Death be not proud

So you die, then what? Is most settings your buddies would be responsible for taking your body to some sort of cleric to resurrect you. In Dragonquest they would look for a Healer and hope to have enough money to pay for the attempt.  My plans for Blood Moon rule our any clerics or healers. There is not an abundance of good healing magic to be found.  The corruption wrought by the failed eldritch magic has opened the door necromantic energies permeating the lands.  One might die today and return shortly there after as a somewhat intact person tainted by undeath yet still in possession of their person.

In terms of game mechanics Willpower (WP) will be  the determining characteristics of one's fate after death.  If one is lucky enough they have the ability to return to life after the grave as their old selves. They may need some sort of healing, limb grafting, or elemental prosthesis to return to a more mobile state, but they are still listed among the living.  Rolling under 3 X WP will bring about a return to life as it was before.  If your average WP is 15 you have a 45% chance to remain in the ranks of the living.  For those less fortunate, they return to life as a grave version of themselves and may need similar mending to become mobile and active. A roll between 3 & 4 X WP will result in graven transformation.   A roll higher then that causes one to pass into  unlife and return as an undead under the control of the GM.  How soon this transformation occurs is left up the the discretion of the GM.   It is rumored that Grave Wardens can prevent such a transformation.

But did he play RPGs? Samurai sword-wielding bishop

Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop comes to aid of woman

Published April 23, 2013

advertisemenA Samurai sword-wielding Mormon bishop helped a neighbor woman escape a Tuesday morning attack by a man who had been stalking her.

Kent Hendrix woke up Tuesday to his teenage son pounding on his bedroom door and telling him somebody was being mugged in front of their house. The 47-year-old father of six rushed out the door and grabbed the weapon closest to him -- a 29-inch high carbon steel Samurai

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/23/samurai-sword-wielding-mormon-bishop-comes-to-aid-woman-being-attacked/print#ixzz2ROdQc05m

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Post - The Winged Folk Download

Happy Appreciation Day all!

My post is a simple one. I converted the race that made me look into gaming as a hobby. That fateful September day back in 1981 opened the door to a world of imagination and community that I have enjoyed ever since. Those two things have often fueled my joy of living and certainly impacted my decisions in life. While I cannot credit RPG's with the being to source or origin of my vocation, the world I came to know in gaming has certainly shaped my understanding of life and my appreciation of it.

Here are just a few of things I have learned from RPG's.

1. Life really is a story, what story do I find myself to be in?
2. It takes friends to fulfill the mission.
3. The best laid plans can be hampered by bad luck.
4. Half-assed plans can come together with a bit of daring and good fortune.
5. There is a real communion that comes about by laughter, cooperation and shared enjoyment.

I am sure I could write more along those line, but my parishioners already know I am too wordy. No need to  inflict such pains upon any of the readers here.  Have a great Appreciation Day, may your adventures be meaningful and your friends plentiful!   The link is at the bottom of this post is a PDF of the arctle and race of Winged Folk adapted for Swords & Wizardry. 

                                                                           Padre

http://dragonquestfrontiers.com/downloads/TheWingedFolk.pdf

Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.   Helen Keller

Oh Hellgrammite!

Fear the awesome Hellgrammite!

While most of my posts are about gaming things, I still have a fond love of bugs.  This the larva version of the Dobsonfly.  A gargantuan version of this could be scary for a group of adventurers. 

D & D for Greeks & Romans?

Something I snagged from Retronaut. If you have never explored the site, it is worth a peek. http://www.retronaut.com/

c. 2nd century BC–4th century AD:

Egyptian Twenty-sided Die

‘Faces inscribed with Greek letters’

50 to 75 sessions = 9th to 11th level?

         I recently rediscovered my CD collection of Dragon Magazines.  Here are some timeless comments from Gary Gygax.

        "While adventurers in a D & D campaign must grade their play to their referee, it is also incumbent upon the Dungeonmaster to suit his campaign to the participants. This interaction is absolutely necessary if the campaign is to continue to be of interest to all parties. It is often a temptation to the referee to turn his dungeons into a veritable gift shoppe of magical goodies, ripe for plucking by his players. Similarly, by a bit of fudging, outdoor expeditions become trips to the welfare department for heaps of loot. 

       Monsters exist for the slaying of the adventurers — whether of the sort who “guard” treasure, or of the wandering variety. Experience points are heaped upon the undeserving heads of players, levels accumulate like dead leaves in autumn, and if players with standings in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s of levels do not become bored, they typically become filled with an entirely false sense of accomplishment, they are puffed up with hubris. As they have not really earned their standings, and their actual ability has no reflection on their campaign level, they are easily deflated (killed) in a game which demands competence in proportionate measure to players’ levels.

It is reasonable to calculate that if a fair player takes part in 50 to 75 games in the course of a year he should acquire sufficient experience points to make him about 9th to 11th level, assuming that he manages to survive all that play."

Does anyone really have the time to play that many sessions as an adult? Again, I am an outsider looking in on a system I never played. Does it really take that long to advance to that level? When I was in High School I may have had that kind of time to waste, but not now. 400 to 600 hours of game play in the course of a year seems like a lot.   I did chuckle at his comments about trips to the welfare department.

Back in 1981

This image in Dragon magazine was enough to entice my imagination into buying it. The entire magazine was fascinating and I knew next to nothing about D & D, but this guy looked awesome.  I think it must have been sometime in 1981. It was Christmas of that year that I got Dragonquest instead of D &D and the rest is history. This race of "birdmen" was one of the first things I added to the game after I was comfortable as a GM.

Seeing all the excitement over at Tenkar's has made me hop on the bandwagon. While I have never played Swords & Wizardry I thought I might be able to translate something from Dragonquest over to that system.  I've read through the book and think the game is cool, but my fantasy gaming is limited to a monogamous relationship with an obscure system. 

Sendashi

  Back in the early days of the 3.X explosion of D & D I was into buying many books for resource material. Mythic races by Fantasy Flight provide me with seeds ideas for incorporating a number of new races into Dragonquest. The Sendashi (originally Sendasti) were a race that were interesting enough to merit my consideration. The picture fed enough of my imagination to make up the various stats and history of the race.  Considering that they were a marginal rave to being with in my home setting, they seemed like a good carry over for the new Blood Moon setting.