Haven: Laws

Inspired by (and perhaps even stolen from) notes in Vornheim, as I took notes on basic ideas of crime.

•  Arms and armaments: Armor is illegal except for the Guard, Centurions and licensed bodyguards. The latter can only wear light (leather/studded leather armor). You can also try to conceal light armor. Most weapons are illegal. Daggers are fine, and nobles may carry long swords. Walking sticks (clubs) and quarterstaves are acceptable. Slings are easy to conceal, though technically controlled.
• Sumptuary Laws: Fancy hats, shoes, clothes, and even foods are restricted by social station. Thus, even if you look like a noble, you can't live like a noble without having a title or living in danger of arrest.
• Taxes and Fees: Taxes and fees can be frequent, arbitrary, and common. In addition to government taxes and fees are also allowed to guilds, universities and the like; and tithes are allowed to churches.
• Canon Law: Churches cannot enforce law on non-believers, but followers may not be held to laws about decency, morality and heresy. These cannot result in imprisonment, but may result in shunning, branding, lashing or other corporal harm, or even excommunication.
• Sedition: The Aquilans take great exception to rebels.
• Illegal Worship: The Aquilans also take great exception to demon and devil cults and liberation cults. Holy symbols to these gods, public declaration of affiliation, etc. may lead to arrest.
• Sorcery: The use of magic to create undead, summon lower-planar creatures, dominate or charm others, or cause harm or unwilling transformation of others is criminal sorcery which may be punished by imprisonment, disfigurement, or even death. Use of magic for fraud, however, is typically just a property crime.
• Property Crime: Is usually remedied by repayment, hard labor, or indenture.
• Slavery: Slavery is legal in the city. Most slaves are captured in war or are indentured servants. Nobles often keep slaves as personal servants and tutors. Goblins are commonly used as labor slaves, halflings as household slaves.
• Poison: Use of poison is illegal in the city, but surprisingly common, except by licensed members of the Assassins' Guild. Punishment is death by poison, unless the Assassins' Guild gets to you first....
• Murder: Killing a slave is a property crime. Otherwise, the penalty for murder depends on motive, victim, and killer. A commoner victim killed in the heat of the moment may result in a punishment in weregild, some murders may result in imprisonments. Only truly heinous murders or death of a nobleman or a ranking Aquilan official may very will result in death.
• Trade Crimes: Guilds license the practice of their professions an may levy fines, ban practice of a trade, or exile those who violate trade monopolies and controls under their charter.

Whither Jeff Rients?

An attempt to look at his blog says it was deleted from blogger. Anyone know the skinny?

Memorial Day

For those readers not from the U.S., today is Memorial Day, a national holiday. Nominally, it is a day to commemorate those who have fallen in military service. However, its origin in the aftermath of the civil war means that there is a certain quality to this holiday that is tied to understanding sacrifices made in the name of the republic, and the rebirth of a nation because of those sacrifices. It's one of those days that helps us feel a bit more unity with each other as Americans.

So for those of you who are veterans, active duty, or whose family are, thanks. For those who have lost loved ones in military service, my thoughts are with you. And for those of you who are deployed or soon may be, my best wishes.

Fiend Folio Friday: some humanoids I'm okay with

To counterbalance my complaints from last week, here are two examples of humanoids in the FF that I think are workable and introduce something interesting that makes them stand out in play.


Meazel

What I always liked about meazels is that they were essentially assassins. They hide out, pick of stragglers, and are hated by the dungeon denizens, too. They don't fight stand-up fights, and have the potential for being the center of fear and rumors for low-level parties as they pick of hirelings and PCs along the way. And killing them can feel so good for that reason. 

Grimlock

Grimlocks have two good things going for them. The first is that they have a gimmick: they're blind cannibals that can negotiate in the dark. They are the face of what is waiting if your last torch gutters out. They are also immune to visual illusions, sure, but that's a minor touch. They  hide out invisible in the and swarm you horror-movie style.

They're second good thing is that they are goons for other, scarier monsters. Since they are blind, they can hang out with medusas without possible harm. And they cozy up to illithids. Monsters that play well with other monsterss are always handy,  and having them act primarily as goons for really scary monsters means that when Grimlocks show up, the players are waiting for the real terror to appear.

House Rules: Healing, largely inspired by Judges' Guild

My old copy of City State of the Invincible Overlord and my PDF of the Ready Ref Sheets both have some house rules for healing that I remember having made some inway into my AD&D playing back in the early 1980s even though none of us remembered where the rule came from.

The particular rule I'm talking about is the rule on bandaging wounds. The particular rule essentially goes like this: if you spend a turn immediately after combat (before looting, disarming traps, etc.) bandaging your own or someone else' wounds immediately after combat, doing that will heal 1d3 hit points, or just 1 hit point if you are interrupted. This made sure we kept a steady supply of bandages in our packs. Oddly, my discovery of where this rule came from is only fairly recent.

So, here I am thinking about low-level play in xD&D and thinking that I do like the general vulnerability of low-level characters, but I'm less pleased with how damned long it takes to heal. I want a war of attrition, not a game in which every scratch sends the PCs crying home.

So, reiterating stuff I have hashed over in other places, I think that any xD&D game to fit the kind of pulp action I like needs a little more minor healing, not to overshadow healing potions and spells, but to make it easier for people to keep going and not depend constantly on clerical healing. Conan would have just sucked it up and gotten back to the fight, after all.

So my thoughts on healing:

• Bandaging wounds: 1d3 after 1 turn of time immediately after combat. Interrupted, heal 1.
• Healing spirits: once per day, a drink of grog/dwarven ale/etc. heals 1d6 hit points.
• Nightly rest: heals 1d3 + level hit points, twice that for full bed rest.
• Standard healing potions could be for sale, but maybe they take 1d6 rounds to take effect. They don't help as much in combat, but make good options between fights to recover.

I'll have to think about which ones I want to use if I put it all into place for my next game.

A Cheapass Solution for Miniatures

I used to have a lot of miniatures and years ago, I cleared them all out. Recently, I have returned to the idea, but with less of a desire to spend a lot of money, less concern about cool sculpts, and less concern about having consistent scale models. So after a purchase of a lot of Dungeon Crawl Classics minis from Loot, I decided to get even cheaper and buy some 1/72 scale plastic toy soldiers from Caesar Minis sold by the Michigan Toy Soldier Company. For about 25 bucks plus shipping, I got a pile of undead and adventurer types and one big troll-type in semi-soft plastic at about a 22mm scale -- a bit small compared to the old Grenadier and Ral Partha minis of my youth, and notably smaller than the 28 - 30mm minis you find today.

28, 25 and 22mm for comparison

I glued the minis onto 1" fender washers from the hardware store with some cyanoacrylate glue, filled in the bases with spackle, and flocked them with corn meal before doing simple base coats, a dark brown ink wash, and a simple clear finish. I can't call them award-winners by any stretch, but with a little work and a pretty small cash outlay, I ended up with a good basis for running a game.

My paint job and photography don't capture detail well

Caesar makes a sets of Adventurers, Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, and Undead, which could give you a good basis for most flavors of D&D games, as well as some simple games of HOTT or Chainmail, as long as you are okay making some small compromises in quality.

Haven: Calendar Notes

Months of the Year

1. Renewal (Spring)
2. Raintide (Spring)
3. Greentide (Spring)
4. Wandering (Summer)
5. Longdays (Summer)
6. Goldentide (Summer)
7. Harvester (Autumn)
8. Plentitude (Autumn)
9. Coldsnap (Autumn)
10. Snowfall (Winter)
11. Longnights (Winter)
12. Coldbreak (Winter)

Days of the Week

1. Sunday
2. Moonday
3. Fireday
4. Airday
5. Waterday
6. Earthday
7. Wildday
8. Godsday

Phases of the Moon

1. New
2. New
3. New
4. New
5. 1/4
6. 1/4
7. 1/4
8. 1/4
9. 1/2
10. 1/2
11. 1/2
12. 1/2
13. 3/4
14. 3/4
15. 3/4
16. 3/4
17. Full
18. Full
19. Full
20. Full
21. 3/4
22. 3/4
23. 3/4
24. 3/4
25. 1/2
26. 1/2
27. 1/2
28. 1/2
29. 1/4
30. 1/4
31. 1/4
32. 1/4

A different sort of one-page dungeon

I tossed this together (using Rules Cyclopedia stats) as a sample of a way to put together small dungeons. If you, like me, aren't concerned about exact layout and positioning and care more about relative positioning and movement through an area, it might be easier to remember things with some pictures representing the rooms and a general flow chart. So here is a minimalist, graphical dungeon thrown together with crap I downloaded from the internet to serve as pictures.

Zak S. has a similar graphical dungeons in Vornheim,  he's actually got artistry in his. This is more minimalistic, and aimed at combining impressions, connections between rooms, and enough mechanical detail to improvise.

The End Times

Harold Camping of Family Radio has calculated by his own statement that the rapture is to start today  at 6pm your local time on a rolling implementation. Since I'm on Pacific Daylight Time, most of the world will be engulfed in the Rapture, and I'm adding this at the tail end of the start of the End of Day. Camping had originally pegged the end times as coming in September, 1994, and I'm predicting a new calculation soon from Mr. Camping. Unless I'm wrong, in which case, I apologize to him and his followers.

Unlike other atheists, I won't use this incident to decry Christians, Christianity, or those who believe in this prediction. This is just one man's interpretation writ large based on the willingness of people to embrace new media too easily and accept without question a flawed interpretation, largely because it plays on fear and provides a clear, easy answer with the authority of radio and internet media and numerology masking as quantitative reasoning. Most  religious people I know come to their faith to find complex answers to a complex world, and I don't see a large percentage of people of faith jumping on this bandwagon. This is what it is, and I hope that those who are shocked and dismayed by the cold reality of life going on don't become bitter and disillusioned, but seek out community, connection, and others who are more worthy of their trust.

But on an actual gaming note, I think the idea of a cult of people preaching the end of times is an interesting concept. While this end-of-times stuff is a bit out of sync with most pre-Christian religions, which (in a broad and messy generalization) tended to be more cyclical in their ideas — even Ragnarök signified the end of one world and the birth of the next rather than the End of All Creation — the idea of an End Time isn't a crazy fit with a world in which Good and Evil or Law and Chaos are in real contention for the Fate of the Universe.

In an RPG campaign, this could be The Real Deal, with powerful heroes preparing to fight side by side with gods and demons, or it could be a mystery of a cult claiming that people will be disappearing to fight the final battle — and they do — but the PCs suspect something sinister is really going on....

And, because part of me is a bit snarky about this, here is my salute to the day:

Fiend Folio Friday: What's with the bland humanoids?

So, despite my big love of the Fiend Folio, I have to say that there are more than a few dull humanoids that don't do much for me.

Jermalaine
Jermalaine strike me as mechanically seeming more or less like kobolds, only more rat bastards. Well-played, they could be an ongoing pain in the butt in a dungeon. Otherwise, they are mechanically pretty much kobolds, only half the hit points. And they like rats. Something more or less like that. They have a very detailed write-up, but it boils down to ways to annoy your players.

Mites
They are basically like Jermaline or Kobolds, with Goblin hit points. But act like Jermaline or Kobolds. But they have no language.

I appreciate the Russ Nicholson art. Sure, that's creepy and all. But this is just a generic pest monster, not very different from the other pest monsters. It's a goblin with jermaline/kobold behavior, and jermaline damage.





Norkers
Norkers, on the other hand, just confuse me. Norkers are just like hobgoblins, except they have one extra hit point. And big fangs for an extra bite attack. And they have an armored exoskeleton. And they have claws, but usually use a club. But other than generally being totally different from hobgoblins physically, technologically, and in appearance, they look and act just like hobgoblins. I really don't know how to react to that.

Ogrillons
Ogrillons are half orc, half ogre. Which somehow make them look like orcs (or 10% of the time, they look like ogres), but have horny fists that make them into brutal orcish boxers who never use weapons. Because orcs are boxers, or is it ogres? And they do 1d6+1 damage because of their 18 (01) strength... because that explains the damage.

Don't ask me to elaborate more. I don't get it.

Xvarts
Xvarts are mechanically somewhere between kobolds and goblins, because you really needed to split the difference between the two weakest types of humanoids in the game. What the do have going for them is that they appear to be evil Smurfs.

Gibberlings
So they are basically naked cavemen wielding swords — and wielding them so well that they gain a +1 bonus to hit. They have no leaders, no understandable language, hate light, fear fire, and attack in huge numbers. In short, they are naked caveman swordmasters with no language and no leaders.

I don't even know what to say.

Snyads
They're like mites, but instead of killing you they try to steal your stuff.

Haven: Gladiatorial Combat and Pit Fighting

These notes take their inspiration from the rules for gladiatorial combat in Empire of the Petal Throne.

Gladiatorial combat is legal in the Aquilan Empire and is a common form of public entertainment. The Aquilans built an arena in the Foreign Quarter five years ago to support their interest in the sport. Aquilan gladiator fights involve slaves of free gladiators in established ludi, though some fights involved gladiators and monsters or wild animals. To participate, you at least need an Aquilan sponsor if not a membership in or ownership by an established ludus.

Pit fights, on the other hand, are covert and illegal. They occur in The Maze or in secret underground locales, usually in basements or sewer locations.

Opponents in either case tend to be evenly matched to better facilitate gambling. Gladiatorial combats may be to the death, pit fights seldom are, but when they are, such games tend to be very high-stakes and very illegal.

Odds in matches are based on number of bouts survived. Players need to keep track of their wins if they fight in the pits or the arena. An NPC combatant has a 50% chance of having fought before. If experienced, roll 1d6 and add the character's level/hit dice over one.

If you win a fight, you earn experience as usual and win 1d100 x a multiplier based on the level of the combatants.

• Level 1 = x1
• Level 2 = x2
• Level 3 = x5
• Level 4 = x10
• Level 5 = x20
• Level 6 = x30
• Level 7 = x50
• Level 8 = x100
• Level 9+ = x200

If you bet on a fight and win, you win back your bet plus your bet multiplied by the odds ratio.

Haven: Major Magicians of the city

• Theremin Syrne. Old City. Overweight gourmand who loves comfort, decadence, and may have some unspeakable tastes. Specializes in illusions.
• The Faceless One: The Maze. Hooded, inscrutable, mysterious. Often seeks out adventurers to do unusual missions.
• Eliandra Sellorin: The Park. Female aesthete, scholar, and historian.
• Burgyn Bromad: The Foreign Quarter. Collector. Cheap, and will try to screw over anyone who works for or trades with him. Has a huge collection of spells, and very full coffers.
• Warrick Stane: The Foreign Quarter. Merchant, schemer, and con artist. Buys and sells magic items, some of which actually work.

Haven: Criminals of Haven

• Amantha Shara: Old City. Guildmaster of the Thieves Guild. Political schemer. Charming, beautiful, manipulative, cunning, ruthless.
• Marcus Hawk: The Maze. Head of the Hawkmasks, the enforcers for the Thieves' Guild. Loyal, dedicated, respects power and ruthlessness.
• Blind Rath: The Maze. Head of the Assassins' Guild. Speaks in riddles, generally unpredictable, tends to ally himself with whomever he thinks will be on top.
• Namek the Beggar King. Foreign Quarter. Organizes and trains beggars, gets a cut of their action, and uses them as a spy network. Seems doddering and old, can seem kindly and charming, but is a clever and ruthless criminal.
• Liandra Thrull: Dockside. Fence and arranger. She sets up jobs and makes sure product can move. Brusque and tight-fisted. Allied with the Guild.
• Toothless Jack: Merchant Quarter. Fence and arranger. Deals in dangerous, questionable work including work not approved by the guild. Doesn't take as big of a cut, but often undersells the danger of the work.

Haven: Sages of Haven

• Khadek Khal: Dwarf. Foreign Quarter. Major: demi-humankind (history, legends & folklore, theology and mythology, philosophy). Minor: humanoids and giantkind.
• Siobhan Lorn: Old City. Major: humankind (history, languages). Minor: demi-humankind, humanoids and giantkind.
• Timoteo Nexus: Old City. Major: physical universe (chemistry, mathematics). Minor: fauna, flora.
• Turg the Odd: Half-Orc. The Maze. Major: humanoids & giantkind (languages, law and customs), supernatural and unusual.
• Madame Sorotis: Old City. Major: supernatural & unusual (astrology & numerology, cryptography, divination). Minor: flora.
• Sillarion Rhee: Elf. The Park. Major: supernatural & unusual (dweomercraft, metaphysics, the planes). Minor: physical universe, demi-humankind

Well....

I guess I will have to re-type a few posts I had already put in the queue for next week.

Haven: Magic-User (and Illusionist) Taboos

The first edition Oriental Adventures book included the following rule for the Wu Jen class:

Since wu jen draw their power from supernatural sources, they must operate under special taboos that do not affect other characters. Indeed, these taboos may seem silly or insignificant to other characters. However, they are vitally important to the wu jen since violating them results in the loss of spells, illness, or other evil events. At first level, a wu jen character must have one taboo. Thereafter, an additional taboo must be selected upon gaining every 5 levels. (p. 26)

While I generally have problems with the OA, the idea of wu jen taboos seems like a potentially cool way to give some flavor to magic-user types. So I think that this is worth considering as a house rule for the campaign. However, the original OA rules have only ten suggestions. To help characters have more options to build off, here is my d30-powered list of some options:

1. Can't eat meat or animal products (milk, cheese, etc.)
2. Cannot eat plant products (vegetables, fruit, grain.)
3. Cannot touch the same sex.
4. Cannot touch the opposite sex.
5. Can't sleep within 20 yards of the opposite sex.
6. Can't wear a certain color.
7. Must dress only in a certain color.
8. Must shun clothing, wearing the minimum required.
9. Must hide flesh, wearing clothing that conceals as much as possible.
10. Must cross-dress.
11. Can't carry gold or precious metals on his or her person.
12. Can't bathe (alternately, must bathe frequently.)
13. Can't cut hair or fingernails.
14. Can't drink alcoholic beverages.
15. Can't sit facing a particular cardinal direction.
16. Can't intentionally take the life of (roll d6) 1-2 = insects, 3 = arachnids, 4 = lizards, 5 = snakes, 6 = birds
17. Can't speak after sunset (except to cast spells).
18. Must remain both celibate and chaste.
19. Must speak in proverbs.
20. Must speak in rhymed couplets.
21. Cannot speak in first person.
22. Cannot touch the dead.
23. May not breathe near the dead.
24. Cannot light a fire.
25. Cannot have more treasure than is able to carry.
26. Must make a daily offering to one or more spirit powers.
27. Must exit any building the same way it was entered.
28. Cannot sit directly on earth or stone.
29. May not follow in another's footsteps.
30. May not see oneself in a mirror.

Haven: Haven's 10 Most Wanted

1. Lykan Thrace: Magic-user, scholar, physician. Conducts illegal magical experiments. Reward: 5,000 gp.
2. Zharkan Zur: Dwarf bandit leader. Ruthless, rumored to be a demon cultist. Reward: 3,000 gp.
3. Moira Connaught: Kemari rebel leader. Reward: 10,000 gp.
4. Jaga Kur: Half-orc renegade assassin. Reward: 1,000 gp from the law, 1,500 from the Assassins' Guild.
5. Sarkut: Mutated human cleric of Juiblex. Leader of a cult of lepers and mutants. Reward: 2,000 gp.
6. Thuval Morn: Leaderof the cult of Orcus. Reward 2,500 gp.
7. Andalin Nighthunter: Elven outlaw, anarchist, and elf supremacist. Wanted by both the elves and the Aquilans. Reward: 3,000 gp from the Elves,  1,500 from the Aquilans.
8. Jubal Surka: Former slaver, former gladiator, former rival of Thieves' Guild head Amantha Shara. Reward: 5,000 gp from the Guild.
9. Murdoc Mal and Vesta Nesh: Ruthless robbers who have struck many moneychangers, banks and businesses. Reward: 1,000 gp each.
10. Nesta Krell: Poisoner and serial killer. Kills the wealthy for their money, but is more than willing to poison a full room full of people to get what she wants. Reward: 10,000 gp.

Inns and Taverns of Haven

More notes from my DM planning notebook.

Quality is denoted by stars. 1 star is a dive, four is a classy establishment.

The Dancing Dragon ****
Old City. Inn. Good food. Nice, respectable clientele.

The Peculiar Pony **
Old City. Tavern. Weak drinks, hearty food. Colorful locals.

The Three Crowns ***
Old City. Public house. Respectable, local haunt.

The Temple *
Merchant Quarter. Public house. Beer and sausage. Locals avoiding work or home.

The Red Dragon**
Merchant Quarter. Tavern. Low end but respectable.

The Green Ghost***
Merchant Quarter. Inn. Protected by the Thieves' Guild.

The Silver Spider***
Merchant Quarter. Tavern. Frequentd by the City Watch.

Grogan's**
Foreign Quarter. Inn. Owned by former adventurer.

Stone Alehouse**
Foreign Quarter. Tavern. Dwarven.

The Firebird**
Foreign Quarter. Tavern. Has bellydancers and spicy food.

The Lusty Mermaid*
Dockside. A shack with grog and fisticuffs.

The Dirty Dog*
The Maze. A scary place for scary people.

The Rusty Plow*
Tavern. Kemari-run, frequented by rustic folk.