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This Edition Print: 2013

ISBN: ?

The Maelstrom RPG is © Alexander Scott all rights reservedThe Maelstrom RPG is a trademark of Alexander Scott and is used under license

Cover Illustration is © copyright John McSweeneyInternal illustrations are © copyright Chris Waller, Steve Luxton or out of Copyright

This edition is printed and distributed, under license, by Arion GamesFor further information about other Arion Games products check out our website and forums athttp://www.arion-games.com

No part of this book may be copied or reproduced without express written permission from the copyright holders.

Also available from Arion Games:

And many more great Maelstrom Domesday accessories including:

store.arion-games.com

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Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Character Creation

Attributes Characteristics Living Descriptions Event Tables End of Career Name Tables

Chapter 3 - Game Rules

Saving Throws Professional Abilities Other Rules

Chapter 4 - Combat

Basic Rules Weapons and Armour Advanced Rules Serious and Critical Wounds

Chapter 5 - Magick and the Maelstrom

The Maelstrom Magick and Spells Spellcasting Characteristics Breaches Priestly Abilities Relics

Chapter 6 - Referee Advice Rules and Systems Domedsay Adventures Alternative Play Styles

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11

111421515557

63

636471

77

77818587

91

9191929495

101102

103103107109

Chapter 7 - Bestiary

Animals Minor Creatures

Major Creatures

Chapter 8 - Life in 1086 Brief History of England Governance Law Warfare Villages, Towns and Houses Craft Clothing and Presentation Entertainment and Celebration Family and Education Travel and Trade Price List Races of Englishmen Medicine The Supernatural Church and Religion

Chapter 9 - York and District

Yorkshire and the Vale of York History of York Events of 1086 Gazetteer City of York Major Personalities

Appendix I - Diseases

Appendix II - Herbs

Appendix III - Timeline

GlossaryIndex

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121121123124124127131133134135136137140141142143

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147147148149173178

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Acknowledgements

The acknowledgements section of a book is always a part I enjoy writing. It is never just me that is involved in the completion of abook, there are so many more people involved. First and foremost I have to thank Alex Scott for writing the original MaelstromRPG all of those years ago but moreover for allowing and supporting its revival in recent years. This game had a small butimportant part in the British gaming scene in the 80’s and was certainly very influential on my gaming development.I also have to thank Chris Waller and Steve Luxton, the incredibly talented and very patient artists. They have had to contend withstretches of email silence from me, changes to what is required and fairly vague descriptions and have made the book beautiful,something I could never have done without them.

The very earliest stages of the game were inflicted upon a small and select group of playtesters and proofreaders and we hadseveral sessions where a single rule changed two or three times within the session itself! Thus I would like to thank the followingfor helping to get the game off the ground and through to completion:

Simon Strafford, James Golder, Carl Hammond, Tess Redshaw, Scott Parkinson, Dan Quinlan, Helena Nash and Andy B

A special thanks also has to go to Sam "Bifford the Youngest" Byford for his relentless and eagle-eyed proofreading, spotting thesmallest typo!

This game was mostly formed in my mind when I decided to start a Kickstarter campaign to gather funds for the artwork…exceptthat we ended up with nearly 7x the funding we were looking for! For this, and for assisting with the beta proofreading, a hugethanks has to go to all of those who backed the Kickstarter at whatever level. In no particular order these are:

Sam "Bifford" Byford, Christopher Young, Gary Riley, Arthur Boff, Henning Wollny, Matthew Grove, Roland Cooke, MartynWarren, Andrew Lloyd (Wavy), KMANT, Eamonn McCusker, AntHover, Scott Sutherland, Sebastian Dietz, Kees DeBruin, JavierBarroso Gil, Steve Dempset, Matt Compton, Markus A. Gockel, John Kane, Nick Rowe, Maniac von Hannover spielt!, Alex A, TimEllis, Dave Polhill, Chris Heath, Marc Williamson, Edward Sturges, Jordi Rabionet, Kastor Lieberung, Dave McAlister · UK RolePlayers, Wajanai Snidvongs, Paul Harrison, John Wright, Chris Snyder, Raoul H., Peter Regan, @warwick_kevin, Dave Barker,David Dorward, Andy Belfield, Gauthier Descamps, Matt Whalley, Charles Crowe, Michael Sands, Elaugaufein, Magnus Gillberg,Mark Leymaster of Grammarye, Jason Marks, Carl Pinder, Daniel Rybowski, James A Millar, Kev Hickman, Jonathan "Buddha"Davis, Stephan Szabo, Carl L Gilchrist, M Glen, Stuart Lloyd, Charles Sharples, Richard Wilson, Markku Tuovinen, David Bailey,Graham Rose, Tom Hudson, Adam Windsor, Gunnar Högberg, CZ Dunn, Raphael Perry, Tim Knight, Simon 'Zed' Roe, JonasSchiött, Jeremy Butler, Chris W. Harvey, Alistair C, Lou Goncey, Andrea "GaneshaGames" Sfiligoi, Tom Weston, Gabriel P, SimonWashbourne, Neal Latham, Wayne Pickett, Chris Fazio, Hanataka Shinya, Dan Hall, John Bailey, Herman Duyker, Alexander JBateman, Ivan V.A.N. Slipper, Ralph Mazza, David Foley, Tom Conneely, Lucy Koerber, Darren Benford-Brown , MarekHendziak, Simon York, James Atherton, Jason Coleman, J. Quincy Sperber, Michael Stevens, Mark Buckley, Tomas Karlsson, TomKeen, Roland Depper, Craig Johnston (flash_cxxi), Benjamin Chee, Tomohisa Naka, Marchgo Miyauchi, Ken "Professor"Thronberry, Phil Ward, Murray K Dahm, Brett Easterbrook, Scott Kehl, Ken Finlayson, Simon* jf. Hunt, Marcus Bone, RussellHoyle, Rich Harrison, Rms, Graeme Rigg, Steve Lord, Kevin Donovan, Svend Andersen, Ingo Beyer | obskures.de, Richard Hunt,T. Kurt Bond, Alexis Cole, Christian A. Nord, Steve Rubin, Allan Balsillie, Tim, "林人, (Lin Liren), Yasujirou, Alexei McDonald,Richard Hellsten, Andy Staples, Steegs, Brady Webb, Chris VonPickles, Edouard Contesse, Suresh Kumar, Robert Rees, Göran O.Bergström, Darren Kessell, David A.K. Lichtenstein, Jonathan Green, Mike Riddle, Eric Dodd, Aaron Wong, Toshiki Shimizu,Devin Fitzgerald, Norikatu Konisi (小 規), Kieron Gilbert, Oliver Peltier and Akira Tanaka.

Lastly, I would also have to thank my family; Jo, Florence, Benjamin, Beatrice and my parents and brother, for putting up withworking weekends, long evenings typing and muttering, some grumpiness, bagging up dice and lots of other littlethings… without them I would produce nothing.

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“T he present life of man upon earth, O King,seems to me in comparison with that time which

is unknown to us like the swift flight of asparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in

winter, with your ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes inthe midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rainor snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one doorand immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe fromthe wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, heimmediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter towinter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, butof what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at

all.”

St Bede Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Adela, hand shaking, reached out towards the heavy iron ring set intothe church door. The ring turned, the door creaked as it slowly slidinwards on iron hinges. The night outside was dark, stars glintingthrough the high branches of yew in the churchyard and the moonlightgiving the old stone tower an ethereal glow.

Light came from within the church too. Not the warm flicker of atallow candle or oil lamp but the cold blue light of a winters’ midnight;Moving slowly along the nave at the pace of a funeral procession, thelight drifted. To Adela, peering through the gap in the door, theshadows thrown by the strange light seemed to jump and leap likesilent flames of ice.

The tanned Norman took a tighter grip on her hunting bow, knowingthat her trusty arrows would do her no good here at all. With a deepbreath to steady her nerve, Adela pushed the door wide and stoodoutlined by the moonlight behind.

The investigation had started so well, Adela and her companion Edwinriding into the small village in the warm June sunlight. The taciturnEdwin scowled at the peasants working the fields or tending theirvegetables in the toft around each cottage. That was no surprise;Edwin would scowl at anyone from his own mother to the King ofEngland and Normandy! These simple peasants regarded anyone

riding horses as their lords and betters regardless of whether, like

Edwin, they were Saxon or whether they were Norman. Adela saw someirony in the fact that she was born in a cottage in Normandy, very likethose before her but hundreds of miles away from these Yorkshire hills.

It appeared to be a simple assignment. Strange lights seen in the churchat night. Scraping and wailing heard from the woods above the village.An old peasant never returned to his house. Thomas of Bayeux,Archbishop of York and their lord and master, had told Adela and Edwinthat it was probably outlaws or rebels trying to stir up unrest amongstthe simple folk and get them to rise up against the manor steward.Adela liked simple jobs. They could ride in, track down the outlaws andthen she could let Edwin loose on them. Hitting people was his favouriteform of entertainment, and if there were no repercussions then evenbetter.

Except that there had been no trace of any outlaws. The people had beenscared right enough, but none of them had seen any traces of brigandsliving wild. Ligulf the Old, manor steward for many years had, intruth, little to fear from the handful of families living here but he was asscared as his peasants. Ligulf had formed a patrol out of all able bodiedmen and searched the woodlands, they had put men on the church towerand they had even stationed men inside the church itself overnight. Thislast experiment had seen the men run screaming from the church bymidnight and they were still too scared to say what they had seen.

Adela searched the woodlands herself and indeed found no sign of anyencampments or men living wild. There was an old and ruined cottageand several natural pits amongst the trees and undergrowth, butnothing more. Years of living as an outlaw herself had made her verycomfortable in the countryside away from the villages.

That was the afternoon. Now, at night, in the church and with thestrange light bathing her face, Adela felt anything but comfortable. Shecould feel the hot and beery breath of Edwin on her neck and thecomforting smooth bow in her hand, but they both felt…useless.

Taking a step forward, Adela saw for the first time the robe clad form ofa teenage girl, long hair braided and throat gashed wide. There was noblood, could be no blood, as the transparent and glowing form turned itspain-wracked face towards the two investigators. The figure gaped like afish for a few times and whispered but one word in archaic Saxon:“bones”.

The form hung motionless for a moment as the door swung shut in thebreeze, before continuing its endless promenade through the silent archesof the church.

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The Maelstrom RPG

Originally published in 1984 by Alex Scott, then aschoolboy, Maelstrom was arguably the first

successful British RPG. Riding on the popularity of the FightingFantasy gamebooks (both published by Puffin books) and sellinghuge numbers of copies through high street bookshops saw thisbook on the games shelves of many thousands of gamers. Theoriginal game was set in Tudor England and had magic as astrange force, able to affect reality in many different ways.Maelstrom broke from common game design at the time byhaving a completely flexible system for resolving the effects ofMages. Also groundbreaking was the concept of playingordinary people such as butchers, labourers and beggars ratherthan Warriors, Wizards and Elves.

However, time moves on and many games have been written,played and forgotten again. Maelstrom for some reason lived onin peoples’ memories and hearts. As one of those people, it hasbrought me a huge amount of joy to bring Maelstrom the RPGback from the dead and republish the original game.

And now I can go one further and bring you what is, in effect,Maelstrom 2nd Ed. I have refined and clarified the rules, revisedaspects of the game and fitted it to a new setting; that of 1086.Hopefully this new game will keep this classic RPG in thespotlight and the whole Maelstrom line in the hearts of gamersfor another 29 years!

England in 1086

The land of England in 1086, twenty years after the conquest byDuke William of Normandy, is a dangerous place. AmbitiousNorman barons struggle amongst themselves for land, powerand wealth, caring little for those trampled beneath the hooves oftheir warhorses. Bitter Saxon thanes, stripped of their ancestralland, plotting revenge from their meagre cottages. Outlaws andwild animals roaming the countryside between villages.Heartless rogues plundering victims of whatever they can get inthe towns and cities. And amidst this danger dwell even strangersecrets.

Into this swirling mass of danger and desperation are sent a smalland select band, carefully chosen by a Norman magnate for theirexperiences with the strange and unusual. Identifying the evilthat threatens the heart and soul of the kingdom and purging thatevil, our desperate heroes are a lone beacon against the howlingdarkness.

The Maelstrom

This peculiar phenomena is fully discussed in Chapter 5but is central to the adventures created by this book.The Maelstrom is the boundary between worlds,between the real and unreal, between dimensions.

When the Maelstrom is close to our world, strange thingshappen and strange beings can cross from their own reality.

Some of these weak spots are natural, some form temporarilyand then fade again and some are created by ancient structuressuch as barrow mounds and stone circles.

The most dangerous weak spots however are those that areintentionally created by cultists, magicians and followers ofancient religions. These induced weaknesses quite often letthrough strange and dangerous powers into the world,sometimes way beyond the intentions of the originator!

Maelstrom Domesday Adventures

This is not a game of fighting through dungeons and battlefieldheroics. This is not a game of fireballs and rampaging demons.This is however a game of strange supernatural events, Saxonand Danish plots against the King, investigation and horror.

The characters must use all of their skills and experience tountangle the strange goings on that threaten the Norman throneof England.

Saxon rebels hark back to the old days, invoke their warlikegods and the spirits of the land, attempt to drive the conquerorout by occult means where force has so far failed.

Welsh tribesmen, resenting both the new Norman invaders andthe much earlier Saxon incomers use their secret Celtic lore totarget the fear of the supernatural in all right-thinking folk.

Even Norman lords desperate for more power and wealth, useforbidden texts and secret lore to weaken the boundariesbetween worlds and displace their rivals.

These threats are all serious challenges to Norman rule, and alltargets for investigation by the characters. The Referee chapter(Chapter 6) gives more assistance with planning and runningthis sort of adventure. It is the players’ job to make theinvestigation fun!

Characters in Maelstrom Domesday

Unlike many RPG’s, the characters in a Maelstrom Domesdaygame are not great warriors, powerful wizards and so forth.Characters in this game are normal people who have led fairlynormal lives up until the point they encounter somethingsupernatural. It is not unusual to have a young character whohas only been a peasant or some other mundane living for a fewyears with no other experiences.

Similarly, an effective Maelstrom Domesday character is notonly one who is highly skilled in combat, in magic or similar.

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The investigative tasks that the characters are required to dofor their patron require a broad range of abilities. An abilitysuch as farming, herding or crafting may not seem like anessential skill for investigation, but if the adventure takes placein a rural farming village, these skills will be very useful indeed.

Adventures will often require an element of combat; againstwild animals, bandits, enemies of the King, evil cultists or evensome supernatural creatures. However, combat is usually not acentral theme of these adventures and so a group that iscomposed purely of men-at-arms and knights may well struggleto be great investigators. Of course, given the threats anddangers the characters will face, some familiarity with weaponswill prove useful even for a character who is not a soldier.

Social class and race will again seem to have obvious choices.Noble Norman characters with more starting cash and morepolitical clout, would seem to be the best option. Again, whilstthis may on the surface be the best choice, characters such asthese will struggle to get meaningful answers from Anglo-Saxonpeasants who will see the Norman purely as an incomingdespot.

Magickal characters such as Mages and Wisewomen are likelyto be rare. They will however be the only characters who canmanipulate reality and possibly seize control over thesupernatural forces they are investigating. At least oneMagickal character in the group will prove useful although notabsolutely necessary.

Lastly a note on the subject of age. Older characters have moreattribute points and more ranks in professional abilities. Theymay also have more cash and items accumulated. However,older characters are also more likely to have accumulatedinjuries, wounds and diseases over the years and may also havestarted the slow decline into old age. Maelstrom Domesdayadventures tend to have significant periods of time betweenadventures and so time will move on quickly. Characters whoare already old will suffer even more ageing effects as the gameprogresses. Young characters may not have as much experienceas their older colleagues but they will also have more time todevelop before old age hits.

The character options discussed above demonstrate that the bestMaelstrom Domesday investigative group is composed of allracial types, ages, social classes and livings. Of course, if thetotally random method is used, the players will get thecharacters that fate throws up!

Dice

This game requires both standard six-sided dice as well as 10-sided dice. It is a good idea to have at least two 10-sided dice ofdifferent colours to allow them to be rolled as a 100-sided dice.

The dice naming conventions used in this book followRPG standards. D6 refers to a six-sided dice etc. Anynumbers before the D indicate the number of dice tobe rolled. Thus a 3D6 indicates that three 6-sided diceshould be rolled and the total summed.

Rule One

There is just one more thing to say to both Player and Refereealike. Rule One is to enjoy yourself. The rules herein are notabsolute and should be used by the Referee to create great storiesand adventures. Sometimes the characters will win andsometimes they will fail. Whatever it is to be, everyone shouldhave fun.If you find a rule hated by your whole gaming group, don’t use it.If you want to add in a new rule, do that. As long as you neverchange Rule 1, you can’t go wrong.

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Author Notes

Many, many years ago I used to run and play a British RPG by the name of Maelstrom. Published by Puffin and stocked alongsideits stablemates the Fighting Fantasy books, this game was something very different. The other games on my small but growingRPG shelf put you in the role of warriors, clerics and dwarves, spaceheroes, Arthurian knights, superheroes or even Ghostbusters!In other words, great big heroes. But in Maelstrom, you were a lawyer, butcher, labourer or beggar. Not big but still possiblyheroic. And it was a historical setting, unusual for the time and again very different.Time passed and the game slipped away to the edges of most people’s recollections, until we acquired the republication rights afew years back. The response from gamers has been fantastic and we put out several supplements tweaking and refining the rulesas well as providing setting information.

However, I have long had a hankering to write a game set in Anglo-Norman England, one of my favourite historical settings, and Isaw the opportunity with the flexible ruleset that is Maelstrom. As the game developed, it developed a direction and focus; that ofsupernatural investigators working for a Norman patron. The lifepath system for character creation is a great mini-game all byitself and we have spent many an hour creating the good, the bad and the truly strange! The playtests have shown how themechanics fade into the background but support the specific style of play. All in all, I have had a huge amount of fun researching,writing and playing the game, and hope that it will also serve you well.

Graham Bottley, October 2013

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Creating a Character for Maelstrom Domesday can bedone in one of two ways. A character can be createdby choosing the life story and experiences to fit inwith a preconceived idea and with a specific set ofabilities and skills.

The second, and indeed recommended, method is to generatemost of the lifepath using a series of random rolls. Although atfirst glance this may appear to create a character with a variedand disparate background and with little cohesion, this methodis actually more appropriate for the type of outcast central toDomesday adventures. Even with the random method, somedirected choices will still need to be made.

At each stage of character creation, the assumption will be thatthe random method will be used. If the Referee agrees, thennotes are provided for a more directed method.

A note on female characters. Women in Anglo-Norman Englandcannot become Knights, Squires, Men-at-Arms, Archers orSerjeants, except through truly exceptional circumstances.Although most women are either peasants, servants, nuns orhousewives, all other livings are open to them. Players of femalecharacters should be aware that women outside the commonroles will be viewed by the common populace as very unusualand with suspicion.

A character in Maelstrom Domesday is described primarily by10 attributes, rated from 1 to 100, although most people haveattributes in the range 30 to 80. These attributes are fairly broadand represent how capable the character is in that area.

Each character has a normal value and a temporary value.Attributes can occasionally be temporarily reduced in game. Alltests are made against the temporary value in these cases andlost points return at a rate of one point every ten minutes ofgame time up to maximum.

Attack Skill

This attribute describes how capable the character is with ahand-to-hand weapon or with his fists, feet and even head! Acharacter with a high Attack Skill is a dangerous individual, andfinds it easy to land blows on an enemy.

Missile Skill

A measure of the ability of the character to shoot or throwmissile weapons at a target or enemy. This attribute appliesequally to bows, crossbows, slings, spears or rocks.

Defence Skill

Whilst Attack Skill is a measure of how easy a character finds itto land a blow, Defence Skill is a measure of how easy acharacter finds it to avoid them. A character with a highDefence Skill tends to be a survivor of many battles and can behard to defeat.

Knowledge

This attribute is used to determine what a character knows, bothoutside his sphere of experience and also specialist knowledgewithin said sphere. A high Knowledge is not restricted tolearned characters such as Priests or Monks; a Peasant could alsohave accumulated a large amount of knowledge over a long andinteresting life.

Will

Characters with high Will have mental toughness and resilienceand are able to exert great self control. Resisting temptation,dealing with horrific sights or events or even controllingsupernatural powers with strength of mind.

Endurance

Whereas Will is mental toughness, Endurance is physicalresilience. A character with high Endurance is more resistant todisease, starvation and other bodily stresses, and is also capableof taking more punishment in a fight. Characters with lowEndurance tend to die young...

Persuasion

This ability is used a lot by merchants, traders and others with aglib tongue. A character with a high Persuasion attribute is ableto easily persuade others and drive a hard bargain.

Perception

This attribute describes how good a character is at noticingthings. This could be sight, smell, taste, hearing or touchand applies whether the character is actively searchingfor something or whether he notices in passing.

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To help illustrate the process of character creation, we will walkthrough the birth of a new character. At this stage he or she has noname or identity, but that will soon change. The only thing we canchoose now is the sex of the character, and we are going to choosefemale.

Firstly, we start with 40 in every attribute. We feel that ourcharacter is a physical, outdoors kind of character when young, andso we apply a +1D6 modifier to Agility, Speed, Endurance andMissile Skill. Never focusing much on learning and with littlediscipline, we apply a -1D6 reduction to Knowledge and Will.

This gives us: Attack Skill 40 Missile Skill 46 Defence Skill 40 Knowledge 35 Will 37 Endurance 41 Persuasion 40 Perception 40 Speed 43 Agility 42

Although these are only small modifications at this stage, they helpto define the youth and outlook of the character. It could be that ourcharacter becomes a clerk completely against the grain, but that initself is interesting to see how the character fares against theirnatural inclinations. Just like in real life, we have no idea what lies

ahead!

Speed

This is how fast a character reacts and moves, both incombat and in other physical situations. A character

with a high speed is able to outdistance their enemies and reactfaster than most to events.

Agility

A measure of the grace, fluidity and manual dexterity of thecharacter. A high Agility gives the character good balance andcoordination and is obvious to the careful observer.

Adolescence Points

All of these attributes start with an initial value of 40 when thecharacter is aged 13. However, not all people are exactly alike,and so a player may choose four of these attributes at which he isnaturally more capable. These attributes have an additional 1D6points added to them at this stage. The player must also choosetwo other attributes which are less important and these twoattributes are reduced by 1D6 points each. Each dice must berolled for a specific attribute once decided, and the values rolled

cannot be swapped to other attributes after the roll is made.

At this stage the character is 13 and has their beginning attributeprofile.

Although we now know the starting attributes for the characterat age 13, we don’t yet know where they come from or theirbackground. There are two major racial groupings in NormanEngland; Norman and Anglo-Saxon and several other minoritytypes. A player should at this stage roll 1D6 to see which racialgroup the character was born into. This racial origin primarilyaffects which languages the character speaks and their socialrelationships.

If a player wishes to determine their racial origin rather thanroll, they may choose one of the below options. Choice at thisstage is unlikely to unbalance character creation unduly.

1D6 Roll Racial Type 1 Norman 2-5 Anglo-Saxon 6 Other (roll another D6):

1-2 Irish3-4 Welsh5-6 Dane

Anglo-Saxon

The Anglo-Saxons conquered England as a patchwork of smallkingdoms soon after the Romans withdrew to Rome itself. Tall,strong and fair-haired, these sturdy warriors arrived by theboatload, settled down into towns and villages and soonbecame a homogenous population. Harried in turn by theDanes, the Anglo-Saxons managed to retain control of a unitedEngland, until they were conquered 20 years ago by theNormans of King William. Although the vast majority havecarried on with their lives, some, especially those of the oldthane social class, look back fondly on the past and plot toremove the Norman upstarts.

Norman

Originally of Norse descent, the Normans have turned theDuchy of Normandy into a power to rival, and even surpass,the Kingdom of France itself. A proud and warlike people, theyalso have a ruthless streak that drives them onwards. Some ofthe Normans in England were part of the conquering army,awarded land for their support of their Duke. Others havefollowed as merchants, minor nobles, craftsmen and soldiers offortune. Some have even been imported from manors or townsin Normandy for their specific skills.

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Welsh

The Welsh are the descendents of the British tribes conqueredand displaced by the Anglo-Saxons some 500 years earlier.Forced into the inhospitable mountains and valleys of Wales, theWelsh have become a tough and hardy breed, rearing sheep andother livestock from small dispersed settlements. The Welshalso regularly raid across the border into England, or else raidother Welsh factions. The Welsh have fewer towns and noorganised monastic orders, and are sometimes seen asbackwards by their English neighbours.

Irish

The wild and warlike Irish tribes also suffered from thedepredations of the Danes, but remain in control of much of theirisland. The Irish have often been found in England as Traders,Craftsmen and Mercenaries.

Dane

The Danes (Vikings) harried the coasts of northern Europe forhundreds of years, pillaging, raiding and trading. In manyplaces, they forged small kingdoms and became part of the localpopulation. Much of eastern and northern England was overrunby the Danes, and many peoples of Danish descent still livethere. For the most part, the indigenous Danes have integratedwell with their Anglo-Saxon and Norman neighbours. There arestill some raiding Vikings, but these are becoming rare now.

In addition to racial origin, we also need to know the social classof the young character. Again this is a random roll (using 2D6)on the following table, and is not affected by the racial class ofthe character.

The social class of a character will partly determine their startingliving and so choosing a social class will have repercussions forsubsequent steps.

2D6 Roll Racial Type 2 Outcast 3-8 Peasant 9-11 Townsman 12 Lesser Nobility

Outcast

These characters are born on the fringes of society toitinerant entertainers, rogues, immigrants or outlaws.They are not part of any community with the uncertainty thatentails, and often find it difficult fitting in anywhere. Most babiesborn to an outcast stay as outcasts for their entire life.

Peasant

Whether bonded to the land (Unfree) or able to own their ownland (Freeman), peasants make up the vast majority of thepopulation. Most work the land in some form or other, but someare craftsmen, boatmen, woodsmen etc. A very few escape a lifeof backbreaking toil to become monks, soldiers or travellers.

Townsman

Although technically freemen peasants, Townsmen owe fealty tono lord. The vast majority of townsmen are craftsmen or traders,although quite a few become servants in the households ofprosperous families. Townsmen will often consider themselvessuperior to their country cousins.

Townsmen are usually wealthier than their rural cousins, and sostart with a small financial advantage.

Lesser Nobility

Most of the nobility consists of knights and lesser barons, lords ofone or two manors and of only modest wealth or power. Only theeldest son will inherit land and money, and the younger sonsmust make their own way as mercenaries or in the clergy. Acharacter with the lesser nobility social class may also be born onthe edge of a greater family. The younger sons of the fourth son ofan earl will be unlikely to have much in the way of inheritance.

A character born into this social class will start with someadvantages, but will also find it more difficult to fit in with themass of the population.

To find out the parentage of our character, we roll a D6 and get a 1,indicating Norman. Our character was either born in Normandyitself and travelled to England at a later stage, or more likely wasborn in England to Norman immigrants.

We roll 2D6 to determine the social class of our character. We roll atotal of 5 meaning that our character is of peasant stock. Almostcertainly born in the countryside to peasants of Norman originbrought across the channel by the new Norman lord, our charactershares the same social class as the vast majority of the populace.

This peasant origin should not be seen as a bar to a successful career,especially given the specialised and dangerous work undertakenduring the game itself.

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The attributes listed and described above are broad measures of acharacters’ capabilities and strengths. However, all charactersalso have various Characteristics that make them stand out fromthe bulk of the population. Each character makes three 1D100rolls on the table opposite to randomly determine whichCharacteristics they possess. A few of these Characteristicsrequire two or even three of the “slots” available. If sufficientslots are not available to take this rolled Characteristic, the playermay either re-roll or remove one of the earlier generated ones.Some of these Characteristics are also used as nicknames to thosewho possess them.

These random rolls may produce impossible combinations ormultiple magical Characteristics. In these cases, the Player andReferee should discuss which should be re-rolled.

Determination of Characteristics is one area that may be requiredfor a character to use magical abilities. In order for a character touse magical spells, they must have one of the magicalCharacteristics at this stage. If a Player desires to play a magicalcharacter, they must either hope they roll an appropriateCharacteristic or choose one.

Adder Tongue

The character is unusually glib and persuasive and receives a +10bonus to efforts to persuade others but also tends to exaggerate(and even lie) at inappropriate moments. The character willusually not lie over matters of importance, and will notnecessarily try and make the lies overly convincing. Anyonewho has known the character for some time will tend to takemuch of what he says with a pinch of salt.

Arrow-eye

The character has an unerring feel for the flight of an arrow. Ifusing a bow or crossbow, the character doubles the bonusnormally received for aiming for a round before firing.

Babel-born

The character picks up snippets of other languages very easilyindeed, and after spending a day or so in a new location will beable to make himself understood and in turn understand thebasics of what others are saying. The character will not of coursebe fluent in the new language, but can usually get by.

Beast Friend

The character is a natural with animals and gains a +10 bonuson all tests involving the handling of animals, including ridingtests. This natural ability applies purely to interactions with theanimals themselves and there is no bonus to theoreticalknowledge tests. Due to this affinity, the character will try toavoid hurting animals wherever possible.

Charmer

The character is confident and popular when talking tomembers of the opposite sex and receives a bonus of +20 whentrying to persuade them. However, the character can also havetrouble relating to members of his own sex, and thus receives a-5 penalty to persuade those.

D100 Characteristic01-03 Well Born04-06 Beast Friend07-09 Large08-12 Adder Tongue13-15 Heirloom16-19 Wise20-21 Hedge Magick22-24 Babel-born25-27 Nondescript28-30 Hog Head31-33 Mathematician34-36 Stubborn37-39 Vicious40-42 Perfect Memory43-45 Walker46-48 Strong Grip49-51 Hale52-54 Mender55-58 Iron-bones59 Low Magick (2)60-63 Everyman64-66 Hawkeye67-69 Charmer70-73 Double Jointed74-75 Huge (2)76-78 Maelstrom Marked79-81 Otter82-84 Survivor85-87 Education88-90 Second Sight91-93 Two-hand94-97 Arrow-eye98 High Magick (3)99 Roll Twice on the above table and keep both100 Referee or Player choice or special

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Double Jointed

The character has very flexible limbs and spine, and can twisttheir body into all sorts of unusual and disturbing shapes. Thecharacter receives a +20 bonus to Agility saving throws related tosqueezing through small spaces or escaping bonds.

Education

Unusually, this character is able to read and write from an earlyage, regardless of their social or racial origins. As a bonus, thischaracter receives the Literacy I ability for free. The playershould work out who taught the character to read and write, andif so what language. The player may choose Priest or Monk astheir first career if desired.

Everyman

A character with this characteristic gets on with everyone hemeets and makes friends very easily indeed. Although thecharacter does not gain specific bonuses to any rolls, everyone hemeets will be friendly unless they are specifically an enemy.

Hale

The character has a strong constitution and does not get ill or rundown easily. The character receives a +20 bonus to Endurancesaving throws when resisting disease, starvation and poison.

Hawkeye

The character has excellent eyesight and gains a +20 bonus to allperception saving throws that involve sight.

Hedge Magick

The character has a natural but weak affinity to the Maelstromand is able to manipulate that affinity to cast a few magicalspells. This character may learn the magic ability, but only to amaximum rank of I. The character may also, if they wish, choosethe Wiseman living as their first career.

Heirloom

The character has inherited an item of some value from anancestor either ancient or recent. This could be a signet ring of anoble or churchman, an old but very well made sword, anexpensive piece of jewelry or a religious relic. If the charactercomes from a lowly social class, they will have to be very carefulabout displaying this or even telling someone they don’t know.

Even possessing an expensive ring may be enough tobe charged with theft if you are a peasant!

High Magick [3 Characteristics]

This character has a strong connection to the Maelstrom and hasthe potential to make huge changes to the natural world. Someauthorities assert that this is a divine gift, others that there was afaerie ancestor deep in the past. Whatever the truth of this, thischaracters’ life will be driven by magick. This character may learnthe Magick ability to any rank, and may choose Wiseman or Mageas their first career.

Hog-Head

The character is monumentally ugly. The character is easilyrecognisable and memorable to anyone he meets or even passes ina street! The character has a -10 penalty to charm-basedPersuasion saving throws but does have a +20 bonus to anyattempts to intimidate. (This characteristic may not be taken withNondescript)

Huge [2 Characteristics]

This character is big. Very, very big. They are tall (at least 6’4”)and they are heavily built (at least 18st) and they tend to loomover a crowd. This characteristic grants a bonus of +2 to alldamage inflicted in hand to hand combat (including unarmedcombat). They also gain a bonus of +20 to any attempts tointimidate.

Iron-bones

The character has very strong bones and it is very difficult tobreak them. Any critical or serious wounds that result inimmediate unconsciousness or broken bones may be avoided witha successful Endurance saving throw.

Large

This character is tall and heavily built, being around 6’ tall and14st. The character has an imposing physical presence andreceives a bonus of +1 to damage rolls and a +10 bonus tointimidate attempts.

Low Magick [2 Characteristics]

This character has a natural link to the Maelstrom andis able to use this to cast magical spells. The charactermay learn the Magick ability up to Rank III and may 15

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