Showing posts with label Swords & Wizardry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swords & Wizardry. Show all posts

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Swords & WITCHERY! Introducing The Warlock

Once again +R.J. Thompson is hosting Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day.

I have known about Swords & Wizardry for a long time. I just never really played it much.
Part of the problem was I felt it did not live up to the claim of feeling like a 0e D&D.  I had a good retro-clone for that in Spellcraft & Swordplay.  But last year I sat down and played a few Swords & Wizardry games and I really loved it.
Part of this was due to +James Spahn's White Star, a game I really enjoy.

Playing this and the publication of Swords & Wizardry 3rd Printing I decided to do a series of Witch books.

My idea was simple really.  Produce smaller books featuring a witch class variant for Swords & Wizardry or a compatible game. Each book needed to do a few things for me.

  • Each book needed to be a complete class. Everything you need except core rules.
  • Each book needed to offer something new, so customers never felt like they were buying the same material over and over.  Yes, there has to be some overlap, but I typically want 75% to 80% new material.
  • Each book needed to be 100% compatible with the other books. So if you did buy them all you had something that would work together. 

So far I think I have met with success.

My S&W Witch books to date have been:

The Witch for Swords & Wizardry Light
Levels 1-5 for SWL.

The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition for Swords & Wizardry
A new tradition compatible with The Witch and future products.

The Witch: Hedgewitch for the Hero's Journey RPG
The Hedgewitch tradition for the Hero's Journey RPG and 100% compatible with S&W and other witch books.

Of course Sisters of the Aquarian Order.
Witches for the White Star game.

Today I would like to announce the publication of my newest "Witch" book for Swords & Wizardry.

Next week, on Walpurgis Night, I am releasing The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry.

Cover art Copyright 2015 Dean Spencer

The Warlock includes:

  • The Warlock class
  • New race: The Teiflings
  • Rules for goblin, hobgoblin and bugbear warlocks
  • 160+ spells
  • 50 Warlock invocations
  • New monsters including the Baalseraph, Calabim, Lilim and Shedim demon groups.
  • Animal Lords and Faerie Lords
  • New Items

I still need to add the art but looking at 64-68 pages.

Hope you all enjoy it!  Look for more in the coming week.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Back on Track! Minis and more!

Just got off of Spring Break with my kids. Had a great time, but now I am back in the grove of work (or at least that is what I keep telling myself as I weep into my coffee).

Got a ton of stuff done on various projects including my next Swords & Wizardry one.

But more important to me is what my wife has been doing.  Last week we started off our Spring Break by going to Gary Con and to Adepticon.  It was great and my wife picked up this miniatures painting starter kit from Reaper.  Well, a week later we are at our FLGS +Games Plus during their 35 Anniversary celebration to buy more minis, more brushes, and more paint.

Here are the fruits of her efforts this past week.



I have found my "Lolth" character.  The blonde witch in the red robes is Tanith, one of my newest characters.



This Vrock is my favorite.
I had to mount it so it would stand up right.



She is still working on learning different techniques and getting better, but this is going to save me hundreds of bucks!

This is going to be a lot of fun.  Plus while the boys and I play D&D she can sit there and paint with us. Which, truth be told, she enjoys more.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Witch: Hedgewitch for the Hero's Journey RPG in PRINT

I am pleased to announce that The Witch: Hedgewitch for the Hero's Journey RPG is now being offered in softcover.


The book is 68 pages, so it is a small book, but it goes great with your copy of +James Spahn's The Hero's Journey RPG. (Print copies are at Lulu in full color or B&W pages.)


Or even my other Witch books.



Each book offers a different set of witch "Traditions" so you can buy them all and combine them.

Get your copy today!

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Reviews: Battleaxes & Beasties and the Witches of Hagswallow

I have been wanting to get some more reviews in and I am woefully behind schedule. So along with my deep dive into the Forgotten Realms, I am also investigating more games and products built around Swords & Wizardry.

First up is Battleaxes & Beasties by +Anthony Hunter.


Battleaxes & Beasties is a core rule book from Sleeping Griffon Productions. It is based on Swords & Wizardry, but has some interesting quirks of it's own.   The book is 175 pages, black & white interior with color covers.   There are hardcover and softcover options, I am reviewing the PDF.
We spend a couple of pages going over the basic "what is roleplaying" and "what are these funny dice".  We have all seen this a 1000 times, but it does make it work well for a new player.  Indeed the whole book is great for anyone that has never played before.
Since this is based on S&W we have the same basic six Attributes and modifiers.
It is not till we get to the classes that we some changes.  Now B&B can act as a standalone game, there are enough classes here, but it can also act as a supplement to and other S&W-based game.  I could not help but feel there was a certain level of, well, camaraderie between this game and The Hero's Journey.  Both fall closer together on the "Heroic vs Muder Hobo" scale than say Dungeon Crawl Classics.  The classes include a Beguiler (which is like a Bard, but instead of songs he masters lies), the Faithful (like the cleric), Hunter (something like a Ranger), Scout ( Ranger-y Rogues), Totemist (Druid-Shaman cross),  Warrior and the Wizard.  All the classes advance to 10th level, so this is solid White Box territory.  After the human classes, we get race-specific classes.  Now, these are a lot of fun really. There is the Dwarven Guardian, Dwarven Paladin, Elf Ranger, and the Halfling Outcast.  Seriously fun stuff. We are 20 pages in and the book has paid for itself in my eyes.
There is a section on careers, which other games might call backgrounds.
Spells come next and are sorted by class and level.  There are some new ones here too, not just a rehash of the same old spells.  Additionally, magic is divided into Arcane, Miracles and Fey magics. An interesting touch if you ask me. It doesn't have a lot of game play effects, save on how Rangers learn spells, but it does provide a nice bit of flavor.
Next, we get to the default setting for this game, the Borderlands of Zarteth.  It starts with a "Z" so you know it is going to be a dangerous or at least strange place!
The setting is very D&D; that is neither good or bad, just what it is.  I got the feel reading it that was Clark Ashton Smith plus Robert E. Howard, without the extra helping of doom and despair. It's not 4e Points of Light, nor is it Hero's Journey's "Let's go on an adventure" nor is it the Grimdark of DCC.  It is in between.
The rest of the book is the Referee's Section. I say "rest" but it is really half the book. Everything you expect is here.
The gem here is the Monster section. The monsters are divided up by type first then alphabetically.  There are some nice new monsters here too, again making the book rather worthwhile.
To go with those monsters are some great magical treasures.
There is also an included adventure, reference sheets and a nice character sheet.
Battleaxes & Beasties does not break any new ground, but covers the same ground in interesting ways. Interesting enough to make it easily worth 10 bucks for the PDF.
I am caught between 4 or 5 stars out of 5 here. I'll give it a 5 to adjust the review average.

Witches of Hagswallow Adventure is an adventure for Battleaxes & Beasties.
It is 47 pages, color covers, Black & White interior. Designed fro 3-6 characters of 2-3 level. It can be run directly after the included adventure in the corebook and gives more background on the setting of the Borderlands of Zarteth.
It is a great example on how even the simpleist monsters can be used to great effect.  The "witches" are not witches of course, they are harpies.  But for all practical purposes, the might as well be.  After all these are 2nd level characters; most have just learned which end of the sword is the dangerous one!
There are a lot of great maps, a bunch of new monsters and it expands the world a little bit more for the players.
The adventure also comes with pre-generated characters.
Everything comes in the PDF, but separate files are also included.

All in all this is a very fun system.  Familar, but with a enough new materials to make it completely worthwhile.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

New Spell: Forget Me Knot

The witches of the Aiséiligh tradition have a few spells they are well known for. Typically these spells deal with protection or often an offensive spell designed to harm the witch's enemies or those who attack the witch first.  This spell, ironically enough, is usually forgotten about.

The spell is believed to be the root of the practice of tying a string around your finger to remember something important.  For the witch, this practice is part of a spell.

Forget Me Knot
Level: Witch 1
Range: 1 person
Duration: special, see below
The witch casts this spell and can remember anything said to her or anything she reads roughly equal to a page of information; 600-800 words. She commits the spell by tying a bit of string into a knot. She can then keep the knot safe for any amount of time. If she wants to recall the information perfectly she merely unties the knot. This spell can be used to deliver information to another of the witch's choice, but it cannot be used to remember spells or scrolls. If the knot is destroyed the information is lost.
Material Components: A bit of normal string, thread or yarn the witch can tie into a knot. The thread disappears when it is untied and the memories released.

The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition for Swords & Wizardry is on sale now with all profits going to the ACLU.  This spell is one of the 70+ spells in the book.


Wednesday, February 1, 2017

The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition for Swords & Wizardry

Happy Imbolc everyone!

I have been motivated to do something more in the face of what looks like insurmountable odds.  So yesterday while running I came up with an idea to produce something that you all can use and still give me the chance to do some good.

30 hours later I give you

The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition for Swords & Wizardry Complete



This is my first big foray into the world of Swords & Wizardry.
From the RPGNow page.

Rise up witches!

The world is in peril.  The forces of evil in the guise of law and weal threaten all lands.

The people of good conscious scream out for champions.

The Witches of the Aiséiligh Tradition hear those cries and are charged by the Goddess to be Her hands and Her mortal representatives on this plane.

And the Goddess is angry.

The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition presents a new witch tradition for use in Swords & Wizardry Complete. Inside you will find:

  • The Aiséiligh witch Tradition
  • The Daughters of the Flame Coven
  • 70+, new to Swords & Wizardry spells including never before published spells.

Compatible with Swords & Wizardry, The Witch and other retro-clones and other old-school games.

 All profits from this book will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Spread the word!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

It's Swords & Wizardry Wednesday!

Was in the middle of a meeting today and my bell rang.  This was waiting for me on my front porch.



My Swords & Wizardry hardcover!

I mentioned in the past I wasn't keen on the cover art, but that has changed since then.  Now that I have it in my hands I can really appreciate it.

The interior art though is so freaking good.



There is more. A lot more.

The book compares favorably to its predecessors.



Both versions of the character sheets have their own unique charm.  I'll use both.


I have been thinking alot about S&W lately. How I am planning to do something with it for the Witch.

Expect to see more that in the future.

Whatever I do I want it to be worth your time and money to buy and worth my time to write.  Well...I know it is worth my time to write.  I enjoy writing about these things.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Review: New Class Options

Picked up +Johua De Santo's New Class Options the other day and wanted to spend some time with it.

I love new classes, I love trying them out, taking them apart and seeing what makes them tick.  I also like thinking of potential characters to use with the new classes.  So grabbing this product was a no brainer for me.  Plus, I will admit I am a fan of Kaitlynn Pealer's art, so that attracted my attention right away.

The book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry Core rules, but it can be adapted to any old-school game. The book is 24 pages, 3 are cover, table of contents and the OGL.  So 21 pages of solid content.
There are nine classes and one "Advanced Class Option".  There is no unifying theme to the classes, save for maybe a rough fae or celt theme.

First up is the Blood Witch which is a reprint/revision/update of a class the author did for Dungeon Crawl #3.  The class is an alternate take on the magic user.  This one, naturally, uses blood to power her magic. A very classic archetype. Equally naturally this one uses Constitution as the primary stat.
The blood witch has higher hit die (d6) and needs more experience than the stock magic-user.
The casting of spells required the expenditure of blood (again naturally) in the form of HP.  Good thing she has a higher HD.    One of the problems I see with this class is that the blood witch needs to roll higher than her Con + Spell level.  So a Blood witch with the minimum Constitution (13) needs a roll of 20 (on a d20 presumably) to cast a 7th level spell.  So her most powerful spells have only a 5% chance of working.  In any case the blood is spent.   So does have access to potentially every spell in the book, but this limiting factor seems to be too much really.

I am going to go into the Blood Witch in more detail tomorrow.

The Chesh are next. These are a race of cat-girl-like fae creatures.  They have a some interesting abilities and would work very well in a game that has other faerie races in it or one if you want to get younger kids to play.  They have some magical abilities based on music, though most of the abilities are support in nature.

The Forrester is akin to a archer-like ranger.  Not as powerful as say the stock Ranger of AD&D but within the limits of S&W.

The Highlander is a somewhat romanticized version of a celtic themed barbarian.   The barbarian  rage ability is replaced by a fury ability which is like a super cleave.  You can attack another victim if you kill the first. Though this one can be up to 12 feet away.

The Mermaid of the In-Land Sea is interesting.  It's a mermaid, which is neat choice, but there was nothing here about how long she can live away from water.  Maybe to keep the rough theme here they could be renamed to "Merrows".

The Mythwood Elf is actually very interesting.  These are elves that look forever young and can summon up various elemental spirits.  There is a list of the domains (Earth, Water, Air...) and what they can summon and do.

The Pixie. Pretty much what it says on the tin!  Play a pixie. Actually a lot going on for this little thing.

The Prodigal is sorta like a traveling jack of trades.  They pick up companions, spells, knowledge and some thieving skills.   Actually a very, very workable class.

The Ruca is a dog-like humanoid character.  Again a workable character and certainly more of a role-playing challenge than a game rules one.

The last class is for "Advanced" games, ie games where class and race are seperate.

The Draken-Knight and their companion the Drake are dragon riding, or drake riding, knights.
The class has some odd experience point requirements.  In fact it acts more like a "Prestige Class" for AD&D 1st ed than anything else, much like the Thief-Acrobat.  The idea is you start out as a fighter till 5th level then you can switch over to Draken Knight.  Not a bad plan really.  Also reminds me of the old Knights in the Dragonlance books.

All in all this is a good book. Each class had something that felt a little off to me, but the proof is not in the reading, but in the playing.  It passes my basic test when reading classes; would I play a character of that class?  The answer was typically yes.


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Review: White Star by James Spahn

Unless you are living in an OSR-free zone you may have missed the big release this week of "White Star" from Barrel Rider Games and +James Spahn.

BRG had made a name for itself publishing classes for "Basic" era D&D/Labyrinth Lord which is how I discovered them. Recently James has made the switch with some very successful products for Swords & Wizardry. In particular he released the White Box Omnibus to much acclaim.

White Star is a similar quality effort, but represents a serious step up in terms of quality and content from his previous efforts.  This is immediately obvious in terms of the quality of the cover art, but the interior really lives up (and beyond) that first impression.
White Star is Space Opera viewed through an old-school RPG lens. So think Star Wars.  Not the series of movies really, but just the first 1977 movie.
Starting with the basics the book is 132 pages, two pages of cover art, two blank pages and one page of OGL. As usual BRG is very permissive with the content of the books.  So this amounts to 128 pages of content (127 + OGL).  Not a bad deal really.
The book is divided up as expected.  Chapters on Attributes, Character Classes and Races (more on this in a bit), Equipment, Game Play, and Combat.  These chapters are more or less similar to what you might find in S&W White Box. Not a copy, but a re-write to accommodate the style and tone of the book.  The remaining chapters cover the important topics of SciFi; Starship Combat, Gifts and Meditations, Aliens and Creatures, and Advanced Equipment.  There are also chapters on The White Star Campaign, Interstellar Civil War and Kelron Sector, and the Second Battle of Brinn.
As my friend, Greg Littlejohn says, "just enough meat on the bones, yet room on the plate to add some nice sides."  That is 100% true.

Character Classes and Races
The classes of White Star are simple enough to cover a variety of character archetypes.  The classes include Aristocrat (think Princess Leia or Paul Atreides), Mercenary (Boba Fett, nearly every movie in the 80s), Pilot (Han Solo), and Star Knight (Luke).  There are also two race as classes, the Alien Brute (lots of examples), Alien Mystic (Yoda) and Robot. Each class is 10 levels and presented in the same format as S&W.  So one could easily move classes back and forth between the two games with ease.

Sci-Fi Chapters
The chapters on Starship Combat and Alien Creatures are really the star here.  Starship combat of course can be easily ported over to S&W as ship combat.  But there are a lot of really cool nuggets here.  It is also one of the chapters where the pure "Star Wars"ishness of the book fades a bit into some "Star Trek".
Alien Creatures covers a wide variety aliens. Nearly everything is here; Borg, Greys, Fluffy aliens, the lot.  Since everything is S&W compatible you can move anything back and forth from S&W to White Star. This little feature opens up thousands of creatures to WS.  

Gifts and Meditations covers the magical-like powers used by Star Knights and Mystics.  Many of these are re-skinned spells. You could add more powers as spells, but only carefully.  Some spells are not entirely appropriate for a sci-fi setting.

The last three chapters cover roughly a White Star campaign universe.  The Kelron Sector is given some detail. Enough to get you going and enough to give you a good idea of what is going and where you can take it your own.   If you watched any Sci-Fi in the 70s or 80s then you will recognize a lot of the pastiche here.

What can I say about White Star?  It is one of the best Sci-Fi games I have picked up.  The more and more I play, the more and more I like level and class based systems for space opera.  It seems right to me somehow.  I think it is because I discovered Star Wars and D&D right around the same time and to me they always go together.

IF I had one criticism it would be I would prefer Sword and Wizardry Complete rules or Labyrinth Lord. But that is weak-sauce on my part really. I could convert it if I wanted.   I can say it would be perfect for my "Greyhawk 3000" game I want to do.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

White Star: Sisters of the Aquarian Order

White Star from BRG and +James Spahn is the new hot game in the OSR crowd right now, and with good reason.  It is based on Swords & Wizardry (so it is simple to learn and play) and flexible. So flexible you can do Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune and any number of other sci-fi epics.   I have been spending a lot of time with it and hope to spend some more.

This class is first attempt to add something to the game, and it is familiar ground to me.  So much so I had it written in my head by the end of my commute last night.

The Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Aquarian Sister) have their geneses not only from my witch class (they can be considered to be the evolution of the Aquarian Tradtition) but also from such sources in Sci-Fi like the Bene Gesserit (Dune), the Sisterhood of Karn (Doctor Who) and the Night Sisters, the Witches of Dathomir (Star Wars).

--
OGL Notice: The following text is considered OPEN under the Open Gaming License. 
Section 15: "Sisters of the Aquarian Order " copyright © 2015 Timothy S. Brannan.

Sisters of the Aquarian Order
The Sisters of the Aquarian Order, also known as Aquarian Sisters, or often "witches" are an exclusive order of human women that train their minds to go beyond what humans can normally do. They spend hours in trances communing with a hive mind that contains all the memories of all the members of the Order past and present and some even claim future.

The purpose of the Order is to carry humanity to the stars and beyond.  In ancient times when mankind was still battling over feudal lands the Order was plot the stars. When humanity was first using solid fuel rockets the Order was projecting their consciousness beyond our own solar system into the the stars.  Now that humans have taken their rightful place among the stars the Order does what it can to keep humanity moving forward.  To what future, only they know.  They believe that humanity is on the cusp of a new consciousness and a new age.

Aquarian Sisters often serve as councilors, advisers and ambassadors.  They can be found in planetary governments, great powerful houses or even on starships.

Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Witch)

Prime Attribute: Charisma
Hit Dice: 1d4 per level.
Armor: none or light
Weapons: An Aquarian Sister may only use very simple weapons as they spend no time learning how to use them.
Special Abilities: Psychic Powers, Rituals

Level
XP
HD (d4)
BTH
ST
Psychic Powers
2345
1
0
1
+0
15
Empathy
1----
2
2,600
1+1
+0
14
2----
3
5,200
2
+1
13

21---
4
10,400
2+1
+1
12
Clairvoyance
22---
5
20,800
3
+2
11

221--
6
40,000
4
+2
10

322--
7
80,000
4+1
+3
9
Telepathy
3221-
8
160,000
5
+3
8

3322-
9
320,000
5+1
+4
7

33221
10
440,000
6
+4
6
Telekinesis
43322

Aquarian Sister Abilities

Skills: All Aquarian Sisters are skilled in basic astro-navigation having memorized hundreds if not thousands of star systems.

Saving Throws: The Aquarian Sister gains a +2 bonus to any save versus charm, hold or mind affecting powers.

Psychic Power: At first level and every 3 levels hereafter the Aquarian Sister gains a Psychic Power.

Rituals: The Aquarian Sister can perform rituals that have almost magical effects.  These powers take longer to activate and use than their psychic powers, but have greater effects.  These rituals are complicated and can only be used once per day each.

LEVEL 01 RITUALS
Bewitch I
Cause Fear
Charm Person
Drowsy
Far Sight
Read Languages
Soothe
Sonic Blast

LEVEL 02 RITUALS
Agony
Bewitch II
Blast Shield
Calm Emotions
Detect Thoughts
ESP
Hold Person
Invisibility
Locate Object

LEVEL 03 RITUALS
Aphasia
Astral Sense
Bewitch III
Liar's Curse
Mind Rash
Mirror Image
Scry
Toad Mind
Tongues

LEVEL 04 RITUALS
Bewitch IV
Confusion
Divination
Elemental Armor
Emotion
Mirror Talk

LEVEL 05 RITUALS
Bewitch V
Charm Creature
Dream
Feeblemind
Nightmare
Overlook
Sending
Teleport


Saturday, April 18, 2015

A to Z of Vampires: PÄ•nanggalan

The PÄ•nanggalan really is an interesting vampire and really one of the reasons why this whole theme even exists.   Back in the early days of my gaming I picked up the Fiend Folio hardback for AD&D. Had to be about 1982, the book was new enough that not everyone had it yet.

I am flipping through this book full of weird monsters and I see this crazy looking flying head with it's guts hanging out. Turns out it is also a vampire!  I had no idea there were any other types of vampires.

Lots of research later, which in 1982 meant getting on my bike and riding to the public library, I discovered there were all sorts of vampires out there.  But this is the first one I discovered.

What got me most about the PÄ•nanggalan in the Fiend Folio was how much like a vampire it wasn't, save for the sucking of blood.   It was just a weird creature and I liked it.

What I also like was that this was one of the first vampires I read about that made a link between vampires and witches, two of my favorite topics.
The Pathfinder game has a PÄ•nanggalan witch.

The PÄ•nanggalan comes from Malaysian folklore and may be distantly related to the Aswang.

PÄ•nanggalan (Vampire) (S&W stats)
Hit Dice: 8 (see below)
Armor Class 2[17];
Attacks: 1 bite (1d6 + blood drain);
Move: 12 (Fly 12);
Save: 8
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 11/1700;
Special: Immune to non-magic weapons, regenerate (3/round), charm gaze, drain 1d4 Constitution points per bite.

The pĕnanggalan head will take 4 HD worth of damage (half what the full creature has) before it flies back to it's body in retreat.
To drain Constitution the pÄ•nanggalan must attack a victim she has charmed or is sleeping, she can not  drain constitution in a combat situation.  Male drained to 0 Con become Ghouls under her control. Females drained to 0 Con become pÄ•nanggalan, but free of being controlled.  For this reason pÄ•nanggalan attack males most times.

The pÄ•nanggalan will look like a normal woman during the daylight hours. Any attempts at divination (ESP, Know Alignment) will reveal she is a normal woman.  Once the sun sets she will retire to a secret place where her head will rise out of her body and fly out in search of blood.  Her lair will be protected from the sun and will also contain jugs of vinegar. The pÄ•nanggalan must soak her organs in vinegar before she can return to her own body after a night's feeding.

The pÄ•nanggalan can use her charm ability during the day to charm men.  If they fail their save she will return to them at night and drain their blood.  The men will believe they had an amorous encounter with the woman.  Typically the pÄ•nanggalan will have charmed several men and spread out her feedings so not to spread suspicion when they start to die.

The pÄ•nanggalan must return to vinegar jugs before dawn.  If sunlight strikes her organs she will be paralyzed. If she remains in the sunlight for 10 round she will destroyed.
Likewise running water will destroy her and a line of salt will keep her at bay.

To destroy a pĕnanggalan you must discover her lair and destroy her vinegar jugs and burn her headless body.

The most common remedy prescribed to protect against a pÄ•nanggalan attack is to scatter the thorny leaves of any of the subspecies of a local plant known as Mengkuang, which has sharp thorny leaves and would either trap or injure the exposed lungs, stomach and intestines of the pÄ•nanggalan as it flies in search of its prey

Friday, April 17, 2015

A to Z of Vampires: Ovegua

Note: This is my A to Z Challenge post for O.  If you are looking for my S&W Appreciation Day post, go here.

Let's head back to Africa today, in particular to visit Guinea, Africa and their local pest the Ovegua.

The Ovegua is actually very similar to a lot of creatures, Asanbosam, Owenga, Ovengwa, Otgiruru and many more found in West Africa.  They all likely share some linguistic root.
This creature is created when a sorcerer or witch is killed.  It can take the shape of a dog and has hooks for hands, or sometimes hooks for feet.  The Ovegua will hang out in forests at night and call out to a victim by name.  If the victim answers them the vampire will then target them by sucking blood through their thumb.  During the day they hide in dark caves.

Ovegua has all the standard weaknesses of all vampires. They can not cross running water, sunlight destroys them and religious items keep them at bay.
To destroy one you must locate it's cave. Nail it to the ground and burn the body to ashes.

The Ovegua can shapeshift to a wild dog and mist. It has two claws and a bite attack. It's drain attack drains 1 point of Constitution per night; regardless of number of attacks. It can only drain sleeping victims, not in combat. It is only a little stronger than the average human (Str 14) but not much faster.   Ovegua would be a weak vampire but it retains some of the knowledge it had as a sorcerer.  It can cast spells as a 3rd level witch.  Additionally it only regenerates 1 hp/round vs. the typical 3.

Since today is Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, here he is in S&W format.

Ovegua (Vampire)
Hit Dice: 7
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Attacks: Bite (1d6 + CON drain)
Saving Throw: 9
Special: vampire powers, witch spells
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 7 HD (9/1,100)

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day: Multiclassing




For this Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day I want to put out something I have been playing around with.

For the record I am using the Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook from Frog God Games.

Swords & Wizardry Multiclassing

I LOVE the old school games. B/X, AD&D, BECMI, and the clones.  But the one thing I always felt 3.x Edition did better than any other edition, past or future, was multiclassing.  The rules were easy, you could multiclass into a lot of great combinations to get that character concept you really wanted.
With many of the OSR games (original and clone) the multiclassing rules were less than optimal in my mind.

So I wanted to bring 3e style multiclassing to the clone world. The biggest issue with doing this though is 3e made the classed more alike in terms of advancement.  Now people will complain that this attempt at game balance "ruined" the class's uniqueness. I say rubbish.  So the classes are bit more balanced than before, that's not a bug, it's a feature.  I was looking over SW and I realized I could do what I wanted easily.

Swords & Wizardry classes are largely like 3e ones now.  The unified Save and Ascending AC make saves and to hits much easier to deal with.  I just need to see if something like this is feasible.

So I dumped it all into Google Sheets. Which I am sharing below.



The tabs are where I worked out median XP vaules, base to hit and base saving throws.
The final analysis is on tab SW Level Advancement.

So like 3e, this has all the classes  use the same level advancement table.  Base Saving Throw is based on Character Level (not Class Level).  Classes then add what ever bonuses they need.
Now if you are adding things up in your head you can see a problem right now.  Take a level of Ranger and improve your total saves.  I thought about that.  My solution is not elegant, but it works.  I will get to that in a moment.

So how does it all work?  Simple you take a class just like you do in SW when you get enough XP to level up you can keep going in that class and get the advantages listed for that class you you can take another class.  Your hit points are determined by your Class Levels.  Saves are based on Character Levels.

So if you are a Fighter 3/Magic-User 2 you have at least 16,000xp, your Base Save is 11.
Your hit points are 3d8 + 2d4 + Constitution Modifier x 5 (class level).
With these rules this character can still use a sword and cast spells.  He can't wear armor since that is a restriction of the Magic-user class.

There are a couple of logical next steps here.

First this opens up a wide variety of choices for demi-human characters.  Keep level caps if you like, but I think there are not enough game-design reasons to do this.  If you want to "balance" things out give humans +1 on any two ability scores of their choice and +1 on saves.  Call it Human Resilience.

The other logical leap is this would allow Prestige Classes in SW.

Prestige Classes in Swords & Wizardry

Here is an example of the Loremaster.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/loremaster.htm

Requirements
To qualify to become a loremaster, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills
Knowledge (any two) 10 ranks in each.

Feats
Any three metamagic or item creation feats, plus Skill Focus (Knowledge [any individual Knowledge skill]).

Spells
Able to cast seven different divination spells, one of which must be 3rd level or higher.

These would have to change to something more fitting to S&W.

Requirements
To qualify to become a loremaster, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Character Level: 6th
Intelligence Score of 16 or higher.
Wisdom Score of 14 or higher.
The ability to cast five different divination spells, one of which must be 3rd level or higher.

Loremaster
Level Attack  Special Spells
1 +0 Secret Add additional level of previous spellcasting class 
2 +0 Lore Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
3 +1 Secret Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
4 +1 Bonus Language      Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
5 +2 Secret Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
6 +2 Greater Lore Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
7 +3 Secret Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
8 +3 Bonus Language Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
9 +4 Secret Add additional level of previous spellcasting class
10 +5 True Lore Add additional level of previous spellcasting class

Saving throws are based on Character Level, not Class Level.
Level is obvious.  Attack just adds to the attacks as the base class (like Cleric or Magic-User).  Spells are also obvious, keep advancing in spells as you normally would.

The Special will need some work.

From the SRD:
Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the loremaster prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Loremasters gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spells per Day/Spells Known
When a new loremaster level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds the level of loremaster to the level of some other spellcasting class the character has, then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.

Secret
At 1st level and every two levels higher than 1st (3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th), the loremaster chooses one secret from the table below. Her loremaster level plus Intelligence modifier determines the secrets from which she can choose. She can’t choose the same secret twice.

Loremaster Secrets
Level +Int Modifier Secret Effect
1 Instant mastery 4 ranks of a skill in which the character has no ranks
2 Secret health +3 hit points
3 Secrets of inner strength +2 bonus on Will saves
4 The lore of true stamina +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
5 Secret knowledge of avoidance +2 bonus on Reflex saves
6 Weapon trick +1 bonus on attack rolls
7 Dodge trick +1 dodge bonus to AC
8 Applicable knowledge Any one feat
9 Newfound arcana 1 bonus 1st-level spell
10 More newfound arcana 1 bonus 2nd-level spell

Lore
At 2nd level, a loremaster gains the ability to know legends or information regarding various topics, just as a bard can with bardic knowledge. The loremaster adds her level and her Intelligence modifier to the lore check, which functions otherwise exactly like a bardic knowledge check.

Bonus Languages
A loremaster can choose any new language at 4th and 8th level.

Greater Lore (Ex)
At 6th level, a loremaster gains the ability to understand magic items, as with the identify spell.

True Lore (Ex)
At 10th level, once per day a loremaster can use her knowledge to gain the effect of a legend lore spell or an analyze dweomer spell.

So items in red need to be redone.  In order:
+4 to any check involving Intelligence on a previously unknown topic.
+2 on Saving throws vs. Mind control, ESP and Charm.
+2 on Saving throws vs. Petrify or Polymorph
+2 on Saving throws vs. moving out of the way.
Applicable Knowledge = Something like Secondary Skills.

Each prestige class would require some tweaking.  But at least now there is a place for them in S&W.

Earlier I mentioned the Ranger and Paladin are a bit too much (despite the fact that the median XP per level is the same as the Paladins).  My solution is make them Prestige Classes.

You would have to be a fighter first before moving into the vocation of Paladin or Ranger.  There is some precedent for this in Rules Cyclopedia and even Unearthed Aracana.

It would take some cleaning up, but I think this is a solid system.  It would still have the same feel as S&W while giving you the flexibility of 3e.

What do you all think?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day: The Witch

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day


Today is Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day hosted by Tenkar of his eponymous Tavern.
Nearly 150 blogs are gathered to talk about S&W.  He did the same thing a few months back for Basic Fantasy Role-Playing and it was a huge success.   I am a fairly late comer to the world of S&W, having read it and then dismissed it.  I have recently come back to it and detailed my findings in  review and post

I do have to hand it to Frog God Games to have gotten me re-interested in this game with their Complete Rulebook.
If you would like to get some products for this game here's a coupon you can use at the D20PFSRDshop.com, thanks to  John Reyst: SWAD252013

So what should I post about today?  Well really there is only thing I can and should do.  I get a some emails asking me for me for a S&W compatible version of the Witch.  Now to me ALL the retro-clones are largely compatible, but sometimes a ready to go product is also nice.  So for you, the S&W fan, here is the Witch for S&W.

You will still need my book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games, and a copy of the S&W rules.  But this will get you going. 
I am also including a new Tradition for you to use with ANY version of the Witch you might want to play.

OGL Notice: The following text is considered OPEN under the Open Gaming License. 
Section 15: "The Witch for Swords & Wizardry" and "Amazon Tradition" copyright © 2013 Timothy S. Brannan.
Art is not considered open and copyright is retained by the artist, Toby Gregory and is used here with permission. 

Witch

Prime Attribute: Charisma
Hit Dice: 1d4 per level up to 10th level.  At 11th level, +1 hit point per level.
Armor: Cloth, Padded or Leather only, no shields.
Weapons: A witch may only use a dagger, staff, flaming oil, holy water, net, thrown rock, sling, and whip as weapons.
Special Abilities: Occult Powers; witch spells, ritual spells, herb use.
Race: Elves, Half-elves and Humans may be Witches. Dwarves and Halfings may be NPC Witches.

Witch Experience Table Spells / Level
Level
XP
Hit Dice (d4)
Saving Throw
Occult Powers
2 3 4 5 6 *7 **8
1
0
1d4
15
Power
1 - - - - - - -
2
2,600
2d4
14
Herb Use
2! - - - - - - -
3
5,200
3d4
13

2 1 - - - - - -
4
10,400
4d4
12

2 2! - - - - - -
5
20,800
5d4
11

2 2 1 - - - - -
6
40,000
6d4
10

3 2 2! - - - - -
7
80,000
7d4
9
Power
3 2 2 1 - - - -
8
160,000
8d4
8

3 3 2 2! - - - -
9
320,000
9d4
7

3 3 2 2 1 - - -
10
440,000
10d4
6

4 3 3 2 2! - - -
11
560,000
10d4+1
5

4 3 3 2 2 1 - -
12
680,000
10d4+2
4

4 4 3 3 2 2! - -
13
800,000
10d4+3
4
Power
4 4 3 3 2 2 1 -
14
920,000
10d4+4
4

5 4 4 3 3 2 2! -
15
1,040,000
10d4+5
4

5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1
16
1,160,000
10d4+6
4

5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2!
17
1,280,000
10d4+7
4

5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2
18
1,400,000
10d4+8
4

6 5 5 4 3 3 3 2
19
1,520,000
10d4+9
4
Power
6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2
20
1,640,000
10d4+10
4

6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3
21
+120,000
+1 hp/level
4

6 6 6 5 5 4 3 3
* 7th Level Spells usable only by Witches with CHA of 16 or greater
** 8th Level Spells usable only by Witches with CHA of 17 or greater
! A Witch may take a ritual spell at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, and 16th levels.


Witch Class Abilities

Saving Throws: The witch gains a +2 bonus to any save verse charm or hold spells.

Spell Casting: The witch owns a book of spells called a “Book of Shadows” this is similar to the books used by magic-users, but each book is unique to each witch.  A Read Magic spell will not enable another witch or magic-user. Witches may cast up to 8th level spells.

Familiar: The witch gains a familiar at 1st level.  This is a supernatural creature that often appears to be a normal animal such as a cat or frog.

Occult Power: At first level and every 6 levels hereafter the witch gains an Occult Power.  These powers vary from Tradition to Tradition.

Ritual Magic: At 2nd level the witch may opt to choose a Ritual Magic spell. These spells have special requirements in terms of components needs and multiple participants. 

Coven: at 13th level a witch may leave her coven to form her own coven. 

New Tradition: Amazon
Witches of the Amazon tradition are one of the most misunderstood witches.  To begin, “Amazon” is a misnomer.  These witches are only remotely related to the legendary female warriors of the same name.  Also these witches are not a group of female warrior-witches, though they opt for fighting professions more often than members of other traditions.

Witches of the Amazon Tradition can only be female; no man may enter this Tradition. This attitude of superiority further extends beyond their own Traditions and covens.  Amazon witches believe that no man should be allowed to be a witch regardless of Tradition.  An Amazon witch will always refer to a male witch as a warlock.

These witches also share an honoring of the Goddess Diana with their warrior cousins. They are associated so much with the Goddess Diana that many call their Tradition The Cult of Diana.  Nonetheless, some small groups of Amazon witches do worship other Goddess, such as Freya, Artemis, Brigit, or even Hecate.

Despite stereotypes, not all Amazon witches are man-haters.   Some are happily married with children. This is not viewed as a problem for these witches as Diana is also viewed as the Patron of children and of women in childbirth. They just believe that men should not be witches.

Humans make up the majority of the witches in the Amazon traditions.  Elves, dwarves and halflings, from a racial standpoint, do not share the Amazon’s philosophy.  Elves in particular gravitate more towards the Faerie tradition.  Dwarves have a special type of Amazon-like tradition that is embodied in the Xothia, the Dwarven witch.

Role: Amazon witches represent, what they believe, to be the righteous anger of the Goddess.  It is believed that these witches may have began as part of the Classical tradition.  When witches began to be hunted and killed, mostly by the priesthoods, the Amazon rose up to fight this oppression.

This tradition overlaps, geographically at least, with areas that are common to Classical traditions and druids.  Thus there have been successful attempts over the years to work for each group’s mutual benefit.  The philosophical differences between the groups have always been the greatest hurdle.

Joining this Tradition: There are no special ability scores required to be an Amazon, although high Strength and Constitution are entirely desirable. The only requirement to becoming an Amazon Witch is the character must be female.

Amazon Witches usually meet in groups, called Meets, during the time of the waxing moon till the full moon.  These meets are very secretive and there is a rumor that any man viewing one will be put to death.
Amazons for the most part are neutral, with some gravitating towards lawful.

Leaving this Tradition: The belief system of the Amazon witch are deeply ingrained into her personality and culture. So most will never leave this Tradition.  Generally, an Amazon who leaves the Tradition will be warmly welcomed into the arms of the Classical or Craft of the Wise Traditions.

Occult Powers:
Minor: 1st Level: Minor Fighting Prowess.  The Amazon witch gains some minor fighting ability and may add one of the following weapons to her skill set; long sword, large axe, long bow or spear.  She may use one of these weapons as she chooses.  She still uses the Magic-User attack tables, but she adds +1 to her “to hit” rolls.  The Amazon witch may also sacrifice one spell per day to give her a bonus to hit and damage equal to that spell level.  This will allow her to overcome the natural resistance that require some creatures to only be hit by magical weapons.

Lesser: 7th Level: Immune to Fear. The Amazon witch becomes so focused in purpose and drive that she becomes immune to the effects of mundane and fear.  She also gains +4 to any checks versus magical induced fear.

Medial: 13th Level: Shape Change. The Amazon witch may shape change as per the Druid ability Wild Shape or Polymorph Self. This may be done once per day at 13th level. The witch may only change shape to a natural animal that is within one size category of her normal size. So a Medium sized witch may only change to a Small, Medium or Large animal.

The number of times the witch may do this per day increases with every other level.  So 2 times per day at 15th, 3 times per day at 17th and 4 times per day at 19th.  The witch may opt to sacrifice one of these times to go outside of her normal range of sizes.  So a 17th level Amazon witch could shift to Huge or Tiny once and her normal sizes the other two (total of 4 shape shifts per day).

Greater: 19th Level: Charge of the Goddess. The Amazon witch at this point is such a force for her Patron that she can summon the Goddess’ own power into herself.  The witch radiates an aura of Fear at 15’ to all her enemies.  She gains a bonus of +3 to all her saves and AC.  She also gains +2 to all offensive attack forms, spells or weapons.  This charge lasts for a number of rounds equal to the witch’s Wisdom or Charisma score, which ever is better.  It may be performed once per day and takes one full action to perform.

Special Restrictions:  Only women may join this tradition.

Equipment:  None required. Amazon witches are more likely to use martial weapons, such as a longbow or spear, than any other Tradition.

The ritual tool of the Amazon witch is the cauldron (representing the Goddess). If adventuring, the witch can or will use a staff, which can double as a weapon.  Both items may also be used for more mundane purposes.

Preferred/Barred Covens: This Tradition is suited mostly to all Amazon covens. Amazon Witches will join covens with other Traditions, but the coven must be exclusively female.

Relationship to the Goddess/Patron: Diana is the protector and guardian of the Amazon witches; they are Her children and heirs to Her world.

Source/Views of Magic: Magic comes from the powers of Creation.  As the bearers of children, only women can be true receptacles of creative forces.  Men can only destroy or pervert this pure and sacred power.

Wealth: Amazon witches start with the amount of wealth allotted to any witch.

Other: Amazon witches generally get along well enough with other traditions, in particular Classical and Craft of the Wise.  The Amazon’s views on male witches usually leads to the Amazon being seen with distrust by the other traditions. Amazon witches do not get along well with clerics of any type, even if they have the same alignment and similar world outlook. They view priests and wizards as patriarchal tyrants.
Amazons will always burn the body of a deceased witch as a proper funeral. It is also common that the coven will burn the witch’s Book of Shadows with the body.


You can download this a PDF file from my Box.com service.

My A to Z post is here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/04/o-is-for-ordog.html