Apprentice Corebook.PDF

By Jonathan Palmer

Illustrated by Pol Subanajouy

Apprentice

A game of magic and imagination

By Jonathan “Tark” Palmer

Illustrated by Pol Subanajouy

Part 1: Playing Apprentice ......................................................Page 1

Character Creation................................................................Page 1

Challenges..............................................................................Page 2

Fate...........................................................................................Page 3

Making Magic........................................................................Page 3

Surviving Apprentice...........................................................Page 4

Part 2: Running Apprentice ....................................................Page 6

Setting the Scene....................................................................Page 6

Structure...................................................................................Page 7

Setting up Challenges...........................................................Page 8

Tips for Running Games......................................................Page 9

Part 3: Variant Rules ...................................................................Page 9

The Final Word........................................................................Page 10

Special thanks to those I love who make imagination possible.

“Every wizard is the result of a culling process from which callous old men in pointed hats hack away enormous chunks of

stupidity from young boys and girls to leave nothing but a gleaming icon of wisdom and magical power. Sometimes the chil-

dren even survive this process.”

~Glinden the Almighty, Archmage of the Ineffable Order

The pointed hat, the gnarled staff, the wizened beard, these are all the signs of a powerful wizard, a man living

beyond the age of normal men, brimming with untold amounts of magical might and arcane wisdom. This game

is not about them. This game is about the poor lad or lass staying at home dealing with mundane affairs such as

sweeping out the dragon cage or catching the master’s laundry so they can be properly washed. This is the life of

the drudge, the idiot, the poor sod, the student, the slave, and the tiny pinch of potential that might one day com-

mand the laws of physics to sit down and shut up. This is the game of Apprentice.

“The first tool the wizard receives on his road to wisdom is his staff. I remember my first staff, gnarled and tough like my old

master. With it I could sweep away lies and clean out the detritus of mystery. There was no situation that could not be

cleaned by me and my staff, and today I pass that very same staff onto you.” ~Glinden the Almighty, handing an apprentice

his broom.

In Apprentice, you play the part of a student to a powerful master of the arcane arts. You complete mundane

chores and try to finish the assignments your master has given you in some hope that perhaps one day you’ll

learn a spell or two. Generally the children in question are between eleven and twelve years old but individual

game masters may decide that apprentices will be younger or older depending on how they want the game to

feel.

To begin playing Apprentice, all a player requires is a single six sided die, a sheet of paper to write your character

on, a couple of friends, and a good set of wits.

“My first apprentice was a delightful lad with a good strong sweeping arm and an ecellent eye for scrubbing. Sadly he

couldn’t quite get the hang of transmutation and his apprenticeship ended rather abruptly. He’s still around though. He is

devilishly good at keeping vermin in check in his new form.” ~Glinden the Almighty

Before one can begin playing Apprentice first they must make a character. Character creation in apprentice is a

simple four step process.

Step 1 Answering the Seven Questions: The seven questions represent something of an arcane résumé for the

character. Wizards use these questions as something of a barometer for a characters magical power and potential.

In mechanical terms this means absolutely nothing. They are simply a way of filling out important details the

player and game master need in order to flesh out the character and give them life within the story. The seven

questions are:

What is the characters name?

What is the characters personality like?

What does the character look like?

How did the character come to meet the master?

How is the relationship between the character and the master?

How is the relationship between the character and the normal mundane people around the sanctum including

family?

What is the characters stance on the Dark Arts?

Step 2 Determine Attributes: In Apprentice each character has three attributes: Body, Mind, and Soul.

Body represents the characters physical prowess: how fast they run, how healthy they are and how much physi-

cal force they can induce on the world.

Mind represents the characters mental capacities: how much they know, how fast they learn and how quickly

they can digest knowledge around them.

Soul represents the characters force of personality, charisma and willpower. Soul is also the attribute used to de-

termine whether or not a character can resist magical effects.

Each of these attributes determines the ease of which an apprentice can complete certain challenges and how well

they can endure failure before taking any permanent harm. Each character starts with at least one point in each of

these attributes with four more to assign between them. When done, copy the numbers on the piece of paper set

aside for your character.

(Example: Jack’s player decides that Jack is going to be a classical rapscallion more at home at climbing trees and exploring

old dusty attics then burying his nose in books and boring chores. Thus he decides to add two points to Body and one each

into Mind and Soul giving him the stats Body 3, Mind 2, and Soul 2.)

Step 3 The Little Details: After the seven questions the player should take the time to think of other little details

to flesh out the character. The rule of thumb for Apprentice is that if a character wants something, they can have

it. However such things will have little to no effect on any of the mechanics of the game. Simply owning a spe-

cial item does not make it easier for a character to cast spells or complete tasks In fact, such things can stunt inspi-

ration as a player will find themselves trying to make such an item work into their solutions or challenges rather

than relying on their own wits. The little details exist merely to add flavor to a character and give them quirks

that make them memorable, not to make the game easier. In Apprentice princes and commoners are equal,

wealth means nothing, and status is only a question of applying the proper amount of magical force.

Step 4 Fate: The final step in character creation is writing down the amount of Fate a character has. Each charac-

ter starts with a total of five fate points. Fate represents an apprentice’s potential, random luck, or subtle spells

the master has placed on the apprentice to keep their investment safe from harm. Fate also represents how many

spells a character can cast without disastrous consequences (see Page 6 for details on casting spells and their ef-

fects on Fate.)

“An apprentice’s life is filled with challenge. Without challenge a mind has no desire to expand and without desire there is

no motivation for motion and without motion there is only stagnation. Hardly a proper state of affairs, wouldn’t you

agree?”

~Glinden the Almighty to an apprentice hanging on for dear life over the edge of a cliff.

Apprentice is a game divided into a number of challenges the character must complete in order to finish their

task. This can be anything from the mundane (i.e. opening a locked broom closet) to the complex (i.e. chasing the

broom on its bid for freedom). They give the game a sense of structure while simultaneously giving stimulus for

the characters to provoke role playing and thought with elements of risk. Game masters set up the circumstances

and difficulty of the challenge and describe the relevant attributes needed for the apprentice to apply for their so-

lution. From there it’s a step by step process of succeeding (or failing) the challenge.

Completing a Challenge

Step 1 Simplification: Not every challenge an apprentice will face will be a dice roll away from solving. Many

challenges can be solved or at the very least made easier through simplification. A pit may be difficult to jump

over but the application of a strong oak table over it can make it easily crossable. A window may be too high to

reach but a clever stacking of crates can make it obtainable. Mechanically, simplification reduces the difficulty of

the challenge if not outright eliminating the need for a roll. A player needs only tell the game master how the ap-

prentice will go about making the challenge simple and get their approval. Keep in mind that some forms of sim-

plification merit a challenge in and of themselves.

Step 2 Comparison and Roll: Once the player tells the game master what their apprentice is going to do and

how they will go about doing it the game master compares the apprentice’s relevant attribute to the difficulty of

the challenge. If the attribute is equal to or higher than the difficulty of the challenge, than the apprentice suc-

ceeds without a roll. If the attribute is not high enough to complete the challenge then the apprentice must roll a

six sided die. If the roll comes out to equal or higher than the challenge’s difficulty then the apprentice succeeds.

Should the roll come out lower than the challenge’s difficulty then the apprentice fails and loses a point of Fate.

If multiple apprentices take part in the challenge take the lowest relevant attribute from the participating appren-

tices and add one for every character that takes part in the challenge. If an apprentice participating in the chal-

lenge has a relevant attribute of three or higher they give a two point bonus instead. If this number still does not

meet the difficulty of the challenge then a die roll is made adding the total number of apprentices participating to

the result. If this roll fails then all participating apprentices lose a point of Fate.

Step 3 Cast a Spell: The final step and last resort of an apprentice is the casting of a spell. Details on this step

have a section all on their own on page 6.

“I invest quite a bit of magic into my girls to ensure survival. One spell to keep the swamp gas from driving them mad, one

to make sure they don’t drown in the bog, one to keep the magical backlash of poorly cast spells down, and one to make them

foul tasting to predators. Still haven’t got one to save them from stupidity though.”

~Alice the Liberated, Swamp Witch of the Black Bog

Fate is the apprentice’s shield and life line against a very dangerous world. It represents the combined forces of

the master’s magic, destiny and luck coming together and protecting the apprentice from harm.

Fate is lost whenever an apprentice fails a challenge roll or casts a spell.

Going to zero Fate: Occasionally, through spell casting or challenge failure an apprentice will lose all of their

current fate. When this happens the apprentice loses a point in the relevant attribute that was needed to complete

the challenge the next time an apprentice would lose fate. If no attribute was made clear, then the apprentice loses

a point in their highest attribute. When this occurs the apprentice regains all of their lost fate and the process be-

gins anew.

Attribute Loss: As things get more dangerous for the apprentice they may begin to be harmed by the challenges

they face. Whether this is physical damage, mental fatigue, or the rending of a youthful pride, all attributes can

be hurt in one form or another. As attributes are lost it becomes more difficult for the apprentice to overcome

challenges as they must work through their injuries. When an attribute is reduced to zero the apprentice is re-

moved from play having been struck with some critical injury to any of their attributes. In “career style” Appren-

tice this removes the character only for the duration of the chapter. Note that this does not necessarily mean the

character dies; it only means that circumstances have aligned themselves to the point where the character can no

longer continue. The exact reasons are up to the game master.

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