PCs from the olden days

My first PC was a fighter, in plate, wielding a 2-handed sword. These things called “kobolds” died a lot when he attacked them, and yielded up a chest full of copper coins. He survived the one delve, including cowering from a carrion crawler, but was never played again. The second character was the only fire-and-forget mage I've run. He died on the way to the dungeon, when a random encounter came up as displacer beasts. They don't Sleep very well…

Linda

The first character who went up levels was from my brother's dungeon (early 1977):

Human Female Thief. Str 13 Int 9 Wis 11 Con 16 Dex 16 (12Left) Cha 12 Will 8 Size 12 (5′9″) Psi 0

Cash 36GP, Exp 7586 (4th level) Hits 16 (with the original D4/level HP for a thief), AC7 (leather).

Sling, +1 sword, +1 dagger, pack, ring of regeneration, ring of invisibility, horse (with harness).

The original character sheet (half a coding form from the local computer lab) also contains a hit-list of characters (run by lower VI^th formers, and other such vermin) that had sassed her. She had a brother Leon, who was a bard (as per an early Strategic Review), and no discernable character development.

Osrica

The most significant character (and only one for whom records survive) from the dungeons I ran at the time (again early 1977, with vary variant systems already)

Half-elf Female Mage Str 9 Int 16 Learning 15 Con 15 DexR 18 DexL 10 Cha 21 Will 15 Size 10 Psi 8 Sense 15

Elementalist +12 Generalist +4 Illusionist +0. MU 106248eps (8th), Fighter/blade 3000xp Fighter/Missile 3400 xp107 Spell points.

Attacks values (sword) vs dodge 6; dodge 16 parry 6/slice 3/jab, antiparry 0 Blow strength Stab10/Cut12

Equipment - Sword +1, locater; Flame lance (22 charges) Regeneration ring (1 pt/10 rounds) Invisibility ring, Bracers R10, Illusion Gloves, Personal wand of lightsabre x2 (enchanted item that multiplied spell points flowing through it).

Spells (Red Book precursor system)

Spell	Learning bonus	Use bonus	Notes
Conjure Elemental	+1	+1 1/2	8-dice = power 33
Dimension Door	+3	+1 1/2
Monster Summoning	+1	+1 1/2	Umber hulk 37, small white dragon 31
Wizard Lock			E24
Dispel Magic (G)
Read Magic (G)
Cloudkill			4 die = 31
Icestorm		+2 1/3	3d10 = 27
Wall of Fog			E14
Shield (G)
Detect Magic (G)		+2 2/3
Phantasmal Killer (I)		+1
Sonic Attack		+1	4 die = 28
Demon Summon			Vampire = 41
Silence
Lightsabre	+3		+0 =26, +2 per plus

She was one of a family with similar names that my brother played (I still remember the regrets I felt when the oldest of them, her brother Ulric, fell to a carrion crawler in the Hall of Machines…)

Ororo

The highest level D&D character I ever ran was almost my last ever spell-caster. From Martyn Wheeler's 78-9 dungeon

Human female elementalist Str 12/12 Int 17 Wis 9 Faith 13 Con 10 Immunity 13 Dex 14/15 Cha 22, Size 8 Build 9 Will 7.

Elementalist +10, Generalist +4, Illusionist -3 Enchanter -7; Level 12 (904,822xp) 140,384 GP 28 HP

Staff of Wizardry (105 charges left), Rings of spell-turning, fire resistance, prot+1, scrolls of Improve Invisibility (x2) Forcewall (x2) Firestorm (x3) fly (x3)

Cat

Her familiar

pseudodragon elementalist Str 7 Int 10, Wis 16, Faith 5 Con 15, Imm 12 Dex 24, Cha 20, size 15, Build 14, Will 31

Elementalist +9, Illusionist+9; Level 11 (714,500xp) 48 HP

Ring of invisibility, ring of 7 spell storing (Disintegrate, Teleport and a bunch of Elemental summonings)

Ororo and Cat together

This chaotic good pair chafed rather under the rigid lawful-good senior members of the party (she joined at first when most were at levels 4-5), especially the treasure division system based on xp-hours of delving less value of current items, and the strange ideas about what were or were not fair targets. Having managed to be the one to pick up this staff to try, she adopted a “take it off me if you think you're hard enough” approach, which being at least nine tenths of the law, led to acquiesnces by the lawfuls. Having it, she used it only in extremis (usually to summon elementals as dumb hit-points). She first took damage at about 7^th level when a gas spore exploded; and only died once at 12^th level, when a ~20^th level enchanter lich managed to mass charm much of the party, including the fighter with the vorpal blade. And she rolled an 00 on her system shock roll — but the GM ruled that the number of hit-points her familiar had were enough to mean that she had never really died, and only needed the healing effect of the raise to re-attach her head.

By the end, Ororo's role was combat air patrol (she is the subject of the many of the early memorable experiences catalogued elsewhere), but with the campaign emerging from the dungeon into almost heroquesting, in a cross-planar (from misty moors, to fire, to ice, to the magic garden) expedition to a magical place of power, she finally found something that was a worthy goal. She would perform the quest again herself, to the strange garden of the Crystal Pyramid, and rather than looting the pyramid, perform certain rituals about the sundial that lay between the entrance gates (cast iron, not inter-planar portals) to gather the power to create her own demi-plane, a small island surrounded by the shimmering void. Entered from the plane of ice, it was to be a place of snow covered pine forest, with people of the pines all over. Some 50 miles from the entry, behind a maze of force walls, a valley that was a summer garden, with a little cottage where she could retire.

But the campaign underwent a system conversion to use a different combat system, and the changes in relative character ability that this wrought crashed the campaign. At that point she was the highest level equal (behind the Enchanter, Fortash, who was about to break to 13^th).

.DSYS

Systems from Martyn Wheeler's old Dungeon Delving Campaign

Magic system

This magic system, known to the players as .DSYS, and to others as another instance of “Oh god, the Cambridge Magic System”. WPR is Willpower, another, new, characteristic.

Stat bonuses

Stat	Caster Type	1	2	3 - 5	6 - 8	9 - 11	12 - 13	14 - 15	16 - 18	19 - 21	22 - 26	27 - 30	31 - 33	34 & up
INT	All	-9	-6	-3	-1	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6
CHA	Elementalist	-9	-6	-3	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8
DEX	Illusionist	-6	-4	-2	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9
WPR	Enchanter	-9	-6	-3	-1	0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+5

Stats used are INT&CHA for elementalist spells, INT&DEX for illusions, INT&WPR for enchantments and INT twice for general magic spells. Open ended rolling up and/or per species bonuses could result in high stat values (a Noldor elf had, IIRC a percentile roll that pushed 18(00) CHA up to mean 30 and then took a D4 bonus on top of that). At least in some branches of this system the stats used for bonuses were intended to make women and elves potent at Elemental magic.

Specialisation Bonuses

Humans,Elves, etc:		Wiri
In specialisation	+3	Elementalist spell	+7
Out of specialisation	-8	Illusionist spell	+3
General spells	+0	All other spells	-10
Generalist caster	+0

Wiri were a local “special”; warriors or mages, always Lawful/Good, small furballs with legs. They had reasonable natural armour, but could not wear other armour, and gained one size up of hit dice. They needed some stat minima, and took 5000ep base for warrior, 6250ep base for MU, if I understand my notes correctly. I don't have the full spec, as I never cared to use them.

Casting spells

Excess E = ( bonuses + d20 + MU Level ) - (10 + 2 * spell level) - penalties

Maximum castable level = (INT * √ (MU Level))/6

Excess

0 or greater	spell succeeds, effect depends on value of E
-1 to -3	no effect
-4 to-6	backfire, see spell table for effect
-7 or Less	Insanity, see table below

Insanity

Value of E	Effect on MU	Experience Levels Lost
-7 to -9	Feeblemind 3d6 mins	None
-10 to -11	Feeblemind d6 hours	1
-12 to -13	Catatonic 3d6 mins	2
-14 to -15	Catatonic d6 hours	3
-16 to -17	Permanently catatonic	4
-18 to -22	Homicidal	5
-23 to -27	Death	6
-28 down	Irrecoverable Death	N/A

NOTE: Levels lost cannot be recovered by a clerical “restoration” spell. After an insanity result, the MU cannot cast any spells for a number of days equal to |E+7|

Casting time

Standard casting time = ( spell level + 2 ) seconds (where 1 round = 2 seconds)

For each second reduction in time there is a penalty of -1 on that cast. If the caster wishes to reduce the casting time below 1 second, a different penalty system is imposed:

Penalty for 1/N second = N * (spell level + 2);

Fatigue

The other source of penalties on spell casts is due to the MU 'running out of energy' as he/she casts more and more spells. According to the level of the MU casting the spell, and the total number of spell levels cast already (NOT including the spell about to be cast), consult the following table (sorry, there never was a formula that I knew of):

MU level counts down, one band per level, so up to level 30 here, and across (marked in fives of levels cast, so the table runs up to 30 levels cast). The bands are of increasing penalty (zero for white, -1 for dark grey, -2 light, -3 white again and so on). The red line means each spell level cast is an extra -1, so for 1st level caster, the table is 0,1,1,2,3,4... Fatigue recovers in 60/CON hours after incurred.

Spell lists

Generalist spells are things like Detect Magic, Detect Evil, Read Magic, and Dispel Magic. Enchanter and Illusionist spells are roughly the two schools as per the usual spell listings, and Elementalist are all the rest, but the repertoire was drawn from the much smaller pool of spells in the original rules set. The spell lists are too cumbersome to scan in (line printer paper), and a pain to transcribe manually, so only a sampler:-

Sample Enchanter spell effect charts

2) The Healing touch of Fortash

Backfire - not known

Success - heal = (E+1)/2 points, rounding up

2) ESP

Backfire - Thought projection as for E = 4d6

Success - range = (E+1) paces, duration 3(E+1) minutes

Sample Elementalist spell effect charts

1) Knock

Backfire -Hold Portal, E= d20

Success - open door at STR = E+14

1) Magic Machinegun

Excess	Number	Range
@ d6+1 each missile 1pace ~ 75cm
Backfire	Take d6 damage
0-1	1	5 paces
2-3	1	10
4-5	1	15
6-8	2	20
9-11	2	30
12-14	2	40
15-19	3	50
20-24	3	60
25-29	4	65
+5	+1	+5

3) Fireball/Lightning bolt/Cold beam

Excess	D6s	Range/length
Bolts and beams fold to their full lengths. FB fills dice times 200 m3
Backfire	Storm spell on caster E=2d10
0-1	1	20 paces
2-3	1	35
4-5	2	50
6-8	4	60
9-11	6	70
12-14	8	80
15-19	9	90
20-24	10	100
25-29	12	110
+5	+2	+10

4) Fire/Lightning /Ice Storm

Excess	Damage/round	Duration	Range	Diameter
2s rounds, remember!
Backfire:	Storm spell on caster E=5d6
0-1	2d4	1 min	5 paces	5 paces
2-3	2d6	2	8	7
4-5	2d8	3	10	9
6-8	3d6	4	20	12
9-11	3d8	5	30	14
12-14	3d10	6	40	16
15-19	5d6	7	45	20
+5	+d6	+1	+5	+5

Example

My L12 MU Ororo, with Int 17 (+2), Cha 22(+5), Dex 14 (+3) Wpr 7 (-1) is +10 Elementalist, +4 for general spells, -3 Illusionist, and -7 Enchanter.

At 1/4s casting time, Magic Machinegun is at penalty 12, giving E = 22+d20-24 = d20-2 when fresh. If she does that all round, for the second half of the round she is at an extra -1, and after two rounds, with 16 spell levels cast, she is at E = d20-5, and thinking about slowing down.

A 2s Fireball is then E = d20 for her.

Flaws

The numbers meant generalist spells were rarely used and out-of-specialty never. Sub-second casting is probably too easy. The de facto need to bring spells down to 1 round or less means that a new spell level is gained every three levels - even MU12s didn't cast higher than 4th level except outside adventures. The system as written also suffered a legacy problem from its ancestors, that using Charm spells to control the minds of others could cause the enchanter to gain WPR, and hence increase his stat bonus, but no other spells had such permanent benefit.

The three-way division of spells worked with the small spell lists of the time of devising (pre-1978), but would need reworking for the bigger lists - I'd started to do that by splitting Enchanter to put the body/life-form affecting spells into a Sorcerer group (CON), and the raw energy spells from Elementalist to Luminor (STR), and evening up the stat bonuses to (INT+req)/3 - 8 rather than use tables - but that didn't address the other flaws.

Cleric system

A cleric has (level*(level+1)/2) + (faith-13) piety points. D20+points used must exceed the spell level. A roll of 1 always fails, and at least one point must be used per casting. Failures have no effect. Spell levels ran from 4 (for things normally given as abilities) through 15 for the normal lowest level spells, up to 50 for the most powerful spells; or to a first approximation, spell level = 10+5*common level for spell.

There was a separate druid system, which combined elements of both of the above, but it was imported from another campaign, and never quite fitted. The idea that system had of making Druids not at all hasty (just like Ents) was that they didn't mesh with sub-second MU castings, and encounters geared to that sort of speed.

New Earth

This was a campaign setting that my brother started back in '77, and which I took over later when he gave up the hobby. The map was taken from the old SPI generic war-game Strategy 1, and the central conflict was between the invading armies of the sorceress Oktvabrina of Ostoslavia, and the heroic defenders of the Lion Empire. Though there were a lot of dungeons involved as well.

The systems started out with all or the original D&D books up to Eldritch Wizardry, plus Metamorphosis Alpha; but there was a lot of major system revision going on at that time. Some character classes (Alchemist, Bard) and add-ons (social standing) were gleand from The Strategic Review and early issues of the Dragon. MetAlpha (as it was known) is also responsible for the presence amongs the original campaign notes of stats for the original X-Men, Avengers and other similar characters who I shan't transcribe here, plus stats for the Zcarab from the Roger Dean poster.

Solar system

The system is a binary, a G-class primary (Surya/Osiris/Apollo) with a distant (67 AU) M-class companion (Agni/Set/Ares) in a 400-year orbit with eccentricity 0.45.

Planets

	Name	Orbital radius (AU)	Moons	Notes
I	Vasha/Horus/Hermes	0.2	—	Mercury like
II	Brahma/Thoth/Aphrodite	0.6	—	Venus like
III	New Earth	1	Sarasvati/Isis/Artemis and Ratri/Nephtys/Athene	Moons also known as Fei Lien and Feng Po
IV	Indra/Anubis/Zeus	3.6	8 moons, rings	Gas giant
V	Shiva/Shu/Hera	6.6	8 moons, no rings	Gas giant

Native Life forms

Bugbears, Umber Hulks, Hellhounds, Stirges, Owlbears, Ropers, Dragon Turtles, Giant Owls, Fire snakes, Winged Serpents, Dharzi Dogs, Fire Lizards, Minotaur Lizards, Giant Beetles, Dinosaurs, Giant Sharks, Rays, Water Spiders, Eyes, Morkoths, Mashers, Mastodons, Giant Ticks, Giant Slugs, Giant Mammals, Orcs (stone-age technology at time of landfall), Trolls, Manticoras, Wyverns, Dragons (Dominant life form pre-landfall), Purple Worms, Bicorns, Pegasi, Hippogriffs, Rocs, Gryphons, Slimes, Native equivalents of most Terran imports

Imported Life forms

Terran

Man, Horses, Mules, Dolphins, Wolves, Lions, Crocodiles, Dogs, Pigs, Cattle, Bears, Boars, Stags, Leopards, Elephants, Tigers

From Elsewhere

“Demons” — Very few, of numbered varieties, types I–IV being constructs; 12 Mind-flayers, each individually statted out and named.

NPCs

The Royal-Imperial family of the Lion Empire

(in 3421)

K.E. Roderic II (3360–3419) m Anzia of Kreuzland (3370–); their children are

King Emperor Anton IV (3389–) m Karlian of Ilmor (3393–)
Roderica (3391–) m King Leon of Ispanos
Antonia (3396–) m Duke Poul of Ilmor
Valric (3398–)
Zonja (3402–)

K.E. Anton has children

Anton (3413–)
Angara (3415–)

Stats under the earliest and least modified systems

	KE A n t o n IV	R o d e r i c a	A n t o n i a	V a l r i c	Z o n j a	L e o n	P o u l	D o w a g e r   E m p r e s s   A n z i a	QE   K a r l i a n
STR	14	7	13	15	13	11	14	5	7
INT	11	12	15	8	15	9	12	18(84)	17
WIS	13	15	8	13	8	13	16	11	10
CON	8	7	6	8	12	14	13	13	10
DEX	12	15	9	9	20	10	11	9	13
CHA	11	14	15	11	23	12	11	18	15
Will	5	14	15	12	16	10	9	11	15
Psi	—	—	71	—	—	—	53	83	76
Level	F7	C6	M c h a r m 2	F1	F6	F6	F8	M E l e m 7	M E l e m 4
HP	33	22	6	32	32	38	39	23	12
P s i   p o w e r s			R e d u c t i o n				C l a i r a u d i e n c e	L e v i t a t i o n D e t e c t   m a g i c, evil P r e c o g,   t e l e p o r t A t t a c k s — b l a s t   a n d   c r u s h D e f e n s e — T h o u g h t   s h i e l d	M o l e c u l a r   a g i t a t i o n,   S h a p e   a l t e r a t i o n

Other Significant NPCs

These are recorded under later system revisions, with a fixed hitpoint combat system

Oktvabrina : The never encountered major opponent, very much the archetypal evil sorceress, icily beautiful

STR 6 INT 21 WIS 18 Faith 14 CON 15 DEX/R 20 DEX/L 10 CHA 20 Will 14 Size 10 Psi — Sense 13

Elementalist Hits total 7 head 2 chest 6 arm 2 leg 2   Parry 5 Anti-parry 1   Hit +1 Damage +2 Dodge -6

Level 20 400 spell points All elementalist spells learned to +3, used to +5 Rings (right hand): Human control, shooting stars, forlorn encystment, pressor, true ring Rings (left hand): Fire resistance, regeneration, spell turning, prot +5   Circle of psi resistance

Sandra : Famed mercenary warrior, major field commander for the Lion Empire

STR 18 INT 15 WIS 11 Faith 10 CON 16 DEX/R 22 DEX/L 21 CHA 23 Will 19 Size 14 Psi — Sense 17

Fighter Hits total 19 head 3 chest 16 arm 4 leg 5   Parry 25 Anti-parry 20   Hit +5 Damage +6 Dodge -8

Level 15 Sword +3 Power Gauntlets (+6 damage, doors 1–9) True sight circlet (det illusion, infravision, disbelief)   AC: Shoulders 3 Forearms 6 Torso 5 Neck 4 Lower legs 7 Otherwise 9

Anetchka : Exiled Ostoslavian noble, focus of the resistance.

She lost her right hand to Oktvabrina's torturers, and now weilds a scythe/hook weapon prosthesis. She has a paralysis dart gun, a remnant of pre-landfall technology.
STR 16 INT 17 WIS 14 Faith 11 CON 16 DEX/R 14 DEX/L 7 CHA 18 Will 17 Size 13 Psi — Sense 16	Fighter/Energy Hits total 17 head 3 chest 14 arm 4 leg 5   Parry 11 Anti-parry 11   Hit +1 Damage +1 Dodge 0	Level 10/12 140 spell points Spells learned to/Used to Detect magic +3/+3 Read magic +3/+2 Light +3/+3 Magic Missile +3/+5 Pyrotechnics +3/+3 Wall of fire +3/+4 Electricity +3/+4 Lightning bolt +3/+7 Lightning resistance +3/+2 Disintegrate +3/+2

Geography

Obviously, the main map can't be transcribed here, but for those with access to the originals, the some cities were named.

In Hombierge, H1 is Géra, in Ispanos, I1 is Iszorra, in Jaegerstaat, J5 is Kelnir, in Kreuzland, K1 is Kreuzstadt, in Löwerreich, the cities are Helm, Idinburg, and Imor. In Morrashnorad, Wrǒc (if the letter between the ‘r’ and the ‘c’ doesn't come out it's Wrôc with the accent upside-down), Urrunsgrad, Aver-Ister, and Strelsau; in Novonorad, Noczwa, Stepametropol, Graach, Popushki and Galatz. In Ostoslavia, Dominets, Ostoslav, Karagora, in Palestan, Athach. In Rasha, Al-Haaq, in Simburi, Zupopo, Nurunga and Ndambange. In Tantassi, Genville and D'Ourbain. In Ubo, Uboga and Ngotu. In Vien-tan, Hoku-go, Chungking, Ping-liang, Cheng-tu and Hsiang-tan. InWeidong, Jabalpur and Thanjavur. In X'chow, Hanamaki, Sagamihara and Takamatsu. The various resource hexes were mapped to the castles, sorcerer's towers or temples from the Underworld and Wilderness (i.e. book 3) wilderness encounter tables.

The walled city of Idin-Burg, lying on the river Valdon. Roads lead north to Géra, south to Iszorra and east to Helm. The Royal-Imperial palace is on a mount, surrounded by its grounds running down to and across the river. On the east bank lie the dwellings of the gentry. North of the palace are, the barracks, to the south-west, the noble district and to the south, King Roderic's College. The marketplace is marked by the large coaching inn. By the Géra road is the Kreuzlander quarter, and by the Iszorra road, the Quantari quarter

Crunchy Bits

Priests

The campaign used the Pasadena Cleric system, which gave something like (level*(level+1)/2) + (faith-13) prayer points, and casting success was 60% * cleric level * prayer points / (prayer level²), and prayer levels are about twice the spell level one is used to, with magical abilities like turning undead coming in as level 1 prayers. Some high level spells, such as Raise Dead Fully, or Finger of Automatic Death mapped to prayer levels 15–20

The use of the various gods out of Gods, Demi-gods and Heroes ws accomodated by the early invention of specialty priests, assigning Pasadena levels to Druid spells, and portioning the whole ensemble out amongst the various pantheons e.g. from the ever popular Asgardians, Odin priests — Get ESP at prayer 6, 12 elemental summoning at prayer 12, no access to raise spells or their reverse. Thor priests — are split-class fighters, with prayers Call lightning at 5, resist lightning at 6, Control Weather at 10, no reversed spells, no Commune. From popular Olympians, Hermes priests — are split-class thieves, and gain +2″ move, Nike priests gain no curative spells, and have all destructive spells at 1 prayer level easier.

Combat

weapon vs weapon difficulty chart

	Attacker's Weapon
Defender's Weapon	Dagger	Sword	Flail	Greatsword	Staff or Polearm	Pike
Dagger	14	20	20	25	22	35
Sword	12	12	15	18	9	22
Flail	19	25	17	22	22	22
Greatsword	22	8	10	7	5	15
Staff/polearm	12	7	7	6	4	7
Pike	19	20	20	20	18	12
Shield	11	8	13	7	9	9

Beat the number on a d20 to parry. Modify by each person's STR based to-hit, weapon/shield plusses and fighter level. The attacker gets the benefits of his to-hit from DEX, and the defender from his AC bonus from DEX.Take -3 on the roll per previous parry this round.

Magic Items

Gloves and Gautlets were the specialty type of magic item in the campaign, including the power gauntlets (AC6, metal plates on leather) used by Sandra above, pickpocket gloves (+20%, leather, AC8), Dex gloves (+6 DEX, thin black cloth, AC9)

of magical specialty: +5 if one is a specialist in that type, +10 if not (slighlty offsetting the out-of-specialty penalty).

Mage Gauntlets

Specialty	Description	Colour	AC
Fire	heavy gauntlets	glowing red	5
Electricity	elbow length gloves	electric blue	6
Healing	thin cloth	white	9
Enchantment	thin leather	grass green	8
Illusion	thin cloth	matt black	9
Elements	elbow length gloves	silver	6
Mesmerism	leather gloves	iridescent	8

Semi-magical items included weapons made of exotic high-tech materials left over from the in-flight days, with names for the latter fallen days like High Bronze (+3 to hit) or Godsmetal (+5).

Rules for weapon enchantment were simple — pay enough gold, and expend enough spell points (implicitly giving the time involved), e.g. pay an up-front amout to ready the weapon for enchantment (120 each per pound of steel) then pay 1000N of each to boost a weapon from to +N to hit from +(N-1); and another +1000N to boost to +N damage from +(N-1), where damage pluses were never greater than the to-hit pluses, and flat sums extra for each power.

Magic System

The campaign used a system called Red Book (as it was written in a red school exercise book), an earlier cousin of .DSYS which went as follows:—

Specialist bonus = +1/2 per deviation each of INT and requisite from the 9-12 range (so a 7 counts as -1); Generalist bonus = +1 per deviation of INT from 9-12 (so +6 for INT 18). Specialist own class +5, Generalist or General spell class +0, Specialist other class, -5.

Spells take level in weeks to learn to +0; for each extra level weeks, another +1 to a maximum of +3. Each spell has a use bonus, starting at +0, with N successes needed to increase from +(N-1) to +N, failures subtract directly from the use bonus.

Roll 3d6, add the above bonuses, add the number of spell points used (at least equal to the spell level), and subtract points used to customise the spell, and compare against the effect table for that spell. There are no standard success values

Spell points are min (eps/1000 +5, eps/5000 +85).

Sample spell — Magic missile

This is a typical spell; it only has a few parameters to tweak. Fireball was far more complicated, along the same lines; other spells (e.g. cure paralysis) just had a simple fixed success/failure value.

Base number = 1, -2 per additional. Base range 50m, -1 per extra 5m. Base speed, 3m/s, -1 per extra m/s. Base accuracy +0, -2 for each +1 to hit. Base damage d6, -2 for each +1 to damage.

Success vs roll table

Power	up to 12	13-15	16-20	21-25	26+
Result	suffer attack	suffer 1/2 attack		success	+1 change per 2 over 25
Usage	-2	-1		+1	+2

Power over 25 can be used to belatedly buy customisation but at half the benefit.

Wyndale Jackie (1965-?)

He was the first cat in the household, a pedigree Siamese whom we acquired during my family's stay in Australia (this was well before the concerns about cats and the local wildlife). He was extremely tolerant of being pushed around the house in a box, though I still bear the scar where one day, he misjudged his leap out of the box when he'd had enough, and caught my cheek with one of his hind claws.

As a pedigree, he turned his nose up at ordinary cat food, and subsisted on tinned pilchards, and whatever he could catch - his diet certainly included snakes caught "on the hoof" as it were, and included the occupational hazard of the occasional bite, which left him a bit woozy and creaky for a day or so.

Another page, trends change

This is going to become a place to put antique stuff, even though I can only datestamp it back to epoch, like this post.