Hobgoblins of Elthos

I take a traditionalist view of creatures and monsters in my world.  And so I spend a good deal of time combing through old fairytales and folklore trying to discern what our forebears thought the creatures of myth and legend were like.   As it turns out, modern views of creatures like Hobgoblins differ quite a bit from the traditional versions.   As an example I'll take Hobgoblins.

First off, the view that Hobgoblins are larger, fiercer fighting-monsters than Goblins is quite a new conception it seems.   Rather, in the old days, Hobgoblins were thought to be rather small, and in many cases simply another, and somewhat diminutive version of Goblins (which have a very wide range of types themselves, as Goblins appear to be a species with many sub-species associated to it).   Hobgoblins were about one foot, sometimes two feet tall.   They had great heaps of hair, most often brown, gray or black, though sometimes red, with huge mustachios, and large bushy eyebrows.  They wore, mostly, brown or gray rags, and often went barefoot.   They mostly lived in people's houses, and could be rather helpful, doing dishes while their patrons slept, or cobbling shoes, or sweeping or any number of other useful household tasks.   What they expected in return were small gifts of food, such as honey-cakes, to be left on the "hob", which was a rocky protrusion that would be attached to the fire place, from which they derive their names... they were Goblins of the hob, or Hob-Goblins. 

Hobgoblins were fond of pranks, especially if they felt slighted.   Failing to leave a cake on the hob would certainly cause the household to run into troubles.   One famous Hobgoblin by the name of Hob-Robbin, when angry, used to steal all of the keys in the house and hide them until a honey-cake was left on the hob for him.  Then he would throw the keys at the wall and they would all clatter to the ground in a jumble.   Other pranks would include tying the horses manes into knots, throwing pots and pans around at midnight, clogging up the well, and other nuisances.  They could be mischievous, but I have yet to hear of a single case where a hobgoblin actually physically attacked anyone, or caused a death.  The most certainly did not carry weapons or wear armor as far as I've been able to discern.

I like to use traditional folklore as a basis for my world's creatures because they feel more authentic to me, and I feel they add a more interesting and colorful flavor to my world, just as they did for our father's father's fathers.  The Fey, of which Goblins and their ilk are members, can be mischievous, helpful, friendly, rude, hostile, or deadly depending on the type and the circumstances.  One general rule, however, that seems to hold in most cases, is that being polite to the Fey makes a big difference in terms of how they will treat people. 

So, in Elthos, Hobgoblins are not the fearsome fighting-creatures of contemporary fantasy-lore (though there are plenty of other creatures which are, of course).  Hobgoblins are instead rather amusing, sometimes helpful, magical little creatures who in fact often have quite a bit of knowledge that can be coaxed out of them with the right kind of talk and gifts.  That knowledge can be extremely valuable at times.  So if you should meet a Hobgoblin in Elthos, remember that they are fond of honey-cakes, clever riddles, and interesting local gossip... perhaps you will be rewarded with a bit of news, or folklore, or other tidbit, that could be quite helpful.

To find out more about the traditional folklore creatures you might like to read Nancy Arrowsmith's book, Field Guide to the Little People.

Elthos ODS Rules: Skills & Kills: Calculating Experience Gains

I'm currently working on the Experience Gains section of the Elthos ODS rules with the help of my play testers.  The results have been to simplify the Experience Gains system considerably, and I believe that the math is now both easier to perform, and also the results align better with the Experience needed for Leveling in the ODS System.  Before continuing I should point out that the numbers are very small, and that is by design.  What follows is my current draft of the revised rules that will go into the Elthos ODS Rules Book:

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Skills & Kills: Calculating Experience Gains

When Characters successfully use Skills or Mystic Powers that they have learned, they gain Experience Points, however, the successful use of unlearned skills is considered pure luck, and does not earn experience Points, though the GM can override that rule if circumstances warrant. Calculating how many Experience Points are gained is easy. In the case of non-Combat skills is simply the value of the Difficulty Level of the task succeeded at (which is a value between 1 and 6 points). In the case of Combat Skills, Experience is earned when the opponent is killed, and is calculated by adding the specified stats of the all of the Vanquished Characters together as follows:

Total Vanquished Experience Gains = SUM(Character Level + Armor Class + Damage Absorption + Modified Dex Bonus + Strength Bonus + Wisdom Bonus)

Note: default Base Kill Gain Multiplier = 1 but can be adjusted to increase or decrease the rate of Levels advancement. The higher the BKGM the faster the Characters will gain Levels. The default of 1 seems to provide the best value for Campaigns where the expectation that Characters will advance to 6th Level (maximum in most cases) in approximately a year of play.

Example Experience Gain Calculations
Character: Tang (CL: 4, AC: 1, DAB: 1, MDB: 0, STB: 0, WSB: 0) is defeated by Gorgar, then the calculation is:  

XP = 1 x (4 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 0 + 0) = 6 Experience Points

If a Character wins a Solo Combat, such that no other party members are in range to provide support, then the experience is not shared, and the value of the Experience Gain multiplied by 2. Otherwise, however, Combat Experience is shared with all of the members of the party equally.

Calculation for Learned non-Combat Skills
If a Character tries to perform a learned skill such as swimming across a fast moving river, which the GM has assigned a Difficulty Level of 5, then if he succeeds by rolling above the Chance to Succeed value, he accomplishes his goal and gains 5 Experience points.

Calculation for Special Cases
A special case might constitute any situation in which the normal amount of Experience Gain seems insufficient. For example, if the opponent in a combat situation is using magical weapons or armor, the GM might add a bonus Experience Point for each bonus value of the magical item. Conversely, if the Victor was using a magical weapon or armor the GM may wish to reduce the experience gained by an equivalent value.  The use of Mystical Powers earns Experience Points as does any other learned Skill or Combat Skill depending on the nature of the Mystic Power.

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To give you an idea of how these small numbers of Experience Gains relate to how much Experience is required for Character Leveling here is the Chart. You will note that the top value is the Experience Base for the Class, and it doubles for each level, which makes calculating the required amount reasonably simple. Remember that the idea of the Elthos "One Die System" is to keep the numbers small so that they are easy to handle during the game. The current configuration should allow Characters to get to Level 6, on average, in about 1 year of play if the GM runs the game once per week, more or less.  

	Fighter & Thief	SpellChanter & Cleric
Levels	20	30
1	0	0
2	20	30
3	40	60
4	80	120
5	160	240
6	320	480

Note that Multi-Classes combine the bases -10 / additional Class to so that a Fighter(20)-Thief (20) has a base of (20+20)-10=30, a SpellChanter(30)-Thief(20) has a base of (30+20)-10=40, and a Fighter(20)-SpellChanter(30)-Cleric(30) has a base of (20+30+30)-20=60.

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The War Pigs of Hamfest

One of the better known historical facts regarding Hamfest, that sleepy little swine-herder village on the edge of nowhere, several days north of Glendale Township, is that they were on the front lines of the Ogre War, and in fact saved Glendale with a clever, if somewhat cruel stratagem.

In those days the Adventure's Guild had sent an expedition westward to investigate the Iron Hills, which had been recently discovered, and of which nothing much was known. As it turned out the Iron Hills were riddled with tunnels and warrens in which a vast number of Kobolds, Goblins, and Ogres had lived for a very long time, unknown and unsuspected by the people of Glendale. Nor had the Ogre-folk known that the humans had settled in Glendale Valley at that time. And so it was that the wrath of the Ogres was aroused, and they began to wage war on the people of Glendale. It began with small expeditions that burned down farms, and sacked small villages in the south. Then the east, and finally a large army was formed with the determination to push the people of Glendale into the southern sea. And so it was that an Ogre Army came to Hamfest late one autumn evening, secretly as they could, having assembled on the road a day's journey northward.

The Ogres were heading south along Glendale road, and came beneath Blueberry Hill. There they massed their elephants into three blocks of six elephants each. The elephants were mounted by Kobold archers in small towers afixed to the elephants backs. The Ogres formed a phalanx of pike wielders in front of the elephants, while behind the elephants the main army of Goblins and Hobgoblins massed into a huge triangular formation. Hamfest was the first town in their way, and was set to be duly destroyed by fire, pillage and rapine. The Ogres marched the army down the road toward Hamfest, lead by their greatest and most ruthless commander, Throk Llodre, the Crimson Impaler.

Having had some small warning in advance from Lord Amoralon the Dragonfly Prince of Feylandia, the Hamfest village was as well fortified as it could be. Behind the wooden wall along the barricades and parapets, were 20 of the best of King Oswald's Barons, 130 Knights in chain-mail and stout kite shields, swords brandished and gleaming, and about 400 infantrymen with pikes, short swords and light armor. They watched the horizon at sunset, as the dust from the approaching Ogre Army rose into the air from the north, the light of their torches shimmering against the dust with an orange glow. Thum, thum, thum, they heard the great deep drums as the Ogre Phalanx rounded the bend and came into view.

The army stopped there and began a solemn chanting amid the drums under the light of their thousands of torches. Louder and louder, and faster and faster came the chanting, until midnight, when suddenly all of the Ogre fires went out, and the dreadful scene turned pitch black in the darkness. All that could be heard were the sounds of tramping boots, the horrifying Goblin song, and the long braying and trumpeting of the elephants as the entire mass surged forward through the darkness.

It was then that Lord Beltane sent up the signal, which was a green flaring torch tossed high in the air from the bell tower in the center of the village. At the edge of the forest along the western side of the road, safely out of view of the approaching horde, Farmer Giles executed the plan he had hastily devised and recommended to the Barons of Oswaldia. One hundred pigs he had lathered in oil, and contained in a hastily constructed wooden pen whose wide gates faced the road along the western side. Grimly, he lit the pigs on fire with a torch and ordered his retainers to swing the gates open as he perceived the elephants were passing by in their gigantic columns.

One hundred flaming war pigs, squealing madly in an agony of pain and madness, came hurtling out of the darkness down the grassy slope toward the elephant columns. Before a single Kobold arrow could be fired the entire mass of elephants, spooked out of their minds, turned and ran pell mell into the crowds of Goblins behind them, crushing hundreds, and scattering the rest into the forests and bogs thereabouts.  It was pandemonium for the Ogre Army as long bow arrows began to whistle down in a constant rain onto their ranks from the walls of the village.  Ogres, however, do not panic.

The Ogres surged forward, their phalanx rattled, but still intact. They had intended to surround the village and guide the elephants into a charge at the gate to break it down, but this plan was now ruined. Thus, instead Throk Llodre barked out the order for the Ogres to charge the village gate and break it down with their maces, and even their bare hands if need be, and so the phalanx began to surge toward the wall in the darkness.

Nothing could be seen, but only the roaring, grunting and cursing of Ogres could be heard as they charged thunderously toward the village wall. But at that moment the darkness was broken in numerous places by mystic spells cast from the bell tower, and so the battlefield was illuminated by four brilliant balls of light high over head. By this light the gate of the village opened and out marched the pikemen in formation, followed by the Calvary of knights in shining armor. The Ogres turned to face their enemies and so there was a ferocious battle at the gate of Hamfest village, in which Lord Beltane distinguished himself for valor, as did his fighting men, and as did too Farmer Giles, who had come running up along the road with his own men to join the battle. By dawn the Ogres lay in heaps along the wall, and those not slain fled with Throk Llodre into the forests and far away, back to the Iron Hills from whence they came.

Farmer Giles was hailed a hero, and knighted by Lord Beltane. But he had no interest in fame or fortune, or being a Knight, and so he returned to his farm with his retainers, and to this day he lives out past Audax hill, happily herding swine, growing corn, raising his family, and keeping a watch on the northern road. And so, this is how Farmer Giles of Hamfest won his renown and helped to save the citizens of Glendale using an effective, if somewhat cruel stratagem.

Elthos Guild Classes

I've been tooling around with my Play Testers on the question of Guild Classes, and how much Experience it should take to go up in levels.  I think we've made some great progress on it, and so, as a kind of teaser, I'm going to toss up the Guild Class Configuration Screen from the Elthos RPG "One Die System" Web Application.

In the not too distant future I'm going to ask for Gamesmasters to Beta Test the system.  I have no idea, really, how the application and the rules will be received, but I'm hoping that if people are willing to give it a try that they will find it useful and give it a thumbs up.  The system is mostly geared toward people who would prefer to play with a rules set that is traditional in nature (based largely off of OD&D) and with small numbers to keep the math easy.   The combat and skills resolution system is very easy to work with, and the character generation can probably be described as medium weight in terms of complexity... but there is the Web Application which does all of the heavy lifting, number crunching, and record keeping chores.

And so, there you have it.  Progress is being made, and I'm hoping to make the system available to Beta Testers within the next few months.   If you happen to be interested in becoming a Beta Tester, please drop me a line via the Blog and I'll add your name to the list to be emailed when it's ready.

:)

Thoughts on the Placement of Temples

Regarding the shrine of Nehalennia on the Island of Walcheren.

“About the third century A.D., we know that a goddess had a shrine in the island of Walcheren on the Dutch coast.  This was afterwards engulfed by the sand, and many inscribed stones have been found there, some showing the goddess and giving her name as Nehalennia.  There is no doubt of her kinship with the Mothers, since she is shown holding fruit and a horn of plenty, and a ship is frequently shown beside her. These stones where probably raised in her honor by travelers who hoped for a safe voyage over to Britain, since her shrine stood at one of the points where passengers embarked to cross the North Sea.”

- Gods and Myths of the Viking Age, H.R.E. Davidson, p. 137

The passage brings to mind the placement of temples and shrines in a World.  In this case, to world weave this a bit, the temple is placed on the location where travelers will disembark on a long and perilous sea journey to another land.  The ancient goddess is usually invoked with prayers before the travelers disembark.  Her Shrine is possibly overlooking the sea from the top of one of the hills.  After the ceremony or prayer the travelers walk down the well worn dirt pathway to the port and board the ship, spiritually prepared for the far journey, and hopefully protected from doom upon the sea, having left some gift at the alter.  Thus the temple was placed at a location where it had direct usage related to the duty or domain of the deity, which is in Nehalennia’s case was to protect travelers, especially sea faring ones.

A Teutonic goddess, probably of navigation, commerce, and fertility. She was locally worshipped in the area of Domburg (Walcheren), where a temple of her was discovered. She is represented in a sitting position, or standing with one foot on the bow of a ship. Her attributes are a basket with fruits and a dog. She is associated with the Belgae, Frisians, and Morini.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/nehalennia.html

Based on this I think it interesting to consider that Shrines and Temples may have special considerations in terms of placement.  It may not be merely that they belong on the heights of some convenient acropolis, but that they may belong wherever they are most fitting according to their function.  If we were to consider some World Weaving guidelines I would say that the placement, as in the case of the temple at Walcheren, would be toward a specific purpose so that the people who do homage to the deity do so at that location for actual some reason.

Another example might be the temple of war, located in the direction of a pass through the mountains over which the Warrior Army most often marches to wage war on their enemies.   As they approach the pass they stop at a hill upon which the temple sits in order to pray for victory before departure on their desperate venture, and stop again and give thanks and sacrifices (or otherwise) upon their return.   Another example might be the temple of the goddess of the Earth which might be located at the entrance of a cave into which votives enter for rituals related to the fertility of the womb, leaving perhaps some small treasure as an offering on a stalagmite, and after which they get married in the temple.  Consider these examples as World Weaving exercises that illustrate what I mean.   It is this sort of consideration that may help in the placement of Temples and Shrines in a World.   I would not over do it by making it a rigid rule that demands that every Temple and Shrine must conform to this pattern as then it might become too burdensome and obvious.  Yet, done in the right proportion it could lend a certain beauty and depth to a world, which would not be easily discerned, and yet would be ever present via the placement of these sacred architectures.

Creature: Giant Pylori

I have just added the Giant Pylori as a creature to my World today, and then generated a character sheet for it using the Elthos RPG Web Application.  While these will be rare creatures to encounter in my World, I do look forward to the day that the Party happens upon a particularly dark and dank series of tunnels somewhere in the unexplored depths ...  :)

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Giant Pylori

Habitat	Description	Notes
Dark wet places such as caves, or within bodies of water such as lakes.	Green and black spotted floating tube-like creature with 7 long tendrils at one end, and a beak-like mouth. The tendrils end in sharp points, and are used for movement, and grabbing / stabbing prey with poison barb.	These non-intelligent creatures are voracious eaters of flesh, with a preference for mammals. They usually move in groups of 4 to 20. The tips of their tendrils have a poison that causes paralysis on critical hits, and they can attack four times per melee. They are very agile in the air or water and can float up to 2000 feet in the air, and dive as deep as 1000 feet in water.

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Elthos ODS Character Sheet
Adventure Group: Giant Pylori
Print Date: 7/18/2011
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Formulas
MDX = DX + DXM         | Modified Dex = (Character Dexterity + Armor Dexterity Modifier)
AL  = CL + MDB         | Attack Level = (Character Level + Modified Dexterity Bonus)
TAL = AL + ALM         | Total AL = (Character Attack Level + Weapon AL Modifier)
AC  = MDB + ACM        | Armor Class = (Modified Dexterity Bonus + Armor Class Modifier)
MAL = CL + WSB         | Mystic AL = (Character Level + Wisdom Bonus)
MAC = CL + WSB         | Mystic AC = (Character Level + Wisdom Bonus)
LP  = Base + (CL x ST) | Life Pts = (1 + (Character Level x Strength Requisite))
MP  = Base + (CL x WS) | Mystic Pts = (1 + (Character Level x Wisdom Requisite))
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Character Name.......... Gia Fig 1___________ Player: GrayFalcon__________
Race (Gender) Class..... Giant Pylori (F) Fighter___________ XP Base: __20
Character Level (CL).... __2        Bonus       Movement: 4 -> 4
Strength (ST)(STB)...... __4        (+0)        Weapon           DMB ALM TAL
Wisdom (WS)(WSB)........ __1        (-2)        *Sting 1d6______ _+0 _+0 __4
Dexterity (DX)(MDX)(DXB) __5 -> __6 (+2)      ________________ ___ ___ ___
Attack Level (AL),(MAL). __4,   __1             ________________ ___ ___ ___
Armor Class (AC),(MAC).. __4,   __1
Life Points (LP)........ __8                    Armor        MOV ACM DXM DAB
Mystic Energy (ME)...... __2                    Super-Reflex _+0 _+2 _+1 _+0
Current Experience...... ___40                  ____________ ___ ___ ___ ___
Iron Pieces............. ____0                  Armor Total: _+0 _+2 _+1 _+0
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Equipment: None
________________________________________
Skills: Wrestling (2), First Aid Self (2)
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Mystic Powers: None
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Recommended Reading for GMs

This list focuses quite a bit on ancient and classical literature because I have found a great deal of inspiration from the classics, though I also include some more modern works that are also suitable.   The criteria for books being added to this list is if the book inspired ideas for my Campaigns, or helped provide considerations for the Back Story of my World.  Pick and choose as you see fit, and I'm sure that there will be something to appeal to almost every Gamesmaster somewhere in the list...

So without further ado, here is my list of recommended readings for my fellow Gamesmasters.  Best wishes on magnificent Worlds!

1. The Holy Bible [King James] (1)(2)(3)(4) *
2. The Travels, M. Polo (2)(4)(3) *
3. The Quest of the Holy Grail, Walter Map [Mattarasso] (2)(3)(1)(4) *
4. Parzival, W.V. Eschenbach (1)(2)(3)(4) *
5. Willehalm, W.V. Eschenbach (1)(2)(3)(4) *
6. The Death of King Arthur, Walter Map (2)(3)(1) *
7. Divine Comedy, Dante (3) *
8. La Vita Nova, Dante (1)(3)
9. Piers the Ploughman, William Langland (3)
10. The Nibilungenlied (1)(2)(3)(4) *
11. The Mabinogion (2)(3) *
12. Arthurian Romances, Chretien de Troyes (1)(2)(3)(4) *
13. The Aeneid, Virgil (1)(2)(3)(4) *
14. Lysistrata, Aristophanes (3)
15. Sir Gwaine and the Green Knight (1)(2)(3) *
16. The Pearl, Anonymous (1)(2)(3) *
17. Tristan and Isolde, Strassburg, Beroul, Thomas, & Morris (1)(2)(3) *
18. The Song of Roland (1)(2)(3)(4) *
19. The Lady of the Lake, Sir Walter Scott (1)(2)(3) *
20. Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross (3)
21. The Ladder of Perfection, Walter Hilton (3)
22. Shrimad Bhagamatam (Volumes 1-14) (3) *
23. Dharmapada (3)
24. Bhagavad Gita (3) *
25. Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu (3)
26. The History of the Kings of Britain, Georffrey of Momouth (3)(4) *
27. Idylls of the King, Alfred Lord Tennyson (1)(2)(3) *
28. The Knights Templar, Stephen Howarth (4)
29. The Laxdaela Saga (2)(4) *
30. John Dee, P. J. French (4)(3)
31. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Frances Yates (3)(4)
32. The Essays, Francis Bacon (4)(3)
33. Tales of King Arther, Sir Thomas Malory (1)(2)(3)
34. Oxford History of the American People (vol. 1,2), S. Morrison (4)
35. The Histories, Herodotus (2)(4) *
36. Combat World War I, Assorted Authors (2)(4)
37. The Epic of Gilgamesh (3)(2)(1)(4) *
38. The Scarlet Pimpernel (2)(1)(3)(4) *
39. Selected Essays, Emerson (On Nature) (3)
40. Metamorphosis, Ovid (3)(2)(1)
41. Fables of Aesop (3) *
42. The Prince, Machiavelli (4)(3)
43. The Republic, Plato (3) *
44. The Meno, Plato (3)
45. The Crito, Plato (3)
45. Metaphysics, Aristotle (3)
46. Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (3)
46. Lives, Plutarch (4)(2) *
47. The City of God, Augustine (3)
48. The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (4)(3) *
49. The Early History of Rome, Livy (4) *
50. The Age of Alexander, Plutarch (4)(2) *
51. The Symposium, Plato (3)
52. The Politics, Aristotle (3) *
53. The Laws, Plato (3)
54. The Fathers of the Church; Homilies on Leviticus, Origen (3)
55. The Clouds, Aristophanes (3)
56. Beowulf (2)(3) *
57. Confessions, Saint Augustine (3)
58. Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede (4)(3)(2) *
59. The Faerie Queen, Edmund Spenser (1)(4)(3) *
60. The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis *
61. The Guide for the Perplexed, Moses Maimonides (3)(4)
62. The Art of War, Sun Tzu (4)(3) *
63. Anderson's Fairy Tales *
64. Grimm's Fairy Tales *
65. Mythologies of the Ancient World, S. Kramer (4) *
66. Myths from Mesopotamia, Stephanie Dalley (4) *
67. Dracula, Bram Stoker (1)(2)(3) *
68. Frankenstien, Mary Shelly (2)(3)
69. Vathek, William Beckford (2)(3) *
70. Castle of Oranto, Horace Walpole (2)(3) *
71. The New Atlantis, Francis Bacon (3)
72. The Dragon and the Unicorn, A. A. Attanasio (1) (2) (3) (4) *
73. The Eagle and the Sword, A. A. Attanasio (2) (3) (4) *
74. The Wolf and the Crown, A. A. Attanasio (2) (3) (4) *
75. The Serpent and the Grail, A. A. Attanasio (2) (3) (4) *
76. Rosslyn, Guardian of the Holy Grail, Tim Wallace-Murphy (3) (4)
77. Bloodline of the Holy Grail, Laurence Gardner (3) (4)
78. Tolkien’s Ring, Allen Lee (3) (4) *
79. The Norse Myths, Kevin Crossley-Holland (2) (3) (4)
80. The Return of Merlin, Deepak Chopra (2) (3) (4) *
81. The Cup of Destiny, Ravencroft (3) (4)
82. The Spear of Destiny, Ravencroft (3) (4)
83. Paradise Lost, Milton (2) (3) *
84. The Golden Bough, Fraser (3) (4) *
85. The Rise of the Roman Empire, Polybius (2) (4) *
86. Caesar and Christ, Will Durant (4) *
87. Warriors of God; Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the 3rd Crusade, James Reston, Jr. (4)
88. The Grand Alliance, Winston Churchill (4)
89. Alexander the Great and His Time, Agnes Savill (4) *
90. The Lensmen Series, E. Smith (2) *
91. Caesar: The Civil War, Jane F. Gardner (4)
92. The Bible as History, Werner Keller (4)
93. The Ancient Engineers, L. Sprague De Camp (4) *
94. Bureaucracy, Ludwig von Mises (4)
95. The Anti-Capitalist Mentality, Ludwig von Mises (4)
96. Omnipotent Government, Ludwig von Mises (4)
97. Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman (4)
98. The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek (4) *
99. The Works of Walter Scott, Walter Scott (2)(4)(1)(3) *
100. Lord of the Rings, J R Tolkien (2)(3) *
101. The Illiad, Homer (2)(4)(1)(3) *
102. A Leap in the Dark, John Ferling (4)
103. Alexander Hamilton, American by Richard Brookhiser (4)
104. George Washington's War by Bruce Chadwick (4)
105. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (2)(4) *
106. Invincible Warrior by John Stevens (4)(3)
107. The History of Money in America by Alexander Del Mar (1899) (4) *
108. The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Frances A. Yates (4)(3)
109. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs by Adrienne Mayor (4)(3) *
110. The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter (4)(3)
111. Fire in the Head, Tom Cowan (3)(2) *
112. A War Like No Other, Victor David Hanson (3)(2)
113. Coyote Wisdom; the power of story in healing, Lewis Mehl-Madrona (3) *
114. Celtic Myths and Legends, Peter B. Ellis (3)(4)(1)(2) *
115. Gods and Myths of the Viking Age, H. R. Ellis Davidson (3)(2) *
116. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, HR Ellis Davidson *
117. Collected Works of Lord Dunsany, Lord Dunsany (2) *
118. The Gods of Pegana, Lord Dunsany (2) *
119. Time and the Gods, Lord Dunsany (2) *
120. Taliesin; The Last Celtic Shaman, John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
121. The Song of Arthur, John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
122. Mabon and the Guardians of Celtic Britain, John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
123. The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Myth and Legend, John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2)
124. Arthur and the Sovereignty of Britain, Caitlin Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
125. The Western Way, Caitlin and John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
126. Ladies of the Lake, Caitlin and John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
127. Mabon and the Mysteries of Britain, Caitlin Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
128. Sicily; Three Thousand Years of Human History, Sandra Benjamin (4) *
129. Black God’s Kiss, C.L. Moore (2) *
130. The Song of Arthur, John Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
131. King Arthur’s Raid on the Underworld, Caitlin & John Matthews (3)(1)(2) *
132. The Phoenix and the Mirror, Avram Davidson (3)(4)(1)(2) *
133. Occult America, Mitch Horowitz (3)(4)
134. Walkers Between the Worlds; The Western Mysteries, Caitlin Matthews (3)(4)(1)(2) *
135. The Masks of Odin; The Wisdom of the Ancient Norse, Elsa-Brita Titchenell (3)(4) *
136. A Dark History, The Kings and Queens of England, Brenda R. Lewis (3)(4) 
137. Elves, Wights, and trolls, Kveldulf Gundarsson (3)(4) *
138. Futhark; A Handbook of Rune Magic, Edred Torsson (3)(4)
139. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett (3)(4)(1)(2)
140. The Book and the Sword, Louis Cha (3)(4)(1)(2) *
141. The Greater Trumps, Charles Williams, (3)(2) *
142. On Stories, C. S. Lewis, (3) *
143. Age of Wonder, Richard Holms (3)(4)(1)(2)
144. Journey to the West, Anonymous (3)(4)(1)(2) *
145. Narnia Series, C.S. Lewis (1) (2) (3) *

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(1) Romance Literature / Love Story
(2) Adventure / Science Fiction / Fantasy / Fairy tale
(3) Mystical/Philosophy
(4) History/Economics
* - Particularly Good For Gamesmasters