Adventurers!

Exploring the Unknown

Concept
This is a rough and tumble world of fantasy where vile monsters prowl wildernesses, dragons guard hordes of treasure in deep dungeons, and magic wielded by evil men and monsters threaten at every turn. Ruins, from bygone eras, dot the land filled with dangers, but also treasure enough to tempt brave men to explore them. There is the safety of civilization abiding in villages, towns and cities widely scattered throughout the land, but few are brave enoughor foolhardy enoughto leave them to explore the wilds. Still a few will go, but just who is going to leave the safety of villages and cities to go out on real adventures? Not wizards! Most wizards are going to stay in their towers and colleges learning more about their arcane magic. Oh, they might have use for information and materials from out there, but they arent going to leave their studies and risk their necks to go. No, no, they will hire others to do it for them. Not priests! Most priests and other clerics are going to be too busy in their temples praying to their gods, completing rituals, and tending to their flocks to wander about much. Certainly, they might like to know what is happening out there and perhaps seek to thwart some other gods priests from accomplishing some ritual or other, but they arent going to go. No, they will send others to do their dirty work. Not nobles. Not sages. Not generals nor warlords, nor fat merchants! No, those folk have too much on their minds and plates to take the time or face the risksand so will every other right-thinking, sober, standup citizen of whatever Kingdom or Empire there is! Yes, they might send out scouts or guarded trade caravans, but they will remain home and let those more foolish than wise risk themselves for their pay. So, who is going to go on adventurers? Well...lets call them Adventurers! Adventurers are a cross between Fighting-Men and Rogues. They are the brash, the bold, the belligerent fewthe misfitsthat are always only a step away from a dungeon cell or hangmans noose. They are the restless seekers, who cant make it in normal society, not even in the military or in a Guild of Thieves. These men and women are skilled with weapons and have the nerve and stomach to use them. They are the sort of people that are willing and able to skulk when its required and to stand and fight when that is required. They are willing to beg, barter, and steal when each of those skills are called for, and although they might not be powerful Arcane Wizards or Priestly Clerics they are able to make use of whatever magic they get their hands on, for their opponents certainly will! Adventurers are in it for the gold and the glory. The gold they usually flitter away on drink and entertainments and the glory usually ends up going to other people, but they keep going out there because that is where the adventures are and in the end that is really what they crave.Adventure. Adventurers! aims to be a simple game with a minimum of rules and statistics to track. Player characters (PCs) will have a Class Level, Hit Points (HP), experience points (XP) and a few other statistics to keep track of, but a whole Character Sheet should easily fit on one side of an index card. A player will be able to create a beginning PC in no more than 5 minutes with a minimum of dice rolling or calculations. How you, as a player, play the PC will be up to you, and how you play them will determine just who they are and what they become.

Build a PC
Every PC is an Adventurer with only a little customization done during the creation of the PC. The player will bring complexity and flavor to the PC through their play. Building a PC is a simple 5 minute process:

1. Roll for Hit Points. Roll 1d8 and each time you "level up" roll another 1d8. If you are starting at level
1, that is 1d8, and if you are starting at level 3, that would be 3d8.

2. Roll for Gold. Roll 3d6. You can use this gold to purchase additional armor, arms and additional
equipment for your PC. Your GM may allow you more gold if he feels you need more, but typically you will be starting poor.

3. Customize your PC. Roll 1d10 {or pick, if your GM allows it} 3 times on the following table.
Roll 1 2 3 4 5. 6 7 8 9 10 Description Literate - The PC can read and write. This means he can also cast spells from magical scrolls and books he might buy, findor steal. Experienced - The PC starts with an extra 500 XP. This means the PC may "level up" more quickly. Tough - The PC is tougher than the usual fellow. Add 2 HP every time the PC rolls for Hit Points. Strong - The PC is stronger than your average adventurer. Add a +2 DM to any task that involves strength. Nimble - The PC is more agile and dexterious than the average adventurer. Add a +2 DM to any task involving dexterity. Melee Warrior - The PC is more expert with hand to hand weapons than one of his level. Add +2 when performing melee combat. Ranged Warrior - The PC is more expert with ranged weapons than one of his level. Add +2 when using performing ranged combat. Wealthy - The PC is more wealthy than normal. Add 3d8 additional Gold Pieces to your PC's money pouch. Magic Item - The PC begins the game with your choice of 1 of the following: Healing Potion, Sleep Scroll, Wand of Magic Missiles (5 charges), or Symbol of Turning Undead (5 charges). Animal Companion - The PC begins the game with your choice of 1 of the following: Riding Horse, Pack Mule, Dog, or Hunting Hawk

4. Equip your PC. All PCs start with Leather Armor (12 AC) and 2 of the following weapons (sword,
ax, mace, dagger, spear, shield, or bow). Roll 1d6 for (or pick if the GM allows) for a Fast Pack, see below. You may then buy additional equipment with your GP (Gold Pieces). Common items are listed below, but availability is up to the GM.

5. Name & Describe your PC. You may include a race (human, dwarf, elf, hobbit, etc) if you wish,
although this will only be for flavor.

Example
Rupert the Bold, dwarf, (Level 1, 6 HP, 12 AC, 10 MV Leather, 1d8 Longsword, 1d6 Shortbow, 500XP, [Ranged, Experienced ], Fast Pack A, plus: 50 rope, 10 spikes & hammer, 1 Cure Light Wounds potion, 2gp)

Task Resolution
The GM will set a difficulty and the player will attempt to equal or exceed it rolling a d20 + Class Level + any other appropriate dice modifiers. In combat the difficulty is generally the opponent's Armor Class (AC). For non-combat tasks the difficulty number will be set by the GM. As guidelines think of 5 being very easy, 10 about average, 15 above average, 20 getting hard, and 30 nearly impossible. If you succeed in an attack, your opponent takes damage. As a general rule, rolling a natural 1 means something bad happens and rolling a natural 20 means something good happensthe GM will decide just what.

Damage and Healing

When you, or a monster, takes damage points will be deducted from your (or their) total HP. When non player characters (NPCs) or Monsters reach 0 HP they are dead. Adventurers are a hardier breed and only become unconscious at 0 HP, they die if their HP falls to -10. The amount of damage done is based on a roll for damage based on the weapon that causes it, the level of the monster (its Hit Dice) or a number and type of dice decided upon by the GM for non-weapon damage. As guidelines for non-weapon damage, if something might kill a normal man (like a fall from a high place or being trapped in a fire) roll 1d8 for damage, if it would kill a horse roll 2d8, if it would kill an ogre roll 3d8, and so on. Bandaging an injured PC will restore 1d4 HP to them, not exceeding their total HP. Healing potions and other magic can, potentially, restore even more HP. If a PC's current HP is above 0, a night's undisturbed rest will fully restore a PC's HP. However, if the PC's current HP is at or below 0 a night's rest will only restore a PC's HP to 1. It will take magic, or another days rest for the PC to fully recover.

Magic
Although, PCs arent Wizards or Clerics, that doesnt mean they cant use magic. Any PC can use magical items like weapons, rings, potions, wands, or anything that is magical by their nature or store magic within them. The number of charges that a magic item contains is up to the GM, perhaps the item works until a 1 is rolled on some die or perhaps there are a fixed number of charges in an item. The player should not always know. PCs who are literate can read and invoke spells from scrolls and books, but even literate PCs cant create spells. At higher levels, a GM may allow a literate PC to learn a spell and cast it from memory as an attack. Literate PCs can read inscriptions on magical items and potion bottles. Sometimes they can figure out what they do without testing. PCs that are not literate have to experimentand that can be dangerous! Most magical items are very expensive, and are not commonly available for purchase. Patrons may grant them to PCs or they might be found among the treasure in a dungeon. However, Healing Potions (1d6) are brewed by someone in most villages or towns and cost, more or less, 50 gp. Other magic items might also be available for purchase depending on just how common the GM wants magic to be in her world.

Experience
Beginning PC's start at level 1. Level 2 is reached when the PC earns 1,000 XP. Each new level advancement requires four times the XP of the previous level: 3 4,000XP, 4 16,000XP, etc. A GM may allow a character to join an existing party above level 1. If the new character is a replacement for one that has died, it is suggested that the new PC starts with the dead PCs XP, but is only a suggestion.

Inititive
To determine the order of actions during combat the GM may have each player roll once for each attack (AT) their PC has. Roll 1d20 plus the PCs MV (movement). The GM may do the same for NPCs and monsters. Order of action is from highest to lowest number. Lower AC generally means higher MV, so in general, this means the less armored a character is, the faster that character is, and the quicker they get to act.

Arms, Armor, Equipment Lists

Fast Packs
(Choose a pack or roll 1d6 to select one randomly) Pack A (1-2) Backpack Belt Pouch Bedroll Lantern (hooded) 10 Oil Flasks Flint & Steel Shovel 2 sets of Caltrops Signal Whistle Pack B (3-4) Backpack Belt Pouch Bedroll 10 Torches 4 Oil Flasks Flint & Steel 10 pieces of chalk 10 Pole Mirror Pack C (5-6) Backpack Belt Pouch Bedroll Tent 10 Torches 5 Oil Flasks Flint & Steel 50 Rope Grappling Hook 10 Pole Waterskin Iron Rations (4 days)

10 Iron spikes & hammer Crowbar Waterskin Iron Rations (4 days) Waterskin Iron Rations (4 days)

Armor
Armor None Cloth Padded Leather Boiled Leather Ring Mail Studded Leather Chain Shirt Scale Mail AC 10 11 11 12 13 13 13 14 14 MV 12 (60) 12 (60) 10 (50) 10 (50) 9 (45) 8 (40) 9 (45) 8 (40) 7 (35) GP 0 2 5 10 35 40 25 100 50 Armor Breastplate Chain Mail Banded Mail Split Mail Plate Mail Full Plate Buckler Shield Large Shield AC 15 15 16 16 17 18 +1 +1 +2 MV 7 (35) 6 (30) 6 (30) 5 (25) 5 (25) 4 (20) NA NA -1 (5) GP 200 150 450 400 800 2000 15 3 10

Melee Weapons

Melee Weapons Hand Axe Great Axe, 2 handed Battleaxe Club Cutlass Dagger (HTH/throw) Flail, Light Flail, Heavy Hand Hammer Long Sword Mace Trident Whip

Damage 1d6 1d12 1d10 1d6 1d6 1d4 1d8 1d10 1d4 1d8 1d6 1d8 1d4

GP 8 20 15 0 10 2 8 15 1 15 5 15 5

Melee Weapons Rapier Scimitar Scythe Half Spear Spear, 2 handed Sword, Bastard Sword, Short Claymore Sword Quarterstaff Morningstar Great Mace, 2 hand War Hammer

Damage 1d6 1d6 2d4 1d6 1d8 1d10 1d6 2d6 1d6 1d8 1d8 1d8

GP 20 15 15 2 4 35 10 50 0 8 12 12

Ranged Weapons
Ranged Weapons Crossbow, light Crossbow, heavy Dart Javelin Longbow Longbow, composite Shortbow Damage 1d8 1d10 1d4 1d6 1d8 1d8 1d6 Range 16 (80) 24 (120) 4 (20) 6 (30) 20 (100) 22 (110) 12 (60) GP 35 50 5 sp 1 75 100 30

Shortbow, composite Sling

1d6 1d4

14 (7 10 (50

Ammunition Arrows (20) Bolts (10) Lead Slugs (20) Stones Common Items Holy Water (in glass flask) Ink 1 oz. 10 Iron spikes (piton) Lantern, Bullseye Lantern, Hooded Lockpick Set Mirror, Small Steel Oil (1 pint) Pack, Shoulder Parchment (10 pcs) Pole, 10 ft. Potion Bottle, glass Pouch, Large Pouch, Small Quill Razor Robe Rope, Hemp (50 ft.) Rope, Silk (50 ft.) Sack, Small Sack, Large COST 30 gp 8 gp 1 gp 12 gp 7 gp 30 gp 10 gp 1 gp 2 gp 5 gp 2 sp 5 sp 1 gp 5 sp 1 sp 5 sp 2 gp 1 gp 10 gp 1 sp 5 sp

Cost 2 1 1 0

Other Equipment
Common Items Armor & Weapon Oil Backpack Barrel Bedroll Blanket Boots Heavy Boots, Soft Case, Map/Scroll Chalk (per piece) Chest, Empty Clerical Vestments Cloak Clothing, Courtly Clothing, Everyday Crowbar Flask Flint and Steel Grappling Hook Hammer Holy Symbol Holy Symbol, Silver COST 1 gp 2 gp 2 gp 1 sp 5 sp 1 gp 4 sp 1 gp 1 cp 2 gp 2 gp 5 sp 10 gp 1 gp 2 gp 3 cp 1 gp 1 gp 5 sp 1-100 gp 10-1000 gp

Common Items Scroll container, metal Shovel String (50 ft.) Tent

COST 1 gp 2 gp 4 sp 10 gp

Common Items Tinderbox Torch Waterskin Whetstone

COST 1 sp 1 cp 1 gp 1 gp

[Ideas in Adventurers! owes much to Searchers of the Unknown rules by Nicolas Dessaux, the d20 OGL and Microlite20 by graywulf. No challenge or claim to the ownership of any trademarks used herein is intended or implied. This is a not-for-profit work and is believed to reside within Fair Use.]