The Red Book of Nelandra Kir (remix)

The Red Book of Nelandra Kir is a thick, illuminated book bound in blood-hued leather. It is a must-read status symbol for the decadent and gleefully corrupt wizards of Scarabae that seek to thwart the Church. Nelandra Kir was a beautiful mage alive during the Rise of States who was fascinated by spells that transfixed or paralyzed their targets.

It is said that her lush garden was decorated by many a rival who had been turned to marble sculpture and that her preferred way to dispatch particularly meddlesome foes was to torture them while under the effects of a paralysis spell.

The Red Book of Nelandra Kir

Cool journal by druidchickz, could be a copy of the Red Book.

Original post on the Red Book on Jack’s journal here. This is a grimore.

Terror, Horror, and Madness–with no charts or dice!

I converted Jack Shear’s Terror, Horror, and Madness faithfully into Old School Hack. One of the delights of my design work is to start with conversion, then move to adaptation.

So, Old School Hack shines when it focuses on rules-lite, encouraging players to be awesome, and a permissive style. How does that look for a sanity system?

Here is my answer. Terror, Horror and Madness, sans dice and chart

In a nutshell, the design principle at work here is that sane players get their Awesome Points from the other players; they are all allies. Moments of insanity, and longer-term madness, shift allegiance to the DM as a direct source of Awesome Points! If you play to amuse the DM (even if frustrating the other players) then you still get your Awesome Points. This economic shift also discourages using madness (temporary or otherwise) to derail the game and hog the spotlight; if the DM gets tired of your antics, then NOBODY gives you Awesome Points.

What do you think?

Manual of Gastromancy (remix)

The Manual of Gastromancy is a thin book bound in plain black leather. King Relan II, former ruler of Nalconia (in the Iron Principalities) kept his kingdom through guile and magic instead of military might. His specialty was conjuring enchanted food. It is said that even the most bloodthirsty warlord might have his disposition changed at one of King Relan’s great feasts.

The Manual of Gastromancy

This is your pheasant.

This is your pheasant–wrapped in bacon. Any questions?

Jack has not posted this one from his Compendium on his blog yet, I don’t think. Grimores are here.

Scriptures and Books of the Church

This is still a draft. The subject is vast enough I’m sure I’ll have more to say on it. However, this serves to get us started with a sense of the scripture of the Church of the Lady of the White Way. The plot hooks and treasure ideas in this document are also intended to provide a lot of inspiration for how to use scripture in the game.

Scripture and Books

OSH Legend of Hyrule: Zora Template

Zora are fish people. I do not personally find them very compelling, but in a way that made for an even more interesting challenge in creating a playable template for them. When I was finished, I had something I think would be interesting to have at the game table.

Boy, the Zora go through a LOT of identity crisis through the various Zelda games. I nod to that briefly in the template.

This is the last race template, but it’s far from the end of the Legend of Hyrule material!

Zora

OSH Legend of Hyrule: Sheikah Template

So are these mysterious figures Hylian, or something else? Fortunately, with the template model, I don’t have to decide. The point is, when you become Sheikah, some changes happen to you.

These shadowy protectors of the royalty are a great character class; pretend to be a Hylian as you go about your business, but use shadow communication with others of your kind, sniffing out and eliminating threats to the throne without drawing undue attention… And if there is a quest of some kind, you’ve got a reason to go along.

Sheikah

Here is a great set of possible Sheikah, by Split Heart. Cool stuff!

OSH Legend of Hyrule: Royalty and Magic

So you want to be a Gerudo Desert King? Or maybe you want to play Zelda? You want access to the magic of the Goddesses? Have I got the document for you!

Remember, this is not THE Hyrule. No such thing. In my opinion, every game has its own continuity, and they are all best served if they don’t try to connect. The legend is played out in the multiverse across time and space and realities. So, please come in and have a great time in THIS Hyrule.

Personally I think it would be awesome if you had three players and each one had a Tri-Force and connection to royalty. Go big or go home, right?

Royalty of Hyrule

OSH Template: Web Walker

I was inspired by Simon’s post here. I thought, “It would be awesome to play a spider.” The key word there being “awesome” which leads us back to Old School Hack, where you can do things that are awesome.

I thought it would be fun to play a big spider. Then I thought it would be even more fun to play a big spider that was a mount for a hobbin or a deep goblin. There was a serious case of the “and then!” syndrome, where you want to pile on all the stuff spiders get from the Arsenal of Nature. I stopped at 10, though I could have kept going.

An interesting balance note: they have 10 templates, but they can’t use any of them by spending 3 Awesome Points to access it off the template directly. They are physical changes. So you can customize your spider, but not have a generic spider that can grow and retract features. I thought it was an interesting balance.

So here is a huge terrifying spider you can play in Old School Hack.

The Web Walker

OSH Legend of Hyrule: Weapons and Equipment

The weapons and equipment of the Zelda games are iconic and oft-reinterpreted through the series. Converting to a role playing game, the possible use of various items can change dramatically. How to keep the function and flavor of the item intact enough that you have a similar play experience, managing the medium shift? Well, that’s part of the fun of statting things up for Old School Hack.

Here are magic weapons and enchanted items and regular tools for the world of Hyrule through the lens of Old School Hack.

Hyrule Weapons and Equipment

OSH Legend of Hyrule: Rito Template

You can fly, you can fly, you can fly! The Rito are bird people in Wind Waker. I like the idea, the kinesthetics of them, and a flying messenger service. So here they are.

In this setting, everything revolves pretty much around Death Mountain. In the smoke above the cone, the Temple of Air. Below, built around the upper cone, the Rito settlement. Below, in the volcano itself, the Goron settlement, and below that, the Temple of Fire.

I think that’s pretty cool.

Rito