Tenkar's Tavern: The Pieces Come Together - The Failed Lich starts to Fall into Place

Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Pieces Come Together - The Failed Lich starts to Fall into Place

+Reid San Filippo has been on a tear these past 24 hrs as can be seen with his Far Away Land-ification of Nicole Cardiff's flaming skeleton drawing. And so it was that The Failed Lich began to form in the nether regions of my mind. Wait, that doesn't sound quite right.

In any case, both versions are inspirational. Heck, I'm not sure which version of the art would work better with Tunnels & Trolls, as the system walks a fine line between serious and wacky at times.

I can't help but think that the setting piece I posted last night would be a nice fit. Crap, this is becoming a triple system stated creature and possibly a location and encounter.

Still, a Failed Lich. The bitterness. The disappointment. The burning anger.

Yep, this is going to be fun. I have an 90 minute drive to the in-laws tomorrow. Perfect brainstorming time.

Original by Nichole Cardiff

Far Away Land-ified by Reid San Filippo

3 comments:

Boric GlanduumFebruary 21, 2015 at 7:43 PM
Snort. Flaming skeletons in your mind's nether regions. I believe they make creams and ointments that will fix that.
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UnknownFebruary 22, 2015 at 12:25 PM
Pathfinder has a... zombie magus? Or magus zombie? Something like that, anyway, it's essentially a zombie which is intelligent and has some spellcasting ability. I used that as a failed lich in one of my games. The failed lich captured one of the PCs retainers and was going to use the retainer as part of a ritual that would complete the transformation. It was a fun game. :)
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Pieces Come Together - The Failed Lich starts to Fall into Place

3 comments:

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