Post by Wild Weasel on Jun 26, 2012 20:57:23 GMT -6
The Story So Far…
Enter Barrastia, a realm of kingdoms and political upheavals, mercenary war bands and warrior cultists. It is a land fraught with peril, both from within and without. Temptations by the Dark Gods and the sinister workings of renegade wizards… these are just a few of the dangers lurking, waiting to taint or obliterate the unwary.
You are Red Shadow, a ranger with mystical skills and abilities. Abandoned as a child, you grew up a waif and street urchin in the vicinity of Helgate, a corrupt city bordering the civilized lands to the Northwest. As fate would dictate, a dark-skinned stranger with a sand-colored cloak obscuring his features came into your life when you were but twelve years of age.
A foolish bet led you to attempt pick-pocketing the stranger, but his senses and wits were sharp. He could have very easily handed you over to the local magistrate where the penalty for such crimes was the loss of a limb, but he saw something in you, something that he could cultivate to serve a higher cause.
The stranger was an elf, Desert Lynx by name, from a tribe of nomads far to the south. He came to be your tutor, mentor, and friend. For the next five years, the two of you lived a mostly-secluded existence in the forested lands not far from the fabled City of Brass. From time to time, he would go off alone on one of his outings, disappearing for weeks at a time.
Mention of some of this would be made to you, but you were left in the dark about much of it. You wondered if Desert Lynx was an outcast of some type, whether from his own people or his own Monastic order. Regardless, you were content with your new life. Helgate eventually became a distant memory.
Shortly after you turned seventeen years of age, word travelled to the ears of your mentor of an unearthed book entitled The Origin of Kaishir. The implications were profound to Desert Lynx, and your curiosity only grew. Eager with anticipation, he set out to find this previously unknown tome. You, once again, were left to fend for yourself.
A week passed, and a vision came unbidden to you in the night. You would have ignored it, except for one fact: you never dream. Desert Lynx appeared to be trapped in some sort of tight confines, perspiration pouring down his brow, his facial muscles taut. Words came in short and furious bursts: Red… you must seek… old comrades, Wild Weasel and Agnon… tomb of Raldorien… Fatestones of Kaishir… not much more time and I—”.
You recognize the names of Wild Weasel and Agnon as acquaintances of Desert Lynx’s. Recalling tales of the two from his stories, you hope that you can track them down and enlist their help before it was too late. A chill runs down your spine as you are not exactly sure how much time your mentor has… or whether it was even too late.
You reach for your weapons and your cloak of which the color of cherry oak lends you your name. Without a look back, you set out for the nearby City of Brass and The Screaming Wench somewhere within: Desert Lynx’s favorite drinking hole, one which you never had the fortune of visiting before.
The Game Rules
During your training as a Monastic under Desert Lynx’s tutelage you have developed fighting prowess (Combat Skill) and physical stamina (Endurance). To measure the effectiveness of your training, roll a d10. If you roll a 0 it counts as zero.
The first number rolled represents your Combat Skill. Divide the number rolled by two (rounded down) and add 15. When you fight, your Combat Skill will be pitted against that of your enemy. For example, if you roll a 9, you would have a Combat Skill of 19.
The second number rolled represents your powers of Endurance. Divide the number rolled by two (rounded down) and add 25. For example, if you roll a 4, you would have 27 Endurance points.
If you are wounded in combat you will lose Endurance points. If at any time your Endurance points fall to zero or below, you are dead and your adventure is over. Lost Endurance points can be regained, but they can never go above the number with which you start your adventure.
Monastic Disciplines
As a Monastic, you have learnt only five of the skills listed below. The choice of which five skills these are, is for you to make. As all of them may be of use to you at some point in your adventure, pick them with care. The correct use of a Discipline at the right time can save your life.
Weaponmastery
This skill allows the user to add 3 to his Combat Skill when wielding a weapon that he has mastered. If selecting this Discipline, select three weapons from the following list to which this bonus shall be applied: dagger, spear, mace, short sword, warhammer, sword, axe, quarterstaff, broadsword, bow. Mastery of the bow allows one to add 3 to the roll of a d10 when applicable.
Animal Control
This skill allows you to communicate with some animals as well as determine their purpose and intention.
Curing
This skill allows a Monastic to cure disease, blindness, and wounds. Using the knowledge that mastery of this skill provides will also allow a Monastic to identify the properties of herbs, roots, and potions. It can also delay the effects of poisons.
Invisibility
This skill allows the user to blend in with his surroundings. It will enable him to mask his body heat and scent as well as adopt the dialect and mannerisms of any locale that he visits.
Huntmastery
This skill allows a Monastic to move with great speed, dexterity, and agility.
Pathsmanship
Use of this skill allows a Monastic to recognize a correct path in unknown territory as well as read foreign languages and decipher symbols.
Nexus
Mastery of this skill allows one to move items by the power of concentration alone as well as withstand extremes of heat and cold. It also grants resistance to noxious gases and fumes.
Divination
This skill acts as a sixth sense to a Monastic, alerting him of imminent or unseen danger. It also allows one to communicate telepathically and detect magic.
Battle Magic
Spells such as Shield, Power Word, and Invisible Fist are at your disposal with this skill. Higher levels of mastery will enable one to learn and use Splinter, Flameshaft, Penetrate, Energy Grasp, Power Glyph, and Hold Enemy, but at a much greater level of exertion and can be very draining.
Brotherhood Magic
Spells such as Lightning Hand, Levitation, and Mind Charm are at your disposal with this skill. Higher levels of mastery will enable one to learn and use Halt Missile, Strength, Slow Fall, Breathe Water, Teleport, and See Illusion, but at a much greater level of exertion and can be very draining.
Rules for Combat
1. Add your Combat Skill to any extra points given to you by your Monastic Disciplines.
2. Subtract the Combat Skill of your enemy from this total. This number is equivalent to the Combat Ratio.
3. Roll a d10.
4. Check the Combat Results Table.
5. Find your Combat Ratio on the top of the chart and cross-reference the number rolled from the d10. E indicates loss of Endurance points to the enemy whereas LW indicates loss of Endurance points to Red Shadow (Lone Wolf’s alter-ego).
6. Continue the combat from Stage 3 until one character is dead. This is when the Endurance points of either character falls to 0 or below.
***see attachment for Combat Results Table***
Levels of Monastic Training
Tutelary – mastery of 5 Disciplines, you begin your adventure with this level of training.
Principalin – mastery of 6 Disciplines
Mentora – mastery of 7 Disciplines
Scion – mastery of 8 Disciplines
Archmaster – mastery of 9 Disciplines
Esoteric – mastery of all 10 Disciplines, this is the goal of all Monastics. Few can rightfully call themselves Esoterics.
Numbered Sections
1
You start here. To be continued…
Enter Barrastia, a realm of kingdoms and political upheavals, mercenary war bands and warrior cultists. It is a land fraught with peril, both from within and without. Temptations by the Dark Gods and the sinister workings of renegade wizards… these are just a few of the dangers lurking, waiting to taint or obliterate the unwary.
You are Red Shadow, a ranger with mystical skills and abilities. Abandoned as a child, you grew up a waif and street urchin in the vicinity of Helgate, a corrupt city bordering the civilized lands to the Northwest. As fate would dictate, a dark-skinned stranger with a sand-colored cloak obscuring his features came into your life when you were but twelve years of age.
A foolish bet led you to attempt pick-pocketing the stranger, but his senses and wits were sharp. He could have very easily handed you over to the local magistrate where the penalty for such crimes was the loss of a limb, but he saw something in you, something that he could cultivate to serve a higher cause.
The stranger was an elf, Desert Lynx by name, from a tribe of nomads far to the south. He came to be your tutor, mentor, and friend. For the next five years, the two of you lived a mostly-secluded existence in the forested lands not far from the fabled City of Brass. From time to time, he would go off alone on one of his outings, disappearing for weeks at a time.
Mention of some of this would be made to you, but you were left in the dark about much of it. You wondered if Desert Lynx was an outcast of some type, whether from his own people or his own Monastic order. Regardless, you were content with your new life. Helgate eventually became a distant memory.
Shortly after you turned seventeen years of age, word travelled to the ears of your mentor of an unearthed book entitled The Origin of Kaishir. The implications were profound to Desert Lynx, and your curiosity only grew. Eager with anticipation, he set out to find this previously unknown tome. You, once again, were left to fend for yourself.
A week passed, and a vision came unbidden to you in the night. You would have ignored it, except for one fact: you never dream. Desert Lynx appeared to be trapped in some sort of tight confines, perspiration pouring down his brow, his facial muscles taut. Words came in short and furious bursts: Red… you must seek… old comrades, Wild Weasel and Agnon… tomb of Raldorien… Fatestones of Kaishir… not much more time and I—”.
You recognize the names of Wild Weasel and Agnon as acquaintances of Desert Lynx’s. Recalling tales of the two from his stories, you hope that you can track them down and enlist their help before it was too late. A chill runs down your spine as you are not exactly sure how much time your mentor has… or whether it was even too late.
You reach for your weapons and your cloak of which the color of cherry oak lends you your name. Without a look back, you set out for the nearby City of Brass and The Screaming Wench somewhere within: Desert Lynx’s favorite drinking hole, one which you never had the fortune of visiting before.
The Game Rules
During your training as a Monastic under Desert Lynx’s tutelage you have developed fighting prowess (Combat Skill) and physical stamina (Endurance). To measure the effectiveness of your training, roll a d10. If you roll a 0 it counts as zero.
The first number rolled represents your Combat Skill. Divide the number rolled by two (rounded down) and add 15. When you fight, your Combat Skill will be pitted against that of your enemy. For example, if you roll a 9, you would have a Combat Skill of 19.
The second number rolled represents your powers of Endurance. Divide the number rolled by two (rounded down) and add 25. For example, if you roll a 4, you would have 27 Endurance points.
If you are wounded in combat you will lose Endurance points. If at any time your Endurance points fall to zero or below, you are dead and your adventure is over. Lost Endurance points can be regained, but they can never go above the number with which you start your adventure.
Monastic Disciplines
As a Monastic, you have learnt only five of the skills listed below. The choice of which five skills these are, is for you to make. As all of them may be of use to you at some point in your adventure, pick them with care. The correct use of a Discipline at the right time can save your life.
Weaponmastery
This skill allows the user to add 3 to his Combat Skill when wielding a weapon that he has mastered. If selecting this Discipline, select three weapons from the following list to which this bonus shall be applied: dagger, spear, mace, short sword, warhammer, sword, axe, quarterstaff, broadsword, bow. Mastery of the bow allows one to add 3 to the roll of a d10 when applicable.
Animal Control
This skill allows you to communicate with some animals as well as determine their purpose and intention.
Curing
This skill allows a Monastic to cure disease, blindness, and wounds. Using the knowledge that mastery of this skill provides will also allow a Monastic to identify the properties of herbs, roots, and potions. It can also delay the effects of poisons.
Invisibility
This skill allows the user to blend in with his surroundings. It will enable him to mask his body heat and scent as well as adopt the dialect and mannerisms of any locale that he visits.
Huntmastery
This skill allows a Monastic to move with great speed, dexterity, and agility.
Pathsmanship
Use of this skill allows a Monastic to recognize a correct path in unknown territory as well as read foreign languages and decipher symbols.
Nexus
Mastery of this skill allows one to move items by the power of concentration alone as well as withstand extremes of heat and cold. It also grants resistance to noxious gases and fumes.
Divination
This skill acts as a sixth sense to a Monastic, alerting him of imminent or unseen danger. It also allows one to communicate telepathically and detect magic.
Battle Magic
Spells such as Shield, Power Word, and Invisible Fist are at your disposal with this skill. Higher levels of mastery will enable one to learn and use Splinter, Flameshaft, Penetrate, Energy Grasp, Power Glyph, and Hold Enemy, but at a much greater level of exertion and can be very draining.
Brotherhood Magic
Spells such as Lightning Hand, Levitation, and Mind Charm are at your disposal with this skill. Higher levels of mastery will enable one to learn and use Halt Missile, Strength, Slow Fall, Breathe Water, Teleport, and See Illusion, but at a much greater level of exertion and can be very draining.
Rules for Combat
1. Add your Combat Skill to any extra points given to you by your Monastic Disciplines.
2. Subtract the Combat Skill of your enemy from this total. This number is equivalent to the Combat Ratio.
3. Roll a d10.
4. Check the Combat Results Table.
5. Find your Combat Ratio on the top of the chart and cross-reference the number rolled from the d10. E indicates loss of Endurance points to the enemy whereas LW indicates loss of Endurance points to Red Shadow (Lone Wolf’s alter-ego).
6. Continue the combat from Stage 3 until one character is dead. This is when the Endurance points of either character falls to 0 or below.
***see attachment for Combat Results Table***
Levels of Monastic Training
Tutelary – mastery of 5 Disciplines, you begin your adventure with this level of training.
Principalin – mastery of 6 Disciplines
Mentora – mastery of 7 Disciplines
Scion – mastery of 8 Disciplines
Archmaster – mastery of 9 Disciplines
Esoteric – mastery of all 10 Disciplines, this is the goal of all Monastics. Few can rightfully call themselves Esoterics.
Numbered Sections
1
You start here. To be continued…
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