by Gabor Lux

Due to its great distance, the gods of our world are generally unknown on Fomalhaut, or are of such a weak power that their presence is all but unnoticeable. In its later cycles, shortly before the planet’s long decline and return into the ice from where it was lifted by the sages of older eras, several new or long-slumbering gods declared their powers and assumed the leadership of new-found followers. Some came from the deep chasms of the underearth; others from the dim reaches of space between the stars. Yet others were mortals who had acquired divine powers, and drunken with it, started testing the extent of their might. So it was in the last years before the coming of the glaciers.

On Fomalhaut, relations between gods and mortals differ from the conduct of other worlds. Indeed, very few consider them a reliable moral compass, and those who do are usually dangerous fanatics. Common men, and even most priests, assume a considerably more pragmatic, even cynical perspective; the basis of deals is common self interest. On the other hand, approaching gods, even directly, is a less involved process: it may be accomplished with little trouble if the reasons are good and compensation attractive.
(tovább…)

by Kalman Farago
In the city of Immah Wel

As you’ll remember, we were preparing to leave the island city of Khonón and sail for the ruins of Immah Wel, where we were tasked by the magic shop-owner Artothrokus to assassinate three sages, men of power and unknown magical powers who were also exploring the place for their own purposes. While preparing, Licar had the great idea of asking for sponsorship from the local temple of Fedafuce in the form of a high level spell he could learn. Well, for better of worse they agreed, and now our Imperial wizard will need to return with some pretty spectacular haul to pay off the loan.

But anyway, off we were, and a short sailing took us to the island where we hid the boat and headed for the large complex visible even from sea. Near its northwest corner, we found an abandoned amphiteatre with strange translucent orbs hovering in the air and breaking with a loud noise when touched. Our dextrous thief Zaxtaros weaved his way through them and found a trapdoor to a storage cellar, where he looted a couple of player’s masks of some value. As he was coming back, we became aware of a dark procession approaching from the east, and hid in the theatre. As they passed by, the marchers were found to be translucent human shapes, the spirits of the dead. Remembering something mentioned by one of our Khonón contacts, we joined their columns at the end as they turned south along the main complex’s outer perimeter. Soon we reached a gate which opened for the dead, and we slipped in before it would close. Inside, we waited a bit for the spectral procession to move away, then started exploring. There didn’t seem to be much of either value or peril in the immediate vicinity, except for some melon-sized poisonous spiders which we managed to torch by throwing flaming oil into their web-filled room.
(tovább…)

by Kalman Farago
Oh, who wouldn’t be a sailor lad and sailing down the main?

With this post I’m going to jump back to the point when we entered the Sea of Emerald Idols, and recount events linearly from there.
Cast: as previous post, with the following differences.
- Zaxtaros has not joined yet.
- Instead, the player runs Beristo, a tall, bald, not too handsome cleric of Mereskan, the bat god of thieves. The second most senior member of the party, he’s been around ever since the (IIRC) third session. A conniving, thieving, embezzling bastard, his eventual death was not a particularly painful blow to the party. The simultaneous destruction of all valuables on his person, however, was.
(tovább…)

[Note: This series is a repost of Premier's campaign journal, originally featured on Dragonsfoot. It covers the last one and a half years of our first Fomalhaut campaign, started 13 January 2007 and concluded 3 October 2010, starting after the first Isles on an Emerald Sea arc. I have made no substantial changes to Premier's writing except to correct simple mistakes and lapses of memory, but I have added notes and comments, some I made in the original thread and some new -- along with extra scanned diagrams, maps and other illustrative material. -- G.L.]

Sword, Sorcery and Rayguns #01
by Kalman Farago

Well, whenever Melan decides to post English-language bits of his Fomalhaut setting, there seems to some interest and positive feedback. Since we’ve just toasted his campaign’s 2nd birthday a few weeks ago and an “official” campaign journal by him seems unforthcoming, I guess I’ll step up to the plate. I’ll endeavour to recount the general movements of our campaign – only going from fallible memory -, and see how far energy, free time and enthusiasm takes me. With two years of history, perhaps I’ll be excused for not doing this linearly. Instead, I’ll begin by recounting our recentmost adventure, then go backwards in time.
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

This one-page document was first included in Sword and Magic: Adventures on Fomalhaut as a sort of “mission statement”, intended to offer a personal view on old school gaming. It is consciously specific and highly subjective. Similar to The Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matthew J. Finch or Philotomy’s Musings, it represents a possible take on running and playing old school games in a way we find rewarding in our campaigns. I have recently realised it may be of interest separately from the system itself, so I am reposting it here. All that follows is unenforced personal opinion.
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

This 24 page document represents the distilled core rules of Kard és Mágia, my homebrew old school OGL variant. Published in 2008, the game has surprisingly attracted some attention outside Hungary, and some of my friends on international message boards have asked me if I could translate it some day. That was not possible: the original consists of altogether 190 pages of dense 9-point text, a tremendous task to recreate in English. I have also felt some of it would not be interesting for the English-speaking audience, since the game was written not just to present a way of playing games in the classical style while also retaining the elegance of the basic d20 rules framework, but also as an introduction to the concept of old school gaming (a style virtually unknown in Hungary) and, to an extent, a polemic against the state of the Hungarian gaming scene, where imagination, adventure and the primal strangeness of original fantasy have largely been suppressed by an inflexible and dogmatic preference for mundane detail.
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

“Designed by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses, Tegel Manor, a great manor-fortress on a windswept and desolate seacoast, is rumored to be left over from ancient days when a charm was placed over it, protecting its stone walls and timbers from the ravages of time and human occupation. The hereditary owners, whose family name is Rump, have been amiss in their traditional duty of providing protection for the market village to the west. Some say that this failing and their bizarre eccentricities have lead to their eventual corruption. Many have found the manor and area to be a dangerous place to visit!”

“Tegel Manor is a challenging adventure module suited for four to six player characters ranging from 4th to 7th level. It is recommended that the party have at least one cleric and two or three fighter types. Good PCs will have an easier time than neutral or evil ones; however, the latter are by no means unsuited to adventure in or about the haunted mansion.
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

“Rogat Demazien’s house is an old, crumbling building located in the Beggars Quarter of Zothay, right next to its western gate. It is surrounded by empty houses; some of these are sealed to prevent unlawful entry, whereas others are known to be the dwellings of thieves and vagrants. In any case, this is a place where few choose to live, unless they are short on money or don’t mind the proximity of the vilest city scum. Since the entire quarter is protected by a treaty that keeps out the watch, one can only count on his own devices to guarantee the safety of his life and valuables. Despite the squalid conditions, it is precisely this house – formerly a prosperous cloth merchant’s home – which Rogat Demazien purchased a year after the previous owner died without leaving an heir. He paid the authorities a modest yet fair amount and moved in with his simple belongings. Since then, he has become known as an authority on the strange an unusual, with an interest in subtle enchantments and ancient history.”
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

“Zothay is a small walled town on the coasts of Damkina Bay, a mostly calm haven of the vast Winedark Sea. The lands about are varied: to the north and northeast lie desolate wastelands with a few small rivers winding their ways through deep canyons. Only hardy weeds and stunted trees grow here, although a few Altanian herdsmen also try to make a living. To the southwest, one can find thick, almost junglelike forests where live the elves of Onhir – these master gemcutters are friendly to the inhabitants of the town and are found there in large numbers, especially higher class areas and the fertile peninsula to the southeast. Further to the west, the rugged peaks of the Ered Perack loom over unknown valleys. Many have been lost looking for abandoned tombs and the like. The virgin priestesses of Hecate live in their domed temple on the lower slopes. Their divinations and omens are sought by the wealthy and the foolish – for these services never come without a price.”

“The city supplement you are reading right now is a fan’s vision of Zothay, a smaller city state found in the lands of Barbarian Altanis. The information found below is not intended to be taken for official – indeed, as its elements were drawn from my home campaign, there are certain differences between this interpretation and what is found on the pages of the Player’s Guide to the Wilderlands or the forthcoming Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set, both published by Necromancer Games and Judges Guild.”
(tovább…)

by Gabor Lux

“In his life, the wizard Ardaxas was feared by everyone, including his few apprentices. At the end of his living days, he retreated below his mansion and built himself a tomb befitting an overlord, with all sorts of magical traps to protect his remains. With all other work finished, Ardaxas achieved lichdom and went beyond the limits of human existence. All he left to his apprentices was a set of instructions to reach him if they sought consultation with their old master. These instructions were later copied and passed on to others, but the location of the vault was eventually forgotten, and the keys to its secrets became useless. In the City of Vultures, a section of the slums is still called „the Wizard’s Maze”, but the connection to Ardaxas is rarely if ever made.”

Description and contents: A trilogy of sequential adventures based in the City State of Kauran (Barbarian Atlantis 4502, named the City of Vultures in my campaign): an encounter with squabbling merchants leading into a murder investigation scenario, followed by a chase through the Undercity with a very deadly tomb-robbing scenario on the side, and finally ending with an assault on an abandoned bathhouse held by a gang of thieves. To this date, only the Undercity section has been released (omitting the aboveground merchant’s house, which would make for a short but decent break-in scenario on its own): in addition to areas mostly for colour, it features a wizard’s tomb jam-packed with traps so deadly that only the careful and correct interpretation of clues left behind by the builder will see a party through safely. The bathhouse, although it was an exciting and tension-filled exercise in tactical combat, was designed with 3.0 thieves in mind, and would therefore need some thought to work in classical systems.
(tovább…)