Myths & Legends

Some gamers like to play and/or run RPGs with a real story bent. And some story buffs like to take a "fractal" approach to stories, where each scene in the telling of a story is a mini-story in itself. Me, personally, I prefer to never lose sight of that roleplaying games are games. But unlike some of the prevailing theories out there, I feel good game, good story, and logical coherency actually work best in tandem. And so I think even gamers who aren't necessarily trying to create a story in their games will find these ideas make encounters more interesting. First, I'll say I have actual reasons why I feel different styles actually work better together rather than separately. It's not just a warm and fuzzy sentiment for me. It's because when I get into some heavy duty thinkers, like famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung and legendary economist Ludwig von Mises. I couldn't help but notice that the anatomy of Jung's conception of a story correlates strongly to

 About 18 years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Gary Gygax at a special event at the now defunct Higgins Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts. The curator there was extremely knowledgeable in medieval weapons and armor, and they were able to boast at the time to be the only group of researchers in the world translating and putting into training and practice medieval German combat training manuals. The event, of course, included Q&A with Gary and a book signing. But it also featured a debate between Gary and the museum curator over the use of polearms in medieval combat. The curator held the safe and boring position that the wild and bizarre designs on polearms were strictly ornamental, or perhaps designed for intimidation, and were completely useless in combat. Gary took the position that, no, you actually could learn to use all those specialized and intricate heads. Gary was never one to take the label of "expert" lightly. Although he was well read and knowledgeable, h

STEP 1: Choose Race Lejendary Essentials offers the selection of Human, Dwarf, Ilf, Kobold, and Oaf (Typical and Major). In addition, the Lejendary Rules for All Players offers Gnomes, Orcs (Greater, Lesser, and Common), Trollkin, Wylf, and Veshoge. For new players, we recommend playing a Human. STEP 2: Determine Knacks and Quirks Orcs, Oafs, and Veshoge Avatars have a specific number of Knacks and Quirks they begin with. Other races are assumed to begin with 1 Knack and 1 Quirk. The primary purpose of Knack and Quirks is to keep Alfar Avatars varied and mysterious, and so for Alfar they should be interpreted as extremely as possible. In my game, Humans are 90% likely to possess a Knack and only 50% likely to possess a Quirk. STEP 3: Assign Points to Base Ratings You may wish to look ahead to which Abilities you will want for your Avatar. Some common distributions for Humans, and the Orders that best fit with them are: 60/32/8: Mariner, Noble, Outlaw, Soldier 55/35/10: Mariner, Noble,

Lejendary Adventure (abbreviated as LA) is a role-playing game created by Gary Gygax. Now that we've got the wikipedia blurb out of the way, let's get right into it. How do you play it? Here's what you need to know. At the game's core are its Base Ratings (BRs). These are Health, Precision, and Speed with an optional fourth rating of Intellect. These are often likened to the Attributes of D&D. However, I would disagree with this assessment. Health is most analogous to hit points, Precision to THAC0, and Speed to Movement Rate. The main function of the optional Intellect BR as referenced in the game rules is as a resistance to mind control. Also note that old-school D&D generally didn't assign Attributes to monsters. In LA, the three BRs form the core stats of all monsters. Supplementing the Base Ratings are Attack and Defense modes. Again, you will find these as statistics for all monsters, listing their natural attack and defense capacities. For characters,