If you have already started drinking the 5th edition cool-aid and want some more flavors, check out my friend's blog

My friend (and Estarion player) Rich Howard has been busy playing with 5th edition and developing some materials for the game.

First of all, Rich studied Marine Biology many moons ago in Santa Cruz, which grew out of his love of the ocean and unhealthy fascination with Aquaman. Well, maybe not obsession. But he like Aquaman before it was cool. Because it will totally be cool some day. In fact, in my game he is playing a cleric of Poseidon named Arturius Courius. Because we like a good comic book in-joke. The upshot of this is that he has created a series of aquatic builds for PC classes and races:

• Barbarian aquatic build
• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid and Ranger
• Fighter
• Paladin
• Race: Sea Elf
• Race: Selkie

 He also has some monstrous races built out as PC options:

• Aaracockra
• Minotaur
• Soulbound Revenant

 I present all of these to boost some awareness of cool things a friend is doing and to just share some of the general sense of DIY vibe that I think can come out of the new rules.

My last hit point musing for now.

After much mild moping about hit points, I rediscovered Robert Fisher's old Classic D&D Injury Table, as well as Trollsmyth's revised version, which seems to me a productive way to begin thinking about injury, hit points, and balancing low-level survival with the simplicity of managing hit points as an abstract system. I think it was Roger the GS who noted that the best way to think of hit points is that only dropping below 1 hit point should be seen as an injury. I think that's probably a good idea if I want to keep the general set of D&D rules, warts and all.

Personally, I think I may just take Mr. Fisher's rules more or less whole cloth, but the rumination on the issue of hit points has been enlightening.

The Joy of Pets

Back around 1986-1988, four friends and I were playing in an AD&D campaign using the 1st edition rules (including the Unearthed Arcana). We wandered around in a sort of plot-hook based sandbox run by our pal Geoff, and mostly got caught up in picaresque wandering and trouble-making.

One of the things that marked the game for us, though, was our use of pets. Demian ran the party thief, who had a pet monkey who provided the comic relief and whose only contribution to combat was the occasional offal-flinging to distract enemies. He also was an extra set of hands to bring us things or sneak behind bars with a key. I ran the party barbarian, a real brute of a man, who had two pet war dogs, Hammer and Anvil. The three of them were a wall of steel and teeth that proved to be a devastating combination in low-level combat. Since we ranged from 3rd - 5th level, those dogs were mean mofos.

This is why Zak's latest post on his blog, Playing D&D with Pornstars, seemed so amusing to me. In the old AD&D price list, pets seemed like good investments. A good mule and a wardog seemed like excellent purchases. Real no-brainers. They seemed cheaper, more loyal, and more effective than bringing along hirelings, and easier to recruit than henchmen.

What's interesting to me, though, is that bringing along back-up of this sort (pets, hirelings and henchmen) was so central to old-school gaming, and kind of an assumed exploit for players who understood the value of numbers. Since 3rd edition, pets and followers became more of a problem of balance -- largely because they became powers for the characters, but also because combat complexity has gone up. In fact, pets and summoned creatures are now treated with a lot of care in D&D 4th edition to keep one player from getting too many actions to hog up table time, a concern I would never have had as a fledgling AD&D DM or player -- perhaps because even with followers, monster summoning spells, and pet war dogs, the whole turn was over so quickly.

Rules Complexity and Game Theory

Brian Gleichman over at Whitehall Paraindustries has been writing about rules complexity and role-playing games, which has turned out to be an interesting read. But I think what strikes me as an interesting question is why people like complexity in a role-playing game.

In his Friday, October 23 post, Brian muses over whether there is a sweet spot of complexity that offers more satisfaction of game master and thus more user satisfaction. Let me up the ante on that thought.

I propose that part of the enjoyment of role-playing games is exploration of space -- this is an obvious part of the actual content, since exploring dungeons and wilderness has long been the basic trope of the game. But the very structure of game play, in my mind, includes several types of exploration of constructed spaces:

• The players (including the GM) explore the space of possible activities within the set of game rules.
  
• The players explore the fantasy world.
  
• The players explore the role of their character, creating personalities, experiences, and potential actions.
  
• The players explore a dramatic space through collaborative plot development.
  
• The players explore social space through the development of a set of informal and formal social rules, roles, and expectations.
  

Discovering, uncovering, and constructing these explored and collaboratively created spaces gives RPGs a unique potency as a recreational experience. The exploration of rules-space is the safest, most consistent, and most easily portable beyond the social event of the game, making game complexity an interesting sub-hobby on its own.

At least that's my half-baked off the top of my head thought.

The Clone Pits

Life on Athanor can be nasty, brutish and short, and the lack of spells to raise the dead means that  the end of life can be pretty final. In Zamora,  Vog-Mur the Necromancer sells the services of his Clone Pits for a modest fee of 1000 gold and a pound of flesh. You can use the Clone Pits to either duplicate someone or to create a new, living body for them.

If the procedure works correctly, the character returns good as new, with even his or her memories intact. If not, then something happens, and the character comes back not quite right. Every time a character returns through the Clone Pits, roll on the Clone Pit Table:

3d6    Result
-----  ------------------------------------------------
3      Amnesia: the character comes back normally, but  
.      remembers nothing of his or her previous life.
4-5    Roll one drawback.
6-8    Lose 1 CON permanently. Visible deformity, scar, or 
.      superficial mutation.
9-12   No problems.
13-15  Gain +1 to a random ability score, but your skin, hair, 
.      or eyes are an unnatural color or texture from now on.
16-17  Roll one minor mutation.
18     Roll one major mutation.

Alternately, the player may choose to use the clone pit mutation as an excuse to re-roll his or her character’s abilities and hit points and shuffle around background skills, a result of the scrambling that sometimes happens in the Clone Pits….

Mutations
Mutations can happen as a result of exposure to the Clone Pits, Ancient technology, or irradiated ruins. Such mutations may be beneficial or harmful, but will always mark the mutant and make it hard to be respected in proper company. Mutants in Zamora can be found in the Barrens, where they form small mutant communities, in the sewers, in the Undercity, and among the poorest of beggars.

Minor Mutations
D10 Result
--- ---------------------------------
1   Altered Height
.    1d6. 1-3, height is (66-3d6) inches; 4-6, height is (72+3d6) tall.
2   Claws
.    Sharp, horny claws give mutant +1 bonus to unarmed damage.
3   Enhanced Senses
.   Suprise: 1 in 6. +2 to saving throws for  actions that involve senses.
4   Fangs
.   Long fangs give the mutant a bite attack that does 1d6-1 damage.
5   Fur
.   Mutant is covered with thick fur that gives a +1 bonus to AC.
6   Horns
.   Head butt attack that does 1d6-1 damage.
7   Multiple Limbs
.   The mutant has 1d4 extra limbs. For each limb roll 1d6:
.   1-3, the limb is a leg, on a 4-6, an arm. Every extra leg gives 
.   a +1 to move rate; every 2 arms grants a +1 to attack rolls in 
.   melee combat.
8   Night Vision
.   The mutant can see in near complete darkness.
9   Scales
.   +2 bonus to Armor Class.
10  Scent
.   Allows the character to identify tracks and individuals by smell.


Major Mutations
D10 Results
--- ---------------------------------
1   Increased Physical Attribute
.   1d6, add 1d6 points to (1-2)  STR, (3-4) DEX, or (5-6) CON
2   Natural Armor
.    Armored hide or carapace grants +4 AC bonus.
3   Chameleon Skin
.   Surprise opponents on 1-4. May hide by making a save at +4.
4   Wall-climbing
.   Cling to walls, move at normal rate, but cannot wear gloves or shoes.
5   Gliding Membrane
.   Glide at normal move but may not wear armor. 
6   Spines
.   Opponents who grab or bite character take 1d3 damage.
.   +2 damage in unarmed combat. Cannot wear amor.
7   Venomous Attack
.   Opponent must save or take 2d6 damage from poison. Can be 
.   combined with existing natural attack muatation (bite, claws, etc.)
8   Musk Glands
.   15' radius area adjacent to mutant. All in area must save or be 
.   nauseated and unable to act for 1d4 rounds.
9   Choose one minor mutation
10  Roll two minor muations

Table 7. Drawbacks
D10 Results
--- ---------------------------------
1-2 Albino
.   Sensitive to sun, unusual appearance. -1 CHA.
3-4 Bizarre Appearance
.   Very freaky looking. -2 CHA.
5-6 Obese
.   Weight is 200+(3d6x20) pounds. This isn't muscle.
7-8 Physical Weakness
.   Roll 1d6, subtract 1d3 points from (1-2)  Strength, 
.   (3-4) Dexterity, or (5-6) Constitution
9+  Poor Senses
.   The mutant is surprised on 1-3  in 6. -2 saves for 
.   actions that involve senses.

Access vs. Individuality

One of the things that has been interesting to me over the last year has been reviewing older versions of D&D to see them with fresh eyes. I’m currently playing in my best friend’s 4th edition campaign, and one of the players at my table is a RPG newbie. Teaching him the nuances of 4th edition have been easier, from what I have experienced, than teaching similar levels of experience in 3rd edition, but it seems to me that the whole idea of teaching the later versions of D&D to a player new to role-playing games is a much bigger leap than teaching new players the rules of the game when I first started.

Some of this is because so much of the rules mastery portion of older versions of D&D was distributed differently. In Ye Olden Days, the DM was the only one who had to master much of the rules structure—though there were always older players who had learned things as well, often because they were DMs, too (but sometimes because they were just rules lawyers.) This was also because there was less in the way of choice for players in developing characters in the rules. The limited customization options and rules-opaqueness were good for hopping right in.

However, the down side was often a period when new players for whom the restrictions and tropes of the game were not central conceits, became frustrated with the arbitrary limits of the game. (“Why can’t my wizard learn to fight with a sword? Can’t he just take some fencing lessons? Why can’t I increase my strength? Can’t I just start exercising?”) That’s where limited options become a challenge to overcome for new players.

So I understand why over time different RPGs began to include more options to customize characters. I’m all for players having choice, and I’m supportive of customizing characters to help players feel that their characters are different from the next player’s. But choice often leads to complexity, which leads to puzzled new players who start to look panicked as you tell them to start making choices about their characters when they don’t know the impact of them.

As I put together my house rules, I want to make sure the game stays in a shape that allows play with minimal rules mastery, focusing instead on smart play that involves players mastering their interaction with the game world. However, I want players to feel that their characters have some depth and are different from each other, which is harder to do in an environment of limited class options and limited rules elements to distinguish characters. Yes, it’s good to make your character’s personality his or her difference, but my experience is that players want their characters to have something in game play that distinguishes them, too. That’s a major reason for the proposed skill system I have been working on, though I also want to encourage the kind of specialization (personality, play style) that I find actually is more enduring in play.

Rethinking Skills

I included rules for skills in my Athanor PDF because I wanted to include a way to customize characters within the rules. But my thoughts lately have been about the fact that maybe I don't want a skill system. After all, what's the point of a class system if not to encapsulate skills and abilities into a specific sort of archetype instead of skills.

Maybe instead of skills, I would focus on giving basic skills to everyone: everyone can ride horses, everyone can detect secret doors 1 in 6, traps 2 in 6, listen at doors 2 in 6, surprise 2 in 6, etc. Based on class and the background characters have written up, I might give a +1 or +2 bonus on die rolls and leave it all to simple die rolls. Voila. Skills in a nutshell.

The downside is that it reduces mechanical definition of characters, making it harder for players to easily define their characters at the start. The upside is that it reduces mechanical definition of characters, making it easier for players to define their characters later down the road.

Maybe combining that with with my earlier ideas of an Arduin-style special abilities table can really do everything I want a skill system to do.

4 Spirits to Bind

Belmarath the Shielder
Belmarath's ritual of summoning is found in a large iron tablet engraved with red runes. It takes a week to master and bind the spirit, which can manifest itself as a dog-sized, four-legged creature with a body make of woven wire and burning red eyes. Belmarath's master gains a metallic smell and silver eyes. Int: 11, Ego 17; Element: Metal; Languages: Metal, Common, Alemanian; Lesser Powers: take physical form 1 hour/day (AC 7 [12], HD 2, Move 6); Greater Powers: Protection from Normal Missiles 1/day

Marukai the Flamewarden
Marukai's ritual of summoning is found on a leather scroll with black metal fittings. It takes a week to master and bind the spirit, which can manifest itself as a towering giant made of flames weilding a flaming sword. Marukai's master gains red eyes and smells vaguely of smoke. Int: 10, Ego 16; Element: Fire; Languages: Fire, Common; Lesser Powers: Light I 1/day; Greater Powers: Take physical form 1 hour/day (AC 5 [14], HD 5+2, Move 6)

Uzuz the Lurker
Uzuz's ritual fo summoning is found in a book made of black vellum scribed in silver. It takes a week to master and bind the spirit, which does not manifest itself physically, but turns its user's eyes black and makes his or her skin cold.. Int: 13, Ego: 15; Element: Darkness; Languages: Darkness, Common, Alemanian, Mal'Akkan, Zamoran; Lesser Powers: Dark I 1/day, Cause Wounds I 3/day.

Zurrgash the Fungal Guardian
Zurrgash is a sullen, surly and willful spirit. Its binding is scribed with flames into a wooden tablet. Zurrgash markes its master with green hair and eyes and a vague musty smell. Int 8, Ego 18; Element: Plant/Fungus; Languages: Plant, Common; Greater Powers: Cure Wounds II 2/day, Hold Monster (binding in rhizomes) 1/day.

Savage Swords of Athanor Supplement on Scribd

Life has intervened in my blogging, with a combination of school, work, money trouble, and personal life issues (as well as much needed face-time with my wife and friends) getting in the way. I still have a lot of work (and no days off, even for weekends) until the 26th, then I'm moving across town that weekend, cleaning out my old place and then beginning my summer of graduate research. So posts might be thin again for a while.

BUT, in the meantime, I have gone through, compiled, edited, played with and revised my rules and world posts to this point and put together my Athanor Supplement PDF for easy downloading. In it you will find some very familiar material, plus some rules for skills in Athanor, my more or less final version of the spirit rules, and, well, not a whole lot more.

I wouldn't call this one of the top ten free RPG downloads of the year, but I think I have some small gems in there somewhere.

You can view it at http://www.scribd.com/doc/16492119/Savage-Swords-of-Athanor-Version-10

More thoughts on spirits as magic items.

Revisiting intelligent spirit "magic items", I like the idea of using the ego conflicts with magic swords from AD&D as an element of the system. In those rules, the force of personality of the wielder of the weapon is equal to INT + CHA + level, with level decreasing as the character is damaged. The sword's force of personality is equal to INT + EGO.

I like that well enough, though I think I'd add a d6 to each side to add some randomness during a conflict. Then I would add to a bonus to spirits if the magic-user has bound more than one. Maybe a bonus of +1 for each bound spirit to all spirits bound (bind 2 spirits, they all gain +2; bind 3, all gain +3, etc.) just to keep it scary.

So spirits would use something like this to resist control and be real dangers to their masters. Less powerful spirits might be easier to control, but have lesser powers. More powerful spirits are more dangerous to bind.

Once the binding is defeated, the magic-user might find himself betrayed, attacked, dominated or even possessed, and might have trouble regaining control.

I would also think about giving the spirits powers along the lines of AD&D artifacts and relics or intelligent swords, with minor, major, and special purpose powers, perhaps. And set up a system for determing EGO based on those powers and the intelligence of the spirit.

Low-level magic-users would probably be wise to avoid spirits of all but the weakest sort. High-level magic-users might bind some more powerful spirits, but risk danger if they are injured or weakened.

I feel like that is beginning to approximate a system.

Choosing the Rules

That's a good question. Athanor started out as an idea, then I tried to match it to the Grim Tales rules. Then I tried doing my own d20 house rules. Since then, I have tossed around True20, Savage Worlds, Basic Roleplaying, Fudge/FATE, Feng Shui and even Risus as ideas for running the game.

To be honest, all of them seemed like too much game to run and too much game to teach people given the amount of world exploration I hope to present. Except for Risus and FATE, but they brought their own baggage. What I like about using Swords and Wizardry is that it brings three things to the table:

1. Simplicity
An easy system that does not require new users master the system. Instead, decisions made provide a narrative for decision-making by the GM. This makes the game flow more quickly, and relies less on players needing to know how to play the game aspects of the system and more on making choices in the game world.

2. Low "Investment" for Players
Building a character in most systems involves having some idea of their past, their future development, and concept. Using S&W (or OD&D, or BECMI/BFRPG/Labyrinth Lord or Tunnels and Trolls for that matter) reduces this demand on the part of the players. They can read a one-page handout (or ot), roll up their characters, and get right into the game, developing their character as they go and not having to have put too much thought into what the character knows and did in the past. And if a character dies, replacing him or her is really simple.

3. Easily Customizable
In the 2 hours I thought of using the newly-released D&D 4th edition for Athanor I realized that I didn't have a clue how I could easily cobble together classes or adjust power levels for flavor without throwing off the game experience. I don't fear that as much with S&W, since the system is balanced by the DMing process more than the game itself, which makes getting under the hood easier.

Now, other games bring similar things to the table. Tunnels & Trolls 5th edition, for example, is appealing for its saving roll system and the ease of abstract combat, but the system has some weird kinks in it too, especially at higher levels. But a clean, simple system lies in there with only a little digging around. Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord also have some things to offer here, too, as does Microlite d20. And all are floating in the back of my head, too.

Arduin's Special Ability Charts and Athanor

Back around 1982, as I was reworking the campaign for my first game group as a DM, one of my players pulled out a copy of The Arduin Grimoire, Volume 1 and wanted to talk about incorporating some elements of the book. In the end, we only pulled in the Special Ability Charts and not the critical hit charts or new hit point system. At the time, it seemed pretty exciting and innovative as characters added some sort of special abilities that set them apart.

Looking through the books now, I find myself a bit astounded by the huge variation in special abilities. They include the incredibly powerful (your character is a young giant, half-vampire, half-efreet, immune to fear), completely baffling (your character is magic-competent, picks locks, disarms traps, and climbs walls but suffers the penalty (?) of a +8 bonus to charisma; +1 with crossbows, javelins and throwing darts, but -1 vs. cold; +5 charisma when lying, but -3 vs. undead), and some really flavorful entries (ex-seafarer, cannot be drowned in armor -- you automatically shed it; taste bad to monsters, they spit you out 95% of the time; chronic insomniac, -5 to charisma but 100% resistant to sleep spells). My favorite has always been the result that gives a character +3 to Int, Wis, and Charisma, but the character is a singing evangelist with all the abilities of both their original priestly class and the bard class as well as the restrictions that they cannot use weapons or armor except for staves and that they cannot keep more than 500gp treasure. Dave Hargrave had an interesting campaign.

Somewhere in the heart of those charts is something interesting that could make a good piece of the Athanor campaign. Just thinking about the possibilities, I whipped out a version of chart that could be used for Athanor, though I'm not at all sure I want to use it....

d% Special Ability
01-03 Airship training.
04-06 Alchemical training.
07-08 Assassin training. You gain a +1 when using poison or sneaking around.
09-11 Courtier training.
12-14 Criminal past.
15 Engineer Training. Can detect stone traps, shifting/slanting tunnels.
16-19 Grew up on the streets
20-22 Herbalist training. Able to detect and treat poisons.
23-24 Medical training.
25-28 Merchant training.
29-32 Military training.
33 Navigator training.
34-36 Outdoors Training. Can find water and shelter and track animals.
37-39 Religious training.
40-43 Scholarly Training.
44-48 Guild training
49-50 Social outcast
51 Affinity for technology.
52 Danger magnet.
53-54 Disowned scion of one of the Great Houses.
55-56 Escaped slave.
57 Falls in love easily.
58 Fearless. +1 saves vs. fear.
59 Glutton.
60-61 Good sense of direction.
62-63 Iron stomach. +1 saves vs. ingested poisons, eats strange foods.
64 Libertine.
65 Member of a cult or secret society.
66 Moralist.
67-68 Natural skill with animals.
69 Natural skill with magic. Memorize 1 (additional) MU 1st level spell.
70-71 Natural skills as a rider.
72 Pacifist.
73-74 Phobia.
75-77 Prodigy. Add +2 to a random ability score.
78 Resurrected in the clone tanks of Vog Mur with no memory of your past
and no clues. You have a terrible scar and a vaguely cadaverous appearance.
79 Sees twice as well in the dark as normal.
80-82 Excellent senses.
83-85 Skilled liar.
86 Taste bad to monsters, they will spit you out if you are swallowed.
87-89 Terrible liar, but others trust you.
90 Unlucky with technology.
91 Wants revenge for a parent's murder.
92 You are a Ghul.
93 Rudimentary ability to communicate with animals.
94-95 Lucky: +1 to saves.
96 Monster magnet
97-98 Roll twice
99-00 Roll 3 times

Magic Items in Athanor

Many, if not most, magic items in Athanor are actually items of Ancient technology. Crystal balls are remote viewers, flying brooms and carpets are actually hover technology that roughly approximates such items, some wands are actually energy weapons, flaming swords are plasma-assisted weapons, magic armor is made of ceramic alloys... most magic in this case is actually sufficiently advanced technology.

It is in this context that I propose some additional magic items for Athanor:

Pyroclastic Lance/Firelance
The Firelance is a three-foot long weapon that looks like a truncated lance with a flared handguard at one end and a hole at the other. A single button on the handle triggers the weapon.

The pyroclastic lance fires a cone of superheated plasma with a range of 30 feet spreading at the far end to a width of 30 feet. Any target in the cone takes 3 dice damage (save for half) and easily ignitible items will catch fire.

A pyroclastic lance has five charges. It can be recharged by placing a specially-crafted piece of orichalcum crystal in a sealed chamber in the handle. Such an item will cost 150 GP.

Personal Shield
The personal shield surrounds the wearer in a protective aura of shimmering light. The Shield is worn as a belt with a simple switch on the buckle. Once activated, the shield will absorb up to 30 hit points of damage, after which the item will deactivate itself to regenerate its circuits. This takes 12 hours. The shield will run out of power after a total of 1 hour of use. It can be recharged by placing a specially-crafted piece of orichalcum crystal in a sealed chamber on the belt. Such an item will cost 150 GP.

Dinosaurs of Athanor

Dinosaurs are the standard wildlife on most of Athanor. Here are some Swords and Wizardry stats for them, as they appear on Athanor.

Allosaurus
AC: 6 [13], HD: 5, Attacks: bite 1d6+1, Move: 18, HDE 5, XP 240

Large, swift and cunning pack predators, these theropods are fearsome pack hunters of the great wastes. They are about 30 feet long and known for their cunning and skill as hunters.

Ankylosaurus
AC: 5 [14], HD: 7+2, Attacks: tail swipe 1d6+1, Move: 12, HDE 8, XP 800

Stout, thirty-foot long dinousaurs, these herbivores roam the lichen-beds of the former seas of Athanor in small packs. They are ill-tempered, and notably for their knobby hides and large, mace-like tails.

Brachiosaurus
AC: 4 [15], HD: 12+3, Attacks: tail swipe 1d6, Move: 12, HDE 13, XP 2000

These huge dinosaurs with long, snake-like tails and heads are herbivores who both graze on lichen and feed on fungus of the great forests. They are about 80 feet long and their heads stand up to 40 feet above the ground. They are dangerous when stampeding, doing 4d6 to anyone underfoot.

Compsognathus
AC: 8 [11], HD: 1-1, Attacks: bite 1d6-1, Move: 18, HDE less than 1, XP 10

Tiny, swift bipedal pack predators are common animals in the wilds of Athanor. They are about 3 feet long and are seen as pests by many, but kept as pets by others.

Deinonychus
AC: 7 [12], HD: 2+2, Attacks: bite 1d6, Move: 18, HDE 3, XP 60

Brutal, bipedal pack predaors, deinonychus are 10 feet long, with enlarged claws on their hind legs. They are swift runners, skilled leapers, and cunning hunters. They are vocred with feathers, including a great crest on their heads and long feathers on their forelimbs and tails. They tend to raid livestock and are a real menace to small caravans.

Iguanodon
AC: 6 [13], HD: 4, Attacks: "thumb" spikes bite 1d6-1, Move: 12, HDE 4, XP 120

Bulky 20 foot long herbivores with bill-like mouths, iguanodons generally move as quadrapeds, feeding on the great beds of lichen on the former sea-beds of Athanor, but can run as bipeds. They are notable for their thumb spikes, which they use as defensive weapons. While packs of these creatures live in the wild, they are also kept as domestic animals to serve as food and mounts.

Pachycephalosaurus
AC: 6 [13], HD: 4, Attacks: head butt 1d6+1, Move: 12, HDE 4, XP 120

Bipedial herbivores with thick skulls that stand about 15 feet long, pachycephalosaurus are ill-tempered pack creatures who use their thick bony skulls to head butt their enemies. Pachycephalosaurus do double dmage if they are charging. These creatures are sometimes domesticated as riding animals.

Parasaurolophus
AC: 7 [12], HD: 4+1, Attacks: slam 1d6, Move: 18, HDE 5, XP 240

30 foot long herbivores with bill-like mouths, parasaurolophus generally move as quadrapeds, feeding on the great beds of lichen on the former sea-beds of Athanor, but can run as bipeds. Their heads are topped by long, hollow crests that are used to make loud, sonorous noises to communicate over long distances. While packs of these creatures live in the wild, they are also kept as domestic animals to serve as food and mounts.

Pteranodon
AC: 7 [12], HD: 3, Attacks: bite 1d6-1, Move: 6/fly 24, HDE 3, XP 60

These flying predators lair in high places and feed on small arthropods, dinosaurs, and osquips. They are sometimes used as mounts, but are notably difficult to domesticate and train.

Rhamphorynchus
AC: 8 [11], HD: 1-1, Attacks: bite 1d6-2, Move: 3/fly 18, HDE less than 1, XP 10

Small, colorful, feathered, bird-like reptiles, these creatures are sometimes kept as pets, and are common creatures throughout athanor

Stegosaurus
AC: 5 [14], HD: 7+3, Attacks: Tail swipe 1d6+1, Move: 12, HDE 8, XP 800

Cantankerous herbivores, these creatures are about 30 feet long, with a double row of huge, bony spikes along their backs and a great, spiked tail. They are not particularly bright, but are hardy fighters when threatened.

Triceratops
AC: 4 [15], HD: 8+2, Attacks: gore 2d6, Move: 12, HDE 9, XP 1100

These huge quadrapeds have frilled bony crests and three great horns on their heads. 30 feet long and bulky, and standing about 10 feet tall, these creatures can build great momentum on a charge. These herbivores live in great packs on the plains. When charging, they do double damage.

Tyrannosaurus
AC: 6 [17], HD: 8+1, Attacks: bite 2d6, Move: 18, HDE 5, XP 240

The terrors of the wilds, tyrannosaurs are 40 feet long and 10-15 feet tall at the hip. Their huge heads are filled with sharp teeth. They travel in groups of one to three and are deadly hunters.

Classes and Characters

Like the original white-box D&D rules, Swords and Wizardry only includes three classes: Cleric, Fighter and Magic-user. Even the familiar Thief Class from Supplement I and beyond is skipped. I don't see this as a problem. The three types of characters are those who rely on faith, steel and sorcery, and players will be able to fit their concepts into these classes.

Clerics, as I see it, represent not the average priest, but crusading warrior-priests, monster-hunters, or crusaders. They are equal bits Knight Templar and Van Helsing, and are distinguished by their reliance of religious trappings and ritual tied to strength of arms and faith.

Fighters are actually all charaters who live by the sword -- from Fahrd and the Gray Mouser to Conan, these are the warriors, thieves, con-artists, and other non-magical characters of he world.

Magic-users are those who rely on arcane power. They tend to be scholars and thinkers more than warriors, and have limited but powerful resources that can change the tide of battle.

None of these three classes is all-powerful, which is a plus, since that encourages group play.

Note that the rules are very vague in character abilities, which is a good thing. Bringing the character to life is the player's job, using the rules as litle more than a loose framework for imagination.

Firearms and Athanor

Because I want a swashbuckling feel to the game, and because both Howard's Almuric and Burroughs' Barsoom have guns, I decided that guns should be part of Athanor. I didn't want the ultra-powerful radium guns of Barsoom, though. Instead, I want what amounts to flintlocks in the campaign.

Over the years, I know people have published D&D firearms rules that include chances for explosions and all kinds of gee-gaws. I want this to be simple. So here are guns in Athanor:

• Pistol: 1d6+1 damage, 2 lbs weight, cost 40, rate of fire 1/2, range 60ft. 20 shots and powder cost 10 and weigh 2.
• Rifle: 1d6+1 damage, 5 lbs weight, cost 50, rae of fire 1/2, range 100ft. 20 shots and powder cost 10 and weigh 2.
• Cannons: 3d6 damage, not portable (50 lbs weight), cost 300, rate of fire 1/3, range 250ft. 1 shot and powder costs 5 and weighs 7.
• Grenades: 2d6 damage in 5' radius, 1lb weight, cost 5, takes 1 round to light, may be thrown up to 40 ft.
  

White Box Options

One of the nice things about the Swords and Wizardry White Box Edition is the inclusion of many optional rules to allow for very customized games. The following "House Rule" rule options will be available in the Athanor campaign:

1. Page 1: Rolling Attributes.
2. Page 3-4: Expanded attribute bonuses for Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom and Dexterity.
   
3. Page 7: M-U Advancement
4. Pages 8 - 10: Character Races are not used. All Athanor characters are human.
5. Page 12: AC vs. AAC — we will be using AAC.
6. Page 16: Death and Binding Wounds will both be used.

In addition, I will be allowing spell-casting characters to use spell special effects to give some color to magic use.

I plan on keeping house rules about this short. Part of the point of using a simple rule set like Swords and Wizardry is to avoid having complex house rules!