One of my oldest and dearest fantasy influences is Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. The Prydain
books were the first fantasy novels that I bought and read entirely
on my own. Evanline Ness's expressionistic covers and strong,
evocative black-and-white maps grabbed me and
Though a few Prydain-influenced NPCs,
subtly and not-so subtly-veiled, have crept into the home campaign
(all hail Lord Gurgi, Master of Tables and the Hambone), I have been
jonesing for an avenue to play around in the setting.
The recently released old school-ish
Beyond the Wall--which explicitly nods its head to Alexander
and another favorite Ursula LeGuin—ramped that desire up again.
That BTW features at its core a fellow-traveller lifepath character
generation to that of the Hill Cantons Compendium (and to some
extent Feudal Anarchy) that evoke the archetypes and tropes of
the best Young Adult fantasy of my distant youth is just gravy.
So here we go with another half-baked
mini-campaign, 2/3rds Prydain and 1/3 of my own insanity. The
players will be the callow youth of Commot Flaylsnaith a small
village just over the Little Avern from the Free Commots in the
scrubby, war-torn Hill Cantrevs (naturally). Rules expanded below
will basically be By This Wall chargen and magic mashed into my old
friend, first edition Stormbringer.
Character Generation and House Rules
1. Pick a phlegmy-sounding Welsh here or
Lloyd Alexander here name
2. Roll 1d6+5 for each of your starting
stats (note that POW will sub out for WIS). Roll 3d6 for SIZ. Don't
sweat the low-seeming stats, you are going to get a buttload of bumps
using the playbooks. Note that you don't roll for your starting class
as per normal Stormbringer.
3. Pick one of the following Beyond the
Wall playbooks:
Village Hero
Untested Thief
Witch's Prentice
Would Be Knight (in this case Cantrev
lord's warrior)
Young Woodsman
Forgotten Child (available from the
free Nobility supplement here.)
Nobleman's Wild Daughter (as above)
4. Add any modifiers to your stats as
directed (maximum of 18). Yes, you will likely end up with much
higher attributes than usual BTW (that's a consolation prize for
sucking more than the normal SB character.) Hit
points are SIZ + CON divided by 2.
5. When the Playbook directs you to add
a skill, add +20% to an appropriate-looking SB skill. A Weapon
Specialization or any other Combat skill for example would add 20% to
a Weapon Skill, a craft/profession skill 20% to a similar Craft or
Lore skill, etc. Ask me if you aren't sure what the equivalent would
be. Give yourself two bonus +10% hikes on skills.
6. Take the starting equipment as
outlined in each playbook. We will be using prices from BTW. Leather
Armor is the same, while Chainmail is the same as Half-Plate in SB.
7. Magic will also as directed by BTW
with my rough conversion of effects. Ignore Fortune Points (fortune
favors the bold), Alignment and Initiative (it's by DEX as per SB).
8. Purely optional step. BTW
provides a really nifty co-creation take on building your starting
village. The quick and dirty, when you roll on a table with a
woodcut-looking scroll icon on the right side, that's your cue to
make up a locale in the village entirely. When you see the open hand
icon that's your cue to make up a relevant village NPC to your
backstory.
So away we go aspiring pig-herds and
petulant brats. Rumors and hooks coming next.
I think I've used the Hunstmen a dozen times over the years.
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