13. Gamemastering Legend

This chapter offers specific advice to Games Masters, both novice and veteran, on running Legend and getting the most out of it. It includes specific advice regarding key themes in Legend, rules and guidance on a variety of situations likely to arise that may not necessarily be addressed by specific rules in the earlier chapters, plus some guidance on creating scenarios for Legend.

As with any amount of guidance, the material found in this chapter is here to suggest and prompt ideas and creativity: it is not intended to be prescriptive. A tenet to always bear in mind is ‘Forge Your Own Legend’, meaning that, as Games Master, how you choose to use these rules and how you want to develop your game should always take precedence. There are few rules in this book that cannot be modified in some way and Games Masters are encouraged to tinker with, alter and ignore rules that do not fit their style of play or campaign objectives.

Themes

One of the hallmarks of Legend is the way in which certain themes are handled, both as part of the rules and during game play. The mechanics of the system engender a certain style of play that emphasises Adventurer development, skill-use and an approach to the wider community above simply killing monsters, avoiding traps and accumulating treasure. Not that these things are unimportant or wrong; more that Legend places a different emphasis on adventuring. This section examines themes Games Masters may wish to keep in mind when developing scenarios for play and then running them with players.

Community

Community and relationships are integral to Legend. Adventurers do not exist in isolation; they have pasts, families, social and cultural groups they belong to or have belonged to and the rules encourage ongoing community interaction through the joining of cults.

The rules for establishing Cultural Background and community in the Adventurer Creation chapter provide a template for Adventurers to establish certain things before play begins: where they come from, who their family is/was, who they know (friends and foes) and key things that have influenced their lives. These details are deliberately vague to act as a catalyst for players and Games Masters, working together, to build interesting portraits of Adventurers’ past lives through discussion, conjecture (‘what if my long-lost twin brother is now an evil sorcerer…?’) and, hopefully, exploration during play. Using the ideas provided by the Cultural Background and Community sections Adventurers become far more than a set of figures on an Adventurer sheet: they have a history, a context and, in many cases, a reason for being. Using the guidance on contacts and enemies provides a set of plot hooks for further development that keep Adventurers involved with their history. It is therefore worth investing some time in this part of the Adventurer Creation process to gain a deeper understanding of the Adventurer and how he might develop during play.

Another aspect of community that is worth exploring is continued attachment to it. In many roleplaying games the Adventurers are created and embark on their adventures with little or no thought for the communities that nurtured them. This is different in Legend. In many Legend settings Adventurers remain within their communities and continue to serve them. Such local heroics are a key principle of Legend play. Grand quests are certainly important and concern the Adventurers but often a scenario or set of scenarios focus on serving the daily requirements of the clan, tribe, village or town, with little financial reward as the incentive but the thanks and kudos afforded by the community when the Adventurers are successful. Many very successful Legend campaigns have concerned the daily lives of the Adventurers, with dangerous quests, epic battles and dour foes being introduced sporadically, reflecting the more likely nature of such events. As the Adventurers serve their communities, so they grow with them. Relationships deepen, their place in the community progresses and, eventually, those lowly Adventurers are chieftains, champions, lords and kings.

Magic

The availability of magic is reflected in the four magic systems presented in the Legend rules. In some settings, magic is ubiquitous with even the lowliest primitive having some magical charm that protects him or aids him in his life. Naturally not all fantasy settings rely on magic to such an extent and the rules are presented in a way to allow Games Masters to tailor the availability of magic to the campaign. Low magic settings, for instance, might only have Sorcery available as the magical system of the world and access to it restricted by culture or taboo. Similarly if the gods of a world are distant, uncaring beings, Divine Magic might be non-existent or, at best, extremely rare.

Thought therefore needs to be given to the availability of magic and this depends on the setting. Some examples follow.

• In gritty, Sword and Sorcery settings, only sorcery – which is seen as a dark and malevolent force – is available and then only to the few who are prepared to undergo its corrupting influence to attain it. Most people are fearful of magic and attempt to limit their exposure to it, for fear of what it might do to their immortal souls.
• In High Fantasy settings Divine Magic and Sorcery may be available but only to certain races, cults or orders. Common Magic is not something the general populace is exposed to but it is present and worked by those who use it as a gateway to more refined powers.
• Dark Fantasy settings, such as the Eternal Champion series, rely on magicians to be willing to bargain their very souls for magical power – although all kinds of magic are available to those willing to enter into such contracts. Magic is sinister, although not necessarily evil and Adventurers who use it are forever in jeopardy of losing their humanity as they use magic for whatever ends they have in mind.

Quests

Despite what has been said about community, Adventurers should find themselves engaged in quests – mundane and magical – for either the thrill of the adventure, to defeat a foe or to advance or protect their community’s interests.

Magical Quests

Magical quests are a feature of Legend. Adventurers are likely to be engaged in magical quests in many ways, some of the most common being:

• Finding a fabled treasure for the good of the community.
• Aiding a sorcerer or other magician in creating a magical treasure through finding components.
• Delving into a myth, dream or Otherworld experience, with a magical treasure or power as the prize.
• Returning a magical treasure to its place of origin or a place of destruction, to avert doom of some form.
• Seeking magical power to advance within a cult or for personal kudos/gain.

Magical quests by their nature usually involve much risk – either in the form of protective magic, powerful guardians or the nature of the treasure/quest itself. This is the reason for carefully considering the place of magic in the setting. If magic is rare, then lower levels of magical threat might be employed as part of the quest: the Adventurers, being unfamiliar with magic largely, are likely to find any degree of magic daunting and need to counter it with mundane abilities, wits and ingenuity.

If magic is commonplace, then higher and deeper levels of magic are likely to be necessary and the backing of a cult or sorcerous order is a prime requisite in completing the quest successfully.

Whatever the basis, Legend is not a game that is littered with magical items to be found randomly as part of a treasure hoard. Magical items are treasured artefacts that are not lost or misplaced carelessly, nor packed into chests and trunks along with a stash of gold. Magic is never a commodity in Legend; it is a valuable resource and, as such, needs handling with care, especially in the case of magical items or the objects of magical quests. Magical quests tend to be focused affairs that have, at their heart, some measure of life-changing experience – even though the basic nature of the quest may appear to be mundane.

Factions

Guilds, factions and cults are an important part of Legend. Aside from the obvious advantages of access to magic, training and information, factions offer several benefits for Games Masters:

Faction membership offers a ready excuse for adventuring. Factions frequently need to defend themselves against enemy or rival groups and frequently engage in quests of many kinds to advance their knowledge, power and status. Even low-level faction members can be engaged on important faction business.

Factions provide an additional layer of community for Adventurers. Usually this will not be at odds with the Adventurers’ existing communities but, depending on the faction type, it may offer an interesting conflict leading to interesting, faction versus community stories.

Through factions, the gods and other foci of cult veneration become real and visceral things, driving and shaping behaviour and destinies. Factions lend purpose and drive to Adventurers and adventures. Simply joining a faction and being initiated into its ways can form the focus of several sessions of storytelling.

Of course factions need not play such a large part in a Legend game but their unique place in the central heart of Legend makes them a natural – and very important – mechanism for developing adventures that can break away from the usual tropes of fantasy fiction and roleplaying games.

Factions have their own agendas and beliefs which, when explored, lend a satisfying depth to both character and social development.

Future Legend supplements will develop the factions available – both for specific settings and generically – allowing Games Masters to take full advantage of the diversity of factions.

A Good Story, Well Told

Legend is concerned very much with both storytelling and Adventurer development. The game mechanics for Legend , whilst being comprehensive and sophisticated, are intuitive enough to fade into the background of the game, intruding only when necessary to resolve a particular outcome. Indeed, Legend’s mechanics should be part of the background as much as possible. Everything, mechanically, that is needed for Legend , is contained on the Adventurer sheet: skill values, Hit Points, weapon statistics and so forth. Whilst the Games Master will inevitably need to refer to the rules during play, most questions can be resolved by consulting the Adventurer sheet and rolling 1D100 or 1D20.

What this means is that the game session can focus on developing a Good Story, Well Told. The game mechanics do not drive the story: the Adventurers do – and the bulk of the rules found in Legend are geared towards investment in the Adventurer: Characteristics, Attributes, Skills, Combat Styles, Magic and Cult details, each element is designed to invest in the Adventurer - not the player, Games Master or even the concepts of the game – and enable Adventurers to shine through as individuals, supported by elements that develop them as part of a group or team (community, once again). How well Adventurers develop along with the investments the game system makes depends very much on the players but in Legend the rules are designed to work with and for the Adventurers, aiding imagination, providing opportunity and diversity, rather than reducing either to a series of available or not available, on/off abilities and options.

For the Games Master this theme of storytelling and Adventurer focus means that it is worthwhile spending time with the players and taking an interest in how their Adventurers are created. Some tips to consider are:

• Help players develop the community section of Adventurer Creation. Have in mind a common theme that all players can subscribe to and assist in developing close Adventurer relationships early-on. This establishes a sense of fraternity amongst the players and develops instant bonds before play begins.
• Introduce factions and faction membership reasonably early. Cults are not something to be withheld until Adventurers reach a certain level; they exist to get Adventurers to a certain level. And, because factions in many settings for Legend are all around, it makes sense that faction membership will come sooner rather than later.
• Encourage players to think about their skills when coming to make Improvement Rolls. It is natural to focus on skills for combat and magic but social and knowledge skills are equally important. Try to encourage diversity amongst the players but have them think ‘in character’ when choosing which skills to improve. Would a new initiate of a faction really seek to improve non-faction skills or would he, perhaps, focus on those skills that will help him gain status in the faction and prove his loyalty? Looking at these mechanics from a slightly different, Adventurer-driven perspective contributes to developing diverse and believable Adventurers.

Campaigns and Scenarios

A scenario is a story, played through in one or several sessions of play. A campaign is a linked set of stories that may or may not have a definite conclusion. One way to differentiate between the two is to consider scenarios as short stories or chapters of a novel and a campaign as an anthology of short stories or as the novel itself (or trilogy of novels, if the campaign is of a grand scale). Campaigns may take months or years to complete – and some are ongoing sagas, reflecting the lives of the Adventurers.

The Games Master is responsible for presenting the scenario and campaign to the players.

Scenarios tend to fall into one of the following categories:

Published – A pre-written Legend scenario offered for sale or download, either as a one-off adventure or a complete campaign. Published scenarios take a great deal of the preparatory work out of the Games Master’s workload allowing play to begin swiftly. However, Games Masters still need to be familiar with the scenario’s content, structure, themes and goals and it may be that the Games Master needs to adapt certain elements to fit with his existing campaign, play-style and so forth. If using a published scenario be prepared to adapt and change elements – perhaps substantial ones!

Home-Written – Here, the Games Master writes the scenario, developing the plot, the Adventurers and creatures involved, events, encounters and so forth. Writing scenarios can be time-consuming but allows for the best fit of themes, play-style and plotting to fit with a campaign. The restrictions come in two forms: the amount of detail and time needed to be invested in the scenario and the likelihood that the players will want to make choices that fall outside of what the Games Master has planned. Even the most meticulously planned scenario can be sidelined by players who choose option C when the Games Master had only planned for options A and B. However, such diversions can often be the most entertaining (or frustrating) as the Games Master, forced to improvise, develops new and interesting plots that may complement or even replace those of the planned scenario. It is therefore quite often better to keep the details of a home-written scenario as loose and flexible as possible, making it easier to deal with the unexpected actions and decisions of the players.

Scenario Seeds – A kernel of an idea, often perhaps no longer than a paragraph or a sentence, is used as the basis of the adventure with the Games Master improvising the action and using stock, pre-generated or typical creature statistics, to support encounters. Handling a scenario seed is always a challenge since it requires the Games Master to think on his feet; however, the investment both players and Games Master make in the overall story may well turn out to be far more rewarding than if using a home-written or published scenario. This is improvisational story-telling at its best - although the Games Master’s level of experience is often the key to its success.

However, irrespective of the nature of the scenario, there are some guidelines that benefit every Games Master and these follow.

Campaign Planning

A campaign is a series of linked scenarios and can be as long or as short as one needs them to be. Some campaigns last years, charting the full lives of the same Adventurers. Others are more episodic, ending at an agreed point and picked up again after several years of game time have passed. In others, new Adventurers might be created to suit the style or theme of the campaign.

Whatever the campaign’s nature, it needs a style. The style is very much dependent on where the campaign is set, so setting, too, is of utmost importance.

Published settings do a great deal of the background work for the Games Master but may not be to everyone’s taste or style of play. Self-penned settings, whether historical or fantasy based, always require a great deal of work and research by the Games Master. Things to consider:

• Historical or pure fantasy? If historical, then there is a wealth of material to draw upon, from encyclopaedias and text books through to historical settings from other game systems. The key thing will be to fit the Legend rules to the requirements of the setting, or be prepared to alter the historical context to accommodate the rules (magic is the prime consideration here: will your historical setting use magic and, if so, how is it rationalised and explained? How will it affect the nature of the world?
• If you are creating your own fantasy world, then you have carte-blanche to create what you want but remember that most successful and convincing fantasy worlds function to a certain set of rules that help make them work and feel real. It is also tempting – and can be a great deal of fun – to mix lots of different fantasy elements into a single setting (magic, Industrial Revolution machinery, giant robots and so on). If you do this, consider how each element impacts on its fellows. Also try to resist throwing too much into the mix at the beginning: this can prove overwhelming for the players who may not grasp the nature and concepts of the setting as easily as the creator.

Whatever the basis for the setting, be prepared to invest some time in its themes, coherence and the kinds of stories it will generate. Taking the time to prepare will help the campaign develop into something memorable rather than something that fizzles out after a few sessions of play.

Presenting the Scenario

As Games Master it is your task to present the scenario to the players. How you handle this is a matter of personal style; some Games Masters like to have prepared notes concerning all the important things the Adventurers can see, hear and feel, whilst others prefer to focus on details concerning the story at hand. In time you will develop a style that is uniquely yours but, to assist in developing that style, some pointers for scenario presentation are as follows.

Preparation : Some preparation is always necessary, although the degree of prep depends on the Games Master’s confidence, the nature of the scenario and the campaign and, more often than not, time. If using a published scenario you should have read it at least once and made notes on changes you need to make, based on what you know of the players and Adventurers, including, where necessary, amendments to encounter statistics to make the scenario rewarding but neither too easy or too hard. If using your own material then notes on the general flow of the story, encounters and so on will be necessary but need not be extensive. Bullet-points or one-line notes concerning the importance of a Non-Player Character, an event, encounter and so forth may be enough. It is common for the flow of play to determine which details need lengthy description and what can be summarised in a simple sentence: very often, the areas where lots of description has been lavished are those that least require it – usually because the action leading up to that point has helped create a strong enough mental image in the players’ minds.

Statistics : It is not necessary to create, from scratch, monsters, creatures and Non-Player Characters. Use samples from published adventures if you do not have time to create your own but even then, it is not always necessary to roll the Characteristics for every single trollkin in a group of 20 – use the average value given in a creature’s description, instead. Even then, you may only need a handful of statistics: Magic Points, Combat Actions, Movement, Combat Skills, Persistence and Resilience and a couple of major skills, such as Athletics and Evade. If you use General Hit Points for underlings and minor Adventurers, as outlined in the Combat chapter, then you may not even need to use the Hit Locations, either. The watchword is expedience: where statistics are concerned, note down only what you are certain to use. If other values are needed for some reason, then there is nothing wrong with a little improvisation as long as percentages you use reflect that nature of the creature and fit the general risk of the scenario. All creatures are different – just like Adventurers!

Book Keeping

Keeping track of how Adventurers develop and progress is as important for the Games Master as the players. By keeping a note of Adventurer’s key skills, their levels, magic and magnitudes and so forth, scenarios can be more easily tailored to the capabilities of the Adventurers, thus keeping them challenged and rewarded. Things Games Masters should note, in some form:

• Gains or losses of possessions and equipment.
• Community – parents, siblings, uncles and aunts: how many, where they live and who they are. Use this information for scenario inspiration and background colour. Rescuing a family member from peril is often far more emotionally rewarding than a random Non-Player Character invented for the sake for the scenario.
• Training and mentoring – what have the Adventurers trained in recently? How was the relationship with the trainer? Does training come at something more than a financial cost? Do Adventurers need to prove what they have learned before more training is available?
• Magic – how was magic improved or more spells learned? As with training, there may be an onus on the Adventurers to do something in return.
• Major foes, rivals and enemies. Having recurring villains and antagonists helps bring a scenario to life and mirrors popular fiction and drama. Note also how the relationship with these antagonists changes with circumstances – a deadly foe might need to become an ally for a while, in certain circumstances.
• Skills – what skills do the Adventurers routinely improve? How are they changing compared with other skills and the other adventurers? Games Masters might need to make suggestions for helping an Adventurer to remain balanced and some skills, particularly those related to cults, might need more attention than others.

If the campaign has truly engaged the players much of the book keeping will be collaborative as the scope of the campaign will be discussed between scenarios and game sessions. This is to be encouraged as it helps to maintain momentum and involvement. The players gain a true stake in their Adventurers, resulting in a richer, more rewarding experience.

Risk

How hard is the scenario for the Adventurers? If the dangers and encounters they face are too easy, then little challenge or threat is posed and the players may feel short-changed as a result. Although players like to succeed, few players want to have had an easy ride. Likewise, if the scenario is too tough, resulting in lots of wounds or Adventurer deaths, the players may feel hard-done by: success should not be a certainty but then again, neither should instant death: the scenario needs to balance risk.

A reasonable way of approaching risk is to look at the skills of the Adventurers – combat and magical skills, certainly, but also skills that will aid fight, flight and negotiation. How high are the skills, generally? What is the highest skill possessed by any one Adventurer? How much magic and at what Magnitude do they have it? Are there any special things the Adventurers have that can aid them – contacts, cult affiliations and so on – that they can call upon if things become very tough?

Now, gauge the strength of the threats, especially Combat Encounters that the Adventurers are likely to face. If using a published scenario, adjust the skills and magic of the encounters and, if using your own material, create the encounters at a suitable level.

What constitutes a suitable level depends on the nature of the reward or objective of the scenario but, in general, use the following checklist:

• Skills of enemies should not be more than 20% higher than the average opposing skills of the Adventurers. Around a third of the creatures should be around 20% lower, representing easy challenges, one third about the same and one third 20% higher. Of course, particular Non-Player Characters may have much higher skills reflecting their status and position but think long and hard about whether or not such encounters will result in a conflict and, if so, what resources the Adventurers have to help them deal with it.
• Consider what Combat Manoeuvres foes will use in combat ahead of the encounters. Might they have favoured combinations or specialities? Do not rely on manoeuvres that inflict high amounts of damage – like Bypass Armour and Maximise Damage – all the time; think creatively about the encounter’s aims, skills and nature; not all fights should end in death. Jot down these options next to the encounter’s statistics. Do not be afraid to vary them according to the nature of the fight but also try to remain consistent with your plans. Knowing that the elves of Grimwood Forest always try to Pin Weapon as a first Combat Manoeuvre can assist the Adventurers in their own strategies and may encourage them to use different tactics for different foes.
• Enemies should have roughly the same Magnitude of spells available to them as the Adventurers. Challenging opponents may have a few extra Magnitude more but spread around different spells and effects. Thus, if the Adventurers tend to have an average Magnitude of 4 in typical Common Magic spells, an opponent might have Bladesharp 5 or 6 but not Bladesharp 10.

Scenario Aids

This section provides some additional rules and reference materials to assist Games Masters in presenting and planning scenarios. None of these rules additions or the encounter tables are compulsory; they are here to act as inspiration and, when necessary, a fast way of providing colour, information or spurs for action.

Weather

Weather conditions can be of importance in any scenario. Some spells affect the weather or rely on certain kinds of weather for their effect; poor weather can inhibit travel or other activities. Weather therefore includes wind strength, cloud cover, temperature and rain (precipitation).

Wind

Wind has an STR score, determining its effect on objects and the landscape. If a random wind STR is needed, roll 1D100 and divide the result by two, rounding up.

Where a wind can disturb and carry loose material, which may affect visibility, the percentage reduction in visibility for Perception rolls and other skills relying on sight is half the wind’s STR and equal to the wind’s STR for using Perception to listen or scent something. A hurricane, for example, reduces visibility (and Perception rolls) by a minimum of 23% for the purposes of sight but 46% for the purposes of hearing and scent.

Cloud Cover

The amount of visible sky is determined by cloud cover. The cloud cover percentage also determines the percentage chance of rainfall in any six hour period. For randomly determined cloud cover, roll 1D100 and adjust by season:

• Spring +0
• Summer –20
• Autumn +10
• Winter +20

Rain scales of Very Heavy and above may cause local flooding, landslides and so forth, according to the terrain.

Wind Strength

Depending on the time of year and the ambient temperature, precipitation may well be snow rather than rain. If so, the Scale of Rain entries should be read as Snow Depth instead, and the value doubled.

Travel and Encounters

Adventurers will, most likely, spend a good deal of their time travelling. Often it is enough to simply state ‘after three uneventful days, you reach the outskirts of the city’ but in many scenarios or stories, the journey is the story, with the method of travel and the things that happen whilst travelling forming the core of the adventure.

Encounter tables are provided for a variety of situations, useful for improvising or acting as the catalyst for a planned encounter.

Getting There

The cost of travel depends primarily upon the standard of living maintained. Adventurers travelling by land can, ostensibly, travel for free, provided they are willing to walk the entire distance, gather or kill their own food on the way and sleep beneath the bushes at night. Such a method of travel is slow and exhausting, however, and Adventurers will often need to move from place-to-place in a hurry.

Be aware that the distances shown on the Comparative Movement Table represent the optimum for unencumbered Adventurers; but weather conditions, terrain, armour and other burdens will inevitably reduce the rates of travel. There is no hard and fast rule on how local conditions will affect travel distances but use the following as a guide:

Travel Conditions

Travel Costs

The costs for land travel on the Travel Expenses table assume the Adventurers are using one or more pack animals and are spending their nights in some kind of shelter. These costs are meant to be used as guidelines by the Games Master. There are a variety of factors that may increase or decrease the cost for any manner of travel. If the Adventurers are renowned heroes, for example, the merchant caravan will probably not charge them anything (and may even pay the Adventurers) to travel with them, on the assumption the Adventurers will be able to deal efficiently with any threat. On the other hand, if the Adventurers are known to have enemies that have, in the past, attacked and destroyed ships they were travelling on a ship’s captain may refuse to allow them on board without adding a zero to the end of the daily cost of passage.

There are no variations in the costs given for different settlement sizes, as it is assumed Adventurers travelling for any length of time will pass through hamlets, towns, cities and wilderness.

Travel Expenses

Encounters

Whilst many days may go by before a traveller encounters another soul, when that encounter happens, it might be significant. Travellers face the hazards of banditry but also fellow travellers or encounters made on the open road might be a source of news, information or even further adventures.

Use these encounters as random events to spice-up a period of travel, or as the basis for a crafted encounter leading up to the next crucial event in a story. The encounters are divided into terrain types but the Nature of Encounter table is common to all encounter tables.

Urban and Road Encounters

Rural Encounters

Wilderness Encounters

Wastelands Encounters

Nature of Encounter Table