Namazu

A heretical depiction of the God of Law separates the Noppinese Imperial Family from the teeming hordes of Namazu

"In High Shang we exchanged much of the beautiful paper money of Cathay for passage to the island nation of Noppin. [Molo digresses here, yet again, to describe the currency of Cathay. This description is the third such in the text and is once again completely contradictory to his earlier digressions. I have omitted it because scholars interested in such things are unlikely to look to a translated text.] Noppin is said to have been originally inhabited by a race of Froglings [sic] that were displaced by the arrival of humans. Despite the protestations of the locals, it is clear that the Noppinese inherited a great deal from these Froglings. Their style and manner of dress, when different from the Cathayans, is identical to that of these creatures, which the locals call Namzu [sic]. Indeed, even their High Pontiff is an exceptionally large member of this race. [Some scholars have translated the title as Emperor, but Molo clearly uses the same form he gives to Pontiff Molestius II, his contemporary] 

"The religion overseen by the High Pontiff of Noppin is also clearly influenced by whatever paganry the Namzu engaged in before their coming, as it is unlike that of Cathay or the Land of a Thousand Idols. Lawful monks from Cathay have brought their heretical from of the Law to Noppin and now the High Pontiff is head of a kind of hybrid Church. Due to the influence of the Law and perhaps in imitation of the First Emperor, the people of Noppin emphatically insist that their large namzu pontiff is a human, noting his 'mustache' instead of his whiskers, and his 'lovely' 'hydrated' skin instead of his oily hide.

"The smaller Namzu are relegated to the fringes of Noppin, living in the cold north or in the forests of Kokushi. It was in the Suicide Forest of Kokushi that our expedition had a most strange encounter with them. A frogling merchant we had picked up in the Land of a Thousand Idols stated many times that he was very confused at our attempts to communicate with his Noppinese cousins.  He claimed they were merely catfish dressed up by the locals as a prank. When we were able to speak to them in a crude form of Cathayan dialect, the frogling still insisted that they were mute animals. The namzu, too, said that we must have dressed up the frogling as a joke and talked it to walk upright. They said that the frogling could not speak and only croaked.

"Locals accused the Namzu of a great many ills. They claimed they were mischievous, prone to larceny, and even known to cuckold fishermen.  This first accusation may explain our encounter, but we saw no evidence of the other two and the idea of a woman giving herself to such a creature beggars belief." - Excerpt from The Travels of Parco Molo, 5th Edition, Evan Van Elkins trans. and ed.

A Namazu in traditional dress.

Namazu are small, catfish who walk and talk in the manner of men and are native to the islands of Noppin. While superficially similar to Froglings, and in many ways occupying the same social niche, the two races do not recognize the each other's person-hood.

Namazu are said to be quite stealthy.

Ability Score Increase: Your Dexterity increases by 2 and your Charisma increases by 1.

Age: Namazu reach adulthood around age 20 but can live to be several centuries old.

Alignment: In the five-fold system of the World of Nightwick, Namazu are usually Neutral and are never Lawful or Chaotic. In the nine-fold system of other worlds they tend towards Chaotic and Good alignments.

Size: Namazu are usually no taller than 3 feet. Your size is small.

Speed: Your speed is 25ft for both walking and swimming.

Amphibious: You breathe both air and water.

Sensitive Whiskers: Namazu can feel the vibrations of the air and earth with their whiskers. You gain advantage on Dexterity Saves made to avoid pit traps, sudden collapses, unseen precipices, or any other effect that would cause the ground to suddenly not be beneath your feet.

Resilient: Namazu's bodies are compact and strangely pliant. You never take bludgeoning, thunder, or force damage on a successful saving throw even if the effect would normally deal half damage.

Small and Barely Noticed: Namazu are used to avoiding the Big People. You are not blocked by any creature that is a size or more larger than yourself, and you may always hide if only other large creatures are looking for you - even if you are not initially obscured.

Dwarfs of the Dark Country

Dwarfs in the World of Nightwick are a fairy race and thus are fickle creatures known for mercurial moods - though by fairy standards they are fairly predictable.  They are shorter than a man, and typically thinner, though some famously barrel-chested ones are recounted in legend.  They love gold, jewels, and the other treasures of the earth more than all other things.  Due to their constant toil in search of wealth, their skin is often covered in soot and their hands black and calloused, though strangely delicate.  Their noses are universally large and knobby, their ears pointed, and their beards long and spindly.

There is only one dwarf kingdom remaining in the World - the Kingdom Under the Mountain in the Bald Mountains, near the city of Orlock in the Dark Country. They are ruled by the Mountain King, who is supposedly a knotty creature of enormous girth - though still of vaguely dwarfish cast. He is immensely suspicious of visitors, and like all dwarfs he is of the opinion that all of the metals and jewels of the earth belong to him.   For this reason he sends out dwarfs into the World.  He hopes that eventually they will be able to secret back some lucre that truly belongs in the treasurehouse of the dwarfs.

Despite their apparent preoccupation with this world, it is believed that they worship some form or aspect of the God of Law.  Indeed, many human clerics believe this is the reason that of all of the fairy races they are the most stable - though they are far too capricious for human tastes.  Those few who have ventured into the Kingdom Under the Mountain speak of enormous cathedral caverns that are used for the purpose that is their namesake.  In these are laid all sorts of treasures, including great bejeweled crosses and fired stones made into a vivid sort of stained glass.  Still, most clergy - and indeed most humans - mistrust dwarfs, and many believe they lead men away from honest pursuits towards stranger, darker ones such as adventuring.

Dwarf Race Abilities
Ability Requirements: Dwarfs must have a Dexterity of at least 13 and a Constitution of at least 15.  They can have a Charisma of no higher than 9.

Alignment Restriction: Dwarfs must be of good or neutral alignment.

Character Advancement: Dwarfs can advance as high as 6th level as a fighter, and may advance further if their Strength is at least 15.  They may advance as a rogue without restriction.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Dwarfs posses the restrictions of their chosen class, but due to their size they may never wield a two-handed weapon.

Hereditary Foes: Dwarfs hate goblins and all of their works.  Due to years spent fighting these creatures, Dwarf characters gain a +1 to hit against them.

Keen Detection: Regardless of class, Dwarfs can search for traps, secret doors, and sloping passages as though they were a rogue of equal level.  If the character is not a rogue, this ability only counts for places and traps constructed out of stone.

Green Eyes: Dwarfs are only able to see in tones of black, white, and grey.  This allows them to see in low light conditions up to 5 times the distance a human would in the same light, but only about half as far as a man could see in the light of the Sun.  The exceptions to this rule are gold, silver, and gemstones of all sorts, which they can see in brilliant and vivid color.

Just Enough Magic: If a dwarf is either alone or in a group consisting only of dwarfs, they can surprise or avoid humans in the wilderness on a roll of 1-3 on a 1d6.

Saving Throws: Dwarfs use the saving throw bonuses of their chosen class.

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Inspired partly by this post on Middenmurk and and Zzarchov's take on them in Neoclassical Geek Revival.

FLAILSNAILS Conventions for Nightwick Abbey

As a signatory of the FLAILSNAILS Conventions I have decided to put up a very rough and somewhat preliminary conversion guide for the current incarnation of the rules used in the Nightwick Campaign.  For now I'm assuming one is coming over from a version of TSR D&D, but I'm open to other options.

• Character Abilities: PCs will use ability score adjustments from Labyrinth Lord.  These bonuses do not cover any activities not covered in the core book.
• Races: the Nightwick Campaign currently uses a Race as Class system.  Your character becomes the racial class available in the Dark Country that is closest to your character's race.  Elves and Half Elven characters always become Changelings, while Halflings and Hobbits grow beards, develop an intense desire to make shoes, and generally become Gnomes.  Others shall be decided on a case by case basis.
• Classes: The following classes are available in the Nightwick Campaign: Assassins, Clerics, Druids, Fighters, Magic-Users, Paladins, Rangers, and Thieves.  All classes operate as explained in the Advanced Edition Compendium for Labyrinth Lord.  Fighters are the exception and gain Multiple Attacks as per Swords & Wizardry.  Racial classes include Changelings, Dwarves, Froglings, and Gnomes, but see races (above) for handling non-human characters.  In the event that you're converting an Illusionist you may pick whether your character is a Magic-User or a Changeling.
• Rules Cyclopedia Special Case: Lawful Fighters being brought in from the Rules Cyclopedia may choose to be Paladins for the duration of the game.  Neutral Clerics from the RC may enter play as Druids.
• Hit Dice:  All characters roll all of their hit die as if they were making a new character at whatever level their character currently is.  Use the Advanced HD option from the AEC.   Do not reroll 1s.
• Secondary Skills: Each Character begins with 1 secondary skill from the AEC.  This is rolled randomly.
• Alignment:  Each character is either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.  The vast majority of imported characters will be Neutral (meaning they are polytheists and not dicks).  Chaotic characters will only be those who actively worship the various Demons that exist in the Nightwick Campaign.  Lawful characters must worship the God of Law, and it is suggested that in previous games the character worshiped a Lawful or Lawful Good deity such as Heironeous or St. Cuthbert.
• Character Languages:  Languages operate as they do in LotFP:WFRP.  Treat the character as if they have never encountered a language other than Common or their racial language before.
• Age:  Character age as though the character is brand new in the Nightwick Campaign as per the AEC. However, if the character suffered any aging affects in previous games, these still apply.
• Multi-Classing: For simplicity's sake, multi-classed characters entering the Nightwick Campaign must pick which class they really are.
• Equipment:  The character begins with any equipment they had in the previous adventure (or its closest AEC equivalent).  However, they lose all of their gold coins upon entering the Nightwick Campaign (Dark Country taxes are rough).  The character may begin with 3d8 gp in order to buy some equipment they think they may need for the adventure, but that option is for sissies.
• Spells:  Spells function as they do in the AEC.  Incoming Magic-Users begin play with a number of spells in their spellbook equal to the number of spells they can cast per day unless they are level 1.  If they are level 1 they begin with two first level spells and one second level spell.  In addition they also begin play with Read Magic.  They cannot cast anymore than they could under standard LL rules.  These spells are rolled for randomly by the judge (if  he has enough time) or the player (if he doesn't).  Changelings use the illusionist spell list.

That should just about cover it.  It'd be unlikely that these rules would be used at the actual table, since my group meets at one of my players' homes; however, they would definitely be in effect if I ever offered to run Nightwick Abbey for Constantcon.

It is possible that I might make an online version of the Abbey use a different rules set (either straight up OD&D + Houserules or S&W) in which case I'll post a different set of conversion rules.

Race as Class, Race Plus Class, and Racial Classes

 

Regular readers of my blog will no doubt know that I have acquired a rather bizarre set of races for the Dark Country.  While it does have Dwarves and Gnomes, both are slightly (or drastically in the case of Gnomes) altered.  The other races are Changelings, half fairy creatures who replace Elves, and Froglings, drunken amphibian merchants from my campaign's equivalent of the Netherlands.

When I originally conceived of the Nightwick Campaign, I pictured using these races, though Gnomes and Changelings did not exist at the time, as other races are in OD&D: they can level as a fighter or a thief and get a few extra abilities based of their race.  When the decision was made to switch it over to Labyrinth Lord, I decided to stick with the Race as Class dynamic familiar to all those with experience using OSD&D.  This was primarilly done for simplicity's sake.  I know of a number of systems for desiging B/X/CMI classes, but I know of none for desiging AD&D races.  For that matter, Labyrinth Lord defaultly uses race as class and only with the advent of the AEC, which I only purchased recently, did it have the option to split race and class.

However, the longer the Nightwick Campaign goes the more I find myself using my 1e books.  I've primarilly been using them for dungeon stocking since I like the wide array of systems and monsters availible within those tomes.  However, I've also been contemplating using more of the classes from the AEC/AD&D.  The player of Barley Brownbeard almost made a ranger instead of a Dwarf using the AEC, and I would've let him.

In light of the increasing AD&D-ness of my campaign, I am left to wonder what I should do with the various demi-humans that putter about the Dark Country.  Some of them, like Dwarves and Froglings, would lend themselves well to having different classes.  Dwarves worship the God of Law, though their practice differs from human worship, and I'd desperately love to have Fighting Frogs like that fellow at the top of the page.  Others are tougher to figure out.  How do I deal with Changelings' inherent magical ability or Gnomes' alien psychology?

I'm not sure what the answer is yet, but it may lie in combining the various approaches.  Perhaps Dwarves may enter some of the classes currently available to humans to a limited degree, while Froglings and Gnomes have classes specific to themselves and Changelings are just Changelings.  This of course depends as much on the preference of my players as it does on me, so I'll have to posit this to them.

Post 100

Woo!

A lot has changed since I started this blog roughly three months ago.  Well, maybe not that much, but I have a group now and I'm running a game for the first time in months.  That's something.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank those of you who have followed me this far.  I've decided to give you a small gift.  It's a Labyrinth Lord class I developed for a campaign where I replaced all of the standard demihuman classes with weird equivalents.  I've taken some liberties with the source material.

Ghul
Requirements: STR 9 CON 9
Prime Requisite: DEX and CON
Hit Dice: d10
Maximum Level: 8
Saves: As Dwarf
Attack Table: As Fighter

Ghul's are strange humanoids who live in tribes in the colder reaches of the world.  Some, but not all, enjoy the taste of human flesh and conduct raids on human settlements to obtain it.  Players are encouraged not to play this sort.  Others hire themselves out as mercenaries in human lands, and their skill in combat is legendary.

They have transparent skin and appear to be skeletons with a strange membrane around them.  This makes them quite difficult to detect.  In darkness they have a 5 in 6 chance of being undiscovered even while moving.  In other settings this is reduced to a 2 in 6 chance and to do so they must remain completely still.

Since they wish to take advantage of this, Ghul's are not trained to use any sort of armor.  Such armor would cause their body to be more visible.  They can, however, use shields and any weapon they can get their hands on.  Ghul's have the ability to regenerate injured tissue.  They regain 1 hit point per turn unless the injury was caused by fire.

Ghul's must have a 13 in one of their prime requisites to get a +5% experience bonus and 13 in both to receive a +10% bonus.

Reaching 8th Level: At 8th level a Ghul founds a tribe.  This attracts a large number of other Ghuls to them, and they look to him or her as a chief.  This tribe is most likely nomadic and will not be supported by a stronghold or other permanent structure.

Advancement Table
Experience/Level/HD
0/1/1
3,461/2/2
6,921/3/3
13,841/4/4
27,681/5/5
55,361/6/6
110,725/7/7
221,445/8/8

Froglings for Labyrinth Lord

Frogling

Requirments: DEX 12 CON 9

Prime Requisite: DEX and CHA

Hit Dice: d6

Maximum Level : 9

Saves: As Dwarf

Attack Table: As Fighter

Froglings are frog-like humanoids from the distant county of Hopland.  They are no more than 4' tall, but their weight varies wildly.  Their skin coloration also varies, but most have green or dark brown skin.  They are excellent brewers and craftsfrogs.  Froglings are primarily found in the West or the Dark Country in mercantile roles.  They may wear any armor, though some may have to be specially adapted to fit their squat frame, but may only use one handed weapons.

Due to the dangers of their swampy home, Froglings are always on the lookout for danger.  Froglings may roll an extra die in addition to the Party roll for surprise.  The Frogling then gets the better of the two results.  They also have a 50% (1-3 on 1d6) chance of finding food in a marshy, swampy, or forested environment.  If they do so, the Labyrinth Lord must roll another d6.  If the result is a 6, the food is poisonous to all but the Frogling.  The Frogling should not be aware of this.

Froglings are also adapt climbers.  They gain the Climb Sheer Surfaces ability as though they were a Thief of the same level.  (If the alternate Common Tasks system from Lamentations of the Flame Princess is being used, this translates into a 1-3 on a 1d6 chance to climb regularly, or a 1-2 on a 1d6 to climb a sheer surface).

Froglings may hop up to 30' horizontally and 15' vertically.  They do not take any damage from falls less than 40', which they treat as 10' for damage purposes.

Reaching 9th Level: At 9th Level a Frogling can establish a Merchant House.  This must be done in a major city or a community that receives a large amount of traffic from various traders.  This Merchant House will attract both Froglings and Human Man-at-Arms to the Frogling's service.  The Frogling will act as the Guildmaster for the Merchant House.

Froglings may swim as fast as they can walk unless encumbered.  They need less oxygen than other characters while swimming.  The effects of this must be determined by the individual Labyrinth Lord.

Advancement Table

Experience/Level/HD

0/1/1

2,241/2/2

4,481/3/3

8,561/4/4

17,121/5/5

34,251/6/6

68,501/7/7

137,001/8/8

274,001/9/9

Underworld Systems and Character Types

Forgive me if this is a bit rambling.  My thoughts on these subjects are a bit half-formed, but I feel like I need to get something about them hammered down before I continue developing the Underworld.

In the days when the Underworld was called the Lost Lands, I went through a number of possible system options.  It was originally designed alongside a homebrew system created in order to fill the requirments of Matt Finch's Quick Primer on Old School Gaming while still being appealing to the new schoolers I played with.  It did this with some success, but it lacked the kinds of guidelines I like when making wilderness and dungeon areas (such as No. Appearing and Treasure Class).  I toyed with using the "Lost Lands" as the basis for a Swords & Wizardry based game, even going so far as to write up a pretty extensive house rules document that is now lost to the ages.  I've even considered using a combination of yellow book BRP and the Bronze Grimoire to power the setting, but nothing came of that either.

Now that I've picked it up again (as a side project) and given it a bit of a face lift, I need to think about what system I'm going to use to power it.  Obviously, I could go the route of Scott of Huge Ruined Pile and make all the material as systemless as possible.  I don't feel comfortable with that option.  The amount of  changes that would have to be made to any given system to accommodate just the monsters is pretty large.  Almost all of D&D's monster list is completely useless.  The only exceptions being certain undead and summoned monsters.  I'm fine making a wholly new monster list, but I wouldn't want to burden some other sap who decided this setting was the bomb and wanted to use it in his or her home game.  Therefore I need some system I can provide stats for, though I will probably put out little handouts on how to run this setting with other systems.

So what system?  I'm currently getting better acquainted with Labyrinth Lord since the group that I will be DMing for is relatively familiar with that system.  I'm also a fan of LotFP:WFRPG.  So some sort of B/X D&D hack?  Well... no.  I've never really been comfortable making monsters for those systems as I never know how much xp they should be worth.  The most likely answer is the Swords & Wizardry White Box, which is by far my favorite retroclone.  It has a bare bones sensibility that I think will lend itself well to tinkering and this project in general.

Of course I could pick up another side project that would fill a similar niche in my creative efforts but not be as arduous a task.  Possibly more on that later.

With that out of the way, I need to decide what character types I wish to represent with these rules.  Fighters and Magic Users fit in easily to the setting.  Clerics stick out like a sore thumb.  They fit great in Nightwick Abbey's pseudo-Medieval milieu, but their holy magic and mace wielding antics are a poor fit for a setting where even the nicest gods have terrible serpents for pets.  I could just stick to Fighting Men and Magic Users, possibly importing LotFP:WFRPG's encumbrance rules and lack of weapon/armor restrictions, but I'm not sure about that yet.  I feel like I want to allow some other class options for the players if only to give them more options.

That being said, none of the other classes developed for TSR D&D strike me as appropriate for this setting.  Thieves could work, but I find that they generally muck up OD&D.  Still they are an option.  The others work less well.  I'll probably have to create some of my own with the setting in mind, but I'll burn that bride when I cross it.

To close, here is an inspirational image for the setting:

Now back to thinking about Nightwick Abbey...

Elves and Fairies

There are few things more frightening to the people of the West than Elves.  Perhaps demons, who have the power to steal the souls of humans, are more terrifying but if so only to a marginal degree.  The Elves and their fairy kin lair in deep forests across the world, and that includes the Dark Country.

In the forest of that strange hinterland they compete with Orcs over "food."  Or perhaps they don't.  Perhaps they share some common and diabolic cause, after all the White Lady employs those bloodthirsty, porcine beasts.  

Elves and fairies come in all shapes and sizes.  Some are roughly human sized but are incredibly beautiful to look upon.  Others are tall leafy things with green, wrinkled skin.  Even more have animal-like features, though they aren't as disgusting as Orcs.  Some are small enough to fit in the palm of your hands, and others are as tall as trees.  They are not one race but many races.  They bicker and feud amongst themselves, but all are equally inimical to Humankind.

Despite this, they are not all aligned with Chaos.  They seem to be much closer to the Old Gods: strange and alien creatures who permit humans to exist within their realms as long as the proper sacrifices are upheld.  They certainly have a capricious nature, but they are not nearly as destructive as the forces of the Adversaries.  Still, one would never confuse them for being "friendly."

Some theologians have postulated that they are the weakened forms of angels who refused to join the God of Law in his battle against the infernal masters of the Pit.  According to this narrative, these angels were cursed to live in quasi-mortal bodies on the material plane, and now spend their days torturing the greatest of God's creations: Humans.  Those few fairies who have been questioned on the subject simply laughed.  Those few souls who have asked did not return to tell this rather enigmatic answer to those who would care.  Of course, that's what legends say, and how can there be legends if no one ever returned?

Elves and Fairies have some connection to Changelings, though no one is entirely sure what the nature of that connection is.

Making Elves Playable

As I've discussed in earlier posts, my conception of elves is less about Tolkien and much more about the horrible fairies that scared the Medieval mind.  One problem is that I feel like I'm running into is that Elves are becoming too alien to be viable player characters.  While, as my source fiction will quickly attest, I'm not a fine of characters being champions of Truth, Justice, and the Waterdhavian Way,  I'm also not a big fan of letting players play things that should rightfully be monsters.  In the World, monsters aren't just people with Star Trek makeup.  They are terrible creatures with inhuman and inscrutable goals who seek to unmake reality and plunge all creation into darkness. 

Why am I talking about monster PCs in my discussion of Elves?  Because as outlined so far in my thoughts, Elves might as well be monsters.  I've even hinted that one of the spooky beings on my little sandbox map may in all likelihood be an Elf.  If Elves are sinister, capricious, and alien, they not only are dangerous to humans, but also difficult to represent for the player.  At this point handing an Elf to one of my players would be a "you can be an asshat now" licence.  I don't like that.

I see three ways out.  The first, and least palatable to me, is to drastically change my conception of Elves.  I think that what little following and interest I have received -- and thank all of you for that -- has been due to the rather dark take I have on traditional fantasy.  Sanitizing Elves would be both against my natural inclinations and against what makes Nightwick unique in the fist place.  My second option is to say that such accusations are not but peasant superstition.  While an easy answer, I think it has similar problems to the fist.  Finally, I could steal a page from Raggi's book and state that the Elves who are PCs are only those Elves that are exceptional, i.e. don't want to unmake human society for shits and giggles.

I'm still thinking on this, and it may be a long time before I do a quasi-in setting post on Elves.

By Popular Demand: Froglings

Froglings hail from a distant low-land country known to the Humans of the world as Hoppland.  Hopland is little more than a large salt marsh which extends to the Darkest Sea.  There the Froglings build their cities.  The Men of the west often have noted that Frogling architecture and clothing is strikingly similar to that of their Human counterparts, a fact which Froglings are quick to deny.  Froglings dress quite similarly to Western  Humans, but they always are seen wearing garish colors and clothes stained with foreign substances.

The Froglings marshy home is haunted by foul creatures of various sorts.  At night they retreat to their lantern-lit cities to avoid ravaging Bullywugs, Poisonous Froads, Snake Men, and more terrible creatures.  As such, Frogling society is highly urbanized, possibly even more so than Human culture.  Brave knights defend these cities from the ravages of Naga and the undead.  Froglings are often brave warriors, though they are aware that their small stature rather hinders them in a fight.  So, while Froglings often like to put on the air of a swashbuckling rogue, their true art is that of a thief.

The Church sees Frogling culture as a diabolic parody of Human society.  Froglings are known for their excellent skills in making all manner of alcohol, particularly beer.  Their stout ales and venomous lagers are the envy of Dwarvenkind, but their proclivity for drink and their pugnacious attitude appall the more conservative elements of God's Church.  For their part the Froglings seem to have no religion, being far more interested in contemplating philosophies of honor, death, and drink.

Froglings are also known for their bizarre cuisine, which consists of heavily spiced swamp-bugs which are often poisonous to other races.

Though still seldom seen in the realms of man, Froglings upset humans less than the other races.  Despite the Church's general condemnation of such creatures, their brewing arts are prized enough for them to often be in high demand in the cities of Men.  They are often lampooned or viewed as comical figures, a mistake most humans who meet one in person only make once.

Character Advancement: Froglings may advance as much as they wish as a Thief.  They may also choose to be a Fighter, however if they do so they are limited to 6th level.

Climb Sheer Surfaces: Regardless of which class they chose, Froglings always gain the Climb Sheer Surfaces Thief skill.  Froglings who are also Thieves treat this skill as if they were four levels higher.

Hop: Froglings may jump a distance of 30ft horizontally or 15ft vertically.  Froglings do not take falling damage for distances under 30ft.

Wary: Froglings may roll an extra d6 when determining surprise and take the better result.

Swim: Froglings may swim for far longer than the other Races.  The exact amount of time is up to the referee.

Saving Throws: Froglings receive a +4 to saving throws vs. Poison.

Men and Magic of Nightwick Abbey

I have a few minutes to spare and I thought I would use this space to outline what kinds of characters I will be allowing in the upcoming voice chat game.

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Humans

I'm including more human classes than the basic three.  I'll provide a little bit of the flavor and mechanical changes below, but expect to see more substantive posts on each one in the coming days.

Cleric -- I discussed the framework for clerics in an earlier post.  As stated there, lawful Clerics may only heal, while Chaotic cleric can cast reversible spells and still heal.  Clerics will receive a number of bonus spells based on their Wisdom score.

Fighting-Man -- There isn't much you can add to the Fighter flavor rise.  It represents both the civilized fighting men who have converted, and the pagan barbarians.  I'm using "follow through" from Ruins & Ronin instead of the Fighter's normal ability because I like it better.  I believe I read somewhere that that rule originated with Dave Arneson, but I don't know the veracity of that statement.

Magic-User -- Magic-Users in the World must usually hide their practices.  While there is nothing inherently evil about their art, the Church frowns upon such activities unless they are used for the glory of God.  However, the fear of Magic-Users saves them more often than it harms them.  Who would want to piss off someone who can turn you into a toad?  I'm using the Holmes rules for scrolls, and Magic-Users will gain a bonus number of spells per day based on their Intelligence.  They will also be allowed to use crossbows.  Magic-Missle always hits.

Thief -- Thieves are found throughout the urban areas of the World.  They do not for "guilds" nearly as often as people think they do, but criminal gangs are fairly common.  I'm using a version of the Thief class whose abilities are based on S&W's saving throw mechanic.  Anyone can sneak, but the Thief's abilities are supernormal.  They do not have the ability to find traps, and one anyone can disarm a trap with a clever explanation, the Thief can just do it mechanically.

Druid --  I discussed Druids a bit in the above post.  My main goal with the Druid is to remove the hippy association and return them to their rightful place: burning men in wicker cages.  They will receive bonus spells based on their Wisdom score.

Paladin -- I'm using the version of the Paladin outlined by James of Grognardia.  The only difference for me will be that the Paladin's of my campaign are sponsored by the Church and believe in God.  It is possible I will develop an Anti-Paladin class.

Ranger -- Again, I'm looking to Grognardia for inspiration; however, I'll be reducing the amount of HP James allowed his Rangers.  For the purposes of my setting, Rangers are scions of civilization who chose to live in the wilderness in order that they might preempt attack from the forces of Chaos.  The prime requisite for the Ranger will most likely be Constitution.

Witch -- Witches are the wise people of pagan villages.  They know the proper sacrifices necessary to appease the Old Gods, and how to heal the sick.  This is a completely homebrewed class, and I may not include it.  If I do, it will replace the Druid.  It uses a combination of Magic-User and Druid spells from a special list.  It also gains the ability to shift into a small animal, decided on at character creation.  They will most likely gain bonus spells from Charisma, because I am a fan of using all of the ability scores if possible.

Healer -- The Healer fills largely the same niche as the Witch, and therefore I will not include both.  If I decide to include the Druid, then I will include the Healer to provide a pagan alternative to the Cleric for healing.  This class is available on the Mythmere Games website.

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Demihumans

In the original Nightwick campaign I did not allow demihuman character types.  Pressure from the wife, and one of my inspirational sources have compelled me to do otherwise this time.  I'm going to use the LBBs method of saying that demihumans are limited to different classes rather than doing a race-as-class setup.  There is one glaring exception below.

Dwarves -- Greedy, drunken little people who hate goblins.  I'll be posting more on their relationship with goblins later.  For now they can only level up as a Fighting-Man.  I'll probably let them advance as far as name-level so that a PC can become a King Under the Mountain.  I think it is important to note that if someone made a movie of Nightwick Abbey that the Dwarves would be played by little people instead of a CGIed John Rhys-Davies.

Halflings -- Despite my love of the Hobbit, Halflings in my campaign are going to represent something more akin to a Leprechaun, i.e. a small woodland sprite.  They may only advance to third level as a Fighting-Man but may advance fully as a Thief.  Perhaps, as Scott of Huge Ruined Pile points out, it is better to call the Gnomes.

Elves -- Elves are ephemeral and terrifying creatures of the woods.  I hinted at that a little in an earlier post. Elves will be a class unto themselves.  I'm using the typical Fighting-Man/Magic user at once setup.  I may switch out their Magic-User spell list for a Druid one.

Cyclops -- This is only a possible one.  Cyclops would be largely based on the character from Krull.  They possess a strange and mystical society focused around contemplation of death.  Regardless of whether or not they are allowed as PCs, they have a long and secreted history in the campaign world.  They may advance as Fighting-Men, Magic-Users, and Druids.

Froglings -- A possible replacement of Halflings.  I originally was going to include them but I think they might break the setting's dark tone.  I will not include both them and Halflings.  They are drunken, raucous, and adventurous little frog-men.  They're based on the song Froggy Went A Courtin', the Wind and the Willows, and an odd pun about beer and hoppes.  They're culture would be largely based on the Netherlands.  I'm an odd bird.

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There you have it.  Sorry about the length.  Comments are always appreciated.