Peril Pocket Preview Edition #1: Swords

Philosophy of Peril: When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the
triumph. --Pierre Corneille

What is Peril? Peril is a game of adventure and danger. Using pencils, paper, two
20 sided dice and your imagination you can explore strange worlds and haunted
places undreamed of. There are two roles for participants in Peril, the Referee
(Ref) and the Players.
The Roles: Every game of Peril requires one referee, and is best with 2 to 8 players.
The Ref creates adventures, adjudicates the rules, and interacts with players as the
monsters and people the players will meet. The Players create characters that put
themselves into peril. Players are not in competition with one another but rather
in a competition to succeed or fail in surviving the perils of the unknown. It’s a
game and games are meant to be fun, if you are not having fun—you are doing it
wrong!

Creating a Character: To play Peril, you will need to create a character. Every
character is defined by their attributes and their class. While there will be lots of
different classes, in this sample there are two classes to choose from, the
Mercenary or the Scoundrel. Choose one of these classes prior to starting to make
your character.

Mercenary: A sword for hire, fighting for his own fortune and glory. A mercenary
starts with the talent of favored melee weapon. Pick one specific melee weapon
(dagger, short sword, spear, etc.) When using this favored weapon, you roll 2d20.
Use the d20 with the highest result and add your Strength bonus to determine
success or failure of a combat action when using this weapon. A Mercenary starts
with 50 gold pieces.

Scoundrel: A purloiner of other people’s property, seeking fortune but not fame.
A famous scoundrel is a dead scoundrel. A scoundrel starts with the talent of
Thieving. When attempting to steal something without being noticed, roll 2d20.
Use the d20 with the highest number rolled and add your Skill bonus to determine
success or failure. A Scoundrel starts with 50 gold pieces.

Character Attributes: Every character is made up of the same 5 attributes:

Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Skill, and Charm. Every point in an attribute equals
a +1 bonus when using that attribute for a test in the game. If you had Strength +3
you would add +3 to any rolls you made when testing Strength in melee combat,
bending bars or kicking in doors.
  Strength (ST) is used in tests involving hand to hand (melee) combat, tests
requiring brute force or avoid damage from environmental or poisonous
threats.
 Agility (AG) is used for testing ranged weapon attacks, throwing accurately,
dexterity tests to dodge out of danger, and hand eye coordination tests.
 Intelligence (IQ) is used in spell casting and in tests for figuring out riddles,
problems, mysteries and lore.
 Skill (SK) is used for specialized tasks like tracking, spotting hidden doors,
walking quietly, picking locks, stealing and similar tests.
 Charm (CH) is used in tests where interpersonal interactions such as
haggling, hiring followers, getting someone to give you information, fast
talking, and intimidation.

Class Attributes: A Mercenary starts with +1 in Strength, and 2 points to spend on

attributes. A Scoundrel starts with +1 in Skill and 2 points to spend on attributes.

No Hit Points? Correct. When you take damage you lower the bonus in one or
more of your attributes as wounding damage. In other words, the damage you
take will impact (negatively) your character’s ability to act! When you have a total
of -3 or more as a COMBINED attribute total, your character has died. When
taking damage, you must first have lowered all attributes to zero (0) prior to taking
any attribute into a negative.

Talents: Talents are specialized skills or unique abilities your character uses to do a
specific task. This could be things like mastering a sword, stealing things, casting
certain spells or fighting the undead. When using a talent in a test, you roll two 20
sided dice (2d20) and use only the die with the highest number rolled.

Tests: Making actions in Peril like finding secret doors, disarming traps, fighting
foes and casting spells requires a test. A test is made by rolling one d20 and trying
to roll a number equal to or above a target number given by the Ref. Your
attributes can provide a bonus as might your character’s level in certain tests.
There are 4 basic target numbers in Peril and the higher the target number, the
more difficult the test, The Ref is free to make up their own target number for a
situation as they like. Target numbers below are a guideline and reference point.

12+ Average test: Climbing a tree, walking on a beam, spotting a crude trap.
15+ Difficult test: Climbing a wet tree, walking a narrow beam, hiding in shadows
18+ Challenging test: Climbing a wet tree while injured, walking a narrow beam
over lava, finding a well hidden secret door or trap.
21+ Heroic test: Grabbing the hand of a falling friend, dodging arrows while
running on a narrow beam over lava, spotting an illusionary floor covering a pit
trap.

Combat: When combat occurs, there is a specific order of phases in which actions
occur.
1. Roll for initiative: each side involved rolls a d20. The side with the highest
number rolled acts first. In the event of a tie re-roll dice.
2. Ranged Combat: Those characters with an in hand bow, sling, or item to
throw may do so now. First the side that won initiative acts and makes
attacks, then the other side acts.
3. Movement: Anyone who did not act in Phase 2 Ranged attacks AND is not
going to a cast a spell or invoke a prayer this turn, may move.
4. Melee Combat: Those armed with a hand to hand (melee) weapon and
within weapon reach of a foe can make an attack with their in hand weapon.
EXCEPTION: Those who acted in Ranged Combat or are casting a spell/prayer
cannot act.
5. Cast Spells/Prayers: Those who can cast a spell or prayer do so in this turn.
Note, the spellcaster or clergy cannot have acted in phase 2 nor phase 4. In
addition they cannot have taken damage this round in an earlier phase.

After Step 5, go back to Step 1 and repeat the phases 1-5 for the next round.
Attacking: Combat is handled like any other test. A D20 is rolled, bonuses are
added, and the result must equal or exceed the target’s AC value to cause damage.
The target number is the defenders Armor Class. Hand to Hand attacks use your
character’s ST bonus and ranged attacks use your AG bonuses. In addition some
classes may have a talent that affects the attack roll.

Armor & Armor Class (AC): Armor Class is the target number an opponent must
roll higher than (on a d20+bonuses) to hit the wearer in combat and inflict
damage. Everyone’s base AC is 10 when just wearing clothing. Additional armor
worn or shields used provide a character with a bonus to AC. A list of armor is on
the back of this manual.

Damaging Armor: When a character wearing armor is hit for damage, they may
choose to let armor absorb the damage, Do this by reducing the AC bonus value of
armor worn equal to the damage taken. Armor or shields reduced to less than half
its original AC value cannot be repaired. Repaired armor cannot have an AC higher
than its original number. Magical armor or shields damaged cannot be repaired.
The cost to repair armor is 20gp per point of AC being repaired and it takes 1 day
per point of AC being repaired

Weapons: The weapons in Peril do a fixed amount of damage. Your talents may
influence or change the amount of damage a weapons does. The Strength rating
of a character determines which weapons they can use. A list of weapons is on the
back of this manual.

Experience Points (XP): These are gained by hazarding danger. Characters gain
experience points in the following ways:
1) Each test successfully passed (making an attack in combat, using a skill,
casting a spell, etc.) is worth 1 XP. The Referee can track this using the name
of each character on a 3x5 card and placing a hash mark next to the
character’s name for each successful test made.
 2) The HD of creatures defeated is the XP reward for defeating it, minimum is 1
XP, even for HD0. If one or more character’s participated in defeating the
enemy, divide the HD value by the number of character’s who hit the
creature causing damage. In the event of fractions left over, round up to the
nearest whole number. If a HD6 creature is killed by 4 characters, this would
mean 1.5 XP each. This is rounded up to 2 XP reward for each character.
3) The Ref can reward extra XP at the end of an adventure session for clever
problem solving, good game play, teamwork or any other reason. This
reward should be between 5 to 10 XP.

Gaining Levels: XP are spent by the character to gain levels. Once XP are spent,
reduce the XP total by the amount spent. A Level 0 character with 104 XP would
spend 100 XP to reach Level 1. The XP total would now be reduced to a new total
of 4, but the character’s level is now 1. Each level gained gives a character 1 point
to spend improving one attribute and one point to spend on learning a new talent
or a spellcaster can spend it to learn a new spell equal to or lower than their
current level.

Levels: All characters start at Level 0. Levels represent the experience your
character achieves while surviving adventures. This experience level is often used
as a bonus to tests your character makes. Gaining a level requires 100 Experience
points x the next level. So level 1 requires 100 XP, Level 2 requires 200 XP, and so
on. Levels must be purchased in order and a level cannot be skipped. The
maximum Level is 10 for any character.

Saving Throws: The Referee may allow a character facing death to roll a saving
throw if the damage taken from an enemy attack, environmental hazard or spell
effect would kill the character outright. In this case, the target number is 20 and
the Referee will determine which attribute or if the character’s level could be
applied to save the character from death. A roll of 20 or higher (after bonuses)
saves the character from dying; anything lower than 20 means the character is
dead.
Equipment: Pre-made adventuring kits for your characters to buy
Bag Option 1: (7 gp)
Backpack (normal or halfling), Weapon Belt, Large Pouch
Capacity: 45 lb Weight: 2.2 lb

Bag Option 2: (11 gp, 8 sp)

Oilskin Satchel, Baldric, Weapon Belt, Large Pouch, Beltpouch(2)
Capacity: 24 lbW eight: 3.4 lb

Adventurer Pack 1 – Adventuring Basics (20gp)

Chalk, small bag of pieces; Grappling hook; Hemp Rope (2×50'); Lantern, hooded;
Oil (3 flasks); Tent, Small (one man) Weight: 29 lb

Adventurer Pack 2 – Ready for anything (10gp)

Glass bottle; Iron Spikes, 12; Pole, 10' wooden; Map or scroll case; Mirror, small
metal Weight: 12 lb

Mercenary Pack – Camp and battle basics (21 gp)

Bandages (5), Oil, cooking pot, 1 week rations, 3 large sacks, tinderbox, torches (6),
waterskin, whetstone Weight 22.8 lb

Freebooter Pack (tools of the trade) (58 gp)

Candles (12), crowbar, grappling hook, mallet, iron spikes (12), 1 wk rations, large
sack, small lens, thieves' tools, tinderbox, waterskin, whetstone Weight 31.2 lb

Dungeon Mapper (17 gp)

10 sheets paper, ink, quill & quill knife, writing board, bag of chalk pieces
Weight 1.2 lb
Camp Cook (24 gp)
Iron pan, iron pot, Fire grate, mess kit, common spices, dried meat (2lb), standard
rations (5 days), teapot Weight 23 lb
 ST REQ DMG GP cost Weapon Types

0-1 1 5 darts, sling, staff, rock, javelin, dagger, knife, hand

axe, whip, foil, sabre, short bow
2-3 2 15 short sword, machete, spear, axe, war hammer, flail,
mace, long bow, x-bow, club
4-5 3 30 Longsword, Battle Axe, Bastard Sword, Heavy Mace,
Heavy X-bow, Trident, Pike, Lance
6+ 4 60 Two handed weapons: War Axe, Great Sword, Maul
Thrown weapons effective range is ST bonus x 15’, min 15’.
Sling range is ST bonus x 50’ min 50’. X-bow range is 75 yards (375’)
Bow effective range is ST bonus x 50 yards (150’) min 50 yds.

AC Bonus GP cost Types Move

0 1 Clothes 30’

+1 5 Padded, Robes, Furs, Buckler shield 30’

+2 15 Leather, Round/Heater Shield 30’

+3 30 Studded Leather, Tower Shield 25’

+4 60 Scale Mail 20’

+5 150 Chain Mail 20’

+6 300 Splint Mail 20’

What about Magic and Monsters? Look for Peril Pocket Sample #2 SOON!
Peril a Game of Adventure and Pocket Full of Peril

copyright by C.R. Brandon

fenway5(at)frontier(dot)com