Ratnyvarosh: Rules for NPCs (Part 2): The Expert Class

EXPERT CLASS

Experts are similar to commoners, with the exception of having a natural aptitude toward their chosen profession. Only individuals who are atypically strong, intelligent, wise, etc. qualify for this class. This aptitude is NOT in martial pursuits, simply the secondary skill areas. The warrior class is the appropriate class for combat-minded base-born NPCs.

Experts require a single score of 15 in the primary ability score of their initial skill. For example, for a blacksmith to utilize the expert class, they need a strength of 15.

Experts have the following abilities and restriction:

* Dual experience use

* Inability to receive ability score bonuses

Experts can gain proficiency in club, dagger, quarterstaff, scythe, sling, and spear. They begin the game with one weapon proficiency and earn a new one every five levels. They suffer a -6 penalty on “to hit” rolls with weapons they are not trained in. Experts are proficient in only leather or padded armor. Experts fight using attack column A and never advance in martial ability.

Table A-X: Expert Level Advancement

X.P. Level HP.

0 1 1d4

1001 2 2d4

2001 3 3d4

4001 4 4d4

8001 5 5d4

16001 6 6d4

32001 7 7d4

64001 8 8d4

128001 9 9d4

192001 10 9d4+1

252001 11 9d4+2

+64000 +1 +1

Dual Experience Use

As an expert gains experience (typically through the daily x.p. means, occasionally through the ill-advised adventure), they are able to use their x.p. earned to count towards both leveling and skill purchase. So, an expert who has just reached level 3 will also have 2,001 x.p. to spend on skills.

Inability to Receive Ability Score Bonuses

Experts have simply not developed the self-awareness to translate their natural abilities into benefits in combat. Experts do not receive melee “to hit” or damage bonuses from strength, positive magical attack adjustments from wisdom, initiative, missile “to hit”, or armor class bonuses from dexterity, or hit point bonuses from constitution. Experts with low scores, however, receive the penalties inherent.

Ratnyvarosh: Rules for NPCs (Part 1): The Commoner Class

THE COMMONER CLASS

Commoners represent the bulk of the world of Ratnyvarosh’s population. Typically commoners are tradesmen who do not qualify for the expert class and have not dedicated their lives to martial pursuits, as the warrior class. They are of base-born stock, with upper class-born using the noble class.

There are no specific requirements to be a commoner. 

Commoners have the following abilities and restriction:

* Limited dual experience use

* Inability to receive ability score bonuses

Commoners can gain proficiency in club, dagger, quarterstaff, scythe, sling, and spear. They begin the game with one weapon proficiency and earn a new one every five levels. They suffer a -6 penalty on “to hit” rolls with weapons they are not trained in. Commoners are proficient in only leather or padded armor. Commoners fight using attack column A and never advance in martial ability.

Table A-1: Commoner Level Advancement

X.P. Level HP.

0 1 1d4

1001 2 1d4+1

2001 3 2d4+1

4001 4 2d4+2

8001 5 3d4+2

16001 6 3d4+3

32001 7 4d4+3

64001 8 4d4+4

128001 9 5d4+4

192001 10 5d4+5

252001 11 5d4+6

+64000 +1 +1

Limited dual experience use

As a commoner gains experience (typically through the daily x.p. means, occasionally through the ill-advised adventure), for every two x.p. they gain, they are able to sink one experience point into a skill without sacrificing the point for leveling. For example, a commoner who has just reached 2^nd level has 500 free x.p. to spend on skills (usually buying back their initial skill in escrow).

Inability to Receive Ability Score Bonuses

Commoners have simply not developed the self-awareness to translate their natural abilities into benefits in combat. Commoners do not receive melee “to hit” or damage bonuses from strength, positive magical attack adjustments from wisdom, initiative, missile “to hit”, or armor class bonuses from dexterity, or hit point bonuses from constitution. Commoners with low scores, however, receive the penalties inherent.

Ratnyvarosh: Character Creation (Part 2): Classes - Bards and Jesters

Bards (and Jesters)

Human bard player characters are considered Bachelors of Arts from the Bardic Academy of Ratnyvarosh. They are assumed to have completed their apprenticeship and early studies and are traveling the world as journeymen. The Bards of Ratnyvarosh are the primary historians of the town, reciting great epics of heroes past and joining parties of adventurers to chronicle the next generation of greatness. Elven bards are assumed to have progressed from the intense one-on-one tutoring under a Great Minstrel and are currently wandering the lands to learn new music and compose songs based upon their travels. Bards are unchanged from the Adventures Dark and Deep Players’ Manual.

Jesters (only playable by humans) learn their craft from the highly secretive (and paranoid) Jester’s Guild. They look to keep a monopoly on mirth in Ratnyvarosh, and while they don’t get involved in every joke made within the walls, anyone who looks to start making a living at comedy will often be given one invitation to join the guild. One. No one knows what they do with the people who defy them, but they are rarely seen again. Jesters are unchanged from the Adventures Dark and Deep Players’ Manual.

Ratnyvorosh: Character Creation (Part 1): Abilities and Race

Character generation for the Ratnyvarosh campaign follows the standard Adventures Dark and Deep guidelines, with modifications and descriptions provided below.

ABILITY SCORES

Ratnyvarosh characters’ ability scores are generated by rolling 4d6, dropping the lowest score and applying the results in order to the six ability scores: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. After those scores are generated, players can choose one of two options to modify their scores:

1.) A player may swap two scores (and only two scores), provided the higher score goes into an ability which is a requirement for the class the player chooses.

OR, 

2.) A player may re-roll ONE ability score, but that player MUST take the result of the second die roll, even if it is lower than the original.

The tables in the Players’ Manual pp. 4-7 are unchanged for Ratnyvarosh.

CHARACTER RACE

The town of Ratnyvarosh is 95% human, meaning there are only about 100 demi-humans in the town at any given time. While this does not preclude players from creating demi-human characters, it does serve to show that demi-humans stand out.

Dwarves are regarded as greedy hoarders of precious metals and gems. The general consensus is that they want to control all of the mining operations in the world and will resort to shady practices in order to gain control of non-dwarf mines. All dwarfs in Ratnyvarosh are of the mountain dwarf (Players’ Manual, p. 10) variety, and are simply known as dwarfs.   In addition to the rules for mountain dwarfs in the Players’ Manual, mountain dwarves suffer a -1 on all “to hit” , damage, skill, and ability rolls in bright sunlight. At night or during overcast days, they suffer no ill effects. However, they gain an additional 25% to their racial abilities in regard to stonecraft. In Ratnyvarosh, they tend to live in the Undercity, given their predilection for darker places. Hill dwarfs and grey dwarfs are not currently known to exist in the Ratnyvarosh campaign, but may make an appearance in later supplements.

Elves are trusted even less than Dwarfs. Aloof and mysterious, elves rarely show any interest in the plans of humans, looking down upon their much shorter-lived cousins. When they do interact with humanity, there are often layers between what they are trying to accomplish and what they are portraying. Inscrutable does not even begin to describe the elves. The elves encountered in Ratnyvarosh are typically of grey elf stock. The elves of Ratnyvarosh refer to themselves as the silver ones. Half-elves are EXCEEDINGLY rare and would certainly require an unusual background worked out with the game master. There are rumors of other sub-races of elves, be they the sylvan folk (wood elves in the Players’ Manual), the golden ones (high elves), or the savage folk (wild elves). Dark elves are not known to exist in the Ratnyvarosh campaign and none of the other sub races are available for use as player characters at this point. Future supplements may detail these sub-races.

Gnomes and halflings are not known to exist in the Ratnyvarosh campaign.

Half-orcs exist in the Ratnyvarosh campaign and suffer many of the traditional prejudices found in other fantasy settings. In the town of Ratnyvarosh, they are almost exclusively found in the Undercity, as the watch takes very aggressive interest in any half-orcs that choose to brave the surface. Other humanoid races are also allowed in the town, but are rare and beyond the scope of this particular supplement. Like the other races, more information regarding humanoid races as player characters may appear in later supplements.

Ratnyvarosh: Designing the Rathole

So, I am continuing to work on my Ratnyvarosh project and have started the first "neighborhood" in the town: The Rathole. Clearly, this is not the upper crust.

GAME INFORMATION

While no part of the Undercity is anyone’s idea of pleasant, the Rathole, also known as the Asshole of Ratnyvarosh, is without a doubt the least desirable place to visit, let alone live. Still, this shadowy slum provides a very necessary service to the town: Illicit goods and flesh. The Drudge Market is the only market within the town where slaves can be openly purchased and along the Whorewalk you can satisfy all manner of carnal desires—with the exception of a classy courtesan (If you have to ask where to find those, you can't afford them).

Three groups vie for control of the Rathole. The Association of Procurement, a collection of pimps and madams, controls the majority of the town's prostitution activities through both the Upper and Lower Whorewalk. The Slaver’s Guild controls the Drudge Market and Dark Market section of the Rathole. A brutal gang of thugs known as the Rat Bastards terrorize the Rat Road and Bastard Lane.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

When I get back to my apartment in NY tonight, I'll scan the detail map I made of the neighborhood and include it in a future post where I detail some of the establishments.

My plan right now is it detail 10% of the city's locations. My my estimate, it will be a little under 80. Some will be larger than others. That will give me the flexibility to add stuff as needed when I actually sit down to run the game. If this makes it to the production/distribution level, it allows whoever is using Ratnyvarosh to make it their own.

So, I'm thinking for each section it'll be: Loose background, some locations, some NPCs, and a few adventure seeds. Is there anything else people think should be on there?

At this point, I'm considering adapting it for +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark and Deep system. I've been enjoying 1e a little more lately, and I think it's the smoothest version out there.

As always, feedback is encouraged.

Ratnyvarosh, the Arena City

Well, I made a whopping one post throughout all of 2013. I am hoping that the numbers will increase considerably in 2014.

I suffer greatly from Gamer ADD (I'm curious if that has anything to do with my actual ADHD), and even going through blog posts past, you can see I start and discards with disappointing frequency. My goal during this semester away from graduate school is to actually finish a project, to the point where I could consider collecting it and distributing in a PDF format.

The bi-weekly AD&D group I play in recently started a new shared-world campaign, allowing us to rotate through the DM position. I was considering creating a Tekumel-style undercity for our tentpole crater city, but during research, the idea morphed into my current project--Ratnyvarosh, the Arena City. I was researching Roman architecture and stumbled upon the Wikipedia entry for the Arles Ampitheatre. The idea of an arena being turned into a town fascinated me, and that's what I've been working on.

I am probably cramming more people into this city than existed in Arles, although the footprint is largely the same. There are close to a thousand "buildings" in the town, the majority small 10'x10' cubicles or shacks. So the image that is slowly being constructed is a densely packed, grimy, smoky town with plenty of dark alleys for illicit activity juxtaposed with some elaborate mansions and palaces.

The world surrounding Ratnyvarosh is a largely ruined post-apocalyptic wilderness. It has to be to keep the Varoshi penned up in a cesspool. I've started throwing around some ideas of what is around the city, using a pointcrawl motif where wilderness site like the Blasted Ruins and Barren Shores are linked to specific locations such as the Citadel of the Bound and the Wrecked Spaceship. Serious development on that will come if I actually finish a treatment for the city itself.

I've finished the preliminary maps, so now I am going to pore over them over the next few days and figure out what makes sense. There are three locations which are large enough to warrant being considered their own "sections"--simply called The Citadel, The Palace, and The Mansion. Other than that, I've got an undercity I need to break up into neighborhoods and the town that is exposed to sunlight to suss out.

I'll keep you posted. Here are some snaps of the maps.