Arcanum RPG: SRD

Here it is! Just the text with everything you need to play! 

Arcanum RPG is a rules-lite tabletop role-playing game for 2–8 players about ancient magic, crazed sorcerers, hidden treasure, magical swords, overland travel, dark dungeons, and ordinary characters. A villager who dared pick up a sword? A professor who seeks to learn more about hidden magic?  A farmer wanting more out of life than wheat? These are all characters you can play in Arcanum. 

Key Features: 

• Old-School

The gameplay is fundamentally modeled after the playstyle of the oldest editions of the world’s most popular role-playing game. This means the game is meant to be simple, up to interpretation, and at times, deadly. 

• No Adventurer Fits a Single Mold

An adventurer’s skills, spells, and weapon/armor proficiencies aren't tied to any particular set class or profession. Rather, these are determined by their equipment, their chosen talents, and their ancestry traits. 

• Long-Term Play

Though the system is short, rules-lite, and digestible, it contains enough content and depth for long-term campaigns with overarching narratives and character growth. 

• Storytelling First

Not every single action requires the roll of the die. Good role-playing, critical thinking, and ingenious player choices are rewarded with instant success in this game. However, the Master of Lore is the final arbiter when deciding what requires a roll and what doesn't.

• Mortal Characters

Players create adventurers, not superheroes. In this game, all characters are simple folk who are brave enough to take up the adventurer profession. As players level up, their chances of survival increase. However, a wise adventurer knows better than to underestimate a horde of goblins, no matter their level of experience. 

• Sword and Sorcery & Fairy Tales

Players who seek a game with flavor tailored towards Sword and Sorcery and classic Fairy Tales will feel right at home when playing in the worlds of Arcanum.

• Rules not Rulings

The rules presented in this book are meant to be a guide for the players and the Masters of Lore. There are enough that allows structured play, but are designed to be hacked, changed, and built upon by your group. No rules are absolute. Be creative, tell your story, and have fun.

To sum it all up...

• Play as classic fantasy ancestries such as Humans, Dwarves, Elves and Halflings; as well as the rarer Amphkins and Gnomes. 
  
• No classes, the equipment you wear determines your abilities. Want to turn undead? Grab a Holy Symbol. Cast some spells? Acquire a Spellbook and fire away! Chop some heads? Seize a Claymore and swing it around. 
• Tired of overly long combat where no one even lands a hit? In Arcanum, all attacks automatically hit; the damage is then reduced by the creature's Defense score. 
• Combat is quick, deadly, and crazy fun. Every action counts! Be creative and survive.
• Besides killing monsters, XP is awarded for amassing and spending gold in character training. 
• No complicated math, and you'll roll many dice. Perfect for your Dice Goblin friends.
• No complicated skill or saving throw charts, everything is streamlined in an elegant roll under d20 system. 
• Guides for creating spells, challenging bosses to fight, and tables for generating dungeons on the spot. 

All in a compact easy reference 56-page rulebook! 

This game was designed to be a blend of flexible rules paired with structured play; based mainly in the simplicity of Cairn, and the nostalgic old-school roots of Basic Fantasy which allow for epic long term campaigns. 

This SRD (System Reference Document) includes a free PDF with the game's complete rules; which are licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative Commons (feel free to hack, adapt, and make your own Arcanum content), as well as the official Arcanum RPG character sheet.

If you find this indie project worth your time, I greatly appreciate any small donations which will help support the game's full release as well as a full-fledged bestiary. :)

All ancestry artwork and the official character sheet are original Arcanum RPG art by Paulina Aranda Olave. 

Public Domain art by Frederick Mackenzie

If you find any typos or mistakes, please contact me at: andresescritura@gmail.com ;)