Peeking into The Manor, Issue #3

Tim Shorts does it again, but doesn't he always? This time he has Ivy contributing some of the Art Work. Now I truly dispair of ever seeing those scantily clad women Tim promised! Good thing we still have Conan! Jason Sholtis -- The Dungeon Dozen -- continues to provide the excellent artwork.

 

Tim presents us with a nice little one-off Adventure featuring an evil Cleric and oodles of Undead. A village's water supply has been poisoned and they are desparately in need of help! Will your Players rise to the challenge? Seeing as how I'm going to introduce this into a couple of my RPoL games, my Players will. Hehehehehe!

 

Ivy's Evil Cleric

 

Ivy's Undead

The Adventure also introduces us to a Dead God -- Mytria -- and one of her Clerics. Sorry Tim, but in my world God's don't die in quite the same manner that we poor, pitiful mortals do, so Obidiah will probably have some residual “powers” that he's unaware of -- via his contact with the Lion of Mytra. He just needs one of my guys to inspire his Faith!

 

The Lion of Mytria? Sorry, you'll have to get an issue and read it

 

Yes, it's good to be the Dungeon Master! The mighty Over Lord who rules and shakes the heavens! Even if it is only im my imagination. LOL

 

Needless to say the evil Cleric and friends are set up in an old abandoned coal mine. I found that very interesting. You don't see that much in gaming; a coal mine. We tend to think of coal as a more “modern” thing, going back only a few hundred years, but coal actually has a much longer history. Though mostly used as a domestic fuel in those early centuries, coal was used for metal-working by smiths as far back as Ancient Greece. The Greek scientist Theophrastus spoke of it in his geological treatise "On Stones," circa 371 b. C. E.

 

Map by Rob Conley

 

Nice homework Tim! It's really quite original, well done! I'm going to be stealing that concept.

 

There's also a new Magic Item, usable only by servants of the Evil God -- Ba'Valon -- introduced in the Adventure. It will have to be destroyed, or course.

 

We have Poetry, in the form of a Haiku, from Ken Harrison, over at  The Rusty Battle Axe, one of the blogs I read myself. Why we even have a couple of “filler jokes,” though I can't find who Tim credits them to.

 

Then there's Pog Nog's Cart. Yep, another GoblinI It's amazing the way Tim keep's expecting "us" not to murder all these nice, cute, little goblins running around in our midst. Ah, Tim, if only all NPCs were that accepting of their fellow creatures.

 

 

Pog Nog makes his living as is to be expected – going through other people's trash! Yet, somehow, he always manages to find some worthwhile objects that he sells. Why, even his cart is made up of "our" cast offs!

 

In some uncanny way, Pog knows that something's amiss and hopes that he can help. Tim provides him with an interesting backstory as well, but I'm not going to give it away here. You'll have to get an issue and read it for yourself. Tim always manages to find a reason for these goblin persons to dwell amongst us . . . unmolested. Nice.

 

Finally, Tim inroduces us to another God of his creation, Adzeer, a deity that speicalizes in Monster Hunting, of all things. Needless to say, Adzeer's Holy Symbol is a bull's-eye target!

 

 

 

Adzeer's Holy Symbol

 

 

To go with this God is, of course, another PC Class – Monster Hunter. Tim provides us with an Advancement Table for this Class, as well as appropriate titles for the various character levels gained. Naturally, the circles of the target also represent the circle to which Adzeer's followers belong, as they advance in level. The Class  receives Boons from their God at the appropriate levels, as well as special abilities. There are also specific Monster Hunter Spells for the Class, accompanied by a Spell List, of course. Tim certainly puts effort into his work. Very nice.

 

Tim concludes with an advertisement for Blood & Treasure, a Fantasy Role Playing Game, one I had never paid much attention to, until reading The Manor #3. Ken Harrison also plays it, over at The Rusty Battle Axe. Something I'll have to look into I suppose.

 

All in all another fine production by my friend, Tim Shorts. It was also nice to see Ivy contributing in such a way to her husband's product . . . though she is interferring with those promised “scantily clad women."

 

Next time, we'll talk about Gygax Magazine, issue #3.

 

Thanks for reading!