Tales from the pages of Dragon Magazine

[(un)reason]

Hello. Those of you who've been reading the forum will know that for the past year, I've been reading and reviewing every Dragon Magazine, in order. While certainly not anywhere near finishing this, I think I now have more than enough material to build a game (if not dozens) with. So this is where I'll gradually build up a world, largely constructed from ideas and material drawn from various articles in the magazine, and post accounts of my actual plays involving it. I intend to playtest as many of the articles as possible, and give feedback on how they turn out. After all, what seems like a good read might be horribly broken in play, while a dull one might be smooth and helpful when actually put into practice. Hopefully, this'll give us a better perspective than straight reading.


Our first bit of fun, of course, eschews the worldbuilding, personalities, plot and all that fancy stuff, for pure random dungeoncrawling. With an emphasis on the random. Yes folks, what better place to start than by using the random dungeon tables in The Strategic Review 1 to create my very first dungeon? I certainly can't think of one. This was done yesterday, as a purely spontaneous exercise, with me DMing, and my brother playing all the characters as a unit. We managed to whip up the characters and dungeon in a couple of hours, (the dungeon, of course, taking a lot longer than the characters) and played for approximately 4. It was all very much a sudden decision, and I had no particular plans going into it.


So lets introduce you to the characters, such as they were. Generated using straight 3d6, take what you get, and Moldvay basic edition classes, here's the 8 1st level reprobates who entered. How many of them will come out the other end? Good question.

Vile: Class: Cleric AL:N Str:6 Dex:8 Con:16 Int:9 Wis:13 Cha:12 Hp:8 AC:3

Obes: Class: Thief AL:L Str:6 Dex:8 Con:12 Int:6 Wis:8 Cha:8 Hp:1 AC:8

Rot: Class: Thief AL:C Str:9 Dex:16 Con:10 Int:13 Wis:5 Cha:16 Hp:3 AC: 5

Skulcrush Class: Dwarf AL:C Str:18 Dex:10 Con:13 Int:10 Wis:10 Cha:9 Hp:5 AC:3

Wulf: Class: Fighter AL:N Str:16 Dex:9 Con:12 Int:9 Wis:5 Cha:15 Hp:8 AC:2

Fang: Class: M-U AL:L Str:10 Dex:9 Con:5 Int:13 Wis:7 Cha:13 Hp:1 AC:9 Spell: Magic missile.

Lord: Class: Elf AL:C Str:16 Dex:17 Con:13 Int:16 Wis:10 Cha:13 Hp:7 AC:0 Spell: Detect magic.

Lastra: Class:M-U AL:L Str:10 Dex:14 Con:11 Int:16 Wis:8 Cha:13 Hp:4 AC:8 Spell: Sleep.


Now, lets introduce you to the dungeon. As they advise, I started in the middle, and simply filled stuff out as I went, only fudging to make sure I didn't go off the edges. Monsters were determined using the level 1 random encounters table from the moldvay basic set, except for significant (big, odd shaped, etc) rooms, which used the level 2 tables instead. Treasure was also determined purely by the random table from SR1. I numbered all the rooms with anything significant in them, and here's the key to that.

0: The entrance, of course.
1: 250GP
2: 8 bandits
3: 5 Skeletons
4: 2 Traders. To make sense of these three encounters so close together, I turned the bandits into mercenary employees of the Traders, and decided they would have arrived just before the PC's and be fighting the skeletons. This would set up an instant dillema for their enjoyment.
5: Murder holes, so anyone above this long corridor can shoot arrows and pour flaming oil on intruders.
6: 6 fire beetles + 1000 CP
7: Cavern with pool that turns gold to platinum (1 time only) 3 Black Widow spiders.
8: Pit trap in this corridor
9: Toilet. Not randomly rolled for, but the room seemed the right kinda size and position, and it never hurts to include one.
10: Back door to gnome burrows. This gave them a chance to rest and reequip if they made it this far.
11: Sliding wall trap to crush careless entrants to death.
12: 7 Halfling Wolfriders. I rolled a double helping of monsters here, and then got halflings and wolves. This was surprisingly easy to reconcile into a single coherent team, while being the kind of thing you'd never think of on your own. I decided to have them be another party of earlier adventurers, who had just tripped the trap in this corridor. So the PC's would have the fun choice of if to save them or not.
13:1000 SP
14: 2 bandits just behind this secret door, able to shoot through murder holes.
15: 2 Giant shrews, 100 PP
16: 11 halflings, 1,000 SP (More halfling adventurers? How very curious.)
17: 100 PP
18: 250 GP
19: 16 Kobolds. I decided they'd use the money in the previous room as bait, as at least that'd make a little sense.
20: 10 Kobolds, 1000 CP.
21 8 giant shrews (presumably trained by the kobolds )
22: 750 EP. 1 Gecko (the leader's pet)
23: 1000 CP
24: 4 elves. 750 EP
25: 7 troglodytes. Another obvious immediate conflict set up here.
26: 750 EP (there's a lot of electrum in this area. What's all that about?)
27: 4 skeletons in a closet. (Another kobold trap, I presume )
28: Chute leading down to room 24.
29: Two doored elevator. When entered from the west, it descends, allowing access to the room on the east, while preventing them from going back until 30 turns later, when it automatically resets.
30: 6 Ghouls
31: One way escape ladder in hidden tunnel. Only openable from below.
32: Another hidden ladder back to room 24. This one is infested with yellow mold, which will shoot spores if they try to climb it.

And here's the map. Each small square = 5 foot.

And here is the timeline of our first adventure.


Day 1: Enter dungeon. explore to first turnoff, turn left. Encounter halflings exploring this part. Decide to let them take that path, while they take the other. Go north, fight giant shrews hiddden in nest off collapsed tunnel. Obes killed in one hit by shrew of caer bannor. Kill shrews. Loot 100 PP from their lair (apparently, these giant shrews like shiny things. Head west. Watch mercenaries fight skeletons. Get offered a job by the Investigators to replace their losses in the battle. Decide not to take that offer. Finish off mercs + employers by casting sleep + slitting their throats. Decide to head back after this, as they now have a pretty hefty haul.

Haul: 50 xp. 100pp 750ep, app 1000 gp of misc coins from mercs, weapons & armour, trousers full of shrew . (they leave the dead character behind, but take his trousers to use as a storage device. This says a lot. )

Day 2: Stand in fork off chamber (1) debating which way to go. Tussey & Strunk investigators (wandering monster roll of traders) come in to see what happened to their previous mercs. Decide to play it innocent & direct them the way the halflings went. Turn right, fight fire beetles in trapezoidal room, continue up to back entrance to treasure room. (32) Shot at by guards through peepholes in secret door, decide to retreat.

Haul:5 fire beetles 75 XP. 1000 cp

Day 3: Head north from first fork, detect pit trap in time to avoid falling in. Decide to leave that route, head east. Follow corridor northeast, northwest, and then enter cavern. As they do, a giant black widow spider drops on skulcrush's head. Fails to kill him first round, but succeeds second. They see two more giant spiders approaching. Lastra uses sleep, and once again, they kill them while incapacitated. They then investigate the pool in the cavern. The wizards examine it, and find it radiates transmutation magic. So they start experimenting. First, they put the shrew in. It turns purple and gives off bubbles. Second they put the spider corpses in. It returns to it's original colour. Then Wulf jumps in. Nothing seems to happen. Finally, they dump all the corpses into it. It turns grey, and gives off a roiling smoke and bubbles. When a monstrosity made of all the bones put in fused together randomly lurches out, they run. When they get back to the inn, Wulf finds all his GP have turned to platinum. He decides not to tell the rest of the party. This of course puts him up a good 1,200 xp as well. Good outcome for him, eh?

Haul:3 black widow spiders, 150 XP. Effective gain of 1200 GP due to conversion.

Day 4-6: Hide out in town, listening for rumours. (they aren't going to fight something that far out of their league if they can help it) On Day 7, word of this monstrosity and the devastation it has wreaked upon the farmers reaches town. Town Lord hires crack team of 18 halfling mercenaries. (More random rolling. Don't laugh) 9 die in the battle, but they beat the beast.

Day 15: Come back to dungeon with ladder. Use it to get over pit trap. Find that this is just another way into the same cavern as last time. Head northeast, Come to trap triggered by halfling wolfriders. Fail to figure out how to open it and save them. Give up, head south, to take the one branch they haven't explored yet. Find corpses of the group of halflings they encountered on day 1. Loot bodies, leave.

Haul:250GP, plus lots of adventurer gear to flog.

Day 16: Venture back into dungeon. Explore area to north and find it pretty much empty. Bung up murder holes used to shoot down at people coming in. (5) Go to room with halfling corpses. Loot kitchen, find 100pp. Go to room on the west, (which is curiously empty apart from 250 GP lying on the ground, very suspicious) get bombarded by flaming oil from murder holes by this door. Retreat. Wait a while, come back. Interrupt kobolds as they ventured out from the locked door. Lastra sleeps 6 kobolds, 4 remaining. Fight. Fang gets killed in fight, but they kill the kobolds. As they relax, and turn to loot the bodies, the kobolds on the other side of the door bombard them with more flaming oil. Lastra gets killed (poor 1hp mages) All apart from Lord retreat. Lord runs to the near wall and hides by the side of the murder holes where he can't be shot. and then pushes his own cans of flaming oil through the holes back. Kobolds scream and run off. The other PC's come back, keep guard. Discuss their next move for quite a while. Figure out how to open the door using 10 foot poles to lift the bar on the other side through the murder holes. Head east to room 20. Catch Kobold napping (amusing surprise rolls. ) kill one, but others manage to get away. Head south, then east. Figure out that area 29 is an elevator, and engage it to go downwards. Head north to room 30. Open it, see dead bodies lying on the floor. Decide to be cautious, throw a stone at them, then slam and spike the door shut. This awakes the Ghouls, and they scrabble at the door, trying to break through. Vile the cleric tries to turn them repeatedly, but fails. Wulf and Rot investigate the room to the south, but fail to find the secret door. Ghouls eventually break through, and nasty fight takes place, with Vile getting paralyzed, but eventually our heroes win. They have to sit around for 80 minutes for the paralysis to wear off. They decide to camp here, as they do not know how to make the elevator go up again, and a little resting to heal up would be good.

Haul:100PP, 250GP. 14 kobolds 70XP, 6 ghouls 150XP

Day 17: While they are resting during the night, the elevator resets, going up, leaving them there. They do not wake up in time to do anything about this. So instead, they go north and examine the control rooms of this strange place. Although mystified by the ancient technology, they eventually open up an escape ladder, leading, via a one way secret door, back to the Kobolds lair, which is now abandoned. They decide to make their way out after this, evading a tripwire set by the kobolds which would have set off another flaming oil trap on the way out, but leaving it there for others to face.


Conclusions:

While the dungeon generation system certainly isn't perfect, (it has some errata that I never noticed until I actually tried following it step by step) It managed to quickly produce a dungeon that was interesting, and had just enough hints of coherency that I could fill in the pattern some more. (It almost reminded me of some sort of underground transport system, so I decided to go with that fallen ancient technology motif) It does result in lots of dead rooms, and you get random treasure showing up in the oddest places, which means the players are never sure what to expect. You can go a long way without encountering any monsters, and then suddenly, there's a whole bunch of them. Their advice that if you come back to an already mapped area, you make any doors leading to that area one way secret doors results in awkward switchbacks, making it increasingly difficult to find unexplored areas the further you go, but also making escaping from the dungeon easier than you'd think. Probably the biggest problem is keeping track of all the different forks and choosing the order in which to develop them when you roll for multiple doors and turnings. (this would probably be different if I had been generating corridors and rooms as they were explored, rather than building the whole thing first.) It also has the quirk that once it turns diagonal, it tends to stay that way for quite a while, until you hit another oddly shaped room or diagonal turnoff.

A death count of 50% seems pretty reasonable, considering the circumstances. At this point, they really need to replenish their numbers before heading off to tackle another adventure. Amusing to note that the only combat with two fatalities happened as a result of kobolds. 3 HD creatures with instadeath poison? Not a huge problem. Horde of kobolds with basic defensive tactics and lots of flaming oil? Rather a greater one. Much of this can of course be attributed to the effectiveness of sleep at 1st level. It really is an encounter changer unless you roll really badly, or are up against tons of enemies. Also interesting is the odd frequency of halfling NPC's showing up on the random roll. Altogther, 27 halflings died offscreen as an indirect result of their actions. We now have several potential plot hooks which I can use to build this into a proper setting. (You should be seeing the Private investigators of Tussey & Strunk again. ) It is notable that the vast majority of XP comes from the treasure you get, rather than the creatures you kill. We haven't seen a single magic item, but there has been more than enough money to do some serious economy destabilizing.

So that's it for now. Whether this will remain just a one-shot, or develop into something bigger and more serious just as the magazine did, I'm not sure. When I have more to report on this front, I'll let you know.

 

[rjohanek]

I found your experiment very interesting, and I would love to see more.

 

[(un)reason]

So, we've just passed the last big index, and the last adventures we'll see in the magazine. This seems like a good time for me to actively start trying to build a world out of the various ingredients I've seen so far. After all, for the moment, I have a good, fairly complete tool for browsing them. So let's do some thinking.

Obviously, I want to test out as much as possible of the material from the magazine, and that includes the modules. On the other hand, I have no desire to just run a railroad from one to another. In this campaign, I'd like to roughly approximate the evolution of the game, going from dungeoncrawls, and then gradually evolving into a richer world, with proper characterizations and recurring NPC's. I think the best way to do this would be to take the modules, and use them to construct a larger sandbox map, with low level modules close to the start point, and then higher level ones arranged in a rough concentric circle. That way, the players have pretty free reign to wander in any direction, and may face stuff both stronger and weaker than them in a fairly organic manner, but won't run into challenges way beyond their league unless they actively try and skip ahead. So let's look at what we have, and try and organize them into a roughly coherent larger map, based on themes, climate, and the like.

Adventures: (intended level)

Asassins run (any, but preferably low level.)

Cavern quest (Not really D&D, plus solo, plus horrible railroad. Not really suitable for insertion into campaign. )

Gypsy train (any. Easily insertable as a random encounter whenever. If the players don't slaughter them, they may become recurring NPC's)

Pit of the oracle (unknown, but fairly high level. Monsters vary widely in power, but many are rather scary. Put somewhere out of the way, but not too far out of the map.)

Mansion of professor ludlow (weird. Not really suitable for a regular campaign. I intend to run this as a halloween one-shot, as it is designed to be used. )

Sword of justice (1-2. A prime one for a first adventure, so it should be easily accessible, probably set it in the starting town. )

Citadel by the sea (1-3. Another good startup one. Flip round and put on western edge of map, not far from start point, so it can be easily accessed. )

Creature of rhyl (1-3. Awkward one. Put somewhere near the start point, but well hidden, so you have to really look if you want the big treasures this offers. )

Chagmat (1-4. Quite decent, Put as one of the routes out from starting point, heading towards a major city, so pretty good chance players will pass through and deal with ambush, but can avoid actual dungeon if they want.)

Barnacus (1-5. Another coastal one, probably flip round and set just south of CbtS, so you can get from one to the other in just a few days travel along the coast.)

Chapel of silence (2-3. Not a very good one. I'll plonk it somewhere obscure, so you'll only come across it if unlucky, or rather higher level than intended, so you actually have a decent chance of surviving. )

Betrayed (3-5. Flip round, put moderately south of start point.)

Valley of the earth mother (4-6. Probably north and slightly west, as is appropriate for celtic stuff.)

Can seapoint be saved (4-7. Flip round and put on western coast, somewhat north of CbtS. )

Forest of doom (4-7. Mideast somewhere. )

Mehica (4-7. Not sure if I should have this one on the same continent or not. Probably to the southeast if I do. )

House in the frozen lands (4-8. Far north, of course. Keep going, and you'll get there soon enough. )

Fell pass (4-8? no level given, but the encounters are in around this HD range. As this is a brutal old skool one, probably best suited to upper end. Should be put on the path to somewhere else they want to get too.)

Into the forgotten realms (5-8. Not sure I want to use this one, as it belongs in another game world. If I do, somewhere to the northwest. )

Twofold talisman (6-7. A nasty one, I'll probably skip this.)

The wandering trees (6-9. Put somewhere to the east and slightly south. )

Doomkeep (7-10. Another brutal old skool dungeon to put somewhere on the outskirts of the map.)

Garden of nefaron (7-10. A cool one. Put somewhere in the east, a bit beyond the wandering trees, where it's not too hard to stumble across if you venture that far. )

Hall of mystery (7+ Not really a full dungeon. Insert into another one if short of ideas.)

Fedifensor (7+ Not sure if I want to use standard D&D cosmology, so I may have to leave this one out due to incompatibility. May recycle map anyway even so. )

Death of an arch-mage (8-9. Steal for parts, as waay to spoiler sensitive. )

Ruins of andril (8-11 Deserty one. Far southeast seems appropriate. One of the farthest to travel too. )

Halls of beoll-dur (8+ Put in mountains on southern end of map. )

Quest for the midas orb (about 9. Somewhere fairly distant in the southwest.)

Temple of poseidon (at least 70 total levels. Set somewhere off the western coast, near one of the previous watery modules' cities, so they can face a new challenge sometime after being saved once.)

Baba Yaga's hut (9+ Could show up anywhere, anytime. Likely to be linked to big metaplot events. Be very wary if you hear the rumours. )

City beyond the gate (9+ Rather wary about using this one. Might be a bit too 4th wall breaking for an established campaign. On the other hand, as another big event, it could be used to introduce new stuff if the game is getting boring. )

Aesirhammar 9+ (peh. Not on your nelly, even if the game does get that far. I have no desire to subject you to this crap railroad. )


So we have 33 of them, taking us all the way from starting level, to low teens. (If the game makes it that far, then hopefully I'll have built the campaign up enough that it'll have evolved into emergent plot based adventures rather than site based ones anyway.) Of these, I definitely intend to incorporate 24 of them, and am still undecided about several more. This gives me plenty of points to join up into a rough sketch. If I also add some B series and various other low level AD&D modules, I should be able to fill out a small continent sized map with adventures whichever way you go. It'll also help me fill out some of the settlements, but I'll need to do more on that to create coherent countries and cultures. Still, there are plenty of articles on that subject to draw from as well. Hopefully, I'll be able to deliver something on that front in a week or two. In the meantime, keep tuning in to the usual daily installments.

 

[the Jester]

I just wanted to pipe up and say that Chagmat is really fantastic. I love that old adventure- I sure wish I still had the old Dragon it came in, it was my first one! I even used the chagmat in my 4e campaign- and almost got a tpk with 'em!

 

[(un)reason]

Classes

Here I had several dilemmas to consider. Should I use the BD&D or AD&D ruleset as the basis of this campaign. While they are fairly crosscompatible, there are differences. One version might be more pleasing to one person, and the other to another. However, I believe I've managed to come up with an idea that will allow the two to integrate into a single campaign, and also turn one of the other awkward points of D&D into an opportunity.

One of the big problems with D&D as a game is the conflict between a setting largely drawn from medieval europe, where christianity is the dominant religion, and the pantheistic set of deities that inhabit most of the actual settings. It occurred to me that making the conflict between monotheism and pantheism an active part of the setting would open up a good deal of plot hooks. And then it occurred to me that mechanically differentiating them by making the monotheists use the BD&D rules, and the agnostics, atheists, and pantheists of various stripes use the AD&D rules would be a good way to handle this. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, such as the larger spell selection vs need for material components for spellcasters, and higher HP and faster attack progression vs having to worry about proficiency slots and all that for fighters. Plus it presents a very interesting dilemma for demihumans, choosing between the One True Way of their creator decreed racial path, or striking out on their own.

So the upshot of this is that a monotheistic religion worshipping Chaos, Law, and Neutrality directly, as the Creator, Saviour and Judge, is going to be one of the big aspects of the campaign world. They certainly aren't monolithic, there is doctrinal disagreements as to whether they are one being with three aspects, three beings working together to create a greater whole, (with the heirachies of these two roughly paralleling the catholic and protestant churches) or three separate entites that are opposed to each other (with a whole bunch of smaller cults devoted to each alignment. ) In any case they are distant, impersonal forces who do not normally interfere in the world, and their worshippers use the BD&D classes, (including mystics, the demihuman racial classes, the BD&D versions of paladins, avengers and druids, plus SR6 bards and the Healer class from Dragon issue 3. )

Meanwhile, there is also the usual collection of gods, demigods, and bickering extraplanar entities who vie for power and the advancement of their portfolio on the prime material. These will be posted up in a future installment, hopefully, and their worshippers use the AD&D rules. Several of the optional classes in the magazine will be tied in to specific gods, and only available to their worshippers.


In terms of the large number of optional classes introduced in the magazine, I decided to be fairly permissive, only completely excluding the ones that were too badly written, or completely unsuitable for adventuring. In addition, to increase interest, and emulate the progression of a game from the era I've just read through, I decided that the stuff from Unearthed arcana, Oriental adventures, and most of the stuff after that would not be available at the start of the campaign, but instead to make them unlockable options, in classic CRPG style, thus giving me a load of easy plot hooks, and giving the players a greater incentive to explore the world and unearth all it's secrets. Once they encounter a particular new class, or complete the quest associated with a plot event, they will gain access to the new classes and options as appropriate.

So here's the list of classes that will be allowed from the start, the ones that will be unlockable, and the ones that are forbidden.

Allowed: Bandit (63), Bard (Both alternates, SR6 BD&D bard, 56 Cearniogen's hope-bringers. ) Bounty hunter. (52. All 3 variants. Holy order of the Bennie, Armstrongian independents, private investigators of Tussey & Strunk. ) Death master (76) Duelist (73) Entertainer (69. Well, every troupe needs a chronicler. ) Healer (3) Hopeless. (96. Strongly recommended for dump stat character.) Huntsman. (102) Jester (Issue 60 version, but add the spells from the issue 3 version to their list as well, and include optional stuff from issue 120, muahahaha ) Jock (72. Another recommended dump stat character to kill in the first adventure.) Oracle (53) Plethora of paladins & blackguard. (39 & 106) Psionicist. (78) Sentinel (89), Smith (70. Multiclassed only) Timelord (65) Witch (5, 20, 43, 114. Later articles take precedence. ) Wizards of a particular type of magic (17)

Unlockable: Cavalier & Cavalier-Paladin, Barbarian, Thief-acrobat (72, 63, 69, UA), Barbarian-cleric (109) Elven cavalier (114). All Oriental adventures classes. Escrimador (124) Geisya, Genin (121) Revised monk (53) Samurai (49 Monk-esque variant). Custom class construction rules in issue 109. 36 level demihuman racial progressions. (RC) Archer & Archer-Ranger (45) Beastmaster (119) Berserker (3) Charlatan (120) Druid/Ranger (100), Incantrix (90) Mariner (107, 116)

Forbidden: SR Illusionist and ranger (Redundant as they're pretty similar to the AD&D 1st ed versions, only not as well written) Early ninja (16 & 30. annoying, badly written and overpowered) Cloistered cleric (a bit crap, really) Alchemist, Astrologer, Bureaucrat, Merchant, Politician, Scribe, (various, xp conditions unsuitable for adventuring life) Gypsies (59. Uh, yeah, thanks a lot, white wolf wannabes.) Idiot, Samurai (3. Description too vague) Anything after the point I've currently read up too. (this will of course change as time goes on, most of them going in the unlockable category.)


And that's it for now. As ever, comments and advice are welcome. See you soon.

 

[(un)reason]

Gods:


Here I decided to go for a fairly small, multifaceted pantheon, for both my own convenience and yours. It's easier to avoid being generic that way, and you don't have to wade through as much crap to get playing. I drew heavily from Issue 24's Ramifications of alignment and issue 77's elemental philosophies when designing these guys, and tried to give lots of variety and contrasts in their nature and relationships, with a form of monotheism, aspects of the universe, and ascended mortals all valid choices. Archetypes have been mixed around, tropes have been lampshaded, and many of them offer some special mechanical effect to their worshippers. As ever, hope you enjoy this.


The Great Creator(s?)

In the beginning, there was one. Or maybe three. Or maybe three, that are all aspects of a greater One. This is a subject of much theological debate, and several schisms in the different churches of the Creator(s) In any case, the three are the Creator, the Saviour, and the Judge. Chaos, Law, and Neutrality. The first formed everything out of nothing, and reshapes what is at it's whim, the second keeps things much as they are, so they can lead a stable existence and grow in a controlled manner, the third decides what is worthy of continued existence and what is not, and should be returned to primal chaos so that there is room for newer, better things to be created. Your characters may choose to worship them as a single triparte entity, (The Acaltharic church) believe that they are three individuals working as a partnership, each essential for the universe but favouring one personally, (Leukarites) or be in one of the smaller sects that reveres one as an individual force which opposes the other two. They themselves do not seem to be particularly concerned with this. As long as you stick within the basics of your alignment, do not worship any other god, and obey a few seemingly arbitrary lifestyle restrictions, (ie, your class restrictions on weapons, armour, etc.) you can pretty much do as you please and still get the benefits of worshipping them.

Worshippers of The Great Creator(s), in whatever form, use the BD&D rules for ability scores, classes, and progression. Humans can be any of the standard 4 classes, plus the OD&D Bard from SR6, and the Healer from issue 3. In addition, followers of Law can become Lyan, BD&D paladins, and BD&D Mystics. Followers of Neutrality can become BD&D Druids and Paramanders. Followers of Chaos can become BD&D Avengers, Garath, (if they revere Chaos as an aspect of the whole ) or Fantra (If they serve Chaos solely.) Demihumans are restricted to their BD&D racial progressions. (This bit of overt racism does not go unnoticed in setting, and there are activist groups devoted to the whys and wherefores of this decision, but with the Creator apparently unreachable, they haven't been able to do much about it. )

In addition, all worshippers gain the unique benefit of being able to speak with all creatures of the same ethical alignment, regardless of moral position. In essence, the good/evil portion of their alignment is ignored for most purposes, as the Creator(s) apparently have no interest in such petty moral judgments. This also means you and others don't know for certain if you are good or evil unless active magical detection is used upon you.

If you convert or become apostate, you keep your XP total and class, but must convert from AD&D rules to BD&D, or vice versa. Dual-class characters and followers of non-basic classes will not be accepted by the Creator(s). Exactly why the universe treats those who worship the Creator(s) differently, and why they have such a bias towards humans is very much a matter of debate, but the differences have been firmly verified by wizardly experimentation. What your characters feel and do about it (if they even know and care about such metaphysical matters) is very much up to them.


The second trio, the guardians of nature:

When the Creator left the world, these three demiurges were created to oversee it, and ensure that it remained much as it was, ever-changing and vibrant, yet stable. While less powerful than the Creators, their mindset is substantially less alien. This does, however, make them more likely to intervene in a situation, sending messages to their followers or removing your powers if you transgress. As with the Creator(s), these three are sometimes worshipped together in festivals as part of the cycle of life. But they do not grant spells as a power bloc, so clerics must still be specifically devoted to one.

Bern: Youth, masculinity, animals, fae, growth, virility, the future. A favored deity of adventurers, the god of active growth is a popular one amongst rangers, and also counts more than a few druids and bards amongst his servants. As the god of youth, he also counts hedonism and exuberance amongst his portfolio, making him popular with the common people. He has definite chaotic and good tendencies, and his worshippers tend to do likewise, although some get caught up in his wilder aspect and let their recklessness overpower their concern for others. His symbol is the maypole.

Gaia: Maturity, femininity, plants, weather, stability, the present. Favored by Halflings and Elves, this goddess is the archetypical mother figure. She's pretty much the same as she appears on many worlds, a loving and benevolent creature who is strongly connected to the land, and who empowers Rangers, Druids, and Myrikhan to protect it. While she can be fickle at times, and when angered, her rages can bring great destruction, that she is the bringer of life is never in question. Many good and neutral people worship her, and everyone acknowledges her in festivals, along with her partner, for without them there would be neither food, nor children. Her symbol is an apple tree, and her druids use apples rather than mistletoe as foci for their spells.

Klar: Death, Old age, deterioration, asexuality, destruction, the undead, the past. Although originally part of the natural cycle, this demiurge rebelled from it's original role, and now seeks to end all life in the world, permanently. Why? Good question. Some say it wants to destroy all of existence to end it's own permanent decrepitude, as it is insane from bearing all the pains of every life as it ends. Others think it wants to kill every living creature so it can rule forever over a blasted kingdom composed entirely of the undead. In any case, it's worship is forbidden in most places, although it does get propitiated out of fear, and all the other gods will band together to fight it's influence. As it disrupts the natural order and causes suffering and loss wherever it goes, it is pretty much the epitome of chaos and evil, and is served by clerics, defilers and death masters. It's symbol is, of course, the skull.


The shapers of civilization.

The origin of the next trio of gods is more mysterious. They say they arose from the hearts and minds of sentient creatures, and will always exist as long as people act in ways that propitiate them, even if they do not consciously choose to worship them. In any case, they are easily the most active of the deities, regularly communicating with their high priests. They are the ones responsible for the second alignment axis, that of good and evil, and the active push to judge everyone, resulting in true neutrality becoming increasingly rare. One may be good, one evil and one cares not as long as you choose, but all recognize that civilization brings them more power, and a formalized system of judging which souls belong to who is necessary, and work together to maintain it, even as they compete to become the most powerful force in the universe.

Kishkharuden. Conflict, Battle, War. If there is one force which drives intelligent creatures that animals lack, it's the desire to enforce their will on others. Be it over status, ideology, resources, or simple pleasure, everyone has conflicts with others, often on a daily basis. And this god revels in all of them, from the simplest scuffle between children, to the mightiest war between nations. He cares not if you are good or evil, but merely that you have a definite position, and are willing to fight to defend and expand it. Some say war is inherently chaotic and evil, for it brings destruction, death and unpredictable changes to people's lives. But others say it is merely a tool. And it brings good as well as evil. The concept that you can defeat someone when they submit, and not have to fight to the death every time. The comraderie of battle. And many technological advancements are born of strife, great heroes prove themselves, and those who survive are made stronger.
In any case, he empowers Clerics and Paladins of all alignments, races, and philosophies, and encourages them to compete to prove their ideology is the superior one, although they generally do not kill-one another, regardless of alignment, instead stirring up strife using their worshippers and the general population to fight wars with. That way, whichever side wins, the priesthood as a whole grows ever stronger and more entrenched. His animals are the horse and the raven, and his symbol is the warhammer. His clerics can select weapons not normally allowed to clerics, using the Weapon of choice rules in issue 115.

Gognordekoc. Ambition, Greed, Money, Commerce. Also known as The Necessary Evil and The Man you can do Business with, our second most powerful driving force is the desire for more, more, more! It is said that money is the root of all evil, and indeed, he has caused much suffering over the years. But at the same time, if it weren't for him, humanity would still be living in caves, eating berries, trading animal furs, and fighting with clubs. Or so he says, and while many may talk disapprovingly of him and his priests, they still go to his temples when they need loans, and then go to the shops and buy luxury items for themselves. Both legitimate businesses and criminals give praise to him, and his clerics may be found in every town. They are frequently the ones that adventurers must go to for healing, for they will sell their spells to any who have the coin, regardless of purpose. His clerics are pretty evenly split between Lawful and Chaotic Evil, but really, everyone prays to him occasionally. As long as people want more and better things for themselves, and are willing to do deals with others to get them, he will always exist. (muahahaha! ) His animals are the magpie, the pig and the chameleon. His symbol is a pair of electrum coins. His clerics start with double the normal amount of money to equip themselves with.

Cearniogen. Harmony, Mercy, Hope, Community, Altruism. Our third major force may not be strong as the other two, but is just as essential. Without the ability to love, and the willingness to help another when there is no common enemy, and no immediate benefit from doing so, we would be little more than the squabbling hordes of humanoids. Without the ability to forgive those who wronged us, conflicts would never end. As the strongest force of Good and Law in the universe, she has many enemies. But she is always willing to forgive them, and give them another chance, if they are repentant and willing to change. Her clerics also share this outlook, although being only mortal, they may err occasionally and find it hard to extend a loving heart to every creature. But she is just as willing to forgive them if they stray, as long as they atone. There are also many paladins, monks and rangers who revere her, and try and hold up to her principles of living in harmony with all creatures. Lest anyone think her boring, she also has her own order of Bards, (see issue 56) who try and bring joy and wonder wherever they go, showing you can be an entertainer without being a rogue, and music is a great tool for bringing people together. Her animals are the ant and the bee, and her symbol is a teardrop suspended in a crystal. Her clerics can cast spells that are normally self only on others with a range of touch.

Sir Merconia, the guardian of Virtue. Justice, Honor, Etiquette, Vengeance. After yet another instance of betrayal by Gognordekoc, Cearniogen realized that much as she hated the idea, forgiveness can only go so far. For goodness to truly prosper, it needs to be able to defend itself aggressively when facing enemies that can not be redeemed. So she scoured the world, looking for the one man who embodied the virtues she needed. When she did, she forged for him a new body from the finest metals, with joints that would be forever molten, jewels for eyes, and the strength of a mountain, and made him her Prince Regent. In time, he gained a cult of his own, and grew in power to become a full deity, nearly the equal of her. He rules over all the aspects of civilization that protect it from barbarism, from simple things like good manners, to the police and judiciary. While he can be stuffy and distant, sometimes goes too far in his pursuit of justice, and has to be reminded that the spirit of virtue is more important than the letter, his heart is in the right place. This can not be said for all of his followers, who will sometimes fall into the trap of the ends justifying the means, or embracing the methods of evil to better destroy it. Still, they are all lawful, and one would hope that more of them are good than evil. His animal is the dog, and his symbol is the glowing eyes of justice, which are normally blue, but turn red when they see something that must be punished. These are normally worn as glasses by his priests, or set into their helmets, and serve as a focus for their spells, changing colour appropriately whenever they use divination and attack ones. Clerics and Paladins serve him, and in times of emergency, any lawful character may be drafted into his service, gaining the benefits of BD&D paladins on top of their regular class abilities. There are many tales of these Irregulars abusing their powers, and having to be punished in turn. So it goes.

Francesca the searcher. Knowledge, curiosity, scientific experimentation. The first mortal to elevate herself to godhood via her own study, Francesca was a wizard born around 700 years ago. She was an adventurer in her youth, and the tales of the deeds she did and things she discovered are popular folk tales. Eventually, she settled down, built her own tower, as wizards do. She developed many spells, made many discoveries and became quite notable. And then she disappeared for several decades. Adventurers tried to explore her tower, and the dungeon beneath it. Most never returned. One group succeeded in penetrating it and looting the tower, but this provided only vague hints of what she was experimenting on before her disappearance, soon sold on. It seemed she would become just another historical footnote. And then, a century after her birth, she returned. No longer needing to rely on incantations and magic items, she shaped the world by thought, and erected a new tower with a single gesture. There was some tension, both with the regular authorities, and the established gods, but she soon proved that she had no intention of taking over or destroying the world, and became another important part of the Shapers pantheon, promoting the study of magic and technology, founding magical temple-universities throughout the land. Her animal is the cat, and her symbol is a candle. Her single classed clerics gain magic-user spells as a wizard of 1/3 their level, rounded down, but need 10% more XP to advance each level. If they dual class, they lose this benefit, but may return to previously abandoned classes if they choose.

Jason Kinsson. Esthetics, Symmetry, beauty, the arts. Jason was a bard, born around 650 years ago. While he managed to gain a moderate amount of renown in his own right, his real talent was in assembling the best teams of adventurers for the job, any job. And when Francesca returned with divine power at her hands, he was the one with the skill to piece together the clues as to how she accomplished this, and ascend to godhood himself. He had rather less trouble integrating himself into the pantheon than Francesca, soon settling into his former role as a facilitator and enabler of other people's talents on a much larger scale. He is the patron of the arts, particularly the physical arts such as painting, sculpture, and other more physical crafts. He is the patron of arrangers, producers, directors and all similar jobs, not the raw creative impulse, but the people who take that, edit and refine it into a finished product. He encourages proper symmetry of all kinds, from elegant architecture to a well honed body, and a balanced adventuring party with all the basic classes represented, able to deal with any situation. And whatever you do, it should be done with style if you worship him. His symbol is a pen placed diagonally against a square. His Clerics, Druids and Bards may hone their ability scores in a similar manner to Cavaliers for a 5% XP surcharge for each ability score improved that level.

Ffsshruu:click: The 4 elements, Interracial tolerance, hermaphrodites. The final member of our coalition is a curious one. While technically not actually a god, it can rival them in power, and has proven to be a valuable member over the last three centuries. Originally a water elemental, it managed to harmoniously incorporate all 4 elements into it's being over the course of it's epic adventures. (The order in which it did so is apparent in it's name, a sound like the crashing of a wave, the whistling of wind, the rumbling of an earthquake, and the spitting of a fire.) Similarly, it managed to follow all four primary classes to their pinnacle, and found a great empire that spans the planes. In addition to it's obvious elemental portfolio, this also gives it a strong grounding in understanding and working with many different kinds of creatures, no matter how strangely they may think or look, as long as they are not inherently destructive, they all have a valid viewpoint. As one of the few elemental lords with tendencies towards both law and good, it has many enemies at home, both political ones, and elemental purists who regard what it has done to itself as an abomination. It's chosen race are the Jann, formed from the first worshippers it acquired on the prime material plane. Clerics, Druids and Rangers can all derive their power from it. If you choose, you may use the Athasian elemental variants of these classes.


The other gods:

Naryand the uncompromising. Ambition, Personal power, Social darwinism. Naryand was created when Ambition, unhappy at Kishkharuden's preeminence amongst the gods, sought to increase his power. Unsure whether to focus his attention on working towards power over others, or seeking greater personal power, he engaged in a mysterious ritual that split him into two entities, each of which would take one path, and compete to see which would become the greater. As you probably gathered earlier, Greed and Commerce proved to be the more attractive force to ordinary people, and has since grown to be second amongst the gods. However, Naryand's credo that you should hone yourself to become the greatest you can possibly be, and be willing to sacrifice everything and everyone to achieve your goals, attracts a small but devoted following.
Unlike his twin, Naryand's only concern is with his own power. Others are useful only as a means to train and test that strength, and as tools to help you achieve these ends. Wealth, friendship, love, civilization, all are irrelevant to the pursuit of ever greater power and skill. His is the path of the mysterious badass loner without any known history or ties, who wanders the land seeking tests to their mettle, killing who they choose, and taking only that which they can use to become even more powerful. This is a harsh path, for though it disregards the laws of society, it demands a tremendous degree of personal discipline and self-sacrifice. This path can be started by those of any alignment, when they want something so strongly that they are willing to sacrifice everything to accomplish it, but those who stick with it tend to gravitate towards law and evil.
Despite the small number of his followers, he has a large variety of powerful orders following him. Clerics, of course, but also Druids, Arrikhan and Hunters in his guise as Social darwinism, nature red in tooth and claw, killing and taking what they please, nothing but strength mattering. Anti-paladins epitomize the ideal that you should never accept anyone as your equal, and use any methods, no matter how foul, to prove your superiority. Lawful evil Monks are drawn to his credo of seeking personal excellence above everything and relying on no-one and nothing but yourself, while Illriggers are his most vocal proponents, spreading the idea that compassion and social hierachies not founded on personal strength are concepts for fools and weaklings, and working actively to disillusion people and undermine societies based upon them. Plenty of assassins, bounty hunters, thieves, wizards and fighters also agree with these ideas, even if they are not empowered by serving him, and many evil adventurers will have a cleric worshipping him in their party. His symbol is two crossed swords set into the ground, with a black eagle perched upon each.


Sog-Mordoth the unspeakable one (aka Maradeanna) Rebellion, devolution, deviancy, spite, nihilism. The child of Cearniogen and Ambition (before his division), born in one of their early periods of truce, unfortunately turned out to lack the positive qualities of either parent. A spoiled, demanding brat who treated humans as playthings, she/he (While born female, conventional gender was one of the first things she removed as she experimented on her form.) was cast out into the Abyss after a few centuries, as the other gods tired of his immaturity and refusal to pull her weight. In response, she/he grew resentful of those who cast him out and now wants to ruin everything they stand for. She is the lord of those who preach revolution and a return to nature while simultaneously sponging off the state and their parents, who say mortal possessions are meaningless, but collect all manner of gewgaws and rage if you take one away, who take drugs and lie around in filthy squats all day, who engage in grotesque body modification purely to shock and draw attention to themselves, who mock those with higher aspirations, beat them up, and smash their stuff out of spite. The teenager, the hippy, the inbred family in the mountains everyone avoids, the yob, the rebel without a clue, all who want something for nothing and refuse to take responsibility for their lives. His animals are the Chimpanzee, the Hyena and the Toad, and she is also responsible for the existence of Gnolls, Yuan-ti, Owlbears, Chimera and many other hybrid monsters, as she lacks true creativity, but enjoys perverting and parodying the creations of others. As you've probably figured out, his followers are all chaotic, and mostly evil, with a few naive good people who were suckered in by genuinely believing in one of the principles she preaches.

The Lords and Ladies.

This is a catchall term for all the various creatures from the elemental and outer planes that bicker and vie for mortal worship, but don't have the power of full gods. Names such as Orcus, Grazz't, Cryronax, Asmodeus. You know the drill. While technically not deities, they're still creatures of immense power and often temporal influence, capable of empowering worshippers and causing masses of devastation. You may often find yourself having to foil their plans, as adventurers do. They run the gamut of alignments, although Earth creatures tend towards Law, Fire towards Evil, Water towards Chaos, and Air towards chaos and good. This makes Ffsshruu:click:'s generally benevolent nature and acceptance into mainstream human society all the more unusual. Worship them with caution, for most are not very nice, and even those that don't want to conquer or destroy the world tend to have rather alien thought patterns.

 

[(un)reason]

Hmm. It's been a couple of months since I started this. I really ought to start actively dedicating time to writing setting info for this and looking for players, instead of just jotting stuff down in odd moments between doing issues and planning. So consider this a declaration that I am indeed looking for players. If you're in the southwest region of the UK, the vicinity of Bristol & Bath in particular, and have been enjoying reading this stuff, now's your chance to get to try it out. PM me if interested.

So here's a couple more bits of vital info for character building. As usual, I've drawn from the magazine while trying to put my own spin on things.



Ability generation:

I had quite a dilemma on my hands of just what to allow here. On one hand, I'm not very keen on attribute bloat. On the other, many of the optional classes from the magazine that I want to try out have stringent ability requirements. I've decided to go for an alternate system that encourages troupe play, and allows you plenty of choice, while still keeping overall scores at a fairly low level. This also means that the party is likely to start off large, and then rapidly get whittled down over the first few sessions, and we'll get to see just how much ability scores actually matter.

You can each make 3 characters. You can either roll 54d6 and assign the rolls to stats as you choose, or take an average spread of 9 1's, 9 2's 9 3's 9 4's 9 5's and 9 6's. This means your characters will on average, have average stats, but you can make some of them good at the expense of others, and at least one should be able to get into one of the more exclusive classes. You are actively encouraged to do this, and then use your weak characters as cannon fodder to get killed in the first few adventures, but each character must have a class, and meet the usual minimums for it. (Unless you choose to dump all your 1's and 2's into making a Hopeless character) Happy twinking.



Alignment

As part of my desire to try out as many optional rules from the magazine as possible, I've decided to go with the alternate system from the Strategic Review 6 for alignment, in which the law/chaos axis is divided into 22 named gradings and the good/evil into 16. This allows me to
1: cut down the number of alignment tongues to 5, making using them as a universal means of communication with creatures from other countries and races more practical.
2: Allow for more gradual shifting of character alignments based on how they act. I will try and move your characters around in it, but only one point on each axis at most for a single action, giving characters plenty of room to notice, and if desired change their ways before a full-on alignment change happens.
3: present a world in which neutrality is very much a beleaguered minority. All the gods, both good and evil, are very keen to judge you, for they all want to know who follows who, be they friends or enemies. Fence sitting in this game will not be made easy for you.

Alignment languages and their place in the game.

This is another of my attempts to eliminate some of the illogical tropes of the game, while justifying others. Learning new languages for every country is annoying, but having monolithic racial languages with no explanation for how linguistic drift is avoided is stupid. So playing up another oft-maligned trope is my solution.

In the beginning, while the world was being created, everything understood everything else. There was no gap between the attempt to communicate an idea and it's reception. Everything was in perfect harmony. Of course, this came to an end pretty much as soon as they ran out of raw creation to shape, and Law and Chaos had their first disagreement on what should be destroyed so it could make new stuff, and what should remain the same. This of course resulted in massive cosmic conflict in which entire races were created and destroyed, (apart from a few which are hidden at the bottom of some dungeon) mountain ranges born and flattened, strange artifacts formed and lost, and lots of other things done that made an almighty mess of their lovely new world. (This of course provides lots of weird little sites for you to adventure in) They soon realized that this was a bad idea, as too much turmoil spoils the fun for everyone, and moved on to the more conventional deific tactic of picking creatures, and playing inscrutable cosmic games with their lives. It was at this point that they decided that everything being able to communicate with everything else did not suit their purposes, dividing them up into Law, Chaos, and Neutrality, and only allowing them to communicate with creatures of the same alignment.

This is where humanity first came to their attention, as in response to this, they developed languages of their own, that enabled them to communicate across the alignment barrier (and also write things down, and invent words not defined by the creators, incidentally) Initially, there were some smitings involved, but these new innovations proved unsuppressable, and as humanity spread across the globe, they found that the more freedom they allowed their creations, the more their world could surprise them. So they showed them even more favour, along with a few other races that showed promise. (exactly how much of humanities unusually high ability to learn new skills quickly, and massively increase their capabilities is the cause of their favour, and how much is the result of it is another issue of doctrinal dispute) They then largely withdrew from the world, creating the three demiurges of growth, stability and death to act as checks on the system and keep the world running. Exactly how much attention they are now paying to the world is another thing that is unclear. Do they watch everything from distant planes, or have they lost interest, moved onto creating other worlds, or gone into some kind of hibernation? You can hold whatever beliefs you like on this, or try and investigate the truth.

Fast forward a few thousand years, and the rise of Kishkharuden, Cearniogen, and Statrobeceme. (the pre-division god of ambition and desire that would become Gognordekoc and Naryand) Taking inspiration from the prexisting system of alignment, they took over the cosmic mechanisms which were used to automate the system of determining your alignment based upon your actions, instituting their own axis, that of good (as epitomized by Cearniogen) and evil (guess who.) Initially, this was a purely bipartisan division, with the level of your good or evilness being defined by the amount you adhered to their tenets. But the rebellion of Klar, division of Statrobeceme, interference from Kishkharuden and rise of other gods and powerful creatures have resulted in the definitions shifting, due to negotiations, compromises and attempts to define exactly what actions are good or evil in unclear edge cases. While good is still essentially about compassion for others, forgiveness, altruism, etc; and evil is selfishness, greed, destructiveness, causing suffering in others, and so forth; there is still plenty of disagreement over whether certain morally grey acts are good or evil.

But I digress. In any case, there are 5 alignment languages, Lawful good, Lawful evil, Chaotic good, Chaotic evil and Neutral. All creatures automatically know their alignment language from birth. (this means that true neutral characters can speak with most animals, incidentally) Indeed, monster races which are nearly all the same alignment never bother to develop a proper language of their own, and tend to divide other creatures up into people and nonpeople based on if they can communicate with them or not. If you switch alignment, you automatically lose the ability to be understood by creatures of your old alignment, and gain the ability to communicate with creatures of your new one. (This is not a conscious process, and you won't realize anything has changed until you next speak to someone and find yourselves mutually incomprehensible where you had no troubles before. )
Most (about 90%) of humans are lawful, although they are split approximately equally between good and evil. (and of course chaotics are disproportionately represented amongst adventurers) True neutrality is rare amongst sentient creatures, requiring either a certain innocent indifference to moral concerns (as shown by animals and many fae), or an exceedingly careful balance of law, chaos, good and evil which is easy to lose. There is inherent morality, with newborn children being of all alignment. Exactly how this is dealt with varies from country to country, and even more from race to race, (I shall have to get round to writing some of those details up properly soon) but it is a genuine social issue. Some embrace it, some regulate it, others try and suppress it, but when everyone can do it, you can't simply ignore it.


As ever, hope you enjoy this. Questions would be particularly helpful at this point, to help me define the less obvious edge morality cases and setting ramifications of this before play, reducing the chances of being caught off guard and making a dumb on the fly ruling I later regret. See you soon.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Some comments, rather than questions. I hate, hate, gods/NPCs with names I have to sound out every time I want to say it aloud, assuming that I can even remember it. Such creatures are usually called something descriptive instead. (Whatisface, the guy with the big red sword.) So, of course, I would hate playing in a world where the gods names aren't worth the effort of trying to pronounce properly. For me. (Which brings up that wonderful old bugaboo: "Well, my character says it right! He lives in the world, I don't.")

You may have to rethink your alignment language stuff, to some extent. Evil lands are going to be ALL Evil. Why? Everyone who doesn't speak the proper alignment language is either going to be dead or a slave. (Of course, I hate alignment except as a vague thing that no one worries too much about anyway. And I hate any of the D&D 'you magically forget x' rules too. So I doubt that I'd care for your game world, although its certainly interesting to read about!)