Windship Traders Crews: Fantasy Adventures Game

Transcription

1 Windship Traders Crews: Fantasy Adventures Game by Alberto Zanini Based on Open Skirmish Rules 1.0 By Alberto Zanini Comprehensive Rules version 0.08 Updated March 27,

2 Contents Contents Introduction... 4 What is this game?... 4 Why we need a new ruleset for this?... 4 Open Skirmish Game 1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) Game fundamentals What you need to Play Type of play Standard Game Cooperative Campaign Game Solitary Adventure/Campaign Game (Solo Game) Setting Up the Table Standard Game Campaign Game Solitary Game Building your Crew Before starting a game Game Sequence Game Sequence Winning and Losing Movements Player Turn - Activation Moving your crewman Front and Rear Weapons Range and LOS Squares and terrain Targeting and AOE Grenades Large Creatures Combat Before rolling Rolling After rolling Cast Spells Memorizing spells Casting Spells Success and Failure Overcasting Spells Resisting Spells Recovery Casting Time Non-Combat Actions Hero & Crews Cards Hero Cards Crewman cards Equipment / Magic Item Cards Spell Cards Hero Action cards Card Clarifications Treasure Campaign Rules What is a Campaign? Create a Crewman Basic Training, Equipment and Ability Level and Experience Point Leveling UP a Crewman / Hero Learn New Spells Learn New Ability Get More Items Magic Items Wounds and Deaths Hire new Crewmember Solitary Game Setup for a Solitary Game Enemy Phase Step 1 Attack...37

3 12.4 Step 2 Move Step 3 Attack Step 4 Cast Buff The world of Valenor An Ancient World The Darkness The Levitational Paradox The Almighty Empire Other Political Entity Races of Valenor Humans Goblins Phan Gnomes Avians Dark Elves Norren Chi Sun Elves Orks Lizardfolks Iron Dwarves Tritons Leonid Ki Spirits Green Elves Grey Dwarves Gods of Valenor Thalassa, Queen of the Seas and Giver of Water Brumbarr, Peak of Mountains, god of the Earth Gharuk, the god of fire Leida, The Most Harmonious, Goddess of Winds and Sailors Danu, the Mother of All, Goddess of the Forest Melethis, The Father, Lord of Magic Arva, the Goddess of Sun and Light Sela, the Goddess of the Moon Sardar, God of War Noctris the Joker, lord of Revelries Glossary & FAQ

4 Introduction What is this game? This game is a Skirmish Miniature Game, set in the world of Valenor, a very ancient world where the civilizations have discovered the secrets of flight, magically. Magical Flight evolved this world for the past millennium in a way none thought possible, the civilized people have build great city atop the mountains, peaks ad hills, where the flying ship can dock more easily, at the same time abandoning the land outside these city, now known as the big wilds or as the Outdoor. Nowadays the wild areas of Valenor are a really dangerous place where monsters, savage tribes, pirates and marauders roam freely. But the world is literally littered with abandoned places, temples, castles and other ruins that still hold immense treasures. We have called this game a Fantasy Adventure, as we plan to release more adventures, campaign and miniatures to play with. Why we need a new ruleset for this? Frankly not. There are a lot of great wargames out there, even free to download (look here: but they are under copyright of someone. And this means that you are still free to use with your friends, but you cannot change them to fit your needs. I have searched long and hard on the web for a really free gameset rules, but I must admit my defeat, and started creating my own game. Now, this game will be released free, totally free even for commercial use, just keep our names in and share it with the community! (CC BY-SA 4.0). This means that you need to start anew learning a game rules from scratch well no. I tried to use mechanism already tested and proved in some other games, adapt it to our world and it s peculiarity to give you familiarity with this game. Open Skirmish Game 1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) Attribution (by) All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first. ShareAlike (sa) You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms. If they want to distribute modified works under other terms, they must get your permission first. 4

5 1 - Game fundamentals 1.1 What you need to Play First of all you need a table to play on. A standard kitchen table should have enough space (60cm x 60cm) or more if you like. Ideally the table should be dressed up with a reasonable reconstruction of the battlefield of the quest or battle you are playing. For a standard game you can set up the table as you like, cluttered with some obstacles, trees, houses and so on. Just agree with your enemy what piece represents what obstacle on the table Another fundamental thing you need to play are some miniatures, at least 6 for each player. Select one of these to be your courageous Captain, another will become his faithful Quartermaster and some other miniature will be the members of the crew. Explore the wonderful world of fantasy miniatures and select the ones you like most. We produce our own line of miniatures for the world of Valenor, but you can use any miniatures you like Look at the miniature you choose, in this game all models (Heroes and Crewmember) must observe the rules of WYSIWYG or what you see is what you get, so if the model you field has an Armor, a sword and a shield you must buy for him at least an Armor, a sword and a shield. The objects can be magical or mundane, but must be visible on the models. Only exceptions are small weapons (dagger, shuriken, magic objects and so on) that can be concealed For each miniature you need a Crew Card, telling you and your enemy the statistics and powers of the model. For each model we produce we will made available the crew card, if you use miniatures from your own collection, we will make some empty cards available on our site, so you can compile a new card for each crewmember Apart from the miniatures you need some Action cards, the cards are available from our store and new card are available in our miniatures box, but you can find a copy of all the cards you need at the internet address: Print the pdf file and stick the card on an old poker card deck To resolve the combat and magic phase you need some dice: a handful of D10 will be enough to cover all the battle situations you can find in play. A D10 dice Figure 1 - Critical can give 4 kind of results: a 0: Critical Result Usually a double hit or similar exceptional result b 1: Fumble Result A Failure that helps the enemy c 2-4: Simple Failure A miss or No effect d 5-9: Success you hit the enemy or any simple positive result Some Ability or Cards allows for or force re-rolls of failures (or successes). If multiple rerolls (whether mandatory and/or chosen) are to be taken, all must be taken simultaneously. Rerolls can t be further rerolled To work out who move and when, we suggest the use of Tokens. Tokens can be anything, as long as they are directly recognizable to a player. You can use colored glass beads, one color for each player, cardboard chit, fiches we suggest for solo games you use old bingo numbers, each number move a specific enemy. 5 Figure 2 - Fumble

6 2 - Type of play With this ruleset we have included the rules for 3 type of play: 2.1 Standard Game In a standard game we have two or more player fighting a balanced battle, beginning and ending in a couple of hours. To balance a battle we have assigned a price to recruit your crewmembers, this price is in gold Doubloon, the standard currency of Valenor To play a standard game you need to agree on a Doubloon value for the crew, equal for all the players or some other kind of agreement between gentleman players. We suggest you start with battles where each player has 1000 doubloons to buy Crew, Items and Skills. Later you can grow in point to fight bigger or tougher battle, but remember that stronger Heroes are way better than stronger crewmen. 2.2 Cooperative Campaign Game Differently from a Standard Game, in a Campaign game your crew collects XP (experience Point) to grow in power battle after battle Each battle in a Campaign sees one of the players as the Storyteller, and one or more other friends as Players. Usually the Storyteller is the player with more experience of the rules or similar, but pitting always the same players one against the other could be boring after a while, that s why we suggest to change the role of the Storyteller very often. Everyone can have a try to create NPC crews, gangs of outlaws, pirate s band, run the defense of a dungeon and so on, to keep the game interesting and varied. Use whatever idea for an ongoing series of adventures you have (then share it with us on our site ) All the players in a campaign should be allowed to play the same number of battles, to keep their crew at more or less the same level, if a crew grew extremely more powerful than another; it s time to declare them the winner of the campaign and start a new one We plan to produce new adventures and campaign, together with new crews and crewmembers, to expand the playability of this game. 2.3 Solitary Adventure/Campaign Game (Solo Game) Sometimes happen that you want to play, but have no friends ready to join you. We have designed some rules to allow you to play against the deck, with no human adversary You can set-up a monster deck to explore a lost ruin with your crew, use one of our published adventures or whatever idea for an adventure you have (then share it with us on our site ). To make the adventure more tough, use Monsters/NPC/Minions with more than double the value of your Crew to have a difficult run, make it of less than double the Doubloon value to keep it more balanced. Using the same Doubloon value made for a very easy (usually) adventure, as the enemy appear randomly and don t stick together. 6

7 3 - Setting Up the Table The first step in any game is to set up the table. Different type of games requires different approach to a scenario creation. 3.1 Standard Game In a standard game, the players should take some of the terrain they have available and set it up on the table in a mutually agreeable fashion. You can recreate a specific city location, create a dark dungeon, the deck of a flying Windship or a piece of the feral Outdoor. You should try to create a table with a lot of obstacles and cover for your troops, as advancing without cover against an enemy is usually extremely dangerous The Players should now determine where are the starting locations for each player, where they will place their miniatures to begin the play. Usually each player chose a side of the table and the enemy the opposite, but with more than 2 players this can change as you will Once the players have chosen their side, it s time to place the Game Objectives. Each player should take three Objective tokens and take turns placing them on the table. So, a two-player game will have six Objective tokens, a three player game will have nine, etc Objective Tokens must represent some specific reward or useful items of scenery. Acceptable Objectives can be: Treasures, Potions, Magical Gate, Magic Objects and so on. Each Objective has a value of more or less 50 Doubloon for player, select it from the Table and place it on the table Objective tokens must be placed more than 9 squares from each other and from the player starting locations (include vertical distance in this measurement as needed). If possible use Chest or Furniture miniatures as Objective token coins or glass beads will work well if miniatures are unavailable The first player should then place all of his figures on the table, within 3 squares of his starting location, in any formation he chooses. His opponent then does the same with their figures on their starting locations. 3.2 Campaign Game This is the easy way to setup your table Turn to the scenarios in the Adventure Book and select the one you want to play together with your opponents. The adventure s instructions will tell you how to set up the terrain, what and where to place treasure, objects and other Objectives, what kind of creatures might be wandering around, and what special rules, if any, are in effect If you want this kind of game can be played like a classical Role-playing Game, where each player move only one Hero and one of the player act as a Dungeon Master and move the enemy. 3.3 Solitary Game In a Solo game you are playing against the deck, so: If available select a solitary Adventure, set up the table as described in the adventure and play the game. If you create a nice solitary adventure don t forget to share it with us at A good way to play in solitary mode is to explore a dungeon. If you have modular dungeon plan, like the one we produce, you can build randomly a dungeon mixing them as they come. Otherwise you can draw a map on paper then play on it, or you can generate a random map here: or here and place objectives and enemy If an adventure is not available or if you just want to play a quick and dirty game, proceed in his fashion: a Split the table in 4 sections on the long side and 3 sections on the short side b Be sure to have at least 1 obstacle in each of these sections. 7

8 3.3.3.c Roll a D12 and place each Objective in the randomly selected sections. 4 - Building your Crew Each player must build a party composed from at least: 1 Captain (Hero), 1 Quartermaster (Hero), 4 Crew members. For a non-campaign game each player has 1000 doubloon to buy Crew, Items and Skills. For a Campaign or Solo game each player starts with 500 doubloons. You can field another Hero for each 1000 dbl. of game beyond the first a First thing to do is the set-up of the Crew Cards, you need to compile a crew card for each member of your crews, adding together race, equipments, skills and magic cost for all the crew. You cannot spend more than your initial money and you don t need to spend it all, in a solitary or campaign game you can save some doubloon for the future b For Campaign and Solitary game you begin with all crews at level 1, you can select Quartermaster and Captain from the Hero card you have at your disposition or create them anew, giving the Quartermaster level 2 and the Captain level Some Items have bold text that reads, Legendary. This isn t an ability it means that only one copy of that item can be present in a game. If more than one player want to field the same legendary item roll a dice, the highest roller keep to use the item. Re-roll parity. Destroying a crewman with a legendary item scores double VPs Some Items, Magic Spell or Skills have a Critical result, which is if you roll any 0 on your dice when using the object, spell or skill you activate this special effect. A 1 result negate a 0 and vice-versa. As long as you obtain more 0 than 1 you activate the Critical result For non Campaign play, the standard party must come from the same Faction, and a total of nine Hero Action cards will be available between them. For Campaign play see 11.1, For Campaign play all crewmembers (not Heroes) must begin at level 1, for non Campaign play each crewmember can be leveled following the standard rules (see 11.2) Each Model in game (Hero or Crewmember) can have only the weapons it shows. If the model has 2 weapons or more you must equip him with the Ambidextrous () skill, you can choose to equip him with 2 weapons or 2 shields. If the model have more than 2 upper arms, it must equip the Additional Arms () skill, the model can have X weapons / shields combinations as shown by the models, and count as already having the Ambidextrous skill. 4.2 Before starting a game These rules assume that two players are playing a game, but you can play with more faction, as long as you have different tokens to select movement orders. You can also play solitary games, using random turn enemy selection, like with numbered chits, bingo numbers or something else that permits to identify uniquely an enemy You can even play cooperatively against the deck, adapting the movement sequence to the one we use for Solo games The next step is to reveal the crewmen in his or her crew and show their crewman cards. Assign Items and Spells to the owners and check if some pre-game actions are due Each player then pick up Hero Action cards for every Hero or crewmember as specified in In a standard game, each player chooses up to nine Hero Action cards for each crew. Shuffle them and put them aside, face down. 8

9 4.2.5 Pick up the Monsters Card as specified in the Adventure you are playing Set up the objectives on the battlefield as specified in (3.1, 3.2 or 3.3) Put in a deep bowl, pouch or similar a Token for each Hero, Crewmember, Monster and Minion in a game. Remember that for player s crew you need only to identify whose player turn is, but for monsters and other enemy they need to be uniquely identified. 5 - Game Sequence The game sequence is divided in game turn where any model on the field must be allowed to move ad act (if he can). To give a random flow at the turn we use colored or numbered token to determine initiative. These token are extracted from a deep bowl or a pouch and the action is given to the owner of the token. 5.1 Game Sequence Beginning of a game. Each player pick 2 Hero Action Cards from the top of his Action Cards Deck, place the miniatures on the table as specified in chapter 3-Setting Up the Table 3 - and look menacingly to his adversary Begin of a Game Turn Each player pick 3 new Hero Action Cards from the top of his Deck, from now on he can use them anytime he wants, but he cannot have more than 5 card in his hands when beginning a Game Turn The flow of each Game Turn is as follow: a Extract Randomly a Token From the Bowl When you extract a token of your color, you choose what miniature model to move, when the miniature turn is over place the token near the model to remember that it already moved. This is called Crewman Turn b Select a Miniature and Move It Before doing anything, remove used Action Cards from the Crewman. The miniature can then do a simple move, move up to its movement attribute on square box mapped terrain or 2 (20mm) on non mapped terrain c Run A Crewman can select to run for double his movement, but it cannot attack or cast spell for this game turn. If you finish your movement in base to base contact with an enemy model, you can go ahead and enter melee combat d Melee Attack After you have moved, check if you can still attack. If you don t have run (5.1.3.c) and are in base contact you can do a melee attack. To do a melee attack roll a D10 for each you have. Each Success you will inflict 1 wound, each Critical result will inflict 2 damage to the enemy, each Fumble will remove a Success. If the enemy has Armor Saves Roll, he can roll a d10 for each he has. Each Success will save a wound, a Critical result will save 2 wounds and a Fumble will add 1 wound to the total e Ranged Attack If you have moved, but not attacked in melee, check if you can do a Ranged Attack. If you don t have run and are not in base to base contact with an enemy you can try to do a Ranged Attack. Check the Ranged Weapon Table 11 Weapon Table and find the base range of the model s weapon. If the enemy you want to hit is within this distance you can attack. 9

10 If the enemy model is within half the range, you can add 1 dice to your pool. If the enemy model is between twice the distance but over the range you will lose a Dice from your total, and this goes on, 2 Dices lost at 3x range, etc.. If the attacker goes to 0 dices, he cannot attack at that distance. To do a Ranged attack roll a D10 for each you have. Each Success you will inflict 1 hit, each Critical result will inflict 2 hit to, each Fumble will remove a Success. If the enemy has Armor Saves Roll, he can roll a d10 for each he has. Each Success will save a hit, a Critical result will save 2 hit and a Fumble will add 1 hit to the total f Cast a Spell To cast a magic Spell the Mage must have not been wounded in this turn and usually need to have a clear view of the enemy. You can cast if you don t have fought this turn (5.1.3.d, e) or run (5.1.3.c). To cast a spell in battle you must roll a D10 and add the Caster Level in the spell Theory Field. If the result is higher than the Spell Difficulty the spell is cast correctly. If the enemy has Armor Saves Roll, he can roll a d10 for each he has. Each Success will save a hit, a Critical result will save 2 hit and a Fumble will add 1 hit to the total, other kind of spells must be saved by different means g Other, Non-Combat Actions After all the combat actions for this miniature have been completed; you can do other actions, like pick up a treasure, recharge a musket or crossbow and so on. But only if you don t have fought this turn (5.1.3.d, e, f) or run (5.1.3.c) h Pick another token from the bowl Return to a, and pick a New Token i Check for Dead models If every crewmember have more than at the end of the game turn, remove it, it s dead. If you are playing a campaign, go to 11.9 to check the real conditions of the crewman j End of a Game Turn When all the Tokens have been get out of the bowl, get them from the battlefield for each model still alive, put them in the bowl and start a new game turn at If you are playing a Standard game, the game end after 6 game turn are fully finished. If you play a Campaign or a Solo game, follow the instruction in the Adventure to determine when the game ends. 5.2 Winning and Losing In a Single or Campaign play there is no need to know who won a battle, if the Quest objective are meet and some miniatures of your crew are alive, it s always a victory. As long as one of your crew can walk away from the battlefield you can claim what treasure you pick up and the XP you earn from the fight If you are playing an adventure, the adventure specifies the winning condition If you are playing a standard game, at the end of each game turn determine the winner as follows: Award 1 point for each Objective held. Treasure can be opened and picked up, so they don t count as Objective Sum all the Gold Doubloon values for enemy Crewman and Heroes killed, Give 1 point for each full 100 Doubloon value If Monsters are involved, sum all the Gold Doubloon values for the monsters killed. Give 1 point for each 100 Doubloon value The first player to reach 6 or more point, with at least 2 point vantage on the enemy, has won the game All other results are a Draw If you are playing with Monsters, all the victory point for Objectives are not assigned until the last monster is dead. 10

11 6 - Movements In this section we will see in details what action can be done and when 6.1 Player Turn - Activation A game is composed of a series of game turn, as described in Usually the sequence of activation of a Crew is under the choice of the player. To explain more clearly, when the players pick a Token from the bowl, the player who owns the token can choose what Crewmember activates When you activate (select to be used) a Crewman, you must complete all the movements, actions, combat, etc relative at this Crewman. When you declare to have ended the use of this model, your activation is concluded and the miniature cannot be further moved or used (it can still defend) short of using something (an Action Card for example) to do some more activity A Crewman must be alive and conscious to be able to function in his turn, if he is dead one of the token must be removed from play, and the model cannot be moved, activated or whatever. If the Crewman is unconscious (he is KO but he still has at least 1 wound remaining) do not remove the token from the bowl. But when activated, the only action he can do is to try to roll 1D10 and obtain a result LESS or EQUAL to the number of Wound remaining to him. If the roll obtains this result, the Crewman recovers from the KO and is able to return in battle from next game turn As you can imagine picking token from a bowl is not a classic you move I move game, and gives some more interesting results. This system can handle easily players with different number of models and different number of players When playing a Solitary game you need to change the model selection method. Replace the tokens with old bingo numbers or other methods who uniquely identify a crewman or a creature. As an example give each monster or enemy on the board a number, and then give a number to each Crewman. When you pick up a Monster number from the bowl, activate the monster with the corresponding number, when you pick up a player owned number, the player can select one of his Crew models to be activated, as usual When a model end his activation (has no more action to perform) place the token used to select him on the table, near the model. This way all the players know how many and what models are still to be activated. 6.2 Moving your crewman Each crewman, when activated, can make one Standard move and an attack. A Standard Move lets a crewman move as many squares as his Movement attribute, so each human crewman can normally move up to 6 squares on each of its turns. Movement distance doesn t carry over from turn to turn, so if a crewman moves only 1 square on its turn, its remaining move is wasted. Normally a crewman usually can t move some squares, do something else, and then spend its remaining move Moving a crewman into a cover, jump over a low wall, get up some stairs or high ground square requires 2 move points, regardless of what type of terrain that crewman is moving from. If a crewman doesn t have enough move points to enter a square, it can t enter that square. As a result, a crewman must normally start its turn adjacent to such a square in order to move into it. A crewman that ignores terrain move penalties requires only 1 move point to enter a cover or high ground square A crewman cannot cross wall and other obstacles that are higher than him, but other type of terrains can be crossed but must be considered as Rough Ground. Rough Ground is any kind of terrain that a crewman can find difficult to move through. It may be a mud hole, sands, snow or ice, an area of fallen rocks and masonry, or a 11

12 path overcrowded by vegetation. Every square a crewman moves through rough ground is counted as 2 for the purposes of calculating total movement. There is no penalty for entering or exiting rough terrain, only the distance covered is counted A crewman can t end its move in a square already occupied by another crewman, but it can move through squares occupied by allies (but not enemy crewmen). When a crewmen moves in base contact with an enemy, is considered to have entered a Melee combat and it cannot move away, or be subject of a Free Strike from the defender Effects that increase or decrease a crewman s move are referring to its move distance in squares. If a crewman has an effect that reduce his move of -1, for example, it can still make a move on each of its turns, but it has 2cm less move. If a crewman s move is reduced to 0, it can no longer make a move. Such effects have no impact on a crewman s other activity apart from movement on each of its turns Teleporting is a repositioning of the modes that doesn t involve move through squares, and so effects that increase or decrease a crewman s move have no impact on teleporting. A crewman teleports directly to its destination square; it doesn t move through any intervening squares, and so it isn t impacted by any terrain, trap or enemies occupying those intervening squares. A crewman can t teleport to a destination square already occupied by a crewman, but can teleport to a destination square occupied by cover or high ground without penalty. A teleporting crewman usually needs unblocked LOS to its destination square unless otherwise stated in his ability/spell description Some Action Cards / Spells say to move a crewman a specified number of squares. The controller of such an effect makes all movement decisions unless otherwise specified. Effects that increase or decrease that crewman s move have no impact on such movement If that crewman is to be moved away from a source, each square into which that crewman is moved must be one of the farthest possible squares away from that source. If that crewman is at an edge of the board and needs to be moved further squares, it s moved along that edge in the direction that puts it farthest away from that source. 6.3 Front and Rear A good understanding of the movement rules can not only get you into the ideal striking position, but also thwart your opponent s plans by blocking their moves A crewman model must be placed in a single square and clearly face one of the four sides of that square. The direction the model is pointing is called its facing. If the model has a round base or you don t use square bases for movement, specify the face of the miniature with a sign on the base In general, crewmembers pay more attention to things happening in front of them. Attacking an enemy from the rear has a big chance of getting him unable to defend. So, the squares adjacent to a model are divided into a front arc and a rear arc, based on the direction the model is facing. Many rules refer to something happening, or being possible, only when a model is in or moves into a model s front arc Any type of attack coming from the rear gets a +2 or dice bonus A crewman may change its facing freely during movement. He may change facing one other time when first attacked and then he must maintain that facing for all the game turn. When a model moves into the front arc of an enemy model it must immediately end its movement, choosing its final facing If a Crewman starts its Game Turn in the front arc of an enemy model it cannot move freely. He can choose not to continue the fight. Basically it has two options: a It can change its facing to protect his back and Fight or cast a spell normally. Changing facing will not trigger any Free Strikes b It may Move out of the front arc of that enemy, exposing itself to an attack. This is called Breaking Away. 12

13 6.3.6 If they prefer they can try to escape from the Fight by Breaking Away. However, any enemies in base contact (and with his front arc toward the Breaking Away crewman) will get a chance to Attack them as they move away. This is called a Free Strike Breaking Away is only possible if the first square that a model moves into is not in the front arc of any enemy models. If there is no suitable square to move to, the model cannot Break Away and must remain where it is. A model that breaks away may still Move into an enemy s front arc later in that Move To Break Away a model must first survive a Free Strike from its foes. Each enemy model that has the Breaking Away model in its front arc gets to make a separate Free Strike. These are resolved in the order chosen by the player making the Free Strikes Resolve all the Free Strikes before moving the miniature. If the Breaking Away model is not destroyed then it is considered not anymore in Melee and may make its Move A Free Strike is an attack (see 9.99.) with all the normal modifiers. The differences are that: a It is not resolved in your own Turn b It is not limited. You may make as many Free Strikes as your opponent offers you c It does not count as your Turn. You may make a Free Strike regardless of whether you have already attacked in this Game Turn or not d A model can make a Free Strike against any enemy model that is placed on the board in his front arc. This could be a Skeleton that was summoned or any other model created by a spell or effect. 6.4 Weapons Range and LOS A distance (Range) between two Crewmen is calculated from the border of the bases of each Crewman. Count the number of squares between the two crewmen, for each range increment drop 1 dice from the attack. If the attacker has no more dice, he cannot attack at that range. As an example a Shuriken have a Range of 4 squares, when thrown by a level 1 human crewman the range limit is 4 squares (1 dice in ) a Chi master (more trained, 2 dice in ) can attack at 8 squares with a -1 dice between 4 and 8 squares Attack under half range get a bonus of +1 dice. So in the example above, the Chi master have 3 dice from 1 to 2 squares, 2 dices from 2 to 4 squares and 1 dice from 4 to 8 squares The Line of Sight (LOS) between two models is a line from the center of miniature A to the center of miniature B. If there is an obstacle in this line the attacker gets a penalty. Check from the point of view of the attacker, if you can still see the target you can attack but lose 1 dice. If the miniature is completely covered, the attack cannot go on When checking if a target miniature could be hit, you need to check both LOS and Range, if the attacker can establish both LOS and Range the target can be attacked. Otherwise the target is safe Some weapons and spells have a minimum range. For example, if a crewman s net-gun has range 2 4, it can t be played on a target within range 0 or Enemy or friendly Crewman don t block LOS di per se, but: a If an enemy crewman is between the attacker and the target, this does not block the LOS, it just get in the way. Roll a dice on an even roll the attack goes on as normal, on an odd result the enemy on the way get the attack instead b If the model in between is a Large creature (40x40 bases or more) it block the LOS c If the model in between is a friendly one, it block the LOS. If it s a Minion this rule doesn t apply. 6.5 Squares and terrain 13

14 Each square is designed on the game board with a black outline. Two squares that share a border are adjacent. A square isn t adjacent to itself. Squares can be occupied by crewmen, terrain elements (like tree, cover and high ground), and scenario elements (Door or Furniture). Two crewmen can t occupy the same square All terrain elements except open terrain block LOS. Types of terrain elements include: a Cover (including forests and ruins). A crewman under cover may reroll one die while defending b High ground (including hills). A crewman on high ground gets +1 Attack Dice if the Target is at lower height c Impassable. Other game elements can t occupy or move through impassable terrain by any means d Open. Any terrain other than the above is open and has no impact on the rules Some special Scenario elements don t block LOS unless they share a square with another terrain element that does. Types of scenario elements include: a Treasure. Any kind of treasure doesn t block the LOS b Starting Locations are where crews enter play and don t block the LOS If you don t use square map, you can check the distance with a ruler, as each square is 1 or 25mm. 6.6 Targeting and AOE Some kind of spells, weapons and ability doesn t need a target to be used, their effect hit all target in an area. To be more precise they need a target, but that target can be a generic point on the table. These attack are defined Area of Effect (AoE) attacks Area of effect (AoE) abilities targets a square; they don t target any crewmen. An AoE ability or spell can target a square whether or not it s occupied A crewman s AoE attack affects not only the targeted square, but also all the squares adjacent to that square (this is called an AoE1 attack) another, more bigger area is called AOE2. Refer to Figure 3 - Area of Effect AOE1, targets in yellow areas take half damage and targets in orange areas get one quarter damage. Figure 3 - Area of Effect AOE Unless otherwise specified, AoE attacks affect or damage allies, items or enemies equally Crewmen throwing a grenade have to do a Ranged attack; the number of success attacking is the number of success a Defender need to match up to reduce the effect of the grenade. Success reduces by half the damage taken; failure means the target get full damage. 6.7 Grenades A typical AoE attack is a Grenade, an explosive device of mechanical or alchemical origins. Different kind of Grenades can create different effects, such as fire, smoke poison and so on A typical grenade can be thrown at 10 and have an AoE1 (see 6.6.3) inflicting 4 Wounds Alchemical grenades can have a lot of different effects, but usually the AoE is the same. 6.8 Large Creatures 14

15 Most models have a base that occupies a single area. However, some creatures are much bigger than human size, such as Ogres and Minotaur, and have bases larger than 2 so they cover at least four areas (2x2 ) and even more Large creatures follow the same principle as single areas models: they have a front and a rear zone. The only difference is that their zones consist of more squares than regular figures The 2 or more areas behind the model (shown in red) form its rear arc. The remaining 4 (shown in blue) are its front arc Large models are not easy to turn around; normally a character attacked for the first time can automatically turn to face the attacker. A Large model can do it only if don t have already moved in this Game Turn Note that a Large model can be in an enemy s front and rear arcs at the same time. The Large model will only get the bonus for attacking from behind if it is fully within its enemy s rear arc As noted in 6.8.3, to change facing while moving, large models can do only turn that are less than 45º, or they must sacrifice some of their movement. For each quarter turn (90º) they wish to make, they sacrifice 1 (2.5 cm of Movement). To turn around they sacrifice 2 (5cm). Large Creatures don t have penalty on straight movements To see if a Large creature fits in a cramped space (dungeons), move the model a single square at a time - ensuring that for the entirety of the movement the whole of the model s base remains on the dungeon tiles, and on areas permitted by the normal rules of movement for single-square models. If you don t use areas for moving, check if the base of the model fit in smaller areas before going ahead. 7 - Combat 7.1 Before rolling Attacking from a position higher than the enemy gives +1 Attack Dice (table, stairs and platforms), this is ignored by AOE attacks Defending from a position higher than the enemy gives +1 Defense Dice, this is ignored by AOE attacks Defending from behind an obstacle (table, chair, or similar) gives +1 Defense Dice Each attack has one of the following damage types: arcane, fire, frost, holy, melee, nature, ranged, or shadow. Unless otherwise specified, an attack s damage type can be stopped only by armor of the same kind An attack is either magical or physical, never both. If an effect would change an attack from one to the other, it does so from the outset of playing that attack. Example: A Hunter has a physical (Ranged) attack ability and plays Arcane Shot from its Action Cards. It then plays that attack ability, targeting a Paladin. Because Arcane Shot makes that attack magic from the outset, that Paladin can t react with Blessing of Protection, but an adjacent Mage can react with Counterspell The attacker must be in base to base contact to make a Melee Attack. Crewmembers armed with Spears and similar weapons can attack from 1 area away, but only if the area before them is occupied. They can strike from the second line to the first, or strike from the first line to the enemy second line. This does not get them a Free Attack. 7.2 Rolling 15

16 7.2.1 The attacker makes its attack roll by rolling dice equal to his attack s statistics. Each success is a hit The defender roll his Armor dices, each success saves one hit If the attacker is capable of hit multiple defenders, only one attack roll is made and applied to each of them. Example: A crewman in high ground uses Cleave to attack multiple enemies at once. Only one roll is made against both targets with a If the attacker has rerolls, these are made immediately after the initial attack roll, before any defense rolls If not otherwise specified, a Critical result on each of the rolled dice count as 2 success. For each Fumble in the rolled dice, remove 1 success from the total. If there are no success in the attack, the defender has nothing to save from. 7.3 After rolling Determine the amount of attack damage to be dealt to each defender by subtracting that defender s blocks from hits. If such damage is more than half of the total Wounds of the defender, the defender is also stunned If the final result is a positive number, the defender takes that much attack damage and its Wounds are reduced by that amount. If the total is more than the remaining Wounds of the defender, the defender goes down. In a Standard game the Crewman is dead, in Solo or Campaign game the fate of the crewman will be defined later. Healing spells, Action Cards and Ability can save the Crewman only if played before the end of the turn Resolve any associated effect from hits and healing before checking for waiting triggered abilities (like Serpent Sting) that apply after the attack or action. Example: If a Crewman is hit from the Dominatrix Lash Sword and probably killed, the owner player can play only Action Cards or ability of the wounded to save him from the Raise Zombie effect of the sword, as the effect of the sword say: replace model killed so when declared killed, the ex-crewman is no longer in play (to be saved later), replaced by a new model. If the crewman is saved before being killed, the effect of the sword doesn t apply Resolve any waiting Abilities that launch a new attack or strike back at the attacker. 8 - Cast Spells Wizards and Clerics may cast a spell instead of doing a physical attack. 8.1 Memorizing spells When a player creates his crew, he can choose to have one or more crewmember learned in the way of magic. The spell caster can learn 1 spell for each level he studies in a specific Theory Magic spells are classified in different Theory of Magic, and each Theory is different from another, so it must be learned separately. Some races have a particular affinity with magic and with a specific Theory, so it s easy for them to learn these spells Each Theory has its own classification, but in each Theory we can find more than 1 Tier, spell belonging to higher Tier more powerful than lower tiers. 8.2 Casting Spells If, by some means, a crewmember has three actions in a Crewman Turn, they may cast two (Tier 1 spells) in the same Crewman Turn, but this is the absolute maximum. A figure may not cast a spell while in combat. A wizard or apprentice may attempt to cast any spell that they know. 16

17 8.3 Success and Failure To cast a spell, the player must announce which spell his caster is attempting and the target of that spell, and then he can check for Range Defending from behind an obstacle (table, chair, or similar) gives +1 Defense Dice Each attack has one of the following damage types: arcane, fire, frost, holy, melee, nature, ranged, or shadow. Unless otherwise specified, an attack s damage type can be stopped only by armor or defense of the same kind Differently from all the other kind of attack, the player rolls only one D10 and adds his Theory point in the spell s Theory. If the dice result is 1 (Fumble) the spell automatically fails and the mage get 1 wound. If the dice result is 0 the spell is cast, whatever the result needed and, If the spell have a Critical descriptor, the Critical effect is applied to the Target If the dice result is bigger than the spell difficulty, the spell is correctly cast and the result applies. Otherwise the spell has failed. 8.4 Overcasting Spells After a spell attack roll is made, but before any effects are determined, a spellcaster may choose to empower a spell. Essentially, a spellcaster may trade his Health to increase the casting roll on a 1 for-1 basis So, if a wizard or cleric wants to increase one of his dice roll by 3, he would immediately take 3 Wounds. The most common use of empowerment is to spend just enough Health to ensure that a success is obtained Thus, if a wizard fails one of his dice roll by 1, he may take 1 Wound and the spell will succeed. A spellcaster may also use empowerment to increase his casting roll beyond what was needed for the spell to simply succeed, maybe transforming a 9 in 0 to obtain a Critical result. This tactic could be used to make it harder for a target to resist a spell (see Resisting Spells) or to increase the effects of the spell (e.g. Summon Demon could be empowered to improve the odds of summoning a Major Demon). Any empowering must be done before the Defense rolls are made. 8.5 Resisting Spells When a spell is successfully cast, the effect is applied to the target. Direct attack spell can be saved as melee attack (with Defense Saves) The effects of some spells can be resisted with a Spell Defense roll. If a Spell Defense roll is required, the target is required to roll a D10 and add his Defense value. If the Spell Defense roll beats or equals the spellcaster roll to cast the spell (including any empowerment), then the target has successfully resisted the spell A spellcaster have a special knowledge of magic, and they are allowed to use their Theory (if higher) instead of their Defense to resist spells. If the spellcaster don t have the same Theory of the spell, he is treated like any other target If the spellcaster have any magic items that can be used to empower spells, this may also be used for empowering a Spell Defense roll. 8.6 Recovery Casting Time As the spellcasters handle more powerful energy than mundane warriors, they cannot keep up with continual expenditure of high level of energy Lower Tier spells are more quick to recover than higher Tier spell, so Tier 1 spell can be cast each Game Turn, Tier 2 spells exhaust the caster so much that they need 1 Game Turn to recover enough energy to cast a new spell, Tier 3 spells exhaust the caster for 2 Game Turns and so on. 17

18 8.6.3 During the exhaust period a caster cannot do magic by himself and is at its more vulnerable point. He can still defend himself, but only magic from items or potions can carry him through a combat If a magic user is in base to base contact with an enemy while exhausted he has a -1 Defense dice. 9 - Non-Combat Actions Non-combat actions are that kind of actions that usually belong to being out of combat, but that for some reason you are forced to do during a battle A classical example of Non-Combat action is opening a door. While normally there is no problem in opening an unlocked door, doing so while an enemy swings you a sword trying to cut off your head is a really difficult feat To execute a non-combat action (open a door, pick up a treasure, and so on) require that you foregoes all your action for this Crewman Turn, moving only 1 square and doing only Defense rolls If your move gets you into an area adjacent to an enemy, he gets a Free Attack Thus if you want to surprise your enemy with a bold move it s better if you use an Action Card and keep Non Combat Actions to what is extremely necessary. i.e. pick up the treasure AFTER having killed your enemy. 18

19 10 - Hero & Crews Cards 10.1 Hero Cards At the top of the crew card you can find the name of the hero / crewman and, if assigned, the name of the ship it s linked to Each crewmember is identified by a crew card; the card is needed to collect all the information about the crewman, and at least his Battle Profile. Figure 4 - Human Seaman Battle Profile 19

20 The battle profile show the basic information, that are: Movement This statistics show how quick is the crewmember, how many squares / inch / cm x 2 can move. Wounds The number of hit from attack the crewman can receive before dying. Defense How many dice (D10) the hero can roll to defend from an attack. Missile Attack How many dice (D10) the crewman can roll to make an attack from distance. Melee Attack How many dice (D10) the crewman can roll to make an attack at close range On Each card, under the Battle Profile, you can find a text box, containing all the base abilities of this crewmember. Each ability can be used following the information given in its description. For example if the crewman have the Ambidextrous ability, it s allowed to buy 2 (1 handed) weapons card (or 2 shields card) but not 2 bow cards or 2 Two-handed weapons On the right side of the Hero Card you can find: a The Doubloon value you need to pay to add the Hero to your crew as is, this means with only the object, power and spells you can read on this hero card b A Treasure List, where you can find object and equipment already paid on the hero card Doubloon value c A Magic Learned list, with all the spells the Hero starts with on. Other spells can be learned and added later in the game Some Hero card can optionally have other sign or icons, to signal that the Hero is limited in some way to the crew it can join, this limitation can be: a Race (The Hero will never join a crew not formed from the race listed) b Religion (The Hero will never join a crew not formed from the same religion as his own) c Specific Ship (The Hero will never join a crew not coming from the ship listed). 20

21 10.2 Crewman cards The difference between the Hero and the Crewman card is just for ease of placing on the battlefield. All the information given for a hero are the same given for a crewmember, if you want or if you are playing a campaign you can compile a hero card for each of your crewmember that get promoted from the level 1. Until your crewman are at level 1, all the information you need are on this card The Gold Doubloon cost to add this Crewman to your crew is in the upper right corner, it is already comprehensive of all the treasure and item written in the card. So, this cost must be increased by the cost of new equipment you buy for him/her If the crewman possesses magic levels in some classes, it s shown by the class icon and spell level under the price If the crewman has some limitation on the crew it can join, under the spell level can optionally have other sign or icons. He can then join only crew with the same Icons All the equipment already paid for the crewman is listed in the horizontal box under the image A crewman Race, Class, and Ability are listed under the equipment box. All crewmen have a Class and a Race, but not all have Ability A crewman s final Battle Profile is on its lower side. These are the same as the Hero card. Remember: The values on the crewman s card are the starting value for this crewmember. For standard play you only need to pay the Doubloon cost to recruit the crewman. 21

22 10.3 Equipment / Magic Item Cards Usually the standard equipment of a Crewman is already present in the recruit cost value of the card, so we will use this kind of card to describe Special or Magical equipment that can be given to a Crewman in addition / replacement of his base equipment The Items cards represent special equipment that can be bought before the battle to empower your heroes and crews. In a Standard game the Doubloon Values of all the Items of a defeated enemy must be added to the total victory point count. In a Campaign game the Items of a defeated enemy usually cannot be acquired by the winner. In a Solo game maybe or maybe not acquired (as the players choose) Some items can be used only one time, as noted in the description of the item, and by the adding of the ONE USE ONLY phrase on the card Two objects with the same name cannot be given to the same crewman Some object card carry the indication of Legendary items, Legendary items can be only bought once, so only one player on the table can have a specific Legendary item On a Item Card you will find the Doubloon Cost to equip the item to a Crewman on the bottom left of the card. This price is for a single item (card) of this kind. If you want to equip another Crewman with the same object you must pay the price anew At the bottom of the card you will find a rule correct box of interpretation for the card text, this stringed rule is to be applied in game Spell Cards To give more option to the player, we choose to NOT give single spell (usually) to a Crewman, but let the player choose the spell before the game.

23 On a Crew card you will find the Caster Level of the Crewmember in a specific Theory Field of magic. In a Standard Game the player can select 1 spell card from that Theory for each level the Crewman knows. The icon for spell Theory is at the Top Right angle of a Spell Card Selected Spell Card can then be used in battle as the player wishes, one spell at a round if the caster can act The Spell cards represent magic spells know to a hero or a crewmember. In a Standard game the Doubloon Values of all the Spell Cards of a defeated enemy must be added to the total victory point count. In a Campaign or Solo game the Spell of a defeated enemy cannot be acquired by the winner In a Solo or Campaign game Magic spells are parts of the knowledge of the specific Hero or Crewman you are building and are inherited from game to game. For the same reason these Spell Card are not acquired randomly but must be found in looted treasured or bought and sold between adventures as specified in On a Spell Card you will find the Doubloon Cost to equip the spell to a Crewman on the bottom left of the card. This price is for a single spell of this kind. If you want to equip another Crewman with the same spell you must pay the price anew. In a Campaign game it will be a rough estimate of the spell value, but the real buy value and availability of a spell will be determined by At the bottom right position of a spell card you will find the Spell Difficulty for casting this spell in battle. To cast a spell in battle you must roll a D10 and add the Caster Level in the spell Theory Field. If the result is higher than the Spell Difficulty the spell is cast correctly, if the D10 rolled a Fumble the caster get burned for 1 wound. If the d10 rolled a Critical look on the Spell Card information s for a Critical Result, if no critical result is given, simply apply the maximum result for the spell. 23

24 10.5 Hero Action cards Action Card are to be considered Advanced Rules, as they influence the game above and beyond the base ruleset. Action Cards will be the most unbalancing items in the game and as that these will be subject to revision, changes and rewording. Please check on often to check changes and revision of the rules The main difference between an Action Card and all other crewman cards are that the Action Card is actually used during play and these don t have a Gold Doubloon Value Action Cards are meant to be played during the game and then discarded, if not otherwise written on the card, no effect from a single Action Card can remain in play, remove all played action card effects at the beginning of each Crewman Turn To create your own Action Card deck, you can select 1 Action Card for every level of Crewmember in your Crew. For example you have 4 Crewmen of level 1, a Quartermaster of level 2 and a Captain of Level 3. This gives you a total of (4 *1)+(1*2)+(1*3) = 9 Card in the Deck All the cards in your deck must be different, if there are exceptions to this rule it will be written on the single card At the beginning of each Game Turn, all players pick 3 Hero Action Cards from their Deck, from now on he can use them anytime he wants, but he cannot have more than 5 cards in his hands when beginning a new Game Turn Not all Action Card are applicable to all Crewmember, some are limited to a specific Hero o Race or what else. Limited use card like this cannot be played on the wrong model. Example: Only a crewman with an Elemental area attack spell can use the card Element Mastery in its Action Deck. It s of no use to a Crewman that cannot cast this kind of spells When played the Action Card take effect immediately, so these cards can be used to influence heavily the effect of play. Example: The Step in the Dark Action Card can be played just before the Melee Attack phase, and the model can be moved and placed at the back of its victim, so gaining the +2 dice bonus Used Action cards get discarded at the beginning of each Crewman Turn; the same happen if you have in excess of 5 Action Cards in your hand at the end of each Game Turn. 24

25 10.6 Card Clarifications If the text of a card specifically contradicts some rules, that card takes precedence If an Action Card says that [something] can t happen, and another Card or rule tries to make [something] happen, that can t effects takes precedence. If something can t be performed, any Card involving that thing can t be played or spell cast If two or more Action Cards are played, conflicting actions can result. To solve these problems try to use a logic solution, if his don t work the player who first played an Action Card usually has the choice, then the next one and so on If multiple amounts of damage would be dealt to multiple Crewmen at the same time, the target player chooses the order in which damage destined for crewmen in his or her party will be processed, and then the next player clockwise does the same, and so on Treasure D10 + Lvl Doubloon Equipment Potions Scrolls 25 Magic Items Artefact 1 1D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

26 22 5D D D D D D D D10* D10* Table Treasures For each Treasure on the field, roll a D10 and add the level of the highest Crewmember in the Crew. The number from Table 10.7 above is the card that can be picked from the Items, Potions and Treasure Cards deck The Scrolls can be obtained picking cards from the Spell Cards Deck. Legendary Items are added only for Simple Games play, in Campaign or Adventures specific Legendary items will be agreed upon before game begins. 26

27 11 - Campaign Rules 11.1 What is a Campaign? A campaign is a series of connected Adventures, where the players can grow his own Crews battle after battle During a campaign, players can use the treasure they collect during games to hire new soldiers, buy magic equipment, and improve their headquarters. Also, as the Crewmen progress through a campaign, they will gain experience, allowing them to improve their stats, learn new spells, and become more proficient at casting the spells they already know. This chapter provides players with all of the information they need to know in order to take their Crews through a campaign Create a Crewman Creating a Level 1 Crewman is relatively easy. You begin from the Base Battle Profile then add the Race Modifier, Profession Ability and Equipment. Here are some examples of starting human Crewman: Figure 5 - Base Battle Profile The Base profile is for a human, with light armor and sword worth 95 Dbl. Figure 6 - Spellcaster Battle Profile The Spellcaster Battle profile can be used for the Captain or the Quartermaster, with one Theory at Level 2 and 3 spell to choose, with Mage Armor and Sword (Level 5 Total) worth XX Dbl. 27

28 Figure 7 - Hero Battle Profile The Hero Battle profile can be used for the Captain or the Quartermaster, with no armor and Dagger worth XX Dbl The Base Battle Profile is explained in 9.9.9, all other races are measured against the Human, to obtain a Recruitment price. Race Magic Skill Doubloon Human Goblin Phan Any Theory 172 Gnomes Avian Supernat. Th 136 Dark Elves Darkness Th 131 Norren Chi Element Th 127 Sun Elves Orks Lizardfolks Iron Dwarves Tritons Illusion Th 125 Leonid Ki Spirits Spirit Th 127 Green Elves Gray Dwarves Table 8 - Race Modifier Table 5 gives you a level 1 crewman of the given race, unarmed, unarmored and without spells known. If you want to play our introductory scenario Out of Jail stop here your crew creation, otherwise continue adding Training, Basic Equipment and spells. 28

29 All starting spellcaster are level 0 wizards (0 in any Theory skill) and begin the game with 1 Spell known, this spell can be of any Theory Basic Training, Equipment and Ability Basic Training is the section to give your crewmen a specific role in your Windship, for example on the majority of the Windship the Quartermaster or the Captain has magic ability used to steer the ship or to control the Levitationals The key Crew characters (Captain, Quartermaster) automatically start the campaign with certain Command Skills and increased skill levels, as follows: a Captain Skills: Leadership (3), Charisma (2) b Quartermaster Skills: Leadership (1), Charisma (1) Skill Number Skill level is represented by a number, which acts as the modifier for the described effects of that skill. In the skill descriptions below, the skill level number it is represented by x in (parenthesis). When a skill is first selected, the skill number for that character starts at 1. But it may be improved the longer the character survives the dangers of battles The Table 9 - Profession Table show some of the skill that the Crewman can have learn for their profession. The first skill is fixed, learned at the creation of the crewman. The skill can be further developed until it reaches a maximum value of 5, or a new skill can be learned and mastered. Training Recruit Ability Learned Shipmate 0 Sure-footed (1) Acrobat 20 Light Landing (1) Ranger 20 Climber (1) Bard 30 Nimble (1) Crossbowman 30 Fast Reload (1) Thug 30 Threatening Build (1) Barbarian 40 Strongbull (1) Harlequin 40 Leap (1) Porter 40 Porter (1) Marine Infantry 50 Ready Stance (1) Thief 50 Insignificant (1) Archer 60 Sharp Shooter (1) Berserker 60 Bloodlust (1) Tracker 60 Jumper (1) Treasure Hunter 60 Danger Sense (1) Assassin 70 Guerrilla (1) Knight 70 Charisma (1) Beast Master 80 Handle Animal (1) Monk 80 Dive Attack (1) Tunnel Fighter 80 Take All Comers (1) Apothecary 90 Potion Grenades (1) Artillerist 90 Grenades (1) Templar 90 Charger (1) 29

30 Trapper 90 Quick Reaction (1) Mercenary 100 Ambush (1) Mystic Warrior 100 Co-fighter (1) Arquebusier 110 Leading the Target (1) Demon Hunter 110 Far Strike (1) Nobleman 110 Leadership (1) Paladin 120 Fearless (1) Gladiator 130 Die Hard (1) Inquisitor 140 Mage Slayer (1) Necromancer 150 Necromantic Theory (1) Priest 150 Supernatural Thoery (1) Demonic Servant 160 Fear (1) Chronomancer 150 Timewalk Theory (1) Elemantalist 150 Elemental Theory (1) Enchanter 150 Enchantment Theory (1) Illusionist 150 Illusion Theory (1) Sigilist 150 Runic Theory (1) Soothsayer 150 Divination Theory (1) Summoner 150 Evocation Theory (1) Black Mage 150 Darkness Theory (1) Witch 150 Natural Magic Theory (1) Spirit Mage 150 Spirit Magic Theory (1) Table 9 - Profession Table Armor Cost Special No Armor 0-1 Defense Light Armor Defense Heavy Armor Defense included AoE Shield Defense Field Plate Defense included AoE Table 10 Armor Table Weapon Cost Special Whip 2 Short Blades 3-1 Melee Rapier 5 +1 Defense only on Melee HandAxe 5-1 Melee, +0 Ranged: 2 squares Shortbow 6 +0 Ranged: 6 squares Sword 6 +0 Melee Light Polearm 7 Far Strike (1) Mace / Hammer 8 +0 Melee, Ignore Light Armor Greatsword Melee, -1 Defense Martial Arts Melee, +1 Defense 30

31 Claws Gauntlet Melee, +1 Defense Heavy Polearm Melee, Far Strike (1) Bow Ranged: 10 squares Crossbow Ranged: 7 squrares GreatAxe Melee, +1 Defense Pistol Ranged: 4 squares, Ignore Light Armor Heavy Mace/Hammer Melee, Ignore Light Armor Arquebus Ranged: 8 squares, Ignore Light/Heavy Armor Table 11 Weapon Table Remember to add all weapons and armor that the miniature has sculpted. This way what you see is what you get in play! If a spellcaster on character creation choose a magical profession he gains 1 theory point skill (see Table 9 - Profession Table) and a new spell. All other theory must be gained leveling up. See b 11.4 Level and Experience Point Level is a numerical representation of the power of a creature. Usually creature of the same level should be close to each other powers. A Level 10 creature is strong enough to easily destroy level 1 creatures, and so on For every level a Hero gains, he may choose to improve his magic Theory, improve his Battle Profile stats, or grow his Ability. See During each Campaign or Single game, a crewman s achievements can earn him experience as outlined on the experience table, below. XP Gain Kill an enemy / monster Kill an enemy spellcaster Kill an enemy hero Recover a Treasure Held an Objective at end game Overcast a Successful spell Kill the last monster on table 1 xp * Level of the enemy 1,5 xp * Level of the enemy 2 xp * Level of the enemy 1 xp * 50 Doubloon value 2 xp 1 xp 2 xp bonus You need to track separate experience for every crewman, they can learn improvement as a Hero, but with the limited experience point they get, their growth is slower than the Heroes For each 10 full xp a Crewman or Hero can grow up a level. 31

32 11.5 Leveling UP a Crewman / Hero For each level gained a crewman can increase one of three statistics Wounds, Melee or Ranged: To rise a statistic it s relatively easy, a Crewman can train by him/herself for 2 hour * new stat value and can only raise by 1 point Wounds, Melee or Ranged skill. This is in account for the time spent gaining Xp Each value can be raised only 10 points above the start value for the race Maximum level for this game is For each level gained a crewman can choose one of these options: a Raising an Ability To raise an Ability he already had a crewman must spend 125 Doubloon and practice it for 2 weeks. Otherwise if he is in a civilized city he can learn it from a professional. If the learning for rising up the theory is done with a master too, the cost and time are halved. To raise a new Ability from 0 he must find a professional to practice with for a month and spend 250 Doubloon b Raising a Theory and learn a new spell. When a spellcaster rise up one level he can choose to grow up his theory skill and learn a new spell, see chapter b for details Learn New Spells Generally, wizards of the same (or similar) level will know the same spells (if of the same Theory) or similar. For every level in a Theory they own, they can learn a new spell When a spellcaster rise up one level he can choose to grow up his theory skill, studying for 1 month and spending 300 Doubloons. After that he is eligible to learn a new spell from this Theory. If he has found a tome or a scroll with this spell on. Otherwise if he is in a civilized city he can shop for the spell or learn it from a master. If the learning for rising up the theory is done with a master too, the cost and time are halved Maximum Theory level is To learn a new Theory a spellcaster must find an appropriate Master and spend 1000 Doubloons and 6 month time in learning. At the end of the 6 month training he gains 1 point in that Theory and starts with a new spell, given from the teacher Learn New Ability Improving Skills Values Skills can be improved between games. During the post-game campaign sequence, all heroes and crewmen can either : a select a new skill, or b improve an existing skill by increasing the skill number by one Only one skill number improvement or new skill selection can occur per postgame campaign sequence, per Hero or Crewman You need to track separate experience for every crewman, they can learn improvement as a Hero, but with the limited experience point they get, their growth is slower than the Heroes Maximum Statistics No skill number may be improved beyond 5. The limit for Magical Theory Ability is 10. Skill Ambidextrous Short Description The Crewman can wield 2 weapons (1-handed weapons or pistol only). 32

33 Ambush (x) Bloodlust (x) Charger (x) Charisma (x) Chronomancy Theory (x) Climber (x) Co-fighter (x) Danger Sense (x) Darkness Theory (x) Diehard (x) Dive Attack (x) Divination Theory (x) Elemental Theory (x) Enchantment Theory (x) Evocation Theory (x) Far Strike (x) Fast Reload (x) Fear (x) Fearless (x) Grenades (x) Guerrilla (x) Illusion Theory (x) Insignificant (x) Jumper (x) Leadership (x) Leading the Target (x) This Ability can be taken only 1 time. The range for locking in combat an enemy around the character is 1+x squares. After taking an enemy figure out-of-the-game in combat, the character may move up to x squares in a straight line towards the next closest enemy within line of sight. If after movement the character enters combat with an enemy figure, the character gains +x to its Melee dices for any attack against that enemy this turn. The Hero may control crewmen within 3+x squares (inches) of him. Get 1 more Chronal spell to his total Theory The character may climb at a cost of 2-x squares of movement for every inch of vertical height. The character adds x to the supporting figure modifier (+1) during multiple combat. X Automatic Success for Trap Save Get 1 more Darkness spell to his total Theory The character takes x damage less when doing a Defense roll. If at the end of a fall or jump the character lands on or within combat range of an enemy figure, the enemy figure takes damage equal to half the height of the fall (including falls that are less than 3 inches) or distance of the jump (in inches) +x. If this occurs as a result of a fall, the character also takes falling damage as usual Get 1 more Divination spell to his total Theory Get 1 more Elemental spell to his total Theory Get 1 more Enchantment spell to his total Theory Get 1 more Summon spell to his total Theory The character can fight an enemy figure which is not in base contact, but within ½x inches out from the edge of the base of the character. The character may shoot and reload a crossbow / pistol / musket in one action. However, the character can only move x squares for its move action during that activation. Enemies that fight the character get -x to their Melee stat for single combat with this character. Each additional enemy after the first in multiple combat with the character reduces x by 1 (ganging up to overcome their fear). When fighting an enemy character that has the Fear skill, the character modifies the enemy character s Fear skill by -x. If the Hero is leading a group of Crewman with his Leadership, then all other Crewmen in range also benefit from its Fearless skill. Can create and attack with many kind of Grenades During its activation the character may move x squares, shoot, then move a further x squares again. This counts for a Ranged attack action in addition to the movement action. Get 1 more Illusion spell to his total Theory The character cannot be shot by Ranged attacks further by 1+x squares, if he is not the closest and easiest eligible target. This skill cannot be combined with the Threatening Build skill. The character can jump forward a distance equal to x squares if moving; or jump 1+x squares without counting as moved for this activation. The Hero may command a group of up to x crewmen. If the character does not move during his movement action, and makes a Ranged Attack this turn, then its target gets x to its Defense dices against 33

34 Leap (x) Light Landing (x) Long Bowman (x) Mage Slayer (x) Natural Magic Theory (x) Necromantic Theory (x) Nimble (x) Porter (x) Potion Grenades (x) Quick Reaction (x) Ready Stance (x) Runic Theory (x) Sharp Shooter (x) Short Bowman (x) Spirit Magic Theory (x) Strongbull (x) Supernatural Thoery (x) Sure-Footed (x) Take All Comers (x) Threatening Build (x) Additional Arms (1) that shot. The character can jump upwards 2+x square (to ignore movement penalties for walls, or reach higher ledges). The character does not suffer damage from a fall if the height is less than 3+x inches. The character gains +x to its Ranged dices when the target is further than half of the maximum weapon range. The character gains +x to its Melee or Ranged dices against an enemy spell-caster. Get 1 more Nature Magic spell to his total Theory Get 1 more Death spell to his total Theory If the character loses health points during a combat activation, the character may move x inches in any direction out of combat. The character gains x to its movement while holding a treasure or other similar item. This bonus is applied after the initial movement is halved. Can create and attack with Potion Grenades If the Crewman with this ability is targeted by a Ranged Attack and still have to take his Turn, he can sacrify the Movement to add x to his Defense dices. After an enemy enters into combat with the character, it gains +x to its next Melee attack against that enemy. This skill may not be used if the character is already in combat with another enemy; or if the character makes a Melee attack against another enemy in this turn before the benefit of this skill would apply. Get 1 more Runic spell to his total Theory When making a Ranged attack into combat (see 9.9.9), the character may modify the random roll made to determine the target of the attack by x (i.e., choosing to add or subtract x from the roll as it suits). The character gains +x to its Ranged dices when the target is within half of the maximum weapon range. Get 1 more Spirit Magic spell to his total Theory The character may push back an enemy x+1 squares if it wins a fight combat action. Get 1 more Divine spell to his total Theory The character may move through rough ground or ship rigging at a rate of 2 +x squares for every forward inch of the rough ground travelled. This bonus cannot be reduced below 1:1 inches. The character gains +x to its Melee stat while fighting against more than one enemy in multiple combat. No enemy figure may do a non-combat action within a radius of 1+x squares around this Crewman or get a Free Strike. This skill cannot be combined with the Insignificant skill. The Crewman can wield x weapons (1-handed weapons or pistol only). This Ability can be taken only 1 time for each appendages. Table 12 Skill Detail 11.8 Get More Items At the end of each battle in Campaign Mode, if not otherwise specified by the campaign, is presumed that the survivors of a Crew head back to their vessel and then back to a civilized area When in a civilized area a Crew can usually buy new items, if the Treasury has enough Doubloons to pay for them. 34

35 Sometimes is a good idea to make a stock of items to keep on the Windship, to re-equip expended items in campaign where the players are away from civilized areas Magic Items The availability of Magical Items on the market is dependent on the Campaign rules, usually they should come with a list of Location (shop, temples, mage academy, ecc.) where these objects are available Each shop have price and availability of items, so if you are playing a campaign with more than 1 player, the object sold are no more available to other crews Crewmembers who are also spellcasters can try to create magic items by themselves, following rules and receipts specified on the Items card Wounds and Deaths Crewmember fallen in battle have different destiny if the game is a default one or a Solo/Campaign game In default games each crewmember that reach 0 wounds is killed, and award victory point to the enemy In a Campaign or Solitary game, at the end of the game you can check if a Crewmember that has reached 0 wounds is really dead or is only unconscious and his wounds are curable. At the end of combat, roll a dice for every crewmember at 0 wounds: 1-4 The Crewman is permanently dead; he can be resurrected or animated to un-life. If you won the battle all the Crewman equipment can be recovered, if you lost the battle the equipment belongs to the winner. 5-7 The Crewman has received heavy wounds, but it will survive. The Crewman will be unavailable for 2D10 days of Campaign time. All the Equipment has been recovered. Using healing potion will shorten the recovery time by 1 day for each wound healed. 8-0 The Crewman has received only light wounds, nothing is lost. The Crewman will be unavailable for 1 day for each wound sustained (of Campaign time). All the Equipment has been recovered. Using healing potion will shorten the recovery time by 1 day for each wound healed Losing the Captain or the Quartermaster has more dire consequences. As stated in some crewmen are faithful to the Captain as a character and some are faithful to his role as Captain. When a Captain is killed, the crewmen faithful to him for Charisma will leave the crew if the Captain is replaced by a new one, those faithful to the Role, will remain The same is true for the Quartermaster, but with a difference: One of the Charisma linked crewman can be promoted to be the new Quartermaster. This way none will leave, only change his allegations to the new Quartermaster If a Captain is killed and the Quartermaster survives, the Quartermaster can become the new Captain, and all alliance will switch to him. He can then select a new Quartermaster and try to rebuild all his network of alliances, if he had enough point of Leadership and Charisma. All crewman that cannot be controlled by the new network, will leave If the number of leaving crewmember is more than the number of remaining crews, we have a Mutiny A Mutiny will be played as a battle between the two groups of crewmen, if the mutineer won the ship is lost, as well as the Campaign. If the faithful win, they can replace lost crewman at the next stop in a civilized area. Play the mutiny as you want (Solitary or with another player guiding the mutineer) Hire new Crewmember 35

36 Basically a Crew can be as big as hundreds of hands, but when the Captain goes for his errand he always choose his most trusted, faithful members The base crew a captain can field is equal to the sum between his Charisma and his Leadership Crewmembers attached by Charisma are personally faithful of the Captain and crewmen attached by Leadership are faithful to the role of Captain The same is true for the Quartermaster, with crewman faithful to him personally and crewman faithful to his role onboard the ship So a ship away team can be composed of a sum of the entire crewmember who can trace their faith to the Captain. Example: The starting values for a Captain are (see a) Leadership (3), Charisma (2) so 5 crewmember. One of those is the Quartermaster, so 4 more can be chosen, but he has Leadership (1), Charisma (1) so 2 more men are faithful to the Quartermaster. At the end a starting crew is formed by Captain, Quartermaster and 6 more men, 4 + Quartermaster directly faithful to the Captain and 2 faithful to the Quartermaster Solitary Game Setup for a Solitary Game A solitary game is when you have no friend to play with or when you and your friends want to play as allied and none want to use the monsters to fight against the group. All the rules of a Standard game are valid in a Solo game; the difference is specified each time. The main difference is that we rely on a new card deck to random extract encounters for our adventures and that the monsters and creature follow a routine (enemy AI) to decide what they do turn by turn The cards with the green back are creatures, NPC and monster cards that you can use to create a Random Monsters Pool of creatures that the Crews will encounter during the game As usually a solo game have a maximum of 12 Game Turn, you rarely needs more than 20 cards in the pool A Boss Enemy is a high level adversary, when you pick up a Boss Card, then get from the enemy pool the relative Minion Cards A Minion is a Low level card, usually extracted from the game box when a Boss appears on the table. Some Minion can be mixed in the Random Monsters Pool as standalone encounters A Monster is neither a Boss nor a Minion, usually when picked from the Random Monsters Pool does not summon help to fight the players Crew The Victory points for the game follow a different placement as specified in 12.2 Enemy Phase In the solitary Game you need to move the Enemy when they get their Crewman Turn. But you are not free to move them as you want; Enemies play by their own rules When they are Activated, they act as follows: Step 1 - Try to Attack a Crewman. If they re unable to, they continue to Step 2. 36

37 Step 2 - Move toward a target. Step 3 - Try to Attack a Crewman. If they re unable to, they continue to Step 4. Step 4 Cast a spell to buff themselves Step 1 Attack The first thing an Enemy does is attempt to Attack a Crewman. Check if any Heroes are in Line of Sight and within Range of any of the Enemy s Combat Actions. If not check if a crewman can be attacked Melee Combat. If the Enemy has a value for Melee attack, it can target a Crewman in base to base contact Ranged Combat. If the Enemy has Ranged attack ability, it can use it to target any Crewman in its Line of Sight, but not in base to base contact Magic Combat. If the Enemy has Magic or special attack ability, it can use it to target any Crewman in its Line of Sight within Spell Range If there are multiple Crewmen the Enemy could target, it will attack the highest level Crewman among those who can target (in case of a tie, the Storyteller chooses). If the Enemy manages to perform its Attack, its Activation immediately ends If it s not able to Attack (because there are no Crewman in Range of any of its Combat options), it continues its Activation to the next Step Step 2 Move If the Enemy was unable to Attack (because there were no Crewman in Range of any of its combat ability), it will then Move towards its target with its full Movement speed (see 6.2) until it reach base to base contact. The Enemy s target is determined in this order: a The Enemy moves to get within Range of the Crewman with the highest level in Line of Sight b If there are no Crewman in Line of Sight, but other Enemy can see at least one Crewman, the Enemy Moves towards the Crewman on the board with the highest level and in Line of sight to another Enemy c If there are no Crewmen in Line of Sight to any Enemy, the Enemy moves towards his own Starting point Remember that Enemies cannot leave a previous combat if there s a new Crewman in sight If several Crewmen share the highest level, the Storyteller chooses (regardless of distance) which one the Enemy creature tries to reach The Enemy always follows the shortest path towards its target. If there are several routes of the same length, the Storyteller chooses After the Enemy has moved their full Movement, they continue their Activation to the next Step Step 3 Attack 37

38 Just like Step 1, the Enemy again attempts to Attack a Crewman if there is one now in base to base contact or on Line of Sight and within Range of any of its Ranged/Spell/Special ability. Follow the same rules as in Step 1 to determine whether an Attack is possible and which Crewman to target, in case there are several in Range now Again, if the Enemy manages to perform its Attack, its Activation immediately ends If not, they continue their Activation to the last Step Step 4 Cast Buff If the Enemy was again unable to Attack because there are no Crewman in Range of any of its Combat options, but there are Crewmen in Line of Sight to other Enemy, it will use his spell to buff himself, if possible Follow the same rules as the Crewman to determine what spell will be cast. After this casting the Enemy does not Attack, and its Activation ends The world of Valenor 13.1 An Ancient World Valenor is a fantastic world, inhabited by a lot of different races, with a long and complex history. In the long millennia of its history a lot of empires and kingdoms are born and are fallen, mighty gods, kings, mages and monsters have changed the world to the like of what we see today. A world broken by untold wars, where nearly 50% of its land is shattered in large and small islands, mighty mountains and deep crevasses lie near beach and seas, as to show the power of magic to transform the land. Some lump of terrain, castles or even mountains, float in the air seems without anything to hold them afloat, proof of strange magic still at work today. Some flying islands even travel on fixed route at known speed and are a bounty for windship Pirates. On top of this, in the last millennium, the Mighty Empire rise to power added its own marvels and the horror of the Darkness grip with fear the lives of those who live here The Darkness On Valenor there are a lot of different races, but as you can expect there are no race that are Evil for definition. If you are the target of an Orc raid you can understandably define them evil, but the real evil is another thing. The Darkness is something impalpable, it can be perceived like a slow corruption, a change of customs, a single act of appalling atrocity. In this way the Darkness creeps on Valenor, corrupting individuals, or items or pieces of land, and with these foothold it spread. At first slowly, invisibly, corrupting an individual, then his family, the village and spreading ever further. Individuals can give themselves voluntary to the Darkness, as they gain power and magic easily, or involuntary, messing up with more subtle ways of corruption. Corrupted creatures become monsters, their victims mutating or rising as undead. Their neighborhood change to become a haunted and dangerous land, eating or drinking food or water from these corruption can transform and kill. Any way someone start to accept the Darkness, there can be only one outcome the Corruption. The Darkness is more like a venom, a sickness, that transmit in strange ways, but taken in time it can be cured. The magical nature of the Darkness makes her easy target of opposing magic. Magical sign or rune protect from the Darkness (for a while), corrupted creature can be turned or destroyed by powerful magic and keep away with magical sign or Holy Symbol. Obviously the Darkness fight back, and do it trying to take control of the world. 38

39 There is no divinity that doesn t fight against the Darkness; Priests, Monks and Clerics are the first to fight against the Darkness, but like all spellcasters they too are liable to fall for the lure of the Darkness powers The Levitational Paradox The same invention that set the Phan people on the way to become immensely rich and powerful, changed the world forever, and not in a nice way. With a world like Valenor, full of lake, seas, mountains and forests, the exchange of goods has ever been very difficult and limited to few routes. The Levitational that made flying ship possible solved all the problems in a single package. So begun the Levitational Era. At first the high cost of Levitational engines keeps only the richest merchant and lords to own flying ship. But as soon as the more complex and functional engines become available, the prices for the basic levitationals become accessible to a lot of more people. Imagine that instead of months of travel by land, sea and whatever else you can travel day and night in comfort and more secure flying on a windship. The major availability of windships made the travel by land more and more obsolete. The need to maintain road, stables and hostels falls quickly to zero. Soon anyone can afford to travel by windship or sale their products far and far away. So begun the Second Levitational Era. But Without the constant control and destruction, hostile races, monsters and corrupted areas explode out of control, enough to menace and sometimes destroy cities and kingdoms. The solution comes easy, great walls were built, turret and weapons will defend the city from the outside world. The richest the city, the higher the walls that surround it. In a short time what is inside the walls is safe, what is outside is lost for good. Given time the only fact of being forced outside the wall became a capital sentence. The world has become limited to a few safe areas in a world of dangers. The Outdoor. Actually the city grew inside their walls, rising towers, keeps and other construction to expand vertically. Having a house, storage or shop show how rich you are, a lot of people live on the street, working and eating when they can. With this static situation the only way to become rich and powerful lies outside the city. Discovering a lost ruin, finding treasures and magical items can make a crewman very rich and a lot of adventurous captain set sail to make their fortune in the Outdoor. So begun the Rediscovery Era The Almighty Empire For nearly a millennium the fortune of the Phan people have been connected with the creation of Levitationals, the only risk was that other races discovered how to build them too. To enforce their monopolies the Phan create a mighty fleet of windships, and with this mailed fist they conquer or subjugate all the other cities. All sign of rebellion or if someone was discovered to made secret research on the levitationals, the Phan give them a tabula rasa response. The guilty people and all their city were wiped out, house burned and walls destroyed. The city inhabitants sold as slaves, to repay the cost of moving the Mighty Fleet. Soon a league of mercantile city begun to fight against the monopoly of the Phan, they soon realized that the only way to oppose the Almighty Empire was too build their own windships. So was born the League of Merchants. The conflict that issued was blood and very costly for all. The Almighty Empire, given the enormous expenses they have to sustain asked the peace, giving the League the right to produce only merchant vessel and to use the Levitational Paint to make them fly. The League accepted, having themselves got enormous lost in resources and peoples. 39

40 What the League of Merchants doesn t know at the time, was that the Phan already have discovered new and more efficient Levitational engines. Keeping their new engines secret for the next 80 years, the Almighty Empire returned in a position of power, but on the other hand the ban on other Levitational being built was lifted. The Second Levitational era have begun. In the following years the Phan become even more and more rich, depraved and indolent. They discovered a lot of other magical secrets, of how to open portal to other worlds, to raid them and bring back slaves and richness, on how to alter body and mind of their slaves and enemy. But their greatest error was to cease their fight against the Darkness. During the empire of Emperor Antonius, the Mighty Fleet was used to search and destroy all sign of Corruption in the land. Mighty spell were create to clean the taint and an army of Mage Knights fight a Crusade to eliminate the Darkness from the World. The premature death of Antonius slowed and then stopped the Crusade. His successor Draconius declared the land free of the Corruption and disbanded the rank of the Mage Knights. Not only the Knights were disbanded but from the Mighty Army on the field, only the Phan officers were transported back. The other slaves, declared as possible carriers of corruptions, were left to themselves. A lot of Windship rebelled and were lost, some joined forces with the disbanded troops and others set sails to League territory. Falling back in disarray was like setting fire to dry wood, in all the Empire territories started rebellions and unrest; slaves rebelled and flee, ambitious nobles strike their political enemy and all the blame was directed against Draconius. He was said to participate in aberrant rituals, of killing political enemy and got called The Mad Emperor even before his death. The reign of emperor Draconuis was short and bloody, he was burned as Corrupted by the Darkness to quell the rebellion in all the Empire. Having lost so a great number of soldier and sailors, the Navy and Army of the Mighty Empire become a shadow of themselves, and still today they are yes strong entity, but shadows of their former power Other Political Entity It must be said that by the time of the Crusade, the Mighty Empire army and fleet were composed for the 90% of non-phan, and even the Phan that were in the army and fleet were only officer. Leaving hundreds of thousands, if not millions of soldier stranded in the Outdoor and without control, was a devastating hit to the power of the Mighty Army, but gives the opportunity to entire regiments of slave races (Ki, Avian, Chi and other) to flee from their master to search a land for themselves. At the same time the Mercenary regiment were paid and ordered to return to their home. Lot of mercenary started to loot and pillage the lands, other joined the fleeing slaves in search for new lands, but some regiment stay together, conquering city and creating new kingdom. Not only the Mercenary refused to disband, but many companies of Mage Knight (Human and Sun Elf on the majority) established their base on Castles and Fortress to keep fighting against the Darkness. These knights will become the actual day Order of The Cleansing Flame. The Chi established their home on high mountain plateau, creating villages and then city and Monasteries. They splitted in five Clans: Air, Earth, Fire, Water and Wood following their natural powers, but mixed marriages were not uncommon. The Ki Spirits, stranded on this world, find refuge on some island away from the main windship route and tried to rebuild their life here. A lot of them cannot accept this way of life and returned on the Empire, but being spiritual being and being more attuned to the natural world, they keep living in the Outdoor. 40

41 14 - Races of Valenor 14.1 Humans Humans are the most common and versatile race in the world of Valenor, they have created strong City-state of different culture and government. These are too numerous to be listed here, we will just list some notable groups: - The Invisible Assassins are members of a mystical sect, The Hand of Blood, that can become invisible and jump onboard the enemy ship, killing the enemy before the battle. Usually they do not survive the attack. - The Winter Witches are a secretive group of female s magic user. They specialize in ice and cold magic and in special potion remedy. - The Cleansing Flame is an order of militant priest, sworn to destroy all the creature of Darkness, also known as the Inquisition. The Humans were omnipresent in the Almighty Empire, even at position of power. The falling from power of the Phan can be the best opportunity for the Humans, if they can overcome their difference they can become a very powerful player on the political stage but as they are now, too fragmented to be a danger to anyone, it will need a very strong leader to unify them. Humans does not a single divinity like other races, they usually follow the entire pantheon of gods. Only Priest Monk and Cleric choose a single god to follow (and that gives them their powers). Normal human pray to a god that control the specific request they need. When a woman seeks to have a child she prays and made offer to Danu, Mather of All. When they travel by sea they made offer to Leida, Goddess of Sailors. All soldiers before a battle made offering to Sardar, God of War, to return alive from battle, and their commanders made huge offers to be victorious on the battlefield. 41

42 14.2 Goblins Goblins are a stranded race, they seem to be found in all the cities of the world, but they have no kingdom to call their own. They mad passable metalsmith and tinkerer scrounge for materials anywhere they can, enough to get a living in most marketplaces. As can be expected a lot of Goblins are outlaw, they from pickpocket to kidnapping. Goblin mercenary are cheap and easily replaceable, a mainstay of bandits and wannabe warlords. The goblins are a very industrious race, do any kind of work and seem to have a fearless disposition. Crewing a windship with Goblin is the cheapest option on the market, but they usually are very willing to do anything, but not skilled enough to do it. 42

43 14.3 Phan The Phan are an ancient people that untold years ago discovered the Levitationals. This discovery give them great wealth and power, they create the Almighty Empire that once ruled all of Valenor. Now the Phan people are a decadent and perverted lot, their power has waned with time, leaving great zone full of ruins of once great cities. A lot of peoples have freed themselves from the slavery of the Almighty Empire, but none wish to face its wrath, as even a fraction of its power is enough to destroy whole nations. The Phan are physically different from any other race from Valenor, and some Sages speculate if they are really originary from this world or come from somewhere else. First of all they are completely devoid of body hair, two hearts beat in their chest and their eyes have no pupil. They are magically proficient and it s said that all magician in Valenor can trace their ancestry to at least one Phan ancestor. The Phan people has become unfit for combat, they would be conquered a long time ago if they hadn't their greater magical constructs that can fight for them. Only the top Phan magicians know the method to distill the essence of dreams, able to give form and substance to the wishes of the drinker. A single vial of Essence can cost a fortune. A big one. Centuries ago, the Phan started the culture of Valenor as we know it today, inventing the Levitational Liquid, a mixture able to fly anything on which it is painted. The next step of their discoveries, the Phan Levitational Engines are a complex meta-magic contraptions that replaced the levitational liquid, making the old Levitational Paint available on the market for merchants and other empires to use. Levitational Paint is what has made enormously wealthy the Phan race millennia ago, today is very cheap but outdated by new levitational type, but it's still used to make fly everything coated with it. After the disaster of the Crusade and the fall of the Mighty Army, the Empire have fallen in a time of decadence. They are still the big fish in the pond but a lot of territory slips away from their grip, ambitious nobles cease to respond to the call of the Emperor and first of all, a lot of money disappears from the taxes. Other very important products are the Phan Sails; these are very thin veils of an opaline material called 'Light of the Moon', capable of storing levitational energy. 43

44 44

45 14.4 Gnomes The Gnomes are a race of very small humanoids, fled from the slavery of the Phan they seek refuge and still now lives underground. The Gnome people are very mechanical-oriented and have developed some incredible magical talents to interact and build mechanical things. Their greater creation was the gunpowder and later the cannon and musket. The Culverins are small guns that can launch balls of lead, iron or stone with tremendous speed toward the enemy ships. Loaded with small stones or small balls of lead (Grapeshot) are devastating on the crew. Clockwork Grenade is a special ammunition for Cannons and Culverins that explodes some seconds later, after penetrating into the enemy ship inflicting much more damage than a conventional shot. The Double Helix is a steam propulsion system, which uses arcane Gnomic knowledge to move a vessel even in the absence of wind. 45

46 14.5 Avians The Avian race lives on mountains top or in floating castles and islands high in the sky of Valenor. They worship Leida, The Most Harmonious, Goddess of Winds and Sailors. It s unknown if the ancient Phan evolved the race of the Avian from humans or from bird, but today they show a mix of both traits. They are an ovoviviparous race, born from eggs carried by the female. This trait influences strongly the sociality of the race. Each stronghold is a single Clan, with their own leaders, and they are very aggressive to outsiders, even of their own race. Inside a clan the Avians are divided in castes, by function, so the male are Defender, warrior, and teacher, the female are gatherer, scout, priestess and so on. This means that inside the nest the male organize the defense, outside the nest the female conquer new territory and so on. All the young born in the same year are taken from their parents and grow up together, in sisterhoods or brotherhoods, creating very strong bonds. The Saboteur, the most famous of the Avians warriors are trained from infancy in the art of fly unseen, striking the enemy where they are less expecting or not paying enough attention. The Queen is the leader of the Army and the King is the leader of the nest defense. Queen can be changed quite easily, but to replace the king it means the nest was destroyed. When the young Avians reach adulthood they must complete some kind of initiation rites, chosen by the leaders of the clan. The young are expected to complete the rite or die trying. So, sometimes young Avians that failed their rite end up in other city around Valenor as adventurer or as mercenary. For some Clan the passage rite requires the young to acquire a flying animal as a mount or as a companion, the more powerful the animal, the more honors they get. Each clan has a King and a Queen / Chief Priestess, sacred above all, chosen from the most beautiful of the clan, to honor Leida. The same is true for all ceremonies: marriages, funerals, coming of age are all done high in the air, where the goddess can see them. The avians are not against merchant or trade; just they keep it away from their nest-fortresses. They establish some location where they go to trade and visitors from outside can live and travel. 46

47 In a world permeated by vessels flying mainly by sails, the lack of wind has marked the end of entire fleets; the Avian Wind Seeds solve the problem of lack of wind or become a weapon of dogfights. Another avian product, the Cloud's Juice is able to create clouds instantly, and can be used to hide whole ships or to call rain even in the worst desert anyway, an essential commodity. The Cloud Condenser is a very special apparatus, designed by Avian technomage to condense levitational energy from the air surrounding the ship. Clearly this means that an Avian ship or flying fortress is never without levitationals. A byproducts of the Cloud Condenser is that the apparatus creates a dense fog that make the ship harder to be seen or attacked. 47

48 14.6 Dark Elves Elven blacksmiths have an exceptional hardness and strength. The Dark Elf race was created by Sela, the Goddess of the Moon to fight against the forces of her sister Arva (the Elves of Sun) and their allied. A very ancient race, they have a grasp of Necromancy like none else. The Adamantium is a rare mineral of purple color is only found in deeper caverns. Items crafted in Adamantium by Dark The Hellfire is a terrible mixture created by the caste of priestesses of the Dark Elves, is said, by trapping the essence of the flames of hell. The Spider Queen's Spawn are special kind of spiders, trained by the Dark Elves to repair the damage sustained by the ship with their web or with a cement-like substance they emits. The Dark Elves have a very special engine: chaining winged demons to the hull of the ship and use them to make her move. Needless to say that in case of combat they are also very effective against the enemy. Dark Elves have a dark and sinister reputation, and their Necromancer often use their magic to raise the dead members of both crew when in a difficult battle. 48

49 14.7 Norren The Norren are the giant of the frozen lands. Their height easily reaches 3 meters. They are a very religious people, they believe the Spirits are everywhere and their Shaman can call upon them for protection or for obtaining power. The Norren lives in great stone and wood walled cities that have wall so thick as to be nearly indestructible. The wall has no doors as when they leave the protection of the city, they usually fly over the wall. Another level of protection for the cities is a concentric structure built from Megalith and Dolmen. These giant stones held bound spirits that protect the city from their enemy. When a great warrior of the Clan dies, a Shaman can bind his spirit to a Dolmen. In this way defend the city from enemy. It s the greatest honor a warrior can receive from his people, to be selected to live forever in the stone. Norren society is divided into clan, called by the name of a great ancestor. The Hugin Clan lives in the great city of Welor, and is one of the most powerful clan of the Norren. The city of Welhor also hosts the great hall of law where the chief of all Norren clan meet to discuss great dangers, ask for justice or make wars. The Norren have no great division between male and female role in the society, the great distinction is among clan and status inside a clan. The two leader of a Clan are the Warlord and the Chief Shaman, and then follow the warriors and the merchants. Peasants, hunters and landowner are in the lowest esteem by the community, but are those that vote for the election of the leaders. Warrior and merchants have no vote rights, to keep the society from becoming too warlike or too deep into religion. The lowest of the lowest are the Slaves, coming from every corner of Valenor, they are only property and can be traded, bought and sold as the owner see fit. The slave toil in the fields, build windships or do menial labor. The can take up arms to defend the city, creating their own units on the battlefield, to win their freedom. All the slaves can buy their freedom with money, by serving the city for 30 years or by valor in the battlefield. Sometimes they can gain their freedom by marriage, but this rarely can happen to people less than 3 meters of height The Norren use special floating Totem to fly their ships, each one of these totem take energy from bonded spirits and instills it in the ship and the crew, flying the ship and increasing its combat capability. Usually the totem is a terrible figure (dragon or other monsters) that is the prow of the ship, this figurehead can (under the control of a Shaman) breathe fire or have other powers taken from the spirit enslaved in the ship. 49

50 The Norren Giants warriors are fearless, but only the bravest (or more desperate) of them dare to venture among the eternal ice in search of the Black Amber, the source of the elixir of resurrection. They move using special flying skiff that can carry one or two of them flying for prospect or hunt. These Flying Skiff work like the totems of the ship, with an animal spirit bound to make them fly. Often the flying skiffs are carried about a windship, giving high mobility to the Norren once landed. The endless forests of the north, the kingdom of the Norren giants, provide a continuous flow of rare furs, precious stones and amber sought throughout Valenor for their beauty. The Norren who travel to other parts of Valenor are welcome with cautious stares, as they can be both traders and raiders. Some very affluent people can afford to have a Norren mercenary bodyguard, and it is said that in the Great Army there are entire Regiment of Norren mercenary. The Valkyries are a special kind of Norren priestesses, they are the one that choose the warrior whose soul is saved in the stones, but they also are able to summon spirits and ghosts, and to recall back the spirits of dead crewman to life. If a crewman dies away from the city, his spirit can be bound in small stones, called soulstones, that can store the spirit until released. Stealing a soulstone is a capital offense, but they can reach price of thousands of doubloons. 50

51 14.8 Chi The Chi physically resemble Humans and can easily mistaken for one, but instead they are a race of elemental being, composed of raw elemental matter (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal & Wood) given humanoid form in forgotten Phan rituals. They are able to produce magic crystals associated with their elements. One type of these magical crystals, called Ice Stars by the Chi mystics are the very essence of cold. They have many uses, from keeping food and beverages cold to the devastating weapons of the Chi fleet. Based on the concept of the Ice Stars, the Chi produce other Elemental Essences, objects of great power, that reach an astronomical price. The Chi Sails are woven only with the best silk, and are imbued with elemental essence, allowing them to store more levitational energy. The Chi Icestar Thrower is one of the most devastating weapons ever created. It hurls hundreds of Ice Stars against the enemy, freezing everything it hit and creating ice masses capable of plunging any windship to the ground below. 51

52 14.9 Sun Elves The Sun Elves are the beloved sons of Arva, the Goddess of Sun and Light. They are a very religious and militaristic people, strictly divided in hundreds of caste and battle orders. There's no better beverage on Valenor than the Elven wine, suitable for the most discerning palates and with no intoxicating effect, is the showpiece of aristocratic banquets and official receptions. The Elvish Levitationals are purely a creation of magic, in fact, the Sun Elven caste of Harbingers of Light achieves this object that emit beams of solid light underpinning the ship. Sun Elven Sails are masterpiece of magic art, made in secret by the elf caste of the Women- Butterflies, these are able to accumulate levitational energy to astoundig levels. The Sun Elven warrior caste of the SpellSinger is able to deflect attacks before they reach their target, reducing damage caused by the ship. 52

53 14.10 Orks The Orcs, the flameborn, worship Gharuk, the god of fire. Like the fire they devour and destroy, a nomadic people they conquer a territory and live there until it's completely exhausted, then they move somewhere else. The Orcs Priests create Fire Stones for their warriors, a rock that burns for no apparent reason and that are impossible to extinguish without magic, becoming a devastating weapon. One of the few arts of the people of the Orcs, the Stelae are like books, narrating from the bottom up Orc History or an epic story or teaching how to cast a magic spell. Stelae are much sought after by collectors or magicians. The huge furnaces installed on board of Orc ships are the center of worship of the crew, but their great flow of flames is used as propulsion or as a weapon for these terrible vessels. The Orcish Raider are fearless warriors are a frightening sight, often winning battles even before they need to fight them. Fireblood Ale is produced by the Orcs in huge quantities and is often used in the course of their rituals. Given to the Orc crewmen before a combat, makes them full of rage and fury. 53

54 14.11 Lizardfolks The Lizardman are one of the few people capable of living on the Outdoor the unforgiving lands of Valenor. Adapted to the harsh nature of the lands they can travel easily without levitating ships. Nonetheless they wage wars on the other races they hate in the skies of Valenor. They do not revere a divinity, so they don t have priest, but Witch Doctor who can call Spirits and the like. In the swamps of the Lizardman often sprung some black, sticky oil, called Stone-Oil, that can be ignited and burns until exhaustion, very dangerous in combat. The Lizardman live in contact with nature and they can get drugs with strange effects from some special plants. Needless to say, these drugs have very high prices per gram on many markets. Sporethrower are strange weapons that the Lizardman created by exploiting the pressure of the swamp gas to launch containers loaded with acid and poisonous spores on enemy ships. Burning Oil is an extract the stone-oil from the Lizardman swamp home, used as a special bullet for catapults and onagers. Poisoned Arrows are another terrible weapon created by Lizardman, with their knowledge of venom and herbs, they can create poisons effective in a few seconds. 54

55 14.12 Iron Dwarves The Dwarfs are a race of small humanoids very skilled in the art of barter. They follow Brumbarr, Peak of Mountains, god of the Earth. They have a corporation government, where the most powerful mercantile guild control the city-nation. Learned, elegant, art loving and of high culture the Dwarfs have a good understanding of magic. A lot of their theatre plays show how even the richest dwarf will go to length to make ever more money or spare some expenses. Mithril is a rare silver mineral that is found only in the deepest of the mines. Only the Dwarvish craftsmen know the secret to making this strange mineral very sharp and very durable. Dwarven Beer is famous throughout Valenor, but even more famous are the riots triggered by drunken dwarves, who forget their usual composure and went wild in an uncontrollable rage. The Ancestor's Rhyme is one of the most powerful war songs of the Dwarf, for the duration of the song any dwarf singing become invulnerable to enemy attacks. Unlike other kind of sails, the Dwarven sails are made of a very light metal, with sharp and dangerous edges. In the hands of an experienced captain, these sails are used to cut and destroy masts, sails and crews of enemy ships. The Dwarves have solved the problem of maintaining their ships flying with huge balloons. The Zeppelin is filled with a particular gas that keeps the ships in flight and is not flammable, greatly enhancing the resistance of the vessel. 55

56 14.13 Tritons Tritons are a race similar to young humans that live under the water of Valenor. Their patron goddess is Thalassa, Queen of the Seas and Giver of Water. They can breathe indefinitely in water and for limited time outside of it. They trade products of the sea and of their magic with other races in exchange for what they cannot craft underwater. The Tritons, using their ability to breathe underwater, can retrieve Abyssal Pearls. Rare and of enormous value, these are one of the more powerful magic components to be found on Valenor. The rare Coral, in its various colors, red, black, blue and purple is one of the main goods traded by the race of the Tritons. Fireborn Coral is a special type of coral, extracted from the Tritons, who has the ability to burn anywhere, even underwater. Launched aboard enemy ships there is no way to extinguish it. The Tempest is a weapon invented by the Tritons able to launch dozens of arrows or rockets simultaneously, unleashing a storm of fire and shrapnel on the opponent. The Mermaids are the Tritons priestesses. Their powerful magic song can do marvelous magic effects. Protection Pearls are a magical object created by the Mermaid priestesses of the Tritons, using the Pearl a Triton become invulnerable to a certain amount of damage. It is said that giant Pearl can protect even a Windship. Viridyan Sails are made with a particular algae cultivated by the Tritons, who know how to release its inner magical properties, becoming more robust than a plate of iron and capable of storing levitational energy. 56

57 14.14 Leonid The Leonid people worship Arva, the Goddess of Sun and Light, in his lion aspect. Like the Sun elves the Leonid are extremely militaristic, but they have a matriarchal religious society. The female are the center of the community, they control anything from the family income to the ruling of law. They often choose their mate politically: from the most glorious Warlords, to give them more importance on the council. The young male serve in the military for 40 years, if they survive they can mate and spend their rest of life with all the old male: discuss of high moral question, while worshipping the sun in long basking session during the day in the city agora. The Leonid does not have an Army, but a lot of Warband, where the young ask to be accepted. Serve under a victorious warlord is a great honor and the way to create your own warband. Being rejected by all warband is a dishonor no male Leonid can survive. Being chosen by a female is a great honor, but not being chosen simply indicates that he must remain in a Warband. 57

58 14.15 Ki Spirits Like the Chi, created from the elemental forces, the Ki Spirits were given forms from the spiritual realms. The Oni Ki resembles a small version of the spirit of the underworld, with all the fear and hating this bring forth. The Kami Ki are nature spirits given human forms, they hated the slavery this put on them, and a lot have fled from their Phan masters. 58

59 14.16 Green Elves Green Elves are follower of Danu, the Mother of All, Goddess of the Forest. They are one of the few races that still live in the great Outdoor. Only the Green Elven caste of the Witches of Cradleseed is able to cultivate and work the Steelwood, a wood that can be turned into a wooden object hard and durable as steel. 59

60 14.17 Grey Dwarves The Grey Dwarves people lives underground and are nothing like their more civilized Iron Dwarf cousins. They are more barbaric and warlike, with a very strong Clan society, more adapted to their secluded enclaves. Their hidden city are secure underground and rarely they allow merchant to trade their huge stock of rare and precious metals. They have grown a strong sense of honor that 60