Tainted Magic for Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Tainted magic is a house rule that is inspired by Dungeon Crawl Classic's and ACKS's take on the magic-user class. It is intended for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, where magic-users are already considered chaotic in alignment. The rules also affect elves, but to a lesser degree.

First off, the way new spells are learned is changed. The magic-user or elf doesn't really require a spell book. He gains a repertoire of spells. The repertoire for each level is equal to the number of spells the magic-user or elf can cast plus his INT modifier. Thus a 1st-level magic-user with an Intelligence of 13 would know two 1st-level spells.

When a magic-user or elf gains access to new spells, he can either choose among those spells he found during adventuring, or he rolls on the spell tables for the magic-user, or a combination of both. It takes one week per spell to add them to the repertoire.

To cast a spell, a magic-user has to roll a spellcheck (1d20 + Level + INT modifier) with a difficulty class of 10 + 2x spell level. If he succeeds on the roll, the spell takes effect and he retains the spell to be cast again. On a failure, the spell cannot be cast anymore before sleeping. Also, on a failure the spell doesn't take effect.

On a natural 20, any damage rolls are maximized, the caster may select any random results instead of rolling, and the saving throw of the target of the spell is penalized by the caster's level.

On a natural 1, the spell fails and cannot be cast again that day. Also, the caster must roll a saving throw versus magic. The roll is penalized by half of the spell level (rounded up). If the roll fails, the character gains a random mutation. Mutations are rolled on table Mutations (Carcossa, p. 256). If the character is a magic-user, he also ages by a number of years determined by rolling on the aging table on the same page in Carcossa. As an elf he is immune to ageing.

Overall, magic is available more often. But a magic-user will face certain dangers using magic and he'll also be not as versatile - more akin to a 3rd Edition sorcerer.

Experience for Old School RPGs

As I've posted earlier, I don't really like how Lotfp is dependent on gaining treasure for getting experience points. Also, I would like to emphasize gaining experience for defeating monster. Yet, I also don't want to clutter my game with monster encounters. I've so far suggested to hand out more experience for monsters, but that didn't seem right either.

Now, I've read Dungeon Crawl Classics, and really like its approach to handing out XP. But DCC revamps the whole XP system. I want something more compatible with all Old School and Old School+ games. That's what I came up with:

Experience depends entirely on the subjective difficulty level of the encounter. The GM hands out experience depending on the amount of resources expended and the damage incurred by the characters. Each surviving character gets the listed award.

500 XP - The group face overwhelming danger, one or several characters died, and in the end the survivors had to flee. The survivors gain a lot of experience from their defeat.

250 XP - The group faced considerable danger, possibly one of them died, but in the end, the characters were victorious.

125 XP - The group faced difficult danger, they had to expend considerable resources, but defeated their enemies in the end.

60 XP - The group faced danger, but handily defeated them, suffering some injuries.

0 XP - The group defeated the enemies easily and barely got a scratch.

Additionally, the GM may award the following experience bonuses:

150 XP - For each trap dealt with successfully. Each character gets the listed award.

100 XP - For each trap encountered and set-off. Each surviving character gets the listed award.

100 XP - The character was role-played well and entertainingly.

100 XP - For each hex travelled.

100 XP - For each small dungeon or dungeon level explored.

Moveable parts and fiddly bits: customization in Lotfp

Something that has gone around in my head for sometime: players like to customize, they like to play with options. In Lotfp, this is a bit lacking. Sure, clerics and wizards have options regarding their spell choice and how to expand that choice. Specialists get to distribute points on common activities. Elves are spell-casters and share in the wizard's game of spell choices. But what about fighters, dwarves and halflings? They notably lack any way to customize their characters beyond chosing armor and weapons. Those are fairly standardized in Lotfp.

That is the issue I have most with Lotfp. Fighters, dwarves and halflings lack moveable parts and fiddly bits. I feel the need to address that further than with profession. Everyone is getting those.

Stay tuned.

Professions for Lamentations of the Flame Princess

This is just a quick post with the professions I came up with (heavily inspired by ACKS). My idea is, each character gains one profession at 1st level, and every 4 levels afterwards (5th, 9th, 13th, 17th). Acquiring a new profession takes 1d4 months of actually working in that profession. High intelligence grants bonus professions (Intelligence 13+ grants one bonus profession at 1st level, Intelligence 16+ grants another one at 5th level, and Intelligence 18 another one at 9th level).

This is the list each character can pick from:

Profession	Bonus
Acrobat	Increase dexterity bonus by +1.
Alchemist	Increase intelligence bonus by +1.
Archer	Gain a +1 bonus to ranged attacks.
Assassin	Gain a +1 bonus to the sneak attack skill.
Astrologer	Increase wisdom bonus by +1.
Battle mage	Gain +1 initiative when casting spells; reduce spell immunity of opponents by 10%.
Berserker	Gain +2 to attack rolls, immune to fear, -2 to AC. Lasts until end of combat.
Blacksmith	Gain a +1 bonus to the tinker skill.
Captain	Retainers check morale with a -2 bonus to the roll.
Cat burglar	Gain a +1 bonus to the climb skill.
Cavalryman	Reduce penalties for missile attacks while mounted to -2.
Conjurer	When caster takes damage while casting, he can still attach normally.
Diplomat	Receive a -2 bonus on NPC Reactions.
Enchanter	Cast charm person or sleep on person of preferred gender. Lasts  as long as character keeps playing her instrument.
Engineer	Gain a +1 bonus to the architecture skill.
Fletcher	Missile attacks gain a +1 bonus to damage.
Forester	Gain a +1 bonus to the bushcraft skill.
Gambler	Earn 1d6x10 sp per month.
Guard	Melee attacks gain a +1 bonus to damage.
Guide	Gain a +1 bonus to the search skill.
Healer	(1+INT mod) patients recover additional 1d3 hp per day.
Hermit	Gain a +1 bonus to saves vs. non-magic effects.
Hunter	Character can make ranged sneak attacks at short distance.
Knight	Gain +2 bonus determining retainers loyalty/morale.
Laborer	Increase constitution bonus by +1.
Mercenary	Increase strength bonus by +1.
Merchant	Increase charisma bonus by +1.
Minstrel	Gain a +1 bonus to the busking skill.
Monk/Nun	Gain a +1 bonus to saves vs. magic effects.
Musketeer	Gain a +1 bonus to armor class, when wearing leather armor or less.
Mystic	Caster does not have to speak to cast spells.
Necromancer	Character can cast animate dead once per week.
Peddler	Buy items for 10% less, sell items for 10% more.
Pick pocket	Gain a +1 bonus to the sleight of hands skill.
Prophet	Lawful character can cast the commune spell once per week.
Scholar	Gain a +1 bonus to the legend lore skill.
Scout	Character needs only 4 hours of sleep to be completely rested.
Scribe	Gain a +1 bonus to the languages skill.
Sharpshooter	May target opponents engaged in melee.
Soldier	Gain a +1 bonus to melee attacks.
Soothsayer	Chaotic character can cast the contact outer sphere spell once  per week.
Spy	Gain a +1 bonus to the stealth skill.
Thug	Gain a +1 bonus to the open doors skill.
Witch	Character can cast bestow curse once per week.

Proficiencies in LotFP

When I look at LotFP, I see a game that I really like and that reminds me of older versions of the popular fantasy role-playing game. But that is the referee perspective. There is also the player perspective. From their point, LotFP is missing the "fiddly bits". The bits a player can use to fine-tune his character and develop a vision of that character.

Clerics, magic-users, specialists and elves each have something to decide when adding a new level. They get new toys to play with (either spells or dots in common activities). Also, clerics, magic-users and elves have the mini-game of spells to keep them occuppied during play. Whereas the fighter, the dwarf and the halfling don't really have any decisions to make beyond buying equipment.

That is not enough. I want them to have something to decide as well. Here, I like what ACKS is doing with the proficiencies. Every couple of levels, you get a new proficieny. Something that differentiates your character and supports a concept beyond "fighter" by using evocative names. That's something I'd like to see in LotFP. ACKS even gives abstract rules when to gain a new proficiency:

"All characters may choose one additional proficiency from the general list at levels 5, 9, and ... 13. Characters may choose one additional proficiency chosen from their class list each time they complete a full (2-point) saving throw progression." (ACKS, page 56)

Using these rules, it would be easy to add something similar to LotFP. The only things I would make different:

• Proficiencies are listed in a simple table offering quick options.
• Proficiencies are not divided into general and class-based tables. Instead, if you are able to use a certain feature, you could use the proficiency.
• No front-loading. Bonus proficiencies for a high ability score would be spread out over the advancement table (like INT 13+ gains one additional proficiency at first level, INT 16+ gains one additional proficiency at a later level, INT 18+ gains another additional proficiency at an even later level).
• Optionally: They would not be called proficiencies.

I am going to see what I can come up with in the next couple of weeks based on the lists in ACKS.

Banshees

A banshee (or Bean-Sidhe) is the howling spirit of a dead elf woman whose appearance foretells death. Now, most elves in the land beyond the Drowning Woods are either marsh elves (sometimes called swamp elves) or pale elves. In other words, most elves aren't of the goody two shoes variety. What that means for the disposition of their ghosts is left up to the individual referee to determine.

Banshee: HD 9, AC 18, Speed: half as fast as an unencumbered man, Morale 12, Damage: 1d8 (claws), only vulnerable to silver & magic, 50% immunity vs. spells, typical undead immunities, AL: Chaotic.

• Death Cry: Once per night, a banshee may scream loudly, painfully and deadly. Everyone within earshot has to succeed at a save vs. poison or die painfully in 2d6 rounds. Everyone who fails their save also is immediately deaf due to ruptured eardrums.

Goblin-Spiders

A Goblin-Spider Forest of course needs goblin-spiders. These are not your  traditional Japanese variant. Goblin spiders are smallish to largish creature with the body of a spider and the head of a warty hooked-nosed goblin. Their two foremost legs are actually able to manipulate tools and weapons. Though they rarely use them.

Goblin-spiders: HD 1, AC 13, Speed: one-and-a-half times as fast as an unencumbered man, Morale: 8, Damage: 1d4 + poison (save vs. poison +2 or die) (bite), 1/day web (caster level = HD), AL: Chaotic.

This is the most commonly encountered variant. For larger variants increase HD, increase armor class by 1 for every 2-3 HD, at 3 HD loose the +2 save bonus, at 6 HD impose a -2 save bonus. Queen Tittania probably has at least 10 HD and may even be a magic-user.

Dragons

I just mentioned the dragon Anthrax the Purple Thunder, so it's logical to post my take on dragons. When I told a friend the name of the dragon, he immediately suggested heavy metal band name themed dragons. We'll see if I roll with that.

Dragon: HD 2 to 12, AC 12 + # of HD, Speed: half that of an unencumbered man on ground, thrice that airborne, Morale 8, Damage: 3d6 (bite), 2x 1d8 (claws), 1x 1d6 (tail slap), magic resistence at HD x5%, AL: see below.

• Alignment: 50% of all dragons are aligned with law, the other 50% with chaos. 
• Dragon breath: Lawful dragons breath a cone of cold. Chaotic dragons breath a cone of fire. 1d4 attackers will be caught in the cone. They take # of HD in d6 damage (save vs. breath weapon for half damage). Accordingly, lawful dragons are immune to cold, and chaotic dragons are immune to fire.
• Spells: Lawful dragons cast cleric spells. Chaotic dragons cast magic-user spells. They will know 1d6 randomly determined 1st level spells, 1d3 randomly determined 2nd level spells and 1 random spell of 3rd level. Each spell can be cast once per day. If a spell is rolled multiple times, it can be cast multiple times. Caster level equals dragon HD.

I don't know yet where I am going with the lawful/chaos thing. It just seems right. The dragons are not chromatic or metallic, instead rather traditionally scaled and mottled in grey and brownish scales. I am thinking Skyrim a bit too much here...

Experience Points Revisited

The Degenerate Elite has offered some very valid commentary about my proposed xp progression. I'd like to address that in more depths.

• "your xp will result in ridiculously fast leveling for this system" - Correct. That is by design. I am not in favor of skipping the first couple of levels, but I am also not in favor of having the characters stuck at level 1-3 for any longer than absolutely necessary. So I am handing out enough xp to get them to higher levels pretty quickly. I want them to advance quickly.
• "the +100 per hit die is especially out of scale with normal monster encounters..." - You hit a nail there. I wasn't thinking when I did this. Mechanically, there would be no difference between hunting nine orcs and encountering a 9HD dragon. Except that surviving the orcs would be much easier. I don't like the table on page 32, because I think that the progression is too slow for my tastes. Also, I don't like referencing tables. Lotfp has nicely done away with most of the tables during actual game play.
• "for treasure to count for xp - it has to be returned safely to civilization" - I don't want the game to depend upon collecting treasure. I don't want to hinder mechanical character growth. I want the characters to advance.

So in order to address the second issue, I need to reconsider the table. I should mention that I don't expect the game to consist of that much combat, and therefore I want the xp gained from combat to count. Currently, I am seeing a formular for exponential xp emerge:

(HD x HD) x20

That would give an orc a value of 20 xp, a gnoll a value of 80 xp, and the 9HD dragon a value of 1.620 xp (or rather 2.000 xp, because due it's breath weapon and other abilities, it counts as a 10 HD monster).
Now hunting nine orcs will net the group 180 xp, and hunting nine gnolls will net 720 xp. Still considerably less than defeating one dragon.

House Rules for Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing

Yesterday we rolled up the first character for the campaign. Fiona Wilson, a female fighter from Kirkstead. Finally, this is going somewhere. In case you have been wondering, the Land Beyond the Drowning Woods campaign will start after the current Vampire the Masquerade (V20) campaign will be finished. Probably sometime in January. Maybe the first session will be on New Year's Eve.

Anyway, it is time to present the house rules for the campaign:

1. Ability scores: roll 3d6 twelve times, chose six and arrange as desired. If you include the lowest score rolled, you get to roll one other ability score again. Three times. If you roll higher than the current score, you get to keep the higher score.
2. Bonus spells: Clerics and magic-users receive bonus spell slots based on their Wisdom respectively Intelligence. INT or WIS 13-15: one first level bonus spell, INT or WIS 16-17: one second level bonus spell, INT or WIS 18: one third level bonus spell. The spell slot becomes available when a cleric or magic-user becomes elligable to cast spells of that level.
3. Strength bonus is added to weapon damage.
4. Elves are called swamp elves. Their appearance is wizened, with flinty black eyes, twisted arms and legs. They are reed thin. Apart from that they follow all the rules of the elven class.
5. Alignment: all clerics and all dwarves are lawful, all magic-user and elves are chaotic.
6. Starting Gear: all characters start with the same starting gear. Leather armor, shield, small weapon, dagger, traveling clothes, backpack, purse, bedroll, latern & lamp oil, one healing potion (1d6+1), 10 iron rations and 1d6 sp. Since each iron ration fills one encumberance slot, I give the players the option of foregoing some or all rations and gaining 1 sp per ration not taken instead. Magic-users and elves start with a spellbook, of course. Reasoning behind this package is to get gaming as fast as possible.
7. Two new common activities: Legend lore (knowledge about the campaign world) and busking (useful for performing and earning money). Legend lore starts at 1 in 6 and is modified by the Intelligence modifier. Busking also starts at 1 in 6 and is modified by the Charisma modifier. A successful busking roll earns 1d6 times roll result in copper pieces.
8. Starting spells for magic-users: Read magic. Then the player rolls 3 plus Intelligence modifier times on the chart of first level magic-user spells. Duplicates are re-rolled. He can pick three. The magic-user does not get more spells, he just has more choice. I want to emphasize the professional nature of the magic-user. For elves nothing changes. Their acquired spells are a matter of chance.
9. Hero points: Each session a character receives 3 hero points. Role-playing entertainingly, bringing food, or otherwise contributing to the game, may gain additional hero points. Each hero point can be used to either add a +2 to a roll on a d20, completely re-roll a d20 or to add a small detail to the narrative. We have just played a bit too much FATE 3rd edition to make do without any player empowerment. It probably will not hurt the game and also give the player characters a bit of an edge in surviving the lower levels.
10. Experience points: Since I don't want to place treasure all over the place, experience will be awarded differently. 500 XP for attending the game. +100 XP for each hex travelled or each dungeon level explored, + 100 XP per HD of monsters defeated (to be distributed evenly among the group), +250 XP if the player creates something that enriches the game-play for everyone (e.g. keeping and publishing a journal, drawing characters, and so on). In case a game has to be cancelled, every would-be participant receives 250 XP.

House rules that my players didn't like:

• The elven class becomes the tiefling class. Tieflings have small horns, cloven hoofs and smell faintly of sulphur or brimstone. They are more like the Planescape tieflings than the 4E tieflings.
• The halfling class becomes the swamp elven class. Swamp elves are wizened, with flinty eyes, twisted arms and legs and they are rail thin. They are medium-sized and count as elves for rules purposes.

See? I am listening to you. Now I just have to figure out where to place the halflings.But I already have an idea. Since the elves are roaming the swamps, the forests are kind of abandoned.

Note: That also means I am dropping the tiefling idea. There will be no tieflings as a player character class in the land beyond the Drowning Woods.

The Doomglaroon River and the Death Frost Mountain

Today, we continue with the exploration of the lands beyond the Drowning Woods.

The Doomglaroon River is navigable from the delta around the Nameless City up to Kirkstead. The barges bring finished goods from the Nameless City upstream and raw materials downstream. In the riverside villages, the Speakers of the River serve as priests. They know the secrets of irrigation and river locks. Each spring in each village a prisoner is chosen by lottery to be the Disciple of the River Father. The chosen disciple is drowned in the river to appease the river and prevent flooding.

The Death Frost Mountain (name taken from Zak's campaign map) is the only mountain to survive the moonfall in the area. The top is covered year round by glittering ice. The Doomglaroon River has its source at the foot of the mountain. Legends tell that the mountain formed around a sleeping giant. If you want to explore the Death Frost Mountain, get yourself a referee and the excellent Doom Frost Death module from Lotfp.

The Ravensfriend

Okay, I tried to resist, but failed my save miserably. I am just impressed with Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains and its sequel The Cold Commands. Also there is this:

The hero of both books is Ringil Eskiath, a war veteran who wields the blade Ravensfriend. The Ravensfriend was forged for him by the alien and immortal Kiriath. Its full name is something like:

I am welcomed in the home of ravens and other scavengers in the wake of warriors. I am friend to carrion crows and wolves. I am carry Me and kill with Me, and die with Me where the road ends. I am not the honeyed promise of length of life in years to come. I am the iron promise of never being a slave.

 I just have to do this sword as a magic item for Lotfp:

The Ravensfriend is a very sharp sword that can be drawn nearly instantly from its scabbard. It has the following powers:

• It grants a magical +1 bonus to hit. In terms of Lotfp, that is huge. I am not planning on having any magic that grants a larger bonus.
• The blade is very sharp and does double damage, i.e. 2d8.
• The blade can be drawn and an attack made without any penalties.
• The wielder is immune to all charm spells and effects. That's the bit about "the iron promise of never being a slave."
• The wielder will not be attacked by ravens, carrion crows and wolves. They recognize the blade as provider of food. Again, see name.

The wielder of the Ravensfriend must "do the right thing" (as per the alignment righteous). Not neccessarily as a knight in shining armor, but using those means that come most naturally to him. As long as he is trying his best and getting somewhere, the Ravensfriend will not desert him. If he shirks away from this duty, the referee has two options: let the character roll a save vs. magical device. If he fails, he has to do the right thing (as determined by the referee). Or, the Ravensfriend will not grant him powers any longer.

Note: I am not satisfied with the negative effect of the blade. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

The Sword of 100 Deaths

A long sword burnished black, glinting with a hint of silver. It does 1d8 damage and grants no bonus to hit. But, any creature hit by the sword must make a save vs. poison or be instantly slain. It's soul bound into the sword. So there is no way to resurrect a person while the sword is still whole. The lost dweomer might get around this limitation.

For any wielder, the sword will 99 times. The 100th death is the death of the wielder. After slaying the 99th victim, each time the sword hits another person, the wielder must save vs. poison or die. His soul is then absorbed into the sword.

Of course clever players would probably only use the sword, when it really counts. But alas, escaping the curse is not that easy. Each time the wielder is reaching for another weapon, he must succeed at a save vs. magical device at -5. If he fails, the weapon he grabs, is the Sword of 100 Deaths. Of course, this effect also means that it is extremly difficult to separate the wielder from his weapon.

Black Unicorns

Okay, I know they have been done to death. But I still want to do them. Also, beyond the Drowning Woods there are no white unicorns.

Black Unicorn: HD 5, AC 19, Speed: twice as fast as running man, Morale 10, Damage: 2x 1d8 (hooves), 1d8 + cause disease (horn), 25% magic resistance, double damage if charging, teleport as MU lvl 5 once per day, AL Chaotic.

• Virgin sacrifice: If the black unicorn encounters a man who has sacrificed a virgin, it must save vs. spell or forevermore serve that man.

The Drowned Ones

The land beyond the Drowning Woods does not have a moon, yet there are strange tides. When the sun sets, the water rises. When the sun rises, the waters recede. Thus it has ever been, since the moonfall.

With the tides come the Drowned Ones. The unquiet dead of the sea. They go where the salt water flows.

Drowned one: HD 1 to 3, AC 13, Speed: 3/4 of a walking man, Morale 12, Damage 1d8+3 (sabre), undead immunities, upper-half damage from bludgeoning weapons, vulnerable to rock salt, AL Chaotic.

• Watery touch: Drowned ones with 3HD or more can forego their weapon attack and instead touch the target. Target must save vs poison or die from drowning within 3 rounds. The corpse will rise as a drowned one in the next night. 
• Cursed treasure: Drowned ones carry 1d6 brass coins which will gleam like silver at night; tattered leather which will function as leather armor at night; sabres that will gleam as if struck by moonlight at night, but are useless in daylight (still count as magic weapons!). If anyone carrying part of such treasure is slain, he must save vs poison or rise the next night as a drowned one.
• Breaking the curse: Either prevent victim from drowning with appropriate spells or cast a cure spell on him. After the victim has turned into a drowned one, only a remove curse spell will work. But the victim will still be dead.

Note: At night, the tides are rising and all hexes not occupied by hills will flood with salt water. Villages and towns constructed on those hexes lie in elevated areas or have been elevated.

The Book of the Pale Moon

"As the uncaring gods warred in Heaven, the Moon was cracked and flung to the Earth. A great upheaval followed as the shards of the moon struck the cities of dwarves, rent the nations of elves and drowned the kingdoms of men. All that had been built was shattered. All that had been gathered was scattered.


Today, the world knows nothing of the Fallen Moon, the skies are empty save for distant stars. The oceans are shallow and the tides sweep the land. Yet dwarves, elves, men and tieflings prevail. But some, those born with seething sorcerous blood, look up to the sky, at the poisonous pale green moon glaring down on them. Ever full, never half, an accusing eye directed at their sins of wizardry and chaos."
- From the Book of the Pale Moon, written in the 2nd century of the Era of the Leaden Dawn by the magic-user Aglemore the Lunatic

Note: The Book of the Pale Moon is a grimoire containing the magic-user spells: summoning, force of forbidment, howl of the moon, strange waters II, seven gates, contact outer sphere, weird vortex and witchlamp aura.

Once per day, the owner of the book may cast any one of the spells contained in the book as a magic-user of his level. After casting the spell, he must make a saving throw vs magic at a penalty. The penalty is the difference between his current level and the minimum level required to cast the spell (if he is of higher level, this can become a bonus). If he fails the save, he will dream poisonous dreams of a pale moon. He will thrash and howl in his sleep and cannot be woken until dawn. Such a sleep is not restful at all. A magic-user or tiefling will not be able to prepare spells, and all his rolls on that day will be at a -2 penalty.

The spells in the grimoire can be studied and copied normally. This will not having any ill effect.

Marsh Elves

In the Swamp of Dreadful Dreams and the Swamp of Submerged Secrets, the marsh elven tribes roam. Marsh elves look wizened, with flinty eyes and long gnarly legs & arms. There ears are large and pointed.

A marsh elven tribe usually consists of 10d10 people travelling in strang boat-like wagons with big spidery wheels. About 90% of a clan are 0-lvl individuals. 10% are marsh elves (as medium-sized halflings) of levels 1-10. The highest level individual will be the leader. There is a 50% chance that the clan has a marsh witch. The witch is a female of level 5+1d10 and casts spells as a magic-user of equal level. She usually has 1d3 apprentices of levels 1-6.

Clan Names: Use the tables below to create a two-part name. The table could conceivably be used to generate tribal or clan names for other species (orcs, gnolls, goblins, etc.)

First part (roll 1d10)
1 - Blood(y)
2 - Black
3 - Gray
4 - Rusted
5 - Gnawed
6 - Bleached
7 - Crimson
8 - Purple
9 - Rotted
10 - Ghostly

Second part (roll 1d10)
1 - Bones
2 - Skulls
3 - Teeth
4 - Eye
5 - Fingers
6 - Boots
7 - Gauntlets
8 - Swords
9 - Knives
10 - Wheels

Races in the Drowning Woods

I don't very much like the standard races conceptually - or rather I like only elves (and tieflings, but they aren't part of OSR). But I don't like those flighty wood elves, frolicking in moonlight, singing and dancing for all eternity. That's boring and not weird. On the other hand, I like the Lotfp concept of the nearly unkillable dwarf with lots of hit points. For the halflings, I have absolutely no use. Even if they have the best saving throws in the whole game. Stop! I have just re-read the halfling class in Lotfp. Suddenly I find intriguing things: they have +1 bonus to their Dexterity modifier, are very stealthy and even gain a +1 bonus to AC when not surprised. So I guess, I'll keep the class around.

That leaves me with two options: divest race from class (which is not at all supported by Lotfp) or re-skin them. Leave the mechanics intact, but put them in a different make-up or put a different spin on them. The goal here: make the classes weird. Even weirder than in Lotfp.

Dwarves - Sailors in Ships of Stone
The dwarves are hardy (as mentioned above). I like that. I want to keep them around. But hard-working dwarves living in subterranean fortresses - not weird! Dwarves loving the sea and roaming the waves in their galleys of stone are different. So the dwarves are a sea-going people, who live on huge galleys made from stone. The secret of fashioning them now lost to time. On the other hand, a stone galley just wrecks your average wooden ship. They are the rulers of the waves, caught up in commerce and piracy. Yet, still a dwindling race. Ruleswise they stay as they are.

Elves become Tieflings - Spawn of the Netherworld
The elves in Lotfp are rather strange. They are aligned with chaos. They are vulnerable to holy water and holy symbols. Also, some spells specify that elves are immune to them. You could easily use the elves as presented in Lotfp to model Melnibonéans or other extra-planar creatures. I love tieflings. Therefore, I am reskinning elves as tieflings. Mechanics-wise it is not a complete match, but close enough. Tieflings will have small horns (not like those huge horns of the type IV tiefling) and faintly smell of brimstone or sulphur.

Halflings become Marsh Elves - Dwellers beyond the Drowning Woods
My rpg experience is heavily influences by the fighting fantasy gamebooks (and especially the Sorcery! epic). In "The Seven Serpents" you meet these shifty gypsy black elves. In "From the Pit", you find out that they split from the Dark Elves, because they didn't like their evil ways. Now they are ostracized from good and evil elven society. I just like the concept: a broken elven people condemned to roam the country side having lost much of their heritage. I've already re-purposed the elves, so the halflings remain. Let's make the medium sized, leave all of the other stuff in place and transform them into wretched Marsh Elves. They are chaotic and all the rules about elves regarding holy water/symbols and spell descriptions apply to them.

Beyond the Drowning Woods there is also one important rule (taken from Swords & Wizardry): NPC members of the dwarves, tieflings or marsh elves may have completely different capabilities than the PCs.

XP and Levels

It seems that I am not the only one thinking about the issue of XP and levels. I am not really comfortable with the way Lamentations of the Flame Princess is handling XP. You get them for treasure, but relatively few for slain monsters. Partly because in Lotfp you're not expect to slay that many monsters.

Handing out XP for treasure has its own issues. Because suddenly I feel compelled to place enough treasure everywhere so the PCs can level up. To me that's not helpful. If they don't find the treasure, they don't level up and I can't bring on greater challenges. For my group that's further complicated by a player pool-style of the campaign.

Therefore, I need another solution. Either I am going to hand out a large sum of flat XP each session. So that you can be sure if you show up, you'll get maybe 750-1.000 XP per evening plus XP for monsters. Also, I tend to award additional XP, if you come up with something game-related that makes the game more fun for the other players or the GM. That could be, but is not limited to: a character portrait (either self-drawn or found on the internet), a character backstory (nothing fancy, just a couple of sentences describing who you are, where you are from and what you want) or even a session log. That would fit right into an XP model. Say 1.000 XP for attending and 500 XP per thing you do for the game.

That's huge chunks of XP at lower levels. But that's me. I want to play through the low levels, but not get stuck there for ages.

The alternative system would be to award a new level as soon as the character has participated in a number of game sessions either equal to his level, equal to his level +1 or even double his level. Thus honoring the investment of time and getting each character to advance roughly at the same time. I am not worried about game balance for the same reasons the blog post mentioned earlier isn't. You are hyper-specialized. You can as well get better at the same time everybody else is.

But currently, I think I am going with the flat XP model for honoring the time spend in the game.

Mermaids

Currently, I reading Death's Master (part of the aforementioned Tales from the Flat Earth). The hero Zhirem is currently captured in an undersea kingdom. That reminded me of my take on mermaids.

Mermaids are of course no gentle creatures. They are murderous monsters bend on drowning and devouring sailors and other unfortunate men. So lets build a mermaid. Again, I am going for the lower end of the hit dice spectrum. Merman are usually given 1 HD. But I find that a bit underwhelming. So lets settle for 3. Enough to be a more serious threat. Armor class is probably going to be 12. They are unarmored after all. Let's add one more point for higher dexterity. They will be very fast in water, but not so much on dry land... Morale will be above a snivelling creature (6) but below a courageous monster (9). So I am settling for an eight. Damage will be by sharp teeth or claws. Somewhere around d6. Of course they are able to breath water and air. Also, they can cast charm person at will (instead of an attack). But the spell will only work on males.

All in all, nothing special here. They want to drown and eat you, so better forget any romantic notions about live under the sea.

Mermaid: HD 3, AC 13, Speed: double that of a walking man in water, practically nil on land, Morale 8, Damage: d6, Able to breath in water and air, charm person at will, AL: Chaotic.