DragonQuest Campaign Newsletter issue 2.0
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Rumors & News of Current Events
Tidbits (top)
The Dark Prince.
The Dark Prince Denethor is a renegade Elf lord from Shadow Dale. He has led a band of reavers across the Southern Continent, primarily striking at caravans. He is believed to have a base somewhere in the hills near Terre Haute. Little is known of his background, but then, little is known of the goings-on within Shadow Dale. The Elves there are a dark and brooding folk, and many say the Dark Prince must have done some truly foul deed to have been forced out of that domain. There is a fairly hefty price on his head by the Merchant Guild and also by a number of Citystates.
Assassins’ Guild (aka Slayers’ Guild, Dark Brotherhood)
The Assassin’s Guild is one of the few guilds which is not bound to a single city or region. Most trades guilds are only local organizations, but the Dark Brotherhood knows no boundaries between cities or kingdoms. They are one of the most feared as well as one of the most secretive organizations. Typically, when a contract is taken with the Slayers’ Guild, a team consisting of one or more assassins will be assigned to the mark. Failure is dealt with very strictly within the Guild.
Shadow Walker.
Shadow Walker is one of the most renowned assassins, and has been practicing his trade across both the Northern and Southern Continents for well over a hundred years. He is believed to be an Elvish adept of Celestial Magics, but no one knows for certain. No one even knows what he looks like. While the Dark Brotherhood generally claims him as their own, it is commonly held that he is not a member of that organization (the occasional joke surfaces about how the Assassin’s Guild pays him to be a member!). There have been incidents where he has acted counter to the Guild’s traditions and bylaws (for high value marks, only one assassination Team may be assigned).
Elite Mercenary units.
About 40 years ago, a mercenary unit known as the Gyrfalcons were one of most elite armies money could buy. After bouncing around from campaign to campaign, they settled their base of operations at Arrabar. That lasted for about 4 years, until they were hired out for a long term contract by Praetoria, which at that time was having a wee bit of a dispute with the Elves of Shadow Dale. Rumors drifted back that the war had ended, but that the Gyrfalcons had settled down toward South Reach - which seemed an odd place for mercenaries to settle since it is about as far from anywhere as a person could get. After another few years, nothing was ever heard of the Gyrfalcons again. But they were not forgotten. Few mercenary bands have upheld the honor of their name as well as the Gyrfalcons, and very rarely were they defeated (and never for very long). Many armies have tried to measure themselves up against the Gyrfalcon legend, but very few have ever come close. They were expensive, but they were the best money could buy. About the only current mercenary unit which compares would be the Dwarven unit, Hammer’s Slammers, let by Dorin "The Hammer".
Warlocks.
Warlocks are actually a branch of humanity which has evolved in the extremely Mana rich regions of Taramis. They are pure descendents of the Wizards (2nd Tribe of Man), but due to their environment, they have become even more highly magical entities. The Warlocks are organized in Clans, which each Clan focusing primarily on a particular style of Magic. Some of the more well-known of the Clans are the Stormriders (Air Magics), Flamethrowers (Fire Magics),
Rule Clarifications and Notes. (top)
Task Results.
DragonQuest uses a percentile system for resolving tasks. In many cases, there are special results for exceptionally good or bad rolls. While DragonQuest does consistently make use of certain thresholds for determining the level of success, they are referred to differently depending on the situation. The following list presents some common terminology for the different levels of success:
| Die Roll | Level of Success |
| £ 5% target | Critical Success |
| £ 15% target | Exceptional Success |
| £ target | Success |
| £ target + 30 | Failure |
| £ target + 50 or 99 | Exceptional Failure |
| otherwise | Critical Failure |
Will Power, Morale, and Fear.
There are a lot of things that can demoralize characters. Fighting heavy odds, being ambushed, seeing friends cut down, or just feeling the tide turn in combat can all cause fighters to lose heart. Even worse is being set upon by horrendous monsters such as Dragons, Demons, and Undead. Any of these things may be sufficient for the GM to require a Will Power check for Morale/Fear. The base roll should be either 3xWP or 4xWP, depending on the situation. In addition, Adventurer level characters should get a +15% modifier and Heroes should get a +30% bonus due to their greater experience and coolness under fire. If the leader of the group has Military Scientist and has been leading any members of the group for a sufficient amount of time (see rules for Mil Sci), then the leader’s Will Power plus 2 x Mil Sci rank can be added as a bonus for those party members. (Essentially it’s a measure of faith the party members have in their leader. As long as he stands strong…)
The results of a missed roll will depend on the situation. In some circumstances, the character failing their morale check will suffer penalties on their attack rolls (-10% cumulative for that combat, in case multiple rolls need to be made throughout it). In other cases they may simply flee, and in particularly inspired moments a Fright Table check may be called for. Please make note that Fleeing is always a rational option for those who made their roll.
Called Shots.
There are no absolute guidelines for determining what modifiers should be used for called shots. Essentially it is a judgment call by the GM. All of the following factors should be considered: Size of target area, ease of striking the target area (partially obscured?), motion of the target area (Is it moving more than the whole target? Is it sporadic or steady?), coolness and steadiness of the character (based on overall experience and current emotional state - perhaps make a WP + MD check to get a bonus, or perhaps Adventurer and Hero level characters should get greater bonuses), mood of the GM, and favor of the gods.
The effects of a hit on a called shot will vary. In most situations, the percentages for inflicting Grievous Injuries or Endurance damage will be unchanged - Grievous Injuries will just automatically inflict the appropriate wound. In such cases, an Endurance shot may also be considered to inflict a Grievous Injury (on NPCs). Characters may attempt strikes against unarmored parts of the body, and therefore bypass (if successful) any armor for normal hits on Fatigue. And of course some monsters may have a particular weak spot, and striking that area may be the only way of inflicting damage - or it may automatically kill them. (An unarmored spot in the Dragon’s hide, or some particular weak spot in an otherwise indestructible Demon).
Results of a miss will depend on the particular target. A missed heart-shot will most likely still strike the target if the roll was within the normal strike chance. However, a bow-shot at the legs of a charging horse would most likely be a complete miss. Typically it will fall into three categories - still a hit, possibly a hit, or definitely not a hit. If it was still a hit, the quality of the hit can be determined from how far off the roll was from the required to hit, perhaps in addition to a second roll. Likewise, if it was a complete miss, a roll might be required for hitting some other poor soul. I would suggest an additional roll in the case of iffy rolls.
Divine Perspiration.
As a famous philosopher once concluded (sometime between his birth and being struck by lightning), "Hey, why else were the gods created?". Deities can serve several functions in a campaign. First of all, there is Divine Inspiration where a pious follower of a particular deity may get "clued in" about what to do in a particularly difficult situation. Such revelations do not come often, and are typically not trivial (although that depends a great deal on the particular deity), and may even be somewhat painful. Secondly, there is the comfort of knowing that when your character dies, they shall rise (well.. maybe not rise..) into the care of their preferred deity. Thirdly, belief in deities can have some indirect influence over events - followers of some gods may be persecuted, while others are held in high standing (or even feared). This adds a lot of flavor to any good campaign. And finally, gods may take a direct (or even indirect) hand in events and exercise their right to Divine Intervention. This is usually a last resort used when a favored believer is up to their arse in trouble and hasn’t quite figured out the Divinely Inspired hints yet. Oh, and occasionally character’s may be working against some particular deity’s objectives…
Luck.
Luck costs 500 EP for each usage per gaming session for starting characters. There can be a maximum of 2 usages of Luck taken.
Rates of Movement.
The TMR presents a character’s movement rate given ideal circumstances. Injury may slow down the character, as will obstacles. Typically, you can figure on the following rates:
| Movement | Max TMR | Free Face Changes |
| Cautious Movement | 1 | 1 per hex |
| Normal Walk | 2 (< ½ TMR) | 2 per hex |
| Jog | ½ TMR | 1 per hex |
| Run | Full TMR | 1 per hex |
| Sprint | 1½ x TMR | none |
Obstacles are a judgment call. Running over rough terrain or through moderate woods should slow a character down and the chance of tripping would be greatly increased for sprinting. Heavy woods would reduce running and sprinting significantly, increasing the chance of fall or injury for both.
Typically, rapid movement over any sort of rough or obstacle laden terrain will require an Agility roll per turn to avoid tripping. The difficulty modifier will depend on how fast the character moves, and how lacking in caution they are. (Ever wonder why the panic-stricken girls always trip when running from the horrific knife-wielding maniac in slasher films? No, it’s actually because THAT’S WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO SEE!!)
Familiarities.
I’ve got some minor skills generically called "Locations" which would probably be better described as "Familiarities." The original idea for these was to provide some measure of the character’s familiarity with a particular region or place (eg. Sherwood Forest, City of London, England in general). However, they could also be used for a measure of familiarity with pretty much anything, such as particular organizations, creatures, or the works of certain people (eg. Picasso paintings). A familiarity should not be taken for something that would normally be covered under a skill - for instance, an Artist or Scholar specializing in art would be familiar with paintings in general so just a generic familiarity with famous artwork would not be a valid choice. Similarly, the measure of a character’s familiarity with a local Thieves’ Guild would be taken from the rank with Thief and the rank of familiarity with that particular town - the idea being that as you become more familiar with a particular location, the aspects of it you understand best will be those in which you have a stronger personal interest (shown by what skills you have developed).
An interesting application of Familiarities would be with particular kinds of monsters. Normally, any encounter with Demons or Undead would require a Will Power check - such creatures just ooze horror. But if characters should become accustomed to such creatures, then they would get bonuses for the Fright checks. Any encounter with such creatures would also provide the characters with the opportunity to advance their familiarity with such monsters. In these cases, the Familiarities should be with particular classes of creatures - i.e. Demons, Dragons, Undead - and the character will get a +3% per rank bonus.
Opposed Tasks
Sometimes two or more characters will be attempting tasks which oppose one another. An example of this would be one character holding a door closed while several others are trying to break through the door.
In such cases, one roll should be made for each side. The base chances should be determined by the GM. The results, however, will be determined from the level of success for each roll. In the above example, if the character holding the door closed rolls an Exceptional Success, then the characters trying to break in will have to roll either an Exceptional or Critical Success to break in. In the case of both rolls being the same level of success, the result will be determined from which roll was better.
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Note: Dorin "The Hammer"'s elite Mercenary unit is a tribute to David Drake's excellent Hammer's Slammers books.