Witchcraft Wednesday: Larina at 16, the Girl in Jackson, IL

Larina Stephanie Nichols at 16

 On Monday, I talked about Larina and her genesis in 1986 and before. On Friday, I am going to talk about the character's future. So today I thought, what about the present? What is Larina doing right now, and how does she affect my game design? So *who* is the Larina sitting on my desk now as I write?

Well‚ unless this is your first day here‚ the current incarnation of Larina is the one in Jackson‚ IL‚ set in 1985-86‚ and she is not the witch queen, not yet and se might not ever be․ She is often more frightened than not. Well‚ not that she'd tell you․ She only knows two spells and has a handful of books on witchcraft. And now, she and her dad just moved to Jackson‚ IL‚ the most haunted town in the Midwest․

There are a lot of really good reasons to go back to an earlier version of this character․ For starters‚ as I have hoped to point out‚ this was when she began in real life‚ so it would make sense to explore the character becoming who she is․ Not the legend․ Not the queen․ Not the character who has shifted through AD&D‚ Chill‚ WitchCraft‚ Mage‚ and NIGHT SHIFT‚ but just simple Larina‚ the sixteen-year-old trying to figure out why every shadow in the town knows her name․

I have had forty years to get to know the person Larina is. But in 1985-86, when I play Jackson Larina, it is an altogether different matter. At sixteen, fresh to town, left to make sense of her magic on her own. She has some friends who become her coven and are like sisters to her, and other friends she will fiercely defend. But the monsters here always have the upper hand.

Back in real 1986, Larina was not nostalgia. She was immediate. She was a character I needed at the table, a witch-shaped answer to a question AD&D had not quite answered for me yet. Today, writing Jackson Larina as a sixteen-year-old in a fictional1986 is something else. It is not just returning to the character. It is returning to the age when I first imagined her.

That changes everything.

I was the same as Larina when I first put her on the page. Being a teenager in 1986 is no exercise in imagination for me; I was living it. The music and books, the games and the anxieties that came with them, the moral panic, the cheap notebooks where I would scribble down character ideas, the disputes over rules, the feeling that the world was a far stranger place than the adults would have you believe, all of it was right there. Larina is a product of that time.

With Jackson Larina, I can return to those days, but from a different vantage point. I am not sixteen any longer, nor am I looking ahead from 1986. I am looking back. It puts her in an altogether different position in my writing and in the games I make. She is more than a younger iteration of a familiar character; she is a means of inquiring what she was before the weight of mythology and design had a chance to settle on her. And honestly, I like her that way.

There is utility in stripping away the power one has accrued over the years. Jackson Larina does not have a host of powerful allies or old enemies to call upon, no lost loves, no artifacts or cosmic scars to speak of. What she has is her father, a few spells, some books and a good deal of stubbornness. And an instinct telling her something is amiss in Jackson, and that if she does not put two and two together, someone will be the worse for it. That is a witch of a different sort. 

She does have friends. Stephanie and Faye are her coven. Candy and Denise are loyal even if they need saving more often than help, but they are still there. Even later characters like Andy, Rowan, Ami and Valentino have their places in her life. Much different than her Dark Places & Demogorgons counterpart.  

Which is precisely why she is so useful in my game design. I can have all these versions of her.

While Larina is always a feature in my design work, here she plays a more crucial role. She is my test of the rules and setting for other characters, the character others might use. Characters you might use. If the rules only work when a witch is already powerful, then they do not work. If the setting only makes sense once the character has become legendary, then the setting is too thin. Jackson Larina asks a more basic question: can a beginning witch survive here?

That is what I need to know.

You will not find high-level characters in Jackson, IL. This is a town of teenagers and their teachers and parents, of record stores and public libraries and old cemeteries, of college lore and haunted houses and things best left unencountered after midnight. A witch operating in this environment must be able to conduct research, protect her friends, and make mistakes. The game has to let her be clever, not invincible.

So the fact that this Larina knows only two spells is of consequence. It makes me, as a designer, consider what witchcraft is apart from a laundry list of abilities, powers and spells. What does she suspect? What has she read that is beyond the others? What does she see when they are not looking? And at what cost? Those are the questions that matter to Jackson Larina, not the damage a spell might do. With this version, I am able to create a witch as a playable character rather than a pre-packaged archetype. She ought not come across as the inferior of an older one, but as one who has only just started on a perilous education. Jackson Larina is my means of testing that proposition. She shows me if a novice has sufficient mystery to hold a player’s interest, or enough to offer an adventure and a group.

Larina also serves as a reminder that knowledge is among her most ancient of powers. Even in the days of AD&D she was never simply a matter of spellcasting. She was the one with the books and the lore, the one with the questions, the translator of ancient languages. If there was a symbol on the door or an old name in the grimoire, or a ghost that made its annual appearance, it was she who sought to make sense of it. Jackson Larina refines that. Her two or three spells are beside the point; her strength is in what she pays attention to. She reads and listens and connects one weird detail to another.

I want a "knower" in NIGHT SHIFT and in my Jackson work, not merely a caster who hurls magic at a monster without knowing why it is there. 

She doesn't have firepower. She has two spells and a library card.

The Larina on my Desk

There is a certain vulnerability in her that the older incarnations lack. An adult Larina can be fearsome, the Witch Queen mythic; some versions of her can enter a room and reality must bend around her. Jackson is not at that stage, she might never get to that stage. She can be overmatched or mistaken, in need of assistance, the new girl unsure whom to trust. That suits Jackson better. 

The town is at its best when the characters are not entirely in command. That is Horror Movie logic and Gothic Fiction logic; it is good for horror. They may be resourceful and brave, but Jackson should seem older to them. Dangerous. There are secrets in the place that predate their birth, colleges with ghosts, houses with memories, and adults who know either too much or not nearly enough. A sixteen-year-old Larina belongs in such a world; she has the power to spot the cracks but not always know how to put them right.

In a way, that is what Larina is worth to me today. She is no longer just the character from forty years back, nor the Witch Queen in waiting. For now she is the red-headed girl in Jackson with her couple of spells and a handful of books, some really great friends, an over-protective dad, and a nagging feeling the town is going to put everything she knows about magic to the test. As a designer, I need her to be there.

If Jackson Larina works, then the witch works. Not the high-level witch. Not the legendary witch. Not the Witch Queen. The beginning witch. The playable witch. The girl who has just enough magic to get herself into trouble and just enough courage to try getting everyone else out of it.

That is the Larina sitting on my desk right now, and after forty years, she is still teaching me how to write witches.

Two Spells and a Library Card

A natural question can be raised. Why her? I mean I have no shortage of witches. I even created a brand new one (more or less) just last week. I even have a witch that has a great background AND is about the right age in Elowen. 

So why go back to Larina?

I think part of that has been answered above. Larina, the character, is a product of the mid 1980s for me. A lot of what I wanted a witch to be in 1986 is her. So naturally, if I am going to have a witch character in 1986, why not her?

Also, Larina is always great for me because I know her so well. When I am running situations as a thought experiment or at the table, I know how she should react, not how I, as someone who knows the rules of the RPG, would react. That's important to me.

Also, Elowen has a very specific role in my mind. She is deeply connected to West Haven and very much Larina's "adopted" daughter. More so than Sinéad was, despite that being an early idea. 

Larina at 16, at least how I am using her in Jackson, is becoming something really fun and she can proudly stand beside her "sisters" (or Shards as I have been calling them) from Chill, WitchCraft, Mage, and the Witch Queen from AD&D. Even the other versions of her in NIGHT SHIFT. 

Other Larinas have crossed worlds and realities; the Larina of Jackson, IL has to get across town to St. Michaels for her Greek II class in her old purple 1977 VW Bug (which she has named "Eurydice" which makes no sense really). That is enough of a challenge.

And she is teaching me more this way.

Witchcraft Wednesday: Étaín Moonshadow

 I picked up a new Forgotten Realms game over the past weekend. Sorta. It is actually the same game I have been playing in, just with some new characters. In reality, I am worried less about the setting or background and more about the playtest. I am using this game to try out some more ideas from my Advanced Witches & Warlocks book. While I have the classes pretty much where I want them, I still want to "stress test" them a little more. 

Étaín Moonshadow

 I have half-jokingly referred to Étaín Moonshadow as my Margaret Murray of the Realms. She is a Moon Elf and was born in Evereska. She was an acolyte of Sehanine Moonbow and could have lived the quiet life of a priestess. That was until Sehanine came to her in a dream, telling her there was more to her faith than she knew. The dream, nearly half-forgotten, disturbed her at a fundamental level. She tried to forget it and ignore it, but the more she tried, the more it got to her. 

Her mother was a member of the clergy of Sehanine, and her father was an archivist. This gave her access to documents, scrolls, histories, and tales of the elven folk.  As she read, she remembered tales from her grandmother on how her own grandmother came from the Moonshae Isles, and her worship was different.  Much was the same, but other aspects seemed odd or incongruous at the time. Until she read more and discovered that some of the rituals were similar to those she had read about in Selûnite prayer texts. Liturgical texts lifted word-for-word from Sharan ones. At the start, she believed what any elf would, that humans had copied older elven texts. But as she read, she became less and less certain of that. She began to come to the conclusion that the worship of Sehanine Moonbow, Selûne, and Shar were all one and the same. Even more than the three goddesses were all but a face of a single Moon Goddess.

Étaín left Evereska to seek adventure, at least that is what she said. It was not uncommon for a young Moon Elf to do so. But what she didn't tell anyone was that is was not treasure she sought, but knowledge. Knowledge to support her idea of the Triple Moon Goddess.

--

So now I have this adventuring witch who is not looking for gold and glory, but for knowledge and divine truths.  She feels there is an ancient religion out there, and she just needs to reclaim it. She is also searching for others who share her beliefs. These will be members of the other classes from the book. Some will agree with her, others will challenge her. She will run into the orthodoxy of the Sehanine, Selûne, and Shar religions and she will have to deal with them as well.

Her interest in Selûne started out as an academic curiosity, until the dream of Sehanine. Then it became much more. 

This is also where she is less Margaret Murray and more Raymond Buckland. This ties back to my 1986 connections with his own "Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft" published that year. Étaín is not just searching; she is reconstructing this religion as she goes. "Moonshadow" then becomes the craft name she chooses for herself.

Calling Étaín the "Margaret Murray of the Realms" is only partly accurate. Like Murray, she is assembling scattered traditions into a larger theory. Unlike Murray, though, Étaín is willing to abandon her conclusions if better evidence appears. She is less interested in proving herself right than in following the evidence wherever it leads. In that sense, she also owes something to Raymond Buckland, who took fragments of older traditions and helped shape them into a living modern faith.

So she is a witch character to help me discover more about other witch characters.

Étaín Moonshadow

Moon Elf
Witch level 6

Secondary Skill: Scribe

S: 10
I: 14
W: 16
D: 12
C: 10
Ch: 15

Paralysis/Poison: 11
Petrify/Polymorph: 11
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 12
Breath Weapon: 14
Spells: 13

AC: 10 (None)
HP: 22
THAC0: 18

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3
Staff 1d6

Familiar: Snowy Owl "Nóta"

Spells 
First level: Charm Person, Glamour, Mend Light Wounds, Read Languages, Speak with Animals 
Second level: Augury, Detect Thoughts, ESP, Knock, Suggestion
Third level: Clairvoyance, Tongues

Theme Song: The Mystic's Dream - Loreena McKennitt

Eyes: Blue with flecks of silver
Hair: Black
Born: 1230 DR (age 128)

What excites me most about Étaín isn't whether she'll discover the truth about the Triple Moon Goddess. It is whether she'll change her mind along the way. If the evidence leads somewhere unexpected, then so will she. That's the sort of character I want to spend time playing, and exactly the sort of witch I want Advanced Witches & Warlocks to encourage.

Now I just need to play her some more.

One of the things I want to test with Advanced Witches & Warlocks is whether a witch can drive an entire campaign through curiosity rather than combat. D&D often assumes adventurers are motivated by gold, glory, or survival. Étaín is motivated by questions. If there is an old moon shrine, she wants to read the inscriptions. If there is a forgotten library, she wants to compare its texts. If there is a village with unusual customs, she wants to talk to the oldest grandmother she can find. Success for her isn't measured by magic items recovered, but by another page filled in one of her journals.

When the party enters a ruin, the fighter looks for enemies, the thief looks for traps, and Étaín looks for inscriptions. If someone says, "We found treasure," she'll smile and congratulate them. If someone says, "We found an old prayer carved into the wall," she is already halfway across the room.

Unlike some of my other witches, Étaín does not have a Jackson, IL counterpart. Étaín is too linked to the history and the mythology of the Forgotten Realms in my mind.

Witchcraft Wednesdays: It Takes Three to Make A Thing Go Right

 With all apologies to MC Rod Base and DJ EZ Rock (nobody rocked harder dressed like a pack of Newports, RIP), there is a reason you see covens of witches vs solitaries. 

I have said it here before, but witches are social. They see patterns in social dynamics and in social constructs. A cleric might ask why someone read a book on demonology. A wizard might ask why they read this particular book on demons. A witch will notice why the book is grouped with local maps and notes on when the graveyard was first used. They seek out the connections between people and each other; the living and the dead, people and the divine, and people and the arcane. 

And there is a reason that NIGHT SHIFT is called "Veterans of the Supernatural Wars."

People who fight the darkness rarely get to retire, and when they do, it is only to pass the fight down to the next generation. 

Today I want to talk a bit about Stephanie, Faye, and Larina in Jackson, or not really them specifically, what and who they are in the game. For me, they are the stand-ins for the PCs as I playtest and write. If and/or when I am able to move this from my computer and game table to yours, they might not even be there; your characters will. They will have their own organization and social dynamic, and they will have one, but more importantly, they will have a history. Not a backstory per se, but a history, things that went on before them. The people who fought this battle before they did. Some won. Most lost.

Let's look into how this plays out in my game.

So, before these witches walked the halls of Jackson,

Stephanie, Faye, and Larina (1986)

These witches did.

Lena, Alyssa, and Keely (1983)

Selene "Lena" Marquette, Alyssa Argent, and Keely "Q" Ellison were Jackson's witch protectors in the time before Larina got here and before Faye started paying attention. Lena was smart, popular, and already one foot out the door to study at MacAlister the summer of 83. Keely was popular, had a smile for everyone, and was on the cheerleading, dance, gymnastics teams, and the choir. Everyone loved her. Not liked, loved. And Alyssa. She wasn't the smartest girl in the room. She was the smartest person in the whole damn town. Brilliant, chaotic, she read theoretical physics for fun, translated languages in her spare time, and had a full-ride scholarship to pretty much every Ivy League school. 

And their story is tragic. I normally don't like to make characters fail, but sometimes they do, and that is the horror. In Jackson, horror is everywhere.

One night, when dealing with a monster, Lena and Keely never made it back. Alyssa did, but her mind was no longer intact. The official story is that Lena and Keely were coming back from school late at night and someone grabbed them. Upon hearing the story, Alyssa broke down. But the town's people knew something was not right. Lena and Keely were friends, but there was no reason for them both to be leaving the school that late at night and together. Alyssa had a nervous breakdown, which surprised no one, but it had been a long time coming, and whether it really had anything to do with the official events is anyone's guess.  Alyssa spent the next year at the Illinois State Mental Hospital in town. She didn't even get to go to the funeral of the two girls she called "sisters."

Last page of the Jackson PHS 1983 yearbook

One of the features I have with Jackson is that it is based on my real-life high school. One of those real Jacksonville things was that every year in high school, one or more students would die. Gruesome, right. Yeah, now imagine it is a small school of just over 1,500 students total. We used to say the school was cursed. I have no idea if it is still happening.

You can begin to see why I have so much material for this project.

It's not just that Lena and Q died. It's not even that they died because of Jackson's supernatural elements, or that it left the once-brilliant Alyssa a shell of her former self.

It's when Stephanie, Faye, and Larina (or YOUR characters) are walking the halls, the adults say things like "Oh, Larina, she is just like Alyssa," and then they go quiet. Or even "Stephanie Vale lights up a room, just like Keely used to."  But the worst part is the adults who never say anything at all. They watch the girls walk by laughing conspiratorially, and inside, they are thinking, "No. Please. Not again."

The fight in Jackson is old. It has been going on for a long time. And I want to impress upon the characters and the players that they are not the first here, they won't be the last. These are the Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. Kids that are not even old enough to drink (legally) or, in some cases, vote.

But Lena, Alyssa, and Q hold another lesson too.

You can't do this alone.

I am not sure of the details yet, but I do know this: they failed and died because they were not working together. Look. I don't want to blame them for their deaths. It was a horrible thing, and honestly? I have only had them for a couple of days, and I feel terrible. But they died because, as witches, they were not working together.

I love Stephanie, Faye, and Larina. I do. I want them to live happily ever after in the Jackson Game world for as long as I can. But I also know how I typically play these characters, and honestly, I am a little surprised that Jackson-Larina has not met the same fate as other Larinas on other worlds. 

In the past I have described Larina as "the girl who sets herself on fire to light the way for others," and yes, she has died. Many times on many worlds. I have a binder filled with her character sheets. But here in Jackson, her lesson (and the PC's lesson) is, you can't and should not do this alone. My own rule also says I can't raise her from the dead. Sorry, witches can't raise the dead, and this is an absolute rule in my games. So, Larina, as my iconic witch, cannot break that rule.

For witches and any character, these connections are important. I have not implemented coven casting rules in NIGHT SHIFT outside of the Arcane Bond power, but I really should. 

Coven casting is not just "three witches get together, and the spell gets bigger." That is wizard-thinking. That is math. Witches can do math, but that is not where the magic lives. 

The coven is the circuit for a witch. There is one to name the thing, one to hold the line, and another to mind the human toll. Put in different witches, and you have a different spell. Stephanie, Faye, and Larina are not some interchangeable cogs in a machine. Stephanie will be on to the lies people tell and the social fallout. Faye has her finger on the room’s emotional pulse. Larina spots the occult design. Put them together, and they can pull off things no one of them should be able to do by herself.

More to the point, they can survive it. Or at least they have a better chance.

I want to make that a rule in Jackson. Coven magic can give you an edge on a roll, but it should be more about sharing the danger, the cost, the insight. Let one witch absorb the psychic backlash while another steadies the ritual or makes sure the door does not shut. Or let one put her foot down and say "No, we’re done," and have it count for something in the mechanics. 

Lena, Alyssa, and Q lost that. Or perhaps they never really had it to begin with. I don't know, and niether will the players or characters.

Alyssa had power. Terrible power that made everyone stop and look. She was capable of more than Larina ever could be. But there is a difference between brilliance and wisdom, between power and the connection of a coven. On her own, a witch is a weapon, a flame, or a ghost story to be told in hushed tones in the hallways. A coven puts the humanity back in her. A coven gives that power a focus and meaning.

Jackson is full of monsters, of course. Haunted colleges, the bad land, old tragedies, and the odd book in the library where the Veil is thin. But it is also about the girl in the hallway beside you. The one who knows your real name and your worst ideas, and when you are lying or afraid. The one who will take your hand and tell you, "No, you are not alone."

That is witchcraft. I love my circles, candles, and athamés as much as the next person (ok, maybe more so than the next person), but this is more than spells or familiars. It is true connection made dangerous. Friendship with teeth. Love in a circle aimed at the dark.

I want Jackson to remember that. Lena, Alyssa, and Q are a reminder that the fight was here before your characters got to it. Stephanie, Faye, and Larina show us you don’t get to just assume you will make it. Your characters ought to feel the weight of all those names when they walk these halls.

The defeated and dead aren’t there to put a damper on the game. They are there to remind the living how to stand together.

Character Creation Challenge: Day 14 Taryn Nix and Warlocks

 I have not talked much about Warlocks here at all for this challenge, which is an oversight of sorts. I have Warlocks I am using in my Occult D&D game, but they feel a little overpowered at the moment. I am going to present one, my iconic warlock Taryn, and see where I might need to make adjustments. I am largely basing this on my The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry, but I think with other rules I have in place, I might need to tone it down and increase their XP. No idea just yet.

I mentioned Taryn already in this challenge. She is the daughter of my iconic witch, Larina, and she is a half-elf. Well...half Sidhe, but largely the same thing. She began life as a 4th edition character but became one of my more important 5th edition characters. 

Warlocks get fewer spells, but also gain invocations that can be used at least once per day. In Taryn's case here I am also granting her Cantrips, including one for her secondary skill. Unlike witches, warlocks do not gain bonus spells due to Charisma. Also warlocks can't participate in ritual spells unless stated, but this is not that big of deal. A lot of witches in practice don't participate in ritual spells.

Taryn
Half-elf 13th level Warlock (Fey), Chaotic Neutral

Secondary Skill: Initiate

S: 11
I: 17
W: 16
D: 13
C: 17
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 9
Petrify/Polymorph: 9
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 10
Breath Weapon: 12
Spells: 11

AC: 1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 48
THAC0: 16

Weapon
Sword (Pact Blade) +2

Familiar: Black Cat "Mojo"

Spells
Cantrips: Mote of Light*, Chill, Clean, Ghost Sound
First level: Mage Armor, Chill Touch, Cause Minor Wounds, Häxen Talons, Eldritch Fire, Arcane Dart
Second level: Blur, Burning Gaze, Grasp of the Endless War, Phantasmal Armor, Share my Pain
Third level: Fangs of the Strix, Malice, Witch Fire, Clairsentience, Starlight
Fourth level: Arcane Eye, Elemental Armor, Rain of Spite, Pit of Pain
Fifth level: Blade Dance, Cry of the Nightbird, Telekinesis

Invocations
Arcane Blast, Agonizing Blast, Beguiling Influence, Aura of Fear, Pact Blade, Eldritch Ball of Flame, Supernatural Protection 

Theme Song: I Am the Fire

Spells and Invocations combined are a lot for a 13th level caster, but some of those invocations are "passive" or have other effects; like Agonizing blast only effects Arcane blast. Pact Blade just effects a sword.  Still I might trim down the spells more.

Also warlocks top out at 5th level spells. 

I think my warlocks need some more work to be honest. 

Character Creation Challenge: Witch Challenge (Witchcraft Wednesday Edition)

The last few years I have taken on TardisCaptain's New Year, New Character challenge. But I also like to give it my own twist. This year I am going to be doing all AD&D 1st edition characters AND all witches! Wait you say, didn't I already do witches one year? Yes, I did, back in 2021. But that was for a variety of systems. This year I am focusing on the various ways to do an AD&D witch. I am going to use my notes, conversions of my other books, the various Dragon Magazine witches and other published witches. 

While I say "AD&D 1st ed" I might detour a bit into Basic and AD&D 2nd ed, but all the writeups will be for 1st edition. I am playing in a 1st edition AD&D game now so I want plenty of NPCs. Also for a lot last year I was doing something I was calling "Occult D&D." I am going to keep exploring that here as well as a bunch of notes I have had laying around that I have never fully implemented into any of my books. Or in some cases variations of rules I have used elsewhere but wanted to go back and revist. 

I also want to use this as a way to finally get some work done on my "Land of a 1000 Witches" idea that originated with the late Jason Zavoda and his "Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches." While his is obviously Blackmoor and Greyhawk focused, my current AD&D game is set in the Forgotten Realms. I'll figure that out later. 

My goal is to present a witch or two for each level of the day. So Jan 1 will have 1st level witches all the way to Jan 31st with a 31st level witch. They will be mostly original characters, some will be repeats that I want to revist and others will "special guest stars."

I have a ton of notes. Lots of ideas and about 40-50 character sheets ready to go.

Bring on 2026!

Magic Backlash!

Photo by Dima Valkov

Or,  Biting off more than you can chew, magically speaking.

In the AD&D rules (and really most D&D variants), a spellcaster can't cast a spell above their prescribed levels. As a rule of thumb, this is often a spell level of half their caster level. There are variations across classes and editions, but this is sufficient for today's discussion.

But what happens when a spellcaster tries to cast a spell of a higher level?

The 1st Edition DMG has some rules on pages 127-128 on scroll reading and failure, but nothing as far as I have found on similar rules for spellbooks. I am sure someone, somewhere, has said with all the authority a Rule Lawyer can muster that "I Shall Not Be Done!" and then quote something that someone else said somewhere else. Frankly, that is myopic and doesn't serve the players well. 

So let me see if I understand the logic here...a group of adventurers are going to risk life, limb, possiblly even their immortal souls and sanity, for a chance of gold and glory. But reading a spell of slightly too high a level is verboten? No. I don't think so. Granted, it should come with consequences.

Here some rules I have been picking at. They supersede the ones found in the DMG.

Casting Higher Level Spells

A spellcaster is typically prohibited from casting spells to which they have no mastery of. Higher level spellcasting is the domain of higher level spellcasters and the untrained mind can not recall the information adequately to even attempt a spellcasting, that is even when they can understand the arcane or occult formulae at all.

But there are times, dire times, in which a spellcaster might want to attempt the dangerous casting of a spell to which they have no knowledge or skill of. This maybe attempted by reading a scroll or directly from a spellbook. There is a high chance of spell failure, and a chance of unintended and catastrophic results. There is also a chance that the spell works as intended and desired. This could be the difference between life and death, or a fate even worse.

To determine the chance of success, start with the Caster level.

Roll under chance of Success on d%.

Base Chance of Success = 5% per level

Table: Spell Casting Modifiers

Situation	Modifier
Spell is of caster's own class list	+10%
Spell is of allied Witch tradition (Classical, Craft of the Wise, etc.)	+5%
Spell belongs to a related arcane class (Magic-User ↔ Illusionist)	-5%
Spell belongs to a related occult class (Witch ↔ Warlock)	-10%
Spell belongs to an entirely different class (Divine/Cleric/Druid/etc.)	-15%
Spell is 1 level above caster's maximum	+5%
Spell is 2 or more levels above caster’s maximum	+10% per spell level
Spell of opposing alignment/Patron	-25%
Spell of opposing school (arcane only)	-10%

01 always succeeds.

00 (100) always triggers a Major Backlash (roll twice on the d100 table).

Failure results are detailed in the tables below. Scrolls and Spellbooks use different tables. Any casting, success, failure, or otherwise, results in the destruction of the spell being used.

Table: Scroll Spell Failure / Minor Backlash

d100	Result
01–20	Fizzle: Spell fails harmlessly; scroll turns to ash.
21–25	Harmless Surge: Hair stands on end; tiny sparks fly. No damage.
26–30	Minor Burn: Caster takes 1d4 damage.
31–33	Flashblind: Caster blinded for 1d4 rounds.
34–36	Reversed Spell: Effect targets caster.
37–40	Wild Targeting: The spell affects a random creature within 30 ft.
41–43	Spell Fragment: Only the first or last portion of the spell manifests (DM choice).
44–46	Partial Success: Spell works at half-strength, half duration, or half area.
47–49	Echo: The spell takes effect 1d4 rounds later.
50–52	Arcane Whiplash: Caster cannot cast spells for 1d3 rounds.
53–55	Magic Drain: Lose one randomly chosen prepared spell (or witch spell-slot) for the day.
56–58	Item Flare: A magic item worn must save vs. Spells or malfunction once.
59–60	Sour Ink: A random scroll in caster’s possession corrodes (save or be ruined).
61–63	Spirit Attention: A minor invisible spirit observes for 1 turn; 10% chance it interferes.
64–66	Vermin Sign: Normal vermin swarm briefly; 10% chance of ruining random gear or potions.
67–69	Etheric Disruption: All spellcasting within 10 ft suffers –2 to initiative for 1 turn.
70–72	Foul Omen: Caster takes –1 on all rolls for 1 hour.
73–75	Spell Echoes Elsewhere: The spell manifests 100–1000 ft away at random.
76–78	Vitality Leak: Caster loses 1d3 points of Constitution for 1 turn (fatigue aura).
79–81	Arcane Whip: Caster is knocked prone.
82–84	Shadow Flicker: Something mimics the caster’s shadow for 1 turn. Harmless but unsettling.
85–87	Planar Draft: A chill wind blows from nowhere; undead within 1 mile sense the caster.
88–90	Fail + Attract Minor Monster: Equivalent to a random monster roll.
91–95	Arcane Pulse: 1d6 damage to all creatures within 10 ft (save half).
96–99	Severe Shock: Caster stunned 1d4 rounds; lose 1d3 prepared spells.
100	Catastrophic: Roll once on the Major Backlash Table below.

Table: Spellbook Spell Failure / Major Backlash

d100	Result
01–05	Psychic Burn: 1d6 damage per spell level attempted; stunned 1 round.
06–08	Arcane Fever: –2 to all rolls, no spellcasting for 24 hours.
09–10	Witch-Marking: A permanent visible magical mark appears; –1 Charisma.
11–13	Memory Leak: Lose 1 prepared spell of each level. Highest levels first.
14–15	Reversal Cascade: Every beneficial effect on the caster reverses for 1 turn.
16–18	Wild Elemental Surge: Take 1d8 acid, cold, fire, or lightning damage (random).
19–21	Voice of the Spirits: Caster hears whispers for 1d6 hours. -2 on all rolls
22–24	Spirit Intrusion: Attempted possession (save vs. Spells or controlled 1d6 rounds).
25–27	Fates Displeasure: –1 to saving throws for 24 hours; omen appears.
28–30	Arcane Wound: Permanent –1 Constitution unless cured by heal, wish, or witch ritual.
31–33	Temporal Skip: Caster vanishes for 1d4 rounds and reappears confused for 1 round.
34–35	Spell Implosion: Lose all prepared spells of the highest level available.
36–37	Mana Scour: Drop to 0 spells; cannot cast for 12 hours. Spells return.
38–39	Grimoire Corruption: A spell in the caster’s book becomes unusable for 1 day. (Divine reroll)
40–41	Pain Curse: For 24 hours, all damage dealt to the caster is increased by +1 per die.
42–44	Aura Taint: Detect Magic/Good/Evil shows the caster as a random alignment for 1 day.
45–47	Attract Lesser Demon/Spirit (DM chooses): Negotiation may be required.
48–49	Blood Price: Lose 1d4 Strength for 24 hours.
50–52	Summoning Echo: A random outsider peers through briefly; 5% chance it steps through.
53–55	Arcane Feedback: Caster and all within 10 ft take 2d6 damage (save half).
56–57	Magic Reversal: The spell goes off but affects the absolute worst possible target.
58–59	Astral Flicker: Caster is partially astral for 1 turn; incorporeal but cannot act.
60–61	Possessed Insight: Gain a vision of the future, but also take 2d6 psychic damage.
62–63	Hexblight: Caster cannot benefit from magical healing for 24 hours.
64–65	Nightmare Veil: The next time the caster sleeps, they suffer a draining dream (lose 1d6 hp).
66–67	Witchfire Backlash: Caster burns with blue flame; take 1d6 damage and frighten nearby animals.
68–69	Feral Mind: –4 Intelligence and –4 Wisdom for 1 hour.
70–72	Undead Attraction: The nearest undead (within 1 mile) senses and seeks the caster.
73–74	Patron Claim (Occult only): The Patron asks a service (within 1 week). Refusal imposes -2 to all rolls. (Arcane/Divine reroll)
75–76	Contagion of Chaos: 10% chance for each magic effect within 30 ft to misfire.
77–78	Spell-Eater Aura: For 1 hour, any spell cast within 10 ft automatically fails.
79–80	Dimensional Shudder: Teleportation near caster is impossible for 1 day.
81–82	Grave Chill: Caster’s touch deals 1 cold damage per hit die for 10 minutes.
83–84	Shadow Doppelganger: A hostile shadow-copy of the caster manifests (HD = caster level –2).
85–87	Blood-Ink Words: Any further spellcasting today causes 1 hp damage per spell level.
88–89	Wards Collapse: Any magical protections on caster immediately expire.
90–91	Forbidden Knowledge: Gain a secret insight (DM chooses) but take 2 permanent hp loss.
92–93	Cataclysmic Surge: 3d6 force damage in 20 ft radius; save half.
94–95	Deathly Pallor: Caster appears undead to detection spells for 1 week.
96–97	Spellstorm: Roll a random spell of each level the caster can cast; all activate at once.
98–99	Arcane Rupture: Caster must save vs. Death Magic or die (success = 3d10 damage).
100	Grand Catastrophe: Roll twice more; both effects apply; the attempted spell explodes violently. Spellbook destroyed.

Any roll that results in an ability being reduced to 0 or below results in the death of the caster. Saving throw vs Death will instead place the caster in a coma until they are restored.

--

With the chances of death, destruction, and the potential loss of an entire spellbook, it is easy to see why many spellcasters treat casting higher level spells as something "they just can't do."

WitchCraft Wednesday: The Hand Mirror of the Silver Witch

Photo by Esra Korkmaz

  I have a couple of threads of things I am developing at the moment. One has been my ongoing "Occult D&D" idea, which in itself grew out of my "War of the Witch Queens" campaign. The other is an idea based on my rereading of a lot of things I have written over the decades. Some of which I "re-discovered" recently, something I have been calling "The One Who Remains." 

This is the product of the intersection of many of these ideas and threads.

The Hand Mirror of the Silver Witch

This ancient handmirror is the final relic of the Silver Witch, who gave her life to halt the unraveling caused by The One Who Remains. In her last stand, the Silver Witch allowed herself to be unmade. Her memories, power, and will were drawn into the mirror she carried, preserving a single thread of her identity.

The glass is now cool and pale, like winter water. When the light strikes it just right it glimmers with a faint silver glow, as if the moon reflects upon it even indoors.

Only witches and warlocks may safely handle the mirror. Those who seek knowledge for selfish or destructive ends invite peril.

Description

The Hand Mirror is a finely wrought hand mirror of cold iron and silver alloy. Its back bears the mark of the Triple Moon. The mirror never tarnishes and cannot be cracked by mundane force. Looking upon the glass produces a reflection that appears slightly delayed, as if the viewer’s image moves a moment behind.

When held during a ritual, witches report a soft whisper like wind through winter leaves.

Primary Powers

The mirror grants the following abilities when properly attuned. Attunement requires one hour of meditation, incense, and a whispered invitation to the Silver Witch. These powers can be used by any spellcaster.

Second Sight: Three times per day the bearer may gaze into the mirror to cast detect invisibility, detect charm, or detect spirit (witch version). Each use requires one round of concentration.

Moonlit Guidance: Once per night the mirror casts a soft argent glow. While this glow persists, the bearer gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against magical fear, illusions, and enchantment effects. Duration: 1 turn.

Veil of the Silver Witch: Once per day the bearer may cloak herself in silver mist, as blur cast by a 10th-level magic-user. Duration: 5 rounds.

There is a cumulative 5% chance per non-witch use that the mirror becomes inactive in the hands of the user. Worse, echoes of The One Who Remains begin to seek out those who hold the mirror. (Treat as spectres).  

Greater Powers

The mirror holds deeper abilities tied to the Silver Witch’s sacrifice. These powers can only be used by a witch or warlock.

Memory of the Fallen Star: Once per week the bearer may commune with an echo of the Silver Witch. This functions as a limited form of contact other plane. The entity contacted is not a deity but the preserved remnant of Larina’s future self.

Answers are clear but tinged with sorrow. Each use risks emotional fatigue: after communion the bearer must save vs spells or be drained of 1 hp per level for 24 hours due to mental strain.

The Last Reflection: Twice per week the mirror allows the bearer to read a single moment from her own future. This functions as an augury, with a 75% accuracy rate. The glass reveals images of silver fire and shadow intertwined.

Mirror-Walk: Once per month the bearer may step through a reflective surface and emerge from another mirror within five miles. This requires full concentration and a quiet chant. The bearer becomes insubstantial for one round upon exit.

The Doom of the Silver Witch

The Mirror of the Silver Witch is powerful but dangerous. Within the artifact lies the remaining fragment of the Silver Witch’s mind. That remnant strives to protect others from the fate she endured, yet her presence is fading.

Each time a Greater Power is used, there is a cumulative 5% chance the mirror’s “echo” attempts to guide the bearer toward events tied to The One Who Remains. This influence is subtle. The bearer may feel prophetic dread, be drawn to gates of power, or suffer moonlit dreams.

If the chance ever reaches 25%,  the DM should require a saving throw versus spells whenever the mirror is used. A failed save means the bearer glimpses the Silver Witch’s unmaking and must roll a system shock check or fall unconscious for 1d6 turns.

If the chance reaches 50% the mirror loses one Greater Power of the DM’s choice, symbolizing the last of the Silver Witch’s memories fading away.

Texts, including the near-mythical Adnerg Codices (an artifact in it's own right), speak of even greater powers the Mirror once had. 

Destruction

The Mirror cannot be shattered, melted, or banished by mundane or magical means. It may only be destroyed if:

• It is placed at the center of a Witch Gate during a total eclipse,
• Seven witches of different traditions willingly break their coven-bonds for one night,
• And the bearer renounces her name while holding the mirror.

This ritual unravels the last thread of the Silver Witch. The mirror dissolves into silver dust. All memory of the Silver Witch fades from history unless preserved in text.

Larina Nix, The Silver Witch

Who Was the Silver Witch?

This is not something players would know, and it is certainly not in the histories of the mirror. But the Silver Witch is a future version of my witch, Larina. 

Back in January, I did TardisCaptain's New Year, New Character challenge where I took a lot of Grenda's characters and revised them for Wasted Lands. I mentioned before that in his stack of characters were a bunch of his versions of my characters. 

One of them was Larina. 

I didn't use her then because I was saving her for something special. But in my writings about The One Who Remains, I figured it out. Those versions of my characters? They are all gone. Unmade. Well, maybe one or two survived, but Larina, that Larina, did not. 

Why would I kill off one of my beloved characters? It was because of love that I did it. Or rather, that Larina's sacrifice. She loved her world enough to warn others via her Mirror. Since here she was an NPC her fate was entirely of my own design. Her world, a reflection of my own game world, was unraveled by The One Who Remains, or at least a part of him. Funny, I can hear Grenda in my head now saying, "You destroyed my version of your world, all because I am dead? What a dick!" 

That is the REAL power of the Mirror. Not the magics in it, those are just side effects. The real power is that it will fall into the hands of those who could do something about The One Who Remains and maybe, just maybe, prevent it from happening to their own world.

Who, or What, it The One Who Remains? Well. That is going to be a much longer post.

Plays Well With Others: Witchcraft Wednesday Edition, Part 1 Old-School

So when I was working on The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions there were some other OSR books I thought would be fun to suggest. Not for compatibility, or even "must buys" but for their general coolness and because I often used their material alongside my own when playing my Old-School games. 

In the end, I decided not to put them in the book in Appendix N style because I didn't want customers to think they need to buy these other books (though many should buy them and most of you likely already have). Also, I didn't want a book excluded because of time, space, or my forgetfulness.

So instead, I am going to post them here. The reviews are below, but like I said, I think you all know these. 

This is not an exhaustive list. Nor is it just a list of favorites. I have plenty of favorites. These are a subset of products that work great with my various witch books or ones I like to use with them. The key here is that they work well with my various witch books. None are needed to play with my witches, but all have something about them I really enjoy. Often compatible classes, spells or something else I enjoyed. 

I am not including complete rule sets or adventures in this post. Just extra material I use alongside my witch material in my Old School games. 

These are in no particular order, save how I remembered to add them. 

The Basic Illusionist

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.

Before I delve into the book itself. Let's take a moment to look at this cover. Seriously. That is a cool 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 seamlessly, like they were meant for each other. The woman in the 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 that keeps you from using any Original or 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.

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 everyone 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 whatever 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. How does it compare 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.

Since this book was released I have had a chance to try it with various systems. I can say it works great with S&W, Basic D&D, AS&SH (when used with their own illusionist class) and even AD&D.

B/X Companion

The Game We Never Got.

One of the things I like most about the OSR are the products that don't give me things I already have, but things I have always wanted or never knew I needed. B/X Companion is one of those products.

The product I think I have been waiting for for close to 30 years. Sure, I have had books that have covered the same ground, and books that made this book obsolete, but somewhere, deep in my psyche, there is still that 12-year-old version of me wishing he could take his cleric to 15th level.

The B/X Companion does not disappoint. If this isn't exactly how it was going to be, then I'd be hard-pressed to know what it would have been. I am reading through it all now, and I am purposefully NOT comparing it to the BECMI version of the Companion rules.

The cover, of course, is very much part of the original scheme. The three principle characters, the fighter and the two wizards (or maybe she is a cleric, that could be a "light" spell, though she has a torch too) stand in front of their followers. They braved the dungeon, the wilderness, and now they are ready for the next adventure. So are we.

For those of us who grew up with the Moldvay/Cook Basic and Expert sets, the Companion book feels very familiar. The layout is similar, the flow is similar, and even the art has a familiar feel. If you own the Basic or Expert books, then finding something in the Companion book is trivial. I turned right to the character rules and took a glance at all the tables. Yes, sir, they run from 15 to 36, just like promised. Clerics still top out at 7th-level spells, but eventually they get 9 of them. Wizards still go to 9th level, and get 9 of those too. Fighters get more attacks per round (as they should), and thieves get more abilities.

There are plenty of new spells here. Many look like they take their inspiration from the products that came after, the Player's Handbook or the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, but nothing is an outright copy. It does have the feel like Becker sat around one day and thought, "What are some good spells, and what level should they be.

There are new monsters and advanced versions of some others. The Greater Vampire nearly made me laugh out loud as I had done the exact same thing after reading and playing the Expert book for so long. My Greater Vampire was a photocopy of Ptah from Deities and Demigods with some fangs drawn in. I never claimed to be an artist. The monsters all are appropriate for the levels, though a few more in the 30 HD range might have been nice, but not really needed.

The BIG additions here, though, are the ones that were most "advertised" back in the day. “Running a High Level Game” is great advice for ANY edition of the game. 

Related is running a domain and running large armies. Battlesystem would later give us these rules for AD&D, but here they are much simpler to use. Again, this is something to consider for porting to other versions of the game.

I loved the new magic items and can never get enough of them. I also liked the part on the planes and how it is totally left up to the design of the DM. How many people out there will re-invent the Gygaxian Great Wheel for their B/X/C games?

Companion to Basic/Expert Rules. Obviously, this is where it works the best. But there is something here that I don't think others have tapped into just yet. Companion makes the Moldvay/Cook rules a complete game. With these three books, you now have a complete D&D game. The only thing really missing is a "C1" module or maybe a BXC one.

Companion to Labyrinth Lord/Basic Fantasy. The new Becker Companion owes a lot to Labyrinth Lord (LL) and Basic Fantasy (BFRPG). While not directly, these two games showed that there is a market for "Basic" styles of play. Both LL and BFRPG take the modern 1-20 level limit for human classes. Companion is 15 to 36. So some adjustments need to be made. There are a few differences in how each of these books calculates XP per level, and how they do spells. But nothing so complicated that a good DM couldn't figure out.

If I were playing a LL/BFRPG game, I'd go to 15th level and then switch over to B/X Companion for the next levels to 36. OR even go to 20 and use B/X Companion as a guide to levels 30 or even 36.

Frankly, the homebrewiness of it all has me very excited for anyone who has decided to throw their lot in with "Basic" D&D.

Final Tally, I like this book. A lot. It makes me want to pull out my ratty Basic and Expert books and play Moldvay/Cook era Basic D&D again. In the mean time, I think I'll just have to satisfy myself with converting some D&D 3.0 or 4e characters over to Companion, just for the fun of it.

One of the best of the OSR ethos; to give us something we never got but really wanted. Likewise, The Complete B/X Adventurer is also great.

Theorems & Thaumaturgy Revised Edition

Theorems & Thaumaturgy is a Free product. The book itself is 66 pages (standard letter) with text and art that immediately remind you of the old Moldvay Basic books.  If you have The Complete Vivimancer, then you have an idea of how the text and art look.   To me, the art is like psychedelic art-nouveau meets Elric.  In other words, perfect for a magic book in my mind.

There are three large sections (Classes, Variant Classes, and Magical Tomes) and an Appendix with nine sub-sections. Like old-school Basic the new spells are all listed with the classes.  The book is designed for use with Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Characters, but really it can be used with any sort of "old-school" game.

The new Classes are the Elementalist, Necromancer, and Vivimancer.  The Vivimancer is, of course, detailed in a later book, but he gets his start here.  The classes do pretty much what you would suspect they would do.  The Elementalist uses elemental forces, the Necromancer deals with the dead and undead and the Vivimancer.  Each class has a good number of new spells (250 in all!) to make using them feel different than your normal "magic-user". Each has spells from 1st to 9th level.  All the classes use the Magic-User XP, to hit and saving throw tables, so whatever system you use, you can just use that to put them on the same footing as the Magic-User.  While I like the simplicity of this and it helps make the "subclasses" feel like a part of the same Magic-user family. I would have liked to have seen some powers or something for each class.  After-all they are sacrificing spell flexibility for what?  Power? More variety of spells in their chosen field?  I think I would have given them a couple of bonuses at least.  But that is fine, these rules are flexible enough to allow all sorts of edits.

For the variant classes there is the new Fey Elf race.  This elf is closer to the faerie origins of the elf.  The class taken by these elves is the Sorcerer.  This class is similar in idea to the D&D 3.0 version; a spontaneous spell caster with magic in their blood.  The sorcerer has a couple of new spells and a modified list of spells they can cast.  There is an alternate version of the Illusionist as well. This version has a few more spells and has 8th and 9th level spells.

The final section is all about magical tomes.  It includes a bunch of unique magical tomes with new spells. The books' histories are also told and which classes are most likely to get use out of it.

The vivimancer gets expanded in its own book, too. 

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts

Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts (MT&DP) is an Old-school reference for all things Magic-user. The book is designed with what I call "Basic Era" in mind, so the rules from right around 1979-1981, where "elf" is a class, not just a race. Overtly, it is designed for Labyrinth Lord. That being said, it is still compatible in spirit with 99% of all the OSR and books from that time.

The book itself is 6"x9", black and white interior, and 161 pages. So, for a "Class" book, there is a lot here. There are 5 Chapters covering Classes, Spells, Magic Items, Monsters, and a section on using this book with the "Advanced Era" books (and their clones), along with an Introduction and OGL page.

The introduction covers the basics. What this book is, what it is for, and its very, very open OGL declaration.

Chapter 1 is the heart of this book, really. It details 13 magic-using classes. The two core classes, Cleric and Magic-User (Wizard), and 11 new classes.

From the product page: Cleric (warrior-priests) Wizard (classic magic-users with 10 levels of spells) Elven Swordmage (elves from the core rules – arcane warriors) Elven Warder (wilderness elves, guardians of their kin) Enchanter (artists, con-men, and masters of… duh… enchantments) Fleshcrafter (twisted magic-users that work with flesh) Healer (compassionate and tough hearth-healers) Inquisitor (ecclesiastic investigators and master intimidators) Merchant Prince (elite merchants with spellcasting support) Necromancer (you know exactly what these guys do) Pact-Bound (magic-users who sell their souls for power) Theurge (divine casters who learn from liturgical texts) Unseen (thieves with an innate knack for magic)

Clerics are as you know them, but Magic-Users are now Wizards (since everyone here is a magic user) and they get 10 levels of spells. The "Elven" classes replace the "Elf" class in the book. The others are as they are described, but there is more (much more) to them than re-skinned Magic-Users (not that there is anything wrong with wrong that). The classes are re-cast with many new spells, some powers (but nothing out of whack with Basic Era) and often different hit-dice and altered saving throws.

Nearly a third of the book is made up in these new classes.

Chapter 2 covers all the spells. Spells are listed alphabetically with class and level for each spell noted (like newer 3.x Era products). There are a lot of spells here, too. Many have been seen in other products, but some are new. In any cas,e they are a welcome addition. This section makes up more than a third of the book.

The last three chapters take up the last third or so of the book. Chapter 3 covers Magic items. There are 28 new magic items with these spellcasters in mind. Chapter 4 covers some magical creatures. These are monsters listed in many of the new spells for summoning. There aren't many, but they are needed. Chapter 5 is the Advanced Edition conversion materials. It covers HD changes, racial limits, and multi-class options.

So what are my thoughts? Well, you get a lot of material in 160+ pages to be honest. At 10 bucks, it is a good price. For me, it is worth it for the classes. Sure, we have seen variations of these over the years, but it is all here in one place, and they all work well together. The spells are good. At first, I balked at 10th-level spells, but really, they are, for the most part, other people's 9th-level spells, so they work for me.

The magic items are nice, but for me the value is in the classes and the spells.

Who should buy this? If you play old-school games and enjoy playing different sorts of Magic-Users, then this is a must-have book. If you are looking to expand your class offerings or even add a few new spells then this is also a good choice. Personall,y I think it is a great book and I am glad I picked it up.

So many classes and spells here, including another necromancer and a healer. One of the main reasons I have never felt the need to complete my necromancer and healer.

PX1 Basic Psionics Handbook

I love Basic-era gaming. Basic/Expert D&D was the first D&D I ever played. Even when I had moved on to Advanced D&D, it still had a strong Basic feel to it. So I was very, very pleased to hear about +Richard LeBlanc's new psionics book, Basic Psionics Handbook. If you have been reading his blog, Save vs Dragon, a lot of what is in the book won't be a surprise, but it is all great stuff. Even then there are things in the book that are still a treat and a surprise.

The book itself is 58 pages (PDF), with a full-color cover and a black/white interior.

The book covers two basic (and Basic) classes, the Mystic and the Monk. Both use the new psionic system presented in the book. The system bears looking at and really is a treat.

Overview. This covers the basics, including how psionics is not magic and how attributes are used. It's a page of rules that slot in nicely with the normal Basic rules. The basics of psychic power, including Psionic Level and Psionic Strength Points (PSP), are introduced.

Mystics are next. Mystics in this case are more molded on the Eastern philosophy of mystics, not the clerical sub-class-like mystics I have detailed in the past. Though through the lens of Western thought. That's fine this is not a religious analysis, this is a game book. This class helps builds the psionic system used in this book based on the seven chakras. Chakras divide the psionic powers into broad groups; something like the schools of magic for spells. As the mystic progresses in level, they open up more and more chakras. Each chakra has seven Major Sciences and twelve Minor Devotions, similar to the old AD&D rules (but not exactly the same, so read carefully). This gives us 72 devotions and 42 sciences. That's quite a lot really. As the mystic progresses they also earn more PSPs and more attack and defense modes. They are the heavy hitters of the psionic game.

Monks are the next class. Monks really are more of psionic using class in my mind and to have them here next to the mystic is a nice treat for a change. Everything you expect from the monk is here. Unarmed attacks, no need for armor and lots of fun psionic based combat powers. The monk does not have the psionic power the mystic does, but that is fine it is not supposed to. It does have a some neat powers from the mystic's list. One can easily see a monastery where both mystics and monks train together, one more mental and the other more physical. The monk has plenty of customization options in terms of choice of powers. In truth it is a very elegant system that shows it's strength with the mystic and it's flexibility with the example of the monk.

This is very likely my favorite monk class.

Psionic Disciplines detail all the powers of the chakras. It is a good bulk of the book as to be expected. There are not as many psionic powers as you might see spells in other books, but this is a feature, not a bug. Powers can be used many times as long as the psychic still has PSP. Also many do more things as the character goes up in level.

Psionic Combat is next and deals with the five attack modes and five defense modes of psychic combat. The ten powers are detailed, and an attack vs. defense matrix is also provided. The combat is simple and much improved over it's ancestors.

The next large section details all the Psionic Monsters. Some of these are right out of the SRD but others are new. Personally, I am rather happy to see a Psychic Vampire. Though it is not listed, I assume that these creatures are also undead and are turned as if they were vampires.

Appendix A deals with something we abused the hell out of, Wild Psionics. At two pages it is the simplest set of rules I have seen for this sort of thing. Also it looks like something that could be ported into ANY version of D&D including and especially D&D 5.

Get out your crystals, Appendix B details Psionic Items. Again, short, sweet and to the point.

Appendix C: Psionics and Magic is a must read chapter for anyone wanting to use both in their games.

Appendix D: Phrenic Creatures turns normal creatures into psionic ones.

Appendix E covers Conversions for Monsters from LeBlanc's own CC1: Creature Compendium.

Appendix F details how to convert any monster into a psionic one.

We end with a a couple pages of collected tables and the OGL.

Bottom line here is this is a great book. Everything you need to play psionic characters and add psionics to your game. Personally I am going to use this to beef up The Secret Machines of the Star Spawn which I also picked up today.

I have played around a lot with various forms of Psionics. For now, this is the one I use most often.

Carcass Crawler: Issue Two

I am a fan of anything B/X and OSE in particular. This zine for Old-School Essentials gives me two elves and some new snake-cult monsters.

Carcass Crawler: Issue Three

I have lots of variations on Dragonborn and Tieflings, but these are good. 

Old School Magic

This is an update to The Alchemist also by Vigilance Press. For another buck, you get more classes, another 23 pages, and a better-looking layout. A good deal if you ask me. The alchemist is very much like the one from the previous product. Like the alchemist supplement, I might do a multi-class with this alchemist, either as an alchemist-artificer or an alchemist-sage.

The other classes include the artificer, conjurer, elementalist, hermit, holy man, naturalist, sage and seer. Plus, there are some new spells that I rather like.

Old-School Psionics

Designed to be a new psionics system for OSRIC this book introduces the Mentalist class. Powers are divided out among disciplines going to 7th level. Powers are treated mostly like spells, but that works well for adding into OSRIC. Also some psionic monsters are detailed including my favorite (and worth the price of the book) the Doppleganger as a proper psionic monster. 22 pages including cover and OGL. Very nicely done.

Another great set of psionic rules.

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I have some other posts with adventures and monster books coming up for the future.