Over the years,
I have been asked to write a spell system for HiBRiD. But as I have been
focusing my attention between refining and streamlining the rules, editing the
final version of the book, and playtesting at the various GenCons, I have not
really had the resources to give it the attention it deserves. There are even
several people who have taken to working on such a monumental tasks and are
still working on the project!
But you don't
wanna wait, do you? You wanna put one or more of your old OSR/d20 game books or
issues of Gygax or Dragon magazine to use! You wanna call down the thunder from
the skies! You wanna conjure crazy feats of the darkest Chinese Black Magic!
You wanna lob a fireball!
In order to help
you arcane ass-kickers out, I have decided to take inspiration from the FADAD
document by Peter Mikelsons. In that document, he did a really nice set of
conversions for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons® for his campaign so that players
and directors could use their published materials with the FUDGE® gaming
system. In these next few entries, you will find a quick and dirty conversion
of your favorite old-school edition of Dungeons and Dragons®- (Basic®- or
Advanced®-, any edition) or any of its derivatives (including OSRIC,
Pathfinder®-, Hackmaster®-, et cetera) to the HiBRiD game system for all you
itching to sling mana HiBRiD-style. O. K., enough with the background...get
your game handbook of choice and let's do it!
So let's begin
wIth Part One: Building Your Spellslinger
Step One: Giving Your Character “The Gift”
The first thing
you need to do to create a character that can cast spells is purchase the Spellslinging Aspect.
The aspect only enables your character to cast spells of a certain level; it
does not imbue your character with any specific spell. If you buy 1 Grade of
Spellslinging, for example, your character may learn spells of any level but
only has the ability to cast first level spells.
Spellslinging
Cost: 10
Graded?: G
Activation: Constant
This aspect
imbues your character with the rare ability to cast magical spells of the
Wzard/Mage/Sorceror/Illusionist character class. Each grade enables your
character to cast spells of a level indicated in the Reference Book required by
the game director equal to the grade. This aspect does not have an effect on
learning a spell; only your character's ability to cast it.
Providence
Cost: 10
Graded?: G
Activation: Constant
This aspect
imbues your character with the rare ability to cast magical spells of the
Priest/Cleric class. Each grade enables your character to cast spells of a
level indicated in the Reference Book required by the game director equal to
the grade. This aspect does not have an effect on learning a spell; only your
character's ability to cast it.
Step Two: Picking Spells
Next, you need
to pick your character's spells. Each spell is treated as a separate skill in
HiBRiD and follows the standard skill rules. In HiBRiD standard
rules, each spell is considered a Concept Skill, which allows characters only a
few spells that define the character). In certain Genre Descriptions such
as Anachronism Whisper that use a more complicated, age and INTL-based skill system, each spell is treated as an
individual skill and costs one Skill Point to purchase for your character
Because spells
in the game are treated as separate skills, each spell will have a number of
Action Levels associated with it, just like any other skill in the game. The
relevant attribute to each spell is determined by the corresponding attribute
in the HiBRID system. Mage spells, for instance, use INTL as the relevant
attribute, priest spells use the WILL attribute. Spells that use the Charisma
attribute default to the WILL attribute, as charisma is treated as a Concept Skill in
the HIBRiD game.
Once you have
determined the action levels your character possesses in each skill, you are
ready to play.
