The Mercenary Vators of Myork aka All About Men-at-Arms by John Josten is a role playing game supplement published by Board Enterprises. Although there are some references to the publisher’s Legend Quest game, the majority of the supplement is system neutral. This is the second in the Small Bites series, and is as a result longer than all bar the first supplement in the series. For the later supplements, the expanded versions are only available for Patreon supporters.
This is a 41 page PDF which is available for free from RPGNow with one page being the front matter.
The first page of content has an Introduction to the series, the Table of Contents and the start of the Fletnern Wiki articles. The articles in this edition covers sites, military, cities and groups, all generally connected with Myork, the Anglics (said to be similar to Arthurian British but an initial impression is one more like Anglo-Saxons) and their military.
The Sounding Board is a collection of blog posts, generally on combat, the military and the Anglics.
Old Weapons and Safe Houses is a concept where characters store their second best weapons and equipment in a secondary location, so that they have access to them if they should be separated from their primary weapons.
An Island of Civilization in a Dangerous World is on the city-state of Myork and its attitude towards the rest of the world.
Adventurers vs. Soldiers considers the difference between the two, and how adventurers might have the advantage in many cases, they do not have it always.
Adventurers vs. Soldiers – Men of Steel or Wheat? continues the idea with adventurers should not really have the advantage seen in original D&D games where a single adventurer could slaughter hordes of soldiers in a single combat round.
Adventurers vs. Soldiers 2 – Weaknesses and Benefits compares both sides, especially equipment – adventurers usually have better.
Adventures vs. Soldiers 3 – Morale states that soldiers usually fight for a reason other than money.
Military Recruiting considers how fantasy nations with large standing armies might recruit such.
Offensive vs. Defense considers how most FRPGs focus on offence over defence.
Your Army is Doing What? is on what an army is doing when it isn’t fighting; hopefully something, as bored soldiers tend to stage coups.
Where are the weapons at? is how one of the first actions in civil wars and rebellions, by both sides, is to grab the weapon storage depots.
Battle Captains is on those officers who are below a general but are still influential.
Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane is a day in the life of a vator in Myork.
Wet Behind the Ears considers the man-at-arms archetype and how such tend to behave, depending on their duties.
How to Play A… Man-At-Arms and How to GM A… Man-At-Arms covers running such from both perspectives.
News of Fletnern has a brief history of Myork and Sea Stones, how a sheep owner became rich from gemstones.
The Good Life has some details on life in Myork.
Optional Rules – Flanged Maces has rules for these weapons in Legend Quest.
Gold, Silver and What!?! has the, surprisingly large amount of, equipment used by the vator in Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane.
Mass Market Magic has details of Saint Lights, a magical light source most commonly used in street lighting.
Monsters and Other Menaces has some details on unicorns and an NPC.
Silver Sense covers white steel, a steel alloy that is less useful than normal material.
Church Bells is on the Anglic pantheon.
By the Numbers has some Legend Quest material.
Campaign Starter Kit: A Squad of Misfit Mercenaries is an idea for starting a campaign based around vators. It has the background as to why the squad is comprised of misfits – necessity led to recruiting anyone – potential backgrounds for the characters, an outline for a preliminary adventure and ideas for more adventures in the campaign. All are set in the world of Fletnern.
Small Towns and City Neighbourhoods has some details on a couple of building types seen in Myork.
Tavern Talk has some in-character narration primarily on taverns and alcohol in Myork.
Pull Back the Curtain is the author discussing how a GM’s thorough knowledge of a campaign setting makes it possible for a GM to improvise on the spot.
Y?Y!Y? The Basics of Fletnern gives an overview of the different genres that can be found in different places and Soldiering in Myork considers the military of the city-state.
The PDF is bookmarked and has a Table of Contents, although neither are as thorough as they can be, covering the major sections but not the minor ones. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two column format and a few minor errors were noticed. There are a number of stock black and white illustrations; presentation is okay.
The supplement was originally intended to be about the knights of Myork, but they wound up being covered in a later supplement, The Chivalrous Knights of Myork. Despite the use of the word “mercenary” in the supplement’s title, and within it, the vators are not truly mercenaries. Landowners provide the funding for them so that they do not have to send their own family for compulsory military service but, unlike a normal mercenary, the vators don’t travel the world in companies looking for employment. They have employment, with Myork, and that’s who they stay with.
This is not exactly a coherent supplement; instead it’s a collection of articles most of which are based around the man-at-arms theme and the military, with relevant details from the Fletnern setting. Still, there is quite a bit of interesting information in it, some of which GMs could probably find useful. The Mercenary Vators of Myork aka All About Men-at-Arms can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
Leave a Reply