Forty Thieves

Aladdin had it easy. Find the magic lamp, free the genie,
and live like a prince for the rest of your life. Ali Baba
learned the magic words and stole a kings ransom from
other thieves. So much hard work ruined!
Not honest work, perhaps, but hard nonetheless. Your
group of thieves, and the rest of the Forty, are in the
serious profession of stealing whatever gold and jewelry
you can get your hands on.

Character Creation
Your character is one of the Forty. He (for all of the Forty
are male, or pretending to be so) is aided by his scores in the
following three blessings:
Acrobatics, his ability to vault barriers, scale walls, and leap
from rooftop to rooftop.
Confidence, his ability to talk his way past guards, impress
feisty princesses, and wait for the right moment to act.
Stealth, his ability to sneak through darkened rooms and stay
silent in the face of surprise.
However, he is inhibited by his scores in three handicaps:
Greed, his irresistible attraction to wealth and beauty.
Pride, his tendency towards anger and irrational actions,
especially when taunted.
Sloth, his preference to take as little action as possible and
shirk his responsibilities.
Your thief can have any rating you like (from two to six) in
each of his blessings. However, you must match each blessing
with an equal rating in a handicap of your choice. The better a
thief he is, the more his love for vice comes out.
You begin each adventure poor, or become that way quickly.
Between adventures you will spend all you have, save for a few
gems or coins, on good drink, fine food, and exotic entertainment.
A thiefs wealth is transitory at best.

The Basic Rules

Tests of Skill

For each point your character has in a particular attribute, you

roll one six-sided die. You are looking for sequences in the rolls,
called chains.

When a thief wants to do something that involves an element

of chance, as nearly all things do, his player makes a die roll. The
GM will set a minimum required length and/or height for this
roll, and any roll that meets or exceeds these minima indicates
success. A later page gives examples of minimum heights and
lengths for various situations.

A chain is a sequence of numbers, in order, one after the other.

You may rearrange the dice as needed to create a chain. Chains
are rated in their length (the number of dice in the sequence), and
in their height (the highest roll in the sequence).
A chains height is used to determine how quickly a thief can
do something, while its length determines how well he can do it.
Running for five miles through the desert would require a long
Acrobatics roll, while running from a crushing-wall trap would
require a tall roll instead.
For instance, if your thiefs Stealth is 4, you might roll 2, 4, 3,
6 on your dice when trying to sneak past a harem guard. You can
rearrange this to make a chain: 2, 3, 4, which has a length 3 and
a height of 4. Chains cannot wrap around from 6 to 1. A roll
without a chain has no Length or Height.
Duplicated numbers are only useful when you need to
make multiple chains; for instance, to tackle two guards at once
without aid from other thieves. A roll of 4, 5, 5 is two chains, each
of length 2 and height 5.
Players roll their characters blessings, so that their thieves
might accomplish great deeds of brigandry. The GM rolls the
characters handicaps, so that the thieves misspend their effort on
dangerous or foolish endeavors.

Obstacles can often be overcome in more than one way,

even using the same attribute. For instance, a guard might be
befriended or fooled with Confidence, fought or evaded with
Acrobatics, backstabbed or snuck past with Stealth. However,
some obstacles are immune to certain attributes.
Opposed rolls in Forty Thieves are used only when two thieves
enter into a contest with each other. Even intelligent, interactive
obstacles like guards and sultans use set minima rather than an
opposed roll. However, such obstacles often have a penalty for
failure, and require multiple rolls for success!

Hindering Rolls
On occasion, a thief will be lured into acts he may later
regret. When the GM sees an opportunity for such an action,
he rolls one of the thiefs handicaps. Minimum lengths are given
on the Handicap Tables below. If the GM succeeds on this roll,
the player must describe how the thief goes about giving in to
his temptation, which will probably get him in a lot of trouble.
Failure on the roll allows the thief to pass up the temptation, if he
so desires.

Handicap Table - Greed

Min. Length Temptation

Handicap Table - Sloth

Min. Length Temptation

Stealing some apparently unguarded coins,

jewelry, spices, or small pieces of artwork.

Allowing another competent thief a chance for

glory that might be yours.

Breaking into the sultans palace to steal

a legendary jewel. Insisting on keeping a
dangerous treasure.

Allowing another thief to attempt something

when you know he could not possibly succeed
(and you could).

Making off with an inconveniently large

treasure, such as a statue or painting.

Sneaking off to debauch while you should be

plundering or helping fellow thieves.

Risking an obvious trap for a single coin.

Stealing the bejeweled crown from the sultans

head, while he holds court.

Inventing a fairy-tale scouting report instead of

actually scouting.

Stand idly by while another thief fights for his

life.

Handicap Table - Pride

Min. Length Temptation

2

Showing off your abilities when given the

chance. Jumping to the defense of your
comrades immediately, regardless of reason
(Sloth rolls can overrule this).

Getting into a fistfight when someone insults

you, your family, or your honor.

Getting into a sword fight over the same.

Showing off your abilities when the opportunity
might be a trap.

Become offended to the point of violence when

anyone contradicts you.

Picking a fight with an angel sent by Allah to

reprimand you for your misdeeds.

The Game

The Death of a Thief

The backdrop for Forty Thieves is a fictional Arabia that

never was. Sultans palaces, endless cities, white-duned deserts
full of camels and oases, easily inhabitable caves, bountiful
treasure chambers, and sensual boudoirs are the most common
locations. People believe in a strange combination of Islam, folk
superstitions, and the all-powerful goddess Fate.

It is not lightly that this game is entitled Forty Thieves. If your

thief perishes in the line of duty, there are no doubt dozens of
others who would love to take his place. A new name, a new
set of attributes, a slightly different approach to the crime, and
perhaps your new thief will fare better than your old. However,
the GM should keep track of the number of thieves remaining.
If the Forty should become too few, perhaps it will be time to
recruit or, Allah forbid, to settle down! The horror!

Games of Forty Thieves always involve some sort of theft.*

Sometimes the theft is the central quest for the adventure
sneaking into the sultans palace to make off with the fabled
Pearl of the Deeps, for example. Other times, the theft is merely
prelude or even incidental the game could begin with the
thieves stealing from a merchant caravan, only to find out that
the merchant was transporting the books of a powerful sorcerer,
who will make life very interesting for the Forty until they return
them.
One thing that players will have to get used to is being forced
into actions they might not choose. Every character every
single one will end up as a liability at one point or another. The
question is whether you can pull it off with panache and style.
The GM is encouraged to remember that Forty Thieves is a
game about action and adventure. Despair and horror have their
place in such a game, but they should be kept brief. If the last of
the Forty are locked in a jail cell, the story should not end with
their quiet demise from malnutrition and dysentery. They should
be given the chance to go out fighting, struggling even as they are
brought to the chopping block. And who knows perhaps Fate
will smile on them after all.
*In fact, if the characters find themselves at the end of an adventure without
having stolen anything, they should check their belongings carefully.

You need not wait for the end of the session to create your
new thief. He can enter play immediately, meeting with the other
thieves in some appropriate way. Perhaps he was following a
minute behind from the beginning. Perhaps he has entered on
his own, and arrives just in time to save another thief from the
headsmans axe. Perhaps he seizes the precious diamond at
the same moment as another thief. A multitude of possibilities
present themselves.
Your new thief, on entering, must learn of the previous thiefs
fate and comment on it in some manner. This can happen either
by encountering his body or being told of his fate by the rest of
the Forty. Whether you are respectful or condescending regarding
the late brigand is up to you.

Sample Obstacles
Below you can find a number of sample obstacles that thieves
might face in their adventures. While the difficulty levels are
fixed, the methods listed are merely suggestions. If inspiration
strikes, your GM is encouraged to accept alternate methods. If
a particular attribute cannot be used to overcome an obstacle, it
simply will not be listed.
When facing multiple obstacles simultaneously (for instance,
two guards), thieves must come up with two chains on their roll or
face the failure penalty for one or both. However, facing several
challenges in a row is not a problem. A character who defeats a
soldier after two failed rolls, sneaks down the hallway, and faces
another soldier, does not die after a single failed roll.
Palace Servant
Confidence: Length 2 to fast-talk or befriend
Stealth: Length 2 to sneak past
Failure Penalty: screams, alerting guards
Typical Guard
Acrobatics: Length 3 to knock out
Confidence: Length 3 to fast-talk or befriend
Stealth: Length 3 to backstab
Failure Penalty: Kills or captures after 4 failures
Armed Soldier or Harem Guard
Acrobatics: Length 4 to knock out
Confidence: Length 4 to fast-talk or befriend
Stealth: Length 3 to sneak past
Failure Penalty: Kills or captures after 3 failures

One of the Sultans Many Wives

Confidence: Length 3 to seduce
Stealth: Length 5 to sneak past
Failure Penalty: screams, alerting guards
Sultans Guard, or a Cave Ogre
Acrobatics: Length 5 to knock out
Confidence: Length 5 to fast-talk or befriend
Stealth: Length 4 to sneak past
Failure Penalty: Kills or captures after 2 failures
The Sultan, His Wife, or the Grand Vizier
Acrobatics: Length 2 to capture, if caught without guards
Confidence: Length 6 to impress
Stealth: Length 5 to sneak past
Failure Penalty: Sends the guards after you
Spice Merchant
Acrobatics: Length 2 to put in sleeper hold
Confidence: Length 4 to swindle
Stealth: Height 5 to palm jewelry
Failure Penalty: Calls the guard
Lock: Chest or Private Home
Acrobatics: Length 3 to smash
Stealth: Length 2 to pick
Failure Penalty: Cannot retry with same thief
Lock: Vault or Sultans Bedchamber
Stealth: Length 5 to pick
Failure Penalty: Cannot retry with same thief

Trap: Crushing Walls

Acrobatics: Height 5 to dodge
Stealth: Length 2 to notice beforehand
Failure Penalty: Crushed to death
Trap: Poison Darts
Acrobatics: Height 5 to dodge
Stealth: Length 3 to plug holes
Failure Penalty: Paralyzed by poison for a day
Trap: Deadly Blades
Acrobatics: Height 5 to dodge
Stealth: Length 2 to notice beforehand
Failure Penalty: Lose a level of Acrobatics for a day

Trap: Drowning Pit

Note: must pass both Acrobatics and Stealth
Acrobatics: Length 3 to hold breath and swim
Stealth: Height 5 to find the secret trigger
Failure Penalty: Drowned to death
Evading the City Guard
Acrobatics: Length 3 to leap across rooftops
Confidence: Length 3 to find sympathetic citizen
Stealth: Height 5 to slip into the shadows
Failure Penalty: Must fight
Entering the Palace by Night
Acrobatics: Length 3 to scale the walls
Confidence: Length 3 to bribe the servants
Stealth: Length 3 to find a secret passage
Failure Penalty: Must try a different method
Entering the Palace by Day
Confidence: Length 2 to beg entrance
Stealth: Length 2 to disguise
Failure Penalty: Thrown out
Return from Exile in the Desert
Acrobatics: Length 5 to survive the burning sun
Confidence: Length 3 to befriend a camel
Failure Penalty: Die of thirst

Forty Thieves was written in 2006 by Colin Fredericks of Valent

Games on a Macintosh. It uses the fonts Optima and Papyrus.
All rights are reserved. Illustrations by J.D. Batten, 1893 (black
and white), and Edmund Dulac, 1907 (color). Both artists
works are in the public domain in the United States.