Shadows of the Northern Wood

Landing page for the Against the Darkmaster campaign.

The two main house rules are related to chargen and initiative.

Character Creation

 * Character creation, neither Random Stat Roll nor Point Buy (page 16)

To summarize my intended chargen rule: you randomly roll a stat array, for instance +20, +10, +15, +0, +10, −5. There are six stats, Braw, Swiftness, Fortitude, Wits, Wisdom, and Bearing. These are ordered BRN → SWI → FOR → WIT → WSD → BEA... and then back to → BRN again.

You get to choose where to apply your given stat array. If you are a Rogue, for instance, you might start with +20 to Swiftness. This gives you: +20 SWI → +10 FOR → +15 WIT → +0 WSD → +10 BEA → -5 BRN

If you are a Wizard, on the other hand, you might choose to start with Wits. This would give you: +20 WIT → +10 WSD → +15 BEA → +0 BRN → +10 SWI → -5 FOR

Hopefully you get the idea. The linked page will, when finished, contain the table of stat arrays on which you roll randomly.

Initiative

 * Initiative, replaces the Tactical Round Sequence (page 182)

The basic idea is that you take two stats (=their bonuses) and divide by 5. To this you roll 1d10 to determine your initiative. My primary proposal is to initiative only once, at the start of the action. (Like in D&D) My secondary proposal is to roll initiative each round (after declaring your action) like in the rulebook. You decide.

One of the two stats is nearly always Swiftness. The other can be Swiftness as well, but I want to open it up a little depending on the situation:


 * Combat: when you see the bandit running against you on the path, there is nothing uncertain. You can use Brawn + Swiftness. This allows warriors to act decisively when it is clear that everybody chooses violence.
 * Roguery: when faced with intricate traps, where you need both quick reflexes and fast thinking, you can use Wits + Swiftness. Whenever there's a pattern, Wits can be involved.
 * Lore: when angry or duplicitous townspeople go from shouting to killing, you can use Wisdom + Swiftness. Intuiting what people do is hard, but Wisdom lets you do it faster.

I intend to retain the concept of preparing your ranged attack or spell. This is how Wizards get a hefty initiative bonus.

The linked page will, when finished, contain the full initiative rules, including a small list of initiative modifiers.

Other
I'm sure there will be a couple of minor tweaks as well...

Elves
No rule change, just a friendly reminder: If you choose any Elf Kin, you need to choose Bearing as one of your highest stats (if not the highest stat).

Encumbrance and Initiative
Reduced movement is almost unplayable in my opinion, so I will likely have Encumbrance (page 138) give penalties to Initiative instead of Move Rate. The idea is that carrying a lot during an adventure should be a nuisance, not a severe penalty that effectively says "Never fight while encumbered".

For example, being "Encumbered" would reduce Initiative by a third instead of Move Rate.

Travel speed is still impacted, but speed during action sequences (=combat) is not.

Drive points
If you gain +1 Drive point, perhaps because you chose to randomly generate your Kin and Culture (page 46) or because you want to play a Dabbler (see below) I give out these extra point every session.

(The rulebook only hands out a single bonus point once, but that's a minuscule benefit)

Experience points
Please do read through the rulebook's suggested XP system (page 106).

When you do, keep in mind that I am open to the simple alternative "everybody levels up when the GM tells us to; everybody is always the same level".

As a historical footnote, RoleMaster (and MERP) were notorious for their XP systems. Basically, you only ever leveled up because of two things: traveling long distances, and suffering grievous critical hits (without dying). Not giving them, but taking them! 🙂

Dabblers
Generally it is better to be great at something than good at everything.

I'm giving the Dabbler class +1 Drive point. Call it a hunch that the class deserves it...