REJECT MODERNITY, EMBRACE FIEND FOLIO

I was flipping through my copy of the Fiend Folio, which in my opinion is one of the most creative and unique sources of monsters in the history of Dungeons and Dragons and similar games (though I would probably put the Arduin Grimoire and All the World's Monsters on that list too), and I thought about how interesting it would be to put together a game/campaign/world using only the Fiend Folio as your main source of creatures for the game. I'm willing to stretch it to include real world animals but other than that, and any monsters which are explicitly mentioned in the text of the Folio but are not statted up therein (for instance lizard men, who are mentioned in the description of the lizard king), no creatures from other sources. So uh, here's that I guess. At present its mostly a mental exercise but I might expand on it in future, maybe statting up Fiend Folio monsters and player types for the more B/X derived rules that I'm more into.

So, where else is a good place to start but talkin' about PLAYER RACES, since the Folio does have a good number of intelligent creatures that would be suitable for such a thing. Most notably however, since we're making this world using only creatures from the Folio, I'm ruling no humans! Technically this goes against my thing above about allowing monsters mentioned in monster descriptions, but I don't care about this one, I think it would be most interesting to just have no humans.

Perhaps, however, humanity did once exist in this world, which uhh let's call it Teufelland, german names are always fun and Teufel means devil which is basically the same as fiend. But yes, perhaps humans did once exist, but disappeared rather suddenly, leaving behind a mess of ruins and towering spires. I imagine a large abandoned metropolis in a wilderness recovering from destruction, now inhabited by wholly nonhuman races.

Looking over the monsters with intelligence of at least Low (which is uh, a lot), and eliminating stuff like demons and dragons and spirits and slaadi, you still end up with a list thats a biiiit too unwieldy to really use as a list of playable races. So how about we group 'em together and narrow it down!

The FF ettercap... one of my fav monsters

Humanoid types:

Dark Elves (technically other kinds of elves are mentioned in their description but I think its more fun to just use drow)

Svirfneblin (same thing as above but with gnomes, I'm only gonna use deep gnomes here tho)

Goblins (they are mentioned in the description of the Nilbog and I kinda like them)

Githyanki

Githzerai

Animal People types:

Aarakocra (really wish there was a better name, its a bit of a mouthful honestly)

Bullywug

Crabman

Ettercap

Firenewt

Kenku

Kuo-toa

Lizardmen (mentioned in the description of the Lizard King and I rather like them)

Quaggoth

Tabaxi

Beautiful flies : )

Even this list is a bit long, but a picture starts to reveal itself... a lot of creatures that are stereotypically inimical to human civilization, a lot that live underground, and a Lot of animal people. A final list of playable races I think would be below... and note that I'm emphasizing playable because I have some ideas for some of these other folks!

Bullywugs

Crabmen

Dark Elves

Deep Gnomes

Firenewts

Goblins

Kenku

Lizardmen

Having these eight as the playable races provide a really really interesting array of concepts and sources of inspiration, and a pretty even divide between the more human-like races (dark elves, deep gnomes, goblins) and animaloids (bullywugs, crabmen, firenewts, kenku, lizardmen). I imagine this world as almost a Gothic Gamma World, a land of imposing castles and dreary rocky outcroppings and long abandoned sorcerous laboratories. Perhaps there is a society made up of dark elves, deep gnomes, goblins, and kenku that lives underground and in the shadows of the cities above. Maybe the underground can be the default core of society! Wouldn't it be interesting for deep cities in caverns lit by glowing mushrooms and crystals to be the "civilized" world while the towering spires above are the dangerous dungeons?

Maybe infravision, since a lot of these races have that in AD&D, would be the default way to see the world, with bright light being the vision hazard. I think it would be very fun to intensify infravision so that creatures with it flat out cannot see in bright light at all, and must bring darkness with them, or bring their own underground light sources... One of the big benefits of the firenewts and crabmen could be them having the inverse, with brightvision that helps them work around the light hazard that the dark elves and goblins have to deal with.

Honestly it probably looks a lot like Yharnam from Bloodborne

So this is an inverted megadungeon, with the levels getting more difficult as you march up and your homebase being a city or town underground. Light is a problem to work around, and darkness is your friend. 

A ruin haunter from All Tomorrows
by CM Kosemen

The githzerai and githyanki are explicitly descended from humans according to the Fiend Folio, and I did have them on my intelligent human-types above, but I think it would be most interesting to keep them as non-playable creatures. Perhaps they are the descendants of humans from the far future, having diverged into two distinct species and ended up in outright war with one another. They traveled back in time to the post-human age that the game is set in, perhaps one fleeing the other across the time space continuum, and now they are here, battling it out in the upper spires. They wield demons and psychic abilities and future tech and well I just think that would be really fun, it is a dynamic overlay that makes the inverted megadungeon even more interesting.

Perhaps the visuals of the githyanki and githzerai could be reinterpreted (although I will admit I love the ghoulish way the githyanki look)... maybe taking a cue from actual hypothetical future human evolution like CM Kosemen's All Tomorrows?

So uhh yeah I guess this is where I'll stop for now, with a list of hypothetical playable races, a conceptual game environment, and a conflict overlaying it all to make it interesting. If people like this post I'll probably continue it, I think its a really fun and interesting concept! The Fiend Folio doesn't get enough love, so I want to give it a fair shake.

Elburz Satrapy: The Dazur Valley

 Yknow something one has got to do to actually run an old school exploration based game is actually MAKE the sandbox wilderness zone world to explore! So here is me kinda just sharing some of that process... taking a bit of inspiration from both the Gygax 75 challenge and this series of posts about making a fantasy sandbox, although I am not following either to the T. 

The satrapy of Elburz is the westernmost of the border satrapies, sandwiched between a mountain range that shields the thin strip of fertile lowlands from the high desert to the south and an inland sea to the north. As a border satrapy, the satrap of Elburz (an aged former warrior named Gholam Ruyanian) is under the domain of the Kanarang, the high military officer who stands watch in the east, the faceless tyrant of the mountains and forests. On occasion the Kanarang will pass through with his entourage, but he is for all intents and purposes a distant figure, albeit one whose dictates affect the satrapy rather harshly.

Elburz is a heavily forested and fertile land which slopes down from the foothills of the southern mountains and toward the sea. For real world reference on general appearance, think the provinces of Mazandaran and Golestan in Iran. Below are some images of what one would expect to see when traversing the wilds of Elburz satrapy.

Don't go any further in this post if you're one of the people who is interested in playing in King of Kings once I run it (which I mean, if that applies to you you know, its mostly just friends and people on the OSR discord), 'cause everything below the cut is maps and random encounter tables and the like! So shoo!

Sandstorm Worms

 In the sandy wasteland-like deserts which border the satrapies on the edge of the Empire to the north and south, numerous kinds of worms flourish. The sands have had an efflorescence of diverse worm species, adapted to almost every niche and lifestyle, forced into unusual modes of living by the stark environments in which they live. Some of the more unusual of these are the sessile sorts of worms, one of the more well known of which being the sandstorm worm.

They look almost like sulfide worms,
but in deserts and not deep sea

Sandstorm worms ensconce themselves in a partially translucent shell that keeps them moist and slimy, hibernating and resting until the winds kick up billowing clouds of sand. Sand is what the worms eat, catching the ground up particles on their long bodies that extend high into the air during sandstorms. If the winds calm for months on end, the worms tear their shells off of the rocks they are rooted in and crawl to a new location, eating sand from the dunes that surround them until they reach a new home. This is a dangerous thing for them, however; the horrible heat of the sun will kill them in only a few hours. They are only able to eat sand during sandstorms because of the darkness afforded them by the clouds of dust.

The gullet of the sandstorm worm is filled with pearls, black and brown in coloration. The easiest way to get at them is to find a worm with its body extended out from its moist shell, for they are almost defenseless from that position, but most of the time this means venturing out to harvest wormpearls during a desert sandstorm, an incredibly dangerous proposition indeed. The worm's shell is incredibly difficult to pierce otherwise. The chiefs of the nomads in the worm deserts often put wormpearls on their necks or on their crowns, showing off the natural wealth of their environment, and shipments of rare wormpearls are a luxury item worth great amounts in cities and towns. In the capital, they compete with gulf pearls, which are more common but, so it is said, less beautiful.

A sandstorm worm with no pearls will starve, for the pearls are part of their digestion process. After enough time, a wormpearl will melt away as new ones take its place, the worm's guts filled to the brim with the glittering stomach-rocks.

Sandstorm Worm

Armor Class: 19 (in shell), 7 (out of shell)

Hit Dice: 3

Attacks: flailing (1d12+1 to all in melee range)

To-Hit: +5

Movement: 20' (0')

Saving Throws: D12/W13/P14/B15/S16 (see below)

Morale: 6

Alignment: Neutral

XP: 35

Number Appearing: 1d6 (2d6)

Damage Reduction: When the worm is in its shell, it takes 3 fewer points of damage from all weaponry other than bludgeon weapons. Missile attacks have no effect when in its shell.

Decapitation: Two-handed bladed melee weapons instantly kill the worm when it is extended out of its shell, cutting it in two.

Immobile: Due to their very slow movement and general sessile behavior, sandstorm worms cannot move in combat and automatically fail any saving throws against area of effect powers, such as spells and dragon breath. When the worm is extended outside of its shell, its AC is 7.

Wormpearl: 200 coins per pearl (average of 4d6 large pearls per worm). 2 pearls take up one inventory slot.

Oh Hey Also How About Some Sandstorm Rules

Since the sandstorm worm's biggest challenge and consideration is having to reach it and deal with during a sandstorm, probably should have something about when sandstorms happen and what affect they have.

When the characters are venturing through a desert, there is a percentage chance that a dust storm kicks up on each watch (i.e. each time the group enters a 6 mile hex). The chance depends on the season, although it may vary by desert and its relative position in the continent.

    Spring: 20%

    Summer: 30%

    Fall: 10%

    Winter: 5%

If two dust storms are rolled on the same day, it means a sand storm has begun. 

During a dust storm, visibility is slightly hampered but conditions are not especially more dangerous. Due to the reduced visibility, all creatures take -2 to all rolls made in the dust storm. Uncovered light sources such as torches will automatically be snuffed out, and lanterns will be snuffed out half the time. Sandstorm worms will begin to reveal themselves during dust storms.

During a sandstorm, visibility is heavily hampered and conditions become much more dangerous. All creatures caught in the sandstorm take -4 to all rolls, and both uncovered and covered light sources will be snuffed out. Creatures caught in the storm take 1d3 damage per round, and there is a chance of suffocation from the sand if a creature that breathes does not cover their mouth and nose. A creature with uncovered mouth and nose has a number of rounds equal to their CON score before they suffocate. Additionally, travel through a sandstorm increases the chance of getting lost when traveling to 5-in-6.

(The above sandstorm rules are influenced by the sandstorm rules from the 3.5e book Sandstorm but reinterpreted through a B/X lens, with chances for sandstorms by hex rather than by DM fiat. Also since traveling through the desert during a sandstorm is a recipe for getting lost, even getting to the worms in the first place is a bit of a feat in and of itself)

The Half-Jinni: A Class for King of Kings

 Angels are souls blown into lights,

jinn are souls blown into winds,

and human beings are souls blown into shapes.

-Ibn 'Arabi

Indeed, We created man from sounding clay moulded from black mud. 

As for the jinn, We created them earlier from smokeless fire.

-Surah al-Hijr, the Holy Qur'an (transl. Dr. Mustafa Khattab)

Narrated Aisha, Umul Mu'minin:

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to me: Have the mugharribun been seen among you? I asked: What do the mugharribun mean? He replied: They are those in whom is a strain of the jinn.

-a hadith reported by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, from the Sahih Muslim

The jinn are fickle, pernicious spirits that were created by truth in ancient days, even before human beings were created. Before the deluge, the jinn lived in the first city alongside human beings, made to bring truth to the world of spirits just as humankind were to bring truth to the beasts. In the millennia since, however, they have grown distant and distrusting, and are the cause of many diseases, possessions, and curses. They are mysterious and monstrous beings, and people are wont to give them a wide berth and treat them with care and fear.

On occasion, a jinni may have a child with a human being. This was more common in ancient days, but even to this day such babies are born, looking at first as a normal child but growing more and more monstrous with age. An arm gradually becomes invisible, their teeth and hair grow uncontrollably... and oftentimes, their parents through them into the street, or tie iron to them to stunt their growth. Half-jinni, or more properly mugharribun, are these abandoned children, forced to fend for themselves in the streets, turning invisible in quick moments to dodge out of danger or snatch bits of food. They are some of the ultimate outcasts, with the sole exception of some of those of high birth who find themselves strangely favored for their supernatural bearing. It is said that some of the queens and kings of ancient days were themselves half-jinn.

Since they live only in the human world, the half-jinn have no real connection to the realm of spirits, other than their ability to see such immaterial beings. The jinn pay them no heed, and oftentimes a half-jinni will be just as susceptible to their whims and schemes as a human would be. 

Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, a mugharriba according to al-Hamdani

The Half-Jinni

A class for use with Old School Essentials (or any similar ruleset)

Requirements: Minimum DEX 9, STR 9, and WIS 9

Prime Requisite: WIS

Hit Dice: d6

Maximum Level: 12

Armor: Leather only, and shields

Weapons: Any (see below)

Languages: Shahanistani, one additional language

XP to Level 2: 3,000

A half-jinni with at least 13 WIS gains a +5% bonus to experience. If they have a 16 WIS or higher, they have a +10% bonus to experience.

Combat

Half-jinn advance in combat ability as clerics. They are able to use all types of weapon, but are unable to wield iron weapons due to the discomfort they feel around the material. For the same reason, they are unable to wear iron armor, but may wear leather armor and carry shields.

Fear of Iron

Half-jinn inherit their intense fear of iron from their jinn ancestors. Being in contact with iron nullifies all of their supernatural abilities and brings them intense fear. A half-jinn in contact with iron cannot become invisible, and if they were invisible they immediately cease being invisible. When in contact with iron, the half-jinni has -2 on all rolls (attack rolls, saving throws, etc). Injuries from iron weaponry maintain these effects until healed (either naturally or magically).

Invisibility

Half-jinn, just like the jinn themselves, are able to turn invisible to the naked eye. However, due to their partially spiritual nature, they are only able to do so for short periods of time. A half-jinni has a set amount of time per day that they can be invisible without dangerously overstretching themself, tearing their soul from their body. The jinni player is able to decide whether to use their whole time in one single use, or space it out over the course of the day. This begins at one round (6 seconds) of invisibility and increases as the half-jinni levels up. Spirits and those with magically enhanced vision are able to see through the invisibility.

Jinn Ancestry

Due to their supernatural ancestry, half-jinn are not wholly human. They are half-spirits, existing simultaneously in the realm of the jinn and simultaneously in the physical world. The unarmed attacks of the half-jinni count as magical weapons for the purpose of hitting opponents (and thus are able to damage immaterial, supernatural, or otherwise magical beings). Additionally, they do not have a normal human appearance. Due to their unusual appearance, they have -1 to reaction rolls with humans. Roll on the tables below to generate your half-jinni's monstrous visage.

Skin Color (1d8)

01. Pale white

02. Mossy green

03. Bright red

04. Searing yellow

05. Pale blue

06. Dark maroon

07. Light green

08. Mottled orange

Skin Texture (1d8)

01. Scaly

02. Ashen

03. Slimy

04. Paper-thin

05. Hairy

06. Lumpy

07. Feathery

08. Dry

Additional Feature

01. Invisible limb

02. Goat legs

03. Long tongue

04. Boar tusks

05. Vestigial wings

06. Monkey tail

07. One eye

08. Dog snout

09. Owl eyes

10. Horns atop head

11. Bat nose

12. Donkey ears

Saving Throws

Half-jinn save as fighters, but receive +2 to saves against fire.

Spirit Vision

Due to their nature as half-spirits, half-jinni are able to see all spirits.

Wolf Hatred

Wolves despise all jinn, and even half-jinn draw their ire. Wolves will attack half-jinn on sight, although they will roll morale and flee as normal after combat begins.

Yes you can totally look like a tiefling if you'd like
(also planescape tieflings best tieflings)

Level: Invisibility Time

1: one round (6 sec.)

2: two rounds (12 sec.)

3: three rounds (18 sec.)

4: four rounds (24 sec.)

5: five rounds (30 sec.)

6: ten rounds (1 min.)

7: fifteen rounds (1.5 min.)

8: twenty rounds (2 min.)

9: thirty rounds (3 min.)

10: forty rounds (4 min.)

11: fifty rounds (5 min.)

12: one turn (10 min.)

Burgeoning Worm

 Yknow for a blog named "Save vs. Worm", not a single worm has graced my posts! It is time to rectify that!

(Oh and warning for body horror and parasitism here)

Scholarly Pursuits

 Something I have been really interested in bringing into my fantasy dungeon delving games is the concept of an adventuring archaeologist, historian, or biologist, someone more focused on specialist knowledge than they are on combat prowess or sorcery. Often DnD clones put this scholarly role onto magic-users, but I'm kind of more interested in magic-users/wizards being esoteric mystics and the like, more than medieval men and women of learning. So hey here is my attempt at making an interesting scholar class for B/X and similar games!

Oh and something else: the core conceit of this class is heavily inspired by this post over at d4 Caltrops. I thought it was very very well suited to the idea of the scholar class in my head! Just to show my inspirations I guess, also go check out his blog it is very lovely!!

The Scholar

A class for use with Old School Essentials (or any similar ruleset)

Requirements: None

Prime Requisite: INT

Hit Dice: d4

Maximum Level: 14

Armor: All armor, but no shields

Weapons: None (see below)

Languages: 2 additional languages

XP to Level 2: 1,500

A scholar with at least 13 INT gains a +5% bonus to experience. If they have 16 INT or higher, they have a +10% bonus to experience.

Close Examination

A scholar may attempt a very close and meticulous examination of something to ascertain elements of its nature or further details that may not be apparent to the untrained eye, so long as the item pertains to one of their fields of study. This takes a number of exploration turns determined by the referee, and requires tools and reference books. If the scholar takes the full time needed to perform the examination, they discover any and all information from the thing being examined. However, if the scholar must rush their examination, they must roll on the rushed examination table, provided below. A normal rushed examination is made by rolling 2d6, but if it is something they have no real reference for (such as if it is something alien to their understanding or something unusually obscure), they roll 2d4, and if it pertains to a field of study they are currently specialized in they roll 2d8. A successful roll produces new information about the subject. A superb investigation (A+) provides unusual or obscure information beyond what would normally be learned. The scholar should always roll, even when an automatic superb success is indicated on the table; on a result of 2 they fail.

Combat

Scholars can wear all types of armor but cannot use shields. They progress as thieves for purposes of their to-hit bonuses, but are unable to use any weaponry in combat if they do not use one of their specialization slots (described below) to specialize in that type of weapon.

Fields of Study

Scholars have at least some basis of understanding in a wide range of subjects. A scholar begins play with 1+INT modifier fields of study, and may acquire more by seeking out experienced teachers and sages to learn under. Almost any knowledge relating to a field of study a scholar has can be recalled with ease in normal circumstances. A scholar can pick from the general list provided below, or from a list provided by their referee.

        Alchemy, Archaeology, Architecture, Astrology, Botany, Cooking, Demonology, Engineering, Entomology, Epigraphy, Heresiology, Herpetology, History (Ancient), History (Dynastic), History (Local), Mineralogy, Ornithology, Pathology, Poetry, Theology

        (Additionally, a scholar may add training with a weapon type or fighting style as a field of knowledge. When that weapon type or fighting style is specialized in (see below), the scholar's attack bonus is added to attack rolls.
Magic Item Use

Scholars are able to use all magic items, regardless of typical class restrictions, so long as they are allow use of items of that type normally (no weapons unless that weapon type is specialized in).

Saving Throws Scholars save as thieves, but receive +2 to saves against being charmed or ensorcelled. Specializations Scholars must brush up on the fields of study they have knowledge of during downtime between adventures; their heads cannot brim with every little bit of knowledge all the time! At level one, a scholar has 1 specialization slot that they can put a field of knowledge they already know into. Fields of knowledge can only be switched out with considerable time spent in study. Only fields that they are presently specialized in can be used to their full ability during adventures. The number of specialization slots a scholar has is equal to half their level, rounded up (1 at level 1, 2 at level 3, 3 at level 5, so on).

You too can do this with some blind pale cave turtle in a vaguely medieval dungeon!

Rushed Examinations Table

Level	1 turn	2 turns	3 turns	4 turns	5 turns	6 turns	7 turns	8 turns	9 turns	10 turns
1	9	11	13	15	--	--	--	--	--	--
2	7	9	11	13	15	--	--	--	--	--
3	5	7	9	11	13	15	--	--	--	--
4	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	--	--	--
5	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	--	--
6	3	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	--
7	A+	3	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	15
8	A+	A+	3	3	3	5	7	9	11	13
9	A+	A+	A+	3	3	3	5	7	9	11
10	A+	A+	A+	A+	3	3	3	5	7	9

Some Design Notes I Guess

To me, the scholar functions as a unique kind of support class, i.e. one that is supposed to help provide the group with longevity in the dungeon, increase the amount of time that they can continue on. However, it does this not through healing of hit points (which in OSE/BX is something clerics do, and which I'm potentially interested in making a function of items rather than class abilities), but through allowing then to do something that normally requires going back to town for: identifying items, reading ancient inscriptions, figuring out stuff about that monster you just killed, etc. They are rather weak in all other respects really, so a scholar character, just like a magic-user, would be something closely guarded by the rest of the group. They might seem suited only to very specific circumstances, but the wide array of potential fields of study and the ability of a scholar player to specialize in certain fields expands their usefulness. Also I gave them the option to specialize in weapons so that if a scholar player really does want to fight, they can.