Nostalgia of the unknown - by Clark Ashton Smith

On EBAY, here.

When does you character die in Powers & Perils?

First of all, the way HIT POINTS VALUE (HPV) - are calculated in Powers & Perils is beautiful and highly reasonable, unlike the way they are calculated in AD&D:

HPV= Strenght value + Stamina value (which is the same as Constitution in AD&D) + Constitution value (which represents the physical health of a character) / 4

so, to sum it up:

HPV= (S+St+C) /4

 Then you have to take into account DAMAGE TOLERANCE VALUE:

((C/20) +Stamina bonus) x (-1), round up.

You usually end up having a DTV of -3, -4 or something like that.

Last, you calculate your Lethality index.
Each character has a Lethality Index. The value = DTV * 4. If your DTV is -4, your LI is -16.
Effects are as follows:

Between 0 and DTV - The character is limited and semiconscious. He may take one action per tactical turn OR move MR/10 (RU) in a tactical turn. When less than DTV and not less than LI - The person is unconscious. Less than LI - Dead.

When a wound is suffered that leaves the character with an HPV value less than ONE, a roll is taken on the Death Table, (a sort of "critical hit table") so that if you are unlucky and roll a 20, you can instantly die (head severed, for example). But this dpends on the potency of the blow received.
If, for instance, you received a severe or DEADLY blow, it is likely you will die if you roll on the DEATH table.

So, to sum up: you calculate your HPV, then DTV and your LI value.

The Compleat Tavern (1981-1983?)

LINK

Who will re-release this for the OSR community?

I think it can be done, if the author is still around. I am eagerly waiting

As our Powers & Perils adventure unfolds

Ennon: Human herbalist, he had to escape from the city because in the past he was accused of murdering a king. Now they are chasing him. He heard bad news about guards that are looking for him,so the tavern owner warns him, he has to escape.

Gunnard Martin: Warrior, he can fight with two weapons (sword and hand axe). He is approached by the elf named Darrel, the elf has a letter to give him. The letter was written by the elven King Locklomin, it is a strange letter where the king tells Gunnard to go to his castle as soon as possible.

Gunnard is flabbergasted when he receives the letter- he never met the elven king Locklomin but his father told him that he was a friend of him in his youth and Gunnard's father even went on war with the king once, where Locklomin eventually saved his life. So Gunnard just doesn't hesitate an instant, and he moves towards the Castle of the seven towers.

At the same time, Gunnard has to stay near Ennon, the herbalist, because he has a wounded limb and the herbalist is the only one able to cure him at the moment. So all the three of them (Darrel, Gunnard and Ennon) starts their journey to the castle.

It seems other persons are interested in reaching the castle, strange figures moving around the city. Is there anything important at the castle waiting to be discovered?

While on journey, Ennon has an odd dream where he sees himself sorrounded by strange tall men clad in black garments, in a frozen land where he alone is roaming. Those men are whispering commandingly something to his ears (or to his brain), he can't understand what THEY WANT. He looks back and sees Darrel with a shining arrow inside his stomach, he seems on the point of dying. 

On their journey, they meet some thieves/bandits, and they have to fight with them.They succeed, and after the fight Gunnard (who has the skill of "executioner" begins torturing one of them). This poor man confesses that a group of 50 of his comrades - all belonging to a sort of sect of thieves- are heading to the castle of the seven towers, because Cebracon, chief of the thieves- ordered them to go on this mission to steal something in the castle. He doesn't know more).

On the following night dark clouds gather in the sky.

During that night, a cloud seems to descend on earth and from it there emerges a nightmarish vision, a creature from the abyss, an Arch-Devil.

As soon as he appears, this music is heard (at the table, by my players):


He says to the characters they have to take something which is hidden at the castle of the seven towers, an object that he himself is not able to take, because King Locklomin's powers prevent him from entering the gate of the castle.

He speaks as if that was an order which cannot be refused by the characters.At the end of this diabolical conversation, he offers to the characters, as a gift (and to help them in their quest)- four objects which are lying on the ground. He promises great wealth to them, should they do his will, and together with the objects there appears a bag full of golden coins on the ground.
The player characters see a green cloak, four azure potions, a glaring ring and a sword.
The characters, scared, decide not to take any of them. The Arch-devil disappears, saying he will chase them and avenge in case they won't do what he ordered. He says they may have a good, enjoyable and long life OR a life full of torments.

END OF SESSION 3

The world is an eternal dream

That is the title of the french version of Powers & Perils (Le Monde est un Rêve Eternel), located here.

For whoever can read the language, you'll find there plenty of material, and several different versions of the game (revised, french version, consolidated,corrected), as you can see here.

So, besides the official international community Powersandperils.org (only 61 game masters able to play this game in the world- counting me -according to this list), Powers & Perils has a legacy in France, too.

Richard Snider's collected wisdom - PART I

(RIGHT CLICK, "OPEN IN NEW WINDOW", THEN ZOOM IN)

Announcing "The Compleat Fantasist" project (help needed)

 AT LAST . . . no longer need characters from system be stuck there. And never more will you have to arbitrarily decide how to change personal statistics to fit a different set of rules. Fantasy role playing veteran Mark Wagner gives guidelines to help convert many parts of each system to the others, and describes aspects that don't convert well.

"The compleat fantasist" was published by Dimension six in 1980.

LINK1
LINK2

It aims to provide tables in order to enable the conversion among the major fantasy rpg's of that time.
I came to obtain a copy of this little book (i was after it for quite some time), and i am in the process of perusing it.

I would like to post its content on the blog, and i think it would be a great idea to expand its scope.
It actually covers: AD&D, Arduin, Tunnels & Trolls and Runequest.

As it says:

 So, i am looking for help from players worldwide. I could do it myself, maybe, but that would be too demanding to accomplish for just one person.

I am going to contact, at least Chivalry & Sorcery and Powers & Perils fans all around the globe on different forums, as well as Empire of the Petal Throne ones.

If you are one of them and would like to help, stay tuned and don't hesitate to contact me on this blog. In any case, this might be a long-term collective effort.

Dragonraid (1984)

http://depositfiles.com/files/29d7e9901

The world where we play

HIGH RESOLUTION HERE:

http://depositfiles.com/files/o5k7kplu3

Monsters! Monsters! (1976)

MEDIAFIRE

4SHARED

The Dark Eidolon - The journal of Smith studies - issue III

I'm looking for this, someone can help?

I am willing to buy a copy, it is quite rare and i only own volume 2 (which i bought several years ago directly from Necronomicon press together with a cassette tape with the recording of Smith's voice).

Someone should really scan this little volume and put it online. If i am not wrong, on Eldritch dark volume 2 is already online in its entirety, but volume 3 is sorely missed. Hence, i leave this post here for posterity.

Help us find "The Dark Eidolon" issue 3.

If you don't buy this you are not into the OSR, really.

I just got my copy today (thank you, anonymous!)

It's great, inspiring, seems excellent. I can't believe anyone claiming to be in the OSR without perusing this little treasure. Get your copy here for just 15 dollars.

 

Bloggers that would deserve more followers

THE ONGOING CAMPAIGN: This guy has already written some excellent posts about obscure fantasy rpg's.

Besides feeling less lonely now that i found out someone else is concerned with forgotten gems from the past, Faoladh compiled long review of exquisite fantasy games such as "Land of adventure" - which, naturally, everyone should play instead of AD&D. And other posts about Arcanum (how can you not know Arcanum if you are into AD&D?), and Swordbearer, just to cite another example. Check his blog and follow him instead of re-reading every day Grognardia who doesn't seem to have grasped the beauty of Powers & Perils. (but i do love you James, nonetheless).

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MAGIC AND MIRACLES, PART III

MAGIC, ON THE THRESHOLD OF MIRACLES?

I think this is the last post in the series, where i am concerned with magic and miracles.

I am fascinated by how Magic was conceived in Middle ages, and by the theological views about the nature of God.

Basically, that is why i cannot find satisfaction in how magic is portrayed in AD&D. It is too childish to me, and it fails to have an emotional impact over me.

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A girl had died just in the hour of her marriage, and the bridgegroom was following her bier lamenting as was natural his marriage left unfulfilled, and the whole of Rome was mourning with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular family. Apollonius then witnessing their grief, said: "Put down the bier, for I will stay the tears that you are shedding for this maiden." And withal he asked what was her name. The crowd accordingly thought that he was about to deliver such an oration as is commonly delivered as much to grace the funeral as to stir up lamentation; but he did nothing of the kind, but merely touching her and whispering in secret some spell over her, at once woke up the maiden from her seeming death; and the girl spoke out loud, and returned to her father’s house, just as Alcestis did when she was brought back to life by Hercules. And the relations of the maiden wanted to present him with the sum of 150,000 sesterces, but he said that he would freely present the money to the young lady by way of a dowry. Now whether he detected some spark of life in her, which those who were nursing her had not noticed,--for it is said that although it was raining at the time, a vapour went up from her face—or whether life was really extinct, and he restored it by the warmth of his touch is a mysterious problem which neither I myself nor those who were present could decide.

(Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius, 4:45).

[...]And in just keeping with his visits to the Arabians were the studies he undertook among the Persians also, according to the account given by the same author. For after forbidding Damis, so we are told, to go to the magi, though Damis was his only pupil and companion, he went alone to school with them at midday and about midnight; alone in order not to have as his companion in the study of magic one who was clearly without a taste for such things. And again when he came to converse with Vardan the Babylonian king, it is related that he addressed him as follows: "My system of wisdom is that of He professed the wisdom of PythagorasPythagoras, a man of Samos, who taught me to worship the gods in this way and to recognize them, whether they are seen or unseen, and to be regular in converse with the gods."

The "miracles" performed by Apollonius caused great consternation in the young Christian Church. Justin Martyr, the great Church Father of the second century, pertinently asked:

"How is it that the talismans of Apollonius have power over certain members of creation, for they prevent, as we see, the fury of the waves, the violence of the winds, and the attacks of wild beasts. And whilst Our Lord's miracles are preserved by tradition alone, those of Apollonius are most numerous, and actually manifested in present facts, so as to lead astray all beholders?"

[...]Everywhere Apollonius received almost divine honors and legends about him grew up everywhere. His capacity for clairvoyance enabled him to make predictions that were verified by events and which had the effect of increasing his fame. He had no difficulty in escaping Nero's persecution of philosophers, and his admirers said that when confronted with the tribunal that was to try him, he was able, through his Hermetic art, to erase the writing on the document on which his indictment was written.

http://archive.org/details/apolloniusoftyan00camprich

http://archive.org/details/apolloniusoftyan00meaduoft

http://archive.org/details/lifeofapollonius00newmuoft

http://archive.org/details/lifeofapollonius01phil

 

Heroes (1979) to be re-published soon

GO HERE

The difference between Magic and Miracles - part II

HE WHO TRIED TO ACCOMPLISH THE IMPOSSIBLE THROUGH THE DARK ARTS

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: ¹⁰to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” ¹¹And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. ¹²But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. ¹⁴Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: ¹⁵who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: ¹⁶(for as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ¹⁷Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. ¹⁸And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.” ²⁰But Peter said unto him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. ²¹Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. ²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, ²³for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” ²⁴Then answered Simon, and said, “Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.”<sup>[7]


At last the sorcerer claims to be able to do the same as the Lord, that is, to resurrect from the dead. With this, he is pushing the concept of Magic to its extreme boundaries. Let's read:

Until he came to Rome also and fell foul of the Apostles. Peter withstood him on many occasions. At last he came [...] and began to teach sitting under a plane tree. When he was on the point of being shown up, he said, in order to gain time, that if he were buried alive he would rise again on the third day. So he bade that a tomb should be dug by his disciples and that he should be buried in it. Now they did what they were ordered, but he remained there until now: for he was not the Christ.[14]

------------------------------
The successor of Simon the sorcerer was Menander:

Menander, [813] who succeeded Simon Magus, [814] showed himself in his conduct another instrument of diabolical power, [815] not inferior to the former. He also was a Samaritan and carried his sorceries to no less an extent than his teacher had done, and at the same time reveled in still more marvelous tales than he.
2. For he said that he was himself the Saviour, who had been sent down from invisible æons for the salvation of men; [816] and he taught that no one could gain the mastery over the world-creating angels themselves [817] unless he had first gone through the magical discipline imparted by him and had received baptism from him. Those who were deemed worthy of this would partake even in the present life of perpetual immortality, and would never die, but would remain here forever, and without growing old become immortal. [818] These facts can be easily learned from the works of Irenæus. [819]
3. And Justin, in the passage in which he mentions Simon, gives an account of this man also, in the following words: [820] "And we know that a certain Menander, who was also a Samaritan, from the village of Capparattea, [821] was a disciple of Simon, and that he also, being driven by the demons, came to Antioch [822] and deceived many by his magical art. And he persuaded his followers that they should not die. And there are still some of them that assert this."

4. And it was indeed an artifice of the devil to endeavor, by means of such sorcerers, who assumed the name of Christians, to defame the great mystery of godliness by magic art, and through them to make ridiculous the doctrines of the Church concerning the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead. [823] But they that have chosen these men as their saviours have fallen away from the true hope.</sup>

The Difference bewtween Magic and Miracles (Introduction)

There is a limit to what Magic can accomplish. Almost nowhere is explained in fantasy rpg's the dramatic difference between enchantments and pure miracles, that is, the actualization of the impossible.

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Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

22But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard;

---------------------------------
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”

6So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land. 7But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

----------------------------------
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.” 17They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats. 18But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals.

19The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.”
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Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh. 9It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on men and animals throughout the land.”

10So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on men and animals. 11The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.

A fantasy magic system which is capable of ensorcelling me

What i have been seeking for a long time, the jewel i am always after whenever i stumbled upon a new game in my life.

The greatest delusion, insurmountable- is represented by AD&D magic system, totally devoid of fascination (because how can a human being throwing balls made of fire all around be an enthralling vision?)

But that Magic is rooted in what is enchanting seems a particular that has been completely forgotten.

Magic in AD&D is little more than a weapon, it is shallow, and it lacks a grounding reason (from where Magic comes? Why it exists?)

Again, that Magic is a mystery seems a particular that has been completely forgotten.

It should be the most important and delicate aspect of a fantasy rpg (otherwise, why would we call it a FANTASY game?) but instead it ends up being an uninspiring subject.

Thank Heaven, other minds came to regard Magic in a different way than Gygax and Arneson, and all this was portrayed in later games, some of which i might be talking about one day.

But today i had to write down a few phrases. I spent part of the afternoon in an gigantic library this afternoon, and i had in my hands some old books, i looked upon some words which inspired me a little bit and a couple of thoughts were born.

Fantasy role play made easy (1985), again

NEW INFO:

Includes Star Trek races as player characters.
Halflings are known as hobbits and have Infravision.
Character generation has the standard six attributes plus Size and Build, which determine carrying capacity. The number of dice rolled for each attribute depends on race, with some races only allowed to roll 2d6 for certain attributes while others get 4d6 for certain attributes.
Characters have a randomly generated background through use of a "heraldry" table.
Armor class is ascending.
Includes critical hit charts as a default in combat.
Muskets are available as a weapon.
There are rules for spell modifications.
Turning undead uses a clunky formula instead of a chart.