LANGUAGES

HUMAN LANGUAGES

AKKADIAN is the best-known tongue, called COMMON, a remnant of long-gone UR.

LABRYNTHIAN, a complex speech, is used by the maze-folk in mountain caves.

SWAIN, a sailor-tongue, is common along every coast.

DESERTLISH, so-called by outsiders, is the harsh tongue spoken by all desert folk.

THIEF'S CANT, a secret tongue, unwritable, indescipherable, ever-changing, is known to all guild thieves.

ANIMAL LANGUAGES

RAKKUS is a common animal-tongue, brutish and harsh.

HIVE is the vibrant speech of insects.

TWILL is the flowery speech of birds, also known by cats and elves.

MER is a confusing language sometimes spoken by fish and other sea-creatures.

RACIAL LANGUAGES

ELF, GOBLIN, DWARF, and GNOLL are common.

HOW MANY HEROES

start with the basic premise that a guy with levels is part of the ruling class (so a level one guy can probably get a level 0 guy to do what he wants, and so on)

one hex = 24 miles =  one days travel on foot

FINDING A HERO
(on the frontier) each hex-day you have a one in four chance of finding a guy with levels, (in hobbiton) one in eight (in a war-zone) one in two

HERO LEVEL NAMES
1 knave (fighting-man, mage, etc)
2 knight (warrior, wizard, etc)
3 baron
4 duke
5 king (warrior-king, witch-king, etc)

FIVE PERCENT
5 percent of the population are heroes, these the guys with levels. (named and dangerous) including all noble combatants - these guys would have the full adventurer set: armor, rations, lots of rope, whatever they need, these guys are usually landed and are legally allowed to carry blades and stuff

(what if you want to play a lower class guy like a beggar or whatever?) even so: if you got levels you can exercise power over a level-0 guy, and if you got gear you're something like a knight, you're probably a big one among your own people, so that population is your fief, your domain, even if they dont wish to be, they do exist and they work to create and support you. lower-class guys are twice as hard to locate.

FIVE PERCENT AGAIN
a further 5% of all dudes are 0-level combatants (watchmen and brigands, with lanterns and cugels but not much else)

THE MAJORITY
the majority 80 percent are peasant food producers, working the mud,  non-combatants, of these maybe another 5% can be raised as levies in times of war.

WHICH LEAVES
10 percent are burghers, artisan shop-keepers, of these:

1 shoemaker
2 clothier
3 woodworker
4 smith
5 free-mason
6 animal handler
7 chiurgeon
8 grounds-keeper
9 money-lender
10 mystic

these are true craftsmen, guildsmen, if no burgher is local then these tasks would still be performed by travelling burghers (but not as reglarly) or by upstart charlatans (but not as well). burghers are usually twice as easy to locate as heroes.

IMITATIONS AND SPINOFFS: SOME HAVE MERIT; ALTHOUGH WE CONCEDE THEIR RIGHT TO EXIST WE CAUTION THE PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMER TO CONSIDER THEIR TRUE VALUE

HOW TO HACK THE WHOLE MONSTER MANUAL INTO YOUR CAMPAIGN SETTING, A TUTORIAL

YOU WILL NEED a recent print of the 70s AD&D monster manual.

FIRST OF ALL PRINT THIS BLOG POST. you can cut stuff out an tape it together and do whatever you want. you have this power.

each page on the monster manual is a zone, each monster on each page is a monster that LIVES AT OR can be encountered in that zone

break the book into FIVE SEXTIONS or DISTRICTS MADE UP OF 20 ZONES PAGES EACH -
YOU'LL RUN A LITTLE SHORT OF 100 PAGES SO LET  THE LAST BIT (SHEP 17-20) BE JUST ZOMBIES AND YETIS, THIS SEEMS FINE

the DISTRICTS are
1- LABYRINTH
2- BLIGHT
3- UR
4- VIKLANDS
5- SHEP

BUT A DICE HAS SIX SIDES, SO APPEND
6- UNDERWORLD

SO THE FIRST 20 CONTIGUOUS PAGES OF MONSTERS IS

THE LABYRINTH
MAKE A MAP OF THE LABYRINTH:
ON ONE SIDE BREAK IT INTO 8 ZONES, ON THE OTHER SIDE 12 ZONES

LABYRINTH ZONE 1
ok so this page has aerial servant and ankheg. i've crossed out aeriel and put INVISIBLE SERVANT and crossed out ankheg and put BURROWER. the book says the first guy is VERY RARE and the other guy is RARE so put this table ON YOUR MAP IN THAT ZONE:

L1
12 INVISIBLE SERVANT
3456 BURROWER

L2
1 ANT
2 MIND APE
3 DEMON APE
456 TERROR BIRD

L3
12 MONKEY
3 WEASEL
4 GREAT HORNBEAST
5 PIRHANA
6 BASILISK

L4
1 GREY BEAR
2 BLACK BEAR
3 WHITE BEAR
4 BEAVER
5 ROT BEETLE or RHINO BEETLE
6 GARDENER BEETLE or LANTERN BEETLE
7 STAG BEETLE or WATER STRIDER BEETLE
8 BEETLE (WILDCARD)

L5
1 EYEBEAST
234 PUDDING
56 SCATTERDOG

L6
1 HOG
2 BOAR
3 HELLBOAR
4 BRAIN MOLE
5 BROWNIE (SAMARITAN)
6 BUFFALO

(IF YOU DONT USE PSIONICS JUST HAVE THE BRAIN MOLE TRY BURROW INTO YOUR WIZARD)

L7
12 BUGBEAR
3 LANDSHARK
4 DROGO
5 BULL DROGO
6 DROGO STAMPEDE

(drogos are like big dumb meaty DUDES that you can eat and ride on - like in that one bit from VANCE - replace BULL, and CATTLE on the opposite page, with BULL DROGO and DROGO STAMPEDE, respectively)

L8
123 CAMEL
45 CARRION CRAWLER
6 WEEPER

L9
1 CENTAUR
234 CENTIPEDE
5 BRAIN FLY
6 CHIMERA

(YOU OPEN THE CHEST AND A SWARM OF FLIES COMES OUT BUT tHEN YOU BLINK AND WHERE DDID ALL THE FLIES GO? on the next day get -1 to intelllegence and double this penalty every day and each time you use a spell. your skin goes blue and tight. )

L10
1 STONE CROW
2 CRAB
3 KOA-TI
4 LOBSTER
56 CROCODILE

oh shit now we get to the DEMONS
so obviously you can encounter demons in teh labyrinth but their true home is MIDNIGHT, MIRROR CITY, PHANTASMAL DESERT.

demons love slavery, escaping, slave masters turned into slaves.

a DEMON CROWN can be used to control a demon.

L11-12
1 the ALLPREDATOR, THE WALKER, DRINKER, DEMOGORGON
HE WALKS A TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION ON EARTH. EVERYTHIUNG HE SEES OR TOUCHES IS CURSED.

2 JU, THE KING OF SLIMES, THE GREATE DEFILER, THE ABYSS, JUBILEX, JUBAR, JUBARETH, JUBILETH
HE WILL ROT AWAY THE RACES OF EN WITH FILTHY TENDRILS HE IS ENTROPY.
the eye-glyphe, JU, looks like an eye, so draw eyes all over this page.

345 SHADOWS OF THE BLIGHTED DEAD BURN IN THE ALL-FIRE

6 the BONELORD, THE PRINCE OF GHOULS, THE LORD OF UNLIFE, ORCUS, ???
HE TAKES OUR DEAD FROM US, TURNS THEM INTO MONSTERS, ONLY THE DEAD KNOW HIM TRULY

L13-14
1 SUCCUBUS
THE WINGS GIVE HER AWAY

(DRAW A SEXIER SUCCUBUS ON THIS PAGE)

23 VROCK
MINDLESS BIRDS OF CHAOS
THEY TEAR AT THE SOULS OF THE DEAD

45 HREZZLE

(MAKE THIS GUY NOT LOOK LIKE A VAMPIRE KERMIT THE FROG)

6 GLABERU
THE HOUNDS OF DISCORD

7 FLESHLORD
GREAT HULKING SOLDIERS OF DECAY
FLYING ON FLIGHTLESS WINGS

8 MARILITH
(MAKE NO CHANGES)

9 SLAVE KINGS OF MIRROR CITY
-1 BALOR
-2 DRETH
-3 KROSUS
-4 CHIR
-5 KIARA-JU

10 HASGUIL

[to be continued]

MATT GROVES & METAMAGIC

GROVES DOESNT BLOG NORMALLY SO IM PUTTING THIS HERE
Just the spells then thats the level?
And d4 hp
yep
Ok done
i was thinking of using some stuff that i saw on scrap princess's blog
to make a level up table for wizards
it's like cool thematic metamagic stuff

Uh I have a generator like that
http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Quick_levelling
THE WIZARD IN HIS TOWER: Wizard, WiseOne, Elder, Hermit, Most Venerable Sage ,

But if there's another scrap princess thing like that I'd like to add bits from it
stuff like this
Astrologer : Your spells are random determined, but include the cleric list. Reroll your spell selection (include % to know spells) each week. You may cast any divination spell as if it were a level lower.
Blood mage: All spells with a duration you have cast are cancelled if lose consciousness or die. You get 1 extra spell of each level you can cast when you are at 1 hit point
It's okay but you're asking the wizard to track what week it is. I guess for an astrologer this is okay
Hm and then the blood guy would seek spells with durations. Neat.
yeah but it's good example fodder for what a wizard level up table should be
stuff that affects what your spells are like
Im a slime wizard though what u got for that
all the 3.5e metamagic stuff is theoretically okay in this sense but also kind of bland
slime wizard: your magic works best in warm, dark, wet environments
maybe that's too fungus wizard
That seems fine to me but intangible. I need a hard and fast rule on which environs are dampwet
that seems a little pedantic
wet is wet, dark is dark, warm is warm
warm is not hot
I guess if its darkwet or warmwet or warmdark were good
Darkwarmdamp is dank which is where the best potions are made

ok so every level pick a wizard sphere and you get metamagic based on that
roll for which sphere u got in your d8 wheel
u can roll a d8 on ur end
6
"kaos"
hmmmm
i dont think u r a chaos wizard
owing to how lawful you are
how lawful am i
moreso than me
ah
it's a binary thing anyway
ur either 1 chaotic or 0 lawful
i refuse to believe that
im neutral
okay spanner = thrown
i like some laws but not all or in not all siuations
i guess it's a trinary
i use the void
decay is very useful in potions
yeah it's one of the most important steps in western alchemy
yeah but fuck alchemists im too good for them
hacks the whole lot of them
newton? hack
no way man he invented cradles
they mad comfy for babies
yeah but his alchemy leaves something to be desired
he was quite good with physics
a real shrewd kind of guy
knew a thing or two about apples
those apples may have been apocryphal
but if i was playing as newton id definitely use apples for lots of stuff
wait so what did you figure out from ur kaos roll
whenever i cast a spell a second spell nearby may autofire. if so then it the other spell fucks up and doesnt do what its supposed to
eh i prefer the slime wizard one
which is the dark wet warm thing
for crafting
???
i thought it was just magic in general
but crafting is good

THE WEEPER

illustration by paige connely used without permission http://paigeconnellyillustration.com/

yessss ok so in my book the catoblepas is call the weeper and it hates itself. it never stops talking and.its gaze causes death [AC12 HP 6]

agps manual of style

i purchased a manual of style, which is a book written in the style that it describes, which is kinda borges. so now all my writings is gonna be kinda pretentious as i work through this style manual and callibrate [Jeremy W: Which one? I am a CMOS adherent.]  its the australian government publishing service style manual, 1978. its pretty good. the binding says

STYLE MANUAL for authors editors and printers … [logo]

all that on the spine, nothing else on the binding, which is teal and feels like canvas over thick card halftitle page (in small caps)

STYLE MANUAL FOR AUTHORS, EDITORS AND PRINTERS OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

title page

STYLE MANUAL FOR AUTHORS, EDITORS AND PRINTERS OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS Third edition Revised by JOHN PITSON [logo] AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE Canberra 1978

their logo kinda looks like a chinese character but it reads like

aG
PS

the australian government publishing service might be my new favorite publisher of all time. you can see som of the covers on a google image search. im very excited to locate more of their texts.

i got this one at my favourite second hand book shop in Brisbane, the place next to the pancake church. its in an old victorian building and the floor creaks as you walk around. very hardcore casual place.

i guess a cleric is a lawful guy to the wizard's chaotic guy. a manual of style is a cleric thing to have.

ANYBODY WHO CAN GET ME BOOKS FROM THIS PUBLISHER ILL SEND U SOMETHING OF SIMILAR VALUE

Message - abulafia

http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Message
a message was sent to the north king., a response from the skeleton king, it may be, was "INFERNAL RUINS OF THE PRINCESS"., or a sigil
12 bags of hand mirror on a deep-places pack
a message was sent to the fox king., a response from the snake king, it seems, was "MINE"., and so a cloaking bottle
a message was sent to the fox king., a response from the skeleton king, it seems, was "CLOCK"., thus a sphere
9 sets of charcoal spell infernal curse
a message was sent to the rat king., and so a comprehend languages seal, a response from the demon king, it may be, was "THE HOWLING RUNE".

8 a message, "LOYALTY. OURS a-SENSUALITY" was recieved from the demon king.
a message was sent to the dwarf king., thus a spell elven script, a response from the alien king, it seems, was "THE IMPERTURBABLE QUIESCENT SPHERE be THE SOLVENT OF HORRID CORROSION".
a message was sent to the elf king., and so a spell pack hidden in a descent be'suffering brewing esp warning "THE CHARM OF THE INVEIGLING TONGUE" in common, a response from the alien king, it seems, was "DOORWAY OF THUNDER".


a message was sent to the fox king., a response from the hell king, it may be, was "QUANTUM a-WEALTH... LUSTOFF'S VICARIOUS HEAD"., or a war ascent be'eternity script

kinda getting there. i'll keep working on this one.