Invoke, don't Provoke

The spell Invoke Patron is sort of like divine intervention/aid, but instead of a devout cleric beseeching their god, it's a wizard calling in a marker. Granted, the patron might ignore the request (the spell fails), but it's a much more quid pro quo kind of a deal. After all, the patron may call on the wizard at some point to perform a service. 

For Elbaphraxis, I imagine him as sort of an  immortal, vastly intelligent observer of the cosmos. Knowledge and perception are more his traits than combat, so the aid he bestows reflects this.

Invoke Patron check results:

12-13 --- Elbaphraxis only glances in the petitioner’s direction. He lends of his vast perspicacity to grant the caster a +2 on their next mental check. This includes any roll based on Intelligence (including spell-casting), Luck, or Personality.

14-17 --- Time and Space are merely conceits to the Oculator. His eyes see past and future with equal clarity. The caster shares the barest glimpse of what Elbaphraxis sees in the immediate future. This precognition lasts 1d3 rounds and grants the wizard a +2 to hit, AC, and initiative. At the end of which, the caster must make a Will Save (DC 10) or be dazed for 1 round by the perception shift. A critical failure (natural 1) on the save results in losing consciousness for 1d6 rounds.

18-19 --- Elbaphraxis reaches into the past and retrieves spell that the caster had previous lost for the day.

20-23 --- Elbaphraxis shifts the petitioner into the ethereal plane for 1d4+CL rounds. The caster can perceive the material world as if through a fog, but is effectively invisible and inaudible by normal methods. He may pass through solid matter in this state, but if he is still occupying the same space as an object (e.g a wall) when the effect fades, he will be forcibly ejected from the matter, taking 2d12 damage.

24-27 -- A servant of Elbaphraxis appears. It will plane shift the caster to any place he desires on any plane of existence, disappearing immediately afterwards. Its ability to pinpoint a precise location is limited, so the caster must guide the demon. If the caster has been to the destination, he may make a Will Save (DC 10) to appear where he wishes. If it is an unfamiliar location, the save is DC 15. Failure in either case leaves the petitioner 2d100 miles from where he wanted. He will not be in immediate peril, but his future safety is not the demon’s concern. For example, the caster may appear “safely” on a rocky island in middle of an active volcano.

28-29 --- As above, but the servant will transport the caster and 1d4 others.

30-31 --- 1d6 servants appear. They will remove a foe each by grabbing them and plane shifting them away to the deepest void. Victims may make a Will Save (DC 20) to avoid being transported away. 

32+ --- Elbaphraxis takes a keen interest in the petitioner. Allowing the caster to ask CL simple questions. A simple question is a brief sentence, answerable with a short response of a few words or less (“Yes”, “No”, “Inside the Bronze Tower.”). Elbaphraxis cannot say what will happen for certain in the future, but he can speak about other places and the past with some surety.


Servant of Elbaphraxis
Init +0; Atk claw +2 melee (1d6); AC 15; HD 3d12; MV 30’ or fly 30’; Act 1d20; SP planar shift; Type I demon traits; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +0; AL C.

Appears as a 7’ tall, gargoyle-like creature with no facial features (eyes, mouth, etc.) and smokily transparent.
 

Patronizing Tones

So as long as we’re playing with a homebrew setting for DCC RPG, and I’ve already homebrewed some gods, let’s homebrew a patron!

For those unfamiliar with the system, patrons are supernatural entities (but not necessarily gods) that wizards can enter into pacts with in order to gain power. Some examples in the book include an ancient (possibly immortal) wizard, a pit fiend, an air elemental lord, and the 3 Fates (Maiden/Mother/Crone). Unlike a cleric’s deity, the patron bond is not worship, it’s more like a Faustian bargain. The wizard binds the entity’s power to him (to a degree) and in exchange the patron can demand things of the wizard.

Yay! I made my Spell Check!

Per the rule book (p. 321), there are five (5) steps to follow in designing a patron:

1. Creates the patron’s Theme. Who or what is it? What plane(s) does it dwell on? What is its sphere(s) of interest and influence? Some of the examples in the book include sample binding rituals that a wizard might go through.
2. What are some possible results of invoking one’s patron? A random table is such results is in order here.
3. Contact with this being can lead to Patron Taint. In other words, the wizard can be... affected by his bond to the being.
4. Patrons offer specialized spells (generally one per level).
5. Spellburn: Exactly how does a wizard’s spellburn manifest given his connection to the patron? Another table goes here.

For today’s entry, let’s start with a Name and a Theme.

Elbaphraxis the Oculator

Is believed to be a from a distant world, and the last of a long-dead race that served mighty Cthulhu before the lands of Kelvernia rose from the primordial oceans. Whether “he” serves Cthulhu still –or indeed ever did– is a matter of debate. What is known is that he wields tremendous power, and occasionally takes an interest in the events and denizens of Kelvernia. His appearance is mutable, but he often manifests in visions or dreams as a cloud of eyes. Like the Old Ones, his motives are utterly alien and he seems benignly amoral, but shocking acts of cruelty have been known to have been carried out by his agents.

A wizard or elf seeking to gain Elbaphraxis as a patron must acquire some sort of interplanar substance or object that has felt his touch. He must meditate upon it for a week (patron bond spell) and then act on whatever vision he receives. Often the vision relates some item or piece of information Elbaphraxis desires that will prove the supplicant’s usefulness to him.

Short DCC Followup

We played "Session 0" last night. 16 zero-level PCs went into the funnel, about a third are dead. We'll probably finish the adventure next time and do some leveling up of the survivors. I decided to set things up to use a version of my Kelvernia setting for any actual campaign play. We'll see what happens next.

Overall, I like the idea of the zero-level funnel, but it's probably best if it doesn't go on for too long. The proto-PCs are so very fragile, and they can't do any of the really cool stuff "full" PCs can (Mighty Deeds, Spells, etc.).

Class, Status, and D&D

It's a topic that has been covered many times, and I'm not going to re-hash it all here. The gist of it is thus:

If your "standard" D&D/fantasy setting is supposed to be a quasi-medieval society, why is it that we don't see more emphasis on things like social class/caste? Where are the serfs? Where are the gentry? Sure, there's always a king to hand out quests, but it seems that the PCs are usually just regular shmoes, not nobles. 

I've been watching season 1 of Game of Thrones via iTunes recently. I also enjoyed the books (so far). One of the things that the books really brought home to me (and the show, to a lesser degree) was just how disparate in Westeros the lives of the powerful are from the masses. Look at the Knight of the Flowers. In one scene of the books he's wearing JEWELED ARMOR. Sure he's a pretty-boy, but that's just wacko! I bet the commoners watching the tilt couldn't wait for a few sapphires to go flying so they could scramble for them.

He and Legolas have "Who's the prettiest?"

pout-offs on alternate Wednesdays.

The levels of wealth that some of the families possess is so far beyond even "comfortable" commoners (like the armorer that employed Gendry) that it's hard to really picture.

This guy can buy and sell the both of us a hundred times over! 

So can the attitude!

Consider this modern-day comparison:

Bill Gates, widely considered the wealthiest man in the world, has a current (at the time of this posting) net worth of approximately $60 Billion (USD). If he were to never make another dime, and started spending a dollar per second, it would take him nearly 2,000 years to go broke.

The "average" American (whatever that means)  has a net worth of around $190,000 (reports vary). At the same rate of spending, Joe Average is broke in a little over two DAYS.

Now, I'm not going on about this to foment an "Occupy King's Landing" movement. I'm just trying to say that I don't know that everyone really considers just HOW rich the rich are. I'm no expert on medieval economics (as I've said before), but the few were definitely better off than the many.

OK! Back on topic!


If you are considering using things like social class in D&D-type gaming, consider to what point or purpose you're doing this:

1. Is it for historical verisimilitude? 
2. Are you trying to provide "endgame" motivation to your players? 
3. Are you attempting to add depth and new challenges to the setting? 
4. Or are you just trying to screw the PCs over? 

Of the above, 2 & 3 are probably what I consider the "best" reasons. Let's take them in turn, shall we?

Historical Verisimilitude: Yes, Europe in the middle ages was not a very "socially mobile" place. "Realistically", the odds say characters would almost certainly be poor (to start with). If, as GM, you arbitrarily decide that PCs are all "lower class", then how "realistic" is it for them to potentially start with 100s of gold pieces in equipment? And if you limit their gear, do you unfairly weaken the fighting types who depend upon their armor & weapons far more so than the magic-users, thieves, or –albeit to a lesser degree– the clerics? What about demi-humans? They aren't very "realistic." Do you eliminate them as a PC (or NPC)? If not, are they subject to the same rules as humans?

Furthermore, do you limit the equipment based on culture and historic period? YMMV, but it seems like it could be quite a headache to me. Remember, it's not just the cost of an item, but perhaps the society's laws make certain goods and services restricted or out and out illegal. Armored knights might not be crazy about the idea of peasants with crossbows, even if they had enough coin to buy them. Another popular idea is that of certain weapons or equipment denoting status.

Engame Motivation: As was discussed in a previous post, one way to manage character wealth and motivation is to point them at a larger prize than just a nicer set of armor. If the PCs feel the weight of societal pressure keeping them down, they might decide to push back and climb toward the top of the heap. This must be balanced against the "fun factor" i.e. is this something the players enjoy dealing with? Or is it a huge pain in the kiester? 

Depth and Challenge: Tying directly into the previous point. Does including things like an upper class or caste tie in with other aspects of the setting? Does it make things more interesting for the players? Perhaps they go rogue and steal illicit weapons and armor and become outlaws. Or rebels. Maybe they are hedge knights and mercenaries who operate on the fringes of legality? Players whose PCs manage to claw their way up and carve a place for themselves may savor their "victory" all the more.

Screw the PCs: This is almost not worth replying to, but there are some cases where a group enjoys that adversarial dynamic and the players respond to the challenge. Really this is just an extreme of the above point, so it's important for the GM to be fair in the implementation of rules like these. Personally, I don't see a game like that having much staying power, but it takes all kinds.

Various products, both D&D supplements/settings and new game systems, have attempted to deal with this idea in various ways. Having read several of them, I've tended to adopt the stance that a D&D world is more "fantasy" than "medieval," leaving out most of the historical stuff that would –IMO– limit the fun. It's kind of like a renaissance festival, where you see folks dressed up in everything from "tavern wench" to "Jack Sparrow" to "WTF?" It's more of a halloween costume party than historical reenactment.  

Screw it, if a PC in Kelvernia has the gold, he can buy a sword and plate mail. He might need to go to a large town, but no one will stop him because his dad was a turnip farmer. 

Kelvernian ray guns (and the like)

A first take at a few tech artifacts.

A much more simplified list than GW/MF, but I figure these will be like magic items, and relatively rare ones at that. The power cell will be a standard "battery." But larger, belt-pack power sources may be their own special item.

A new angle

I'm thinking about taking the whole "Mutants & Mazes" thing with Kelvernia in a different direction. The difficulty I keep running into is the few, but significant differences between the Labyrinth Lord (B/X) and Mutant Future systems. I would say they are 75-80% compatible, but the parts that aren't keep giving me fits.

First off the characters progression system is different enough to make is kludgy to blend characters from each game. Things like saves, to hits, etc. are more random in MF, so it "feels" unbalancing next to the more uniform D&D style progression in LL. 

Next are the hit points. While this is one of the most obvious changes, it is actually the easiest to fix. You just give the MF character types LL-style HP (likewise the monsters that vary between systems). 

The other problem, related to hit points, is weapon damage. Specifically, the "artifact" weapons (e.g. lasers, etc.). These weapons do a crazy amount of damage compared to things like LL PCs and monsters. Consider a vibro sword. It does 1d8 (longsword damage) +16(!!!) per hit. It can maintain this ability for up to 240 rounds before its battery dies. This thing could kill an average dragon in two (non critical)hits. That's too powerful for the game I want to play, but I don't want to make such items unheard of, either.

So what to do?

Well, in my case, I'm taking inspiration from a slightly different source, but one with a pedigree that most can appreciate.

Kind of a no-brainer, once I thought about it.

Instead of blending the systems, I'm going to port over and convert and scale the tech I want into D&D/LL terms/stats. This means I might not include certain items and monsters, but even using the MF book, it's doubtful any campaign would cover them all. Also, the Mutant Future book will be there as an awesome reference for any future needs.

This will also require updating/converting some of the mutations' descriptions, but I'm hoping that will be relatively minor.

In a future post, I'll give some stats for the "fantasized" versions of the MF weapons and gear. 

Kelvernia: Bullet Points for Nations

Here's the quickie blurb for each country as I would describe them to a player:

• Cramond: "Baseline" euro-fantasy kingdom in setting. Possible uncertainty about succession. Changed and metalmen tolerated but not well-accepted.
• Jerimet: Up & coming recent dynasty. Territorial ambitions. Ships changed and metalmen to a quasi penal colony.
• Tyros: Plutocratic sea traders, run by an extremely wealthy oligarchy. Think Venice mixed with the Islands of the Purple Towns.
• Lossara: Horse tribes. Cross between arabs and mongols. 
• Tolkati: Northern barbarians. Eskimo Conan.
• Arganta: Viking pirates from a desert land. 
• Glaw: Mysterious forests.
• Subat: Fallen empire. Kind of like Melnibone and Stygia mixed with Mayan overtones.
• Elves found in remote, wooded areas of Jerimet and Cramond. 
• Dwarfs primarily from Spear Mts.
• Halflings live among men in farming communities.

Kelvernia: Sulat

Okay, I've been boring everyone with these setting nation blurbs long enough. This is the last one. I saved Sulat until the end because I felt it was the most interesting (or at least crucial) to the setting's history, as well as being a potentially rich source of adventure hooks.

Sulat was once the seat of the Sulati Empire, which ruled nearly all of Kelvernia. From what is now Lossara to the edges of Glaw, all peoples were under the thumb of the serpent empire. The sulati ruled the seas in their bronze war galleys and conquered wherever they went. The subject nations tithed food, wealth, and slaves to their masters, and sorcerer-priests sacrificed prisoners to their dark god Baal. The demihuman races were hunted to near extinction, and fled from human lands.

Such was the way of the world for over twenty generations, until nearly all the conquering forces were suddenly withdrawn from the vassal states, ordered to return immediately to Sulat. The native peoples seized their chance and rose up against the reduced garrisons, defeating their oppressors. When the newly freed men of Kelvernia mustered enough forces, they sailed on Yarlat, the imperial capital.

What they found was desolation. Nearly half the city was leveled and corpses choked the streets. Signs pointed to some massive battle, but only Sulati dead were found. Later, the invaders discovered that some of the Sulati had fled into the jungles, but attempting to track them all down was a useless endeavor. The power of the empire had been broken.

Today, Sulat is a shell of its former self. Its people are dark and thin. In place of their former arrogance is now a low cunning. Some trade still occurs at Yarlat, as the jungles yield rare plants and woods, but the city is still mostly ruins, with ramshackle structures littered around the harbor.

The changed are common here, moreso than in most parts of Kelvernia. Some folk believe this is related to the empire's demise, but the demon star appeared hundreds of years after Sulat fell. Metalmen are conspicuously absent, however.

The dread worship of Baal, once the state religion of Sulat, is now outlawed everywhere. The "new" sulati claim to follow the Five, but rumors persist of hidden jungle temples that still practice human sacrifice.

The language of Old Sulat was never the lingua franca of Kelvernia. Rather, it was the tongue of kings and priests. Much magical lore and ancient history is written in its script. Today's Common Tongue –or "New Imperial"– is a descendant of the "Low Sulat"tongue and a pidgin of various indigenous languages.


OK! That sums up the basics of the geography. The (initial) info I would give the players would be much shorter. Probably just a line or two. Next up I think I need to make a few more rules decisions and then move on to working up some actual campaign/adventure hooks. 

Kelvernia: The Wildlands of Glaw

Far to the northwest, lies Glaw. To most people in Kelvernia, it is a land shrouded in myth.  Few have ever seen it. Even in Jerimet, Glaw's closest neighbor, the nearest towns and villages are separated from the border by miles of trackless plains.

The Straits of Glaw are a sea of wicked currents and shoals. Since there is little to no trade that far away, even sailors have rarely caught a glimpse of the Glaw coast. A few bold explorers have landed on the coasts, but there is no tale of a successful expedition into the interior.

Glaw is said to be a primeval wilderness. It's described as a land of giant trees, heavy mists, and no trace of civilization. Rumor says that there is vast wealth to be found there, that veins of gold run through the hills and raw gems litter the stream beds. Rumor also tells that strange beasts and stunted aborigines make quick work of any who venture there.

Kelvernia: Arganta

To the south lies the arid land of Arganta. Most of the population lives along the coastline, fishing and sailing. There is a long history of piracy and raiding among the Argantans, and many merchant ships have fallen prey to their swift longboats. 

The Argantan people are swarthy and tend to be shorter than northerners. Culturally they have a great zest for life and tend to be somewhat fatalistic about danger. While many make living off plunder and theft, they are not without their own peculiar code of honor. The corsairs value their reputation for courage above almost everything, so anything that might make them look craven is avoided at all costs.

Despite its seafaring prowess, the wealth of Arganta lies in the interior; in the wastes. There, rare spices and herbs grow amid the blasted rock and sands. Many expeditions to collect such commodities never return. Those that do can make a man rich. 

The changed roam the wastes in vicious bands and some of the wildlife has "warped" as well, making it doubly dangerous to venture there. It is even said that there is a town of metalmen somewhere in the desert, but most dismiss this as mere rumor.

Languages in Kelvernia

I've been going back and forth about how to use languages in Kelvernia. One thing I mislike in games (and never use) is the idea of alignment languages. What I do like is the idea that not all humans speak some "Common Tongue" fluently, or that this lingua franca is as detailed as a normal, "native" language. I also like the idea of using languages as a challenge and to add flavor to the game. 

What I don't want to do is make it so players are either: 

1. stuck with all playing characters from the same background or nation, or 
2. unable to communicate with one another in-game

Neither of those sound like they would be much fun over the long haul. 

So here's what I'm thinking of using, house rules-wise.

• All PCs speak their native language AND the Common Tongue.
• As per the LL rules, characters with an INT of 9+ are assumed to be literate.
• "Common" is a pidgin/trade speech which can convey most straightforward ideas and concepts, but is not a great choice for composing epic poetry or making flowery speeches.
• Many NPCs will not know Common.
• Demi-humans gain no automatic bonus languages. (i.e. Kobold for dwarfs, etc.)
• As per rules, High INT gets additional starting languages.
• It is possible for anyone to learn additional languages after start of play, but it takes weeks of study, practice with a fluent speaker, and/or immersion in the language's culture.
• Once per week, the character trying to learn a new language attempts an INT check, three total successes means the character has gained basic fluency. 
• A character cannot learn more languages than a total of half their INT score (rounded up).

In Kelvernia, the people of Cramond, Tyros, Jerimet, and Sulat all speak "New Imperial", a modern form of the old Sulati language. The other nations each have their own languages. Elves and dwarves have the own racial languages. There are also dead languages in Kelvernia also possible to learn.

Since all PCs know the Common tongue, no one is required to go out of their way to learn more languages. It might make some challenges easier if you have someone in the party who can speak Glaw, but no one is pigeonholing a character into it.

("Let's see... How would one decline 'Guisarme' in Ogre?")

Kelvernia: Lossaran Steppes

The Lossaran Steppes are a rolling, semi-arid, grassland. The Lossars are horsemen without peer. They live in semi-nomadic clans, moving their tent cities every few months. They live by herding cattle and trading between the clans.

Lossaran steeds are the finest in the world. Unlike the heavy draft horses of the west, or the small shaggy ponies of the Tolkat, Lossaran horses are sleek and fast, but can run for hours. As a result, the Lossars favor mounted fighting, favoring spears and curved swords with light armor. They also employ a style of horse archery using short bone bows that is particularly deadly. Some clans will hire out warriors as mercenary light cavalry. 

Once a year, the clans bring their horses and cattle to market at the town of Rat, on the Cramond border. For two weeks merchants come to trade with them and buy their livestock. It is a time of contests, races, auctions, and general high spirits. A clan with good herds can make a great deal of money to use in the coming year, so the Lossarans are eager to see all goes well. 

The Lossarans are not very religious. They believe in respecting their ancestors, and in the turn of the seasons, but not much else. Their clerics are more like shamans or medicine men than priests. 

Like anywhere in the world, the changed can be found in Lossara. Each clan has their own attitudes toward these individuals. Some are tolerant, some kill them on sight. Metalmen are treated in much the same way. 

Kelvernia: Saving Throws

Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord are about 90% compatible with one another. The two areas that I've run into so far that need tweaking are hit point/hit dice, and saving throws. Namely, MF characters start with more hit points and several monsters (especially humanoids) reflect this as well (e.g. Morlocks with 9HD as opposed to 1)

For hit points I'm simply sticking to LL for PCs and will adjust any monsters that need to be  tweaked on the fly. Generally sticking to the lower power levels.

For saving throws, the Mutants & Mazes section has some decent advice, basically giving equivalents for the save types between systems. Rather than bog the players down with it, I'll just keep these equivalents in mind when asking for them to roll.

Character Saving Throws

Mutant Future **** Labyrinth Lord

Energy Attacks **** Breath Attacks

Poison or Death **** Poison or Death

Stun Attacks **** Petrify or Paralyze

Radiation **** Wands

Spells or Spell-like Devices has no equivalent in MF, so I'll just the PCs'/monsters' LL saves for that.

ZAP!

Make sense? Or am I missing something?

Kelvernia: Tolkati

To the north lies frozen Tolkati. It is a land of taiga and tundra; with rivers and snows and tall spruce trees. The people of Tolkati are barbaric nomads, organized into small clans. They ride small, shaggy ponies and live by hunting, trapping, fishing, and raiding. They are a warrior culture, emphasizing personal bravery and honor through combat. A tolkat army would be a fearsome thing, but the tribes would never work together to make it happen.

Tolkati is a land of spirits. The religion of the tribes is one of nature spirit and ancestor worship. They consider the Five to be just more spirits. The spirit world often plays tricks on mortals and there is little to be done about it other than persevere.

There are few metalmen in the snowy wastes –they seem to prefer civilization– but the changed are relatively common for some reason. The tolkat viewpoint is that the changed are as they are because the spirits willed it. As a result, they are treated pretty much like anyone else.

Kelvernia: Combat House Rules (a first take)

OK, I want to tread lightly here. What I'm after is to increase the fun but not the overall complexity. At the moment, here are a few things I am considering adding.

Jeff Rient's Big Purple D30 Rule

Once per session each player may opt to roll the Labyrinth Lord’s big purple d30 in lieu of whatever die or dice the situation normally calls for. The choice to roll the big purple D30 must be made before any roll. The d30 cannot be roll for generating character statistics or hit points.

Of course, my d30 isn't purple, but you get the idea.


Critical Hits & Fumbles: I intend to include these. Some people think it ends up screwing over the PCs, but as long as crits and fumbles affect monsters too, I say it's fair. The exact charts are in flux, but criticals will most likely include extra damage, gaining a free attack, and knocking an opponent off his feet. Sample fumbles are things like dropping a weapon, breaking a weapon, or losing your next turn. "Nat 20s" = crits and "Nat 1s" = fumbles. Using the d30 to hit means any roll of 20+ is a critical.

Quaffing: Taking a stiff drink (ale, wine, spirits) can restore temporary hit points, but runs the risk of getting drunk and gaining temporary penalties to attack rolls.

Follow Through: Killing an opponent in melee allows a free "swing through" (cleave) to an adjacent foe. Magic-users, thieves, and clerics lack this ability.

Trained warrior: Fighters (and only fighters) get one attack per level vs. creatures of 1HD or less if they (the fighters) do not move that round.

This list is far from final, but it should give an idea of the direction I'm going with combat.

Technology and Kelvernia

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

-Arthur C. Clarke

Unlike a typical post-apocalyptic setting, the idea behind Kelvernia is that long-lost technology resurfaces into a fantasy world (somewhat like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks). As a result, there aren't "modern-era" ruins littering the landscape to search for things like grenades and submachine guns. The tech that appears in Kelvernia is "sci fi" tech. Ray guns, force swords, etc. There are two basic reasons for this:

1) It fits the setting: with a highly advanced civilization having left behind technology. Some of it is in disrepair due to the aeons that have passed.

2) The technology is orders of magnitude beyond the current levels of learning in Kelvernia. No one is going to disassemble a ray gun and figure out how to make more. 

I plan on treating such artifacts pretty much as magic items. Unlike a ring or a flying carpet, it will require more than just discerning a command word. Player characters will need to make technology rolls to learn how to use it. Failing that, they may need to employ the services of a Technomancer.

Technomancers are sages who study such devices and their origins. Because technological artifacts are so rare, much of their "studies" are simply theories, and frequently wrong. Nevertheless, many do have a knack for figuring out how the gizmos work. Further, sometimes successful technomancers may hire PCs to look for such objects. 

Kelvernia: Jerimet

Jerimet is a relatively young kingdom. It had long been a loose amalgamation of petty baronies and princedoms, each with petty rivalries and frequent skirmishes with their neighbors. All that changed a little over twenty years ago, when the old lord of Kasjar (a small coastal province) died, leaving his son Drew to rule. 

Drew, though a young man, proved a capable leader. When his southern neighbor encroached upon Kasjar farmlands, Drew took his troops and pushed the southerners back. Not content with this, the young lord continued his advance and defeated the entire province. 

Thus began a ten year campaign of conquest. Drew proved a fearless general and a capable warrior in the field. In the end, the entire peninsula bent the knee to Drew I, king of Jerimet (called thus for the old imperial name of the land). 

King Drew is now a middle-aged man. A greater warrior than ruler, he is nonetheless conscientious enough to appoint good advisors and the kingdom runs smoothly enough. He married a Doge's daughter several years ago, and has an heir of his own now. The crown prince is only a boy, but should be more than old enough to take the crown before the king would die of old age. 

In the meantime, much of the crown's energies are spent keeping the old rivalries between the provincial lords from flaring up. As a result, Drew I wonders if a unifying cause might not be useful. He eyes expanding eastward into Cramond, and tests his neighbor's resolve occasionally. 

In a further attempt at unification, King Drew has made the Church of the Five the official state religion, and the patriarch is on the royal council. The king hopes that the presence of the official church in every province will preach fealty and loyalty to his subjects.

Jerimet is not friendly toward the Changed or the Metalmen. Those found among the populace are sent to Berkut, a "settlement" on the shores of Lake Rabine to the north. Foreign mutants or androids are required to carry papers at all times, and can expect to be stopped frequently by the town watch.  Many establishments will not serve them. Outside the cities, it's usually worse, where "papers" mean little to nothing and a mob may turn ugly if a mutant come to their village. 

Bring on the Mutants!

OK, now to get down to the nitty-gritty. One of the things that I'm having trouble with is the question of how to handle mutants and androids in the setting. Are they monsters/NPCs? Can players play whatever they want? What's the best way to balance the power levels, etc.? Since the idea is that Kelvernia is a "fantasy" world, and the PA (post-apocalyptic) stylings are a recent occurrence, I want to use LL/BX as the "baseline" system-wise.

(Yeah, kinda like that!)

At the moment, I am leaning toward allowing "changed" humans as a playable race, but not using every mutation on the Mutant Future list. Here's where my version is at right now:

THE CHANGED (MUTANT)

• Attacks/HD/XP/Saves as Halfling. Also, level caps at 8th.
• Start with 2 random mutations at 1st level. Drawbacks are part of same tables. 
• The Changed gain a new mutation at 3rd, 5th, and 8th levels.
• Save at -4 vs. mutating energies.
• The Changed suffer a reaction penalty of 4 when dealing with any other race (NPC or monster).

The player can choose to be a changed animal, human, or plant. Changed are assumed to be at least halfling-sized (but no larger than human), of human range intelligence, and capable of speech (though perhaps having some difficulty articulating certain sounds depending on the shape of their mouths). Changed humans or animals roll once on the physical and once on the mental charts at the start of play. Changed plants are also assumed to be mobile. At start of play, mutated plants roll once on the plant and once on the mental mutations.

When a changed PC gains a new mutation (i.e. at 3rd level, etc.), the player rolls a die. An odd result means they gain a mental mutation, even means they roll on the physical (or plant) table.

    


I realize the above makes for an extremely random PC, but I figure that's sort of the point when playing a mutant!

I'm still on the fence about the MetalMen (androids). The version I came up with used Elf progression for XP, saves and to hits (with the 10th level cap). PC Metalmen are humanoid constructs whose AI has developed self-awareness and free will (to a degree). Their background programming causes them to tend toward Lawful alignment. They do not sleep (magical Sleep doesn't work), are immune to most normal poisons and diseases.

Androids start with a fixed number of hit points (probably 50), but cannot be healed (magically or otherwise), they must be repaired or repair themselves (self-repair rate is 1d3 per day, assuming it has at least 8 hours to work on themselves and basic equipment, which most androids have built-in or on their "person" by default). More elaborate repair kits and facilities exist, but are like Healing Potions, with limited supplies/doses. If an android is "killed", it cannot be raised, resurrected, or reincarnated. Only direct divine intervention or a Wish can bring it back.

Androids have an affinity for hi-tech artifacts, and can figure out how to use such objects with relative ease. Androids gain a +20% to Technology rolls.

 

We shall see. Perhaps they should stay NPC-only. 

Thoughts? C&C?