Goblin Law

Goblin Rule

Regardless of type (Bat, Gretchling, or Grue), Goblins demand a king. Well, that’s the word they will use, but it isn’t really so narrowly defined. They want more of a demagogue. Even if that demagogue is a broom. As long as it is a N I C E broom, it has a fair shot at kingship. Goblins are fair folk.

This broom probably isn't nice enough. Too craggily. 

There is only one major rule of goblin kingship. The king may not ever leave the warren, unless accompanied by a at least 2/3rds of the tribe. As counting is not universal among goblins, this can be a difficult standard to meet. Kings tend to be lonely.

What is the current king?

1. Actually a broom. Inanimate objects tend to be long lived if not particularly ambitious kings.
2. A particularly large beetle. Half their tie is spent trying to differentiate it from the other bugs of the cave or keeping it from scuttling away.
3.  A Necromancer’s Phylactery. To say the necromancer is disappointed by this arrangement would be an understatement.
4. A Bear. Goblins gravitate towards bear kings, and as solitary and somewhat kindly folk, bears frequently benefit from the arrangement.
5. A terrified, lost adventurer. They want out, and would probably join the party as a hireling (or replacement PC) if given the chance.
6. Against all odds, an actual goblin. Could be dangerous if this lasts.

Role of Rule

The king always looms large in the goblin mind. Major decisions will almost always include consultation with the king, and any politicking between goblin warrens will be resolved exclusively through their kings. Outside of settling disputes and generally guiding the tribe, particular traditions of kingship arise within each warren.

What role has this king?

1. This king is responsible for arming the tribe­—Stuck within the warren, this is rarely an easy task, leading to the stereotype of shoddily armed goblins. But, the king isn’t barred from sending their goblins to fetch materials or even the weapons themselves. So long as they arm everyone they will have fulfilled their duty, but they will have to manage jealousy if the arms vary too much in quality.
2. This king is responsible for defending the warren. In the case of any intruder whatsoever, the king will be shuffled to face and repel them.
3. This king is responsible for recording the deeds and histories of the warren, reciting the histories of individual members in full upon request. As most goblins can’t read, faking the more remote histories isn’t too difficult, though it does take awhile.
4. This king is responsible for the interior decoration and cleanliness of the warren. Failure to maintain a spotless warren at the end of each day are grounds for violent dismissal. These tend to be the most bedraggled kings.
5. This king is responsible for meditation and prophesying on behalf of the tribe. Unless they are fulfilling other kingly duties, they are expected to remain on their throne, eyes closed and mumbling quiet wisdoms.
6. This king is the goblin mother. They are expected to feed and educate each of the little goblinites.

The End of a Reign

One rarely finds a goblin king in service for more than a few weeks at a time. Goblins are fickle creatures, so it is almost inevitable that some disaster, death, or deposition leaves the throne open. Barring these circumstances though, most goblin warrens have longstanding traditions that keep kingships short.

When does a king’s reign end?

1. Monthly. Every new moon, the goblins of the warren claim they “Can’t see their king” in the dark, and move to select a new one. This is a rare opportunity for a king to leave peacefully, as the goblins will knowingly close their eyes to the king until the next day.
2. When the king is seen eating or drinking. The goblins believe their king to be above reproach and without need for sustenance. They’ll be disappointed to find out they’ve been serving a false king.
3. When the king fails a riddle posed by an outsider. These goblins expect a trickster king, so when they see their king bested they’ll move to elect the one who asked the riddle.
4. When the king wants to leave. This leads simultaneously to pretty high turnover, but these are the warrens that tend to eventually end up with the longest lasting kings.
5. When the local witch says so, the goblin king loses their right to reign. She has veto power of most governments around her domain.
6. When the king produces an heir. So long as this heir is remotely similar to the king, the heir will be immediately accepted and selected as king. An unsurprising number of mud effigies have become goblin kings in this way. The departing king receives a gift before being formally cast out of goblindom.

Ascension to Kingship

Election to goblin kingship can be a messy thing. A desperation grips the warren immediately upon the loss of a king, for whatever reason. Each tribe will have its own methods of selection for the heir, but said standards will be swiftly and continuously lowered the longer it takes to find a candidate. If it somehow takes longer than a week to find something to sit as king, the goblins will go feral until something else exerts control. This is a rare opportunity to re-write a warrens traditions and gain a firm grasp of the workings and doings of the tribe.

How is a king selected?

1. By  un-lot. A very large sack is filled with potential candidates for kingship. The sack is shaken, and the last to leave the sack is king. Candidates will be encouraged to leave the sack by sharp pokes from outside of it is taking too long to empty the sack.
2. By size. The largest thing currently in the warren is now king. This includes freestanding rocks.
3. By hat. When time comes to elect a king, the being with the largest hat in the warren immediately becomes king. If there are no hatted beings present, the first hatted being to arrive is immediately king.
4. By appetite. Whoever can eat the most becomes king. This puts a great strain on the goblin food economy, and leads to a lot of bear kings.
5. By ghost. The most ghostlike or likely haunted thing in the warren becomes king. In absence of other evidence, the most pale candidate is considered most haunted.
6. By goblin beauty standards. These standards will depend on warren and goblin type, but they definitely won’t align with regional norms. This may be a good thing.

Goblin Law

Any crime against the goblin warren requires sentencing by goblin law. Presuming the aggressor can be apprehended, the warren will gather for a court. Acquittal under goblin law requires a goblin Fetch, which is something in between a Geas and a Quest. The court will want something impossible, or just very inconvenient. And every goblin will know if you are on a Fetch, no matter where you find them. They will know precisely what you’ve been charged to seek, and if they infer that you have not been nobly pursuing your Fetch, you’ll be marked as profane, dishonorable, and untrustworthy, if not outright attacked for the betrayal.

What must you Fetch?

1. A ball of yarn bigger than a goblin.
2. Boots that have marched across the sea.
3. A blue apple
4. The local witch’s broom, house, or other wyrd transport. (Good luck…)
5. A dragon
6. A portal to the Underdark

Updates – GloGtober the 6^th

Well, I’m quite behind on GLoGtober as expected, but I’m heartened by everyone else's lovely posts and my own continues progress (if not postings) on a variety of pieces. I’ll be catching up a bit over the next few days hopefully! This post doesn’t really acknowledge my previous goblin post as much as I’d have hoped, but my new goal was to make something somewhat goblin agnostic. This certainly isn’t comprehensive, but I think it suggests enough of a goofy goblin mode of kingship to get things started next time I run something with goblins. Inspiration for this silly kingship comes from the goblins of Skerple’s Tomb of the Serpent King, as does the terminology of “warren” rather then tribe for a group of goblin groups.

Blakean Humanist Clerics

 

So I rolled "cleric" for GLoGtober day 5. I have neither played nor wanted to play a cleric. Ever. 

Apparently the first DnD clerics were supposed to be VanHelsing type vampire hunters. I am more inclined to design for that than the stereotypical DnD cleric. But turn undead is iconic. Paired with this, I've been re-reading the poetry of William Blake, and he is the coolest and most DnD poet. Looks like this will be the Class Chassis for today.

The State of Mankind

The human form is sacred. Profane actions twist men and women away from this ideal. Their sins bring about their aberration, and the unclean must be cleansed. Their imaginations must be turned. Four great sins rise above the rest. Cruelty, Jealousy, Terror, and Secrecy. Respectively, these sins are responsible for vampires, drow, werewolves, and the undead. As a cleric, your charge is the restoration of the image of man in these beasts. Not every beast can be restored. In this case, it falls to you to put them to rest.

The Blakean Humanist Cleric

You’ve seen the Human Form Divine. Monstrosity is a movement away from humanity, and humanity is to be championed. You fight for mankind.

For every Blakean Humanist Cleric template you gain +2 resistance to fear and your party members gain +1 morale (intended for hirelings)

Starting Equipment – A book of axioms, maxims, and aphorisms, an inkwell and a sharp pen, a dagger

Starting Skills: Drawing, Epistulatory writing, Hosting

Template A – Calling, Visionary

Template B – Poetic Genius

Template C – [see Calling]

Template D – Turn the Unseeing

Calling - You fight for mankind, but you specifically fight for the incipient humanity of the beasts of your calling. Choose from the following beasts and reference their tables for the additional skills and templates added: Undead, Vampire, Drow, Werebeast  of your calling. Choose from Vampires, Undead, Drow, or Werewolves.

 [Sorry, all of these are only upcoming for the time being. I’m intending to have undead and Drow done by next week’s cleric post]

Visionary – “Man’s perceptions are not bounded by organs of perception” You realize this, and you see. You are aware when you are in the presence (within 10 feet) of something beyond perception. This includes magics, ghosts, and lay lines among other things. On a Template +1 in 6, you can also see through illusions and supernatural invisibilities. You always see angels (fallen or otherwise) if they are present.

Poetic Genius – Your words resonate. There isn’t magic to them, just art. Given ten minutes in a public place you can gather the attention of all present and then some. They’ll at least listen to what you have to say next.  In contrast, if you speak to an individual neutral or friendly to you for ten minutes 1 on 1, you can instill a single strong emotion in them.

Tune Imagination – Once per day, you may share a visionary word to a single target who has not had their imagination turned. They understand. For 1d10 rounds, they are stunned by the revelation. No save. Damage breaks this stun. If you use this on a target immediately after 10 minutes of speaking to them with your Poetic Genius ability, you may instill fear and visions that leaves them permanently terrified of you or you may instill joy and grant them a template of Blakean Humanist Cleric with the same calling as yours. See your Calling for further effects of the turning.

Thoughts

This is again a somewhat draftlike post. I’m not yet happy with the synthesis of theme and mechanics here yet. Mixing Blake and this… “Clerics against abberations of man” idea don’t yet fully fit. I might need to later split them into a strait up Blakean Visionary class and a more basic Clerical template later. For now, and at least for a first iteration of the callings, this is what we’ve got though. Any fans of William Blake out there? Ideas of how his work could be adapted for a game?

Oh, also: Day 4 of GLoGtober will come at some point this month. I rolled "Heist" and any adventure form module/post is going to be something I tinker away at for most of the month. I see no reason posting a half baked heist, so it's just going to wait for a time. 

Thanks All!

 

Angel (Not Orb) Seekers

Seven is a magic number. Remember that

On Angels

Immutability is traditionally ascribed to the divine. Angels were one of these divines. Thus, they couldn’t change. Well, they shouldn’t have been able to. When they fell, they shattered. In a way this could (should) be described as change, but each angel’s shards were perfect, fractaline sub-replica of themselves: Inert but technically unchanged, by some esoteric divine logic.

Each angel split into seven pieces, as they rained to the earth in their fallen crystal forms. This was aeons ago (or not, as that could be a wild setting setpiece, to have the fall of the angels within living memory), and the crystals are scattered throughout the world, some horded away in temples others hidden in the wilderness.

Now, every adventurer in some way seeks power: some through martial prowess, some through study, some through the seeking of orbs, and some…some through the collection of crystal divines. Some seek power through the collection of angels.

Angel Seeker

Starting Equipment: 2 angelic shards, an ioun stone, sturdy canvas robes, a stout staff.

Starting Skills: pathfinding, oathmaking, hospitality

For each template of Angel Seeker gain +1 Charisma and +1 HP.  

A: Angelic Synthesis, Ioun Mastery

B: +1 Angelic Synthesis, +1 angelic shard

C: Tether, +2 angelic shard

D: Blade of Hosts. Angelic Genesis. +1 angelic shard

Angelic Synthesis

While others can use angel shards as powerful channels to various magics, you can tap into what they really are. Each angel shard in your possession hovers behind you as though a feather in an angelic wing. If expended, angelic shards return the following day at noon. You may choose one of the following as a form of attunement with your angelic shards.

-          The Darts of Heaven – The shards remember their sting. You may expend any number of shards to deal 1d6 damage each to a foe within 30ft. (Think magic missile)

-          The Strength of Doves – The shards remember their freedom. You gain the following passive effects, depending on the number of non-expended shards in your possession. Effects are cumulative.

o   2 shards – You gain a continuous featherfall effect on yourself. When falling you drift downwards at a slow, constant rate. You have no control over your descent.

o   4 shards – You gain a jump effect. You may leap 30 feet with a 15 foot apex. You need a running start.

o   6 shards – You gain 1 ten minute flight per day. Your fly speed is akin to a dove. Once a day, you may expend 2 shards, activate your flight again, this time for 5 minutes.  Once a day you may expend 2 more shards to activate a flight of 1 minute.

-          The Firmness of Heaven—The shards remember their constancy. You gain +1 AC per 2 active shards in your possession. You may expend 2 shards to reduce incoming damage by 7.

Ioun Mastery

Ioun stones you attune with slowly orbit your head in a halo, and they cannot be stolen from you. You may combine 7 ioun stones to reconstruct 1 angel shard.

Tether

You may make an attack roll adding your charisma modifier against an opponent. If you hit, you may expend shards to tether a magical foe (undead, demonic, spiritual, wizardly or draconic. You get the idea) for 1d6 rounds per shard expended. You and your target know how many rounds your tethering will last. This tethering prevents movement and magical means of teleportation, but not attacks or other spells. If your foe is not one of the above listed types, they are only bound for 1 round per shard.

Blade of Hosts

You may expend shards to imbue your weapon with a semblance of divine immutability. Effects are cumulative.

-          2 shards – 2 damage per hit. You may slice through mundane materials like butter.

-          4 shards – 4 damage per hit. Your attacks are considered magical and can affect spirits, spells, and the like.

-          6 shards -  6 damage per hit. In addition to dealing damage, you may May automatically tether your opponent, expending active shards as usual or lowering your Blade of Hosts effect by 2 shards.

-          7 shards – You permanently expend 7 shards to produce an immaculate blade that is alchemically and sorcerously adapted to receiving all forms of enchantment. This sword deals 7 damage per hit.

Angelic Genesis

You may permanently expend 7 shards to re-manifest an angel. You may trade all of your Angel Seeker templates for 3 paladin templates, and you will forever have a unique boon from this angel. Alternatively, you may gift this angel to another, immediately giving them 1 paladin template and total, permanent access to this angel as their guardian.

Mechanical Notes on Angel Seekers

Angel shards can be gained through advancement in level as per the Angel Seeker Templates, or through adventuring. A fully intact angel shard is a great treasure, and gaining one should be a challenge. Once gained, angel shards cannot be take from an Angel Seeker with anything short of killing them, making a Wish Spell, or direct divine intervention.

I didn’t have time to make ioun stone rules for this post, but assume they are moderately well known magical items that offer minor magical effects when attuned. Ya know, basic DnD stuff. It should be less common knowledge that Angel seekers can reconstruct angel shards from ioun stones. Breaking an angel shard truly does change it, producing 7 ioun stones of varying types, but removing any divine aspects of the shard. The change makes it cease to be angelic. The angelic origins of ioun stones may or may not be common knowledge.  

Closing Thoughts

Whew! Day 3 of GLoGtober complete, and I’m actually caught up within a day of falling behind. Maybe this isn’t so bad a start after all! I would love to add a table of ioun stone effects and basic MOSAIC strict rules for Ioun stone attunement and effect at some point. You might also notice that I reference but do not link paladin class/class templates under the Angelic Genesis ability. I’ve got a Paladin class chassis/template that will be a mix of GLoG Wizard and Skerples Summoner in the works that will rely on attunement with and consensual binding of various angels. This future post will include rules for generating angels and their boons, and their paladinic effects. What angels would you like to see? All this talk of angels also makes me want to do some Evangelion Mech stuff…

Thanks all!

Batlins Can't Drink Blood

Though the floors are slick with refuse and guano, the stalactites above sparkle and flit with dark shapes among them. There is a symphony in the quiet of the dark: Dripping water, quiet breeze , a chorus of clicks and dry whispers.

What Clicks in the Caves?

Goblins. Or, things that were once goblins. Some unknown goblin generations ago, a vampire’s venom twisted their form and cursed them with the Hunger. Their teeth grew to fangs, the fingers stretched and folded to feeble wings, and their eyes dimmed in the dark. And now, instead of the incessant chatter of Goblins, they only whisper and click their tongues, seeing dimly. Lets call them Batlins.

It wasn’t only the forms of the batlins that changed. The curse in their blood couldn’t help but twist their already feeble minds. Every batlin, against their goblin ancestry, shares a compulsion for the cleanliness. They’ll only steal what shines, and they won’t aloe even a speck of dirt in their lofty warrens in the caves. In many ways, this shared obsession greatly increases the living conditions of the batlins. In one way, it has made things difficult for them. In a twist of leftover goblinoid psychology, they consider blood unclean. And yet they Hunger.

How do Batlins Sate Their Hunger?

Batlins hunger for blood, but their obsession with cleanliness prevents them from spilling it themselves. To this end, they’ve developed several workarounds.

1. Mosquitos. These batlins have learned to make fires in their caves to draw in insects and their collected blood for feeding. When feeling threatened, they will pelt aggressors with coals and light dungeon camps on fire. 
2. Leeches. Somewhere in the depths of their warren, these batlins cultivate a pond writhing with leeches. They will regularly hunt creatures to throw to the leeches, feeding from the blood-stocked pond at their leisure. They may try to trick you into a swim with a valuable item at the bottom. 
3. Traps. With beartraps, dangling hooks, and more, these batlins aren’t picky with what it takes to make unfortunates bleed. On a successful trap, the whole goblin warren will swarm the injured party. 
4. Spiders. These batlins collect spiders great and small in their caves, and they rely on their trapping as a means for blood collection. 
5. Bartering. Blood is a resource for which these batlins will pay richly. They will draw upon collections of rare mushrooms, ores, and treasures in exchange for spilled blood. 
6. Demons. Through infernal pacts, these batlins pact with demons in exchange for payment in blood. 

How Do They Keep Clean?

Because batlins can’t abide any sort of mess, they tend to house themselves near sources of water, periodically cleansing themselves and whatever they collect. Paradoxically, if they find something they truly value, they will clean it thoroughly before casting it into their guano pits. They assume that the dirtiness of the pit will deter any who would take it from them. They don't like to process the fact that they themselves can't really retrieve it due to the filth.

What Other Neurosis do these goblins have?

1.       Counting. In whispered voice, batlin colonies must tabulate the total populations of their warren and their cavesite domain. Should they discover visitors, or lose one of their numbers, at least one batlin must flutter away to report the change in number to the warren.

2.       Ownership. Ownership is indisputable in the batlin mind. Anything held by a person is and must be theirs by quasi-divine right. As a result, these batlins are cognitively incapable of stealing something you hold. Anything else is up for grabs.

3.       Hospitality. Wether a guest speaks or not, Batlins will guide them to the nearest source of clean water and offer them a morsel of food. This nicety extends to everything from ants to Ogres, with a variety of success. However, once the guest has drank the ritual is ended, and the batlins are no longer bound as hosts.

4.       Flight. Batlins are somewhat embarrassed by their unwieldy flight. In the presence of non-batlins, they will refuse to do anything but hop and crawl unless threatened.

Mechanics

Batlins should probably share the stats of normal goblins in your setting, but with the following changes.

-          With hands twisted into wings, batlins will have a difficult time wielding any form of weapons

-          While uninjured, batlins can fly. Assume a single hit is enough to cripple their flight for a time and drive them to a crawling retreat.

-          If an encountered batlin is feral/withough blood, double all combat stats.

Closing Thoughts

In a completely foreseeable turn of events, life things came up this weekend that have left me already a day behind on GLoGtober. This day 2 of GLoGtober now comes to you fashionably late, on the 3rd of the month. So it goes. I’ll see what I can do to catch up over the week. As it stands, this post is only a fragment of what I hoped for it to be. I want to the expand the implications of the vampiric neuroses the batlins might inherit as well as the overall psychology of a batlin warren. What do they want? How does that play out? I’m leaning towards aiming their wants towards either the quest for serving a vampire or alchemically/sorcerously transmuting other things directly in to blood. Maybe some particularly cerebral batlins might philosophize about a cure for their blood malady? This post also doesn’t yet communicate fully the feel of batlins that I would want communicated at the table. I think the idea of vampiric bat-goblins that are freaked out by spilled blood is hilarious, but the above doesn’t quite capture that.

 My end goal for this post is setting up a scenario where villages tell disbelieving PC’s tales of pigs that fly, only for them to catch swarms of local batlins steal piglets and flutter away in the night. Or bite pigs and infect them to become some vampiric hog-terror.

Also, shout out to fantastic and well realized Gobling GLoGtober post by Robin Gibson over at their Ko Fi page. The tables for Goblin generation totally encapsulate the gonzo spirit and humor of great goblindom, and I look forward to introducing my players to Potato Goblins who have only a shared pot of bubbling stew and a half baked plan for world domination to their name. 

Thanks all! Day three coming... someday soon? 

GLoGtober - Day 1

GLoGtober: A Welcome Introduction 

I’ve been an observer of the online D&D/OSR/Mothership/IntotheOdd/Knave/OSE/GLoG/Ect scene for a long time, but I’ve never really brought myself to engage much until recently. I’ve hovered and occasionally chatted in the GLoG and OSR Discord servers, and played a couple of wonderful games with as DM. My real life play experience is fairly extensive, though limited to close friends and family, so this has been a bit of a branching out for me. But I’m excited to try! 

Big thanks to Sundered World DM for setting up GLoGtober prompts and Badges (gotta say, badges hooked me)! I’ve set the somewhat absurd goal of a post a day, because I need to get out of a perfectionist funk. I won’t admit how long it took for me to write my only extant post, on silly Fox Wizards at that. Since then I’ve been flittering about a word doc for a “labyrinth” post, but I haven’t managed to bring myself to finalize for roughly…a year. GLoGtober is my attempt to break the funk and just get some posts flowing. I’ve rolled up a full month’s worth of posts from Sundered’s generator, which I’ve listed at the bottom of this post, for any curious to see what is (or ought to be) coming. As per the title, today’s post is Collaboration-Someone Elses GLoGhack.  

So, lets begin!

But First A Tribute

For any discussion of GLoGhacks, first praise must go to the GLoGfather himself, Arnold K. of GoblinPunch. His was one of the first gaming blogs I ever encountered, and I credit his work with getting me in to all this in the first place. [A Spell named Catherine and There’s No Such Thing As Foxes loom large in my mind to this day (see my Wizard Foxes and the effects of spell “Where the Mice go), and his original GLoG wizard template with MD is my single favorite gaming design piece. Again, much praise. 

Personally, I have one other blogger to credit for the formation of my tabletop imagination, and that is Against the Wicked City. His "On Romantic Fantasy" totally encapsulates the type of play in which I am most interested in (well, that and gritty dungeon crawling…) and his work is a touchstone of much of what I hope to do. 

For Real, Now We Begin 

So, whose GloG am I talking about? Surprise: Its mine. Well, not exactly. Bear with me. I don’t have a GLoGhack. Not yet. And I’m not going to blatantly disregard the guidelines and spirit of the GLoGtober prompts. Not much anyway. But in a very gloggy fashion, the things I like most about the GLoG are scattered around the GLoGoBLoGosphere to such an extent that I won’t be able to think about everything I want to or communicate what I really love about each without touching on at least several. To that end, I’m decided to look at some favorites and pull out the major threads. But here too, I ran in to a problem… 

What’s Good in a GLoGHack?

What’s the Good? I’m a fan of people who ask that, so demanding that of the GLoG seemed like a good first step. But that would require a definition of what the GLoG even is, and that would be a fools errand. So, I’m going to work off of two of my own intuited axioms. GLoG-ness is great in its setting integration and its system agnosticism. Setting integration is the virtue of rules/classes/ect working as direct tie-ins to the setting of play, which I think enhances play and engrosses players much more that a generic or motley assortment of rules. System agnosticism is the idea that much of the actual design elements of a GLoG can be fairly minimal, thus easy to shift around and add to other settings as one sees fit. This results in two distinctive types of GloG elements that I think are really important. The Setting Integration elements are the unique, flavorful, campaign defining mechanics in a hack. The System Agnostic elements are the generally useful tools that can be used in any setting to streamline/define certain aspects of play. Good GLoGs are inherently a bit modular, I think. 

    

Now, there are some relatively ubiquitous GLoG elements, like spells as mind-power-creatures or divines being referred to as “g_ds.” Honestly, I’m not terribly interested in a lot of these shared features (besides compulsive production of wizards, which I love). I’m even slightly against many of them, but I don’t think these are necessarily the unique signifiers of GLoGdom. But this is again straying into the “What is the GLoG” question. Let’s avoid that. With the axioms of setting integration and system agnosticism in mind, lets finally look at a GLoG-hack. 

The Thoughts I’ve Gots on GLoGs 

Figure 1: Many Rats on Sticks by Skerples 

Rats on Sticks (hereafter RoS) is the little “o”, OG GLoG. I don’t know of anyone who has A: spent longer with the GLoG and their hack or B: documented, playtested, and revised to the extent that Skerples has. There is much to say in terms of the streamlining of many core rules, but I’m not going to say it. Plenty of others have reviewed RoS for such things. 

System Integration - There is a heavily implied, truly medieval setting in RoS. In particular, the Three Estates delineate both thematically and mechanically the type of game that will take place in RoS. Most adventurers will be outlaw members of the 3rd estate: vagabonds, neredowells, outlaws, unfortunates, or, worst of all, simply adventurous folk. This is normal in…most games. But in RoS it means something. Members of the 3rd estate are socially and mechanically estranged from the other estates, the church (first estate) and the ranking nobility (second estate). To be a peasant is to be other to the powers that be in RoS, and that is fertile ground for all sorts of adventure. This all gets even more interesting considering the fact that several of the character classes included in RoS, the Knight for example, are members of a different estate. Fascinating group dynamics abound when one must consider why a priest, a knight, and a wizard (representing all three estates) are tolerating sharing a room, or even a building.

System Agnosticism - Most of the systems references above are quite modular. If you like the ideas of the estates, it would be trivial to pluck them from ROS and integrate them into your own GLoG. Similar examples of useful tools are Skerple’s version of weapon proficiency, inventory slots, and death and dismemberment. These are the less overtly thematic aspects of the ruleset, but by virtue of their practicality they can be used for just about any campaign. These system agnostic bits are somewhat universal in their usability. It just depends on what mechanics are useful at your table.

Figure 2: Witches by Monsieur Le Battlier

Here is where I’m going to start…straying from the prompt. Monsieur at Bottomless Sarcophagus doesn’t have a GLoGhack per say (to my knowledge). In fact, the only systems I’ve seen from him(all quite lovely) are fairly distinct from GLoGdom. But he has lots of fantastic worldbuilding, and several solid GLoG classes, which serve as an example, (I think) of essentially a GLoG in and of itself. The materials I’m referring to are his Witch Template, the Witching Hour, and (in my mind at least) the Sauna Demon. 

System Integration - The Witching hour itself defines a particular look, feel, and effect for a magic system, which when present in a setting will mechanically incentivize interaction with it and with a certain type of play. With the Witching Hour, there is now a canonical hour for ritual. PC’s and NPC’s alike gain a new toolset when they choose to adapt their play around the Hour. “There are entire locations and even swatches of land that only exist in Witch-Time.” How evocative is that? Whole campaigns could occur within the witching hour!! Now, you might say “This is just worldbuilding and setting materials!” or “Is this even a mechanic??” I’d say sort of. The random table at the end provides in setting mechanics for the entry into said witching hour, and the defined mechanical effects while within the Hour (additional MD and such) are sufficient in my opinion to qualify this as a System Integrated aspect. But, while this could very well stand alone as a setting defining system, Monsieur doesn’t leave it as that. His Witch Class Format (more on that in a sec) and Sauna Demon perfectly complement the Hour to imply a campaign of rigorous preparation for rituals of the Witching hour interspersed with much needed sauna relaxation. (and likely dealings with Nikolas…) 

System Agnosticism - The main point here is the fact that Monsieur not only made a fantastic Witch class, he made it a class format, meaning it can easily be plopped into other settings as his orthodox witch, or any number of other interpretations. Not much more to say here, but I think that outside of the original GLoG wizard, this class format is one of the best out there. 

Figures Continue 

Honestly, there are a ton more settings I’d like to feature under these two criterion, but for now I’m going to leave it as a list for potential further extrapolation. After these highlights of the living tradition of robust mechanical settings, I’ll offer one specifically NON-GLoG movement that I think is essentially GLoG-like, and then wrap this up. 

The great GLoGgy Mechanical settings (feel free to challenge the conception of GLoGgy here, I’d be interested to hear!) 

• Fists of Cinder and Stone's Anemos 
•  Blasted Cratered Land’s Wizard Colleges
•  The Nothic’s Eye's Eikonokosmos 
• Oblidisideryptch’s Heimjing Beta 
• And more. Many more. 

The Newly Missing Piece: MOSAIC strict 

I think the GLoG has always been fairly good about System Integration what with the countless classes oozing with character out there. The creative spirit of the GLoG thrives on that sort of stuff, it seems. But when it comes to the somewhat grittier, more abstract mechanical rules, there is more of a variation on quality. Here, I think Trilemma Adventures’s MOSAIC strict RPG design principles are the perfect supplementary practice to the System Agnostic aspect of great GLoGs. 

MOSAIC means Modular, Optional, Short, Attested, Independent, Coreless. Most important here are Modular and Independent. A MOSAIC ruleset doesn’t seek to serve as an entire core system. It concerns itself with one focused area. Say, fishing. But then it ensures that these fishing rules are Independent, meaning that said rules will be entirely self contained. Fishing won't depend on your class, character sheet, ect. They are just self sustaining fishing rules. Any game could have such fishing rules. 

The great strength here is the fact that a wealth of well developed MOSAIC strict rules could be the perfect pairing for the personal creative work of System Integrated Mechanics. For an eldritch viking oceanic hexcrawl, I would want flavorful, setting integrated mechanics for sailing, rune cursing, ect. But for asides like, baking, oration, or even the specifics of an inventory system, MOSAIC strict modular tiles are the perfect solution. They won’t distract from the core vision of the setting, but they provide useful support. What if during play it turns out that baking is a WAY bigger part of the campaign? Then that’s an opportunity to develop the MOSAIC tile into a system integrated mechanic that plays a greater role in play. 

Another board-tile in the GLoG-ship of Theseus! 

Conclusions 

So, in a real GLoGgy fashion, I like bits and pieces of everything. But, upon reflection the best bits tend to fall into the category of either System Integrated mechanics or System Agnostic mechanics. I think that these paired axioms are also fertile ground for taking individual ideas and fleshing them out into fully playable settings. 

GLoGtober Tentative Schedule 

Week 1 

• 3 - Someone elses GLoG Hack – Done!
• 1 Goblin – Goblins as Vampires
• 1 Crystal – On Angel’s Wings – An Orbseeker Clone?
• 4 Heist – Joan Lost the Unicorn
• 2 Cleric - Humanist Blakean Cleric
• 1 Government – Goblin Democracy
• 4 What causes that strange black lightning - Sleipnir 

Week 2

• 2 - Someone's class - Undecided
• 5 Drow - I mistook drow as driders. See what that means.
• 4 Book - 1st half of a mazirian-esque Summoning Book
• 1 Dungeon - The Under Heist
• 2 Cleric- Humanist Blakean Clerics Part II
• 3 Religion – The Nets of Religeon // Arachnotheosis.
• 5 Poem – Excerpts from William Blake 

Week 3 

• 4 Someone Elses Adventure - Undecided
• 5 Drow – More Drider-Drow
• 4 Book – 2nd half of a mazirian-esque Summoning Book
• 6 Freebie non dcungeon/hex/heist/domain adventure - The Highways of the Underdark Emmy Allen Style?
• 1 Thief – Thieves Guilds of the Underdark
• 3 Religion II – The Kings of Nine
• 1 Index Card - Inventory system 

Week 4

• 6 Buddy Post – Undecided (Let me know if you’d like to collaborate!!)
• 6 Unique Monster - Highway Beast // The Bridgeless Troll
• 5 Portal – On Triumphal Arches as the Fall of Kings
• 3 Hexcrawl – Haha, no. Spider curse magics instead. “hex” “crawl”
• 2 Organized Crime syndicate – Allegiances among the Thieves guilds of the Underdark
• 3 Odd bone - It is quite odd. 

Calls to Action

What system agnostic Classes that could be paired into a good setting? 

• Witch Class Template (I want more!)
• The Summoner
• Warlocks
• The Golemist
• The Raven Master
• Weird Merchants

What setting idea seeds to I want to see paired with System Integrated mechanics? 

•  A Goodly Paladin questing game. Maybe Arthurian, hopefully not.
• A World of Toads
• Motorcycle Nomads
• Sagas of the Volga-Rus
• Greco-Roman Wrestling. No more monks.
• Pottery as Major Magics 

Thanks all!

Foxes are Wizards!

Foxes are Wizards

Not all, but more than one would think.

Unless caught casting a spell, a wizard fox can maintain a perfectly mundane appearance.

They even manage to evade magical detection, wizard vision being-as it always seems to be-an exception. But even then, the signs are subtle.

The best way to identify a wizard fox is to ask. If they wish, they may respond with coy words, a mix of short barks and childish laughter.

Initially, they bicker. They don’t like the way you dress, the way you walk, or the way your breath smells. They say this all with a gleeful smile.

Look at that adorable grin

The wizard-fox loves conversation, and after a few minutes of brusque critiques they happily indulge in their endless curiosity. Where do you come from? What type of robes does the party cleric prefer? Why, do you think, do mice run away? Where do they run?

After a little while, if indulged with answers to their many questions, the wizard-fox will likely begin to fixate on a single party member, a wizard if present and the member with the best cloak otherwise. If there is a wizard, but another member has a better cloak, the wizard-fox will be visibly confused and repeatedly ask if wizard doesn't have some other, nicer cloak elsewhere.
The wizard-fox will propose a sort of trade, starting by offering an enchanted bauble from their den for an item of equal-or likely greater-value from the party. Foxes themselves aren't enchanters, but they tend to have close ties with forest craftspeople, especially moss dwarves (of Dolemnwood) and Forge Badgers. Wizard-foxes are especially fond of fine textiles with which to line their den, and they will leap at the opportunity to acquire any fabrics of magical origin.

If trade goes well and there is a spellcaster in the party, the wizard-fox will likely challenge them to a game of chess, the loser having to teach the other one of their known spells.

Wizard-Foxes and their Magics

Wizard-fox spells are in most cases almost identical to known wizard spells, but always with a vulpine twist. A wizard-fox’s magic missile consists of more foxes, tiny, blue, and joyfully springing out to nip and bite their target. The flames of a wizard fox fireball roll with the faces of a hundred cackling foxes. All wizard-foxes are particularly proud of their version of disguise self, which they have adapted to all the minute variations of fox facial features. They will be disappointed when your dim human eyes can’t recognize the difference when cast. Most foxes look quite similar. Regardless, the spell can prove useful in a non-fox's arsenal, where it actually works as a low level polymorph into a fox form.

While most of the wizard-fox repertoire consists of familiar spells, the foxes have a few spells they call their own.

Make Smug

R: 50’ T: object D: [sum] minutes
Causes the owner of target object to feel great pride in their ownership of the targeted object. Anyone who praises the object gains a +2 to reaction rolls with the owner.

If 2 or more [dice] are invested, the owner will not be willing to part with the object for anything but the most exorbitant sums.

If 3 or more [dice] are invested, the owner will do what they can to explain and justify their great pride in their object, even going so far as to spill secrets about it. (The owner may save versus wisdom to avoid giving up magical locks or passwords on the object.)

If 4 or more [dice] are invested, the owner will take absurd risks to maintain possession of the object. [A save versus wisdom, with advantage if the object is worth less than 10gp, negates.] When the duration runs out, the owner will justify to themselves any actions they took under the influence of the spell but regard the object with normal, though slightly amused fondness. They will not necessarily be aware their smugness was caused by magics.

Make Smug is a staple of wizard fox dealings. At lower levels, it is used to make new owners of one of the fox’s baubles pleased with their purchase and friendly towards the fox. At higher levels, it can be used to discover any magical effects of eye catching objects or to escape a deal going south, as the fox can simply grab a pin from someone’s cloak and throw it in the brush, escaping as the owner frantically searches for it. When alone, many wizard-foxes will cast this spell on their own favorite object, simply to revel in the joys of owning it.

This wizard-fox has cast both Make Smug and Prepare for Winter on herself

Prepare for Winter
R: touch T: creature or object D: variable
The target, if textile, permanently increases in value by [dice] times plus [sum] gold as its weave becomes thicker and its colors more vibrant. This only works once per piece. If the target is a furred creature, they become resistant to cold and cold damage for [dice]*[sum] hours, fur (or hair) becoming thicker and gray. Otherwise, the object simply becomes pleasingly warm to the touch.

The wizard foxes use for this spell is twofold. First, they cast it upon themselves in the winter months to better face the bitter cold. Beyond this, they bolster the value of their fabric collections.

For the King the Rook

R: touch T: self and object D: [sum] minutes.

The caster links themselves to the object of their size or less, and may swap places at will once during the duration of the spell so long as a physical path exists that the caster could take to reach the object. At 3 [dice] the caster may swap even if there is no physical path.

The wizard foxes merged their love of chess and magic this spell. A favorite wizard fox move is to target their opponents king during a game of chess, and swap when they win a game, for dramatic effect.

Every Beast a Knight

R: shout T: creature D: [dice] rounds.

Target creature will aid the caster should combat arise, seeking to flank and attack adversaries. At 4 [dice] a woodland creature of 1HD or less will permanently serve the caster as an imitation of courtly knight (with a max of 2 creatures so bound)

Outside of combat, creatures charged with magic knighthood will obsess over perfecting the nuances of chivalry and finding appropriate arms and armor (perhaps acorn shields and thistle swords) for their service. Wizard Foxes find this endlessly entertaining.

The Aims of the Wizard Foxes

Should trade and initial interactions go well, a wizard fox may reveal more of their goals in the current forest. They are inevitably dungeon delvers themselves, and they are frequently willing to share information about their subterranean explorations.

(Many wizard foxes also frequent the Stygian Library of Emmy Earl, if such a place exists in your setting)

A Wizard Fox's core goal is usually to advance one of the two driving principles of their kind.

The foxes desire to destroy or politically dominate the courts of the 9 cat kings, the governing pantheon of all felines. At the very least, the foxes want a binding deal with the court that will no longer eat mice or small rodents. The chances of this every occurring are next to none, so most likely it is war. Because the foxes have no gods of their own, this is an uphill battle. They hate cats.

(This is somewhat ironic, as legend has it that that it was a cat, a wizard's familiar, that first taught a fox magic.)

In light of their slim odds, the wizard foxes’ other pursuit is to somehow gain entry into the plane of rodents, where mice disappear to when they are out of sight. There they would feast like kings. They love mice.

For these reasons, all wizard foxes pursue power. They have settled largely on three methods. 

The Means of the Wizard Foxes

They trade with human wizards, arguably the most inventive casters, to build their libraries and develop new spells. But their spellcasting capacities can’t rival human stores. Wizard foxes’ casting abilities are capped at a somewhat meager (2 MD) limit. To bolster their powers, wizard foxes need to find or enchant the finest sorcerous robes possible. (Sorcerous robes can upgrade or grant additional MD if made with sufficient quality)

A wizard-fox plays for spells. He has no robes :(

Image credit:

https://www.deviantart.com/varguy/art/The-Grandmaster-669867298

To this end they study the sorcerous weavings of the spiders, training as students. Should an adventurer find their way into the den of a wizard fox, they will find lavish textile collections with all manner of fine spider or fox made enchantments.

>

Without gods of their own, the wizard foxes adapted. With prisms and other shining things, the foxes have learned to steal the blessings of the salmon gods.

The Departure of the Foxes

Foxes are disappearing at a somewhat alarming rate. This comes in large part due to the wizard foxes’ development of a grand spell: Where the Mouse Goes.

Where the Mouse Goes
R: self T: self D: varies
At a single [dice] investment gives the caster an acute sense of the location of any rodents in a 15 foot radius. At an investment of 2 [dice] the caster shrinks to the size of a mouse for [sum] minutes. At an investment of 3+ [dice] the caster disappears, presumably to the Plane of Rodents.

As The Mouse goes is arguably the most significant spell of the Wizard Foxes' collections. Though incomplete, the spell is thought to give entry to the mice's realm with enough throttle. When cast powerfully enough, the caster disappears and becomes a figment stuck in the collective memory of an area. As cunning as they are, few wizard foxes can resist the temptation to try the spell once they are strong enough. Using wizard fox rituals they may cast on mundane foxes to study whether the spell works, but inevitably they will try it on themselves. Whether they reach their destination or not, the frequency of use of this spell makes a future without foxes a sad possibility.
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Small note: This is my first post! If you enjoyed, a comment here or mention on reddit or the OSR Discord would mean the world! I’m hoping to post relatively content dense posts like this every other Monday as I start out, and we will see how things go from there! Let me know if the generators work well for you, or if you'd prefer just having tables.