Reverse Centaur: Another Dumb Hill Cantons Class

The Revoca Canton party (the junior varsity team of the campaign) have found a solid, if dim-witted group of allies out in the mythic woods in a tribe of Reverse Centaurs. Rescuing the horseheaded humanoids a couple weeks back from the ravages of a two-headed giant (admittedly one that the party themselves released into the world) allowed them in time-honored campaign tradition to “unlock” a new dumb Hill Cantons class. Big thanks to Gus L for co-writing the class. 

On the Making of Horselings

Long ago in the Land of Ostpahr dwelt Kůň and Otokar, brothers two. Fair of head and long in leg the two so loved horses as to eschew the company of their own wives. All morn and to the eve, the brothers mounted and rode their corral of mares. They mounted and rode them in the tall green waves of the steppe grass and mounted and rode them on swelling ridges high. Mounted...why does thou giggle so? In that day they were sedulous and attentive and use to the practice of daily equestrian drill...

One day in the summer high First Pavol, a trader of horseflesh, came to them with a comely named Hrebec. Shining and black the steed stood tall in shoulder and wide in breadth, his eyes were as two flashing rubies and his mane tassels of purest gold. 

Said the humble horse merchant: “Great and mighty lords of the pastures, king of kings Svat the Four-Faced called on me in my slumber and spoke to me saying that I will have his divine favor if I make a free gift of that I hold most dear. This horse I hold most dear, more to me than my own wife, who helpeth me not in the mounting. I give him unto thee.”

The brothers praised Pavol for his piety and each other for their good fortune and made ready to mount Hrebec. But neither could allow the other to be the first to ride the horse. Both Kůň and Otokar drew ire. Hard words came forth from their mouths and the two drew forth their long blades. With mighty twinned swings they were both cleaved in two. 

Their life spilling from them on the rocky soil, great and likable Radhost took pity on the dying brothers and working deftly split Hrebec. With skillful hands the god bound the torso and head of Kůň to the body of the horse and Hrebec's stately head to the body of Otokar and the two were made whole and wholly other.

And so it was that the two ancient races, the centaurs and reverse centaurs, came to live in the world of Zem...

Reverse Centaur

Requirements: STR 13, INT 11 or less

Prime Requisite: STR

Hit Dice: 1d10

Maximum Level: 9

Proudly sporting the heads of horse-kind on their chiseled wide-shouldered otherwise human bodies, stand the proud, strong (though somewhat thick) children of Otokar, the Reverse Centaur.

Reverse Centaurs can carry on their strong backs an abnormally large amount of gear, gaining +3 STR in carrying weight (up to 19) in systems that use STR for encumbrance. Reverse Centaurs move at 120' round unless they are at heavy encumbrances. Reverse centaurs possess an innate “horse sense” allowing them to move vegetation finding trails and hidden paths and will always safely find way home after flight with no memory of escape route.

RCs are sadly also prone to severe panics and must roll 3d6 (or more if circumstance warrant) vs. INT to avoid fleeing if an ally dies, take half hp in damage, or of exposed to lightning to avoid stampeding in sheer terror. They make another check after one turn of flight to return to adventure or will wander to camp/home.

Reverse Centaurs fight and save as fighters of the same level. Their cumbersome tops and proneness to an affliction they call “saddle sore” leads them to only be able to wear leather armor. They can use all weapons other than lassos, a weapon profoundly and irrationally hated by the creatures.

Reverse Centaur Level Progression

Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d10)
0	1	1
2,300	2	2
4,600	3	3
9,200	4	4
18,400	5	5
36,800	6	6
73,600	7	7
147,200	8	8
294,400	9	9

A Revised Thief Class for B/X or LL

I should know better than to tamper with the core classes. By no means are they platonic ideals but the unbalanced, moldy old D&D classes seem to somehow balance in the mix of a party. And pragmatic me notices that they work more often than not. 

But...

I don't really like the pitifulness of the B/X version of the Thief. There's just something about that d4 hit die and being not all that much better at things thievish at lower levels than your party mates, that doesn't line up with the rose-tints of my AD&D memory with its ballsier thieves.

Anywho here's a not particularly earth-shattering (but perhaps sweet spot hitting) revision of the class that synthesizes elements of the first and second edition AD&D thief with the d6 skill elegance of Lamentations's Specialist. As always eager to hear from fellow gear-heads about if you'd think this works or not.

Comparison to B/X or LL Thief

• Moves to the 16 percent jumps of a d6, which produces a bit less skill at first level. Climb Walls take a bigger hit to put it in accord with starting second ed levels.
• Gains skill in larger jumps per level. A second level B/X Thief gains roughly 20 percent scattered across skills, this thief bumps up 32 percent with the two +1 d6 modifiers.
• Trades in the incremental across-board bumps of the B/X Thief for the focused choice of the second edition Thief.
• Gets the d6 hit die of AD&D.
• Collapses Hide in Shadows with Move Quietly into Stealth
• Starts reading MU scrolls at less of a chance of success but a level earlier.

Thief

Requirements: None

Prime Req: DEX

Hit Dice: d6

Maximum Level: None

You know what this class is about. Read Leiber. 

The Thief can not be in favor of the combination of order and weal as an alignment. She/he also knows Thieves Cant, an argot of the local language. 

The Thief can wear leather or padded armor and use any weapon (but not a shield). When attacking while hidden by Stealth behind or on the flank of a creature, the Thief may backstab at +4 to hit and double damage. At 11^th level the Thief can backstab at triple damage.

All Thief skill rolls are made on a d6. A skill check is successful if it is at or lower than the skill roll. At each new level past first, the thief can distribute points to a skill as they choose. A skill may be not go higher than 6. The GM should decrease or increase the chance of success for easier or more difficult tasks. Skill descriptions are the same as btb with the exception of Stealth which covers both Hide in Shadows and Move Silently.

At level 9, the Thief becomes name level and gains name level things. At level 9 they can also begin to use Magic User scrolls.

Base Thief Skills

Climb Walls: 4

Pick Pockets: 1

Find/Remove Traps: 1

Locks: 1

Hear Noise: 2

Stealth: 1

Read Languages: 0

Read Scrolls (at Level 9): 3

Exp	Level	Hit Dice (1d6)	Bonus Skill Levels
0	1	1	0
1250	2	2	2
2500	3	3	2
5000	4	4	2
10000	5	5	2
20000	6	6	2
40000	7	7	2
80000	8	8	2
160000	9	9	2
280000	10	10	2
400000	11	+1 hp	1
520000	12	+2 hp	1
640000	13	+3 hp	1
760000	14	+4 hp	1
880000	15	+5 hp	1
1000000	16	+6 hp	1
1120000	17	+7 hp	1
1240000	18	+8 hp	1
1360000	19	+9 hp	1
1480000	20	+10 hp	1

The War-Bear: Yet Another B/X or LL Class

But first the news...

Once again the eastern borderlands of the Overkingdom will be filled with the sight of shaggy, dejected columns of soldier-bears lumbering back to the hollow-seeming duties of garrison life. For Yambor, the great biennial pilgrimage of those furry myrmidons to the Slumbering Ursine Dunes, is over. But some younger cubs and war bears resist the melancholy by striking out on the road of vagrant adventuring scumbaggery.

Popping of up seemingly everywhere that a party may need a hired paw is one bear in particular, Preved!, who makes the same offer “for 40 shiny golds and two fish I run with you tonight.” 

 Preved!, 2nd-level Soldier Bear, Hitpoints 12, AC:6. Uses Bohemian Ear Spoon (d10+1). Has an uncomfortable tendency to pop in at an intimate moments of the humans around him shouting his name.

War Bear

Requirements: STR 13, CON 14

Prime Requisite: CON

Hit Dice: 1d10

Maximum Level: 8

The Nurian Soldier-Bear stands alongside the Ostrovan pikeman, Kozak horse-archer and Northland atlatl-man as some of the most renowned examples of soldiery in the world of Zem. Lesser known are the wayward bears who strike out on their own in the world in search of quantitatively measured experience, the proud bearers of the appellation, War Bear.

War Bears can wear no armor other than a helmet and instead have a base armor class (a DEX bonus can be added). Magical devices can be used but must be able to fit around the large-sized limbs of the War Bear.

Though outside the comforting phalanx of soldier life, the War Bear retains the deep, obsessional love of polearms, including the traditional +1 to hit and damage when employing it. Indeed a War Bear who has been parted from the sight of such a weapon for longer than a day will sicken with dejection and beyond a constant audible and dramatic sighing will lose a hit point until he grasps it yet again. In a weaponless pinch they can strike twice a round with their paws for 1d4 damage each. 

At level 6, the War Bear can invent and name a polearm of his own design at a cost of 500 gold suns and two weeks of intense concentration, such a weapon will be +2 to hit and damage only in his own paws and can even strike those creatures only harmable by magic weapons. At level 8, the War Bear has reached such fame that he can automatically attract a warband of 50 soldier-bears on the creation of a comfy underground den complex of no less than 2000 square feet (and two latrines).

War Bears save as Dwarves and fight as Fighters of the same level.

Soldier-Bear Level Progression

Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d8)	Armor Class
0	1	1+2	6
2,300	2	2+2	6
4,600	3	3+2	5
9,200	4	4+2	4
18,400	5	5+2	4
36,800	6	6+2	4
73,600	7	7+2	3
147,200	8	8+2	3

The Amazon Class

For Barbarella the one and only amazon of my heart.

Amazon

Requirements: STR 11 (Western), DEX 11 (Eastern)

Prime Requisite: STR or DEX

Hit Dice: 1d8

Maximum Level: 12

Zem, the turtle-borne world of the Hill Cantons, bears not one but two great nations of what are ham-fistedly called “Amazons” by the weak of imagination. 

Both tribes claim a common founding (and likely apocryphal) figure the great Queen Dwar Kin and a similar martial and matriarchal bent to their cultural ethos, and despite their differences in psycho-geography and language, they exhibit a rather remarkably consistent culture.

Those of Oiorpata, that distant and exotic isle near the resting point of the Sun Lord's daily ride, are a fine, strong-boned, if verbally assertive race noted for their love of high-crested, baroque helmets, polished armor, and knitting circles. World famous is their biennial Ebon Festival of the Pearls, a soiree that marks both the climax of the black pearl harvest from the swamp-polyps and the victory of that muscle-bounded race of maidens against the invading forces of the Overkingdom in the Twicefold Battle of Vague Suggestiveness, now some 112 years ago. It is said that the high-point of the festivities is the public bathing and drinking by their much-feared, rubenesque queen of the blood of 12 male lovers.

The amazons styled as the Bila-Urkithians are a semi-nomadic race who ride the eastern reaches of the Sea of Grass. The “White” Urkithians favor wildly-stripped, baggy trousers in defiance of their more patriarchical neighbors, the Pantless Barbarians, gaily-colored tassels, and phyrgian hats or helmets. Though thinner-boned then their western sisters, they are of a durable and fierce nature, particularly hating all forms of the romanticized Amazonomachy so beloved by Overkingdom court painters. They are ruled by a council of elected Hetwimmin who meet annually to organize a massive, and mostly peaceful demonstrative march through the Hill Cantons.

Western Amazons by way of their life-long training and aesthetic choice are masters (mistresses?) thrown or hurled weapons, most notably the pilum (a heavy javelin delivering d6+1 damage), lasso or atlatl, gaining a +1 to hit and an incredible extra 30 feet of range with such weapons. They also deal +1 in damage in melee when striking with a spear.

Eastern Amazons gain a +1 to hit when on horseback and a +1 to hit with their beloved composite bows or darts. They also receive a +1 to hit with the gracefully-styled hand-axes they prefer.

Amazons as a willful race save as Dwarves.

They so despise those weak-willed men who encase themselves in gothic-plated cocoons of steel that they may only wear armor of chain (or half-plate) and under.

Amazon Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d8)
0	1	1
2,101	2	2
4,201	3	3
8,401	4	4
16,801	5	5
33,601	6	6
70,001	7	7
140,001	8	8
280,001	9	9
400,001	10	+3 hp only *
540,001	11	+6 hp only *
660,001	12	+9 hp only *
*Hit point modifiers from constitution are ignored

Bottom-Up Worldbuilding and Pantless Barbarians

I have mentioned several times that I consciously set out to build the eponymous campaign up from a very limited, easy-lifting, world-agnostic base. (I mean, hell, for three and a half years no party ever ventured out of the 30-by-30 mile starting map).

With the six-year anniversary of the campaign coming in a month's time, that steady accretion has created a surprisingly large amount of setting whoha. The process has seemed to run along a predictable routines by this point: the players get curious and start investigating a certain myth, rumored site, or lost artifact—and then almost like clockwork get a wave of inspiration (often a mix of the serious and weird/goofy) and start filling in the big blanks from the broad outlines I already have established.

Quite often this process continues on for a while dialectically, with a player asking, teasing or pushing on one tangent or the other. Case in point would be a recent reveal of the crappy ethnocentric players maps of the larger world (down at the bottom of the post) following some explorations. A imminently silly little in-joke about the classical Greek view of barbarians got picked up by Mike D who immediately stated that he wanted to play one.

Long story short, behold the Pantless Barbarian class.

Pantless Barbarians

Requirements: CON 11

Prime Requisite: CON

Hit Dice: 1d10

Maximum Level: 12

For centuries the barbarian hordes that inhabit the northeastern most point of the southwestern most continent of the Hill Cantons world were riven by two great tribal divisions: that of the shirtless, trouser-wearing followers of the Triple Goddess and that of the tattooed—and wholly pantless--barbarians who follow an aspect of the Sun Lord.

A rough balance of power prevailed on the forests and plains of that land until an enterprising, wily pantless hetman, Vermurmur A-Khan, diplomatically prevailed upon his co-religiousists in the Overkingdom to send landsknechts in a great crusade. Over a fast and furious decade the Goddess worshipers were decimated and retreated into the forbidden reaches of the (perhaps euphemistically-named) Fields of Paradise, leaving the pantless in control of most of the region.

Religious taboos mandate that their privates must be close at hand to the divine rays of the sun.  Even when wearing heavy upper garments like bear skins or armor, this strange tribe is barred from the wearing of pants (a short, revealing kilt is acceptable in colder months). As a result of this predilection, the poor savage has a penalty of -1 from AC and may only wear armor of chain (or half-plate) or weaker.

When striking with a preferred tribal weapons--tridents, bolas, atlatls, and falchions—the barbarian receives a +1 to hit. Every other level the pantless barbarian can also take a +1 to a LotFP-like d6 skill in either Tracking or Wilderness Survival.

Barbarian Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d10)	Skill Progression
0	1	1	+1
2,187	2	2
4,375	3	3	+1
8,751	4	4
17,501	5	5	+1
35,001	6	6
70,001	7	7	+1
140,001	8	8
280,001	9	9	+1
400,001	10	+3 hp only *
540,001	11	+6 hp only *	+1
660,001	12	+9 hp only *
*Hit point modifiers from constitution are ignored

Click to Enlarge

The Mountebank, Take Three

One great advantage of four years of play in the same campaign is that you get the long-haul perspective on the effect of all your obsessive and ill-considered tinkering under the hood with house rules. Some become overtime Truly Terrible Ideas, others fall by the wayside, a few stand alone golden and untouched.

Most though just need some more applied tinkering. One of the oldest variants in the Hill Cantons Compendium (soon, knock on proverbial wood, to be updated and replaced by Live Weird or Die: The Roustabout's Guide to the Hill Cantons) is the Mountebank and as the Google Plus greys into solidly middle-levels it has become apparent that what worked for lower levels has become a decidely less interesting and capable class choice at middle levels.

(A big special thanks to Robert for the relentless Manzafrain the Mirthful and Jeremy for the much-missed Colonel for their playtesting—and to Evan for his own excellent, recent Vancian-inflected take on the class.)

What follows is a stick-bending of the class that may correct that falling off--or create new ones, that always being the pitfall. All input greatly appreciated.

Mountebank

Requirements: INT 13, DEX 13, CHR 13

Prime Requisite: CHR

Hit Dice: 1d4

Maximum Level: None

The mountebank is the consummate con artist of the medieval-fantasy world. By use of smooth talk, sleight of hand, and magical illusion the mountebank stays one step of the law—and earns a decent living in the mean time. Because of their specialized skill set they are often also employed as spies.

As a sub-class of the thief, they are allowed to wear leather armor and use any weapon. They are also allowed to pick pockets, move silently, hide in shadows, listen at doors, and back stab as per a thief of the equivalent level. They can further use disguises as per the assassin class. All saving and combat throws are made on the thief table.

They are also able to use a new skill, sleight-of-hand, at the level they can pick pocket--plus an additional 15 percent. Sleight of hand allows the mountebank to move, switch out, or otherwise manipulate without being noticed a hand-sized object.

At third and higher levels they begin to be able to use spells from the Illusionist class spell list (pick the version)--their spell assortment however tops out at level 11. New spells are gained by paying—or swindling—resident illusionists.

They are restricted to only using magic items open to thieves until ninth level at which time they can also begin to use items available to illusionists. An exception is for scrolls which they can employ at any level under the following conditions [Thanks to Evan Elkins for use of this paragraph]:

1. To use a scroll the Mountebank successfully they must make a successful saving throw versus magic with a penalty equal to the level of the spell.
2. If the saving throw is failed, the opposite of the intended effect of the spell occurs, usually in a way that is reflected back on the mountebank.
3. A mountebank may also attempt to cast a spell directly from a spellbook, but the spell disappears in the same manner as a scroll.

At ninth level, the mountebank attracts a crew of 2d6 grifters, con-men, and other ne'er do wells (1st level mountebanks) as followers.

Mountebanks cannot be lawful or “good” in alignment.

Beginning at first level, a mountebank can use their smooth fast-talking and arcane powers to create semi-magical effects. All abilities are dependent on the character being able to talk in a language understandable to the target.

Mountebank Special Abilities

Level	Effect	Duration
1	Flim Flam, raises Charisma to 18	1 turn, +1 per level
2	Hustle, lower or raise a price in a commercial transaction by 10-40%	Immediate.
3	Gain Illusionist spells (see below)	N/A
4	Hypnotism, same as Illusionist spell	1 round, +1 per level
5	Manufacture Flash Powder, causes blindness, one batch a day with appropriate materials (150gp)	Immediate

Mountebank Level Progression

Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d4)
0	1	1
1,565	2	2
3,125	3	3
6,251	4	4
12,501	5	5
25,001	6	6
50,001	7	7
100,001	8	8
200,001	9	9
300,001	10	+1 hp only*
400,001	11	+2 hp only *
500,001	12	+3 hp only *
600,001	13	+4 hp only *
700,001	14	+5 hp only *
800,001	15	+6 hp only *
900,001	16	+7 hp only *
1,000,001	17	+8 hp only *
1,100,001	18	+9 hp only *
1,200,001	19	+10 hp only *
1,300,001	20	+11 hp only *

Class	Mountebank Spell Progression
	Illusionist Spell Level
Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
6	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
7	3	2	1	0	0	0	0
8	3	3	2	0	0	0	0
9	4	3	2	1	0	0	0
10	4	3	3	2	0	0	0
11+	4	4	3	2	1	0	0

New Class: the Chaos Monk

Chaos Monk

Requirements: Can not be eligible to be a Monk, WIS or INT less than 10

Prime Requisite: CON

Hit Dice: d5

Maximum Level: 8

For Mad Mox, he who journeyed through the depths of Hell just to serve again a murderous and demented clown. Fuck yeah!

It is said by the sages that “clerics” are a martial lot that look outwardly for divine power and that a sub-class of those are “monks” who look inwardly for the same. But what is known only by men of science and the gentlest of birth is that that sub-class has its own sub-class of practitioners that look “nowhere and everywhere” for the source of power: the confused and puerile way of the Chaos Monk.

Chaos Monks may use no armor and often will eschew the wearing of shirts, doublets and other clothing that obscure their abs. The sheer force of will involved in the suspension of disbelief in following this path does however allow them to add a DEX bonus and a further AC bonus of +1 for each 2 levels of advancement.

Further they are restricted to a select (and somewhat lameish) range of weapons typically used by their more lawful and competent brethren or ninja-loving tweens of the early 80s: bo and jo sticks, nun-chucks (sic), clubs, man catchers, bowie knives, and throwing stars.

Chaos Monk Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d5)
0	1	1
1,251	2	2
2,501	3	3
5,001	4	4
10,001	5	5
20,001	6	6
40,001	7	7
80,001	8	8

Chaos Monks are rarely surprised (a 1 on a d8) and then only if spoken to by a member of the opposite gender. 

Due to the improbable nature of their powers, Chaos Monks are limited to only 8 levels of advancement. Further after the 5th level they may only advance by “kicking the asses” of an equal number of lower-level Chaos Monks to the level of advancement. (Low-level Chaos Monks as a consequent rule of thumb tend to avoid their higher-level equivalents like a bad case of scabies.)

Fucking Anarchy and Shit

Reaching 2nd level: a Chaos Monk may attempt a “kung-fu kick” in combat, a d5 attack that adds a +1 for each level attained.

Reaching 3rd level: Chaos Monks gain the ability to Speak with Fungi.

Reaching 4th level: At 4th level, Chaos Monks can Flip over the back of their opponent while making a high-pitched scream.

Reaching 6th level: Chaos Monks gain the ability to cast Confusion once a day on not just themselves but others.

Reaching 8th level: Chaos Monks can use the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. It is unclear whether this has any real mechanical effect however.

Inexplicably they can be of any alignment. 

The Robo-Dwarf, a LL and B/X Variant Class

With the bad taste of classic idiot mistake hanging in my mouth from this morning--canceling a save on an untitled OpenOffice doc containing my longish post of the day—I am officially giving myself leave to pursue my dead-serious idea for a variant class that sprung from my skull like a robo-Athena last night as I adventured in Castle Nicodemus.

Robo-Dwarves

Requirements: CON 9

Prime Requisite: CON

Hit Dice: 1d8

Maximum Level: 12

Strange tales are told in these hills of the appearance of squat adventurer-constructs from beyond the weird. Said to be made of equal parts living animate stone, whirling mechanical gears, and living tissue, these so-called Robo-Dwarves are the freakish creation of an irresponsible higher power. Some blame the baleful White God, others an extra-dimensional ur-dwarf called Xhom. It matters little.

Though fleshy in feel, their skin is composed of a dull greyish-silver matter (natural armor of AC 8 if not wearing any other armor) and their eyes an unsettling black with no iris. There hair is always a greasy, lanky black and exudes an odor vaguely reminiscent of fresh primrose. Beards are always on the patchy short side with pencil-thin mustaches.

Robo-dwarves always speak in a halting monotone that makes vague references to “The Future”. They can speak their own tongue (Xho), common, dwarvish, and a halting pidgin tongue with living statues, gelatinous cubes, lurkers above, piercers, gas spores, rot grubs, rust monsters and other “dick” monsters. When angered in conversation, small black wisps of brimstone-smelling smoke issue from their ears.

Robo-dwarves consume no organic food, no water or distilled spirits—with the inexplicable exception of herd-animal milk which seems to have an intoxicating effect on their constitution. Indeed organic food and water consumption is so toxic to their system that if forced to do so they must save vs. poison in order to prevent themselves from imploding. For sustenance they must consume one flask of lamp oil every third day and are fond of snacking on gravel and small bits of rusted metal.

Robo-dwarves have a deep set and perhaps unwholesome attachment to metal armor, especially that with outlandishly fluted and raised flourishes. They are banned from wearing leather or other armor composed mostly of organic matter and will prefer to go buck naked (they have no naughties) if they can not find and use metal armor. Though they greatly prefer helmets with large protruding spikes they will make do with unadorned helms in a pinch.

Robo-dwarves share the same special abilities and disadvantages as their full-fleshed counterparts. They see in the dark with their Robotronic eyes at 60 feet and have a 2 in 6 chance of noticing weak spots in stone work, traps, false walls, hidden construction, or subtle slopes. The Robo-dwarf must lay his hands on stonework in the general vicinity and use his special stonepathy mental powers to “commune with the rock” for this to happen.

Robo-Dwarf Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d8)
0	1	1
2,251	2	2
4,501	3	3
9,001	4	4
18,001	5	5
36,001	6	6
80,001	7	7
160,001	8	8
310,001	9	9
450,001	10	+3 hp only *
600,001	11	+6 hp only *
750,001	12	+9 hp only *
*Hit point modifiers from constitution are ignored

Hill Cantons Compendium, Extended Dance Mix

Whine and ye shall receive.

After my last round of public wool gathering about how blog content seems to float away into the ether—and my general preference for dead plant matter media—Kenneth the Often Slain (in the Austin iteration of the Hill Cantons), did me a highly generous turn. Taking a number of non-Domain Game related posts he spliced the related content with the Hill Cantons Compendium, my previously-released compilation of quirky home-campaign variants, into one 30-page package.

Getting beyond the first page of HC setting fluff and house rules there is a truckload of other stuff that may be of value for other tinkering souls playing Classic D&D/Labyrinth Lord-style games including such things various and sundry as:

• Five variant Classic D&D/LL-compatible classes: the Mountebank, Feral Dwarf, Lankmarian White Wizard, Half-Ogre, and Black “Halflings”.
  
  
• A variant experience point system, character death, magical research and retainer/follower system.
  
  
• Variant rules for Charisma, reputation, and simple attribute checks.
  
  
• That previously much harped-on character background mini-game with quick random equipment charts.
  
  
• Simple expanded options for killing and being killed.
  
  
• New weapons and armor and some simple variant rules.
  
  
• Zero-level character generation and play rules.

In keeping with my usual personal disdain for things commercial, you can find it for free here on Lulu.

(The at-cost print version is available here.)

The Fantasy Game

You might have heard this question once or twice (or countless times): do we have too many sets of old school rules being produced? My own head swings indecisively back in forth between “yes, please by all that's unholy stop the madness” and “let a hundred flowers bloom” positions.

Sifting through the massed ranks of posts from the cutting room floor (discussed yesterday), it surprised me--given that ambivalence--to remember that six months back I was thinking of synthesizing a number of the subsystems I had been jacking around with on this blog into an unholy beast of my own.

Like the Domain Game, the Fantasy Game (yes, as Jim the Wampus noticed yesterday the tongue-in-cheek working title was based on the likely apocryphal story about D&D's own working title) was supposed to be less about being a complete system—that likely no one would ever play—but a collection of variant sections that could be plopped piece by piece into someone's campaign.

After yesterday's round of input, I had thought I would clean it up and post as something fully digestable. Memory, though, is a funny thing. Not only do I not remember where some of the ideas were going, truth be told, I didn't even remember typing this out when I rediscovered yesterday.

So instead of a bang-you-over-the-head complete vision, here's a gamble and experiment on my part that can be taken in two ways by a reader: 1. a window into how game design ideas can develop in different tracks over time on a blog (you'll see my bracketed comments from this morning interspersed); or 2. an “open source” outline of a project which you can feel free to add, subtract, modify, riff, comment, or (more likely) ignore completely.

Alternative character generation system

1. Quasi-Traveller, background and event-oriented though, not adult career. Childhood and young adulthood events determine dice pool for attributes. [This system was realized here]
2. Players have choice of background (urban, rural, barbarian, demi-human, exotic) [Brad of Skull Crushing for Justice has been developing something along these lines.]
3. Random equipment table option [modified from my LotFP one]
4. All characters with INT 15 or over start with one cantrip (0-level Magic-User spell)
5. All characters with WIS 15 or over start with one orison (0-level Cleric spell) [I had helped develop some old school-feeling 0-level spells for Basic Fantasy RPG around this time.]

Alternative class advancement

1. Characters start at 0-level. Neutral alignment, chain armor max, only weapons that do d6 max, d6 hit points.
2. First level obtained at 200 experience points. In consultation with GM (based on performance), player picks class and alignment.
3. First level characters can only be picked from the standard Basic or OD&D classes.
4. At 4^th level player can choose to continue in standard class or pick a new sub-class that the PC qualifies for [Thinking on split classes progressed here.]
5. At 5^th level the PC can choose to start a career in a “leader set” class.

Sub-classes

Each sub-class would add a certain amount of exp to level advancement. Maybe same for all classes or each parent class. Each subclass would have new abilities and some restrictions.

Fighter

Hunter

Archer

Beserker

Champion/Noble Warrior

Beast Master

Cleric

Druid

Monk

Rune Caster

Mystic

Witch Hunter

Magic User

Elemental College (Fire, Earth, Water, or Air)

Witch

White mage 

Black mage

Necromancer

Illusionist

Sage

Alchemist

Psionicist

Thief

Assassin

Mountebank 

Scout

Bard/Skald

Delver/Dungeoneer

Leader Set Class

War Lord

Noble

Spy Master

High Priest

Merchant Prince

Guild Master

Court Mage

Optional game play mode in which campaign can be played between two different sets of PCs in alternating sessions.

Typical adventurer set. Played as normal D&D. Footloose characters who will occasionally work for the second set

Leader set. PCs start as leader level class: military, noble, religious, wizard, guildmaster, gang leader, merchant prince, barbarian leader etc. PCs create missions and design/build locales that the other set can play in. Gameplay more similar to Birthright, but with less abstraction [Domain Game grew up out of this germinal].

“Pendragon D&D” epic campaign time 

1. Adventures limited to one season per year.
2. Charts or mini-games for: Matters of the Heart, Wee Ones and Family Relations, Business Investments, Research and Training, Religious and Arcane Affairs.

Black Hobbits: Variant Classic D&D Class

A variant class inspired by posts by two of my favorite bloggers here and here.

Black Hobbits

Requirements: DEX 9, CON 9

Prime Requisite: STR and DEX

Hit Dice: 1d6

Maximum Level: 8

From Monsters! Monsters!:

“[Black Hobbits] does not refer to their skin tone, but rather to their political affiliations. They are physically the same as other hobbits, but are not nice people...Unlike normal hobbits, black hobbits hair is black and wiry, and they are fully bearded (like dwarves).”

Black hobbits are outwardly plain, ordinary halflings--who have secretly devoted their dark little hearts to the cause of Chaos. Indeed their devotion to the cause runs so deep that all black hobbits are required to join the local branch of the Chaos Party (though the inherent divisiveness of such an organization has lead to a vast confusing array of splinter groups, internal tendencies, factions, and rump groups.)

Black hobbits share the same abilities and limitations as their comfort and law-loving brethren, though they possess a few special abilties particular to their class. At second level a black hobbit learns the ability of Agitation, a skill in which they can temporarily raise their Charisma score to 18 once a day when exhorting others to perform acts of mischief and mayhem. At 4^th level they can do this twice a day, at 8^th three times.

They also gain the ability at third level to manufacture little round black bombs, a small hand-held explosive device that deals out 1d8+1 damage in a 10-foot range. They can make one such bomb per week and 30 gp worth of material. At sixth level they can begin to make two bombs a week.

Black Hobbit Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d6)
0	1	1
2,100	2	2
4,200	3	3
8,400	4	4
16,800	5	5
33,600	6	6
67,200	7	7
134,000	8	8