Sellswords &Spellslingers

Cooperative Fantasy Miniatures Rules Rules Version 5.9

Written and illustrated by Andrea Sfiligoi

Copy Editing: Mark Rasheed.Playtest and helpful comments:

Diego Chisena, Massimo Moscarelli,Diego Riccitelli, Samuele Mariotti,Adriano Previti, Damon Richardson,Lorenzo Stelitano, Emilio Giordano,Cristian Giuliano, Sandro Cipiccia, Fran-cesco de Napoli, Narciso Battellocchi,Giuseppe Rotondo, Giles Pritchard,Nicolai Østergaard, Alejandro AndrésGolob, Patrick Rollens, Ed Allen, AndreTomahogh, Daniele Varelli, and all the

people who tried the game at LuccaComics and Games.

Reference pictures: toasterx, tasa,ghosttrin, fae, malleni, skydancer, vish-studio, Kechake, glimmercat.

Icons: game-icons.net.Miniatures: Mirliton, Ganesha

Games, and Alternative Armies, from theauthor’s collection.

Printed cards for this game are availableon www.drivethrucards.com.

Contents 3

Introduction 4Number of Players 4Dice, Markers, Cards and Other

Materials 4Measuring Distances 4Game jargon 4Close Friends and Friends 5NPCs 5Scenario XP Reward 5Monster Cards 6Danger Level 6Monster Hit Points 7Monster Damage 7Monster Treasure 7Monster Tags 7Legacy Monsters 8Special Abilities 8Where Are The Monsters? 8Random deployment 8Snap To Terrain 8Hit Points 8Resurrection 9Permanent Death 9Gaining Treasure 10Loners and hordes 10Measuring Horde Movement

11Maximizing Contact 11

Random Deployment of Hordes 11Hordes Charging Shooters 11

Hordes Charging Friends ofShooters 11

Character Traits 12Rolls 13

Movement and Terrain 20Broken Ground 20Dangerous Terrain 21Magic Terrain 21Climbing and falling 21Higher Ground 21

Activation 22Initiative 22Activation 22Activation Critical Success 22Activation of Monsters 23Horde Movement 23

Actions 25Melee Combat 25Critical Hits 25Unarmed Melee 25Ranged Combat 25Running Out of Missiles 26Opportunity Shots 26Ranged Weapons in Melee 26Prone Targets 26Throwing Oil Flasks 26Throwing Holy Water 27Repelling Undead 27Picking up Objects 27Weapon Familiarity 27Out-of-Action PCs 28Out-of-Action Table 28Prone PCs 28Monsters vs Helpless PCs 28Melee Versus Hordes 28Out-of-Action Table 28

Ranged Attacks from Monsters 28Other Attack Types 29Moving Away From Melee 29

Party Creation 30Replacement Characters 30

Traits - general rules 30List Of Traits 31Negative Traits 36

Weapons 38Crushing/Blade/Impaling 38Ranged Weapons 38

Critical Failures with RangedWeapons 38

Weapons Found on Monsters 38

The Environment 39Traps 39Doors 40Randomly Deployed Foes 40

Scenarios 41Through the Badlands 42Orcs and Slippery Stones 44Of Wine and Brambles 46Tower of the Necromancer 48In Search of Rare Herbs 50Defend the Village 52Xicthul’s Pet Spider 53

The Summoning of an AncientEvil 56

The Healer 57Worshippers of the Thunder

Lizard 59

Campaign Activities 61

Spells 64Running Out of Magic Energy 64

Blood Casting 64Spells and Melee 64Beginning Spells 64Buying Scrolls 64Selling Scrolls 64Writing Scrolls 65Forbidden spells 65Ritual Spells 65Potions 65Amulets 65Talismans 65

CHARTSWeapons 66Shopping List 67

Guidelines for Unengaged NPCbehavior 68

Rules Summary 69

Contents

Sellswords & spellslingers

4

IntroductionThis is a cooperative fantasy minia-

tures game for 1+ players. Participantsdo not compete against each other; eachruns a party of adventurers. All charac-ters try to complete a mission. The play-ers’ goal is to keep their characters aliveand see them grow, completing scenar-ios, killing monsters, and amassing trea-sure over a series of connected games.

Characters are built with a pointsystem. All players have the samepotential at the beginning of play, a totalof 60 XP to build their parties. For oneoff games, you may want to build morepowerful PCs, especially if you play solo.

Opponents perform actions asinstructed by cards. Cards introducespecific events into the game.

No game-master is needed. If youwant, a player may be a GM, designingscenarios for the other players' enjoy-ment, but this is not required.

Number of PlayersThe game works better with 1 to 6

participants. The more the players, thefewer characters each player should con-trol. You can play with any number offigures, but these are our suggestions:

Dice, Markers, Cards andOther Useful Materials

You need three 20-sided dice. Play willbe faster if every player has 3. A few d6are also used – a couple are enough. D6sare used to randomly deploy opponentsand keep track of their wounds.

Occasionally, you’ll need a few statusmarkers (Poisoned, Turned to Stone,Blinded, etc.) Copies of the play sheetand a pencil let you update your PCs'profiles at the end of the game.

You need monster cards as sum-maries of the abilities of monsters andevent cards to determine whathappens when your characters fail acti-vation rolls. Download the cards fromganeshagames.net, or purchase a printeddeck from Drivethrucards.com.

Measuring DistancesThe game uses a 90 x 90cm (36 x 36”)

play area. A measurer in inches is usedfor random deployment of monsters,movement, weapon ranges, and to deter-mine which foe is closest to a character.Get a couple of 4” sticks. Most figuresmove 4”, or 3” if encumbered or limping;mounted characters and four-leggedanimals move 8”. You may measuredistances at any moment.

Game jargond6: Six-sided die.d3: Roll a d6 and halve it, rounding

fractions up.2d6: Roll two six sided dice and add

them, generating a number from 2 to 12.d20: Roll a twenty-sided die. This is

the most common die roll in the game.A d20 is rolled against a DL (see below)

Number of Players PCs per player

1 3-52 2-53-4 2-45 2-3

6 1-2

Sellswords & spellslingers

7

Monster Hit PointsA monster also has a Hit

Points (HP) value, thenumber under the heart icon.This is how many wounds thecreature can withstand before

it dies. Most creatures have a single hp,so any successful hit will kill them.

PCs may roll to hit at -4 and declare anon-lethal attack (such as striking withthe flat of the blade, or aiming an arrowat the creature’s legs, etc). The hp are stillsubtracted, but at 0 hp the monster isjust knocked out and may be capturedalive.

Monster DamageMonsters have a Damagevalue shown under the drip-ping blade icon. This is howmuch hp the creature inflicts

with a successful attack. This is normally1. Stronger monsters may have 2 or 3.

Monster TreasureThe note under the treasurechest icon shows treasure typ-ically carried by that foe. If itis a random value, roll when a

PC spends 1 action adjacent to the slainfoe to pick up its treasure.

Monster Tags All monster profiles have tag words

identifying them.

Example: A rule applies “to allGoblins”. Any foe with the “Gob-lin” tag is affected by that rule.

Monsters appearing in groups have theMinion tag and monsters appearing assingle figures have the Loner tag.

Monsters with the Shooter tag possessranged attacks, and attack from a dis-tance if possible.

Unused Tags: Some tags have noeffect in the scenarios in this book, butthey might have effects in future scenar-ios or inspire you to invent new, scenar-io-specific rules.

Danger Level

Hit Points Damage Treasure

Special Rules

Tags

Sellswords & spellslingers

25

ActionsThis chapter describes the most

common actions PCs may perform. Sce-narios may detail additional actions.Players may always agree to allow othertypes of actions.

Melee CombatAttacking in melee requires 1 action if

the PC attacks a foe. The PC may also use2 actions to attack at +3. This is calleda Power Blow. The PC adds any bonusfrom traits that apply. If the melee roll isequal to or higher than the foe’s DL, thefoe receives 1 Damage , or 2 Damage ifthe attack is performed with a two-handed weapon. If the melee roll is lowerthan the target’s DL, the foe hits the PC,who loses as many hp as the foe’sDamage rating.

When a foe attacks a PC, the PCrolls to hit in the same way, but thePC does not need an action toattack. The PC is not spending actionsand is not allowed to perform a PowerBlow. If the roll is successful, the PC hitsthe foe. If the roll fails, the foe hits the PC.

The only difference betweena melee attack initiated by aPC and one initiated by a foe

is that PCs may spend 2actions for a Power Blow at

+3 on an attack they initiate.

Critical HitsA natural, unmodified roll of 20 is a

critical hit – a special blow that hits anytarget, no matter its DL – unless rollinga 20 was the ONLY WAY for the PC tohit that target. Choose one of the follow-ing effects:

● The attack deals +1 Damage;● Target drops a weapon or other hand

held object (player’s choice);● Target falls prone (you may pick this

only if you used a crushing weaponlike a mace, club, slingstone, etc).

Foes do not inflict critical hits, butsome have abilities like disarming,knocking prone or breaking the PC’sweapon or shield that are triggered byPCs rolling a 1 when fighting them.

Unarmed MeleeA weaponless PC fights at -4 unless he

possesses the Martial Arts trait. A brokenweapon may still be used with the Pum-melling trait.

Ranged CombatShooting is an action. A PC armed

with a bow or other missile weapon mayshoot once per action. A PC may also use1 action to Aim and then 1 action toshoot. This Aimed Shot has a +3 bonusto the attack roll.

A PC must always shoot atclosest target in LOS. If multipletargets are at the same distance,the player chooses. If a target isbehind cover (LOS is partially blocked),the player has the option to pick theNEXT target who is not protected bycover. PCs with the Sniper Trait ignorethis restriction, and may shoot at anytargets as long as they can draw a LOS tothem.

Weapons have a maximum range intheir description. Shots beyond thismaximum range are impossible.

To hit a foe, you must roll the foe's DLor better. If the target is more than 8”

Scenarios

44

Basic Scenario: 4 XP per playerplus individual XP rewards

Orcs and Goblins harass a nearbyvillage. You must stop them.

Terrain: There are 8 boulders strewnacross the battlefield. Each boulder isroughly 3-4” long and 2-3” wide, but useanything you have available. A boulderis at the center of the table. Distribute the

others as in the map above. Boulders canbe climbed to gain the higher groundadvantage, but they are slippery. Any PCrolling a 1 on any attack or activation rollwhile standing on a boulder slips andbecomes prone. Boulders block LOS andprovide cover, and are spawning pointsfor purposes of the Ambush! Card.

Orcs and Slippery Stones

campaigns

61

CampaignActivities

After a scenario, each surviving PCmay perform one of the following activi-ties. Carousing and Mingling with Cour-tesans can be done at the same time.Some have a cost in SP shown in paren-theses. The PC must pay the cost toperform that activity.

These activities are kept generic andshould work in most campaigns. Therewill be more in future publications.

Work as a laborer: The PC makesa DL 5 Charisma roll looking for anunskilled, temporary job. If the roll issuccessful, the PC is given food andlodging and earns d6 SP. If the roll fails,the PC gets enough money to pay forliving expenses, and that’s it.

Smalltime Gambling (5 to 100 SP):The PC spends a few nights in a gamblinghouse. The PC bets a sum between 5 and100 SP and performs an Intelligence roll.The DL is ¼ of the sum, rounded up. Aroll of 1 is always a failure, and a roll of20 is always a success. On a failure, thePC loses all money bet. On a success, thePC gains a 30% bonus, rounded up.

Example: Derk wants to bet 10SP. DL is 3. On a success, he wins13 SP. On a failure, he loses 10 SP.

Bigtime Gambling (100 to 500 SP):like small gamble, above, but you bet 100SP to 500 SP. DL is 10, +1 per every 50SP. On a success, you win DOUBLE theamount bet. On a failure, you lose all.

Mingle with Courtesans (10 SP):You spend time with ladies or gentlemenof pleasure. Roll d20. On a 1, you catch adisease and will be at -1 to activation rolls

for the whole duration of the next sce-nario. On any result other than a 1, youfeel refreshed and you have a +1 on allactivation rolls only on your first turn ofthe next scenario.

Hunting (2 SP in hunting taxes andequipment): Make a DL 10 roll, addingany levels in Archery or Crossbow, andOutdoor Specialist or Forester. On asuccess, you catch enough game to liveon and sell for 2d6 SP. On a natural 1,however, you are involved in a huntingaccident and begin the next game with a1 hp wound.

Study or Train (10 SP): Make a DL20 Intelligence roll, adding any levels inthe Smart trait. On a success, gain 1 XP.

Carousing (10 SP): This activity canbe mixed with Mingle with Courtesans(bringing total cost to 30 SP). You spendtime in alehouses and wine bars. Rolld20 before your next scenario. On a 1 or2, you have such a hangover that you areat -1 on activation rolls and Intelligencerolls until adrenaline kicks in (thishappens as soon as you perform a meleeor dodge roll). On any other result, youare at +1 to Charisma rolls. Effects wearoff at the end of next game.

Worship (15 SP): You spend time inchurch, burning offerings to the gods.During the next scenario, you may eitherhave a +1 on Activation rolls that lastsuntil you roll no Activation successes ina turn, or ignore the first card you draw.

Brew Potion (variable cost): Only aPC with any levels in Alchemy mayperform this activity. It is possible tobrew a single potion per activity. The costin raw materials is half the price on thepotion card. To successfully brew apotion, the PC must pass an Alchemy rollvs the potion’s DL. On a failure, thematerial components are wasted and no

64

magic

SpellsSpells are represented by cards and

found as scrolls in scenarios. You mayalso find magic items allowing you to castspells.

A PC with the Spell Reader trait cancast spells from scrolls. He must spend 1action reading the spell aloud andperform a Magic roll against the spell’sDL. If the roll is successful, the spell iscast. If the roll fails, the PC may try againlater. Each attempt requires 1 action.Once the spell is cast, the scroll isdestroyed. A PC with the Spellcaster traitmay do the same but he may also attemptthe same roll to learn the spell from ascroll. If the roll is successful, the PClearns the spell and spends XP to pay forthe spell. The XP cost is shown on thespell card. If the roll fails, no XP is spentand the PC may try again later. Eachattempt to learn the spell requires 1action. Once the spell is learnt, it remainsin the caster’s mind and the PC may castit as many times as desired. The PC mayroll to learn the spell even if he hasn’t allthe XP available, but any XP the PC gainsnext will go towards paying for that spell.When a caster learns a spell, the scroll isdestroyed. It is not possible for multiplecasters to learn from the same scroll.

Between scenarios, a Spellcaster canautomatically learn a spell from a scrollpaying its XP cost. There is no need toperform a Magic roll.

Running Out of magic energyWhenever a PC rolls a 1 on a magic roll

while casting a spell, he runs out ofmagical energies and may not cast anyspells until the end of the game. Magicalenergy return between games.

Blood CastingA PC running out of magical energy

may still cast a spell by using blood cast-ing, a dangerous process. The PC caststhe spell as normal but loses 1 hp. If themagic roll is a natural 1, the caster loses2 hp instead. If the roll is a natural 20, nohp are lost.

Spells and MeleeIn general, spells may not be cast if the

user is in melee. Spells cast against atarget that is in melee are subject to thelimitations of ranged attacks if the cardsays that spell works like a ranged attack,i.e., shooting at the closest target, beingable to shoot it into a melee if the casterhas the Fire into Melee trait, etc. Thecaster is able to ignore the “shoot at theclosest target” limitation if he has theSniper trait or if this is allowed by thecard (for example, Magic Dart).

Beginning SpellsA beginning character with the Spell-

caster trait may purchase with XP asingle spell of the player’s choice. Allother spells must be found during thegame and learnt via the processdescribed above or purchased from awizards’ guild.

Buying ScrollsPCs with Spell Reader or Spellcaster

may purchase scrolls from a wizards’guild. No PC may purchase more than 1scroll between games. The cost for ascroll is shown on the spell card.

Selling ScrollsBetween games, PCs who are not

interested in magic may sell off unusedscrolls to other PCs or to the local wiz-ards’ guild. The sale price in SP is shown