone saw a few things and the accounts overlap.
The player will often feel fear for the PC's safety, and perhaps fear from the mood or setting, but never dread. In contrast, a well-made horror setting is based on a constant atmosphere of dread.
Although terrible things might happen to the PC or his/her loved ones, the PC will never need to do despicable acts to survive. In contrast, many horror settings place the hero in a situation where the only solution involves betraying one's morals or harming one's self.
The PC must reply on skill, wits and fortitude. In contrast, many horror settings portray heroism of any flavor with a sharp contrast by having a great evil poised to triumph, or the whole environment tainted by corruption.
The PC will have many doubts, but these will be doubts about what people are doing purposefully sown rather than doubts about what is real that exist simply as a side-effect of horrific things.
Political intrigue focuses on social influence, reputation, leverage, and arrangements. Horror seldom has people vying to discredit each other, cement control over an economic endeavor, or arrange marriages or social affairs.
A special category of political intrigue is what happens within and between religious organizations. Even if a religious organization has no influence with the local government it is still burdened by its own internal politics and it probably interacts with other religious groups.
To ponder religious intrigue, simple consider how common priestly behaviors can be corrupted. A religious official's daily devotions may be private, but everything else is public enough to become infested with intrigue.
Religious officials often offer advice, either to nobles to whom they are assigned as advisors or to supplicants. Religious officials also receive or interpret omens and prophecies. Any activity of this kind can become corrupted, with the religious official speaking lies intended to accomplish an ulterior motive. Bribery and power struggles within the religious organization are common sources of this kind of intrigue. Alternatley, an agent provocateur might have infiltrated the religious organization intending to slander and ruin it.
Sermons are more than advice offered to a large group: speaking from the pulpit is an ideal way to libel enemies, both outside or within the religious organization. Perhaps the speaker (or even the organization) has even gone so far as to frame the targets before villianizing them.
Many religious organizations oversee trials, coronations, confirmations, marriages, and burials. These occasions are ripe for intrigue. A religious official can extort and embezzle extra payment, use blackmail to force noble families to enter certain arrangements, or refuse to work with certain noble families.
Some religious organizations collect tithes. The official in charge of collecting, recording, or depositing the funds might pocket some. Tithes can be collected over-zealously.
Finally, religious organizations (as well as Powers) often send their members on missions. Such assignments are often made without explanation, and are occasions open to intrigue.
The early chapters of the 2nd Edition D&D book The Complete Priest's Handbook by Aaron Allston provided some ideas for this section.
In Guilddom Adventures Made Easy the most common opponents for the player character are normal people: members of the intelligent races.
Humanoid foes provide tremendous diversity. A player's first encounter with a certain kind of monster may be memorable as the PC discovers what the monster is like and how to deal with it, but after dozens of adventures, that kind of monster becomes a well-known type of opposition and the sense of mystery is gone. Not so with bandits, raiders, corrupt nobles, or mad scientists! Each can be memorably different even if the numbers on their character sheets are quite similar.
Mystery adventures (an ideal genre for a single PC) rely heavily on humanoid NPCs. If the task was simply to go slay a bunch of monsters, why would the lone PC get involved? A larger team of adventurers would be better suited for job! The bread-and-butter of mysteries is conversations with people to gather information followed by a climactic confrontation with the person who has been hiding a secret. Since this is a fantasy RPG then the myster often involves a monster or enchanted item, but why was the butler keeping it hidden in the attic?
Normal folk are the most flexible foe. Most monsters present a fairly predictable level of danger from a fixed range of abilities. Not so with normal folk! Skill levels vary and equipment can include enchanted items and built items, ensuring that there is no typical example for "normal" folk.
The GAME rules and setting are structured to help a GM easily improvise NPCs.
There are four steps:
As an example, imagine that the PC is traveling along a road and the GM decides, on the spur of the moment, to have some bandits attempt to rob the PC.
The information at the top of the character sheet is easy to improvise.
The GM picks the race, gender, and profession for the NPC. The naming conventions for each race make it quick to invent a name. The race also determines the maximum FP.
Remember that age means different things to the different intelligent races. The exact age of an NPC is usually unimportant; what matters is the lifecycle stage.
| Race | Stages |
|---|---|
| Therion | count their life in decades |
| Ogre | Tusked, Horned, or Grand |
| Dweorg | youths, raiders, artists, or elders |
| Kobalt | workers, hunters, warriors, or captains |
| Pixie | female then male |
| Bergtroll | double in size every 80 years |
Normally NPCs lack advantages and disadvantages, as well as unspent EXP. But the GM could decide to include these.
Recall the generalizations about which armor and weapons are favored by members of each race. These stereotypes are secondary to profession (any castle gate guard will wear plate armor, regardless of race) but are often helpful.
| Race | Common Armor | Common Weapons |
|---|---|---|
| Therion | none or light | spears and nets, bows and crossbows, other weapons also |
| Ogre | what disguise allows | blunt melee weapon, ranged weapon |
| Dweorg | scale or chain | hammers and picks |
| Kobalt | hard leather | melee weapon, claws and teeth, crossbow or harpoon gun |
| Pixies | none | any |
| Mer | none | nets, spears, and crossbows |
| Bergtroll | any | any |
| Unseemly | any | blunt melee weapons |
With these few, quick decisions the top of the character sheet is complete.
Let's continue with our example.
In our example, the GM invents the basic information for two bandits. The top of a blank character sheet guides the GM's creativity.
The GM needs to decide upon a race and name for each bandit. For this example, the GM decides that the bandits are a pair of Therion brothers. After glancing at the naming conventions for Therions, the GM designs the names Birp and Malx.
As Therions, Birp and Malx have 8 FP.
Among Therions, age is a matter of decade. The GM decides the bandits are in their 30s.
The GM decides Birp has neither an advantage nor a disadvantage, whereas Malx has Danger Sense and Impovershed. Neither bandit has unspent EXP.
As Therions planning on aggression, Birp and Malx probably wear light armor (DR 1, ENC 0). The GM briefly considers having them wear medium armor (DR 2, ENC 1). This would be unusual enough that it would feature as part of their back-story (they looted a battlefield, they are old and experienced bandits, they recently held up an armor merchant, etc.). The GM decides two foes in light armor are more appropriate to give this PC flexibility about whether to bargain, fight, or flee.
An experienced GM can instantly invent an interesting back-story for NPCs. The GAME sample setting attempts to be rich enough to help fuel this creativity.
The GM first thinks about the NPCs' race. Can both of the Therions use therianthropy with all animals? Birp can; Malx has no therianthropy. As Therions, did they grow up in Arlinac or a small town? A small town.
Next the GM considers the build skills. Neither brother uses build skills. They grew up in a small town doing woodcraft and hunting.
The GM then considers guilds. As adults the brothers moved to Arlinac to find employment with the Navigators. Their experience in woodcraft and weapons led them to become guides and guards for members of the Navigators traveling into the woods to capture animals to sell in the city as pets.
The GM concludes by considering the noble families, and decides the brothers have no ties to any noble family.
Once the NPC has a back-story, his or her skills become readily apparent. Recall what meaning each skill value represents:
| Skill | Meaning | Easy Success Rate | Challenging Success Rate | Hard Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | You are trying to mimic what you have seen others do. | 13% | 2% | 0% |
| 1 | You use this skill monthly. Sometimes you need help. | 25% | 6% | 2% |
| 2 | You use this skill weekly. You understand it poorly. | 38% | 14% | 5% |
| 3 | You use this skill regularly. You are considered proficient. | 50% | 25% | 13% |
| 4 | You use this skill daily. You understand it deeply. | 63% | 39% | 24% |
| 5 | You use this skill as a professional to earn a living. | 75% | 56% | 42% |
| 6 | You are the best in your town at this skill. | 88% | 77% | 67% |
| 7 | You are the best in your region at this skill. | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 8 | Your use of this skill is unprecedented. | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Third, recall which skills were dominant for each intelligent race. The GM could boost these dominant skills to three even if the NPC would not use them regularly.
| Race | Dominant Characteristic | Dominant Skills |
|---|---|---|
| Therion | none | Throw/Ensnare and Shoot/Fire |
| Ogre | Brawn | Lift/Smash and Wilderness/Escape |
| Dweorg | Build | Machinery and Block/Dodge |
| Kobalt | none | Hack/Slash and Perception/Track |
| Pixies | Balance | Leap/Tumble and Sneak/Hide |
| Mer | none | Alchemy and Chemstry |
| Bergtroll | Brains | Bargain/Appraise and Social/Etiquette |
| Unseemly | none | Transmutery and Ride/Pilot |
What skill ratings would our example bandits have?
The bandits' primary activity is woodcraft, so the GM gives them 5 skill in Wilderness/Escape.
Like many Therion, these two use spears and nets. They get a 4 skill in Throw/Ensnare.
As bandits they experience some melee combat. They get a 3 skill in Hack/Slash. The brothers also take loot to a fence, so they get a 3 skill in Bargain/Appraise.
As Therions, they also have 3 skill in Shoot/Fire. They own one bow, which Birp normally carries.
Their other skills are either 1 or 2, based upon the GM's estimate of how often that skill is used.
The GM decided to make these bandits unusually tough, and gives them a fair amount of TLs, spread among three combat skills.
Since these NPCs are minor characters seen only in one encounter, they are not notable in any characteristic.
Note that the GM will not usually invent an entire character sheet as exemplified above. Skill ratings will instead be determined improvisationally when need arises. Not until the bandits try to throw a net will the GM decide that 4 is a sensible value for Throw/Ensnare.
Fourth, if the NPC is a Dweorg or Begtroll then consider if the NPC might own or seek an item enhanced by tempering or musing.
Finally, decide what mundane items are approriate for the NPC.
Let's conclude our example.
Since these NPCs play only a minor role in the adventure, the GM only worries about their enchanted items, armor, weapons, and loot.
Birp and Malx have no enchanted items. (They once stole a few tempered tools, but sold them to a fence.)
Both bandits wear leather armor. Both carry a net designed to ensnare a humanoid when thrown. Birp has a bow and quiver of 10 arrows. They each have a spear and long dagger.
They carry a total of 20 coins. Their camp can be found with a Challenging Perception/Track skill check. At their camp is a supply of food (mostly meat from their hunting) and 120 coins in a small box.
The same questions used to create a single NPC on the spur of the moment should be considered with more care and preparation when designing criminal organizations and secret societies. Traditionally, the PC usually meets "patrol-sized" groups of thugs, agents, or cultists which must be avoided, distracted, or fought--at least for an initial series of encounters wherein the PC learns more about his or her foes.
As above, the groups may have names and professions, and will have an age and a backstory that explains its purpose, goals, wealth, equipment, and favored skills or racial abilities.
Other issues are equally relevant for describing small groups of foes, especially to maintain distinctiveness.
How is a patrol-sized group structured? What is the number and variety of members? How is the patrol led internally, as well as directed from higher within the larger organization? What role does a patrol-sized group fill in the bigger heirarchy?
How intelligent are patrol members? How well do they cooperate? How mobile and territorial is the patrol?
How does the patrol deal with conflict? Does it fight or flee, or avoid conflict entirely by manipulating intermediaries from behind the scenes? If it fights, does it favor melee or missle combat, or any particular weapons or armor? How fast does it act? Do its members have special resistances or vulnerabilities?
The classic examples of distinct NPC groups are evil organizations in spy adventures and comic books. Agents from SMERSH and SPECTRE are different. The patrols of thugs employed by Lex Luthor were nothing like those of Ra's al Ghul. The mob was very different in crime stories set in Chicago versus New York City.
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Monsters fit into the game mechanics in a few different ways. I'll call these "flavors" of monsters, as opposed to how the setting puts monsters into "categories" based upon habitat and origin.
The "flavor" of a monster provides generalizations about its intelligent, group size and behavior, lifecycle stages, typical combat behavior, goals, wealth and equipment, possible domestication, and other factors.
Most monsters are just like a normal non-player character. They have skills, talents, armor rating, etc. They act once per turn, as a normal non-player character does. They may have interesting equipment or special abilities.
Puddle Creatures are oozes, puddings, jellies, molds, and slimes. All are "colony" creatures made up of a large number of single-cell units which are each barely visible to the eye.
Puddle Creatures are the least intelligent foes. Their only activities are resting or looking for food: they have no other goals, and own no wealth or equipment. They are normally solitary, except when a Puddle Creature has been very recently split into parts.
All Puddle Creatures are semi-transparent and puddle-like. They are usually still, but may be slowly undulating across the ground or creeping along a wall or roof. In bright light they are easy to see, but in poor light they are difficult to notice unless moving: outdoors they may be covered by vegetation they have not yet digested, and underground they can be mistaken for wet floor. As a Puddle Creature ages it becomes even more difficult to see.
Puddle Creatures are able to detect heat and can track warm-blooded creatures by their footprints.
Puddle Creatures are completely resistant to therianthropy. Alternatively, some stories say that therianthropy works but entering a body that lacks a brain causes the Therion to go mad.
Puddle Creatures attack by Ensnaring prey. The portion of the prey Ensnared suffers damage each turn. The amount of damage depends upon how much of the prey is Ensnared, with extra damaged caused by very large Puddle Creatures.
The five traditional ways to attack Puddle Creatures are by cutting, smashing, burning, freezing, or electrifying. For each kind of Puddle Creature two of these are especially effective, two do nothing, and one causes the creature to split into smaller, unharmed pieces.
Each kind of Puddle Creature has a different, dangerous "death throe". As it dies it splatters, explodes, expels spores, etc. Adventurers who attack a Puddle Creature should try to kill them from a distance.
Puddle Creatures age through six lifecycle stages, nicknamed Compost, Outhouse, Nuisance, Dangerous, and Deadly. These correspond to its maximum colony size: the single-cell units need to age before being able to effectively network in larger numbers. A Puddle Creature advances a lifecycle stage about anually. Puddle Creatures are often kept by members of the intelligent races for waste disposal purposes, kept safely in the bottom of outhouses or garbage pits. These "household puddles" need to be destroyed before their third year, for by that age a colony can be dangerous.
The smallest Puddle Creatures (Compost size) can only dissolve cellulose (plant material). They are often purposefully put in compost piles. Slightly larger colonies (Outhouse size) gain the ability to also dissolve proteins, but can still be safely kept in a metal container or at the bottom of a rock-walled pit. When an colony has grown to about three feet in diameter (Nuisance size) it gains the ability to also dissolve fats, making it a threat to sleeping animals. An even bigger Puddle Creature (Dangerous size) gains the abilities of dissolving rock and releasing spores that cause sneezing and dizziness. The largest Puddle Creatures (Deadly size) can release spores that paralyze and/or cause hallucinations.
Living Traps are mindless plants or animals that cause explorers inconvenience or are an obstacle to travel. They are not intelligent but can be aware of their surroundings and poised to react. They can be dangerous, but do not "attack" as a normal foe by making a skill attempt each turn in a combat.
Typically, a plant Living Trap contains many individual plants growing close together, whereas an animal Living Trap is a solitary creature.
Normally Living Traps are not given sample stats, since they are not fought in combat and are too mindless to have skills. They do have Fatigue Points, and grow in size and sturdiness as they age. Some Living Traps progress through distinct lifecycle stages as they age; others do not.
Therianthropy works normally on Living Trap animals, although most are not very mobile: the Therion may acquire a good disguise, but not much other benefit.
A Living Trap is not intelligent enough to use equipment, but because it is stationary there may be interesting items beside it among the undigestible remains of prior adventurers.
Only a few kinds of Living Traps remain healthy if uprooted, transported, and domesticated. These are valuable on the black market as guardian creatures.
A few types of monsters cause problems with certain skills. By their very nature, proximity to one of these monsters fouls up the corresponding skill. The anti-skill monsters are all long-lived; the older they get, the farther extends the range of their ruinous ability.
Anti-Skill Monsters are only barely intelligent. Many can detect the use of the skill they oppose and "feed" by using their ruinous power. Others interfere with skill use unintentionally, as a side-effect of some other activity.
Those Anti-Skill Monsters that interfere with Build skills are the most troublesome. Not only do they disrupt the active use of a Build skill, but their proximity also ruins any items created using that Build skill.
Fortunately, Anti-Skill Monsters are solitary and not dangerous in combat. They do not grow large or advance through lifecycle stages. Once noticed they are easy to transport or kill. Unfortunately, by the time they are noticed something disastrous has usually already happened.
Anti-Skill Monsters that are easy to feed are valuable black market commodities.
Swarmers are monsters (often insects or rats) that are dangerous because they attack in groups. A few Swarmers can teleport and use this ability to ambush prey and/or retreat if wounded. The size of a group varies with the kind of Swarmer.
Fortunately, most Swarmers are fragile. One hit will kill an individual Swarmer, because it has few Fatigue Points and no Armor Rating.
All Swarmers attack in groups. But different types of Swarmers attack differently. The group can run, leap, or fly into melee range together and then fall back after a joint attack. The group can use a ranged attack, with close group members attempting to stay out of melee range while farther away group members shoot the target. The most dangerous groups base their damage not upon the excess of a skill check, but instead use as many damage dice as half the number of group members attacking that turn.
Some Swarmers continue to attack after taking damage, with wounded individuals retreating to safety. Other Swarmers will all retreat as soon as any group member is killed.
Swarmers often have a nest or lair, but such places seldom contian wealth or treasure.
Swarmers are never domesticable.
Pack Hunters are notably intelligent creatures that hunt in packs. A pack may contian as few as 4 or as many as 20 members: the size of a pack is bigger where food is plentiful.
Pack Hunters cooperate to make best use of their natural abilities. Often several related kinds live together. Pack Hunters do not age through lifecycle stages, so related kinds of creatures living together provides the variety among a pack's members.
Pack Hunters may have lairs or be nomadic. They seldom have wealth or equipment, except what might be found amidst the remains of recent prey.
Therianthropy works on Pack Hunters, but it is seldom used because the pack is not fooled by the imposter.
Pack Hunters cannot be truly domesticated. An infant creature may be tamed for its first months or years, but eventually it will go wild.
Biggies are huge, slow monsters. They can only attack every other turn. On odd turns they use Dodge/Block if able, or get no action. (When fighting a Biggie it helps to use Block/Dodge the turns it attacks, and make your own attacks on the turns it does not.)
Most Biggies are solitary creatures, who potentially have great age but do not progress through lifecycle stages.
Biggies normally live in lairs and drag their slain prey into the lair before eating it. Thus the lair may contain treasure, at least the weapons and metal equipment from past humanoid prey.
Biggies can raised in captivity if captured while very young or hatched from their eggs. Even though none ever become tame enough to be pets, they are kept as guardian animals. It is a source of great esteem in Bergtroll society to have a Biggie guarding your castle or keep.
Why would a role-playing game designed for a single PC involve adventures in dungeons? A dungeon crawl is the genre of adventure that normally has the most need for a party of many PCs! But there are good reasons the sample setting incldudes dungeons as well as Arlinac City.
First, tradition! For many players there is something enjoyably nostalgic about ten foot wide corridors, monsters guarding locked chest, and tricky yet avoidable traps. (Maybe lots of traps. Some players adore them, although I never personally understood this flavor of play.)
Second, dungeons are easy to narrate for a young or inexperienced GM. An adventure involving political intrigue is more difficult to run than a maze filled with monsters, traps, and treasure.
Third, a dungeon offers distinct environmental hazzards. Darkness, mazes, slippery slopes, secret doors, submerged rooms, and other problems are common in dungeons, but seldom found in cities. In a dungeon line-of-sight is usually quite limited, handicapping many kinds of magic and missile weapons. The dungeon may also pose the threat of getting physically stuck in a location, which is also rare in a city setting.
Fourth, dungeon adventures provide a challenge involving preparation and resource management. In a city adventure, the PC can almost always take a quick break to shop for more supplies or hunt around town for more clues. Part of the traditional challenge of a dungeon crawl is that entering the dungeon cuts off the PC from civilization, so the PC must be extra thorough in his or her preparations and once inside be wary of using up consumables (healing potions, one-use items, etc.).
Fifth, the dungeon provides narrative boundaries. Most, if not all, of the campaign plot is unaffected by what happens in the isolation of a dungeon. This is especially helpful when a player's friend wants to be a second PC for only one game session: if the visiting PC is in a dungeon he or she cannot inadvertantly offend the important diplomat, break the important item, or cause the criminals to kill their hostages.
Sixth, the narrative boundaries of the dungeon provide a traditional reason for monster clumping. Monsters whose biological niche is dark caves, damp grottoes, or quiet ruins gather in such places. A setting with many creatures who prefer those locations offers an excuse for why the nearby small village has not been overrun by monsters.
Seventh, a dungeon allows the PC to be exceptional and heroic. Most players have the most fun doing their own fast talking and diplomacy while letting the dice make their character proficient at killing monsters. Thus many PCs are only average at navigating social situations but unusually skilled at combat. A dungeon requires many battles but few social graces, and so is a place for that kind of PC to shine.
Finally, it is traditional to divide a big dungeon into sequential regions (usually descending levels) that correspond to increasing difficulty. This allows the player to select the difficulty he or she wants. Note that no dungeons this big are included in the GAME sample setting.
So dungeons serve worthwhile purposes even in a role-playing game with a GM and a single PC. But why would that PC go near such a dangerous place? The setting needs to provide different motivations for adventuring in a dungeon and varied kinds of dungeons to explore.
In the GAME sample setting the Powers create different kinds of dungeons and assist adventurers who enter them.
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Caves are under the authority of by Speleoth the Grin, and most caves suitable for adventuring were created directly by Speleoth as challenges for explorers.
Speleoth commonly aids those who enter a cave simply to experience the joys of exploration and discovery. The Griffin may aid a PC who enters a cave to hunt a crazed or rampaging Fall Animal. The Archeologist may ask a PC to retrieve a historically significant artifact lost in a cave. Old Man River may oppose those whose activities in the caves of Arlinac Mountain harm the Arlin river, either directly or by calling on his Navigators to administer justice.
Common cave creatures include any from the Cave Dweller category and Pookish humanoids. Sometimes Wilder-ness creatures inhabit the portions of caves nearest the entrance.
A cave ecosystem will normally lack mechanical traps, but many similar perils are part of caving. Explorers must deal with darkness, steep slopes, narrow ledges, thin floors, slippery dampness, and falling stalactites. Many of the Living Trap category of Wilder-ness plants also thrive in caves.
Big Blackie often helps members of his Dragon Dominon set up a defensible lair. Large dragon lairs are complex enough to be a type of dungeon. To keep most visitors away and drain the resources of those who persist in finding the lair, a worthy lair is hidden in a remote location made perilous by difficult terrain, dangerous creatures, and false trails. The nearest villages or towns are often coerced or bribed into helping the dragon by reporting and sabotaging visiting adventurers. The lair itself is large and maze-like, with many rooms large enough for the dragon to hide or fight as well as multiple hidden escape routes. Traps make corridors dangerous and minor treasure rooms dangerous diversions. Troublesome plants, oozes, and anti-skill creatures compliment the traps. Secret rooms hide most of the dragon's hoard but also have the most devious traps.
The Lamia often helps dragon-slayers, for she is the ancient enemy of Big Blackie. The Archeologist also frequently aids dragon-slayers, for dragon hoards contain artifacts from many cultures. Gnash may also help a PC slay a dragon, for Gnash benefits anytime an old, powerful and ruthless creature is toppled.
Creatures include both the dragon who owns the lair, plants and oozes brought into the lair to hinder dragon-hunters, and any minions hired or coerced to guard the lair or keep watch in the surrounding Wilder-ness.
Traps beyond what a dragon can normally build might exist due to Big Blackie's assistance.
The nifty collection of qualities of a worthy dragon lair is mostly taken from this discussion at You Met in a Tavern.
Both Dweorgs and Kobalts live in sprawling underground cave-complexes. After such a settlement has been abandoned it may become a type of dungeon. Perhaps only a section of it (the old palace, the deep tombs, etc.) becomed dungeon-like. These whole or partial abandoned settlements are called catacombs. Note that, for greater security, Dweorg settlements often used tempering to make their walls immune to Transmutery and too hard for most burrowing animals to breach.
None of the Powers oversee or have special authority over catacombs. Nor do any Powers normally alter, create, or wreck catacombs. The Archeologist often helps adventurers explore catacombs if they bring back important historical artifacts. Sometimes Kitsunay asks someone to enter a catacomb to resolve a curse or find information that would end a feud. A few catacombs are old and varied enough that Speleoth encourages exploration there for the simple delight of discovery.
Most catacombs lack light, water, and food, so creatures are seldom encountered (unless in an entrance room open to the land beyond). Some catacombs resulted from a tragic event that created Undead that remain trapped in the catacomb. Occasionally a group of Pookish humanoids uses a catacomb as a lair.
Both Dweorgs and Kobalts use traps to defend their settlements, and most such traps remain after the settlement is vacated. A Dweorgish catacomb will also usually have machines and golems.
The Unseemly...sleep-entranced monsters that serve as living traps. Also Flame Guardian Tiles. Humanoids may be tricksters or deal-makers instead of enemy combatants.
The Pooka... creatures and traps...
The Archeologist (to retrieve artifacts)... Yarnspinner (to make a good story)... Gnash may help if the Unseemly halls are being invaded because the inhabitants were acting ruthlessly to neighboring settlemens...
Useful skills include Hack/Slash, Smash, Bargain, Perception, Block/Dodge, Sneak/Hide, and Alchemy.
The shrines of the Abominable Snowman create ...
Speleoth helps... Gnash often helps, for the armiers of the Abominable Snowman are often ruthless in warfare...
Both creatures and traps...
Any skills might be useful.
The Griffin...
Kitsunay may help when what will be learned about the self is helpful for unraveling problems.
Neither creatures nor traps are numerous.
Useful skills include Lift/Smash, Bargain/Appraise, Perception, Social/Etiquette, Wilderness/Escape, Block/Dodge, and Leap/Tumble.
selfishness and sacrifice peace as shalom versus Pax Romana Pooka's flaw in fixating and coveting one item at a time Dragon's flaw of dwelling on problems rather than enjoying present relationships and posessions Winter's weakness that laughing at evil weakens it Wilder-ness teaches we learn most about ourselves when struggling against unknown forces honestly with introspection Yarnspinner teaches that personal understandings and stories can ensnare us even after their lies are exposed dealing with vice traders (slavery, etc.)