an entirely grim setting with no respite or space for triumph quickly becomes a tedious meat grinder.

A campaign in Delver’s Deep is centered around the successes and failures of a mercenary company. Some of your characters will rise to greatness, while others will die along the way, but in the end your job is to get paid. As your company’s skill increases you can take more dangerous (and more lucrative) bounties, but you will need to balance risk and reward.

2.1 Format

Delvers Deep requires a group of players, at least one of whom will serve as the game master for each session. The person playing the game master does not need to be static, and due to the rogue-like nature of the game the players can actively participate in world building prior to and during gameplay. For simplicity this guide assumes one gamemaster and 3 – 5 players, although roles may vary

The game is split into four phases: Rest, Travel, Exploration, and Combat. The Rest phase takes place in a settlement where the player company can buy equipment, recover from their physical and mental wounds, and look for new bounties. The travel phase occurs when the player company is moving their camp from one settlement to the next, or else during travel to a dangerous location to undertake a delve. Exploration occurs when the players are exploring a dangerous location, and combat may follow when they encounter hostiles.

Each time the player company accepts a new a new bounty or chooses to undertake a delve, the players will choose from a permanent roster of characters that makes up the company depending on the challenge ahead. The company roster is established by hiring recruits from settlements that are randomly generated by the game master. There is no expectation that a player needs to play the same character, or even only one character at once. As play progresses the characters will gain experience, level up, and gain traits.

2.2 Building a Campaign

To begin the players will select a name for their mercenary company and other traits for flavor such as your colors, motto, or banner If desired. The game master will present a campaign map with options for a starting settlement. Some settlements will have high quality and experienced recruits, but the majority of recruits are ordinary folks desperate for coin, or with nothing left to lose.

The campaign map can be anywhere from a single county to a whole continent, but I would suggest something closer to the county or barony size to begin. I think a core theme in building a campaign map is that there should be spaces where the law has no power. Historically kingdoms and land holdings often butted right up against each other, but in a world crawling with monsters only actively defended land is truly claimed. I’d encourage leaving large gaps of no-mans land between settlements and very large swaths of wilderness between claimed lands to allow space for monsters and ruins.

In general a small campaign map should have 2 – 3 large settlements (cities, towns, keeps), 4 – 5 small settlements (hamlets, villages), and 2 – 3 ruins. Large settlements will have high quality recruits and access to a larger array of equipment, while small settlements will have lower quality (but cheaper) recruits and less equipment available. Ruins are monster-infested locations where the player company can choose to undertake a delve.

How much your group wants to cultivate a narrative and flesh out a campaign map is entirely up to you. On one side of the spectrum you can carefully design a campaign map and cultivate some local intrigue to add some flavor to the bounties and locations. On the other hand you could simply center the whole campaign around a single large ruin, and run a campaign that is more like a monster-of-the-week skirmish game.

2.3 Rest Phase

During the rest phase the company is recovering and planning in camp outside a settlement. The company can find new recruits, buy equipment, recover from wounds, and seek new bounties. Each settlement will modify how successful these actions are.

2.4 Travel Phase

The travel phase takes place between settlements. In general it is assumed that the travel phase will take no more than a week, and no settlement should be placed more than a weeks travel away from another. Travel on well established roads between large settlements should be relatively safe, while travel to far flung settlements or dangerous locations may involve some random encounters.

2.5 Exploration and Combat

Exploration will occur during a delve, and combat occurs whenever the players encounter hostiles. More on these phases later.

2.6 Bounties

A bounty is a short term contract to resolve a problem for someone in the local community. Low level bounties may be as simple as arresting a criminal or hunting a group of goblins that are attacking local farms. They should comprise no more than 1 – 2 combat encounters, and limited travel. High level bounties will focus on hunting dangerous monsters or breaking up a bandit camp. They can comprise 2 – 5 combat encounters, but they should not require more than a week of travel, and should not involve an extensive dungeon crawl.

The reward offered for a bounty is determined by its difficulty and the settlement. A rich settlement (e.g. a keep or a large city) will offer higher rewards for similar tasks as a less well off settlement (e.g. outskirts or a town).

2.7 Delves

A delve is a optional challenge that a player company can choose to take on to test their mettle and seek legendary treasure. Delves take place in ruins, which should be sprawling places infested with enemies. For example a fallen city now crawling with goblins, orc, and trolls is an appropriate size and location for a delve. A small cave with a couple trolls in it is not. While on a delve the players will face an endless series of challenges and the delve only ends when the players decide to retreat.

Wealthy patrons in large settlements may offer optional quests to seek a certain item or kill a certain creature while on a delve, but the large draw of a delve will be the chance of finding magical items.

2.9 Upkeep

The mercenaries in the player company don’t work for free, and each week that passes they will need to be paid to keep them in the roster. Additionally, they will require a large fee upfront to join the company, and double pay when chosen to go on a bounty hunt or delve. It falls to the game master to manage upkeep, but the intent here is simply to provide a reason for the players to accumulate money and a feeling of progression. More experienced mercenaries demand higher pay but enable the company to take more lucrative bounties. In general bounties of the appropriate level for the company should offer generous rewards to cover upkeep with some left over for hiring and buying equipment

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2.10 Summary

This article covered basic structure and theme, without a lot of substance. Future articles aimed at the role of the game master will cover sections 2.3 – 2.7 in more detail. In summary:

• Delver’s Deep takes place in a grim setting. The players manage a mercenary company that travels from settlement to settlement taking bounties.
• The game has four phases: Rest, Travel, Exploration, and Combat
• The game requires one gamemaster and between 3 – 5 players. The players may choose from the roster of permanent mercenaries each time they attempt to take a bounty hunt or go on a delve.
• Players can play more than one character during a bounty hunt, but you must pay for their services.
• The difficultly of a bounty can be judged by how large of a reward is offered.
• Delves are optional, high risk challenges set in sprawling ruins offering the chance to find magical items and legendary loot.
• The player company must pay upkeep on their roster of permanent characters.

Next up… Basic Rules

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