Campaign Rules (Conan Chronicles)

Adventure Start Rules

These rules apply at the beginning of a new adventure only — not at the start of individual sessions. They govern how characters set up their inventory, adjust their traits, and determine starting funds before play begins.

Character Inventory

Step 1: Starting Gear

At the start of a new adventure, each character may begin with any mundane gear that makes sense given the campaign setting and the character's location and circumstances. Use good judgment — if it's plausible the character would have it, they can have it.

• All gear acquired this way is assumed to be Good quality by default (per GURPS 4e equipment quality levels: Cheap → Good → Fine → Very Fine).
• Rare or unusual items, or anything that might strain plausibility, require GM approval. The GM may resolve borderline cases with a Universe Reaction Roll.

Step 2: Upgrading Gear

Once your adventure inventory is established, you may attempt to upgrade any item that has applicable quality levels, features, modifiers, or options (e.g. weapons, armour, tools).

Make a Universe Reaction Roll. The result determines the outcome:

Result	Effect
Very Good	Two quality shifts, or feature improvements upward. Example: Good → Fine → Very Fine
Good	One quality shift upward. Example: Good → Fine
Neutral	No change. The item stays as-is.
Poor	One quality shift downward. Example: Good → Cheap
Bad	Two quality shifts downward. The item may be dangerously degraded — it might break on first use, carry hidden flaws, or otherwise cause problems. GM discretion applies; have fun with it.

Caveats

• Signature Gear: Characters with Signature Gear must have the appropriate character points spent to cover the item's cost. Poor and Bad Reaction Roll results have no effect on Signature Gear — the universe won't trash something that central to your character.
• Purchased gear: Items bought outright with money may be acquired at any quality level the character can afford, with no Reaction Roll required.

Once inventory is finalised, it is locked in. Any changes after this point must occur through in-play means — buying, finding, trading, or crafting — and require money or other in-game resources.

Atrophy and Advancement

At the beginning of a new adventure, players may redistribute character points to reflect the passage of time, shifting priorities, new experiences, or fading skills. This represents what has changed for the character between adventures.

Normal between-session point expenditure (from earned character points) proceeds as usual and is separate from these rules.

Atrophy

Any skill, levelled trait, attribute, or language may be reduced by 1 level to reclaim the points that were spent on it.

• You cannot atrophy a trait away entirely. A skill cannot drop below the level 1pt would place it at, and a trait cannot be removed completely through atrophy.

Advancement

Points recovered through atrophy may be immediately reallocated to:

• New skills
• Increases to existing skills
• Traits
• Improved Attributes
• Languages and Cultural Familiarities
• Paying off disadvantages

Restrictions:

• Skill levels may only increase by 1 through this process (you can't jump multiple levels at once).
• You cannot acquire traits that would not have been available to your character from the start of the campaign. Example: If your character did not begin with Magery, you cannot acquire it through advancement.
• Social or narrative traits — such as Reputation, Status, or Contacts — should be accompanied by a brief in-character explanation or story beat. Have fun with it.

Starting Wealth

All money carried over from a previous adventure is lost at the start of a new one. Whether it was spent, stolen, lost in transit, or simply burned through during downtime is up to you. Any monetary loot acquired at the end of the previous adventure should be spent before the new adventure begins — it won't carry over. Loot items, not sold, may be kept.

At the start of each new adventure, every character receives:

Campaign Starting Wealth × d100%

Roll d100 to determine the percentage of Starting Wealth the character has available.

Example: The campaign Starting Wealth is $1,000. A roll of 42 means the character begins with $420.