The first thing we noticed is that 1st level characters kind of suck. Most notably, you almost certainly do not have a focus in your primary attack. Our poor Mage (a Steppes Shaman from Kobold Quarterly 19 or the forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting) didn’t get a bonus to his magic attribute from his background. He also rolled mediocre stats. He had five +2s, but no +3. Everyone else had a single +3 which was swapped into a primary stat and increased to +4 by their background. The rest of the party included a Free Tribes Centaur Warrior (same article), a Mountain Dwarf Warrior (Dragonhack) and a Sea Elf Rogue (Kobold Quarterly 13 — Pro-tip: Kobold Quarterly is a great resource for AGE players.)

There are definitely quite a few rules we got wrong. We played that if you stunted during initiative you went first. If several people stunted they were sorted by their dragon die. I probably shouldn’t do that next time. I do want something to happen when you stunt during initiative however. Perhaps getting to skirmish with the stunt points would be better. I know officially stunts are only for combat, but the idea of stunting skills is just so much more fun. I really need to make a list of skill stunts.

I definitely liked the flexibility of the rules. On the other hand I could use a bit more guidance on a few specifics. There was a fight that involved crossbowmen on rooftops. How difficult should climbing be? (I used TN 13.) Should movement be reduced when climbing? (We cut it in half.) How difficult is it to jump a 6 foot gap? (I used TN 13.) How about a 12 foot gap? (I used TN 19.)When the rogue skirmished her foe off the side of the building, how much should damage should a 24 foot drop be? (We used 1d6 penetrating and dropped the target prone.) Certainly we managed to keep the game going, but a couple pages of typical tests would have been nice.

Combat flowed very well. Since there are no attacks of opportunity or other penalties for disengaging a foe during combat, the rogue and the centaur would quite often trade opponents. Knocking people off docks or rooftops was a very fun use of the skirmish stunt. I also allowed my players to draw a card from my Pathfinder Critical Hit Deck for 6 stunt points. They are a bit overpowered, but at 6 stunt points, why not? My second group seemed to fare a little better than I remember the first group doing. Luck certainly is a big factor at first level. Only the mage dropped to dying during the final fight. Luckily our dwarf had a healing potion. Even at first level the characters have a hefty amount of hit points and can take a beating.

The entire adventure took us about six hours to complete, including character creation. It probably could have been around an hour shorter had I been more prepared; I wasted quite a lot of time looking for miniatures or battle maps. They only got around 1000 xp for the night, so they didn’t even reach the coveted level 2. They really wanted to be able to choose a focus. This game was just a one-shot since our normal game was missing players, but I’ll keep the sheets on hand for the next time we want a quick game. I guess I’d better get to work on converting more adventures.

The game left me wanting just a little bit more. I believe much of this will be assisted by Dragon Age RPG Set 2. For an extended campaign I want expanded stunt options. I want skill stunts. I want more monsters and foes. I want more guides for how many magic items to reward the characters with. I want a quick guide to standard attribute uses. Luckily, the game is very easy to expand yourself. It certainly has quite a lot of potential.

Apathy Rating: 4/5.

Death in Freeport Conversion Notes

Press Gang
Health 18
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication 2
Constitution 2 – Drinking
Cunning 1
Dexterity 3 – Brawl, Stealth
Magic 1
Perception 2
Strength 2 – Belaying Pins, Climb
Willpower 1
Brawl +5 Damage: 1d3+2
Belaying Pins +4 1d6+2

Orc Pirates
Health 22
Speed 12
Defense 11
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 2
Cunning 1
Dexterity 1 – Brawl, Bow
Magic 1
Perception 2 – Smell
Strength 3 – Axe, Intimidate
Willpower 2
Axe +5 Damage: 2d6+3
Short Bow +3 1d6+3

Captain Scarbelly
Health 30
Speed 12
Defense 11
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 2
Cunning 1
Dexterity 1
Magic 0
Perception -1
Strength 4 – Axe, Jump
Willpower -1
Axe +6 Damage: 2d6+4

Aggro
Health 26
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication -1
Constitution 2
Cunning -1
Dexterity 2
Magic 0
Perception 2
Strength 3 – Scimitar
Willpower -1
Scimitar +5 Damage: 1d6+5

Belko
Class Mage
Health 22
Speed 12
Defense 13
Armor 0
Communication 2
Constitution 0
Cunning 0 – Arcane Lore
Dexterity 3 – Staves
Magic 3 – Primal
Perception 0
Strength 1 – Spear
Willpower 2 – Morale
Spells Flame Blast, Rock Armor, Shock, Stonefist

Rittoro
Class Warrior
Health 32
Speed 12
Defense 10/12
Armor 3
Communication 2 – Gambling
Constitution 1 – Stamina
Cunning 0
Dexterity 0
Magic 0
Perception 0
Strength 3 – Axe, Intimidate
Willpower 0 – Morale
Axe +5 Damage: 3d6+3

Yellow Shields
Health 17
Speed 12
Defense 11/13
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 1
Cunning -1
Dexterity 1 – Crossbow
Magic 1
Perception 1
Strength 2 – Sword
Willpower -1
Short Sword +4 Damage: 1d6+4
Crossbow +3 Damage: 2d6+2

Serpent People
Health 18
Speed 12
Defense 11/13
Armor 2
Communication -1
Constitution 2
Cunning -2
Dexterity 1
Magic 0
Perception -1
Strength 2 – Spear
Willpower -2
Spear +4 Damage: 1d6+5

Attendants
Health 18
Speed 6
Defense 10
Armor 7
Communication 1
Constitution 1
Cunning 1
Dexterity 0
Magic 2
Perception 2
Strength 1 – Mace
Willpower 2
Mace +3 Damage: 1d6+3
Crossbow +2 Damage: 2d6+3

Milos
Class Cleric
Health 35
Magic Points 20
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication 2 – Deception, Disguise
Constitution 1
Cunning 1 – Religious Lore
Dexterity 1 – Initiative
Magic 3 – Entropy
Perception 2 – Smelling
Strength 1 – Spear
Willpower 3 – Self-Discipline
Spear +3 Damage: 1d6+4
Spells Daze, Drain Life, Heal, Spell Shield, Weakness

Imperium Chronicles by William Mitchell

I was given a complimentary PDF of the Imperium Chronicles RPG for review. It took me quite a while to figure out exactly what to say about it. You would think that with my love of Traveller it would be a perfect fit for me. Somehow it isn’t though.

If you ever wanted to play in a sci-fi universe like Traveller’s Third Imperium but with d20 style rules, this game is for you.

Of course, there already exists a whole set of Traveller d20 books. However, by now they are long out of print. I never got any of them, so I can’t tell you how this compares. I didn’t get them for the same reason Imperium Chronicles doesn’t quite suit me — I don’t think d20 is the best system for all games. Don’t get me wrong, I like d20 for Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder. And if you want to use d20 for games like Traveller or Mutants and Masterminds or World of Darkness, that’s fine. But I like exploring different game systems. For me quirky rules are part of Traveller’s charm.

One thing that surprised me is that Imperium Chronicles doesn’t actually use the OGL. It’s simply a lot like the d20 system, but has a bunch of minor differences. As a fan of the open gaming movement, I would have thought it would be easier to just tweak the existing rules. You can still keep all of your world information as product identity. I figure if you are going to be d20ish, you might as well go all the way.

While the Imperium Chronicles feels inspired by Traveller’s Third Imperium, it is definitely a different setting. Not that Traveller’s setting is all that unique, it was inspired by Asimov’s Empire which in turn was inspired by the Roman Empire. Imperium Chronicles contains a rich tapestry of noble houses, alien races, and unique worlds. Even if you don’t use the setting in its entirety, it is filled with great ideas worth stealing and incorporating into your science fiction galaxy of choice.

I can tell this work is a labor of love. William clearly wrote this because he wanted his own perfect blend of games he liked. In the end it isn’t quite the game I would have put together, but that’s okay. It might be exactly what one of my readers is looking for. I repeat: If you wanted the world of Traveller with d20 rules, this game is exactly what you need.

Myself I will likely just mine it for ideas to convert into Mongoose Traveller. I wouldn’t regret a purchase with only that in mind. I have more game systems than I know what to do with. But I can always use more great ideas.

Apathy Rating: 4/5.

If you use a GM screen, I suggest you print out this chart from the Bestiary and paste it inside:

Even when preparing ahead of time, only bother to write down what you will need. For example, last game my PCs faced the Silver Surfer and Galactus. Here are the stats I prepared.

Silver Surfer
NG Medium outsider
Init +14; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +28
Defense
AC 40, touch 30, flat-footed 20 (+10 Dex, +10 dodge, +10 natural, +10 deflection vs. ranged)
hp 400 (20d10+200);
Fort +25, Ref +14, Will +23; +4 vs. poison, +4 resistance vs. evil
DR 15/epic; Immune cold, petrification; Resist acid 10, electricity 10, fire 10; SR 35
Offense
Speed 50 ft., fly 150 ft. (good)
Melee 2 slams +23 (2d10+40)
Ranged Energy Blast +20 touch (4d10+100 force)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 30, Con 30, Int 20, Wis 20, Cha 20
Base Atk +20; CMB +25; CMD 45

It’s hard to tell, but I started by copying the basic stats out of the Bestiary. I forget if I used an Archon or an Angel as a base. As you can see, I trimmed out everything I didn’t need. That’s another great trick though. If you need a tough caster, pick a casting monster from the Bestiary and select new spells for it. And don’t bother to pick that many. If your caster NPC can cast 9th level spells, just pick spells for 9th-7th levels. On the odd chance they need to use a lower level spell, just let them cast whatever is needed. Your players most certainly won’t notice the difference.

You will also notice, I didn’t even have stats for Galactus. I figured I’d use a similar AC, +30 for all saves, and I gave him an energy blast of 36d6 (my small dice box) DC 30 reflex half plus a single target disintegrate (or was it destruction?) (also DC 30). HP lots, but he would retreat and leave the planet alone once the PCs did around 500 damage to him.

By staying flexible, and fudging when needed, you can run all sorts of high level games without too much trouble. Spending dozens of hours building statblocks is no fun. Steal and adapt from Bestiaries and other adventurers in your library and be on your way. Your players will thank you for it.

In fact, I recommend not having solutions to puzzles in mind. At this level the characters have access to fantastic abilities. Even the non-casters should have some interesting resources from magic items. Never underestimate the versatility of a rogue with ranks in Use Magic Device and a staff or wand. So give them grand obstacles and let the players figure out how to get past them. Don’t make things totally impossible. You should have a variety of possible solutions in mind. In fact, write a few tips for if the group gets stuck and calls on some form of divination for clues. Just don’t try to force a single solution on them. Let them enjoy outsmarting the villain’s traps with creative uses of their tools.

When my group tackled A Paladin in Hell there was a metal maelstrom blocking their path to a tower. It was in effect an epic, spherical blade barrier. The book’s solution was mostly to dimension door inside the center. That could have worked. My group flew above it with a summoned airship. They cast fly on themselves to cushion their fall. Then they created a sphere of iron around them and fell space marine drop ship style straight through the deadly swirl of metal and rocks. I let it work, because it was awesome.

Also don’t be afraid to throw in easy encounters. If a group of soldiers tries to stop them, realistically they shouldn’t be 15th level or something crazy. So let the party bluff their way past with ease. Or if there is a fight, hand wave it without any rolls. It’s ok if high level characters throw their weight around every once in a while. If they let the power go to their heads you can always send a paladin champion to have a talking with them later.

Bottom line is, if you try and run the same sorts of challenges that worked at low levels, you are going to frustrate yourself to no end. Embrace the fact that high level characters are up there with Hercules and other mythic figures. Look to super hero comics for inspiration if you have to. But above all, let the characters be awesome.

Campaign Outline

1. Modron March I: Modron March [Level 4]
2. Infinite Staircase 1: Planewalkers [Level 4]
3. Modron March II: The Unswerving Path [Level 4]
4. Modron March III: Ambushed [Level 4]
5. Interlude in Sigil: Aasamir’s Revenge
6. Infinite Staircase 7: Reflections [Level 5]
7. Well of Worlds: Recruiters [Level 5]
8. Infinite Staircase 6: Dream Well [Level 6]
9. Modron March IV: Politics of the Beasts [Level 6]
10. Infinite Staircase 4: In Disarray [Level 6]
11. Interlude in Sigil: Harbinger House [Level 6]
12. Infinite Staircase Tale 2: Lost Sovereignty [Level 7]
13. Interlude in Golorian: Hunting Dragon Turtles [Level 7]
14. Interlude in Arborea: A God’s Favor
15. Modron March V: Modron Madness [Level 7]
16. Modron March VI: Law in Chaos [Level 7]
17. Infinite Staircase 5: City of Air [Level 8]
18. Infinite Staircase 8: Kyton Challenge [Level 8]
19. Modron March VIII: Camp Followers [Level 8]
20. Infinite Staircase Prologue: Ants vs Salads
21. Dead Gods 1: Circean Embers [Level 8]
22. Dead Gods 2: Crux [Level 8]
23. Dead Gods 3: Masks [Level 8]
24. Modron March IX: Sidetracked [Level 9]
25. Dead Gods 4: Message from Thanatos [Level 9]
26. Dead Gods 5: Bottom of the Multiverse [Level 9]
27. Dead Gods 6: The Vault of the Drow [Level 9]
28. Dead Gods 7: The Ruins of Pelion [Level 10]
29. Dead Gods 8: Deepest Pandemonium [Level 10]
30. Modron March X: The Flower Infernal [Level 10]
31. Vault of Lost Souls [Level 10]
32. Modron March XI: The Last Leg [Level 10]
33. Dead Gods 9: The Dead Book of the Gods [Level 11]
34. Faction War [Level 11]
35. Die Vecna Die [Level 12]
36. Demon God’s Fane [Level 13]
37. Paladin in Hell [Level 14]
38. Building a Better World 1: Apocalypse Stone [Level 15]
39. Interlude: Coliseum Morpheoun [Level 15]
40. Building a Better World 2:Picking up the Pieces [Level 16 - 19]
41. Building a Better World 3:True Test of the Starstone [Level 20]

Don’t get overwhelmed. I started the outline when I realized I wanted to interweave Modron March and the Infinite Staircase adventures. Anything that says interlude was likely added an adventure or two before it happened. The original outline had less than a dozen entries. When I first wrote this, there were some question marks on which Infinite Staircase Tale would happen where. I left room for the players to pick. As the game went on, the outline grew.

Around level 11 or 12, I realized I had nowhere to go past A Paladin in Hell. Levels 15+ were a void. There weren’t any good higher level Planescape modules to steal from. Paizo’s high level modules are rare and didn’t really fit. So I decided to strike out on my own. I found the Apocalypse Stone and it sparked some ideas. The characters are tricked into stealing a stone that acts as a planar cornerstone for the world. They were told it was the Test of the Starstone, a path to divinity. Instead the stone anchors it into place in the planes. I decided that the near apocalypse that is caused would end with planar travel being cut off. The characters would have to travel to several domain hot spots, the vistegial remnants of the world’s connections to the outer planes. They would have to absorb the energy through a ritual, becoming a conduit for that domain.

Once each character is a conduit for for domains, they will be able to perform a greater ritual to restore the plane to balance. They will then have the opportunity to take the actual Test of the Starstone and become new deities of those domains for the reshaped world. Or they could choose to relinquish the domain power and retire as mortals. We’ll see when we get there.

There was only one problem. The characters are based in Sigil. They don’t care very much about any particular prime world. The impact of seeing a place they loved destroyed isn’t as great if they don’t have a real connection to the world. Fortunately, Bort the Fighter is from “Ancient Greece”. A version of our world where mythology is true. So even if the characters only have a loose connection to the world, the players are intimately familiar with it. They’ve already worked with the Greek Gods in an interlude in Arborea before. I just needed to lure them to “Ancient Greece” to begin the arc.

So with this in mind I decided that the paladin they would be rescuing during A Paladin in Hell would be a paladin of Apollo. Back tracking further, I made him the same paladin they’d worked with during the Modron March (Ambushed, Infernal Flower). To make his connection a little more immediate, I had him be the one that asks the party to come with him to the Demon God’s Fane. During the course of that adventure he was corrupted by a demon spirit and slain in the final battle. A Paladin in Hell began at his funeral, at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Since I knew where I wanted things to go I could drop hints and clues several adventures ahead.

So they are currently travelling to domain hotspots around the world. This actually makes it easier, because now they know what is going on. So I can ask them which domains they plan on hitting up next. So far they’ve tackled:

• Knowledge – Bort the Archivist
• Madness – Bort the Binder
• Trickery – Bort the Rogue
• War – Bort the Fighter

Since I already have a good idea which places they’ll hit next (Strength, Luck, or Runes) I can think ahead. Knowing where your group is headed, or likely to be headed, is key to staying one step ahead. Even if they take an unexpected turn, you’ll always be halfway prepared in your mind.

Eclipse Phase by Posthuman Studios.

Eclipse Phase is a science fiction RPG that I want to love. I really do. It incorporates new sci-fi topics and really feels like an RPG for the modern reader. On the other hand, in some ways it tries to do too much. Which makes it harder for me to sell to the other players. Too much new terminology to pick up. Both in-character and out-of-character.

First let me tell you about the most amazing feature of this game. It’s free. Every book they release is Creative Commons (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike.) That means you are free to copy and remix the material as much as you like, as long as you don’t resell it and tell people where you got it from. More importantly, it means you can download all the books legally. The company itself releases good quality versions of the file. They of course would like you to go buy the beautiful printed books or purchase the PDFs to support them. On the other hand they embrace the “information should be free” hacker ethos.

The setting is the relatively near future. Mankind has colonized the solar system, but nothing beyond it. There is no galactic empire that spans thousands of star systems. We only have the planets of our solar system to work with. We have advanced to the point where we have stations every where from the sun’s corona to Pluto and beyond.

Meanwhile, Earth is dead. Or mostly dead. 10 years ago a collection of AIs sparked World War III and wiped out most of mankind. There is a quarantine around Earth because automated war machines still roam around destroying anything that moves. Luckily the AIs mysteriously left the solar system, so things have been relatively quiet since then.

We have also perfected the technology for copying brain patterns. So a few billion people “escaped” earth by uploading their brains into the colonies. We have the ability to implant these brain patterns into bio-enhanced bodies, artificially grown bodies, or purely robot bodies. However, living space isn’t unlimited. So many refugees from Earth have to live virtual lives in the computer network until they can earn a body. A large number have chosen to contract themselves to corporations as indentured workers, often mining or other tedious jobs, just for the chance to walk around again.

Another aspect of being able to copy brains is that you can now duplicate yourself. The legality of such “forks” (as they are called) varies from place to place. Most of the time it is illegal to have multiple true copies running around, but some places allow limited versions for a short period of time. You can also merge your forks back together, stitching the memories of both into a new whole. Of course, doing so after being separated for too long may lead to mental instability. For the most part, people don’t fly from colony to colony when they want to visit someplace. It just takes too long. Way easier to temporarily send your mind over there and rent a body for the trip.

I said we hadn’t reached other star systems earlier. That’s actually not quite true. After the AIs left we discovered a number of “Pandora Gates” (named after the moon they were found on, although the mythological implications of the name are intentional.) Nobody knows how they were created. They do allow travel to distant worlds. Of course, not very many expeditions return successfully. Those that do often come back with worthwhile information or tech. Whole campaigns can be centered around the exploration of the worlds beyond the gates.

Suffice it to say, the setting is rich and detailed. There are a ton of aspects I glossed over in my quick overview. I really like that the setting has so many types of games that can be played in it. The primary themes of the game are horror and conspiracy, but exploration and adventure are also possible. The Eclipse Phase world is an interesting place to explore.

So what are the problems with the game? It can be overwhelming. I tried to run a one-shot and failed utterly. Part of it is my fault. I had two scenarios to choose from, and I went with the one that had the most straight forward plot. However, it just uses pre-gens from the book. So it doesn’t have detailed backgrounds to hand out to each player. Nothing to ease them into playing the scenario. I realize I should have printed up the Quick Start Rules to hand out. It at least condenses the basics of the setting down to 6 pages. The other scenario I could have tried had better backgrounds, but I suspect it still would have floundered due too information overload at the start.

The rules are, once you start playing, relatively simple. A percentile based skill system similar to Call of Cthulhu or other games. Creating characters? Takes hours. You’ve got a thousand points to spend on skills and other aspects of your character. Which is why I opted for pre-gens. However, I didn’t realize quite how obscure the terminology really was. There’s a lot of info on the page, most of my players got confused too early. I planned on running things rules-light anyway, with the sheets as just a guide for what the characters were like. But since the statistics all use unusual terms (COO, COG, SOM?) my players didn’t really know what to make of things.

So I realize with a little more preparation I could have made things easier. On the other hand, next time around I’m tempted to just use some variation of FATE to run the game. Simplify skills so that people can easily find “Guns”, and “Dodge” instead of “Kinetic Weapons” and “Fray”. Give each character some aspects for their mind and personality, and some separate aspects for their current body. Example: Ruster morph: Aspect: Adapted to Mars. Aspect: Red skin. Making it so that a new player can understand who and what their character is about with a single read through of the character sheet will go a long way toward engaging them with the game world.

Overall, I really like Eclipse Phase. It has some hurdles, although the Quick Start Rules do help. Once you get past the jargon, there is a lot of great stuff in the setting. I just need to find a way to hook players in a single page of text, not 2 hours of studying the main book. Still, if you like sci-fi, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I mentioned it was free to try, right?

Apathy Rating: 4/5.

First a little background. This campaign has been running for around 4 years now. That means it started life as a 3.5 campaign and migrated to Pathfinder Beta and then Pathfinder. The basic premise was originally to do a Planescape game. This quickly expanded into running the best of the old Planescape modules. My players have been through Tales of the Infinite Staircase, The Great Modron March, Dead Gods, Die, Vecna, Die and quite a few sidetrecks along the way. All before hiting 15th level. This does mean that my group levelled slowly and got more wealth by level than expected. A lot more wealth.

The game is currently at 17th level, but I’ll back track a bit and start talking about their adventures around 15th level. It’ll help prevent spoilers if my players bother to read the blog. And give me a bit of a buffer, so I have plenty to talk about for the forseeable future.

House Rules

Spell DCs

The DC for spells is equal to 10 + 1/2 caster level + stat. This means a 10th level wizard with an 18 Int has DC 19 for all of their spells. From Sleep to Fireball and beyond. Overall it really doesn’t change that much. Most of the good spells are still the highest level a caster has available. On the other hand, it is way easier to keep track of. When I write an NPCs statblock I just have to calculate that once and put it next to caster level in the statblock.

Metamagic

I use the metamagic system from Book of Experimental Might. Every time you take a metamagic feat it gives a number of uses per day. It can be applied at the time of casting to any spell. Powerful feats are limited to once per day (quicken, maximize), and less powerful ones are three times per day (empower, extend). This does mean my high level casters can have quickened maximized 9th level spells. That’s probably a little overpowered. On the other hand, enemy casters still fall in short order.

Critical Hit Deck

We use Paizo’s Critical Hit Deck. It makes things a lot of fun. Especially on those rare magic criticals.

d20 Playground

While the core rules are Pathfinder, I allow material from a wide range of sources. From Wizards of the Coast to Open Design to Green Ronin. I also pull from a wide range of monster books. In some ways this unbalances the game. In other ways it really doesn’t matter at this power level.

Cast

Bort – Female half-elf fighter. Uses two scimitars with improved critical and staggering criticals. Used to be a male centaur barbarian, but he got tired of dying in every fight. So early 15th level they decided that the centaur was like a cocoon and Bort the Fighter emerged fully formed from the husk of the centaur’s body.

Bort – Female tiefling rogue. Uses two short swords. One of them is the Sword of Kas (now named Starscream). Also has boots of hellstep which allow a dimension door as a swift action but without the restriction on actions afterward. Can hide in plain sight after a dip into shadow dancer.

Bort – Male dwarven archivist. Like a cleric, only he doesn’t know all cleric spells and can’t channel energy. On the other hand, he can give some bonuses to attacking creatures with an appropriate knowledge check.

Bort – Male human++ binder. A very strange class. If I were to start over I’d make all the abilities (sp) instead of (su). Also it uses con as one of its primary stats which I would probably switch to Cha. Overall, while there are a few bindings I should tweak, the class is strangely underpowered in combat and overpowered in non-combat.

Did I meantion my group is a little silly? The binder for the longest time was the only PC not named Bort. After winning the cup of dreams from the Coliseum Morpheuon the group decided to use their first wish to rename him Bort. Some future year they plan on wishing that he enjoys being named Bort. So I will have to say Bort the Rogue or some such whenever I talk about a character in the game. On the other hand, I never forget a PCs name anymore.

Lost City by Logan Bonner

As a patron for Open Design‘s Lost City I am slightly biased. I wasn’t really involved in pitching ideas however; my patronage was really more of a pre-order. A sign of my faith that Open Design would deliver an excellent adventure for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Logan Bonner does not disappoint.

In a way Lost City brings a taste of classic Dungeons and Dragons to the latest edition. Inspired by such classics as B4: The Lost City and S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Out in the desert, there is a ruined city. Not just any old city, but the wreckage of a once flying city. What treasures await inside? Will the characters befriend the inhabitants still living within, or destroy them? Much of the destiny of the city is left in the character’s hands.

The main inhabitants of city are the Oklu, a race of reptilian humanoids. Servitors to the original builders of the lost city, the Oklu will likely become both allies and obstacles to the characters as they explore. The factions of Oklu are split on how to protect their sacred home. The characters are likely to upset the balance of power. They could unite the Oklu and restore the city to its former glory or just as easily spark a civil war as they plunder it.

My favorite section of the adventure are the hanging gardens. A portion of the city fell upside down. Now plants hang from the floors of the city. Exploring from upside down building to building will be require great athleticism or the aid of magic. Just be careful not to fall when fighting off the insectoid hive that made the area their home.

If you are looking looking for an excellent paragon tier adventure for Dungeons and Dragons, Lost City is a must buy. It could easily be adaptable to Dark Sun or any other setting with a large unexplored desert. Lost City is what adventures are all about.

Apathy Rating: 5/5.

Enjoy.

First step is choosing abilities. I notice that the character doesn’t have a name yet. I assume we will get to that. Abilities range from 1 to 12 with 7 being average. It looks like you get 35 points to spread around five abilities, which means characters aren’t above average. If you want to be really good at something, you need to be bad at other things. Here’s where I decided to allocate my points:

• Brawn: 6
• Quickness: 9
• Toughness: 7
• Wits: 8
• Will: 5

I decided my character should be quick with his hands and his wits, if a little low on self control. This character is going to be based on my original Deinol character, who was a traveling gambler. There are three more abilities that are derived from the above stats. Vitality comes from a combination of brawn and toughness, Resolve is from wits and will, and Sanity is from will. It looks like my character is going to be weak against madness.

• Vitality: 30
• Resolve: 30
• Sanity: 25

According to the 5 steps at the beginning of the character creation chapter backgrounds is next. However, the book stops and talks about hooks (which is step 4) between abilities and backgrounds. I’m following the steps so I’ll skip to backgrounds for now. These are packages that adjust your character to fit a theme. Backgrounds come in two parts. The first is your culture: primitive, barbarian, civilized, and advanced. I’m going to go with civilized. This gives me some starting skills: Bureaucracy, Diplomacy, and Native Language. Then you add another modifier to that which gives some skill bonuses. I choose Mercantile and get a +1 Bargain, and +1 Diplomacy.

Edit: After reading D20 Source’s article which pointed out errata (Clarity on Skills linked from here) I realize that the following is all incorrect.

The next step is choosing skills. The math for buying skill ranks is a little strange, as it is based on your original ability score. I would have probably preferred a more unified math formula, as this one feels a little awkward. There are odd point breaks in the system. Past the first rank in a skill, it is better to have a 4 in the base ability than a 5. 8 seems preferable to 9 if you plan to put a skill above 10. It also looks like starting points are spent differently than experience points. There also seems to be a bit of confusion about what a base rank looks like. If I buy the base rank of Melee (a brawn skill), will it start at Rank 6 (my brawn score), Rank 0 (so it plus brawn = 6) or Rank 1 (so it plus brawn = 7). I’m going to run with base Rank = 0 and go from there. Let’s see what I end up with.

• Bargain (Fast Talk) 2/4 (cost 7 points)
• Brawl 0 (cost 3 points)
• Bureaucracy 1 (cost 0 points)
• Defend 0 (cost 5 points)
• Diplomacy (Persuasion) 2/4 (cost 4 points)
• Divination 2 (cost 8 points)
• Dodge 0 (cost 5 points)
• Gaming 3 (cost 10 points)
• Melee 0 (cost 3 points)
• Native Language 0 (cost 0 points)

I was tempted to have a bit of magic just to try out that system, but settled on Divination instead. I think I did a decent job making a fast talking card shark who relies on his natural quickness to survive in a bar fight. I still think the point buy system is a tad bit awkward, having to look up the exact point values each time I bought a skill. Being a computer guy, I actually built a spreadsheet. Something simple like 4 points for initial rank and 2 points per rank after would have made more or less the same character without being quite as fiddly. Edit: It looks like the “Expert” book will have an option to simplify it to 6 points for base skill rank and 3 points per rank after that. I’m also not certain specialization is worth it in the long run, as you have to buy them up separately after that. If I am wrong about the base rank then all my ranks above should be one higher. Actually resolving skills looks pretty easy (roll under Rank + Ability on 2d12). I do like that fighting, magic, and other skills all use the same core skill mechanic.

Update: I felt I shouldn’t leave this article with incorrect stats, so after learning from my above mistakes, I came back and updated my skills. SS&S is setup so that abilities imply competency in a lot of skills. For example, I can do Investigation (Wits) untrained at 8 (ability) + 8 (base rank) – 4 (untrained penalty) = 12, which is still almost 50% for a routine task. Since that is the case, I bought all of the skills (using 45 points) at base rank so Deinol is decent with a knife, and good at dodging, gaming, and card-reading.

• Bargain (Will) 5 {cost 5} TN = 5 (ability) +5 (skill) +1 (bonus) = 11
• Bureaucracy (Wits) 8 {cost 0} TN = 8 + 8 = 16
• Defend (Quick) 9 {cost 9} TN = 9 + 9 = 18
• Diplomacy (Will) 5 {cost 0} TN = 5 + 5 + 1 (bonus) = 11
• Divination (Wits) [Card-Reading] 8 {cost 8} TN = 8 + 8 = 16
• Dodge (Quick) 9 {cost 9} TN = 9 + 9 = 18
• Gaming (Wits) 8 {cost 8} TN = 8 + 8 = 16
• Melee (Melee) 6 {cost 6} TN = 6 + 6 = 12
• Native Language (Wits) 8 {cost 0} TN = 8 + 8 = 16

Hooks remind me a lot of aspects from the FATE system (Spirit of the Century, Houses of the Blooded, and Dresden Files RPG). They are descriptive things about your character that you can activate using an action point to get a +2 bonus or a re-roll. Every character begins with five hooks. For Deinol, I came up with the following:

• A well traveled man with a friendly smile, he is easily liked.
• Likes to gamble, lives on the edge.
• Quck to anger, quicker to forgive.
• A tad bit lazy, never passes up an opportunity for easy money.
• Always keeps his word, when you can get him to give it.

Since I’m my own gamemaster in this exercise, I’ll have to approve those hooks. I certainly think it gives him enough quirks. As for finishing touches, the only required details are name, age, and gender. Deinol is a 24 year old male. For equipment I’d get him a deck of cards, a deck of marked cards, some dice, a dagger, clothes and a cloak with many pockets, and a deck of divination cards.

So that’s it for making a Shadow, Sword and Spell character. The book is everything you need to play and comes with a variety of premade foes and monsters. Since stat blocks are fairly short with a few skills there are 2-3 per page. That means there are 40-50 in the book and it would be easy to add more. The default setting includes a cult of Azathoth, which made me smile. I probably wouldn’t run the game as a long campaign, but I would definitely run a one-shot here or there. If you are looking for a light game in one book, this one is well worth checking out.

Want to learn more about Shadow, Sword, & Spell? Read on…

• Atomic Array: Episode 045: Shadow, Sword & Spell
• Apathy Blogs: Shadow, Sword, & Spell Character Creation
• D20 Source: En Garde! Shadow, Sword, & Spell