Altus Adventum Rulebook

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Altus Adventum
Copy write 2004
Sacrosanct Games, All rights reserved
Written By: Roderic Waibel
Artwork (c) individual artists *
Robert Robinson
Sarah Skinner
Colin Throm
Michael Clarke
Roderic Waibel
Mongoose Publishing*
Playtesters:
Robert DeCarlo
Gary Landis
Charles Wilson
Patrick Gonzales
Brian Vifquain
* All artwork enclosed with a black beveled border (character portraits) is classiied Open Content, and is
subject to the Open Content licence found at the rear of this manual
Table of Contents
Prolog 4
Preface 5
Common Terms 6
World of Arcadia 7-8
Speices of Algerian 9-12
Elf 9
Gnome 10
Human 11
Dwarf 11
Attributes 13-14
Skills 15-28
Background Traits 17
General Skills 18
Combat Skills 20
Stealth Skills 24
Mystic Skills 26
Magic 29-52
Rune 31-36
Totem 37-42
Channeling 43-47
Mental 48-52
Equipement Table 53
Armor Table 54
Weapons Table 55
Siege Weapon Table 56
Equipment Descriptions 57-61
Combat 62-72
Overview 63
Initiative 63
Actions 64
Dice Pools 64
Damage (DRL) 65
Damage Absorption (DA) 66
Magic in Combat 70
Encumbrance 71
Awarding XP points 71
Experience Titles 72
Unarmed Combat 73-79
Unarmed Combat Table 75
Continent of Algerian 80-84
Guilds 85-96
Shorlorn Militia 86
Protectorate of the Righteous 87
Order of the Rose 88
Imperial Mages 89
Jut Kinchangkap 90
The Dark Hand 91
Wutend Gefreite 92
Guardians of the Dead 93
The Wolf Clan 94
Stryder’s Hunters 95
Woodland Defenders 96
Treasure 97-104
Bestiary 105-148
License 149
Sample Character Sheet 150-151
Index 152-153
Appendix 1, Common Charts 154
Prolog
The small, rag-tag group of adventurers stood
near the entrance of the ancient cave; cold rain drizzled
from the dark gray sky. With cloaks pulled tight around
them to keep in the little warmth that their bodies
produced, the party made their way through the sucking
mud to the entrance. The party consisted of Hagor,
the mighty dwarven warrior from the Ironclaw clan,
Shiandra, an elven mage of no small power, Shade Stix,
the gnome who liked to refer to himself as “the inder”,
and Jalidor, the withdrawn human wilderness scout.
How this motley crew got together is a tale
in itself. For three of the members, greed was the sole
motivation. Hagor, Shiandra, and Shade Stix had heard
about potential riches in the cave and decided to set
out and claim them for their own. One dreary night,
similar to the one the group was experiencing now, they
decided to make camp and were beset upon by a goblin
raiding party. The group was not faring too well in the
surprise attack, when Jaldor intervened. The scout had
been tracking the goblin raiding party for days and had
inally caught up with them. With the help of Jaldor’s
well-placed arrows, the group had managed to dispatch
the goblins. After a brief rest, Jaldor agreed to join the
party, but not for the wealth. Jaldor was after the goblin
king that lived in the cave structure, to end the raids on
his homeland once and for all.
So now the group found themselves at the
entrance to the cave of the goblin king. Jaldor quickly
surmised by the tracks left in the mud that several goblins
have been using this entrance on a regular basis, and
caution was necessary. Hagor, being the brash dwarf
that he is, immediately began to walk into the cave, axe
at the ready.
“Wait!” Hissed Jaldor. “Do not enter yet.
Unlike you demi-humans, I cannot see in the dark. We
must light a torch and enter carefully. I suggest a plan in
case things get hairy.”
“I agree,” whispered Shade, barely heard
over the grumble of Hagor. “I cannot see in the dark
either. I suggest I go in irst, with Hagor behind me, then
Shiandra and inally Jaldor. As the tallest, you would
still be able to ire your arrows over the rest of us if need
be. This would also allow protection for Shiandra from
front and rear attacks.”
“Alright then, let’s go.” Moaned Hagor. The
old dwarf was ready to split some heads.
“Listen to the gnome, Hagor.” Replied
Shiandra, in the melodic tone that was common to all
elves. “If we are to enjoy the riches we ind, it would be
best to be alive to spend it.”
After several unsuccessful attempts to light a
soggy torch with lint, Shiandra came forward and with
a small incantation, lames sparked to life and the torch inally
lit. The group then descended into the depths of the dark cave in
the order recommended by Shade. They hadn’t gotten very far,
maybe a hundred feet, before the tunnel split in two directions.
“Which way?” Coughed Shiandra. Her elven lungs
were not accustomed to the dank, musty air of the cave. Hagor
and Shade were handling it much easier. In fact, Hagor seemed
quite at home.
“Hold on, let me listen.” Whispered back Shade. After
a few moments of silence, he replied back. “Go to the left, I hear
more activity that way.”
“That’s either a good thing or a bad thing.” Remarked
Hagor sarcastically.
After a few more moments of stalking down the cave,
torchlight lickering off the limestone walls, Shade motioned
the group to stop. He didn’t get a word in before the goblins
ambushed. From alcoves in the tunnel wall, several goblins
sprang forth in hideous laughter, rusty blades brandished.
Two of the creatures sprang at Shade who quickly did a
tuck and roll to the left, avoiding the attacks as the blades scraped
on the gnome’s studded leather armor. Quickly recovering from
the tumble, Shade sprang back to his feet behind the goblins,
successfully thrusting his long dagger into the spine of the evil
creature, which sent out a terrifying shriek.
“Well, they know we’re here now!” Shouted Hagor, as
another goblin leapt at him. Hagor quickly brought up his shield
to delect the oncoming attack, and in the same motion, swung
his axe overhead, splitting the goblin’s skull open.
The last goblin ambusher lunged towards Shiandra,
and this time it scored a hit. The rusty blade slashed through
the elves robes and drew blood. Shiandra gasped out in pain,
but quickly recovered herself and began casting a spell. Bright
lames shot forth from her hands, enguling the goblin’s head,
sending the creature into a writhing heap on the tunnel loor.
The last remaining goblin that attacked Shade did
not have a chance to try to escape. When it realized that these
adversaries were far tougher than itself, it was too late. A slight
hum was all that was heard before an arrow struck the creature
dead in its heart.
“Well, that takes care of those.” Began Hagor. “That’ll
be the last ti….”
“Shhhhh!” spat Shade, holding up his hand. Sure
enough, the sound and shrieks of approaching goblins could
be heard from both ends of the tunnel. “Get ready guys, this is
going to be interesting.”
4
Preface
First off, let me thank you for expressing interest in
Altus Adventum
, and I hope you enjoy the game.
Altus Adventum
is a traditional high fantasy role-playing game, set in a fantastic world of myth, magic, and
warriors. I will not claim that this game is the next best RPG since sliced bread, or the newest, greatest, most innovative
game out there. A statement like that would be pretty brash considering the large number of fantasy role-playing games
in the market. And besides,
Altus Adventum
was never designed to be that.
So why should I expect you to enjoy this game, let alone spend your hard earned cash buying it? The simple
truth is that I irmly believe that the role-playing industry is one of the most diverse and creative group of folks out
there. Because of this creative diversity, many of us have a wide variety of tastes on what we prefer to get out of a
system. You might have a room of ten people who all enjoy a high fantasy game, but none of them prefer the same
system. It’s because of this reason why I have created this game; to give players options.
What
Altus Adventum
does offer, and what I am most proud of, is the core mechanic used in the rules. I’ve
been role-playing since 1981, and one constant that I was never comfortable with many of the RPGs I have played is
that I always felt the combat phase took to long to resolve, especially in groups of larger than four or ive players. This
unfortunately led to one or more players to not be involved for ten minutes or longer. We’ve all seen the dice towers
and doodles that a player does when they are bored and not involved. Simply put, it’s not fun for everyone to have to
sit for long periods while someone spends several minutes adding up modiier after modiier.
Another frustration I’ve had is that in many of the RPGs out there, once you create a character, you’re pretty
much stuck into whatever profession you initially had chosen. A few games do address this, but the mechanics on how
they handle this are too cumbersome and too penalizing for my tastes. We’ve all run into the situation where we created
a character we thought would it well with the party, only to discover after several hours of game play that we would
be better off with a different character.
These two factors are the driving reasons why I designed this game. With
Altus Adventum
, the combat system
is designed to handle any modiiers
before
you get into actual combat. This has shown to tremendously speed up the
combat phase, and keeps everyone involved with minimal down time. An added beneit that was discovered is that it
also helps the GM and players focus on the storyline with little disruption, as less time is devoted to dice rolling and
math.
Altus Adventum
also uses a skill system that eliminates traditional professions, or “classes” as they are
commonly referred to. Characters have tremendous lexibility as to what areas of combat, stealth, or mystic skills they
can specialize in, or they may choose not to specialize in any one area at all and instead be a jack-of-all-trades. And for
those players that do prefer to have a career path outlined for them,
Altus Adventum
has a guild system where a player
may join a guild and follow a more non-linear path of career progression. The key here is choice. I believe that players
and GMs should have the choice on how they want the game to be structured.
In addition to these two key factors, I also expanded this lexibility mentality to encompass all other aspects of
the game. There are four main styles of magic for instance, one of them being a rune style that combines various pre-
determined runes give near countless variations of spells. The only limitation is up to the player’s imagination. There
is also no hit point system used, but a damage rule set based on the severity of the wound.
I also wanted to make sure that this core rulebook has all you need to play the game whether you’re a player or
a GM without having to buy additional supplements. There are over 100 creatures in the Bestiary, many arcane items
and artifacts, and combat rules that cover everything from poison to fatigue to siege weaponry and more.
In summary, whereas I won’t claim that this game is the next greatest RPG to hit the industry, I do honestly
believe it’s one of the best. I hope you feel the same way after playing it. And again, I offer you many thanks for
spending the time to ind out.
Sincerely,
Roderic Waibel
Lead Designer
Sacrosanct Games
5
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