— Delve Al Dungeon Exploring RPG By FeralGamesGame prsignet peralanes. Cover Art By Dragorean Section Art y Markus - ‘Chapter 1 Markus - Chapter 2 Danila - Chapter 3 Bojan Spirovski - Chapter 4 Max - Chapter 5 Interior Art Simon Adams, Chirillustrs, Ironbenry, Ben McSweeney, Isaac Horn, Andy Coker, Su Yeong Kim: Cext Caicing and Design feralGames. laytesters. Laurie Athey, Chalutguy, Max, Stijn De smet, Duncan Putchinson, Gideon Milburn, Obkay, Ken Nelson, Dana, Alex Pe, Deodecumus, Special Thanks to All the artists who donated their work, to the playtesters who donated their time,to Nikki for the proofreading, and to all the team at FeralGames. Published By feralGames 2015 Copyright Notice. Copyright©2015, FeralGames. All Rights Reserved. Digitally published in the UK. Made in UK. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. All Artwork is copyright of the Artist and FeralGames holds no right to the copyright of any Artwork,Title Page Credite Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction, ‘What isan RPG? What you wl eed How to ay Deve Using Lek Opposed Rolls. Sutin shit Races and Guilds Saring Deb ‘Chapter 2 - Combat. How Combat Wars The Combat Mechanic How Damage Wars Combat Modis Surprise Cove Melee Combat Damage Boots Melee Defense ‘Aacks of Oppormain Dal Wielding Rangel Combat Skil Shots Stealth Combat, Damage & Heng Hitpoin. Damage Tipe Healing. Chapter 3 — Delving Delving Move Enaimbrance Reputation Desig wih Repuiaion, Guild Renown Equipment. Armeour& Shields. Weapons. Delving Gee Het. Chapter 4 - Arcane. Whats magi? Viaity & Aur Gathering Auris Regaining Au’ Spals& Casing Spell Foing, Spell Forming Dificuly Conus, The on Tone. Bement magic (Choosing your Bement Spell Descriptions. Air Magic Bone magic Enh magic Fim magic Water magic Magi tems. ‘Types of Magi tems. Chapter 5 - DM Section The DM in Deve Designing a Dungson Finding ayers Game. Creating our Game Monster Table Treasure Table Evens Tile Being a DM. PeeGenerated Characters Monster other Badd Goblins. liches Ons Skdetons Sides Trl, Chanks. Links. 2 2 a a a a 2 2 6 % % % 2 2 2 28 28 2» 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 37 38 38 38 3 3” » 3» seee @hat is an RPG A roleplaying game of RPG is a game tha involves a group of fiends a table and some dice. Like a Computer game you play within an imaginary world, unlike a computer game you don't have 4 srcen showing what you see or a controller allowing you to move tc All you have isa pencil, dice, character sheet and your imagination, The world and events ate decribed by the Dungeon master (DM). The players take on challenges, adventures and battles by using their Characters abilities and ils Each player choones a character which they use to act out in the ‘game world, the Dungeon master (DM) controls the world and ‘eerything within it Ie is important thatthe players understand the world whese Delve is set as it has many things diffrent from the world we all currently live in, The customs, Religions, Races and even the vironment are ll different in the woeld of Delve snd to ensure the players gin the most fom the games the DM should make sure to describe and make sure the players understand this. bat you will need. ‘Tophy Delve you will ned 12 sided dice, these ate commonly refered to as D12 (D=Dice) and some 6 sided dice referred to as DS, inthe game the D12 will be called Aetion Dice (AD) ane the DS will ust be DS. You wil also need pencil and notepaper. Ech player should choose a character from the Five ready made characters at the ‘end ofthe rule section, In the full game ‘Chronicles of erthes’ the players will create characters, this will give lots of different ‘options on both race and professions, ‘The Dyngeon master should have this rulebook and an adventure her one created by FeralGames or one they made \Rfensdve: A game sts around 34 hrs per session, and we suggest 34 players make a good pany size, bu the game can be played with any number of people as Long as there is always one personas ee Dungeon must Final you can add pros, pe even Minar o your gare bat this i atthe discretion of the DM, we ave provide 2 premade tale maps in the Dung mater section, ow to play Delve. In the world of Delve players wil often come across situations where thei characters wll need to se their sills or engage in combat to proceed in the adventure, The use of sills and engaging in combat is done by comparing a difficulty rank (DR), decided by the DM by the skill rank or weapon rank ofthe character, Dificulty Rank (DR) cange om 1 to 15, with 1 being Very Easy and, 15 being Legendary, the DM decides om this nurnber generally based fon the ranks of the character, (as making every Difficulty Legendary would basically stop low ranking characters progressing and the Payers from having any real fan) Exremely Hard 11-12 legendary 15 ‘When a Difficulty nk is decided the Plyee compares that number by thei kil rank plus their Luck Example The DM declares that a locked door will havea difficulty of Average (6) ithe characters wish to pick the lock One of the characters is Thief and thee Lockpick sill is Journeyman (5) and their Luck is 1, 10 they will atemmpt the lock With their rank of Journeyman (5) and Luck of | the Difficulty being Average (5) this means they need 1 oll less than 6 on a D2 dice—_ - Difficulties and Ranks can be increased or decreased with bonuses and penalties, these could be special tools that increase the characters ranks or situations like urgency, injury or even weather that place penalties on completing the tsk ‘Skill Rank s{e[7[s]ofolu a[s[el[7[e]> [oln 3[e(slel7le[o/oln|-|- 2[3fa[s[«[7[s[o[o[n| - tf2[s[ats[el[7[s][>[o[n lei lels[« [7 [e[>[o tees? GE eee tl2[3[s[s[e[7 tl2[3la|[s[« tf2[sfa[s 1[2[3]a i[2[3 1[2 1 “Thetop ow she cura sil rank along the side is the Dificuly rank gen by the DM, by ros reencing both numbers the player can tat tart mumbai grented which dey mt rll under or equi toon aD sing Luck. fin Luckisa deciding itr on wheter sillisa successor not thatch sik igh hat Tuy ledge when your climbing te so with all alls except Opposed lls the player an a thei ack tothe sil or weapon ea Lack des ntact ik ris ven generat ie the othe sta in the ame ites on whether the character mason lucky or nt, How luck is gene can be Found ia the charac ection ton of the Core game Chronicles of Aerthe®! Opposed Rolls. ‘Sometimes a character may have to attempt an Opposed Roll, an opposed rll involves ping thir sill against another charcer ran NPC (NonPlayer Charace) when this happens the pponents Sill Rank becomes the Dificuly rank, a good example fsa with sneaking pst pond or nooner Example The character withes to sneak pt a Gurdon pte. The Guard not actively searching for the character so the DM decides on the Guards Avarenss and stats ita novice (3), the characters stealth kil i Journeyman (5 so with qui cack ofthe chart te DM states that the player neds trol ks than on a D2 ‘Asaherexenle cold be The Character wishes to soak pat some Guard who ae cively searching for the Charscer, there are 3 guards inthe oom, the highest awareness Novice (9) andthe oer 2 guards nce this by 1 each making the difcatyjouneyan (5) The rom ist making seakng bit harder forthe character and the DM imposes 4 penal onthe Character sneak il ecocing it by 1 rk fen Journeyman (5) 24. Sothe player must ol kes than 4 ona D2 With opposed lls invalving more than one opponent the DM should taketh highest rank nd then ad 1 foreach opponent ‘beyond one so if their were 5 opponents all searching for the character the DM would ws the highest awareness in the group ad than add 4 to the number 1 foreach ofthe 4 oer ponents Statistics. In Delve each characte has 8 Stasis (Sats these represent the physical and intellectual atributes ofthe character, The Satis dlermine any things such asthe stating rank ofl the characters hixpoins and damage bonus etc and alu the rank of their abl, Wego into much more dtl regandng thse in the Core game ‘Chronicles of Hertbeo! ‘ dSkills, In Delve here ate 4 types of sila ‘Standard Skills - These are skills each character stars with and can be increased by spending Reputation points Abilities - These are sills linked wo the characters Statistics and can ‘nly be increased by improving the statistic the ability is inked to by using Reputation points, Guild Skills - These skills are unique to each characters Guild of Profession and can be increased by reputation in Delve but in the core game Chronicles of Aerthee they can only be increased by Visiting Guild trainers. Defense Skills - These ate the Characters main combt abilities and ‘can be increased by reputation. (See the Combat Chapter for more ‘on Defense Skill) All skills start with a basic rank based on the Characters skill rank this will be gone into more detail in the Core book for ‘Chronicles of Aertheo Races and Guilds. Rarer i eee ae = ‘Humans - Humans are like Humans in other games, they speak jg nt Dragor = The Drugor are similar to the Classic Fantasy Dwarves, short but stout. i ee Guilds. The Guikds ar the carats pfesin, Each Gil as factions within cach teaching a dient syle or pe of pofsion Fake 19 ‘he Guild Inthe Gare game Chronicles of eres tha a6 Guiks xh wi 6 Factions in Delve we only se 3 tse Guilds and ony one fiction fom exch, Guild of Martial Prowess ~ The standard Fighters guild, the futon wsedis the Hil of Shields which aches the sandal Sword and Shield Tigue lose of Beggars The Thieves Gul, he fasion wed is the House ofVogibonds which aches Bsc Thi hil ‘he loa Tower ~The Mags Gil, The faction wed isthe Chamber of Blanents, That aches Hemental Mag Starting Delve. TheDMand Paes shoud now hae eventing they neo start venturing in Dee. For more on Combat nd Magithere are dette cage tbat andthe Dungzon mae ein hs some information on the world and also 2 ae maps hat can be copied and wed ‘So grab your gear and start Delving.ee Bow Combat Morks: Combat in Dee isin fous stages, stage one is when the DM. describes the situation and what the characters can sy, Stage 2 the players call out their initiative and the DM places them in turn onde, Stage thie the characters perform actions during thei turn based on the Action point they have and finally Stage four the round ends and Combat continues from Stage dhe. Stage One. ‘This isthe important fn stage of any combat, unless the DM is, using Batle Maps or some othr visual ad the players shoud know wht i happening around them, ow the ae looks there is ove, elevation, furniture or bulings Tis is down tothe DM describing the environment in a clear way so thatthe players can visualize their surtoundings Bate Maps help with this andif the DM or Payers can get miniatures then the ae often a great option, alu the DM could create Batlle mapson a compute and show the players their surtoundings The Combat in Delve sles on the payer lansing their actions anid using tactics to maximise their weapon rank Just iting someting is ofen abit boring and uneventful, Archers should be used to pin opponces or to make opponents spend al this time defending agains ail of arrows as the fighters use this to thei advantage, alto aiming increases the archers rank as does feigning oF distating for melee based characters Describing what is happening hap the playes visuals the bale anid makes it more fan for everyone, and working together can ofien help takedown the strongest foe. Many Payers will think its weed not ling toatack’ as this wil feel the contol ofthat has been taken fom them but with al the options this creates by sing the ‘Action Points players should son discover that combat is now more exciting. Stage Cwo. Each character wil have an Iiative number on tei character sheet, this number indicates how quickly the character reacts to combat situations, the higher the number the quicker the character reacts At the bginning of tage two the DM will ak for Initiative plus a 11D6 roll and will place the characters in turn order based on ‘fy sve number plus the rou of the IDS a jeh round of combat is broken into a number of tums, the "Amount &f tums depend on the numberof Characters and ‘opponents in the Combut, so if there ate S characters and 3, ‘opponents then the round is # tens long and so on. The order of a turns goes from Fists to slowest 0 the highest Initiative goes es, Characters can choose to delay their turn ual later, split hee turn into oo, based on how they wish to we thee Aton Pints (Characters or opponents with the same Initiative go atthe same time, DM can change this by the highest Movement tat goes frst, itthisis simpler It is also often advisable to place a lot of opponents on the same Initiate, s038a group attack, this hep wit age volumes of low ranking enemies Stage Chree. During ther tu characters can perform actions these actions each cost Action Poin, the more Action Pint character has the more setions they can perform they can alo split theie urns if they ‘ish wo use Acton Pints duting thir tr and then aber 4 at the end the of the round, they can. “The payer must dalare tai intent wo the DM, especially th Ranged or telth combat, 0 tht the DM is aware of what the player wishes 0 dain rears to Ranged combat the player may vith wo dite, pin or distract the opponet. Every action cts Action Pints and blow i guide to how much ‘each action costs, Actions AP Cost Attacking with 1 Handed 2 Firing a Bow 2 Ducking into cover 1 Parey/Arrow Cur/Catch 1 Castinga spell 2 Jumping Back 1 Using Skill 141 per DN Using First Aid 4 Bech crater and opponent tes stm nti eveone bated Stage Four.1 a = —_—— A this tage the round ends and ether the combat continues in which case he round begins at Stage ther as theres no need to all for Initiative the ten order ust continues, or the combat ends with thee the characters or opponents being victorious So these ae the four tages of combat 0 lt look at how the ‘combat mechanic works in Delve and the Sigil System ©. The Combat Mechanic. Dave uss the Sigil Syatem © a its cone mechanic, with combat the Sigil System cies in few ways to normal RAG stems in that it does not hae an atack rollin combat, players do not need to rll for atack but they do need to sll define. Attacking is based on the characters Action Pints, as long asthe character has the Action Points to cover the cost of an attack, they ‘an atack or perform any other action. Acton points only take ct during the combat rounds all actions during the characters turn cots pots, certain actions wil involve rllng the Action Dice such as wing a skill or defending this is because during combat thar is often someone attempting stop or kill the character or ‘opponent doing that action. Example Gacy (ight wishes to atack an ogre, Gg has 9 Action Points so she uses 2 points geting tothe Ogre and then declares he wil attack tice sing a Frther 4 points (1 handed attack). The Oxre sw Greg coming so theres mo suprise and the Ope defends, attempting to pany both of Gres attacks. Gres Sword rank is Journeyman which ita rank of 5, the Ogres Parry Ranks Novice (3) 10 the Ogre would ave to rll 3 orks on DIZ tw parry, but Besse he saw Greg the DM gives the Ogre a +1 to Pany which means the Ogre ‘hast roll 4 lest pry The DM roll 5 forthe fst parry and 2 for the second. Greg fest attack is success but Bis second is fil because the Ogre sucerdad dis second pany by olling 2, Ge’ fret attack was led bythe Oke by Irak 50 Greg docs 3D6 damage tothe Ogre The Ose attacks back and Greg cares Riposte costing 2 point the Ores weapon tank is Novice) and Greg's Riposte Rank is Novie abo Greg bs to rol 5 or less to succeed Gg tol the Action Dice and rolls 5, as Greg declared a Riposte he Pany’s the atack and follows up with another atck on the Ogre nd because he rolled a She does 206 damage tothe Ogre, with his st Acton Poine Gg steps back 5 et. When a characer attacks, the opponents defence ills compared and cos eferenced with the attackers Weapon rank and the number thai generate is how much the Defender ust cl Wyder i to avoid the blow. This shows expertise and that someone trained wel in combat will almost always beat someone who is not. Certain weapons can only defend in certain ways, for example most weapons can be usa to parry but it would be impossible to riposte with a Crossbow. Row Damage works. ‘Damage is based on how badly the opponent rolls ifthe opponent thas to rol Sor less on a dice and they rll a6 then they have failed by 1ora 7 means they have failed by 2. Each weapon will have ‘numbers from 1 to $ under damage this represents these fails and hhow much damage a character does bused on these fils, the more the opponent fils the higher the damage. In the case of Ripostes or Counters, which are attacks generated by a successful parry or dodge the defenders damage i generated by how much they succeed, so if they need to rola § and they rll a 2 then they have succeeded by 3. The damage caused will depend on the type of weapon used, also players must remember that ranged ‘weapons cannot riposte or counter and some two handed weapons cannot Riposte ‘Combat Modifiers. ‘D's can apply bonuses or penalties to the defense skill or the weapon rank, these are often done because the trget is moving, surprised oF prone. Dm's applying bonuses or penalties should explain why. Surprise. When a target is surprised they lose the ability to defend against the first attack, each subsequent attack is treated as normal, during a round when one or more targets have been surprised, Initiative is ‘not used until the following round. All weapon damage is tweated the same as if the target had failed their defense by 3. Target readiness can also bea factor in suprise, if the target is alep, ‘unarmed or resting then surprise also will cause them to lose the cntire round of actions similar to stun Cowr. Walls, Tees, Bushes and even furniture can act as cover during combat. The DM should make it clear how much the opponent is covered or how much protection the object wil provide iFused as (Cover can also act asa way to hide from watchers, even if the searchers know where the target is hidden its sometimes hard pinpoint exactly behind fll cover, and this can cause searchers to look in the last known location. Half cover reduce the Weapon rank oft by 1, threequarters cover reduces the rank by 2 and full cover makes it Fierce - Pierce attacks ae ofen done by spears and arroms or bolts, impossible to attack the target Piercing damage always causes ble Slash - Ofien done by bladed weapons like Swords, ‘Aces Sahin dare wil case lsting, Damage Bonus. Characters in Dede havea Das and Movement stats. This Damage bonus can only be used ding bonus based on ther Physical Melee combat. The number gets added wo the damage done by a succesful attack, so ifthe attack does 206 damage and the characters damage bonus is4 then the damage is 2D6+4 Stat Rank Physical Movement Vey low 1 o Low 1 Average 3 1 Good 4 Excellent 5 8 Legendary 7 5 Melee Defense. Most one handed and two handed weapons can be used to Parry or deflect attacks but with this comes the chance to damage the weapon. Each time the character patres a blow with only ome succes (meaning getting exactly the amount on the Action dice needed to parry the blow) the weapon will ake damage equal to half the damage the parried weapon would inflict rounded down, Example Melee Combat. Greg puries an attack from the Ogre and needs a Sr lest Melee combat inches any comb nvlving 1 handed and 2 succeed he rls the Action Dice and ol ext 5 he panies the handed weapons or unarmed combat. Most characters wil ave a Jom but only ist this coset damage whit sword. The Opes Aa Melee weapon Different kinds of weapons can init diferent kinds __—_ does 3D6 damage so the DM hake this anf round it down to 1D8 fxs, whereas award would fic diferent damage oa punch, Shik wil take the fll damage of blocked tacks Distract their opponent, doing this cost an Action Point but it can been done with 1 handed weapons only. ics the characters weapon rakby 1 foreach Action Point Attacks of Opportunity. spon. An attack of opportunity happens when the opponent tempts to Dargggs Cypes. fee the bat, gts dinar, s surprised or stunned. An tack Tir ae ierene pes of damage done by diferent weapons thes of oppomunitycanace be defended apvins and does damage othe : Sean - Stuns have the effect of making a character the opponent his filed by 2 oF mon target equal to I success nepable f Dual Gielding. performing any actions fr at leat 1 ned, Stuns are done by [Characters can dual wield one handed weapons but will need to have XY Wahammers, Maces and unarmed attacks—— _s a ene athe primary ad the oe asa secondary, dal wding does ot clang combat in anyway othe crates Action Pies Ranged Combat. Rang combat ads the ll shot ule wo combat, declaring the characters intent before ey stack, this acl means the character mst ay wha hey want od, bet stack, i, act oF dium, inning - This stops an oppones ram levng their location and en espe ham in coy, this pining enigeallows the aber characters to tah attack pinned foe or flank hem. Disendon This an be ued to draw the atenton of Guards or pata to somewhere ee and away fom the ara of the charac, en sed by Ties wallow for teh il or justo et at guide ‘Disarm - Together with the Aim ability this can be handy in helping flow Dever beat hat huge Tl thes woke up. Stceilydisaing fe gies cter caracers tacks of cpporunity asi the disarmed foe ‘Aiming ~Aining low fr onuss othe weapon rank fr ey 2AP spent aiming the characters weapon ak ince by 1 his makes it haderto defend aint a ined sh, increasing he ‘Archers weapon rank onthe chart. Clove Range - Rang conbat becomes moe dificult t close tanga fen the are can avoid your tack aie. tar i rls amy the chats Bow ankles by 2a 1 by Aixances pst 104 a8 noma Fring into Male - Fring rows ino mececombat should nee te eas the bald is constantly chang. the char takes ime am then the an fe as norma ot the ayer mst use thir ack tat ater than tet Bow weapon ak he Aiticty number, A succes ese by hearst means tat he chrae hatha team mate. Skill Shots. Players will often atempt shots that could be described as skill shots, these shots often involve great distance, smal or specific targets and/or unfavourable conditions. In tis instance the Bow rank becomes like a normal skill ands wed against a Difficulty Number (DN) given by the DM just like a normal skill The attempt can also ‘even be modified by the Luck Stat ifneed be Stealth Combat. Stalth can ply an important role in combat and can even be the turning point in a butle, Unlike normal attacks some stealth attacks involve rolling the action dice. Also like Bows when using seal a combat you deat your inten. Some stealth combat actions need the steal kill to succeed, some just need the sneak sil also characters with the stealth sk will et bonus to damage done whilst using stealth A character, 2s long as they have sneak or stealth can atempt to avoid the eneny by soaking pas, they can also attempt to hide from enemies, oth these skills wil take up action points and will, ned successes bases on dice roll. Backetab - Characters with either sneak or stealth cam atm to thcksta, the character must start from hidden or sneaking postion In order tobe succesful the character must roll sucasses using the Victims Awareness rank asthe dificulty number. Sneaking characters do x3 damage based on success, whereas telthed characters do damage 3. ‘Sniper - Only characters with stealth can attempt a sniper shot Again the characte will use the stealth ill ather than thet Bow weapon rank. Damage done is x5 the sucess damage. Knockout - Chirac with stealth can attempt to knock the ney out rather than kill them. The character does not rol for