Celtricia

[LordVreeg]

The other current session playing these days is Misotn, which has been mentioned before.
The oldest of the current running games.  This group has played for since 1995 real time, and has played almost 1 year of game time.

Miston is currently an outpost town in the Northern part of the Grey March.  It has been many things in it's time.
 
It was really founded around 225 RON, back when Stenron was still the city of Winterloo, capital of the State of Winter.  The Collegium Tortoris was dislodged from their home on the Corpusmunt of the necropolis of Winterloo, and came to settle on the road to the ancient mines, in the eaves of the Trelliwood.  At this time, the Venolvians were mining heavily in the old Ambretton mines to North, and the old road that was being used for Trade gave them a perfect place, in between the population centers of the time.  Inevitably, traders started to stop here regularly, taking advantage of the protection here, and some few stayed.  Religious pilgrims of the Venolvians also were seen regularly in the first years of the town, called 'Miston' for the mist that rose from the trees on spring mornings.  So in it's early years, Miston grew slowly, but steadily.

But when Jon of Triston led the Forces of the State of Winter against the Venolvian settlements, it brought in once last surge of traffic, with armies and wains going through almost daily...and then, once the Venolvians had been defeated in 488, and thrown off the main continent altogether, the traders had no reason to go through Miston again.  mIston had gotten fat for five years on the war, but the war destroyed the reason for traffic coming through Miston.

During all this, The collegium itself had waxed and waned.  The huge, Basalt main building has been hidden for centuries by a powerful glamor fomr the lost SHadow magic, so most inhabitants walk by it it every day on the merchant row, it sitting across the stream, but their eyes slide over it.

The Collegium Arcana started a chapter house here back in 590 RON, though by then grass had grown up in even the Straight Northern Road, so there was no notice of the old Venolvian traces.

The Town had been wrested from the Grey March some five years before by the the GiantClan, but recently the town has been freed.  The Giantclan and their myriad minions prowl the west and north of the town, in large numbers.

Almost all of the crops and livestock in Miston is provided by the Turniper's farming commune to the south.  They have a herd of Marcher cattle, which all average over 8 gallons of milk per day.

PLease pardon the maps, as they have been scnned fomr old hand drawn ones.

[LordVreeg]

Hmm.
I had another good idea for a post.
I'm going to post an one of the early adventures that the original grey legion dealt with.  PLease feel free to comment, but also feel free to use this or some version of this if you wish.  This also shows my basic format for creating an advanture.
I use my own system that enabled characters to gain experience when they use their skills, so experience amounts given may be very different that what you would use.  Please feel free to ask any questions that may help you use this.
Also, pardon me for not using the table codes for the creatures found inside, I normally paste my excel monsters , and I really don't feel like typing that much more.
[ic=some background]
The Central Trablerian area was populated first by the Astrikon Traders, and after they got snuffed and scattered in 188 RON, the area was covered by many of their ruins and travelling families, but the demonic interference that destroyed the Herb Lands working also destroyed them.
In 260 RON Coth The Unworthy ( A Venolvian freebooter-turned-pirate) started building a small wooden fort on the coast near a some scrub on a small hill near a natural cove, with his ship mates.  They stole some white Fidikmarple (like white granite) from some nearby ruined buildings (old Astrikon country estates) and soon wandering groups settled near it.  in 288 RON, the Shedu Inn was openned next to it.  This would become the town of Igbar.
But in 365 RON, in far-away Orbi, the Arcanic Table came into being to threaten the ruling families, and some began to make secret plans in case an exit was needed.  In 402, the Church of Enchantment and Making (Dispater) and clan Keguman (both from Hagenos, in Orbi), sent a delegation with prized possessions to create the Monastary of the Forge, in the middle of no-where, north of the wibble hills, about a hundred miles north of Coth's Holdings.
In 412 and 413 RON, the Arcanic Table started to solifify it's grasp of power in Orbi, and many of the old Orbian families left.  Clan Killraven, Oscatel, and Antroo all fled to their secret, prepapred holding in the wibble hills, and in 415 Clan Killraven founded their manor in the eastern outskirts of the wibble hills, on the flat top of an escarpment, and the next year, work began on the underdark and the Temple Devilkin, both further in the hills.
It is worth mentioning that the Northern Venolvian settlements, nearly two thousand miles to the north, almost released the Dreadwing by mistake in 418 RON, and that Orbi became an official Mageocracy, ruled 100% by the Arcanic Table, in 420.

Centering in a bit, though there is much to say on the whole history of the Orbian exiles, it is enough to say that once the Arcanic Table had consolidated power, it paid the Whiskanis League of Venolvia, the Manstis-clan of killers (most venolvian clans were represented by insects, like the flys on the Lammellar the New Legion found in the Shearing tomb) to find and destroy the clans that had fled.

Though the Killraven manor was thriving, in 458 RON the Whiskanis league found it, paid some informants (most notably the tutor to the twin Killraven children), and overran it.  They destroyed the Underdark and the Monastary of the Devilkin the next year, and the ruins were left to rot.

The current play date when this was taken was the end of 894, and the Firhazer humanoid tribe (mainly hobgoblins, Gnolls, Flinds, and a contingent of wererats) and their double-tower aflame sigil have started to cut off trade from the north.  They have taken the ruins of the Killraven castle as their own, and can just see the Recum road in the distance as it comes around the wibble wills.[/ic]

UNderneath the old manor house itself, the Firehazers use one room for storage, but eschew the rest of the basement, as it is creepy as hell...
The fight for the Killraven manor ended here, when the family and some last gurads retreated underground.  The Tutor was supposed to bring the last boy to the sectret passage that led to the well, where they might be able to climb out, but the tutor had already been bought off.
I also had the group trying to rescue the son of a trader of the Homintworth Clan (which trades in spices, and is uner the larger Winfire clan), and that child had been partially possesed by the spirit of the Killraven Child that was betrayed.



Basement under Killraven Manor---
The stairs from above are mortar topped with rotting wooden planks.
downstairs, the floors are grey flagstones, 5'x5'.  The walls are carved, but covered in whitish brick (Fidikmarple) with black mortar, with the same on the ceilings.  The doors are rounded on the top.
1. Staircase from the old burnt out manor house.  Basic grey stone.  There has been a lot of foot traffic.

2. Entry room to basement area.  Ceiling is 20' high.  Used most recently for storage, for Vichi and Kostchi.  The northern wall is covered with sleeping furs of all different types (horse, wolf, donkey, bear).  Along the south wall is a long table (9 x 4 x 3) made of thick oak.  On it are three damaged arbalests and 16 bolts.
The Northwest corner of the room has a bearskin belt on the floor and there are a pair of small manacles attached to the wall that are of a recent construction.  They held the Homintworth child, before they moved him to the caverns.
2.1 Door to the older areas.  This door is thick oak, and is iron reinforced on the east side.  This door is somewhat newer than the rest of the room. There is a padlock (+05% RT) on the east side of the door and that is the side where the hinges are, as well.

3. Corridor split.  The floor of this part of the complex is made of grey, granite slabs, and the walls and ceiling are of a greenish brick and mortar.
The west wall at the split has a big scratched/cracked area, the there is a pile of granite shards on the floor.  A reconstruction would show a bas-relief of a raven profile (we200,wo730).   There are a no tracks at all here.

4. 2 oak doors.
The West one is unlocked, and is of a double thickness, with some kind of a rubber seal on it.  A cold breeze comes from that way.
The East door is locked, (+10%).
[note=Type Gelatinous Cube]
Name   
HP   26
AV   55
Pro   25
Move   11
att type   pseudopod
Speed f   5
multi%   25%
bmod   25
prime   
dam   11-21/d6+1
spec dam   para (fort-25) or para 10-26 seg
spec attack   surprise +20
specialabili   immune fire/electrical,mind affectinf spells
exp   279 [/note]
5. Storage room.  Old crates litter the north wall, mainly destroyed now.  In that section are 4 spear heads, 6 axe heads, and an electrum katar with a raven handle (we19,wo115).  The south wall has 22 weapon hooks on it.

5.1. This is a killing zone in the corridor.  Still trapped.  X marks the spot where the trigger is set to fire 2 pilums made of solid bronze, reflex to avoid, armor protects .75,dam is 18-29/d6+2.
5.2. Unsafe corner.  Has sharp spikes of bronze embedded on the west side of this corner, so that none can hide here.
5.3. Secret door in the brick (+10% to find).  Door is locked, key is actually gone (+05% to open).  There is large smear of ancient blood on the east side of the door.

6. Old meat locker, with a low (10') ceiling, with hooks sticking out of the ceiling.  The south- west corner of the room has a human and a dwarf skeleton, both filled with crossbow quills.  They both wear banded mail with a raven sigil.  The dwarf has a caved in helm and next to him is a ruined flail.  The human has a rusty scimitar and a ruined buckler.
Northern wall hides a gelatinous cube, a very hungry one.
This cube will attack on sight and will pursue as well.  Inside the cube is a hobgoblin skull, hobgoblin ribs, a bronze small rod with a raven's head and wings on the top of it (6" long, decent craftmanship,we 8, wo/13), a silver goblet with herons in flight carved on it (we 18, wo 35, house Valorn, old Orbi), a small bone figure of a gwynnellian child holding a large fish (we4, wo 105-made by a disciple of Holmio), 38 electrum coins from the Bright Lands, 14 gold coins of the same make, a silver chased steel fransisca inscribed with tiny gold tridents ( we75, wo 180, Church of Hewecar, blades are silverized as well).

7. Ruined remains of a door made of oak.  There are oak shards all over the floor.  Mixed in are a few old crossbow quarrels.
7.1. Wind.  Suddenly, the party will be assailed by a strong breeze of 30 mph. (old spell left here from the Killraven clan).

8. Old chapel/A hopeless defense.  Skeletal remains are all over this room.  Most of them are centered around a skeletal human pinned to the west door by 2 pilums.  His head and right hand are both missing, and he wears a grey (adamantine, set is '"5% avoid) lamellar with the yin/yang raven sigil on it.  Around him are 9 skeletons in mantis (has a wire mantis on the breast plate and bulbous eyes and a insect-mouth piece) style scale-mail.  There are 5 human, 3 klaxik, and 1 hobbit skeletons in states of damage disarray, 6 with arrows stuck in them.  There is also a skeletal elf in Mantis scale armor (6'5'), wielding a blacksteel broadsword chased in platinum tridents and circled by pearls ( we100, wo 1950+mag,+03% to hit, +5% to init bonus, +85 exp).The mantis styling is from the ancient Venolvian Whiskanis league, a clan of hired killers who took on most the attributes of the stealthy mantis, also called the mantis sect of fear.
The northern wall has 8 moldy pews thrown against it.
8.1. The southern area has a raised area (1') with a small altar on it.  The altar is 2' tall and oval 3' wide, and made of a grey stone marbled with green.  There are ravens carved into the foot area, and hands carved into the corners, with a crayfish carved onto the middle of it, and the top is smoothed.  It is hard to see when the players enter, as there are skeletal remains on it, sprawled on the altar facing south.  He is Omwo~, and still wears a grey studded leather armor with black studs (armor of elusiveness, +05% av, +05% pro, +10% to Basic Hide, +145 exp).  There is a broken bow next to him and a broken gladius with an ivory hilt (we 6/wo 131) with the Telio clan wing/petal symbols on it.
8.2. Decayed skeletal remains.  2 long dead warriors fell here. One is human, the other Klaxik.  They wear the wire mantis scale mail of the old Venolvian mantis sect.  There are two pilum heads on the ground next to them.
8.3. Locked stone door with iron bolts.  It is still locked (-15% to open), and is trapped with a scything blade trap (reflex-15% or 21-36/d6).  There is a little indent in the wall next to the door that looks like an indented face with a pair of wings.  The top of the bronze raven wand found in the gelatinous cube is the key (40 exp).
[note=Type Huge Spiders]
Name      
HP   15   17
AV   20   20
Pro   18   18
Move   18"   18"
att type   bite   bite
Speed f   5   5
multi%   5%   5%
bmod   1%   1%
prime      
dam   12-23/d6+1   12-23/d6+1
spec dam   poison fort +10 or die   poison fort +10 or die
spec attack      
specialabili   surprise+25%   surprise+25%
exp   185xp   185xp [/note]

9. Old dungeon area.  There are black iron rusty manacled carefully placed on the north and south walls, and there are chains hanging from the north and south walls.  There are bars from floor to ceiling along the east-west axis (see map).  There are skeletons chained to the north and south walls.  There are also 2 huge spiders waiting on the 20' ceiling, as well, with a +25% surprise.
The bodies have no treasure.
9.1. Wide open door
9.2. This corridor feels cold and slimy.  Sensitives will feel outrage, and betrayal.  There is air flow from the east.

10. The old Crypt/Escape.  This room has a white marble floor, with a green marble circle in the middle of the floor.  Inside that is a mosaic of 2 yin/yang ravens with a crayfish between them.  The x on the eastern side of the room is a child's skeleton sprawled on his stomach.  It looks like he died crawling forward.  There is a blacksteel katar in his back (Bloodletter, +03% hit, wounds heal at 1/10 speed, of chaos/evil +40 xp), and there is am emanation of outrage and betrayal centering on this body, for those with the ability to feel it.  This is the body of Erol Killraven, betrayed by his tutor, Vokar Oxtongue.  Vokar had taught the twins for 5 yrs, but had been corrupted by the Collegium Arcana, which chased the Killraven's out of Orbi, and hired the Mantis Clan of Fear.  The body of the child is here; however the spirit fled months ago into the body of Hedjikan Homintworth, who is now housed in the old abbey.
The ceiling is vaulted, with old, wooden beams, which go from the sides of the doors up to the point, where they meet.  There are mosaics in the middle of the north and south ceiling vaults of a 9' tall skeleton with wise eyes flying on birds' wings.  He wields a 5-tailed whip.  This is Oblimet, the devil-duke of traveling and safety in journeys.
The floor is damp, and there is air coming from the east.
Six slightly larger than life sized statues ring the room.  There are also hidden crypts behind each one, each holding the actual body of the person depicted in the statue, though careful inspection will see though the whole place is old, the statues are far older than the rest of the room (they and some of the crypts were moved, if they could be, from Old Orbi).  The coinage in all of the tombs is Old Orbic.  Behind the middle north and South-east statues are toporous undead.  After the players have been in the room 1 minute of game time, they will burst forth from their crypt walls, shrieking their anger.
[note=ghasts]
Type   Ghast   Ghast
Name   Carina   Arald II
HP   18   22
AV   60   60
Pro   26 (silver)   26 (silver)
Move   12"   12"
att type   claws   claws
Speed f   3   3
multi%   30%   30%
bmod   20%   25%
prime      
dam   16-27/d6=2   16-27/d6=2
spec dam   para (fort sr or 6-18 seg)   para (fort sr or 6-18 seg)
spec attack      
specialabili   immune to mind affecting spells   immune to mind affecting spells
exp   259   276
[/note]
10.1. This statue bears the legend 'Wanderer', and depicts a grizzled man in heavy furs holding a bow, with a many antlered stag at his feet.  This is Vairpieke Killraven, First lord of the Widfarrow.  Inside hs tomb is his body, 480 sp, 200 gp, a tourmilane  (we 3, wo 25), a gold crayfish 9we5, wo 50)
10.2. The middle north statue is an Omwo~ maid, with the title 'Killraven Corporatus', which is Harnic for '˜Killraven in spirit'.  She holds a bank dagger and a book, and wears a chain mail shirt.  Her hair is swept back and held by 2 barrettes in the shape of flowers.  This is Carina Killraven, who married into the family and led it for 50 yrs.  The book is titled 'Banquin Est Hollic Want Ameletta', or 'Feed the girl the spider' in Harnic.  There is a crumbling scroll of the spells 'Feast of Grim' and 'Apprentice heal' inside her tomb, in a siver tube, with carved ravens heads for the ends.
10.3. The north-east statue shows a slender man in tight fitting silk armor, wielding a hand-sickle.   His hair is swept back and long, and he has a thin, dour face.  His caption is '˜The Seeker', and he is Commander Arald Killraven, who steered the family when the Collegium Arcana first came to power in Orbi.  His corpse has a bracelet of silver with a star on it (we 4, wo 155, star of Hedgeikan, old orbic wizard school).  There are also 150 elp here.
10.4. This statue is of a younger man, in robes inscribed with runes of power.  He wields a rod with a star at the end of it, (Rod of the Stars, if anyone can figure it out).  His caption is 'Tominokik', which translates as 'bridge builder' in Devilkin. There is a wand made of slick black ivory in his tomb (Wand of Envenoming, 7 charges.  Creates a slickness on a weapon that actually envenoms it with Brulic poison, which needs fort CC , make CC 4-12/d6, miss CC 12-27/d6, wand also acts as 'wand ordinaire'  reduces Spirit Spell points by 1 per spall cast and animist sp 1-2, 315 exp)
10.5. This statue depicts a man in plate armor with a knight's shield.  The shield has 2 ravens in the upper area and a sprig of roses in the bottom (house of Killraven/ Lordship of the Widfarrow, if anyone is trying to figure it out.  The Widfarrow is a forest in Orbi).  It has the caption 'warrior', and is of Hesle Killraven, a son of the family who held the post of Knight-Commander in the Orbic Combined forces.  This tomb is empty'¦no corpse, even.
10.6. This is a statue of a young man with a piecing eye, wearing studded leather armor and bearing a short sword.  His hair is in a circlet with a raven in the middle of it.  He is missing his right ear.  His tile is 'Adjudicus Mortis', which is harnic for 'the life-judge'.  This is Arald Killraven II, who managed to move most of the family's wealth to this secret location without the knowledge of the Arcanic Table.  Inside this tomb are 215 sp and 45 gp, and a sapphire (we 4, wo 275).

11. This room is empty except for a stone chest.  It has no apparent opening and no keyhole or hinges.  It is carved with a mermaid chasing crayfish with a net, and the mermaid is squealing with the delight of the chase.  The mermaid has onyx eyes.  The only ways to open the chest are to dispel the magic on it (locking is 16th level if someone attempts a dispel) or to insert the onyx spider from the caves in the mermaid's mouth.  The Onyx spider is hidden as a belt-buckle on the statue of Belial, in his aspect as the giver of magic, in the caverns.
Inside the stone chest are 850 gp, 100 pp, a potion of heroism (adds 1-4 levels to all fighting skills for 20-48 seg), a potion of fire resistance (30% to all fire saves for 2-5 hours), a platinum key shaped like a crayfish (we 6, wo 202), and a scroll of 'Assassin's Eye.'


   

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Very good detail on an adventure, Vreeg.  Your thread just keeps getting better and better.

[LordVreeg]

Update on PBWIKI
Earth Spells are trasncribed, so far as they are done.
Celtrician spellbook

[Tybalt]

Really nice clear job on the maps. One thing I have to compliment you on is the old style use of graph and clear dark lines. I like the attractiveness of the more modern school of game mapping but find it harder to read at a glance. My main concern is not authenticity from that stuff but that it should be easy to read in the midst of a game.

I also love the White City legend. You leave little to chance in your games; there is a sense of why it was founded and a sense of what kind of place.

Killraven Manor is probably usable in any setting. However it comes with a sense of creepiness that you seem to have a knack for--you seem to be very keen on places that have a shade of death over them. Because of this the hungry gelatinous cube is a bit of a shock, as I imagine it has been for a player or two.

[LordVreeg]

More New Legion

[note=I'm officially behind]
The Igbarians are a full session ahead of this posting.  I'll try to catch up on it, and will probably transfer these posts to their own thread soon.
[/note]
After Kiko searched for traps, while Eodl watched the door and pharren mapped the little tomb area, the group tried to figure out how to carry everything.  The Klakik Wight had some interesting stuff, and a fair amount of different old coinage, including 945 Argussian Silver Feng, 805 Silver Brightlands Silver hands, 630 Brightland Electrum watchers, 170 Argussian Gold Erat.   All of this was scattered over tattered black velvet.
Pharren sighed.  The Argussian stuff was pretty devalued now.[note=coinage]lots of different mintage of coins.  all is based on the real worth of the metal, but still, since Trabler was at way with Argus, the argussian stuff was a pain, even though it was old. [/note]
Eodl looked down at the coinage.  "Pretty well-travelled wight", he said.

There was also a silver braided belt with a wolf's head belt buckle and the nice, obviously masterwork francisca that had chopped George up.  Kiko also said the wight's bronzed helm was worthwhile, and there was also a bronze serpent, about 3 inches long.

Kiko and Pharren looked around the room for any other ways out...a dead end had to mean a secret passage, right?
But nothing was found, so the group piled out back into the large room with the stone table, where the arbelest had sat in the front of the room.
Everyone took a second and cleaned up, and the group compared stockpiles.  Tusnus' armor was beaten up, and there were a lot of little wounds.  George was actually bleeding from 2 places.  Eodl felt he was very low on healing spell ability, and the new kid, Cyrill, was on empty already.  

Pharren said that they might want to return to the surface.  It was probably approaching midnight by then.  Kiko managed to convince everyone to check out the corridor north out of the room, which, while not as decrepit as the southern tomb, still showed little passage.

The followed this north,  then west, back towards the way they came.  Kiko and George were in ahead about thirty feet in the five foot corridor.  Everything was still sealed with red bricks, but they were old, and some moisture had colllected in ruts, so the whole atmosphere was damp here.  

The corridor turned south at an angle, then went south and came to a strange door, almost the full five feet of the corridor, with hinges totally on the group's side.  The door was a dark wood, and heavily reinforced.  

Kiko and Pharren went back to the strange, angled bend in the corridor.  Pharren and Cucino were trying to make the map work.  The bards were scratching their heads.  
'Well, this bumps us smack back into the '˜glowy-thing' room', said Cucino.  
Pharren looked up.  'Mmmm, guess we missed it', muttered the elder bard.
Cucino said, 'Missed what?'
'The hidden door'¦'

Kiko looked up at the two as they mapped.  She pointed at the blank space in the middle of the looped corridor they were in,' What's in here?'.  
Pharren and Cucino shook their heads.  Kiko started to search the inner walls.  
'Hey, Kiko, can you check the door at the end for traps first?' , said George.
The hobyt archer kept working at the wall.  'I think there is definitely something here'¦', she said as she ran her hands over the wall.  Pharren shook his head again.  Kiko got pretty focused sometimes

'Good thing I'm short'¦there's something next to the floor here'¦', she said.  George came over and started helping her with it.  Cucino also came over, while Tusnus went down to the door, standing guard.  
Kiko followed the seam she had found to the corner of the southern walls, very intent on the wall.  George found a squiggled indentation new the floor, and after Pharren and Tusnus found the bronze snake from the Klaxik Wight' room in the Squire's backpack, they heard an audible snap, and the whole 15' section of wall moved on a  pivot, allowing them access to a dusty cabinet.

Strange enough that there was secret compartments and such in a mausoleum, stranger that someone had taken the time to create a hidden cabinet.  However, most of it was empty.  Spaces there for items but someone had cleaned it out, except for a blacksteel dirk.  However, between half the group being cut up, and the lack of spell points available, even with a lot of scroll use, the group searched the cabinet again, took the Dirk, and slipped back upstairs.
[note=scolls]
scrolls are utilized very heavily in the GuildSchool rules.  They also have some limitations, because of this.  The first is that a caster cannot use a scroll that has a total spell cost of twice what they can cast.  So scrolls can be used to cast a spell that costs more then they can afford.  Using a scroll does cost spell points, however, 1/10 the normal.  So a lot of scroll use wears a caster down, though nowhere near like regular casting.
Most lower level healing spells can only be cast once per hawaak (8 day week) on a wounded person, so since half the group had been healed, eodl was starting to have to use different, more expensive variations of ehaling spells.  A different spell can be used, but each variation (cures, heals, fortifactions, aids, etc) only once per hawaak[/note]

Kiko didn't find any traps on the door to the south.  Though it was obviously a door on this side, it had eluded them on the other side.  Eodl and Tusnus were against opening it, as it could be trapped, and they knew they could just go around, but George got impatient and pushed the door open.
Held breath...but he got lucky.  No traps, old or new.  

"Bravery is certainly not lacking in George", quoth Squire Tusnus.
"Nor patience", rejoined Pharren sourly.

They tried to keep their guard up on the way out, but it woke everyone up when they heard some yelling and fighting when they were leaving the boneyard.  
'Death is in the air tonight', said little Kiko, sill leading the group with George.  He nodded at her as he bled slightly from the almost-closed wound in his stomach.

[Tybalt]

A few questions about scrolls:
1. Does the Guildschool also have a monopoly on making them, or on the sale of them?
2. How much work is it to produce a scroll?
3. On average how many would say a midlevel spellcaster have on hand?
4. Has anyone thought of producing a kind of 'travel book' of scroll type magic for those with the cash?

I can't help but notice btw that you are fond of the approach of having pcs be reminded now and then of unhealed injuries in a very physical way. I also like doing this, it keeps people from taking damage lightly.

[LordVreeg]

As Always, some really, really good questions.  

A few questions about scrolls:
1. Does the Guildschool also have a monopoly on making them, or on the sale of them?
2. How much work is it to produce a scroll?
3. On average how many would say a midlevel spellcaster have on hand?
4. Has anyone thought of producing a kind of 'travel book' of scroll type magic for those with the cash?

I can't help but notice btw that you are fond of the approach of having pcs be reminded now and then of unhealed injuries in a very physical way. I also like doing this, it keeps people from taking damage lightly.

Ahh.  Scroll Use.  Very Big in my system, as are all artificed items.  

1. Not at all.  Scrolls are created through the use of the Artificer spell, "Write Scroll", which prepares the scroll surface for the spell being cast onto the spell and being 'written' onto it.  So only those versed in artificer ability can create them.  

2.  A lot of work, or at least a lot of spell points.  As we touched on once before, though magic is common, even mid level magic is very difficult.  'Write scroll' costs 25 spirit, 3 order, 1 mentalist, and 12 artificer points, and then the caster must have the spell points to cast the spell onto it.  It takes a minimum of 2 minutes per spell point cost (including the cost of the initial 'write scroll' spell).  Both spells need to be cast succesfully, as there is a 'spell success' needed for every spell cast in GuildSchool.  On top of this, higher power spells are much harder to put onto scrolls.  Anything with over 50 total points is normally placed as a charge on a created item, as a charged item has a better chance of taking the charge succesfully than a scroll.

3.  I need a clarifier...made by themselves or bought?  A midlevel artificer can cast 'Write Scroll', but it takes an upper-level caster to cast that and have ability in restorative or animist, or the other areas of casting to cast other useful spells onto the scroll.  Artificers are the second most commonly chosen type of spell ability.  Scrolls cost serious (spell cost link) cash, normally 20 Gold Horn per spell point even for common scrolls.  Potions, for your information, since they do not cost anything nor need any any spell abilities to use, cost four to five times as much as the scroll variation.  From the Igbarian New Legion, Eodl has bought a ton of healing scrolls, as well as carrying Merrig (a healing herb).  Eodl went through 6 scrolls last session.

4.   It has been done by NPC casters, but very rarely.  Historically, this kind of thing is so valuable that artifiCers generally keep them.  

[Tybalt]

Scroll use then is an interesting example of how magic in your world works--if I were you I would use it as an example of how there might be a number of people capable of casting a few spells but few who can take real advantage--clearly you need to be able to have studied and experienced magic ably before you can make a scroll, which makes scrolls very valuable and the abilities of those who can make them doubtless sought after for many things.

By the way am I right in thinking the little bronze serpent they found is significant?

[LordVreeg]

Scroll use then is an interesting example of how magic in your world works--if I were you I would use it as an example of how there might be a number of people capable of casting a few spells but few who can take real advantage--clearly you need to be able to have studied and experienced magic ably before you can make a scroll, which makes scrolls very valuable and the abilities of those who can make them doubtless sought after for many things.

By the way am I right in thinking the little bronze serpent they found is significant?

yep, she's a key, one of two.

And yes, artificers are sought after, and have become more so as the campaign has grown over the many years.  Artificers and artifice ability has become the alternative to technological innovation.  The best and most forward thinking minds of Celtricia become artificers.  Marcher Cows were one of the few useful creations of Korang the Enlivener, blending animist spell points and artifice to forge a breed of cow that produces over 8 gallons of milk a day, ETC...

[LordVreeg]

Warning!
Raelifinated Post!!
Once I go and start breaking down this thread and posting the individual parts, this will be near the front post.  But I felt the urge to post it now.
Taken from here.Q&A page(Funny, First Tybalt now Raelifin are getting a mention....)
And yes, I am curious how this comes across...

Celtrician Rulebook


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Celtrician Rulebook
How does GuildSchool differ from most games
What are the major conflicts in Celtricia?
How do characters progress in a classless system?
But aren't their too many skills for a character to really get good at anything?
What stops a character from taking a really powerful skill specializing in it to unbalance the game?
Magic seems really different here.
Is Magic closer to technology or miracle?
Is Divine Magic separate from other forms of Spellcasting?
So what is the technological level of Celtricia?
Why do characters really adventure in Celtricia?
 



 

Remember one fact when thinking of the Celtrician game.  Celtricia is called the World Of Factions for a reason.  God, Guild and Country is a common phrase, first coined by Churnin Tox Hedjikar in Orbi, in 605 R.o.N., and it defines many things.

 

[ic]How does GuildSchool differ from most games?
Guildschool is more free-form in character development.  Characters only gain experience in skills they use, so their development is based on what they actually do.  No more getting better at picking locks by killing orcs.  You pick locks to get better at picking locks.

At the same time, characters can learn skills from other guilds that might be good at those skills.  So if a priest of the Church of the Karma of the Night (Darkling) wants to learn Multiple Attack, straight sword, he might go to a friend who is a Tristonian Knight, and beg allowance to learn from the Martial tutors there.

It is also a low-hitpoint/equipment important system, where charcters cannot take too much damage compared to how much a weapon can dish out, and so armor becomes even more important.[/ic]

 

[ic]What are the major conflicts in Celtricia?
Civilization versus tribal barbarism, Reason versus Dogma, The old landed classes versus the rise of the Guilds, and Faction versus faction are the most obvious that affect players everyday.  Underneath everything, unseen in the bright light of the day, is the underlying struggle between the civilization of today against the Sins of the Past.[/ic]

 

[ic]How do characters progress in a classless system?
We call Guildschool skill-based because experience goes into skills that are used instead of into a class.  But each skill has an experience modifier based on what group teaches it, and on helpful attributes.  So unlike many skill based systems, characters can be better or worse at a skill based on their proffesion.   [/ic]

 

[ic]But aren't their too many skills for a character to really get good at anything?
No.  Skills are set into groups, so that learning the base skill of a skillset (say basic traps) gives the character a litle bi in the subskills of find trap, remove trap, and set trap.  However, basic skills have a very small amount gained per level, so that a thief will eventually have to learn the subskills to get really good.

This also allows some characters to be very efficient generalists, as basic level skills are set up to give a little ability in a decent amount of subskills. And many subskills have more subskills.  For the seepest arts, there are often 3 or 4 levsl of subskills.[/ic]

 

[ic]What stops a character from taking a really powerful skill and specializing in it to unbalance the game?
A few things.  First of all, a player would have to use that skill a lot, as the only ways to gain experience in a skill is to use it or spend a ton of money on tutoring (see General Costing of Skill Kits).

Secondly the experience progression gets very difficult after fifth level.

third, the basic skills 'above' that skill must remain higher level than the ones 'below' it.[/ic]

 

[ic]Magic seems really different here.
 The magic system has been designed to fit the cosmology.  Too many games create a setting and then plug in a generic magic system.

Spells are powered by channeling different energy source, like the House of Air, The House of Death, the Animal Oversoul, and the Perfect Form.  Spells cost a certain amount of each of these, and how many Spell points a character has in these determines how much power they can channell at a time without recharging.

Spells also have a success%, and casting a difficult spell risks spell failure, though a caster can pour extra spell points in to increase the spell success.

And the spell points come back at a rate that means at lower levels, a caster who uses all thier abilities will get them all back in a day, but as they can cast more and more powerful spells, they might take longer.

Finally, a spellbook was written expressly for the game, not merely pluggin a D&D spellbook in.[/ic]

 

[ic]Is Magic closer to technology or miracle?
Most of the current magics are definitely analogous to technology; many of the best minds of the day go to guilds and universities to study magic.  The magic of the 9th century (R.o.N.) is seen with a brassy optimism, with an unhealthy dose of worship involved with the term progress.  Though not yet common in outskirt village, magic has reached a point where the wealthy are commonly making sure their children get a smattering of magical education with their other learning.  Artificer and Restorative spell skills are the most popular to learn, as healing and the creation of magical tools are popular goals.

However, the great magics of the past, such as the raising of Cooom Isle and Y'Gorl's Curse are the stuff of legnds, and many 'educated folk' today doubt these things ever happened.[/ic]

 

[ic]Is Divine Magic separate from other forms of Spellcasting?
No.  Though the churches (as combined guilds, universities, and thouses of worship) are a central feature of daily life in Celtricia, both the way gameplay works and in terms of how magic is viewed, Divine casting does not exist in Celtricia.  The Power sources used for spells that clerical characters specialize in are often a little different, as they normally learn Restorative and Necromantic Skills a lot more often than other groups, but often the House of Chaos and the House of Law are learned by priests as well, as well as the House of Life and the House of Death. [/ic]

 

[ic]So what is the technological level of Celtricia?
In terms of real technology, very backward.

And in the villages and tribal areas, superstition and a vile level of existence are the rule.

However, the level of magical 'technology', the larger population centers and the wealthy use magic and artificed items to create a level of technology that has started to beat back ignorance, and allow a standard of living that promotes philosophy and a self-satisfied drive for improvement. [/ic]

 

[ic]Why do characters really adventure in Celtricia?
Celtrician civilizations are old, and there are legends piled upon legends of powerful magics and great wealth left for the bold to find and make their own.   And behind the curtain, these legends are also reaching out from the past to scrape at the windows in the dark of night.

In the last few centuries, philosphies of acculturation as a determinant of civilization have dominated the Kaffeehouses and gatherings, and brought the Orkash and Gartier into the melting pots that are the cities of Celtricia.  Yet the battles of the forces of progress versus the tribal groups, such as the Giantclan Silverworth, the Zyjmanese or the  Firehazers is fighting the good fight.

Guilds and factions demand tremendous loyalty, and are by extension ambitious.  The old social ranks of nobility, while not dissapearing, are making room and alliances with these guilds, and the way to power is no longer restricted to birth alone.
[/ic]
 

[Tybalt]

text

Very nice basic Q&A and introduction Vreeg. This sort of thing should be the header for new worlds and systems. If you did a revisted thread you should start it up with stuff like this.

One thing that I would suggest--you need a clear idea to present of how you level up. That and skill purchase are the things I found most daunting about your system. You have clearly been running it successfully for a while, so you need I think to sell the idea as being accessible.

One thing GDW did rather well for Twilight 2000, another complex and realistic system, is that they had little example boxes for character creation and development that also showed stuff like equations you had to do and stuff like that. For instance calculating skill percentages.

BTW I've been looking through your wiki and it is impressively laid out. One of the BEST things about it is that it is very easy to read. The type is large and easy to read, the layout is easy to follow, and your prose is very clear. Good job all overall.

[LordVreeg]

Didn't know which of my threads to put this on, so I went old School.
My Igbarians recently broke into the tomb of the GarishCloak Bards, in the northern sunken Boneyard of Igbar, whcih used to be a subken garden for an ancient Astrickon Trader Manor...

Anyways, they found this on the outside of the door to the Tomb of Wren the White (the ancient leader of that Guild, and recently 'called' back through the anginarian necromancy to lead her undead bards to haunt Igbar) and I though I'd share it with the CBG, since it had such an affect on my PC's that I have started using bits and pieces in the activation of some of the wierd bardic magic they found there.  It really made the PC's think.

[ic]
Let Your Body Die

(Death is not the end)
(Death is not the end)

Life is boiling up and undulating
While oblivion covers up the world
Not to cool or comfort but to level
The few remains of hope we still feel

Whispers and hums are heard here and there
Witnesses of some event to come
Every nerve is on edge and vibrating
Throbbing before the break of the storm

Far away, loud and clear
I heard a voice going in my ear
Far away, loud and clear
I heard a voice going in my ear

Remain chained to the matter
Or let your body die
Remain chained to the matter
Or let your body die
DIE

Not with you yet already abandoned
In the dismal silence of a slough
Mankind is in the hands of a monster
An ogre gorging on this fallen despair

And the voices of those yearning for light
And their thoughts before becoming acts
Get diverted, betrayed and distorted
Get distracted, ignored and destroyed

Such is the state of this convulsing world
Such is the fate of this body of Amrist
Such are the days meant to wreck and deface
Such is the weight of the burden to bear

Far away, loud and clear
I heard a voice going in my ear
Far away, loud and clear
I heard a voice going in my ear

Remain chained to the matter
Or let your body die
Remain chained to the matter
Or let your body die

(Your body has already done a lot of changes
That's only the beginning
The beginning of the new flesh)
(2x)

All the twists and turns of our life
Pull us back to the place we came from
There's no faith in our hearts of stone
We have no torch to light up the trail
Is it still time to make for the open ?
Did we squander the talents we had ?
Can we still awaken and then revive them ?
Are they still expecting our call ?
Are they still expecting our call ?
[/ic]

(actually lyrics are by an industrial group called C-tec.  But worth borrowing.  But credit and props where due, they rock incontrovertably)

[Tybalt]

You know it's interesting that the typical music you present for your game has a sort of Heavy Metal dark romance feel to it. I have come to think of it as typifying the main viewpoints of life in your world.

I like your dungeon adventure btw, very cool. Fratercanis is very clever like a number of your little joke names that nevertheless can be taken seriously in your setting.

[LordVreeg]

You know it's interesting that the typical music you present for your game has a sort of Heavy Metal dark romance feel to it. I have come to think of it as typifying the main viewpoints of life in your world.

I like your dungeon adventure btw, very cool. Fratercanis is very clever like a number of your little joke names that nevertheless can be taken seriously in your setting.

I didn't know which thread to toss the song into, so I finally went back to the original stream-of-consiousness-disaster.  And I think you are on to something.  I will admit that many poems and a lot of music has found its way into the history (especially the Age of Heroes)[note=Some Ancient words of the Bard]
Here it comes again
That old familiar pain
Here it comes again
Now it has a name
What am I to do?
And where am I to go?
Here it comes again
I am not myself

Do you think of me?
Do you think of me?

Here it comes again
I'm Tortured and deceived
Here it comes again
If only I'd believed
What am I to say?
And where am I to die?
Here it comes again
And I am not myself

Do you think of me?
Do you think of me?

I'll tell you something that you don't know
I'll tell you something that you don't know

Once is always so don't call me
Once is always so don't call me
[/note]
to the point that the Machmen and the Oix Quomidi (New Police) are actually ancient Daemonic-spawn that fought the Bard back in the Age of Heroes, and the most powerful group have actually ran into ancient machmen still on obscure, daemonic mission.  A few PC's even surviveed to tell of it.  SO the music has become the deep history.


I am enjoying expanding on my Astrickon traders adventure.  This is actually the Tanesuet group (named after the leading character, Tanesuet) that is an online group.  They are finally getting back to the hermitage for the second time right now, having cleared most of the first level.