A follow up thread to MoonHunter's NPCs out of History. These are battles out of history that may serve to inspire GMs to create cool battle scenarios or mythical battles / rumours of battles.

An adventurer guild is a way to provide plot hooks, motivation and social context for such a weird and diverse group of people known as 'adventurers'. It can can offer interesting options, in-game and out-of-game.

I could think of many times such a party contract would of come in handy.

Lai-Xeng was a traveling scholar and wise man. There are a hundred tales attributed to him, each one containing a kernal of wisdom.

This is a popular children's rhyme in the city of Ur-Kanesh. It is chanted while the children run down the street on St. Arakis eve.

In the lands of the Ardamians there is a tale. A tale of the weather god, Shastalar, and of Tear, the spirit of nature. This tale is often told when the weather grows bad and the children huddles in front of the fireplace.

How may times have you read a book in which a famous hero's sword is treasured and valued, not because it is magic, or because of its powers, but just because the hero wielded it. The 'Sword of Enthar' the great warrior may just be a normal steel broadsword; but because he used it, it will be prized and treasured.

Most of the people who 'spell components' really don't know anything about magic. Components are used as tools, symbols to help focus the concentration and associations for the spell caster. Rarely is anything 'consumed' in the casting, unless it is a sacrifice or burned.

The little things matter.

Steamery is a type of learning, like Magery and Lettery (Magic of Written words, Scholarly works), akin to Alchemy which combined elements of the two. It is considered a type of magic, the use of the four basic elements to produce 'magical' power.

It is said that dwarves have problems with using magic (maybe they cannot cast spells at all). This is an attempt to create a distinctly dwarwen school of magic. The way you use it is of course yours.

But, O Fellow Denizens of the Citadel, I ask this - what other kinds of unique elements can you come up with?

Recently unearthed this gem of mine, and thought to post it. Its writing predates my joining of Strolen, and I found quite a few interesting bits in it. It is nearly completely written and I am going to endeavor to finish writing it out. Until then, I plan to post it here, perhaps a section a day or so. Enjoy, expand, criticism, comment.

One of the common variations on magic is the concept of 'sword mages' or 'knight mages'. We all know and love them as the folks in full plate that split globes in twain with flaming swords, before twirling around to change their flame sword to an ice sword so they can stab the flaming angel of vengeance in the chest to maximum effect.

Peldor scrambled for his staff. It has all his tactical spells anchored. He dived to the floor, trying to dodge the incoming dart spells. All he had was his ring (for energy enhancements) and his belt buckle (which carried his personal enhancements spells). Papers, smoke, and wood splinters flew everywhere. In the chaos, he saw it - his lab desk's sextant. He stretched, just touching with the tips of his fingers. He rolled forward. A dart struck infront of him. Spitting dust out of his mouth and squinting against the flying debree, he made solid contact. He whispered the trigger, utilizing his ring to make it cost less mana. The green mystic glow unfolded. It formed a full serephamic sheild. The hex bolts and darts were bouncing off it. Slowly he rose. He was able to take the three steps to reach his battle staff. Now, things would be different.

Plagues and other great diseases are important parts of history and some settings. They defy man and may even defy God in their swift and terrible punishment upon the body of society.

Plagues, diseases, injuries, and healing, are all things adventurers face.

All Agera work with a base-8 system (though of course, in GMing, for simplicity, I don't). Accordingly, the Mysian system of measuring is based on 8s. From dolon to dolmelphion, the system is fairly straightforward, but, traditionally, after dolmelphion, it becomes a touch more complicated.

Hathalfar holds the writhing troll down with his gloved fist and sword. The beast squirms at the touch of metal. 'How far is Kolm?' he demands for the third time. 'I said! A long way away,' replies the troll.

The measurements on Arth center around The Emperor and the Imperium. The Imperium imposes certain standards upon its subjects to make communication and trade between areas easier. Some of the most important was how much each coin was worth (and its basic size), the common language (imperial-low and high), and a system of measures.