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handbook.txt
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1994-04-18
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The Fixer's Handbook to the
Singular World of
LYSANDIA
Including notes on the populace,
the customs, the peculiarities,
things magical, etc., etc., etc...
Penned at the office of the Minister of Documents,
and in accord with all policies and regulations
set forth by the Great Council.
Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
By Daniel Berke & Matthew Engle
Handbook Edition 2.0
By Matthew Engle
Map Illustration by Matthew Engle
(C) Copyright 1994 by Daniel Berke and Matthew Engle
All Rights Reserved.
Excelsior is distributed as shareware. You are allowed to use the program for
a period of TEN (10) days for evaluation. After the ten days, you are asked
to register the program or cease using it. You may freely distribute copies
of Excelsior, but they must contain all files, including the README file.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Populace
The Common Races 1
The Common Classes 3
Gender 5
Alignment 5
The Primary Attributes 5
The Secondary Attributes 7
Skills 7
The Establishments
Castles 8
Cities 8
Villages 8
Huts 8
Dungeons 9
Keeps 9
The Mercantile
Weapons 10
Armor 11
Materia Magica 11
Staples 12
Transportation 12
Miscellaneous 12
The Creatures, Great and Small 13
The Magical Arts
On Spells and Spellcasting 15
The Spells of the White Arts 16
The Spells of the Black Arts 18
The Spells of the Gray Arts 20
Addendum 22
1
THE POPULACE
THE COMMON RACES
There is a wide variety of life forms extant on Lysandia. This overview
will cover only those which are sufficiently human-like in appearance and
possess enough rationality to be considered a race. The term species perhaps
would be more fitting for the descriptions following, but tradition has it
that because they all possess some human qualities, they are known as diff-
erent races.
The most common race by far is the aforementioned HUMAN. Humans are the
essence of ordinariness and have no remarkable qualities. They tend to band
together into various social groups. They have a fondness for law and order,
and thus usually choose one of their own to be the leader of their group.
The leader of one group, however, could very well be a subordinate in another.
The land of Lysandia itself is governed by a human. Despite their lack of
notable features, humans habitually overestimate their importance in the
multiverse.
Although they began as a slight evolutionary offshoot from the humans,
DWARFS have developed into a common race themselves. The most noticeable
difference between the two is that the dwarf rarely grows taller than waist-
high to a human. What they lack in stature they make up for in strength.
Dwarfs have taken to living in underground dwellings and rely on their own
muscle power to handle the work of building settlements and performing other
chores. They have, therefore, evolved into a disproportionately strong race.
Due to their short, stocky stature, they tend to be a tad slower than the
human. Because dwarfs are given to difficult manual labor, they are known to
be a slightly dour folk.
ELFS are of roughly the same proportion as humans, but they are by nature
quite different. Elfs are nimble and quick; they have fine, delicate
features, making them slightly less hearty than humans. They like to believe
the legend that the ancestors of their race were magically blessed, and that
each one of them has innate magical residue working for them. Elfs spend the
majority of their free time immersed in discussions about beauty, or engaged
in dance and song. They live communally in small bands, but always welcome
other elfish visitors.
GNOMES rarely grow more than three feet tall. They have dark tan skin and
long, flowing locks of white hair accompanied by a thick beard. They prefer
to live in shaded fields in symbiotic relationships with a multitude of
animals. Gnomes often feel more akin to a graceful forest animal than to
humankind creatures, as they are wary of any animal larger than twice their
size. They are a jolly bunch and are quick with a laugh and a pat on the
back. Since they live outdoors, they have become rather dexterous, despite,
or perhaps because of, their size.
2
At first glance, a HALFLING looks quite the same as a small human. Half-
lings are a plump people who always look happy to see one another. They pre-
fer the comforts of a good book or a tall tale among friends to a strenuous
adventure. Their love of reading and conversation has made them, on the
whole, intelligent and pleasant to be with. They live in underground, candle-
lit burrows, are honest and dependable, and enjoy passing down the lore of
their race to the young. There are few other races halflings cannot at least
tolerate. They go out of their way to be friendly, though never to the point
of sycophancy.
At the other end of the spectrum are TROLLS. They are vile folk of ex-
tremely low mentality, and pass the requirements for being categorized as a
race by just a hair. Trolls have pale green calloused skin, and their noses
are usually as lengthy as their feet. They have long, gangly arms which sway
loosely when they walk. Trolls show just the basic framework of an organized
society and prefer to settle disputes among themselves by making use of a club
or mace. Their speech consists of grunt-like syllables, and their vocabulary
rarely exceeds that of a five-season-old human. The only enviable aspect of
trolls is their great strength and constitution, although they developed these
qualities because of their tendency to get into pointless fights.
The IMP is a small, minor demi-demon of little consequence. Imps are
thought to be more of a nuisance among the general public than a danger.
When a man loses the key to his cellar door, or other such trivialities, and
finds it in the last place he looks, it is often an imp at play. Imps are
fragile, light-footed beings who have a persistent smirk. They tend to have
an aura of good luck surrounding them. As to the accusation that they use
slight magical abilities to get this luck, they do not respond.
GLYNNS can be considered the opposite of imps, in that they are sometimes
known as the heaven's messengers. This may be a slight exaggeration as to
their origin, but there is something mystical about their appearance. A
glynn's body has a natural golden-yellow glow. They are almost never seen
in