Shamans in Div Cul II

Divinities and Cults II carries on the tradition of including some class variants and options to pick from. One such choice will be the Shaman. If you'd like to use these primitive spiritualists as a distinct class variant of a cleric, then:

* Replace some of the spells from their Divinity’s spell list with more spiritual spells, such as Protection from Evil (1st), Augury (2nd), Speak with Dead (3rd), Exorcise (4th), Plane Shift (5th), Summon Aerial Servant (6th), and Astral Projection (7th)

* Eliminate their ability to wear metal armor

* Replace the cleric ability to Turn with the shamanic ability to become ethereal for up to 1 round per day per level squared (1 round at 1st level, 4 rounds at 2nd level, etc.)

The Middle of Night Skies

 

I'm finally starting to get some reviews for my first novel, Night Skies Over Valhallow. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you check it out: it's really a classic gamer's novel and only 99 cents on Amazon. Though the story is meant to appeal to a wider audience and includes some philosophy and social commentary, the meat of the book is written from the perspective of a long-time classic roleplaying gamer, such as myself. 

Writing novels has been different than writing roleplaying game books like Divinities and Cults. The former requires having a cohesive plot, whereas the latter does not. By the way, one great tool I've discovered while writing intensely over the last year has been the "Speak" tool in MS Word. Using it to have text read back to me really helps me catch those many little typos that can come up, especially after writing for many hours a day. I use it on pretty much everything I write now, since either my mind ends up moving faster than my fingers or reality keeps shifting on me (and thereby alters the words I've written). 

Anyway, one review remarked on the middle of Night Skies and how it was strange. Keep in mind though that this Weird Fantasy element of the story has an important context based on one of the main characters in the book. I don't want to spoil the plot, but I also wanted to point out that those engaging in Gygaxian-style dungeon crawls often encounter *weird* things and that was part of what drove the middle of Night Skies, making it a little more in that vein, rather than more purely Tolkien-esque. 

Regardless, if you enjoy my roleplaying game books, check out my novels, and vice versa.  In both types of books, I include the myriad of topics that interest me, while (hopefully) still providing a classic quality product. All my books actually draw from the same world, but that would be a blog post for another week.

Make Those Casting Rolls!

Divinities and Cults offers the option of bringing Casting Rolls into your Classic Roleplaying Game (DCC RPG already has spellchecks, so this article mainly applies to the Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry versions). So why was this optional rule included?

Magic doesn't always work, or at least, it shouldn't. When a fighter swings a sword, he has a chance of missing, even of really screwing up the attack (if one is using critical fumbles in the game). Why shouldn't the same apply when a cleric or a wizard is casting a spell? And we're not just talking about someone hitting a spellcaster and disrupting their spell in melee. Consider this: why would harnessing mystical and eldritch forces be more reliable than shooting a bow and arrow at someone? If you don't need Casting Rolls to make magic work, then it is!

Not only does having a constant chance of spell failure add to the verisimilitude of magic in the game, but it is also what makes gaming more fun. Always being able to cast one healing spell after another without fail can really take the *magic* out of casting spells. And the same applies to other spells that might seem more like magical rituals: what would happen if the ritual went wrong? Now that's interesting.

Unlike other casting systems though,  Divinities and Cults doesn't stray too far from classic spells. Casters still cast the spells we've known about for the last 35 years, except with the twist that they may not work when you cast them. And Divinities and Cults also has options for using Boons and Elaboration, but that will remain a topic for another article.

Gazetteer of the Shenbyrg Vale: Walstock

The main setting for my first novel, Night Skies Over Valhallow, and to a lesser extent my second novel, Quiet Upon Shenbyrg's Dawning, Walstock is herein detailed for both fans of the book and roleplaying gamers alike.

Walstock
The seat of power for the Count of Shenbyrg, Walstock is a place of great intrigue. Bordered by bucolic Calvary to the west, fascistic Mauriatown to the north, the majestic Shenbyrg river to the east. and the magocracy of Caelum Mount to the south, it has been the focal point for many adventuring parties and strange occurrences for decades. It has recently fallen under the control of various Cults (see below), which allowed for a full invasion of Helltowne.

Official Ruler: Count Remus (currently missing)
Actual Rulers: Helltowne Occupation Force
Symbol: Blue & Golden Falcon
Faiths: Formerly Tyr and Minerva, now the Cults of R'ti, Ghulshield, and others have officially replaced them
Major Locales:
North: The County Castle, Knights Falcon Chapterhouse, Tower of Mistro
West:  Church of Tyr, The Brick Villas, Below's Mine, Walmarket
Central: Church of Minerva,  The Gaol (now Gaolag), Watch Command, The Mailery, The Meathouse, The Springing House, The Academy, The Hospitalia
Southern: Notacos Opry House, Mac Donaghill's, Colonel Siegfried's Gnome-Whipped Chickenhouse, Cindy's Tavern, The Schoolhouse

Divinities and Cults II Sneak Peak #1

Volume II in the infamous work to bring more of that Old School Religion to your Old School Roleplaying game is moving along nicely. I'm nearly done with the first draft and am already working with the artist to bring more of those beautiful Divinity portraits to you craving readers!

So here's a first taste of the Table of Contents for Divinities and Cults: Volume II (first draft). Enjoy!

Double Release!

 

With dualistic rapture, we are pleased to announce the official release of both  

Divinities & Cults for Swords & Wizardry AND Novel #2: Quiet Upon Shenbyrg's Dawning- 

 IN PRINT.

Order your copies today and please leave us a review so we know how much you love our books!

Order Div Cul for S&W

Order QUSD

One for the Fighters

 

Nerds (such as I) were given far too many wedgies by the local football participants over the years to fully appreciate athleticism in the current era. On the other hand, ancient athletes; that is, the warriors of old are certainly compelling enough for me to honor in my writing, no matter how much they might have belittled men of smaller frame in their own time. 

It takes an incredible amount of courage to fight in an actual battle as opposed to some game that involves running around lines. trying to knock each other over in plastic armor before some half-time show commences. It could even be said that the warriors of old, the fighters in our role-playing games, had to endure even greater terror than the usual scenario of fighting foes at least at some range, as is the case in the warfare of today. 

Keep these facts in mind when reading Divinities and Cults, for in that book, fighters are given special rules on how to gain the most out of combat like the ancients did, without making your game imbalanced or overly complicated. How can you make your fighter into a viking or an amazon or a berserker or a hoplite? Refer to the book and find out! And stay tuned for the upcoming Divinities and Cults Volume II, which includes even more historical fighter options!

And remember always to honor these warriors, for after all, they most likely didn't give wedgies, since underwear wasn't even invented yet.

Div Cul for S&W is not a POD Dream!

I know the title says it all, but I figured I should explain anyway: the Divinities & Cults for Swords & Wizardry version has been available in Portable Document Format (Div Cul for S&W PDF) for a few weeks now.... Don't forget to order your copy!

And for those with a Print Obsession (like me), we're still working on the proofs for the Print-on-Demand version (Div Cul for S&W POD) to make sure that it's Truly As Wonderful As Possible for Our Beloved Readers (TAWAP for OBR).  

Fear not though!  It should be available soon!

Meanwhile, we (that is, Dan Osarchuk, himself, and he) are still working on getting Quiet Upon Shenbyrg's Dawning (novel #2) out to Amazon (Kindle and Print), as well as developing Div Cul Vol.II....

Stone Cold Awesome

Here's a great video series about the Stone Age!

From ancestors buried under the kitchen floor.... that would occasionally be dug up to have their heads removed to vulture-picked carcasses dragged into the sky above (also with heads removed): I wonder what sort of Divine Tests they had? Hmmm.....

You Tube Link