Mercurial Schools of Magic: Pyromancy

"Consider creating your own custom mercurial magic tables that align with the schools of magic in your own campaign." - DCC RPG p. 320

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Upon casting Arcane Affinity (p. 162), a caster's mercurial magic results are all rerolled as the wizard becomes attuned to their chosen school of magic. Roll 1d24 modified by the caster's Luck modifier (do not multiply by 10 as when rolling on the original d100 table). Note that 0 and 25 are only achievable with a Luck modifier. These results are largely based on the core game's tables, selected and flavoured to be appropriate to the school of magic, though there are also additional entirely original effects.

⛤denotes entire or partial effects from the vanilla table

⛧denotes effects based on vanilla results but altered to suit
☿ denotes entirely new effects

Pyromancy

0. ⛧At great cost. Every time the wizard casts the spell, they make a Luck check. If they fail, someone they know bursts into flame and burns to ash (judge's choice).
1. ☿ Self-immolation. When the wizard casts this spell, the wizard catches fire and takes 1d6 damage each round until they can make a successful DC 10 Reflex save.
2. ☿ Spark. A random item of flammable material within 30' catches fire.
3. ⛧Dehydration. A great thirst causes the wizard to take 1d3 points of Stamina damage (before any spellburn is applied).
4. ⛧Ignition. The wizard must produce a spark or small flame, such as from a match or flint, to be able to cast the spell.
5. ⛧Stifling warmth. A 30' radius around the wizard feels uncomfortably warm for 1d4 rounds and everyone within it suffers -2 to all rolls.
6. ⛧Planar rift. Casting the spell tears open a wormhole to the plane of elemental fire, which remains open for 1d4 rounds. There is a cumulative 1% chance each cast that a fire elemental with HD equal to the caster's level + 5 exits the rift. Randomly determine whether it is hostile, friendly, or neutral toward the caster.
7. ☿ Solar power. A flaming beam from the sun powers this spell. The wizard gets +1d for spell checks when in sunlight and -1d when they are not.
8. ☿ Ring of fire. When successfully casting this spell, a ring of fire with a radius of 1d6 x 10' appears around the caster for 1d4 turns. Any creatures attempting to cross this line or starting their turn standing on it must make a DC 10 Reflex save to avoid catching fire.
9. ⛤Flash casting. A bright flash of flame and a loud whoosh accompany the casting of this spell, revealing the wizard's position to all within sight of him. This likely draws both attention and arrows. 
10. ☿ Flash sweat. The caster's skin and clothes become wet, halving any damage from fire for a turn.
11. ☿ Am I missing an eyebrow? One of the wizard's eyebrows singes when casting. If they have none, hair from elsewhere singes.
12. ⛧Candle. A spectral light hovers around the caster, providing 25' of light.
13. ☿ Boil over. Any and all water within 5' of the wizard heats up and begins to boil. Up to a pint of water will completely evaporate.
14. ☿ Torchburn. As part of casting this spell, the wizard burns at least one torch they are holding to cinders. Each torch burned this way counts as one point of spellburn, giving +1 to the spell check.
15. ⛧Fearsome flames. The wizard's eyes glow with flame, granting +1d to any attempts to intimidate or cause fear.
16. ☿ Spontaneous combustion. When the wizard casts this spell, the target of the spell catches fire and takes 1d6 damage each round until they can make a successful DC 10 Reflex save.
17. ⛤Energy burst. When successfully casting this spell, the wizard is surrounded by wreathes of flame, which do not affect the wizard but ignite flammable objects within 5' and cause 1d6 damage to melee opponents.
18. ☿ Fire within. When successfully casting this spell, the wizard temporarily gains 1d8 Strength for one turn. This temporary Strength cannot be spellburned.
19. ☿ Fire funnel. Any fire within 100' of the caster is transported from its source (which is effectively doused) to then be jetted from the caster. Roll 1d4 to determine where it jets from: (1) palms, (2) eyes, (3) mouth, (4) ears.
20. ⛧Phoenix. After casting this spell, the wizard bursts into flame and crumbles to ash. They will then rise from the ashes 2d4 rounds later. Their items are generally not damaged, though there is a 1% chance their clothes burn leaving the reborn wizard nude.
21. ☿ Smoke cloud. A cloud of smoke with radius 1d3 x 10' obscures vision for 1d6 rounds. Roll 1d3 to determine where the smoke is centered: (1) the caster, (2) the target, (3) aimed somewhere within the spell's range.
22. ☿ Heat metal. When casting this spell, the wizard also heats a metal object of their choice within 30' to a painfully hot degree. Anyone touching, holding, or wearing this object suffers 1d6 damage each round. Choosing to continue holding it requires a DC 15 Fort save. The object cools in 1d12 rounds.
23. ⛧Rain of fire. Casting this spell sparks a tempest of tiny meteors that fall in a 30' diameter centered on the caster. All within the area must make a DC 10 Ref save. Failing the save means the character has been hit by a small fireball, taking 1d6 damage and having a 1-in-3 chance of catching fire.
24. ⛤Tide of ash. All living vegetative matter within 10' per spell level is reduced to ash. Vegetative creatures caught within this radius take 1d14 points of damage per spell level. Dead vegetative matter is unaffected.
25. ⛤Roll again twice.

Gaming Snacks - [blog100] pt. 4, q. 73

This post is part of a series where I put forth a challenge for bloggers to answer all 100 questions on this table by d4 Caltrops. This week I rolled a 73.

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73. What are the best Snacks you've found that work during a Game?

This question is a bit fluffy, but hey, let's roll with it.

It largely depends on the timeslot. I have two regular groups I play with. The 5e table I play in is frequent, short sessions, with players who mostly don't have kids. The DCC table I run is infrequent, longer sessions, with players who mostly do have kids. These factors are relevant to meal times, so that complicates the snack situation a bit.

The shorter sessions are covered by whichever random snacks someone happens to bring on the day. This system works fine.

The less frequent games on the other hand almost need to be organized around meals, and usually include a break for a meal somewhere in the middle. I say "break" - we don't entirely stop playing to eat, but have you ever tried to run a game while eating a bowl of curry? I consider it lucky that we've only ruined one single character sheet by staining it with korma. So there's a snack that certainly doesn't work. Pick something less saucy.

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Here is where I'll link your blog if you join me on this 100-post journey through 100 questions.

This week, Scrolls from the Toaster talks about where undead come from, which is far more interesting than what I eat.

What's your True Name?

DCC RPG p. 293 gives us the Cleric spell True Name which grants some boons related to casting against a target whose true name is known.

True names (and furthermore, "words of power" and onomancy in general) are a fascinating subject to me. DCC gives it the same treatment as it does with many other magical concepts and gives you just enough of a foundation and some nice flavour to build from. One of the things it gives us is this:

"Due to the complexities and magical nature of true names, the cleric cannot easily share a true name with another person. Attempts to write or speak the true name become garbled in the communication process[...]"

This sets up true names as something that exists in the untamable fabric of the universe, beyond mortal ken, that cannot be easily understood or disseminated. This is both flavourful and acts as a limiter for something that could break the game and the fiction, and it means you don't actually have to come up with a true name for everyone. Imagine if you had to invent a meaningful and dramatic true name for Bob the Costermonger because your players developed an obsession with him - and then again for every second NPC they attach themselves to.

Hell, the existence of onomancy could extend to needing to come up with a true name for literally every thing; you aren't expected to know what all your Wizard's incantations are because depending on the magic system this could wind up meaning you need to create an entire darn conlang just so you can have someone throw fireballs. That's a lot to expect of someone who just wants to play elf games. So we kind of just say these words exist but we as players don't know or understand them.

And yet I'm not entirely satisfied with that. If a PC can learn their own true name, the player probably wants to know the name too.

Below I've created a table of types of true names of various languages. The first 6 are literal languages, all of which are ancient languages of immortal beings significant to the cosmology of my setting. The latter 8 are not a specific language, just ways of describing a unique individual. Each time the spell True Name reveals a name, you can roll on this table to decide what kind of name it is and then create (or have the player create) something of that format which suits the character. This also accounts for the odd little detail in DCC that entities seem to have at least three true names: lesser, greater, and secret. This is made possible because they can be from multiple "true" languages or formats.

All of the given types of names can still only be spoken as a true name if the user knows the true name, i.e. they are able to comprehend the name in its magical essence. They can also only be understood by those who know it or can decipher it, as per the spell's rules.

The table can be adjusted to your needs (as all tables can) by replacing languages or changing which title types are available.

The first six language-based examples were generated using Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names - a useful tool, but you may have your own rules for names or languages in your world.

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Types of True Names

You can roll:

• d14 for the full table
• d12 to exclude the silliest options
• d6 for ancient-language-based names
• d8+6 for non-language-based names

Result	True Name Type	Description	Example
1	Fae	A whimsical name given in the fae language. If Chaotic, it will be Unseelie in nature.	Glaxando
2	Draconic	A name given in the draconic tongue, harsh and spoken with a hiss.	Keruxamanthys
3	Infernal	A demonic name from the depths of the abyss.	Yalmozleegh
4	Astral	A name that echoes across the heavens in the fabric of spacetime.	Var-Talas
5	Outer	Given by the elder gods in a language that can drive you mad to listen to it.	Volekdurnim
6	Alignment	A name in your Alignment tongue, inexorably tying you to cosmic forces.	Rinderlin (Lawful)
7	Title	A title given based on your most significant act.	John who Freed the Gladiators
8	Prophetic	A title that foretells your destiny. (may or may not be true)	John, Usurper of the Theocracy
9	Specific	A wordy descriptor so specific it could only ever apply to you.	John Smith born in Nearport to Jack and Jane, apprentice blacksmith who uncovered the ruins of Karros' Tomb and used Karros' staff to [...]
10	Serial	A unique identifier.	Human #2002767391
11	Given	Just your name.	John Smith
12	Epithet	A simple descriptor that applies to you.	John the Brave
13	Unpronounceable	Something absolutely unintelligible.	Xxxxxk'liiiiipiiscinous;j
14	Targeted Shirt	A descriptor that appears to be specific but is actually designed to appeal to a broad audience.	John the freaking awesome Warrior born in the Month of Harvest, don't mess with him!!!

The Cost of Living - [blog100] pt. 3, q. 40

This post is part of a series where I put forth a challenge for bloggers to answer all 100 questions on this table by d4 Caltrops. This week I rolled a 40.

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40. How much are Lifestyle Expenses for your PCs "Between Adventures?"

Since I'm running DCC, I simply require PCs to carry around rations to keep themselves going. They're listed on the equipment table at 5cp per day's worth, which implies they're supposed to be spending that money. If they have a place to sleep, there isn't much more for them to worry about in terms of upkeep.

This question has led me to wonder if it would be better to replace rations with a general lifestyle expenses system instead. It seems logical to have rations apply to the wilderness and expenses apply to extended stays, but perhaps it's better not to get bogged down in too many systems.

I have considered taking something from AD&D and having characters spend a flat rate per level as lifestyle expenses. Let's call it 1gp per CL per week. This is a fair bit more expensive than rations (even at level 1), but if you hand out treasure as frequently as it's found in the modules, this should create a rate of wealth decay that is enough to motivate seeking treasure but not enough to incur crippling debt if the PCs take a couple weeks' downtime to heal, study, or whatever else you do in your downtime. It scales well; higher-level PCs need more time and money to heal but will also be able to seek greater treasures to tide them over.

My players also have a stable of characters (the other survivors of the funnel) in the starting town who are, while the main party have been adventuring, managing a farm. Do these guys have upkeep costs too? If anything, they should probably have income. I have previously told my players that they can spend their off-time working for a pittance, so I've been assuming that's exactly what those characters have been doing all this time. Presumably they still have expenses of some kind, but they are overall making a slight profit. Let's add a corollary: If you are spending your time working, you do not pay lifestyle expenses.

While writing this I noticed that in all the rules and discussions I've read about this topic, I've never seen anyone answer (or even ask) an important question: What happens when you can't pay? There could be a few reasons for this. Perhaps in practice players don't actually run out of money. This seems likely, given the prevalence of Judges looking for moneysinks for their players.

A more interesting potential reason is that it doesn't actually matter what happens. You don't need anything to happen. The PCs are now broke, and for many adventures that is the reason to go out adventuring in the first place. You could roleplay through the starving adventurers begging on the streets for food and a place to sleep, but more than likely they'll quickly seek a better opportunity - and a good Judge should place that opportunity directly in their path! If it all goes wrong and the players can't make a buck to pay for their expensive lifestyles, well, that's just an easy call-to-adventure. And if they're lost in the wilderness with no resources, the adventure has already started.

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Someone else joined me on this journey! This week, Theo over at Bombgoblin talked about drugs and it's a wild ride. If I told you what the drug is, it would only raise more questions. I strongly recommend checking this one out.

Review: A Zero-Level Grimoire

A Zero Level Grimoire can be found on DriveThru RPG.

I saw this one pop up on the Goodman Games store several months ago. At the time it was available in print and had limited stock. I hesitated to get a copy because I live in Australia. Shipping here is insane at the best of times, and Goodman Games in particular seem very expensive in this regard. I almost had it sent to a friend who could ship it to me for cheaper, but alas, I ran out of time and A Zero Level Grimoire ran out of stock.

I was rather disappointed, and I wasn't the only one. Several commenters in the DCC subreddit had their eye on it too. Eventually I noticed that it was for sale again - this time digitally over on DTRPG. Good enough! I just wanted to get my hands on those spells!

A Zero Level Grimoire provides exactly what it says on the tin: 20 spells based on folk magic out of popular media (along with some fun little quotes from source media). All of the spells are just barely useful - which if you ask me is the perfect amount of useful for a 0th-level spell - and they all have a magical effect you could imagine of some sort of hedge magician. Beer Magic in particular is a fun inclusion, which reminds me of medieval women brewers being accused of witchcraft for being too good at beer.

Worth noting is that the opening page says all listed spells take more than an action to cast, though two of them are explicitly only one "round" long, and at 0th level a round and an action might as well be the same thing. Furthermore, these two spells are the ones that might be most useful in combat, so I found this to be initially confusing.

The mechanics given make 0th-level casting an interesting addition to the early stages of a campaign, although most actually scale fairly well into the later game as well. Each spell is given an "adjuvant", a spell component that can optionally be added to grant higher chances of success. Given the success rates and the fact that non-Wizard/Elf characters only get a d10 to cast (which happens to align with my alternate magic skills), these adjuvants are a welcome addition from both a mechanical and narrative perspective.

Something I was left wanting for was a method for 0-level characters in a funnel to have a selection of spells they know. This is A Zero Level Grimoire! However, all it provides is a recommendation that characters need to have learned these spells through study. This precludes brand new funnel characters from having any. My personal recommendation is that if you're going to allow these spells in your game, 0-level characters get their INT modifier (if positive) in 0th-level spells to begin the game, selected randomly. Players with a relevant occupation might be able to argue their case for why they should have a spell of their choice, INT notwithstanding. 

A Zero Level Grimoire delivers on its promise and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to add a little lower-level magic to their DCC games.

What happens to you when you die? - [blog100] pt. 2, q. 80

This post is part of a series where I put forth a challenge for bloggers to answer all 100 questions on this table by d4 Caltrops. This week I rolled an 80.

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80. What Happens when a Character Dies in your Setting?

They cease to biologically function and can no longer perform actions.

Okay, fine, I'll answer properly.

Something that seems to be inexorably tied to the concept of an afterlife is the existence of realms beyond our own. This is common across both fantasy and real-world religion, with heavens and hells of various descriptions being the usual answer to the question. Reincarnation is a notable exception, but nonetheless a person simply going somewhere else when they die is a prevalent notion in the zeitgeist and seemingly always has been.

It looks like this is going to be a continuation of my recent trend of ignoring DCC's advice to avoid an overly structured approach to the planes. Granted, the way my afterlife planes are designed is intentionally such that the structure doesn't get in the way and you can pretty much slot in whatever you want. The players don't need to (and shouldn't) learn how it "works".

On that note: here's how it works.

When a body dies, its soul escapes. The soul has influence on the corporeal world but exists primarily on the overlapping Ethereal Plane. It doesn't usually spend long here before moving on; it can take moments or hours, but for it to take a day or longer is unusual. These are the cases where something has gone wrong, such as a soul with strong willpower adamantly refusing to leave. These souls are what people call ghosts, and in severe cases where a ghost has lingered for months or years you get a haunting. Beware haunted places and objects, for if you die here your soul may join the occupants.

Where a soul then moves on to varies by circumstance. The Ethereal planes are the only place from which one can travel to planes beyond the physical reach of the Astral Sea that our Mundane World lies within. Deities, devils, demons, and other immortal figures create planes of their own that are not directly connected to our world, and the Ethereal acts as a halfway point through which a tunnel can be opened. Death is therefore a convenient process for those who want to gather souls from the Mundane World.

Deities will often invite their followers - especially the devout ones, including all Clerics - to join them in this plane after death. What this life looks like varies as much as the gods do. Devils prefer more "persuasive" methods than invitation, and demons will outright force you into their hell after destroying your physical body. To an average person who has done good by their god more often than not, and steered well clear of demons and devils, this generally leads to their expected afterlife. A soul with no claimants may be picked up by whomever is willing to take them.

You might notice that there's plenty of room in this process for conflicting claims to a soul, and this is why most deities (even the Chaotic ones) will consider a deal with a devil to be unholy. Deities, even the Chaotic ones, will not generally step in to rescue someone from a devil if their own sinful actions led them there. They may send guardians to save someone from the doom of being taken by a demon, but only the most devout of followers and highest-level Clerics are worth making a cosmic declaration of war over. Greater demons might be able to scare off even powerful gods and occasionally even snatch a Cleric from their rightful afterlife.

It's entirely possible to use this cosmology with DCC's p. 306 suggestion to have a dead party fight their way out of Hell - in fact, you could continue the adventure from the exact moment of their death, in the Ethereal realm. Perhaps the Cleric will have to deal with the fact that they must forsake their own afterlife to follow the party into Hell. It depends on the Cleric whether this would be considered a holy or unholy act. Perhaps the party all end up in different planes and some solo-adventures or group discussion is needed to bring them back together. I'd be wary about continuing play with an individual character who dies as it sets a precedent that death isn't permanent. But for a whole party, there's a few interesting options for continuing the story.

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This week, Judge Toast joined me on this challenge and posted about treasure in a dragon's hoard!

I encourage any other bloggers to check the table for inspiration. Even if you're not up to the challenge of doing them all alongside me, just do one!

Milestone Leveling and XP Leveling Compromise

The debate rages on between XP and Milestones. Perhaps "rages" is overdramatic - it's a conversation that will eternally exist because the answer is different for each table. Milestones seems to be the most popular option in the mainstream crowd, but I suspect my readers (hey, thats you!) lean more toward the older-school XP. Here, I attempt to find a middle ground. Let's create something that is neither comparable to accounting nor has the players asking "do we level up yet?" every session. We can call it Furlong Leveling, because the markers aren't as long as Milestones. Or we can call it "Experiences" Leveling, because it is based on discrete events rather than numerical values.

Goblin Punch wrote about The Legendarium and Popcorn Leveling. These are my primary inspirations, and this leveling system should be compatible with Legendarium-style bonuses (though not with Popcorn Leveling).

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Each player, in addition to their character sheet, has a list of Experiences. Each Experience is one line, and the first page should have 29 lines. This will last up to level 5. Here's a printable one with level markers on it.

An Experience can be:

• Obtaining a treasure
• Thwarting a powerful foe
• Completing the quest
• Making history

Each of these things is something that can be written down as an Experience and grants the player character a title like "Gognord the Minotaur Slayer", "Xenna, Wearer of the Flame Pendant" or "John the Negotiator". NPCs should refer to the characters this way sometimes, to give the players a sense of earning renown.

You go from level 0 to 1 with your first Experience. To use The Portal Under the Stars as an example, there are (maybe) two Experiences characters can gain here: the powerful foe and the treasure. You reach subsequent levels when you have filled a number of lines according to the following chart. Astute DCC players will see how I reached these numbers.

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Experiences	1	5	11	19	29	41	55	71	89	109

Your players should be able to have one or two Experiences each session, though it's not guaranteed if they're the type to faff around a lot. All characters involved in the game session get the Experience.

Here are some more details about what counts as an Experience. These things are chosen to encourage fun adventures and are at the Judge's discretion.

Obtain Treasure: "Treasure" is an artifact whose primary value to the players is its monetary worth. It is something they can sell either for a hefty sum of gold, or choose to keep for bragging rights. The exact value that counts depends on the economy of your world, but the main point is that the Mona Lisa counts as treasure but a +1 sword doesn't, even if the sword is worth a lot of gold. Exceptions are mentioned below.

Thwart Foe: Defeating someone legendary or someone by whom you are truly outmatched. A small group of level 1 characters taking out a bugbear boss could count, but to a group of level 5 character's that might just be an average Tuesday. Note that foes must only be thwarted, not necessarily killed or defeated.

Complete Quest: Saving the blacksmith's daughter. This is usually completing a task for someone, giving them good reason to praise your name, though it could also be obtaining a particular artifact of legend or a long-term personal goal.

Making History: This can be anywhere from brokering an alliance to preventing (or causing) an apocalypse. If it goes in the history books, it counts. Being granted a fiefdom or becoming the owner of a legendary artifact can be making history.

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This system has the following advantages:

• No need for accounting, like milestones
• Players track and see their progress, like XP
• More compatible with sandbox play than milestones
• PCs get titles, titles are cool

For further reading on alternate XP for DCC, Scrolls from the Toaster wrote Fellowship Experience which is about having the players reward each other.

The d4 Caltrops Blog Challenge - [blog100] pt. 1, q. 92

d4 Caltrops is a fantastic resource. They're well-known for their d100 tables. They posted this table of 100 topics to inspire burgeoning blogs.

Fuck it, let's do them all.

Here's how the challenge works:

1. Roll a d100 on the table linked above.
2. Blog about that question.
3. Set your own schedule. Post once a week, once a month, whatever. Don't fret if this slows down later either.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you've written 100 posts about all 100 topics. Reroll repeated results, you may want to use smaller dice toward the tail end of the challenge.
5. Tell me about it! I'll link to your post at the bottom of the next one.

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92. What was one Major Conflict/War that has occurred within Recent Memory?

For the first entry I've rolled a 92, which is a difficult question for me to answer. My running campaign world is one that is being built from the bottom up, around the players as they adventure. I began with The Portal Under the Stars and the rest of the campaign so far has expanded from there. It's been a good few adventures now and they're still following the hook from the end of that very funnel.

So as for history, the only thing that is currently set in stone is the implied ancient battle from the "war room" in the dungeon that started the game, and a couple of ruins that they've run into while crossing the surrounding world. Those could still be from any time and involve any peoples. Other modules I've included in the world provide either recent local events or ancient history as a background (or both), which can fit into the world without interrupting anything. This is to be expected (modules are modular!) but what it does mean is that I haven't actually had to think about this so far. It hasn't been relevant to my players' journey.

It feels like a copout answer to just say "it isn't necessary", so I am going to actually answer the question properly as well, but this feels like a good opportunity to repeat something that has been repeated many times in the past, and yet cannot be repeated enough: prepare only what you need to play.

Realizing that your players don't care about the world as much as you do is a tough pill to swallow, but man is it good medicine. They will care! But they don't yet. Players only care about the game, so when they're invested in the game is also when they will begin to care about the world. Your players aren't interested in hearing about the decades-long history of two warring families disputing each others' claim to the throne until one family says "hey go get us that thing" and the other family goes "noooo you can't take our thing" and now your players have a side they like and a side they hate. Suddenly, information about the conflict might be useful, and that makes it compelling.

Quick sidebar: Alternatively, you can have players be a part of building the world like in Dungeon World or this activity by Judge Toast. That's a surefire way to make them care before you've even begun playing, but it means you have to hand over the reins.

What I'm saying is: don't prepare too much history because it doesn't matter until you get there and until it matters nobody cares. However, the corollary to prepare only what you need to play is that once you have prepared what you need, prepare what you want. That's where you can do your deep dives into history that isn't relevant to the game yet (or ever). That's where I can have the lonely fun of making up my own world and history - but I must remember that this part is for me, not for my players. I have to be prepared for them to never see it.

One of these things I've done extra-curricular prep for is the conflict between the Lords of the elemental planes.

DCC RPG lists Ithha, Prince of Elemental Wind as a wizardly patron, and gives him a nemesis: Grom, Lord of Stone. To further steal take inspiration from other authors, I took the reasonable assumption that there would be Lords of fire and water too. I thought the names Krakaal and Splaasha were a bit on-the-nose, though I did like how they sound like the elemental they represent. I ended up with Rulf, King of Elemental Flame and Ocea, Princess of Elemental Water. It's a matter of opinion whether that's any less on-the-nose.

I also deviated slightly from the source material with the relationships between these Lords. I went with the simpler model of elements being at war with their "opposite" (air hates earth, fire hates water) and allied with the other two. To put a twist in this, I stole yet again from this same source and threw in Azi Dahaka, another "Prince" patron, but allied him with Air and made Water his enemy, simply because it seemed to fit thematically.

And why do my players care?

Well, currently, they aren't privy to any of this. They have, however, thwarted the plans of some gnolls. In DCC RPG p. 416 gnolls are said to worship "the wicked elemental deities" and have the ability to invoke Ithha, so that's exactly what the gnolls were doing. Presumably, there are other gnolls elsewhere that worship the other Lords, so this may influence future relations between the party and potential Patrons. Furthermore, any random gnoll encounters in the future may worship different Lords and already have a reason to like or dislike the party, or it may become relevant to future endeavours into the elemental planes (should the party choose to go plane-hopping).

And all I had to do was prep the bare minimum and start playing, then fill in the blanks with other materials I stole from was inspired by. I've deviated from the original premise of this post quite a bit, but I think that's perfectly fine given that d4 Caltrops' table was intended as inspiration. It did inspire me, and I let this post go wherever that inspiration took me.

To round out this meandering post, it turns out that by doing only what I need and adding onto that only what I want, I've developed a history of interdimensional conflict that my players care about without even realizing it. Hell, toward the start of this post I even said there wasn't one, but there clearly is. The details just aren't worked out yet, and that's good. It'll get more nuanced as my players get themselves involved in it and we all - including myself - can discover the history along the way.

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Let's aim for next week for the next randomly selected post. Here is where I'll link to other participants' posts next time.

Infinite Elemental Planes

Elementalists are not all enlightened as to the exact origins of the extraplanar energies they evoke. Most assume it comes from somewhere outside their own space. A handful have rightly concluded that such a space might be accessible from our own.

A lucky few have survived such attempts.

The dangers of teleporting oneself directly into a universe made entirely of fire should be obvious. Opening portals is a safer method of accessing these realms (though prepare to deal with a torrent of water or fire from either of those planes) but even the more placid realms of pure earth and pure air are difficult to traverse or even survive.

If someone wishes to traverse the elemental planes, they would have much better chances in one of the other countless available options.

Do I need to give credit for a 400+ year old image? Kepler made this.

There are many models of the cosmos describing how the planes intersect and overlap. They are all wrong, of course, though some are useful. The elemental planes - at least those of our own Mundane World - can be represented by a tetrahedron. A four sided die, if you prefer. Each of the vertices on the tetrahedron represents the location of a pure elemental plane: fire, air, earth, water. But there are more than just points to a tetrahedron; they have edges and faces, and space within.

Each accessible coordinate in this space is it's own elemental plane, filled with mixed energies from the four pure vertices. There are theoretically infinite possible spaces which could be occupied by planes, though it is uncertain how precisely there can be measured.

The Prime Elemental Planes

Each of the elements has their Elemental Lord. Ithha, Prince of Elemental Wind (DCC RPG p. 356) is one such lord, as is his nemesis Grom. These powerful elementals reside in extreme reaches of the elemental tetrahedron, each in their own universe of near-pure elemental energy. These extremes usually only have a small, central location which is habitable (in a loose sense of the word) to life as we know it. The Prince of Wind takes audience in his palace in the endless sky, while Grom sits guarded by a terracotta army in his underground city.

Para-elemental Planes

At all other points within the tetrahedron and along its edges and surfaces exist universes of varying abundance of the elements. Here are some examples of planes that might be of interest to wizards and foolish adventurers. Elements are listed in order of their abundance, with unlisted elements indicating a complete or near-complete absence.

Archipelago (Water, Earth, Air): Chains of islands in an endless, calm sea.
Crucible (Earth, Fire, Air): A blistering-hot craggy land with rivers of molten iron.
Maelstrom (Water, Air, Earth): An endless tumultuous sea with permanent storms. 
Quagmire (Earth, Water, Air): A primordial swamp of mud and ooze, teeming with life. Toxic, disease-ridden life.
Waste (Earth, Air): A place of sand and dust with little wind and zero moisture. Neither hot nor cold, and very little life (even elementals).

There is a vast array of planes that are not habitable due to overabundance of fire or lack of traversible land, but there is also an endless number of spaces between to explore. The above list is far from exhaustive - any combination you can think of can be travelled to. It simply needs to be located.

Many of the habitable para-elemental planes are ducal territories of lesser elementals subservient to (or caught between) the Elemental Lords. The elemental planes are a space of constant and dynamic conflict.

The Elemental Gate

There exists a machine which was created to locate elemental planes and open up portals into them. It was created by a wizard who needed various elemental resources to power his alchemical pursuits, though he met his demise to an elemental who didn't see the humor in being ripped in half by an interdimensional portal... again. In the wizard's defense, the odds of this happening twice were astronomically slim.

The machine consists of a stone panel with a series of three wooden steering wheels like those on a ship, a theatrically-large throw-switch, a stone archway a human could walk through, and a "display": tetrahedron with a small sphere suspended inside it. Flavour this display to the wizard's style - it could be a glass prism with a rainbow sphere of light in it, or a wrought-iron cage with a mechanical rod holding the sphere up. Each corner should be marked with a symbol or color associated with its.

The wheels are each associated with one axis in 3d space (though they are not marked) and set the co-ordinates of the plane being targeted. The throw-switch opens or closes a portal in the archway to the selected elemental plane. Attempting to turn a wheel while the portal is open causes a violent expulsion of elemental energy. Don't mess around with the machine when it's turned on, dingus.

The "puzzle" for the players is to figure out how the machine works and use it to get to the elemental plane they desire. This probably involves a lot of trial and error, and it'll hopefully be a fun session of improv figuring out what each combination of elements looks like on the fly. Hopefully, the players think to navigate to each corner and test them one at a time. Worst comes to worst, I'm sure the wizard left some cryptic list of co-ordinates around here somewhere.

The reward is a hub zone for adventures across the elemental planes. This is sandbox stuff, so make sure you either ask your players what they intend to do ahead of time, have a bunch of touchstone planes to riff on, or be prepared for extreme multidimensional improv (as one should always be).

Colorful Orcs

Human skin tone varies a lot. It's not just one-dimensional, from light to dark. There's shades and there's undertones, making it a little more accurate to map skin tone two-dimensionally (though that's still not perfect). Fantasy races should be at least as varied, if not more - why should all Orcs be green? This can be used as part of DCC's philosophy around keeping things mysterious - skin color is even a part of the table on p. 380. Players will know the big buff green dude is an Orc, but they might not be so sure about a blue or yellow dude.

There are environmental factors that appear to affect the skin tone of a population. We know, for instance, that darker skin protects from the sun and lighter skin helps to produce vitamin D. Humans are adaptable and awesome. Below is a map that uses environmental factors to predict the distribution of skin colors of native populations across the globe - it's not always accurate when you start zooming in to specific places, but the general trend is close enough to actual data be interesting.

The obvious conclusion to draw is that skin tone tends darker near the equator and tends lighter near the poles. In Orcs, we are going to represent this as a gradient from green to red. Orcs in the cooler climates away from the equator will tend toward green, and Orcs in the warmer climates will tend toward red. Humans who are ignorant of biology (i.e. nearly everybody in a pseudo-medieval fantasy setting) will call these populations things like "Woods Orcs", "Plains Orcs" and "Desert Orcs".

As the chart tends downward, we see the Orcish equivalent to undertone. This is a bit more complex in humans than the overtones but it has something to do with the structure of our skin and blood vessels - we don't need to get too noodly with that here. What I'm going to roughly correlate this axis to is altitude, which lets us have populations in mountain ranges and mesa that vary from blue "Snow Orcs", to grey "Stone Orcs", to light reddish "Clay Orcs".

These colors often match relatively well with the colors of their biomes (some exceptions), so we can say that camouflage is an additional environmental pressure that could contribute to these colorings. Orcs are hunters, so camouflage is a useful tool.

While humans (and indeed, players) may assume these different varieties of Orc come with special abilities, any difference between populations is more significantly a cultural one than a biological one. This is up to and including their magic, which would come from different Patrons. The environment a population is found in should absolutely be considered when developing their culture, which will likely fuel stereotypes about the differences between Snow Orcs and Sands Orcs. Travelling bands of Orcs should have one or two that stand out from the rest, maybe with an item of cultural significance on them, hinting at faraway lands.

Similar charts can be built for species like Elves which often have variations (High Elves, Dark Elves, Wood Elves) rather than putting each Elf into a clear, discrete category. Goblins, however, don't have this kind of variation due to their less naturalistic origins.

Goblins Can't Die

Goblins are gross little weirdos. They're known for being quick to violence, even among themselves. Some say they're cowardly fighters. That's not entirely accurate. They're just smart enough to know when they can't beat someone in a fair fight - not that they have much concern for your idea of fair. When they can't win fairly, they win unfairly instead. This might come across as cowardly, but wanting to win doesn't mean they're afraid to die. Why should they be? Goblins can't die.

Goblin Death

Many a Warrior has slain a goblin or five, many a man-at-arms has helped to ward off a raid at the skirts of their village. Any experienced fighter can tell you that a goblin goes down easier than a man. It's laughable to suggest they cannot die. They seem to die quite easily, in fact.

When a goblin is rent in twain by the Warrior's blade, its body ceases to live. The jury is still out on whether these unsavoury little bastards have souls, but something remains. We know this because the goblin comes back. Goblins who have been slain have occasionally been known to recognize the person who slew them, and to be extra clever, extra sneaky, extra cruel the next time they encounter their would-be murderer. They'll still often make the same mistake twice, and they'll be even angrier about it the third time.

This easily explains their lack of fear in the face of certain death, quickness to violence, and even goes some way to explaining why they have no apparent sanitary standards. Illness isn't exactly going to kill them, is it?

Goblin Birth

Goblins are born from a fleshy orifice, much like the rest of us. Motherhood is something usually associated with nice words like "nurturing" and "beautiful". A goblin mother is much less nurturing and a whole lot more fleshy and orificey. They tend to be associated with words like "mound", "heap", or if the goblins are on the move, "ball".

It appears that when a goblin is slain, its body and mind return to its mother as it decomposes. The mechanism through which this occurs is unknown, though many have noted that a goblin corpse decays at an alarmingly rapid rate. If this process were understood, it might be possible to prevent goblin reincarnation; a useful tactic for pushing back against their oppressive horde. There may be some magic ritual, some binding seal, or a particular method of slaughter which makes them stay dead. There are certainly a lot of superstitions about this.

Perhaps the bane of the goblin varies from brood to brood, which has contributed to any consistent method remaining undiscovered.

Goblin Mothers

The green-skinned, hairy-moled mass of flesh the goblins call "mom" usually has only one orifice. It often (though not always) resembles a humanoid orifice, along with any related foul secretions. Goblins are born from it.

A mother can be anywhere from the size of a workhorse to the size of a castle's keep, depending on the numbers of its brood. Small goblin crews will roll their mother around, with a handful of scouts ahead, clearing a path through violent means if necessary. The goblins are more protective of their mother than themselves. They seek a permanent home for their mother, for once she grows beyond a certain size she will be effectively impossible to move any more, first becoming unreasonably heavy and then physically attaching herself to the inside of a cavern wall.

Below table is intentionally unpleasant.

d12 disgusting orifices:

1. A weeping, yellowed, bloodshot eye
2. A waxy ear
3. A drooling mouth, tongue hanging out
4. A vomiting mouth
5. A snorting, sneezing, crooked goblin nose
6. A smooth fleshy tube that you can't see the end of, pulsating
7. A gaping wound
8. A pustule
9. Skin pores, like the suriname toad
10. No orifice - the goblins just burst out Alien-style, and feeding is a mystery
11. A birth canal
12. An anus

Hobgoblins and Bugbears

Hobgoblins and bugbears are commonly known to be a variety of goblin, though their true nature is known by few. Hobgoblins have been noted to be slightly more human-like - they stand straighter, fight smarter, and seem to sit higher in the goblin hierarchy than your garden-variety goblin. Bugbears have been noted to be more animal-like - they are bulky, hairy, stupid, and can only exert dominance over the other goblins by bullying them into submission.

These observations are no coincidence.

Unlucky victims of a goblin gang are sometimes ritualistically fed to the goblin mother as a celebration of the clan's growth. Human and demihuman victims of these rituals lead to the creation of a hobgoblin, sometimes sharing traits of the original person but never retaining memories or personality. If there is anything remaining of the individual after the metamorphosis, it is hidden deep beneath the goblin savagery that displaces it.

Similarly, bugbears appear to form when the mother is fed a large animal. Bears may be the origin of the name, though bugbears have been identified in bovine, equine, and crocodilian varieties. No such creatures form when the mother is fed its usual diet of small animals such as rats - it is uncertain whether mass is a critical factor or the goblins simply don't perform the necessary rituals with small creatures.

The Goblin Grandmother

It was noted by goblinographers and goblinologists that goblins don't seem to have nearly the regard for their mothers that they ought to. This isn't just a moral criticism; it makes sense that goblins do not fear death when death is not permanent, but what if their mother were destroyed? The goblins try to protect her, but not like their life depends on it. More like it would be a huge pain in the ass to have to roll her all the way back out there again.

This observation led to the discovery of the Goblin Grandmother at the site where the paths of travelling goblin squads converge. A great pit of goblin flesh exists hidden in a valley, far from civilization. You'd notice the odor long before you reached it. You'd be ambushed by goblins soon after that. It is hypothesized that the Grandmother is a large enough creature to physically enter and explore the innards of, and that to stop the goblin menace once and for all, one would have to destroy its heart from within.

The Great Gran̵d̷m̴o̸̱͑t̸͉̍h̶̝̒e̶͙͎͗r

Don't be ridiculous. There is no Great Grandmother, and you'll do well to put that thought away for good. Don't go looking for her now, will you?

Review: Wasteland Without Epithet

Judge Toast has given me a copy of Wasteland Without Epithet to review. Sorry it took so long, Toast.

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The Joys of Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding is one of the great joys of RPGs. For many of us, it's the thing that drew us toward RPGs. As a kid, I used to doodle maps of islands and mark where there were monsters and treasure. I had no idea RPGs existed, it was just something I liked doing. I never really stopped.

As the DM/referee/judge, the joy of worldbuilding can be a lonely one. That isn't entirely a bad thing - it's nice to have that outlet and be able to "play" solo in a way that will eventually come to fruition at the table. On the flip side, it often doesn't come to fruition. It's something that is difficult to share with the players in a way that they can enjoy it too. Nobody enjoys a lore dump, so you usually have to give them the juicy details the long way around by making them matter to the game. This can take weeks or months and sometimes the players never discover the things you've invested yourself in.

Wasteland Without Epithet gives you a process to do it the other way around; make the players a part of the setting's creation and then build the game within the world they want. I first learned of this concept from players of Dungeon World, which is presented as almost being more narrative than game, so the players being invested in the narrative is far more important there. It's a powerful concept. Your players go into the game already attached to the world and any detail you add automatically becomes an interesting twist.

How to Play

The introductory section says that you can run through the activity with anyone, jokingly suggesting that you "accost strangers on the bus". I decided to use this tactic, and the people I accosted were a colleague, my wife (not the same person) and two friends. I ran into a roadblock toward the latter end of the activity when one step asks you to "go around the table" and to have discussions about each answer in turn. I did not have a table to go around, so this took me a long time to do as I asked people one by one individually and had to relay answers along to the next person. It technically still worked, but I suggest that if you're going to use Wasteland Without Epithet you do it in a session-0-like setting, with the players you intend to play with.

The Questions Within

There are a few questions in there that ask you to assign points to categories - one of those is the classic Law, Good, Evil and Chaos, which I initially wasn't a huge fan of because of my preference for three-point Alignment but it doesn't necessitate actually using Good or Evil in your game, so it still works as a way to develop a world's cultures. The other question had 7 categories to do with aspects of culture, but what I really liked about these was the use of numbers that aren't easily divisible so my victims players were forced to think a little harder about how they wanted their points divvied out. Oddly, all of these seven categories are positive other than "Paranoia". This doesn't really matter either, it just seemed strange to me, but I see what Toast was going for.

In the above sections, my players all assumed you needed to place at least 1 point in all categories. This doesn't seem intended, because all that really does is give you less points to spend while making the baseline 1 instead of 0. Wasteland Without Epithet doesn't explicitly mention whether or not you can leave a category at zero, which seems to be an oversight because it does give examples that are impossible otherwise - but those examples aren't visible to the players.

A few of the questions are a bit difficult for players who aren't used to building worlds of their own, but everyone came up with interesting answers. Occasionally, later questions were already answered by previous questions - in those cases we chose to simply expand further on the concept or shuffle the answers around. By the end of it we had a world with unique twists on Drow, Centaurs, Goblins, and some sort of primitive society of madly religious geese (thank my wife for that one - she hasn't much experience with RPGs but she certainly got into the spirit of it!), on top of at least as many adventure hooks and plenty of room to create more.

Closing Thoughts

You can just about guarantee that if you run a group of prospective players through this, you'll end up with an interesting world that they are all attached to. This might even be the thing that convinces my wife to try my hobby, though she insists she'll only play if she can be a goose. Perhaps I'll have to give her the Invincible Chicken class.

Check out Wasteland Without Epithet here!

Everyone's a Warrior

These variant rules are just something I came up with for fun. They almost certainly aren't suitable for campaign play, but perhaps for a one-shot where everyone gets to play with a zany mechanic of various flavors. Alternatively, I can imagine a scenario where a Warrior gets body-swapped with another class and has to use that character's abilities in his own way until he can find a way to return to his old self.

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Mighty Deeds for Everyone

All characters have a Deed Die as a Warrior of the same level, which replaces their attack modifier. The use of these dice varies slightly depending on class.

Fighty Deeds

The standard Mighty Deed of a Warrior is a Fighty Deed, which can only be used as part of an attack. They are mundane, physically skilled actions performed by an athletic character. The mechanics are unchanged, but the name signifies how they differ from the other classes' new Mighty Deed types.

Smitey Deeds

Clerics lose their standard casting capabilities, including Turn unholy and Lay on hands, in favor of Smitey Deeds.

The Deeds of a Cleric physically enforce the will of their god, and their god pays back in miraculous power. This can cause unholy creatures to flee, or even cleric-spell-like effects. Similarly, a Smitey Deed can invigorate a nearby ally, healing them through the sheer holy awesomeness of witnessing an abomination being pulverized by a mighty morningstar, and being touched by the Lord's Light as it spills forth from the monster's skull.

The Smitey Deed Die result applies to damage only when attacking a creature that is unholy to your deity, but it always applies to the attack roll.

Disapproval occurs when you roll a 1 (or up to your current disapproval range) on your Deed Die AND miss your attack. Disapproval immediately occurs when you attempt to use a Smitey Deed against a creature that is aligned with or holy to your deity. Some fights must be fought alone.

Sleighty Deeds

The Deeds of a Thief are dirty Deeds indeed. The Thief has a particular set of skills, and always has those tricks up their sleeve, even when you think they're caught off-guard or unprepared. A Thief can even be captured and hide their tricks and tools from their captors until the moment they are used. Thieves are able to perform Deeds that would be impossible to a Warrior, such a moving in combat without their opponents noticing (perhaps in a puff of smoke), dealing ability damage with a hidden poison (which you just happened to prepare earlier), running up a wall and clinging to the corner to avoid opponents, or bashing an enemy's head against a locked chest at just the right angle to rattle it open.

The Sleighty Deed Die result applies to damage only when sneakily attacking (attacking an unaware creature from behind, while they are distracted by an ally in combat, or similar), but it always applies to the attack roll.

The Sleighty Deed Die also replaces any Thief Skill checks (except Cast spell from Scroll). 3 or better is a success, regardless of the skill being used and your Alignment.

For Cast spell from scroll, see Blighty Deeds below. Owning a scroll essentially gives a Thief limited access to one Blighty Deed.

Blighty Deeds

What? Okay, it's a stretch, but corruption is a blight! There wasn't a better rhyme.

Wizards can perform Deeds based on the spells in their spellbook. A blood sacrifice is required: a successful attack with a weapon. This is double-edged: Wizards can essentially cast and attack at the same time but they must harm someone to cast at all.

The Deed Die determines the power of the Deed effect. 1 or 2 is a failure and loss. 3 correlates with the lowest successful spell result, a 4 correlates with the second successful spell result, and so on. Each level of spell above 1st requires 1 result higher on the Deed Die; for instance, a 3rd level spell fails (but is not lost) on Deed results of 3 and 4.

Deed Die results by Spell Level:

Deed Die	1st level	2nd level	3rd level	4th level	5th level
1	Corruption	Corruption	Corruption	Corruption	Corruption
2	Lost	Lost	Lost	Lost	Lost
3	1st result	Failure	Failure	Failure	Failure
4	2nd result	1st result	Failure	Failure	Failure
5	3rd result	2nd result	1st result	Failure	Failure
6	4th result	3rd result	2nd result	1st result	Failure
7	5th result	4th result	3rd result	2nd result	1st result
8	6th result	5th result	4th result	3rd result	2nd result
9	7th result	6th result	5th result	4th result	3rd result
10	8th result	7th result	6th result	5th result	4th result

Rolling a 1 on the Deed Die always afflicts with Wizard with Corruption, unless Luck is spent to prevent it. This makes Corruption significantly more likely than standard Wizards.

Spellburn cost increases depending on how much you wish to increase the Deed Die by.

Deed Die Increase	Ability Cost
+1	1
+2	3
+3	6
+4	10
+5	15
+6	21

Thief and Ranger, or Specialist?

I did a short series of posts about why adding new classes is not necessary, culminating in adding a new class because I felt that one was necessary. I'm here to contradict myself once more. I guess that makes this part four of that series.

In the second part I zoomed in on a few standout classes, one of which being the Ranger. I alluded to the idea that the Ranger is to the Wilderness as the Thief is to the Dungeon. I stand by this and have come to wonder if the two really do need to be separate classes at all.

If the Ranger is just a different version of the same class as Thief, then I want to avoid the same pitfalls of binary choices that I criticize in the aforementioned series of posts. This won't be an on/off switch where you choose either Thief or Ranger, this will be a more malleable class. In keeping with this, the skills included aren't just for these two archetypes, but for other skill-based character types too.

Some of you will be familiar with the My Thief, My Way! mechanics from the Crawl! 6 fanzine. You'll recognize this as an expanded and modified version of that concept. If not, you should get the Crawl! zines. They're good, all of them.

This post also contains some refined versions of skills from my Ranger, which should perhaps replace the original clunkier versions. Specifically, Called Shot and Set Snare have been streamlined. All of my inclusions are explained at the bottom of the post - if you have questions about why I've done things a certain way, check that section.

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SPECIALIST

Instead of being a standard Thief, a player may instead choose to be a Specialist. At 1st level, a Specialist chooses from the list of Specialist Skills, selecting:

• 4 skills as Primary skills
• 4 skills as Major skills
• 3 skills as Minor skills
• 2 skills as Misc skills

All remaining Specialist Skills are foregone and considered untrained (d10 with no bonus).

Specialists still get the Thief's Luck and Wits ability, but do not have access to Thieves' Cant unless they choose at least 10 of the original Thief skills.

The chosen skills increase in ability as the Specialist levels up. Note that non-magic skills gain a bonus to the roll, while magic skills increase in die size with level - this is to represent the difficulty in learning magical skills, their obscure nature, and the usual restriction of those abilities to Wizards only. This keeps compatibility with Dice Chain Competence.

Standard skill progression:

Level:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+11	+12	+13	+14	+15
Major	+1	+3	+5	+7	+8	+9	+10	+11	+12	+13
Minor	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9
Misc	+0	+0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8

Magic skill progression:

Level:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Primary	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20	d20	d20	d24
Major	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20	d20	d20
Minor	d10	d10	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20	d20
Misc	d10	d10	d10	d12	d12	d14	d14	d16	d16	d20

Specialist Skill List

Backstab: As DCC RPG p. 34

Sneak silently: As DCC RPG p. 35

Hide in shadows: As DCC RPG p. 35

Pick pocket: As DCC RPG p. 35

Climb sheer surfaces: As DCC RPG p. 35

Pick lock: As DCC RPG p. 35

Find trap: As DCC RPG p. 36

Disable trap: As DCC RPG p. 36

Forge document: As DCC RPG p. 36

Disguise self: As DCC RPG p. 36

Read languages: As DCC RPG p. 36

Handle poison: As DCC RPG p. 36

Cast spell from scroll (Magic skill): As DCC RPG p. 36

Called shot (+AGI): Select a desired result from Crit Table II (Thieves) and attack as if the opponent's AC were that many points higher, e.g. achieving result 5 against an AC of 12 requires an attack roll of 17 and any less is a miss.

Navigate (+INT): Applies when travelling to avoid getting lost, or when using the stars to cross seas and deserts. Crossing plains is DC 5, forests or mountains DC 10, swamps and thick jungles DC 15. Travel along a path or road is trivial. Using the stars to find your heading is DC 10 on a clear night, DC 15 on a cloudy night with visible moon, and DC 20 on a cloudy night without visible moon. These DCs are for navigation checks approximately once per day of travel.

Hunt +AGI: Finding and catching a particular insect or tiny animal is DC 5. Hunting small prey to feed one for a day is DC 10. Hunting game to feed the party for a day is DC 15 (up to reasonable party sizes). This takes the better part of a day but can be done while travelling.

Gather +INT: Foraging food to feed one for a day is DC 5. Finding medicinal herbs is DC 10. Finding a rare magical ingredient is DC 20. This takes the better part of a day but can be done while travelling.

Natural medicine +INT: As Cleric's Lay on Hands with adjacent alignments. Requires at least a turn and medical supplies. Healing always requires ingredients previously gathered. Requirements for various ailments are different, as follows:

• Poison: 1 die, medicinal herb
• Paralysis: 2 dice, medicinal herb
• Disease: 2 dice, medicinal herb
• Blindness or deafness: 3 dice, rare magical ingredient
• Organ damage: 3 dice, rare magical ingredient, 1 day's rest
• Broken limbs: 4 dice, rare magical ingredient, a splint, 1 day's rest

Survive +INT: Predicting weather changes is DC 5. Constructing shelter (including instructing the party to assist) with readily available materials is DC 5 to protect from sun, DC 10 to protect from rain and DC 15 to protect from cold. Increase the DC by 10 if materials are not readily available. Finding water in the desert is DC 20.

Track +INT: Following recent tracks is DC 5. Tracking a stealthy creature is DC 15. Following intentionally obscured tracks is DC 20.

Cover tracks +AGI: Covering or brushing over footprints in the ground is generally DC 10. Crossing a river drops the DC by 5, light vegetation increases the DC by 5 and thick vegetation increases the DC by 20. The tracker must make successful a check to follow you, though the DC depends on your success (see Track).

Set snare +INT: Setting a snare requires some basic materials (the Judge should let the player describe how they want to do it). The result of the skill check sets the DC of the save required to avoid the snare. A fumble means the character snares themselves.

Convince +PER/+INT: Reason with a person to get them to work with you, form a partnership, or change their plans, or do something for you. DCs vary greatly depending on personality and relationships, but as a general rule it is easy to convince someone to do something that is genuinely in their best interest and very hard to convince someone to do something that is not. Personality or Intelligence applies depending on whether the argument is logical or emotional in nature.

Sway emotion +PER: Manipulate someone's emotions. Intensifying an existing emotion (e.g. egging on an enraged foe) is generally DC 10, deintensifying an emotion is generally DC 15 (e.g. calming the same enraged foe enough for them to consider talking), and wild swings (from friendly to furious or vice versa) are DC 20 or higher.

Hold attention +PER: Make yourself the most obvious thing in the room. A successful check, usually DC 15, means all eyes are on you and your allies are free to act unnoticed (or at least unresisted). Large crowds can be captivated as easily as small groups or individuals. The only limitation to crowd size is that whatever you are doing to get attention must be visible or audible to the entire group.

Inspire +PER: Morale checks, and also attempts to shake an ally out of debilitating effects such as a magical fear or charm (DC depends on the spell's save DC).

Know lore +INT: Local knowledge is trivial and shouldn't be rolled for. Recalling information about religion, history, current events, or legends is anywhere from a DC 10 for neighboring towns and villages, to DC 20 for distant lands. Information generally only accessible by speaking to sages and wizards could be DC 30+.

Communicate +INT: Convey information to someone without using language, usually by performing gestures or using symbols. The DC depends on the abstrusity of your method of communication.

Acrobatics +AGI: Jump gaps, balance, or swing. The bonus is also applied whenever a saving throw is used to prevent falling or to jump over/duck under a hazard. It also allows for performative flips or tumbles that other adventurers might be untrained in. Crossing difficult or hazardous terrain unhindered is DC 15, and crossing a line of enemies by passing over/under them without provoking an attack of opportunity is DC 20.

Alchemy (Magic skill): As Make Potion, DCC RPG p. 223 with Caster Level equal to your Specialist level. Spellburn is not possible as a non-Wizard.

Artificing (Magic skill): as Sword Magic, DCC RPG p. 229 with Caster Level equal to your Specialist level. Spellburn is not possible as a non-Wizard.

Example Skillsets

Boss (Lawful Thief):

Primary: Hide in shadows, Climb sheer surfaces, Find trap, Disable trap

Major: Backstab, Sneak silently, Pick pocket, Pick lock

Minor: Disguise self, Handle poison, Cast spell from scroll

Misc: Forge document, Read languages

Swindler (Neutral Thief):

Primary: Sneak silently, Pick pocket, Climb sheer surfaces, Forge document

Major: Hide in shadows, Pick lock, Find trap, Disable trap

Minor: Backstab, Read languages, Cast spell from scroll*

Misc: Disguise self, Handle poison

*This puts the Swindler at a slight disadvantage compared to the base game's Neutral Thief. This discrepancy is the reason My Thief, My Way! did away with including the cast from scroll skill entirely. The player is better off choosing to use the original Neutral Thief chart.

Assassin (Chaotic Thief):

Primary: Backstab, Sneak silently, Disguise self, Handle poison

Major: Hide in shadows, Climb sheer surfaces, Pick lock, Find trap

Minor: Pick pocket, Disable tap, Cast spell from scroll

Misc: Forge document, Read languages

Ranger:

Primary: Called shot, Navigate, Hunt, Gather

Major: Sneak silently, Survive, Track, Climb sheer surfaces

Minor: Set snare, Natural medicine, Hide in shadows

Misc: Cover tracks, Handle poison

Bard:

Primary: Hold attention, Inspire, Know lore, Read languages

Major: Convince, Sway emotion, Communicate, Cast spell from scroll

Minor: Disguise self, Acrobatics, Navigate

Misc: Pick Pocket, Sneak silently

∗ ∗ ∗

Skill Inclusions Explained

The Thief skills need no explanation.

The Ranger skills come from my Ranger class, with this version applying bonuses the way the Thief does instead of applying a flat bonus across all skills. It also removes favoured wilderness and favoured enemies because in the end, I don't think those are good for the table. They absolutely support the character fantasy, but it has this weird effect of locking the Ranger's effectiveness into places they've already been and making them useless in new and unexpected places - and shouldn't a campaign always be taking us to new and unexpected places?

The revised Called Shot is more elegant and uses existing tables instead of needing to invent a bunch of new ones.

The revised Set Snare removes the "setting your own DC" mechanic and simply succeeds on any roll better than a natural 1, but with variable effectiveness.

Bard skills come from this reddit post which seems to have crossover with Breaker Press's Balladeer, though I haven't actually read the Balladeer. They're tweaked to my liking. Everything in your game should be tweaked to your liking.

Acrobatics comes from BECMI's Mystic.

Alchemy and Artificing are there to allow for Alchemist and Artificer characters - I like those archetypes and creating magical items being accessible to certain specialized non-wizards goes some way toward explaining how potions and magic swords end up in the world. I was this close to just making any magical spell a potentially useable magic skill. What stopped me wasn't the fact it'd be overpowered (I don't think it would, actually) but the risk of diluting the Wizard's or Cleric's identity.

∗ ∗ ∗

More skills could definitely be added as you wish, to create more Specialist archetypes. Care should be taken that adding skills does not detract from other classes, and it should be remembered that any class can attempt these activities - Specialists simply get training and bonuses. Consider the difficulty of performing these tasks with a flat d10.

6 months in

Six months ago to the day, I posted my first article and 19 Sided Die was born. It was a post originally written for reddit, almost on a whim, about something I thought was mechanically interesting that I still don't know if I'll ever actually use.

It's interesting to look back on that and see how my style has changed even in half a year. It's developed faster in this time than ever before. Probably because I've never spent so much time writing all this RPG stuff that bounces around my brain down in (what's intended to be) a coherent form. My gaming preferences have shifted, my writing style has developed, and I'm currently playing more RPGs than I have at any point in my life.

When I set out, I had a vague goal of posting every week for an indeterminate time. Once a month passed and I'd accrued about 1,000 page views, I thought it would be neat if I could keep that going for 6 months.

I hit the 6,000 mark just before 5 months.

It's not about the numbers - if it were, that's a wholly unimpressive amount in this age of the internet. All I've done is write regularly and post on one subreddit regularly. I've dabbled in posting elsewhere - it nets more readers, which is nice, but I'm trying to engage with people rather than just catch as many eyes as possible.

What really feels good is that I decided to start doing a regularly scheduled thing and I did.

I've enjoyed the discourse on my comments sections (moreso on reddit than directly here, only because that's the larger platform) and I even seem to have a few regular readers. That's awesome. I've landed on a few blogrolls and noticed a few links coming in from other blogs.

I love that some of my ideas have resonated with others, and the ideas that don't stick have been met with constructive feedback.

I don't really know how to wrap this post up, but I know I don't intend to wrap up 19 Sided Die any time soon.

Vancian Freeform Magic for DCC

Ars Magica is the heavy hitter when it comes to freeform magic in TTRPGs. It's a noun-verb system where you combine one of 5 verbs with one of 8 nouns. This is arguably 40 spells, but while it's generally obvious what "create water" does, it's less clear what "transform body" does and you have a lot of freedom to work within those bounds. Thanks to this openness, the potential effects are essentially endless.

Here is a system by Cyborgs and Sorcerers which takes a similar freeform style and makes it into something Vancian. Essentially, you collect living spells in the form of nouns and verbs, and upon casting you lose the noun and verb you used. It has a much broader variety of nouns and verbs, which makes sense for a Vancian game system. In Ars Magica these are each their own skill, but if you're collecting them like Pokémon as you level up you want variety and specific words rather than a few categories and generalisations. We can take it further - we don't just want "animal", we want "goose".

What I'm beginning to wonder, however, is whether we need to use a noun and a verb at all. We could just do single word spells if we wanted.

You can just Verb the Noun

Say you have the magic Word "fire". The spell encompasses all that fire is - it can be a noun (a flame), a verb (to burn) or an adjective (fiery/on fire). The important thing is that casting a spell has an effect which is, in essence, "fire" in nature. What you couldn't do is "fire" a gun. Because spells aren't in English, homonyms don't translate. Being able to conjure fire doesn't mean you can summon my mixtape.

From here, a way to adjudicate the power of an effect is all you need. If you're familiar enough with DCC's spells, you can come up with numbers as necessary to keep spell power roughly in line with what's already listed at the same spell check result. If you aren't, a reference chart might be handy - maybe I'll make one later. Trust yourself a little on this though - if you're adjudicating Mighty Deed effects, you can adjudicate spell results too.

So, when someone uses "fire" to damage someone, just look up Fireball, and... wait, no, Flaming Hands, maybe? One is a level 3 spell and the other is level 1, so their power levels are very different.

Fireball art from DCC RPG p. 216

Multi Word Casting

"Fire" is a level 1 spell because it uses 1 magic Word. It is adjudicated with effects similar in power to a level 1 spell. Flaming Hands, Magic Missile, hell, just rip the numbers from Chill Touch if the player wants to use it to enchant a weapon with flame. This is fairly simple for damaging spells, and any Word should be able to be used as a combat spell if the player finds a logical way to do so; casting "chair" on someone will cause an unseen force to smash a wooden chair over their back, WWE style.

If you want effects at the level of Fireball or another level 3 spell, you're going to have to use 3 Words to do so. This makes the spell more specific, and more specific spells should be more powerful. As Slight Adjustments put it, "Charm Goose should be more powerful than Charm Animal." (Note: this is also why casters might want specific Words rather than general ones - reward your players for figuring out a use for a stupid Word like "appointment") So to get the classic Fireball in all its glory, a caster might need to use the Words "fire", "throw" and "sphere". It's easier to fail this spell because it's treated as a 3rd level spell, and on a casting result of 11 or lower they lose all Words used in the spell.

10th level Wizards can only cast up to 5th-level spells. No Wizard other than Sezrekan has cast a spell using 6 Words, though the limit is theoretically nonexistent.

Other Effects

So that's hurting people covered, but the actual freeform stuff could be anything! How am I supposed to judge literally everything?

Similar to damaging spells, any spell used to incapacitate can take numbers from Sleep or Paralysis. These are some of the most straightforward ones, but there are spells throughout the book that give examples of moving objects, summoning creatures, detection and scrying, controlling others, healing (Lay on Hands is basically a spell), different forms of movement, raising and lowering ability scores, crafting magic items... I'm sure you can find a rough power level to compare to any effect your player comes up with.

Will it always be balanced? It'll be close enough. On balance: "The DCC RPG has no such rules beyond the generalities of hit dice and dungeon levels." - p. 384. Generalities are the realm within which we are working, here.

Obtaining, Keeping, and Researching Words

The number of spells known is the number of Words a character can keep in their mind at any given time. Wizards keep a Grimoire - Words can be transferred from the Grimoire to the mind through memorization, and when a Word is lost by a failed cast it returns to the Grimoire it was memorized from.

A Wizard can take one day to attract and capture a random Word in their mind, as long as their Grimoire does not reach the limit of words than they can keep memorized. If it does, their mind will not attract new Words. If the Wizard wishes to obtain a specific Word - and it can be any Word - it will be necessary to Quest For It (Judge's discretion).

It then takes the rest of the week to copy the new Word from the mind into the Grimoire. This is a complex art and it's where the real "research" is.

Having multiple Grimoires doesn't circumvent the natural limits - simply having those Words in a Grimoire binds them to the Wizard, even if they aren't currently memorized. Another Wizard's stolen Grimoire is still bound to that Wizard (even beyond death) so the most effective method to increase one's library is often theft.

Alternate Methods

There's some interesting potential here for other caster types. A Sorcerer might have a Word in their blood, which never leaves them even through casting failure, at the cost of one extra slot. A Magician might replace their lost Words with random ones each day - a steady supply without research, but one they need to improvise with.

If this system is used with Clerics too, deities might have a list of Words relevant to their domain which they grant to Clerics.

Invoke Patron

Instead of Patron Bond and Invoke Patron, a Patron has their own magic Word. This is something like a true name - it holds the essence of an individual identity - but it does not grant power over the Patron like a true name would. Instead, the first casting of a spell using the Word "Bobugbubilz" would act as casting Patron Bond (Bobugbubilz) and subsequent uses would act as casting Invoke Patron (Bobugbubilz). Note: this doesn't preclude the caster from using the Word to bond another person to the patron; since the system is freeform, one Word can be used for both of these effects.

Invocation of Patrons can be combined with other magic, allowing the Patron and Wizard to cast a combined spell together.

As with Invoke Patron, spellburn is mandatory to use a Patron's Word. When a Patron's Word is lost due to a failed cast, the Patron will return it to the Wizard the next day - provided the Wizard is holding up their end of the deal. Patron taint also applies.

Misfire and Corruption

When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word is relevant to misfire or corruption (where applicable).

Misfire: roll 1d3 (1) the spell takes effect, but it is a hindrance rather than a help (2) the spell takes effect as if the magic Word was its opposite, e.g. you cast "ice" instead of "fire" (3) generic misfire table

Corruption: Other than the corruption tables, the corruption should be relevant to the Word. Roll 1d6, +1d per additional Word (1-2) permanent purely cosmetic transformation (3-4) transformation causing minor hindrance or annoyance (5) minor corruption (6) major corruption (7) transformation with penalty to use of limb or a sense (8-10) greater corruption

Mercurial Magic

Each Word has its own Mercurial Magic. When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word's Mercurial Magic takes effect for the casting.

Runic Magic

The runic alphabets are made up of symbols that are able to attract Words into the symbol itself and instruct the Word for the casting of the spell. Differences in script account for why one language's Ward and another's function in different ways, though the consistency of runic magic makes it a useful tool. Any magical rune known to the caster can be inscribed using a Word like "writing". Combining "writing" with another word can inscribe runes the caster does not know, which is in itself a useful tool for learning new runes. Unless specified (perhaps requiring another Word), the rune will be in an unknown language.

Scrolls

The effect of a scroll is pre-determined when the scroll is created - a scroll intended to throw a fireball will always throw a fireball. The spell check result, however, is not necessarily predetermined, so all power levels (including failure and worse) are possible.

Example Word List

The noun and verb lists in the Cyborgs and Sorcerers post are very good, but just for completeness here's another you could use. It's very easy to make your own. I made this by skimming through the DCC spell list, in no particular order, and playing word-association until I hit 100. I recommend trying it yourself and populating your world with magic Words you find interesting or thematically fitting. I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to come up with a lot of useable words of your own - you're more likely to want to trim your list down than to not have enough.

1. Animal
2. Beast
3. Horse
4. Goose
5. Light
6. Sound
7. Dark
8. Dazzle
9. Flash
10. Charm
11. Friend
12. Mind
13. Person
14. Human
15. Demihuman
16. Cold
17. Touch
18. Death
19. Smoke
20. Gas
21. Poison
22. Cloud
23. Mist
24. Color
25. Bright
26. Read
27. Write
28. Understand
29. Language
30. Detect
31. Perceive
32. See
33. Hear
34. Feather
35. Weight
36. Fall
37. Familiar
38. Bond
39. Fire
40. Ice
41. Lightning
42. Water
43. Earth
44. Air
45. Force
46. Motion
47. Mend
48. Break
49. Flight
50. Levitate
51. Rope
52. Bind
53. Climb
54. Sleep
55. Paralyze
56. Immobile
57. Stone
58. Ward
59. Door
60. Portal
61. Teleport
62. Evil
63. Good
64. Law
65. Chaos
66. Neutrality
67. Extrasensory
68. Telepathy
69. Resist
70. Invisible
71. Memory
72. Open
73. Shut
74. Find
75. Search
76. Monster
77. Summon
78. Porcupine
79. Ghost
80. Phantom
81. Illusion
82. Weak
83. Strength
84. Agility
85. Stamina
86. Intelligence
87. Personality
88. Luck
89. Plane
90. Demon
91. Dragon
92. Transform
93. Replicate
94. Food
95. Speed
96. Fungus
97. Missile
98. Mirror
99. Sphere
100. Large