# Game Master’s Guide > **Major spoilers ahead.** The Game Master’s Guide reveals adventure locations, encounters and behind-the-scenes systems. Even if you’re testing the game, we recommend playing through the first four adventures once before reading further. Explore the world first; consult this guide when you’re ready to see its secrets. A working reference for testers and designers of **Tales from Oddwater**. This volume explains the systems beneath the player rules and maps the current adventure library at location level. It intentionally leaves creature dossiers to the [Monster Manual](/monster-manual/) and individual puzzle solutions to the design vault. The reference includes implemented development through **Build 25**, reviewed **28 October 2026**. It describes current source behavior, not an announcement of availability on every platform. ## The campaign model The Company owns heroes, gold, provisions, shared consumables, learned spells, equipment, attire, artifacts, Reputation and earned access. Each adventure owns its expedition difficulty, position, branch decisions, resolved encounters, camps, story records and pending results. Switching books in Town brings the current Company into the selected expedition. Returning after defeat retains the unfinished book and unresolved encounter. Temple recovery and resurrection permit resuming it; previously visited unfinished records remain resumable, while never-started and completed books are excluded. A new expedition resets only that adventure’s run. It preserves other books, permanent progression and ownership, and restores living active heroes. Fallen heroes remain fallen. Master+ is fixed replay difficulty, not a compounding prestige reset. The first four populated adventures participate in the Company-wide difficulty gate. Earning the next tier requires the previous tier in every required book, and a book must also have its own preceding tier complete. Earned entitlements remain permanent. Development previews and unavailable future books do not join that gate. Old saves keep committed outcomes and earned access. New content does not backfill rewards or force encounters behind a cleared location. Fresh expeditions are the complete-content review path. ## Advancement and economy For level L, Attack training A, Health training H, Resource training R, weapon rank W and armor rank D: - Maximum HP = base HP + 3(L - 1) + 3H. - Attack = base Attack + L - 1 + A + active-adventure Attack buffs. - Base AC = base AC + compatible legacy equipped armor bonus + D. - Ordinary damage = base die + base bonus + compatible legacy equipped weapon bonus + W. - Maximum resource = base mana/stamina + R. A zero-MP hero uses stamina, normally 2 unless explicitly configured; mana has minimum base capacity 2. - Initiative and damage die do not rise with level/training. Weapon upgrades do not improve learned spell dice. Level cap is **12**. Every advancement is chosen at the Guild, costs 60 × current level XP, subtracts that amount, raises the level and adds 3 current HP only if alive. Level 2 costs 60 XP. Reward grants and Wishing Well XP never promote heroes automatically or add level-up HP. Existing levels and XP survive unchanged; no retroactive XP deduction applies. First recruitment minimum levels are Xov 3, Juniper 4, Holga 5 and Kobol 6. A conversation configured for Company catch-up also uses the lowest active level when higher. Higher existing roster levels are preserved. Recruitment grants normal level-scaled HP/starter equipment without purchased training or gear and never replaces an active slot. Xov joins on Woods completion; Juniper on Holding Rooms conversation Finish/Skip; Holga on her kitchen conversation; Kobol on his Town Hall Square conversation. Repeated recruitment is idempotent. Levels are chosen at the Guild, never automatically on earning XP. The Player’s Handbook carries the full training, spell and shop price tables. Gold is Company-wide. Each living active recipient receives the full awarded XP, not a party share; reserves and fallen heroes receive none. Ordinary tier rewards use ceiling rounding. Company benefits and explicit encounter adjustments apply only to their intended reward channels. A committed receipt records the amount actually granted; reopening, saving or changing future balance never pays it again. New ordinary challenge failures grant no positive gold, XP, supplies, items, chest roll or benefit flag. Harmful consequences and required-route resolution remain authored behavior. Previously saved historical rewards are not clawed back. Ordinary chest bonuses use one d6: 6 succeeds, or 5–6 with Supply Cache. A selected full stack converts to the configured overflow gold without rerolling. Combat chests use the encounter reward path rather than also granting ordinary treasure. Paid lodging attaches one nonstacking Rested benefit to the next entered expedition: +10% qualifying earned XP, ceiling rounded after other adjustments. Free recovery neither consumes nor creates it. Moonbones and Arena have separate reward accounting; neither becomes ordinary adventure XP. ## Combat resolution An ordinary encounter rolls two D6 for each side before any action. The higher side gains the total difference as Initiative for the battle. Ties give no bonus. Sort by adjusted Initiative, then base Initiative, then stable roster order. Saved openings retain the roll and order. Wick’s current guided opening uses this ordinary initiative flow for its two playable rounds; the historical immediate-defeat fixture remains separate. An attack compares natural d20 + Attack + action accuracy + applicable target exposure − active accuracy penalties against effective AC. Natural 1 fumbles; natural 20 hits critically. Critical damage maximizes the die without multiplying the bonus. Automatic spell effects do not make that attack roll. Personal Defend or Vanish contributes its applicable defense; ordinary Guard and Shield Wall use their larger protection rather than stacking. Temporary AC reductions and encounter protection apply separately. Defended only mitigates effects that explicitly consult it. For positive pre-element damage **A**, weakness alone gives **max(1, floor((3A + 1) / 2))**; resistance alone gives **max(1, floor(A / 2))**. Both or neither retain the ordinary nonnegative amount. Physical resistance is a separate defense. Final HP loss is capped at remaining HP. Turn-start effects resolve in order: Burning, creature regeneration, Poison, Briar Balm, then captivity and control skips. A lethal earlier effect prevents later healing. Frozen, Locked and Goat skips overlap rather than queuing extra turns. The Ward Gaoler’s authored lock lasts two personal turns; ordinary locks default to one. The Player’s Handbook describes condition behavior. The Monster Manual retains each creature’s exact immunity, action profile, timing, probabilities and exceptions. In particular, a timed action can replace a whole multiattack action, and a skipped exact timing window is not an automatic delayed cast. Current fullscreen combat history is one compact event line beneath initiative, with dedicated arrows that browse events and recall result details without advancing combat. Very long displayed captions shorten to the measured width; complete stored event records remain authoritative. The older three-row phone/four-row Standard history belongs only to the retained comparison layout. Battle effects bind to committed actors and recipients. Actual protection displays BLOCK; ordinary misses display MISS. Terminal Victory/Defeat clears stale transient feedback. Atir’s preparation gathers fire at his mouth; Furnace Breath owns the outgoing blast. These presentation distinctions do not alter creature statistics or mechanics. Dice, contact effects, sound and condition captions reveal existing results; they do not generate a second attack or new randomness. Loading preserves resolved outcomes and pending continuations, not an identical future random stream. ## Difficulty and enemy tuning Enemy tuning does not scale automatically to party purchases or hero level. The selected tier supplies fixed modifiers. Explicit creature overrides replace only their listed base fields before scaling; unspecified fields inherit. A Basic-only override does not carry into higher tiers. | Tier | HP × | AC + | Attack + | Damage + | Rewards × | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | | Basic | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | Advanced | 2.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1.8 | | Expert | 3.3 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 2.8 | | Master | 4.5 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 4 | | Master+ | 6 | 15 | 10 | 14 | 6 | **Maximum HP:** ceiling(adjusted base HP × tier HP), then any explicit maximum-HP multiplier with ceiling rounding. **AC:** base AC + tier defense. **Attack:** adjusted base Attack + tier Attack. **Ordinary damage bonus:** adjusted base bonus + ceiling(tier damage × creature damage fraction). The default fraction is 1. Die and Initiative remain unchanged unless an authored rule says otherwise. Timed and weighted actions keep their own dice and tier-damage fractions. An explicit outgoing multiplier applies after the action’s ordinary calculation; the Monster Manual labels it separately from its dice expression. Temporary rage, growth, flight and encounter auras are not baked into the baseline stat line. Existing positive soft status chances receive the tier’s soft increment, up to a 60% cap. Ordinary control effects receive their control increment, up to 50%; resisted Freeze uses its own increment without exceeding the normal chance. Formula: **p + min(increase, max(0, cap − p))**. Zero stays absent; an authored chance already above the cap is preserved. Fixed effects and player chances do not inherit this ramp. New battles freeze the resolved tuning in their combat snapshot. Interrupted battles continue with their saved profiles. This prevents a balance change from rewriting a fight halfway through it. ## Challenges, travel and persistence A challenge check is d20 + base modifier + each eligible modifier against DC. Requirements must all be met; alternatives within a requirement use their authored rule. Skill names are approach categories, not separately trained hero attributes. Natural 1 and 20 do not override success. The raw natural-20 reward bonus applies only to a successful ordinary d20 check with positive awarded gold or XP. It adds 10%, rounded up after other scaling. Explicit risk bonuses of 25% or 50% apply before it. Neither rule changes supplies, item counts or chest odds; answer-only puzzles and chance hazards do not qualify. Results commit before presentation and restore from receipts. Success and failure can both resolve a required point; Leave makes no roll and leaves it unresolved. Nonlethal injury floors living heroes at 1 HP and cannot revive. Resource loss clamps to available stock. Receipts report actual changes, not hypothetical costs. Map inspection is separate from travel permission. Mandatory obstacles, physical entry/exit permissions and exclusive branches still apply. Normal map arrival uses the entrance; authored passages can name a counterpart anchor. Closing a preview or restoring a save preserves exact position. A campaign has explicit Quick Save, Venture Forth Auto-save, three manual slots and separate interruption recovery. A successful explicit Save or Load establishes the discard checkpoint. Venture Forth and interruption recovery do not move it. Save-slot deletion preserves the running adventure and independent slots; campaign deletion is a separate confirmed operation. Reports, bestiary counts and reward history never generate new rewards on readback. Fled creatures are not defeated creatures. Reviving an original enemy does not duplicate its identity or reward receipt. Practice and developer verification must remain isolated from player saves. ## Passive exploration and group perception Party chatter and Perception checks are optional, nonblocking exploration content. Only living active heroes can speak; character-specific lines remain tied to that hero. Speakers rotate through the eligible party. The panel does not choose movement, unlock a route, complete a required interaction or award ordinary challenge rewards. Each Perception check uses one Company d20. The current twelve checks use **+0 against DC 12**; natural 1 and 20 are ordinary results. Success grants **exactly 2 XP to each living active hero captured at commitment**. Difficulty, Rested, risk and natural-20 reward bonuses do not apply. Failure gives no reward and no penalty; chatter gives no reward. Neither automatically buys a level. The result, speaker, text and recipient identities commit before presentation. Each placement happens once per expedition; reopening, changing party, returning from Town or loading committed progress never grants it again. Interrupted checks restore their settled result. The panel can pause beneath a menu without owning its controls; leaving its display area ends the presentation. Its die spins in place without changing global dice preferences. Legacy expeditions consume new placements in already-visited locations without rewards, including inactive books. Unvisited locations remain eligible. A fresh expedition resets the placement history. Normal explicit checkpoint restoration still restores that checkpoint’s receipt and XP history. The first four books contain **40 chatter placements and 12 Perception checks**. The atlas lists their counts by location, without revealing observations or dialogue. Shared definitions and adventure-owned placements retain stable identities, eligibility and once-per-expedition receipts. ## The current adventure atlas Ten books, one Company. This is a structural inventory of current modules: locations, their authored interactions and encounter rosters. It is not a walkthrough. No answer keys, clue mappings, dialogue transcripts or reward solutions are included. **Books 1–4:** populated story adventures. **Book 5:** traversal plus provisional content. **Book 6:** traversal, Four Reflections and tarot with remaining content in development. **Books 7–10:** unavailable cover previews with no implemented locations. Artwork or an introduction film alone does not establish playable content. ### The Forsaken Woods Book 1 · Populated adventure Woodland roads, rival paths and the beginning of the Company’s journey. #### The Old Road Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Road Cache — Treasure - Road Mark — Combat (required): Stump Crawler × 1, Brambling × 2 #### The Divided Trail Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Wayside — Event - The Spinning Signpost — Challenge - The One-Eyed Jack — Treasure - The Divided Trail — Event #### Briar Crossing Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Wayside — Event - Briar Crossing — Combat (required): Briar sneak × 3 #### The Charcoal Burner Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Weathered chest — Combat: Giant Spider × 1 - Smoke Against the Wind — Challenge - Charcoal Burner — Conversation - The Charcoal Burner — Event #### The Broken Cart Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Wayside — Event - The Broken Wagon — Challenge - Something Under the Axle — Combat (required): Stump Crawler × 1, Briar sneak × 1 - The Broken Cart — Treasure - The Broken Cart — Travel #### Mossy Glade Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Wayside — Event - Wormface — Combat (required): Briar sneak × 2, Wormface × 1 - Mossy Glade — Camp #### The Dawn Stones Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Wayside — Event - Shattered Dawn — Combat: Shattered Sentinel × 2 - The Dawn Stones — Puzzle #### The Fallen Bridge Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Wayside — Event - Moonbones Travelers — Challenge - River Cache — Treasure - The Fallen Bridge — Combat (required): Woodland raider × 3 #### The Forsaken Watchtower Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Wayside — Event - The Forsaken Watchtower — Combat (required): Hollow warden × 1, Dawn Sentinel × 2 #### The Sealed Road Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Wayside — Event - Xov — Conversation (required) - The Sealed Road — Combat (required): Veyr, the Sealbound × 1 ### The Heart of the Forest Book 2 · Populated adventure A wounded forest and a wizard’s tower, where roots and wards have opinions. #### The Sycamore Approach Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Granny Thistle — Conversation - The Wounded Sycamore — Discovery - Gloam Wings — Combat (required): Gloam Grifflet × 2 - The Sycamore Approach — Travel #### The Deep Dark Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Rootbound Coffer — Challenge - A Nest Best Left Alone — Combat: Owlbear Mother × 1, Owlbear Cub × 1 - Black-Sap Snare — Challenge (required) - The Deep Dark — Travel #### Heartwood Clearing Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Fresh Axe Scars — Discovery - Root and Wing — Combat: Stump Crawler × 1, Gloam Grifflet × 1 - The Turning Ward — Challenge (required) - Heartwood Clearing — Travel #### The Tower Vestibule Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - A Very Firm Welcome — Discovery - Uninvited Guests — Combat (required): Ward Mite × 3 - The Tower Vestibule — Travel #### The Great Hall Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - The Welcoming Sideboard — Camp - The Drowsing Casket — Challenge - A Smaller Intruder — Discovery - The Great Hall — Travel #### The Endless Library Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Lost in the Stacks — Challenge (required) - Overdue Company — Combat (required): The Index Warden × 1 - The Endless Library — Travel #### The Alchemist's Floor Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - A Strange Brew — Challenge - Quality Control — Combat (required): Ward Mite × 2 - The Distillation Drawer — Treasure - The Alchemist's Floor — Travel #### The Holding Rooms Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Containment One — Discovery - Containment Two — Discovery - A Suspicious Goat — Conversation (required) - Unregistered Ungoating — Combat (required): The Ward Gaoler × 1 - The Holding Rooms — Travel #### The Heart Chamber Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Offerings to the Heart — Treasure - A Fresh Wound — Discovery - The Last Axe-Stroke — Combat (required): Thul, the Woodsman × 1 - Still Beating — Conversation (required) - The Heart Chamber — Travel #### The Wizard's High Chamber Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - The Last Locked Door — Challenge (required) - Prodigus of the Upper Window — Conversation (required) - The Wizard's High Chamber — Travel ### The Lost Dungeons Book 3 · Populated adventure Rival ruins, underground halls and dangers that have not stayed buried. #### Crooked Mile Road Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Troll Toll — Combat (required): Troll × 2 - The Dropped Pack — Challenge - Crooked Mile Road — Travel #### The Sunken Gate Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - The Gatekeeper — Combat (required): The Gatekeeper × 1 - A Message in Stone — Conversation - The Sunken Gate — Travel #### Rival Cellars Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - The Cellar Cask — Challenge - The Cellar Cask — Challenge - The Cellar Cask — Challenge - The Black Barrel Crew — Combat (required): Black Barrel Gnoll × 3 - Rival Cellars — Travel #### The Holdouts Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Soup Door — Challenge (required) - Holga, the Cook — Conversation (required) - A Note from Holga — Conversation - The Holdouts Hearth — Camp - The Holdouts — Travel #### The Old Barracks Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Unfinished War — Combat: Skeletal Warrior × 2, Necro Survivor × 1 - Where the Kingdoms Met — Conversation - The Last Oathblade — Challenge - The Old Barracks — Travel #### The Turned Stair Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Contrary Stair — Challenge - Late for Roll Call — Combat (required): Skeletal Warrior × 2 - A Dwarf's Warning — Conversation - The Turned Stair — Travel #### The Fallen Prison Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Living Prison — Combat (required): Gelatinous Cube × 1, Green Slime × 2 - The Corroded Cache — Challenge - The Fallen Prison — Travel #### The Hollow Crown Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Heavy is the Crown — Challenge - The Treasurer's Last Coffer — Challenge - Abandoned Supplies — Challenge - The Hollow Crown — Travel #### The Buried Passage Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - The Buried Serpent — Combat (required): Buried Serpent × 1 - Ragnar, Found — Conversation (required) - The Buried Passage — Travel #### The Last Stand Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Many-Eyed Horror — Combat (required): The Many-Eyed Horror × 1 - Sealed Orders — Conversation (required) - The Last Stand — Travel ### The Burning City Book 4 · Populated adventure A city on fire, with uneasy allies and a path beneath the streets. #### The Scorched Road Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Toymaker — Conversation - Hot Hoofprints — Conversation - Road Bandits — Combat (required): Goblin Bandit × 3 - Toward Vellakar — Conversation - The Scorched Road — Travel #### The City Gates Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Flaming Skulls — Combat (required): Flaming Skull × 2 - Hissing Luggage — Challenge - Opiad — Conversation - The City Gates — Travel #### Market Street Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Dreamy Pies — Challenge - Market Raiders — Combat (required): Goblin Bandit × 2, Bugbear × 1 - Abandoned Luggage — Treasure - Market Street — Travel #### The Ember Barricade Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Davian — Conversation - Blacwin's Parting Gift — Challenge - Under the Beam — Challenge - The Ember Barricade — Travel #### The Burning Winery Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - Magmin — Combat (required): Magmin × 3 - A Barrel of Wine — Challenge - The Winery Sideboard — Camp - The Burning Winery — Travel #### The Wine Cellars Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Bottle Stack — Challenge - Last Orders — Combat (required): Black Barrel Gnoll × 2 - Garden Ladder — Passage - A Barrel of Wine — Challenge - The Wine Cellars — Travel #### The Old Watercourse Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement · 1 Perception check. - watercourse-weird — Combat (required): Water Weird × 1 - Watercourse Cache — Treasure - The Old Watercourse — Travel #### The Walled Garden Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - The Neglected Rosebed — Challenge - Angry Treants — Combat (required): Treant × 2 - The Walled Garden — Travel #### Town Hall Square Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Kobol — Conversation (required) - Burning Chest — Challenge - Emergency Collections — Combat: Goblin Bandit × 1, Flaming Skull × 1 - Town Hall Square — Travel #### The Mayor's Hall Optional exploration: 1 chatter placement. - Atir — Combat (required): Atir × 1 - Blacwin's Pack — Conversation - Mayor of Vellakar — Conversation (required) - The Mayor's Hall — Travel ### Black Tundra Book 5 · Development preview Ten traversable locations; a provisional boss and elemental-crossing puzzle. Further content is in development. #### A Snowy Road - A Snowy Road — Travel #### Vastness - Vastness — Travel #### The Broken Gate - The Broken Gate — Travel #### A Rocky Passage - A Rocky Passage — Travel #### Hot Frost Springs - Hot Frost Springs — Travel #### Little Peak - Little Peak — Travel #### Magic Cloud Bridge - Elementalist Wizard — Challenge (required) - Magic Cloud Bridge — Travel #### Stronghold Zero - Stronghold Zero — Travel #### The Dragon's Lair - White Dragon — Combat (required): White Dragon × 1 - The Dragon's Lair — Travel #### The Aether Terrace - The Aether Terrace — Travel ### Boglands Book 6 · Partial implementation Ten locations, connected passages, four moral encounters and a tarot reading are implemented. Further encounters and recruitment are in development. #### Road into the Swamp - The Weight of Mercy — Event (required) - Road into the Swamp — Travel #### Bright Swamp - The Hag's Due — Event (required) - Bright Swamp — Travel #### The Marsh Bridge - The Troll's Lunch — Event (required) - The Marsh Bridge — Travel #### Lilly Pads - The Last Bloom — Event (required) - Boat to Frog Camp — Passage - Lilly Pads — Travel #### Spooky Old Tree - Spooky Old Tree — Travel #### Coven - Coven — Travel #### Frog Camp - Boat to Lilly Pads — Passage - A Frogfolk Welcome — Event (required) - Madame Avva's Hut — Event (required) - Path to the Coven — Passage - Frog Camp — Travel #### Dark Swamp - Dark Swamp — Travel #### Cavernous Entrance - Cavernous Entrance — Travel #### Blacwin's Lair - Blacwin's Lair — Travel ### Trouble in the Meadows Book 7 · Coming soon Cover artwork and a library preview are available. No playable module or locations are implemented. ### The Titan Forge Book 8 · Coming soon Cover artwork and a library preview are available. No playable module or locations are implemented. ### Harvest of the Moon Stare Book 9 · Coming soon Cover artwork and a library preview are available. No playable module or locations are implemented. ### The Floating Citadel Book 10 · Coming soon Cover artwork and a library preview are available. No playable module or locations are implemented. ## Testing and maintaining the reference Use the Player’s Handbook for public rules, this volume for system boundaries and the adventure atlas, and the Monster Manual for creature profiles. The underlying design vault retains full puzzle specifications, dialogue, narrative outcomes and implementation contracts. Review a system through its real flow: eligibility, commitment, result presentation, close/reopen and save/restore. Verify cancellation spends nothing, failed attempts report actual consequences, and reopening never duplicates rewards. Check both ordinary and controller input. Presentation tests and source checks do not establish physical-device acceptance. Wick’s lessons and contextual inspection must not activate their source control, select a target, spend resources or advance the story. Automatic tips and visual Tutorial Effects are separate preferences; factual help remains available when guidance is off. Keep current behavior in the reference and chronology in release notes. Preserve stable content IDs, source snapshots and publication provenance. A design proposal is not a rule until implemented. Creature detail is generated from the shared catalog, while this atlas follows actual module placements rather than assuming that every available illustration is an encounter.