I upgraded my Diigo account. The "OSR Blogs" social bookmarking tool is now public.
Anyone can now add their own blog to the list.
If you want to add this code to your own website, just copy and paste.
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://groups.diigo.com/user_mana/link_roll_data?group_name=OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites&icon=true&width=350&count=20&title=Group%20OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's%20best%20content&tags=&token=" ></script><noscript><a href="https://groups.diigo.com/group/OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites" >Group OSR-Blogs-Groups-and-sites's best content</a></noscript>
The red highlights are values you can change.
Join me and help increase this list.
I am also going to add more features as the week goes on.
Let me know what you think!
Edited to add: Adding another group to my "Witch Links" page.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/p/witches.html.
Showing posts with label osr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label osr. Show all posts
Monday, November 2, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
A Week with Venger Satanis: Liberation of the Demon Slayer
It's the month of Halloween! Though I understand many people still call it "October". Fine. Whatever.
I thought this month I would spend some quality time with products that fit the theme of Halloween. While putting together my list I realized I had a bunch of products from Kortthalis Publishing and +Venger Satanis. I thought, what the hell, lets make a week of it.
Venger has had an interesting time in the RPG biz. I remember talking to him shortly after he was banned from RPG.net and we discussed our respective horror games. He has had a nice rise recently as an OSR publisher and has a few nice titles under his belt.
Lately he has been promoting something he calls O5R, which I have to admit it very clever, or products that can be played with either old-school games and their clones or with the newest 5th edition game. It is a solid strategy really. I have demonstrated time and again to myself at least that you can freely mix the two in terms of adventures. I would imagine that goes even further.
Today though I want to start with one of his first OSR books.
Liberation of the Demon Slayer
I first picked this up near when it was released. Since then I have considered it a potential entry in my War of the Witch Queens adventure path.
The adventure is six levels and 70 pages. VS suggests using 3 0-level characters per player and let everything work out, or a large party of 1st level characters. Nothing is mentioned on how many players, but I am guessing 6 to 8.
There is some background given about the world this adventure lives in. They are all optional, but it does set the mood for the rest of the book. I found the bits about Snake-men and elves to be interesting. The adventure is steeped in a lot of Lovecraftian tropes and we are introduced to some of the "Old Ones" here, albeit with different names.
If you, like me, love eldritch abominations and dark magic then this the adventure for you. The adventure itself "sounds" simple enough. Retrieve a demon killing sword from the caves to stop the demons attack your village. Easy peasy. Trouble is that the author grew up when dungeons-as-meat-grinders were a thing and everyone was afraid the big bad devil was going to get you. This adventure though is closer in tone and danger to the Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen than it is to most Lamentations of the Flame Princess products. With the right DM this could be a great and dangerous adventure where the party could live. Sure they could all easily die too. One can read this and imagine that all of the author's games are a bit like it.
Actually I have known the author for a number of years and yeah this is exactly the kind of things I expect in his games. I think the difference here with this adventure and some of his earlier material is there is a maturity here to accept the absurd. This adventure can be played straight or with a dash of dark humor. Think of it as a horror movie, even the scariest have a touch of humor to them; it sets you up for the bigger punch later down the road.
The adventure proper gets going about page 17. We are treated to rumors, some background, wandering monsters and some maps of the first level. The maps have been drawn by +Dyson Logos , so you know that these will be interesting. The feel of the first 4-5 pages of the adventure is really one of pure old-school nostalgia. The first level is a bit of meat grinder, by design, and there are a lot things going on here that would make the hard-core Gygazian adventure fan happy. Going back a bit it becomes obvious that the "optional" information above is still rather important since it colors the actions of many of the inhabitants in this dungeon.
As you descend into the dungeon things get weirder and more deadly. I mean really, really deadly. Devil lords, liches, vampires, freaking lasers and a nuclear warhead. Yeah, VS really cut his teeth on the 70s and 80s era gaming.
I want to take a moment to talk about the art. Yes there is a lot gore, nudity and phantasmagorical horror here. It comes off though more as "Heavy Metal" than say "Hustler". All I can really say is that it fits the aesthetic of the book. In truth I had more of an issue with the sci-fi elements (even though there were very good reasons for them to be there) than I had with the nudity.
The demon-slaying sword Kalthalax is an interesting weapon. One that would have a good home in my regular games to be honest and one that is enough of a hook to make me want to find a way to work this adventure in. Maybe I can make Clavenus a witch instead of a wizard.
In any case there is a lot of fun to be had with this adventure; if you don't mind the occasional casualty. I think what helps here is while the adventure is a meat grinder, it is done just to rid the party of the weak. They are expected to survive and tell people the tales of their great adventure.
While VS takes the care to make sure this works with nearly any old-school game (and in the future he fits 5e into that as well), I can't help but think how well this would work with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The background is similar and the elves in Demon Slayer would be a nice addition to AS&SH, which does not have any elves. Indeed, elves would seem like souless, demon-like monsters compared to humans. At least to humans that have never seen an elf before. There is a mix of demons, devils and Lovecraftian beasts/gods that somehow feels right for that world. Mixing in AS&SH to this would give you something very, very close to playing akin to Michael Moorcock's world.
Curiously enough in my own games I do have an epic weapon for killing demons. In my current world state this sword is lost and a quest is needed to recover it. Maybe this is what I need. If so then the value of this adventure just increased ten-fold for me. I am going to have to spend some quality time with it and a pencil to see if it can be recrafted into something that fits my world a little better.
However YOU decided to use this adventure I am sure it will be fun. Maybe deadly fun, but certainly fun.
I thought this month I would spend some quality time with products that fit the theme of Halloween. While putting together my list I realized I had a bunch of products from Kortthalis Publishing and +Venger Satanis. I thought, what the hell, lets make a week of it.
Venger has had an interesting time in the RPG biz. I remember talking to him shortly after he was banned from RPG.net and we discussed our respective horror games. He has had a nice rise recently as an OSR publisher and has a few nice titles under his belt.
Lately he has been promoting something he calls O5R, which I have to admit it very clever, or products that can be played with either old-school games and their clones or with the newest 5th edition game. It is a solid strategy really. I have demonstrated time and again to myself at least that you can freely mix the two in terms of adventures. I would imagine that goes even further.
Today though I want to start with one of his first OSR books.
I first picked this up near when it was released. Since then I have considered it a potential entry in my War of the Witch Queens adventure path.
The adventure is six levels and 70 pages. VS suggests using 3 0-level characters per player and let everything work out, or a large party of 1st level characters. Nothing is mentioned on how many players, but I am guessing 6 to 8.
There is some background given about the world this adventure lives in. They are all optional, but it does set the mood for the rest of the book. I found the bits about Snake-men and elves to be interesting. The adventure is steeped in a lot of Lovecraftian tropes and we are introduced to some of the "Old Ones" here, albeit with different names.
If you, like me, love eldritch abominations and dark magic then this the adventure for you. The adventure itself "sounds" simple enough. Retrieve a demon killing sword from the caves to stop the demons attack your village. Easy peasy. Trouble is that the author grew up when dungeons-as-meat-grinders were a thing and everyone was afraid the big bad devil was going to get you. This adventure though is closer in tone and danger to the Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen than it is to most Lamentations of the Flame Princess products. With the right DM this could be a great and dangerous adventure where the party could live. Sure they could all easily die too. One can read this and imagine that all of the author's games are a bit like it.
Actually I have known the author for a number of years and yeah this is exactly the kind of things I expect in his games. I think the difference here with this adventure and some of his earlier material is there is a maturity here to accept the absurd. This adventure can be played straight or with a dash of dark humor. Think of it as a horror movie, even the scariest have a touch of humor to them; it sets you up for the bigger punch later down the road.
The adventure proper gets going about page 17. We are treated to rumors, some background, wandering monsters and some maps of the first level. The maps have been drawn by +Dyson Logos , so you know that these will be interesting. The feel of the first 4-5 pages of the adventure is really one of pure old-school nostalgia. The first level is a bit of meat grinder, by design, and there are a lot things going on here that would make the hard-core Gygazian adventure fan happy. Going back a bit it becomes obvious that the "optional" information above is still rather important since it colors the actions of many of the inhabitants in this dungeon.
As you descend into the dungeon things get weirder and more deadly. I mean really, really deadly. Devil lords, liches, vampires, freaking lasers and a nuclear warhead. Yeah, VS really cut his teeth on the 70s and 80s era gaming.
I want to take a moment to talk about the art. Yes there is a lot gore, nudity and phantasmagorical horror here. It comes off though more as "Heavy Metal" than say "Hustler". All I can really say is that it fits the aesthetic of the book. In truth I had more of an issue with the sci-fi elements (even though there were very good reasons for them to be there) than I had with the nudity.
The demon-slaying sword Kalthalax is an interesting weapon. One that would have a good home in my regular games to be honest and one that is enough of a hook to make me want to find a way to work this adventure in. Maybe I can make Clavenus a witch instead of a wizard.
In any case there is a lot of fun to be had with this adventure; if you don't mind the occasional casualty. I think what helps here is while the adventure is a meat grinder, it is done just to rid the party of the weak. They are expected to survive and tell people the tales of their great adventure.
While VS takes the care to make sure this works with nearly any old-school game (and in the future he fits 5e into that as well), I can't help but think how well this would work with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The background is similar and the elves in Demon Slayer would be a nice addition to AS&SH, which does not have any elves. Indeed, elves would seem like souless, demon-like monsters compared to humans. At least to humans that have never seen an elf before. There is a mix of demons, devils and Lovecraftian beasts/gods that somehow feels right for that world. Mixing in AS&SH to this would give you something very, very close to playing akin to Michael Moorcock's world.
Curiously enough in my own games I do have an epic weapon for killing demons. In my current world state this sword is lost and a quest is needed to recover it. Maybe this is what I need. If so then the value of this adventure just increased ten-fold for me. I am going to have to spend some quality time with it and a pencil to see if it can be recrafted into something that fits my world a little better.
However YOU decided to use this adventure I am sure it will be fun. Maybe deadly fun, but certainly fun.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
What Will the Great Pumpkin Bring You?
Still buried in projects include my day job.
But I always get myself something gaming related for Halloween. Not sure what I am getting myself this year, I got a lot of really cool books at Gen Con that I have barely cracked open.
One thing that has me interested in The Demonolater from +Joseph Bloch.
http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2015/10/31-days-of-halloween-dark-offering.html
His Darker Paths books for the Witch and the Necromancer were a lot of fun and I expect this to be the same.
What are you looking forward to?
But I always get myself something gaming related for Halloween. Not sure what I am getting myself this year, I got a lot of really cool books at Gen Con that I have barely cracked open.
One thing that has me interested in The Demonolater from +Joseph Bloch.
http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2015/10/31-days-of-halloween-dark-offering.html
His Darker Paths books for the Witch and the Necromancer were a lot of fun and I expect this to be the same.
What are you looking forward to?
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Class Struggles: Class Compendium Books
RPGNow has a big sale going on on various d20 books.
I am not done with the class analysis I wanted to do today so I thought maybe I would highlight some of the books with new classes for your OSR games. Some of these I have reviewed in the past. I am sure there must be others, but these are the ones I am most familiar with. Not all these books are on sale.
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
One of the first, this is the book that launched BRW games and Adventures Dark & Deep. Part of +Joseph Bloch's "What If" experiment of a hypothetical Gary helmed 2nd Edition. I recently went back and reread some of the articles from Gary about the 2nd Ed. game of AD&D that never was. Interestingly he made comments about a 3rd and 4th edition game too! This book covers the Bard, Jester, Mystic, Savant, and Mountebank classes. The mystic was the first class I looked at for the Class Struggles series.
The Complete B/X Adventurer
This is the second book of the B/X Companion series by +Jonathan Becker. Where Adventures Dark & Deep gave us a hypothetical AD&D 2nd Ed, Becker gives us a Companion set that never was. This book gives us some extra rules but the main feature are the classes. The classes are Acrobat, Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Centaur, Duelist, Gnome, Mountebank, Mystic, Ogre-Kin, Scout, Summoner, Tattoo Mage, Witch, and Witch Hunter. 17 new classes. New classes in B/X and BECMI related games are a bit more varied since races are also classes. But there are a lot of great classes here.
Basic Arcana
+Tom Doolan published his first work, Basic Arcana all the way back in 2013! This is also a "Basic Era" product. It starts with some "Class Variants"; Dwarf Priest, Dwarf Scout, Elf Sorcerer, and Elf Warrior. For humans we have the Martialist (like a monk) and the Barbarian. All of this and some extra rules on combat and a page of spells.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
A favorite of mine, this book introduces a baker's dozen of new magic using classes and their spells. +Dyson Logos gives us the: Cleric, Wizard, Elven Swordmage, Elven Warder, Enchanter, Fleshcrafter, Healer, Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Necromancer, Pact-Bound, Theurge, and the Unseen.
ACKS Player's Companion
ACKS is still one of the slickest look games around. +Alexander Macris gives us 19 new character classes, including the Anti-paladin, Barbarian, Dwarven Delver, Dwarven Fury, Dwarven Machinist, Elven Courtier, Elven Enchanter, Elven Ranger, Gnomish Trickster, Mystic, Nobiran Wonderworker, Paladin, Priestess, Shaman, Thrassian Gladiator, Venturer, Warlock, Witch, and Zaharan Ruinguard. So a good collection really. That takes up about 44 pages of the book's 160. New classes have new spells as well. Best of all is a character class creation guide. It look like a similar idea that appeared in Dragon years ago. Basically it reduces any class to a set of points and you point buy a new class just like you would in say GURPS or Unisystem. Maybe one day I'll check out a bunch of classes using this.
Theorems & Thaumaturgy
This is part a class book and of course all the new spells. It's not part of the sale, but +Gavin Norman offers it as Pay What You Want, so make this worth his while. The new Classes are the Elementalist, Necromancer and Vivimancer. The Vivimancer later gets his own book, but these are three very solid class choices.
Class Compendium
+James Spahn has been delivering solid classes since the dawn of his Barrel Rider Games. This is a collection, edit of some of his best selling and favorite classes. The first 166 or pages are dedicated to a Basic Era/Labyrinth Lord compatible class. Well this book is huge and we are given 52 classes, divided by category.
Arcane Allies: Alienist, Familiar, Thopian Gnome, Wild Wizard
Doughty Dwarves: Raging Slayer, Rune-Smith, Warchanter
Enchanting Elves: Dark Elf, Greensinger, Half-Elf, Sylvan Elf
Heroic Halflings: Burglar, Feast Master, Huckster, Lucky Fool, Tavern Singer
Holy Rollers: Angel, Friar, Inquisitor, Undead Slayer
In Shining Armor: Commander, Dragon Slayer, Knight
Martial Masters: Barbarian, Berserker, Gladiator, Samurai, Sword Master
Monstrous Marauders: Dragon, Goblin, Half-Ogre, Half-Orc, Treant
Second Star to the Right: Fairy, Lost Boy, Pirate
Traveling Trouble-Makers: Acrobat, Explorer, Fortune Teller, Wanderer
Unhallowed Heroes: Cultist, Damphir, Death Knight. Eidolon
Urban Adventurers: Bandit, Bard, Bounty Hunter, Watchman
Virtuous Victorians: Automation, Investigator, Metaphysician, Shootist
New Class Options
One of the most recent one this comes from Genus Loci Games and +Johua De Santo. The classes included here are the: Blood Witch, Chesh, Forrester, Highlander, Mermaid of the In-Land Sea, Mythwood Elf, Pixie, Prodigal, Ruca and the Draken-Knight. I covered the Blood Witch in some detail a while back.
So. Over 120 (give or take) new classes. Not to bad really.
I am not done with the class analysis I wanted to do today so I thought maybe I would highlight some of the books with new classes for your OSR games. Some of these I have reviewed in the past. I am sure there must be others, but these are the ones I am most familiar with. Not all these books are on sale.
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
One of the first, this is the book that launched BRW games and Adventures Dark & Deep. Part of +Joseph Bloch's "What If" experiment of a hypothetical Gary helmed 2nd Edition. I recently went back and reread some of the articles from Gary about the 2nd Ed. game of AD&D that never was. Interestingly he made comments about a 3rd and 4th edition game too! This book covers the Bard, Jester, Mystic, Savant, and Mountebank classes. The mystic was the first class I looked at for the Class Struggles series.
The Complete B/X Adventurer
This is the second book of the B/X Companion series by +Jonathan Becker. Where Adventures Dark & Deep gave us a hypothetical AD&D 2nd Ed, Becker gives us a Companion set that never was. This book gives us some extra rules but the main feature are the classes. The classes are Acrobat, Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastmaster, Bounty Hunter, Centaur, Duelist, Gnome, Mountebank, Mystic, Ogre-Kin, Scout, Summoner, Tattoo Mage, Witch, and Witch Hunter. 17 new classes. New classes in B/X and BECMI related games are a bit more varied since races are also classes. But there are a lot of great classes here.
Basic Arcana
+Tom Doolan published his first work, Basic Arcana all the way back in 2013! This is also a "Basic Era" product. It starts with some "Class Variants"; Dwarf Priest, Dwarf Scout, Elf Sorcerer, and Elf Warrior. For humans we have the Martialist (like a monk) and the Barbarian. All of this and some extra rules on combat and a page of spells.
Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts
A favorite of mine, this book introduces a baker's dozen of new magic using classes and their spells. +Dyson Logos gives us the: Cleric, Wizard, Elven Swordmage, Elven Warder, Enchanter, Fleshcrafter, Healer, Inquisitor, Merchant Prince, Necromancer, Pact-Bound, Theurge, and the Unseen.
ACKS Player's Companion
ACKS is still one of the slickest look games around. +Alexander Macris gives us 19 new character classes, including the Anti-paladin, Barbarian, Dwarven Delver, Dwarven Fury, Dwarven Machinist, Elven Courtier, Elven Enchanter, Elven Ranger, Gnomish Trickster, Mystic, Nobiran Wonderworker, Paladin, Priestess, Shaman, Thrassian Gladiator, Venturer, Warlock, Witch, and Zaharan Ruinguard. So a good collection really. That takes up about 44 pages of the book's 160. New classes have new spells as well. Best of all is a character class creation guide. It look like a similar idea that appeared in Dragon years ago. Basically it reduces any class to a set of points and you point buy a new class just like you would in say GURPS or Unisystem. Maybe one day I'll check out a bunch of classes using this.
Theorems & Thaumaturgy
This is part a class book and of course all the new spells. It's not part of the sale, but +Gavin Norman offers it as Pay What You Want, so make this worth his while. The new Classes are the Elementalist, Necromancer and Vivimancer. The Vivimancer later gets his own book, but these are three very solid class choices.
Class Compendium
+James Spahn has been delivering solid classes since the dawn of his Barrel Rider Games. This is a collection, edit of some of his best selling and favorite classes. The first 166 or pages are dedicated to a Basic Era/Labyrinth Lord compatible class. Well this book is huge and we are given 52 classes, divided by category.
Arcane Allies: Alienist, Familiar, Thopian Gnome, Wild Wizard
Doughty Dwarves: Raging Slayer, Rune-Smith, Warchanter
Enchanting Elves: Dark Elf, Greensinger, Half-Elf, Sylvan Elf
Heroic Halflings: Burglar, Feast Master, Huckster, Lucky Fool, Tavern Singer
Holy Rollers: Angel, Friar, Inquisitor, Undead Slayer
In Shining Armor: Commander, Dragon Slayer, Knight
Martial Masters: Barbarian, Berserker, Gladiator, Samurai, Sword Master
Monstrous Marauders: Dragon, Goblin, Half-Ogre, Half-Orc, Treant
Second Star to the Right: Fairy, Lost Boy, Pirate
Traveling Trouble-Makers: Acrobat, Explorer, Fortune Teller, Wanderer
Unhallowed Heroes: Cultist, Damphir, Death Knight. Eidolon
Urban Adventurers: Bandit, Bard, Bounty Hunter, Watchman
Virtuous Victorians: Automation, Investigator, Metaphysician, Shootist
New Class Options
One of the most recent one this comes from Genus Loci Games and +Johua De Santo. The classes included here are the: Blood Witch, Chesh, Forrester, Highlander, Mermaid of the In-Land Sea, Mythwood Elf, Pixie, Prodigal, Ruca and the Draken-Knight. I covered the Blood Witch in some detail a while back.
So. Over 120 (give or take) new classes. Not to bad really.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Assembling the troops...
I'll get back to gods in a bit, but I am assembling all the pieces I need for the War of the Witch Queens.
Some OSR monster books, some rules, a bunch of different adventures. Yes that is a 4e book in the mix too.
Still working out details and having a lot of fun. If I decide to go to a maximum of 13th level then I am sticking with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. If I think it will go higher than that, all the way to 20th level then I want to use Castles & Crusades.
Some OSR monster books, some rules, a bunch of different adventures. Yes that is a 4e book in the mix too.
Still working out details and having a lot of fun. If I decide to go to a maximum of 13th level then I am sticking with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. If I think it will go higher than that, all the way to 20th level then I want to use Castles & Crusades.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Dark Albion meets Mythic Éire
The talk around the ole' Other Side water cooler is still Dark Albion. No surprises really.
I love the idea of playing in England/Albion. Especially with some dark magic thrown in for good measure. If I can tie it in with my War of the Witch Queens idea so much the better.
So I was looking over all my Castles & Crusades stuff over the weekend. Lamenting that I don't get to play it as often as I would like. I dearly love Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, it has such a cool vibe to it. But I also enjoy Castles & Crusades. Rumor has it that C&C began as a campaign on Earth. Aihrde is phonetically the same as Erde which is German for Earth. That being said I also have a couple of adventures I consider to be "must haves" for my next games, Night of the Spirits and A Druid's Lament.
Another strong selling point for C&C is the Codex Celtarum.
I reviewed it a while back and it is still one of my favorite gaming books ever. There is so much I could use here. Plus the ties with the Faerie world is a must-have in my mind.
Which brings me in a round about way to what are these Witch Queens warring about anyway? At first I thought maybe it was for control. But could it be more? I am hesitant to detail it too much. I still have a current D&D5 game I need to finish. Plus I want to keep it a little loose for now. Maybe even a bit "story gamey". Yes I am that much of jerk to take one of Pundits products and make it into a story game centerpiece. Well...not really. It's still OSR.
Éire is a idea I have been playing around with since forever I feel. A mythic Ireland, a land of adventure. The Celtic themed games I usually enjoy tend to skew a bit to the older and colder themes found in AS&SH.
Regardless of which way it goes I do know that there will be an Éire to go with Albion and I am going to have a great time doing it.
I love the idea of playing in England/Albion. Especially with some dark magic thrown in for good measure. If I can tie it in with my War of the Witch Queens idea so much the better.
So I was looking over all my Castles & Crusades stuff over the weekend. Lamenting that I don't get to play it as often as I would like. I dearly love Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, it has such a cool vibe to it. But I also enjoy Castles & Crusades. Rumor has it that C&C began as a campaign on Earth. Aihrde is phonetically the same as Erde which is German for Earth. That being said I also have a couple of adventures I consider to be "must haves" for my next games, Night of the Spirits and A Druid's Lament.
Another strong selling point for C&C is the Codex Celtarum.
I reviewed it a while back and it is still one of my favorite gaming books ever. There is so much I could use here. Plus the ties with the Faerie world is a must-have in my mind.
Which brings me in a round about way to what are these Witch Queens warring about anyway? At first I thought maybe it was for control. But could it be more? I am hesitant to detail it too much. I still have a current D&D5 game I need to finish. Plus I want to keep it a little loose for now. Maybe even a bit "story gamey". Yes I am that much of jerk to take one of Pundits products and make it into a story game centerpiece. Well...not really. It's still OSR.
Éire is a idea I have been playing around with since forever I feel. A mythic Ireland, a land of adventure. The Celtic themed games I usually enjoy tend to skew a bit to the older and colder themes found in AS&SH.
Regardless of which way it goes I do know that there will be an Éire to go with Albion and I am going to have a great time doing it.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Review and PWWO: Dark Albion: The Rose War
I am reviewing the PDF only at this point. I don't have a copy of the printed book yet. The PDF is 277 pages; 275 of content plus cover and a hyperlink page that we also saw in FH&W. It's a nice touch.
Before I get into the meat I want to about the art and layout. The art is predominantly woodcuts and public domain images from the period or about the period. I want to say that for the record I LOVE this sort of art. I really do. It captures the feel of time I think far better than most RPG art. I love the art in the D&D/OSR books, but that is art for a game world. For a historical one I want this.
Also the graphic design and layout is much improved in terms of technique from FH&W. This is obvious when in the FH&W appendix it switches back to the other style. It is the same as the previous book, but still better executed.
The book is nicely organized and I am first grabbed by a sense of nostalgia. This feels like an old-school Gazetteer. In particular the Greyhawk ones of old. We have a two page Table of Contents and a two page index. Both are hyperlinked.
The center of the campaign is the War of Roses. This war, between rival claimants to the throne of England, the House of York (the White Rose) and the House of Lancaster (the Red Rose). This lead, among other things, to the creation of the Tudor Dynasty (White on Red Rose) when the House of Lancaster defeated the House the York and Henry Tudor married Elizabeth York to become Henry VII of England. This is also the milestone between what was "Dark Ages" England and the English Renaissance. Though I personally think of the date as being later when England broke with the Church or even later still when Elizabeth I came into power. But that is my personal bias.
(Side Note: See if RPGPundit is working on "Dark Albion: The Tudors", now there is some intrigue!)
The Introduction is a brief overview of the book, the War of Roses, and what to expect in this campaign book. Most of what is here is detailed more in the book, but a couple of things draw our attention. First this a "gritty" campaign. So magic is low, character classes will be low and it is human centric. Other differences between this and other "D&D" are given, such as very, very few demi-humans and few "monsters". Also the differences between this world and our world are given. The one that stands out here is the Church of the Unconquered Sun, something that readers of my blog should already be familiar with, http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/02/sol-invictus-unconquered-sun.html. In fact this Church is like one where Rome (Arcadia) adopted Mithra instead of Jesus. It is an interesting idea and one I would love to see more of.
Next up, and what takes up a good chunk of the book is the Gazetteer of Albion. For his alt-history version of England, Pundit sticks with the very archaic Albion as opposed to England or even "Angle-land". I do not object. I used the name myself in Ghosts of Albion, though for different reasons. This is part socio-political overview, part maps and part campaign information. Having gone over the same territory, though 360 years later, I appreciate the attention to detail here. The bulk of this is of course on Albion and Wales (not "Cymru"?), lands up into Scots-land ("Alba"?) only go to Hadrian's Wall, which is still intact in this world. Lands into Ireland ("Erie"! thank you!) only go to the Pale, as appropriate. Beyond the Pale? Well that is where the ancient Brannans live, you don't want to go there.
Honestly, this could have been the entire book and I would have loved it. Give me old maps and names of people and I will fill it up with ideas. I already want to create characters and give them histories.
Next up is Kingdoms of the Continent. As you can imagine, an overview of Europe. Not as in-depth as the Albion chapter, nor should it be. There are a couple things though I want to point out.
1. Frogland. Really? ugh. Ok, ok. I get the desire to have a non-human, chaos-based kingdom. But I really have to admit this sticks out like a sore thumb. It's really just not good. Sorry. I just don't like it, it seems to go against everything we just read about human-centric, low magic, gritty-realism. If I were to use this in a game (and I really would want to) Frogland is going away. I'll replace it with a Clark Ashton Smith-style Averoigne. It really kind of mars the entire work in a way.
2. Arcadia. There is something REALLY interesting here. I would love to see RPGPundit talk about how The Unconquered Sun grew up out Mithraism to replace Christianity in his world. Plus this is the Renaissance. I would imagine that Arcadia at this time in this world looks a bit more like Mage the Sorcerers Crusade than it does D&D.
3. Wallachia. Ok, including a bad ass Dracula almost (almost but not quite) makes up for Frogland. Having him live in a castle named "Crows Loft" is very cheeky ("Crow's Nest" might be closer, but hey, not my book).
Law & Justice in Albion is a fairly important chapter. Characters will not be able to act like the "murder-hobos" of other games. Albion, at this point, has been around as country of laws for some time. The Magna Carta has been around for 200+ years at this point so this is not a lawless land, far from it in fact. Frankly more campaign guides should have this as much as they do maps and people of interest.
History of Albion is just as fascinating as the Gazetteer. While I personally believe that games are about the characters, having a detailed backdrop is always nice. Plus if your game is going to more about court intrigue and combats of words and lies rather than adventuring, then this is a must read.
Characters in Albion discuss what has been mentioned briefly already. What characters you are likely to use in this game. It is human centric and low magic. Now there is an interesting twist here in that the Church of the Unconquered Sun has Priests, which are like real-world priests in the Catholic church, and Clerics which are more like D&D clerics. In fact you can have a female cleric. This is a handy way to have your cake and eat it too. The reading of this chapter makes me think that Lamentation of the Flame Princes might be a good rule fit for this, but as I read more I think that Original D&D is the best choice. Though given the changes to the world in general I would also add druids and witches to my games.
Currency & Equipment is actually quite an important chapter. Money didn't just seperate the wealthy from everyone else, it also separates the classes, as in the upper and lower class. In many D&D games characters tend to throw around gold like it was water. You see that even in some of the pulp influences of D&D. Historically though and even until past the Victorian age you would not find people throwing around a gold coin. Copper pence/pennies were the coinage of the common man. Maybe a silver shilling. Ok, technically the silver shilling wasn't minted until the 1500s and it was worth 12 pence (not the 10p listed). BUT this is just a change to make things easier for the game and that is fine with me. I would still introduce a gold guinea at 21s/0p though it's introduction is still not for another 200 years or so. I just like the idea.
The next two chapters, Noble Houses of Albion and People of Interest, deal with the people that populate this world. I would say that if you are playing a court intrigue game then these are your important chapters. Knowing who is controlling what and what their moves might be is a great aid for the right-minded GM. I would say that if you are or were a fan of Pendragon or even Birthright then study these two chapters. Heck given how Pendragon works this could be part of the same set of PCs, only their dynasties 35-40+ generations later.
Ok, so I am not taking any stars away from the overall product for this, but I will state my disappointment in the whole "Frogmen" one more time here. Craaak VII? Lraaap XI? Come on Pundit, you can do better than this.
Sorcery and Secrets is the chapter I have been waiting for. I will point out one discrepancy between what is said here and what is assumed. Magic-user spells are listed to 9th level, ok that will take a pretty high level magic-user, beyond the "7th level will be really high" mentioned. Plus 9th level spells are pretty big magics. Personally I would limit all spell casters to 6th level spells. There are some rules in FH&W to help get around this restriction.
There are some really good demon summoning rules. I would combine these with the magic circle rules given in FH&W as well as the Ley Line rules. In fact in might be interesting to take this chapter and Chapter 9 from FH&W and look at them as a unified whole.
Adventuring in Albion. Ok this is more like it! Give me reasons for my characters to do things! For me I am content with "there is a war of succession to English throne going on. You all are peasants. Figure out how make the most of it." Thankfully there is more here than just that. Several sample adventure locations are given, including one at court. Travel across Albion is discussed though characters are more likely to run into tolls rather than trolls, but both are still possible.
While monsters are rare in this setting a guideline for what might be possible would be good.
Three Appendices follow.
Appendix 1 detail the Knights of the Star and Secrets of the Clerical Order. Knight of the Star are an order of Knights loyal to the crown and king of Albion. These Knights could be seen as the Paladins of Albion and are given similar in-game status.
Appendix 2 is a set of house rules for rules-lite OSR clones like Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Swords & Wizardry, and Basic Fantasy RPG.
Appendix 3 is a set of rules when playing Fantastic Heroes & Witchery. Like I mentioned before this appendix drops the Dark Albion style for the FH&W one. Various new classes for FH&W are added including the Cleric of the Unconquered Sun, the Magister, Hedge-Witch and Cymric Bard among others. Also classes from FH&W are discussed including which ones NOT to use in Dark Albion. Some details about how Dark Albion's cosmology fits into the FH&W assumed cosmology.
The book ends with the OGL statement.
There is a lot crammed into 275 or so pages. While the guide is complete and there is plenty to do with it, it also opens up a lot of possibility for the world as a whole. Dom and RPGPundit could make a career out filling up the other countries. The time period is an interesting choice too. Having played a ton of historical games I tend to draw a fuzzy line right around the time of the Tudors. Prior to this time I can emulate with D&D-like games, after that I use other games. Dark Albion adheres to my own internal logic in this respect. Though I do admit I can see myself pushing that line a bit when it comes to Elizabethan times. I have done that time period both as a D&D-like game and as a setting for Ghosts of Albion.
I would say pick this up if you have any enjoyment for English history or if you are looking to play something different than the same old dungeon crawls.
Plays Well With Others
By virtue of it's compatibility with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, Dark Albion has an easier time than most supplements. Added to fact that it is presented largely rule free is a bonus.
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has been one of my favorite systems/campaign worlds since it came out. It shares a number of elements in common with Dark Albion. First, both worlds assume a low magic, human centric world. There are a LOT of character classes in AS&SH and not all are appropriate for Dark Albion, but there are plenty that are even above and beyond the multitude of class options that FH&W offers. The worlds of both games are by and large the same, just separated by vast quantities (and maybe qualities) of time. While Dark Albion focuses on Albion and parts south, AS&SH tends to focus more to the north. Who is to say that there are not some areas of Norway that are not still like the Hyperborea of AS&SH?
Plus the power levels of both games is the same. All characters in AS&SH and FH&W top off at that 12-14 level limit. This naturally keeps the magic down.
AS&SH also has a number of monsters in it that would be appropriate for the Dark Albion world. Now, AS&SH does have "Cthulhoid" monsters which would take the implied chaos of Dark Albion to a totally different level. But I can see that working.
As mentioned before another game that would mesh well with this is Lamentation of the Flame Princes. There is a congruity to both worlds that makes the translation not only possible, but anticipated as seen in Appendix 2.
I have to admit I picked this game up not on the reputation of it's author or even publisher, but because I really wanted to see if there is anything in this book I could use with my own Ghosts of Albion. While the two games share a number of parallels due to subject matter and connections to the real world, the underlying assumptions of both games are very different. Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion one of my characters was a ghost of a fighter in the War of the Roses. I guess I could now play him as a living breathing human if I wanted too. I just have to make sure he dies while defending the King from that dastard the Duke of York! Dark Albion actually has more in common with Cubicle 7's Victoriana. At least in terms of setting and underlying assumptions. Heck maybe when Albion splits from the Church of the Unconquered Sun (Dark Albion) it becomes the Aluminat Church (Victoriana). In any case Dark Albion provides an interesting historical backdrop to either of those games.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention The Witch. Dark Albion makes many references to witches and dark magic but the only game mentioned that has a proper witch is FH&W and even then that game mentions conversions for my witch. Just follow the guidelines already in FH&W.
One thing is certain, I am going to have to play some more with this world.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Review: Fantastic Heroes & Witchery
Full Disclosure: I have worked with the author, Dominique Crouzet, in the past on a couple of projects. I think Dom is a great guy and I love the work we had done together. I am going to review FH&W on it's own merits.
For this review I am looking at the PDF copy found at DriveThruRPG and the print copy hardcover from Lulu.
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Reto-RPG (FH&W hereafter) is a newer "retro-clone" of the classic D&D rules.
The book itself is a massive 430 pages. This includes the table of contents (4 pages), index (4 pages), spell index (4 pages) and OGL statement (2 pages). The PDF also has a "quick click" index to get to sections in the book faster.
A while back I referred to this as the "Rosetta Stone" of OSR games. It still works like that, but this really more of an meta-analysis of OSR RPG elements put into a cohesive whole. The game feels like Basic era, BEMCI, D&D, but it also has the options of both 1st and some of 2nd Ed AD&D. Other games like Swords & Wizardry have also contributed to the DNA of this game. A quick look at the OGL statement in back makes it clear that this game is very much a product of many, many games. This is not a slight, there is an absolute ton of new and original material here. It takes the best and develops more to make it all work well. In fact this book is a good point of translation between the various clones and 3rd Edition. Not that translation is difficult, this helps smooth out the "local idioms" to some closer to normal.
A note about the art. Dom is not just the author of this game he is also one of the primary artists and graphic designer. The art is reminiscent of both B/X D&D and AD&D, on purpose. In fact there are a few tongue in cheek references to old AD&D books. To further this feeling there is also art by Jim Holloway.
Chapter 1 deals with character creation. Here we are given the details about Ability Scores (OSR standards here) and then we get into races. The usual suspects are here, but some of the newer folk as well like tieflings, and some new ones. The new races include tainted humans, primates, reptilians, revenants (undead), winged folk, and witchlings. I love the idea behind the primates, intelligent apes and wonder why we have not seen more of those in other fantasy games. A personal aside, the Witchlings are very much something I would expect out of Dom. I am very intrigued by the race and plan on exploring in more.
The next section of the chapter is Character Backgrounds. These are more role-playing options with suggestions of mechanical advantages (Foresters are better at climbing trees for example, but no pluses are given). This is a nice section that does better than it's inspired materials but doesn't quite go as far as the newest edition of the D&D game. That is likely a perfect sweet spot for the types of games that are going to be played here. We end with a discussion on alignment.
Chapter 2 discusses character classes. We have the expected list and then some more. Again since this is a merging of Basic and Advanced ideas there are some "racial" classes here. I like the idea myself and will discuss those in a bit. There is also a section on "Weird Tales" pulp-era classes.
Classes are divided up into groups much like 2nd Ed or Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. We have Warriors which include Fighters, Beserkers, Knights and Ranger. Rogues which include Thieves, Acrobats, Assassins, and Bards. Divines which consist of Friars, Mystics and Templars and the racial classes. Dwarves include Clans-dwarf and Gothi. Elves are split into High and Sylvan they include Eldritch-archer and Fae-mage (High) and Forestal and Warden (Sylvan). Gnomes get Illusionist and Trickster. Halflings get Folk-champion and Scout. Finally there are the Weird Tales classes; Necronimus, Occultist, Psychic, Rifleman, Savant, Sky-lord, and Wild-brute.
Like editions 3.x and beyond, all classes use the same Experience Level chart. So 2,000 xp is 2nd level for everyone. This has a number of nice benefits including easier multi-classing.
Like newer editions each character class has a base to hit modifier. So for fighters this goes up +1 per level. Each class has HD, Base to Hit, Saves and abilities per level. Saves are standard Sword & Wizardry style, but there is an Appendix for conversions later in the book.
An note about levels. Like B/X, AS&SH or Adventurer, Conqueror, King, FH&W assumes that 13 is the max level. There are XP values given for 14 and above, but the abilities stop there.
I will discuss the Wizard classes later when I talk about the spells, but for now I want to say that racial classes are really some of the nicest new classes of the book. It is easy to create a bunch of human centric classes, but these different cultures would naturally produce some professions or heroes of their own.
The Weird Tales classes are an interesting bunch. Some would fit right in with the Ranger or Knight, others, less so. The Necronimus is basically a spiritualist or speaker of the dead. The occultist learns spells as the find them from old tomes, the psychic is what is says on the tin. Others like the Rifleman or the Savant (aka Weird Scientist) could work with some good role-playing and a lot of help from the GM. The Sky-Lord...is a great class, but it is very Sci-Fi or at least Sci-Fant. The wild-brute would work anywhere to be honest.
Hit-dice and hp are discussed in the next section as well as saving throws. The model of saving throws in the Swords & Wizardry one but also it could be said the D&D 5 one or the Castles & Crusades one. Conversions and notes are given for how to translate a Fortitude save or a Breath Weapon save over to this system. Honestly this is a gem and worth printing out these pages for any game you play. Next are skill checks and how to handle them.
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| Some of the games that are compatible with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery |
Chapter 3 covers Equipment. This is what you expect but there is a lot to choose from here. In fact t might be one of more comprehensive collections. Worth the price of the PDF to be honest to have all of this in one place. The section on Sci-Fantasy equipment is an added bonus.
Chapter 4 details Combat. There is your garden variety melee and missile combat, but also vehicle based combat and psionic combat (for the psychic class). Stuffed in the last paragraph is the very interesting Duels of Rhetoric. Basically, combat of words. There is a lot of potential here and something I want to use in my next D&D5 game. Yes it works with any version of D&D or OSR game.
Chapter 5 is Moving and Exploring. A lot of what becomes a goo dungeon crawl is more than combat. This also details carrying capacity. What you expect is here, but there is also a nice section on "Chase rules" to go with your vehicle based combat. Suddenly I want to do a Stephen J. Cannell-style chase with chariots or even dragons!
These two chapters have a logical conclusion found in Chapter 6, Hazards and Injuries. This includes a Wound and Vitality system for use in any D&D-like game. Other topics include massive damage (like AD&D 2), subdual (a feature of my Basic D&D games) and healing. There is a section of Threats and Hazards. This details a lot of conditions PCs can find themselves in; Blind, Fearful, Drunk, Poisoned and so on. Congrats, we just worked in the best parts of D&D4! Beyond that the Conditions/Afflictions also extend to the Supernatural. So Energy drain, Lycanthropy and so on.
Chapter 7 covers Monsters and NPCs. There are no monsters in FH&W. Not that there can't be, but the book does not list them. It does talk about how to use monsters and how NPCs can also work as monsters. By default FH&W assumes an OSRIC style stat block for monsters.
Chapter 8 is an interesting one. It covers Priests and Religions. Different types of world views are discussed. Also the priest classes are mentioned with different "templates" one can use to make the priest feel different. Some concepts of gods are later detailed. One could add names to these from any myth rather easily. Names are not provided though. Each God archetype also has a suggestions for their clergy. After this we get into a discussion of Law vs. Chaos. This includes another class, The Agent of Law/Chaos. If you are thinking Elric or other Eternal Champions (but also I will add, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe media is a great example of an Agent of Law). In fact so engrossing is this concept I might create three agents using this as my outline for Law, Chaos and Neutrality. If you pick this up, really consider this chapter and what it could mean for your game.
There is even a treatise on the immortal soul and some details on the outer planes.
Chapter 9 covers magic and spellcasting. There is a lot here. One of the better sections is acquiring arcane spells. There are equally as good sections on getting spell-like powers. Also covered is an optional rule on Incantations, which are spells that anyone can use. As expected the schools of magic are covered, with the different specialists such as Illusionists, Necromancers and so on. Also presented is a War-Mage class.
The next section deals with the craft of magic. This includes a lot of information on magic circles, scrolls, and even creating magical talismans! My favorite is part on ley lines and power nexuses.
We get into the bulk of the chapter with spell lists by class. Spells are divided into Psychic, Gray, Black and White magic, Nature and Delusion spells.
Chapter 11 covers the Appendices. These are:
Appendix 1: More About Ability Scores. - Ability scores above 18 to 25.
Appendix 2: Physical Appearance. - height and weight by race.
Appendix 3: Personality.
Appendix 4: Allegiances.
Appendix 5: Cultural Background.
Appendix 6: Social Background.
Appendix 7: Rolling Hit-Points.
Appendix 8: Sanity / Insanity. - I am not a fan of sanity in a FRPG. but this is a simple solution option.
Appendix 9: Skills in More Detail.
Appendix 10: Talents (Custom Abilities).
Appendix 11: Fighting Schools and Maneuvers.
Appendix 12: Adding More Character Classes.
Appendix 13: Epic Levels (14th to 20th / 25th level). takes the characters into epic levels, in this case 14th to 25th.
Appendix 14: More About Saving Throws. - more Saving translations.
Appendix 15: Domain Spells. - divine spells by theme
Appendix 16: Critical Hits (Complete Table of Secondary Effects).
A bit more about Appendix 12. This is a GREAT section about adding other classes including 3e prestige classes. This includes note on how to add my own Witch to this game. There are also more classes here including: The Adventurer, the Animist, the Scary Monk (the monk from AD&D), the Sea-Dog, the Sea-Witch and the Thick Brute.
We end with the OGL notice and a character sheet.
What can I say at this point really?
This is an awesome resource. It is a great game in it's own right, but it shines when added to other games. Use this to play an OSRIC game while importing some 3.x style classes and as Swords & Wizardry monster book. Or whatever you like. There is so much here that there is no end of what you can do with it.
A serious high mark for all OSR products in terms of utility.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Week!
This week I want to spend some quality time with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery and Dark Albion: The Rose War.
I have talked about Fantastic Heroes & Witchery a little in the past, but I have not put up a proper review. With Dark Albion now out I figure it is a good time to look at both in detail.
I am rather looking forward to it.
I have talked about Fantastic Heroes & Witchery a little in the past, but I have not put up a proper review. With Dark Albion now out I figure it is a good time to look at both in detail.
I am rather looking forward to it.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Class Struggles & PWWO: The Blood Witch
Yesterday I reviewed the newest book from +Johua De Santo New Class Options. One of the classes in the book, the Blood Witch, struck me as familiar. I remembered I had seen an earlier version of it in Dungeon Crawl #3. Today I want to go into a bit more detail about this class.
Class Struggles
The class is an old archetype of a blood mage or a blood witch going all the way back to ... well forever really. Right up into the Enlightenment people believed that there were magical properties to blood. This is why "witches" signed contracts with the devil in their own blood.
There have been other blood witches in the past. Notablly the Blood Witch Prestige class from Relics & Rituals and from Mongoose's Ultimate Prestige Classes vol. 1. Both books have the same class. Blood Witches used whatever spells they gained from their previous spell casting class.
The Blood Witch in New Class Options is a bit similar. It uses magic-user spells. This is perfectly fine really, but some new spells would add some more flavor.
I was looking forward to this class the most and I still think it works well, but I have some issues with it. Let's start at the top.
The Blood Witch uses Constitution as her main stat. Very, very appropriate.
She needs a Con of 13 or higher. Again appropriate. Constitution scores above 16 also grant an additional +1 to hit points. Nice. She is going to need that.
Then we get to the next bit, quoting from the text.
Here is the part I am not crazy about. The Blood Witch needs to roll against her Constitution in order to cast spells. So the high her Con score, the less of chance she has of success. Again, from the text.
So a witch with a 16 Constitution could only cast spells up to 4th level, unless of course a 20 allways means a success.
I think what might work better here is limit the number of spells known. The blood witch might be able to cast this she completely out of blood (not advised) but maybe she only knows X per level. Like the 3rd Edition Sorcerer. This would impose a limiting factor.
Then give her a bonus to her roll equal to her level.
So our Blood Witch with 16 Con and 5th level would need a 15 or better to cast a 4th level spell (16 + 4 -5 =15). That seems to work well.
The experience levels for Blood Witch seem a bit high, granted this class has the potential for a lot of power. I'd still like to play one sometime just to be sure.
Somethings you see in the the myths and stories of blood magic is sacrifice (which is covered here as personal sacrifice) and proxies. So could this blood witch use an animal sacrifice for some spells? I think where appropriate yes. Proxies could be things like the animal but also proxies for blood itself, like purified water (possibly for healing spells if you use one of the witch spell lists) or even wine (blood of the vine). Personally I would allow such proxies for some of the more benign or even mundane spells.
The Blood Witch is any interesting type of character and something that could add a air of different to a game. A Blood Witch doesn't have to be an evil character, but it not likely she is going to be trusted by a party and certainly looked down on by other casters especially proper wizards.
Plays Well With Others
The best thing about the Blood Witch is that fits a great niche in any gaming group or campaign. It also works with a number of great OSR books. Obviously the blood witch will work mechanically with 99% of all the OSR and old-school books out there, the real question is will it work thematically. For example, the blood witch would work fantastic with Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but thematically it might be a bit redundant since all magic-users are assumed to have some sort of dark(-ish) pact.
I already mentioned The Complete B/X Adventurer. The witch class as presented in that book works as a great base for the Blood Witch. Combine the two classes into one works rather nicely. The B/X Witch has spells up to 10th level which is nice, but the New Class Options Witch only goes to 7.
I mentioned that the Blood Witch is really missing some really cool spells. The Vivimancer from +Gavin Norman's Theorems & Thaumaturgy and Complete Vivimancer offer some really nice choices. I created a few for both my witch and the vivimancer here. In particular I would suggest Blood Augury, Feel My Pain, Share My Pain, Stay Death's Hand, and of course Hell Hath No Fury because every witch needs that spell.
A while back I made some suggestions about witch spells for the vivimancer and vivimancer spells for the with. The nice thing is the blood witch is perfect cross section of both classes and can use all these spells.
The blood witch also works great with +Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The style and type of magic used by the blood witch would be very much in tune with AS&SH. Sacrificing blood for magical effects...yeah very much in tune. There are also plenty of great witch spells in that book as well.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games. I am going to have to play a Blood Witch sometime, but I also think I want to try her out as Blood Witch "Tradition" using my own rules and see how well they work together. Maybe twins...same level but one is a DeSanto Blood Witch while the other is a Brannan one. Interesting idea really.
If you are in the mind to some conversions, there is a great set of blood magic rules and spells in +Owen Stephens' magnum opus Deep Magic for Pathfinder. The blood magic system in that book could work nicely for a blood witch as well as a blood mage.
Again this passes the most basic test for a class for me. Can I think of a character for it and would I play it.
Kimbra & Kelleigh
Kimbra and Kelleigh are twin sisters with magic deep in their blood. They often have said to each other that it is because they have shared blood that their ties to each other and magic was so strong.
Though in their darker moments they felt their connection to magic and to blood came from the moment they were born. Kelleigh was first. Right after her birth their mother died. Kimbra was born when the midwife noticed that there was still someone in the lifeless body. To this day Kelleigh has had a great connection to blood and Kimbra to death. Kelleigh acts as the older sister. The sisters only trust each other.
These are two characters I have had for a while now. They began as modern characters for a WitchCraft RPG game and then morphed in a life-span development project I never quite finished.
Yes, the names are based on Kim and Kelley Deal. But also an homage to Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong, two of my favorite authors in the modern supernatural genre.
Kelleigh
5th level Blood Witch, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 24
AC: 9
Saves: 12, +2 vs. Magic
To Hit: +1 / THAC0: 19
Spells:
Kimbra can cast the follow spell levels. Will choose spells based on the official list.
First: all
Second: 4
Third: 6
Fourth: 3
Fifth: 6
Sixth*: 1
Kimbra
5th level Witch, Blood Witch Tradition, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 16
AC: 7
Occult Powers
Familiar: Blood Spirit of her dead mother (treat as a ghost, neutrally aligned)
Spells
Cantrips: (5) Analyze Fertility, Detect Poison, Inflict Minor Wounds, Object Reading, Warm
First: (2+2) Bad Luck, Bewitch I, Cause Fear, Tattoo
Second: (2+2) Agony, ESP, Fever, Hold Person
Third: (1+1) Bestow Curse, Lifeblood
I like these two. I like that they are twins and really mostly the same but have classes that are different takes on the same thing.
I would not make these two part of the Witches' Nest. I feel their back story is too tragic and their personalities are not one to take advantage of others. Though they will have a place in my new WIP "West Haven", mentioned briefly here.
When I try this class out more I will let you all know.
Class Struggles
There have been other blood witches in the past. Notablly the Blood Witch Prestige class from Relics & Rituals and from Mongoose's Ultimate Prestige Classes vol. 1. Both books have the same class. Blood Witches used whatever spells they gained from their previous spell casting class.
The Blood Witch in New Class Options is a bit similar. It uses magic-user spells. This is perfectly fine really, but some new spells would add some more flavor.
I was looking forward to this class the most and I still think it works well, but I have some issues with it. Let's start at the top.
The Blood Witch uses Constitution as her main stat. Very, very appropriate.
She needs a Con of 13 or higher. Again appropriate. Constitution scores above 16 also grant an additional +1 to hit points. Nice. She is going to need that.
Then we get to the next bit, quoting from the text.
Shattered Soul: Every day the Blood Witch has a 60% chance of losing herself in the song of magic. If this occurs the Witch will be able to cast 1 level above her level, however, she cannot know what is real or delusion.Ok. A neat bit a of flavor. But 60% every day? That seems a bit high and then she can cast as a level higher? Well sometimes that helps. But who makes this roll the GM or the player? Personally I would have it at 25% myself. Or tie it to the phases of the moon or time of day. THEN also a 25% where she can cast as a level lower. I GET what is trying to be done here, but I would need to play it over a few sessions to see.
Here is the part I am not crazy about. The Blood Witch needs to roll against her Constitution in order to cast spells. So the high her Con score, the less of chance she has of success. Again, from the text.
The first is that the Blood Witch must roll her constitution score + the spell level or higher in order to cast her spells. If the Blood Witch fails her spell roll the spell is swept away in the song of the magic and will not return to her for a day. The second is that for every spell cast the Blood Witch must sacrifice 1 + spell level of her health in order for the spell to be effective. If the Blood Witch refuses to make the sacrifice the spell and 1d4 other spells will be swept away in the song of magic for a two day period.Ok. So mechanically I get what Johua is trying to do here. I also spoke with him. It is to limit the amount of spells a witch can use. Since a witch can use theoretically ANY spell once she gets to the right level. In some ways her spell casting is more similar to the witch in +Jonathan Becker's The Complete B/X Adventurer than it is to anything else.
So a witch with a 16 Constitution could only cast spells up to 4th level, unless of course a 20 allways means a success.
I think what might work better here is limit the number of spells known. The blood witch might be able to cast this she completely out of blood (not advised) but maybe she only knows X per level. Like the 3rd Edition Sorcerer. This would impose a limiting factor.
Then give her a bonus to her roll equal to her level.
So our Blood Witch with 16 Con and 5th level would need a 15 or better to cast a 4th level spell (16 + 4 -5 =15). That seems to work well.
The experience levels for Blood Witch seem a bit high, granted this class has the potential for a lot of power. I'd still like to play one sometime just to be sure.
Somethings you see in the the myths and stories of blood magic is sacrifice (which is covered here as personal sacrifice) and proxies. So could this blood witch use an animal sacrifice for some spells? I think where appropriate yes. Proxies could be things like the animal but also proxies for blood itself, like purified water (possibly for healing spells if you use one of the witch spell lists) or even wine (blood of the vine). Personally I would allow such proxies for some of the more benign or even mundane spells.
The Blood Witch is any interesting type of character and something that could add a air of different to a game. A Blood Witch doesn't have to be an evil character, but it not likely she is going to be trusted by a party and certainly looked down on by other casters especially proper wizards.
Plays Well With Others
The best thing about the Blood Witch is that fits a great niche in any gaming group or campaign. It also works with a number of great OSR books. Obviously the blood witch will work mechanically with 99% of all the OSR and old-school books out there, the real question is will it work thematically. For example, the blood witch would work fantastic with Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but thematically it might be a bit redundant since all magic-users are assumed to have some sort of dark(-ish) pact.
I already mentioned The Complete B/X Adventurer. The witch class as presented in that book works as a great base for the Blood Witch. Combine the two classes into one works rather nicely. The B/X Witch has spells up to 10th level which is nice, but the New Class Options Witch only goes to 7.
I mentioned that the Blood Witch is really missing some really cool spells. The Vivimancer from +Gavin Norman's Theorems & Thaumaturgy and Complete Vivimancer offer some really nice choices. I created a few for both my witch and the vivimancer here. In particular I would suggest Blood Augury, Feel My Pain, Share My Pain, Stay Death's Hand, and of course Hell Hath No Fury because every witch needs that spell.
A while back I made some suggestions about witch spells for the vivimancer and vivimancer spells for the with. The nice thing is the blood witch is perfect cross section of both classes and can use all these spells.
The blood witch also works great with +Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The style and type of magic used by the blood witch would be very much in tune with AS&SH. Sacrificing blood for magical effects...yeah very much in tune. There are also plenty of great witch spells in that book as well.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games. I am going to have to play a Blood Witch sometime, but I also think I want to try her out as Blood Witch "Tradition" using my own rules and see how well they work together. Maybe twins...same level but one is a DeSanto Blood Witch while the other is a Brannan one. Interesting idea really.
If you are in the mind to some conversions, there is a great set of blood magic rules and spells in +Owen Stephens' magnum opus Deep Magic for Pathfinder. The blood magic system in that book could work nicely for a blood witch as well as a blood mage.
Again this passes the most basic test for a class for me. Can I think of a character for it and would I play it.
Kimbra & Kelleigh
Kimbra and Kelleigh are twin sisters with magic deep in their blood. They often have said to each other that it is because they have shared blood that their ties to each other and magic was so strong.
Though in their darker moments they felt their connection to magic and to blood came from the moment they were born. Kelleigh was first. Right after her birth their mother died. Kimbra was born when the midwife noticed that there was still someone in the lifeless body. To this day Kelleigh has had a great connection to blood and Kimbra to death. Kelleigh acts as the older sister. The sisters only trust each other.
 |
| Luis-Salas |
Yes, the names are based on Kim and Kelley Deal. But also an homage to Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong, two of my favorite authors in the modern supernatural genre.
Kelleigh
5th level Blood Witch, Female
Neutral
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 24
AC: 9
Saves: 12, +2 vs. Magic
To Hit: +1 / THAC0: 19
Spells:
Kimbra can cast the follow spell levels. Will choose spells based on the official list.
First: all
Second: 4
Third: 6
Fourth: 3
Fifth: 6
Sixth*: 1
Kimbra
5th level Witch, Blood Witch Tradition, Female
Neutral
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 16
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 16
Hit Points: 16
AC: 7
Occult Powers
Familiar: Blood Spirit of her dead mother (treat as a ghost, neutrally aligned)
Spells
Cantrips: (5) Analyze Fertility, Detect Poison, Inflict Minor Wounds, Object Reading, Warm
First: (2+2) Bad Luck, Bewitch I, Cause Fear, Tattoo
Second: (2+2) Agony, ESP, Fever, Hold Person
Third: (1+1) Bestow Curse, Lifeblood
I like these two. I like that they are twins and really mostly the same but have classes that are different takes on the same thing.
I would not make these two part of the Witches' Nest. I feel their back story is too tragic and their personalities are not one to take advantage of others. Though they will have a place in my new WIP "West Haven", mentioned briefly here.
When I try this class out more I will let you all know.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Review: New Class Options
I love new classes, I love trying them out, taking them apart and seeing what makes them tick. I also like thinking of potential characters to use with the new classes. So grabbing this product was a no brainer for me. Plus, I will admit I am a fan of Kaitlynn Pealer's art, so that attracted my attention right away.
The book is overtly for Swords & Wizardry Core rules, but it can be adapted to any old-school game. The book is 24 pages, 3 are cover, table of contents and the OGL. So 21 pages of solid content.
There are nine classes and one "Advanced Class Option". There is no unifying theme to the classes, save for maybe a rough fae or celt theme.
First up is the Blood Witch which is a reprint/revision/update of a class the author did for Dungeon Crawl #3. The class is an alternate take on the magic user. This one, naturally, uses blood to power her magic. A very classic archetype. Equally naturally this one uses Constitution as the primary stat.
The blood witch has higher hit die (d6) and needs more experience than the stock magic-user.
The casting of spells required the expenditure of blood (again naturally) in the form of HP. Good thing she has a higher HD. One of the problems I see with this class is that the blood witch needs to roll higher than her Con + Spell level. So a Blood witch with the minimum Constitution (13) needs a roll of 20 (on a d20 presumably) to cast a 7th level spell. So her most powerful spells have only a 5% chance of working. In any case the blood is spent. So does have access to potentially every spell in the book, but this limiting factor seems to be too much really.
I am going to go into the Blood Witch in more detail tomorrow.
The Chesh are next. These are a race of cat-girl-like fae creatures. They have a some interesting abilities and would work very well in a game that has other faerie races in it or one if you want to get younger kids to play. They have some magical abilities based on music, though most of the abilities are support in nature.
The Forrester is akin to a archer-like ranger. Not as powerful as say the stock Ranger of AD&D but within the limits of S&W.
The Highlander is a somewhat romanticized version of a celtic themed barbarian. The barbarian rage ability is replaced by a fury ability which is like a super cleave. You can attack another victim if you kill the first. Though this one can be up to 12 feet away.
The Mermaid of the In-Land Sea is interesting. It's a mermaid, which is neat choice, but there was nothing here about how long she can live away from water. Maybe to keep the rough theme here they could be renamed to "Merrows".
The Mythwood Elf is actually very interesting. These are elves that look forever young and can summon up various elemental spirits. There is a list of the domains (Earth, Water, Air...) and what they can summon and do.
The Pixie. Pretty much what it says on the tin! Play a pixie. Actually a lot going on for this little thing.
The Prodigal is sorta like a traveling jack of trades. They pick up companions, spells, knowledge and some thieving skills. Actually a very, very workable class.
The Ruca is a dog-like humanoid character. Again a workable character and certainly more of a role-playing challenge than a game rules one.
The last class is for "Advanced" games, ie games where class and race are seperate.
The Draken-Knight and their companion the Drake are dragon riding, or drake riding, knights.
The class has some odd experience point requirements. In fact it acts more like a "Prestige Class" for AD&D 1st ed than anything else, much like the Thief-Acrobat. The idea is you start out as a fighter till 5th level then you can switch over to Draken Knight. Not a bad plan really. Also reminds me of the old Knights in the Dragonlance books.
All in all this is a good book. Each class had something that felt a little off to me, but the proof is not in the reading, but in the playing. It passes my basic test when reading classes; would I play a character of that class? The answer was typically yes.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Class Struggles: The Mystic
No. Not the fight between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but something far more important.
"Class Struggle" is a new feature where I take a class from a D&D, OSR or related product and do a deep dive into it. I am going to focus on unique classes to each product, sometimes going back to the same product even to look at other classes. In some cases I am going to look into a class and different representations in different products. I am also going to mostly focus on classes that interest me. So heavy on the magic using classes.
I also want to start this feature with the Mystic, found in +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep.
Back in October of 2013 I spent some time doing a deep dive into Bloch's magnum opus and dedication to a game that never was. If you have not had a chance to read over Adventures Dark & Deep I suggest that check it out. It really is something interesting, even beyond the purely academic question of what would a 2nd Edition AD&D look like if Gygax had never left TSR. It is also a very playable game and a fun one in it's own right. It captures the feel of AD&D better than say OSRIC does.
If you want to just check out the new classes then BRW's first product, A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore has the new classes and few other rules.
The Mystic is one of those new classes featured in the book that was also talked about by Gygax in the pages of Dragon magazine.
Here is what Gygax said about the Mystic in Dragon #65 (from Bloch's own Greyhawk Grognard blog):
The Bloch Mystic (for simplicity) is described as:
I think it is fair to say from the start that the Bloch Mystic is at least close to spirit, if not the letter of intent, of the Gygax Mystic.
Looking into the Mystic there are some "clerical" like powers and spells here, much in the same matter the druid has some too. Interestingly, as noted above, they can't make magic items. They can scribe scrolls which makes sense. They also have pain management and meditations as skills/powers.
The mystic learns spells due to their "inner awareness". They have some spells they share with clerics and some new ones that really feature their differences. "Awaken First Chakra" is one such spell, Besides being able to glow under a blacklight, kidding...you radiate ultra violet light, you can also reduce falling damage and improve your dex score, at least temporarily with this spell. There are seven chakras in total. Also it is nice to see that for the mystic at least Astral Spell is 6th level.
Level progression is slightly greater than the cleric in most cases, but not up to the level of a wizard/magic-user.
As the mystic levels up their minds become stronger so that powers like ESP no longer work on them. They also focus their attention on more planar issues. This gives a party with a mystic a good hook to the outer planes.
The mystic has a certain "monk" feel about it to be certain, but only the asceticism and divine aspects; not the fighting.
Speaking of asceticism the mystic can also take a Vow of Silence. He can cast his spells where speech is impossible and gain a 10% bonus to xp earned, but the PLAYER also needs to keep their speech to a minimum.
There are plenty of uses for a mystic in a party especially a party that plans to hit the outer planes at any point. Also if the idea of playing a cleric is not appealing the mystic makes for a good change up. Though to be honest the things people normally dislike about clerics and paladins is amplified in the mystic.
Other Mystics
The Mystic of the D&D Master's Set or the Rules Cyclopedia is nothing more than the AD&D Monk for the BECMI system. Though the connection between the mystic and the cleric is made more overt.
There is also a Mystic in Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. This mystic is somewhere between the monk/mystic of BECMI and the Bloch Mystic. They do not gain spells, but rather a Prayer ability introduced in this game.
Finally there is a mystic in the 3.x Dragonlance Campaign Setting book. This mystic is more like a cleric without gods. The mystic gains their divine power from within. In many ways it shares the same relationship with the cleric as does the sorcerer to the wizard. This mystic is also very tied up in the myths and history of Krynn.
Final Thoughts
The mystic as presented by BRW is a solid class and one with enough flavor to make playing one an interesting challenge. I would like to try one out to be honest, maybe using 1st Edition rules or one of the many clones. Of course it shines the best under Adventures Dark & Deep.
The class is interesting enough that I also think it would work well for Castles & Crusades or even D&D 5. I think some more spells might be in order to give it a little more flavor. If I were building one for just a home game I would also borrow some idea from Mage's Akashic Brotherhood.
Also if I were going to add mystics to a game I would remove monks, or more to the point, return monks to the pseudo-Eastern parts of the world. There are traditions of both Eastern and Western mysticism, but for ease I might use the Monk and Mystic as each respective traditions mystics.
"Class Struggle" is a new feature where I take a class from a D&D, OSR or related product and do a deep dive into it. I am going to focus on unique classes to each product, sometimes going back to the same product even to look at other classes. In some cases I am going to look into a class and different representations in different products. I am also going to mostly focus on classes that interest me. So heavy on the magic using classes.
I also want to start this feature with the Mystic, found in +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep.
Back in October of 2013 I spent some time doing a deep dive into Bloch's magnum opus and dedication to a game that never was. If you have not had a chance to read over Adventures Dark & Deep I suggest that check it out. It really is something interesting, even beyond the purely academic question of what would a 2nd Edition AD&D look like if Gygax had never left TSR. It is also a very playable game and a fun one in it's own right. It captures the feel of AD&D better than say OSRIC does.
If you want to just check out the new classes then BRW's first product, A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore has the new classes and few other rules.
Here is what Gygax said about the Mystic in Dragon #65 (from Bloch's own Greyhawk Grognard blog):
Mystic: This subclass of clerics is concerned more with prediction and detection than are other sorts of clerics. All mystics are of Good alignment, although they can be chaotic, neutral, or lawful within the Good alignment. As with other sorts of clerics, mystics would have seven levels of spells, but most would be of the sort to divine or detect. However, some new spells, and some very powerful upper-level spells, are planned.I read this commentary from Grognardia on the same issue which got me thinking about the Mentzer BECMI sets and how they might have influenced the Gygax 2nd Edition. To this end I will briefly mention the D&D Master Set / Rules Cyclopedia mystics.
The Bloch Mystic (for simplicity) is described as:
The mystic is a sub-class of cleric, and an initiate of an inner mystery tradition that seeks direct communion with the multiverse in order to achieve enlightenment. Insight, awareness, and a deep connection with ultimate reality are the hallmarks and ultimate goals of the mystic. Most good-aligned faiths have such mystery traditions within them, even if they are not enthusiastically promoted by the hierarchy or followed by masses of people.This seems more inline with what is described as Mysticism. I am currently reading "The Terror of History: On the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization" by Teofilo "Teo" F. Ruiz and this description is very much inline with Prof. Ruiz's description of Christian Mystics.
The spells available to the mystic are centered on knowledge and defense, and his connection with the multiverse gives him special insights into the workings of the planes. He cannot craft magical items, but objects particularly associated with him in life, and even parts of his body, often become relics after his death.
I think it is fair to say from the start that the Bloch Mystic is at least close to spirit, if not the letter of intent, of the Gygax Mystic.
Looking into the Mystic there are some "clerical" like powers and spells here, much in the same matter the druid has some too. Interestingly, as noted above, they can't make magic items. They can scribe scrolls which makes sense. They also have pain management and meditations as skills/powers.
The mystic learns spells due to their "inner awareness". They have some spells they share with clerics and some new ones that really feature their differences. "Awaken First Chakra" is one such spell, Besides being able to glow under a blacklight, kidding...you radiate ultra violet light, you can also reduce falling damage and improve your dex score, at least temporarily with this spell. There are seven chakras in total. Also it is nice to see that for the mystic at least Astral Spell is 6th level.
Level progression is slightly greater than the cleric in most cases, but not up to the level of a wizard/magic-user.
As the mystic levels up their minds become stronger so that powers like ESP no longer work on them. They also focus their attention on more planar issues. This gives a party with a mystic a good hook to the outer planes.
The mystic has a certain "monk" feel about it to be certain, but only the asceticism and divine aspects; not the fighting.
Speaking of asceticism the mystic can also take a Vow of Silence. He can cast his spells where speech is impossible and gain a 10% bonus to xp earned, but the PLAYER also needs to keep their speech to a minimum.
There are plenty of uses for a mystic in a party especially a party that plans to hit the outer planes at any point. Also if the idea of playing a cleric is not appealing the mystic makes for a good change up. Though to be honest the things people normally dislike about clerics and paladins is amplified in the mystic.
Other Mystics
The Mystic of the D&D Master's Set or the Rules Cyclopedia is nothing more than the AD&D Monk for the BECMI system. Though the connection between the mystic and the cleric is made more overt.
There is also a Mystic in Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. This mystic is somewhere between the monk/mystic of BECMI and the Bloch Mystic. They do not gain spells, but rather a Prayer ability introduced in this game.
Finally there is a mystic in the 3.x Dragonlance Campaign Setting book. This mystic is more like a cleric without gods. The mystic gains their divine power from within. In many ways it shares the same relationship with the cleric as does the sorcerer to the wizard. This mystic is also very tied up in the myths and history of Krynn.
Final Thoughts
The mystic as presented by BRW is a solid class and one with enough flavor to make playing one an interesting challenge. I would like to try one out to be honest, maybe using 1st Edition rules or one of the many clones. Of course it shines the best under Adventures Dark & Deep.
The class is interesting enough that I also think it would work well for Castles & Crusades or even D&D 5. I think some more spells might be in order to give it a little more flavor. If I were building one for just a home game I would also borrow some idea from Mage's Akashic Brotherhood.
Also if I were going to add mystics to a game I would remove monks, or more to the point, return monks to the pseudo-Eastern parts of the world. There are traditions of both Eastern and Western mysticism, but for ease I might use the Monk and Mystic as each respective traditions mystics.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
The Witches of the Witches' Nest
I get a lot of spam from people telling me about "real magic" and people that can cast spells for me.
Since I have been working on a group of evil/non-good witches I figured make the best of the resources handed to me. These characters have pretty much begged themselves into existence.
The names come from these posts:
They are going to be part of my "War of the Witch Queens" adventure path/campagin.
Now I am generally very fond of all the other "OSR" witches, so I would like to present each one below in the most positive light possible. Designing the characters to take advantage of each of the class features in turn.
In each case their prime ability for being a witch or spellcasting is indicated with an asterisk*.
The Witches' Nest, or more simply, The Nest, is a collection evil witches that operate outside of normal lawful society.
They are not above a little thieving of arcane literature, but mostly they will pass off others ideas as their own. They are con artists, but each one it a powerful witch it their own right. Their leader is a self-styled "doctor" Logan Zabaza. Ozigididon is his second in command and in charge of "spiritual" aspects of their cult. Each witch comes from a different tradition, but all serve the same goals and patron; they are all followers of Mammon.
A typical ruse will be to offer the party help, say magical or healing, to determine what they have and then steal anything that they can. The prefer magical books over magic items, and magical items over gold. They will still steal gold if that is all that the party has.
Dr. Logan Zabaza
Male Witch, Malefic Tradition 13th level (The Witch)
Chaotic
Logan Zabaza is the defacto leader of the Nest only because he keeps the others in line with fear and intimidation. He appears as a middle aged man with long black hair and olive complexion. He prides himself on his looks and always dresses in the highest fashion for the occasion. He carries a cane that contains his boline knife. He also uses this cane as his focusing implement.
Abilities
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 15*
Hit Points: 30
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)
Occult Powers
Familiar: Raven
7th level: Evil's Touch
13th level: Devil's Tongue
Spells
Cantrips: Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Palm
First: Cause Fear, Fey Sight, Ghostly Slashing, Increase Sex Appeal , Sleep
Second: Agony, Blast Shield, Death Armor, Evil Eye
Third: Feral Spirit,Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Tongues
Fourth: Dance Macabre, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Very goodPhantom Lacerations
Fifth: Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting
Sixth: Death Blade, Mass Agony
Seventh: Wave of Mutilation
High Priestess Ozigididon
Female Witch, Gypsy Tradition, 13th level (Spellcraft & Swordplay: Eldritch Witchery)
Chaotic Evil
Ozigididon was a gypsy priestess until she threw in with Zabaza. She had been thrown out of her own family due to the darker aspects of magic she prefered and is now making an living as the "spiritual leader" of the Nest.
Abilities
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 11
Hit Points: 35
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (Ring of Protection +1)
Occult Powers
Familiar: Ancestral Spirit (follower of Mammon)
7th level: Prophesy
13th level: Evil Eye
Spells
First: Bless Growth, Charm Person, Light, Minor Curse, Read Magic, Silver Tongue, Spirit Dart
Second: Augury, Detect Invisible, Discord, Knock, Levitate, Magic Broom
Third: Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Liar's Curse, Mind Rash, Slow, Wizard Lock
Fourth: Cloudburst, Elemental Armor, Instant Karma, Masque
Fifth: Break Enchantment, Death Curse, Endless Sleep
Coven: Death Blade, Greater Scry
Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Staff of Enchantment
Drodinaka
Female Witch 11th level, Chthonic Tradition (ACKS Players Companion, +Alexander Macris & +Tavis Allison)
Chaotic
Template: Dark Oracle
Drodinaka is a young, attractive woman with long blond hair. She and Drodu pretend to be sisters since they have similar features. She often pretends she is an acolyte of some benevolent but unnamed faith. She often acts as Ozigididon's second in command.
Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 12*
Hit Points: 28
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection AC 4)
Attack: 7+
Proficiencies: Seduction, Black Lore of Zahar, Prophecy, Performance (Storytelling)
Powers
1st level: Divine spellcasting
3rd level: Brew Potions
5th level: Magic Aura proficiency, Spell research
7th level: Charm Person (1/day), Scribe scrolls
9th level: Create magic items
11th level: craft magical constructs
Spells
First: Detect Undead, Cause fear, cure light wounds, detect magic, light, protection from good, read languages
Second: Spiritual Weapon, augury, bane, choking grip, enthrall, hold person, sleep
Third: Necromantic potence, Alter self, Bestow curse, cause disease, charm person, ESP, Mirror Image
Fourth: animate dead, clairvoyance, chimerical force, dispel magic, fly, nondetection
Fifth: command person, magic carpet, polymorph other, scry, true seeing
Magic Items
Ring of Protection AC 4, Dagger +1
Drogu Dudu
Female Warlock 9th level (Death Lady) (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, +Jeff Talanian)
Chaotic Evil
Drogu is a little older than her "sister" Drodinaka, but like her she is attractive and has long blonde hair. She dresses the part of a warrior woman from the north but is in reality a stone cold spellcasting killer. Drogu is the Nest's muscle.
Race: Hyperborean
Secondary Skill: Hunter
Abilities
Strength: 13*
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 12**
Charisma: 11
Casting Ability: 9
Fighting Ability: 9+1, Attacks 3/2
Hit Points: 28
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (leather armor)
Powers
1st level: Read Magic,
Mastery: Sword
4th level: Mastery: Morning Star
8th level: Mastery: Crossbow
9th level: Stronghold (2 apprentice warlocks)
Spells
First: Black hand, Chill touch, shocking grasp
Second: Danse Macabre, Forest of bones, scythe of the reaper
Third: Exploding skull, infrared vision
Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Leather Armor +3, Sword +1/+3 vs. Paladins
Dr. Ewan Brave
Male Witch 8th level "Secret Keeper" (Complete B/X Adventurer, +Jonathan Becker)
Chaotic
"Dr. Ewan Brave" is the newest member of the Nest. He has been responsible for finding new and valuable occult tomes. He keeps back the most powerful for himself.
Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 16*
Wisdom: 13*
Charisma: 11
Hit Points: 24 (d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dragon
Special Abilities
1st: Book of Shadows, bind wounds (heal 1d4)
6th: Brew Potions
Spells
Maximum Spell Level: 3rd
Number of Spells known: 24
1st Level (6): Detect Magic, Foretell, Hex, Read Languages, Speak with Animals, Witch Scribe
2nd Level (9): Cause Fear, Disguise, Eldritch Flame, ESP, Familiar Spirit, Hold Person, Levitate, Locate Object, Remove Fear
3rd Level (9): Bestow Curse, Confusion, Haste, Hoodoo, Object Read, Speak with Dead, Spectral Knowledge, Wizard Lock
Lord Wakaman
Male Half-orc Witch 7th level/Thief 7th level (Adventures Dark & Deep, The Witch, +Joseph Bloch)
Chaotic Evil
"Lord" Wakaman as he is known to most began life living on the streets of the city, a bastard child of an orc thief and an underage unwed mother. His cunning and wits kept him alive when other children would have died.
Abilities
Strength: 12
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 16*
Dexterity: 16 (-1 initiative adj. -2 to AC)
Constitution: 13
Charisma: (12)
Special Abilities (witch class)
Magic bonus
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Affect Undead
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar: Crow
Charisma degradation
Special Abilities (thief class)
Back Stab
Pick Pockets: 55%
Open Locks: 62%
Find and Remove Traps: 55%
Move Silently: 55%
Hide in Shadows: 43%
Listening at Doors: 30%
Climb Walls: 99%
Read Languages: 25%
Thieves' Cant
Special Abilities (race)
Infravision 60'
Languages: Common, Orc, Gnome, Elven
HP: 26
AC: 6 (Bracers)
Spells
First: Affect normal fires, charm person or mammal, control face, direct gaze, push, witch shot
Second: Change self, command, fascinate, misfortune, trip
Third: Bestow curse, fear, hand of glory
Fourth: fiery breath, ill luck
Fifth: improved pass without a trace
Since I have been working on a group of evil/non-good witches I figured make the best of the resources handed to me. These characters have pretty much begged themselves into existence.
The names come from these posts:
- http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/06/i-get-best-spam.html
- http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2013/11/spamming-hyperborea.html
- Plus some other unpublished spam that I get fairly frequently
They are going to be part of my "War of the Witch Queens" adventure path/campagin.
- http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/06/witch-adventures.html
- http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/06/saga-of-witch-queen.html
Now I am generally very fond of all the other "OSR" witches, so I would like to present each one below in the most positive light possible. Designing the characters to take advantage of each of the class features in turn.
In each case their prime ability for being a witch or spellcasting is indicated with an asterisk*.
The Witches' Nest
The Witches' Nest, or more simply, The Nest, is a collection evil witches that operate outside of normal lawful society.
They are not above a little thieving of arcane literature, but mostly they will pass off others ideas as their own. They are con artists, but each one it a powerful witch it their own right. Their leader is a self-styled "doctor" Logan Zabaza. Ozigididon is his second in command and in charge of "spiritual" aspects of their cult. Each witch comes from a different tradition, but all serve the same goals and patron; they are all followers of Mammon.
A typical ruse will be to offer the party help, say magical or healing, to determine what they have and then steal anything that they can. The prefer magical books over magic items, and magical items over gold. They will still steal gold if that is all that the party has.
Dr. Logan Zabaza
Male Witch, Malefic Tradition 13th level (The Witch)
Chaotic
Logan Zabaza is the defacto leader of the Nest only because he keeps the others in line with fear and intimidation. He appears as a middle aged man with long black hair and olive complexion. He prides himself on his looks and always dresses in the highest fashion for the occasion. He carries a cane that contains his boline knife. He also uses this cane as his focusing implement.
Abilities
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 15*
Hit Points: 30
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)
Occult Powers
Familiar: Raven
7th level: Evil's Touch
13th level: Devil's Tongue
Spells
Cantrips: Chill, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open, Palm
First: Cause Fear, Fey Sight, Ghostly Slashing, Increase Sex Appeal , Sleep
Second: Agony, Blast Shield, Death Armor, Evil Eye
Third: Feral Spirit,Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Tongues
Fourth: Dance Macabre, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Very goodPhantom Lacerations
Fifth: Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting
Sixth: Death Blade, Mass Agony
Seventh: Wave of Mutilation
High Priestess Ozigididon
Female Witch, Gypsy Tradition, 13th level (Spellcraft & Swordplay: Eldritch Witchery)
Chaotic Evil
Ozigididon was a gypsy priestess until she threw in with Zabaza. She had been thrown out of her own family due to the darker aspects of magic she prefered and is now making an living as the "spiritual leader" of the Nest.
Abilities
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 11
Hit Points: 35
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (Ring of Protection +1)
Occult Powers
Familiar: Ancestral Spirit (follower of Mammon)
7th level: Prophesy
13th level: Evil Eye
Spells
First: Bless Growth, Charm Person, Light, Minor Curse, Read Magic, Silver Tongue, Spirit Dart
Second: Augury, Detect Invisible, Discord, Knock, Levitate, Magic Broom
Third: Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Liar's Curse, Mind Rash, Slow, Wizard Lock
Fourth: Cloudburst, Elemental Armor, Instant Karma, Masque
Fifth: Break Enchantment, Death Curse, Endless Sleep
Coven: Death Blade, Greater Scry
Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Staff of Enchantment
Drodinaka
Female Witch 11th level, Chthonic Tradition (ACKS Players Companion, +Alexander Macris & +Tavis Allison)
Chaotic
Template: Dark Oracle
Drodinaka is a young, attractive woman with long blond hair. She and Drodu pretend to be sisters since they have similar features. She often pretends she is an acolyte of some benevolent but unnamed faith. She often acts as Ozigididon's second in command.
Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 15*
Charisma: 12*
Hit Points: 28
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection AC 4)
Attack: 7+
Proficiencies: Seduction, Black Lore of Zahar, Prophecy, Performance (Storytelling)
Powers
1st level: Divine spellcasting
3rd level: Brew Potions
5th level: Magic Aura proficiency, Spell research
7th level: Charm Person (1/day), Scribe scrolls
9th level: Create magic items
11th level: craft magical constructs
Spells
First: Detect Undead, Cause fear, cure light wounds, detect magic, light, protection from good, read languages
Second: Spiritual Weapon, augury, bane, choking grip, enthrall, hold person, sleep
Third: Necromantic potence, Alter self, Bestow curse, cause disease, charm person, ESP, Mirror Image
Fourth: animate dead, clairvoyance, chimerical force, dispel magic, fly, nondetection
Fifth: command person, magic carpet, polymorph other, scry, true seeing
Magic Items
Ring of Protection AC 4, Dagger +1
Drogu Dudu
Female Warlock 9th level (Death Lady) (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, +Jeff Talanian)
Chaotic Evil
Drogu is a little older than her "sister" Drodinaka, but like her she is attractive and has long blonde hair. She dresses the part of a warrior woman from the north but is in reality a stone cold spellcasting killer. Drogu is the Nest's muscle.
Race: Hyperborean
Secondary Skill: Hunter
Abilities
Strength: 13*
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 15*
Wisdom: 12**
Charisma: 11
Casting Ability: 9
Fighting Ability: 9+1, Attacks 3/2
Hit Points: 28
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 (leather armor)
Powers
1st level: Read Magic,
Mastery: Sword
4th level: Mastery: Morning Star
8th level: Mastery: Crossbow
9th level: Stronghold (2 apprentice warlocks)
Spells
First: Black hand, Chill touch, shocking grasp
Second: Danse Macabre, Forest of bones, scythe of the reaper
Third: Exploding skull, infrared vision
Magic Items
Ring of Protection +1, Leather Armor +3, Sword +1/+3 vs. Paladins
Dr. Ewan Brave
Male Witch 8th level "Secret Keeper" (Complete B/X Adventurer, +Jonathan Becker)
Chaotic
"Dr. Ewan Brave" is the newest member of the Nest. He has been responsible for finding new and valuable occult tomes. He keeps back the most powerful for himself.
Abilities
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 12
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 16*
Wisdom: 13*
Charisma: 11
Hit Points: 24 (d4)
Alignment: Chaotic
AC: 4 (Ring of Protection +1)
Languages: Common, Elven, Dragon
Special Abilities
1st: Book of Shadows, bind wounds (heal 1d4)
6th: Brew Potions
Spells
Maximum Spell Level: 3rd
Number of Spells known: 24
1st Level (6): Detect Magic, Foretell, Hex, Read Languages, Speak with Animals, Witch Scribe
2nd Level (9): Cause Fear, Disguise, Eldritch Flame, ESP, Familiar Spirit, Hold Person, Levitate, Locate Object, Remove Fear
3rd Level (9): Bestow Curse, Confusion, Haste, Hoodoo, Object Read, Speak with Dead, Spectral Knowledge, Wizard Lock
Lord Wakaman
Male Half-orc Witch 7th level/Thief 7th level (Adventures Dark & Deep, The Witch, +Joseph Bloch)
Chaotic Evil
"Lord" Wakaman as he is known to most began life living on the streets of the city, a bastard child of an orc thief and an underage unwed mother. His cunning and wits kept him alive when other children would have died.
Abilities
Strength: 12
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 16*
Dexterity: 16 (-1 initiative adj. -2 to AC)
Constitution: 13
Charisma: (12)
Special Abilities (witch class)
Magic bonus
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Affect Undead
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar: Crow
Charisma degradation
Special Abilities (thief class)
Back Stab
Pick Pockets: 55%
Open Locks: 62%
Find and Remove Traps: 55%
Move Silently: 55%
Hide in Shadows: 43%
Listening at Doors: 30%
Climb Walls: 99%
Read Languages: 25%
Thieves' Cant
Special Abilities (race)
Infravision 60'
Languages: Common, Orc, Gnome, Elven
HP: 26
AC: 6 (Bracers)
Spells
First: Affect normal fires, charm person or mammal, control face, direct gaze, push, witch shot
Second: Change self, command, fascinate, misfortune, trip
Third: Bestow curse, fear, hand of glory
Fourth: fiery breath, ill luck
Fifth: improved pass without a trace
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