Romance of the Perilous Land

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RunningLaser

RunningLaser

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Figured we could have a thread about Opsrey's Romance of the Perilous Land rpg. There's not a whole lot out there concerning the game. It's been mentioned several times in posts here, so though we could have a discussion about it. According to the blurb on the front cover, it's billed as "A Roleplaying Game of British Folklore". Have read some snippets from folks here and elsewhere that there's a strong Dragon Warriors vibe from the game. I don't have much experience with Dragon Warriors, so I can't comment on that. I have a game that I'm going to be starting for my friends using it. They've made up their characters, so it's just a matter of when it happens.

While this is a game of British Folklore, the game does not take place in fantasy Britain, but has its own setting-the Perilous Land- that is heavily inspired by it. Mechanically the game is a miss-mash of the Black Hack and D&D 5th. I think due to it being mythic "Not-Britain" and the D&D mechanics have caused this game to get overlooked by a lot of people, which is a shame since the game is in my opinion, extremely well done and has lots to offer. Hopefully this thread will get some traction. Will try and post about it as I can, and hopefully others can contribute as well.

Did want to add that for whatever reason, the game is $2 on Amazon Kindle.
 
Might do things as a "Let's Read"- will see. The physical book itself is 9 1/4" by 6 1/4" 256 full color hardback. All writing in the book is single column. It's extremely well bound and durable. The only detraction would be that it does not lay flat, nor do I think that it ever will. The book itself seems like it will stand up to lots of table use. The art within ranges from good to excellent. I'm sure a bunch of it is recycled from Osprey's other books, but that's ok by me. After the first page, which is a table of contents, we get the following picture which sets the tone well.

ROM_01.png



The first few pages go over where the game takes place and what the game is about. To quote "The Perilous Land is a place of magic, valour, and darkness. It is a realm similar to the British Isles of older times, viewed through a hazy lens of its rich history of folklore and oral tradition." It's an inclusive setting as well, with people of different color being shown throughout. As a parent of mixed race kids, I'm glad. The base setting of the game is the forces of good are going up against the forces of evil. King Arthur has sent out the call throughout the Land for heroes to join the fight. Maybe I was coming off reading Three Hearts and Three Lions when I started reading RoTPL, but I dug it instantly. Law vs chaos sort of thing.

The following several pages has a brief history of the Perilous Land and the ages that have come and gone.The default age that the game is set in is the Age of Valor, which is the present age where Arthur has sent out the call for heroes and good is starting to fight back.

The next part is Character Creation.
 
Thought people might be interested in a post I did on this elsewhere:

The description of Scott Malthouse's Romance of the Perilous Land as some kind of Dragon Warriors heartbreaker is a bit weird. I'll admit to the mechanical similiarities, but I think that boils down to "rules lite, old school, D&D influenced, but different" thing.

But for me what always made DW what it was, was the setting of Legend and RotPL is entirely different with the Perilous Land. The Perilous Land is a lot brighter and a lot more heroic than Legend, with the lines between good and evil more closely defined. If I met Robin Hood in the Perilous Land I'd be working with him in the struggle against The Dark Powers. In Legend, I'd be worried he was going to rob me and leave me dead in a ditch.

Possibly unfairly, part of me wonders if the whole idea of RotPL being a DW heartbreaker comes from Americans who haven't quite grasped how different the takes on Brit mythology are from each other.RotPL does fit in with the B-OSR, alongside DW, Maelstrom, Advanced Fighting Fantasy and WFRP. Alongside Troika!, it's arguably the other main new game we can now add to the older canon and their revised editions.

(This post was written before Warlock! took off and I'd probably add that to the BOSR new game list these days. I also no longer bother with the hyphon).
 
A Fiery Flying Roll Black Leaf thank you for posting that. That helps. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't have any experience with Dragon Warriors. I like your example of Robin Hood :smile:

Character creation will be mostly familiar to anyone who's played D&D. Instead of the traditional six attributes, RoTPL has five. They are Might, Reflex, Constitution, Mind and Charisma. By default stats are rolled randomly - 4d6 drop the lowest dice and take the sum. There is also an array of you can use -16, 14, 12, 10 and 9. You can get a bonus to damage for either melee or ranged attacks depending on your Might or Reflex score. In this game, what you have for an attribute does matter. To do stuff- hit something in combat (whether ranged or melee), climb a tree, make a save versus something bad- it's all by rolling equal to or under your attribute on a d20.

Next we get on to a PC's starting hit points, which is their Constitution score. As you gain levels, you roll a hit dice (depending on your class) and add to to it. After that, we have skills. There are 19 skills in the game and each skill is tied to an attribute. Skills work differently here. In RoTPL, anyone can try anything- you roll a d20 and try and get equal to or under your attribute. robertsconley robertsconley has something similar with his excellent the Majestic Fantasy RPG (which is an excellent game and I heartily recommend grabbing a copy). If you have a skill that can be tied to the action you're performing, you get to roll with Edge (roll 2d20 and take the lowest result).

Character Classes
There are six character classes in the game. They are Knight, Ranger, Cunning Folk, Thief, Barbarian and Bard. Each class details weapon proficiencies, armor proficiencies, save proficiencies (each class has 2) , starting skills (each class starts with 3), starting equipment and class features that are available. Each class also has a list of class features that they start with and gain as they advance in level. All classes also start with a talent. Talents are feats, but much less powerful than what I've seen in other games. A new class feature is gained every odd level, and a new talent is gained every even level. At levels 3, 6, and 9- all classes get a +2 to all of their attributes. All characters max out at level 10.

The Knight
Due to Arthur needing as many fighting folk as possible, he removed the sex and nobility requirements from knighthood, so any and all can join the fight. Knights would be the closest to a baseline fighter in the game. They have a d10 hit dice, have light, medium and heavy armor proficiency- light, medium and heavy melee weapon proficiency and light and medium ranged weapon proficiency.

At first level their class feature is Aid the Defenseless, which allows them to take the damage that someone receives within 5 feet of them. At 3rd level they get to choose a favored weapon where all attack rolls made are done with Edge. At 5th level they gain Never Surrender, which lets them perform a single action each round until they get to negative HP at half their level. 7th level gets them Valiant Effort which means once per combat the knight can replenish all armor points to themselves and allies within 30 feet. I'll get into armor more as we go along, but the long and short of it is that armor functions as extra hit points. Finally at 9th level they get Double Strike, which lets them attack twice on their turn.

I'll end with the knight for the night:smile: I hope that you notice that the first class isn't way out there in terms of power, especially as it gets towards the higher levels. All the classes are like this, kinda restrained. I like that a lot.

Next up when I get around to it will be the Ranger.
 
Rangers

Rangers in the game are your wilderness ranged weapon hunter types- think Robin Hood. They have d8 Hit Dice and are the only class that is proficient in all ranged weapons (light, medium and heavy), and have light and medium melee weapon proficiency. For armor, they are limited to light or medium and their save proficiency is Reflex and Constitution.

For a starting class feature they have Herbalism, which allows them to use their wood lore to create a healing remedy that heals 1d6. I thought that was pretty cool. It reinforces them being outdoors folk, without the magical baggage that gets added onto them. At 3rd level, they get the ability to choose a specific creature to be their mortal enemy for the day. This gives them Edge when making attacks against it. They can choose an additional creature at levels 6 and 9. I like that they can make this choice at the beginning of each day instead of making it a permanent choice. At 5th level, they get Deadly Shot which gives them an extra 1d4 damage on ranged attacks. At 7th level they acquire Split Shot- this allows them to make two attacks as a single action. Finally, at 9th level they get Snap Reflexes, which means that anything attacking the ranger with a ranged attack have to roll with Setback.

the Thief.
Thieves in the game have 1d8 for Hit Dice, are proficient with light and medium melee weapons, ranged weapons and armor. Their save proficiencies are in Reflex and Mind. At 1st level their class feature is Sneak Attack which grants them an extra 1d4 in damage to any attack that they have edge on. At 3rd level, they get Trapfinder, which gives them Edge when checking and disarming traps, and at 5th level they get Critical Strike, which ups their sneak attack damage to 1d6. At 7th level they can make Disguises with whatever they have on their person- a check is required to see if it succeeds. At 9th level, the thief gets Deadly Strike, which means that if they miss an attack, they can choose to treat it as a hit- they can do this twice per combat.

Going to take a little break. Up next we'll look at the only magic casting class available- the Cunning Folk. There's some really cool stuff with them that lends to the feel of the game.
 
Cunning Folk
Mentioned in a previous post, Cunning Folk are the only class that is able to cast spells. That's mostly true- there's a talent that non-Cunning Folk can take that lets them cast 1st level (only) spells. They get 1d6 for Hit Dice, are proficient in light armor, light melee and ranged weapons, and their save proficiency is in Mind and Charisma. Their 1st level class feature is Spellcasting, which allows them to cast any level spell from the spell list (10 levels of spells). All spells cast must have a roll made to see whether or not they are successful- there can be a cost for failure when attempting to cast a spell above your level. The only other class feature they get is Magic Discipline at 3rd level. Basically they choose what discipline to focus on- charms, conjuring, curses, healing or scrying. When casting a spell that you have Magic Discipline in, the costs are halved.

All spells cost spell points to cast. To cast a spell in the game, CF's need to make a spell test. The roll must be equal to or less than the Mind attribute minus the level of the spell. So if you have a Mind of 15 and casting a 2nd level spell, you'd need to roll a 13 or less to succeed. A CF can attempt to cast any level spell that they've prepared, however if the caster fails their spell test on a spell that's higher level than they are, there's a chance for the spell to backfire. There's a brief chart detailing six possible outcomes- three have no effect while the remaining three negatively impact the caster.

Each morning, a CF can choose what spells to prepare up to how many spell points they have. One cool thing is that each spell has a preparation time- how long it takes the CF to find the ingredients and such to prepare the spell in the morning for use later on. There's just over 50 spells that go from level 0 to level 10. The spells are muted, no fireballs or anything. This is usually where fantasy rugs can start getting out there, and this game isn't like that.

Anyways, two more classes to go. Barbarians and Bards.
 
Barbarians are the one class that seems a little out of step with the rest, but I suppose they can be a good stand in for Viking types. Barbarians get d12 for hit dice, are proficient in light, medium and heavy melee weapons, but only light ranged weapons. For armor they are able to use light and medium, and for saves they are proficient in Constitution and Might. For class features they get Barbarian Rage at level 1, which allows them once per combat to do an extra 1d6 in damage for up to three rounds. At level 3 they get Quick Step, allowing them to move an extra 5 feet per round, and at level 5 they have Natural Armor, which gives them an extra 3 points of armor. At level 7 their rage becomes Burning Rage which gives them 1d8 damage, and at 9th it becomes Epic Rage and goes to 1d10. With both Burning and Epic Rages, if you roll a critical hit, you also knock the target prone, but Epic Rage also can paralyze a target as well.

Bards in RotPL are more of the inspirational types that help the party rather than spell slingers. They get 1d8 hit dice, are proficient with light and medium melee weapons, and light ranged. They can wear light and medium armor and have save proficiencies in Reflex and Charisma. Their starting feature is Battle Song, which grants one ally within 10 feet of the bard to have Edge on during that round. This can be done up to two times in a combat. At 3rd level they get Healing Verse, which heals 1d8 hit points plus the half the Bard's level. At level 5 they can tell a Tale of Doom, which gives Setback to all attack rolls to . At one target within 30 feet for one round. At 7th level, they sing and Inspirational Song, which gives one ally within 40 feet an extra 1d8 for damage for a turn. And finally at 9th level, Bards can say a Greater Replenishing Verse which heals all targets within 40 feet 2d8 plus half the bard's level.

One thing I forgot to mention- you can only be a human in the game.

So that's all for the character classes. After you choose a class, you then have to choose a Background. This is much like 5e- background gives you a couple of skills and some extra equipment. It wouldn't be difficult to create new backgrounds. After choosing a background, you can choose a Talent.

Talents are feats, but much like the character classes, they are toned down a whole bunch. All characters get to choose a talent at 1st level, and they get to choose another at every even level thereafter. It's also possible to retrain talents. Much like 5e, some talents can increase an ability score. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any talents that raise eyebrows.
 
Moving right along.... next we have a chapter on equipment, weapons, armor and such. The base unit of coin is gold, so everything is listed in gold. For encumbrance, a character can carry twice as many items as their Might score. Most things count as one item, certain things may count as two if they are really heavy/bulky and some things such as arrow- 20 count as a single item.

Weapons and armor are grouped into three categories- light, medium and heavy. Mentioned earlier that unless you are proficient in the weapon or armor type you're using, you'll get setback on certain rolls. Armor and shields in this game function as extra hit points to be taken off first. Armor "regenerates" within 10 minutes after a battle. That represents someone fixing things and putting it back into place.

After this section, we get into the rules for playing the game. So when I get a chance, I'll start on that.
 
PrivateEye said:
Thanks for this - I have this game and I like it a lot. I kind of think of it as from the same "family" as Dragon warriors, but a distant cousin rather than a sibling. Keep up the good work
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Agree with this. Same broad design family, but not close kin. (Interestingly, Scott M has said he hadn't read DW at the time this was written).
 
P PrivateEye - no problem. It's a good game. I wish I was able to describe what makes it good better than I am.

The base mechanic of the game is to roll equal to or under the applicable stat, minus a difficulty rating. There's a small chart in the book that tells you what the difficulty ratings are, and how the rating scales as characters increase in level. Every three levels this scale goes up. At 1st level, the difficulty ratings are 0, 2, 4, 6. At 3rd it's 0, 3, 5, 7- at 5th 0, 4, 6, 8 ect. If the character has a skill that could apply to the task at hand, they roll with Edge. If there's something that would hinder the task, they roll with Setback. Edge and setback can cancel each other out.

This base mechanic covers everything, from performing an action, to making a saving throw, to attacking something. For contested rolls, say between a PC and NPC/Creature, the PC would modify their stat by the hit dice of the NPC/Creature and then try to roll equal to or under their stat. Meanwhile the NPC/Creature would use a base of 10, plus their hit dice minus the level of the PC and roll equal to or under that.

For example, let's say you had a 2nd level PC with a Reflex of 13 and NPC/Creature with 3 HD both scrambling up a temple staircase and you wanted to see who got there first. The PC would need a 11 or lower to succeed. PC stat minus NPC HD = target number. The NPC/Creature would need an 11 as well, NPC/Creature HD minus PC level = target number. Whoever succeeds wins, in the case of a tie, the lowest roll succeeds.

Saving throws are rolled against an attribute. This can be modified by save proficiencies for edge. Difficult saves can also be modified with setback. If the save is from a creature or spell, then subtract the HD of the creature from the attribute and roll.
 
RunningLaser said:
Cunning Folk
Mentioned in a previous post, Cunning Folk are the only class that is able to cast spells. That's mostly true- there's a talent that non-Cunning Folk can take that lets them cast 1st level (only) spells. They get 1d6 for Hit Dice, are proficient in light armor, light melee and ranged weapons, and their save proficiency is in Mind and Charisma. Their 1st level class feature is Spellcasting, which allows them to cast any level spell from the spell list (10 levels of spells). All spells cast must have a roll made to see whether or not they are successful- there can be a cost for failure when attempting to cast a spell above your level. The only other class feature they get is Magic Discipline at 3rd level. Basically they choose what discipline to focus on- charms, conjuring, curses, healing or scrying. When casting a spell that you have Magic Discipline in, the costs are halved.

All spells cost spell points to cast. To cast a spell in the game, CF's need to make a spell test. The roll must be equal to or less than the Mind attribute minus the level of the spell. So if you have a Mind of 15 and casting a 2nd level spell, you'd need to roll a 13 or less to succeed. A CF can attempt to cast any level spell that they've prepared, however if the caster fails their spell test on a spell that's higher level than they are, there's a chance for the spell to backfire. There's a brief chart detailing six possible outcomes- three have no effect while the remaining three negatively impact the caster.

Each morning, a CF can choose what spells to prepare up to how many spell points they have. One cool thing is that each spell has a preparation time- how long it takes the CF to find the ingredients and such to prepare the spell in the morning for use later on. There's just over 50 spells that go from level 0 to level 10. The spells are muted, no fireballs or anything. This is usually where fantasy rugs can start getting out there, and this game isn't like that.

Anyways, two more classes to go. Barbarians and Bards.
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Just a quick comment - a failed spell test doesn't result in the spell being lost - you can try again in another round, which significantly improves the utility of the class
 
This sounds right up my alley, and might be just what I'm looking for right now.

Brighter than Warhammer and toned down from Dungeons & Dragons, but with the familiar class/level structure, with strong Arthurian elements... Sign me up!

I ordered it off Amazon, should arrive tomorrow.
 
PrivateEye said:
Just a quick comment - a failed spell test doesn't result in the spell being lost - you can try again in another round, which significantly improves the utility of the class
Click to expand...

Thank you for adding that! I really like the way they do Cunning Folk in the game.

Malleustein said:
This sounds right up my alley, and might be just what I'm looking for right now.

Brighter than Warhammer and toned down from Dungeons & Dragons, but with the familiar class/level structure, with strong Arthurian elements... Sign me up!

I ordered it off Amazon, should arrive tomorrow.
Click to expand...

That's awesome :smile: Hope that you like it. That's exactly what it is- a brighter, toned down D&D with a big dose of Camelot.

The next section we'll get into is combat.

Combat starts with an COR or Combat Order Roll. It's important to note that the GM doesn't make a roll here, only the players. All players make a Reflex roll, those who succeed go before the GM, those who fail go after. The players can choose which order they go in. Combat is split into turns and rounds- a turn is what you can do when it's your turn and a round is 10 seconds long.

Each turn a player gets two actions. Attacking with melee and ranged weapons can only be done once per turn. There's a brief list of other actions you can do on a turn. Spellcasting can take 1 or 2 actions depending on the spell. Everyone moves the same 20 feet per action (up to 40 if you choose to move twice). There is a brief line about using miniatures (a sentence) a how to use areas instead with close (0-5ft), near (5-25ft), and far 25-+). If you use these "zones" you can move one zone band per action. As an interesting aside, creatures aren't given a movement in the book, so I'm guessing everything can move 20 feet per action (or modded if you want. I like things easy).

Combat is rolling under Might for melee and Reflex for ranged. Subtract the HD or level of what you're fighting from your stat to get the target number. Criticals happen on a natural 1, fumbles happen on a natural 20. There's a small list of combat maneuvers you can do and a list of conditions that can be inflicted during combat due to an ability, spell or combat maneuver.

This is skipping ahead a bit to the Bestiary, but I think it's a good place to put it. Unless you have another character, all NPCs and creatures are used (and created) the same way- their Hit Dice. Hit Dice determine not only hit points, but how much damage the NPC/Creature does, what it's saving throw rolls are, what it action rolls are and so forth. NPC/creatures have a base of 10 that their HD gets added to for their target number. The level or HD of what they are fighting gets subtracted from that and that's what they need to roll equal to or lower than.
Here's the HD chart:
HD Damage Die
1 d4+1
2 d6+2
3 d6+3
4 d6+4
5 d8+5
6 d8+6
7 d8+7
8 d10+8
9 d10+9
10 d10+10

So let's say a 4HD Cunning Folk was attacking your 2nd level character. To cast a spell, attack or do any action to you, they'd need to roll their target number which is 14 (base 10 + 4hd= target number) minus the PC level (in this case a two) which gives you a 12. If they were trying to attack a 5th level character, they'd need a 9 or lower. Let's say this Cunning Folk cast a spell on that 2nd level character and you needed to make a Reflex saving throw and let's say the PC had a Reflex of 12. You'd subtract the HD of the NPC, 4, from the character's stat, 12 they were saving against to get the number you needed- in this case an 8 or lower.

It's really simple, especially for someone like me who isn't that smart. Apologies if any of this gets confusing.

Moving on!
You regain all hit points after an 8 hour rest, and you can get back lost hit points by taking a short rest. This gives you back your hit dice in hit points and can be done up to your level in times per day.

There are Valor Points which everyone gets three and these can be spent on things like re-rolls, gaining a small amount of hit points, getting edge on rolls, ect.

The next part of the book details the sorts of things players can get themselves into, travel rates, exhaustion, climbing, swimming, stealth and the natural hazards they can face.

This section ends with leveling. Two types of leveling are given, quest leveling and experience point leveling. So you can choose which you want to do for your group.
 
Would this book be useful as a gaming reference even if I didn’t use the system?
 
RunningLaser said:
Cunning Folk
Mentioned in a previous post, Cunning Folk are the only class that is able to cast spells. That's mostly true- there's a talent that non-Cunning Folk can take that lets them cast 1st level (only) spells. They get 1d6 for Hit Dice, are proficient in light armor, light melee and ranged weapons, and their save proficiency is in Mind and Charisma. Their 1st level class feature is Spellcasting, which allows them to cast any level spell from the spell list (10 levels of spells). All spells cast must have a roll made to see whether or not they are successful- there can be a cost for failure when attempting to cast a spell above your level. The only other class feature they get is Magic Discipline at 3rd level. Basically they choose what discipline to focus on- charms, conjuring, curses, healing or scrying. When casting a spell that you have Magic Discipline in, the costs are halved.

All spells cost spell points to cast. To cast a spell in the game, CF's need to make a spell test. The roll must be equal to or less than the Mind attribute minus the level of the spell. So if you have a Mind of 15 and casting a 2nd level spell, you'd need to roll a 13 or less to succeed. A CF can attempt to cast any level spell that they've prepared, however if the caster fails their spell test on a spell that's higher level than they are, there's a chance for the spell to backfire. There's a brief chart detailing six possible outcomes- three have no effect while the remaining three negatively impact the caster.

Each morning, a CF can choose what spells to prepare up to how many spell points they have. One cool thing is that each spell has a preparation time- how long it takes the CF to find the ingredients and such to prepare the spell in the morning for use later on. There's just over 50 spells that go from level 0 to level 10. The spells are muted, no fireballs or anything. This is usually where fantasy rugs can start getting out there, and this game isn't like that.

Anyways, two more classes to go. Barbarians and Bards.
Click to expand...

No Clerics, eh?

jg
 
Necrozius said:
Would this book be useful as a gaming reference even if I didn’t use the system?
Click to expand...

It depends? If you're looking for an Arthurian reference, I think you'd be better off with something else. The setting is very broad strokes. The section of setting gives a very brief overview of major areas- usually just a couple of paragraphs at most for locations.
 
James Gillen James Gillen yeah, no clerics. Cunning Folk do have spells that can heal. There are gods listed in the book- according to the book they have a selection of gods of the Celtic Pantheon. The rules encourage characters taking a god to worship, but it's just for flavor.
 
Are the Backgrounds diverse enough that you can spice up the Barbarian, because 'I do rage' seems a bit limited for campaign play ?
 
S Sean W there's no restriction on what backgrounds a class can take. All they really do is add two skills and some extra starting equipment. The backgrounds are Aristocrat, Artisan, Courtier, Falconer, Farmer, Guard, Innkeeper, Jester, Militia, Outlaw, Priest, Scholar, Seafarer, and Traveling Merchant. The author has. expanded backgrounds available on Drivethrurpg.
 
the expanded backgrounds are: Apothecary, Astrologer, Beggar, Druid, Feyborn, Investigator, Mountain Dweller, Outrider, Pitfighter, Ravenmaster, Royalty, Scribe, Shaman, Spice Merchant, Spy, Storyteller, Tavern Brawler, Vigilante, Wandered and Wytchguard.
 
Now we get to the Spellcasting section. According the book, "magic is rare and those that wield it are looked upon with awe and fear." Magic is divided into five magic disciplines- healing, curses, scrying, charms, and conjuring. At 3rd level, the Cunning Folk chooses which discipline they'd like to focus on and spell point costs to cast are halved.

As mentioned upthread, spells range from level 0-10. Any spell caster can try to cast any level spell that they've prepared. So this means that a 1st level CF can try to cast a 10th level spell- but a failing a spell check roll can result in something detrimental happening. If you fail a spell casting roll for a spell that was higher level that you, take the difference between the caster's level and spell level- that equals the amount of d6's you have to roll (taking the highest roll) and consult the chart below.

SPELL BACKFIRE TABLE
D6 Roll Effect
1 No effect
2 No effect
3 No effect
4 The caster has a setback on all checks and saves for 1d4+2 hours
5 The caster takes 1d10+2 damage
6 The caster is paralysed for 1d4 hours

Spells are prepared each day and a caster can prepare as many spells as they have spell points for. Once you reach zero spell points, you can no longer prepare any spells. Spell points recharge fully after 8 hours of rest. Each spell takes a certain amount of time to prepare, the time can vary from instant to 20 minutes. You don't have to prepare all of your spells at once- you can save spell points for later if you like. Spells come in a spell form, which is the fluff associated with what components the spell has and how it is cast.

Will see about going over some of the spells to give folks an idea of the flatter power curve.
 
Here's some examples of spells. Will show one or two spells per level to give a feel how they are.

0 Level Spells

Good Luck Charm
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Spell Form: A small piece of wood etched with a rune
Spell Cost: 2
Use Time: 1 action
Effect: You touch a creature with your glowing green charm and it imbues them with a sense of luck. The charmed creature rolls with edge on their next check.

SENSE THE PRESENCE OF MAGIC
Discipline: Scrying
Preparation Time: 1 minute
Spell Form: A glowing light in the scrying mirror
Spell Cost: 1
Use Time: 1 action Effect: After peering into the scrying mirror, you can identify the source(s) of magic within 100ft. This includes being able to tell whether an item is imbued with an enchantment or whether a creature has innate magical abilities. You cannot identify the enchantment of specific magical effects, unless you spend an extra spell point when preparing.

1st level spells

CHANGE THE MUNDANE INTO TREASURE
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Spell Form: A rune etched onto wood or stone
Spell Cost: 1
Use Time: 1 action Effect: Using the power imbued in a charmed rune, you make one creature believe that a mundane item, natural or crafted, is worth much more than in reality. The enchantment gradually wears off over 10 minutes once you are 100ft away from the target. Anyone inspecting the treasure can attempt to succeed a Mind check, reduced by the caster’s level, to identify the actual value of the treasure after 15 minutes of inspection.

CONJURE WATER FROM THE AIR
Discipline: Conjuring
Preparation Time: Instant
Spell Form: A sprinkle of magic salt
Spell Cost: 2
Use Time: 1 action
Effect: After sprinkling a pinch of magic imbued salt into a container, the container instantly fills with cool drinkable water to its brim. This spell can fill up to two gallons in one container, or split across multiple containers.

REPLENISHED THE BATTERED AND BRUISED
Discipline: Healing
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Spell Form: A herbal tincture
Spell Cost: 2 Use
Time: 1 action
Effect: You craft a diluted healing tincture from local herbs and plants. When applied to a creature within 5ft of you, the tincture heals 1d6 HP. A creature who is unconscious is unable to drink the tincture.


LEVEL 2 SPELLS

BREAK THE SKIN OUT IN BOILS
Discipline: Curses
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: A poultice full of bones and hair
Spell Cost: 3 Use
Time: 1 action
Effect: You throw the poultice up to 20ft at your intended target, or place it under their bed while they sleep. The target creature’s skin becomes red and breaks out into hideous boils. The affected creature takes a setback to Charisma checks and is unable to wear armour without suffering 1d4 damage per hour. The curse lasts 24 hours, after which time the boils fade away. The creature may attempt to succeed a Constitution save to only take the setback to Charisma checks.


LEVEL 3 SPELLS
BEFRIEND THE WILDEST OF BEASTS
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Spell Form: A small stone etched with a rune
Spell Cost: 3 Use
Time: 1 action
Effect: Showing a wild animal (not a monster or other supernatural being) the charm causes it to calm down. The animal will not attack you or
anyone you do not want it to. The charm wears off after one minute.
 
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Got it. Read it. Really like it.

It even has a decent character sheet! Far too often the first indicator of a bad game is an awful character sheet.

A few typos and errors aside, the biggest failing of the book is the lack of any maps. It's not clear whether the Perilous Land is supposed to be geographically Britain or not until I got to the kingdom descriptions two-thirds of the way in. I read them, tried to piece together where they are in relation to each other and concluded that they kingdoms are not where I expect and the map is almost certainly not Britain.

Rummaging through the writer's blog, I found that maps have since been done and he seems to approve of them, so I'm happy to accept them as accurate. But I could really have done with one in the book somewhere.

Also, it warms the cockles of my heart to hear that Nazi fuckwit Varg Vikernes had a twitter strop because the games' art had non-white men in it! Cracking.
 
Necrozius said:
Would this book be useful as a gaming reference even if I didn’t use the system?
Click to expand...

Honestly, no. The setting is a mish-mash of Arthurian legend, Robin Hood tales and Celtic myth. The bestiary isn't bad, but King Arthur Pendragon books remain the best gaming resource for the Arthurian world.

RunningLaser said:
James Gillen James Gillen yeah, no clerics. Cunning Folk do have spells that can heal. There are gods listed in the book- according to the book they have a selection of gods of the Celtic Pantheon. The rules encourage characters taking a god to worship, but it's just for flavor.
Click to expand...

Bards seem to be the most reliable source of healing, with single target healing at 3rd level and party healing at 9th. The hit points are low, but restoration can be done every hour if needs be. Hit points come back fast anyway, suggesting that unless you drop below zero, most of the "damage" is cuts, bruises and fatigue rather than serious wounds.
 
I've seen the map complaint come up elsewhere.
 
Here's some more spells

LEVEL 4 SPELLS
CAUSE ONE TO ACT WITH SPEED
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: Stone etched with a rune
Spell Cost: 5 Use
Time: 1 action
Effect: You hold the stone aloft and speak words of speed. One creature within 40ft increases its movement speed by 20ft for three rounds.

CAUSE THE FEELING OF DOOM IN ANOTHER
Discipline: Curses
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: A poultice of hair and bone
Spell Cost: 5 Use
Time: 2 actions
Effect: You unleash the power of a potent poultice curse on one creature within 40ft. The victim feels a great sorrow wash over them as all the despair they have felt in their life up to now fills their hearts and sends them into a spiral. The victim has a setback on saves for three rounds.

Hopefully this is getting across that the spells are lower powered. Will do a few more spells, maybe some of the higher level ones.
 
Chaotic Wooster Malleustein yeah, while it's 250 pages or so, the single column format and small size make for an easy read. I've gotten to become a big fan of smaller size rpg books over the years. It's funny, I've been reading to my son a book called Rules for a Knight and it's a very small book. Something like 6"x4" and it's just a handy little book. Anyways...

Here's a sample of spells level 5-10.

LEVEL 5 SPELLS
BREATHE BENEATH THE WAVES
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: Wood etched with a rune
Spell Cost: 6 Use
Time: 2 actions
Effect: Your charms creates a bubble around the head, allowing creatures to breathe safely underwater. Up to four creatures within 20ft gain the ability to breathe underwater for a number of hours equal to caster level. CREATE A WILD GUST OF WIND Discipline: Conjuring Preparation Time: 10 minutes Spell Form: Runes drawn on the forehead Spell Cost: 6 Use Time: 2 actions Effect: A strong wind builds up around you, blowing away projectiles that are shot towards you. Ranged attacks against you gain a setback for three rounds.

LEVEL 6 SPELLS
CONTROL THE MIND OF A BEAST
Discipline: Scrying
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: Scrying mirror
Spell Cost: 7
Use Time: 2 actions
Effect: You find a wild beast, such as a deer, wolf, falcon, or snake and take control of its mind for a limited amount of time. When in the mind of a beast you are still aware of what is happening around your human body and should it come to any harm your mind will snap back into its body immediately. While in the mind of a beast, you can control its body as you would your human body, but you are able to comprehend language, spoken and written. The spell lasts for one minute per class level. If the beast is killed, your mind returns to your body.

IMBUE A WEAPON WITH A MIRACULOUS ENCHANTMENT
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Spell Form: Runes etched onto the handle of a weapon
Spell Cost: 7
Use Time: 2 actions Effect: You draw a series of power runes onto a weapon, speaking a magical phrase to activate them. You place an enchantment on one weapon. For hours equal to the caster level that weapon deals an extra 1d4 damage. A weapon can have no more than one enchantment on it at a time.

LEVEL 7 SPELLS
APPEAR IN A NEW LOCATION INSTANTLY
Discipline: Conjuring
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: Runes drawn onto the feet
Spell Cost: 8
Use Time: 1 action
Effect: The runes on your feet flash, and in an instant, you are elsewhere in the world. You are able to teleport yourself to a location within 10 miles of your current location provided that you have already been there, or it is within your line of vision.

GRANT THE SKIN OF STONE
Discipline: Charms
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: Runes etched onto a stone
Spell Cost: 8
Use Time: 2 actions Effect: You place a charm on a creature within 5ft of you. The creature’s skin becomes flexible stone that does not impede their performance. The creature gains an armour points bonus of 1 per caster level for the next three rounds. These armour points cannot be regenerated with the regroup manoeuvre.

LEVEL 8 SPELLS
BRING PESTILENCE UPON YOUR FOES
Discipline: Curses
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Spell Form: A poultice of bones and hair
Spell Cost: 10
Use Time: 2 actions
Effect: You throw a poultice up to 30ft away. A swarm of locusts bursts forth from the poultice, covering your enemies. All creatures within 20ft of the poultice are bitten by the locust swarm, taking 3d6 damage each and taking a setback to all saving throws for one round. A Reflex saving throw halves the damage taken.

SUMMON FAIRY HORSES
Discipline: Conjuring
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Spell Form: Runes drawn onto the hands
Spell Cost: 8
Use Time: 2 actions
Effect: You conjure up to six fairy horses from the Otherworld. The fairy horses are obedient obeying the commands of yourself and your allies. They are able to travel 50 miles in a day without the need for rest. After 24 hours the horses retreat to the Otherworld, even if they are mounted.

LEVEL 9 SPELLS
CREATE A MAGICAL WEAPON
Discipline: Conjuring
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Spell Form: A rune drawn onto the palm
Spell Cost: 10
Use Time: 2 actions
Effect: You conjure a glimmering weapon of your choice into the hands of a creature within 40ft. The weapon has the same attributes of the type of weapon chosen, but also contains the following effects: •+1d10 damage. •If a creature is damaged by the magical weapon, they fall prone. •Causes a critical hit on a 1–4. The magical weapon lasts for three rounds. Proficiency works the same way for a magical weapon as it does with a non-magical weapon.

LEVEL 10 SPELLS
RESURRECT THE RECENTLY DECEASED
Discipline: Healing
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Spell Form: A prayer and a tincture
Spell Cost: 11
Use Time: 2 actions
Effect: You pray over the body of the recently deceased, pouring a crystal-clear tincture into their mouth. You may bring a dead creature back to life with 1 HP. The creature must have been dead for no longer than a week. For every day longer than a week the creature has been dead, add 1 to the spell casting roll.


Next part goes over the Items of Wonder in the Perilous Land.
 
The Items of Wonder section deals with the magic items that are part of the Perilous Land. It's important to note that magic items in this game are supposed to be very limited. This is done to help reinforce magic being rare and wondrous. It's something too that can turn people off. Personally I like it, but can understand where others wouldn't.

There are a three categories of magical items- charms, enchanted items, and legendary weapons and armor. Charms are the weakest of the magic items and the most commonly encountered. I'm guessing, but not certain that they are inspired by folklore. These are things like how an ash staff will cause an extra d6 damage to an adder, and how putting a bog violet inside a coffin will halve the chance of the dead inside coming back as a revenant. The list of charms is small, but well flavored.

The list of enchanted items is smaller than the list of charms. These are either unique things, or things that are not common in the mortal realms. A couple of the items would be Cohuleen Druith(unique), a magic cap that lets the wearer breath underwater and the Hand of Glory, which is a severed hand that lets you pick any lock 5 times.

Legendary weapons and armor are all unique and it's stated that players may only see one or two in their entire game. These are also named weapons and armor. Again, to show you how the power level is flattened, the sword of Launcelot, Arondight is a 1d8+2 short sword whose chief powers are glowing when a storm is close and giving the wielder an additional 3 armor points. Merlin's Staff is a 1d6+1 weapon that gives an additional 10 spell points.

Rounding out this chapter are the thirteen treasures of the Perilous Land, which are magical artifacts that are scattered throughout the 11 kingdoms.

Speaking of the 11 kingdoms, I guess we can move onto those next. Again, if anyone has any questions or anything, please ask.
 
The default setting of the Perilous Land has eleven kingdoms. They are Ascalon, Benwick, Camelot, Corbenic, Eastland, Escose, Listenoise, Lyonesse , Gore, Hutton, and Norhaut. There is also a language chart showing the various dialects and languages spoken. As noted above, there is no map, rough locations are given in the text. The location descriptions are light, and give a list of people of note and a few adventure hooks to each place. The hooks are enough to get ideas started.

The kingdoms listed are either on the side of good, the side of evil, or unaligned to either side. The next part of the book deals with the gods of the Perilous Land, and they are all Celtic. While worshipping a god grants no powers, the book recommends all characters choose one for flavor.

Moving along, we get to the factions of the Perilous Land. There are three factions in the game- the Allies of Camelot, the Dark Powers, and Non-Allied. Player's can choose to start off in a faction if they wish, or join one as the game goes on. Players are encouraged to join one of the Allies of Camelot. Joining a faction has rules for becoming a member and maintaining membership. It's not involved, but pretty cool. The Allies of Camelot are the Knights of the Round Table (you can't fully join until 8th level, until then you are a Blade of Arthur), the Merry Men of Sherwood, the Order of the Fisher King, the Fellowship of Enchanters and the Iron Hawks.
 
Simon Hogwood said:
Which kingdom is Sherwood in?
Click to expand...

It's in Eastland.

EASTLAND Eastland lies to the south east of the Perilous Land, bordering on Benwick. Ruled by the spiteful Queen Eleanor, Eastland is sympathetic to theplight of the Sisters of Le Fay, counting the dark enchantress Morgan as an ally. Eleanor is known as a trickster, many believing she was born of fairy lineage (this happens to be true – her mother is an aristocratic fairy who wields much power in the fey realm).
 
Is Eastland vaguely Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and maybe East Anglia? That's roughly where it seems to be, though the Perilous Land does not have the same outline and Britain, exactly.

It's interesting that the game puts Camelot in Gwynedd (made considerably larger) and that the Lancashire region is retitled 'Hutton.'
 
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