Guide to Grunts

Historically, armies often didn’t get paid on time. What do they do when pay is late: Take on side hustles? Get preyed on by loan sharks? Robbery? In some modern armies, officers hire out their troops as labourers to make payroll.

Quickly create armies and military units for your fantasy setting with the Guide to Grunts.

This system-neutral zine contains:

• Random tables to help create armies that feel realistically rich and complex without having to do a lot of research or preparation
• Writing prompts to help you explore your creations in more detail
• Random encounter tables that focus on memorable character and atmosphere for your players to enjoy
• Pre-generated creations for when you need a military unit or character in a hurry
• Resources for creating military experience for player characters
• And more!

There’s more to military life than blades and battles. The Guide isn’t about how well an army fights or whether it wins or loses – it’s about the daily life of soldiers and armies, from recruitment and organisation to pay, rations and what the troops do in their spare time.

When your player characters run into a group of soldiers out on patrol or garrisoning a town, what are they like? The Guide helps you answer that question quickly with the impression of depth and realism. From the creator of the Pamphlet of Pantheons, the Guide to Grunts is an easy-to-use world-building tool that focuses on the social experience of war and the military.

The Team:

Written by James Holloway
Illustrated by Letty Wilson

24 pages, A5, saddle-stitch zine, black and white throughout.