Grogs

Grogs

Product Information
Rules Edition:	Fifth Edition
Product Type:	Sourcebook
Author(s):	Mark Shirley, Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen, Evangeline Cheng, Camo Coffey, Mark Faulkner, Timothy Ferguson, Mark Lawford
Publisher:	Atlas Games
Product Number:	AG0301
ISBN:	1-58978-129-5
Release date:	July 2012
Format:	Hardcover, 144 pages
Availability:	Hardcover and PDF available

This article is about the supplemental rule book for ArM5. For the character type, see Grog.

Grogs is a Fifth Edition book dedicated to the creation, development and use of grog characters in play.

Subject and Contents

The table of contents is available at the Atlas Games Web site.

Not all the grogs in this book are warriors. Among the example characters are "the Confessor," "the Failed Apprentice," and even "the Parent of a Gifted Child." (All of these are listed in the table of contents.)

As one might expect, a whole book about grogs goes into a lot of depth. The first chapters describe how grogs are organized, what they do all day, how to assemble an effective team of grogs, and so forth. Since grogs comprise the majority of the inhabitants of a typical covenant, these chapters help bring to life the many servants and craftsmen who interact with the magi daily.

There is also a section on running all-grog stories and even all-grog sagas.

There are lots of new Virtues and Flaws for grogs -- some of which should also be appropriate for companions. Before this book, grogs were somewhat lacking good options for Flaws because they're ineligible to have Story Flaws and (in Fifth Edition) limited to two Personality Flaws. Grogs adds a selection of General Flaws for grogs that make it easier to design a grog, while also enriching their options for character backgrounds.

This book provides rules to simplify the bookkeeping for a turb of grogs: making several years' worth of Aging rolls at once, and providing training packages to more quickly update grogs' experience points over several seasons at once.

Combat Rules

Grogs reprints the advanced group combat rules from Lords of Men, which cover morale and discipline in group combat.

There are also rules for first aid, which prevents a wound from worsening and may allow an injured grog to keep marching.

Grog Concepts

Over fifty pages are devoted to grog concepts. Many are presented as full-page descriptions including possible character backgrounds, suggested Ability scores for the character at different ages, and suggested Personality Traits. At the end of the chapter are a number of briefer grog concepts that consist of only a paragraph or two of text.

Community Reviews

Please edit this page to add your own comments about this book.

A Tankard of Groggy Goodness

I've always loved grogs and was delighted to see a whole book about them. Overall, this book doesn't disappoint. There are dozens of grog concepts, lots of text about playing and running grogs, and plenty of new Virtues and Flaws. Chapter 2, "Grogs in the Covenant," sheds light on the magi's servants around the covenant and so is surprisingly useful for stories on the home front. I really regard that chapter as a completing the picture that Covenants started. I do think this book missed an opportunity to explain how to play grogs properly, which requires some thought and initiative. None the less, it's a solid book that expands character and story opportunities and, hopefully, will make your grogs more memorable. --Andrew Gronosky

Related Subjects

See the following links for more information.

Related Pages

• Covenant

Related Products

• Covenants is dedicated to covenants generally, but also dealt with grogs, particularly loyalty.

Related External Sites

• Official product page at Atlas Games
• Product Page from Warehouse 23
• Product Page from e23
• The Table of Contents available on the product page