Fantasy Heartbreak Workshop

At the request of one of my players, a new PC race for Wyrms & Warrens: Centaur Ability Score Modifiers: CON +1, WIS -1 Experience Cost: 2 times the standard XP to advance each level. The typical centaur appears human through the waist and upper body, springing from the shoulders and lower body of a horse, though zebra, goat and cervid morphology is not unheard of. A centaur can move as fast as a horse and carry as much weight, though when undertaking actions with the human portion of their bodies they gain no special strength advantage. They also gain one of the following abilities: Paragon – Like Chiron, these centaurs are among the best of their kind, superior even to most humans in their grasp of the arts and sciences. Centaur Paragons lack the WIS -1 penalty and instead gain an INT +1 or WIS +1 bonus. Charger – Having seen many scuffle, centaurs of this sort have become superior in combat, able to wield a melee attack per round with their front hooves...

Wyrms & Warrens is the primary fantasy heartbreaker I've been working on for awhile now, based largely on the Swords & Wizardry SRD with significant modifications. I've broken it into a Player's Handbook (PHB) and a Warren Keeper's Guide (WKG).  Altough the WKG is still in its infancy, the PHB is more ore less complete and available for download at the links below. This project is a labor of love, available for free to all for use, modification and critique. Player's Handbook v0.451 ( pdf ) ( odt ) - 8/14/16 Player's Handbook v0.41 ( pdf ) ( odt ) Player's Handbook v0.4 ( pdf ) ( odt ) Player's Handbook v0.3 ( pdf ) ( odt ) Player's Handbook v0.2 ( pdf ) ( odt ) Player's Handbook v0.1 ( pdf ) ( odt ) 8/14/16 - Edit:  Table of Contents fixes, typos, formatting, etc. 8/13/16 - Edit:  Major changes to magic systems. Addition of illustrations, etc. 8/10/15 - Edit:  Updated Hurl power to include information about small anim...

Reading the Blood Sorcerers of Paja , in a roundabout way this mention of using human flesh for magic, got my mind meandering back to an old line of text: "Connall took out the brains of the dead king and mixed them with lime to make a sling-stone - such "brain balls," as they were called being accounted the most deadly of missiles.  This ball was laid up in the king's treasure-house..."  - Celtic Myths and Legends , T. W. Rolleston I've been cludging away at some ritual rules for awhile:  something like spells, but taking more time, consuming more components, etc. but with the advantage of being usable by anyone, and not consuming daily spell reserves.  Anyhoo... Rituals consume components, and specific components can be tricky to obtain.  Stealing the shadow, cast by moonlight, from the third-left-leg of a man-sized spider, can be an annoyingly specific proposition.  Do such things even exist?  And who knows how tough it is to find so...

Looking at how various old school derived and inspired games treat classes, I go back and forth about how I should structure these things in CSE.  There seem two be two basic philosophies:  Few (2-5) well defined and relatively unmixable classes, or 1 class that fights and maybe casts spells through items or difficult rituals but typically have no "race" distinctions (elves, dwarves, etc.). The issue that I run into is that neither of these easily allows the kind of customization I'm looking to allow.  Even the Warrior vs. Mage dichotomy I'd proposed earlier seems like it complicates some things (why have a separate class for magic except in the name of "balance"?), and oversimplifies others (so your magical ability, based on class level helps you both to draw forth your natural physical strength, and prepare learn rote procedures better?). So after more hemming and hawing, I'm leaning toward a single-class system (tip o' the hat to Bandits &...

It appears that although Regenerate is a spell in D&D edition 3.5, the corresponding "Wither" spell has been excluded. So although there's a convenient way to attach limbs, there's no specific magical way to remove them. Hence the entry below. Wither Limb Necromancy Level : Clr 7, Drd 7, Sorcerer/Wizard 7 Components : V, S Casting Time : 1 standard action Range : Touch Target : Living creature touched Duration : Instantaneous Saving Throw : Fortitude negates (harmless) Spell Resistance : Yes (harmless) The subject’s bodily extremities (arms, legs, tails, or even extra heads on multi-headed creatures) shrivel and fall off. After the spell is cast, the physical degeneration is complete at the end of 1d4 rounds. Withering also causes 4d8 points of damage +1 point per caster level (maximum +35). It is equally effective on all creatures which have bodily extremities including nonli...

As usual Jeff put up another post that stirred a disused corner of my imagination: Cave man days, through the lens of a D&D fork. This is something I used to give a lot of thought to back in the day.  GURPS Ice Age seemed like such a neat idea, but I didn't love the system and couldn't figure out what to do for adventures (Fighting wolves and tribes all the time?  Hunting a lot?).  Acquisition of non-subsistence stuff isn't typically a big part of the caveman way of life. One possibility would be tribesmen stumbling across Lovecraftian horrors, but I had doubts about losing player interest while trying to build a backdrop of normalcy before contrasting it with the first unnatural discovery. Another thought was contrasting current neolithic era with finds of lost pre-existing civilizations of human or inhuman origin.  It's an idea I like, and I think it could work well used appropriately. The Lithic setting wouldn't really work as a part of the same...

Some of the discussions of "buffing" (i.e. combat preparation effects) for non-magic users in this thread led to the inspiration for this warrior feat: Foreseen Eventuality - Before a combat or, as a free action on a warrior's turn, the character may state a situation they expect to take place during the coming conflict and the action they wish to take if it does occur.  The warrior then spends a point of reserves to keep a piece of their attention focused on this possible outcome.  However, if the stated outcome does take place then the warrior is able to respond in an instant taking a standard action as a free reflex action. The warrior's contingent, free reflex action comes at the same time as, or immediately after, the triggering situation (at the warrior's option), but before any other actions in the round.  If the triggering situation occurs at the same time, then neither the warrior nor the trigger interrupt each other.  Both have their normal chances...

The Dungeon Masters Guide for the 1st Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons contained, among many other things, the now famous " Appendix N ".  This particular section of appendix contained material which had inspired and shaped Gygax imagination and AD&D. In a similar spirit writers since occasionally included an Appendix N or equivalent recommendations in their games.  And I figure I'd like to take a crack at this as well.  So the following is an "Appendix N" tailored to the feel of the Owl Light setting. Books and short stories Arthur C. Clarke - The Lion of Comarre Glen Cook - The Black Company series Lord Dunsany - The King of Elfland's Daughter , also short stories, in particular:  Idle Days on the Yann , How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Arts Upon the Gnoles . Barbara Hambly - The Sundog series M. John Harrison - The Pastel City (and other Viriconium stories) William Hope Hodgeson - The Night Land Robert E. Howard - The Cona...

It will happen sometimes that when a cleric or magic user studies or meditates upon semiotics and the deeper meaning of language, a vision takes shape within their mind of the Alph.  The Alph is a magical artifact in the form of a single glyph or written character containing all associations of meaning and symbolism.  If paper, clay or some other recording media are available when the Alph manifests then the viewer may record the symbol, thereby producing what is colloquially known as a "Little Alph". A little Alph can in theory replicate any spell related to symbols, communication or understanding language.  This includes:  arcane mark , break enchantment (written magic only), commune , command (all), comprehend languages , confusion , contact other plane , demand , discern lies , dispel magic (written magic only), erase , glibness , holy word , illusory script , lullaby , magic mouth , message , mnemonic enhancer , read magic , sending , sepia snake sigil , s...

Since this is a place to collect and annotate the various projects I have in the works, and maybe give them some focus, now seems like a good time to actually outline what the cellars currently include. But first a little background as to where this stuff will be coming from: Old School D&D - I'd always liked the aesthetic of old school D&D related games,  for most of my life generally chalking it up to nostalgia and a love for low-brow fantasy art. Gamma World 4th Edition - (no, not Gamma World D&D 4th Ed., which is actually Gamma World's 7th Edition) is my favorite iteration of the post-apocalyptic genre, though several of the others have their moments (e.g. 7th Edition's two-background system). 3E - I liked a lot of things about how 3E and it's relatives cleaned up and standardized things.  Also my little freeloading communist* heart finds the open game movement a thing of joy. 4E - D&D 4th Edition may have a few interesting elements he...