Here you can read a summary of what MYFAROG contains. This is supposed to be the back cover of the published book. Naturally this might be somewhat different when the book is published, but you get a general idea of what it will contain.
MYFAROG features for website (PDF)
Today we are (almost all of us) used to the metric system, but in ancient Europe they used a different system, and I have included (a version of) this old system in MYFAROG. Naturally this will cause a headache to some, but I think it is just so interesting and also that it adds so much atmosphere that I have used it anyhow. Doing it the easy way might be the fastest, but not always the best…
If you want to play MYFAROG when it is published, or if you just happen to be interested in the old units of measurement, you can read the Units of Measurement in MYFAROG (PDF), and try to familiarize yourself with this very logical and brilliant system of measurement right away.
MYFAROG is not made to be (what at least I call) a «hack’n slash» fantasy RPG, focusing (close to) everything on combat, but I still think the combat rules of any RPG is the most important feature of the game. Gamers are going to want their characters to engage in combat, so if the combat rules don’t work, like if they are too slow, too unrealistic or in any way unbelievable, then the whole game is as I see it broken and basically unplayable.
The difficult part in this context is of course to find a balance between what is realistic and what is playable, but I think the problem is to a large degree solved by making a system where the players can easily adjust the system according to their style of play and preferences.
In MYFAROG combat can be made less complex and less time consuming by simply ignoring some of the rules, without this influencing the rest of the rules, and also by adding alternative rules to make it more complex and realistic (at the expense of playability, or course). So the game can be complex or simple depending solely on the player’s wishes. My thought is that novice players will keep it simple, and then include more and more of the rules and alternative rules as they play and learn and master it all properly.
Naturally I don’t aim to “re-invent the wheel”, so experienced players will quickly recognise most of the concepts in MYFAROG from other games they have played, but there are a few new ideas and the system is indeed different from other games (or at least from the games I know).
Some of the combat features of MYFAROG:
- A damage system influenced not just by the weapon used, but also by how well you hit your foe.
- An armour system not (or possibly negatively) influencing how hard it is to hit you, but instead how much damage you can take before you suffer an injury. So the armours simply absorb damage, and if you are not strong they might make you easier to hit too, because they will then slow you down.
- No HP (Hit Points), but instead damage is measured against the target’s Toughness (and if hit you will suffer either just a scratch, a light injury, a medium injury, a serious injury, a severe injury, an incapacitation or a fatal injury). Using the idea that “A pinch between two fingers can be fatal for some (like for bugs…), and even a massive blow from a heavy battle axe can be just a scratch for some (like for a mountain ettin)”. Toughness is mainly based on the creature’s weight, but also its strength and constitution.
-Fumbling. In particular slingers will get used to this. (Let us just say that when shooting with my own sling or staff sling, doing “practical research” for MYFAROG, I always made sure there were nobody else around and I parked my car far away from me, way behind me… and I wore a thick leather cap too.)
-Toughness in relation to different types of damage. Physical. Heat. Cold. Electricity.
-The ability to inflict bleeding wounds, to stun, knock down and knock out (and of course kill) even with blows that are mere scratches. You can sever an artery without actually causing much injury to a creature, and you can knock out a person without actually injuring him too.
-The weapon used influences the chance to inflict bleeding wounds, to stun, etc. You can knock out a person when attacking him with a dagger (you can hit him with the hilt), or cause a bleeding wound with a stick (ripping his skin open), you are just more or less likely to do so depending on the type of weapon you are wielding.
-A wide variety of shields with different qualities. The shields are also really, really valuable in combat, compared to the shields in the other RPGs I know of. Especially as protection against missile weapons.
-A wide variety of armour, including bronze and aurichalcum armour, with different qualities, and with realistic weight and real value (=cost). A mail (which takes a lot of effort to make) for instance costs a lot more than a laminated metal armour do, even though the latter might actually provide better protection (but also much less manoeuvrability). No attempts to “balance” this has been made by me. Instead I did my best to copy the realities of Ancient Europe.
-No warhammers, full suits of plate armour, halberds, claymores, rapiers or other anachronisms (for a setting based on the early Medieval or Ancient Europe) present in the game. Only historically accurate weapons – often tested and tried by me in real life. Most (of not all) weapons have unique qualities, and some have very special features too (like the shield-cleaving battle axes, the bouncing throwing axes, the shield piercing angons [heavy throwing spears], the light javelin that can be used in combination with a spear sling, and so forth)
-No instant healing, and healing sorcery can only be used in combination with the first aid skill. Healing potions works slowly.
-Special “human versus beasts” combat rules, taking into account e. g. that animals, trolls and ettins don’t block attacks, that they tend to fight very aggressively if they decide to stay and fight, and also taking into account that they are all afraid of fire and (for animals) also creatures walking on two legs.
-Morale rules. Your character can even become so scared he suffers traumas and go insane. You can naturally also scare away your foes rather than fight them (try wearing a helmet with three HagalaR runes carved into it, for example…).
-Stamina. You would be surprised by just how many fights have been won for no other reason than the fact that one of the fighters lost his wind and had to put down his guard and rest in the middle of the fight. In fights between two equals this might often be the decisive factor. (Fights between “un-equals” tend to be over very quickly.)
-Willpower dictates your character’s ability to keep on fighting if he grows tired.
-Different ammunition types for missile weapons. Like clay, stone and lead bullets for slings. All with different qualities.
-Alternative rules for formations, influencing morale as well as movement and the defensive values of the others in the formation as well. E. g. your large shield will also offer some protection to the guy next to you in the formation.
-Alternative rules for random movement during a mêlée. Two fighters in a mêlée don’t just stand there, taking turns trying to hit each other with a weapon. They move about, advance, retreat, move sideways – and sometimes fall as well. The player with a not too strong character might soon regret equipping his character with heavy armour when the fighting takes place on a narrow ledge over a chasm or on a rooftop…
-Charges and surprise attacks, initiative rules and much more.
The term «sorcerer» and «sorcery» is used consequently in MYFAROG, when talking about what many would instead refer to as «magician» or «wizard» and «magic». Sorcery as a term originally means “lot”, “fate” or “oracular response”, from the proto-Indo European root *ser-, but is today most often understood as simply the art of casting spells or to exercise supernatural powers though the aid of spirits. Sorcery can be benevolent or malevolent but it is inherently neither “good” nor “evil”, like nature is neither “good” nor “evil”.
Sorcery in MYFAROG is a very “fairy tale” like thing, and it is heavily based on European customs and traditions, but although it has a special European feel to it, it is still not very different from the sorcery of other fantasy games. So again I don’t try to re-invent the wheel.
Sorcery in MYFAROG is real, powerful and very much a factor in society. The world is actually still on a technologically rather primitive level (at least from our modern point of view) because of sorcery! Why would you e. g. need planes when you can ride through their air on your sorcerer’s staff, or summon a giant bird to carry you wherever you want to go, or make a hamr («shape») of a flying creature and fly yourself? Why would you need fast land transportation when you can cast a «Seven-Mile-Boots» spell on your boots and run like the wind? If you have sorcery you really don’t need technology…
There are no «Spell Points», «Mana», «Powerpoints» or anything of that sort in MYFAROG. Instead the sorcerer simply grows tired from casting spell – meaning he will spend the same SP (Stamina Points) he would have spent if he performed some other physically exhausting activity (like fighting with a sword). To regain them he needs to rest. As simple as that. His Willpower determines for how long he can continue to cast spells (or perform other physically exhausting activities) when he grows tired (and he grows tired sooner or later, based on his Constitution) before potentially even passing out from exhaustion.
The sorcerer can learn spells rather freely, but he can only ever learn and remember a certain number of spells (based on his Intelligence). He improves his spell proficiency just like he does with his skills; through practise, and in relation to each and every spell. Fumbling when casting spells can lead to interesting results, and he can achieve not only a success or a failure when he casts a spell, but also a critical success or a critical failure. Casting a spell on another sorcerer is often a very risky business indeed, and especially so if he knows the spell you are casting on him (it can even backfire!).
A character can – when he after some time manages to gain the role of sorcerer – chose a speciality, meaning he will be better at some things at the expense of other things, or he can chose not to have a speciality.
A sorcerer can only cast spells using his sorcerer’s staff, and if you manage to catch a sorcerer all you need to make him forget all his spells is to cut his hair, beard and nails. If you do he will need some time to “re-remember” them.
Sorcery is not realistic, from our point of view, but I have tried to make sorcery realistic from the Þulêan point of view. If sorcery is real in Þulê, then sorcery is indeed realistic… in Þulê. So basically I have instead simply tried to make it believable, and to make it resonate with what we know from our European fairy tales, myths and traditional legends.
MYFAROG is indeed based on our European culture, and the European values and ideals are idealized and cultivated in the game, but it is of course not an absolutely accurate description of our culture. So when I decided to make a list of European names I not only included names from most (all?) of the European languages (to put it that way), and then present them all as «Þulêan», I also made a general rule for how to turn a masculine name feminine that will probably be in conflict with many real-life rules in this context. Nevertheless, I did so and hope the result pleases more than it annoys.
This PDF (sans artwork) includes only a part of the chapter “Names”, and naturally I chose to include the part with «Þulêan» names (the antagonists in MYFAROG are [*big surprise*] often not Þulêan, but come from foreign lands).
In the history of RPGs we have seen a development from characters having just about no skills (e. g. early D&D) to having so many skills that you pretty much needed to be autistic to remember even half of them (e. g. early-to-mid Rolemaster), and then finally to the pretty well-balanced skill system (e. g. the highly recommendable Stalker the SciFi Roleplaying Game). In MYFAROG there are some 51 skills, and this is probably close to becoming a bit too much for some, but they are all neccessary and they will all be used by the characters, and they (I think) cover everything the players might want their characters to do in Þulê. Now, one of the skills in particular, the «Crafts» skill, might sound a bit too general to some, but I have done it this way for the sake of playability and also out of experience; the very specialised craft skills such as «Fletching», «Pottery» and «Masonry» (to give a few examples) might be more realistic, but they are hardly ever used by the majority of players and end up just taking up space on the character sheet. If a GM still wants to include them he can simply exchange the «Crafts» skill with all the different crafts skills he may want. No problem. (On popular demand I’ll even make a separate character skills sheet where this is easily implemented, and make it a downloadable PDF here on the MYFAROG blog). In MYFAROG the «Crafts» skill will be used by characters mainly to repair broken weapons and armour.
Yet again I don’t try to re-invent the wheel, so I use a skill system that you will be familiar with from other games. You test skills against a DD (Degree of Difficulty) by casting 3D6, adding skill proficiency and any mods and then if this is equal to or higher than the DD it is a success. If not it is a failure. You can also achieve critical successes or critical failures with very poor or very good results, and you can fumble and also achieve lucky successes (meaning that if you cast three natural sixes on the dice you generally speaking automatically succeed no matter the DD). I use 3D6 because this not only allows for a more predictable result (in contrast to the total randomness of the D20 and the higher randomness of the D%), but also makes the actual skill proficiency of the character more important. It further makes any fumbles (three natural 1s) and automatic successes more rare. Finally, I think the use of only the D6 is a good choice for the simple reason that we all have these dice. If you – like most do – have a set of Monopoly, Ludo or something like that you don’t need additional purchases to be able to play MYFAROG.
In the Skills chapter of MYFAROG I include some general rules that apply to all skills, or just to one of the categories of skills (like only to MS [Movement Skills]), and then under the description of each skill I include all the information you need to know about that skill, including all relevant tables and lists. So if you want your character to e. g. Forgage you have all the information you need under the description of the Forage skill.
Yes, MYFAROG is an AIO book. I prefer to release the game in just one high quality book rather than charge gamers for three (or even more) separate books. Like I have said already; additional character sheets, GM’s screens and other useful accessories will be available as free and downloadable PDFs here on the MYFAROG blog. GMs who want to preserve their rule book as much as possible can easily scan and print out or Xerox e. g. the entire Skills chapter or the entire Creatures & Phenomena in Þulê chapter, tack it all together and keep it as a supplement for easy access and use. All the most commonly used tables will in any case be found in the GM’s screen.
Skills can generally speaking be improved by up to 15 ranks, and is then modified by one of the character attributes, and potentially also a racial modification and perhaps also a special modification. The «Absurd» DD would then be 33 (or more), meaning you (if you have no bonus from the relevant attribute and no mods) have to cast 18 on the dice and have 15 ranks to achieve a success.
Your character generally speaking gains XP (experience points) on skills when you succeed a skill test where the DD is at least 9 points higher than your character’s skill proficiency. For every 5 XP he gains one rank. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as with skills not tested against a DD (e. g. language skills). There is also a system allowing characters to train. It might e. g. be hard to improve your First Aid skill proficiency through practise without causing quite a lot of harm on the way before you finally become a first aider able to actually help someone.
Like with the other rules of MYFAROG it is very easy to simplify, come up with good ad hoc solutions and make the skill system work very fast, or you can use all the mods and twists and make it highly realistic. It is all up to you, the gamer. The same can be said about XP. You can follow the rules slavishly, or you can as a GM simply award XP as you see fit.
A very – to my knowledge – new concept in MYFAROG is the “Power of Will” rule, that allows players to have their characters occasionally perform better by effort alone. Some times the most incompetent person can achieve great results from his efforts alone. And this is included as a factor in MYFAROG. So yet again the Willpower attribute will be of great value…. and the strong and powerful might fall to the power of the will of the weaker ones.
I can add that some of the skills that to my experience is often very much worthless in at least most other RPGs are very useful in MYFAROG, such as “Lyre Playing”, “Flute Playing”, “Singing”, “Dancing” and “Poetry”, which are instrumental for religious characters who wish to gain favour from the deities; by playing music, singing, reciting poetry and dancing for them in their temples. And they do need favour from the deities if they want to ask for Favours when in need, or if they want to ask for Divine Aid when using their skills. Sorcerers too need proficiency in the “Poetry” and “Singing” skills if they want to learn and cast powerful spells.
Rather than build a world from ground and up I have used and build upon an existing area in Northern Norway (Lofoten, Vesterålen og Lofoten) as the geographical location of Þulê (“the land of the sages”). Naturally I have exaggerated some of the features, added new features (like proper forests) and also changed the scale, but other than that the land of Þulê is pretty much identical to this real world area in Northern Norway. I have also kept the real world roads as either cart tracks or pathways (and the real paths could well be animal trails), the settlements of Þulê are to be found where there is real settlement today and names have been translated into English (like «Tjukkeskogen» is in MYFAROG named «Densewood». This will make the world very logical and realistic, and thus believable, and I think that is very important for an RPG focusing on atmosphere.
This area in Northern Norway is historically an old Viking Kingdom with age old roots, but the main reason why I have used this area is that even during the Ice Ages this area was believed to be ice-free and actually inhabitable, because of the Golf Stream and the warm winds from the south along the coast of Norway. So in theory anyone could have survived there for tens of thousands of years, while the rest of Northern Europe was submerged under thick glaciers. In MYFAROG what we would identify as mainland Norway is submerged under glaciers (and populated by ettins), but the Ice Age has long been ending so the climate is very much temperate (although located in the Arctic). This area, Northern Norway, is in real life known as Hålogaland (translated as «the holy land»), so I took this information and combined it with our myths about a lost continent, and I created this sacred «continent» up there in the North, where the deities in secret created the Þulêan race of men (i. e. the Europeans). However, Þulê has been discovered by other races of men, and even worse, by the ettins, and naturally they all have arrived in Þulê, and in their wake comes all sorts of troubles, challenges – and great opportunities for adventure!
There are all sorts of creatures in Þulê, all of them based on real world creatures or mythological creatures, and I have also included some now extinct animals that used to live in Europe alongside man, like the cave hyena, the cave lion, the giant hyena, etc. Animals in Þulê are assumed to behave like real animals would though (i. e. usually run as fast as they can by the mere scent of humans [unless they are e. g. polar bears, of course...]), but there are other types of creatures to fear too, like trolls, spirits and not least ettins – and the possibly most dangerous of all creatures; human beings…
Now, as I might have expressed a few times already, my perception of mythology and the ancient world is not like the common one. I don’t base anything on Christian misinterpretations of old European «ideas», «creatures» or «spirits», so there are no goblins, hobgoblins, orcs or other creatures based on the perverse Christian demonisation of the Pagan ancestral cult. There are no ogres or trolls either, for the same reason. Well, there are trolls, but just not trolls like we usually think of when we hear the word troll. A troll was originally a name for malevolent spirits; the word itself means «song» (as seen in no. tralle), originally «spell» or «sorcerous song», as these spirits were assumed to have been summoned by a (failed?) spell. So in MYFAROG a troll is a malevolent spirit, and they take many forms, some corporeal and some incorporeal. Most of you will identify the MYFAROG trolls as simply different types of undead creatures; sea wraiths, wraiths, wights, ghosts, náir (sg. nár), spectres, shadows et cetera.
The modern troll is really just a stone ettin, and naturally there are stone ettins in Þulê, and a wide variety of other ettins too, in different shapes and sizes. None of them particularly pleasant; different types of water ettins, stone ettins, fire ettins and of course worms (≈wingless dragons). All these terrible creatures have an ettin stone heart, that can be used by craftsmen for sorcerous purposes.
The Land of Þulê chapter provides the GM with random encounter tables, random events tables, weather and wind tables (if he cares to use such things), a brief description of the 9 different native realms of Þulê (each one with a cultural expression most similar to the one of a real ancient European people), all the native tribes are named and their seats are listed, units of measurement, trade and rules regarding travel, dehydration, justice (i. e. laws, outlawing, duels and such), hunger and so forth, naturally all available for the GM to use as he sees fit, if at all. The creatures themselves, both those mentioned here and others too, will be described in The Creatures & Phenomena of Þulê chapter, as will the ettin phenomena.
The ettin phenomena are strange phenomena that occur in Etunakaimas (“the world of the ettins”), and are inspired both by science fiction, not least the Cthulu Mythos, and European mythology. Etunakaimas is made up of the parts of the world dominated by the ettin powers; the deepest forests, largest bogs, the not inhabitable places of the Earth and the tallest mountains, where man has very little influence. Everything is different in Etunakaimas, the trees are twisted and grotesque, some animals grow larger and both animals and men more aggressive, the temperature is lower, the wind stronger, the clouds darker, the sky blacker and then you have these phenomena to deal with as well. It is a highly dangerous place, and naturally this place is said to be growing and consuming the rest of the world, threatening the human settlements. What or even who is responsible for this? I let the GM decide.
The land of Þulê is of course heavily influenced by the natives’ sense of honour, and the natives are very religious or traditional as well, so much care is given by them to the high festivals and temples, customs and traditions. But – alas! (or for gamers: rejoice!) – it is also torn by conflict, as new human races arrive from distant lands, as refugees fleeing the growing ettin power, as invaders or as merchants.
When I manage to produce a map of MYFAROG’s Þulê I will publish it here on this blog, naturally as a free and downloadable PDF.
Many gamers prefer a fast character creation, in order to quickly have a character and be ready to play. Personally I prefer a more thorough character generation, with lots of opportunity for customization. In MYFAROG the basic character generation is however still rather fast and easy, amongst other things because there are no «classes» or «professions» to chose from when you start; instead there are different character roles available for characters who after some time of playing will qualify for at least some of them. So more than in most other games the character generation is an ongoing process that never really ends, and your opportunity to «customize» your character is great. You can gain new talents, new character roles, you might (if your character has the traditional life stance) learn to cast spells, you improve your skill and spell proficiencies, and so forth. You can however also lose character roles, when or if you no longer qualify for such a role. Only Nobles e. g. can gain a Priest or a Warrior-Priest role, so if they lose their status as Nobles they will also lose their Priest or Warrior-Priest role, and all bonuses and abilities linked to the role.
There will be different roles available to the characters depending on their social class, their race, their life stance, their alignment, their nationality, their gender, their attributes and so forth, and a few of them have certain talents as a pre-requisite as well. Naturally all characters can potentially gain several different roles. There is no good reason why a character cannot become both e. g. a warrior, a scout and a sorcerer.
The role characters begin with is either a hunter-gatherer role, Veiðimaðr (default for characters with a Veiðr [«hunter-gatherer»] background) or a peasant/townsman role, Bûandi (default for those with an Byggjandi [«inhabitant», «house-dweller»] background). This role is a background role, so it cannot be lost.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel in this context either, so the roles characters can gain are pretty much all traditional fantasy RPG roles, such as warrior (≈fighter), rural scout (≈stalker), urban scout (≈agent), berserk/valkyrja (≈barbarian), ranger, scald (≈priest/cleric/bard) and sorcerer (≈wizard/magician), but there are a few new ones as well, like the warrior-priest roles Scutarius/Scutaria (≈some sort of Pagan «Belus-paladin») and Bacchante/Maenad (≈a different type of berserk, basically). The scalds have their favourite deities and the sorcerers can specialize in the manipulation of a certain type of spirits, so the opportunity for characters to gain and develop very different and unique roles are very much present.
Save the Latin and Greek names listed above all the character roles have been given Norse names (such as Strîðsmaðr for Warrior), but an English translation is to be found not only in the rule book, but also on the character sheet itself, so this should not be a problem even for those not at all familiar with Scandinavian languages.
The different character roles open up new opportunities for the players, who will have their characters be able to learn spells, brew potions, ask for more powerful Favours, attract dedicated followers, gain self-confidence, gain new abilities and so forth, all in a concise way and in accordance with the religion and traditions of Þulê and the world of MYFAROG.
There are six races available for the players to chose from, but by default two of them (the Koparmenn and the Eirmenn) are only meant as races available for the GM to be able to generate colourful and credible villains in home made adventures (though you can perfectly well make player characters of this race too if you want to). The remaining four races are the very rare and mystic Þulir, the common Þulêans (Jarnmenn), Þulêans with a divine father or mother (the Âssfeðra/Âsynjuborinar, alias Heros), and finally Þulêans born by elven mothers (the Alfaborinar) (Yes, there are elves in MYFAROG, both light elves and dark elves [dwarves]). Compared to the common Þulêan race the other races all have advantages and disadvantages, special abilities and also special limitations. E. g. all men with a divine father must always be religious (i. e. believe in gods), and all men born by elven mothers must always be traditional (i. e. believe in spirits).
MYFAROG is not designed to be «balanced», in the sense that a character who is only a warrior does not necessarily need to be as big an asset to the group as the one being only a sorcerer. Sorcerers are more powerful than warriors (not least because most of them are probably warriors as well). Likewise, some of the races are generally speaking better (more super-human) than the others. E. g. having a divine father (i. e. being a Heros) will necessarily make you a bit more heroic than one with two human parents. This is, I can add, fully in accordance with our mythology, and should not at all be a problem in an RPG like MYFAROG. Whether your characters is a little Þulêan teenage girl or a brutal Heros doesn’t really matter when some villain aims his arrow at you though; it can still potentially kill any character, no matter his race, weight, strength, talents or constitution. You better hide behind that large shield regardless.
The players can also have their characters join different bands, cults and organisations in Þulê if they want them to, and they actually have to as well, if they want to gain some of the available characters roles, and they all are members of a tribe and a nation by birth, and if male by default to the army of their tribe too (so they can potentially be summoned to war by their king or queen).
The opportunity for political intrigue, adventure and action, interesting encounters and good role-playing with MYFAROG should be very good.
One of the first things I check out when I buy a new RPG is the character sheets. They say a lot about the RPG.
When I made MYFAROG I planned on having a two page character sheet, but to my big surprise two pages were far from enough. At one point I had a five page character sheet, and realised that I had to simplify. A lot. Five pages is just too much for a character sheet. After much effort and work I ended up with a four page character sheet, but since characters are either religious or traditional this is in effect a three page character sheet, as everyone will only be using page one and two as well as either page three or page four.
Now, in particular on the first page of the character sheet the font is small and the information very much concentrated, and I am not yet sure if this can be used in real life. However, for now this is what I got. Enjoy and feel free to comment and suggest improvements.
There are four main deities in Þulé; a Sky god of Winter and Air, an Earth goddess of Spring and Earth, a Sun god of Summer and Fire and a Moon goddess of Autumn and Water. The Þuléan year has thirteen months, and each of the months is connected to a deity too; and these in all seventeen deities (four of the seasons and thirteen of the months) make up the sympathetic deities in Þulé – sympathic in the sense that these are the only deities who listen to the prayers of man. The other deities don’t care about man and his problems.
The deities are harmonic or disharmonic, contemplative or ecstatic, spiritual or materialistic, sympathetic or unsympathetic, and one deity, the deity of Time, is truly neutral; time treats everyone in the same way and favours no one.
From MYFAROG: «The contemplative is intellectual, introvert and likes to meditate, think or pray. The ecstatic on the other hand is more extrovert and likes wild dancing, gorging, is inclined to screaming and shouting or violence and combat, or other excitement.
The harmonic is calm, peace seeking, balanced, he thinks through things before he acts and is conflict solving. The dis-harmonic on the other hand is more hysterical, unbalanced, emotional and conflict seeking.
The spiritual always thinks about his existence in the afterlife. He thinks about the consequences of his actions on a spiritual level and believes in a life or at least some form of existence after death. The materialistic on the other hand only thinks about the consequences he will face in life. He hardly believes in a life after death, and if he does he doesn’t let this influence his life.
The sympathetic is considerate, altruistic, kind and empathic. The unsympathetic is more ruthless, egotistical and merciless.
The different combinations of attitudes are what makes up the alignments in MYFAROG. The alignment says something about the character’s motivation in life, his world view, values and morals, and is a guide for the player playing the character. The alignment is also essential for the development of the character (in relation to achieving new character roles).
The neutral is perhaps the most special of them all. He seeks redemption through patience, caution and mercy. He in many ways stands outside the normal society, but sometimes intervenes to restore balance.»
When developing MYFAROG I drew up a circle to categorize the different deities, and I ended up with this;
The symbols (black and white triangles) are supposed to represent the elements of Air, Earth, Water and Fire (and the black dot in the middle Spirit), but in the game I decided to use the card symbols instead; Spades for Air, Clubs for Earth, Hearts for Water, Diamonds for Fire (and black circle/egg for Spirit).
There are no deity names in this Paint drawing, but those of you who are able to click here will be able to translate this information to deity names; each deity with it’s own alignment.
This drawing shows clearely and quickly how I see our different European deities, and what I think each one of them represents.
Perhaps I am not just making a game in this context, but also accurately categorizing each and every one of us human beings? Don’t we all fit into one of these Alignments? What deity is closest to you? If you were a god or a goddess, who would you be? I think I would have been WôðanaR…
First some appropriate music.
One of the things I wanted with MYFAROG was to have authentic weapons in the game; no anachronisms (like e. g. a warhammer from the 14th century would have been in a setting aiming to be similar to Classical Antiquity, and with no weapons more modern than those from the Viking Age). This left me with fewer options, but I still managed to include quite a lot of mêlée weapons:
Angon (a heavy Scandinavian javelin, similar to the Roman pilum).
Battle axe, heavy (like a Dane axe).
Battle axe, light (the same axe, but lighter and for use in one hand).
Battle glove (similar to the Roman cestus).
Club (a heavy wooden stick).
Curved short sword (similar to a one-handed Dacian falx).
Dagger (a large double-edged knife, similar to a Roman pugio).
Flail (a peasant’s tool).
Hammer (a craftsman’s tool).
Hatchet (a craftsman’s tool).
Javelin (a short and light throwing spear).
Knife (similar to a short seax).
Light Javelin (a light throwing spear, with fletching, normally used in combination with a spear sling).
Long sword (similar to the Gallic antenna sword).
Mace (a club with metal knobs or a metal head).
Pick axe (a miner’s tool).
Sax (similar to a long seax).
Short sword (similar to a Roman sword [alias “gladius”]).
Sickle (a curved knife)
Sickle-shaped sword (similar to the Iberian falcata/Greek kopis).
Spear (6 to 8 feet long)
Spear sling (a 2 feet long stick, used mainly to throw light javelins harder and further).
Staff (6 to 8 feet long).
Staff sling (3 feet long stick with a sling attached).
Sword-scythe (similar to a two-handed Dacian falx).
Throwing axe (similar to a Scandinavian Francisca).
Trident (three-pronged spear).
Unarmed (those good old fists…).
Wand (a sacred bough).
War flail (a transformed flail, with metal knobs or spikes attached).
War scythe (a transformed scythe).
All the weapons have different characteristics, and are more or less likely (when inflicting the same amount of damage) to cause a bleeding wound or to stun or knock you down or knock you out, and some have very special qualities – like throwing axes bouncing off the ground when they miss their intended target, angons getting stuck in the enemy’s shields rendering it useless and shield-crushing battle axes. Everything is well researched and made to be as close to reality as possible, without slowing down play too much.
Some of the weapons in the list above are designed as throwing weapons, but they can naturally also be used in mêlée, so they are included in the list of mêlée weapons too. (A character using his bow or some other missile weapon not at all appropriate for use as a mêlée weapon will be defined as “unarmed” in a mêlée).
I can also add that the the weapons all have realistic weights listed, meaning that you will not find any “40 lbs swords“ or anything like that in MYFAROG. The heaviest mêlée weapon in MYFAROG, the heavy battle axe, weighs around 5 lbs (2.5 kg). Most mêlée weapons weigh around 1.5 lbs. (A knife weighs around 8 ounces.)
Be ready to arm your characters with weapons that make sense, that were actually used in the past and that will make it easier for you to feel as if you are really there, in Þulê…
First some appropriate music.
One of the things I wanted with MYFAROG was to have authentic armours in the game; no anachronisms (like e. g. a plate armour from the 16th century would have been in a setting aiming to be similar to Classical Antiquity, and with no armours more modern than those from the Viking Age). This left me with fewer options, but I still managed to include quite a lot of armours.
All the metal armours can be made of either bronze (more expensive, not that good and heavier, but better for enchantments), iron (the most common and the cheapest solution) and aurichalcum (very expensive, but also very good). The dragon scale armour (or armour made from aurichalcum, for that sake) is as you might suspect not very historically correct, but this is a fantasy game…
Mail shirt (the least cumbersome of the metal armours)
Mail shirt with scales (the armour offering the best protection)
Scale armour
Dragon scale armour (the lightest of all armour)
Fur/leather shirt
Ivory scale armour
Laminated armour (a fairly cheap yet very good solution)
Laminated leather armour
Leather scale armour
Muscular cuirass
Muscular leather cuirass
Greaves (leather or metal)
Arm guard (leather or metal)
Conical or round (leather, metal or ivory) caps with or without neck-guard, nose-guard, spectacle guard and/or cheek plates; (metal) full helmets (Greek style); and (leather or metal) Sun hats (Boeotian style).
The possible armour combinations in MYFAROG are actually quite many, and more than I have seen in any other fantasy RPG.
Many RPGs try to balance things, so that e. g. an armour becomes more difficult to use the better it is. I have avoided such steps consequently and have instead included the real advantages and disadvantages of the different types of armour. A thing I have not included though is information about how much time would be needed to maintain the armour to keep it in usable condition, and thus the mail comes out a bit less attractive than it really is. In reality the mail needed almost no maintenance and would still be usable for decades, while e. g. a laminated armour would need a lot of maintenance in order not to quickly become useless, and it lasted much shorter too.
Another factor that play an important role in MYFAROG is the quality of the armour (and of weapons and shields too, for that sake). So a “poorer” armour type of superior quality can easily end up being better than a “superior” armour type of poor quality. You can naturally (?) also carve different runes into objects, including armours and weapons and such, to enchant them with special powers.
Strength negates much of the negative effect of wearing heavy armour, and if all the alternative rules are used a physically weak character will soon regret his choice to put on that heavy armour once he starts fighting on rooftops or on the ledge of a steep cliff…
I love Ancient European armour, and had it been socially acceptable I would of course have worn my own lorica hamata (mail shirt) most of the time.
PS. All armours and weapons are illustrated beautifully in MYFAROG by Andrey Nazarov.
Priþenian Warrior
MYFAROG is not just a game made out of love for pen & paper fantasy role-playing gaming, but also a game made out of love for Ancient Europe. The idea is to entertain, but also to educate and to inspire gamers to learn more about their own heritage.
Skudian Light Archers
MYFAROG is still a fantasy game, it is not at all historically accurate, although it aims to be believable and based on Ancient European culture, religion, traditions, technology, lore and mythology, so when I wanted different realms in Þulê with native human cultures I (losely) based them on different historical cultures. I also included two cultures that were located outside of Europe, but that were surely (Ancient Egypt) or just very likely (Sumer) European. Some will react to the fact that I suggest the Sarmatian-Skythian tribes were the ancestors of the Slavs and Hungarians, but that is fine; I just assume that they are, and this assumption is used to create a unique culture in my game.
Andâlangan Skirmisher
Agadîr is based on Sumer.
Andâlanga is based on Thrakia/Dacia.
Ellinea is based on Ancient Greece and Illyria.
Erulia is based on Ancient South Scandinavia (Denmark/Saxony)
Priþenio is based on Gaul and Ancient Britain (=”Celtic” Britain).
Skanþinawio is based on North Scandinavia (Norway/Sweden)
Skudia is based on Ancient Baltic cultures and Sarmatia/Skythia (i. e. Slavs & Hungarians).
Tawia is based on Ancient Egypt (the first dynasties) and Minoan Crete.
Troskenia is based on Iberia and Etruria/Ancient Italy.
Tradition- and religous-wise they will all be very similar to each other though; I am suggesting that there is a pan-European Pagan religion after all. The cultural differences are pretty much limited to architectural styles, tribal weapons, tribal armour and some times temple styles. The realms of Þulê are all tribal confederacies, ruled by sorcerer-kings or god-kings (and some times queens).
The European cultures left out as inspiration, like the Finnish and the Basque, are left out simply because I don’t know so much about them, and certainly not enough to even losely base anything on them. However, a Basque could well identify with Troskenia and a Finn maybe with Skudia.
The other realms in Þulê are the highly dangerous Etunakaimas (Jôtunnheimr), the realm of the ettins, and Gemahlewa (Gimlé), the underground realm of the dark elves (alias dwarves).
Troskenian Skirmisher.
In addition to these there are four “off-map” realms, Assuwa, Libuê, Khem and Agadê, from whence the other human species in the game come. Those are losely based on Asia, Africa, Ancient Egypt (the last dynasty, when it was no longer European) and Akkadia respectively.
Priþenian Heavy Infantry
Erulian Skirmisher
A principle idea in sorcery is to “act as if real to make real”, so perhaps, by playing such games, and living in the mind in these realms, we will contribute to reviving them, if nothing else then in the hearts of many Europeans.
Troskenian Heavy Infantry
Ellinean Heavy Infantry
First some some appropriate music.
A thing that has always troubled me with fantasy RPGs is the often complete uselessness of shields.
In real life a shield on a medieval or pre-medieval battlefield was a huge asset. Not only did it offer great defensive value, it even offered some offensive value – as warriors bashed each other with their shields, pushed the others out of the way and even hit others with the metal edges of their shields.
An interesting thing to note here is that the quality of shields (and armour and weapons…) in Europe dropped dramatically when Christianity was introduced. The shield went from being an object you carried along through entire campaigns to becoming something you used for one single battle, and then – if it even survived that one battle – threw away because it was then no longer usable. Like with all other things, Christianity meant a decline in quality for weapons, shields and armour too.
In MYFAROG the shields are of high quality, they have a defensive value that is really worthwhile, and also offer an offensive bonus. Further, you can modify shields to hold (up to four) lead-weighted darts on the inside, and you can of course also hold an extra weapon – or a few javelins – in the hand you use to hold your shield.
The shields are meant to offer the defensive value that your mêlée weapons don’t have, and they are incredibly important for defense against missile weapons. They also offer a defensive bonus when used in formations – as they offer not only you, but also the guy next to you some protection.
Lead-weighted dart:
Although intended to be of high quality, if the players include the alternative rules the shields can be smashed to bits in and pieces (and if damaged they can be repaired), and this is of course particularily true when the shield-bearer is attacked by someone wielding a battle axe. The angon too has special powers against the shield: it can get stuck in the shield and render it useless (for some time anyhow).
The shields can be made of wood, of different metals, of wicker and of plywood, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They all have their advantages and disadvantages to the user.
Some of the shield types available in MYFAROG:
MYFAROG is the first RPG I have seen where the shield has been taken really serious. Make sure you bring one if you ever plan to attack a fire-breathing giant worm (alias dragon)!
MYFAROG aims to be more like Classical Antiquity than the Middle Ages, so weapons such as the javelin, slings, throwing axes, rocks (!) and angons (≈pila) are very common. Self bows and composite bows too are commonly used by the Þulêan warriors, but the (windlass or stirrup) crossbow – although present in the game – is mainly used for hunting and some times sieges. Player characters will be wise to use them though, if hunting for tough monsters; the windlass crossbow is the most powerful missile weapon in the game.
There are two types of javelins: one normal and one light javelin (resembling a very long and heavy arrow) commonly used in combination with a spear sling. The latter is incredibly powerful and can be thrown very far. I have yet to find out exactly why this weapon was abandoned long before the end of Classical Antiquity.
There are also two types of slings: one normal sling and a staff sling, the latter being the weapon with the best range in MYFAROG. There are three different types of bullets for the slings too: clay, stone or lead – all three with different qualities.
There are two types of bows, the self bow and the composite bow, and I have seen how most fantasy RPGs makes a huge difference between these two fine weapons, but after doing some research I have found that there really is very little difference. The only real difference, save the advantage to the composite bow on horseback or in other ‘confined spaces’, is that the really powerful composite bows have a better range than the equally powerful self bows (and the composite bow is also much more expensive). The difference for normal bows is unnoticeable though. What makes a bow good or bad in MYFAROG, in addition to the quality of the bow itself, is how strong the bow is.
Some missile weapons in MYFAROG have special qualities. When the throwing axe misses its intended target and hits the ground, it behaves a bit like a rugby ball and can bounce in just about any direction and hit someone else instead. The angon can get stuck in the enemy’s shield, and if you miss your target altogether and the angon hits the ground the tip bends, making it impossible for the enemy to pick it up and throw it back at you (unless he wants to spend a few minutes to first straighten out the angon).
Another missile weapon in MYFAROG that I find a bit interesting is the lead-weighted darts, that can be thrown normally like tiny spears (for short range), or they can be thrown very far: the thrower holds the end of the dart and then hurls them upwards and forwards, so that they fly towards the target in a ballistic trajectory similar to that of an artillery shell. So they actually come in from above!
There is very little micro-management for the players in MYFAROG-combat, so in practise this means that the range for the lead-weighted darts in MYFAROG are dramatically reduced, and more so than for other missile weapons, when used indoors, underground or e. g. in a forest, where this technique would be impossible to utilize.
Those who wishes to include more advanced rules for missile combat will find e. g. tables with information on how strong wind influences the accuracy of different missile weapons, and this is perhaps where the sling will show it’s great worth; it can be used in any weather and with any wind strength without having it’s (already very poor…) accuracy reduced!
Until the 16th of July this year I was a proud owner of several ancient missile weapons myself, so I have been able to do not only proper theoretical research on these weapons, I have even been able to try them out myself, a lot, and have thus found, I think, pretty accurate data on such weapons for MYFAROG.
I also wish to mention the use of rocks in MYFAROG. In most games throwing a rock is very much underrated, and often ignored altogether, but in reality they commonly threw rocks at each other in the ancient world, and they did because this is in fact very effective. So throwing a rock in MYFAROG is probably a good idea and something you might expect others to do a lot.
Also unlike in other games the thrown dagger/knife is not included in MYFAROG as a separate weapon because there is no historic record of its use (outside modern film studios) or indeed any good reason for anyone to use it. The thrown dagger/knife is very much worthless as a weapon, with only a certain chance you hit with the point first to start with, and even if you do you only inflict a bit of damage (with all the weight and movement making it a dangerous weapon in mêlée missing). You would be much better off picking up a heavy stick (a club) or a rock from the ground and throw this at your enemy rather than bring specialized (and expensive) daggers/knives intended to be thrown away, possibly never to be seen again. The normal dagger/knife is a backup weapon, your security if your other weapons are lost or broken, and throwing it away in battle (possibly arming your enemy as you do) is plain folly. If you want your character to use a fairly light and specialized throwing weapon he can use lead-weighted darts. They – unlike thrown daggers – always hit point first and can be thrown effectively quite long. You can even carry a few of them on the inside of your shield, for easy access.
There are many different bands, cults, mystery cults and organisations in MYFAROG, like The Liberated (the mystery cult of the bachcantes and meanads), The Order of the (Golden) Dragon (the monastic-like order of the Shield Bearers), The Rangers, The Ansugardaraiþô (the mystery cult of the berserks and valkyrias), The Cult of Meleh Ha-Mashiach (a grotesque foreign cult), The Hashashin (the assassin organisation of The Cult of Meleh Ha-Mashiach), The Sicarii (a group of murderous worshippers of a golden cow), The Antediluvians (a terrible ettin cult), The Gardeners (a group of native bigots), the many Hirðs (the body guard of each and every native king), the many Herliðs (the armies of the [108] native tribes), the Rîkas Þulêus (a religious group working to create a Þulêan Empire), The Hunters (a group of man-hunters), The Merchants (a secretive merchant guild), many different foreign pirate groups, The Robber King (a group of outlaws with unknown motives and goals), Sub Rosa (a group of sorcerers in some religious societies, working to keep the traditions alive) and 17 different temples (one for each sympathetic deity).
The different bands, cults and organisations have conflicting interests, and they can be played up against each other by a good GM in a manner that will make Þulê feel very deep and realistic. The adventures in Þulê are made so much more interesting if the world feels alive, and if the players can be properly motivated to have their characters act by the realities of this fantasy world.
First some music whilst travelling…
One of the things I always found lacking in the RPGs I played was a proper system for travelling. Travel speed never sounded very likely, the random encounters were too random for my liking and not much could be done in relation to travel. Travelling was reduced to a basic math exercise, a boring intermission between adventures, and not really a part of the adventure, or indeed an opportunity for additional adventure. In MYFAROG I try to make travelling an adventure too, or at least an important and exciting part of the adventure.
In MYFAROG there is a fixed travel time that will be influenced by the load carried by the traveler and his speed. E. g. base time for walking 1 mile on a road is 10 minutes, and you can add 1 minute if the character is carrying a medium load or 4 minutes if he is carrying a heavy load. You can subtract a number of minutes equal to his attribute related to speed. The travel time will then (when not travelling on a road) be influenced by the Navigation skill of the traveler (or guide) (and a number of factors, such as weather and time of day). The better a character is at navigating the less time he will spend on detours and ‘taking the wrong turn’, so to say. The larger the party the slower the travel too.
You can walk, jog, sneak, track or both sneak and track when you travel (and ride a horse, sail a ship or row a boat), and of course the mode of travel influences the travel time. However, if you sneak or track (or sneak and track) along a road, in a field, in a bog, in the mountains or a forest doesn’t really matter; you pretty much sneak and/or track in the same tempo no matter the type of terrain. It does however matter if you walk or jog (or rider a horse) in this or that type of terrain.
The Stealth skill (sneaking) can be used whilst travelling to decrease the chance for a random encounter. The Tracking skill can be used to increase the chance for a random encounter.
When travelling in difficult terrain, and especially if jogging, you have to check if your character falls whilst travelling. If he does he can e. g. drown in a bog or injure himself from the fall (and in theory even suffer his death from this). Naturally falling is more dangerous when travelling in the mountains. The dexterity of the character, as well as the load he carries, will influence this.
The travelling speed, the size of the party and the Perception skill of the travelers (and the creatures they might bump into) matters when determining who discovers the other group first. This is very relevant for shy creatures or parties who for some reason may wish to avoid contact with others, and will of course also allow for ambushes or the tracking of others to their lairs.
When travelling in Etunakaimas (Jötunnheimr), an untamed wilderness of Þulê, the risk of bumping into other (often aggressive) creatures is even higher, and travelers can also be exposed to the different Ettin Phenomena present there. Very strange things are happening in Etunakaimas, that transcend logic. The sky is different, trees and other growths are twisted and grotesque, the weather wilder and travelers can come by e. g. an Ettin Earthstar, a Mara, a Netja, a Skîra, Sôtt orVertigo and if really unlucky can even hear the Call of the Kraken. These phenomena can send the characters running in panic, they can make them freeze, burn, be electrocuted in strange webs, lose all hope or even go insane. Nobody knows from whence these phenomena come, nor why they are there – or indeed why they just appear as from nowhere, and then disappears again without any trace. The use of runes can decrease the risk of being exposed to them, and an Ettin Stoneheart carried by someone in the party will do the opposite. Many in Þulê fear the growth of Etunakaimas, and commonly refer to it simply as “The Hunger”.
Þulê is a low-tech world of fantasy, inspired by mythology, history and pre-history, but also by the Lovecraftian mythos and science fiction. Gamers are free to use or not to use any of the aspects in the game. You can also simply have a Game Master who (some times?) says that “After 2 hours of walking through the wilderness you arrive safely in ‘this-or-that’ village”…. MYFAROG however allows for gamers to do it in a different, and I think interesting and exciting way.
MYFAROG is not made to be (what at least I call) a «hack’n slash» fantasy RPG, focusing (close to) everything on combat, but I still think the combat rules of any RPG is the most important feature of the game. Gamers are going to want their characters to engage in combat, so if the combat rules don’t work, like if they are too slow, too unrealistic or in any way unbelievable, then the whole game is as I see it broken and basically unplayable.
The difficult part in this context is of course to find a balance between what is realistic and what is playable, but I think the problem is to a large degree solved by making a system where the players can easily adjust the system according to their style of play and preferences.
In MYFAROG combat can be made less complex and less time consuming by simply ignoring some of the rules, without this influencing the rest of the rules, and also by adding optional rules to make it more complex and realistic (at the expense of playability, or course). So the game can be complex or simple depending solely on the player’s wishes. My thought is that novice players will keep it simple, and then include more and more of the rules and optional rules as they play and learn and master it all properly.
Naturally I don’t aim to “re-invent the wheel”, so experienced players will quickly recognise most of the concepts in MYFAROG from other games they have played, but there are a few new ideas and the system is indeed different from other games (or at least from the games I know).
Some of the combat features of MYFAROG:
- A damage system influenced not just by the weapon used, but also by how well you hit your foe.
- An armour system not (or possibly negatively) influencing how hard it is to hit you, but instead how much damage you can take before you suffer an injury. So the armours simply absorb damage, and if you are not strong they might make you easier to hit too, because they will then slow you down.
- No HP (Hit Points), but instead damage is measured against the target’s Toughness (and if hit you will suffer either just a scratch, a light injury, a medium injury, a serious injury, a severe injury, an incapacitation or a fatal injury). Using the idea that “A pinch between two fingers can be fatal for some (like for bugs…), and even a massive blow from a heavy battle axe can be just a scratch for some (like for a mountain ettin)”. Toughness is mainly based on the creature’s weight, but also its strength and constitution.
-Fumbling. In particular slingers will get used to this. (Let us just say that when shooting with my own sling or staff sling, doing “practical research” for MYFAROG, I always made sure there were nobody else around and I parked my car far away from me, way behind me… and I wore a thick leather cap too.)
-Toughness in relation to different types of damage. Physical. Heat. Cold. Electricity.
-The ability to inflict bleeding wounds, to stun, knock down and knock out (and of course kill) even with blows that are mere scratches. You can sever an artery without actually causing much injury to a creature, and you can knock out a person without actually injuring him too.
-The weapon used influences the chance to inflict bleeding wounds, to stun, etc. You can knock out a person when attacking him with a dagger (you can hit him with the hilt), or cause a bleeding wound with a stick (ripping his skin open), you are just more or less likely to do so depending on the type of weapon you are wielding.
-A wide variety of shields with different qualities. The shields are also really, really valuable in combat, compared to the shields in the other RPGs I know of. Especially as protection against missile weapons.
-A wide variety of armour, including bronze and aurichalcum armour, with different qualities, and with realistic weight and real value (=cost). A mail (which takes a lot of effort to make) for instance costs a lot more than a laminated metal armour do, even though the latter might actually provide better protection (but also much less manoeuvrability). No attempts to “balance” this has been made by me. Instead I did my best to copy the realities of Ancient Europe.
-No warhammers, full suits of plate armour, halberds, claymores, rapiers or other anachronisms (for a setting based on the early Medieval or Ancient Europe) present in the game. Only historically accurate weapons – often tested and tried by me in real life. Most (if not all) weapons have unique qualities, and some have very special features too (like the shield-cleaving battle axes, the bouncing throwing axes, the shield piercing angons [heavy throwing spears], the light javelin that can be used in combination with a spear sling, and so forth)
-No instant healing, and healing sorcery can only be used in combination with the first aid skill. Healing potions works slowly.
-Taking into account e. g. that animals, trolls and ettins don’t block attacks, that they tend to fight very aggressively if they decide to stay and fight, and also taking into account that animals are all afraid of fire and also creatures walking on two legs.
-Morale rules. Your character can even become so scared he suffers traumas and go insane. You can naturally also scare away your foes rather than fight them (try wearing a helmet with three HagalaR runes carved into it, for example…).
-Stamina. You would be surprised by just how many fights have been won for no other reason than the fact that one of the fighters lost his wind and had to put down his guard and rest in the middle of the fight. In fights between two equals this might often be the decisive factor. (Fights between “un-equals” tend to be over very quickly.)
-Willpower dictates your character’s ability to keep on fighting if he grows tired.
-Different ammunition types for missile weapons. Like clay, stone and lead bullets for slings. All with different qualities.
-Optional rules for formations, influencing morale as well as movement and the defensive values of the others in the formation as well. E. g. your large shield will also offer some protection to the guy next to you in the formation.
-Optional rules for random movement during a mêlée. Two fighters in a mêlée don’t just stand there, taking turns trying to hit each other with a weapon. They move about, advance, retreat, move sideways – and sometimes fall as well. The player with a not too strong character might soon regret equipping his character with heavy armour when the fighting takes place on a narrow ledge over a chasm or on a rooftop…
-Charges and surprise attacks, initiative rules and much more.
The term «sorcerer» and «sorcery» is used consequently in MYFAROG, when talking about what many would instead refer to as «magician» or «wizard» and «magic». Sorcery as a term originally means “lot”, “fate” or “oracular response”, from the proto-Indo European root *ser-, but is today most often understood as simply the art of casting spells or to exercise supernatural powers through the aid of spirits. Sorcery can be benevolent or malevolent but it is inherently neither “good” nor “evil”, like nature is neither “good” nor “evil”.
Sorcery in MYFAROG is a very “fairy tale” like thing, and it is heavily based on European customs and traditions, but although it has a special European feel to it, it is still not very different from the sorcery of other fantasy games. So again I don’t try to re-invent the wheel.
Sorcery in MYFAROG is real, powerful and very much a factor in society. The world is actually still on a technologically rather primitive level (at least from our modern point of view) because of sorcery! Why would you e. g. need planes when you can ride through their air on your sorcerer’s staff, or summon a giant bird to carry you wherever you want to go, or make a hamr («shape») of a flying creature and fly yourself? Why would you need fast land transportation when you can cast a «Seven-Mile-Boots» spell on your boots and run like the wind? If you have sorcery you really don’t need technology…
There are no «Spell Points», «Mana», «Powerpoints» or anything of that sort in MYFAROG. Instead the sorcerer simply grows tired from casting spell – meaning he will spend the same SP (Stamina Points) he would have spent if he performed some other physically exhausting activity (like fighting with a sword). To regain them he needs to rest. As simple as that. His Willpower determines for how long he can continue to cast spells (or perform other physically exhausting activities) when he grows tired (and he grows tired sooner or later, based on his Constitution) before potentially even passing out from exhaustion.
The sorcerer can learn spells rather freely, but he can only ever learn and remember a certain number of spells (based on his Intelligence). He improves his spell proficiency just like he does with his skills; through practise, and in relation to each and every spell. Fumbling when casting spells can lead to interesting results, and he can achieve not only a success or a failure when he casts a spell, but also a critical success or a critical failure. Casting a spell on another sorcerer is often a very risky business indeed, and especially so if he knows the spell you are casting on him (it can even backfire!).
A character can – when he after some time manages to gain the role of sorcerer – chose a speciality, meaning he will be better at some things at the expense of other things, or he can chose not to have a speciality.
A sorcerer can only cast spells using his sorcerer’s staff, and if you manage to catch a sorcerer all you need to make him forget all his spells is to cut his hair, beard and nails. If you do he will need some time to “re-remember” them.
Sorcery is not realistic, from our point of view, but I have tried to make sorcery realistic from the Þulêan point of view. If sorcery is real in Þulê, then sorcery is indeed realistic… in Þulê. So basically I have instead simply tried to make it believable, and to make it resonate with what we know from our European fairy tales, myths and traditional legends.
In the history of RPGs we have seen a development from characters having just about no skills (e. g. early D&D) to having so many skills that you pretty much needed to be autistic to remember even half of them (e. g. early-to-mid Rolemaster), and then finally to the pretty well-balanced skill system (e. g. the highly recommendable Stalker the SciFi Roleplaying Game). In MYFAROG there are some 51 skills, and this is probably close to becoming a bit too much for some, but they are all neccessary and they will all be used by the characters, and they (I think) cover everything the players might want their characters to do in Þulê. Now, one of the skills in particular, the «Crafts» skill, might sound a bit too general to some, but I have done it this way for the sake of playability and also out of experience; the very specialised craft skills such as «Fletching», «Pottery» and «Masonry» (to give a few examples) might be more realistic, but they are hardly ever used by the majority of players and end up just taking up space on the character sheet. If a GM still wants to include them he can simply exchange the «Crafts» skill with all the different crafts skills he may want. No problem. (On popular demand I’ll even make a separate character skills sheet where this is easily implemented, and make it a downloadable PDF here on the MYFAROG blog). In MYFAROG the «Crafts» skill will be used by characters mainly to repair broken weapons and armour.
Yet again I don’t try to re-invent the wheel, so I use a skill system that you will be familiar with from other games. You test skills against a DD (Degree of Difficulty) by casting 3D6, adding skill proficiency and any mods and then if this is equal to or higher than the DD it is a success. If not it is a failure. You can also achieve critical successes or critical failures with very poor or very good results, and you can fumble and also achieve lucky successes (meaning that if you cast three natural sixes on the dice you generally speaking automatically succeed no matter the DD). I use 3D6 because this not only allows for a more predictable result (in contrast to the total randomness of the D20 and the higher randomness of the D%), but also makes the actual skill proficiency of the character more important. It further makes any fumbles (three natural 1s) and automatic successes more rare. Finally, I think the use of only the D6 is a good choice for the simple reason that we all have these dice. If you – like most do – have a set of Monopoly, Ludo or something like that you don’t need additional purchases to be able to play MYFAROG.
In the Skills chapter of MYFAROG I include some general rules that apply to all skills, or just to one of the categories of skills (like only to MS [Movement Skills]), and then under the description of each skill I include all the information you need to know about that skill, including all relevant tables and lists. So if you want your character to e. g. Forage you have all the information you need under the description of the Forage skill.
Yes, MYFAROG is an AIO book. I prefer to release the game in just one high quality book rather than charge gamers for three (or even more) separate books. Like I have said already; additional character sheets, GM’s screens and other useful accessories will be available as free and downloadable PDFs here on the MYFAROG blog. GMs who want to preserve their rule book as much as possible can easily scan and print out or Xerox e. g. the entire Skills chapter or the entire Creatures & Phenomena in Þulê chapter, tack it all together and keep it as a supplement for easy access and use. All the most commonly used tables will in any case be found in the GM’s screen.
Skills can generally speaking be improved by up to 15 ranks, and is then modified by one of the character attributes, and potentially also a racial modification and perhaps also a special modification. The «Absurd» DD would then be 33 (or more), meaning you (if you have no bonus from the relevant attribute and no mods) have to cast 18 on the dice and have 15 ranks to achieve a success.
Your character generally speaking gains XP (experience points) on skills when you succeed a skill test where the DD is at least 10 points higher than your character’s skill proficiency. For every 5 XP he gains one rank. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as with skills not tested against a DD (e. g. language skills). There is also a system allowing characters to train. It might e. g. be hard to improve your First Aid skill proficiency through practise without causing quite a lot of harm on the way before you finally become a first aider able to actually help someone.
Like with the other rules of MYFAROG it is very easy to simplify, come up with good ad hoc solutions and make the skill system work very fast, or you can use all the mods and twists and make it highly realistic. It is all up to you, the gamer. The same can be said about XP. You can follow the rules slavishly, or you can as a GM simply award XP as you see fit.
A very – to my knowledge – new concept in MYFAROG is the “Power of Will” rule, that allows players to have their characters occasionally perform better by effort alone. Some times the most incompetent person can achieve great results from his efforts alone. And this is included as a factor in MYFAROG. So yet again the Willpower attribute will be of great value…. and the strong and powerful might fall to the power of the will of the weaker ones.
I can add that some of the skills that to my experience are often very much worthless in at least most other RPGs are very useful in MYFAROG, such as “Lyre Playing”, “Flute Playing”, “Singing”, “Dancing” and “Poetry”, which are instrumental for religious characters who wish to gain favour from the deities; by playing music, singing, reciting poetry and dancing for them in their temples. And they do need favour from the deities if they want to ask for Favours when in need, or if they want to ask for Divine Aid when using their skills. Sorcerers too need proficiency in the “Poetry” and “Singing” skills if they want to learn and cast powerful spells.
