Music Monday: Ugelmann

This weekend I went to Krakow to see Converge and Kylesa. It was areally good show, and we got to be at the front of the stage when Kylesa played, Julia even managed to get Laura Pleasant's pick.

However this post will be a about the first supporting act - Kvelertak (Norwegian for "stranglehold").

Imagine how AC/DC would sound, if they were from Norway and that's really it. They are a fun mixture of punk, hard rock and black metal, covered in a sauce of viking themed lyrics sang in a clattering language. They can put on a really good show and instantly won the full appreciation of the audience.

Here's how they sound (and look):

What I really found interesting is, that for a reason unknown (at least to me), they have an owl thing going on. There is an owl on every piece of their merch, as well as on the Baizley designed cover of their debut album.


The owl theme goes so far, that at some point of the show, their vocalist put a rubber owl mask on his head. It was really weird, but also kinda cool.

Since there is no photo, just try to imagine the dude from the vid wearing this.

I like owls and I like the folklore surrounding those birds. So here is what I brew up on the train:

Ugelmann

A man with a head of an owl. I see him as a norse rendition/commentary on the minotaur myth.
He lives deep in the forest, perhaps in a natural cave or rock labyrinth. The sages and tale spinners from villages on the borders of the forest say that he was once a powerful warrior-wizard who was cursed by the gods of nature. Others claim he is a man who was elevated by the Mother Goddess to be her husband...

It is uncertain wether he is a positive or evil entity. Some legends say that he is an immortal protector of the forest, other picture him as a mischevious being who follows his duty only because of a powerful curse. Whatever the truth is, some bits of information are present in all tales of the Ugelmann.

A random sighting of the Ugelmann is an omen of near death (of the person or a close relative). Ugelmann's curse or blessing is that upon laying eyes on any humanoid, he sees how it will die.
It is widely believed that he posses great knowledge and that some seek him out to gain insight into the future. Anyone who seeks out the Ugelmann can ask him one question, but will be asked for a favor in return. This favor is an oath and anyone failing to fulfill it will be killed by the Ugelmann.

It is often believed that Ugelmann observes people living on the forest borders, this is why many mothers prompt their misbehaving children, by saying: "Be good, or the Ugelmann will take you!".

Music Monday: Scary Monster (A Super Creep)

I really like David Bowie, but he gives me the creeps. Maybe it's in the differently colored eyes, his ageless androgyny, his aloofness? For some reason, he always seemed like a being from a different plane of existence (planet?), who came among us for reasons inconceivable by our primitive brains.




And what's with those alter egos? Perhaps Ziggy Stardust and The Thin White Duke were just means of concealing the fact that David Bowie himself is just "an alter ego" for something more than just David Robert Jones?
Still, the past decade or two, seem to pose he is a human after all. The last couple albums are by no means a match for his canonical works. Time seems to have finally caught up with him, but even as his looks start matching his age, a strange grin of satisfaction becomes more and more visible.
What I am aiming at is that David Bowie is a perfect elf. Or at least he suits my vision of elves perfectly.They are beautiful, intelligent and talented in magic, yet they seem to be cold, unemphatic, inhuman. They are respected as much as feared. They can produce wonderful works of art for which many would, and indeed - do kill, even though those objects seem deprived of passion and are rumored to push their human owners into depression and bipolar states.

Bowie's career seems to form an arch parallel with the history of elves in my game world. From the unknown and obscure beginnings, through the rise to power and a plunge into decadence. As you might remember, my elves lost their immortality and age, here are some pics illustrating the process.

Finally, rumors circulate about The Sons Of The Silent Age. A powerful organization of elves, who haven't abandoned the cause of The Supreme Being.

A challange for artistically handicaped

It's good to have friends who aren't artistically retarded because, even though I draw like a 4 year old, I can always ask someone to draw something awesome.

So last week my friend Adam felt inspired by demonpig. I found his interpretation extremely amusing and asked him to make a drawing of a creepy wizard.

So here it is. I give you: Membrious the Mad!



I still can't decide which one is better... I fucking love the green light (which in my opinion is the creepiest kind of light possible) and the wooden leg is just a stroke of genius!

So.. now it's time for A CHALLENGE!!!

WRITE A BACKGROUND HISTORY OF MEMBRIOUS!
The only rule is: It has to be one comment long.

Ready,

Steady,

GO!!!

____________________________
art by Adam Banaszek

A dungeon from my head

It is a happy day. Why? Because today I got my medical results and I don't have brain cancer, tumors, diabetes, or any kind of neural damage! Yay! I've also felt good for the longer part of the week and there is no sign of my problems returning.

So what was it? I dunno. Truth to be told, no one knows. The most probable hypothesis claims that it was an inflammation of the Membranous Labyrinth.

Now go to this link and look at it! Isn't it awesome? We carry a nice dungeon in our heads (actually two of them. dungeons, not heads).

In honor of our labyrinths, here's a little something to celebrate my well being. Enjoy.


Membrious Parasitic Dungeon

This micro dungeon is the home of Membrious the Mad, a magician of old times who seeking solitude and peaceful environment for his mystical inquiries and strange experiments, moved to live in a pocket dimension.

Membrious arranged his artificial plane in a very peculiar manner. He formed it from usual construction materials - stone, metal and wood, but decided to fill a large portion of the dungeon with a live symbiotic organism that would filter the air and water.

Needles to say, as many powerful (and mad) magicians, Membrious was extremely paranoid about his security. That's why he decided not to anchor his solitude to any particular place in the actual world. Instead he created a magical mechanism, which allowed him to randomly connect his dimension to one of the already existing dungeons.

This means, that every time the mechanism was activated, it "moved" the dungeon entrance (which looks like a normal, iron reinforced, wooden door) into another dungeon from the list of dungeons known to Membrious at the time of creating this apparatus. Unluckily, the mechanism is now malfunctioning and changes the placement of the entrance at random.

The map and descriptions:

1. This is the entrance. After stepping in, the visitors will enter a long spiral corridor. The walls are made of old, copper colored metal, kind of like a big metal tube. The strange thing about it is that no matter which side the players move - in or out, the corridor will always seem to lead down. The DM should place some kind of a pit trap near the entrance.

At the end of the corridor, just before the door, the PC's will encounter a camp of hobgoblins... They are discussing their plans and if the players won't kill them at first sight, they will explain that they entered the unknown door from their dungeon, but now the exit leads to a different place. Moreover, their leader took 3 of their companions and went to investigate the strange place. They are confused and presume he is dead, if the players show some initiative, the hobgoblins will be willing to join forces.

2. The main door. They are made of coppery metal and have a gargoyle face on the surface. They aren't locked.

3. The mechanism. The walls of this whole room are filled with strange instruments and containers. Looks kind of like this. It is also the home of Membrious' clockwork golem.

He was created to keep maintenance of the mechanism, but now the lifeless body of armor lies on the floor covered with some king of plant growth. If the players remove the growth and menage to heat up his body, or put a electrical discharge to it, the golem will awake and demand explanations. He's perception is quite limited and so is his intellect. The players might gain his assistance at restoring the mechanism to its proper state, by (for example) claiming that one of them is Master Membrious, or came to see him. On the other hand if the players bring him back to life and don't come up with something creative, the golem will attack should they try to descend further into the complex.

4. A small corridor leads past a small bathroom and into the hall. The toilet sink restores 1d4 hp after washing hands. On the other hand, the toilet might scare the players by demand "feeding" in the hoarse whisper of an old woman.

5. This is the main hall. All the wall surface of this tall room is filled with book shelves and cupboards containing strange and bizarre objects. The only exception is east wall in the passage to area 7, where a large painting, similar to this one hangs. Some of the PC's may feel like they caught a glimpse of movement within the painting. Perhaps the girl smiled as they were passing by, or winked when one of them was turning his head away? The room is lit by an elaborate organic structure hanging from the celling, supporting several glowing globes. If the players manage to obscure the light, or turn it down in any manner, they will be able to see the true image of the girl in the picture. Should the room be completely dark, she will leave the canvas.

6. Kitchen and dinning room. The players might easily mistake it for an alchemists lab. Cooking utensils, skinning devices, strange glass containers and so on are scattered all over the place. There is a high chance, that any food the players find is poisoned or has hallucinogenic effects. Similarly, any containers with liquids have equal chances of being either heeling/boosting or narcotics/poison. There is a large hole (crawl space sized in the wall) with an acidic substance constantly flowing out and into an elaborate basin.

7. Those are the workroom (on the right) and the bedroom (left) of Membroius. They are mostly filled by many strange memorabilia, some examples:

• a vampire's coffin
• a jar with mind flayer's head that will try to communicate telepathically with the players
• an enchanted lute with a spirit of a bard trapped inside - he will speak only after a skilled musician plays the instrument

In the bedroom lies a concealed entrance to a secret escape tunnel (8) which leads to the main hall (the exit is hidden behind a book shelf).

The workroom, apart from a huge desk with many secrets compartments, contains a weird chair that looks something like this. It's the place from which the mechanism is operated. To change the "location" of the dungeon, one has to place a copper pin ended with a HUGE ruby in one of the holes in the copper tablet map, that is fixed to the wall over the desk. At the moment of entering the dungeon the pin is inserted in one of those places, however until the mechanism is repaired it won't work.

The chair is occupied by the body of Membroius. The remains of the once famous mage look as if something sucked all the water out of his body... The players might notice a thin cable-like thing lying on the floor, connecting the body with a hole in the nearby wall. If they fail their spot checks, the mages carcass will attack them when they are near (for example, when they are searching the desk). He is now controlled by the symbiotic organism, that provides air, energy and water to the dungeon. This organism mutated for unknown reasons and became hostile. Treat him like a powerful construct, that has some of the abilities of the mage he used to be.

9. and 10. those are two "pipes" big enough to crawl in. Pipe number 9 looks like a polished copper pipe with constant flow of an acidic liquid. Pipe number 10 is made of stone and is covered with polyp like tissue, that moves and gives a small breeze. Both lead into space 11.

11. This is the chamber in which the dungeon's "parasite" dwells. The floor is covered with an organic tissue which serves as the organism's digestive surface. It is covered with acidic mucus that is meant to melt any organic mater before it is fully ingested. The half melted remains of the hobgoblin leader and his companions can be found on the floor (perhaps he had a fine magical axe, that is now lying in the acidic fluid). Needles to say, the players standing in the substance will suffer damage to their gear and eventually to themselves. Any contact with naked flesh will cause serious burns.

The parasite itself is somewhat similar to a roper or anything else that is tentacly and scary. I leave the details to any DM. One thing is sure, it is vulnerable to fire. Perhaps he is resistant to non magical weapons? Or maybe he is fully resistant to magic and that is why Membrious got killed? WHat will happen when the organism is dead? Will the lights go out and the vampire/monster/girl from the painting wreck havoc?

I leave this and many other matters (like treasure, stats and touch-ups) to the rest of you.

Sometimes you need just one word to trigger your imagination into full overdrive

Demonpig





Think about it...

Stories instead of Skills

In my last session recap I mentioned using a special table to establish characters pasts. The idea was partially inspired by Warhammer's professions table and partly by reading a similar thing here. However, unlike Akrasia, I decided not to add any specific descriptions and make the whole thing as open to interpretation as possible. The reason for this is very simple, I decided to use character past as a guideline for ruling what skills the PCs posses.

Instead of including another elaborate system of rolling for stuff, I decided that it's way better to just roll once and gain some character depth along with the information about the skills they acquired before becoming adventurers.

For example, in my game there is a cleric of Skaghe who used to be a jester on a court of some northern lord. Not only is this funny, but also grants her some knowledge and abilities other characters don't have.

Perhaps she's able to juggle extremely well, or perhaps when the need comes, she might remember something about the heraldry of northern noble families?

In other words, anytime the player of the jester cleric feels her background can aid her, she can try and play that to her advantage. I might ask for some kind of a story from the characters past (that the player will have to improvise) to justify such use of this rule, or I might just say no.

Finally, here's the aforementioned table:


Character Background Table:

1-2 Slave
3-4 Tax collector
5-6 Acolyte
7-8 Bandit
9-10 Farmer
11-12 Armorer
13-14 Whore
15-16 Circus artist
17-18 Healer
19-20 Squire
21-22 Fisherman
23-24 Gladiator
25-26 Messenger
27-28 Candle maker
29-30 Miner
31-32 Jester
33-34 Bartender
35-36 Medium
37-38 Gravedigger
39-40 Card Shark
41-42 Hunter
43-44 Bounty hunter
45-46 Artisan
47-48 Wagon Driver
49-50 Sailor
51-52 Rat catcher
53-54 Nun
55-56 Potter
57-58 Mercenary
59-60 Thief
61-62 Barbarian
63-64 Noble
65-66 Cultist
67-68 Scribe
69-70 Bodyguard
71-72 Forester
73-74 Servant
75-76 Scout
77-78 Minstrel
79-80 Guard
81-82 Grave robber
83-84 Ferry man
85-86 Tanner
87-88 Blacksmith
89-90 Beggar
91-92 Bastard
93-94 Smuggler
95-96 Torturer
97-98 Wizards apprentice
99-00 Roll twice

Behold The Obelisk pt.3

First, two important things happened while I wasn't writing:

1. I finished my semester tests, so hopefully, there will be more time to write,

however...

2. It seems like I'm finally gonna roll some dice THIS WEEKEND!!!

and that means there are some important preparations to be made!


Ok... But this post was actually planned to be about something else, so let's get to the point.

As you might have gathered from my previous post the City of Obelisk is influenced, more or less directly, by some classical pulp and D&D locations, that I intended to mash into one, that will prove useful to me..

Here are my three (quite obvious) inspirations:

1. City-state of The Invincible Overlord

I learned about Wilderlands from OSR blogs. I think I have read a review of the d20 version of the setting once, but otherwise I was completely ignorant. Until a few months ago. All the gripping tales of that supplement made me want to find it and submerge in the old-school vibe of the whole thing.

Finally, after some struggle, I obtained the City - state book. As much as I like it, I instantly felt, that it won't exactly fit into my setting and thus decided to modify some tables.

But why just mod the tables, when I can actually loot the City-state for ideas and make it my own?




2. City of Thieves

I feel that the Howardian "unnamed city" was the main influence behind the City-state. I love the roguish and adventure friendly character of this location, but who doesn't?!

When I look back at the history of my gaming, I can clearly see that all cities I've ever depicted in my games, were in some way reminiscent of this one.

3. Waterdeep/Undermountain/Skullport

Even though I really dislike Forgotten Realms, I must admit - I do like the concept behind this gaming region.

When I first thought of turning the Palace of Culture into a game location, it was quickly followed by the idea of adopting it's infamous tunnels into a Undermountain like location.

This opens a lot of possibilities for adventuring, as well as a reason for random monster appearances in the city. You get the idea.



Ok. So this is it. I just felt that this post is a necessary addition to my Obelisk general overview.

If you have some city location ideas that could compliment my vision, you can drop them in the comments. All will be appreciated!

Behold The Obelisk pt.2

The Free City of Obelisk is a very peculiar place. It's one of the few cities in the world, that was built on the ruins of an Elder settlement. Until this day it remains unknown whether the site used to be a city or a temple complex of which the famous Obelisk was part.

The beginnings of the City's history are somewhat hazy. Because of the fear of the Obelisk, the fertile land lying in it's shadow remained unclaimed for a long time after the Fall. None of the surrounding kingdoms wanted to take it, as it was said to be cursed.

However, as the trade between the new kingdoms intensified, it became clear that the old Elder roads could handle more traffic and are faster than the new paths. Soon a small group of traders decided to take the risk and lead their caravan near the Obelisk. This granted them an advantage over other traders, however their joy didn't las long.

After few trips near the Obelisk, their secret was spilt by some drunk caravan guards. Others started thinking of taking their rout, however most of them lost their enthusiasm when only one person returned from the original caravans next voyage. This nameless man claimed that the traders felt over confident with their success and decided to break their rule of not spending the night in the shadow of the Obelisk. The man who lived to tell the story died soon afterward.

Some years later, emerged a man with a plan. He wanted to be wealthy and powerful and he knew how to do it. He sold all his possessions to buy equipment and hire people for his journey. The aim was to build a settlement near the Obelisk, where the caravans could safely spend the night. He knew the venture was risky, but succeeding would mean securing a profitable monopoly. And since his wife and children had passed away, he had nothing to loose.

He succeeded in establishing a small stronghold. At first it was just a palisade with a bunch of tents inside. But with time, the settlement grew. First a watchtower was built, than a wooden house for the leader. When the leader was dying, the outpost was already more than a hundred people strong. However, since he died childless, a problem arose, who should be the next leader...

By the decision of all the dwellers, the 9 remaining members of the original, founding expedition would choose the next head of the village. This is how the tradition, that the council of the 9 oldest trader families chooses the next head of the city, came into being.

This is the legend of how the Free City of Obelisk was founded.



Today the City is ruled by the 33rd of the elected leaders, one who took the title of the Magistrate. The agglomeration is one of the larger human settlements and perhaps the most famous place throughout the know lands.

It attracts all kinds of adventurers, traders artist and anyone who dreams of fame and fortune. It is said that the Obelisk Market is the largest trading place in the world and offers any item known to man, be it silks of the far east, frost steel from the far north, or illegal spells and powders from the south.

The Free State is also infamous for it's organized crime, drug trafficking, slavery, but most of all - religious cults and Elder past. The Obelisk attracts all kinds of zealots, flagellants and future sect leaders. Many new comers, who became charmed by one of the new orders, ended their lives sold to slavers.

The fact that the City is built on the old Elder ruins is also not easily forgotten. Although during the day, the traffic on the streets creates the illusion that the city is twice as populated, few are bold enough to roam the streets by night for in the Obelisk City a lone traveler can easily disappear, suffering a fate far worse than life in chains...

Behold The Obelisk pt.1

Few days ago I was rushing to the University, when I looked behind me at the mighty stature of Warsaw's most recognizable landmark - The Palace of Culture.

It was half submerged in the mist, looking like some ancient construction, a tower perhaps, from atop of which the undying gods rule their city and amuse themselves, toying with our everyday lives.

You get the picture.

This is how it looks from a pigeon's point of view:



I won't go into much detail, since crucial info can be obtained here.

However, what's most important for this post is not covered by the wiki article. You see, almost everyone here has an extremely strong opinion about the building. Some hate it and postulate it being demolished as it's "the everlasting mark of the dark times of communism and Russian supremacy", others praise it's original architecture (if I'm correct only Kiev and Moscow have similar buildings) and try to promote it as Warsaw's logo.

Over the years the Palace of Culture has accumulated a number of myths and urban legends. For example, it is officially known that underneath the building and it's adjacent neighborhood lies a whole system of cellars and underground passages. However, officially no plans exist, nor are civilian tours admitted. This has led to many speculations what the "dungeons" were originally designed for and weather they really are as defunct as it is officially stated.

Anyway, here it is...


THE OBELISK





The Obelisk is a gargantuan construction standing in the middle of the Free City of Obelisk.
It is built out of black stone and has no windows, doors or visible entry ways. Most of it's surface is covered with sophisticated spiral symbols and runes. It's undoubtedly the largest architectural landmark in the known lands.

No one knows what the Obelisk is, what it has been constructed for, or even why it's called that way (since it's clearly not shaped like an obelisk). It is still widely disputed wether it's a temple form the time of the Old Empire, or a much older construction. Some claim it has been built in time before time, others say it was the palace of the Elder Emperor. There are also those who claim that it's a prison, protecting the world from unspeakable horrors locked within.

One thing remains a fact, no one has ever managed to get inside and return.

Whatever is the origin of the Obelisk, the dwellers of the Free City got used to it and treat it just as a famous landmark. The big stone square that surounds it has been turned into a lively market that attracts traders and religious zealots from all around the world. It is said that on the Obelisk Market religion is just a good for sale.

Though the city's population got used to the sight of the black tower, newcomers are always thirsty for new stories about the Obelisk. More than one bartender is ready to spin a tale of how he lost a limb descending into the legendary tunnels that run underneath the city, presumably connecting it with the alien structure.

little BIG Men

As you may or may not remember, I discarded halflings in one of my first setting creation posts. However a few days ago an idea, how to detolkienize halflings, suddenly popped up in my head.

Think halflings = Mongolians.


Stupid? Perhaps, but take look for yourselves:




You should know that me and my friends have a soft spot for everything Mongolian and that's why I think this somewhat ridiculous idea might click with them just fine.

Anyway. I was toying with this concept for some time asking myself two questions:

1. Do I really want halflings in my setting?
2. How small would a halfling bow have to be, in order to make it useful from horseback and not cramp the style of eastern-archer-horseman-barbarian?

Few minutes ago I read Zak's post, which reminded me that sometimes you have to just let the creative juices flow and make up explanations later...

So yeah, there are nomadic, horse riding halflings in my setting.

Here are some facts about them:

• they are bigger than the halflings of the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk
• they don't have hairy feet, nor do they have curly hair
  
• they are proficient riders and archers (in my world, they are the inventors of composite bows)
• they use war ponies that are much tougher than normal horses
• I picture their culture as somewhat similar to Scythian
  
• they tattoo their bodies in colorful and elaborate ways in order to distinguish their social position
  
• they are divided into many clans and tribes that are constantly waging war against each other
  
• their religion is an animistic one
  
• they do not have written language and their culture is entirely based around oral tradition
• they have a brutal law and are not a race of chubby morons
  
• they are not called halflings (not even by other races), they refer to themselves as Zotharians ( but we say one Zohar)
  
• they inhabit lands far enough that I don't have to worry about them on a day to day basis
  

Enough said.

I might not use it at all, but it's here in case anyone wants to play one.

10 ideas that never made it pt.2

6. Creating a blind mage

We were to play Warhammer and the idea was simple: there was a mage who went blind. Because he couldn't cope with his disability he implanted himself new eyeballs made of warp stone...

To other people he would look like his eyes were missing, his sockets being just black holes sucking out the light. The other thing was how the eyes would actually work. All the perception was distorted by the warpstone in such a way, that the mage couldn't read any written messages, but would perceive emotions of the author in the process of writing. Same would happen to his perception of people. He could read auras and emotions, but lack the ability to actually see faces clearly...

If you know anything about WFRP, it's not a surprise that the DM wasn't enthusiastic...



5. The elf barbarian

Once we were to play 3e. D&D. I was sooo amped. As I was thinking what character to play, I saw an image of a raging celtic warrior wearing only body paint. The image was so evoking that I decided to play a character who was a tattooed berserker and an elf (I really have no idea where that elf came from, but it was a must!). I started thinking how the fuck could all those things come together. And you know what? I think I came up with quite nice character background!

It all started in a small, peaceful elven community that was being raided by drow. At first the attacks were sporadic and infrequent. But with time, the dark elves became more persistent, launching regular raids, ambushing the hunter groups, slowly depriving the community of warriors and anyone able to defend the village.

Finally, it was clear that not enough men are left to effectively defend the community and that the next raid will be the final one. Compelled by the duty to his people, the druid (who was also the leader of the community), decided to sacrifice his own child in order to save the village and avenge the dead elves.

He prepared a ritual in which a dangerous demon, a Strzyga, would be bound in the body of the young elf. He knew that after his child destroys the drow, he will have to be killed. His heart was crying, yet he did not hesitate.

Soon, at the full moon, the ritual commenced. The young elf screamed in pain as mystical wards, ment to chain the demon's soul, were engraved onto his body. After many hours of torment his consciousness gave out. As the ritual was coming to an end and last runes were scribed, the drow struck...

When the boy woke up everything was in blood. Bodies of slaughtered elves, both drow and village, were scattered all around him. Something must have gone wrong... HE was still alive, body covered with mystical signs and a new strange feeling of alien presence following wherever he would go...

He knew what had really happened, but failed to acknowledge it, or perhaps something or someone didn't want him to acknowledge. With passing time the boy became a man. He wandered the wild territories becoming a formidable fighter, avoided settlements, since a simple tavern quarrel would often lead to fleeing the town, not remembering what followed and how a simple misunderstanding ended in a brutal fight...


Man! I wish that game did work out!

Kneel before Skaghe!

So! WE have chosen the name for the barbaric, northern, axe wielding god!

I think the poll experiment worked very well. I'm happy with the name that won and I think it fits the flavor of the setting well!

Here are the results:

Hákon 5 (14%)

JóR 5 (14%)

KilfiR 2 (5%)

Wyr 6 (17%)

Skaghe 13 (37%)

Úlfr 3 (8%)

Vöttr 6 (17%)

Özurr 6 (17%)

Ögmundr 6 (17%)


Thank you all for participation!

Here's your prize from Skaghe!



And here are links to the gods that were already posted on this blog (in order of appearance):

The Mother Goddess

The Hungry One

Skaghe

The Supreme Being

The Robe

____________________________________________
art by Thomas Denmark

THE GOD OF DEATH!

I finally came up with a god of death that will suit my needs!

Here are my two biggest inspirations.

Listen to this while reading!

The Robe (also The Black Judge, The Master of Dreams)

This deity is the personification of death. It is the most wide spread religion among human lands.

The god of death is most commonly presented as a human figure covered in a black robe, no face visible from under it's hood. Often statues of the Robe can be seen with large, black swords.

It is believed that no living thing can ever see the face of this god, as he IS death. It is often said that a person who passed away "saw the Robe", or "had seen the face of Death".

Similarly, the Black Priests (or the Priests of Death) should wear their robes at all times, never showing their faces, or revealing their true identity to anyone outside of the order. It is said that upon donning the Black Robe the priest "dies" to the world, becoming an anonymous agent of death.

Revealing a priest's true identity to a person from outside of the order is thought to be a sign of a great friendship, but also a burden to the person who knows it, as the priest has the right to claim his or her life, if his name is revealed to anyone else.

According to the dogma of the Order of Death (or the Black Brotherhood), the Robe is also the patron of sleep and dreams, as these are thought to be a preparation before the "final crossing". It is believed that sleep is caused by the god spreading his robe over one's bed.

The cult's priests are know for their ability to speak to the dead and summon dead souls, as well as perform elaborate divinations. On the other hand hey are strictly forbidden to bring the dead back or to create any forms of undead. One of the main commandments of the religion is to destroy any undead or necromancers, as they disturb what the order believes to be the foundation of the world.

Finally, the priests of Robe also holds responsibilities for handling executions, which they address as "assisting in the last crossing". Although each priest is trained in using a black great-sword, in case he is asked to "assist", executions remain a responsibility of the common clergy members and not the high ones. It is important to note that Black Priests are strictly forbidden to perform any tortures or take any slaves/prisoners of war.


The cult is quite numerous, well organized and has a temple in almost every city. Usually the order takes care of the cemetery, very often the temple is situated next to it. Common folk visit the temples for healing, as the Robed Priests are well trained in making healing potions and known to posses great knowledge of human anatomy.

Although in casual talk people refer to the Robe, as a male, members of both sexes are accepted to the clergy. Both wizards and clerics are common in the order.

Saves, not "safes"!!!

This is probably the last post on modifying S&W saving throws (here is the first and second entry on the subject).

Below is my proposition of two new save progressions. On the side there is the % chance of succeeding depending on the bonus from the ability linked to the save.

Save progression #1

Level	Save	Chance, no mod	Chance + 1	Chance +2
1	16	25%	30%	35%
2	15	30%	35%	40%
3	14	35%	40%	45%
4	13	40%	45%	50%
5	12	45%	50%	55%
6	11	50%	55%	60%
7	10	55%	60%	65%
8	9	60%	65%	70%
9	8	65%	70%	75%
10	7	70%	75%	80%
11+	6	75%	80%	85%

Save progression #2

Level	Save	Chance, no mod	Chance + 1	Chance +2
1	17	20%	25%	30%
2	16	25%	30%	35%
3	15	30%	35%	40%
4	14	35%	40%	45%
5	13	40%	45%	50%
6	12	45%	50%	55%
7	11	50%	55%	60%
8	10	55%	60%	65%
9	9	60%	65%	70%
10	8	65%	70%	75%
11+	7	70%	75%	80%

So as you see, the base save values are now a bit lower compared to the original ones, but thanks to the addition of the ability modifiers there is more variety.

The idea is to give each class one save throw based on progression #1 and two based on progression #2.

Let us see how it would look in the case of a level 2 cleric, with stats:

16 WIS (+2 mod)
11 DEX (no mod)
13 CON (+1 mod)

His "main" saving throw is Will:

Fortitude Save: 16 (+1 on the roll from CON)
Reflex Save: 16
Will Save: 15 (+2 on the roll from WIS)

He's chances for a successful saving throw would be: Fort: 30%, Ref: 25%, Will: 40%.

Additionally the original rules state that the cleric class has a special +2 bonus on saving throws against poison and paralyze (which would here belong to Fort save).

If you compare the saving throws of that 2 level cleric with the original save table for clerics, you will see, that altho his "secondary" saves are lower than they would be according to the original rules, his "primary" one is much higher.


The bottom line is , that even though I'm not completely convinced by my save house rules, they do seem to bring a bit more variety into the game. I'll try to go with them for now...

If you see a good reason why this post sucks, please inform me. I will greatly appreciate any input!

Roll against html tabels! or How I spent the weekend

Disclaimer: today's post contains a lot of numbers and math, even some %. Read on your own responsibility or skip to the end.


I will continue my musings on the problem of saving throws in S&W. I've decided to at least try to transform the single saving throw into a triple saving throw system like in 3.x e.

But first let's look at the original saving throw of S&W. There are two advancement tables, the first one is used by fighters and dwarfs, the second - clerics and magic users:

Level	Save#1	Save#2
1	14	15
2	13	14
3	12	13
4	11	12
5	10	11
6	9	10
7	8	9
8	7	8
9	6	7
10	5	6
11+	4	5

In order to be saved from doom you have to roll a d20 and get a number even to, or higher than the save score. It means that at first level the chances of successful save check are respectively 35% and 30 %. On level 11, the chances are: 85% and 80%.

Now. What I want to do:

divide it in to three save categories called Endurance, Reflex and Will,

each based on an advancement table similar to the above, but additionally modified by the abilities - Con, Dex and Wis respectively.

Yes, so basically it was already done in 3 e. I know. Move on.

So, let's suppose that I count ability modifiers like this:

3-4	-2
5-8	-1
9-12	0
13-15	+1
16-18	+2

And let's suppose that I use the S&W save progression #2 for Will saves of a character whose Wis is 18. Here's how that character's chances of making a successful save would look like:

Level	Old Chance	New Chance
1	30%	40%
2	35%	45%
3	40%	50%
4	45%	55%
5	50%	60%
6	55%	65%
7	60%	70%
8	65%	75%
9	70%	80%
10	75%	85%
11+	80%	90%

Ok. I wrote that shit down, because I'm a mathematical retard and this whole table clears things up.

As we can see, my idea is overpowering the players (duh) significantly. And as much as I like to awesome up players, making them invincible is a short path to boredom.

All this boring stuff leads us to one conclusion: in order to make this thing work, I to make need new save advancement tables...

The real question behind this conclusion is, is there any point?

Ok that was really boring!!!!!!!

This anecdote comes from fishlemons blog ( the other one):

" (...) so we ended up going to this lame party where some of our amusing friends were. yay. we smoked the joint walking up to the main door of the building and rang the door-communication-bell-thing, i take a drag as someone answers and squidman suddenly jumps up to it and says
- "Police!"
-*silence* *click*
i stare at him and he rings again quickly
-"no! its just me! Chri-!"
-*Click*



we look at each other, shrug and i give our friend who is at this party a call to tell her to let us in. (its freezing cold out there) This entire exchange has taken less than a minute... at the inner door we are met by some guy, who might have been the host or not, whatever. and only then does he realize that it really is only us. We walk into the middle of an eerily quiet party, because people are apparently HIDING. people managed to flush a substantial amount of weed down the toilet in that tiny amount of time.

god people are stupid.

turns out the entire party is a total of about 12 people, all but 4 of which are playing poker. with poker chips and a green felt table thingy and for money. .... seriously?
we found our friends (the 4 people not playing poker) in a room deeper in the apartment that was full of instruments like Mongolian violins, miniature banjos, lots of African drum things and guitars. Adam is cradling the banjo and plucking randomly to the beat of whatever strange electronic music is coming from the computer speakers.
there were some amusing moments when we lost 2 of our group to poker and just 4 of us played silly songs from J's ipod and we danced like strange, retarded, stoned and tipsy prehistoric birds. or something. (...)"

Roll your save against the poisonous darts shooting from the holes in the wall!

So now I'm a bit stuck with the process of creating my pantheon...

The reasons are two fold:

1. Now that I have defined some of the gods, my field of movement got narrower. I still have vacancies like: The Death Diety or The God of Magic, but can't rush things since those are important aspects of the world and the way I handle the gods responsible for them will influence to feeling of the whole setting.

While employing some ideas to fill out those empty spaces, I need to put them into connection with the existing gods. How do the religions interact, what are the relations between the deities in the mythology?


2. I had a shitty day and writing comes as a kind of struggle.


All this is not bad though, since it allows me to write about some rules, a thing I was ment to do for some time now.


Saving Throws

To me it seems that there are three approaches to the problem of how to handle saving throws:

• The pre 3e. approach, which has been well analyzed by Jeff Rients on his blog.

• The 3.x e. approach, which employs three saving throws: Endurance, Reflex and Willpower, all are class and level dependent. Additionally each is modified by an Attribute, namely: Constitution, Dexterity and Wisdom.

• The Swords & Wizardry approach, here each class has one universal saving throw.

The first solution is most in touch with the flavor of the OD&D, yet strikes me as the least intuitive one, as well as being a bit rules heavy. I never understood why death rays and poison should fall into the same category, why staffs and wands should be two separate ones and what is the resistance to petrification dependent on?

The last solution is mechanically the polar opposite of the first one, yet it's equally in tune with the spirit of OSR and possesses some aesthetic allure. Still, I can't get completely convinced.

Perhaps, my uneasiness comes from the fact that I actually liked the 3e. saves. I think the division between the three categories is very clear, functional and most of all - logical. You avoid a fireball by dodging it, you are protected from poison by your body's endurance.

All that thinking that I've done, has led me to rethinking the single saving throw used by the S&W core rules. I think I'm gonna change it into 3 categories just like in 3.x e. D&D.


Still, I'm not exactly sure how to do it as I think there are two ways to introduce the triple saving throw mechanics to S&W:

1. Keep the original saving throw as a base value modified by an appropriate ability modifier like this:

END: Save + Con

REF: Save + Dex

WIL: Save + Wis

(of course the modifier is added to the d20 roll for save, not the save value itself)

2. Make a new save table for each class...


Now I'm really keen on the idea of keeping the original saves and just moding them with ability modifiers. Still I'm not sure, if it will work properly? Will it overpower the players?
And what about PCs with negative ability modifiers?


And finally, maybe I'm just a little bitch and should keep things as they are in the book?

Some god, some history

Today's dish is another "evil" deity.

I've already mentioned that in the history of my setting there was an Empire created by elves (or more accurately - the predecessors, whom from now on I shall just call the Elders). As you know from my previous entry on how my elves work, the Elders subjected themselves to a massive experiment/ritual, that was supposed to make them "ascend" into what they thought would be "godhood".

However the ritual proved to be a mistake which killed most of the race, deprived the Elders of their immortality (or more accurately agelessness) and changed them into hermaphroditic beings. This has led to a quick demise of the Elder (or simply Old) Empire.

Slaves, servants, previously overpowered allies and barbarians quickly took the opportunity rising from the initial chaos. In just a decade, ages of work have been destroyed.

However, most of what happened after the Fall wasn't simple pillaging. Many have died from protective wards, traps and weapons wielded by golems and undead guarding the estates of their now dead lords. Even though the oppressors were practically all dead (the "newborn" elves quickly abandoned the city fortresses and retreated into the forests), the powerful magic that was the foundation of their rule remained.

To this day, several hundreds of years after the fall of the empire, few dare to venture into the grim ruins of the Elder's cities, as even fewer are said to return.

But what led a powerful and seemingly immortal race to risk the existence of their entire kind and jeopardize their reign over the world?

Turesius, one of the prominent scholars, claims that the immediate cause for the demise of the empire was the appearance of a new cult devoted to The Supreme Being. In his works, Turesius observes, that even though little is known about the cult, it spread surprisingly quickly (which means some 300 to 400 years), overthrowing all other religions.

He also puts forward a hypothesis, that the seemingly immediate (in comparison to the Elders lifespan) overtaking of the state by the new religion was caused by decadence and boredom, which gave birth to many secret societies. Turesius presumes that the cult originated from those societies.

The Supreme Being

Little is known about this deity, as it is thought to no longer posses worshipers. The only fact known for certain is that it was a monotheistic religion calling to overthrow all "false gods".

It is also known that by the Fall, The Supreme Being was worshiped as a state deity of the Empire and the last Emperor held the title of the cult leader - Overlord.

Apart of that it is unknown how the religion was organized or even if it had any priests or temples, as almost all images and places of cult were destroyed immediately after the fall.

Turesius of Kal'thar, the acclaimed famous wizard and scholar claims that the religion's main dogma was based on introducing reason and claiming that all beings are imperfect images of the deity. He is also known to have deciphered part of the lore of the cult which claims that it is possible for the living beings to ascend and seize control over other living beings, the text however doesn't specify how one can achieve that.


It is important to note, that present elves don't want to be associated with the Empire or it's religion, and refuse to talk about those matters with non elves, referring to them only as the Great Shame. Many scholars interested in the subject suspect that elves hold some knowledge of the cult, yet refuse to share it with anyone, calling the Supreme Being "a cult that should have never been".

PS. some of the links may at first glance seem not related, yet I promise you, they are. They're worth reading if you want to fully get what I was after.

The Maiden, The Mother, The Crone

The main reason for the two previous posts about beliefs and religion is that I find them a very important part of every setting. It tends to be treated rather lightly by many game designers, which I think is a huge mistake. In the history of our world, religion and the way people approached it, often mirrors the spirit and atmosphere of a historical period.

That is why I want to create a pantheon that will have a dark, mysterious atmosphere. From the beginning I knew I wanted at least one religion to have a feeling of primitive, wild power embodying the forces of nature.

I somehow started thinking bout Luke Skywalker's visit to Dagobah. You know, swampy, dangerous surroundings, heavy mists. A place where players might feel powerless in the face of nature... That reminded me of a comic book which has a similar atmosphere, namely Slaine (specifically "Treasures of Britain", read it if you haven't). Here are some great illustrations by Dermot Power (click to enlarge):


Now I will have to digress, but believe me, I am closing to the main point of this post.

More or less at the same time as I started to think about religions in my world, I read something about druids. I always thought that D&D druids were somewhat tasteless and lacking character. The thing that especially bothered me was the idea of them being neutral(but I think that's a topic for a different post) and "worshiping" nature. I never really bought that. I was always wondering what their religious practices look like, is there any hierarchy or organization? I never came across an interesting idea or description of druids background, but that's not the point here.

Somehow I started thinking of druids and linking them to the swampy, secretive atmosphere. I also stumbled upon this blog entry and started listening to The Sword, who have a song entitled Maiden, Mother, And Crone.

By now you should be able to deduce what happened in my mind. I linked all ideas together arriving at druids worshiping the Mother Goddess.

The Cult of Goddess:

The Great Mother is considered to be the mother of gods and all living beings. She is the embodiment of the primitive forces and laws of nature. The Mother is said to be both generous and treacherous. She feeds all beings and all things alive are her children, but she favors the strong and cunning, and will not hesitate to kill the weak. However she is a fair mother and distributes her gifts equally among all, even if we may think otherwise.

The cult of the Goddess is thought to be the oldest in the world. However it seems that there is no larger organization than that of independent sacred groves located deep in the forests. Less than a dozen such places are known.

The Goddess is worshiped in three aspects - the Maiden, the Mother, the Crone. Each representing different aspects of nature. The Maiden is the embodiment of sexuality and strength of youth. She is often mentioned in rituals as being both a virgin and a whore. The Mother represents fertility and motherhood. The Crone is a mad, blind old woman who is thought to hold the fate of each living being, thus no man can know when to expect death. She is also said to know the future.

Each of the druidic groves is run by women. At any given moment there must always be three women being the embodiment of The Goddess. They are also the spiritual leaders of the order. On acquiring the "title", they are stripped of their previous identity and can only be talked of (or refer to themselves) as "the Mother" and so on...

Men are prominent in the cult and are the actual priests leading most of the rituals, except the most important ones. All male priests might be chosen by the priestess being "the Maiden" to be her partners, however upon taking the title of "the Mother" a priestess has to marry one priest who becomes her husband and they live in a monogamous relationship. "the Mother" has to become pregnant at least once. The High Priest is supposed to be the embodiment of an ideal husband, he also is administrating the grove.

It is said that in the middle of each grove there is a mystical "Tree of Life". Those trees are said to have been planted upon “Seeds of Life”, however nobody knows whether that is true. Many scholars think it’s a metaphor for places of power or magic knots.

Religion, magic and rules in D&D

I've got the race thing out of my way! Yay! Now I'll move on to the next stage - religion.

I think there are two general ways most fantasy settings handle religion:

1. Gods are almighty beings that walk the earth, influence the course of history and can reevaluate the fundamentals of the world.

2. Gods don't influence the setting directly and even though other supernatural creatures do exist, the existence of gods is often disputed.

Forgotten Realms and Dragon Lance would represent the first category, while Conan stories would belong to the second one.

As I've said before, I'm not interested in "high fantasy(whatever that means)- we are saving the world cause we were chosen by gods" adventures. That's why I'm obviously leaning towards the second category. However this solution isn't completely compatible with the D&D class and magic rules. Let me elaborate.

I think most of you will agree that in the actual world (the one we physically live in) there is no such thing as magic, or to phrase it more precisely, the existence of such a force is highly questionable. The most obvious difference between our actual world and the fictional world of my game is the fact that in the latter one the existence of magic is undeniable. In our world the existence of magicians, wizards or sorcerers can be disputed unlike in my game world.

This leads us to the problem of D&D mechanics concerning the cleric class. According to the rules of D&D clerics are not only magic users but also their magic comes directly from the gods and thus is different from the "other", arcane magic.

The thing is, in our actual world religion is based on faith, not on empirical evidence. In the fantasy world governed by the rules of D&D it's the opposite case. Clerics can summon up staffs and hammers made of pure energy, heal broken bones by touch and bring people back from the dead. In the world following from the rules of D&D there can be no dispute over the existence of gods, since the clerics and their deeds give a living proof of their existence.

So it seems that the D&D rules are in serious inconsistency with my idea, of how I'd like my game to look. However the solution to this problem is very simple. Abandon the divine magic. By that I don't mean abandon the cleric class.

Since I assume magic simply is the undercurrent of my game world's reality, it seems quite useless to divide it into two "kinds" or "categories". This solution seems simply inelegant and aesthetically crude. It seems much simpler to say that there is one magic, but two different ways of learning and using it.

Wizards (magic user class) are learning magic intellectually, through studying books, learning formulas, discussing concepts and theories. I see them looking a bit like the first greek philosophers or first physicists, trying to describe the world and rules that govern it.

Whereas Clerics undergo a more mystical training, pass through religious rites and learn to use magic with the strength of faith rather than pure knowledge. They also use formulas, but see them as prayers rather than magic theorems.

Cool. So i have rules out of my way.

The other thing I find very important in making my world seem more pulpy fantasy is establishing the fact that gods don't have direct, obvious impact on the game's realia.

By that I mean, that clerics and religious organizations have impact on the game, however the gods won't ever step in and interact with the game world or worse - the PC's themselves. This seems to be an important premise in Howard's stories and I think I should keep it.

In the upcoming posts I will discuss my world's spiritual and religious background in more detail. Until then!

Tonight Half-orcs vs. Halflings

So I've got elves and dwarves relatively out of the way. Mind you, they are not finished ideas, but for now they will do.

Ok, so it's time to tackle the little races, half-orcs and anything else I might allow for players.


Round one

Half orcs are really easy to get out of the picture. They are sterile, so there is no chance of multiplying and they are either killed at birth by humans, or brought up by orcs, and than they are simply treated like orcs.

Half -orcs aarrrre out!


Round two

I have a strong objection to halflings for the same reasons as J. Maliszewski. They are just too Tolkienesque. You can call one Mustakrakish the Bloody and in the minds of players he will still be a little furry hobbit (maybe covered with blood, but that's all).

The one noteworthy attempt at changing this state of affairs was Dark Sun, but since I want my game closer to the od&d, I think introducing dinosaur riding cannibal midgets as a player race might kill the whole effort.

Halflings arrrrrreee out!


Round three

As much as I dislike halflings, I love gnomes. I find several reasons to include them in my setting:

- having kicked halflings out, I feel I need to fill the hole somehow, so that the players have what to choose from;

- they actually appear in germanic mythologies (altho mostly used as a synonym for dwarf) and don't make people think of only one piece of work like halflings;

- I like the idea of them being a magical-technical race surrounded by a shroud of secrets and I think it goes well with the idea that they are mostly illusionists;

- since they are illusionists I see no reason why they can't be famous for their thievery skills, thus replacing halflings in case someone can only play little race thieves;

- putting them into my setting gives my a safety hatch, allowing me to introduce whacky magomechanics without blowing up the setting;

Having said all that, If I want to have gnomes I need to make them mysterious, exotic and secretive. Which is fine with me. For now I have little idea about their background, hopefully I'll come up with something interesting.

Gnomes win the match!