B/X Class: Human

 The OSE Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome has a racial class both for elves and half-elves. By doubling the difference between elves and half-elves, we must surely be able to deduce the human class that they forgot to put in all the books. For instance, an elf's maximum level is 10, a half-elf's is 12, and therefore a human's is 14. ezpz.

Human

Requirements: none
Prime Requisite: INT and STR
HD: 1d6
Maximum level: 14
Armour: Any, including shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Common

XP: as thief
Attack: as fighter
Save: as half-elf, -1 at 13 and -1 at 14.
Attack: as fighter
Spells: Memorize a 1st-level spell at 3, 5, and 13. Memorize a 2nd-level spell at 7 and 9. Memorize a third-level spell at 11.

Using Magic Items: may use items that can be used by arcane spellcasters.

Detect Secret Doors: 2-in-6 chance of success when searching.

Infravision: 60 feet.

After Reaching 9th Level: may build a barony as a fighter.

After completing this experiment, I have to note there were a few points I had to fudge. There was no way to extrapolate from the attribute requirements, and the resulting class would have leveled up even faster than a thief. The saves were fudged as well, since they were identical for the elf and half-elf but didn't go high enough.

The resulting class is obviously a little off. For one thing, it's much stronger than the fighter and levels more quickly. For another, there's still too much of the elf in it. If you got rid of the infravision this could be a good upgrade to the sometimes maligned B/X fighter, letting them get in on magic item use. I might pitch this as a plucky protagonist of folklore destined for greater things.

Considerations on Fantasy Folk, Part 1

D&D tends to minimize the differences between core playable races. In D&D 5e, they usually give you small bonuses to primary attributes, small perks, and maybe a racial language. In 3.5 and Pathfinder, they are similar, giving abilities you can choose from to improve your Character Build.

In earlier editions, non-humans were restricted in what classes they could be, or were a class in and of themselves, but this seldom resulted in fundamental changes to how a character solved problems. If the elf class is simply a wizard with a bow and armor, they are effectively humans with slightly fewer game-rule restrictions.

For the folk of Vain the Sword, I have gone in the opposite direction. Differing species have bodies and minds that lead to very different lived experiences and concerns. The way these concerns affect adventurers emerge through play, but I find it worth considering how communities with different ideas about necessities and abilities might function, in ways that can be reflected at the table. 

In this project, I cannot give considerations on every folk. For instance, talking animals and golems are so varied as to be impossible to consider in their totality. In this first installation, I will be focusing on eulogy, orcs, and serset, since those folk are more common in my current weekly game.

Eulogy (snake-like creatures with no legs. Cold-blooded. Flexible)

• Buildings typically lack stairs or ladders, preferring poles instead.
• In poorer settlements, families may pair off and live in one house during winter to cut down on firewood consumption.
• "The duke's son, who was unfortunately born with legs, had special ramps constructed between his main quarters and the courtyard to help with his disability."
• A fortress hallway with small alcoves behind hidden panels in random hallways, built to hide coiled eulogy to ambush invaders.
• Square beds to facilitate coiling.
• "The ambassador rushed to his room but saw that no one was in it. Suddenly, hissing laughter floated down and he gazed up at the thin rafters to see the assassin--"
• Some meals are offered without utensils, for it is only good manners to swallow them whole.
• Proud parents save the first shedded skin of their children to mix into potions of good fortune.
• The first function of a nursery is to make the mother comfortable for the months spent keeping laid eggs warm.
• Eulogy shackles take the form of a long stick with straps running down it, the prisoner pulled taut and held in place.
• "It is ludicrous that my brother was chosen as heir when I am his clutchmate, and have twice the learning and wit that he does!"
• Miners favor picks, mattocks, and hand-shovels, never something that assumes you can step down on it.
• A slithering eulogy does not need snow shoes, since they can slither. However, to do so is considered dangerous.
• Adventurers can easily use their trusty 10-foot pole as a ladder.
• Nobility often have winter homes in warmer climes or near hot springs.
• Some warriors favor long shields to cover their lower half, since metal armor is not usually practical.
• Travelers commonly carry black, heat-retaining stones in netting during the day, relying on them in the early part of night.
• Passageways can be much smaller when it is assumed that those using them will not be carrying much.
• Thrust-focused weapons are considered weaker.
• Among minor nobility, non-eulogy guests may be presented with light ladders to aid in navigating the household. Higher nobles may even have sections of their homes built for non-eulogy, or staircases built in out-of-the-way locations for the clumsier races.

Orc (can see in darkness and firelight, but not sunlight.)

• It is not uncommon to see an orc walking with a lit torch by daylight. (Yes, this is how this works.)
• Homes lack shutterless windows.
• Settlements often have permanent wooden awnings or cliff overhangs between major locations.
• Hunters encounter nocturnal prey more frequently than other folk do.
• Travelers seldom camp by the road when they can retreat to the shade of trees.
• Someone forced to travel by day without any fire, will walk facing their own shadow.
• In diverse settlements, bells and barkers are replaced with silent alternatives, such as chimes made of colorful fabric.
• Some adventuring parties and military units which are not primarily made up of orcs may assign one as a "night-captain," with the role of directing marches through darkness.

Serset (parasites who control the bodies of those they infest. Live in lakes when without a host. Three-member reproduction that results in the death of participants. Gender based heavily on host-imprinting.)

• All societies are dependent on the proximity of other kinds of folk. There is near-universal emphasis on learning the tongues and customs of neighbors.
• "Lawful" serset pools are known to harshly punish blatant seizure of host bodies, to avoid the reputation of being, as a race, raiders and slavers.
• Depriving someone of a host once they have already inhabited one is to demand a deep sacrifice, on the level of asking a high noble to give up their birthright.
• Pools will always have a complex of buildings beside them to service controllers guarding the community from interlopers or predators. Smallers pools will even have fences.
• In climates with freezing weather, serset will stick together at the bottom of pools or stay in warm barrels for the duration of inclement conditions.
• Everyone has over a hundred siblings. Incest is not taboo.
• "Dungeon" complexes never have lethal traps.

Vain the Sword Character Generator

Full GLOG Hack: Vain the Sword

NOTE: THIS IS NOW OUT-OF-DATE. THE SECOND EDITION CAN BE FOUND HERE <---

Click for the link!

Thanks as ever to Arnold K., Skerples, and all the rest. I will try to attentively update this document as mistakes become apparent.

Read a review by SunderedWorldDM here, or thoughts from others (including Arnold K.) in the comments below.

Highlights:

• Functioning table of contents with links
• renaming anything in the game that sounds like it's for nerd accountants
• Roll-under stats
• Separate dodge-and-block defense
• a collection of classic and strange base classes, each up to level 4
• strange languages
• skills are perhaps magic?
• charisma as godly grace, charisma-based "battle cry" initiative
• light-based critical fumble chance
• Gods! Arcana! Gigre!
• advice on exploration and hexcrawling
• an appendix N
• An example dungeon adventure, "Brenton's Bride."

June 28, 2020 Update

• Renamed "race" to "folk."
• Added more description for each folk.
• Changed how dodge and HP works to simplify math.
• Cleaned up headers and similar things.
• Rather than saying you get one ken from your lot and one of your choice, I just wrote every lot to give you an additional ken.
• Dreamer's dream hunting now more concrete. Introduced nightmare injuries.
• Replaced dreamer spell "speak with birds" with "argue with birds," since speaking with birds is available to anyone who wants to learn the language.
• Modified talismans.
• Reformated death and dismemberment table. Made minor edits.
• Updated acolyte dictates.

July 15, 2020 Update

• Replaced ordena with talking animals. They were fine, but playing an ordena is not a sufficiently dramatic change. Also, talking animals keep showing up as NPCs anyway.

Nephilim? I Hardly Know 'im! [Kaiju OSR Bandwagon]

This is a submission for the ongoing search on the OSR discord for Kaiju rules.

Ancient societies were constantly menaced by kaiju. Angelic beings impossibly tall, animals and gods as vast as continents or worlds, dragons or giants cruel and ancient. Notably, they are dangerous but still usually vulnerable to a demigod's spear. Inspired by these stories and myths, the rules below will create dangerous-but-still-vulnerable creatures. Like a PC in GLOG, a nephil will have to rely on more than their standard abilities to threaten dangerous foes. Nephilim characters should spend their immortality gathering arcane power and temporal domain, or else resign themselves to bully plucky children in the forest.

The Nephilim have templates like any other, but any nephil should have at least one hit die or class template from something else. A giant ox is still an ox, and a giant priest is still a priest. So, the class:

Eart CG. Forever is a long time to have to keep your soul together.

-NEPHIL- (alternatively: Giant, Kaiju, Monster)
For each template you possess as a nephil, you may grow up to five times your current size.

1: Great Form, Eternal Warrior
2: Vast Legs, Eternal Obsession
3: Tide of Flesh, Eternal Reign
4: Colossal Wreck, Eternal Rite

• Great Form: You take half-damage from normal-sized weapons, and require four times the dose of any potion, drug, or any other consumable in order for it to take effect. Most items no longer take up item slots, but carrying such small things can be tricky.
• Eternal Warrior: You no longer age. 
• Vast Legs: Your strides pass over entire lands. It takes you one hour to cross a normal-sized kingdom or other land.
• Eternal Obsession: Something consumes you and makes you act irrationally. You might horde gold, abide by riddle-wagers, or eat only the offspring of a certain noble line. If you act against this obsession, take 1 hp damage.
• Tide of Flesh: You no longer strike individuals but areas. Attacks you make now damage everything within 30 feet of your target.
• Eternal Reign: When you consume your infant child, gain 100 XP.
• Colossal Wreck: If you are killed, from your body will be born a new world, or at least a major continent.
• Eternal Rite: No matter how cruel or indifferent you are, your grandeur inspires devotion. Every year, at least one 1st-level cleric will be ordained in your service for each level+HD you possess.

John Gast. No matter how cruel or indifferent you are, your grandeur inspires devotion.

Plot Hooks of Ynn and Ynn Natives

When my players started running around in Ynn, they constantly asked for directions. It was hilarious every time to have a salamandar blink, nod, and say "follow me!," tramping in a random direction. I would throw them a small bone. Looking for a particular kind of settlement with a guide meant I would interpret any random settlement as that one. If I run adventures with specific objectives in the Gardens of Ynn, the ability of natives to semi-navigate, or the presetting of certain locations will be very important. People have found it difficult to imagine how to run adventures in Ynn beyond the natural adventure of exploring and getting lost. I think slightly reducing randomness is a great tool in ameliorating that.

Thomas Kinkade

d4 Plot Hooks of Ynn (some adapted from the rumor table)

1. A Dream of Metal and Gears is attempting to overrun Ynn. After depth 8, roll a d4 for encounters. Rolls of 1 are infected by the Dream, rolls of 2 are fearful servants of the dream, rolls of 3 or 4 are independent or servants of an enemy dream (possibly including the Idea of Thorns.) The Dream itself resides in a clockwork tower around depth 14. People who know its location have a 50% of finding it at that depth.
2. A Sidhe is attempting to escape through an open door, and is willing to work with the PCs.As they travel together, it becomes clear what a disaster the Sidhe's arrival in their world would be.  A band of croquet-mercenaries serving a Shepherd of Trees hunt the Sidhe and any allies armed with Hamartia, a poison that can afflict the ancient creature.
3. A high-ranking rose maiden hires the party to guard her as she travels to a meeting of the Dandelions, the directing council of her kind. Flower politics are subtle, and even nonmagical plants encountered on the way to the Filigree Orchid-house in depth 8 have their own agenda.
4. The king of a chess set is newly advised by a Ferret-Servant wizard. With his aid, they stand a reasonable chance of taming part of the Garden, with stable doorways to the outside. A kingdom-building campaign ensues.

I've before mentioned my dissatisfaction with the Ynnian Changeling as a class. Instead, I offer versions of several creatures found in Ynn suitable for PCs. As I usually run races, each will have a primary attribute they can reroll, an advantage, and a disadvantage.

Ynn Natives

• Myconid Composter: reroll constitution. You can create another Myconid by donating d4 HP, and merge with any other myconids. However, halve your sense of self.
• Young Salamandar: reroll strength. You are immune to fire and can breathe flame (d6 damage,) however apologizing or interacting with ugliness deals 1 damage to you.
• Rose-Maiden: reroll intelligence. You can speak with or command plants twice a day. However, you cannot harm a plant.
• Pawn: reroll any. Gain an extra skill. However, get disadvantage versus possession or peer pressure.
• Ferret-Servant: reroll charisma. Once per day, cast charm, sleep, or invisibility. However, you are forever doomed to command 4d4 frog- and fish-servants who are incapable of being helpful.
• Floral Spider: reroll dexterity. You can climb walls. however, you always act last in combat.
• Candle-Golem: If the players encounter one naturally, let a player run it as-is. Doesn't heal naturally or speak. Charmingly foolish.