The Narratives of Aufstrag (A0), Entry 7

25/03/202325/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

[These are the stories told by the undead Remnant Stanleigh Claiborne, observing a party of adventurers exploring the frontier lands between the collapsed evil empire of Aufstrag (in the north) and the crusader kingdoms of New Aenoch (in the south). It describes what my players did during each game session. Aufstrag is a product of Troll Lord Games for the Castles & Crusades RPG, but it can be used for D&D since the systems overlap. I have heavily home-brewed Aufstrag with other products and placed it in my own world and altered the lore as I need.]

Dear Reader,

I am glad you returned to read more. This entry has been interesting for me to write since it involves the adventuring group discovering their group had undead members in it. Whenever the living discover the undead among them, they tend to become quite unnerved.

The context for this occurrence took place right after the group was enveloped in magical darkness an hour away from Kuthrad Ondal (an Elven tower that can be traced back more than a thousand years). Let me continue the story where I previously left off.

When the group suddenly became covered in overlapping globes of darkness – as well as the undead slayer Remnant that was following them through the woods several hundred yards behind – they all attempted to cautiously work their way out, some used their spear to tap ahead of themselves, others tried to detect magic to work out the boundaries of their darkness, and the Remnant undead slayer threw his magical alchemists fire outside globe and through the magical fiery glow that it created as it combatted the magical darkness, he emerged from the darkness and then headed off to avoid being detected.

The problem for him was that as the others emerged from their darkness and looked around, they saw the alchemists fire several hundred yards behind them along with some shrubbery that had caught fire, as well as a globe of darkness near it, and they realized that there was someone nearby that was following them. They went to investigate.

The Molfar (Shaman) with his trained wolf used its tracking sense to seek out the person, and others moved in to assist. While this happened, the undead assassin – whose name is Lucas Slonko – attempted to sneak up behind one of the Remnants in the party with his weapon drawn, but his attempt to silently move behind the person failed as twigs snapped beneath his feet and the others were alerted. In an attempt to distract the group from him and throw suspicion on the others, he asked them, “are you aware there are two undead among you?”

The group was taken aback. The Molfar and his wolf attempted to sniff out the undead, but the tanning smell that the Remnant Monk/Illusionist (who had a tanning background) used to disguise his scent and the Remnant Arcane Thief/Wizard (who used his wizard magic to alter his scent) fooled the Molfar, his wolf, and the others who attempted to examine their fellow members. After long debate as to why this person was following them, one of the Remnant wizards saw through the disguise that Lucas had used (as a Vampire Slayer, he uses heavy amounts of garlic to disguise his smell as well as deter any vampires). Further detailed accusations and debate finally caused the two members of the group and Lucas to admit their true selves.

A lot of autobiographical details followed. The arcane thief had only been dead a few years, whereas Lucas had been hunting undead for over a century, trying to find the one that killed him and his family. The honest and open conversations about not knowing how they died and having only shadowy memories of their previous lives finally touched the others, and they cautiously backed off from attacking them.

They decided to continue traveling together, albeit with a strong eye on each other for possible betrayal, as they made the final approach to Kuthrad Ondal. The ancient Elven tower ruins had a blue glow at its center. They surveyed the area around it and saw only ruins and the bones of dead orcs and goblins going back centuries of battles and assaults on it.

Upon entering it, the Oraalau in the party – one of the true Elder Elves – placed his hand in the blue magical energy that flowed like a smoky liquid and acquired a burst of new insights and experience that elevated his abilities above that of his traveling companions (although this higher level of skill only existed when he was within a mile of the tower).

They also discovered a wise and powerful Lamassu (a large being with the body of a lion, wings of a giant eagle, and face of a human) named Nefratel, that had been in residence for just over a century. It questioned them, and they politely asked it questions, for the Wizards, Bard, and Molfar knew that it was far more powerful than they were, and they needed to tread carefully. They managed to remain on its good side, and even though it detected the three undead among them, it successfully worked out that their moral leanings were not in the category of evil, and that was sufficient for it. They were allowed to camp that evening in the ruins of this once great Elven tower and in the night it revealed secret knowledge via telepathic contact to the Oraalau that might help the Elder Elf find other Elven Towers from the times before the Winter Dark in the future, for Kuthrad Ondal is only one of many Elven Towers that point to the location of the Tree of Life (you might wonder how I was aware of this private, one-on-one telepathic contact, and I must admit that I had to be careful, for although I am experienced in my trade and abilities going back hundreds of years, one still has to tread carefully around the magical abilities of a Lamassu).

The next morning, Nefratel flew off in a northerly direction and the group headed to the east, close to the beginning of the Aratok Mountain range. You see, Lucas was aware that there were some possible Remnant alchemists living in an abandoned tower from the Winter Dark Wars, and the Remnant Arcane Thief also had heard rumors of Remnant magic-users researching unique magic, and he wanted it. The rest of the group, wanting to know more about Remnant undead, thought this would be a unique opportunity to make progress in their understanding.

So they traveled until they came upon a run down tower with open space around it and only a few staked defenses up. It was a cloudy and rainy day as they cautiously approached, and that gave them some advantage in hiding their physical presence as well as muffle their footsteps in the muddy ground. The observant members of the group noticed skeletal archers on the top of the tower, and they all took cover while a wizard distracted the skeletal sentries with a ghostly sound that pulled their attention to the other side of the tower away from them, and they then darted toward the tower entrance.

But… Wait a moment… My minions are telling me a Lamassu is flying toward our location. Hmm, I was not expecting this. I will have to prepare some…negotiations…with this immortal being. I will return to this story when I have dealt with this situation. I will return soon…

Review: Nightfell – A Deeper Delve

25/03/202325/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

I previously gave a review of the great grimdark RPG Nightfell (made for D&D 5E) that gave a brief overview of the game, but I didn’t go into enough detail. I rectify that here and delve deeper into what this setting offers.

In Nightfell the sun died 100 years ago on the world of Iùrmen. The gods fell, and everyone now lives in the Lunar Age. What does the world look like, and who lives in it? Well, the civilizations are in decline and life is now filled with horror. People sleep during the sunless days and come out at night under the moonlight and celestial bodies. Societal structures have had to change, and harnessing magic has become more difficult with the merging of new and different realities.

There are three sources of arcane power:
1. the Sempiternal is the Outer World or Sideral Plane where supernal beings dwell, it is a place filled with the stars and celestial bodies.
2. The Earthly World is the Material Plane where all mortal beings dwell.
3. The Dark Mirror is a dark and spectral reality of darkness and death. It is the negative-mirror image of the living plane.

Many folk moved below ground during this change to the world, and now it is as vast as the surface world.

New Ethnicities/Races
There are several ethnicities which you can play in the world of Iùrmen.
1. Anireth – the First Men. They were once human, but became corrupted. They have acquired some basic magical abilities, spectral movement, and dark vision.
2. Ejre – Primevals. These are a people built around Druidism, mysticism, creation, and the old style. They have a stronger bond with life bestowing advantages on saving throws versus poison and death effects, as well as innate Druidic magic, and increased movement.
3. Garner – Alperns. They suffer from a shapeshifting curse. They are tied to many different forms – bears, birds of prey, smilodons, and wolves.
4. Gray Folk. These make up the majority of people. Forced to adjust to this new, darker world, they have become better with weapon use, they are more skilled, and have higher hit points to represent their improved survivability.
5. Ishdrim – Overseas People. They possess a natural ability with the arcane arts, which includes the ability to cast spells such as produce flame, burning hands, and flame blade.
6. Krampus. Native to the Dark Mirror, these are wild and difficult beings, possessing abilities to speak words that poison others.
7. Lyvar – Night Faelings. These are fugitives from the world below. They are small statured dark imps skilled in stealth and dark magic.
8. Rizadrin – Moon Satyrs. They are the children of the primitive energy that permeates the land, and retain a portion of the primitive energy that helped create the world. They have a sense of faith, loyalty, and truth.

New Classes
All the core D&D 5E classes get new subclasses tied to this sunless world, but there are also some new classes (and each have subclasses of their own, which helps specialize them). Here is a brief overview of the new base classes:
1. Lunar Cultist. Devoted to the Moon, they dedicate themselves to exorcizing the creatures of the night. They get a d8 Hit Die, and use light to medium armor and simple weapons. Their favored saves are Strength and Wisdom. They gain access to fighting styles and some basic clerical-based spell casting.
2. Masters of Tradition. The guardians of knowledge and putting it into practice. They get a d6 Hit Die, may use light armor and simple weapons, and their favored saves are Intelligence and Wisdom. They possess skills in ritual spell casting and legend lore.
3. Medium. They contain the spirits of the past. They have a d10 Hit Die, may wear light to medium armor, and use simple weapons. Charisma and Dexterity are their favored saves. They deal with ghosts and possession.
4. Vampire. They are opposed to the Lunar Cults. They have a d8 Hit Dice, may use light armor and simple weapons, and their favored saves are Strength and Wisdom. They receive abilities you would expect from a vampire class – dark allure, superhuman prowess, and shapeshifting.

New Mechanics
Nightfell adds four new mechanics to the 5E game:
1. Soul Points. These are a character’s psychological and spiritual fortitude to decay in the world. All characters get a set amount equal to 5 plus their Wisdom modifier per level. They lose them when they deal with creatures of the dark and supernatural events (saving throws with different Difficulty Classes may apply to avoid losing a Soul Point). If a PC is reduced to 0 Soul Points they become Possessed. Soul Points are regained through meditation and rest.

2. Possession. Characters become possess if they ever get down to 0 Soul Points. At this point, anything that would reduce a character’s Soul Points now gives them a level of Exhaustion. While Possessed, the PC has to display their character’s worst flaws and vices; they are twisted versions of their healthier selves. To get rid of Possession, they need to undergo a Cleansing Ritual.

3. Grim Weapons. Weapons slowly get soaked with darkness over time and may assert a will of their own toward the one that wields them. There is a chart that shows the Grim Threshold for different weapons as their dark halo increases. Features of a Grim Weapon include gaining advantage on attacks against Aberrations, Fiends, and Undead, and acquiring a magical enchantment that allows them to overcome creatures resistance or immunity to certain types of magic. On the negative side, wielding it decreases the PC’s Maximum Soul Points, and the wielder won’t willingly give up their weapon. If you roll a 1 on an attack with a Grim Weapon, you will consult a chart to see what Affliction you have acquired. Certain spells and holy water can help cleanse a Grim Weapon of its taint.

4. The Moon and Moon Phases. Each moon phase can influence characters in different ways depending on their Birthmoon. Everyone has a Birthmoon tied to one of 4 Lunar Phases (Full Moon, Ascending Moon, New Moon, Descending Moon). By using Lunar Divination (a 1-hour ritual), a character acquires four different results: a Lunar Blessing, Lunar Influence, Lunar Hex, No Effect (there are special d8 dice available for Nightfell with the different Lunar phases on each face that you can roll to discover the results – see below). Based on the results of the die rolls, you may get all your Grim Points cleansed, your speed may increase by 10, you may get Advantage on all Saving Throws, and many other things.

There is a lot of fun to be had with these new mechanical rules, and they work together very well. If you have the Night Master Screen (see below), all the essential information is in front of you and easily referenced.

In a world of darkness influenced by the phases of the moon, you would expect there to be new magic. There is. There are 75 new spells available for all the 5E spell casting classes – as well as the new classes – in Nightfell (which are available as a deck of cards). Consider these two Cantrips and one 1st level spell:
– Instill Moonlight (dim moonlight appears in a 10-foot area for an hour, if cast during your Birthmoon, the range is 30-feet and last 4 hours).
– Globe of Eclipse (within a 120-foot range, an icy globe sends out necrotic spouts of energy that can hit a target for 1d6 damage and gives them Disadvantage on their next Saving Throw).
– Lunar Beacon (this 1st level spell causes any creature in a 20-foot area to make a Dexterity Saving Throw or become revealed if they are invisible, and they take 2d4 radiant damage. If the targets are Undead, Fiends, or Aberrations, they automatically fail the save.

Nightfell Bestiary
I displayed some of the incredible art of Nightfell in my previous post linked at the beginning, and the art you see on the book covers I’ve shown are consistent throughout the books (the game designer and writer of Nightfell – Angelo Peluso – is also the main artist).

The inside cover of the Nightfell Core Rulebook

A unique feature of this Bestiary is that the monsters are organized by related group, not alphabetically. In my previous review, I provided a screenshot of the entire Table of Contents, but here I provide a zoomed in version. You can see that you get a brief history of the monster group (let us say Dragons), legendary information regarding habits and powers, folklore rumors and whether they are true or false, and then the individual entries covering the weakest of the group to legendary. If you are looking at having a dragon-themed adventure, it can be useful to have all the information within a few pages of each other for quick reference.

Nightfell Adventures
If you are looking for adventures to run for this setting, there is a 166-page hardcover book with 6 adventures to take you from levels 1-14 (look at the first picture I posted at the beginning of this post with the dragon on the cover). There is great material here for all levels of play.

How I Plan to Use Nightfell
I run the Castles & Crusades RPG (which, roughly speaking, uses a modern d20 rule system with more of an old school D&D 1E-like character classes). Most system changes for me can be done on the fly. I also run my own home brew world that has two moons. So I will be using the Lunar Phase material in my world and tie it in with the moon that goes through monthly phases and the moon that goes through its phases over the course of a year. I love the Nightfell game and if you are interested in using a grim dark setting, I hope you fall in love with it as well.

Review: Nightfell

19/03/202326/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

I recently discovered and became enamored with a grimdark setting for D&D 5E called Nightfell created by Mana Project Studio. So much 5E material ends up looking alike both in rules and art style (one of the reasons I left several years ago and took up Castles & Crusades), but Nightfell is a game that takes chances and attempts to do something new with the 5E rules and presents a stunning dark fantasy look which I find very refreshing!

Nightfell Overview
“Nightfell is an original horror/fantasy setting for [D&D5E]. This setting will guide you into a dark world full of terror and despair. The Undeads are coming back from the afterlife, and the Eternals are craving the nullification of reality. You will face ancient horrors, superstition, and occultism. You will learn to follow the Moon as your only guide in this nocturnal world. In this ruthless setting, players will play night explorers: resilient survivors who adapted to the Lunar Age, an era where the sun is dead, and life still endure only thanks to the last Primordial beings.” (from the product description)

Nightfell Setting Guide
Within the Setting Guide there are 8 new Ethnicities, 4 new Classes, 12 new Backgrounds, new archetypes to the core 5E classes, 75 new spells, new magic items, and exciting new rules – Soul Points, Possession, Grim Weapons, and The Moon (and moon phases) that bring out the unique elements of a world where the sun has died and cults have arisen around the moon. In the photo below, you can see the inside of the GM screen (or, Night Master Screen, as they call it) and it presents in a clear and easy to read layout the four new ideas that can be found in Nightfell that make it so unique; very useful.). You can also get a set of dice which include 2 d20s and 7 d8s that have the moon phases on them.

Nightfell Bestiary
The monster book is organized in chapters covering specific monster types: Born of Death, Cultists, Dragons, Echoes of Death, Faelings, Horrors, and Witches. Each of these themed chapters provides several introductory pages that nicely presents the main monster themes in that section and how they interact and relate to each other for easy reference. I like this organization.

One of the things that really draws you in is the top-grade art. Of the grimdark art I’ve seen, this is my favorite.

Finally, a Kickstarter was completed recently which further expands the setting with a 200+ page book adding a new werebeast class, new backgrounds, new beastblood magic, a curse mechanic, new bestiary additions, and an entire lycanthropy campaign (free quickstart rules can be found here).

I mentioned at the beginning of this review that I run Castles & Crusades. I also run a world that has two moons. Material from Nightfell with detailed rules on how moon phases affect your birthmoon and all the cults and ethnicities that relate to a world like that have added a staggering amount of inspirational new material for me to draw upon to flesh out my world and the monsters, religions, game effects, and class enhancements that are necessary to make it seem real and alive.

If this sounds interesting to you, I welcome you to take a look!

[Edit: for those who want more details on the cool rules and options, I did a deeper follow-up review to Nightfell here.]

The Narratives of Aufstrag (A0), Entry 6

19/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

Dear Reader,

Other work has kept me away from the adventuring party I’ve been observing recently, and when I returned my attention to them, I learned that the group returned to the small village of Malforten with the head of Gritznak the bold on a pole and mounted outside the Empty Flagon tavern. It was quite the talk of this small town. A wizard in the party gifted the kobold house spirit they liberated from Baleon Nakt to the local village wizard – Blodwyn Lycharn – which put her in good stead with the enterprising young wizard and guaranteed that he now had a future mentor. The Centaur Hunter, Human Paladin, and Heisen Fodt Barbarian temporarily left the group to get armor they looted resized and to pursue some other downtime activities while the others enjoyed a celebration of their success liberating Malforten from Gritznak and his Goblins. A Knight bureaucrat – Rwith of Hrueset – from the Crusader Kingdoms of New Aenoch arrived in town from Hrueset to give them the reward for Gritznak’s head. He spouted off your typical imperial praise for the Saints of the One True God and the Empress before heading off to continue his religious crusade to unite the frontier lands under New Aenoch and her benevolent Empress.

It was at this point that I took notice of the arrival of two new Remnants. It can be challenging to keep one’s undead status hidden from the living, and they all maintained their distance from the Malforten folk by keeping their distance. One of the new Remnants was on a mission of vengeance to find who killed him and his family (it can be difficult to overcome those feelings when you discover yourself one morning dead and alone with a sometimes revenant-like focus on revenge). I have much interest in how this one gets on. He has been dead for a long time and has honed his skills as a Vampire slayer with professional level Assassin skills in killing (he knows another undead killed himself and his family, and is seeking out who they are). He surrounds himself with garlic, which both fits his mission and disguises his scent. The second Remnant who appeared in town by himself was a Wild Magic Wizard and Arcane Thief specializing in stealing other’s magic as they cast it, he uses his magic to disguise his true self.

Having heard rumors through the underground network that Remnants use, these new Remants learned of some Remnants that might be dwelling across the Drunderry river to the east near the Aratok Mountains. The Vampire slayer was interested in any alchemical supplies they might have, and the Wizard was interested in their magic.

While these Remnants cased the town and observed these new adventurers that were being celebrated, the group of adventurers decided after a few days – minus the three that left to do their own business – to head off to investigate an old abandoned Elven tower known these days as Kuthrad Ondal (the “Tower of Waste” in the tongue of the Goblin dark fey).

Kuthrad Ondal. What a rich history this place has. It is the remains of an ancient Elvish watch tower that was created long before Unklar ravaged these lands for a thousand-year span. It even predates the founding of the Kingdom of Al-Liosh, the empire that existed before Unklar arrived. It was created as a device of prophecy, one of many others that it is said can provide directions to the Tree of Life. The Elves are a wise lineage, and it is not surprising that it was known – due to the powerful divination magic – that it would one day be laid to waste. It took this knowledge into account, and its prophetic powers were built into it to account for its eventual destruction. Thus, when the forces of Unklar did lay waste to it nearly a thousand years ago, it was then that its true nature came to fulfillment. So is the wisdom and insight of the Elder Elves (Oraalau). To this day, so long after its demise, its magic still lingers in the area and its secrets and that of the other towers patiently lay in wait to play the role which they were originally built so long ago.

But let me get back to the group. The Changeling Minstrel had sensed the presence of Kuthrad Ondal in their previous trips, passing several miles near it as they dealt with Baleon Nakt, and he wanted to see this place. As it happened, an enterprising Oraalau Skald entered Malforten seeking ancient Elven magic and lore, and the group accepted him joining their group as they set off to find this ancient tower. The Remnant Wizard also approached to join them after observing them for a few days, and the Remnant undead slayer chose to track them from a distance, remaining out of their sights. And so they set off for the Elvish tower.

On one of their first nights of camping in the woods, a small dragon – called a Crup Dragon – made its appearance and attempted to use its dragon magic to lure victims to it. As the group slept at night it released a beautiful sound which charmed the Human Wizard and Human Dragonslayer in the group, and it was just as it was about to bite into the dragonslayer and inject its nasty surprise, that it was interrupted by magic. Like many dragons, Crup can resist the magic of mortals, but this young, 5 foot long specimen, lacked the strength of its elder’s magical resistance, and it was lulled to sleep and slain by the group. Many of them tried to grab components of its body for future experimentation. And once the group returned to sleep at their camp, the Remant Vampire slayer approached the body from his secret encampment several hundred yards away and grabbed a few things for himself.

After that night encounter, the group managed to be encounter free until they got to within a few hours of Kuthrad Ondal, that is when its ancient magic began doing its timeless work. Over the course of six hours, the group was visited by an ethereal flying serpent urging them to turn back, a ghostly horn caused several of them to flee in multiple directions. The Changeling fell into a magical pit that suddenly appeared beneath him. All their food rotted. Invisible fae appeared and engaged in their protective and perpetual duty of observing and assessing these people on behalf of the Elves. Noticing that one member was a noble Oraalau, their concern dipped, although the presence of Remnants (even though disguised) created some unease with the Good Folk. Finally, just an hour away from the tower, as they noticed the bones of long dead orcs and goblins going back many generations all around them, the group was enveloped in darkness…

But this is a good place to stop. You younger, mortal, folk have greatly reduced attention spans these days compared to us older, immortal beings, and I am sure you want to go off and do some other time-wasting activity.

Once you folk return from your ephemeral and empty distractions, I will tell you about the Elven Tower with the glowing blue Elven magic emanating from its center, and you will learn whether the group met the immortal being that lies within the Elven ruins.

Homebrew changes to the Fighter class (Castles & Crusades)

17/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

The fighter is a great class for anyone to use when first trying out a game. In most RPG game systems, they are the easiest to manage with the least amount of abilities to keep track of.

However, I have noticed that more seasoned players tend to gravitate toward classes that have more pizzazz. The fighter may have the best Bonus to Hit (BtH), they get Weapon Specialization, and they get the multiple attacks each round. But the Barbarian and Monk also eventually get multiple attacks each round (Whirlwind Attack and Hand-to-Hand Combat, respectively), but the rules for each of those classes make their own approaches unique, and the Barbarian and Monk also get a substantial number of their own very niche class flavor. The result is that players I know will use the other classes and just accept that their BtH will be one lower than if they had been a Fighter.

How do my players respond to the difference in class abilities? In my 4-year Barrowmaze campaign, there were only 2 Fighter PCs out of the more than 30 characters created for that deadly campaign.

There has been a shift in my new Aufstrag campaign when I put into play the Expanded Class rules from the Players Archive, which allows players to pick portions of other classes and combine them together to great a new class identity, or character concept (albeit with a much larger XP requirement to level up). The players are really enjoying this new approach, as am I, since it is more creative and fun than the 3E prestige class system, or the 5E subclass system (prestige classes used and threw-away classes left and right without a real identity, and 5E subclasses narrow things down too much, in my view). In my new campaign there is one Rogue/Fighter, one Cleric/Fighter, and a couple more PCs where the Fighter class has slipped to third-tier support.

So things have gotten better, and yet I can’t help but feel that the Fighter is still being viewed simply as a class to boost up the other “better” and “more exciting” classes. What more could be done to give it a sense of standing proudly on its own?

The solution I am play testing is actually rather simple and doesn’t involve adding new abilities, but simply giving a little boost to what the class already has.

I allow Combat Dominance to appear right away at 1st level. This ability allows Fighters to make an extra attack against 1 HD or less monsters. The Fighter still gets everything else on the Fighter chart (shown below) just as before, but by giving Combat Dominance at first level, this gives the Fighter an immediate benefit that no other class has and truly demonstrates the pivotal ability of what this class represents.

Many Fighter characters may have a background as a soldier or militia member of a town or community, and that means they will frequently encounter others who are roughly their skill level (i.e. 1 HD or less).

Making extra attacks against 1 HD or less creatures also doesn’t break the game, since it is only effecting 1 HD monsters.

It also doesn’t step on the benefits of the Barbarians or Monks, since their extra attacks take place against higher level creatures later on in the game.

As a result, the Fighter is now one step closer to more successfully taking down the masses of minions that can sometimes descend upon the group. When you add the fact that Combat Dominance adds additional attacks against 1 HD or less creatures at 4th, 8th, 12th 16th, and 20th level, they will stand out even more against the horde if players focus on this class.
Another thing players frequently mention is that Fighters should be able to have Dexterity as their Prime Attribute. I agree. I know I have missed the triple class options that Elves had in AD&D 1E. Even if you use the Expanded Class options from the Players Archive, each race only has 2 (for non-humans) or 3 (for humans) Prime Attributes available to them, so that can limit the class combinations of a person that may want to recreate an Elfin Cleric/Fighter/Thief, or Elfin Fighter/Magic-user/Thief. In the case of this character type, I think an Elf should have that flexibility, and so by allowing a Fighter to have Dexterity as its Prime Attribute, the player can create that dynamic character concept that reflects the versatility that a long-lived elf would’ve been able to manage due to their ancestry.

So there you have it. Two simple changes that I think can give the Fighter that little boost they need to keep them interesting and desirable for play. What do you think?

GM Diary: Bringing Grim Hollow and Nightfell into Aufstrag Homebrew

06/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

Topics: Grimdark, Grim Hollow, Nightfell, Aufstrag, Ghoul Empire (Darakhul), two moons and their effects on beasts and culture and how I plan on merging these settings to create something new.

This year began with a new Castles & Crusades campaign – Aufstrag. It is currently a three box set campaign made for the World of Aihrde and the C&C game. The first box set takes you through low levels, the second puts you on the journey to the infamous Aufstrag tower, and the third box set takes you into Aufstrag itself. It will be an epic, several year campaign.

But I run my own world and I have placed Aufstrag and its surrounding regions (hundreds of miles of forests, swamps, mountains, and frontier lands) in my own developing world. One of the unique features of my world is that it has two moons. One follows the same monthly sequence as our moon. The other goes through its phases over the course of a year. When there is a double full moon, that is called “Lunacy” and werebeasts acquire an increase in power (an increase in level and regeneration, among other things). I always wanted to flesh out in greater detail how double moons might influence more than just werebeasts, such as how might two moons influence the cultures in society? What cults might arise. How would nature, fey, and undead respond?

I got a nice boost when one of my players (who is a Physicist), created for us a full chart regarding how the different moon phases overlap over the course of each month and the year. This was great! I now had a reference chart which I could consult and build on. Now I needed some campaign and monster inspiration to further elevate this idea. Bring in Grim Hollow and NightFell.

These two games were made for the D&D 5E system but, like so much D&D, are easily converted to C&C. Both these settings are grimdark in design, which works perfectly for adding fresh shadowy textures to the Aufstrag campaign materials.

Grim Hollow provides material regarding large swathes of land shrouded in darkness and sickening plagues. This will work well to elevate the material of Aufstrag in the aftermath of the 1,000-year long Winter Dark when Unklar ruled the lands and what remained after his departure and the power vacuum that resulted.

Nightfell takes place in a cold and desolate land where the sun is dead, and the Lunar Age has emerged. The undead come back from the afterlife, and as a result there are new superstitions and a variety of occult groups. This again presents a perfect way to enhance the desolation in the regions of Aufstrag after a thousand years of the Winter Dark. The legacy of that time remains – clouds obscure the sun during the day, cults have been built up around the two moons in Unklar’s absence. The Nightfell material on the undead coming back from the afterlife adds even more considering I am using the Darakhul Ghoul Empire from Kobold Press, and have provided a new playable undead race for my players called the Remnant. There are some spectacular ideas for me to draw upon to add flesh (so-to-speak) to my world as a whole and the Aufstrag campaign in particular.

The Grim Hollow and Nightfell monster books add tons of incredible monsters to challenge my players, new rules on transformations (into werebeasts, undead, aberrations, etc.), creative rules for possession, soul points, grievous wounds, new condition rules, curses, etc. means I have an endless array of possibilities and avenues to explore. I get to grab the best from these creatives and add more oomph to the sleek C&C system (which is a game system made to home brew and sculpt into what you need!).

The first Aufstrag box set, sets the stage for the campaign at low levels. We are in the first adventure (A0) at the moment and I have already began planting seeds for what is to come. The players are in the Shadow of Aufstrag (as the first box set is labeled). When they get to the second box set at roughly mid-level and begin the Journey to Aufstrag, that is when the world will get darker. They will be leaving the frontier lands of New Aenoch and entering the darker areas that are still under the influence of cultists and warlords vying for power.

Two exciting things that stand out for me is being able to (a) bring together so many cool things that if I waited until I could run separate campaigns with these products means it would never happen, since I own literally thousands of RPG books and I don’t have enough years left in my life to cover them all, and (b) everything in these products is new – they’ve only been published in the last few years, and this freshness is something that I have been craving (I have been playing and running D&D for 40 years, I have seen a lot, and I hunger for fresh ideas to mix and match into something entirely new). These are all monsters and character concepts that my players have never seen before, and in 40 years of running D&D I have never run material like this myself, either.

We only completed our fifth adventure in Aufstrag, but its future potential really excites me!

Grim Hollow Monster Grimoire and Campaign Guide

The Narratives of Aufstrag (AO), Entry 5

05/03/2023 / PhilosopherZ / Leave a comment

[These are the stories told by the undead Remnant Stanleigh Claiborne, observing a party of adventurers exploring the frontier lands between the collapsed evil empire of Aufstrag (in the north) and the crusader kingdoms of New Aenoch (in the south). It describes what my players did in each campaign session. Aufstrag is a product of Troll Lord Games for the Castles & Crusades RPG, but it can be used for D&D since the systems overlap. I have heavily home-brewed Aufstrag with other products and placed it in my own world and alter the lore as I need to.]

Dear Reader,

The adventuring party that I have been following achieved their first major success – they defeated Gritznak the Bold, the gnoll warrior who had taken up residence in the ancient, evil, sentient, temple of Baleon Nakt.

They arrived at this point after consulting their kobold house spirit* friend, who understood the layout of Baleon Nakt. Preparing themselves, they entered through a hidden door. They entered a room filled with an eerie blue light. Gritznak was at an altar and began a chant, while 8 goblins headed toward the adventurers with manacles to subdue them for sacrifice. One spell caster color sprayed a few of the goblins, the molfar (shaman) barbarian sent his charmed wolves into combat to fight them and the others, including the paladin and the dragon slayer/giant killer, charged through the goblins laying most of them to rest.

One thing the group took notice of was behind Gritznak was a huge eye, the size of a platter. It was monitoring the situation and summoned a floating magical weapon to go forth and attack the intruders while the goblins tried to subdue them and Gritznak prepared the final summoning that would bring forth the true power of Unguaith Kine, the former high priest of this temple back when it was part of Unklar’s domain.

I must say that I was surprised by this group’s skill. One spell caster cast light on the eye and managed to blind it, which meant that its spiritual weapon was now attacking the group blindly.

With the goblins quickly going down and the eye blinded by the light, Gritznak realized he was not going to get his chant completed to bring back Unguaith to his former glory, so he abandoned the chant to wield his axe to destroy the party members.

As the last goblins fell, the dragonslayer/giant killer, the paladin, and molfar barbarian surged toward the altar where Gritznak stood. Gritznak was a true warrior, though, and disarmed the paladin, causing his weapon to sail away. As they attacked him, the Eye of Baleon Nakt managed to send a surge of healing through its blindness to keep Gritznak strong, and he brought the dragonslayer/giant killer to unconsciousness and the paladin was realing from his injuries. The hobbit warrior rogue got some good sling attacks off and there were direct attacks on the eye, and slowly, but surely the eye was destroyed and slid down the wall and the eyelid closed, and Gritznak fell from his wounds. They then cut off his head to bring back to Malforten as proof of his destruction and to receive the bounty that had been placed on him.

Of course, such brave results do come at a cost. The paladin and a dragonslayer/giant killer both were exhausted** from having been dropped unconscious in battles and will need rest to recover. But they couldn’t rest yet, for they still needed to find the resting place of Unguaith Kine and ensure that he had not fully risen.

When they entered Unguaith’s chamber, they saw he had six guards in skeletal form with intricate ceremonial maces, and Unguaith himself stepped forward from the darkness in a jittery skeletal state himself – clearly not in a state of full strength. The group barreled forth and struck them all down quite quickly. They then grabbed their expensive ceremonial items and headed off to find more chambers to loot, happy with the thought that the temple, Gritznak, and Unguaith were now defeated, the challenges had been defeated and that the path was now clear for successful looting.

Unknown to them, though, by going directly to the temple where Gritznak was and then to Unguaith’s chamber, they did manage to save their resources and thus were in a better state of health to take them on, but they also bypassed a few other ares where other goblins and a gnoll chief were relaxing and preparing plans for further expansion of their banditry in the region.

It was while the group entered Gritznak’s room and were looting his room that they heard some noise in a nearby room and upon entering saw a goblin cook with other goblins retrieving food – which they had gotten in tribute from Malforten – to prepare a feast for their successes. The group entering surprised them and the goblins immediately called out and clanged on things to get the attention of their allies in other nearby rooms, and as the group attacked this group of goblins, they could hear the snarl and growl of a large gnoll war chief and more chattering goblins swiftly approaching.

But you’ll have to wait a bit until I can tell you what happened, for I suddenly got an urge to explore a bit more into the sentience of Baleon Nakt. Can such a powerful mind tied to this temple for centuries be destroyed this easily? One doesn’t come upon a sentient building very often, it does raise so many interesting questions as to how it acquired a mind, and how it operates and sustains itself. I must look into this more closely.

I shall return soon to finish the tale.

Your narrator,

Stanleigh Claiborne

[GM notes: * Kobolds in my game are those from folklore, not D&D. I discuss that more here. ** I use exhaustion rules in my C&C game, however, they are not the rules from D&D 5E, but rather from a book called Into the Wyrd and Wild I discuss it in this post.]

The World of PhilosopherZeus

Castles & Crusades RPG, Philosophy, History, Reflection

Month: March 2023