Old Steel Ruins

In three months time I’m off to the 7 Hills Convention (tickets still availble), in Sheffield 18-19 April.

The con has a general theme, last year it was Sci-fi this year its Steel (Sheffield was a major Steel manufacturer). I also traditionally do an OSR game on Saturday night, which this year brings me onto:

Old Steel Ruins (Newt Newport)

System: Crypts and Things
Description:

In days of yore hot molten metal poured from the wounded Zarth. Mighty Sorcerers melded it into buildings of glittering Steel. They enslaved the land and the people. Until the Gods themselves were moved by the evil wizards hubris and buried them and their city under hot scolding sky fall ash! So the Steel Empire came to end, its treasures buried for millennia, its location a mystery.

UNTIL NOW! Brave scouts have discovered the City of Steel and have shared its location. Join the expedition to explore the Old Steel Ruins and discover THE SECRET OF STEEL!

An adventure for up to six 5th Level characters, using Crypts and Things a distinctly British Old School game, based upon the classics from the late 70s/early 80s, of Swords and Sorcery Adventure.

Tags: OSR, D&D, Swords & Sorcery, Foul smelly Khaos, Hair caked with the ash of ages, Lightly Gritted Sinews.”

Fiendish Friday: The Sorcerer

A rough draft (warning there may be typos) of something that will be revealed soon 😉

Sorcerer

Grey Sorcerer by D.M.Wright

Grey Sorcerer by D.M.Wright

Sorcerers are characters who use Magic to bend reality to their will. They cast spells, memorised from dusty tomes, to perform such wondrous feats as summoning demons, healing wounds through the words of the kindly ones, fly through the air and throw fireballs from their hands at their foes. Normal people shun and fear them, even if they practice only kindly White Magic, because of their ability to weave magic which is misunderstood and much maligned.

They’ve seen the Other Side, what lies beyond what their mentor calls the Shroud. They’ve seen the unnatural things that would tear into this reality and suck out its life force. They’ve dabbled in the dark arts, summoning these things for your Master’s ‘profit’ and gain. They’ve played the Dark Game either willingly or through force. Finally they escaped their Master’s suffocating influence, and found Freedom. Sorcerers express this freedom by being able to learn a wide variety of spells that fall into three colour categories: White, Black and Grey.

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Magicians of Zarth

Sorcerer by David Micheal Wright

Sorcerer by David Micheal Wright

The following is from a little something I’m working on for Crypts and Things.

Sorcerers are solo sorcerers who have recognised their own power and bow to no demon or deity.

Other forms of magicians who may be encountered in Zarth are as follows:

Vivimancers. Practitioners of the foul and depraved art of Vivimancy, which creates such blasphemies as the killer man goat of Zorx! This was originally the magic of the Serpent Men, who in their tyranny saw all others as their property and slave. They were always looking to create better servants by hybridising different races under their control.

Shamans. They practice an aboriginal type of magic that arises when humans worship their ancestors and the powerful sprits that exist in nature.

Necromancers. They speak with the dead and summon them from the ashes of Zarth to do their bidding.

Priests. Slaves to the Other Gods or Elemental Lords. They in turn use their magic to enslave their followers in secretive cults.

Sorcerers may learn their magic; they may for example learn the Ritual to Summon the Great Other which a cult worships, or the Fireball spell that is traditionally taught by the worshippers of the Elemental Lord of Fire. They may also find in old sorcerer’s stash of scrolls spells to summon Ancestor Spirits in a ritual that a tribal shaman would recognise. Such spells are often stripped of any reverence or dogma that the native traditions have, the Sorcerer achieving results through sheer force of Will. This is another reason why Sorcerers are hated by other magicians, because they can so easily ‘steal’ their magic and not have to follow the rules.