Old Stuff Day

Well, I’m usually too lazy (and late) to participate in most challenges, communal projects and other events that constantly hit our blogsphere, but I think I can list something for the Old Stuff Day (actually what I should do is to organize a decent Index, but I told ya – I’m lazy).

Here are some posts that I’m quite fond of. These are the stuff that I really enjoyed writing since opening this Tower.

First, there’s my “true” Vancian magic system (with emphasis on the quotation marks). I wrote it right after reading all the original The Dying Earth novels (particularly the first). It more a hack than a new system, but it’s short and easy to use.

Following it there are my Worldbuilding Articles, where I toss simple premises or ideas and try to build a setting (or change one) from them. Downward to Glory!, Bring out your sorcerers! And Pathfinder, Raise Dead and Clone Wars are some of my favorites – simple ideas that I really wished I had time to implement.

And talking about things that I wished to run, the idea of a humanocentric Golarion is so different and radical that I’m constantly resisting my urges to simply open a gate to a parallel Material Plane and throw my players there.

On the mechanical side, there’s a lot of stuff of (very) dubious qualities, but that may serve as food for thought. Playing with hit points as a real abstract stat was great, as were the “spell-less” classes and the minions simple template. And I still need to find a “victim” to playtest my swashbuckler base class.

However, my favorite mechanical articles are Burrows & Dragons, my hack for running Swords & Wizardry in the world of The Hobbit (and ONLY The Hobbit); and my Pathfinder Lite, which is what I use these days for quick one-shots or for introducing new players to the hobby (that and the beautiful visuals of the Pathfinder Beginner Box).

There is also my oddball variant familiar rule, inspired by stories like The Last Incantation. I’m still not sure if this is a viable option or a just new headache – I’ll have to find a way of testing it.

Ending this (already lengthy) sample of archaic, contradictory and ambiguous scrolls, are a few weird arcana, from my favorite dweomers Golden Apple of Discord, Mandamus of the Faithful Worm and Chalice of the World Serpent, to subjects of uttermost importance, like Living Pet Shadows, chaotic blood issues and cyborgs!