And, back to work. :)

First and foremost on the schedule is to update racial conversions. I've started with the three most basic, High Elves, Dwarves and Goblins. I'm surprised by how easily they set as "drop in" pieces.
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Dwarf: Courageous warriors and great craftsman, the dwarves of the Flanaess are powerful, rugged and taciturn, with a great reputation for honesty and a resistance to magic.

SM -1
ST +1 [10]; HT +1 [10]
Physical Traits: Extended Lifespan 1 [2]; Night Vision +9 [9]; No Hangover [1]; Resistant to Poison +3 [5]
Mental Traits: Absolute Direction (Accessibility, Underground Only, -30%) [4]; Sense of Duty (Clan) [-10]; Honesty [-10]; Proud [-1]; Staid [-1]
Magical Traits: Magic Resistance 2 [4]
Talents: Racial Talent*2 (Armory; Axe/Mace; Detect Lies; Masonry; Smith; Survival) [10]

Total Cost: 33 points

High Elf: Beautiful, gifted with great skill with song and graceful, perceptive, truthful and extremely long lived, magical and masterful with bow and sword and the arts, the High Elves of the Flanaess are also said to be extreme claustrophobes that are stubborn beyond belief when a thing matters to them.

DX +1 [20]; HT -1 [-10]
HP -1 [-2]; Per +2 [10]
Physical Traits: Appearance-Beautiful [12]; Extended Lifespan 5 [10]; Less Sleep 4 [8]; Night Vision 7 [7]
Magical Traits: Magery 0 [5]
Mental Traits: Claustrophobia [-15]; Stubbornness [-5], Truthfulness [-5]
Talents: Racial Talent*3 (Artist; Bow; Broadsword; Diplomacy; Sex Appeal; Singing) [15]

Total Cost: 50 points

Goblin: Whether it is deserved or not, goblins have a reputation for being awful, cruel and cannibalistic. They are small, but swift and vicious in combat, able to see in the dark like cats and nearly blind in sunlight. While often thought to be stupid as a race this is far from the case and is likely tied to their low browed, and hideous appearance and hygiene.

SM -2
ST -1[-10]; DX +2 [40]
Physical Traits: Acute Vision +2 [4]; Bad Sight (Nearsighted, only in daylight/bright light, -30%) [-17] ; Easy to Kill 2 [-4]; Infravision [10]
Racial Skills: Animal Handling (Dogs) +2 [4]; Riding (Canines) +2 [4];
Social Traits: Hideous [-16]; Social Stigma – Monstrous [-15]

Total Cost: 0 points

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Next up is a quick look at pricing. Yes, I know, I'll have to organize and settle this into a coherent whole at some point, but as this is still very much a work in progress, not just yet.

In GURPS $1 is defined as the cost of bread or other staple. With this being the case, the dollar is about 2 of my games "iron bits". This makes the average pay for the average guy on the street of the average city about $5 a day. Is it just me, or does this seem awfully low even when considering the Greyhawk standard class (social classes that is) disparity?

Still, until something that fits better comes along, this seems like the way to go. It will obviously have to also assume support services provided by the employer not being added in to this, OR, a primarily barter economy where little actual cash is needed or in use.


Isshia

Accomidiating greater degrees of verisimilitude.

The differences between my GURPS Greyhawk and regular Greyhawk also include a few other accommodations to verisimilitude.

The first is the changing the standard valuable coin from the gold to silver. This still makes the coins worth MUCH less than they would have been in, say, medieval Europe, but it does away with a king’s ransom in gold outweighing the king by ten to one, which is ludicrous except in extreme circumstances. Quite simply count down by a single factor, with platinum being replaced by large gold coins, electrum being replaced by smaller gold coins, gold being replaced by silver, silver by copper and copper by iron. So a stay in the Welcome Wench will run 3 silver a day and a draft of ale will be only 4 iron bits. The feel isn’t as awkward, with beggars getting gold dropped at their feet and barmaids being tipped with electrum for having a nice wiggle.

Secondly, I despise having to have the unknown magic suppliers running about, mainly because there would never be enough Artificers to make even a small proportion of the magic items buy able even in frontier towns, so other than Alchemy and the few items such an Alchemist can provide or an Apothecary and his stocks, magical items offered for sale will be odd, rare and much sought after…in large towns and cities and no where else.

Also, I am going to be paying a bit more attention to the impact of a miracle worker on a small settlement. These guys will get instant reputations, which will have both positive and negative effects, when they “set up shop” in a small town or village. Since the standard is going to be roughly one true Wizard per 3000+ people (outside of elven lands anyway) when a village of 300 folk has one become part of the landscape it will draw instant notice unless the Wizard hides his talents.

The positive effects of this will be social regard, usually 10 points worth, either as feared (by far the most common outcome) or respected, depending on the locale. Negative effects are more subtle in some ways but more pronounced in others. If a “witch scare” sweeps the area, as the result of any “unnatural phenomenon” (which could include the local braggart not being able to get it up with his favorite doxy or the cow kicking over her milking bucket when she’s “normally so docile”) then the least outcome will be a social stigma and could escalate into mob violence. Since everyone is breakable in GURPS, the wizardling needs to be careful of this even when he begins to become truly powerful.

For Priests and Clergy the matter is slightly different, as they are expected to work miracles for their gods…but this will not protect them if their lord falls out of favor for one reason or another. Rather severe forms of social stigmata or outright ostracism can be the least of their worries then if the deity or pantheon has fallen into enough disfavor. Also, far more than with Wizards, the Cleric or Priest will find themselves held accountable, after a fashion, for anything from bad weather to disease, whether their lord had anything to do with the event or not being immaterial. Peasants look to the gods to protect them, when they don’t or won’t the peasants quickly point the finger of blame at their representatives.

Magic and Mana Levels and where...

Since I’m using the Greyhawk world map, but not the exact Greyhawk setting, settling instead on GURPS, a discussion of mana levels and techological levels where they are prevalent needs to be done, as well as some thought given to language and cultural groupings.

There is far less actual magical use and more Church inspired nastiness, especially in the form of Theocratic forces from the Pale waging a Crusade against the “new heathen Tehnites” and between Suloise clergy and those of the Oeridian gods. Too, while all the various political intrigues that are part of canon for the period right after the Greyhawk Wars are in place, many of those are nastier as well, with assassination becoming another tool of statecraft in many places. Bandits are numerous and dangerous and the Empire of Iuz is still rapacious as well. The “end of the Wars” may not have been the end in this iteration.

Most of the cultures are TL*3, with some of the more sophisticated regions, such as Greyhawk Free City or Nyrond or Keoland or the westernmost settled states (with the exception of Ull) are closing in on TL*4, albeit completely without anything relating to firearms or gun powder in existence, while many of the Barbarian lands are TL*2, with the Amedio Jungle tribes and most of those of the Hepmonaland Jungles as well being TL*0…but with a few tribes in the TL*1 range. The Rovers of the Barrens and the most isolationist of the Wolf and Tiger Nomads are just at the cusp of TL*2, really closer to TL*1, albeit their weaponry is usually bone, horn and the like than actual bronze.

Among human kind the Western (mid eastern style) culture group is centered on Zeif, Tusmit, the Plains of the Paynims, Ull, the Wolf and Tiger Nomads and Ekbir (and surprisingly, the Bright Lands as well), while the Snow, Ice and Frost Barbarians, the folk of Stonefist and the remnants of the Rovers of the Barrens all qualify as part of the “Barbarian” cultural group. The Oeridian cultural group handles most of the rest of the Flanaess, with the biggest exceptions being the Amedio cultural group (think Aztec), the Hepmonaland cultural group (think Olmec), the unique culture of Lendore Isle and the various demi-human groups, such as the High and Sylvan Elven cultural groups which are separate and Dwarven as a single cultural group which includes the Gnomish and Halfling folk who are not inculcated into the human cultures of their homelands. Finally there is the Darken Fold cultural group, which covers most humanoids and giant kind, with the exception of the Giant clans of the Crytalmist, Jotens and Hellfurnace mountain ranges who constitute the Giant cultural group.

I also handle languages a bit differently. I don’t like the Common tongue being a universal tongue. Rather there are three different major spoken Common Tongues, the Oeridian Common being the most common, with Darken Common being the next most common and finally Elven Common as the final of them. Oeridian Common is a trade tongue used nearly everywhere that the Oeridian cultural groups are found. Darken Common is the “universal trade tongue” of the Darken Fold cultural group (in theory more than in practice as only about 35% of the folk of that cultural group can understand it sufficiently to use it. There is an Elven Common, mainly for use between Sylvan and High Elven folk as within each group there is but a single language and there exists a Dwarven Common which is used mainly by Dwarves with Gnomes and Halflings that dwell within their communities as the dwarves are seldom willing to teach their tongue even to those they consider to be distant cousins. The Elven common though is sometimes used as a universal tongue by long travelers when nothing else seems to work.

Old Oeridian is still the most common WRITTEN language of commerce and business, even being used in some of the Elven, Dwarven and a very few “Barbarian” communities. The next most common is a written version of Elven Common although few outside of the elven and dwarven races use it. Other than these there are really no written common tongues, although Ancient Suloise is easily the most prevalent written language of long ago and Ancient Baklunish is widely known as well.

Other than these changes the languages remain the same as Greyhawk canon.

Magic is a bit different too. The idea of tying the power of magic to not only lines of power but also to the relative “health” of the region is not a new one, but is seldom used in RPGs. I though am a bit of a maverick.

There will be four mana levels in various places around the campaign zone. Everywhere from the High Mana lands of Celene, Lendore Isle, the Valley of the Mage, parts of the Duchy of Ulek and the land of the High Folk, and small parts of Veluna, Gran March and Keoland, to No Mana regions like the Sea of Dust (except for the Forgotten City which his the one and only Very High Mana region left) and the Bright Desert (except for the region within two miles of Rary’s Tower, which is High Mana), the Flanaess are variable and often hard to judge. Notable Low Mana regions are the Plains of the Paynims, Ull, the lands of the Wolf and Tiger Nomads, the Hold of Stonefist and the mountains close by it, as well as the lands of the Snow, Ice and Frost Barbarians and both the Amedio and Hepmonaland Jungles.

There is a recognizable pattern here, but it may not be as simple a pattern as it appears on the surface. The periphery of the settled lands of the Flanaess are where the Low Mana zones are, or the greatest of the No Mana zones, the Sea of Dust, as these areas are very lightly populated by sapient beings, but the presence of Mana in an area is also tied to complex life forms other than just sapient beings, so one might expect the Amedio and Hepmonaland Jungles to have normal Mana levels at the least, yet both are closer to No Mana than to Normal Mana. The reason for this is the subject of much debate among the most well traveled Magi.

Some small areas will be different in mana level than their surroundings for one reason or another and some will also give certain advantages to violent spell use and disadvantages to supportive spell use.

The mood of the campaign is almost Dark Fantasy, although the tenor will be closer to Sword and Sorcery. Initial characters will already be very capable, built on 250 points, as is detailed elsewhere, but won’t be world beaters yet. They will gain slowly in magical gear compared to D&D, but there is much, MUCH less magic use in this game than in a D&D Greyhawk game. You can be from where ever you want to be from, but YOU are expected to come up with a plausible reason as to why and how you got to the starting area, which is in the fringes of the frozen north, on the Thillonrian Peninsula .

Greyhawk: Going from the Ashes to Dust

Greyhawk: Going from the Ashes to Dust

This is going to be a rough campaign. Character death is no more likely than in any other GURPS campaign, but I don’t hold back from other outcomes and results and my villains act like villains. They are often despicable and seldom willing to deny themselves anything out of a sense or propriety.

The themes are heroism, horror and as a tertiary theme, Sword and Sorcery. The folk in this will need to be heroes…but heroes need not be “Good”. The heroes will be powerful in their own rights, but young. They will be built on 250 points, with no more than 75 spent in skills and up to 100 points of disadvantages and flaws. This should allow for a considerable amount of differentiation and will still hopefully keep them from being too overwhelming personally.

The average human being will have anywhere from a 1-50 point build. The younger they are, the fewer the points. And by average I do mean 9 out of every 10 of them. In a village on the frontier this may be closer to 6 out of ten and in many cities it may be closer to 19 out of 20. Still, the PCs will stick out. Also, magical ability, outside of alchemical and herbalist lore will be rare indeed, and even those exceptional fields will have few practicing members. Roughly 1 human in 100 is born with the capability to even learn magic. Of those most never get the opportunity to do much with it. In most societies in the Flanaess fewer than 1 true wizard exists per 3000 inhabitants. Elves are the biggest exception to this, since every elf is capable of magic and few don’t bother to learn at least some minor spells, but they are few in number and have children so seldom there is no place outside of the few primarily elven realms where their abilities help them to dominate the cultures they mix with.

The Dwer folk in my game include the Gnomes and the Halflings as well as the Dwarves, of which there are three major divisions, the most numerous being the Ath-Dwer of the central Flanaess, then the isolationist Havahd-Dwer of the northern mountains and finally the Muir, or Dark Dwer of the Sulhaut Mountains, or more precisely, the spaces below them. Each dwarven race has their own secret tongue that is only spoken when they are sure they are amongst their own alone. The various gnomish and Halfling sorts are seen as distant cousins and the halflings and gnomes share the same universal dwarven pantheon, albeit they have their own “saints” such as Garl Glittergold and Sheela Peryroyl, who are also revered by the dwer as well.

The humanoids of my world do not have their own deities and sometimes (seldom) worship the human or dwarven gods in their regions. Usually they worship the Dukes of Hell, or occasionally, they get caught up in cultism when an avatar of a particularly strong or violent deity appears. Presently almost all of the humanoids in the Empire of Iuz worship him, but outside of the Empire it is the diabolic lords, especially Dispater, who receives the greatest veneration.

The lands and much of the canonical history remains the same, simply deemphasizing the role of magic in all that was undertaken. Also, there has been more involvement by the deities themselves directly, through their aspects (not avatars). A Divine Aspect is an individual, almost always one chosen because of their great faith, which is chosen by the deity to represent a part of their portfolio that the deity believes needs to be stressed in a particular place and time. They become imbued with a not insignificant amount of raw divine power that is tailored to represent most clearly whatever aspect of the divine will that the particular deity wants stressed. In game terms they are characterized as a broad 300 point (usually) imbuement that the GM adds on to an existing character that fits the portfolio and desires of the deity. This can be nearly anything, of course, but is more useful if applied to an already powerful figure, which is the reason that most aspects are already well known in their own rights before becoming (almost always temporarily) divine aspects.

Avatars appearing are a much more problematic thing. Few ever do this, as it has no small degree of risk for the deity… like the possibility of death for the deity if the avatar dies, and while immensely capable, avatars ARE mortal. Still, these beings are vastly powerful representations of the deity’s divine will. The most famous avatar is Iuz, a god incarnate in the form of a cambion. But he still isn’t the “real problem”. The real problem won’t be quite so easy to discern and may get missed entirely, until it is too late. The kid gloves are coming off in this campaign, which may end up being Apocalyptic. Still, Iuz plays a truly major role in the campaign as it exists now too.

All the World's a Stage...so where are the directions?

Greetings inveterate gamers.

I'm one of those old timers who has become totally disenchanted with 4th edition D&D and as a backlash result, disenchanted with D&D as a whole... or, well, most of it. There is one part of old D&D I have loved since I first saw it, way back in the late 70's; the World of Greyhawk.

I've always loved the detailed scope and depth of this vast playground of the gods and fate. It has always had exactly the feel that I wanted in a fantasy world and none other has matched it for me even today in the ingredients necessary to make a great fantasy campaign backdrop. But increasingly over the years, I've thought it a shame that D&D was ever associated with it. D&D is simply too magic heavy for the world it first spawned. Greyhawk feels best with limited magic, with a rarity to magic that D&D does definitely NOT engender.

So, after much thought I settled on a terribly difficult fit for this world created for D&D... the GURPS system.

GURPS, for those of you not familiar with it, is a game system with a tremendous amount of scope and depth of detail, that fits the tone and tenor of the World of Greyhawk perfectly, but is extremely difficult to adapt to anything remotely resembling the D&D system itself. Where D&D hand waves at verisimilitude, GURPS makes it not only possible, but even more visceral and gritty. You feel as though GURPS built characters could step right off the page and introduce themselves. So, even with it's lack of created detailed monsters and often frightening lack of support in ways that the various people who've written for D&D over the years have become past masters at providing, GURPS is my fit for the detailed, visceral and often gritty World of Greyhawk campaign.

Now it becomes important to detail how the differences between D&D and GURPS will be handled to make as much use of the World of Greyhawk setting as possible. In short, here are the directions. :)