The Rules

Shanthopal Multi-Player Online Game

1.       Characters

a.       Players may have any number of active characters, but all active characters must be posted in the “character-sheets” channel.

b.      Characters starting at level 1 are made in the usual way, but can have no more than 20 gp in coinage remaining when they first enter play.

c.       Base Luck is the Luck rolled at level 0, or when the character was first created, which is considered the character’s Luck for thing like Lucky Weapon, Lucky Spell, and so on. Thieves and halflings naturally regain Luck to this baseline.

d.      Characters used in other games are considered “clones”, and nothing which occurs in those games – XP, treasure, character death, etc. – affect the character in the Shanthopal game.

e.      There is hope to eventually publish the setting with a “Rogues Gallery” of PCs, and playing is taken as permission to use your characters (with proper credit) for this purpose. Make them interesting, treating them like protagonists of your own Appendix N novels. Quest For It is your friend; no character needs to be generic.

f.        Class-Specific:

                                                               i.      Clerics: The setting uses unique gods, and clerics must adhere to those gods. There is a growing document in my Patreon covering the specifics of those gods, and, in at least one case (Fortuna) an entirely new class. If you want a cleric where the specifics are not yet generated, I will move that god up the queue. All gods have unique tables for generating spells for their clerics.

                                                             ii.      Wizards:

1.       Wizards must learn spells, and do not automatically know their randomly generated spells. You may reserve slots for spells you want, and seek them out. If you are truly daring, you may forego level 1 spells altogether and try to survive long enough to learn higher-level spells.

2.       Shanthopal uses unique patrons in addition to those of the core rulebook and the Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between volumes.

                                                            iii.      Elves: Elves must have a patron to cast spells, and do not need to learn patron bond. Shanthopal uses unique patrons in addition to those of the core rulebook and the Angels, Daemons, & Beings Between volumes.

                                                           iv.      Other Classes: Open source classes, such as the faerie animal in the Cyclopedia of Common Animals, are fair game, subject to the judge’s approval.

2.       Adventures:

a.       Apart from 0-level funnels, each player may only play one character during any given session. This can be any character available in their “stable” of characters.

b.      It is up to players to determine who comprises a party for each game session, what the party intends to do, and when you would like to play. There is an “expedition-planning” channel for this purpose, but you can use any means you like. The party spokesman then contacts me (DM or email is best) with this information and, if I am available, we play at that time. Please allow me some time to prep.

c.       An expedition must always include at least one PC who has played in the campaign previously. I.e., the first post-funnel game must include at least one funnel survivor, but characters introduced in that game can then plan expeditions of their own.

d.      Opportunities Arise: I will occasionally create events which represent some time-sensitive game events or opportunities. Play in them or not as you like.

e.      It is up to you whether or not to share the unique things you learn in each game session with those who were not present.

f.        Because note-taking is no longer easy for me, I record sessions for later review. These recordings are not shared with anyone else.

g.       PVP is allowed, and to the extent that it enriches the game, even encouraged. Just remember that the goal is to make the game fun for all, and you may find yourself no longer invited on expeditions if you take it too far. It is up to the players, not the judge, to make this determination and plan their expeditions accordingly.

3.       Between Adventures:

a.       As of 1 October 2025, time between adventures passes on a 1:1 scale. Upkeep rules will be available before this time and, yes, living in squalor may adversely affect your PCs. The goal, of course, is to give PCs motives to earn and spend more treasure, as well as to provide a level of verisimilitude and give my cholera rules a workout.

b.      Shanthopal will eventually have its own rules for regaining Luck between outings. In the meanwhile, each session will open with a chance to use the DCC Lankhmar carousing rules, so long as the PCs are in an area where that makes sense.

c.       If a session ends mid-expedition, time freezes for those characters until they are played again. If the circumstances in other expeditions intersect with the frozen characters, then something else has happened to them (per judge). It is unreasonable to assume that PCs will always return to a place of safety before a session ends in an exploration-based game.

Let’s Convert the Monster Manual: Finishing the “G”s: Grey Ooze, Green Slime, Griffon, and Groaning Spirit

I admit to never having used a groaning spirit when I was DMing AD&D 1e, but I have used many a grey ooze to good effect. Of all the oozes, slimes, and jellies, I think that the grey ooze has always been my favorite. One of my most memorable ooze encounters was with a tiny grey ooze within a humanoid skull. When the skull was picked up, the ooze attacked through the eye socket. The “tiny grey ooze” stats herein are included you to reproduce this incident in your home games.

In the case of these statistics, the core rulebook’s entries for primeval slimes and ghosts are the basis for my conversions.

Grey Ooze: Init +4; Atk pseudopod +4 melee (2d4); AC 10; HD 1d8; MV 10’, climb 5’; Act 1d20; SP camouflage, metal digestive, immunities (magic, heat, and cold), half damage from slicing and piercing weapons; SV Fort +6, Ref -8, Will -6; AL N.

Tiny Grey Ooze: Init +4; Atk pseudopod +1 melee (1d4); AC 14; HD 1d3; MV 5’, climb 5’; Act 1d20; SP camouflage, metal digestive, immunities (magic, heat, and cold), half damage from slicing and piercing weapons; SV Fort +3, Ref -5, Will -6; AL N.

Large Grey Ooze: Init +2; Atk pseudopod +5 melee (3d4); AC 10; HD 3d8; MV 10’, climb 10’; Act 1d20; SP camouflage, metal digestive, immunities (magic, heat, and cold), half damage from slicing and piercing weapons, psionic potential; SV Fort +6, Ref -8, Will -6; AL N.

Grey oozes appear to be nothing more than wet stone until they move. They move with snake-like undulations, making them faster than most primeval slimes, and their pseudopod strikes are also serpentine in nature.

Grey oozes corrode metal on touch. Metal weapons are rendered useless after one touch (including a successful attack against the creature) and metal armor loses one point of Armor Class bonus for every round of contact or successful attack from the ooze. Magic items receive a special save against DC 12 for a normal or large grey ooze and DC 7 against a tiny one. This save is made by adding the weapon’s attack bonus to a d20 roll. The wielder may spend Luck on this save.

Normal grey oozes are about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. Tiny grey oozed are only 1 foot long and six inches wide. Large grey oozes are 1d8+8 feet long and 1d3+2 feet wide. Large grey oozes have a 1 in 10 chance of developing an alien intelligence roughly equal to normal human intelligence (3d6). Intelligent grey oozes further have an INT% chance of developing 1d3 psionic abilities. Roll 1d5 for each ability:

1. Telepathy: The ooze can communicate telepathically in a 60’ range. If rolled again, increase range by 30’.

2. Psychic Defense: Each time this is rolled, the ooze gains a +4 bonus to its Will saves.

3. Psionic Attack: Once per turn, the ooze can cause 1d6 damage to all living creatures with a mind within 30’; Will DC 13 negates. If rolled again, roll 1d4: (1) increase damage by +1d6, (2) increase range by 20’, (3) increase Will save DC by +2, or (4) increase the times the ooze can use this attack by +1 per turn.

4. Illusion Generation: The ooze can create simple illusions within a 30’ radius with auditory, visual, or scent components. These illusions can one have one component at a time, and are automatically dispelled when interacted with. If rolled again, increase the number of components usable by the ooze.

5. Telekinesis. The ooze can move a single object weighing no more than 5 pounds within a 30’ radius. Each time this is rolled again, the number of objects, weight limit, and radius double.

Green Slime: Init –6; Atk Contact +0 melee (infection); AC 5; HD 1d8; MV 1’, climb 1’; Act 1d16; SP infection, metal digestive, only harmed by fire or cold; SV Fort +0, Ref –10, Will +0; AL N.

Green slime is a primeval ooze which moves slowly, digesting metal, animal tissue, and wood. When it comes into contact with metal, it eats through it quickly. Metal weapons are rendered useless after one touch and metal armor loses one point of Armor Class bonus for every round of contact or successful attack from the slime. Magic items receive a special save against DC 12, made by adding the weapon’s attack bonus to a d20 roll. The wielder may spend Luck on this save. If an attack made by green slime misses due to AC bonus from armor, the slime has come into contact with the armor.

Green slime typically is found in places where it can drip down on creatures passing below, but it is sometimes found in murky shallow water where creatures may accidently step on it (Luck check to avoid). In contact with living flesh, it infects the tissue over the next 1d4+1 rounds. During this time, it may be burnt, frozen, or scraped away (doing a minimum of 1 damage to the slime’s victim per round of contact) or neutralized as a disease. Failure to do so within this time frame means the victim dies and is turned into a new patch of green slime over the next 3d6 rounds. Anyone looting the body during this time must succeed in a Luck check to avoid coming into contact with green slime themselves.

Griffon: See core rulebook, page 417.

Groaning Spirit: Init +2; Atk incorporeal touch +6 melee (paralysis) or banshee scream; AC 10; HD 2d12; MV fly 40’; Act 1d20; SP un-dead traits, incorporeal, immune to non-magical weapons, paralysis (1d4 hours, Fort DC 14 negates), banshee scream, future sight, family ties; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +6; AL C.

Believed by some to be the ghosts of evil elven women, groaning spirit can attack with a bone-chilling scream. Every living creature within 100’ automatically takes 1d4 sonic damage and is potentially deafened for 1d4 hours (DC 12 Fort save to resist). The ghost can issue this scream up to 3 times per hour. Dogs, horses, and other domesticated animals are automatically spooked by the scream.

Like all ghosts, something prevents a groaning spirit from resting in death, and resolving that wrong allows the ghost to depart forever. Groaning spirits are often harbingers of disaster, and many are tied to the fortunes of specific extended families, appearing only as a warning or a prelude to misfortune.

Any creature that gazes into a groaning spirit’s eyes receives a shocking glimpse of a possible future. A character attacking the ghost must make a DC 10 Reflex save or inadvertently gaze into the ghost’s eyes. This glimpse is always a potential death of the most disturbing fashion. The judge is encouraged to describe the vision as one associated with a potential future encounter in the current adventure, or one related to the looming disaster the groaning spirit heralds. When the character reaches that encounter or event, they suffer a -2 penalty to all rolls due to fright and fear of death. Paralyzed characters, of course, get no save.

Fortunately, groaning spirits seem to wish only to deliver their warnings before disappearing again, but victims of their scream may die from it, and paralyzed characters may find themselves facing predators drawn by the spirit’s wailing. If a character encounters a groaning spirit alone, and is paralyzed, this may well be the vision that the un-dead creature imparts.