50 Thieves Tools

What's in a thief's kit? roll a d50 12 times. No prices, stats, modifiers, just a list of various thieves tools and their function.

1.      Jimmy, used for prying between boards, doors and shutters.

2.      Claw, used to withdraw heavy nails, break screws, and separate hardware from mounting.

3.      Eyed-Jimmy, serves as a weak claw but the eye allows one to turn bolts.

4.      Squinting-jimmy,a jimmy with a tapering eye that eases the turning of bolts.

5.      Chisel, for more serious splitting of boards and other elements when making noise doesn’t matter.

6.      Jimmy-pick, a jimmy with a pick head for excavations

7.      Little alderman, a small wedge of strong metal used to pop open hinges and doors.

8.      Hammer, used for bashing, driving spikes, and making use of other tools like chisels and wedges.

9.      Skeleton Key, a generic key that has a fair chance of opening a lock with the same number of wards.

10.   Nippers, thing long pliers that may be fit through a keyhole to turn or fetch a key left in the other side of a lock.

11.   Hand drill, a small hand drill for a multitude of larcenous hole making.

12.   Lubricating oil, a small can or flask of oil meant to lubricate lock and hinges to ease motion and reduce noise.

13.   Powder, to absorb moisture and improve friction when needed.

14.   Angler’s wire, thin but firm wire that may be used to fish for keys and small objects on the other side of an opening.

15.   Padded Mallet, a hammer softend with wood leather and maybe cloth padding to reduce noise made when driving spikes or using a chisel.

16.   Eyed Piton, a spike with an eye hook to fasten ropes to aid climbing

17.   Stirrup Piton, a spike with bar or more elaborate stirrup to aid climbing

18.   Hanging hook, a small hook meant to be looped on top of a wall or in a window to improve purchase or attach a line for accomplices to climb or safely lower stolen goods.

19.   Foot Hook, similar to above but with a stirrup or bar meant to aid climbing.

20.   Rope ladder, a double rope with foot rests between.

21.   Stirruped Rope, a rope with “stirrups”, rest,rings, or hand-holds built in.

22.   Screwjack, a sturdy jack for pushing bars apart or popping a door/shutter from a frame.

23.   Saw Knife, a small knife-sized easy to carry can saw through catches, wooden bars, and bolts given enough time.

24.   Hook Knife, a small knife with a hook to improve the chances of lifting a latch on a window or door.

25.   Wire pick, a strong length of wire meant to aid as a lock-pick or to lift a lath through a door-crack

26.   Ear horn, simple cone for amplifying noise on other side of a barrier.

27.   Metalpick, a firm metal prod used to force lock mehcnaisms.

28.   Punch, for knocking holes in thin wood.

29.   Hole Saw, a fancy handsaw similar to a hand drill with a saw bit for opening a hole in wood.

30.   Metal Acid, a small flask of acid that will eat away nails, screws, and hinges, maybe eat away an entire lock.

31.   Tension Bar, hold picks in place and provide tension as a lock is turned.

32.   Lifting Rod, a short rod (typically wood) for probing and lifting latches.

33.   Screwdriver, for turning screws when so needed. Come in multiple sizes.

34.   Hacksaw, a small saw able to cut through all but the strongest metals given the time.

35.   Files, used to trim bits of wood and metal can quietly widen holes and cut-away bars.

36.   Pliers, plain old pliers with multiple uses for working nuts and screws.

37.   Wire Cutter, a plier-like tool able to quickly cut a wire.

38.   Magnifying lens, for peaking into small hard to see spots (such as a key hole)

39.   Collapsible Pole, a multi segment pole that allows one to have a 10’ pole on hand without having to carry such a large ungainly thing all the time.

40.   Weapon Black, cut down on the gleam of blades and other metal to reduce the odds of a reflection at a bad time (eases hiding).

41.   Magnetic Filings, can be spread on an area to detect magnetic metals, aid in locating a trap or concealed mechanism.

42.   Wax Block, for making a quick imprint of a key or seal.

43.   Strapping, strong leather strapping to improve tension, tie off tools  when dangling on a wall, or aid in a slow climb (less likely to fall when tied to something).

44.   Awl Pick, a lock pick designed to defeat a lock by breaking internal workings.

45.   Finger Pick, a tiny pick worn on a fingertip to allow picking of very sensitive locks without risk of dropping a pick.

46.   Pin Lamp, a very small candle lamp that only emits a pin point of light meant to illuminate a very small working area.

47.   Climber’s Claws, hand-sized rake-like claws to aid climbing.

48.   Cat’s Harness, an elaborate leather harness with fittigns and hooks to attach tools and lines to improve “second story” work.

49.   Stick Mirror, a tiny mirror on a collapsible metal rod useful for looking through holes and around corners.

50.   Oversocks, slip over boots or shoes to move more quietly.

SEVEN VOYAGES of ZYLARTHEN review part 1

A curious thing happened a few days ago a blog that's been silent for 2 years started posting again and announced it's author had developed a new spin on old D&D: SEVEN VOYAGES of  ZYLARTHEN. I downbloded the free pdf version and here's part one of the review.

In the words of it’s  author “SEVEN VOYAGES of ZYLARTHEN  is a re-imagining of the original edition of the world’s most popular paper and pencil fantasy adventure game, first published by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. The brilliance and charm of the earliest version was its simplicity and elegance, combined with a certain asymmetrical quirkiness. It invoked many sources—King Arthur, the Crusades, Middle-earth, the Arabian Nights, pulp fantasy, fairy tales, even science fiction. Its breadth of tone was a virtue, offering to the players a multiplicity of delights. Our intention was to follow the spirit of the original as closely as possible.”. It does seem to achieve this.

Let’s start with Volume One: Characters and Combat.

 Seven Voyages of Zylarthen has three basic classes of Fighting-Man, Magic-User, and Thief alogn with three racial classes for elf, dawf, and Halfling. Fighting Men are have no surprises and will play very much like they would in many a retro-clone but will benefit from the wider range fo rules devoted to combat in this game. The magic-user if familiar as well with a few minor tweaks but is the vancian spell caster of classical role-playing. The thief gets a range of abilities the reader may be familiar with but it lacks the detect/disarm traps skill along with moving silently, the abilities the thief does have moves the class from backstabbing burglar to sneaky thug; a thief may use Luck to have a reroll on any die rolled once per combat, open locks is a simple flat chance, they have increased ability to surprise foes and at high level may use scrolls. Elves, Dwarhs,and Halflings are limited to fighter/Magic-Users, fighters and Thieves respectively with pretty strict level limits.

Seven Voyages uses level titles and they are evocative with only the 7^th and 8^th level thief titles being disappointing.

Alignment is resnet in the game with Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic serving for the spectrum of good and evil. The rules assume PCs will be partisans of Law (i.e. the good guys).

Character creation is done by rolling 3d6 in order for each ability score. Ability scores have rare and modest influence in most areas of the game. MU’s of intelligence 10 or less will start with but one spell known to them: “Read Magic”, brighter ones will have 1-8 additional 1^st level spells in their books. Constitution determines one’s ability to survive adversity which is a pretty essential part of these rules. There is a fiddly means of providing an exp bonus based on high ability scores, such a bonus is something I don’t much care for myself but players seldom complain. Loyalty, morale, and reactions all get explained in the charisma section.

Characters will gain experience for slaying monsters and for spending silver pieces for experience points, the player must decide to use their sp on goods and influence or on gaining levels as simply fetching fortunes will not raise a level. I like the spending money for exp method as it gives a reason to seek loot throughout the entire course of a campaign and get’s the funds out of the players coffers.

Encumbrance system of the game is based on an item count with a few minor twists. It appears simple and playable.

Money and expenses in Seven Voyages is based on a silver piece economy where 5 copper = 1 silver and 10 silver = 1 gold, there are alos 2 optional coins an iron piece worth ¼ a cp and an amber diamond piece worth 100 sp. Goods and services are spelled out in sp throughout the game. The author recommends using tokens (actual coins and washers) to represent treasure and while this is curious it does look like it could be fun with the right group (and cheaters would be giving the DM their own money instead of making math “errors” I suppose). With tokens flowing as a means to gain exp I suppose such a token based method may be workable but it also looks like one wouldn’t see many 1000+ coin hauls.

Equipment is pretty standard  fare for fantasy adventure games. Leather armor is cheap enough but mail is a serious outlay no one could afford at character generation and plate is a considerable expense, even so there is little on the list fortunate characters will not be able to afford shortly into a campaign aside from ships and large buildings. There is a goodly coverage on men at arms and other hirelings that focuses on extra fighting power.

Combat in the Seven Voyages of Zylarthern uses a d20 and the classic descending AC order from 9 to 2. The attack table for men vs men compares weapon class/type vs target AC, higher level characters get a bonus to the hit roll. Monsters compare HD to AC. 

Everyone can turn undead if they have and present a proper holy symbol, but only one try is allowed in an encounter.

A combat round is broken into 2 phases a movement phase followed by a melee phase. Some actions use up you move phase and spells can’t be cast in a round where one moves or makes an attack. There are a few modifications to what happens when and it all looks playable without a lot of fiddling about.

A range of combat options are given such as the good old charge, critical hits (doing 2 dice of damage instead of 1 die), disarming an opponent, disrupting spell casting, driving back foes, strike for extra damage (up to 3 dice more), shields may be splintered, haxted weapons may be chopped, and weapons have some risk of breaking.

Hit Points work as one would expect in most ways but recovery and treatment get expanded but simple coverage in these rules. Binding wounds can be done right after a fight for 1-3 hp, surgery can be used to save or restore a character and this brings the survive adversity chance into play. The biggest change is  healing spells, potions, and devices can only restore hp once per day (at this point I’m unsure if this once per day is all inclusive or once per category). No yo-yo almost dead and just fine healing spell fueled combats in Seven voyages. A character loses 1 point of CON each time they must endure surgery so getting knocked down in hp is going to be serious business. Surgery can save a character’s life and can take weeks to recover from in some cases; fights are serious business in this game.

That’s all for now , just one book in and even with a lot of familiar ground a few rules here and there are shaping up this game to be it’s own despite all the familiar ground it covers. More to come…

Well that was fun...

Past couple of weeks has been surprisingly busy. I'm unemployed and money is tight. We spent pretty much all we had in the bank on a little oil so I've been gathering/cutting wood like crazy (which is no easy task in winter, except it's easier to drag large limbs and small trees). Both cars need repairs, one I can do tomorrow for under $5.00, the other is gonna have to wait. The shower is busted, that was fun to deal with to get it to a slow and steady drip  of mostly cold water. The wife is recovering from surgery and will be back to work in 2 weeks, she's doing really well. Again, I've been busy with chores, wood-cutting, and random catastrophes so blogging has been on the back burner.

I've got to finish the mini-campaign development, blogging it takes a heck more time than filling in a couple sheets of paper.  The WeirdLands hexcrawl is chugging along; I've been playing with programming development tools in the development of that hexcrawl and it's been fun (maybe I'll do a campaign-o-matic someday).

Here's to a new and exciting year (with lots of RPG fun)!

Populating the Mini Campaign Civilization

Last post on the mini-campaign I nailed down where the ruins, dungeons, and other dangerous places were. Let’s now return to civilization and get to “populating” civilization.

Back in post #3 some of the details of the civilization on the map were loosely laid out, we really aren’t going in too much deeper but a few things should get a little attention. The Castle in hex 9-2 is occupied by The Overlord, the castle in 9-4 is occuipied by the wizard Allazar (a former adventuring buddy of The Overlord), in the city we can find a clerical ally of The Overlord, and somewhere out west a thief buddy/henchman hides from the attention of his former allies.

Most of the villages are going to be okay sized places to be worth visiting but not huge. I’m going to go random again and have these villages populated by 200-800 folk.

Each town is going to need 1 or 2  trades as well to make it stand out.

Populations: (pops, trades, high level NPCs)

2-4: 400, miners and goat-herders, 8^th level dwarf fighter

3-2: 700, bowyers and horse dealers, 4^th level Fighter

4-5: 300, barrels and charcoal, 8^th level thief

5-4: 600, Brewers and Amber miners (there’s amber in the swamps), 6^th level cleric, 5 1^st level clerics, 5^th level MU

7-3: 500, Vineyards(wine) and Waterwheels providing a semi-mechanized lumber-mill, 6^th level Fighter

8-3: 400, Barley and Beer, 2^nd level thief

8-4: 500, Copper Mine and an Astrologer, 4^th level MU (not the astrologer)

9-1: 400, Cow-herders and Turnips, 3^rd level fighter

9-3: 2300 (it’s the big town I set it to half the size of the total of all the other villages), Shipyard, Churches, Taverns, 9^th levek Cleric, 8^th level cleric, 2- 3^rd level and 12- 1^st level clerics

9-4: 600, Redsmith and sheep herders, 3^rd level fighter

10-2: 400, Fishers and an oracle, 6^th level thief (retired pirate)

The Castles

9-2: Castle of the Overlord.  The Overlord 11^th level Fighter, 6h level fighter, 4^th level MU, 5^th level cleric, 10- 2^nd  level fighters (all fight as knights), 30- 1^st level fighters (half have crossbows), 100 peasant levy (a draft to keep young dangerous guys in check). The overlord and his knights ride griffons (there are 2 griffons for each knight living here). 144,000 gp worth of loot.

9-4: Allazar’s Keep, 10^th level MU. 3^rd level MU. 12 1^st level fighters (half archers), 20 Hobgoblins, 2 Ogres, and a small red dragon. Allazar has a Roc as his mount. 96,000 gp worth of loot

7-5: The Dark spire, a 6/6 fighter/MU, 30 dark elves, 50 kobolds and other possible monsters. 45,000 gp worth of loot.

5-5: Chateau De’Verde, a 3^rd level fighter rules here as hereditary ruler he resent the overlord but lacks power to deal with him.  6 3^rd level Fighters (knights), 30 0-level archers. 36,000 gp in loot.

1-3:  Morden’s hill fort. A remote outpost ruled by a dangerous 9^th levelfighter, 5- 3^rd level knights, 12- 2^nd level fighters, 20- 1^st level fighters. The master of the fort has a tamed red-dragon that serves as his mount. 68,000 gp in loot.

1-5: Elf Hall, here dwell 100 Elves and their Lady. 20 Pegasus riders among the elves. 40,000 gp in loot.

The castles hold over 400,000 gp in loot. They are  a prime target for thieves and those seeking power. From castle dwellers alone with exp awarded at 100 exp per hd and 1 exp per gp we are looking at a setting with about a half million exp up for grabs and we haven’t gotten to the dungeons yet.

Goods for sale in remote Villages

Goods for sale in remote Villages

Roll 2-7 goods/services for a village

1.      Grub Skewer 1/2 cp

2.      Turnip Gruel 1 cp/bowl

3.      Barley Gruel 1 cp/bowl

4.      Peas Porridge 2 cp/bowl

5.      Chicken Pottage 3 cp/bowl

6.      Oxtail  Soup 4 cp/bowl

7.      Meat pie 5 cp/small pie

8.      Sausages and Tubers 4 cp/plate

9.      Roast Fowl  8 cp/ each

10.   Venison Stew 5 cp/bowl

11.   Day-Old Rye Bread  2 cp/loaf

12.   Salted Fish  3 sp/lb

13.   Salt Pork  4 sp/lb

14.   Clay jar of pickled vegetables  1 sp

15.   Hard Sausage/Salami  5 sp/lb

16.   Journey Cakes 3cp/dozen

17.   Way-Bread 70 sp/loaf

18.   Hard Cheese 3 sp/lb

19.   Beef Jerky  10 sp/lb

20.   Twice-baked Bread 5 cp/loaf

21.   Boiled Bark Tea 1 cp/pot

22.   Stale Beer 1 cp/quart

23.   Spiced Cider 2 cp/quart

24.   Sour Wine 3 cp/quart

25.   Sweetened Wine 5 cp/pint

26.   Ale  3 cp/quart

27.   Imported Wine  4 sp/pint

28.   Poteen 5 sp/pint

29.   Brandy 25 sp/pint

30.   Elfin Wine 75 sp/quart

31.   Bandages 2cp each

32.   Trippy Herbs, induces serious LSD-like “trip”. 20 sp/dose

33.   Burn Salve, restores 1-3 hp of burn/acid damage. 200 sp/dose

34.   Antidote, provides seconds save at +4 vs poisons of same intensity or lower 250 sp/intensity

35.   Healing Plaster, takes 20 minutes to apply, restores 2-7 hp after sleep. 300 sp/dose

36.   Healing Poultice takes 20 minutes to prepare, instantly restores 1-3 hp after application. 500 sp/dose

37.   Herb Wraps, restores 1-3 hp after a day of bandaging. 100 sp/wrap

38.   Jitter Tea, +2 to save vs sleep for next 4 hours. 2 sp/dose

39.   Hero’s wort, +2 to morale and fear saves for next hour after chewed. 400 sp/dose

40.   Minor Ward, +2 to save vs specific 1^st level spell (works once, must be worn). 500 sp

41.   Blade Venom, suffer 1d6 a round per intensity level unless save made. 250 sp/intensity

42.   Gushing Wound Venom, suffer 1 pt per wound for  intensity level # of turns. 100 sp/intensity

43.   Blinding Dust, blinded for intensity level # of hours (new save each hour). 100 sp/intensity

44.   Feeble Powder, -2 to all physical actions (and damage) for intensity level # of hours if ingested. 100 sp/intensity

45.   Rat poison, vermin suffer 1d6 per intensity level if ingested. 5 sp/intensity

46.   Feeble Venom, 10% chance of spell failure per intensity level until dawn. 300 sp/intensity

47.   Soporific powder, fall asleep for intensity level # of days if ingested (new save allowed each day)

48.   Fumble Dust, 50% chance to drop anything in hand for intensity level # of full turns. Also -2 to saves and tasks related to agility and coordination. 100 sp/intensity

49.   Dementia Dust, target confused and unable to focus, 10% chance of doing something contrary per intensity level for # of turns.  100 sp/intensity

50.   Slow Death, incapacitated and suffer 1d6 per intensity level for intensity level # of turns. After injection.  1000 sp/intensity

51.   1-8 Uncouth Herdsmen willing to serve as guides or bearers for up to 7 days 2 sp/day

52.   2-5 Desperate Urchins willing to serve as linkboys and menials. 2 sp/wk

53.   Old Codger willing to serve as cook and watch camp. 4 sp/wk

54.   2-12 Deserters from local lord’s garrison willing to serve as long as they can get out of area. 10 sp/wk

55.   Snag-toothed Crone, 50% chance a 1^st level MU or Cleric  1-100 sp per consult

56.   Poverty Stricken Knight, 2^nd level fighter seeking a patron  20 sp/wk

57.  2-5 Burly Yeoman willing to serve for up to 2 weeks. 2 sp/day

58.   Scarred Swordsman willing to serve for up to 6 weeks,1^st ot 2^nd level fighter, 25 sp/wk

59.   Slovenly Trollop willing to spend a few minutes behind a barn for just 3 cp

60.   Quant Old Leech, 50% chance of curing a disease or restoring 1-3 hp.  75 sp/treatment

61.   Sharpened sickle  50 sp

62.   Rune-carved Cudgel  8 sp

63.   Rusty Hurlbat  50 sp

64.   Waxed Linen Jack, AC as leather.  180 sp

65.   Hide-covered Wicker Shield, +1 to AC. Save vs break if bearer hit for 5+ pts damage.  75 sp

66.   Ancient Xiphos, -2 vs chain or heavier armor 60 sp

67.   Quiver of Arrows 12 for 8 sp

68.   Patched Brigandine Cotte, same ac as chainmail but heavier. 400 sp

69.   Brass Greaves and Bracers, +1 to AC if chain or worse. 150 sp

70.   Re-forged Sword, save vs break on hit roll of 1 or 20.  70 sp

71.   Tallow Candles 6 for 3 sp

72.   Brass Lamp  50 sp

73.   Shuttered Lantern 100 sp

74.   Bundle of Torches 6 for 5 sp

75.   Glass Flask of Glow-grubs  12 sp

76.   Lamp Oil  6 sp/quart

77.   Leather Pouch 2 sp

78.   Water-Gourd  5 cp

79.    Half-quart jug  10 sp

80.   Small Wooden Chest  40 sp

81.   Wool Blanket  6 cp

82.   Load of Charcoal  3 cp

83.   Rope (20+2d10 stone) 3 sp/50’ length

84.   Fishing Kit  10 sp

85.   Hammer  15 sp

86.   Tarp (enough to cover 2 men)  6 sp

87.   Manacles 50 sp

88.   Shovel  30 sp

89.   Pitchfork 20- sp

90.   Sewing kit 6 sp

91.   Milk Goat 60 sp

92.   Dog 50 sp

93.   Donkey 120 sp

94.   Sheep 40 sp

95.   Horse, Nag  200 sp

96.   Horse, Draft 500 sp

97.   Horse- Courser

98.   Ox 150 sp

99.   Old Polished Barding 600 sp

100.                    Riding Tack 60 sp