So, anyway, here it is. Thanks to all of you out there who gave me stuff to toss in! That means a lot, that people are really taking the time. If your creations did not make it into this issue, don't worry! They are the advance stuff for the next one! I'd love to cram tons of stuff into a single issue, but making them short makes life easier on myself. I do, in fact, have enough submissions to make another issue after this one, but after that I will need some more. So, feel free to send something in! And now, on to better things:
_____ _____
/ ^^ \|/ ^^ \ From the Library of
/ ^^ ^ ^^ | ^ ^^^ ^ \
/ ^^^^^^ ^^ | ^^ ^^^ ^^ \ ALEKSANDR GERASIMOV
/__---~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~---__\
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aleksandr Gerasimov was born to a fairly rich merchanting family, who saw
fit to see him well-schooled. He quickly developed a love for philosophy and
magick, resulting in a solid 'classical' education and an attraction for the
Art, as he is wont to call it. He does not believe in Good or Evil, having
proved (to himself) the incapability of their existence. He believes that the
ends can be beneficial or malevolent but sees no harm in the knowledge, only
the action.
In his first grand adventure, he discovered (along with several
companions) a small stash of magickal writings, including several works on
necromancy and black dweomercraeft. The school he had attended ignored the
existence of the Black Art, and to him this discovery was particularly
fascinating. He quickly and secretly absorbed the work, resulting in a
passing knowledge with this dark skill.
During the day, for the next several months, he slowly constructed a
dweomercraefter's dream, a shop wherein various reagents and other magickal
components were traded, but in the nights, instead of sleeping, he researched
and read and practiced until he felt he was, after all, ready to prove
worthwhile to his boon companions.
Aleksandr sought a subtle approach, that of intimidation and quiet menace,
rather than outright destruction and devastation (though he would certainly be
willing to back up any threat).
This is a small sample from his early researches:
E/F/M: With the application of this Casting, the caster's eyes go utterly black, devoid of any feature other than a menacing and void-filled stare. Those subjected to a stare for one CT will feel uneasy and inferior to the caster, and a continual gaze will eventually result in all but the self- possessed and strong-willed groveling before the unblinking, black, and menacing gaze. Obviously, nothing else can be going on, and combat is generally too quickly paced to allow a caster the chance to transfix an opponent.
E/F/M: This Casting causes little 'witchfires' to run over the object. The fire is illusionary, shaped out of the stuff of shadow, but it appears to be dancing along the object for the duration of the Casting. They cause no damage, but touching them does not dispel them. Obviously, creatures without sight will not even notice them, even if touched, as they have no substance whatsoever. This is purely a visual effect, intended to be combined with other visual effects in order to create an imposing image.
E/F/M: By means of this Cantrip, the caster introduces a vague and barely perceptible shadow around him, a faint suggestion that there is something larger and nastier, and that the caster is but a cat's paw for this being. While ineffective in impersonating, for instance, entital power, it is useful in dealing with weak-willed and magick-poor personas. With the expenditure of additional Heka, the caster may extend the duration by one AT per 10 Heka spent, to a maximum of 1 AT per 10 STEEP possessed.
The base time for memorization is 1 slot per grade.
Casting time modifies total memorization as follows:
Eyebite : x1/4 total
Charm : x1/2 total
Cantrip : x1 total
Spell : x2 total
Formula : x3 total
Ritual : x4 total
The HP's STEEP in the area in which the casting is located also affects the
total study time, based on the normal difficulty at which the HP can use the
casting:
Easy : x1 total
Moderate : x2 total
Hard : x3 total
Difficult : x5 total
V. Difficult : x7 total
Extreme : x10 total
This time is to make Known an unknown or Studyable casting. If attempting to
make a Recallable casting Known, or an unknown/Studyable casting Recallable,
1/2 the time is required.Here are 2 examples:
Take an HP with 15 MMpow (3 'slots'/day) with an Apotropaism STEEP of 41,
trying to memorize Protection vs. Drowning Charm, an unknown grade 4
casting.
Grade 4 = 4 slots
charm = x1/2 total time
hard = x3 total time (grade 4 spell is at hard difficulty)
_________________________
6 slots
Making an unknown casting Known, so there is no extra modifier. The HP has 3
slots in a day, so the spell is memorized in 2 days.Example #2
A Full Practitioner with a 41 STEEP in General Dweomercraft attmepts to make a
grade 6 Formula Recallable. His MMPow is 16. This spell is, with his STEEP,
at a DR of Very Difficult to cast.
Grade 6 = 6 slots
Formula = x3 total time
V. Diff. = x7 total time
Recallable = x1/2 total time
______________________________
63 total slots
16 MMpow corresponds to 3 slots per day, so this Formula would be Recallable
in 21 days, a formidible task.
The Mythus game system offers a wide variety of vocation for heroic
personas to choose from. In the appendix section (p. 387) of the Dangerous
Journeys rules manual there is a section referencing a number of occupations
that would be suitable for the use in the Mythus game. Among these are a Spy
(Mental) and a Monk, Martial, Oriental (Physical). Below are descriptions of
how these occupation are used in my personal campaign. I hope they will prove
to be useful as heroic personas and other personas in your own campaigns.
To help facilitate the creation of these heroic persona vocations a new
persona-creation rule is needed:
Example: Chin Su' Nygen is a Monk HP. His restricted K/S is Criminal Activities, Physical. If Chin Su' Nygen's STEEP was 42, he would normally receive four Sub-Areas of knowledge. Since this is a K/S with restricted Sub-Areas he can only learn the three which are allowed. If Chin Su' Nygen was to begin to develop the darker side of his HP while adventuring the JM may allow him to develop the other aspect of this K/S (This may not sit well with Chin's former instructors).
Vocation Category Level Range HP SEC at Start TRAIT OUTLAWRY Spy 1-7 3 Mental PRIESTCRAEFT Monk, Martial, Oriental 1-9 4 PhysicalMonk, Martial, Oriental: Monks posses an interesting array of talents. The monk is excellent in unarmed and non-lethal physical combat. The monk is centered around the Physical TRAIT, but has a variety of Spiritual, and Mental K/S Areas as well. They also possess limited priestly abilities. Monks are person as that are thoughtful, honorable, and stoic. Try to think of a balance between the physical, mental, and spiritual sides of the monk when creating the HP. Monks tend to use speed over might, think of this when deciding where to place ATTRIBUTE scores (PN ATTRIBUTES should tend to be higher then PM ATTRIBUTES).
K/S Area Base Steep Attribute Combat, Hand-to-Hand, Non-Lethal 24 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5 Combat, Hand-to-Hand, Lethal 24 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Medicine, Oriental 20 (SMCap+SPCap) x0.5 Priestcraeft* 16 SMCap* Religion* 16 SMCap* Acupuncture 12 PNCap Acrobatics/Gymnastics 12 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Combat, Hand Weapons 12 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Criminal Activities, Physical r 12 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5*s Endurance* 12 (PMPow+PNPow) x0.5* Education 10 (MMCap+MRCap) x0.5 Foreign Language: [choice] 8 MMCap* History 8 MMCap* Logic 8 MRCap Nature Attunement 8 SPCap *s Pantheology* 8 SMCap *s Survival 8 PMCap* Yoga* 8 SMCap* Apotropaism* 8 (MMCap+MRCap) x0.5*s Divination* 8 SPCap *s Demonology* 4 MMCap* Exorcism* 4 SMCap* Base STEEP Total 250(Only the sub-areas of Sneaking, Hiding, and Ambushing may be chosen under Criminal Activities, Physical)
K/S Area Base Steep Attribute Espionage 20 (MMCap+MRCap) x0.5s Criminal Activities, Mental 16 MMCap *s Criminal Activities, Physical 16 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5*s Deception 16 MRCap* Disguise 16 PNCap Escape 16 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5 Combat, Hand Weapons 12 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Criminology 12 MRCap Cryptography 12 (MMCap+MRCap) x0.5 Etiquette Social Graces 12 MMCap Foreign Language: [choice] 12 MMCap* Linguistics 12 MRCap Police Work 12 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Combat Hand Weapons, Missile 8 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Foreign Language: [choice] 8 MMCap* Geography/Foreign Lands 8 MMCap Influence 8 MRCap s Streetwise 8 SPCap *s Travel 8 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5 Combat, Hand-to-Hand, Lethal 4 (PMCap+PNCap) x0.5s Current Events 4 (MRPow+MMPow) x0.5 Divination* 4 SPCap *s Engineering, Military 4 (MMCap+MRCap) x0.5 Surveillance/Security 4 PNCap Toxicology 4 MMCap Base STEEP Total 256
This article does not attempt to address the skills necessary to using firearms in combat or otherwise. Certainly some kind of Gunsmith K/S Area and certainly Rifle and Pistol K/Ss will be necessary. Only those weapons that are historically possible for the assumed time period for Mythus (1400-1700 AD) have been included here, with the exception of the M16A3 which I included because I felt some kind of comparison was necessary. The problem with using the Dangerous Journeys system in modern settings is the large amount of damage HPs can take. Because it is "realistic" for a modern firearm to kill on a single shot to any moderately valuable vital area of the human body huge numbers of dice need to be rolled (13d6, 30 times in a CT for the M16A3). When I do rules for modern weaponry I will probably change some of the numbers and ways of doing damage to make the dice more manageable. But that is, pardon the pun, in the future. Also there are no guidelines for autofire here so I wouldn't suggest using the M16, who knows what could happen.
NOTE: RC, DC, TL and the statistics of these weapons are based on the rules or guidelines presented in Guns, Guns, Guns 3rd edition by the BTRC.
Weapon TL Spd WP Dam Cost ROF Clip RC DC
Pistols:
Hand Cannon 5 4 0 4d6 140 1 1 1 2
Triple Cannon 5 5 0 3d6 230 3 3 1 2
Cavalry Pistol 6 4 0 4d6 150 1 1 2 2
Double Pistol 6 4 0 3d6 180 2 2 1 2
Flintlock Revolver 6 4 0 4d6 130 3 5 2 2
Personal Pistol 6 3 0 4d6 140 1 1 1 2
Rifles:
Matchlock Musket 5 7 5 7d6 240 1 1 2 2
Double Musket 5 7 5 7d6 860 2 2 2 2
Wheellock Carbine 5 6 5 6d6 200 1 1 2 2
Shotguns:
Arquebus* 5-6 7 0 5d6 90 1 1 2 2
3d6x9* 1 1 2 1
For comparison:
M16-A3 11 6 10 13d6 1740 30 30 4 3
* The Arquebus (don't ask me how to pronounce it) can fire either
a single large slug or it may fire 9 pellets like a shotgun. See
below for special shotgun rules.The cost of ammunition is .25 per bullet which includes the cost of powder and other sundries necessary. The multiple pellets of the Arquebus (3d6x9 damage) costs .75 per shot. A clip for the M16A3 would cost about $10 and each bullet would cost $0.60 (Whole clip of 30 bullets would be $28).
TL: Tech Level; 5 = 1400 AD, 6= 1700 AD.
RC: Range Class; See below
DC: Damage Class; See below.
Clip: Number of shots the weapon may fire before needing
reloading. Except in the case of the Revolver and the M16, this
is also the number of barrels on the weapon.
ROF: the number of shots the weapon may fire per CT, this is not
affected by the skill of the firer.
Reloading time for muzzle loading weapons are listed below:
Pistols 6CTs + 5CTs for each additional barrel Rifles 8CTs + 5CTs Carbines 7CTs + 5CTsAll ranges are in meters which are about the same as yards. :)
RC Table: RC PB S M L E 1 0-5 6-10 11-15 16-25 26-50 2 0-7 8-15 16-25 26-50 51-150 3 0-10 11-35 36-70 71-150 151-400 4 0-15 16-70 71-150 151-300 301-1000 DC Table DC Full 3/4 1/2 1/4 1/10 1 0-35 36-100 101-200 201-600 601-800 2 0-70 71-200 201-400 401-1000 1001-1500 3 0-150 151-400 401-800 801-2500 2501-3500 4 0-300 301-800 801-1500 1501 4500 4501 6500Armor against firearms: In general, all forms of ancient armor do not work very well against high velocity projectiles. Treat all firearm damage as piercing and quarter the effect of all leather armor and half the effect of all metal armors except rigid plate (breast plates, plate armor). Conversely, Kevlar does not work well against an Axe.
Aiming: These firearms are notoriously innacurate and any kind of called or specific hit location shot is absolutely impossible. Unless you have massed units of men, chances of hitting a target are small, so the difficulty should be at least difficult (rather than hard). However, remember that firearms produce a lot of noise and smoke and even a bit fo flame so they are good at scaring off many creatures, even if you don't hit them.
Reliability: These weapons are not very reliable, any to hit roll over 95% will cause a potential problem. Roll again on the table below to determine the exact situation.
Reliability Miss Dud Jam Critical Explodes
Class
VI -- 01-05 06-20 21-95 96-00
V 01-50 51-55 56-70 71-95 96-00
IV 01-75 76-80 81-95 96-00 --
III 01-90 91-00 -- -- --
II 01-95 96-00 -- -- --
I 01-95 96-00 -- -- --
1 Joss can reduce the roll by 20.
Miss: Nothing special happens, the round simply misses.
Dud: The round does not fire and will need to be cleared
before the weapon may be fired again (3CT's for most of
the weapons here, 1CT for more modern ones)
Jam: The round fires but becomes fouled in the action or the
barrel. It needs to be cleared before the weapon may
be fired again (5CT's and a skill roll).
Critical: The weapon is seriously damaged and will need to have
extensive repairs. These repairs require a gunsmith's
skill and several hours and possibly parts.
Explodes: The barrel explodes and the firer takes one half the
damage from one round, no armor and no hit location
roll is made. If the weapon has additional barrels or
a clip, roll for them also. Only count explodes
results. The weapon is destroyed.
Weapons Reliability Class
Class II: Cavalry Pistol, Double Pistol, Personal Pistol,
Matchlock Musket, Double Wheellock, Wheellock
Carbine, Arquebus, M16A3
Class III: Hand Cannon, Triple Cannon, Flintlock Revolver
The Reliability class worsens due to bad maintenance from 1-3 Classes (or more).
Also if any of the weapons (except the M16, of course) gets damp or wet they will not fire. The TL 5 weapons are especially bad for this. The modifiers for ROF only come into play if the weapon has an ROF greater than 3. To preform maintenance the HP must have some sort of Gunsmith K/S Area.
Shotguns (Multiple Projectiles): The pellets have a tendency to spread after they leave the barrel so only targets hit directly and at relatively close range will be hit by all of the pellets. Remember to treat each pellet as a separate attack, and armor affects each pellet individually.
Range % Hits Arquebus Hits Point Blank 100 9 Short 80 6-8 Medium 50 3-5 Long 25 2 Extreme 10 1
Okay, with a header like that, y'all are already all mad at me :-)
I have been running a bastardized Prime campaign, set in the land of Mordant, where image-magic is real. To throw the players a serious loop, I am setting up a scenario where the villain is actually a teenaged kid with a deck of Magic: the Gathering to fuel his magic (in other words, each round of combat he can act like a normal 'turn' of M:tG play, BUT he is restricted in that land can only be put into play if there is a piece of land nearby of said type -- and in Mordant, that's mostly forest and plains).
Here is a critter out of that encounter, probably the nastiest one there.
[A quick side note on the Prime-variation: I use damage types, but not
strike locations, so the armor table can be treated as averaged armor,
and the normal armor table for Advanced can be extrapolated. Also, I use
the CATEGORIES, but I use the Prime scale, so double each category before
dividing it up for advanced -- oh yes, and to avoid making them TOO nasty
if you want to use them in Advanced, put most of the categories into
the capacity]
Craw Wurm
Mental: 180 Physical: 240 Spiritual: 100
Mnemonic: 90 Muscular: 120 Metaphysical: 50
Reasoning: 90 Neural: 120 Psychic: 50
WL: 180
Weapons:
Claw (STEEP: 40, 2/CT, 4D6 piercing)
Bite (STEEP: 30, 1/CT, 3D6 piercing)
Tail (STEEP: 20, 1/2CT, 6D6 IMPACT)*
* the tail strike is limited to creatures behind the Craw Wurm, and
it can be used no more than once every other CT
Armor:
Cut Prc Bldg SmlArms Enrgy
36 36 24 24 12
[the party has no other types, treat energy and fire as the same]
Notes:
The Craw Wurm is a very very very nasty critter, being some 50'
long. It thumps and galumphs along, unable to fly, breaking through
foliage when summoned to the fray. Its scales glisten green, and legend
says that it can hide in the woods (although it has been very active
every time anyone has ever sighted it).
These additions and modifications to Mythus rules are only
suggestions, of course. They happen to fit comfortably within my own need
for a framework of logic and consistency (I'm a high school physics
teacher!). I believe that the assumptions I have made about chi-assisted
dimensional access to heka lead logically to the establishment of the
various magick-using vocations, as they exist in the Mythus sourcebooks.
The same set of assumptions will also work for any other "traditional" RPG
systems that utilize level-or skill-based spellcasting and various classes
of spellcasters.
One other thing: I have about 12 years of experience in the
practice of yoga and martial arts. Based upon what I have occasionally
been able to "touch" and perceive, I do believe that chi energy exists as a
tangible aspect of living--that it can be accumulated and manipulated (in
mostly minor ways) as described for mystics. In my experience, though, chi
energy is very transitory and if not constantly maintained, soon drains
away. I have never seen any evidence that it can be stored externally, or
that dimensional access is possible. Too bad...this reality could use a
little heka, couldn't it?
Xerk was a famous Dwarven Heka-Forger in the Early Era of the Dwarven
empire. He was known for his very unorthodox techniques and equally
effective equipment. The Amber Helms were developed by Xerk to be used by
Dwarven warriors in their battles against the mage supported Human armies.
A special squad of highly trained warriors wearing these helms would
spear-head an attack directly at the mages who were supporting the human
troops. These helms protected these warriors from the "evil" magicks that
the mages would try to use to stop them. These squads were very effective
at first, but the humans soon learned to protect their mages by more
conventional means.
The Amber Helms give their wearers an additional mental resistance
of 150 and a spiritual resistance of 50. They also provide 200 points of
mental armor and 100 points of spiritual armor. The armor doesn't
regenerate, but can be restored by infusing the helm with Heka using a
fairly simple ritual (but it's not as simple if you don't know what the
ritual is). The helm does have a small side-effect. The wearer will
always feel annoying sensation in their head as long as they are near an
active mage (as opposed to a priest). This helps sharpen their aggression
towards such people (be they friend or foe).
Not too many of these helms were made since they weren't that easy
to make and Xerk always had much better things to do than mass produce
things. Unfortunately his techniques were far enough from standard that
few other dwarves dared to try and duplicate them.
Ring of Antitoxin - This ring is always magically active, and it immediately lessens the strength of any poison encountered by the wearer (insinuitive, ingestive, or contact) by 10, before any damage is accrued. Thus, for example, if the HP wearing the ring was struck by a dagger, poisoned with an insinuitive poison of strength 40 of an instantaneous type (all 100 damage at once), then this would be reduced to a strength 30 poison of instantaneous type (75 points all at once). At lessen strengths, this effect of -10 to the strength becomes considerable. Some of these rings are more potent, and others delay the onset of the poison to longer than the norm expected.
Ring of Protection vs. Drowning - This ring provides the same effect as the Apotropaism spell of the same name cast at a STEEP of 100, for the mere investment of 100 heka. This effect is considered an eyebite in effect once the heka is invested, for purposes of how fast the effects of the ring become manifest.
Ring of Mental Attack Perception - This ring will operate continuously for 24 hours for a mere 50 heka; during the 24 hours, it will flawlessly detect all mental links to the wearer during that time, alerting its owner the same CT the link is made by any means the DM so chooses (eg. flash, tightening, gets hot/cold, etc.). If for any reason the wearer is not so able, the wearer is also given the ability to channel heka into defense against a mental attack. Some of these rings also grant a minor amount of Mental Armor. These rings usually require more base heka to activate.
Ring of Spiritual Attack Perception - This ring will operate continuously for 24 hours for a mere 50 heka; during the 24 hours, it will flawlessly detect all spiritual links to the wearer during that time, alerting its owner the same CT the link is made by any means the DM so chooses (eg. flash, tightening, gets hot/cold, etc. If for any reason the wearer is not so able, the ring also grants the ability to channel heka into defense against spritual attacks. Some of these rings also grant a small amount of Spiritual Armor; these rings usually require more base heka to activate.
Ring of Mental-Spirtual Attack Percetion - This ring detects both Mental and Spritual attcks; for the mere investment of 75 heka, it will flawlessly detect all mental or spiritual links over the 24 hours following heka expenditure. The ring alerts its wearer of a Mental or Spiritual link the same CT the link is made. If for any reason the wearer is not able, the ring also grants the ability to channel heka into defense against both mental and spiritual attacks. These rings are considerably more rare than the above two rings; the ones that provide small amounts of mental and spiritual armor are even more rare and desirable, usually having an even higher base heka activation cost.
Hundreds of years ago there was a guild where mages from all over
the continent came to learn, study and experiment. This guild had
responsibilities to the nations in which it was present and to the general
wellfare of everyone. To fullfill these responsibilities the head guild
members developed these Orbs. Their purpose was to allow a way for the
leaders of various nations communicate to each other directly without
having to go on long risky trips. It is not certain exactly how many of
these Orbs were made, but there was at least one for each of the nations
and there was a master orb that the guild kept to itself. Each orb had a
specific color associated with it and to use an orb, you would try to "call
up" another orb by concentrating on that color. If someone was monitoring
the other orb, they would see the color of the orb that you were using and
could choose to respond (or not). In their most simple form the Orbs could
allow two-way communication between any two orbs. This communication would
be through thoughts and emotions that were specifically directed at the
orb. In this way users could control what the other person "heard".
The orb that the guild kept for its own use was the White orb. It
could act like a normal orb (the color Black was reserved for the White orb
acting in this respect), and it had many other abilities. The White orb
could immitate an orb of any of the other colors and the White orb could
also eavesdrop on any conversation taking place through any two orbs
without the users of the other orbs knowing. Of course the Guild only used
this orb sparingly and with everyone elses best interests in mind...
A rumor that spread, despite the best of efforts by the guild, was
that it is possible to cast spells through the orbs to other users. If
this is true then the spells would have to be specially prepared or they
would have to be some sort of "priming" spell. It is also possible that
this use would only work from the White orb. Seeing as how the guild
denied these rumors, none of these spells are known to exist, but I'm sure
an enterprising mage might be able to recreate them with enough time,
effort, and luck (if they didn't kill themselves first).
Anyway during the [insert major catastrophe here], the guild was
destroyed (mostly) and many of the orbs were lost. Now many years later
only a few of the orbs have been recovered and these are guarded very
carefully. It is not known how many fo the orbs still exist and nobody
knows (or at least admits to know) the whereabouts of the master White orb.
Always Faithful: Hawkeye