Polytheism And Religion In Games

The heat wave is continuing here, though things are getting better. I haven’t done any work on the blog at all, so there’s a good chance I won’t have the Middle Sea Witch class done by Monday. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll work on the Bullrider instead.

But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about polytheism in game worlds.

Most people think that polytheism is just like monotheistic religion. However, there are many characteristics of polytheistic religion that make it completely distinct from the latter. For one, there is no exclusivity. That should seem obvious, but people designing games tend to forget that and make their “polytheistic” cultures look like a whole lot of competing monotheisms, or at least henotheisms (henotheism is the practice of acknowledging that there may be other gods, but worshiping/venerating only one). This becomes particularly noticeable in those settings where gods generate power through the number of their followers, and so the competition for worshipers ends up being fierce.

Now, it has been rightly pointed out that in polytheistic cultures, there are priests or other religious specialists who focus strongly on just one god. This does not, however, change the fact that the general body of the people give honor to any number of gods, and even the religious specialists are known to look to other gods when the need or desire arises. Also, there is a marked tendency in most games for a priest specialist to pick the “strongest” god, as the powers that the priest will be able to wield will be determined by their god. This flies in the face of the historical fact that there have always been priests who focus on even the smallest gods – or even non-god beings like nymphs.

To illustrate the point, let’s look at how various games handle religion, whether well or poorly.

First up, the basic D&D approach (also used by most D&D-like games) is to have a Cleric class which represents the main way to approach the gods. In some versions, other characters are allowed a slight chance of appealing to the gods by invoking their name and hoping for a good die roll to get Divine Intervention. The second mechanic there goes a long way toward alleviating the problem, but limiting the majority of divine appeals to a specialist class is something that is particularly a characteristic of monotheistic religions. A good rule that would help even more than the Divine Intervention chance is to incorporate the ability to get one-time bonuses for a character of any class who makes an offering to the god at their shrines, temples, or whatever. For instance, by buying and sacrificing a sheep at the temple of Fortuna (with the aid of the priests of the temple, of course), the character might be given one reroll (must take the second roll) to use at any time in the future. Or whatever, maybe even one-use spells of an appropriate level to the character (and certainly the bonuses carried at one time should be limited by character level, perhaps one bonus per level). This should probably require tracking the piety of the character with regard to that god – those who blaspheme Fortuna shouldn’t get her bonuses without making some sort of appropriate penances. There was a good method of tracking such piety in the old FGU game Lands of Adventure. Of course, now that we’re tracking piety in relation to each god, we should work that into the system somehow, but I’m not here to write up an entire method.

Speaking of Lands of Adventure, religion in that game is handled much like it is in D&D, where characters choose one god from whom they get most of their divine powers, leading to a henotheistic system rather than a polytheistic one.

Next, we find RuneQuest (and, to an extent, HeroQuest). In that game, characters can become Initiates of various Cults, each dedicated to a deity. Even non-Initiates (called Lay Members, though Lay Members still have to undergo a minor initiation – they just don’t have to sacrifice POW to get their initiation) can often gain some bonus from the Cult. This is a very good approach, but leaves out the possibilities, common in historical polytheisms, of approaching gods one has not yet had a chance to become acquainted with, not to mention the fact that, normally, becoming a Lay Member should give one access to all of the gods of the culture. Still, RQ is a great way to approach polytheist religion, and I recommend it. Not surprising, really, as the designer of the original RQ setting, Glorantha, is an active and practicing polytheist himself.

In Chivalry & Sorcery, religion is dealt with cursorily, by specifying religious practitioners and giving them powers, pretty much ignoring the gods themselves. Eh, it works, but has all of the problems present in the D&D system. At least by avoiding naming particular gods and sticking to the social roles (“Priest”, “Druid”, “Shaman”, or whatever), the C&S system avoids the problems of seeming to be a henotheistic semi-polytheism.

GURPS Voodoo takes a slightly different tack, by ignoring the religion parts, but treating the gods for what they can do. Anyone can approach any god (or “Loa”, more properly spelled “Lwa”) and ask for assistance (which is generally granted by the dispatch of messengers – what Christianity and some other religions might call Angels – to provide assistance). In some cases, that process is treated generically, as a regular use of magic. In other cases, it involves the specific summoning of Manifestations (the aforementioned messengers). Some characters have an entourage of spirit helpers. Finally, certain characters, called “Spirit Warriors”, are given the ability to call on the powers of the god (or Lwa) and manifest them in their own body. This is a really good system.

An obscure game (which I plan to review eventually) is Legendary Lives. This game handles religion well enough, but no better, by giving characters a choice (or roll) of religion based on their culture. This system is only added in the supplement, Societies Sourcebook, though. Every character is given a Devotion score, which acts as a skill in relation to religious powers. The details of what Devotion does vary by religion. Unfortunately, the game falls into the D&D trap of treating individual gods as religions in themselves.

Pendragon is one of the better treatments of religion in gaming, though it avoids immersing players in the role of religion. Characters have five Personality Traits, known as Religious Traits, that are related to their religion, and if those Traits are kept at a high enough level the character gains special bonuses, varying by religion. Beyond that, religion is mainly assumed to be a strong background factor. Unlike Fantasy Wargaming, to choose one example (see below), the characters are given no reason to pursue religious ceremonies (except for the relatively minor effect of being a requisite for the Pious Personality Trait – which is actually a hindrance to Saxon Heathens, for whom the opposing Trait, Worldly, is one of their Religious Traits).

Hârnmaster allows characters to gain piety points that they can spend in exchange for miraculous interventions. The religion system of Hârn resembles the normal henotheism of most games, though. It could perhaps be fixed if characters were allowed to accumulate piety in regard to all of the gods involved, but that might end up being too complex to handle easily in the game.

Unknown Armies only tangentially deals with religion, and mostly from the point of view espoused by Chaos Magick. Characters may pursue becoming an Avatar of a particular Archetype. Archetypes are the game’s equivalent to gods, and the more that a character manifests that Archetype by emulating it, the more of that Archetype’s powers can be expressed by the character. A good system for the setting and ones that use similar assumptions, but not one that fits most historical religions.

Speaking of modern-day/near-future games, Shadowrun has gods of a sort, but they are relegated to a secondary role. The totems in that system factor in as “gods” after a fashion. I wonder if it would be possible to make actual gods using that template? I suspect that it would end up looking very much like D&D-style henotheism, though.

Whatever other merits or flaws it might have, Dogs in the Vineyard treats its religion very well. However, it is focused on one specific sort of religion, in which there is a religion of the Community, and forces outside of that religion that attempt to destroy the Community. Like real-world Mormonism, the religion of DitV tries to account for the polytheistic peoples living around them, and does so only moderately well. Certainly, the religion system in DitV could be adapted to other monotheistic religions, or even the henotheistic ones of most D&D games.

There are other games with religious systems, such as The Riddle of Steel, The Burning Wheel, Wyrd is Bond, and so on, but they are minor and don’t really fit into historical religious beliefs, in my opinion, no matter how good they may be as games. They generally end up appearing much like D&D-style henotheism.

My favorite approach, though, is that in Fantasy Wargaming. In that game, both monotheistic and polytheistic religions are covered (the former primarily by Christianity and Satanism, the latter by Norse religion), and the system manages both well. Characters in that game are given a “religious rank”, which is not directly tied to the Religion level (FW uses a system where every character has three levels: Combat/Adventuring, Magic, and Religion, corresponding to the original three classes in published D&D, with characters generally starting at level zero in each). For Christians, this is either as Lay Clergy at the lower ends of the scale, Ordained Clergy, Monks, or Friars (or Religious Knights), with most characters having no religious rank at all. Satanists are all given a minimum rank, and there is no particular process of Ordination, so that characters may rise in the Devil’s hierarchy on their merits. Norse pagans have two main tracks – either as Priests or as Laity. Priests have a higher minimum/starting religious rank, but Lay members are actually capable of gaining a higher religious rank than Priests (although only if they can manage to become King or Queen)! For the most part, religious powers mainly consist of Ceremonies, which dedicate Mana (magical power) to the god or gods being worshiped and provide a bonus to morale for a while and a chance of Inspiration to the participants, which gives various bonuses, along with other benefits depending on the Ceremony. Anyone may appeal to higher (or lower) powers for a Miracle, which is resolved by the invoked power using the methods of the magic system to cause changes in the world (or, in a few cases such as Resurrection of the dead, the magic system is used in a modified form). Characters can have “patrons”, which gives the character a bonus in appealing to that power (the Norse ones usually are given at birth, and their patron’s name is typically incorporated into their personal name). There is no method given in FW for changing patrons during the game, which is something I will add in my rewrite of the system. Another aspect that helps the system work well is the concept of “Intervention”, whereby an appeal is made to one power who is asked to Intervene with another power. This has benefits in the matter of patronage mentioned, but also because some powers are more difficult to appeal to than others. In the Norse religion, the personal feelings and relationships of various powers affects this chance of Intervention, as well, so that, for instance, the wife of a god will have a better chance of Intervention with that god, while two gods who hate each other (Loki and Heimdall, for instance) reduce the chance of successful Intervention. Finally, each power has areas of Favor and Disfavor, which affects the likelihood of the power responding to the appeal. Altogether, this system became the first to incorporate the personalities of the powers into the game system in a meaningful way. So, this system included both the religious (characters can attend or perform Mass, for example) and the miraculous (through the process of appeals) into one system. Sometimes both are incorporated, such as the rites of Benediction and Malediction. The primary weakness of the FW system in regard to religion is the handling of “negative” piety, which is always assumed to place one in communication with the Devil, even if a Norse pagan. I hope to address this problem in my revision of the game.

More Musings On Preferences

Earlier, I discussed what I like and dislike about D&D and closely related games. I offered some possible solutions, largely drawing on Fantasy Wargaming, to the problems that I have with the game, which is almost by definition the designing of a fantasy heartbreaker. This time, I will consider one of the first divergent variants of D&D, RuneQuest (I am not considering Tunnels & Trolls in the main because I have almost zero experience with that game, it being one of the very few early adventure games that I have not played much at all).

RuneQuest began, in part, as the Perrin Conventions for D&D combat (should that link go away, the Conventions are also available as part of All The World's Monsters Vol. 2 and as a .doc file here). This was a rules variant which provided a little less abstraction to combat, introducing ideas that would also be modified and incorporated into AD&D (segments, for instance, seem to develop from the "Melee Time" tracking system of the Perrin Conventions) as well as the rudiments of the RuneQuest combat system. RQ also attempted to alleviate the reliance on character classes, providing a new system, "skills", to allow one character to be mechanically differentiated from another. Skills in RQ were defined by their function and their skill level. Uniquely, RQ skills were rated by their percent chance of success (though in the first two editions, they might as well have been rated on a d20-scale, as all skill ratings were in 5% increments; as the basic game system has grown over time, some versions have indeed chosen to use d20s directly, such as Pendragon) rather than by an abstract level. RQ also introduced a magic system that was closely tied into the default game world presented in the rules, which allowed any character to learn some magic, but reserved the most powerful sorts of magic for characters who wanted to spend a lot of time and character resources on that pursuit. The combat system was further modified, as I said, to reduce the abstraction by introducing hit locations and limiting hit points severely, removing many of the functions of hit points in D&D to skills such as Parry and Dodge. Armor was changed so that it no longer provided an abstract protective value, but actually reduced the amount of damage that a successful, undefended strike would do to the character. Finally, the experience and improvement system for characters was tied to the use of skills in the adventure, so that a player would choose the direction of character advancement by the choices made in play, rather than by selecting a character class.

Those are some significant changes, but like D&D they are pretty straightforward and based in play at the table. Later games (GURPS, I am looking at you) would start more strictly with design, rather than being largely developed in play, and there are benefits and drawbacks to that approach. I will note that RQ does begin with such design considerations, but they seem to be developed from systems that were applied at the table and then refined.

Whatever, the point is that RQ offers a set of solutions to perceived problems in D&D, making it in many ways a fantasy heartbreaker in the classic mold. I like many of the solutions that RQ makes to D&D questions, but I dislike others. Skills, while a wonderful concept in theory, become, in practice, a bit unwieldy. They slow down character creation by forcing too many choices, extending the process of equipment buying (always the slowest part of character creation - which, by the way, is something that needs to be solved) to the character's abilities and, worse, doing so at a stage when the character should probably be just sketched out anyway. This may be less of a problem for generic NPCs, as their skills may be given default values based on the type of encounter, but that does require many more (or much longer) entries in the "monster book" portion of the game, as creatures vary by a lot more than just hit dice. I've already discussed other solutions to the problem of character abilities in my earlier discussion of D&D, so I'll leave that off now.

Combat, on the other hand… wow. What a revelation the RQ system was back when I first saw it. Even more because when I was younger I never really understood hit points and the abstractions of D&D-style combat. RQ's combat has the disadvantage over standard D&D style combat in that it is more involved and takes more time (what can be resolved in two rolls in D&D takes at least a full four in RQ, and there are more decisions for players to make which also add time). That said, I think that those tradeoffs are very much worth what they add to the game. Interestingly, the writers of Fantasy Wargaming seem to have looked at RQ at least in passing, as they apparently try to address the problem of multiplying dice rolls by combining the "to hit" and "hit location" rolls into one. Unfortunately, FW's method of calculating the column to use on their tables works against this. Speaking generally, I think that my ideal fantasy heartbreaker would draw its combat system from the Perrin Conventions and RQ to some degree or another.

Magic and religion in RuneQuest was similarly a revelation. It is one of a very few magic systems that I feel approaches the feel of what real-world people think that they are doing with magic and spirituality, to some extent. By giving most people access to minor magical abilities (increasing the damage their weapon does by a point or two, improving other characteristics by a point or two, minor healing, and the like), giving the option for more expansive magical abilities to specialists (a lightning strike or a burning ray of light from the heavens! breathing underwater! flight! and so forth), and tying access to these magical abilities to the religious sects to which the character can belong (which provide guidelines for behavior through emulation of the sect's ideals - a far better choice than the abstract "alignments" of D&D), RQ solves several D&D problems nicely. That said, there are other solutions to the magic and religion questions that I am interested in - again, I point to Fantasy Wargaming, which gives some excellent solutions to the matter of polytheistic religion that are not well covered by RQ's method, and which may be better than RQ at handling monotheistic religion as well. The other major magic/religion system that I want to consider (and will do so in more detail in due course) is the one currently called, clumsily, "Path/Book Magic" for GURPS 4E, which was previously called "Spirit Magic" in GURPS 3E and was introduced in C.J. Carella's GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War. Finally, I've been researching the claims of medieval and renaissance magicians to see what sort of abilities would be best to include in a fantasy game (not specifically for this project, but the information is definitely of value here). There's a surprisingly wide variety of effects to consider, many of which are valuable for an adventure game.

So, to summarize, there's a lot to love about RuneQuest, but the breadth and ubiquity of the skill list is too fiddly for a really robust game of the sort that I might find to be ideal. I'd previously suggested a middle ground that might work better, which retains levels for players who are not interested in messing with skills, and skill specialties for those who are.

Musing On Preferences

I do this on occasion, get all navel-gazy. You should feel free to pass it by if you aren't interested in other people's thoughts about what they like and want out of gaming.

In part, I do this because I really want to figure out what would be the perfect game for me at the gaming table. It's not going to be easy, since I have conflicting gaming desires. I like GURPS, for example, due to its flexibility and ability to model events with precision and detail. I like RuneQuest because of its clean, simple systems and feel of gritty heroic fantasy. I like D&D (in all of its variants, from AD&D to the Arcanum, Palladium RPG 1st edition, Swords & Wizardry, Adventures Dark and Deep, and so on for hours) because of the ease of preparation compared to most other games, its particular feel of heroic, fantastic action, and its placement as a sort of "common language" of gaming. I like Traveller because of its relative simplicity and mundane feel (which is a boon, as it helps to highlight the more unusual material in a way that heightens the effect). I could go on, listing the things I like about Flashing Blades, Villains & Vigilantes, Top Secret, and so on, but I think that the idea is illustrated. The thing is, the detail and precision of GURPS is not a good fit with the clean simplicity of RuneQuest and neither fits well with the quick ease of D&D prepwork, the mundanity of Traveller does not compare well with the heroic fantasy of D&D, and so on.

So, I need to filter everything down. I can't have the world, so I need to figure out what part of it is most important to me. Right now, I'll think specifically about what I like and dislike about D&D.

As I said, I love the quick prep. To create a character, it's a simple matter of roll 6 stats, select a class, roll hit points, roll money, select equipment, and go. Magic-using classes take a touch longer because they require spell selection, and some versions of D&D require a bit more involvement what with selecting skills/feats/kits/whatever, but it's all still faster than choosing where to spend point (GURPS), figuring out skills (RQ), or generating a full career-to-date (Traveller). So, I love that. I don't like that characters are then limited to actions defined by their character class, so that (by most versions of the rules) a Paladin can't climb up a cliffside or even learn to do so, a Thief can't pray to the gods, a Cleric can't experiment with summoning demons, a Magic-User can't learn how to swing a sword well, a Druid doesn't know how to track animals and can't learn how, and so on. Obviously, individual Referees (and some versions of D&D) have their own way of handling those cases, but here I'm talking about the main structure of a rules system.

So, what is a character class? It seems to be a package of abilities that cluster around each other, so that a Fighter knows how to use more different weapon types than any other class, learns how to fight at the best available ability, has the best available hit points (representing the ability to defend in combat, endurance, and so on, like the long swordfights in old swashbuckler films), gets the best category of extra attacks, and all of the other things that are directly involved in combat in D&D rules. But that isn't quite right, because the Cleric isn't really centered on worshiping the gods, instead having those abilities, plus the second-best category of fighting skills. Still, D&D character classes cluster around four different archetypes: divine miracles, combat, magic spells, and skilled abilities. There are some classes that cross over between those categories (the Ranger has combat, magic spells, a bit of divine miracles, and skilled abilities, for example, or the Monk includes combat, skilled abilities, and something like focused magic spells that are not entirely unlike divine miracles), but they seem to me to simply prove the point.

So, the main distinction of abilities is along those four lines. Dividing skills any further seems like splitting hairs, for the most part. Perhaps we could consider that the "skilled abilities" category should be directed at specialties, so that one skilled person is a burglar, while another is a wilderness scout, and a third is a sailor. But why should a character have abilities only from one category? As we noted, a number of subclasses in D&D cross over between these main categories. One of my favorite games (deliberately not mentioned above) is Fantasy Wargaming, at least in concept. It handled the matter by simply giving every character a level in each of the categories (though it compressed the "combat" and "skill" categories into one "Combat/Adventuring" level), effectively meaning that there were only four "skills" in the game. It also gave six areas of special talent, to cover specific adventuring focuses such as climbing, stealing, or tracking, which follows my musing on specialties.

I really like the way that specialties of that sort are handled in Lamentations of the Flame Princess. In that game, a character of the appropriate class starts with all of the specialties at default values, which are appropriate to use with characters not of the class as well, and then adds a number of points to them, giving a result that shows how many chances in six the character will succeed with using that specialty. Similarly, it is only with Fighter levels in that game that a character becomes better at fighting. Those ideas would be easy to incorporate into a game that otherwise structures character abilities on the Fantasy Wargaming model.

This sketch so far keeps the game within my goal of quick and easy prep. A character can be rolled up in roughly the same amount of time that it takes to roll up any other D&D version's characters. The steps are actually easier at start, since every character will start out with the same "character class" selections, having a level (or 0-level, which is what Fantasy Wargaming does) in each of the main ability areas. As a result, there's no need to divide up ability points for the skilled ability specialties, no need to pick spells (since every character will have some facility with spells, albeit very weakly - those who wish to specialize will quickly pick up spell mastery and such). Or, we could alternately say that each character chooses one category to give one level, with the others starting at level 0. That would require a slight bit more work, with fighters choosing a fighting style (other characters would be allowed to wait until they finally achieve 1st level combat ability), magicians choosing initial spell mastery and perhaps a magical style (again, other characters would wait until they reach 1st level magic use), and so on.

The most difficult part, so far, is figuring out how a character divides up experience between the four levels. Presumably, combat ability would go up by defeating foes in combat, skill ability might rise by the acquisition of treasure, magic ability increase by various magic-related goals, and miraculous ability by pious actions.

To determine how the abilities will work in detail, I need to figure out specifically what sort of tone I want. Wuxia/chanbara/effects-laden heroics? Gritty low fantasy? High fantasy? Manapunk? Something else? To do that, probably the easiest way to go is to create an Appendix N of sorts for such a heartbreaker project (I guess that it's a project now). I want my Appendix N to include both books and movies, since we have a wide enough range of fantasy film now to make that effort worthwhile. I'll do that in a different post, though. For now, I'll just pick two items to give a quick idea of the feel I want: Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and the movie Dragonslayer. That seems to indicate that I want a gritty low fantasy default setting, with magic that is mostly in a ritual mode and powerful, or quickly used and on a par with physical action.

I actually want the magic to more closely resemble a slightly fantasy version of what real-world magicians have claimed to be able to do, but not reaching into the stratosphere of the more outlandish, mythic magic of some of the wilder epics (like the Kalevala, say). The magic should look more like magic in the Lord of the Rings books with a perhaps more medieval tone, and less like the Dungeons & Dragons movie. Maybe I want to include the exotic rites found in Howard's Conan stories too, but you can actually find similar things in the grimoires of the medieval era into the 19th century (and even some of the more outré 20th and 21st century grimoires like the Voudon Gnostic Workbook and its related texts; not that I know yet if I'm going to directly draw on those late sources).

A not-unrelated question is what level of abstraction to choose for combat. Should it be the D&D-like abstraction of vast quantities of hit points being worn away until someone scores a telling blow? Or should it be the detail of GURPS, where every blow is described in detail by rules parameters and resolved? Or (more likely) somewhere in between those two extremes? That needs thought.

How should religion work? I think that I would most like it if the system could handle monotheist, polytheist, and abstract mysticism equally well. While the system in Fantasy Wargaming works reasonably well, it requires a lot of fiddly tracking of fluctuating numbers. I want to handle that with less constant attention and Referee fiat. I'm still not sure of the best way to go about that, so I will have to think about it for a while. I suspect that treating piety as the experience system for the religious level is the best way to go, with sins (or spiritual pollution or blasphemy, for those religions without a general concept of "sin") throwing a block in the way of appealing to God or the gods for favor and assistance. Further, there could be a system of mysticism related to this, in which a character gains spiritual insight instead of piety and learns to perform amazing feats (which would be something like the Monks of D&D). I'll have to think about matters like conversion from one religious type to another, practicing more than one religion, and so on. I'll also need to think about the differences between devotional action, theurgy, mysticism, belief, and other approaches to religious/spiritual power.

This took a turn from my original intention, wandering through the practical matter of design where I had originally just wanted to think about the nature of my preferences in a more abstract sense. Ah, well. It seems good enough.

Talking With The Gods

One of the things that we learn by analyzing AD&D is that gods really don't have a close involvement with most of their followers, even clerics. For instance, according to the DMG, gods are only directly involved in giving clerics 6th and 7th level spells, with lower level spells being given by either servitors (for 3rd to 5th level spells), which is to say angels and the like, or the cleric's own granted authority (for 1st and 2nd level spells). See p. 38. In addition, cleric spells of the 6th level are only granted to clerics with a Wisdom of 17, and of 7th level to clerics with a Wisdom of 18. So, gods only ever regularly talk directly with high level clerics (11th or higher level) who have high Wisdom scores.

But how many clerics is that? Using my handy-dandy spreadsheet, I can see that there are 2755* clerics of the appropriate level in a world of 250 million people (a reasonable estimate of world population in the medieval era). This assumes clerics being five times more common than in the standard AD&D world, too (5% of people in the Middle Sea world are capable of having a class and level, compared to 1% according to the DMG, p. 35). Assuming that clerics are as affected by Wisdom for their survival as Fighters are by Strength, then we can see by this comment on Delta's blog that a cleric of high level should be rolled as though they have a minimum Wisdom of 15. Looking at my charts, that seems to indicate a 20% chance of Wisdom 17-18. So, in standard AD&D world, there are around 551 clerics worldwide of the appropriate level, and only about 110 who also have the necessary Wisdom to talk regularly and directly with their god. Divide that 110 by the number of gods who might have 11th+ level clerical followers, and you can see that the gods are not really all that busy with direct involvement in the affairs of the world - and even fewer when one takes into account the fact that not every cleric is going to need to recover such high level spells every day.


*Note! I am currently changing my method of calculating the percentage of population who become each class, using a much more intensive method of analysis, so this number will likely vary somewhat. Still, the basic number should be close enough for an estimate.

House Rules For Middle Sea/Terra Ultima

I'm not really kidding myself, I know that it's going to be on the Middle Sea maps because I've been doing a lot of work on getting those maps ready.

I've made a few edits to both the Firearms and Artillery articles, adjusting things and clarifying a few points. If you haven't looked at them recently, and if you found them interesting, you might want to go back and check them out.

Everyone who approaches a game, especially a D&D-type game, usually has a few changes that they want to make in order to make the game rules fit them better. I am no exception. Here are a few things that I want to change in the rules as written to make the game better to me:

1) Weaponless Combat – use the Appendix Q: Weaponless Combat System I method from Unearthed Arcana p. 106 in place of the baroque system on pp. 72-73 of the DMG.

2) Recovery of Hit Points – replace the system on p. 82 of the DMG with the following: At the end of any combat in which a character took damage to its hit points, the player should roll one die of the character's hit die type and recover that many hit points (up to the amount that the character entered the combat with). After doing so, if the character still has a hit point total that is below half of its total hit points, the character may rest one hour of game time to gain back another roll of the character's hit die type. This may be done until the character has at least half of hit points recovered. Once the character is at least at half hit point total, it will need to rest a full day to recover another hit die worth of hit points.

3) Grievous Injury, Death, and Dismemberment – when a character takes a damaging hit that would reduce the character below 0 hit points, reduce the character to 0 and determine the excess amount of damage. Roll 3d6 and add the amount of excess damage and compare to the following chart:

Die roll + excess damage	Result
4-6	Second Wind! Immediately regain one hit die worth of hit points, plus 1 hit point per two full levels or hit dice.
7-9	Knocked down.
10-11	Stunned for one round, unless wearing helmet. With helmet, knocked down.
12-14	Knocked unconscious for 2d6 rounds, unless wearing helmet. With helmet, stunned for one round.
15-16	Broken bone (roll on location table below). Takes 2d4+9 weeks to heal. Additional results in the same location add 1d4 weeks to healing time each, but do not increase effect.
17-18	Fatal wound. Death in 1d6 turns unless Cure Serious (or Critical) Wounds cast (a spell so used will not return any hit points to the character). Character is unconscious.
19-20	Severed limb (roll on location table below). Will die of bleeding in 2d6 rounds unless wound cauterized or tourniqueted, or Cure Critical Wounds cast (a spell so used will not return any hit points to the character). Character is incapacitated.
21+	Instant Death.

1d10	Broken Bone
1-2	R. Leg: Knocked down. Cannot walk without support. May crawl at 3” (1” if both legs broken).
3-4	L. Leg: Knocked down. Cannot walk without support. May crawl at 3” (1” if both legs broken).
5-7	Rib: -3 to hit and damage.
8	R. Arm: cannot use weapon, shield, or any other tool with right arm.
9	L. Arm: cannot use weapon, shield, or any other tool with left arm.
10	Skull: Treat as Fatal Wound. If wearing helmet, save vs. death to ignore result.

Broken bones may be cured immediately by a Cure Serious (or Critical) Wounds spell, but a spell so used will not return any hit points. A separate spell is needed for each broken bone (including the possibility of several breaks in each location).

1d12	Limb Severed
1	R. Foot
2	R. Leg
3	L. Foot
4	L. Leg
5-6	R. Hand
7	R. Arm
8-9	L. Hand
10	L. Arm
11-12	Head: Instant Death. If wearing helmet, may save vs. death to change result to stunned for one round.

That limb severing table is also useful with a Sword of Sharpness. I may have to make other tables for radically different body forms (a Grell or Beholder, for instance), but I'll worry about that when I get there. Note also that the DM may rule on variations of the above, so that fire doesn’t cause broken limbs and arrows don’t sever arms. Eventually, I may have a broader chart divided by weapon damage type.

Note that most NPCs are simply rendered out of the fight at zero hit points. This and the ability of fighters, Paladins, and Rangers to gain extra attacks against <1HD creatures constitute my “mook” rules.

4) Weapon Damage – when a character rolls a natural 1 to hit in combat, the weapon used is damaged. If a sharp weapon, the weapon must save vs. crushing blow or gain a notch. Each notch gives a -1 to hit and damage. If a blunt weapon, the character must roll 1d20 and add Dexterity. If the result is less than 20, the weapon slips from the character's grasp, ending up on the ground 2d6 feet away in a random direction. If the weapon is a strung weapon, the string (thin rope) must save vs. crushing blow or snap, destroying the weapon. A wet string will have to make such a save on a natural 1 or 2 in combat. On a roll of a natural 1, a pole weapon or staff must save vs. crushing blow (as thick wood) or become cracked. Every round that a cracked weapon is used requires a save vs. crushing blow (as thick wood). A failure means that the haft snaps, making the weapon unusable (if a character tries, they may use a half-haft as a club -1, or a polearm head as a hand axe -1). For hurled weapons and unarmed attacks, the character must roll 1d20 and add Dexterity. If the result is less than 20, the character is off-balance until their next round. Off-balance characters do not gain Dexterity bonuses to AC, do not gain Shield bonuses to AC, and lose 1d4 segments in the next round. Note that magical weapons add their bonus to any of the above saves, whether a regular saving throw or a Dexterity roll. Weapons that have not been tended at least four times in a year (cleaning, oiling wood and metal, replacing or waxing strings, etc.) gain a -1 on any saves for each such year of neglect (this does not affect Dexterity rolls). In tropical areas, weapons must be tended every week instead of every year, and gain -1 on saves for each month of such neglect.

5) Armor Damage – when a character rolls a natural 20 to hit in combat, there is a chance that the opponent's armor is damaged. If the target has he benefit of a shield against that foe, the shield takes the blow automatically, otherwise armor or helmet takes the blow. If the save (vs. crushing blow for melee and hurled weapons, or vs. normal blow for missile weapons and firearms) is failed, the armor hit receives a reduction in AC value of 1 point, and if this reduces the AC value to nothing the armor in question is destroyed. For instance, if a shield takes a hit and fails the save, it is destroyed (or reduced by 1 magical "plus"), leather armor (AC8) becomes leather armor -1 (AC9) on one such damaging hit, and is destroyed by a second damaging hit. A helmet hit is destroyed by one failed save. Magical armor adds its bonus to any saving throws. Armor that has not been tended at least four times in a year gains a -1 on any saves for each such year of neglect. In tropical areas, metal or cloth armors must be tended every week instead of every year, and gain -1 on saves for each month of such neglect.

6) Critical Hits – if a character hits with a roll of a natural 20 and the target is not wearing armor, then the blow does maximum damage for the weapon type. There are no other effects (but see “Grievous Injury, Death, and Dismemberment” above).

7) Religion – everything that I wrote about religion for Terra Ultima still applies in the Middle Sea world, though I have added the following for Paladins (and these Paladin notes would also apply to Terra Ultima):

Paladins of the Middle Sea world are fighting monks of a small religion which worships the Light, called the Radiant Church. Their religion sees the world as a field of conflict between the Light and Darkness. They envision Darkness as being merely the absence of Light, and so incapable of any creative impulse in itself, but its oppressiveness tends to tear down the works of the Light. The holiest animals of the Light are the unicorns, which are its messengers. In addition to the Light, they honor Saints, who are those who have performed miraculous actions after their death. Saints are not sanctified quickly, but are closely investigated and vetted so as not to admit any unholy influences into the liturgy of the Church of the Light. Besides Paladins, the religion boasts clerics. Like all of the religions of the Middle Sea world, not everyone who holds a position in the Church needs to have a class and level, so don't just assume that you can find a priest and get a healing spell or even a magical blessing (though certainly some priests can do so).

(Note that this is effectively the default “Law vs. Chaos” cosmology of original D&D, as the Light implies but does not require “good” action. The Radiant Church sees the world as a system of Points of Light in a vast, chaotic, formless Darkness.)

8) Cleric Spells – clerics (and any other users of the clerical spell list, such as Paladins) are not required to specify their spells in advance, and they automatically know all spells of any level that they are able to cast. They still must prepare the spell slots as normal, and their spells may require material components as normal, however. Druids (and any other spell-users) must specify their spells during preparation just as magic-users and illusionists do, although Druids (and other users of the druidical spell list, such as Rangers) do automatically know all of the spells in their available Druid spell lists. I have added a few spells to the Druid list.

9) Cantrips – magic-users and Illusionists may learn cantrips as per Unearthed Arcana.

10) Spell Books – magic-users and Illusionists (along with other classes that use arcane or illusion magic) must maintain spell books according to the rules in Unearthed Arcana.

11) Orisons – “Orisons” (except for “Candle”, “Find a Stray”, and “Ripen”, which are magical effects) are available to non-classed priests (see Dragon magazine #108, pp. 28-29), giving them some small ability with healing and blessing magics. Similarly, druidic orisons are available to non-classed polytheist priests (replacing "Ripen" with "Ceremony: Oath"). This is justified because the orisons in the Middle Sea world are not magical, but instead make use of socio-religious and psychological tricks. Non-classed priests may perform one orison per day. If they wish, a cleric or Druid (or other class with clerical or druidic magic) may use two orisons in place of one first-level spell slot, and additionally clerics, Paladins, Druids, monks, and illusionists (only) get one free orison per day, which they do not have to prepare.

12) Liquid Courage – a character may take a stiff drink before going into battle. A full drink allows the character to gain, temporarily, 1d4 hit points and a +1 (or +5%) bonus to morale and to all saves vs. fear effects at the expense of taking a -1 to all “to hit” rolls. This lasts for four hours, at which time the penalty “to hit” is removed and any hit points in excess of the character’s normal maximum are removed. “Liquid Courage” cannot be used again until the current effects wear off. This replaces the “Effects of Alcohol and Drugs” table and rules on p. 82-83 of the DMG, though some of those rules may be used in extreme cases.

I'm still working out the details of the alignment system I am going to use, but it almost certainly will be based on the article “For King and Country” in Dragon magazine #101. That is to say, it will be based on the character's religion (and how well they live up to their religion's virtues) and attitude toward the ruler of their land. I'll probably add a “piety” rating, perhaps based on the method in Lee Gold's RPG, Lands of Adventure.

Minor changes – the “Chromatic Orb” spell (illusionist level 1, Unearthed Arcana) is significantly altered. Basically, I want to get rid of the non-illusionary effects like fire and magnetism, as well as the “save or die” effect in a first-level spell slot. Basically, the only special powers that will remain will be light, blindness, stinking cloud, and paralysis, and the whole thing will be reorganized (for instance, the light effect won't happen until second level, so that the spell is not inherently better than the basic Light spell). The spell “Restoration” (cleric level 7) is now a cleric level 5 spell, though the reversed form, “Energy Drain”, remains a level 7 spell (it is harder to safely manipulate Negative Energy than Positive).

I'll be using a number of resources from Dragon magazine that affect logistics, such as the material spell components article in Dragon #81, the effects of nature article in Dragon #108, the value of natural objects in Dragon #137, the weather system in that same issue, and so on. In addition, I'll work with players when they want to do something unusual, such as run a shop or inn (there's an article in Dragon that helps out with those, by the way).

I'll be using parts of the Random Events system in Oriental Adventures, in addition to regular random encounters.

Coins will be significantly lighter, 100 to the pound instead of 10. Despite this, many weights of objects will still be in “gold piece equivalents” of 1/10 pound each. Each gemstone will be treated as weighing the same as one coin, 100 to the pound.

That's all for now. I may change other things after the game gets going (for example, I am looking at the possibility of using the Attack Priority initiative system from Dragon magazine #71, but want to try the combat system as written first, with the aid of a flowchart; certainly, it would be difficult to incorporate psionics into the AP system, though perhaps five segments of psionic combat at the beginning of a round, then five more at the end might work).

Setting Notes - Organizing My Thoughts On The World Of Hearth

I've been making maps and writing descriptions toward a fantasy setting to use for AD&D1E (yeah, I know, I keep talking about doing this and then never actually get to the part where I run it - I'm just really particular about my "vision", which makes me a pretentious twit, I realize), to be called Hearth, in keeping with the long tradition of giving worlds names that are similar to Earth. The problem I'm having is that I am really unfocused. I know the things I want, but when I write it, they aren't coming together. So, here's where I'm going to start trying to hammer out exactly what I am wanting to do.

First, there are some things I don't want to see in the world. This isn't going to be the sixguns & sorcery setting I also want to run, so guns are a thing I don't want to see. I don't want player nonhuman races - there may be elves and such, but not as playable races. Hardly as "races" in the sense of intelligent animals. More like spirits with bodies, maybe. Fey races with fey motivations. Goblins with fairer forms. Not to mention the goblins. I don't want clerics, or any proof of divinity in the world. All divine action should be "explainable" in terms of magic or such. Which doesn't mean that there won't be reasons to sacrifice at a roadside shrine, or to join the organized churches. Just that the sort of living saint that is embodied by clerics (or paladins, or druids) won't be in the setting. This also means no healing magic. Speaking of which, alignments will be discarded as the nonsense that they are, in favor of the "For King and Country" system found in an issue of Dragon magazine (so, with clerics and cleric spells gone, the only reference to alignment really left is the M-U's "Protection from Evil" spell, which will be redefined as "Protection from Spirit Beings", meaning anything native to other planes of existence).

OK, on to things that I do want. I want a group of barbarians who live like my understanding of the pre-Christian Irish or pre-Roman Gauls (or maybe a little like Orlanthi from Glorantha), but I want them on the fringes of the setting. I want the PCs to come from a relatively barbaric area I call "Ablashia", which is inspired by some concepts from an obscure game called Legendary Lives by Joe and Kathleen Williams. They will be coming to an empire of sorcerer-kings called the Paynim Empire, to one of the cities on the fringe of the empire. The Paynim include some periphery states with vampire- and pirate-kings (the latter very much like Pirates of the Caribbean, but without guns and cannon - the ideas there are inspired by the volume of Thieves' Guild dedicated to pirates) 

instead, and one of the sorcerer-kings is a lich necromancer who actually does have his people's best interests at heart, using undead to free his people from servitude. I want to draw some concepts from bad sword & sorcery films like The Warrior and the Sorceress, and include an order of fighting monks (not Monks, more like Paladins who are redesigned to better fit the cosmology of the setting; maybe I'll even call them Homeracs) whose religion was crushed and scattered, so they wander the world, dispensing justice according to their code and helping the weak against the strong who want to exploit them. I want a people who have made alliance with dragons, worshiping them and fighting at their side, and even from their backs. I want demon cults, but I want it so that not all demons are inimical to humanity. I want werewolf warbands in the deep woods and assassin cults on distant mountaintops. I want steppe nomads whose elite warriors ride into battle on the backs of bulls, and who make alliance with wandering bands of Minotaurs. I want Elves who are sadly watching the ancient forests fading away, and who are fading with them (their leaders being something like Arafel from The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels, almost gods themselves). I want Dwarves who monomaniacally maintain the world-machine in secret tunnels at the heart of the mountains. I want Goblins who are fairy creatures that steal children and hold terrible markets in the middle of the night.

So, the nonhuman, non-fairy/giant, non-undead, intelligent races. I want Minotaurs, obviously. I also want Githyanki and Githzerai, Mind Flayers, Kzaddich and Tsalakians, Lew Pulsipher's Timelords (Dragon 65), Artificers of Yothri and their Amphorons, the array of non-goblin humanoids (Orcs, Kobolds, Gnolls, Flinds, Ogres, Ogrillons, mainly), Kuo-toa, Locathah, Sahuagin, Beholders, Centaurs, Tabaxi, Aarakocra, Grimlocks, Lizardmen, Bullywugs, Yuan Ti, Galeb Duhr, Treants, Aboleths, Doppelgangers, Harpies, Merfolk, Neo-Otyughs and Otyughs, Ropers, Su-monsters, Troglodytes, Tritons, Neogi and Umber Hulks, Mi-go, Trolls, Thugtoads and Todawan Masters, Glurm (Zen Frogs), Crabmen, Dertesha, Draug, Formians, Ratlings, Mogura-jin, and Maun-Ge. This, as I said, does not include fairy and giant races, the undead, or entities native to other planes of existence (although, perhaps some come from other worlds). This is going to be the hardest to deal with, since as natural creatures they have to exist in places on the world, and I have to work out how they fit with the human nations. Some of them (Githyanki and Githzerai, Kzaddich and Tsalakians, Artificers of Yothri, Mi-go) live in other planes of existence, even though they do not originate there, or on other worlds, so those considerations are not so important. Similarly, a number of these races live under the sea or under the surface of the world, so they just need to be placed generally. But the humanoids, the Draug, and others have their own nations that need to be considered.

Religion is going to be twofold. That is, there are two types of religion: the Churches and the pagan gods (which include demons). The Churches will have a hierarchy that the PCs could get involved in. Those ideas will be similar to the way religion is handled in Flashing Blades. There might also be incidents of divine intervention in rare instances. The pagan gods will have shrines where they can receive sacrifices. They will be individual, powerful beings existing in a particular place. That is, there might be a "Zeus" (Zeus will probably not actually be one of the pagan gods in the setting) who lives at the shrine in Highgate, while another "Zeus" lives at the temple in Payn. The two, Zeus of Highgate and Zeus of Payn, are not the same entity, and don't share knowledge between each incarnation, though a person who has spent a lot of time learning about the "Zeus type" would have an advantage in knowing how to approach a new Zeus encountered at a different temple/shrine. There might, additionally, be slight differences between the two incarnations. The only real difference between the pagan gods and the demons is that demons only exist in one place at a time - there is only one Demogorgon in all the world, who will only be able to show up to one summoner at a time (well, also most of the demons do not necessarily have humanity's best interests at heart). In this sense, the Titans (for instance) are a type of demon. The same could be said for any number of other powerful entities (Bahamut and Tiamat, for example).

There are several competing Churches in the setting. I've written some versions of them on this blog before. There is the Tetradic Church which worships the four Elemental Gods, whose influence is transmitted from the Celestial World to the mundane world through the mediation of the twelve Zodiacal Beasts (the Church is firm that there is no truth to the heretical claims of a secret thirteenth Zodiacal Beast), each of whom has three Decanic Solars. Each Solar has seven Planetars through which the elemental forces are transmitted to the world. This one will be organized mostly like medieval Christianity, with a few significant differences. I'm thinking that they should have an equivalent to the cultus of Saints, but I'm not sure yet how I want to handle that.

Next up is the Fatalist Church, who worship the Lady of Fate, the Weaving Goddess. They have a fairly rigid code of justice which governs them. I base them loosely on medieval Islam, though, so they aren't fundamentalist about things.

There is the Path of the Veil, which is a Church whose holy orders are composed of Monks and Illusionists. They believe that the world is a veil of illusion pulled over the eyes of the inhabitants, who are themselves illusions. This will be a lot like Buddhism in organization. I may have it comprise several independent Churches, similar to the way that Buddhism has everything from Tibetan to Zen forms.

I'm not sure if there will be a Church of the One and the Prime, which would be worshipers of the Modrons. If I do, it will be the most rigid and fundamentalist of the Churches. A place for everyone and everyone in their place.

I don't yet know what the religion of the Homeracs (or whatever I end up calling the reskinned Paladins) will be like yet.

I started out making a huge map of the whole continent - a large affair nearly 5000 miles across and over 3000 north to south. Then I realized: I don't need that much space to start. Canning that large map will actually make the placement of the nonhumans a lot easier, since I can just add area when I get around to them. I still think that I should have a general idea of the layout of the continent, but it will be easier to make a rough map that is penciled in (subject to changes) than to set things down in stone (or ink) right now. That kinda makes me a little sad, since I'd like to have the detail of the World of Greyhawk right off the bat, with the populations and troop dispositions roughed out, but I can live with the more immediate necessities.

If you've gotten this far, I am impressed! Thank you for reading, and I would love to hear your thoughts.

[Worldbuilding]Religion In Terra Ultima

This is a long one, covering a lot of ground.

The Tetradic Church is centered on worship of the four Elemental Gods. Each of these is understood to have numerous aspects, but each sect usually determines one aspect of each God on which their worship centers. Each of the four Gods is the origin of one of the four elements that compose the multiverse. Some heretical sects claim that each of the four Elemental Gods is an emanation of a single Highest God they associate with the Quintessence, or Prima Materia, but this is not accepted by the mainstream of Tetradic theology, nor do most Tetradic clerics accept even the existence of the Fifth Element.

Earth: In the main campaign area, Earth is the goddess of birth and growth, known as the Cow. In her darker aspect, she is known as the Mare, and is the bringer of death, disease, and decay. She is addressed by appropriate titles, such as Allmother, Earthshaker, Giver of Life, and so on in her beneficent aspect, or such titles as Pourer of Poison, Spinster, and such in her darker manifestations. In other parts of the world, Earth is known as the Bear, the goddess of defending warriors, or Flint, the Lord of Stone, among other understandings of Earth.

Air: Around the Six City-States, Air is known as Raven, the Stormlord. He is the god of thought and speech, poetry and music, but also the god of the raging storm, of wild things and lycanthropes. His titles are such as Shapeshifter, Oathbreaker, Great Skald, Wolf-father, or Winged Hunter, among others. In other areas, he is known as Cat, and is seen as a mercurial figure, androgynous, playful, and treacherous, or by other names.

Fire: In the area of the main campaign, Fire is Dragon, the god of the forge and magic, of the creative craftsman, and especially of smiths. In his negative aspects, he is the raging forest fire and the volcano, a force of pure destructive rage. His titles include Maker, Steelfather, the Flaming Horse, and Eater of All, among others.

Water: The Church in the area of the Six City-States knows Water as the Moon, ruler of light and darkness, bringer of the tides. Along with the Dragon, she rules magic. She is also the mistress of healing and justice, and therefore of war undertaken for noble causes. In her negative aspect, she is the lady of corruption and decadence, dedicated to the destruction of man’s highest ideals. Her titles include Herder of Unicorns, Protector, Lady of the Waters, the White Goddess, Mother of Whales, and the Fair One, among others. In her negative form, she is known as Mother of Demons, Night’s Mistress, Queen of the Abyss, or Lady Death. In other parts of the world, Water is known as the Sea Hag, the source of life and death, origin of all things, as the Measurer, a masculine aspect of the Moon who is the architect of the cosmos, or in other forms.

These four Elemental Gods have no game statistics, being beyond such matters. They also do not frequently appear outside of dreams and visions. When they do, it is because of major upheavals in the world. They usually interact with the world through the agency of their messengers, the Twelve Archangels, the Thirty-Six Seraphs, the Two Hundred and Fifty-Two Planetary Angels, and the numerous Devas of Astral, Monadic, and Movanic form.

Each of the four Elemental Gods has three Archangelic messengers. These are as follows. All have powerful statistics, equivalent to Lesser Gods of the DDG book and the World of Greyhawk. I haven’t yet worked up those stats, but it shouldn’t be hard. Keep in mind that The Fish is a pair of fish, that Justice is a woman holding a balance, and that all of the twelve Archangels are derived from the twelve Zodiac constellations.

Earth: The Bull, The Maiden, and The Sea-Goat.

Air: The Cupbearer, The Twins, and Justice.

Fire: The Ram, The Lion, and The Archer.

Water: The Fish, The Crab, and The Scorpion.

Each of the Archangels commands three Aethyrs. These have the characteristics of Solars from the MMII. Each has a name, a title, and a typical appearance as follows.

Aethyrs of The Bull:

Orvandal, Lord of Material Trouble. Appears as a giant wearing only a belt and carrying a bow.

Ieilael, Lord of Eventuality. Appears as a long-haired man with ox’s hooves, a winged man, or a gryphon, among other forms, always carrying a key in every form.

Heroch, Lord of Success Unfulfilled. Appears as a bronze clockwork lion, a mermaid, a swarthy man with metal and ivory teeth, or a chariot driver with serpents for legs, among other appearances.

Aethyrs of The Maiden:

Akiah, Lady of Prudence. Appears as a woman bearing an armload of fruit, grain, or breads.

Hazael, Lord of Material Gain. Appears as a large man holding a jar of oil, a black centaur, or a tribesman clad in skins.

Murmux, Lord of Wealth. Appears as an old man leaning on a staff and wrapped in a woolen mantle.

Aethyrs of The Sea-Goat:

Vishiriyah, Lady of Harmonious Change. Appears as a white dryad clad in blue, red, and yellow flowers.

Yeichavah, Lord of Effort. Appears as a gray, blind ape, or an enigmatic figure in prismatic robes, face hidden by a peacock fan, or in many other forms.

Mendial, Lord of Power. Appears as a blue dolphin or merman, always with golden yellow eyes.

Aethyrs of The Cupbearer:

Aniel, Lord of Defeat. Appears as a humanoid figure with head bowed, wearing a dark red, shapeless, hooded robe. Only his hands are visible, and he carries an empty sack.

Rehael, Lord of Science. Appears as a milk-white pegasus, or as a proud king with a long white beard wearing a white robe.

Hahahaal, Lord of Unstable Effort. Appears as a large yellow swan, or as a crowd of people all talking in chorus.

Aethyrs of The Twins:

Umibael, Lady of Shortened Force. Appears as a snake, a wolf with a snake’s tail, a woman leading a roan mare and stallion, or as a man bearing a surveyor’s rod.

Aaneval, Lord of Despair and Cruelty. Appears as a man with the head of a falcon or other raptor, a black dog, or as a man covered in the scales of a fish or snake.

Menqal, Lord of Ruin. Appears as a corpse wearing chainmail, a black horse, or a harlequin-type clown with no arms.

Aethyrs of Justice:

Mebahel, Lady of Peace Restored. Appears as a woman reading a book, sometimes carrying a bloody spear.

Hokmiah, Lord of Sorrow. Appears as a man with a lion’s face, usually pacing angrily and carrying a whip, but sometimes enthroned.

Kaliel, Lord of Rest from Strife. Appears as a fat man riding a donkey and drinking wine, a slumbering bull with the head of a man, or a leopard.

Aethyrs of The Ram:

Deneyal, Lady of Dominion. Appears as a dark, imposing giantess, a queen in a white robe, a songbird, or a cat, always with fiery red eyes in whatever form.

Hechashiah, Lady of Ancient Strength. Appears as a woman in red and white robes with one leg uncovered, or as a red and white sea serpent.

Nithael, Lord of Perfected Work. Appears as a pale, redheaded man in a reddish-purple gown carrying a wooden staff, or as a winged man with a mirrored sword and helmet. Usually appears wearing a golden bracelet.

Aethyrs of The Lion:

Yelayel, Lord of Strife. Appears as a man riding a lion wearing noble, fashionable clothing, or a man riding a gray horse and clad in rags.

Elemiah, Lord of Victory. Appears as a stranger in a blue cloak wearing a slouch cap, a bearded knight of cruel countenance in heraldry that cannot be remembered, or in many other forms. In no form can his eyes be seen clearly.

Mahashiah, Lord of Valor. Appears as a muscular warrior with dark feathers for hair holding a stabbing spear and a shield depicting a rattlesnake, a knight in armor, or a watchman bearing a whip.

Aethyrs of The Archer:

Nithaya, Lady of Swiftness. Appears as a blurry image of wings, a winged dog, or a human figure with past, present, and future images superimposed.

Yirthiel, Lord of Great Strength. Appears as a golden man, or a three-headed dragon. Sometimes leads yellow-orange or red cattle.

Amael, Lady of Oppression. Appears as a woman in indigo robes seated on rocks. She is either seen weeping or with her foot on the neck of a man and her hand wrapped in his hair.

Aethyrs of The Fish:

Vevaliah, Lady of Abandoned Success. Appears as an attractive red-headed woman with her hair tied up in a black velvet band, a collie, a raven, or a large orange carp.

Shaliah, Lady of Material Happiness. Appears as, usually, a young noblewoman with widely varied clothing and accessories, frequently with a caduceus.

Mihal, Lord of Perfected Success. Appears only in human form, sometimes as two humans (a man and a maiden), other times as a crowned king of perfect form.

Aethyrs of The Crab:

Chabuiyah, Lady of Love. Appears as a white centaur garlanded with leaves, or occasionally as a maidenly Muse wearing a crown.

Rohael, Lord of Abundance. Appears as a great bear, or occasionally as a composite beast such as a chimera or gryphon. When he appears as a human, usually as a camel-driver or a beautiful woman wearing green, he usually has a blue head.

Muumiah, Lord of Blended Pleasure. Appears as a sailor with a green and a blue dog, occasionally carrying a serpent or a stream of water in one hand. Less often, he appears as a marine creature.

Aethyrs of The Scorpion:

Livoyah, Lady of Loss. Appears as a middle-aged woman in red, a fire-sprite, or a horsewoman riding a red horse.

Nelokiel, Lord of Pleasure. Appears as a well-formed man riding a richly appointed camel, or in a luxurious tent.

Naber, Lord of Illusionary Success. Appears as a blonde woman in red, a kneeling man wearing a fur robe, a carrion crow, a black crane, or a red-eyed gryphon, among other forms.

Each of the thirty-six Aethyrs commands seven Planetary Angels, which have statistics equivalent to Planetars from the MMII. They each have a name, but I haven’t worked those out yet. Each corresponds to one of the planetary spheres (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, The Sun, and The Moon) as seen through the lens of the Decanic energy of the Aethyr that commands them. For more on Decanic energies, get GURPS Thaumatology or GURPS Cabal. A good translation of the Picatrix or another book of occult sciences that discusses that (fairly obscure) matter of astral magic might also be helpful, but these have some disagreement on the specific nature of each of the Decans. The GURPS books have the advantage in that they are both standardized and are the source of these specific Aethyrs. Kenneth Hite developed them from Bill Whitcomb’s The Magician’s Companion, for the most part, so that could also be a good choice. In time, I plan to provide specific additional powers to the Aethyrs and Planetary Angels, based on the Decanic and Planetary energies they represent. I’ll probably just divide the Planetary Angels into their seven categories, rather than giving each one specific powers related to their commanding Decan.

Beneath the Planetary Angels are numerous Astral, Monadic, and Movanic Devas. These are the most frequently encountered spirits of the Tetradic Church.

The Tetradic Church sees all other alleged gods as demonic forces, not to be trusted. Since some of these other cults do, in fact, worship entities known as “demons” or “devils” in the MM, FF, and MMII, this is not an entirely undeserved reaction. However, many of the other gods are taken from the DDG, as well, so it’s all a matter of perspective. The point is that the Tetradic clerics oppose all other religions, unless they can be convinced that the objects of worship are “really” aspects of the four Elemental Gods. The matter is somewhat complicated by the existence of the Fatalist Church, who worship an exclusive goddess known as the Lady of Fate, so other monotheist churches do exist in the Terra Ultima setting. They are only just coming into contact, however, and the conflict that is inevitable between them is still at an early stage.

All clerics in the Terra Ultima setting are members of monotheist (or otherwise exclusive, such as the Tetradic) churches. Tetradic clerics are forbidden by custom from shedding blood, and so are required to use only the weapons allowed in the AD&D rules for clerics (the fact that such weapons do frequently shed blood from their victims is overlooked in ecclesiastical law). In extremis, they may use other weapons, but may never have proficiency in them, and so must suffer the non-proficiency penalty associated with that class when using such weapons (though it is a fact that some clerics also have a second class, and in such cases appropriate weapons may have been learned through the other class; in such cases, however, it is still expected that an active cleric will use only those weapons associated with his clerical profession). If a cleric is found using a non-clerical weapon, he faces ecclesiastical court charges of Shedding Blood. If he is not able to justify his actions, he may suffer penalties ranging from penitential pilgrimages and quests to enforced monasticism for a period of years. Repeated offenses, or even repeated accusations, are grounds for increased penalties. The

Elemental Gods themselves do not enforce this custom, however.

The priests of polytheist gods, demons, and devils are druids. There is no Grand Druid (and therefore no Hierophant Druids), as each druidic hierarchy is fully independent and based in a specific region. The gods of one region are not the gods of another, though there is occasional overlap, especially between the demonic druids, the diabolic druids, and the druids of the local pantheons. Demonic and diabolic druids have more wide-ranging cults, but even they are divided by region, with a Great Druid for each general area of the world answering only to their demonic or diabolical patrons. In any case, they are frequently quite secretive. Meanwhile, each region boasts an independent druidic pantheon, based on historical ones, such as the Celtic, Norse, Finnish, Egyptian, and so on. Depending on the strength of the local exclusivist religions, they might be open or secretive. In the areas where one pantheon borders another, there is sometimes seen some overlap, such as the Celtic druids on the borderlands also giving place to the Norse Odin (perhaps replacing Lugh) or such. All that said, though, the druids do not need to declare a specific god as “patron”, nor do the gods give special powers to their worshipers beyond those of the druid class (though the gods can be met in person, with the exact characteristics given in the DDG or other source, and may give individual boons or curses based on those meetings). Druids may only rise in the specific hierarchy of their region. If a druid of Druid or higher level joins another hierarchy, they will immediately fall to the highest level at which there are unlimited druids (Initiate of the Ninth Circle), just as if they had failed to rise to Druid level, losing experience points in the same fashion as well. They may then attempt to rise in the new hierarchy as normal. Druidic weapon limits are only on what weapons the druid may learn while rising in level as a druid. There are no penalties for using other weapons other than non-proficiency penalties.

Monks and Illusionists are adherents of the Denialist religion, which claims that all things perceptible are actually illusions. By denying the existence of things, they are able to overcome them and perform amazing feats of prowess or mold the shadow-stuff of perceptible reality to their whim. They are an atheistic religion, claiming that the gods, even the Elemental Gods and the Fatalist Goddess, themselves are merely illusions, and that there is a higher perception available to the dedicated. Popular Denialist religion is very personal, with lay adherents calling on Sanctified Monks or Illusionists who have, it is said, chosen to return to the realm of illusions as Saints to help others escape to the highest realms. To conceptualize it, think of something like Buddhism and Gnosticism. The Saints are many, the specific mix being appropriate to the region. Some Saints seem to have originally been polytheist gods or goddesses, who successfully Denied the illusory world and Sanctified themselves. The sect teaches that even the self is an illusion, that all things that can be conceived are illusions, and that the greatest mystery is to comprehend the incomprehensible.

The Fatalist Church, referenced several times above, is dedicated to the worship of Our Lady of Fate, who is depicted as a woman, of varying age, carrying a spindle from which she draws the thread of Life, weaving it into the fabric of Existence. Fatalists declare all other religions to be heretical demon-worship, even the Tetradic Church. They have a very strict code of conduct, designed to ensure that each person fits precisely within their fated path in life. Particular laws apply to different social castes, the professions within those castes, and the sexes in different ways. Those whose lot in life is to serve the community as leaders are given much, and much is expected from them. Those lower in the social hierarchy are given more freedom of action, at least nominally, but suffer in grinding poverty and must obey the commands of their social superiors. Death and mutilation are frequent punishments for straying from the code of laws given by Our Lady of Fate.

As an example, those of the lowest caste have no laws concerning adultery. They may, at least in theory, have sex with whomever will have them. In practice, however, they are usually told whom to marry by those whose stations gives them command of such serfs, and if they do not then produce children with their assigned mate they are subject to being beaten by their lords. If they are caught engaging with the spouse of another, the lord is within their rights to, for instance, neuter them or even kill them (though they are not required to do so by any means; it is just that they are allowed to inflict such penalties). In fact, a serf’s lord is permitted to inflict such penalties at whim, for any reason or none at all. Serfs are the property of their lord, to be disposed at the lord’s pleasure. Lords, on the other hand, have very strict laws against adultery. If caught, neutering is the minimum penalty allowed. Such higher justice is administered by the Priests, who are themselves subject to the King (or Queen). The King is sovereign, and answers only to the Primate and Our Lady of Fate Herself. The Primate holds his or her office at the whim of the Council of Cardinals, composed of representatives from each Diocese. The Dioceses are religious/political units that act as microcosms of the Kingdom, each having a high Priest (known as the Bishop) and a Baron whose relationship with each other is similar to that of the Primate and the King. Bishops and Barons are hereditary offices. The succession of a new King is at the vote of the Barons, while the Cardinals are assigned by the Bishops. If a Baron dies without an heir, the new Baron will be assigned by the King. If a Bishop dies with no heir, the Primate will assign a new one to the Diocese.

(Credit: most of the descriptions of the Aethyrs are slightly reworded from the versions given by Kenneth Hite, originally in GURPS Cabal, and later in GURPS Thaumatology. I highly recommend those for anyone interested in a gaming magic system that draws on real-world occultism, or who wants a system that has depth for background "fluff" [as an aside: I dislike that term for the important elements of a game and setting that are not mechanical in nature, but it seems to be the term that most people will understand]. Though they give GURPS rules mechanics when they give mechanics at all, the principles are general enough to apply them to most other mechanical systems.)