Dragonfolk for the Advanced Era

Like his dad, my oldest son enjoys all versions of D&D.  He plays a 3e game with me and his brother, a 4e game with some friends and a Pathfinder game with some other friends.   He has also had the chance to play Castles & Crusades, ACKS and Basic Era D&D.  But so far his favorite has to be 1st Ed AD&D.

He also loves dragons.  Always has.  So it was a natural then that he would want to make his own dragon book and have some going back and forth we decided that an OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord Advanced compatible book would be the best.

Of course in what can only be called a bit of Generational Rebellion, according to my son there are no know Dragonfolk witches. 

So for your enjoyment here is a new player character race he has been working on for some time. 

The Dragonfolk.

All text below is considered OPEN for the Open Gaming License. It is copyright 2012 Liam and Timothy Brannan.

Dragonfolk

It is well known that dragons can often take the guise of humans, elves or other humanoid species.  It has been through this magic that the dragons have come into direct contact and congress with these younger species.  For years these various dragon-blooded and half-dragons roamed the world often ignorant of their own heritages.  It was not till the great hero Marduk, himself rumored to be the spawn of a human mother and Ea the Dawn Dragon, gathered all the dragon blooded to one one land now known as the Dragon Isles. He then became their first King.

Thousands of years later the Dragon Empires have waned, but the Dragonfolk have survived as a species in their own right.  They rarely leave their Dragon Isles and are thus rare or even legend in other parts of the world.

There are two type of Dragonfolk recognized, Imperial and non-Imperial.  Imperial Dragonfolk hale from the Isles of the Dragon Empire.  The Empire has waned in the 700+ generations since Marduk first united the Dragonfolk into a single people, but the Imperial Dragonfolk are still just as proud as they ever were.

Non-Imperial Dragonfolk are born from the union of a humanoid (typically human, elf or dwarf) and a dragon.  They are of the same general sort of their humanoid parent with the scales, coloration and temperament of their dragon parent.  Non-Imperial Dragonfolk are often shunned in human committees. Any non-Imperial Dragonfolk can claim to be an Imperial Dragonfolk only if they make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Dragons on the Dragon Isle and there renounce their ties to their humanoid relatives.

Description
Dragonfolk appear as dragonlike humanoids.  They share qualities with both of their parent stock.  They stand taller than humans typically 6 to 7 feet in height with males and females being roughly the same height.  They are warm blooded despite their reptilian appearance, though they are not as comfortable in extreme climates as are humans.   Dragonfolk lay eggs like dragons, but also produce milk like a mammal.  Typically only 1 to 2 eggs are laid in a clutch.  The eggs develop partially inside the female and then are kept warm by the male and female once laid.  Twins resulting from one egg is considered an ill omen.

Imperial Dragonfolk can claim human, elf, dwarf as well as a variety of draconic parentage.  Imperial Dragonfolk are only fertile with other Dragonfolk. Non-Imperial are fertile with other Dragon-folk and their members of their humanoid parent's race (and races cross fertile with them such as orcs, trolls, goblins).

Dragonfolk can come from any combination of dragon and humanoid parentage.  For Imperial Dragonfolk, ones that live or come from the Dragon Isles, this is not determination of potential alignment or powers. For non-Imperial Dragonfolk parentage can have an affect on coloration, powers and potential alignment.  

Dragonfolk only recognize the difference between Imperial and non-Imperial Dragonfolk, with Imperial Dragonfolk claiming superiority to the non-Imperial individuals.  Non-Imperial Dragonfolk can produce offspring with strong Dragonfolk traits. These straits remain strong even through many generations.

There is some questionable scholarly work claiming that Kobolds are non-Imperial crosses with gnomes or halflings.  While is this largely dismissed even the most conservative scholars do believe that Kobolds may be the result of non-Imperial pairings of dragons and goblins.

Dragonfolk develop from egg to hatchling in 6 months and are weaned after 6 months. They reach maturity at 13 years.  Imperial Dragonfolk are considered Citizens at 21 years of age.  Their average lifespan is 250 years.  A mated pair will usually mate first between 14 and 21 years old and they will stay together for life, though they may not not necessarily live with each other.

Honor and Caste
Dargonfolk have a strict code of honor. This and the Dragonfolk caste system will be detailed in the future.

Requirements: CON 9

Ability Modifiers: STR +1, CHA +1, DEX -1

Ability Min/Max: STR 4/19, DEX 2/17, CON 9/18, INT 3/18, WIS 3/18, CHA 4/19

Languages: Dragonfolk learn Draconic as their primary Language and can learn the common tongue and alignment language.  They may learn additional languages to these based on their Intelligence score. If Kobolds have a unique language then Dragonfolk will also know this language. 

Infravision: 30 ft

Low-light vision: 120ft

Naturally Dragonfolk are a highly magical race. They gain a +2 to all saves from Spells and Spell like devices.  The gain a +4 vs Dragon Breath saves.  

They can see Invisible creatures and items on a 1 on a 1d6.  They can find secret doors on a 1-2 on a 1d6 as well. 

Dragonfolk are naturally resistant to weapons due to their tough, scaly hides. They gain an additional -1 to their Armor Class. 

Permitted class options: Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Magic-User*, Thief, Cleric/Fighter, Cleric/Paladin,  Fighter/Magic-User, Fighter/Thief.

Level Limits

Cleric: 9th 

Fighter: Unlimited

Paladin: 17th

Magic-User*: 11th

Thief: 8th

Dragonfolk have their own type of magic-user known as Dragon Mages.  These will detailed later.

Dragonfolk Thief Skill Adjustments

Pick Locks -5%

Find and Remove Traps +5%

Climb Walls -15%

Movement Rate: 120 ft

Breath Weapon

A holdover from their draconic heritage, Dragonfolk have a limited breath weapon.  Regardless of their coloration or alignment the individual Dragonfolk can choose among Acid, Cold, Gas, Electricity,  or Fire.  

Once per day a Dragonfolk can emit a powerful breath weapon attack.  This attack does 1d6 + 1hp/level damage. The damage type is chosen at character creation and can't be changed short of a Wish spell.

Dragonfolk and Kobolds

Dragonfolk and Kobolds share a relationship similar to that of Humans and Halflings or Dwarves and Gnomes. In areas where Dragonfolk are more common Kobolds will live on the outskirts of the Dragonfolk communities.  Kobolds will adjust their normal behaviors and alignments to suit that of their Dragonfolk cousins.  Indeed small communities of kobolds near good aligned Dragonfolk areas have been known to be good aligned as well.  

Religion
Dragonfolk follow a form of Ancestor worship where they honor the spirits of fallen warriors, kings and dragons.  They claim that many of the dragon "gods" that cultures around the world worship were in fact personages in their history.  Many times these gods were non-Imperial Dragonfolk that rose to great power and honor.   Such dragons and Dragonfolk are Aži Dahāka (The Destroyer), Druk (thunder dragon), Ea (Dawn Dragon), Jawzahr (Moon Dragon), Karkeu (Diamond Dragon), Marduk (Dragonfolk Hero and Emperor), Quetzalcoatl (Dragonfolk Lord of the Sky), Tiamat (Mother of Monsters), Yam (Son of Ea and Tiamat, dragon god of the Sea), Zirnitra (Dragon God of Sorcerery), and Zmey Gorynych (Darkness).

Section 15.

OSRIC. Copyright 2008 Stuart Marshall.

Advanced Edition Companion, Copyright 2009-2010, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Dragonfolk for the Advanced Era" Copyright 2012, Timothy & Liam Brannan.

Second Chance Weekend

Thanksgiving at my parents was great.  Got a chance to talk to the guy who was my fist AD&D DM.    I knew I was going to run into him so I took a copy of my Witch book.

I also grabbed my copies of Sword & Wizardry and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
These are two games I gave passes on.  S&W because I was into Labyrinth Lord and Spell craft &Swordplay, and LotFP because, well frankly, I didn't see the point of it.

I am rereading them both now and getting slightly different points of view than before.

I'll keep you all posted.

This is the story of how we died.

When Gary and Dave sat down and designed Dungeons & Dragons they certainly had one thing in mind.  That it should be a social game.  It should be a time when friends got together and talked and had a good time.  Then after the game they could talk about the game they had or share in other games.  The cirlces were small back then in the Dawn Age; everyone knew everyone or were at least separated only by a person or two.

My degree of separation between me and Gygax is 1. The cousin of my regular DM ran us through an OD&D game one summer in 87.  He (whose name was also Gary) had played some games with Gary Gygax back in the day.   He told us we were playing "just like Gary did".   Outside of some email communication with Gary Gygax in the late 90s and meeting him once at what would be his last Gen Con, that is the closest I ever got.  

I am a member of what I like to call the Second Generation of Gamers.  I began in 1979 but did not really get into it until 1980-81.  I didn't learn at the feet of Masters.  I learned mostly on my own and with other kids who had done the same.  We may have known someone that knew someone that had gamed with Gygax or Arneson, but none of us had.

For argument sake I call the First Generation those that were the Masters or learned directly from them.  The first gen gets fuzzy when dealing with people that learned from people that learned from the Masters.  These are not static categories in my mind.

Presently I am commenting of one of James' latest posts on learning to DM/GM from the pre-made modules.  (for the record I give James the benefit of the doubt of being First Gen even if he is the same age as me, started about the same time and is by his own admission more of my Second Generation ).   He dislikes   (maybe too strong of a word) the older modules as DM/GM tools.  I love them.

I love my home-brew adventures as much as the next guy/gal loves his/her own.  Though there is one thing that was never discussed back then that is fairly evident now.  Running or playing those old adventures has given us all shared community.  My readers/players or you and your player or people I run into at Cons more than likely did not play at my game table back in 83.  But we can all talk about heading to the Cave of Chaos or the Barrier Peaks. We can all share stories of how we died in the Tomb of Horrors or the Forgotten Temples or Cities or even Realms.  Is has been those shared experiences that have helped shape the culture of the game we all play.  

It is an extension of the social circle that guys named Gary or Dave probably never thought of.

We can all share common stories thanks to these old modules. Share what we did, how we did it.  How the characters achieved greatness and how they died.  When I mention the Owlbear in the cave at the Caves of Chaos in B2 I could get dozens of stories from you all.  I can ask did  anyone ever shout "Bree Yark!" at the goblins?  I can ask did you ever defeat Strahd.

When I was at Gen Con this past August I ran my boys through Module B1 using a mix (of course!) of D&D Basic and AD&D rules.  We played for about 4 hours each night.  I would say only about 2.5 hours were actual play time.  The other 1.5 was devoted to people walking by to tell my kids how much fun they were going to have and how awesome the adventure was.  I didn't mind. Quite the opposite in fact, I loved it.  They loved it.  They had the feeling they were about to experience something special, something that others had gone through when they were kids.  I even joked with them in the adventure  that the place had looked like it had seen hundreds of people go through the corridors over the last 30 years.

One day, maybe very soon, they will be at Gen Con or Gary Con or something else and they will say "You know I almost died in the Caves of Chaos" and someone, of same age between 100 and 10 will say "yeah! Me too!".

Witch Traditions

With print copy of the Witch on the way and the ebook/print version of Eldritch Witchery also coming along I thought I'd spend some time talking about Witch Traditions.

What is a Tradition for the Witch class?

Historically Tradition is like a style or even a denomination of Witchcraft.  In my books Traditions are styles of witchcraft too, but it is also a bit more.

On the roleplaying side a Tradition helps define what sort of witch they are.  Their background, how they learned to be a witch and how they get their Powers and Spells. It also help define what their familiar is like.  For example a witch might roll and get "Toad", but for a Faerie witch this toad could be a nature spirit, for a Maleficia it is a small demon.  In both cases it just happens to look and act like a toad.
On the crunch side it tells you what sort Occult Powers you gain

Each book has a different set of Traditions so if you do get them both then there is something new in each one (there are more difference than just this, but this is what I am talking about today).  The Traditions are roughly set up the same way and have particulars according to their supported rules, but translation is easy.

Halfling Herb Woman - Daniel Brannan

The Witch
Aquarian
Classical
Faerie
Family
Maleficia
Eclectic

Demi-humans
Xothia (Dwarf)
Kuruni (Elf)
Good Walker (Gnome)
Bogglebos (Half-orc, orc, goblinoid)
Herb Woman (Halfling)

Eldritch Witchery
Witches (Traditions)
Craft of the Wise
Tradition of the Magna Mater (Great Mother)
Demonic
Faerie
Gypsy

Warlocks (Lodges)
Goetic Scholar
Hermetic Brother
Scholar of the Scholomance
Secret Masters of the Invisible College

There are even new Traditions in the upcoming Player's Companion for the Adventurer Conqueror King System.  I had some input on how the new ACKS Witch works (not a lot but some) and some of it was based on some of my earlier work.  Bottom line for you. The ACKS witch is very compatible with the witch from "The Witch" and "Eldritch Witchery".  There are also Shaman and Warlock classes in ACK-PC that would mix in great with any game that has a witch in it.

ACKS though is based on 14 levels, Eldritch Witchery on 20 levels and The Witch on the classic B/X 36 levels.  So you will need to move the powers across the levels some.

The ACKS-PC witch gains special powers by Tradition at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th level.
The Witch gets occult powers at 1st, 7th, 13th, 19th, 26th and 31st levels.
In Eldritch Witchery the witch gains her Occult powers at 1st, 7th, 13th and 19th level.
For my witches the 1st level power is a familiar.  The Witch and EW can be played just as easily with 14 or 20 levels. Well...13 and 20 actually works better in my mind (make the 21st level witch the Queen of Witches).

I am not going to mention the traditions in the ACKS Player's Companion.  I will wait till it comes out.  Sufice it to say there are two that are roughly the same (and this gives a base to compare) and the others that are new.  All of them are given the ACKS-world twist.
Charles Myers, a contibutor to the ACKS Witch class has even put up some new Traditions on his own blog.

• Razor Hag Tradition
• Kindred Witch Tradition (similar to my Family witch in many ways)
• Winter Witch Tradition (this one might be am favorite)
• Tempestarii Witch Tradition

I have not tried to convert these yet, but my rough eyeballing of them tells me they should work fine.

If you picked up Joesph Bloch's wonderful Adventures Dark and Deep Witch or Jonathan Becker's Witch from the Complete B/X Adventurer then you can also use this with them and visa versa by implementing the Tradition idea.

Joesph Bloch's presents a deliciously evil witch I really want to run under B/X rules.  I would probably call her a Malevolent Witch (Malefic was already taken).  This witch is limited to 13th level so she is a good fir with ACKS-PC.  Or use this witch in place of my Malefic one.  Joe makes a lot of great points in his book on how to play an evil witch.

Jonathan Becker's witch is harder to fit in, though I do love how it works.  In this case choose one or the other witch and then take the things you like from the other books.

Daniel Proctor put together a "Diabolic Witch" for OSRIC that would also port over nicely.

One thing that ALL the books have that will thrill the witch player is spells.  Lots and lots of spells

These are not the only Traditions you can use (but it is a lot!).  You are certainly free to make up your own.

More WotC Reprints and New Material

So you might have seen all of this in the blogs already.  If not here are some links.

• http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2012/11/wotc-to-publish-new-ad-material.html
• http://aventurasroleras.blogspot.com/2012/11/wizard-sigue-con-suplementos-old-school.html
• http://5stonegames.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-revolution-is-over-we-won-lets-play.html

Here are the links to the WotC pages for the upcoming products,

• Unearthed Arcana, http://wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/1Eunearthedarcana
• Hardcover A-series, http://wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/a-series
• Hardcover S-series, http://wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/s-series

This is awesome of course.     The A-series even comes with an all new A0 introduction adventure.

My thoughts on these.

Unearthed Arcana. For me nothing draws a cleaner line between the "Generation 1" old-schoolers and the "Generation 2" old-schoolers than their opinions on Unearthed Arcana. Generation 1 hates it. Generation 2 loves it.

I loved Unearthed Arcana.  Not just because it gave me new classes and spells but it meant that this wonderful game I had been playing will continue to grow.  So yeah I loved the goofy Barbarian and Cavalier. I didn't care that the Paladin I had been playing all this time now suddenly was changed, I thought it was great.

I like how this new version looks.  I will agree though with the Generation 1 old-schoolers on one point.  The original UA had terrible binding.  This one can only be an improvement and I understand that it includes all the errata.

The A Series is an odd one for me.   I never sought out to collect it, never really considered it much back in the day except when going through it and my new Assassin character was killed.  It is also the one I am looking forward to the most.  For starters it will be perfect for my kids new AD&D game.  Secondly and the most important is it will include the first new AD&D adventure to be published by WotC since they took over TSR.  They are supporting an edition other the current version.  I don't care how jaded you are this is a big deal.  Yes, of course it is about making money. It is ALWAYS about making money, but they are doing it in a way that supports old-school gaming.

The S Series was one of my favorite series of modules.  I have many copies of the original adventures and even some I have for all 4 editions of D&D/AD&D.  I even have the softcover "Super  module" they released years ago. I went and had it bound into a hard cover. So while I am happy about this one, I am less excited about getting it.   I bet I still will though.  My kids have already gone though half of the S modules though.

Again I will say if you are  an "OSR" publisher I would be getting your A game ready.  We seem to be in an odd lame-duck period between 4e and 5e.  Maybe WotC (who has nothing else so far on their calendar) is going to fill this with 1e products.

LL + MF + The Witch = ????

I 'd still love to do my Adventure Time (Labyrinth Lord + Mutant Future) mashup game sometime.
It would be a blast.

Plus I think I have found the perfect muse in adding my Witch class to the mix (since we have seen a lot of witches in Adventure time already).


Witchcraft by ~EllisSummer on deviantART


How awesome is that!  Maybe it's just me, but I think it is awesome.

Confession Time: Gamma World

I have a dark confession to make.

I have never played Gamma World.  Not even once.
I have barley even cracked open one of the books.

It hasn't been out of lack of want, more it has never been in the same place I have been for any amount of time.  Also, and this is the biggest deal, I don't own a copy of any of the 7 editions of the game.  Though if I were to play it I would want to play the original first edition (pictured).

Yes I know I have easy access to Mutant Future, it's not exactly the same thing is it.  Very. very close yes, but not the same.

Part of the problem, for me at least, came from the fact that GW was always the 70s view of technology and by the time I had thought about playing it it was the mid 80s.   We knew then (and even when it was written really) that mutations don't happen like that.
Trouble is I let that get in the way of what could have been a great time with a game.

It struck me that the time is right for a Gamma World like game again.  Post-Apoc (with or without Zombies) is fashionable again.  Hunger Games, Revolution and even specials on History Channel are all about what to do during and after The End.

What has has really got me thinking about  shows like the obviously D&D and Gamma World influenced "Adventure Time".  I did a couple of posts on the show a while back featuring the stars Finn the Human and Jake the Dog.

Honestly if I were to ever play a "Gamma World" style game it would most likely be Mutant Future.  1st Edition Gamma World typically goes for a lot of money on eBay whereas Mutant Future can be had for under $25.  But still. Having a copy of this would make for a nice addition to my game collection.  I'll have to keep looking and find one at a good price.  I do enjoy the challenge of finding an out of print game.

Blast from the Past: Sun Priest

I was cruising around the blogs today and I discovered a link to a old Netbook released back in 1998.

Back then the members of the online mailing list ADND-L got together and collaborated on a netbook of new material for the then reigning edition of D&D, AD&D 2nd Ed.  They took their project one step further and had an introduction written by none other than Gary Gygax himself.

The book was called "Unearthed Arcania" (note the spelling).
You can grab a copy here: http://www.saintsilver.com/zayix/new_site/Media/netbooks/Unearthed_Arcania.pdf
or here:
http://gnba.netdemons.com/books/olik/Files/UnearthedArcania11_W97.zip (zipped Word 97  format).

One of the contributors was none other than yours truly.
My contribution was a new Priest "Kit" (read sub-class), the Sun Priest.

The Sun Priest shares some DNA with the Witch.  As I was working on the Witch class I also had plenty of research and material left over.  I also created a Healer class, a Necromancer variant and the Sun Priest.

I think I should update it someday for either Basic Era (BFRPG, LL) or Advanced Era (OSRIC, LL-AE) play.

I had mentioned my Sun Priests very, very briefly before.   I think it might be fun to revisit the class with 14+ more years of perspective.

Ordinary World

Ordinary World

Ordinary World was the working title of a new game I was working on.  It was going to be modern supernatural and use this new system I was developing that I had code named "The Power of Three" system.
The basic premise of Ordinary World was the players would be playing supernatural types just trying to get along in a world that didn't believe they existed and considered them monsters.  In a way sorta like "Being Human" the RPG, but also elements of all the things I like in modern supernatural fiction.

I wanted to have the experience of writing a new game from the ground up and I wanted to do something in a realm I am really familiar with.  Trouble is every time I would bring this game up to friends they would remind me I already did all of that with Ghosts of Albion.

So sometime this past Summer I shelved Ordinary World.

No sooner had I done that than I had this great idea for an Old-School game that I was calling Monster Mash.  The rules would have been Labyrinth Lord compatible and instead of heroes you would have played the monsters.  In particular the old Universal Pictures Monsters, so vampires, golems, werewolves and ghosts.  I would have made it compatible with The Witch since one of my big influences for this was the video to the Rob Zombie song, American Witch.  I thought it might have been a fun beer and pretzels sort of game.
In truth I probably came up with it while listening to Hellbilly Deluxe one too many times.  I even had an adventure partially written "Dr. Satan Needs Blood!".

Last week I was still thinking about these two when I had an idea of bringing them together.  When it also dawned on me that I had other WiPs, some from the earliest days of this blog.

Generation Hex was this really cool, awesome idea I had  for Unisystem/True 20/Mutants & Masterminds or whatever system I happen to really enjoy at the time.  Simply put it was a game to play kids in a magical school.  Since that time this sort of thing has been better done by Witch Girls Adventures.

I also have material laying around for Licensed properties that never saw the light of day and I am now the owner of again (the RPG material, not the properties).  One was d20 and the other True20.

So.  What's a guy to do?

Well the natural thing is to bring them all together under one system to do the one thing they all kinda of were doing anyway.

A few caveats though.
I want to use an old-school system.  I think it would be a great addition to all the material we have out there now and NOT redo something everyone else has already done.

I want to be able to play any character I want.  If I come up with an idea or see something in a book then I need to have a system that can do that.

While it is an Old-School game, I don't want to forget about the advances made in other games. There are a lot of great games out there and they are great for a reason.  This my chance to distill that into a new game.

So. Look for more information coming from me on this.   I think this is one I will design live on the blog.  Posting ideas, sending up files for playtests.  Things like that.

First thing I need to figure out.  What system should I use?

Halloween Sales

It is that time of year.

DriveThruRPG is offering a Halloween Sale.

The one that caught my attention was the sale Troll Lord is having on Castles and Crusades.

If you ever wanted to try out the C&C system, this is a great time.

Monstrous Monday #4: Witch Monsters

For today I want to do something a little different.

The Witch came out over the weekend and I want to talk about the relationship between witches and monsters and why there are monsters in a "class" book.

There are essentially two types of monsters that come up when talking about witches in myth, legend and fairytales.
1. Monsters that are associated with witches.  These would be things like familiars or created monsters.
2. Monsters that are witches.  The hags and crones of myth, but also some vampires and werewolves.

I'll cover these both with some examples from The Witch.

Monsters Associated with Witches
Witches have a number of "monsters" that are often associated with them.  Familiars and created monsters are the most common.  In The Witch I cover familiars quite a bit as a character option, but I also include a lot of special familiars.  The Brownie, or brown man, is known to many gamers. What many people don't know that the mythology of the brownie is tied to old pagan beliefs.  The Cait Sith, or faerie cat is another type of creature that indicates the presence of a witch, or in the case sometimes is a witch.
Other  creatures pose an interesting problem because of how they are portrayed in myth  is sometimes different from how they are portrayed in the rules.  Gnomes are a good example.  In the games (and SRD) they are a player character race, but in many pagan myths gnomes are creatures of earth, something like an elemental, that can aid a witch. To split the difference I made their magic more witch like than other portrayals.  Witches are often found in the company of trolls since both are fairy tale and fantasy staples. These trolls are not the green, rubbery type, but more of the creatures of earth found in Norway.
For created creatures, I have included the Druther, which is a special form of a wood golem that I created in my games years and years ago.  Another original monster is the Batling, a monster created by witchcraft, but has an ecology of it's own.
Plus we should not forget flying monkeys as a more recent example.

Monsters that Are Witches
Witches in fairy tales are often monstrous looking women and not normal human women with a particular career choice.  These monsters are covered well by the Hag monster in the rules, but there are a lot of different types of hags.  There are swamp hags, hags that live in ginger bread houses at the edge of forests, hags that live under the sea, or rivers, cold wastelands or ones that steal into homes to take your souls, breath or children.  I want to cover as many of these as I could and enhance them with rules I have in the book.
There are other creatures too that often blur the lines between creatures.  The Baobhan Sìth blurs the line between witch, faerie, and vampires. The Strigoi is described as a witch and a vampire.  The Boroka is witch  that under a curse and is also a cannibalistic monster.  The Rusalka is an undead witch.

There are many more, and I still have quite a few on my hard drives.  These though I think represent a good cross section of with related monsters.

For your consideration, the monsters from the Witch.


Baobhan Sìth
Banshee
Batlings
Bendith Ý Mamau
Boroka
Brownie
Cait Sídhe
Druther
Earth Troll
Elf, Gypsy (Ranagwithe)
Fen Witch
Green Jack
Hags
 - Annis
 - Cavern
 - Green
 - Ice
 - Moon
 - Sea
 - Storm
 - Swamp
 - Wood (Makva)
Imp
Jack-O’-Lantern
Night Hag
Rusalka
Scarecrow
Strigoi
Winged Cat
Winged Monkey


The Witch is out now at DriveThruRPG in ebook format.  Print copies are on the way.

Something Wicked this way comes!

I am proud and excited to finally say my Old School source book The Witch is finally out!!

Currently available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG with the Print copy on the way.

Grab my latest project!

Compatible with most "Basic Era" games.

Getting Ready for the Witch

I just sent my final copy of The Witch back to the publisher to get uploaded to DriveThruRPG soon.

I honestly can't wait to get this out to you all.  It seems like I have been working on it forever. I started this blog in fact as a design blog to talk about the development of Eldritch Witchery and The Witch.

A number of the monsters, magic items and spells that appear in the book I have posted here.

My desire to do this book for "Basic Era" games was partially due to my involvment in the old-school game movement, but also because I had been going back to my copy of Moldvay's Basic Book and some of his ideas on what a witch should be.  I also wanted this book to capture what I felt were some of the best books on witches from the early days of the game.

My goals were simple.

• Make the book feel like something I would have wanted to buy in 1982/83.
• Make the witch more than just another type of magic-user, but still allow her to be easily added to a game.
• Keep what was best of the old school, but still keep in mind all the developments of the last 30 years.
• Elmore art.  I might get grief for this, but ever since Dragon #114 came out I wanted a witch book with art from Larry Elmore in it.  I am in a position to do that now.  It's not the  entire book, but there are some choice pieces in the 120 pages.

So what do you get in The Witch?

Well I was reading that selling points that do nothing but list a bunch of numbers turn people off. On the other hand I have had some people ask me what they are getting.

• The Witch class
• Five traditions of Witchcraft with Occult Powers
• Rules for Familiars for Witches and Magic-Users
• New rules for Cantrips for your Basic game 
• Over 300 spells
• Witch Ritual magic and spells
• Rules for Covens, Covensteads and example covens.
• New witch related monsters
• Magic items and artifacts
• Plus appendices on
• Using the Witch in your Advanced game
• Demi-human witches for games that have class and race seperate
• The Wizard, a magic-user class that is different from the Witch

All with years of playtesting.

I am hoping to get a preview up for you all here soon.

Witches: Hex from Skylanders

It is no secret that I am a fan of the game Skylanders.  I even got caught up in all of the hype about collecting the figures and everything.  I am embarrassed (a little) to discuss the lengths I went too to get some of these figures.  There were other parents right there next to me, so I figured I was in good company.

Well just when we all thought the madness was dying down, Activision is releasing the new Skylanders Giants this weekend.  New game, new figures, and your old figures can now go to level 15 (previously only 10).  Here we go again.

I don’t think it is a stretch to  guess that my favorite character in the game is Hex, the dark elf witch of the “undead” element.  Early this year I stated her up for Dungeons & Dragons 4e and Pathfinder using their respective witch classes.
Given there is a new Skylanders game AND my new books are on the way I thought I Would stat her up once again for The Witch and Eldritch Witchery.

And yes, I have already pre-ordered my "Lightcore Hex" figure.

Here she is as for The Witch.  I picked this one since her background is about serving some "other world power".

Hex, 13th Level (Maleficia Tradition)

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 9
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 18
Charisma: 15

Hit Points: 30
Alignment: Neutral (maybe a little Chaotic)
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Floating Skull
7th level:  Evil's Touch
13th level: Devil's Tongue

Spells 
Cantrips: Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Spark
First: Cause Fear, Ghostly Slashing, Minor Fighting Prowess, Sleep, Spirit Dart
Second: Agony, Blast Sheild, Death Armor, Phantasmal Spirit
Third: Feral Spirit, Ghost Ward, Speak with Dead
Fourth: 3 Dance Macabre, Phantom Lacerations, Spiritual Dagger
Fifth: 2 Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting
Sixth: 2 Death Blade, Wall of Bones
Seventh:  Wave of Mutilation

All in all, I like it.  She might be a better Necromancer to be honest, but this works well.

Want to see how she would look for my other book "Eldritch Witchery"?
Head over to the Elf Lair Games blog and see, http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2012/10/witches-hex-from-skylanders.html

Back to the Dungeon

Just picked this up today.

I will let you all know how it is.

This Week in the OSR: Megadungeons

So this latest issue in the OSR seems to be about and around the Mega-dungeon.
There are a lot of reasons for this but they are better explained elsewhere.

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=24039
http://aldeboran.blogspot.com/2012/10/schroedingers-room-and-fuck-diddles.html
http://muleabides.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/in-defense-of-the-megadungeon/
http://wondrousimaginings.blogspot.com/2012/10/played-dwimmermount-last-night-sucked.html
http://warlockshomebrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/empty-room-syndrome.html
http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2012/10/lessons-from-running-mega-dungeons.html

Me? I am not trying to stir up any shit.  Here are my points of view.

• James is good guy. We don't see eye to eye on most things, but I enjoy his blog still.  He will get done when he gets done.  
• That being said, I hate to see the Kickstarter well poisoned or tainted.  Delays are happening in about half of the kickstarters I have funded, while I am not mad or even irritated, I am getting a little anxious. 
• Mega-dungeons are not my thing.  Sure I get the appeal, but give me the outside or the city or the planes.  One could argue that those are just different kinds of mega dungeons.  One might be right.

So it's Friday and typically slow around here.  So I wanted to capture your thoughts on this.

Review: The Secret Fire

The Secret Fire came out to much hoopla and goings on last year.

I have always meant to review it, but never sat down to do it.  Now, depending on my mood I go back and forth between this being a great homage to old-school play and even to Gygax himself to it being a fantasy heart-breaker with delusions of godhood.  It will be interesting to see where I am by the end of this review.

Like I mentioned above The Secret Fire came out to much hoopla last year before Gen Con with this whole campaign blitz on how it was going to change role-playing and how it was going to be the biggest thing since D&D.  I talked a bit about that around Gen Con back when it had changed it's name from Legends &  Labyrinths to The Secret Fire. http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-is-secret-fire.html
Of course give yourself some credit if you get the reference correct.

It didn't quite set the world on fire.  Secret or otherwise.
But I can't blame the author, George R. Strayton (also the screenwriter for the Dragonlance animated movie and some episodes of Xena), for being excited.  I would, and have, done the same.
One thing I am going to give the Secret Fire right now.  It has style.  The art is not fantastic and the formatting is a bit odd, but I enjoy looking at this book.

Forward and Introduction
Ok this part is cool, if maybe a touch corny.  Learning to play D&D on Halloween 1979. Sure that sounds cool and I don't doubt it, but if that were true for me I might not say that because so many wouldn't believe.  But that is not the point here.  I know this, that kid learning to play D&D on Halloween would have loved the hell out of TSF.  Oh.  I gave the game a freebie now I need to take one away. Look I know this game is important to the author but reading THE SECRET FIRE^TM all the time is really annoying.
All that aside, I like this part.  Why? Cause Strayton deep down is a kid that loves to play D&D and this is his 300+ page love letter to it.  I like that he wants you play normal folk that could get killed, I like that he was "stuck with the dwarf" back then.  If this is his mission statement then I am all aboard with it.

PART 1
Quotes from Gary Gygax are good.  Quotes from Gail Gygax advertising your game, not so much.  One more point given, one more taken away.
Part 1 is your typically "what is role-playing chapter but also some descriptions of what makes TSF different.  I am torn on this one.  While I like that this is not the kindergarten discussion on what is role-playing and what do you do, there also seems to be a lot back-patting here.  TSF does this better and TSF does this... great, but tell me that in the game sections.  BUT....I also often lament that we don't see enough of what makes Game X different than Game Y.   If he makes good on these promises then we should be ok.

PART 2
Character creation. The classes, or callings, are pretty straightforward; cleric, warrior, thief and wizard.  The big four really.  They have some neat features.  Levels only go to 10 and you know what, I kinda like that. The races are also the common four, Dwarf, Elf, Human and Halfling.  I would have liked to see some more, but there are some neat twists to the races.  Tables of what the races do, like Many Dwarfs...(roll a 1d20) and Some Dwarfs... (roll a 1d20), that is kinda cool really. Easily added to any sort of D&D-like game.
Instead of hitpoints we have wound levels, similar to some damage track systems I have seen.  I like how damage effects movement and combat. Again, nothing revolutionary here, but still nice.
There is a random table of personality traits as well.  I am sure would like this, but I prefer to figure out my character's personality in the playing, not the the rolling. 

PART 3
This is the chapter on character Trademarks.   They act like qualities/perks/drawbacks from other games.  Interesting.  Given the amount you can get I would have liked to have seen more, but this is a good list.

PART 4
Your weapons and equipment chapter.

PART 5
Energy Points are discussed here and are used to power "Special Effects".  In a way they work a bit like Drama, Hero or Fate points.  While like like these kinds of mechanics, they are not really "old-school" since they allow the player more control over the dice.  While a plus in some respects I think the old-school purists will dislike it.

PARTS 6 & 7
Details the Elder Gods and prayers respectively.  Prayers are of course the spells that Holy-men can use.

PART 8
Details the spells in the game.  Like the Prayers, there are a lot of unique sounding names for some familiar looking spells.  I like that.  "Read Languages" sounds dull, but "Comprehend Texts (The Great Unknown)" sounds so much more...eldritch.

PART 9
Details the skills characters can have.  The advice listed is that most time the character succeeding or failing should be obvious. This chapter should only aid in the cases where success is uncertain.
Skills are a roll-under mechanic compared to the necessary ability.  The listed skills modify these dice rolls (3d6 to 7d6).

PART 10 
Details adventuring. Not a bad chapter, but mostly narrative.

PART 11
This chapter details Engagements or what if typically called combat.

PART 12
Scenario Design.  Lots of advice and random tables to stock your dungeons.

PART 13
Is monsters.  The stat blocks look pretty familiar and would not be difficult at all to add to any other game.

PART 14
Treasure. What I liked most here was the creating Talismans.  I have done talismans as well and they are a little different here than mine, but still fun.  Like the spells there are a lot of unique items here.  If you need to spice up your magic items, then this is a good place to start.

PART 15
Details the world.  Not a lot of detail mind you, but enough to keep you busy.

PART 16 
Deals with level advancement. How to do it, what to do about it and the like.

PART 17
Is an adventure, the Dungeons of Madness.

There are also a few Appencies, including a combat chart, links to the Gygax Memorial Fund, and a bit on why the game was made AND, interestingly enough, an alternate XP point award table to things the players can do outside of the game.  I have done this with my kids to great effect.

The Appendix D, or suggested reading does come of as a bit pretentious.  But...these are all in fact good books.

Bottom line
Again, this game didn't, and probably won't, set the world on fire. BUT there is a lot of cool things here that can be easily added to a D&D, S&W, ACKS or B/X Companion game.

It is easy to see what the author is trying to do here. I get it. I think the game though comes off a little like D&D + Fate.


I will also add that TSF character sheet is one of the coolest ones I have seen.  It, like the game, as a sense of style I really like.  Another point in favor of this game, the website for the game is full of all sorts of goodies. http://www.secretfiregames.com/

I guess in the end I would give it 4 out of 5 stars and use it as a kick-ass resource. It is a good enough game by itself, but I plan on using it as an add-on.

The OSR is Dead, Part 1.5

I want to add some more substance to this, but until then here are some links of where my thoughts are at.

http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2012/08/d-and-retro-clones-big-reboot-arrives.html
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2012/08/where-d-goes-so-goes-hobby-so-whats-next.html

Some discussion on my Google+ site
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101143993996952001933/posts

And some commentary on the Keynote
http://www.twitch.tv/wotc_dnd/b/328881758
http://www.advanceddungeonsandparenting.com/2012/08/d-keynote-focus-on-vision-rather-than.html
http://www.heropress.net/2012/08/wizards-keynote-address-at-gen-con.html
http://towerofzenopus.blogspot.com/2012/08/overreaction-saturday.html

More this weekend.

Is the OSR Dead?

So I made some interesting, though not entirely new or unique, observations.

The OSR, as a Movement, is Dead.

This is the point of view of Tavis Allison who gave a talk about the OSR at Gen Con this past week.  Tavis has the street cred to back up his claims too, author of The Mule Abides blog and the Adventurer Conqueror King game system.

Though he has his reasons, I think I am looking at something slightly different.

I am not talking about the lack ENnies or even representation at Gen Con.
There was the the OSR Publications booth, which was great.

I am talking about the OSR as a movement.  If the stated goal* of the OSR was to get old-school style gaming back into the hands of gamers, then one only needed to go to the Wizards of the Coast booth and buy a copy of the 1st Ed AD&D books, or listen to their keynote address about the availability of older products, or go play D&D5.

(* lets be honest here, no one ever stated any goal of any sort)

If the goal was get products to go mainstream, well the OSR Publications booth was a good step in that direction.  George Strayton of the Secret Fire RPG was an industry guest of honor at this past Gen Con as well. Castles and Crusades (one of the earliest Retro Clones in my opinion) never seemed more popular.

So if the OSR as a mission was get "old school" products in the main-stream, then that goal has been met.

The movement then is dead. Why?  Well if the "R" mean Revolution, Revival or Renascence, then the goals have been achieved.   Old School is back.

The OSR as a community or even as a loosely affiliated publishing movement will live on.  Much like the Indie Press Revolution (who, to be perfectly honest, does everything the OSR could do and does it well).
There will still be sites and blogs that support old-school play.  They existed before the OSR movement and will (in some form) afterwards. 

I fear though that for many that the "R" stood for "Resistance" as in the alternative not because they liked old school play so much, but because they hated the "new school" of 4e or even 3.x.  Well for them I fear the battle wages on and it will never be won.  TSR is never coming back to life, WotC owns D&D and there are  many that enjoy the newer games.

In any case the OSR will change.  Not because it wants to, but because it will need to to stay relevant.

I will have to post on this topic more in a bit.

Witch Books, Part 4. The New Old

The New Old.  
These are new products to play old school style witches. Generally speaking these are all throwbacks to the Basic or First Edition days for games like Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC or any OSR game.

Classic Fantasy Review: Volume 1, Issue 2
This might be one of the first Old-School style witches that I purchased. In this supplement for OSRIC we get the Diabolical Witch.  A witch that gains her powers and spells from the various demon and devil lords.  Its a cross between a cleric and wizard, maybe with more emphasis on the cleric side of things.  The level progression is closer to the cleric than the wizard to be honest.  There are new spells, just a redistribution of current OSRIC spells.  They get a number of special powers, some make sense (clerical turning and shapeshift) others not as much (limited thief abilities).   A nice feature is how witches of different demon lords, devils get different powers.

Darker Paths 2: The Witch
I am always a bit hesitant to review other peoples work on witch-related classes since I have products of my own out there. I fear of being too critical or too lax, each to out weigh the other. In the end I think I just need to review the product as is. Like DP1: The Necromancer this product is for the "Adventures Dark and Deep" RPG, OR any other near-clone of AD&D. Also like the first Darker Path book this presents the witch as an evil character class; not the Earth loving priestess of old faiths or even the spiritual seeking witches of modern tales. This must be recalled when reading the rest of this book. These witches are more Baba Yaga and not Circe for example. There is the obligatory disclaimer on Contemporary Witches and how this game is not that. (As an aside, as someone that has written these myself this one does seem more of a disclaimer of "don't email me" rather than a "I am not trying to offend", but that could just be me. EDITED: I did get an email clarification on this and the author was very much in the "I am not trying to offend, but these are different things" camp, which is cool by me.)
Witches in this game are all evil and their main ability is Wisdom. Their Charisma must start high, but it degrades as the witch rises in level. Interesting. I am not sure I like that since it seems here that Charisma is used as an "Appearance" proxy and not as a "Force of Personality" one. It would make it hard to make a character like Circe, who was evil, attractive and had a lot of force of personality, as a witch in these rules. That is fine, she would have to be something else, but I do want to point it out.
Witches advance to 13th level; so reminiscent of the druid. She has a nice variety of spells to choose from (more on this) and there are rules for her brewing potions and poisons. Like other witches of folklore, this witch can also have multiple familiars. A nice touch in my mind.
The spells are the real gem of this book. Nearly 50 new spells there are a lot of classics here. There are spells on Candle Magic (and done differently than my own) and nearly every base is covered (curses, storm summoning, afflicting others).
Like with DP1, the art is a mix of new and public domain art, but all of it is appropriate to the feel of the book. In the end this is a very good evil witch class. It does make me wonder how the author might do a good witch.

ACKS Player's Companion: The Witch
This one is not out yet for the public, but I have seen the witch for it.  It was actually based on some OGC I produced a while back with some significant changes.  I didn't write it, but it has it's DNA in stuff I did write. So I have recuse from a proper review, but I will say this:  I like it a lot. It is compatible with my two other "OSR" witches but still covers new ground on it's own. At the same time is still new and fresh.

The Complete B/X Adventurer: The Witch
I have talked about the the TCBXA before, but I want to focus on the Witch class from it.
For starters the class works best if you also own the B/X Companion.

I have to play special attention to the witch.  Not just because it is a witch class, but because it is different than the other spell using classes.  For starters the witch can cast in groups to cast higher level spells. That is a nice feature really and something very much in tune with the archetypal witch.  The witch is the class in the book that is stated up all the way to 36th level AND built to gain powers to that point, also something I rather like.  Why?  Because a 36th level witch is the only class that can cast 10th level spells.  Yup.  This one goes to 10!

Crafting spells.  The witch does not memorize a spell, but she does have a limit on how many she knows.  The witch needs both a high intelligence (to know the spell) and a high wisdom (to learn and scribe it down in the first place).  So a first level witch with a high Intelligence knows 1+Int mod 1st level spells.  She can also scribe spells of 1st level + how ever many extra levels equal to her Wisdom mod.  I like it.  It is a nice quick way to know what can be done.  In fact I would like to use that for clerics since gods should know ahead of time what spells their flock need and then they just give them to the cleric at that time.

For the witch though I would reverse it.  Intelligence to write or scribe the spell and Widsom to know how many they can cast.  Witches are often called the "Craft of the Wise" afterall.   But all in all I like it.
10th level witch spells are nothing at all to sneeze at.  This is a powerful witch class.

The 10th level spells are a nice solution to the "Coven spells"/"Powerful magic" vs independent witches.  I can't see too many witch covens in groups.  Maybe two or three at a time.  With what JB has done here is given us a way to have powerful magics in groups at lower levels and keep those same magics out of the hands of solitary witches till much later.  This then does not make them a more attractive solution over Wizards/Magic Users.