Four Styles of Hunting

Currently dropped the shadowrun campaign for the summer. I'm thinking again on old ideas as a GM, and into the Trow Fortress thing.

In the middle ages of our games, you can find 4 major types of hunting:

1. Traps

This one is perpetrated by kobold societies, mostly. This skillful little people play the role of peasantry in this universe. Trapping rabbits or even bigger stuff puts meat on their tables when there is game around. The noble Trow can put these too, of course, helped by their kobold courtesans. But they will only use this methods if there is some major necessity to exterminate a pest such as wargs, never for food or pelts. For example, in real life, wolves were lured with bait into merciless hooks tied to trees. 

 

 

2. Bow + Stealth, in any proportions. This is mainly used by elves, which more or less live for and by it. Of the three races, elves are the most prone to use poison. Kobolds can also practice this discipline by taking advantage of their stealth bonus, but with shorter range bows or slings and aiming for smaller game. They make for good poachers, too; though of course, hunting or even being caught with a bow in somebody's woods is a good way to get a ticket for being hung alongside the wolves (as an interesting note, 1/3 of all england was considered at a given time to be Royal Woods). Trow can, of course, hunt with bows and even crossbows; unless they want to hunt in a more "social" way (see below)

3. Trained Animals

Falconry, often combined with horses and or dogs, is a staple for Trow houses that settle the prairies. The type of bird used is a symbol of status: hawks for the lesser nobles, falcons of varying colors for the greater; rocs of different sizes make good gifts for Lords and Kings, even if they are unwieldy to use. The advantage of birds is that they have massive reach and speed, and can fetch prey who is already flying or swimming on the water.

Dogs are also appreciated for all their obvious skills. There is an upcoming post about dog breeds! I should write it at anytime, THIS YEAR. But lets not forget about ferrets and moongoses, used by kobolds mainly, but are also a favorite of Trow kids.

Elves never use animals for hunting. They embody the animal instead.

 4. Hunting Par Force 

 This is a great rite that can take one day or more. Only big game is hunted this way; deer, boars, bears or higher (its a fantasy world, go wild) 

The Lord of a land sends invitations to a group of nobles to participate into it from time to time. This serves many purposes: the first one is, of course, the social function: there was no Whassap groups or MSN in the middle ages, so this served to check on everybodys disposal and their overall strength: How well can X ride at his age? How strong are his sons? I wonder if he will bring that hot concubine from last year. Lets check on Y's loyalty; is he too flattering or on the contrary, is he disrespectful? let's propose Z an alliance to invade X's lands, and maybe arrange some matrimonies. 

Everybody could seize this chance to do the same, should they attend.

The second purpose was to train the green young warriors: for that day they would do for the first time many things that they would later do in war: tracking, chasing, riding in armor into a pack of unknown men. One or two groups of riders had to circle behind the selected prey and push it towards a third group using dogs and, sometimes, bows or javelins; so the third group would meet the animal tired and debilitated, with little HP. Then a man would battle the animal 1v1 in melee using a sword or a spear; and then blowing a horn in respect to the deceased beast (it was, however, considered disrespectful when killing female animals unless they were wolves)

The third function was obviously to display and test one's power. 

 I like to run genre-appropiate social situations and in the last campaign, the PCs killed a king in the middle of one hunt, after scanning the loyalties and gaining the favor of a group of nobles. 

 I want to run more huntings, of all four types when appropiate, as I want to focus from now on on the more boring parts of an adventure. I want to make slice of life interesting, if you want to put it that way. I have learned that is not hard to do with the right group, as the shadowrun campaing has taught me. Still, I want to make a list of things to do to spice up a hunting session. Of course, players that investigate correctly should know about the twist prior to the hunting; much more when I have habilitated scrying spells being somewhat common: it is easy to find somebody in this world to lend you a cryptic oath. (More on this on next entries)

1. The animal being tracked is actually a witch shapeshifting as an animal.

2. The animal is cursed by a demon and is very dangerous to tamper with

3. The animal is actually divine and will put a geas on one or more of its harrasers, probably the killer. 

4. Elves are angry about the whole hunt. They cannot fight the whole squads but will attack small groups or men that separate from the party.

5. Somebody's kobold is trying to sabotage somebody's performance subreptitiously, maybe YOURS. Drugging your horse, blunting your arrows or similar. Make up something based on the NPCs personalities. 

6. Something is dangerous at the forest and nobody told you. Quicksand, a deadful canyon, a river to be forded.

7. More monsters than the tracked one are nearby

8. Something magical is happening in the forest. Maybe there is a sleeping spell around a clearing and it makes your group to fail finding the prey on time.

 9. and more to be added.

 

 

Trow Fortress 05: The Encounter

Both sides roll surprise if they are even able to surprise, needing a 5+ in 1d6. If both succeed, no surprise happens.

Distance is slightly abstracted: If a side has surprise, they are as close as the scenario allows and get a free turn (the other side gets no actions). With no surprise, both sides are generally aware of the other, and are as far as it makes sense in context.

After the surprise turn, or if there is no surprise, the side with the single member that has the most HD has the initiative (on a tie, the contestant that carries a sword acts first, else randomize it). After all its integrants have their chance to act, the other side acts. Certain things allow reactions: for example, if you are walking towards a target, anyone with a readied bow can make an attack against you during the way. This consumes the bowmen's turn.

When it is uncertain, I roll monster reaction (I prefer to call it "disposition") in secret, with low numbers being bad. When it comes to the bestiary, I will write specifically what good and bad means for every monster: for example, Wargs that roll low are food deprived and will attack even when the numbers are disfavorable; while an average roll means they will only attack if they are more powerful; but will stalk the party anyways to see if they can catch a stray member.

Combat goes with people taking chunks of life, step by step and critical through critical.

BUT HOW DO I MAKE ATTAKK

You roll some d6 and must get the target's AC or more:

No armor is AC3
Light armor is AC4
Heavy armor is AC5

Having four HD or more gives you +1 extra AC
Wearing a shield has 2 in 6 chance to negate any attack (non fighters actually have 1d6 chance but they don't use shields normally)

Normally characters roll just 1d6 for melee at level 1, but you get extra melee attacks at 6, 10 and 14 HD. Ranged attacks improve only through specializations.

For each d6 that hits, you deal 1 damage, or more if its a critical hit (a 6) 

Damage scored on critical hits depends on weapon (here is the complete weapon list). The quick version is that small weapons such as daggers deal 2, one handed swords deal 3 and two handed weapons deal 4.

Enter table:

 

This table compares the damage output done by a normal BX fighter in each level, with a dagger, a sword and a "d12 weapon". I know that two handed weapons deal 1d10 but to make up for it, this fighter doesn't have any strength bonus (rare in a fighter) This serves to give me a general idea of how accurate is the damage per turn to the original with the new system. The numbers are percentages of damage done, taking a d4 hit dice and a d4 damage as the base. This means that a 100 would be the damage output of a d4 weapon that somehow ALWAYS hit. Whenever there are two numbers, the second indicates the damage percentage done if the wearer carries a shield (stastically tallying damage by a third unless something weird happens)

By comparing numbers, we can see that damage for each type of weapon is similar at the beggining, but that if I try to mash four attacks into a span of 14 levels, the damage will explode bestially in the end. I don't know if that can be a problem yet, the highest PCs are level 4 by now. Monsters also use the same progression, so in that way, its even.

When PCs get to 0 HD they get a save vs death: on a 4 they are unconscious and need medical help, on a 5 they are wounded with a disadvantage to most actions, and cannot save like this until healed; and on a 6 they are just fine and able to save again indefinitelly.

Named NPCs and leaders do get this save too; random monsters do not. Normally the rule is that if an enemy lives enough time for the players to know their name or backstory, it gets a save vs death. More on saves later.

Being mounted on a horse reduces critical hits from footmen attacks by 1, unless the footmen use polearms.

"Unhittable creatures" such as spectres receive only damage on criticals (1 damage) unless the weapon is blessed or is magically suited for the monster in question.

Resting rules are constantly changing and haven't settled yet. 2d6 take worst, and recover that many HD is the current way. This way I can introduce degrees of "resting", such as roll 1d6 instead if they are in a confortable inn or something.

SAVING THROWS

Traps, dragon breath and spells need a 6. Kobolds get an extra die for this category.
Paralyzation, poison and death ray need a 5+
Death at zero HP needs a 4, 5 or 6 for unconscious, wounded and unscathed respectivelly.

Level 1 characters have 1 saving die; and get more through leveling.

This is a comparison chart between B/X saves and my own, using the fighting man and halflings/kobolds.

Notes: NPCs are significantly weaker. I love that. There is a reason that NPCs fear death rays and sleep spells. Saves are plot armor after all, and NPCs are outside the plot. That is for main characters (the PCs). Save numbers are really smooth and alike the original, but they are a little harder now for level 1 characters. That is OK for me. I treat most traps as a save, too. The numbers from B/X (trigger traps 1 third of the time) remain unchanged in this way.

 

MORALE

Morale is used by the book sometimes, but the most times I just make a new reaction roll after significant damage or intimidation, and interpret it.

 

Trow Fortress 04: The Adventure

Beginning the adventure

Right now, all the characters just pick any equipment they want as long as they don't start encumbered AND its common use items (any weapons, any food, armor, utensils, etc. No smoke bombs or potions obv). I don't want to make a new character go through a shopping session in their first day. Not only that: they all start without money, they are assumed to have spent every single coin in their current gear. 
However, I'm on the process to make a random equipment table (will edit when I do). The reasons?  

- Its even faster than choosing equipment. 

- I don't want the players to take decisions before the game starts. Much more if its their first session and they dont know the world yet.

- You can still pick an specific item via your profession's item (see previous entry on that)

- I want sub-par results. I want warriors without armor or weapons; I want kobolds without food. This gives level 1 characters an immediate pursuit (find their missing item) before the dungeon is even presented. Finding appropiate gear is emergent gameplay that is very suited to level 1 peoples.

If the players are seasoned, its OK to start in a base town; if they are noobs, I'd rather spare that and put them on the entrance of a dungeon, and conveniently remember them that there is a nearby base town only once they have crossed the entrance: then spend the first session showing them the basics of exploration, combat, game workings, etc.

Whenever they march through a door or corridor, ask who goes first. Then ask who carries the torch or torches, as many times you feel like. This simple questions set the mood very quickly

There will come a time in season 3 or 4 where they have some money and make big spend (supplies, retainers, etc) but they will make it with better wisdom once they know the water they thread. 

MOVEMENT (in dungeon/combat):

 When speed is a factor, characters roll their Movement die; which is:

1d6 for normal characters
1d6 take worst for encumbered characters, or monsters with speed of 30' per round or lower
1d6 take best for characters that are somehow faster, or monsters significativelly faster than 40' per round.

On a pursuit, both sides involved make a contested roll (separatelly or as a team, depending on whatever I feel). On a tie, the relative distance is kept. After one round of fruitless pursuit, a flying prey is in the air, a fast animal such as a horse has galloped away, and a fleeing man can reach an alleyway or climb a nearby horse.

If you want to do a physical thing that might take one turn or many (such as climbing a tree), roll movement: on a 5+ you achieve it in this very turn. 

 

MOVEMENT (overland)

Normally, 1 hex is 1 day of travel. I imagine hexes being around 12 mile long, but is a guidance. The distance is actually solipsistic. Some hexes like crossing a swamp or a mountain might take 2 days to cross, but haven't done that yet. The fact that is easier to get lost on them might actually emulate that without need of doubling the time.

There is an 1d6 roll every travel day:

On a 6, if there is some obscure thing at the hex, they casually find it.

On a 1, there is a random encounter.

On a 2, there is a random encounter if there is a nearby (adjacent hex) dungeon, city or lair; and the encounter is representative of it.

On a 3, I make a secret roll for weather change, applicable on the next travel turn.

Scouting an hex to find something on it takes a roll, normally:

3+ on grasslands
4+ on a forest
5+ on a mountain

Getting a roll of 1 or scouting twice automatically ends the day.

When you are travelling without a path or river to follow, you must make an scouting roll or you get lost: This means you end up in a different hex than the one intended, even maybe gettng stuck in the current one for this turn (roll 1d6 to find out). I always tell the players where they are now in the map after that.

During the night, there is a second encounter roll. Not all encounters, of course, are automatically violent. After PCs have rested for the night, they recover all mana die, and 1d6 HD

Light: I suck at tracking torches. Or turns, for that matter. I just never do it. About infravision, none of the PC races have it for now.

Doors: On a case of stuck doors, roll (1+your STR mod) d6; each 6 opens the door this turn.

Secret Doors, or anything strange is automatically found if the right things are examined, same for traps and listening at doors. I intend to avoid search rolls inside dungeons, want to keep it an overland thing where scenario is more ample and abstract to be thoroughly described. I challenge myself to describe dungeon rooms enough so they can be searched analogically.

Traps: There is an specific saving throw VS traps, spells and breath weapons. Traps can have many effects, as usual.

Retainers: NPCs can join the party, but that interactions are roleplayed. Normally, hirelings require money or a promise of money. NPCs that participate in the adventure activelly receive a share of XP. Proper retainers, as in faithful servants, are dependant on charisma: for each +1 you have a slot that can be used for a blessing or retainer. A "retainer" can be anything that you can befriend during the game (below, you can see my current party with a white ape following its owner, a kobold called Pomelo). Dogs and other domestic animals will follow their masters regardless of charisma, but animal retainers will always understand simple orders, as if you could talk with them.

A retainer that is asked to do something dangerous will check morale, modified by their leader's charisma.

Retainers can be static NPCs that don't travel with the party, such as a princess or a hermit. This kind of alliance doesn't provide direct help and may not be very significative, but depending on the nature of the bond, it can give you a magical blessing (will write some at some point and edit here, a bonus to saving throws is always a good choice), plus knowing that said NPC will never betray you offscreen.

reflections from an ongoing 4 month campaign

I have been running a weekly campaign during this last four months. It had been intended for three friends and me, but it has gone out of hand and now I have an "open table" with 9 different players, with sessions oscilating between 3 and 7 persons every fucking wednesday evening, sometimes also sunday morning. At first I wanted to do two groups, but it proved to be very difficult to divide the people, so in the end I went with it... and was greatly surprised on how good the games are going with so many people. I am using the "Trow Fortress" ruleset that im currently copying in here, and I'm going to post some reflections in no particular order:

1. There was a dungeon in front of them right from the start: an abandoned castle's basement custodied by a Roc and a gang of halflings. Some of this halflings became PCs during the first sessions as people joined.  After reaching dungeon level: 2 and getting an unexpected treasure in an empty room, they took all their money and went exploring the map, after losing their tank along the way to some ghouls. 

2. They joined two random NPCs into a quest for a mythical city very, very far from their placement. I rolled with it. The two NPCs (Carls and Berg) died fighting with a gang of orcs at some forest. 

3. The party heard rumours of orc raids on the north, with lords rewarding all brave warriors coming to defend their castles. The wizard wanted to search for that mythical city, the (new) tank wanted to fight the orcs. In the end, voting went to the quest for the city.

4. A wizard had also a cat as an item. I was trying to come up with some interesting rules for familiars, but I didn't had time for it: He went on a solo mission on his own will, wanted to get into an old man's house to loot it. I rolled on some random tables I made up in the spot. He waited until the housekeeper lady went home, and then he came through the window as a bird, and in the first room he found a big chest with a good chainmail: he didn't pick it. He went down the stairs and saw the owner sitting by the fire; put a dagger on his neck and asked the man to take him towards his most valuable treasure (literally). The man, with no sign of fear, said he would. Defiantly, he took the wizard towards a second chest, and opened it, taking his old sword. The man was actually an old soldier, who had been left at the city for being too old to fight against the orcs. He attacked the wizard, who was lucky to be left at 1 hp and having time to run away... but, the old man pursued him and the pursue rolls (yes, i have those) accompanied for one turn, so the wizard decided to transform into a bird, which caused the cat to "fall" from his inventory. The soldier kept the cat from now on, saying that "he would treat it better than that thief". This made the wizard vow to recover that cat, vow that he could not complete (see next point)

5. The wizard's BIRD spell is really useful both in map mode as in adventure mode. It can surveil for enemy armies, reach blocked havens, serves as a stealth mode, enables impossible escapes. Is WAY more useful than a fireball or even invisibility, but still I didn't feel it broke the game at any part. That wizard died, at the doors of the city he wanted to reach. He was constantly bullied by the other players (in a joke manner) to be a coward and always fleeing from combat (as a weak magician should). He snapped and charged against a Black Widow; that was his last action. Three PCs have died so far: wizard, wizard, fighting man. No kobold deaths for now, which is strange as they are by far the most common class.  The other wizard was devoured by wargs during a night crossing a canyon. Right now, there are only two level 1 PCs, the rest oscillate between level 2 and 4.

6. The search for the city was actually quite difficult and they ended up going against the orcs on a session in which the wizard player wasn't there to impede it. They spent three sessions in mass battles, one of them very poorly run by my part. They had to flee an open field battle, but achieved to repel the orcs during a siege. Azalea, the castle's queen, became a relevant NPC after that. Her husband had died in the first orc raids in another city who was set as a distraction, ignorant that his own castle was going to be attacked too. I think that all the players had the feeling that the Fighter and the Queen were going to have some story but in the end they just took a lot of money. In the last session, she has married by force to a new king, as a way to not to let her people to be defenseless after her whole army was wiped.

7. The abandoned city is actually sunken at a great river (think the nile) and they have found some towers that spring from it. There are a lot of nixies living on the sunken rooms; tried to enslave Otakemaru (the tank, which is the implied leader of the party) but the guy passed the save vs spells. They have sacked like 66% of the rooms, but the greatest treasure (wand of fireball, some rubies, a common shield engraved with fire motifs and a rusty chandelier) is in the sunken home of a nixie, who collects fire-related items. They still do not know this. They are now searching for a kobold outlaw who is accused of assasinating a prince, for a reward of 4000 silver coins. I am really enthralled on the fact that they engage with the map to the point of leaving dungeons half explored, im getting a lot of fun with it. As a zen moment, I like to paint the hexes that they have walked through in watercolors every week.

8. After reading this last week, I proposed to halve XP requirements from now on, but double GP costs for everything. They voted yes. Lets see how this works.

9. They stole a battle against two wooden golems at a tower by having all kobolds shoot arrows vs them. It seems terribly wrong that those guys have no immunity to arrows and cuts RAW. The whole thing seemed so unreal but I let them have it. Hahahah.

10. Three of the characters are alchemists. Their "extra" item has been always antidotes (for yellow mold or giant spiders). This has saved a lot of lives, but for now I keep every antidote being useful against one single type of venom.

11. I suck at creating interesting towns. They spent three in-game months in one for the sake of time passing, and I couldn't describe anything interesting going on in that time. There is nothing wrong with it and the game went on OK, but I think I've missed an opportunity. Two of the players (male fighter and female kobold) wanted to find GFs and i had them roll 2d6 to see how hot they were.

12. Having a lot of players is very fun if combined with a whassap group or something similar. I like how the ones that played that day tell the tales to the guys that could not come. They don't realize, but they help me in my task a lot by describing the world to the others through their eyes. They generate a visual picture, but also feedback and hype amongst the others. I think that I now get a hint of what the "west marches" play is, and is gorgeous.

13. There is a "great problem" in the fact that some players travel great lands, and the rest of the party wants to be there in the next session too. I've used ravens for communication (certain ravens are trained to send messages to certain cities, and they are an expensive but reliable system) and sometimes I've made the second set of player characters make their travel rolls hex by hex, checking for encounters and such. But sometimes I've just ruled they were there and go from it. I also find weird to run the sub-systems of upkeep costs or mantaining a campament if the players are not present in the session, so I just make them to be good when their players are not there. This is not realistic at all but is what Im doing right now until I make up something else.

14. I have little spells written but I'm very proud on how they are working so far. DISGUISE transformed the cat into a tiger, and a lizard into a dragon (which was the key to stop an orc siege), and DIVINATION has come into use into the most recent sessions and i think it works great in giving limited information about ANYTHING the players want to know. (Is X treasure here? Is Y character dead? How many orcs are coming?). I feel I could go on forever telling small snippets of the game, so if you like it, just say so in the comments and I will continue doing this kind of entries from time to time. Thanks a lot for your time, reader friend!

Trow Fortress 03: Spells & Magic

Based greatly on GLOG magic. No need to go read it however, my rules are self explanatory.

You have a number of spell slots based on your Magic score and your Class. 

1 spell slot per magic bonus (up to 3)
1 spell slot if you are a Magic User
1 spell slot if you are a Magic User of 12th level.

You automatically learn a spell for each spell slot if you haven't any.

Magic users can additionally write spellbooks: they can store as many as their level on them; and every time they rest, they can change the spells on their slots. Until the point in which they know more spells than their slots, they don't have to worry about that.

Anybody who knows at least one spell, has one Mana Dice (MD). Non-MUs will probably never have more than one if any.

MUs at third level get the right to bear staff (this is taken from A Wizard of Earthsea and I liked the implications it had on the books, making the staff act as a badge of office for the casters). So, whenever they are holding their staves, MUs have an extra MD (in the original PDF, Goblin Punch makes this bonus come from the wizardly robes, but I preferred to put the focus on the staff instead)

Independently from this staff bonus, they get an extra MD at levels 6 and 9. Some magical items may increase this number under some conditions.

S P E L L B O O K :

notes: 

references to turns are equally valid in combat, in dungeon or in overland travel. This means that spells will sometimes last during 4 hours and sometimes during 10 seconds with the same mana. This is intentional and I think it can work, I think it can represent how the caster behaves differently under stress than having time to make proper preparations, meditations and rituals.

I also dont use HP, with Hit Dice being the unit, and everybody getting a death save at 0 HD. Generally, MUs get two per level, while fighters get one. This has made me write carefully all the spells that do or heal damage.

BIRD: You become a bird of your choice (but always the same). You suffer double damage in this shape. This transformation lasts for [sum] turns. Every turn beyond that you must save vs paralyzation or become trapped in this shape.
Inventory slots decrease by 4, but the rest is transformed with you. The rest is lost. Use this table as a guide:

Robin: AC as plate, 24 miles per day
Crow: AC as scale armor, 100 miles per day
Owl: AC as scale armor, 50 miles per day. Good nightvision, bad dayvision.
Hawk: AC as scale armor, 200 miles per day. Consumes 2x turns.

HEAL:  With one dice, heal that 1d6 HD to one target, or 1 HD to 1d6 targets. With more dice, divide the results between HD and targets. Every target that is at 0 HD can make a new save, but no more than once (no matter how many casters try after this). This healing is often not true healing, but more a mix of luck, exhorting and praying so the wounds are not as bad as they look.

SHIELD: Duration: [sum] turns. Caster and whoever is near him gets AC = chain, + a chance to block all projectiles during this turn with a 5+ in 1d6. You can spend a MD to re-roll this dice once per turn.

LIGHT:  Duration: [sum+level] turns. The staff of the caster emits light enough to read. Investing 2 dice or more raises this intensity up to a car's lights, but consumes 3x turns. Without a staff, this spell doesnt light much beyond the caster's silhouette dimly. 

DISGUISE: Put an illusion over something to make it look like another thing. Both the real and the illusory objects or beings must have a trait in common: a characteristic color, a shape, a similar sound, etc. This lasts for [sum] rounds, though a result of 12 or more will make it "permanent". Still, all illusions will degrade over time by acting or being used in a way that doesn't suit the disguise.

FIRE:    For every mana die, 4+ is a success. 1-3 is the turns that this die will take to become a success. It takes 1 success to ligth something easily flammable, such as oil, a pinecorn or a torch
2 successes to put a firewall on a narrow corridor, or put flames on a normal sword
3 on a bigger area. When there is no actual combustible, the fire will burn for concentration + level turns.

Wizards that have attained their wands can shoot fire. Roll as many MD you like: the highest is the damage you deal (save vs half), the rest are the number of targets affected.

DIVINATION: This spell requires an oracle that you must carry with you (1 slot) and some time of rest. Every question you ask requires to invest one MD. The answers are always going to be single or composed NOUNS, never verbs or adjectives, nor yes or no; and the GM should be as specific as he can without breaking this restriction.
Every answer you reveive using this spell is then recorded on a vocabulary list that you forge little by little and that can contain a maximum of 6 words. Once you got all six, every question you make must be answered with one of that words or not being answered at all (whatever the GM thinks is more appropiate)
You could say its a spell that becomes less powerful as the mage does the opposite, and that is interesting. This is the reason for which some MUs need to find other MUs to contrast their readings, even if its less leveled up partners.

WINTER BLAST:   Invest one MD per turn to project a cone of cold wind towards an area, or down a slope. Everyone caught in there must save vs paralyzation every turn or be uncapable to move significantly this turn. A second failed save will also deal 2 damage by frostbite. A third failed save will freeze the affected character.
Every MD you lose casting this spell deals 2 frostbite damage to you. 

Cryomancers normally use Ice Wands which make MD exhaust only on 5+ or even 6+
Wearing heavy pelts adds 1 die to saves against this spell.

FOLD  Creates a pocket dimension in any small caché (inside a hat, behind a chair, etc) able to fit [sum] objects. On a 7+, the caster can fit on it. On a 11, it can fit a small group of people. Only one fold can be created at a time. The inside of it will have the appearance of a room, with traces of the place it is located. A fold created on a library will have bookshelves; one created on a stone corridor will have stone, and such. This is probably the way that some backrooms were created in our real world.

PROTECTION FROM EVIL:  Duration: [sum] turns. Is actually some version of turn undead. Undead, demons, evil and enchanted beings must save vs paralyze every turn to approach you, and even if they pass, you have +1 AC and +1 save against their special attacks. Monsters save alltogether, using the save of the highest one present. 

Once this spell is ongoing, you can roll one MD per turn to exorcize undead: deal [sum] damage to all or a single target, but if they survive they will attack that turn without the need to save. Intelligent monsters may check morale after this.

ASTRAL PROJECTION:: You must invest a full rest on this. If somebody interrupts you, the spell will fail. In the astral plane, physical distances are meaningless but everything looks like a semi-abstract painting (rothko + picasso + van gogh), so its a little tricky to decipher and navigate. Things as specific as something written on a note might be impossible to read, showing instead a symbolic image of the intention of the writer. For each MD you invest you can attempt one of these things:

*Search your way to some place, no matter the distance (1d6 to find: 4 to somewhere known, 5 unknown and 6 if partially hidden). Mind that some places have random encounters even in astral form.

*Find a detail in that place (as above). On a fail, something else might call your attention.

*Send a message to somebody, who will have an impression of you (the reaction and importance given to the message depends on the person)

*Cast a spell telematically.

Your armor and weapons get transported with you into the astral, but the kind of encounters there is mostly magical so that won't make much difference.

 FAMILIAR:  A nearby animal will come during downtime or if you are activelly searching for one. You can communicate quite well somehow, but lacks knowledge of human subtleties. This bond takes up one spell space.

 

Trow Fortress 02: Equipment

 

Following with my rules, covering the subjects in the order that the BX book does. This time its turn for the equipment. I will get deep into encumbrance later, but the short explanation is that 1 point of STR = 1 slot.

Right now, I make players get whatever they want from the equipment list as long as they can carry it. This is because I normally want to skip the "roll for gold, buy equipment" parts, but in the future, I want to do it in a third way: randomize starting gear, as Into The Odd does, so level 1 can be spent searching for the weapon, gear or armor you wish you could get.

WEAPONS:

Club: weight 2, sp 5, critical 2.
Dagger: weight 1, sp 15, critical 2. Can be thrown; +1 attack die when grappling.
Short Sword: weight 2, sp 35, critical 2. Allows specialization.
Long Sword: weight 2, sp 50, critical 3. Allows specialization, If used in one hand, can re-roll one attack per combat.
Hand Axe: weight 2, sp 35, critical 3. Shield rolls require a 6
Mace: weight 2, sp 40, critical 3. Treats plate mail as if it was leather armor.
Spear: weight 3, sp 15, critical 3. +1 attack die when charging on a horse or when braced against one. When used in both hands, or in a formation, attacks always before the attacker. If you're hit with a shorter weapon, you cannot attack with a spear the next turn.
Greatsword: weight 3, sp 75. Critical 4. Allows specialization.
Polearms: weight 3, sp 65. Critical 4, ignores critical reduction of enemies on horse.

Bow: weight 2, sp 30, critical 3
Crossbow: weight 2, sp 60, critical 4 but takes 1 turn to reload.
Arrows/bolts: weight 1, sp 5, infinite unless something happens.
Sling: weight 1, sp 5, critical 3. Rolls with disadvantage.
Bolas: weight 3. sp 5 (rudimentary) or weight 2, sp 30 (properly done). Critical 2 if used on melee, roll with disadvantage. On a hit, the target is ensnared and must save vs paralyzation to escape. Ignores worn armor.

SPECIALIZATIONS (sort of Weapon Feats) are earned through Dexterity bonuses, for every +1 you can choose one:

Fencing (one handed swords): When you deal a hit with a sword, you can make a second attack. 

Sharpshooter: Choose crossbow or bow. On a hit, your attack deals +d6 damage, which is a lot.

Gaucho: Remove the disadvantage from slings and bolas. This one is odd but I made it ad-hoc for a player.

Greatsword fighter: re-roll an attack once per battle.

ARMOR

Shield: weight 2, 30 sp. Deflects any hit on a d6 roll of 5+
Leather armor: weight 2, sp 50, AC+1
Chain mail: weight 4, sp 100, AC+1, but +2 against slashing attacks
Plate armor: weight 6, sp 300, AC+2, AC+1 against maces (if in doubt, its not a mace)
Full plate: weight 8, sp 600, AC as above but you have +1 in your shield roll (or 1/6 chance if you haven't got a shield). Full plate greatly impairs vision and hearing, and is not advised on adventures, only jousting and mass battles.

EQUIPMENT

Most is as BX, so will only cover specific cases.

Flask of Flaming Oil: weight 1 each three. 10 sp. Ignited monsters roll 1d6 every turn: 6-5: two damage. 4-2: one damage. 1: fire is extinguished. 2d6 take best if the amount of oil is greater; 2d6 take worst if the monster tries to put out  the fire.

Holy Water: weight 1 (three uses). 25 sp or free. If put on arrows or weapons, all undead attacked take one extra damage on a succesful attack. Intelligent undead who touch holy water must check morale or flee for the moment.

Torches: weight 1 each six. 1 sp.

Water pelt: 5sp (I mean the bag, not the water)

Rations: 10 sp, seven days of food.

Room at the inn: 5sp per person, includes meal.

Battle horn: 200 sp (moderately ornate). Makes a distinct, recognizable sound that can be heard in all the hex in ideal circumstances. Something fancy for players to spend money into when they are with the compulsive buying madness.

Horses: Galloping through a road or good terrain will allow you to move 1 extra hex everyday (but will exhaust the horse). For comparative checks, a horse's movement when running is equal to d6+5
Peoples fighting atop of a horse benefit from having all critical damage taken from enemies smaller than a horse in melee reduced by 1. Horses have morale equal to 3d6 take middle result, and it is hinted by its behavior when you are buying it. However, horses do not check morale unless facing dire situations such as charging , finding a snake (snakes are like the nemesis of horses) or a predator ambush.

Normal horse: 200 sp,
Fast horse: 300 sp (a normal horse, but the seller claims is specially fast). Roll movement with advantage.
War horse: 1000 sp, morale 5 or 6 only. War horses can wear armor (500 sp) which provides a situational +1HP to the rider

 

Holy Symbol: Required for the Protection From Evil spell, may force morale checks on vampires or similar.

Ravens (30 sp): will deliver a letter to the rookery of a specific city, normally the one they were bought in. Sold in a small cage, might learn random words.

Falcons (40 sp): Common falcons are used to help in the hunt (+1 advantage die).

Dogs (still working on this one, I want ideally to cover hounds, shepards and wardogs separatelly but I got some crazy ideas im unsure of: basically:making hounds be all blink dogs, war dogs be a breed of half-wargs and shepards having some other boon. I want to integrate the monster manual into the domestication history)

Animals can be trained to learn a specific trick by animal trainers (pcs can become animal trainers through background) spending enough downtime. A trick can be something such as putting a falcon to intercept enemy ravens or teaching a raven a new destination. 

LANGUAGES:

I ignore languages completelly. Everybody either talks the common language, is too monstruous to discuss with, or something in between. As a note, I find very interesting and players are very engaged when they must make up what the monster wants or thinks by studying its non.verbal signs, it's reactions or even its behavior in solitude.

Trow Fortress 01: Character Creation and Advancement

When you play at my table, you start like this:

1. CHARACTER CREATION

1.1 Attribute Scores

Roll 3d6 in order for Strength, Dexterity, Background, Magic and Alignment. You can swap two of them if you want. Attribute scores will probably raise a little during the game. The bonuses work like this:

18: +3
16 or more: +2
13 or more: +1
9 or more: +0
8 or less: -1

Strength adds (or substracts) one HD for each bonus (which in turn, at certain numbers, modify the attack bonuses. More on this on the COMBAT chapter). It also modifies your "Open stuck doors" roll, which is a catch-all for brute force tasks, by 1 step per bonus.
Strength is very important for non-fighters too, as it is the measure of your charging capacity: you can carry slots equal to this score without being encumbered (MV or Movement 1 instead of 3) and only 3 more objects after that.

Dexterity adds one expertise per bonus. Some are combat related, some are more about agility: The  current list is (bear this lack of context for now):
Fencing: When you are attacked in melee and your opponent rolls a 1, you get an extra attack against him when using a one-handed sword. Doesn't work while using a shield.
Marksmanship: You can spend a turn aiming with a type of ranged weapon. On the next attack, you can either do an extra 1d6 damage if it hits, or raise advantage on an attack that missed (basically adding a d6 or substracting the disadvantage if you had any).
Ninjutsu: You roll an extra d6 for all movement and stealth rolls.
I hope to come up with better names at some point. If your bonus is negative, your movement becomes 2 instead of 3 by default

Background: There is a list of backgrounds but you can make up your own with your GMs approval. This score evolved from the concept of Intelligence, though it specifically represents how well you perform your background skills: Ranger, Alchemist, Thief, Sage, etc. are some examples. You roll die equal to your bonus, and normally a 5 or a 6 are hits depending on the action.
If your bonus is 0, you roll with disadvantage (roll 2d6, keep worst), and if your bonus is -1, you get double disadvantage (3d6 keep worst).
If an action can be attempted by characters without the relevant background, they roll at double disadvantage too.
Your background doesn't have to be chosen at the start, it can be chosen during the game and its probably useful to do so.
Once per character, you can produce an item at any point that is related to your background, no matter the shitty bonus you got on it.

Magic: Each bonus you get here means that you have a new spell slot. This is the only way magic is available to non-wizards. More on this on the upcoming magic chapter.

Charisma: you can have ONE faithful retainer per each bonus, so zero for average people. Retainers can be people and animals at first. They don't have to travel with you, but they might be a king or a princess at a given city: you know they will always vouch for you. Spirits or "Gods" can be befriended this way: some can be summoned if the character has Magic Dice, and some can provide passive benefits. Charisma also affects loyalty

Constitution: We don't have this one. On a natural way, my players have end up calling "constitution" to their HD amount, so I ended up doing the same (I know that HD/HP are not just meat points and represent more things beyond mere sturdiness of body, but I don't want to argue with them)

1.2 CHOOSE CLASS

Once you have your stats rolled, you must choose your class from the only three that are available at the start (I haven't ever needed more yet): Trow Warrior, Wizard and Kobold. (Kobolds are just hobbits by other name, while Trow are basically humans)

 

TROW KNIGHT: Start at 3 HD. Can use all weapons and armor.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  3HD

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural HD: 16, with probable Str increments)

 

 

WIZARD: The spell system is based on the GLOG, though I had to tone it down its power a bit. I think its partly my fault as my spells tend to be more powerful or versatile. The 5 mana dice that Goblin Punch awards by level 4, I make it into four at level 9! Their maximum number of spells memorized is five (one at start, other at level 12 and three at differing grades of MAGIC score) which I love because it suits the lore of the Dying Earth books, in which the top mages could at most learn five spells at the same time. Wizards really benefit from a good magic score, so consider swapping your best score into it if you want to play one. Crippling any other score in the process is thematically appropiate.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD and one spell slot.

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, Can wear a staff (+1 Mana die)

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, (+1 Mana die)

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 HD

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, (+1 Mana die)

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, (+1 spell slot)

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 HD

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd: 11)

Wizards can prepare 1 spell per slot, but can have as many in their spellbook as their level. Until you have more spellbook than slots, you don't need to worry about even having a spellbook.

KOBOLD: +1 AC versus enemies larger than a Trow, and +1 save die versus breath, spells and traps. Their strength is, however, capped at 12.

Level 01: save dice: 1,  2HD, Stealth (on a 5+, Hide in Shadows or Move silently)

Level 02: save dice: 1, +1 HD

Level 03: save dice: 1, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,

Level 04: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 05: save dice: 2, +1 HD

Level 06: save dice: 2, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice

Level 07: save dice: 3, +1 Background

Level 08: save dice: 3, +1 HD 

Level 09: save dice: 3, +1 HD, +1 Stealth dice,

Level 10: save dice: 4, +1 Background

Level 11: save dice: 4, +1 HD

Level 12: save dice: 4, +1 HD +1 Stealth dice,

Level 13: save dice: 5, +1 Background

Level 14: save dice: 5, +1 HD (maximum natural hd:12, str increments impossible)

1.3 RANDOM PROGRESSION:

Everybody uses the same progression charts, but advancement is deliberately a bit chaotic so all PCs advance at different times: The requirements are deliberatelly small, but there is a trick: when you have the required XP, spend that amount (substract it from your sheet) and roll d6: On a 4 or more you level up. On a 6 you also raise any attribute by 1.

level 1: 0
level 2: 450
level 3: 900
level 4: 1800
level 5: 3600
level 6: 7000
level 7: 15000
level 8: 30000
level 9: 60000
level 10: 90000
level 11: 120000
level 12: 150000
level 13: 180000
level 14: 210000

The explanation for this rule is given here.

Trow Fortress 00: Prelude; or "Why halflings are kobolds?"

This started as a way to remove damage rolls on BX but still having variable damage, using d6 only. Now, two years later, has shaped my current houserules into something I am very confortable running, and I don't plan on going back. At this point, I don't think I can call it "modified BX" anymore, even though I still keep the book by my side on every session; but mainly I take everything from a small, yellow notebook where I keep my notes.

At this point, the notebook is too big (and also written in spanish hahaha) to be transported to an entry in a single sitting, so I made up my mind to start doing it bit by bit; maybe mimicking BX index to follow some order. It may help to have it written someplace in a "clean" form, in case anybody wants to follow the "camino de la verdadera salud" of the all d6. I will shortly proceed to delete some old posts with obsolete versions of this rules, so there are no confusions for readers. Let this be the preparation of -who knows- a future serious publication. At the very least, this is required reading for anyone in order to understand my houserules from now on.

As my equivalent of an introduction, excuse me if I skip the classic "what is an rpg" section, or forfeit explaining dice nomenclature. I'd rather explain two key parts of the setting. And here it goes:

 

WHAT IS A TROW?

Trow are in all practical and biological ways humans by other name. Humans just do not exist in Trow Fortress. You have Trow; and this might seem non-sensical to you but I can only tell you about my setting as I "perceive" it.

Trow are a warrior race. They organize themselves on feudalistic hierarchies where every city is run by a Lord, which may or may not be supedited to a higher ranked one such as a japanese Shogun; or in opposition to it or other Lords. (Following the feudal japan analogy, the existance of some divine emperor/empress is still something I am figuring out)

Aesthetically, they dress and behave like a mix of Joseon dynasty Korea, the mongol steppe nomads and the cuman warriors. Expect lots of hawks, composite bows, scimitars and lance charges. Even secular trow such as sages or stonemasons have probably been warriors once.

On the other hand, and with the proverbial exceptions, trow women become either housewives and/or take non-warrior professions: healers, artists, artisans, animal trainers... It is common for parents to arrange marriages to secure a good future for their daughters (or, sometimes, use them as a currency for some benefit). The opposite distribution is true for trow magic users, if we take into account that temples and shrines are almost always mantained by priestesses, and that their society will inevitably push young males towards the martial branch.

Trow live in the titular fortresses. Every city is walled, preferably in stone; and holds a castle inside. When possible, the cities are built against a mountain, which allows part of the city to be excavated. Though they are not "paladins" of any sort, they do have unwritten codes of chivalry that speak of their honor, honesty, valor and loyalty (mantaining them is up to each one, or to their "alignment", we could say)

In every feudal arrangement, the most numerous group at the bottom of the caste pyramid is the serfs. Trow do not plow the lands. They use Kobolds for that. The symbiotic relationship of Trow and Kobolds, where the first give protection to the second in exchange of tithes is a constant in the world

 

 

artist unknown

WHAT IS A KOBOLD?

Kobolds are your classical hobbit by other name. I started calling them like that at a given point because it seemed appropiate: thats how germanic peoples called the domestic helpers who lived amongst them; those that could perform trickery, but also house labor and many tasks if treated properly. Well, that's a little bit like how the trow see their kobolds.

This little folk are about 3 feet long (91 cm for euro peoples) who do not actually need trow to survive: They are a rough race which has conquered many wildlands, and you will sometimes find kobolds where no trow has dared to go. I picture them a little bit like the settlers who went to conquer the american west with an axe in one hand and a mule on the other. But you will indefectibly find one of their settlements around any Trow Fortress. 

It is not that they are crazy for breaking their backs, but normally they enjoy the working life; and, when they feel they are being justly compensated, they put love into it. Kobolds know how to grow orchards and how to preserve their fruits; how to grow crops, and how to turn them into bread and brewages. They are good at hunting (preferring the bow) and fishing, and love to build small canoes to do so in big rivers and lakes, installing steady campaments along a river course. Others travel great lands practicing transhumance of buffalos and big goats that are normally mounted by their shepherd. 

Their clothes are usually plain and humble, classically wearing combination of cloaks, viking ponchos and chullo hats. They do not build in stone, but on wood. The central point of their cities is often a wind or a watermill instead of a temple, around which they gather for their seasonal celebrations (that are completelly independent of the trow calendar). Normally a kobold family shares an occupation together. And sometimes, kobolds are sought by trow as personal assistants such as valets, porters or squires. When they do adventure alongside a trow, chances are that is his faithful retainer, though it doesn't have to be the case. Sometimes kobolds form adventuring gangs on their own accord, and is not rare that, given their natural skills to hide in shadows and move silently, some of them turn to crime and theft. 

Note he genesis of Trow and Halflings as a team dates back to this 2012 entry on class-as-race, which now is "semi-canon" lol.

ig: varguy

CLASS AS RACE IV: Barbarians, Bards, Alchemists

 This is part of a series about each class belonging exclusivelly to a race or tribe, look them up!

8. BARBARIANS

Rpg orcs have always moved beween a line of "irredemably evil, possibly souless, self spawning cannon fodder" to "just a musunderstood tribe of noble savage". When I went deep analyzing what was the archetypal energy of the orc, I found it was a lot about painting the view that a tribe has of "the others": the tribe A thinks that tribe B has awful, disgusting or heretic customs, and tribe B thinks the same about tribe A; so both are human tribes thinking that their neighbours are the orcs.

Their other defining core trait that both approaches seem to share is rage. Orcs tend to appear as crazy bersekers if, at least, in their tougher members. So, we can say that common orcs are level 0 to 1 barbarians, with Uruk hai / Bugbears being the Level 4+ ones.

This is an orc. They can be green if you want, 

but they dont need to in order to be "different". 

It's your choice.

The divergences between Trow Fighters and Orc Barbarians imply a radically different approach to life. While Trow build fortresses and have, in general, a thematic of "civilizing" the world around them, Orcs are more similar to earth's raiding tribes (vikings, polynesian raiders, mongols). As this defines them as a race, it makes it clear that they live in a permanent, never ending raid.

Orc tribes have their settlements on a big chain of barren islands at the north; which are relativelly protected from monsters thanks to their geographical situation (maybe there are bigger monsters at the sea that prevent the continent's monsters to reach there). They could probably survive there, but they have an inner rage that drives them inexorably to lust for battle. This is so that the (more sensible) orc women send them out the islands once they reach fighting age; or else they would start wars amongst them. There is a great spring party at that times, where the women that want to have kids search for the best warriors just before their departure. Often they encourage them to gather riches in the mainland for her, an ancestral custom which secretly serves the purpose of making the berserker orcs more stubborn to persist in their raid and possibly never return. The rites end with all the women saying goodbye to their lovers, brothers and sons as the longboats step into the sea, probably to never return, just like the highschool girls did back in the WW2 with the japanese kamikazes.

Orc women are barbarians after all, so they can defend their homes on their own from invaders (often other orcs). They are known to use luring tactics with flashlights to make ships crash into the rocks. The few visitors that have actually met orc settlements talk of their athletic but alluring beauty and usually are known as Amazons.

But, back at orc men, most of them will never return to their homes. Their innate drive to war and their abstract obsession with "glory" makes them engage never ending battles, mostly with trow, and try to raze as much bounty as they can. This is very cool from a gamist perspective because it gives answers to many in-game assumptions from D&D: 

What are orcs doing in dungeons and why do they store gold? they are raising a bounty, possibly they use the dungeon as shelter because they are not fond of building complex stuff

Why are not orc women on LOTR or D&D? because they're back at their homes. Also, that is why orcs in the 80s were so fond of capturing princesses.

Why are orc settlements always messy and post-apocalyptic? because they have possibly killed all their last occupants, sacked the city and occupied it as a center of operations. Its not that they built it to live in there or anything.

Why you always end up fighting orcs? Because they are always fucking around. Sometimes they will also enslave or blackmail other tribes, like hobbits, in order to get supplies (much easier than planting your own crops) and other shit like that. Of course, you can point that the Trow do the same thing with hobbits. But that's tribe A thinking tribe B are orcs.

Sometimes, orcs achieve to get back home with lots of bounty. They are greatly respected, their treasures cause great wonder in the island, as do his tales of battle amongst the younger kin. Altough some might decide to stay and reign (tough his power is in great part nominal, as the islands biorrythms have structured around amazons and it won't change as easily as wishing it) most of them just stay for a year of leisure, reveling in their success, and embark on the next raid as the leader of the younger warriors.

9. BARDS

Bards, as they are depicted in most rpgs, are almost as cheesy and zany as Dwarves, and I don't understand the appeal of having a guy playing the lute in battle. Still, if we stick to the concept of bard as depicted by this and this, which is basically make them lesser thieves with some charisma (and don't give them spells, at least not at low levels) I can work something from them.

Do you remember the classic trope in videogames of the merchant that sells equipment and appears anywhere on the map, even when the zone around is infested by enemies? Cardinal Quest for example has them. Secret of mana has them being cat people called nekos, and Dragon Warrior has them even as a playable class. 

there he is! 

Furries or not, I will center here more in the nature of their tribe and organization. So, Merchants level up like Bards.

At level 1 they can read scrolls, have some lore and maybe some bonus to charisma. It makes sense they have it providing they live on selling stuff. It is also implied that it is the way they solve trouble in their travels, given that they are not a full combatant class. It also suits them when the game rules give luck bonuses to bards, though its not necessary. 

At higher levels they do know spells which make them supernatural merchants. Those are the kind that might dare to appear at the mouth of the endgame evil fortress to sell you your missing potions.

Despite being based on the bards, they do not need to carry an instrument with them, or even sing. But of course, some of them might. Some of them might even charge money for songs or dances instead of wares. They might charge you for writing a song about your deeds (fake or real), bringing a message to a far away city or identifying items. Of course, and as with other races, this doesn't mean that other races cannot go trading across the world, but they are just not Merchants from the Merchant culture and they don't advance as bards. 

Male and female versions of the merchant PC class

in Dragon Quest III. They actually look very bardy.

As a culture of their own they are pretty much nomads. But there IS a merchant home, and its very very cool in my mind. Hear this: They call it Mirage City. It can be found when one is lost in the desert, wavering like if it was reflected in the water on a pool. But even if it seems close, non-initiated visitors will never achieve to get in, only walk towards it forever. What is the trick exactly, I leave it to you.

Tumblr: binglebeb

Inside the city all the merchants make deals and re-locate their loots among themselves, preparing for their next routes. Its a city of music and dances, intrigues and heists. Basically your classical arabian, city of brass setting filled with Arabian Nights topics. As it is a good place for a den of thieves, it makes sense that there are Hobbits living amongst them too (both of the honest hard-working class and the thief kind) in their accustomed symbiotic bond of assistants. 

10. ALCHEMISTS

As I mentioned in the first post marginally, gnomes are the alchemists of this land. They build underground cities which I picture very colorful and weird, like I remember the Nome Kingdom in the Wizard of Oz anime: Strange glowing things in all colors making a very bright underdark; crazy dreamscapes combined with pools of lava, gemstone ornaments, wonderful treasure and deadly traps. Which is cool because this is a game about dungeons.

Alchemists charge gold, gemstones and surface ingredients and give you potions and maybe other kinds of James Bond gadgets. As a tribe, they won't sell indiscriminatelly and will feel out potential customers to know they won't use their technology against their interests, preferring to make long-lasting business relationships. Individually, there are some more greedy than others. 

There are not many games that have alchemist as a class, but I think that, as I would use the alchemist market as an integral part of the game loop, it makes sense that if you end up playing an alchemist PC you should have some advantage crafting this kind of items. Lets say that an ingredient is 100 gp worth, and a potion is 1000 gp, you should have a chance to create a potion with said ingredient proportional to your alchemist level, so you can effectivelly create cheap potions during downtime, also without having to return to the potion shop back at base. consider to use this in addition or instead of any alchemist class abilities you find around. 

Gnomes (which I mix with kobolds a little) are also great guides when you're going underdark. If using things like darkvision, they should be the ones that get it. They are not aggressive people but they are not cowards either and will attack miners that try to dig too deep into their kingdom. Personally I will rip off lots of things for their tribe from the Miners Guild as it appears at the unofficial, unfinished Loom sequel, Forge:

Making firewine from grapes that only grow under the light of the lava river

Pet canaries can warn you if oxygen is dropping low at the street

Look at that fucking dome. They got an underground garden 

in there. And the light comes from magically woven tapestries 

(see Wizards in the previous entry)

CLASS AS RACE III: Wizards and Monks

 Part of a series on worldbuilding around the idea of classes forming homogeneous races and tribes. This contextualizes classes and the constraint creates a world that might be interesting to imagine. All the surface world is a dangerous wilderness, filled with monsters and extreme weather hazards. That is why all civilized races sough protection though fortesses, numbers, alliances or other diversions.

6. MONKS.

Ogres, however, rely solely on their strength. Hardships of the world are welcome to them, because this trains their muscles and their wills. When you play an ogre (or Oni, Cyclops, Troll, etc. Any of those big brutes) just take the monk class.

On their natural habitats, they do all the clichés about breaking forests into lumber or mountains into quarries in order to test their skills, or meditating interposing their titanic bodies against a waterfall. The quirky thing about their civilization is that they are of the few that dare to live by themselves without any nearby help.

This allows them to do some things that other tribes would think twice to attempt: To lead flocks of sheep and cattle across long routes, to build monuments in the middle of the nothing or to mantain hives of giant bees for trading with the mead and honey, among others. Merchants make trade routes towards their dwellings to get their valuable supplies.

Low level monks are your classic Ogre foes, or maybe just young ones that have not grown up yet. Sometimes, mostly when ogres are fond of gold and earthly pleasures instead of spiritual paths, they gather in small mob-style gangs. 

 High level monks can be masters and might even get students if they pass some test (but makes sense that if they do, they still level up as their respective class). On a gamist perspective they are great PCs, NPCs and Monsters which is the important thing.

Ogres do not gather in cities, but they do build. Their architecture is often inhabited and scattered across the land: Temples, shrines, dojos, apiaries, towers, mills, bridges, dams, shelters for shepards, memorials and tombs (which again, gives many in-game possibilities for putting interesting shit on the game). Sometimes, making them is part of a training, as, for example, a sensei ordering young students to build a dojo before they can be trained; but then they discover that building it they gained lots of strenght that was needed for applying the teachings. 

Ogres are however very frugal when builing their own homes. The classical lair of a mountain monk is a stone chimney and half a cabin built against the rock, and nearby shishi odoshi:

7. WIZARDS

You know about Swan Maidens? Those girls that bathe in the river, then a prince steals their swan dress and must marry him to get it back? And that are also on D&D bestiaries? Well, that is a concept that ties well into wizardry via one of my recurrent obsessions: Loom (the LucasFilm game). 

In that game, there is a tribe called The Weavers, which are functionally their world "magic men". They weave spells, using lots of spinning and weaving themes and terminology. They also related to birds, specially swans, as one of their highest spells allows them to shapeshift into this animal. 

Their tribe or tribes take the shape of disheveled tents on the outside, but on the inside they have "folding" spells that make of them big and sophisticated if they need. I imagine their elders casting spells of hiding and distracting the senses in order to protect the village.

They use distaffs and put spells on things, mostly in clothes. To learn their spells they must observe the world around them and look for patterns hidden on certain things. This is a good motivation for adventuring, for characters that are to be PC's hirelings (and eventually PCs)

Transformation in bird is a spell on the list, not too low level, not to high either. It might not be tied to a Swan specifically, but other similar birds depending on the personality of the caster. In oriental folklore, the myths feature crane maidens instead.

The weaving themes can also be tied to the norns and fate. The wandering, lonely nature of the wizards also bears resemblances with the norse völvas.

It would have been easier to make it so all wizards live on a high-towered wizardry school, like in Earthsea. But we are making it so all classes are sort of "born into it" and wizard schools imply the opposite. It takes out some of the class endogamy.