I have had a few to be honest. In fact they get their own label here, Plays Well With Others.
My favorite though is "Black Rose", my mixing of Blue Rose with Ravenloft.
Here are some of the posts from back then.
It was a lot of fun.
Showing posts with label PWWO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PWWO. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2015
RPG a Day 2015, Day 27
Day 27: Favorite idea for merging two games into one
I have had a few to be honest. In fact they get their own label here, Plays Well With Others.
My favorite though is "Black Rose", my mixing of Blue Rose with Ravenloft.
Here are some of the posts from back then.
It was a lot of fun.
I have had a few to be honest. In fact they get their own label here, Plays Well With Others.
My favorite though is "Black Rose", my mixing of Blue Rose with Ravenloft.
Here are some of the posts from back then.
It was a lot of fun.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Review and PWWO: Dark Albion: The Rose War
I am reviewing the PDF only at this point. I don't have a copy of the printed book yet. The PDF is 277 pages; 275 of content plus cover and a hyperlink page that we also saw in FH&W. It's a nice touch.
Before I get into the meat I want to about the art and layout. The art is predominantly woodcuts and public domain images from the period or about the period. I want to say that for the record I LOVE this sort of art. I really do. It captures the feel of time I think far better than most RPG art. I love the art in the D&D/OSR books, but that is art for a game world. For a historical one I want this.
Also the graphic design and layout is much improved in terms of technique from FH&W. This is obvious when in the FH&W appendix it switches back to the other style. It is the same as the previous book, but still better executed.
The book is nicely organized and I am first grabbed by a sense of nostalgia. This feels like an old-school Gazetteer. In particular the Greyhawk ones of old. We have a two page Table of Contents and a two page index. Both are hyperlinked.
The center of the campaign is the War of Roses. This war, between rival claimants to the throne of England, the House of York (the White Rose) and the House of Lancaster (the Red Rose). This lead, among other things, to the creation of the Tudor Dynasty (White on Red Rose) when the House of Lancaster defeated the House the York and Henry Tudor married Elizabeth York to become Henry VII of England. This is also the milestone between what was "Dark Ages" England and the English Renaissance. Though I personally think of the date as being later when England broke with the Church or even later still when Elizabeth I came into power. But that is my personal bias.
(Side Note: See if RPGPundit is working on "Dark Albion: The Tudors", now there is some intrigue!)
The Introduction is a brief overview of the book, the War of Roses, and what to expect in this campaign book. Most of what is here is detailed more in the book, but a couple of things draw our attention. First this a "gritty" campaign. So magic is low, character classes will be low and it is human centric. Other differences between this and other "D&D" are given, such as very, very few demi-humans and few "monsters". Also the differences between this world and our world are given. The one that stands out here is the Church of the Unconquered Sun, something that readers of my blog should already be familiar with, http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/02/sol-invictus-unconquered-sun.html. In fact this Church is like one where Rome (Arcadia) adopted Mithra instead of Jesus. It is an interesting idea and one I would love to see more of.
Next up, and what takes up a good chunk of the book is the Gazetteer of Albion. For his alt-history version of England, Pundit sticks with the very archaic Albion as opposed to England or even "Angle-land". I do not object. I used the name myself in Ghosts of Albion, though for different reasons. This is part socio-political overview, part maps and part campaign information. Having gone over the same territory, though 360 years later, I appreciate the attention to detail here. The bulk of this is of course on Albion and Wales (not "Cymru"?), lands up into Scots-land ("Alba"?) only go to Hadrian's Wall, which is still intact in this world. Lands into Ireland ("Erie"! thank you!) only go to the Pale, as appropriate. Beyond the Pale? Well that is where the ancient Brannans live, you don't want to go there.
Honestly, this could have been the entire book and I would have loved it. Give me old maps and names of people and I will fill it up with ideas. I already want to create characters and give them histories.
Next up is Kingdoms of the Continent. As you can imagine, an overview of Europe. Not as in-depth as the Albion chapter, nor should it be. There are a couple things though I want to point out.
1. Frogland. Really? ugh. Ok, ok. I get the desire to have a non-human, chaos-based kingdom. But I really have to admit this sticks out like a sore thumb. It's really just not good. Sorry. I just don't like it, it seems to go against everything we just read about human-centric, low magic, gritty-realism. If I were to use this in a game (and I really would want to) Frogland is going away. I'll replace it with a Clark Ashton Smith-style Averoigne. It really kind of mars the entire work in a way.
2. Arcadia. There is something REALLY interesting here. I would love to see RPGPundit talk about how The Unconquered Sun grew up out Mithraism to replace Christianity in his world. Plus this is the Renaissance. I would imagine that Arcadia at this time in this world looks a bit more like Mage the Sorcerers Crusade than it does D&D.
3. Wallachia. Ok, including a bad ass Dracula almost (almost but not quite) makes up for Frogland. Having him live in a castle named "Crows Loft" is very cheeky ("Crow's Nest" might be closer, but hey, not my book).
Law & Justice in Albion is a fairly important chapter. Characters will not be able to act like the "murder-hobos" of other games. Albion, at this point, has been around as country of laws for some time. The Magna Carta has been around for 200+ years at this point so this is not a lawless land, far from it in fact. Frankly more campaign guides should have this as much as they do maps and people of interest.
History of Albion is just as fascinating as the Gazetteer. While I personally believe that games are about the characters, having a detailed backdrop is always nice. Plus if your game is going to more about court intrigue and combats of words and lies rather than adventuring, then this is a must read.
Characters in Albion discuss what has been mentioned briefly already. What characters you are likely to use in this game. It is human centric and low magic. Now there is an interesting twist here in that the Church of the Unconquered Sun has Priests, which are like real-world priests in the Catholic church, and Clerics which are more like D&D clerics. In fact you can have a female cleric. This is a handy way to have your cake and eat it too. The reading of this chapter makes me think that Lamentation of the Flame Princes might be a good rule fit for this, but as I read more I think that Original D&D is the best choice. Though given the changes to the world in general I would also add druids and witches to my games.
Currency & Equipment is actually quite an important chapter. Money didn't just seperate the wealthy from everyone else, it also separates the classes, as in the upper and lower class. In many D&D games characters tend to throw around gold like it was water. You see that even in some of the pulp influences of D&D. Historically though and even until past the Victorian age you would not find people throwing around a gold coin. Copper pence/pennies were the coinage of the common man. Maybe a silver shilling. Ok, technically the silver shilling wasn't minted until the 1500s and it was worth 12 pence (not the 10p listed). BUT this is just a change to make things easier for the game and that is fine with me. I would still introduce a gold guinea at 21s/0p though it's introduction is still not for another 200 years or so. I just like the idea.
The next two chapters, Noble Houses of Albion and People of Interest, deal with the people that populate this world. I would say that if you are playing a court intrigue game then these are your important chapters. Knowing who is controlling what and what their moves might be is a great aid for the right-minded GM. I would say that if you are or were a fan of Pendragon or even Birthright then study these two chapters. Heck given how Pendragon works this could be part of the same set of PCs, only their dynasties 35-40+ generations later.
Ok, so I am not taking any stars away from the overall product for this, but I will state my disappointment in the whole "Frogmen" one more time here. Craaak VII? Lraaap XI? Come on Pundit, you can do better than this.
Sorcery and Secrets is the chapter I have been waiting for. I will point out one discrepancy between what is said here and what is assumed. Magic-user spells are listed to 9th level, ok that will take a pretty high level magic-user, beyond the "7th level will be really high" mentioned. Plus 9th level spells are pretty big magics. Personally I would limit all spell casters to 6th level spells. There are some rules in FH&W to help get around this restriction.
There are some really good demon summoning rules. I would combine these with the magic circle rules given in FH&W as well as the Ley Line rules. In fact in might be interesting to take this chapter and Chapter 9 from FH&W and look at them as a unified whole.
Adventuring in Albion. Ok this is more like it! Give me reasons for my characters to do things! For me I am content with "there is a war of succession to English throne going on. You all are peasants. Figure out how make the most of it." Thankfully there is more here than just that. Several sample adventure locations are given, including one at court. Travel across Albion is discussed though characters are more likely to run into tolls rather than trolls, but both are still possible.
While monsters are rare in this setting a guideline for what might be possible would be good.
Three Appendices follow.
Appendix 1 detail the Knights of the Star and Secrets of the Clerical Order. Knight of the Star are an order of Knights loyal to the crown and king of Albion. These Knights could be seen as the Paladins of Albion and are given similar in-game status.
Appendix 2 is a set of house rules for rules-lite OSR clones like Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Swords & Wizardry, and Basic Fantasy RPG.
Appendix 3 is a set of rules when playing Fantastic Heroes & Witchery. Like I mentioned before this appendix drops the Dark Albion style for the FH&W one. Various new classes for FH&W are added including the Cleric of the Unconquered Sun, the Magister, Hedge-Witch and Cymric Bard among others. Also classes from FH&W are discussed including which ones NOT to use in Dark Albion. Some details about how Dark Albion's cosmology fits into the FH&W assumed cosmology.
The book ends with the OGL statement.
There is a lot crammed into 275 or so pages. While the guide is complete and there is plenty to do with it, it also opens up a lot of possibility for the world as a whole. Dom and RPGPundit could make a career out filling up the other countries. The time period is an interesting choice too. Having played a ton of historical games I tend to draw a fuzzy line right around the time of the Tudors. Prior to this time I can emulate with D&D-like games, after that I use other games. Dark Albion adheres to my own internal logic in this respect. Though I do admit I can see myself pushing that line a bit when it comes to Elizabethan times. I have done that time period both as a D&D-like game and as a setting for Ghosts of Albion.
I would say pick this up if you have any enjoyment for English history or if you are looking to play something different than the same old dungeon crawls.
Plays Well With Others
By virtue of it's compatibility with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, Dark Albion has an easier time than most supplements. Added to fact that it is presented largely rule free is a bonus.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has been one of my favorite systems/campaign worlds since it came out. It shares a number of elements in common with Dark Albion. First, both worlds assume a low magic, human centric world. There are a LOT of character classes in AS&SH and not all are appropriate for Dark Albion, but there are plenty that are even above and beyond the multitude of class options that FH&W offers. The worlds of both games are by and large the same, just separated by vast quantities (and maybe qualities) of time. While Dark Albion focuses on Albion and parts south, AS&SH tends to focus more to the north. Who is to say that there are not some areas of Norway that are not still like the Hyperborea of AS&SH?
Plus the power levels of both games is the same. All characters in AS&SH and FH&W top off at that 12-14 level limit. This naturally keeps the magic down.
AS&SH also has a number of monsters in it that would be appropriate for the Dark Albion world. Now, AS&SH does have "Cthulhoid" monsters which would take the implied chaos of Dark Albion to a totally different level. But I can see that working.
As mentioned before another game that would mesh well with this is Lamentation of the Flame Princes. There is a congruity to both worlds that makes the translation not only possible, but anticipated as seen in Appendix 2.
I have to admit I picked this game up not on the reputation of it's author or even publisher, but because I really wanted to see if there is anything in this book I could use with my own Ghosts of Albion. While the two games share a number of parallels due to subject matter and connections to the real world, the underlying assumptions of both games are very different. Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion one of my characters was a ghost of a fighter in the War of the Roses. I guess I could now play him as a living breathing human if I wanted too. I just have to make sure he dies while defending the King from that dastard the Duke of York! Dark Albion actually has more in common with Cubicle 7's Victoriana. At least in terms of setting and underlying assumptions. Heck maybe when Albion splits from the Church of the Unconquered Sun (Dark Albion) it becomes the Aluminat Church (Victoriana). In any case Dark Albion provides an interesting historical backdrop to either of those games.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention The Witch. Dark Albion makes many references to witches and dark magic but the only game mentioned that has a proper witch is FH&W and even then that game mentions conversions for my witch. Just follow the guidelines already in FH&W.
One thing is certain, I am going to have to play some more with this world.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Class Struggles & PWWO: The Blood Witch
Yesterday I reviewed the newest book from +Johua De Santo New Class Options. One of the classes in the book, the Blood Witch, struck me as familiar. I remembered I had seen an earlier version of it in Dungeon Crawl #3. Today I want to go into a bit more detail about this class.
Class Struggles
The class is an old archetype of a blood mage or a blood witch going all the way back to ... well forever really. Right up into the Enlightenment people believed that there were magical properties to blood. This is why "witches" signed contracts with the devil in their own blood.
There have been other blood witches in the past. Notablly the Blood Witch Prestige class from Relics & Rituals and from Mongoose's Ultimate Prestige Classes vol. 1. Both books have the same class. Blood Witches used whatever spells they gained from their previous spell casting class.
The Blood Witch in New Class Options is a bit similar. It uses magic-user spells. This is perfectly fine really, but some new spells would add some more flavor.
I was looking forward to this class the most and I still think it works well, but I have some issues with it. Let's start at the top.
The Blood Witch uses Constitution as her main stat. Very, very appropriate.
She needs a Con of 13 or higher. Again appropriate. Constitution scores above 16 also grant an additional +1 to hit points. Nice. She is going to need that.
Then we get to the next bit, quoting from the text.
Here is the part I am not crazy about. The Blood Witch needs to roll against her Constitution in order to cast spells. So the high her Con score, the less of chance she has of success. Again, from the text.
So a witch with a 16 Constitution could only cast spells up to 4th level, unless of course a 20 allways means a success.
I think what might work better here is limit the number of spells known. The blood witch might be able to cast this she completely out of blood (not advised) but maybe she only knows X per level. Like the 3rd Edition Sorcerer. This would impose a limiting factor.
Then give her a bonus to her roll equal to her level.
So our Blood Witch with 16 Con and 5th level would need a 15 or better to cast a 4th level spell (16 + 4 -5 =15). That seems to work well.
The experience levels for Blood Witch seem a bit high, granted this class has the potential for a lot of power. I'd still like to play one sometime just to be sure.
Somethings you see in the the myths and stories of blood magic is sacrifice (which is covered here as personal sacrifice) and proxies. So could this blood witch use an animal sacrifice for some spells? I think where appropriate yes. Proxies could be things like the animal but also proxies for blood itself, like purified water (possibly for healing spells if you use one of the witch spell lists) or even wine (blood of the vine). Personally I would allow such proxies for some of the more benign or even mundane spells.
The Blood Witch is any interesting type of character and something that could add a air of different to a game. A Blood Witch doesn't have to be an evil character, but it not likely she is going to be trusted by a party and certainly looked down on by other casters especially proper wizards.
Plays Well With Others
The best thing about the Blood Witch is that fits a great niche in any gaming group or campaign. It also works with a number of great OSR books. Obviously the blood witch will work mechanically with 99% of all the OSR and old-school books out there, the real question is will it work thematically. For example, the blood witch would work fantastic with Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but thematically it might be a bit redundant since all magic-users are assumed to have some sort of dark(-ish) pact.
I already mentioned The Complete B/X Adventurer. The witch class as presented in that book works as a great base for the Blood Witch. Combine the two classes into one works rather nicely. The B/X Witch has spells up to 10th level which is nice, but the New Class Options Witch only goes to 7.
I mentioned that the Blood Witch is really missing some really cool spells. The Vivimancer from +Gavin Norman's Theorems & Thaumaturgy and Complete Vivimancer offer some really nice choices. I created a few for both my witch and the vivimancer here. In particular I would suggest Blood Augury, Feel My Pain, Share My Pain, Stay Death's Hand, and of course Hell Hath No Fury because every witch needs that spell.
A while back I made some suggestions about witch spells for the vivimancer and vivimancer spells for the with. The nice thing is the blood witch is perfect cross section of both classes and can use all these spells.
The blood witch also works great with +Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The style and type of magic used by the blood witch would be very much in tune with AS&SH. Sacrificing blood for magical effects...yeah very much in tune. There are also plenty of great witch spells in that book as well.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games. I am going to have to play a Blood Witch sometime, but I also think I want to try her out as Blood Witch "Tradition" using my own rules and see how well they work together. Maybe twins...same level but one is a DeSanto Blood Witch while the other is a Brannan one. Interesting idea really.
If you are in the mind to some conversions, there is a great set of blood magic rules and spells in +Owen Stephens' magnum opus Deep Magic for Pathfinder. The blood magic system in that book could work nicely for a blood witch as well as a blood mage.
Again this passes the most basic test for a class for me. Can I think of a character for it and would I play it.
Kimbra & Kelleigh
Kimbra and Kelleigh are twin sisters with magic deep in their blood. They often have said to each other that it is because they have shared blood that their ties to each other and magic was so strong.
Though in their darker moments they felt their connection to magic and to blood came from the moment they were born. Kelleigh was first. Right after her birth their mother died. Kimbra was born when the midwife noticed that there was still someone in the lifeless body. To this day Kelleigh has had a great connection to blood and Kimbra to death. Kelleigh acts as the older sister. The sisters only trust each other.
These are two characters I have had for a while now. They began as modern characters for a WitchCraft RPG game and then morphed in a life-span development project I never quite finished.
Yes, the names are based on Kim and Kelley Deal. But also an homage to Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong, two of my favorite authors in the modern supernatural genre.
Kelleigh
5th level Blood Witch, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 24
AC: 9
Saves: 12, +2 vs. Magic
To Hit: +1 / THAC0: 19
Spells:
Kimbra can cast the follow spell levels. Will choose spells based on the official list.
First: all
Second: 4
Third: 6
Fourth: 3
Fifth: 6
Sixth*: 1
Kimbra
5th level Witch, Blood Witch Tradition, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 16
AC: 7
Occult Powers
Familiar: Blood Spirit of her dead mother (treat as a ghost, neutrally aligned)
Spells
Cantrips: (5) Analyze Fertility, Detect Poison, Inflict Minor Wounds, Object Reading, Warm
First: (2+2) Bad Luck, Bewitch I, Cause Fear, Tattoo
Second: (2+2) Agony, ESP, Fever, Hold Person
Third: (1+1) Bestow Curse, Lifeblood
I like these two. I like that they are twins and really mostly the same but have classes that are different takes on the same thing.
I would not make these two part of the Witches' Nest. I feel their back story is too tragic and their personalities are not one to take advantage of others. Though they will have a place in my new WIP "West Haven", mentioned briefly here.
When I try this class out more I will let you all know.
Class Struggles
There have been other blood witches in the past. Notablly the Blood Witch Prestige class from Relics & Rituals and from Mongoose's Ultimate Prestige Classes vol. 1. Both books have the same class. Blood Witches used whatever spells they gained from their previous spell casting class.
The Blood Witch in New Class Options is a bit similar. It uses magic-user spells. This is perfectly fine really, but some new spells would add some more flavor.
I was looking forward to this class the most and I still think it works well, but I have some issues with it. Let's start at the top.
The Blood Witch uses Constitution as her main stat. Very, very appropriate.
She needs a Con of 13 or higher. Again appropriate. Constitution scores above 16 also grant an additional +1 to hit points. Nice. She is going to need that.
Then we get to the next bit, quoting from the text.
Shattered Soul: Every day the Blood Witch has a 60% chance of losing herself in the song of magic. If this occurs the Witch will be able to cast 1 level above her level, however, she cannot know what is real or delusion.Ok. A neat bit a of flavor. But 60% every day? That seems a bit high and then she can cast as a level higher? Well sometimes that helps. But who makes this roll the GM or the player? Personally I would have it at 25% myself. Or tie it to the phases of the moon or time of day. THEN also a 25% where she can cast as a level lower. I GET what is trying to be done here, but I would need to play it over a few sessions to see.
Here is the part I am not crazy about. The Blood Witch needs to roll against her Constitution in order to cast spells. So the high her Con score, the less of chance she has of success. Again, from the text.
The first is that the Blood Witch must roll her constitution score + the spell level or higher in order to cast her spells. If the Blood Witch fails her spell roll the spell is swept away in the song of the magic and will not return to her for a day. The second is that for every spell cast the Blood Witch must sacrifice 1 + spell level of her health in order for the spell to be effective. If the Blood Witch refuses to make the sacrifice the spell and 1d4 other spells will be swept away in the song of magic for a two day period.Ok. So mechanically I get what Johua is trying to do here. I also spoke with him. It is to limit the amount of spells a witch can use. Since a witch can use theoretically ANY spell once she gets to the right level. In some ways her spell casting is more similar to the witch in +Jonathan Becker's The Complete B/X Adventurer than it is to anything else.
So a witch with a 16 Constitution could only cast spells up to 4th level, unless of course a 20 allways means a success.
I think what might work better here is limit the number of spells known. The blood witch might be able to cast this she completely out of blood (not advised) but maybe she only knows X per level. Like the 3rd Edition Sorcerer. This would impose a limiting factor.
Then give her a bonus to her roll equal to her level.
So our Blood Witch with 16 Con and 5th level would need a 15 or better to cast a 4th level spell (16 + 4 -5 =15). That seems to work well.
The experience levels for Blood Witch seem a bit high, granted this class has the potential for a lot of power. I'd still like to play one sometime just to be sure.
Somethings you see in the the myths and stories of blood magic is sacrifice (which is covered here as personal sacrifice) and proxies. So could this blood witch use an animal sacrifice for some spells? I think where appropriate yes. Proxies could be things like the animal but also proxies for blood itself, like purified water (possibly for healing spells if you use one of the witch spell lists) or even wine (blood of the vine). Personally I would allow such proxies for some of the more benign or even mundane spells.
The Blood Witch is any interesting type of character and something that could add a air of different to a game. A Blood Witch doesn't have to be an evil character, but it not likely she is going to be trusted by a party and certainly looked down on by other casters especially proper wizards.
Plays Well With Others
The best thing about the Blood Witch is that fits a great niche in any gaming group or campaign. It also works with a number of great OSR books. Obviously the blood witch will work mechanically with 99% of all the OSR and old-school books out there, the real question is will it work thematically. For example, the blood witch would work fantastic with Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but thematically it might be a bit redundant since all magic-users are assumed to have some sort of dark(-ish) pact.
I already mentioned The Complete B/X Adventurer. The witch class as presented in that book works as a great base for the Blood Witch. Combine the two classes into one works rather nicely. The B/X Witch has spells up to 10th level which is nice, but the New Class Options Witch only goes to 7.
I mentioned that the Blood Witch is really missing some really cool spells. The Vivimancer from +Gavin Norman's Theorems & Thaumaturgy and Complete Vivimancer offer some really nice choices. I created a few for both my witch and the vivimancer here. In particular I would suggest Blood Augury, Feel My Pain, Share My Pain, Stay Death's Hand, and of course Hell Hath No Fury because every witch needs that spell.
A while back I made some suggestions about witch spells for the vivimancer and vivimancer spells for the with. The nice thing is the blood witch is perfect cross section of both classes and can use all these spells.
The blood witch also works great with +Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The style and type of magic used by the blood witch would be very much in tune with AS&SH. Sacrificing blood for magical effects...yeah very much in tune. There are also plenty of great witch spells in that book as well.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games. I am going to have to play a Blood Witch sometime, but I also think I want to try her out as Blood Witch "Tradition" using my own rules and see how well they work together. Maybe twins...same level but one is a DeSanto Blood Witch while the other is a Brannan one. Interesting idea really.
If you are in the mind to some conversions, there is a great set of blood magic rules and spells in +Owen Stephens' magnum opus Deep Magic for Pathfinder. The blood magic system in that book could work nicely for a blood witch as well as a blood mage.
Again this passes the most basic test for a class for me. Can I think of a character for it and would I play it.
Kimbra & Kelleigh
Kimbra and Kelleigh are twin sisters with magic deep in their blood. They often have said to each other that it is because they have shared blood that their ties to each other and magic was so strong.
Though in their darker moments they felt their connection to magic and to blood came from the moment they were born. Kelleigh was first. Right after her birth their mother died. Kimbra was born when the midwife noticed that there was still someone in the lifeless body. To this day Kelleigh has had a great connection to blood and Kimbra to death. Kelleigh acts as the older sister. The sisters only trust each other.
 |
| Luis-Salas |
Yes, the names are based on Kim and Kelley Deal. But also an homage to Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong, two of my favorite authors in the modern supernatural genre.
Kelleigh
5th level Blood Witch, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 24
AC: 9
Saves: 12, +2 vs. Magic
To Hit: +1 / THAC0: 19
Spells:
Kimbra can cast the follow spell levels. Will choose spells based on the official list.
First: all
Second: 4
Third: 6
Fourth: 3
Fifth: 6
Sixth*: 1
Kimbra
5th level Witch, Blood Witch Tradition, Female
Neutral
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 16
AC: 7
Occult Powers
Familiar: Blood Spirit of her dead mother (treat as a ghost, neutrally aligned)
Spells
Cantrips: (5) Analyze Fertility, Detect Poison, Inflict Minor Wounds, Object Reading, Warm
First: (2+2) Bad Luck, Bewitch I, Cause Fear, Tattoo
Second: (2+2) Agony, ESP, Fever, Hold Person
Third: (1+1) Bestow Curse, Lifeblood
I like these two. I like that they are twins and really mostly the same but have classes that are different takes on the same thing.
I would not make these two part of the Witches' Nest. I feel their back story is too tragic and their personalities are not one to take advantage of others. Though they will have a place in my new WIP "West Haven", mentioned briefly here.
When I try this class out more I will let you all know.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
PWWO: Wildstar Corvette + OSR SciFi Games
During my brief foray into scifi games in the 80s I had managed to create one thing, the FTL Lucifer.
The Lucifer was a Corvette class spaceship, small, light but deadly. The historical Corvette was also a class of small war ships just larger than a Frigate. It had a small crew of officers (aka PCs) and enlisted personnel (hirelings). It is a perfect vehicle (pardon the pun) for a game.
A good friend of mine drew a picture of a ship for me and it was perfect. Well....it was perfect because it was what I used and was fond of the drawing.
I lost the drawing years ago, but I kept the Lucifer.
Over the years I expanded on it and wanted to use it in a Star Trek game that never got going. It was the first in a line of ships all named after devils in various myths. So there was the Baalzebul, the Fek'lhr and the Kosst Amojan.
Recently I discovered Wildstar Class Corvette/RPG Battle Maps by Wydraz.
It's not perfect, but it is really, really close. These maps are largely system free, though there is a solid hint of both d20 and Star Trek influences. That is fine by me.
Since I am unlikely to recover the original drawing of the FTL Lucifer, this is a good substitute.
But this only gives me the basics;
Length: 340' (104 meters)
Beam: 230' (70 meters)
Height: 80' (25 meters)
Tonnage: 18,000 (16,300 metric tons)
Cargo Capacity: 2,000 tons (1,815 metric tons)
Main Batteries: 2 dual plasma cannons
Crew Cabins: 4 Officers Quarters, 20 double crew cabins
2 Shuttles, 10 Escape Pods.
Nice little ship.
But to use it a game I will need some stats. Thankfully I have some games I can stat it up in.
Let's see how it Plays Well With Others.
White Star
+James Spahn
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
ARMOR CLASS: 2 [17]
HIT POINTS: 100
SHIELD STRENGTH 10
Movement 9
TARGETING +1
ATTACK Dual Laser Cannon x2 (4d6)
Range 14
MODIFICATIONS Faster-Than-Light Drive, Proton Missiles (optional)
Cost: 100,000 CR
Crew: 4 Officers, 40 enlisted max.
Starships & Spacemen
+Dan P
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship (CC)
Crew complement: 44
Command Rank: Lt. Commander ("Corvette Captain")
Power Pile Base: 150 energy units (one-half pod)
Teleporter Capacity: 2 at a time
Beam Banks: 2
Ion Torpedoes: 1
Shuttle Ships: 2
Sick Bay Capacity: 6
Stars Without Number
+Kevin Crawford
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
Cost: 6.1m
Speed: 1
Armor: 5
HP: 40
Crew Min/Max: 10/40
AC: 6
Power: 50
Free Mass: 20
Hardpoints: 5
Class: Corvette
Fittings: Advanced nav computer, Auto targeting system, Drive 6 upgrade, 10 life boats, ship bay.
Weapons:
Dual plasma cannons (2 hardpoints each), 4d6 each, Power 10
Torpedo launcher (1 hardpoint), 3d8, Power 10
Defenses: Augmented Plating
Machinations of the Space Princess
+James Desborough and +Satine Phoenix
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
Crew: 40
Attack: +2
Scale: 6
Hit Points: 5HD (22 hp)
Armour: 1d4
Defence: 6
Speed: Moderate
Weapons: 2 dual plasma cannons, 1 torpedo launcher
Toughness Save: 7
Reflexes Save: 5
Power Save: 8
Customisations: Can't Land, 10 escape pods, medical bay, science suite, shields, shuttle bay.
I like how each game gives a slightly different view of this space ship.
So who is ready to board the Lucifer and do some exploring!
The Lucifer was a Corvette class spaceship, small, light but deadly. The historical Corvette was also a class of small war ships just larger than a Frigate. It had a small crew of officers (aka PCs) and enlisted personnel (hirelings). It is a perfect vehicle (pardon the pun) for a game.
A good friend of mine drew a picture of a ship for me and it was perfect. Well....it was perfect because it was what I used and was fond of the drawing.
I lost the drawing years ago, but I kept the Lucifer.
Over the years I expanded on it and wanted to use it in a Star Trek game that never got going. It was the first in a line of ships all named after devils in various myths. So there was the Baalzebul, the Fek'lhr and the Kosst Amojan.
It's not perfect, but it is really, really close. These maps are largely system free, though there is a solid hint of both d20 and Star Trek influences. That is fine by me.
Since I am unlikely to recover the original drawing of the FTL Lucifer, this is a good substitute.
But this only gives me the basics;
Length: 340' (104 meters)
Beam: 230' (70 meters)
Height: 80' (25 meters)
Tonnage: 18,000 (16,300 metric tons)
Cargo Capacity: 2,000 tons (1,815 metric tons)
Main Batteries: 2 dual plasma cannons
Crew Cabins: 4 Officers Quarters, 20 double crew cabins
2 Shuttles, 10 Escape Pods.
Nice little ship.
But to use it a game I will need some stats. Thankfully I have some games I can stat it up in.
Let's see how it Plays Well With Others.
White Star
+James Spahn
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
ARMOR CLASS: 2 [17]
HIT POINTS: 100
SHIELD STRENGTH 10
Movement 9
TARGETING +1
ATTACK Dual Laser Cannon x2 (4d6)
Range 14
MODIFICATIONS Faster-Than-Light Drive, Proton Missiles (optional)
Cost: 100,000 CR
Crew: 4 Officers, 40 enlisted max.
Starships & Spacemen
+Dan P
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship (CC)
Crew complement: 44
Command Rank: Lt. Commander ("Corvette Captain")
Power Pile Base: 150 energy units (one-half pod)
Teleporter Capacity: 2 at a time
Beam Banks: 2
Ion Torpedoes: 1
Shuttle Ships: 2
Sick Bay Capacity: 6
Stars Without Number
+Kevin Crawford
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
Cost: 6.1m
Speed: 1
Armor: 5
HP: 40
Crew Min/Max: 10/40
AC: 6
Power: 50
Free Mass: 20
Hardpoints: 5
Class: Corvette
Fittings: Advanced nav computer, Auto targeting system, Drive 6 upgrade, 10 life boats, ship bay.
Weapons:
Dual plasma cannons (2 hardpoints each), 4d6 each, Power 10
Torpedo launcher (1 hardpoint), 3d8, Power 10
Defenses: Augmented Plating
Machinations of the Space Princess
+James Desborough and +Satine Phoenix
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship
Crew: 40
Attack: +2
Scale: 6
Hit Points: 5HD (22 hp)
Armour: 1d4
Defence: 6
Speed: Moderate
Weapons: 2 dual plasma cannons, 1 torpedo launcher
Toughness Save: 7
Reflexes Save: 5
Power Save: 8
Customisations: Can't Land, 10 escape pods, medical bay, science suite, shields, shuttle bay.
I like how each game gives a slightly different view of this space ship.
So who is ready to board the Lucifer and do some exploring!
Thursday, April 23, 2015
PWWO: A Red & Pleasant Land + Victorian Games
| Notice: I am not taking down this post because I feel it is more important to leave it up, but also update everyone on what is happeing now as February 11, 2019. Please see this newer post first. http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2019/02/i-am-going-to-talk-about-zak-today-and.html |
 |
| The print version with ribbon. I don't think there are many of these left. |
A while back I picked up +Zak Smith's vampire-themed Alice in Wonderland mashup (though that does not really describe it) A Red & Pleasant Land. It is well reviewed and you can read my review here: http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/12/review-red-pleasant-land.html
What got me at the time is a.) how much I liked it and b.) how much I didn't want to play it under D&D (any version). I started thinking about Alice, Dracula and this book I thought that what this book really needs is not a background of fantasy, even the Grimdark of LotFP or DCC, but the prim and proper sensibilities of a more refined time. Victorian England.
Think about it. I described the country, Voivodja, in AR&PL as Nightmare scape. Not an overt one like say the Hells, but a subtle one, and mostly a chaotic one. What a better contrast to the streets of fog soaked Victorian London? After all Voivodja isn't in our world, it's out there somewhere; down a rabbit hole or through the looking glass. Through a looking glass darkly. OR if it is, maybe it is an odd mirror. Page 14 of AR&PL will give you ideas. The difference now is that we are all using the same world. Unless your D&D game is set in Europe of course, then you are ahead.
There are a lot of great choices for games to use this with and each offers something special I think.
Cthuhlu by Gaslight
Cthuhlu by Gaslight is one of the best Victorian era magical games out there. CbG has rules, via Call of Cthuhlu, for dealing with the Dreamlands. This is a good way to get characters from the "real world" to Voivodja. Now Voivodja could be in our Carpathian Mountains or they could be in the analogue in the Dream lands. Who knows.
One thing I would suggest is get a good grip on the Sanity rules and how to apply them using AR&PL. There are things here that could be abused and drive the characters completely insane. I say use them sparingly; instead focus on the weirdness of it all. Not the mind bend weirdness typically one associates with the mythos. Translations of monsters would not be hard. Though the average CoC/CbG game is more about investigation. There is more doing in AR&PL, even if that doing isn't always combat. Though they both have that in common.
Ghosts of Albion
I think there are plenty of good reasons to use Ghosts of Albion. First the there is more expectation that characters will do more in GoA than in CoC. Again monsters are easy to convert; most are in the Ghosts core book or could be found in any of the Buffy books. Secondly let's address the elephant in the room. Zak may not have meant Alice to come off as an ersatz Slayer, but she kind of is. Or rather the Alice is the trope that the "Buffy" is trying to set up. All I am saying is that thematically they work well together or even as each other. Alices are not Protectors, but they can be weaker Slayers or Chosen Ones (Army of Darkness) in any case the rules in GoA have it covered.
Alice's would get extra Drama Points (I would say 2 extra at starting). The leveling up table would be used for every 25 XP gained. Just allow her to take the appropriate Supernatural Qualities.
The Alice would be a 5-Point Supernatural Quality. I'd have to work out what is in it, likely bonuses to Charisma, Hard to Kill, but some drawbacks too. Nothing major and nothing more than 5 points.
The more magic-rich world of Ghosts works well for AR&PL too. And between Ghosts' Supernatural rules, Angel's demon rules and Buffy's vampires you could make every type of vampire in the book and then some.
Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death
This of course might the best fit. Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death is set on Earth in the Victorian era. It uses the same D&D system as AR&PL. Plus a lot of the changes that LotFP made to D&D can also be found in this book. Specialists are called Tradesmen in MotRD. While the other two can be "easily converted" this one does not have to be converted at all. You can even use the Alice as is.
Plus a lot of the strangeness in AR&PL can be explained by the power known as The Red Death. I would opt for the 2nd Edition version pictured here as opposed to the 3.x update from Arthaus/SSS/White Wolf. In fact going back through my Masque books I think this might be the one I would use for this.
You could travel the Orient Express and end up in A Red & Pleasant Land.
In any of the above cases I am much more excited to run this than under D&D or a clone.
Monday, December 1, 2014
The Basic Illusionist
It slipped under my radar, but +Nathan Irving quietly released his excellent Basic Illusionist a few days ago.
If you remember the Basic Illusionist was Nathan's entry into the S&W Appreciation Day back in April of 2014. Since then the book has seen some edits and it is now available as a proper DriveThruRPG download.
I talked about this book at length back in May. Everything I said then applies still.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/05/pwwo-basic-illusionist.html
I mentioned a few games it works well with (PWWO) but since that time I have also used it in conjunction with other books.
ACKS Player's Companion
The Gnomish Trickster has a number of good spells that work well for the Illusionist. All the arcane spells tagged as (ill) for illusion would work nicely as well.
Adventures Dark and Deep
This game has both an illusionist and a mountebank classes. Not to mention plenty of spells.
The Companion Expansion
This is another "Companion" style book for Basic-era D&D and clones and is something of a forgotten treasure. It also has an Illusionist Class that is roughly equal with the Basic Illusionist, but the real feature of this book is the expanded spell list. If you are looking to extend your illusionist a bit more with more spells then this is a good way to do it.
Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion
Given it's aim to emulate AD&D via the Basic D&D-like rules it is no surprise then this illusionist cleaves very close to the source material.
I stand by my assessment of this book that I made then. This is hands down one of the best books of this type you can get and really captures what the OSR is about. Also, if you are playing an illusionist of any sort in any of the games I have mentioned, then by all means get this book.
I talked about this book at length back in May. Everything I said then applies still.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/05/pwwo-basic-illusionist.html
I mentioned a few games it works well with (PWWO) but since that time I have also used it in conjunction with other books.
ACKS Player's Companion
The Gnomish Trickster has a number of good spells that work well for the Illusionist. All the arcane spells tagged as (ill) for illusion would work nicely as well.
Adventures Dark and Deep
This game has both an illusionist and a mountebank classes. Not to mention plenty of spells.
The Companion Expansion
This is another "Companion" style book for Basic-era D&D and clones and is something of a forgotten treasure. It also has an Illusionist Class that is roughly equal with the Basic Illusionist, but the real feature of this book is the expanded spell list. If you are looking to extend your illusionist a bit more with more spells then this is a good way to do it.
Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion
Given it's aim to emulate AD&D via the Basic D&D-like rules it is no surprise then this illusionist cleaves very close to the source material.
I stand by my assessment of this book that I made then. This is hands down one of the best books of this type you can get and really captures what the OSR is about. Also, if you are playing an illusionist of any sort in any of the games I have mentioned, then by all means get this book.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Mystara 3001: A Wild Space Odyssey (PWWO: Calidar + Star Wars + d20)
Over the weekend I spent some time cleaning. I was going through a bunch of "old" d20 books from the dawn of the d20 boom. I have Dragonstar which I loved in theory but not exactly in practice. I have d20 Star Wars, which I also enjoyed but I am not totally up on all the Star Wars lore by any stretch of the imagination. I also have d20 Future which gives me all the cool Star Frontiers races I really enjoyed.
I was looking at this stack and thinking that really, I have everything I need for a kick-ass Space Opera game. Plus in my mind Star Wars and D&D are inextricably linked together. Not just in terms when they both hit my consciousness but also in feel. I have often said that the best "D&D movie" ever was Star Wars (A New Hope for the younger fans).
I figure I could also grab some ideas from Gamma World and even Spelljammer.
But what I have been lacking is a way to bring them all together.
Then +Bruce Heard's Calidar came into my life.
I have spoken about Calidar in detail already. The crunch is Pathfinder, which is d20 really. So mixing it with d20 Future and d20 Star Wars is really a no brainer.
Calidar helped me smooth out some of the rough spots in my ideas. It also gave me backgrounds and character to use. Plus Calidar is a more solid hook for "D&D in Space" than Star Wars was. I don't want to play a Star Wars game, but I do want to play with some of the toys in the game universe.
Space ships could be a combination of Magic-craft or technology (not sure which yet). I would include all the planets from Calidar, but I could also take a page or two from Spelljammer and Star Wars. Maybe not exact planets from Star Wars, but if this is going to be space opera then there has to be a "Dune" like planet there somewhere. Or even a Dune/Tatooine/Athas composite. But not make it a central location.
In fact to steal another page from Dune I think I need to do something to make extra special about Calidar. In the game now Calidar is where you start and venture out. I think I will have Calidar the destination instead. The characters leave their home world. Likely Mystoerth and then the come here. If I am using the Mystara Calendar then the Gazeteers were all published in or around 1015 AC. I would make this 3000 AC. Or 3001 just to be that way.
It might seem odd to want to go back to 3rd Edition, but honestly I think it would be a blast. The multi-classes, the Prestige classes, all of it would work great here.
I could also steal heavily from Doctor Who, Star Trek and even the 80s Buck Rogers and have a "Draconian Empire" that would be my Klingon analogues. Use Dragonborn naturally. In many ways I guess it would by my Mystoerth world writ-large.
Yeah. The Allied Human worlds (Oerth, Mystara, Krynn and Toril) discover the new world of Calidar, which is rich in some resource. They get there only to meet a counter claim from the Draconic Empire. Already there are colonies of Dwarves and Elves, stationed on the moons, and an indigenous population. This could be a lot of fun. Plus it would give me my sci-fi kick I have been wanting for so long.
I was looking at this stack and thinking that really, I have everything I need for a kick-ass Space Opera game. Plus in my mind Star Wars and D&D are inextricably linked together. Not just in terms when they both hit my consciousness but also in feel. I have often said that the best "D&D movie" ever was Star Wars (A New Hope for the younger fans).
I figure I could also grab some ideas from Gamma World and even Spelljammer.
But what I have been lacking is a way to bring them all together.
Then +Bruce Heard's Calidar came into my life.
I have spoken about Calidar in detail already. The crunch is Pathfinder, which is d20 really. So mixing it with d20 Future and d20 Star Wars is really a no brainer.
Calidar helped me smooth out some of the rough spots in my ideas. It also gave me backgrounds and character to use. Plus Calidar is a more solid hook for "D&D in Space" than Star Wars was. I don't want to play a Star Wars game, but I do want to play with some of the toys in the game universe.
Space ships could be a combination of Magic-craft or technology (not sure which yet). I would include all the planets from Calidar, but I could also take a page or two from Spelljammer and Star Wars. Maybe not exact planets from Star Wars, but if this is going to be space opera then there has to be a "Dune" like planet there somewhere. Or even a Dune/Tatooine/Athas composite. But not make it a central location.
In fact to steal another page from Dune I think I need to do something to make extra special about Calidar. In the game now Calidar is where you start and venture out. I think I will have Calidar the destination instead. The characters leave their home world. Likely Mystoerth and then the come here. If I am using the Mystara Calendar then the Gazeteers were all published in or around 1015 AC. I would make this 3000 AC. Or 3001 just to be that way.
It might seem odd to want to go back to 3rd Edition, but honestly I think it would be a blast. The multi-classes, the Prestige classes, all of it would work great here.
I could also steal heavily from Doctor Who, Star Trek and even the 80s Buck Rogers and have a "Draconian Empire" that would be my Klingon analogues. Use Dragonborn naturally. In many ways I guess it would by my Mystoerth world writ-large.
Yeah. The Allied Human worlds (Oerth, Mystara, Krynn and Toril) discover the new world of Calidar, which is rich in some resource. They get there only to meet a counter claim from the Draconic Empire. Already there are colonies of Dwarves and Elves, stationed on the moons, and an indigenous population. This could be a lot of fun. Plus it would give me my sci-fi kick I have been wanting for so long.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
PWWO: Calidar
Calidar is out and I reviewed the PDF a couple of days back. It really is awesome, but I am struck by how well it can be used pretty much anywhere.
Plus look at these awesome maps.
So for this edition of "Plays Well With Others" I want to focus on what you need to do to make Calidar work for your current favorite system.
Calidar and D&D 5
This is kind of a cheat really. One of the implicit design goals of D&D 5 was "D&D your way". So given that Calidar works well with Pathfinder, working with D&D is not a stretch. Plus the "default" world of D&D 5 might be the Forgotten Realms, but enough Greyhawk, Dragonlance and even Mystara names are thrown around it should be obvious that you can play this on any world. D&D 5 does a much better job of capturing that high fantasy feel than previous edition's "Points of Light" or "Dungeon-punk" attitudes. So does Calidar. Plus both D&D 5 and Calidar are new and can "grow up together" in the inventive mind of a DM.
The best thing about this marriage is you don't even the "full" version of D&D 5! You can use the free D&D 5 Basic edition. The races are the basic four (human, elf, dwarf, halfling) and the basic four classes (cleric, fighter, wizard, thief). This stripped down version of D&D5 works perfect with Calidar. The races all have their own respective planets and the classes cover all the bases.
Calidar and Original D&D
Or you could go the other direction and use the original D&D rules. The same reasons apply from D&D 5, but I have something specific here in mind. I would play Calidar more as a Planetary Romance. One thing I always to do was play OD&D as a Barsoomian game. I loved the Edgar Rice Burroughs books and I always felt that OD&D and Barsoom would be a perfect fit. Calidar would be the glue that holds it all together.
Plus Calidar has a Mars-like planet now, but sadly not a Barsoomian one. Barsoom would be a nice fit and give the Calidar game something a little bit different.
Here are some links I have been using to get my Mars/Barsoomian fixes.
Looking forward to trying this out with my current game.
Plus look at these awesome maps.
So for this edition of "Plays Well With Others" I want to focus on what you need to do to make Calidar work for your current favorite system.
Calidar and D&D 5
This is kind of a cheat really. One of the implicit design goals of D&D 5 was "D&D your way". So given that Calidar works well with Pathfinder, working with D&D is not a stretch. Plus the "default" world of D&D 5 might be the Forgotten Realms, but enough Greyhawk, Dragonlance and even Mystara names are thrown around it should be obvious that you can play this on any world. D&D 5 does a much better job of capturing that high fantasy feel than previous edition's "Points of Light" or "Dungeon-punk" attitudes. So does Calidar. Plus both D&D 5 and Calidar are new and can "grow up together" in the inventive mind of a DM.
The best thing about this marriage is you don't even the "full" version of D&D 5! You can use the free D&D 5 Basic edition. The races are the basic four (human, elf, dwarf, halfling) and the basic four classes (cleric, fighter, wizard, thief). This stripped down version of D&D5 works perfect with Calidar. The races all have their own respective planets and the classes cover all the bases.
Calidar and Original D&D
Or you could go the other direction and use the original D&D rules. The same reasons apply from D&D 5, but I have something specific here in mind. I would play Calidar more as a Planetary Romance. One thing I always to do was play OD&D as a Barsoomian game. I loved the Edgar Rice Burroughs books and I always felt that OD&D and Barsoom would be a perfect fit. Calidar would be the glue that holds it all together.
Plus Calidar has a Mars-like planet now, but sadly not a Barsoomian one. Barsoom would be a nice fit and give the Calidar game something a little bit different.
Here are some links I have been using to get my Mars/Barsoomian fixes.
Looking forward to trying this out with my current game.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Amazing Adventures: Plays Well With Others
The best thing, or at least one of the best things, about Amazing Adventures is the fact that it is based all around Castles & Crusades. So not only is everything for C&C compatible with it, everything that works great with C&C also works for Amazing Adventures.
This means a lot of classic AD&D adventures can be played with little conversions needed.
Ravenloft
I spent some time this past weekend going through the original I6 Ravenloft Module. Pretty much everything in the adventure is covered in the Amazing Adventure Rules. In fact things might work out a little bit better. Imagine your party of world travelling adventurers. You have a big game hunter, a scientist, a gadgeteer, maybe a socialite. All travelling by train to some dark corner of Eastern Europe. That is till the mists roll in and train has to stop. A carriage comes to pick you up and takes you to small village of Barovia where is looks like time has stood still. People are fearful of you. Soon you learn of the castle in the mountains and the Lord of the castle is inviting you to dinner.
Count Strahd von Zarovich
Vampire
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1
SIZE: Medium
HD: 14d12 (84 hp)
MOVE: 40 ft., 60 ft. (fly), 20 ft. (climb)
AC: 25 (cloak, ring of protection)
ATTACKS: Slam (1d6)
SPECIAL: Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Dominate, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Alternate Form, Gaseous Form, Entourage, Electrical Resistance (half), Spider Climb
SANITY: 1d8/1d10
SAVES: M, P
INT: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
TYPE: Undead
XP: 10450+14 (10534)
Additionally Strahd can cast spells as an 10th level Arcane Spellcaster (Int based). He is protected by a ring of protection and an amulet that prevents him from being turned.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
If Hammer Horror is not to your liking then change the location to the deep jungles of South America or Africa and replace the castle with a crashed spaceship.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one of the odder adventures out there, and certainly one of the most fun for my money. The high tech works just as well on the characters of the Pulp era as they do on quasi-medieval fantasy. But AA offers something a bit more to the mix.
First off I replaced the Mind Flayers in the adventure with a malevolent type of Grey. When the adventurers arrive the ship is just waking up and will soon begin it's conquest of the world. The Pulp Era though predates "saucer men" by a few years at least in the public consciousness. Compare for example the serials of the 30s vs. that of the 50s in how aliens were depicted and treated.
If you want pure pulp action then replace the creatures in the modules with the various Lovecraft Mythos monsters found in the book. Mind Flayers afterall have a vaguely "Cthulhu-ness" about them anyway. Fill it full of shoggoths and Spawn of Shub-Niggurath. The plant spawn make for good vegipygmies.
Add more fun and have it so the ship had crashed into the Earth 65 Billion years ago and have all these dinosaurs in stasis. That is of course until the ship systems start to wake up.
The Isle of Dread
A monster romp on a tropical island. The Isle of Dread has far more in common with the 1933 King Kong than it does with fantasy swordplay.
The Amazing Adventures core book already has a number of dinosaurs (and the d20SRD has more) and monsters that work well with this adventure. Plus going by steam liner makes much more sense for our Pulp Adventurers. Isle of the Dread is essentially a "Lost World" sort of adventure and that fits the Pulp story telling perfectly.
What About Guns?
Ok so our intrepid Pulp adventurers will fight vampires, aliens and dinosaurs. Unlike their fantasy counterparts they will be armed with guns instead of swords.
This is not a problem.
As we have seen in movies time and time again a gun is not very effective against the undead. A pistol is about as effective (pro and con) as an arrow against a rampaging dino or giant beast. And in Barrier Peaks? Well they have the chance to find "ray guns". So guns may not really give the character the edge you might think.
I am sure there are others that would work equally as well, but these are the big three genre-bending modules with roots near the pulp era. In any case there is enough here to keep your players happy for a while even if they played these classics in the past.
This means a lot of classic AD&D adventures can be played with little conversions needed.
Ravenloft
I spent some time this past weekend going through the original I6 Ravenloft Module. Pretty much everything in the adventure is covered in the Amazing Adventure Rules. In fact things might work out a little bit better. Imagine your party of world travelling adventurers. You have a big game hunter, a scientist, a gadgeteer, maybe a socialite. All travelling by train to some dark corner of Eastern Europe. That is till the mists roll in and train has to stop. A carriage comes to pick you up and takes you to small village of Barovia where is looks like time has stood still. People are fearful of you. Soon you learn of the castle in the mountains and the Lord of the castle is inviting you to dinner.
Count Strahd von Zarovich
Vampire
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1
SIZE: Medium
HD: 14d12 (84 hp)
MOVE: 40 ft., 60 ft. (fly), 20 ft. (climb)
AC: 25 (cloak, ring of protection)
ATTACKS: Slam (1d6)
SPECIAL: Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Dominate, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Alternate Form, Gaseous Form, Entourage, Electrical Resistance (half), Spider Climb
SANITY: 1d8/1d10
SAVES: M, P
INT: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
TYPE: Undead
XP: 10450+14 (10534)
Additionally Strahd can cast spells as an 10th level Arcane Spellcaster (Int based). He is protected by a ring of protection and an amulet that prevents him from being turned.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
If Hammer Horror is not to your liking then change the location to the deep jungles of South America or Africa and replace the castle with a crashed spaceship.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one of the odder adventures out there, and certainly one of the most fun for my money. The high tech works just as well on the characters of the Pulp era as they do on quasi-medieval fantasy. But AA offers something a bit more to the mix.
First off I replaced the Mind Flayers in the adventure with a malevolent type of Grey. When the adventurers arrive the ship is just waking up and will soon begin it's conquest of the world. The Pulp Era though predates "saucer men" by a few years at least in the public consciousness. Compare for example the serials of the 30s vs. that of the 50s in how aliens were depicted and treated.
If you want pure pulp action then replace the creatures in the modules with the various Lovecraft Mythos monsters found in the book. Mind Flayers afterall have a vaguely "Cthulhu-ness" about them anyway. Fill it full of shoggoths and Spawn of Shub-Niggurath. The plant spawn make for good vegipygmies.
Add more fun and have it so the ship had crashed into the Earth 65 Billion years ago and have all these dinosaurs in stasis. That is of course until the ship systems start to wake up.
The Isle of Dread
A monster romp on a tropical island. The Isle of Dread has far more in common with the 1933 King Kong than it does with fantasy swordplay.
The Amazing Adventures core book already has a number of dinosaurs (and the d20SRD has more) and monsters that work well with this adventure. Plus going by steam liner makes much more sense for our Pulp Adventurers. Isle of the Dread is essentially a "Lost World" sort of adventure and that fits the Pulp story telling perfectly.
What About Guns?
Ok so our intrepid Pulp adventurers will fight vampires, aliens and dinosaurs. Unlike their fantasy counterparts they will be armed with guns instead of swords.
This is not a problem.
As we have seen in movies time and time again a gun is not very effective against the undead. A pistol is about as effective (pro and con) as an arrow against a rampaging dino or giant beast. And in Barrier Peaks? Well they have the chance to find "ray guns". So guns may not really give the character the edge you might think.
I am sure there are others that would work equally as well, but these are the big three genre-bending modules with roots near the pulp era. In any case there is enough here to keep your players happy for a while even if they played these classics in the past.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Review: James Mishler Games
+James Mishler is having a big sale on all his Olden Lands products and they are worth checking out.
James runs a great blog over at http://jamesmishlergames.blogspot.com/ and Google+ Group where he posts tons of great old-school material for the price of a click.
I am partial to his works since the Mystoerth map I use is based on his work. One day I really, really need to chat with him about this map and how he runs/ran his combined Mystara/Greyhawk world and see if was similar to how we did it back in 86.
Anyway check out his products.
I guess the first thing that needs to be said is that all these products are designed to be used with any Old-School game. They are overtly labeled for Labyrinth Lord and some dual-stated for Castles & Crusades, but really you could pick up anything from the *D&D family and play these.
The look of the books is certainly Old-school with the Souvenir/Soutane font.
Most of these books lack art, but I don't think that is an issue here. They do fine with out it.
Castle Adlerstein and Environs Map Pack
8 maps. Pay What You Want
The maps are all hires PNG files.
Features the hex area around Castle Adlerstein which is to be detailed in the future. Again at present it is avery sandboxy and can be used with anything. 8 maps (7 maps and a grid) and PWYW make this a great deal. It will be a better deal when the rest of it comes out too.
Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent
7 maps and a guidebook. Pay What You Want.
The maps are all hires PNG files.
The guidebook lists various monsters and resources of the areas. No descriptions of the lands or anything else. That is all coming in the in the Gazetteer of the Olden Lands. But it works as a huge sandbox and I was already mentally placing it in my own world. Easily worth the price of a look and throwing a few bucks into James' hat. Easily more things to do here than I can put down on paper (pixels?) now. IT really recalls that feel that getting the original Expert Set box and seeing the maps.
Gods, Demi-Gods, and Cults #1: Chaos Queen of Ants
This 21 page (cover, OGL, and 19 pages) book is the first of the GODS,DEMI-GODS, AND CULTS series. This one features Khraliche Karinkhamür the Chaos Queen of Ants. Presented here is plenty of detail about the cult, the sub cults and the important figures. Worshipers are detailed and discussed. We also get some new spells for both Wizards and Clerics and some new monsters.
What I like most about this is that it can be easily added to any game world. The feel is overwhelming old-school and sandbox, but that is great.
Hercynian Grimoire #1
46 pages (cover, OGL, 44 pages).
The first of hopefully more books in this series as well. This is also the first of the Olden Lands and the Chronicles of Mhoriedh line. The book is divided into a recognizable "Men & Magic", "Monsters & Treasure", "Underworld & Wilderness" and a newer, but still recognizable "Gods & Demi-gods". So needless to say I am hooked so far.
First up a great few of pages on Gnolls and their human-half breed kin the Gnoles. I never gave gnolls a second thought but this is some good stuff.
Another feature that you see the d66 table. Roll two d6s like percentile dice and get 36 outcomes. Like Traveler used to do.
Next up is a section on spells. What I love about this and can get 100% behind is that Magic-user/Wizard spells are also labeled as "Intelligence", Cleric spells as "Wisdom" and Witchcraft spells as "Charisma". It is like it is custom made for my Witch class!
There is a Gnoll encounter table, a random faerie table.
The next section is a collection of new magic items.
About half-way we get to a monster manual like section. Plenty of new hyena types and more. All monsters are dual stated.
Following some more tables we talk about some of the Olden Lands. Up first, the Realm of Alspadia and it's major settlements.
This is a pretty packed book at 46 pages. Lots of things to use to be honest and all can be added to your current game with no troubles.
Ogres of the Olden Lands
Ogres are the boogeymen of the Olden Lands. Or at least that is how they are depicted here. I love what James is trying to do with the ogres here. Give them something more of the supernatural. It works to be honest and for how little this book costs you have no excuse not to be using this to spice up the ogres in your own game. Ok though, I do plan on using this information for goblins instead! The random ogre feature tables for both Ogre and Ogre Magi is just great.
Though the STAR of this book is the Half-Ogre as a player character. Gamers of A Certain Age (like James and myself) grew up on a steady diet of fantasy and the half-ogre is the result of that. Either from the pages of Dragon magazine or the pages of Piers Anothony, the half-ogre was something that was sure to show up in someone's game in the early 80s. This half-ogre does that memory justice.
As a bonus we get the lands of the ogre and full color maps!
Vampires of the Olden Lands
The Olden Lands is James' in house campaign the Chronicles of Mhoriedh. All the books in this series are dual stated with Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades stats. This appeals to me on a number of levels. I like that he went through the effort to do this and the nice effect is that between these two sets of stats you can play this under any old school version of D&D you like. There is also plenty in this book that work with any other game as well.
We start out with some common protections against vampires. We follow with 8 very different sorts of vampires including living, dead and spirit. All dual stated. There is a new race to play, The Dhamphir. I have seen a lot of "Dhampirs" over the years, but this one is one of the best so far just in terms of simplicity.
All in all a really nice take and these vampires are not like the Dracula-Lestat-Edward clones that can populate so many other games.
All in all these are great additions to my game library and something I plan on using in my own game world.
I hope to see a LOT more of this world to be honest. I would also love to see how people are using it in their own games. For me, I am planning to set Dolmvay in the Olden Lands somewhere.
Plays Well With Others
I could not help but notice that there are lot of references to a Witch class in these books. This class is left undefined for the most part (outside of it being a Charisma based spell caster) and is really meant to be any kind of witch. I can't help but notice how perfect this fits with my own Witch class. So if you liked my class and have the book, then grab these too, but especially grab Hercynian Grimoire since it has witch spells in it that would be perfect.
--
Like what I do here?
Let me know by voting for me for "Best Blog" in the 2014 ENnies.
http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/
Go to Best Blog and put a "1" next to "The Other Side". Thanks so much!
James runs a great blog over at http://jamesmishlergames.blogspot.com/ and Google+ Group where he posts tons of great old-school material for the price of a click.
I am partial to his works since the Mystoerth map I use is based on his work. One day I really, really need to chat with him about this map and how he runs/ran his combined Mystara/Greyhawk world and see if was similar to how we did it back in 86.
Anyway check out his products.
I guess the first thing that needs to be said is that all these products are designed to be used with any Old-School game. They are overtly labeled for Labyrinth Lord and some dual-stated for Castles & Crusades, but really you could pick up anything from the *D&D family and play these.
The look of the books is certainly Old-school with the Souvenir/Soutane font.
Most of these books lack art, but I don't think that is an issue here. They do fine with out it.
Castle Adlerstein and Environs Map Pack
8 maps. Pay What You Want
The maps are all hires PNG files.
Features the hex area around Castle Adlerstein which is to be detailed in the future. Again at present it is avery sandboxy and can be used with anything. 8 maps (7 maps and a grid) and PWYW make this a great deal. It will be a better deal when the rest of it comes out too.
Chronicles of Mhoriedh Map 00 Olden Lands Continent
7 maps and a guidebook. Pay What You Want.
The maps are all hires PNG files.
The guidebook lists various monsters and resources of the areas. No descriptions of the lands or anything else. That is all coming in the in the Gazetteer of the Olden Lands. But it works as a huge sandbox and I was already mentally placing it in my own world. Easily worth the price of a look and throwing a few bucks into James' hat. Easily more things to do here than I can put down on paper (pixels?) now. IT really recalls that feel that getting the original Expert Set box and seeing the maps.
Gods, Demi-Gods, and Cults #1: Chaos Queen of Ants
This 21 page (cover, OGL, and 19 pages) book is the first of the GODS,DEMI-GODS, AND CULTS series. This one features Khraliche Karinkhamür the Chaos Queen of Ants. Presented here is plenty of detail about the cult, the sub cults and the important figures. Worshipers are detailed and discussed. We also get some new spells for both Wizards and Clerics and some new monsters.
What I like most about this is that it can be easily added to any game world. The feel is overwhelming old-school and sandbox, but that is great.
Hercynian Grimoire #1
46 pages (cover, OGL, 44 pages).
The first of hopefully more books in this series as well. This is also the first of the Olden Lands and the Chronicles of Mhoriedh line. The book is divided into a recognizable "Men & Magic", "Monsters & Treasure", "Underworld & Wilderness" and a newer, but still recognizable "Gods & Demi-gods". So needless to say I am hooked so far.
First up a great few of pages on Gnolls and their human-half breed kin the Gnoles. I never gave gnolls a second thought but this is some good stuff.
Another feature that you see the d66 table. Roll two d6s like percentile dice and get 36 outcomes. Like Traveler used to do.
Next up is a section on spells. What I love about this and can get 100% behind is that Magic-user/Wizard spells are also labeled as "Intelligence", Cleric spells as "Wisdom" and Witchcraft spells as "Charisma". It is like it is custom made for my Witch class!
There is a Gnoll encounter table, a random faerie table.
The next section is a collection of new magic items.
About half-way we get to a monster manual like section. Plenty of new hyena types and more. All monsters are dual stated.
Following some more tables we talk about some of the Olden Lands. Up first, the Realm of Alspadia and it's major settlements.
This is a pretty packed book at 46 pages. Lots of things to use to be honest and all can be added to your current game with no troubles.
Ogres of the Olden Lands
Ogres are the boogeymen of the Olden Lands. Or at least that is how they are depicted here. I love what James is trying to do with the ogres here. Give them something more of the supernatural. It works to be honest and for how little this book costs you have no excuse not to be using this to spice up the ogres in your own game. Ok though, I do plan on using this information for goblins instead! The random ogre feature tables for both Ogre and Ogre Magi is just great.
Though the STAR of this book is the Half-Ogre as a player character. Gamers of A Certain Age (like James and myself) grew up on a steady diet of fantasy and the half-ogre is the result of that. Either from the pages of Dragon magazine or the pages of Piers Anothony, the half-ogre was something that was sure to show up in someone's game in the early 80s. This half-ogre does that memory justice.
As a bonus we get the lands of the ogre and full color maps!
Vampires of the Olden Lands
The Olden Lands is James' in house campaign the Chronicles of Mhoriedh. All the books in this series are dual stated with Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades stats. This appeals to me on a number of levels. I like that he went through the effort to do this and the nice effect is that between these two sets of stats you can play this under any old school version of D&D you like. There is also plenty in this book that work with any other game as well.
We start out with some common protections against vampires. We follow with 8 very different sorts of vampires including living, dead and spirit. All dual stated. There is a new race to play, The Dhamphir. I have seen a lot of "Dhampirs" over the years, but this one is one of the best so far just in terms of simplicity.
All in all a really nice take and these vampires are not like the Dracula-Lestat-Edward clones that can populate so many other games.
All in all these are great additions to my game library and something I plan on using in my own game world.
I hope to see a LOT more of this world to be honest. I would also love to see how people are using it in their own games. For me, I am planning to set Dolmvay in the Olden Lands somewhere.
Plays Well With Others
I could not help but notice that there are lot of references to a Witch class in these books. This class is left undefined for the most part (outside of it being a Charisma based spell caster) and is really meant to be any kind of witch. I can't help but notice how perfect this fits with my own Witch class. So if you liked my class and have the book, then grab these too, but especially grab Hercynian Grimoire since it has witch spells in it that would be perfect.
--
Like what I do here?
Let me know by voting for me for "Best Blog" in the 2014 ENnies.
http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/
Go to Best Blog and put a "1" next to "The Other Side". Thanks so much!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
PWWO: Print Edition, Complete Vivimancer
I recently picked up a copy of +Gavin Norman's The Complete Vivimancer in print.
The book is very much like the PDF but nicer to have. Yeah I know I am a champion of PDFs but books are just nice to have.
The font, according to Gavin, is Tiny. He is not kidding. But I still found it readable even without my glasses. So well in fact that I wish I had reduced the font of Eldritch Witchery a little more.
I discussed the Complete Vivimancer before so I won't go over that detail here.
The book is roughly the same size as my Eldritch Witchery and +Dyson Logos's Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts.
They all also look good next their "spiritual god-father" Eldritch Wizardry.
And they fit in nicely with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and other Old-School games I am currently using.
Welcome to my "Frequently Used Shelf" Gavin!
+Nathan Irving there is room for the Basic Illusionist there too.
The book is very much like the PDF but nicer to have. Yeah I know I am a champion of PDFs but books are just nice to have.
The font, according to Gavin, is Tiny. He is not kidding. But I still found it readable even without my glasses. So well in fact that I wish I had reduced the font of Eldritch Witchery a little more.
I discussed the Complete Vivimancer before so I won't go over that detail here.
The book is roughly the same size as my Eldritch Witchery and +Dyson Logos's Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts.
They all also look good next their "spiritual god-father" Eldritch Wizardry.
And they fit in nicely with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and other Old-School games I am currently using.
Welcome to my "Frequently Used Shelf" Gavin!
+Nathan Irving there is room for the Basic Illusionist there too.
Friday, May 23, 2014
PWWO: The Basic Illusionist
Time for another edition of Plays Well With Others.
The one thing you can say about the entire OSR Gestalt that despite it all there is still a sense of community and of giving back. Case in point, The Basic Illusionist.
The Basic Illusionist is the brain-child of +Nathan Irving and was first seen during the S&W Appreciation Day Blog Hop.
Go to his blog now and grab a copy. Oh. Did I mention it was 100% free?
http://secretsoftheshadowend.blogspot.com/
Before I delve into the book itself. Lets take a moment to look at this cover.
Seriously. That is a cool ass cover. I am not sure what made Nathan Irving choose this piece ("Beauty and the Beast" by Edmund Dulac) but I love it. The title works in seemlessly, like they were meant for each other. The woman in foreground is no longer the "beauty" but she is now an Illusionist.
Ok. So the book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry, but there isn't anything here keeping you from using any Original of Basic inspired system. I know it works out well in Labyrinth Lord and Basic D&D and it really should work well in ACKS, Spellcraft & Swordplay or any other system. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might be a trick, but they have an Illusionist class already (more on that later).
Getting into the book now we have 34 pages (with cover) on the Illusionist class. The book starts off with a helpful FAQ. Personally I think Nathan should also put that FAQ on his blog as a page so every knows why they should get this. The Illusionist class itself is in S&W format, but the only thing keeping you from using this in any other Basic or Advanced Era game is a table of Saving Throws. Copy over what ever the Wizard or Magic-user is using in your game of choice and give them -1 bonus to saves when it comes to illusions.
The Illusionist gets a power or feature every odd level, but nothing that is game breaking when compared to the wizard. The Illusionist trades flexibility for focus in their magical arsenal. There is even an Illusionist variant class called the Mountebank. Which is more of a con-artist. Not sure how it compares to other classes of the same name.
One of the best features of the book is a guideline on illusionist magic and how to play with illusions. Great even if you never play the class.
What follows next is over 150 Illusionist spells. Many we have seen before and come from the SRD. That is not a bad thing. Having all these spells in one place and edited to work with the class is a major undertaking. I for one am glad to see them here. Spells are alphabetical instead of sorted by level.
A list of conditions ported over from the SRD is also included. I like that personally. We all love how the older games and the clones play, but in our zeal we tend to forget that 3.x and later games did in fact have some good innovations and ideas; this is one of them.
We end with a couple of monsters and a two page OGL statement.
Really, this is a fantastic piece of work and really should be the "go to" document if you ever want to play an illusionist.
Playing Well With Others
The design of the Illusionist class (and the book) is such that adding it to any game should really be a breeze. Adventurers enter a new land and discover a new brand of wizard. Compared to other custom wizards out there the illusionist is more powerful than his counterpart in 1st Ed. AD&D. This is not power creep in my opinion, I think Nathan has has actually fixed the classic Illusionist and brought it more in line with the Wizard.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
+Dyson Logos' Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is an excellent book for playing all sorts of wizard types. That is oddly enough except Illusionists. This however is not issue; The Basic Illusionist fits in quite nicely here. The Enchanter from MT&DP would have some spells that might be good for the Illusionist as well.
Theorems & Thaumaturgy
Another great free product. Theorems & Thaumaturgy comes to us from +Gavin Norman and introduced his Vivmancer class. Vivimancers and Illusionists are about as different as one can get really. But Theorems & Thaumaturgy does have some things that the Basic Illusionist can use. For starters there some more Illusionist spells in T&T that the Basic Illusionist could use. Both books make the assumption that Illusionists should have access to 8th and 9th level spells. If you are going to play a Basic Illusionist then it is worth your time and effort to get a copy of Theorem & Thaumaturgy.
Nathan, I would talk to Gavin and see if you can use his spells if you ever expand your Illusionist book. Maybe toss over some elementalist spells his way if you have them.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
+Jeff Talanian's fantastic Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea also has an Illusionist class. Like all the classes in the book it is limited to 12th level. I had a quick glance over the spell lists last night and there wasn't anything that jumped out at me; the spells are drawn from similar sources. There is is information though that owners of either could use. Obviously the Basic Illusionist cover many more spells but more importantly it has the guidelines for covering how illusions in the game work.
The Witch
Of course I want to mention my own book. Witches and Illusionists share the ability to cast various figments and charms/mind affecting spells. I would say that in any game that has both classes that Illusionists should be limited to charm spells up to 5th level and witches any type of figments up to 5th level. Illusionists then get all (or most) of the Illusion spells and witches get all the curses.
What I Would Want Next
I know. I sound greedy. Nathan Irving works his butt off on this, puts it together and gives it away for free and I am over here saying "yeah, but do you have any more?"
But my motives are pure.
I would love a print version of this. It would really be awesome. At 34 pages it is a bit smallish for print, but that is easily fixed. Add a few more spells (plenty of OGC), some illusion based magic items, a couple more monsters (not a lot) an appendix for using this class in different retro-clones (LL, OSRIC, ACKS) and maybe even stats on adding gnomes as player characters. Call it "The Complete Illusionist" sell it for a couple of bucks on DriveThru and get a print copy made. OR Keep it free as a PDF and have print copies up on Lulu. In any case it would look good on my "OSR" shelf. There is enough OGC out there now to do all of this in fact. There is enough OGC in the 4 books mentioned above!
Bottom Line: This is a great book. I loved the awesome art and the fact that it is free. Though I would have gladly paid for it.
The one thing you can say about the entire OSR Gestalt that despite it all there is still a sense of community and of giving back. Case in point, The Basic Illusionist.
The Basic Illusionist is the brain-child of +Nathan Irving and was first seen during the S&W Appreciation Day Blog Hop.
Go to his blog now and grab a copy. Oh. Did I mention it was 100% free?
http://secretsoftheshadowend.blogspot.com/
Before I delve into the book itself. Lets take a moment to look at this cover.
Seriously. That is a cool ass cover. I am not sure what made Nathan Irving choose this piece ("Beauty and the Beast" by Edmund Dulac) but I love it. The title works in seemlessly, like they were meant for each other. The woman in foreground is no longer the "beauty" but she is now an Illusionist.
Ok. So the book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry, but there isn't anything here keeping you from using any Original of Basic inspired system. I know it works out well in Labyrinth Lord and Basic D&D and it really should work well in ACKS, Spellcraft & Swordplay or any other system. Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might be a trick, but they have an Illusionist class already (more on that later).
Getting into the book now we have 34 pages (with cover) on the Illusionist class. The book starts off with a helpful FAQ. Personally I think Nathan should also put that FAQ on his blog as a page so every knows why they should get this. The Illusionist class itself is in S&W format, but the only thing keeping you from using this in any other Basic or Advanced Era game is a table of Saving Throws. Copy over what ever the Wizard or Magic-user is using in your game of choice and give them -1 bonus to saves when it comes to illusions.
The Illusionist gets a power or feature every odd level, but nothing that is game breaking when compared to the wizard. The Illusionist trades flexibility for focus in their magical arsenal. There is even an Illusionist variant class called the Mountebank. Which is more of a con-artist. Not sure how it compares to other classes of the same name.
One of the best features of the book is a guideline on illusionist magic and how to play with illusions. Great even if you never play the class.
What follows next is over 150 Illusionist spells. Many we have seen before and come from the SRD. That is not a bad thing. Having all these spells in one place and edited to work with the class is a major undertaking. I for one am glad to see them here. Spells are alphabetical instead of sorted by level.
A list of conditions ported over from the SRD is also included. I like that personally. We all love how the older games and the clones play, but in our zeal we tend to forget that 3.x and later games did in fact have some good innovations and ideas; this is one of them.
We end with a couple of monsters and a two page OGL statement.
Really, this is a fantastic piece of work and really should be the "go to" document if you ever want to play an illusionist.
Playing Well With Others
The design of the Illusionist class (and the book) is such that adding it to any game should really be a breeze. Adventurers enter a new land and discover a new brand of wizard. Compared to other custom wizards out there the illusionist is more powerful than his counterpart in 1st Ed. AD&D. This is not power creep in my opinion, I think Nathan has has actually fixed the classic Illusionist and brought it more in line with the Wizard.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
+Dyson Logos' Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is an excellent book for playing all sorts of wizard types. That is oddly enough except Illusionists. This however is not issue; The Basic Illusionist fits in quite nicely here. The Enchanter from MT&DP would have some spells that might be good for the Illusionist as well.
Theorems & Thaumaturgy
Another great free product. Theorems & Thaumaturgy comes to us from +Gavin Norman and introduced his Vivmancer class. Vivimancers and Illusionists are about as different as one can get really. But Theorems & Thaumaturgy does have some things that the Basic Illusionist can use. For starters there some more Illusionist spells in T&T that the Basic Illusionist could use. Both books make the assumption that Illusionists should have access to 8th and 9th level spells. If you are going to play a Basic Illusionist then it is worth your time and effort to get a copy of Theorem & Thaumaturgy.
Nathan, I would talk to Gavin and see if you can use his spells if you ever expand your Illusionist book. Maybe toss over some elementalist spells his way if you have them.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
+Jeff Talanian's fantastic Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea also has an Illusionist class. Like all the classes in the book it is limited to 12th level. I had a quick glance over the spell lists last night and there wasn't anything that jumped out at me; the spells are drawn from similar sources. There is is information though that owners of either could use. Obviously the Basic Illusionist cover many more spells but more importantly it has the guidelines for covering how illusions in the game work.
The Witch
Of course I want to mention my own book. Witches and Illusionists share the ability to cast various figments and charms/mind affecting spells. I would say that in any game that has both classes that Illusionists should be limited to charm spells up to 5th level and witches any type of figments up to 5th level. Illusionists then get all (or most) of the Illusion spells and witches get all the curses.
What I Would Want Next
I know. I sound greedy. Nathan Irving works his butt off on this, puts it together and gives it away for free and I am over here saying "yeah, but do you have any more?"
But my motives are pure.
I would love a print version of this. It would really be awesome. At 34 pages it is a bit smallish for print, but that is easily fixed. Add a few more spells (plenty of OGC), some illusion based magic items, a couple more monsters (not a lot) an appendix for using this class in different retro-clones (LL, OSRIC, ACKS) and maybe even stats on adding gnomes as player characters. Call it "The Complete Illusionist" sell it for a couple of bucks on DriveThru and get a print copy made. OR Keep it free as a PDF and have print copies up on Lulu. In any case it would look good on my "OSR" shelf. There is enough OGC out there now to do all of this in fact. There is enough OGC in the 4 books mentioned above!
Bottom Line: This is a great book. I loved the awesome art and the fact that it is free. Though I would have gladly paid for it.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
New Basic Witch Spells
A couple of new spells I have been working on for the witch. Designed to be used with The Witch for Basic Era Games but it can certainly be used by other classes such as the Necromancer or Vivimancer.
All spells and names are considered 100% Open in terms of the Open Gaming Licence.
Blood Augury
Level: Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: Caster
Duration: One Question
This spell is a very limited augury where the caster can ask one question and watch how the blood reacts. If the witch uses her own blood the question must be about herself or someone close to her, if it is the blood of another then it can only be about that person.
The question must very specific; “which door should I take?”, “what is the safest way home?” Given the nature of the blood magic the question is usually related to life, death or mortality. The answer is entirely up to the game master.
Note: If a witch or vivimancer uses the blood of a pregnant woman then the answers will always be vague since it involves two lives. The one exception is if the witch asks the gender of the unborn babe. This will always produce a correct answer.
Material Components: A pewter plate and a drop of blood.
Feel My Pain
Level: Necromancer 1, Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: 50’
Duration: Instantaneous
The witch transfers pain and damage to another target in line of site. She invokes the spell and either cuts herself or causes damage in some way, such as putting her hand in a torch fire. She take 1 hp of damage (regardless of how much would have been dealt) and she turns and magnifies that on her target causing 1d6 points of damage.
Material Components: The material components for this spell are the witch's boline or dagger or what ever she uses to cause herself pain.
Share My Pain
Level: Necromancer 2, Vivimancer 2, Witch 2
Range: 25’
Duration: Instantaneous
With this spell the witch can turn damage caused to herself to another. The witch can cast this spell after any attack that causes her damage and return the same damage to her attacker. Only the one that attacked and damaged the witch can be effected.
Material Components: The witch must have been damaged for at least 1 hp of damage.
Stay Death's Hand
Level: Necromancer 1, Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: 1 Target touched
Duration: 1 round/level
By casting this spell the caster will cause one target touched to stop loosing hit points if they have reached 0 or less. For the duration of this spell the recipient will not die from their wounds. This spell does not prevent the target from taking additional damage, say from fire or additional attacks. Nor does this heal damage.
Material Components: A touch and a soothing word.
Section 15
The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games, Copyright 2012 Timothy S. Brannan
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts, Copyright 2013 +Dyson Logos
The Complete Vivimancer, Copyright 2014 Necrotic Gnome Productions and +Gavin Norman
New Basic Witch Spells, Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan
All spells and names are considered 100% Open in terms of the Open Gaming Licence.
Blood Augury
Level: Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: Caster
Duration: One Question
This spell is a very limited augury where the caster can ask one question and watch how the blood reacts. If the witch uses her own blood the question must be about herself or someone close to her, if it is the blood of another then it can only be about that person.
The question must very specific; “which door should I take?”, “what is the safest way home?” Given the nature of the blood magic the question is usually related to life, death or mortality. The answer is entirely up to the game master.
Note: If a witch or vivimancer uses the blood of a pregnant woman then the answers will always be vague since it involves two lives. The one exception is if the witch asks the gender of the unborn babe. This will always produce a correct answer.
Material Components: A pewter plate and a drop of blood.
Level: Necromancer 1, Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: 50’
Duration: Instantaneous
The witch transfers pain and damage to another target in line of site. She invokes the spell and either cuts herself or causes damage in some way, such as putting her hand in a torch fire. She take 1 hp of damage (regardless of how much would have been dealt) and she turns and magnifies that on her target causing 1d6 points of damage.
Material Components: The material components for this spell are the witch's boline or dagger or what ever she uses to cause herself pain.
Share My Pain
Level: Necromancer 2, Vivimancer 2, Witch 2
Range: 25’
Duration: Instantaneous
With this spell the witch can turn damage caused to herself to another. The witch can cast this spell after any attack that causes her damage and return the same damage to her attacker. Only the one that attacked and damaged the witch can be effected.
Material Components: The witch must have been damaged for at least 1 hp of damage.
Stay Death's Hand
Level: Necromancer 1, Vivimancer 1, Witch 1
Range: 1 Target touched
Duration: 1 round/level
By casting this spell the caster will cause one target touched to stop loosing hit points if they have reached 0 or less. For the duration of this spell the recipient will not die from their wounds. This spell does not prevent the target from taking additional damage, say from fire or additional attacks. Nor does this heal damage.
Material Components: A touch and a soothing word.
Vigor
Level: Cleric 1, Witch 1
Range: 1 Target touched
Duration: 1 round/level
This spell allows the caster to temporary increase the Constitution score, with associated hit points, of a single touched creature. The witch herself will take a temporary loss of 1 point of Constitution and 1d4 hp.
The increase is 2d4 (2-8) and lasts a number of rounds equal to the witch's level. Hit points lost will be from these temporary hit points first. When the spell is complete the witch's Constitution returns to its original value but the hit points are lost till healed.
Material Components: The life essence given up by the witch.
Witch's Cradle
Level: Witch 4
Range: One target in line of sight
Duration: 1 round/level
With this spell the witch can cause one target in visual range to have all their senses completely blocked. They cannot hear, speak, feel, smell or see anything for the duration of the spell. If the witch ends the spell, becomes unconscious or is killed then the spell automatically ends.
The spell is similar, but superior to, the Hold Person spell."
Material Components: A bit of string or cord the witch wraps around the fingers of her off-hand.
Section 15
The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games, Copyright 2012 Timothy S. Brannan
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts, Copyright 2013 +Dyson Logos
The Complete Vivimancer, Copyright 2014 Necrotic Gnome Productions and +Gavin Norman
New Basic Witch Spells, Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan
Friday, April 25, 2014
Review and PWWO: The Complete Vivimancer
+Gavin Norman, of the City of Iron blog, gives us a new(ish) class, the Vivimancer. The book is 88 pages and advertised as Labyrinth Lord compatible with both Basic and Advanced stats (more on that in a bit).
The class was introduced in Theorems & Thaumaturgy. The basic class is a type of Wizard/Magic-User and detailed on two pages. The experience per level, saves, spells, and attacks are not too different from the Magic-user normal.
For the Advanced option elves and half-elves can also be vivimancers. Interestingly enough elves can advance to 11th level and half-elves to 10th. I would have expected it to be the other way around.
The next substantial chapter is on Spells and Laboratory procedures.
The biggest expense in gold and time for the vivimancer is his laboratory. The vivimancer according to the rules needs to spend 6 hours per day in his lab.
The next 65 pages detail spells levels 1 to 9. Like most Labyrinth Lord compatible products the spells are compatible across a wide variety of products. You could use these with any old school product wizard, magic-user and yes witch. Though to do so I think robs the class of some it's charm and power.
The spells are a varied sort. There are some very useful, some are variations on a theme and others will have limited utility to the adventuring vivimancer. But all have a lot of style. If you prefer your games a little more G-rated then this isn't a book for you. While not as over the top as Carcosa or Lamentations of the Flame Princess, there are a lot of cutting things up and putting them back together.
The chapter on magic items is nice varied lot as well, with attention paid to things the vivimancer needs to perform his craft.
We also get Appendices on Psionic Powers and Mutations. Both are fine and work but in use I might swap out the same rules in the Labyrinth Lord compatible Mutant Future.
Overall I really liked it. Like the book said why let Necromancers have all the fun. There is a lot here that can be used in any game really even if you never use them as a class. Personally I wonder what a bad guy team of a Vivimancer and Necromancer might produce. Heck with the Advanced rules, a Vivimancer/Cleric.
There are couple of places where Insanity is mentioned but not a lot of details on how insanity would work in a game.
The art is somewhat sparse, but it is all original and unique to this book (ok maybe 1 or 2 are in T&T). So that gives it a sum positive in my mind.
The book is 88 pages, as mentioned above, and lists at $10.00 for the PDFs. Maybe a bit higher $/page ratio, but I'll be honest I am not sure where to price these things. I think $7.50 would have been best, but I am not judging.
I have to admit I was set to like this book. "The Complete Vivimancer" reminds me of the old Bard Games "The Compleat Spellcaster" and "The Compleat Alchemist". Not just in terms of title and feel, but in terms of content. This is the sort of thing I enjoy from the OSR/Old School publishing realms. I like something I can drop into my games with no issues. Plug and Play gaming.
I would like to recommend this book. I particularly recommend it as a change of pace from the evil Necromancer NPC.
There is a lot to love about this book.
Plays Well With Others: The Witch and The Vivimancer
Since The Complete Vivimancer is designed for Labyrinth Lord overtly and Basic Era game in general it should theoretically drop into any Old-School D&D game. Well as it turns out, it does and it does so rather nicely. Limit the spell levels to a max of 6 and you have a great new class for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and one that fits right in really. It is also a nice compliment to Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts. It also plays really nice with my own Witch class.
There are several spells that both Witches & Vivimancers can use from their respective books. These are just my ideas, your GM would have to choose their own and it is possible that Vivimancer author +Gavin Norman might have some different ideas.
Vivimancer Spells for the Witch
First Level: Entangle, Hormone Control
Second Level: Arcane Sight, Insect Messenger, Pair Bonding, Bleeding Wounds (reverse of Staunch Blood Flow)
Third Level: Accelerated Reproduction, Anthropomorphism (perfect witch spell), Paralysis
Fourth Level: Immunity to Disease, Insanity
Fifth Level: Nature's Secrets, Psionic Awakening (for Aquarians only), Transfer Pregnancy (as a Witch Ritual)
Sixth Level: Impregnate
Seventh Level: none
Eighth Level: none
Ninth Level: witches can't cast ninth level spells.
Witch Spells for the Vivimancer
*Cantrips: Analyze Fertility, Daze, Detect Curse, Detect Poison, Detect Pregnancy, Flavor, Freshen, Inflict Minor Wounds, Irritate, Quick Sleeping, Sobriety, Summon Vermin
First Level: Analgesia, Bless Growth, Blight Growth, Block the Seed, Drowsy, Endure Elements, Far Sight, Fey Sight, Sickly, Silver Tongue, Sour Stomach, Vertigo
Second Level: Agony, Broca's Curse of Babel, Delay Poison, Fever, Mind Obscure, Weaken Poison, Youthful
Third Level: Aphasia, Body of Eyes, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Lesser Strengthening Rite, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Toad Mind
Fourth Level: Abomination, Confusion, Elemental Armor, Narcolepsy, Neutralize Poison, Polymorph, Vomit, Bount/Strength to the Unborn (Ritual)*
Fifth Level: Baleful Polymorph, Dreadful Bloodletting, Gnawing Pain, Steal Youth, Control Outcome of Birth (Ritual)*
Sixth Level: Evaporate Fluids, False Memory, Mass Agony, Repulsion, Crossbreed (Ritual)
Seventh Level: Insanity**, Magickal Conception (Parthenogenesis), Wave of Mutilation
Eighth Level: Mind Blank
Ninth Level: There are no 9th level witch spells.
*Ritual spells should be cast by a lone Vivimancer at one level higher.
**(Called Greater Insanity to differentiate it from the 3rd level Vivimancer spell)
In both cases I am just listing the level of the spell as it appears in it's respective book. Some spells might need to be shifted up or down a level depending on the GM. Also there is some overlap in the spell effects but the casting and mechanics might be different
New Spell: Magickal Creation (Thaumatogenesis)
This new spell is usuable by either Witches or Vivimancers.
Magickal Creation
Latin: Thaumatogenesis
Level: Vivimancer 9, Witch 8
Casting Time: 2 hours
Range: Touch
By means of this spell a new life form can be created purely from magic. Unlike Magickal Conception, which takes exsiting life force and shapes into a new life, Magickal Creation uses only magic.
This spell maybe used to impregnate a female or even a male subject. Typically a female subject is used since is most cases (95% of the time) the impregnated male dies in the birth process.
The casting of this spell takes two hours, during which time the caster must be not interrupted. The casting witch must be able to see the target of the spell, either directly or by scrying. The target, if willing, gains no saving throw, but an unwilling target if aware of the spell can make a save vs. Spells. A target unaware of the casting must become aware of the situation before they can save. Many charlatans play on the paranoid nature of many and sell talismans that protect against this spell.
Since this is using the stuff of magic to produce a life, the spell always works and produces a living life form. What sort of life form produced is indicated by the table below.
| d20 | Outcome of birth |
| 1-5 | The child is born with only the mother’s traits. |
| 6-10 | The child is born with both the traits of the mother and the caster |
| 11-12 | The child is born a Chaotic outsider, with both the mothers and casters traits. |
| 13-14 | The child is born a Chaotic outsider, with only the mothers traits. |
| 15-16 | The child is born a Lawful outsider, with both the mother and casters traits. |
| 17-18 | The child is born a Lawful outsider, with only the mothers traits. |
| 19 | The child is born as a half fiend, with only the mothers traits. |
| 20 | The child is born as a half-celestial, with only the mothers traits. |
Gestation depends on the species of the mother, but time in months is often reduced to time in hours. So if the mother is human then nine months of pregnancy is reduced to nine hours. The minimum gestation time in any case is two hours. The Caster may also impregnate themselves in this manner producing a clone.
Material Components
Vivimancer: A tissue sample from either the gestating mother or the caster. The tissue is placed in a vat where it is boiled with Agaric, Basil, Figs and Mandrake root till forming a loose, liquid ooze. This ooze is placed onto the gestating mother (or caster).
Witch: Root Agaric, Basil, Figs and Mandrake root (harvested only by the new moon) are combined into a paste, dried and burned. An athame and a cup, symbolizing male and female powers to direct the spell are required as the focuses.
Section 15: Magickal Creation (Thaumatogenesis) Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan.
All text of this spell is considered Open for terms of the OGL.
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