Oathmark: Oathbreakers

By Joseph A. McCullough and Alan Lathwell

Dark necromancers have laid claim to forsaken kingdoms and summoned forth the souls of those who defiled their oathmarks. The dead, once again, march to war. As armies of wraiths and skeletal warriors bring destruction to their lands, the small kingdoms of the Marches also turn to the spirits of the dead. Gathering the most ancient and powerful of oathmarks, they recall the spectral forms of those that died in loyal battle to once again come forth in defence of their kingdoms. With these ethereal warriors joining their ranks, the kings of the Marches may yet stand.

This supplement for Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age introduces the forces of the dead to the game. Some armies will use dark magic to summon the souls and corpses of traitors from the past, while others will recall the spirits of loyal warriors that gave their lives and willingly fight again. This book also includes expanded rules for characters, which allow you to chart their progress from battle-to-battle, and watch as they grow in rank, responsibility, and power. All of these rules are then incorporated into a campaign featuring new scenarios that together tell of an epic war for survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Nov 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781472837011

Joseph A. McCullough

Joseph A. McCullough's first brush with writing for games was as co-author of The Grey Mountains supplement for the Middle-Earth Role-Playing Game, and he has remained passionate about Fantasy gaming since, going on to become an award-winning game designer. He is the creator of the “Frostgrave Family” of skirmish wargames (the Fantasy titles Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, Rangers of Shadow Deep, and the Sci-Fi evolution, Stargrave) and of the Oathmark Fantasy battle game and The Silver Bayonet, a game of Napoleonic Gothic Horror. The latest information on his game design and other writing can be found at: josephamccullough.com.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

UNDEAD ARMIES

UNDEAD KINGDOMS AND ARMIES

Undead Units

LEGENDARY HEROES

LEGENDARY HEROES IN YOUR ARMY

Creating a Legendary Hero

Gaining Experience Points and New Heroic Traits

Legendary Heroes and Death

HEROIC TRAITS

MILITARY EXPEDITIONS

MILITARY EXPEDITION 1: THE FARSEER TOWER

Scenario 1: Lost in the Hills

Scenario 2: Secure the Road

Scenario 3: In the Tower’s Shadow

MILITARY EXPEDITION 2: THE RING OF SUNKEN STONES

Scenario 1: Faces in the Water

Scenario 2: The Trees Have Eyes

Scenario 3: The Sunken Stones

MILITARY EXPEDITION 3: THE WELL OF PROPHECY

Scenario 1: Skirmish in the Ruins

Scenario 2: On Silent Wings

Scenario 3: Securing the Well

STRANGE AND CATASTROPHIC EVENTS

APPENDIX

NEW AND UNIQUE TERRITORIES

Circle of Oathmarks

Collegium

Enchanted Glade

Farseer Tower

Healing Well

Master Fletchers

Precious Metal Mines

Memorial Gardens

Military Academy

Sunken Stones

Temple

Training Grounds

Well of Prophecy

NEW SPECIAL ABILITIES

Legendary Hero

Limited Manoeuvres

Limited Movement

Shadowform

Spellcaster Control

Undead

Uncaring

Unthinking

NEW SPELLS

Necromancer Spells

CREDITS

LEGENDARY HEROES SHEET

More soldiers sleep beneath the soil,

Than warriors walk the ways of the Marches…

Fragment, The Lay of the Marches

Welcome to Oathbreakers, the second supplement for Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age. Within these pages, players can find a host of new options for building their kingdoms and armies, and for fighting battles in the Marches. Some of these options, such as the new troop types, fit right into existing campaigns with a few new rules for how they work on the battlefield. Other options, like those for legendary heroes, are more complex and present a whole new facet to the game. Players may want to experiment a bit with these rules before adding them to an existing campaign. In all cases, players can use these new rules in conjunction with those in the first supplement, Battlesworn, or pick and choose which rules work best for them.

This book contains three main sections. The first presents rules for undead figures – lowly animated skeletons and ghouls, more powerful revenant warriors, and even extremely powerful creatures such as wraiths, vampires, and barrow worms. All these units have associated territories, so players can add them to existing kingdoms or create a kingdom based around them. Players that wish to build an undead kingdom must decide whether their kingdom is ruled by a revenant king or a necromancer. Necromancers are a new class of spellcaster and feature their own spell list, which you can find under New Spells in the Appendix here. Some of these undead warriors come from the past; therefore, they employ weapons no longer seen in the Marches – most notably, the fearsome chariot. Pulled by a team of undead horses, these death machines can plough through massed ranks of soldiers, crushing them beneath hooves and wheels.

Traditionally, the undead are viewed with fear and hatred; however, it would be incorrect to identify them all as evil. While some undead certainly animate purely through hate and malice, others return to the land of the living seeking penance for some ancient wrong. Still others are so tightly bound by their oathmarks, not even death can diminish their loyalty. In a few cases, love for the living – or for a kingdom – draws these warriors back and allows them to once again wield swords. With that in mind, any player can add these undead units to their army, no matter their moral leanings.

The second section covers a new type of character figure, the legendary hero. These heroes differ from the characters presented in the main rulebook in several important ways. First and foremost, all legendary heroes are unique individuals; players must keep track of their progress from battle to battle. At the back of this book is a Legendary Heroes Sheet, which players should keep with their Kingdom Sheet. In fact, in many ways, the Legendary Heroes Sheet forms another page to the Kingdom Sheet. While the first page keeps track of the various territories in the kingdom, this new page keeps track of its most famous and important warriors.

Besides the special abilities common to all character figures, legendary heroes also possess one or more heroic traits. These are special, usually one-time use abilities that give heroes a boost during the battle, such as allowing them to automatically pass an activation roll or roll extra Combat Dice during a fight. As these legendary heroes fight in battles, they earn experience points; once they earn enough points, they gain new heroic traits and become more powerful and useful on the battlefield. Of course, this also increases their point cost.

An interesting new tactical consideration, legendary heroes also increase the narrative drive and help players form an even greater attachment to their kingdoms. Although the land a kingdom contains generally defines it, the people make it interesting and memorable. Over the course of the campaign, players can watch their legendary heroes grow and develop and witness their triumphs and their tragedies. Eventually, players may even see their heroes fall. After all, even undead heroes don’t live forever…

The third section presents three new military expeditions (a concept introduced in Battlesworn), which are essentially specific, interlinked battles that fit within the campaign framework presented in the main rulebook. For example, the first of the three military expeditions presented in this book, The Farseer Tower, contains three scenarios that cover the

Reviews for Oathmark

[presontcaulie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent supplement to an excellent game. Oathmark is a smooth playing and deeply tactical system that works well, and this is a solid expansion to the core rules.