We are back with more previews of rules adaptations to play Old-School Essentials in The Primal World of Thaia. We already talked about the core classes in the Rules Tome (here, here, and here), and about Resources and XPhere. Today we will take a look at Equipment and Durability.
Equipment
In the mythical stone age of Thaia, characters have access to fewer items and none of them will be made with metal.
One of the main themes of The Primal World of Thaia setting is survival, and to emphasize that, we use two Resources: Food and Water.
Food and Water are necessary for any character’s survival, and are used as a form of currency in the sense that almost everything is evaluated in terms of how many units of these resources they are worth.
We have been covering the adaptation of Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy Rules Tome to The Primal World of Thaia, my upcoming setting/zine of weird stone & sorcery adventure in a mythical stone age that never was!
In the first post we covered some general principles, and the Shaman (former Cleric) and the Molekin (former dwarf). Today we get to see two more!
Elf (Ancient One)
A being from the race of the first people of Thaia, whose empire covered the entire world millions of years ago. They are just a shadow of their former selves now, but great power and knowledge still reside inside of them. Their time has passed, but some still linger in this ancient word.
Elves are now Ancient Ones in The Primal World of Thaia, and their appearance changes a bit. They are tall, usually hairless, with a gray skin that reflects all the colors of the spectrum. They sometimes wear old clothes from their past civilizations but the few that maintain contact with the People of the Vale. They have forgotten much about their past, but they can slowly remember it as they rediscover the mysteries of Thaia.
Spell casting: Ancient Ones don’t carry traditional spell books like Elves (although they can if that’s what the player wants), thus the “spell book” they carry can take other shapes, like a piece of Ancient One’s tech, like a tablet, a holoprojector, a crystal that can be read somehow, or something similar. Be creative.
All the 7 basic classes of OSE are fit to play in The Primal World of Thaia, some with practically no adjustment at all, others with some minor tweaks to fit the weird stone & sorcery style of adventure, which we will discuss in this short series of posts.
Note on Weapon Restrictions: In The Primal World of Thaia, there will be no weapon restrictions to any character class. All characters are able to pick up a stone axe and try to slash at a hungry dinosaur that is trying to eat their face. However, special and magical weapons specifically designed for certain types of characters are only still properly usable by those types of characters. Other character classes can try using them, but won’t get any benefit.
Illiteracy: Obviously, everyone in the setting is illiterate. There’s no written language (at least not one that the characters will be aware of in the start of the game). However, everyone can try to decipher cave wall paintings, and weird hieroglyphs, as long as the Referee deems it’s possible to.