I'm slow, alright. There are two books, both of which were originally going to be in Troika itself, but I would be a mad man to publish a 300 page monster that is 90% tables and 100% niche/not D&D.

But you've seen them before, so you know what's coming. You think that god thing is complete? HAH.

Anyway, how the hell do you run Troika!?

Strangers Meet At A Crossroads

My favourite campaign structure is to front load everything, make an area or sprawling situation to explore with no thought of who will be doing it. Then drop whatever party you roll right in the middle with no guide.

My last campaign, the Empires of Foliage, started with everyone being passengers on a golden barge that ripped its hull open and crashed into an unexpected crystal sphere. The party emerge from emergency life blobs and find each other. It was a big boat, so no one knows each other but they know enough to know that they were the closest thing they had to allies. Job done.

From here they start to explore their surroundings, ask questions, touch things and find out how stuff works. The first session should have some immediate questions the party can investigate (all games are investigations).

• Why did we crash?
• Where is the ship?
• Are there any other survivors?
• Why is there four feet of blossoms everywhere?
• We have no food. Can you eat the pink fruit?
• What are these fleshy pipes running under the blossoms and where do they go?

And then off they go.

This structure has the benefit of allowing any variety of backgrounds you care to use. Their time together investigating their situation will give plenty of time for them to rub together and make some sparks. Use these sparks to plan for when they escape their situation and you need to widen the world.

The mutual bullshit that backgrounds encourage as players explain themselves to each other also helps you work backwards. Don't offer too much about their pasts, let them go with it. But also remember that you're a player too and can also BS.

It's perfectly ok for them to never get home. Have them be strangers in a strange land forever, play quantum leap, star trek, ulysses 31. The million spheres are huge, and once you go off the beaten paths you're screwed.

CYO Pre-gen

Good for one shots, but equally viable as campaign starters, is to build a closed list of backgrounds and let the players at them. An excellent way to seed the background of the adventure, giving each player a different background with a different bit of information. Player introductions are easy since no one is expected to play amateur theatre class exercise and can just read out "my thing says I used to be a farm-boy, but I picked the spectacles from a wise man's vision matt and learned I was the reincarnation of the Near-Sighted-God-Killer, so that's why I'm here" 

Random generation makes better ideas.

D66 attitudes of those encountered:

11 - Exhausted
12 - Bewildered
13 - Quizzical
14 - Belligerent
15 - Cordial
16 - Mollified
21 - Conceited
22 - Sympathetic
23 - Covetous
24 - Disinterested
25 - Impatient
26 - Servile
31 - Sickly
32 - Immature
33 - Merry
34 - Provocative
35 - Content
36 - Infirm
41 - Insolent
42 - Bitter
43 - Melancholic
44 - Resigned
45 - Irksome
46 - Insufferable
51 - Satiated
52 - Regretful
53 - Relieved
54 - Exacerbated
55 - Genial
56 - Optimistic
61 - Irritated
62 - Wrathful
63 - Mirthful
64 - Joyless
65 - Curmudgeonly
66 - Fearful

Genial ogre, irksome knight, content peasant, and so on. Two things jammed together without your input are better for it.


They traditionally dispose of their dead...

1. ... after 42 days of treating them like they were still alive
2. ... by dumping them in the forest
3. ... by cremating them in their house. Then building another on top.
4. ... throw them in the sea, no matter how far away it is. If they are washed back up it is an omen of a restless spirit and suggests their ghost doesn't want to leave.
5. ... by stacking stones on top of them until they are pulverised. Funeral cairns litter the countryside.
6. ... in great big tubs. Special assistants are set with jugs to collect the juices from special spigots. The juices are burned as the true spirit while the corpse is ground up for animal food.

What are you supposed to be ashamed of?

1. Pointing
2. Bare backs. Capes are essential, but nothing else is.
3. Uncovered ears
4. Revealing the webbing between your fingers. Most erogenous of zones.
5. Boobies (1-2=Just male 3-4=Just female 5-6=Both)
6. All skin. All of it.

Traditional beautification

1. Teeth filed to the gums
2. Ears clipped and jagged
3. Split nostrils, cut at the sides making them look like dainty little wings.
4. Head flattened with cord and boards as a child
5. Gums dyed with lacquer
6. Arms bound to the torso up to the elbow, so the truly beautiful walk around like t-rexs.

The ruling order...

1. ... are ancient in-bred families
2. ... is a foreign culture with its own language and rituals
3. ... is a hereditary priesthood
4. ... grandmothers, ranked by the quantity of grand children
5. ... died out years ago, leaving their silver palaces empty. No one noticed.
6. ... are elected per village every year. They consider it a burden and is often used as a punishment.

Some other initiatives

So, weird, useful and exciting initiative systems. Who's got some?

My current system is bingo calling/chit-pull initiative. I've written everyone's name on a token and pull them out of a bowl (I use numbers for monsters). Totally random, ensures I don't forget anyone, avoids having to roll dice and remembering an order.

 CHIT-PULL VARIANTS:

• Write them on blank cards and shuffle them every turn. You can keep AC/HP/effects timers/whatever written directly on it for convenience.
• Use actual bingo balls. Number everyone.
• Instead of numbering monsters, just put a star on them. When you pull a star move a monster. Even less paper work.

EURO GAME INITIATIVE
Declare a leader token. This can be an actual token, or a hat, or a sceptre, or something hard to lose. That person goes first and play proceeds to their left. All enemy NPCs act on the GMs turn. Once a round has finished pass the token to your right.


DRAMA INITIATIVE
The player with the least health goes first and play proceeds down the line. The GM calls out "1, 2, 3..."etc and people chime in.


AUCTION INITIATIVE
The player willing to take the biggest penalty to all rolls goes first. Like the drama initiative, GM calls out from 6 and goes down. Or some other number appropriate to your system. GM also picks.


SIMULTANEOUS INITIATIVE
All things happen at once. Any actions that would cancel out another are done as contested rolls and the winner gets their way. Damage is simultaneous unless it obviously isn't.


TRACK INITIATIVE
You've got a track of actions, each player places themselves on a spot. Play proceeds top to bottom. On proceeding rounds the players are relocated in reverse order.

A manoeuvre is any non-combat non-magic action, like moving around or rummaging in your pack or pulling a lever.

1. Reckless Magics -6
2. Melee attacks
3. Ranged attacks
4. Manoeuvre
5. Risky magics -3
6. Manoeuvre and melee
7. Manoeuvre and ranged
8. Safe magics

In a non-fun game where you don't roll for magic, just do it all on the last one.


RONDEL INITIATIVE
Everyone starts with a little token on the shaded slice. Randomly pick who goes first and proceed left-wise for the first moves, after that the person closest to the shaded slice acts first. This can result in multiple actions in a row if they don't jump anyone.

• Move 5ft - 1 space
• Attacking moves you spaces according to weapon used (sword is 4, knife is 2, halberd is 5
• Magic moves you spaces according to the spell (magic missile is probably 4, charm is 1)
• Misc actions generally take 1 space.

Once you pass the shaded slice you may take no more actions until everyone has passed it. When the new round begins you start with the person closest to the shaded area. Moves continue from where the pieces are.

Family and Friends and Drinking and Dwarves

I assume a situation of strangers in a strange land. What friends or family the PCs have is what they have made there.

Follows on from this.

Spouse & Children:

If PCs want to start with a spouse let them roll for the privilege. 1 in 3 they already have one, with d3-1 children. Each child is 2d6 years old.

If a child is 10 or more years old you can take them on adventures with you, allowing them to learn on the job. If you get the child killed you lose 10d6 social currency with your family. If it goes below 0 your spouse will never forgive you and leaves with your remaining children.

DOWNTIME FUN: As a downtime action the PC can spend quality time with her family. This will fully restore their Luck & Stamina. Gain d6 social currency with them. On a 6 there is a new child on the way. (if appropriate). Recommend hand-waving pregnant PCs. Baby magically appears later between adventures. Don't make it weird.

DOWNTIME FUN: The PC trains one of their kids. That kid gets a skill advancement check in one skill the PC knows but can't be raised higher than the father. Keep track of this stuff. When a PC dies they may take up playing one of their children instead of making a new character as long as it's old enough. Gain 1 social currency.

ON AGEING: Time differences between planes is weird. If you spend a week in Baator a month might pass in Troika. Age your children a year for every 3 planar trips you take.

DOWNTIME NOTSOFUN: Every downtime you do not spend with your family their social currency reduces by 1. If it reaches 0 they will leave.

DOWNTIME FUN: You may give a gift to a family member. It must be something you have, that you got, you can't just wishy-washy declare a state of giftness. Gain 2d6 social currency.

DOWNTIME FUN: You wanna get married but don't know anyone? Go looking. 1 in 6 chance you meet someone to make friends with. Costs 10 social currency to convince a friend to marry you.

Friends:

DOWNTIME FUN: Friends are able to accompany the PC while carousing. Roll 1d6, if it comes up as anything other than 1, chose the order of numbers in your carousing roll. If it comes up as one, the friend has got you in trouble, the GM chooses the order to use. Regardless, +d6 social currency for hanging out with them.

Other PCs are not friends. Spouses can be, but you need to make it clear to the GM.

Every friend will either have a trade or an association. Roll a background for them.

Friends might be convinced to go on adventures with you. Costs 20 social currency minus their highest fighting or magic skill. Lasts for one excursion.

DOWNTIME FUN: If the friend's background causes her to have some influence or power, it costs 5 social currency to lean on it.

DOWNTIME FUN: A friend will teach you something they know for 3 social currency. Gain an advancement tick in any skill they have.

Carousing in Troika

In between games a PC may aimlessly go out on the town rather than do something constructive. Every major city or other interesting location should have its own carousing table, but smaller less lively places will likely have slimmer ones. It's probably a good idea to replace them when they get used up.

Carousing restores either Stamina or Luck (choose ahead of time) and costs 2d6x10p to have a roll, if you spend more than you own you are in debt to either:

1. The Manticore Bank. They charge 10% interest every day and are happy to let that accrue. It takes a downtime activity to get in to see a representative of the bank, and there is only a 1 in 6 chance that you'll get seen before closing time. If the interest gets out of hand they'll send a manticore after you.
2. The Black Bishops. If not paid 9 times in full they will repossess your entire life. All friends and family and homes and treasures belong to the Black Bishopric until bought back. She's their wife now.
3. A petty gangster who will kidnap a friend or family member if they aren't paid back double in a week. Lacking a family, they'll break your legs.
4. Miss Keansy's Social Betterment Scheme. Miss Keansy's loans only come in bundles of 200p and are measured against a percentage of the benefit it affords you by uplifting your social class. She'll take 5% of all income for the next 5 years.
5. A random friend or family member covers it at the cost of -d6 social currency
6. A Gold Man gives you a bag of his weird gold nuggets. He never seems to want anything for it.

Roll d36 for carousing!

1-2

1. Caught the Time Fever from a beggar. Every game you age 2d6 years in a random direction until cured, dead, or unborn.
2. You cross paths with a group of Brawlers out on the town. Test your Strength or lose 1d6 stamina and lose 1d2 teeth. If you pass you beat them up and are invited to join the Sublime Society of Beef Steaks.
3. You get caught up in a Dwarven art project. Before the peacemakers dismantle it and rescue the participants, you are partially enamelled and menaced with spikes of cobalt. You lose 1d6 Luck but count as wearing plate armour until it all chips off. Should take roughly until the end of the next adventure.
4. You wake up in a pile of skyskiff sailors with a new tattoo. 1 in 6 chance you're (and they're) naked and missing everything you were carrying.
5. You attend a public wine tasting at Miss Keansey's estate. Being the uncultured swine that you are, you delight the members by swilling the latest vintage from the kelp orchards of the demon sea. For the next adventure you must test for random encounters with demons at every convenient opportunity. Only you can see them. They might not be aggressive, instead happy to just cause trouble, but they can also straight up devour you in front of your friends. You do gain a skill advancement check in Second Sight for the experience though.
6. A beggar you were mocking turns out to be a Gold Man in disguise, testing the city for moral turpitude. He curses you by turning everything metal you own into clay and pelting you with nuggets of gold (lose 1d3 stamina). You're luckily carried away by the crowd grasping for the gold before he can really lay in to you.

3-4

1. Wake up in the mortuary. The Dustmen demand you repay the corpse fee they wasted on you (d6p). If you can't pay they will insist you go corpse collecting on your next downtime activity to pay it back, or else.
2. You lost sight of your senses at some point and joined one of the newer cults in town. They seem friendly enough. Randomly generate it, you are now a member.
3. You council an orc out of ending his suffering. He has latched on to you. For good or bad, you have a new friend.
4. Inebriation leads you to agree to test a new Ven cerebro-plug. You gain 1d6p and +2 in a random skill (owned or not). If you ever roll a fumble in that skill the plug will burn out, causing 2d6 damage. A Ven bubble will be sent to collect the wreckage data, regardless of location in time or space.
5. You lost hard at a game of Roly Bones. Lose 5d6x10p. If you can't pay it all, the skyskiff sailors you'd been rolling with rough you up and take whatever else you're carrying as payment. Lose d6 stamina.
6. You just so happen to be holding the key to a little known portal while wandering right through it. You find your way home by the next game, but not before ageing 3d6 years and returning with a child of almost equal age. Time is funny.

5-6

1. You get chatting with a beggar, share a drink, kill some time, only to find out he's the king of some distant land. He never found his way back after he fell through some portal or other, no one had ever heard of his home. For your kindness he gives you his last possession: his crown and his kingdom with it. It's very pretty, made of iron and bronze, worth 50s to the right buyer.
2. You meet a tourist with only rudimentary understanding of the language. They seem nice, and keep buying drinks, so you take them around town with you. At the end of the night he turns to give you a tip for your trouble but, finding he's out of native silver and the bureau de change is shut for the night, he gives you one of his native coins with an apologetic smile. It's roughly 6 inches wide and as thick as your finger, intricately cast and made of pure gold. Worth 1000p
3. Make a new friend on your raucous night out. Make them as a character and get d6 social currency with them.
4. Won big in a game of Roly Bones. 5d6x10p
5. Spend an amorous night in the arms of a stranger. Restore Luck and Stamina. 1 in 6 chance a bastard appears in your future.
6. Meet the love of your life. Can count as a spouse and a friend. Roll a background for him.

And finally, Dwarves and their family

That is to say they don't have one. Just passions and projects. They have no genitals, are all "male", if one was forced to judge.

A dwarf, on their downtime, may choose to work on a mysterious project. Even the player won't know until it's done, since the dwarf's compartmentalised mind is so strong. Secrets are secret! Each time the player works on it they gain d6 social currency with themselves. When they have 15 they finally reveal the project for all to see. Roll to find out what it is.

1. A dwarf! A shiny new fully grown dwarf. This is your son, fashioned from iron and stone, and you may tutor him as with children, above.
2. A weapon, encrusted with rare minerals, menaced with spikes, and only beautiful to a dwarfs gaudy eye. The dwarf gets +1 to their weapon skill while using this weapon. Everyone else gets -1 since it's so spiky and weird.
3. A beautiful piece of furniture, you may choose what sort. It is of course very spiky and almost randomly enhanced with minerals and bones. +1 permanent luck for completing such a project.
4. Armour, made of an obscure or unusual material, and yet completely usable. Better than usable in fact, since the wearer always adds +1 to their armour roll while wearing it. The dwarf player can choose the type of armour and the size (dwarf? human? lammasu?).
5. A statue of transcendent beauty. The topic is up for the dwarf to decide, but it is huge, of unusual construction, and probably spiky. If this is gifted to a group or institution it is worth 10d6 social currency with them.
6. A fey mood has struck, the materials are rare and transgressive. The dwarf makes a public exhibition of flesh and bone, against the laws of man and gods. 1 in 6 chance it's alive and rampant, 1 in 6 the dwarf is arrested for this act of wanton art. It is also spiky.

Between 6 and 8 things

I used to spend late nights sat in a comfortable silence with a good friend on the other end of a headset. I'd do my thing, they'd do theirs. Few people are comfortable being bored together.

8 things you might find in the dead guy's pocket

1. A piece of string with two knots in it, a reminder of something
2. A locket with a picture of somebody else's family in it
3. A ticket for a ferry
4. Dog treats
5. Sand
6. Bunches and bunches of hair, different colours, shreds of scalp attached
7. A Russian dwarf hamster chewing on something else from this list
8. A flattened Russian dwarf hamster, crushed in the fall

Usually it's a performance. Nothing controversial about that, not going to put it in my manifesto. You meet up with someone, you do a little dance for each other. It's exhausting though, isn't it?

8 things that happened while you were away

1. Squatters moved into you home, they're very nice but won't leave
2. The mayor was outed as a lizard man. Emergency elections have been declared. He is running again, this time as a lizard man.
3. Your serving maid was turned into a settee by a travelling goblin leatherworker
4. Gremlins have infested your thatch
5. A cult who worship a prophetic goat have followed it into town and protect its rambling way. They make money by selling audiences.
6. All of your furniture has been moved. Nothing has been taken, you think.
7. The ancient prophecy that the dark one would return while you were gone didn't come true. His followers liquidated their secret cult and went legit as a loans company with the assets.
8. I dunno, your house burnt down or something.

But being bored together was easy. Just two guys struggling to stay alive, doing cool little things, making games, creative subsistence living. And then one day one of them fails to keep on living. What a gyp.

6 ways you could be a better player

1. No more fights. Don't fight ever again. Passively resist, appeal to their humanity, be the change you want to see.
2. Decide your character has fallen in love with the villain.
3. Invest all your adventuring money in real estate
4. Invest all your adventuring money in charitable works, become the most beloved person in the country
5. Settle for less
6. When things get rough just kill yourself

Then you find out things about yourself. About how important that comfortable silence was, and of having someone around who wants nothing from you. I wrote this stuff mainly to get a rise out of him. Offence or a giggle, either way. I lost my audience and I don't really want another.

8 wedding gifts from old friends

1. Shelac the Circumspect made a familiar that looks just like you, but small, naked and in a cage
2. The pixie collective gathered up all the pixie dust they can and made a wish that the pair of you'll always be covered in at least a bit of glitter
3. Go'Ol'o'Ololo the slaad presented you with a box full of hands. One of them was his.
4. King Ngarund sends you his regards
5. The mayor presented a box of mysterious eggs
6. The ghost of your departed party members send their direst warnings
7. The son of a family you once saved offers his services. He's all grown up
8. The goblins have made you a settee of one of their grandmas

And what's worse is life goes on. People eventually get weary of sympathy but not enough to just go away. It's all so sad-sad-so-sad until something I'm led to believe is just normal and the done thing is required. Come do this, go do there, wake up, don't starve, justify why we should keep paying you. No?

The 6 layers of hell

1. The Hall of Records. A series of small to very large rooms full of chairs. Somewhere there will be a window at which you can get the correct rites to pass through to the next. Cities and wildernesses are found in these, but to travel anywhere requires paperwork.
2. The Tiger's Banquet. A continent sized party. Very formal, the rules change rapidly and spread like a ripple. Anyone failing to maintain small talk is devoured by the other guests, who are forbidden to eat from the tables until the host arrives. He never will.
3. Jangling Solitude. Iron boxes on chains, hung in darkness. The insides are lit to better reveal the hopelessness of it. Anyone escaping their box will discover an expanse of them hanging from some unseen ceiling. Falling will drop you, quite literally, in to some new hell.
4. The Sorting House. All of the unworthy dead are sorted according to height, each to a separate layer. They are then packed into rooms of exactly their height, nose to nose, heads scraping ceiling, unmoving for eternity.
5. The Garden of Imminence. Appears to be a leisure garden where demon mingle with the damned. All the people look haunted, in contrast to their pleasant environment. Each of them awaits a fate they know is coming. An indistinct dread haunts them. The demons sample it like a rose.
6. The Field of Want. A great snowy expanse where the demons keep their regal homes. The damned wander the snow naked, freezing but never dying. The demons wander about in many layers of furs, demanding foul acts and entertainments for the chance to sit by their fires.

It's nothing new. Old hat. We all die alone. I could take a lesson from this whole thing. Selfishly, ghoulishly, turn it into a lesson. But it's meaningless. It doesn't get better, it just changes. Don't let them lie to you.

The City in the Middle of the Road

The City is not inevitably a city, not in the metaphysical way the inner planes are all fiery or wet. That is to say, it isn't an elemental representation of essential City-ness any more than London is. Rather it is a useful place at a convenient confluence, and you can't be much more convenient than a spot that is between everything.

In the shadow of its walls it's all packed buildings on top of buildings from incongruous worlds and ages. Men, demons and wayward gods walk its streets Nothing overly surprises those that live there for long.

The gates stand open, rusted on their hinges. The sand blows in along with the people, touts stand ready to greet them. Water and answers in exchange for whatever secret riches the lost brought with them. "This isn't heaven nor is it hell. This is Troika at the Middle of All Things. Now sate your thirst and tell me, from where do you come and what do you want?" They can be confident in their bargaining since anyone who knows the road knows the path and enter like any civilised fellow: through the closed doors.

Character Backgrounds in Troika

Been quiet 'cos I've been busy. Let's talk about a part of that.

Troika is an RPG I'm writing. A revision of first edition Advanced Fighting Fantasy mixed with the Planescape I imagined existed when I only owned a couple of books for it.

It turned out my imaginary Planescape was more exciting than the generally stodgy fare we ended up getting. The early books hinted at vast worlds of weirdness, but then every writer who came after tried their hardest to stomp it into boxes, to categorise and order everything. Labels everywhere, nothing felt far away or mysterious. If you wanted an answer you just needed to buy their next book for it to be explained in painfully uninspired detail. Harumph!

So, ambient story telling. No essays on the definitive categories of demons, just rules and gaps to be filled. Every character made in Troika gets a random background like the two below:





Temple Knight of Telak the Swordbringer
You were once a fanatical monk, set to maintain constant martial readiness in preparation for the end times when all doorways crumble inwards.

Possessions
The blessing of Telak
6 weapons of choice, kept in pristine condition and carried at all times
(Telak will withdraw his blessings otherwise)
Suit of scale armour
Traditional skull plate, affording you excellent vision for watching out for the end of days

Skills
3 in three fighting skills of your choice
3 Awareness

Miss Kinsey’s Diner’s Club

The Eaters know that there are only two worlds: the without and the within. They intend to insert as much of the prior into the later as they can,experiencing the finest culinary delights possible.

All dining experience is open to them, nothing is forbidden at Miss Kinsey’s. Try the other, other, other white meat.

Possessions
Sharp metal dentures (damage as sword) OR forked metal dentures (as knife, but on a critical you may cleanly strip all the flesh from one small appendage) OR blunt metal dentures, for crushing (as knife)
Embroidered napkin

Skills
1 Strength
2 Tracking
2 Trap Knowledge

They're packages, taking away the un-fun hassle of buying skills or making important decisions in a setting that is terribly vague until contact is made. Empirical campaign knowledge only, mechanical knowledge taken out of your hands. Each background gives the player a point to work from, immediately encourages fun (rather than un-fun) decision making on how they interact with the world. They can decide how Miss Kinsey's Diner's Club functions just by rubbing their character against the world. If the GM comes at it with no great vantage point they end up building in the gaps as much as the player. Which is exciting.

What's more, my Diner's Club and others' will differ greatly. It's not pinned down by essays and rules. We know they are stronger than average, they're good at tracking and trapping, and they all have weird mechanical teeth. Why they have these and how they use them is implied broadly enough for the player to come at it however they fancy.

Prompts are powerful and useful. Once there are a couple of hundred of these you'll have a broad spectrum of what the game world is about. We can use sections of it and form our knowledge from just those pieces, triangulate a bit of game world for ourselves without labouring under a weight of words. More is there for you if you want it, and every point you add multiplies the possible interactions between them, until eventually you finally have something that is very much your own. A wider planescape.

Dastardly Wizardry

Wizarding Roll
Roll 2d6 and get less than or equal to your MAGIC + Magic-Wizardry talent. Higher rolls are failures (resources are still spent). Double 6s are catastrophic failures and roll on the Oops Table.

If you are interrupted (take damage, knocked over, etc.) you fail.

Wizardry is never sneaky.

Resisting Wizardry
If a spell can be resisted it will be in the description. Just test your LUCK. The caster can make this harder by spending more resources to cast the spell, giving a -1 penalty per point spent.

Learning New Wizard Spell

• Spells must be taught or stolen
• Takes one week per MP cost of the spell to be learnt
• Tuition costs 250p per week. Theft has its own cost.
• Finally, pay 1xp per MP of the spell to memorise it

To Cast:

Add MAGIC to Magic: Wizardry, this is your Arcane Power. Roll against this to cast spells.

Spells cost varying amounts of Magic Points (MP), which are spent to cast them. You can spend extra MP to gain +1s on the casting roll.

You start with double your Arcane Power in MP.

Wizardry Casting Situation	Modifier
Each round of preparation before casting	+2
Peace and quiet	+3
Not under attack	0
Being shot	-1
Being stabbed	-2

Hard to use while wearing armour, thus a wizard's reputation for being weedy.

Armour Worn	Extra MP Cost
Light	+1
Medium	+2
Heavy	+4
Shield	Additional +4

Starting Spells

You start the game with spells of equal MP value to your total Magic Points. No spells chosen may cost more than 4MP.

1MP

Befuddle

The wizard merely touching someone can shake up their mind like a snow globe.The will take all active rolls at -6 until their head clears (3 minutes)

Natter

As everyone know, wizards are excellent ventriloquists. So good in fact that they can throw their voice inside another's mouth. They can target anyone within sight and can transmit a short sentence.

Darkness

Summon a stationary, perfect sphere of darkness up to five metres from the wizard for up to three minutes. Extinguishes all light sources.

Fear

In the eyes of one poor fellow, the wizard grow into a primal monster from the depths their lizard brain. They will attempt to flee, otherwise they will curl up in a ball and whimper. They may test Luck to resist the illusion, lasts for three minutes.

Fire Bolt

Shoot impressive flames from your fingertips, dealing 1d6 damage to one target within 20 metres unless they test their Luck to dive out of the way.

Flash

The wizard claps neatly, issuing forth the light of a thousand suns. Most unpleasant. All within 20 metres must test their Luck or be blinded for 1d6 turns.

Illusion

Fabricate an illusion that fools one target. They may test Luck when interacting with it to unveil the trickery.

Light

Create an ethereal orb of light that glows like a torch. Lasts 15 minutes and can be extinguished at will.

Lock

Magically lock an object. The object must have a lockable aspect to it, but the lock is now magically sealed. Lasts for 15 minutes.

Open

The wizard chooses a reality wherein the lock was open all along. Can be used to counteract a Lock spell.

Peace

Open up the mind to universal love and cause two subjects to test their Luck or cease hostilities with each other. They will still defend themselves if attacked but will at least appreciate the pettiness of it.

Personalize Spell

Wizards pride themselves on innovation and research, attribute huge prestige to knowing the most unique and rare spells. Others settle for the outward appearance of individuality, with this simple spell. The wizard may tack this on to another casting to make it superficially different.

Ironhand

The common man does not appreciate exactly how close flesh and iron are when considered relatively to, say, flesh and the smell of hot tea. With some slight convincing the wizard may cause a targets flesh to behave as though it had the desirable properties of metal. They get +1 Skill, immunity to modestly proportioned fires, and a bump up in armour for 3 minutes. 

Strength

Endows one with the strength of an ogre. Lasts for 3 minutes or one task.

Thunder

A favourite for impressing locals while travelling the provincial expanses of the Road. The wizard raises his arms and shouts something suitably ominous, then all within 20 metres must test Luck or be deafened by a riotous roll of emphatic thunder. Luck or no, they will be mightily impressed.

Tongue Twister

Beware! For if a wizard screws his nose and twists his fingers at you, then a tongue twister is coming your way. The target must test Luck or have their tongue literally tied in knots. This requires some time and a fair bit of patience to disentangle.

Ward

A handy spell only requiring the flick of a wrist. In response to being fired upon the wizard may cast this spell to have the missile be deflected.

Weakness

Open a small portal to the sphere of hopelessness within the subject's mind. Reduce their Skill by 1d6 for 3 minutes.

2MP

Animate 

Cause inanimate objects to question their place. One object up to the size of a baby can be caused to hop around and do whatever else the wizard wishes of it. To affect more or larger objects simple pay more to cast it. 

Breach

The wizard's hands work elemental material as though it were soft clay. Fire, stone, goo, earth, fog, all of it behaves like clay under his touch for 9 minutes.

Breath

Creates a mysterious and specifically shaped cone of air around a touched targets head. They may continue to breather the freshest of air for 12 minutes.

Combine

A reckless disregard for safety leads the wizard to consider gluing spells together. Pay for this spell to then cast two spells in tandem.

Consume

A simple but effect summoning of fire. Once present it's actions can't be accounted for, however. Summon a fire the size of a small bonfire somewhere within 12 metres of the wizard.

Counter

The wizard works on disentangling a spell from this instance of reality. To do so they must pay 2 MP and suffer a casting penalty equal to the original spell cost. If attempting to confound a spell of a different discipline the wizard must pay MP equal to the unfamiliar tradition's equivalent to Arcane Power (magic+something).

Darksee

The wizard reaches into his sockets and extricates his eyes. Thus freed, the dark void behind them can see perfectly well in pitch blackness and suffer excruciating pain in light (-4 to all rolls). Be careful not to lose those eyeballs though, they are the only way to end the spell.

Thought Vapour

The wizard can cause his nose to exist in multiple alternative planes, travel through various spheres, and enable the olfactory sensation of thought. Emotions, attitudes, underlying feelings can be smelt. No words or images are formed, just impressions. Any suitably strong odour will make this very difficult.

Farseeing

Endows the wizard engorged, plate-like eyes, able to see in minute detail for miles around.

Force Bolt 

An arc of lightning jumps between you and a target with a satisfying crack, dealing d6 damage.

Languages

The wizard forms a mouth with his hands, which can speak any language. He can simultaneously cup his hands to his ear to understand them in return. Lasts for one conversation.

Levitate

Elevates the wizard or another on the backs of tiny invisible sprites who answer only to their summoner. May float about for 3 minutes. 

Mirror Selves

In the mind of one subject, the wizard appears to be, in fact, three wizards. All three will perform the same actions in unison, offering the target inly a 1 in 3 chance of targeting the right wizard, all three of which are able to hurt him in response.

See Through

The wizard rubs a surface, gradually causing it to become see-through from one side. Immensely handy. Lasts until the wizard looks away.

Sentry

The wizard plucks a bit of his mind out like candy floss and leaves it stuck to a wall somewhere. This psychic presence is invisible to the naked eye but extends the wizards senses to that spot for the duration. While it lasts the wizard suffers -2 to all rolls due to the incredible confusion this generates. If the shard is discovered and harmed the wizard will take 2 Skill damage due to the shock.

Shatter

The wizard may wildly gesticulate at a brittle object no larger than an umbrellas and cause it to shatter into a million pieces. To affect larger objects, pay more. Living targets may test their Luck to avoid this unpleasant spell.

Sleep

The wizard convinces a target to forgo wakefulness for a time, causing them to sleep for three minutes unless they are Lucky.

Starry Orb

The wizard creates a 5th dimensional orb above his head. All intelligent beings who look at it must test their Luck or marvel at it for the duration. Lasts 3 minutes.

4MP

Arrow Snake

Turn an arrow in sight into a small venomous snake (10/4).

Find

When wizards need answers wizards mumble to themselves until the answer is made apparent. The thing being sought must be specific and the direction is only given in terms of compass points.

Grow

Cause an item to grow half its size again. Lasts for three minutes.

Invisibility

The wizard turns flesh into refractive crystal sheets. It's very uncomfortable and you make a slight shish-ing sound as you move, but you are quite invisible and don't suffer from the usual limitations of illusions. Mind, it is just your flesh. Lasts for 3 minutes, after which you noisily reform into dull and frustratingly opaque flesh.

Arc

Lightning bursts from the wizard's outstretched fingers, ziping and zaping about. Quite a show. Deals 2d6 damage to one target.

Affix

Cause a subject to be fixed in place. While they are so held they do not move, breath, fall, perspire, acquire or otherwise change. Totally immune to harm, in fact. Lasts for three minutes.

Diminish

Cause something to reduce by half its size. Lasts three minutes.

Explode

A very simple spell. Arguably it's not even a spell, rather a premeditated failure of catastrophioc proportions. The wizard may cause an object of up to one cubic metre to explode as though filled with gunpowder. He must concentrate for 15 minutes per metre, and may stack up uses of this spell to affect larger objects.

Gills

The wizard may permanently gift a touched subject with gills, completely replaceing their usual breathing arrangement. Very useful for underwater excursion, not so useful when inflicted upon a chap in the middle of town. The wizard may end this at will.

Poison

This spell, when cast upon a liquid, causes it to become deadly poison. The liquid deals 4 damage if drunk and may deal an additional 1 damage per extra MP spent in the original casting. The liwuid loses its potency after an hour.

6MP

Cockroach

A popular spell whose only use is to turn troublesome folks into humiliating animals. The target must test their Luck of be permanently turned into a small insignificant creature of the wizard's choice

Assume Shape

The wizard undergoes a distressing transformation into an inanimate object no bigger than a piano and no smaller than a cup. Lasts until ended.

Exchange Shape

What looks like a hug is in fact fell wizardy! The wizard bumps into another and exchanges bodies. Lasts until the wizard chooses to end it, but they must be within sight of each other for this to happen.

Banish Spirit

The wizard explains, clearly, sternly, why it is impossible that the spirit should be here at this time. The spirit must test its Luck or be sent to somewhere less improbable.

Hurricane

The wizard waves his hands in the air like he just doesn't care. Which he likely doesn't, being a wizard. This causes a mighty gust that will knock everyone over within 30 metres who doesn't test their Luck, dealing 1d3 damage and making an awful mess. Lasts for 10 minutes, test Luck every turn if not laying down.

Web

Whether opening a portal to the plane of slime or channelling the sprites of sickness, all can agree that it is quite disgusting when the wizard blows forth the "web" from his nose. All in a cone extending 10 metres in front of the wizard are trapped unless they test their Luck. Each turn anything passing through or out of it must test Luck or become stuck.

Wall of Power

What they call a wall is in fact a dome, but wizards always have worked in mysterious ways. The wall is a shimmering bubble that causes d6 damage when touched. Nothing may pass without the wizards permission (it is recommended they remember to allow air). Lasts for 3 minutes.

9MP

Teleport

The wizard or a target of his choosing may travel to any location, absolutely anywhere, instantly. If they are unfamiliar with the location they must test their Luck or be thrown wildly off course.

Earthquake

The wizard hikes up his robe and stomps his wizzend feet. An area 30 metres around him suffers a massive earthquake. Everyone must test Luck or fall through a crack in the earth, taking 2d6 damage and being stuck in a bloody great big hole. Buildings may be wrecked unless especially sturdy.

Assassin's Dagger

Evocatively named, but actually quite mundane. The wizard whispers to an object, that object then seeks out and vigorously and repeatedly bumps into the target. Obviously if you whisper to a poisoned dagger the results are one thing, while doing it to a letter is another. Travels any distance, always arrives (eventually).

Death

A very simple switch from one adjacent state to another. Kill a being that has less Stamina than you have Arcane Power.

Making New Wizard Spells

Wizards are always making new spells. They are usually gaudy, transgressive, and wilfully ignorant of the laws of reality. 

However, this academic pursuit is outside the remit of the adventuring wizard. If you do insist on making fresh spells assume they take 1 year of intensive study per MP of the spell. At the end of each year the wizard must test their Wizardry, if they fail they hit a dead end and must start over. Each year of study costs 13,000p for room, board, and study materials.

Now you know why wizards are so pernickety.

All effects of the Oops table below are permanent unless obviously not and will require a visit to your local priest or cunning man for disentanglement.

Oops table - d66

11

A flash, followed by an ominous shriek - the caster has turned into a goat.

12

Twenty-five years of the wizards life drop away in an instant, possibly making him a very small child. If younger than twenty-five already then he disappears into cosmic pre-birth.

13

A small shoal of herring and the water they had previously swum in materialises above the caster and everyone else standing close by.

14

The wizard no longer speaks or understands any known tongue, instead favouring a slightly unpleasant language seemingly made up of shrieks and whispers.

15

The most feared of adolescent academy curses: hiccups! Until dispelled the wizard hiccups uncontrollable, suffering -4 to further attempts at magic.

16

The wizard grows an attractive tail.

21

All currency in the wizards' possession turns into beautiful and appropriately coloured butterflies that flap off into the sky in a pleasing manner.

22

A very surprised orc appears beside the caster (7/8 - Sword). Truly, they are the most despised in creation.

23

The casters hair turns white and never goes back.

24

The shoes of a random ally catch fire.

25

The wizard grows a small pair of goat horns.

26

All of the wizard's body hair falls out with an audible "Fuff!".

31

All weapons of war in the vicinity turn into flowers.

32

The wizard changes sex and becomes decidedly handsome.

33

The wizard disappears in a puff of smoke, never to be seen again.

34

The wizard's hands find a mind of their own and take a severe disliking to the tyranny of the mind. They set about choking him to death, only to lapse back into servitude as soon as he passes out.

35

All animals in the vicinity are brought back to life. This notably includes rations and leather armour, which will crawl and flap about blindly.

36

A sickness overcomes the wizard, causing him to cough up a thick black fluid. The fluid flows away as though in a hurry to be somewhere. The wizard will soon hear rumours and suffer accusations due to the workings of a sinister doppelgänger.

41

Everyone in the vicinity turns into a pig, except for one embarrassed wizard.

42

An overflow of plasmic fluid has found its way into your head. Your eyes catch fire, causing flames to shoot forth every time you open them. You are now either blind or incinerating things.

43

All vegetation within a mile withers and dies.

44

A pool of colour opens up under the wizard, sucking him and any other unlucky nearby souls into it. They will be whipped off to a random sphere of existence.

45

All liquid within 12 metres turns to milk. That milk then curdles.

46

A random spectator's bones mysteriously disappear. Even more mysteriously he doesn't seem overly put out by the effect. He can't fight or cast magic and can only very slowly shuffle about as a gelatinous blob of flesh, but he's generally unharmed by it. After d6 hours the bones pop back into place from wherever they went.

51

An inanimate object in the wizards possession gains sentience and a voice. Its attitude is up for the GM to decide.

52

A portal is opened to a paradigmatic battleground, allowing an angelic or demonic figure to pop through.

53

A gout of steam shoots out from the wizard causing them to shoot off in a random direction at great speed.

54

The wizard suffers a coughing fit for d6 turns, after which d6 gremlins (7/4) tumble out and start biting peoples faces.

55

The wizard instantly grows an enormous shaggy beard. It tumbles down to the floor and gets in the way. -2 to everything until you tame that beast.

56

The wizard becomes 20 years older.

61

All metal within 20 metres becomes incredibly hot for d6 turns. Anyone wearing armour or carrying weapons must take d6 damage per turn.

62

The wizards teeth all fall out. The sudden loss causes him to be at -4 to making magic due to his poor diction. After an hour a fresh set grow in.

63

An entirely different and random spell goes off, directed at the same target.

64

The wizard is cursed with poetry. Until cured he can only speak in rhyming couplets.

65

The wizard issues forth a mighty sneeze, knocking everyone over in front of him and dealing d6 damage unless they test their Luck.

66

The spell being cast won't stop. It goes completly haywire, out of control, firing off madly until the wizard is subdued.

Beast of Many Backs

Dealing with multiple opponents is often needlessly fiddly. If they are all the same, then why should you think so hard about them? And why, on top of that, should they get that same treatment as a PC would? Symmetry is seductive.

So you come across a room with 7 orcs and they all have slightly different stats, but ultimately close enough.

7x Orcs skill/stamina

1. 6/5
2. 5/5
3. 5/5
4. 6/6
5. 5/6
6. 6/6
7. 5/6

Instead of rolling for each of them separately, harming each of them separately (and somehow remember which is where), you can just do some maths to them. 

Add all their stamina together, accurately or roughly. Let's go rough and call it 35 stamina.

Pick a skill that represents the groups competence. In this case, I like 6.

Give them 1 attack per absorbed member. So 7.

Now we have :

7x Orcs 6/35 7atks

Roll once for them each turn to generate the groups attack total. Whatever each of the members are doing, this is the number. Ignore fumbles and critical hits, treat them as just being the numbers rolled. It's not as granular as rolling individually, but it does the job.

How do we kill it though? Easy, divide the stamina by (number of members)+1 and kill one of them (and reduce the attacks by one) after each divide after the first.

In our example, it divides into 4 and a bit. Chop it up roughly and call it a day.

This track below is backwards, count down (up?) from 35 and the last dies at 0.

1. -
2. -
3. -
4. -
5. DED
6. -
7. -
8. -
9. -
10. DED
11. -
12. -
13. -
14. -
15. DED
16. -
17. -
18. -
19. DED
20. -
21. -
22. -
23. DED
24. -
25. -
26. -
27. DED
28. -
29. -
30. -
31. DRAMATIC BUFFER
32. -
33. -
34. -
35. -

Obviously keep anything interesting as a separate monster.

Initial Thoughts On Itineraries

Thanks to +David Wilkie for his Wiki diving.


Step away from the idea that a map needs to be a survey. Why not, right? The concept of "Map" isn't a fundamental aspect of being human, we made it up. Even our modern maps aren't just sky photos, they've got their own contrivances, an arbitrary level of accuracy more than the one pictured above. Negligible even.

Itineraries tell us where cities or other useful stopping points are, the routes between them, and how long they take. Note, how long, not how far. If the route between Caragnium and Prax goes through a swamp, or the road is poor, or it's a dangerous area that requires careful going, then it will take more time. Just time. The map hardly has any indication of anything otherwise, certainly nothing not within easy reach of the paths. Leave the itinerary and you're on your own.



You can buy these in cities, so they almost always include directions from cities, to cities. Village folk need their wits about them to travel, so they rarely bother.

To generate an itinerary

1. You get your two places, any two. Let's use cities, since that's most likely.
2. Roll d3 for how many direct routes there are between them
3. roll d6 per route for the number of settlements on the way
4. roll d6 for each settlement - 1-3 village 4-5 stop (fort, tavern, waystation etc.) 6 something weird but traversable (ghost town, bandit canyon)
5. roll d6 for each connection - 1-4 one day travel 5-6 +one day, roll again
6. Paint in implied terrain. Anything you could see from the road and use as a directional aid (maps don't care for anything further)

See here, we have two cities linked by 3 routes with 6, 4 and 3 stops on the way. The top route will take a total of 11 days, middle 7 and bottom 7.  Since one is quite a bit longer than the other we can guess there is likely stuff in the way between the top two routes. Some hills here, a swamp there, done.


Now, when you get yourself one of these maps from an itinerant you have to remember they aren't always accurate. Things can change, people can be dumb or liars. Maybe he got it from another traveller and wrote it down wrong? Maybe the road is washed out?



How do we resist marking all the villages and forts and ghost canyons? Easy. If you don't remember a place or a village when you come to do another itinerary it's probably not on the way there. A city will have tons and tons of settlements within reach, it's plausible to not visit the same one twice (unless it's interesting and you remember it vividly).

What about the wilderness? Well it's wild. You know roughly what form it takes so just roll with it from there. No one goes cross country. No one! If you take the party offroad then you just decided to have a capital A Adventure. You may or may not turn up where you wanted. Remember, those trails are only relative to the beginning and end, the parallel paths might as well be on the moon for how accurate they are to each other.

2015 Dangoodstuff Award

Once again it's time for the first annual Dangoodstuff Award for Excellence in Games & Other Things I Like.

Award for Most Useful Game Book

Brendan S. - Wonder & Wickedness

It gave only the good stuff, no filler, terse to a razor point, and illustrated by one of my favourite artists ever: Russ Nicholson. This book will come in and out of my games for a very long time.

Honourable mention to +Paolo Greco for publishing this magnificent thing.

Award for Most Underrated Creator of Things

Anxious P. - The Cuticle Chewer's & Well-Pisser's Fantasy Report

I challenge you to find me another person writing in RPGs who has more surprising and beautiful prose. See? Can't do it 'cos there isn't. I'm putting my money down now: He will one day make a book, a something we can hold, that will make us all cough up a spleen.

Award for Illustrator Most Likely to be Unaffordable This Time Next Year

It's a tie!

Matthew Adams and Jeremy Duncan are everywhere in this tiny corner of games and rightly so. I mean, look that those pictures. 

So there, awards have been awarded for best reading, best looking and best useful of 2015. Collect your trophies at the door. But seriously, contact me and I will send you a trophy fashioned by mine own hand. This ain't some cheapjack award show, we're fancy. Everyone who missed out, just fight harder for my attention and you too may get one, one day.

Changing & Making Fighting Fantasy Characters

Talents are the most significant new thing I noticed in Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Ed. Can't say I'm too fond of them as they stand. They come across as being straight up feats from D&D, which were also not exactly packed with fun, being a list of rule exceptions or extra numbers you could have for being special. Out they go.


Ambidextrous is now the Two Weapon Fighting special skill:
This skill covers the use of two weapons in unison. Anyone possessing this skill may attack, with both weapons, a single or separate opponents. Unlike other skills this is not rolled but is instead a cap on your standard weapon skill. For example, if you wield an axe (skill 3) and a sword (skill 1) and have Two Weapon Fighting at 2, your attacks with the axe would be adjusted to skill 2 while your Sword skill would stay the same at 1.

Animal Friend is no longer supernatural and is instead folded into Animal Lore. Like this.

Elves and Dwarves no longer have standard Dark Seeing. It's boring and, like Animal Friend and Arcane, is an example of a talent whose only purpose is to completely lop off a challenge and potential source of fun.

The other talents are more overtly feat-ey, giving bonuses for not wearing armour or +1 damage with bows. No fun.

If we look a bit deeper to what the intent of these were, I suspect it was to give a little distinction to the heroes, a bit of history. So, what they did in the past. A career almost. Hi Warhammer.

In keeping with AFF2's light footprint it shouldn't have career trees. Instead it'll just have one that defines what you were. What you become is up to you.




HOW TO MAKE A CHARACTER


Start with:

Skill 3
Stamina 3
Luck 5
Magic 0

Roll 4d6

Assign full dice rolled to stats. luck, skill and magic may only have 1 die each but may also have none. Stamina may have 2.

Roll 3d6, total it.

Assign half the value as 2s and the rest as ones. Assign those 1s and 2s to Special Skills of your choice. (you roll a 13, that's three 2s and seven 1s)

Roll for race

Roll on the talent tree

Roll 1d6 to determine social status, priests get +2

Choose spells and gear and other bits and bobs.


Skills listed for convenience:

Combat Special Skills
Armour
Axes
Bows
Brawling
Clubs
Mounted Combat
Polearms
Staves
Strength
Swords
Thrown
Battle Tactics
Siege Weapons
Firepowder Weapons


Movement Special Skills
Acrobatics
Climb
Dodge
Jump
Ride
Swim

Stealth Special Skills
Awareness
Disguise
Locks
Sleight of Hand
Sneaking
Trap Knowledge

Knowledge Skills
Animal Lore
Bargain
City Lore
Con
Crafting
Etiquette
Evaluate
Fishing
Forest Lore
Healing
Hunting
Languages
Law
Leadership
Religion Lore
Sea Lore
Secret Signs
Underground Lore
World Lore
Engineering
Navigation
Stewardship

Magical Special Skills
Magic-Minor
Magic-Priestly
Magic-Sorcery
Magic-Wizardry
Magic Lore
Second Sight
Magic-Mask Magic
Magic-Conjuration
Magic-Necromancy
Magic-Tattooing
Magic-Battle Magic
Magic-Enchanting
Magic-Chaos Magic
Magic-Naval Sorcery



Race


1-3
Humans +1 Luck

1-6 Settled folk- Allansians, Old Worlders, Hachimanese, even Kazanids. +1 world lore, city lore, religion lore, one other movement or stealth skill

4
Elves +1 Magic

1-4 Wood elf - Your bog standard elfy elf. +1 Forest lore, Magic-Minor

5 Black Elf - Sad, sad black elves, always confused for dark elves. Maybe you should never have come back to the surface. You have silver hair, black skin, and cat eyes. As Elf but your social score is always 0 except among your own people, but you can see clear as day as long as there is a bit of light and gain +1 Magic and +1 underground lore. 

6 Mountain Elf of Khul - Similar to their forest cousins, but adapted to living in the mountain environment. In Aetos in southern Zamarra, they have even developed a method of flying with the use of mechanical wings. +1 mountain lore, +1 craft

5
Dwarves +2 Stamina

1-4 Dwarf - A short, belligerent, bearded, dwarf. Light sources are twice as powerful for them. +1 underground lore, crafting.

5 Gnome - Like a dwarf but smaller and grumpier. +1 luck, +1 magic, +1 forest lore, and the ability to turn invisible while no one is watching.

6 Half-Dwarf - You get tired of explaining that you're half ancient god-formed dwarf, not the boring old hairy dwarves you see down at the bank. If you get porked by a dwarf you won't get pregnant. You also won't get the smell of cheap booze out of your bedsheets, so you'd best just burn them. +1 world lore and an outstanding beard. Otherwise mostly human.

6 (The first time you roll a 6, re-roll. Only keep it if you roll another)
Other

1-2 Man-Orc - Assassin, champion, outcast, slave. You weren't born with many prospects. +2 stamina, +1 world lore +2 language-orc, 0 social standing

3 Fire Island Pygmy - A headhunting midget from remote Fire Island. You start with a stone spear, blowpipe, the ability to fit into small spaces, sharpened teeth (count as daggers) +1 hunting, and crippling culture shock. 

4 Half-Giant of Corda - Rare to see outside of Corda and the surrounding area, and even there they're a bit of a spectacle. Massive, 9ft human-looking thing. +4 stamina, +3 Strength skill, wildly emotional in every direction. 

5 Man-Troll - Pot bellied, hook nosed, prone to fits of spite and name calling. +1 skill, +2 stamina.

6 Rhino-Man - The original Rhino-Man was created by an insane sorcerer several centuries ago, but rebelled and killed him. They are fairly rare creatures, serving as formidable and loyal guards to those who can afford their services. +2 stamina, use their horn as a dagger (lance if they get a run up), and count their armour as being one up due to their thick hide (so leather cuirass becomes a hauberk)

Talents

These talents do not effect your choice to be a wizard or priest or whatnot. These are all in the past and you may have changed since then, but old skills can still come in handy.

All these bonuses are in addition to whatever starting gear or skills you may have.

You can't buy these with XP.

Anything marked with a * can be re-rolled if you aren't human. Or you can just make it work.



1-2 Adventurers

1-2

Adventurer - You're a restless guy with a taste for wizard slaying. In addition to whatever else you may have you start the with +1 luck. 

3

1-2 Battle Scarred Veteran - There are no shortage of wars to go around, but you've managed to take more than your fair share. You start with +1 luck, a polearm. breastplate, half empty bottle of Blacksand rum, and an old war buddy. Name him and roll up his stats. 

3-4 Demon-Stalker - Never one to pick the easy life, you staked your reputation on the ability to hunt and kill the creatures of chaos. +2 Second Sight and own a silver sword (or other appropriate silver weapon), can speak demon, and create a Dark Veil. The veil makes you invisible to demons of the abyss but they can sense you vividly (a la Frodo puts on the ring). 

5-6 Gladiator - A pre-eminent entertainer who broke the mould by retiring in one piece. +6 spread across at least four different Combat skills, and +1 skill & stamina. 

4

1-2 Hachiman Samurai* - A legitimate samurai (you swear) from Hachiman, come to live among the barbarians. Own a katana, +1 in Kyujutsu (Archery), Kenjutsu (swords) and Ni-to-kenjutsu (two weapon fighting), ability to use Iaijutsu (Fast draw, test your luck to hit before your opponent).

Salamonis

3-4 Knight of Salamonis* - A bastion of civilization in a hard and unforgiving land or militant racial purists. Depends who you ask. Start with a chainmail cuirass OR a large shield, both with the crest of Salamon placed prominently upon them. +4 to any combat skills. Can smell sorcery (smells like brimstone). Has 2d6 Amonour (weird fame currency of the Vale of Willow) 

5-6 Templar Knight of Telak the Swordbearer - Fanatical inhabitants of the Demonkeep Outpost, set to keeping constant watch over troublesome Brice. +2 to any combat skills, 5 Devotion (if they ever get trained in magic, use this or the standard formula, whichever is best) and have access to the blessings of Telak (p92 of the core rules)

5

1-2 Kazanid Swordsman - The Kazanids are renowned for their bravery and their acceptance of any creature or being that can stand up to their hard and, some would say, savage tests. Start with a sabre, fetching topknot, +2 combat skills, +2 movement skills, +2 stamina, rowdy yet endearing attitude.

3-4 Mauristatian Vampire Hunter - Nestled in mountains and covered in thick forest, Mauristatia has produced some of the most famous vampire dynasties of all time. Much to their dismay it's also a prime spot to find uppity vampire hunters, though they're quite short lived in these parts. +1 bow, +1 sword, +1 religion lore, can use Ward and Banish as though they had 5 Devotion, string of garlic, holy water, silver stake. 

5-6 Monk of Arn - One of the various orders of reclusive monks from the Isles of the Dawn, worshippers of Arn, the one true god. +1 skill, robes, baldness, +1 staves OR +1 brawling, +4 movement skills. 

6

1-2 Warrior-Priest of the Citadel - an order of warrior-priests based in Gallantaria, fashioned after their Ruddlestone partners who inhabit the Demonkeep Outpost. Dress in hooded, flowing robes and skull-caps, and are trained in the ways of magic as well as battle. The order was established shortly after the War of the Wizards and they are devoted to conquering Chaos within the kingdom. +1 to any combat skill, +1 Magic, +1 Magic-Priestly and have access to the blessings of Hamaskis (p92 of the core rules)

3-4 Chaos Champion* - Ex chaos champion, thanks. You no longer have the spiked armour and mask, but you're covered in ritual scars and haunted by nightmares. +5 points to spend on any Combat skills and you still have the eye of your chaos patron. He's happy for you to experiment with not laying waste to his enemies, but the door is always open. You may call upon your patron for aid, and have a chance of an audience (roll 3 6s on 3d6). To name your patron grab 1d3 handfuls of scrabble tiles. 

5-6 Horse Nomad* - The Nomadic barbarians of the Flatlands are dangerous enemies but while they continue to fight amongst themselves they will remain a harmless foe. Starts with +1 Ride, +1 mounted combat, +1 Archery, +1 world lore and a fine horse.

3-4 Academics


1-3

1-2 Allansian Wizard - The wizards of Allansia pluck magic out of the air like delicious cosmic fruit. +1 Magic-Wizardry, +1 magic, a terrible haircut OR ridiculous hat, and robes.

3-4 Old World Sorcerer - An older and more defined discipline, Old World sorcery uses the same arcane energies as wizardry but instead of taking them from the surrounding environment they draw it from within. The down side is the requirement of foci for much of their magic; sorcerer's are often recognised by their green wigs, a favourite and useful arcane tool.  +1 Magic-Sorcery, +2 stamina, a green wig.

5-6 Priest - The priesthoods of the primary religions of Titan can expect aid and respect when travelling in their own lands but are bound to uphold their faith. +1 magic-priestly, a holy symbol, priestly attire.

4

1-2 Southern Mask Magician - Mask Magic is a an idiosyncratic discipline that uses enchanted masks to bring about change in the wearer. Most practitioners studied Mask Magic in Kaynlesh-Ma (Arantis). +1 Magic-Mask Magic, knowledge and possession of 1 random mask. 

3-4 Apprentice to the Grand Wizard of Yore - You were a pupil of Vermithrax's wizarding school in the Forest of Yore, producer of innumerable famous wizards now poncing around the world's courts or meddling in things they should best let lie. Graduate or not, it's quite a reputation to carry about, with most people awaiting your inevitable rise to greatness. Gain 1 point in Magic-Wizardry, +1 Magic and +1 Luck. 

5-6 Red Priest of Traole - Worshippers or Arn at the temple of Traole, capital of Sunara in the Isles of the Dawn, renowned for their penchant for exorcisms to remedy almost everything. +1 Magic-priestly

Arn
The One God

Specific Power:

The priest may rebuke someone once per day who is acting innapropriately. This someone can be a person, an animal, a monster or a force of nature. Whatever it is, the priest must roll under his Devotion and if successful causes the rebukee to retreat, apologise, or otherwise feel shamed.

General Powers:

Ward
Banish
Sanctuary

Red Priest at the Altar of Earnest Entreaty

5

Sage - You're a classic academic, a product of the universities of Salamonis or Kaynlesh-Ma. +5 across 3 lore skills, writing tools, sample case.

Necromancer - The least popular magical practitioners. Shunned by the major centres of learning, they're left to their own devices on the edges of society, passing on knowledge in the time honoured master/student dynamic. +1 magic, +1 magic-necromancy, +1 sneak, pasty skin, always sweaty, physically OR mentally questionable henchman (name + stat him)

Alchemist - No longer stuck behind a sweaty alembic, you're off for some field study. With a successful skill test an alchemist can identify and point out any uses of plants and minerals. They may similarly taste-test gasses or consumables with a 1 in 6 chance of the effect doing its thing. Start with a mortar & pestle and a first edition copy of either Megellan's Witty Retort OR The Quest for Purest Green.

6

1-2 Wodewitch - A bitter old swamp crone or cunning man, maker of remedies and curses. +1 magic-minor +2 social status among peasants, a black cat OR a raven that can speak when no one else is listening, +1 magic lore.

3-4 Old World Numerologist -  By conceiving the heavenly cycles according to commensurate numbers with a cause, and by determining measures of the heaven according to certain mathematical ratios, one can grasp the universe firmly. +2 secret signs-maths, +2 lore skills, a very sharp compass (counts as dagger), once per week you can test you secret signs-maths to gain a sudden useful insight into a problem. 

5-6 Tattoo Magician - A rare but sought after style of magic, tattoo magicians are usually found in port cities and are usually indistinguishable from their swarthy mundane counterparts. +1 Magic-Tattooing, 1 random magic tattoo, 3d6 non-magic tattoos, bundle of tattoo needles, selection of mundane tattoo inks, +1 Tattoo Lore.

5-6 Scoundrels 

1-2

1-2 Beggar - People look down on panhandlers, but you know it takes more than an empty bowl to work the streets. You start with a begging bowl, a wooden leg OR missing eye OR superficial but disturbing skin disease, +2 City Lore and 0 social standing.

3-4 Slave - Galley slave, body slave, field slave, there are as many slave types as slave owners! +1 Strength skill from all that barge toting and bale lifting, +1 swim OR climb OR dodge from your daring escape.

5-6 Thief  - A fixture of city life, the card carrying thief often has cause to take to wandering. Enemies come thick and fast from both sides of the law. Start with +2 stealth special skills, +2 movement skills, roll of lockpicks and a grappling hook.

3-4

1-2 Urchin - Your mum was a prossy and your dad was a dustbin, you were raised by rats and graduated from the school of hard knocks with a degree in petty theft and dance.  +2 to any Stealth skills, +2 City Lore. 

3-4 Gremlin Catcher - You think rat catching's hard? You obviously haven't ever crawled around in a gremlin warren. You start the game with a small but vicious dog, a flat cap, a club, a sack, a jar with a pissed off gremlin in it, and the ability to fight in tight spaces without hindrance.

5-6 Ninja - An actual ninja. Where you came from is anyone's guess, but you always seem to turn up in the weirdest places. You have a sweet ninja outfit, +2 sneak, +2 climb +1 secret signs-ninja.

5-6

1-2 Brigand - Between Titan's remote islands of civilization there's no law but what you bring with you, and you left yours at home. You start with +1 Hunting, Ride and Swim. Roll a d6, on a 1-3 you ran off with you old gang's loot (+6d6 pennies left), on a 4+ they just think you did. Either way they're gonna come and get it back one day.

3-4 Blacksand Pirate - Blacksand! City of Thieves and Cut-throats, ruled by the dread pirate Lord Azzur. Never a more vital and vicious place to call home, which you proudly do. You start with a cutlass OR boarding axe OR pistol, outlandish clothes, a (small, mundane) pet bird OR monkey, +2 Sea Lore, +2d6 pennies (if you roll a double 6 you get no bonus but have a fabulous buried treasure somewhere hard to reach and adventure worthy)   

5-6 Slaver - Helping people meet people was your job, human resources if you will. +1 Evaluate, +1 in 2 different languages, +1 ride,  a gnarled club, a set of manacles.