Game Viet Nam

Last night's D&D game was out of control.  There was a two-headed non-purple worm, a visit to the Fairy Land Annex, tense negotiations with the vampires, a giant silver spider, intense combat with the same vampires and elvish trickery.  I don't even know how to put the whole thing into a coherent narrative today, so I'll just tell you my favorite part.

I critted Fred the Dwarf twice.  The first time was an old Arduin favorite: buttock torn off.  The second one was a spinal injury that sends you to a subtable, the follow up roll said he was paralyzed from the waist up.  Since death was specifically mentioned on another entry of the chart, I ruled that his autonomous functions were not paralyzed.  So his henchmen drug him off, his head and arms flopping useless about.  Also, that second crit was from a freakin' vampire.  Dude lost his spine and two levels!  They were able to repair his spine through a little miraculous intervention, but dude remains Fred Half-Butt.

And they almost killed the Vampire Lord of Crows.  Almost.

d100 CEILING
01 6" wide bars of glowing crystal (illuminate room)
02-03 black basalt with red jade inlay depicting giant fanged mouth surrounded by swirling tentacles
04-05 black basalt with silver and gold flecks
06-07 black marble
08-09 black obsidian
10-11 black onyx carved with obscene pictograms
12-13 brilliant green crystal with flickering, dancing points of light
14-15 carved & arabesqued white marble
16-17 copper plated with silver
18-19 covered with lichens, moss & slime
20-21 cracked tan sandstone, dust and debris crumbling down
22-23 crumbling pale golden sandstone
24-25 deep purple marble
26-27 dull red quartz lit from within, filling room with pinkish glow
28-29 dusty granite
30-31 dusty, cracked, crumbling basalt with large, cave-in prone crack
32 eerie green glow
33 fired brick with small jets of blue flame (very hot in here!)
34 granite covered with silver leaf
35 green nephrite painted with hieroglyphs faded into illegibility
36-37 green obsidian
38-39 grey granite covered by 4" thick glass
40-41 grey-green malachite
42 iron ore
43 magical mirror surface
44-45 milky white marble
46-47 mirror polished steel
48-49 natural stone with stalactites so long some nearly reach the floor
50-51 nondescript stone painted pale blue
52-53 old grey iron festooned with spider webs
53-54 old, faded pentagram
55-56 pale blue marble
57-58 pale green marble
59-60 pale red translucent glass
61-62 pale violet jade
63 pale violet marble with white swirls and golden flecks
64-65 pale yellow marble
66-67 pale yellow marble
68-69 pale, streaked green jade
70 patches of slightly phosphorescent lichen
71-72 pearl grey stone
73-74 pitted, corroded, acid-etched bronze
75-76 polished copper
77-78 red marble with silver swirls
79-80 red sandstone
81-82 red, crumbly sandstone
83-84 rough, grey granite
85-86 rusty, flaking iron with faded cabalistic design
87 sequin sparkle stars
88-89 solid granite
90-91 tan granite
92 thick, clear quartz with glowing lava above
93-94 translucent black obsidian
95 unfinished diamond
96-97 wet grey granite slowly dripping water
98 yellow marble with dripping bloodstain on ceiling
99-00 yellow pointed granite

So the chart below combines two charts from Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed.  Well, only part of two charts.  Actually, four charts.  Part of four charts.  Let me explain.

The "part of" is because most days I don't give a crap about 0-level spells or what people above 14th (the BX upper limit) can cast.  So I saved myself a little work by chopping the combined chart down a bit.

The two charts combined are the Spells Prepared and Spells Cast charts for the Magister, Monte's alt-Wizard.  Turns out the Greenbond, the alt-Druid use the exact same numbers, that's why I say this chart sums up the relevant part of four charts.  Why Cook needed to put the same pair of charts in the book twice I don't know.  The Runethane, Mageblade and Witch classes (who constitue the "semi-spell casters" if you sprechen ze RoleMaster)  have redundant spell charts as well.  If you've got a copy of Arcana Unearthed, please feel free to double check this.  Maybe I'm missing something.  Otherwise this books seems to be wasting space for no good reason with all these charts.

(I'm moving the chart to behind a break because the CSS I'm using is causing problems with the headers on the rest of the page.)

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
1	3/1	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	3/2	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	4/2	3/1	-	-	-	-	-
4	4/3	3/2	-	-	-	-	-
5	5/3	4/2	3/1	-	-	-	-
6	5/3	4/3	3/2	-	-	-	-
7	6/4	5/3	4/2	3/1	-	-	-
8	6/4	5/3	4/3	3/2	-	-	-
9	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/2	3/1	-	-
10	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/3	3/2	-	-
11	8/5	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/2	3/1	-
12	8/5	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/3	3/2	-
13	9/5	8/5	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/2	3/1
14	9/5	8/5	7/4	6/4	5/3	4/3	3/2

One of the things that makes starting a campaign of AE so hard for me is that everybody has a huge-ass spell list.  It's like every class is the cleric or druid, with a bunch of spells available.  Only unlike the BX version of the cleric, you can cast at first level.  This is one of the secret strengths of the dumb "no spell for you, level 1 cleric!" rule.  It allows newbies to play clerics without being overwhelmed by spell selection.  In Monte Cook's world, pretty much every spellcaster has to deal with umpteen spells right out of the gate.  And I'm not sure getting to pick three of them instead of one makes life any easier for the players.  And the friggin' spell section of AU is laid out like a murder scene.  Am I the only one who thinks AD&D1 and BX are much more player friendly with "Here's my class list by level, now here are my spells by level"?  Newbies only have to puzzle over the section labeled as first level.

But I think the numbers here could work for some other applications.  Like maybe a pre-3e Sorcerer class, where the number to the left is the total spells known for each level and the number to the right is castings per day.  If I used such a class then I would further differentiate the Sorcerer and MU by allowing one class to pick all their new spells and forcing the other to roll randomly.  Though I can't make up my mind which should roll and which should pick.

Part of me really wants to figure out a good way to re-design Arcana Unearthed into something more like BX D&D.  Squint for a minute and pretend that Cook's tome was AD&D, then build a BX off of it.  That's the idea that lead to me making this chart.

This scan is terrible and my mapping skills are poor but combine this with the picture I posted and it should give some idea of what  is going on here.  Uggs the Cleric and his gang of jailbreakers have been scouting the site rigorously, so I feel they deserve some additional info.  A point worth noting is that the tower has at least four ways inside: front door, rooftop hatch, and doors leading onto the catwalks.

Fun fact: In 12th century England most castles do not have kitchens incorporated into the floor plan of the keep, so some poor schmucks have to lug every meal from the bailey kitchen up the ramp to the Great Hall.

I made this after going over the room descriptions in a couple three of Dave Hargraves' Arduin modules.  Tables for ceilings, floors and miscellany to follow.

d100 WALLS
01-02 black basalt
03 black basalt with silver and gold flecks
04-05 black marble
06-07 black obsidian
08 black onyx carved with obscene pictograms
09-10 blood red jade
11 blue fur!
12-13 blue marble
14 brilliant green crystal with flickering, dancing points of light
15-16 burnished copper
17-18 coal
19-20 covered with lichens, moss & slime
21-22 cracked, crumbling tan sandstone
23 deep red carnelian
24 dry, crumbly red sandstone
25-26 dull red quartz
27-28 dusty granite
29-30 dusty, cracked, crumbling basalt
31-32 fired brick
33-34 glittering mica with strange swirls of green copper
35-36 granite covered with black velvet drapes
37-38 granite covered with silver leaf
39-40 granite covered with tapestries depicting pastoral scenes
41-42 granite painted purple
43-44 green nephrite
45-46 green obsidian
47-48 grey granite behind purple silk drapes
49-50 grey granite covered by 4" thick glass
51-52 grey-green malachite
53-54 iron ore
55 magical mirror surface
56-57 milky white marble
58-59 old grey iron festooned with spider webs
60-61 old, dry pine paneling
62-63 pale blue marble
64-65 pale golden sandstone
66-67 pale red translucent glass
68-69 pale violet marble
70 pale violet marble with white swirls and golden flecks
71-72 pale yellow marble
73-74 pale, streaked green jade
75 paneled with polished cherrywood
76-77 pearl grey stone
78 phosphorescent blue plastic (emits deadly gas if burned)
79-80 pitted, corroded, acid-etched bronze
81-82 polished copper
85-86 polished granite
85-86 red marble with silver swirls
87-88 red painted limestone
89-90 red, crumbly sandstone
91 rough white quartz with iron pyrite sparkles
92-93 rough, grey granite
94 rusty, flaking iron
95-96 solid granite
97 translucent black obsidian
98 unfinished diamond
99-00 wet grey granite with lots of moss

Castle Bouttreaux is the westernmost holding of the French lord Guillame de Averoigne. Although nominally a vassal of King Stephen, Lord Guillame is one of those scheming middle-of-the-road types that has so far avoided committing seriously to either side in the Anarchy.  That and the relative poverty of the region (dragonfire keeping property values down) has thus far kept the region free from warfare in these troubled times.

Lord Guillame has never actually visited Cornwall (or England proper for that matter), so the local ruler in all but name is his hand-picked man, William of Crevan.  Sir William is known for being a fair-minded steward.  He does not think much about "that gang of robbers" staying at the Abbey of St. Emmet or the upstart Sir Hugo and his den of iniquity, but you PCs and your followers are so weird and numerous he has so far avoided a direct conflict.  Also, he does not want to annoy the Abbot, whom he respects, or Hugo's liege Lord Sutcherly, whom he fears.

Other notable inhabitants of the castle:

Lady Susan

Lady Susan - Sir William's wife.  Although her hair is starting to grey she still possesses much of the beauty of her youth. She's widely known for her charitable work among the poor.  Everyone in the district but Sir William seems to be in on the fact that her other hobby is dallying with younger men.

Lady Chezmerelda - Lady Susan's rather frumpy older sister.  A widow with estates in the north.  Newly arrived in the area just a few weeks ago.  Rumor has it that she and Sir William are not on the best of terms and that all the hunting he's been doing lately has been to get himself out of the house.

Lady Chezmerelda

James of Dillington - A wizard from the eastern part of England who has been visiting Sir William for a couple months now.  He must be pretty wealthy because he pays good money for maps, spells and magic items.  Sometimes seen in the company of a pair of Danish warriors.

Father Andrew - The castle chaplain.  He considers it a point of professional honor to be sober enough to give the Mass on Sunday.  Any other day he's usually soused.

Father Andrew