A is for Aardvarkian

Inspired by the comic hero Cerebus the Aardvark, Aardvarkians were included in the Hackmaster RPG's Hacklopedia. An enterprising Hackmaster DM, Jan Monk, wrote them up as a PC race in Hackjournal #7. Therefore, in the interest of spreading this race for OSR play and also in the spirit of the day, I give you the Swords & Wizardry Complete stats!

Aardvarkians are short, furry humanoids with features similar to that of the common aardvark. They love foraging for insects and gain +2 to hit insects of any kind/size. However, they also have poor eyesight and have -1 to hit targets in ranged combat at medium range and -2 at long range.  They gain +1 to hit with spears and javelins due to its extensive use among their tribes.

Aardvarkians tend to be somewhat misogynistic; however, their lack of contact with other races and poor eyesight means that they have a base 50% chance (-5% per level above 1st) to mistake females as males. They also tend to avoid water because a wet Aardvarkian smells horrid; until he dries out, the Aardvarkian cannot surprise any being or creature with  a sense of smell. They are twice as susceptible to alcohol than humans; this is left to the individual referee to adjudicate.

Another feature of their physiology is their sharp claws. They can attack in melee with these claws for 1-3 points of damage. The more important feature of these claws is their use in burrowing. An unencumbered Aardvarkian can burrow through soft earth at 1/4 of their walking movement rate. In their lands, Aardvarkians use this skill to burrow into the earth and attack trespassers by surprise (3-in-6 chance).

Aardvarkians adjust their stats as follows: -1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. They can become Fighters (9th), Rangers (6th), or Thieves (12th). If the referee has a Barbarian class, that is an option as well (unlimited advancement). They are not able to multiclass. Aardvarkian thieves make the following adjustments to thieving skills: Hear Sounds +10%, Hide in Shadows +10%, Move Silently +5%, and Open Locks -5%.

D&D Challenge Day 9: Favorite Character Not Played

This is an odd one, so how about the character I never got to play past two sessions?

 

Going back to Hackmaster again (which I consider an AD&D edition--3E that should have been!), the GM had set up a Hommlet campaign--well sort of--using the hacked version of T1, The Temple of Existential Evil with the twist that party was on the Neutral-Evil Axis rather than the Good-Neutral one. Now, no one else in the group had previously played T1 in any form (I have about 10 years on the rest of CLD). The DM had no problems because, as a fellow DM, he knows that I would never use knowledge of treasure and what's out there to my advantage. I generally hang back on that knowledge and stay out of "party decisions." And, besides, the hacked modules usually mix things up anyway.

 

 

Well, I decided to play a cavalier of Hextor, tasked with stopping the rise of Chaotic Evil in the area around Hommlet. Oh, did I have plans! I was going to help train the militia, try to do some conversions on the side, and stop Chaos, all in the name of the Herald of Hell! I knew what I looked like (dark and handsome, like Rufus Sewell in A Knight's Tale!), had my weapons of choice picked out for levelling, pre-thought conversations of how to do with pesky do-gooders questioning my motives, everything!

 

 

Unfortunately, we only played two sessions. One of the (now former) members of CLD decided to play Stupid Evil and was screwing up the game purposefully for the rest of us. At the same time, he was trying to break the DM's game. Not cool. So, Sir Demetrios never realized his full potential.

 

Until tomorrow, gentle readers, think of what might have been!

D&D Challenge Day 8: Favorite Charcter I Have Played

My favorite character to play in recent years was my 11th Level Halfling thief, Tomman Willowgrove. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must point out that Tomman was a Hackmaster character, but, as I mentioned yesterday, Hackmaster should be considered a "D&D" game due to its license, mechanics,  and the fact that it is a continuation of the 1st/2nd edition "engine."

Not mine drawing; found on "teh interwebz," but a good representation of Tomman, anyway.

I designed Tomman to be an homage to Bilbo Baggins. A little older in life with really good skills as a tailor (somewhere around 80%!), he was thrust into adventure. Hackmaster is a deadly game, so I had to be very careful with a single-classed thief, not doing much fighting before 4th to 5th and serving mostly as the party's "box man" (trap finder and lock picker). But somewhere around 5th, I started the backstabbing and the sneaking more. Since Tomman was single-classed, unlike everyone else in the party, I was hitting 9th level, while they were all at 6/6. And finally, when my son rolled up his first character, Richard Willowgrove, the backstory was that he was Tomman's son. Tomman had recently died, and Richard had found and read Tomman's adventuring journal. Rich then felt the love of adventure growing in his heart and decided to hit the road and find an adventure like his father.

And there you have it, gentle readers; my favorite PC is a Hobbit. :)

S is for Save or Die!

Well, I had a horrible migraine yesterday and did not crawl out of bed until sometime after two in the afternoon and was worthless even after that. Whoever wrote up the migraine flaw for Hackmaster got it right, I must say! Therefore, I will do two posts today. So let's get started!

 

 

See? The Joker rolls old School!

There has been some discussion on some of the OSR Google+ communities lately about the "save or die" mechanic. It essentially boils down to the argument of "letting the dice fall as they will" vs. "coddling the players by fudging the rolls." Now, admittedly most of the discussion focuses on 0E and its clones, but the attitudes hold forth for 1E as well and some of its later iterations such as 2E or Hackmaster. It is interesting to note, as an aside, that there is blasted little dying in 3.5 from level drain, resurrection, poison, etc.; mostly it's ability loss. However, that keeps characters (and thus players) in the game. But, to quote Kelly Bundy, "I digest."

 

Random Hot Girl Pic of the Day

A close examination of AD&D, however, reveals that there is little in the way of save or die. "But what about poison?" I hear my gentle readers asking. Good point. However. an examination of the poison tables in the DMG (p. 20) shows that only the most expensive of the insinuative poisons (Type D, onset time of 1 segment, 1500 g.p. per dose!) is save or die. The type A poison allows a +4 save, has an onset time of 2-5 ROUNDS, does 15 damage, and costs 15 g.p. per does; this is the one that should most often be encountered at lower levels. (For comparison, a +1 sword "costs" 2000 g.p per DMG, p. 124.) While 15 h.p. will kill most first level players outright anyway, there are characters that could survive that at first level (it is possible for a barbarian and ranger to max out at 20 hp at 1st level). Even natural poisons are not that deadly. Per MM1, a giant spider's poison is save or die, but that creature has 4+4 HD and AC 4 making it as deadly as an ogre to a first level party just by way of fortitude!

 

What about polymorph? Even a character with a constitution score of 10 have almost a two-thirds chance (65%) to survive. Petrification? Stone to Flesh. Magic? Most magic does directed damage with a successful save allowing for half damage.

 

So, it would appear that save or die, as such, is actually more connected to 0E and stems from a wargaming mechanic "ported over" to original D&D.

 

And speaking of such, I must recommend the Save or Die! podcast if you have any interest in 0E, Holmes, B/X, BECMI, or any of their myriad clones. They're always entertaining and I say that even though DM Mike and DM Liz are friends that I have known about 25 years. Please check them out at the link below. Also, I have posted links to Roll for Initiative, a 1E Podcast and  THACO's Hammer, a 2E podcast.

 

 

 

 

Save or Die! Podcast (Class D&D)

 

Roll for Initiative (AD&D podcast)

 

THACO's Hammer (2E podcast)

Upcoming Changes in the Blog

A quick post to say that I'm really enjoying my second time working on the A-to-Z Challenge. Last time (2011) I participated in an attempt to become a more frequent blogger and, after the challenge , I fell back into my habit of posting every three months or so. I have determined that the problem is a lack of structure. Therefore, I am announcing that I will now have three themed days a week on which I will post.

 

 

 

First off, leading the charge is Fantasy Monday. This could be anything from book or movie reviews or ruminations on whatever fantasy RPGs are catching my fancy at the time. this is could be AD&D, B/X, DragonQuest, Hackmaster, whatever. It might even include urban fantasy such as the works of Charles de Lint or Kim Harrison or games like Vampire: The Masquerade.

 

 

 

Next up for midweek I'll post on Warhammer Wednesdays. Not, not the bloody miniatures game that changes rules every two years, but the original, first edition RPG. This is a game that I have not run or played in years, but it is still a game that I hold close to my heart. Maybe I'll be able to convince my gaming group,  CLD, to give it a try.

 

 

 

 

Now, having said that Warhammer Wednesday will focus on the FRP, occasionally a post about my DIY WH40K Marine Chapter, the Blood Cross, might pop up. So, be prepared for that eventuality. :)

 

 

 



Finally, I'll end up the week with Sci-Fi Friday! Like fantasy Monday, this will be a hodge podge of reviews, thoughts about RPGs or MMOs, whatever catches my fancy or attention that day. Expect to see Mutants and Masterminds, Villains and Vigilantes, Battletech, Stars Without Number, Traveller, SWTOR, and many other topics on this day.

 

Of course, my AD&D theme for the A-to-Z challenge preempts this and I plan on starting up on 01 MAY 2013 with my first Warhammer Wednesday post. I can't wait. :)





I is for Initiative

Initiative. Is there anything else in AD&D that is tinkered with as much in the history of the game? More so even than level limits and spell slots, this is the winner. I loved Gary to death, but the writing on initiative was not his best. One can argue that the way speed factor is described in the DMG that even a thief can get 3 attacks off before an attacker with a pike can.make his first! So how does that work exactly? Does it take 3 rounds? Does the thief actually get "extra attacks" that he is not entitled to? It is somewhat...bewildering at times.

 

Speed factors in practice!

 

[That said, I cannot recommend more highly DM Prata's ADDICT document that breaks down the AD&D initiative system by steps if one want top play initiative BtB (By the Book). ADDICT pdf]

 

I like to tinker. I believe I have said that before. Well, Hackmaster 4e did a really good of merging the AD&D and 2e initiatives together. I played with a variant of that one for a while. Now Kenzer Company, in Hackmaster 5E, has adapted their Aces and Eights Western RPG system for initiative. And this is the current system I'm tinkering with.

 

First of all, there is only one initiative roll at the beginning of combat to determine when each character begins acting. The combat is measured in "tics" and counts up until the combat is over. Once a character begins acting each action takes a number of tics to complete. There is nothing random about it. So, let's start the adaptation.

 

First up, surprise. The DM will determine surprise. Sorry, but that's an adjudication call. It's insane to have a 34% chance (2 in 6) of being surprised each and every combat. If surprise is warranted, the surprised character(s) or side begins acting once everyone else has started.

 

Each player is rolling for each character; no group init (the DM can, of course, roll for groups of monsters for ease; this does actually give the players a bit of an edge. Roll d6, add reaction adjustment for DX. The player begins acting when their number comes up. What are the actions?

 

1. Spells. The player starts casting. If material components are required, 1d4 is added to the count to grab them if they are readily available. Exception: a girdle of many pouches (or the like) only adds a one. Spell components might already be in hand (like an archer with a drawn bow) add nothing. The next spell occurs in its casting time plus a d4 if components are necessary. 1 Segment = 1 Tic. 1 Round =10 Tics. Note that wands are very powerful and can be activated every TIC unless an item description says other wise (Cf.,wand of fire, "pyrotechnics," DMG, pg. 135) ! One will, of course, run through charges really quick in that instance!

 

 

2. Missile Combat. Weapon-in-Hand goes on your first tic. After that, Rate of Fire 3 weapons, 3 tics. RoF 2: 5 tics. RoF 1: 10 tics. RoF 1/2: 20 tics. Exceptions: A Quiver of Ehlonna (or the equivalent) subtracts 1 Tic. A crossbow of speed halves the Tic count (i.e., light in 5, heavy in 10). A specialist bowman with a drawn bow still fires before initiative is rolled.

 

3. Melee Combat. Now it gets a little complex. The first attack with a weapon is easy. Adjacent to foe and swing. After that, the speed factor comes into play: that's the Tic count. Ah, but what about fighters with multiple attacks. Subtract 1 Tic from Speed for every extra attack the fighter has. The same works for cavaliers with weapons of choice or weapon specialists. Alternatively, one can allow two attacks with the weapon when the count comes up. If the charcater is dual wielding, use the rules in the DMG (pg. 70), but note that the off-hand weapon has its own count.

If you disengage, that is, you have active enemy fighters around you, your weapon "resets": move and attack normally when adjacent to a foe.

Monks are a interesting case. Open hand speed factor is 1. Their numbers of attacks per round is based on level. It's best just to go with one attack per tic. That either makes them uber or gives them a bit of an edge, depending. However, they have a lack of AC and, if using AC modifiers to hit, they're balanced in that way as well.

 

4. Movement. 1" of movement (10') per Tic. Other actions (within reason) can combine with this, such as changing weapons on the run, grabbing spell components, etc. Not that to begin casting or to fire a weapon, the character must not be moving. Exceptions: Wands or crossbows can be fired on the run. Bows (of both types) can be fired from a moving horse, as can wands; crossbows (despite evidence in the movie LadyHawke) cannot be reloaded on horseback.

 

 

 

5. Psionics. If one uses psionics then, rather than stop the combat and play it out, each action is a Tic. The DMG (p. 79) states "psionic combat tokes place very quickly - in segments rather than rounds." Since this system 1 Segment = 1 Tic, there is no reason to stop. Take that, Illithid scum! Or not....

 

6. Other actions. Grabbing a potion from a pouch and quaffing it: 1d4 tics. Drawing or sheathing a weapon: 1 Tic. Dropping an item in hand: 1 Tic. Using an "at will" power or ability: 1 Tic. Remember, Tics = Seconds. Also, some actions can combine with movement; use common sense.

All-in-all, there are two things I like about this system. First, the lack of rolling speeds thing up and makes combat more fluid. Two, it keeps everyone engaged; no one is sitting there, twiddling dice, and waiting for the end of the round. things could change rapidly.

Until tomorrow, gentle readers.

 

E is for Editions

Well, I shall attempt to be brief, but that's going to be hard with today's topic, gentle readers. There are, at last count, 6 editions of D&D (more depending on how you count!) and numerous clones and licensed properties that use the D&D "engine." I also will not mention Chainmail as that is not D&D per se. If I miss some, please chalk it up to a headache I have today!

First up is the edition that started it all: Dungeons and Dragons, also called variously 0e(dition), O(riginal)e(dition), and the LBB (Little Brown Books). The core classes and races as well as statistics are there: Clerics, Men of Magic, Fighting Men (Thieves were added in the Greyhawk Supplement); elves, dwarves, Hobb...er, Halflings; experience points; etc.  Some things are noticeably different from later editions, such as d6 damage for all weapons. This version is not "new player friendly;" it assumes a previous experience with wargaming. One of things to like about this edition is the lack of defined rules. Imagination was key. There were also no hard limits: science and sorcery were mixed in Castle Greyhawk as well as in Blackmoor.

 

 

On a sidenote, the impact of D&D was felt in other games. Traveller when it came out, arrived in a LBB (Little Black Book) Edition with a similar division of books: Characters and Combat, Starships, and Worlds mirroring Men and Magic, Creatures and Treasure, and Underworld and Wilderness Adventures.

 

 

 

I'll talk about the next two together. It was quickly apparent as D&D sold rapidly across the country that a hit was on their hands. The deficiency about a lack of instruction was noted. As AD&D was prepared Holmes D&D, a primer on roleplaying that took eh character to 3rd level was introduced as a stopgap measure. Alignments went from three (L, C, N) to 5 (LG, CG, LE, CE, N). Holmes was never intended to be a truly stand alone game but more of a "gateway" game to introduce the game to potential players.  After AD&D was published, D&D Basic and Expert  (B/X or Moldvey/Cook D&D) was introduced. My impression is that D&D was supposed to become the home game that one could tinker with to one's content. AD&D was the framework for the "international" and tournament game, a framework that would allow for greater precision in competition. This is to some extent conjecture, but is the feeling I have. I also like to point put that the blurb on the back of the Basic Book touts it as "family entertainment."  Way different from being a  smelly neckbeard basement-dweller game. There are some important things in B/X: race as class, a return to the 3 alignments, and a less technically precise combat. It is, in many ways, divorced from its wargaming roots; not so AD&D.

 

 

 

I'm using a pic of the current reprints because they are so sweet! For me, this is AD&D. As much as people deride 3.0/3e for becoming a minis game, it is still an important component of first edition as well. All of those fiddly numbers: weapon speed, armor modifiers, the confusing initiative. It is apparent that Gary never really left his wargaming roots. He's the lead author here. B/X and the later BECMI had different leads and therefore way different feels. Here we gain the 9 alignments (LG, NG, CG, LN, NT, CN, LE, NE, CE); more races (gnomes, half orcs and a plethora of elves and dwarves); more classes (assassin, monks, cavaliers, etc.). It can be argued that, like minis, 3e's fascination with "a class for anyone" can be laid at Gygax's feet. And what are the bard and thief-acrobat if not proto-prestige classes. The introductions of skills as "nonweapon proficiencies begins here as well in Oriental Adventures. We also gain most of the campaign worlds: Greyhawk, Toril, Kyrnn, and Ravenloft (as a module, true; it is in 2e that it would become a world).

 

 

Basic had a facelift in the mid 1980s. It was truly its own game and a very playable one as well and is termed BECMI (Basic-Expert-Companion-Master-Immortal) by fans. BECMI's lead author was Frank Mentzer. The game took  characters from 1st to 36th level and then beyond to Immortal levels. The expanded game setting of the Known World (to become Mystara in 2e) had its own line of gazetteers. No other D&D campaign world has really had this level of attention to detail.

 

 

With the ouster of Gary from TSR, the company continued on. In 1989, second edition hit the scene. Love it or hate it, it is still the longest in print version. And, boy, were they prolific! Splat books for the classes and the addition of kits to customize classes. Humanoids as viable PC races (The Complete Humanoid). Even Psionics was revamped into an arguably workable system (although it works best where magic is not present). Planescape, Ravenloft, Mystara/Red Steel, Dark Sun for new campaign worlds as well as revamps of Toril, Oerth and Kyrnn. There was much crying over the loss of many of the core classes like moinks and assassins. However, it was a return to those core four classes (Warrior/Mage/Priest/Rogue) seen in 0e. The other problem players had was with the  "unbalancing" kits. I believe that's due to a poor DM, but opinions vary. I don't play this edition enough. It is a complete system, still readily available with reprints of the core books arriving in May. And it is well integrated and planned out.

 

 

In the mid 1990s, we got the Player's Option books or 2.5. It did not supplant or replace 2e, but it allowed for point buy character creation, spell point systems and the like. It was really more of a D&D "toolbox" that had "official" ways to change the rules. I never knew anyone to play this; I did own it and wanted to run or play it. The idea of a creating a wizard who could use a sword or have thieving abilities was novel.

 

Enter the 21st century and the acquisition of the brand by Wizards of the Coast and Monte Cook. Third edition. D20. There has been much written about this over the years. This version focuses more on the mins and the tactical nature of combat. One could argue that was true of 1e as well; it was really B/X and BECMI that were roleplaying focused without the need for minis. I won't go into the mechanics of 3.0/3.5. Suffice to say, though, that it is still recognizably D&D. The strength and weakness of d20 are the same in my opinion: the OGL. The Open Game License allowed third party publishers to use the engine to create games and supplements. That is good in that we got some really outstanding games such as Mutants and Masterminds and Castles and Crusades. The flip side is that there is A LOT of material for players and especially DMs to wade through, some of which is sub-par and mediocre.

 

Fourth edition....bored yet? This is the version that receives the most vitriol these days. It is arguably not D&D but a MMO with dice and minis. Some of the ideas make sense to some extent: magic-missile as an "at-will power" makes mages more survivable, but also makes it like hitting the 1 button in a video game. Alignment was simplified and the concept of "unaligned" was brought into play. There is a dearth of roleplaying material; 1e was guilty of that as well, but did have material on hirelings, sages, creation of the campaign world. This was a poor attempt to change the brand to appeal to young computer gamers and a mistake that I believe WotC has realized.

 

And so, on the horizon, is "D&D Next." From what I have seen of the playtest materials, this edition is going to attempt to become "all things for all people." That might work for a Roman Catholic saint, but I have my doubts as to its viability for a RPG. It would appear that it will be a stripped-down version very similar to D&D basic, but without race as class. There will be a plethora of options so one can ramp it up to something akin to 3.5 or anything in between. We'll see how that works. I am cautiously optimistic.

 

And, now, bring on the clones!

 

 

 

I want to mention first off M.A.R. Barker's Empire of the Petal. The world of Tekumel first published by TSR in 1975 and using an adaptation of the 0e ruleset. Tekumel is a non-western fantasy world and is much beloved of its fans. If you're looking for something not derived from Tolkien and Howard, this is the game for you! A reprint is available at: Tita's House of Games

 

The Basic Fantasy RPG was probably the first fan reaction to 3.0, if my internal timeline is correct. This is a wonderful product and I can't recommend it enough. It is essentially a B/X clone that is completely free; print copies are sold on Lulu at cost. There are a lot of add-ons for the game that are fan-produced and available for download in pdf and Open Office formats. Please check them out at: Basic Fantasy Roleplaying

 

 

 

One of the first professional responses to 3.0 was Castles and Crusades by Troll Lord Games. Using the OGL the Trolls created a stripped down fantasy game reminiscent of first edition and it is a great game in its own right. Ascending AC and a version of BAB is used. This game plays like D&D lite. I also enjoy that weapons have abilities reminiscent of the AC modifiers tables of 1e but with out a huge chart. For instance, a bec de corbin "receives a +2 when used against chain, plate and scale armors." Another thing that struck me was that the original printings were the same size as the 1e PHB. They also have the distinction of working with Gary Gygax in an attempt to get Castle Greyhawk (as Castle Zagyg) published before Gary died. Check them out at: Troll Lord Games

 

 

 

Kenzer Company's Hackmaster (fourth edition!) was an officially licensed game that used the 1e/2e core system. It was, in many respects, 1e with some 2e things (kits, wild magic, splat books) tacked on. There was even an inkling of 2.5 with their STP (Skills-Talents-Proficiencies) system that allowed some characterization of classes. As a result of the licensing agreement with WotC, KCo had to use a lot of parody in their language. Ignore that, though, and the core system is sound. WotC did not renew the license prior to the release of 4e. Hackmaster lives on in its fifth (actually 2nd) edition but the core mechanics are drastically different. However, it is worth checking out and they are offering the stripped down "basic" book as a FREE pdf (download here). They can be found at: Kenzer Company

 

 

Goblinoid Games offers the Labyrinth Lord game, another company that used the OGL to produce an older-style RPG. This is essentially a B/X emulator and is available in print at Lulu and also as a free pdf download (sans artwork). They offer the Advanced Edition Companion to make the game a bit more like AD&D. They also offer Mutant Future (a Gamma World clone) and own the licenses to Timemaster and Starships and Spacemen (in print again!). Their web site is: Goblinoid Games

 

Swords and Wizardry is another B/X style game and is currenty published by Frog God Games. These are the guys that produced Rappan Athuk and it is another great game. The Whitebox edition takes it back down to 0e if that's your thing. Their web site is: Frog God Games

 

Dark Dungeons is a another retro-clone, but this one uses BECMI as its reference point. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the horrid Jack T. Chick religious diatribe, Dark Dungeons. In fact, the exanple character that is used throughout the work is Black Leaf, the character who dies in the first panel of the tract. It's always good to have a sense of humor about these things. It is available in pdf form for free and in print for a nominal fee from Lulu. The web site is: Gratis Games

Johnathan Becker's B/X Companion is not a true clone; rather, it is an extension of the B/X game. The public was promised a Companion book to take characters past 14th level when B/X was published, but the rebranding to BECMI meant that the world would never see it...until now. Becker extrapolated what might have been and this is a nice addition for you if prefer the Moldvey/Cook rules. the cover is obviously a homage to the original Erol Otus covers. It is no longer available in print but is available as a pdf at RPGNow. Becker recently released the B/X Adventurer that adds some new classes and magic to the game most notably gnomes, centaurs, and witches (among others). Running Beagle Games is found at: B/X Blackrazor

 

 

Finally, we come to the end....and OSRIC. I give these guys a lot of grief, I admit that readily. However, unlike some of the other clones that stay true to their source, this version is not what it purports to be. True, it is AD&D  as it was played in the 1980s; but just because we didn't play with weapon factors, psionics, monks, etc., doesn't mean they're not a part of AD&D. Even Goblinoid Game's Advanced Edition Companion adds the caveat "as it was played." That said, this is a well done work. Even if I disagree with Stuart Marshall's choices, this is a outstanding product. Everything one needs to play something close to AD&D (yes, yes, I can't let it go!) in one beautiful tome with art from James Halloway. It's only $26, so if the $100+ pricetag of the 1e reprints is too much, go here. The web site is: Black Blade Publishing

 

And that's it! Woo-hoo, finally through. Break out the Faygo! Tomorrow, gentle readers, I shall examine some of my favorite forums!

 

 

D is for Deities

Today's is running late. work caught me up so it'll be a little short.

The deities of Toneeze Wurld (officially Hackmaster Wurld #162) are varied. They tend to be primarily Greyhawk deities. However, there are others, mostly due to the transposition of the City of the Invincible Overlord as the major urban hub for the continent.

Mighty Hextor, Many-Armed Herald of Hell, grants us the strength to dominate and rule!

The chief deities of the CSIO are Odhinn (CN), Thoth (N), and . . . .Hextor (LE). Hextor has long been one of my favorite deities for LE characters. I replaced Morg and the largest temple in CSIO is the Hellbridge Temple of the Herald of Hell. I portray the City-State as old and decadent like ancient Lankhmar. Thoth has one of the oldest temples in the city as God of Magic and Scribes. Odhinn is a more recent transplant, his priests coming in with the latest Overlord and taking up shop in a long abandoned and shuttered temple of some ancient and forgotten war god. There are minor shires to dark deities and good deities and even the Frog God and Wastri the hopping prophet.

One of the more popular deities on the Wurld is Ehlonna, the Lady of the forests, worshiped by Elves, Halflings, fairy and sylvan creatures and even many humans. The Dwarves worship their deified kings, the long-death Fathers of their Race. 

Familiar deities to most of us are gods of the Southern deserts (Egyptian) and the gods of the frozen North (Norse) are also present. Their are few worshipers of the Greco-Roman deities these days, but they are remembered and occasional relics of Jupiter, Apollo, and Minerva are found.

Until tomorrow, dear friends, look to the heavens for aid!

Father Jupiter smiles on us!, Pt. II

...continued from Pt I...

Yes, yes, splitting the party. But it was the only thing we could think of.

The chaplain sent us with a letter to the magistrate and one of his acolytes as surety of the veracity of our claims. It was decided that the thieves (Serge and Candy) would stay in the Keep and keep an eye on the smithy to see if the missing die was discovered. It's only three says (round trip) to Arz, so we figured we had everything well in hand. Wrong.

Corporal Nargus (remember him?) and a gaggle of confederates ambushed us on the road to Arz. He called our paladin out and or paladin critted him on the first hit! Not enough to severely hinder him and must assuredly did not have the upper hand.

In short, it was hard fought battle. I dropped to -2 HP at one point, the dwarven berserker fell to about -22 or some such (very, very dead) and the paladin had to take on 3-4 survivors of teh ambush party single-handedly (the Pixie Fairy was out of spells). However, the quick application of a healing potion brought me back, and we captured one alive to drag to the magistrate in Arz. Said magistrate agreed to relieve the prefect and began the journey back to Frandor's Keep with us. Cut back to the day previous....

Meanwhile at the Keep, the thief has noticed nothing wrong. However, while keeping observation of the smithy, a hand grabs him from behind! It's the former keep commander, Hollman. Apparently the prefect had learned of the adventurers and their "investigation" and had arrested the chaplain, Greytar, and Ledra. The had to get out of here and the commander knew a secret way!

The thief decided they were probably going after Candy as well and got the commander to follow him to the Inn. They were too late and a squad of four men had Candy in custody! The thief made the ballsy decision to rescue her, and the pair shadowed them and took them as they turned a corner. A brief fight and the the trio made it to the commander's secret escape route and met up with the party returning on the road from Arz.

At this point, it was very clear that they were on to us. We decided to ensconce the magistrate and his soldiers at our "claim" (in Hackmaster, members of the Adventurers' Guild can stake claims to dungeons--we had already cleared the kobold caves). Meanwhile, we would infiltrate the keep from the caverns beneath using a route known to Hollman and capture the prefect and return to the magistrate with him.

Well, we worked our way up and, as we were nearing the actual dungeon level of the keep, we heard a strange chanting coming from a room just pst the stairs leading up. A 01 on my religion roll identified it as a chant to Yigor, the god of subversion and treachery! During the aforementioned Twilight War, the one god who caused the most ruin to Father Jupiter was Yigor. So, with an attitude of "screw the commando raid" I led a charge against the foul worshippers!

When we threw open the door to the room there was a bunch of skeletons ("who doesn't love smashing skellies?"), 2 acolytes and our friend Harkus, the supposed priest of Shona!

Initiatives were rolled, actions stated and in the ensuing melee, I managed (with a yell of "Traitor!") to throw a hold person on Harkus. Which is GOOD because as Ramsey later told us, he was a lvl 7 cleric. Serge managed to douse him with a Greek Fire Fire and waiting a couple of rounds to set him on fire...anticipation, good! :) The rest of the room was fairly anti-climatic.

Making our way up to the keep, we manage to catch the prefect with 4 guards and carts full of gold ore, obviously preparing to make a break for it. A brief battle ensues in which our hidden thief, with an expert use of caltrops and shots to the back of the head with his crossbow, is able to keep runners for going for help. The prefect is captured, and Erig arrives on the scene to find out what the hell's going on? ("I hate to tell you this, Erig, but your lover is a traitor and a thief.")

All-in-all everything turned out well. The magistrate came in, settled arrives. The prefect comes from a senatorial family in Fangerie, so he escaped with a demotion and a reposting. Fines were paid, some merchants had to leave and Hollman was reinstated as the commander. We still have a lot of work to do against the humanoids, so now we get to go into "hack 'n' slash" dungeon-crawl mode! Yay!

Several more thoughts....

My poor misguided and gullible cleric also had the enabler flaw. I wonder how far I can get away with pushing the whole "gay" with Erig? Maybe keep introducing to handsome men with certain proclivities? lol, yes, I'm terrible, I know.

Louie, our paladin (Sir Jordan), also does a lot more than comes across here. HE's the most charismatic member of the party and keeps everything and organized and pretty on track.

Cliff was buried in the mountains near our claim with all the rites of the Church of Jupiter. It was his wish not to be resurrected. He merely wanted peace and rest.

Father Jupiter smiles on us!, Pt. I

Well, the culmination of a couple of month;s hard work finally paid off in last night's Hackmaster game (the true 4th Edition!). It was an epic struggle that lasted a full 9 hours (we usually only game 4-5 hours at a stretch--Wednesday night game and all that) and could have ended "very badly" for the party. I had this feeling of trepidation because I've been reading George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, and this most assuredly had the type of Machiavellian backstabbing that brought down the ill-fated Eddard Stark. Let me explain.

One of the subplots in Little Keep on the Borderlands involves a cabal of military conspirators who have created devalued counterfeit gold coins and worked them into the economy of Frandor's Keep. Our party became aware of this several weeks ago and managed (through blind luck, as it happens) managed to bypass the conspirators in the keep and go straight to the only people in the Keep who were not part of the conspiracy. Maybe a bit of a recap and party introduction is in order.

GM: Ramsey Williams

Marcus Ironfist, Cleric of Jupiter the Mighty (NOT Zeus the Diminished!), lvl 3: Yours truly

Sir Jordan Iscariot, Paladin of Jupiter, lvl 3: Louie

Serge (Sarge, Surge...his name seems to change in my mind), Thief, lvl 3 (4?): James

Al (sort for something very long and rambling), Pixe-Fairy Evoker, lvl 2 or 3: NPC

Cliff, Dwarvan Berserker, lvl 2: NPC

Candy Applebottom, Thief-Acrobat (with COM 19!), lvl 2 (?): NPC follower

Elroy, 15 y.o. torcher bearer: hireling

and a couple of other hirelings...our party banner bearer, my 1/2-orc valet (!), animal handler, etc.

Marcus and Jordan are members of the Church of Jupiter...due to the effects of the Twilight War amongst the Gawds, Zeus lost some power and shifted to the LG alignment. Jordan is actually the first known paladin of Zeus in our campaign. Even though we're both LG, we tend to play our PCs more like Roman aristocrats and less like ascetic Christian monks. Not ~too~ epicurean, but also not too stoic either. :)

Our PCs had been sent by our Church to the Keep to check on Ledra Moss, a lvl 2 cleric and (according to the module) also a cleric of Zeus (we prefer Jupiter for obvious reasons...the Church is "restructuring" due to a "unfavorable religious climate"). We also had no clear orders rather than to perform the "work of most Holy Jupiter" and to "increase his standing in the eyes of the inhabitants of the lands to the west." So, we started adventuring in the area.

Well, anyway, about the same time the debased currency started showing up in the keep, we recovered a ledger and some gold nuggets in an abandoned mine. The ledger was a sort of paybook noting transactions and payments of some sort. We lucked out, and rather than taking the nuggets to the gem dealer for appraisal (a member of the cabal!), we asked the keep's paymaster (not in the cabal; the fellow who pays out the humanoid bounties). He told us to not flash that around and went into some detail about the gold problem and the fact that it might draw too much attention of the wrong sort (he had a favorable reaction to us due to our paladin...go figure!).

So, we headed off to Ledra who confirmed that this looked suspicious and contacted Greytar the sage and the Keep's chaplain, both not listed in the book. They assigned us the task of trying to gather more information.

I should mention that prior to this, we had solved the mystery of the "Mad Hermit" who was actually the keep's previous commander who had been driven mad by the influence of an evil magical artifact. He had been recuperating in the chapel and the whole thing had been kept quiet to avoid embarrassing Hullman (the commander/mad hermit).

We had to find more info to directly the current prefect to the conspiracy. And that's where tonight started...sorta.

The night began, as most adventures do, in a tavern where we were quietly meeting with Ledra. "Meet in the open?" you ask. Well, he is a Cleric of Jupiter, so what's more natural than us all hanging out? Hey, my cleric is gullible and misinformed!

Ledra insisted that we do something (Gm prodding!), so we decided to get Candy, our delectable NPC companion, to ingratiate herself with the prefect at a social the next evening and learn what she could from him. After looking at the list of conspirators, we decided that the dies for the coins had to be in the Keep. Of they were hidden in the Wilds, then a group of adventurers (like us!) might stumble upon them. Logic dictated that they had to be used near a forge. We decided that the Smithy was the possible best choice and decided to have our thief infiltrate and search.

Well, I won't go into the heretos and the whytofors, but, after Ledra left, we had an altercation with Corporal Nargus, one of the main conspirators, and a brawl ensued! We handed out a stunning victory, kept property damage to a minimum (one chair, courtesy of our berserker) and stayed out of the stockade. We also made the acquaintance of an "apparent" cleric of Shona (LN god of fair play) named Harkus during the fight.

At the social the next evening, some good roleplay occurred. My gullible misinformed (and toga clad--in the best Roman tradition!) cleric learned that the prefect had recently had a conniving shrew leave him for greener pastures. He had stole her from one his sub-officers one Erik, (Erig? Erag?--something like that) who he was now "buddy-buddy" with. (My cleric wrongfully inferred that the two were now "special friends"--I won't relate it all, but my PC made various inappropriate, yet funny, comments for the rest of the night about the two).

Candy insinuated herself with the commander and they disappeared together as the evening was winding down. Plan 2 immediately went into action. Short story...apparently the smith and his wife were out at the tavern for the evening and out thief was able to infiltrate and find the dies and the gold. He left half of the die set. Our thoughts were that maybe we could by with it and they might not check the stash every die. (Poor planning on our part, but what else could we do?). Plus we wanted to leave some evidence for a hopeful search.

Candy returned the next morning and was able to abscond with papers from the prefect's desk showing that he had went in debt to refurbish his rooms in the keep for his former lover. He embezzled money from the keep's treasury to pay for it and was apparently replacing it with the debased currency.

A quick meeting with Ledra and the chaplain confirmed that we would have to ride t0 the town of Arz and meet with the magistrate there. He was the only one with the authority to launch an investigation of this magnitude.

Thus it was that we made one of the most fundamental mistakes that a gaming group can ever make....we decided to SPLIT THE PARTY!!!

....continued in Pt. II....