PUBLISHED RULES USED

Core Rules:
• 2nd Edition/3rd Edition Core Rules & Lists will be referenced. The Third Edition Rules dated 9/15/02 and available on www.thewinternet.com/MR/ will be the primary reference with the Second Edition Rules, if listed, marked in backets.

Advanced Rules (2nd Edition):
• None

Optional Rules (2nd Edition):
• Seasons and Weather
• Optional Combat Rules (See below)

Other Rules (see below)
• Watchful Natives
• Extended Treachery
• Optional Abilities: Knight's Adjustment

BOARD BUILDING
• Players will build the board. Each player will be dealt tiles and decide where each tile goes in order. Players will also place Visitor/Mission chits after character selection.

SELECTING CHARACTERS
• When it is a players turn to place a tile and he has no more tiles to place, he may then select a character from those characters remaining unpicked. At the same time they will announce which native group they will select the character's starting equipment from.

STARTING INFO AND SCORING
• Before the Dwellings are revealed, the players will secretly notify the gamemaster of their Victory Requirements (5 VP's needed in SPRING), their starting location (if they have a choice), recorded spells, and any Magic chits to begin the game enchanted.

UNLIMITED COMMUNICATION
• Characters may communicate privately with other characters, no matter where they are on the board. The gamemaster would appreciate being CC'ed on your communications, although it's not required.

EXPANDED MEETING TABLE OPPORTUNITIES
• If, when rolling on the Meeting Table, you roll an OPPORTUNITY result, you may ignore the OPPORTUNITY and instead take the "2" result in the same column.

OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES

The Optional Combat Rules are included in the Second Edition rules. Since they may be unfamiliar to many players, that section of the Second Edition Rulebook is reproduced below. Several great examples of how the Optional Combat Rules affect play are contained in Jay Richardson's article at http://www.geocities.com/n_and/mr00.htm

5. OPTIONAL COMBAT RULES

5.1 MOVE actions: When a character plays a MOVE chit, Boots card or horse to run away or pick up a dropped belonging, he must roll on the STUMBLE table to see if his play works or is cancelled. His move time does not have to be lower than the move times of the attackers (denizens and ACTION chits) on his sheet, although playing a low move time will increase his chances of success. He still cannot play a MOVE chit if a Tremendous monster is red side up on his sheet.
5.1/1 In addition to his normal die roll modifiers, he modifies the die roll by adding the number of attackers on his sheet and subtracting his time advantage over the fastest attacker. His time advantage equals the attacker's move time minus his own move time. If the result is negative, subtracting it adds to the die roll: in effect, he adds his own move time to the die roll and then subtracts the attacker's move time. EXAMPLE: If he plays a move time of "2" when three attackers are on his sheet and the fastest has a move time of "4", he adds 3 (for three attackers) plus 2 (his move time) and subtracts 4 (the attacker's move time), for a net adjustment of + 1. If he rolls "6" his final result is "7".
5.1/2 If his final result is 6 or less, he completes his action successfully. If it is 7 or more, his play is cancelled.
5.1/3 A character must also use the STUMBLE table when he flies, but only flying attackers count towards altering his die roll.

5.2 RIDING HORSES: When a character has an active horse, it is the only piece he can play to move. He cannot play MOVE chits or Boots cards to charge or run away, and he must play the horse to do his maneuver. Special: When a character or native uses a horse to maneuver, he can also play a maneuver of his own. A character can play a MOVE chit or Boots card in any Maneuver square, subject to the normal restrictions. A native is always assumed to be maneuvering with his own counter in addition to his horse (if he has one).
5.3 Characters are able to attack riders without attacking the horses they are riding (inactive horses cannot be attacked). When a character specifies a target who is riding a horse, he must specify whether he is attacking the target or his horse. Denizens continue to attack as explained in the basic rules: except for red-side-up Tremendous monsters, they always attack the horse first.
5.3/1 If he attacks the horse, his ATTENTION chit is put on the horse and the attack is resolved normally, against the horse.
5.3/2 If he attacks the rider, he must still intercept or undercut the horse's maneuver to hit the rider. If the rider also played a maneuver of his own, it merely alters the harm that the attack inflicts (see rule 5.4/2).

5.4 ATTACKS: When any attack hits, the harm it inflicts is modified by the OPTIONAL COMBAT TABLES. After calculating the harm caused by the attack's harm letter and sharpness, the attacker rolls the dice and consults the appropriate table to adjust the harm. When making a striking attack, he uses the FUMBLE table to adjust the harm. When making a missile attack, he uses the OPTIONAL MISSILE TABLE (instead of the regular MISSILE TABLE). The effects are indicated on the tables.
5.4/1 In addition to the normal modifications to his die roll, he subtracts his attack's time advantage over the target's maneuver time. If his attack did not intercept the direction of the target's maneuver, he also adds "4" to his result. His time advantage equals his target's maneuver time minus his own attack time. If the result is negative, subtracting it adds to the die roll: in effect, he adds his attack time to the die roll and subtracts the target's maneuver time. EXAMPLE: If his attack time is "2" and the target's maneuver time is "3" his time advantage is 1, subtracting 1 from the die roll. If his attack fails to intercept the target's direction, he adds "4" to make the net adjustment +3; if he rolls a 6 it becomes a 9.
5.4/2 If the target played both a horse and a maneuver of his own, the die roll is altered by both the horse's maneuver and the rider's maneuver. The attacker calculates his time advantage over each maneuver and subtracts both advantages from his die roll, and he adds "4" for each maneuver his attack does not intercept. EXAMPLE: If his attack time of "3" hits a horse and rider with move times of "5" and "2", he subtracts 2 (his advantage over the horse) and adds 1 (his disadvantage over the rider), for a net adjustment of 1. If he intercepts the rider but not the horse he adds 4, making his final adjustment + 3. If he had intercepted neither the horse nor the rider, he would add another 4, making his final adjustment +7.
5.4/3 The attacker uses the normal procedure to determine whether his attack hits; misses are removed without being rolled for. Attacks that hit armor still lose one sharpness star. The die roll is affected by the attacker's modifications, not the defenders.
5.4/4 If the defender is a character who did not play any maneuver at all, the adjustment is calculated as if he had played a move time of "8". EXAMPLE: An attack time of "1" would have an advantage of 7, subtracting 7 from the roll.

5.5 PENETRATING ARMOR: When a missile attack hits a character's armor, the harm inflicted on the character but the armor reduces the harm. The armor is not damaged or destroyed. This rule applies to all missile attacks that hit characters. Missile attacks that hit armored denizens and all striking attacks that hit armor continue to inflict harm as explained in the basic rules.
5.5/1 If the final harm exceeds Tremendous, it simply ignores the armor and kills the target. Otherwise, the harm is compared to the toughness of the armor. If the armor exceeds the harm, the attack has no effect - the target is not wounded. If the harm equals the armor, the target gets one wound but there is no further effect: he is not killed and the armor is not damaged. If the harm exceeds the armor, the harm drops one level (in addition to the sharpness star it has already lost) and the resulting harm is inflicted on the target as if he were not armored. The armor is not damaged nor destroyed. EXAMPLE: If Heavy harm hits a Medium piece of armor, the harm drops to Medium and Medium harm is inflicted on the target.
5.5/2 A missile attack can penetrate several pieces of armor, losing one level for each armor piece it penetrates. If it reaches a piece of armor it cannot penetrate, it stops. EXAMPLE: If a Tremendous missile attack hits a shield and breastplate, it drops to Heavy when it penetrates the shield and drops to Medium when it penetrates the breastplate. Medium harm is inflicted on the target.

OPTIONAL COMBAT TABLES

Explanation of the OPTIONAL COMBAT TABLES: These tables allow results from 1 to 10. If the adjusted die roll is from 1 to 10, use it to find the result. If the adjusted die roll exceeds 10, convert it to 10. If it is lower than 1, convert it to 1.

STUMBLE table: In addition to the normal die roll modifications, the character subtracts his time advantage from the die roll, and then he adds the number of attackers (denizens and ATTENTION chits) on his sheet.
completed: The character completes his action.
cancelled: The character's action is cancelled

MISSILE and FUMBLE tables: In addition to the normal die roll modifications, the attacker subtracts his time advantage from the die roll. If his attack fails to intercept, he also adds "4" to the die roll. See optional rule 5. If the result is "Negligible" harm or less, the hit inflicts no harm but it still counts as a hit: if a weapon attacks it is unalerted, if a Tremendous monster attacks it turns red side up.
increase . . . : Increase the harm inflicted by the indicated number of levels.
decrease . . . : Decrease the harm inflicted by the indicated number of levels.
no change: The harm remains unchanged.
wound: If the attack hits a character without hitting armor, the character suffers one wound. If the attack hits armor or a denizen, it has no effect.
Negligible: The hit inflicts Negligible harm.

WATCHFUL NATIVES

The Watchful Natives optional rule removes the "sucker punch" attack on natives. A similar rule ("Melee Luring") was used from the beginning with the First Edition Rules by Richard Hamblen, the game designer, but was left out of the Second Edition Rules at the last minute. The purpose of the rule is to prevent the unfettered slaughter of native groups that is possible by shrewd application of the Second Edition Rules on assignment of battling natives and targeting by characters.

Optional Rule: Watchful Natives

1. Unhired natives that are unassigned at the end of random assignment, or become unassigned when they are left behind by a character who runs away, are termed to be "watchful" against surprise attack. When an unhired native is assigned to a Melee Sheet (either his own or someone else's), he immediately stops being watchful. Monsters and hired natives are never watchful.

1.1 If a watchful native is targeted by a character in the Melee Step, the attacked native and all other watchful natives from the same native group as the target are immediately put on the character's sheet and attack normally in that round. Exception: if the character remains hidden by making his Hide roll under the Ambush advanced rule, the natives of that group remain unassigned and watchful.

1.2 If a character deploys a minion (hired native or hired or controlled monster) against a watchful native, all watchful natives of the target's group are immediately assigned to attack the character. The character finishes deploying his minions before the watchful natives are assigned. Those unhired natives who have a minion deployed against them are assigned to fight the deployed minion and stop being watchful.

1.3 In 1.1 and 1.2 above, if the character is hidden or is not in the clearing, all the watchful natives will be assigned to any unhidden minions the character has in the clearing as in Random Assignment (Rule 8.3.5a.3 [34.3/2b]) If the attacking character and all his minions are hidden (for example if the character attacks from Ambush and passes his hide roll) the watchful natives remains unassigned and watchful.

Designer's Notes and Comments:

1. The Watchful Natives Optional Rule does not change the present rules (8.3.4e and 8.4.2d.7 [30.4 and 32.7/5]) that say that if a character lures or targets an unhired native or has one of his hired natives lure or deploy against an unhired native, the target native's group is battling that character for the rest of the day. We didn't add it into this rule because it's redundant with existing Second Edition rules.

2. Part 1.1 does not imply that Watchful Natives will attack a hidden character. In the Second Edition Rules a character who targets an individual in the Melee Step immediately becomes unhidden (Rule 8.4.2b.4 [22.4/1b]). The Ambush Advanced Rule is an exception to this as explicitly covered in 1.3. [To make this clearer, we have added the Exception to rule 1.1.]

3. It is possible for some members of a native group to be watchful and others not to, but only in the following case. Berserker lures two Soldiers, Amazon lures the other two and runs away. The two Soldiers that are standing at the edge of the clearing staring at the Amazon's dust are watchful. If another character targets one of them, the other one joins in defending him. On the other hand, the two Soldiers that are assigned to the Berserker are not watchful (they're fully engaged in trying to kill the big guy). So if the Berserker (or any other character!) targets one of the unwatchful Soldiers on his sheet, the other two Soldiers who were "lured and left" don't attack him.

4. The natives become watchful after Random Assignment (or after their target runs away) because we want the Luring/Random Assignment phases to go as usual. We don't want all the natives to pile onto the first character that lures a native! That would destroy the purpose of luring. A character (or his hirelings) can still lure one or more unhired natives and leave the others unassigned. As soon as he does, of course, he will be battling the natives for the rest of the day. After everyone else has a chance to lure, Random Assignment will occur and all battling natives will be assigned to a target (if there is a battling character or one of his hireling unhidden in the clearing).

5. Natives are watchful of all characters, not just those that are battling them:

Example A: The Berserker is battling Soldiers (rolled Block/Battle at Sunset) but is hidden. The Soldiers are unassigned and watchful at the end of Random Assignment. In the Melee Step he targets one of the Soldiers, becoming instantly unhidden (Rule 8.4.2 b.4 [22.4/1b]). His target and all the other Soldiers pile on his sheet and counter-attack him in the same round (Watchful Natives Optional Rule).

Example B: Berserker is not battling the Soldiers. Soldiers are unassigned and watchful at the end of Random Assignment. In the Melee Step he attacks one of the Soldiers. He is now battling the Soldiers for the rest of the day (Rule 8.4.2d.7 [30.4]). In addition, his target and all the other Soldiers pile on his sheet and counter-attack him in the same round (Watchful Natives Optional Rule).

EXTENDED TREACHERY

This rule is intended to further protect the native groups from attack by characters who turn their hirelings on their own native group.

If a character uses a hired native to lure a member of his own native group, or deploys a native against a member of his own native group, all hired natives of that group "rebel" as described in the Treachery Rule (8.4.2g [32.7/6]).

KNIGHT'S ADJUSTMENT

This rule is an additional optional disadvantage to the Black Knight and White Knight to prevent them from becoming too powerful early in the game by exploiting their "Fear" and "Honor" advantages:

The Black Knight is "Friendly" not "Allied" with the Company. The White Knight is "Friendly" not "Allied" with the Order.

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