Clerics & Anti-clerics - Part 1

Image of World of Xoth, Thulsa's blog.

Since that I am directed to add the anti-clerics to E&S, I read entirely including three brown books and some messages from bloggers to give me a general idea of ​​how others treat it. And I am very dissatisfied.
Truce of additional considerations ! We should rather see my interpretation of OD&D. 

(1) "Clerics: [...] When Clerics reach the top level (Patriarch) they may opt to build their own stronghold, and when doing so receive help from "above". Thus, if they spend 100,000 Gold Pieces in castle construction, they may build a fortress of double that cost. Finally, "faithful" men will come to such a castle, being fanatically loyal, and they will serve at no cost. There will be from 10-60 heavy cavalry, 10-60 horsed crossbowmen ("Turcopole"-type), and 30-180 heavy foot. Note that Clerics of 7th level and greater are either "Law" or "Chaos", and there is a sharp distinction between them. If a Patriarch receiving the above benefits changes sides, all the benefits will immediately be removed! Clerics with castles of their own will have control of a territory similar to the "Barony" of fighters, and they will receive "tithes" equal to 20 Gold Pieces/Inhabitant/year."

(2) Clerics:
1. Acolyte
2. Adept
3. Village Priest
4. Vicar
5. Curate
6. Bishop
7. Lama
8. Patriarch

(3) Anti-Clerics: 
1. Evil Acolyte, 
2. Evil Adept, 
3. Shaman, 
4. Evil Priest, 
5. Evil Curate, 
6. Evil Bishop, 
7. Evil Lama, 
8. Evil High Priest.

 -Men & Magic. 

(4)"A full explanation of each spell follows. Note that under lined Clerical spells are reversed by evil Clerics. Also, note the Clerics versus Undead Monsters table, indicating the strong effect of the various clerical levels upon the undead; however, evil Clerics do not have this effect, the entire effect being lost. Note: There are Anti-Clerics (listed below) who have similar powers to Clerics. Those Clerical spells underlined on the table for Cleric Spells have a reverse effect, all others functioning as noted. The chief exception is the Raise Dead spell which becomes:
The Finger of Death: Instead of raising the dead, this spell creates a "death ray" which will kill any creature unless a saving throw is made (where applicable). Range: 12". (A Cleric-type may use this spell in a life-or-death situation, but misuse will immediately turn him into an Anti-Cleric.)"

(5)"Characters who employ spells are assumed to acquire books containing the
spells they can use, one book for each level."

-Men & Magic

(6) "Clerics will require passersby to give a tithe (10%) of all their money and jewels. If there is no payment possible the Cleric will send the adventurers on some form of Lawful or Chaotic task, under Quest. Generally Evil High Priests will simple attempt to slay Lawful or Neutral passersby who fail to pay their tithes."

(7) "Patriarchs are always Lawful, and Evil High Priests are always Chaotic. All other castle inhabitants will be either hostile to the adventurers (die 1-3) or neutral (die 4-6). "

-Underworld and Wilderness adventures

Let's briefly push the open doors : the cleric is a kind of Templar of a pseudo-Christian religion (orthodoxy is the most probable) progressing to status of patriarch (there may be several patriarchs, which can be a territorial division) and attracting at that time a bunch of fanatics in his castle. 

(1A) Neutral clerics must choose their side at level 7 : Law or Chaos. More on this later but keep in mind that alignment is a stance. 
(1B) Clerics receive "help from above"...  does it refers to his superiors or his divinity? Well, we don't know. But I would tend to promote the divinity as Patriarch is the highest grade that can be achieved. And it also allows you to add a little flavor (i.e. the fortress was built where the Patriarch had his mystical ecstasy. His Lord guided him to a chest full of gold buried between the large roots of a tamarind etc.).
(1C) "Turcopole-type" riders ?! This is a precision that has always intrigued me. Turcopoles were Eastern Christians mercenaries who fought for the military orders and the Byzantine army. This fits well with the OD&D cleric-templar, but I have two points : First they are Eastern. Well managed, they can bring an exotic touch to the setting with perhaps different interpretations of the sacred texts or other religious customs, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings between them and the clergy. Second, one can notice that they are also gathered by Chaotic clerics. More on that later.

(2) Two obvious irregularities : Bishops who do not have castle/cathedral and Lamas. porphyre77 provided an excellent explanation for the first irregularity with bishops in partibus infidelium who wander in the Wilderness to establish or re-conquer their episcopate. For the second irregularity, snorri has rightly pointed out that Lamas are sort of the doctors of the Law (Darhma). More on this later. 

(3) Anti-clerics are Chaotic and evil. Note that they do not have an "evil village priest" nor "evil vicars". These guys are not found in the country and never make sermons in the village church. "Shaman" is an interesting title because it refers to paganism. Talisman calls Anti-Clerics heretics and heresiarchs and this is a nice point of view.

(4) No vade retro for evil clerics (which obviously refers to anti-clerics). Please note that the anti-clerics do not control the undead with the inverted vade-retro of the subsequent editions. By the way, I remind you that anti-clerics and clerics have only 13 spells in common (for information, the magic-users and clerics have 10 in common). The anti-cleric is truly a class apart from the cleric !

(5) Clerics HAVE spell books, as everyone seems to forget (the OD&D retro clone Delving Deeper and E&S are the only ones that I know which includes this rule). Clerics studying books of spells remind me strongly of Kabbalists and the like (hermeticism, gnosticism, mandaeism and manichaeism).

(6A) This paragraph seems oddly enough to distinguish between the Clerics (chaotic or lawful) that cast quests if not paid and Anti-Clerics who kills you if you do not pay them. This may be a drafting error or an unfortunate distinction, but remenber, any deviant interpretation is up for grabs.  
(6B) Another interesting point is that it seems that the Clerics or Anti-Clerics, if they are paid, are the most friendly castellans (even the Evil High Priests !) compared to the Lords and magicians.

(7) This passage invalidates a previous remark unless... there is not only patriarchs and evil high priests (which is indirectly refuted by the random table, but we can try to see where it takes us). More on this later.

The remarks are completed, part 2 will be a synthesis of this mess to see how it can be used in game. You may be a little surprised by my own interpretaion. 

Epées & Sorcellerie

WARNING : This is a post written in two languages​​.
ATTENTION : C'est un post écrit dans deux langues.  

Epées & Sorcellerie est un jeu de rôle old-school de Nicolas Dessaux aka snorri (archéologue et syndicaliste !) qui s'apparente à un clone d'OD&D mâtiné de Chainmail. Il est basé exclusivement sur des jets de dés à six faces, comme dans le wargame originel. Le jet de toucher se fait avec 2d6, et les probabilités qui en résultent me plaisent particulièrement. La classe d'armure est ascendante (de 7 à 12), le jet de sauvegarde est unique façon S&W et les "actions spéciales" comme l'escalade ou la natation se font avec 2d6 sous la Classe d'Armure. Simple, fluide, élégant : j'aime ce jeu ! Voilà pour les caractéristiques techniques brutes. Voyons maintenant la saveur. Eh bien, on peut dire qu'il mérite son nom, qui se réfère bien sûr au genre littéraire de la sword n'sorcery violent, sans concessions, humano-centrique, sombre, où les monstres sont terrifiants et où la magie est aussi rare que puissante : le trio de classes (ou le quatuor, si l'on y rajoute le voleur du supplément amateur World of Rogues) est particulièrement évocateur, avec un prêtre (et non pas un clerc !) fanatique qui exorcise à tout va (il choisit en début de carrière le type de créatures : démons, lycanthropes, morts-vivants...), un sorcier qui se dissimule dans les ombres et utilise son pouvoir magique comme une arme, et un guerrier à la présence terrifiante capable de ne faire qu'une bouchée d'adversaires moins expérimentés. Ajoutez à cela des sorts longs et puissants et vous avez... la recette de l'Aventure avec un grand A !

Tout sur E&S version française. 
La version 2 est en cours d'écriture par un trio d’aficionados d'OD&D : snorri aux commandes, porphyre77, et moi-même. Nous avons terminé d'intégrer les corrections, une sélection de nouveaux sorts et terminons d'inclure les quelques monstres choisis parmi les suppléments d'OD&D (quelques nouvelles règles sont aussi au programme).  


***


Epées & Sorcellerie is a French roleplaying game by Nicolas Dessaux aka snorri, a sort of OD&D clone including an unified mechanic based on the 2d6 of Chainmail. It's definitely a sword n'sorcery RPG in which sorcerers are terrifying opponents hiding in the shadows and using their magic as weapons, priests are fanatics and fighters are frightful opponentswho can finely chop less experienced enemies. Choose
Epées & Sorcellerie if you like THE Adventure !

English version.

The E&S team (snorri, porphyre77 and me) are currently working on the version 2 of Epées & Sorcellerie (french version).

Lawful Mind-flayers ?

Mind-flayers are truly a fascinating monster. Their diet of brains, their psionic powers, their cthulhoïd look... And their background (they practice slavery, particularly on githzerai and githyanki ; and

they are at war with the Dark elves). 

They are now firmly embedded in the D&D players' mind as the "bad guys". What if... it was a completely false assumption ? What Gygax had in mind when he created illithids ? 

"Law :
Mind flayer [...] highly evil but otherwise lawful."
-Gary Gygax in OD&D, Supplement III : Eldritch Wizardry. 

It could hardly be more confusing... 

I spoke about OD&D alignment in my last post.
It means that mind-flayers fight alongside the Law against Chaos (and possibly the Great Old Ones if they exist in your world. In mine, that's the case).

These creatures created by Gary Gygax appear only in one set of modules which had been writen by EGG : D1-2, Descent into the Dephts of the Earth. In D1, we learn that they are opposed to the dark elves (Chaos), have Were-rat servants (Chaos) and beholder allies (Chaos). Strange dating.

Lately, porphyre77 (a faithful commentator of this blog) rewrote the mind-flayer for Epées & Sorcellerie (we both work with snorri to realease the version 2 of E&S which is the first French retro-clone - I'd probably review it this week) and came with the following interpretation :

"Cette race souterraine à l'allure humanoïde possède une intelligence supra-humaine. Bien que loyaux, ils agissent d'une façon perçue en général comme maligne pour les races plus jeunes qui ignorent tout de leurs objectifs et façon de penser."
-porphyre77 in E&S v2.

"This subterranean humanoid race has superhuman intelligence. Although loyal, they act in a way generally regarded as malignant by younger races who know nothing about their goals and way of thinking."
-porphyre77 in E&S v2 (english translation).

That's brilliant !

Before interpreting the oddity, I must admit it made ​​me think of the Carcosa Space Aliens :

"SPACE ALIENS [Law]: Roughly human in shape and size, though unmistakably alien, these invaders from outer space have hairless, light gray bodies. They tend to be slender, and they have unblinking, bulbous eyes with black irises. Thousands of years ago, an armada of them made a hard landing on the planet of Carcosa. Since then, others of their race have come and gone while establishing bases on the planet—undoubtedly for some nefarious purposes. The Space Aliens possess a highly advanced technology, though they mostly lack such things as art, emotions, religion, philosophy, etc.
[...]

Law is the alignment of those who oppose the Great Old Ones. This opposition need not be (and is usually not) active. If, however, an Old One were to be released from imprisonment, those of lawful alignment would fight against it."

-Geoffrey McKinney, Supplement V : Carcosa (emphasis added).

So basically, we have two solutions (not necessarily exclusive) to handle the situation. Let me develop them to see where they lead :

• Mindflayers are geniuses without morality who plan ahead the downfall of Chaos. Their devious plans may include providing assistance to their Chaotic enemies or may even include attacking other Lawful races if it can help them to strengthen their position. This disregard of their natural allies can be explained by their excessive pride that drives them to make light of the inferior races little able to fight against the Chaos and meant to be their slaves. This attitude may also be explained by their paternalism towards other races that they educate by reducing them to slavery in order to "civilize" them. 
• Mindflayers are evil beings who oppose Chaos with a highly advanced science. Why are they fighting Chaos and the Great Old Ones that they resemble physically and mentally (they have great evil in common)? Nobody really knows. Maybe the mindflayers were previously a servant race of the Old Ones... They may have rebelled and now seek revenge. Or maybe they were the ones that the dawn of time, have imprisoned the fouls Old Ones because of a feud? Perhaps they are the immemorial Elder Ones!

 

Their high technology relies certainly on the minds they consume. Perhaps even navigators of their spaceships are giant brains with surnatural perceptions and terrifying mental powers immersed in vats of amniotic fluid... This is undoubtedly the reason why they enslave the inferior races: they need a lot of brain matter to create such horrors!

OD&D Alignment

A classic subject, undoubtedly... 
What say the three little brown books about it? Very few things, but as always, very interesting. The authors, Gygax and Arneson, simply, as they say, provide guidelines. Cryptic guidelines that the reader must decode to soak up the spirit of the original rules. Well, some quotations now :

"Before the game begins it is not only necessary to select a role, but it is also necessary to determine what stance the character will take - Law, Netrality, or Chaos. [...] One can attempt to communicate through the common tongue, language particular to a creature class, or one of the divisional languages (law, etc.). [...] Monsters can be lured into service if they are of the same basic alignment as the player-character ..."
-Gygax & Arneson, OD&D : Men & Magic (emphasis added).

Two words stand out from the crowd : stance and divisional. A stance is "the attitude of a person or organization towards something; a standpoint" (Oxford Dictionary). So alignment is the attitude of the character/monster towards something (what ?). It's NOT a trait, a way of behaving or something like that. This is closer to a political opinion. 

"Divisional" is also very informative : a division is (inter alia) "one of the parts, sections, or groups into which something is divided", "an administrative and tactical military unit that is smaller than a corps but is self-contained and equipped for prolonged combat activity" or "a splitting into factions; disunion" (Oxford Dictionary). So, alignment (interpreted by the book) is a military division into several factions resulting from "political views" (intrinsic or not). Here we are back to the days of wargaming (Chainmail, Arneson's First Fantasy Campain and its army list depending on alignment) : races supporting militarily one of the fighting factions (men and several other peoples are divided on this). Think of a civil war or better : think of Ragnaroth.

The Threefold Apocalyptic Alignment. Choose your side : the Asgardian gods, the Great Old Ones or the Wildness ! 

Wait... you said Great Old Ones ?  

"Alignment on the planet of Carcosa is defined solely by one’s stance towards the Great Old Ones. Nothing else is considered. All behaviors, including the most noble and altruistic as well as the most vile and despicable, are found amongst all three alignments. Similarity of alignments does not necessarily indicate friendship, and opposite alignments does not necessarily indicate enmity. For example, nothing is unusual in a lawful man and a chaotic man joining forces to defeat a lawful foe."
-Geoffrey MacKinney, Supplement V : Carcosa (emphasis added).

Yes... it's a stance. Choose your side and drop these prohibitions and these forced behaviors.
Choose OD&D ! 

One Page Dungeon Contest - The Subterranean Maze of Aarthal

A while ago, I was planning to write a small dungeon for the Nicolas Dessaux (aka snorri)'s French retro-clone Epées et Sorcellerie (english version). Here it is, adapted for the contest!

The Subterranean Maze of Aarthal.  

"Melee is fast and furious, baby !"

Swords break. Warriors roll on the floor. Some are pushed in the precipice. Weapons fall from the hands. Spell books are torn. Torches are thrown in the face. Racks of arms are overthrown on enemies.

"Melee is fast and furious, baby !" as snorri (Nicolas Dessaux) would say.  

A while ago, Ways-of-the-earth proposed an alternative to the OD&D combat tables. This house rule hits me : that's a very good improvement, but not for the reasons given by the author. 


Before anything else, a short summary of this optional rule :
d20 + 1 + Target AC >= 20 : you hit. 
Every odd HD, you have another attack.
Every hit will cause 1-6 hit points of damage (without exception).  Special attacks (as poisoning, paralysis or swallowing) are delivered only if you roll an odd number. 

Below is a clarification that I do :
Monsters and fighters fight as above, althought thieves and clerics have a -2 penalty* and magic-users a -3 penalty.  
*Yes, it's a high penalty but these classes have better advancement tables. 


Well, that's the basics. For now, the melee is fast, but not furious. So, what can we do with that mess to come up with furious melees ? We have LOTS of dices... Not to use them would be criminal !

When a PC (or NPC or intelligent monster) wants to do something cool a la Indiana Jones, (s)he must spend a number of attacks equal to the target HD. (S)he can't spend more attacks than (s)he has. (S)he normally rolls his/her attacks but do not throw the damage dices. Instead, if (s)he hit at least once (or more, according to the difficulty of the action), (s)he succeed his/her brilliant stroke. (S)he can set aside the attacks (in order to use them after) if (s)he does not have enough, but only consecutive rounds : they are lost as soon as a "standard" attack roll is done, the character breaks the fight, or change his/her target etc. 

Sounds good. 

Some examples :

• Fafhrd (5th level fighter, 3 attacks) decides to project this bulky and massive tavern table on the mercenaries (3 first level fighters) hired by his treacherous rival, Barsoom. Fafhrd must spend 3 x 1 = 3 attacks. The DM decides, based on the Fafhrd's strength, that it's a fairly easy task which only requires one hit. *sounds of dices rolling* 1, 15 and 10. 15 is is enough to hit these scoundrels who wear leather armors. So, Fafhrd throws the table on these guys, who find themselves lying on the ground. 
• Belkar and Black Dougal (5nd level thieves, each has 3 attacks and leather armors) are fighting the dreaded Count Dracula (a 12 HD vampire, 6 attacks, AC 2) on the edge of a cliff. The Count holds in his hand a bloody ruby that gives him magical powers. Belkar wants to wrest the gem out of the Dracula's hands. He must spend 12 attacks, and therefore he must wait four rounds (near the vampire) in order to prepare his strike. The DM decides, based on the Dracula's strength, that it's a difficult task which only requires two hits. *sounds of dices rolling* 1, 13, 14, 15, 14, 2, 11, 2, 10, 9, 1, 7. Belkar fails ! Furious, the Count tries to push Black Dougal from the top of cliff. He must spend 5 attacks (he still has an attack that he uses to scratch the face of Belkar). The DM decides, based on the Black Dougal's dexterity, that it's a difficult task which requires two hit. *sounds of dices rolling* 18, 8, 4, 8, 12 ! The Count suceed ! Black Dougal falls from the top of the cliff, and suffer 21 hit points of damage. He looks dead.                     

The last one is a high level fight, so there are lots of dice rolled. 
What do you think ? 

Supplement II : Blackmoor - Dinosaures

Les seuls monstres du Supplément II effectivement écrits par Dave Arneson seraient les dinosaures, créatures qu'il affectionne apparemment beaucoup. Vous avez sans doute remarqué les nombreux dinosaures présents dans OD&D et AD&D... et dans ce dernier, les fréquences de rencontre de ces créatures préhistoriques sont assez surprenantes : les dinosaures seraient, et de loin, les monstres qu'on rencontre le plus fréquemment quand on erre dans les étendues sauvages. Je subodore qu'il s'agit d'un des nombreux legs de Dave Arneson à D&D.

LARGE INSECTS OR ANIMALS: This category includes giant ants and prehistoric monsters. Armor Class can be anything from 8 to 2. Hit Dice should range from 2 to anywhere near 20, let us say, for a Tyrannasaurus Rex.
-Monsters and Treasures, D&D White Box, Gygax & Arneson.

Étudions de plus près les descriptions de ces dinosaures aquatiques. Ils semblent se démarquer des autres créatures du supplément par la concision de leur description et l'absence très remarquable de mécanismes pour gérer leurs "attaques spéciales" (comme retourner les navires). Autre chose : la mention d' "espèce en voie de disparition" (endangered species) apposée au plésiosaure. Je vais laisser cela de coté pour le moment, j'y reviendrai plus tard. Enfin, les caractéristiques de ces trois créatures sont terrifiantes (10-25 DV, et une CA entre 4 et 3, ce qui les place au rang de créatures les plus dangereuses du supplément).

Célèbre image que voilà, extraite de la First Fantasy Campain. Elle illustre l'amour de Dave pour les batailles navales, et les monstres marins qui faisaient de fréquentes apparitions dans sa campagne. Sur ce, voyons ce que nous pouvons tirer de ces éléments et des liens ci-dessous.


Quelques liens sur les dinosaures dans D&D :
Sea monsters of Blackmoor
Dungeons & Dinosaurs
Lost Land of Mêm

Idées à en tirer :

• Les dinosaures sont très fréquents dans Blackmoor, comme nous le suggèrent leurs hautes fréquences dans AD&D. Ces créatures sont trop souvent oubliées à mon sens dans les parties de D&D (mis à part le module X1). Pourtant, difficile de trouver des monstres plus terrifiants et plus évocateurs. Les tables de rencontres dans les étendues sauvages devraient donner ces créatures comme les monstres les plus courants (et sans doute parmi les plus dangereux). On peut même imaginer une guilde de chasseurs de dinosaures (payés par tête ou encore qui revendraient des bouts de cadavres à des marchands - oh, le beau manteau en peau d'apatosaure ! et regardez donc ce collier de dents de T-Rex ! - et des composantes à des magiciens), ou des explorateurs/aventuriers qui enquêtent sur des espèces inconnues à ce jour comme dans le Lost World d'Arthur Conan Doyle.
• Havard suggère (en s'appuyant sur la mention endangered species) que les dinosaures ont disparu originellement, mais que l'Oeuf de Coot mettrait au monde ces monstres préhistoriques à nouveau. Brr... c'est furieusement Sword n'Sorcery ! Des dinosaures qui rôdent aux frontières de la civilisation, voilà qui est impressionnant. Voire des dinosaures mutants ou des dinosaures-robots si on veut donner dans le coté gonzo et dérangeant de Carcosa.

To be continued...