Friday, June 28, 2013

Where the hell have I been?

My players and I embarked on a grand experiment. Every single person I could lay my hands on is partaking in it.

One word: Gangbusters.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Atlas of Arunia Ecumenia

Well my friends, I do not know when or if the Atlas will ever have enough art to be put forward as part of the Boxed Set. The folks who are my artists unfortunately do not do it full time and have other, real jobs they have to work on. The first book of the set, however, is complete. The second book is nearly complete. I'm working on getting the third up and ready and all that's left is to gussy 'em up with some nice artwork.

I think that means it's time. Time to unleash the main setting book of the 10th Age upon an unsuspecting populace. Time to give a free, albeit ugly, text-only version of the Atlas to the public and let them do with it what they will. So here it is, kids: the Atlas of Arunia Ecumenia -- the very first of the four Boxed Set books. For free! If you can stomach the sections that are supposed to be sidebars being in the main body of the text and the wall of grim words marching black against crisp white into eternity.

The link to the Atlas has been provided below and can also be found on the 10th Age Downloads portion of the site from here on out. Feel free to leave feedback, either as a comment here or in an email or whatever feels right to you. Hell, if you wanna draw me some art for some paltry sliver of potential future profits, feel free to do that to.

Here I present:

The Atlas of Arunia Ecumenia

Monday, June 24, 2013

Pantheon Monday: Taelii, the Black Messenger

TAELII
(the Cursed, the Cruel, the Spite, the Black Messenger)

Lesser Goddess, CE
Portfolio: Ill luck and misfortune
Aliases: None
Domain Name: Demogoss, the Field of Sorrows
Superior: Fortuna
Allies: Hasht
Foes: Haparos
Symbol: A sprig of hipposelinum
Worshipper Alignment: Any chaotic

Taelii (TAE-lee-ee) is the sister to Haparos and daughter of Fortuna. She is a hateful, spiteful creature who seeks only to turn joys into sorrows and good luck into bad. She and her brother are mortal foes, and rumor has it that they interfere even against the wishes of Haeron himself.

Shrines and temples to Taelii rarely receive visitors looking to draw her eye onto themselves. Instead, she often invoked as a goddess of vengeance, or prayed to keep her gaze far from the worshipper. She is also a messenger of the Gods, chosen when they must convey evil news to one another or, on rare occasions, to mortals. She is known as the Black Messenger, the aspect-opposite of her brother, the White Messenger.

She is associated with the blackbird, and those who would ward her gaze often wear blackbird pendents, charms, pins, and broaches. It is said that to harm a blackbird is to draw her ire down upon you with years and years of bad luck—perhaps a curse that will destroy your entire life. For this reason, these birds are almost never bothered in their natural habitat.

Taelii most often appears as a young girl of capricious whim, giggling obscenely and far too sexual mature for her apparent age (except in lands like Dorlan where girls of 12 are expected to be married). She wears a cloak of black down.

The Church
Clergy: Speciality priests, thieves
Clergy’s Alignment: CE
Turn Undead: No
Command Undead: SP: Yes TH: N

The Temple of Taelii, like that of her brother, relies primarily on the presence of Fortunan temples to function. Her shrines can be found within the great circuit of Fortune’s walls and they often play host to a small number of her clergy as well. There are few small shrines to this goddess in the wild and some in great cities, all of which are attended by claves of priests, but these are the exception and not the rule.

It is thought a good thing to propitiate Taelii before making any kind of new venture. Thus, right after petitioning Vaela, those beginning new businesses or new endeavors often come to Taelii to donate money and keep her lustful evil gaze from their work.

The priests of Taelii are known as calforyx or “Black Lucks,” and are often heated enemies of the vulforyx of Haparos. They have no order or structure save for that which is kept in individual shrines and temples; a number of lesser positions which serve a Synod of Priests and, if the place is particularly important in the circuit of Taelii’s power, a Black Fortune at their head.

Calforyx travel the world, sewing misery in their passage. They delight in seeing the mighty brought low, though priests of Fortuna try to limit the evil that they cause. It is often said that “Fortuna’s Wheel needs no help to turn it,” but the calforyx rarely agree.

Dogma: Unmake what is made, unbless what is blessed! The world is profane and fools cannot be allowed to prosper. Teach them all the meaning of sorrow!

Day-to-Day Activities: Calforyx spend most of their time tending their shrines when they are not traveling. Those that do travel do their best to spread misery and end joy by the cruel coincidence of fate. They believe themselves to be the hands of Taelii herself, balancing out the good of Haparos with the Black Luck.

Major Centers of Worship: The Palace of Fortune in Thurayn is home to one of the most powerful Black Fortunes in the north. She is has a long-standing alliance with the Black Fortune of Kallatha (in Soloth) and the Black Fortune of Teral. Together, these three are known as the Dark Furies.

Affiliated Orders: The ancient knightly order of the Black Luck Warriors has long been extinct and shows no sign of ever being revived.

Priestly Vestments: Calforyx, alone amongst the population of the world, are permitted to kill blackbirds. They do this to make their blackbird cloaks. Beneath that they wear smoke gray vestments lined with the twinkle of gold and golden studs. A long scarf of pure black silk is draped over the shoulders of priests that have passed their novitiate and a chain of gold over those who are above the mere priestly standing.

CALFORYX
(Specialty Priest)

REQUIREMENTS: Wis 9
PRIME REQ: Wisdom
ALIGNMENT: CE
WEAPONS: Staff, club, knife, dagger, dart, mace, maul, sling
MAJOR SPHERES: All, Chaos, Charm, Creation, Divination, Healing, Necromantic, Protection (reversed only)
MINOR SPHERES: Guardian, Wards, Weather
MAGICAL ITEMS: Any priestly
REQ. PROFS: Gaming
BONUS PROFS: Religion (Taelii), Religion (Fortuna)

Anyone who strikes a calforynx will be afflicted with a curse (as per the first level priest spell bless reversed) for 24 hours. Subsequently striking the priest does not increase the penalty.

Anyone who slays a calforynx will be afflicted with a curse spell of double power for 48 hours.

Calforyx can levy curses at will once per day simply by making the gesture of the evil eye. The spell and special power both last for 24 hours per level of the calforynx.

At 3rd level, the calforynx can taste bless spells in the air. Anyone who is blessed while struck by a calforynx will immediately have the spell stripped from them, will take double damage from the blow, and will subsequently be cursed for 24 hours. This strike need not be hard; a light tap will strip the spell and reverse, though it will deal no damage.

At 5th level, the calforynx may bestow curse as per the third level priest spell once per week. The duration of this ability is 1 day per experience level of the calforynx.

At 7th level, the calforynx’s bestow curse becomes permanent. Killing the calforynx at this level will cause his murderer to be affected by a permanent bestow curse which drops his/her wisdom to 3.

At 10th level, the calforynx may dispel good once per day as a granted power.


At 15th level, striking the calforynx results in a bestowed curse of wis 3 in addition to the curse spell. The calforynx may initiate a geas once per year; if he has not used it and is slain, the geas will be chosen by Taelii and affect his murderer.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Avaridus and the Soul

Avaridus the Philosopher was born in Mercantis; this particular fact chafes Milean pride, for the ancient Mercantine City was a great competitor of Miles in the Sword Age. However, by the time Avaridus was born the freedom of Mercantis had been captured, swallowed up, by the great imperial ambitions of the Pillar-City. Thus, it is with only a little self consciousness that Mileans can lay claim to ancient Avaridus and his well-known texts. There are many legends about him; from the myth that he was a sorcerer, to the legend that he brought in Demons from the nether world and bound them to his will. The only truths we know of Avaridus, however, is that he was born a slave in Mercantis, was trained by his master Thorios, and then purchased his own freedom at the age of thirty five. By then he had already written De Structura et Forma and was beginning his treatises on the nature of magic.

Today we're going to examine the Synthesis and how Avaridus explained the nature of the soul. This is important both for the development of philosophical thought in ArunĂ« and also for mechanics within AD&D as they're expressed in the game.

Avaridus writes...

Motion cannot begin without prior motion. Therefore, we must consider that all living things contain a manner of interior motion. This mover-within the Ancestors referred to as a soul. However, it is clear from their behavior that all things which live do not possess the same nature or number of souls. The most basic element is that of growth and change; this is the vegetative soul, which all living things possess. Most plants possess this soul alone, for they cannot move. They are confined simply to the process of breaking down food and transforming it into themselves. All souls interact with the environment thusly: they must take in, and what they take in they make into themselves. This is the process of integration and digestion.

The second form of soul is possessed by some mobile plants and all animals; this is the animalistic soul, which guides creatures to mate, to eat, and to fulfill other base urges. A limited form of cognition appears to be a symptom of this soul, but its movement in that regard is quite restricted.

The third form of soul is the rational soul, possessed by all things which can think and regard. The rational soul is the maker of thought and reason, the progenitor of that mental mental movement which leads to understanding.

These souls are not separate from the body, as the Ancients wrote. Neither are they necessarily immortal (though they may achieve this state accidentally). They are, in fact, a form of reified material that is housed in the humoral composition of the body. When the bodily humors are disordered, so too is the soul. Without the soul, the body is simply flesh without will or force. A soul without flesh would be too fragile to exist, being shredded by even the lightest breeze or the pattern of sunlight striking it. One cannot exist without the other.

This does not spell the certain extinction of the soul upon death. The spirits of Akem, the pscyhopomps, may guide the soul to the Nether World where it is then preserved and protected from such unkind forces. Or, great trauma may cause the soul lodged in a dead or dying body to form a powerful connection to this world. It must then draw energy from somewhere to maintain its cohesion, and thus we have the treacherous houseless souls we refer to as ghosts, haunts, spectres. [Editor's Note: magi studying Avaridus later deduced this "connection" to be a conduit with the Negative Material Plane, which allows the spirit to maintain cohesion outside the body also generates the "suction" effect by which the apparition may draw away fragments of the souls of the living]

The soul is separate from the function of Memory, which is a physical process that occurs within the body. It is a pattern by which the physical body is built and moved, but it is also patterned in turn by the physical nature of the body; changes to the living form may restructure the soul just as a magical transplantation of one agent-soul into another body may cause the agent-soul to lose awareness of itself and function as the natural soul of the body. Here I refer to the ancient adage of the wizard who transforms himself into a chicken and forgets he is a man.

What does this mean in context to actually playing? Not only does it bring some real Classical philosophy into the circuit of the game, it also endeavors to explain the soul as life-energy (ie, levels), the ability of the undead to drain that life-energy, and several other magical effects. It is integral to the 10th Age conception of magic as a motive force (once again, another article!) and forms the very core of thought about immortality, death, and funerary rites. The appearance of ghosts and spectres rely on the Avaridian understanding of the soul, as does their inability to form permanent new memories, leaving them to in a state of confusion about temporality.

It also separates processes of "mind" and "soul," one of which is a mechanical engine of change, the other which is more sublime and exists in what we refer to as "spirits" or reified liquid that flows through the caverns of the brain and is pumped along with the blood to all portions of the body. It informs medical practice in the setting, as well as helps explain madness and the disordered mind, which otherwise might be incomprehensible to a classical/medieval sensibility.

Beyond all that, though, it's damn fun to talk about and speculate on, and even more fun to create. I know there are those who will warn that adding extra depth to a setting can turn people off... but those are probably not the people I wanted to game with anyway.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Elves Never Sleep, Do They?

I've endeavored to make elves in the 10th Age, like all of the races of Arunia, extremely archetypal. The problem with that, of course, is that people will simply write them off as "just another take on elves," perhaps even muttering "this one's not that far from Tolkien." And that's ok, because for me the devil's in the details. I want my fantasy races to feel like the ur-races and yet be unique in their particulars. I want people playing the 10th Age to think of the elves like they would think of all elves, to say to me "Josh, your elves are particularly elvish, they're packed with the stuff that makes elves elves." So that's what I strive to do. That, and to strongly differentiate the demihuman races from humans because otherwise they're just tall people with funny ears or, in the case of the smallfolk, short people with funny ears.

So when I went to design elves for the setting, the first thing I did was take into account the various weirdnesses about them mechanically. I altered some of their powers and gave them a social reason for knowing how to use swords. I divided them up into groups and gave the different social formations different bonuses. But the most interesting fact about the elves wasn't that they could get a +1 to hit with a sword or sneak in the woods. It was that they don't sleep.

The idea for elves was to hew closely to the model presented by Tolkien but also to draw in some of the Fair Folk stuff from real Germanic legend. Yes, there are a separate class of races that make up the REAL Fair Folk in the 10th Age—you can't really be expected to play one of those weird and unpleasant trickster things, so I've grouped together pixies, nixies, sprites, griggs, atomie, leprechauns, and other such creatures as the ones that will ask you to have a cup of wine and end up putting you to sleep for ten centuries.

But the elves needed to have some of that in there too. So elves are like eternal children in Arunia. They contrast nicely with the dwarves, who begin and end their life as old codgers. This is one of the reasons why dwarves and elves have a slight (but not overwhelming) antipathy. Elves like to laugh and make fun, dwarves find it offends their sense of gravity. Again, there is definitely Tolkien at play here. But elves aren't all love and laughter. They start their lives full of vim and vigor, throwing themselves fully into any and all endeavors... but as they grow older, they begin to experience dark spells that last for longer and longer until they enter melancholy and depressive moods that eventually lead to their desire to abandon the Middle World.

Not being able to sleep or to dream has a lot to do with this. Taking another page from Tolkien, elves who choose not to abandon the Middle World eventually burn themselves out. Their desires overwhelm their bodies, they go completely mad as they fill with century upon century of sorrow, and their souls (reified matter in the 10th Age, a-la some ancient conceptions of the soul... another post, another post) form a permanent bond with the Negative Material Plane. Their bodies are effectively consumed and they wander as "houseless spirits," unable to distinguish between the past and the present.

Elves only meditate for 4 hours a night, which is a great bonus for elven watchmen and wizards. It also means that the elvish day is much longer than the mannish one. While most men wouldn't waste oil or tallow to stay up late at night, elves are much more likely to see a good reason to, since they don't need to sleep for 8-12 hours, but rather 4-6. They still have beds, which they use to couch themselves in their reprieve when at home, but they can meditate just as easily with their legs folded beneath a tree.

What do they see while they close their eyes? Not dreams. No indeed, they relive moments from their past, digesting them and absorbing them into their being. They re-experience joys and traumas. One of the reasons that they eventually go mad is that they are privy, simply, to too much life. Their cup runneth over with sorrows that a mortal frame simply cannot contend.

They are powerful poets, artists, architects, magicians. They are secretive forest dwellers who enjoy a good joke, but also who keep their passions in check with an intricate etiquette and games of double meanings and inference. They are all free; not one elf is a bondsman of another, all serve on their own. They call each other ilmai instead of goodman, which means, essentially, "free elf." They do not have peasant levies, but rather trained citizen-militias. All elves know how to read, write, and to hold a sword. And yet they are stalked by their pasts, the memories they cannot forget even if they wanted to, unable to find oblivion even in the simplest and most comforting place: sleep.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Knights of the Pen and Paper

I've found myself absorbed in this game since it came out yesterday. It's fun! It's not great, it's not amazing, but it is fun. It plays like one of those nightmares fueled by 12 year olds and shoddy DMing, which can be extremely entertaining. The classes are interesting and work together well, the system for going on "adventures" is neat, and who can turn their nose up at some meta-gaming where you play the players of PCs and, sort of, the DM as well?

It's only $10 on steam, and it's published by Paradox which makes the inestimable Crusader Kings and CKII games (as well as Europa Univeraslis, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron, all of which are undeniably amazing). Go and get it, thou conqueror. Or don't, if the trailer offends thee. You know. I'm not committed one way or the other.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Wearing Dresses and other Garb

Tunic and hose are the most maligned pieces of costume I can think of. Even codpieces are afforded the  benefit of the doubt. Hosen, though, seem to rarely make it onto the screen properly or into the consciousness of people playing D&D. I humbly submit it is because of the delineation of non-bifurcated garments to the traditionally female gender role in modern Western society. Whether or not that's true (and I have no intention of attempting to prove it either way, at least not in this post), the fact remains that you will rarely see a tunic and hosen combo presented properly in fantasy artwork, fantasy movies, or even historical movies. There's just something that rankles most people, I guess, about wearing a dress and "stockings."

This means that players newly come into my games are unprepared for the prevailing worldview that hosen are chosen and breeches are for bitches. The single garment known as the breeches (which we Americans call pants and the British call trousers, I guess) are a sign of rough living or poverty. Nobles only wear them when they absolutely have to: such as underneath their armor for better movement. They are, in a sense, the sign of the great unwashed masses. Even peasants with a small amount of extra capital will buy some chausses/hosen to cover their legs in public when they aren't working the field.

It behooves me, then, to go over some standard medieval dress. This can serve as a reference to my own players as well as to anyone in the great wide internet who cares what medieval people dressed like. As for the 10th Age, this will clearly have to serve as a simple baseline, since there's so much regional variation... but the same can be said of the middle ages itself. For today, I'll just be talking about male garments.

The first element of the clothing is what is known as the braies. These were a form of breeches worn as undergarments by the nobility (but potentially as outer garments by the lower orders). They're loose knee-length trousers that can be tied up to the waist to keep them short.

Atop this, the upper part of the body was fitted with an undertunic, or "shirt," usually of plain linen. The sleeves were usually long and open with ties to close them. This undertunic would show beneath the outer garb, for it was generally longer at the wrists and hem.

You can see a bit of Hugh Berengar's
undertunic in this Cadfael screen cap
And here another one.
On the legs, one would wear a pair of chausses (which are what we have been referring to as "hose" in the PHB for all those years). Single-piece hosen only came into vogue during the Renaissance. You know, with those fancy dickcovers on top of them to make you look super horny all the time. "Lick my love pump," as Romeo was wont to say.
Here's a pair of chausses.
Once they were snugly on your legs, those little holes there at the diamond-tip were tied to an undergirdle worn atop your linen undertunic but beneath your outer tunic. This kept them in place. Hell, you thought people just wore mail hauberks with some mail pants? Think again, they wore chausses of the stuff:


On top of all this was your overtunic, which usually had either a square, keyhole, or round collar. Hems were embroidered with other material to cover the seams and also to be fancy. And outer belt was worn atop this set of cloths to hold your purse, knife, and other such goodies. So the next time you buy a pair of breeches at character creation remember: those are either your underwear, or you're a filthy peasant with no class.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Pantheon Monday: Haparos the Luckbearer

HAPAROS
(The Luckbringer, the Dancing, the Brother, the Child of Fate, the White God)

Lesser God, CG
Portfolio: Good luck, serendipity, surprises, dance
Aliases: None
Domain Name: Corogoss the Laughing Fields
Superior: Fortuna, Vaela
Allies:  None
Foes: Tailii
Symbol: A coin bearing a smiling face, an egret
Worshipper Alignment: Any

Haparos (ha-PAHR-ose) is the Milean deity of luck and good humor. He is the son of Fortuna and Sarnis and brother to Tailii the Goddess of Ill Fortune. He is much beloved of Pog Tosscobble of the halflings and Heimir, and is often found cavorting with them.

While he has almost no direct worshipers, Haparos is invoked any time someone needs luck or the favor of the gods on their sides. For this reason he’s also the White Messenger and he often carries messages between the gods. In this aspect he is beholden to Vaela—as is his sister in her aspect as his opposite, the Black Messenger.

It’s perhaps due to this appellation and the thought of a winged messenger that lends the egret its associations with him; it is a holy bird and considered a symbol of good luck. So strong are these connections that some men wear silver, platinum, or white gold heron’s head pendants to bring them luck.

In his natural form (ie, not the White Messenger) Haparos is said to appear as a very young boy clad in all white with a cloak of downy feathers and an open, smiling face framed with golden locks.
The Church
Clergy: Specialty priests, fighters
Clergy’s Alignment: CG
Turn Undead: SP: Yes F: N
Command Undead: No

The Temple of Haparos is a shadow of the great Temple of Fortuna, and his cult is almost entirely dependent on hers. Only in the greatest and most populous of cities can his temples stand on their own. Everywhere else, his priests (where they exist) must do so by leeching off of the space and resources provided by Fortuna’s house. They reside in her temples, eat her food, and place their altars in her holy spaces.

These priests, known as vulforyx or “White-Lucks,” form a semi-rigid hierarchy dependent upon a single leader who resides in the city of Noranos at the House of White Fortune (Domum Vulforsinus in Varan) known as the Golden Oracle. This high priest is both hierophant and supreme authority on the canon of the temple, which is a secretive series of oral revelations passed down from one priest to the next.

Vulforyx are legendarily clandestine, though they make public appearances in many lands during festivals, carrying about a heron-eikon for the masses to stroke or throw coins at. Haparian shrines are also extremely common, and they may be attended by one or more begging brothers.

The ranks of temple authority begin with the lowliest begging-brother and step up through local White Hands (who wear a silver tattoo of the egret upon their left hand), White Hearts (who are said to have a matching tattoo upon their breast), and the Temple-Faithful.

The Temple-Faithful include both the rank and file of administrators and the local Haparian authority, the esteemed Archpriest (addressed as “Blessedness” rather than “Divine”).

Dogma: You are the agent of Haparos, unwitting though you may be! Spread his joyousness, and allow yourself to be the agent of the fair luck that runs through the world. Defeat the scourge of Tailii wherever you may go, and ensure that Fortuna’s Wheel turns ever in favor.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests in the service of the White God attempt to mend the hurts of the world. They collect and distribute charity and food, mitigate the disasters of war and famine by walking among the wounded and starving with ministrations, run lazaria and infirmariums where they have the numbers, and otherwise make worship to the Luckbringer.

Major Centers of Worship: The House of White Fortune serves as the center of the Haparian Order beneath the Golden Oracle.

Priestly Vestments: Vulforynx are encourage, of course, to wear white and cloth-of-silver as well as rings and torques of white gold. Their robes are often trimmed with extensive silver filigree and hemming and, like many cultic priests, they rarely wear garb other than the ankle-length robes of their order. Many also carry tall iron poles atop which the Sign of the Heron has been affixed.

Adventuring Garb: Vulforynx dress in whites and bleached colors when they adventure. They must always wear a white surcoat or tabard with heron patterns filigreed into it with thread-of-silver to identify them as their order.

VULFORYX
(Specialty Priest)

REQUIREMENTS: Wisdom 12, Charisma 14
PRIME REQ: Charisma
ALIGNMENT: CG
WEAPONS: Club, staff, flail, mace, sap, sling
MAJOR SPHERES: All, Chaos, Charm, Creation, Divination, Healing, Necromantic
MINOR SPHERES: Guardian, Sun, Wards, Weather
MAGICAL ITEMS: Luckbearers may use any magical items that priests may.
REQ. PROFS: Gaming
BONUS PROFS: Religion (Haparos), Religion (Fortuna)

Once every three days, a vulforynx can reroll any one of his rolls. This may be declared after the roll is made.

At 3rd level, the vulforynx receives a permanent +1 bonus to his AC by virtue of Haparos’ kindly gaze.

At 5th level, the vulforynx may cast the spell chaos ward three times per week. (Spells and Magic)

At 7th level, the vulforynx saves as though he were three levels higher.

At 10th level, the vulforynx may reroll any 1s on his dice for determining damage dealt or hp healed using magic.


At 15th level, the vuforynx is immune to chaotic magic (any spells of the chaos sphere) of all kinds. Additionally, chaotic creatures have a -2 penalty to attack him.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Getting Places in Dorlan, or the Mageocracy Blues

While being noble is, in the 10th Age, far less restrictive than being a noble in the Renaissance of the 17th-18th centuries, there are still barriers towards advancement that must be hurdled: proving, for example, that you owe no servile duties. In Dorlan things get even more thorny, as only mages can hold appointed or elected positions within the Dorlish state.

So, there is a sort of bifurcated situation between the two. It would help to understand how the noble families came to power, I think. Most nobility in Dorlan has arisen through trade and mercantilism, making it unique amongst the northern kingdoms (or at least causing it to stand out) since the raising of men is of much less importance to the Dorlish state. Therefore, nobility do not eschew, frown upon, or in any way denigrate mercantile work—it is their lifeblood. Almost all noble families began as urban merchants who rose to the rank of patrician by their investments, trained a child and some other kinsfolk in magic, and inserted themselves into the world of political power.

However, there is still a need to raise troops, to have trained fighting men, and to have knights to do battle. Additionally, while the institution of the College of Silano (much more like a medieval universitas than a modern college in that there are no "classes") and the numerous private tutors that make their wage by training young folk to be wizards can produce great numbers of semi-skilled magi in comparison with other lands, there are still not enough to govern each and every plot of land in Dorlan.

Those members of the Patriciate who do not manage to gain the learning required to enter the Dorlish state may sometimes find themselves appointed to rule over the family lands (which are owned explicitly by the family, not by the government or by feudal right). These men and women become the Dorlish barons and baronesses—no other title is recognized in Dorlan for landed nobility. Over time, these second and third sons develop their own branches of the patrician family, ones which are headed by military leaders rather than mages. Still, the desire is strong for a baron or baronness to train some of their children as mages in order to ascend the ranks.

The rural barons are contrasted with the urban magistracies and councils; cities of a certain size do not belong to any individual family, but rather achieve commune status. Their citizens are free and unservile men, and they are generally governed jointly by a council of elected local patricians (who must be wizards) and a magistrate appointed by the High Mage of the province in which the city is located (who must also be a wizard). Thus, rural government is generally non-mageocratic while urban government relies heavily on magicians for functionaries and high offices.

This further enforces the Dorlish social structure relying on magic, for money is the barrier to being trained as a wizard. Thus, the families who manage to secure lucrative trades and mercantile contracts are those with access to enough resources to make their sons and daughters into wizards, which means they also control the government... and regulate in the favor of merchants. Thus Dorlan manages to reproduce its own society in ever-tightening or strengthening iterations.

The very first thing I see here is backlash. The society has few control valves for those who are ambitious but poor or ambitious but not smart enough to be wizards. While the second class is in the minority, there are still social pressures that have few ways for relief. The most telling outlet of this was the so-called Malvaran Uprising of X.389 in which several barons in Malvaro as well as many crowds of peasants, Hashtemite priests, and outlaws attacked and sacked the city of Monteno and killed its urban council and magistrate. The Malvaran League was at once declared traitorous to Dorlan and the other provinces engaged in a 3-year war to subdue it—at the end of which, the fields were destroyed, the manors of the offending lords torched, the Malvaran patriciate families which had participated were exiled, and a great famine struck the mountainous western province.

So, while warriors and knights do hold status with Dorlan, it is a far lower status than their wizard brethren... and the merchant-houses like it that way.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Political Machine

Adventurers often get themselves into political trouble, at least in my games. While the 2e DM asks who would be irritated if the adventurers started hiring knights and other retainers out from under local lords, it doesn't ask who would be irritated if a group of sellswords swooped in and started performing tasks for money. In most fantasy worlds, people can agree on what they want. If a kingdom is beset by a number of ills, there are usually not a number of stances about how to deal with them, or whether or not they are ills at all. That's not the case in the 10th Age which can make everything that much more complicated. It sometimes drives my players to distraction, but I think serves to make a fuller game.

In practical terms, it often means a LOT more work for me. I need to figure out the major factions in each realm, determine who belongs to them, and mark down the most important figures in each. This means that every time a new party starts, I must already have begun to work on the political structure surrounding them. While they usually do not see it at first, it remains suspended there, like an invisible semantic web, and their actions shift and move it. Not every faction thinks the same things are good or right for the kingdom, nor does every member within a faction have the exact same opinion. Kingdoms are not monoliths of power, they are intricate political machines with hundreds or thousands of moving parts.

Can I model all of this? Probably, if I was insane or very dedicated. Do I? Usually not. I try to model the top level of the machine first of all: the high nobles, the great councillors, the major temples. It determine what they want collectively, what kinds of philosophies of governance they hold, and who they like or dislike. That serves as a good background for me to delve into an individual region. Now, local barons and magistrates usually do not form factions of their own (they may) but usually attach to the faction of a larger party. This means I can say that this here little baron and that one are attached to this or that major faction. It's very easy in lands were blood-relations make alliances, since all I have to know then is what house they owe their bloodline to.

Now, I usually also add mitigating factors for smaller players. Such as, "Supports the Aderno family but is not active in politics," or "Supports the Emperor nominally, but believes that the court is highly corrupt." This allows them wiggle-room to be convinced, cajoled, manipulated, or allied with against their own supposed interests... if the PCs are clever enough to discover exactly how to do it.

The effect this has on the game is one that builds up over time. While almost no one could object to adventurers clearing out, say, a basement full of necromantic horrors in the capital, they might begin to suspect that the adventurers are acting on the orders of some faction they don't like. Or perhaps they begin to think that the adventurers are forming their own political faction, which is just as bad. Or mayhaps they don't care, but the adventurers actions are having an effect on their own plans—for example, defending the status quo almost always upsets the people who hate the king (see Someone Always Hates the King).

There are no politically neutral actions in a machine of this complexity. Everything has effects, even if they are not immediately seen. The effects lead to fame, glory, alliances, but also foes, assassination attempts, and permanent enemies. Depending on what exactly the party does, these may come earlier or later in their level-arc. It's possible for a 1st or 2nd level party to aggravate a high noble to the point where he dispatches murderswords to come and kill them in their sleep. Likewise, it's possible for that same party not to aggravate anyone for 6-9 levels. Or perhaps to become so famous in their 1-2nd levels that they begin to attract followers and hirelings of their own accord early.

The important part isn't how exactly they interact with the machine, it's that this level of play exists at all. This invisible, sticky web of plots and politics may be unseen, but to remove it entirely is to remove a whole level of complexity from the game. And you now I'm almost always for more complexity, particularly when it doesn't involve math.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The Care and Feeding of Hirelings, pt 2.

The Hounds simply cannot keep themselves together. This sounds worse than it is, and I intended it to. The party isn't coming apart at the seams... no, far from it. What's been happening is damned simple to explain but hard to cope with as a group: they've been splitting the party. Normally, this is the DM's nightmare. Running two, three, or four simultaneous games of D&D takes much more than running them consecutively. Keeping timelines straight is a headache. But the Hounds have something on their side that makes it slightly less troublesome: they're splitting the party, not to explore two locations at once or anything like that, but because certain characters are not in commission. While armor is repaired and the fighter doesn't want to go out, while the mage researches months worth of magic... these are times when the other players get antsy and determine that those long periods of interstitial time will not go to waste.

The solution, it turns out, was both mentioned here on this blog (although in the context of what to do in the case of character death) and also thought of by Danny some time last week, and its a solution that I was aware of but had been waiting (foolishly) for ~level 9 to implement. That solution is: play hirelings. When your character is tied down with research, play your character's proxy. Now, Nauraainen the Laughing Dragon may only be level 5, but he does devote a great deal of time to spell research—three months in this last go. To me, that signifies a good time to begin training an apprentice, simply because of the long periods of inactivity represented in game time. Narratively, perhaps, it is not the best solution... how are you teaching the child while you're working, for example?

Whether apprentice or not, the solution is clearly to play new characters in the form of hirelings (though  in the situation of an apprentice it would be more like a henchman, I'd wager) who can adventure-in-proxy for the PCs. Of course, this opens up a whole host of strange problems (trading money and gear, etc.) However, that being said, those problems are preferable to having players sit out for several sessions which amounts, more or less, to punishing them for researching spells, having weapons made, or getting armor completed.

It's similar to what I imagine people USED to do before 2e, and also to the idea of the Character Tree from Dark Sun. In fact, I find that modeling it a bit on the Dark Sun notion will suit me perfectly, though it will need to be modified to account for the fact that the characters are not COMPLETELY separate but are instead linked by shared interests. A difficult juggling act for players, perhaps, but one that keeps them in the game and playing while also maintaining the verisimilitude of spell research, armor maintenance, NWP learning, etc.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Weights and Measures

A lot of the historical stuff in the AD&D 2e PHB is just plain wrong. Now, that's not a slam against my most beloved edition, just a simple truism. As a medievalist, I have a lot of information at my fingertips that the creators of the Second Edition did not.

The most inaccurate section of the books is the classification of armor and the weights of swords. I have here, then, a reformed 10th Age armor list. Of note also are the misnomers by which some of the weapons are known (as well as a great number of the armors). The appending of "mail" to the end of various types of armor is completely apocryphal  as is the additions of "chain" in the phrase "chain mail" -- more commonly known either as chain armor or simply mail. The "longsword" of AD&D should also be known as an arming sword. This weapon should weigh around 1.5kgs which we can round to an easy 2lbs.

Armor Type
Cost
Weight
Regions Available
Banded Armor
650gp
35 lbs.
Ancient Miles, Graves, urban centers
Brigandine/Coat of Plates
N/A
35 lbs.
Not Available
Bronze Plate Armor
400gp
45 lbs.
Ancient Tombs
Mail
75pg
65 lbs.
Everywhere
Field plate armor
10,000gp
70 lbs.
Great urban centers
“Gothic” plate armor
N/A
50 lbs.
Not available
Hide Armor
15gp
30 lbs.
Everywhere
Leather Armor
5gp
15 lbs.
Everywhere
Padded/Quilted Armor
4gp
10 lbs.
Everywhere
Ring Armor
100gp
30 lbs.
Valelan lands only
Scale Armor
120gp
40 lbs.
Everywhere, particularly elvish lands
Splint Armor
450gp
40 lbs.
Eastern urban centers, Miles
Studded Leather Armor
20gp
25 lbs.
Everywhere
Helms



Spangenhelm/Skullcap (aventail assumed)
5gp
5 lbs.
Everywhere
Great Helm
30gp
10 lbs.
Everywhere
Basinet
8 gp
5 lbs.
Miles, other urban centers
Shields



Body/Tower/Kite
10gp
15 lbs.
Everywhere
Buckler
1gp
3 lbs.
Everywhere
Medium Shield (heater or round)
7gp
10 lbs.
Everywhere
Small Shield (roundshield only)
3gp
5 lbs.
Everywhere