Arik Andler, was a captain in the royal army, leading a unit of the most elite soldiers the empire had in its service. As such, he and his men were dutybound to follow the emperor’s decrees. However, time and time again Arik found himself sickened by what he was ordered to do and the direction the empire was heading.

After a great deal of pain and soul-searching, he offered his men a choice: stay and fulfill their oaths to the emperor, or sacrifice their honor in order to fight for the greater good. To a man, they chose to follow Arik.

The renegades dubbed themselves The Oathbreakers. The Oathbreakers are known by their scarlet cowls, which some say they wear to hide their shame, and their insignia: a kite shield cleft in twain.

The Oathbreakers primarily focus on protecting commoners from the Emperor’s tyranny. They raid tax assessors and instruct any able and willing in the art of guerilla warfare, in order to protect themselves and their families.

Encounters with The Oathbreakers

The Emperor puts out a bounty or hires the PCs to fight the Oathbreakers, calling them traitors and cowards.

The PCs are confronted by one of Arik’s men when they are mistaken to be the Emperor’s newest lackeys.

Races

Humans

• Free Edge – Humans begin play with a free novice edge, which they must meet the requirements for as normal.

Elf

• Disliked – Elves are disliked by most other races and get a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-elves.
• Keen Hearing – Their well-developed ears give elves a +2 bonus on notice checks to detect sounds.
  Low-Light Vision – Elves can see well in all but the darkest conditions, and ignore penalties for dim and dark lighting.
• Survivalist – Elves are particularly in tune with the world of Zendikar and begin play with a free d6 in survival.

Goblin

• Agile – Goblins begin play with a free d8 in agility, and may raise it up to a d12+2. Through the expert and master edges, this may be raised up to a d12+4.
• Ambush – Goblins favor ambush tactics, and begin play with a free d6 in climbing and stealth.
• Small – Goblins begin play with the small hindrance, giving them a -1 penalty to toughness.
• Outsider – Goblins begin play with the outsider hindrance, giving them a -2 penalty to charisma when dealing with non-goblins and they are treated particularly poorly.

Kor

• Acrobatic Climbers – Kor base their climbing skill on either strength or agility, whichever is better.
• Hearty – The Kor are a hearty race and gain an extra point to spend on attributes.

Merfolk

• Aquatic – Merfolk have webbed fingers and toes, and can move at their full Swimming skill while in water (-2” per load limit penalty). Merfolk begin play with a free d6 in Swimming.
• Dehydration – Merfolk must immerse themselves in water one hour out of every twenty-four. Those who don’t are automatically fatigued each day until they are Incapacitated. The day after that, they perish.
• Lore of the Sea – Merfolk have a strong oral tradition, granting a +2 bonus on common knowledge checks and they begin play with a free d6 in Knowledge (History).
• Magical Affinity – Merfolk start with 5 free power points. Those without an Arcane Background edge gain no bonus from this trait, though they do get the bonus power points immediately if they later gain an Arcane Background.

Magic

Edges

Arcane Background (Mana)

Associated Skill: Channeling
Starting mana points: 10

Starting spells: 3, at least two of which must be from your chosen color.

When you choose this arcane background, pick a color– white, blue, black, red or green. The color you choose determines what spells you have access to and what attribute your channeling skill is derived from.

You may learn powers from your color’s list, as well as your two allied colors’ lists. Spells from your allied colors’ lists cost 1 additional mana point to cast (your own color’s spells cost the usual amount).

For reference, here are each color’s allied colors:

White: Blue, green
Blue: White, black
Black: Blue, red
Red: Black, green
Green: Red, white

A normal character can only channel a single type of mana; even though you have access to other colors’ spell lists, when you cast a spell from one of them you are using your own color of mana to do it, and the spell is aligned with that color. For example, if a blue mage casts heal (which is on the white list), it is considered a blue spell and uses blue mana.

Versatile Caster

Requirements: Novice, Channeling d8

You may cast spells from your allied colors’ spell lists for their normal cost instead of paying an extra mana point.

Skills

Channeling (Special)
This skill is used for Arcane Background (Mana). If you take the arcane background edge, make sure to toss some points in here! Otherwise, ignore this. The skill is linked to a different attribute, depending on your chosen color, as follows:

• White: Spirit
• Blue: Smarts
• Black: Smarts
• Red: Strength
• Green: Vigor

Spell Lists

White

• Armor
• Deflection
• Healing
• Light
• Smite

Blue

• Conceal/Distract (See New Spells, below)
• Detect/Conceal Mana (See Detect/Conceal Arcana)
• Elemental Manipulation (Air)
• Elemental Manipulation (Water)
• Speak Language

Black

• Entangle
• Fear
• Lower Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Obscure
• Stun

Red

• Bolt
• Burst
• Elemental Manipulation (Fire)
• Speed

Green

• Beast Friend
• Boost Trait (See Boost/Lower Trait)
• Elemental Manipulation (Earth)
• Environmental Protection
• Shape Change

New Spells

Conceal/Distract

Rank: Novice
Mana Points: 3
Range: Smarts
Duration: 3 (1/round)
Trappings: Illusory camouflauge, ghost sounds, etc.

This spell has two similar modes.

As Conceal, all creatures in a small burst are magically camouflaged, and all others take a -1 penalty on notice checks to spot them for the duration of the spell.

As Distract, all creatures in a large burst take a -2 penalty on all notice checks for the duration of the spell.

I don’t. Or, at least, I didn’t. However, due to the sheer flood of people asking about it, many of whom have offered to help, and more importantly the fact that I’ve searched very hard and can’t find a single other online random treasure generator (there was at least one windows application which was very similar to Quartermaster, though I’m not sure if it’s still being updated), I’m going to compromise.

Below, you’ll find a spreadsheet (in Excel format, though it’s simple enough it should work in any app. I made it in OpenOffice.org, but Excel is the lingua franca of spreadsheets…). If you fill out the spreadsheet for a particular book, magazine, or adventure, I’ll probably add the stuff to the database. I say probably because I reserve the right to refuse to add something for any reason; most importantly, I’m very strict about how things should be formatted, and I will only add things from Wizards of the Coast products.

All of the formatting instructions are contained in the file. To submit something to me, rename it to “Source name.xls,” e.g. “Player’s Handbook.xls” and then email it to itoltz@gmail.com.

And as I said, I’m very picky about formatting. Everything should be spelled correctly, capitalized correctly, etc. Take particular care to ensure that if there’s an apostrophe in an item’s name, you put 3 backslashes in front of it, e.g. “Mage’s Wand” should be “Mage\\\’s Wand”. Also, I’d hope I wouldn’t have to explain this, but whenever I use double quotes in the instructions, they’re only for expalantion purposes. Unless you have some weird item with quotes in its name, don’t ever use a quote mark.

Oh, and finally make sure you include your name so I can give you credit, and your email address so that if I need to get in touch with you about something I can.

Quartermaster Insertion Template

• Tragedy
  • Light: I’ve decided to shut down Encounter-a-Day and take all of my scripts and programs off the internet.
  • Moderate: I have been diagnosed with cancer and have three months to live.
  • Heavy: Hi, this is Asmor’s girlfriend. Asmor died last night, and left instructions to post something here.
• “Subtle” Trolling
  • Fake playtest report of D&D 4.5, which is changed just enough to require buying new books. Lukewarm reception on my part to help sell review.
  • Link to fake press release designed to look like an actual page from Reuters explaining how Wizards of the Coast has received patent on RPGs and is suing White Wolf, Paizo, and other prominent members of the RPG community.
• Clever and Genuinely Funny April Fools’ Joke
  • Yeah, right.
• Non-sequitors
  • Rickroll masquerading as a relevant or enticing video.
  • I’ll be rededicating my blog to my new passion, reviving the sewing tradition of 14th century Danish fishmongers’ wives.

Thank you, and try to act surprised.

The PCs answer a call set out by Emil, and Emil strikes a deal with them. He will give them access to his great grandfather’s maps and the PCs may keep any treasures found. In return, the PCs will bring Emil along with him, and let him take all the credit.

Emil, as it turns out, is nothing like his famous ancestor. When he dons the armor, he truly looks like a hero, but in reality he is a coward and a prima donna. He complains incessantly while traveling, runs and hides whenever a fight breaks out, and always waits outside whatever cave or tomb the PCs are exploring.

When they return to a town, Emil talks of his grand heroics, how he single-handedly saved everyone’s life and slew the mighty frost lich with his bare hands, etc. Any mention of the PCs at all is simply to cast them as ‘damsels in distress.’ The townsfolk immediately recognize Emil from his armor and believe every word. Women throw themselves at him, men offer to name their next child after him, and children flock around him to hear more of his stories.

So here’s an idea for 2-hit minions.

1. A standing minion which is hit is knocked prone and its miniature tipped over.
2. A prone minion is considered bloodied.
3. A prone minion which is hit is killed.

On their turn, the minions may stand up as usual. Alternatively, if you don’t mind giving up the easy tracking of prone status, you could tip minions to show that they’re bloodied. I kinda like it like this, though; adds a bit of a sense of urgency, since the PCs have to try to kill them before they get their turn.

Unfortunately, the steep price tag can be rather off putting. All I can say is that if you get the opportunity, you owe it yourself to at least give the game a look.

Anyways, enough with all that fluff. Here are the things I find really innovative.

Presentation

The first thing you will notice about this RPG is that it does not look like an RPG. Sitting on the shelf at your FLGS, it probably bears a much greater resemblance to a board game and, indeed, its publisher Fantasy Flight Games is known for some of the best production values in the board game industry.

Inside, the box, you’ll find four full-color, absolutely gorgeous manuals; a bunch of colorful, custom dice; many, many decks of cards, both large and small; several sheets of cardboard counters needing to be punched out; figure standees which serve as pseudo-minis; cardstock sheets representing each career (read: class) in the game; three boxes for players to store their characters’ stuff in; and a pad of lovely, full-color character sheets.

Frankly, when you look at everything, it’s just really, really cool.

Dice

The dice system used in this game is a dice pool system reminiscent of Descent. In a nutshell, there are a variety of different custom dice which can be broadly categorized as either “good” or “bad.” Whenever you take an action, you’ll have a standard dice pool which you assemble and then add in other dice to represent different factors. If you’re using a weapon you’re specialized in, for example, you’d add a good die, or if you were fighting in the dark you’d add some number of bad dice.

The really innovative thing here is all of those add ins. In D&D, there’s a concept known by some as “The DM’s Best Friend.” In a nutshell, the DM’s best friend here is a +2 bonus; whenever a player does something cool and you don’t know how else to reward them, a good fallback is to give them a +2 bonus on whichever roll they might be making.

WHFRP3e has its own version of the DM’s Best Friend– the Fortune Die. Fortune dice are “good” dice, and can only help a character or at worst do nothing. Whenever anything’s going in the PC’s favor, the GM might toss a fortune die into the character’s dice pool. Fundamentally, I don’t know how different this really is from a +2 bonus on a d20 roll, but it just feels like there’s something so much more tangible and real here.

And, of course, there’s also the flipside to that, the Misfortune Die. The Misfortune Die, as particularly clever readers might guess, is the evil twin brother of the Fortune Die. If a player wants to try something which is foolish or ill-advised, the GM can use these as a penalty.

The really nice thing about all of this is that it completely obviates the need for any math. You just assemble your dice pool, roll them, and figure out if you got more success symbols than challenge symbols. There’s no, “Hey, did you add the +2 from my blessing spell?” At worst, you might forget a die from some source, but then it’s quick and easy to figure out if that’s the case and rectify the situation.

Stances

The stance system is one of the first things that really drew me into WHFRP3e. Using little puzzle pieces, each player assembles their own stance track which will have a neutral center and some number of red (reckless) spaces on one side and green (conservative) spaces on another.

When you’re assembling your dice pool for making a skill check, you take a number of characteristic dice based on the characteristic. For example, if you’re making a melee attack which is based on strength, and you have a 5 strength, you’d get 5 characteristic dice.

The characteristic dice are the meat and potatoes of your dice pool, and the basic, neutral one is blue. However, for each of step your character is into a reckless or conservative stance, you trade one of those blue dice for a red or green die respectively.

Red dice have multiple successes on some faces and other good things, but also have challenges and other bad things. Green dice have a relatively great number of sides with successes, but they also have delays which can slow down the recharge of your attacks.

Thus, conservative green dice help to reduce risk and are more reliable, while reckless red dice have a high-risk, high-reward feel. In this way, you can take some control over your character’s fate, and also make your roleplaying have an impact on the mechanics.

On top of this, the action cards are double-sided and each has a conservative and reckless side (which, you can probably guess without my telling you, are respectively green and red), so the same action will have different requirements or effects depending on your stance.

Party Sheet

In addition to your normal character sheet, the party itself gets a sheet which helps to give solidify and define the party. You might be a band of thugs or servants of justice, for example. The party sheet has a few very cool things.

First, every character has a number of talents, and each party sheet has two or three slots where talents can be stuck. Thus, for example, a mercenary might stick his charge talent into the Swords for Hire party sheet, and then all the players get to benefit from the charge talent.

Second, each party sheet has some special ability which may be invoked by a player or players, tied to the theme.

Third, there’s the tension meter, which is another thing that helps to give some mechanical impact to the roleplaying. Each party sheet has a meter going from 0 to somewhere in the 8-10 range. This meter measures the party’s intra-personal tension, and thus for example might increase when the party suffers a setback.

The rulebook even suggests that a GM might decide a party with an elf and a dwarf might start a few spaces along the meter, to represent the conflicts that they have. A priestess defusing a bad situation might move the meter back a space or two.

Somewhere near the middle and again at the end, the meter has two highlighted spaces which have detrimental effects when they are reached. The one at the end is usually similar to, but worse than, the one in the middle, and frequently they involve adding stress or fatigue to each of the characters. As one interesting example, the tension meter for the Band of Thugs party sheet can actually inflict wounds on characters, presumably indicating them getting into fisticuffs with one another.

Approach

Last, but certainly not least, the game just has this whole approach which feels fresh and new for an RPG. The GM book gives a lot of the standard advice that you’ve probably heard a thousand times, but it also gives you ideas to make concrete, tangible experiences.

For example, there’s a concept which is actually fairly similar to D&D4e’s skill challenges, though not quite so rigidly codified. You’d set up a progress track using the stance pieces and put some tokens on the track, representing various things. You might have a chase scene where you put two tokens representing the players and their quarry on the track. As the players find clues they’d move up the track; setbacks move their quarry along the track. If they don’t reach their quarry before he reaches the end, he escapes.

Another example; the game comes with several location cards, things like a tavern, ruins, cave, etc. You might set these on the table, and then players can put their standees on the locations they’re at. This lets the players see what’s available, or where everyone is, at a glance, and could help when you’re narrating a split party.

I’m really having a hard time codifying this point. Maybe it’s all in my head, but this game just feels different.

Downsides

The game, of course, is not perfect. Here are some of the downsides.

First and most obviously, there’s the cost. Personally, I think the cost is completely justified. You get a ton of high quality components, including four full color, glossy-paged books which I guarantee you are not cheap, even at volume prices. All that said, though, it’s still a really large initial investment that’s going to prevent a lot of people from giving it a try, and that’s a damn shame.

Relatedly, the custom dice, while awesome, are kind of annoying if you are like most (all?) gamers and expect to have your own stash of dice for your personal usage. It’s a bit annoying having to pass dice around and share from a limited supply. It’s worth noting that FFG’s got a set of dice up on their site, though it’s not yet available for purchase.

A bit more annoying of a problem is that the box seems to be designed for three players. There are really only enough materials for 3 PCs, unless you share or print out extra cards and such. I think the standard size for most gaming groups is in the 4-6 player range, meaning that most tables will need to mickey mouse a solution to this problem (or get someone with deep pockets to buy a second boxed set just for some basic action cards and boxes). I don’t want to oversell this point too much; the things in short supply would not be difficult to reproduce, nor are they absolutely essential; it would just have been nice for FFG to throw in a couple more sets of things.

Conclusion

I’m a huge fan of this. I played in the demo, and I’ll likely be running at least one campaign soon, if not two. If you get the chance to give this a try, absolutely do. It’s innovative, fresh, and fun, and most of the things that might scare you away really do enhance the roleplaying, not detract from it.