In the battle between good and evil, this one counts!

Art by Jim Holloway

In the '80s, FASA produced several games based on licensed properties and did so with reasonable success (other than that one).  FASA hoped to obtain the license to produce games based on the Star Wars property; however, the license went to West End Games.  This left FASA with the basis of a space battle combat system but unable to publish that system for the intended setting.  As such, FASA came up with an original setting.  The 'Renegade Legion' background is essentially the Roman Empire in space.  While Star Wars features a rebel alliance against an evil galactic empire, Renegade Legion has an alliance of humans and aliens (the Commonwealth) against an evil galactic empire (the Terran Overlord Government).  As a result of these opposing forces, we get the rather lackluster tagline, “In the battle between good and evil, this one counts!”

The first Renegade Legion product was 1987's Interceptor, a space ship war game.  FASA produced other war games for the franchise.  In 1990, FASA published Legionnaire, a role-playing game based in the Renegade Legion setting and compatible with the prior games.  Is 1990 too recent to be considered 'old school'?  It's thirty years old, but it's just recent enough for it not to be cataloged in Lawrence Schick's Heroic Worlds.  Cherished readers with a strong opinion one way or the other are invited to comment.  Regardless, Legionnaire certainly has some 'old school' connections.

Legionnaire was designed by Tunnels & Trolls stalwarts Michael A. Stackpole and James “Bear” Peters.  It is therefore not surprising there are similarities between the two games.  Legionnaire characters have eight Primary Attributes:  Agility, Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Luck, Speed, and Strength.  There are few differences from the Prime Attributes of the contemporaneous T&T rules.  Legionnaire separates T&T Dexterity into Dexterity (aptitude with “fine motor skills”) and Agility (aptitude with “gross motor skills”).  Legionnaire also has Speed, an attribute which T&T would adopt in later editions.

The “basic value” for each Primary Attribute is determined by adding the results of 2d10.  Alternately, a player may allocate 88 points among the eight Primary Attributes.  Using the allocation method, “No attribute can have a value below 5 or above 17.”

After Primary Attribute values are determined, players select skills for their characters.  The Legionnaire skill system approximates that which Stackpole developed for T&T.  Each character has a number of skill points equal to his or her Intelligence value plus three.  Each skill requires a minimum Intelligence value; as examples, Gambling requires at least 4 Intelligence, Cryptography requires at least 15.  Some skills also require minimum values with other attributes.  For instance, Escape Artist requires a minimum value of 13 in each of Intelligence, Agility, and Dexterity.

It costs 1 skill point to purchase a skill at level 1.  Extra skill levels can be purchased at a cost, in skill points, equal to the sum of the levels up to and including that level.  i.e., level 2 costs 2 more points, for a total of 3 points.  Level 3 costs 6 points (1 + 2 + 3), 3 points more than level 2.  Level 8 costs 8 points more than level 7, or a total of 36 points.

The basic mechanic for Legionnaire is to roll a number of dice and compare the total result to a specified number.  Exceeding said number indicates failure.  The specified number is either a character's attribute (for saving rolls) or an appropriate skill level added to an appropriate attribute (for skill checks).  Difficulty is expressed by the number of dice to be rolled.  Minimum difficulty is 1d10; extreme difficulty is “6D10 or more.”

Every two skill points represents a year of time which is added to a character's base age of 17.  However, we learn that, “A good background story for a character can be rewarded by granting the character a skill or two for free.”  Such a reward “should be limited to two skill points worth of skills.”

Legionnaire offers 'career packages' from which characters can obtain a number of reasonably related skills at a discount.  For instance, the career package for a marine officer provides twelve skills for only nine points.  Only four years are added to the character's age (as opposed to six).  However, career packages require minimum attribute values.  The marine officer package requires a value of ten in each of Intelligence, Dexterity, and Agility.  The career packages in Legionnaire are limited to military or intelligence.  However, characters are not required to take a career package.  Also, rules are provided for creating original career packages.

In the next post, we will continue our exploration of the Legionnaire character generation system.

The Undercity

Art by Liz Danforth

As regular readers know, recent posts have been about Flying Buffalo's CityBook series of supplements.  Electronic versions of these books are now available at RPGNow for your gaming edification.  In this post, we look at the third CityBook.  Having the subtitle Deadly Nightside, the theme of CityBook III – as explained in the Introduction – “is a dark and dangerous excursion into the seedier section of fantasy cities.”  The term 'Nightside' is used as the actual name of a section of a hypothetical city rather than a generic term for an unsavory urban area.  Whereas the establishments in the previous installments were organized according to business type, entries in Nightside are organized in three layers:  Good, Bad, and Deadly.  This layer structure is “the rough order characters would be likely to encounter [the establishments].”  The Introduction continues:  “In short, unless you've got a very jaded gaming group, you're not likely to hit an opium den right off the bat.”  Yes, an opium den is described on pages 76 – 82.

Michael Stackpole was the sole editor of CityBook III and also provided two of the establishments.  One of these entries – The Undercity – is like a Beggars' Guild, but “definitely a different Beggars' Guild.”  The term 'Undercity' refers to beggar society as well the location where the beggars reside (also called “the Warrens” or “the Underrealm”).

     The City's current level is built upon a dozen previous cities – some old enough to be legendary, a couple more lurk beneath those.  The beggars, over the generations, have dug down, excavated and set up living quarters in buildings that once stood in sunlight but now dwell in everdark.  Most of them live in a level about four cities below the surface, and the sewers cut through levels 1 and 2, though never did hit any of the warrens.

(The sewers are described as a separate 'establishment'.)

The beggars are divided into six 'tribes':  FAKERS (“...normal children of beggar parents”), WARDREGS (“...warriors or adventurers who have suffered maiming injuries”), GUTTERKIN (“...the utterly desperate and destitute...[usually] old, drunk, or mad”), ILLKIN (“...people who have been maimed and disabled by disease and illness”), SPOILED (“...those who have been maimed by an accident, or on purpose, and can no longer function in society because of their injury”), and YSRAIGET (“...congenitally deformed beggars”).  Many of the Ysraiget are 'changelings' – malformed children of 'Upworld' parentage who have been switched with “normal beggar babies.”

The term 'Ysraiget' is derived from Ysrai, a god that the beggars worship.  “A full thousand years before history was recorded with any veracity, Ysrai's temples were swept from the earth...,” the book explains,“Ysrai is so thoroughly removed from the minds of men that his name is only known to a few practitioners of arcane and blasphemous rituals.”  On the lowest level of the Undercity, the beggars found a statue of Ysrai, “broken and scarred like themselves...”  Creating their own cosmology, “The beggars made this god their own.”  They also “tied the selection of their King to their patron deity.”

The current Beggar King is Myre.  According to his description:  “He was one of four beggars who met the prime requisite for candidacy; he was maimed in a manner similar to the injuries on Ysrai's statue.”  As King, Myre “has stressed the importance of gathering and sifting information.”

     Through a bizaare [sic] set-up, beggars all memorize and analyze (if mentally capable) all the news, rumors and actions in the City.  Stories pass through the Undercity and are relayed to the individuals who handle that information.  New beggars are trained and learn everything one of the older beggars knows so redundancy is built right into the system.  In fact, some of the most hideously deformed Ysraiget are so mentally gifted they can remember and recall centuries-old gossip as if they'd heard it the day before, and they'll link it with any cogent data gathered before or since.  Without benefit of books or scrolls, the beggars have the most complete history of the City and world in existence today!

Myre's part in the information network involves him spending “time in Domdaniel's Gate speaking with Tranq.”

Domdaniel's Gate is an establishment contributed to CityBook III by the designer formerly known as Paul Jaquays.  The current Domdaniel's Gate tavern is situated under the ruins of the original Domdaniel's Gate.  Thirty years ago, the original tavern was destroyed by...

...a time implosion, caused by the crash-landing of a time vehicle.  Its pilot, Tranq, a man from the far-flung future found himself stranded in the past; pieces of his time machine scattered across the near past and future like a debris trail from a sinking ship.

Tranq is the current proprietor of Domdaniel's Gate.  As a tavern, the “Gate” has a regular clientele of “undiscriminating local bullies, ruffians, thugs, and punks...”  Other than the tavern's bartender, Tranq's true nature is known only to Myre, the Beggar King.

     Myre discovered Tranq's secret as a child and would often help him find the missing pieces of the time machine.  When he became king, it only seemed natural to use Tranq's establishment as a formal link with the “normal” world.  Tranq often uses his futuristic technology to aid the beggars in whatever ways he can.

All of the alcohol that the tavern serves is acquired on the black market and is delivered via the Undercity.  Also, Tranq is the only non-beggar to have been instructed in the “beggar dialect.”

Port o' Call

Art by Liz Danforth

Over a period of fifteen years (1982 - 1997), Flying Buffalo published seven installments of its CityBook line of system-neutral game supplements (or “a GM aid for ALL role-playing systems” as the books themselves state).  All of the books provide details about various urban establishments, including descriptions, maps, non-player characters, and scenario suggestions.  Each book after the first was presented as a themed collection.  For instance, CityBook II – published in 1984 – carries the subtitle Port o' Call and “focuses on places an adventurer is likely to find in the worlds' crossroads: port cities.”  The editors for this second volume were Liz Danforth and Michael Stackpole (or “Liz Dansforth and Micheal Stackpole” as they are credited for “Typoes”).

As demonstrated in a cover graphic (shown below), one of the selling points of the second CityBook is a conrtibution by Dave Arneson.  This is interesting in that the entry – “The Longtooth Lounge” – does not especially conform to the seaside theme the book proclaims.  However, the introduction to the 'Lodging and Entertainment' section jokingly states that “a number of horizon-expanding experiences are available” at the Lounge.

The Lounge offers “liquid refreshment as well as female companionship for its gentlemen clientele.”  Of course, port cities have such establishments, but there is nothing to indicate that the Longtooth Lounge isn't in a landlocked locale.  As the depiction above shows, there is “a large pair of sunken double doors” next to “a three-story tall tower.”  This is more subtle than a train entering a tunnel, but not by much.

As one might expect, the Longtooth Lounge is no ordinary brothel.  There are various aspects that make the Lounge an interesting adventure location – or a sit-com premise.  Foremost among these is Jeanie, “the most popular girl” in the establishment.  She “commands the highest prices and leaves even the most obnoxious customer satisfied.”  We learn, “This is because Jeanie gives the customer exactly what he wants, magically...”  You see, Jeanie is a genie.  Jeanie entered the world's oldest profession when the madame that owns the Longtooth Lounge made an off-hand comment while holding the locket that contains the genie.  Not realizing that the locket was associated with a genie, the madame said, “I wish that the Lounge had someone to help the girls with the guests...”  Nothing about the wish suggests that Jeanie assume the role herself, but assume it she did.  So, the brothel has a working girl who is a genie, but no one realizes she's a genie.  (The Lounge's bouncer may know the truth, but this is not made clear in the description.)  Jeanie, “like all genies, [is] likely to take any requests literally, [and] her power is often wielded rashly...”

Jeanie is also “Somewhat hard of hearing...” and “is surprised 5% of the time.”  Sometimes, Jeanie is 'surprised' by a customer and there is “a 75% probability that the assailant will be turned into something harmless and immobile – generally a plant.”  However, “the plants retain many of their human mental faculties.”  According to page 19, “The trouble with this automatic defense is that it seems to be permanent, and there is no way to restore any of the plants to their complete human form using normal magic.”  Jeanie places these plants in the Lounge's garden where they exist “with a nearly human awareness.”  Among the 'normal' plants in the garden, “there are domesticated triffids and Martian sand traps.”

Although there is nothing to suggest that the Lounge is in a port city, there are a few easy ways such a connection could have been established.  For instance, the tower could have been a former lighthouse or one of the working girls could have been a mermaid.  Due to the disappearance of Jeanie's 'victims', “The local authorities...seem to believe the [Lounge] is some kind of front for a slaving operation.”  The book's Introduction defines some nautical terms, including crimp:  “...someone who drugs and kidnaps lubbers to sell them to a captain who will attempt to turn them into sailors.”  The Longtooth Lounge could easily have had an actual 'crimping' sideline.

Among the other establishments listed in CityBook II, the good ship Golden Princess is described.  It is a contribution from Stephan Peregrine.  Within the seven pages devoted to the ship is the following gem:

     Kyztprr.  Thing.  Ht: variable.  Wt: 20 lbs.  Age: adult.  Fighting prowess: fair with what he uses in place of teeth.
     Unknown to virtually everyone aboard the Princess is Kyztprr.  During a violent storm off the accursed Isle of F'Tudd, Kyztprr was wave-tossed onto the ship and washed through a hatchway torn open by the typhoon.  Kyztprr made his way to the bilge where he hid safely, somewhat resembling a ballast stone.  For the most part, he is content to stay there, eating bilge worms and rats.  The diet is affecting his mind, driving him mad.  On nights when the evil stars rise, he has crawled forth in search of something besides rats to sate his hunger . . . .

Also included in the second CityBook is a 'notes' page, reproduced below for your non-commercial edification.  With the artwork and the large CITYBOOK™ NOTES title, not much space is reserved for actual notes. C'est la vie.  Your guess is as good as mine with regard to what that sign is supposed to show.

Art by Liz Danforth

The Ten Schools of Magic in Trollworld

From 1982 through 1997, Flying Buffalo produced a series of 'CityBooks' that detailed a variety of urban establishments – complete with maps, NPCs, and scenario ideas.  The covers displayed the phrase, “a game-master's aid for all role-playing systems.”  Today, we would just use the term 'system neutral'.  Given its generic nature, guidelines were necessary to adapt the CityBook to any given set of rules.  To this end, “a six-level coding system” of quality was implemented; each 'level' corresponding to a percentage range.

Given the diversity of magic systems in fantasy gaming, it is impossible to assign specific spells or powers to any magic-using NPC in CityBook.  However, spells or powers can be broken down into categories of magic, regardless of what game system you use. Mike Stackpole devised the “8C's System” in order to provide GMs with a better understanding of the magical capabilities of NPCs.  In this system, each “C” corresponds to a particular category of magic:  Combat (“used primarily in an offensive/defensive manner in combat”), Curative (“used to heal wounds, cure diseases, stop poison damage, etc.”), Clairvoyant (“used to detect things:  secret doors, magic, hidden or trapped items, etc.”), Conveyance (“Teleportation, levitation, flying, telekinesis spells, etc.”), Communication (“telepathy, translation, hypnosis, magic reading spells, etc.”), Construction (“uses matter or energy to 'build,' e. g. wall spells, protective fields, stone-shaping spells, etc.”), Concealment (“serves to hide or misdirect, e. g. invisibility, illusion, shape-shifting spells, etc.”), and Conjuration (“produces a condition or entity, e. g. light spells, weather control, demon-summoning spells, etc.”).

The recently completed Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls divides magic into ten schools (after the fashion of the Universarium of Learning in Knor).  According to page 100, “The ten schools of magic used in dT&T are directly derived from FBInc's Citybook publications.”  The schools are listed below.  The parenthetical names “are merely examples as are occasionally used in places like the Universarium (some openly, some mockingly behind the backs of the practitioners...).”

• Clairvoyant (College of the Illuminated Mind)
• Combat (Academy of Applied Force)
• Communication (Academy of the Echoing Forum)
• Concealment (The School You Don't Know About with the Classrooms You Can Never Find)
• Conformation (School of Bodily Functions)
• Conjurations (School of Creative Invitations and Reality Realizations)
• Construction (The Technical College of Fabrincantations)
• Conveyance (The Exalted Union of Hod and Cask Translocation)
• Cosmic (Esoteric Lyceum of Splendiferous Wonderment)
• Curative (The Caring Ones)

Obviously, the two additional schools are Conformation and Cosmic.  The Conformation school includes...

Spells that can alter shape, form, makeup, or attributes of living beings (although some undead magic also falls into this category).  Shapeshifting spells that actually alter the body fit here; illusions of same fall under Concealment.

Cosmic magic regards...

A broad alteration of reality, and (because every scheme of magic needs one) this is also the dump category for things that doesn't fit anywhere else.

In the 8C system, the Conjuration category served as the repository for misfit spells.

Tunnels & Trolls without Tunnels or Trolls

Art by Michael Kucharski

As an employee of Flying Buffalo, Michael Stackpole was exposed to Tunnels & Trolls.  His experiences inspired him to adapt the T&T system to 'modern' genres of adventure, specifically “detective, spy and mercenary fiction.”  So, in 1983, Flying Buffalo published the descriptively titled Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes.  (Personally, I would have gone with Guns & Gumshoes.  Would you believe Mysteries & Mayhem ?)  The back cover proclaims, “This is a unique role playing game which can be set from the earliest use of gunpowder to the near future with its ultramodern technologies.”  While statistics are given for 16th Century firearms, MSPE is better suited for more recent eras.  The “near future” is not specifically addressed.  Aside from contemporary characters, there are sample characters for the 1930's and even the 1880's (including Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty).

When a T&T character gains an experience level, there may be a windfall of attribute increases  Improving attributes in MSPE is more moderate; at each level, a character can improve one attribute by two points or two attributes by one point.  (BTW, Holmes is seventh level, Watson is fourth.)

There are no character types/classes in MSPE; beyond differences in attribute scores, skill portfolios make characters distinct from one another.  I previously wrote about Stackpole's skill system, at least as it relates to T&T.  In essence, a character's Intelligence determines the number of skills the character can have.  (This seems reasonable, except aristocratic titles and 'psychic' skills are purchased no differently than 'normal' skills.)  Unlike T&T, where weapon use is based on character type, MSPE characters must purchase combat skills in order to be competent with weapon groups or fighting styles.  Each skill starts at level one.  Additional levels can be acquired during character generation by spending additional skill points; however, during play, skills can only improve via experience (i.e., 'adventure points').  Naturally, characters earn adventure points, but points are also specifically assigned to skills when they are used during an adventure.  According to the rules, “There should be no other way for skills to pick up APs.”  Anyway, upon earning one thousand adventure points a character advances to level two and when a skill's total assigned experience reaches one thousand, the skill becomes level two.  So, instead of just tracking experience for a character, a player is obliged to track the character's experience as well as separate volumes of experience for each skill.

Although I do not think this is a good way of handling skill improvement, I could at least appreciate it if it was consistent...but it's not consistent.  'Martial Arts' skills are improved not by experience gained during an adventure, but only through training.  One might think that many skills (e.g., Pilot, Medic, Slight of Hand, et al.) would benefit as a result of training – much like what happens in  real life – but this is not so in MSPE.  Beyond meeting attribute requirements and spending one skill point, a character can obtain up to five levels in a martial art by training.  In MSPE, “training” equates to an outlay of money; five levels equals $1,400.

'Psychic' skills cost three points each.  There are six possible skills:  psychometry, telekinesis, clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy, and empathy.  A player does not choose a specific 'psychic' skill; the skill is determined randomly.  A saving roll modified by Intelligence resolves whether a psychic skill is latent or controllable.  Alas, no rules are provided to allow a latent skill to become controllable with experience.

Combat in MSPE is handled much like combat in T&T, except MSPE does not use two-minute combat turns.  Combat Rounds in MSPE last for thirty seconds – except Missle-Weapon Combat Rounds only last for fifteen seconds.  Oh, and “Movement takes place in 15-second increments...”  Why not have combat rounds of a consistent, standard duration?  I guess that wouldn't be realistic.

From the foregoing, one might assume that I dislike MSPE.  This is not the case.  I agree with another statement from the back cover, “...MSPE is elegantly simple, easy to learn, and most of all, fun to play!”  I object to those rules facets that – in my opinion – mar the elegance of the system. It is because I like the system that I find these errant facets frustrating.  “Contradictions and inconsistencies can destroy a campaign,” Stackpole writes on page 77; they can also reduce the appeal of an otherwise competent rules system.

To end this post on a positive note, I commend 'Book 2' (of 3) of the rules, “Introduction to Scenario Design.”  The 'Hit Location' and 'Car Crashes' sections really belong elsewhere in the rules, but the rest is top-notch advice on creating  adventures and campaigns in the MSPE genres, with a special emphasis on formulating and running “mysteries.”  After all, a mystery needs a degree of finesse not often required in a typical dungeon romp.

Skills in Tunnels & Trolls

Art by Victoria Poyser

In a 1982 issue of Sorcerer's Apprentice, an article appeared, “Skills in Tunnels & Trolls,” written by Michael Stackpole.  More than twenty years later, it was incorporated into the 5.5 edition of Tunnels & Trolls.  In Stackpole's system, each character has a number of 'skill points' equal to his or her Intelligence (IQ).  Each skill costs one point (or more) and each skill has a minimum IQ necessary to learn the skill.

This system owes much to Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip, specifically In The Labyrinth (1980).  The 'skill point purchase' system in TFT is essentially the same except the term “talent” is used rather than “skill.”  Stackpole employs his system in Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes (1983) as well as FASA's Legionnaire (1990), co-designed with T&T alumnus Jim “Bear” Peters.

In his article, Stackpole describes only eleven skills as well as two types of “open” skills (open in the sense that they have no IQ minimum).  The first open skill is 'Special Interest' which includes

...almost anything that might be learned by a character doing personal study.  The only areas that cannot be covered...are areas covered specifically by another skill.

The other open skill is 'Occupational Skill', each of which represents “one year of an intensive training course in one form of employment.”  The other eleven skills, sorted by IQ minimum, are:

• IQ 6 – Bludgeon, Climbing, Swimming
• IQ 8 – Begging, Pickpocket, Treasure Evaluation
• IQ 10 – Trapping, Trap Disarm
• IQ 12 – First Aid
• IQ 13 – Navigation, Plant Lore (These cost 2 points each.)

Of course, Stackpole did not intend this listing to be comprehensive, merely “a small sampling.”  According to Stackpole, “You can flesh T&T characters out with appropriate skills from other games.” (i.e., Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes and Monsters! Monsters! ).  This sort of brevity is acceptable in a magazine article, but when presented in a rules compilation, a more thorough listing ought to be supplied.

Skills have “levels” and these levels are added to an appropriate attribute for the purpose of making saving rolls.  For instance, 'Trap Disarm' would be added to IQ when attempting to identify a trap, added to Dexterity in disarming the trap, or added to Luck to lessen the effects of a sprung trap.  Upon acquiring a skill, it is 'level one'.  A skill's level increases only with experience, but a skill's experience is distinct from a character's experience.  Every attempt to use a skill – successful or not – earns fifty experience points for that skill.  The amount of experience points needed for a skill to gain a level is the same as for a character to gain a level; a skill advances to second level upon amassing one thousand experience points (or twenty attempts).  Tracking character experience is one thing, but tracking experience separately for each skill is a tedious exercise.

Regardless of the consideration of separate experience, this kind of skill system may not be suitable for Tunnels & Trolls.  In Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes it works because there are no character types, all characters are on an equal footing.  T&T has character types that define a character's abilities and pre-game background.  Imposing a skill purchase system as well seems stilted.  Stackpole notes that, “For balance, each level of T&T magic spells cost two skill points.”  Does that apply to both rogues and magic-users?  Does this mean that, upon gaining an experience level, a magic-user can only have access to spells of that level if she has spare skill points or if she opted to increase her intelligence? I'm not opposed to skill systems, but Stackpole's solution is not ideal for Tunnels & Trolls.