A World Full of Wizards

This is a consideration of the WIZ attribute and I shall centre it upon humans.

Why is Trollworld not bursting at the seams with human wizards? At first glance it ought to be! How so?

The average roll of 3d6 is 10.5 and so most humans should pass the 1st Level wizards' test - 10 for INT and 10 for DEX. Ah but maybe no one teaches them and that's why so may are just citizens. I don't believe this is so...

The Wizards' Guild was formed to counter the law-breaking of people with the ability to cast spells. The idea was that spells would be standardissed and social engineering would go hand in hand with magical tuition in classes so that graduating wizards would keep the law, by and large, and the rulers would be better served.

It wasn't a matter of money - the rulers wanted to net as many fish as they could. Rogues are literally rogue wizards - people who the trawling nets have missed and have not been 'programmed' magically or ethically. (I see no reason why they should have just one spell or that the spells they have should be just as those the Guild teaches but that's another story.)

The explanation for the comparative lack of wizards, given that the INT and DEX starting requirements are so modest, might be this: there are two types of WIZ.

The common one gives rise to spell resistance and everyone has it to some degree, even though it may be very weak. The rarer version allows spell casting. The Wizards' Guild attempts to assess every citizen and then trains those who have the rarer WIZ quality.

That's how it works on Khaghtch'an, the Kraken Continent, anyhow.

Sir Geoffery gets rich, has no need for anti-perspirant and forms a cunning plan

Putting such thoughts aside (you'll have to read the last post!), he determined to explore the upper gallery next. A place overgrown with vines and filled with intriguing statues, it surprisingly yielded no booty and no danger. Scarcely believing this dearth of risk and reward, the knight descended and headed north into a section of the castle sadly decayed by the passing years. It was a mess. He reckoned there was no immediate danger so he left the security of the entrance archway and set about searching methodically.

In game terms, this meant increasingly difficult LK saving rolls with the prospect of getting lost if a commeasurately high INT SR was not made at the end of the treasure trawl. L7 was the top LK ask – with INT of 20 even with a 6 level bonus, Sir Geoffery accepted that he would lose his way. It dawned on him that at the earliest opportunity he should pray for increased intellect.

Truth to tell, this time proved to be a calm cruise in happy hunting grounds for de Boyks. He turned up a total booty bonus of 15,710 gold pieces in value – far too heavy to take out by himself. He successfully battled a skeleton and a mountain gorilla without breaking sweat, as well as a vampire. In two of the fights, he would have taken one point of spite damage but I ruled that as he won so overwhelmingly, these enemies didn’t manage to even touch Sir Geoffery (house rule: if the difference in combat totals is vast, the victor gets a L1 SR on LK to avoid spite – if an ant does battle with a dragon and rolls a 6, I’m not going to be quick to smack the dragon with a point of damage) – so no vampire infection.

The hero pulled up a heavy stone with a flick of his wrist and located an amulet which uplifted his strength by 3 when worn. He got another weapon – this time a plain sword enchanted to give the wielder’s STR in dice. For de Boyks, that is 63 currently! Only one add though…

Twice he got a bad feeling as he explored and heeded the intuition. A plan grew in his mind – go to Khaboom and team up with an experienced and trustworthy wizard to complete the cleansing of the castle and hire a team of dwarves to demolish the parts of the castle beyond repair and then rebuild and renovate. Satisfied with this plan, he hid the cash and legged it out of his by now favourite creepy hang out.

As he sauntered back to the village, a longer term plan fermented: to find a witch wife to forge a more permanent partnership with, in which he would – after a little playtime – be able to sleep easily at night.

Sir Geoffery and the Castle of Death

I'm going to write up the next exciting installment of our favourite knight in shining armour's adventures in the creepy but treasure-laden castle.

I think he's likely - if he survives and gets more loot - to employ a troop of dwarves and a couple of elven mages to clean out the castle and then have the dwarves stabilise what can be salvaged of the masonry before he hires a bunch of carpenters and navies to spruce it up to habitable standard.

Do you think this is fair, to take a sole setting apart, milk it for all its worth and live the life of Riley (assuming he was a happy fellow)?

Rotten Borough - Election Special: Dirty tricks option

I'm adding a dirty tricks option to the election solo where you try to be elected as the Mayor of Stoneydaze - its up on DriveThru with Fairyland included.

I've generated a menu of 11 'dirty tricks' - anyone got any suggestions?

My brain is custard after a haaarrrd week...

Underwater Kindreds

A concept for a new solo grew on me yesterday. Now I need to brainstorm under the sea trollworld kindreds - if anyone has any offerings, they will be greatly received and probably included.

kia ora

Mark/Khaghbboommm

Castle of Death - Chapter 3

The Ghostly Dagger

Sir Geoffery was ready for the off again. Once more into the breach and all that. He had a new rope and had been practicing hard with his new enchanted bonesplitter. It hadn’t been easy to find undead volunteers to test those special properties…

He had also done a fair bit of praying while kicking his heels at home and he rather felt that this had lead to the apparent improvement in all three of his khremm resistance, his intellect and his charisma. Worth wearing out the knees in his favourite breeches.

The villagers did not discourage him this time. Having seen the swag he had returned with last time, there were actually a few volunteers to accompany him but he did not want to see them smeared all over the castle flagstones – well, not much…

Nothing looked different when he got back to the great skull gate. This time he settled on a full frontal approach (possibly remembering his cousin’s lobotomy) and he picked the lock in the small side door and squeezed through to find himself looking at the other side of those great doors.  The intrepid knight was just beginning to survey a courtyard when he heard a noise above – some lowlife was attempting to empty a bucket of boiling tar on his nicely smoothed barnet!

Jumping aside and cursing, he made his way northwards and went through a gate with a family crest emblazoned upon – De’ Ath! – to find another overgrown courtyard. In the centre was a fountain, now choked with weeds. That looked worth a decent gander, he was thinking, when…

A decidedly woe-begone dragon dive bombe him from nowhere. Its look proved to stem from it not being alive anymore. An undead dragon. How annoying! The bonesplitter seemed to howl as it split the air before cleaving through the decrepit beast. It might have kept the sparrows off the lawn but it wasn’t keeping de Boyks from his date with destiny! In one minute flat, he had fragmented it diligently.

He was quite pleased to notice that his bubble shield had kept the heat of the dragon’s fire from inconveniencing him. He had an extra spring to his step.

Although intrigued by the fountain, he acted the good scout and searched the courtyard thoughtfully. He was soon rewarded. The increasingly affluent Sir Geoffery found another 6,000 gold pieces in a badly concealed pit and what made this treasure trove even better was that it was in a sack that reduced it’s weight to a mere 50wu. Nice work if you can get it, he mused.

Now – back to that fountain. It seemd to approve of him, although he understood not why nor how, and all of a sudden it began to flow – fort h first time in years, he felt certain – with fresh water. Khremm exploded about him and his charm and good looks were vaulted skywards (an increase of 11!). Then he decided to drink. Well, you have to speculate to accumulate, he ruminated happily. Bingo! Very nice and it would have restored any lost STR or CON but he was thus far unscathed.

Pressing on, buoyed still further with conviction that he was a man on a mission, he passed through a doorway to the north which was flanked by two towering statues of mighty warriors. He repressed the urge to chop their limbs off a la the Venus de Milo but could not help but spit  at their eyes, hoping that the wind would not change.

Now he was through to what once must have been a splendid great hall, complete with a massive table ringed with high-backed chairs. Once again, he put on his searching pants and unearthed another chest. This one made his face breakout in a huge lopsided grin for it contained a dagger. And not just any old dagger! This one was a ghostly dagger of undead control (or so he surmised, intuitively). It became invisible in his hand and, as a highly accomplished evaluative warrior, he calculated that it was enchanted to get him 2d6 +3 adds with his entire attack, including his personal adds (now +152). Woot!!! This little baby had more zip than the big brute of a bonesplitter.

Now he had a conundrum to solve – should use sword and dagger and fight two handed? Noooo! That would mean strapping the still mysterious buble shield to his back. What was a chap to do? He sat down to think, vigilant but picturing a third arm. Where to place it though if the dream came true and how might it go down with the damsels?

Castle of Death - Chapter Two

The Sarcophagus

Sir Geoffery did what he could for his wounds (aha! First aid talent  - +6 on INT and I’m going to rule that he can heal 1d6 per level of saving roll made each day) – rolls 4 and 3, INT 18 + talent 6 +dice roll 7 = 31 so makes L3 and heals 3 points of injury – CON up to 73) and then grimly pressed on…

The knight felt he was due some treasure after taking out two powerful fiends.He searched the now decayed room but found nothing more than a way out of the castle, given that he had 100’ rope with him and the drop was only 40. His magi-map took care of the details. ‘Gadzooks!’ he muttered, addicted as he was to these archaic expletives.

He went out into a dismal rat-infested corridor and went east to a door that took him into what was a surprisingly well maintained chapel. His hackles rose – what sort of deity would be worshipped in a place like this? He examined from a distance a leather bound book on a lectern and decided that the serpent depicted on the cover swallowing its own tail was a sign of something terrible to come, should the book be unlocked. Instead, he choose to examine the scene on the stained glass window which showed a knight and a girl illuminated by bright light from behind the glass.

He rather fancied that he should have such a girl fawning on him but was startled out of his reverie when the glass shattered and a hook-beaked demon fell upon him. It was only his armour that saved him from shards of glass. Pretty tough but he made short work of the evil monster with the yellow eyes, suffering one more point of spite damge. He kicked its corpse petulantly just before it dissolved in foul-smelling steam and seeped through the floor.

Now he did get a reward. Behind the glass was a chamber with a small chest tended by the ghostly figure of the knight in the picture. He was quite obviously grateful that the demon had been disposed of and Sir Geoffery found 6,000 GPs in the chest along with 3 gems and a diamond bracelet set in silver. He figured this was as safe a place as any to leave his booty as he was not going to lug the chest around this death-trap of a castle with its vicious denizens.

He left the chapel and back out into the corridor he found a rusty yet sturdy ladder leading up to a thickly webbed ceiling. After testing his weight on the lower rungs, he ascended slowly, expecting arachnid attention at any moment.

None came. He was lucky. He emerged into a musty dark chamber which his lantern could hardly penetrate. Again, he thought, this is an omen of malevolence ahead. He moped his brow and investigated, scimitar in hand. What he discovered were a number of small chests and a sarcophagus – and something moving about in the darkness!

de Boyks did not hesitate. He made for the sarcophagus and opened the lid. Maybe he could get anything inside to fight with the lurker. The lid was lifted easily and he made out some sort of weapon inside. The creature somewhere in the darkness did not attack and in a rush of blood Sir Geoffery reached for the weapon! 

Suddenly from the gloom a large clay golem chose to attack him! The knight swung into battle mode and chopped away like a lumberjack. The golem did not damage easily. Even though Sir Geoffery was on top, the thing would not go down and it took him 4 solid minutes of hacking (8 rounds) to reduce it to little lumps of mud. He had taken 26 (!!) points of spite damage in the forging his way to victory and de Boyks blood spattered the room. His CON was down to 46 – he was still going to be hard to kill but he was feeling powerful sore.

Back to business. Despite the webbing, he searched the three small chests and found a ring in each. With no magic to asses them, he blindly slipped them on, one after the other. The first added 3 to STR (yay! Back up to L6) and the other two added one to CON and SPD. Sir Geoffery was satisfied – his scars would be worth it! Not content with this, he retrieved the weapon from the sarcophagus – a mighty bonesplitter, getting 21d6 plus 18 (double against the undead) – woo hoo! Although the sword was intended as a two-handed weapon (house rule) as Sir Geoffery had more than double the STR and DEX required he could wield it effectively in one firm hand (house rule: he doesn’t ye tget his warrior’s bonus of an extra dice per level as he has not yet mastered the new weapon).

To make a good day great, he finally uncovered 2,000 gold coins in a sack that made them weigh only 50! Party on, de Boyks!

The big treasure haul coupled with his wounds determined his course. Sir Geoffery retrieved the other chest with the 6,000 gold pieces and made his way out of the castle with the aid of his silk rope. The only downside was having to cut it as he could not untie it at the top. He intended to return so he severed the silk at waist height and hoped there it would stay. He still had over 60’ of good quality rope.

The villagers feted him on his return. He was not slow to put money behind the bar but did not get drunk enough for anyone to be able to take advantage of his celebrations. On his return home to his modest cottage, he lamented the lack of a maid such as the one in the stained glass. He also rued that a knight of his prowess did not count a castle as home. His resolve to return to the scene of his latest adventure stiffened, as did his thoughts of a damsel, and he schemed of taking proprietorial rights over that fiend-ridden fortress.