Category Archives: Uncategorized

MU004 Diamond Ray of Disappearance

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I have these DVDs of the original He-Man cartoons that I’ve been meaning to watch. They were a big influence on me when I was young, and probably helped get me interested in fantasy. I figure blogging about them a little might help urge me on. Also, before going any further, check out Robert Parker’s essay on Masters of the Universe (this is required reading). Why might this be of interest to you, even if you have no He-Man nostalgia? I’ll just quote a bit from Robert’s post:

I’m talking about intergalactic vampire warlords invading your sword & sorcery world and installing Satanic Lich-Kings in a bid for colonial rule. Pterodactyl riders with laser guns in a dogfight with UFOs piloted by serpent men. Cleaving through hordes of cyborg beast-men as we leap from asteroid to asteroid towards that leering organic castle in space.

That’s why.

I’m not sure if this will become a semi-regular feature or not; I suppose it depends on how much I feel like I am getting out of watching the show and if watching it leads to interesting gaming ideas. I’m starting with MU004 because it was the first episode on the first disc. All the other episodes seem to be in order, so I think this one might have aired first or something like that.

A glimpse at the world map

I’m not going to try to put together a coherent plot summary or anything like that here; instead, I think I’ll just range about arbitrarily, like a crazy Eternian tour guide. What’s the diamond ray of disappearance? It’s probably more interesting to leave it to your imagination. The plots are nothing to write home about, as you might expect, but the setting ideas, ambiance, and some of the character ideas are pretty fantastic. Check out that world map above. One can almost identify the ghost of the Americas, but then there is that narrow continent that extends into the “Pacific” and that is covered by volcanoes or something in the middle. You probably don’t want to hexcrawl over there until you have some levels under your belt.

A stronghold

Above we can see a sample of Eternian architecture, a stronghold perched on a bluish stone outcropping. Pleasingly ambiguous, this fortress or town could easily be science fiction or cyclopean fantasy.

Another strangely subdued vista

And again, zoomed out. If you haven’t already looked at the Monster Brains post linked to in Robert’s post, it is definitely worth your time. The amazing thing about those paintings is that they actually look like the toys if you are familiar with them, but don’t look like toys otherwise.

Note the colors: Dr. Seuss by way of H. P. Lovecraft?

Giant purple spires of rock, swept slightly to the side as if blown by wind. Plains of dark green vegetation, thick like a woman’s hair, waving slightly in the breeze like seaweed underwater.

This is where the good guys get their powers

Here is Castle Grayskull, the home of The Sorceress and the source of He-Man’s power. Perhaps He-Man is a somewhat naive warlock, being used as a vessel to defend the lands of civilization? Magic item power sword idea: every time the transformation is invoked, a saving throw must be rolled to avoid rolling on a mutation table.

Purple swamps

Color is such a powerful aesthetically unifying tool, but something that is often not consciously brought into tabletop RPG play, other than for use as an occasional descriptor (“the man with the red cloak”). I wonder how effective it would be to take a cinematographer’s approach to setting design and consciously attempt to apply different combinations of colors to various settings or setting areas? Jack over at TOTGAD likes to apply “taste, sound, image” to each of his area descriptions (example: What Ulverland is Like). Why not add a few colors, too? The putrescent swamp: pale green, dark purple, dark blue, and gray.

Evil cotton candy vegetation

Retainers

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Grenadier Miniatures 2004 – Hirelings

There are two types of adventuring hirelings, combatant and noncombatant. Useful animals can also be purchased. You may roll on the STARTING RETAINER table once during PC creation. Consider the retainer to be paid up for one delve. The retainer comes with the basic equipment noted, but you may want to purchase additional gear for them. Below are also prices if you want to continue their employment (derived from Swords & Wizardry WhiteBox, since OD&D does not give guidance).

STARTING RETAINER (D8):
  1. Bodyguard (leather, dagger, d4: 1 sword, 2 mace, 3 battle axe, 4 spear)
  2. Torchbearer (dagger, 6 torches)
  3. Porter (dagger, backpack, 3 small sacks, 1 large sack)
  4. Squire (dagger)
  5. Mercenary (leather, sword, dagger, light crossbow, case with 30 quarrels)
  6. Shieldbearer (leather, shield, dagger)
  7. Servant (dagger)
  8. Dog (spiked collar, leash)

RETAINER PRICES

  • Combatant (5 GP): bodyguard or mercenary
  • Noncombatant (2 GP): torchbearer, porter, squire, shieldbearer, servant
  • Trained animal (20 GP): war dog or mule

Prices are per delve, other than the animals, which are owned outright. A delve is generally understood to be a single expedition, usually no longer than a few days, but occasionally as long as a week. Expeditions longer than a week require more payment. It is expected that the job ends (and wage must be renewed) once the party returns to town or civilization. Retainers expect that their meals will be provided.

Morale and loyalty will be handled as per Men & Magic. Animals have a loyalty rating just like hirelings (this is a house-rule), but their loyalty will increase after every expedition during which they are treated well. Unlike the monster-dogs of AD&D, war dogs here are 1 hit die creatures. Dogs don’t show up in OD&D, so I’ve just given them the same price as mules.

Bodyguards will attempt to defend their employer, while mercenaries will generally be more offensive. Torchbearers, porters, and servants will stay out of combat and in general will only fight if cornered (if threatened, they will run). Squires will stay near employers during combat and provide replacement weapons or reloading, though they may flee if the danger becomes too great. Note that squires may also be used by classes other than fighters (consider tome-holders and scroll-bearers). Shieldbearers usually carry a large shield that requires two hands to use, and will grant a small AC bonus to their employer where appropriate (just remember that a trusty shield on your own arm cannot fail a morale check or be slain).

It is also possible to find more specialized hirelings (such as: sage, bard, chronicler, alchemist, assassin, spy, standard-bearer, messenger), but they will be much more expensive and often will refuse to accompany adventurers into danger.

All hirelings are 0 level humans with one hit die. Do not bother rolling ability scores unless your PC dies and you need to promote the hireling to full player character status. If this happens, you may also choose an adventuring class when you return to civilization.

Thanks to all those on G+ that provided useful suggestions when I brought up this topic.

Delve! first issue

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Delve! First Issue Cover

I just picked up a copy of the new zine Delve! (the PDF version) by the OSR artist Johnathan Bingham. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Bingham’s work, he has done the cover of the OSRIC module The People of the Pit (shown below), the cover of the recent Lands of Ara Compendium, and many other things (here is a pretty good collection from his blog). He plans on selling a print version too sometime soon, but the PDF includes pages formatted to easily print yourself (in addition to the standard formatting; see more about this below).

The form factor is digest-sized, which is very nice for tablet reading. The zine itself is about 40 pages of content. In actuality, the entire contents of the issue is a module, which includes a number of new spells, magic items, and monsters (easily usable stand-alone as well). The vibe is what I would consider Lamentations-style Weird Fantasy. Quick take-away: as a PDF module, this is a fantastic steal for $5. Recommended. I have a few suggestions, but most of them apply to published modules in general and should not be read as overly critical of Delve! in particular. Now to the details.

The module features the lair of a diabolical disease wizard (Calmos Vectos Mori), and introduces a new school of magic called pathognomancy. The writing style is very dense, and paragraphs sometimes stretch almost over entire pages. This would be a hard module to run without making referee notes prior to play. This writing style reminds me of AD&D 1E modules, and that is probably intended, as the system given is OSRIC (though it should work just fine with any of the major retro-clones).

Cover also by Mr. Bingham

Some event hooks are provided, but the meat of the adventure is a 12 room site. From a read-through, it looks pretty challenging; I would guess around 5th level AD&D (though that will obviously vary based on party and magic items possessed). There are several good disease oriented effects tables, a laboratory full of dangerous things for inquisitive PCs to play with, and a table of evocative extraplanar locations (though a 3d3 table is just silly; it should be a d20 or d30 table).

All the new monsters and magic items are illustrated, though the spells are not. The contagion guards remind me of Bioshock (that’s a good thing). The layout is uniformly nice, though the AD&D spell format and lack of spell illustrations leads to lots of unused white space on the spell pages. I must admit, I don’t understand the appeal of the AD&D template formats. Why not use a more compact format similar to a monster stat line? For example, which would you prefer? AD&D:

Bloat
Arcane Pathognomancy
Level: Magic User 2
Range: 40 ft
Duration: 6 rounds
Area of Effect: One Person
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 4 Segments
SavingThrow: None

Or stat line:

Bloat, MU2 spell, 40 ft, 6 rounds, one person, VSM, 4 segments, no save.

Would anyone familiar with AD&D or OSRIC not understand the stat line version? And it uses an order of magnitude less space. Oh, all the spells, monsters, and treasures are open game content, which is appreciated.

I think all modules, but especially ones written so densely, would benefit from play aids in addition to (but not replacing) the prose. One possibility is the one page dungeon, another is Courtney’s set design outline format.

Tacked on to the end is the print format

I mentioned above that the digital version of the zine includes two formats; standard digest and printable. This is a nice touch, and makes it possible for people without a duplex printer (like me) to produce a hardcopy. I would like to see other publishers go the same route, though it is slightly disconcerting to have both formats in a single PDF rather than a zip file containing multiple PDFs.

Bingham is also one of the authors participating in the current LotFP adventure campaign; his offering is Strange and Sinister Shores. The precis is interesting, and if the first issue of Delve! is anything to go by, S&SS will be quite good (if it is produced). One of the downsides to making all the projects compete against each other during the same month is that the slightly less known have been overshadowed by those authors with more established followings. Almost half-way into the campaign, I think it’s pretty clear that this was a bad decision. The offerings should have been done sequentially (perhaps one per month), so that community enthusiasm could focus on one at a time.

Monster Defaults

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Parsimony is a virtue in monster stat lines. It seems like many game products make a fetish of following a template however, even if much is wasted space. For example, the omnipresent “Magic resistance: Nil” lines in 2E, though there are similar examples in all editions. This was recently brought up on G+, and I thought I would share how I do things here.

The basic idea is that I have a “default” monster (which is very close to a first level fighter), and I only specify anything that differs. Here is said monster:

# appearing 1, HD 1, AC unarmored, # attacks 1, damage 1d6, movement as unencumbered human (12), save as fighter of level equal to hit dice, attack as fighter of level equal to hit dice (or by monster hit dice, depending on the game), size as human (medium), % in lair, treasure none, morale 12 (fearless).

% in lair and size are actually not things that I have been specifying, but they were brought up and I think they are useful. I default to fearless for morale because that probably represents the single largest group of foes (undead, constructs, etc), even if they are not a majority (so most of my stat lines do end up with a different morale entry).

This leads to monster entries that look something like:

Robot, HD 3, AC as plate

And everything else is assumed.

I would probably include XP rewards too in anything intended for others, but I’ve been experimenting with so many different methods for rewarding XP that it would not be all that meaningful to me right now.

See also Alex Schroeder’s method.

Seal Evil

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Joseph William Turner, Interior of a Prison

Sometimes truly destroying a demon is impossible or impractical. In such cases, magical seals are sometimes employed. Clerics may learn the seal evil rite upon reaching fourth level. Learning requires four months study with a holy text describing the rite or one month of study with a cleric can can perform the rite. Creating a seal is closer to creating a magic item than casting a spell. It requires one day of work (regardless of the seal level) and 100 gold pieces per level of seal. A cleric may not create a seal of level higher than their experience level as a cleric. So, for example, a fifth level cleric could create a fourth level seal at the cost of 1 day of work and 400 GP in expenses. The same cleric could not create a seal of strength higher than fifth level.

However, multiple clerics working together may create stronger seals. All clerics so cooperating must have learned the rite (and thus must be at least fourth level). For each cleric in excess of the first, the strength of the seal is raised by one level, to a maximum level of 20. The time to complete the rite is still one day, but costs are commensurate with the final level of the seal (so a 15th level seal created by a 7th level cleric and eight assistant clerics would take one day and 1500 GP in sacrifices and components).

Seals work by preventing magical or chaotic beings from passing through the warded area, usually a door, though a physical barrier is not required. Such beings include elementals, undead, demons, powerful sorcerers, and cauldron-spawned beastlings (but not natural humanoids or animals, even if dangerous). Affected creatures inside the sealed area with hit dice equal to or less than the level of the seal may not in any way cross the barrier. In addition, if the barrier is an entrance into a closed area (such as a room, coffin, or complex), such creatures may also not leave via any other route (for example, tunnelling through dirt around the door is not possible). In addition, all the benefits of a protection from evil spell are present.

Clerics of any level can immediately identify a seal and ascertain its potency. In addition, clerics of fourth level or higher can read any details included (seal inscriptions are written in the hidden language of law). Magic-users will recognize a seal but must make an intelligence check to determine its level. Seals detect as magical, and read magic can be used to uncover details about the evil being warded against (if the seal creator decided to include such information). Anyone else may identify a seal with a successful intelligence check, though no details about its power or reason for being should be provided. A sage can often assess the level of a seal if provided with rubbings or sketches.

Creatures with more hit dice may attempt a saving throw versus spells once per lunar cycle to break the seal. If successful, the seal is destroyed. In addition, unless accompanied by a cleric who knows the seal evil rite, anyone crossing the threshold will break the seal. Thus, creatures trapped within a sealed chamber will often seek to trick or tempt mortals into transgressing the seal.

Healing & Aging (Again)

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Previously I brought up the idea of aging as a potential side effect of healing magic. My original method was cumbersome (1 day of aging per HP healed) and potentially not salient enough to the player. Talysman also weighed in, and suggested that there could be a chance of years worth of aging per die of healing rather than a smaller guaranteed amount of aging. Talysman’s method avoids the need for extra rolls, but the probabilities result in aging being a bit too frequent for me.

I do think the idea of aging one year every once in a while rather than aging days for every instance of healing would work much better in terms of bookkeeping, and also be more salient to the player. I personally don’t mind an extra roll, since healing is infrequent. Based on these principles, here is a revised proposal:

Whenever a character is healed magically, there is a percentage chance to age one year equal to the number of HP so healed, minus the character’s constitution modifier. For example, if a character with 10 (average) constitution is magically healed 6 HP, there is a 6 percent chance of ageing. If a character had a +1 constitution modifier, the same healing would result in a 5 percent chance of aging.

The percentage can obviously be tuned for any specific campaign. For example, if you want the aging to be rarer, you could make it % equal to half the HP healed, or a flat 1 in 20 chance (essentially, a fumbled constitution check). I kind of like having the number of HP healed and the character’s constitution influence the result, however, and HP healed = percentage chance of aging is really easy to remember. Also, if natural healing is 1 HP per day, that means that the recover of 350+ HP is the natural “worth” of one year of aging. Healing the same number of HP magically over the same time period would result in about 3.5 times more aging, making magical healing not a good alternative for the common cases.

The books of magic

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Image from Wikimedia commons

Recently I have been fascinated with the idea of magic books as things with identity over and above individual spells. Here is a system for handling the main D&D spells using grimoires rather than generic spell books. All but eleven of the spells in Men & Magic are accounted for. Magic-users may begin with a copy of Arcana Metaphysica and with one other grimoire (choose or roll 1d12).

Researching a spell for personal use or scribing a scroll is different than creating a grimoire, which is not just a collection of spells. A grimoire is a book of power, painstakingly copied down through the ages, and often the work of an individual (perhaps mad) genius. They also often contain things like poems and chants in addition to spell formulae. Many parts of these eldritch books are unintelligible, even to magic-users. However, the spells listed have been identified by sorcerous tradition, and are commonly understood to exist, even if not all magic-users have the talent or experience to cast them safely. Individual magic-users often create spell books, but these are not grimoires and cannot be used by other wizards (though they may grant a bonus to magic research rolls if examined with the assistance of read magic). Magical spells cannot be shared like science, and often die with their creator.

Some of these grimoires contain very high level spells. Magic-users may attempt to cast or prepare spells above their normal ability, but at great risk. The casting or preparation takes 1 turn (10 minutes of in-game time). If prepared, the highest level spell slot must be used. When cast, a saving throw versus spells is made with penalty equal to spell level and bonus equal to 1/2 level. On a roll equal to or less than the spell level, the magic user suffers a catastrophic backfire. Note that the fumble range is not decreased by increasing level until the magic-user is able to prepare the spell as normal. The saving throw is not made until the moment of casting.

All grimoires are looked upon with fear and awe, but of the individual books, Arcana Metaphysica is by far the most common (relatively speaking) and least mysterious of the known grimoires. Anyone with an education will be able to identify it, and anyone carrying this book will be assumed to be a magic-user. Grimoires are quite bulky; one will occupy most of a backpack or sack. Travelling with several grimoires generally requires multiple chests and servants, or at least a pack animal with generous saddlebags.

Arcana Necromantica, Conjurations & Banishments, and The Roads Between the Stars are all considered forbidden knowledge, and will mark the possessor as a necromancer or demonologist. Even many magic-users will destroy these books if given the chance, though the status of Conjurations & Banishments is ambivalent, as the fragments do contain warding spells. Unfortunately, most of the spells of banishment have not survived.

Copying a grimoire correctly is not something that a common scribe can accomplish. It must be done in the proper ritual setting, and requires the finest materials. Costs as per magical research in Men & Magic. Arcana Metaphysica is the primary exception, often being created by a magic-user during apprenticeship (though some individuals have been able to teach themselves from a pilfered copy of the Arcana). It is also the only grimoire that a magic-user can recreate from memory if the original is lost. The great cost of creating a grimoire does not encourage experimentation, however, and small variations can sometimes doom an entire project.

(Spell levels are indicated by the number prior to the spell name.)

The Basics

Arcana Metaphysica, anonymous

  • 1 Read Magic
  • 3 Dispel Magic
  • 4 Remove Curse
  • 6 Anti-Magic Shell

Specialized Grimoires

Roll 1d12:

1. The Hidden Knowledge, attributed to Cochyla the Younger

  • 1 Detect Magic
  • 1 Detect Evil
  • 2 Locate Object
  • 2 ESP
  • 3 Clairvoyance
  • 3 Clairaudience
  • 4 Wizard Eye

2. Realms Seen and Unseen, attributed to the Fifth Council

  • 1 Light
  • 2 Detect Invisibility
  • 2 Invisibility
  • 2 Continual Light
  • 3 Invisibility, 10′ Radius
  • 3 Infravision

3. The Organ of the Inner Moon, attributed to Sezius Elfblood

  • 1 Charm Person
  • 1 Sleep
  • 3 Hold Person
  • 4 Confusion
  • 4 Charm Monster
  • 5 Feeblemind
  • 6 Geas

4. Mastering Gates, attributed to Marlow Shadow-Walker

  • 1 Hold Portal
  • 2 Wizard Lock
  • 2 Knock
  • 5 Pass-Wall

5. Codex of the Cloud-Masters, anonymous

  • 2 Levitate
  • 3 Fly
  • 3 Protection from Normal Missiles
  • 5 Telekinesis

6. Illusio, anonymous

  • 2 Phantasmal Forces
  • 4 Hallucinatory Terrain
  • 4 Massmorph
  • 6 Projected Image

7. On Essence, attributed to Caleia

  • 4 Polymorph Self
  • 4 Polymorph Others
  • 5 Transmute Rock-Mud
  • 5 Growth of Animals
  • 6 Stone-Flesh

8. Arbatel of Flame

  • 3 Fire Ball
  • 3 Lightning Bolt
  • 6 Disintegrate

9. Songs of Three Winters, attributed to Taymar the Wise

  • 3 Slow Spell
  • 3 Haste Spell

10. Arcana Necromantica, anonymous

  • 5 Animate Dead
  • 5 Magic Jar
  • 6 Reincarnation
  • 6 Death Spell

11. Conjurations & Banishments (fragments), anonymous

  • 1 Protection from Evil
  • 3 Protection from Evil, 10′ Radius
  • 5 Conjure Elemental
  • 5 Contact Higher Plane
  • 6 Invisible Stalker

12. The Roads Between the Stars (fragments), anonymous

  • 4 Dimension Door
  • 5 Teleport

Vaults of Pahvelorn

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Being a campaign pitch. Other related posts can be found under the Pahvelorn label.

Several generations past, the ambitious lord Arios set out into the wilderness to extend the reach of civilization. In consultation with his sorcerer Ismahir (for all wise lords have a wizard), he selected a hill called Pahvelorn for his stronghold and raised up a mighty fortress. He drove the giants away and slayed several dragons. The populace prospered.

But then strange things began to happen around the fortress, and Ismahir was gone for months at a time. Unnatural creatures would emerge from the dark spaces beneath the castle. Other advisors begged Arios to be rid of the wizard, but he was loyal to his old companion. Then, one day, when Arios was out on the hunt, he heard a terrific roar and the earth shook. He immediately returned to his fortress to discover only a giant pit in the earth where but days before had proud Pahvelorn stood. Above, clods of dirt and worms rained down from the fortress as it rose into the cloudy sky. Ismahir was never seen again. In the pit below where the hill had once been, dark things writhed and hissed in unfamiliar daylight, even the pale light filtered by the day’s heavy clouds.

Or, so go the stories. All we know for certain is that most of the good people left soon after the castle ascended into the overworld. Bereft of family and distrusted by the villagers, Arios vanished into the wilderness with his most loyal men, seeking to redeem himself the way he first gained glory. Now, half ruined, the village Zorfath perches over the edge of the pit, the haunt of mercenaries and treasure hunters, a gateway into dark places opened by the castle’s leaving.

A shadow has been recently seen over the land, however. Crops wither where it passes. After a 101 year absence, the fortress is returning.

System is OD&D. The 3 LBBs plus the thief from Supplement I: Greyhawk. Human only. Proposed venue is G+ hangouts, every week or so, and would use the excursion format (so consistent attendance would not be required). Having access to a copy of the rules is not required; character generation rules will be provided.

More details about rules to come later.

A Mighty Fortress Gunpowder Rules

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There are some nice firearms rules in the Second Edition AD&D supplement HR4 A Mighty Fortress (see pages 60 and 61).

Here is a summary, for ease of use. Check out the book though, if you have a chance. There are lots of interesting elements contained within.

  • Target AC ignores armor (i.e., using newer terminology, is a ranged touch attack); thus, defense against firearms comes from cover and dexterity.
  • Exploding damage dice on rolls of 8, 10, and 12 without limit.
  • Misfire on a roll of 1 (requires 10 rounds to clean).
  • Hanging fire on a roll of 2; this means the shot does not go off, and the fumble range is increased by 1 on subsequent shots until the firearm is cleaned (e.g., after hanging fire once, a misfire happens on a roll of 1 or 2 and hanging fire on 3).
  • Fouling (called out as an optional rule): three normal shots count as a hanging shot with regard to misfire and hanging fire chances (to represent the accumulating burned powder.
  • Point blank attacks (within 5 feet) inflict +1 burn damage.
  • Matchlock firearms: caliver (1d8), arquebus (1d10), musket with rest (1d12).
  • Snaplock & flintlock firearms:  pistol (1d8), musket (1d12).
  • Wheellock pistols: belt pistol (1d8), horse pistol (1d10).

In the past, I have often just treated firearms like crossbows (that are easier to conceal but make more noise). The HR4 rules suggestions seem reasonable, though, and not overly cumbersome.

    Clerics

    9 Replies

    What is the deal with my cleric’s religion?

    — Question #1 from Jeff’s 20 quick questions for your campaign setting.

    Image from Dark Classics

    Clerics are members of an ancient order of holy warriors dedicated to the power of law. In legend, the order originated as the elite judicial and martial arm of a mighty and just empire. They were betrayed by a wicked emperor who was jealous of the order’s influence. The clerics survived underground, passing the Mysteries of Light down from teacher to student throughout the ages. The empire which birthed the order has long since been lost beneath the waves or smashed by mountains that fell from the sky (accounts differ), but the clerics believe in a prophecy that the True Empire will rise again, ruled by just High Priests.

    Now, however, clerics are rare, and as self-appointed guardians of the law are often persecuted. Because of their tendency to oppose corrupt potentates, a cleric’s relationship with secular authority is often problematic. In these degenerate times, rulers are rarely better than brutal warlords concerned only with strength of arms, or sorcerer kings that use black magic and dark pacts to rule briefly before losing control of the power they have harnessed. Thus, the remaining clerics tend to be itinerant traveling demon hunters, though there do exist strongholds ruled by High Priests of the Light which claim the authority of the True Holy Empire. Like wandering marshals in the wild west, clerics can sometimes be found traveling the borderlands, offering their services as judge and exorcist to the fragile outposts of civilization. Clerics are often welcomed by the people of such frontier towns.

    As clerics belong to an order of mysteries, they must be initiated. This can be done by apprenticeship to a wandering cleric, joining the order at a High Priest’s stronghold, or (more rarely) by discovery of Holy Scriptures of the Light (sometimes on the person of a fallen cleric or overgrown shrine). As the order is handed down by lineage, from teacher to student, it is considered a great tragedy when a particular cleric’s lineage ends with no new initiates. Thus, people sympathetic to the faith but not initiated may feel a duty to continue a dead lineage if a fallen cleric is discovered. Such self-initiates are often distrusted by more established clerics until they prove themselves.

    The mysteries must never be disclosed to outsiders, and the true source of holy power is a secret. Clerics powerful enough to fully comprehend the mysteries may no longer even exist. Many outsiders believe that clerics worship a sun god, and much of their iconography does include symbols having to do with light and the sun, though sages have pointed out that the sun is also a potent weapon against many powers of chaos (especially the vampire, a traditional foe of the order).

    To increase in level, a cleric must consult with a higher level member of the order. Often, at least for the first few levels, this will be the cleric’s initiator, though if the cleric was self-initiated, or high level, this may require a more extensive pilgrimage. This requirement can also be satisfied by venerating a shrine of the appropriate level (this is based on the level of the entombed cleric). The low level scriptures are written in vernacular language, but the more puissant and subtle are written in a hidden language which only initiates of the light may read or speak. Clerics gain greater fluency in this hidden language as they rise in level. It is common superstition that reading hidden scriptures will drive the impure mad.

    In addition to the standard draws of adventure, clerics have several other objectives. Many ancient shrines of the order have been defiled by the powers of chaos, usurped by the vanity of petty gods, or destroyed by jealous black magicians. Clerics gain acclaim by purging such shrines of evil and reconsecrating them in the name of the light. Clerics also value recovering scriptures (written in the secret language of law) or holy relics (the remains of fallen clerics). The shadowy underworld and gloomy forests are littered with the remains of brave champions of the light. Accumulating treasure is also just as important to the cleric as it is to other adventurers, as wealth is required for building a stronghold and raising armies against the powers of chaos.

    Clerics believe that worldly power is fully legitimate only as the True Empire, though they will often happily work with other rulers for the sake of expediency. Thus, for most the highest calling is to build a stronghold, especially if by doing so they manage to reclaim some of the chaotic wilderness for civilization. Not all clerics choose to follow this route, though, and instead wander the wilderness unceasingly, offering their services to a world still smothering in darkness and sorcery.

    Cults and worshipers of other powers exist, but such priests and cultists are not available as PC classes by default. They may be discovered through play though (and will certainly use different rules than the cleric class).