Herbs: Introduction

INTRODUCTION

"Anything green that grew out of the mould
Was an excellent herb to our fathers of old."
Rudyard Kipling

Welcome to the fifth edition of "The Guide to Herbs for RPGs", the third edition of this guide to be distributed by e-mail and across the Internet.

Herbs have been a staple of fantasy literature for many years. Striders use of Athelas in "The Lord of the Rings" to cure Frodo, and Polgara's herb lore in "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean", and Raistlin's use of herbal teas to calm his cough in "Dragonlance" are two examples that come to mind.

The first edition of this guide was written in response to a request by one of my players for more detailed use of the Herbalism proficiency than that supplied in the core AD&D rules, and also to provide a general system which can be converted to other rules systems fairly easily. This was in 1990 or 1991 and that edition was nothing more than an adaptation of the herbs contained in Alexander Scott's Maelstrom RPG adapted to AD&D rules, a description of each herb, the chance of finding it, its preparation time, and its cost. This guide was quite useful, though several problems were found with it. The guide was used for a few years and my printed copy (done on a Commodore 64 and a 9 pin printer) became covered in pen and pencil additions and clarifications.

In early 1995 I began GMing a new campaign and I decided to rewrite my herbal on my new 486. This second edition contained the same herbs as the first edition but with the addition of clearer descriptions, the addition of the Locale in which each herb could be found, and an Ability Check roll required to use each herb successfully. This herbal was much more useful than the previous one. In mid 1995, I gained net access for the first time, and discovered the phenomena of NetBooks, and unofficial supplements to various role playing games. I downloaded these and began to use them in my games. As a student I can not afford to buy all the commercially produced supplements for use in my games, and so these unofficial (and free!) supplements were a gift from the Gods.

In December 1995 and January 1996, I revised my Herbal once again, incorporating herbs from the RPG Middle-Earth Role Playing (MERP), and on returning to University at the start of March, subscribed to the ADND-L e-mail list, and offered the Herbal to the inhabitants of that list. I received over 300 requests for the Herbal, and was informed that there was interest in Herbalism on the REALMS mailing list. I subscribed to this list as well, and offered the Herbal once again. I received more requests from this list.

At the start of July, I released a fourth edition of the guide which for the first time included herbs submitted by other people, as well as herbs that I had designed through research outside gaming materials. In particular, special mention must go to Druann Pagliasotti whose assistance in compiling the fourth edition was considerable. Druann contributed new herbs, as well as sending me a list of suggested clarifications, and amendments to over forty of the herbs that I had designed.

Since that time I have received more e-mail (both praise and criticism) from many of the people who are using my herbal, and this has once again encouraged me to put together a new revised edition. This edition includes even more herbs that other people have added to my rules, and some new herbs that I have developed, in total over 50 new herbs. It also includes more detailed physical descriptions of some of the herbs from previous editions where I have been able to find them.

Most notably, it includes a revised Herbalism proficiency, which was largely developed by Maya Deva Kniese, whose contribution to this fifth edition was considerable. I welcome the contributions I have received to this guide, but as always all responsibility for any errors and discrepancies is mine and mine alone, although other contributors deserve full credit for whatever you like.

The fifth edition also divides the `Locale' field of the descriptions into two separate fields, `Climate' and `Locale'. This was a commonly requested change, and I saw no reason why it could not be made. I welcome contributions, criticisms and comment on my guide, and will try to incorporate these in any future editions of the guide. Some people may have noticed that the title of the guide has changed from "The AD&D Guide to Herbs" (the title of the 1st-3rd Editions) to "The Guide to Herbs for RPGs" (4th and 5th Editions). This occurred because of advice that the original title was not compatible with the guides status as unofficial.

Also the guide is no longer AD&D specific but designed to be used in other RPG rule systems. Please feel free to distribute this guide in unedited form in any format that you desire. I only ask that my contribution and that of other people is acknowledged and that the guide is distributed free of charge.

NOTE: In my guide I have used the term "Autumn" instead of "Fall" to describe the season between Summer and Winter. I have also used the correct Australian English spelling for words. I have altered contributions received from other people for the sake of consistency. I have received e-mail criticising me for this, saying "you should use the American conventions, because most AD&D players are American." (By the way, this was not intended as a flame, but was part of some useful constructive criticism.) I have been taught English as it is spoken and written in my native country, and I will write and speak in that way. There are several reasons for this.

1) If I was attempting to write for a specific country, I would use their own conventions. I am not. I am writing this guide for everyone who requests it. I have received requests for the third and fourth editions of this guide from the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Holland, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Croatia and Zaire and possibly from other countries as well.

2) If I decided to write this guide in `correct' English, I would be faced with the problem of what is `correct'. Is it American English, that of the largest English speaking country on Earth or British English, the source of the language.

3) I believe that the differences in English from country to country are so minor that all English speaking people on Earth will be able to read my guide with no problems.

4) Finally, it is simply easier for me to write this guide in the form of English with which I am most familiar.

I should note here that this herbal is not always 'accurate' in terms of the real use of herbs in our world. This is because my skills in Herbalism are very limited. I am not a professional herbalist just someone with an interest in the topic (especially from a gaming point of view).

I have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible in terms of descriptions, but sometimes I am trying to describe a herb after seeing a black and white drawing. I have tried to be accurate in terms of naming the herbs, but some herbs have many different names. Bilberry for example is also known as Huckleberry, Whortleberry, Hurtleberry, Whin-berry, Wimberry, Black Heart, Hurts, and may even have other names that I am not familiar with. I have also ascribed to some herbs powers that do not exist in the real world.

For example there is no herb that bestows infravision on a person in our world (as least I assume there isn't!) but such herbs do exist in the guide. This is because the guide has been written for a fantasy game, and I felt that the powers ascribed to these herbs in legend and tradition could actually exist in fantasy worlds.

I would also like to apologise for the fact that some of the herbs contained within have no physical descriptions. This is because I have adapted them from other game systems and I can't find any physical descriptions in the original source material. This is especially true for those herbs adapted from MERP.

If anyone feels that I have made mistakes in identifying herbs, or their curative properties, they should feel free to contact me, either by e-mail or by mail. For anyone who wants to find accurate books on Herbalism and its real life applications, please refer to the books in the reference section. Please do not assume this guide is accurate. Experimenting with plants can be very dangerous, and I accept no responsibility for any misuse.