13th Age in Csachticz

There is a 13th Age in Glorantha Kickstarter project that has just ended a smash success. Because of this crowdfunding campaign (which I have backed, of course), I have started re-reading the 13th Age core book.

One section has struck me as particularly interesting:

Luckily you can port some of the best ideas from 13th Age to your own OGL campaign. Our one unique thing, icon relationships, and background mechanics could fir in well in a typical campaign. The same goes for the campaign map, the icons, and the world description. Increments, the escalation die, recoveries, and full heal-ups are portable as well. Help yourselves.

Well, one idea that I do like from 13th Age is the icons mechanism. Icons are extremely powerful, campaign-defining NPCs that the player characters tend to establish relationships with. These relationships then have an influence on the GM's campaign. It's a simple and cool way to give players agency whilst remaining in an 'Old School' rules framework.

As a result, I have spent the week-end thinking about campaign-encompassing NPCs for Lamentations of the Blood Countess, and here are the results.

The Alchemist
For all his support for True Faith, the Emperor has always protected the Alchemist and his strange experiments, which have enabled the Empire of the One Faith to remain at the cutting edge of weapons and (so it is rumoured) magic technology.

The Dracul
The Dracul has only one aim: to defend True Faith against its enemies, no matter the price that must be paid. The Dracul sponsors the Order of the Dragon, a powerful chivalric order, but also controls less savoury agents, because the Dracul firmly believes that the end always justifies the means.

The Emperor
The Emperor is the most powerful nobleman in Europe; he rules Europe's greatest kingdom, known as the Empire of the One Faith because of its temporal and spiritual nature. In the past, the Emperor and the Pope used to be in conflict for supremacy, but since the appearance of the New Way and the conquests of the Empire of the Crescent Moon, they have been co-operating to defend the Old Way.

The Erlking
The Erlking is the king of the Faeries. Although humans have been encroaching his lands for centuries, and although True Faith has cancelled any trace of Heathenry, the magic of the Erlking is still powerful, and it will remain so as long as the stars shine and men dream.

Frau Perchta
Frau Perchta is the spiritual and magical head of the spirits of nature and the covens of witches. She is the cold and pale virgin of the moon, the protector of animals and of their fertility. She is also the leader of the mysterious Wild Hunt.

The Great Boyar
Across the foreboding range of mountains on the eastern borders of the Fair Kingdom lies a vast and obscure steppe-like territory divided into squabbling petty kingdoms of ill repute. Shrouded in mystery, a figure has recently emerged from the squabble to unite them all under his iron rule. The last time a similar event happened, almost all of Europe fell before the Tartar horde. Will history repeat itself?

The Occultist
The Occultist is a loner without loyalties who works both for the Emperor and the Sultan. He does not really care as long as his forbidden researches get funded. The Emperor and the Sultan hate him but do not really have the choice if they do not want the latest sorcerous artefact fall in the wrong hands. It is rumoured that the Gipsies are his agents, which may explain why he is so well informed without ever leaving his tower.

The Pope
The Pope is the supreme pontiff of the Old Way branch of True Faith. As the leader of the oldest and most prestigious branch of True Faith, he still commands various orders of knights that he relentlessly uses to fight against the Empire of the Crescent Moon.

The Sultan
As both the temporal and the spiritual ruler of the southernly Empire of the Crescent Moon, the Sultan commands the loyalty of millions of faithful subjects. In Europe, he is viewed as a dangerous tyrant intent on conquering the Empire of the One Faith; at home, he is considered the embodiment of all the virtues of the Way of the Crescent Moon.

The Superintendent
One of the big differences between the Old Wayers and the New Wayers is that the latter have rejected the centralised and hierarchical way the Pope has been managing the church; the New Way faithful only obey God, their bishops are elected, and no bishop holds sway over the others. However, the New Wayers have realised that they do need a single spokesman; since his election by the New Way Synod in 1564, the Superintendent has been maintaining a careful balance between the two empires.

The Trickster
When the Pied Piper leads away the children of Hamelin, when Till Eulenspiegel plays his practical jokes on the burghers of a city, when a knight has a picaresque behaviour instead of a chivalric one, the Trickster is at work. He has been plaguing Europeans since Antiquity, and he always will be. Sometimes, as in the case of Mattie the Goose-boy, he is a welcome figure. It is said that vagrants are his agents.

The Turul
The Turul is the totemic bird of the ancestors of the Plains People. Even tough they converted to True Faith centuries ago, some of them still dream of the Tree of Life and of the Turul bird that perches on top of it, and that grants magical powers in dire times, as when King Matthias was saved from the Empire of the Crescent Moon by a pauper who breathed fire and ice.

The Warlord
The Mountains People are a proud and aloof people who guard the mountain frontiers of the Fair Kingdom. They are ruled by the Warlord who, despite his name, loves and protects peace. But woe to him who should cause the Warlord to choose war rather than peace, for his battle rage is immense and he is only placated when all his enemies are slain.

The Pool of the Dejected Rusalki

The Hill Cantons blog has organised a small 'competition'. Each contestant had to write a short Eastern European-flavoured encounter. The winning entries would be included in Hill Cantons' upcoming sandbox supplement.

Well, apparently many contestants beat me, so I am publishing my entry on my blog.

John William Waterhouse - Hylas and the Nymphs

The Pool of the Dejected Rusalki

A dense wood of birch trees conceals this shallow pool. The pool itself is surrounded by immense weeping willows, which look like brooding green giants or trolls from a distance. The water is very still and greenish. All berry bushes in the area grow incredibly bountiful.

A long time ago, a wandering knyaz (knight) stopped here on one of his errands. The knight was insanely handsome, but somewhat of a womaniser, so he made up a tale of him knowing some magician who could transform the rusalki into normal women to take advantage of them and bed the rusalki — yes, all 12 of them. The pool is currently inhabited by the offspring of the knight and the original rusalki, who are much more humanlike than your average rusalka (-2 to any spell that detects or affects glamorous/fey creatures, etc.)
The rusalki are still waiting for their father to return, break their bond to the pool, and transform them into human females.

If a party approaches the pool, 2D4 rusalki will exit the water and start walking, all beguiling smiles, towards the most 'knightly'-looking character, e.g., one wearing full plate armour or, if no PCs wear plate armour, one who looks or acts aristocratic.

Now two things may happen:

(1)- The party doesn't take any offensive action.
The rusalki will ask the "knight" to enter the pool with them. If he resists, they will try and drag him into the pool. If the party becomes aggressive see (2) below; if not, the "knight" is carried into the pool where the remaining rusalki assemble and ask him to vow to return with the magician. If the "knight" agrees, the party will be left alone, and even provided food, water, and more. If the "knight" refuses, the rusalki disappear under water never to be seen again. In the following 1D6 days, any woodland creature encountered by the party will be extremely aggressive towards them. Double the occurrence of any woodland wandering monster roll.

(2)- The party becomes offensive.
Whilst the initial rusalki surround the "knight", 3D4 more rusalki appear from the pool (just their head and shoulders) and start gazing at the other characters. A PC must successfully save vs magic or under his wisdom [depending on your favourite rules] or become entranced by the sight of the fabulously beautiful rusalki. An entranced PC will just stand idly and do nothing.
The rusalki around the "knight" will try and grab him to bring him into the pool.
(2a)- If the "knight" resists or tries to harm them, the rusalki will animate the branches of the weeping willows. Each rusalka may animate 2 branches. The two branches attack in co-operation: whenever one of the branches has successfully hit (it attacks as a 4 HD monster), it entangles its victim, which cannot move or fight any longer. The other branch then tries to strangle the immobile victim (it needs a hit); from the next round on, it will start suffocating it (1D6 automatic dmg per round).
(2b)- If the "knight" does not resist, he will be carried into the pool where the remaining rusalki assemble and ask him to vow to return with the magician. If the "knight" agrees, the party will be left alone, and even provided food, water, and more. If the "knight" refuses, the rusalki disappear under water never to be seen again. In the following 1D6 days, any woodland creature encountered by the party will be extremely aggressive towards them. Double the occurrence of any woodland wandering monster roll.

The encounter does not end here, though. If the "knight" has vowed to return with the magician, he has put himself under a strong geas, per the classic fantasy 'geas' spell, to find a magician who can transform the dejected rusalki into human females.

The Rusalka

Rusalka, by I. Bilibin

Even though the tentative weird fantasy setting described within this blog is supposedly "Central European"-flavoured, I will sometimes touch upon more Balkanic or Eastern European subjects. I particularly like Eastern European folklore; it is similar enough to the more familiar Western European folklore, yet it does retain some exotic aspects. I particularly like the Eastern European depiction of the fey people: the various rusalki, domovyie, vodyanyie, etc.

So let's enquire into the rusalka (plural: rusalki) today. The Wikipedia describes her as “a water nymph, a female spirit in Slavic mythology. She is the equivalent of a mermaid: a legendary aquatic creature with the upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. According to most traditions, rusalki were fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers. In the middle of the night, they would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would fascinate them with songs and dancing, mesmerise them, then lead them away to the river floor to their death”.

Also: “Rusalki were linked with fertility and weren't considered evil before the nineteenth century. They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields”.

Well, causing young men to drown isn't particularly 'good' behaviour, but one may think that this was unintentional on the rusalki's side, and that they were overall 'neutral', much like druids are, because they are linked to Nature. Also, as life-giving fertility nymphs, rusalki are definitely the clear opposite of undead. So how come they are listed amongst the undead in many frp games?

I suspect the fault lies with the very first description of the rusalka as a D&D monster by Roger E Moore in issue No.34 of White Dwarf:

"Undead spirits"... OK, the Wikipedia states that “in nineteenth century versions, the rusalka is an unquiet being who is no longer alive, associated with the unclean spirit and dangerous”.

"Chaotic evil", OK, we've already seen that drowning people is evil... but why "female magic-users"??

"Who died by drowning"– now this is a complete permutation of the original creature: rusalki were supposed to drown people, not the other way round!

I may be mistaken but apparently there were no other rusalki in early *D&D products, except in issue No.290 of Dragon Magazine, which was a 'Slavic'-themed special issue. The rusalka was amongst the new monsters in that issue:
“Rusalkas [sic] are female spirits who dwell in the lakes, rivers, and streams of Russia. Their beguiling song is known to lure men to their watery graves”
“The rusalkas are believed to be the restless spirits of drowned maidens, tied to the place of their deaths”

They appear in Pathfinder as “cruel and bitter fey”, who “are not undead”, which is quite close to their true Slavic folklore origin.

The various retro-clones seem to have ignored the rusalka, except for Swords & Wizardry, which has the following:
“Rusalka are undead maiden-witches that haunt the cold rivers and lakes in which they drowned. In appearance, rusalka first appear to be comely maidens, clad only in fog. Upon close inspection, however, they are cadaverous with dishevelled hair and eyes that shine with evil green fire.”

Monsters & Magic RPG is in the Latest Bundle of Holding RPG Pack

If you are True Role-Players I gather you already know about the Bundle of Holding web-site: it is an easy way to acquire a bundle of PDF files of role-playing games and/or supplements at a significantly lower price than the addition of buying each of them separately.

The other cool thing about the "Bundle of Holding" special offers is that ten percent of your payment goes to two charities, viz.
 - Amnesty International
 - Doctors Without Borders

Note that you get to set your payment yourself, but you have to beat a minimum amount to get hold of the "bundle". Also, there are usually two steps, one basic bundle, and one with more nifty stuff in it. However, there is no upper limit. This is a nice way to encourage giving to the charities.

But the bundles are short-lived, and you must act quick to grab 'em!

Well, all this premise to tell you that the current Bundle of Holding is  a treasure trove of seven indie RPGs by women RPG writers. Amongst the games of the second tier, the fantastic Monsters & Magic role-playing game (by Sarah Newton), which is currently my game of choice for high fantasy.

The Blood Countess Died Exactly 400 Years Ago

Erzsébet Báthory, nicknamed the Blood Countess, died 400 years ago, on 21 August 1614.

(I would've posted this on 21 August, but I'll probably be without an internet connection on Thursday!)

She is probably the most (in)famous Hungarian noblewoman in history, as the No.1 female serial killer not only in Europe but in the whole world. She allegedly tortured and killed hundreds of girls between 1585 and 1610. After her trial in 1610, she was imprisoned in a walled area of her castle in December 1610, where she died slightly less than four years later. By the way, the 21st of August is the day she was found dead lying on the floor; she may have died earlier.

The most famous tale about the Blood Countess is that she had the girls bled to death so that she could bathe in their blood and retain her beauty. According to the Wikipedia, this is a later addition to her legend, a detail not mentioned at the time of her trial. Still according to the Wikipedia, György Thurzó noted the presence of horribly mutilated dead, dying, and imprisoned girls at the time of her arrest. György Thurzó was the man whom Emperor Matthias had asked to investigate the horrible rumours about the Blood Countess.

However, Emperor Matthias was heavily indebted to the incredibly rich countess, and, for political and religious reasons, he was also opposed to the Báthorys, who ruled large autonomous or semi-independent estates all over Central Europe. Some scholars argue that the whole rumourmongering and trial were the results of a vast conspiracy against the rich and independent-minded countess.

György Thurzó, the man who conducted the investigations and assembled the evidence was Archduke Matthias' right hand man before the latter became emperor. One of the consequences of the trial was that the Emperor never had to repay his debt to her.

Whatever the historical truth, you may use the Blood Countess in two ways in your campaign: as a horrible villain, or even as a vampire-like 'big boss' figure, or as innocent and fiercely independent woman. In this latter case, she could be the patron of the player characters, whose aim would be to thwart Thurzó's schemes in a politically-oriented campaign.

Aperita Arcana Nearing Completion

Aperita Arcana is a dual-system supplement for both the Monsters & Magic and the Fate game systems (to be honest, I want it because of what it brings to M&M).

It is being brought out by Ebon Gryphon Games, the very same good folk who are behind the fantastically useful Collectanea Creaturae supplement, also both for Monsters & Magic and Fate.

Aperita Arcana adds a lot of character classes to the basic ones in the M&M core book; the current roster is as follows:
 - Alchemist
 - Arbiter
 - Barbarian
 - Beastmaster
 - Blademage
 - Blood Mage
 - Bounty Hunter
 - Chosen
 - Cultist
 - Duelist
 - Elementalist
 - Enchanter
 - Gladiator
 - Inquisitor
 - Knight-errant
 - Martial Practitioner
 - Mercatant
 - Minstrel
 - Religious Scholar
 - Shaman
 - Summoner
 - Treasure Hunter
 - Vanguard
 - Wandering Sage
 - Witch Hunter

Some of these classes, e.g., the Alchemist, have already been posted on the Google+ M&M community. Check them out, they're really fantastic!

I used to hate new classes when I played AD&D, but for Monsters & Magic it is really different: since a class a mostly a collection of traits, they add wonderful role-playing potential in terms of what effect the player may try to attain.

The icing on the cake is that Aperita Arcana is going to be FREE for us backers of the Collectanea Creaturae kickstarter :-)

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.