Athletes a new Specialist

I am in the process of writing up a campaign basedon Mythic Greece, Ray Harryhausen's classic "Jason and the Argonaughts", Sword&Sandal movies and TV, and of course T&T.

For that setting an adaptation of my Warrior Monk seems a good fit. The Greeks placed a high premium on athletics, wrestling, boxing, running, javelin throwing, etc. The Athlete will be a Specialist for characters of exceptional Strength. When fighting with out armour they will be able to box, using the rules I outlined below under kung fu fighting. They will also begin with a Talent for Wrestling. This will be a Level One Saving Roll on STR to grapple and hold, disarm, or throw an opponent in hand to hand combat. When an athlete chooses to grapple he is unable to contribute any dice to combat, so if a grappling attempt is unsuccessful the athlete will take their full share of the HPT rolled by their opponent, after deducting for armour or figting unarmoured as appropriate.

Athletes can wear any armour and use any weapon they choose, but they will not recieve the Warrior's bonuses, and will lose the Athletes bounuses for unarmed and unarmoured fighting. Brass knuckles and the like are not considered to be weapons for Athletes, they may therefor be combined with the unarmed fighting bonus.

Roman style Gladiators are better reflected by the Warrior type.

Monks and Swashbucklers

In giving further thought to warrior monks it came to me that they are really not all that different to swashbucklers.

Both are fighters who dedicate themselves to perfecting their art. Both wear little if any armour. Both adhere to a code of proper conduct, even when it works to their disadvantage. Both have martial and acrobatic abilities beyond those of common warriors.

This makes me think that perhaps what I am actually trying to capture is the flashy, lightly armed fighter, who dedicates himself to training. So i think I will abandon Chi powers and magic for my monks and instead concentrate on their martial abilities.

I am thinking of a Talent for acrobatic fighting based on the highest of Speed, Dexterity or Luck. This talent would allow for dodgeing blows, fighting while balancing on furniture, tightropes, beams etc, swinging down into melee, disarming opponents etc. SR level would be the opponent's level or 1/10 MR.

Other options I am considering include a weapons type specialization allowing for parrying, disarming opponents and increased Adds when using weapons of that type.

The unarmed and unarmoured combat options I outlined previously still seem to work reasonably well.

I still am not absolutely convinced that this needs to be a new character type, it may evolve into a package that can be added to one of the existing types to produce a swashbuckler or martial artist.

Game design is ever a fluid and evolving thing.

Some Old Notes on Kindreds

I found these stuck in with some other papers.

Uruks: Pstoralits and besast-tamers. Live on subarctic steppes and taiga with ice age megafauna. Use Mammoths as primary beasts of burden. Reindeer, sabretooth tigers, dire wolves also domesticated, sometimes used to pull sleighs or chariots. Metal use is rare and metals of all sorts are considered extremely prized valuables. Coinage is ivory and amber. Technology is based on worked bone, ivory, horn and hide with a little wood. Peat and dried dung are used as fuel.


Elves: Forest elves are similar to Celtic barbarians, bronze smiths. Mountain elves work stone, silver and gold, hihg renaissance culture. Sea elves have gills, live amphibian lifestyle, make use of many forms of sea life as well as driftwood etc. Sea elves are prized as sailors and ships' crew.

Dwarves: Live predominantly underground in mountain caves and mines. Metal smelters, stone workers, industrialists. Make use of limited steam, clockwork and gunpowder technology.

Humans: Generalists, ive in mixed communities. Generally medieval technology level.

Lizardmen: Live in swamps, serve Nagas.

Centaurs: Nomads, rove in herds, horse breeders and traders, also herd and trade other ungulates.

Leprechauns: Dwell in crannogs, use Wik-wing to teleport in and out.

Hobbs: Live in well appointed holes in hill country. Horticulturalists, raise vegetables, crops and herbs of all sorts.

Gnomes: Fine craftsmen and tinkers, excellent jewlers, locksmiths, clockworkers, wood carvers etc.

Been Awhile

OK It's been a while and I appologize. Life outside the Hovel has taken several turns towards the chaotic.

Still, I am here.

If you haven't already done so, go over to 'The Omnipotent Eye' scroll down and click the link for the Three Clue Mystery. This is an excellent essay on how to write successful mysteries for RPGs.

In other news, the Trollgod caused quite a stir when he announced the impending "Chaotic 8th Edition T&T Game". Now that the dust has settled a bit it appears that the Chaotic 8th Edition does not mean a wholesale rewriting of the T&T game. Instead Ken has decided to write a T&T game set during the Wizard Wars, a period some 5,000 years before present day Trollworld. This game will feature T&T mechanics, but also new Kindreds, possibly new Character Types, and all sorts of new background, history etc.

As 5.5 and 7.5 editions will be remaining in print for the forseeable future T&T fans need not despair that their game is going the way of someothers and will require them to shell out for awhole new set of rulebooks.

I am excited about the Wizard Wars, and look forward to seeing what Ken comesup with. It is nice to know the Trollgod still has new ideas under his hat.