1. Potion of Health. Restores you to Perfect Health for one hour, after which point your condition reverts to how it was, now advanced one hour.
2. Health Potion. Potion to be taken for your health. Prevents rickets, scurvy, osteoporosis, beriberi, pellagra, goiters, gout and cavities.
3. Healer's Potion. Cleaning Potion variant, for sterilizing equipment. Causes nausea if swallowed, fatal blood vanishment if applied to wounds.
4. Heal Potion. Dialectal. Will 'heal' (ie. conceal) that which it is applied to. If used on wounds, will conceal (but not cure) the injury.
5. Potion of Healing Blade. AKA liveforever. Extract of the houseleek plant, similar to aloe vera. Prevents lightning if applied to shingles.
6. Curing Potion. Alchemical solution which preserves meat, vegetables and other food items as if they were smoked, without actually smoking them.
7. Alchemical Curative: Lab reagent, mixed into other products to hasten solidification. If ingested, turns saliva into thick sheets of dry mucus.
8. Alchemical Remedy. Potion intended to counteract the effects of another potion. Was called 'potion antidote' before the Guild sued for defamation.
9. Remedial Potion. Alchemical parlour trick - a potion which can only be brewed the second or later attempt. Reannual grapes are a key reagent.
10. Potion of Redress. Carefully dosed euphoric which, used correctly, gives a crime's victim exactly enough joy to cancel their suffering.
Sunday, August 31, 2025
1d10 Things That Aren't Healing Potions:
[GLoW] Artificer
Our final class for this round of posts is the Artificer, the setting's wizard equivalent. It draws heavily from Loch Eil's Wonder-Worker. Included are four Lores (wizard school equivalents).
Artificer
Start with three Devices.
+1 Power Cell per template.
A: Lore, Wonders
B: Personal Style
C: Census
D: Wisdom
ς: Apprentice
Δ: Reactor
Lore: Choose between the Lore of Carbon, the Lore of Silicon, the Lore of Beams and the Lore of the Vat. You start with Secret Zero of your Lore and roll 1d6 at each template (including the first) for an extra Secret known. Should you roll one you already possess, choose which Secret you uncover. This is the only way to access the Eighth and higher Device of your Lore.
Power Cells: Each Lore has its own specific technique for recharging spent Power Cells. If used to provide charge, assume an Artificer can generate [templates] d6s of charge per day.
Wonders: To create a Wonder of the World Before, combine a Device of your Lore with a Source, then draw on any number of Power Cells. Roll 1d6 per Cell, depleting it on a 4-6. If doubles are rolled, something goes awry with your creation - the Mishap Entity for your Lore comes to stalk you. If triples are rolled, several of your Mishap Entity appear. They create a local calamity as the Device used is destroyed by the chaos. Lose [highest] Loyalty if you don't fix the problem.
Personal Style: Choose one positive and one negative trait from the scrap modifications table. When modifying items with scrap, you may use one of these traits in place of the corresponding trait provided by the scrap. You may also modify Devices, giving them +2 to [sum] if Enhanced.
Census: If you become Chief, you may conduct a census to obtain an accurate account of exactly how many people of which sexes, ages, professions and levels your Tribe possesses. This will be resisted by ancient custom, as if you are successful in the attempt, you gain the Secret of Tribes, which can be used to focus one of your Devices upon your entire Tribe simultaneously.
Wisdom: Once per day, after seeing the roll for a Wonder, you may decide to be more cautious and withdraw one Power Cell from the result. Resolve the rest as if you never drew on that Cell.
Apprentice: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit an Apprentice if you do not already have one. They have one Power Cell of their own and will use any Sources or Cells you provide, but only comprehend Device Zero from your Lore. Your apprentice(s) can pool their Power Cells together with you to work greater Wonders and, if you are Chief, with each other.
Reactor: If you build a machine made from scrap with one of each positive trait, you can use it to synthesize new Devices. Research costs 20 Cells of power, generated by the method your Lore normally recharges Power Cells. Tell the GM what you wish to synthesize and what you intend for it to do. They will reveal what needs to go into the Reactor to create a Device like that.
Lore of Carbon
The Black Jungle strangling the Green Earth.
Favoured Devices: Sprayer & Motor.
Recharge Method: Fuel. Pour a unit into the cell and wait ten minutes.
Secrets:
0. Flame
1. Vine
2. Fuel
3. Smoke
4. Asphalt
5. Plastics
6. Oxygen
7. Diamond
8. Monowire
9. Growth
Mishap: Blackcorm blossoms. HD = [dice]. Your Lore has stolen its nano-technological secrets. It will swallow everything around it with carbon vines and boiling asphalt if allowed to grow unchecked. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.
Lore of Silicon
That which served the Law in the World Before.
Favoured Devices: Scanner & Remote.
Recharge Method: Nuclear. Every 24 hours, no matter what you do to it.
Secrets:
0. Shock
1. Wheel
2. Doors
3. Wires
4. Joint
5. Metal
6. Sensor
7. Robot
8. Magnet
9. Crime
Mishap: An alarm sounds. A police drone (HD = [dice]) is sent to detain you. It does not know that the offices of the Old Law stand empty and that no human officer will ever come to retrieve you. Fight it or flee. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.
Lore of Beams
The Bridge of Light that now lies sundered.
Favoured Devices: Ray & PPE.
Recharge Method: Solar. 4 hours of direct sunlight or 8 of partial sun.
Secrets:
0. Freeze
1. Light
2. Mirror
3. Fear
4. Silence
5. Gravity
6. Force
7. Thought
8. Stasis
9. Ghost
Mishap: A shadow stalks. A beam shadow (HD = [dice]) emerges from the now sundered wreckage of the Twelfth Satellite to torment your Tribe. This was once a living person, interrupted mid-transmission. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.
Lore of the Vat
The Birthing Tube of the World Yet to Be.
Favoured Devices: Repellent & Patch.
Recharge Method: Metabolic. Eat an extra ration per cell when resting.
Secrets:
0. Acid
1. Cattle
2. Sleep
3. Insect
4. Corpse
5. Birds
6. Slime
7. Mutant
8. Beast
9. Clone
Mishap: The plague returns. Your tribe contracts a disease (HD = [dice]) spawned by your reckless biological experimentation. You must find a cure or succumb to cancer, boils, fever or dehydration. This was one of the Four Disasters which brought an end to the World Before.
List of Devices:
1. Blaster: [sum] damage from/to [word] at 100ft. range. Save negates.
2. Shield: A 20ft radius dome blocks out [word] for [highest] rounds.
3. Scanner: Produce a readout about the status of [word] in the hex.
4. Sprayer: Coats a 20' cone with [word]-related fluid. Save to avoid.
5. Screen: Hide yourself from [word] OR hide [word] from Mishap Beings.
6. Extractor: Draw concentrated [word]-based chemicals out of [word].
7. PPE: Become highly resistant or immune to [word] for [sum] minutes.
8. Remote: Give a one word command to [word] to obey for [sum] rounds.
9. Ray: Fires a '[word] Ray' out to 100ft. Effect based. Save negates.
10. Repellent: All [word] within a 20ft radius must Save or be repelled.
11. Beacon: Attracts [word] or [word]-related beings to your location.
12. Patch: Repair [dice] injuries done by or to [word]. Set HP to [sum].
13. Tracker: Locate the [sum] nearest [word] and where they're moving.
14. Hologram: Create a convincing illusion of [word] for [sum] seconds.
15. Motor: Create [dice] [word] powered vehicles that run for 24 hours.
16. Assembler: Puts together up to [dice] slots of [word]-related goods.
17. Injector: Inject a serum granting [word] powers for [highest] hours.
18. Scope: Make [highest] exact measurements of [word] or related thing.
19. Tools: Grants Skill with the next [highest] tasks relating to [word].
20. Orb: A floating orb of [word] that follows you for [sum] minutes.
[GLoW] Resources, Scrap & the Astrologer
The prior post talked a great deal about scrap as a mechanic. Here's the rules for that and a class (the Astrologer) who uses them just as extensively, if not more so. But first, let's talk resources:
Resources
Whenever the Party raids an enemy camp, or goes hunting or trades with a random merchant caravan, you can roll on the resource table below for what is available. Roll 1d6+1 for Humans, 1d3 for Beasts, 1d3+2 for Robots and 2d4 for Trade. If particularly wealthy, roll multiple times.
- Butchery - Roll 2d6 x3. Choose which is hides / bones / raw meat.
- Rations - 3d6 food. Cooked (Humans) or interrupted meal (Beasts).
- Loot - One object (Humans), body part (Beasts) or Device (Robot).
- Scrap - One piece of scrap, taken from their advanced technology.
- Salvage - 2d6 chunks of advanced materials, for mundane crafting.
- Recruit - One member their band as a hireling, until you go home.
- Answers - They agree to answer any questions as well as they can.
- Caravan - Shift a stat by a step as long as the trade deal lasts.
Hides, bone, meat and food can be used for anything the tribe needs those resources for. Loot gives +1 Loyalty when brought back to camp. Scrap is semi-functional technology from the World Before, discussed below. Salvage is stuff like worked metal, plastic, glass and the like. Recruits can also represent hostages taken to ensure good behavior. Caravans are deals to exchange something (roll 1d6+1) for something else (roll 1d6+1) and modify the Tribe's attributes for as long as the exchange continues. Which stat it is depends on the merchant's stats relative to the Tribe.
Scrap
To generate a piece of scrap, roll 2d6 for the positive trait and 2d6 for the negative trait:
Roll | Positive Trait | Negative Trait |
---|---|---|
2 | Shock: Shocks or Resists Shock. | Faulty: Shocks if you fail a Save. |
3 | Freeze: Freezes or Resists Cold. | Min. Temp. Must stay warm to work. |
4 | Fitted. Enhanced, but... | Custom. Only works for one person. |
5 | Concealed. Robots do not see this. | Contraband. Robots hate this item. |
6 | Powered. Enhanced, but... | Power Hog. Requires (more) charge to use. |
7 | Combined. Two items in one. | Bulk. Takes an extra inventory slot. |
8 | Diesel. Enhanced, but... | Fuel Hog. Requires (more) fuel to use. |
9 | Prestigious. +2 Loyalty if worn. | Sacred. Must be treated as Sacred. |
10 | Precision. Enhanced, but... | Delicate. Only works while at max HP. |
11 | Flaming. Burns or resists Heat. | Max Temp. Must be kept cool to work. |
12 | Acidic. Corrodes or resists Acid. | Toxic. Leaks toxins if you fail a Save. |
If you roll the same number for both traits, you may choose which to reroll. They can't match.
Anyone can spend an hour with a piece of scrap and a mundane item to make a modified version of that item. It gains both of the indicated traits. "Enhanced, but..." means that the item gets a general benefit (weapons get +2 damage, light armour becomes scrap armour, other stuff gets a GM-negotiated benefit) as long as the negative trait for the same number is met.
And now, for the class:
Astronomer
Start with the chrome robes of your Order and a radio.
+1 Radio per template.
A: Sacred Order
B: Speaker
C: Go Rogue
D: Wrath
ς: Corvee
Δ: Grand Debate
Sacred Order: You are a servant of the Sky Gods, ancient relics built by the World Before which speak even now to those with the means to listen. This gives you a reputation as a learned sage. It is a grave taboo to harm you without cause. Human foes lose Loyalty equal to the damage they cause you. This protection is lost if you openly display greater loyalty to your Tribe than to your Order and against those who you attacked without cause.
Radio: You can build and maintain one radio per template in this class. A radio treated as a Sacred item does not count against the limit. Each radio can be used to speak with other radios in the same hex (even ones built by someone else) or to listen in on other radio conversations. Your Order uses radios to spread important news, keep ancient traditions alive and provide help to those threatened by famine, disease or other natural disasters.
Speaker: You are initiated in the deeper secrets of the Sky Gods. You may erect a Tower from three pieces of scrap in any hex that is not already adjacent to a Tower. This conduit to the Sky Gods attunes you to the Frequencies indicated by the three scrap used in its construction:
Roll | Frequency |
---|---|
2 | SigNet: Allows you to listen in on the secret whispers between robots. |
3 | Weather: Listen in as the Sky Gods forecast weather for the next week. |
4 | Encryption. Can use a radio to transmit selectively in adjacent hexes. |
5 | Archives. Reveals the adjacent hexes as they were in the World Before. |
6 | Broadcast. Can transmit messages to radio towers within a dozen hexes. |
7 | Forum. Talk to those attuned to this Frequency regardless of distance. |
8 | Announcer. Can loudly shout messages to everything in the current hex |
9 | Musical. +[templates] Loyalty while the Tower is fully maintained. |
10 | Witness. Gives a star's eye view of adjacent hexes, blocked by clouds |
11 | Firewatch. Reveals heat map of adjacent hexes: crowds and open flames. |
12 | Bug Calls. Allows you to listen in on the radiopathy of giant insects. |
Wrath: Once ever, you may speak the wrathful incantation of the Sky Gods - 'Kinetic Kill Satellite' - to utterly destroy a foe. Your target must be stationary, no taller than the tallest Tower you've ever built and clearly visible to the daytime sky. Everyone knows the most puissant of Astrologers can do this, but also that they will never do so frivolously or very often.
Corvee: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may instead send a hireling you could have recruited off to serve your Order. They will be put to work on infrastructure projects or send to provide aid to other tribes in need. This costs as much Loyalty as recruiting them would have, but provides you with three Resources (roll 2d4 x3) instead of a hireling. They return after a year. If you are Rogue, roll you can send people out to engage in banditry (roll 1d6+1 x3) to similar net effect.
Grand Debate: Your Order is headed by the Council of Eleven, each a mighty Astrologer of proven loyalty and merit. When a member of the Council dies, a Grand Debate is held to determine their replacement. If you triumph over all others, you ascend to the Council. You may engage in politics without being declared Rogue and may countermand the Word of Wrath against targets you can see. Sharing the Frequencies gets you banned from the Grand Debate.
[GLoW] Knights and Raiders
In this post, we're looking at the two Fighter-esque classes in GLoW, the Knight and the Raider.
Knight
Start with your Panoply and a Squire.
+3 Mettle per template.
A: Panoply
B: Bastion
C: Recognition
D: +1 Attack per Turn
ς: Squire
Δ: Tyrant
Panoply: You are trained in the use of an ancient suit of battle armour. It is three meters tall, takes ten minutes to don or doff and requires a suit of special clothing (as hide armour outside the suit) to connect yourself. Your Panoply grants you Skill in every feat of Strength or Swiftness while you wear it and is further modified by three pieces of scrap at any given time: one modifying your under suit, the second your wielded weapon(s) and the third any one item you might mount outside the Panoply. You can use this third item as if you were holding it with both your hands.
Mettle: If you would take damage while inside your Panoply, you may negate the damage by reducing its Mettle by one per damage die. You may repair up to a third of your Mettle by expending a scrap and an hour's labour. Doing so replaces one random piece of scrap used by your Panoply with the scrap spent. You can pay any fuel or charge costs at the same time.
Bastion: If someone on the far side of you is attacked with a
gun or other ranged weapon, you may interpose yourself. Save or compare
the attack roll against your Defense as is appropriate to the attack.
Gain one Loyalty per damage die if you do this for a tribal hireling.
Recognition: You may lawfully become Chief. For every power of ten people who recognize the legitimacy of your rule (1, 10, 100, 1000, 10k, 100k), there is a 1 in 6 chance that electronic locks recognize your legitimacy as a leader and grant you access even without an appropriate card.
Squire: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit a Squire if you have a scrap and do not already have a Squire. They are a Knight in training with a lesser copy of your Panoply providing three Mettle. Their under suit is modified by the scrap used, just like your own. Fully restoring your Squire's Mettle means replacing that scrap. If you are Chief, your Squire is promoted to be your Lieutenant and does not cost Loyalty to recruit. Hirelings only get Mettle if given a scrap.
Tyrant: You do not need to wait until your C template to contest the Chief for their position if you do so from within your Panoply. Ignore the usual method for becoming Chief - you splatter the old Chief into paste and make everyone listen to you by force. This applies a -10 penalty to Loyalty, reduced by 5 per template until it goes away at Knight C. If Loyalty is negative, you cannot safely leave camp (or your mech suit) and must play as your Lieutenant for any scene outside of camp.
Mechanics Notes: Negating all damage from an attack is a powerful ability. But scrap is fairly expensive, as will be established in the Astrologer post later on. Especially if you have a really nice one you want to keep. It's also possible that the Knight will step on the awful starting Chief within minutes of starting a campaign. Let them do that. It'll be funny.
Raider
Start with your scrap gun.
+1 Inventory Slot per template
A: Scrap Gun, Honour
B: Notches
C: War Chief
D: Both Barrels
ς: Aspirants
Δ: Warrior Bond
Scrap Gun: To be acknowledged as a Raider, you must build a scrap gun from a melee weapon and a piece of scrap, both of which must be taken in battle. This takes an evening of work and basic tools, but the result is a Sacred two-handed hybrid between a double-barrel shotgun and the melee weapon trophy, modified by the positive/negative traits of the scrap. A scrap gun does 2d6 damage in a 30' line (save for half) using shot, 2d6 at 100' range (save negates) using slug or 1d6+Str if used as a melee weapon. Reloading takes ten minutes. Firing alerts the whole hex. As with all firearms, enemies get +4 on Saves if they are in cover when they get shot at.
Honour: So long as you maintain your honor, you can bear two Sacred items at once, as long as one (and only one) of them is a scrap gun. Letting your scrap gun be lost or stolen is a breach of your honor, as is letting anyone insult you. You may reclaim your Honor by slaying everyone who shamed you and then openly carrying your (recovered, if necessary) scrap gun for a week.
Notches: Track kills based on Reaction Type. Whenever you gain a new power of ten notches (1, 10, 100, 1000), you deal +1 Damage and +1 Save vs that Type. You are always disfavoured by the Type you have the greatest number of notches for. This only effects you, not the whole party.
War Chief: Raiders may only become Chief in times of war. If your tribe is not already at war, you must pick someone to go to war with when becoming Chief. You must step down when the war ends. While Chief, the whole tribe has the Notches effects for whatever Type you have the most Notches for. You are encouraged to pick a fight with that specific kind of enemy.
Both Barrels: You may attack with your scrap gun in both player initiative phases. If your turn is in Fast, this means shooting in Slow and vice versa. This effectively gives you an extra attack.
Aspirants: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may choose to recruit an aspiring Raider instead of an ordinary hireling. They cost no Loyalty to recruit, but are motivated primarily by the desire to win battle trophies. They never agree to avoid potential combats where trophies might be won.
Warrior Bond: It is possible for two Raiders to exchange guns. If you offer this to someone and they accept, you form an unbreakable warrior bond. You can never be compelled by any rule of the game to harm or betray them. You are also legally married. If they refuse or ever marry another, your honour demands that you kill them. (But remember the first half of this ability.)
Mechanics Notes: Established Raiders do a LOT of damage, averaging 2d6+6 with their scrap gun against most enemies (enhanced gun and +2 from notches for two reaction types) and only slightly less in melee. This is countered by the fact that big singular monsters tend to have Mettle (ala the Knight) and that crowds have Loyalty instead of Hit Points, so they scatter instead of dying. Still, try to have intelligent enemies stay in cover after they hear the first shot go off.
[GLoW] Mutants and Outcasts
Our first two GLoW classes are the Mutant and the Outcast.
Mutant
Start with two random Mutations.
+1 to Saves vs Mutation per template.
A: Phenotype, Empathy
B: Rejuvenate
C: Fellowship
D: Sacrament
ς: Kindred
Δ: Speciation
Phenotype: On gaining this template, contemplate your starting mutations and devise a broad 'theme' which unites them into a coherent self-concept. If a mutation rolled is incompatible with your phenotype, refluff it (if possible) to match, reroll it up to twice (if not) or fail to mutate. Good theme ideas include kinds of animals, body parts and onomatopoeia words.
Empathy: Creatures who have been exposed to the same mutagenic source as you treat reactions of 'Contempt' as 'Pity' instead. You can communicate basic concepts to such creatures even without the use of a shared language.
Rejuvenate: If exposure to a mutagenic source would cause you to lose one of your on-Phenotype mutations, do not mutate. Instead heal back to full hit points and remove one scar, disease or long term injury of your choice. This can revive you if done within one hour per template of your death.
Fellowship: While you are Chief, all mutants consider your tribe to be kin to them, even if they come from a hostile tribe or are a wild mutant beast. This doesn't change Reaction rolls directly, but does change what Reaction rolls mean in context: If they hold you in contempt, they will have the contempt of a disapproving aunt, not that of a slave raider. If they have love you, they will love you like a long lost sibling.
Sacrament: If you spend one hour with a source of mutation, you may prepare a Sacred drink which will mutate anyone exposed to it as if exposed to that source, but with a bonus or penalty (your choice) equal to your class bonus on the Save to mutate beneficially. As always, a creature can only mutate once from a given mutagenic source. Up to a dozen can share this drink.
Kindred: When recruiting tribal hirelings, roll on your mutation slots. If a mutation is rolled, available hirelings share in that mutation. New mutations count as loot for Loyalty purposes.
Speciation: Once you have all six mutation slots filled with positive and on-theme mutations, you may swap Phenotype for this ability. Gain 10 HP and choose one of your mutations. It does not occupy a mutation slot. Your descendants and any tribal hirelings you recruit all share this mutation. You lose the hit points from this ability if you lack the chosen mutation.
Mechanics Notes: I intend to come up with a mutation list of my own, but for now just roll with whatever giant mutation chart you currently use. Different mutation sources should use different charts, or different subsets of the same chart. (50+1d10 on a d100 chart, for example). The Mutant is a very diplomatic figure in the Wasteland - they know how to get along with those who are very different from themselves. Which brings us to...
Outcast
Start with a ranged weapon or three thrown weapons.
+2 HP per template
A: Unique, Disreputable
B: Trickery
C: Culture Hero
D: Deadly
ς: New Ways
Δ: Connection
Unique: Choose one of Physique, Technology or Culture independently of your tribe. Determine the success or failure of skill checks, your combat stats and relevant reactions to you independently from the rest of the tribe.
Disreputable: If you offend an NPC and the rest of the tribe disavows your behavior as not representative of the tribe, there is a 3-in-6 chance the NPC accepts this excuse. +1-in-6 for each punishment they seem to have you suffer You cannot recruit tribal hirelings or become the Chief.
Trickery: If you do something that doesn't deal damage, you can act in Fast even when you failed an Initiative roll. If you make an attack in Slow and take no damage this round, you always hit.
Culture Hero: The tribe has come to recognize your value. You may become Chief and/or recruit tribal hirelings normally. While you are Chief, you may permit any one tribal hireling to benefit from your Trickery ability (including Deadly) in your place. Declare who gets it in the Slow phase.
Deadly: If you do not move on your turn, do +1d6 damage with your weapons. While using Trickery to attack in Slow, increase this to +2d6 damage.
New Ways: When recruiting tribal hirelings, you may recruit an outcast who shares your Unique attribute in place of the tribe's traditional set. All hirelings you recruit are Disreputable sorts who the tribe might disavow, even if they're traditionalists.
Connection: If you encounter a lone creature which exactly matches your Unique attribute, a spark of connection forms. You may communicate even if you do not share a language. It will not necessarily like you (roll Reaction as normal) but it will never try to kill you unless you try first.
Mechanics Notes: Unique is surprisingly strong, for all that it's a mixed bag of an ability. Often, just one person succeeding on an attribute test or reaction roll is enough to get what the Party wants. Remember that guns don't use attacks rolls, so they don't benefit from Trickery.
[GLoW] Introducing the Goblin Laws of the Wasteland
GLoW is a GLoGhack for playing in a post apocalyptic setting. Think Electric Bastionland meets Caves of Qud with some Gammaworld sprinkled on top. But it is ALSO a test bed for a bunch of mechanics I want to try out, either ones thematic to the setting (tribe based gameplay, ς templates, guns vs. Saves) or because I think they're good ideas in general (spectrum stats, the Reaction system, easy initiative). This post is a summary of these ideas; expect the class posts and the rest to come out pretty quickly over the next few days.
Tribe Based Gameplay
This is the biggest change. Step one of character creation is now "get with the rest of the group and figure out what tribe you all are in". A tribe is any sort of gang, kinship group, clan, village, community or whatever else willing to band together and face the apocalypse as a unit.
1. Name & Origin Story. Who the hell are you guys, why do you work together and where on the GM's hex map do you live? You don't need eight pages of history, but you do need a shared vision. "mutant biker gang" or "creepy church congregation" or "salt vine farming community" are all viable. The important part is that everyone agrees on what your collective deal is.
2. Starting Location. GLoW assumes a hex map. If you're using one, describe what the tribe's starting location is in as much detail as the GM needs to narrow things down to a single hex on the map. That's where your tribe comes from. If you're settled, you live there. If nomadic, it's your sacred site. You start out familiar with most things in adjacent hexes. If you're not using hexes, you get the equivalent amount of information about your surroundings.
3. Pick Stats. Everyone from the same tribe has the same stats. That's what makes you the same tribe. If you run across an NPC in the wilderness and the GM rolls for their stats and the stats match your tribe's stats - congrats. You have a new tribe member. Figure out why they're all the way over here. Maybe they married into this tribe or got captured in a raid or something.
(You might protest at this point that if everyone has the same stats, they will all feel like the same character. Don't worry. Stats don't mean much. They're more important here than in the base GLoG rules, but only in ways that make sense for everyone to share. Your class sets you apart.)
4. Determine Loyalty. Roll 3d6 + Swiftness to set the initial Loyalty of your tribe. Every time you return to camp victorious, roll 3d6 + [slots of loot gained] + Swiftness and replace the current value if the new roll is higher. Reduce Loyalty by [new number of hirelings] every time you recruit from your tribe and by 2 every time a tribe member dies. Loyalty is the shared HP pool of your hirelings. Hirelings scatter if Loyalty ever hits zero, with tribal hirelings returning to camp and any outside mercenaries abandoning you entirely.
5. Slander the Chief. At the start of play, the tribe is ruled by a Chief who is a real piece of work. They're stubborn, a coward and they make bad choices. Each player should invent one additional gripe about the current Chief. You must be proven (HD 3+) to contest the Chief for their position. Most classes get a bonus for being Chief, shared across the whole tribe, as their C template.
Spectrum Stats
GLoW doesn't use the basic D&D attributes, both in the sense that there's no 'Charisma' or 'Dexterity' anywhere on your sheet and in the sense that the attributes you do get don't work like D&D attributes do. They're what I'm calling 'spectrum stats' because you're determining where you fall one the spectrum of being good at one thing to being good at the opposite thing.
When creating your tribe, you decide your attributes by setting each of
Physique, Technology and Culture to a value between 1 and 6. Check under
the base attribute (on a d6) for the first sub-attribute and over for
the second sub-attribute. Rolling exactly equal to your base attribute
is always a success. You also have derived modifiers for your
sub-attributes. When something says +Str or +LT or +Wst, it means that
derived modifier.
Physique - Strength vs. Swiftness
As a tribe, what does physical fitness look like? Someone who is big and strong and can lift a thousand pounds overhead, or someone who can run faster than anyone else and is good at the local ball sport? Or are you in the middle, where everyone is fit and mostly not malnourished?
Strength adds to hit points, inventory slots and to both attack and damage rolls for melee weapons. It is tested to perform feats of strength or stand firm. It also helps you when making Reaction Rolls with predators and roving barbarians.
Swiftness adds to loyalty, saving throws and to both attack and damage rolls for thrown weapons. It is tested to run, jump, climb and/or swim. It also helps you when making Reaction Rolls with prey animals, couriers and pickpockets.
(Firearms do not rely on attribute. You make a Save whenever you get shot at.)
Technology - High Tech vs. Low Tech
As a tribe, how much of the technology of the World Before is still in common use? Have you carefully preserved the relics of the past, knowing you cannot do without them, or have you invented new ways of living which do not depend on the irreplaceable marvels of an accursed and only half forgotten age?
High Tech lets you do things with technology from the World Before. It's used when salvaging scrap from ancient ruins, hacking into ancient vaults and when making Reaction Rolls with tech lovers and the local autonomous robots.
Low Tech lets you do things without the need for ancient technology. It's used when harvesting natural resources, following footprints and crafting low tech equipment. It also helps when making Reaction Rolls for farmers, low-tech tribes and animals.
(You don't need a specific Tech level to be an Artificer or a Mutant.)
Culture - Urbanity vs. Wastewise
As a tribe, are you more comfortable in the ruins of the World Before or out in the wild with all the plants and game? Do you have coins, market days and elections or do you handle things as a community? When parents warn their kids to keep out of trouble, are they talking about the sewer rats or the creek gators?
Urbanity and Wastewise are rolled for stealth, initiative and navigation in their respective environments. Urbanity is also used for commerce and trade, while Wastewise is checked to be self-sufficient and thrifty. One of the two attributes is always used when making Reaction Rolls with humans, based on where they live.
Base | Stat #1 | Check | Stat #2 | Check |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stat | Mod | Odds | Mod | Odds |
1 | +3 | 6 in 6 | -3 | 1 in 6 |
2 | +2 | 5 in 6 | -2 | 2 in 6 |
3 | +1 | 4 in 6 | -1 | 3 in 6 |
4 | -1 | 3 in 6 | +1 | 4 in 6 |
5 | -2 | 2 in 6 | +2 | 5 in 6 |
6 | -3 | 1 in 6 | +3 | 6 in 6 |
Skills
Confession time: I have never liked how GLoG did Skills. |1d12-1d12| vs. Skill Rank? Nothing else in the system works like that. For GLoW, if you have Skill in something, you get to roll twice and take the better-for-you number on any attribute test associated with the skill. Climbing Skill? Two dice on Swiftness to climb, Low Tech for tying climber's knots, Strength vs. altitude sickness, whatever you can justify to the GM as being associated with your Skill. You can also pick a specific kind of critter as a Skill, in which case you get two dice on spotting, hiding from, tracking, taming, riding and/or butchering it. This replaces having a Stealth rating.
The Basic Adventurer
Here's a revised table for your basic adventurer stats. Note that level 0 is what hirelings get. The major differences are how many hit points you get (generally fewer) and when Templates (now every other level) and Skills (every level you don't get a template) are handed out. You gotta be level 5+ to be Chief.
Level | Hit Points | Templates | Skills | Attack | Saving Throw | XP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 4+Str | 1 | 10 | 5+Swf | - | |
1 | 6+Str | 1st | 11 | 6+Swf | 1+ | |
2 | 9+Str | 2 | 12 | 7+Swf | 2000 | |
3 | 10+Str | 2nd | 13 | 8+Swf | 4000 | |
4 | 12+Str | 3 | 9+Swf | 7000 | ||
5 | 14+Str | 3rd |
14 | 10+Swf | 10000 | |
6 | 16+Str | 4 | 11+Swf | 14000 | ||
7 | 17+Str | 4th |
15 | 12+Swf | 18000 | |
8 | 18+Str | 5 | 13+Swf | 22000 | ||
9 | 19+Str | 14+Swf | 26000 | |||
10 | 20+Str | 6 | 15+Swf | 30000 | ||
+1 | +1 | +5000 |
ς Templates
The same way that some classes have a Δ Template in normal GLoG, where you unlock a special template for doing something interesting in game, every class in GLoW has a ς Template (pronounced 'sigma') that modifies hirelings you personally recruit from the tribe. Mutants get to recruit hirelings who are mutated in similar ways, a Knight gets to recruit a Squire, the Raider gets to recruit young hot heads and so forth. Likewise, if your class gives a bonus per template, any hireling who gets your ς Template gets the bonus for that template, not you.
If you are Chief, every hireling the party recruit gets your ς Template and either -1 Loyalty cost (if you recruit them personally) or the ς Template of whoever did recruit them (if you didn't). The starting Chief, who sucks at everything, has the ς Template: Reluctant Loyalty: Every time the PCs convince a hireling to go against the Chief's orders, the Tribe collectively loses one Loyalty.
Reactions
Reaction rolls in GLoW don't care about Charisma, because there is no Charisma. Instead, every creature has two Reaction Types (often shortened to Types) which decide what you roll for their reactions and how some Type-specific abilities or items effect them. Each Type is named for the sub-attribute you test when interacting with that Type. For example:
- Animals always have Low Tech and one other Type. Predators might be Strength, prey animals might be Swiftness, a racoon might be Urbanity and a herd animal might be Wastewise. No animal (even a cyborg gorilla or something) has High Tech and Low Tech at the same time. You never get opposing Reaction Types like that.
- Robots always have High Tech and one other Type. As with animals, the other Type is based on what sort of Robot it is. Ones designed to interface with humans tend to value Urbanity from humans, while those intended for agricultural, industrial and/or military settings tend to admire Wastewise, Strength or Swiftness respectively.
- Humans always have either Urbanity (if they are settled) or Wastewise (if they are nomadic) as a reaction type, along with one other type based on their personality. Note that having a Reaction Type isn't the same as being good at the associated sub-attribute. Farming villages often have higher Wastewise despite being settled and having Urbanity as their Reaction type. It just means they don't trust people from other villages, but can easily be intrigued by posh manners and big city riches.
- Abstract dangers tend to have either Strength (Diseases, Vermin) or Swiftness (Curses, Radiation) as Reaction Types. This is less about the anthrax being impressed by your muscles and more me reusing this system to represent the reaction of the Party to these things in a way that offers a wider range out outcomes.
If both Reaction Types turn up a favorable result, the creature (or tribe, or abstract danger) respects you (or you properly respect it, in the case of abstract dangers). If both turn up unfavorable, the creature (or etc.) has contempt for you. Otherwise, it's more of a mixed bag. If a Merchant (Urbanity / Swiftness) comes to your tribe and you roll well on Urbanity but bad on Swiftness, you can trade just fine, but the guy might secretly regard you all as barbarian thugs. Whereas if you got the opposite result, he might admire your Tribe, but the trading falls through.
Initiative
tl;dr It's easy initiative from Spiceomancy, but FILO for more explicit interruption of enemy actions.
Each PC rolls Urbanity (if in a ruin, village or road) or Wastewise (if in the wilderness, a nomad camp or underground). Those who succeed get to go in Fast while everyone else must go in Slow. Artificers using their arcane devices always go in Slow. Slow players declare their actions first. Enemies act, potentially to interrupt what the Slow players were doing. Then Fast players declare, potentially to interrupt the enemy and/or to bail out a Slow player who would have been killed by a volley of thrown javelins. Slow players can try to reroll into Fast at the start of each round. Fast players can always drop down to the Slow phase for free.
(Also, just FYI, this whole thing is released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0, given that it's a GLoG-hack.)
Saturday, August 23, 2025
No Thieves Guild - a Thief Taker's Guild
It is widely agreed that a 'Thieves Guild' is a ridiculous idea. After all, a guild is a group of tradesmen who have a legally recognized monopoly on a particular segment of the economy. What ruler is going to give a monopoly on stealing things to a bunch of robbers and thieves? They don't want to build a thriving and well-regulated tradition of larceny, they want people to stop stealing from one another. Or at least, stop doing it in ways that the ruler has to do something about, instead of outsourcing it to local organizations.
Thus, my proposed solution: there is no such thing as a 'Thieves Guild'. But there is a 'Guild of Thief-Takers, Watchmen and Guards' which has a monopoly on offering crime-prevention services. You might go to them in order to:
-Hire a bouncer, night watchman or caravan guard to toss out unruly patrons, patrol a warehouse or guard against bandits on the road respectively. The guild provides these burly guildsmen with the necessary equipment, training and moral education necessary to perform their appointed duties without risk of slacking, bribe-taking, cowardice, wenching, gambling or inattentiveness. Not that you have any alternatives, of course: the Guild has its monopoly.
-Pay an annual fee to register your home or business as a secured property, which results in regular patrols each night and a plaque informing would-be thieves that anyone who burgles this address will be beaten within an inch of their lives by the local Thief-Takers, men and women of fearsome repute. The fee is larger, of course, if you sign up only after being stolen from.
-Look through the pile of recovered stolen goods and then pay a small ransom to have whatever property belongs to you returned to your possession. Fees are cheaper if you have proof that it belongs to you, but if you are a good client of the guild and are up to date on all secured property fees, you can report your goods as 'stolen' after discovering their presence at the Guild. If your stolen goods aren't in there, you can leave a description and your deposit on the 'ransom'. Someone will get you once your goods are 'found'.
-Conversely, if you happen to come across some suspected stolen goods, there is a small reward for surrendering them to the Guild. No questions asked on where exactly you got the goods from, as long as there's no reason to think you might be the sort of burglar who goes after up-to-date secured clients. Incidentally, a list of wealthy persons who are and are not secured clients can be obtained for a small fee at any Guild desk. For investor awareness, of course. You wouldn't want to go into business with someone unsecured.
-Place a bounty against a particularly notorious bandit or outlaw. This one isn't even dubiously legal. They'll legitimately go after notorious outlaws to keep their reputation with the Crown from going too horribly crooked.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
[Cloak-and-Sword] The Muse
For the ongoing Cloak-and-Sword bandwagon.
You are a Muse, an invisible and uncouth messenger between the Seen and Unseen worlds. As a class, you have a great deal of exploration potential, but are forced to work indirectly, through disreputable and vicious sorts.
What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and wiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious smiles.
Artist: You start with 2HD Artist who feels Espirit for you and one other. Roll three times on the Lower Class Occupation Table to determine what your Artist does to keep itself occupied when it is not serving you. Choose between one and three vices for your Artist. They can never achieve financial or social success while you still live; these vices consume any funds they accrue and sour any reputation they acquire within the year.
Muse: You are a Spirit, with all that entails. Angels can see you, as can your Artist. Other humans cannot see you, but can still recognize and listen to your invisible presence in depictions of you. This state of affairs is inverted in the Region de Fableau, which you may access through any window, mirror or lens. You cannot see, hear or pass through such apertures naturally - you only see the Region de Fableau. You cannot touch or be touched by humans or anything last touched by a human.
Immortal: Those who hear you will never forget your words, not anything seen or felt in that moment. While you still live, all who would hold Espirit for your Artist instead have Espirit for you. After you both die, all who would have Espirit for you instead have it for your Artist. Your Artist cannot die of heartbreak, consumption or disgrace while you still live, but still suffers terribly.
Composition: You get to look at the overall map of galleries, studios, dens of iniquity. You can also see the indoor map of any room containing artwork depicting you and whatever room your Artist happens to currently be in. You cast light as a torch in darkness, as the Moon at night and the Sun at day.
Artosopoeia: With an hour of conversation with your Artist, you may inspire a work of art. The medium through which they represent you is fixed when this is first used and may only be changed thereafter by the sacrifice of a sensory appendage. The Artist will continue to work along the themes of your conversation for the next week or until the piece is complete. All artwork created this way depicts you, even when it appears to depict something else.
Collaborate: Should you murder another Muse, you may steal their Artist(s). Should you seduce another Muse, you may trade one Artist of yours for one Artist of theirs, your choice which. Should you arrange for another Muse to be imprisoned, exiled or incapacitated, you may 'borrow' an Artist of theirs until their condition improves. These Artists may be more or less useful than the 2HD one that you begin the game in possession of.
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