Maelstrom (role playing game)
| Designer(s) | Alexander Scott |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Puffin Books/Arion Games |
| Publication date | 1984 |
| Genre(s) | Historical |
| System(s) | Custom |
Maelstrom is a role-playing game by Alexander Scott, originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books as a single soft cover book ( ; ). The game is set in a 16th to 17th century British setting - the Tudor Period and the Elizabethan era - although the rules can be adapted to other locations or time periods. Firearms (readily available in Europe at this time) are conspicuously absent from the setting, mentioned only in passing in the initial rulebook.
Maelstrom has been republished as a PDF in 2008 by Arion Games, under license from Puffin Books, along with seven supplementary rulebooks and resources such as The Maelstrom Companion, the Beggars' Companion, and several modules and settings resources. These are all available for online purchase at RPGNow.com in PDF format (see external links, below). The Maelstrom Companion provides guidelines for the in-game purchase and use of period firearms, as well as new livings and other developments.
Characters can easily end up with wounds that would last for months. They can suffer the permanent loss of digits, or limbs. Using the advanced rules a character may well collapse from particular types of mortal wounds, or in combat from sheer exhaustion, especially if wearing heavy armour. They could suffer cuts, bruises or a variety of serious injuries from their opponents' (or their own) weapons.
In Maelstrom, wounds are recorded separately and heal in parallel. Damage is rated on a numerical scale, a knife doing 1-6 damage for instance. When the sum of a character's wounds exceed his or her Endurance, that character falls unconscious.
Characters heal at the rate of 1 point per week assuming bed rest (and 1 point per month otherwise); this rate is per wound. A character suffering a series of minor wounds will recover much more quickly than one receiving a single significant wound. Treatments from a Doctor, Herbalist, or a Barber-Surgeon will increase the rate of healing - or possibly decrease it if a roll vs skill is critically failed.
Experience rolls are on percentile dice and are made against a specific attribute when the character succeeds in an area relevant to that attribute. When a successful experience roll is made the attribute increases by one point (indicating increased ability in this area). Thus as characters become more experienced they have progressively more difficulty increasing attributes. As the author notes, it is less likely that an experienced character will learn a new trick too often, whereas someone who has no experience in a particular area may well learn something each time they exercise a skill.
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