Midrea Appendix N Fiction

I realized that I never posted my Appendix N for Midrea, the books that most inspired Midrea.

You'll note that a lot of these are late 80's and 90's . That is because thats the first time that I set out to create a game world as vs just playing the game. World building is not essential to play after all.

Also Midrea was built in spurts, a tiny bit in the late 80's and the rest in the late 90's (mostly) . Prior to that I was too young to really consider long term gaming (it was a hang with the buds thing) and for a good period I either didn't game or just bought GURPS books which I didn't play.

The real design came in a tiny spat in the late 80's than from I'd guess 1999 and up.

Here are the inspirational materials. Some will be familiar, inspired of course by the original appendix N. Other are just things that stuck with me. You'll note that few films has much influence on my gaming. I like movies well enough but none of them really felt right even the raft of 80's fantasy films. I've seen them they just didn't inspire. Same with TV

Now to the list


Robert Howard (and De Camp) Conan and Cthulhu mythos

Fritz Leiber Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser

J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit and less so The Lord of the Rings. This can also include the Rankin Bass animated version and the movie adaptations as well.

John Norman's Gor. Minus the excess supply of BDSM this is a fun series full of thud and blunder.

Robert Heinlein Glory Road

Louis L'amour Walking Drum and Haunted Mesa

Johan Whyss Swiss Family Robinson

Grimm's Faerie Tales

Daniel Dafoe Robinson Crusoe and other stories

Sir Walter Scott Black Arrow

Barbara Hambley: Sunwolf and Windyrose Chronicles

Katherine Kerr: Deverry stories

Kathryn Kurtz: Deryni stories

Andrea Norton: Witch World

Asprin etc: Thieves World

C. J. Cherryh Merovingen Nights

Poul Anderson: Three Hearts Three Lions

Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfeal mysteries

Steven Brust: Jehreg Cycle

Frank Herbert: Dune and the White Plague

Mercedes Lackey: Tarma and Kethry stories

Robert Adams: Horseclanst

Adams/Norton Magic in Ithkar

Rankin Bass: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Brian Froud: Faeries (this is borderline folklore but the movie had a heavy influence so its here)

Vision of Escaflowne

Indiana Jones specifically Raiders and Temple of Doom

Sid and Marty Croft: Land of the Lost

Gnomes (book and movie)

William Goldman Princess Bride: (both movie and book)

Legend

Labyrinth

Swashbuckler (the Robert Shaw James earl Jones movie from 1976)

Terri Windling : Borderlands

Will Shetterly: Witchblood

M.Z. Bradley Sword and Sorceress Anthology

Terry Pratchet: most Disk World especially Lords and Ladies

So What the Heck is Midrea?

I've mentioned my game word a time or two on this blog. Its not in my or my players opinion that special, it doesn't really have an edge over any other game world. It is however mine and I suppose theirs too.

What it does do is bring home the fun in several systems which is about all anyone could ask for.

When I bring new players in, here is the sheet I offer them. Its not exactly concise or an elevator pitch but its no so long as to get the TL;DR glazed eye look either.

Welcome to the campaign and to my game worlds, Midrea

Midrea was designed around the five themes

#1 Its coherent: Anything in the game world has to make sense

#2 It has verisimilitude: This is a world where monsters and magic are real and the world is designed to reflect that reality

#3 Its open to virtually any kind of character you can imagine. Pretty much anything Pathfinder goes

#4 Its open to any kind of campaign that can be imagined

#5 The tropes are part of the game. this means that there is a reason that it is a Euro-Centric game world where everyone speaks common and different species live side by side

#6 Its a a bit wahoo, all the older science fantasy traditions, space ships, blasters, aliens, guns, psionics are all part of the world

Take a look at Appendix N and the map and you'll have a good idea about what drives the design.

Until then, lets toss some dies, eats some snack and play.

Unarmed Martial Arts of Midrea

Martial Arts that emphasize unarmed combat are far less common in a world with horrible monsters and where almost everyone travels armed with at least a dagger or cudgel.However there are a number that have developed over time or from pieces of other arts and that are widely taught and used. Here are six of them.


#1 Combat Wrestling

#2 High Hand and Foot

#3 Sama-Dab

#4 Initiate of the Litany

#5 Street Fighters Way

#6 Sport Wrestling

Armed Martial Arts of Midrea

As I mentioned in my last post I had a Midrea post in the hopper.

Knowing my readers this won't be most interesting or high traffic post but its one I wanted to do.

Midrea being a realm of gates has been exposed to Martial Arts styles of many cultures (Mostly European) from over a millennium. Technological and ecological changes for example have made the rapier and the smallsword passe and a lack of teachers and just preference has eliminated many Asian weapons from general use.

Over the 15 centuries of Midrean habitation these are the two dozen armed hand to hand combat styles that have proven to be the most useful and lasting.

#1 Masters of Defense

#2 Dagger Fighting

#3 Aramite Knife Dancing

#4 Cut and Thrust Fencing

#5 Eastern Fencing

#6 Sword and Buckler (with occasional "weapon" and buckler styles)

#7 Pollaxe Fighting

#8 Staff Fighting

#8 Stick Fighting

#10 Shortsword Fighting

#11 Weapon and Shield Fighting

#12 Spear Fighting

#13 Polearm Combat

#14 Slaver Method

#15 5 Elements Fighting

#16 12 Fold Path Sword Work

#17 Whiskey Stick Dance

#18 Speed Fighting

#19 Dream Blade (also Dream Staff)

#20 Discipline of the Forms

#21 Sword and Dagger

#22 Longsword Fighting

#23 Spear and Shield

#24 The Hala

Clark's Law Applied

In my last post I mentioned the possibility of wahoo character types. I'll demonstrate how this works We'll start by noting that the current game is 6th level, Pathfinder 20 point buy. A new player joins wanting to play a stranded space pilot kind of like a Colonial Viper Pilot from Battlestar Galactica named Hawk . The other players are fine with it and given that such thing do happen on Midrea, I OK it. The first thing we have to do is make an equivalent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Given this guy is human and a fighter pilot and that he is not going to have access to his fighter, its pretty easy to do. Human, Fighter . Since he needs skills we'll use the tactician archetype. Stats are up to him, the player decides on ST 14 IQ 14 WS 10 DX 14 CN 12 CHA 14 Next comes traits skills and feats. As a general rule if it won't happen in game I don't charge for it and so while Hawk is an able pilot and gunner, he doesn't need to list them as they won't get used. Being weird does cost a trait (outworlder) so he selects that and one other (reactionary) skills feats are the same and so selects ones that make sense to him. The outworlder trait is mandatory but he'd take it anyway as it allows him access to a skill (offworld lore) ad to use tech items, he grabs 5 others and 6 feats, deciding on point blank shot, precise shot, far shot ,improved initiative, target of opportunity , shake it off and enfilading fire. These fit the flavor and are universal enough to work for most settings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next comes the hard part, technical items. The player decides Hawk should have a combat jumpsuit, 2 comlinks, automed kit and a freeze pistol with a light mount (its tacticool) along with some space food, a food sterilizer and a solar powered vapor canteen This is where Clark's Law comes into play What makes this work is that each of these items can easily be transfered into a magic item equivalent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jumpsuit becomes magic studded leather The comlinks were a little tricky but I find a set of magic earings in the Magic Item Compendium thats a good fit (yes its 3.5 close enough) automed kit, treat as a box of potions (healing, remove poison, cure disease) space food, its just rations the canteen, after some thought it becomes a 1x daily create water item Food sanitizer 3x daily purify food and drink ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- last comes the freeze pistol , the mounted light is easy, its about as good as an Ioun Torch so thats that. But how do you make a freeze pistol ? Given that a gun is roughly the same as a wand I decide that the freeze ray ought to be modestly powerful, say a L2 spell. I go digging and pull up a wand of a 3.5 spell ice knife. That gives him a 2d6 cold attack (with dex damage and a burst option) I offer him a deduction of 20% cost for the need to be reloaded every 10 shots (4 magazines) or he can take a 20 shot with 3 magazines for full cost. Hawks players chooses the later and now he has a freeze ray with 2 extra clips. Later as the game continues and more treasure is found I simply repurpose some of the usual amount he'd get at each level into new tech items allowing him to keep the flavor. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Viola, instant balanced space pilot ...

Midrea Notes: Part 1 of Series Clark's Law

I am starting a new mini series about my game world Midrea and its cousin Eradim. This series will be a series of design bits, why I did X vs. Y that sort of thing. Hopefully it will be of interest to world builders and my readers but if nothing else articulating these design choices will help me clarify my own thinking. Because I wanted a fantasy world with occasional bits of space in the old school vein ala Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Blackmoor and others that was accessible I needed to have a means to make it fair for the other players. I decided on an application of three rules #1 Clark's Third Law namely that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." #2 Stats are balanced, not fluff and as such if the campaign is at a level that allows it, balance won't be hurt. #3 If it weird we all have to agree its O.K and I'll shoehorn it in. Applying these three things allows a player to enjoy almost anything they can think of without screwing up the game.

There are no Gladiators on Midrea

Wandering Prize Fighters and Masters of Arms? yes, Pit Fights? yes. Actual formalized Gladiators? no.

This was a tough call to make, retired Gladiators and Gladiatrixes especially make great adventures as they the full range of needed skills (weapons, social, medical) and connections in all classes along with some freedom and money however I decided no.

The main reason is I have no Rome or any state really able to support that type of activity (its a points of light world) and because its a more open world than Rome, it wasn't an essential role either

Also while foreigner, thief or gladiatrix are some of the few adventurous options in a Rome themed game open to female PC's Midrea has many more choices, so the need is not so great.

Last as a lot of Midrea's people are from Elizabethan England, they carry their traditions, not Roman ones. Its just a better fit.

Let Us Not Go To Midrea For it is a Horrible Place 1d12 Ugly Things You Might See

One of the key ideas about my game world is that while there are some pretty decent places, since Midrea has weak rule of law, barbaric backgrounds, monsters, magic and violence galore it is not a nice place

Here are a D12 unpleasant encounters

#1 A gang attack on someone

#2 A public flogging (the most common sort of punishment)

#3 A public hanging (the usual execution method)

#4 A dead body. Happily with the fear of Necromancers, even in poorly run cities someone will be along to clean it, well probably, unless a ghoul or an enterprising re-animator gets it first

#5 A cast off child

#6 A wounded person, crying out for help. Careful though, it might be a trap.

#7 A woman being assaulted in an alley. A note here, this may be implied as rape but that kind of stuff never happens on screen or to PC's as some of my players, especially female players have had stuff ion their life that makes this hit too close to home.

#8 A maimed and or/diseased beggar

#9 A domestic quarrel. Note here also, this also has to be handled with care for the same reason as #7. However as my players sometimes enjoy knocking the stuffing out of bad people like that, its still viable.

#10 A starving dog. It might be vicious, I am almost wrote this as viscous, but hey its a strange place so it might be that too.

#11 A poor person desperate for work, any work.

#12 Something unnatural

Human Groups on Midrea: The Shan

Human Groups on Midrea

Scholars generally agree that there are 3 fully "human" groups on Midrea, the Tera who come from Earth, the realm of the Blue Gate, the Fae residents of the Violet Gate , while not like humanity in their thought process are capable of having fertile offspring with humans and claim distant kinship to an ancient human goddess and the Shan.

The origin of the Shan is something of a mystery as they are not native to their own world, which they call Earth as well or to Midrea .

Recent discoveries in Shan language including members of the Robinson family , Firom and Hunzun scholars suggest that the Shan have an Earth origin at some unknown point.

Shan language groups and general appearances seem to match several language isolates and to a degree ethnic groups relating to the Basque, the Burushaki, and the Ainu. The written form of other Shan languages seems to strongly resemble the mysterious writing on the Voynich Manuscript and attempts at translation of copies seem to have a logical accuracy to them and to match those provided by translation spells. Also the images in the text seem to match the constellations and plant life of Homeworld (the translation of general Shan term used for the original world they came from)

Whats most curious though is the differential appearance of several ethnic Shan subgroups, the Alai , who outside of some unusual hair and eye colors look much the like the dominant Tera group, The Nia who look faintly like the Japanese ethnotype , the Vara, who while fair skinned and tall do not resemble any known earth Ethnic group, and the almond eyed and dark skinned Meran, who look like no one on Earth.

Its not known whether these groups are from unknown and unremembered civilizations from Earths past or even future or if they were possible caused by the effects of the richer magical energies of Homeworld. Still excluding the Vara ,outside of cosmetic differences , the Shan as a general rule are pretty much indistinguishable from Tera.

Theme Parties: The Rippers

The Rippers

Signified by a clawed red hand marker , this group is feared more for their sneakiness and cruelty than actual face to face effectiveness.

Generally lazy they can be occasionally found robbing tombs or when money is low can be hired to send a painful lesson to someone.

Marik -- L9 Joad Harrier

Severina -- L3 Rogue, L6 Archivist, Scholar of pain feat (advances sneak attack and lore abilities)

Kane - L9 Vivisectionist Alchemist

Happy Doyle L9 Arcane Trickster Core

Bay L9 Rogue

20 Things from Earth that are found on Midrea that might surprise you

30 fun Earth things that are common on Midrea

#1 Potatoes

#2 Manx Cats

#3 Pugs

#4 a huge number of dances

#5 pretty much every martial art ever practiced

#6 the complete works of William Shakespeare

#7 the complete works of Tolkien

#8 A very large number of novels, good and bad

#9 a lot of music

#10 Asatru

#11 Wicca

#12 Many Spices

#13 Germ Theory

#14 Go

#15 much of the 19th century scientific canon hough much is no longer useful

#16 Hackey Sack

#17 Soccer

#18 Rugby

#19 Chess

and last

#20 Dungeons and Dragons.

Human Ethnographic Makeup of Midrea

This is a little wonkier than my usual post falling more into the technical and semi scientific style of posting, a little like Tao's work so bear with.

One thing I wanted to do when I designed Midrea was lampshade the European fantasy tropes a little bit. Most fantasy worlds for various reasons are derived from European myth cycles and cultural modes. Oh sure sometimes there is some Orientalism, mainly about Japan and bad Chinese movies with a smidgen of Arabian Nights but on the whole, its Europe meets American all the way through.

Now mind you I have no issue with this. In fact I wanted to do this openly Instead and to take the All European All The Time idea and run with it.

In addition I needed a common tongue and as it happened the two if them meshed together perfectly.

How it came out is this

Humans, the most common sophont on Midrea (making up 75% of sentient people) are not native to the world .

Humans in fact originated on Earth (the Blue Realm in Midrea parlance) and were brought across the Gateways by a mysterious alien race called the Shapers. For reasons known only to the Shapers every person selected spoke English at least as a second language.
These people were brought over in waves from the late 14th century to the early 23nd although they mostly arrived at the same time (about 1500 years ago Midrea Time)

The period breakdown is such

10% 14th thru 15th century (mostly craftsmen) England and regions

15% 16th century Elizabethan England and regions

10% 17th century England

10% 18th century England and Empire

10% 19th century Anglosphere

10% Early 20th century Anglosphere

15% Late 20th early 21st centuries (Global)

10% 21st century (Global)

5% 22nd Century (Global)

5% 23rd Century (Global)

Of the Human Folk 60% are of UK origin, 30% are other European or mixed European origin and 10% are non European entirely being composed of peoples from everywhere on Earth.

It should be noted that racism as we know it is not an issue on Midrea. While certainly some Gate Folk held suchs views instead People prefer to kill or enslave other people for more traditional reasons, gold, religion, and far older views of nation of tribe and of culture ,

As for players choices , there certainly are families and tribes and clans of all kinds of ethnic makeup and as such like gender or any cosmetic detail, any skin color or origin may be selected without any effect on how the rules are applied.

"Race" makeup on Midrea

I use race in the D&D fashion here, that is to mean "sentient species"


60% Earth Human (Tera in local parlance)

20% Shan (the other Humans)

10% Dwarves (Midrean Dwarves are prolific and successful)

8% Faerie races (Elves, Gnomes, others)

2% Weird (all sorts of stuff, Halflings, Lizard People, Fish Folk, Dromites)

Midrean Armor List

Armor on Midrea is at about the late 15th century of development although unlike on Earth, chain is still cheaper than plate do to lot of existing stock (magically repaired armor lasts a long time) and slave labor.

Its possible other types of armor exists and of course I'd allow them on a case by case basis, however these are the most commonly seen ones.

The Vara Scale also deserves a mention. Its is the only scale armor with external scales on Midrea. Its typically fancifully decorated in patterns resembling fish and is functionally similar to Chinese Mountain Scale armor.

Midrean Armors (PF)

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LIGHT


Arming Coat (Padded)

Leather Jack (Leather)

Leather Coat (Studded)

Chainmail Shirt

Leather Coat, Thigh Boots (Hide Shirt)

Ranger Armor (M.W. Studded)


MEDIUM

Armored Coat

Brigandine

Mail Hauberk (Chain Mail)

Breastplate

Fitted (Agile) Breastplate

Leather Plate (Hide)

Vara Scale Armor (M.W. Agile Breastplate)



HEAVY

Breastplate (or Brigadine) and Thigh Boots (Banded)

Breastplate (or Brigadine) over Mail (Half Plate)

Fitted Breastplate (or Brigadine) over Mail (Agile Half Plate)

Full Plate

Fitted Plate (as Masterwork Agile HellKnight Plate)

Half Plate (Field Plate)
SHIELDS

Wrist Shield (Buckler)

Buckler (Light Shield weights 2 lbs) *

Light Shield (as Light Shield +2 to AC) *

Heavy Shield (as Heavy Shield +3 to AC) *

9 Cities Buckler (as Masterwork Quickdraw Light Shield)

Tower Shield



Accessories

Tournament Armor (Full and Fitted Plate Only) (As Vital Guard)

Locking Gauntlets

Shield Spikes (not on wrist shield)

Shield Blades (not on wrist shield)

Armor Blades (Full and Fitted Plate Only)

Throwing Shield (only 9 Cities Buckler)

Ibara Steel (Add 100% to armor cost of M.W. metal armor, gains +1 to AC)

Shield Clips (As Shield Sheathe Castle Keep-- CK)

Muffling (CK)

Camouflage (CK)

The Midrea Weapons List

Here is my complete weapons list for Midrea.

For the most part these map to Pathfinder SRD or older editions verbatim with the few exception noted.

Tricky weapons such as switchblades, air guns and the alchemical exotic weapons are all masterwork. This is not to make them even less desirable but to represent how difficult they are to make at Midrea's technology level.

The Monk's weapons list is slightly altered, the Nunchaku and Sai are now a light martial weapons (the Light Flail and the Sword Breaker respectively) and the Kama (now called Sickle) Saigham and Shuriken are simple weapons. This puts them at their accurate level of difficulty based on the effectiveness rather than just being exotic because monks can use them .

Stats of course are not included.

As for other weapons, I'd probably allow them on a case by case basis. I have allowed such things as combat shovels before and as I have mentioned, almost anything can be found on Midrea, somewhere


Midrean Weapons

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SIMPLE

Knife (as dagger, cut and thrust, does 1d3, costs 1GP)

Switchblade (M.W. only)

Brass Knuckles

Gauntlets

Cestus

Dagger

Punch Dagger

Sliver Moon Knife (as Jambiya)

Sap (1d4 non lethal)

Long Knife (as dagger, slash damage)

Spiked Gauntlet

Fighting Stick (as Light Mace)

Fighting Cane (as Hanbo)

Stake

Sickle

Siangham

Club

Holy Water Sprinkler (M.W. only Battle Aspergillum use Heavy Mace Stats )

Mace (as Heavy Mace)

Morningstar

Short Spear

Longspear

Staff

Boar Spear

Spear

Blowgun
Light Crossbow

Medium Crossbow

Hand Crossbow

Dart

Javelin

Throwing Star


MEDIUM

Throwing Axe

Blade Boots (M.W. only)

Hand Axe

Throwing Hammer (as Light Hammer does 1d6)

Ranger Knife (as Kukri)

Ranger Sword (as Short Sword w/ Saw Blades)

Short Sword

Light Pick

Light Flail

Battle Axe

Longsword

Heavy Pick

Rapier

Sharpened Scabbard (M.W. only)

Scimitar

Sword Cane (M.W. only)

Trident

Warhammer

Cutlass

Sword Breaker (as Sai)

Bill

Bardiche

Crows Beek (Bec De Corbin)

Mattock (Earth Breaker)

Great Sword

Great Axe

Glaive

Glaive Guisarm

Great Club

Guisarm

Pole Axe (Halberd)

Lucern Hammer

Lance

Pickax (does 1d10)

Ransuer

Scythe

Syringe Spear (M.W. Only)

Alchemists Sword (Short Sword as Holy Water Sprinkler M.W. only)

Throwing Wheel (as Chakram)

Longbow

Short Bow

Shang (as Hunga Munga)

Pilum

Repeating Crossbow
Sling

Poison Ring

Pike


EXOTIC

Blade Helmet (as Babezu Beard) (M.W. only)

Double Spear

Battle Pick

Bastard Sword

Bastard Axe

Two Moon Sword (as Lajatang)

Whip

Scorpion Whip

Half Moon Sword

Spiked Chain

Bladed Chain

Combat Chain

Comet Hammer (Dorn Degar/Meteor Hammer 1d8)

Garrote

Man Catcher

Flambard (M.W. Great Sword only)

New Moon Sword (as Shotel )

Half Moon Sword (as Double Axe also trip weapon)

Blade Staff (as Double Sword may use Quarterstaff Feats)

Hook Sword (as Temple Sword)

Bola

Spiked Bola

Throwing Shield

Net

Lasoo

Sling Staff

Airgun (M.W. only)

Alchemists Javelin (as shrillshaft javelin M.W. only)

Javelin Thrower


Weapon Mods

Basket Hilt

A Few Minor "Domestic" Critters from Midrea

Most of Midrea's wildlife is Terran in origin with a few exceptions such as these from the gateworlds.

All of the beasties below can be tamed or eaten hence the use of "domestic."

#1 Cura

A canine about a hundred lbs or so very reminiscent of an Earth Coy-Dog. They are a bit more aggressive than a coyote but smarter than a wild dog and are generally consider dangerous pests. With some effort however they can be tamed and make acceptable pets.


#2 Mitp

A little rodent common to the Shan worlds. They are cute little critters looking something like a mix of hamster, gerbil and vole and weighing a few lbs. They are often kept as pets (especially by impressionable little girls) and as they are quite delicious, livestock as well.

#3 Kafer

This Kafer is a tasty ( like lobster actually) roach like insect, shiny black and about the size of a fist. They are of Shan origin but as they are very sensitive to cold have not become a pest species. And yes the name is derived from Terran German for bug, it seems to have become the generic name for them, replacing the Shan words.

#4 Slink

Slinks are a huge mustelid , sometimes 6 feet in length weighing well over 200 lbs. They are intelligent and aggressive but are hunted for their beautiful pelts. If taken as a kit, a slink can be trained not to attack its handlers and some exceptional specimens have even been used in similar rolls to dogs.

A Dozen Unpleasant Jobs on Midrea other than Farming

Here is a nice list of possible professional skills/backgrounds, all of which are some parts of dirty, dangerous ,unpleasant, or morally reprehensible ...

#1 Rat Catcher.

#2 Sewer Jack

#3 Gleaner

#4 Stable Hand

#5 Tanner

#6 Miner

#7 Slave Breaker

#8 Pig Herd

#9 Dung Gatherer

#10 Rag and Bone Man

#11 Scullion

#12 Judicial Torturer

A Dozen and One Interesting Ways (other than tomb robbing) to Make a Fortune on Midrea

#1 Spice Trade

Like people everywhere spices are always in demand and getting exotic southern spices to northern ports or vice a versa in good time is very profitable.

#2 Dealing in Magical Materials

Dangerous, yes but very profitable

#3 Amachian Land Grab

Land is free for the taking in Doomed Amachai if you are willing to risk freebooters, bandits, monsters, wild magic and any residual effects of the curse.

#4 Exotic Slave Trade

Regular slaves are cheap with all the wars and such and demand is fairly low, however strange or unusual slaves such as different races or usually skilled or exotic appearances are always in demand.

#5 Drugs

Drugs are mostly legal but there is a good market for a variety of noxious substances.

#6 Energy Equipment

If you can find equipment from the Drift Realm, crashed Astral Ship or the like, there is big money in it.

#7 Technology

Find a new, useful and sustainable technology or knowledge maybe from another realm and profits are yours. Of course getting there is hard and plane shifting magic is very very rare.

#8 Piracy or Banditry

With a little luck, its possible to make more than a bit of money in the crime business, It is however as or more dangerous than tomb robbing, so be careful or it will be a short life but a merry one.

#9 Terran Artifacts

Even something like the complete works of Judith Krantz would of tremendous value. Very big money can be had with a new kind of firearm or even better a military weapon, especially if you have the manual for it.

#10 Wastelands Looting

Yes this is technically a kind of tomb robbing but whole areas of Amachia and the Lost Kingdoms are unoccupied and likely full of valuables.

#11 Mercenary Work

There is always work for Mercs and with all the wars on, its a great time to swing a blade.

#12 Bounty Hunting

Whether its escaped criminals, run away slaves or thief catching, a good Bounty Hunter willing to tackle dangerous prey can make a small fortune. If he or she lives anyway.

#13 Monster Hunter

Exterminating dangerous critters pays well and you usually get to loot them as well. Other hunters bring them in alive either for magical experimentation or the zoos of the wealthy. This is dangerous but what's a little risk among friends?

Welcome to Eradim

Over time you'll be seeing a lot posts discussing Midrea vs Eradim. What is Eradim?

Well very simply, Eradim is Midrea played sane with the weirdness cranked down to a minimum and a more limited series of inspirations.

It is chunks of Appendix N later D&D inspirations, Glen Cook, Swashbuckling, Faeries Tales, Gothic Action Horror and a smidgen of later D&D inspired fantasy.

The peoples, nations, races and such are much the same but instead of being a wahoo kitchen sink world is a far more traditional secondary world without all the anime, steampunk, modern, sci-fi , furry and similar influences.

There is still a sense of humor but there are real limits and requests for Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot, Zombies or the like will be met with a resounding NO!

I hope you like it.

Monkey, Ninja, Pirate,Robot,Zombie?

Yes you can do this. I'd rather you didn't as even I have some standards but as long as you have seven levels its possible .Heck you even get some choices along the way

Monkey -- choose either Hadozee (glider apes) or awakened chimp

Ninja -- choose either Ninja Class or Rogue class with mods

Pirate -- either take seamanship related feats or levels in Pirate class

Robot -- Modified Half Brass Golem Template

Zombie -- Modified Necropolitan Template


This will be a highly magic resistant, sneaky, dirty fighting, sea faring, metal limbed, undead guy -- weird but playable

And in case anyone asks, I am not going to stat up Yohatobeki , the iconic Monkey, Pirate,Ninja, Robot, Zombie.. at least unless I get a lot of requests ....