Kyrlan 2.0

I'm running an in-person game tomorrow for the first time in a while. If you're in the SF Bay area and interested, message me over email or G+

In-game, it's going to be (mumble mumble) thousand years after the last one. The characters wake up on stone slabs in a strange underground lab. There are some smashed orbs on the ground obviously fallen from an intricate clockwork-and-tube mechanism that extends well into the walls. There are two creatures running around the room panicking, pulling levers and turning cranks. It's hard to know what kind of creatures they are - or were - as so much of their flesh has been replaced by copper gears and wooden mechanisms.

I'll be using a Moldvay Basic / LotFP hack. The starting options are:

Human - can be a Fighter, Specialist, or Magic-User.

Faerie - born to humans for reasons unknown. They look like beautiful humans with insectile wings, and some have antennae and strange eyes. They are considered dangerous and unlucky, and are often abandoned or drowned as children. They gather in "Faerie's Row" in large settlements, but Kingslaw forbids gatherings of more than 2 faeries on a public road. +1 CHA, stats as the Cleric Class (including spells).

Fairy by MikeAzevedo on DeviantArt

Tiefling - born to humans who, or whose ancestors have, consorted with Demons. They look like humans with horns, their eyes are one solid color, their tongues forked, and they have devil-like tails. Some have stunted bat wings (-1 DEX, -1 AC, no falling damage, +2 jumps). Stats as Elf (including spells; there are no Elves in this setting.)

Iron-Gin - a union of mechanics and magic often found in old ruins. They "wake" a basic form of brass or copper and wood, and can improve themselves with proper materials at a forge. Stats as Dwarf (Dwarves extinct in setting.)

Bakei - diminutive humanoid animals, often of cat or dog species. Can speak human languages, if raised near humans. Considered amusing and harmless. Stats as Halfling. (no halflings in setting).

What's outside the dungeon? I'll figure that out when they get there.

Dragoon - class for DnD type games

+Reynaldo Madriñan asked +Pearce Shea what class he'd like to see, and he answered Dragoon, which happens to fit nicely into Kyrlan, the setting for my new home game...

DRAGOON
HP, Saves: as Cleric
EXP Advancement: as Fighter
WEAPONS: +1 per level to attack with lances and spears (and other polearms at the DM's discretion). +1 every two levels to attack with any other weapon. As they are highly trained with well-made weapons of war, they have a -2 penalty to attack with weapons that were not made by a decent smith at a forge (IE improvised weapons).
ARMOR: Dragoons commonly wear a hybridized lightweight armor that combines plate and leather. It has AC equivalent to Chain Mail, and they cannot use their Jump ability in anything heavier than Chain.

ABILITIES: Jump - make a mighty leap above the fray, landing on a specific opponent the next round. Useable once per day per level. The Dragoon leaves melee on his or her turn, then reenters on his or her next turn on top of an enemy. While they are in the air, they are immune to melee attacks from the ground and have +2 bonus to AC vs ranged attacks and those from airborne creatures.
The Dragoon is considered to be 20 ft above for purposes of area of effect spells, as limited by the size of the room.
The Dragoon must choose which enemy they will land upon before jumping, and choose whether they automatically hit that enemy for normal damage or make a normal attack roll doing maximum damage if successful. Should the enemy move while the Dragoon is in the air, they may make this attack on any enemy adjacent to their landing area.
Enemies cannot discern which opponent the Dragoon is leaping toward until they land (at the DM's discretion - especially experienced or smart foes should be able to roll to figure it out).


Path of Breath or Path of Companionship
At level 4, a Dragoon must seek a master Dragoon to teach them the beginnings of a Path (otherwise, they cannot progress beyond 4th level). The two known Paths are:

Path of Breath - The Dragoon gains the ability to breath fire once per day for every level gained above 3rd (so level-3 times per day). This fire harms or heals at the Dragoon's will for 1d8+level damage. The fire cures diseases starting at level 6, removes curses at level 7, and dispels magic once per day at level 8.

Path of Companionship - Through ritual starvation and constant accompaniment, the Dragoon develops a psychic bond with a baby Firedrake. This diminutive relative of the Dragon begins the size of a housecat, with accompanying statistics and the following additions:
-Flight - as per the Firedrake entry in the Monster Manual, or 18"
-Breath - a 6' by 10' cone doing 1d8 damage, growing by 6' every level of the Dragoon beyond 4th. This is the Firedrake's combustible blood. When the Dragoon is level 6, the damage doubles to 2d8.
-Combustible Blood -see Firedrake entry in the Monster Manual
-Bite -does 1d4 initially, double to 2d4 when the Dragoon is level 6
-The DM should feel free to use the Firedrake MM entry once the PC is level 10, and perhaps allow the companion to grow to rideable size.
-The Dragoon and Firedrake can communicate through chirrups and gestures, developing a psychic bond by level 6. Every level of companionship allows them to communicate one more word and 20 more feet apart.

Once a path is chosen, the other is lost to that Dragoon for life. The only exception is if some magical effect erases the intervening time (the Dragoon is reduced to 4th level or below and re-attains 4th level.) In this case, a master of the other Path may be sought out to enable further advancement.

More paths for Dragoons are rumored, but are unknown to this chronicler.

Dragoons are a fading tradition in the Shining Empire of Kyrlan. Once upon a time, they numbered in the tens of thousands, and many little boys and girls competed to enter their training. Since the discovery of the mineral kjarn, it's burning in magitek steam engines, and the Empire's move toward that technology, numbers of new Dragoon recruits have fallen. Some fear this proud tradition may fade from the empire entirely. There are even rumors of Dragoons who, unhappy with the way the Empire is heading, have joined resistance groups in the border towns.
As long as the kjarn mineral is mined and shipped to factories for fuel processing, however, the Shining Empire will march on.

First Session Report: New Home Game

I've really got to settle on a name for the setting. Kyrlan is sticking in my craw a bit (generated from the Hill Cantons Swords & Sorcery Nation Generator.)


Five players; 4 new to D&D, 1 who used to DM (3ed I think). 3 of the newbies are super excited to play again, 1 is tentative but definitely coming back for another session. The former DM didn't do much during the game (distracted by health stuff) but had so much fun he's already at work getting his own game together for the first time in some years.

I forgot how chaotic character generation can be with players new to the game, but I checked in at several points and they were having fun with it. I decided they'd start with two items rolled from the d20 equipment chart and one from the d10 chart. They started asking questions about their parents, so I pulled up the Hill Cantons Compendium and we rolled on the first few charts, giving them a little more background and an additional item.

Quick notes:
-started with a fierce jacks vs marbles competition, since 3 players randomly rolled a 15 on their starting equipment rolls
-good strategies come up with by totally new players
-party split almost immediately after action began
-nothing went according to my prep - I consider that a success for players getting involved enough to go off track
-over half of party 1 hit away from death for like half the time
-natural sequence of events made it very clear that infighting and separating brings them closer to death and awesome things can happen when they work together. I didn't force that in any way, but was pleased that's how it worked out.

Starting players:
-1 who plays video games and is good at strategy (my roommate) - he played a Waterkin Ranger. His stats were high enough to have 1 POW naturally. He used it to cast Light on a guy's eyes, probably saving 2 PC's lives. I was proud of him coming up with a classic D&D strategy on his own.
-1 who maybe played Vampire back in the day (a friend of mine for 7+ years and my roommate's girlfriend) - she played a Tiefling Witch. Split the party. Never used magic. Snuck around in trees a lot and ran right up to an enemy and grabbed his spear. Later kicked him in the nads from behind. Random rolls determined that the invading foreign army has her dad hostage. She was a pretty rad mix of brave and sneaky.
-1 interested but "never got a chance to play before" - He played a Firekin Barbarian. Spent a lot of time talking to NPCs and asking me questions. Super excited to play again. Quiet in real life.
-1 who is suspicious of the whole thing - I think she was worried it was gonna be obscurely nerdy or require her to read a huge book. She played an Airkin Ranger who got bored a lot. Got super good rolls for starting equipment. Spent most of her time on the town wall observing things with a spyglass, then running through town and observing other things from behind a house. I think her instincts will pay off when the party gets back together next time.
-1 player who used to DM 3rd edition - played a "retired old adventurer" Moogle Sorcerer. Spend half of session saying "I sit there and watch the kids." Spent most of session on rooftops or benches. I think he was waiting for something to cast a spell at, but didn't go out of his way to find it.

My magic rules are a success so far, but no one's looked beyond Cantrips yet.
I'm debating adding these two Cantrips, based on what people wanted to do:
Shock (Demon) - INT - cause 1d4 damage or target paralyzed for 1d4 rounds
Gather Shadows (spirits) - CHA - Automatically succeed on one Stealth roll, or improve Stealth by 3 for 2d4 rounds.

Too powerful? I'm not sure. I think the Ability check makes it fine. If they had pitched these instead of just going with what I had written up, I would have rolled with it.

They started in a mining town on the edge of an empire that uses steam-powered magitek machines. Their home town folk mine the ore that is refined to power these machines from the hills to the North. Background rolls determined that there's a Firekin tribe in the hills that have some kind of cooperative treaty with the town. The local Baron has kept the town safe and isolated from the worst depredations of the empire...but he's fallen ill, and his daughter has yet to prove herself. 
When I mentioned her, the players immediately asked if she was hot and how old she is. 
me: "She's 24."
Players: "PERFECT! I have a crush on her." (remember they're playing teens)
We started playing with them in the town square in early afternoon, two of the kids (well, everyone was 14-16 except the Moogle) having a jacks competition. They heard shouting from the town's North gate, the one most of the adults pass through on their way to work in the mines. They ignored it for a little bit, then went to investigate. Three miners were on the outside, the gate closed and locked, the town guard nowhere in site. A foreign army had seized the mine, taking the workers hostage.
The Tiefling Witch (her name starts with an M, I forget) sneaks off in the woods along the road to the mine, her jacks/marbles opponent Waterkin Ranger (ugh, names) following. The others let the miners in, the Firekin Barbarian (Bik) follows them and gets knocked out. They put him in a storage house to keep him out of the way, and start going door to door telling people to just cooperate with the invaders. 
The Airkin Ranger and Moogle mostly watch from the town wall, although the Airkin ranger made a funny noise to alert the other kids in the woods that some troops had spotted them.
The two sneaking in the woods have a slapsticky fight with two soldiers, and Bik shows up just in time to finish the last one off before more soldiers come. The three get chased to the town wall, get the Tiefling witch over it to operate the crank, and hold off three soldiers long enough to get in and close the gate, pulling in a dead invading soldier to loot. 
The Moogle and Airkin have spotted what's happening at the South Gate - a bigger contingent of invading troops have taken the town guard hostage, but are being temporarily repelled by merchants throwing sandbags. 
The session ended just as the invaders made it to the top of the South Gate and the three PCs made it in to the North Gate.

A good time was had by all!

(This is a pretty bare bones plotty retelling for my own benefit; I'll add some of the funny lines if I remember them. We were laughing a lot of the game.)

Blogger totally fucked up the formatting and moved passages around at random (go home Blogger, you're drunk) but I think I fixed it. It's weird because this was all written straight into Blogger and not cut and pasted.

Quick n Dirty PC Generation for My New Home Game

Roughly LotFP-based, except race and class are separate, non-fighters progress (slowly) in combat, and magic is this system. Players are new to D&D or haven't played in a long time, so I'm keeping things simple. I'm compiling this for me, but hey, why not share?

1. 3d6 in order (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha); you may swap one. Then derive Power score (highest two of Int, Wis, Cha -28).

Ability Score Modifier
3                          –3 
4–5                      –2 
6–8                      –1
9–12                     0 
13–15                  +1 
16–17                  +2
18                        +3 

2. Choose race:

-Normal Human (no adjustments)

-Vesperblood (humans with ancestors who interbred with magical beings, requires +200 times level XP to progress in level over normal humans in class; IE +200 for level 2, +400 for level 3, etc)
--Earthkin (+1 Con, -1 Dex, +1 on rolls related to Earth Elementals, LotFP Dwarf Architecture bonus)
--Airkin (+1 Dex, -1 Str or Con, +1 to rolls related to Air Elementals, 1/2 falling damage)
--Firekin (+1 Str or Cha, -1 Wis, +1 rolls w/Fire Elementals, 1 Dmg Resistance & +3 saves VS heat)
--Waterkin (+1 Wis or Dex, -1 Int or Str, +1 rolls w/Water Elementals, double breathing & movement in water)
--Tiefling (+1 Cha or Wis, -1 Cha or Wis, +1 rolls w/Demons/Devils, sense magic/spirits by concentrating 1 round and rolling under Int, +1 Stealth)

-Moogle (~3 ft tall anthropomorphic cat or rabbit with tiny bat wings; +1 Wis, +1 Dex, -2 Str, +1 Pow, requires +500 times level XP to advance to next)

-IronGen (~7 ft tall steamwork automaton; +2 Str, +1 Con, -2 Dex, -1 Cha, -1 Pow, LotFP Dwarf encumberance bonus, +1 Int Check to repair self with other steamworks or generally operate them)

(more races will be available if PCs make friends with them as they adventure)

3. Choose Class:
-Barbarian (Zak's Random)
-Fighter (as LotFP; I may allow Zak's Random one later if people get antsy)
-Ranger (Zak's Random)
-Specialist (as LotFP but +half level to hit round down, or Zak's Random Rogue)
-Sorcerer/Witch (+one third level to hit IE +1 at level 3; edited to state cannot wear metal armor)
Class determines HP, Saves, level progression, etc, modified by race as above

4. Choose Equipment:
Everyone in the first session is starting as a teen (age 12+1d6) in a mining town near the edge of a steam powered magitek empire. People who start later will get more adventurey equipment options.
To start: Spend 1d6x10 SP in LotFP, GP in AD&D, or roll 1d20 below until you get the same number. You can reroll duplicates that are not the same number if you want (IE if you roll a 3, then a 5, you could reroll the 5).
1. candle
2. hammer and 2d6 nails
3-5. knife
6. leather apron and goggles +2 AC
7. sturdy hat or protective mask +1 AC
8-10. Backpack
11. hatchet
12. flint and steel
13. mirror
14. 10 foot pole
15. marbles or jacks
16. 25 ft rope
17. lantern +1d4 flasks of oil
18. lockpick
19-20. 1 day's rations

EDIT: Then roll 1d10 on this table:
1. wrench
2. bow and 10 arrows
3. a ranged weapon that is not a bow
4. bolt gun and 2d4 bolts
5. bolt of cloth
6. jug of water
7. compass/pocketwatch combo
8. spyglass
9. key to parent's Rouncer (a 10 ft tall two legged tank-like thing that fits 2 people. All weapons have been tripped from them in this setting, but they are useful for overland travel)
10. 1d4 jars of lard

I may use some tables to determine parent's occupation and resulting starting equipment or bonuses; if so I'll use the Hill Cantons Compendium or DCCRPG.

A Proposed Magic System for My New Home Game

The premise is that spirits do magic, spirits are everywhere, but not many people can talk to them or get them to do things. The more you want them to do, the more risk you assume. It's mashing LotFP Summon with (1-3e) Stormbringer's magic system, trying to make it a little more accessible and broadly useful, but not losing too much flavor.
Note: the equation to get one's POW score below assumes "3d6 in order, swap one" for Ability Scores. If your Ability Score method is more forgiving (i.e. 4d6 drop lowest), use 30 instead of 28.
--

Magic is primarily done by elementals, ghosts, and demons. Humans are not inherently magical creatures. Some gifted men (and beasts) can communicate with the spirits and find minor spirits bored enough to fulfill simple requests. For more powerful magics, more powerful entities must be summoned and bound by a Sorcerer or Witch.

POWer: this Ability Score is found by adding the two highest of INT, WIS and CHA, then subtracting 28. If the result is positive, your character is one of the gifted individuals with some instinct for communicating with Elementals, Spirits, and Demons.
How POW is expended is detailed below.
A character recovers 1 POW by sleeping 4 hours uninterrupted. Another point is recovered for every 2 hours' continuous sleep beyond the initial 4.

Vespers are the most minor of spirits, immature and playful, like small children. They can be asked to do minor favors easily, since they are often bored. The favors they do are called "Cantrips." This list is not exhaustive, but covers most basics. To get a Vesper to do a Cantrip for you, spend 1 POW attracting their attention, then make a successful roll under the relevant ability score to see if you were convincing. If the character wishes the Vesper to bluntly enact their will, the roll is straight or at a penalty. If the player enacts the conversation with the DM or does a little ritual, the roll may have a bonus.

Cantrip Name (Vesper type)	Roll Under	Effect
Light (Fire)	INT	Produce one small globe of light (40 foot radiance) for 1 hour per level of caster. Produces heat if the requestor wishes, enough to light torches from.
Control of Body (Earth, Water, or Air)	WIS	Total control over body (breath, heart beat, grip etc) for 10 minutes per level of the caster.
Clairvoyance (Ghosts, Demons)	INT	Can see through walls and other obstructions up to 50 feet from caster for 10 minutes times the caster's level.
Telekinesis (Air)	INT	Objects within site-distance of the caster may be moved up to 50 feet. Object can weigh no more than one ounce per level of the caster.
Cure Wounds (Earth)	WIS	Cure 1d6 hit points damage. Also stops fatal major or critical wounds from bleeding out.
Comprehend Language (Ghosts, Demons)	CHA	Can read/write/speak any language for 5 minutes duration per caster level.

(table adapted from  +Chris Kutalik 's Stormbringer Hack with ideas from Beyond the Wall.)

Sorcerers and Witches
These are individuals who, through a teacher and intense study of magical tomes, has discovered shortcuts and systems by which they may more easily contact spirits, demons, and elementals. Even if they are not naturally gifted in such matters (IE not high enough INT/WIS/CHA to have POW) they can contact spirits. They have a number of POW equal to their level, plus any gained as figured above or through other methods that come up during play.
Eedited to add: Sorcerers and Witches cannot use their POW while wearing metal armor. The studied form of this magic cannot be channeled and focused while in contact with lots of metal.
Sorcerer and Witch are interchangeable terms, and used for both sexes depending upon the region.
These individuals are able to summon and bind beings more powerful than Vespers.

Summoning and Binding
There are many types of spirits more powerful than Vespers, but the three who most commonly traffic with mortals are Elementals, Demons, and Ghosts. One can attempt to summon Elementals of Earth, Air, Fire, or Water, and Demons, at any time. Ghosts tend to be bound to specific locations, and thus can only be contacted in those locations.
Step 1: Attract Attention
Determine the type of creature you would like to summon, its number of Hit Dice, and number of powers. A creature's Hit Dice is always equal to or more than the Power spent to summon it.
Spend the appropriate amount of Power.
Minor Elemental or Ghost: 1 POW
Minor Demon: 2 POW
Major Elemental: 3 POW
Major Demon: 4 POW

Step 2: Make an Ability check to determine the entity's disposition toward you; you are trying to roll under the relevant ability...
plus your Power score after spending the above and any points from Garmonbozia or Rituals
minus the creature's number of Hit Dice and powers.
•If you have no previous experience with this type of creature roll under your Charisma, modified by Intelligence modifiers.
•If you have studied this creature from a book or another Sorcerer's anecdotes, you may choose to roll under Intelligence, modified by any Charisma modifiers.
•If you have previous experience with this type of creature, you may choose to roll under your Wisdom, modified by any INT and CHA modifiers.
Success: the creature will do the first thing you ask of it, then accompany you for a number of rounds equal to your success. On a critical success (roll a 1), add 1 to your POW for a day. If you roll your current max Power or less on a d100, the bonus is permanent.
Failure: The creature is angry at being bothered, and will manifest for a number of rounds equal to your failure. Your companions may be able to reason with it, depending, and it will probably not sacrifice it's life to destroy you, but it's first instinct will be to attack.

Elementals are similar to the descriptions in Stormbringer, editions 1-3 by Chaosium
Demons are as the LotFP Summon spell, except they have one Spell from the Magic User list or the reverse of one spell from the Cleric list per Hit Point. These are chosen by the summoner prior to summoning ("I call forth a Demon with the power of...")
Ghosts are each unique and what powers they have are unpredictable. They are not so much summoned as stumbled upon and communicated with. They can be powerful allies at little cost, or terrible enemies, possessing the summoner's body. It is not wise to meddle with ghosts one knows nothing about.

Garmonbozia
...is the energy produced by strong human emotions. Spirits of all types are attracted to it, and Demons especially feed upon it. Sex and death reliably produce it. It is the reason virgin sacrifice is associated with demon summoning. Not only do you get the fear of the sacrifice, but the melancholy of the cultist thinking on the virgin's wasted potential in life.
The producer of Garmonbozia does not have to even be aware the summoning is taking place, however, only be nearby. Several couples have been surprised when their conjugal tryst helped some Sorcerer in the next room.
The methods of attempting to create Garmonbozia near the summoning are left to the player's imagination and the DM's discretion; when in doubt, use INT modifiers.

Rituals
...let the players have fun making these up, but they cost 500 silver pieces worth of components for every +1 bonus desired. Alternatively, a ritual circle can be constructed from materials in the natural world over a continuous period of 36-INT hours for a +1 bonus, but the summoner cannot sleep, rest, or carry out any other meaningful work while constructing the circle.

Binding
After a spirit is summoned, instead of requesting an immediate favor, the summoner may choose to Bind the spirit instead. An item must be chosen for this purpose beforehand, and the same amount of Power spent to bind that it took to summon. Make the same Ability Check in Step 2 above. The creature is bound to the object for 1 day for every point of success, and can be summoned forth from the object at no additional cost during that time. At the end of the time, the creature is freed from the object, and will treat the summoner and his companions appropriately for how it was treated.
A Sorcerer/Witch can only have one creature summoned or bound per level, except...
At the expense of one Power point permanently, a spirit can be Bound to an object for a year per level of the summoner. At the end of this time, the spirit may choose to remain in the object. A spirit bound so does not count toward the Sorcerer's maximum.
A Witch can try to give the object some effect of the spirit by making a check as detailed in Step 2 above, with the difficulty adjusted appropriate to the effect. There are also less predictable events that can cause Bound spirits to affect their objects.

Necromancy
...is the binding of a spirit to a corpse. The spirit is caught in the corpse for a number of months equal to the amount of bonuses gained from Garmonbozia and/or Rituals in the binding. It can also be freed if it's "body" is destroyed by violence.
This process forces the spirit to use whatever brains the body has left, or only be able to carry out simple one sentence commands. Decay is arrested by the binding.
(Necromancy will be fleshed out - har har - by the demon "construction" rules from Stormbringer if need be. I think it'll be an NPC thing mostly, though).