A Contract of the Bellmarch Reach

The Marches — House Rules

the full set — world, table tools, magic, and generation

Players have their own shorter index →

I
Setting Overview
The world as it stands — the century-long retreat, the two strata of ruin, village life on the French countryside model, who lives where, and the wondrous wild that bleeds into the fields.
read first
II
Player Handout
Plain-language expectations — talking first, enemies that can break, retreat, hired help, encumbrance, rests, zero HP, and how advancement works.
hand to players
III
GM Cheat Sheet
The numbers behind the handout — reaction rolls, morale, wandering danger, hirelings, encumbrance, static initiative, rests, and zero HP options. Built to be glanced at mid-session.
keep at the table
IV
Encounter Tables
Zoned d12 tables — village and fields, wild road, deep forest, mountain, coast, and underground — scaled by party tier.
keep at the table
V
Bestiary
The eleven kinds — what each one is, what beats it, and what its appearance means. Owns creature weaknesses across the whole set.
keep at the table · upload for generation
VI
Campaign Log
What carries over between sessions — the roster, caster Trials, the named-item register, village standing, bargains owed, loose threads, lasting harm, and the buried.
GM, between sessions
VII
Character Sheet Add-On
Encumbrance slots, equipment, hidden rules a standard sheet doesn't show, and a tracker for each character's real motivation and the XP it earns.
one per player
VIII
Encounter Sheet
Live combat tracking — static initiative buckets, HP, enemy morale, and the zero HP log.
one per fight
— magic runs deeper, and costs more, past here —
IX
Magic Adjustments
Cantrip fixes, spell-by-spell restrictions below minimum level, enhancements every five levels above it, and the dropped-spells list.
GM reference
X
Workings
Ritual-scale magic for genuine set-pieces — caster tiers, locus and cost requirements, how a tier is earned, and a lookup table of spells with Working versions.
GM reference
— hand these out at character creation —
XI
Player Backgrounds
A shared sheet on how anyone learns what they know (chronicler, carter, hunter), plus four order-specific one-pagers — Ledger, Iron Vigil, Thornwake, and no hall at all. Linked from the player index.
one per player
— for generating new locations —
XII
Location Cheat Sheet Template
A blank, reusable prep sheet — features, NPCs with stats, threats, treasure, and the session arc.
one per new location
XIII
Session Generation Instructions
Primes an AI to build new locations — asks party size and level first, favours dungeon-centred sessions, and varies foes, fey, and romance deliberately. Upload alongside the Setting Overview and Bestiary.
upload to an AI, not for the table
— a worked example —
XV
Alderfen & the Sunken Warding
A complete four-session contract, built to the standard above — for reference, or to run as written.
example