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Post by Mike on Jun 13, 2012 22:22:09 GMT -6
Derv... Love your work!
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Post by machfront on Jun 14, 2012 6:20:01 GMT -6
I'm not a huge fan of the era (despite digging movies like Cromwell -mid 1600s- and stuff like early Hammer horrors -mid? 1800s- of course). I'm more into Renaissance and late/high medieval. But, I've often had an idea of a horror/Renaissance/low-fantasy mash-up and this would seem to easily answer the call quite nicely. Anyway, good stuff as usual, Simon! I hope you finish it up and give a bit o' spit an' polish to put it up on Lulu as happened with Woodland Warriors.
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Post by simonw on Jun 16, 2012 9:16:53 GMT -6
I hope you finish it up and give a bit o' spit an' polish to put it up on Lulu as happened with Woodland Warriors. I wasn't planning to - though I guess if there's enough interest in a POD version...
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 16, 2012 20:26:51 GMT -6
Definite interest here!
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Post by simonw on Jun 17, 2012 2:59:05 GMT -6
Here is the start of the main adventure in the book:
The KORRED’s TABLE
Introduction The setting for this adventure is a bleak moor somewhere; nominally, this is on Dartmoor in Devon, England but it could be any lonely mist-laden moor in Europe – you just need to change some minor details. I’m thinking it’s around 1800, but again the actual date doesn’t really matter.
Background Several months ago, the Korred, Dulsack came to Dartmoor and found the perfect place to place the stone he had been carrying – atop two standing stones creating a “table”, on a small hill overlooking the small village of Two Bridges.
Not long after his arrival Dulsack started holding wild parties at his “table”. Every type of fae attended – sprites, boggarts, brownies, pixies you name it, it came. Many of these fae stopped in the area, causing untold problems for the local villagers.
One problem was with Will Sadler, the owner of the Saracen’s Head, a coaching inn at Two Bridges. His wife, Emilie has recently left him to go to stay with her sister a few miles away, because of the rumours over his affair with a local farmer’s lass, Mary Brown. She has recently given birth to a baby boy that looks exactly like Will – mainly because they have exactly the same shock of fiery red hair.
Will did not sleep with Mary. In fact Mary was entranced by Dulsack at one of his wild parties and they danced the night away together, leaving her with child. Rather than admit to her father she had spent the night with a fae, she let the gossip-mongers have their say.
Two Bridges Village The village of Two Bridges is sited where the River Dart and River Cowsic meet; the only usable road across Dartmoor crosses both. Two Bridges is best known for its potato market. There are some small quarries in the vicinity as well as a few farms and a little light industry.
If PCs are looking around the village at any time (night is worse), they will notice some strange things happening – dogs will suddenly yelp for no reason and go running off. The market stalls will topple over, potatoes rolling around all over the ground. Eddies of wind will suddenly start up, blowing people off their feet. The village blacksmith will burn himself at his forge (he has done this a few times recently). The locals will be a bit on edge and snappy when being spoken to. Fights will break out over nothing. Hunters and Magi will recognize these happenings as typical signs of spirits, devils and fae. The Saracen’s Head Characters will have been travelling across the moors, when the mists come down and the lights of the coaching inn seem far more welcoming than a night on the moor.
When they enter the inn, it is apparent that what should be a lively bustling place is dour, miserable and unwelcoming. The food is poor and the beer is flat. The inn keeper seems almost as if he’d prefer not to have any guests at all.
There are some initially un-talkative locals in the inn, but this will change a little once a few drinks have been bought. Here are some of the rumours that the PCs might hear, if they ask around (remember, Hunters hear two rumours about monsters and scoundrels hear two general rumours, other classes hear one rumour each with successful CHA STs).
General 1. Will’s (the innkeeper) wife left him recently 2. Will had been having an affair with the local farmer’s daughter, Mary Brown, who had his child a month ago 3. There was a murder on the road near the bridges recently – old Ted the sheep herd was found dead after a late night drinking in the tavern – there was no sign of violence or robbery 4. Since Emilie left Will, the hospitality in the inn has hit rock-bottom 5. Some of the local farmers and their businesses have not been doing very well lately and are losing a lot of money 6. One day, a stone suddenly appeared overnight across the standing stones on the hill, forming a kind of table
Monsters 1. A korred lives up on the hilltop and throws wild parties at night 2. There is an ogre living in the ruined tower to the north-east of the village and he is guarding a treasure trove 3. There is a devil living under each of the bridges, coming out at night frightening people on the road 4. The inn’s cellars are haunted, hence the spoiled food and ale 5. The Beardown Man (a local legend) is lonely and looking for female companionship 6. The village has attracted lots of pixies, imps and sprites since the korred came
If they question Will, the PCs will learn the story about his wife leaving him over the gossip about him and Mary. He will also say that since she left, the food has been spoiling and the ale has been turning foul. He doesn’t know why but he has heard strange noises in the cellar, which he assumes is rats. If PCs go down into the cellar, the will discover the six Imps that have moved in. They are a specific type similar to Abbey Lubbers called Buttery Spirits and they are the ones who have been causing much of the inns woes lately. AC 12 HD 1-1 HP 3,4, 5, 3, 1, 3 Attack: claw 1d3, MV 12, ST 13 XP XX, Special: immune to sleep, immune to mundane weapons, change self into rats at will, putrefy food & drink at will.
Brown’s Farm Brown’s farm is a couple of miles outside of Two Bridges Village. It mainly grows potatoes, carrots, parsnips and other vegetables, although the farmer has some sheep too. It is apparent to the PCs that the farm is struggling at the moment – crops are unpicked in the fields, the sheep look bedraggled and there is a sense of neglect. To Magi or Hunters, this has the look of a fae infestation. This is because of the 4 goblins and the hobgoblin that have moved into the barn. Goblins: AC 13 HD 1-1 HP 3,4, 5 Attack: clubs d6-1, MV 9, ST 13 XP 10 Hobgoblin: AC 14 HD 1+1 HP 6 Attack: sword d6, MV 9, ST 13 XP 15 Farmer Brown treats the PCs with suspicion and tries to run them off his farm, but his wife Mable sees reason and will eventually talk him into staying to speak with their daughter, especially if the Mary won’t admit who is the father of her child (which does look like Will Sadler) is, but it is apparent, if asked is it Will’s child, that she is holding something back. If there is a female in the PCs party, Mary is more likely to open up to her.
If the PCs stop to deal with the goblins, Mary will eventually tell the PCs everything about the wild party up at the Korred’s Table and her seduction by the korred. This only happened 3 months ago, so it is obviously a fae child.
The Beardown Man The Beardown Man is a local legendary being. It lives across the moors somewhere near a large granite standing stone of the same name. The menhir is about 10 miles in a easterly direction
The Bridges
The Ruined Tower
The Korred’s Table
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Post by simonw on Jun 17, 2012 14:39:50 GMT -6
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Post by derv on Jun 17, 2012 17:44:50 GMT -6
Having just watched The Brothers Grimm again last night, I enjoyed reading this adventure Simon. I like the balance it offers to the idea behind your game. S&W has alot of options to choose from when you look for inspiration.
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 18, 2012 8:04:27 GMT -6
Great job on this, Simon. And I really do hope you'll consider a print version as well. Exalt!
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Post by simonw on Jun 18, 2012 11:55:00 GMT -6
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Post by llenlleawg on Jun 18, 2012 12:57:11 GMT -6
Very nicely done! This looks like it would work as well for Færie Tale in a neverwhere/neverwhen setting as in an explicitly historical one. I especially liked how you organized the monster list. For those of us whose D&D tends towards the Arthurian in any event, this set-up is ripe for the taking! (Oh, and have and exalt while you're at it!)
One question I do have regards spell-casting by the Magus. First of all, nicely handled re: spells over the prepared limit. My question though, is this. You note that a Magus cannot copy a spell into his book higher than a level he can memorize, and casting a spell not copied in his book earns a penalty on the casting save. This means that, necessarily, casting a spell above his level will always have an "extra" -1 since the only way he can do so is through a spell written in something other than his book. This is fine; I just wanted to be sure I read that correctly.
Again, nice work!
EDIT: I found the answer to my own question on p. 15, "What all the above means for a 1st level magus is that to cast a spell, he has to find one in a book (or other text) and read the spell from there to cast it. If it is on the 1st level list, he needs to make a ST with -1 (for reading from a text other than his spellbook) and another -1 (for exceeding his normal number for the day)."
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 18, 2012 15:20:55 GMT -6
Derv, that's another nice scenario with the Temple of the Toad write-up. And it's generic enough that it could easily be moved to another jungle location--the Congo, India, Burma, a South Seas island--with little difficulty. You could even make this a pirate scenario by changing Professor H-- to Captain H--, a legendary freebooter who disappared, with his final treasure, on some obscure island, prompting his friends and/or rivals to try to find him and/or his hoard.
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Post by derv on Jun 18, 2012 19:58:40 GMT -6
Derv, that's another nice scenario with the Temple of the Toad write-up. And it's generic enough that it could easily be moved to another jungle location--the Congo, India, Burma, a South Seas island--with little difficulty. You could even make this a pirate scenario by changing Professor H-- to Captain H--, a legendary freebooter who disappared, with his final treasure, on some obscure island, prompting his friends and/or rivals to try to find him and/or his hoard. and there's even a reference to your legendary Von Juntz .
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Post by machfront on Jun 19, 2012 5:28:29 GMT -6
This looks like it would work as well for Færie Tale in a neverwhere/neverwhen setting as in an explicitly historical one. Huh! Actually...yeah. Hmm... adventures in Florin and Guilder await (and perhaps cautious jaunts into the dark lands of King Haggard)! ;D
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Post by Finarvyn on Jun 19, 2012 5:35:56 GMT -6
Another EXALT to Simon for this!
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 19, 2012 8:56:51 GMT -6
Noted in passing: Over on the Lords of Lemuria forum, there's been an interesting discussion about using Simon's excellent Barbarians of Lemuria rules to run adventures in the tradition of Moldvay Basic.
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Post by llenlleawg on Jun 20, 2012 8:34:57 GMT -6
I think the spell list here is great, especially in the removal of spells causing direct harm (except Cloudkill and a few others, but certainly the absence of such spells as Fire Ball or Lightning Bolt). I wonder, though, why the polymorph spells (self and others) are missing. They seem rather right in theme and feel of magic here, and are justifiably non-flashy enough to fit in a semi-historical game.
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Post by simonw on Jun 20, 2012 11:34:17 GMT -6
One question I do have regards spell-casting by the Magus. First of all, nicely handled re: spells over the prepared limit. My question though, is this. You note that a Magus cannot copy a spell into his book higher than a level he can memorize... It's important to note that there is no memorizing spells in S&W - they are far too complex even for that. A magus has to read the spell directly from whatever source he has that contains the spell (a scroll, book or whatever). The spell doesn't dissappear afterwards, it is still there, ready to be read again if needed, just like a real book. This means that unless the Magus has copied the spell into his book, he has to carry all the spells he might want to cast around with him and has to fumble around whilst trying to find the spell he wants on the right page. Maybe I need to make more of this in the rules - it could easily take several minutes to find the right spell, in the dark with monsters threatening and guns going off everywhere!
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Post by simonw on Jun 20, 2012 11:38:43 GMT -6
I think the spell list here is great, especially in the removal of spells causing direct harm (except Cloudkill and a few others, but certainly the absence of such spells as Fire Ball or Lightning Bolt). I wonder, though, why the polymorph spells (self and others) are missing. They seem rather right in theme and feel of magic here, and are justifiably non-flashy enough to fit in a semi-historical game. Yeah, I suppose so. I don't remember now why I pruned them from the list. Still, the good thing is - you can put 'em back in if you want to!
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Post by llenlleawg on Jun 20, 2012 14:36:07 GMT -6
It's important to note that there is no memorizing spells in S&W - they are far too complex even for that. A magus has to read the spell directly from whatever source he has that contains the spell (a scroll, book or whatever). The spell doesn't dissappear afterwards, it is still there, ready to be read again if needed, just like a real book. This means that unless the Magus has copied the spell into his book, he has to carry all the spells he might want to cast around with him and has to fumble around whilst trying to find the spell he wants on the right page. Maybe I need to make more of this in the rules - it could easily take several minutes to find the right spell, in the dark with monsters threatening and guns going off everywhere! Indeed, I put it rather poorly. Old habits die hard! One idea put to use in the old Masque of the Red Death supplement for 2e Ravenloft was to have higher-level spells take multiple rounds to cast, one round per spell-level, if I recall aright (and spells which took a round to cast took a full turn, etc.). Anyway, a mechanically simple way to handle your idea might be to say that any spell takes a full round to cast per spell level, although a caster can "rush" his way through at a risk, say -1 per round he shaves off, including -1 for a first level spell to be cast immediately, rather than after whole round. That way, the Magus can cast a spell "safely" but be at risk from enemies during the casting, or else he can try to get the spell off faster but risk the dangers of miscasting. In any event, I rather like the system you present, at once flavorful and simple.
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Post by llenlleawg on Jun 20, 2012 14:36:56 GMT -6
I think the spell list here is great, especially in the removal of spells causing direct harm (except Cloudkill and a few others, but certainly the absence of such spells as Fire Ball or Lightning Bolt). I wonder, though, why the polymorph spells (self and others) are missing. They seem rather right in theme and feel of magic here, and are justifiably non-flashy enough to fit in a semi-historical game. Yeah, I suppose so. I don't remember now why I pruned them from the list. Still, the good thing is - you can put 'em back in if you want to! Too true!
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 20, 2012 14:53:54 GMT -6
Sabres & Witchery is now up for sale in print format at Lulu, along with Blood & Bullets. Just ordered both.
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Post by derv on Jun 20, 2012 17:42:20 GMT -6
Looks like simon is bringing the S&W rules to peoples attention again. Showing how versatile the rule system can be. I'll be ordering a copy from Lulu.
As a side note, Newt (maker of Crypts & Things)gave a nice review of the Woodland Warriors rules on his "Sorcerer Under Mountain" blog, where he also mentioned Blood & Bullets and Sabres & Witchery.
Hats off to ya Simon.
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Post by Mike on Jun 20, 2012 21:40:43 GMT -6
I didn't think Blood and Bullets was quite ready yet. It's missing XP values and some of the encounter table entries are blank.
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Post by simonw on Jun 21, 2012 0:02:22 GMT -6
I didn't think Blood and Bullets was quite ready yet. It's missing XP values and some of the encounter table entries are blank. T'isn't any more! (just haven't uploaded the new pdf to my website yet!). Although I didn't intend for the print books to be on sale yet so I don't know what happened there... ...and LULU's down for maintenance, so I can't go there to find out...
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 21, 2012 7:43:29 GMT -6
Hmm. Both Sabres & Witchery and Blood & Bullets were listed for sale on Lulu yesterday afternoon (would have been closer to midnight your time, Simon). Sabres & Witchery showed up under searches for Fantasy RPG and Horror RPG, and both titles showed up under a search for RPG. Curiously, though, Blood & Bullets didn't show up under a search for Western RPG.
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Post by simonw on Jun 21, 2012 8:02:47 GMT -6
Hmm. Both Sabres & Witchery and Blood & Bullets were listed for sale on Lulu yesterday afternoon (would have been closer to midnight your time, Simon). Sabres & Witchery showed up under searches for Fantasy RPG and Horror RPG, and both titles showed up under a search for RPG. Curiously, though, Blood & Bullets didn't show up under a search for Western RPG. They should be okay anyway. If not, let me know and we'll sort something out.
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Post by simonw on Jun 21, 2012 8:42:56 GMT -6
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Post by Mike on Jun 23, 2012 8:22:36 GMT -6
Thanks Simon, my order's in for both... :-)
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Post by simonw on Jun 23, 2012 10:55:52 GMT -6
Thanks Simon, my order's in for both... :-) Cool. ;D
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Post by keith418 on Jun 24, 2012 21:50:48 GMT -6
I totally enjoyed both this and the Old West one. I really want to use both of them.
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