Runebound meets Midnight Volume 1: Movement

Movement in Runebound
Normally, movement in Runebound is determined by the “movement dice,” special six-siders included in the game, each side of which has two or three terrain symbols. Each symbol matches up with one of the terrains on the game board: plains, forest, swamp, road, hill, mountain, or river. A player rolls a variable number of dice depending on his circumstances, and “spends” the dice one at a time to move from space to space on the board. A die may be “spent” to move into any of the terrain types matching the terrain symbols showing on that die.

A terrain’s ruggedness and danger is represented by the likelihood that it will come up on the dice. Roads are the most common, being on four sides of the die, followed by rivers and plains on three sides of the die, and the difficult swamps, mountains, and forests on a single side. This makes movement in Runebound an essential part of gameplay strategy . . . each player must figure out how to most easily get to the destinations he seeks, and an unlucky roll can leave you stranded far from the treasure and glory while other adventurers swoop in and claim them!

Movement in Runebound: Midnight
In Midnight, the heroes are fighting a constant, savage guerilla war of resistance against the evil armies that occupy their homes. The enemies have more stable supply lines, more powerful magic and weapons, and more soldiers. One of the few things the heroes do have on their side, though, is the land.

The heroes of Midnight rely on the land for everything, from the food that keeps them fighting to the hills and valleys that hide their movement. They learn to read the land as easily as a scribe reads his records, they make connections with the simple folk of village and hamlet, and they make the most use of what herbs and simple magics remain in the wild.

This is reflected in Runebound: Midnight by giving the heroes the leeway to move about at will. They need never roll movement dice to enter any particular terrain; they simply "spend" one of their unrolled movement dice. On the other hand, they have less access than normal to towns; they must infiltrate any towns they hope to enter, making healing and reequipping potentially difficult. However, they can use their movement dice in other ways, including:

Rest: Spend 1 unrolled movement die to discard an exhaustion counter.
Heal: Spend and roll 1 movement die. If the terrain symbol for your current terrain type comes up on the die, you find a medicinal herb, and may discard a wound counter.
Barter: Spend and roll 1 movement die. If the terrain symbol for your current terrain type comes up on the die, you find a village sympathetic to the resistance, and may buy and sell equipment much like you normally would in a town.

Unlike the base Runebound game, where you can only perform these types of actions before or after you move, Runebound: Midnight allows the heroes to perform these actions at any point during their movement. So for instance, a dwarven resistance fighter could emerge from his holdfasts in the mountains, venture into the hills to barter, then retreat back into the mountains, all on the same turn.

Why does that matter? Well, in Runebound: Midnight, there are enemy patrols! They use the movement dice rules from the original game, so the more time you spend in easy-to-enter terrain likes plains or roads, the more likely you are to be caught and captured!

Heroes of Midnight
d20 version and Runebound version

These two heroes use the land around them, as well as their mounts, to strike hard and fast at their foes, then return to their hiding places among the hills and plains.

Telvan
Male nomadic halfling wildlander 6 (warg); Small humanoid; HD 6d8+12; hp 52; Init +9; Spd 20 ft. (40 ft. on wogren); AC 16 (refugee leathers +2, Dex +3, size +1), touch 14, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +6; Grp +2; Atk +6 melee (1d6, hafling lance) or +9 ranged (1d6, longbow); Full Atk +6/+1 melee (1d6, hafling lance) or +9/+3 ranged (1d6, longbow); SA Charm animal 1/day, hunter’s strike 1/day; SQ Instinctive response, low-light vision, rapid response, skill mastery (Hide), wild empathy, wild sense (superior low-light vision), wild shape (Medium wogren) 1/day; AL CG; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +4; Str 10, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 8.

 Skills and Feats: Disable Device +6, Handle Animal +6, Hide +17, Listen +12, Move Silently +17, Ride +12, Survival +10; Improved Initiative, Innate Magic, Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Ride-By Attack, Track.

  Languages and Possessions: Telvan speaks Colonial, Halfling, and pidgin versions of Black Tongue, Erenlander, and Trader’s Tongue. He possesses a necklace of orc tusks, elven boots (+5 Move Silently), refugee leathers (masterwork leather armor), a horn longbow, 20 arrows, and a halfling lance.

Orcbane
Male wogren animal companion; Medium magical beast; HD 5d10+10 (43 hp); Init +5; Spd 40 ft.; AC 19 (+2 Dex, +7 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 17; Base Atk +5; Grp +9; Atk +9 melee (1d6+4, bite); Full Atk +9 melee (1d6+4, bite) and +4/+4 melee (1d4+2, 2 claws); SA Trip; SQ Devotion, spirit sense, scent; AL NG; SV Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +2; Str 18, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 12.

  Skills and Feats: Listen +7, Spot +7, Survival +1 (+6 on plains); Alertness, Improved Initiative.

Jaena of Sharuun
Female rural sarcosan fighter (Leader of Men) 5 (faithful); Medium humanoid; HD 5d10+10; hp 60; Init +2; Spd 30 ft. (50 ft. on light warhorse); AC 16 (chain shirt +4, Dex +2), touch 12 , flat-footed 14; Base Atk +5; Grp +7; Atk +11 melee (1d6+3/19–20, cedeku via horseback) or +7 ranged (1d6+2, composite shortbow); Full Atk +9/+9/+4 melee (1d6+3/19–20, cedeku via horseback) or +7/+2 ranged (1d6+2, composite shortbow); SQ Bless 1/day, divine favor 1/day, protection from evil 1/day, turn undead 1/day; AL LG; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 15, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 16.

  Skills and Feats: Diplomacy +12, Handle Animal +11 (+15 w. horses), Knowledge (geography) +3, Knowledge (history) +3, Ride +10 (+14 w. horses), Sense Motive +2; Endurance, Die-hard, Mounted Combat, Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Negotiator, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (cedeku).

  Languages and Possessions: Jaena speaks Colonial, Courtier, Erenlander, Halfling, and Trader’s Tongue. She possesses a chain shirt, riding cloak, two masterwork cedekus, mighty [+2] composite shortbow, and 20 arrows.

Sky
Male Sarcosan-bred light warhorse; Large animal; HD 3d8+6 (30 hp); Init +1; Spd 65 ft. (55 ft. with rider); AC 14 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +2; Grp +9; Atk +4 melee (1d4+3, hoof); Full Atk +4/+4 melee (1d4+3, hooves) and –1 melee (1d3+1, bite); SQ Low-light vision, sarcosan-bred quirk: loyal, scent; AL N; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 16, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6.

  Skills and Feats: Jump +5, Listen +4, Spot +4; Endurance, Run.