Design note:

The intent of this brotherhood is to form a basis for an “adventurer”. What does this mean? Someone who has skills and perhaps some magic that is outside of the common population. It does mean they expect to spend long periods without the support of civilization or a logistics train to back them up. Think about taking a backpacking trip for a week or two, but this one has intelligent creatures out to defend their turf or rob you. If one looks at this in the way it is intended, it should make a character who is well prepared for descending into the depths of the earth, exploring hidden shrines to lost gods, or traveling in search of the unknown.

It does not exclude a career outside of adventuring, and in fact assumes that they do have one. This represents a set of skills they acquired before they decided to adventure. While the character can pick nearly any career allowed in the setting, it is most common for entertainers, hunters, mystics, priests, scouts, shaman, sorcerers, thieves, and warriors to be members.

This brotherhood is designed to work with other cults and brotherhoods. It's supposed to be combined and layered with them to give a more complete character without having to stack it all into one cult. You can have a priest of Myceras who is a member, perhaps seeing the need to protect the farmers and herders more directly by exploring the edges of civilization where those professions most often live. You can have a sorcerer of the Lich’s way who is a member and uses their wilderness schools to hunt for lost tomes in ancient tombs. Think about these two together making a class or an archetype you might find in another dungeon crawling game. This will give them some distinction from their brotherhood and cult members who don’t go adventuring.

Only in rare, campaign specific circumstances should adventurers be excluded from other cults. There certainly can be groups who don't allow adventurers in their cults, and they make fine NPCs in a dungeon crawling game, or even as PCs in a political game where adventurers are tools to get things done. This brotherhood may be hired out by them or a pawn in their games, but the Lodge is intended for adventuring. 

The primary benefit of this guild is training, as they have access to many teachers and a broad list of useful skills available. For those who might be in a more natural bent and in a similar brotherhood (for example, a hunter who has joined a hunter’s brotherhood), this will likely seem less valuable. However, this allows the character to focus their experience on other skills like combat styles and allow them to progress in both more quickly.

Folk magic is a secondary benefit. Most of the critical utilitarian spells for combat and survival applications are found here. Everyone can have access to a minor healing spell to let them recover from small cuts and bruises. This doesn't replace a full healer with access to healing magics, as it does not deal with Serious or Major wounds, but it does allow them to recover quickly from anything less, greatly increasing survivability. Small damage bonuses, clearing pathways, finding water, and so on are all available.

The Lodge of the Delver's Lamp

The Lodge of the Delver's Lamp is a pragmatic organization of adventurers, explorers, and guides who specialize in navigating dangerous wildernesses and delving into ancient, forgotten ruins and dungeons. They prioritize self-reliance, practical skills, and mutual support, seeing themselves as a light in the dark places of the world, bringing knowledge and often treasure back to civilization. 

Mythos and History

The Lodge was founded centuries ago by a diverse group of seasoned explorers who grew weary of ill-prepared novices dying in the wilds. They believed that true heroism wasn't just about martial or magical prowess, but also about understanding the land and the creatures within it. Their original tenets emphasized shared knowledge and the importance of coming home alive. They pass down their wisdom through generations, often through apprenticeship (as henchmen and hirelings) and practical application rather than esoteric texts.

Nature

The Lodge operates as a network of experienced adventurers, offering guidance, training, and resources to those who seek to explore the dangerous frontiers. They are generally respected in civilized lands for their contributions to mapping new territories, recovering lost artifacts, and occasionally dealing with threats that emerge from the wilderness. They view overly academic or purely magical organizations with a degree of healthy skepticism, preferring hands-on experience and proven techniques, though frequently work with them to acquire lost artifacts and knowledge.

Apostate members are not actively hunted unless they betray the Lodge’s core principles (e.g., raiding innocent settlements, destroying historical sites wantonly). Those who leave are simply no longer afforded the Lodge's protection or resources.

Organization

The Brotherhood maintains small, unassuming lodges near the edges of known civilization, often at the mouths of difficult mountain passes or at the borders of vast forests. These lodges serve as training grounds, resupply points, and information hubs. There is no central governing body; rather, each lodge operates with a degree of autonomy, led by an experienced Overseer. Gatherings of Overseers occur annually at a rotating location, usually a secluded but well-provisioned lodge, to share discoveries and discuss major undertakings.

Holy Days/Celebrations:

• The Day of the First Light (Spring Equinox): Marks the traditional start of the adventuring season. Members clean and prepare their gear, sharing stories of past journeys.

• The Feast of the Deep Earth (Autumn Equinox): A somber feast where members honor those lost to the wilderness and share hard-won knowledge gained from their expeditions.

Membership

Requirements: Standard. Entry is based on demonstrated competence in outdoor skills and a commitment to exploration and discovery. Prospective members must undertake a challenging solo "Proving Journey" into a moderately dangerous area and return with a detailed report of their findings, often including samples of flora, fauna, or ancient stone carvings.

Restrictions

• Oath: Members swear an oath to always aid a fellow Lodge member in need (unless it directly contradicts their own survival), to share newly discovered knowledge with the Lodge, and to never wantonly destroy ancient sites or natural wonders.

• Taboo: Members are forbidden from knowingly desecrating untouched natural environments or plundering sacred sites (unless the site is clearly hostile or corrupted).

• Superstition: It is believed that resting directly on bare earth within a dungeon brings ill luck; a bedroll or cloak must always be used. Many also carry a small, polished stone or other trinket from their first successful delve as a good luck charm.

Skills

The Lodge emphasizes practical skills for survival and exploration.

Standard Skills (Improved by the Lodge)

Athletics, Boating, Endurance, Evade, First Aid, Perception, Ride, Stealth, Swim, Willpower

Professional Skills (Taught by the Lodge)

Craft (any, but many specialize in a wilderness survival tool like Cartography or Leatherworking), Folk Magic, Lore (any, but many specialize in Arcane Studies, a Regional Geography, History and Ancient Civilizations, Religious Studies, or specific Species), Navigate, Survival, Teach 

Magic

The Lodge teaches and utilizes Folk Magic, viewing it as a practical extension of natural understanding. 

Below is a sample list of folk magic spells available with some relevant example situations where they might be helpful. It is impossible to cover all the myriad uses of folk magic for an adventurer, and thus this is not a comprehensive list. Most Folk magic spells are available from Lodge members and are often taught during the off season.

Folk Magic Spells

• Bladesharp: Enhances a weapon's sharpness. (Useful for carving paths, breaking simple barriers, or aiding in combat).

• Bludgeon: Enhances blunt weapons (Useful for combat or breaking down barriers).

• Cool: Protects the recipient from the effects of hot climates. (Important for jungle or desert adventures).

• Dry: Useful for quickly removing harmful liquids, not just water. (Can quickly remove liquid acids and oils)

• Find (X): Find has many variations; always specific and learned as separate spells. Some common examples are given below.

• Find Hazards finds natural hazards such as quicksand and rockfalls.

• Find Loot: Locates precious metals and gems.

• Find Poison can be used to determine if something is poisoned or poisonous

• Find Sickness: Identifies the existence of disease and illness, whether magical or mundane.

• Find Traps finds deliberately laid mechanical traps, including snares, covered pits, spear and dart traps, and the like.

• Heal: Restores 1d3 hit points to a minor wound. (Essential for expeditionary first aid).

• Light: Creates a small, non-burning light source. This is often the first folk magic spell taught if the character is unfamiliar. (For dark caves and nights in the wilderness).

• Mobility: Makes the recipient light-footed, ignoring minor terrain penalties. (Great for navigating rough terrain in dungeons or wilderness).

• Pathway: Creates a clear, temporarily visible path or trail. (Helps avoid getting lost or bypass minor obstacles).

• Pierce: Enhances piercing weapons (Useful in combat, punching through leather and other tough fabrics)

• Preserve: Delays the spoilage of food or decay of organic matter. (Crucial for extended wilderness expeditions, gathering of rare organic materials, or collecting of bounties).

• Vigor: Makes the recipient feel energetic, offsetting fatigue. (Combats exhaustion on long treks).

• Warmth: Protects the recipient from the effects of cold. (Vital for cold, damp dungeons, mountain treks, or winter adventures).

Gifts

The Lodge offers gifts that enhance an adventurer's ability to survive and thrive in the wild. These are typically earned through significant contributions to the Lodge's knowledge base or successful high-risk expeditions.

• Common Member: Those who have sworn the oath and accepted the taboo have access to training for any of the cult skills.

• Dedicated Member: Those who have at least 50% in 5 of the cult skills (any will do) are offered a training discount in any cult skill of 25%, with the assumption that they will tutor others in their spare time. Once in a while they acquire a retainer or a follower that joins them during the adventuring season.

• Proven Member: Those who have at least 70% in any 4 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 50% and are sought after as trainers and teachers during the off season, and frequently acquire followers and retainers who assist them during the adventuring season. In addition, their skill outside of civilization allows them to create a safe space when away from creature comforts called a Wild Hearth.

• Gift: Wild Hearth: The character can, once per day via a 5 minute ritual, conjure a temporary, secure, and comfortable camp site in any natural wilderness or dungeon environment (not within a city). This "wild hearth" offers protection from natural elements and deters non-magical, unintelligent creatures of non-fantastical origins (lions, tigers, bears, etc. but not giant variants unless they are wholly natural in your game world) for 8 hours. It fails if a more powerful magical effect (i.e. one of Intensity greater than one) is already dominating the area.

• Overseer: Those who have at least 90% in any 3 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 75%, and are highly sought after as trainers and teachers during the off season and are sought after as leaders within adventuring parties, acquiring followers and retainers as they like.

• Gift: Adventurer’s Luck: a member who has reached this rank can form a Group Luck pool with members of his party. Forming the pool requires several hours of the party getting to know each other. This normally is an evening where the members of the group share tales of their exploits and narrow escapes with others in a tavern (preferably with the players telling stories for their characters). Once formed, this pool contains 2 luck points plus one for each member of the adventuring group. It can be replenished by spending a night of undisturbed rest in the wilderness (granting 1 point) or by spending an evening and night at a tavern, inn, or other civilized establishment (replenishing all points, available once a week).

• Leader: Those who have at least 110% in any 2 of the Lodge’s skills are offered a training discount of 100%, being able to call on nearly any member nearby to spend some time tutoring them without cost, though timing may be difficult. As they are recognized as Leaders within the Lodge, they have their pick of retainers and followers, picking those who will best be able to serve the objective.

• Gift: Insightful: The character is immediately aware of major environmental hazards (like quicksand, unstable ground, or rockfalls) or the presence of hidden, naturally occurring creatures (but not sentient beings trying to hide) within 1 kilometer. This manifests as knowledge, but doesn't give direction. For example, when entering an area with a hidden pack of wolves, the Leader would just learn “there are wolves nearby”. This functions as a passive sense, requiring no roll.

Allies and Enemies

Allies 

Independent cartographers' guilds, wilderness guides, some non-fanatical scholar's colleges interested in ancient history, and remote settlements benefiting from their mapping and protection services.

Enemies

Creatures that actively destroy natural environments, brigands who prey on travelers, necromancers who defile ancient burial sites, and any organizations that seek to hoard knowledge or exploit wilderness resources without respect.

Skill Noodling

 

On Skills

What are skills?

The BRP UGE SRD describes skills as “a specific set of knowledge and aptitude”. To put it another way, skills represent a scope of influence your character has over themselves and the world around them in the game. It might be a specific domain of knowledge, resistance to the elements, ability to climb, or invoking the power of a god.

Defining this scope of influence is an important part of creating the skill list and communicating to the players what the game is about. Each skill shown on the character sheet communicates to the player that it is worth taking and is worth caring about for a game. It may not come up every session, but it should have an impact to the story line.

Skills in BRP-derived games are associated with a number, starting at 0 and sometimes going over 100, but most often between 1 and 100. This is called the skill rating and represents a percentile change of the character succeeding in the skill. Thus, if you have a skill that allows you to invoke the power of a god at 42%, you have a 42% chance to invoke the god under most conditions.

The Skill List

In Mythras, the list of skills available is broken down into two varieties of skills (for the most part, there is one exception) – Standard Skills and Professional Skills.

Standard Skills

Standard skills are any skill that everyone in the campaign has. They may not be good at it, but they can attempt it and have a chance of success. These are most often things that are inherent to a character but also represent things that are universal in the campaign – touchpoints that everyone can relate to in some way.

Many of these skills will be universal across many games. Most games will include Endurance (to show physical resilience to fatigue, toxins, and injury), Willpower (to show mental resilience to being misled or to resist desperation), Evade (to show physical agility in avoiding injury), Influence (to represent emotional control over others), Perception (the ability to notice things in the environment), and Stealth (the ability to hide one’s self in the environment).

In a few specific cases, a character may not have a Standard skill. This is most likely due to not possessing a Characteristic that the skill requires. For example, a non-corporeal being wouldn’t have a CON Characteristic, so they wouldn’t have an Endurance skill (which is based on CON x2).

Professional Skills

Professional skills represent specialized scopes of aptitude, knowledge, or influence that a character must be trained in to perform. Without this training, they have no hope of performing an action that requires a Professional skill. For example, you are extremely unlikely to be able to give a speech in Latin if you don’t know how to speak Latin. Even if you have it written in front of you, your performance will be extraordinarily poor as your accent will be off and you will miss pronunciations.

This is not to say that an action always has to require a skill. In fact, most actions don’t require training, but in some cases they do. Getting someone to come home with you after a date will work with Influence as well as Seduction. It might be easier with Seduction, but Influence will certainly do the job. In these cases, the GM may impose a penalty or give a bonus. Author’s note – I prefer to give a bonus to Professional Skills rather than penalize Standard skills. It always feels better to give or get a bonus. Save penalties for more universal barriers.

Defining the campaign

The skill list as a whole is a tool to tell the players what can be expected in the campaign. If you are intending to run a high fantasy medieval campaign, having a Cybernetics skill on the list will seem out of place and a player who chooses that for their character will be disappointed by not being able to use it much. Conversely, if your campaign has locks, not having some skill that covers lockpicking communicates something quite different to the players.

Professional skills, more than Standard Skills, communicate what the setting is about. The specialized knowledge in Professional skills give color and flavor to the game and highlight things that stand out from the norm. They can be a way to offer a niche for a particular character if that is desired. Having “the tracker” in the group means that one character has the Track skill, likely has invested in it, and can expect to utilize that over the course of the campaign to have their moment in the spotlight.

Scoping Skills

Each skill needs to have a scope decided for it. Scoping of skills determines how broad or narrow the application of the skill is within the campaign. This can relate to a number of things, but the most common is that broad base skills tend to be used less frequently than narrowly defined ones. Mythras talks about scoping skills very briefly, and in an unusual section – on pages 87 and 88, when discussing how many weapons to put into a combat style. In this section, you get an idea of how making the skill have a scope can change the feel of the game.

Single Skills

Most skills are singular in nature. They don’t have any specializations, no fancy tricks. They are what they say on the tin and handle all aspects of these interactions within the game. A skill named Native Language, for example, handles speaking and perhaps reading and writing of the character’s native language. They are the easiest to handle and understand.

Specialization Skills

Some skills can have specializations within them that a character is required to choose when they learn the skill. A good example is the Culture skill, which covers the aspects of distinct cultures in the setting. However, it usually requires a specialization – Culture (Elves) or Culture (Korantia) for example. Each one of the specializations gains their own percentage, and they are essentially treated as their own skills, but with the same base of characteristics and similar activities, but a different scope in that their cultures are different.

Specialization is useful when wanting to make strong and clear distinctions between different areas of knowledge, you want the characters to pay “full price” for the skills, but don’t want to consume a lot of room repeating the same text over and over again describing a skill. It can also provide for a cleaner look on the character sheet. Examples of this in core Mythras include Art, Culture, Craft, Language, Literacy, Lore, Musicianship, and Navigation.

When you are determining how intricately detailed to specialize these skills in your campaign, consider how likely it is to come up, how much you want that, and how the players will react. It can represent a very heavy expenditure for characters to increase many specialized skills. This can dramatically slow advancement and can also create many niches for particular characters. This is somewhat similar to how many weapons to put into a combat style and using those guidelines can assist you in determining their scope.

Multi-Skills

Though it is not called as such in the rules, and there are no examples in core Mythras, Luther Arkwright presents an option for Linguistics that can be utilized for certain skills. In this case, the skill gains additional specializations equal to 1/10^th the skill, all at the skill’s rating. This allows a character to have a very wide scope with little investment.

This is a fantastic option for skills you don’t expect to be used often or don’t wish to spend a lot of time on but do want to show some distinction. In the case of Luther Arkwright, it also covers reading and writing in each language, as well as speaking. Anyone who invests in this skill will become multilingual quickly, and anyone fluent (>60% skill) will be fluent in half a dozen or more different languages.

It is also useful for specializations that have larger amounts of overlap. Perhaps navigating in your world, regardless of the environment, is roughly the same. This would then be a viable choice for Navigation. Or for sciences where you want several people to be polymaths with robust, broad, and perhaps a bit pulpy science background.

 

 

The Shadowed Claw

 This is a cult I did up for an online game I was in. It is set in the world of Xoth, but it should translate to other settings well. note, the patu and the ixcheltu are in Monster Island.

MYTHOS AND HISTORY

Those of the Shadowed Claw are the elite warriors from certain tribes within the Azimban jungles. At various times they have been thought of as the king's protectors and the soldiers of the people, as they are more accessible to common folk than the priests of the southern avian god Jul-Juggah.

NATURE

The warriors of Azimba are known for their skill with the spear and the shield, often striking from ambushes and defending the borders through quiet and definitive attacks. The elite among these join the Brotherhood and receive further training. Those who show great loyalty or promise are often inducted into the higher ranks.
The brotherhood is often called upon to battle the Ikuna cannibals to the east, acting as an early warning and special forces, living for weeks at a time isolated from the Azimban army and civilization. Because of this, they learn a great deal of self sufficiency and bushcraft. Woe to the band of cannibals who come hunting near a team of the brotherhood - they are not known to leave survivors. Instead, they leave the bodies on grotesque display as a warning for those who come near. 

ORGANIZATION

In times of peace, the brotherhood eschews most formal organization, although the ranks of those higher up are respected. During these times, they refer to themselves as "spots". In times of war, however, they form into smaller squads of four claws and a Fangs leader. These, in turn, are formed into sets of four, known as a Fang, with an Overseer-ranked Eyes. The leader is known as the Great Cat, though there has not been one in many years. 

MEMBERSHIP

By definition, almost anyone can join the Brotherhood at the Common level, as many in Azimba are called upon to defend their homeland. However, once a warrior learns the use of the sacred ixcheltu and gains skill enough, they may join the Brotherhood more formally.

Rank	Name	Requirements	Gifts	Restrictions
Common	Warrior	warrior of Azimba
Dedicated	Claw	50% in 5 of the Brotherhood's skills, defeated 10 foes in battle
Proven	Fangs	70% in 4 of the Brotherhood's skills, completed a soul journey and proved their worth to the spirits with their life patu demonstrating their experiences.	Fetch (Sagacity in the cult's skills)	Oath
Overseer	Eyes	90% in 3 of the Brotherhood's skills	Gift
Leader	Great Cat	110% in 2 of the Brotherhood's skills, other (TBD)	Gift - Shapechange (panthotaur)

RESTRICTIONS

Azimbans are the only ones who normally join the cult, though more for lack of knowledge. No other particular restrictions exist until the Fangs rank, where an Oath to the cult must be taken.

CULT SKILLS

Athletics, Brawn, Combat Style (Jaguar Brother - Spear, Shield, Club , Ixcheltu, Knife/Dagger; Trait - Assassination), Endurance, Perception, Stealth, Survival

Jaguar Brothers by tradition use a patu as their club, though others can be used shamefully. Often, the patu will be worn around the neck as a large pendant, with a leather thong doubling as a wrist strap in combat. These are frequently carved or decorated, telling the story of the warrior's exploits.

They will also coil their ixcheltu (known as the Fangs of the Brotherhood to those outside of the cult, and the Fangs or the Fangs of the Beast Lord to those inside) around their necks loosely as well, giving the impression of a festive and decorative necklace. Some even lace flowers or weave beads into them, but this is merely a ruse. In the southern jungles, those who wear it in this fashion with a patu with their exploits depicted are given great respect, and often wide berth, because it is known they are accomplished warriors.

MAGIC

At the lower levels, they appear as a martial brotherhood, they practice no magic of their own. They hone their skills in the jungle, fighting Ikuna and the other enemies of the Azimba. Most do not make it past this rank, either being maimed or killed in battle, or settling down and starting a family, forsaking the martial life required to achieve higher ranks. Those that do often depart on a journey to explore the depths of their dedication and the nature of man and beast.

It is rumored that the upper members of this brotherhood are gifted by the spirit of the jaguar in some fashion, with stories of great swiftness and other enhancements to natural abilities dominate. No doubt the priests of Jul-Juggah would not like this challenge to their power, but have never been able to prove anything, and the Brotherhood has done little to dispel the rumors.

Indeed, the rumors are true, though few know it. Once you have reached the Fangs level, a prospective Fangs goes on a spirit journey by imbibing a concoction of herbs in drink. This separates the soul from the body, where he then must prove his worth to a jaguar spirit. This is often telling tales of his exploits or physical challenges. The patu, inscribed with the stories, comes on this spirit journey. It provides the weapon in a sort of spirit combat, showing how the Brother is worthy of the gifts of the Jaguar Spirit. It provides proof that the tales are correct - falsehood upon the patu will shatter it, and the Brother will be left defenseless against the spirit.

GIFTS

Once they reach the Fangs level and complete their soul journey - an arduous quest through the spirit world facilitated by special herbs and plants native to their homeland. On this journey, they learn the true nature of the brotherhood as followers of Nwanga Zhaal, Lord of Beasts, and acquire a fetch. Until the Fangs has proven himself, the fetch acts merely as a guide and teacher. The fetch has Sagacity in the cult skills, however, and will train the Brother (requiring sacrifice of any prey animal over SIZ 6, including humans). The fetch also serves as eyes for Nwanga Zhaal, overseeing his warriors and their actions and ensuring they do not "act as prey"

Once the brother proves he is worthy of the Eyes rank, he undertakes a ritual hunt for large game or a human of some prestige. Via ritual sacrifice, he is bathed in the blood of the kill and is purified to the point where the fetch can bestow an ability on the cultist. What this is is individual to each member, but it is a true sign that they are blessed by Nwanga Zhaal. Typical abilities include Endow Frenzy, Endow Leaper, Endow Night Sight, Endow Intimidate, or the spirit ability Comprehension (cats).

If the member reaches the point where he becomes the Great Cat, he must show himself to be the ultimate predator, and only man-flesh will be an acceptable sacrifice. Once he has hunted his prey, defeating it in single combat (though ambushing is certainly allowed by Nwanga Zhaal), his fetch can offer forth the ability to transform him into a Panthotaur. Each use of this ability requires spending a magic point, the consumption of the heart of a prey animal personally hunted, and a roll against their Oath to Nwanga Zhaal.

ALLIES AND ENEMIES

The Ikuna cannibals to the east have an undying hatred for the Jaguar Brothers, and the feeling is mutual. Their war has been raging for as long as anyone knows.

The brotherhood's relationship with the priests of Jul-Juggah has been at times quite warm, and at other times strained nearly to civil war. Certain theological differences exacerbate this, but the current king has thus far kept things in check. Some of this is supported by the Brotherhood themselves, as they don't wish to reveal their animistic tendencies, and there has not been a Great Cat in many years.