A while back I picked up the classic RPG, Lands of Adventure. While it is fair to say the game is not great, there is something about it I can't quite put my finger on that I love. Is it the Bill Willingham art? Is it Lee Gold's attention to historical detail, even when the details are wrong? Ok, to be fair, some these details may not have been "wrong" when she was writing. But she is certainly good at building an interesting world.
No. I don't know what it is, but given this is my year to try out more (and different) fantasy RPGs, I owe it at least to myself to try this game out. It will not replace *D&D on anyone's table today. But for a moment, let me pretend it is 1983. I'll put on K-Tel's CHART ACTION '83 and work on some characters!
Character Creation
This is the most tedious process of this game, really. The rules for playing are largely pretty simple. However, I do admit that I am really in the mood for a complicated character-creation process today.
For this I'll start with the Lands of Adventure core rules and make adaptations based on the Culture Packs I have. I will do my two favorite witches, Larina and Skylla, for Medieval England and Ancient Greece, respectively. If I had had the other proposed Culture Packs I would have tried something for them as well.
The game has 11 (yes, eleven) primary stats, but of those, only four are purely random. The others are often the averages of the others with some more randomness added in. You can roll the d20 or d10 as needed, OR you can allocate 110 + 2d10 points among the 11 characteristics.
The minimum score is 1, and the max is 20.
Piety is also important and has it's own means of calculation, but to get that, I'll need some skills for the characters. Skills can also increase other stats.
This game also has three different "Hit Point" pools; Energy Points (EP), Body Points (BP), and Life Points (LP). Damage affects them differently, but none should be 0.
Skills are a roll-under mechanic of percentages, with 5% (96-00) always as a fumble. To roll 10% under your skill is a maximum or flawless success. There are 10 Skill categories and their base scores are based on a Major Characteristic and Minor Characteristics. So for example MAG (Magic) is TAL (Talent)/2 and then squared + INT (Intelligence). Unlike some games, height and weight have mechanical effects on how fast you can move and how much you can carry respectively.
You have as many skills as you do PRU, the max you can have in any skill area at the start of the game is 10% of the skill area score. Given that this are also not starting characters I will use the options for Prior Experience Points to buff up some skills and spells.
Spells are an odd mix to be honest. I am not sure what would be right to choose since I am not 100% certain of all the game effects. But I can say that the magic section does feel like it is bolted onto this system and there are bits of game-design bondo and duct-tape holding it together. Not that this can't be fun, AD&D did it for decades.
For Larina and Skylla here, I am certainly aiming to give them a witch-like background. Turns out that is pretty easy to do with this game. The Ancient Greece Culture Pack has the Pelasgians who are characterized as worshipping a Maiden-Mother-Crone Moon Goddess from the belief that older civilizations were more Matriarchal than Patriarchal. Following in the same logic, or even from the same logic, in the Medieval England Culture Pack, Gold lists Margaret Murray's now discredited "The Witch-Cult in Western Europe" as part of the suggested reading. I say "discredited," but I still use the central thesis in my own game writing for my books. Hey. I am writing about witches, not an academic anthropological treatise. Though given Gold's inclusion of Murray, I would also have gone with Jane Harrison for Ancient Greece and Jessie Weston for Medieval England for a trifecta of Late Victorian/Early 20th Century independent women scholars.
Makes my choice of witches to stat up for this game even more appropriate.
Species: Human
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs (light frame)
Culture/Religion: Medieval England/The Old Faith
Piety: 6
CRF (Craft): 12 DEX (Dexterity): 12
TAL (Talent): 18 VCE (Voice): 19
INT (Intelligence): 16 PRU (Prudence): 14
APP (Appearance): 18 AGY (Agility): 12
STR (Strength): 10 CON (Constitution): 10
CHA (Charisma): 19
COM (Communication): 52%
KNW (Knowledge): 44%
MAG (Magic): 97%
MAN (Manipulation): 32%
MIR (Miracle Working): 99%
MOV (Movement): 28%
OBS (Observation): 36%
PER (Persuasion): 55%
Melee: 16%
Missile 26%
Local KNW: 144%
General KNW: 84%
Non-Combat Specialized Skills
Reporting Accurately (Com), Legend Lore (Knw), Medical/Herb Lore (Knw), Astronomy/Astrology (Knw), Languages Speak (Knw) (English, French, Celtic)
Specialized Spell Skills
Stop Behaviors (Compulsion) PL 5, 10x10, 5 rounds, 1, 200 ft.
Energy Shield (Energy) PL 3, 10x10, 5 rounds, 1, 10 ft.
Energy Bolt (Energy) PL 4, 10x10, 1 round, 1, 200 ft.
Enchantment (Enchantment) PL 6, 10x10, 30 min, 1, 10 ft.
Darkness (Illusion) PL 5, 30x30, 5 rounds, 1, 10 ft.
EP: 36
BP: 12
LP: 10
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
Armor: None
Shield: None
Free Load: 60lbs
--
Skylla
Species: Human
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 130 lbs (average frame)
Culture/Religion: Ancient Greece/Moon Mother
Piety: 4
CRF (Craft): 12 DEX (Dexterity): 11
TAL (Talent): 16 VCE (Voice): 14
INT (Intelligence): 14 PRU (Prudence): 10
APP (Appearance): 14 AGY (Agility): 12
STR (Strength): 9 CON (Constitution): 10
CHA (Charisma): 17
COM (Communication): 37%
KNW (Knowledge): 34%
MAG (Magic): 78%
MAN (Manipulation): 29%
MIR (Miracle Working): 80%
MOV (Movement): 23%
OBS (Observation): 36%
PER (Persuasion): 42%
Melee: 22%
Missile 24%
Local KNW: 134%
General KNW: 74%
Non-Combat Specialized Skills
Lying (Com), Legend Lore (Knw), Medical/Herb Lore (Knw) x2, Astronomy/Astrology (Knw), Languages Speak (Knw) (Greek, Egyptian)
Specialized Spell Skills
Stop Behaviors (Compulsion) PL 5, 10x10, 5 rounds, 1, 200 ft.
Energy Bolt (Energy) PL 4, 10x10, 1 round, 1, 200 ft.
Enchantment (Enchantment) PL 6, 10x10, 30 min, 1, 10 ft.
EP: 31
BP: 13
LP: 10
Weapons: Dagger, Staff
Armor: None
Shield: None
Free Load: 65lbs
--
Ok. There is a lot here and even more that I didn't do. These are better than starting characters, certainly, but not 100% reflective of stats for them I have posted in the past. For the Point Allocation method, Larina has 160 points (30 above max) and Skylla has 137 points (7 above max).
Magic is an odd affair, mostly using the "Spells on the fly" method. I could explore it more IF I ever choose to play this game. But I have enough here for now.
A few interesting quirks. The Culture Packs give a lot more detail to the characters, BUT you should have them next to you when you develop the characters. Skylla, for example, ended up having the Goddess Athena in her maternal line and thus added to some of her stats. Not sure how a virgin goddess was able to do that, but ok. Skylla gained an extra Herbalism skill as well. Larina had a mystical encounter. Since I was recently re-reading her 4th Edition D&D stats, I am going to say she saw a unicorn when she was a little girl.
This game is rich in atmosphere, but the system itself leaves a little to be desired. Maybe I am just used to simpler systems now or unified mechanics. I do admit I am still very happy I have this game and I will likely come back to it.
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