#Compleat Alchemist

[vintagerpg]

That’s all there is for Role Aids, but plenty of other people made cool stuff for D&D. Like Bard Games. Better know for Atlantis and Talislanta, the company’s first products were a trio of booklets that expanded the roster of existing D&D classes. The first was The Compleat Alchemist (1982, this edition 1983).

This wasn’t the first attempt at an alchemist class. At least two appeared in Dragon Magazine, the first in 1981. I’m sure other attempts exist. This is probably the most exhaustive. It is hampered somewhat by the system neutrality — there weren’t best practices for that sort of thing yet, so the language often feels vague. I also wonder, broadly, why there was such interest in Alchemists as a class when they always seemed a stay at home sort. Still, there is a lot of interesting (if likely overpowered) stuff here.

The book starts off with lists of ingredients and other components, which is a valuable resource on its own. Then you get the level specific abilities, which are…too powerful, though mitigated by time and cost. 1st level, alchemists can brew elixirs, 2nd level they get powders, 3rd is venoms. Things start to get interesting with 4th, when they can make a number of devices, including a rod of detection. Level 5 is talismans, level 6 is potions, 7 is dusts, 8 is solvents, 9 is gases. 10 is essences, which include elixirs of elemental power. Level 11 comes with the ability to create a number of constructs and level 12 allows access to the aqua vitae and the creation of artificial life. I would counsel limiting the number of magical substances an alchemist can create before allowing a player to roll one up, dang.

Still, this is a clever book. The abilities all build on each other, and there is an assumption that the creation of the many magic items is contingent on rare materials which provide the impetus for adventuring. I’ve seen far less reasonable first efforts!

[lord-of-innistrad]

Shadows of the Multiverse

Chapter Five

Tessa marched along the branches of Realmbreaker at the head of a column of hundreds, no, thousands of Phyrexians. Her former home, Innistrad, was her target. She would see it conquered for the glory of Phyrexia.

The advance party had done good work, she noted, when she arrived. Thousands more waited for her, including a moondrake. She marched through the camp, giving orders. A detachment went to Nephalia, to the territory of Ludevic. With them went the great moondrake.

Tessa knew full well what the defenders of Innistrad would throw at her. The undead. Hordes of them. Dividing Ludevic and his stitched creations from the other defenders would be priority.

Calmly, she ordered that the moondrake and the Phyrexians that had come with her would hold back unless absolutely necessary or until Ludevic was found. Then they could destroy his laboratory.

Continuing down the line, another grand host would be sent to the greatest of the plane's defenders. Sorin in Geier Reach. She would lead this army herself. Failure was not an option.

***

Tessa soared high over the mountains, directing the marching army through passes and into towns. Phyrexians fell by the dozens, over cliffs and into entrances to places where demons lurked, but for every troop they lost, they compleated many more, until, at the end of the day, they finally reached the first vampiric estate.

The compleated walker landed now, to avoid giving herself away. She barked a command in Phyrexian, and the column fanned out into the valley the Maurer Estate was contained within.

The wards of the estate stretched into the sky. A brute of a Phyrexian werewolf came up to Tessa. "The breakers are in position. Awaiting your command."

And command Tessa did. The Alabaster Host beat on the metal of the fence viciously, but the wards held in place.

Ballistae fired from the broken windows of the manor and into the crowd, impaling many Phyrexians.

Tessa knew these wards would withstand an army of Cathars with their blades glowing like silver in the light. But could they withstand her?

A swirl of spirits arose from the dirt.

"Murderer!"

"Horror!"

"Beast!"

"Alchemist!"

The spirits shrieked their insults, furious at being used in this fashion. Tessa began crying tears of oil as she slammed the spirit force into the wards. The spirits very narrowly disobeyed, but Tessa overrode their unruliness and forced them to her will.

The wards broke and Tessa let the spirits dissipate. "For the glory of Phyrexia..." she whispered to herself, steeling her resolve.

The Phyrexians marched in and had their first clash with the defenders.

Tessa observed from her perch as vampire after vampire fell one by one. And she cried.

For the glory of Phyrexia indeed.

[rockdwarftv]

Mashup Madness

Or how I've become addicted to system agnostic supplements. Recently, I've been wanting to work on a d6 based system of my own as a larger project to run alongside Gremlins! (I renamed Goblins for thematic reasons). But when I start to look for ideas, I keep coming back to a single book.

The Monster Alphabet by Jobe Bittman and Michael Curtis. It's a wonderfully flavorful book, filled with tables for rolling up the unique abilities of monsters! And I just can't stand that there isn't a system just for that style of game design. The Monster Alphabet, The Random Esoteric Creature Generator and The Compleat Alchemist are all interesting supplements with no system to call home! So, I thought to myself, why not take a preexisting d6 system and try to hack those books and their designs into it? Which is when I settled on using Warrior, Rogue & Mage by Michael Wolf as the chasis for my own d6 system. I have an other d6 system I had begun work on, but I never moved too far along into the design. So, I'll be taking ideas from that and seeing just how far I can take Warrior, Rogue & Mage with my own ideas. Of course, this would come with a custom setting that I've also been thinking about. But I've written enough! Don't mind my creative ramblings, I'm just bored at work.

[garglemyyargle]

Thank you for the tag! 1. Tamiyo (MTG) 2. Quirrel (Hollow Knight) 3. Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) 4. Kaladin Stormblessed (Stormlight Archive) 5 Jace Beleren (MTG) Tags: @jacebeleren @bace-jeleren @xantchaslegacy @littjara-compleated-sage @fhtagn-and-tentacles

rules: list 5 comfort characters and tag at least 5 people.

tagged by @letmeblued, thank you for tagging me!

1. Dean (discomfort character)

2. Gabriel

3. Priestly

4. Mulder

5. Anakin

tagging @liberationote, @oughilovehim, @hauntedpearl, @nesnej and @whats-bi-is-dean. Again, only if you are up to (:

[wearealchemist]

Measures, weights, signs and symbols from The Compleat Alchemist (Bard Games, 1983)

[bace-jeleren]

I had a dream abput this WB alchemist planeswalker who was like "oho every cure comes at a price" until he discovers glistening oil and then he's like "oh shit" and uses his guildmafia's supplies to find a cure to compleation and when they're like "wtf dude making a supermedicine with no plans to profit off it? CRINGE!!!" He flips them off and becomes WR

[BASS BOOSTED USSR NATIONAL ANTHEM]

[littjara-mirrorlake]

MtG OC Masterpost

(Color identities are listed in order of relative strength in the character, and tertiaries/weaker colors in parentheses)

Xena Gitaxias-Vadri (she/her) UB

Phyrexian Neurok planeswalker, New Phyrexia

Formerly a glistener who could not be compleated due to her strangely willful spark, Xena was finally able to achieve perfection thanks to Jin's innovations and the Reality Chip. She fled the Progress Engine after attempted mind control and is now wandering the Multiverse coming to terms with her new life.

Navika Zamekova (she/her) UG(B)

High elf planeswalker, Ravnica

Former Vigean fleshcrafter who wandered the multiverse doing unethical biomancy before the Mending, becoming something of an urban legend on many planes and leaving mutated, terrified mortals behind. Somewhat mellowed down after returning to Ravnica after Kraj and is now working with Vannifar on the Guardian Project.

Fjori (they/them) U(G)C

Shapeshifter planeswalker, Kaldheim

Curious and friendly Covewalker who has a strange affinity for the Eternities, causing them to dabble increasingly in eldritch knowledge. Loves learning about new planes and looks lovely in scarves. Uses shapeshifting as an art form. Slowly developing aberrant powers from the unusually large amounts of time they spend in the Eternities, including telepathy.

Borealis (they/them) G(U)

Shapeshifter planeswalker, Kaldheim

Expert archer, Horizon Walker ranger and guardian of the World Tree, protecting their sacred home (extending to the Multiverse). Was there to fight Vorinclex and unsuccessfully tried to banish him with their companions. Is now in New Phyrexia aiding the revolution there. Loves exploring the realms.

Lyszitheja “Lys” Arelev (she/her) GB(W)

Orzhov half-angel planeswalker, Ravnica

Escaped from an Orzhov family that created her as a tool to raise their societal standing, and found a home in the Undercity. Now cultivating skills as a spore druid and inhabits an abandoned cathedral she’s “restoring” with grown supports and fungal utilities. Known as the Angel of Rot, she poisons or rescues lost travelers as she sees fit. In Theros, she’s a member of the Setessan community and has gained Pharika’s favor as a fellow alchemist.

Takumi Shimizu (he/she) UW

Moonfolk planeswalker, Kamigawa

A dedicated kami researcher and artificer, bonded to Suzu, a Kami of Possibility. His ultimate goal is to combine technology and spirit magic to make Kamigawa's future the best that it can be for kami and mortals alike, an objective frowned upon by many Futurists. He specializes in creating artifact creatures that can reconfigure themselves into wearable technology, augmenting the connection between their owners and their kami.

Riyuna (they/them) RUG

Moonfolk planeswalker, Kamigawa

A transmuter who sparked centuries before the Mending, Riyuna specializes in changing matter between biological, metallic, and elemental forms (for example, turning artifact creatures into biological ones, or changing crossbow bolts into lightning). They are bonded to a mono-white Kami of Transmutation, whose magic supplements their own.

[rpgcovers]

The Compleat Alchemist (second edition) ~ Wizards of the Coast (1993)

[foxcoloredcat]

Fox’s Magic OCs

Since I only have a side blog for Isolde my other children don’t come up as much outside of RPing I do on Discord so here is a very brief rundown of my multitude of other dumbass kids.

Fanwalkers

Anwyn- BGW- An ambiguously old, but perpetually youthful Lorwyn elf. She runs an herbalist shop on Ravnica called the Gilt-Leaf Emporium and has a riding wolf named Mina whom she loves more than most people. 

Ayani- RUG- A cylian elf elementalist who has lost everything twice over but still manages to keep going. She was a broken shell for a while, but she’s starting to see the beauty and wonder in the multiverse again.

Djau- RG (starting to go RGW now)- A khenra who sparked during the Hours on Amonkhet. He and his twin brother Yuya were crushed under a pair of giant Bolas horns that were knocked off a monument while holding the line against some eternals so refugees could escape. He ended up on Theros briefly believing that it was some sort of heaven. (Unbeknownst to him Yuya sparked to Ravnica where he briefly thought that life among the Rakdos was some sort of hell.)

Yoshitomi Ishiro- WR- A demon hunter and glory chaser that wanders the multiverse from Kamigawa. He learned holy magics from his priestly father and how to use a blade from his badass samurai mom. 

Isolde- You guys know her.

Khaleel- BR- An aetherborn tinkerer and dragster pilot. The love to party and have a need for speed. They currently live in Mizuki’s family manor. (In a largely abandoned section because of their penchant for explosions.)

Mizuki- U (Leans UBG tho)- A soratami scholar from Kamigawa. She is currently interested in researching Phyrexians in hopes of preventing other worlds from suffering the same fate as Mirodin. She has two very adorable daughters name Hana and Nanami.

Reiner Wulfram- WRU- Midnight duelist from Innistrad with a natural talent for magic. He has a special brand of rune chanting that he weaves into his knitting. He’s fairly new to the whole planeswalker thing and is a hot mess.

Zenya- BWR- A zendikari vampire hunting vampire. The Innistradi ones pissed her off just one too many times. She’s also a huge flirt and party girl. You can’t take her anywhere honestly.

Planebound OCs

Chessa vod Koz- GB- A young devkarin elf who works at the Gilt-Leaf Emporium. She has a sickeningly sweet disposition and likes to play with plants and dead things. 

Kasmira Reznikov- WB- A punky Orzhov advokist born with only one eye. Her prosthetic eye is made of solid gold and enchanted to help her know when people are lying which she uses to her advantage in court.

Kolya Sendula- GW- A young silhana elf who works at the Gilt-Leaf Emporium. He is stuffy and cold and completely in love with Chessa.

Lisel Wulfram- RUG- Reiner’s feisty younger sister. She was an alchemist studying at an academy in Nephalia when the inquisition started and she and Reiner fled the province. While not a cathar she works on occasion with the Order of St. Traft as a medic. 

Morana Baran- UB- A dimir agent. The fact that you know this much is too much.

Risha- RG- A compleated vulshok on New Phyrexia who works under Urabrask. She is sympathetic to some degree to the Mirran resistance hiding in the Furnace Layer, often finding herself conflicted between her Red desire for freedom and her Phyrexian reprogramming.

Rorick “Rory” Kasav- WR- A wojek labmage in the Ninth Precinct. She runs on caffeine and snark and doesn’t get paid enough to deal with this shit. 

[foxcoloredcat]

Don’t call me out like this. 😅

I have a pair of elves that work for my fanwalker Anwyn on Ravinca, an Orzhov advokist, and Reiner’s plucky alchemist sister on Innistrad. I also kind of have a compleated vulshok, but I haven’t figured her out exactly yet.

Okay, so we all have fanwalkers

But who here as planebound OC’s?

[kickstarter-promotion]

Another Amazing Kickstarter (30th Anniversary Edition by ZiLa Games (K. David Ladage) —Kickstarter) has been published on https://crowdmonsters.com/new-kickstarters/30th-anniversary-edition-by-zila-games-k-david-ladage-kickstarter/

A NEW KICKSTARTER IS LAUNCHED:

Back in 1983, a company called Bard Games released some books: The Compleat Adventurer, The Compleat Alchemist, The Compleat Spellcaster. These three books would later be combined into an omnibus called The Arcanum.

The Arcanum, in addition to repeating an edited and cleaned up version of the three previous books, added an entire game engine to the mix. The two follow-up books (The Lexicon, and The Bestiary) became a trilogy allowing gamers to explore The World of Atlantis.

Arcanum Covers

 The Arcanum had three editions. Bard Games released the first two; the third was released by Death’s Edge Games. A new version of The Lexicon, combined with The Bestiary was released as well. Over time, this small press game was all but forgotten. The author, Stephan Michael Sechi, had moved on to write Talislanta. Then, after some more time, he left game writing to focus on his music career. He is truly a multi-talented man, and a fine human being.

I purchased the rights to all three editions of The Arcanum (text and artwork 1); another company (which also ran a Kickstarter campaign for the setting) purchased the rights to The Lexicon and The Bestiary well before I first spoke to Mr. Sechi. In other words, these two books are in very good hands.

30th Anniversary Edition logo

The Arcanum was far from a perfect book. It had some editing and typographical errors, some issues with formatting, and so on. In other words, it suffered the issues associated with a small group of enthusiasts trying to publish an RPG in the days before desktop publishing. I am working on the 30th Anniversary Edition 2 of this book; my goal is to make this the end-all, be-all of The Arcanum Role-Playing System. I am cleaning up the text, re-arranging items; breaking up the book into true chapters, and creating a cohesive flow making the rules easy to follow.

What I am not doing is substantially altering any aspect of the game 3.

Some things are quirky. This is not a flaw, or an error — it is a matter of style. To do this, I have to strive for two secondary goals:

This edition is setting free. The game will have reference to some things (certain classifications of higher and lower powers, types of undead, and so on). But no established setting is to be assumed. The Atlantean Setting is the property of Khepera Publishing. I have spoken with Jerry D. Greyson (great guy, by the way) — he and I have a gentleman’s agreement. Where the information in The Arcanum makes reference to The Atlantean Setting, I am free to deal with that as I wish. Anything strictly within the pages of The Lexicon and The Bestiary is off limits. This is a very fair arrangement.

I will have to develop a standard system for creatures. Since the animals, beasts, monsters, and other creatures are all described within the pages of The Bestiary, I will have to take every creature that has information or has references to it made within The Arcanum and flesh them out in some way. This adds a chapter (Bestiary) within The Arcanum that was not there before. Without this section, the RPG is sorely lacking as a stand-along system.

The money is needed to handle normal publishing expenses (e.g., ISBN, printing). To keep costs low (and to maintain the feel of the game), just about every piece of artwork from the original three editions of the game will be used (after all, I already own them). The rest is being donated (Whoot!).

My name is K. David Ladage. I am the founder of ZiLa Games — and this role-playing system is my flagship project. As a freelance writer, I have written for Steve Jackson Games, Sword and Sorcery Studios, and others. I am a tinker of games and a natural game designer (meaning that I love coming up with games, and when I play games I begin looking at how I would have done things almost immediately). I have high hopes for ZiLa Games. I have a lot of ideas and notes that need an outlet.

The book is done (save a few pieces of art, and editing). So… very little is left to do.

Yes and no. I ran a Kickstarter campaign some time ago for this book. I asked for far too little and it succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Then things went south. I had two artists filch me out of a couple thousand dollars. I let my eyes get too wide and started envisioning things far outside the scope of the project — that I laid out money for. Then all things went to hell as the scope of the project’s text started to get violated. Weeks turned into months. Months into a year and more.

I realized I needed to make my backers whole again . So I took out a small loan and used my income tax refund to refund every dollar that had been donated to that last attempt. Then, outside of a pressure caused by my desire to get a product out for 90+ backers, I started working on the material when I could. It is now done.

Some editing remains. Some artwork needs to be put in. But it is fundamentally done. All it needs now is you: pledge and help make a dream come true.

The higher level pledges get custom dice and a custom dice bag. Below are pictures of what they will receive. These are not available as add ons. Supplies are limited.

Dice Bag (outside) and custom dice

  Dice bag (inside) and custom dice

The Paladin level includes a one-of-a-kind dice tower. This is what it looks like (dice are shown for scale).

Dice Tower: Lower Front

  Dice Tower: Back

  Dice Tower: Two Parts

  Dice Tower: Upper Front

  Stretch Goals

$10,000 — The dice and the dice bag will become an add-on items. You can order them, order additional sets, etc.

$15,000 —  The hardcover edition will become a numbered, limited edition item where no more than 500 will ever be printed in that format. The Paladin-level donor will get book #001 of 500.

$20,000 — The limited edition hardcover will get the number in gold on the cover as opposed to the inside of the book.

$25,000 — A Game Master’s Screen will be produced and made available as an add-on item.

$30,000 — I cannot imagine this campaign reaching this level… but if it does, I will add more stretch goals. Right after I change my pants. 🙂

$15 — Additional PDF (only available to Gladiator and above)

$30 — Additional soft cover (only available to Sorcerer and above)

$60 — Additional hard cover (only available to Assassin and above)

1 — I own the rights to all of the text and artwork for all three editions of The Arcanum. However, one exceptions was made: one of the races in the book became a major part of Talislanta — Mr. Sechi maintains the rights to that one element of the game.

2 — The original material was published in the mid 1980s. The combined book (the actual Arcanum releases) came shortly after. Thus, the 30th Anniversary of this RPG classic.

3 — The bestiary is the only major change to the system.

Risks and challenges

The rights are secured. ZiLa Games owns the text and art — so this is already taken care of.

The book writing and layout are complete. I have the dice (Chessex) and the dice bags (Custom Dice Bags). I have the dice tower (Unique Dice Towers). I have an artist who is donating his time and effort for the last few remaining spots where artwork is needed. The biggest hurdle will be in the editing. I am estimating how long that will take. If it runs over, I will let you know.

I am hoping to get it printed by a local printer in Cedar Rapids, IA — CEDAR GRAPHICS. If all else fails, I can do the printing through Lulu or CreateSpace.

Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY Kickstarter.com and Kicktraq.com VISIT PAGE SOURCE

[vintagerpg]

While Compleat Alchemist goes overboard with an extremely detailed an powerful class, The Compleat Spell Caster (1983) is more reserved, detailing five new system neutral (but really intended for D&D) spellcasting classes, each complete with their own compliment of new spells: Witch/Warlock, Mystic, Necromancer, Sorcerer and Sage. In addition to that, there are new rules for familiars, magic circles and summoning creatures (and a bestiary of the same).

The interesting thing here is that these magic-users feel a little less like D&D classes, and more like professions of the sort we’d eventually see from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. They’re certainly designed to compliment the existing D&D classes. The Witch is sort of a combination of magic-user and druid, the mystic a fusion of cleric and magic-user (interestingly, they can not cause harm at all). The necromancer is the binary opposite of the mystic. The last two are perhaps the most interesting. The Sorcerer is sort of a parapsychologist or occultist, investigating and deriving their magical power from outside of the established magical systems. Sages are learners as well, and serve as a multiclass off all four (though they can only get spells to a limited level).

There was potential here. Still is! I’d love to see these classes tinkered with for OSE or similar old school hack.

[vintagerpg]

Welcome to Atlantis!

This is The Arcanum, the main rulebook for Stephen Michael Sechi and Vernie Taylor’s 1984 derivative D&D RPG set in Atlantis before its sinking (this is the 1985 revision).

The Atlantis setting was born out of Bard Games first trio of books – the Compleat Alchemist, Compleat Adventurer and Compleat Spell Caster (so named because of the early support the publisher got from the famed Compleat Strategist store in New York City). Sechi combined the best material from these three books into The Arcanaum, The Lexicon and The Bestiary (the latter two I don’t own, alas).

As I mentioned, it is essentially a generic D&D hack, borrowing a good amount of DNA from David Hargrave’s Arduin Trilogy. The big mechanical difference that separates Atlantis from D&D is the skill system and the point-based character creation. That’s in line with much of what was on the market at the time – everyone, it seemed, was creating “generic” RPG material that was bought and sold with the expectation it would be bolted on to existing homebrew D&D campaigns.

What’s interesting about Atlantis is the setting. It is…strange. A lot of thought went into the idea of Atlantis before the fall, its magic systems and the sorts of people who lived there – the latter producing over 30 different character classes. That quirkiness, and Atlantis’ location in our world, makes the inclusion of typical fantasy races like Elves and Dwarves feel a bit jarring.

Sechi must have thought so, too, judging from his next RPG. Atlantis would shortly form the foundation for something infinitely more unique…

[vintagerpg]

Bard Games started out as a partnership between three friends who wanted to make system-agnostic supplements for RPGs (read: for D&D). The first publication was The Compleat Alchemist, which provided guidelines for an alchemist player class, which for the time was a radical departure for what folks expected from a playable character. Two more Compleats followed — Adventurer and Spell-Caster. These three books eventually formed the basis of The Arcanum, a D&D-esque RPG system set in Atlantis. I posted about that an age ago, the cover has a big old pentagram on it, so it got some attention from the Bible thumpers. The Arcanum rulebook was followed by this, The Lexicon (1985), which establishes the entirety of the antediluvian world.

This is a massive undertaking for 128 pages and draws from all sorts of Bronze age cultures, as well as some that are legendary or fictional — Cimmeria is in the mix, for instance, as is Avalon, anachronistically. The presence of real world cultures almost never reflects the historical record — they’re all a little strange, to reflect that this is a world is mythic and outside of history. Does it trade in stereotype? A bit, but I mostly feel like the result is transformative, in the same way as Glorantha — everything is mixed enough that, again, it feels intentionally fantastic. This is helped along by the presence of decidedly non-human cultures like Yeti, Jotun and mer-people.

The cover art clues you into the most interesting bit — the vast majority of the world is arranged around commerce and trade. There are plenty of tensions on the local level between incompatible cultural factions, but large scale warfare is not the norm. It is interesting to have an RPG world the focuses on cultural exploration, especially at this moment in time.

Even if you have no intention of playing in the world as presented, the amount of detail here is alarming. You can dig in and find plenty to use in your own world.

[wearealchemist]

An alchemist shows off his Wand of Phosphorescence, to the delight of his party members, The Compleat Alchemist (Bard Games, 1983)

[wearealchemist]

An alchemist defends himself (presumably) with his Toxic Powder, The Compleat Alchemist (Bard Games, 1983)