Reading Lair of the Leopard Empresses

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OK, so I answered my own question by reading Sarah's posts over on the Trollbridge forum. Most Pucks will take Spellcasting (Puck Magic) and Just Like Really Tiny, but players are not obligated to be like most Pucks. (I do wish there was a greater size disparity between the generic Puck and the Like Really Tiny one, but that's easily handwaved.)
 
OK, so I answered my own question by reading Sarah's posts over on the Trollbridge forum. Most Pucks will take Spellcasting (Puck Magic) and Just Like Really Tiny, but players are not obligated to be like most Pucks. (I do wish there was a greater size disparity between the generic Puck and the Like Really Tiny one, but that's easily handwaved.)
thanks for the clarification
 
Chapter 8: A Gazetteer of Ximuria

OK, so it's a Gazetteer. I'm not going to try to go through the many in entries in any detail, so I will give a fern examples and then my thoughts and comments.

Barrens
Semi-desert, infested by manticores and scorpion men. The Gushmegs believe the Barrens were once their verdant home, from which they were exiled when it was destroyed. There are ruins here older than the Wizards’ War. Every winter Gushmeg bands cross the Barrens to Xalaminqa, where they claim sanctuary according to an ancient rite. Not all of them make it.

The City of Bones
A ruined city of sun-bleached stones in the blistering Barrens. No one knows who built it, but it’s festering with undead.

Jardis, City of
Capital of the Claw of Jardis the Green, also known as Jardis- of-the-Walls. Nominally ruled by Ripilian the Emerald Sul- tan, real power rests with the Xinqari-dominated “Circle of Ten” and its elite Xinqari guard, the Feathered Elf Cohort, famed for their skill with darts and guerrilla tactics.

Salama, City of
The City of Alabaster Spires, capital of the Empire of the Leopard Empresses. It has a population of more than 250,000 people. Behind its high white walls, its ports are thick with dromonds and triremes. Notable locations include the Palace
of Claw and Flame, the Passion Quarter of the Gushmeg po- tion dealers, the specialised brothels of the Street of Doves, the Street of the Lotus Eaters, the Street of Coins, and the Fortress of the Adamantine Cohort, protectors of the city.



Hopefully these sample entries give a taste of what this chapter is like.

There are a couple of goods maps as well - one shows the two year migration paths of the Gushmegs (a travelling people, and one of the available Kindreds for PCs), and the second is a map of Ximuria with all the places mention in the Gazetteer marked.

After the place entries we have a section on The Other-Realms of which there are six listed, corresponding with the Ximurian "elements" (earth, wood, air, water, fire, metal) together with their names, associated kindred and opposed element. This is a very brief section, although described as "one of the world’s defining metaphysical axes."

The chapter rounds off with nine encounter tables for various areas.

There are a number of good illustrations (and the maps, mentioned above).

The Gazetteer avoids being too detailed, which is generally my preference - it gives enough for a GM to get a feel for a place, but leaves plenty of leeway to make it your own/improvise. I appreciate not everyone likes this option, but I like it.

The encounter tables are helpful, though I tend to pick encounters from tables rather than rolling at random.

Despite what I've said above I do wish there was a little bit more about the Other-Realms, and why they are so important.

Quite a short entry this time - I'll see if I can look at the next chapter tonight - it's called Heroes & Villains of Ximuria
 
Chapter 9: Heroes & Villains of Ximuria

Nice little bit of flavour text - reproduced here in its entirety

“Can you feel your doom closing in on serpent’s wings, o Children of the Cat? Do you hear the thunder behind the clouds summon monsters, and the ground beneath you shake? We are coming! The Age of Lion and Leop- ard is over! Flee before the Serpent Kings Reborn, and grovel before the Black-Spiked Throne of Koom!”

— Address of Lord Crying-Death-on-Wings to the Wingfang Horde, 547LR.


Having said that, I have rather mixed feelings about this chapter. On the one hand it's great to see some of the characters mentioned in the previous chapters, but on the other hand I would have liked to see more.

Thirteen characters are described, including Bellastian: Pirate King of Zornish, Cirrius Blue, Great Wizard of Clouds, Flormenganden the Inconstant, Mistress of Transmutations, Lord Crying-Death-On- Wings etc. Lovely names, reminding me a bit of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories, and also (again) of Glorantha.

The descriptions are also pretty good, for example

Flormenganden the Inconstant, Mistress of Transmutations - 16th level Wizard
So many contradictory things are told about Flormenganden, and perhaps all of them are true. She’s a woman, and a man; human, and not; old, and young; here, and there. Things in her presence often spontaneously transmute. The one constant about her is her inconstancy; she never ceases to change. She’s one of the most powerful wizards in Ximuria, yet is so mercurial it’s never certain how she’ll use her power; most people leave her alone and are thankful not to attract her attention. The one thing people do seek her out for is her ability to see through to the truth of things; she’s the originator of the True Naming spell. Her current where- abouts are unknown, and in any case temporary.

Lord Crying-Death-On-Wings - 15th level Fighter
Little is known about the warlord who currently ravages eastern Toth from his fastness at Wingfang. Some say he’s a goblin; others a hobgoblin. Some even say he’s human, or an orc or vampire elf. He leads the goblin hordes which invaded Toth on Blackfear Night, which attacked Inheliath and Hal- agad three years ago, and which now threaten to extinguish the light of civilisation in the ancient Ebonclaw. He wields a Vanag Blade which is a bound demon, and is cursed to always wear his armour of purest azuril. Some say that beneath his helm is a skull, or nothing at all!

However, apart from the level, and their Callings, we aren't told much else in game terms. We know that each of them has at least one characteristic at around 10x their level - so Lord Crying-Death-On-Wings must have an Attribute of around 150-159 (maybe Strength? Who knows). We also don't really know their Special Abilities (except the ones that are obviously Spellcasters - but we don't know what spell lists they have). I would really have liked to see the characters properly fleshed out, especially given how interesting the Kindred Callings, Cults etc are. I guess there is enough for folk to flesh them out as they see fit for their own stories, but still...

Next we have a more fleshed out area of Ximuria, aimed at being a starting point for campaigns - The Wilderness of Toth
 
The Wilderness of Toth

After the usual piece of fiction, we dive straight into the history of the area (situated more or less in the centre of the continent, on the southern border of The Lake of Mists).

As probably expected, the history is a turbulent one. There was an invasion by the Empire of the Winged Serpent two thousand years ago, wiping out the human population and sending waves of refugees north and west. Survivors held out but were slowly whittled away until the city of All-Garth was finally destroyed fourteen hundred years ago.

Later the Empire of Wrath of Meglax resettled the ruined city, which was renamed Halagad and ushered in a golden age lasting 700 years.

Eventually wars with orcs and goblins brought this to an end, and things looked pretty shaky until the Leopard Empress conquered Toth and liberated Halagad. Toth became part of the Empire and remained so for 500 years, until it rebelled 50 years ago and Halagad became a free city.

Unfortunately the imprisoned demon, Angor, has been freed from beneath Angistoth castle and has created the Realm of Angismaw - "the Darkness in the West". In the East is the menace of Wingfang, so Halagad is between a rock and a hard place and open war is a step away.

In this perilous situation are multiple kindred - People of the Cat, Dael Wrathi, Gushmegs, Darshi and others.

There follows an extensive gazetteer of the area, with (as we might expect) evocative descriptions full of potential plot hooks. Here are a coupe of examples.

Ashes, River of
This river flows from Gebni’s Anvil and through the Burner Fields. It’s polluted by ash and slag from the Burner Fields, and the carcasses of bizarre creatures carried down on its waters.

Gates of Dawn
A mountaintop tower guarding a riverine pass to Hinternesse. There’s a powerful sorcerer here, who keeps the great gates of the pass shut, except at sunrise when he opens them “to let the sun out”. So far the goblins haven’t tried to contest this, instead using passes further north and south.

Islands, The
Lorn, Parchemon, and Kantis are islands in the Lake of Mists, just off the Moumenon coast. They’re idyllic, inhabited by more sheep and goats than people; but there are also pirates and smugglers coves, and ships from Halagad and Jardis patrol their waters to keep passage safe for traders.


I should mention the map, which is an excellent double-page spread in full colour.


After the Gazetteer we get a brief description of he various Powers afoot in the region: Amazons of Riversmeet, The Dragonwatch, The Helwathe Resistance, The Riders of Ruiin, The Sabretooth Clan, Winging Goblins, and The Wyvern Masters.

The chapter rounds off with a number of encounter tables.

We haven't finished with Toth yet, because the next chapter is The Free City of Halagad
 
I know in 5th edition T&T you sometimes rounded up and other times down. I don't recall if this has changed in Deluxe. Does anyone know if they've standardized this for LotLE?
 
It's still variable: you determine level by dividing the highest attribute by 10 and rounding down, but you determine a monster's combat dice by dividing the MR by 10 and rounding up. There's no clear statement about what you do with a given Kindred's multipliers to the prime attribute scores.
 
It's still variable: you determine level by dividing the highest attribute by 10 and rounding down, but you determine a monster's combat dice by dividing the MR by 10 and rounding up. There's no clear statement about what you do with a given Kindred's multipliers to the prime attribute scores.
Cool, thanks. As for the Kindred Attribute multipliers, Deluxe T&T says if the modifier is <1, you round up. If it's >1, you round down. I'd assume it's the same here.
 
Salama, City of
Name subject to change if I ever play/run this:grin:!

Due to the structure of the definite article in Bulgarian and the basic word for "salami" being "salam", this name is basically "The Salami, city of". I don't want my players' dirty subconscious to start working just at the city name:devil:!
 
Chapter 11: The Free City of Halagad

After the short piece of fiction we get a "welcome to Halagad section" which gives a brief overview of the city's history and current situation (endangered) in the voice of an inhabitant.

"Now Wingfang has overrun the East. The Dragonwatch is dying, and only the Rangers keep the light. The Darkness in the West cloaks the horizon in smoke and volcanic fire, and a new breed of orcs leads armies of goblins and trolls. The Leopard Empress licks her wounds beyond the Lake of Mists, and Dalroth is forgotten. The Xinqari have their own agenda. Where shall we look for salvation, if not to ourselves? Surely there will be no other rescue..."

We then get a nice small scale map of the city, highlighting the different areas and districts, followed by descriptions of the movers and shakers. This follows the same pattern as Chapter 9 (see previous posts). Most of these aren't quite as powerful as the characters in Chapter 9, being generally more around Level 9 - 12. As before, there are interesting characters. Amongst my favourites are:

Longnose the Portentous (15th level Wizard) and Leodance the Trollhammer (She’s ludicrously strong, and uses an outsized war hammer she took from a troll she killed with a single punch in the tunnels beneath the city). There are plenty of hooks here for GMs to seize on.

Next is a section on the Powers/Factions, including The Amazons of Riversmeet, The Leopard Warriors, The Rangers, The Sabretooth Clan, Stevedore's Guild etc. Again plot hooks abound, especially ones potentially involving political machinations and tensions.

The Location section follows, and is pretty much what you might expect from a city gazetteer. There are plenty of entries, some longer than others. I liked these ones in particular

Bag Street: Don’t come to this seedy narrow street unless you want to give or receive a mugging—a “Bag Street Kiss”!

Fallside: Also known as the Vertical City, situated along the road known as the Weind, it’s a teeming district of brothels, taverns, outfitters and eateries, rising in a series of precipitous terraces from the Mistmarket up to the House of Kites. The big entertainment district of Halagad, it gets progressively shadier the further down you go.

And for completeness in relation to Fallside...

House of Kites: Built on a precipice in the upper city, overlooking Fallside and the lower city, the House of Kites is owned by Xapanglo the Aerial Seer, Wizard of Kites. It’s frequently hit by lightning in the storms which sweep up the Heliath gorge.

A side bar has a nice little spooky rhyming story told to the local children about the Ghost Barge of Heliath.

We also have a double page spread large scale map of the city, showing all the locations mentioned, which is very well done and in full colour.

Templegate gets a long entry, listing all the little temples, shrines and other places of superstition. 22 are listed, and it feels a bit reminiscent of Lankhmar.

The chapter is rounded off with encounter tables for different districts of the city.

I'm going to comment on one piece of art in this chapter. It is a full page illustration of the city, with the waterfall on the river in the background. Like the other illustrations, this is AI generated. However, unlike most of the others, there is something to my eye that is subtly "wrong". A close examination suggests to me that the perspective are wrong in several places. Whether the problem is with the AI, or the subsequent editing and manipulation that took place I don't know, but the overall effect just unsettles me a bit.

Next is A Ximurian Bestiary.
 
Name subject to change if I ever play/run this:grin:!

Due to the structure of the definite article in Bulgarian and the basic word for "salami" being "salam", this name is basically "The Salami, city of". I don't want my players' dirty subconscious to start working just at the city name:devil:!
My players would certainly call it the City of Salami just based on the sound of it alone :grin:

A very important figure in Dwimmermount's background is called Turms Termax — my players first called him Tormás Turmix (Horseradish Shake), and later Csodaturmix (Panoramix/Getafix)...
 
Chapter 12: A Ximurian Bestiary

Another good chapter with a lot of interesting stuff. The fiction this time is a brief excerpt from "The Thought-Record of Thrax, Dragon-in-the-Egg, Serpent King".

We start of with a brief discussion of Monsters as Adversaries v Monsters as Characters. The former generally only need a Monster Rating (MR) - see previous posts, whereas the latter are generated just like any other PC. This section makes it clear that a PC monster doesn't necessarily start with all the monster's special abilities. As the text says - even monsters have to start somewhere! You can of course use this method to develop a fully-realised monster to be a major NPC/villain in your campaign.

We then get a section on how to interpret a monster's stat block, which will include the following:

Monster Rating ( of course!), size (6 categories ranging from Tiny to Enormous), level (a rough guide as to how tough the monster is), attribute modifiers (if you want to create a full monster hero/villain character), what charisma mean in the context of a monster, armour (most monsters have none), habitat and description.

Monster Ratings are given for weaker, average and tough versions of the monster together with level equivalents.

Monster Elaborations

A bit more guidance on the four broad climate zones in Ximuria, monster size and level. A handy table summarises the effect size has on targeting, stealth etc

Weaknesses and vulnerabilities are either "always on" or may be triggered by trigger dice (eg Zombies have the vulnerability “2/ Headshot" - if an attacker rolls two 1s, they hit the zombie’s head and kill it outright). Immunities are "always on".

Magic resistance is covered, and how Will works in some kinds of creatures, and so are ethereal and incorporeal creatures.

There is a section dealing with ghostly combat - very dangerous because humans will generally have a low combat total in ghostly combat, and the ghostly creature can choose to target CON (to kill you), WILL (to possess you) or IQ (to drive you insane). Reminds me of spirit combat in RuneQuest, but perhaps deadlier.

Finally of course, we get the monsters themselves - and a goodly number are listed.

A lot of these are the ones we all expect - basilisks, ghouls, giant spiders, goblins, orcs, dragons etc, but often with a Ximurian feel to them. Goblins for example are described thus:

"Goblins often live in swamps and along rivers. They’re amphibious, with greenish skin, yellow eyes, a pot belly, long arms, and short legs. They’re “froggy”, with a smidgin of bat and lizard. According to their lore, they share a common ancestor with the Serpent Kings.

Goblins have terror bird companions and steeds, including their infamous Jubjub Cavalry. Orcs are somewhat awed by them, and they have an ancient enmity with dwarves. The goblins in Toth are led by the warlord Lord Crying-Death-on-Wings. At sea, they use roost galleys—mobile eyries and lairs for terrorsaws, bedecked with spiked masts. See also Hobgoblins, Jubjub Birds, and Terrorsaws".


There are a number of unusual creatures listed: cloud cats, death trees, diamond wurms, invisible men of Kla etc.

Most interesting to me are the variations on centaurs, which include the cervitaur (stag and deer centaurs), sea centaurs and spider centaurs, and encompass other hybrid types such as minotaurs and scorpion men.

The section on Beast Spirits really stands out though, as it goes hand in hand with the relationship between Ximurians and the great cats. Here is the introduction:

'Beast spirits are the spirit ancestors of the beast kindreds, those that possess devout worshippers of the beast cults when they wish to become beastmen (page 262). They’re the source of beastman special abilities. The 6th level Invite Spirit Possession spell (page 172) can grant a willing recipient temporary access to these abilities; and hostile beast spirits may attack mortals in ghostly combat (page 255) to possess them, giving them their abilities and controlling their actions on a WILL SR if they don’t agree. The following is a sample of beast spirits; there are many more"

Here are the general stats of a Beast Spirit

MR:
Equal to IQ + WILL of possessed or summoning character.

General Special Abilities & Attacks:
• Ghostly Combat:
The spirit may attack unwilling mortal targets in ghostly combat (page 255) to possess them.
• Incorporeal: The spirit itself can only be attacked by magical weapons and spells.

and the specific abilities of a Leopard Spirit

Special Abilities & Attacks:
• 1/ Unnerving Growl:
The possessed character gives
an unnervingly bestial growl. Those hearing must make an IQ SR at the spirit’s level or lose 1⁄2 HPT that combat round.
• 2/ Terrifying Roar: The possessed character gives a terrifying and unnaturally bestial roar. Those hearing must make an IQ SR at the spirit’s level or lose all HPT that combat round (and probably flee!).

Ancestral spirits of the Leopard People, they look like slinky, smoky, semi-visible leopards. Many are attached to Leopard Cult temples.


Just to round off, here are the stats for that old fantasy classic - the skeleton

MR: 18H1 / 36H2 / 54H3 (Bony Claw, or by rusty old weapon).
Armour: 2-point battered buckler shield.
Number: 1-6; 2-12.
Habitat: Ancient ruins, shrines, necromancers’ lairs, etc. Special Abilities & Attacks:
• Mostly Bone: Skeletons take only spite damage from bows and crossbows, which don’t otherwise count to- wards HPT in combat against them. Similarly, thrusting weapons like spears only count 1⁄2 towards HPT.
• Vulnerability—Shatter Bone! If you roll 2 trigger dice while wielding a bludgeoning / smashing weapon against a skeleton, that skeleton is instantly shattered to pieces in a single blow!

The classic skeletal warrior, usually created with the Battle Bones spell (page 155), although more powerful magics exist. They don’t heal, so eventually fall apart, especially if damaged, but otherwise they last as long as their creator magic powers them.

There are some nice illustrations, but more, especially of the more unusual creatures, would have been nice.

Next up is Treasures
 
Deadly spirit combat, weird beasts and skeletons that are actually semi-immune to piercing, but vulnerable to smashing? Be still, my heart... :grin:
 
Not having sabretooths would be...weird in a book like this:thumbsup:!
 
any prehistoric beasts included?
none really by name, except the sabretooth and thecodonts.

sawtooth and terrorsaws are pretty close to various prehistoric flying creatures (the terrowsaw is described as "a kind of pterosaur").

That's it though
 
The therodonts confuse me because the name points to some sort of reptilian carnivore, but the mention of amebelodons in the monster entry evokes a spoon-jawed herbivores. I have no idea what is meant by the term.
 
Luckily for dinosaur fans, there are dinosaurs in the Lost Worlds section of the current version of MSPE. Or you can make your own I guess, which would be pretty easy

Chapter 13: Treasures

OK, so a lot of this chapter is really old school, consisting of multiple tables (Treasure, Gem Sizes, Gem Types, Jewellery Items, Magic Items etc). Now I don't tend to use tables like this, except maybe for inspiration, and generally I'm much more sparing with treasure than a lot of more traditional fantasy rpgs.

However, the material on magic is very helpful, and nicely consistent.

Spellcasting Focuses - these reduce a spell's base WILL cost by the caster's level, to a minimum of 1 point

Charms - protect the wearer against a particular phenomenon (acid, heat, disease etc). They cost a number of WILL to use equal to that level. Some charms have their own WILL, and activate automati- cally; they regenerate their WILL just like characters. Other charms require you to use your own WILL, just as if you were casting a spell; charms like these require you to concentrate and take an action to use them.

Amulets - An amulet is a worn object that fully or partially protects its wearer (only) against one to three spells. Amulets have a level, and require no WILL to use; they’re “always on”.

Talismans - give the holder the ability to cast a single spell affecting another creature or object, even if that holder isn’t a spellcaster. A talisman usually has its own WILL, used to cast its spell. The creator of a talisman must sacrifice his own WILL, per- manently, to put WILL into a talisman, and so talismans with many WILL points are rare. If the talisman’s spell has a high WILL cost, the talisman may only contain enough WILL for a single casting. Talismans for lower cost spells may be able
to cast them multiple times. A talisman’s WILL regenerates normally; a depleted talisman can’t cast its spell. There are cursed versions as well, that don't contain enough WILL for even one casting and drain the user's WILL automatically - even to the point of killing them.

Spell Scrolls - similar to the D&D version, except that a scroll may contain 1- 3 uses of the spell, and a "spent" scroll can still be used to learn the spell.

Weapons and Armour - pretty much as you might expect - demon weapons and armour might possess you and force you to do their bidding.

We then get poisons and potions, which are generally as one might expect - most potions replicate the effects of a single spell

There is a section on Clockwork & Contraptions, which is basically vaguely steampunk-y devices that are the purview of the Clockworker's Guild. A lot of these are mechanical devices that mimic spell effects, eg:

Flashbang Grenade - As Bedazzle spell (page 150). A clockwork device that generates a blinding flash of light.

Winter Gunne - As Blood & Ice spell (page 167), a gunne that shoots freezing air.


Circlets of Power increase (or decrease, if cursed) one of your attributes whilst worn

Circlets of Ability bestow Special Abilities whilst worn (eg Cats Eyes, Magic Resistance etc)

Will Batteries - store WILL to be used in spell casting

Finally we get a section on special items, including the Gushmeg Tarot, Trollstones (with weird effects like teleporting you somewhere, teleporting a troll to you, etc. Bluestone and Azuril are magical ore/metal that enhances weapons and penetrates armour. Memory Grass enhances recall and is an important alchemical ingredient, etc etc

All in all, useful to most folk, especially the magical items, and mostly reinforcing the nature of the world.

The next chapter is Game Mastery
 
Chapter 14: Game Mastery

After the obligatory fiction we get brief advice on creating Challenges, followed by a section on creating new spells.

This latter can be done by characters in game, providing they have the Magical Innovation special ability. Essentially this boils down to taken a known spell and changing individual parts of it - it always require a spellcasting roll at a level equal to the spell level +1, with an additional +1 for each change you’re making. The resulting spell will be the same level as the original spell, although you may create it as a “powered-up” version with a level up to your own level.

An example is given where the 5th level Enlighten spell is changed to be an Obfuscate spell.

We then get the low-down on how to create magical items, which usually requires the Creation special ability. The creator has to sacrifice permanent attribute points to create an item (usually WILL). Needless to say, the murder hobo way of obtaining magical items remains popular...

A handy table summarises how much WILL has to be sacrificed for each type of item.

We then get a similar section on Alchemy and alchemical experiments, the latter being a bit wild and risky (of course!). A special ability (like Creation (Alchemy)) is needed.

As we might expect, we also get a section like this dealing with Clockworks and Contraptions (you need Creation (Clockworks and Contraptions) for this). You'll also need to purchase the blueprints from the guild, and have a Clockworking workshop.

A short section on repairing things and locks and lock levels follows.

A section on hazards deals with traps, falling and diseases with no big surprises.

A table lists some Ximuruan diseases, including:

Shroomphage - Usually caught from shroom demons, it eats away at your mind and gradually transforms you into a shroom demon when your IQ reaches zero!

The Uglies - Affects your CHR, your whole body is gradually covered in horrible boils! Dogs and small children run away crying.


A section on Contests suggests how to use the combat rules in different ways, with a good example of mass combat.

Managing the Opposition has advice on how to judge the opposition (without being too obsessed about "balance"). It also has good advice about the importance of scouting the opposition and the value of a Sage in the party to recognise what you're facing and finding their weaknesses and vulnerabilities, as well as their strengths.

Travelling and Encounters deals with travel times and terrain, encounter distances, spotting and avoiding encounters and ships and boats. This is followed by a short section on mounts and companion animals - which can advance just like PCs and help in combat.

The final section is Gamemastering Advice, which covers things like running the game, scenes, encounters and adventures v campaigns. It has advice on big combats and options such as breaking up into smaller groups etc.

Setting SR levels gives a lot of advice about how to set the SR in different circumstances, keeping the SR in the players' hands and how to streamline dice rolling to avoid totting up too many dice results and slowing down play (for example, rolling smaller number and multiplying, taking the average and so on).

OK, so that wraps up the rules. The last chapter, Wretches' Dance, is an adventure, which I'll look at next. It will undoubtedly contain spoilers though.
 
none really by name, except the sabretooth and thecodonts.

sawtooth and terrorsaws are pretty close to various prehistoric flying creatures (the terrowsaw is described as "a kind of pterosaur").

That's it though
Thanks. Thankfully in M!M! and T&T it is easy to make them if wanted.
 
So, the end is near...

Chapter 15: Wretches Dance

This is "An Introductory Adventure for Beginning Characters" running to 11 pages, plus pregen characters onto of that.

It starts with a bit more fiction, featuring some of the characters we have seen in other bits of fiction throughout the book, including Lorihotep.

I'll try not to give away too many spoilers, but I think some will be inevitable.

One quick comment - Wretches are also known as Spider Goblins (spindly grey- skinned humanoids with black bristles instead of hair and bony ridges instead of teeth. Their skin is coated with a sticky web-like substance which can snarl weapons, and which makes wretches prodigious climbers. They dwell in spider-infested forests, and sometimes ride giant spiders. They fight with poisoned thorn darts and gaff sticks).

The story is set in and around the village of Trollbridge, huddled against the borderlands of the terrifying domain of Angor. A bit cliche, but the tale starts when the PCs are approached in the Fanginshield Inn by the mayor, who offers gold for the PCs to investigate the strand goings on in Wretches Dance, including the lights on Dancing Rock and the disappearance of travellers on the Hirriwen Road.

A section called "What the GM Knows..." gives an overview on what is going on - interesting because there are 4 factions already in play before the PCs intervene...

We get a three-quarters page full colour map of the area which is well done and has some nice names for locations - two hills called Big Lob and Little Lob, Kicker Stones, Goblin Rise.

The Lay of the Land section tells you about the various points of interest, eg:

"The Hirriwen Road

Wretches’ Dance is reached from the Hirriwen Road, once a once great paved highway, now overgrown and hemmed in by trees. The village of Trollbridge lies a few miles to the east; to the west, the land grows dangerous as it skirts the dread Realm of Angor. Few people use the road, except the occasional hunter of the Sabretooth People from the south."


Where significant NPCs/encounters may be had, the stat block is given, eg:

"Jubjub Bird Lair

An 8-foot tall diatryma terrorbird has a nest of thorns, branches, and bones in a clearing. Roll 1d6; on a roll of a 5 or 6, it’s out hunting, otherwise it’s here, ill-tempered, violent, and hungry. Its beak will crack your skull like an egg, so wear a hat!

The Jubjub Bird
3rd level Large Monster
MR 54L3 (Beak & Claw), 2-point armoured feathers.
Special Abilities:
• 2/ Grab & Slam: You suffer knockdown and are in HTH combat; make a L3SR on STR to stand up, or suffer an automatic Bloodsucker attack (below) next round.
• 3/ Bloodsucker: Lose 1⁄2 HPT immediately, and take half its damage dice as CON damage each round until you make a L3SR on STR to break free.
Treasure: Among the bones and rotting clothing are 130gp, 90sp, 40cp, and a large onyx worth 10gp."


Not all the NPCs use MRs - some are fully started like characters.

We also get a further (smaller) map, zooming in on Wretches' Dance itself.

There's a Wandering Monsters table (of course!), but all these are encounters pretty much integral to the story, so no sudden appearance of extraneous threats that might seriously damage the party for no possible advantage.

The final part of the adventure should lead to the Trowheart Caverns (another map) and its inhabitants.

After all the description, we get Scenes ("In this section, we look at look at some of the things that might happen in this adventure. Your PCs will probably approach the adventure differently, so don’t worry if the scenes below don’t fit exactly—that’s totally normal!").

Scene One: Nervous Times in Trollbridge - starts the adventure off and allows the PCs to find out the local gossip etc

Other examples are:

Scene: The Gushmegs Meet the Wretches

Scene: The PCs Explore the Giantwitch Woods

Each scene description suggests what might happen depending on the actions of the PCs.

We then get Victory Conditions - what the overall goal should probably be, what issues might be left hanging or need further resolution, and rewards.

We also get What Does Failure Look Like? explaining some of the ways the PCs might mess things up, and the consequences.

Finally we get the pregenerated characters. As we've mentioned Lorihotep a number of times, here he is:

LORIHOTEP, THE WIZARD OF ZIMRALA

Male Human, 1st level Wizard

STR 7, CON 13, DEX 9, SPD 6, LK 12, IQ 13, WILL 16, CHR 12.

Combat Adds: +0. Armour Points: 1.

Special Abilities:
• Analysis (Magic): Roll 3d6 on IQ SRs to deduce some- thing about a magical effect you’re witnessing.
• Magical Focus: -1 WILL cost on spells (not included in spell costs below).
• Spellcasting (Wizardry): Knows all the 1st level spells on the Wizardry spell list (page 390).
• Weakness: Lack of Combat Training: Lorihotep uses only 2-dice weapons.

Attacks: Magic Staff (2d6), Dagger (2d6).
Armour: Voluminous Robes (1 point).

Spells: (1st level:smile: Analytical Aura (5), Detect Magic (1), Feet of Clay (8), Flickering Lights (3), Let There Be Light! (1), Lock Down (3), Magical Missile (6), Open Up (3), Radiant Revelation (4), Shimmer Shell (3), Stinging Blow (1).

Treasure & Equipment: Robes, loincloth & headdress, eye makeup, 30-page spell book, leather knapsack, exploring kit; 6 gold pieces (carried 28lbs, unencumbered).

Lorihotep is a mysterious offworlder who arrived through a portal directly into the Queen’s bedchamber in Inheliath! He’s human, dark-skinned, but looks “foreign” to most Ximurians, with his loin cloth, head-dress, shaven head, and heavy eye makeup. People whisper he’s the Chosen One. He speaks Tothic with a heavy accent, and an unknown foreign tongue. Age 29, 5’10”, 182lbs.



Appendix One: Spell Lists
These give there spells in each list (Crystal Magic, Gushmeg Magic etc) alphabetically by level.

Appendix Two: Character Sheet
It's a blank Character Sheet


I have to mention the Index. Not only do we get a normal index, we get an index of Heroes and Villains, an index of Tables, an index of Spells, an index of Locations and a Bestiary index - Bravo!


And that's it.

Overall, I really like this game. The world building is terrific, and it's somewhere I want to run adventures. It's a great version of a venerable rule set as well, and deserves success.

There are a few bits I don't like quite as much - treasure tables etc are not really my thing - also it feels more like a classic fantasy rpg and a bit less like sword and sorcery - but I love the slightly hung-ho approach.

Just need to persuade a group to try it now...
 
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