Posted on March 27, 2019
Teaching D&D to Teens
My kids are young (10 and 8 at time of writing), and so when I run D&D for them and their friends, I feel justified running my preferred iteration of the game: Basic D&D. It’s perfect for kids this age, for whom D&D is their first step into fantasy roleplaying games.
A while ago a friend of mine (who is not a gamer) asked me if I would mind teaching her teenage son how to play D&D. Her teenage son plays a lot of computer games, so I assumed he has a good exposure to computer RPGs already. Of course, I agreed, and then started to ponder what version of the game I should teach him and his friends.
Edition
I love the OSR and TSR’s versions of Basic D&D. But when asked to teach the hobby to somebody else’s kid, a teenager who has a lot more experience with the genre (albeit through the video game world) than my own kids, I hesitated. 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons is either the most popular version of the game ever or the most popular since the early 1980s anyway. It’s the version of the game he has seen played online on Critical Role (maybe I should watch some of that to get an idea of what expectations he may have), and the version of the game that kids his age are going to play. The logic was inescapable – teaching 5th edition gives the best chance for this interest to turn into a long term hobby.
Starter Box or Not?
The next decision to make was whether to use the D&D Starter Box or my own dungeon to introduce the game. I already bought the starter box for my friend to give her son, and I figured the beauty of that boxed set is that it is designed to teach the owner how to DM, not just how to play D&D themselves. I also figured that if and when he wants to DM, he will likely be running a game for the same friends who will be playing in my game. I’d like to leave him the option to run the starter box adventure for them.
Theatre of the Mind vs Miniatures
Next, I had to decide whether it was better to use miniatures or not. On this point, my recent experience running D&D for my own kids and reflections on my own first experiences of the game informed my decision. I used pre-painted miniatures and dungeon tiles to build the dungeon map dynamically and to make combat unambiguous. There’s multiple reasons for this:
- Miniatures add a visual element to the game.
- It is difficult for new players to keep the details of where every opponent is in combat in their head. This is why the 1991 starter box I have praised so much came with a complete set of fold-up paper minis and a large battlemat map.
- Mapping is tough for experienced players and is not really part of the “modern game” of D&D (since 3rd edition if not earlier). Using dungeon tiles will let me reveal the map progressively on the table, as if they are mapping the thing out themselves, without forcing the players to keep maps.
The miniatures seemed to be a big hit with several of the players, and were instrumental in convincing my friend’s daughter to join the game as well. As much as miniatures can seem “superfluous” to many experienced roleplayers, they were extremely important in “selling” D&D to the teens.
Give out XP
Even though this was a one-shot, I gave out XP at the end of play. Several of the players, those who had relevant video gaming experience, were looking forward to XP and were happy to see how close they came to levelling up (it helped that characters need very little XP to reach level 2 in 5e). Honestly, if I was going to do things again, I may even have planned to have a break part-way through to distribute XP, and give out enough XP to let students reach level 2.
Pre-Gens
I used a big variety of pre-gens – mostly from the WotC website but some generated using using Fast Character Maker. The pre-gens were selected to match the pre-painted miniatures I had available. I laid out the character sheets with the corresponding miniatures placed on top of each sheet on the table for the players to make their choices when they arrived. Again, this was about making the character selection visual. I also had a Player’s Handbook on hand and told the players that if they ran their own campaign in the future, they could create characters of their own with the rules in the book.
Play-Time
Much as I would for a con, I planned a very short dungeon, intending to play for 3 to 4 hours. Allowing some time to teach the players the basics about dice and advantage/disadvatnage, some time for some short breaks, and to get going in the first place, we had about 3 hours of actual play. The player characters cleared the sewers of a goblinoid criminal gang, lead by an ogre. There was one casualty, in the very final fight, which was climactic and only served to make the player whose character died even more excited by the game. I couldn’t have managed that on purpose if I tried, but I suppose the lesson I take away is that just because it is the first dungeon doesn’t mean it should be a cakewalk. Most OSR players I know can remember dying, often repeatedly, in their first session, and they stuck with the hobby, so don’t shy away from killing player characters in an exciting final battle
Did it work?
The kids seemed very excited and interested in running their own campaign (using the mini-adventure path in the starter box) by the end of the session. Ultimately, until they actually do that, I won’t declare that the kids are hooked! I know that the morning after I had dozens of WhatsApp messages from my friend about how much both her son and her daughter (whose participation was initially unplanned) enjoyed the game, and how both were planning future adventures, and researching buying funny dice, books and miniatures of their own
Posted on March 18, 2019
Games I want to play: Chivalry & Sorcery – A Song of Ice and Fire
One of the games I own but haven’t played is Chivalry & Sorcery. I have three versions of it:
- Chivalry & Sorcery: The Rebirth (this is the 4th edition of the “main” line of the game – available for free on DriveThruRPG)
- Chivalry & Sorcery Light
- Chivalry & Sorcery Essence (available on DriveThruRPG via my affiliate link here)
The games are sorted above from most rules heavy to least. In truth, even Chivalry & Sorcery proper is not so much “rules heavy” as it is “complete”. There’s a lot of detail, but the rules themselves are not terribly complicated to use. Although the game has a distinct 90s feeling to the layout, all the tables and options and details make me enjoy thumbing through the books and think wistfully about playing. Almost all “serious” gamers I know have several games they have never played in their collection, in addition to several they will never play again. I’d really like to play C&S. While these books are currently in that “games I have never played” section of my collection, I’d really like to change that.
One of the regular players in my King Arthur Pendragon campaign made the observation not long after we started to play that the game system could be adapted to be a pretty fun A Song of Ice and Fire roleplaying game. While I am inclined to agree, and spent a few weekends working on a conversion, I eventually stopped working on it for a few reasons:
- It was hard coming up with regional traits and passions for most regions of the world, frankly.
- Pendragon’s “killer mechanic” is the personality trait system. In principle this should be great for A Song of Ice and Fire, however, I feel that most players would emphasize the “negative” traits (perhaps because of how salacious the Game of Thrones TV show is), and there would really be minimal social penalty and next to no “literary penalty” to doing so. The world of ASoIaF is more cynical than Arthur’s Britain. In play I suspect there would be less conflict between “positive” and “negative” traits and more simple indulgence of the negative traits.
- Pendragon also has a defined “downtime” in the Winter Phase. Each session should be 1 year of the campaign, speaking generally. This would mean the whole of the events from King Robert visiting Winterfell to now, for example, would take only a few sessions depending on whether you preferred the book’s pacing or the TV show’s pacing.
- Pendragon is about playing knights. You can also play ladies. There are more characters from more backgrounds than just those two in ASoIaF.
The more I think about it, the more I think a Pendragon version of ASoIaF would be fun, but not particularly faithful to the source material, which would be one thing if it was D&D, but almost sacrilegious to do to a game so perfect for its source material as Pendragon.
However, C&S seems to address these issues for me rather nicely! I can neatly side-step my difficulty in selecting regional traits etc by leaving those personality details up to the players, the personality trait system would not be present to be abused (replaced with some useful mechanics instead for influence), downtime is more flexible, and you can play any character from any social background. C&S also has a suitably low-key magic system (which would lend itself to tweaking to match the spell casting seen in ASoIaF), so I wouldn’t necessarily need to rule-out player character magicians as Pendragon 5th edition encourages.
So maybe A Song of Ice and Fire is my best shot to find players to play Chivalry & Sorcery with me… we will see!
Posted on March 13, 2019
The Horror of Hull
This is an adventure location from my English Civil War Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign. It is intended to take place in 1642, and uses the alignment system from England Upturn’d (which you can find on the blog of the module’s author, Barry Blatt, here: http://expanduniver.blogspot.com/2014/04/cavaliers-and-roundheads.html). Some spells from Vaginas Are Magic! are also included.
Background
Kingston-upon-Hull, or Hull, is a town build where the river Hull joins the Humber, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its population in 1642 was about 6000 people. On 23 April 1642, the Governor of Hull, Sir John Hotham, refused the King entry to the town, acting on the orders of Parliament to prevent the King from obtaining access to Hull’s arsenal. After fruitless negotiations, King Charles was forced to withdraw without entering the city. In July 1642, the King will lay siege to the town.
Sympathies
Sir John Hotham, himself a Parliamentarian, estimates that Hull is 5/7 in favour of the King in the present dispute. The wealthy elite, however, embodied by the corporation, is Parliamentarian in its sympathies. The town is mostly moderate (non-separating) Puritan in its religious allegiance, although the previous vicar did succeed in a few “Laudian” projects, including beautifying the churches of St Mary and Holy Trinity.
Key Figures
Historical
Sir John Hotham, 1st Baronet of Scorborough
Level 3 Anglican Fighter, Cavalier Republican, 52 years old
Sir John Hotham has been Governor of Hull once before, that time at the direction of the King. Parliament re-appointed him, and sent him with his son, Captain John Hotham, at the head of a troop of horse, to take control of the city and its defenses, to prevent the arsenal there from falling into the hands of the King. An old politician-soldier, he is regarded as untrustworthy and duplicitous in the finest tradition of politicians, and hard and heavy-handed in the finest tradition of soldiers. King Charles has pronounced him a traitor.
Captain John Hotham, the Younger
Level 5 Anglican Fighter, Cavalier Republican, 31 years old
John Hotham is an energetic cavalry commander, who fancies himself one of the more capable military officers in England, and believes that the coming war will give him a chance to prove it. He is held in higher esteem by Parliament than is his father, and keeps a close eye on his father’s activities in Hull. Their relationship has become strained by jealousy and distrust.
Reverend William Styles, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church
Level 1 Puritan Cleric, Roundhead Republican, About 40
Reverend Styles has recently been appointed as Vicar of Holy Trinity, having replaced the “Laudian” Reverend Richard Perrott, who died last year. He also holds the office of Lecturer, which comes with a generous wage. His appointment blocked the Archbishop of York from appointing another Laudian cleric. He has not yet removed the “popish idolatry” which Reverend Perrott had re-installed in Hull’s churches as part of the Laudian beautification project, but can nevertheless be relied upon for a zealous sermon in the finest Puritan tradition.
Peregrine Pelham MP
Level 0 Puritan, Roundhead Republican, 40 years old
The second Member of Parliament for Hull (the other member, Sir Henry Vane, is at this time in London serving as Treasurer of the Navy), Pelham is a former merchant and sheriff.
Alderman Henry Barnard
Level 0 Puritan, Roundhead Neutral, About 40
Not a Royalist as such, but as mayor opposed Hotham refusing entry to the King. He was replaced as mayor, but is still part of the core group of aldermen who govern Hull. He resents Sir John Hotham.
Alderman James Watkinson
Level 0 Anglican, Neutral Royalist, 61 years old
A former MP and Hull’s only Royalist Alderman, he was “invited to leave” the town shortly after Hotham refused entry to the King.
Lord George Digby, aka Jacques Berruyer
Level 1 Anglican Fighter, Cavalier Royalist, 39 years old
Intelligence +1, Wisdom -2, Charisma +2
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Lord Digby is a hot-tempered English politician. He is well-educated and accomplished, and very good looking. These should be considerable advantages to a politician, and Lord Digby might make a very good politician if not for his emotional instability. A restless, dashing romantic, Lord Digby has been described by a former friend, the Earl of Clarendon, as “the only man I ever knew of such incomparable parts that was none the wiser for any experience or misfortune that befell him.” Perhaps for this reason, he fled the House of Lords in February just ahead of being arrested for treason by order of Parliament. After sailing to and from the Netherlands, he was captured on his return trip from York to the Queen (presently residing in the Dutch Republic). At this moment, Lord Digby is disguised as a humble French sailor, and is held prisoner at Castle Hull.
At some point (ideally involving the PCs as intermediaries or witnesses), “Jacques” will tell his gaolers, in broken English, that he has some important information to tell the Governor, which will help Parliament. Not long after, he will be interrogated by the Governor, and will secretly reveal his true identity to Sir John Hotham, trusting Hotham not to reveal him further and hand him over to face Parliament’s charge of treason. A few days later, in a further interrogation, Lord Digby will negotiate the surrender of Hull with Hotham, securing Sir John’s agreement that if the King comes again before the town’s gates with a single regiment and fires a single shot against the walls, the Governor will consider his duty towards Parliament discharged and admit the King. Like so many of Lord Digby’s negotiated agreements, this won’t actually pan out, of course, but Sir John Hotham will subsequently allow him to escape and flee to the King at Beverly.
Colonel William Ashburnham
Level 1 Anglican Fighter, Cavalier Royalist, 38 years old
Currently held prisoner in a comfortable castle cell, as befits a gentleman. He was taken prisoner on the same ship as Lord Digby aka Jacques Berruyer, but did not disguise himself. He will happily pay a reward (200sp) to any PC who facilitates his escape, and will add another 50sp if the PCs also affect the escape of his “loyal Frenchman”. If the PCs find out the Frenchman is really Lord Digby, who is wanted by Parliament, Colonel Ashburnham will increase the offered reward for helping both men to escape to a total of 500sp. Naturally, this payment cannot be made until both men are freed and able to escape to the King’s camp.
Mayor Thomas Raikes
Level 0 Puritan, Roundhead Republican, About 40
Newly elected mayor for the second time (last having held the post in 1633), Thomas Raikes is an able administrator and well-respected member of the community.
Alderman John Ramsden
Level 0 Puritan, Roundhead Neutral, 30 years old
A relatively junior alderman from a wealthy merchant family, who lives near St Mary’s Church. He imports exotic goods from the continent (Amsterdam mostly) and sold Richard Fox the Malleus Deus, Tales of the Scarecrow, and the Sword which is Uncertain.
Fictional
Elizabeth Mawson
Level 5 Anglican Magic-User, Roundhead Neutral, 32 years old
Armour 12, 12 hp, Morale 9, Strength -1, Intelligence +2, Wisdom +1, Charisma +2
Spell book
Level 1: Goat Perversion, Charm Person, Summon, Hold Portal, Sleep, Shield, Spider Climb
Level 2: Change Self, Magic Mouth, Levitate, Speak with Animals, Phantasmal Force, Force of Forbidment, Knock, Stinking Cloud
Level 3: Howl of the Moon, Speak with Dead
Spells typically Memorized
Charm Person, Shield, Spider Climb, Change Self, Speak with Animals, Howl of the Moon
Elizabeth Mawson is the last survivor of a coven of witches which operated in the East Riding of Yorkshire. When Yorkshire was beset by plague in the late 1630s, many blamed the onset of the dreadful disease on witches. Hull was devastated by the plague in 1637, during the previous term as governor of Sir John Hotham. Most of Elizabeth’s coven was caught up in the subsequent persecutions, and after being interrogated under torture, were tried and hanged to the jeers of townsfolk eager to be avenged for the loss of their loved ones to the plague. More information can be found in this hand-out. Elizabeth fled the town and has spent the last five years seeking the proper spells to help affect her revenge. Now that Sir John Hotham is back, so is she.
Already in turmoil, having found itself the playing board for the opening moves of the English Civil War, wrought by political disunity, Hull has another enemy within its walls – a werewolf, or so assume the townsfolk. Almost every night, Elizabeth casts Howl of the Moon upon an unsuspecting man, who spends much of the rest of the evening running through the streets of Hull, howling at the moon and attacking people like a wild animal. When morning breaks, Elizabeth’s unwitting instrument has no knowledge of what he has done (although the blood on his hands and teeth should really be a strong indicator that they did something terrible), and the people of Hull find new victims lying dead in their streets.
Posted on March 12, 2019
D&D For Kids: The Sanctuary of Elwyn
As I mentioned late last year, I have started running Basic D&D for kids (specifically, my kids, two of their friends, and one of their friend’s dad, who is a gamer too). The ages range from 8 to 11. We play in short sessions (approximately 2 hours), fortnightly. After our first 3 sessions, we just finished our first dungeon, The Sanctuary of Elwyn the Ardent as it appears in In Search of Adventure. I’m posting here a few of my “lessons learned”!
B-Series Modules are HARD
Personally I like that these modules are truly dangerous, but they’re hard for adult players, let alone kids. In The Sanctuary of Elwyn the Ardent the party of brand new level 1 characters fought a black dragon, and several monsters which could only be damaged with magical weapons (only one of which they found in the dungeon prior to defeating the eponymous Elwyn). These are not appropriate challenges for the typical level 1 party in Basic D&D! I needed to allow the party to damage the monsters even without magic weapons, and more or less ignore the damage the black dragon’s breath needed to do, just to allow the party a chance of progress. There was still a casualty, and plenty of things which should have been casualties, which leads me to…
Hit Points
I let anyone who rolled a 1 or a 2 on their hit die re-roll their hit points. I also didn’t declare characters dead at 0 hit points – instead, they just fell unconscious at this point, and if they could be healed at the end of the combat back to positive territory, they survived. Finally, I allowed characters on 0 hit points to recover 1d3 hit points after being successfully treated with a successful roll under the Intelligence of the character giving first aid (basically borrowing something like the Healing skill from Rules Cyclopedia). By the book (1991 Black Box Basic D&D), I should have done none of these things, but if I didn’t, nobody would have survived.
Armour
Any character who is proficient with plate armour who can afford the measly 60gp it costs when they create their characters should buy it. Demihumans are all proficient with heavy armour. The few player characters who started with lighter armour despite their proficiency with plate instantly bought plate upon their return to Threshold at the end of the first dungeon.
The Adventure Flow Chart may be wrong
While all the B-series modules are tough, as mentioned above, The Sanctuary of Elwyn the Ardent includes some monsters which a brand new party literally cannot hit. This despite the fact that it is the first dungeon in one of the pathways on this flow chart:
I’ll bear this in mind for future adventures!
Does Old = Old School?
When I think of old school play, I think of freedom, exploration, meaningful choices, and of course dangerous dungeons. The Sanctuary of Elwyn the Ardent ticks the last one of these, but as a dungeon it is entirely linear – it is just a spiral of rooms and connecting corridors, bringing the characters closer to Elwyn after funneling them through encounter after encounter. The main trap involves the party exploring a particular area which they will only explore if they find a treasure map showing them to explore that area. There’s no way really to get the treasure without falling into the trap, but it is not too deadly a trap anyway. The whole experience is very linear and there are not many meaningful choices for players to make. This is why the inclusion of so many monsters which can only be damaged by magic weapons is frustrating and simply has to be ignored by the referee – there is no way to avoid fighting most of these monsters!
Most irritating of all, the module includes a number of secret doors on the map but tells you not to allow the party to detect them otherwise the dungeon will be anticlimactic. This is true, it would be anticlimactic, and it is easy to fudge failed rolls searching for secret doors if you are rolling behind a screen, since this is always a type of roll which the referee should be making anyway. But it just irritates me – I have players who created characters with the ability to detect secret doors and they are being cautious and searching for them. This is really the only element of player skill to the dungeon exploration component of such a linear dungeon, where even mapping is more or less redundant, but it’s completely nullified by needing to fudge the rolls. I ended up allowing the party to detect the secret doors when their rolls indicated they could, because it just felt wrong otherwise, but then I ruled the doors were locked and could only be opened from the inside, so they couldn’t short cut straight to the end, but I still found this deeply unsatisfying. The players, being kids, didn’t seem to mind too much though, they all had a lot of fun.
Treasure!
There’s a lot of treasure to be found in this dungeon, and a lot of treasure in the way of rewards offered to the party by the Church of Karameikos. Even only giving XP for the former and not the latter, there was enough treasure for all 5 player characters to level up. The cleric even reached level 3 (oh, this reminds me of another way I broke the rules – I allowed the characters to level up during the dungeon since we played across three sessions). That’s a lot of gold they can spend back in Threshold!
Posted on January 28, 2019
Lamentations of the Underage Princess
This brief post was inspired by Tenkar’s recent podcast about aging in AD&D 1e. Lamentations of the Flame Princess has aging rules (p35 of Rules & Magic) which kick in at middle age (40 for humans, 70 for halflings, 200 for dwarves). There are no rules given in LotFP for characters who have not yet reached the age of maturity. There are also no rules given for starting age in LotFP, so in our games we just assume that characters start as mature adults who are not yet middle-aged, and if it seems important for narrative reasons, we just specify the ages of our characters. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with this approach, but sometimes you might want to play a younger character, and some players would rather roll a random starting age than to pick an arbitrary one (especially since this is a common part of character generation in many editions of D&D).
The age thresholds for humans and halflings in the table on page 35 of LotFP correspond roughly to the age categories in AD&D 1e (p13 of the DMG). Dwarves do not correspond so directly (aging rolls start at 200 for dwarves in LotFP and middle age starts at 151 in AD&D), but a similar age range is covered at least. Despite subsequent LotFP publications pronouncing “this ain’t Tolkien”, Rules & Magic has Tolkien-like ageless elves. I’m therefore basing the age ranges here on a rough combination of these two tables.
| Race | Young Adult | Mature | Middle Aged | Old |
| Dwarf | 42-99 | 100-199 | 200-299 | 300 |
| Elf | 100-176 | > 176 | – | – |
| Halfling | 24-34 | 35-69 | 70-99 | 100 |
| Human | 14-20 | 21-39 | 40-59 | 60 |
“Normal” Starting Age in LotFP
When generating new level 1 characters, random starting ages can be determined as per the table below:
| Class | Random Starting Age |
| Cleric | 20+1d4 |
| Fighter | 20+1d4 |
| Magic-User | 20+2d8 |
| Specialist | 20+1d4 |
| Dwarf | 95+5d4 |
| Elf | 170+5d6 |
| Halfling | 32+3d4 |
Young Adult Characters in LotFP
In general, rather than start with modified ability scores as per AD&D, Young Adult characters should start play at level 0, since they have not yet had an opportunity to train for their careers as adventurers. Level 0 characters do not gain experience points in the conventional sense. Instead, a level 0 character has to pass a narrative milestone determined by the referee which represents the character’s transition from “normal life” to a career as an adventurer.
To randomly generate the starting age of a young adult character, roll as per the table below:
| Race | Random Starting Age for Young Adults |
| Dwarf | 39+3d20 years |
| Elf | 96+4d20 years |
| Halfling | 22+2d6 years |
| Human | 12+2d4 years |
Age Progression
Characters who start play as level 0 Young Adults gain their first level in a character class upon reaching the age of maturity given in the table below, if they have not already gained it through achieving a narrative milestone. Humans reaching the age of maturity can choose between Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, or Specialist. Demihumans advance in their demihuman class.
| Race | Mature | Roll | Roll at -2 | Roll at -4 | Interval |
| Dwarf | 100 | 200 | 250 | 300 | 5 |
| Elf | 176 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Halfling | 35 | 70 | 80 | 100 | 1 |
| Human | 21 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 1 |
As usual, aging rolls (Save vs Paralysis) are made every Interval years, first with no modifier at the age given in the “Roll” column, then at -2, as per the age given in the “Roll at -2” column, then at -4, as per the age given in the “Roll at -4” column. If a save is failed, roll 1d6 to determine which ability loses one point:
- Charisma
- Constitution
- Dexterity
- Intelligence
- Strength
- Wisdom
Posted on December 17, 2018
Races of the Hollow Earth: Fomorians
Fomorians are humanoids who live in the permafrost of the north of the Hollow Earth. Once they lived on the surface, and were the enemies of the elves, whom they fought for control of Ireland. Their leader, Balor, was slain, and most of their people was destroyed by the conquering elves. In order to preserve their species, the Engineers took the Fomorians into the Hollow Earth, settling them beneath Iceland in a land called Tech Duinn in elvish.
Fomorians speak both elvish and their own tongue. They both hate and are irresistibly attracted to elves. Fomorians do not “breed true” – they mutate with each generation. The elven form is considered by most fomorians to be the most desirable and beautiful, and very rarely a fomorian will closely resemble an elf, but most fomorians are born with deformities and variations inexplicable to any conventional understanding of the principles of heredity. Human-sized parents can give birth to giant children, and giants can father children smaller than halflings. Fomorians and elves can interbreed, and the children of such unions tend to exhibit less deformities and more closely resemble the elven parent. The effect does not persist to the next generation, however. It is rare that fomorian/elven unions are formed by mutual consent, unfortunately, with most “beautiful” fomorian children born to elven parents dragged back to Tech Duinn in chains. The fate of such elves is generally grim and awful.
Age
Fomorians are extremely long-lived, although unlike elves, they are not immortal. If you are playing with the maximum age rules, a fomorian’s maximum age is 420 + 2d100.
| Age (Description) | Years |
| Child | 0-60 |
| Youth | 61-110 |
| Adult | 111-220 |
| Middle Aged | 221-319 |
| Old | 320-419 |
| Venerable | 420+ |
Mutations
In their most “pure” form, fomorians resemble elves, although their skin pigmentations vary dramatically and without any indication of heredity. lmost all fomorians develop mutations in the womb and/or in childhood which distort this elf-like form. Fomorians born from fomorian/elven unions tend to develop fewer mutations than those with two fomorian parents (even if one of those parents was half-elven themselves). Unfortunately fomorians idealize elven standards of beauty, and most fomorians therefore detest their own appearance.
Most fomorians will roll on one or both of the mutations tables several times. Some mutations can be rolled multiple times – where this is the case, it is marked in the tables. Other mutations can only be rolled once – if a fomorian rolls the same “once only” mutation twice, they should re-roll until they roll a different mutation. Based on the number of mutations a fomorian has, and their severity, one can classify them as a common fomorian or a beautiful fomorian. Such a distinction is artificial, of course, but nevertheless a useful abstraction to understand a fomorian’s place in fomorian society. A small proportion of fomorians mutate into giants. Irrespective of their birth, the enormous size and sheer physical power of these giants makes them high status individuals, especially in times of war. Even gigantism does not “breed true” in fomorians, however; two giant parents may have a child of ordinary size. Irrespective of the severity of mutations, fomorians possess an inate ability to identify other fomorians on sight, so a fomorian will never be so mutated that another fomorian does not recognize him or her as their kin.
Major Mutations Table
| d20 | Mutation | d20 | Mutation |
| 1 | Goat-head, with horns. Gain an additional horn attack for 1d6 damage. | 11 | Prehensile feet. Can use feet as hands. |
| 2 | Halfling-sized. Generate height and weight as per procedures for halflings. Cannot use large weapons, medium weapons must be used two-handed. 3 in 6 Stealth skill. | 12 | Stretched to be unnaturally tall for their frame. Double the base modifier when determining the fomorian’s height. Note, this can combine with halfling-sized. Can be rolled multiple times. |
| 3 | One leg. Base exploration speed becomes 60′, base combat speed 20′. | 13 | Fur. The fomorian’s whole body is covered in fur, usually of a colour which contrasts sharply to their skin colour. |
| 4 | One arm. Cannot use weapons which require two hands. | 14 | Tusks. Gain an additional gore attack for 1d6 damage. |
| 5 | One eye. No depth perception. -2 to missile attacks at short range, -4 at medium, -6 at long. | 15 | Hound’s snout and smell. +2 bonus to Search rolls for living (or recently deceased) targets. Increases to +3 against elves. |
| 6 | Bloated. Double the base modifier when determining the fomorian’s weight. Can be rolled multiple times. | 16 | Hardened skin. The fomorian’s skin becomes even more leathery. +1 natural Armour. Can be rolled multiple times. |
| 7 | Arms in wrong places. -2 to Dexterity ability score. Cannot throw. Can be rolled multiple times. | 17 | Over-muscled. The fomorian’s Strength is determined by rolling 1d6 and adding 12. |
| 8 | Bestial. The fomorian possesses an animal-like appearance and temperament. -2 to Charisma, +1 to Strength, +1 to Dexterity. Can be rolled multiple times. | 18 | Hunchback. Reduce height by 1d6 inches (1d3 inches if already halfling-sized). Can be rolled multiple times. |
| 9 | Poison bite. Gain an additional bite attack for 1d3 damage. Enemies taking damage from this attack must save against Poison to resist falling unconscious as if affected by the Sleep spell cast by the same level caster as the fomorian. | 19 | Oversized cranium. Hit die reduces from d8 to d6. Gain the ability to cast spells as an elf of the same level. Spells granted at random, one for each spell “slot”. Gains spells with each new slot. Each known spell is automatically prepared after 6 hours rest. |
| 10 | Tail. 3 in 6 Climb skill. | 20 | 1d4 Minor Mutations. Can be rolled multiple times. |
Minor Mutations Table
| d6 | Mutation |
| 1 | Unnaturally long tongue, which can extend up to 1d8 inches from the fomorian’s face. Can be rolled multiple times. |
| 2 | Elven magic. The fomorian gains the ability to cast magic as per an elf of the same level, in exactly the same way as an elf can. If combined with oversized cranium, the fomorian can additionally prepare spells (either those automatically known through the oversized cranium mutation or from a spellbook) up to the normal daily limits in addition to the spells automatically prepared thanks to oversized cranium. The number of spells the fomorian can cast per day, however, is unaffected. |
| 3 | Cat’s eyes. The fomorian gains infravision, the ability to see in the dark up to 60′. This is spoiled by the presence of light sources, which, if they exist in the fomorian’s field of view, restrict the fomorian to only being able to see what those light sources illuminate. |
| 4 | Elven reflexes. The fomorian is only surprised on a 1 in 6, as are elves. |
| 5 | Ultra fertile. If the fomorian falls pregnant or impregnates someone else, the resulting pregnancy will produce a litter of 1d8 fomorians. Can be rolled multiple times, each time giving an additional +1d8 offspring. |
| 6 | Unnaturally long fingers, giving the fomorian +1 to the Tinker skill. Can be rolled multiple times. |
Common Fomorians
Common fomorians are generally the product of unions between two fomorians. Sometimes a fomorian/elf union will produce a common fomorian, but all fomorian/fomorian unions produce common fomorians. They are not necessarily “low status” fomorians – most fomorian kings are common fomorians. Common fomorians have thick skin, which approaches leather. This affords some natural protection, but is irrespective thought of as unappealing by fomorians, who idealize the soft skin and flawless complexions of the elves. Common fomorians also tend to be slightly bigger and bulkier than the elven ideal. The default method for determining height and weight for common fomorians is given below, but may be modified by mutations rolled on the major mutations table:
- Roll 2d6 for adult fomorians, 2d4 for young fomorians. Take this value as the modifier.
- For adult female common fomorians, height = 4’6″ + modifier“, and weight = 85 + ( modifier x 5 ) lbs.
- For adult male common fomorians, height = 5’0″ + modifier“, and weight = 120 + ( modifier x 5 ) lbs.
- For young female common fomorians, height = 4’6″ + modifier”, and weight = 70 + ( modifier x 5) lbs.
- For young male common fomorians, height = 4’8″ + modifier”, and weight = 85 + ( modifier x 5) lbs.
The basic game statistics for common formorians of first level are given below. These can easily be “scaled up” by increasing the number of hit dice (and thus increasing the attack bonus and saving throws).
Common Fomorians
Armour 13, HD 1d8, Speed 120′(40′), Attack Bonus +1, Claw attack for 1d4 damage or as per weapon, Save as Elf 1, Morale 8, 1d3 Major Mutations
Beautiful Fomorians
So-called beautiful fomorians are rare, and are exclusively the product of fomorian/elf unions. Beautiful fomorians are accorded a high-status in fomorian society irrespective of however low-ranking their parents were. They are highly sought after sexual partners, and often marry royalty and high-ranking nobility, even if their fomorian parent was a simple commoner. Beautiful fomorians have only minor mutations, and although their skin may be brightly coloured, it is no thicker or harder than the skin of any elf. Likewise, beautiful fomorians share the same basical physical dimensions of elves:
- Roll 2d6 for adult fomorians, 2d4 for young fomorians. Take this value as the modifier.
- For adult female beautiful fomorians, height = 4’5″ + modifier“, and weight = 80 + ( modifier x 3.5 ) lbs.
- For adult male beautiful fomorians, height = 4’5″ + modifier“, and weight = 85 + ( modifier x 3.5 ) lbs.
- For young female beautiful fomorians, height = 4’5″ + modifier”, and weight = 66 + ( modifier x 3.5) lbs.
- For young male beautiful fomorians, height = 4’3″ + modifier”, and weight = 70 + ( modifier x 3.5) lbs.
The basic game statistics for beautiful formorians of first level are given below. These can easily be “scaled up” by increasing the number of hit dice (and thus increasing the attack bonus and saving throws).
Beautiful Fomorians
Armour 12, HD 1d6, Speed 120′(40′), Attack Bonus +1, Damage as per weapon, Save as Elf 1, Morale 8, 50% chance of 1d3 Minor Mutations
Giant Fomorians
During adolescence, approximately 1 in 100 common fomorians experience a rapid acceleration in growth, and grow into a 13′ tall giant by the time of adulthood. Beyond this vastly accelerated growth, giant fomorians also experience additional mutations compared to their smaller kin. Their sheer size guarantees their status in fomorian society despite their deformities – giants are the most deadly weapons in any fomorian army.
Giant Fomorians
Armour 16, HD 13d8, Speed 90′(30′), Attack Bonus +13, Smash attack for 4d8 damage, Save as Fighter 13, Morale 10, 1d6 Major Mutations (re-rolling any results of halfling-sized)
Fomorian Player Characters
It is possible to create a fomorian player character. All such player characters are assumed to be common or so-called beautiful fomorians, rather than giants.
Mutations
All fomorians have a random skin tone, irrespective of the skin tone of their parents, ranging from “natural” skin tones as seen in humans, through to bright colours, blackest black, and albino white.
Common fomorians start play with 1d3 Major Mutations.
Beautiful fomorians start play with 1d6 – 3 Minor Mutations (negative number = no mutations).
Experience Progression
Fomorians with the oversized cranium or elven magic mutations (or both) progress using the experience points progression of elves.
Beautiful fomorians without spell-casting ability progress using the experience points progression of specialists.
Common fomorians without spell-casting ability progress using the experience points progression of fighters.
Hit Points
Common fomorians gain +1d8 hit points per level up to level 9, after which they gain +2 hit points per level.
Beautiful fomorians gain +1d6 hit points per level up to level 9, after which they gain +2 hit points per level.
All fomorians have a minimum for 4 hit points (modified by Constitution) at level 1.
Saving Throws
Fomorians save as elves of the same level.
Other Special Abilities
Fomorians can use the press and defensive fighting options when fighting in melee.
Common fomorians have a base Armour of 13, as opposed to 12.
Beautiful fomorians have the regular base Armour of 12.