Blackmarsh in Hungarian!

I just got word from Adam Borbely that the translation and layout of the Hungarian version of Blackmarsh is finished. It is stated for Hungarian retroclone RPG called Adventurers and Catacomb (in English)

This is really cool and I am ecstatic that a group of RPG gamers get to enjoy Blackmarsh in their native language.

Thanks Adam!

Again if anybody want to translate Blackmarsh for their own country's gaming community, you are free to do so as Blackmarsh is 100% open content for the text and cartography. I include a art free text files in the download of Blackmarsh to make reuse and conversion easier.

What is Fudge and why?

Fudge is game developed in the early 90s on the internet by Steffan O'Sullivan. Specifically the rec.games.design on the old Usenet forum. The Wikipedia article has live links to the original post so you can read them yourselves.

It is a toolkit meant to be refined for a specific game. The core rules have a wealth of options that a referee can choose from to make the game he wants. Anything from extremely lite and freeform to very crunchy.

Fudge in a Nutshell sums up in two pages the heart of the Fudge mechanics.

Fudge characters are defined by attributes, skills, gifts, and faults. When there is a rating like for a Strength attribute or Piloting skill it uses the fudge scale; from low to high; Terrible, Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good, Great, Superb. If you don't like the descriptive scale you can use numbers with Fair = 0, Mediocre = -1 and Good = +1 and so on.

Fudge assumes that one attribute level = 3 skill levels, 1 gift = 6 skill levels, 1 gift = 2 attribute levels, 1 gift = 1 fault.

Coupled with this is the concept of scale. In a human focused campaign a human being has a scale of +0. It is primarily a rating of Strength and Mass which is mostly applied to the ability to deal damage and to withstand damage. Each +1 scale give the character 1.5 times the mass of a ordinary human. The rules have examples of scale equated to various real world and mythological creatures.

The elegance of this system is that the resolution of two creatures at the same arbitrary scale works the same as resolution of two humans. So if two pixies at scale -7 go at it the system work just as well as normal human combat. The same with two dragons. For fights between two creatures of different scale in general the larger creatures will do more damage and have the ability to withstand more damage than the small creature.

Action are resolved by either an opposed roll or a roll against a target difficulty.  In an opposed roll the two sides will have a skill or attribute level. For example a fighter with a sword skill of Good and a mage with a mediocre dexterity.  Both side roll 4dF generating a number from -4 to +4. For example the fighter rolls a -1 and the Mage rolls a +2. Like GURPS 3d6 roll the result is a bell curve. The result is applied to the two sides skill and compared. For example because the Fighter rolled a -1 he only gets a Fair result as Fair is one level lower than his Good sword skill. The mage in contrast has a Good result as his +2 roll is applied to his mediocre dexterity raising it to Fair and then Good. In this roll the Mage successfully dodged the fighter's sword swing.

For unopposed rolls the skill or attribute is compared to a target difficulty set by the referee. For example the Fighter has a good strength and is trying to lift the portcullis gate up. The referee rules that he need a Great result. The Figher rolls 4dF and gets a +1. This is applied to his Good strength raising it up by one level to Great. The gate is wrenched up.

The Fudge core rules gives several ways of resolving a successful combat hit. Fudge spends the most time on a wound level system. Characters can be undamaged, scratched, hurt, very hurt, incapacitated, or dead. Typically you can take 3 scratches, 1 hurt, and 1 very hurt. If you already taken all the damage you can at a particular level it is applied to the next worse level.

Again this is summarize nicely in Fudge in a Nutshell. Also the core documents are released under the open game license which means you are free to adapt and publish them for your own use.

So why Fudge? As readers of this blog know I am a long time fan of GURPS. While developed independently Steffan and those helped have strong connections to GURPS and many have written GURPS books. So while Fudge is not GURPS it shares some DNA like the bell curves and allows for attributes to be the primary component of a skill level as well as advantages i.e. gifts and disadvantages i.e. faults.

And what it comes to is that I want to publish my GURPS material along with my Dungeon and Dragon material. Since GURPS doesn't have an open license, to me Fudge is the next best thing. And the fact that Fate, a closely related game, is popular system for many doesn't hurt either.

My focus is implementing Fudge for the type of fantasy games I been running for the past 30 years. Building on the things I like about the various games I played over the years. There is a lot of inspiration from GURPS but also I am inspired by Hero System, Fate, Runequest, and other games I have played over the years. The result is I hope a fantasy game that is allows for skill based character with a moderately detailed combat system using the fantasy tropes of the world's most popular roleplaying games that is easy to get into and that because of it common heritage with Fudge and Fate easy to add new elements of the referee's choosing.

And thanks to the development of the internet and the progress of technology, when I am done writing this it is easy to share it in an attractive format with the rest of you.  Like Blackmarsh and my other open projects the PDF will be free I will charging for the physical book.

I am shooting to get this done by the fall of 2014, I have some other projects to complete first that are priority like a certain English Civil War setting. In the meantime I will play one off games and then when the rules are settled enough I will start a playtest campaign. And of course I will be sharing the development when I have something usable.

Another 40% sale at Lulu

You can use the code LULUEMP2013 to buy books at 40% off on Lulu.

You can buy Majestic Wilderlands (in one of two covers) and Scourge of the Demon Wolf.

As well as OSR stuff along with Swords and Wizardry which the MW Supplement is based on. I personally recommend the Monster Book. Also have a look at back issues of Fight On!

Thanks to Tim of Gothridge Manor for pointing this out. And while you are on lulu look at his store.

Majestic Wilderlands Fudge Attributes

Here is the list of attributes I am using in the Majestic Wilderlands Fudge RPG. It is somewhat similar to how GURPS is setup.

The following the are the costs.  I started with one of the recommended point buy system in the Fudge SRD.

Here is the combat stat block from the Character sheet I made.

A very basic outline of combat is 

• Roll for initiative 4dF+initiative..

Or if you really like how GURPS does things 

• Go in initiative order from high to low.
• Everybody get to do two actions on a turn. A move plus an attack, a long action or an attack/cast spell.

To Attack

• Roll 4DF add your skill plus dexterity.

The target defends either choosing to parry, block, or dodge. Only one parry or block per turn. First dodge is at full subsequent dodges are at -2 cumulative per dodge. No defense against rear or surprise attacks.

• Roll 4dF add your skill plus dexterity.

If the roll equals or is greater than the attackers roll then you have defended.

If it is under the difference is applied to the attacker's damage roll.

• To do damage make an opposed roll of 4dF + weapon damage + strength vs 4dF + armor rating + shield bonus + fortitude. 

If the attackers wins then apply the degree of success as follows

+1 to +2 scratch, +3 to +4, Hurt (-1), +5 to +6 Very Hurt (-2), +7 to +8 incapacitated, +9 or better death.

Humans can take three scratches, two hurts, one very hurt, one incapacitated, one death. If you take more injury at a particular level you mark off one on the next worse levels. So if you took three scratches then your fourth scratch is a hurt. Hurt injuries causes you to be at -1 to all rolls. Very Hurt -2.

You can download a short price list with fudge stats for weapons and armor.

Note the +0 for buckler for the shield bonus is useful because it allows the use of the shield defense.

Here is a character sheet.

For magic just wing it using the spell list found here.

To successfully cast a spell roll 4dF + Thamautology + Intelligence. If you roll equal or greater than the spell difficulty you get the spell off. The degree of success acts as a penalty on the target's save if a saving throw is needed. The reason I have secondary characteristic named Reflex, Willpower, and Fortitude is to make d20 spell conversion easier. 

Each spell has a difficulty associated with it. If you use numbers then you can equate the difficulties as follows

Mediocre 1, Fair 2, Good 3, Great 4, and so on up the Fudge Scale. Note I don't plan on using the Fudge Scale just raw numbers.

Spell damage works the same as weapons except add the degree of success of the Thamautology roll instead of the weapon roll.

I had a full writeup but that was using Vancian magic and spell slots. I am in the process of switching it over to a system like the above and when I am done I will share it.

Majestic Wilderlands Fudge Skills

 been asked what the skills I am using for the Majestic Wilderlands RPG.

The basic list comes from my Majestic Wilderlands supplement for Swords and Wizardry. There they are called abilities. I been running Swords and Wizardry with my supplement since 2009 so I am pretty comfortable with that set.

In the MW Supplement I have a catch all ability called Professional Skill. For Fudge I expanded that into something more concrete. Plus I had to add weapon skills which are covered by proficiencies in SnW.

Each skill has an associated attribute and a default level of -3 to +0.   Added to this your skill level. Skill levels cost are as follows.

For example Sword, One Handed is associated with Dexterity and defaults to -2. If you have a Dex of +1 and put 4 points into the skill your final levels is -2 + 1 + 3 = +2 Swords, One Handed.

This is one of the options found in the Fudge SRD and is obviously inspired by GURPS. Which make sense given how fudge is developed.

I have to stress that I haven't subjected any of this to a proper campaign so this is very much alpha level of quality. However given my experience with the list in Swords and Wizardry I have high hopes that it is diverse enough to make for interesting characters but not so huge that one gets lost in figure out what is needed for a given character.

The adventuring skills are pretty much ported over from my Majestic Wilderlands supplement.
The professional skills are from the guild categories found in my price list.

Adventuring Skills
Skill(Attribute) Default
Acrobatic(Dex) -2
Athletics(Str) -1
Climbing (Min(Str, Dex)) -2
Combat Dodge (Dodge) +0
Eavesdrop(Per ) -1
Interrogate(Will) -1
Legerdemain(Dex) -2
Locution(Int) -2
Perceive(Per) +0
Physician(Int) -3
Riding(Dex) -2
Stealth(Dex) -2
Strategy(Int) -2
Survival(Con) -2

Arcane Skills
Alchemy(Int) -3
Divine Ritual(Int) -3
Herblore(Int) -2
Research(Int) -2
Thaumatology(Int) -3

Melee Weapons
Axe/Mace/Hammer(Dex) -2
Axe/Hammer, Throwing(Dex) -3
Knife(Dex) -1
Knife, Throwing(Dex) -2
Polearm(Dex) -2
Shield(Dex) -1
Spear(Dex) -1
Spear, Throwing(Dex) -2
Staff(Dex) -1
Sword, One handed(Dex) -2
Sword, Two handed(Dex) -2

Missile Weapons
Blowpipe(Dex) -2
Bow(Dex) -2
Crossbow(Dex) -1
Sling(Dex) -2

Professional Skills
Accounting(Int) -2
Animal Handling (type)(Int) -2
Artist (type)(Int) -3
Brewing(Int) -2
Carpenter (Int) -2
Cooking(Int) -1
Farming(Int) -2
Finesmith(Dex) -2
Glassblowing(Int) -2
Hideworking(Int) -2
Knowledge (type)(Int) -1 to -3
Knowledge (Heraldry)(Int) -3
Knowledge (Legal) (Int) -3
Knowledge (Ritual) (Int) -3
Knowledge (Social)(Int) -2
Knowledge (Area, local)(Int) -1
Knowledge (Area, region)(Int) -2
Knowledge (Area, cont.)(Int) -3
Lexigraphy(Int) -2
Mathematics(Int) -2
Masonry(Int) -2
Mechanics(Int) -2
Metalsmith(Int)-2
Mining(Int) -2
Natural Philosophy(Int)-3
Performance(type)(Dex) -3
Pottery(Int) -2
Tailoring(Dex) -2
Timbering(Int) -1

More Mapping with Hexes

Wizards posted an article about mapping with hexes and scale. I played with hex maps a lot over the years. In particular how to join hex maps together and how to manage a hex map when making a hexcrawl setting.

Writing sandbox settings can be painstaking work at time. Even writing tersely the quantity of locales can be overwhelming. My observation that you will have a dozen or so really good ideas and the rest you crib from whatever idea generator or random table you have.

You could limit this but you don't want to make the region so small that the player are able to move past it's bounds in a session or two. Nor you want to make the locale spaced so far apart that that you get the howling wilderness of the 30 mile hex.

I found that making your hexes between 3 to 6 miles to be ideal. If you are using 1/2" hexes on a 8.5 by 11 paper you get a region of 135 miles by 90 miles. It comes roughly to 27 hex columns and 19 hex rows. For that size three dozen locales fit nicely.

For a 22" by 17" map, the size of a Judges Guild Wilderlands map, detailing that many locales becomes a bit of chore. If that what you want to do find some good random tables to help as an idea generator.

So you start off your campaign a letter size paper full of 1/2" hexes. Then you decide to expand the campaign. How to do you make sure everything lines. The easiest method to have some overlap, generally a
hex column, or hex row is sufficient to keep everything consistent across multiple maps.

There are two types of hex grids

Horizontal


Vertical



Of the two, the vertical hex map is by far the most popular.

The examples in this post will be using the vertical hex grid.

Hexgrids have several choices how they can be formed.

You can make the end columns even in number.
or

You can make the ends uneven in length.


The last arrangement is used when you sub dived a large hex into smaller hexes.


Joining Maps

If your map just going to be one page. Then you don' t need to worry about how to join two hex maps together. However with multiple maps then this issue needs some attention

For vertical hex grids the top and bottom of the map are uneven. If you don't want to overlap then you have to have one page start the first hex column high and the lower (or upper) page start the hex column low.



But there are other ways of handling the vertical joining of two hex grids and they have the virtue of making it easier to avoid mistaking in drawing features like rivers and coastlines across multiple maps.

A half overlap


A full overlap


Of the two I prefer the half overlap. It slightly spreads out the vertical coverage of each individual map and I only have to copy the top and bottom hex every other column.

The horizontal joining has several types.

If you use a hex grid with uneven numbers of hexes you can lay them side by side with no overlap.



Judges Guild in the Wilderlands of High Fantasy was one of the first publishers to deal with this issue. They used 18 hex maps arranged in a three maps across 6 maps vertically. Each Hex maps had 52 columns, and 34 rows on the odd columns (1,3,5, etc) and 33 rows on the even columns. The resulting hex grid had uneven ends on the left and right edges.

They decided to use the half overlap to join the maps on the top and bottom edge. However they messed up on the left and right edge and decided to make them overlap. Because of the even ends of the hex grid this resulted in a staircase effect as below. Each map to east was a half row south of the map to the west.



For hex grids that have even ends you can do a full overlap of the last hex column with the first hex column of the next map.




I prefer the full overlap option as it helps ensure that I am correctly drawing from one map to the next. The same reason applies to the half overlap option.

Numbering Hexes

For vertical hex grids the numbering system is XXYY where XX is the column number and YY is the row number. This is reversed for horizontal hex grids.



Sub-maps

Judges Guild is famed for having a complete mapping system that goes from campaign level of 5 miles per hex to a regional level of .2 miles per hex and finally to a local level of 42.24 feet per hex. Each larger hex was subdivided by smaller hexes 1/25 th the size of the larger hex. Hence the odd number at the local level.

If your scale per hex is an odd number (5 miles, 25 miles, etc) it is easy to draw up a subdivided hex as shown below. You pick a center hexes and count the remaining hexes outwards. You can use the six points to draw up the six sides of the larger hex.



Hexes with a even scale (10 miles, 30 miles, etc) are not as easy to subdivide. The lines you will be drawing for the sides will be meeting in the center of hexes.




There is alternative for drawing even scale hexes but you will lose the center hex. You will have decide which form is best to use for you game.



I hope with the Wizards article you find this results for your mapping with hexes.

Lower starting character in Majestic Wilderlands Fudge

This weekend I ran a another session of my Fudge based Majestic Wilderlands for my friend Dan and my wife Kelly Anne. The object this playtest is to see how characters with lower starting points work out. One of the feedback I got from previous sessions that 30 points characters felt really tough. So this time I cut the points in half and made 15 points characters.

Overall I think it went well. The players felt they were more like first level DnD characters. However they didn't get slaughtered by the some bandits I threw at them despite being out numbered.  Dan played a magic-user and cleric template, and Kelly Anne played a burglar and a fighter.

As a twist the burglar was really a swarm of rats that acted in unison and was friends with the fighter. Fudge is so straight forward mechanically it wasn't hard to figure out a way to handle this. In exchange for being limited to using only a dagger like attack, the burglar could fit through rat size opening and reform on the other side. Otherwise the character was treated as a human burglar for skills and combat.

For the adventure I used Field of Daises by Columbia Games. A short adventures involving an investigation into some missing serf boys and a atmospheric exploration of a local cave. The one of the monsters was an adaption of Harn's Vlasta or Eaters of Eyes. It is a small cat size creature (scale -2) that is noted for it leaping ability and its propensity for going for the face and gouging out the target's eyes.

Basically it had a Dex of +3 and if it hit for +4 for better it hit you in the face. If you sustain a very hurt wound it gouges one of your eyes out. What made the creature interesting was it fast speed vs its scale -2. What damage it did was based solely on its ability to score a good hit as this fudge variant the margin of your to hit roll is applied to your damage roll. If it got hit it scale -2 meant it usually got crushed by the fighter.

I have to take another look at the spell system. Like Scourge of the Demon Wolf, Field of Daises is representative of the type of adventure I ran using GURPS. Which means adventures happens over days with ample time to rest. There is rarely more than a few combat encounters per day. The DnD magic system with it limited but powerful spells may be not a good fit. All three playtest groups have been lukewarm about it use. Despite it working pretty like it does in my Swords and Wizardry games. I could tone it down to more like how the spells are in the d20 SRD.

So 15 point characters is what I will focus on in subsequent revisions of the rules. I will probably reserve a final decision on the magic system after a proper campaign.

Right now I am going to get some more options and this will come directly from OGL sections of Runequest 2/Legends. If you score a greater degree of success you get one or maneuvers. Ranging from disarming your opponent, blinding them, or bypassing their armor. I am going to adapt this to my fudge based games. You can covert every +4 degree of success into a maneuver. Some maneuvers require double or +8. If need be I will reduce it down to every +3 or even +2.

A Short History of the Old School Renaissance

The Internet allows niche communities to easily communicate and grow. In this case, around 2000, people playing classic editions of DnD found that there was a great deal of other people still playing classic editions. They started getting together and doing non-commercial stuff like ODnDities.

The Open Game License allowed companies to use the d20 SRD as the basis for a game.

Troll Lord Games decided to make a ADnD RPG that called Castles and Crusade. During its development this was changed to be only ADnD compatible instead of a clone. It compatible in that you can take an original ADnD adventure or setting and use it as is and it will work with C&C.

Matt Finch and slightly later Stuart Marshall takes on writing OSRIC in the mid 2000s. They know IP lawyers and get them involved in the process. Their work relies on the twin pillars that the terms they need are open content because of the d20 SRD and that under US Law game mechanics can't be copyrighted. Their goal is to produce as close of a clone as they legally can. Their first editions was designed as a publisher reference/SRD to producing adventures and supplement.

Concurrently Chris Gonnerman produces Basic Fantasy which is a quasi-clone of BECMI DnD. However it doesn't have as great as an impact as OSRIC as it wasn't explicitly setup to allow third party publishing.

We are now in 2007.

In August Dan Proctor produces Labyrinth Lord a complete ready to run Retro Clone of B/X D&D.

In 2008 Matt Finch, one of the original authors of OSRIC, releases Swords and Wizardry a complete and ready to run clone of ODnD.

Finally in the fall of 2008 OSRIC itself is rewritten as a complete ready to run RPG as Version 2.

Before 2006 there were about 50 odd releases of various material supporting classic editions. In 3e world there was a back to the roots movement led by Goodman Games and Necromancer Games who were noted for writing old school adventures with new school rules.

These all count stuff targeted explicitly written for classic editions.
In 2006 this was nearly doubled with 48 releases.
In 2007 there was a small fall off to 44 releases.
In 2008 there was 76 releases.
In 2009 there was 125 releases

and keeps growing from there along with a huge growth in closely related games set in different genres like planet and swords or close in tenor and feel like the DCC RPG.

To recap the three factors that allowed the OSR to grow in to a substantial hobby niche are

• The huge body of people who played classic editions of DnD.
• The internet capability to allow niche communities to communicate and grow.
• The use of the Open Game License to RPGs to use the most of the same terms as classic editions.
• The inexpensive availability of Print on Demand technology.

The OSR is now a distinct niche of its own with it own industry side and hobby side similar to Fate, GURPS, Savage World, etc. Unlike the rest there is no dominant (Fate) or single (GURPS, Savage World, etc) publishers supporting it. It is solely supported by multiple publishers. This may change if Wizards decides to return to publishing older edition materials.

I know a lot of hard working publishers are not mentioned I encourage people to go to the Hoard and Horde timeline and check the dozens of excellent material that have been published over the years. Also do a search for OSR on Lulu and check out the OSR section on RPGNow.

The Ballad of Bo and Sidwin

(Set to whatever country tune you think fits)

Cindarrin two, came from the south.
Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.

Reborn from a race proud
With a love of women and wine
but walking with a fierce resolve
To right evil's wrong.

To Alden village they came
Bo charm could not melt
the chill icy winds off the lake
or the huntress wintry heart.

Sidwin found the ale
And that Old Man Holt was gone.
To the Hall they went
And listend to Brill's tale of woe.

Cindarrin two, came from the south.
Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.

To the north they venture forth
Dry a an old lady's tears.
Along the way they find a sign
That pointed the way.

A ramshackle old building
Alone amid the wilds
Peering inside the door
A ghastly sign was seen

Halfing Hash for 5
Elf Stoo for 7
Manburger for 9
Wench Fries for 4

Cindarrin two, came from the south.
Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.

Bo gasped in horror
"This ain't right" he said
Sidwin brows furrowed
"I am the cheapest on the menu".

Round the building to the back.
Windows three lay high on the wall
A root cellar door on the ground
Promise a passage to chambers of horror.

To the roof Sidwin was lifted and saw a kitchen
With two dwarves covered in blood. A Minotaur of the same height.
The beast was singing with a gruff.
"Yer kin git anythin' yer wants, at Ellis's restiront.."

Cindarrin two, came from the south.
Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.

To the left was store of Grain
To the right a store of ale.
Bo knelt down and quietly opened the cellar door
"Hey! Get me down from the roof" Sidwin Whispered.

The two ventured into the darkness
Resolved to save Old Man Holt from the next meal.
By the light of an old lamp they beheld the chambers of horror
From the darkness they heard "Hey what that light?"

With no quarter given the two new dwarves were slain.
Bodies riddled with arrows from Bo's mighty bow.
Heads caved in from stones thrown by Sidwin's sling.
With the butchered body of Old Man Holt hanging. The inn will burn.

Cindarrin two, came from the south.
Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.

With oil and grease they covered the ceiling above.
The flames of righteousness lit up the old wood.
The Cindarrin two went back around to the front.
Ready to deal out judgment of doomsday.

Out came the minotaur arrows riddled his body.
Stones flew and the minotaur screamed in pain.
Two dwarves were on the brave halfling.
The minotaur roared and charged Bo

The den of iniquity burned, it evil cleansed in fire.
Alas not all righteous deeds end in life.
Sidwan and Bo could not hold forth.
First the halfling, then down went the fighting man.

Bo the fighting man.
Sidwin Butterbottom the Thief.
Halfling with a sling.
Long we remember, the Cindarrin two

---------------------------------------------------

Egbert throws down the parchment, "What rubbish, I can't believe somebody wrote this doggerel."

"Now, now Egbert, it was written out of respect." Conner reproached.

Egbert retorted "They are Cindarrin! They should have a song worthy of a Athoven, Movar, or Tach. Not some mud village screech."

"I am going to get some rest. John take watch, Alfred make up the bed." as Egbert left the hall.

Brill leans over to the Conner. "He is really quite the ass."

Conner nods sadly in agreement.
-------------------------------------------------------
A lot of fun was had. You can read  gamemaster's account here.

New Characters for a new Monday Game

Rusty Battleaxe had to bail Monteporte due to work commitments for two weeks. So we skipped last week and Chris of Clash of The Clash of Spear on Shield is stepping in with his first game of Ephemera.

Aside from the interesting background he is having us make up two characters. A primary and a backup in case ... well we all know what happens in classic editions. The rules are the fourth printing of the Swords and Wizardry Core rules with short set of house rules outlining the options he will be using. Since my primary is going to be Bo the Fighter the most interesting is the use of the Parry rule.

In the 1974 edition there is a rule you could opt to fight defensively and your opponent has a minus to hit based off of your Dex.

Here my characters Bo the Fighter and Egbert the Magic User. I geared up Bo as best as I could on 80 gp. I guess my luck ran out after I rolled the stats. For Egbert he has a 7 charisma. Since I roleplay Luven a thief with a 7 charisma I made Egbert my backup. However to give him a bit of edge on survival I used my starting money to hire some hirelings. Alfred the Torchbearers and John the Rotund my Man at Arms. If Egbert comes into play, he has ten days to find treasure before he runs out of gold to to pay John. Alfred is paid up for 30 days.

You can download the characters from here.