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Viper Archipelago Houserules
Viper Archipelago Houserules
Players roll 3d6 for each of the character’s ability scores, assigning these scores to
the character’s attributes in the order they are rolled. These ability scores may not be
adjusted or altered during character creation. No playable character has any form of
infravision, darkvision, or other ability to “see in the dark” unaided.
All player characters are assumed to begin play with the following personal
equipment: Dagger, eating knife and pick, whetstone, waterskin, tinderbox, mess kit,
sewing kit, a set of travelling clothes, a belt with a belt pouch, a shoulder satchel or
haversack, and 3d6 x 10 silver pieces. This initial “personal equipment” is not
counted towards the character’s encumbrance level.
Funerary Expenses:
If a player character dies, the surviving player characters can contribute any amount
of their own money towards the dead character’s “funeral fund”, with this money
being assumed to finance the appropriate funerary ceremonies and associated
celebrations for the deceased player character. Any monetary contribution to this
“funeral fund” is converted into experience points on a one-for-one basis. This
accumulated total of experience points is then assigned to the next player character
created by the player whose previous character has died.
Encumbrance & Movement:
Carriage of weapons, armour, and personal equipment is managed through a slot-
based inventory system. Every character has ten “inventory slots” available by
default. To determine how many slots are occupied by each piece of equipment
carried, refer to the Weapons and Equipment lists.
An inventory slot can contain up to 100 coins. Equipment labelled with the “Small”
tag may be carried “three to a slot”. Some weapons, such as spears, polearms, and
two-handed swords cannot be “stowed” in a character’s inventory, and as such, they
must be carried in the character’s hands or on their shoulder. When carried in this
fashion, such items do not occupy any of the character’s inventory slots.
Wearing a backpack grants an additional five “inventory slots”, for a total of fifteen.
However, a character cannot run, crawl, climb or fight effectively while wearing a
backpack or similar load-carriage equipment. With this in mind, characters should
cache their excess equipment, and proceed with only a minimalist “fighting load”
when entering any environment where combat is expected.
All characters can carry two large sacks of treasure in total, in addition to the
contents of their backpack, haversack, or other load-carriage equipment (if worn).
Each large sack of treasure being carried will generally require the use of one hand,
but particularly heavy or unwieldy forms of treasure may require two hands to carry.
A large sack can contain up to 500 coins, whereas a small sack can contain up to
250 coins. Consult the following table to determine how a character’s level of
encumbrance effects their movement rate (MV).
The movement rates provided assume that a character is on foot, and is not wearing
a backpack, or similar load-carriage equipment. If a backpack is worn, subtract 50’
from the character’s turn movement rate, and 5’ from the character’s round
movement rate. If a character is mounted on an otherwise-unencumbered riding
horse, then they are considered to have a turn movement rate of 600’, and a round
movement rate of 60’.
The movement rates provided are suitable for an indoor or “dungeon” environment.
In an outdoor or “wilderness” environment, use the same numbers, but replace “feet”
with “yards” as the unit of measurement.
Encumbrance & Movement Reference Table:
No Treasure One Sack of Treasure Two Sacks of Treasure
(Unencumbered) (Partially Encumbered) (Fully Encumbered)
No Armour Turn MV: 400’ Turn MV: 300’ Turn MV: 200’
(uses zero slots) Round MV: 40’ Round MV: 30’ Round MV: 20’
Light Armour Turn MV: 300’ Turn MV: 200’ Turn MV: 100’
(uses two slots) Round MV: 30’ Round MV: 20’ Round MV: 10’
Medium Armour Turn MV: 300’ Turn MV: 200’ Turn MV: 100’
(uses four slots) Round MV: 30’ Round MV: 20’ Round MV: 10’
Heavy Armour Turn MV: 300’ Turn MV: 200’ Turn MV: 100’
(uses six slots) Round MV: 30’ Round MV: 20’ Round MV: 10’
Light Sources:
In order to be used effectively while adventuring, candles are typically held in
lanterns. Some lanterns can be “shuttered” to hide the candlelight, without
extinguishing the candle.
Oil lamps are ill-suited to adventuring, and are likely to break or spill if carried during
any vigorous activity, such as running, fighting, crawling, or climbing. Standard lamp
oil, consisting of vegetable oil or similar organic oil, cannot be ignited “in the open”,
such as in the form of a pool of oil poured on the floor. Flasks of standard lamp oil
cannot be used as makeshift incendiary grenades.
Pitch torches provide a 40’ radius of light in total. The “near half” of this radius is
considered to be “bright light”, whereas the “far half” of this radius is considered to be
“dim light”.
Light Source Radius & Duration Reference Table:
Light Source: Duration Light Radius (Bright) Light Radius (Dim)
Tallow Candle 12 turns 0’ 5’
Beeswax Candle 24 turns 0’ 10’
Oil Lamp 24 turns 0’ 10’
Pitch Torch 6 turns 20’ 20’
Combat Procedure Reference:
1: Declare Spells. If engaged in Melee, Declare Fighting Retreats and Full Retreats.
2: Roll Side Initiative! The side with the higher score may elect to go first or last.
3: Resolve first half of Movement for Side A (the side going first).
4: Resolve any Pass-Through Missile Fire from Side B (the side going last).
5: Resolve second half of Movement for Side A.
6: Resolve first half of Movement for Side B.
7: Resolve any Pass-Through Missile Fire from Side A.
8: Resolve second half of Movement for Side B.
9: Resolve all Other Missile Fire from Side A.
10: Resolve all Other Missile Fire from Side B.
11: Resolve Melee simultaneously, determining resolution order by Weapon Priority.
12: Resolve Magic for Side A.
13: Resolve Magic for Side B.
14: Resolve Morale, return to Declaration Phase.
Key:
Unarmoured
Light Armour
Medium Armour
Heavy Armour
Shield
Ranged Weapons:
Sling - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Shortbow - Two-Handed - 15 silver pieces - Two Slots
Longbow - Two-Handed - 20 silver pieces - Must be carried
Crossbow - Two-Handed - Reload 2 - 35 silver pieces - Must be carried
Arbalest - Two-Handed - Reload 3 - 45 silver pieces - Must be carried
Armour:
Light Armour - 40 silver pieces - Two Slots
Medium Armour - 120 silver pieces - Four Slots
Heavy Armour - 360 silver pieces - Six Slots
Shield - 10 silver pieces - Two Slots
Ammunition:
24 x Arrows - 5 silver pieces - One Slot
12 x Crossbow Bolts - 7 silver pieces - One Slot
20 x Lead Sling Bullets - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Equipment:
Backpack - 5 silver pieces
Bag of flour - 1 silver piece - One Slot
Bag of iron caltrops - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Bag of iron nails - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Bandages - 2 silver pieces - Small
Ball of twine (375’ length) - 1 silver piece - Small
Bar of soap - 3 silver pieces - Small
Bedroll - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Beeswax candles (5) - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Bellows - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Block and tackle - 4 silver pieces - Two Slots
Bottle of black ink - 4 silver pieces - Small
Bulb of garlic - 2 silver pieces - Small
Bunch of belladonna - 2 silver pieces - Small
Bunch of wolvesbane - 2 silver pieces - Small
Chisel - 1 silver piece - Small
Collapsible fishing rod - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Claw hammer - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Crowbar - 4 silver pieces - Two Slots
File - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Fishing net - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Flask of lamp oil - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Flask of naptha - 10 silver pieces - One Slot
Grappling hook - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Hand bell - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Hand mirror - 5 silver pieces - One Slot
Hand saw - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Heavy padlock - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Hempen rope (50’ length) - 4 silver pieces - Two Slots
Holy water ampulla - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Iron chain (10’ length) - 4 silver pieces - Two Slots
Iron fishhooks (3) - 1 silver piece - Small
Iron piton - 2 silver pieces - Small
Iron tongs - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Jar of salt - 3 silver pieces - Small
Lantern - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Large cloth sack - 2 silver pieces - Small
Mallet - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Manacles - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Maul - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Mining candleholder - 3 silver pieces - Small
Mortar and pestle - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
One days’ worth of fresh rations - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
One days’ worth of trail rations - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Pickaxe - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Pitch torch - 3 silver pieces - Small
Pouch of clay marbles - 1 silver piece - Small
Pouch of iron filings - 3 silver pieces
Pouch of resin incense - 4 silver pieces – Small
Scroll case - 4 silver pieces - One Slot
Segmented ten foot pole - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Set of travelling clothes - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Sheet of parchment - 4 silver pieces - Small
Shovel - 3 silver pieces - Two Slots
Sieve - 3 silver pieces - One Slot
Small cloth sack - 1 silver piece - Small
Small lodestone - 4 silver pieces - Small
Sticks of chalk (5) - 1 silver piece - Small
Sticks of charcoal (5) - 1 silver piece - Small
Stick of sealing wax - 2 silver pieces - Small
String of firecrackers - 5 silver pieces - One Slot
Tallow candles (5) - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Thurible - 5 silver pieces - One Slot
Waterskin - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Whistle - 2 silver pieces - Small
Wooden bucket - 2 silver pieces - One Slot
Wooden door wedges (5) - 1 silver piece - One Slot
Wooden holy symbol - 1 silver piece - Small
Wooden stakes (5) - 1 silver piece - One Slot
Woollen blanket - 2 silver pieces - Two Slots
Writing quill - 2 silver pieces - Small