Well what about AD&D1e

I don't know if I could pitch that to my players (they;d find it too restrictive I think) but some combo of 1e, Osric and some of the Adventures dark and Deep Material would be a lot of fun.

As with my LL/S&W hybrid I'll use a background system instead of skills and my boon system when its done.

What planned for OS/2 Warped

Actually I do have plans for this. If the players decide to run with OS/2 Warped I'll be running a series of classic 1e modules updated. This should be a treat for me as I haven't messed with them in years and my players as the modules were out of favor about the time they entered gaming.

Which modules will be in use is yet undecided, though I am thinking Keep on the Borderlands, Sinister Secret of Salt Marsh and possibly the Assassin's Knot and the Slavers/Giants/Demonweb series as well.

The rule will be a modified version of my OS/2 Warped (available in the side bar of course) with some useful bits of Myth and Magic the 2e retro-remix added in as appropriate.

A few Random Notes from coming Old School game

I am working a bit on an "Old School" pitch for my next game. This will be offered from a menu of choices including Pathfinder-Classic, E8 Pathfinder, Variant Pathfinder/Game of Thrones E8, and OS/2 Warped. The players will be able to rate the desired games on a 1 to 5 scale and the winner will be the be that will be played. I suspect that it will be Pathfinder with my current group but I am prepared to pleasantly surprised.

What I plan for old school is thus:


Either Swords and Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord

Class and Race Separated

Additional classes of Bard and Ranger

D12 Thieving derived from modified Lament of the Flame Princess

No "Skills" system instead a background system closer to the secondary skills rules

A "Boon" system like a toned down version of that in Rolemaster or Arduin.

Now added: GURPS Ballistics Spreadsheet

Thanks to Douglas Cole for allowing me to host his work.

This spreadsheet lets you compute GURPS 4e stats for pretty much any modern firearm. It is as close to official as possible and will give very good results.

Some minor changes

I am making a few minor changes to the blog including dropping the link to Big Purple (RPG.net) , trimming a few apparently kaput blogs and a bit of this and that including hosting some GURPS fan stuff not written by me.

Lastly I may be moving away from Pathfinder material. It doesn't seem to spur much interest and there are plenty of other places for that anyway.

Stay Tuned.

Spell Point System for All Versions

Yes all versions.

My group play-tested the original version with 2e /Diablo and while it was fine for Diablo it was a bit overpowered for standard D&D. We found there was too much magic missile spamming and in games that were less undead heavy, there would almost certainly be too many sleep spells for game balance.

However this version is better balanced and should be OK for most games. And in case you wondered, I actually prefer the default Vancian system a. Its more flavorful and more D&D in my opinion.

Now what this system does is grant spell casters a bit more flexibility, a bit more power and eliminates the "15 minute adventuring day" . Its quite possible to adventure all day and manage resources with a lot more precision.

It comes at a cost in blandness and more importantly in game balance. This will make spell casters stronger and as such, even in old school games some kind of gimme for non spell casters might be a good idea.

So without further ado, Spell Points ala 5 Stone.

OSR and Pathfinder version.

Add all your spells per day together.That is your spell point pool.

You know whatever spells your DM allows and may cast them as per normal however all spells that directly inflict harm effects on people other than the caster cost Level +1. Other spells cost an amount equal to their level. when the pool reaches zero, you can no longer cast spells. You regain the pool with 10 hours uninterrupted rest.

example

Findel a 5th level Int 14 Elf Fighter/Magic User will have 10 spell points (3 1st level spell, 2 bonus spells for INT 1 L2 spell and 1 L1 spell ) He knows sleep, mount , shield, charm person, light, magic missile, web and fireball

He can cast sleep for 2, mount for 1 , shield for 1, charm person for 2 light for 1, magic missile for 2 web for 2 and fireball for 4

This certainly gives him bonus flexibility but still keeps him within reasonable limits. Now note it can prevent low level, low stat magic users or clerics from actually casting damaging spells but thats a feature not a bug.

Options

For a lower magic feel, you can double the cost of person effecting spells instead (sleep 2, web 2, Fireball 6 )

Notes:
#1 Pathfinder . You will need to exclude L0 spells in Pathfinder as these have unlimited use.

#2 Older editions. I recommend allowing high INT magic users bonus spells as per clerics in these versions as 1st level magic users will not eb able to cast direct damage spells or sleep without the extra points.

#3 3.5 version. The 3x version works identically however as cantrips are daily spells, the spell pool is calculated at Level +1 for all spells (with L0 spells costing 1 point) and spells cast from the pool at L+1 and L+2 for harmful magic ...


#4 Optional rule. If you want faster or slower recovery, you can change the recovery rate. The most popular change is 10% per hour. This is a bit of a power up so be warned!

Epic 6 and 8 Level Titles

I have been thinking about the E6/E8 variant for D&D and Pathfinder and how closely it resembles older editions in terms of power levels, how PC hit points map to monster hit points and so on.

Then it came to me in a flash, level titles. Now I fully admit they are not my cup of tea when it comes to my game, they aren't that flavorful, they aren't generic and they don't fit my playstyle.

However there is one place they do fit nicely, with E6/E8 they map nicely in a generic sort of way to the power level of the world. And so without further ado, here is my mostly generic chart

L1 Green

L2 Seasoned

L3 Veteran

L4 Hero

L5 Elite (or Mage or Priest for Casters)

L6 Master

and optionally for E8 GM's

L7 Grandmaster

L8 Superhero

IMO the list meshes very well with how a character of a given level will interact with the world at hand and as an added bonus, meets the same level criteria for Hero and Superhero as the older editions.

I think it will come in handy as a learning aid for new players (just how good am I?) and as a design tool for GM's (how good should X, NPC be)

Let me know what you think.

What do Aligments Mean (9 Alignment system)

In my games alignment is just shorthand for world view. In no particular order this is how I see those world views.



Lawful Good, service in the common good

Chaotic Good, personal freedom is the right thing

Neutral Good, you are just basically a decent person

Neutral, I look out for my own

Neutral Evil, I look out for me.

Chaotic Neutral, I do whatever I want but I probably look out for my own

Chaotic Evil, screw you. I do whatever a rutting feel like, when I feel like it.

Lawful Evil, the weak serve the strong

Lawful Neutral, the law is the most important thing.

Can Diverging Aligments Work Together? With Firefly Content

My take? Of course they can. With the exception of say some divine classes who have vows against associating with certain alignments, people often do in real life and in fiction. You can be friends or family with people of radically different views than yours as well.

Let me give you a recent media example, the character of Joss Whedon's Firefly. You'll hardly ever get a more diversely aligned crew anywhere.

We have

Mal, Chaotic Neutral leaning to Good

Zoe, Same

Wash, Neutral

Kaylee, Neutral Good

Book, Neutral Good

Inara, Neutral

River , Chaotic Neutral (more or less, she is damaged and thus normal CN tropes are magnified )

Simon, Neutral

Jayne, Neutral Evil (he'll sell out people for money and is fundamentally selfish)


The bad guys in the show

Alliance -- full spectrum of lawful, mostly Neutral or Evil with a few Good guys even ....

Jubal Early -- Chaotic Neutral

The Operative - Lawful Evil

Nishka -- Chaotic Evil

YoSaffBridge -- Neutral Evil

The Blue Hands -- Unknown, probably Lawful evil

Patience-- Probably Neutral

And in case anyone asks, the Reavers don;t really have an alignment or a world view. They act Chaotic Evil but as they have no free will to speak of, they are more or less Zombies and don;t count.

Introducing: Silas the Senior Gate Warden

This is a rough preview of The Book of Gates for Pathfinder and it details one of the Gate Wardens.

Someone has to keep an eye on Midrea's Gates not only to keep people from using them for various nefarious purposes but to keep potential threats from the other side under some semblance ofcontrol.

In the city of Firhom, the Senior Warden is a man named Silas. Silas is relatively young for a Senior Gate Warden, being only 50 but his previous superior, Sten Grendi died of a heart attack and as the most powerful and skilled of the Wardens, his job fell to Silas.

It pays decently well but that is offset by needing to deal with political intrigue and the occasional extra-dimensional invasion.

What the heck, its a living ...

Note this stat block does not include a fill write up for his Edolion. If you plan on using Silas in your game, you can detail that yourself along with any necessary calculations or wait for the book.


Silas the Senior Gate Warden

S 12
I 14
W 12
D 14
C 14
Ch 24 (effective 30)

Human
Summoner
L16

Skills 96
Knowledge Planes 15
Knowledge Nobility 10
Knowledge History 10
Knowledge Dungeons 10
Knowledge Engineering 10
Knowledge Nature 10
Knowledge Arcana 10
Knowledge Geography 8
Knowledge Local 8
Stealth 5
Spellcraft 10
Use Magic Device 15
Perception 5
Sense Motive 5
Diplomacy 9
Linguistics 15 (speaks 10 languages)
Fly 5
Ride 5
Handle Animal 10

Feats
H Alertness
1 Scribe Scrolls
3 Augment Summoning
5 Extend Spell
7 Eschew Materials
9 Lighting Reflexes
11 Arcane Blast
13 Summoners Call
15 Iron Will


Spells Known
L0 detect magic, mage hand, mending, message, read magic, arcane mark
L1 protection from, shield, unfetter, alarm, unseen servant, magic fang
L2 glitterdust, detect thoughts, see invisible, summon ediolon, alter self, slow
L3 fly, greater invisibility, evolution surge, rejuvenate ediolon, seek thoughts
L4 hold monster, dismissal, contact other plane, mages faithful hound, baleful polymorph
L5 banishment, spell turning, true seeing, greater dispel magic
L6 discern location , mass charm monster

Spell Per Day
L0 At Will
L1 5
L2 5
L3 5
L4 4
L5 3
L6 1

Special Abilities
Eidolon
Life Link
Summon Monster I-VIII (9 day)
Bond Senses
Shield Ally +Greater Shield Ally
Makers Call (3 day)
Transposition
Aspect
Merge Forms

Gear
Greater Rod (lightt mace) of Enemy Detection +1
Glamored Mirthril Chain Shirt +4
Amulet Natural Armor +4 32k
Ring of Deflection +4 32k
Cloak of Resistance +5 25K
Potions as needed
Light Crossbow
20+1 Bolts
Scrolls as needed
Head band of Alluring Charisma +6
Tome of Leadership and Influence +2 (used)
Crystal Ball w/ True Seeing

CBT AC 34+DEX

Another Zine... Dyson's Dodecahedron

From Dyson Logos at A Character for Every Game.

Its small (12 pages) but might and best of all its free. You can get both issues at the site.

Also his house rules linked at the site are some of my favorites. So go, shoo check them out.. I'll be here when you get back ;)

This could be the golden age of gaming Part #2-1 People

The only thing that is keeping this from being the golden age of gaming for sure is the people problem. As I mentioned in Why RPG's are Good For You.. our social networks are fragmented.

What we need to do is to make our hobby bigger. This is not an incermountable task as many might think but it does require some effort.

To make our hobby strong we need to invite new people and lapsed gamers into the fold. This recession leaving many people time rich and cash poor provides us with a bit of an opportunity. Also this being a sci-fi rich age many more people have been exposed to the kind of things games are made of and as such, might be open to the unique and wonderful experiences our hobby provides.

Here are some tricks I suggest to help us do this once you've conned a few people into a game.

#1 Be a smart recruiter and be prepared with fun. Have pregens snacks and soda and a clean play space. Heck have some board games too in case the RPG tanks. That way you can salvage some fun and they might even be willing to try again some other time.

#2 To be cold, don't invite the Morlocks. Many groups have a player with weak social skills who simple weirds non gamers out. Don't invite them. They will scare away recruits. Instead have them join another time for another game with the regulars.

#3 Keep communications open. This means get cell phone #'s and E-Mail contact info and though its a pain and you shouldn't have to d this follow up.

#4 Hide the distractions. This means video games, Internet, everything. Put it under wraps.

#5 Manage your jargon. Gaming like every other hobby is full of in jokes and jargon. Some of this is inevitable but try and make sure your newbies don't feel left out.

#6 Lead if you need. Player of GM it doesn't matter. Keep th game going and keep it fun.
Now gaming may not click for everyone but at least you'll have done it right.

#7 Have a fun scenario and play the heck out of it

Any other tips?

So you want to be an Old School GM?

That not an easy thing to do. Assuming you've read the Old School Primer here are a few extra things you'll need to know.

#1 Select a system that facilitates the rulings not rules play style.

Players in games using more modern rules rigorous systems often expect the rules to be used and resent a more freewheeling style. You can solve this by selecting the right system. Any of the retro-clone will be fine as will any other game your group prefers that meets this criteria.

#2 Think on your feet.

if you can't roll and go, you'll have a hard time keeping up with your players. As an old school GM, you'll find you'll need to be pretty creative, maybe more than you would in games with more detail.

#3 Keep a DM's Notebook

This can be a a traditional spiral bound notebook or an .odt document or whatever but keep notes. This will help you keep you game consistent and fair and save your imagination some where and tear when your reference stuff that went before.

#4 Strive to be fair consistent and trustworthy.

and last, most important. Be Excellent to Your Players (and San Dimas High School Football Rules ;) )

This could be the golden age of gaming Part #1 Material

Gaming is not as big as it was in the 80's where a lot of kids in fairly small generation dabbled in the hobby. It will probably never be that big again.

However this is truly the golden age of gaming, material wise. Here's why..

#1 More games now are in print at an affordable price than ever before.

#2 Almost every game that is out of print is easily acquired either in PDF or print.

#3 Contrary to what some pundits think, there are tons of quality games to suit every interest. They range from board game like games (like 4e) to retro clones to esoteric Indy games I don't even understand. There is so much abundance and a lot of it is good and cheap.

#4 There is a ton a free stuff. The Free RPG blog, so many of the companies on my front page and dozens of us in the OSR. Its like having an endless game store and access to every GM's Notebook out there. You could game a lifetime on just the free/legal stuff alone.

#5 Miniatures and Dice are easy to get. I remember when this was not the case. Now even with the sad decline of the FLGS getting dice or miniatures is easy.

So materially we have abundance so whats next, the social aspects. Thats where we as a community have work to do which we will discuss this in a later post.

So you want to be an Old School Player?

Here are a few simple tips.

#1 Use your imagination.

You need to think on your feet, outside the box and beyond the sheet.

#2 Trust your GM

Modern rule sets stress rules for most things you encounter or do. Old School however is about rulings not rules. In such a situation a good old school player needs to trust his GM. If the GM doing a bad job,of you have every right to deal with it like an adult , leave the game or whatever you need to do and of course a bit of grumbling is a grognards privilege but push to shove, the GM's word is law. Deal.


#3 Explore the world.

Its not a static world or a railroad (a few adventures accepted) and its not a video game. Feel free to explore, poke and prod and treat the world like its a living place, suggest things that might be there and more. Of course you shouldn't do this in a way that takes away other peoples fun but old school games are exploratory. So get out there and explore.

and the last and most important rule

#4 Be Excellent to the Other Players and the GM.

Three Simple Reasons why Tabletop RPG's are good for you

#1 We as a society (especially in America) are starved for real human contact. As Bowling Alone notes our social networks are fragmented and we spend far too much time in front of screens or by ourselves. This is not healthy for people.
RPG's are social and even open to people , able or disabled with strong or weak social skills and little or lots of money. They are an very egalitarian activity that gives us time with friends, fun and laughter. Thats something everybody needs and can benefit from

#2 They work the imagination in ways that more passive media (TV. Movie or Video Games) don't. Gamers may not be more imaginative than they general population but we use our imagination a lot more.

#3 They encourage reading and learning about all sorts of things. In the past this meant cracking books, reading Tolkien, Howard and Vance, obscure History books Osprey and more. Today it may mean Wikipedia. It doesn't really matter. This can spur a love of learning that can keep the brain healthier for a lifetime and make a better person to boot.

Conan!

Not O'Brien but a grim Cimmerian destined to be king, one of the great inspirations of our hobby.

Some Kemper Crabbe (inside the box)

More music, some Kemper Crabbe very European/Medieval and Christian with really nice garden pictures. The lyrics to teh 1st portion Tannin include nice dragon references . Its followed by Sunrise After the Vigil which rocks on toast.

Sometimes its good to be in the box too.

Lots of Design or a Little? You decide.

Honestly there is no good answer to this question. Some people do design very well and can balance detailed almost Tolkien like world building with the chaos gamers bring to the table, other can't.

The thing to remember is, your game is not your novel. You can reuse bits, you can write stories set in a world a lot like your game is set in but they are not the same discipline or the same place.

So yes, if you have fun at it and it doesn't take way your players fun, design away. On the other hand, its just as good to make something to just roll and go. Whatever works.

Govinda Jaya Jaya

This is an odd choice for a gaming blog but trust me posting this Hari Krishana spiritual serves a purpose.

Music can inspire creativity and the broader a range your listen too, the more exposure you have, the more skilled you will become at thinking outside the box.

System Builds Worlds

The central conceit of Midrea is a simple one. The system builds the world.

What this means is the social assumptions and history of the world are directed by the possible outcomes of my interpretation of the RPG rules base I am designing for.

Now as Midrea was used with a myriad of different rules (3x , AD&D2, Homebrew, Systemless Homebrew, GURPS and a smidgen of Rolemaster and Runequest 2e) and then partially as bad literature sometimes the seams show a bit, bit however it comes out, Midrea is a game world and I am proud of that fact.

In my not so humble opinion, many would be game writers would benefit from remembering that they aren't novelists designing a world for their novel but gamers building an imaginary world to roleplay in.

And yes the converse is also true with the occasional obvious exception

Those Pesky WOTC Magic Classes

This is almost an outtake or fan supplement as these classes contain closed content owned by Wizards of the Coast. As such you'd never seen any of it anywhere but here on line.

However as part of my "use almost anything in a logical fashion" approach to Midrea I had to shoehorn some of the WOTC classes in.

1st was the Warlock. These guys gain there power either by birth to a Warlock parent, being granted power (by say a dying Warlock) , from killing a Warlock with a cold iron blade (DC18 bardic or arcane check to know this) or by being exposed to the Well of Archeon (DC10 bardic, arcane or Int check) which is a Proto-Gate.

Four Classes, Healer, Warmage, Dread Necromancer and Beguiler all share a common origin/ These types were granted power by the Tears of the Sleeping Goddesses who are rumored to be the lost or murdered consorts of the Lawbringer. A word of warning though, spreading that rumor in lands Under the Law is the heresy and the penalties are unpleasant.

Deathlord from the Dragon Compendium was another "magical radiation" origin as such persons are attuned to the magical energy of the wastelands

Incarnum is the raw spiritual energy and was discovered by experimentation into the natur eof divinity in Orena.

Another Orena discovery is the The Sublime Way. These Book of Nine Swords powers come from intense training in the interaction between natural Ki magic and ambient energy fields from the various gates,

Dragon Magic, in a particular Dragon Shamans and Dragonfire Adepts come from The Dragon Empire as you might expect and are a product of deep connection between the houses and the Draconic Spiritual Forces. These same forces also produce the Dragon Disciple prestige class.

lastly, the various Pseudo-Asian classes such as Shugenja, Wu_jen and the like are simply variants of the existing power types.

So Anthros in Midrea?

Aka Animal Folk or Furs or whatever. The answer is, yes of course.

Not only does baseline D&D have them (Gnolls in the Monster Manual, Tabaxi in Fiend Folio 2 and several others in B/X) but myth and gaming are filled with references.

I was also a bit inspired by Merle from The Vision of Escaflowne (I saw it just before 3.0) and of course Thun the Lion Man (from the Flash Gordon Cartoon) and Palladium's Wolfen.

And while Midrea has changed a bit since its one page part 7 demands they be included.

7. What’s new? What’s different?
The flexible nature of the cosmology allows anything to be dropped in with a minimum of fuss.

However as rule 5.5 of my 5 petty rules notes, many players dislike them.

I compromised by putting them in their own realm with a Proto-Gate across the dangerous Sea of Kifn with its Perpetual Storm . This keep them rare and allows me to justifiably say "well no one has seen any for a while"

I also dealt with the "Furversion" and "Yif" elements by making this abundantly clear

"Anthros are only sexually attracted to their own subspecies (cat folk to cat folk, dog folk to dog folk and so) within Earthly breeding parameters and anyone breaking that rule or going into Yif or Furverted territory will either get the boot or be banned from playing this type of thing. Emotional attachments to humans (friendship, platonic love or the like) however are fine.

The Origin of Wizards on Midrea

This is actually a decently well known fact known to anyone making a Bardic Lore check or Knowledge Arcana check at DC15.

Arcane Magic was discovered by Baran the Master Magister around the year 170 or so. He discovered The First Book and a magic pair of spectacles that enabled him to understand the text. After that he taught himself Wizardry and eventually taught a few additional people the art and it spread from there. The First Book is at the Collegium in Firom. Its value is mostly historical as its an ordinary spellbook in the Shaper idiom that contains essentially all the spells in SRD they do not bear a proper name.

A DC20 check of either will also reveal that Baran is still around and in fact still holds his position as the Master Magsiter and as before is found in the Passak Vale near the Stehl Mountains.

Magic in 3x Midrea, Expansion

This is not part 2 but an expansion of part 1 detailing a few bits I forgot.

Bard Magic is related to Sorcery and occurs among people with exceptional creative and performing talents than are exposed to the energy of the Violet Gate at a young age. This energy is a kind of glare and clamor in the form of words or an inchoate song, most folks call it Glamor.


Wicca Sometimes called Witchcraft, Wicce (pronounced wis) , or Witta this is an arcane tradition that blends some spiritual, natural and arcane powers. Most of its practitioners are women but this not a requirement. This class uses a blend of rules rules from Green Ronin's Witches Handbook, Mongoose's Quintessential Witch, Web Warlocks entirely free and excellent Liber Mysterium and Citizen Game's/Trollord's Way of the Witch.

Shamans. These mysterious people are much as they are in Earthly traditions though with assistance from spirit intermediaries they can access the ambient magical energy that lies in the space between worlds that is available at different periods, I use a mix of WOTC and Green Ronin's Shaman's Handbook

Spell Preparation.

Spell Preparation is the easiest form of magic to master as it only requires access to study materials, enough discipline to meditate enough mental power and enough intelligence to understand and master the magic. It takes about 6 years of study to master "3rd Magnitude" spells and be considered a full fledged wizard. Training typically starts around 16-18 or so for most children as younger pupils often lack the focus necessary.

Each tradition uses its own mnemonic patterns to facilitate the trance like states needed to impress the spells to manipulate energy on the Wizards mind. This can make gaining new spells a bit of a challenge of course but for those with the resources it can be a worthwhile endeavor.

It should also be noted that many people have a mastered cantrip or two. Fully half the population has the brains to do this and while they don't all have the time , money or inclination during period in which arcane magic works, its not uncommon to see a cantrip or two.

OSR Cat Folk

Long before the Fur subculture or even Thundercats was on TV my friends and I played around with humanoid cats as a replacement for Elves in our D&D.

Our interest in this didn't last long but it was fun while it lasted . Here is an Old School write up on them.

Cat Folk are humanoid house cats cats a bit shorter and lighter then men (use Half Elf charts) . They usually don't wear much clothing (typically a basic vitals covering for protection and sometimes a hat or sandals) although they can use armor and weapons as per class.

They gain +1 to Dex and -1 to Cha. Minimum Dexterity is 13, Maximum Charisma is 17.

They have the sensory bonuses and traits of Elves and retractile claws. The claws can be treated as built in weapons doing 1d3 damage. About 1 in 10 (roll % dice 10 or less) has a prehensile tail. A few breeds also have stumpy tails. This does not effect stats.

They may advance as Fighter, Thief including subclasses and Magic User and where appropriate Bard or Ranger to the levels of an Elf.

Thief bonuses are as per Elf although they gain +20% bonus to Climb (up only) and +10% to Pick Pockets.

Gestalt Rules on Midrea 3x

Yep I do have them. Coming up with these was a bit tricky but in the end I was inspired by Inuyasha and other anime and came up with this.

Gestalts also called Exemplars are created when a person of exceptional potential becomes attuned to a shard of the gem of the Realms. This jewel was created by unknown parties in Orena sometime around 922 . These persons were attempting to fuse all of the different magical powers into a single artifact. While this did create a Gem this proved to be unstable and the it exploded into energized fragments.

Person with enough potential (high stats and at least 5th level) gain the a Gestalt class as per the SRD except that unlike the standard rules, one class will always be a magical class. When this class is gained, they gain one Gestalt level immediately and 2 Gestalt Levels at each level up till the levels are even,

Once a person becomes an Exemplar even loss of the Shard won't change this although death will drain the Gestalt levels and render the person ordinary. Mind you, nothing stops said person from gaining another shard and again regaining lost Gestalt levels. Such an event, while rare is instantaneous.

In addition Exemplars also gain the ability to enchant shards of the Gem using magical material as if they had the appropriate item creation feats.

A Gem Shard that is embedded in a Charkra point uses that point and maybe be enchanted as any item that would normally be appropriate. It functions normally except that it must be cut from a person in order to be taken and it cannot be targeted or disarmed. Its also cannot be changed although with practice (and appropriate feat) it is possible to drain magic from an item linked to that Chakra into the Gem.

Shards may also be carried. These are treated as slot-less items even if they are in jewelery or the like. As above it also possible to drain items with the feat. Although only one half the energy is collected when used in this way such energy may be used for any purpose.

Types of Magic in 3x Midrea, a Quick Primer Part 1

Magic in Midrea is a complicated thing with many facets and different flavors , represented of course as character classes.

The basic form is natural to the land and is called Ley Line Magic. Its psychic powers amplified by naturally occurring streams of ambient energy. It uses a mix of Green Ronin's Psychic Handbook and the True 20 Adept's Handbook

The next form is Arcane Magic. It is drawn from extra-dimensional forces. These forces became accessible when the Gate system was operational however as the operation of the Gates draws on the Ley Line Network to power it, during periods ion which Arcane Magic is possible Ley Line Magic ceases working.

Next up is Psionics. This is a created by Astral Flow (also known as Hyperspacial Bleed) from the Astral Rift which is a gate leading into the energy realm most folks call the Astral Plane. It uses the various Psionic Rules principally the SRD and Psionics Unleashed by Dream Scarred Press along with WOTC and Malhavok Psionic material converted as needed for Pathfinder. Like Arcane Magic, when Psionics are functional, Ley Line Magic is not.


Pact Magic is fairly rare as few people want to risk life, sanity and possibly soul dealing with Fragmented Extra-Dimensional Powers.

Sorcery is driven by energy contamination from the Violet Gate in the land most folks call Faerie interacting with the natural shaping abilities of certain species.

Ki Magic Ki Magic is inherent like Psychic Magic and is a version of that. Unlike Psychic Magic it does work with Arcane Magic as Ki flows adapt well enough to function with both power sources .


Structural Magic uses the Warlock class from Adamant's Tome of Secrets . This power is derived from understanding and attunement to the meta principles of Arcane Magic. Its distantly related to Meta Magic Feats but goes deeper into understanding the divisions of power itself. Its also quite rare.

Summoners gain their power from being born near and naturally attuned to the resonance of a Gate.

Alchemy is a natural product of the energies saturating Midrea and the Alchemist Class internalizes those energies and takes them in new directions. The Alchemist as a class ceases to exist after the Gates are destroyed as the flow of extra-dimensional energy ceases. Alchemy as skill however operates normally.

Divine Magic is granted by by Deities and other powerful beings who have learned to harvest the energy inherent in worship and in souls in exchange for service. Oracles, Witches, Clerics, Inquisitors , Paladins and other classes gain power in the same way Divine Magic ceases after the False Gods War restores the natural balance of creation.

Druid Magic is a form of Divine Magic that is drawn from the embodiment of Midrea as a divine being. It works the same as other forms of Divine Magic.

Thus ends Part 1, the Open magic styles. This essay is a early draft of what will appear in the Midrea 3X Guide.

Part 2 will include discussion of closed content and will not appear anywhere but this blog.