Barbarians of Lemuria

I've added "Barbarians of Lemuria" to my list of projects for 2012. This comes from a desire to use my Dwarven Forge terrain for some "Dungeon Crawl" expeditions. I've been pondering what rules to use for a while - we tried modifying Broadsword Adventures/Fantastic Worlds from Rattrap Productions. These are good rules - really good rules actually - but the magic in Broadsword Adventures was a little too vague as I recall. Then I tried converting D&D magic - in sort of a D&D-BA Mash-up, with limited success. It wasn't that it didn't work, it's just I wasn't too inspired by it all in the end.

I've tried the Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha Games, but some aspects of it were a little too loosey-goosey for my tastes. Two Hour Wargames has some good ideas, and my "Band of Joyous Heroes" rules is based on that system, but those rules are still being developed. Why not use this as part of the development process? Well, maybe I will - but right now I have set those aside. Maybe I'll come back to them, maybe not.

Barbarians of Lemuria is more an RPG than tabletop skirmish game, but it offers a certain flavour that makes it attractive to me. For one, it emphasizes the Conan-style Sword & Sorcery - lightly armoured barbarians over plate armoured knights. It isn't medieval Europe or Tolkien's Middle Earth, which is a good thing. The rules are simple, but I have yet to determine if they actually work in the role I intend. I was up in North Bay last weekend, and on the 5 hour drive back we worked out the stats for a party of adventurers:


Wulfgar
Attributes:
ST 3
AG 1
MD 0
AP 0
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 2
Ranged 1
Defense 1
Life Blood: 13
Careers:
Barbarian 2
Blacksmith 1
Hunter 1
Gladiator 0
Hero Points: 6
Homeland: Valgard
Boons:
Marked by the Gods
Valgardian Blade
Flaws:
Country Bumpkin
Languages:
Illiterate
Valgardian
Broken Lemurian
- this a fudge to allow him to communicate with the rest of the party. In game terms it means the character has to talk with a thick Austrian accent and I (as GM) get to roll to see if the others [mis-]understood from time to time. You know what that means...

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Athanaseus (or Anatheus)*
Attributes:
ST 0
AG 0
MD 3
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 3
Life Blood: 10
Careers:
Magician 3
Scholar 1
Noble 0
Minstral/Poet 0
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Sartala
Boons:
Great Wealth
Flaws:
Arrogant, City Dweller
Languages:
Literate
Lemurian
Sorceric
Old Tongue of Man

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Bakkistabbo
Attributes:
ST -1
AG 3
MD 1
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 1
Ranged 1
Defense 2
Life Blood: 9
Careers:
Assassin 1
Beggar 1
Merchant 0
Thief 2
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Halakh
Boons:
Escape Artist
Fighting Knife (Kir)
Sneaky
Flaws:
Landlubber
Untrustworthy
Languages:
Illiterate
Lemurian

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Valeria (or Venusia)*
Attributes:
ST 1
AG 1
MD 0
AP 2
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 1
Melee 2
Ranged 0
Defense 1
Life Blood: 11
Careers:
Dancer 1
Gladiator 1
Soldier 1
Mariner 1
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Parsool
Boons:
War Cry
Flaws:
None
Languages:
Illiterate
Lemurian

********************


Hestia (or Rolla)*
Attributes:
ST 1
AG 1
MD 1
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 1
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 2
Life Blood: 9
Careers:
Priest 2
Farmer/Peasant 0
Physician/Healer 1
Scribe/Scholar 1
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Lysor
Boons:
Disease Immunity
Learned: Flora & Fauna
Flaws:
Delicate
Languages:
Literate
Lemurian

* In the car we couldn't remember the names used in the Broadsword Adventures/D&D Mash-up. Not sure which names Bruce has decided on for this...

Note: All the above pictures are of Reaper Miniatures from their website. Head on over there, and use their Figure Finder utility to find your perfect character miniature!