Adventures Quick Reference Guide
The next sad hobby of Adam Stinnett
Adventures is a role-playing game where, basically you role-play your character. This is made very simple because of the raw form of your character. (Will be addressed in Chapter 2) If you described yourself in real life, would you say, "You know, I'm strong, cause of my 18 in STR, and I can take a hit, since I have a decent CON score. No luck with the ladies though, since I put my 3 into Cha..." Nope, you wouldn't. So Adventures is run on the basis that you know that your character is sort of strong, and kind of good with a sword, but not how strong or how good.
The basic Adventures character will be created by selecting a race, a name, and descriptive details such as hair color, eye color, skin color, height, weight, and build.
So while you can't say "I want to play a human fighter" you could say "I want to play a mid-twenties human, who grew up working on a farm, so he's sort of heavy set. His tan skin shows his long years working the fields." and this might give you an edge if you wanted something that could melee. But I make no promises. However never underestimate the fun and character development of playing a warrior when you haven't got the stats for it. Many sessions could be spent at the warrior's academy honing the skills you need. Your falters and failure simply adding to your die-hard determination.
You'll never know them. But the stats used are the standard Dungeons and Dragons faire. STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, and CHA.
STR - This is your strength rating, the higher this is, the more you can carry, the harder you hit and how often you do so.
DEX - This is Dexterity, and reflects your ability to dodge attacks, and to hit foes with a ranged weapon.
CON - This is your constitution, is used for determining your HP, and how quickly you get drunk. ;)
INT - This is Intelligence, this is how many spells you can remember, and in Adventures, how quickly your skills improve (This is changed from standard D&D as INT determined your skills per level.)
WIS - This stat is Wisdom, and determines your Divine spells known, since those are absent in adventures, this stat is MOSTLY useless.
CHA - Charisma, how NPC's react to you. Can't be simpler than that.
Normally, as you killed enemies you would gain experience points and sooner or later level up, gaining more skill points, and sometimes a stat up or a feat. Then you would stay the same for however long it took you to level up again.
I enjoyed this, for a long time, until I realized how stupid it was. What if you spent three years not killing enemies, but making use of your Diplomacy skill and your Gather information skills nightly. Three years of constant skill use, but to level up, you'd have to kill a few thousand xp worth of enemies to level up, to improve those skills.
What does the mass murder of sometimes innocent creatures have to do with your progress in a social skill?
In Adventures, the more you use a skill, the faster it goes up, sit around picking locks all day for a month? You're going to get better. Period. Take your character down to the training grounds and pulverize a training dummy, heck yeah that sword will hit harder.
And in essence this is the core of Adventures. Making the character you want, by only using the skills you like. This is complicated by the fact that skills are based off of stats, which you don't know. Say for instance, diplomacy. You might have a 4 in Charisma, making you less than socially screwed. However, it's possible, by chatting up a mirror, practicing, taking baths, combing your hair, dressing in snazzy outfits. That diplomacy skill is going up. And with it, your charisma.
So if playing Don Juan was your goal, you can reach it, by acting like Don Juan, not by putting skill points in Don Juan skills, then going out and wiping out small villages.
The world of Adventures is interesting to say the least. There are basically two regions to explore. Firstly there is Planet, the name of the surface planet of the world. This consists of a small planet (Considerably smaller than our moon) and City, a large, segmented city built on discs that orbit Planet's surface.
There are four organizations you need to be aware of when you begin play in adventures.
Fighter's Guild
Run by Kinsata Shimoto this is the first melee oriented guild that all characters will come into contact with. With areas set up for safe practice, and several sparring sessions a day, this is the best place for someone who wants to learn fight. Joining is fairly simple, just go in, and inquire about joining up. Benefits include a place to sleep, unlimited access to training, and jobs that will advance your career as well as put some jungle in your pocket.
Academy of Arcane Sciences
For you enterprising spell casters, I recommend going here to get started. It will be a long time before you ever cast a spell, but all the education will be worth it. No one is quite sure who the headmaster is, just talk to one of the people arguing in the dean's office about admittance. Benefits include, classes regarding your craft. Access to the library. Peers in your field that will help you find your focus, and some jobs that are simple.
Freelancer's Guild
Holed up in a bunker with minimum supplies, selflessly working to make the community of the discs a nicer place to live. These are your community service workers, and will not turn down any job that aides the community. Board is free if you're willing to work for it, and a discount to all local businesses is yours if you show your worth. The jobs offered here are also the best way to get a hold of juicy rumors that can lead to enterprising adventures.
Rogue's Guild
There is a rogues guild on Disc 14, but it finds you. Develop a hand in thievery, and make a name for yourself and you might be approached by this very secretive guild. Not much else is known about them.
Min/Maxxing is impossible in adventures. Don't worry about the best of anything. The best equipment is going t the equipment you're most familiar with. The most powerful character will be the one who's been alive longest, doing the same sorts of things over a long career. Just decide who you want your character to be, and live life like that sort of character would.