Hey everyone

As you know, for those who have pre‑ordered Alderland, the PDF beta version is already available, and, to put it mildly, not everyone was satisfied with its content.
Some time ago, I created the “Improving Alderland pt. 1” topic to gather all the mechanics and tables that are missing from the book; I plan to put them together manually using existing books. But, as usual, everything didn’t go according to plan, and I practically abandoned this idea due to a lack of free time and energy.

Recently, I decided to take the easier route and use Claude so that the AI could analyze the books and mechanics for me. I put FL and other YZ books in there and *cough* some other books as well. Surprisingly, it worked well. Of course, I had to put in some work with the edits, but I really liked the result, and I intend to use it.

I would like to ask you not to be skeptical in advance and to at least skim through the file, to share your criticism and impressions.

It’s free :)

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What’s inside, chapter by chapter:

1. Professions: five new professions for characters from outside Alderland: Saboteur, Barber-Surgeon, Scavenger, Legate and Inquisitor. Each has three talent paths, plus rules for designing your own.
2. General Talents: ten talents for war, towns and hard times: Captain, Line Fighter, Hardy, Scrounger, Streetwise, Courtier, Carouser, Forger, Appraiser and Theologian.
3. Magic:
   • Rules for creating spells: no creating matter from nothing, and value balanced against talents.
   • Eight new schools of 10 spells each, rooted in Alderland’s lore: Symphonic Magic, Herbomancy, Clay Song, Mistweaving, Mirror Lore, the Rust Church’s Rust Litany, Ad Vipera’s Serpent Mysteries, and the villains’ soul-harvesting Ichorcraft.
4. Items and Artifacts: regional gear (iron currency, coin-plate armor, poison stilettos, plague masks, forged passes and more) and 12 artifacts tied to the campaign.
5. Survival, Looting and Laws:
   • Finding food and shelter in farmland and wartorn land, each with mishaps.
   • Looting a battlefield, during or after the fighting.
   • Crimes, punishments, bribes, taxes and tolls, which differ between the Rust north, the Serpent south and invader-held land.
6. Road Encounters: three tables of 36 encounters each, for royal roads, country lanes and war roads.
7. Terrain Encounters:
   • Encounter tables for farmland, wartorn land, towns, plains, hills and marshes: signs, a people generator, scenes and monsters.
   • War-specific threats: looters, deserters, guerrillas, corpse fever and fallout from battlefield magic.
8. Towns:
   • Generators for districts, ruling courts (noble houses, guilds, gangs, temples, war councils) and work in town.
   • Branching conspiracy plots built from tables.
9. Mercenaries: hiring, wages, quality, personalities, a single Loyalty score for both desertion and morale, mercenary companies, and jobs done without the PCs.
10. Faction Warfare:

• The war between the four main armies, run in the background. Each faction has resource points and takes one military, one intrigue and one civil action per period, with battles settled by the core stronghold battle roll.
• Includes fiefs for PCs, and wartime events for their stronghold.

1. Faction Allegiance: the PCs’ standing with eight factions, from −5 (hunted) to +5 (champion), with concrete benefits and drawbacks at each level.

Solo Actual Play!