Thieves' World, The Shared Fantasy World

Thieves' World is a series of anthology books featuring thieves (for the most part) set in the same shared world, with a variety of authors contributing to it.

Created in 1978 by Robert Lynn Asprin, Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series that gained popularity during the 1980s and has since garnered a following. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, but new anthologies have been coming out in recent years.

All of the stories take place in the city of Sanctuary, which is  located at the edge of the Rankan Empire. Many of the people in Sanctuary are downtrodden and as such many people have turned to thievery to make ends meet. Religions are competing for supremacy, invasions of the city happen over the course of the various anthologies, and at one point the city is conquered by the snake-worshipping Beysib when the Rankan empire collapsed. Some of the characters are basically demigods (similar to Hercules), being the offspring of various gods from the different religions.

The first anthology was published in 1979, the series continued until it went on hiatus in 1989 after the twelfth anthology. In addition to the anthologies some authors have published novels and novellas in the setting of Thieves' World.

Starting in 2002, Lynn Abbey, who co-edited several of the original anthologies, relaunched the series with the novel Sanctuary, which was followed by the anthologies Turning Points and Enemies of Fortune (see my video above). Some of the older authors returned and several new ones were added. Abbey also oversaw the republication of the original anthologies in omnibus editions because the original books were out of print and difficult to find.

The Anthologies

  1. Thieves' World (1979)
  2. Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn (1980)
  3. Shadows of Sanctuary (1981)
  4. Storm Season (1982)
  5. The Face of Chaos (1983)
  6. Wings of Omen (1984)
  7. The Dead of Winter (1985)
  8. Soul of the City (1986)
  9. Blood Ties (1986)
  10. Aftermath (1987)
  11. Uneasy Alliances (1988)
  12. Stealers' Sky (1989)
  13. Turning Points (2002)
  14. Enemies of Fortune (2004)

There are also novels, novellas, short stories and comic books set in Thieves' World. So there is a lot more out there to potentially read if someone wants to.

Book Review: Bastion by Mercedes Lackey

The following video is a book review of Mercedes Lackey's book "Bastion".



And my phone started to get full so the video was cut short... so here is part 2 of 2. 


 

Twas an enjoyable book, but the lack of action during the first 300 pages of filler / fluff was rather disappointing. I was expecting more from Mercedes Lackey.

The lack of a central villain (with a name) was also problematic. Twelve nameless assassins just felt like the book was missing a villain which the reader could really love to hate.

Eg. Voldemort is a good villain that people love to hate (as opposed to Severus Snape, whom readers just plain love now that we know his full backstory, who only felt like he was villain during the first 6 books of the Harry Potter franchise.)

The Collegium Chronicles series of books isn't going to be made into a TV show or a film series, that much is certain. It isn't boring. It is technically enjoyable, but there is a lot of fluff.

As a fan of Mercedes Lackey this ended up being a disappointing read.

2nd Edition AD&D Exorcist Class

Okay, so let me start by saying I have a rather unusual problem that necessitated me making an Exorcist class for 2nd Edition AD&D. I am writing a novel titled "The Exorcist's Dagger" in which one of the main characters is an exorcist, and I realized that I need to define exactly what her powers are as an exorcist.

Furthermore in my world exorcists are not priests. They're not wizards either. So this is not a wizard class or a priest class, but something different. As different as druid is to cleric, except more so. They're just something "different", just like the Taltos class is different from bards or druids. (You can find the Taltos class in Dragon Magazine 247.)

Thus I realized that I needed to create an Exorcist character class for AD&D just so I knew what the abilities and limitations of the character would be in my book. Thus the character class listed below is NOT meant for gaming. It is meant for a book.

So to create this character class I am going to go through the steps outlined in pages 22 and 23 of the 2nd Edition DMG (more or less in order) and see what abilities make sense for my version of the Exorcist class.

#1. What races can be an Exorcist?

Well, I can't really imagine dwarves, gnomes or Habbels (my version of halflings) being exorcists - and the class can do a sort of "spirit magic", so I don't see them doing this. I also don't see elves or minotaurs doing this either. To me the elves and minotaurs would just use clerics if they're having a problem with evil spirits or demons.

So just humans. That gives a class modifier of 0.

#2. What combat value should the Exorcist have?

I imagine they should suck at combat, but not as badly as wizards. So rogue Thac0 works for me. That gives a class modifier of -1.

#3. Saving Throw Table?

I think the Exorcist should be good at saving throws versus possession, so their save versus spell should be fairly good. But they should suck against things like Poison. So the Wizard saving throws is the only one that truly makes sense. Class modifier is 0.

#4. Hit Dice per Level?

I think d6 makes sense. I see an exorcist as being tougher than a wizard, but not as awesome as a priest. Class modifier of 0.75.

#5. Hit Points Beyond 9th Level?

 Not as squishy as wizards, but not as robust as fighters. So 2 hp per level. Class modifier of 1.

#6. Armour allowed?

With their spirit magic in mind I think Exorcists should be able to wear some armour, but not a lot. So the limited AC of 5 or worse makes sense. Class modifier is -0.5

#7. Weapons allowed?

Hmm. Limited sounds good. 4 weapons of my choice that do d6 damage or less. So dagger should be one of them obviously (my book is called "The Exorcist's Dagger" for a reason). I think crossbows also makes sense for an Exorcist, who is a bit of an undead hunter. Quarterstaff, sure, why not... and war hammer (becomes relevant later for the Spiritual Hammer spell). So dagger, quarterstaff, crossbow, war hammer. None of them do more than d6 damage (thanks to crossbows sucking in 2nd Edition... See my custom rules for Crossbows in 5th Edition to see what I mean) and the Exorcist is very limited in their choices. Class modifier is -1.5.

#8. Optional Abilities?

Okay, now we get to the fun part... What abilities should the Exorcist in Korovia have???

Let's make a bucket list of abilities...

  • 3 skill proficiencies (cleric or wizard)
  • 1 weapon proficiency
  • Priest spells (a limited spell list)
  • Wizard spells (a VERY limited spell list)
  • Turn Undead
  • Can use magical items allowed to clerics.
  • No other abilities. No thief skills. Nothing especially useful in combat.

The total class modifiers for this bucket list is... 10.

#9. Restrictions?

Must be lawful, must destroy undead/exorcise demons (even if not being paid for it), cannot own more than 10 magical items (because otherwise it interferes with the spirit magic). Class modifiers is -2.5.

#10 Adding Time...

Adding up all of the class modifiers we get a total of 6.25. So the Exorcist goes up levels at the same speed as a Rogue.

Their primary abilities is that they can use spells and Turn Undead, which means that because Rogues level up faster than Priests that the Exorcist's ability to Turn Undead goes up at a faster rate than clerics, and their spells also go up at a faster rate... But they are very limited in their choice of spells.

So what spells can my Korovian Exorcist actually do?

  • 1st Level: Bless (to create Holy Water), Detect Undead, Exorcism*, Invisibility to Undead, Magical Stone (for destroying undead), Protection from Evil/Good.
  • 2nd Level: Detect Evil, Detect Possession*, Spiritual Hammer.
  • 3rd Level: Hold Undead, Remove Curse, Speak with Dead, Speak with Demon*.
  • 4th Level: Abjure, Protection from Evil/Good 10' Radius.
  • 5th Level: Dismissal, Dispel Evil/Good, Magic Jar, Reverse Magic Jar*.
  • 6th Level: Banishment, Control Undead, Trap the Soul.
  • 7th Level: Astral Spell, Holy Word.

* New spells! See below.

NEW SPELLS

Exorcism - Upon casting this short ritual the Exorcist gains the ability to Turn Demons using their Turn Undead ability for the next 24 hours.

Detect Possession (similar to the 2nd level spell Detect Charm).

Speak with Demon (similar to Speak with Dead).

Reverse Magic Jar (exactly what it sounds like. Automatically reverses the spell when cast. No save.)

NOTES

You may have noticed that the Exorcist has very few wizard spells in their repertoire, but that doesn't mean that the DM/player (or me, the writer) cannot create new spells which are Exorcist specific.

This class isn't very good in combat, as you have probably noticed. This is deliberate. It has some useful spells that are handy at low levels (Magic Stone, Spiritual Hammer, etc), but many of the spells are really only good for dealing with curses, undead or demons.

Exorcists don't actually need a holy symbol to do their magic, nor do they need a spellbook. Instead they learn their knowledge of Exorcism Magic/Spirit Magic from other exorcists (often people who instructed them in the profession), books, conversing with priests and wizards, and building their knowledge gradually over time.

For descriptive purposes in my book the exorcist will be using Ard symbols instead of holy symbols, which they can sketch in the air in front of them using their fingers (similar to Doctor Strange and wizards in the Marvel franchise).

Is the Exorcist's magical abilities divine or arcane? A bit of both. They're spirit magic. The exorcist believes in the existence of various gods, but their power primarily comes from the spirit world, much like how a druid's magic comes from nature instead of from a specific god.

Thus there are different kinds of magic in Korovia.

Arcane Magic (usually used by wizards etc)

Divine Magic (usually used by clerics or priests or the gods themselves)

Nature Magic (usually used by druids, unicorns, fairies, etc)

Spirit Magic (usually used by exorcists, ghosts, etc)

But there are other kinds too like Eldar magic (used by the Eldar Noramir, the entities who created the universe and the world of Aoerth). Eldar magic is so powerful that even the gods have limited ability to use such magic. Only the Eldar Noramir can use it to the fullest extent.

And Ard Magic, which is magic based on symbols, pentagrams, hex markings, evil eye wards, lucky charms, etc. This is a very simplistic form of magic that in theory almost anyone can use if they have the materials needed for making such symbols. However Ard magic is very basic and weak.


Exorcist Class Creation Notes

0    Human Only
-1    Rogue Thac0
0    Wizard Saves
0.75    D6 HD
1    2 hp per level after 9th
-0.5    Limited AC of 5 or worse
-1.5    Limited to 4 weapons of d6 or less
10    Optional Abilities (see list)
-2.5    Restrictions

6.25    Total

The Wulfric the Wanderer Series by Charles Moffat

 


Wulfric the Wanderer: The Portal of Destiny
(May 1, 2020)
by Charles Moffat (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars (3 Reviews)

Wulfric has grown weary of hunting in the Snowfell Mountains of Korovia and decides to head south, looking for danger and adventure. What he finds however is a portal that takes him back in time to when legendary warriors walked the land, and when great dragons ate warriors like himself as a snack.


The Cult of the She-Bear (Wulfric the Wanderer) (Jan 1, 2021)
by Charles Moffat (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 Reviews)

Wulfric the Wanderer has traveled back in time to Korovia's Stone Age, when it is on the cusp of the Bronze Age. He has earned the trust and respect of the chieftain Ko Margus, and Wulfric has accepted that he is somehow destined to be trapped in this time period for the time being. But trouble is afoot. The priest of the tribe doesn't trust him and is growing suspicious. Worse, the tribe is being splintered between those who worship the tribe's horse god and a cult within their ranks of those who worship a she-bear goddess.

When the tribe finds megalithic carvings of bears in the side of a mountain the two sides begin to bicker about whether to destroy the carvings. Wulfric decides to investigate the nearby caves and the cave art within, finding more caverns that delve deeper into the mountain. What he doesn't know is that the bear carvings outside are magical wards that prevent a demonic entity inside the mountain from escaping. If the carvings are destroyed the entity will be freed and it will be able to feed once more...





Shifting Shadows in Iztark
(Wulfric the Wanderer) (Mar 1, 2020)
by Charles Moffat (Author) , Charles Moffat (Illustrator)
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 Reviews)

Wulfric the Wanderer has defeated the dark wizards inhabiting the Ivory Tower of Iztark, but upon exiting a strange old man approaches him with the promise of riches if he can assassinate the dark wizard known as Merchant-Lord Phrax Al-Amun. But Phrax's palace and harem full of women is guarded by more than mere mortal guards and the wandering barbarian-turned-assassin will have to battle his way through all manner of dangers and distractions.


Black Monoliths of Al-Kazar (Wulfric the Wanderer) (Sep 7, 2012)
by Charles Moffat (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 Reviews)

Tahira, Wulfric's great love, is dead and the barbarian from Korovia decides to strike out on his own. His journey brings him to a Quinian trading post on the coast of Al-Kazar... But what he encounters there however is black magic and 'Black Monoliths of Al-Kazar'. Forced into slavery Wulfric the Wanderer must unlock his own rage within the dark abyss of his soul.






The Unbreakable Arrow
(Sep 1, 2020)
by Charles Moffat (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars (3 Reviews)
The stranger arrived in the village leading a dying injured horse.

The village was nameless, a collection of huts and stone buildings surrounded by the dense trees of an endless forest. The bedraggled people stared out of their hovels at the strange man with his injured horse, many a greedy eye on both of them. The look of desperation in their eyes was also one of hopelessness. These people had seen dark times and had taken to living in the woods to avoid the darkness enveloping much of the world.

The stallion was a dark grey roan and its flanks were speckled with injuries from arrows, presumably from bandits that plagued the road to the west. Most people would have simply slain the horse and put it out of its misery, partially because the meat alone was valuable, but this man did not. He led the horse to the nearest water trough and allowed the steed to drink for a long time before gently pulling the horse away.

The wanderer was tall and broad of shoulder, with a bushy black beard covering a handsome yet roadweary face, with a mane of unkept black hair with hints of grey around the temples. He was dressed simply in blood spattered clothes and carried a similarly blood spattered arming sword on his hip. The bandits would be burying their dead tonight. He had no armour or other weapons to speak of. Just the sword and the clothes on his back.

Further up the road was the stables at the top of the hill, surrounded by immense pine trees. The stranger walked up the rocky hill dense with tall cedar trees, past the blacksmiths pounding away on their forge next to a gully littered with the old bones of deer, elk and woolly rhinos. They were making swords with handles made from antler and ivory.

The stranger had seen such swords before, in the hands of the bandits who had attacked him on the road. The stranger led his horse further up the hill, slowly, almost gingerly. His horse was breathing heavily. When they arrived after much time he paid the stable boy with copper coins out of a hidden pocket.

"I dunno iffen dis horse will be livin' through da night melord," drawled the stableboy, a skinny uneducated lad of perhaps fifteen winters with a face of pimples and pock marks from surviving the pox. "He be lookin' ta drop dead as a doorknob any moment now."

The stranger produced a gold coin from an unknown location. He held it up for the boy to see. "This is the finest and bravest horse I have ever seen. I want you to wrap his wounds with clean linen and make certain he is well fed, groomed and kept warm during the night. If he lives until morning when I return, this coin will be yours. If any horse deserves to live, this horse does." The stranger gave him a small knowing smile, belying an untold story that made the lad curious to learn more. "Now where can I find a place to sleep?"

The stable boy pointed north. "Ye be gonna walk thatta way. When ye see da forest glade wid all da purdy flowers then da inn will be da tall-like building on da right."

The stranger walked north, following a trail through the tall trees and past wooden huts with quiet villagers who were busy worshipping their dark god. This village was not unlike others he had visited recently. These were dark times and whole villages now worshipped foul gods in an effort to stay alive, falsely believing that if they worshipped a dark god that the dark god would spare them from destruction. Dragons and demons roamed the land, and these villagers had made their homes in a thick forest, hiding from the sight of any dragons that might fly over, and praying they did not attract the attention of any wandering demons.

Want to keep reading? Buy the book. A Sword & Sorcery novelette featuring demons and dragons.

"The Girl in the Red Hoodie" = Superhero Boxing Vigilante

By Charles Moffat

My new YA pulp fiction novel "The Girl in the Red Hoodie" came out yesterday and it is already #64 on Amazon.ca's Superhero Bestsellers List... It isn't in the top 10, but I'll take it. It is my first superhero novel and my first Young Adult novel, so I wasn't expecting to be in the top 10 by day two anyway.



WHAT IS THE BOOK ABOUT?

The book description:

Yasmeena is an immigrant who works at her father's boxing gym. When the city of Toronto is targeted by a group of white nationalists who take hostages inside the CN Tower and conduct terrorist attacks across the city she ends up being at the right place at the right time. Becoming a vigilante was never her plan, but as the terrorists continue to conduct attacks and assassinations she ends up in a fight for survival and has only her boxing skills to help her and her family survive.

A coming of age story of a would-be superhero.

 

WHO IS THE MAIN CHARACTER?

Yasmeena is somewhat shy and studious, and she keeps her boxing skills a secret from her friends. Her parents are from Saudi Arabia, but they came to Canada years earlier when her father decided he wanted to open a boxing gym - and in defiance of his father - chose to do that in Canada instead of in Saudi Arabia. Yasmeena is an only child, but she is very close to her parents and her best friend Ameera.

Does she have a love interest? Yes, she does... His name is Alesandro, but you will have to buy the book to learn more about him.

WHERE DOES THE BOOK TAKE PLACE?

The book takes place in Toronto, my home for the past 22 years, with many of the locations in the book being real places you can visit:

  • The CN Tower, which judging by the cover, gets destroyed and lands in...
  • Simcoe Park, which is next to the...
  • The CBC building...
  • Bloor/Danforth
  • Pape
  • The Eaton's Centre
  • Toronto City Hall
  • Old Toronto City Hall / Courthouses
  • The Prince Edward Viaduct Bridge
  • The Millwood Overpass Bridge
  • Thorncliffe Park
  • E. T. Seton Park / The Toronto Archery Range
  • The railway lines north of Thorncliffe Park
  • Kawartha Lakes

 And many more locations.

WHEN DOES THE BOOK TAKE PLACE?

I wrote the book during 2019 and 2020, and the book starts in January 2020. What happens after that is basically an alternate version of the year 2020. So if you really didn't like what happened that year then you will be interested to read an alternative version of the events of 2020 that doesn't involve a global pandemic and has very different results.

When I was finishing writing the book in 2020 it didn't really make sense for me to include the pandemic as part of the events happening in the world, so I ended up making the book part of my "Alt-Earth" series of books which features an alternative history version of Earth - an alternative history that includes weird events, magic and other things based on real world events.

You can learn more about the Alt-Earth setting and timeline of books by visiting either:

WHY DID I WRITE THIS BOOK?

Honestly, I came up with the idea for the book back in 2012/2013 roughly, when the first Hunger Games films started coming out. I felt there was a market for a book series about a young woman who does boxing, and that I could portray her as a superhero in a realistic way similar to the film 'Unbreakable'. At the time I wrote down a basic premise of a young female boxer who ends up fighting the mafia using her boxing skills, but I later changed it to her fighting white supremacist terrorists.

I felt that having the young Muslim immigrant character as the hero, and the evil white supremacists as the villains, that I would be more accurately portraying the changing political climate in North America, and making a much more profound statement about race relations.

WHAT MOVIES WOULD I COMPARE THIS BOOK TO?

  • Rocky, obviously. But also specifically Rocky IV.
  • Unbreakable
  • Red Dawn (both the original and the remake)
  • The Hunger Games
  • Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

WAIT, IS THERE ARCHERY IN THIS BOOK?

Yes, towards the end of the book Yasmeena starts to learn archery.

Her father is also depicted as wearing a green hoodie in the first book, so my plan for book two is that she will end up wearing her father's green hoodie and thus book two will be "The Girl in the Green Hoodie".

You can expect more archery in the second book as she starts to get better at it, but still lots of boxing too. She needs time to get better at archery, as it is a skill that takes years to develop and learn properly.

WHERE CAN WE BUY THE BOOK?

You can order it from your local bookstore using the ISBN number: 979-8456052865

Or you can order it via:

In Canada: Amazon.ca via amazon.ca/gp/product/B09F1CV814/

In the USA: Amazon.com via amazon.com/gp/product/B09F1CV814/

Happy Reading!


Publishing a fantasy book? Make sure you get a professional fantasy book editor.

Study Archery in Toronto

So you want to study archery, but you are having difficulty finding an archery instructor who is local. However there is a solution. If you are willing to travel you can take a crash course in archery in Toronto, Canada. 10 lessons over a two week period will take you from archery novice to an experienced and capable archer.

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