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.

A poll in god's name!

I can't imagine a pulp fantasy settings without raging barbarians and berserkers in horned helmets!

Ok, I can imagine it, but what's the point?!

Once in a while everybody feels the need to just create a character that's a half naked barbarian-thief, fast like a panther and strong like a boar. And to enjoy such a character, you need a god with a cool name, one you will call upon when in trouble (even though he doesn't give a shit).

Crom is the real shit, but let's be honest, no one will take your badass barbarian seriously if you call Crom in the middle of the game.

Odin or Thor maybe? Nah... It's not a bad solution since the amount of awesome Thor has might last for the next thousand years. However I'd feel like I'm cheating if I just took the existing gods and transplanted them into my setting (I know that's exactly what Howard did, but he was a pioneer of the genre).

I came up with a nice (a bit generic, but that was the point) story for a god, but I'm helpless when it comes to names. I looked at many old nordic names, narrowed down my choices but can't really choose one (maybe they're all lame)...

I Want Your Help!
I'll post a POLL. It will hang here for circa 10 days, please vote on the name that in your opinion is the coolest, or leave your proposition in the comments!

Now to the meat!

The Lord of Winters, The Old Wolf, The Guardian of the Dead

"His body is covered in a white bear's skin, a horned helmet rests on his head, covering eyes in the color of a burning charcoal. He sits on a throne made from the skulls of his enemies. (...) An axe with a blade forged from the night itself leans on the side of the throne, the one eyed wolf sleeps by his feet..."

This is how one of the old chronicles describes the god of thunders. Although he clearly hails from the northern regions, he's a deity, whose cult spilled all over the continent.

He is believed to have been the one responsible for creating the earth and the sky, by splitting the world in half. His throne is said to stand at the top of the world, guarding the entrance to heaven and hell. There he battles lost souls and demons who wish to break out. The lightning is said to be caused by the swings of his axe, the thunder is his battle cry.

The barbarians of the north believe that their tribes originate from his union with the Mother Goddess. Dwarfs claim that his beard is made of steel, iron and mithril. They claim that the ores are simply single hair that he had lost during many battles.

The Lord of Winters is believed to have control over wolves, according to the legend he battled the first wolf with bare hands, knocking out the beast's eye. However he was so impressed by the beast that instead of killing it, he befriended it. The barbarians of the north believe that he then used the wolves to teach people how to fight and organize war parties. because of that killing wolves in the north is strictly forbidden, unless it is done without the use of man-made weapons.


Both druids and clerics can be priests of this deity, the first would be the shaman-berserkers from the northern villages, while the latter - representatives of the more organized southern church.

Your mother was right! RPG's ARE SATAN WORSHIP! BUAHAHAHAHHAAH

As much as I value originality and making up weird shit, I think it’s really important not to forget about some images or symbols that are deeply rooted in the human cultural subconscious.

A fine example of a symbol that has the same connotations in many (if not nearly all) cultures would be associating snakes, toads or dragons (which fall to the snake category) with evil and fear.

I think a play on such re-emerging cultural motifs is essential when we want to make the players feel scared or at least uneasy.

And what else should an evil deity do, if not address peoples imagination and fears...

That’s why, when I was thinking of introducing evil deities and cults to my pantheon, the first thing that came to my mind was the image of the Baphomet.

Maybe I’m just weird from watching too many old horror movies, but I just love the long black robes and satanic imagery (seriously, who doesn’t?) even tho it got so overused.

Thus when an image of a goat headed starved man came to my head, I couldn’t resist...

The Hungry One (also The Bringer of Plague, the Master of Flies, The Starved One)
The Great Rapist is an evil deity. In iconography he’s usually portrayed as a thin, starved, naked man with small genitals and a goats head.

He is said to have been brought to life as a lover/slave by the Maiden. However he fell in love with her and became jealous of the many other men with whom he had to share his mistress. With time he changed from a merry youngster into a bitter and vengeful man. Finally, mad with jealousy, he came up with a plan to imprison the Goddess.

He crept up into her chamber woven from the roots of the Tree of Life and wanted to tie up the sleeping Maiden. However the Goddess wasn’t to be surprised so easily and a fight broke out.

Driven by madness and desperation, the lover decided that if he can’t capture his beloved one, he will kill her. In a furious struggle he managed to bite off the Goddess’ left nipple and cut her face with a dagger, taking away the sight in her left eye. In anguish and fury the Goddess cast a curse upon him, deeming him to a fate worse than death.

The spell made his genitals rot away and his head transform into that of a mindless goat. Endless thirst and hunger fell upon him. He is to wander for eternity, tormented by his lust but never knowing any satisfaction

The Hungry One is seen as the god of lust, jealousy and gluttony. He has no church or clerics, however shrines are built, in them people are supposed to leave gifts of food, money, drink or clothing which are than redistributed (usually by the clerics of some other cult, that also takes care of those shrines) to the poor.

It is said, that secret cults devoted to The Hungry One exist. Some of them have been heard to be societies for nobles seeking forbidden pleasures often of a sexual nature.

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.

Gods, Demigods and Atheists

Often in my gaming history have I came across players not caring about religion and gods of the setting, easily asserting their characters are atheist. I always found that disturbing, since it seemed to me that such players couldn't alienate from their own beliefs , or didn't care much about the setting/game/character.

In fact, when we look at the evolution of religions and human beliefs, the idea of atheism appeared relatively late and even then it was present only in philosophy. I think that we can safely assume that the popularization of the view that no god exist took place on the break of the 19th and 20th century.

Knowing that, I am very reluctant to allow people to claim their characters are atheist. I simply find it impossible that a down to earth fighting man or a thief would deny the existence of gods, especially since they are surrounded by clerics casting spells and other supernatural phenomena.

However I can imagine a philosopher or a high level wizard, who had contact with demons and other supernatural beings, claim that the gods have merely the same status as demons, or that they don't exist (or really being convinced of anything else). I can (and probably will at some point) make my players encounter a demon claiming that he is a god and making them believe that in serving him, they are filling the will of a deity.

But even then I will make sure they won't easily share their views with other people, especially clerics, since openly sharing claims of the non existence of gods will meet at best with being called "mad" and in the worst case with imprisonment or court punishment (in a theocratic state for example).

Don't get me wrong, but I just feel that if someone wants to play an atheist character, he should have a good, interesting idea instead of being lazy.


Talking about ideas...

... vaguely connected with the previous topic, I wanted to say that in my efforts to create an interesting pantheon of gods, that would fit my idea of gaming world, I have tried to seek inspiration in Deities & Demigods handbook (3e). Let me say: THIS BOOK IS THE WORST RPG HANDBOOK EVEEEEEEER!!!


Seriously! I found no useful information about creating an interesting pantheon or about historical pantheons that have actually existed. It seems that the people who wrote that book were completely devoid of imagination or any creativity.



Moreover, what I did find is a table telling me how many spells per level (!WHAT THE FUCK!) a god can cast!

I'm sharing my outrage, because that handbook is an embodiment of everything that is bad in the gaming industry...

It seems to me that it has been written purely to steal money from people who are new to the hobby without giving them anything, literally ANYTHING (apart, maybe, from a 1 kilogram heavy, bound pack of paper) in return.

Death To WotC!

Long live OD&D Revival!

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!