Design note:
The intent of this brotherhood is to form a basis for an “adventurer”. What does this mean? Someone who has skills and perhaps some magic that is outside of the common population. It does mean they expect to spend long periods without the support of civilization or a logistics train to back them up. Think about taking a backpacking trip for a week or two, but this one has intelligent creatures out to defend their turf or rob you. If one looks at this in the way it is intended, it should make a character who is well prepared for descending into the depths of the earth, exploring hidden shrines to lost gods, or traveling in search of the unknown.
It does not exclude a career outside of adventuring, and in fact assumes that they do have one. This represents a set of skills they acquired before they decided to adventure. While the character can pick nearly any career allowed in the setting, it is most common for entertainers, hunters, mystics, priests, scouts, shaman, sorcerers, thieves, and warriors to be members.
This brotherhood is designed to work with other cults and brotherhoods. It's supposed to be combined and layered with them to give a more complete character without having to stack it all into one cult. You can have a priest of Myceras who is a member, perhaps seeing the need to protect the farmers and herders more directly by exploring the edges of civilization where those professions most often live. You can have a sorcerer of the Lich’s way who is a member and uses their wilderness schools to hunt for lost tomes in ancient tombs. Think about these two together making a class or an archetype you might find in another dungeon crawling game. This will give them some distinction from their brotherhood and cult members who don’t go adventuring.
Only in rare, campaign specific circumstances should adventurers be excluded from other cults. There certainly can be groups who don't allow adventurers in their cults, and they make fine NPCs in a dungeon crawling game, or even as PCs in a political game where adventurers are tools to get things done. This brotherhood may be hired out by them or a pawn in their games, but the Lodge is intended for adventuring.
The primary benefit of this guild is training, as they have access to many teachers and a broad list of useful skills available. For those who might be in a more natural bent and in a similar brotherhood (for example, a hunter who has joined a hunter’s brotherhood), this will likely seem less valuable. However, this allows the character to focus their experience on other skills like combat styles and allow them to progress in both more quickly.
Folk magic is a secondary benefit. Most of the critical utilitarian spells for combat and survival applications are found here. Everyone can have access to a minor healing spell to let them recover from small cuts and bruises. This doesn't replace a full healer with access to healing magics, as it does not deal with Serious or Major wounds, but it does allow them to recover quickly from anything less, greatly increasing survivability. Small damage bonuses, clearing pathways, finding water, and so on are all available.
The Lodge of the Delver's Lamp
The Lodge of the Delver's Lamp is a pragmatic organization of adventurers, explorers, and guides who specialize in navigating dangerous wildernesses and delving into ancient, forgotten ruins and dungeons. They prioritize self-reliance, practical skills, and mutual support, seeing themselves as a light in the dark places of the world, bringing knowledge and often treasure back to civilization.
Mythos and History
The Lodge was founded centuries ago by a diverse group of seasoned explorers who grew weary of ill-prepared novices dying in the wilds. They believed that true heroism wasn't just about martial or magical prowess, but also about understanding the land and the creatures within it. Their original tenets emphasized shared knowledge and the importance of coming home alive. They pass down their wisdom through generations, often through apprenticeship (as henchmen and hirelings) and practical application rather than esoteric texts.
Nature
The Lodge operates as a network of experienced adventurers, offering guidance, training, and resources to those who seek to explore the dangerous frontiers. They are generally respected in civilized lands for their contributions to mapping new territories, recovering lost artifacts, and occasionally dealing with threats that emerge from the wilderness. They view overly academic or purely magical organizations with a degree of healthy skepticism, preferring hands-on experience and proven techniques, though frequently work with them to acquire lost artifacts and knowledge.
Apostate members are not actively hunted unless they betray the Lodge’s core principles (e.g., raiding innocent settlements, destroying historical sites wantonly). Those who leave are simply no longer afforded the Lodge's protection or resources.
Organization
The Brotherhood maintains small, unassuming lodges near the edges of known civilization, often at the mouths of difficult mountain passes or at the borders of vast forests. These lodges serve as training grounds, resupply points, and information hubs. There is no central governing body; rather, each lodge operates with a degree of autonomy, led by an experienced Overseer. Gatherings of Overseers occur annually at a rotating location, usually a secluded but well-provisioned lodge, to share discoveries and discuss major undertakings.
Holy Days/Celebrations:
The Day of the First Light (Spring Equinox): Marks the traditional start of the adventuring season. Members clean and prepare their gear, sharing stories of past journeys.
The Feast of the Deep Earth (Autumn Equinox): A somber feast where members honor those lost to the wilderness and share hard-won knowledge gained from their expeditions.
Membership
Requirements: Standard. Entry is based on demonstrated competence in outdoor skills and a commitment to exploration and discovery. Prospective members must undertake a challenging solo "Proving Journey" into a moderately dangerous area and return with a detailed report of their findings, often including samples of flora, fauna, or ancient stone carvings.
Restrictions
Oath: Members swear an oath to always aid a fellow Lodge member in need (unless it directly contradicts their own survival), to share newly discovered knowledge with the Lodge, and to never wantonly destroy ancient sites or natural wonders.
Taboo: Members are forbidden from knowingly desecrating untouched natural environments or plundering sacred sites (unless the site is clearly hostile or corrupted).
Superstition: It is believed that resting directly on bare earth within a dungeon brings ill luck; a bedroll or cloak must always be used. Many also carry a small, polished stone or other trinket from their first successful delve as a good luck charm.
Skills
The Lodge emphasizes practical skills for survival and exploration.
Standard Skills (Improved by the Lodge)
Athletics, Boating, Endurance, Evade, First Aid, Perception, Ride, Stealth, Swim, Willpower
Professional Skills (Taught by the Lodge)
Craft (any, but many specialize in a wilderness survival tool like Cartography or Leatherworking), Folk Magic, Lore (any, but many specialize in Arcane Studies, a Regional Geography, History and Ancient Civilizations, Religious Studies, or specific Species), Navigate, Survival, Teach
Magic
The Lodge teaches and utilizes Folk Magic, viewing it as a practical extension of natural understanding.
Below is a sample list of folk magic spells available with some relevant example situations where they might be helpful. It is impossible to cover all the myriad uses of folk magic for an adventurer, and thus this is not a comprehensive list. Most Folk magic spells are available from Lodge members and are often taught during the off season.
Folk Magic Spells
Bladesharp: Enhances a weapon's sharpness. (Useful for carving paths, breaking simple barriers, or aiding in combat).
Bludgeon: Enhances blunt weapons (Useful for combat or breaking down barriers).
Cool: Protects the recipient from the effects of hot climates. (Important for jungle or desert adventures).
Dry: Useful for quickly removing harmful liquids, not just water. (Can quickly remove liquid acids and oils)
Find (X): Find has many variations; always specific and learned as separate spells. Some common examples are given below.
Find Hazards finds natural hazards such as quicksand and rockfalls.
Find Loot: Locates precious metals and gems.
Find Poison can be used to determine if something is poisoned or poisonous
Find Sickness: Identifies the existence of disease and illness, whether magical or mundane.
Find Traps finds deliberately laid mechanical traps, including snares, covered pits, spear and dart traps, and the like.
Heal: Restores 1d3 hit points to a minor wound. (Essential for expeditionary first aid).
Light: Creates a small, non-burning light source. This is often the first folk magic spell taught if the character is unfamiliar. (For dark caves and nights in the wilderness).
Mobility: Makes the recipient light-footed, ignoring minor terrain penalties. (Great for navigating rough terrain in dungeons or wilderness).
Pathway: Creates a clear, temporarily visible path or trail. (Helps avoid getting lost or bypass minor obstacles).
Pierce: Enhances piercing weapons (Useful in combat, punching through leather and other tough fabrics)
Preserve: Delays the spoilage of food or decay of organic matter. (Crucial for extended wilderness expeditions, gathering of rare organic materials, or collecting of bounties).
Vigor: Makes the recipient feel energetic, offsetting fatigue. (Combats exhaustion on long treks).
Warmth: Protects the recipient from the effects of cold. (Vital for cold, damp dungeons, mountain treks, or winter adventures).
Gifts
The Lodge offers gifts that enhance an adventurer's ability to survive and thrive in the wild. These are typically earned through significant contributions to the Lodge's knowledge base or successful high-risk expeditions.
Common Member: Those who have sworn the oath and accepted the taboo have access to training for any of the cult skills.
Dedicated Member: Those who have at least 50% in 5 of the cult skills (any will do) are offered a training discount in any cult skill of 25%, with the assumption that they will tutor others in their spare time. Once in a while they acquire a retainer or a follower that joins them during the adventuring season.
Proven Member: Those who have at least 70% in any 4 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 50% and are sought after as trainers and teachers during the off season, and frequently acquire followers and retainers who assist them during the adventuring season. In addition, their skill outside of civilization allows them to create a safe space when away from creature comforts called a Wild Hearth.
Gift: Wild Hearth: The character can, once per day via a 5 minute ritual, conjure a temporary, secure, and comfortable camp site in any natural wilderness or dungeon environment (not within a city). This "wild hearth" offers protection from natural elements and deters non-magical, unintelligent creatures of non-fantastical origins (lions, tigers, bears, etc. but not giant variants unless they are wholly natural in your game world) for 8 hours. It fails if a more powerful magical effect (i.e. one of Intensity greater than one) is already dominating the area.
Overseer: Those who have at least 90% in any 3 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 75%, and are highly sought after as trainers and teachers during the off season and are sought after as leaders within adventuring parties, acquiring followers and retainers as they like.
Gift: Adventurer’s Luck: a member who has reached this rank can form a Group Luck pool with members of his party. Forming the pool requires several hours of the party getting to know each other. This normally is an evening where the members of the group share tales of their exploits and narrow escapes with others in a tavern (preferably with the players telling stories for their characters). Once formed, this pool contains 2 luck points plus one for each member of the adventuring group. It can be replenished by spending a night of undisturbed rest in the wilderness (granting 1 point) or by spending an evening and night at a tavern, inn, or other civilized establishment (replenishing all points, available once a week).
Leader: Those who have at least 110% in any 2 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 100%, being able to call on nearly any member nearby to spend some time tutoring them without cost, though timing may be difficult. As they are recognized as Leaders within the Lodge, they have their pick of retainers and followers, picking those who will best be able to serve the objective.
Gift: Insightful: The character is immediately aware of major environmental hazards (like quicksand, unstable ground, or rockfalls) or the presence of hidden, naturally occurring creatures (but not sentient beings trying to hide) within 1 kilometer. This manifests as knowledge, but doesn't give direction. For example, when entering an area with a hidden pack of wolves, the Leader would just learn “there are wolves nearby”. This functions as a passive sense, requiring no roll.
Allies and Enemies
Allies
Independent cartographers' guilds, wilderness guides, some non-fanatical scholar's colleges interested in ancient history, and remote settlements benefiting from their mapping and protection services.
Enemies
Creatures that actively destroy natural environments, brigands who prey on travelers, necromancers who defile ancient burial sites, and any organizations that seek to hoard knowledge or exploit wilderness resources without respect.
