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Contents

Lone WolfThe Roleplaying Game

August Hahn

Lone Wolf, The Roleplaying Game is ©2004 Mongoose Publishing under license from Joe Dever. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. Lone Wolf, The Roleplaying Game is presented under the Open Game License. See page 304 for the text of this licence. With the exception of boxed story text and character names, character creation rules detailing the mechanics of assigning dice roll results to attributes and the character advancement rules detailing the effects of applying experience, all text within Lone Wolf, The Roleplaying Game

is declared as open content. Printed in Canada.

2 Welcome to Magnamund

5 Roleplaying

15 Brother of the Crystal Star

27 Dwarven Gunner of Bor

32 Kai Lord

48 Magician of Dessi

56 Shadaki Buccaneer

63 Sommerlund Knight of the Realm

70 Telchos Warrior

78 Skills

105 Equipment

132 Combat

155 Adventuring in Magnamund

168 The Lone Wolf Games Master

173 Supporting Roles

181 The Magnamund Gazetteer

250 The Magnamund Bestiary

296 Designer’s Notes

298 Index

302 Character Sheet

304 License

Source AuthorJoe Dever

Layout & DesignIan Belcher

Cover ArtRalph Horsley

Interior IllustrationsTony Parker

Studio ManagerIan Barstow

Production DirectorAlexander Fennell

PlaytestingMark Billanie, Adrian Czajkowski, Mark Gedak,

Tammy Gedak, Jamie Godfrey, Daniel Haslam, Mark Howe, Alan Moore, Murray Perry, Daniel

Scothorne, Mark Sizer, Michael J Young

ProofreadingSarah Quinnell

Additional SupportMatthew Sprange

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Welcome to MagnamundIn the northern land of Sommerlund, it has been the custom for many centuries to send the children of the Warrior Lords to the monastery of Kai. There they are taught the skills and disciplines of their noble fathers.

The Kai monks are masters of their art and the children in their charge love and respect them in spite of the hardships of their training. For one day when they have finally learnt the secret skills of the Kai, they will return to their homes equipped in mind and body to defend themselves against the constant threat of war from the Darklords of the west.

In olden times, during the Age of the Black Moon, the Darklords waged war on Sommerlund. The conflict was a long and bitter trial of strength that ended in victory for the Sommlending at the great battle of Maakengorge. King Ulnar and the allies of Durenor broke the Darklord armies at the pass of Moytura and forced them back into the bottomless abyss of Maakengorge. Vashna, mightiest of the Darklords, was slain upon the sword of King Ulnar, called ‘Sommerswerd’ – the Sword of the Sun. Since that age, the Darklords have vowed vengeance upon Sommerlund and the House of Ulnar.

Now it is in the morning of the feast of Fehmarn, when all of the Kai Lords are present at the monastery for the celebrations. Suddenly a great black cloud comes out from the western skies. So many are the numbers of the black-winged beasts that fill the sky, that the sun is completely hidden. The Darklords, ancient enemy of Sommlending, are attacking. War has begun.

With these words, readers of the Lone Wolf series were launched into an odyssey spanning 28 game books, 12 novels and countless other works. The hero in most of these work was Lone Wolf, a Kai Lord and the readers’ alternate identity when traveling through the complex and often lethal world of Magnamund. The last survivor of the Kai, it was his self-appointed duty to seek vengeance for the deaths of his brothers and sisters. Through it all, readers of the Lone Wolf game books followed every step, every sword blow and every use of his incredible powers.

Since then, the world of Magnamund has grown and expanded to include loyal readers from every corner of the globe. From novels that explore the Kai and their politics to fan-based fiction that continues the adventures of hundreds of other characters in the setting, the game world has become far more than the thrilling adventures of Lone Wolf himself.

That is where the book you are holding right now comes in. Lone Wolf began as a roleplaying game; it is only fitting that it has come full circle into another one. In a world as vast as Magnamund, there is plenty of room for as many heroes as there are villains. There is more than enough space for as many bastions of light as there are fell pits of darkness. Magnamund is a rich tapestry of good and evil, dozens of different cultures and ancient artefacts resting side by side with scientific innovation. From the Dwarven Gunners of Bor to the malefic Helghasts that lurk in forgotten crypts, here then is fantasy roleplaying at its finest.

The original purpose of the Lone Wolf series was one of vengeance, but it quickly became more than that. Lone Wolf went through the cycles of a hero, taking his original quest for revenge and moving on to a noble purpose of exploration and finally the restoration of his past through the rebirth

of the Kai. It can truly be said that in Magnamund, great dreams can come from simple beginnings. That is the hope of any adventure set in the world of Lone Wolf; that a single adventure can spawn a world-changing epic.

The Lone Wolf CampaignThe setting for Lone Wolf, The Roleplaying Game takes place fifty years before the events in Flight From The Dark, the first Lone Wolf game book. The Kai Monastery is at the height of its power, not crumbled, empty and burned. The kingdom of Sommerlund is a mighty country, secure in its power as the grandest nation on Magnamund. The Darklords of Helgedad plot and conspire in the shadows, too fearful to strike overtly outside their borders but still the black-hearted masters of all that dwell within their realm.

This then is the highest point of Lone Wolf roleplaying – the many powers of the land are the strongest they have ever been and while there is a fragile peace on Magnamund, tiny wars and border skirmishes occur constantly. The agents of evil do not move openly, but they are everywhere and watch with shadowed eyes the actions of great heroes of the realm. There is the feeling everywhere of an axe about to fall. Tensions are high and though it will take fifty years for open conflict to sweep over the land, opportunities abound for heroes to either make a name for themselves or die a cold, lonely death…

Within These Pages…This book is the definitive guide to the world of Magnamund and the many roleplaying possibilities it provides. Here you will find the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star before their order went into seclusion. You can ride with the Sommerlund Knights of the Realm five decades before their fateful charge against the Darklord Zagarna decimated their numbers. You can walk the forests of the Wild-Lands with Telchos Amazons,

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Welcom

e to Magnam

und

alert for any danger that might leap out of the toua trees. If you can imagine an adventure, it awaits you somewhere on the face (or in the dark caverns) of Magnamund.

Ahead of you lie several chapters that form the Lone Wolf setting in all its high fantasy glory. You will discover how to create Kai Lords of your own, wield their immense supernatural disciplines in battle and take up arms against the seemingly infinite hordes of darkness that plague the land. You will find the many spells of the Crystal Star lexicons, but you will also find the magic of the Dessi and see for yourself how very different they are.

The wisdom of many races both old and new will be at your command, making the stories you wish to tell in your campaigns more compelling and detailed. From psychic combat to the searing force of elementalism, you will have all the power you need to do battle against the night and defend whichever kingdom you proudly call home.

There is also a Gazetteer section with maps, images and detailed descriptions of the many realms that make up Magnamund. Notes on cultures, monsters and the inevitable dangers of the land will be at your fingertips. Want to travel into the Jungle of Horrors? This guide will let you know what plants are edible and which ones might try to eat you instead. Discover why you should stock up on your laumspur potions before taking a trip to Ruel and why a dip in the Taunor spa can be a very good idea if you are injured.

The Bestiary provides a Games Master with statistics for dozens of terrible beasts and vile henchmen to throw at those foolish enough to oppose the rise of the Darklords. From skulking Giaks to the raging might of the Mawtaw, these foes will pose quite a challenge for anyone determined to play hero in a world destined to fall before the might of Helgedad and its shadowy hordes. Guidelines for using these creatures and minions accompany each description, ensuring that a Games Master has everything needed to make use of the terrible powers present in the world.

What you will not find in these pages are overly complicated or burdensome rules. The combat of Lone Wolf is quick and simple, with greater emphasis placed on the descriptions and action of titanic conflict rather than the dice rolls involved. The heroes of Magnamund are too busy saving the world from unimaginable peril to worry about the minutiae of fighting styles or painstaking skill implementations. The real battle should be against the Darklords, not the rules involved to doing so. The basic rules of Lone Wolf are just that – basic. They provide the foundation for all action in Magnamund without unduly complicating the saga that is your campaign.

Prepare Yourself for AdventureThis book contains all you need to enter the world of Magnamund and make a name for yourself as a Hero of the Realm. Whether you hail from the Kai Monastery and use your powers of mind and body in the name of justice or you wield the force of terrible magic as a Brother of the Crystal Star, your destiny awaits you ahead. Welcome to Magnamund; turn the page and let your own epic unfold.

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The Story So FarIt is the Age of the Golden Sun, centuries since the defeat of Vashna at the battle of Maakengorge by King Ulnar and his allies from the land of Durenor. For generations, Sommerlund and the surrounding kingdoms have had peace, safe in the knowledge that evil was banished from the land beneath the gleaming edge of the legendary Sommerswerd. Though the forces of the Darklords swore vengeance as they retreated from the pass of Moytura, long years of silence have proven those words empty and the powers of good rest confident in their victory.

But not everyone is so certain that peace will last. In the forested heart of Sommerlund, the Kai Monastery stands ever vigilant in their sacred task of protecting the world from the horrors of Vashna and his dark brethren. The Mage’s Guild of Toran continues to practice its battle magics, knowing that some day their mystical powers will be needed once more on the battlefield. And across the gulf of Durenor, legions of Durenese warriors still train in the arts of war.

There are others who feel the stirrings of darkness in the land. In the shadowy places of Magnamund, minions of the foul Darklords travel in secret and make their way into the most protected of places. No city is safe from their traffic; they move like a fetid wind and slip their way unseen where no creature should be able to go. They hide in abandoned buildings, in dying trees and in the deepest places of the world. The dark forces of evil have once again returned to their ancient lairs, readying themselves for the tide of death that is sure to come.

But Magnamund is a vast world and though the Darklords are a grave threat to all life, the many kingdoms and nations of the land have their own shadows to contend with. Sharnazim warriors keep their bitikali scimitars keen, ready at all times to drive back the advances of the united Nael-Aluvian nations. Though the unity of the alliance between Durenor and Sommerlund still holds from the last Crusade, many smaller nations in both kingdoms still battle each other in ceaseless border skirmishes over land and ancient disputes with no end in sight.

The lands of men make war with each other while the eternal Darklords laugh in their blackened hall. Their lord and master Vashna may be gone and his power broken in centuries past, but the greatest part of their strength has returned with time. The world is nearly ready for their conquest but for now they play with the hearts of those who dwell in brighter lands. A false word in the ear of one petty king drives his nation to war, while a simple assassination drives another to close its borders permanently.

These machinations go undetected because men believe the darkness is gone. The many nations of Magnamund are so eager to trust in their own power that they cannot see the dangers that lie beneath the surface of their supposed ‘peace’. The world shudders beneath the weight of the Darklord’s manipulations and none can see this evil for what it truly is.

Through puppets, spies and quiet killers, the might of Helgedad reaches out to crush all the lands of light in its vile grasp. Magador’s king is a killer and a pretender, but he rules through the assurance of dark masters he is foolish enough to believe he can control. In Drodarin, the dwarven Gunners of Bor have developed terrible weapons of steel and flame but, at the whispered insistence of the Helghasts haunting their Tower Lords, they have these deadly guns pointed at their neighbors out of fear and paranoia. ‘All too easy,’ say the Masters of Helgedad. ‘All too easy.’

Into this world of wonders and horrors, heroes emerge with the strength to save the land and the wisdom to see these dire events for what they are. Whether trained in magic or skilled with mighty weapons, these heroes will take up the fight against the powers of Darkness wherever they hide. These avatars of Light allow no escape and give no quarter. The road will be a long one but if they cannot succeed, Magnamund is surely doomed…

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Roleplaying in M

agnamund

Roleplaying in MagnamundYou are standing on a lonely path in the heart of the Forest of Casiorn. All around you, the shadows of the luilar trees make it difficult to see more than a few feet. The trail splits up ahead, each fork disappearing into darkness. Knowing that a band of mercenaries hired by your enemies could be dogging your heels at any moment, you must press on. Which path do you choose, left or right? Or, if you have a way to make a trail for yourself, will you try to leave the winding forest road and make your way through the tangled Casiorn overgrowth?

This passage illustrates the heart of roleplaying – the choice. In truth, that is the nature of the Lone Wolf Roleplaying Game; Players make decisions based on situations presented by the Games Master. Entire stories can be told from the choices that arise from a single Player choice. A game could begin with the Games Master telling his Players that they have been adventuring in Northern Magnamund for months and have each decided to rest for the night at the Hen and Stone, a roadside hostel in Vassagonia. How the Players choose to interact with each other given this simple premise is the stuff of which great adventures are made.

Of course, a roleplaying game is a bit more complicated than just ‘here is a choice; what do you do?’ The mechanics of determining whether or not a given choice works are also important to consider. Players cannot choose to defeat their enemies or leap across a chasm safely. They can only choose to face a foe in battle or take a running leap at the edge of a chasm and hope they succeed. The game comes in when Players are placed in conflict with their surroundings or other people in the game (also called Non-Player Characters) and what results from those challenges.

This is not unlike simpler games in which people pretend to be something they are not and see what comes of their ‘new’ identities. Roleplaying is like acting, except there is no real script and no one typically has to worry about critics coming along and disapproving of your story. Everyone is free to play ‘Knights of Sommerlund and the vile Giak Hordes’ to their hearts’ content, safe in the knowledge that there are specific rules in place to determine that Giaks fall down on cue once they have been hit hard enough.

That is where the rest of this book comes into play. In addition to being a grand fact book of all things Magnamund, this is a book of rules and statistics. You will find statistics for Giaks and Knights of Sommerlund – everything you will need to play either one in stories of your own, if you so choose. Players will find all the information they need to be brave Kai Lords or mysterious Magicians of Dessi, while Games Masters will discover a plethora of fiends to throw at his Players during the game.

Keep in mind that while conflict is at the centre of roleplaying in Magnamund, the game is between the Players and the Non-Player Characters and dangerous situations created by the Games Master. The Players and the Games Master are not in competition with each other, nor is there any fight between them other than through the alter-egos of the game. This is a cooperative effort, with both elements needed to tell a good story. Keep things fun, but keep them in the game.

And now, a word about dice.

Dicing for DestinyBecause real life has an element of chance, the Lone Wolf roleplaying game does as well. Everything a Player does in Magnamund that has a chance of failing requires a die roll. These rolls are also called ‘checks’ and occasionally ‘saves’ and the game has several different kinds. There are skill checks, ability checks, attack rolls, damage rolls and saves to avoid unpleasant fates (also called saving throws). All of these checks are made with the most important die in the game – a d20.

A d what? Dice in Lone Wolf, The Roleplaying Game are named using a special form of shorthand that is very easy to understand once you know the code. The ‘d’ stands for die (the singular form of dice) and the number after the ‘d’ is the number for sides it has. Thus, a d20 has 20 sides and is also called a twenty-sided die. Got it? Good, because this does get a little more complicated.

There are six different types of dice used in Lone Wolf. The one you may be most familiar with if you have never played a roleplaying game before is the d6. This is a six sided die numbered one through six on its faces. Most board games in the world have these, so you probably will not lack for them. The others are less common – d4, d8, d10, d12 and d20. Most are fairly self-explanatory and they are all consecutively numbered; a d8 is numbered 1 through 8 for example. You roll them and whatever side comes up on top is the number you have rolled roll.

Note the word ‘most’. The d4 takes a bit of explaining. The d4 is Darklord Vashna’s contribution to gaming. Well, not

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