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The Barbarians of Lemuria

It's a pretty rare event that a fantasy RPG piques my interest. It's an even more rare occasion that I manage to read the whole book then without cringing at overabundant LotR-clichés and/or overcomplicated rule systems.

This here however, is a fantasy RPG that I can recommend wholeheartedly. And I thought I'd never see that day...

The Book:

Barbarians of Lemuria (abbreviated as BoL for simplicity's sake) is a PDF file weighin in at 98 pages. The layout consists of simply two-column texts, interspersed with the occasional illustration, and using a separate font for the headers. The writing is concise and to the point, with very few typos.

A printed version is scheduled to be available in November via Lulu.com. The estimated price is $20.00 for a softcover and $25.00 for a hardcover copy.

The Setting:

Lemuria is a nearly archetypal world of a classic sword & sorcery tale: Wild, raw and untamed. In the past it was ruled by the sorcerer-kings, which were defeated several times over by the humans, yet always crawling back out of the shadows after licking their wounds. Right now,
Lemuria is recovering from the last war against said sorcerer-kings, the old cities destroyed and the last remains of the sorcerer-kings scattered. New cities have been built, some of them right over the ruins of the old ones, forming independent city states ruled by kings, while in the vast wildernesses barbarian tribes roam deserts and plains. It's an age of adventure and high ambition...

...yes, no big surprises here. A Kane, Fafhrd or Conan would probably feel right at home, and that is intentional. BoL was actually supposed to use the Lemuria of Lin Carter's Thongor-novels, but due to legal difficulties this was not possible; hence, the serial numbers have been filed off, names and places have been changed, but the Lemuria of BoL is still quite reminiscent of the one seen in the novels. It's not the Young Kingdoms or Hyperborea, though...there are a few differences.

Flora and fauna of Lemuria are distinctively alien, reminiscent of prehistoric earth; mammals are rather scarce, but large reptiles exist in abundance. There are no horses in Lemuria, either. The well-equipped hero rides either on a kroark (a large raptor-like beast) or a sandrunner (a swift flightless bird akin to a large emu, which the desert barbarians use).

Humans make up most of Lemuria's population. There are three other races presented in the book which are suitable as player characters with a bit of wriggling, and several other, more monstrous ones mostly intended as antagonists. Rules are provided to make either of those into a full PC or NPC antagonist.

I'll describe those three races: The Ceruleans are a race of blue-skinned giants, which inhabit the plains of Klaar. They're nomads, and despite their massive physique not overtly aggressive.

The Grooth are a savage race of apemen inhabiting Lemuria's jungles, only a few steps above being true animals; they haven't mastered the concept of fire yet. And then there's the Haklaton, a secretive race of birdmen, reminiscent of Moorcock's Myrrhn or the hawkmen of Flash Gordon, who inhabit the hidden valleys of the Axos Mountains.

Provided in the book is a rather barebones backstory, and no metaplot (for which I am infinitely grateful). Just like their literary antetypes our heroes probably won't charge off to save the world, but rather follow their own goals and schemes which will doubtlessly involve wine, wenches and ill-gotten treasure. And because living the high-live is expensive, they'll probably be pennyless paupers again soon, eager to conjure up a mad scheme to get hold of more treasure to spend. For what good is treasure if you don't spend it on frivolous pursuits?(The rules actually enforce this; I'll talk about it a bit further down.)

The System:

BoL uses a 2D6 roll-over mechanic. You roll 2D6, add the corresponding attribute, which range from 0-5, with 0 being the human average, and either a career or a combat ability (both range from 1-5, too), subtract the difficulty rating (which, to no suprise, also ranges from 1-5), and try to get a 9 or higher as the end result in order to score a success. A roll of 2 is always a failure, one of 12 an automatic success. If the roll of 12 was enough to succeed, you even get a "mighty success".

Characters can use Hero Points to change facts in the scenario (in accordance to the GM), re-roll the dice, cheat death, change ordinary successes into mighty ones, and mighty ones into legendary successes. Heroes usually start with 5 hero points, which are replenished between adventures.

Legendary and mighty successes allow a player to defeat large numbers of mooks (called "rabble" in BoL) with relative ease, dispatching of them by the handful. Whether you just decapitated 5 soldiers with one mighty hew, or simply chopped one of them in half and sent the other 4 running away screaming is up to your narrative. Against "normal" foes, mighty successes add a damage bonus.

Legendary successes are similar, but dispatch of an even greater number of mooks, and inflict a massive amount of extra damage on regular foes.

Character Generation:

One of BoL's high points is the fast and simple character generation, which creates highly competent heroes on the fly.

Players distribute 4 points between the 4 main attributes (Strength, Agility, Mind and Appeal), with +0 representing the human average; no starting attribute may be set higher than +3, though. Another 4 points are then distributed between the combat abilities (Brawl, Melee, Ranged and Defence). After that, you select 4 careers from the list provided in the book. Careers are used as skill packages; a hero with the mercenary career can do all the things expected from a mercenary. The list covers the classics (barbarian, thief, mercenary), as well as some more exotic picks (like farmer, sorcerer or torturer). After picking your careers, you distribute another 4 points among them, just like before.

Having finished that, you select your place of origin and grab one of the traits (advantages, basically) associated with it.

You may select more than one, but then you'll have to pick a flaw (disadvantage) as well, or start with less hero points. Some careers (alchemists and sorcerers) require you to take flaws, too.

Finally, we calculate our hitpoints (10 plus your strength rating), our arcane might (in case we're sorcerers), grab a weapon or two and some armour, and then we're off. The whole process rarely takes longer than 15 minutes; in fact, the hardest part for me was coming up with a suitably heroic name.

Sorcery, Gods and Alchemy:

BoL uses a freeform magic system for all three of those "special powers".

Magic is divided into 4 magnitudes of spells. The lowest, cantrips, encompasses simple things like making small objects disappear or small illusions and other minor trickery. Spells of the first magnitude include things such as breaking down doors, floating up sheer cliffs; basically, things that a single man could accomplish, given tools and training (such as hammer and pitons and some experience in climbing to scale the cliff wall in question).

The second magnitude allows for more impressive magic: tearing down walls, enslaving the minds of brutish barbarians and changing nimble thieves into squeaking rodents are all possible. Finally, spells of the third magnitude will raise volcanoes or call the storm tide to eradicate whatever has aroused the sorcerer's ire, or curse the family line of that blasted barbarian that messed up your last summoning of the dark gods for several generations.

Spells have a certain cost in arcane might points. The amount can be reduced by fulfilling certain requirements, dictated by the magnitude of the spell. A rather simple spell of the first magnitude might require nothing more than a clear line of sight and hissing words in some long-forgotten tongue, while casting a spell of the third magnitude might require you to sacrifice a wench, undertake ritual self-mutilation and on top of that having to wait for the stars to be right™.

Arcane might is regenerated on a daily basis (either at noon or midnight, your choice, but you'll be stuck with the decision for the rest of your life) for cantrips and spells of the first magnitude, while those of the second and third are regenerated on a monthly basis (at full moon usually, but as before you get your choice on the moon phase). Spells of the third magnitude require a permanent sacrifice of arcane might or attribute points on top of that. Almost limitless power doesn't come cheap, ask Elric if you don't believe me.

Priests get off a little easier; they decide which of the 20 gods they worship (or take a pick between one of the six dark gods, in which case they're called druids). Priests can do a number of miracles (which are treated just like magic, sans the cost in arcane might) equal to their career rank +1. Once those are spent, they'll have to return to their temple to renew the devotion to their god; this usually happens between adventures. Miracles should be based on the domain of the priests patron god, which will net a bonus on the roll, but aren't limited to that domain.

Alchemists can manufacture strange potions and exotic devices, but only between adventures. They can create a certain number of preparations based on their career skill rank, which will then accompany them on their adventures. Preparations are divided into 4 categories: common, uncommon, rare and unique.

Common preparations are things like painkillers, insect repellents, simple locks and traps. Uncommon preparations include things like sleeping draughts, hidden weaponry, potions of strength, complicated locks and flashbombs. Things like potions that chance the imbibers shape, flying machines, animated suits of armour and unbreakable weapons make up the rare preparations, while things like clone vats, sentient castles and elixirs of immortality fall under the unique category.

These preparations require ingredients, which can be both costly and difficult to obtain. The ingredients for a sleeping draught can be bought from the market square or obtained with little difficulty. The ingredients for immortality will require several adventures worth of effort to obtain.

Experience:

The characters are improved via Advancement Points, which are awarded after a successful adventure. There's a small twist to it, however:

Advancement Points are gained only after spending all the loot and treasure the character has obtained in the course of said adventure. That's right folks, spend all your cash on ale and whores, buy that palace in the city and furnish it with expensive imported courtesans and buy another marble statue of yourself to commemorate your victories – for what good is treasure if you don't enjoy your life to the fullest with it?

Bonus advancement points can be gained by wasting your cash in a particular impressive and amusing way, preferrably one that provides another adventure hook or two. The advancement points can be spent to increase attributes, combat abilities or careers, learn new careers, buy off flaws or earn new traits.

Money for nothing...

Money doesn't matter in BoL. Nobody will count coins or stockpile bags of gold. “Treasure” is an abstract unit of measure; items of value should be described rather than appraised, since they only exist to be spent. Easy come, easy go. Of course you can buy a galley in the harbour and a palace in the city (that, too, would count as “spending”). Bonus points to you when you lose that galley in a violent storm, stranding you on a (not-really-)deserted island, of if that palace comes fitted with a conveniently placed plothook in form of a rich history and a few secret passages to places you'll wish you never knew of.

...and swords for free.

There is no equipment list in BoL, where such illustrious things like “Clothing, poor” or “Bread, moldy” are to be found. Your hero is assumed to either possess all the things he requires for his adventures, or is able to get hold of them in short order, one way or another. A roll on a suitable career or the expenditure of a hero point will usually suffice to get what you want.

There is a rather generic table of weapons and armour, since those need values to function properly. As a rule of fist, a normal weapon will do 1D6 of damage (plus your strenght rating), with two-handed weapons adding another 2 points to that.

The Character Sheet:

...deserves an honorable mention, since there's enough space for all the important data on it. It's single sided, yet still has enough spaces to accommodate even very experienced characters. It may look plain, but it holds up extremely well in practice

Summary:

Barbarians of Lemuria is a rather compact RPG with an intentionally vague background world. It's defined enough to give you a few pointers and inspirations, but not defined enough to prevent you from inserting your own ideas and creations.

The system is simple and fast, character generation is a breeze and generates actual, well-rounded and competent heroes, as opposed to one-trick ponies that have to rely on niche-protection. Combat is fast (and furious), the magic full of atmosphere due to the spell requirements, and very flexible on top of that.

BoL has a lovely old-school feeling to it, but was designed with a rather modern understanding of RPGs and is very close to the literary examples of the classic sword & sorcery tales. Not a pretty RPG to look at, but rather a great RPG to play with.

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