Available Classes in my Arandish Campaign – Update!

Like many old-school gamers, I like to pick and choose what I borrow from various sources, inevitably hybridizing and combining various rules conventions, spells, and creatures to end up with a distinct and unique set of campaign house rules.  Given the time period during which I entered the RPG’ing hobby it should come as no surprise that my “comfort zone” for preferred rules sets are the Holmes / Cook / Moldvay boxed sets as well as first edition AD&D.  Thus, as I have been adapting the various unique races and classes that should exist on Ara into D&D terms, I find I cobble together stuff from Labyrinth Lord (the Moldvay/Cook retro-clone rules system I have happily committed to for this campaign) the original AD&D manuals (thanks to Carl for extended-loaning me the Player’s Handbook!) as well as various inspirations and tidbits from the old-school blogging community (thanks especially to Grognardia, Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets, and Beyond the Black Gate) and Brave Halfling Games.  I am excited by much of the new stuff I’ve found (I love those Brave Halfling rangers, for example) yet I can see that am quickly drifting away from any fidelity to a single set of rules or rules publications—why did I ever think it would be otherwise?  On the plus-side, this is just further evidence of how well all the pre-2^nd Edition D&D publications fit together—I am able to poach a few classes and spells from AD&D, graft them onto my Labyrinth Lord rules, and it all works out and feels right to me (I never played 2e and cannot comment on its compatibility with 1^st edition).  But all this "borrowing," customization, and hybridization means I will need to keep a number of different books and online resources on hand when I play!

Which leads to my recent revelation: that I am immensely looking forward to Goblinoid Games’ Advanced Edition Companion, due out later this year.  I have a feeling that if that supplement lives up to my expectations, it may well solve my organizational problem by giving me many of the additional character class options and expanded spell lists I need to translate Ara into LL terms, all under one cover!  We will see; but be forewarned, then, that as usual, any of the information I am about to give you is subject to change, pending the arrival of that publication and/or any other rules discoveries or innovations I might make or create in the next couple of months. 

That said, it is time to issue a somewhat definitive statement about the extant character classes in Ara.  Some of these, like all the rodian classes, I have previously discussed; where I have made changes, the information in this post supersedes all previous posts about available PC classes.  Furthermore, as you will see, I am for the first time herein revealing the divine magic practitioner classes that exist on Ara; I do not yet have full class descriptions for many of these (e.g., Elementalists) and, as I said, a few of these may shift yet again once I get my greedy hands on that Advanced Edition Companion, but this will at least give you a broad overview of what I am planning.

So here, for now, are the extant classes in my Arandish campaign, listed by race:

Human

Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User (as per Labyrinth Lord)

Noffellian Sword-Cleric (a special type of undead-fighting Noffellian cleric to be described in a forthcoming post)

Fire Elementalist, Earth Elementalist, Wind Elementalist, Water Elementalist, Cold Elementalist (five cleric sub-classes, all to be described in forthcoming posts)

Druid (as per Player’s Handbook): a rare PC type in Ara, since Druids are nature-lovers and tend to live reclusively in the wilds, eschewing civilization and human company.

Assassin (as per Player’s Handbook): another rare, but permitted, PC type in Ara.

Thief: I am officially switching from the Grognardia version (thereby superseding class information given on this post and an NPC on this one) to the Beyond the Black Gate version.

The Arandish Ranger comes in two variants, both found in Brave Halfling’s Delving Deeper: Ranger: (1) the giant-fighter (With Damage Bonus), presumed to be a northerner or from the eastern mountains, and (2) the scout (With Additional Skills) from anywhere in Ara but especially prevalent in the wilderness areas of Achelon and the Western Lands, and around the Great Western Swamp.  

I may in the future use the Grognardia version of the ranger for Telengardian Roughriders and/or Achelonian monster-hunters, if I develop those types as PC classes.

Rodian

Duellist, Rogue [Beyond the Black Gate Thief], Illusionist (as per PH)

Dwarf

Dwarf (as per Labyrinth Lord)

Goblin

I’m just so taken with James M’s use of Goblins as PCs that I am tempted to allow it in Ara.  But not just anywhere; probably only in the northeastern mountains, in campaigns centering on (or at least originating in) Telengard or possibly Delzar.  Well, okay, I suppose that if Goblins exist as PCs in Ara at all, then a few must live in the Free City of Kaladar and at least one must be a member of Hokka’s crew.

What does this list exclude from AD&D?

NO Paladin, Bard, Monk, or Halfling – these do not exist in Ara

NO Elf  -- though elves exist as an NPC race in the Lands of Ara.

Noffel – Warrior Culture

Pronunciation guide: Noffel [NAW-ful], Noffelian [naw-FELL-ee-yun]

As one might glean from reading Noffel’s early history,  Noffel’s economy is based upon iron mining, fishing, and sea trading, and its culture centers upon its fishing villages and its proud military/warrior tradition.  Noffellians are most renowned throughout the Lands of Ara for their prowess at fishing and sailing, and their deadliness with the long sword.

As was noted in a previous post on the Lands of Ara, Noffel is by far the oldest Arandish kingdom, having originated as a tribal fishing culture whose people worshipped Zapar, god of the waters, Minar, god of copper, Aldor, goddess of the wood, and Frey, god of the mountains (plus various local tribal gods now lost to history).  In present-day Noffel, Aldor and Minar have been forgotten, but Frey is still widely worshipped and is held to be the principal deity of the Noffellians; Noffellian clerics all follow Frey.  Fisherfolk and sailors still pay their respects to Zapar as well, though there is no formal temple to Zapar in the king’s city of Highgate.  Awra, who is called “the arch-sorceress” or simply “the witch” in most areas of Noffel, is despised by almost all Noffellians. 

In present-day Noffel, there is a mandatory one-year military term for all Noffellian youths of all genders, and nearly everyone in the kingdom is exposed to sword use long before reaching adventuring age.  Though the rare Noffellian has strayed from tradition and turned to the ways of magic, there is no official teaching or practicing of arcane magic anywhere in the kingdom of Noffel, and arcane magic use is looked down upon by most Noffellians.  Some towns and regions in Noffel even have explicit laws forbidding magic use, under threat of permanent exile.  The only thing more despised in Noffel than an arcane magic practitioner is a draft-dodger.

Given its culture, most Noffellian adventurers end up as fighters or rangers of some sort, and usually swordspersons.  Some Noffellian families, especially those with a military history or ties to the Noffellian High Guard, encourage or demand that their youth, to confirm their passage into adulthood, perform what is called a “Sword Quest,” a dangerous mission designed to prove the quester’s worthiness to take up the family sword.  These quests can be of any sort, from heroic rescue missions to monster-hunting quests. . . whatever the referee might wish or concoct.  Family and community politics can be involved in this, too: maybe a young sword-quester is sent on a mission as a favor to Uncle Leebort in the High Guard, or to make good on some past debt the quester’s father owes to an old war buddy.  Sometimes sword-questers find themselves naively caught up in some intricate web of deceit and treachery, wherein their own family members have been manipulated into sending the quester on a suicide mission or a quest that is not at all what it seems.  The perceptive reader will note that Noffellian Sword Quests make GREAT 1^st-level adventure hooks; whenever a player says s/he wants to roll up a Noffellian swordsperson, I start thinking about possible Sword Quests and I swiftly interview the player about whether his/her Noffellian character’s family might demand a Quest and if so, what general form it might possibly take.

Note that Noffellian Sword Quests are named both (1) for the tradition of passing down the “family sword”—either a purely ceremonial item and/or an actual combat long sword previously belonging to a warrior family member or mentor—to the successful quester, and (2) as a reference to the Legend of the Crimson Blades, which tells of thirteen Noffellian swords cursed and turned blood-red by the arch-sorceress Awra, a figure much despised in Noffel.  During a particular period of Noffellian history (and still in rare cases to this day), Sword Quests were actually missions to find one of the lost “Fifty Swords” and/or the thirteen Crimson Blades.  I will return to the subject of the Crimson Blades in a future post. 

Politically, Noffel is ruled by a king, but also has a Senate with power of approval over the succession of Noffellian kings—an innovation introduced to Noffellian government in Old Calendar Year 2229 by Ormin, adviser to King Tandar the Beloved.  The Noffellian seat of government, including both the King’s Palace and the Senate Hall, is in Highgate, a beautifully kept city nestled in the hills where the King’s Ford River forks, becoming the King’s Ford River and the Blint River.  Highgate also houses the King’s Place of Judgment, which is the highest court in Noffel, and the famed Keep of the Noffellian High Guard.  The High Guard is one of the most effective and feared military organizations in Ara.  The High Guard is made up almost exclusively of Noffellians; some Blintians are also permitted to join, but no one of any other nationality or kingdom would ever be allowed in.  Despite this exclusivity, or perhaps because of it, the Noffellian High Guard retains the best longsword users in Noffel and probably in all the Lands of Ara.  The High Guard is typically presumed to be fanatically loyal to the king, and its main function is to protect the king and his city.  Referees wishing to set a campaign in Noffel could easily brew up some political tensions /conflicts / mutinies between the Noffellian king and the Captain of the High Guard.  I also sometimes use the High Guard as a kind of Noffellian FBI, sending its soldiers and agents to places throughout Noffel to investigate wrongdoings and clamp down on violent crime inside Noffel’s borders.

Some of the most famous historical Noffellians include King Tarandis, the First King of Noffel; Silverblade the Stout-Hearted, the first and greatest of the Noffellian crusaders against the undead; and, of course, in our present era, Hokka the Sailor. 

Noffel is a great place for launching missions to the southern (and largely unexplored) Komar Peninsula, the rodian island of Suhl, the Free City of Kaladar, and/or the Great Western Swamp, which lies to the north and west of Noffel.  As a referee, I like how Noffel’s culture and law mess with magic-users’ ability to practice their magic openly; wizards traveling to/through Noffel are usually advised by friendly NPCs to conceal their class.  In my own campaigns, I have used Noffel mostly as a place to be passed through; the only Noffellian city any of my parties have spent much time is is Jakama.  In fact, strangely, I have never even had an adventure party so much as set foot in the Noffellian capitol city of Highgate; though the existence of the seat of Noffellian government and the Keep of the High Guard have always been implied in my campaigns, the city did not even have a name until I named it a few weeks ago!

Noffel - Hokka and Some of His Crew

Hokka [pronounced HAWK-uh] is the famous Noffelian captain of the vessel Sea Scorpion, a man and ship whose exploits are already legendary in Ara. 

My most definitive memory of Hokka took place during the aforementioned “Hotel Kaladarian” campaign refereed by Scott Peoples, Hokka’s creator.  The party was in a Noffellian seaport, seeking to book passage to hunt down a huge sea serpent that was terrorizing the Bay of Noffel.  Hokka agreed to take us out to the serpent’s known feeding area, and when the serpent attacked the ship, Hokka eagerly joined in and raised his cutlass against the huge monster.  During the height of the fray, Hokka was seen dangling from a rope high on his own ship’s mast, swinging his cutlass at the attacking sea serpent while simultaneously shouting curses and, using his off-hand to hold himself, taking a piss on the giant creature as well.  That moment veritably defines Hokka: fearless, hard-drinking, adventure-seeking, and seemingly impervious to death. 

Equally proficient with the Noffellian longsword and the Suhlian cutlass, Hokka makes a deadly opponent in melee combat.  He is seemingly fearless, and is well-known for yelling insults and jibes at his foes while fighting.  His courage and apparent indestructibility help him confer a morale bonus of +2 upon anyone fighting alongside him.

Hokka can be wounded, even swept out to sea from time to time, but should never be outright killed, unless his death is used as part of an incredibly world-changing, cathartic, climactic battle in a large-scale campaign.  Hokka is a more or less permanent fixture of Ara, the ultimate ally to befriend and share seagoing adventures with.  Hokka and his crew, being fearless adventure-seekers, are almost always willing to transport adventure parties for a cash fee or fair trade.

Hokka’s ship, the Sea Scorpion, is a small galley with the following stats: 90-person crew complement, Cargo Capacity 2,000 lbs., AC 8, Structural HP 100 (see Labyrinth Lord p. 57).  Since Captain Hokka prefers to keep his ship at sea (and earning money) as much as possible, and due to the often illegal nature of the work Hokka accepts, I am not certain if Hokka and the Sea Scorpion have a stable “home port,” but if they do, it is Jakama.  (In fact, I believe Jakama is where my party first met Hokka during Scott Peoples’ “Hotel Kaladarian” campaign.)  While Hokka can be found and hired out of any port on the Bay of Noffel or the Arandish West Coast, he is far more likely to be found in the Noffellian seaside city of Jakama than anywhere else.

Due to his thirst for dangerous adventure, Hokka has a tendency to lose ships from time to time; the last time I used Hokka in a campaign he claimed to be on his seventh ship, having survived the sinking of six previous Sea Scorpions.  In any case, Hokka is legendary for surviving the destruction of his vessels and any new ship he acquires is immediately renamed the Sea Scorpion. 

Hokka is a legend amongst most Noffellians and seafaring folk, and since almost everybody loves and/or fears him, he has few direct enemies.  Some tight-assed coastal mayors or governors may have it out for Hokka for his black marketeering, but Hokka usually (barely) eludes legal trouble to sail again for the unknown!

I think the reason I have kept Hokka and the Sea Scorpion around for so long is that I like to have a ready-made and fun way to get character adventure parties out to sea or across the sea to new adventure areas.  Hokka certainly does NOT show up in every single campaign I run; but pretty much every time a party goes to sea, it is with Hokka.  In this connection, please note that Hokka is an ocean-going sailor, NOT a swamp-barge or riverboat captain.  He is proud of his Noffellian heritage and mostly sails the Bay of Noffel and the Arandish West Coast, including Suhl as well as the riverway up to the Free City of Kaladar.  He could be persuaded to sail across the Algar Sea to the Duchy of Galen but has only rarely done so before, and possesses little knowledge of the Duchy or its denizens.

Hokka’s gaming statistics follow – please remember that I am using the Arandish Alignment system, which is a direct steal of the Dwimmermount Alignment System

Hokka, Seafarer Captain (see Labyrinth Lord p. 48)
Human Fighter Level 12
Sex: male
Alignment: neutral
STR 15, DEX 14, CON 17, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 16
HP: 66
AC: 5
Weapons: cutlass (treat as scimitar), dagger
Armor: Studded Leather (base AC 6)

Next, vital statistics for some of Captain Hokka’s key crew members.  Hokka sails at all times with one of the best crews to be found in the south Arandish seas.  Over half of his crew is made up of Suhlian rodians, joined also by a goodly number of Noffelian humans.  Here I provide detailed profiles for only a few possible / representative crew members.  Hokka’s crew members, while overall quite loyal to their legendary captain, also evince a fairly high killed-in-action rate due to the extremely dangerous missions Hokka routinely accepts.  Therefore, referees using Hokka should feel free to flesh out their own Sea Scorpion crews, even changing the crews (in minor ways or substantively) from appearance to appearance of Hokka.

Again, remember that for all the following entries I am using the Arandish Alignment System.)

Felda Barris
Human Fighter Level 9
Sex: female
Alignment: lawful
STR 16, DEX 16, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 13
HP: 54
AC: 3
Weapons: Long Sword, Dagger, Short bow, mace
Armor: chain mail (base AC 5)

Felda Barris, Noffellian warrior, is Hokka’s First Mate, acting as chief of security and crew drill instructor onboard the Sea Scorpion.  Prior to joining Hokka’s crew, Barris was a soldier in the Noffellian High Guard for many years; it is rumored that she was dismissed from the High Guard for insubordination, but no one in Hokka’s crew would ever mention this in her presence, since she would beat the crap out of them for saying it.  Chief Barris, as the crew calls her, is fiercely loyal to Hokka and is one of his main personal and professional confidantes, but she does not fraternize much with the rest of the crew and is rarely friendly toward ship’s passengers.  In other words, excepting her friendship with Hokka, she is primarily a disciplined loner.  Hokka usually leaves Barris in charge anytime he is off the Sea Scorpion.

Zigg and Higbar Karibekian, rodian brothers:

Zigg
Rodian Duellist Level 6
Sex: male
Alignment: neutral
STR 14, DEX 15, CON 14, INT 9, WIS 12, CHA 11
HP: 24
AC: 5
Weapons: cutlass (treat as scimitar), dagger, light crossbow
Armor:  studded leather (base AC 6)

Higbar
Rodian Duellist Level 5
Sex: male
Alignment: neutral (balance)
STR 11, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 12
HP: 18
AC: 4
Weapons: duelling rapier (treat as short sword), dagger, light crossbow
Armor: studded leather (base AC 6)

Besides Hokka himself, the most consistent elements of my Sea Scorpion crew have been  Zigg and Higbar Karibekian (of the famous generations-old seafaring family, pronounced CARE-uh-BEEK-ee-an), two rodian brothers who constantly bicker and compete as a way of demonstrating their love for each other.  Zigg and Higbar are always debating who is better with the cutlass, or at any other endeavor for that matter.  Neither brother will admit of any fault or wrongdoing to the other, and each works very hard to one-up his brother whenever possible.  The  Karibekian brothers are, if you’ll forgive the reference, the Legolas and Gimli of the Sea Scorpion.

In actual fact, the elder Karibekian brother, Zigg, is stronger and a more skilled fighter than his brother; and Higbar, faster and nimbler, is a more natural sailor and crossbowman.  But both brothers are formidable melee combatants and often serve Hokka as key boarding party members.  (Of course, never one to miss an opportunity for combat, Hokka leads all his own boarding parties.)

Barnacle-Head
Human Fighter Level 7
Sex: male
Alignment: neutral
STR 18, DEX 15, CON 16, INT 7, WIS 10, CHA 8
HP: 50
AC: 5
Weapons: Bastard Sword, Dagger
Armor: studded leather (base AC 6)

By contrast with the Karibekian brothers, Barnacle-Head is a relatively new member of Hokka’s crew – I have only used him once, in my most recent Arandish campaign.  A large and muscular Noffellian human, Barnacle-Head is retained largely for his fighting abilities and raw stamina.  Barnacle-Head may not be the intellectually sharpest member of the Sea Scorpion crew, but he knows sailing, he is incredibly effective under pressure, and he obeys Hokka unflinchingly.  Barnacle-Head acts as Rowing Master when the Sea Scorpion is under oar.  In combat, he is almost always seen near Hokka or directly at his captain’s side; Barnacle-Head would probably be considered Hokka’s bodyguard, if the idea of Hokka needing a bodyguard weren’t so inherently ridiculous.

Saladari Xaelar
Rodian Illusionist Level 6
Sex: female
Alignment: neutral
STR 8, DEX 16, CON 10, INT 16, WIS 11, CHA 9
HP: 15
AC: 7
Weapons: dagger
Armor: none (base AC 9)
Spells (1^st): Color Spray, Hypnotism, Wall of Fog, Detect Invisibility
Spells (2^nd): Fog Cloud, Invisibility, Magic Mouth
Spells (3^rd): Fear

Saladari Xaelar [pronounced ZAY-lar] is the latest in a long line of rodian Illusionists to emerge from her family, and is believed to have connections very high up in the hierarchy of the Black Cloister.  Xaelar serves as the Navigator of the Sea Scorpion.  Secretive and introverted, she has nevertheless become one of the boisterous Captain Hokka’s closest confidantes—for while in matters of crew conduct and discipline Hokka clearly relies primarily upon Felda Barris, when it comes to ship navigation, overall operational strategies, cargo profit margins, and general “life coaching,” it is Saladari Xaelar to whom he turns.  It is probably largely due to Xaelar and her (highly secretive) obligations to the Black Cloister that Hokka ensures the Sea Scorpion makes port in Suhl at least once every few months.  (Though the Karibekian brothers, Zigg and Higbar, have many relatives there as well, including a great-uncle who owns a tavern.)

Unwavering fixtures of all my FRPG campaigns

As I have been lately revisiting my gaming past, and especially as I have reviewed old campaign materials from various phases of my game-mastering career, I have noticed certain trends and tendencies in my world-creation preferences.  Although my refereeing experience extends across D&D, AD&D, D&D 3.5e, Tunnels and Trolls, Traveller, Shadowrun, a game of my own co-design called Crimson Blades of Ara, and no doubt a few others I am forgetting, nevertheless there are certain stock characters, key events, and recurring motifs that reappear with great regularity in nearly all my campaigns.  Since I am offering a campaign world / backdrop, I thought it might be fun to share some of the recurring features that seem to make their way into virtually every FRPG campaign I have ever run. 

A Crashed Alien Spaceship – Of course the big inspiration here is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks,  but the reason I nearly always throw a crashed spaceship somewhere into my fantasy RPG campaigns is because I have always loved that fantasy / sci-fi generic blurring found in fiction like Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom books and Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber.  So with me, there are always aliens (or at least inter-dimensional beings) involved at some stage in nearly every FRPG campaign.  In time, I will document a few ideas I have about specific alien ship crashes and extraterrestrial incursions into the Lands of Ara, including deploying robots like this in such scenarios.

Funny Names For Places And People – I try to make my key villains and party allies fairly serious / believable in tone, but most of my smaller supporting-cast NPCs have ridiculous and/or obscene names, for example, Barnacle-Head (at least he’s a sailor!) or, in Marsh Town (called by many locals Sluggerton), there is Ork-Ork, a half-elven man with a right club foot who is a part time fishmonger, part-time fence. Also from Sluggerton is a powerful but eccentric Enchanter simply known as Old Man Fish-Penis; the best swamp guide in Sluggerton is a young fellow named Rabbit-Head.  I also love ridiculous or sexually suggestive place-names, like Snotream Harbor, Barfington (home of the popular tavern the Aroused Barracuda), and Bull-Licker Terrace (home of an important wise woman / sorceress named the Witch of Bull-Licker Terrace). 

Hokka the Sailor – No campaign of mine (certainly no Arandish campaign) would be complete without Hokka the Sailor, the fearless, hard-drinking, adventure-seeking, and seemingly indestructible Noffellian sea captain / black marketeer.  Of course, I must give credit where credit is due and state that I did not invent Hokka – he is in fact the creation of Scott Peoples, a key playtester of Crimson Blades of Ara and referee of the “Hotel Kaladarian” campaign, wherein we first met Hokka in a Noffellian seaport.  It is from that original campaign of Scott’s that my fondest memory of Hokka emerges: we were in search of a fearsome giant sea serpent, and had hired Hokka to take us out to the serpent’s known feeding area.  The sea serpent appeared and attacked the ship, and during the height of the fray, Hokka, dangling from a rope high on his own ship’s mast, was swinging his cutlass at the attacking sea serpent while simultaneously shouting curses and, using his off-hand to hold himself, taking a piss on the giant creature – that is Hokka at his best.  In my campaigns, Hokka has never been killed – for me, such a thing is unthinkable.  Hokka is a constant.  Hokka and his crew, being fearless adventure-seekers, are almost always willing to transport adventure parties for a cash fee or fair trade.  In a forthcoming post I will provide more gaming-specific details about Hokka and his crew. 

A Mad Hermit . . . or two . . . or three  -- This is a “borrow” from the first adventure I ever played or refereed, D&D Module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands, wherein there is a mad hermit described simply as “a solitary hermit” who “has haunted this area of the forest, becoming progressively wilder and crazier and more dangerous.”  I love this.  Wild, mad, and dangerous recluses are about my favorite NPCs to play, so they are always lurking around in my campaigns.  My mad hermits usually know a good deal of the truth of what is going on in the area, almost to an oracular degree at times, but the way in which they reveal it is deliberately disjointed, obfuscating, and often laced with tons of obscene non-sequiturs and strange haggling.

Vampires as the ultimate Arch-Villains – I have always been quite terrified of vampires, a phobia I trace back to the 1970s TV mini-series Salems’ Lot and the very Max Schreck-ian vampire that James Mason works alongside in that program.  So when Dave and I were creating Ara, I made sure that with the possible exception of very ancient dragons, vampires would be more or less the most powerful evil creatures in Ara.  I still hold that as a cornerstone of the conception of Ara: vampires are very powerful there and should in fact be the most dreaded villains in the region.  In Ara, vampires are actually ancient magic-users who practiced evil arts and were imprisoned forever in Mount Mornlyn after the Old War (I will cover these events in greater detail in a forthcoming post about the exploits of Arlon, the best-known apprentice of creator-sorceress Awra).  Except, of course, that some of the most powerful and evil of these imprisoned wizards figured out how to make themselves undead, subsequently escaped Mornlyn, and now terrorize Ara from secret strongholds throughout the lands.  In a way, Arandish vampires are really more akin to Liches (and Demi-Liches!) from AD&D: ancient and incredibly powerful evil sorcerers gone undead.  I will give stats for a few typical Arandish vampires in a forthcoming post.

Valley of the Dinosaurs – I love dinos, though I actually think it is a bit incongruous and silly to place them in a medieval fantasy setting.  Yet I cannot resist doing so again and again. To resolve this crisis, I always put my campaign dinos in a remote valley “that time forgot” or posit them as the experiment of some bizarre wizard or summoner.  I make the appearance of dinosaurs a weird exception, NOT as creatures widely distributed throughout Ara.  But they are the “exception” that I almost always work in because I love dinosaurs so much.

The “Scumbrella” Spell – Scumbrella is a 1^st-Level magic-user spell that is cast upon a single mundane umbrella.  The next time that umbrella is opened, it dumps sewage and filth all over the person(s) underneath it.  This is a “practical joke” spell with very little direct combat application – maybe I would call the person scummed by a Scumbrella surprised for one round – but it seems like the kind of spell I would certainly write if I were a magic-user and that I imagine would be quite popular amongst other spellcasters as well.  What’s a little harmless fun?