GM Hob's game musings 4: Are OSR games right for you?

Are OSR games right for you? In many ways this should have been my "game musings" article 0 rather than 4, but oddly I never stopped to think of the question when I started writing this series. You may think that because I am a lover of such games I would say "yes" to the title question with no hesitation, but really it isn't that simple.

OSR (Old School Retroclone/Revival/Renaissance/R-etc) games, specifically those based on old styles of D&D, provide one flavor of game experience. I find it to be a very enjoyable flavor, but it certainly isn't the only way to play RPGs or even the right way; it just has the distinction of being tied back, by rules and themes, to the oldest style of play. I don't plan to delve into the history of D&D, RPGs, or the OSR movement here. There are plenty of resources out there to pursue that. Instead, I want to look at the factors that make an OSR D&D style game and then discuss what such a game is and isn't, and why you may want to play in this style or instead try something else.

Before going further, a solid definition of the games I am focusing on is probably in order. OSR D&D games tend to look back at the B/X (Basic and Expert) rules set published in 1983 by TSR for Dungeons and Dragons and then re released in different forms through OSR publishers. These rules were a refinement and a stripping down of the original D&D and the AD&D 1E games. OSR games also borrowing from other forms of D&D that would come later to expand options (such as splitting classes from races). Some of these OSR games are extremely close to the original B/X (Labyrinth Lords and B/X Essentials come to mind for this) and others rework them for a specific style (here we can site Dungeon Crawl Classics and Lamentations of the Flame Princess). Still others use the basic mechanics in a very stripped down version (such as Knave and the Black Hack). One advantage all of these systems share is a great interchangeability of parts such as classes, magic items, monsters, and house rules. If something is missing from one published game then just nick it from another. Also because of the light rules framework that makes up the game's core, it is very easy to tack on a house rule without having to change many aspects of the game to make that hack work.

It is good to have a definition, but none of that background covers what the games tend to focus on. OSR games were originally based on pulp fantasy sword and sorcery genre hero stories and tabletop wargames. So the tend to be combat and action focused adventure stories with the rewards being winning over adversity, typically physically but also through guile, and gaining treasure.  They have a high focus on overcoming difficulties that seem overwhelming, and in many way survival is part of the reward. So, a neat answer would be that OSR are games  of exploration, combat, problem solving, and survival before the backdrop of fantastic settings. The characters are actors in a greater world that goes on around them, but in any adventure they take the center stage.

OSR focus more on the "game" aspect of RPGs than many games that come after will. When coupled with the high lethality at low character level play there is less of a focus on character background. A few sketchy facts going in are generally enough to start the character. The characters greatness lies in its present and future, not its pre-game past. With that said, because of the rules light nature, and the fact that the rules really just focus on the central aspects of play (exploration and combat) roleplaying is essential to flesh out the rest of the character. In the B/X system there are a couple simple one roll mechanic, geared to pass fail resolutions,  that come into play when a character needs to exercise an ability that isn't outlined elsewhere, but there are no systems for advancing those abilities. They are either very general and the same for all characters (listen successes at 1 in 6) or static for a character (roll under ability score on a d20). Both of these work admirably for the simplest core version of the game where the combat and exploration is going to be 90% if the game focus, but fall short when a game expands past the "adventure" or includes adventure aspects that aren't immediate action. Also many players want their character to advance in non adventure abilities as they level.

Various writers (some of which go back to the official TSR days of D&D) have worked on other systems of non combat action resolution with various levels of acceptance and success, and some OSR have embraced skill systems that are found in newer versions of the D&D game (or even adopted ones from non D&D products), but these are lacking in the core OSR model. Again though, due to its modular nature such systems are fairly easy to add.

OSR games are very good for playing action forward proactive characters that live in the moment. Dungeon delvers, explorers, skirmishers, and fantasy military units all fit into the categories this game style excels at.

Games that focus heavily on crisis of morality/personal character growth, extended social or political power play, or highly detailed combat scenarios are very poor matches for OSR systems. Even with various hacks there are other games that fit these needs better. And that is good. It is actually very good. It is better a GM is matched with a game that suits their writing style and a player is matched with a game that will truly be fun for them.

GM Hobs Game Musings Index

GM Hob's Game Musings 3: Saving Throws

Adventuring is dangerous and the dangers come in many forms. If that danger is manifest as an angry ogre with bloody battle ax then the three part system of Attack Bonus, Armor Class, and Hit Points covers it. Yet, angry ogres only cover one of the endless opportunities for a Player Character to get harmed.(How exciting!)

The fire of an enraged dragon, the fire of an irritated wizard, the poison of a serpent's bite, the floor (when met from the sudden fall of a hidden pit trap.... and covered in spikes) are all other opportunities for a hero to part with life and limb. Most of these will do amazing Hit Point damage, and really there is nothing your armor can do to help. In cases of the serpent's bite the wound maybe immediate and worse: Paralysis if the DM is friendly, but possibly immediate DEATH!

When D&D was created the writers realized that another system was needful to handle sudden dangers of magic, environment, and monster. Their solution was saving throws.

In the classic B/X game saving throws were broken down into 6 categories.

Poison and Death Ray: This is a roll used when sudden death comes into play. Two examples are given by the name of the save, but any other circumstance in which a character would go from alive to dead in one instant (such as the sniping attack of an assassin, or the shock of electrocution). This a last stop save and is usually not used when there is still any other means of resistance (like getting out of the way).

Magic Wands: Most wands in the original version of D&D were essentially a type of magic gun. So the Wands saving throw is about dodging out of the way of a sudden onrushing force liken unto an arrow or a bullet. Unlike an arrow (and more like a bullet) these are forces that will pass through armor like tissue paper. This saving throw can also be applied to other similar effects such as the eye beams of a certain floating many eyed orb or a the heat ray from the headpiece of a pharaonic golem. It could also be used to resist another "canned" magic effect where the expertise of the caster is less of an issue. (This is a common use in the BECMI line of games).

Dragon Breath: This save has a name that evokes the greatest danger of D&D, but there are other less iconic, if no less deadly times it can be used. When a Dragon expels its breath of fire it encompasses the intire area. It isn't really a matter of whether or not a character will take damage, but instead a matter of how much. There are other circumstances that could demand such rolls. A tidal wave slamming a characters boat; an avalanche overwhelming a region; the fall of  many yards into a pit of spikes; being in the range when burning pitch is rained down from the sky. All of the former examples and many more (magic users beware of falling farm houses) will cause massive damage. The question posed at this point is how much. The Dragon Breath save answers that.

Paralysis and Turn to Stone: This is all about a character losing control of their body. The eyes of the medusa or the touch of a ghoul can strip control of the body and render it inert. Other effects like being turned into another object (polymorphing) or being shunted to another plane could also fall into this saves bailiwick.

Spells: This is almost self explanatory. It certainly does cover the effects of Magic Users and Clerics casting spells. It also covers odd effects that have an occult origin if they aren't covered by other saves. In some cases a spell will cause effects that would match other saves (how different is a fire ball from Dragon Breath, or an Acid Arrow from a Magic wand), but the skill of the Magic User wins out and in most cases it would define the save.

The mechanics of a savings throw are simple. Each character class has a set number based on their current level. A d20 is rolled and if the number is the same or higher than the target set by the particular savings throw it is successful. In most cases this negates the effect unless the effect causes Hit Point damage, in which case the damage is halved.

If you look back ast Musings 2 you will see that HP is a measure of combat worthiness. So a character who takes damage during a save would explain why they are not a sooty stain in the same manner that a character would explain why the blow of the angry ogre didn't leave them crippled or dead. These narratives, be they ogre club or dragon breath, make up a large degree of the dynamic narration of Dungeons and Dragons (or related OSR games).

Examples:
Let's take five characters, one of each archetypal class, and a hireling in a tight spot, and have each save against the  first five saves.

Bruno the Truculent, famed and indomitable Fighter, has been bitten by a poisonous Naga. The fanged human headed snake injects Bruno with its toxins of legendary potency. Bruno reals back and feels his heart stop beating, but rather than die the hero gathers his pluck and lets out a horrid battle cry. The shock of the poison meets the will of a man who has survived a thousand deaths and his heart resumes. Probably not a good day to be a naga.

Piccolo Filtchburry, who always wanted to be a bard, is in fact a Thief. On the lamb for a misunderstanding involving a counting house he has signed on with a band of adventurers to pilfer the crypt of an old man (who happened to be a wizard of dubious renown so it is totally cool). At the end of a long slog through a horrid dungeon he finds himself in front of a trapped door. After examining a trap for 10 minutes he sets to disarm it. It is an arcane affair but he is sure he has the right of it. Wrong. The yellow gem in the door he sought to disarm shoots a blinding ray, like that of a wand, at the Thief. Piccolo was expecting something of the sort and his highly trained reflexes, and healthy paranoia, have him diving to the side before it even glimmers. He hopes that the nosy magic user, who was peeking over his shoulder, was just as paranoid.

Mishan the Pious decided that ridding the world of an evil dragon and filling the coffers of his church would both be acts his Deity and his High Priest would both appreciate. His party tracked the scaled wyrm to its lair, for everyone know fighting a dragon with access to the open sky is pure foolishness. So, when sneaking down the steep incline towards it's pit he felt some confidence, until a yellow orange blast of fire came up the incline to meet his party. Before the fire engulfed him he lets out a cry to his god, who was apparently listening. for the bulky fighter in the lead and the thief before him took the brunt of dragons burning ire. Though singed Mishan alone lives of the trio. Sadly for Mishan it is only Round 1.

Razzleman the Medium is a lowly magic user, not long from his days as apprentice, and he is sure he is over his head. In a crypt crawl, the sort that tavern stories make out as an adventurers bread and butter, the zombie hordes guarding the final chamber turned out to be ghoul hordes. It seems that the local informant didn't know the difference in one undead horror and another. The young adventures are all beating a retreat when a stumble puts Razzle behind. The lead ghoul grips the young mage and his muscles begin to freeze with the chill of the grave. But Razzleman, lowly as he is, still has the makings of a wizard, and before he is paralyzed he speaks a word of unbinding. His joints loosen and he uses that moment to hurl the holy water he clutched into the wreaking face of the ghoul, which is now more inclined to clutch its face and howl. Razzle takes to his heels again.

Robert the Torchbearer hates to be called Bob, but this is the exact treatment he has received since starting out with these armored jerks. He didn't even want to do this job, but he lost a bet and took a dare. He dislikes adventurers, but a bet is sacred and if you abandon Lady Luck then she will abandon you. Lost in these thoughts, Robert "Bob" the Torchbearer didn't even see the goatee sporting man in the blood red robes. When the party of jerks that had treated him like a mule with thumbs, began dropping one after another to the ground in stupefied dazzlement, Bob just heard an almost maniacal laughter on the inside of his head. Bob knows his goddess has spared him, and maybe that scares him more than the cultist in front of him. Bob gives the thief at his feet a solid kick in the fork and makes a runner with a torch in hand and the parties ill gotten loot still in his backpack. The cultist laughs with a maniacal and almost high pitched womanly voice.

Saving Throws, like hit descriptions, aren't just  "one thing". They are part luck, part reaction, part divine intervention, and partly the unknown. While they are a mechanical abstraction, after the dice are rolled they become another narrative tool. Some GMs may want to declare how the PC is saved, others may leave that description up to the Player, but either way it is another tool to make a simple die roll into a dynamic encounter.

GM Hobs Game Musings Index

GM Hobs game musings 2: The Combat Numbers

As I mentioned before I  primarily run OSR style games. The ones I tend to run are rooted in B/X D&D with some rules pulled from 1E or some solid house rules either I have developed or that have come through other OSR publications. With that in mind I want to look at the three parts of the character sheet that will affect most characters in combat. Hit Points, Attack Bonus, and Armor Class. (Saving throws are another important character sheet number set, but they are less about combat and more about avoiding unusual damage situations and thus deserve their own discussion.)

The first thing that must be acknowledge from the start is that all three of these numbers are abstractions and there is some overlap between the functions they serve This is especially true of Hit Points which take some qualities of both Attack Bonus and Armor Class into its concept. Virtually all RPGs are abstractions of the real or imagined world into a numerical system and none of them will be perfect, yet going into play with a solid definition of what each part represents will help the totality be more clear.

Attack Bonus represents aggressive combat potential. This number represents both skill and an innate combat ability. It is neutral in that it doesn't represent any one type of skill with attack. You would use it for attack with a sword, a bow, kicking, using an improvised weapon or a shield bash, or (assuming the game allows for it) making some sort of combat maneuver such as a push back or a disarm. It is innate because even should a characters shape be radically altered they still have their base attack bonus. There are circumstances where the bonus is enhanced, such as adding a Strength bonus to a melee attack with most weapons, and there are circumstances where it is reduced, such as when you are attacking with an unfamiliar weapon, but it is a constant representation of martial prowess.

Armor Class represents round to round avoidance of attacks. It is primarily provided by avoidance through movement (like a dodge bonus due to a high Dexterity) and avoidance through a barrier (like the armor bonus provided by Armors and Shields). This can also be raised and lowered but either adding factors that make a character more or less skilled at dodging (such as the magic spell Slow making a character stiff), or by adding more barriers between combatants and themselves (a waist high wall that provides strong cover). It can also be changed in a miscellaneous fashion (such as when a character is cursed).

It is worth noting at this point that most of the time Attacking is active (something a character does) and AC is passive (qualities a character possesses). Because AC is passive in most D&D circumstances it is rarely affected by character advancement, though some variations of things like Barbarian, Monk, or Thief grant dodge bonus that are attached to character Level and some variations of Fighter give enhanced Armor or Weapon powers that boost AC when using certain equipment.

Hit Points are yet more abstract still than Attack Bonus or Amor Class. By now a Hit Point system has been so long a part of the D&D experience that the original meaning has somewhat faded into the background. I think it is useful for this discussion to pull it back up.

Hit Points represent the totality of a characters combat worthiness. They are not an abstraction of overall health. A warrior can be fit as a fiddle and if they are run through with a spear they die. Likewise hit points rarely come into play for poison or for disease, which will instead either have a direct effect, such as paralysis or death, or will instead affect a characters Ability Scores.

Hit Points reflect a characters ability to roll with a punch, instinctively pull back from a hit, take it on the armor, and otherwise absorb damage. While a character still has HP they have avoided mortal damage and keep going. This is a reflection of the actions of such literary giants as Conan being clubbed by a giant and rolling with the hit or the Grey Mouser dodging the dozens knife cuts of the cultist that surround him.

Eventually a character is worn down though, be it from a dozen tiny cuts or near misses, and the last and fatal (or near fatal if you like) blow comes through. At this point the HP total has run to 0 and the characters battle prowess has run its course. One way of seeing this is the sheer weariness of constant conflict making a person clumsy. Another is just that the luck runs out and the check comes due. When seen this way it makes sense that experienced warriors have higher HP, while skulking thieves and blessed clerics are middling, while magic users should just avoid fights all together.

These abstractions are necessary for engaging in combat in D&D or its various clones. While for Player Characters the system for generating these numbers, based on class, ability scores, and equipment is very cut and dry, for NPCs it can be somewhat different.

PCs are professional adventurer. This is the assumption made in classic forms of D&D (though some newer games and OSR see things different). It makes sense for they to have the Attack Bonus progression and HP by Level that they do. All PCs, even the scholarly magic user become used to danger and better at dishing out out (Attack bonus) and avoiding it (Hit Point total). Most NPCs never will. So their Attack Bonus and HP should be handled differently.

Let's look at three NPC examples.

The lowly (but undoubtedly noble of spirit) peasant farmer is completely unschooled in the combat arts. He is hearty and has some bonus to HP from his high Constitution score but nearly any wound is a fatal one.

Next is the dockside ruffian. This scoundrel, raised on the streets and well versed in the school of hard knocks, has been in his share of fights and has 2 Hit Dice (instead of Levels) and thus can take some hits, but he is unschooled in combat and has no attack bonus.

Neither of these NPCs are trained in armor use or own armor. They may have Dexterity bonuses but probably have the basic AC of any unarmored human.

Lastly, let's look at a classic D&D monster the Living Statue. It is a statute that moves and frequently that movement is an attack. As a construct designed to protect things the Statue has some built in combat abilities. It has a naturally high AC being made of stone. Most blows would glance off of it. It also has HP in excess of what it's Hit Dice would suggest, because of that same stone body. Though blows will hit frequently, as it isn't fast, it just absorbs all damage until the blow that shatters it. And because it has the strength of stone it hits hard. This comes across as an elevated attack bonus (though probably still limited to that which is given by its Hit Dice as it isn't a trained combat warrior).

As you can see from the examples, both human and monster, NPCs follow their own logical progression and are not limited or expanded as a PC with a character class would be.

GM Hobs Game Musings Index

GM Hobs game musings 1: Equipment and Encumbrance.

As a player I have always hated buying equipment. As a GM I have always hated tracking it. I didn't get into gaming to be an accountant (I clearly got into it to be a statistician). Yet, with that said, it can become ludicrous what PCs end up having after a few levels. I once audited a character sheet after three levels and found an old cheese sandwich written down on it. As a GM I have glanced at players sheets and politely suggested that their character maybe better served by having a pack mule, rather than by being one. So, clearly some system is needful to keep up with equipment and to limit how much is carried.

Lately, some OSR developers have had similar attitudes, and we are seeing some alternate encumbrance rules that neither focus on heavy bookkeeping or completely ignore its need all together. (The rules light Knave game is a favorite as it integrates equipment in a way that is actually fun).

Here is an idea I will be trying in my next OSR D&D game.

Equipment declaration.

There are two truisms of gold and encumbrance. Gold does little good on an adventure when it could be turned into the right tool. Also once you start down the road to the lightly encumbered you may as well push it up to the last pound because the penalties will be no different. Taking both of these into account this system would work as follows.

When making a character (or preparing for the next adventure) a player purchase essentials like weapons, armor, and items that have to be specialty acquired (like potions in my games). For very common items they declare a number of gold pieces they have invested in equipment and a level of encumbrance (including the armor/weapons/shields) they will be carrying. From that point on when the PC needs a piece of common equipment they merely declare they would have purchased it. As long as it is logical the GM agrees they then have it in their packs. The Player then adds it to the character sheet and reduces the "gold-credit" by that amount.  Next they simply add the weight amount to the total of the weight they are currently carrying which. The PC can keep declaring equipment until either they run out of gold-credit or reach the maximum encumbrance value they have committed to.

Along the way PCs are going to gain extra stuff (more weapons, coins, a Persian carpet, or the hide of a small dragon, etc). When the PCs do here is my fix. If the item is small just add it to the current total and keep going. If the item is large check if the character has passed the halfway mark of "uncertain equipment" to the next encumbrance level. If they are well below it simply inform the Player that their character is now at the halfway point and restart the total from there. If they are near the halfway point inform the player that this puts them at max encumbrance for that encumbrance level and keep going. If they were near the top of that encumbrance level, you guessed it, just boost them to the next encumbrance level and keep going.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not part of the above system, but worth noting, is the other side of encumbrance, rarely covered (hats off again to Knave), which is bulk. I don't like to be over fussed about this, but there is a limit to what can be carried based on where to put it. Modern camping packs are modern. Even backpacks as we consider them really aren't historically accurate. Ergonomics as a word only goes back to the 50s.

I don't like to get to fussed about this, but I do try to be loosely reasonable.

I think one backpack and one other back item (maybe weapon, quiver, or wineskin), one large and two or three small things on the belt  (belt pouches, and scabbards come to mind), and one large thing or two small things in the hands pretty well covers what can be carried before the bulk of it become encumbering.

As I run OSR games I highly encourage the PCs to hire hench persons and buy pack animals. That loot has to make it to town somehow.

GM Hobs Game Musings Index

Southern Reaches: A closer look at Magic

Magic is very common but little understood.

Magic Items
Lesser, common, or vulgar magics (as are practiced by witches, alchemist, astrologers, and the like) are very common. Most villages will have one person who at least claims such power. All trades, including adventurers, have charms (very minor spells that no wizard would deem worth their time). Many of these are tricks of the mind. Some are true but very minor spells. Those Adventurers would know would be things like, little prayers for luck by thieves or simple runes warriors can put on a weapon to make it resist shattering. These will very rarely have game impact, but are part of the settings flavor.

Lesser magic items, such as potions, and magic runes with one effect, or protective charms are easy to come by, though characters rarely make them. The price is set by the local market.  Other things, like magical arms, or armors, are less common but pretty well known. The greatest smiths can still make them as the height of their art. Assume any object has a great magical version made my master craftsmen. Still these are few and far between, and are in great demand.

Great magic items, such as magic rings, wonderous objects, magical staves, powerful weapons and armor, are all extremely rare. The search for one of these things could be a whole adventure or several. PCs will see but a few in in their whole career. The making of these is lost to antiquity or but a few true master spell casters, ancient elves, craftsmen touched by the divine, or blessed high priests. 

Spellcasting

Magic in this setting, as it is in many D&D settings is split between the ambition driven Arcane casters and the piously inspired Divine casters. Except when it isn’t.

Arcane magic
Arcane magic is magic gained through study and wild breakthroughs. It requires mind bending techniques, research, and frequently dealing with entities and energies that few can truly understand with their sanity intact. Characters, PC and NPC, who follow the path of the Magic User would know many small magic charms, that though entertaining or minorly useful, would have little adventuring impact. True power comes from knowledge of the ancient Spells of Power, that are represented in the players spell list. 

Though players can pick some spells most will be have to be discovered in game or out of game (which is not going to be easy). Like magic items, they make good things to quest for. Grabbing someone else’s spellbook would be a godsend in this setting.

Divine MagicDivine magic is almost as difficult to grasp, but it is gifted from a Power rather than wrestled from it, though it is little understood even by those who practice it. It is a thing of faith, and thus is alien to most Magic User.

By studying and meditating on the blessings and mysteries of their faith, divine caster are able to learn the great secrets and channel miracles, though for the most part these are spells, as wizards are quick to point out.

Other Magics
Not everything falls into easy categories as the wise wish it to. The truly wise know that labels are mortal thing and neither the Power, Nature, nor the Universe feel any obligation to live up to them.

There are many other sorts of spell casting and innate magics in the world that neither derive from divine sources nor form a mystical education. The glamory of the fey. The natural spells of dragons. The charms and life draining powers of undead, all fall into these categories. There are even other mortal beings, who by dent of the alienness of their thoughts work magic very differently than Humans (which are the major subjects of the divine/arcane discussion).

The four local demihumans, while they do practice both divine and arcane magic, have certain magics come easier to them, and thus would have their own unique spell casting traditions. Some have arcane magics that appear on the divine spells list, others have vise versa, and gnomes have innate magics that require no study at all. Each race also has their own magical traditions with different lore, charms, and beings that can be called on in times of need. 

Southern Reaches Campaign: Setting/Races/Classes, fitting it all together

Setting

The Morgansfort region
Morgansfort is a newly build fortification, by local standards. It was built near a pre existing village. It sits on a bluff overlooking Southreach Bay to the east. The fort is near the southernmost part of Southreach Bay. It exist independently of any governing body and is ruled by a Baron, Morgan Rathwynn . Baron Rathwynn is the first baron of Morgansfort, but he rules in absentia. His son Halden is Baronet and Regent.

To the north of the fort, off the bluff but not far, is a stretch of good farmland and a small fishing village. This village is quite old by local standards. It was very self supportive before the fort and is now growing into something of a local hub, as  the fort sees more traffic from Slateholm (see below) and local good are going out and foreign goods are coming in.

To the south of the fort is a swamp, called Border Bog, and across from it is the Old Island Fortress. The locals don't know if it was built by the Urd or if it is an older location. The Old Island Fortress is something of a problem as monsters hie out from it sometimes to plague the area. A reward for its mapping and clearing is being posted by the Baron. This may well have drawn some of your party to the area.

The Southern Reaches

Two days sailing with good wind, from the southern point of Southreach Bay, would take you to the free city of Slateholm. This city is a small city state ruled by a Duke, Helsung II, whose line has ruled since the throwing off of Urdish yoke centuries past.

From that city and south to Morgansfort is the area known as the Southern Reaches, or Southreach. This is an ungoverned territory according to the Duke of Slateholm, though many barbarian chieftains, petty lords, village councils, and monsters would disagree with that assessment

This area is sparsely populated by human villages, with smatterings of Demihuman presence, who show no allegiance to any greater body. Though occasional they do war on each other in a petty way, it is largely internally peaceful. It faces external dangers from humanoid races and clans, monsters, and the environment. The knights of Morgansfort protects the furthest edge of Demihumanity's presence the best they can, frequently enlisting Ranger bands or Adventuring parties, and occasionally conscripting a small army of a a few hundred militia men to drive back dangerous marauders or monstrous beast.

No one, save a few scouts and rangers, know the lands well, and the Rangers still know it best on the paths between the villages.

Races

Humans

Humanity is split between two racial stocks. The native folk are called the Covari (the Urd named them after the first tribe they encountered), though as a whole they had no name for themselves, or many hundred names of clans and tribes. They are pale skinned, rough boned folk, frequently with pale hair or eyes. Even before the arrival of the Urdish Empire they had split into village dwelling farmers and the older traditioned Wildfolk. The Wildfolk herd a little, farm less, hunt and gather most, but raid often. The later comes down to tribute more often than not, and they do guard the lands that pay them homage from both humanoids and monsters.

Before the arrival of the Urd these were bronze age people who were organized into clannish groups. They had no overarching government, but instead were bound by culture, tribal alliances and religion.

In contrast are the Urdia, whom are the descendants of conquers from the Uridish Empire. These folk sailed from across the sea centuries ago and conquered much of the coastal lands of the Southern Reach, as well as many more lands to the north. Only the island of the Elves withstood their war ships and warriors. Then just a century after they conquered, the greater part of their forces withdrew to deal with strife in their home country, never to return.

These peoples were of a dark haired swarthy faced breed, both more slender and shorter than the Covari, but no less fierce in battle.

At present, in places where the two peoples touched there is plenty of mingled blood and culture. The battles of old are largely forgotten save as stories; though bad blood and culturalism do flair on some holidays. The general attitude is that some neighbors look different, have odd names, and a strange faith, but they are neighbors. Deeper into the interior and in a few villages and small towns that never lost touch with the north, feelings are somewhat different.

Elves

The true home of the Elves is the island of Avenrho, north of the Reach and accessible only to Elven ships. Elves in the Southern Reaches are from roving bands, exploring the land with no care to border or politics, as is the Elven way. The Southern Reaches, in an ancient past so distant that not even the trees recall it, had Elven settlements. Though most of these sites don’t even have ruins remaining on them, wandering Elves find and stay in these old “woodhalls” activating the magics of them to make a cozy shelter, though it is just a glade ringed by over arching trees. These woodhalls are sanctuaries and only elves and elf-friends are welcome. Elves can very testy about it. A band may stay at a woodhall for a night or for a human generation, but they always move on eventually. Humans know Elves as magical folk, and from human perspective this is true, but the magic of Elves is nature charms (such as woodhalls), craft magics (such as their fabulous clothing, ropes, and foods), and certain lore mastery. Few actually go out for wizardry despite their reputation for it. (PCs are adventures, and will have little access to these craft magics. If you want to bake limbas, you should have stayed home and learned to bake).

Dwarves

Dwarves are seen, by their human neighbors, as less magical than elves, though are seen almost as rarely.  Studded throughout the Southern Reaches are Dwarven outposts. These are not ancient Dwarven holds (though humans may think them so, as some are hundreds of years old). These are mining fortifications.The Southreach is a land rich in minerals and it has many a large cavern complex or small mountain. It is far from the homeland of the Dwarven people and for the stout folk it is just a place to gather wealth and have “youthful” adventures, (Largely involving mining and toil, but that is dwarves for you.) This has given rise to the theory that there are no dwarven woman, which dwarves will not speak of, both because discussing woman is slightly too personal, and because it is just an bizarre concept. They wouldn’t know how to answer this odd idea without being rude. After all how do you tell your local host they are so uncouth you would never consider letting your sister or daughter walk amid them?.

The Dwarves seen in this area are typically using human roads to pass areas where there are no dwarf roads (unseen underground tunnels connecting nearby dwarfholds), so they seem to appear from nowhere and disappear again.

Dwarves are known, to those few wealthy enough to appreciate it, as the makers of the finest metal goods, and the dearest merchants in raw iron or other ore. Despite their shrewdness, or maybe because of it, it is rare a dwarf merchant wouldn’t part with a little ore for a poor village at a reduced price or on loan, though they would make note of the favor owed, and collect it with interest down the line.

Dwarfcraft arms, tools, or armors are prized for generations, and frequently are of a “magical” quality. (PCs do not have this quality of smithcraft. Maybe when they grow up and stop adventuring they will settle down and learn to do such things, but being an adventurer is a full time job)

Halflings

The humans of this region don’t seen Halflings as exotic, though the are fairly rarely seen. There are few Halfling adventures because Halflings, as a rule don’t adventure. There are few Halfing travelers, as a rule, because halflings don’t travel (or at least not amid big folk), but as a people they are not hard to find. Halflings can be found near every major human settlement (a day or two out usually), be it Urdish, Wildfolk, or just a large village. They are good neighbors, adopting some of the look and feel of those around them and yet remaining Halflings. (Likewise Halflings near dwarfholds are a touch dwarfish, and those near woodhalls are a bit elfish.)

Halflings are well loved because they are extremely talented farmers, for both crops and kine, and are given to reasonable prices for trade when their neighbors fall on hard times (though usually only a little surplus leave their shires). In exchange they become semi vassals of the humans on their borders and call on them when things get rougher than the Halflings can handle. In exchange they pay a tithe in agricultural bounty to the local lord or village council. It is a rare ruler that has problems with letting the little folk keep their autonomy in exchange for such bounty.

The traveling Ranger bands (see below) are especially fond of Halfling villages, and stay in those regions when they rest between patrols Thus they protect them fiercely.

Halflings love nothing more that to gossip about and with each other, so though few of them travel (though more than the big folk suspect) often they know what goes on with other Halflings and their neighbors even at a distance.

Gnomes

Gnomes are not a player race but are in the setting. They are a clever, curious race that spends much time in scholarship and discovery. They have few adventurers, but many loremasters. Their homes are places of odd wonders as they are clever with devices and illusions. Because of this their homes are almost impossible to find without some very clear hints. Some think they are a fey people or at least fey touched, but they are accepted in the Demihuman Alliance for their wisdom and wit (when the bother to show up and give it).

Classes

Clerics: Clerics serve higher powers, usually those of a God (great or minor), but sometimes a Force or Idea. Collectively all such things are known as Powers. To gain the might of a power a cleric must swear to abide by a Code of Conduct (as do Druids, Paladins, and any other users of Divine power). A Code of Conduct is an agreement between a Power and mortal that dictates behavior in exchange for divine favor. Though Alignment rules are not being used, the simplest codes are to abide by the alignment of the deity, and to promote its ethos. Such oaths create magical auras than can be detected. Non divine powered characters may have opportunity to take such oaths in game, but the effects would be minor (occasional +1 to +3 on an ethos appropriate roll). They too would be expected to live up to their oaths.The Powers get grumpy when their followers stray.

Human Clerics in the setting fall into two broad groups. Priest of the Urdish Monotheistic God Tah, and local priests of The Hundred Gods.  The Priest of Tah (called Father or Mother by their followers) are Monotheistic and fight an evil, but lesser, opposite “god”: Shaitah or Mephistus. The Orthodoxy of the old Imperium, (called Bethites, for the location of their High Priest is the city of Beth to the north) are considered corrupt by most outside the religion. The Church of Tah Reformed, a reform branch largely followed in former Uridsh provinces and outpost influenced by them such as Morgansfort, are humbler but very zealous as a whole about the subject converting and saving souls.

The Priests of the Hundred Gods, called Godi amid themselves, represent a collection of different, and generally benign faiths, of the pre Urdish local clans. Though these draw on the same mythology as the Druids (see below) the ideology, and interpretations are very different. Druids and the Priest of the Hundred had split ages before the arrival of the Urd. In many ways these priest have more in common with Tahist than Druids.

Though the monotheists of Tah and the pantheists of The Hundred have long since stopped practicing open hostility (in most places), one or the other is the stronger faith in any village or town.

Druids represent an ancient religious perspective within the fantasy setting. Though they have the same gods as the Priests of the Hundred Gods (see above) they see them in a more abstract way, and incorporate many darker powers, lesser powers, and genius loci into their practice. And they can possibly control bears. I think that is worth mentioning.

Fighters are a very versatile class. They tend to be more widely traveled than some other classes, as their background involves a lot of combat training in many situations. Weapons specialization makes this class very customizable . Focus on armor, shield, sword, and lance would fit a nobles squire. Crossbow, bow, and spear would fit an archer from many armies. Someone trained to be a man at arms would know a variety of easy to acquire weapons

Barbarian: Amid the Wildfolk who still live in clannish holdfasts (who never were under the Urdish yoke) the Barbarian is a warrior elite. These youths, of both genders, are chosen at a young age and taught nearly mystical arts of combat. This class is only available (for humans characters) to people from this social structure.(Other races make take it and explain it in a background appropriate to that race). Barbarians are feared amid those of cities on par with humanoids and respected by their own as are knights amid the more urban classes.

Paladins are warriors trained to the cause of protecting others from evil. Some do serve a church, such as Tah or a more heroic patron from the Hundred (see clerics above), but others are part of ancient orders sworn to protect the innocent and fight evil without a deity’s backing. Still, some Power still gives them their abilities. Such a Power counts the Paladin’s Oath to the Code of Conduct (which must include Law, Good, and some Knightley provisions) as their Oath of Loyalty. These Orders take in Urdish, Covari, Wildfolk (though rarely,) and Demihumans (also rarely). Thus far no Orcs have joined any Order that anyone is aware of.

Rangers are almost unknown in urban areas, but they are the most common home grown adventuring warriors of the deep forests north of the Morgansfort and south of Slateholm. Both the Wildfolk and the villagers produce these warriors, and Rangers see each other as having a brotherhood that cuts across all such lines. They are reverent to the Druids, but respectful of Priest of the Hundred that focus on nature, and followers of Tah who preach that nature is sacred (only found amid the reform branch). Bands of non adventurer Rangers act as specialized militia protecting this area from the worst dangers. They frequently hire adventurers to pick up where the leave off.

Magic Users are an extremely variable class in the setting. When the Urd came the brought an arcane magical tradition, which was very excited by the riches of this land, only to find a pre existing magical society, which it clashed with immediately. The Druids, it seemed, were not the only keepers of old lore in the Southern Reaches. The local Magic Users had their own traditions and trappings, but were outsiders and oddities to the locals who distrusted there strange ancient powers. After the dust settled in the clash of magicians, comparisons found that many ancient spells and odd Entities, some of which were Powers but many of them were not, that Magic Users call on were the same on each side of the sea.( Likewise Elven, Dwarven, and Gnomish magi all admit that they use similar entities of unknown providence. Halfling wizards were not consulted.)

Spellbooks are one of these commonalities. All are written in odd arcane codes, with words and symbols unknown anywhere else. Read Magic helps untangle this mess, but to use a spell requires time, energy, and experimentation. The listed spell cost for adding a spell to a spellbook takes these considerations into mind and is the cost of learning the spell. It isn’t just expensive ink. A place to perform such spell research is essential to advancement.

Most Magic Users are trained by one Master who passes his or her knowledge to one to three students. Wildfolk wizards have adopted some of the Urdish ways, and mages of Urdish lineage, who live in the Southern Reaches, use some trappings from Wild Wizards. Wizards have some pragmatism and are as a whole ruled by ambition. This can make them very cosmopolitan despite their odd ways.

Some cities, rural strongholds,and very large villages do have Orders (never guilds) of Magic Users, but these tend to be magi of middling power and much political ambition. They are dangerous in their numbers even with their weaker magics. More dangerous still is when an wicked enchanter starts or takes over such an Order. These are few and far between in the Southern Reaches. More common, but far from common, are individual masters in hovels, towers, or dungeons. (Note: most do not like unexpected visitors or groups of more than three persons with torches.)

A trained Thief is a largely urban phenomenon and is rarely found in any part of the Southern Reaches that is not a coastal town. Many do come to adventure in this region though, and some take apprentices while they are in the area. In Slateholm there is a powerful thieves guild, with many members who are skilled in the Subtler Art (as thieves mockingly call their skills). Some buy free their “contracts” and become independent adventures in the Reaches interiors. Others just run away, which leaves an angry thieves guild expecting half of their earnings in perpetuity.

Scouts are a more common roguish profession in the Reach. Many train along side of rangers and are members of Ranger Bands. Though, naturally, there are many that arise from the ranks of Wildfolk, Elves, Halflings, and the Corvari, plenty of villages produce Scouts as well. Dwarves not so much.

Bards are a subclass of Thief. Three examples of a bardic origins in this setting could be; Heraldic training in more powerful courts of noble houses; Wandering Minstrels in between the villages of the south; Skaldic singers of the barbarian tribes.

The Southern Reach Campaign: Style and Setting

Style.
This is an old school D&D game. The feel is going to fall between the old 1E modules, like White Plume Mountain, and the Basic game modules, like Keep on the Borderland. This is a game with Elves and Dwarves, but they aren’t Tolkien’s Elves and Dwarves, nor the elves and dwarves of later editions of D&D. The Elves are odd and long lived but mortal. More free of spirit than humans but not so mysterious and aloof as Tolkien would have them be. The Dwarves are focused and long livid. These may be closer to the Tolkien vision, but more martial that Tolkien’s dwarves were. Halflings are still pretty hobbit like, but more used to danger and more of them are given to mischief.

Your characters are Adventurer. That is their job. Each of them has trained years to learn these skills. No one is self taught, though you may have had many or more informal masters. A fighter is a very skilled and talented warrior who is better than any town guardsmen. A thief knows techniques of movement and skulduggery that are known to only the best of the criminal class. Spell casters have to study, experiment, pray, and meditate for years to learn their powers.

I point this out so you understand that adventuring is a job, and adventures are generally considered to be remarkable people. They are still people, though. Dragon fire, swords, lightning bolts, heavy objects, large falls, disease, and misfortune can kill them. Your characters are not predestined to have great lives. They do though have the skills to succeed.

Some adventures are heroic. Some are scoundrels. Some go on to be villains. Most just do their job in hopes of getting ridiculously wealthy. Hero, mercenary, or scoundrel are all reasonable characters for this game. Though we will not be using alignment, do avoid characters who are villains or “evil”. This is mostly because the disrupt game and I don’t have fun DMing them. Also if there is a kidnapping and you decide that it sounds too boring to help then that makes for a bad game. At worse, be the person who will save the peasants and then try to profit off the experience.

The spells are Vancian. Learning arcane magic take a wizard years of practice and is brain twisting and leave them a bit odd. Divine magic requires bonding with something greater and leaves its mark as well.

Though multi classing will be an option, do keep in mind that this is a Roleplaying game not a tactical game (though there will be no shortage of fighting, and fighting dumb will kill a character or party). There has to be a reason for new abilities. It is better to have a concept from the beginning that involves changes of pace into other classes, or be willing to find ways to work into the game. More on that later, but I wanted to mention it now so that everyone is on the same page.

Setting

The game take place in a pre renaissance, late medieval, fantasy Europe-like setting. Settlements are distantly spaced and generally self sufficient. Trade has only been strong for about a century between major trading centers, none of which are near the play site.

Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes (who are not an initial player race) make up an alliance of of Demihumans. Other speaking bipedal creatures of roughly the same size are called humanoids. These are both human words but assume all the other races have an equivalent. Humanoids and Demihumans are frequently at war. This is based on a strong difference in worldview. Sociology hasn’t been invented so no one has really tried to untangle this. It is rare these two groups get along, but sometimes there is a hostile neutrality.

There are many other races of thinking and speaking creatures. These are typically so alien that making peace or even communication is impossible. This leads to conflict. Most people who aren’t scholars call them monsters. Also beastly creatures who are not animals nor intelligent are lumped in as monsters as well. Zoology isn’t to far along as a study either.

In this corner of the setting humans are the dominant Demihumans, and various Humanoids (no census has been taken to as to the numbers and types) are next most common. Intelligent monsters and other demihumans are fairly rare.

Humans are split into two ethnic groups, a mingling of them, and several life styles and classes. Settlers from the now lost Empire of Urd and a local tribal culture who were conquered by them. The Imperial were originally Byzantine-esque but have become European in technology and fashion over the years of separation with the mother empire. The locals were of a Germanic/Celtic perspective. The blending of the two cultures had given way to a Medieval European setting with strains of Byzantine or German/Celtic depending where you are. Morgansfort will be European-D&D in style.

Human religion is split between three faiths, broadly speaking. Urdish Priest brought an odd Monotheism from over the seas. This is popular amid people of cities and those towns and villages heavily influenced by the Urish. This faith is split into an orthodoxy, generally thought to be corrupt, and a reform church, generally thought to be over aggressive.

There is also the faith of the “Hundred Gods” which is the faith of the old gods of the indigenous peoples which are they are worshiped in many villages and small settled towns.

Lastly, there is the Old Faith. This is a druidic religion, also worshiping the Hundred Gods, and many more smaller spirits of the forests and rivers. This is practiced by Druids, barbarians, and villages under their sway.

Mogansfort is a fortification that is at the edge of Demihuman/Human land. It is not part of a kingdom, but is an outpost for protecting the border and exploiting the area resources. It is a military outpost. There is a nearby village, blandly called Morgansfort Village but usually just The Village. The Village is older than the Fort.   There are many more villages to the north. Most are spaced days from each other and can only be reached by forest paths that will allow on cart travel, footpaths, waterways. Most are only known to their nearest neighbors unless they are on the path to civilization to the north.

It is important to remember that travel is very slow. Rare is a person that can travel 20 miles a day on foot or horse. Cart is slower still. On boat down stream 20 miles is reasonable but upstream expect half of that with no complications.

This is not part of the commercial world. Most village raise their own food, protect their own lands, and make their own goods. Trade is done by peddlers. Villages within a weeks ride of the fort , to the north only, can call on aid, but it would be slow in coming. Adventurers are frequently hired to handle problems that are too much for villagers.

One last note. Dungeons. This land is ancient. Demihumanity is new to it. Even its local human tribes only know their own lands closest to their villages, and as they were not literate before the coming of the Urd they have few records to show of the history of this place. This land is dotted with long forgotten keeps, underground fortifications, lost temples, and other oddities. No one knows all of them. Adventurers find them, plunder them, and abandon them. New monsters show up. New villains take residence. It is kind of an ecological cycle of its own. As ecology is poorly studied no one really understands it.  

Vancian Magic: an in world view.

D&D (in the original, AD&D, and AD&D 2nd ed) used a variation on the magics described by Jack Vance in his Dying Earth series. These magics were fragments of greater magics from aeons past, that have been discovered and put into practice by wizards of the current age.They have a complexity and an alien-ness that makes them too difficult to learn, as you would learn a list of facts or learn how to cook a chicken. This is the in game perspective I plan to use for such magics in my games, but references will be made to OSR style D&D type games with spell lists and levels.

A person has to be very smart, flexible, and determined to use wizards magic. Wizards magic is taxing to the body and the mind, and it is fraught with great perils to both. A neophyte wizard learns from a master. (Though some hedge magic could be self taught true wizardry is to alien, to arcane.)

The young Wizard is accepted into apprenticeship and begins to learn certain ways of thinking. It is a training of the mind to think in ways that are not natural to normal life: Strengthening the will against assault; Enduring mind bending repetitions; Casting the mind/spirit into a mythic realm. Traveling in the dream country. None of these lessons are spells and none would gather secret knowledge or on their own or effect the world. They change the apprentice wizard, making them ready for magic.

When the body of skills becomes strong enough, after a years of isolation from the mundane and mind binding mental labor that has no visual effect, the Master then teaches very basic spells, cantrips, that allow greater access to knowledge and power.

Again these aren’t the spells that will effect game. These go beyond basic techniques of building mind palaces or enduring mental hardships. Thes introductory spells let you step out of your dreams into the World of True Dream, or to see the patterns in random events that shower Greater Powers at work.  These knowledges help the apprentice start to seek the power of True Spells, rather than charms or rote invocations.

If the first level of training doesn’t cause madness, as it does in many, then this second can actually consume the young wizards soul as they actual start coming in contact with the agents of Greater Powers. If the student hasn’t strengthened their will and mental flexibility or haven’t learn the lesser cantrips of protection proficiently, then they will be assaulted or lost in the realms of dreams and ether and astral.

If you are playing a first level character they will have survived these trials. They will have written in their own hand from their masters books or bodies of lore the first spells in their own spell book.

The magic the Apprentice learns is varied and strange. Like in the game rules, spells have levels and and spell names. Levels are classifications in the most general way of trials or powers that must be overcome before they may be unlocked, precursors spells that must be known, or astral guardians overcome. Thuse master to master where a spell fits in maybe a matter of some argument.

Spell names in the rules may be “Magic Missile” or “Locate Object”. In the story the Magic Missile spell may be known as “The Loosed Arrow of the Archangel Griblifax”. Locate Object may be “The Invocation of the unswerving hound, lesser”

When a wizard learns a spell for the first time it isn’t the sudden understanding of words in a book. It is the outcome of an epic astral quest in which he solves riddles, faces perils, binds spirits to his will, and learns ancient names. The spellbooks of his master, as well as teachings, and mind bending exercises, are the tools, but the young wizard gains the power on their own through questing for it in realms unknowable. This will involve research, meditation, astral trial and combat, lab work, and work in ritual spaces like magic circles.

After a spell has be researched, astrially quested for, and attained through otherworldly trial, extensive notes of the journey and the invocation of that power are made in their own spell book. This spell will be unique and different than their masters, though there will be similarities that speak of the lineage of the wizard. This could be used by other wizards to gain the same power, but they would have to make their own journey to master it.

After that first learning of the spell and recording it in the book to gain that power again is not so sore a trial. Instead during a state of mediation or during a simpler ritual the power power is conjured or astarally sought out and tied to the wizard in some way. This is the daily ritual of “learning spells” and though it seems to take about an hour in objective time, in the subjective world of the mage it is an exhausting work that can only be achieved once a day and when rested.

Each preparation readys one spell. Each spell is different, based on what was needed to attain the power to begin with. Maybe it is a section of a sacred name of power tied to the wizards own true name which causes a spirit to hovers chained in his mind, or a force kept in a secret other dimensional stasis only the wizard can reach. Each spell is different. There is no universal Magical system. Many wizards may have similar spells that work completely differently. The similarities only exist in game manuals.

Let’s look at the two examples above.

The Loosed Arrow of the Archangel Griblifax (Magic Missile): The wizard, while studying his coded spell book recalls the Astral route to the never ending battle between the Archer of the Gods Griblifax and the Blind Horde that constantly assaults the Walls of Heaven. After using rites to protect his soul he appears on the battlefield (while his body sits in meditation) and as the Angle loses his unmissing arrows he uses a binding to draw one, in flight, into a pocket realm where it will wait until the wizard loses it on his own enemy. This though allows one of the Blind Horde to assail the wall. Magic doesn’t come cheap.

The Invocation of the Unswerving Hound, Lesser (Locate Object). In the learning of this spell the Wizard traveled through to the Dream Realm and challenged the Fairy Lord of the Hunt with a fragment of its true name. In return for making one thousand sacrifices, it both promises not to swear vengeance and lets you use the one thousand of his hounds each exactly once. You laboriously recorded a 1000 names of these hounds in your spellbook. To use the spell you reenact the sacrifice ritual and invoke the hound, who,s spirit hovers near to hunt for you. Also, to waylay vengeance, have forgotten this fragment of the name of the Lord and may never know it even if it is written in your spellbook in front of you.

Two more examples could be:

Whispers of the Ancient Master Porthos on the Subject of Enchantment (Detect Magic): This simple spell involves reciting a litany of arcane Masters in an unbroken chain paying each a complement until you reach Master Porthos. You hold his name in waiting for the need of the spell. After flattering him greatly he will look through your eyes and tell you of the enchantments he sees.

Conjuration of the the Mail of Gustav the Fat at the Battle of Ten Acres (Mage armor): By whispering over and over the deed name of, not Gustav the Fat, but the armor he wore on that famous day, you call its ghost from the past into a fragment of that famous armor you wear as a bracelet. You can then call on its power in a short spell. It then surrounds you for the duration of the spell.

Each of the spells above is based on a generic spell but shows the in game power source and the sacrifice or ordeal needed to use the magics.