Recently Updated Posts

i was lol

((I think dt was kidding about me being asst. DM. The problem was, there was no way Meno would in-character refuse the Silver Princess plot hook unless something like that happened. So instead of asking dt to make it happen, I saved him a step!))

Every once in a while I'll get totally obsessed with an idea and I'll set aside work that I'm supposed to be doing and work on something unnecessary. Like revisiting this Ranger class, I spent a good day and a half rewriting and tweaking the layout when I had other work that was due. Is that ADHD? But I'm very satisfied with this. I wish WotC would take all the old TSR stuff and clean it up like this and publish it in handsome volumes. They have such a vast and amazing library, and they just ignore it. We're lucky they even bother to throw some of it up in badly scanned PDFs on DriveThru.

Hello folks,
The OSR edition of The Book of Valkyries is now up on DriveThru. I've put a lot of work into it (checks notes...5 years!) and hope you enjoy it.

This is the PDF, the physical book will be available as soon as the proof is approved. Usually about ~2 weeks, but with DriveThru you never know.

Check it out I think you might like it!



www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/559961/book-of-valkyries

ok we tried this for a bit and decided that it's one big thing the use of chainmail and the Weapons verse AC system did not work for us. Too often we ended up with fights with one side or the other or both, swinging like mad and unable to hit. Sometimes it was not even possible to hit!

Sounded fun in the rule book, worked out badly at the game table.

(OOC-Hey Bonekainen!)

Consulting a crude map Zotho ponders. 'I believe I can find a way to Castle Greyhawk.' [Although his map is a bit shaky and maybe not the best in scale.]

Here is the information explicable to the various cleric classes.

To put focused art into perspective, here is the description of the sleep spell. Note the last line that highlights the increased effect of the spell when the caster is focused on the Art of the Web.

---

Characters (Clerics)
Religion plays an important role in the Majestic Fantasy Realms. The gods are real, and their power affects everyday life. The reality of the gods profoundly affects the various cultures of the Majestic Realms. One result is that Clerics and Priests are more socially powerful and sometimes more magically powerful than the other character classes in the Majestic Fantasy Realms. This power comes at a price: faith.

Under the rules that the gods abide by, they grant power only to those who truly believe and are willing to follow the will of their god. These rules do not automatically strip power from those who doubt or transgress. However, a Cleric must ultimately stand with their deity or lose everything their deity gave them.

The expectations of the faith and the structure of the church serve as restraints on how clerical power is used. Even in societies dominated by the three "evil" gods, Hamakhis, Kalis, and Sarrath, there are recognizable laws and social structures. These religions have rules that restrict a character's actions and prevent them from riding roughshod over the societies the referee creates.

One feature common to the various religions of the Majestic Fantasy Realms is their universal antipathy toward demons and their cults. Even worshippers of the three "evil" gods will actively oppose any demon cults they discover.

Another feature is that the gods are universal in their appeal. They do not focus on a single portfolio. Each teaches a distinctive philosophy of life to the faithful through its clerics. While they are given a singular name in this book, they manifest in different forms among different cultures.

For example, Thor is known by that name among the Vikings. To the horse nomads of the plains, he is known as Mantriv. Although these cultures worship him in different ways, his religion maintains the same core beliefs: stand against the monsters that inhabit the world and lead an honorable life.

Skill Progression
All Clerics gain a bonus to Theology. They start with 2 free skill bonuses and gain 1 free skill bonus every level. A character cannot spend more than half of their free bonuses on a single skill.



Rob's Notes: In the Manual of the Martial, Magical, and Mundane Arts, the different character classes get slightly more skill bonuses compared to those in the Basic Rules. The reason for this is feedback from my players, who wanted a few more points to customize what their characters can do.

Focused Art for Clerics
Each god created one of the Chromatic Crystals. They imbued their inner essence into the lattice of each crystal, strengthening the seal. In doing so, they also subtly altered the mana as it flowed through the crystal.

Clerics are strongest in the art favored by their deity, as shown in the following table. When a cleric reaches 3rd level, their god grants them insight that focuses the cleric's spellcasting on the art associated with that deity.

Deities of the Majestic Fantasy Realms and their associated art.


Holy Symbols
The use of the holy symbol of the cleric's deity is required to employ the following abilities:

• Casting spells with their focused effect using the art associated with the cleric's deity.
• Casting the 1/day spell granted at 3rd level.
• Using their additional powers, such as Turn Undead.

The holy symbol must be held and incorporated into rituals or spellcasting for these abilities. Otherwise, the holy symbol is ceremonial in nature.

Ok so castle greyhawk it is right now we have five active characters

any of the NPC you want to come with you?
Shall I recruit another player?

I will leave this open before I start a new thread

"Damsels in distress? The ruins of a forgotten castle? How can we say no?" Meno said. "We will leave for for this 'silver palace' tom-"

Then the door opened and another magic-user came in. "Gustav! Did you hear the news?" this other magic-user asked. "Maggie and Mindy have been found!"

"Oh! This is excellent news," Meno then said. "It seems our talents will not be needed after all. In truth, we were already tempted to go see the famous Castle Greyhawk. Have you ever been there, Zotho? Maybe you could serve as our escort there."

Every version of a Ranger class is really just an attempt to make Aragorn.

I was rereading Strategic Review #2 again for the umpteenth time and looking at the Ranger and thinking how rough the writing and layout is, this is part of the fun of reading SR. These are really fresh ideas (at the time) in their raw form, and the writer is trying to work them out.

As noted many times by others, the rule of "4XP for every 3XP until the 8th level" is just a convoluted way of reducing XP needed per level by 25% for levels 1-7. Why not just write the XP table that way?

There is no official Ranger in OD&D, and it doesn't become official until the AD&D Players Handbook, remarkably very little changed from this original version.

I took it upon myself to edit the article, reorganize the information, and use whatever layout skills I have to present it in classic "White Box" style. It is unchanged in function, identical to the author's design, just changed in form for legibility. You can print this out and fold it, and it will fit perfectly into your ODD box or booklet if you find it useful.



Which version of Ranger class, and there have been many over the years, do you think is "the best?"



dungeoneering.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-best-ranger.html

Dig the livestream, thanks for sharing. The idea of creating a dungeon on the fly was pretty cool.

Moving on to the classes, first, the general overview.

---

Classes
There are four types of character classes in the Majestic Fantasy RPG: Clerics, Fighting Men, Magic-Users, and Rogues. Within each type are different classes that represent various adventuring occupations in the Majestic Fantasy Realms. Each consists of a collection of skills and abilities organized by level. Class abilities include hit dice, combat progression, saving throws, spell use, where applicable, along with other features.

A character's Class Level represents accumulated life experience and growing competence. In general, every character has both a class and a level. Because experience points represent life experience and personal development, the different advancement tables reflect the amount of personal commitment a given occupation or role demands of the character.

Clerics devote themselves to the divine magical arts. Fighting Men are masters of the martial arts. Magic-Users practice the arcane magical arts. Rogues rely upon the mundane arts. Together, the classes represent the three adventuring arts in different ways.

Some classes are bound to codes, religious vows, military discipline, or membership in an order. These obligations mean that these classes are not free agents. Failure to meet these obligations may result in a loss of status or special abilities.

At the 5th level, a character has the opportunity to take on greater responsibility. These opportunities may take the form of leadership, stewardship, patronage, or other positions that naturally arise from the campaign. By the 9th level, many characters establish strongholds, guilds, chapterhouses, or other institutions that create a lasting change within the setting of the campaign.

The referee should tailor these developments to the character's actions and circumstances. This stage marks the beginning of a path by which a character may leave a lasting mark on the world.

Skill Bonuses
Use skills to resolve actions taken outside of combat and spellcasting. Examples include Climbing, Haggling, Locution, and Stealth.

Each class grants bonuses to specific skills and provides a smaller number of free bonuses that players may distribute among any skills in the game. Each bonus grants a +1 to a 1d20 roll made to resolve a task using that skill, in addition to any relevant attribute modifier.

Each class lists the total number of skill bonuses available at each level. When distributing bonuses, no more than half of the total number of skill bonuses, rounded down, may be applied to a single skill.

For example, a Burglar at 4th level has a total of 16 skill bonuses. Apply no more than +8 to a single skill, such as Stealth.

Rob's Note: I wrote these classes to reflect the logic of a medieval fantasy setting. Some classes, such as the Paladin and the Myrmidon, possess greater inherent advantages. In addition, certain classes may face roleplaying expectations that arise from their place within the cultures of the Majestic Fantasy Realms, including Clerics, Paladins, and Myrmidons.


Richard Luschek

PBP