Possible new Turning Mechanic

When an attempt is made to banish horrors such as undead, demons, or eldritch beings from other dimensions, roll 2d6 + Faith modifier, plus hit dice if you are a Cleric, versus the monster's morale plus hit dice. If your total is higher, the monster is held at bay by the power of your Faith. If you roll a natural 12 or make a second successful banish roll, the monster turns and flees. On a natural 2, you automatically fail.

New Spell: The Fel Light of Ngah

Fel Light of Ngah (ancient spell)
Complexity 3, Range close, Target self, Duration concentration
This spell conjures the eldritch light of a distant star to be held in the caster's hand. It shines as a lantern, and all things upon which its light falls reveal their auras, allowing all to see as if possessed of the Eyes of the Overworld.

Updates to The Game

• Reduced Rank experience point requirements and monster xp rewards by 90%, thus making the numbers somewhat more manageable and increasing the importance of treasure to advancement. Treasure may in fact be too good now at 1 xp/silver penny: a mark of silver is now enough to make it to Rank 2.
• Eliminated armor soak. I like the effect in principle, but the rule is just too slow in play. The defense bonus from armor has been doubled to compensate. This required a small update to the rules for attacking.
• Added a player advice section to the Combat and Exploration chapter. Advice on player advice would be much appreciated ; - )
• Simplified encounter reaction rolls.
• Clarified evasion rules.
• Clarified heritage attribute bonuses and special abilities.
• Various spelling/grammar fixes.

I'm strongly considering renaming "Banish Horror" (my turn undead equivalent) to "Exorcism". Opinions?

The Efficiency of Two Monitors

My work is not so different than this guy's.

Random Cliche Sci-fi Races

Inspired by Save vs. Poison, over lunch I coded up a quick cliche science fiction race generator in java. It mixes up a species cliche, throws in a random trait to salt that, and then grabs a couple of human cultures that can be used to fill in the blanks. Here's my best result set so far:

The Amoral Scientist Race
Natural supercomputing mentation
Souix-Celtic

The Surly Technician Race
Technologically advanced in cybernetics
Indian-Australian

The Religious and Probably Psionic Race
Can't share environment with common species
Scandinavian-Mongolian

The Evil Empire Race
Stand-in for topical political group/enemy
Egyptian-Ottoman

The Hedonistic Merchant Race
Basically a historic human culture
Roman-American

The Totalitarian Machine Race
Practically un-kill-able
Mayan-Iroqouis

The Hot Purple Chick Race
Can't use common inter-species mode of communication
Han-Tibetan

The Mean-Muggin' But Scrupulous Warrior Race
Completely humorlous and stoic
English-Polynesian

Hedonistic & mercantile American/Romans? Purple Asian sex-objects that can't talk back? Un-killable totalitarian machines? Topical evil empire? Surly cybernetic technicians? Amoral supercomputing scientists? How cliche can you get!

Since I don't have a good hosting spot for my rpg coding projects yet, I'll just make this available by request.

Heritage Update

Common Folk (CF): derided as mutts by some, the common bulk of mankind may nonetheless have much to be proud of in their ancestry, as they grow hardy even on famine food and tend to thrive in adversity that weeds out those that think themselves better. Common humans tend to shades of brown in their hair, eyes, and skin, and often live to a ripe old age, many having natural lifespans of 100 years or so.

• Wisdom Born of Sorrow: the life of the common folk builds faith in themselves and their families, often as they have nothing else to rely on. Increase their Faith  score by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Trade: the common folk must work for a living, and thus have a journeyman’s level of skill from working as a farmer, shepherd, miller, carpenter, blacksmith, mercer, or such like.

Changeling (CH): some human children are thought to be stolen away by the faeries or otherwise touched by them. While most of these children die shortly thereafter, a fair number live to reach adulthood, and of those some live hundreds of years, although even such long-lived examples tend to be somewhat frail and sickly.. Changelings are always marked by a physical oddity, such as an unnatural pallor, odd coloration of the hair, eyes, or blood, or some other strange feature, and have an general feeling of uncanniness about them. Changelings tend to have very short or very long lifespans, some withering away in their fourth decade and some seemingly youthful at 200.

• Eldritch Lore: changelings learn things without knowing how or why, making them privy to secret lore. Increase their Kenning score by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Night Vision: Changelings have unnaturally acute night vision, seeing about twice as far under dim lighting as a normal human.

Giantkin (GK): in some families, particularly among the northmen, still runs the blood of the ancient giants, and a few of their children are born with a touch of the power and stature of that race. These children grow tall and strong, but such a physique can be a strain on the mortal heart, and very few live past their eightieth winter. Giantkin tend to be fair of eye and hair, and their arterial blood is often an unusually bright red.

• Titan’s Power: the powerful build of a giantkin gives them physical strength beyond that of lesser men. Increase their Might score by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Strong Back: Giantkin can carry an additional stone of weight with no penalty, easily bearing armor or other burdens that would break lesser men.

Highborn (HB): the old aristocracy of the lost empires in their decadence seeded themselves amongst the common people hither and yon, and many noble families claim descent from them to this day, some with more evidence than others. The recessive traits of the highborn still manifest in inbred noble houses and once in a while suddenly emerge in lowly places, the result of chance dalliance or ancient royal heritage. Most highborn have violet eyes, dark hair, and bluish blood, and they tend to be fairer than most. Pure-blooded highborn may reach old age in good health, but most fail by their eighties.

• Fated to Lead: the founders of the highborn bargained with eldritch powers to ensure that their progeny would be born to rule other men. Increase their Wyrd score by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Privilege: highborn characters can begin play with an extra 2d6 silver pennies and either a Rank 0 retainer OR an extra equipment choice.

Wanderers (WA): the fall of empires due to war and disaster left many without a land to call home, doomed to wander the world. Refugees and rejects, the traveling people are looked down upon wherever they go. Some say they are cursed and will be punished by the gods if they settle in one place; others simply use this as an excuse to chase them out of town. Still, they scrabble by, plying trades passed down through generations and living by hard-won wisdom.. Wandering folk have coloration similar to Common Men, and their elders generally reach their eighties.

• Quick-Fingered: despite their reputation few wanderers make their living with quick hands in pockets, but they do tend towards wary reflexes from the harsh life of the road and a familiarity with cast stones. Increase their Nimbleness by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Wandering Ways: wandering folk are travelers all, and tend to pick up a useful journeyman skill for life on the sea or road, such as that of a drover, cartwright, shepherd, musician, jester, carpenter, fisherman or sailor from the time they can walk.

Wildlings (WL): beyond the boroughs and villages secured by Law and arms dwell hermits and freeholders that survive on their wits with only the most tenuous support from the society of their fellow men. Whether religious seekers or the chosen guardians of the borderlands, Wildlings form a people apart. Wildlings tend to the same build and coloration as common men, and might live just as long if not taken by injury.

• Rugged Constitution: hard living and adversity in the wilderness have made wildlings a tougher breed. Increase their Health score by 3, raising the modifier by 1.
• Survivor: Wildlings are used to living off of the land and get +1 on foraging results due to their scavenging and hunting experience.

Historical Religious Pluralism

I've been keeping a stray eye out for historical examples of  temples and churches that have altars and chapels to multiple deities, relating to the vulgar monotheistic-polytheistic thematic mish-mash implied by the world's most popular role-playing game. This one on Redwald is particularly interesting, being from England:

EDWIN was so zealous for the worship of truth, that he likewise persuaded Eorpwald, king of the East Saxons, and son of Redwald, to abandon his idolatrous superstitions, and with his whole province to receive the faith and sacraments of Christ. And indeed his father Redwald had long before been admitted to the sacrament of the Christian faith in Kent, but in vain; for on his return home, he was seduced by his wife and certain perverse teachers, and turned back from the sincerity of the faith; and thus his latter state was worse than the former; so that, like the ancient Samaritans, he seemed at the same time to serve Christ and the gods whom he had served before; and in the same temple he had an altar to sacrifice to Christ, and another small one to offer victims to devils; which temple, Aldwulf, king of that same province, who lived in our time testifies had stood until his time, and that he had seen it when he was a boy. The aforesaid King Redwald was noble by birth, though ignoble in his actions, being the son of Tytilus, whose father was Uuffa, from whom the kings of the East Angles are called Uuffings.

The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book II, Chapter XV

Disciplines

:Al of Beyond the Black Gate has a new post up entitled "Feats" for your old school game, which I fully intend to mine for ideas. It is much in the same vein as my list of "disciplines" for Warriors (my replacement of a Fighting-Man class). Disciplines have two goals for HH
1. Give the players of Fighting-Men interesting choices as they level.
2. Get rid of Thieves and Fighter sub-classes while throwing a bone to players that love them.
A sub-goal of #1 is to motivate exploration and the formation of social ties which may offer expanded access to disciplines for the players of Warriors, just as they can grant access to expanded spell lists for Wizards. #2 fairly flexibly satisfies the need to make different flavors of non-supernatural characters: it's easy to mix the tropes of fighter, ranger and rogue to whatever degree is appropriate to the character concept.


In any case, here's the (newly revised) entry from the Characters chapter:

Disciplines: Warriors , even at first level, are veterans of combat with substantial training or natural ability, and thus at least some skill in a particular martial discipline. The Warrior selects one such discipline at first level and an additional one at every level divisible by three. Disciplines are arranged in broad categories to provide guidance in creating a character with a particular focus or specialization. Certain other advanced or secret disciplines may be available in the campaign, but they are the exclusive domain of particular military orders, secret societies, etc. If you are not sure which discipline you should choose, Champion is suggested.

• Athlete
• Pentathlete: gain +1 to checks involving wrestling, running, jumping or throwing
• Marathoner: can maintain a forced march for a full day with no penalty
• Freerunner: gain +1 to checks involving tumbling, jumping, and traversing
• Archer
• Quick Shot: attack twice per round with missile weapons
• Longbowman: can effectively use the war longbow, dealing 1d8 damage
• Skirmisher: can move and make a missile attack in the same round
• Armsman

• Champion: attack twice per round with melee weapons
• Slayer: make one attack hitting all targets within reach of 1 HD or less
• Soldier: can move and make an attack in the same round without charging
• Criminal
• Burglar: gain +1 to checks related to picking pockets, and disabling locks or  traps
• Assassin: may quietly disable with a garrote, sap, shiv, or sucker punch on surprise
• Smuggler: gain +1 to checks related to hiding, appraising, and fencing goods
• Horseman
• Lancer: use your mount’s Might when making a mounted charge
• Cavalry: can move and attack in the same round while mounted
• Horse Archer: can move and fire a bow while riding a galloping mount
• Ranger
• Scout: gain +1 to checks related to surprise and perception
• Hunter: gain +1 to checks related to tracking and hunting
• Mountaineer: gain +1 to checks related to climbing and may climb sheer surfaces

Experience & Advancement

Experience Points
So, how does my heartbreaker handle experience points? Here's the basics:

1 XP for every silver penny worth of treasure recovered by or awarded for adventuring
1 XP for every silver penny frittered away on tithes, carousing, ostentation, training, etc.
100 XP per HD of foes slain or otherwise overcome, up to several times that for monsters with especially dangerous special abilities (note that this is a comparatively minor source of XP). 

Given that HH uses the silver penny as the base unit of currency (more on that later), the first and last entries are bog-standard, whereas the second is an extra kicker that has much in common with various rules for drinking and wenching from the hobby's elder days. XP is conventionally awarded when treasure is divided, but that doesn't necessarily grant a new level right away. I don’t mind the double-counting of treasure, that just means its okay to give out less without retarding progress and that players face an interesting choice between getting more XP and making useful purchases for adventuring.

Gaining Rank

First off, characters in HH don't have levels, they have Ranks. Level is a word much over-used in D&D, so in HH it is solely relegated to describing sections of a dungeon. Similarly, spells come in grades of Complexity instead of level.

Anyway, after accumulating the necessary experience points, characters require 1 week of downtime in a relatively safe location in order to progress to the next Rank. At this time the character’s Hit Dice increase, directly improving the character’s fighting ability, hit points, and Saving Throws. All Hit Dice are re-rolled at each level, but hit points never decrease as a result (keep the old value if it is higher). Spell-casting characters also immediately gain the ability to cast more and higher-complexity spells.

Earning Titles

Part of character advancement is the renown and social status that comes with the character’s growing wealth and ability. While class ranks are not a part of the world as recognized by characters in-game, class titles are, and society in general or the character’s superiors will come to give the character new recognition as each new tier of ability is reached or shortly thereafter, often with some ceremony or other official mark, unless the character is unusually unknown or infamous. Titles are specified for Ranks 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12, which are also tied to various class ability graduations.

Training and Education

Characters will have to seek out opportunities for training and research in order to learn new spells and Warrior disciplines, which may be done during the week of downtime needed to level up at the referee’s option. Characters may also attempt to learn new trades, spells, or languages at any time; this simply requires time and the availability of a tutor or other leaning materials. (Note that I use a variant of the rule from Lamentations of the Flame Princess that allows characters to know a language with a die roll, instead of having to pick them from the beginning).

Screw Tradition

The new ability score list:
Might (M): muscle and the ability to apply it. Might primarily relates to hand-to-hand combat, adding its modifier to rolls to-hit, damage, and when attempting feats of strength.
Kenning (K): observation, reason and memory. The Kenning modifier applies to the roll to know languages and to the arts of the Wizard. You play the character’s intelligence and cleverness, whereas Kenning represents their in-game knowledge and senses.
Faith (F): courage, faith, and intuition. The Faith modifier applies to rolls to the arts of the Cleric such as the roll banish horrors. You decide if the character chooses valour or cowardice, generosity or greed, whereas Faith represents their ability to call on supernatural aid in times of need and temptation.
Nimbleness (N): coordination and reflexes. The Nimbleness modifier applies to defense and rolls to perform feats of athletics.
Health (H): general fitness and endurance. The Health modifier applies to hit points per Hit Die and rolls to perform feats of endurance.
Wyrd (W): the brightness of a character’s thread in the tapestry of fate, leadership and force of personality. The Wyrd  modifier applies to reaction rolls to influence NPCs, the number of henchmen or vassals allowed in the character’s retinue, and the loyalty of those under the character’s command. You play the character’s social skills, whereas Wyrd represents intangible fate that binds people together.

☞ Record the appropriate bonus for each ability score:

Score	1-2	3-5	6-8	9-12	13-15	16-18	19+
Modifier	-3	-2	-1	+0	+1	+2	+3
Rating	Terrible	Poor	Fair	Average	Good	Great	Amazing