W is for the Watch

Approximate time to read: 1 minutes.   

The Queen’s Watch serves a purpose as close to general policing as to be the ideal real-world comparison, but really they have little in common. Most guards of the Watch give their service in a semi-martial capacity, especially in the settlements and colonies scattered throughout the wilds of Ambria. Those in larger urban locations, like Yndaros and Thistle Hold, settle into something akin to a peace-keeping role, maintaining law and order through their presence alone.

In truth, with soldiers so close at hand, most Watch members run second-fiddle in this instance. Aside from the commanding officers most know little of the law and exercise their own brand of justice. This varies to such a degree that in some areas of a town a crime might attract severe punishment – like time in the pillory or public maiming – while in others the guard just utters a stern rebuke after extracting a suitable “fine”.

Guards of the Watch across Ambria undergo a fairly limited training regime, including basics of the law, self-defence, and instruction on key threats. Again, the latter varies wildly, as settlements in the heart of Ambria suffer far less from banditry than those on the borders while organised crime seems to focus on the largest towns mid-country and to the north.

The scarcity of people means that even disciplinary action will rarely result in anything worse than corrective duties. This means getting assigned to border duties, policing the tunnels and sewers beneath Yndaros or walking the Sleepless Path parallel to the southern limit of Davokar.

Guards of the Watch

As mentioned in H is for Hardship I created a 6-pack of dishonoured Guard of the Watch to run an adventure on the Sleepless Path. Each of the guards has served his or her time for their own reasons, and for their own reasons, they have been expelled and sent north to Thistle Hold to serve their corrective duties.

In all cases, the build has used 60 Experience and all Attributes were rolled using the 14D6 pool technique covered in A is for Attributes.

Six pre-generated Guard of the Queen’s Watch (v2, including boons)

Six pre-generated Guard of the Queen’s Watch (old v1, printer-friendly, no background image)