This Old Dragon: Issue #124

Let's go back to a transitional time for me personally. August 1987. I was starting my first year at university, and pretty much everything in my life was changing. I had moved to a town that would be my home for the next 7 years and 2.5 degrees. I was about to meet the woman I was going to marry, though we never actually dated in college. Just hung around each other like 24 hours a day for five years. And in gaming, I was getting ready to move over to the "new" 2nd edition of the game that had been part of my life for 10 years or so. Stakeout was the number one movie. U2 and Madonna filled the airwaves, and on tables and shelves everywhere was This Old Dragon #124.

I will admit, I don't recall this one very well. I don't think I actually owned it.

The cover by Teanna Byerts is good, but I am not sure I recognize her name at all. Like many of the Dragon of this time frame, it is a themed issue, this time on "Aerial Adventuring."

Also, my copy is in pretty terrible shape. There are a lot of pages falling out, and it is missing the Forgotten Realms map, much to my disappointment. Though given that it is nearly 40 years old, this is hardly a shock.

Letters cover some of the changes in Dragon and some of the ones coming up. 1986-88 was a big transitional time at TSR as we all know now and there is evidence everywhere. 

Roger E. Moore asks in the Editorial what other changes do people want, including a dedicated BBS (bulletin board system). Kudos for the forward thinking. I got onto a lot of BBS back in the day and TSR one would have been fun. 

Checking my PDF it looks like I am missing the Forum page.

Ken Rolston is up first with Role-playing Reviews. He covers two books from the Warhammer Fantasy line, though he spends a lot of time talking about the merits of various other Fantasy RPGs including AD&D/D&D, GURPS Fantasy, RuneQuest and Harnmaster among others. When we get to warhammer he likes the character creation and combat, but doesn't seem to care for the magic system. Though he loves the races and monsters. The review is long, but not so long as to be overpowering. Given the impact that Warhammer will soon have on the hobby, it is likely the right size. 

Sage Advice covers the Frank Mentzer-edited D&D Expert set. 

Ah, page 17, we get into our feature articles. 

Ed Greenwood is up first with Sailors on the Sea of Air, detailing the skyships of the Forgotten Realms. Since these pages were already falling out, I just took them and stuck them into my 1987 "Gray" Forgotten Realms boxed set.  These are not Spelljammer ships, at least not yet, but they are a nice fantastical piece that separates what makes the Realms the Realms and not Greyhawk. Does Greyhawk have flying ships? Maybe, but they seem to work well here. Ed, of course, is dropping names here that will soon become minor D&D celebrities in their own right.

On a Wing and a Prayer is next from L. Gregory Smith and covers gliders for AD&D. Not quite as fantastical as flying ships. It seems to be complete. When were gliders first used? 1880s it seems. 

Thomas Kane is back with Flying the Friendly (?) Skies, or a guide to aerial adventuring in the AD&D game. This covers mounts of various types and spells. He also gives us weather effects and altitude adjustments. 

The Wings of Eagles by J. E. Keeping details the aarakocra as a PC and NPC race choice. I don't recall ever seeing anyone ever play one back then, so not sure if this article had much traction. Of course, today they are ubiquitous enough to be a character and a plot point in the last Dungeons & Dragons movie.  Again my copy was falling out, so I just punched some holes into it and stuck it into my Monstrous Compendium for AD&D 2nd ed. There is even a god of aarakocra, Krocaa, listed. 

This ends the feature.

Buy quirk of layout, Sage advice continues here on the same page with the updated Beastmaster XP tables. Now I kinda want to make an aarakocra beastmaster. 

Joseph R. Ravitts is next with Kicks and Sticks, Introducing escrima to Oriental Adventures. A system of escrima martial arts as well as a class to use it, the Escrimador. It *seems* fine, but feels like a solution in search of a problem. Honestly, I never used Oriental Adventures much and got into their martial arts sections even less. 

Rich Stump is up with Front-End Alignments about "Quasi-alignments" of gamers like "Chaotic Everywhere" and "Lawful Bored."  Not really my thing, but I'm sure someone was amused. Feels like filler to me. 

Far more useful is Rich Baldwin's Arcane Lore: The Secrets of Odeen the Arch-Mage. This details the known background of the Arch-Mage Odeen and, more importantly, the discovered spells of the Arch-Mage. There are five new spells here, nothing earth-breaking, but fun ones. Perfect for a quest to uncover this lost book. 

Stuck in the middle of this issue is this AD&D Game 2d Edition Questionnaire. It is pretty comprehensive. The mail in reply card is still attached, but sadly I think I missed the window to send in my responses.

What is most interesting to me is what is here that made it into the game and what didn't. 

Packing It All Away by Ian Chapman offers tips on what to pack for a wilderness adventure. Most of the people I gamed with were at the time or had been Boy Scouts, present company included (yes, I was a Boy Scout, no, I didn't stick with it because they didn't like Atheists then, still don't I think.).  So this material was a bit of a repeat. We all had access to various Boy Scout manuals. Still this is a useful list of items and advice. Not sure if the GP values translate to other systems, though. 

Ah, now here is a fun one. Ed Greenwood is back with The Ecology of the Gelatinous Cube. A monster that, by all accounts, was created just so Gary could mess with his players gets the full Ecology treatment. Here the deadliest of the all the Jello-O flavors gets situated into the dungeons of the Undermountain. Ed even manages to make these things make sense. They even get a proper name, Athcoids. Since this was already falling out, I punched holes in this one too and put it in my Monstrous Compendium binder. Blasphemy? Eh. The magazine is falling apart anyway, and this at least allows me to keep the best parts. 

Michael Dobson give us some sneak peaks of AD&D 2nd Edition in The Game Wizards. I know that at the time I was excited to get this new AD&D. Despite starting in 1979 I always felt I was on my back foot when it came to AD&D 1st ed. I began with Holmes Basic and then on to Moldvay Basic before getting into AD&D proper. This of course is silly for me to think, since the Holmes Basic I was playing then was a combination of that and the AD&D Monster Manual. So I was only two years late for the start of AD&D. But still, I felt AD&D 2nd Ed would be "mine" the one I could invest into. This article covers the new AD&D, but also other offerings from TSR. I didn't fully comprehend then what was happening with TSR and Gygax even if I new the broad strokes. Still, it felt like a change, and I was already in the middle of my own changes that this felt custom-made for me. College and AD&D, 2nd ed., would be forever linked in my mind.

Peter R. Jahn has some rules for guns for various systems in Blasters & Blunderbusses. Really, I should say it is more system-agnostic.

Following on that is A Shot in the Arm, or a new damage system for Star Frontiers by Jason Pamental and David Packard. I enjoyed SF back in the day, but by 1987 I had moved on to other sci-fi games in my search to find the perfect sch-fi game for me. Eventually, I just had to write my own. 

Thomas Kane is up again with The Most Secret of Secrets, real world secret tech for Top Secret and Top Secret/SI games. This includes such things as the Stealth Bomber and Stealth Fighter. I had a high-school buddy who became an engineer and was WAY into stealth tech. Then later on in college I had a roomate that bought all the flight simulators for the stealth fighters when they came out in the early 1990s. I liked this article for the coverage of the nearly forgotten Soviet "space plane," their answer to our space Shuttle. 

Friend of the Other Side, Jeff Grubb is up with his Marvel-Phile discussing The Hulk and the Hulkbusters. 

The Lessers are back with The Role of Computers, detailing what was high tech in the Summer of 1987. They cover the games Black Magic and Realms of Darkness as well some clues for other games. The DNA that all computer games share with D&D is always a little more obvious in these early games. 

Small ads are next with the Gamer's Guide. Always a ton of great stuff here. Avil Enterprises still has its ad for illustrating your character. An ad for "Christian Adventure Novels," "Discipleship Games," and a few more. 

Order form for back issues of Dragon. You can get issues as far back as #80 and all five volumes of "Best of Dragon." Minimum $15 for credit card orders, please. 

The Convention Calendar covers all the best cons for late summer/early fall 1987, including Gen Con 20 in Milwaukee, WI, on August 20-23. I see the Midwest still dominates the Con scene, followed by the West Coast. 

Dragonmirth, Snarf Quest, and Wormy provide us with our comics this issue. 

All said and told, not a bad issue at all. Part of the transitional time of Dragon, D&D, and TSR. Some of those transitions were pretty obvious, others we only see in retrospect.

While some people claim that the best days of Dragon were behind it, as part of the Golden Age of TSR/D&D, I would argue that Dragon gained more focus and direction in these years, between the height of AD&D 1st edition and the beginning of AD&D 2nd edition. We are seeing the direction AD&D is about to go (again, this is retrospective), and honestly, I thought and still think it looked pretty good. I was not so creator-focused back then that the news of Gygax's, Mohan's, and then later Mentzer's departure affected me much. I suspected then that AD&D/D&D would go on. It did in fact. 

Had I been more "creator-focused" I should have noticed more the rise of Ed Greenwood. It was not a meteroic rise, but a gradual one built up over years of steady and reliable output. Maybe I would have given the Realms more of a chance back then. But it would not be until the 2000s that I really looked into it all and not till much later that I would be playing in the Realms. 

Still. One of the big reasons to keep doing these "This Old Dragons" is to appreciate what we had, how it has shaped the game and the gamers, and what we can still learn from it all today. 

Speaking of which. I have been periodically buying large collections of Dragon magazines. I am now just about out. I'll have to check, but I might not have many of these left. 

NIGHT SHIFT: Tales of Jackson, IL

 My son's group has been splitting their Sunday games up into two sessions lately. Usually, it is D&D 5e first, then dinner, then something else. Lately, the "something else" has been AD&D 1st edition (which they love), along with a combination of NIGHT SHIFT, Wasted Lands, and Thirteen Parsecs.

I got a chance to run some games with them. Since I was fresh off my "Stranger Things" high of this winter, I wanted to run a "proper 80s" style game with them. So I picked Jackson, IL, and set their adventure in 1986. The fun part was reminding them that no, there were no cell phones, no Internet, no Wikipedia, and if you wanted to call someone and you were not at home, you had to find a payphone. Cultural shocks aside, it also gave me an excuse to pull out some NPCs I have been dying to use.

Stephanie, Faye, and Larina

The players are all familiar with Pathfinder, and the various Iconics have made guest appearances in their D&D 5e games. Largely because we have the minis for them and they are all easily recognized. So I decided to have a little fun and fill the halls with characters they would recognize, but as high school students in 1986.

The big ones are Stephanie (Seoni) Vale, Fiona "Faye" (Feiya) Blackwood, and, naturally, Larina Nichols. They are likely the stars in their own tales, but here they are the NPCs. Everyone whispers that they are witches. Everyone is right.

Yeah, Larina is right-handed and wears her watch on her right hand. She was a weird kid.

Val (Valeros) is here as a super jock, as is RPG/LARPER dude Ed (Ezren), and more. Most of them just fill up the background of a school that has a lot of weirdness going on. But a few stand out.

Kyra is a sweet girl known as the "Preacher's Kid" and a star on the girls' track team. She is always hanging out with troublemaker Meriko (Merisiel). Kyra, though, thinks demons, devils, and other evil things are hiding in the shadows. She is also not wrong. Meriko dresses like a mid 80s ad for "Ninja culture" because she likes to irritate her conservative parents. 

Kyra and Meriko

Others include some originals. 

Rowan and Andy are the "it couple" at Jackson High and "were born dating," according to Faye. Rowan is the local horse girl who spends more time with animals than people. Andy is the star player of the football team, the son of a wealthy businessman, and an all-around nice guy.

Rowan and Andy. Aren't they adorable?

I have to admit, I was writing their background and got really carried away, and now I kinda love them both. 

They met when Andy's father, who owns the stables where Rowan's dad works, thought his son needed discipline, so he spent the summers cleaning the stables. Rowan, who always hangs out at the stables to ride the horses (she can't afford to be a member), showed Andy how to do the work she and her dad did. After friction, not liking each other, and even fighting, Rowan saw that Andy, despite everything, wanted to do a good job in hopes his dad would notice, and Andy saw how natural Rowan was with all animals, especially the horses. They fell in love in typical, even clichéd, 1980s Rom-Com fashion, including a special scene where Rowan has to enter the horse she loves into a show to win, or he gets sold. She loses because a rival cheats, and the horse is sold. TWIST: Andy buys the horse with his college money and gives it to Rowan!  They realize they love each other. Spoiler. They get married right out of high school and adopt a dozen pets. 

I said I spent way too much time on them. The irony? They haven't even shown up in the game yet!

The first "episode" adventure was called "The Midnight Bell" about the big school bell that was hung in the tower and has not rung since 1936. It rang and every supernatural creature heard it. The Big Bad (they don't know this yet) is "The Bell Ringer." He is a harbinger of more bad guys. I have a faerie lord slumming it at the high school who up to no good. Faye has two "Aunties" who are really Urban Hags. I also have some creepy kids, some fake-Satanists, some real Devil-worshipers, a hidden graveyard, tunnels under the town, and an abandoned mall filled with zombies. So yeah, basically shit from my own childhood!

I hope I get to do more with this. Plus, I am enjoying all the "cameos" I am throwing in. They love the time and keep asking how things were in the 80s. The oddest thing? These 20-somethings LOVE "Hall and Oates."  I am trying to play Iron Maiden, and they want to hear "Maneater."

Ah well. Maybe you all will enjoy my 1985 and 1986 playlists.

OH! quick reminder.
Night Shift® is a registered trademark of Elf Lair, LLC. 2026

Elowen Hale: Daggerheart

“I do not understand her. That is not an insult. It is an observation. Most people who brush death carry it like a blade. She carries it like a lesson. I have seen creatures tremble in her presence, and she offers them tea. If I had died and come back, I would have demanded answers. She thanks it instead. 

It is… disarming, and special.” - Amaranth

 Daggerheart’s tone leans emotional and interpersonal, and Elowen thrives there.

Elowen died. She wasn't dead for very long, but long enough that the priests were called. They called it a rare miracle; wizards called it "odd." Elowen doesn't remember it all, but she knows she's now different.  

Her Hope and Fear are both sharpened by that memory. She fears being powerless. She hopes no one else will have to endure what she did.

Her magic manifests in soft glimmers. Flickers of moonlight. Breath is visible when it should not be. When she uses her abilities, the world briefly feels quieter, like it is listening.

Ghosts do not frighten her. Loneliness and disconection does.

Her greatest strength is connection. She sees broken people and recognizes herself in them. In a Daggerheart campaign, she becomes the emotional anchor of the party. The one who says, gently but firmly, “We are not done yet.”

She is not dramatic about her death. She rarely speaks of it. But when she does, the table goes silent.

There is a West Haven in the many worlds of Daggerheart. I haven't defined it yet. 

Elowen Hale

Level 1
Class & Subclass: Witch (Hedge)
Ancestry & Heritage: Loreborn human
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 0
Strength: -1
Finesse: 0
Instinct*: +2
Presence: +1
Knowledge: +1

Evasion: 10
Armor: 3

Minor Damage: 7 Major Damage: 14

Weapons: Wand. Range: Knowledge Far. 1d6+1 (Magical)

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
I See Dead People +2
Fate Always Has a Price +2

Class Features
Hex
Commune (with ghosts)

Talisman
Dagger (she rarely uses it)

Spells
Blightning Strike, Level 1 Dread
Umbral Veil,  Level 1 Dread

Daggerheart was really another key element in my conceptualization of Elowen. The official witch class is on the way, but I wanted to try her out in this. Especially since one of the domains of the Witch is "Dread." Elowen just approaches dread differently than some other characters might. 

Here she is, a Hedge Witch. She is not going to be raining lightning down on enemies, cursing family lines, or brewing up storms. In fact, the only thing she has brewed up lately is a Tres Leches Tea Latte, and the only thing she has destroyed was the kitchen in her attempt to make a lemon tart (which was fine, Dori ate it anyway). 

Her greatest interactions will be with her new coven. When the new Dread add-on for Daggerheart is out, I'll come back to this and detail a bunch of witches. 

Fantasy Fridays: Symbaroum

 Today at 9:46 Central Time, the March, Vernal, or Spring Equinox takes place. The moment of equal day and equal night. Now the sun gains ascendance. The perfect metaphor for the Dark Fantasy RPG Symbaroum.

I have been fascinated with Symbaroum, along with Vassen, ever since I saw them at Free League's booth a couple of Gen Cons ago. I grabbed the hardcover of Vassen since the Victorian era interested me more, but I grabbed the PDFs of both. Both cover that Fantasy-meets-Horror feel I love in my games. Also, both cover a theme I revisit time and time again: magic in the face of something new. In Vassen, the Old Ways are confronted by the Industrial Revolution. In Symbaroum, it is magic, and its corrupting effects in the face of the new, Sun-based, monotheistic faith.  Given that today is the day when day and night are equal, Symbaroum edges out in terms of theme.

Symbaroum is a Swedish dark fantasy tabletop RPG set in a world where a fragile human civilization clings to its borders, and just beyond them lies Davokar, an ancient, sprawling forest saturated with ruin, magic, and corruption. It's equal parts high fantasy adventure and creeping nature horror, drawing on Nordic, Celtic, and Slavic mythology to tell a story about the price of ambition.

If the Vernal Equinox represents the perfect, fleeting moment between day and night, Symbaroum is the RPG that lives in the twilight. Created by Free League, it is half High Fantasy and half Folk Horror, wrapped in some of the most evocative art the hobby has ever seen. 

I do want to mention the art first. The illustrations by Martin Grip are extraordinary: haunting, earthy, and alive with dread. It's not just the look of the art, it is the feel. This game feels like a cold, rainy day in an unknown Scandinavian village. Winter is over, but this is still not spring or summer. 

The premise is simple: A people have fled a dead, war-torn land to settle on the edge of the ancient forest of Davokar. They want to rebuild their empire, but the forest is not a passive backdrop. It is a living, breathing, and deeply vengeful entity. 

Fantasy

Knights, queens, treasure hunters, witches, and wandering barbarian clans; Symbaroum has all the archetypes of classic fantasy. The world of Ambria is richly detailed, with political intrigue, warring factions, and ancient lineages. There are ruins to explore, artifacts to recover, and a vibrant cast of cultures that feel genuinely distinct from generic Tolkien-esque fare.

Horror

The forest is the horror. Davokar is not simply dangerous; it is wrong. Every spell cast, every ruin disturbed, every artifact pocketed risks accumulating Corruption: a creeping darkness that twists body and soul. The elves of the Iron Pact do not protect the forest; they enforce its quarantine. Something ancient sleeps beneath the trees, and the game's entire mechanical design keeps reminding you that you are trespassing. Think Princess Mononoke, but the forest wins.

Most horror-fantasy hybrids bolt the genres together. Symbaroum weaves them into the same thread. The Corruption system means magic, the engine of fantasy, is also the engine of horror. Every powerful choice leaves a mark. 

Dark Fantasy

This game is not one of high fantasy or even low-magic, gritty dungeon crawls. You are not on an epic quest. You might be a hero, but you are not Conan, or Frodo, or the Grey Mouser. You are not even really Elric, though Elric would understand this world better than the previous three. You are searching for ancient secrets, you are going to go into that forest for the same reasons characters have been going into dungeons. But now the stakes are higher and darker. 

Symbaroum does something quietly different from most fantasy RPGs. Instead of presenting a world waiting to be explored and conquered, it gives us a world where exploration feels like trespass. Civilization stands on the edge of something ancient and dangerous, and every step forward risks awakening powers that should perhaps remain buried.

It is a game where the heroes are not simply explorers. They are intruders.

While not strictly "Old School" in its math, Symbaroum shares the OSR soul. It is deadly. Combat is fast and often ends in a single well-placed blow. It rewards caution, preparation, and a healthy respect for the unknown.

There are hints of dark fantasy, reminiscent of the grim worlds of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. At the same time, the folklore elements feel closer to Scandinavian myth and old fairy tales, where the forest is mysterious, alive, and often dangerous. In ShadowDark, there is the Dungeon-as-living-thing, or maybe more to the point, Darkness. Symbarous does the same thing for the forest, or, again, more to the point, the unknown frontier. 

The Old Ways are not lost. They are still out there, and they don't care about your sun god.

There is also a subtle echo of cosmic horror. The ruins of the old empire hint at terrible magical forces that once reshaped the world. Many players discover that the deeper secrets of Davokar may be far older and stranger than anyone suspects.

It creates a world where curiosity and dread walk hand in hand.

Rules and Mechanics 

Symbaroum is a d20-based system where you want to roll under your attributes. Attributes give you "bonuses" in terms of negative numbers (what you subtract from the die roll). Low attributes can even give you penalties for positive numbers you add to the die roll. Mostly the scores are between 5 and 15, with an average of 10. A 15 gives you a -5, and 5 gives +5, and so on. Pretty simple, really. 

The Game Master never rolls dice. Players roll for their attacks, and players roll to defend. This shifts the focus entirely to the players’ choices and their struggle to survive.

The core of the game is the Internal Balance. Every time a mystic (magic-user) casts a spell, they gain Temporary Corruption. If that total exceeds their Threshold, the corruption becomes Permanent. Once your Permanent Corruption reaches a certain point, you transform into an "Abomination" or a monster of the night. I am sure there are lots of ways to get corruption, but I focused on the mystics 

It is a literal struggle to keep the "light" of your humanity from being overtaken by the "darkness" of the forest’s influence.

Sometimes it is fine to take a point of corruption for a greater good. This is pretty typical of how the witches in the game work. They will sacrifice some humanity or light if it means a great goal is met. For me that is kind of a key element in playing a witch and one I really like. 

The rules themselves are divided up between Setting, Player's Guide, and Game Master's Guide. Not a bad division by any means. Though there is some flipping required. To create a character, I kept going back and forth between sections of the Player's Guide. So this part could be streamlined a bit. It is no worse than, say, the rules for the WitchCraft RPG and better than the rules for AD&D 1st edition.  

The system really supports the setting well. The corruption, as I mentioned, is a key element and really sits well within the setting. Moreso than say Fear and Horror in old Ravenloft. It is more akin to how Sanity works within Call of Cthulhu, or Taint in WitchCraft/Armageddon. The setting and the mechanics support each other well. 

Larina and Elowen

Normally, I try out a character for a new game, typically my "Drosophila melanogaster" Larina. But since witches are assumed to have a witch-in-training with them, I am opting to add Elowen as well. For this I gave Larina another 80 experience points (roughly 5-6 adventures worth) to boost her up. In this darker world of Symbaroum, I don't think a witch like Amaranth would work. BUT oddly enough, I could easily do Grýlka and Doireann. Ogres and Goblins are among the races you can pick. Ok, Grýlka is a troll and not an ogre, but what are the differences really?

In this, I am saying that Larina was already living on the edges of the Davokar forest and has gone somewhat native. Ok. Feral might be a better word. Elowen is still from the civilized lands and has gone to learn witchcraft because she sees ghosts everywhere. 

Larina Nix
Human (Barbarian) Witch

Shadow: White with flecks of rust and ash, appears as her reflection (Nature).
Quote: "I have dedicated my life to witchcraft, and it has given me a life in return."

Toughness: 10*/10
Pain Threshold: 3

Corruption: 1/1
Corruption Threshold: 7

Defense: 7

Experience: 80 (0)

Accurate: 10 (0)
Cunning: 15 (-5)
Discreet 9 (+1)
Resuasive 10 (0)
Quick 7 (+3)
Resolute 13 (-3)
Strong 5 (+5)
Vigilant 11 (-1)

Contacts (Witches)
Witchcraft (A)
Witchsight
Loremaster (N)
Ritualist (A)

Curse (Evil Eye) (A)
Lay on Hands (A)
Nature's Embrace (N)
Storm Arrow (N)

Familiar (Ritual)
Fortune Telling (Ritual)
Witch Circle (Ritual)

Age: 30
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs
Red hair, blue eyes

Larina here is a "barbarian" only because she has been living on the edge of civilization for a while. I could have given her more experience points to bump up her powers, but I thought this was pretty good.

Elowen Hale
Human (Ambrian) Witch

Shadow: White with ash-gray flecks, appearing as a ghostly image (Nature).
Quote: "I died once. I am not looking forward to doing it again."

Toughness: 10*/10
Pain Threshold: 4

Corruption: 1/1
Corruption Threshold: 8

Defense: 5

Experience: 25 (0)

Accurate: 10 (0)
Cunning: 11 (-1)
Discreet 9 (+1)
Resuasive 10 (0)
Quick 5 (+5)
Resolute 15 (-5)
Strong 7 (+3)
Vigilant 13 (-3)

Privledged
Witchsight
Alchemist (A)
Witchcraft (N)
Ritualist (N)

Curse (Evil Eye) (A)
Inherit Wound (N)

Familiar (Ritual)
Necromancy (Ritual)

Age: 19
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 114 lbs
White hair, gray eyes

Ok, both of these work really well for me, to be honest. I figure Elowen's power manifests as ghosts rising up to perform her actions. Yes, she still sees ghosts.

Who Should Play This?

With today's theme, this game has equal parts light and dark, fantasy and horror, civilization and the great wild unknown. So, regardless of which side of the old-school/new-school divide you come from, know that this game is darker than most new-school games and is closer in tone to many old-school ones. 

This is a game for players who prefer tension to triumph.

If your idea of fantasy is leveling up, clearing dungeons, and becoming untouchable heroes, Symbaroum is going to feel uncomfortable. Progress here is real, but it always comes with a cost. Power is never clean. Magic is never safe.

But if you enjoy games where every decision matters, where the question is not "can we win?" but "what will it cost us if we do?" then this is the game for you. 

And maybe most importantly for me, this is a game for players who like their witches a little dangerous.

Not safe, not sanitized, not "spellcasters with a theme," but witches who bargain, who risk, who take on corruption because sometimes that is the only way to get things done. If that resonates with you, then Symbaroum is not just a good fit. It feels like it was made for you.

The Witches of Appendix N: Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock is easily one of the biggest influences on Dungeons & Dragons. Certainly, his contributions rival those of Howard or Tolkien in shaping the structure of the D&D multiverse. Indeed, one can barely talk about the Multiverse of D&D without invoking Moorcock.

When people talk about Michael Moorcock in Appendix N, they usually go straight to Elric of Melniboné, Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Dorian Hawkmoon, and the eternal war between Law and Chaos. 

When I talk about Michael Moorcock and witches, I am not really talking about witches in the broom-riding, cottage-dwelling sense. I am talking about the pact-making sorts of witches. The ones who contact the beings from other planes (something that happens a lot in Moorcock's tales) and the ancient pacts that bind them.

Moorcock does not give us a village wise women. He gives us bloodlines that traffic with elementals, tribes that call heroes out of myth, and archetypes that echo across realities. His magic is not tidy. It is not academic. It is relational, dangerous, and deeply personal.

Which is why it works so well for me.

Elric the Prototype Warlock

Let’s be clear about something. Elric is not a wizard.

He does not memorize formulae in a tower and sling fire from careful study. His power comes from calling upon Arioch and other Lords of Chaos. He names them. He binds them. He bargains.

That is not arcane spellcasting in the later D&D sense.

That is a pact.

In the One Man's God post I wrote before on the Melnibonéan mythos, I pointed out that their religion and their magic are inseparable. The Lords of Chaos are not distant gods in shining heavens. They are immediate, responsive, volatile. They answer when called, but they always take something in return.

Elric’s magic is closer to a warlock than a magic-user.

Stormbringer itself is a kind of patron made steel. It feeds him power and keeps him alive, but it also owns him. That dynamic, that exchange of strength for service, is pure warlock logic.

And this is important when we talk about witches in Appendix N.

Because if Moorcock gives us a prototype warlock in Elric, he also gives us the larger framework that witches later inhabit in D&D. Magic is not a neutral force you manipulate. It is something you negotiate with.

That idea runs straight into warlocks, and through them, into witches who deal with dragons, animal lords, witch queens, and stranger patrons still.

Corum and the Old Religion

If Elric shows us the aristocratic pact, Corum shows us something closer to folk magic.

In the Corum stories, the human tribes are not sophisticated sorcerers. They do not maintain demon treaties stretching back millennia. They have rites. They have memory. They have belief.

And when the world is in peril, they summon Corum.

Not as a cleric would call upon a god for a spell. They call him as part of an older set of magical rules. A returning champion tied to the fate of their land, one who was prophesied.  This feels less like wizardry and more like the Old Religion made manifest. 

It is communal magic. It survives conquest and catastrophe because it is embedded in culture rather than codified in books. 

If I were looking for Appendix N roots of the Wicce or of the Craft of theWise, I would not find them in shining cathedrals. I would find them here, in tribal rites that blur the line between prayer and spell.

The magic works because the people believe in the pattern. That is witchcraft.

It doesn't hurt that Corum and his people are often thought of as "elves" and that much of his tales are based on a psuedo-Celtic past. 

Named Witches 

There are very few named witches, and fewer still that are called "witch." 

Myshella, the Sleeping Sorceress, is one. Though she is not called a witch, she certainly fills that role. 

Jerry Cornelius is not a witch. Not by any stretch, really, but he is fragmented. Self-aware. Reality bending around him. He shapes his reality as much as reality shapes him.  

Moorcock’s Eternal Champion is not a simple reincarnation. He is an archetype that keeps reasserting itself in different circumstances. And this is where I see the parallel to how I have played Larina over the years.  Different systems. Different worlds. Different rules. Same witch.  He is not a witch, but he and the other Eternal Champions have shaped my notions of my archetypal witches.

Moorcock’s Legacy for Witches and Warlocks

Moorcock’s influence on D&D is usually discussed in terms of Law and Chaos. Planes of exsistences and an eternal, if not Eternal (capital "E"), struggle.

But for witches, the more interesting legacy is this:  Magic is relational. Magic is cyclical. Elric shows us the warlock bound to his patron. Corum’s summoners show us the persistence of pagan rites.

That is fertile ground for witches.

Not because Moorcock hands us a cottage and a cauldron.

But because he gives us a universe where magic is negotiated, myth returns, and some souls are simply meant to walk the long road again and again.

Mail Call Tuesday: Witch Edition

 Ok. So calling any of my mail calls "witch edition" narrows it down as much as calling it "Tuesday." But I did get some things I have been waiting on for a while.

First up is the framed painting "Advanced Witch" by Eugene Jaworski.  I need to find a good place on my walls for this one. 

Again, you can find his art here and on his Instagram account. 

In the mini department, I got a nice bonus from work, so I ordered a new mini from Hero Forge. 

Yes, that is my newest witch, Elowen. I am nothing if not obsessed. 

And finally, one I have been waiting for a while, Spell Bound. 

This book features the covers of many vintage paperbacks of the witchcraft popularity craze. And yeah, I own a few, and I remember most of them.  But the book is fantastic.

There is a lot of really great stuff here, and I'll really enjoy going through it all. I loved going through the book, comparing covers to the books I still I have on my shelves. Some of these covers are what got me interested in witches to begin with. 

 So yeah, a lot this week. But some of these have been a long time coming.  

Elowen Hale: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

“Elowen walks like she knows where the puddles are going to be before the rain even starts. She never yells when things go wrong. She just smiles and says we’ll fix it. And then we do. I like going on adventures with her. The ghosts don’t bother her, and she always remembers to pack snacks.” - Doireann, Goblin witch

In many ways, this is the core Elowen, the one I think of when I talk about her.

Elowen died, but she returned changed. Animals respond to her in uncanny ways. Certain undead recoil. Divination spells sometimes yield contradictory results when cast upon her. Detect Evil finds nothing. Detect Magic sometimes flickers.

Among her coven sisters, she is treated with reverence and caution. The Old Religion teaches that death is a doorway. Elowen has stepped through it, and then turned around and stepped back. That doesn't happen, not without a good reason. 

Elowen has a Witch Mark. In this case, the Witch Mark of Sight. Her sight allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal undead, even when they are invisible.  The downside is that they can also always see her. 

Elowen Hale
1st-level Human Witch (High Order), Neutral Good

Secondary Skill: Initiate

S: 10
I: 16
W: 15
D: 12
C: 14
Ch: 17

Paralysis/Poison: 13
Petrify/Polymorph: 13
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 14
Breath Weapon: 16
Spells: 15

AC: 10
HP: 6
THAC0: 20

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3

Familiar: Cat, "Mirepoix"

Spells
Cantrips: Detect Curse, Ghost Sound, Chill, Mend Minor Wounds
First level: Ghostly Slashing, Detect Spirits, Minor Curse

Witch Mark: Witch Sight (see spirits)

Theme song: Home (Prospertine)

This is Elowen at the very start of her adventures. She is currently traveling the world with Doireann and Aisling as they travel with the Free Elves. 

--

Witch Marks are something new I am working on. Elowen has the Witch Mark of Sight, and it allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal or invisible undead. It means they can also see her and know she has seen them. Aisling also has the Witch Mark of Sight, but hers allows her to see auras. The side effect is that Aislign is looking at someone with her witch sight, they know they are being watched, and it makes them uncomfortable. 

Elowen speaks Common, her Alignment Language, Elven, and Draconic. She still has three more languages she can learn. I am fairly sure that if she continues to hang out with Dori, she will learn Goblin. I am saving the other two to figure out later on.

I am also finally detailing where she is from. She is from one of the richer sections of East Haven, or maybe just outside of it. Her family is well off; I figure her father is some sort of import/export merchant. Not someone who sells things himself, but manages a lot of merchandise for others to sell. It would also explain why they knew of Larina, or at least the witches of West Haven. It also goes to show how much the people of East Haven try to avoid thinking about anything that might remind them of West Haven, given how little Elowen first knew about things. 

She wears a witch hat that looks like Larina's. Makes sense since it was a gift from her mentor for her adventures. 

Other Stats

• Tales of the Valiant
• Pathfinder 2nd Edition