Tomes by Torchlight

Every Monday, I will post a conception or concoction of some monster in my Arthurian setting. Today, I tell you of the Goblin. Lore A man who refuses to give his life for an innocent lady is cursed by God, and thus, his offspring will be wrinkled distortions of humanity. And never again will he enjoy his wife’s bounty, for upon conception, the goblin begins its parasitic connection, snuffing out the mother as soon as it is removed from her – by birth or otherwise. The birth of a goblin is rare, but it is horrific enough to ruin even a lord. The earth is not wanting for them either, as in days past before the Unification, men were blind to their cowardice, and the birth of goblins was a common occurrence for which the deceased wives were often refused burial, spawning specters of true horror. These numerous goblins from the past have made unholy unions among themselves to propagate their kind, and today they plague the caves, woods, bogs, and wastes of Britain. They grow ...

A Witch draws a circle with salt and quicksilver. It is midnight as she gazes into her obsidian mirror. King Paimon’s face appears, whispering secrets. A Sorcerer, through complex gesticulation and utterance, manipulates the protean chaos of the universe, gathering and concentrating fire in his hands to hurl at his enemies. Magic-Users manipulate reality in many different ways. They use different techniques, practice different rituals, and cast different spells, but they all share this: they use the power of their mind to conform the world to themselves, not themselves to the world. Overview Prime Requisite: INT/WIS Minor Abilities: Magical Resistance Special Ability: Spellcasting Magical Resistance Due to your many exposures to magical energy, you have advantage on checks to avoid magical effects like being charmed, dominated, lulled, etc. This does not apply to damage from magical sources. Spellcasting To cast a spell, declare the spell, declare its pow...

The Importance of Roleplaying Though this game includes a system for resolving social encounters, roleplaying and player creativity is still the most essential element of your character’s success. Parley should not become a robotic sequence of rolls; rather, it should be an exciting, dramatic experience that is assisted in its realism, impartiality, and balance between character attributes and player ingenuity by the rules included here. The content of the Points you make, and the quality of the Strategies you use are completely determined by you and completely determine the actions of your character. The roll of the dice in comparison with your attributes simply tells you how effective your decisions were in context of your character’s and your opponent’s abilities. Parley Step-by-Step 1.         Roll initiative 2.         Roll Wit 3.         Take Turns Roll In...

Combat Step By Step 1.         Check for surprise 2.         Roll for Grit 3.         Roll for Initiative 4.         Take turns until combat ends. Check for Surprise When combat begins, the Referee checks for surprise. All parties to the combat make a Wisdom check using the highest score from each party. Any group that fails this save is surprised, losing their first turns in combat. Sometimes a group is using stealth. A group using stealth makes a Dexterity check using the lowest score from the group. The degree of success is the obstacle for the other groups’ Wisdom saves. Roll for Grit All parties that are not surprised roll their Grit die and record the result in their Grit points. Any surprised parties roll Grit at the beginning of the next round. Roll for Initiative To determine the order of turns, the players rol...

A travelling musician leans against the bar, clearly inebriated and clearly confident. He woos a local maid, and tonight, they stay in the same room. The king's herald rides into town, dismounts his stallion, and unfurls a scroll. The pronouncement of the king's new tax resounds across the village. The villagers pay, and the rider leaves. They never asked to see the seal.  The Bard is a class versed in the written word. With your knowledge of lore, rhetoric, theology, and politics – plus whatever other niches you have mastered – you are more than ready to persuade, intimidate, and charm your way to the top. Overview Prime Requisite: CHA Minor Abilities: Hard-Headed, On a Roll, Way with Words, Harsh Truth. Special Ability: Polemics Hard-Headed Increase your Concession limit by 1. On a Roll Whenever you successfully make a point, you may make another different point (you can’t just say the same thing over and over.) Way With Words You may spend...

A thief lowers himself onto a creaking, wooden floor. His rope swings from the rafters where he laid in wait, the sunlight pouring in just over his head. Dust hangs in the air. Now is his moment to strike. A scout rubs the scat of hunting dogs between the leather fingers of his glove. Men’s footprints lead him to the poachers’ camp. From range he secures his bounty. Specialists are whatever the world demands of them. With their talents, they solve problems that most men would only make worse, and they find gains that all men envy. Overview Prime Requisite: any (each talent has its own PR) Minor Abilities: Jack of All Trades, Chameleon Special Ability: Talents Jack of All Trades You have a knack for figuring things out. Thus, you are a little better than the average person at just about everything, and the things you are good at, you are great at. Double your skill limit. You have base chance 2-in-6 in all skills, and you have a 3-in-6 base chance in the skills...

A knight hammers into his opponent’s chain, knocking him to the ground. The weight of his boot on the adversary’s chest steadies him for the killing blow. A duelist flits his sword with grace, placing it firmly into the eye of his final rival. The rival is dead; the king pleased. Fighters are remarkably tough, proficient in combat, and they are skilled at leading, improving, and protecting their team in tactical scenarios. Overview Prime Requisite : STR or DEX (choose at character creation or flip a coin) Minor Abilities : Toughness, Shields Shall Be Splintered, Leverage, Tactical Prowess Special Ability : Deeds Toughness Increase your character’s Wound limit by 1. Shields Shall Be Splintered If holding a shield, you may negate all effects of one attack made against you at the cost of destroying the shield. Leverage Whenever you hit with an attack, you may make another attack without using one of your actions. However, you can only make the same attack tw...

Roll 3d6 for each attribute Each character has six attributes: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Charisma (CHA), Intelligence (INT), and Wisdom (WIS). Roll 3d6 for each attribute. You may put them in any order. Assign Grit and Wit Dice Grit and Wit dice represent your character’s marginal abilities in combat and discourse. Take the middle score of your STR, DEX, and CON for Grit. Do the same with CHA, INT, and WIS for Wit. Assign Grit and Wit dice according to the chart. Middle Score      Grit/Wit Die 3 - 8                        1d6 9 - 12                       2d6 13 - 18                    3d6 Derive Secondary abilities and values Round up whenever you divide Carrying Capacity Your character can carry a number of items equal to their STR. If they...

What is a Role-Playing Game? A role-playing game is a game in which you play the role of a character in a simulated world. That simulated world could be a simulation of the real world, a fantasy world, or a mix of both. The worlds role-playing games are set in are often a mixture of fantasy and reality, trying to emulate a genre of fiction that the players enjoy, such as sci-fi or fantasy. The characters in these simulated worlds are often a mix of fantasy and reality as well. They are powerful wizards that wield magic with ease, something that is impossible in our world, but they are tragically ruined by their pride, something we can all relate to. They are warriors with heroic strength, cunning, and resolve, and they came from humble beginnings, a beggar on the street. Aspects of reality and aspects of fantasy, when mixed together, make characters that are fun to play. A character in a role-playing game can be anything their player wants them to be, and the world can be a...

Today, I begin posting modular sections of my game's rules. I am not sure whether to call it a hack, a house-rule, or a totally new system. It is certainly not a retro-clone, and the whole purpose of writing this game up as a unique document is because of the massive abundance of house rules I was adding to 5e  (good grief, I feel like I departed that shore long ago). However, when I try to translate many of the systems I have created to a more Traditional TTRPG system, they do not work. So I don't think it is a hack either., though it certainly facilitates OSR gameplay. I think I've got a new system on my hands. Anyway, I am going to start posting portions of the rules for your viewing pleasure. Critique them, if you feel so inclined, but keep in mind these are rough drafts and first passes at these rules, and they will be updated and revised as I discover their problems. I'm excited. Let's do this.

The party arrives at the harpoon base, greeted by Young, one of the riggers whom they had spoke to over long-range comms on their way in. He informs them that Brekt, the man in charge, is currently at the bunker, but he will be back soon along with the leader of the colony, Malta, giving the party an opportunity to join up. Young accommodates them in the crew's barracks, locking the doors from the outside. The party waits there for several hours, pilfering through some of the riggers' lockers for supplies, but soon enough the locked-in aspect of their containment wears on their nerves, and they decide to break out and look around. AKT-0 picks the lock, and they head outside to the spot where they met Young. None of the riggers are out here, but they can hear their voices faintly in the distance - working. They head back to the barracks and pick the other lock, leading into a tunnel which ends at what looks like a metal shipping create with a door retrofitted in. They press thei...

Once again, Private Carl's player was unable to attend our meeting, but luckily another friend of ours was interested in playing, and he played Private Carl well - as you will see. The party chooses to go right towards the airlock labeled "BRIDGE" after clearing the hallway of crawlers, and there they find a command center, corpses, and two androids: Pander and Kranot. They make introductions to the confused bots. They claim to have only booted up 10 minutes ago - an interval they recognize as the time since the dreadful portal opened. They themselves have been on the ship for about 40 minutes, so they know that what the androids are saying cannot possibly be true. AKT-0 attempts to help Pander recover the ship's files. They are corrupted and have been erased many times, but Pander is stuck in his frantic search. AKT-0 resigns from him; Pander continues. AKT-0 notices that the ship is quickly draining power - presumably because of the departure of the grim monolith. T...

With the Red Sun Alpha's computer systems now fully functional, the crew successfully wakes their marine, Private Carl, from cryosleep. He is disoriented and confused at first - as always happens after waking from the icy slumber - but he soon comes to grips with the challenges they are facing. The crew has decided to dock and board the nearby ship. It still pulses with strange energy that seems to be sustaining its power, and they determine it has arrived here only weeks before they. Some of the crew hopes to find other drifters to ally with. Others fear the same. AKT-0 runs the proper scans and determines the ship's atmosphere is breathable, and Elijah successfully docks the ship, finally getting close enough to read the ships name: Alexis. The crew enters the Alexis with caution, and they are greeted by flickering blue lights - the emergency illumination system - and skittering beneath the floors away from them and under a wall. Elijah makes a call out on his shortwave comms...