From: [t--fi--v] at [cui.unige.ch] Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: SUPPLEMENT: DOG2.3 - medieval Date: 13 Oct 1994 13:55:08 -0400 Short notes on the World's history and present day. The origins of the world. . . . Apparently one single power guided the creation of the world and it was far superior to all the Demons, Devils and Gods known for now . . . Tssaakh the Whitesnake - "Thus spoke Aandizaar" The origins of the Universe are lost in the depths of ages. Since the beginning of time, many were the mortals and the everliving who tried to find out either by magical or non-magical way how the World has been created. All of these researches failed, even those of Aandizaar, thought revealed some evidences of a single power that induced the creation of the World some thousands of epochs ago. The fact that the beginning of time exists is not very popular among the so- called "superior entities", i. e. Demons, Demi-Gods and Gods, as it contradicts the widespread legend of the eternity, thus reducing their authority and power among the lower beings. Aandizaar revealed the results of his researches to mortal lizardmen, telling that the Gods have also been created, and that was one of the reasons of the banishment of this rebel God. Aandizaar is one of the Gods of Twilight - the Higher Gods, the most powerful ones, those who were since the beginning of time - those who will remain until the end of time. The Demons of Twilight are less powerful beings of the same origin - directly summoned by the One. The Gods of New Era or the Lower Gods are those who came later through a reflection in the White Mirrors. Some say that they also have been created in the very beginning and just were awakened when the White Mirrors were put together. However there is one important point making the difference between the Higher and the Lower Gods - the later can be exorcised, i. e. thrown away from the Universe by means of it. This fact is rather an evidence of the intro-Universal origin of the Gods of New Era, as none of the true primary creatures ever disappeared until now. Some ancient artifacts that do not follow the laws of the Universe are beleived to be the tools of its creation (there is also an opinion that these are just junk left after the work). Three of the tools are red, green and blue crystals. They cannot be destroyed by known means. The crystals are believed to be lower Demons of Twilight created for creation, thus, having their own personality, will never serve mortals. They were present in the World even before the coming of Aandizaar and were used by him for the creation of lizardmen. In the age of old, during the seven wars of lizardmen, one of the lizardmen kings called Werqurz (one of the mightiest mortal mages ever lived) tried to win greater power by using the red crystal. First he seemed to succeed, but suddenly all his armies and lands vanished in fire. The great fire last twice twelve days and none of his country survived. The red crystal was not found since that, but it was not destroyed. The ashed place is called now Werqurz Tomb Wasteland or just Ash Wasteland. No vegetation grows there. A horseman needs 4 days to traverse these dead lands, but rarely one dares to. It is said that the place is haunted - strange beasts and strange diseases attack the insolent traveller. Since the firedeath of Werqurz's kingdom, no mortal dares to use the crystals and only the most wise are charged to keep it. The work of Aandizaar - dragons, wyverns and lizardmen Lizardmen are the most ancient race of the known world. Not only lizardmen were given rise to by Aandizaar, but all of the the plants and animals. A lot of lizard-like and not-so-lizard-like beasts appeared as a side- product of his researches, as Aandizaar almost never destroyed things. The World of the Old Epochs was entirely contrived by him in the spirit of and using the tools of "the One who created the crystals". After having created his world, Aandizaar created naturally magical beings which are usually referred to as "the Guardians" or "the Dragons of the Old Age" . The purpose of these wonderful beasts is general keeping of the World's ways as well as protection from external instability. It is told that a part of Aandizaar's power has been put into these living things to such an extent that even Lssaakh had to beg them for an allowance to change the World as he didn't dare to fight them. The force of the most powerful Guardians measures up with the force of lesser Demons. These are the so-called mountain dragons which will come to the World in its hour of need. It is told that they will rise up from nowhere on the tops of the highest Mountains of the Spine of the World. They will sweep through the fields and forests like the primary blackfire swept through when the World was young. They will clean and purify and none can stop them without killing the World's Magick. There are also other much less powerful dragons - the sea dragons which were created to protect the maritime traffic, to rule the weather and to protect the lizardmen from Guzz's creatures. Guzz is believed to be a Low Demon who lived in the world before the coming of Aandizaar. Long epochs he has spent in the depths of the oceans sometimes creating eerie beasts or changing the others through magic. Guzz's pets are not necessarily evil or hostile, but they are always weird, irrational and never friendly. Most of the World's most feared creatures are Guzz's work. Still, legends say that by some mysterious ways Aandizaar and Guzz spent a lot of time together and became good friends, as far as the word is applicable for a High God and a Low Demon - their friendship may be compared to the relations of a wise king and a clever joker. After the creation of lizardmen, a newer and theoretically more powerful race came out of the workshops of Aandizaar. The exact purpose of it is not known, because obviously the new race was not intended to replace lizardmen and not to rule over them neither. Somewhat bizarre and yet not finished, wyverns have exceptional intelligence mixed with an unbelieveable egoism. Some of these giant beasts are kind to the other races, some are not, but practically all of them are extremely selfish. Present day wyverns are only the draft that Aandizaar did not manage to finalise; they are few and naturally live for millenia, but rarely have children - this way the population of wyverns remains constant since Aandizaar left the World's bounds. All the "dragons" of the epic fairy tales of elves, dwarves and men are actually wyverns. Aandizaar was the first god who tried to influence the ways of the Universe through the creation of self-aware (FOOTNOTE: this term is a more exact translation from lizardmen tongue for the word "intelligent") beings and he remains probably one of the most successful in this way. This God sometimes appeared to lizardmen in the World in the form of a magnificient white and gold dragon, teaching and guiding lizardmen, so that they remained the World's unlimited rulers until the legendary war on Heaven. It is told that during the Great War on Heaven, the creator of lizardmen was captured and imprisoned far away from the World's frontiers, for he told the truth to mortals and he became too powerful. The lizardmen legends are that he will return. After the banishment of Aandizaar the fading of the lizardmen civilisation began. The exact reasons remain obscure - the Seven Wars of lizardmen started destroying little by little all ancient knowledge and all ancient wisdom. By the end of the eighth millenium after the beginning of the wars, the last two Great Wizards - direct disciples of Aandizaar - have slain each other in the last great battle and the last, the seventh war has stopped. The tribes of lizardmen became only a shadow of what they have been long ago - the New Era came. Elves. The end of the Seven Wars of lizardmen almost coincided with the rise of the Lower Gods. One of the most powerful of these gods, came to the World and found the ruins of once great civilisation. He never revealed his true name to the mortals; lizardmen's legends call him "Lssaakh", which means just "the other" - he was the only superior being beside Aandizaar who appeared directly to the mortals - at least that is what the legends say. Lssaakh carefully studied the three crystals and the ways Aandizaar proceeded in his works. Then he started his own researches in the creation of self-aware beings. The creatures of Lssaakh followed a completely different logic that those of Aandizaar. As Lssaakh didn't really like the taste of his predecessor, he made quite a lot of plants and animals and other things his way. After a lot of tests and errors he created elves. Elves were supposed to be the top of the top - the chef-d'oeuvre of Lssaakh's works. These beings are quite different from all other races living in the World - they have their own ideas of good and evil, honour and disgrace, war and peace, life and death, love and hate - everything. These ideas are not necessarily logical from the others' points of view. Everything was perfect until Lssaakh got bored (tired?) of all these creations and left his children on their own. The development of elves almost stopped as they were much too dependent on the lessons and on the guidance of their creator. In fact little is known of this folk after the departure of their god - they hardly communicate with strangers. Marrawi and dwarves. In the times when Lssaakh was about to leave, two friends, two Gods of Twilight - Daur and Rahr - got interested in the life of the World. They looked at all that has been done there and wagered - if they create two races of intelligent beings and make a war between these two races - just to have fun - which one will destroy the other ? Daur decided not to get himself too much tired. He has chosen some hundreds of healthy lizardmen and created a brand new religion among them. Soon the whole tribe joined the priests and there were enough flesh to work with. The strongest and the smartest of the priests was the first to pass through a long and tortuous magic ritual. That is the way the first marrawi has seen the light. The others followed him and very soon the entire tribe has been "initiated". Daur thought he was going to make lizardmen smarter and stronger, but the result was questionable - it was not very easy to do in hurry something better than Aandizaar has done in long millenia (FOOTNOTE: In the effort to do better, Daur has changed the lizardmen physically - marrawi and lizardmen cannot have common children.). However one thing is sure - the lizardmen's cast of mind has been completely changed - marrawi became more artful and more cold-blooded. Most of the lizardmen tribes are either green-skinned or green/grey. Pure grey colour is rather rare. The tribe Daur dealt with was grey-skinned. The "ritual of initiation" added bright red eyes instead of plain black. Tarkwi, the first born of the marrawi race went out of the gates of the Daz Marrawi temple - the ancient complex carved under the ground, the ancestral home of all marrawi. He went out wielding Yaal the sword - the magic sword created by Daur, so that Tarkwi would smite the best fighter of the opponent race. With unearthly strength and magical fire, Yaal's blade was forged from the metal of a fallen star. In the hands of Tarkwi, Daur commanded that Yaal destroy both the enemy and his weapon. Daur commanded - win and rule! Marrawi legends insist that the possessor of Yaal will rule the World. Rahr spent much more time creating his folk than Daur did. He was working hard to find the best alloy of war arts and weaponsmith skills. Long years the marrawi lived in the World, still waiting for the sworn enemy to come until Rahr finished his work. Dowry - the first born of the dwarf race stepped out of the Khazaya caverns in the Mountains of the Spine of the World. He stepped out and saw the reflection of the White Eye star in a cold mountain lake. And the reflection reflected in the shaft of Ara - the mightiest axe ever made. The shaft was of methreal ( FOOTNOTE: The strongest metal known. No one living has been able to forge anything with it. A few suits of armor do exist, remnants of a time long past.) and the head of methreal plated blackwood covered with runes. Rahr gave Ara to Dowry so that he could defend himself in the coming battle. The battle between Tarkwi and Dowry was brutal, but in the end, only Dowry stood. This so infuriated Daur that he struck down Dowry and that was not fare, as no mortal can fight a High God. Then Daur went calm and spoke to Rahr : you won. Rahr answered : indeed. But none of their races have heard them. And the two Gods, still good friends, went away. They left their races and the eternal hate between their races. They left the envy of the marrawi and the rage of the dwarves. They left both weapons, containing a part of the races' power lost in the World. The Gods grow bored and abandon. Marrawi and dwarves fight. Eternally. Origins of the human race Legends say that before the creation of the ultimate race - the elves - Lssaakh's early selection experiments produced a huge number of elf-like and not-so-elf-like creatures. Most of them were lacking vitality or even were completely helpless, but some have survived and prospered either by the way of barbarous force or owing to their artful nature. The earliest beings appeared had a superior resistance and lived almost forever, but were quite dumb and usually extremely ugly. As these hideous monsters multiplied very quickly eating all eatable things - thus representing a direct danger to all other inhabitants of the World - they were exterminated in a short time either by mountain dragons or by Lssaakh himself. Travellers say that some odd beasts, presumably the remnants of these nightmarish animal races, still inhabit the eastern frontiers of Ash Wasteland - maybe some other desolate spots in the world have also been forgotten during the cleaning campaign. Later experiments of Lssaakh gave rise to a multitude of more or less acceptable more or less intelligent races - trolls, goblins, giants, skasi (rat folk), monkeys, yeti, all kinds of river folks, swamp folks, sand folks, forest folks, saïva folks etc. which were in no way intended to compete with the absolute favourites - the elves. Among all these folks there was one race which was abandoned by Lssaakh on their own in the very beginning as at Lssaakh opinion it had nothing of an ideal one. Strangely, this abandoned folk moved quite rapidly on the way to higher civilisation, owing to their natural enterprising and curious cast of mind mixed with an incredible (not always justified) self-confidence and reasonable laziness. That is how humans joined the highly intelligent races of the World, thought they were not intended to. AND THAT IS HOW THE WORLD IS NOW The following rules are an essay of creating a perfect fantasy rpg rules system. The author have spent long days playing by different rules and in different worlds, but no system was complete enough to reflect all necessary nuances of a real adventure. FOR EXAMPLE: Sometimes castle doors got broken after a fist punch of a strong character, sometimes a party ran like hell during 3 days without rest and after that was able to fight an army of bulldozer strong orcs - shortly, a lot of things-that-cannot-be happened. Together with tactical dissatisfaction remained the strategical one. Moorcock' s stuff is quite boring with all these parallel worlds, intra-dimensional travelling and such bullshit, the Warhammer world is much too civilised, Tolkien's Middlearth, potentially exciting, doesn't really motivate, because everyone knows how it will end etceteras, etceteras . . . And as a result of deep dissatisfaction our own world to play in and this system to play with were born. The world is very cruel. The fights are fast and unmerciful. NO PARALLEL WORLDS. NO HIGH CIVILISATION. NO GODS ON EARTH. AND NO CHAOS vs. ORDER This is just a classic fantasy = swords + magic. player may choose the race of his character, refer to paragraph 2.2. for detailed description The age of a character is either chosen with respect to the race limits or determined as follows: Human, Cavemen : 16+2D6 Dwarves, Lizardmen : 50+1D100 Forestmen : 30+2D20 The height of a character is either chosen with respect to the race limits or determined as follows: Human, Cavemen : 160+3D10 cm Dwarves : 140+3D10 cm Forestmen, Lizardmen : 165+3D10 cm The weight of a character is calculated as CON*6 + (Height -175) Dwarves can carry up to STR x 40, due to the low position of mass centre and specific constitution. 2.2. Racial Differences Human Dwarf Caveman Forestman Lizardman SPEED -1D3 +1D3 +1D3 STRENGTH +1D3 -1D3 ENDURANCE +1D3 +1D4 CONSTITUTION +1D3 +1D4 -1D3 FIGHT +1D3 -1D3 +1D3 ACCURACY -1D3 +1D3 -1D3 AGILITY -1D3 -1D3 +1D3 HANDWORK +1D3 -1D3 -1D3 -1D3 COMMAND -1D3 INTELLIGENCE -1D3 +1D3 +1D3 CALM +1D3 +1D3 RES. TO MAGIC +1D3 -1D3 +1D3 -1D3 MAGIC APT. -1D3 -1D3 +1D3 SOCIABILITY -1D3 -1D3 +1D3 -1D3 Human no comments. Humans are the only race, which widely uses horses for travelling and transporting goods : +10 % Horseback Riding skill. No obligatory skills. Dwarf closer to humans, than the dwarves in classic tales. Actually an inexperienced one can think a tall dwarf is a human - the easiest way of driving a dwarf angry. An ancient race of skilled craftsmen and fighters, living underground, dwarves are able to distinguish shapes of objects in very dark rooms (just as cats do), however the darkness may not be complete. First weapon for a dwarf is either an axe or a pickaxe. 50% of chance of having obligatory Underground Construction skill. Metalwork, Metallurgy or Jewellery skill is also obligatory, thought with a 10% bonus. Living all the life under the ground results in 50% probability of having a free Orientation (only under the ground) skill. Caveman Strong, stupid and fearless. An early branch of human civilisation, living in caves and in small cabanas, Cavemen live with hunt : +10 % Hunting skill. The #1 weapon is a mace. They are absolutely unable to understand magic and usually get puzzled when they see its manifestations. Cavemen make excellent hand-to-hand fighters. Forestman Handsome, noiseless and smart. The origin of the race is not very clear. Some say that these people with slightly green skin are a bit elves ( degenerated ones ? human/elves ?). Some suppose a magic origin, but even the forestmen legends are silent about it. Forestmen live (guess where ?) in forests and their preferred weapon is a bow (obligatory #1 weapon). One more particular point - forestmen regenerate wounds twice as fast as the others do. Naturally, forestmen are the best mages of all races. Forestmen have 50% probability to obtain free Orientation (only in forest) skill as a result of living all their life in forests. Lizardman Lizardmen are the most ancient race of the known world. Lizardmen's strong skin gives them a natural protection +1. Swimming +30%, 50% of having 6th sense. 2.3. Origin when choosing the character's origin, the player can express his wishes to be of one particular class, then he rolls D100 three times. If one of the rolls is what the player wants - he gets it, otherwise he takes the first roll result. Some of the origins require a specific attribute to be no less than 12 - for example HAN >= 12 is required to be a Craftsman (see 'required' in the table below). If the origin rolled requires a specific attribute that a character hasn't - reroll until an acceptable result occurs. 1D100 : required Human Dwarf Cavemen Forestman Lizardman Barbarian - 1-10 1-50 1-30 1-20 Craftsman HAN 12 11-20 1-40 31-35 21-30 Fighter FIG 12 21-40 41-80 51-75 36-45 31-55 Hunter * ** - 41-50 76-100 46-80 56-70 Merchant ** SOC 12 51-60 81-85 81-90 71-80 Peasant * - 61-65 76-90 Priest ** INT 12 66-75 Seaman - 76-90 86-95 91-95 86-95 Thief * ** AGI 12 90-100 96-100 96-100 *) cannot be noble **) cannot be slave SOCIAL RANK : 1D100 : 1-5 Noble 5-95 Common 96-100 Slave Slaves roll 1D100 one more time: slave - born slave; common or noble - became slave A slave has 5% of mischance (less than 5 with 1D100) to have a stamp on his front. 2.3.1. Barbarian #1 weapon at 40% 50% of having Drive a chariot 80% Fishing 20% 50% of having Horseback Riding 80% (SPD+1D3 instead for lizardmen) Hunt 40% Knot 10% Knowledge of plants 15% Orientation 30% Pathfind 30% Swim 20% Tailor 10% 2.3.2. Craftsman HAN+1D3; #1 weapon at ½D100 #2 weapon at 15% All except miners have an adequate equipment box (ENC 80). Miners have a set of mining clothes, a small lamp (ENC 10) and a pickaxe (ENC 80, obligatory #1 weapon). Craftsmen skills are at (50+3D10)%. A craftsman can choose any other craftsman skill at 30% but he has to justifiy his choice. Trading 40% Read / Write native tongue and common tongue - 30%; 1D100: Dwarves Lizardmen Others Skills Blacksmith 1-30 1-20 1-20 Metallurgy or Metalsmith (choose). Carpenter 31-40 21-40 21-40 Carpenter Gemcutter 41-60 41-50 41-50 Gemcutter Tanner Leatherwork Mason 51-60 51-70 Masonry Miner 61-90 61-80 Underground Construction Tailor 91-100 81-90 71-100 Tailor 2.3.3. Fighter FIG+1D3; #1 weapon at 50% #2 weapon / shield at 40% #3 weapon / shield at 30% 1D100: 1-5 Assassin AGI+1D3; Knowledge of poisons 30%; Search 25%; Pathfind 30%; Stealth 60%; Hide 50%; Ambush 50%; Hear+10%; 6th sense #1 weapon at 60% (not at 50) 6-20 Bodyguard CON +1; CLM +1; Handfight 40%; 21-25 Elite fighter STR+1; AGI+1; Dodge ½D100 %; Human: ACC+1; Horseback Riding 50%; Ambush 50%; Dwarves: ACC+1; Climbing 50%; Equilibrium 50% Forestmen: FIG+1; Stealth 50%; Pathfind 50% Cavemen: FIG+1; Handfight 50% Lizardmen: CMD+1D4; Stealth 50%; Ambush 50% 26-30 Gladiator * Dodge ½D100%; 1st aid 30% 31-45 Mercenary Dodge ½D100%; Drive a chariot 30%; Horseback Riding 30% ** 46-50 Pirate roll as seaman / pirate and add to fighter 51-100 Man-at-arms * CMD+1; Dodge ½D100%; *) a noble cannot be a gladiator or a man-at-arms- reroll **) SPD+1D3 instead for dwarves and lizardmen 2.3.4. Hunter #1 melee weapon at 30% #2 bow at 25% #1and #2 can be interchanged Hunters cannot choose two-handed swords, two-handed axes and long pikes - these weapons are always used to fight people and never for animals hunting. Ambush 50%; Fishing 40% Hunt 70% Knowledge of plants 15%; Pathfind 50%; Stealth 30%; Trapmaking 50%; 2.3.5. Merchant Read/Write common language 70% If speaks a language then also reads (same percentage). Persuade 50% Eloquence 30% Trading 60% 1D100 1-40 Caravan man #1 weapon 40%; Cartography 20%; Horseback Riding 30% *; Drive a chariot 20% 50% probability of having History 15% 41-60 Slave-trader #1 weapon 40%; #2 weapon/shield 25% Cartography 20%; Horseback Riding 20% *; Drive a chariot 30% 61-100 Tradesman #1 weapon 25%; *) SPD+1D3 for dwarves and lizardmen 2.3.6. Peasant #1 weapon : 2-h pole 30% #2 weapon : flail 25% Carpenter 15% Farming 70% Fishing 30% Hunt 30% Knot 20% Knowledge of plants 20% Metalsmith 15% Pathfind 15% Tailor 20% 2.3.7. Priest #1 weapon : dagger 30% 1st aid 40% Eloquence 25% History 30% Knowledge of plants 40% Last aid 30% Persuade 25% Read / Write common language 80% Theology 50% If reads a language then also speaks (same percentage). Every year above 25, INT+1, if rolls more than INT with 3D10. 2.3.8. Seaman #1 weapon 40% Climb 40% (rigging climb 80%) (oarsmen 10% / 20%) Equilibrium 50% Knot 70% (oarsmen 30%) Swim 50% 20% probability of being a pirate. Add all fighter skills. A slave can be only sailor or oarsman - roll 1D100 : 1 to 70 - oarsman, 71 to 100 - sailor. 1D100 1-5 Boatswain CMD +1; Navigation 40%; Cartography 30%; Naval manoeuvres 70% 6-10 Captain fight, knowledge, communication and handicraft bonuses +10; Navigation 60%; Cartography 50%; Naval manoeuvres 60%; 50% probability of having History 10% 11-15 Mate fight, knowledge, communication and handicraft bonuses +5; Navigation 50%; Cartography 40%; Naval manoeuvres 50%; 25% probability of having History 10% 16-55 Oarsman * STR+1; CON+1; END+1; 56-60 Quartermaster Navigation 70%; Cartography 60%; Naval manoeuvres 40% 61-100 Sailor Navigation 10%; Cartography 10%; Naval manoeuvres 20% *) A noble (except an enslaved one) cannot be an oarsman - reroll. 2.3.9. Thief #1 weapon 35% #2 weapon : Dagger 45% Climb ½D100% Hear +10% Hide ½D100% Jump ½D100% Picklock 1D100% Robbery 60% Search ½D100% Stealth 50% Thieves cannot choose a #1 weapon longer than 100 cm. 2.3.10. Nobles and slaves NOBLE: #1 weapon at 40% (if his profession does not give more) #2 weapon at 20% (if his profession does not give more) Any armour and any weapon. A noble has a lot of money Trading at least 40% Read / Write. History +20%. Theology +20%. Horseback Riding 50%. SLAVE: Hide +10%; Stealth +10%; Fall +10% There are also 5 special skills, reflecting the 5 general physical abilities of a person - See, Hear, Smell, Taste and Feel. These skills are rolled as 39+ 2D10 (median value 50) with the following race modifiers (except for humans) : Dwarves : See +10, Feel -10 Cavemen: Taste +10, Hear -10; Forestmen: Hear +10, Taste -10; Lizardmen: Smell +10, See -10; Knowledge Theology (INT) 2.5. Distinguishing features 1D100 result - a player can roll, if he wants, but cannot refuse if no good. 01 Imitation skill (D100/2)+10% 02 Lips Reading skill (D100/2)+10% 03 Orientation skill (D100/2)+10% 04 Seduction skill (D100/2)+10% 05 6th sense - the char is never surprised in combat. 50% of detecting an ambush. 06 Ambidexterity 07 Very sharp eyes : + 10% in See and in Pathfind 08 Very fine ears : +10% in Hear 09 Naturally immunised against 1D4 types of snake poison (select) 10 Naturally immunised against 1D4 diseases (select) 11 (except dwarves) Naturally friendly with all wild animals. (only reptiles for lizardmen). 12-15 Specific experience : choose a Skill and add 1D10 16 Extremely handsome, SOC +4 17 Extremely ugly, SOC -4 18 Increased resistance to alcohol resulting from long practice. Knows each and every tavern in the country. 19 Has an ancient map, showing a place where a wonderful treasure is hidden ( the authenticity of the map is to be judged by the Game Master). 20 Participated in a big battle and was awarded for bravery. 21 Has a mysterious tattoo. 22 Has a big book, which he cannot read. 23 Has 1D4 magic potions of healing. 24 (male only) Experienced womaniser - leaves a heir and an enraged mother in every village he passes through. 20% Seduction Skill. 25 Looking for a twin brother (sister) gone long ago. 26 Thinks he's the son of a king and wants to fight back his rights. 27 Thinks that Armageddon is near. 28 (male only) Lives a perfect love with a daughter of his hometown local noble man, but before he can marry her the father wants him to prove his value in an adventure. 29 Has a "magic" flute, but doesn't know how to use it. 30 Has a family ring on his finger. 31 Is very difficult to wake up. 32 . . . 33 Extremely proud, cannot stand a non-respect. 34 Snores loudly in the night. 35 Has a bad smell from the mouth. 36 Has an influent friend (to be determined with the GM). 37 Once ate a rare fruit of an exceptionally fine taste. Wants to find and commercialise it. 38 Has a lot of hair on the body. 39 Cannot keep a dime in his pockets. 40 Seeking his family captured by slave-traders. 41 Cannot lie and cannot cheat. Does never attack from back and never ambushes his enemies. 42 Is adventuring to find a woman (man) of his dreams. 42 Wants to learn to fly. 43 Can do anything for a bet. 44 Wants at all cost to find a slayer of his best friend. 45 Hates dogs. 46 Has a strange (magic?) ring. 47 A case of deep amnesia. the char does not remember who is he, where he comes from, etc., thought all his skills remain the same. 48 Accused of murder, wants to prove his innocence. 49 Is afraid of mice. 50 Every night has the same strange dream. 51 Hates his name. 52 Is a member of a strange religion sect. Wants to get out of it, in spite of death menace. 53 Can read and write very well - all read/write skills +20%. If speaks a language - also writes it. There is a possibility of resurrection : only the most sage of the sage and the most wise of the wise posess the knowledge of resurrect spell (see also Realms of Magic supplement - Body Magic): min MA : about 30 Effort: : about 80 Casting time : about 2 hours Composants : differ from mage to mage, but usually are extremely costly Effects : A dead character is resurrected with -1HP and 1 point of tiredness Special : The spell has 5% less probability of success for every day the target was dead Characters smothered to gambles are of course more difficult to resurrect 4. WEAPONS 4.1. Melee weapons Weapon Minimal requirements Type Encumb. Length AGI FIG Short Sword 7 7 S 40 60-80 Broad Sword 7 8 M 50 90-110 Long Sword 7 8 M 60 100-110 Scimitar 8 9 M 60 75-110 Bastard Sword * 10 11 L 90 110-150 2-handed Sword 13 12 H 130 150-180 Dagger - - S 10 20-45 (Hand) Axe 8 8 M 60 75 Doubleaxe 8 10 M 70 75 Boarding axe (2-h) 9 12 L 100 180 Battle Pickaxe * ** 10 12 L 80 110-120 Battleaxe (2-h) 11 13 H 110 150-160 Halberd (2-h) 10 9 H 140 200 Spear * 7 8 S 40 120-150 Pike (2-h) 8 9 L 140 270-300 Glaive * 8 9 M 60 130-160 Fork/Trident (2-h) 8 9 M 70 150-200 Cavalry pike 9 9 L 150 250-300 Club 7 7 S 40 60-120 Staff (2-h) 8 9 S+2 50 170-210 Mace 7 8 M 50 70 Heavy mace (2-h) 8 8 H 100 120-160 Warhammer 8 10 L 70 70 2-h warhammer 8 10 H 130 90-120 Flail 10 11 L 60 70-90 2-handed flail 10 11 H 130 90-100 Morgenstern * 10 11 L 90 75 Ball-and-chain 10 11 M 80 - Small shield *** 10 10 S (+10) 20 40 diam. Medium shield *** 7 8 S (+20) 50 70-80 diam Large shield *** 8 9 S (+30) 80 90-100 Heavy Infantry Shield *** 6 7 M (+35) 100 150 Head - - 1D4 - - Fist - - 1D3 - - Fist + knuckles - - 1D3+3 - + 10 - Foot - - S - - *) can be held with both hands as well as with one hand, a so-called 1½ hand weapon. **) quite a rare weapon used only by miners and underground workers, mostly by dwarves. In the hands of any other person it is a two-handed M weapon striking, the requirements for STR, AGI and FIG remain the same. ***) Shields can be used to hit as well as to parry a blow. Thought the hit with a shield does little damage (actually it is a push), there are big chances that the opponent will fall down. The parry bonuses for all four types of shields are given in parenthesis after the type. 4.2. Distance weapons Weapon Distance Damage Encumb. Length Close Medium Far Limit Short bow 3-8 8-15 15-30 50 S 75 75 Long bow 3-10 10-20 20-40 80 M 80 110 Composite bow 3-15 15-30 30-60 100 L 90 160 Iron wood bow 3-15 15-40 40-70 120 L 100 150 Javelin 3-5 5-15 15-25 30 L 40 120-150 Throwing axe 3-5 5-10 10-15 20 M 30 50-60 Throwing knife 3-5 5-10 10-15 20 S 10 20-30 Sling 3-5 5-10 10-30 50 S 10 - Dart 3-5 5-15 15-25 30 M 20 60-90 Stone 3-5 5-10 10-15 20 S 5 - Note, that bow and sling attacks canot be dodged or parried, except with a shield. 5. ARMOUR & PROTECTION It is a well known fact that the same blow received by two different people does different damage - the natural ability to stand blows is called Natural Endurance effect (does not apply to the head). Every blow's damage is reduced by this amount - the natural endurance can be considered as a permanent piece of armour. END protection < 9 no 9 - 13 1 14 - 18 2 > 18 3 Armour: protection burden Leather 1 0 Lizardskin armour 2 0 Turtleshell armour * 4 1 Bronze chain mail 2 1 Iron chain mail 3 1 Steel chain mail 4 1 Dwarven chain 5 1 Bronze plate ** 4 2 Iron plate ** 5 2 Steel plate ** 6 2 Mithril chain 10 0 Dragonskin ** 12 2 * floats on water ** requires a minimum STR of 14 The burden of armour is to be added to the following losses of fatigue points : LW, HW, M, FM & R (see §6. TIREDNESS). Some of the armours (except plates, turtleshells and dragonskins) can be 'plated', i. e. used with metal plates over the main armour. In that case the protection is augmented by 1, the burden value remaining unchanged. Helmets cannot be 'plated'. The burden value of head protection does not influence tiredness. When a piece of armor receives a critical blow - its protection value is decreased by 1. The points lost this way can be restored by a skilled craftsman.