GM Notes - Morgansfort Session 14 - Death Frost Doom - Part 2 of 2

So, here stands the final chronicle of my two-year Basic Fantasy campaign. It ended a year ago and I'm just now getting around to finishing off the write-up. I'll save the campaign summary for the end. For now, let's dive back into the adventure.

The party find themselves in the tomb of one of the Greater Repugnances, the Crypt of the Exalted Interrogator, Aetheldredd Aleph. She begins to question and taunt them, particularly Nyphus, the paladin, who carries on his person the purloined, cursed dagger from the altar in the ice-skull chapel. The paladin and Renic the dwarf take up the attack while Mel, the elven cleric, and Pater, the halfling thief skirt around the melee to check the front door. Nyphus struggles in fight before realizing the mummy is taunting him about the dagger which keeps him from landing blows (due to disadvantaged attacks, see previous post on Knowledge Checks). After Mel and Pater give up on the door, which is barred from the other side, they all join in the fight and best Aetheldredd damaged mostly from bone hooks caused by responding, "I don't know," to her questions.

The crew head back up the air shaft to the kitchen and return to the chapel, finally examining the east door and the basins requiring a gift of a tooth to pass. Once they figure out what is required, Nyphus wrenches out a molar and they proceed. The droning of the Sacred Parasite unnerves them as does the embalming station, the hall of memory, and each of large crypts they briefly explore as they make their way down the hallway. When they get to the Sacred Parasite, they see through the creature's body and realize their quarry, the Miter of Tah, sits upon the altar. Intense (largely fire-based, missile) combat ensues resulting in the death of the creature and the group a bit worse for the wear, two having been paralyzed by liquid time vomit, and all escaping with only a few hit points each.

That's when the crypts started opening releasing the living dead, beginning with the children next to the Parasite. They high-tailed it out of there trying to secure doors as they went.They made it up and out of the cabin before the dead were able to follow. Nyphus used his bridge arrow given to him by the elven deity in the medusa's shrine which created a straight, though narrow shot down the mountain. Zeke Duncaster was likely a goner as would be the village at the foot of the mountain, but the party had to get back to Nemesine's acolytes to take them back to his skyfortress over Ravenstone and give him the Miter of Tah so that he would leave the Western Lands and disband the Green Mark's slave trade.

They make it back through portal and deliver Nemesine the miter, his ticket off of this plane. He thanks the party who then ask what will happen to the undead hoard they now unleashed on the world. He shows them the seaport town where they had sent the freed Mothers of the slave pits. Nemesine explains this small village is just due south of Demonfrost Mountain and will be crawling with zombies within a week's time. Before the party can object to the trick, Nemesine places the miter on his head and the sidhe disappears.

Immediately the fortress begins to crack and slowly fall from the sky. The party follow the stunned acolytes of the Green Mark outside to the portal connected to the chapel. Within the space of a half hour, the fortress crashes into the bay of Ravenstone demolishing ships and buildings. A riot of slaves revolt against the cult and the town. All is chaos and the party climb up into the hill with others to survey the carnage that was partly of their making.

Campaign Epilogue

This campaign was epic compared to the exploits of my youth and a good way to get back into gaming. Although I used the Morgansfort module as the setting I re-wrote and re-worked most of it. Basic Fantasy is a terrific system that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good neutral OSR game. As I've said before, it's like the mix of Basic and Advanced D&D that I had played as a kid if only I had thought of some of the changes Chris Gonnerman made. Going forward, it's what I would use if I want to play a standard fantasy B/X-style game. One of the reasons I haven't bought Necrotic Gnome's Old School Essentials is because it is just a (very good) restatement of a game I already own. I like the changes Basic Fantasy made to that game and I don't think I'd ever want to go back.

However, in running the campaign, I discovered my tastes for the kind of game I wanted to run started to change. I found myself not as thrilled to just play elves-and-orcs/Keep on the Borderlands D&D anymore. I wanted something darker and weirder. It's easy to tweak Basic Fantasy to do what I wanted, but I longed for something I didn't need to tweak. I didn't want demi-human PCs anymore. I didn't want to re-skin humanoid monsters to humans anymore. At least not all the time. When I feel like running that kind of a classic game again, this is the one I'll turn to. I could easily see using something like Titan (Advanced Fighting Fantasy) as a setting, or even Necrotic Gnome's Dolmenwood.

One of my players was a disappointed with the way the campaign ended. He was bummed they had unknowingly unleashed a hoard of undead upon the world. He wanted to know if that had been inevitable. Was there a way that they could have "won," meaning gotten the quest item, not awoken the dead, and not caused the city of Ravenstone to burn in the fires and chaos of a slave revolt. It wasn't inevitable. They could have declined Nemesine's offer since they weren't affected by his Geas. They could have fought him or joined his ranks and freed the slaves from within. They could have left the Miter of Tah where it was. But no, as a party of 3-4 levels, they was no chance for them to beat the dungeon within a couple sessions. He felt that was somehow unfair and had hoped for a campaign end with closure around the various story arcs that tied up all loose ends. To me, that's a narrative story, not a role-playing game. I don't blame the module or the player choices, it's just a mismatch of expectations.

This is biggest hurdle I face going forward. Finding players that are willing to be challenged, not afraid of character death, and open to a system that doesn't have a lot of mechanical player options. I'm willing to hang in there in order to get what I want though. This campaign was a learning experience playing with people used to more modern play styles. There were disconnects sometimes, but mostly the sessions were just really fun.

Thoughts on Death Frost Doom

Death Frost Doom was a satisfying way to end my campaign. Although it has a reputation as a campaign-ender (or maybe campaign-ruiner), I think it could be equally effective as a way to begin a campaign. I can easily see a campaign starting off by a group of hapless 1st-level PCs wandering into this evil cult tomb and unleashing doom upon the land. Okay great, now what are you going to do about it?

Even before I ran the module I considered it among the best adventures I'd read. I know some others disagree. Some find it too slow or too drastic in its outcome. More than this though, I think people take issue with it because they, like my friend above, don't see it as an adventure that is winnable. Personally, I take issue with the notion that adventures should have at least one outcome possible where the players kill everything, take all the treasure, and suffer no losses within a 4-6 hour session. Technically, "winning" is doable in Death Frost Doom. It would just take time, a lot of research, and some divination. The skulls will break, but if the Sacred Parasite is not be killed, the party can lock the doors, take the book of names down the mountain and start consulting sages, looking up rumors, etc. Once they divine the nature of the curse, they could bring a large scale clerical force to prepare to properly deal with the thousands of living dead. Then the Greater Repugnances could be dealt with. It's not impossible and would likely take years in game to do, but if you really want to deal with the evil once and for all, there is a campaign's worth of adventure to be had.

I have read the claim that DFD is a rip-off of an old White Dwarf adventure, The Lichway. There are only two real similarities between the adventures that I could find.

1.) The Lichway is a long corridor filled with 652 skeletons that lie dormant unless disturbed.
2.) The Susurrus (later compiled in the Monster Manual) creates a dronesong that can be heard through the dungeon.

Both of these elements have an analogue in Death Frost Doom, however, they are different enough to make claims of DFD being a rip-off a bit of a stretch. DFD's mass graves contain thousands of undead in separate huge, themed chambers. And they awake based on the ice crystal clock in the chapel and the defeat of the Sacred Parasite (the Susurrus analogue). Mass graves in tombs are pretty common in adventures. The Sacred Parasite's dronesong is the closest parallel between the adventures, but the Sacred Parasite is described as a dirty white balloon with a face like a twisted knot at the end singing its drone, whereas the Susurrus is a 7-foot tall headless gorilla-like beast whose breathing through pores is what makes its sound. Not alike.

There are a few other similarities - a giant spider, a violet strain of black lotus - but on the whole, there's not much there. To my mind the actual evidence of the claims of plagiarism are pretty weak. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see it. Not when there are countless B2 copies, S3 clones, and X1 hommages. The cabin in the woods as dungeon entrance, the liquid time element, the ice skull clock, the chapel organ, the Greater Repugnances - these are not in Lichway (as I could see). The Lichway has a lot of water elements and is packed with monsters including new ones like the gollum-like Svarts and toad-ish Spinescales, as well as bog-standard stirges, lizard men, and goblins.

Adventure modules prove themselves in the playing. I found it to be easy to run and my group had a good time with it. You want to know what makes an adventure one of the best ever? The test is not how fondly people remember it or how much money it goes for on eBay. The proof is people still play it after 20 or 30 years. B2, X1, S1, Thracia - people still play these and will continue to play them. I can easily see people running DFD 20 years from now, no problem.

Knowledge-Check Cheat Codes

* This post was written a year ago. I've fallen off the blog, but here I am getting back up again.

This will be a bit of a rant. Since coming back to role-playing I’ve largely played with modern, new-school players – people who began playing with 3e or later. Although there have been a handful of playstyle discrepancies I’ve had to work around, the one that drives me nuts more than any other is what I refer to as knowledge-check cheat codes.

The best I can articulate this phenomenon is when a player asks for a chance for their character to know something that they as a player don’t know, and that their character doesn’t have an in-game reason for possibly knowing. This isn’t, “Can my dwarven fighter, who grew up in the mines, tell us the value of these gems?” or “Is there any way being an assistant pig-keeper before I became an adventurer help me identify these tracks?” These are reasonable, in-game justifications which I as a referee can deem acceptable on their face or call for a roll.

The type of play that I object to is when a player requests to roll for things like: “I want to roll to see if my high Intelligence would let me figure out this riddle,” or “Can I roll to tell if the NPC is lying?” or “I want to make a check to figure out this monster’s vulnerability.” Leaving aside the big no-no of players requesting to make a roll rather than waiting for me to call for one, my issue with this type of play is that it’s intended as a shortcut around the obstacle of the mysteries in the game. Rather than role-play, use player skill, or hire specialist NPCs, the player would rather trust to a high stat and dumb luck than to interact with the adventure.

I realize this style of play has probably always existed to some degree, but since returning to gaming, I’ve noticed it more. Modern systems, like 5e, have these kinds of mechanics built-in with player-side checks for Insight, Investigation, Arcana, and History. These innate powers give characters an objective, true answer to any question they have like a kind of divination spell on the order of Know Alignment or Locate Object. It seems to not just support, but encourage this kind of play.

I realize as a referee this is all under my control, but I get tired of constantly fighting it. The other night, one of my players (a good friend) was getting frustrated by the taunting interrogation the undead antagonist was using against him during the fight. He wanted to know if his character could determine an underlying pattern to what she was saying to him. Playing Basic Fantasy, I told him to make an Ability Roll using BF’s optional rule. He rolled a 20. I told him, “You put it together that her taunts are focused around something you are physically carrying on your person which is hampering your combat ability.”

He didn’t feel this answer was adequate considering he rolled a 20. What I didn’t tell him was that the reason his attacks weren’t effective was because his paladin was carrying a cursed dagger and necklace he stole off an altar of a death cult four rooms ago. That’s the information that he thought he deserved. One of the other players figured it out for him. He was still griping about it at work today, commenting, “I guess it’s just different DM-ing styles,” which felt like he was inferring I was being unfair.

He explained that the fun part of the game to him was rolling crits and feeling like it was possible to win, not necessarily through player skill, but through lucky dice. When he can't figure something out, he wants the option to enter cheat codes. It’s an approach that is fundamentally different than mine, one I’m not sure is reconcilable. My favorite part of the game is in the mystery of the unknown and the risk involved in the discovery of those secrets through interaction and role-play. My friend’s preference is to circumvent all of that with powerful characters and lucky dice. This style of play shortcuts what I feel is the central part of role-playing, the back-and-forth dialogue between a referee and the players.

I’m trying to objectively assess my own bias about modern play styles and wondering if I should just loosen up a bit. I’m not one of those simulationist wargamer grognards who expects players to have a working knowledge of battle tactics and combat formations. I think one can find a middle ground, and I hope I can find mine while still finding people I can play with.

GM Notes - Morgansfort Session 13 - Death Frost Doom, part 1 of 2

In the morning, the party leads the group of freed Mothers to the chapel of the Green Mark, down to the crypt, and through the green crystal portal to Bishop Nemesine’s floating cathedral over Ravenstone which is built into a dead titan’s decomposing head. Nemesine leads the group into a small chapel/shrine room of the side of the main chamber. There is an altar, and a bloody magic circle off the floor. Off this chamber is a set of two opposing alcoves, which between them function as a in/out portals, each with green crystals. Nemesine sends the Mothers through first to a small portside town on the western side of the northern continent. The party sees the Tarred Goose in port.

Nemesine then delivers his terms to the party. He will send them with two of his acolytes to an area north in the Demonfrost Mountains, specifically to the foot of Mt. Deathfrost. The top of this peak is said to house the tomb of the Duvan’Ku death cult, the original worshippers of Shah Gzerohn. A group of 12 clerics of Tah sacrificed themselves to seal in the evil there. Also sealed inside the mountain is the Miter of Tah, a powerful relic stolen by the cult which Nemesine seeks to erase his curse and leave this dimension. If the party returns with the Miter, Nemesine promises to disband the Green Mark, end the slave industry of Ravenstone, and leave the known plane. The PCs are welcome to any other treasure found there. Nemesine has also gives them a green gem which will allow them to read ancient runes and writings they may find in the tomb.

The party is equipped with furs, boots, and camping/climbing equipment. They pass through the portal half a day’s journey from the town at the foot of the mountain. Rumors of horror are told that night before an early rise to head up the mountain. Halfway up the mountain the two acolytes take their leave as they cannot approach any closer to the peak without intense mental and physical anguish. A little further on the party discover the shack of Zeke Duncaster, a crazed old trapper who has made his life on this mountain by giving headstones to the unmarked graves at the top of the mountain. One notable marker for Marybelle Walker is in progress. Zeke discovered the names in a book in the cabin at the top of the mountain. He begs them not to proceed and even attempts to stop them short of physically barring their way.

The party reaches the top about 10:00 p.m. The moon shines overhead. The cabin sits at the top of the summit looking down on a huge field of graves and markers covered in snow. An evil-looking dead tree with a hangman’s noose watches them. There is a faint droning sound as they approach the cabin which gets louder the closer they get. They move to the back door where a set of somewhat recent tracks leads off amongst the graves. They find a frozen corpse there in a nightshirt perhaps from a few days ago. There is also a well that the party decides to stay away from after Pater’s episode in the buried elven undercity.

The party enters the cabin from the back and start to explore the back rooms. A harpsichord can be heard upon entering, but it immediately stops as the PCs enter the room with the instrument. That room also features a large painting of the party themselves dressed as they are now, standing before a large skeleton-encrusted altar with a dark passage open to the left of the altar. In the painting, Mel is seen drinking from a cup in one hand and holding a handful of fist-sized glass spheres. In the empty bedroom across the hall, they find a stash of purple lotus powder which Renik recognizes as a potent natural hallucinogen. They take the lot. They find a plain kitchen and a front room with a fireplace, mounted stag head, mirror, a clock, and a desk with a book of millions of names of sacrifices going back millennia – the last few pages full of Zeke’s checkmarks. There are also three chairs that face the party as they come in. The mirror is cold with runes for “every brother” and “every sister” on either side. The stag’s eyes are cloudy and bubbled. Oh, in the middle of the room is a trapdoor on the floor with a padlock on it.

Before trying the padlock, the group inspects the last bedroom where they find the belongings of the corpse outside, one Norquist Orve, a mountaineer and tax dissident. His journal details the path he took up the mountainside, not the longer, cleared path the party took. They take some of his climbing gear and rations and go back to the trapdoor which the unlock and open, exposing a dark shaft, 50’ deep with iron rungs inside. They descend without light as there is no room for lantern or torch within the shaft. Renik and Pater spark a witchfinder candle at the bottom. The droning becomes louder with the opening of the trapdoor and as they go down.

A long hallway of crystalline walls writhes with agonized faces calling out in a lost language. It ends with a door with a gargoyle’s head as a lock. A key is in the lock which requires one to place their hand in the mouth. Pater is volunteered and the door opens and he takes the key. An antechamber of small table with severed hands holding quills next to parchment with the instructions to “transcribe” and “replace” carved into the hands. A set of bronze double doors to east feature a huge sigil, the sign of the Duvan’Ku. The party opens the doors and lets out a gust of cold air.

The group enter the large chapel of the Duvan’Ku. The room is shaped like a blunt-tipped arrowhead pointing east. Rows of stone slab prayer plinths cover the floor. Twelve ice skulls hang from a ceiling fixture. An altar inside a huge skull is at the far end. To the left of the altar is an organ made of bones. Murals adorn the northern wall, one of hanged women with a caption, “name them, but build no monument unto them.” Another mural shows a man being stabbed with nine swords and thrown into a pit as an offering. Two sinks of black water are attached to the southeastern wall and filled with teeth. The Duvan’Ku rune for “gift” is atop the basins. There is a large bronze door with a wheeled lock on the east wall between the altar and the sinks. Another small door leads out in the north wall.

The group inspect everything. Nyphus finds and takes a jewel-encrusted dagger and a ruby necklace in a bowl on the altar. One of them (Mel?) attempts to match the note on the organ to the increasingly louder drone to no effect. Pater or Renic fish a locket with a portrait of a man out of the teeth basin. It matches the picture of the man in the mural stabbed by nine swords. During their time investigating two of the ice skulls hanging from the ceiling have fallen to the floor and shattered. Water drips from the others. The group contemplate pulling out a tooth to offer as a gift in the sink but instead head through the north door.

They enter a hallway with many doors. They try the room to the right which contains dirty bedclothes and cots. Searching discovers a wooden mask with human teeth (obviously taken from the basin) inserted into it. The door to the left reveals a small set of rooms – one locked (that they can’t open), a toilet, and a library with a map. They copy the map on a sheet of paper and move on. The next room on the left off the main hallway is a kitchen/eating area with marble benches and a firepit. The upper walls are stained with smoke. Pater searches the cabinets and the upper walls, and finding no ventilation, discovers a place where there are no stains. A small panel in the ceiling is found with a passage or flue about 5’ x 5’ heading above the room. Pater goes first, and the rest follow, but it is a tight fit.

The passage leads into the ceiling of a room with an elaborate bone-encrusted sarcophagus with a scene on the top in bas relief of hundreds of beheaded men on a battlefield. The top is removed and a desiccated female mummy rises. Nyphus addresses her. She looks at him and asks him, “What do you carry?”

Two Thieves

Jeff Easley's BECMI Thief

I’ve recently decided to run an OD&D game. This, of course, brings with it the age-old question of which version of OD&D (3LBBs-only or plus-supplements) and its corollary: to thief, or not to thief? This is a topic that’s been covered over and over, but one I’ve personally never considered too much because, having started with Basic, I’ve always considered the Thief a core class. Running pre-Greyhawk OD&D is partly appealing to me because I’m not overly fond of the Thief class in the early versions of the game. Most of these problems are covered pretty well in the second issue of Matt Finch’s Knockspell magazine in an article by James Maliszewski and multiple contributors’ alternate versions of the class. None of these versions exactly do the trick for me, so I came up with two Thief options of my own.

Roguish Background

One way to handle this dilemma is not through a separate class at all, but through backgrounds. In this method you stick to the three core classes from the original rules and allow players to pick (or roll randomly) a background. Backgrounds like Burglar, Mountebank, Rogue, Spy, or Scout paired with one of the three core classes could create a viable thief-type character. Each of these backgrounds would give you a +1 to an “x in 6” chance roll based on relevant activities.

Using a variety of backgrounds like this would give players a way to differentiate one thievish character from another, in both tone and actual mechanics. Perhaps a Mountebank wouldn’t get a +1 to removing traps, but they might get a +1 to reaction rolls when attempting to deceive someone, something a Burglar might not get. A Spy might get a +1 to disguising themselves. Maybe a Burglar gets a +1 to climb sheer walls where a Scout wouldn’t. The Scout might be good at tracking in a way the other backgrounds are not.

Each background would color the character differently depending on which class they were. Fighting-men with a Burglar background could be Conan. Magic-users with a background as a Mountebank, might use a slight of hand to slip a sleeping or polymorph potion into someone’s drink, or blur the line between street-magic legerdemain and real illusions. Clerics with a Spy background might be part of an Inquisition-like secret society or Internal Affairs-type cabal within a church, keeping tabs of the corruption of the clergy. Mechanically, any +1 given as part of that background could increase by one at the different class level tiers (Fighting-man in groups of three, Clerics in groups of four, Magic-users in groups of five) at the referee’s discretion.

What I like about this kind of angle as a solution is that it’s very loose and up to the interpretation of the referee. The ref could award the PC with these kinds of backgrounds a bonus to experience for a high Dexterity score in addition to, or in lieu of an average prime-requisite. The ref could give a +1 for any thievish “x in 6” skill rolls. Better yet, the ref could call that certain rolls aren’t required in many cases if the player can describe how they search for traps, hide in the shadows, etc.

Revised Greyhawk Thief

One issue with handling the Thief through a background is that it still leaves out a certain character archetype. A Fighting-man with a burglar background might produce a Conan, but it still feels like a fighter first, and a thief second. It doesn’t quite get you a Gray Mouser or a Silk. Gray Mouser is pretty well-known to most fantasy fans, but David Eddings’ character, Silk, will always be the quintessential Thief for me. Silk may be good with his daggers, but he’s first and foremost a charming spy, acrobat, master of disguise, assassin, as well as a burglar/lockpick/pick-pocket. Calling Silk a Fighter seems just wrong. The Gray Mouser may have been a former wizard’s apprentice but calling him a Magic-user or a Fighter feels inaccurate.

Enter the Greyhawk Thief. The GH Thief entered the game in 1975 and (more or less) remained the same throughout the run of the Basic game into the 90s. A few of the main gripes with this class is that it introduced a new percentile sub-system of skills to the game, it started off being lousy at things it was supposed to be a specialist at, and its early lousiness meant that other classes were even worse at stealthy activities they previously were competent at. While they advanced quickly, the low hit points and poor skills made the first few levels a grind. Many of the skills start at a base chance of 10 – 15% chance. This is lower than the 1-in-6 (16.667%) or 2-in-6 (33.333%) chance most things in the LBBs were given. The 1e AD&D Thief got a little better skill increase, but not much. The Greyhawk Thief also gains some level-specific abilities like reading languages, treasure maps, and magic scrolls which are cool, but again, it’s too little, too late.

In recent years I’ve seen some good alternatives to the classic Thief that are much closer to what I think is reasonable. Charlie Mason’s White Box FMAG has a very good version that uses the “x-in-6” mechanic under a broad, generic skill of “Thievery.” I like this because it allows for referee interpretation of whether an activity falls under that heading. Charlie’s Thief advances in ability in groups of 3 starting with 2-in-6, then 3-in-6, and so on. This means that the Thief starts with a base chance of 33.333% which is in line with demi-human abilities from the LBBs. It also hews to that “x-in-6” system for some skilled activity. It also leaves room for the other classes to at least have a 1-in-6 chance to sneak or remove a trap which – although difficult – is a better chance than the level-1 Greyhawk Thief.

A few other versions I think are pretty good are Delving Deeper’s V.5 version and LotFP’s Specialist class both of which use an “x-in-6” mechanic as well. The LotFP version allows for some customization, including some undefined skills the player and GM may agree upon outside of what’s listed. Delving Deeper keeps the Greyhawk Thief’s level-abilities (like reading languages and magic) but gives it the weakest of hit dice progression of the game (though because they level faster are perhaps on par with Magic-users). Swords & Wizardry Continual Light is also decent, however, like Delving Deeper, the thieving abilities are maybe a little too good right out of the gate for me.

None of these versions are quite what I’m looking for, partially due to how all those versions deal with the Thief’s combat advancement. White Box FMAG has Thieves increasing their to-hit roll along with the Cleric in not-quite groups of 3 (as opposed to groups of 4 from Greyhawk). Delving Deeper lumps Thieves combat in with Magic-users in “smoothed” groups of 4 (as opposed to groups of 5 from Greyhawk). LotFP’s Specialist never increases their combat ability, which makes for a greater distinction between the classes but doesn’t have the feel I’m looking for. In order to find the Thief I want I return to Greyhawk.

My revised Greyhawk Thief would use the combat charts of the cleric (in groups of 4, per Greyhawk), saves and hit die of magic-users (in groups of 5, per Greyhawk), and mix in FMAG’s Thievery skill advancement mirroring the Fighting-man’s combat advancement (in groups of 3). I think I would use the XP advancement in Greyhawk and the hit dice advancement of Magic-users from Men & Magic. This way the Thief’s hit dice would advance faster than the Magic-user, but not quite as fast as the Cleric. The Thief’s attack ability would actually increase a little faster than the Cleric, but lacking their defensive advantage of heavier armor and shields, the Thief’s attacks would still most likely come as ranged attacks or backstabs (which I would run as-is from Greyhawk). I would give Thieves the Fighter’s use of high Dexterity to lower their Armor Class that was ushered in with Greyhawk as well as the reading languages and magic ability at higher levels.

Depending on how this works in actual play, I could tweak this setup by adjusting the XP amounts to be the same as Cleric perhaps, or by going with the Greyhawk d4 hit die, but otherwise, I think this is pretty close to what I’m looking for. I’ve kept things in the non-smoothed out advancement below, but I may find I prefer something a little more gradual. We’ll have to see. There are still other things to work out in terms of how much of the other supplements I’d like to bring in, but this is a good start. I also have a whole host of house rules I want to use particularly related to 1^st level character creation, but that’s maybe for another day.

Advancement in Experience, Hit Dice, and Thief Abilities

Level	XP	Title	Hit Dice	Thievery
1	1,200	Apprentice	1d6	2 in 6
2	2,400	Footpad	1d6 + 1	2 in 6
3	4,800	Robber	2d6	2 in 6
4	9,600	Burglar	2d6 + 1	3 in 6
5	20,000	Cutpurse	3d6	3 in 6
6	40,000	Sharper	3d6 + 1	3 in 6
7	60,000	Pilferer	4d6	4 in 6
8	90,000	Master Pilferer	5d6	4 in 6
9	125,000	Thief	6d6 + 1	4 in 6
10	250,000	Master Thief	7d6	5 in 6
11	375,000	Master Thief, 11th Level	8d6 + 1	5 in 6
12	400,000	Master Thief, 12th Level	8d6 + 2	5 in 6
13	525,000	Master Thief, 13th Level	8d6 + 3	6 in 6
14	650,000	Master Thief, 14th Level	8d6 + 4	6 in 6

Combat Table (Cleric/Thief):

Level	AC 9	AC 8	AC 7	AC 6	AC 5	AC 4	AC 3	AC 2
1-4	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
5-8	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
9-12	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13-16	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
17-20	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

Saving Throws (Magic-user/Thief):

Level	Death/Poison	Wands	Turn to Stone	Dragon Breath	Spells
1-5	13	14	13	16	15
6-10	11	12	11	14	12
11-15	8	9	8	11	8
16-20	5	6	5	8	3

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wizards"). All Rights Reserved.

1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) "Product Identity" means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) "Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) "Use", "Used" or "Using" means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) "You" or "Your" means the licensee in terms of this agreement.

2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.

3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.

4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.

5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.

6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.

7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.

8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.

9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.

10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.

11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.

12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.

13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.

14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.

15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.  System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, Copyright 2016, Charles Mason

END OF LICENSE