Swords & Wizardry: an Eldritch Horror

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Shab-Ittoq, a Thing Man Was Not Meant To Know

Long before the coming of humans and their ilk, the world was ruled by ancient, eldritch beings from beyond space and time.   These beings were active only when the universe was in a particular alignment; when the universe held a different alignment these beings could not exist as we understand it and passed away eons in a state of pseudo death waiting for the cosmos to right itself.

The last shift in the alignment of the universe heralded the coming of men and their humanoid cousins, who happily assumed stewardship of the world in the absence of these alien beings.

As the universe shifted, the great island-city wherein most of these entitles lived sank far beneath the waves to settle at the bottom of the ocean; as their high priest retreated into a dark temple, one of its tentacles was severed.  Trapped beneath the rubble of the sunken city and bathed in the otherworldly energies which clung to the ruins, the monstrous tentacle mutated and took on a life of its own.

For some reason, the tentacular horror which became known as Shab-Ittoq is not bound to the same laws as is the being from which it was created, and it is able to exist regardless of how the universe is aligned.  Over the course of time, Shab-Ittoq has freed itself from its prison under the rubble of the sunken city and now it carries out the will of its parent which is made clear through powerful, psychic dreams.

Shab-Ittoq is not the only being who receives the twisted dreams of its creator; from the moment man reached a level of self-awareness, some men have been cursed with a sensitivity to the alien being’s dream-sendings.  Unable to bear the mental brunt of such alien thoughts, these men go mad, worship the eldritch beings as if they were gods, and recruit others into cults which actively work to prepare the world for when the universe is once again aligned and the monstrous beings return to re-establish their rule.  Shab-Ittoq often acts as a proxy and herald to these cultists, making appearances and accepting sacrifices on behalf of its maker.

Being composed of unearthly material and not subject to the laws of matter as we know them, Shab-Ittoq can never truly be killed.  If it is reduced to 0 HP, Shab-Ittoq will dissolve into a viscous, slimy goo which seeps through the ground to eventually find its way back to the sunken city.  Once it reaches its home,  it slowly re-forms and emerges with full HPs by the next full moon.

Shab-Ittoq: HD 10; AC 0 [19]; Atk 1 smash (3d6) ; Move 12; Save: 6; CL/XP: 10/1400; Special: swim

Swords & Wizardry: HACZ

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What is HACZ?
A character’s HACZ (Hit Armor Class Zero; pronounced “hacks”) value provides an easy way to determine if an attack was successful against a given armor class, without having to reference charts or tables mid-combat.

Using HACZ
To make an attack, the player rolls a d20 and applies any modifiers (from ability scores, magic, etc.) to the die roll. The total is subtracted from the character’s HACZ value. The result indicates the lowest descending AC for which the attack would be successful.

Alternately, subtracting a descending armor class value from a character’s HACZ value will reveal the number an attack roll needs to meet or exceed in order to successfully hit that armor class.

Determining HACZ
To determine a character’s HACZ value, reference the character’s class and level on the following chart:

Level	Cleric	Fighting-man	Magic-user
1	19	19	19
2	19	19	19
3	18	18	19
4	18	17	18
5	17	17	18
6	17	16	17
7	16	15	17
8	16	14	16
9	15	13	16
10	14	12	15

For values beyond 10th level, please reference the Attack Matrix for the class in question.

Swords & Wizardry: Count Krugerov

Many years ago I introduced Count Krugerov into one of my D&D games.  Krugerov was a very bad man who was far too well versed in the necromantic arts for his own good, and in my head I always pictured him to look like Jafar from Disney’s Aladdin.

Krugerov wielded a “signature” weapon: a magical curved dagger (which I later discovered was actually called a jambiya) which increased its magical bonus with each killing blow that it landed.  I never considered the weapon to be intelligent or have an ego, nor did I ever give it an alignment.  If I were to use it in my game again, I’m pretty sure it would remain unintelligent and unaligned but it would definitely carry with it some sort of lingering malignancy; maybe its new owner would suffer from nightmarish hauntings at the hands of the blade’s victims or something.

Krugerov had a “signature” spell as well which granted him doppelganger-esque abilities at a disgusting price.

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Krugerov’s Dagger: this magical jambiya begins each day with a +0 enchantment.  With each killing blow the weapon lands, it gains a +1 bonus to a maximum of +3.  With the coming of dawn, the weapon’s bonus “resets” to +0.  Krugerov’s Dagger is unintelligent.

Krugerov’s Cannibalistic Mutation
Spell Level: Magic-user, 3rd Level
Range: Caster
Duration: 1 hour or Referee’s discretion
This spell enables the Magic-user to alter the appearance of his or her form to that of another human or humanoid being.  Exacting detail is maintained; even normally hidden or undiscovered birthmarks and blemishes will be recreated by this spell.  The material component for this spell is a chunk of flesh from the human or humanoid who is being duplicated, which must be eaten by the Magic-user as the spell is cast.

Opinion: Clerical Magic

I’ve long looked at Clerics as the “red-haired step-child” of D&D classes.  The number of times I’ve actually played a Cleric can be counted on one hand after a horrible accident with a band saw.  I think this comes down to two fundamental idiosyncrasies with the class.  Namely:

• Clerics cannot use piercing or slashing weapons.
• Cleric spellcasting is too derivative of the Magic-user’s spellcasting.

The prohibition against piercing or slashing weapons is understandable; while I think that Clerics should only be able to use weapons typical of their deity or faith, freely allowing them use of any and all weapons would largely obsolete the Fighting-man.

I guess that my issue with Clerical magic is that Clerics shouldn’t really be using magic a la Magic-users.  Granted they have a different selection of spells, but other than that there are no real differences between Clerical magic and Magic-user magic.  And that ain’t right; Clerics should not be doing “magic”, they should not be “casting spells”.  Clerics should be invoking and channeling the power of their deity, faith, and beliefs.

According to Clerical magic as written, every morning Clerics must pray or meditate to their diety or faith to get their spells.  Not only is this mechanically no different than Magic-users re-memorizing forgotten spells, it’s also – in my opinion - completely nonsensical.

"Dear Geoff the god of biscuits; it is I, your humble servant Eddie, humbly requesting that you allow your servant to heal light wounds once this day and to protect your followers from evil once this day.  As well.  Because I’m a Cleric and that’s what I do.  Yeah?"

Yes, Eddie is a 3rd level Cleric, heh.

It seems to me that Clerical miracles should be dynamic, based on invoking the power of your diety through your faith on a more… “as needed” basis.  I’m considering doing away with the whole “pray for spells” idiom, allowing a Cleric’s player to choose what miracle the Cleric invokes as it is being invoked.  So, for instance, Eddie the 3rd level Cleric could invoke 2 1st level miracles each day, chosen by the player as the miracle is invoked based on what’s going on in the game.  If the Cleric has been true to his faith, the miracle will be delivered as per the rules as written.  Something like...

DM: *rolls damage* Oooh, Bill the Fighting-man took an arrow to his chest.  He falls to the ground and is gurgling blood.  

Eddie’s player: Eddie can still invoke 1 more 1st level miracle today!  I run over to Bill and invoke a… *checks spell list* Cure Light Wounds!  “In the name of Geoff, the god of biscuits, BE HEALED!” 

DM: Ok, let’s see… *rolls dice for the CLW*… Geoff, the god of biscuits, hears your plea and the arrow pops out of Bill’s chest!  The wound is still open, but it looks more like a small scratch than a puncture.  He climbs back to his feet, ready to fight once again.

Swords & Wizardry: the Necromancer

On the Beyond the Black Gate blog, the author put forth a PDF of several variants to the Fighting-man class for Swords & Wizardry.  I was quite impressed with what he had done, and immediately set to work on creating variants for the Magic-user class following his examples.  The first I came up with was the Necromancer, which is presented below.

Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress.  I posted this on the Swords & Wizardry forums, but I did not receive much feedback.  Oh well, heh.  I have a similar variant in mind for the Demonologist; look for it to grace these “pages” soon.

Necromancer
The Necromancer is a Magic-user who focuses his arcane powers upon death and the dead. Necromancy is a taxing and challenging path to tread, and is not undertaken lightly. Necromancy is generally studied only by humans; while Elves are able to tread the path of the dead, there are no recorded instances of an Elvish Necromancer.

Prerequisites: Con 13+, non Lawful or Good alignment (if alignment is used.)

Banish Undead: Necromancers can banish undead as if they were a cleric of half their level (ignore fractions). “D” results are treated as if the Necromancer were Chaotic or Evil regardless of his or her actual alignment.

Servitor Zombie: Using a special ritual known only to necromancers (and unique to each necromancer), a necromancer can create a number of servitor zombies whose total hit dice do not exceed the necromancers level.  So a 2nd level necromancer could have one 2 HD servitor zombies, two 1 HD servitor zombies, four 1/2 HD servitor zombies or any combination thereof so long as his servitor zombie’s total HD did not exceed 2.

Spell Casting: Necromancers cast spells as per regular Magic-users, but because so much of the Necromancer’s studying is devoted to death and the dead, Necromancers use the Cleric tables to determine how many spells they can cast per day.

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Opinion: Magic Missile Etymology

From Swords & Wizardry Core Rules:

There are two versions of the magic missile spell, and your Referee will specify which version (one or both) is available in his campaign: in the first version, the magic user must roll to hit the target with a +1 bonus to the roll. The missile inflicts 1d6+1 points of damage. In the second version of the spell, the missile hits automatically, doing 1d4+1 points of damage.

I read the above quote after talking to one of the players in a S&W PbP I'm running; he wanted to know how much damage the spell did and I couldn’t remember if it was 1d6+1 or 1d4+1.  I was surprised to see the two versions listed therein; S&W is based on original D&D but I couldn’t remember there being two different versions of the spell.  Especially in OD&D itself.

I had to investigate this.

I made a post to the S&W forums and, with the information gleaned from the replies, I was on my way.  I pulled out my OD&D PDFs, my Holmes, Mentzer, and Moldvay Basic Sets, my Rules Compendium, my 1E PHB, my 2E PHB, and a copy of the d20 SRD.  Here’s what I discovered:

• OD&D Supplement 1 (Greyhawk) says that MMs do 2-7 points of damage, with two additional missiles every 5 levels.  No comment is made about rolling to-hit or not.
• Holmes Basic D&D says that MMs do 2-7 points of damage, with higher level casters firing more than one missile.  A to-hit roll must be made as if it were fired from a long bow.
• Moldvay Basic D&D says that MMs do 2-7 (1d6+1) points of damage, with two additional missiles every 5 levels.  They automatically hit any visible target.
• Mentzer Basic D&D echoes Moldvay Basic D&D.
• The D&D Rules Cyclopedia echoes Moldvay Basic D&D.
• The AD&D 1E PHB says that MMs do 2-5 (1d4+1) points of damage, with one additional missile every 2 levels.  They unerringly strike their target.
• The AD&D 2E PHB echoes the 1E PHB.
• The d20 SRD echoes the 1E PHB.

So it appears that there are two different “standardizing moments” in the Magic Missile spell’s history: Moldvay Basic and AD&D first edition.  Prior to Moldvay the spell might have been consistent but it’s too vague in OD&D to be sure.  Given the Holmes clarification, I’d like to think that Mr. Gygax intended for a to-hit roll to be made in OD&D.

My answer to my player?  He could cast either version of the spell as chosen at time of casting, an answer taken straight from the S&W forums.

Fudge: Still Human

Over the last few years, the cinema has seen an uprising in zombie activity -- from Resident Evil and 28 Days Later, to the remake of Dawn of the Dead and the recently released Land of the Dead. Indeed, it seems as though we're in the midst of a zombie reawakening.

Fudge, with its fast pickup and ease of use, is an ideal system for zombie one-shot adventures similar in scope to those found in the movies. All you need is a few characters, some zombie statistics, the layout of a shopping mall, and a GM that doesn't mind frequently groaning "BRAAAAAAAAAINS...."

Of course, that's very cliché and limited in scope. Supposing your group wanted a more involved and detailed zombie RPG -- something with more campaign potential. Something that does more than put the players against hordes of mindless undead searching for their next feast of fresh, human brains. Suppose, for a moment, your group wanted to play the zombies, not the humans. Well, now we're talking.

First thing we'd have to do is make the zombies interesting, more than a lumbering column of fetid flesh that has trouble with the concept of doorknobs. They'd certainly have to have some intelligence left over, and all zombies are preternaturally strong. We'll start the zombie "template" with a Reason of Mediocre and a Strength of Good.

There would have to be a reason for zombie player characters. Something more than, "the dead have arisen and are eating the living -- those that are bitten rise up as one of the undead". We could say that after years of experimentation, a government subsidized pharmaceutical laboratory made some stunning advances with regards to life-after-death. They perfected a serum that, when injected into a corpse, would bring the body back to a semblance of life - it was able to stand, walk, and move about of its own volition. Higher reasoning was a challenge, and if the body had been dead too long, the newly arisen "zombie" was a monster living off near animal instinct alone, a hunger for living flesh guiding its every move. More testing identified the brain as the key to higher functioning - a recently dead brain was more capable than a long dead brain. Subjects who had the serum injected before death arose with their personality and memories largely intact. However, as the brain shriveled away, all the test subjects wound up reverting to cannibalistic, animal-like ways. Therefore, a new serum was devised. This serum, when injected at regular intervals, kept the brain fresh and functional complete with personality, memories, and an abated hunger for human flesh. Mix in some formaldehyde and the body is preserved as well. The government embraced these advances, seeing in these newly created undead a tireless workforce, able to labor ceaselessly with blatant disregard for any existing labor laws -- they were dead, after all. They were evicted from their homes and driven out of their neighborhoods into government labor camps -- which is where the players find their characters at the start of the game.

There would need to be a way to simulate the descent into monsterhood in Fudge terms -- an attribute like Humanity might be in order, and the zombie "template" could start with a Humanity of Mediocre. We could say that every week without an injection of the serum requires a Great Humanity roll -- if the roll is failed, the character loses a level of Humanity and Reason. When the character has a Humanity of Terrible and fails a weekly roll, the character loses everything that makes them remotely human, operating from the instinct to feed on human flesh alone. If a character that loses a level of Humanity and Reason from the lack of serum injections begins receiving the injections again, there is no Humanity roll required for that week, and they instantly regain one lost level of Humanity and Reason. Note that no amount of serum will raise a character's Humanity and Reason past their initial levels.

Wow, this sounds pretty depressing. Why would anyone want to play a dead person dependent upon the government to keep their humanity intact -- the same government that forces them to work inhumane hours, believing their dead status to confer no inalienable rights? We'd have to add some sort of hope for the characters. Something like an underground zombie resistance movement that works to free the enslaved zombies, providing them a place to live away from their dreary existence of endless toil. This group would be ideal for player characters, and would provide the GM with innumerable scenario options -- a truckload of new zombies is being brought to the local labor camp, for example, and the player characters must waylay it and free the "workers." Or a new labor camp is being built, and the player characters must organize and take part in terrorist-like operations against the living who are building it. For a more political campaign, these resistance groups could have made contact with living sympathizers who rally for zombie rights in the legal arena -- maybe one of the characters himself was related to a politician of no small renown when he was alive, and has made contact after death. That sounds better.

Oh, wait. There's a problem. What keeps the freed zombies from degenerating into a monstrous state? Certainly the government won't freely deliver the serum to escaped zombies. Granted, an enterprising GM could craft many scenarios around obtaining the serum by whatever means necessary, but that would quickly get redundant and many GMs wouldn't want to subject their players to the tension of realizing it's time for their injections and there's no serum at hand. So there has to be some sort of temporary stop-gap. Ah, we could say that the serum was based upon chemicals naturally occurring in the human brain. We could also say that early escapees discovered that in lieu of the serum, the ingestion of a fresh human brain could forestall the loss of that which makes them more than a ravaging, undead beast. However, in doing so, they are engaging in monstrous behavior that further separates them from the living. In game terms, a zombie character that consumes a fresh brain in typical zombie fashion as a substitute for the serum still needs to make a Great Humanity roll. If that roll is failed that character would only lose a level of Humanity and not Reason -- their intelligence is intact, but they are moving further and further away from the human norm. A character that has a Humanity of Terrible but an otherwise intact Reason and fails a Humanity roll becomes a sly, cunning monster whose main goal is the destruction and overthrow of the living as a way to secure the food source for the obviously superior living dead.

Now we have a zombie campaign with interesting potential. The characters are zombies, beginning with a zombie "template" granting initial Strength at Good, Humanity and Reason at Mediocre, which could be increased in line with whatever character creation system the GM is comfortable with. There's lots of stuff to do -- escape from the labor camps, join with a resistance cell, fight against the enslavement of other zombies, and try to keep from becoming a ravaging monstrosity.

El Purgatorio -- Sample Labor Camp

After years of mucking about with immigration problems, the state of California finally reached an agreement with Mexico: California created a "guest worker" program - including benefits and legal driving privileges - for Mexican "undocumented workers" in exchange for land grants in Mexico.

Located a few miles southeast of Tijuana, in an area of land granted to the State of California, El Purgatorio is located in the flatlands of Baja California. Completely self-contained, El Purgatorio has underground facilities that feature zombie powered generators, pumps, and sewage management. Above ground, the compound is host to numerous office buildings, apartments, factories, farms, and warehouses where the "workers" are stored between shifts.

One chain-link fence surrounds the entire compound. Additional fencing runs through the middle of the facility, separating the office buildings and apartments from the factories, farms, and storage warehouses. Tall guard towers spot the landscapes, giving decent views of the "worker quarters".
Zombie "life" at El Purgatorio is horrid. Shifts are long and hard, interrupted by regular injections of the brain serum and formaldehyde to keep the body preserved. There are no rest breaks as they don't need to rest; nor are there any lunch breaks as they don't need to eat. Those that decide to cease working are denied the brain serum and/or formaldehyde, forced to witness their body rotting away and feel the hunger for human flesh grow in their bellies. The few that don't return to work after the experience wind up as cannibalistic monsters, powering the generators and pumps underground as mules often powered wagons in the early days.

Juan Pedro de Sandoval is the Director of El Purgatorio. The "workers" call him El Jefe Diaboloico, "the Devil boss." He is assisted by Anthony Hernandez, who is head of security and internal affairs. Both Juan Pedro and Anthony Hernandez are fairly average NPCs. (Physical and mental attributes should average out to Fair, as should Skills. They both have the Mean and Nasty fault.)

Todavia Humano -- Sample Political Sympathizer Group

Todavía Humano, "Still Human," is a group that started in Tijuana shortly after El Purgatorio was first built. It began as a group local to Baja California, but quickly spread to the other Mexican states where the USA built zombie labor camps. As of late the group has garnered interest from liberal Americans who have taken an interest in the "inhumane" treatment of the living dead that occurs at El Purgatorio and other camps.

The current Todavía Humano spokesperson in Baja California is Roberto Bonita. While Roberto is a very passionate, animated and outspoken individual, he does not condone any direct action towards El Purgatorio by any member of Todavía Humano. He prefers to fight his battles in the political arena. Unfortunately, not all Todavía Humano members see eye to eye with him. Roberto is smart but not a very physically endowed person, and his traits should reflect that. (Mental attributes should be in the Good or Great range, whereas his physical attributes should center around Mediocre or Fair. Roberto should have Social/Manipulative skills in the Good or Great range as well, and he has the Gift of being a Smooth Talker.)

Adventure Seeds

• It's a hot and stifling day at El Purgatorio. The characters are all working around the receiving gate when a truck of "new recruits" drives up. The claxons sound as the zombies are herded back from the gate by the El Purgatorio guards. Suddenly, the truck accelerates at alarming speed and smashes through the fence, killing human and zombie alike. The truck door flies open and a zombie riddled with bulletholes in his chest jumps out. He screams at the zombies to run away before the tower guards put a bullet in his brain - as he falls to the ground, many zombies get the idea and begin to run through hole in the fence. The tower guards try to shoot them down, but there are too many escaping. Undoubtedly the characters should be some of the zombies that get away, and they must find their way to a safe haven with the El Purgatorio guards hot on their tails.

• Time has passed since the characters have escaped El Purgatorio. By now they should have fallen in with a Todavío Humano cell or another group of friendly undead. They should have also found out that they are in desperate need for the preserving serum, but maybe not yet found out about the human brain subsitution. They receive a tip-off that a truck containing a decent supply of the serum will be making its way to El Purgatorio via the back road that the characters haven happens to be close to. They'll need to organize a raid to waylay the truck and recover the serum for their group.

• Word is delivered to the characters that a Todavía Humano sympathizer has taken a job in El Purgatorio, and is willing to sneak the characters through the camp close enough to El Jefe Diaboloico to exact revenge. They'll need to figure out a way to get back into the camp, make contact with the sympathizer, and get to El Jefe Diaboloico. Of course, the sympathizer could be a plant by El Purgatorio or the U.S./Mexican government to capture the rogue zombies, but they don't know that.

• After escaping from El Purgatorio, the characters discover information about a zombie refuge in Northern California. They'll have to figure out a way to travel across the border and through California to find the commune. Of course, Immigration agents are well trained at spotting escaped zombies, and the federal government is searching for the commune as well. Can the characters make it to the refuge before it moves to a new location or is seized by the government?

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