22GAME RULES

HOW TO GET NEW ITEMS

There are plenty of occasions for characters to acquire gear and equipment: villages and towns will always have one or more stores dedicated to weapons, armor, and useful accessories. This doesn’t mean a character can simply walk into a shop in the middle of nowhere and expect to purchase a magical crossbow, however: while basic weapons, armor, and shields should be available in most settlements, rare items should only be found in unique stores, hidden within the most dangerous of ruins, guarded by powerful monsters or offered as a reward for heroic deeds.

If you are the Game Master, see page 266 for rules and guidelines on how to create rare items, as well as several lists of premade items. A list of basic items can be found starting on page 130.

There are three main ways treasure and magical items can be handled during a Fabula Ultima campaign.

When you start playing, you should discuss which of the methods below you want to adopt; you can always change your decision later on after a few sessions.

Methods for Handling Treasure

• Classic. The GM hands out rewards as they see fit. This is probably the most common solution, but it puts a lot of responsibility on the GM's shoulders.
• Survey. The Game Master asks everyone about the kind of items they'd like their characters to find or use — perhaps the ninja would like to wear an intimidating han'nya mask (page 286), or the brawler can't wait to get her hands on a pair of fuel knuckles (page 272). Using this method, the GM has a useful list of items they can pick from when handing out rewards.
• Wishlist. This is an uncommon approach, but it can be interesting. Each Player writes a list of items they would like their character to find over the course of their career — these can be chosen from the lists of rare items in the Game Master chapter, or designed from scratch following the guidelines presented there. Then, whenever the group finds some kind of treasure or receives a reward, the Players themselves can pick from those lists and narrate what the item is — as well as why it was there.

REWARDS