Collectanea Creaturae In Dead Tree

Collectanea Creaturae, the top-notch "monster manual" supplement for Monsters & Magic is now available in dead tree format from Amazon in the United States.

It should also be available soon from RPGnow and from the European Amazon web-sites.

Collectanea Creaturae Is Out!

I just love it when a Kickstarter project delivers on time. Collectanea Creaturae, the book of creatures (and more!) for the Monsters & Magic role-playing game has been funded in January 2014, and the availability date for my pledge level (PDF only) was shown as "Estimated delivery: May 2014". Well, I have just received from Ebon Gryphon Games the link to download my copy of the PDF, and it's only April :-)

The book is a whopping 170 pages long, with the following sections:

Introduction, 5 pages.
This is actually much more than a mere introduction. The 5 pages are chock full of great ideas about how to GM particular situations in Monsters & Magic. If you've ever tried GM'ing an old school module doing conversions on the fly, like I did, you'll find this part very useful.

A-Z List of Creatures, 130 pages
The creatures here are not mere stat blocks. Each of them is given motivations and effects, which are what makes Monsters & Magic really different from similar games. Some of the entries have so many ideas of cool effects and consequences that they provide all the necessary elements for an afternoon of gaming just by themselves!

Also, some groups of creatures are given their own stats, e.g., Bandit Gang has its own stats independently from Bandit. Wolfpack has its own stats independently from Wolf. Again, this is perfectly in line with M&M's elegant way of handling different "sizes" of encounters.

There are also many boxed texts interspersed through this section providing interesting facts about the various creatures such as etymology of the creature's name, differences with the classic fantasy version (if any, and why), possible variations (incl. powered up versions or "bosses"), constructs made or owned by the creature, suggestions to use some of the creatures as non-human races, etc.

Appendix 1: New PC Races, 7 pages
The races suggested as being available as PC races are: Centaur, Faun, Goblin, Lamia, Nymph, Orc, Tanuki.

Appendix 2: Familiars, Animal Companions, and You, 12 pages
The title says it all. Given the importance of companions, sidekicks, mounts, etc. in Monsters & Magic, this is again a very welcome chapter, chock full of interesting ideas.

I've only skimmed through Collectanea Creaturae, but I already know I won't be able to GM my M&M games without this book close by any longer!

NPC: Faustus Verantius

The following introductory text is mostly from Wikipedia, but adapted to the setting:

Faustus Verantius (born ca 1551) is a polymath and former bishop from the Most Serene Republic of Venedig, but with close ties to the Fair Kingdom.

Faustus Verantius was born in the port city of Sibenning within a mixed Romance-Slavonic noble family. He is the nephew of the archbishop of Gran, and he has widely travelled throughout Europe and the Fair Kingdom. During his youth, he studied physics, engineering and mechanics in various Romance universities. Verantius was chancellor for the Fair Kingdom at the court of the Emperor of the One Faith in Burgstadt. He has been often in contact with Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe.
Following the death of his wife, Verantius took religious vows, and left for the Fair Kingdom. In 1598, he was assigned the titular see of Tschanad (in the part of the Fair Kingdom occupied by the Empire of the Crescent Moon), until 1608.
In 1609, back in Venedig, he joined the Clerics Regular of St Paul and committed himself to the study of science.

Homo Volans

There, he published, at his own expense, his magnum opus: the Machinae Novae, which contains 49 large pictures depicting 56 different machines, devices, and technical concepts: water and solar energy, the universal clock (Plates 6–7), several types of mills, agricultural machinery, various types of bridges in various materials, machinery for clearing the sea, a dual sedan travelling on mule (Plate 47), special coaches, and Homo Volans (Plate 38) a forerunner of the parachute. The latter has even been tested by Verantius by jumping from St Martin's Cathedral in Pressburg.

Verantius can be used as a patron for the PCs, or as a connection providing James Bond-like gadgets, like the rectangular-shaped parachute depicted on the right hand-side.

FAUSTUS VERANTIUS - Monsters & Magic version
Strength 11 (0)
Dexterity 11 (0)
Constitution 15 (+2)
Intelligence 17 (+3)
Wisdom 15* (+4)
Charisma 11 (0)

Class and Level Cleric 6
Age 65
Move 12
Armour Class 17
Physical HP 45
Mental HP 37

Traits:
-Exorcism [Turn Undead]
-Religious Lore (Old Way)
-Clerical Magic
-Former bishop in partibus infidelium
-Cleric Regular of St Paul

Advancements:
-Amass knowledge (temple trait)
-Inventor
-Linguist
-Perform Ceremonies
-Signature Item: Dictionarium, +1 to any language-related check

Weapons: None.
Armour: None.
Languages: Latin, High Language, Romance, Slavonic
Allegiance: Old Way of True Faith

This post has originally been inspired by this blog entry.

Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli

The Clerics Regular of St Paul (Latin: Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli) is an Old Way religious order founded in 1530 in Mailand, one of the most prosperous cities of the Empire of the One Faith.
Its members emphasise study and knowledge rather than proselytism or the defence of the faith. They are also more usually found in large, prosperous cities than on the frontier. Despite this scholarly disposition, the Clerics Regular of St Paul do have their lot of strange practices, like over-zealous penance, and the ringing of church bells every Friday at 3pm. The Clerics Regular of St Paul live in community-like monasteries in which everything is shared.


The Clerics Regular of St Paul make, in addition to the three standard religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a fourth vow never to strive for any office or position of dignity. Their habit is a black cassock.

The order of the Clerics Regular of St Paul as a role-playing clerical cult:
Temple traits: Amass knowledge, Teach the faithful
Worshippers' Alignment: any non-Evil/Worshippers' Allegiance: Old Way of True Faith
Temple Weapon: None.
Spheres of Activity: Knowledge, Learning, Teaching.
Powers: Double trait bonus on any knowledge-related check.
Holy Symbol: Holy Cross and Holy Book.
Spells: The Clerics Regular of St Paul favour knowledge-related spells.

40 Years Ago, the Birth of a 32yr-old Hobby

Apparently D&D —and hence our hobby— have turned 40 today. I only discovered the game through Dr Holmes' so-called "blue box" in March 1982, so role-playing is a mere 32 year-old hobby in my life.

Collectanea Creaturae

I am definitely not a big fan of kickstarter-advertised products. I'd rather an author wrote his or her product, play-tested it, found a publisher, and made it available to us in dead tree format through our Favourite Local Gaming Shop.

However, I also know that 99% of rpg authors have a day job, and the 'normal' procedure above may not always work out for them. Thus, in spite of being fully aware of the harsh realities in the life of a non-professional rpg author (hey, I am one of them, after all), I still do avoid kickstarters because they're usually not delivered on time — If and when they are delivered: most of them seem not to be, if one is to believe all the stories that get mentioned here and there.

This having been said, I sprang to my credit card when I saw the kickstarter for Collectanea Creaturae by Travis Casey and Julian Stanley. Travis and Julian have consistently been posting excellent stuff over at the Monsters & Magic community on Google+ (I love their Alchemist sub-class), so a book of monsters for M&M by them was a no-brainer.

At the moment, the kickstarter is fully funded by the current level of pledges. However you may want to jump on the bandwagon, especially if you live across the pond— the $25 level of pledge gets you a dead tree version of the book rather than the PDF. Unfortunately I did not choose that particular level because of the extra cost of shipping to Europe ($20). Sigh.

Armour Class Conversions

It used to be simple. There was only one rule set, and it had descending armour class (descending— why, oh why?)

Then the OSR came, and each rule set had its own way to compute armour class — and it was usually ascending. I am hence providing you a small table to convert from classic fantasy AC to the values used in my favourite OSR systems: