Ambarquenta CRB 2012.2

Full text

(1)BETA VERSION / JANUARY 2012.

(2)

(3) CORE RULEBOOK A ROLEPLAYING GAME BY THE HEREN TURAMBARION BETA VERSION / JANUARY 2012.

(4) CREDITS GAME DESIGN: Georg Witrisal, Daniel Windisch, and Martin Meyer AUTHOR AND DEVELOPMENT: Georg Witrisal LAYOUT: Inspired by Decipher’s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game COVER ART: Angus McBride, The Enemy at the Gate ILLUSTRATIONS: John Howe, Rob Alexander, Angus McBride, and Daniel Reeve PLAYTESTING: Bob Butler, Alexander Muhr, Sebastian Scheucher, Sebastian Seebauer, and Daniel Windisch PROOFREADING: — SPECIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: David Bruce, Whitford Bates, Thomas Morwinsky SPECIAL THANKS: Chris Seeman, Alexander Muhr, José Enrique Vacas de la Rosa, Sebastian Seebauer, Peter Pichler, Joshua McCrowell, Pedro Baumann, Jason Decker, and all other gamers who contributed to the development of Ambarquenta. SOURCES OF INSPIRATION: The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (2002) and the Moria boxed set (2003) by Decipher, Inc.; Middle-earth Role Playing (a.k.a. MERP, 11986, ²1993), Rolemaster (²1991), Rolemaster Companion I-VII (1986-1993), Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing (1995, 1999), and High Adventure Role Playing (a.k.a. HARP, 12003/2004) by Iron Crown Enterprises, Inc.; GURPS (³1996) by Steve Jackson Games, Inc.; HârnMaster (³2003) by Columbia Games, Inc.; RuneQuest (³1987) and Call of Cthulhu (5.21995) by Chaosium, Inc.; Ars Magica (41996) by Atlas Games; Hither Lands (2004, 2006) by Val Gunn; MERP 3.1 Houserules for Lindefirion (2010) by Sampsa Rydman; MERP Character Creation Using RMSS/RMFRP (2005) by Whitford Bates; Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook (³2000) by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Midgard: Das Fantasy-Rollenspiel (42001) by Pegasus Spiele; Shadowrun (³1998) by Fasa Corporation; King Arthur Pendragon (41999) by Green Knight Publishing; and The Hall of Fire Fan Webzine (2003ff.) by Matthew Kearns (Ed.). WEBSITE: https://sites.google.com/site/ambarquenta. © 2012 The Heren Turambarion. All rights on original contents reserved. For commercial purposes, no parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise. Permission granted to distribute this publication in any form, but exclusively, among the members of your gaming group. Please note that some of the contents of this publication have been copied or modified from the books listed under ‘Sources of Inspiration’ above and are not subject to the copyright of The Heren Turambarion.. 4.

(5) OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER ONE: Your Character’s Story ............................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER TWO: Attributes ................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER THREE: Races and Cultures .............................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER FOUR: Skills ......................................................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER FIVE: Abilities and Flaws ................................................................................................. 124 CHAPTER SIX: Weapons and Gear .................................................................................................. 178 CHAPTER SEVEN: Finishing Touches .............................................................................................. 194 CHAPTER EIGHT: Character Improvement .................................................................................... 202 CHAPTER NINE: Adventuring ........................................................................................................... 210 CHAPTER TEN: Combat .................................................................................................................... 250 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Magic ................................................................................................................. 290 APPENDIX A: Occupations ................................................................................................................ 320 APPENDIX B: Herbs and Poisons ..................................................................................................... 336 APPENDIX C: Friends and Foes APPENDIX D: Bestiary APPENDIX E: By Your Own Design. 5.

(6) TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION....................................................................... 10 About Ambarquenta........................................................... 10 Rolling the Dice And Basic Mechanics............................ 12. Dwarves ................................................................................ 41 The Longbeards .............................................................. 41 The Firebeards ................................................................ 41 The Broadbeams ............................................................. 42 The Ironfists .................................................................... 42 The Stiffbeards ............................................................... 42 The Blacklocks ................................................................ 42 The Stonefoots................................................................ 42 All Dwarves ..................................................................... 43 Hobbits................................................................................. 44 Fallohides ......................................................................... 44 Harfoots ........................................................................... 44 Stoors ............................................................................... 44 All Hobbits ...................................................................... 45 Men ....................................................................................... 46 The Dúnedain...................................................................... 47 Pure-blooded Dúnedain................................................. 47 Lesser Dúnedain ............................................................. 48 The Faithful..................................................................... 48 Corsairs ............................................................................ 50 Black Númenóreans ....................................................... 51 The Middle Peoples ............................................................ 52 Beornings ......................................................................... 52 Eriadorians (Rural Folk) ................................................ 54 Gondorians (Urban Folk) .............................................. 55 Lake-men ......................................................................... 56 Rohirrim .......................................................................... 57 Woodmen ........................................................................ 58 The Men of Darkness ......................................................... 59 Dorwinrim ....................................................................... 59 Dunlendings .................................................................... 60 Easterlings ........................................................................ 61 Haradrim ......................................................................... 62 Variags ............................................................................. 64 The Wild Men..................................................................... 65 Lossoth ............................................................................. 65 Woses ............................................................................... 66 Age ........................................................................................ 67 Starting Age ..................................................................... 67 Age Effects and Aging .................................................... 68. YOUR CHARACTER’S STORY ................................................. 14 Initial Choices ...................................................................... 14 Races and Cultures ......................................................... 14 Character Traits ............................................................. 14 The Character Sheet........................................................... 15 Grace .................................................................................... 15 Determining Grace ......................................................... 15 Social Rank ...................................................................... 16 ATTRIBUTES ............................................................................. 26 Primary Attributes .............................................................. 26 Deftness (De) .................................................................. 26 Nimbleness (Ni) ............................................................. 26 Strength (St) ................................................................... 26 Vigour (Vi) ..................................................................... 26 Awareness (Aw).............................................................. 26 Will (Wl)......................................................................... 26 Bearing (Bg)..................................................................... 26 Insight (In) ...................................................................... 27 Wits (Wt) ....................................................................... 27 Generating Attributes ........................................................ 27 The Buy Method ............................................................ 27 The Random Method .................................................... 27 Height and Weight ............................................................. 28 Stature (Height) ............................................................. 28 Girth (Weight) ............................................................... 28 Size Levels ....................................................................... 29 Genetic Limits ..................................................................... 29 Determining Genetic Limits ......................................... 29 Total Attribute Scores ....................................................... 29 Adjustments Due to Gender ......................................... 30 Racial Adjustments......................................................... 30 Derived Attributes .............................................................. 30 Fortitude .......................................................................... 31 Stamina ............................................................................ 31 Swiftness .......................................................................... 31 Wisdom ........................................................................... 32 Esteem.............................................................................. 32 Health .............................................................................. 32 Prowess ............................................................................ 33 Other Attributes ................................................................. 33 Changes to Attributes......................................................... 33. SKILLS ....................................................................................... 70 Skill Organisation................................................................ 70 Skill Specialties................................................................ 70 Parent Skills and Sub-Skills .......................................... 71 Skill Groups..................................................................... 71 Acquiring Skills ................................................................... 71 Development Picks ......................................................... 71 Youth................................................................................ 72 Apprenticeship ................................................................ 72 Later Life.......................................................................... 74 Using Skills .......................................................................... 75 Test Classes ..................................................................... 78 Varying Test Attributes................................................. 78. RACES AND CULTURES ........................................................... 34 Time Setting ........................................................................ 34 Elves ...................................................................................... 34 The Noldor ..................................................................... 35 The Sindar....................................................................... 37 The Silvan Elves ............................................................. 39. 6.

(7) AMBARQUENTA Skill Affinity .................................................................... 78 Levels of Success (LoS) .................................................. 78 Craft Skills ....................................................................... 78 Skill Descriptions ................................................................ 80 Skill Name (P/G) ........................................................... 80 Acrobatics ........................................................................ 81 Act .................................................................................... 81 Alchemy (G) .................................................................... 82 Appraise ........................................................................... 83 Arcane Lore (G) .............................................................. 83 Armour ............................................................................ 84 Armoursmith (P) ............................................................ 84 Axes (P) ........................................................................... 84 Beastmaster (P) ............................................................... 85 Blacksmith ....................................................................... 85 Blades (P)......................................................................... 85 Bows ................................................................................. 85 Climb ................................................................................ 86 Clothworks ...................................................................... 86 Clubs (P) .......................................................................... 87 Conceal............................................................................. 87 Cook (P) .......................................................................... 87 Culture Lore (G) ............................................................. 88 Dance ............................................................................... 88 Debate .............................................................................. 88 Devise (G)........................................................................ 89 Discern ............................................................................. 89 Disguise ............................................................................ 90 Dodge ............................................................................... 90 Draw (P) .......................................................................... 91 Escape ............................................................................... 92 Etiquette (P) .................................................................... 92 Fake .................................................................................. 92 First Aid ........................................................................... 93 Fish ................................................................................... 93 Flails (P) ........................................................................... 94 Fletcher ............................................................................ 94 Games............................................................................... 94 Gardener .......................................................................... 94 Goldsmith ........................................................................ 95 Heraldry ........................................................................... 95 Herbcraft ......................................................................... 95 Hide.................................................................................. 96 History (G)...................................................................... 96 Hunt ................................................................................. 97 Inquire .............................................................................. 97 Inspire .............................................................................. 98 Intimidate ........................................................................ 98 Jump ................................................................................. 99 Language (G) ................................................................... 99 Law ................................................................................. 100 Lead ................................................................................ 101 Leathercraft ................................................................... 101 Legerdemain .................................................................. 102 Lip-reading .................................................................... 102 Locate ............................................................................. 102 Locks .............................................................................. 103 Lore (Summary)............................................................ 103 Melee Weapons (Summary)........................................ 105 Mimicry.......................................................................... 106. Musician (G) .................................................................106 Nature Lore (G) ............................................................106 Observe...........................................................................107 Persuade .........................................................................108 Physician ........................................................................109 Polearms (P) ..................................................................109 Reckon ............................................................................109 Region Lore (G) ............................................................110 Research .........................................................................110 Ride .................................................................................110 Ropecraft ........................................................................111 Run .................................................................................111 Seafaring .........................................................................112 Search .............................................................................113 Services (G)....................................................................113 Shields (P)......................................................................113 Shipwright .....................................................................113 Siege Engines (P) ..........................................................114 Signal (G) .......................................................................114 Sing .................................................................................114 Smithcraft (Summary) .................................................115 Sneak ..............................................................................115 Steward...........................................................................116 Stonecraft .......................................................................116 Streetwise .......................................................................117 Survival (P) ....................................................................117 Swim ...............................................................................118 Teamster ........................................................................119 Throw (P) ......................................................................119 Track ..............................................................................119 Traps ..............................................................................120 Unarmed Combat (P)...................................................121 Warfare ..........................................................................122 Weaponsmith (P) .........................................................122 Weather-sense ...............................................................122 Whips .............................................................................123 Woodcraft ......................................................................123 Wordsmith ....................................................................123 ABILITIES AND FLAWS ......................................................... 124 Acquiring Abilities ............................................................124 The Benefit of Taking Flaws .......................................127 Working out the Story .................................................127 Talents ................................................................................127 Physical Talents ............................................................127 Mental Talents ..............................................................130 Social Talents ................................................................132 Special Talents ..............................................................134 Edges ...................................................................................137 Physical Edges ...............................................................137 Warlike Edges ...............................................................139 Outdoor & Stealthy Edges...........................................145 Social Edges ...................................................................147 Special Edges .................................................................149 Flaws ...................................................................................156 Physical Flaws................................................................157 Mental Flaws .................................................................164 Social Flaws....................................................................171 Special Flaws ..................................................................174. 7.

(8) AMBARQUENTA WEAPONS AND GEAR.......................................................... 178 Money................................................................................. 178 Middle-earth Coinage .................................................. 178 Starting Wealth ............................................................ 180 Area Price Modifiers .................................................... 181 Trade and Commerce .................................................. 181 Weapons ............................................................................ 181 Weapon Types.............................................................. 181 Weapon Size and Attribute Requirements .............. 185 Armour............................................................................... 185 Armour Types .............................................................. 185 Body Part Protection ................................................... 186 Armour Penalties.......................................................... 188 Armour Options ........................................................... 189 Shields ................................................................................ 189 Shield Effects................................................................. 190 Materials ........................................................................ 190 Other Gear......................................................................... 190. Action Penalties ............................................................ 218 Levels of Success or Failure.......................................... 218 Test Types ..................................................................... 221 Test Variants................................................................. 222 Injury, Weariness, and Healing ....................................... 225 Recording Damage........................................................ 225 Other Sources of Harm ............................................... 228 Healing ........................................................................... 233 Weariness ...................................................................... 237 Unusual Hazards............................................................... 239 Fear ................................................................................. 239 Traps .............................................................................. 240 Quicksand ...................................................................... 241 Other Dangers............................................................... 241 Esteem Tests ...................................................................... 242 Uses of Esteem Tests.................................................... 242 Travelling ........................................................................... 245 Travel Modifiers ........................................................... 245 Travel Skill Tests .......................................................... 247 Transportation .............................................................. 247 Vehicles and Vessels ..................................................... 248. FINISHING TOUCHES .......................................................... 194 Movement and Encumbrance ......................................... 194 Pace ................................................................................ 194 Encumbrance................................................................. 195 Movement and Action Points ..................................... 195 Ambar................................................................................. 196 Testing Ambar .............................................................. 197 Benefits of Spending Ambar ....................................... 197 Ambar for Other Characters ....................................... 197 Recovering Ambar ........................................................ 197 Corruption ......................................................................... 198 Corruption Levels ......................................................... 198 Sources of Corruption.................................................. 198 Effects of Corruption ................................................... 200 Decreasing Corruption ................................................ 200 Renown .............................................................................. 200 Acquiring Renown........................................................ 200 Using Renown............................................................... 201. COMBAT ................................................................................. 250 Combat Basics ................................................................... 250 Basic and Optional Rules ............................................. 250 Scale and Miniatures .................................................... 250 Action Rounds ................................................................... 250 Initiative ......................................................................... 250 Actions in Combat ............................................................ 252 Movement and Engagement ........................................ 255 Melee Combat ............................................................... 257 Ranged Combat ............................................................ 266 Miscellaneous Issues ..................................................... 269 Horses and Mounted Combat ......................................... 271 Breeds of Horse............................................................. 271 Horse Movement .......................................................... 273 Horses in Combat ......................................................... 275 Battles ................................................................................. 277 Parameters of Battle ..................................................... 277 Armies, Units, and Formations ................................... 279 Battle Test Modifiers ................................................... 281 Abstract Battle Resolution........................................... 283 Tactical Battle Resolution............................................ 285 Sieges .............................................................................. 288. CHARACTER IMPROVEMENT ............................................. 202 Skill Improvement ............................................................ 202 Learning from Experience............................................ 202 Skill Training ................................................................ 204 Practising and Studying On Your Own .................... 206 Special Rewards................................................................. 206 Types of Rewards ......................................................... 206 Trigger Situations......................................................... 207 Spending the Picks ............................................................ 208 Attributes ...................................................................... 208 Acquiring New Edges .................................................. 209 Renown Awards ................................................................ 209. MAGIC..................................................................................... 290 The Nature of Magic in Middle-earth ........................... 290 Spellcasting and Types of Magic ................................. 290 The Subtle Magic of Middle-earth ............................ 292 Magical Characteristics ..................................................... 295 Fëa................................................................................... 295 Skills ............................................................................... 295 Magical Abilities ........................................................... 296 Spells ................................................................................... 301 Realms of Spells ............................................................ 301 Spellcasting Methods ................................................... 302 Acquiring and Learning Spells .................................... 302 Casting Spells ................................................................ 304 The Middle-earth Grimoire ............................................. 308. ADVENTURING ..................................................................... 210 Time ................................................................................... 210 Action Time .................................................................. 210 Narrative Time ............................................................. 210 Actions ............................................................................... 211 Point-based Action Resolution ................................... 211 Common Actions ......................................................... 212 Tests ................................................................................... 214 Test Difficulty ............................................................... 214 Test Modifiers .............................................................. 216. 8.

(9) AMBARQUENTA OCCUPATIONS ...................................................................... 320 What Occupations Are .................................................... 320 Commoners, Guildsmen, Nobles, and Soldiers............. 320 Choosing an Occupation.............................................. 321 Pick Costs and Benefits ................................................ 321 By Your Own Design ................................................... 322 Military Careers ................................................................. 328 Recruitment ................................................................... 328 Unit Types..................................................................... 329 Ranks and Troops ........................................................ 331 Military Wages.............................................................. 332 HERBS AND POISONS ........................................................... 336 Poisons ............................................................................... 336 Sample Poisons ............................................................. 336 Healing Herbs ................................................................... 338 Finding Herbs ............................................................... 338 Preparing Herbs............................................................ 338 Sample Herbs ................................................................ 339. 9.

(10) Ambarquenta – A Middle-earth Roleplaying Game by The Heren Turambarion. INTRODUCTION elcome to Ambarquenta, a roleplaying game by The Heren Turambarion designed for J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary land of Middle-earth. The goals in writing this book were to produce a game system that is enjoyable, flexible, balanced, and playable, while also including some historical realism and remaining true to Tolkien’s shining literary examples. Ambarquenta (meaning ‘Tale of Fate’ in Quenya) aims at experienced roleplayers who desire a complex, yet intuitively comprehendible set of rules that provides hooks for the Turambar (meaning ‘Master of Fate’ in Quenya: the member of your gaming group who plans and ‘runs’ the games) to develop his stories, instead of distracting from them. Despite this focus on experienced gamers, novice players who know at least a little bit about the principles of pen-and-paper roleplaying games and have read The Lord of the Rings should be able to enjoy Ambarquenta equally well.. W. a game to which you are kindly invited to contribute by sending in your playtesting experiences and other suggestions.. ABOUT AMBARQUENTA. DESIGN PRINCIPLES. W. hat’s the point in writing yet another roleplaying game designed for portraying an accurate image of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth? One might well ask so, looking at the long list of officially licensed products published for Decipher’s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game and Ironcrown Enterprises’ MERP series, or the numerous and often excellent fan-written games with the same high demands. The question posed above already includes one of the possible answers: Entertaining and wonderfully written as the abovementioned games may be, we feel that they have not quite captured the spirit of Tolkien’s works, or are otherwise flawed. Although no roleplaying game can ever hope to give a truly faithful rendition of Middle-earth, and although the authors of Ambarquenta by no means wish to disparage the outstanding work found in those other games, an unofficial, non-commercial game such as this has one advantage over licensed products: It is not restricted to J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous novels depicting the late Third Age of Middle-earth, but can also draw from the writings posthumously edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. In addition, an unofficial game can borrow some wellestablished mechanics introduced in other major fantasy roleplaying games. However, Ambarquenta is not just a compilation of materials published elsewhere before. It presents a variety of new and exciting game mechanics, and carefully adapts those taken from other games to fit its unique characteristics. Of course, such a design process also allows to eliminate or avoid pitfalls encountered in the inspirational sources. With this preview release of Ambarquenta we hope to have created a fairly balanced and enjoyable foundation for. Writing a fantasy roleplaying game of your own is obviously motivated by the wish to spend your evenings playing with a system that primarily satisfies the personal taste of its designers. Still, Ambarquenta essentially is a rather conventional roleplaying game that will hopefully appeal to many gamers outside our own groups. What distinguishes it to some extent from other games are its focal points: Perhaps the most important goal of Ambarquenta is to provide a game system—and, later on, a set of source material—which helps a roleplaying group, as well as possible, to portray an accurate image of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth in their games. Simply put, Ambarquenta doesn’t attempt to artificially make Middle-earth more ‘entertaining’ by allowing the characters to cast inadequate or badly worded spells, or by bestowing them dozens of magical items. Concerning design philosophy, three things became obvious in discussing the cornerstones of Ambarquenta: First of all, we wanted a fairly ‘realistic’ game. Needless to say, there are mechanics to capture the subtle magic existing throughout Middle-earth. But realism as we understand it is about certain conditions of real world physics and the history of Middle-earth as depicted by Professor Tolkien. Hence Ambarquenta isn’t the kind of game in which you can create ridiculously overpowered starting characters or ever hope to become a cinematic superhero. Still, a Turambar will be able to define an individual power level for each campaign as he sees fit, ranging from fairly ordinary to truly heroic. The second principle is playability, and this frequently overrules realism. The most accurate combat system isn't worth a penny if it makes a skirmish with only a few combatants last for hours, or—which is even more important—if. 10.

(11) INTRODUCTION the Turambar has to keep too many details in mind. Thus, realism governs the character creation and advancement process, while playability dominates the actual game play. After all, the more features are accounted for in character creation, the fewer details you have to tackle during gaming sessions. Still, prepare yourself for fast-moving play-rules that are far more realistic and satisfying than those you may know from many other major roleplaying games. Another important element is flexibility. In Ambarquenta, a character has the opportunity to learn or practise any skill (as long as his background story warrants it, of course), without the usual restrictions by abstract concepts such as levels or character classes. Nevertheless, by the system's inherent mechanics, your character will, from the beginning on, show a unique pattern, a personal aptitude towards being whatever you want him to be: fighter, ranger, wizard, or burglar, to name but a few of the unlimited possibilities. Since these preferences can vary a good deal from one group to another, Ambarquenta provides a base set of rules and a number of optional rules that expand the detail as desired. Each option has a checkbox () in front of it which can be marked if the rule is included. The Turambar and the players should discuss their preferences and include only the optional rules they want.. the poisons and healing herbs of Middle-earth, while Appendices C and D introduce game statistics for some of the most prominent individuals of Middle-earth, and of adversaries such as Orcs, wolves, and dragons. Here, the Turambar can find just about everything he needs to make his game run more smoothly and easily without an excessive amount of preparation. However, for more detailed information about how to adopt Middle-earth for a roleplaying game and how to run a long-term plot or epic tale (as an overarching storyline is called in this game), we recommend you grab a copy of one of the licensed games. Decipher’s The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game core book, for instance, features a chapter describing the history of Middle-earth and its lands and realms at the time depicted in Tolkien’s major novels. That book, as well as other official publications by Decipher or Iron Crown Enterprises, should provide novice players with all the basic information they will need to know to establish a context for their characters and adventures.. ABOUT THIS VERSION This is a beta version of the Ambarquenta core rulebook. Most rules and mechanics have been playtested, some more thoroughly, some less. However, the game may still undergo some considerable changes. While this means that the present version requires a rather experienced Turambar (and, arguably, experienced players, too), it also gives you the opportunity to make an overall impact on the final version of the system. Your help is greatly appreciated in many areas, from telling us about your playtesting experiences to rule ideas or other ways to improve Ambarquenta—please feel invited to make use of the feedback form that is included with the download of the character sheet. Since the final version is intended to provide a system for playing in all eras and parts of Middle-earth, write-ups of the races and cultures which are not included in this book are most welcome, as well as any non-player-character (NPC) and creature write-ups. If you would like to contribute to the development of Ambarquenta in one way or the other, please do not hesitate to send an email to [email protected].. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK This book, laying down the principles of Ambarquenta, is roughly divided into three sections: character creation, game play rules, and information for the Turambar. The first section, Chapters One through Eight, provides the rules and guidelines you need to create your character. Chapters Two through Five cover attributes, races, skills, and abilities, respectively. Chapter Six describes the weapons, armour, and other gear characters use in their battles against the Enemy. Chapter Seven helps you to give your character the finishing touches, while Chapter Eight explains how you can improve your character over time. Note that magic is discussed later on, as most characters will unlikely ever master it themselves. However, if you do create a character who is able to weave spells or perform other deeds beyond the reach and understanding of ordinary people, you will find all information on the subtle, yet powerful, magic of Middle-earth in Chapter Eleven. The second section of this book, consisting of Chapters Nine to Eleven, presents the actual play rules for the game. Chapters Nine and Ten tell you how to accomplish tasks by performing tests, to travel great distances, to defeat your enemies in combat, and to recover from the weariness and wounds you suffer on your perilous way. Players whose characters delve into the mysteries and wonders of magic in Middle-earth (called ‘The Art’ by the Elves) will find Chapter Eleven of utter importance to them. The Turambar, on the other hand, will make use of its intriguing elements as a part of the Enemy’s most frightful weaponry. The final section of the book, comprising of Appendices A to E, is primarily for the Turambar—although the optional character occupations introduced in Appendix A may be an interesting tool for players as well. Appendix B describes. Please note that large portions of this book have been taken from The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game by Decipher for simplicity’s sake. At the same moment, we are confident that only some generic rules have actually been plagiarised by doing so; a few seemingly unchanged or only slightly altered rules that we incorporated in Ambarquenta have in fact been published before elsewhere. Besides the quotations from Decipher’s game, various other shorter passages have been copied from the systems listed under ‘Sources of Inspiration’ in the credits section. This course of action is not intended as a violation of copyright—after all, Ambarquenta is non-commercial fan-work, distributed only among registered friends of The Heren Turambarion—but rather as a recognition of these well-written products which we highly recommend for purchase. This allowed us to speed up the work on Ambarquenta, and to provide you a taste of some of the finest pen-and-paper role-playing games available on the market.. 11.

(12) INTRODUCTION. NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY. PERCENTILE ROLLS (1D100) On some occasions, two ten-sided dice are used to obtain ‘percentile’ results between 1 and 100. To carry out such a ‘1d100’ roll, roll two dice of different colours together. Before the roll, designate one die to be read as the tens, and the other as the ones (00 is read as 100). Percentile rolls are mainly used in combat to randomly determine which body part is struck with an attack. Of course you could choose to aim at a specific body part, thereby avoiding the roll.. In this book the word ‘you’ refers alternatively to you, the reader and player, and to you as a character in the game. Take this as an invitation to see the world through the eyes of your character. Also note that for readability purposes, Ambarquenta uses standard masculine pronouns when referring to persons of uncertain gender. In such cases, these pronouns are intended to convey the meanings ‘he/she’, ‘her/his’, and so on.. OTHER ROLLS. ROLLING THE DICE AND BASIC MECHANICS. Besides these two main types of rolls, there are several other variants encountered less frequently. In such cases, a number before the ‘d’ is the number of dice that are to be rolled, and the number following the ‘d’ is the number of sides each die should have. A suffix may be included to indicate that the result is to be modified by addition (e.g., 3d10+2), subtraction (3d10–2), multiplication (3d10x2), or division (3d10÷2). In instances when a result between 1 and 5 is required (1d5), roll one die, divide the result by 2, and round up. Any other required rolls are variants of the above or can be made with an ordinary six-sided die (1d6 or 1d3).. T. his section acquaints you with the whole Ambarquenta game system. Although this rulebook will eventually comprise over 400 pages, most of it deals with character creation, detailed guidelines on frequently arising situations, and special cases. The core game system is actually easy. Moreover, Ambarquenta is designed to be ‘friendly’, both for the players and the Turambar: the rulebook is indexed and cross-referenced to make things easy to find; and there are only a few basic game mechanics you have to learn before starting the game. A glossary of important terms follows after this section. In Ambarquenta, each character has a set of attributes, which determine his innate capability in several areas, and a set of skills, which quantify his learned and practised capabilities. Each skill is usually based on three governing attributes that contribute both to its development and its total bonus. Whenever the need occurs to determine the outcome of a certain task (which cannot be played to the end by plain talking or acting), a test is called for. The success or failure of such actions is simulated through a dice roll, made at the direction of the Turambar. All tests (as well as most other dice rolls) are made on ten-sided dice, marked with the numbers 0 through 9. There are two different ways that ten-sided dice are normally used in Ambarquenta:. MAKING TESTS To succeed in a test, the sum of the dice roll and a character’s applicable skill bonus (or attribute score) must meet or exceed a TN that is either assigned by the Turambar or written out in the rulebook. The TN for a test represents the general difficulty of the challenge posed by the action the character attempts (ranging from Routine to Virtually Impossible) modified by the special circumstances of a given situation (e.g., the lighting conditions). Climbing a ladder in a well-lit tower represents an easier test than scaling a sheer cliff face by night without proper gear.. TARGET NUMBERS (TNS) To determine the TN for a test, the Turambar must first decide what basic difficulty category the action would belong to if performed under ideal conditions. (Note that TNs for combat actions are often based on the results of an opposing character’s skill tests.) The below table reveals average TNs for each difficulty category:. STANDARD ROLLS (2D10) A test is always resolved by rolling two ten-sided dice simultaneously and adding the numbers together. Read the numbers as rolled, but count a 0 as 10. This kind of roll is referred to as a ‘2d10’ roll. A standard test consists of rolling 2d10, adding the total bonus of the respective skill (or the total score of an attribute) and comparing the final test result to a target number (TN) set by the rules, or by the Turambar according to the difficulty of the action and the situation it is performed in. The amount by which the test result exceeds or misses the TN determines the overall level of success or failure (LSF) of the test.. TABLE 9.6: STANDARD TARGET NUMBERS (TNS) DIFFICULTY Routine Easy Light Medium. BASE TN 9 12 15 20. DIFFICULTY BASE TN Challenging 25 Hard 30 Extremely Hard 35 Virtually Impossible 40+. After the Turambar determines the base TN, he must consider any factors that might increase or decrease the overall difficulty, and then modify the base TN accordingly. A list of typical TN modifiers and additional guidelines can be found in Chapter Nine where tests and skills are discussed more thoroughly.. 12.

(13) INTRODUCTION In addition to these TN modifiers, Ambarquenta uses a second type of modifiers to increase or decrease a character’s chance to succeed in a test: Test result penalties and bonuses represent any factors that are primarily based on a character’s individual disposition (such as his abilities or the injuries he has sustained), while TN modifiers primarily represent outside influences (such as poor lighting or ill weather). TN modifiers can easily be applied by the Turambar to change the difficulty of any standard test in advance without demanding too many test result adjustments from his players. However, when resolving an opposed test (see Chapter Nine for this common test variant where two characters compare their test results to determine who wins a conflict), TN modifiers are best applied as test result penalties or bonuses, respectively. For example, a +3 TN modifier applying to only one of the participating characters becomes a –3 test result penalty for the affected character. Otherwise, resolving an opposed test would be unnecessarily complicated.. The amount of damage dealt by a single attack depends on the number of LoS an attacker achieves. If he fails to beat the TN established by his adversary’s Defence attribute or an actively employed defensive skill, nothing happens: either the strike missed the dodging foe, or it was deflected by his parry or armour. But on a success with the attack test (i.e., LoS ±0 or higher), there is a chance that the foe suffers an injury. Each weapon has a damage code that consists of one to three pairs of numbers and letters. The letters indicate what types of damage the weapon can inflict: blunt (B), edged (E), or pointed (P)—this is called a weapon’s damage aspect. The accompanying numbers tell you how many wound points of damage the weapon deals for each LoS (including LoS ±0) using a particular damage aspect. EXAMPLE: A broadsword has a damage code of 1.5B/4E/2P. Thus, an attack which scores LoS +4 could deal 7.5 points of blunt damage, 20 points of edged damage, or 10 points of pointed damage. Depending on the type and make of armour the target wears, it may still be a good idea to choose the sword’s blunt or pointed damage aspect. The attacker must decide which aspect to use before rolling his attack skill test.. LEVELS OF SUCCESS OR FAILURE (LSF) Whereas TNs interpret difficulty by considering all relevant factors involved in a test, levels of success or failure (LSF) evaluate the outcome of a character’s efforts by comparing his final test result to the TN. Calculating the LSF for any test is simple. A test result that equals the TN has a level of success of ±0 —just enough to achieve the basic objectives of a test with, at worst, only minor complications or setbacks. Every increment of 5 (or fraction thereof) above or below the TN represents one level of success or failure, respectively. Whenever the rules specifically refer to levels of success, the abbreviation ‘LoS’ is used, while levels of failure are abbreviated ‘LoF’ in such instances. The more LoS you achieve, the quicker and better you perform an action. Conversely, the more LoF you accumulate, the worse you do—possibly making things even worse than before!. Note that for the purpose of determining damage, the LoS of an attack is usually based on the target’s Defence score, not the result of his defensive skill test. Next, you need to determine where exactly you hit your foe. Unless you have declared a called shot, this is achieved by making a 1d100 roll. Ambarquenta distinguishes between a variety of body parts for two main reasons: First, to find out how well the struck body part is protected by armour. Second, injury effects vary by location—a strike to the skull is far more dangerous than a blow to the foot, for instance. Even a veteran warrior may thus be killed on the spot, or forced to retreat if he takes a critical injury. Besides losing the ability to use a badly injured body part effectively, a character can also be defeated or killed if he takes too many overall wound points (i.e., net damage after armour protection has been subtracted from the damage dealt with a strike). Every character has six Health Levels (HL) in each of which he can accumulate a certain number of wound points before dropping to the next lower Health Level. For more information on combat and injuries, please refer to Chapters Nine and Ten, respectively.. COMBAT Although combat tests are basically resolved the same way as other tests, there are a few differences and special rules. Base TNs for combat tests primarily depend on the opposing character’s attributes and armament, but are often complemented by the results of special defensive skill tests. If a character chooses to defend himself actively, he must make an appropriate skill test—for example, parry with his weapon or shield, or dodge the incoming blow or missile. Otherwise, he must solely rely on his innate reflexes (i.e., his Defence). Attacking and defending yourself actively by employing a skill requires a deliberate action and, consequently, a certain amount of time. How much of a character’s attention and time an action requires is measured by action points (AP). The total number of AP a character has available per round —his action allowance—also dictates when exactly in a given round his actions take effect.. ROUNDING FRACTIONS Unless you are specifically told otherwise, whenever you are asked to round a number—or end up with a fraction or decimal that makes sense to round one way or the other— round it normally. That means that if the fraction is 1/2 or the decimal is .5 or higher, round up. Otherwise, round down.. 13.

(14) Chapter One. YOUR CHARACTER’S STORY I. n Ambarquenta, you and your friends create characters who travel throughout Middle-earth, explore strange, wondrous, and often dangerous places, and contend with the servants of the Dark Lord. Rather than reading about characters invented by J.R.R. Tolkien, you play a character you create yourself. You must define his abilities, goals, desires, appearance, beliefs, and preferences. Then, when you join your friends to play out the tales your Turambar devises, you control your character’s actions. You create and speak his dialogue, decide what he does and how he does it, and so forth. You make that role your own, the same way an extemporising actor does on stage. bits make them difficult to roleplay convincingly. Furthermore, your Turambar may limit your choice of races as he sees fit, or the tale he devises requires. For example, a Turambar may wish to restrict the number of Elven characters in his group (or disallow them altogether) because Elves do not care for the troubles of the world outside their hidden and well-protected refuges (and, of course, they are far more powerful than normal Men). Still, a player must not be forced to play a character he isn’t comfortable with at all.. INITIAL CHOICES. B. efore you begin to create your character by generating attribute scores, choosing skills and abilities, take some time to think about what sort of character you want to play—not what he can do, or what powers you would like him to have, but what sort of person he is, and what role you want him to play in the tale. Don’t think about how to make the most of the game’s rules, but rather in terms of storytelling, action, and drama.. CHARACTER TRAITS Other factors that might have an impact on your character’s personality and commitments include gender—which you can choose freely—and Social Rank. The latter is discussed in detail below under ‘Grace’. After you have decided on your character’s race and gender, proceed by considering his appearance. To a certain extent, attributes dictate this—a character with a low Strength isn’t brawny and hulking—but if you have an appearance in mind before you assign attributes, that can help you figure out which assignments to make. In fact, these assignments determine what type of person your character is more than any other choices related to the game’s rules. Attribute scores govern basic skill bonuses as well as the number of available development picks. The latter point is particularly important because Ambarquenta has no arbitrary ‘character classes’. Instead, a character’s attributes define his fields of expertise: while sinews of steel and good reflexes are essential to become an accomplished swordsman, great wisdom and a deep understanding of the world of Middle-earth are prerequisites for those who wish to delve into the mysteries of magic. Returning to your character’s story, you should also think about his traits. What are his likes and dislikes, and what other qualities do you want him to have? This helps not only with assigning attribute scores, but also when you select abilities (inborn talents and edges acquired by training) and flaws, many of which have personality-oriented names or features. A character doesn’t have to have Honour’s Insight or a Code of Honour for you to describe him as ‘honourable’, of course,. RACES AND CULTURES Among the first things to consider is your character’s race: Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, or Man. Each race comprises a number of distinct cultures—for example, in the late Third Age, there still linger Sindarin, Noldorin, and Silvan Elves in North-western Middle-earth. Chapter Three (opening on page 34) offers detailed descriptions of those Free Peoples to which a character normally belongs. A character’s cultural background has a tremendous impact on his outlook, beliefs, and behaviour. In a world as ancient and slow-changing as Middle-earth, a culture’s traditions often take precedence over an individual’s personal goals and longings, and one frequently finds himself bound by an unspoken fealty to his people. Your character’s race gives you plenty of clues as to what sort of person he is, how he feels about characters of other races, and what might motivate him. Remember, however, that these descriptions of races only apply to the majority of people. In each race, some individuals diverge from the norm, and your character could be one of these. Don’t let a description of a race keep you from detailing your character as you like, but stay true to the spirit of Professor Tolkien’s works. Usually, you may freely choose your character’s race. Be aware, though, that novice players should stick to Men, because the different world views of Elves, Dwarves, and Hob-. 14.

(15) GRACE. but it often helps make the hero more realistic if his personality and his abilities match. What flaws does your character have? Many of the heroes we admire in Tolkien’s books suffer from some disadvantages or complications. These range from the physical (a lame leg, blindness), to the social (stubbornness, unrequited love), to the spiritual (cowardice, corruption). It is in overcoming these weaknesses, as Boromir did when he finally rejected the lure of the Ring, that a character shows his heroic nature. Next, step beyond the character and consider what his goals are and, thus to a large extent, what role he plays in the tale he has become a part of. Great heroes have great, heroic goals, be they external (to journey to Mordor and destroy the One Ring) or personal (to reclaim your long-lost kingdom and wed the woman you love). But also the more mundane people, who are perhaps drawn into a story by chance (‘if chance you can call it’, as Gandalf remarked on one occasion), have their goals (to protect their master, or to show the worth of his folk to foreigners) and desires. Once you know your character’s goals, make sure he goes after them! Nothing drives a story so well as a character who stops at nothing to achieve that which is right, or who must make hard choices about his goal in the face of conflicting needs, as Aragorn did after the breaking of the Fellowship. Many obstacles, including your character’s own weaknesses, may undoubtedly confront him on his life’s quest. In triumphing over them, he helps to craft the story your group tells.. N. obility of soul is an important element of J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories. While ordinary people may perform deeds that help the wise and the mighty in many ways, some characters obviously emanate a certain moral dignity or Grace that qualifies them for tasks still greater. However, Grace is not exclusively bestowed by birth to a high rank. A humble Hobbit gardener may find out, after many worldshaking adventures, that a greater destiny guided his way—a destiny that allows him to retire from his wandering days as mayor of the Shire. For another example, a rightfully born ruler can never quite disguise his noble mien and qualities of mind and war-craft, even if his family has lost its throne centuries ago. Eventually, his Grace and the deeds he can only fulfil due to the kingly blood flowing through his veins (like going through the Paths of the Dead) may restore his ancient birth right. Ambarquenta represents these virtues by a character’s Grace score. In game terms, a high Grace score garners certain benefits when determining a character’s primary attributes and, if a player opts so, his Social Rank. A player whose character has a high Grace score should feel encouraged to make up a rather heroic background story and to act accordingly. Note that your character’s Bearing—one of his primary attributes—must roughly match his Grace score (see page 26 for details), unless you choose him to start out as a seemingly ‘ordinary’ character. In this case, you should try to raise Bearing during the game if the story reveals your character’s true fate and Grace. On the other hand, a low Grace score by no means hinders a character from becoming an important figure in his days of the world. A low Grace score does not penalise your character’s primary attributes, and if you desire a high starting Social Rank for him, you can still acquire it by other means (described under ‘Social Rank’ on the next page). Yet, it can be most rewarding to play a commoner who is at first glance less likely to win Renown and admiration than one descending from great sires. Grace is not an attribute you have to act out as its numerical value seems to indicate, but it is intended to give you the chance of creating a truly heroic and noble character with additional points to spend, rather than costing them.. THE CHARACTER SHEET. A. fter you have come up with a satisfying background story and have decided on the motivations and goals of your character, step on to filling out a Character Sheet. This is what the character creation process technically consists of. On the Character Sheet, you record the attributes, skills, abilities, and belongings of your character. You will need to refer to the Character Sheet often; keep it handy. The Heren Turambarion provides two versions of the Character Sheet: one comes as an Adobe PDF document which you can fill out with a pencil; the other one is a Microsoft Excel file that does most of the calculations involved in the character creation process automatically. However, if you do not wish to print out the Microsoft Excel-based Character Sheet after almost every other gaming session, we recommend to create your character with the help of a computer and then transcribe the calculated statistics to the plain Adobe PDF version on which you can easily erase any scores that may change during gaming sessions. In either version, attributes, abilities, and information about your character’s adventuring equipment and his movement rates comprise the first two pages of the Character Sheet. Pages three and four contain the most important combat statistics and your character’s magical capabilities— provided he has any. On pages five and six, there is plenty of space to record all your skills, including any individual and unique modifiers.. DETERMINING GRACE Grace can be determined in one of four ways, decided by the Turambar. Table 1.1 on the next page summarises the benefits a character with an above-average Grace score receives. Firstly, a character with Grace 13 or higher receives a number of additional points to spend on his primary attributes (see page 27). Secondly, he gets a number of development picks that normally must be spent on an above-average starting Social Rank during his youth development (see next page for more detailed information on a character’s Social Rank, and page 124 on how to acquire this kind of ability).. 15.

(16) CHAPTER NINE: ADVENTURING. TABLE 1.1: GRACE BENEFITS.  ELDER DAY LORDS’ GRACE. GRACE SCORE ATTRIBUTE PICKS FOR (2d10*) POINTS SOCIAL RANK 2 to 12 +0 0 13 +1 5 14 +2 10 15 +5 15 16 +8 20 17 +12 30 18 +16 40 19 +20 50 20 +25 60 *: Whether Grace is rolled for or determined another way is at the Turambar’s discretion.. While the above-presented options on determining Grace are suitable for most tales taking place in the Third Age of Middle-earth, a Turambar may desire more generous rules for establishing a character’s Grace score when running a campaign set in the Elder Days. This can easily be achieved by introducing one of the two following options to his game: First, he may allow a player who rolls a 19 or a 20 on his initial roll to determine his character’s Grace score to roll an additional d10 and add it to the result. If this die roll scores a 10, another d10 is rolled and added to the result, repeating this process until something other than a 10 is rolled. Though it’s rather unlikely, this procedure may generate Grace scores far above the average. Alternatively, the Turambar may set basic Grace scores for entire groups of characters, or any individual character, to which the result of a player’s roll is added. (Of course, this option can be combined with the rule on open-ended rolls as described above.) For instance, the Turambar may grant all Elven characters who have seen the Light of the Trees a basic Grace score of 20 + 2d10. Elves who were born in the First Age but did not embark on the journey to the Undying Lands, as well as the offspring of those Eldar who were born after the Marring of the Trees, might receive 10 + 2d10 points of Grace to start with, and so on. In both cases, benefits for Grace scores greater than 20 are determined by dividing the score through 20. For each full multiple of 20, as well as for any remainder, the character receives additional attribute buy points and picks for Social Rank as indicated in Table 1.1. For example, if a character like Ingwë, High King of all Eldar, ends up with a Grace score of 75, he receives the Grace benefits for a score of 20 three times, and once for a score of 15, totalling +80 attribute buy points and 195 picks for Social Rank. Likewise, a character with Grace 33 garners the benefits for scores of 20 and 13, and so on..  RANDOM ASSIGNMENT Firstly, the Turambar may choose that every player simply rolls for his character’s Grace with 2d10. Whatever result the dice roll yields, it must not be re-rolled for any character..  COLLECTIVE TURAMBAR ASSIGNMENT Alternatively, a Turambar may assign a fixed and identical Grace score to each character of his group. This method allows the Turambar to control the power level of the characters taking part in his tale (ranging from fairly ordinary to truly heroic), and to hold sway over their background stories to a certain extent. It usually ensures, too, a strong tie between players and their characters alike..  INDIVIDUAL TURAMBAR ASSIGNMENT In contrast to the above option, a Turambar may assign different Grace scores to each character of the group. Though this may be an excellent way to make certain stories work, and though it may provide exciting hooks for roleplaying within the group as well as with outsiders, this option is not recommended for novice players who might envy each other or the player with the highest ranking character. Still, it provides the Turambar a way to control the group’s power.. SOCIAL RANK To a certain degree, a character’s Social Rank—his class in society—corresponds with his Grace score. Table 1.2 on the next page shows how many picks you must spend to make him belong to a certain Social Rank. Which Social Rank or titles can be obtained, and how many picks they cost, depends on your character’s race and culture. If he doesn’t belong to a people listed on Table 1.2, you can easily make up a similar list of sample titles, occupations, or Social Ranks with the help of your Turambar. Note that you are not obliged to hold a specific title listed; with the Social Rank of king, you could also be a close family member like a daughter standing behind in the succession to the throne. The picks for acquiring a desired Social Rank must either originate from a high Grace score (as indicated on Table 1.1 above), or come from the picks available during your character’s youth development (see the High-ranking talent on page 133). You cannot spend picks received during your character’s apprenticeship, because you are born to your starting rank..  STORY BASED ASSIGNMENT The last option for determining Grace suggests that a player comes up with an exhaustive background story for his character (perhaps including a detailed discussion of his lineage) which his Turambar has to approve. Then, both sides ought to agree on an appropriate Social Rank to represent the character’s background story. Of course, the Turambar has the last word on that issue, and he must be very cautious! A character’s Grace score is derived from his Social Rank as indicated in Table 1.1, for it is in this case assumed that a character is worthy of his Social Rank. If a player desires a still higher Social Rank than affordable with the development picks as indicated on Table 1.1, he must spend additional picks as usual.. 16.

No results found