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Hey avian borne infections are no joke, especially in ancient medical times. okay it is kinda funny
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Sep 18, 2022 18:37
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Civilization V did ancient Rome dirty: their civilization abilities are underpowered, their special unit was kind of pointless, and the guy they found to voice Caesar could not have sounded more bored. But the worst part was hidden away in the Civilopedia, where the entry on Rome stopped dead with the early empire. It acted like Roman civilization hit 20 BC and ascended to a higher plane of existence, never to be seen again. See, I have a Masters in what’s called Public History (talking about history to the public, essentially, though there’s a bit more to it), but to get that degree I had to do some scholarly work to round myself out. Most of my work fell under the development of modern Internet culture and neurodiversity, but I also extensively studied Late Antiquity, the period covering the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the birth of the roots of modern Europe. That poo poo is a sticking point for me, one that drives me the kind of nuts only specialists seeing somebody getting their area of expertise wrong in ways only they can detect ever get. So let’s see that in action, shall we? Welcome to another 3rd Edition GURPS sourcebook, this time the second edition of their ancient Rome book. The book credits Volker Bach and Loren Wiseman as research assistants and general helpers, both long-standing GURPS writers themselves as well as a founding writer of Traveller (Wiseman) and a writer of previous GURPS books on Rome and gladiators (Bach). Volker Bach may also be a food historian was written on ancient Roman cuisine or a respected physicist, it seems like a common German name and I wasn't able prove any connections. But who wrote the book itself, you ask? Why, C. J. Carella, who has a significant GURPS resume himself but is most famous for his contributions to RIFTS, a system not exactly known for its slavish devotion to realism and cultural sensitivity. I personally might have thought twice before putting my historical sourcebook in the hands of the dude who wrote excitedly about meeting spidergoats in the next couple decades, but I’m not Steve Jackson. Apparently Carella has a BA in history, but… Well, it’s clearly been a while since he had to do any kind of academic study. I haven’t fully read the book yet, just the first few dozen pages, but already I’ve spotted all kinds of issues that get under my skin. I think taking the same tack I did with most of GURPS Aztecs, just inserting little asides every time I spot something I want to criticize, will eventually leave me curled up on the floor under the weight of suppressed pedantry. So I’m going to implement a system to keep that under control, and because this is Something Awful, I of course have to use smilies:
As far as layout goes, this is dirt-standard 3rd Edition GURPS sourcebook: every page has a main section that covers maybe three quarters of it and a sidebar on something vaguely related filling the rest unless it’s the first page of a chapter, in which case it has full-page spread of a map or thematic image. The art is unusual by 3rd Edition standards in that it clearly wasn’t done by the same standby artist that did almost every other GURPS book I’ve covered in the thread; it’s more detailed and photorealistic, with a better grasp on anatomy and a distinctly Greco-Roman sense of proportion. I like it, but even though it’s objectively better art it’s not any more evocative than the stuff their standby churns out, so  . Expect to see just about every piece of art in the book breaking up my paragraphs, because the book has enough art for me to sprinkle it into every update but not so much I can afford to pick and choose. This book looks pretty good and reads relatively well. We just don’t know how good its content is yet.I’ll get into the first chapter, which covers life in Rome, in the next post. But before I get cranking, I wanted to ask the thread a question: are there any topics of Imperial Roman history, culture, and society you’d like me to focus on? There’s a lot to cover here and if anyone has questions they’d like answers to, I can make sure to cover them as I go.
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Sep 18, 2022 18:43
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I think I speak for all of us when I demand to hear about the phallus, in art, religion and jokes. Also since the history of ancient independent Roma is close to a millennia the authors really painted themselves into a corner by deciding to go with a single book. Things were very different in the late empire from the early republic, is what I'm saying.
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Sep 18, 2022 19:10
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I know CJ; he really hit his stride in his writing for Eden Studios (Witchcraft and creating Unisystem), and GURPS Rome was not one of his strongest outings.
Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Sep 18, 2022 |
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Sep 18, 2022 19:12
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By popular demand posted:I think I speak for all of us when I demand to hear about the phallus, in art, religion and jokes.
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Sep 18, 2022 20:46
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Falconier111 posted:I’ll get into the first chapter, which covers life in Rome, in the next post. But before I get cranking, By popular demand posted:I think I speak for all of us when I demand to hear about the phallus, in art, religion and jokes.
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Sep 18, 2022 21:45
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  Tools & Tables Technically the Adventure Atlas is first, but as that section is really long and makes references to things in this section, I’m doing a rare out of order review. Tools & Tables focuses on filling in the blanks for the Biblical sandbox beyond the sample locations and encounters, useful for DMs who need to prepare material on the fly or who need to give the players a gentle push when they’re feeling directionless. Random Encounter Table details 30 different encounters PCs can come upon on their travels, with results separated by terrain type (settlement, desert, field/marsh, etc). A few are generic enough to be used multiple times, but some detail unique people or events that act as self-contained plots or help lead into another quest. You’ve got your typical encounters with bandits and various beasts, traveling merchants willing to do business with the party, pilgrims headed somewhere and eager to share rumors and goings-on of the places they’ve traveled, soldiers on patrol, a hidden treasure chest in the wilderness, and the like. But some of the more unique encounters include meeting a Gentle Giant who wants to defy stereotypes and earn a living as a tailor (PCs who help him out with this get fine clothes granting advantage on all Charisma checks), a meager village on the lookout for a peacemaker as Roman and Parthian legions threaten to turn their settlement into a battleground, and a corrupt nobleman who infested an old lady’s garden with magically-regenerating thorns in a plot to buy out her home at a drastically reduced price. Random Discoveries Table is a d100 table for various treasure and magic items. There are 50 different results, and 19 of them place a magic item of some kind in the party’s possession. Some of the non-magical results can be useful for particular quests, such as an insignia of rank of a Roman centurion or a voucher for free passage on board a ship. Some are luxury goods worth quite a bit of gold, and some have no value but contain interesting setting flavor such as a wax candle carved with the face of the Babylonian deity Marduk. Doing Research is a new sub-system for whenever the PCs take time to search for information in a library or other hub of knowledge. It is a d20 roll that adds one’s Intelligence modifier that can generate a random result, although PCs seeking more specialized knowledge can learn what they’re looking for as long as they roll equal to or higher than the desired result. There are 28 different results,* all of which are useful to at least one of the major quests or side quests in this campaign. Examples include the location of the Tower of Babel, blueprints for the Library and Museum of Alexandria detailing the location of a vault of precious relics, a lead to one of the locations of the Three Wise Men, the locations of the lairs of one of the Archdemons besides Abbadon and Lilith,** and the second half of the prophecy about the Messiah which explains that the Messiah must die in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Two results instead improve a character’s personal power, granting them proficiency in an ability of choice or finding a book of magic that lets the researcher cast a spell of 3rd level or lower once per day. *given that Intelligence for PCs maxes out at 20 (+5 modifier), I’m unsure how they’re supposed to get a 26 or higher unless already-researched results are “knocked down” a DC. *they’re fought at the end of the campaign. Visions, Prophecies, & Dreams represent God sending knowledge and inspiration to a PC, and can be triggered as part of one’s abilities like a Prophecy Cleric’s class features or as part of rewards or events in the story. The Visions are separated into 7 tables, all detailing an in-character reading of a dreamlike premonition. 5 of the tables point to locations of an archdemon’s lair, one table is a d6 for miscellaneous quests, and the last table is a Create Your Own where part of a vision is set up before ending in an ellipsis to be filled in by the DM. Allies & Associates provides 21 named NPCs and 1 generic stat block for times when the PCs need or request a little extra help in their current trials. NPCs should be used sparingly, such as when the party is about to lose deadly combat, are unsure where to go next, or have a small party size to provide for some balance in upcoming combat encounters. The NPCs can all be encountered at various points in the campaign, and the table provides likely locations to find them as well relevant page numbers. Not all of them are equal in power and usefulness. Spellcasters such as the Witch of Endor are very powerful and thus more likely to have their own goals and expect a favor out of the party, Celestials are extremely goal-driven and single-minded in performing the task God set out for them, and the Queen of Sheba is harder to justify appearing by herself without a fully-armed guard. The generic stat block is for an Angry Mob, which can be used for any time the common folk of a region decide to band together to aid the party against some danger or threat.  Factions is a new sub-system that is used to determine the party’s standing among the powers-that-be in the Middle Kingdoms. Relationships with the twelve factions are divided into three broad categories of Allied, Neutral, and Hostile, which can shift depending on their actions in the campaign. PCs start with a Neutral value with all factions, and Allied/Hostile standings can impart unique benefits and penalties. Several Hostile ratings cause increased chances of combat against soldiers/bounty hunters/cultists/etc searching for the party while in that faction’s areas of influence. Naturally several factions are opposed to each other, and gaining influence with one can lower influence with the other and vice versa depending on circumstance. Three of the factions are international power blocs: Rome, Parthia, and Sheba. Allyship typically grants NPC soldiers to serve the party while they visit their cities along with some more unique features: Bandits don’t mess around with Romans, Parthia can grant free passage in their port cities, and Sheba can grant gold from the treasury or library research. Being Hostile with any of them can provoke random encounters with those country’s soldiers while remaining in their territory. Three of the factions are paramilitary groups: Zealots, Skiritai, and Sicarii. The Zealots and Sicarii are Jewish groups united in the goal of driving out Rome, although the Sicarii broke off from the Zealots in being more willing to kill civilians and have recently begun lending their services out as contract killers to gain more funds. The Skiritai are a Spartan-founded mercenary company willing to recruit any warriors who prove their mettle and have a close relationship with the Society. The Zealots can provide ways for PCs to safely move through cities held by Hostile factions, the Skiritai can let the PCs hire out mercenaries for a limited number of encounters, and the Sicarii can grant access to their list of contract killings and allow PCs to post their own bounties. Hostile relationships with any of the three are inevitably violent: Zealots are likely to Sneak Attack PCs in crowded marketplaces, Skiritai units will demand PCs leave their territory along with their gold before fighting, and Sicarii assassins have a chance to ambush PCs every time they take a long rest no matter where they are. Three of the factions are the major Jewish groups: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. They more or less preside in Judea and in Jewish neighborhoods in the wider world. The Pharisees are the largest group, popular among working-class Jews. The Sadducees reside almost entirely in Jerusalem and make up much of the city’s upper class. Both they and the Pharisees preside over that city’s court system. The Essenes are Jews who mostly live in rural communes, tired of the infighting between the former two factions and prioritize the accumulation of knowledge. Due to this, they have close ties to many libraries. Allying with the Pharisees lets the party set their status to Allied for any other 3 factions of choice representing that denominations’ political influence. Sadducees grant access to an NPC priest who can cast spells on behalf of the party and can donate money to the party for quests in line with their goals. The Essenes grant access to the secret archives of libraries and allow PCs to roll research checks with advantage. Hostile status with the Pharisees makes them set 3 other factions to Hostile, the Sadducees send out temple guards to demand financial restitution for the PCs’ wrongdoing in order to set them back to Neutral, while the Essenes can get the party banned from secret archives and make them roll research checks with disadvantage. The final three factions don’t fit neatly into the above categories. The Nomad Confederation is an alliance of nomadic groups who know the Wilderness of Zin (Arabian Desert) like the backs of their hands, and Allyship with them grants easier means of surviving and traveling in deserts, but Hostile status causes PCs’ perishables to deplete at twice the normal rate in that same territory. The Society is a consortium of Silk Road merchants banding together for mutual aid. Allying with them can lower the costs of items in marketplaces as well as passage aboard ships, and Hostility causes PCs to suffer the reverse. The Shadow of the Beast is a cult that serves the Archdemons; they are the group that is most likely to end up Hostile to the PCs, and being Allied will most likely be the result of the party fooling them under a false identity. Allyship grants the party knowledge of all cultist hideouts whenever they enter a new city and a possible archdemon lair, while Hostile status risks encounters with cult spellcasters whenever the party sleeps in a city with a cult cell. The map above indicates the regions where certain factions hold particular sway. Rome dominates the west, Parthia holds sway in the northeast, and the Nomad Confederation and Sheba stand guard in the south. The Jewish groups are mostly local to Judea and surrounding areas, while the Society and Skiritai have sparse holdings but have more power in mobile economics. The Zealots, Sicarii, and Shadow of the Beast don’t have any claimed towns per se but exert their power in subtler ways. The relative power of faction allyship differs. The Pharisees are very useful not for anything they provide themselves so much as granting the immediate benefits of other factions. Zealots can be useful for avoiding urban encounters and gaining access to otherwise closed cities, while the Essenes and Society benefits are broad enough to be helpful for most types of adventuring parties. The factions which grant NPC allies are always a plus, although ones that require gold to be spent such as with the Skiritai are less useful unless the PCs get rich. Rome’s ability to bypass Bandit encounters isn’t that useful as they are but one of 30 such encounters that can be triggered. Parthia doesn’t have as many deep-water ports as Rome* which makes their free seafaring not all-encompassing, and the boons of audiences with their local kings is more based on DM Fiat. The Nomads are mostly useful for times when the PCs have to traverse the desert but depending on whether they go that may not come up often. The benefits of the Sadducees aren’t as big if the PCs have a divine spellcaster of their own in the party, and the Sicarii is a great source of money but is heavily geared towards evil parties or ones that don’t mind big hits to their Grace score. Given how many major encounters and adventures take place in Roman territory, making Rome hostile is overall worse than doing the same for Parthia or Sheba, and pissing off the Sicarii can hurt you no matter where you are. If anything, a hostile Society has the least impact, although many players may not be keen on parting with more gold if they can help it. *at least, in the section of the world mapped out by the campaign.  Atlas Locations A-Z This whopping chapter covers 48 pages and 67 locations arranged in alphabetical order. Detailed sidequests and places of greater import to the main story aren’t detailed here but in the next chapter, Events and Encounters. There are some recurring elements among the Atlas locations: port towns list the price and travel time for booking passage on ships to certain locations, and several towns list prices for certain magic items (several of which can only be bought in that particular town). There are also Suggested Events which are minor encounters and plots, some of which can tie into the larger quests or are just set dressing for local flavor. Particularly difficult encounters may mark a minimum party level for the DM to spring on the PCs, and Roman-controlled towns often have local colosseums which tie into the larger Tournament and Champions encounter. Think colosseum-centric minigames. I’m not going to cover each location, that will take too much time and space. Instead I’ll briefly cover several of the more interesting places. Alexandria is where the Magi Melchior currently resides, although his research in the world-famous Library is being hindered by the current owner who cares more about the prestige of ownership than actual scholarship. Antioch’s Silk and Spice Inn is home to several interesting patrons: a Buddhist monk from India with a royal seal meant for Caesar to convince him to stop persecuting his faith in newly-acquired Roman territories, and a retired Roman general famed for his campaigns against the Germanic tribes. After a chance encounter with Jesus, the general seeks to use what political influence he has in Rome to reform society towards one that will better help its worst-off. A cultist of the Fellowship of the Beast is acting under orders from Moloch, Archdemon of Gluttony, to assassinate the general before his ideas catch on. PCs who manage to stop this plot can interrogate the assassin for more information about the cult and his master. Babylon is afflicted with a supernatural lethargy radiating from the Hanging Gardens, for Beelzebub the Archdemon of Sloth has made his lair here. Bethlehem has turned into a tourist trap for visitors seeking to visit the rather humble childhood home of David, a famous King of the Israelite people. The Caravanserai is the mobile headquarters of the Society, located on the Silk Road outside of Roman and Parthian control. The PCs can embark on a quest to steal a crate held by Roman authorities demanding too-high taxes out of a warehouse in Damascus if they wish to earn favor with the merchants. The island of Cyprus and the city of Citius have an amoral court mage known as Simon Elymas (aka Simon the Sorcerer) suspicious of the PCs as potential foreign spies. The island is also home to Mt. Troodos, which is where Caspar the Magi is conducting research. Damascus contains a rather problematic side quest. King Philip is none too fond of a local holy man known as John the Baptist, and his wife Salome seeks to trick the PCs into killing John by framing him as a crazed, dangerous hermit. Incest, Grooming So Salome is described as 16 years old in the module, and Philip is more than twice her age as well as her uncle. One of her Flaws is “I feel insecure around people who are not sexually attracted to me.” In this module Salome is evil aligned, her husband is neutral and more or less oblivious to her wicked nature. Although the Bible itself is vague on both her age and her intentions, Salome has often been portrayed in pop culture as the “evil seductress” manipulating the lusts of men for her own selfish gain. Many people have often read sexual intent her actions, such as a dance she performs to earn a favor from King Herod being an erotic one. However, another reading of the passages makes it seem like she was manipulated by her mother, who suggested John’s death as the favor to ask after the dance. While I don’t have any feelings one way or another as to what is an “accurate” Biblical portrayal, the casting of a girl as a wicked seductive mastermind who’d be underage by modern standards and would be the victim of grooming in the real world can understandably rub many gaming groups the wrong way. The Deep is an amoral agent of destruction, an encompassing darkness home to beastly passions. But enough about the Boys, let’s get back to this review. A massive whirlpool sits in the Mediterranean Sea, and at the bottom slumbers an eldritch horror known as the Leviathan. Existing before God created reality, it is said that when the monster wakes up it will do battle with the Behemoth and the world will end. Fortunately it is slumbering, where it is immune to all forms of harm and only something on par with a Wish spell or Cleric’s Divine Intervention will wake it up. PCs who manage to magically brave the depths can loot many sunken ships of valuable treasure.  Ecbatana is the capital city of the Parthian Empire. Built on a hill with seven concentric walls, it is impressively well-defended, and the wealth and standing of its inhabitants increases the higher and more inwards one moves beyond the outermost walls. The life of Artabanus II, Parthia’s King of Kings, is unknowingly in danger. One of his own sons, Prince Gotarzes, seeks to kill off his brother as well as a high-ranking vassal and eventually his father so that he can ascend the throne. Gotarzes can pay the PCs a lot of gold if they undertake quests for him in line with this goal, but once the plans for regicide are set in motion he will conspire to kill off anyone who knows too much. Bethany, Hebron, and Jericho are settlements in Judea where the PCs can learn more about Jesus, a carpenter and teacher who seems to have more to him than meets the eye. Bethany and Jericho in particular is one of the likely places the party can meet the Son of God. The Lotus Marshes are a dangerous swampland few go through, and beneath the ground slumbers the Behemoth, whose only evidence of location are two geyers which are actually air gusts blowing out of his nostrils. Like the Leviathan it is immune to all damage while it sleeps and can only be awakened by a Wish spell or Divine Intervention. Ma’rib has a lengthy write-up in comparison to other cities in the Atlas. As the royal capital of Sheba it is a sight for sore eyes for desert travelers, a fertile city covered in lush, colorful plants and fabrics. The Myrrh Oasis is where material of the same name along with frankincense is harvested, and powerful magic suffuses the land allowing the trees to produce more product while needing to be watered less. The two major quests PCs can undertake here are from the Queen of Sheba, who can tell them about Balthazar who went missing when visiting two weeks ago, and a quest to help safely transport the Ark of the Covenant out of Jerusalem down to Sheba to guard it against those who’d seek it for ill will. Midian is a settlement where desert nomads of various tribes gather, and visiting PCs can undertake a quest where they confront their fears in a Cave of Wisdom represented by a series of checks with various dangerous consequences for failure. If they are successful, they will find a cavern holding a burning bush, and can ask God 3 questions as though casting the Commune spell along with treating the cave as Holy Ground. Mt. Ararat is the final resting place of Noah’s Ark. The massive vessel crashed into one of its peaks when the Great Flood began to recede, and it is larger than any known ship. A pack of dire wolves stalk the party as they travel, and searching the Ark lets the party find an olive branch known as Dove’s Hope, a magic item which can cast a more powerful version of the Beacon of Hope spell. There’s also a sidequest here where the party can meet with a unicorn, one of the last of its kind, whose mate is being held captive to participate in the colosseum of Nimrud’s gladiatorial fights. Nimrud is also one of the cities where the Skiritai hold sway. Mt. Nebo and Mt. Sinai both contain Holy Ground locations. Nebo is Moses’ final resting place. At Mt. Sinai, a party who completes a successful treacherous climb becomes aware of God’s presence and may ask him one question. Ninevah was the former capital of the Assyrian Empire, but it is now a territory of Parthia. It has a strong presence of cataphract soldiers, and the prophet Jonah is beloved here for he helped convince the populace to turn away from evil pursuits. His tomb has a giant mouth of a deepmaw on display in honor of his encounter with a whale. A mini-dungeon in the form of an old pagan temple is home to a Mušhuššu, a dragon posing as one of the old Assyrian gods in hopes of building up a cult. He tried making his own religion in Babylon before Belzebuub drove him out. Dragons and demons may both pretend at being gods, but they hate sharing power. The Thummin, a legendary divination stone, can be found in the temple, and PCs can learn more about the Archdemon of Sloth if they manage to get the dragon in a talkative mood. Petra is another city of nomads. The tribes living here have a special relationship with the Sunwings, a species of giant eagles who can bond with riders. This makes the nomads the only force with an aerial cavalry in the Middle Kingdoms. PCs can gain their own Sunwing mount if they perform a trial of climbing up to their nest without the aid of climbing harnesses or magic. It is a skill challenge, but the worst consequences for failure can involve falling to one’s death at 20d6 damage. Sirwah is a fortress-city in Sheba. PCs looking around for Balthazar can learn from their commander that he was likely taken to a “Den of Serpents” in the nearby desert, a dungeon home to a Shadow of the Beast cult. The commander, a deaf man known as Tibebo Iskinder, can accompany the PCs on this quest with a successful Persuasion check. Tarsus is a Roman city with beautiful architecture highly resplendent of the imperial capital. Its restaurants have food from around the world and a sizable university to boot. Moloch, the Archdemon of Gluttony, is fond of hosting private parties renowned for debauchery on a pleasure barge…and is the source of more than a few missing people whose families may hire the party to find out their whereabouts. Additionally the PCs can meet an influential Pharisee by the name of Saul, who studied alongside Jesus in his childhood but now sees the man as a dangerous heretic. He’ll hire the party to root out a group of “criminals” operating out of Tarsus’ undercity, who in reality are a group of harmless teenagers inspired by Jesus’ teachings seeking to leave the city while avoiding arrest.  Thonis is an Egyptian city gradually sinking into the sea, home to several underwater ruins that can function as quick dungeon crawls. It is also home to a woman who goes by the alias of Selene, but in reality is Cleopatra’s daughter in hiding. She can act as a patron to the PCs, granting them missions which tie into the larger events and encounters as the DM sees fit. One of them involves retrieving her brooch which is held in the vault of the Library and Museum of Alexandria, while the other two involve encounters against the two archdemons and their servants who were instrumental in ruining her life: Mammon, Archdemon of Greed who lairs beneath the Pyramid of Giza, and Naamah who resides in the city of Thebes. The Tower of Babel is a mini-dungeon located along the Euphrates River, a crumbling edifice with no monsters but treacherous staircases prone to collapse. PCs who manage to reach the top will find a treasure chest containing the Amulet of Babel (makes your speech understandable to any who speak a language) and a Ring of Feather Fall. The Wilderness of Zin is a 600 mile expanse of desert that dominates the relative center of the Middle Kingdoms. Only experienced nomads brave its environs, and even then they stick to trusted routes if they can help it. PCs who travel are prone to becoming lost and disoriented on failed Nature or Survival checks. Thoughts So Far: This section is jam-packed with material, enough to provide the DM with just enough material for most places the PCs visit. Some locations have more adventure-worthy material than others, although that’s to be expected with a section of this length. The Tools and Tables bring to mind an old-school D&D feel for DMing kits, which I like. I also like how there are detailed magic item prices in cities, which gives the PCs useful things on which to spend their gold. I like the concept of factions, although it feels a bit too barebones. The Allied/Neutral/Hostile is meant to change easily which can result in some sudden face heel turns. As I mentioned above, certain factions are more broadly useful than others, which may cause most gaming groups to gravitate to a select few. Join us next time as we cover the major quests and dungeons in Events and Encounters!
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Sep 18, 2022 23:15
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So one of the things that I always took from the Bible as a Jewish person* is how Jesus is coming of age in the context of a massive local crisis of faith and legitimacy. The Jews have been subjugated again by a foreign power and are under the rule of a puppet king/s (After Herod 1 dies his kingdom gets partitioned between the Romans and four sons as puppets, is that right?) and there's an active, futile insurgency to chase them out. Christianity is basically one of half a dozen millenarian Jewish apocalypse sects that are struggling with what Judaism means under foreign rule. He's contemporary to a huge socio-political between the Pharisees and Sadducees over Hellenisation and the relationship between Jews and the Torah. Jesus is essentially coming out in the middle of a brewing colonial civil war among the Jews which would erupt a generation later, and is notable in his refusal to endorse or participate in it. I always read that as the source of Rome's (and to an extent both Herod's) anxiety around the title King of the Jews. They're afraid that Jesus will rally Judea around him and launch an insurrection against them. In many ways, Jesus is a guy who grows up in an occupied colony and is the figurehead of what looks a lot like a movement in response to occupation. Anyway I don't know how much of that is reflected in either mainstream Christianity or serious biblical scholarship, but that was what I always took from the New Testament. I wonder how much the Adventurers Guide to the Bible leans into that, because it makes for an interesting RPG setting. *Who admittedly hasn't read that much of the New Testament or in a lot of detail
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Sep 18, 2022 23:59
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MinistryofLard posted:So one of the things that I always took from the Bible as a Jewish person* is how Jesus is coming of age in the context of a massive local crisis of faith and legitimacy. There are several elements in the setting addressing this. Roman soldiers are making a lot of money in taking holy artifacts out of the city to sell in foreign markets, which understandably is leading to a lot of resentment. It ties into the adventure where an Essenes woman requests the PCs to smuggle the Ark of the Covenant out of the city. Additionally Caiaphas, one of the religious leaders in the city, has been pressing Pontius Pilate to investigate Jesus, claiming he's planning on leading a violent insurrection against Roman rule. Additionally, the building of a Colosseum in Jerusalem has met with protest from local residents who view it as encouraging immoral pursuits. And last but not least, there's plans by Pontius Pilate to build an aqueduct to supply the city with water, but this too is being met with hostility as he's using funds from the temple treasury due to the high cost of construction. Jerusalem has a heavy military presence due to this tension plus the activities of the Zealots and Sicarii. A lot of the tension can be boiled down to aspects of the Romans acting like they're bringing civilization as a means of helping uplift Judea, but they show little to no respect for the religion and culture of the people they're ruling over. Which in part is helping fuel resistance against them which in turn causes Rome to retaliate with more soldiers and patrols. Additionally the region of Galilee, which contains Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, has a notable wealth disparity. A lot of the villages are in states of decay, but two villages (Capernaum and Magdala) have a notable higher standard of living due to an influx of funds from Roman projects. There are cases of the various villages looking down on their poorer neighbors. Nazareth is the most impoverished of the lot, leading many to joke "can anything good come out of Nazareth?" King Herod is still alive, but he is a leader in name only with Pilate being in control. But even he finds his job a deeply stressful one as he's constantly having to deal with the inevitable problems arising from his role in the Roman occupation. The text doesn't necessarily constantly mention it, but the specter of Roman colonialism is a recurring theme. I haven't had time to read the Bible, although I do intend to as part of my bucket list, so I can't say how much of this maps up to how Judean society and politics are portrayed in the New Testament. Libertad! fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Sep 19, 2022 |
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Sep 19, 2022 00:20
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A historical game like Blades in the Dark or Spire, but set in 1st century Roman-occupied Jerusalem with the PCs as Zealots would be pretty great. I’d keep the supernatural elements vague, though. (Ex. Jesus lived and was crucified, but it’s anyone’s guess whether he was really the Messiah or could perform miracles, etc.)
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Sep 19, 2022 02:03
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Gatto Grigio posted:A historical game like Blades in the Dark or Spire, but set in 1st century Roman-occupied Jerusalem with the PCs as Zealots would be pretty great. I'd be down for this with more overt supernatural elements for PCs, if the person who wrote the book did a respectful and thorough job researching the contemporary beliefs of people of the time and place rather than just aping stuff from their recollection of the New Testament. That's probably more work than would be worth it for most RPG writers but hey, maybe the right person for the project is out there!
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Sep 19, 2022 05:09
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 Dragonlance Adventures part 9 In which the gods did not leave this review, but this review left the gods. Messengers of the Heavens Yadda yadda, gods have many names and faces but are mostly the same. He might be Thak to this tribe or E'li to those, but he's still Paladine and accepts all his worshipers. The names in the book are the Knights of Solamnia's view on them, and also as Paladine revealed to Elistan (a seeker converted to the true faith by Goldmoon). There are 21 gods, 7 per alignment, families. Good is Paladine's family, with his companion and advisor Mishakal. They have twin sons, Kiri-Jolith and Habbakuk, and a third son, Solinari, who left to be magic. They also adopted Majere and Branchala from Beyond. Neutrality is Gilean's brood. He's the patriarch, but no known companion. Zivilyn and Chislev are companions, and so are Sirrion and Shinare, who were both paired before coming from Beyond. Lunitari is the daughter of Zivilyn and Chislev, AND THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE THAT'S SAID. Everywhere else, Lunitari is the daughter of Gilean, with no or unknown mother. Reorx came alone from Beyond and was adopted by the Neutral family. "many are the fanciful and tragic tales told of his existence before the creation of the world." Also, I think it odd that dwarves, who as far as I know stick to the usually Lawful Good alignment (with standard disclaimer that Dragonlance Good is most world's Actually That's Pretty Evil), have a neutral god as their patron. Evil is the family of Takhisis, a name I always misspell if I'm not looking right at it which is why I stick to Dark Queen. Her consort is Sargonnas. Zeboim is their daughter, and Nuitari is her twin brother (but not if the gods of magic came later). Morgion, Chemosh, and Hiddukel were adopted into the family after being called from Beyond. There are apparently other gods in the heavens, but these are the only ones involved in the lives of the people of Krynn (question for someone familiar with the other continent- did if have its own gods?). The gods prefer to act through agents instead of direct intervention- unless you've got to drop a flaming mountain on some folk, or you want to cosplay as a demented wizard, I suppose. There are some times when the gods got directly involved. Origins of the faith: At the start of Krynn, the gods came down and instructed the people in faith. The Whitestone Glade: Paladine, Kiri-Jolith, and Habbakuk appeared to Vinas Solamnus, set up the orders of knights, and made a pillar of crystal as a sign Huma and the Lance: The Dark Queen is always the rule breaker, and seems she was active on Krynn. So Huma made his way to Godshome in the Khalkist Mountains, where the dragonlance (forged by silver dragons in the mountains of Ergoth) was purified. Godshome is apparently still around if anyone wants to venture there. The Night of Doom: Thirteen days prior to the Cataclysm, the true clerics, those of pure faith (which apparently was only a few, or maybe comparatively few) disappeared. Legend has it taken up by the gods to protect them. So gently caress you, laity, should have been a cleric. Mishakal's Return: 351 AC, Mishakal appears to Goldmoon, gives her the Disks of Mishakal (well, let the heroes retrieve from Xak Tsaroth) on which are written the gods' names and powers. "It was the first manifestation of the true gods in over three centuries." Except- the Dark Queen had been back and picking up her faithful for a few years already- Verminard had been doing the cleric thing before Goldmoon got her staff. (when the 3rd edition Dragonlance book came out, I started a War of the Lance campaign with the idea that the gods didn't put all their eggs in one basket- while the Heroes of the Lance were digging through Xak Tsaroth, another group far to the north was exploring a ruin where Paladine had left proof of the gods. The game died because of the kender player) The War of the Lance: Ever start a war as a distraction? That's what the Dark Queen did, as completing the temple at Nereka would allow her to move from the Abyss to Krynn. Paladine took human form, made his way through the world, rallying the forces of good while trying not to interfere too much. There's a bit on gender of the gods, that male and female is assigned to them, but no mortal has been able to figure out if gods actually have gender. Legends often have them appearing in various forms, and then there are contradictions like wizards revering the Three Brothers of magic, while Paladine's revelations to Elistan have Lunitari as Gilean's daughter. So, big shrug, doesn't much matter the the lives of mortals. Clerics, Spheres, and the Holy Order of Stars You can't just decide "I'm going to be a cleric of Paladine." You need to seek out a current follower, who will then teach you the beliefs if they believe you're sincere (and may test you if they doubt your sincerity). Upon becoming a cleric, you're given a Medallion of Faith, a holy symbol that can magically create more holy symbols (and not just of your god). A cleric is expected to walk "the straight and narrow" (how straight and how narrow depends on your god), with the text stating Krynn clerics get more than their off-world counterparts (ehh *waggles hand noncommittally) so not following your god's beliefs carry great penalties. Each god also requires acts of obedience- though if you expected to find out what these are as the text implies, you're going to be disappointed. Falling is a definite thing- performing an act contrary to your alignment can have your alignment shifted up to 3 points on the alignment tracker (that's it? Cold blooded murder and I don't even drop out of Good? Now I'm sure the Kingpriest et al. were gaming the system) Switching gods involves losing two levels- but also since your level dictates your rank in the church, your new god might induct you at a lower level... I think. It feels unnecessarily convoluted. You don't have to switch gods just because your alignment change- you can repent instead which requires acknowledgement of the wrong, a sincere statement of repentance, and restitution or penance. Oh, and doing appropriate acts to get your alignment back in the right area. Railing against the Gods Mortals don't usually challenge the gods, both because they're not high enough level and because the gods (except the evil ones) don't directly show up on Krynn much. (showing up on Krynn messes with free will- "the meddling of the gods is viewed as rearranging the gears in a working clock.") Oh, and there's Raistlin's lesson, which is defeating the gods doesn't mean much if you destroy the world in the process. Also, killing a god on Krynn doesn't actually kill it- just sends it back to its true home to heal up and nurse a grudge. Godly Spheres of Influence This became a thing in 2E with Specialty Priests, but I think these might be the first rules restricting spells access for clerics. (as I recall, there were clerics, largely unchanged from 1st edition, had access to every spell in the book, wide range of utility. And then there were specialty priests, who might get certain powers, but at the cost of access to some spells. You could have Major Access to spheres (like schools of magic for a wizard, but related to a god's portfolio) which let you get any level spell, or minor access which was limited to 3rd level. In Dark Sun, the 2nd edition setting I champion (it was necessary to choose your preferred campaign setting in the 90s, sort of like choosing between Nintendo and Sega, because the volume of material released meant you'd beggar yourself if you tried to collect multiple lines) clerics were devoted to one of the classic elements, gaining major access to that element's spells (which could really screw over some types) and minor access to the sphere of the cosmos, which was Every Spell That Doesn't Link To an Element; Dark Sun clerics were thus limited to Cure Light Wounds for healing HP, as Cure Serious was 4th level, and Cure Moderate would not exist until 3.0)). Normally, a cleric could memorize any spell on the cleric spell list- no futzing around with spell books, just ask your god for whatever. The rules here divide all spells into one of seventeen spheres, and you only gain access to the spheres your god grants. There is an All sphere that everyone has access to, with some exceptions- called out here, good clerics cast light, while evil clerics get the reverse, darkness. This is so dumb. It makes me think of Robot Chicken's take on Yellow Submarine- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wh-2aAC28w "We never say "yes" in MeanieLand" Now I look at the chart of spells in the back and it takes some of the wind out of my rant. But- the text sure made it seem like Light was an All spell. In fact, All covers just 5 spells (Atonement, Ceremony, Combine, Holy Symbol, and Purify Food and Water). Light falls under the Stellar sphere, which two Good Gods grant access to- but all the other good gods have it on the chart as an Additional spell- although their descriptions DO NOT list Light. Only Mishakal forbids her clerics from casting Darkness. However, all of the Evil gods only grant Darkness, never Light. For the two Evil Gods with Healing access, they do allow both Cure and Cause Light Wounds, but only Cause Serious and Critical (one of the Good Gods, a war god, does only allow the reverse of Healing spells). For the rest of the spheres- yes, thematically it makes sense that a god is only going to grant certain spells, spells that are in line with their beliefs. But, it really cuts into the power level of the cleric (and this isn't 3.X, I don't think anyone viewed clerics as broken or overpowered). The cleric's role as a healer is limited to just a few gods- and making that choice may cost them their combat spells or some useful utility spells. Most of the gods offer four spheres. So, about 3/4 of the cleric spell list is lost to you. There are some bonuses- some gods grant a special bonus, like +1 to hit. They offer Special spells, which are spells the cleric gets, not counted against the daily spells, and available even if the cleric isn't high enough to cast yet. And Additional Spells, which the cleric can prepare even though they're outside their spheres. Holy Order of Stars We have one class divided by the three alignments. Requirements are Wisdom 9, with 15 or higher giving 10% XP boost (and again, the PHB grants the XP boost for 16+). Any race except gnomes (who revere Reorx, but don't worship). Proficiences are 3/4 weapon/non, gaining 1/2 per 3 levels (the chart at the back of the book has this per 5 levels). Cleric of Good The highest XP requirement, needing 2000 to hit 2nd level (PHB cleric needs 1500), mirroring the druid for the first few levels, then it ramps up, before the XP requirements drop around level 10. The cleric starts with 2d8 hit dice, instead of a PHB cleric's 1d8. They still top out at 9d8 (at 8th level) only gaining 1 HP per left after that (the heathen clerics are gaining 2 HP a level after 9th). The spell chart looks identical to a PHB cleric except at 18th level, you get two 7th level spells instead of one. Not that most characters will need to worry about them. 15th level is Prophet, but only one Prophet for each god- others apparently can reach this level but stay as Apostle (level 12 title). There is only one Chosen Prophet, the Prophet of Paladine at level 18, no one else can reach this level (so is level 15 the limit for others? Can my apostle keep advancing to level 17? Not clear). Level titles are similar to the PHB, but no lama. The extra d8 is nice at first level, but not sure it's worth higher XP and less spell selection. Cleric of Neutral These clerics only get 1d8 at 1st level, advancing to 9d8 and then +1 HP per level. But spells- omg. Two 1st levels spells at 1st level. Gain 2nd level spells at level 2, level 3 spells at level 3, level 4 at 6, level 5 at 9 (back on track), 6 at 11 (again), but level 7 at 12th! Four levels early! They do top out on spells a little lower, with 18th level having usually 1 few spell per level than the Good Cleric. But again, not that that matters for everyone. Here, at level 14, there is one Archmaster per god, and only the Archmaster of Gilean can advance to 16 or above as the Starmaster. The XP charter here, as far as I can tell, is right in line with the PHB cleric. But the level titles are cooler... actually, they look like monk titles. Aspirant, Ovate, Initiate, Disciple, then the next levels are Master of Earth, Fire, Water, Winds, Mystery, Light, Time, Elements, and Master of the Book. Cleric of Evil 1d8 hit die at first level, acquire new spell levels in the same levels as a cleric, but end up with fewer overall. Titles are boring, except the highest of each god is a Nightmaster, at level 12, and the Nightmaster of Takhisis can advance to 14th level as the Nightlord. Since no one else can advance to 14th level, the Nightlord is the only evil cleric who can cast 7th level spells. Advancement is equal to the neutral cleric up to 4th level, then the evil cleric goes up faster- until they both need 1,135,000 to reach 14th level, then it gets more expensive for evil (but that's only affecting the Nightlord) So, Neutral clerics get great spells- provided they have the right spells available. Good clerics are tougher for who knows why. And here again, things are lonely at the top. It seems like most clerics are unable to reach 18th level or even most of the high teens, unless they are the leader of the chief god of their alignment's religion. The rest of the chapter is on the gods, with a history or description and a stat block. There are certainly some gods better developed than others; Paladine has several paragraphs, while other gods of good warrant two or three (or just one for Majere). Paladine might have a higher wordcount than every neutral god put together. Next time, we'll dig into the gods, their absurd powers, and what a cleric gets out of the deal.
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Sep 19, 2022 08:26
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srhall79 posted:In Dark Sun, the 2nd edition setting I champion (it was necessary to choose your preferred campaign setting in the 90s, sort of like choosing between Nintendo and Sega, because the volume of material released meant you'd beggar yourself if you tried to collect multiple lines) Quality choice, I maintain that Dark Sun and Birthright are the two most well-developed and interesting 2nd ed settings. Planescape is a good try, but let down by the mechanics. srhall79 posted:For the rest of the spheres- yes, thematically it makes sense that a god is only going to grant certain spells, spells that are in line with their beliefs. But, it really cuts into the power level of the cleric (and this isn't 3.X, I don't think anyone viewed clerics as broken or overpowered). The cleric's role as a healer is limited to just a few gods- and making that choice may cost them their combat spells or some useful utility spells. I'd argue that basic 2e clerics, if you don't have the sphere limitations(and in the PHB that whole thing is really just a subsection of "pure" clerics, which is probably why a lot of players managed to miss it) get pretty close to being overpowered, considering that they just have access to all their spells of a given level they've reached. They don't need to find scrolls, find a teacher or otherwise choose what to know, they're wildly flexible and, while at low levels, their main tricks are a bit of buffing and healing, at high levels they become mobile natural disasters who, unlike wizards, can roll around in full plate. Offensively they'll never match a Fighter without magic, since they have both a worse Thac0, no specialization and blunt weapons are inexplicably dealing notably lower damage than swords in almost every category, but it still gives them some backup to fall back on, unlike mages. Though still, nothing's stronger in 2e than a Fighter in a one-on-one fight where the other side hasn't been given time to set up some wild Batman-esque Rube Goldberg machine's worth of buffs and armies. srhall79 posted:Cleric of Neutral Neutrality is in general loving weird in Dragonlance. In both the books and official adventures, the forces of Neutrality only, as far as I recall, have a presence twice. I believe that the protagonists run into Gilean's mortal form in Palanthus in whatever book it is just before or just after the great battle at the High Clerist's Tower, and then in Dragons of Summer Flame, Reorx shows up. A lot of interesting things could have been done with the forces of neutrality as trying to limit the gods' fuckery on the mortal plane in some sense, but more or less they might as well never exist. In part because if they don't exist, we'd be free of the terrible DLE series of adventures. How the hell did they gently caress up moon dragons?
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Sep 19, 2022 10:09
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 Events & Encounters, Part I Even larger than the Atlas at nearly 100 pages, Events & Encounters is the longest chapter of the book. Made up of 19 scenarios, these provide detailed descriptions of the more involved events, dungeons, cities, and regions relevant to the main quest of the Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible. Some are location-neutral, being more generic templates for broad scenario types while others are tied strongly to specific people and places. In some scenarios, such as finding the Magi or helping Raphael fight Naamah, the party can convince an NPC to temporarily join them on their quest with a successful Persuasion check. By the time the PCs resolve Tobias’ journey they’ll be 3rd level. Only a few of these listed encounters have specific level up points using the milestone system: when the party rescues Balthazar from the Den of Serpents, when they defeat one of the five archdemons (Abbadon and Lilith are fought at campaign’s end), and after Jesus’ crucifixion in Way of the Cross. The party is expected to meet Jesus sometime around level 6, and start the Way of the Cross around 9th level. But I did happen to notice one oddity in regards to expected party level from the proposed sequence of events:  Barring Way of the Cross, the only level up opportunity not involving killing a demon involves finding Balthasar. While Naamah is weaker than the other archdemons CR-wise, it’s inevitable that the PCs will be fighting at least 1 of the other archdemons around 5th level, quite short of the 7th level suggestion of this adventure. Barring Naamah’s retreat in the Story Begins, the archdemon scenarios don’t exactly have them retreating for a “phase two” somewhere else. That being said, most of the archdemon stats can be doable as challenging boss battles for 4th to 6th level parties. Tournament of Champions is a location-generic event that can take place in any city with a Roman colosseum, which is basically most Roman-held cities. This event is actually a series of 10 mini-games revolving around gladiatorial contests and gambling, along with a sample map and room description for a colosseum in case PCs wish to break into a treasure vault, rescue an enslaved gladiator, and/or escape from capture themselves. The minigames include solo and team-based chariot racing, single and team-based gladiatorial combat, Carpe Vexillum which is basically capture the flag, mock naval combats, and four different types of popular tavern games, 3 of which involve gambling and one of which involves drinking shots and flicking the liquid remnants at teetering plates via tests of inebriated dexterity. All of these games have their own rules for PCs who wish to participate. In regards to straight-on gladiatorial combat, PCs pay an entry fee to compete, where they are pitted against progressively stronger monsters or NPCs. After each fight they can gracefully bow out with an amount of gold based on the number of completed fights, or push their luck and try another. Losing a fight forfeits all gold accumulated. It takes 2 fights to break even, there are 7 maximum fights per “tournament,” and the party can take a short rest between each fight save for the 6th, which instead allows for a long rest. And we have maps for arenas, both normal and water-filled for appropriate mini-games. Overall a detailed and fun addition. Blood and Sand is a dungeon crawl in a 7 room series of tunnels and caverns that the Shadow of the Beast cult are using as a hideout. Known as the Den of Serpents, it is located in the Wilderness of Zin and closest to the city of Sirwah in the Kingdom of Sheba. Balthazar the Magi is being held captive by the cult, who are led by a snake-like demon known as a Shedim. Most of the rooms contain some variety of enemies, mostly Saraph Serpents (a new snake monster whose venomous bite can reduce HP maximum over time until magically healed) along with 3 cultists and their Shedim leader. In addition to the captive Magi, the Shedim also has a Staff of the Bronze Serpent, a magic item which is actually a reconstructed segment of staff of an original pole made by Moses himself. Its charges can be used to cast various healing spells and provide resistance and advantage vs poison damage and effects for the wielder. It is quite likely that the PCs will visit this dungeon early on, and may even still be 3rd level when they encounter it. As such, it can be rather difficult in comparison to the other dungeons and encounters as the party has less resources between long rests. While most rooms have 3 foes on average, one containing 6 Saraph Serpents can be pretty deadly. Moreso if the DM runs the enemies realistically and has them respond to sounds of combat elsewhere in the dungeon. However, the scales may be tipped a bit if the party convinces Iskinder, the military commander in the nearby city of Sirwah, to accompany them for this quest. He likely has more HP than any of the party members at this point (88 HP) and can potentially attack four times per round with Multiattack and his Scimitar of Speed! While this can be welcome help to some groups, the likelihood of the party getting recent aid from Raphael in the opening adventure may give the impression that powerful DMPCs are the standard in this module, and no self-respecting DM wants that!  The three Finding the Magi events detail places where the Three Wise Men can be encountered, their current troubles, what information they can tell the party about the archdemons and the Messiah, and where to find the other Magi if they haven’t been located yet. Each also has a unique magic item which make up a set known as the Armor of God. These gifts were initially the presents they planned to give to Jesus on his birth, but an angel told them that the items were meant for another group of heroes: “The Messiah has weapons of which you do not know, and would not understand. Give them instead to those who will follow him, for theirs is the way of the sword, and his the way of the cross.” Balthazar’s location has been explained above, and he can tell the party about how the seven archdemons use the power of sin to grow stronger and anchor themselves to the world via simulacrums. He’ll give the PCs the Helm of Salvation, which has 3 charges which can be spent to allow a creature within sight to reroll a failed saving throw. Oddly enough, he doesn’t remember the name of the baby he visited in Bethleheim, nor did he understand what the angel meant by the word Messiah or the way of the cross. I imagine that the visit plus meeting an angel would be the kind of thing you’d remember for the rest of your life. Balthazar certainly seemed to remember the angel’s statement word for word and knows that “the child born under the star would destroy sin once and for all,” but is somehow unable to remember his name. Even back then the Magi would know the baby was special, for the Biblical account mentions that they were searching for a child they believed would be King of the Jews. I can get the justification as being a fuzzy memory from the progression of old age, but his perfect memory of the angel’s recited statement makes it feel a bit done for the convenience of the plot. Melchior is in the Library of Alexandria’s archives, helped by an assistant named Strabo. He can tell the party more about the archdemons’ backstories and Satan’s fall from grace. While Balthazar somehow forgot the name of the baby they visited, Melchior knows that his name is Jesus and is the Messiah, part of a prophecy which makes him a threat to the archdemons but otherwise doesn’t know how that will be fulfilled. Thus he pleads with the party to protect Jesus from any attempt at harm. He’ll give the party a Shield of Faith, a +2 shield that grants resistance to the damage of ranged weapons, and can cast the Shield of Faith spell at will without the need to maintain concentration on it. Caspar has spent the last twenty years researching the sky and stars at an observatory on the island of Cyprus. By charting the stars he managed to locate the Messiah’s current location in the region of Galilee as well as the archdemons via tracking the size of their sin-enhancing auras. But he is having trouble finding Abaddon, given that the world is a hateful and violent place, as well as Lilith as he hasn’t detected any epicenters of Pride-based sin auras and thus only knows she’s not near any major cities. He’ll give the PCs the Boots of the Gospel, which allow the wearer to cast Teleport once per day. Hey, a literal Fast Travel feature! Additionally Aristarchus, who is Caspar’s assistant, was the former High Curator of the Museum of Alexandria exiled by Roman occupation, and has a quest for interested PCs… Museum Heist is a pseudo-dungeon crawl where the PCs break into the Library and Museum of Alexandria to gain access to a vault full of valuable items. There are several reasons and motivations to take this quest besides succumbing to the sin of greed, as several of the items can tie into other quests. The Mernetaph Codex is believed to contain useful information about the archdemon hideouts in Egypt, while Cleopatra’s daughter Selene wants to retrieve her mother’s brooch from the vault. The archdemon Legion may send one of his agents to get the PCs to steal the Codex with the intentions of ambushing them later, and Aristarchus isn’t fond of the current High Curator and wants the PCs to find a means of getting him fired. This is a two-story, 24 room location, and certain sections of the building are open to the public and besides a pair of Dybbuk* the potentially hostile sources are all Roman guards. This allows the PCs a bit of freedom in how they go about their stealth mission. The vault is magically reinforced with alarm and sleep glyphs that can be disabled only if a pair of keys are used to unlock the vault. One key is carried on the Roman Centurion Lars Proximus, and the other by Balbillus, the current High Curator. While the Centurion dutifully keeps his key attached to his belt at all times, Balbillus has a habit of misplacing it and can be found in a random d6 location. *undead souls who escaped from Sheol. While breaking into the vault and stealing something can be scandalous enough to cost Balbillus his job, there are other means of getting him replaced. In his office, he keeps records in his personal lockbox of financial transactions which prove he’s been stealing money from the Museum’s treasury, which can be used to blackmail him into compliance or get him arrested so some other ally can replace him and get the PCs what they want. The Merneptah is an ancient Egyptian spellbook telling a pro-Egypt, anti-Jewish account of Moses freeing his people from slavery, where the prophet is cast as a legendary villain who is eventually wiped out by the Pharoah’s army, proving that the Egyptian gods were superior to that of the Hebrews. The spellbook contains 8 spells, one of which is Create Golem which in true folkloric fashion involves the use of a Hebrew sign for life. I find that spell’s inclusion ironic considering who likely wrote it. Unfortunately the module says nothing about the Codex revealing the location of archdemon lairs; that kind of thing should be included as a matter of course for the sake of sandboxy goodness. There are three other priceless magic items to be obtained in the vault: the Sword of Alexander the Great (+2 longsword, has 3 charges which can be spent to reroll a single attack, ability check, or saving throw), a ring belonging to one of Egypt’s Pharaohs (Increases Charisma and Charisma maximum by 2, advantage on Charisma checks when wearing it openly in Egypt), and Cleopatra’s Brooch (spend charges to turn a failed save into a successful one). Prison Break is a location and scenario-neutral entry for when a merciful DM decides that the party ends up captured rather than killed via TPK. Maybe they got arrested by authorities, overwhelmed by one of the archdemons and taken to a cult hideout, or some other unfortunate fate. Regardless, there’s a map for a small fortress-prison with 3 rooms. The sentries can use the generic Guard stat block or other ones as the DM deems appropriate. Besides the primary goal of escaping with their equipment in tow, one of the rooms is an office that contains information relevant about the group who captured the party. The Forgotten Temple is another location and scenario-neutral dungeon crawl, a two-story and four room mini-dungeon. It’s really just a set of two maps with no treasure or monster details besides some suggestions for a boss monster in the final room. A bit of a letdown IMO, for generic dungeon maps are a dime a dozen on places like Pinterest.  Aphrodite’s Touch is the lair of Naamah the Seducer, Archdemon of Lust. Located in the City of Thebes, she has used her influence to make a sex cult claiming to honor the old gods, and uses a temple converted to a brothel to grow strong off of sin. PCs can meet up with the angel Raphael in the city, where he can serve as backup in bringing down the archdemon. This entire section is a giant content warning, so I’m going to spoiler all of it save for the fight and stats of Naamah herself. Content Warning Sexual assault, sexual slavery, coerced suicide, pedophilia As you might have guessed from the CW, Naamah is the worst kind of monster. As a representation of the negative aspects of sexuality, Naamah hates the idea of sex being used in a loving and consensual manner. Sex devoid of love is her sin of choice: all of the sex workers in Aphrodite’s Touch are mind-controlled by her, and once she’s defeated they’ll come to and be traumatized by what they were made to do. One of the shedim demons working for Naamah unsuccessfully attempted to purchase Cleopatra’s daughter Selene as a slave to put to work when she was just 10 years old, and Selene can act as an adventure hook in taking revenge on the establishment. Another adventure hook for PCs visiting Thebes has them meet a young teenage girl crying because her parents are pressuring her into working at the brothel. Finally, PCs who trigger a random encounter with the Witch of Endor (who I’ll talk about in the next post) may be tasked with delivering a love letter to one of the sex workers in Thebes. There, they can learn that Naamah has been trying to drive her to suicide. I can get that sex crimes are a special level of heinous and that the writers are trying to make Naamah an utterly loathsome individual. However this adventure can be understandably hard to run for many groups. As the sin of Lust can also cover desire in general and not just the sexual kind, I’m a bit surprised that the module didn’t have a “toned down” version or a nonsexual one given that I imagine this module is intended to be run by faithful Christians and not all may wish to have such material in their games. Then again, going for the “they’re unholy because they’re having sex outside of marriage” in and of itself may be too prudish for a lot of gamers, so my guess is they went with the sexual slavery angle to make Naamah more unambiguously evil to a non-conservative audience. Each Archdemon has a unified set of mechanics: they all have Lair and Legendary Actions, and are a two-stage boss battle where their human-seeing simulacrum form with its own stat block is fought first. Once the simulacrum is killed, it begins to discorporate in an obviously supernatural way, giving the party one free round to prepare themselves when the archdemon reappears in its true form. Most archdemons can cast an Induce Sin spell in line with their favored sin (Naamah can cast Induce Lust), and they also constantly radiate a 1 mile Aura of Temptation which pushes those within the radius to be more inclined to perform a certain kind of sinful activity as well as creating recurring distracting illusions in line with such sins. Additionally, each simulacrum has Atonement Vulnerability, meaning that spells and effects which can destroy or atone for sins and evil actions deal automatic damage to them every round they’re subjected to the spell’s effects. Aphrodite’s Touch is a luxurious building guarded by Roman soldiers on Naamah’s payroll, and the archdemon is accompanied by a giant mercenary as her bodyguard. She’ll try to engage the party in conversation first, hoping to use her Charm ability on one PC to violently turn them against the others when combat begins. Her simulacrum form is named Seraphine and doesn’t really have many direct-damage features save an AoE perfume cloud, but can mind control a single target at a time and also short-range teleport in reaction to taking damage. Her true archdemon form is a bat-winged humanoid with goat hooves and a head, and is more of a straightforward combatant, such as claw and hoof attacks, a scream counterattack that can impose disadvantage on an attack roll, and legendary actions which can turn her invisible for 1 round or a stun-based seductive gaze attack. Naamah’s first form is not that dangerous for level 4-6 parties, particularly with Raphael’s help. If anything, the major dangers will be from her giant bodyguard and Roman soldiers who will flock to her aid. Her archdemon form is a decent challenge from my reading of it too. Her major weakness is that she doesn’t have access to any good ranged attacks, although her fly speed likely means she is meant to make hit and run attacks. In the aftermath, Raphael will depart back to the spirit world if he survived the fight, although he may choose to stay on Earth (and may become a traveling companion) with a successful Persuasion check. PCs searching Naamah’s office and who overcome her Glyph of Warding trap can find a collection of letters exchanged with other archdemons, pointing the party to Moloch’s location in particular. Thoughts So Far: If I had to pick a favorite event so far, it would be the Tournament of Champions. For those of you who read my last Let’s Read, I’m quite fond of mini-games, and this section alone is easily mineable for other campaign settings. The Prison Break is a neat touch although a little barebones, and the Forgotten Temple is hardly an event or encounter at all. I like the open-endedness of the Museum Heist quest, as well as the three Magi all having unique magic items to give the PCs as a reward for finding them. I have some reservations about the Den of Serpents dungeon and its potential lethality for low-level parties, and Aphrodite’s Touch is the kind of thing you’ll need to heavily revise for a fair portion of gaming groups, so those are the low points of this section. Join us next time as we cover the second half of Events and Encounters, including the rest of the archdemons, visiting the holy lands of Judea, meeting Jesus, and the final battle against Lilith!
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Sep 19, 2022 10:41
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other Jews can do a better job of describing them but note that shedim are from Jewish mythology—they’re like…unclean spirits, I guess, but often equated with demons. even though some of them are nice and can even live (for a certain value of “live”) according to the Torah!
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Sep 19, 2022 15:33
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Listen I'm going to be very disappointed if meeting Jesus doesn't involve the single greatest story you could hand the players. I'm of course talking about when Jesus went buckwild in the temple and kicked everyone's rear end. As a former catholic this is what I want from my religious themed adventure book and I don't think I'm going to get that and it makes me sad.
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Sep 19, 2022 16:02
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Hells yeah, even if as a Jew I'm not into the worship of a man, as an anarchist I'm completely behind that anti-capital message.
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Sep 19, 2022 17:26
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you gently caress dem money-changers up, josh
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Sep 19, 2022 17:30
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By popular demand posted:Hells yeah, even if as a Jew I'm not into the worship of a man, as an anarchist I'm completely behind that anti-capital message. Xiahou Dun posted:you gently caress dem money-changers up, josh  y'all get it.
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Sep 19, 2022 18:37
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 GURPS Imperial Rome – I: Life in Rome (Family and Class) By popular demand posted:I think I speak for all of us when I demand to hear about the phallus, in art, religion and jokes. As a historian, I’m glad to see Something Awful’s age-old obsession with dongs remains intact. Rest assured, when the subject comes up I’ll have plenty to say about flying penis necklaces and dick-measuring murals. Anyway, the first chapter opens with these lines: GURPS Imperial Rome posted:Rome was the name of both the mighty Empire and of the city that spawned it. For most of its citizens, the two were the same. “All roads lead to Rome” was a literal truth; the innumerable paved highways that linked the empire had the Imperial city as their ultimate destination.  We’re already starting off on the wrong foot. On the one hand, there is some truth to this; Roman identity was a broadly flexible thing that over the course of the Imperial period would smoothly embrace everyone within the Empire. There’s a reason even in the 1800s huge numbers of Greeks still called themselves Romans. On the other, not only did that identity take centuries to set in (citizenship wasn’t extended to everyone within the empire until the 200s), but Rome itself wasn’t even its focus. Like, the Eternal City was definitely a cultural icon, but the vast majority living outside the immediate area identified simultaneously as citizens of their city or tribe or ethnic group and as Romans. The wrangling between those two sides of the Roman identity shaped the Imperial period every step of the way, and to some extent the eastern half of the empire survived because it found a way to synthesize the two and the western half crumbled because it couldn’t. But that’s kind of beside the point. At the end of the day, the culture of the city of Rome provided the basis of broader Imperial culture, so taking a look at Roman culture has traditionally expressed gives us some insight into Roman life everywhere because most areas at least pretended to follow along.  Roman life centered around the family, and the family centered around the father. Legally, the pater familias (father of the family) had absolute authority over the women and children within his walls; he had the right to sell his children into slavery at will or reject a newborn child and set them out to die of exposure. Women were considered unable to take care of themselves by definition and lived under the control of their father, their husband, or a male relative serving as a guardian; they were expected to spend the vast majority of their lives in the home and had no control over who they married. Below them were slaves (at least among the wealthy), who had next to no rights and would receive regular beatings to keep them docile. In theory, this chain of command was absolute. In practice, social expectations and pressure kept the worst of things in check (at least for the most part). Exposure was outlawed early into the period, and while poor families sometimes left their kids out anyway because they couldn’t afford to care for them (they usually ended up taken by slave merchants), infant mortality was so high few people gave up their children voluntarily and family bonds tended to be strong. Women had little direct control over the course of their lives and were often married off in their early teens to men significantly older than them, but such marriages usually weren’t consummated for years and a big enough age gap would cause the new husband to lose status as everyone he knew made fun of them (Romans mocking each other was a major feature of Roman life, there’s a reason they coined the word satire). As they aged and raise their children, Roman women traditionally held authority over household management and finances instead of their husband, and marriage was illegal rather than religious agreement that could be ended with divorce in cases of abuse. Even slaves often received better treatment than you think: while Romans practiced chattel slavery, house slaves at least often acted as respected personal assistants, tutors, or other specialists, and by the Imperial period killing a slave was considered murder, many slaves had enough time off to hold down part-time jobs saving up to buy their freedom, and a variety of social pressures I’ll cover later meant large numbers ended up freed over the course of their lifetime. None of this meant abuses didn’t happen, this is not a kind society by modern standards, but it wasn’t as brutal as you think looking at things on paper. The book doesn’t discuss how the family related to the gens or individual, defining features of Roman life, but I can see why you’d skip over it given how high-level this summary is. Traditionally, every Roman family belonged to a broader clan called a gens, usually a group of a few distantly related family lines. Each gens traced itself back to some legendary ancestor and in theory had enough legal authority over its members to control inheritance and adoption, but in practice they were largely theoretical during the Imperial era, as much badges of identity as actual organizations. In turn, each gens belonged to a pillar of steadily larger groups that functioned as political divisions that theoretically set city policy (though the Senate had long sidelined those bodies by the time of the empire). In this structure, individuals were just cogs in the greater family machine, to the point where most boys received one of a small group of first names native to their gens people only used it to tell them apart, and many girls never received a first name at all, just a nickname. People who tried to glorify themselves instead of their families or country saw lots of suspicion and even official censure. In theory. In practice, a series of strongmen in the late Republic shattered that social norm until one of them took over as Emperor, and the gens system crumbled in favor of Impromptu extended families looking out for themselves. It didn’t hurt that legally adopting people into your family made them part of your gens and powerful people would do that for slaves, so lots of emperors or powerful landowners ended up building colossal extended families no gens could hope to administer. If a Latin name ended in -ianus or -inus, it meant that person or their ancestor had been adopted into whatever gens the rest of the name represented, and if you’ve ever wondered why names in Romance languages often end in -ana or -ano, that’s where it came from. Out in the provinces, immigrants often carried their gens with them and formed branches as they married locals, while the locals often had clan systems of their own they just treated like parallel structures as they assimilated. As a side not, the section mentions how Roman women used contraception, but it doesn’t mention the most popular method: silphium, a popular seasoning native to North Africa with abortifacient qualities that went extinct due to overharvesting. Apparently, it was a relative of onion or fennel that worked like magic in any recipe you threw it in, and while people definitely use it as birth control, it was so popular as a spice the birth control was kind of a sideshow. I find it very funny that we can’t have super-garlic today because Italians ate it into extinction thousands of years ago.  In theory, Rome had something close to a caste system, but by the empire it had loosened into a class system with real social mobility (even if few people actually changed classes over the course of their lifetime). At the top sat the patricians, powerful nobles who usually traced their descent from some famous leader or divinity and by right of birth held a seat in the Senate. They legally couldn’t participate in commerce (agents ran the business for them and they acted as investors instead  ), instead drawing power from massive landholdings. Below them sat the equites, lesser nobles with less land but legal permission to run businesses; back when armies were basically militias, this class got its name from its obligation to provide horsemen. Under the empire, the equites functioned as professional civil servants and commanders, with really successful ones promoted to the Senate by the Emperor. Plebeians came next, the unwashed masses that composed the bulk of Roman society, with no special privileges or social status, followed by noncitizens, almost always foreigners that didn’t have to pay certain taxes but were barred from political office and formal military service. At the bottom sat slaves, largely war captives, criminals, or the children of slave women. They had few rights, did hard labor under the threat of brutal punishments, and at times made up as much of a third of the Imperial population. Still, many ended up freed by their masters or able to buy their way out of slavery; they entered their own special class of half citizens known as freedmen who still answered to their former owners in various ways but would pass full freedom down to their children. As the empire grew, these classes blurred and social mobility increased, even though the fundamental divisions remained intact. While that section is kind of right, it misses two key points. First: the whole patrician-plebian thing barely existed even under the early emperors and it’s kind of misleading to talk about it like those names to find those classes through the entire history of the empire. Second: he’s missing some important things about slavery. That one third number up there dates back to the height of the late Republic, after waves of conquest and civil wars what did the market with slaves taken from captured cities or confiscated by the government from political enemies. A small number of landowners built massive plantations called latifundia that outcompeted small farmers across Italy especially and drove them into Rome (that’s how the city got most of the million citizens it had its height), in turn fueling social instability as various strongmen catered to the resentful masses. But what happened when the emperors finally brought the situation under control? Well, the market collapsed. Latifundia owners found the cheap labor source they built their fortunes on cut off. There weren’t enough slaves from other sources to keep expanding their states, and they couldn’t attract labor back from the cities between the presence of the dole, the promise of being worked like a slave, and the fact that they didn’t want to leave their homes behind. That led to a lot of social pressure on slaveowners to keep their slaves healthy enough to keep the farms running, followed by a general change in perspective that led to laws being to regulate slave treatment. Economics led to a social shift, which changed how people treated an entire class. You can’t really treat late Republic slavery and Imperial slavery is the same thing, they had a lot in common but the differences were stark enough you can’t really just lump them together like that. I think that’s it for today, I got a bit into the weeds here and it’s about time I reign things in. Next time we hit up law and social customs. And no, I haven’t forgotten about the phalluses, I’ll bring them up when they show up.
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Sep 19, 2022 19:32
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PurpleXVI posted:Quality choice, I maintain that Dark Sun and Birthright are the two most well-developed and interesting 2nd ed settings. Planescape is a good try, but let down by the mechanics. PurpleXVI posted:I'd argue that basic 2e clerics, if you don't have the sphere limitations(and in the PHB that whole thing is really just a subsection of "pure" clerics, which is probably why a lot of players managed to miss it) get pretty close to being overpowered, considering that they just have access to all their spells of a given level they've reached. They don't need to find scrolls, find a teacher or otherwise choose what to know, they're wildly flexible and, while at low levels, their main tricks are a bit of buffing and healing, at high levels they become mobile natural disasters who, unlike wizards, can roll around in full plate. Offensively they'll never match a Fighter without magic, since they have both a worse Thac0, no specialization and blunt weapons are inexplicably dealing notably lower damage than swords in almost every category, but it still gives them some backup to fall back on, unlike mages. Maybe it was some internal bias at my table, but clerics were never the stars. Their magic was less flashy than the wizard, there was an expectation for healing and support. You wanted one along, but on one wanted to play one. And that bias persisted, so we never had degenerate godlike clerics in 3E. They probably should have a nerf, but I think Dragonlance Adventures goes too far (core Dark Sun likewise, I think without Earth, Air, Fire, Water some clerics didn't have a spell choice at some levels PurpleXVI posted:Neutrality is in general loving weird in Dragonlance. In both the books and official adventures, the forces of Neutrality only, as far as I recall, have a presence twice.
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Sep 19, 2022 19:57
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Thanks for the Rome lesson, don't be soft on the book give it all the dirty nasty criticism that a society obsessed with proper debate with a side of dick jokes demands.
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Sep 19, 2022 20:19
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By popular demand posted:Thanks for the Rome lesson, don't be soft on the book give it all the dirty nasty criticism that a society obsessed with proper debate with a side of dick jokes demands. Alright, I’ll give the book a  for the racist caricature I just noticed at the bottom of that last image.
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Sep 19, 2022 20:43
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srhall79 posted:Birthright I thought was very neat and got the box set, monster book, and an adventure or two. The domain thing was a neat idea, finally giving rules to something waved around as "This is what your fighter is heading to" but I think they still needed to bake longer. Agreed, but they're still pretty solid for what they are and a great step above "just figure it out." srhall79 posted:Maybe it was some internal bias at my table, but clerics were never the stars. Their magic was less flashy than the wizard, there was an expectation for healing and support. You wanted one along, but on one wanted to play one. And that bias persisted, so we never had degenerate godlike clerics in 3E. They probably should have a nerf, but I think Dragonlance Adventures goes too far (core Dark Sun likewise, I think without Earth, Air, Fire, Water some clerics didn't have a spell choice at some levels That was a persistent problem, yes. Even with the various 2e supplements, some spheres of Clerical magic were just a lot more dry of options than others and the settings like Dark Sun that made them important could have done with either filling them out more or maybe plundering some appropriate mage spells to fill them out(like, say, the Fire cleric might eventually get a Fireball or the Water cleric might get a Cone of Cold). srhall79 posted:Yeah, it's rumored in some places that Gilean is Astinus, the librarian of Palathus. While not confirmed here, they have the same HP and AC. I think there's a short story with Reorx causing problems for Caramon's sons ahead of Summer Flame. Beyond that, it's good gods vs evil gods, and almost entirely Paladine and Takhisis. Mishakal might make Goldmoon the first cleric, but my recollection is she heads to the background as soon as she was able to anoint Elistan. In some of the adventure modules I believe the secondary evil gods occasionally get some play but... yeah, that's about it.
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Sep 19, 2022 22:13
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Dragonlance Adventures part 10 (great timing that I'm posting about made-up D&D gods alongside a review of The Adventurer's Guide to the Bible) The Gods of Good Paladine (Brother of Rangere, son of Fightere, sworn enemy of Roguee) is referred to as the Father of Good and Master of Law. "A supreme leader, he does not interfere with the affairs of his fellow beings as long as their doings do not counter the law of good." Fellow beings as in the gods of good? Because I don't think they could go counter to the law of good on a bet. The gods in general? Well, 2/3 of them are probably breaking the law by breathing. At any rate, Paladine is the one who led the good gods out of Beyond to follow the High God and he led them in the All-Saints War. He knows the importance of balance- Krynn needs its evil and its neutrals along with the good. "His vision saw the need for balance and conflict as the catalyst of learning and progress." Also, too much good goes fascist, or something. The wikipedia entry on Horseshoe Theory doesn't credit Weis & Hickman at all. Some people think he was Huma, but the book is explicit that he wasn't, but he was involved in a lot of the goings on. His constellation guards the Gate of Souls, which kept the dragons from returning to Krynn. Apparently his constellation went away after the cataclysm, and dragons came back. But how long was it down for? Early in Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Raistlin notices the Brave Warrior and Dark Queen missing- if the Brave Warrior had been missing for 350 years, this wouldn't have been the time to comment. And when the dragons came back, did they just find places to sleep? Because later histories will tell us of Takhisis waking up the evil dragons, who then steal the good dragon eggs while the good dragons sleep. So what's going on? Oh, and post-Cataclysm, Paladine's tears "filled the night sky with their brilliance" for 60 days. I'm sure that was a comfort when the world was going through some dramatic continental drift. Hallmark doesn't make a "Sorry I hit you with a fiery mountain" card. "When it came time to reclaim Krynn in the name of good..." well, that's when Paladine came in as Fizban, wandering the world and prodding people into action. The text is quite firm that Paladine never used his vast power to change things, but worked through men and their free agency. No, he never directly acted, but he seemed to do a lot of stern gazing, loud shouting of names, and wiped Tas's memory at one point. Stat-wise... well, frankly, Paladine's a good argument for not having stats for gods, because if you have them, players will want to fight them. Paladine isn't quite "This god has infinity for all his stats" but it's close- He's a Cleric/Magic-User, 40th level in each (not much a brave warrior) Lawful Good (no chaotics on this team, half are LG, half are NG) Move 12, fly 29 (why 29? I'm curious if this makes him a titch faster than any dragons?) AC -10 HP 999 HD 40 # Attacks: 5 Damage/Attack: 1-1000. No, you're not pulling out 3d10 like with Hackmaster. The damage is 1d10 times a number from 1-100, chosen by Paladine. The example has him choosing 20, which still have a decent chance of putting any 1E character in the ground, but I suppose is a sign of his mercy. If the DM wants to kill you, Paladine is going to do it fast. Spheres: Astral, Charm, Guardianship, Protection, Stellar Special: (these are all the time freebies) Detect Balance, Reflecting Pool Additionals: (not in his spheres, but followers can still prepare) Bless, Cure Light Wounds, Flame Strike. Majere "Favored god of monks". Favored? IDK. And why have a god of monks if there are no monks on Krynn? Sage Advice #160 suggests that Krynn still has cloistered clerics that are "monks" in the traditional sense, and they get a god all to themselves. Majere also has a thing for insects- he's said to give his followers a symbol that, when thrown on the ground, turns into insects to fight for the follower. Not that we get rules for that. Majere is Paladine's friend who followed him from Beyond. Majere is a 53rd level Monk, and what the gently caress? Again, we don't have monks in Krynn, but what should we do with this god? Eh, make him a monk. He's also too good for the usual monk restriction of Lawful alignment, being neutral good. And 53rd level? That's meaningless. Sure, almost every class you can extrapolate levels out to wherever, but the Monk in the PHB has 17 levels, that's it. It just feels like bragging on the playground, "You've got a 20th level paladin? Well, my 30th level assassin would kick his butt." If you want to ban monks from your setting because a class based on Eastern martial arts does seem at odds with your Western fantasy realm... but your message gets confused when you have a god of monks with monk levels. If you're going god hunting, Majere is an easier target than Paladine. Only 530 HP. AC is -5, which, a 17th level monk is -3, so those extra 36 levels aren't doing much. He gets 5 attacks, at 1d8/1d8/2d10/2d10/2d20. Or, looking at a 17th level Monk, how about 4 attacks at 8-32? gently caress, the writers can't even powergame properly. Followers get Charm Animals, Summon Insects, and Silence 15' Radius as specials, always available (so 1st level cleric with a 2nd level spell). Additionals (spells beyond the normal spheres, available at appropriate levels) Repel Insects, Insect Plague, Creeping Doom Kiri-Jolith is the lawful good god of war, son of Paladine and Mishakal, twin of Habbakuk. He's one of the three gods responsible for the Knights of Solamnia, and we learned the Knights of the Sword get their spells from him. He's listed as a 29th level in Fighter and Cleric, with AC -8, 500 HP, and 6 attacks for 3d20, 3d20, 2d20, 2d20, 1d10, and 1d10. His followers are "powerful in battle" but have to be careful with their gifts because Kiri-Jolith might take them away if he thinks they violated the principles of good. We see the first Special Bonus- followers get +1 on attacks if in good standing (future war gods often gained an attack bonus, though I don't know if Kiri-Jolith was the inspiration). Spheres are Astral, Combat, Guardianship, and Healing (Reverse). So Cause Light Wounds, but not Cure. They always have Detect Magic and Create Food & Water. Additional spells, there are one or two every level, mostly combat spells that fell under Necromantic (Slay Living, Finger of Death), some buffs that are in Protection, and trap detection (Detect Snares and Pits, Find Traps). Kiri-Jolith is pretty solid for a combat cleric. The +1 to hit can help keep up with the fighter, though you'd lack the extra attacks (I wonder if Knights of the Sword get the +1). A downside is no access to healing spells. After the fight, you and your friends are going have to make do with bedrest to heal. You want healing? You worship Mishakal. She's the goddess of healing, Paladine's companion and advisor, in ancient times "the most revered of the ministering gods" and I don't know what that means. More recently, she's the Bearer or the Lightbringer, as she brought back knowledge of the true gods. It's said hers is the largest flock of followers, with every community having a cleric of Mishakal, and every adventuring group wanting one. She might be the easiest god if you're picking a fight. 25th level cleric, AC only -3, just 350 HP, and just two attacks for 3d8/3d8. Her followers get +1 die on all healing spells. So, Cure Light Wounds heals 2d8. Good to have when the Knight is starting with 2d10 and the cleric has 2d8. Spheres are Astral, Charm, Creation, Divination, Healing, Necromancy, Stellar. Surprisingly, of Healing and Necromancy spells, only Neutralize Poison is listed in the back as True (so her clerics can cast it, but not reverse). So Cause Light Wounds and Slay Living are fair game for her followers (and Cause Light Wounds is still a Healing sphere spell- does it do an extra die of damage?). As Specials, she grants Prayer and Remove/Bestow Curse- again, these are spells above and beyond the memorized for the day, and no level restriction, so a level 1 cleric can cast prayer. It's only going to last a round, but it's a free round of +1 to attack and saves for allies, -1 for enemies. Several addition spells cover bless, silence, water walk, holy word, and a few other effects. There are probably some holes in a cleric's arsenal from the spheres, but a Cleric of Mishakal is going to be a boon to any party (I recall Champions of Krynn, my standard party included a kender thief/cleric of mishakal, which helped healing go faster). Habbakuk, god of animal life and the sea, twin of Kiri-Jolith and one of the three gods behind the Knights. Paladine as Master of Law and Kiri-Jolith as God of War make sense- I'm not sure where Habbakuk fits in. I don't think "strong enforcer of natural justice" translates to patrons of the Knights of the Rose. Okay, looking back at the Knights, Habbakuk is the patron for the Knights of the Crown and the virtue of loyalty, but no one felt the need to include that here. Habbakuk is listed as a 27th level druid, which, like the monk, doesn't go that high (14th in the PHB, I think. Unearthed Arcana had Hierophant levels, but I think those topped out at 22?) Druids also don't exist on Krynn, becoming heathens. He takes after his mother in combat stats, though 490 HP. His spheres are animal and elemental. His 1st level followers thus have: Animal Friendship; Invisible to Animals; Speak with Animals; Purify Water. Oh, and Ceremony and Combine from the All sphere. That seems balanced with a follower of Kiri-Jolith or Mishakal, right? Well, they do also get Locate Animals, Detect Life, and Spiritual Weapon for free, and some higher level additional spells. Branchala is there Oh, all right. He's a companion to Habbakuk who followed his friend "so that he too could help forge worlds." Mishakal is named as Paladine's "companion" and they have three children together. You don't suppose TSR put in the first gay couple with Habbakuk and Branchala? Maybe that's why they didn't get more page-time. Branchala continues our line of gods with classes that don't otherwise exist in Krynn, being a 35th level Fighter/Bard. He's not called out as the god of anything in particular, just that his music "is that of the souls of all who live." Spheres are Plants, Stellar, and Weather. His followers get +2 on artistic proficiency rolls. Finally, Solinari gets a stat block, though we're told more details are in the Wizards section. He's a 40th level White Robe, has all the spheres of White Robe magic, and gets 930 HP, more than any good god except Paladine. Attacks are no slouch at 2d20/2d20/2d10/2d10. Gods of Neutrality Gilean, the one you've heard of, patriarch of the neutral family of gods. His book, the Tobril, contains all the knowledge possessed by all the gods. His constellation sits between Paladine and the Queen of Darkness (and that's how the book writes it, not just me worried about misspelling her name) as though to keep them from destroying each other. You know what this book could use? "God of ___________" We get it occasionally, with Kiri-Jolith as the war god, Mishakal as the goddess of healing. What's Gilean the god of? Neutrality? Knowledge? Wisdom? He's very similar to Paladine in stats, being a 40th level cleric/red-robed wizard. Same movement speed, only 980 HP, but still with the AC -10. He has the same 1-1000 damage attack Paladine has, but only gets two attacks a round. Followers get +1 on all nonweapon proficiencies, and the Astral, Creation, Divination, and Protection spheres, with additionals Speak with Animals and Messenger. And I still feel I don't really know why I'd worship Gilean. Particularly, why would I choose him over Mishakal, who trades the Protection sphere for three other spheres Reorx, the forge, the other one you've heard of. "He commands creation and technology." Humans tend to portray him as a paunchy squire of Kiri-Jolith (which seems like he'd fit better in the good pantheon if we didn't need the balance) "but dwarves and gnomes hold him as the highest of the gods." He forged the Greystone of Gargath, making him the father of gnomes, dwarves, and kender (only two of the three actually coming from the Greystone but we'll get into that in the races chapter). So, gently caress you, Reorx the plague bringer. Humans, by the way, buncha bigots diminishing Reorx, who is 8 levels higher than Kiri-Jolith in both classes, has 340 more HP, and gets 2 attacks at 1d100 each. Followers get +2 on craft proficiency. And then we've got Sirrion and Shinare and Chislev and Zivilyn (that's not clear, but the first two are a couple and the last two are a couple). Sirrion is the god of flame and natural power (my prayers have been answered!), along with being the "guard of the neutral way and the bringer into being of nature" with his companion Shinare, goddess of industry and creation from nature- they are seen as a quarreling couple on a cosmic scale. Sirrion grants his followers +1 die damage on fire-based spells, which is great... except Sirrion doesn't have the elemental sphere, nor any specials or additionals, so this applies to... Flame Strike. He does have the Healing Sphere, so that's handy. Shinare is the goddess of wealth, money, and industry. "She is the favorite god of the dwarves (although she is male in their tales)". Favorite... after Reorx? My recollection is Flint only ever invoked Reorx. Chislev is nature incarnate (well, the god of _______ was nice while it lasted). She's served by a number of animated wooden creatures, and I'm picturing the Sorcerer's Apprentice. She's a 34th level druid, because we're well and done worrying about level limits. It's said that she and her companion Zivilyn dwell in Zahn, the grandest of forests, where worthy elves come "when they leave Krynn for the next world." The good elves don't cozy up to their god Paladine? Zivilyn "is said to exist in all times and in all lands and possess all the wisdom of all the planes of existence". So he gets to be advisor to Gilean, god of knowledge (yay, four gods after Gilean in the book, we learn what he's the god of). His relationship with Chislev is seen as a blend of harmony and understanding. And there's Lunitari, again correctly listed as daughter of Gilean, mother unknown (but daughter of the wisest god and the goddess doing the sorcerer's apprentice bit would make sense too). So that's the neutral gods. They're there. Gods of Evil Takhisis. Queen of Darkness, Dragonqueen, She of Many Faces. "Her name is the call of darkness. Takhisis led the shadows from Beyond and brought them to aid in creation of this cosmos." Sargonnas is her consort, and they have Nuitari as their one child. There's a "respectful peace between Takhisis and Sargonnas- I didn't expect a loving relationship, but I did figure she just dominated the others. I suppose the evil gods all plotting against one another is fitting for the setting (and I recall plots among the Dragon Highlords to increase their personal power, so it's reflected in her followers). Takhisis started the All Saints War (well, "instigated") and was responsible for the separation of the gods early on because she wanted to conquer and rule. All three Dragon Wars "were instigated at her behest" and that is some passive voice (although also mention of the Third Dragon War, which gets left off the history in this book and leads to Huma being placed 1000 years early- a mistake the sage will repeat but we'll get to that). Huma uses a "powerfully endowed" dragonlance to banish Takhisis to the Abyss, and dragons are banished deep in the ground. It's the pride of the Kingpriest that gives Takhisis another chance. She's spent a millennium plotting and planning, and now with the Kingpriest and his nation falling into "pride and boasting" she makes a "cunning suggestion." And all the gods ignored her because she'd started a war in heaven and three more on Krynn. Oh, no, apparently the loving idiots thought "She was sent to hell without supper, let's listen to what she has to say. So, Taki, we hit the world with plagues and frogs and locusts, take out all our clerics, and then drop a flaming mountain on the planet, causing geographic damage? Yeah, that sounds better than just, idk, lightning bolting the Kingpriest." And somehow the Temple of the Kingpriest ends up in the Abyss, where Takhisis finds it and uses it as a focus to create a portal back to Krynn, which leads up to the War of the Lance and the plot of the chronicles. She can take on any form she wants, likes disguises, but her common forms are a five headed dragon or a beautiful temptress. Continuing the balance angle, she's a Cleric/Black Robe, 40th in each, Lawful Evil, faster than the other head gods at 18 movement, 48 flying, AC -10, 999 HP, she's got the same 1-1000 attack, but only gets to make FOUR of them. Which I suppose means one head is just humming or something. And that's the evil gods. ... Gods of Evil that I haven't heard of Sargonnas- God of vengeance, Dark Queen's Consort. "Little is known of" and that's the truth- he gets two sentences conveying what I just did, plus mention that he participates in plots for and against the Queen. Plots with who? None of the other evil gods seem like they particularly care to mess with the DQ. Sargonnas is listed as a Cleric 30th and has 666 HP (although is Lawful Evil). Among his spheres is healing, but half of the spells his followers only get the reverse (so cure/cause light wounds, but only cause critical wounds, cure/cause blindness, but only cause disease). Morgion- God of disease, decay, and plague. "Always the lone warrior, he does not act with the other gods nor does he often discuss plans with them." So, this one isn't doing any plotting with Sargonnas. His followers are big on secrets. "Warrior" translates to 37th level Druid, which means he's a higher level druid than Chislev, "nature incarnate." His single attack per round has no listed damage- instead he attacks through "pestilence and disease" though speeded up through his power. Generally, the attack does 5d20 on the first round, then 1d20 on each DAY after... so it's going to be a long fight. A Heal spells is needed to stop it, and that's all that Heal spell will do. Restoring the lost HP will require more spells or rest. Chemosh- Lord of the Undead, he was "cast out from the Beyond by the High God" and then called her by Takhisis, who rescued him from the void of chaos. He's the lord of false redemption, which I guess may explain why the High God didn't just toss him back into the void? He offers immortality, which is granted in eternally corrupted bodies. Most of your evil undead have made a pact with him or his followers. Because subtlety is banned on Krynn, his followers wear white skull masks and black robes. He's a 29th level Cleric/Black Robe, gets 2 attacks for 1-100 and 2 levels drained. As mentioned previously, he's one of three gods with the Necromancy sphere, but anything that might bring back to life, his followers only get the reverse (Necromancy also has Aid, which grants temp HP, and Invisibility to Undead, which would be nice for a lot of clerics to have, but you're SOL). In Jeff Grubb's original setting where the gods were borrowed from, Chemosh was Orcus, but Dragonlance never did anything with that. Zeboim- Sea Queen, daughter of Takhisis, "impetuous, manic-depressive, and constantly swinging to the edges of the emotional spectrum." Your Chaotic Evil Sea Witch. Queen of Tempests and Weather. Sailors will sacrifice to her, but are just as likely to offend. Hiddukel- Deal maker who trades in souls, "the only one who can barter with the Queen of Darkness and come out ahead." I'm betting part of that is most of the gods are too drat gullible- witness listening to Takhisis Strife-bringer on how to deal with a turbulent priest. He controls ill-gotten wealth and uses it to corrupt greedy men. He is "seen as grossly fat with cold eyes and a oily smile [sic]) Nuitari- Twin brother to Zeboim, which is a trick as Takhisis' entry said he was her only child by Sargonnas. God of black or evil magic. The heathens Come to Krynn, lose your cleric spells until you find a new god to worship. Not even a mention of the Seekers or other false religions that popped up natively after the gods left... I mean, AFTER KRYNN LEFT THE GODS. Next time, the Racists of Krynn. Pardon, I've just been handed a note that it's the Races of Krynn. But we'll be covering elves and dwarves, so I think my first version might be correct.
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Sep 20, 2022 03:50
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srhall79 posted:
The complete zero information of who or what the Seekers actually worshipped, even if it was fake, like what their value system or whatever was, considering that they must've been around for a pretty long time during the absence of the true gods, really annoys me.
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Sep 20, 2022 04:06
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srhall79 posted:
We do learn later that he's the patron god of Minotaurs, and that he has a crush on Kiri-Jolinth. He's basically the god of rage and vengeance, but also of war, strength and conquest. Think the evil version of Kiri-Jolinth. The latter blesses soldiers who fight to help othersss,, the former, those who fight to help themselves to the detriment of others. Unfortunately, we don't find out what gods the seekers worship until the 1994 book Hedrick the Theocrat. Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Sep 20, 2022 |
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Sep 20, 2022 04:50
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PurpleXVI posted:The complete zero information of who or what the Seekers actually worshipped, even if it was fake, like what their value system or whatever was, considering that they must've been around for a pretty long time during the absence of the true gods, really annoys me. They seem like the political power in the region where the books kick off, it really would make sense to define somewhere what they believed. Instead, "they worshiped fake gods, doesn't matter. They'll be taken out by the Dragon armies while your PCs are being railroaded to Xak Tsaroth, so don't worry about it."
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Sep 20, 2022 05:40
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Epicurius posted:We do learn later that he's the patron god of Minotaurs, and that he has a crush on Kiri-Jolinth. He's basically the god of rage and vengeance, but also of war, strength and conquest. Think the evil version of Kiri-Jolinth. The latter blesses soldiers who fight to help othersss,, the former, those who fight to help themselves to the detriment of others. That's nifty. I figure a lot of gods get more text in the 2nd and 3rd edition eras. Here, Sargonnas looks like a warrior god, with the combat and healing spheres, but there's really nothing beyond what I wrote. As a general critique, most of the gods don't even offer a follower ability, which at least could offset the reduced spell access.
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Sep 20, 2022 05:45
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You can always tell when the designers just gave up on basic world building and hastily wrote "there be dragons" People give GRRM poo poo for not figuring out the small details but his worlds roughly make sense.
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Sep 20, 2022 05:48
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 Events & Encounters, Part II This section has been split into two parts for ease of length For the second half of this chapter, roughly half of the sections detail the remaining archdemon lairs, two important settlements in Judea, two that are Jesus-centric, and one is an escort mission for a holy artifact. The settlements follow a similar layout to the Atlas entries in showing a birds-eye view of locations filled with people and quest hooks that tie into other events and encounters. Tomb of the Buried Queen is a dungeon crawl taking place in and under the Great Pyramid of Giza. Back in the day, the archdemon Mammon masqueraded as the goddess Selket to trick the Pharaohs into burying themselves with their royal wealth, believing that their bounties will come over with them in the afterlife. This worked out well for Mammon, as the Pharaohs offered her tribute while living and she turned the Pyramid of Giza into her personal treasure trove. As an 18 room, multi-level dungeon filled with a variety of monsters, traps, and puzzles, this is definitely one of the highlights of the campaign. I can see gaming groups having a lot of fun going through it. Some interesting features include scarab beetle swarms which can be kept at bay via fire, a room filled with trapped hieroglyphic tiles that zap people with magical energy if they step on any tiles besides the ones with the Ancient Egyptian word for “life,”a “wishing well” that opens up doors of a certain metal matching the coins dropped in, and Golden Calf construct guardians which reform into a golden key upon death to unlock doors to proceed further into the dungeon. Mammon will be encountered in the big treasure room, her human form looking like an Ancient Egyptian aristocrat. She can attack with a dagger that deals bonus necrotic damage as well as use a rechargeable telepathic AoE attack. Like Naamah she can turn invisible and teleport to dodge attacks, albeit also in simulacrum form, and has the benefits of Spider Climb in both forms. Her true form is a centaur-like monster but with the bottom half having scorpion legs, claws, and tail. In this form she gets access to new features such as a Flesh to Gold spell and a poisonous sting attack. Being a literal load-bearing boss, the pyramid will enter a timed collapse, and PCs can stick around each round to loot her treasure trove with some randomly-generated treasure and magic items. This comes at increased risk of being buried alive, naturally; such is the price of greed. Pleasure Cruise involves Moloch, the Archdemon of Gluttony. His simulacrum is known as Captain Gula, the owner of a floating luxury resort ship called the Laimargia, docked in the city of Tarsus. Already infamous for his decadent parties, people curry favor to gain tickets to the cruise where everyone has to wear a mask. This allowance of anonymity encourages party-goers to engage in excesses they wouldn’t otherwise, and also allows Moloch to discretely murder and eat people with minimal risk as few can truly say who is attending beyond speculation. There are multiple hooks and reasons the PCs may board the Laimargia, but this event is less a dungeon crawl and more a murder mystery. The cruise lasts for 6 days out on the open sea, and the ship has 3 levels (or decks) along with 10 party-goers. A league of goat demons (new monsters) are in the bowels of the ship rowing. The party-goers have randomly-generated false names, appearances, vices, and secrets. Vices in this case are more character flaws and indulgences that can determine where they are on the ship and how Moloch may take advantage of them, while secrets are reasons the party-goers won’t trust other people or the PCs. Secrets include things like being one of Moloch’s agents, a Roman senator frightened of being assassinated by the Sicarii, or a religious leader in Tarsus who preaches the virtues of moderation and self-control. I wanted to mention that one of the sample Vices is “flirting with women…or men…or both.” While this isn’t being portrayed as an explicit moral flaw, it being listed alongside other Vices such as opium, gambling, and being the center of attention, this comes off as a “bisexuals are overly lustful” reading. Over the course of 6 days Moloch will slowly isolate, kill, and eat passengers who wander off alone, and by the fourth day it will be obvious to everyone that something terrible is going on. If the PCs haven’t confronted Moloch by then, he will go after them. As Captain Gula, Moloch is a physically-oriented enemy with a powerful slam attack and the ability to heal damage by gorging himself on food. He has a variety of good spells such as Cloudkill and Gaseous Form, as well as Disguise Self which he can use to impersonate other passengers. His true form is a large frog-like demon with a powerful bite and poisonous belch attack. Moloch doesn’t have any spells in this form, but his legendary actions are more physical, such as saliva which mimics the Grease spell, the ability to swallow targets, and increasing in size categories the more creatures he eats. Even if slain, the goat demons will leap out of the Laimargia, stranding the boat at sea. The PCs can help sail it to the island of Cyprus, which depending on their earlier actions may either help them find Caspar and/or put them in the crosshairs of Simon Magus. There’s also a sidebar for turning the Laimargia into a mobile base of operations. Much like Naamah, Moloch has letter correspondence with other archdemons, and this can reveal the location of Naamah and Beelzebub’s lairs. Tending to the Garden is where we’ll find Beelzebub, Archdemon of Sloth. Making his lair in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, he has perhaps the most inefficient means of locating the Messiah: by encouraging travelers to relax and hang out in the gardens, he can keep up with gossip and tales and learn more about the Messiah that way.This comes off as an excuse, but is very in-character for a demon that is the representation of laziness so I’m cool with it. The Hanging Gardens are treated as a dungeon crawl, separated into leveled tiers with Beelzebub at the top. There’s also a hedge maze, and he has swarms of Abyssal Flies which keep in telepathic contact with him at all times to keep tabs on intruders. Abyssal Flies individually are incredibly weak, having just 1 HP and doing 1 damage with their sting. But the real danger here lies in Exhaustion ratings. Not only does Beelzebub’s Aura trigger a level of exhaustion on a failed Constitution save, so too do the sting attacks of Abyssal Flies. So PCs can be worn down by the lethargic atmosphere just as much as damage. Otherwise the only other enemy types here are Shedim and Goat Demons. Beelzebub, once encountered, isn’t in the mood for conversation. So beyond a brief welcome he will attack the party as he grows bored of them. His simulacrum is an old man with a giant scythe who as a reaction can knock opponents prone by making them drowsy. He can also summon decorative garden statues to fight in battle, which the stat block calls…Garden Gnomes. Beelzebub’s true form is a frightening-looking classical demon: a Huge-sized, horned, red-skinned humanoid with sharp teeth and mighty strength. He can’t cast spells, but he wields Goliath’s Greatsword which is a +2 magic weapon that ignores slashing resistance and deals +4d8 damage on a critical hit. He can also hurl enemies up to 40 feet, damaging them depending on how far they traveled. The text points out he can use this to throw PCs off the current tier of the Garden, and for ease of movement-tracking characters must spend their entire turn to return to the battlefield. Upon defeat, the PCs can find a horde of gems as well as a partially-dissolved leatherbound scroll signed by Lilith giving orders to the various Archdemons and what to do. The most useful information is that Legion is underground somewhere in Judea.  Welcome to Galilee details the region of Judea famed for containing Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. In addition to that settlement, it has a full-page map detailing 10 unique locations for the PCs to visit. Galilee is a poor, rural region, and besides the richer Roman-sponsored cities of Capernaum and Magdala the majority of settlements are in states of disrepair that can be most accurately described as rural slums. Nazareth is regarded as one of the worst settlements, with its neighbors often joking that nothing good can come out of there. Galilee is one of the likely places PCs can meet Jesus and possibly witness a few of his more notable deeds, such as the verse where he multiples bread and fish or stopping an angry mob from stoning a woman to death via his “he who is without sin” speech.* This isn’t a railroad. PCs have a chance to deal with the mob on their own first, and Jesus does his challenge if the party doesn’t otherwise intervene or manage to quell their wrath. This section also serves as a good means for inquisitive PCs to learn more about him (or rumors of the Messiah) by visiting friends and family. Nazareth, unsurprisingly, is where the most potential character development in learning about Jesus can happen, particularly at the house of his mother. Appropriate role-playing, social skill checks, or even mind-reading magic can cause the family members to open up a bit and reveal more details. For instance, Mary’s virgin birth was not well-regarded initially; rumors around the town spread that she conceived a child out of marriage, and that her husband Joseph believed that she had cheated on him. This scandal caused most of her friends in Nazareth to abandon her. So I cannot say how Biblically accurate this is, but I really like this little detail. Contemporary Christian culture often exalts the Virgin Mary as a paragon of feminine ideals, but if something like a virgin pregnancy were to happen in the times before the miracle of artificial insemination, it sadly makes sense that most people would assume that the woman would be lying about it. Also given that Jesus’ own mother has been viewed in such a way adds a bit more depth to the time when he protected the woman accused of adultery from being stoned to death. Yes I know it’s Jesus, protecting the innocent and abhorring murder is his bread and fish, but it helps paint a more empathetic picture. For some non-Jesus related interesting areas, there are local hot springs which have possible randomly-determined healing properties, the PCs can also beat Jesus to the punch at a few of his miracles in healing several people if they have the right spells, engage a friendly one on one duel with the angel Barachiel in a swamp who can give them a Holy Ground benefit if they win, and visit the Witch of Endor in a cozy-looking cottage. For some reason the duel brings to mind the sword-training duels in Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I figure that now’s as good a time as any to discuss the Witch of Endor. She’s an immortal mage who was cast out of Israel by King Saul for her powerful divination magic, and ever since has pursued power and knowledge for its own sake. She has a complex relationship with God, hating the idea of living under a moral code that can inhibit her own power. Yet she hates Satan’s minions for the lies they spread which in turn hampers the ability to pursue truth. For this reason she can serve as an enigmatic ally, and her quaint little cottage is capable of teleporting, meaning it can also be found as a random encounter. She can use her powers to aid the PCs, but in exchange she asks them to perform seemingly innocuous errands which will pit them against the archdemons or otherwise get them involved in some other quest in this book. A few examples are laid out in a sample table. In terms of stats the Witch of Endor is a wizardly mage who can cast up to 5th level spells. She has a damaging at-will energy bolt that can inflict various damage types, can force a targeted creature to transform into a form reflecting their physical vices on a failed save, and has Legendary Actions which she can spend to make a free Perception check, teleport, or cast a spell. Overall a pretty cool character to meet.  Meeting Jesus is likely something most readers here have been waiting for. It’s not really an encounter or event so much as general role-play advice which is surprisingly pretty good. Basically it tells the DM to relax and not overwhelm themselves with worrying about getting an historical figure’s exact mannerisms right. The book explains that many people have an image of Jesus as a formal, uptight preacher, but for the standards of his day his speech was actually rather plain and he used slang and jokes. In other words, Jesus “was a very normal person,” and should overall be role-played as a chill dude who is engaging in comfortable chats with close friends. There will inevitably come times when the PCs, or players channeling their own views through the PCs, attempt to get Jesus’ opinion on some moral issue. Jesus’ overriding concern is love: the correct thing to do is always the most loving thing to do. The purpose of morality is not to determine who to condemn, it is to determine how to best uplift and support one another. This is also the closest the Adventurer’s Guide gets to an explicit stance on LGBT issues: quote:Jesus’s message (and, by extension, the Bible) is deliberately ambiguous about specific issues because issues shift and change with time. Thus, any question about sexuality, war, immigration, politics, etc. is the wrong question. The only relevant question is whether you are treating others with love, and only the person acting (and God) knows the answer to that question. When it comes to combat encounters, the DM is advised to avoid placing Jesus in such scenarios, as the majority of his portrayals in the Bible were less action-packed barring a few circumstances. He has the uncanny ability to get out of harm’s way and defuse tensions, no matter how bloodthirsty his enemies are at the moment. That being said, there are times when Jesus rolled up his sleeves to layeth the smackdown, and there are Bible verses cited for all of these as examples for “when he rolls initiative” such as the infamous public freakout when he drives money-lenders out of a temple which sadly isn’t a scenario that happens in this book. Interestingly one of these “combat verses” (Mark 5:1 to 5:20) has him exorcize Legion from a possessed man. Which means that Jesus has encountered one of the archdemons! So shouldn’t this be used as an obvious plot hook by the DM? The book doesn’t say; bit of a wasted opportunity. When it comes to stats Jesus doesn’t have a stat block. Instead he has guidelines; while Jesus is God and has the ability to know and do whatever he wants, while in human form he wishes to “have a true human experience and accept things as they come.” Basically in terms of physical stats he’s a Commoner, but when it comes to mental and magical abilities he’s out of this world. When making mental ability checks he either has a significantly high bonus or is assumed to auto-succeed. As for his miracles, a list of spells along with chapters and verses in which he uses them are provided; Jesus has no spellcasting bonus or save DCs, as the DM can decide whether they are successful or not, and his spells don’t require material components. There is one exception: Jesus, and only Jesus, has the True Atonement spell. As sins have often been atoned via sacrifice, Jesus can perform this ritual on behalf of the world by offering his own blood as the material sacrifice. But as God, he is an infinitely perfect being, which means that the spell’s duration, range, and level are also infinite. What this means is that his sacrifice is capable of dispelling all sin everywhere for those who atone. In practical game terms, this means that any spells requiring human sin* as a material component are instantly dispelled, meaning that any surviving archdemon simulacrums are destroyed and reveal the demons for who they truly are. Without this ability, the demons will be unable to return to the material plane should they die. *doesn’t specify for sins of other creatures such as giants, monsters, and nephilim. So what happens if someone tries to divine Jesus’ true nature, such as reading his thoughts, tracking down his location, or similar abilities? Well that caster is Stunned for one hour, no save, and talks nonstop in a stream-of-conscious manner about the nature of life, the universe, and everything for the duration. There are also brief write-ups on Jesus’ Disciples in listing their Quirks, Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws. These include the 12 Apostles, Judas, and three women allies of Jesus: Susanna from the Book of Daniel, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Saint Veronica. Welcome to Jerusalem is like Galilee in being an open-ended settlement with a series of various locations, characters, and quest hooks. As the home of the holiest location of Judaism, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem is a city of immense value to the Jewish people and its historical and cultural legacy is intertwined with them. There are other cultural influences present, the most prominent being the Roman Empire. Jerusalem has a heavy Roman military presence, and Pontius Pilate serves as the Proconsul and is rather unhappy in having to deal with the ever-present social strife underlying the occupation. Jerusalem’s previous ruler, King Herod, still lives in his palace, but being stripped of official duties he’s willing to while away the rest of his days in idle amusements. There’s a lot of things the PCs can do here. If they’re at least level 7 they can encounter hooks for the Protectors of the Ark sidequest. Otherwise Pontius Pilate may hire the PCs as an outside neutral party to investigate Jesus of Nazareth. Caipahas, one of the high priests of the Sanhedrin (the supreme council of Jewish religious authorities), is accusing Jesus of planning a violent insurrection and is thus pushing Pilate to do something about him. The marketplaces sell some holy magic items, and there’s a network of subterranean tunnels leading to various locations. These underground areas include the Ruins of Solomon’s Temple which holds the sacred stone of Urim guarded by a pair of Dybbuks (undead shadowy monsters), the headquarters of the Sicarii, and the secret hideout of Legion in the Caverns of Salt and Silver. Legion is hard at work in Judea. In his lair he’s been minting cursed silver pieces designed to make its owners intensely jealous of the Messiah and seek to thwart his plans. There’s a 25% chance such silver ends up in the PC’s inventory every time they engage in a financial transaction in the city. The curse has affected Caiaphas as well as one of Jesus’ own apostles, Judas. Protectors of the Ark has the PCs visiting a priestess in the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem with an important, secret mission. The Roman occupiers have been looting Judea of prized cultural artifacts, and combined with their tightening grip on Jerusalem it’s only a matter of time until they find the holiest treasure of all: the Ark of the Covenant, which is discretely kept in her house. As the artifact has been prized by people in power throughout history, the PCs must covertly transport it out of the city and carry it all the way to Ma’rib. As part of an ancient oath, the Queen of Sheba will safely transport it further into Africa where it will be held until it can be safely returned to Jerusalem. In spite of whatever best efforts the PCs take, trouble is bound to find them. Random encounters on the way to Ma’rib are replaced with 9 predetermined ones of ascending difficulty, being a mixture of more mundane Roman spies, soldiers, and Spartan mercenaries as well as cultists of the Shadow of the Beast. If the party is truly unlucky, the 9th encounter can place them toe to toe with the archdemon Abaddon himself! An encounter which would ordinarily cause a TPK instead has the party left alive, but when they come to the Ark has been stolen and lost forever. The Ark of the Covenant is a potent artifact. Those who come in close proximity gain a variety of immunities and have their alignment change to good due to becoming aware of God’s presence while they remain in close contact. People have an intuitive understanding that opening the lid would be disrespectful and cannot do this while under the aura’s influence. But if it somehow happens they are smote with a whopping 28d6 radiant damage on a successful Constitution save, and instant death on a failed one. Characters who enter combat in defense of the Ark gain access to a Lair action which casts the Call Lightning spell.
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Sep 20, 2022 07:01
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 Caverns of Salt and Silver is the hideout of Legion, Archdemon of Envy. The presence of the Dead Sea and receding underground tides means that there are tunnels made entirely of salt stretching for miles beneath Judea. Centuries ago, Legion used enchantment magic to manipulate the political leaders of Canaan to better search for the prophesied Messiah, although the personal nature and limitations of concentration spells meant that this was a very slow process. Further magical studies allowed Legion a more efficient means: by fracturing his consciousness among multiple possessed bodies, he can maintain even more concentration-duration spells at once. By creating cursed silver pieces acting as a spell focus for his enchantments, he could control hundreds if not thousands of people at once this way. But celestials and demons are beings not of flesh and blood but of intellect and spirit. Legion was forced to divide himself more and more over the ages, eroding his mental stability. Now, what remains of his true form is a herd of possessed swine and all but a few of his mortal followers abandoned him for more reliable, popular archdemons. Which of course fueled his Envy further. The Caverns are a 5-room dungeon that is rather light on treasure and monsters. Besides Legion, there are sentry golems and water elementals bound to his service. Throughout the caverns there are herds of demonic swine, evident by their glowing red eyes. They all have signs in Hebrew hanging from them reading names like Caipahas, Judas, and the like indicating which cursed silver piece of which that particular pig is concentrating. The pigs are harmless, but killing them reduces the HP maximum of Legion’s true form. The PCs can encounter Legion in his simulacrum form in a laboratory. He will try to bargain with the party first, offering them a legendary magic item from Israel’s past known as the Circlet of Solomon’s Wisdom (raises Wisdom to 27 and lets you concentrate on two spells, he’s actually wearing it and is attuned). He recently discovered the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, and will give the party the Circlet if they help find the Messiah. If combat is entered, Legion’s simulacrum is first and foremost a magic-user. His spells are rather wizardly, including options such as Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement, Dominate Person, and Telekinesis, and he can also switch places with a creature as a reaction. His true form is a swarm of dozens of pigs, who can make up to 5 individual bite attacks depending on his remaining hit points and his legendary actions include an AoE stampede, uttering blasphemous curses against God that deal Psychic damage, and can possess a creature via Dominate Person. Beyond the Circlet, the PCs can find his spellbook as a treasure along with a lot of silver pieces and letter correspondences with Lilith as well as the true identity of the Messiah (this last letter he has yet to send to Lilith). From these letters the PCs can find out that Legion is engaging in a conspiracy to have Jesus arrested and executed on false charges. Way of the Cross is the penultimate adventure in this campaign, triggered ideally when the PCs are 8th or 9th level, likely after they discovered Legion’s plot, or likely any time after the PCs met Jesus depending on how the DM feels. The book notes that this adventure is important to proceed a certain way for “historical, narrative, and mechanical reasons.” In other words, it’s heavily rail-roaded: Jesus must die by human hands in order to atone for humanity’s sins, and this will occur when Judas betrays him to the Romans. The adventure opens up with the PCs invited to Jesus’ Passover supper in Jerusalem. While there, observant characters may notice Judas sneaking away from the festivities. Everyone else will head to Bethany for a pleasant stroll, and Jesus will ask the PCs and three of his apostles to follow him to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is here a monumental skill challenge will take place, where Satan will seek to instill fear and doubt in Jesus via a variety of methods. Challenges include things like resisting Satan casting the Sleep spell, recognizing that biting snakes he’s sending out are illusions, reciting prayers with Jesus to comfort him, realizing that Satan’s stalling for time when he starts listing out the party’s worst sins, and so on. Failing the skill challenge causes Jesus to collapse, completely exhausted and unable to interact or say anything when Roman soldiers come to arrest him. Succeeding allows Jesus to give some final words of advice about how pride will be Lillith’s downfall and that the Word of God is sharper than any sword. This isn’t just a metaphor; one of the PCs will find the Sword of the Spirit in their inventory for succeeding on this challenge. It is a weapon of otherworldly construction with scriptural verses written in Hebrew along the blade’s length. It can take the form of any weapon, has a +3 enhancement, the wielder treats any roll on Persuasion or Religion lower than a 15 as a 15, and can cast the Spirit Guardians spell once per short or long rest without the need to concentrate to sustain it. Judas, Caiaphas, and 16 Roman guards will come to arrest Jesus, and just as combat begins when the apostles move to defend him, Jesus will diffuse the tension with Mass Suggestion and a healing spell on one of the struck guards. He will let himself be arrested and share some encouraging parting words, telling the PCs that he will send them help if they wait on the Mount of Olives. Jesus’ imprisonment and crucifixion more or less goes as planned. This also includes Pontius Pilate letting an angry crowd choose to have either Barabbas or Jesus pardoned, and the crowd chooses Barabbas. The module doesn’t say what happens in the event that the PCs killed Barabbas earlier in the module. Once Jesus dies, the True Atonement spell is cast, and a teleportation spell will activate next to the PCs. Caspar the Magi plus one or two other allies determined by the DM from earlier in the campaign will have arrived, with information about Lilith’s location. This adventure is very obviously railroaded. The book does talk about actions the PCs may take to defy destiny and ways the DM can adapt to this. However, just as Jesus has the uncanny ability to prevent outbreaks of death and violence in his presence, so too can he ensure that his death comes about for PCs who are insistent on finding ways to protect him at all costs. quote:Jesus is going to die. For more on how his death affects the adventure mechanically, see the “True Atonement” box below. The great mistake made by the Magi was their assumption that Jesus needed to be protected. In actuality, the single most important part of Jesus’s mission is to die, and to die by human hands. While a huge portion of the world knows the narrative of Jesus, PCs who may be insistent on avoiding metagaming may try to save Jesus when he’s crucified. Think about it: even if he tells the party that this is his destiny, PCs may be motivated to rescue him. It’s one thing to gracefully let someone walk to death’s door to spare further bloodshed; it’s another thing to see a defenseless man being tortured for hours and showing human vulnerability by crying out and pleading why God has forsaken him. Those who heeded his message may very well take it as a test of faith or act of conscience: saving Jesus, after all, would be the Christian thing to do. Why should an innocent man have to suffer for the sake of other people’s sins? But beyond that, canny PCs who catch on to Legion’s schemes may decide to undo the curse much earlier. What happens when the Remove Curse spell is cast upon Judas and/or Caiaphas? What if the party presents evidence of the demon’s wrongdoings to Pontius Pilate, who from how the module is written is skeptical of Caiaphas’ conspiratorial ramblings about Jesus?  Catacombs of Kadesh is the final adventure of the Adventurer’s Guide to the Bible, taking place immediately after the Way of the Cross. Realizing that her plans are all for naught, Lilith is incensed beyond words and intends to take out as many people as possible out of spite. Caspar is saddened by Jesus’ death, but knows that he found a way to weaken Lilith’s defenses. Via researching star charts he narrowed her and Abaddon’s location to some Egyptian ruins in the middle of the Wilderness of Zin. He can help teleport the party there via a stone taken from the dungeon. This is a two-level dungeon with 22 rooms, and the major enemies here are Abaddon and Lilith plus many of their minions. The PCs are likely to fight Abaddon first. While he has no simulacrum, he still adheres to the two-form boss battle, with his first form a dark cloaked figure. Abaddon is primarily a spellcaster, having offensive cleric spells such as Insect Plague, Blight, and Finger of Death, and his claw melee attacks can reduce a target’s maximum hit points. Once defeated he will disperse into a swarm of demonic locusts and retreat further into the dungeon. The swarm has no magical abilities but can do up to 6 sting attacks depending on their remaining hit points. During the battle he can animate nearby statues to attack the party, including a giant sculpture of Ramses. Also, Abaddon’s swarm form repeatedly chants his name during combat, which I find to be a cool touch: “ABADDON! ABADDON! ABADDON!” As for Lilith, she will fight the PCs in the middle of a large mine, with a hostage of an NPC who the PCs care about held in a cage suspended over a pit of Saraph Serpents. Lilith in her archangel form is a gish, having a few spells to directly aid her in combat such as Dispel Magic and Inflict Wounds, and she has a Sword of the Guardian which she can multiattack with. These swords were made for specific angels, and the ones who sided with Satan can deal extra damage against their bonded wielder for their energies cry out for justice against those who chose evil. Lilith is also aided in combat by Corrupted Simulacrums of the other archdemons, which are decaying and little more than strong shambling zombies due to Jesus’ True Atonement. Once Lilith falls, Satan’s voice will echo through the chamber, saying that he’s disappointed in her and to show them “what the fury of a woman scorned looks like!” At this point she’ll transform into a Hellspawn, a huge serpent-like monster that has a poisonous bite and spit attack along with two multi-target spells. She can also Charm opponents with a Hypnotic Gaze via one of her legendary actions. Defeating Lilith ensures that the Fellowship of the Beast will fall apart, and due to Jesus’ death she will never be able to return to the material plane again. While this marks the end of the adventure, the book notes that the DM can continue the plotline if they want, particularly if the party has any unfulfilled quests or other archdemons still alive and kicking. Thoughts So Far: The second half of Events and Encounters has a nice mixture of adventures. The pyramid dungeon crawl is a high point and one I can see being adapted the most easily for other RPGs. It also has a non-linear layout so PCs won’t end up stalled if they are unable to solve certain puzzles, which I appreciate. The Hanging Gardens dungeon is a bit lackluster in comparison, and Moloch’s murder mystery is an interesting change of pace. The two-part boss fights for the archdemons is a cool touch. I like how Galilee and Jerusalem are full of interesting locations and plot hooks, although sadly there are some places which could serve to be more fleshed out. The Sicarii headquarters comes to my most immediate mind, which many gaming groups are likely to run afoul of and want to bring the fight to their doorstep. The low points of this section, and I am sad to say, involve the more railroady aspects of Jesus’ story. At first the PCs have some agency, as evidenced in potential encounters in Galilee, but the Way of the Cross is a tonal whiplash from the freeform open world nature the campaign has previously emphasized. The plot holes regarding the dispelling of Legion’s cursed coins or the possible death of Barabbas being unaddressed just hurt this section even more. Finally, I have noticed that the bulk of the archdemon lairs and quests are huddled in the western edge of the map. Only Beelzebub is in the east, which may very well mean that the PCs have little incentive to travel to the Parthian-held territories otherwise. One idea I had would be to change Naamah from an Archdemon of (Sexual) Lust to instead focus on its broader aspect of desire in general. Prince Gotarzes in Ecbatana is a great candidate for her machinations, and I can see her whipping up him and Parthian military leaders into sweeping into Judea as “liberators” and “recruit the Messiah to our cause against Rome!” Additionally Parthia is one of the cultural successors to ancient Persia, who had a king known as Cyrus the Great who is beloved by many Jews by ending their captivity in Babylon and thus helping their return to their ancestral homelands. So using this tale can result in a form of “colonizing savior” among the Parthian elite in rationalizing themselves as a merciful alternative to Rome. Whilst desire can easily fall into other sin categories (coveting neighbor’s possessions as Greed, coveting respect being Envy when contrasted with another), I feel that a form of nationalism in making one’s country a rising superpower to be a kind of nonsexual Lust. Join us next time as we wrap up this review with new spells, magic items, monsters, and NPCs in the Appendix!
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Sep 20, 2022 07:03
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I'm fascinated by the Adventurer's Guide to the Bible review. I'm not any kind of Christian myself, but I have a pretty good familiarity with the stories through cultural exposure. It seems like a fundamentally absurd task - all the predetermined plot, massively OP characters, and question of what the PCs even contribute of a movie license game, plus the issue of being set in a massively unfamiliar time period and culture, and then on top of that you add the fact that the original work is something your intended audience believes is true and fundamental to the world, not just a movie where they'll nerd out about accuracy but there aren't ultimately any stakes. I'm astounded they seem to have done it as gracefully and flexibly as they did. I'd love to see something similar that doesn't assume a particular group is objectively correct, but maybe that conviction is what let them thread the needle to begin with. I personally am not interested in playing it, but I respect the effort for sure. Thanks for writing it up.
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Sep 20, 2022 07:53
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Couple of minor notes: Avadon or Abaddon (אבדון) is still used to this day as a word for ruin and loss so that Abaddon’s swarm's chant is also it's shouting about ruination and despair while it attacks the characters which to me is even cooler. Is there an explanation why Lilith has the Hebrew letter Vav imprinted on her forehead? It's not part of how her name is written.
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Sep 20, 2022 13:02
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Yeah, I think this is probably the most tasteful Christian-themed RPG product I've ever seen.
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Sep 20, 2022 14:28
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another connection between Dragonlance Adventures and the Bible, btw: Habbakuk is named after Habakkuk, a prophet revered across all Abrahamic religions who unfortunately missed being in the Bible 5e campaign by about 630 years.
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Sep 20, 2022 14:38
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Yeah, this is a shockingly good D&D adventure module through Bible times. How much is this tagged as being explicitly for a religious audience? Maybe... maybe we've found a product that's NOT intended for noisy fundamentalists. 
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Sep 20, 2022 16:30
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apparently Red Panda games are “inspired by dialogue between real-life religious leaders of various faiths in Baltimore, MD”. they seem like the sort of people who would be happy to discuss any particular choices or missteps and I like that about ‘em
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Sep 20, 2022 16:52
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This is clearly a fun/entertainment first, religious second work. Way too many christian entertainment are so focused on the message they forget they need to make it enjoyable
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Sep 20, 2022 17:26
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Pretzel Rod Stewart posted:another connection between Dragonlance Adventures and the Bible, btw: Habbakuk is named after Habakkuk, a prophet revered across all Abrahamic religions who unfortunately missed being in the Bible 5e campaign by about 630 years. Yup, from Jeff Grubb's write-up quote:Habbakuk – The Fisher King. The good nature god. Christian and Authurian allegory aside, he was a Kingfisher, because I liked the bird. Was a counterbalance to the aquatic Zeboim. The only god that my PCs ever saw in the flesh, as it made its lair in a great glacier to the north. Ranger god (rangers first appeared in an issue of The Strategic Review, DRAGON’s predecessor). In the real world, Habakkuk (note the single ” b” and the third ” k” ) was a prophet in the Bible (one of the ” eight minor prophets” ). His book is a collection of oracles delivered against the backdrop of the Babylonian threat to Judah in c.600 B.C. Interestingly enough, the original Habakkuk was a bard, a temple singer. His book was on the subject of why a good god would allow the evil Babylonians to exist and thrive. And while I'm looking at that, quote:Sargonnas – The Red Condor – God of evil monks, set up as opposition to the Mantis of the Rose. Ended up including evil fighters as well. Sargon was the King of Babylon in the book of Isiah Mantis of the Rose being the title of Majere (and just parallel development that had Majere as a god's name and the family name of Caramon and Raistlin).
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Sep 20, 2022 18:59
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