HOLMENTZER ENCUMBRANCE

[I've never been much into bookkeeping re: encumbrance, and have always hated in video games when I have to spend time choosing what I want to keep and what I want to drop. That said, as annoying as it can be, I wanna give the rules a try, mainly for the humorous possibilities they offer.]

[Holmentzer Players Handbook]

MOOR'S END - 14 & 15

So at 3:00 AM the party returns to the Inn of the Forgotten Worm where they get the best sleep they can before setting out for the Caves in the morning, a return to their quest in obtaining the diamond spider relic which Mattie the Mournful of the Church of the White Widow has told them a pack of bandits stole during a ceremony at the church.

Jin visits the grave of his brother on the way, wood elves are encountered in a cave by a pool and join the party, the statue of a rat god is seen in a clearing, a large, sleeping wolf is bypassed, a cave of bone examined, a gelatinous cube burned into ash, a pack of giant rats sliced up...

New party member, Dafydd, elvish magic-user from Glowing Pines, elaborates:

17th hummingbird
 
The halfling came up to save me from the bartender, i’m grateful but concerned, talkative folk always unnerve me. Turns out they did indeed venture into this library, but it seems they already looted the place. They seem to be venturing into the nearby caverns i’ve heard that there is something magical about these caverns perhaps it would be beneficial to join them. Also i want to leave town for awhile, i don’t know if that elf is from Glowing Pines or not, but he seems familiar.
 
We entered into the caves and ran into a group of wood elves. I was cautious at first, but it seems they don’t know me. Their leader Helium the Blue seems an honest fellow. I was thrust into the role of translator for the band of adventurers. I care not for this spider of the church, but magical caverns and an evil rising in the north-east are interesting.

A group of berserkers came upon us. We almost had a fight, but it seems one of their party had joined my new compatriots and died, I hope my fate will be different. We keep finding old potato sacks; it is most curious.
 
We found a strange statue of a rat-god of some sort. I for one am not into the study of the gods, but it is interesting nonetheless.

We came across some sort of gelatinous monstrosity. My new compatriots are suicidal, they wanted to fight it for treasure! We were lucky to defeat it. We were also lucky that group of orcs that stumbled by was smaller than our group. Among the loot we found three rings, a shield, a hammer and a strange wooden box. I also found a bone flute of some sort.

The wood elves and I were leading the group when we were attacked by giant rats. At first we were too surprised to engage effectively, but after a moment we felled one and all of the beasties. I was bitten quite efficiently, I believe I need a moment of rest. I am beginning to feel that this group may get me killed after all. Won’t that please the citizens of Glowing Pines.

And lastly, some inspired prose from Jinshen the Monk:

12:30 PM, Sunday, 17th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Moor's End, Furthermoor.

HOLMENTZER TRAPS

More and more, I'm seeing how Mentzer's Basic Players Manual can come in handy for Holmentzer.

[Holmentzer Players Handbook]

MOOR'S END - 13

[b/c of my Holmentzer obsession, session reports will be abbreviated for a bit; I'm backed up, here's to gettin' closer]

Though most of the party made it out of the library, Link leapt to his death on trap spikes and Clone was imploded on impact. I think someone even made it out w/ a book.

3:00 AM, Sunday, 17th day of the month of the Hummingbird, Moor's End, Furthermoor

ELVES - PART II - WOOD ELVES

[Previous post about elves here.]

Wood elves are not often seen in Furthermoor, as they generally keep to the deeps of the woods, their communities good eyes among swirling storms of chaos. Their cities are built upon trees with mighty branches and leveled shrubbery, ladders and bridges leading to and fro. The ancient wood elf city of Bonsai, may or may not have been the first city in Furthermoor, or Wild Earth for that matter. Early in Wild Earth history, this unknown fact caused much antagonism between a burgeoning Furthermoor City, and the supposed city of gold in the east, Fezco.

For while the Fez happened upon Bonsai and made friends with the wood elves, or so they thought, the humans knew nothing of them, and in contrast found themselves attacked by wood elves when attempting to establish a port in the swampland across the water from Furthermoor City. Though the Fez at that time divided their worship between that of the Sun and Set, it is quite clear they had great reverence and admiration for the wood elves, as many decorative Fezco reliefs show them greeting them as minor deities.

That Old Dream Green Man by Eric Whollem

One hundred and thirty seven years later Seven Moons appeared. In the far west of Wild Earth, the flickering of rainbow lightning could be seen off and on for a number of years, and during those years, chaos festered, finally spilling into the lands like no one had ever seen. After the great worms appeared, during the years of earthquakes, lawful beings in Furthermoor joined together to construct a wall, from the sea in the southwest, up to the northern icy reaches, just west of the Howling Moors. This division of Wild Earth took hundreds of years to complete and the lands west of the wall came to be known as Kush, land of Kushdar.

Eventually, wood elves found themselves fighting side-by-side with humans and other demi-humans, against evil forces such as orcs, goblins, undead, etc. It is also of note, that during the Fez Furthermoor War, the wood elves made no appearance for its entire seven year duration.

As elves, wood elves harbor the capacity for magic, however, not all of them tap into it. Holmes writes in his characters section, "some elves" have the advantage of "being able to work magical spells." Therefore, many wood elves don't know how to cast magic (90%), though they do have innate magical qualities.*

Appearance-wise, they're similar to high elves, though more rugged and wear foliage for dress, sometimes even wooden armor. A wood elf's skin is green, and as they age, they decline in height and size. The oldest known living wood elf, or elf in general, is the Old Elf/Man of Gold Mountain, said to be 4023 years old. In East Furthermoor, some of the Fez believe that the Old Man, along with a Spider and the Sun, created Wild Earth.

In woods, or near woods, wood elves are mostly invisible to the general eye and they gain surprise on 1-5 of 6, even against high, or half-elves. Also, within maelstroms of chaos, wood elves are able to bargain with ancient chaotic forces unlike lawful, neutral, or other chaotics. Though the lawful have never truly trusted wood elves, the chaotic fear them.

Magic fascinates elves, however, and if they have a weakness it lies in this desire. - AD&D DMG

These creatures are very reclusive and generally (75%) avoid all contact. Wood elves... are unusually strong for elves... but they are not quite as intelligent... They usually wear studded leather or ring mail (armor class 6) and fully 50% of any band is equipped with bows. Only 20% carry swords. 40% of wood elves use spears. - AD&D Monster Manual

When a group of 50 (or possibly fewer) is encountered, they will have a leader (fighter/magic-user) of 2-4 level/2-8 level ability. - Holmes, pg. 25

* There are times when a non-magic wood elf may do something magical effortlessly, without casting etc. More on this at another time, when perhaps wood elf PCs are an option.

GNOMES

[while working hexes outside of Moor's End, play-testing the Holmentzer Wilderness Hex Generator, I realized how many gnomes live around there, and remembered, in Crackenmore, the gnomes around the glowing rock traveled from the south]

GNOMES

[Gnomes] live in air-enclosed cities on the bottom connected to the surface by tunnels. - Blackmoor, pg. 24

Gnomes are similar to dwarves, whom they resemble. They are smaller, have longer noses and beards and inhabit low-land and hill burrows rather than mountains. They favor crossbows. - Holmes, pg. 28

Gnomes have well-developed infravision, with a 90' range... Gnomes are excellent metalsmiths and miners. They love gold and gems and have been known to make bad decisions just to obtain them. They love machinery of all kinds and prefer crossbows and war hammers as weapons. Gnomes like most dwarves... war with goblins and kobolds who steal their precious gold. They usually attack kobolds on sight. - Mentzer Basic DMR, pg. 30

Currently, a gnome character can be either a fighter, magic-user, thief, paladin, or healer. A gnome may multi-class among the basic four classes if they'd like, e.g. fighter/thief, magic-user/thief, though they may not multi-class as a paladin or healer. Lastly, if they do multi-class, they will be restricted to the wearing of leather armor, and must split experience equally between each class.

Final details from AD&D Player's Handbook:

Saving Throws are identical to those of dwarves & halflings; however, as stated above, gnomes will generally have an even better saving throw vs. magic depending on their CONstitution score.


GNOMES IN FURTHERMOOR

Gnomes are sometimes spotted in the hilly lands east of Moor's End, south of Hood Hollow, west of Octopus Lake, near what is known as the Land of Horses. It is said that gnomes had great cities under the south section of the Howling Moors, but when their tunnels were infiltrated by the Fez and their Orcs, a Gnomish Offensive pushed their chaotic enemies up & out of the tunnels, into the nearby hills, setting the stage for the Last Battle, between lawful humans, elves and dwarves against the Fez. Though some gnomes returned to the great cities, many decided to burrow elsewhere about the land. They also say that the great worms are returning, making ways through the land once more. Said to have originally bored the tunnels at the edge of the moors thousands of years ago, a purple worm is generally seen by a gnome at an early age.

HOLMENTZER MAGIC-USERS

HOLMENTZER MAGIC-USERS

Humans who elect to become magic-users must not wear armor and can carry only a dagger for protection. They can, however, use almost all magical items, but not magical swords and other magical arms other than daggers. They have the advantage (shared with clerics and some elves*) of being able to work magical spells. At the start, however, they can cast only one spell and must advance a level in experience before they can learn another. Thus the magic-user starts out as an extremely weak character, but if he survives and rises in experience, he becomes increasingly powerful... Magic-users, of course, may be either... lawful or chaotic, and most of their spells remain the same. - Holmes, pg. 6

The magic-user acquires books containing the spells, the study of which allows him to memorize a spell for use. He can then throw the spell by saying the magic words and making gestures with his hands. This means that a magic-user bound and gagged cannot use his magic... A magic-user must concentrate on his spell, so he can not cast a spell and walk or run at the same time, and he certainly can not cast a spell while engaged in combat. Then, after all that, the spell may not work! - Holmes, pg. 13

To learn a spell, the magic-user must be completely rested. A good night's sleep is enough. The character then gets out the spell book and studies the spells to be used, which takes an hour or less... In more advanced games, adventures may last more than a day. In such cases, a magic-user can study spells each morning, if completely rested. A mule should be brought along on long adventures, to carry the spell book^ along with normal equipment. But beware! If the book is lost... - Mentzer Basic PM, pg. 38

Also, from Mentzer:

Magic-users never trade spells, nor do they ever allow anyone (except their teachers) to read their spell books.

Magic-users also have the following abilities, per Holmes:

SCROLL GENERATION

Scrolls are written in magic runes that fade from the page as they are read, so a scroll also can only be used once. Magic users may make a scroll of a spell they already "know" (i.e. have in their magic book) at a cost of 100 gold pieces and 1 week's work for each spell of the first level, 200 gold pieces and 2 weeks for a second level spell (if the magic-user is third level), etc.

MAGIC RESEARCH

It is also possible for a magic-user, through the expenditure of much money for research, to create new spells. The Dungeon Master must agree that the spell is appropriate to the level of the character trying to create it, the magic-user must spend 2000 gold pieces per level of spell and one week of time. He then has a 20% chance of success... [if] the spell research was successful, the magic-user writes it into his book and may use the spell...

Lastly, once more from Mentzer Basic Players Manual, pg. 38:

If a new spell is found on a scroll, it may be added to the magic-user's book - but this can only be done once for each scroll spell, and uses up the scroll in the process. If the spell is of too high a level to be cast, it cannot be put into the book... A spell on a scroll may be saved, to put into a book at a future time. [However] any magic-user can cast a spell found on a scroll as if it were memorized, regardless of the level of the spell.

For info on what spells a beginning magic-user has in his or her 1st level spell book, see HERE.

* In our game, as all PCs are high elves, they have magic abilities. Any elf can multi-class as a magic-user + another qualified class; however, an elf may also choose to be a magic-user only. In this case, they follow the spell book generation rules as a magic-user, except they use the elf spell list. Otherwise, for a multi-classed elf, the DM will let you know what spells are in your book.

^ Still trying to figure out how I want to deal with this "lugging of the spell book bit", see HERE for some thoughts (toward bottom of post), but gonna sleep on it.