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Mythic Vagabonds: A Campaign Framework for 4+ Players

Mythic Bastionland + MOAR PLAYERS

Samuel James

Apr 3

READ IN APP

There was a poll a few months back on the Mythic Bastionland asking how many player characters is optimal for a long-running game. And of the 27 responses, the results were pretty stark:

As stated by one user: “That’s a strong consensus.” There’s a few reasons for this:

Spotlight. Many of the Arthurian legends and fairy tales don’t feature a rag-tag band of more than four. This is because the featured characters are HEROES.
Combat. Three knights is enough to survive nearly all encounters but not too many to overpower the enemies with brute force alone and no wounds or casualties.
Medium. I run this game online and three players just works best logistically. Too many people on an audio call isn’t my cup of tea.

But what if they weren’t heroes, but little better than squires? And what if they weren’t powerful enough to trounce every combat even if there are six of them? And what if you’re running in-person or don’t have qualms about being online with 4-6 players?

Glad you asked. But here’s a solution.

Enter the Vagabonds

You are a vagabond. You want to be a knight and live by the Oath, but no seer has yet found you worthy of knighthood.

The knight you served together died yesterday, changing your status from squires to little more than vagrants.

To create your vagabond, roll d6+6 for each Virtue. Then roll d6 Guard.

Gain a Lesser Feat based on your highest virtue (if tied, choose which Lesser Feat to take):

VIG: Lesser Smite - Use before rolling a melee attack. The Attack gains +d8. Pass a VIG save or lose this Feat until the end of combat.
CLA: Lesser Focus - Use after rolling an attack. Perform a Gambit by discarding an Attack die of 3 or lower. Pass a CLA save or lose this Feat until the end of combat.
SPI: Lesser Deny - Use after an Attack roll against you or on ally within arm’s reach. Discard one Attack die of 8 or lower. Pass a SPI save or lose this Feat until the end of combat.

Then roll for your Property and begin your adventure!

For Property, roll d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20:

d4 BASICS: 1 rations, 2 torches, 3 rope, 4 dagger (d6)
d6 ARMOR: 1 helm (A1), 2-3 coat (A1), 4-6 shield (d4, A1)
d8 RARE ITEM: 1 plate (A1), 2 rare poison, 3 alchemy tools, 4 crystal ball, 5 extravagant harp, 6 informative book, 7 precious stone, 8 charger
d10 UNCOMMON ITEM: 1 animal trap, 2 smithing tools, 3 herbalist kit, 4 scribe set, 5 lute, 6 sustenance, 7 stimulant, 8 sacrament, 9 uncommon poison, 10 riding steed
d12 COMMON ITEM: 1 saw, 2 fishing rod, 3 sewing set, 4 candles, 5 shovel, 6 flute, 7 hound, 8 spikes, 9 crowbar, 10 mirror, 11 chalk, 12 pony
d20 WEAPON: 1 pitchfork (d6 hefty), 2 hatchet (d6 hefty), 3 staff (d8 long), 4 logging axe (d8 long), 5 pick (d8 long), 6 club (d6), 7 handaxe (d6), 8 mace (d8 hefty), 9 axe (d8 hefty), 10 poleaxe (d10 long) 11 sling (d4 hefty), 12 javelin (d6 hefty) , 13 shortbow (d6 long), 14 shortsword (2d6) , 15 lance (d10 long), 16 greataxe (2d10 slow), 17 longbow (d8 slow), 18 curvebow (2d6 long), 19 longsword (2d8 hefty), 20 greatsword (2d10 long)

When you recover GD after combat, recount a time in service to the knight you served, now fallen.

Vagabonds gain Renown any time they would gain Glory if they were knights. Vagabonds are not worthy or trusted to lead as a knight are.

When encountering a seer, the referee rolls d20 in secret for each vagabond: If the result in equal or lower than that vagabond’s Renown, then the seer finds them worthy of knighthood. Change “Renown” to “Glory” and keep the same score, then obtain all the knight Feats and gain d6 in each Virtue.

It’s heavily inspired by the opening of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a young swordsman is without his knightly mentor and now goes about the realm fulfilling the oath (haven’t watched, but I’ve now read all three novellas, highly enjoyed). But this campaign frameworks sprinkles a little bit of Fagin in there as your group will likely feel more like a band of orphans than the Knights of the Round Table.

Put there is also a clear path to knighthood: gain Renown, find a seer, hope you’re Worthy to be knighted. It has elements of chance and an admirable goal that unites the group.

For formatting perfectionsts like me...

there is something I put up on itch.io with it’s own one-pager with the text above and a nifty character sheet to accompany it. If you’d like to support making more Mythic Bastionland stuffs, this is how to do it!