A gamebook system by Stuart Lloyd

Wayfarer
Text copyright © 2016 by Stuart Lloyd
All illustrations in this book, including the cover are public domain.

Many thanks to all of the followers of and contributors to Lloyd of Gamebooks and of course my lovely wife Nicky and my adorable children.

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Welcome to Wayfarer! This is a game system which is used for a series of short gamebooks where you can explore a world of fantasy and magic, grow your character and perform great deeds. The idea of the system is to be simple, yet flexible.

Rule 1 – The rule of simplicity and serendipity

In the interest of not getting bogged down in minutiae, I’ve sacrificed a lot of complexity for the sake of quicker and easier play. For this reason, there may be a situation which is not covered in the rules. For these situations, the rule of simplicity and serendipity reigns supreme. The rule is:

If there is something in the rules that does not explicitly cover a situation that you are in, just assume you are able to take the most favourable result for your character.

Rule 2 – The rule of voluntary complexity

To make this game accessible, a lot of detail has had to be sacrificed. For example, in real life, food rots away after a certain amount of time, yet in the game, you could buy some food and leave it in your backpack forever. If you prefer a more simulationist experience, or if you want a greater challenge, you may add whatever rules you like. That’s fine too. So, rule 2, the rule of voluntary complexity is: If you feel the rules do not work to your liking, feel free to rule what you think should happen, even if it is to your detriment. Feel free to apply rules 1 and 2 as much as you like, at the same time and as consistently or inconsistently as you like. After all, this is a solo game experience, so “cheating” isn’t going to affect anyone else and I won’t be there to complain. I would prefer that you have an entertaining experience by bending the rules than have a miserable one by following them.

Creating your character

First, choose 3 abilities from the list of 12 that your character has. The 12 abilities are:

Brawn

This covers your strength. A character with the brawn ability packs a greater punch.

Hardiness

This ability grants you a greater endurance than most people. You are able to last longer in adverse conditions than most people. It is very useful when travelling.

Athletics

This covers physical activities – running, climbing, swimming and many other things.

Roguery

This covers everything larcenous, such as picking pockets, picking locks, forgery, looking for ways to enter houses, etc.

Stealth

This ability allows you to move stealthily, hide and make yourself look inconspicuous.

Perception

This is an important skill for spotting hidden things, such as traps. This also includes picking up on odd behaviour and it can be used to spot a chink in an opponent’s armour.

Literacy

This ability goes beyond simply learning to read and bestows you with knowledge of grammar, rhetoric and logic. You have a greater knowledge of the laws of natural law and human law through study of the lives of great heroes and the discoveries of the scholars. You have also learnt to decipher many different scripts in order to gain that knowledge.

Artistry

This ability covers the use of creativity, discipline and self-awareness to produce things of artistic value – these things could be songs, poems, paintings or sculptures.

Charm

This ability covers anything that involves working with other people, getting them to like and trust you and get them to do what you want.

Survival

The ability to find food and shelter in terrains and the knowledge of the animals that live there. A character with the survival ability is also able to identify healing plants and use them. A character with the Survival ability does is able to find food in most terrains and so does not need provisions when travelling.

Pathfinding

The ability to navigate and use vehicles and animals for travelling. A character with the pathfinding ability is able to work on ships and ride the most common mounts and use carts and carriages. They are also less likely to get lost.

Craft

This is the ability of someone who has learnt a trade of some kind. They know the price of goods, they know how to spot good workmanship and they can offer a skill that the common labourer does not have. They also know some things about the infrastructure of the world they are in and so they know where to find useful contacts to supply cheap goods.

Other abilities

It may be possible to learn other abilities not part of the original twelve. For example, you might be able to learn some languages, learn how to commune with spirits or how to repair mechanical devices. You will be told when these opportunities arise.

Vitality and Will

Your Vitality is a measure of your endurance. Vitality is reduced through being wounded or doing something physically demanding. In game terms, having a vitality of 0 means death. Your Vitality cannot go above its initial score.

Will is a measure of your mental fortitude. Will is reduced through mental exertion such as stress, loss or intense fear. Having a will of 0 means mental exhaustion and any further loss of Will results in loss of Vitality. Your Will can never go below 0. If you are at 0 will and your Will is further reduced, those points are subtracted from your Vitality instead.

Your Vitality and Will both have values of 3 when you start.

Fleshing out your character

To create your character, you need to describe your character – what is their background? What is their calling? What do they desire? For this reason, you pick some descriptors.

Background

Pick one background for your character. Each background determines what items you start with.

Wild: You start with a natural item (encumbrance 0)

Occult: You start with an otherworldly item (encumbrance 0)

Criminal: You start with a key (encumbrance 0)

Scribe: You start with documents (encumbrance 0)

Learned: You start with an alchemical item (encumbrance 0) Tinkerer: You start with a mechanical component (encumbrance 0) Calling

Every character finds some things easier – possibly because they love them, possible because they have the natural aptitude for them or possible because they practise them all the time. When you pick your calling, you will get 2 abilities that you will only need to spend 6 experience points to learn instead of 12. You do not have to pick these abilities when you create your character – you could save them for later.

Traveller: Hardiness and Survival.

Thief: Roguery and Stealth. Labourer: Brawn and Craft. Artist: Perception and Artistry.

Explorer: Athletics and Pathfinding.

Bard: Literacy and Charm.

Desires

Your character has not given up a secure life for no reason. You can also choose what your character wants to accomplish by questing. Pick a desire from the list below. Whenever your character fulfils a desire, they get 6 experience points. Bear in mind that since you pick your desire after your background, you can’t get 6 experience points for picking a background that grants your desire.

Treasure: Obtain an artefact.

Knowledge: Obtain a tome

Reputation: Obtain a title of hero or knight.

Magic: Obtain a relic.

Prowess: Learn how to use a weapon or fight unarmed.

Piety: Obtain a title of acolyte or priest.

Randomly generated characters

If you wish, you may use a table to randomly decide what your character’s background, calling and desires are. Roll a die for each one and consult the table.

Die roll	Background	Calling	Desire
1	Wild	Traveller	Treasure
2	Occult	Thief	Knowledge
3	Criminal	Labourer	Reputation
4	Scribe	Shaman	Magic
5	Learned	Explorer	Prowess
6	Tinkerer	Bard	Piety

Experience

You get experience for completing tasks or fulfilling your desires. There is no maximum to the number of experience points you can have. You start with 36 Experience points which you need to spend to create your character.

You must get 3 abilities (no more, no less). Remember that if you choose an ability from your calling, it will only cost 6 experience points instead of 12.

You start with 3 Vitality points and 3 Will points. If you have any experience left over, you may spend experience to increase them as you wish, or you may save some experience points.

Spending Experience points and advancement

You can spend experience points at any time, including travelling time, in the middle of an adventure or during a roll. If you spend 1 experience point, you can reroll a die for 1 ability test or you can act as if you have an ability of your choice on 1 occasion. If you spend 6 experience points, you can increase your initial and current Will by 1. If you spend 12 experience points, you may learn a new ability. If the ability is from your calling, then you only need to spend 6 Experience points to learn it.

Time

Time is measured in days. Your time score starts at 0 and it increases every time you move across 1 hex. It may also increase during adventures and if you rest. Your time score is important when you have an adventure that has a time limit of a certain number of days. Certain events will also happen on certain days.

The core mechanic

The mechanics of this system revolve around the 6 sided dice (d6). You will need to roll 1d6 to determine the outcome of events. However, there are many situations where you can get rerolls. If you are allowed to reroll, you may roll an additional 1d6 and take the best value from the dice you have rolled.

Ability tests

Ability tests have a difficulty value. In parentheses you will have the ability(s), item(s) and codeword(s) that are relevant to the tests. Some of these things will be used up in the process of getting the reroll (for example, food). In this case, an asterisk (*) will be that thing’s name. If you use something with asterisk by it to get a reroll, you must remove it from your character sheet.

To succeed at an ability test, you need to get equal to or over the difficulty on a d6. If you have rerolls, you only need to succeed at one roll to succeed at the test.

Fate rolls

A fate roll is any roll that is not an ability test. For this reason, it cannot be affected by spending experience either. It is done by rolling 1d6 and following the instructions in the text. In almost all cases, the higher the number, the better the outcome. Having a means to influence fate rolls is very rare.

Encumbrance

A character can carry up to 6 encumbrance points worth of items. This may not seem like much, but take note that many items have an encumbrance value of 0, such as your clothes, money, treasure and keys.

Notes

You may need to make notes of other things that need to be tracked. You may get codewords and titles as your reputation spreads.

Titles

If you perform great deeds or join an organisation, you may be granted a title to reflect your status. That title may be acolyte or priest if you join a religious organisation. If you save a town, you may be granted the title of hero. You may also get noble titles such as knight.

Starting characters

Starting characters have the following items and stats:

Background: You choose 1 (then adjust your inventory as needed)

Calling: You choose 1

Desires: You choose 1

Initial Experience: 36

Abilities: You choose 3 (and deduct the relevant amount of experience for each one – remember that since you have a calling, some abilities will only cost 6 experience points)

Initial Vitality: 3

Initial Will: 3

Initial Time: 0

Initial money: 0 silver florins (but you have a pouch of copper pennies which you do not need to track).

Starting items: You may choose any of the following items: A quarterstaff (encumbrance 1), a dagger (encumbrance 0), a sling with stones (encumbrance 0), any number of provisions (encumbrance 1 each).

Food, water, money, light and fire

You need to eat provisions when you travel, unless you have the Survival ability, where you can forage the food you need from most terrains. Water is not tracked in this game. You also have a pouch of copper pennies which you do not need to track. This money allows you to get basic food and shelter in civilised areas. It is assumed that you always have access to some flint and tinder and some wood to make torches. For this reason, means to make fire or have a light source are also not tracked in this game.

Travelling

Travelling is an exhausting and sometimes perilous activity. When you want your character to travel somewhere, look at the terrain between where your character is and their destination. Increase your time by 1 day.

Unless you have the Pathfinding ability, lose 1 Will point.

Lose 1 Will point unless you eat 1 provision. You can ignore this if you have the Survival ability unless.

If you travel onto a hex with mountains, you must lose 1 Will point unless you have the Athletics ability or climbing gear.

If you travel onto a hex with snow, you must lose 1 Will point unless you have furs.

If you travel onto a hex with desert, you must lose 1 Will point unless you have desert clothes.

The Hardiness ability reduces the amount of Will points you lose by 1 (to a minimum of 0). A horse reduces the amount of Will points you lose by 1 (to a minimum of 0).

Finally, go to the book for that hex.

Combat

When you face an opponent in combat, you will be given a difficulty for that opponent and a list of abilities and items that will be useful in combat against that opponent. There is no one ability for combat. This is because different combatants have different strengths and weaknesses. Brawn and Athletics are the two most obvious abilities as they allow for stronger blows and dodging opponents’ blows. Hardiness might be useful when you need to outlast an opponent. However, Roguery might be useful for fighting dirty. Perception could be used to spot an opponent’s weakness. Survival could be useful against animals. Even Craft could be useful against constructs.

If you win the test, your opponent loses 1 Will point. If you fail the test, you lose 1 Will point. At first, you will wear each other down, but you won’t actually manage to land many blows, but remember, when someone’s Will points is 0, then loss of Will points results in loss of Vitality Points instead.

Most combat is not fatal. Some combat will require you to win a certain number of rounds. Some combat is to first blood which in game terms means that the combat will end when someone loses Vitality because their Will is 0. Animals will generally flee if they feel that they cannot overcome you. Only undead and extremely bloodthirsty or fanatical fighters fight to the death (until someone’s Vitality is 0).

Items

Money and goods

Treasure comes in many forms. Due to the barter economy between most people in villages, coins can be quite rare outside of the merchant professions. However, there are many other items that have great value. If you find a treasure, it will say how much it is worth and you are able to swap that treasure for items equal to the value of that treasure. Some treasure may also have an encumbrance value. Any money found with a value in copper pennies does not need to be tracked. It is assumed that you always have a pouch full of copper pennies based on small amounts you find, obtain through working odd jobs or from getting change from buying things.

Basic items

There are several basic items that players can buy in almost all areas. Anything with a cost of 0 just costs a few copper pennies, and so for the purpose of the game is free.

Item	Cost (treasure)	Encumbrance
Provisions	0 sf	1
Quarterstaff	0 sf	1
Sling and stones	0 sf	0
Dagger	0 sf	0
Spear	1 sf	1
Axe	1 sf	1
Pick	1 sf	1
Shovel	1 sf	1
Cold weather outfit	1 sf	0
Desert outfit	1 sf	0
Climbing gear (rope, grapple, iron spikes and a hammer)	3 sf	1
Mirror	3 sf	0
Shield (+1 Vitality)	5sf	1
Sword	5sf	1
Mace	5sf	1
Bow and arrows	5sf	1
Cart (+12 encumbrance. -1 Will extra every time you travel unless you also have a horse or mule)	5sf	N/A
Potion of clarity (restores 1 Will point)	5sf	0
Armour (+1 Vitality)	10sf	1
Mule (+6 encumbrance)	10sf	N/A
Crossbow and bolts	10sf	1
Horse + gear (+3 encumbrance)	25sf	N/A

Services

Services are not physical items, but things that people can do for you.

Villagers and inns charge a few copper pennies for food and board. If you spend a day not travelling, then you can restore 1 Will point for free.

Healers will be able to tend to your wounds and give you a place to recover. They normally charge 1 silver florin to restore 1 point of Vitality. This also takes 1 day of rest, so you will also restore 1 point of Will if you use a healer.

The cost on a ship’s passage depends on where you need to go and how long it will take to get there.

If you have a lot of money or do someone a great favour, you might be able to get some training. This could include weapon training (so you get a reroll when using a particular weapon) to training in a particular vocation or learning a new language. In rare instances, you may be able to find someone to train you on how to build and repair clockwork instruments or even access the aetherlink and commune with various spirits. Training provides rerolls in particular situations.

Trinkets

Trinkets are small items of treasure. These can take many forms such as a ring carved from birch wood, polished stones of bright colours, copper ornaments or wooden statuettes. They are usually worth 1-10 silver florins, but certain people may have a special interest in specific trinkets which will lead them to pay more for them.

Special items

Special items are items that certain people find valuable to make certain items or for a purpose. Unlike trinkets, their use extends beyond their monetary value. Although it may not appear valuable to you, a special item might be extremely valuable to someone else.. If you are told that you have found a random special item, make a fate roll to see what you get.

Write down the item you get. Special items could be described as “Schrodinger’s items” – their use or form is never explicit until you decide to use them. The key you find could open the cells doors in the gaol of Deepbridge or a stone door underneath a ruined city. This makes it easier to find items to help you in your quest, rather than having to traipse around the whole place for one specific key. Once you have used an item in this way, you must cross it off. After all, a single key can only open one lock.

Natural item: You have found the part of an animal that is highly sought after, such as a reindeer’s antler, falcon egg. Or you have found a herb that is much sought after by healers. Someone will pay for a natural item to either make it into an item of jewellery or because it is needed to cure the ailment they have.

Otherworldy item. It might be a coin made from obsidian or a rainbow coloured pebble or a lump of glass that gives off a faint glow. This item makes some people feel uneasy as it wasn’t created by mortal hands. Does it belong to the fae? A god? Or some other unknown race? Scholars might find them intriguing, rich collectors might desire them or the non- human creatures that made them might want them back.

Key. It might be a large heavy lead key, a delicate silver key or it may not be key shaped at all, but you have found a key nonetheless. If you ever find a lock, it might just fit.

Document. This could be a map, a set of records, an important letter or an epic saga. To be honest, the language is above your head. Maybe one day, you can find someone who will need this document. For a price.

Alchemical ingredient. You have found a vial filled with a strange substance. It might be a yellow powder or a liquid metal or some goo that gives off a strange faint glow. Whatever it is, you wonder who could find a use for such a thing.

Mechanical component. This may be a brass cog, a spring or a box full of tiny intricate interlocking pieces. This item could be used to build or repair a machine that could be useful. Constructs might also desire mechanical components to help with their craft.

Tomes

Tomes are books of great knowledge. Some of it is about the secrets to communicating with the non- humans across the world. Some of it tells legends of heroes long forgotten or of the history and geography of lost civilisations. Reading tomes may take some time but the secrets locked within them are worth it. They are also highly valued by certain institutions such as monasteries or groups of scholars who will pay handsomely for a new tome.

Artefacts

Artefacts are items of great monetary value. They could be cut gems or ancient tablets. They could be rare and valuable pieces of art or finely made silk clothes. In a world that is still heavily reliant on the barter system where there aren’t enough coins for every item, artefacts are the trade items of the extremely wealthy. You might use an artefact to buy a ship or a house or some other extremely expensive item.

Relics

Relics are items of great power that have a deep connection to the Aetherlink. They can take almost any form. Some relics are body parts of great heroes or people of great fortitude, talent or knowledge. Some relics would be possessions of those legends or maybe the part of a legendary object, such as a part of the ship that carried legends across the seas. Relics have power over some nonhuman creatures. They may help repel hostile fae, spirits and undead.

“Magic” or the lack of it

The Aetherlink

Magic does not exist in this world. No one has found a way to change the natural laws. However, people who have studied the nature of the world have found that all living and seemingly unliving things have a connection. This allows consciousness to live in inanimate objects such as rocks or buildings. It also means that at some level, it is possible to communicate with animals, plants and other creatures, and, if the right substances are used and the right phrases are known, then some degree of control can be exercised over them. The thing that holds things together is known as the aetherlink. It allows humans to interact with other races and ask them to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. For example, it is possible to use the aetherlink to ask a faerie to spy on a nearby area or a spirit to tell you about its knowledge of the area or to convince a hostile bear that you are friendly. It can also be used to repel undead creatures and hostile spirits. It takes a lot of study and practise to understand the aetherlink and even then, no one person has even near to complete control over it. Despite the rewards of communicating with spirits to gain their lore or other creatures to gain their services, using the aetherlink is draining (it will mean you lose Will points) and there is no guarantee of success. It should not be done lightly.

Mechanical items

Scholars of the world have used ancient knowledge, the knowledge of the constructs and their own research to make many clockwork mechanical items. Most of these will be in the possession of the rich, such as pocket watches or clockwork toys, but scholars have also invented clockwork guns, workable limbs, machines that can perform set actions, calculating machines, clockwork horses and even clockwork wings. The brass men have even more advanced technology since their bodies are mechanical. They have invented steel guardians to protect their cities and insect sized metal creatures that they can unleash upon human populations to infest their cities and destroy their buildings and food.

Alchemical and herbal items

Alchemists and herbalists have worked out how to use combinations of the correct items that can create effects that are seemingly beyond natural laws. These could be potions that heal wounds, or items that repel faeries or animals. Although their effects might be beyond the physical laws, they are not magical in the world.

Non-humans

Fae

The fae are a capricious race that live in the forests of the world. You are varied in appearance, ranging from elegant and beautiful faeries and elves to ugly, scarred goblins. You have been known to both help and hinder mortals, but you are completely inscrutable and so most people regards them with suspicion.

Spirits

Spirits are not necessarily the ghosts of the dead (although they might be), but instead they are any incorporeal intelligence that has some kind of influence over the world. Some spirits may speak, some may use telepathy and some may be able to influence physical objects to a limited degree. Spirits could have a whole range of motives, such as protecting a particular tree to avenging themselves to simply exploring. Spirits are also not omnipotent – they do not gain any extra knowledge by being spirits, so communing with them might be helpful, but it won’t answer questions beyond what a person in their position ought to know. Spirits can be hostile, but they cannot attack anyone physically. Instead, they will try to disturb their victim and drain their will. Spirits may be able to be warded by a relic, but they cannot be truly banished. It is said that spirits are part of a collective unconscious that all living things share. Certainly occultists and shamans have been known to commune with this collective unconscious through animals, plants and fae.

Constructs

Constructs are a group of artificial intelligent life forms. They are usually humanoids made of metal or stone. The most common metal for constructs is brass, possibly as it is a good metal for delicate clockwork machinery. Some say that they were the servants of a now extinct ancient race. Others say that they are humans who used advanced technology to achieve immortality. Whatever the case, the constructs live in ancient ruins and sometimes trade knowledge, clockwork wonders and technological services for raw materials such as coal, wood and metal with humans. The scholars of the White Tower frequently travel to their city to learn from them and to try to match their mechanical knowledge. Some constructs show lower levels of intelligence. They seem to be used for labour or guard duty. These cont

Undead Some areas of the world are affected by the aether in strange ways. If a corpse is affected by the aether, a spirit may be trapped in it causing to walk across the earth as one of the undead. There have been rumours that once every few decades, hordes of undead rise up to blight the world. Scholars have found written accounts of these events, but no one knows whether they are true or just legend.

Giants

There are many tales of humanoid creatures, but larger and more muscular. They take on several appearances. Some look like normal humans, but larger. Others have grey, warty skin. Others look like they are covered in fungus. Some tales talk of the giant folk being fair and reasonable with humans. Others talk of feral, warlike giants who kill and eat humans.

Gods

Humans and other races worship many gods, but there has never been any proof that they exist. Even if they do, they are completely disinterested in the affairs of mortals. This has not stopped humans and other creatures creating a huge pantheon of gods with their own appearances, mannerisms, rituals and traditions and the priests of the more popular gods have a lot of earthly wealth and power to exert their influence.

There are some creatures who are thought of as gods by some humans. It is rumoured that there is a giant brass head at the centre of a city who imparts knowledge to the rulers. Some say that statues of gods hold a consciousness that those who can connect with the aetherlink can communicate with. Others revere strange creatures as gods. Apparently, there is a dragon on a volcanic island who is worshiped by a cult of albino humans. There is also a large tree that has the consciousness of every past high druid in it so that the current high druid can commune with it and learn its wisdom. The truth of all of these stories, however, is up for debate.

Name Background
Character sheet Character name
Calling (The following abilities only cost 6xp and ) Desire (I will get 6xp when I )

Vitality Initial

Current
Will Initial

Current
Money Experience Time

Explore a world full of adventure and wonder!

Welcome to Wayfarer! An adventure series where you can explore ancient forests, mystical caves and long- forgotten ruins begging to give up their secrets.

Wayfarer will take you to many different places in search of gold, glory and adventure.

This is the rulebook for Wayfarer. For more Wayfarer products, go to my RPGNow page.

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