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Volume 1, Issue 1 Table of Contents

Editorial 3
StormBringer

Opinion: Resources 4
StormBringer

Origins Report 5
WJ Walton

Web Treasures
Ken Rutsky

BlogWatch 9
ResourceWatch 11
From the Sandbox 12
Sacrificial Lamb

Praxis 16
StormBringer

Small Magic 22
StormBringer

Planetary Law Enforcement 24

Ken Rutsky

Unless otherwise noted, material from The Citadel Monthly is

Creative Commons by-nc-sa, v3.0
creativecommons.org

Cover
Chillingham Castle, Northumberland

Back
Ilustration from The Raven
doreillustrations.com

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What's this all about then?
Vintage games are enjoying
something of a resurgence these
days, and there is always more past
to work with than present. While
the hobby itself moves along at its
own pace, and there are new games
appearing on a constant basis, it
often feels like we haven't really
explored all the possibilities of the
earlier rules. Certainly, we haven't
explored the possibilities of all the
earlier rules; some hit the scene and
faded quickly, others have been in
the background for three decades,
virtually unknown by the larger pop-
ulation of gamers today. Those are
the games that will share the focus
at the Citadel, as well as recent
games that are designed with vin-
tage sensibilities.
Since there are already a
number of online magazines for
vintage games; do we really need
another? A valid question; we think
there are enough vintage games out
there to write about create material
to support. The blogs, 'zines and
other information out there seem
focussed on the early versions of
D&D exclusively. Of course, we
aren't going to ignore the opportun-
ity to present material for the grand-
father of our hobby. We will avail
ourselves of every chance to
provide material for the other games
from that era, however. We will
strive for a more rounded approach
to vintage gaming, and in the pro-
cess, we want to show new gamers
and those not yet introduced to the
hobby of the wide diversity of
genres and playstyles in which they
can participate.
Our aim is to present mater-
ial that enhances your game. What
you can expect is the scaffolding on
which to build great games; hooks
on which to mount your own creat-
ive efforts, suggestions for guiding
your play, and tools for a better
experience. We intend to offer ran-
dom tables to flesh out your ses-
sions, tips and tricks to improve
your skills as a player and referee,
utilities both online and off for a
greater range of play, and NPCs and
locations to drop into encounters or
to build whole campaigns around to
name but a few. These will all be
offered with the bare minimum of
exposition to increase their useful-
ness. Ultimately, The Citadel
Monthly has no aspirations as the
final word on how your games
should be run. In short, we want to
provide the Power to Create.
To support that, the original
content of The Citadel Monthly will
be available under the Creative
Commons license protocol.
(www.creativecommons.org). This
license allows for modification and
re-mixing of the content you find
here, but only under certain condi-
tions. Briefly, this means you can
use anything you want, however you
want, and give that to whomever
you want. The CC License we have
chosen is the By Attribution, Non-
Commercial, Share Alike license.
This means, first and foremost, that
you are required to cite The Citadel
Monthly as the source of your
information or modifications. You
are permitted to post whole sections
to your blog or a discussion forum,
or print it out for people at your
FLGS as long as that attribution is
present. Additionally, no content,
even if properly attributed, can be
re-packaged or distributed in part or
in whole for commercial gain. We
reserve the right to make money
from the content, if we so choose.
Finally, any material you derive from
Citadel Monthly content must be
distributed under these same terms.
If you modify it and distribute it,
other people can then modify your
work and distribute it as well. We
believe this license is the best meth-
-3-
od for encouraging open sharing
and expansion of role playing. Not
all content will be so licensed,
however, and some may fall under
other licenses. If you have any
questions about which content is
which, we will be happy to clarify.
There is a bit more to the license
than just that, but we will provide
clear guidelines for use in a future
article.
No magazine of this nature
will survive without contributions
from the reader, of course. At the
moment, the Citadel of Chaos dis-
cussion forums (citadelofchaos.net/
forums) are an excellent resource
for discussing your ideas, and we
will eventually have a submission
form here if you want to contribute
content for future issues. If you
have an interesting NPC you want
to share, some location your group
has fond memories of, or just a top-
ic you would like to see in the public
discourse, this is the place to do it.
We won't reject any idea due to the
game it supports, as we want to have
as many vintage games represented
as possible. This doesn't mean it
will find a place in the very next
issue, of course, but we will do our
best to find a place for every article.
If you think it is interesting, chances
are other people will also, so don't
keep it to yourself!
Welcome, then, one and all
to the premier issue of The Citadel
Monthly!
R esources are an important
part of vintage fantasy games,
the most important part,
according to some. Many game ele-
ments revolve around resource man-
agement; wandering monsters harry
the characters, wasting spells, item
charges, and hit points. Traps force
them to find a different, usually
longer, way to their objective, which
can mean more random encounter
checks. Loitering around usually
prompts the bad guys to send more
underlings to stop the heroes. Traps
and random opponents are also typic-
ally treasure light, so you don't even
get a decent reward for defeating
them. Several of these in a row by a
party that tarries or consistently finds
the wrong rooms can even lead to the
death of one or more characters.
Recent iterations of RPGs
have eschewed 'save or die' effects for
a similar reason. No one wants to lose
a character to a string of bad rolls,
but even less so to one bad roll. But
here is the problem: from that same
side of the argument, we also hear
that raise dead and the like are too
cheap, to where it is only a minor
speed bump for mid- to higher level
characters. Hence, it was hard coded
into the new rules that death is a
minor speed bump at higher levels.
Bringing someone back from death
was a minor inconvenience, with a
moderately steep price tag. Now, even
the price isn't all that steep.
There are many effects under
the 'save or die' rubric, naturally,
including petrification and the like,
where you aren't killed outright, but
certainly aren't in the action anymore.
Few effects short of a deck of many
things or certain artifact level powers
will outright permanently kill a char-
acter. There is a chance you could fail
your resurrection survival roll, and
Constitution placed a hard limit on
the number of times you could be
raised. Death was supposed to be so
harrowing, in fact, a point of Consti-
tution was to be deducted perman-
ently for each raising. I recall our
group didn't deduct the point, but we
did keep the number of previous
raises in mind. Naturally, if your
group wasn't keeping track of the to
hit bonuses for certain weapons
versus AC, or the weapon speed of
their ranseur, checking for resurrec-
tion survival was likely forgotten by
the wayside as well.
And why not? Taking the
broader view, 'save or die' was just
another resource to manage. You wer-
en't earning xp while the others
hauled your carcass around, and just
try to argue for a full share of treas-
ure when your big contribution for
half the adventure was 300lbs less
gold to haul away. I don't see it really
matters how often someone gets
raised, really. In and of itself, that will
act as its own penalty on advance-
ment, without having the possibility
of permanent retirement. Perhaps
keep the hard limit on the number of
times they can be raised, just so they
don't get careless. Unless your DM
was a complete hardcase, there really
wasn't a lack of money, so it would be
difficult limiting things that way.
I don't find resources like
money or land to be very effective
limitations anyway. Why would any-
one want to be an adventurer if they
were getting the equivalent of a 5gp
per month stipend? When your
income is no better than a common
labourer's, the incentive to go out
tomb raiding is lacking. Naturally, you
want to make sure players don't haul
out enough to demolish the economy
of any region smaller than a kingdom,
but fistfuls of gold are the best reas-
on to kick the dust of the farm off
your boots and pick up a sword.
Severely limiting gold is worse than
limiting magic items.
Raise Dead and Resurrection are
both spells, of course, which are
another resource. Once the party
Cleric can cast those, you no longer
have to seek out a town, but you still
need a pile of diamonds on hand. So,
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Opinion
StormBringer
it isn't really simple matter of just
casting a spell to retrieve the character
from the last save point. Depending
on the adventure at hand, they may
not even be the best choice for spells.
And as any Magic User or
Cleric player will tell you, spell selec-
tion can make or break the adventure.
This is another resource that must be
carefully monitored, as the daily selec-
tion of spells is pretty limited until
somewhere above mid-level. Natur-
ally, this is what makes playing a spell-
caster so attractive for a certain type
of player. It is probably one of the
longest range strategy elements in
vintage games, and requires careful
deliberation. There is no perfect mix
of spells that will get the party out of
every situation. Non-spellcasters have
to monitor their hit points and
ammunition, which can be as detailed,
but rather more immediate.
With the power creep that
seems to invariably follow each new
release, this kind of resource manage-
ment seem to be progressively
stripped away. For myself, the
resource management is precisely
what keeps me interested in vintage
games. It can get too fiddly at times,
but nothing beats hashing out spells,
torches and wineskins as a party when
preparing for the assault on a well
defended subterranean financial
opportunity. It largely defines the
'game' part of role-playing game for
me. It is also what I find distinctly
lacking in most current RPG design.
T he family and I are back
from Columbus and the Ori-
gins Game Fair, five days of
all kinds of gaming in the heart of
Ohio, running from June 24th
through the 28th. What follows is
my official Escapist Origins Report.
Because we geeks like to
enumerate these things: This was
our eighth Origins, our sixth with
kids in tow, and our fifth in a row
(my partner Paula and I attended in
1991 in Baltimore, and 1995 in Phil-
adelphia before the convention
settled in Columbus, and again with
our very young daughters in 2000.)
Right before the convention
I announced to Escapist readers that
I would be sending updates to Twit-
ter while I was at the con. The fol-
lowers on the Escapist Twitter ac-
count nearly tripled in a matter of
days - it was pretty exciting to see so
many people interested in what I
was going to be doing there.
It was SO exciting, in fact,
that I completely forgot to take my
cell phone out of my favorite pair
of jeans when I washed them the
day before the con, which com-
pletely ruined it, and my ability to
send Tweets all weekend. (This is
but a glimpse of how I manage to
sabotage my own plans almost every
day of my life.) My apologies if any-
one was really looking forward to
those updates, and I promise to be
more careful next year.
As I posted on the main
blog before we left, my daughters
and I painted the windows of our
minivan with Liquid Chalk - "Ori-
gins Game Fair 2009" on both sides,
and "Gamers On Board" along with
the web address on the back. This
brought us a bunch of honking and
-5-
waving on the trip to the con, and
even a little bit of the same on the
way home. (This is definitely
something that we're going to make
a regular tradition.)
I ran eight events this year -
two more than I did last year. I ad-
ded a game for grown-ups and ran a
session of Fuzzy Heroes as an 'offi-
cial' event (rather than just running
it in my free time for anyone who
shows up). When I registered these
events back in January, I had con-
sidered dropping the seat count
from 6 to 5, but in retrospect, I'm
glad I didn't - all but two seats were
sold before the con had even star-
ted, and those last two were
snapped up by my friend Sean right
after I checked!
I should make a special note
that Morgan, one of the parents
from last year's con, brought anoth-
er of his daughters to this year's
Origins, and they signed up for SIX
of my games. So if you had a prob-
lem getting tickets for any of my
games, you can blame them!
After the con started, word
was getting around of some organ-
izational problems, and I did notice
a couple minor bugs with my events
that were easily corrected:
- My Fuzzy Heroes event,
which I requested to run in the
Kid's Room, was instead scheduled
on a table in the wargame room,
which probably wouldn't have been
too popular with the wargamers OR
the con staff when kids started
crawling all over the tables to move
their stuffed animals around. When
I tried to convince the volunteer at
Events HQ that I wanted to have it
moved, she kept passing me off
onto someone else who never
seemed to be there. When the time
came for the event, I put a sign up
directing people to the Kid's Room
(complete with map), another vo-
lunteer stopped in to tell me "When
you move an event like this, please
let us know."
- My games usually sell out,
but there IS a limit - When I
checked my events to see how many
were full, the volunteer told me that
my Mazes & Minotaurs game still
had 20 seats left. Somehow, the
event was posted for 25 players, in-
stead of 6. This was easily corrected
before it became a problem, but for
anyone running events in the future,
it's a good lesson - check your
events early to make sure this does-
n't happen to you!
To be perfectly fair, these
were relatively minor problems, one
which involved a stubborn volun-
teer, and another which was a
simple data entry error, so I'm not
too disappointed about them.
THE GAMES
This year, I ran my usual
games of Toon, Faery's Tale and
Fuzzy Heroes:
I stuck with running two
games of Toon, since I didn't have a
problem filling them both last year.
The Toon - Supertoon! game never
got far from the driveway - literally.
When the members of L.U.N.C.H.
(the League of United Noble
Crime-
fighting
Heroes)
got the
signal that
bankrob-
bers were
plying
their craft
in the
First Na-
tional Bank of Stalwart City, they
headed to the L.U.N.C.H. Mobile -
and got into an argument over who
would drive! In the ensuing chaos,
Atomic Punk grew to supersize and
just walked to the bank, Amoeboy
and Ultrapig ended up in outer
space, Octogenarian broke his
mechanized superwalker, Captain
Cheese managed to launch a few
cheese balls at the bad guys, and Mr.
Cuddle-Wuddle decided to give up
on the team and roam the earth
(sort of like Caine on Kung Fu).
I ran the other game of
Toon as a Totally Random Adven-
ture - not only was the scenario gen-
erated by the players rolling on the
Random Adventure Generator
tables in the Tooniversal Toon
Guide, but the characters were also
chosen at random from all four of
the core Toon books. Aliens from
the planet Ugfwiz were invading
Bike Wars Anytown, and it was up
to the six randomly chosen charac-
ters to save the day! Sadly, the game
was so chaotic that I can barely re-
call many details, but I do remember
the characters discovering that the
aliens were allergic to toothpaste
(but not squid paste). Oh, and one
of the characters kept attempting
-6-
(and failing) to Change Shape into a
cheetah, but ended up changing into
various types of cheesy snack foods
instead (including, at one point, a
cheetah made of cheese).
I'd like to note that this was
the second year in a row that Steve
Jackson Games offered prizes for
my Toon games - and this year, they
sent one of their Men In Black to
personally deliver the prizes and
thank me for running their games!
Faery's Tale is always a big
hit whenever I run it (and my friend
Lauryn and her mom always seem
to show up, too!). This year, the
faeries were
sent to ex-
plore a
strange and
ugly faerie
ring in
Brightwood
that led
them to a
strange and
ugly mortal
realm, one
with giant,
gray towers
and big machines that belched nasty
smoke and with hardly any grass or
flowers or trees anywhere. There
they met a sewer troll who just
wanted to be left alone, but reluct-
antly agreed to help them find the
other fairy who had travelled to this
realm and never returned. Together
they fought off nasty rats and made
their way into one of the ugly gray
towers to a door named "4C," where
they found the fairy trapped in a
birdcage and rescued him - but nev-
er actually figured out how to get
back home! (Maybe next year?)
The Fuzzy Heroes game ran
very smoothly, despite the room
change. For those who aren't aware,
this is an introductory wargame for
kids that uses stuffed animals and
other toys as miniatures. Players cre-
ate stats for the toys, such as speed
and attack strength, based on the
size, color, and features of the toy.
Most of my players brought stuffed
animals of their own to play with,
and we spent the first half hour or
so writing up their stat cards. I had
six players teamed up against me
and my three big baddies (two
dragons and a giant centipede), who
had captured Santa in an effort to
ruin Christmas (in late June, no
less). To keep the game short and
player interest up, I used side-based
initiative, rather than rolling it for
each individual player, and I added
some special items (file cards with
descriptions on them) to the playing
area for the players to pick up - a
candy bar (restores Energy Points),
a squeaky hammer (adds an Energy
Die to one attack), and so on.
The first attack of the game
significantly trashed my chances of
winning when one of the kids sent
his fuzzy in to assault one of my
dragons (the tougher of the two, in
fact), and used his one-shot Frenzy
ability to double his attack and dam-
age dice. He scored just enough hits
to knock her out, and I was left to
fight the rest of them off with two
baddies instead of three. I managed
to send a couple of them to slum-
berland, but in the end, the kids
knocked out my other two baddies
and saved both Santa and Christ-
mas.
The four new games I added
to the mix were Tooth & Claw,
Mazes & Minotaurs, Monsters and
Other Childish Things, and Cartoon
Action Hour:
Tooth & Claw went amaz-
ingly well. Players took on the roles
of dinosaurs in a tribe that had been
hit hard by a sudden and severe
drought, and needed to travel across
the plains and into the mountains
where the fabled Skysphere was said
to be - a strange relic that brings
rain wherever it goes. The characters
braved all sorts of hazards, from
poisonous plants to nasty carnivores
to lava floes, found the Skysphere,
and brought it home to save their
clan. (And not once did I hear any-
one complain about not getting to
be a velociraptor or a T-rex, as I had
fully expected...)
In Mazes & Minotaurs, (the
Harryhausen-inspired Greek myth
RPG), the characters were travelling
to Argos by longboat when the ship
was suddenly attacked by fishmen.
The party's lyrist did an excellent job
placating some of the them with her
Song of Calming, and the sorceror
of the party confused some others
enough to make them attack each
other - but it still didn't prevent the
ship from being destroyed by the re-
maining hordes. When the entire
party came to on an uncharted is-
land infested with monsters, they
found themselves helping the inhab-
itants remove an ancient curse on
the island. But in the end, the day
was most definitely NOT saved!
Monsters and Other Child-
ish Things was my last event on the
last day of the con. It's a charming
RPG based around kids and their
pet monsters that only they (and
other kids) can see. I've been want-
-7-
ing to run something sort of
spooky, so I did this one as a sort of
ghost story.
The players seemed to enjoy
it, even if it was a little simple, but I
would have been happier if they'd
had more opportunities to get their
monsters involved. If I run it again
next year - and there's a good
chance I will - I'll have to work on
improving that.
I ran Cartoon Action Hour:
Second Season on Friday evening as
a game for grownups - but not as an
'adult' game per se. Last year, a par-
ent of one of my players suggested
I run something for the grownups,
and I took his advice. But, it looks
like I may be getting typecast - the
organizers put the game in the Kid's
Room, possibly because of my his-
tory of running games for kids. This
may be why three ticket holders
were no-shows, as they may have
thought that it was an event espe-
cially for kids. Luckily my partner
Paula and friends Dru and Sean
were there with tokens to fill the
seats.
Cartoon Action Hour is an
RPG about the great action car-
toons of the 80s - GI Joe, He-Man,
Transformers, and the like, and it is
designed to simulate any one of
these types of genres. Naturally, I
figured the way to have the most
fun would be to throw everything
into the mix, so I handed out char-
acters from a bunch of different
genres - Dirk Virile (a barbarian
from a strange fantasy/tech world),
Melvin Doolittle (a geeky teen
trapped in a fantasy world due to a
malfunctioning videogame), Delta
Magnus X (a transforming robot
originally designed to destroy hu-
mans, but rebelling against her pro-
gramming), Jaguara (a princess from
a planet of catpeople), Sgt.
Schrapnel (a tough-as-nails army
seargent), and Mr. T.
Yes, you heard me. Mr. T.
You got somethin' in your ears,
fool?
The six of them awoke in
stasis chambers in a wrecked space-
ship, and instantly set about collect-
ing clues as to how they got there
and why they had been captured.
After fighting some cyber-enhanced
T-Rexes and getting the ship off of
the ground, Melvin unlocked an AI
in the ship's computer - a captured
holographic rock star named
Amethyst who explained their fate -
they were captured by the evil Baron
Waste in an attempt to take over all
of the realms for himself!
My favorite parts were
Dirk's soliloquies, the jokes in bin-
ary that Melvin and Delta Magnus
would make with each other, and
pretty much everything that Mr. T
did.
We roleplayed the commer-
cial breaks by letting a player improv
a commercial for their toy line once
each half hour (as well as rolling for
bonuses on the nifty commercial
break tables supplied in the rules).
At the end, we roleplayed one of
the moral segments that you would
often see at the end of cartoons (es-
pecially GI Joe), and it was so funny
that I can barely remember it be-
cause I nearly blacked out from
laughing. It was easily the best con-
vention game I've ever run, and def-
initely in the top 5 games I've run in
my 25+ years as a gamemaster.
Special thanks to Cynthia
Celeste Miller, author of CAH:SS,
for sending me an updated version
of the rules.
OTHER COOL STUFF THAT
HAPPENED
It wasn't all about the games
I ran (just most of it). I got to meet
a few people I haven't met before
(at least in person, anyway):
- Andy Kitkowski, who was
promoting Maid: The Role Playing
Game, an anime-styled humor game
in which maids get into all sorts of
trouble.
- Dave Mattingly, the vice
president of the Christian Gamers'
Guild and a heckofa nice guy.
- Lou Zocchi, one of our
Great Gaming Elders, who was cur-
rently promoting his latest die - the
Amazing D-Total, a 24-sided die
with multiple numbers and symbols
on each face, which can be used to
replace every die in your dice bag
(and even a few that he hasn't inven-
ted yet). I was tempted to get one,
but the price tag was a bit steep for
my budget. (Though if someone
-8-
can come up with a method to sim-
ulate a set of FUDGE dice with it, I
may change my mind...)
Other cool things that
happened that I can't forget to men-
tion:
- There was a set of Virtual
World pods in the hallway running
some virtual Battletech games. I got
to play against my friends Dru and
Sean, and had my butt handed to
me.
- My friend Brad made me
an actual dice clock with actual dice,
inspired by my not-actual dice clock
(which you can still purchase at the
Escapist store, by the way...)
- The Red Cross was present
in the Exhibit Hall on Saturday, col-
lecting blood donations from
gamers (as they have in previous
years), but I didn't get a chance to
interview any of them to see how
well donations were going, or if
they've had any problems with vam-
pire raids. I've really got to remem-
ber to set aside some time for that
next year.
And that's about it - another
great Origins! Thanks to all of the
parents and players who made my
games awesome, the Origins volun-
teers, and our friends in Ohio! See
you in 2010!
Game Design Concepts:
http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpr
ess.com/2009/06/29/level-1-
overview-what-is-a-game/
The first few entries talk
about registering and other
resources, like their wiki and discus-
sion forums. However, they make
for an excellent overview detailing
the syllabus, course schedule, and
recommended reading. As of this
writing, there are three instructional
entries in this blog, as it started on
29 June with updates twice a week.
The original idea is stated to be a
kind of on-line community based
class on game design, and as of the
first blog post, over 1400 people
had signed up. In that light, it has
been wildly successful to date. The
author, Ian Schreiber, promotes the
experiment as a course in computer
and board gaming design, with a
splash of RPGs thrown in. In fact,
he references Greg Costikyan's "I
Have No Words and I Must
Design" several times in the first
post.
Due to the broad nature of
the topic, there will be a number of
future posts that deal with designs
in the context of computer games
and specifics to their design process.
The second entry talks about com-
puter game design principles, but
generically enough so they can be
used with any game design:
Historically, the first
design methodology
was known as the
waterfall method: first
you design the entire
game on paper, then
you implement it (using
programming in a video
game, or creating the
board and pieces for a
non-digital game), then
you test it to make sure
the rules work properly, BlogWatch
add some graphical Ken Rutsky
polish to make it look
nice, and then you ship
it.
first design the game,
Waterfall is so named then implement it, and
because, like water in a then make sure it works.
waterfall, you can only But after this you add
move in one direction. an extra step of
If you’re busy making evaluating the game.
the final art for the Play it, decide what is
game and it occurs to good and what needs to
you that one of the change. And then, make
rules needs to change, a decision: are you
too bad — the done, or should you go
methodology does not back to the design step
include a way to go and make some
back to the design step changes? If you decide
once you are done. the game is good
enough, then that is
At some point, that. But if you identify
someone figured out some changes, you now
that it might be a good go back to the design
idea to at least have the step, find ways to
option of going back and address the identified
fixing things in earlier problems, implement
steps, and created what those changes, and then
is sometimes known as evaluate again. Continue
the iterative approach. doing this until the
As with waterfall, you game is ready.
-9-
 Each post has a comments
section for the registered parti-
cipants who all seem enthusiastic
and willing to share resources and
tips. As well, the discussion forums
look pretty lively, although a
registered account is needed to view
any of the content. The forums
include a number of topics, includ-
ing tabletop RPG design, as well as
board game design. The majority is
taken up by various video game
design topics, however, given the
complexity of the topic.
Overall, an excellent
resource for whole game design or
targeted house-ruling.
A highly useful list from The Soci-
ety of Torch, Rope and Pole regard-
ing the demographics of medieval
cities, in this case, Paris:
Butchers, Bakers, and Candlesitck
Makers:
http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/
2009/07/butchers-bakers-and-
candlestick-makers.html
Don't forget to check out the source
listed at the bottom of the post, Life
in a Medieval City, by Joseph and
Frances Gies. The other titles in the
Life in a Medieval... series are also
filled with great information.
-10-
Insightful commentary by Alexis on
The Tao of D&D regarding clerical
motivation:
http://tao-
dnd.blogspot.com/2009/06/players
-cleric.html
"Wouldn’t it be preferential for the
cleric to seek out their god for reas-
ons of their own? Because there
were positive gains to be had? In
other words, can we drop the whip
and invoke the carrot?", and Alexis
proceeds to delineate three motiva-
tions which do exactly that.
Beneath the Tower of the Tem-
plars
http://www.citadelofchaos.net/Cita
delFiles/pub/downloads/GroundZ
ero/BtTotT_1pg.pdf
The 1pg Dungeon entry from our
very own Mr Lucas! Watch for the
upcoming expansion of this in a
future installment and in the Citadel
sampler pack scheduled for August.
Mad Irishman Productions
www.mad-irishman.net/index.html
We would be utterly remiss if we
didn't include the Mad Irishman in
our first roundup of utilities. I can
think of no finer place to get your
character sheets, especially if you
want replicas of sheets you may not
have seen for the last several dec-
ades
Junior General
ResourceWatch
www.juniorgeneral.org/load.php? Ken Rutsky
Period=0
Looking for hoards of opponents,
but don't want to drop all that
money on plastic or metal mini-
atures? Junior General to the res-
cue, with scores of paper minis you
can print up in any quantity. The
grapics are a bit primitive, but more
easily customizable.
The Phrontistery
http://phrontistery.info/ihlstart.ht They Fight Crime!
ml
http://www.theyfightcrime.org/
For those times when common
words are just too common. Punch
He a web page that generates ran-
up your writing, or just drop a
dom descriptions for a pair of mis-
couple of these words on the know-
matched and misunderstood plano-
it-all at the game store to send them
maniacs, she is a set of insipid
scurrying. Not only are the word
NPCs that are as compelling as
lists incredible, it supplements this
dishwater in need of personality
month's Postulates and Praxis.
boosts. They fight crime!
-11-
A nyone reading this might
wonder why I began writing
this project at all, which is
still unfinished and not fully edited,
by the way. Writing Random
have to look up important informa-
tion in the books. So I had an idea.
I'd start writing up a mostly-com-
plete stat block to alleviate as much
page-flipping as humanly possible.
From the Sandbox
Sacrificial Lamb

Encounter Tables for AD&D? I Then I'd focus on making

mean...what's the point, right? Well,
I guess I was just bored, and real-
ized that I hadn't fiddled with
AD&D for a while, so I figured,
why not create something new?
So... I started working on
this project one day, which grew...
and grew, and still keeps on growing
today. The project became a new
AD&D resource that both novice
and expert DM's could use at a
moment's notice without having to
look up every tiny little detail and
rule. I realized that many AD&D
adventure modules have historically
been very minimalist in regards to
stat blocks, and as a result, I'd often
the encounters a bit more detailed
and unusual, thus aiding the DM in
the creation of a living, vibrant
world. Some of the encounters are
violent, while others are just strange.
Some are both. Hell, some are even
just mundane. Overall though, I
think these tables should provide
inspiration for other people's cam-
paigns, and if I've succeeded at that,
even a little....then all I can say is:
"Mission accomplished."
So whether you're a novice
DM or an old seasoned pro, with
nothing planned for tonight's gam-
ing session....just whip out a couple
Random Encounter Tables, and watch
the fur fly! I think you'll be glad you
did. But don't take my word for it.
Check 'em out!

-12-
 Wilderness Encounter Table

01-04 4d6 Ravens strutting around, picking at a carcass

05-10 Brown Bear foraging for food at a stream
11-12 Green Dragon napping
13-14 Human Ranger crouched in a tree
15-19 Hawk circling overhead
20-23 1d4+1 squirrels fighting over a nut
24-25 Human Druid in a camouflaged tree house
26-35 Rainstorm, lasts for 1d6 hours, -2 penalty to d20 rolls, and -10% to other tasks when in the thick of it
36-38 Large bee hive, has a 10% chance of attracting brown bear within 1d6 turns
39-42 1d6+2 Goblins passing through, armed with short bows and spears, their temperament is nervous and quiet
43-46 Dryad, appears to be an elf maiden with flowers in her hair
47-48 Unattended campfire, still smoking, remnants of unfinished meal, broken sword on ground
49-50 Elven Magic-User with black cat familiar, avoids confrontation if possible
51-52 Dozens of butterflies fly around the PCs, before passing by
53-54 Goat with bell tied around its neck, bleating pitifully, very hungry, will follow PCs that feed it
Treant; normally hidden, but will aid injured characters; however, it becomes violent if PCs take an axe to living trees in its
55-56
presence
57-58 Curious rabbit, will flee if PCs get closer than 10 feet, unless PC has Animal Empathy of some kind
1d6+2 Elven hunters, all 1st-level Fighters, armed with longswords and longbows, a bit arrogant, but will possibly aid friendly
59-64
PCs
Talking frog, a polymorphed Halfling Thief, 3rd level, will beg for help, and promise almost anything for a way of undoing the
65-66
curse
67-68 Group of 1d8 +4 skeletons armed with short swords, all guarding a well
69-70 Unattended large pile of acorns
6d6 small assorted birds chattering incessantly, their presence is annoying enough to cause a -1 penalty to d20 rolls, and -5%
71-73
penalty to percentile rolls
74-76 1d10+2 Orcs, War party; irritable, hungry, and spoiling for a fight; armed with battleaxes and spears
77-78 1d4+3 Wolves, curious, but only attacks in self-defense
Very strong windstorm, lasting for 2d6 turns; within it, creatures suffer a -2 penalty to d20 rolls, and -10% penalty to percentile
79-80
rolls; a curious Air Elemental has a 10% chance of appearing during the storm
81-82 Hungry, but friendly dog, whines and begs for food
83-84 1d4 Centaurs, armed with short bows and spears, curious and cautious
85-86 1d4 raccoons; curious and bold, will approach non-hostile PCs, looking for food
1d4 Ogres, violent and cruel, but can be negotiated with, provided there are no elves in the party; armed with two-handed
87-88
swords
89-90 Moose grazing in the forest
91-92 Wild boar foraging for truffles, will viciously charge PCs that approach within 15 feet of it
1d12 skulls on a pole, all next to a small burial mound; using Speak With Dead on any of the skulls has a 5% chance of
93-94
summoning an angry Ghost
95-96 1d6 Deer cautiously making their way through the forest, will flee if PCs approach
Unusual notches cut into the side of some stones, shaped like runes; if touched, 10% chance of PCs triggering some form of
97-98
Magic Mouth spell, curious Earth Elemental has 10% chance of appearing within 1d6 turns
99-00 Small pond and stream, filled with salmon; brown bear has 10% chance of appearing within 1d12 turns

-13-
Air Elemental (AC 2; MV 36; HD
8; HP 40; #AT 1; DMG 2d10; SA in
aerial combat, +1 to hit, +2 dmg per
dmg dice; whirlwind [truncated
reverse cone, 2" bottom diameter,
6" top diameter, 8" height; kills
creatures under 3 HD, inflicts 2d8
dmg on all other non-aerial
creatures; takes 1 turn to create]; SD
+2 or better weapon to hit; AL N;
SZ L; XP 1,400)
Assorted small birds (AC 7; MV
1/27; HD 1/4; HP 1; # AT 1;
DMG 1; AL N; SZ S; XP 6)
Brown Bear (AC 6; MV 12; HD
5+5; HP 30; #AT 3; DMG
1d6/1d6/1d8; SA paw hit on natur-
al 18+ enables hug for 2d6 dmg; SD
fight 1d4 rounds at 0 to -8 HP, dies
at -9 HP; AL N; SZ L; XP 480)
Centaur (AC 5; MV 18; HD 4; HP
20; #AT 2 or 2; DMG 1d6 [arrows]
or 1d6 [hooves] and 1d6 [spear]; AL
N; SZ L; XP 165; Equipment: short
bow, quiver, 20 arrows, spear, 1d8
gp, 1d8 sp, 2d8 cp)
Deer (AC 7; MV 18; HD 2; HP 10;
#AT 1; DMG 1d6; AL N; SZ M;
XP 40)
Dog (AC 6; MV 12; HD 2+2; HP
12; #AT 1; DMG 2d4; AL N; SZ
M; XP 71)
Dryad (AC 9; MV 12; HD 2; HP
10; #AT 1; DMG 1d4 [dagger]; SA
charm person, save at -3, cast 3/day;
SD dimension door to tree; AL N;
SZ M; XP 93)
Earth Elemental (AC 2; MV 6;
HD 8; HP 40; #AT 1; DMG 4d8;
SA -2 dmg per dmg dice against aer-
ial opponents; inflicts 2d4 structural
dmg against constructions on
stone/earth; SD +2 or better
weapon to hit; AL N; SZ L; XP 950)
Elven hunter, 1st-level Fighter (AC
6; MV 9; HP 7; #AT 1 or 2; DMG
1d8 [longsword] or 1d6 [longbow];
STR 13, INT 13, WIS 9, DEX 15,
CON 11, CHA 11; SA +1 to hit
with bows and with short sword or
longsword; SD 90% resistance to
Sleep and Charm spells; find hidden
portals [1 on d6 if passing within 10
ft of door; finds secret doors on 1-2
on d6 if actively searching; discovers
concealed portals on 1-3 on d6]; 60
ft infravision; stealth [if alone and in
non-metallic armor, surprises
opponents on 1-4 on d6; surprises
on 1-2 on d6 if opening a portal];
AL CG; SZ M; XP 50; Equipment:
studded leather armor, longsword,
longbow, quiver, 20 arrows, dagger,
3d20 gp, 2d10 sp, 2d10 cp)
Elven Magic-User 7th-level (AC 8;
MV 12; HP 20 [24]; #AT 1; DMG
1d4+1 [dagger +1] or 1d6 [staff];
STR 11, INT 17, WIS 9, DEX 15,
CON 11, CHA 14; SA spells; +1 to
hit with bows and with short sword
or longsword; SD spells; 90% resist-
ance to Sleep and Charm spells; find
hidden portals [1 on d6 if passing
within 10 ft of door; finds secret
doors on 1-2 on d6 if actively
searching; discovers concealed
portals on 1-3 on d6]; 60 ft infravi-
sion; stealth [if alone and in non-
metallic armor, surprises opponents
on 1-4 on d6; surprises on 1-2 on d6
if opening a portal]; AL N; SZ M;
XP 1,375; Spells: [1st-level: Detect
Magic, Find Familiar, Magic Missile,
Read Magic, Sleep; 2nd-level: Invis-
ibility, Web, Wizard Lock; 3rd-level:
Fly, Lightning Bolt; 4th-level:
Dimension Door]; Equipment: Ring
of Protection +1, dagger +1, staff,
Potion of Healing, Potion of Invis-
ibility, Scroll of Dimension Door,
6d10 gp, 6d10 sp, 10d10 cp; [cat
familiar] AC 6; MV 15; HD 1/2; HP
-14-
4; #AT 2; DMG 1d2/1; SA rear
claws for 1d2 dmg [if forepaw claw
attack hits opponent]; surprise oth-
ers 1-3 on d6; SD surprised on 1 on
d6; AL N; SZ S; XP 15)
Ghost (AC 0/8; MV 9; HD 10; HP
50; #AT 1; DMG touch ages 10d4
years; SA if creatures see ghost, vic-
tims must save vs magic or age 10
years and flee in panic for 2d6 turns
[clerics above 6th-level immune,
humanoids above 8th-level receive
+2 to save]; Magic jar within 6"; SD
AC 8 on ethereal plane; when semi-
materialized, AC 0, take half dam-
age from silver/full damage from
magic weapons; only attacked by
spells in ethereal state, or by tele-
pathy; AL LE; SZ M; XP 4,900)
Goat (AC 7; MV 15; HD 1+2; HP
7; #AT 1; DMG 1d3; SA charge [+2
to hit, +1d2 dmg]; AL N; SZ M; XP
42)
Goblin (AC 6; MV 6; HD 1-1; HP
4; #AT 1 or 2; DMG 1d6 [spear] or
1d6 [shortbow]; AL LE; SZ S; XP
14; Equipment: studded leather
armor, shield, spear, shortbow,
quiver, 12 arrows, 1d6 gp, 2d6 sp,
3d6 cp)
Green Dragon (AC 2; MV 9/24;
HD 8; HP 40; #AT 3; DMG
1d6/1d6/2d10; SA 3/day breathe
poison chlorine gas cloud 5" long,
4" wide, 3" high, dmg equal to
dragon's HP, save for half damage;
can radiate fear, targets save at +5;
SD 60 ft infravision; detect
hidden/invisible creatures within 5";
AL LE; SZ L; XP 1,575)
Hawk (AC 6; MV 1/33; HD 1; HP
5; AT 3; DMG 1d2/1d2/1; SA 100
ft dive provides +2 to hit, and
double damage for talons [no beak
attack possible in dive]; beak attack
has 25% chance of blinding an eye;
AL N; SZ S; XP 23)
Human Druid 7th level (AC 8; MV
12; HP 42; #AT 1; DMG 1d8+3
[scimitar +2] or 1d6+1 [spear]; STR
16, INT 13, WIS 16, DEX 9, CON
15, CHA 15; SD identify plants,
animals, and pure water; pass
through overgrown areas without
leaving trail at normal MV;
immunity to charm spells cat by
woodland creatures; assume animal
form 3/day; +2 save against fire and
lightning; AL N, SZ M; XP 1,415;
Spells: [1st-level: Animal Friendship,
Detect Magic, Purify Water, Speak
With Animals; 2nd-level: Charm
Person or Mammal, Create Water,
Cure Light Wounds, Feign Death;
3rd-level: Call Lightning, Plant
Growth, Summon Insects; 4th-level:
Cure Serious Wounds]; Equipment:
leather armor, scimitar +2, spear,
potion of green dragon control,
dagger, mistletoe, 2d10+2 gp,
3d10+3 sp, 4d10+4 cp)
Human Ranger 6th level (AC 8;
MV 12, HP 42; #AT 1 or 2; DMG
1d8+2/1d8+8 against giant-class
creatures [longsword +1] or 1d6
[shortbow]; STR 17, INT 13, WIS
15 DEX 11 CON 15, CHA 13; SA
+6 DMG to giant-class creatures;
SD 50% surprise others; only sur-
prised on 1 in 6; tracking; AL NG;
SZ M; XP 1,051; equipment: leather
armor, longsword +1, dagger,
handaxe, shortbow, quiver, 20
arrows, 3d10 gp, 3d10 sp, 5d10 cp)
Moose (AC 7; MV 15; HD 4; HP
20; #AT 2; DMG 1d6/1d6; SA
charge [+2 to hit, 2d6 dmg]; AL N;
SZ L; XP 165)
Ogre (AC 5; MV 9; HD 4+1; HP
21; #AT 1; DMG 1d10+2 [two-
handed sword]; AL CE; SZ L; XP
195; Equipment: two-handed sword,
6d20 gp, 5d20 sp, 4d20 cp, 1d2 20%, CW 72%]; AL N; SZ S; XP
elven skulls) 183)
Orcs (AC 6; MV 9; HD 1; HP 5; Treant (AC 0; MV 12; HD 10; HP
#AT 1; DMG 1d8 [battleaxe] or 1d6 50; #AT 2; DMG 3d6/3d6; SA
[spear]; AL LE; SZ M; XP 15; animate trees within 6", inflict 1
Equipment: studded leather armor, point of structural dmg on fortifica-
shield, battleaxe, spear, 1d6+1 gp, tions; SD fire vulnerability [+4 AC
1d6+2 sp, 1d6+3 cp) penalty against fire attacks, save
against fire attacks at -4, fire inflicts
Rabbit (AC 6; MV 18; HD 1/4; HP +1 HP/damage dice]; AL CG; SZ
2; #AT 1; DMG 1; AL N; SZ S; XP L; XP 3,250)
7)
Wild boar (AC 7; MV 15; HD 3+3;
Raccoon (AC 7; MV 12; HD 1; HP HP 18; #AT 1; DMG 3d4; SA fights
5; #AT 1; DMG 1d3; AL N; SZ S; for 1d4+1 rounds after reaching 0
XP 15) to -6 HP, dies at -7 HP; AL N; SZ
M; XP 157)
Raven (AC 7; MV 1/36; HD 1/4;
HP 2; #AT 1; DMG 1; SA 10% Wolves (AC 7; MV 18; HD 2+2;
chance of inflicting eye loss; AL N; HP 12; #AT 1; DMG 1d4+1; AL
SZ S; XP 9) N; SZ M; XP 71)
Skeleton (AC 7; MV 12; HD 1; HP
5; #AT 1; DMG 1d6 [short sword];
SD half damage from edged
weapons; immune to Sleep, Charm,
Hold, and cold spells; holy water
inflicts upon it 2d4 dmg/vial; AL N;
SZ M; XP 23)
Squirrel (AC 8; MV 9; HD 1/4; HP
1; #AT 1; DMG 1; AL N; SZ S; XP
6)
Talking frog, formerly a Halfling
Thief 3rd level (AC 7; MV 6; HP
12; #AT 1; DMG 1d2 [unarmed];
STR 9, INT 13, WIS 8, DEX 17,
CON 11, CHA 13; SD +3 to saves
vs wands, staves, rods, and spells; 30
ft infravision; direction sense [detect
grade or slope in passage upwards
or downwards 75%; determine dir-
ection 50%]; stealth [if alone and in
non-metallic armor, surprises
opponents on 1-4 on d6; surprises
on 1-2 on d6 if opening a portal;
thief abilities [PP 50%, OL 48%, F/
RT 35%, MS 42%, HS 40%, HN
-15-
U sing an invented language
can be an exercise in cre-
ativity for the whole group.
If the referee is the only one re-
sponsible for the campaign world
and its inhabitants, burn out sets in
quickly. Constructing a language is a
great way for the players to contrib-
ute to the world as well, filling in
some background and dropping a
few words or phrases from their
"native language" into conversa-
tions. Along with background
notes, the players will have a distinct
personality for their characters' cul-
ture by combining a few root words
for their name, the name of their
village or local rulers, or some
weapon unique to their race. While
the game effects would be the same
as a knife or dagger, the half-moon
shaped shianboec is a more interesting
item to have in one's inventory.
Perhaps swearing an oath in
a different language annuls the oath
or prayers go unanswered if recited
in the wrong dialect, giving the play-
ers incentives to create a few short
phrases in their character's native
tongue. Writing out an entire con-
tract would be tedious and time-
consuming in the invented language,
but translating a few key phrases will
keep the flavour intact, such as "we
the undersigned", the titles of gov-
ernment officials , or the boilerplate
at the beginning indicating what
Praxis
StormBringer
manner of contract one enters; the
preponderance of Latin in current
legal documents of any stripe attests may be jarring if other addresses re-
to this practice. main as 'Market Road' or 'Butcher's
Additionally, the familiar Avenue'. This can be avoided by de-
peerage ranks could be represented ciding ahead of time which terms
without having to lock the campaign will use the new language and creat-
into a Western European feel. ing a specific list for those, as will be
Hence, if Jutgard Hijev demonstrated below.
holds the rank of 'duke', he would With a simple table, then, we
be called Yuvo Jutgard Hijev, while have created a partial cultural basis
his wife would be Yuvomeshi Hijev. useful in rounding out the back-
They would be attended ground, be it an individual
Duke Yuvo
by a vassal, Doechk character, or an entire con-
Irris-urtif and his Marquis Nuyu tinent. It will take more
personal guard, Ome Earl Kijse than a few substitutions for
Dergan, Knight of the noble titles to create the il-
Realms. As with royalty Baron Ivo lusion of an entire culture.
of any age, referring to Viscount Doechk Even exchanging vast
them by title would be swaths of a natural lan-
Count Kiyu
mandatory, providing a guage with a constructed
method of introducing a Lord Chiel language (conlang) only
part of the language and Sir Ome provides the scaffolding
getting the players more upon which to hang the
comfortable using it. A -ess -meshi nebulous concept of 'cul-
variety of other words would be in ture'. In future articles, we will dis-
the native language as well, such as cuss methods for creating unique
street names, currency, and local cultures as well, but this gives us a
cuisine. Use of everyday terms such good foundation. A foundation is
as these will also assist players with only a starting point, so what is the
adopting the local language. next step?
Referring to an address as '8, Rue Naturally, it has taken thou-
Chambiges' or 'Gutshofweg 2' sands upon thousands of years for
instantly conveys that the characters natural languages to develop and
are in a French or German speaking evolve. How, then, is someone to
area. Similiarly, players given invent in an afternoon a language
directions to 'Amijo Thadroj' or that sounds natural and is internally
'Amijo Pesktie' maintains the consistent? Unless one has the edu-
undercurrent of being in a different cation and background of Profess-
land. ors Tolkein or M.A.R. Barker, this
Care should be taken to task would take the better part of a
avoid adding in these new words at decade, if not more. Creating an
random intervals or inconsistently. entire language is well beyond the
Place names may vary, depending on scope of most groups, even for just
who was in charge at the time of a single race, so it is important to
naming; using 'Amijo' for 'street' emphasize that only small portions
-16-
of a new language would be needed.
Even this would be a daunting task,
if not for tools available on the in-
ternet to ease the task. A search re-
veals that many conlang pages have
since been taken down; navigating
through the web to find resources
can be challenging. However, there
is an active page which provides the
basic tools to create a fantasy lan-
guage of the complexity with which
a group can be comfortable. The
above table of peerage ranks was
created using the tools available at
this site. The Fantasist has
other constructed language tools as
well, but the ones that are most dir-
ectly related are the Wordmaker, the
Wordmaker 2, and the Word Gener-
ator. The links are provided at the
end of the article, as the page itself
is somewhat difficult to navigate.
These three tools have some im-
portant differences to note before
diving headlong into creating a lan-
guage.
Wordmaker will generate a
list of words based on patterns the
creator desires. Hence, you can cre-
ate a random list of words using
"consonant-vowel" (CV), "vowel-
consonant" (VC), "consonant-vow-
el-consonant"(CVC), or whatever
you like as patterns, in addition to
several additional lists to add your
own diphthongs and consonant di-
graphs and trigraphs. However, it
only provides a raw list; associating
them with words is the task of the
list creator.
Wordmaker2 can handle that
step, if needed. This utility has the
same text entry fields for letter com-
binations, but provides an additional
field used for applying the results to
your own list of words. Word-
maker2 was used in creating the list
of ranks above, for example, and is
just as quick with a 200 word list as
with a half dozen words. The res-
ultant list is random, so a five letter
word won't necessarily be created
from a five letter word in the
provided list.
Lastly, Word Generator has
many defined structures with which
to generate lists of words, but again,
it is a simple list not associated with
any words in a natural language. It
creates words that have a similar feel
to a number of fantasy and natural
languages, such as Albanian, Bar-
soomian, Egyptian, Gloranthan, In-
donesian, Klingon, Lovecraftian,
Malay, and Russian to give an idea
Heiratic Egyptian
of the range of choices. These are
all created randomly from letter
combinations designed to emulate
the language, so the word lists are
unlikely to contain any actual words
of the given natural language, giving
free reign to use the words as de-
sired. A word of caution: occasion-
ally it may generate actual words
from the selected language, so don't
be too surprised if a native speaker
of that language gives you a strange
look.
Of course, even using the
tools available, a whole language
won't spring fully-formed from your
printer. Depending upon the time
and effort that can be allocated to
the task, larger and larger portions
can be created. Creating the lexicon
of common words can be daunting,
-17-
however. Where to start? In one
way, it doesn't really matter.
Whatever words your group feels
should be translated is the best place
to start. As mentioned before,
weapons can be a good category for
the initial attempt. It helps create
interesting variants on standard
weapons, as well as adding the feel
of a different culture. Likewise,
titles, place names, and local dishes
provide atmosphere to any session.
Children's and foreign language
vocabulary lists tend to emphasize
simple, everyday words that are
good candidates as well; colours,
farm animals, conveyances, or small
toys and games. It can also provide
an excellent starting point for creat-
ing a unique pantheon or religious
cult. The names of divine person-
ages may or may not be tied to their
sphere of influence, hence a list of
matched words works as well as an
unmatched list.
Creating a list for prefixes
and suffixes is also helpful, depend-
ing on your own native language.
English makes extensive use of pre-
fixes such as un-, de-, in-, and pre-, as
well as suffixes such as -ed, -en, -ing
and forms most plurals with the suf-
fix -(e)s. Other languages use their
own rules, of course, but this is the
beginning of rounding out your new
language. Omniglot.com lists com-
mon phrases from a large number
of languages, which provides an ex-
cellent jumping off point; tables
presented at the end of this article
will demonstrate some further ex-
amples.
And what is a new language
without its own alphabet? This ef-
fort is likely well beyond what most
groups will find necessary; getting
some basic word lists compiled for
several languages will already pay
great dividends during a session.
For those groups who relish the
challenge of cryptoquiz puzzles or
simply enjoy attractive props at the
table, there is the next level: creating
an alphabet or set of ideographs for
the new fantasy language. Nothing
quite so complicated needs be con-
sidered initially, of course. Any
number of texts, manuscripts, and
ancient relics are covered in yet un-
deciphered scripts. Many natural
language scripts can be found at An-
cient Scripts from the titular ancient
periods to more modern eras, in-
cluding the corresponding letters or
syllables.
For example, interest has
been re-kindled recently in the
Voynich manuscript, and the specu-
lation is fraught with controversy.
There are a number of web pages
with some images, and some few
books written on the subject. Many
links are dead ends or broken, and
the ones that are still live don't ap-
pear to have been updated for some
years. They will lead to some fascin-
ating information, however, which
may be useful in and of itself, re-
gardless of its use in crafting a
fantasy language.
A similar manuscript, the
Rohonc Codex, has images that are
easier to locate on the web. In both
cases, the scans are rather crude, but
either make for excellent pages from
a wizard's spellbook or writings re-
covered from mysterious alien ruins
on the edge of known space. Om-
niglot has information on a variety
of different natural languages, as
well as a page with information and
links for several as yet undeciphered
scripts. Using these ancient texts is
a very efficient way of producing
props, or the appearance of your
new language. Adapting these to
your lexicon may prove difficult, as
they don't always follow a known
pattern. Additionally, some are not
written in left-to-right or right-to-
left order, and a few of these may
even be entirely fictitious or hoaxes,
as some suspect of the Voynich
manuscript. If the texts are imple-
mented solely as atmosphere,
however, none of this is a concern.
For most, several pages of strange
symbols is more than sufficient; for
a greater level of detail, utilities are
available for the creation of a
unique alphabet when looking to-
wards emulating an entire language.
For complete control over
the look of the new alphabet, a
number of open source and free
software packages can be down-
loaded to engineer a font from the
ground up. These programs
provide the means to design each
glyph individually from scratch, or
to import them from another font
or image source and modifiy the
glyphs. Depending on the level of
-18-
precision deisred, this can be very
time consuming. In addition, it can
be frustrating without a familiarity
of fonts and font design techniques.
None of which is particularly diffi-
cult to come by, as most font au-
thours are happy to discuss their
craft online. The talk is pretty jar-
gon heavy, so be prepared.
For the most part, this is
something of a solitary activity, but
Alphabet Synthesis Machine example
the group can contribute here as
well. Interested players can sketch
symbols on a piece of graph paper
or regular lined paper alongside the
letter represented. These work-
sheets would then be used in the
font editing program to form the
glyphs. Normally, font software can
cost hundreds of dollars or more,
but there are open source alternat-
ives that are more than adequate for
hammering out a few font sets over
a weekend. As the software itself is
free, everyone can design on their
own sets so one player isn't over-
loaded with all the work.
In fact, the group can dis-
cuss the designs during a session, in-
suring they don't use the same sym-
bols. Or collaborate so that one al-
phabet would be derived from an-
other, or both from a common an-
cestor, as natural languages have
done. Verisimilitude is enhanced,
and the group has a shared sense of
accomplishment. Once the alphabet
is complete, free software means
each player would be able to create
the font glyphs on their own, in-
stead of having one player invest a
substantial sum of money into soft-
ware that would likely see no other
use. Once again spreading the cre-
ativity and the effort around to the
entire group.
A faster method can be
found in the Alphabet Creator. This
utility will evolve an alphabet from a
beginning stroke or shape, then
bundle it all up into a True Type
Font for downloading and installing.
This method trades an exacting con-
trol over the shape of each glyph
for the ability to generate an entire
alphabet at once and convert to a
downloadable font. The trade off
doesn't skimp on options, though,
as the number of parameters that
are adjustable is impressive. Once a
particular setting is adjusted, the
evolution of the alphabet can run
for as long as needed, or stepped
through one iteration at a time. A
fully formed alphabet could be fin-
ished inside of ten minutes with de-
fault settings. One caveat, it will
only create glyphs for the upper and
lower case Latin letters, ie A-Z and
a-z. No numbers, no punctuation,
and no accented characters.
These two methods can eas-
ily compliment each other. The Al-
phabet Creator can lay the set of
glyphs down as a font, which can
then be modified using a font editor.
If punctuation, numbers or the ac-
cented characers are needed, this is
the only way to add them. Likewise,
if the overall shape of the glyphs is
satisfactory, but a few tweaks would
perfect it, the font editor will be
needed. Don't miss the biblio-
graphy lower on the page, it con-
tains valuable offline resources.
Not all of these methods
need be used together. Some
groups will be more than happy
with word lists, and won't care for Or discuss your ideas on the Citadel
all the details of creating a font. of Chaos forums, and we might
Others will be excited about having post some of the results in a future
their own fonts, but aren't particu- column.
larly interested in translating their
native tongue into a fantasy lan-
guage. In the former case, utilizing
the new language will simply be a
matter of handing out the lists as
play aids before the session. Typing
up some short notes using the
fantasy language shouldn't be too
time consuming, but sometimes a
search and replace for lengthier doc-
uments may be required. In the lat-
ter case, once the font set is com-
pleted and installed, several para-
graphs of lorem ipsum or some other
suitable filler is all that will be
needed. Cut and paste that into your
favourite word processor, apply the
new font to the whole page, and op-
tionally add some images. Print it
out for instant pages from a wizard's
spellbook, or some instruction
manual for an alien artefact.
These resources should
provide the foundation on which to
build anything from a few interest-
ing names for weapons or places, all
the way up to the majority of an en-
tirely new language, complete with
its own alphabet. Sessions will be
more lively and exciting when your
players can utter a few phrases in
'goblin' or 'Atlantean', while at the
same time promoting the atmo-
sphere of being in a different time
and place. The resources below
have some starter word lists for con-
version, as well as links for the web-
sites mentioned in the main article.
Tell us your thoughts and
experiences in the comments sec-
tion, or post your lists of word and
letter combinations for generating
your lists. You can also send feed-
back to:
CitadelMonthly@citadelofchaos.net
-19-
Sample Word Lists
Prefixes Suffixes Addresses Weapons Professions Castes Animals
ab archy alley arrow alderman artisan alligator
ac cide avenue axe burgher craftsman bat
an cracy boulevard bow chamberlain criminal bear
anti cycle circle claymore chancellor farmer bird
be ful court crossbow commissioner financial bison
bi gram drive dagger councillor foreigner buffalo
co ic highway dirk councilman freeman bug
de id hollow flail docent government camel
dis ism lane gun doctor labourer cat
ex ist park halberd exchequer merchant chicken
im itude path hammer foreman military cow
in ium place javelin governor peasant crocodile
ir kinesis road knife mayor priest deer
inter less route lance pastor prisoner dog
kilo ly run mace prefect scholar elephant
mid mania street pick professor scribe fish
milli ness thoroughfare pike secretary servant fox
mis ography tollway pistol vicar teacher frog
multi oid track polearm viceroy undertaker goat
non ology turnpike rifle yeoman untouchable gorilla
post philia scimitar horse
pre phobia sling lobster
pro ship spear ox
re ward staff pig
un wise sword spider

-20-
The Fantasist Fontforge
• Main page: • Main page:
http://www.fantasist.net/ http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/
• Wordmaker:
http://www.fantasist.net/wordmaker.shtml
Voynich manuscript
• Wordmaker2: • Various links (many broken):
http://www.fantasist.net/wordmaker2.shtml http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~stolfi/voynich/
• Wordgen: • Additional links:
http://www.fantasist.net/wordgen.shtml http://www.voynich.net/reeds/

Alphabet Synthesis Machine Word lists

• Alphabet Creator: • Many Things vocabulary lists:
http://www.alphabetsynthesis.com/ http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/lists/l/
• Bibliography: • Free Vocabulary 5000 word collegiate list:
http://www.alphabetsynthesis.com/#references http://freevocabulary.com/
• User created: • Oxford 3000 word list:
http://www.alphabetsynthesis.com/examples/ http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/
index.html oald7/oxford_3000/oxford_3000_list?
view=Print&cc=global
Omniglot • AAC vocabulary and common phrases:
• Main page: http://aac.unl.edu/vocabulary.html
http://www.omniglot.com/ • Alan Cooper's homonym list:
• Undeciphered scripts: http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ • Andrew Saulters' idiomatic verbs:
undeciphered.htm http://www.apsaulters.net/idio.html
• Alternate scripts/notations: • Phillip M. Eberz' colour related idioms:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/alternative.htm http://www.ojohaven.com/fun/color.idioms.html
• Alphabets: • Jessica Defores' GRE vocabulary list:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ https://www.msu.edu/~defores1/gre/vocab/
alphabets.htm gre_vocab_tab.htm
• Constructed scripts: • The Phrontistery uncommon words lists:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/conscripts.htm http://phrontistery.info/ihlstart.html
• Useful phrases: Ancient Scripts
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/index.htm • Main page:
• Grammar tips: http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws.html
http://www.omniglot.com/language/grammar.htm
• Over one hundred scripts with images:
Website Tips http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_atoz.html
• Timelines by region:
• Font tools:
http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws_timeline.html
http://websitetips.com/fonts/tools/
• Font foundries:
http://websitetips.com/fonts/foundries/

-21-
Here is a list of minor magical ef-
fects from James Maliszewski:
• Charm Person: While
memorized, the caster gains
a +1 bonus all Charisma-
based effects, such as mor-
ale, loyalty, and reaction.
• Hold Portal: While memor-
ized, the caster gains the
ability to close or shut any
open door, window, or other
aperture within 10 feet by
thought alone.
• Magic Missile: While
memorized, the caster treats
any weapon he wields as
having a +1 bonus for the
purpose of overcoming the
special defenses of certain
creatures. This bonus
increases by +1 for every
five levels of the caster. The
bonus does not apply to
attack or damage rolls made
with the weapon the caster
wields; it applies only to
overcoming special defenses.
• Shield: While memorized,
non-damaging falling objects
and effects (pebbles, leaves,
rainfall, etc.) are repelled
from the caster's body.
• Sleep: While memorized,
the caster is immune to non-
magical fatigue and similar
effects. In addition, he
requires only four hours rest
to regain his full comple-
ment of spells until he casts
this spell, after which he
must "pay back" four hours
at his next rest period
(meaning it takes him 12
hours of rest instead of 8 to
regain his spells).
None of these minor magic-
al effects stack. You can't memorize
sleep twice and be able to re-mem-
orize spells without any rest, for
example.
Using spell slots for minor
boosts like this is a great idea. It not
only gives Magic Users a bit more
versatility, it discourages the 'single
use magic item' attitude. None of
these are over-powered in the least,
and the effect for Shield is only cos-
metic anyway. These are perfect for
adding a bit of flair to arcane char-
acters.
These two ideas mesh very
well for a low level or low magic
campaign, and are easy enough to
create and implement that they can
be discarded in the natural progres-
sion of levels. Of course, effects for
higher level spells are possible, as
well as Mr Maliszewski's own sug-
gestion that the effects themselves
gain power as the character levels.
Taking his example, the Magic User
could get a +1 for each Magic Missile
they can discharge, or a flat +1 per
four levels regardless. Perhaps hav-
ing fireball memorized allows the
caster to ignite flammable items by
touch or remotely, possibly up to
melting certain metals based on the
caster's level. Perhaps a half
strength heat metal, which at higher
levels would be an appropriate
effect.
Here are a few more to pon-
der, from low to mid-level spells. Of
course, these effects are only when
the spell is memorized, but not yet
cast:
Magic User:
1st level
• Identify: The Magic-User
has an uncanny knack for
appraisal. The cost of
-22-
Small Magic
StormBringer
originally presented by
James Maliszewski
mundane items will be
known to within 5%-10% of
the actual value. A sword or
a horse, for example. Larger
constructed items like siege
engines or buildings can also
be assessed, but each part
will be appraised separately,
and a running total must be
kept.
• Light: The Magic-User's
eyes will glow with a pale
light only visible at close dis-
tances in dark conditions. To
a distance of two feet, the
caster is able to see as nor-
mal daylight; hence studying
spellbooks at night or read-
ing runes carved in a dark
cave are no difficulty. Fur-
ther than two feet, normal
darkness conditions apply.
2nd Level
• Invisibility: The caster will
only be seen when looking
directly at them, as they cast
no shadow, nor does any
reflective surface show their
image.
• Locate Object: The Magic-
User carrying this spell will
never lose track of any per-
sonal items within 30'. They
will always know precisely in
which drawer they left their
keys, and always recall that
tome buried at the bottom
of a pile of junk. A Wand of
Fire left in the tavern across
town won't be known until
they are within 30' of the
 device, but if it is upstairs 5th Level
under the bed, they can walk
directly to it. • Cone of Cold: Any non-
magical, non-living object
3rd Level within 20' of the wizard can
be brought to freezing tem-
• Fireball: The caster is able peratures in just a few
to heat items by touching seconds. A volume of liquid
them with their hand. The no more than five gallons, or
heat produced is enough to about 400 coins in weight
eventually boil water after can be frozen in this man-
three rounds, but won't gen- ner.
erally cause damage to
creatures. The heat pro-
duced can be intense enough
to light kindling or a pipe
from the fingertip, or steady
enough to heat a pot of
stew.
• Gust of Wind: Due to the
breeze that constantly swirls
around the caster, normal
flying insects are unable to
come within one foot of the
Magic-User. Summoned,
crawling, or giant insects are
unaffected.

4th Level

• Plant Growth: Mundane

plants within 30' (generally a
household) of the wizard
will grow normally despite
lack of sun or water. Nor-
mal trimming will still be
necessary for certain plants.
Therefore, herbs can be kept
in their pots hidden away
under a table and still grow
normally. If the Magic-User
leaves the area, the plants
will wilt and die at a normal
rate as well.

-23-
E very starport or settlement
of over 500 people in any
Traveller universe maintains
a paramilitary police force to estab-
lish and keep order. While specifics
of structure, policies, equipment,
etc. will differ between law enforce-
ment agencies, there is enough sim-
ilarity between them to enable the
creation of a career for the game.
The career presented in this article
is written for the basic character cre-
ation system as found in LBB 1 and
Supplement 4. In addition, some
notes on how police forces are or-
ganized in my own Traveller uni-
verse are given to help the referee
administer law enforcement in their
own game. This article is not inten-
ded to be a comprehensive overview
of law enforcement (use Wikipedia
for that); it merely presents a few
oft-overlooked points that might be
fruitful for a GM to ponder.
This career has been play-
tested in my own Traveller cam-
paigns and has proven especially
useful for the creation of NPCs. I
am aware that several versions of
police careers have appeared over
the years in magazines and online.
At the time I created this one, I had
not seen the other versions; after
seeing them, I am convinced mine is
just different enough to present on
its own.
Hierarchy
Law enforcement agencies
have a rank structure similar to that
of military organizations. Enlisted
men form the bulk of the person-
nel; they handle the majority of low-
level crime and are always the first
respondents to a crime scene. Any-
thing from watch duty (patrol) to
customs inspection to crowd con-
trol to community outreach and
beyond is within the enlisted police-
man's purview.
Most agencies organize their
enlisted personnel into two-man
teams, or Patrols. A Patrol is as-
signed a vehicle and a specific area
of responsibility based on their ser-
vice branch (e.g. the watch, bomb
squad, armed response/SWAT, etc.).
Most police serve in more than one
branch throughout their career; spe-
cifics can be derived by looking at
the skills gained during the character
generation process. Enlisted police
who serve at least two terms can be
promoted to Senior Patrolman.
While this confers no skill bonus, it
identifies them as the ranking enlis-
ted officer of any Patrol unit. The
Senior Patrolman takes ultimate re-
ponsibility for the actions of a
Patrol unit.
Detectives are plainclothes
police responsible for in-depth in-
vestigations. While they are given a
good deal of autonomy and attain-
ing this rank is considered a move
up from the enlisted ranks, a detect-
ive has no authority over any other
law enforcement officer outside the
confines of their investigations.
Detectives tend to specialize in a
specific type of crime (e.g. murder,
robbery, counter-terrorism, tax and
finance, crime scene investigation,
etc.). Most agencies pair Detectives
with a partner, one of whom is con-
sidered senior to the other, in a
manner similar to enlisted Patrol
units.
A sergeant is in charge of a
Squad. Squads are composed of
three to five Patrols; detectives are
also organized into Squads of simil-
ar size. All members of a Squad
work the same shifts, and tend to
develop a close camaraderie. While
a sergeant's duties tend to be admin-
istrative in nature (scheduling, Patrol
assignments, etc.), they are often
known to accompany their men in
the field to handle especially com-
plex or high-profile situations.
Moving up the hierarchy lad-
-24-
Planetary Law
Enforcement
Ken Rutsky
der, a Lieutenant commands three
to five Squads working in the same
department branch on the same
shift. A Lieutenant is responsible
for coordinating the actions of all
Squads under his command, as well
as acting as a liaison with other shift
and branch commanders when the
need arises. They are also respons-
ible for the performance of all men
under their command. It is rare for
a Lieutenant to work in the field
save on very high profile cases.
A police Captain is in charge
of a precinct. The police Captain
commands men from all branches
organized into 2-5 shifts (depending
on local conditions). Personnel in-
clude at least 1 armed response
("SWAT") Squad, a CSI unit, De-
tective units for specific crimes (at
the very least a foll roster of men
devoted to investigating Robberies
and Violent Crimes, and another for
Homicide), and 5 or more watch
Patrols for general policing. Cap-
tains are generally the face of their
precinct to the local media, but al-
most never work in the field.
Directors are high-level po-
lice officials, and generally work
from their organization's central
headquarters. The slate of respons-
ibilities for a Director can vary.
Some command districts, coordinat-
ing the activities of their component
precincts. More senior directors are
placed in charge of an entire bureau.
The highest rank, that of
Commissioner, is given to the per-
son in charge of an entire law en-
forcement organization. While they
will speak to media on occasion,
Commissioners are unreachable by
the general public. They tend to
work entirely within the confines of
their organization's central head
quarters.
Before leaving this brief
overview of police hierarchy, it
should be noted that an organiza-
tion's central headquarters houses
Detectives and Detective Squads de-
voted to uncommon or high-level
crimes: computer crimes, financial
crimes, anti-terrorist activity, etc.
Most police organizations also have
extensive public relations personnel
at this location, as well.
Jurisdiction
Police forces are generally
limited to operating within clearly
defined territories or jurisdictions.
For most enlisted officers, their jur-
isdiction lies within the bounds of
their assigned precinct. Detectives
and specialists (bomb squad, finan-
cial crimes, SWAT, etc.), owing to
the nature of their duties, generally
have authority throughout the entire
area covered by their agency. A po-
lice force is expected to work with
other government or private en-
forcement agencies to handle cases
that span multiple jurisdictions.
Knowing - or at least having
a good idea - where these boundar-
ies lie is important because most
governments consider an arrest
made outside an officer's jurisdic-
tion to be unlawful. There are, of
course, exceptions: a hot pursuit
situation, for example, that crosses
boundary lines might merit special
consideration. With a little thought,
a good referee can get a lot of
mileage out of the concept of juris-
diction.
Consider a police agency
located on a high population world
with a class A starport. An agency
on such a world might have non-
jump spaceships available for trans-
port purposes, but their jurisdiction
normally does not extend beyond
low orbit. Beyond that point, mat-
ters are turned over to the local navy
for handling.
Now imagine that your play-
ers' characters are in a GCarrier, on
the run from the law for some crime
or another. The police are lagging
behind in their air/raft. The PCs
have a ship waiting in high orbit to
pluck them to safety. All in all, it
looks like a clean getaway. Unbe-
known to the PCs, however, the po-
lice know they're losing the race,
and send a communication to the
local navy patrol cruiser, which just
happens to be outside the planetary
highport. When they break low or-
bit, the PCs see the police air/raft
turn back and imagine the officers
crushing their hats in their hands in
frustration, the way sheriffs have
done for centuries when their
quarry passes the enforcement line.
Just imagine their surprise when the
GCarrier reaches their ship and they
see a big, 800 ton patrol cruiser
docking and boarding their getaway
vehicle.
Of course, the situation
could be even more complicated.
Consider that a police force is a
political entity; whether it is a
private organization contracted by
the local government or an arm of
the government itself, it needs to
prove its worth if it is to continue to
operate. Turning back to our ex-
ample, imagine that the local police
are behind in their quarterly arrest
quota (sure, they say there aren't
quotas, but you and I know
better...). Let's say they manage to
catch the PCs just beyond the low
orbit line; surely a sympathetic court
would overlook a slight jurisdiction-
al violation in this case. The PCs on
the GCarrier are booked, and their
starship is seized with the help of
local naval SDBs.
Our intrepid player group,
-25-
however, being typical Traveller
players, have racked up an impress-
ive resume of crimes over the
course of the campaign thus far.
Crimes on other worlds, in other
systems. They're wanted men. In-
terstellar criminals.
The local naval command
soon realizes that it has a group of
major criminals on its hands. It re-
fuses to turn over the starship (and
PCs aboard) to the planetary police;
further, it demands that the PCs in
the GCarrier be turned over to
them. Naval command informs the
police commissioner that their case
is far bigger than petty thievery
from the local arms manufacturing
plant. But the police commissioner,
now aware that the PCs are big,
juicy buffs to the agency's arrest
stats, protests and demands that his
men be allowed to prosecute their
case. This leads to a lot of bureau-
cratic wrangling off-screen, and the
PCs themselves are in limbo, await-
ing a decision on who gets to put
them in what jail.
Lawyers or legal representat-
ives will let the PCs know what the
situation is. Any PCs with Admin
or Legal skill will come in handy
here, perhaps managing to get the
party off on a technicality. Or you
could find yourself refereeing an
elaborate escape attempt...
The above situation be-
comes even more interesting if the
players are running law enforcement
characters themselves and see the
credit for their promotion-worthy
arrest taken away. The frustrations
that accompany dealing with bur-
eaucratic red tape can be fodder for
role-playing. Also consider the re-
verse case where the PCs want to
avoid handling a dog of a case (per-
haps what murder detectives call a
"stone cold whodunit," an appar-
ently random case with no clear
motive, no witnesses, no suspects)
and try to pawn it off on a neigh-
boring precinct. They can make
friends (their supervisors) and en-
emies (supervisors and detectives in
the neighboring precinct) within the
department with such hijinks, and
NPC relationships like these can al-
ways lead to further opportunities
for adventures down the road.
It is not necessary to know
the exact location of precinct bor-
ders on every world in your uni-
verse. Stick to worlds your PCs will
visit most often, keeping in mind
that jurisdictional boundaries are
most important on worlds with
high populations and law levels. As
a rule of thumb, consider a precinct
jurisdiction to encompass an area
with a population of 5 to 10 thou-
sand people, depending on the size
of the settlement. Worlds with pop-
ulations in the millions or more will
probably have more than one
agency if settlements are spread
across the entire planetary surface.
Skills
Police train for a wide vari-
ety of situations; this is reflected by
their fairly broad selection of skills.
The Acquired Skills Tables, for the
most part, list skills from published
Traveller materials. Those not
found in LBB1 or The Traveller
Book are listed below for conveni-
ence, together with the description
of a new skill unique to this career.
Carousing - Book 5, High Guard.
Comm - Book 5, High Guard.
Demolitions - Book 4, Mercenary.
Instruction - Book 4, Mercenary.
Interrogate - Book 5, High Guard.
Legal - Book 7, Merchant Prince.
Recruiting - Book 4, Mercenary.
Investigate - The individual is a keen
observer and has training in forensic
and detailed analysis techniques.
This skill allows for the extraction
of clues and information from a
physical scene. The characters'
training allows them to learn from
this scene than an average person,
and to intuit the importance of
seemingly mundane items. Gener-
ally, players should describe what
their character is looking for and
how they are going about doing it,
and the referee should base their re-
sponses on that. Roll 8+ on 2D
(DM +skill level) to provide addi-
tional hints or insights to the player
while conducting a search. The
higher the roll, the more clear the
clue.
Non-Lethal Weaponry
While police are authorized
to use lethal force in order to keep
the peace, most governments limit
their ability to do so. Shootings and
killings by officers are thoroughly
investigated, and the use of force in
each situation must be justified for
an officer to avoid legal penalties
ranging from suspension to termin-
ation of duty to imprisonment. Be-
cause of this, arms manufacturers
have developed a number of non-
lethal weapons and devices for use
by law enforcement agencies. A few
of these are listed here, complete
with Traveller combat stats.
Non-Lethal Bullets (TL 8): Made of
rubber or wax and designed to be
propelled at lower velocities than
gunpowder ammunition, non-lethal
bullets can be fitted for most slug
throwers and are used extensively
for riot control. At higher tech
levels, the rounds can be charged to
deliver an electric shock to stun tar-
gets who are hit. Non-lethal bullets
cost and weigh half as much as their
high velocity counterparts. All ad-
justments for range and armor are
in addition to adjustments for the
weapon being used. Damage is
quartered.
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Tranq Pistol (TL 9): Using the same
principle as the gauss rifle, though
delivering rounds with far less
power, the tranq pistol fires needle-
like darts that deliver a fast-acting
sedative to unarmored targets, inca-
pacitating them almost instantly.
Length: 200 mm.
Weight: 600 grams.
Base cost: Cr225.
Ammo: 10 round magazine: Cr75.
Dazzler Gun (TL 9): The dazzler gun
is a laser weapon, powered by a bat-
tery pack, firing a dual-frequency
beam that can defeat most forms of
light filtering lenses. A successful at-
tack will blind the target for 1D
rounds. Treat blinded characters as
if acting in total darkness (DM -9).
Length: 600 mm
Weight: 4500 grams
Base cost: Cr2250
Battery pack: Cr1000, 2000 grams
Recharge: Cr150
Pepper Spray (TL 7): Usable at close
ranges, pepper spray comes in an
aerosol canister that can loose a
highly irritant chemical stream (de-
rived from the same chemicals as
tear gas) at targets up to 6 meters
away. Contact with eyes or skin will
cause irritation (-1 DM to all hit
rolls for each hit) or incapacitation
(if the modified to-hit roll for the
pepper spray is greater than or equal
to 12) for 1D x 10 minutes
Weight: 300 grams
Base cost: Cr50
Sonic Gun (TL 10): A portable
weapon that emits short (2-3
second) directed bursts of ultra-high
frequency noise at high dB levels,
the sonic gun can be directed at up
to three adjacent targets in the same
range band. The targets must roll
END- each round they are exposed,
DM-1 for each round of exposure
after the first; failure means they can
only evade the next round (for an-
imals, use a Flee check with DM+2).
The weapon is battery operated and
must be recharged after 20 uses.
Length: 250 mm
Weight: 800 grams
Base cost: Cr300
Recharge: Cr10.
Tear Gas (TL 5): Usually delivered in
grenade-like cannisters, tear gas acts
upon the eyes and lungs, inducing
tears and coughing, as well as mak-
ing it very difficult for targets to
breathe. As with grenades, they can
be thrown at medium range, tossed
inside doors, etc. The cannister will
land on target on a roll of 7+; the
target and those adjacent will be in-
capacitated until the gas dissipates
(1D + 1 minutes). If the affected
figures try to hold their breath and
close their eyes to avoid the worst
effects, they will be incapacitated for
1-3 rounds, after which they can
move at half speed; treat such char-
acters as if acting in total darkness.
Gas masks and goggles will allow
those in the gas cloud to operate
normally.
Weight: 1000 grams.
Base cost: Cr150 for 20
Blister Gas (TL 5): So named because
it can cause severe skin irritation or
burning, blister gas is a sulfur- or ni-
trogen-based agent delivered in the
same manner as tear gas. Those
caught in the area of effect of this
weapon will be incapacitated unless
equipped with a gas mask and
goggles. Unless they are wearing a
full protective suit (e.g. vacc suit),
the affected characters will take 1D
damage per hour until treated by a
medic; their skin will blister and
there is a chance that eyesight can
become permanently impaired or
lost (details left to the referee).
Weight: 1000 grams
Base cost: Cr250 for 20.
Sticky Foam (TL 8): An incapacitant
meant to immobilize targets without
harming them, this substance is pro-
pelled by a pack-mounted air com-
pressor. A successful attack will im-
mobilize the target and disallow eva-
sion; if they are able to roll DEX-,
they will only be held for 1 round.
The referee should allow for a
chance that the target might be able
to still use their hands, though a
steep penalty should be imposed for
any attempted action. Immobilized
characters can attempt to break free
by rolling STR- on subsequent
rounds, but this precludes any other
activity during the round. The
sticky foam gun is good for 10 uses,
after which it must be recharged
Length: 800mm
Weight: 5000 grams
Base cost: Cr1250
Compressor pack: Cr750, 2500
grams
Recharge: Cr75
Electroshock Weapon (TL 8): This
hand-held device fires two elec-
trodes connected back to the
weapon by two thin wires. When
both electrodes make contact, the
target will take 1D damage and must
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roll END- with a DM of +5 or be
incapacitated for 1D rounds. A
cartridge is good for one shot; re-
loading takes one round, during
which the character can only evade.
The weapon itself must be re-
charged after 50 uses
Length: 100 mm
Weight: 800 grams
Base cost: Cr450
Cartridge: Cr50
Recharge: Cr20
Flash Grenade (TL 8): As with nor-
mal grenades, these can be thrown
at medium range or tossed inside a
door. Grenades hit their mark on a
7+; those within the blast radius of
a flash grenade are incapacitated for
1D rounds
Weight: 1000 grams
Base cost: Cr200 for 20
Final Thoughts
No article of this length can
hope to treat a subject as complex
as law enforcement in a compre-
hensive or completely accurate man-
ner. The above is meant as a start-
ing point to get you thinking about
how to use police forces in your
own games. A bit of research on
the internet about law enforcement
in different countries on our own
tech level 8 world, together with the
information in this article, should
provide the enterprising referee with
more than enough grist for their ad-
venture mill.
Weapon Wgt. Rds/Clip Length Price Ammo Price TL
Blister Gas 1000 -- -- 250/20 -- 5
Compressor Pack (sticky foam) 2500 10 -- 750 75 8
Dazzler Gun 4500 -- 600 2250 -- 9
Electroshock Weapon 800 1 100 450 50 (20 recharge) 8
Flash Grenade 1000 -- -- 200/20 -- 8
Non-lethal Bullet 50.00% Same -- -- 50.00% 8
Pepper Spray 300 10 -- 50 -- 7
Power Pack (dazzler gun) 2000 50 -- 1000 150 9
Sonic Gun 800 20 250 300 10 9
Sticky Foam 5000 -- 800 1250 -- 8
Tear Gas 1000 -- -- 150/20 -- 5
Tranq Pistol 600 10 200mm 225 75 9

Weapon Req. DM Adv. DM Close Short Medium Long V Long

Blister Gas 7 -2 11 +1 -- -- 0 -- --
Dazzler Gun 6 -3 10 +1 +3 +1 0 -2 -4
Electroshock Weapon 8 -2 11 +2 +4 -4 -- -- --
Flash Grenade 7 -2 11 +1 -- -- 0 -- --
Non-lethal Bullet -- -- -- -- -1 -2 -4 -6 -8
Pepper Spray 8 -2 11 +1 +4 -- -- -- --
Sonic Gun 4 -1 8 +1 +4 +2 +1 0 -2
Sticky Foam 6 -3 10 +1 +2 0 -2 -- --
Tear Gas 7 -2 11 +1 -- -- 0 -- --
Tranq Pistol 7 -2 10 +1 +1 +1 -8 -- --

Weapon None Jack Mesh Cloth Reflec Ablat Combat Wound

Blister Gas +6 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 -4 incapacitate, 1D/hr
Dazzler Gun +2 +2 +2 +2 0 +2 -4 blind
Electroshock Weapon +1 -2 -4 -4 -1 -2 -- incapacitate
Flash Grenade +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 -4 incapacitate
Non-lethal Bullet -1 -2 -6 -4 -2 -4 -8 25%
Pepper Spray -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -- irritate/incapacitate
Sonic Gun +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 -6 incapacitate
Sticky Foam +1 +1 +2 +1 +1 +1 -5 held
Tear Gas +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 -8 incapacitate
Tranq Pistol -1 -1 -4 -6 -1 -4 -- incapacitate

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PRIOR SERVICE TABLE ACQUIRED SKILLS TABLES
Enlistment 7+ Pers. Dev. Service Skills Adv. Educ. Adv. Ed. (EDU 8+)
DM +1 if STR 7+ 1 +1 STR Vehicle Investigate Recruiting
DM +2 if INT 8+ 2 +1 DEX Brawling Interrogate Instruction
Survival 6+ 3 +1 END Gun Cmbt Comm Legal
DM +2 if INT 7+ 4 +1 EDU Vehicle Tactics Computer
Commission 8+ 5 Gambling Streetwise Leader Admin
DM +1 if EDU 8+ 6 Carousing Blade Cmbt Demolitions Jack-o-T
Promotion 10+
DM +1 if SOC 8+

Re-enlist 5+

TABLE OF RANKS MUSTER OUT TABLES

Rank 1 Detective Material Benefits Table Cash Table
Rank 2 Sergeant 1 Low Passage 0
Rank 3 Lieutenant 2 +1 INT 2000
Rank 4 Captain 3 +1 EDU 5000
Rank 5 Director 4 Gun 10000
Rank 6 Commissioner 5 Gun 10000
6 Mid Passage 20000
RANK & SERVICE SKILLS 7 +1 SOC 30000
Enlisted Auto Pistol-1
Detective Investigate-1

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