Welcome to my TTRPG, where you play as kids at a summer camp, investigating strange occurences and fighting for survival:
Welcome To Camp Amber Rapids!
Hidden in our world are creatures of legend, strange beasts, aliens, and many things unnamed. You and your friends are attending summer camp at Camp Amber Rapids, where mysterious events often occur. Tucked away in the Okawala Forest, this little valley where Camp Amber Rapids resides is home to many strange and mysterious creatures. Over the course of your adventure mysterious events will begin to occur, and it will be up to you and your friends to solve the mystery, face the danger, and have the adventure of a lifetime. If this is your first time playing a TTRPG, Great! There will be a section on page ten called The New Kid In Town which will dive more deeply into how Tabletop Roleplaying Games Work.
In this game you will play as kids attending camp (Alternatively you can play Camp Counselors if your GM [Game Master] Allows). First of course you must pick your name and age. While these have no mechanical value, they are important for how you roleplay your character. Create a background that ties into your Skill and Class (See below: What Do You Like To Do?). This background should be two sentences that explain who you are as a person.
When creating your character and picking what they are good at, you must determine a few things. First you must pick your Skill. The two Skills in the game are [SCHOOL] and [COOL]. The first, [SCHOOL] refers to all Rolls relating to Investigation, Awareness, Knowledge, Memory and other Intellect based rolls. The second, [COOL] refers to all Rolls made for Athletics, Agility, Tricks (Skateboarding, Aiming, etc), Social Interaction and other things that would be generally considered âCoolâ. You will pick whichever skill you wish to be good at, which will affect how successful you are at certain rolls (See below: The Adventure Begins!).
Once you are done picking your Skill, you must pick your Clique. The Cliques are divided between [SCHOOL] Cliques and [COOL] Cliques and while you likely will pick a Clique that matches your chosen skill, you donât necessarily have to, as you could have a very Nerdy Goth or a very Rad Goth. The list below is not all there is, as you can make up any Clique that fits your idea for your character, the ones below are merely examples. Whatever Clique you decide on, you will be able to make Proficiency Rolls (See Below: The Adventure Begins!) for any rolls that apply to your Clique (i.e. A Jock would be able to make a proficiency roll for running away from a giant bug as he is athletic)
D&D Player/Tabletop Gamer
Example Finished Character: Helga, a 14 year old [Goth] kid who loves folklore and magic. Her skill is [SCHOOL]. Her dad made her come to Camp Amber Rapids but she is engrossed in her book and cares little for socialization. [Items: A book containing Folklore about Strange Creatures +1]
This is what a finished character sheet looks like. It contains details about her personality and background and expresses both her Skill and Clique.
You will notice a spot at the end for Items. While you donât keep track of every single individual item you may have during your course of the adventure, certain items that are of significance or might be helpful to the adventure (Items include Tools such as Knives, Matches, Flashlights or Specialized items such as Maps, Books or Compass) should be noted. We will go into further detail about how Items work later (See Below: The Adventure Begins!). When making your character however you should have one item at the most. Make sure to write down other Items of note (With GM permission) as the adventure continues.
Now that your character has been created, you are ready to adventure. With the help of your GM, you will be transported to a land of mystery and monsters⌠But of course you must know the rules of the game to play (If you want to know more specifically on running the game, see below: How to Run the Game) There are a few different sections to discuss:
Skill Rolls: Most of your time as adventurers, you will be making various Skill Rolls to solve the mysteries of Camp Amber Rapids. Whenever something is uncertain, difficult or requires effort, your GM may call for you to make a skill roll. Alternatively you may also ask the GM to make a skill roll. Skill Rolls involve a few parts. First there is the action you are trying to take.
Hiking up a steep and dangerous hill, using a map to find the hidden cave, following tracks in the woods, convincing the camp counselors to allow you to go inside the abandoned Cabin are all actions which require Skill Rolls.
Once the action you intend to take is declared, the GM will determine whether the roll is a [SCHOOL] roll or a [COOL] Roll. Then you must make a skill roll. This involves you rolling two 6 sided dice. If you have the specific Skill that is currently being rolled for, you will take the higher of the two numbers. If you do not, you will take the lower of the two numbers.
If James was a [Cool] Jock trying to make a jump across a chasm [COOL ROLL], and he rolled a 5 and a 2, he would take the 5. Alternatively if he was trying to decipher the strange map which leads to The Nest [SCHOOL ROLL] and rolled a 5 and a 2 he would take the two
Then you will compare the outcome of your Roll with the difficulty set by your GM. Each action you attempt to take will have some level of difficulty. This difficulty level is from 1-6. 1 is an automatic success, whereas 6 is very hard. Most skill rolls will be 3-4, being somewhat challenging but doable. Any difficulties 7 or higher cannot be done unaided and you will fail unless you have an item to help reduce the difficulty (See Items below). Once compared, if your roll is equal to or higher than the difficulty set by the GM, you succeed. Otherwise you fail. The GM will then explain the consequences of your actions, good or badâŚ
Proficiency Rolls: Proficiency Rolls reflect your specific skillset, which is summed up in your Clique. Whenever you make a skill roll, you can ask to make a Proficiency Roll as well. To be allowed to make a Proficiency Roll, the roll you are making must fall under your character's Clique (A computer nerd trying to hack the camp database, the cheerleader doing acrobatics, etc). If the GM agrees it does, you are allowed to make the proficiency roll. When making the proficiency roll, you will keep your original roll, then roll an additional six sided die. If either your Skill Roll, or your Proficiency Roll is greater than the difficulty, you succeed.
Jeremy is a [COOL] Hunting Kid who is tracking down Sasquatch via his footprints [SCHOOL]. He rolls to follow and rolls a 1 and a 2 on a difficulty of 4. However, as a hunter the GM agreed he could make a Proficiency Roll, which he got a 5 on. Therefore he succeeded.
Combat: While indeed you generally want to avoid fights, sometimes they are inevitable. Whether itâs bullies or Big Bugs, you need to know how to defend yourself. Combat is generally streamlined with a few things to do. First everyone rolls to see what order they will go in. Whoever initiated combat will be able to make the first move, if both initiated at once, it will be decided arbitrarily by the GM. Rather than individual turns you will act as a group in combat with each player taking one Action each. Once all players actions have been expended, the teams turn is over and the enemies turn begins.
Distance in Combat: Distance in combat can vary widely, with some encounters being confined to a tiny corridor while others may span over an entire lakeshore. When trying to move about, the GM must determine your distance from certain locations. They will either label them NEAR which means you can interact with them on your turn, FAR which means you must spend your action to move there, and TOO FAR which usually means it cannot be reached anytime soon. Alternatively when a GM rules something is TOO FAR, they can determine exactly how many turns you must spend moving there to reach there.
Actions to take in Combat:
Attack: You attempt to deal damage to a target. If using a Melee weapon or unarmed, they must be within NEAR range, if using a ranged weapon, they must be within FAR range. When making a Melee attack, Both you and the defender must roll for [COOL]. Additionally if you are using a weapon (Which will be explored in more detail under Items) you can reduce your opponents roll by its bonus (i.e. a +1 Bat would reduce the opponents roll by 1). Once both scores have been calculated, whoever has the higher score wins, and can deal damage to the opponent equal to their score minus the score of the loser (James final roll is a 5, while the giant squirrels final roll is a 2. James deals 5-2 Damage to the squirrel, which is 3 damage). If both of you tie, the attacker may choose to have no damage dealt, or for both individuals to take 1 point of damage. Ranged attacks work the same way, however whoever is shooting cannot deal damage on a tie. Also, the defender cannot deal damage back if they roll higher than the attacker. You must have a clear line of sight, and if the target chose to Run this turn rather than take another action, you will have -1 to your attack roll.
Run: When you take the Run action you attempt to move to a location that is not within NEAR range. You cannot take other actions while moving, as this constitutes you using your turn to run. You must also make any Skill Rolls if you are navigating terrain that may be difficult, only if your GM calls for it. Moving to objects NEAR you is not considered a move action as it does not require a significant amount of moving to do so. If you take additional Run actions on consecutive turns, You will be forced to make Difficulty 4 [COOL] Rolls to keep up pace each turn after the first. On a success you continue running, on a failure you will be forced to catch your breath, losing your next turns Action and having a -1 to All Rolls until the end of your next turn.
Interact/Skill Roll: During your turn you may attempt a Skill Roll to do other things not specifically combat related (Locking a door to stop a tentacle creature from getting in, Climbing a tree to escape the giant snake). Whatever you may be trying to do, it behaves like a regular skill roll with all of the regular rules. If another character is actively trying to oppose your roll, you will make opposed rolls (similar to attacking) and whoever rolls higher succeeds (On a tie the individual who initiated the roll succeeds). The GM determines how the outcome affects combat. Sometimes your skill roll might end up dealing damage (Pushing a boulder down to crush a giant mutant frog). The GM will determine how much damage is dealt as well as everything else.
Help: Teamwork makes the Dream Work, and as a team you often must work together. When one of your fellow players attempts to make a roll, you can use your action to help them, describing how you intend to aid your fellow player (i.e. Distracting an enemy so that your friend can attack them). If the GM agrees it makes sense, the player you are helping gains a -1 to the difficulty of their roll or if opposed, a -1 to the opposing roll. A maximum of -2 can be on a roll from the Help Action, so three people helping will not provide a greater bonus than two. Outside of Combat, Helping another player is shown by making the Skill Roll with them and taking the higher of the two rolls.
Health: In this game, health doesnât represent your vitality as much as your endurance. Each Camper has 8 health, though your GM may allow you to have more or less health depending on the character and circumstances. You can take damage from the natural environment as a consequence of failing a Skill Roll (Falling from the tree you were hiding in) or from Combat as seen earlier. Damage is recorded and once you hit 0, you are unable to continue with your injuries and fall unconscious. This however does not usually mean you are dead. In this game death is narrative and should only happen during important parts if at all. However, falling to 0 Health means you can no longer do anything until you have had a rest period. A rest period can be any number of hours with low to minimal activity, where the players recuperate and reorganize. For every hour rested, the players may regain +1 Health. However, falling to 0 Health can still have lasting effects on your character in the form of injuries. While these should be rare in the game, if the damage you sustained is severe enough, you retain an injury. You will write down the injury like this: Sprained Ankle, -1. This shows which part of your body is injured and the penalty incurred when trying to do something that would put strain on that part of the body. The GM will also determine how long it will take to heal from the injury, though for shorter games, some of the injuries may last all adventure long. Alternatively if you wish for a more forgiving system of healing injuries, Once you reach maximum Health, all of your injuries are cured.
Items: Items are incredibly useful when solving mysteries, from maps to flashlights. While most items you have are not tracked, specific items of note are. When writing them you will give a description of the item and note the bonus it gives to the roll (i.e. A large flashlight with long lasting batteries +1). When making a roll which uses the item, you can subtract its bonus from the difficulty of the roll, making it easier to complete. There are three classes of items with varying bonuses
+1- Almost all items that Campers have access to. Basic tools and items.
+2- High grade professional material that a Camper would likely not have easy access to.
+3- An item with strange abilities that goes beyond ordinary power.
Food is usually not an issue while you are in the actual Camp, but if you journey off into the woods and decide to bring food with you, your GM will determine how long your food will last you in the wilderness before you have to start foraging [SCHOOL]. The food you have is also considered an item that will be called FOOD SUPPLY, the contents of which are up to the players and GM. The FOOD SUPPLY will be followed by the amount of days it will last.
Running Out: Each day after running out of the FOOD SUPPLY, your maximum health decreases by 1 until you eat or you drop to zero, in which case you will not have energy to go on and your fate will be up to the GM. Once you are able to eat a day's worth of food each day, each day your maximum Health will increase by 1 until it eventually reaches its original maximum.
Water If you have a canteen, you can carry with you a day's worth of water. Refilling it allows you another day's worth of water. Must be refilled daily. If you go a day without water, you will lose health just like running out of FOOD SUPPLY, except you lose 2 Health per day rather than 1.
Character Development: Sometimes, no, a lot of the time people change. As your characters develop, their interests might change. While drastic changes might not occur overnight, if you are running longer games, perhaps adventures that take place over multiple summers, the characters might change. If you believe your character should develop, you may check with your GM and ask, and they allow you, you can change your Skill and Clique to better represent your character's changes.
While you may get an idea of how this game plays out based on the contents of this rulebook, this might be your first time ever playing a roleplaying game. And thatâs okay! We were all that person at one point. While this section will try to cover the basics of how Tabletop Roleplaying Games work, I would also highly recommend watching videos of people who play TTRPGâs such as the channel Critical Role and Dimension 20 on Youtube. It allows you to see firsthand for yourself how a game would play out. Below will be a RPG Dictionary and A hypothetical scene showing how the GM Interacts with players as well as a guide to the types of encounters you will face
TTRPG: Tabletop Roleplaying Game. A collaborative storytelling game which consists of a Game Master and their Players creating an interactive story, using dice or other randomizers to help determine outcomes.
GM: Game Master. This is the person who runs the game, creates the story, and acts as Narrator, acting out NPCs and explaining the consequences of players actions.
Player: This is the actual person playing the game. The amount of players at a table is usually 2-6 though of course that can vary drastically.
PC: Player Character. This is the personality you are playing in the game, distinct from yourself.
NPC: A Non Player Character who is controlled by the GM. They might be friend, they might be foe, who knowsâŚ
BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy. This is a joking term the players use to describe the main antagonist of their Campaign.
d4 d6 d8 d10 d12 d20 d100: These are the common dice found in your tabletop games. d stands for Dice and the number after that represents how many sides it has and thus the range of numbers. In Camps & Cryptids, we use two d6 dice for most of our rolls, which means we use six sided dice for our rolls.
Crits and Nat 1: Whenever you roll the highest possible roll, it is called a Critical Success or a Crit for short. This means the best possible thing that could happen happens. Alternatively, if you roll the lowest possible roll that is a Nat 1 and means you automatically fail and fail miserably. While these are not official rules of Camps & Cryptids, they are highly encouraged as they add dynamic twists and turns to the game.
Campaign: The entire story that your PCs go on, from start to finish. Some campaigns last a week, others can last real years.
Sessions: These are the meetings where you get together to play. They can range from 1 hour to 12 hours depending on your availability, though the longer the session, the more you will be able to. Think about them as episodes of your Campaign, little parts of the whole. Especially for long sessions you should bring snacks or order a meal.
One Shot: A campaign whose story is brief enough to be resolved in one Session. These can be fun hooks for people interested in gaming without wishing to commit themselves to numerous sessions. Sometimes really fun One Shots can spin off into full blown Campaigns.
Dice Goblin: Someone who has become addicted to hoarding dice
Dice Dragon: Someone who has so many dice in their collection that it has become a massive hoard of expensive and odd dice.
In the following encounter you will see Brianna (Player) and Jeffrey (Game Master) playing a session of Camps & Cryptids. In this you will see the recurring interaction of:
The GM describes the scene to the players.
The player describes their Action and rolls if necessary
The GM determines the outcome
Jeffrey (GM): In your search to find the lair of the Manticore that has been eating the campers, you come across a set of large footprints leading off into the distance
Brianna (P): Is the trail of footprints easily distinguishable?
Jeffrey (GM): Unfortunately, thanks to the heavy rainfall that swept through the camp, the footprints are hard to distinguish. If you make a [SCHOOL] roll to investigate the footprints, you might be able to find where they lead.
Brianna (P): Okay, since my character has [SCHOOL] as her skill I have a good chance of succeeding, Iâll do it! What is the difficulty?
Jeffrey (GM): Okay, the difficulty is set to 5 since it's very faint.
Brianna (P): Since my character is a girl scout, can I make a proficiency roll as well?
Jeffrey (GM): Yeah sure, that makes sense, roll Proficiency as well
[She Rolls. Her Skill roll is a 3 and a 2. Not enough. However her Proficiency Roll was a 6, meaning Success for her]
Jeffrey (GM): Well alright! You managed to follow the trail through the thick branches of the trees and successfully make it to the Manticores lairâŚ
This is a type of encounter you may very well experience during your time playing the game. During it, we see the player interact with the GM, make rolls, and see how their actions affect the story. There are three main types of encounters which you should know about:
Adventuring Encounters: Rolling with various skills to investigate, traverse, etc as seen above.
Combat Encounters: Where players battle enemies (Explained in The Adventure Begins)
Social Encounters: The hardest of the three for many players. During Social Encounters, the Roleplay aspect comes to life as you must speak as your character, interacting with NPCs, who are played by the GM and your fellow players. It is important to clarify whether you are speaking as your character or speaking as yourself. Social Encounters will have you making rolls to persuade, deceive, charm, etc. As well as rolls you will likely have to act out what you are doing, though if it ever gets uncomfortable, let your GM know. If it makes you uncomfortable to act it out, you can describe what your character does.
Again this is only a brief introduction to the world of Roleplaying Games and there are tons of resources online available to help you get started.
This section, in fact, is not going to tell you how to run the game. Why? Because in the end it is your game to run. This will give you some pointers, and for the most part, additional information to make the game easier to run for your players. It will show you how to run NPCs and Creatures, as well as tell you a little bit about Camp Amber Rapids. If you need a full course on how to GM, there are lots of books and resources online dedicated to it.
The first rule is to break the rules: As GM you donât need to listen to what I tell you. These rules are here to help you as GM run games of this nature. However, if a rule isnât to your liking, get rid of it! Do you want gritty violent combat where players have 3 Health and everyone dies? Do it! Do you not want to keep track of food or water? Donât! While rules provide a framework to build the experience, if you want to change something, do it.
The second rule is itâs okay to say no and itâs okay to say yes. Sometimes a player wishes to do something that is impossible. Itâs okay to tell them no or to set the difficulty to 10. Some actions are impossible. Likewise itâs okay to say yes. If you think it would be fun and make sense in your story, let them do it. So what if itâs not realistic? Itâs a game that's meant to be fun.
The third rule is to get good at improv. Sure making nice and tidy plans is fun, but sometimes you just need to wing it. Sometimes it's more fun that way. Be flexible and allow your players to be creative. That's usually how the best stories emerge.
NPCs: in this game NPC refers to any human character not played by a Player. You will be running these characters and the easy part is you can make them like a player would make a character. But also with the character, keep a section for SECRETS which is information the NPC knows that the players donât. During investigations they may talk to the person and learn new information if the NPC is willing. Others might be harder to crack. Always think about how their secrets might affect their behavior around the players and in general.
Cryptids: A cryptid refers to any Creature whose existence is not verified, often deriving some mythical or magical origin, though not always. While Cryptid in its rigid sense refers only to physical creatures of myth, the game also has options for things such as Spirits, Fae and Aliens as potential focuses. The game primarily focuses on Cryptids however, feel free to play however you want.
An Important Note: While battling Cryptids sounds cool as heck, Sometimes you can find alternatives to combat. Sometimes the creature means no harm. Sometimes the creature is too powerful and must be dealt with through other means that direct combat
Designing a Cryptid: When creating a Cryptid, you must determine a few things: Its health, Its skill, and its Traits. It also should have some flavor text related to folklore.
Health: Some Cryptids can be small and have very little health, while others can have lots of health. This will usually be in degrees of 8. A human level threat has 8 Health. Something twice as large has around 16 Health. Nessie would have around 40 Health. Another thing to determine is if they regenerate health. Perhaps over the adventure they must wear down the beast to defeat it, with it retreating after losing too much health. Others with less Health might regenerate much like humans, perhaps even quicker. Regeneration per hour will be listed by health as #R. 0R means no healing takes place. Note if it has a Flee statistic. #F represents how much damage it will take before attempting to run away. NF means that it refuses to flee
Skill: A cryptids skill might be very different from a human skill but they behave similar. If a roll applies to a cryptidâs skill, they take the higher
number, if it does not, they roll lower. Bigfoot for instance, has the skill [MONSTROUS STATURE]. In combat, if their skill is benefiting their ability to fight, they use the higher roll, otherwise they use the lower for all attacking and defending rolls
Traits: Traits work exactly like items, except they refer to specific physical features that benefit them. The Kraken has [Writhing Tentacles +3]
Skill: [MONSTROUS STATURE]
Traits: [Inhuman Strength +1] [Speed +1]
A bipedal ape-like figure of huge size first seen in Pacific Northwest America. He may be dangerous, he may be docile, we truly canât say
Traits: [Speed +2] [Powerful Jaws +1]
Myths of this creature originated in Mexico. A bloodsucking beast similar to that of a wolf or coyote but thin to the bone with scaly skin and sometimes other more reptilian features, sometimes less.
Skill: [Harbinger of Doom]
Traits: [Flight +2] [Future Sight +3]
The Mothman was spotted numerous times in the period leading up to a tragedy in the town, when a bridge collapsed killing 46 people. He disappeared after. Some say he was the bringer of misfortune and doom, others say he only warned of itâŚ
Traits: [Inhuman Strength +2] [Sense Meat +2]
They used to be human⌠Until Greed and Cannibalism overtook them, and they were transformed into this horrific monster. An emaciated giant up to 15 feet tall, with antlers and a skull like face, these⌠things are out of a nightmare.
Skill: [Aquatic Dinosaur]
Traits: [Gigantic Size: +3] [Swim Speed +3]
A mythical creature from Scottish folklore dating back to the seventh century, The Loch Ness Monster, Lovingly referred to as Nessie, is a Long neck Plesiosaur. It is rarely aggressive, except when it feels it is being attacked, in which case it will defend itself.
Traits: [Gigantic Size: +3] [Swim Speed +3][Writhing Tentacles +3]
A legendary beast from Scandinavian Folklore, it is a massive squid beyond anything ever seen before. It symbolizes primarily the fear of the unknown and the force of nature.
For an adventure set in a camp, we havenât talked much about the actual camp, because its history and layout is for you to decide. However, there are some locations and concepts key to Amber Falls that you should feel free to use however you wish in your adventurers.
Leading into the Palowani Lake is the Amber Rapids from which the Camps name is derived. It gets the amber hue from the various minerals found in the river bed, causing it to turn a strange orangish color. After âThe Incidentâ, no camper has been allowed near the Amber Rapids, which are on the other side of the Palowani Lake from the campgrounds.
This incident involved the death of a camper. What happened? Thatâs for you to decide! The Amber Rapids hold a place in history in every single Campaign, and the incident can be whatever you choose for it to be, if you even want it to be relevant at all.
Near the base of the Rapids is a vast system of mineshafts set up in the 1800s to mine the various expensive minerals. After encountering something down in the mines, the operation had to be cancelled and the personnel evacuated. No one ever spoke of it again and records show very little. The only way to figure out what happened is to go in yourselfâŚ
The lake is one of campers favorite places to relax and swim. But be sure not to go too deep into the water⌠Fish and⌠Other things lurk in the depths⌠waiting⌠For any water based cryptids, this massive lake can be home to whatever creatures you wantâŚ
A longstanding tradition is for the team that loses capture the flag on the opening night of Camp to elect a group of kids to run the Flag of Shame through the forest up to Bademans Hill.
The amount and names of Cabins is up to you, but the general formula for them is [Blue/Red] [Animal], such as the Red Wolves or Blue Hawks. Each Cabin has one Camp Counselor and 9 Campers. The Cabins on Blue Team have competitions against those on Red Team, with some varying degrees of punishment for losing.
Use this formula to get started making the adventure
âWhat Mystery do our players face?â
âWhat Dangers await them?â
âWho can give them information?â
âWhat events can raise the stakes?â
âHow will they be triumphant?â
I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for playing my game. This has been a labor of love and has gone through many phases before becoming the game it is today. Have fun and enjoy!
