Looking Back on the 1990s

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

- Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", 1991.

"No one holds command over me. No man. No god. No Prince. What is a claim of age for ones who are immortal? What is a claim of power for ones who defy death? Call your damnable hunt. We shall see who I drag screaming to hell with me."

"A Beast I am, lest a Beast I become."
- Vampire: The Masquerade, 1991.

I've mentioned in this blog that I'm very much a child of the 1980's, being born in 1971. However, I became an adult in the 1990's. I went off to college in fall of 1989 so the great bulk of my undergraduate career was in the 1990's. I had my first serious relationship in the 90's, met my wife a mere month before graduation (on an evening dedicated to forgetting about women), began my professional career in the mid-90's, got married, and moved to the state that has been my home for nearly twenty years in the 90's

While I've spent a lot of time talking about the world of the 1980's it seems that the 1990's deserve a fair amount of love as well. This is going to be somewhat random and based upon my own experiences - that of a geeky middle-class white male from suburban southern New England.

I think I'd like to first reflect upon the technology. When one things about it many of the technologies we've come to expect in our day-to-day life began their penetration in the 1990's. While culture and styles and current events always changed, in many ways the background technology you could expect was relatively standard from the fifties through the eighties. Yes, the cars got smaller, televisions became more advanced and cheaper, video recording became commercialized. But a revolution in communications had yet to occur. If you wanted to buy a book you'd go to a bookstore or order it from a physical catalog. While there were some computer bulletin board systems starting in the 1970's, the idea you could become involved in online communication with people across the globe really began in the 1990's and cemented itself in the 2000's. When I look at my Facebook friends and my gaming group they consist of people who I have never met in person, from New York City to Utah to Australia - people whose opinions I have come to greatly value and whose involvement in my life, though virtual, has been beneficial. 

And think of what a difference the cell phone has made - think of how many episodes of Seinfeld or how many horror movies of years past would be fundamentally different now with the possibility of instant communications. I remember needing to make plans to meet with friends in advance with designated rendezvous spots. And actually needing to use payphones. Even when cellphones began penetration the old analog phones were super-expensive, with you paying for each minute of use with no free minutes. When my wife was taking grad courses at Northeastern she'd make quick calls to let me know she was safe at her car and driving back home, with us working to make the calls last less than a minute.

Online  communities really began forming back in the 1990's, where you could go on Usenet and find massive debates on how superior Storyteller games were to obsolete games like AD&D and you could count on a massive flamewar by asking if the USS Enterprise would emerge victorious over an Imperial Star Destroyer. While streaming movies to any device had yet to begin, the idea of quick access to media began to emerge with Amazon.com beginning its presence as a source of books, VHS tapes, DVDs, and CDs. Looking back at my Amazon history I see my second ever purchase from there in 1997 was Chaosium's Escape from Innsmouth Call of Cthulhu adventure/sourcebook.

It's also worth remembering that not everyone had broadband. Living in an apartment until 2000 we had digital cable but high-speed internet was not yet available to us - we first got that when we bought a house in 2000. So it was the dial-up modem connecting to an internet service provider for us. I remember in 1998 waiting two hours to stream the trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and at extremely poor quality. The difference with high-speed internet is amazing - we watched that same trailer at work a day or two later and we were able to watch it instantly and at much higher quality. 

Moving onto music I don't think you can underestimate the impact that alternative or grunge music had on my generation. I won't claim it was universal - again, I'm the product of my white middle-class background and am speaking of my own experience and those of my peers and artists like Janet Jackson, N'Sync, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, and countless others experienced great success - I amusingly reflect on Billie Piper, for example, being known as a pop star in Britain with her days as a key player in relaunching Doctor Who years in the future. But the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam greatly shook up the music scene and the fashion. As the 90's continued there were backlashes and responses to grunge music - for me I became a fan of Nine Inch Nails - one of my favorite concerts to this day remains when I saw David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails performing together in September of 1995.




I also believe that much of the way popular entertainment crosses over into multiple forms truly came into its own in the 90's. Entertainment franchises had long licenses into other areas - for example the 1980's saw RPGs for Star Wars, Star Trek, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics. Star Trek and Star Wars also had comics in those same periods but there was little to no linkage between one franchise and another - indeed, the Star Trek novels line back then treated each novel largely as a standalone work without reference to others in the same line. However look at Star Wars in the 1990's. The RPG became source material for various novels which continued the story from Return of the Jedi. The RPG also covered these new novels. Dark Horse Comics produced comics which were also consistent with the novels and RPG (and were in turn covered in the RPG), eventually reaching a point of a coordinated release for Shadows of the Empire, set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and being realized in video games, RPGs, toys, novels, and comic books.

This segue into RPGs leads nicely to Mark Rein•Hagen's Vampire: The Masquerade. In my opinion V:TM is a game which massively shook up the gaming industry. It is derided in some circles for moving RPGs into a more story-based style, something which often led to railroad-style adventures where PCs get to watch interesting things happen.but be powerless to influence those interesting things. However, Vampire provided something new - the opportunity to be the monster. Game mechanics allowed you to measure how much of your self-control you maintained - how human you remained. It was likely the first game since the D&D boom of the early 80's to bring an influx of new blood into the hobby (eek, just realized what a horrible pun that was). This revolution in both style and in mechanics influenced a number of RPGs of the 1990's, some of which are largely forgotten while others are still active. Off the top of my head and from a quick glance at Wikipedia reveals games like:

• Deadlands - Alternate history in a horrific weird west with magic mechanics using hands of poker
• Dragonlance: Fifth Age - card-based RPG with mechanics based entirely around the actions of PCs (in other words if an enemy attacks you you are attempting to avoid being hit)
• Blue Planet - a setting and rules based entirely around a water-covered world
• Star Trek (Last Unicorn Games) - a far less tactical take on Star Trek than had been previously seen from FASA
• Amber Diceless - An RPG which dispensed with any random number generation (to the best of my knowledge this actually predated or was roughly simultaneous with Vampire but is definitely indicative of the 1990s style of gaming)
• Castle Falkenstein - A gorgeously-illustrated card-based game of Victorian fantasy and steam-punk
• The End - Biblical role-playing involving those left behind after the Rapture
• Legend of the Five Rings - East-Asian styled RPG supplementing a popular collectible card game
• Fudge - Less an RPG and more a toolkit, led to the popular Fate RPG of the 2000s and 2010s.
• Unknown Armies - Occult role-playing of varying power levels with a system inspired by Chaosium's BRP
• Nexus: The Infinite City - A nexus of realities where walking down the street can take you from Ancient Rome to a cyberpunk megalopolis. Game system later modified into the popular Feng Shui RPG

Looking back, in many ways D&D 3rd edition can be seen as a reaction against this style of gaming - while the games I list above tended towards a very free-form nature D&D 3rd edition brought about a much more rigid style of gaming, a very tactical approach. (Something I'm not downing - I've had fun in a number of D&D 3rd edition and later games.)

This has been a rather lengthy (and likely rambling) post so it's time to bring it to a close. I've just given a glimpse of my thoughts on the 1990's. I've skipped over a number of things from the 1990's - things like the Gulf War, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Crystal Pepsi, Zima, Doctor Who: New Adventures, 800-TREKKER, Seinfeld, Michael Jordan, Babylon 5, etc. In any case I hope you found this trip down memory lane interesting.

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Introductions to Doctor Who and Avoiding the Info Dump

About a month ago I was watching the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special "Day of the Doctor". Jasmine, my eight-year old daughter, wound up joining me and watching most of it - she didn't quite get it having only a vague idea as to what it was about but she still couldn't pull her eyes away. She had a ton of questions and I promised her I'd watch an episode with her that made no assumptions on experience.

Yesterday Jasmine and I watched "Rose", the first episode of the new series. She absolutely loved it. And the format was, of course, perfect. You've got an established franchise but you are relaunching it after a long dormancy. There's some die-hard fans out there who will be watching it but you need to go far beyond that fan-base. So you start with a viewpoint character who is a surrogate for this audience. And you don't dump all the history and lore of the program all at once. Instead you release it as you need to.

Jasmine liked it enough that she wanted to watch another episode so we also watched the second episode, "The End of the World". For this my wife and eldest daughter had just returned from a shopping trip and wound up joining us. My wife is a Doctor Who fan from way back but our older daughter has just minimal knowledge. And despite not being a "science fiction geek" she too loved watching it, groaning as Britney Spears' "Toxic" played as the Earth burned. Moreover it was interesting to see that despite missing the first episode she was still able to enjoy this story on its own merits.

While I love long and intricate stories (I'm eagerly looking forward to the next season of Game of Thrones) watching with my daughter did remind me that sometimes its possible to overdo this and wind up locking your potential audience out. I think this is something that happened with the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, which began with a massive info dump, had references to Skaro, Gallifrey, the Master, Daleks, the Eye of Harmony, Regeneration, etc. Moreover it started from the perspective of the Doctor. I think Paul McGann did a fantastic job portraying the Doctor but I also feel the 1996 movie was a disservice to his talents - indeed he showed he was definitely worthy of the role in under seven minutes with the recent "Night of the Doctor" web-special.

As a gamer who also every once in a while flirts with writing fiction the, I find the cleverness in how Doctor Who was re-introduced worthy of imitation. Whether in gaming or in fiction, when one creates a detailed background there's a huge temptation to show off all your work. But even in a sandbox style gaming experience it's clear that it is far too easy to overdo this and overwhelm the player (or reader). Even as the new show has progressed it has periodically made certain it has good jumping off points for your new viewer.

Tomorrow it's "The Unquiet Dead" for Jasmine and me. Excellent timing with Christmas right around the corner.

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Heroism in the Cthulhu Mythos

We recently finished a Call of Cthulhu scenario in my group (we'd been playing ACKS but we needed something with a bit of a lower quorum threshold - decided to whip out that old favorite Cthulhu to see how it worked out). Having played The Haunting scenario with this group we played another of the classic adventures, The Edge of Darkness. I'm not going to go into spoiler territory, suffice to say it provides ample opportunities for investigators to meet horrible end. In our playing of it there was one PC death and many more were avoided by making some difficult, at times brutal decisions, including going up against police in order to be able to succeed in a ceremony to banish an eldritch abomination - one of those "for the greater good" circumstances.

I've heard Call of Cthulhu described as a non-heroic game and when you think about more over-the-top superhero and pulp games I can definitely see the point. The premise of the Cthulhu Mythos is that of an uncaring universe full of abominations that could wipe out humanity with ease. Yet I've found that in scenarios against such creatures there is ample opportunity for heroism - being the people that brave such encounters, that hold back the darkness for even a little while, is its own brand of heroism. It's one that demands extreme caution, where bad luck can by itself be fatal and going in with guns blazing and no knowledge will almost certainly be fatal.

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Fiction Review - "The Long Tomorrow" by Leigh Brackett

"No city, no town, no community of more than one thousand people or two hundred buildings to the square mile, shall be built or permitted to exist anywhere in the United States of America."

- 30th Amendment of the United States Constitution


As I've mentioned in my blog a few times, the post-apocalyptic genre is one that filled me with feelings of both dread and fascination as I grew up. Born in the early 70s I became aware of my world in the era of "Ronnie Rambo" and the Cold War heating up one final time. I remember playing the Gamma World Role Playing Game with our primitive mutants exploring the ruins of Pitz Burke. There were films set after the End, ranging from the "Mad Max" series to absolutely dreadful movies like "Threads" and "The Day After". (And I use "dreadful" not in the sense of a bad movie but rather an experience that can fill one with actual dread.)

However there is still the sense of fascination. We humans are an adaptable lot. We managed to survive ice ages and a lack of natural weapons by using our wonderful brains. Indeed many works of the post-apocalyptic genre assume that it is our wonderful brains that bring about our own doom, unleashing genies of nuclear warfare, bioweapons, and nanotechnology. But even with that we like to assume that humanity would find a way to endure and build itself back up. (Indeed Walter Miller's A Canticle For Leibowitz takes this idea and runs with it.)

I'm not sure what the first science fiction set in the aftermath of a nuclear war was. However I'm pretty certain Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow, first published in 1955, is among the first. The Long Tomorrow takes place some three generations after a nuclear war - the elderly grandmother of the primary protagonist, Len, was a child at the time of the nuclear war which demolished civilization.

Many of the tropes that have become hallmarks of the genre can be found in this novel - civilization knocked back to the 18th or 19th century, massive loss of life, expansion of religion. The United States still exists, albeit in a far more agrarian form - and for most people the federal government is a distant thing.

The novel follows our protagonist, Len Colter, and his cousin Esau, as teenage boys from their Mennonite village and out into the larger world where they grow to adulthood. Both of them have an intense curiosity about the world that used to be, something that is forbidden by their society. This is illustrated early on when at a religious gathering (that their fathers had forbidden them to go) the cousins witness a mob killing a man because he is supposedly from Bartorstown, a land dedicated to bringing back the forbidden ways which brought down God's wrath in the Destruction. However Len becomes obsessed with the idea of Bartorstown. The two dabble in forbidden technology and eventually leave their homes.

Settling in the town of Refuge we are introduced to more tension, with the cousins working for a merchant who wants to expand his business, though doing so will violate the 30th Amendment which sets a cap on the size of any community. There is also tension between the cousins, with both vying for the affections of the same woman, the daughter of a judge in the community. You get the sense that Len could build something for himself in the community but he cannot accept the deliberate refusal of progress. The tension eventually explodes, and the cousins are again on the move. It should be no surprise that they eventually find themselves in  Bartorstown.

One recurring theme in the novel is that of fanaticism - religious fanaticism causes many deaths and much destruction in the course of the tale. However, one of the characters later reveals there are other kinds of fanaticism as well. It also deals with the theme of the balance between discontent and finding a home. Obviously Bartorstown is not what Len hoped it would be. Meanwhile Esau finds that he's able to live pretty much anywhere and be relatively happy. There really isn't much of a judgment on who is right. Indeed, one criticism I'd level on the book itself is while I don't need to be spoon-fed everything I don't feel that topic got the closure it deserved.

Another criticism one might level at the book is simply it is a product of its time. All of the religions are Christian-based and there is really only one strong female character in the book and even she eventually becomes passive and follows Len's lead.

However, Ms. Brackett does deliver well on the tension between contentment and progress.Len's father is a good man who has found his place in the society he lives in. Len can't find that contentment - indeed he really can't find it anywhere. But his yearning for the old ways - which are also the way to the future - are delivered very well. Late in the book he is, for lack of a better term, seduced, by a woman who puts on a red dress from the time before the Destruction. Both the brightness of the color - a brightness not found outside of leaves - and the cut of the dress - do the job of filling him with desire - both for the woman and for the society that dress represents. (And being a novel of the 1950s, any seduction is far more implied than shown - and to be honest I think that makes it even more effective.)

As you can tell by some of my criticisms I didn't find this a perfect novel. I don't think it delivered the closure it really needed to on Len. But it definitely proved to be an enjoyable read and provided an interesting society, pointing the way to later works like Alas Babylon and A Canticle for Leibowitz. (The former I've yet to read though the latter is one of my favorite novels.)

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Film Review: Frozen

Yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving I took my youngest daughter, Jasmine, to see "Frozen" in the movie theater. This was actually her second viewing, also seeing it on Wednesday with her mom and older sister (poor dad was working from home).

Obviously Jasmine was a fan. Immediately after seeing it with me she asked "Can I see it again?"

So it's got the little one's endorsement. What about dad's?

I liked it a lot. I'm a fan of well-done animation and this is one of Disney's greatest, ranking up there with "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast" - indeed I'd view it as superior as many of the Pixar efforts.

The story is set in one of those fairy tale kingdoms in that nebulous pre-modern fairy tale period. It is a tale of two sisters, the eldest, Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell). They are princesses in the kingdom. They are very close but Elsa has a power - the ability to control temperature and generate snow and ice. When playing together Elsa accidentally hurts Anna with her powers. With the help of some nearby trolls Anna is healed but to protect her the trolls strip the memory of Elsa's magic from Anna. Their parents advise Elsa to hide her powers from everyone, including her sister. This adds distance to the sisters, with Anna constantly wanting time with Elsa she never receives. The palace is emptied out of nearly all servants, leaving Anna feeling even more alone. As the story progresses the parents are lost at sea and we move up to Anna's coronation when the palace is again full of people. Of course at this point the entire land becomes aware of Elsa's powers, which she can barely control, plunging the land into winter (in the middle of summer) and running off to be alone. Anna goes on to follow her to bring her home and end the winter.

Going beyond this enters into spoiler territory so from here I'm going to keep more to my impressions. The great strength of the movie is the relationship of the two sisters. There's romance and adventure subplots, but that is all secondary to the relationship between the sisters. Most of the focus is on Anna, who is desperate for love - wanting to meet a man after living in a near-empty castle and in near-complete isolation - but even more she wants the love of her sister, not knowing what she'd done to push them away. The music and singing is well done and Bell and Menzel deliver incredibly well.

As a fan of superheroes, I found myself thinking how much the movie also reminded me of a well-done tale of a character getting powers they can't quite control.

Overall, it's a superb movie and well worth seeing in the theaters. I am however being serenaded by music from the film constantly....

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Why Spirit of Knowledge Charter School Should Be Saved

It's pretty clear that this is an out of the ordinary post for this blog. I talk about all sorts of geeky stuff on this blog - Dungeons & Dragons, Stephen King, Call of Cthulhu, etc. This post is a lot more personal. I've a hunch the audience for this posting is very different from the normal audience for my blog - but this is my corner of the internet and this is far too long a posting for Twitter or Facebook. It also explains why I've not been particularly active on this blog of late.

When I first began this blog my wife was dealing with partial employment, working as a long-term sub when possible. In fall of 2012 she secured a full time job at Spirit of Knowledge Charter School in Worcester, MA and began her second year there this fall.

[Note - this the remainder of this blog posting represents my understanding of a situation. If I have any factual errors I will most certainly acknowledge them and correct them. i.e. no slander or libel is present here. And while I'm married to a teacher there, this is my own opinion and not hers.]

The school is in dire straits right now. There is every chance that in 48 hours the Board of Trustees will vote to close the school though there are a few paths to an alternate ending.

Does the school deserve that alternate ending? And how did it get to this point?

Let's start with how we got to this point. Spirit of Knowledge Charter School is a STEM school - dedicated to Science, Technology, and Math. Last spring it was put on probation:

The school has “employed four executive directors, has not maintained a sound or stable financial condition, has failed to maintain adequate membership on its board of trustees, has not provided the academic model proposed in its charter, has not shown promising academic results, has a significantly decreased enrollment from what it projected in its application, and will face financial challenges as a result of its drop in enrollment. It is clear to me that the school's board of trustees has failed to oversee SOKCS effectively,” Mr. Chester wrote in his May 10 letter to the state board.

Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Tuesday, May 21, 2013

So that sounds pretty bad. I'd actually agree with a large portion of it - in my opinion the Board of Trustees had been a bit of a mess, especially early on. A large amount of money was lost when trying to purchase a building for the school, with a good-faith deposit essentially absconded with by the builder. And giving such money to a builder instead of an escrow seems at best incredibly naive.

This had a cascading effect. Enrollment diminished. With lower enrollment they have to pay back some of the money initially allocated for this year and future allocations will be less. 

From a financial standpoint  the school will run out of money at the end of the month. They will not be able to meet payroll in November.What could allow them to make their payroll? The line of credit they have with Commerce Bank. The school has reduced payroll such that the remaining funds they'd get from the state for the remainder of the year will be sufficient, albeit delivered in chunks, The line of credit would allow the school to make it between these quarterly lump payments from the state.

But, Commerce Bank has, as I understand things, been a bit concerned about the financial future of the school. I can't say I blame them. I would imagine what makes a loan officer lose his or her job is giving out a loan which is defaulted upon. And I can absolutely see what might a bank nervous. We'll come back to that in a bit.

I would like to talk about why the school should, in my opinion, be saved. "Well gee Dan your wife works there, you want to stay a dual-income family." And it'd be disingenuous to say anything other than of course I want the financial security. However it's an unfortunate fact that our economy values engineers far more than teachers. I think that's a tragedy personally. Don't get me wrong, I love a good salary. But being married to a teacher, being the son of a teacher, and being the brother-in-law of a teacher, I have a very good idea of how much work a teacher puts in. My point is, financially, if I keep my job (fingers crossed - one can never take anything for granted), we'll be fine - not great, but we'll be ok, with my wife collecting unemployment and/or substituting for the rest of the year and hopefully securing a new full-time job in the fall. It's worth noting that is not the case for all the teachers there - many of the teachers are the primary or sole earners for their families.

But a school should not be saved just for its teachers. And that's where I'd like to talk about the kids at this school. In meetings last Thursday and this Sunday afternoon the room was packed with concerned parents and students a well as the staff. Some of the students were even there on their own to speak on their behalf. And to hear the passion all of these people spoke with was awe-inspiring. These are people who want to stay at this school. Desperately so. They feel they are getting a great product.

Why would they ever think that you might wonder. It was all over the local papers how poor the school's 7th grade MCAS scores were. MCAS, for those of you outside of Massachusetts, are our standardized tests. To graduate, a student must pass the 10th grade MCAS tests. (I'm simplifying a bit). It is worth noting that the school's success at the 10th grade MCAS, the final MCAS exam, was above the average for the city. This to me points to the whole point of a school - to improve students. To move beyond where you started. Moreover, what the kids there do beyond 10th grade is phenomenal. There is a large percentage of students taking AP classes. My wife is teaching second year of college-level organic chemistry to many seniors. Student have been recognized for their service to the community. They have had summer jobs at various university laboratories and have assisted in research in areas such as HIV investigations. Many of these are students who did not prosper at public schools. The students and their parents are desperate to stay at Spirit of Knowledge where they have found success - both via anecdotal accomplishments and through measurable means such as 10th grade MCAS, AP students, etc.

Academically, I believe the school is doing great work. Were I in charge there I'd certainly work to improve the middle school MCAS scores - I'm not going to say any school is perfect.

This beings us to the concerns banks might have. With lower enrollment the school sees less money from the state. So enrollment dropping further is certainly a risk. However, I believe that the drops the school might experience have already occurred. The overwhelming thread from the parents was "how can we convince people we want our kids to stay here?"

I know the Board of Trustees is working to have the credit line unfrozen, albeit without luck as yet. They've also been pursuing other sources of short-term funding, though with time short their best bet would seem to be in unfreezing their credit line. If I were a loan officer at a bank I think I could be convinced the school is doing good work and the parents and students want to stay there. But there's another issue I think. Even in this posting to the defense of the school it is clear the financial record of the school is murky at best. The action the Board indicated was being pursued was bringing in a management company which specializes in turning charter schools around. I'm hoping that this might provide the confidence a loan officer would need. 

I've a few random thoughts to close with...

Do I hate public schools or have something against them? Absolutely not. My wife has taught in public schools in the past and would gladly do so again. My kids are also both in public schools and are both prospering there. I think the advantage is a matter of different solutions for different kids. 

Why am I writing this? Best case someone with financial authority reads this and it helps them make a decision. But without that, even if the school does close its doors this week, I want to go on record as having voiced my support as best I can. I was truly in awe of the students, the parents, and the teachers. 

Is there someone to blame for the financial mess? Probably. But I'm absolutely not privy as to where things went wrong. And truthfully, even if I were, I'd be hesitant to write about that in a blog - that does start approaching the realm of potential libel. But one of the reasons I like the idea of a management company being brought in is they would be in a position to ask such tough questions and take actions.

And two quotes that come to mind, one from Theodore Roosevelt and the other, back in keeping with my blog, from the television show Babylon 5.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. 

- Theodore Roosevelt

There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender.

- Babylon 5, Z'ha'dum

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Sandbox Cthulhu

I've had a little time to brainstorm a little as we've skipped a session of our ACKS campaign with the start of the school year and the beginning of organized insanity as the kids and my wife go back to school.

One thing I've discovered in our ACKS campaign is how over time a non-plotted campaign begins to write itself. Right now our band of adventurers has two dungeons it has visited (and may return to either) as well as a third dungeon they are aware of. They've also developed two bases, one an outpost near the dungeons and the other the capital city of the region with better access to equipment, healers, and the like. Having put things in motion I can honestly say I really don't know where the adventurers will go in our next session. Will they finish cleaning out the kobold lair - with its rumored green dragon? Will they return to the dungeon beneath Skull Hill? Or will they venture to the Tomb of the Goblin King - now having a few magic items and possibly having a chance against the undead sure to be there.

All that said my favorite game is still Call of Cthulhu. As a huge fan of history I love the most common era of the 1920s - and had a blast with the Gaslight era. I like the heroism inherent in standing up to an uncaring universe. And I especially enjoy the cleverness it encourages - almost always overmatched I've seen players take some extremely clever and practical solutions, from dynamiting a mine to getting the hell out of the county upon gaining the enmity of a cult.

Joseph Morales, Lovecraft's fictional town Arkham

Thinking about this got me wondering if the lessons of sandbox style play could be applied to Call of Cthulhu? At first glance it seems unlikely - your typical Cthulhu adventure begins with the investigators being hired to take care of some problem or solve some mystery. With that in mind it occurs to me there are ways to combine the two forms of play - and indeed there are adventures which have done just that. The classic Masks of Nyarlathotep from 1984 and reprinted many times since then has a definite starting point but from there on the investigators have complete control how they handle their investigation. More recently The Sense of the Sleight of Hand Man brings investigators to the Dreamlands with a need find a way out.

New York City, 1928. Fairchild Aerial Surveys

What about a more traditional sandbox? Well, the first thing that occurs to me is that our environment is not likely to be the wilderness of fantasy RPGs - rather we are looking at an urban environment - or at the very least, a suburban one. You'd want a base of operations where adventure isn't far away. You could set it in Lovecraft Country, based in Arkham with forays to Dunwich, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and the like. Or you could go more urban and go for a large city like New York City, Boston, etc. It's a bit like the difference between the two television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, set in beautiful suburban Sunnydale, California, vs. Angel set in the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles.

So how does one avoid the cliche of "your long lost cousin writes to you" or "a stranger shows up in your office?" To some extent, I don't think you do - but rather you make it part of a larger whole - and never rely on a need for the investigators to follow some lead.

How do we make it part of a larger whole? Here, I believe, one needs to lay the groundwork. Figure out just what is going on in the town or city. What cults are present? What monsters are loose (or might become loose)? What mundane forces can cause trouble? Are there any sorcerers, mad scientists, etc. who are up to no good? Do they have everything they need and if not, how will they get it? Any artifacts just waiting to cause trouble? Any forbidden tomes in the area?

With this sort of a setup we can more organically have those people show up in the investigators' office. Why is the client's brother missing? Well it turns out he has the Innsmouth Taint and we already established they have a colony in the area. Who robbed the university's collection of forbidden tomes? It was that sorcerer we already dreamed up, he needs that spell to summon Yuggoth - but its not the only thing. In the course of the adventure the sorcerer might make some sacrifices, kidnap some kids, etc. So even if the investigators turn down the first case the sorcerer still does his thing and might appear later in another case.

I'd likely also add a good place in the town or city where characters can begin adventures, meet with patrons, gather rumors, etc. Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series has McAnally's Pub, a place in Chicago frequented by the supernatural but also a place which is guaranteed neutral ground. Angel featured Caritas, a nightclub which served a similar purpose. I could picture in a 1920s campaign a speakeasy which investigators frequent. There would likely be police and private investigators and gangsters who know about it as well and would visit it if they had problems of a supernatural nature which needed addressing. This would provide a place where investigators could pick their missions and also find out what is going on in the supernatural world. This need not be over the top - for example sinister sorcerers might frequent it as well with an uneasy peace - and it is unlikely insane cultists would respect it and the alien creatures of the Mythos most certainly would not. In a more modern game it needn't even be a physical site - picture a specialized sort of  Facebook or Twitter used by the supernatural community. Heck they could even use regular Twitter or Facebook with most people completely unaware of what they are talking about - hiding in plain view.


At this point I'd like to consider what game engine to use for this. Being a fan of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu  RPG that seems an obvious choice. And I am certain it would work well for such a game. Gumeshoe would work well though it might need a little tweaking to make certain investigative abilities refresh properly if a case is ever abandoned or multiple cases are pursued simultaneously.

As I wrote the premise above, it occurred to me I this would also be a perfect match for Fate - whether a general incarnation of it or for a Dresden Files game. Fate Core discusses generating the background and Dresden Files details city creation in great detail. There is no reason that all the work I described up above needs to be done solely by the GM. The players being involved in the process assures that there will be hooks they find interesting. Have a player who loves the Deep Ones? Of course he'll want them to have a colony in the city. While Fate's assumption of heroic, competent characters may seem at odds with Call of Cthulhu (and I'm by no means a purist - I'm still waiting for Pulp Cthulhu) it need not be. Fate's concept of consequences fits in well with the insanity that befalls Cthulhu characters all too often. Just add a Sanity Track with the option to take sanity-based consequences and you've ported a classic aspect of the genre.

In the event of a total party kill in the future I can see our next game...



Copyright Note:

Joseph Morales, Lovecraft's fictional town Arkham, Massachusetts 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arkham,_Massachusetts.gif

Copyleft: This is a free work, you can copy, distribute, and modify it under the terms of the Free Art License http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/

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Queen - A Kind of Magic

Here we are, Born to be kings,
We're the princes of the universe,
Here we belong, Fighting to survive,
In a world with the darkest powers,

"Princes of the Universe" from the Queen album A Kind of Magic

Initially I was going to write about the 1986 film Highlander, for which A Kind of Magic is essentially the soundtrack. But my thoughts kept focusing on the music and thus, here we are.

One of my musical regrets is I never got to see Queen live in concert. I have some memories of seeing them perform on television from the 1985 Live Aid concert with my uncle. But my young musical tastes at the time shifted to more trendy/pop music, something that shifted when I started college in 1989. The early 1990s had me discovering Queen for myself, sadly months prior to Freddie Mercury's death.

Anyways.... A Kind of Magic is an album that just screams fantasy. Epic, ass-kicking fantasy with tracks like "Princes of the Universe" and "Gimme the Prize". A touch of goofiness in a heavy song like "One Vision" - like you'll find from your typical gaming group:

One man, one man,
One bar, one night,
One day, hey, hey.
Just gimme gimme, gimme, gimme
Fried chicken.
Vision 

For me, when I'm looking for inspirational music for prepping for a game - or just inspirational music in general - A Kind of Magic is one of the first albums I'll reach for.

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RPG Mini-Review - FATE Core

FATE is one of those games in my collection that I really, really want to play some day but haven't had the chance to.

FATE is the game engine that powers games like Spirit of the Century, The Dresden Files, and Diaspora. Relics like me remember the original FUDGE RPG from the 1990s from which FATE spun off of.

Mechanically, FATE isn't too complicated - there is an Accelerated Edition of it which is a rather tiny book. The idea is you role 4DF (FUGE/FATE dice). These are six side dice with 2 pluses, 2 minuses, and 2 blank sides, You add the total together (-4 to 4), add your appropriate skill and other modifiers, and compare to a difficulty number.

The other modifiers I mentioned above is where FATE gets interesting. FATE uses a mechanic known as "aspects". Anything can have an aspect - a location, a person, a PC, a scene, a city. They are basically an interesting description that can drive the action. "Last son of Krypton" would make for a good aspect. So would "with great power comes great responsibility" or "I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father".. As would "fraying ladder" or "precariously balanced candle". The best aspects for PCs are both positive and negative. When positive you can spend a FATE point (one of the main resources of the game) to use that aspect and gain a bonus to your die roll. You can create an aspect - like taking an action to knock over that candle and set the room on fire - creating a "room on fire" aspect that can be used by anyone and has an initial free use. And those negative aspects can be used to drive PCs - the player is offered a FATE point to take some negative consequence. For example, Peter Parker might be compelled to abandon his date to rescue someone from a fire as he is haunted by the memory of failing his Uncle Ben. To avoid giving into the compel he might have to spend a FATE point, though these sorts of things tend to involve negotiation between player and GM. Essentially, as a player you want these compels as they give you FATE points which come in super-handy when facing a big-bad..

Another neat thing about FATE is when players suffer damage (whether social, physical, economic, or whatever), to prevent their main resistance from being overwhelmed they can agree to take consequences. If your main resistance is overwhelmed you are pretty much at the mercy of whomever you are facing. A good example of taking a consequence would be Luke Skywalker losing his hand at the end of The Empire Strikes Back - essentially, when losing, the player is encouraged to describe how they lose. 

What I like about FATE is it is geared to tell interesting stories but it has tons of mechanisms to make the players be at the center of those stories - it avoids the dreaded problem of players getting to watch the GM tell an interesting story. 

FATE Core is available from RPGNow for free - or whatever you want to pay. I'd encourage you to check it out for free and if you find it worth it - and I think you will - go back and pay what you think it is worth.

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RPG Mini-Review - Stars Without Number

One thing I've liked about Sine Nomine Publishing is they take the adage that old school RPGs should be all about the "sandbox" (i.e. players go wherever they'd like on the map with no predefined plot) and make games and supplements that actually help you do that. As I've built up a modest collection of 1970s and early 80s RPG products I have seen there were a ton of products designed to help GMs do just that.

System-wide, Stars Without Number is pretty similar to early D&D incarnations. It has three classes - Expert, Psychic, and Warrior. It has a simple, yet effective, skill system of which, not surprisingly, the Expert is the best at.

Where it really shines is a default setting which is really made for adventure. The idea is there were two waves of human expansion. The first of which made use of spike drives which allowed faster than light travel in bursts - basically you had to start it from the edge of a solar system and had to turn it off at the edge of another - and if you can't reach a destination in about six days or so - well, that would be bad as the protective field around your ship breaks down. The second wave involved psychics - basically over time humanity began understanding psychic powers and were able to channel psychic ability so it didn't drive its practitioners insane or dead. Eventually these abilities were used to create and maintain jump gates which allowed far easier travel. Who wouldn't want to use a jump gate? Spike drives became obsolete and were relegated to the far frontier. (Anyone who has seen the Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Death has an idea this was probably not the best decision.)

All was well in this golden age (aside from suggestions in the game that it had its own problems what with Terra futilely trying to maintain control) until one day some psychic wave came across all of known space and every psychic was either killed or driven insane. Say goodbye to your jump gates. That is bad news for most planets, with the small number of spike drive ships unable to supply  important planets like Earth. Civilization pretty much breaks down for a few centuries.

The game takes place at the end of this dark age, with civilization becoming re-established - but not united. This is a perfect time for adventurers - whether they are explorers, traders, conquerors, peacekeepers, or whatever. It clearly has a lot of debt to the classic Traveller RPG as well as the Rebellion-era of MegaTraveller and the aftermath of the fall of civilization in Traveller: The New Era. The game really shines with its random tables, something I usually ignore in most games. Instead of just generating pure stats its designed to also give you tons of adventure ideas. And the civilizations feel real. Why yes, this planet is a theocracy. But wait, let us also roll for what sort of heresies and splinter groups the religion has to deal with. 

After my ACKS game this is a super-strong candidate for a follow-up game.

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RPG Mini-Review - 13th Age

This is a game I preordered but didn't really look at much as I received the preliminary materials. It's a bit of a hybrid of D&D 3.x and 4th editions as well as taking a lot of elements from more narrative based games.

13th Age takes a nod from 4e D&D by giving each class its own set of neat powers but it avoids 4e's tendency to make everything balance out perfectly. It also makes the classes more distinctive from one another, evoking much of their feel from 3.x D&D.

While it has a nice set of customization options for your characters it avoids the tendency of D&D 3.x to punish those who do not have every detail of their character planned and avoids the need to hyper-optimize your character.

It also avoids the dreaded "grind" I experienced when I played 4e, as the game has an "escalation die" which gives bonuses to characters as combats last longer. It also has a number of mechanical tweaks to allow failures to be interesting. Perhaps best from my perspective is the removal of a full grid-based combat while at the same time having rules that nevertheless encourage motion and variety in combat.

13th Age is clearly not an "old school" game - beyond taking much of D&D 3.x and 4e it is clearly influenced by games like FATE and Sorcerer. It is also a far less cruel world to PCs than one would find in old school games - in my ACKS campaign 1st level characters are very fragile. 

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Saving Throw vs. GMADD - Some Mini-Reviews

Right now I've got an ACKS campaign that is beginning to pick up some steam. So I'm trying hard not to give into my GM ADD - that urge to switch to a shiny new system.

Nevertheless I have checked out a few new systems, some of which I can definitely see wanting to try out at some point. Well all of them really, if I ever had the time... And truthfully they're not really all particularly new, though they are to me. What follows are a series of min-review posts that I may later expand into a more fleshed out review, especially if I get to play or run one or more of them..

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Elves and Geology

Niagara Gorge Whirlpool, Downstream of Niagara Falls

I used to think it would take six-hundred years to tunnel under the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty. Oh, Andy loved Geology, I guess it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really, pressure, and time. 

- Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redepmption

I want to see mountains again, Gandalf, mountains, and then find somewhere where I can rest.

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

White Mountains of New Hampshire

I'm with Bilbo Baggins. I love mountains. Before we had kids my wife and I would often spend summer weekends hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's certainly had an impact of the campaign settings I've used and created - forested mountains of moderate height, settlements in the notches between them. Lots of rivers and lakes. I look at pictures of the Basin and Range terrain that can be found at west and it is a very alien landscape to my New Englander's eyes.

Geological time is slow time. The Rocky Mountains are a young mountain range, over well over fifty million years old, though shaped into their current appearance by glaciers.The Appalachian Mountains, of which my beloved White Mountains are a part of, are, by comparison, elder statesmen of mountains - close to 500 million years in age.

My family recently returned from a vacation in Niagara Falls, Canada. It is hard not to look at the Falls and not come away awestruck. Geologically, the water of the Niagara River is carving its gorge in lightning speed: according to Wikipedia, Niagara Falls were formed only 10,000 years ago and erosion has carved out the Niagara Gorge and moved the Falls 6.8 miles southward from their starting position. A film at the Falls discussed how quickly the Falls were formed - likely over a span of days or even hours.

There are other notable features of our world that happened within the blink of an eye, geologically speaking. For example the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis posits that around 5600 BC the Mediterranean flooded over the Bosporus, connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and possibly accounting for numerous flood myths. Though further back in time, Zanclean Flood Hypothesis posits that the Mediterranean itself was filled rather quickly as the Gibraltar Strait was flooded.

Returning from our trip I reflected on how in many fantasy settings there are beings whose lifespan is a noticeable fraction of that or could even potentially exceed that - various forms of intelligent undead, elves, and dragons being the obvious candidates. This has me considering the possibility that such beings might shape their world certain ways - diverting a river to create a deep gorge to create a natural border, linking a lake to the oceans, etc. It could also lead to some interesting ruins like coastal cities where the sea has receded several miles away (or gone on to cover it), And at the very least it presents a reminder as to how different the perception of a long-lived race would be.

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Biblical Roleplaying

"Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses."

- 1 Samuel 13:3, New American Bible


To be honest, it sounds a lot like the behavior of your typical gaming groups mechanism of dealing with a goblin lair. However, that passage comes straight out of the Bible.

I recently finished Reza Aslan's book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. In it Aslan examines what we know and what we can surmise about the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth. It's a fascinating work, something I will be reviewing in its own right, either here or in my political blog (or in both places, from different perspectives). I'm pretty certain I'd not want to live in  Judea within fifty years of 1 AD. But as a time for adventure, it is an absolutely fascinating period. It is a period of numerous Messiahs who rose up against the Romans in attempts to bring about the Earthly Kingdom of God. It was a time when the people most definitely believed in magic - Aslan pointed out that Jesus the miracle-worker is not something that people of the era would find all that surprising - the shocking thing was he performed these miracles free of charge. The people of the period most certainly believed there were people who could perform miracles.

It is a period of intense resistance to Roman rule, but to replace it with what? Aslan points to the Zealots who would go so far as to assassinate the high priest of the Temple in Jerusalem - a man who was dependent on the approval of the hated Romans for his power.

Green Ronin published a D&D 3.0 supplement entitled Testament, detailing the cultures and beliefs of the people of the Old Testament. Though obviously it had the Israelites as its focus it also covered the other cultures of the area. It took a decidedly agnostic approach as far as gods and magic went - the people of the time believed in magic and therefore the supplement covered magic existing as they believed it did. It gave a great overview of various time periods of the Bible and the types of adventures possible. It also covered the differences in equipment to be found in earlier time periods, giving a nice appreciation of the advantages an iron age culture might have over a bronze age one. Testament is still available in pdf form, albeit in the rarely used 3.0-incarnation of the D&D rules - though I'd imagine upgrading would not present much of a problem.


From my own gaming experience introducing these types of concepts would need to be done with a delicate hand. Not surprisingly, religion is a touchy subject, with people having a variety of beliefs. I'm a so-liberal-are-you-sure-you're-a-Catholic Catholic. An agnostic player in my gaming group was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of this sort of game, one of the reasons I never used Testament. Were I to try such an undertaking today, I think I'd take one of two approaches. If I wanted to strongly emphasize the religious aspects I think I'd actually make my own religions and cultures, albeit ones clearly inspired by real ones in the manner that Robert E. Howard did in his Conan stories. The other way I'd go, one I think more likely, would be to use a more historic view of religions. The people might believe in the power of healing magic but that doesn't make it real beyond a placebo effect. To my mind this seems a good option to use Cthulhu Invictus and take inspiration from Richard Tierney's Simon Magus tales.

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My ACKS Campaign Setting

Part of the reason for my lack of posting of late has been doing actual gaming and some prep work around it. (Another part is due to family life - my eldest daughter somehow managed to have her third corneal abrasion and man do they appear painful.)

One thing that might be of some interest is sharing the background to my ACKS Campaign Setting. I use lots of Google tools for my gaming and personal/family life. I've been using Google+ and Google Drive to manage my ACKS campaign and you can link to the document here. It's an expanding document - I'm trying to avoid the trap of avoiding every detail about the setting but rather keep it a place I can easily add to.

I've found inspiration from a variety of sources. Autarch has given glimpses of their official Auran Empire Setting for ACKS. I'm not using that setting directly but I like a lot of what they've revealed about it so I am gladly porting much of it. I really like the implied pre-medieval/late-antiquity setting that ACKS is assumed to be set in and it's an environment I've attempted to emulate. The Corrin Empire of my setting did not fall but it is greatly reduced from its former glory. Here I'm taking inspiration from the oft-forgotten eastern half of the Roman Empire, often referred to (though never in its day) as the Byzantine Empire which lasted a thousand years after the fall of the west.

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New Class for ACKS: Zaharan Necromancer

After the first fatality in our Adventurer Conqueror King System game the player of our sadly departed thief asked if there was any way he could play a necromancer. I did some experimenting with the ACKS Player's Companion and came up with the following class. It's balanced per the class creation rule but with only one session so far I can't yet vouch for how well it works in play, though we had no issues in that session. The Zaharan Necromancer has some inspiration from the Death Master of Dragon Magazine 76. by Lenard Lakofka. I might try an alternate version more alchemical in nature as was that class.  The background for this class is from the version of Zaharans I'm using in our game and differs slightly from the official Autarch version.

Zaharan Necromancer

Class Summary

Image credit: katalinks / 123RF Stock Photo

Prime Requisite: INT

Requirements: INT 9

Hit Dice: 1d4

Maximum Level: 11 (can continue advancing to 14 HD if becomes undead)

In ages past the dread Necromancers of the Zaharan Empire created hosts of guardians for their fell empire - undead legions, tribes of beastmen, and unspeakable abominations. After their defeat these dark magics were forbidden throughout the land. These Zaharan Necromancer is a descendant of the original Zaharan Order of Necromancers. They must be of Chaotic alignment in order to perform the necromantic rituals they learn at higher levels.

Zaharans have builds similar to those of humans but with very sharp-angled features which gives them a slight elven appearance. Their coloring tends towards extremes - skin tones of ebony, ivory, gold, etc., eye colors frequently violet or amber, and hair usually white. Zaharan Necromancers may initially be of more human appearance depending on the strength of their Zaharan blood. However as part of their initiation rituals they are transformed into a full Zaharan appearance.

Similar to human magi, Zaharan Necromancers receive limited combat training. At first level, they hit an unarmored foe (AC 0) with an attack throw of 10+. They advance in attack throws and saving throws only two points every six levels of experience (i.e., half as fast as fighters). They may only fight with quarterstaffs, clubs, daggers, and slings. They are unable to use shields, fight with two weapons, or wear any kind of armor. For these reasons, Zaharan Necromancers are quite vulnerable to physical danger, and in an adventuring group they should be protected.

In exchange for these weaknesses, Zaharan Necromancers can learn and cast many powerful arcane spells. The number and levels of spells the Zaharan Necromancer can use in a single day are listed on the Necromancer Progression Table. Due to their inheriting many of the secrets of the Zaharan Empire, Zaharan Necromancers tend to have more spells at a given time than the equivalent human mage would have at the same level.

A Zaharan Necromancer’s selection is limited to the spells in his repertoire. A Zaharan Necromancer’s repertoire can include a number of spells up to the number and level of spells listed for his level, increased by his Intelligence bonus. For instance, Aahz L, a 3rd level Zaharan Necromancer, is able to cast 3 1st level spells and 1 2nd level spell per day. If he has 16 INT (+2 modifier) he can have up to 5 1st level and 3 2nd level spells in his repertoire.

In addition to their magic knowledge, a necromancer’s eager embrace of chthonic secrets provides with a dark blessing, which provides them with a +2 bonus to all saving throws (included in their saving throw table). They are death speakers, able to cast speak with the dead once every eight hours with a casting time of one turn.

Their training includes secrets of the dark arts such that he can control undead as a Chaotic cleric of one half his class level. If the character casts spells that require a saving throw versus Death, his targets suffer a -2 penalty on the save. When the character casts necromantic spells (such as animate dead), the spell effects are calculated as if he were two class levels higher than his actual level of experience. He may also conduct necromantic research as if he were two class levels higher than actual. This is effectively the Black Lore of Zahar proficiency.

When a Zaharan Necromancer reaches 5th level (Corpse Lord), he may begin to research spells, scribe magical scrolls, and brew potions. When a Zaharan Necromancer reaches 9th level (Necromancer), he is able to create more powerful magic items such as weapons, rings, and staffs. A Zaharan Necromancer may also build a sanctum, often a great tomb or mortuary, when he reaches 9th level. He will then attract 1d6 apprentices of 1st-3rd level plus 2d6 normal men of Zaharan descent seeking to become Zaharan Necromancers. Their intelligence scores will be above average, but many will become discouraged from the rigorous mental training and quit after 1d6 months. While in the Zaharan Necromancer’s service, apprentices must be provided food and lodging, but need not be paid wages. If the Zaharan Necromancer builds a dungeon beneath or near his tower, monsters will start to arrive to dwell within, followed shortly by adventurers seeking to fight them. Additional rules for sanctums are detailed in the Campaign chapter of the core rules.

At 9th level a Zaharan Necromancer may create necromantic servants and become undead as if he were two levels higher (due to his secrets of the dark arts). At 11th level, a Zaharan Necromancer may learn and cast ritual arcane spells of great power (7th, 8th, and 9th level), craft magical constructs, and create magical cross-breeds.

Due to their background and training, all Zaharan necromancers speak four bonus languages: Ancient Zaharan, Goblin, Orc, and Kemeshi.

As true Zaharans, all necromancers also possess certain inhuman benefits and drawbacks from their near-extinct bloodline. Chief among these are the ancient pacts of service and obedience by which the lords of Zahar ensorcelled the dark powers of the world. Some creatures still remember these pacts and will aid Zaharans when commanded. All necromancers gain a +2 bonus to reaction rolls when encountering intelligent chaotic monsters. Intelligent chaotic monsters suffer a -2 penalty to saving throws against any charm spells cast by a Zaharan necromancer.

Secondly, necromancers are inexorable in the face of horrors that terrify normal men. They are immune to all natural and magical fear effects.

Finally, necromancers grow in power after the flesh. If transformed into intelligent undead, they retain their racial powers and any class abilities. Once transformed, the necromancer may continue to advance in Hit Dice without limit, even past his class’s maximum level. At 1 HD, it requires 4,500XP plus 500XP per special ability (*) to advance to 2 HD. The amount of XP required doubles with each HD (round values greater than 20,000XP to the nearest 1,000). All of the necromancer’s class abilities will continue to progress without regard to his class’s maximum level, to a maximum of 14th level.

However, because of their dark souls, the grim embrace of death holds special perils for Zaharans. Whenever a deceased Zaharan rolls on the Tampering With Mortality table, he suffers a penalty on the 1d20 roll of -1 per level of experience.

Tables

Class Progression

XP	Title	Level	HD	1	2	3	4	5	6
0	Grave Robber	1	1d4	1
3.525	Tomb Haunter	2	2d4	3
7,050	Necropolite	3	3d4	3	1
14,100	Bone Lord	4	4d4	3	3
28,200	Corpse  Lord	5	5d4	3	3	1
56,400	Ghoul Lord	6	6d4	3	3	3
115,000	Wight Lord	7	7d4	4	3	3	1
230,000	Death Master	8	8d4	4	4	3	3
430,000	Necromancer	9	9d4	4	4	4	3	1
630,000		10	9d4+1	4	4	4	4	3
830,000		11	9d4+2	5	4	4	4	3	1
*	(As Undead)	12	12d8	5	5	4	4	4	3
*		13	13d8	5	5	5	4	4	3
*		14	14d8	5	5	5	5	4	4

Saving Throws

Level	Petrif & Paralysis	Poison & Death	Blast & Breath	Staff & Wands	Spells	Attack Throw
1-3	11+	11+	13+	9+	10+	10+
4-6	10+	10+	12+	8+	9+	9+
7-9	9+	9+	11+	7+	8+	8+
10-12	8+	8+	10+	6+	7+	7+

Proficiency List

1. Alchemy (G)
2. Apostasy
3. Battle Magic (G)
4. Collegiate Wizardry
5. Command
6. Contemplation
7. Craft (G)
8. Diplomacy (G)
9. Engineering (G)
10. Familiar
11. Healing (G)
12. Illusion Resistance (G)
13. Knowledge (G)
14. Language (G)
15. Leadership (G)
16. Loremastery
17. Magical Engineering
18. Mapping (G)
19. Mystic Aura
20. Naturalism (G)
21. Navigation (G)
22. Profession (G)
23. Prophecy
24. Quiet Magic
25. Righteous Turning
26. Sensing Power
27. Soothsaying
28. Theology (G)
29. Transmorgification
30. Unflappable Casting
31. Wakefulness

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