THE LAND OF NOD

Hail the Evolutionary [New Class]

2012-01-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

I had reason this week to think about the old science-fiction novel Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon. In this seminal work, Stapledon explores the future evolution of mankind, through 18 different forms, many of them of our own creation using genetic engineering. Now, I will admit that I haven't yet read the book (it's waiting in line behind about six others), but the idea inspired me, so with a little research on Wikipedia (which I think is usually sufficient when preparing game material - any more information than that and you become too obsessed with making things perfect instead of fudging things for the sake of playability) I present this rather odd little class ... the Evolutionary.

EVOLUTIONARIES

Evolutionaries are strange men and women who devote themselves to the writings of a mad monk who described, in startling detail, the physical path that led from the basic oozes (i.e. oozes begat plants with begat vermin which begat animals which begat magical beasts which begat monstrous humanoids with begat humanoids which begat humans) to the human form. Within their bodies, he claims, lies the potential for stepping into future stops on this mystic path, allowing these evolutionaries to actually change their form as they learn and grow. With each form, they gain new abilities.

Hit Dice: d8 (+3 hit points per level after 9th)

Attack As: Clerics

Weapons Permitted: Any

Armor Permitted: Leather armor, ring armor and shields.

All evolutionaries must be humans to start with. They tend to be arrogant and overbearing, for they believe they know a truth beyond truth. It is for this reason that their relations with clerics and druids are somewhat strained, though they acknowledge their power and accept their blessings. Evolutionaries adventure that they might grow and collect monies to support their church and its sage fathers and mothers, the “Last Men”.

Level	XP	HD	Save	Title
1	0	1d8	15	First Man
2	2,000	2d8	14	Second Man
3	4,000	3d8	13	Third Man
4	8,000	4d8	12	Fourth Man
5	16,000	5d8	11	Fifth Man
6	35,000	6d8	10	Sixth Man
7	70,000	7d8	9	Seventh Man
8	150,000	8d8	8	Eighth Man
9	300,000	9d8	7	Ninth Man
10	500,000	10d8	6	Last Man
11	700,000	9d8+6	5	Last Man
12+	900,000	9d8+9	4	Last Man

Note - The level titles reference "man", but can just as easily be read as "First Woman", for the class is open to either gender.

At each level, an evolutionary changes his or her physical form. All evolutionaries enjoy a +2 bonus to save vs. polymorph and other effects that would forcibly transmogrify them. If an evolutionary is killed and reincarnated (per the spell), they always lose one level and return to the form of a sub-man (see below).

An evolutionary’s ability scores remain stable from form to form (though some forms increase or decrease them slightly), and their memories and personality remain fairly stable as well.

First Man (1st level): The first men and women are humans. They learn insights in defeating the ancient forms of humanity. At first level, this gives them a +1 bonus to hit and damage oozes and a +2 bonus to save against the special attacks of oozes.

Second Man (2nd level): Upon attaining the second level, the evolutionary’s form changes. They become taller, adding at least 3 feet to their forms. Their necks thicken and their heads grow over-large for their bodies (improve Wisdom by 1 to a maximum of 18), their legs become as stout as a dwarf’s and their toes merge together. The second man’s skin becomes as firm as carved granite and finely molded, their skin luminous and their eyes large and the color of jade. A second man gains the ability to use ESP three times per day and gains combat insights against plants.

Third Man (3rd level): The third man shrinks in stature, becoming slight and lithe (improve Dexterity by 1 to a maximum of 18). He has sunny brown skin covered by downy red gold hair. His eyes are golden, his face compact and with a cat-like muzzle, with full lips and distinctive large ears. The third man’s six fingers are long and supple, like antennae of living steel. The third man loses the ESP ability of the second man, but gains a thief’s ability (as a 3rd level thief) to move silently, climb and pick pockets.

Fourth Man (4th level): The fourth man makes a startling transformation into a giant, floating brain. The fourth man improves his intelligence and wisdom scores by 1 (to a maximum of 18) and gain the ability to cast spells as a 4th level magic-users. They store their spells in their minds, rather than spellbooks, and begin with as many spells as they can cast per day, determined randomly. Fourth men move by flying at the normal movement rate and can levitate in place. Since they have no bodies or hands, they cannot wear armor or use weapons or other forms of equipment. Their thick skins give them an armor bonus of +2 and they can attack by slamming into opponents, dealing 1d4 points of damage. As in previous forms, they gain combat insights against vermin.

Fifth Man (5th level): In the form of the fifth man, the evolutionary regains a humanoid form, twice the height of a human being (+1 bonus to Strength, to a maximum of 18). Armor in this form costs twice as much as normal and they are capable of using two-handed swords in one hand. They have eight fingers on their hands (the sixth finger of their third form splits in this form into two tiny fingers and a thumb), and regain the ability to pick pockets as a 5th level thief. A fifth man has no hair other than a thick skull cap of ruddy brown hair and large eyebrows to shade their eyes. The fifth men gain resistance to fire and combat insights against normal and giant-sized animals.

Sixth Man (6th level): The sixth form of an evolutionary is a bit of a throwback. They become much reduced in stature, to roughly the size of a halfling or dwarf, and their Intelligence and Strength are both reduced by 1 point (to a minimum of 3), while their Dexterity and Constitution increase by 1 point (to a maximum of 18). Sixth men are expert hunters, gaining the ability to track as a ranger of 6th level, and their combat insights extend to magical beasts.

Seventh Man (7th level): The seventh man increases in height, being about as tall as an elf, and his bones become hollow (-1 penalty to Strength and Constitution, to a minimum of 3). In this lighter form, they suffer only half damage from falls. He develops skin flaps under his arms, which give him the ability to fly at twice his normal movement rate. He also improves his Dexterity score by 1 point (to a maximum of 18). These folk must wear specially prepared armor (costs double normal) if they are to fly while armored. Their vision becomes exceedingly keen, allowing them to see in darkness as well as a dwarf and to find secret doors as well as an elf. They retain the sixth man’s ability to track as a ranger, and their combat insights extend to monstrous humanoids.

Eighth Man (8th level): The eighth form of an evolutionary is that of a substantial humanoid (+1 to Strength and Constitution, to a maximum of 18) with a long, narrow head (-1 to Wisdom and Charisma). Eighth men are rather pedestrian and conservative in their views, and have a straight-forward attitude pleasing to dwarves. Their minds are logical and their insights piercing them, giving them a +2 bonus to save vs. illusions and mind-controlling or altering effects, and the ability to find and remove traps as a thief of 8th level. Their combat insights extend to all non-human humanoids, and they gain the ability to modify a human being (per polymorph) into any other humanoid form once per day with a successful touch attack.

Ninth Man (9th level): The form of the ninth men is that of a dwarfish human, almost as broad as he is tall. They are thickly muscled (+2 bonus to Strength, to a maximum of 18) and have thick skin that provides an additional +2 armor bonus. Ninth men have a +2 bonus to save vs. hold spells and any effect that would check a person’s progress or hinder their ability to move. Their combat insights apply to all humanoids, including humans. They are immune to poison. They retain the eighth man's ability to polymorph human beings, but can now do so with their gaze rather than touch.

Last Man (10th level): The last man is the final form of the evolutionary, the end of all his struggles and tribulations. The final form is highly variable. It is always humanoid in form, but its precise form is determined by the player.

Last men exist in a group mind with all other last men, giving them an effective bonus of +2 to intelligence, wisdom and charisma, to a maximum of 18. They can communicate telepathically to a range of 1 mile, and can set up a telepathic group mind with up to six other humanoid creatures once per day, allowing them to communicate telepathically with one another at a range of up to 1 mile.

The last men’s group mind also allows them to contact other plane once per day, asking the group mind questions as though they were actually contacting a higher power.

Last men have an alien mindset that gives them a +2 bonus to save vs. mind reading and mind control. They can use ESP one per day on other humanoid creatures, and can use polymorph other once per day on any non-humanoid creature, though its new form must be in of type only one level higher or lower than its original type (i.e. a plant could be polymorphed into an ooze or a vermin form).

The Last man is immune to polymorph and shapechange.

SUB-MEN: The sub-men are brutish humanoids who stand about the size of an elf, but are much broader and bulky. They have a +1 bonus to starting Strength and Constitution (to a maximum of 18) and a -1 penalty to starting intelligence and wisdom (to a minimum of 3). Sub-men may advance as fighters.

Deviant Friday - Marcio Takara Edition

2012-01-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

Marcio Takara has a way with tiny - I've featured his tiny superheroes before as being great for folks looking for cheap paper miniatures of superheroes for their RPGs. He's also pretty slick with larger fare, with a clean, smooth line style and great eye for color. I would love to see him go after some Golden Age redesigns. He keeps things clean and simple, but injects a lot of life into them.

tiny characters 101-122 by *marciotakara on deviantART

SS2 - Fall Guard by *marciotakara on deviantART

Spider Woman by *marciotakara on deviantART

XMEN by *marciotakara on deviantART

Batgirl color by *marciotakara on deviantART

Supergirl - color 2012 by *marciotakara on deviantART

Rogue - color 2011 by *marciotakara on deviantART

Skeletor by *marciotakara on deviantART

Loki fqsk by *marciotakara on deviantART

commission DC Villains by *marciotakara on deviantART

100 tiny characters wallpaper by *marciotakara on deviantART

My Dinosaur Art Heroine!

2012-01-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

Most small time rpg publishers like myself understand the importance of public domain art. Don't get me wrong - I love commissioning artists. Most of the money I've made on NOD and my other products has gone to commissioning art, and if I made ten times as much money, I'd commission ten times as much art. But when your margins are especially tight, you can't afford not to use the free stuff, especially when so much of the fantasy art produced pre-1923 is so dang good! Of course, your choices can be a bit limited, which is why the mother lode I recently found must be shared with the world!

Mariana Ruiz - who goes by the handle lady_of_hats on Wikimedia Commons has drawn quite a few groovy dinosaurs and released them into the public domain. God bless her! Check these beasties out ...

Pretty groovy. If you want more, just go to Wikimedia Commons and do a search by her name. There are lots of other science illustrations (mostly technical) mixed in, as well as this kick ass image of a three-headed knight (I call dibs!)

And just for shits and giggles, a size chart (hey, got me lots of page views last time!) I threw in the three-headed knight for comparison purposes, assuming he's the same size as a human being.

The size range in dinosaurs always astounds me.

On a side note - I finished writing Space Princess over the weekend ... well, mostly. There are a few sci-fi monsters I want to add, but for all intents and purposes it is now in the editing stage. I added some vehicles for the game (hover cars, battle tanks, war walkers) and an additional class - the Space Ranger (maybe I'll change it to Astro-Ranger or Cosmic Ranger to avoid any clashes with a certain space ranger that works for that very litigious mouse who resides in Anaheim).

When I publish Space Princess, I'm going to launch a new blog devoted to a community effort (well, assuming the community wants to do it) at populating a pulp sci-fi planet - Kepler-22B.

Details to come, but I'm hoping it will turn into a fun project and provide sci-fi buffs with a place to run adventures. Naturally, my first contribution will be a jungle sector teeming with dinosaurs and ruined Preserver Domes (whatever those are). Stay tuned!

--

Okay - you can actually check the blog out now. It's called Strange New World.

Apocalypse 1898 - Introduction

2012-01-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick introduction to the Apocalypse 1898 setting ...

--

It has been almost a decade since the civilizations of man were laid low by the invaders, and man’s dominion over much of the Earth was brought to a close. The invaders came not like a natural disaster, blind and deaf, to the planet, but with a cold, calculating intelligence. They knew what to destroy and how to destroy it. They knew how to win, and they did win.

But victory does not mean survival. Though they cast mankind’s progress back 500 years, the invaders did not survive to enjoy their victory. Now, the remnants of human civilization struggles to reclaim its former glory. This is no easy task though. Mankind's factories were largely destroyed and their rail systems uprooted. Canals, rivers and seashores are clogged with the red weed of the invaders, making travel by boat exceedingly difficult and slow.

The 10 or 20 percent of humanity that survived the apocalypse from Mars operate with Medieval technology amid the ruins of a much more advanced civilization, one of steam, gas light and telegraph. Many people dwell in small, fortified villages, trembling in the night at the sound of the wolves at their door. A surprising number of people, however, still eke out an existence in the urban ruins.

In New York, once one of the world’s mightiest cities, the boroughs are now ruled as baronies by ruthless political machines and criminal gangs that hold power with fear and violence (well, maybe things haven't changed much after all). In the rubble clogged streets and amid the crumbling edifices of the Gilded Age, men and women struggle for daily survival while plunging into subterranean vaults in search of their own lost marvels and technological wonders left behind by the invaders. With these tools, brave men and women can forge a new civilization on the ruins of the old.

Welcome to Apocalypse 1898.

--

Apocalypse 1898 attempts to combine two popular adventure tropes: the Victorian era and its wondrous scientific romances and the concept of the post-apocalyptic world, where man has lost his tools and must live again as an animal. The notion of a Victorian apocalypse is not new, the genre having been invented by the Victorians themselves. Apocalypse 1898 focuses in particular on the ruins of New York that were left behind after the infamous invasion by Mars written about in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.

Apocalypse 1898 is a role playing game, in which a band of players take on the rolls of people attempting to survive and thrive in the post-apocalyptic New York of 1898. One player is the Referee, and he or she runs the adventures and adjudicates the rules when necessary. The game is primarily played with pencils, paper and a complete set of dice, including the traditional six-sided dice most often found in games as well as dice with four, eight, ten, twelve and twenty sides. A healthy dose of imagination is also required to bring the setting and the struggles of the characters to life.

This book explains the rules of play and describes the setting of New York in more detail. It also offers advice for the Referee in terms of running the game and writing adventures for the players.

After you have read the rules, gather your players, elect your Referee, grab some paper, pencils and dice and begin your exploration of Apocalypse 1898!

--

Image from OBI Scrapbook Blog - by Albert Robida, illustrating a European family going downtown to dine in a series of caricatures about war in the 20th century.

Apocalypse 1898 - I'm No Fool

2012-01-25T15:25:00.000-08:00

Wow - within a day my last post becomes one of my most popular posts ever. I'm no fool, so it's time to milk this a bit.

Apocalypse 1898 is the working title. Good / Bad / Whaddya think?

I'll use a variation on Target 10 for the basic rules.

Here is my outline so far:

Ability Scores
Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma; roll 3d6 for each to determine the score (will run from 1 to 9).

Each ability score is tied to several "skills". For each ability, based on your score, you get to pick a number of these skills as "class skills" so to speak (i.e. you add your character's skill bonus and ability score to them when your testing them, as opposed to just adding your ability score.

Score / No. of Skills
1-3 / choose one skill
4-5 / choose two skills
6-9 / choose three skills

In addition, you choose one additional skill from your highest ability category as your specialty (an additional +3 to tests)

Skills

Strength: Pugilism, swordplay, resist disease, resist poison, resist pain and exhaustion, wrestling, breaking and bending, leaping, climbing, swimming

Dexterity: Archery, throwing, gunplay, legerdemain, duck and cover, lock picking, riding, creep silently, lurk in shadows

Intelligence: Scholarship, decipher codes and languages, invent device, concoct formula, appraise value, discover clue, survival, pilot ship, occult knowledge

Charisma: Size up opposition, play instrument, sing and dance, command, charm, suggest, resist domination, trickery

Roll 1d20, add bonuses - penalties - try to meet or beat a 10 (i.e. Target 10)

Difficulties impose a -3 penalty (cumulative) on a roll - determined by Ref, but I'd give some examples

Other Stats /Abilities
Hit Points: 1d6 per point of Strength (+3 for specialization with any combat-oriented skill)
Equipment: One roll on random equipment chart per point of Charisma
Armor Class: 5 + Dex + armor bonus
Languages: One per point of Intelligence (or 2 slots to become literate in a language)

Levels
You can start at one of three "levels"

Novice: Has a skill bonus of +3 and 3 luck points
Veteran: Has a skill bonus of +6 and 1 luck point
Master: Has a skill bonus of +9 and 0 luck points

As always in Target 10, luck points are used to get automatic successes on rolls, or impose automatic failures on your opponents. You can also trade them for things like extra equipment

Species
This may change as I delve into the period literature, but for now ...

Human: Gets 1 extra luck point
Freak: Get one mutation (see below)
Invader: Str -2, Int +2; gets "resist disease" as a bonus skill

Mutations
The mutations are going to be inspired more by PT Barnum's freak show than by what you find in most mutant games. Things like bestial appearance, horrific appearance, gigantism, pinhead, etc. No death rays. All of them would have a boon and a drawback attached to them.

Occultism
You can work magic with this skill, but you must take it as a specialty.

There would be a list of magical operations with a Difficulty Class (DC) for each - like the psychic abilities in Space Princess. Maybe you would be required to have training in one to use it - perhaps you have as many "spells" as you have points of skill.

Character Packages
I'd probably include some sample character packages - if nothing else for use as quick NPCs. All of them would assume a "4" in three ability scores and a "6" in the fourth

Adventurer/Adventuress - explorers, doers of great deeds - Nellie Bly comes to mind

Gentleman/Lady - the gentry, educated and charming
Athlete - John L Sullivan comes to mind
Doctor
Soldier
Sailor
Gangster
Cowboy - Teddy Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill
Investigator
Magician - Madame Blavatsky
Priest
Inventor - Tesla, Edison

An example might be ...

Cowboy (Veteran)
   STR 4: Pugilism (10), Wrestling (10)
   DEX 6: Duck & Cover (12), Gunplay (12), Riding* (15)
   INT 4: Discover Clue (10), Survival (10)
   CHA 4: Play Instrument (Guitar or Harmonica) (10), Resist Domination (10)

Gangster (Veteran)
   STR 4: Climbing (10), Pugilism (10)
   DEX 6: Creep Silently (12), Legerdemain (12), Lurk in Shadows* (15)
   INT 4: Appraise Value (10), Survival (10)
   CHA 4: Resist Domination (10), Trickery (10)

Monsters
This would probably be restricted to a few giant versions of animals - giant rats, giant spiders. Would replace Novice/Veteran/Master with Small/Medium/Large and otherwise use the same ability scores and a bunch of skills (common sense here, not using the same rules as character creation), with some special abilities added in where necessary.

Setting
The setting is New York. The game would describe the different boroughs and neighborhoods in the post-invasion setting. The main goal would be survival - food and water, not being beaten and robbed - as in "Warriors ... Come hither and play!" type stuff. Of course, build up a reputation, a small army, some Invader weaponry and maybe you can knock down the doors of Tammany Hall and start running the joint.

To Verne or Not To Verne - That is the Question
The comments on the last post suggest people want some full scale Victorian Jules Verne sci-fi in this game. I'm not opposed to it, but it may occupy a separate chapter so people can either play a grim and gritty (though slightly tongue-in-cheek) romp through Victorian post-apocalyptic New York City, and others can include various sci-fi modules to make the game more in the steampunk vein.

Otherwise, the only "scientific romance" elements are going to be the surviving invaders and their weapons, and the supernatural abilities (which could be included as an add-on module as well, since some might prefer not to play Cabalists and Cowboys).

Inspirational Nonsense = Victorian Post-Apocalyptic RPG

2012-01-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

I was checking out Yesterday's Papers today and they had several scans from American comic weeklies - essentially illustrated newspapers. This particular image caught my eye:

A nice mash-up of Victoriana and Medieval armor and weapons. Perhaps we're looking at a Victorian Post-Apocalypse in New York City - Escape from New York meets Gangs of New York meets The Age of Innocence (Lord, now I sound like a Hollywood producer pitching a movie).

What would be the foundation of a Victorian Apocalypse? Perhaps an early ice age? Or better yet - an invasion from Mars (i.e. H.G. Wells' martians from War of the Worlds)! Yes - I can see it now. The Invaders come, deliver terrible destruction, and then mostly die off, leaving the world in tatters. Food supplies are choked off by the Martian weed (the same stuff they lived on on Barsoom until the coming of the Invaders to that planet and the final destruction of the native Barsoomian civilizations), and now people live like barbarians amid the shattered remnants of the Gilded Age.

Imagine - Steam-driven privateers in NY harbor, gang leaders and Tammany Hall fight over control of the buroughs and seek out the canisters of Black Smoke left by the Invaders, occultists (from demon summoning Golden Dawn-ers to golem-making esoteric rabbis to your run-of-the-mill fortune tellers) as powers behind the throne, people mutated by the Martian weaponry and the strange radiations they brought with them (since it's the 19th century, maybe we'll call them freaks instead of mutants), Tesla cobbling together wonders from scavenged Martian technology (this could be an era where the surviving Victorians go straight from steam to atomic power - locomotives to the space age in one giant leap), etc.

I could also profile such heroes of the age as cowboy Teddy Roosevelt, adventuress Nellie Bly and inventor Nicola Tesla (and Lord, what kind of secret empire would Edison control?).

I'll slate this project for a late 2013 release. Should be fun!

Hell Hexcrawl - Abaddon Preview 2: Death Temples, Diggers and Wailing Infants

2012-01-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

20.59 Death Temple: A low, round hill rising from the muck here is covered by giant mushrooms. The mush-rooms grow around and through dozens of humanoid corpses, rotting timbers and rubble. Rising above these mushrooms there is an ancient temple of cracked and stained stone dedicated to Death itself.

The temple consists of an antechamber filled with murky water to a depth of three feet. This water is home to a sewage water weird. Beyond the fetid pool there are tarnished bronze doors decorated with hundreds of tiny skulls that appear to have been embedded in the door and then covered with a layer of bronze. Opening these doors without removing a trap causes the floor under the pool to collapse, sending the water and the characters into a deep pit that connects to the secret sanctum of Death below.

Beyond the doors lies the inner sanctum, where stands the great bronze idol of Death, covered in verdigris, eyes downcast, hands gripping a scythe. The idol is surrounded by several large hepatizon bowls holding rotting fruit and tarnished copper and silver coins (about 300 cp and 100 sp) and twenty grimy jars filled with greenish liquid (50% chance of a strong liquor, 50% chance of acid). A secret door in the inner sanctum leads to stairs that descend 50 feet into the earth, to a subterranean abbey.

The abbey is home to twelve priestesses (Clr3) and their mother superior, Mergsta (Clr10; 31 hp; potion of healing). All of them women have had the skin flayed from their backs (each carries a bloody scourge), and wears nothing but a long, black loincloth and a string of pearls wound into their hair (worth 50 gp each for the priestesses, 300 gp for Mergsta). Besides their scourge, they are armed with heavy maces. Their abbey consists of several living chambers, a pantry of unpalatable, rotting food, a large dining chamber decorated with soiled tapestries and bunches of sickly purple mushrooms growing from the walls and a secret sanctum.

The secret sanctum holds a smaller idol of Death carved from black marble and garbed in the same manner as the priestesses. The back of this idol is hollow and contains the Codex of Saint Death, which permits anti-clerics who read it daily to cast one additional evil or reversed spell of each level open to them per day, and a single large ruby worth 15,000 gp. Mother Superior Mergsta reads from the codex daily.

Those who touch the idol without first supplicating themselves to it have their backs break out in painful welts that soon burst open (per a cause serious wounds spell). Removing the ruby from the secret sanctum causes a swarm of biting flies (i.e. insect plague) to be summoned to defend the idol.

21.56 Diggers: Ten skeletal trolls scrape at the sides of a rocky hill with little progress. Inside the hill, behind a cave-in, there is an evil +3 longsword called Himon. Himon has a reddish blade and the pommel is set with a cluster of tiny rubies. The sword sheds darkness in a 10-ft. radius but allows the wielder to see through it. The sword can also animate up to 20 HD of creatures it has killed – the troll skeletons are its servants, and they are attempting to unbury it. Its former owner, the reaver Vigon, lies dead underneath all of the rocks. He entered the cave to avoid a pack of demon dogs.

22.62 Pitted Statue: The remains of a giant iron statue – humanoid, but unrecognizable – stands here, overlooking a vast miasma of waste in which float hundreds of wicker baskets containing wailing infants (glamered madragoras). A tribe of winged kobolds flit around the statue, gnawing at the metal (for metal is their only source of nutrition). The kobolds prefer precious metals, and can devour up to one pound of the stuff before they are sated. For every pound of precious metal brought into the hex, there is a 5% chance of an encounter with 3d6 of the kobolds.

Sunday Grab Bag!!!

2012-01-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

Just a few random notes today.

From the Weird Adventures Dept.

Got my copy of Trey Causey's Weird Adventures yesterday. It is gorgeous. If you're working on a game product, check this baby out - sets one heck of a standard.

From the Badass Air Elemental Dept.

What would Clint Eastwood look like as an air elemental? I think a little something like this ...

From the Get Into the Game Dept.

Check it out - Liz is wearing a Monster Manual dress. Can you do any less at your next session?

From the Sailor Man Dept.

My Hero!

From the American Empires Dept.

Yeah, still working on it. When you find an image like this, you cannot help but be inspired. Benjamin Franklin, American wizard.

From the Checking Her Out Dept.

Checking out women is timeless.

From the Feminine Pulchritude Dept.

And beauty is timeless as well. Thank you Charles Gibson!

See you next week with some Abaddon previews and ... heck, I have no idea what else I'll come up with.

Deviant Friday - Mancomb-Seepwood Edition

2012-01-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

What can you say about Mancomb Seepwood? Other than - cool name, dude. Well, how about the craftsmanship? Such a nice style - great colors. He can certainly draw a pretty lady, but his talent goes beyond that, which is nice. Enjoy some a few select pieces ... and if you visit his gallery at DeviantArt, be warned - NSFW.

Pathfinder stuff 18 by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Pathfinder stuff 22 by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Barbarian girl by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Yeah, cheesecake - but well crafted cheesecake.

Pathfinder stuff 11 by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Innsmouth look by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Victoriana Stuff 2 by ~Mancomb-Seepwood on deviantART

Into the Land of Nod

2012-01-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

And so it has begun!

Last weekend, I officially started two things - my Blood and Treasure playtest and a foray into the hex crawls I've written for the Land of Nod using Google +. The games are play-by-post - maybe someday I'll have enough time to run some ConstantCon games with Google hangouts, but for now pbp will have to do.

Eleven brave souls have stepped forward to brave Nod, and I've split them into two teams, which I've nicknamed Team Blood and Team Treasure.

Team Blood was placed at 3rd level. It currently consists of a lawful gnome cleric of Hercules, a human paladin, an elf fighter, a halfling duelist, a dwarf ranger and his guard dog and a human fighter. Their foray into Nod has begun in the wicked city of Ophir, where they've already had the opportunity to save a boy and his frog from an escaped carnivorous ape. Team Blood is now gathering at the Bloody Bones Tavern to talk things over.

Meanwhile, Team Treasure was placed at 6th level and consists of an elf duelist, elf ranger, dwarf barbarian, half-elf sorcerer and human cleric of Atlas. This group was lured to Ophir to collect a possible inheritance from an archmage they all had known in the past, but found themselves conked on the head for their trouble. Waking up, they witnessed their attackers fleeing the scene due to some confusion (apparently a carnivorous ape that was in their possession escaped into the city streets), taking with them a single belonging of one of the PC's. They're now hot on the trail of the two thieves.

If anyone else would like to adventure in the Land of Nod, look for me on Google + (John Stater) and let me know. I can't promise to get you in on the action immediately, but once there are enough adventurers lined up, I can start a new group (Team Ampersand?) and set you loose on the sandbox.

--

Image of a human bard by Jon Kaufman from the forthcoming Blood and Treasure RPG.

The Mother of All Size Charts

2012-01-19T08:13:00.000-08:00

Cobbled this up over the last couple of days using the silhouettes created by Telecanter.

Click to see full size and enjoy!

EDIT: Made some adjustments to the chart, and I added a storm giant and gelatinous cube. I was way off on the wyvern, the giants needed some tinkering and my treant was too big. Of course, sizes vary. I might do some more work on the sea critters as well.

--

On a side note - the print copy of NOD 12 is now up for sale at Lulu. Sorry it took so long - wanted to make sure it came out okay. 144 pages for $11.00. Map of Hell still didn't reproduce as well as I would like, but you can still grab a better looking version HERE.

Give the Hollywood Lawyers What They Want ...

2012-01-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

... and stop talking about Hollywood's intellectual property.

Instead, you can give all that free publicity to me!

Come on - NOD, Pars Fortuna, Mystery Men!, Mutant Truckers, 1800-American Empires, Blood and Treasure, Space Princess, Cave Brawl, Greatsword, Action X, Queen and Kaiser ... I have tons of content, and I won't shut down your blog if you use any of the original art from it that I've posted - so long as you credit the artist and give me a link back.

And it doesn't have to be me or my nonsense. I'm sure other small creators of games, independent movie and entertainment producers and craftspeople like the folks at Etsy would like the free publicity as well. Instead of buying yet another t-shirt with Batman on it, buy somebody's groovy creation at Cafe Press. Instead of watching the latest Hollywood big budget sci-fi or fantasy film ... well, actually, you probably just shouldn't watch that crap period.

Allow SOPA/PIPA to bite Hollywood and the whole Entertainment Industrial Complex so deservedly in the ass and stop talking about them and their content. If they want to take their ball and go home, let them. We can have plenty of fun without them!

--

Illustration by Jon Kaufman, from the upcoming release of Blood and Treasure

OSR Conservation / Best Thing I've Seen Today

2012-01-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

1. OSR CONSERVATION
If you haven't already, you might want to check out the OSR Conservation project. Basically, folks like me can upload some of the gaming stuff we've created to make sure it is preserved even if we disappear from the face of the earth. I've just uploaded NOD 1 and NOD 6, as well as the basic rules for Pars Fortuna.

There are many other things to download there, and if you have something you would like to upload, by all means do so!

2. BEST THING I'VE SEEN TODAY
On a side note, just saw this piece of work on DeviantArt ...

Thor by ~Andrew-Robinson on deviantART

Best thing I've seen today. Simple, clean and powerful.

Hell - Abaddon Preview 1: Overview

2012-01-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

The wind and rain swept circle of Erebus gradually gives way to Abaddon. Unlike the mile high clffs that separate Asphodel and Erebus, the border between Erebus and Abaddon is a more gradual, though slippery, slope.

In Abaddon, the constant rain of Erebus becomes slowly falling flakes of snow. This snow, unfortunately, is not pristine and white, but rather raw sewage in snow form. These putrid flakes fall from the sky and collect between great hills in the form of slush. The slush is rarely more than a foot or two deep, though sometimes it hides deeper pits that are home to otyughs. In places, these slowly moving rivers of sludge are clogged by bulrushes.

Mulling through this sludge are the damned souls of Abaddon. No longer shades, they have been transformed into great, bloated humanoids with faces suggesting swine. These swine-things roam through the muck, rooting in it for bits of more solid waste, which they devour as though it were truffles or some other fabulous viand. The swine-things are slow moving and pay little attention to folk unless they catch the scent of food or drink. They mostly serve as prey for the devil dogs that roam Abaddon.

The hills of Abaddon are not much better. They are slick and slimy in some places and covered with growths of stinkweed, stinking wattle, black horehound, poison hemlock, thorn-apples, devil’s dung, stink grass, skunk cabbage, wild mandrake, chokecherry and poisonous sumac. Amidst the mud and the plants there are great heaps of broken crockery and glass and rusted tools and weapons – all irreparable and long forgotten. Most of these hills are inhabited by the Abaddonites.

Miasma of Entropy
Abaddon is not just disgusting, it is catching. A miasma of entropy covers this circle, affecting everything unfortunate enough to have entered it.

Each living being traveling in Abaddon must pass a saving throw each day or succumb to a disease (see below). This save must be made each day, with a new disease being added to the victim’s repertoire each time they fail.

Objects must likewise save each day or fall into disrepair, as if by magic. Each time armor fails a save, it’s armor value is reduced by one. Armor with a value of +0 simply falls apart. Weapons have their damage dice reduced by one size (i.e. 1d10 to 1d8, 1d8 to 1d6, 1d6 to 1d4, 1d4 to 1d3, 1d3 to 1d2, 1d2 to 1, 1 to 0), with the weapon falling apart when its’ damage potential falls to 0. Glass and stone items become dirty and grimy, cloth items become frayed, then tattered, then useless, metal items become tarnished or rusted, then pitted and then useless, etc.

Characters that dawdle too long in Abaddon may soon be naked, weaponless and wracked with disease.

Races of Abaddon
Abaddon, like most of the other circles of Hell, is not only inhabited by pitchfork-carrying devils and their victims. Three races known to people of the surface world dwell in Abaddon, though these races have been changed in many ways by their habitation in Hell.

Goblins: The goblins of Abaddon are scurrilous little squabs with fat, red faces and gleaming white eyes. They are junk collectors who carry large packs filled with all manner of useful and useless items. Any tool they have that is in working order is bound to carry some manner of curse. Abaddonite goblins have acidic saliva and, once per day, can summon and command 1d12 giant rats.

Orcs: Orcs, being creatures of gluttony, are eminently suitable for Abaddon. The orcs of Abaddon have piggy faces and grotesque, bloated bodies. Their skin is pale and blotchy and their eyes are pink. Abaddonite orcs are immune to disease and poison and have the paralyzing touch of ghouls (save at +3 to negate). When they paralyze or fell a foe, they usually fall to devouring them.

Troglodytes: Like the troglodytes of Nod, the troglodytes of Hell dwell underground, burrowing into the muddy hills and the bedrock beneath them. They have bilious green scales and fan-like crests that run from head to tail. The odor of the troglodytes of Abaddon is so foul that those within 10 feet of them not only suffer the normal penalty but also fall to vomiting until they pass an additional save, which they may attempt once per round.

Lords of Abaddon
Abaddon is ruled by Beelzebuth, who takes the form of a great fly. He sits at the center of all the intrigues of Abaddon and many of the intrigues of Hell as Lucifer’s chief rival and most bitter enemy. Under his dominion are the lords Demoriel and Behemoth (who is usually away from his domain in Abaddon serving as butler in the palace of Lucifer in Dis). The primal demon lord Jubilex also dwells on Abaddon, though he pays no tribute to Beelzebuth. The terrible three-headed hound Cerberus also roams Abaddon.

Deviant Saturday - Manarama Edition

2012-01-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Manarama does lots of great work in a loose, free, fun style. Now, I've been notified by some readers that embedding the images via DeviantArt is a problem in some mobile devices. For that, I apologize. However, I want to be careful about copyright and proper attribution, so I'm going to stick with the embed codes for now.

Iron Man by design Cover by ~Manarama on deviantART

Dead Island by ~Manarama on deviantART

Gunslinger Pumpkin by ~Manarama on deviantART

Inks she by ~Manarama on deviantART

Sokka vs. Swordmaster by ~Manarama on deviantART

Bird Merchant by ~Manarama on deviantART

Incorruptible 7 Cover by ~Manarama on deviantART

Characters by ~Manarama on deviantART

Cave Brawl - The Rules

2012-01-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

Rules of Play

Flip a coin to determine which team starts out with the ball – or simply discuss and come to a decision. The team with the ball is the offense, the team without the ball is the defense.

The defense coach moves first. All of the players begin the game in the “tunnel” leading to the playfield, and thus each one must be moved from their goal cave. The light colored square counts as the first square of their movement.

Play proceeds in turns. The defense coach makes the first move, then his opponent, and so on.

On a coach’s turn, he may move all of his players.

A player can move as many squares as they have movement points and take one action. A player that has been knocked down can stand up and take one action, but cannot move.

All actions are resolved by comparing one of the attacker’s ability scores to one of the defender’s ability scores to derive a modifier. If the attacker’s score is higher, then the modifier is a bonus equal to the difference between the two scores. If the defender’s score is higher, then the modifier is a penalty equal to the difference between the two scores. The attacker rolls 1d20 + the modifier to resolve the action. If the roll is equal to or greater than 10, the action is a success. If not, the action is a failure.

The following actions can be attempted in Cave Brawl:

Block: A block is an attempt to push an adjacent opposing player. Compare the blocker’s BT score to the defender’s BT score to derive the modifier. If successful, the blocker may move the defender one square in any direction. If they have any movement left, they can follow up an end the turn adjacent to the defender. The victim of a successful block suffers 1d6 points of damage. Deduct this from their hit point total. If the roll is a failure, the blocker’s turn is over.

Tackle: A tackle is an attempt to knock an adjacent opposing player over, forcing them to drop the ball. Compare the tackler’s BT score to the defender’s BT or CD score (whichever is higher). If the tackle is a success, the defender is knocked down and loses 2d6 hit points. If they were carrying the ball, it bounces into an adjacent square chosen by the defender. If the tackle is a failure, the tackler is knocked down in the square they occupy and loses 1d6 hit points.

Pass: A pass is an attempt to throw a ball from a passer to a receiver. Compare the passer’s PK score to a difficulty class (DC) based on the range of the attempted pass. For each opposing player adjacent to passer, the d20 roll suffers a -1 penalty.

Short Range (1-5 squares) = DC 4
Medium Range (6-10 squares) = DC 8
Long Range (11-20 squares) = DC 12

If the pass is successful, it is on target and the receiver may attempt to catch it and then move. If the pass is a failure, it lands 1d6 squares away from the receiver, placed by the passer’s opponent.

Catch: This is the attempt by a player to catch a ball that has been passed to them. Compare the receiver’s CD score to the same DC as for the original pass. For each adjacent opposing player, the d20 roll suffers a -1 penalty. If successful, the receiver now holds the ball and can move their allotment of squares. If the catch is failed, the ball is placed one square away from the receiver by the opposing coach.

Kick: Kicking works as passing. The ball is aimed at the tiny hole above the goal tunnel of the opposing team. A successful kick instantly ends the game in victory for the kicking team. The DC of the kick is determined by range, measuring from the kicker to the goal square. For each opposing player adjacent to kicker, the d20 roll suffers a -1 penalty.

Short Range (1-5 squares) = DC 14
Medium Range (6-10 squares) = DC 17
Long Range (11-20 squares) = DC 20

If the kick is a failure, the ball is placed 1d6 squares away from the goal square by the opposing coach.

Pick Up Ball: A ball that is loose on the ground can be picked up by a player. The player must move to the square containing the ball and pick it up. That player’s movement ends in that square.

Scoring
A team that scores a goal by kicking wins the game automatically.

By moving the ball into the opponent’s goal square, a team scores one point. The first team to score an agreed upon number of points (3 can be considered the default) wins the game.

When a point has been scored, the ball is given to the opposing team and play begins again with each team in their goal tunnel. As always, play begins with the defender.

Keep It Moving
Ungawa demands action! If the offense (i.e. the team with the ball) has not moved the ball for two turns, Ungawa’s priests release one of the following terrors from their animal pits. Roll 1d6 to determine the beast:

Roll	Beast	POW	DMG	MV
1	Stirge Swarm	2	1d6	4
2	Smilodon	6	2d6	6
3	Stegosaurus	8	3d6	5
4	Giant Snake	4	1d6	6
5	Mastodon	10	3d6	5
6	Pteranodon	4	1d6	7

Special: The victim of a pteranodon attack must roll 1d6. On a roll of “1”, they are picked up and carried off the field of play, never to return. The victim of a giant snake attack must roll 1d6. On a roll of “1”, they are constricted and unable to move until they make a successful Block attack against the snake. Each round they are constricted, they suffer automatic damage. The victim of a stirge swarm attack must roll 1d6. On a roll of “1”, they lose one point from each of the ability scores (BT, CD and PK).

The released animal either emerges from the left cave or right cave (flip a coin). It heads towards the nearest player on the team that has failed to advance and attacks. After that, the animal moves toward and attempts to attack (if it moves far enough) the nearest player from either team. The animal does not leave the field of play until a point is scored or the animal is killed.

To attack, compare the beast’s Power value to the defender’s BT or CD (whichever is higher) and roll 1d20 as normal. The type of beast determines the number of hit points the player loses on a successful attack. The beast rolls a number of 1d6 equal to its Power value to determine its hit points.

Attempts to block or tackle a beast are made by comparing the attacker’s BT to the beast’s Power value.

League Play
League play can be accomplished by forming a number of teams and then having each team play each other team, recording wins and losses, during the season and allowing the two teams with the best win-loss records play a championship at the end of the season.

Alternatively, you can put the teams in brackets, allowing them to play an initial round of games, the winners playing each other in successive rounds until only two teams remain.

Players that do not survive a game are replaced by new players for the next game. Each player that survives a game can improve one of their ability scores (BT, CD or PK) by +1. No ability score can be improved higher than a score of “8”.

Cave Brawl - The Teams

2012-01-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the last post, Cave Brawl is played by two teams of nine players each (yeah - you can do 7 or 11 or whatever - don't sweat it). There are five different factions (well, four really) that compete in the games. Coaches pick a faction and choose their player types and then roll stats for those individual players. Each team has to have at least five players of the "basic" type - i.e. an Amazon team has to have at least five amazons, the other four positions can be "special" players.

Each of the four main factions (I know I said five before - just keeping reading, you'll see what I mean) has three player types each. Each player has five statistics to keep track of:

Block and Tackle (BT): This measures the player's overall strength and ability to shove others around.

Catch and Dodge (CD): This measures the player's overall agility, quickness and hand-eye coordination.

Pass and Kick (PK): This measures the player's ability to put the ball where they want.

Move (MV): This is the number of squares the player can move each round.

Hit Points (HP): This is the amount of injury a player can take before they are removed from play. A player has 1d6 hit points for every point of "Block & Tackle" they have.

For each player, roll 1d6 to determine their BT, CD and PK scores, modifying the roll for the player type (see tables below). Once the BT is determined, roll for HP. A player's MV score is determined by their player type.

THE TEAMS

AMAZONS
The amazons are fierce woman warriors from the dinosaur-infested jungles. They are quick, agile and bloodthirsty.

Player Type	BT	CD	PK	MV
Amazon (Basic)	+0	+0	+0	5
Acrobat (Special)	-2	+2	+0	6
Queen (Special)	+0	+0	+2	5

Special: Acrobats have the ability to vault over opposing players. An acrobat can move to a space adjacent to an opposing player and attempt a DODGE roll (see tomorrow's post for how you do this). If successful, place the acrobat on the other side of the opposing player and allow her to continue her movement.

CAVEMEN
The cavemen and their ape allies dwell in the hills. Frankly, they mostly show up in hopes of tackling some amazons.

Player Type	BT	CD	PK	MV
Caveman (Basic)	+0	+0	+0	5
Cave Ape (Special)	+2	+0	-2	4
Monkey (Special)	-2	+2	-2	5

Special: For an opposing player to attempt to BLOCK or TACKLE a cave ape, they must first test their courage by roll 1d6. On a roll of "1", they quake in fear and lose their turn.

REPTILIANS
The cold-blooded reptilians venture up from their super heated vents beneath the ground to show their dominance over the pathetic mammals.

Player Type	BT	CD	PK	MV
Lizard Man (Basic)	+1	+0	+0	4
Kobold (Special)	-2	+3	+0	3
Troglodyte (Special)	+2	+0	-2	4

Special: Troglodytes are surrounded by a terrible stench. Any opposing player beginning their turn adjacent to a troglodyte must roll 1d6. On the roll of a "1" they are too busy retching to take a turn.

WITCHDOCTORS
The witch doctors and their sorcerous spawn are not about to let a bunch of mundane warriors be Ungawa's favorites. It's a matter of witchdoctor pride!

Player Type	BT	CD	PK	MV
Zombie (Basic)	+2	-2	-2	3
Goblin (Special)	-2	+2	+0	4
Witchdoctor (Special)	-2	+0	+0	5

Special: Zombies, when "killed" are not removed from play. Each round after death, the controlling coach can roll 1d6 for each dead zombie. On a roll of "1", the zombie re-awakens with 1d6 hit points.

Witchdoctors can cast one curse during the course of the game. This curse knocks 1d6 points from a designated target's BT, CD or PK score (witchdoctor's choice).

THE EXILES
The final "faction" are the exiles - members of other factions who have been cast out for breaking one taboo or another. A team of exiles can choose its members from any of the other four factions, but must still have 5 basic players and only 4 special players.

Unfortunately, exiles don't become exiles because they work and play well with others. Any time a member of one faction is adjacent to the member of another faction on his same team, and not adjacent to an opposing team member, he or she must roll 1d6. On a "1", the player attacks the old rival with a TACKLE and otherwise loses his or her turn.

SAMPLE TEAM OF EXILES
So, why not throw together a sample team of exiles to test things out. My 9 player team looks as follows:

#1 Boris the Zombie: HP 26; BT 8; CD 3; PK 4; MV 3; Special: Revive.

#2 Una the Amazon: HP 1; BT 1; CD 2; PK 4; MV 5; Special: None.

#3 Ook the Caveman: HP 26; BT 6; CD 1; PK 2; MV 5; Special: None.

#4 Sherp the Lizard Man: HP 29; BT 7; CD 1; PK 4; MV 4; Special: None.

#5 Bela the Zombie: HP 15; BT 5; CD 0; PK 1; MV 3; Special: Revive.

#6 Aurora the Acrobat: HP 13; BT 4; CD 3; PK 2; MV 6; Special: Leap.

#7 Tawa the Witch Doctor: HP 3; BT 0; CD 2; PK 3; MV 5; Special: Curse.

#8 Urg the Cave Ape: HP 11; BT 4; CD 4; PK 3; MV 4; Special: Fear.

#9 Vexxs the Troglodyte: HP 26; BT 8; CD 3; PK 1; MV 4; Special: Stench.

Looks like Una is going to be my default passer, but she's going to have to be protected - Jim McMahon could take a hit better than her. Urg is a little disappointing as a cave ape, but on the whole it looks like I have some pretty stout bruisers on my team - they may be able to outlast their opponents if they can't outplay them.

TOMORROW
The game rules for Cave Brawl!

--

Image of amazon from PARS FORTUNA, drawn by Mike Stewart.

Other images by Jeff Preston, used via Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Thor Dee-Lite!

2012-01-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

A few months back I posted about backing Jeff Dee's project of re-producing his old TSR art that was apparently thrown away (God, to back in time to that day and dumpster dive!). A couple weeks ago I got this spiffy signed print of Anubis.

Today, he announced the re-creation of his drawings for the Norse mythos, and with the $20 level getting you a signed print of Thor - the drawing that made me a lifelong fan of the thunder god - I had to jump in. Should look good next to old Jackal-head when I get them both framed.

I love me some Kickstarter. It helped give birth to Mystery Men! and many other worthy old school endeavors. Long may it reign.

Okay - in a couple hours I'll post those Cave Brawl teams. Until then, have fun ...

Are You Ready for Some Cave Brawl?

2012-01-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

This idea sort of popped into my head the other day, so I ran with it ...

Every year, in the Lost Valley of Dinosaurs, the various tribes and clans gather at the ancient stone arena to pay tribute to Ungawa, the Great God of the Valley. This involves a sacred religious observance in the form of a ball game, in which the various factions of the Valley test themselves in the arena, with the losers "passing through the sacred fire" to visit Ungawa in person. Strangely, most folk in the Valley prefer to avoid this particular honor.

Ungawa!

The arena is a square pit, about 21 yards wide by 21 yards long and 30 feet deep. Four caves open into this pit. Two serve as the respective goals of the two teams that compete in the game, the other two link to animal pits, just in case Ungawa is feeling a bit squirrely and wants to spice up the game.

On the board above, the light squares represent the team goals, the black squares the caves to the animal pits.

The goal is simple - put the ball into the other team's goal area. This can be done by carrying the ball physically into the opponent's goal area, or kicking the ball into a fairly small hole (about 3-ft in diameter) located about 20 feet above the pit floor and directly above the other team's goal cave. Carrying the ball over the goal is worth a single point - three points wins the game. Kicking the ball into a hole wins the game outright!

Tomorrow: The Teams - Amazons, Cavemen, Reptilians and Witchdoctors!

Dragons in Blood and Treasure

2012-01-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

While this is a preview of the dragon stats in Blood and Treasure, it is really more of a question that I'm posing to you, the reader, about the format of the monster chapter in the book.

Initially, I intended to do a fairly straightforward layout - monster name followed by a little table of stats and then the monster description. The same basic layout that has been used for generations in fantasy RPG's, from Moldvay to the various Monster Manuals.

Yesterday, I started thinking about doing something a bit different - somewhat inspired by the layout that I think they used in the earliest versions of the game - a table grouping all of the monster stats together, and then the monster descriptions below that.

You'll notice some silhouettes of monsters from Telecanter, the most excellent master of silhouettes in the OSR blog community, if not the world, to show the size comparison.

I decided to give it a whirl using the monsters of the "dragon" type in the game. It still needs a little work (I need to include the organization information for the monsters - probably as a line beneath the description), and I need to play with the stats a bit, but I think it just might work. Printed out, it is very readable, and might make scanning for stats a little easier for the busy Referee.

What do you think?

Big Announcement in the World of Fantasy RPGs!

2012-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

I got the dragon art I commissioned a few weeks ago for one of the alternate blue dragons I published last year - indigo, to be precise. The artist is Marta S., and I think her dragon profiles are stunning. Check it out. I'm planning on commissioning a couple more for future articles.

What? You were expecting maybe a discussion of 5E? This is NOD baby - we're about content, not controversy!

Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers Need You!

2012-01-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

Seven days left to back this baby on Kickstarter. I'm in, how about you?

Deviant Fri ... Saturday - Francis Manapul Edition

2012-01-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

Today, we'll be looking at some nice superhero art (plus a little more) from Francis Manapul. Check out his entire gallery for more!

Shuster Awards Poster Final by ~manapul on deviantART

Wonder Woman 600 by ~manapul on deviantART

The Spirit in the Rain by ~manapul on deviantART

The Shield 2 colors by ~manapul on deviantART

EA: Iris 2 cover finished by ~manapul on deviantART

Captain Barbell and Darna by ~manapul on deviantART

Legion Acient Ruins Design. by ~manapul on deviantART

Sept Guerrieres concept art by ~manapul on deviantART

Shout Outs!

2012-01-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'll probably do a Deviant Friday post later, but at the moment I want to do a few "shout outs" (as the kids say these days).

First, several months ago I was sent a gratis electronic copy of a comic book to review by Gerald Cooper - Genency #1. It's a great mag, and I apologize for taking so damn long to read it - but most folks who read the blog know that I spend a lot of time writing when I'm not working at my real job. So - a shout out to Gerald Cooper, InVision Comics and Genency - a rousing sci-fi tale and produced by an indy producer, so he shares that with lots of folks in the OSR.

Second, the Brian Wood with Awesome Dice asked for a shout out on the blog, and this is it. They sell dice (if you couldn't put that together from the name) and also blog about gaming. Check it out, lads and lasses.

My last shout out has to be to the fine folks at Albertsons, who are finally addressing the desperate need the OSR has for a cereal to call its own. Bless you, Albertsons, and God's speed.

Blood and Treasure Playtest + Google+ = NOD CAMPAIGN

2012-01-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

A couple posts ago I mentioned the idea of doing a Google + campaign set in Nod using all those hex crawls I've written. I've also been thinking about the eventual need for Blood and Treasure playtesting. So ... it took me this long to realize I could be doing both at the same time. If enough people are interested, I'd love to stage the hex crawling with multiple parties at different skill levels. So - let the call go out far and wide that the recruitment has officially begun. If you would like to be involved, you need to meet the following requirements:

1) Be on Google +

2) Email me (my address is next to my picture in the column to the right) or leave a comment here stating you would like to play. If you leave a comment and I can't find your email address or find you on Google +, you're officially out of luck.

Character generation will be as follows ...

1) You contact me letting me know you want to play. I'll send you a streamlined version of the character creation chapter - all the basics on races, classes, buying equipment, etc. You will have the following races and classes open to you:

Races: Human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc

Classes: Assassin, Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Duelist, Fighter, Magic-User, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Thief.

As the game proceeds and characters are killed, I'll open up some of the monster races to play - aasimar, centaurs, tieflings ... that sort of thing ... so they can be tested as well.

2) I hook up with you on Google + and send you a randomly generated set of ability scores using the 3d6 method. You can arrange them as you like and let me know the class and race you want to play, what equipment you want, etc. I'll review and make sure everything is correct.

Once we have a crop of characters, I'll organize them into parties (or party, depending on how many people are interested). I'll also randomly assign people a number of XP and thus a level - this allows me the opportunity to test different levels and the overall deadliness of the system.

Once the parties are organized, I will start them out in a city-state with two or three random rumors and then you're free to do whatever you want. The game will be a picaresque - no major earth shattering quest and storytime, just a bunch of ne'er-do-wells roaming about the countryside getting into trouble and trying to make a name for themselves.

Play will be "play-by-post" like the Mystery Men! game I'm currently running, so you don't need to set aside a particular time to play. I wish I could do some face-to-face video chat stuff, but my schedule makes that difficult.

If you're interested, let me know!

--

Image from Thomas Haller Buchanon's blog The Pictorial Arts. Check it, Nodsters.

Warriors Six [Blood and Treasure]

2012-01-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

Looking at the duelist class that I posted last night, I thought it might be a good idea to "roll up" the various fighting classes and see how they stack up in comparison to one another. My method was as follows:

Used Hamete dice server to roll up a set of stats using 3d6. I was going to re-roll until I got a set that would allow all the classes, but got lucky on the first try. The array was 16, 16, 16, 10, 8, 8 and was used for all of the different characters.

I ignored race - I wanted to compare and contrast the classes without any other interference; likewise, I didn't use the optional feats

I placed each character at 6th level, to see how they stacked up in the "sweet spot"

Hit points were average for the class's Hit Dice

I gave each character the best armor permitted by their class

Thus, the Warriors Six ...

BARDRA

Barbarian, Level 6 (Shield-Biter)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 10; CHA 8 (-1)

HP 45; ATTACK +5; AC 18 (ring + shield); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 11; WILL 13

Abilities: Land speed +10 ft., rage (2/day, two attacks per round, +2 to Str-related tasks, -2 AC), foes gain no tactical advantage from flanking, sneak attacks or invisibility, immune to extra damage from sneak attacks by thieves of 8th level or less

Skills: Bending Bars (8), Breaking Down Doors (8), Climbing (8), Jumping (8), Surviving (13), Swimming (8)

DAVOS

Duelist, Level 6 (Daredevil)

STR 10; DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 16 (+2); WIS 8 (-1); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 39; ATTACK +5; AC 17 (leather + buckler); SAVES – FORT 11; REF 8; WILL 14

Abilities: Add intelligence bonus to AC, +2 to hit with special attacks, +4 AC when fighting defensively, +2 to initiative rolls

Skills: Balancing (8), Jumping (13)

FARRO

Fighter, Level 6 (Grognard)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 8 (-1); CHA 10

HP 45; ATTACK +5; AC 21 (plate + shield); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 11; WILL 14

Abilities: Attack twice per round

Skills: Bending Bars (8), Breaking Down Doors (8), Riding (11)

MALA

Human Monk, Level 6 (Monk)

STR 10; DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 33; ATTACK +3; AC 15 (unarmored); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 8; WILL 8

Abilities: Flurry of blows (extra attack, -1 to hit an all attacks), stunning blow (1/day; save or stunned for 1d4 rounds), unarmed attacks (1d6 damage, treat as though from +1 weapon); deflect arrows (1/round), land speed +10 ft., reduce fall by 20 ft., immune to all normal diseases

Skills: Balancing (8), Bending Bars (10), Breaking Down Doors (10), Climbing (10), Jumping (10)

PARSIFON

Paladin, Level 6 (Knight)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 8 (-1); CON 10; INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 16 (+2)

HP 27; ATTACK +5; AC 18 (plate + shield); SAVES – FORT 10; REF 14; WILL 11

Abilities: Smite chaotic creatures (3/day; +2 to hit, +6 damage), heal damage (6 hp/day), immune to fear, turn undead as 3rd level cleric, paladin spells (1 x 1st), remove disease 1/week

Skills: Riding (14)

RUMACK

Human Ranger, Level 6 (Pathfinder)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 10; INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 27; ATTACK +5; AC 19 (chain + shield); SAVES – FORT 10; REF 8; WILL 11

Abilities: Giant Slayer (+2 to track, extra attack each round vs. giants), ranger spells (1 x 1st)

Skills: Climbing (8), Hiding (8), Moving Silently (8), Surviving (11), Swimming (8), Tracking (11)

ANALYSIS
A quick analysis of the stats (just ranking the classes and assigning some points for best - second best - third best) makes me think the Fighter and Ranger are okay, the Barbarian might be a little too okay, the Paladin a little weak (mostly because he needs those high scores in Wisdom and Charisma - perhaps I could improve his saving throws) and the Duelist comes off as the weakest. I might boost the duelist's Hit Dice to d10 from d8 and look into some additional skills and perhaps another special ability. Of course, it will really come down to playtesting to see what's what.

En Garde: The Duelist [Blood and Treasure]

2012-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

When I dove into the Blood and Treasure project, I had two goals in mind. First and foremost, make it as rules light as possible so that the game is compatible with old school games - that also means reining in some of the power creep that was present in the 3rd edition. Second - use as much of the material in the SRD as humanly possible. Now, sometimes the first goal precludes the second. Some spells - primarily the "mass" spells were, in my opinion, part of the power creep issue. If such a spell wasn't in an older version of the rules, it didn't make it into Blood and Treasure. Other spells and feats played off of rules or minutia that I ejected, so they didn't quite make it in. In all, I retained 95% of the spells, all of the monsters and probably 95% of the magic items.

One thing that didn't make it in, however, were prestige classes. Initially, I wanted to find a way to use them. The concept isn't as new school as some folks might thing. The paladin was originally open only to mid-level fighters of lawful alignment - i.e. a prestige class, and the bard that made it into AD-n-D was largely the same. The problem, though, was one of special abilities. So many of the special abilities of the prestige classes just no longer worked in the rules lite environment, and of course many of the prestige classes in the SRD were just patches to get around the fact that multi-classing in the d20 rules did not work properly for spellcasters.

Still, I'm a scavenger at heart, so I was determined to get something out of those prestige classes. The assassin was already slated to become a full class in Blood and Treasure, and looking at the other classes, I saw another that I thought had the makings of full class-hood - the Duelist. Truth be told, I've long been a fan of the duelist concept, starting from the first time I watched Cyrano de Bergerac in a freshman English class. So, without further ado, I present the Duelist in "rough draft" form - some changes may occur before it's official.

DUELIST
Duelists are warriors who learn to fight using trickery, fancy swordplay and quick reflexes rather than armor and shields. Duelists may be swashbuckling rogues or serious and studious masters of fence.

Requirements: Duelists must have dexterity and intelligence scores of 13 or higher.

Hit Dice: d8 (+3 hit points per level from 10th to 20th).

Armor: Leather armor.

Shield: No.

Weapons: Any.

Skills: Balancing and jumping (see Heroic Tasks below).

CLASS FEATURES
A duelist adds her intelligence bonus (if any) as well as her dexterity bonus to her Armor Class while wielding a melee weapon.

Duelists can make special attacks with a +2 bonus to their attack roll.

When fighting defensively, a duelist enjoys a +4 bonus to Armor Class instead of the normal +2 bonus.

At 4th level (romantic), a duelist gains a +2 bonus on initiative rolls.

At 8th level (avenger), a duelist gains an additional +2 bonus on all reflex saving throws and on will saving throws against fear.

At 9th level (duelist), a duelist can choose to establish a stronghold in the wilderness and gain followers (see High Level Play below). A duelist who becomes a lord or lady attracts 1d6 men-at-arms per level, 1d6 first level duelists who wish to train under them and one 3rd level duelist to serve as a lieutenant. These duelists should be generated as characters under control of the player.

At 10th level (duelist), a duelist gains the ability to strike precisely with a one-handed piercing weapon, such as a rapier or dagger, doing double damage on a successful hit. The precise strike can only be attempted in the round after the duelist's opponent has missed with one of their own attacks. When making a precise strike, a duelist cannot attack with a weapon in his other hand or use a shield. A duelist’s precise strike only works against living creatures with discernible anatomies. At 20th level, the extra damage on a precise strike increases to triple.

At 14th level (duelist), if a duelist chooses to fight defensively, one successful attack against him each round must be re-rolled.

At 18th level (duelist), a duelist using a one-handed piercing weapon may deflect one successful ranged attack per round.

Illustration of a gnome duelist by Jon Kaufman.

I Was Nobody

2012-01-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

Here's that uber-short story I wrote for a Lulu contest. It is set in the land Beyond the Black Water - which I wrote for Frog God Games. I might expand on this and make a full fledged short story of it - maybe launch a series - and then Hollywood will buy it - and make a super successful film - and I'll use the money to buy D&D from WOTC - - - or maybe not.

--

I Was Nobody
John M. Stater

The water in the ears was the worst of it. Well, no – not really. But it was persistent and annoying. There was also the cold. Eyes staring up at black clouds. Arms and legs unable to move, throat unable to groan. Death but not death.

After minutes or days his fingers began to paw the wet sand and sometimes feel the air brush cold against his damp flesh. His eyes could blink again, his lungs breath. Awareness now coupled with mobility. Life but not life.

It was nothing short of joy when he sat up and raised his head from the rippling waters, the surge and suck. Nothing short of a triumph when he crawled up the beach to the gray-green grass on the hills. Ecstasy to see the land beyond – the pseudo-green, rolling hills. But there was no Sun here and the sky was gray, the water black save for the white shapes moving in it, sliding through it with those pearly horns breaking the surface.

His legs and arms did not hurt, but moved as though they did. Stiff and noncommittal, dazed and lethargic. He soon left the beach behind for the quiet of the hills, that great, pointless expanse. The sky was still gray. That bothered him. One foot followed the other over the hills until they limbered up and he began to run. He wanted to make his lungs burn, but they did not. He wanted to make his feet hurt and his thighs ache, but they did not. It was too quiet, so he screamed.

His eyes were attracted by a gleam on another hill, so there he went. He saw a body encased in a byrnie of steel scales and pierced by a short blade. He shuddered and this made him smile. Why a coat of armor? Why a blade? Someone died here. Something killed him. Did somebody want to kill him? He looked across the gray-green hills and licked his lips. With a bit of work he dislodged the blade, rusty and pitted, from the armor. He shook the brittle bones from the armor and put it over his own shoulders to cover his nakedness. The armor was heavy and uncomfortable, too large, no underclothing. He crawled back out of the armor and cast it aside and moved on.

The excitement of death – true death – passed eventually. He continued to wander and smiled when his head began to throb, but quickly realized it was not his head that throbbed, but the ground. Horse hoofs beating the ground. No dust filtered into the air on the horizon – were they far or near?

They were very near, upon him in fact. Men with faces like hyenas on strong horses that sucked in the still air and belched it back out as clouds of steam. Horsemen with spears leading a train of men and women in chains, not crying, shuffling, lost in thought. The men stopped and regarded him, standing there naked but for his sword. Other men joined them, a few yards separating them.

“Who are you?” they growled.

The word caught in his throat. Not yet – he didn’t want to say it yet.

“I …”, the word played on his lips, which trembled.

“Nobody,” was what he wanted to say and think. He was nobody. Nobody. Or was he nobody? It would be easier, being lost. His eyes met the eyes of the people in chains.

“Wroth,” he finally said. He was Wroth.

And the sword leapt out at the men with the spears.

Copyright © 2011 John M. Stater
All rights reserved.

Potential Google + Gaming

2012-01-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

This post is really just for me to organize my thoughts and put them in pixels before I completely forget them. If any of these ideas grab your imagination, let me know.

For the Money, For the Glory, and For the Fun
The Duke of Raleigh has a challenge for any crew of mutants who want to earn a big payoff - travel west into the Rockies and bring him back a load of the most valuable beverage in post-apocalyptic America ... Coors! This would be a Mutant Truckers game, in which (if enough people were interested) two or more crews would complete to make the journey to Colorado and back for a load of Coors.

Assault on Eagle's Nest
This would be an Action X game (yeah, I'd probably have to finish those rules first) in which a crack team of heroes assaults Eagle's Nest (Hitler's command complex). The characters would all be based on literary, comic and movie characters who would have been active during World War II. No super heroes, just guys and dolls who can hold their own in a fight. Indiana Jones, Boston Blackie, Mademoiselle Marie, D.A. Grant Gardner, Sgt. Rock, Maj. Reisman, Pvt. Kelly, a young James Bond, etc.

Silver Age Madness
A Mystery Men! game in which silver age characters deal with all the challenges of the comic books of that period (nosy mates, turning into a gorilla, being split in two, etc.) while trying to keep the world from ending by a mysterious assault from something beyond their reckoning.

Crawling Through Nod
This would be a hex crawl through Nod using Blood and Treasure. A band of diverse heroes (all the races and classes I've published in Nod would be open game) doing what they want, going where they want in true sandbox style. There could be a few epic quests hidden in the sandbox for folks who like that sort of thing. No limits to this one - everything would be open from Hell to the Firmament.

The Catacombs of Old Mars
Using Space Princess rules, a band of heroes delve into the ancient catacombs of Mars in search of a mad scientist, who is attempting to unlock the Shiva-Force, a formula that could end the universe as we know it.

Fortuna's Wheel
This would be a megadungeon delve using Pars Fortuna rules, as characters win their way into the Great Spire at the center of the world, atop of which there stands (reputedly) the Wheel of Fortuna, with which one can gain their hearts' desire. All you have to do to get it is make your way through a mile high spire of stone that supports hidden kingdoms and every monster you could imagine.

The Streets of Shore City
Another Mystery Men! campaign, this one pitting low-powered heroes against the criminal elements lurking in the alleys of Shore City. Gangbusting, random patrols and maybe a chance to show up the "super heroes" when things really hit the fan.

A SAN Check for New Year's Eve (and a bit more)

2011-12-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

Most disturbing video of 2011? Perhaps ...

Weird Al aside, just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made 2011 a good year for me. I spend my days researching the Las Vegas commercial real estate market and the economy in general, which has been both interesting and depressing for the last few years (and just wait for 2012 ...), but the year has been pretty good overall. I've had the opportunity to do some TV interviews here in town, which has bolstered my real job. The family is healthy and happy, by and large, and I'm thankful for that.

On the hobby side, I want to thank all of the kind folks who read the blog and buy my goods - you've made a dream come true for me. I want to thank Bill Webb and Frog God Games for giving me the opportunity to be published by someone other than myself (Hex Crawl Chronicles - available now!), and for the opportunity to work on Tome of Horrors Complete and the new Rappan Athuk conversion. I'd also like to thank the players of my Google + Mystery Men! game, which is proceeding nicely through the Dark Renaissance storyline (the heroes are now split between Washington D.C. and Greenland - who knows where they will go next).

For those who didn't have such a banner 2011, I pray that 2012 is a better year. Economics and finances is a big part of life, but it is only one part of life. Many folks who lived through the Great Depression learned that lesson and a few of us old timers (well, middle agers maybe) were lucky enough to spend time with those folks, who were our grandparents to hear about their experiences. That said, when the wolves are at the door, it's hard to pay attention to much else. The best we can all do in 2012 is to be creative, productive and optimistic.

Of course, if the Inca are right (yeah, I know - just let me play with the meme), we could be spending the latter part of 2012 like this ...

When everything goes wrong, remember ... be the barbarian!

Finally ... NOD

In two years (well, really more like a year and a half) I've managed to scrawl out 12 issues of my own little magazine. I'm hoping for another six issues in 2012.

NOD 13 (Feb '12) should feature three more rings of Hell - Abaddon, Gehenna and Stygia. I should manage to get the different shades of dragons in this one, as well as some more Mystery Men! content. I have one more level of the Pleasure Palace of Izrigul I want to produce, but I'm not sure when it will happen. Sometime in 2012 for sure. By the time this is out, I hope Space Princess will also be out, allowing me an opportunity to play with sci-fi a bit more in the magazine.

NOD 14 (Apr '12) will delve into Dis, the massive city of Hell. I'm hoping to do something interesting with this one - more of a metaphysical crawl through the back alleys of the mind than a proper city with streets and buildings. We'll see. Hopefully Blood and Treasure will be completed by the time this issue arrives.

NOD 15 (Jun '12) will kick off Summer with the final installment of the Hell hex crawl, right down to Hell's frozen heart and the great escape through Lucifer himself. God willing, I'll have begun work on Action X by now. I also hope to complete a Pars Fortuna dungeon for this issue.

NOD 16 (Aug '12) will leave Hell behind for the savannah of Pwenet and the jungle basin of Cush. I've already submitted an excerpt from this Africa-inspired hex crawl to Fight On!, and this issue will take up half of that complete hex crawl.

NOD 17 (Oct '12) will feature the city of Iksum on the savannah of Pwenet. Iksum has a small part to play in a future adventure set in Nod that is being written by Greg Vaughn, who does work with Frog God Games. I have no idea what else will show up this far in advance.

NOD 18 (Dec '12) will round out the year with the finish of the Cush/Pwenet hex crawl and other assorted holiday goodies. I didn't think I'd make it to 6 issues in 2011, and I only hope I can make it to 6 in 2012.

Besides Nod, I'll be working to finish Space Princess, Blood and Treasure, Action X, Queen and Kaiser and 1800 - American Empires. I have a few mini-campaign ideas for NOD, including one based on the Bowery Boys/East Side Kids movies. I had wanted to do a couple other mini-campaign things in 2011 that didn't materialize, and perhaps they will show up at some point in 2012 (post-apocalyptic Great War and giant robots). Some folks have asked for a compilation of classes that have appeared in NOD over the past couple years, and if I hear from some more people interested in such a thing, I'll see about doing that as well.

Oh, and if the Mystery Men! Dark Renaissance campaign on Google + comes to a close (which I think it will), I'd like to start a new campaign ... maybe a crazy MM! campaign based on the comics of the Silver Age, but more likely something with Pars Fortuna or a Nod hex crawl. A cruise along the highways of post-apocalypse America with Mutant Truckers could be fun as well, and might not take too much time. If you'd be interested in playing such a game on Google +, keep your eyes peeled for announcements on this blog.

So, to close this ridiculously long blog post (and blogging in general for 2011) - Thank You! I hope I can continue to entertain folks with my writing in 2012 and well into the future. If any of you need some help making your own ideas materialize, feel free to call on me - I've been very fortunate these last two years, and I'd love to help somebody else realize their dreams in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Deviant Friday - In Memoriam

2011-12-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, not technically a Deviant Friday, because this has nothing to do with DeviantArt. Instead, I thought I'd honor some of the artists who passed away in 2011. If I missed anyone on this list, let me know in the comments and I'll add them to the shrine. R.I.P to them all, best wishes for those they left behind who are missing them terribly, and a hearty thank you for all the wonders they introduced to the rest of us through their art.

Dave Hoover

Jerry Robinson

Minck Oosterveer

Shingo Araki

Gene Colan

Joe Simon

Eduardo Barreto

Mamoru Uchiyama

Darrel K. Sweet

Jim Roslof

Jeffrey Catherine Jones

On a personal note, I'd like to honor my uncle, George Stater, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly earlier this year. I love him dearly, and everyone who knew him will miss him keenly in the years to come.

NOD 12 - Just in time for 2011!

2011-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

NOD 12 is ready to go. You can buy the electronic version HERE now - I'll put the print version up for sale as soon as I get a proof copy and make sure it isn't totally screwed up. What do you get in 144 pages?

Welcome Back to Hell - The southern portion of the Glooms, Acheron and the first two rings of Hell.

Pandaemonium V - Stats for Asmodee, Barbatos and Naamah.

Deep Denizens II - Drow, duergar, notac-ichat and svirfneblin as playable races. Art by Jon Kaufman.

The Gourmand - The PC class that takes a bite out of ... no - I can't do that bit here.

Exotic Dining - Random tables for generating bizarre feasts.

Hero vs. Villain - A new article series that presents one original villain and one rejuvenated Golden Age hero for Mystery Men! This inaugural article presents the villainous Shatter and the heroic Madame Strange. Art by Stefan Grambart.

Mutant Truckers - A mini-game using Target 10 depicting the highways of post-apocalyptic America and the truckers who drive them. Art by Bradley K. McDevitt and Chris Huth.

Hope everyone enjoys it. The projects up ahead for me - today I try to finish putting together a glimpse of the next hex crawl, the savannah of Pwenet and jungle of Cush, for Fight On! because I've owed them an article for the better part of a year and because part of it might relate to a project somebody else is writing for Frog God Games set in NOD (blows my mind).

The weekend will be spent converting a few more levels of Rappan Athuk to Swords and Wizardry. After that, my focus is on NOD 13, Blood and Treasure and Space Princess.

So little to do, so much time. Wait - scratch that and reverse it.

Hell South - Final Preview - Palace of Minos

2011-12-29T06:57:00.000-08:00

For those not up on their lore of Hell (or Dante's Inferno, as the case may be), Minos (former King of Crete, had a bull-headed stepson) is the judge of damned souls in Hell. His brothers show up sometimes as well, but Dante just uses Minos and I went that route as well. Minos is an interesting character - son of Zeus and Europa (remember - that's the one where Zeus masqueraded as a white bull to carry her away - bulls are a running theme for Minos), marries Pasiphae, the daughter of the titan Helios and an Oceanid named Perses. This means that Minos and Pasiphae are both, in Nod reckoning, titans. That was fun to play with.

Anyhow - Minos judges damned souls and decides which ring of Hell they should spend eternity being punished on. He also guards the narrow stairs that lead from Asphodel (ring #1 in Nod's Hell cosmology) to Erebus (ring #2), so PCs adventuring in Hell will probably have to go through Minos if they ever want to escape. Presented below is a map of his palace, a mini-dungeon in the game that is based very loosely on Minos' actual palace on Crete. Enjoy!

It was meant to be maze-like without really being a maze. The un-drawn dungeons below hold a labyrinth, of course, inhabited by Asterion, the original Minotaur - a rough customer to be sure. Oh - and the cover for NOD 12, which will be published a bit later today ...

The Archangel Michael in action by Guido Reni (1575-1642).

Hell South - Preview 10 - Breezy Books and Sheva's Chariot

2011-12-26T08:37:00.000-08:00

Finishing up NOD 12 - just a bit more work to be done on the hex crawl, then writing the OGL page - always takes a while due to all the critters from the Tome of Horrors that show up. Anyhow - a few more locales for you to preview ...

40.97 Breezy Book: A skeleton lies in the grass here. The skeleton has a crushed skull and ribs and is wearing a robe of damask silk and a tasseled hat. The skeleton has two gold teeth (fangs, actually), a silver dagger on his belt and a leather pouch that holds his spellbook.

The spellbook has a wind walker trapped within it. The wind walker’s presence makes it impossible to read the spellbook, for the pages are whipped around violently, as though in a high wind. Attempting to handle the book carries with it a 2 in 6 chance per minute of ripping some pages and ruining one of the spells contained within. Naturally, the highest level spells are ruined first.

Spells: 1st – Detect magic, hold portal, magic missile, read magic, sleep; 2nd – darkness 15-ft. radius, ESP, knock, magic mouth, strength; 3rd – darkvision, haste, protection from normal missiles, rope trick, slow; 4th – extension I, ice storm, plant growth, wizard eye; 5th – cloudkill, magic jar, passwall, wall of stone; 6th – enchant item, invisible stalker, repulsion; 7th – monster summoning V.

51.101 Chariot: Having been driven from his lair on a deeper level of Hell, the lich Sheva of the Silver Hair has wandered Asphodel on a chariot pulled by two giant hyena. She has ever sought to build a network of alliances based on favors and threats that might return her to her lair, currently inhabited by the efreet Nabeel in the metallic desert of Gehenna. Many secrets are held in her lair, secrets she must reclaim to advance her grander schemes. Sheva’s phylactery is hidden within the tombs that circle the pit of Tiamat [57.99].

67.105 Skeletal Harpies: Nine skeletal harpies are roosting in a grove of trees here, nibbling at the sour fruits that hang there. The fruit look like human hearts, and have a pulpy, acidic flesh. The harpies really hunger for human flesh. Each time they score 5 or more points of damage with a bite attack on a humanoid, a layer of musculature covers their bones. When they have scored a total of 35 points of damage, they reform as true harpies, with all the powers and abilities of such creatures.

86.96 Lake of Sorrow: A long, narrow lake sits here on the savannah, surrounded by a thick tangle of briars that bear fragrant black roses. Bubbles rise and pop on the surface, bringing with them the sounds of sighs, moans and cries that hang over the still waters. The water of the lake is intoxicating, leaving people in a deep melancholy and unable to summon the will to do anything for 24 hours other than defend themselves. At the end of the 24 hours, they must pass a will save to keep from drinking again.

97.91 Double Trouble: The land descends into a series of interlocking canyons here. The canyons are barren of life, with grey, rigid, angular sides. Once per day, a chill wind begins to blow, tussling hair and tugging at clothes. It grows stronger, and soon forms small whirlwinds that combine to form larger whirlwinds that glow with a pale, cheerless light. Assume each character has a 1 in 6 chance per turn of being touched by one of these whirlwinds. The whirlwinds only last about for one hour (6 turns).

Any person enveloped by a whirlwind emerges unscathed, but with a double intent on murdering his “comrades”. The player has a 50-50 chance of playing either his own character or the double, and only he will know which character he now plays. The character and his double cannot harm one another – any attempt to do so meets with failure and crushing pain (6d6 points of damage) for the instigator of the violence.

--

Image found HERE

Merry Christmas from the Land of Nod!

2011-12-25T00:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing geek or game related. Just a wish for a Merry Christmas to all within the sight of my pixels!

(Well, okay, the Santa image to the right is kinda steampunk, so I guess there's a little something geek related).

(And I said pixels, and that's a bit geeky.)

Oh - what the heck ...

FLYING REINDEER
Flying reindeers are more than just magical beasts - they are cherished creatures of the forces of Law. They appear as large, handsome reindeer with a golden tinge to their fur and a crystalline sheen to their antlers. They are uncommonly intelligent and immensely patient, though they fly into battle with creatures of chaos at the drop of a hat. The most famous of the flying reindeer are part of the team used by Saint Nicholas to make his one-per-year trip around the world to deliver gifts and tokens to all the Lawful boys and girls in the world.

Flying reindeer are capable of using the following spells: At will - detect evil, sanctuary; 3/day - haste; 1/day - time stop. They are always under the effect of a protection from evil 10-ft radius spell.

FLYING REINDEER: HD 6; AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 gore (2d6) and 1 bite (1d4); Move 15 (Fly 36); Save 11 (9 vs. abilities of chaotic creatures); CL/XP 11/1700; Special: +1 or better weapon to hit, immune to cold, turn undead as 10th level cleric, spells, smite evil 1/day (double damage if gore attack is successful, forces demons and devils to save or be thrown back into Hell), magic resistance (15%).

Image from Golden Age Comic Book Stories

Saturday Grab Bag

2011-12-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

Just some random nonsense. I have some leaf raking and bagging to do today, along with other household chores to prepare for the family coming over tomorrow for all the traditional festivities. Whatever you do tomorrow, do it with a little love in your heart and find a way to be happy.

From the Old Fashioned Geek-mas Dept.

When I was a young lad, maybe 12, I remember borrowing a friend's copy of B1 - In Search of the Unknown and transcribing it on my parent's typewriter. Not as fancy a model as this (and they still have it!), but until I finally got an Apple IIE, the typewriter was one of my most important RPG tools. Image comes from James Lilek's Merry Kitchmas site.

From the Zeppelin Christmas Mash-Up Dept.

Fleming & John - Winter Wonderland to the tune of Misty Mountain Hop. Image and link from one of my favorite daily reads, NEVVER.

From the My Hero Dept.

I officially declare that the rest of my life will be dedicated to trying to match the greatness of this man.

From the Heart's Desire Dept.

I'm back on the weight loss trail again. I lost 50 pounds about a year ago, and then hit a long plateau. I'm now back on the trail, trying to finally get back to my college weight of 180. Images like this are both a balm and a torment.

From the Sci-Fi RPG Challenge Dept.

Okay, so we have a couple new planets to play with. Who wants to do a non-denominational sci-fi hex crawl with one of these planets? Maybe I could set up a blog called Kepler 20-F, post a map and people could all throw their 2 credits in. No game stats, no over-arching theme other than - "Recently discovered by 'Man', largely unexplored, holds secrets and ruins of the ancient Keplons". Just anything that grabs your fancy that other Referees could then use with their groups to explore. Whaddya think?

From the Thank God for Frank Cho Dept.

Yeah - just ... yeah.

From the Super Short Story Dept.

I wrote a very short story for some Lulu contest. You can download it for free from HERE if you have an e-reader thingee. If not, I'll probably post it in the near future. It's set in the Beyond the Black Water hex crawl I did with Frog God Games, and I might look at expanding it into a proper short story.

From the Blood and Treasure Art Dept.

I leave you with an elf paladin and a dwarf cleric from Blood and Treasure, both illustrations by Jon Kaufman (Pachycrocuta). Not a bad way to end a pre-Christmas post. Maybe a post tomorrow, maybe not, definitely normal posting next week. Enjoy the day, even if it has no spiritual meaning for you.

Deviant Friday - Recent Favorites

2011-12-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

Instead of highlighting a particular DeviantArt artist today, I thought it would be fun to show off some recent favorites of mine from the site.

you know you're a pro when... by *nebezial on deviantART

Red Riding Hood by *garang76 on deviantART

Spaceman no. 4 by `Devilpig on deviantART

gnome characters by ~Pachycrocuta on deviantART

valkyrja by ~weremoon on deviantART

wizard in color by ~Pachycrocuta on deviantART

Merida - WIP - by *Hito76 on deviantART

Supergirl 5 Cover BW by *anjum on deviantART

Justice League Beyond 1 by *duss005 on deviantART

Black Widow IV by *onpaperwings on deviantART

The Queens of Elemental Earth

2011-12-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

This idea popped into my head today, so I explored it a bit.

--

The primal earth has produced many wonders, but none so lovely (and few so powerful) as the so-called Queens of Elemental Earth. These five sisters are worshipped as goddesses by many of the folk who dwell beneath the earth and are honored by all elemental earth creatures.

The queens look like astoundingly beautiful statues of women in their natural state. They are translucent and gleam with an inner light that produces a magical aura. Within their eyes dance shimmering motes of light that affect all upon which they train their gaze. They dwell in luxurious palaces beneath the ground, served by lesser elementals and fey creatures.

While the queens are ground in neutrality, with some preference for order (i.e. Law), they are, as one might expect, possessed of a very keen appreciation for the wonder that is them. They do not like to be disobeyed or their intentions and desires frustrated, and they have no qualms about destroying lesser creatures that get in their way.

All of the queens can move through rock, stone and soil as easily as a human moves through the air. They suffer half damage from all attacks from manufactured and natural weapons.

Adamantia
Adamantia is Queen Diamond. She has a smooth body of translucent crystal with inner reflections of pink. Adamantia is the strongest and most durable of the five sisters, and she is unforgiving in her disdain of imperfection and muddled thinking. She is always under the effect of a true seeing spell and a zone of truth. She is worshipped as a goddess of clarity, truth and perfection. Her stronghold is a fortress of gleaming adamant, with every surface stark white and lit by a soft, pinkish-white glow. Her court includes elemental earth creatures as well as entities of Law and a host of human paladins that have declared her the focus of their courtly, chaste love.

Adamantia produces an aura of truth (see zone of truth above) that also acts a protection aura against chaotic creatures (per protection from evil, 10-ft. radius). Her gaze acts as a hold monster spell.

Adamantia can cast the following spells as innate abilities: At will – charm person; 3/day – break enchantment, charm monster, cure disease, dispel magic, haste (self), invisibility; 1/day – dimension door, ray of enfeeblement, strength, suggestion, wave of exhaustion. She can also cast spells as a 10th level cleric.

Adamantia: HD 21; AC -7 [26]; Atk 2 strikes (4d6); Move 36; Save 3; CL/XP 30/7400; Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, aura, gaze, earth glide, half damage from all weapons, suffers double damage from sonic attacks, immune to fire, resistance to cold (50%), magic resistance (65%), regenerate 3 hp/round.

Rubinia
Queen Ruby, Rubinia, is composed of a translucent red substance. Her hair (though it is merely sculpted on her head) appears wild and unkempt and her eyes gleam with power. She is worshipped as a goddess of fire and passion and strength. Her court includes elemental earth creatures as well as exiled or rebellious elemental fire creatures. Her stronghold is enclosed in a ruby sphere with spherical chambers that look like bubbles within the sphere and connected by curving tunnels that radiate out from her central court. Gravity is completely relative within the sphere, with people able to walk on all surfaces.

Rubinia produces an aura of weakness (10-ft. radius) that forces people to pass a saving throw or be affected per a ray of enfeeblement. Her gaze forces people to pass a saving throw or be enraged (per the emotion or rage spell, depending on which version of the grand old game you play). Enraged folk never turn their anger upon Rubinia or her servants. Her touch ages people as the touch of a ghost.

Rubinia can cast the following spells as innate abilities: At will – augury; 3/day – charm person, divination, dispel magic, haste (self), invisibility; 1/day – dimension door, flame strike, heal, heat metal. She can also cast spells as a 10th level magic-user.

Rubinia: HD 21; AC -6 [25]; Atk 2 strikes (4d6); Move 36; Save 3; CL/XP 30/7400; Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, aura, gaze, earth glide, half damage from all weapons, suffers double damage from sonic attacks, immune to fire, resistance to cold (50%), magic resistance (55%), regenerate 3 hp/round.

Esmeraude
Esmeraude, Queen Emerald, is the most sensuous and beautiful of the sisters, possessed of a green, healthy glow and a warm, though unyielding, touch. Her stronghold is a paen to love and romance, being a series of limestone caverns with jade pools, rushing streams, laughing waterfalls and gardens of flowering trees, ferns and flowers. Her court consists of elemental earth creatures, nymphs and dryads.

Esmeraude radiates an aura of blinding beauty (per a nymph) and her gaze stuns creatures for 2d4 rounds. Her kiss can grant magic-user’s the effects of a mnemonic enhancement for 24 hours, but also imbues upon them a geas that they must visit her once per year and serve her faithfully for one week.

Esmeraude can cast the following spells as innate abilities: At will – cause blindness; 3/day – cure blindness, cause fear, dispel magic, haste (self), invisibility; 1/day – charm monster, dimension door, entangle, plant growth, suggestion. She can also cast spells as a 12th level druid.

Esmeraude: HD 21; AC -5 [24]; Atk 2 strikes (4d6); Move 36; Save 3; CL/XP 30/7400; Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, aura, gaze, earth glide, half damage from all weapons, suffers double damage from sonic attacks, resistance to cold and fire (50%), magic resistance (55%), regenerate 3 hp/round.

Amethysta
Queen Amethyst appears as a woman of translucent purple crystal accompanied always by three legendary panthers with purple-black fur. She is a queen of dreams who commands a court of elemental earth creatures, succubi and illusionists. Her court is held in a palace of mottled purple walls set in a maze-like layout, with many secret chambers where visitors can rest themselves on comfortable beds stuffed with celestial goose down and sleep under silk and satin, perhaps never to wake again.

Amethysta produces a purple aura of slumber (as the daze spell) and her gaze causes confusion. Those struck by her, even lightly, must pass a saving throw or fall into a deep sleep. She can deliver a kiss that drains levels per a succubus.

Amethysta can cast the following spells as innate abilities: At will – sleep; 3/day – cause fear, dispel magic, haste (self), invisibility; 1/day – dimension door, dream, nightmare, phantasmal killer, poison. She also casts spells as a 10th level illusionist.

Amethysta: HD 21; AC -5 [24]; Atk 2 strikes (4d6); Move 36; Save 3; CL/XP 31/7700; Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, aura, gaze, earth glide, half damage from all weapons, suffers double damage from sonic attacks, resistance to cold and fire (50%), magic resistance (45%), regenerate 3 hp/round, life drain.

Zaffira
Zaffira is a bubbly, almost giddy queen of sapphires. She appears as a beautiful, young woman with translucent blue skin, her eyes like star sapphires and her hair tumbling like cascades of water down her back to her ankles. She dwells in a floating palace of sapphire walls and misty, damp halls occupied by elemental earth creatures as well as sylphs and other exiled air creatures and giant eagles. Zaffira is worshipped as a goddess of innocence, truth and courage.

Zaffira produces an aura of euphoria. Folk who enter it must pass a saving throw or be calmed, losing all desire to commit violence or even engage in argument. Her gaze causes people to break into uncontrollable laughter (per the spell).

Zaffira can cast the following spells as innate abilities: At will – hold person; 3/day – cause fear, discern lies, dispel magic, haste (self), invisibility; 1/day – globe of invulnerability, mark of justice, ray of enfeeblement, resilient sphere, strength. She also casts spells as a 12th level cleric.

Zaffira: HD 21; AC -6 [25]; Atk 2 strikes (4d6); Move 36; Save 3; CL/XP 23/5300; Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, aura, gaze, earth glide, half damage from all weapons, suffers double damage from sonic attacks, resistance to fire and cold (50%), magic resistance (65%), regenerate 3 hp/round.

--

Image found HERE. Painted by Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1786).

If You Have Thought About Buying NOD Stuff ...

2011-12-20T22:45:00.000-08:00

... today might be the day. Big sale at Lulu for one day only.

Not a bad deal - I know I have a couple things I've been thinking about picking up.

You can find my stuff HERE, and other Old School goodies HERE.

Hell South Preview 9 - Oedipal Shrines and Anesthetic Jellies

2011-12-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

15.70 Overturned Wagon: A wagon with chipped and faded anatomical drawings on the bulging sides and large, solid, round wheels has overturned here. There doesn’t appear to be anyone present. Jars of preserved organs and hands fill the wagon. The jars are uncommonly thick and sealed with wax, and none of them are broken. The jars contain about 15 hearts, 20 livers, 5 gallbladders, 3 spleens and 30 hands – determine the source randomly. The body parts are preserved in a weird, anesthetic jelly that, when the jars are opened, turns out to be alive. These oozes feed on warmth, draining heat from their victims.

ANESTHETIC JELLY: HD 3; AC 9; Atk 1 touch (1d6 cold + numbness); Move 9; Save 14; CL/XP 4/120; Special: Body parts touched become numb and useless if save is failed, if deals 6 points of damage, it doubles in size.

19.78 Rebellious Garrison: There is a fortress of dark gray stone, stained with bird droppings and shaped like a cube with only a faint arched line on the bottom of one side indicating a portal, overlooking the gray-green grasses here. The fortress is 40 feet tall, wide and deep, and thorny vine (assassin vines) cling to the corners of the cube, some of them reaching as high as 30 feet. A company of vulchlings stand atop the fortress, cackling and throwing spear ineffectively at the fortress’s mistress, the malacarna Thienhela, who stands on the ground below, shaking her fist and demanding they relent and open the portal to her.

Thienhela found herself cast out of the fortress while she snoozed, her former garrison acting under the orders of a recent arrival, the incubus Daznishu. Daznishu is acting under the advisement of Kerothuar and Hanoarnah, two very ambitious imps.

Thienhela is anxious to get back inside. For one thing, she was cast out in the all-together and knows that even a malacarna cannot long survive on the Asphodelian savannah without armor and weapons. She will agree do just about anything to sway adventurers to her side, though collecting after she has regained her throne might be tricky.

22.84 Hunters: A large village of mud huts covered with thorny branches sits here. It is home to 300 gnolls and their wives and cubs. The gnolls, though normally loyal to Barbatos, now serve Flavros. Each has had one of its arms hacked off at the shoulder and replaced with a scaled, demonic looking limb that can act independently of it. In essence, a disloyal gnoll can strangle itself while it sleeps. The gnolls are miserable wretches, and especially mean spirited because of their humiliation. They have six giant hyenas in their village.

23.85 Axe Beaks: A flock of 500 demonic axe beaks (no feathers, bilious green skin, black, jagged beaks) roam this hex. Encounters with 1d6 of the birds occur on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6 made each day. If one fights 1d6 of the birds, they discover that another 1d6 birds are attracted by the noise every 10 rounds on a roll of 1 on 1d6.

30.95 Shrine of Oedipus: There is a temple here that looks like six black cubes, each 30 feet long, wide and tall. Five are laid out in a cross-formation, the sixth stacked atop the middle cube. The place is constructed of basalt blocks and the floors, clad in white tiles, are covered in about four inches of ash. Columns of black and gold swirled marble hold up the ceiling except in the inner sanctum, which has a 60-ft. high roof. The inner sanctum holds a 40-ft tall statue of Oedipus, unclad and holding a staff. The statue has empty pits for eyes. On one of the upper walls of the inner sanctum there is a large brass gong.

If two precious stones are placed in the eye pits of the idol and the gong is struck, it flashes with an image of the death of the person who strikes the gong. Determine this fate randomly:

ROLL D10 TO DISCOVER FATE
1. Dragon Breath
2. Death Ray
3. Fall
4. Fireball
5. Lightning Bolt
6. Mummy Rot
7. Poison
8. Spear Trap
9. Swallowed Whole
10. Trampled

When next the character encounters this attack, he suffers a -5 penalty to saving throws against it. If he survives, the prophecy is proved false and he suffers no further saving throw penalties against that attack form.

If the gong is struck without putting gemstones in the idol’s eyes, it acts as a monster summoning VII spell.

--

Image from Wikipedia

Happy Anniversary to Me! (And a Magic Item)

2011-12-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

No, not a blog anniversary. That's in March sometime. A wedding anniversary. Number 17, in fact. If you enjoy all the nonsense I post on this blog and publish through Lulu, join me in thanking my wife, Wendy, for her support and tolerance of this very geeky, often time-consuming hobby of ours. About a decade or so ago, I had put my RPG days behind me. When some friends invited me to play some of the new D-n-D (I was so far out of the hobby that I didn't know TSR was gone and a new version of the game in the works), I was hesitant. My wife thought I should go play with my friends. Ultimately, this led me to the new old versions of the game and convinced me I should give blogging a try. That led to the publishing and a new facet of my life - just in time for a very geeky mid-life crisis, I guess. So, this is to my bride of 17 years - I hope for countless happy years to come, but with her I'm ready for anything the world can throw at me. Except maybe rabid badgers shot out of a bazooka - who could really be ready for that?

--

Now, for the game content ...

Golden Bands of Bonding: These two golden rings are plain and unadorned. When slipped on the fingers of two people in love, they act as rings of protection +1. When the people hold hands, they create protection from evil, 10' radius and sanctuary effects. When apart, the rings allow the wearers to know the general state of well-being of the other. If one is in mortal danger, the rings allow the mate to call them (as a summoning spell) to their present location. This drains the remaining magic in the rings, and they become ordinary rings thereafter. If one of the ring wearers is killed, the mate can instead use this magic to summon the person's killer.

Hell South - Preview 8: Evil Pumpkins and Dwarf Kings

2011-12-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

I'm about three days away from finishing the main writing on the Hell South hex crawl for NOD 12. Then I have a few articles to finish up and should be able to publish before Christmas - or maybe after Christmas. We'll see.

10.72 Anemone Shelf: Hundreds of brightly colored giant sea anemones are attached to a wide shelf along the bank of the Acheron, about 70 feet below the surface. Equally colorful nixies dwell within these anemone, sometimes falling prey to them, but more often tending them. The nixies are led by the druid Anwyla, whose sea cave lair is hidden by the anemones. Deep within this sea cave there is a bubbling fountain of air. Bathing in this air, which carries a damp, green smell, one becomes a creature of living water. While in this form, the person can swim at a speed of 30 and is immune to cold and resistant to fire. This state lasts for a number of hours equal to the person’s constitution score.

35.99 Bothaaa: This hex holds the lair of Bothaaa, a giant, fiendish octopus spawned by Dagon himself. Bothaaa is usually in his sea cave, studying his greatest treasure, a jar that holds the preserved head of the Rivana, youngest daughter of the lich lord Piran. This head wears a crystal diadem (worth 1,000 gp). It is still alive, the body resting in Guelph in an ornate crypt. The head is sought by Dudge, the chaotic knight currently trapped in the stomach of the dragon whale Oraguldurn [7.63].

9.66 Grimserne: Grimserne is the dark city of Alberich, the king of the nyblings, a race of sorcerous, demonic dwarves. The nyblings are sore put upon by Alberich, and the shade slaves of Grimserne even more so.

Grimserne is home to 5,000 shades and 3,500 nyblings. The city is built into the sides of a massive and ever deepening pit mine from which the slaves extract copious amounts of coal, enough to fire the furnaces of Dis. The nymblings direct the slaves in their mining and then form them into great caravans who march towards the palace of Minos and the narrow stairs that lead down to the third ring of Hell. Each shade holds 300 pounds of coal in its back in canvas and leather sacks, and by the end of the journey to Dis are so spent that they often melt into the landscape, only to emerge back in their pit a few days later.

Alberich is a mighty sorcerer among dwarves. He and his people possess an unheard of skill at forging magical items, making them as easily as most craftsman make normal items, but expecting cruel payments for their handiwork and cursing the items to make sure they are not betrayed.

11.70 Prison Farm: The damned souls of 450 greedy halfling farmers toil here on a vast field, farming and tending animals under the poisonous whip of the balor Enkepis and his manes. The halflings grow bitter kale, lima beans, Brussels sprouts and pumpkins that grow to about four feet in diameter and bear tormented faces on their pale orange skins. They also tend sheep that they turn into spicy meat pies that are valued throughout Hell.

Each of the pumpkins, if one should carve a hole into it and crawl inside (gnomes and halflings can manage this) is a portal to the surface world.

13.57 Peat Fields: This hex was once a great swamp of tsetse flies and stinging nettles. It has since been drained and is now a great expanse of peat fields. Miserable shades now roam the fields, cutting the peat under the watchful eyes of gnoll overseers. The peat is destined for the lodge of Barbatos, who disdains the use of coal and thornwood. The peat moss is rank with worms, each one with the face of a damned, miserable soul.

--

Image by Rackham; found at Wikipedia.

Deviant Friday - Loston Wallace Edition

2011-12-16T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hey boys and girls - let's have some fun with Loston Wallace today. Enjoy the art, kids, and visit him at DeviantArt!

Mars Attacks

Huntress

Igoo

Great Race of Yith

Rom, Greatest of Spaceknights

Iron Man

Buscema's Conan

Thing Color

Suicide Squad

Batgirl vs. the Vampire

Class Rocketeer

Six Magical Bracelets for Your Viewing Pleasure

2011-12-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

Just got an art book by Steve Prescott delivered yesterday (Aggregate - buy it, won't you) and was inspired by the chick on the cover.

Bangles of Bakram: These two bangles are carved from wood and each bears a small hole in it. The bangles were originally worn as earrings by Bakram, a highly skilled and deadly monk who weighed in the neighborhood of 350 pounds. If worn as earrings again, these items grant the wearer the abilities of a monk 5 levels, or, if you have no levels as a monk, a 5th level monk. Most folk make the mistake of wearing them as bracelets. When put on the wrists, the bangles grant the same ability, but also grant the wearer Bakram’s weight. Ballooning to 350 pounds, the person suffers a -2 penalty to their constitution score and is treated as though they are carrying their extra weight as added encumbrance.

Armlets of Devolution: These armlets, when placed around the biceps, hold tight and cannot be removed. The armlets act as rings of protection +1. Each week, the wearer must pass a saving throw or their body and mind “devolves”. Elves devolve initially into half-elves and then humans. Other demi-humans devolve into humans (of the same general height as their original race). Once human, or if they began as humans, they devolve first into a Neanderthal and then into an albino ape. Once the person has been changed into an albino ape, the armlets release from them. Changing back requires a wish.

Bracelet of Missile Deflection: These thick bracelets of gold, when clasped around the wrists, grant a +2 bonus to Armor Class against missile attacks. Moreover, when the wearer is attacked by magic missiles, they can make a saving throw to not only avoid the attack, but to deflect those missiles back at their caster.

Bracelet of Reaching: This single bracelet is made of bronze and engraved with a triangle pattern. It is normally kept off of one’s wrist, for when it is put on a person’s hand disappears and can be projected, by the wearer, from any similarly sized hole in their view. This could be the top of a vase, another bracelet, a large key ring, a mouse hole, etc. The bracelet can be pushed up to the shoulder if the wearer wishes, with their projected hand (which is part of their body and can be damaged normally) extending to the same length.

Bracers of Magnetism: These iron bracelets are set with large hematites. When clanged together, they can pull any small iron or steel item to the bracelets. If the item is held, the holder can make a strength check to hold onto their item; the bracelets pull with a strength of 25. If a sharp item is pulled to the wearer, they must pass a saving throw to avoid being hit and damaged by that item as though it was wielded by a person with a strength of 25.

Dragon Bracers: These bracers are made from the hide of a blue dragon. Once per day, the wearer can cause the bracers to cover their body with the equivalent of leather armor and granting them immunity to lightning attacks. The armor lasts for 10 rounds, but if struck with lightning immediately retract.

Now This Is the Seed of a Game ...

2011-12-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Map of San Fran's Chinatown in 1885. And I mean hardcore Chinatown - tongs and exiled princesses and foolish Occidentals and opium dens and weird dragon cults and foo dogs and all that good stuff. I have to do something with this ...

Oh - and Emperor Norton. Have to throw in Emperor Norton, just for fun. Maybe it could be a supplement to Action X? Or a board game - like Monopoly but with tongs and kung-fu.

Map from THE BIG MAP BLOG, the internet's premier source for BIG MAPS! When you're in the mood for a BIG MAP, think THE BIG MAP BLOG.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea!

2011-12-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'm backing it, and maybe you should as well. Check it out ...

The "S" Word in Blood & Treasure

2011-12-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

While I've been scrambling to finish NOD 12 by the end of the year, Blood and Treasure and Space Princess have been simmering on the back burner. B and T is about 80% complete - all the monsters, spell and magic items converted, classes written, basic rules finished - and is mostly waiting for some info on high level play (strongholds, wargames, magic research) and a sample delve. Space Princess needs some modifications to the rules (fairly minor) and a formal writing down of the sample delve. They'll probably both be available in January of 2012.

In the meantime, here's a look of how non-combat actions can be resolved in the game (i.e. skills, one of the dirtiest words in Old School gaming). Also, a preview of the game's iconic thief.

--

HEROIC TASKS

The concept of “heroic tasks” covers everything from climbing a sheer wall to riding a dragon. Brushing one’s teeth or stepping over a puddle do not qualify as heroic tasks, and characters can do these and most things automatically, without rolling any dice. Accomplishing very difficult (or almost impossible) tasks, on the other hand, does require a player take dice in hand and roll to discover his character’s fate.

For each of the heroic tasks described below, the conditions of the task are described as either “easy” or “difficult”. If somebody meets the definition of an easy task, they need not roll dice to see if they succeed. Success is assumed.

For people attempting a difficult task, dice must be rolled, and failure imposes consequences.

The actual dice to be rolled and the number needed for success depends on whether the person attempting the heroic task is unskilled, unskilled but has a knack or skilled.

UNSKILLED: An unskilled person can succeed at a difficult task by rolling 1d20, adding the relevant ability modifier, and trying to equal or beat an “18”. Alternatively, you can simply roll 1d6 and attempt to roll a “1”.

KNACK: An unskilled person with a knack for something (such as an elf’s knack for finding secret doors or a gnome’s knack for listening at doors) can succeed at a difficult task by rolling 1d20, adding the relevant ability modifier, and trying to equal or beat a “15”. Alternatively, you can simply roll 1d6 and attempt to roll a “1” or “2”.

SKILLED: A character skilled at a heroic task improves his chances of success as he or she advances in level. A skilled skill check is made by rolling a saving throw, modifying the 1d20 roll with the appropriate ability score modifier.

The type of saving throw depends on the ability most associated with the heroic task. Saving throws made to accomplish a heroic task are modified by their associated ability score, not the ability scores that normally modify saving throws (see Saving Throws above).

Strength: Fortitude
Dexterity: Reflex
Constitution: Fortitude
Intelligence: Will
Wisdom: Will
Charisma: Will

In some circumstances, a Referee can alter which ability is associated with a heroic task, and therefore which type of saving throw. Such is the power of being a Referee!

MULTIPLE DIFFICULTIES
If a heroic task you are attempting involves more than one difficulty, a -2 penalty per extra difficulty is applied to the dice roll. For example, riding a mount during combat is difficult, and therefore requires a skill check for success. Riding an untamed flying mount that has been frightened during combat involves four different difficulties, and thus imposes a -6 penalty (-2 per difficulty beyond the first) to the skill check to avoid failure.

[Note - just a sample of the more "old school" heroic tasks here - there are more in the game]

BEND BARS (STRENGTH)
Adventurers tend to get themselves into trouble, either by breaking into a monster’s home and stealing its loot or by failing to pay the king’s taxes on said stolen loot. This means that they might end up in the king’s dungeon or maybe on the wrong side of a portcullis with thousands of angry kobolds rushing towards them.

EASY: Bending bars is only easy if the bars are made of a weak metal, like gold, or very rusty iron bars. Using a tool might make bending bars an easy task as well.

DIFFICULT: The following difficulties force a character to attempt an action check when bending bars:
• Bending normal metal bars
• Bending bars one inch or more thick

FAILURE: The bars do not bend.

NOTE: Adamantine bars cannot be bent.

FINDING SECRET DOORS (INTELLIGENCE)
When a wizard wants to hide their treasure for all time, they might put it behind a massive metal door with a dozen locks trapped with acid, or they might put it behind a door that blends into the wall. Of course, they might do both.

SKILLED: Elves have a knack for finding secret doors.

EASY: Finding a secret door is never easy.

DIFFICULT: The following difficulties force a character to attempt an action check to find a secret door:
• Secret door is built to resemble the surface of a wall, floor or ceiling (i.e. all secret doors).
• Secret door is hidden using magic.

FAILURE: The secret door remains a secret.

NOTE: Finding a secret door does not necessarily mean opening a secret door. Many secret doors require special catches to be tripped (a book pulled from a bookshelf or a wall sconce pulled down, for example). Characters who cannot figure out how to open a secret door may have to batter it down (see Battering Doors above).

HIDING (DEXTERITY)
When an adventurer finds themselves hunted in a hostile dungeon or fortress, hiding might come in handy.

SKILLED: Thieves and assassins are skilled at hiding anywhere. Rangers are skilled at hiding in the wilderness. Halflings have a knack for hiding.

EASY: Hiding one’s entire body behind a solid opaque object.

DIFFICULT: The following difficulties force a character to attempt an action check to hide:
• Hiding behind a translucent objects (no, you cannot hide behind a transparent object!)
• Hiding behind an object smaller than you are.
• Hiding behind a non-rigid object, such as curtains.
• Hiding in nothing but shadow (counts as two difficulties)
• Hiding while under observation (requires a distraction)

FAILURE: You are noticed by an observer.

NOTE: If wearing camouflaging clothing (i.e. green in a woodland, black when hiding in shadows) you may receive a +2 bonus to your dice roll.

Greatsword - A Card of Game of Sword Duels

2011-12-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

Here's my draft of the rules for a card game of sword-against-sword combat using a normal, everyday deck of cards. I call it Greatsword. Let me know if you try it out and what you think. I'm going to try to find some time this week to try it out myself.

DOWNLOAD GREATSWORD HERE

Dueling with a Deck of Cards

2011-12-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Toying with a mini-game involving sword duels and a deck of cards. I'll fill you all in as I get further with it, but at the moment it involves playing black cards for offense, red cards for defense, sometimes wanting to go higher than your opponent, sometimes lower, may include some bluffing elements for feints, damage would involve losing cards in your hand and it would take into account the benefits of using a shield. Sound good? We'll see.

In the meantime, enjoy a small glimpse into HELL!

9.57 Amber Tower: Three hundred cowardly shades dwell here in a village of packed mud houses surrounded by a dry moat filled with pongee sticks coated with a black, tar-like poison that causes people to slip into a comatose sleep for 1d4 days. When they awake, they find themselves changed, their skin scaled and colored deep purple on their extremities and their minds possessed of an animal cunning, though their intelligence score drops to 2.

The shades of the village have ashen skin that is cracked and dry. They are lean and quiet and move stiffly, almost as though they were zombies.

The village is overseen by Leralol, a nalfeshnee minion of Barbatos who dwells in a tower of amber glass that gives off waves of heat. Standing within 100 feet of the tower is uncomfortable. Moving to within 10 feet causes 1d4 point of damage per turn. This damage persists within the tower, which is about 50 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter. Each floor of the tower is circular in shape, with an arched roof and a spiral stair in the center leading to the next floor. All of the glass surfaces in the tower are hot to the touch, causing 1d6 points of damage.

In the lower chambers, Leralol has dozens of newly arrived shades chained to the ceiling, drying like prosciutto. The third level holds changed victims of the black tar poison in cages. These poor souls serve as Leralol’s primary form of entertainment – hunting. The fourth level holds his kennel of nerizo demons, which he uses on his hunts. The fifth level holds his own quarters, a room about twice as big as it should be, given the size of the tower. This room is decorated with all manner of grisly hunting trophies, most of them humanoid, but also many wild, demonic animals as well, a row of seven succubus heads posed most scandalously and the head of a hellephant that has been turned into a headboard on Leralol’s bed. Five servant succubi are chained to this bed, but have enough room to move through the chamber, which connects to a small pantry, kitchen and armory.

--

Image is the iconic fighter from Blood & Treasure, by Jon Kaufman (natch)

Hell South - Preview 7: Ghoul Town

2011-12-10T13:48:00.001-08:00

110.100 Ghala-ghilan: Ghala-ghilan is the gruesome city-state of the ghouls and ghasts and their hideous lords. The city houses 5,000 ghouls, 1,500 ghasts and their slaves/cattle, which number 1d10 x 1,000 humanoids at any given moment. Ghala-ghilan has sandstone walls topped by a hundred onion domes cast in bronze and painted with black enamel. In each tower there is a squad of ghouls armed with slings and crude axes. The streets of Ghala-ghilan are wide and covered with a damp, slimy film. The buildings are sandstone towers rising 30 to 50 feet in height, with flat roofs topped by memorial statues stolen from cemeteries all over the world. Amidst these towers there are long palaces with colonnades.

The ghouls need not eat often, so when they do slaughter their herds of humanoid slaves, they hold grandiose feasts with strangely sedate and dainty entertainments.

112.99 Celestial Army: An army of luminous aasimar has gathered here for an assault on Ghala-ghilan, the city of ghouls [110.100], for the ghouls have stolen something precious to the powers of Law, the legendary Pistis Sophia. The paladin Eaduvenius leads the bright host, who are now camped in white pavilions (regrettably sullied by their long trek through the Underworld) flying white pennons emblazoned with various symbols holy to the forces of Law. The army numbers 25 companies of heavy infantry and 50 companies of light infantry and archers. Almost all of them are drawn from the Farukh, the descendants of the Heavenly Host that once descended to Nod to destroy the wicked city of Irem and stayed to long. The Farukh dwell in the hills outside of the city-state of Guelph. In addition to the warrior, the army has about 300 bearers and handlers to look after the giant lizards used as pack animals, and ten packs of blink dogs.

117.64 Hot Cave: There is a deep, dank, damp cave here that is heated by a thermal vent and mineral spring. The interior of the cave and much of the exterior is covered by a massive yellow musk creeper. The cave is always filled with 3d6 yellow musk zombies and encounters with 2d4 zombies occur in this hex on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6 per day.

120.63 Exploding Pool: A simple pool in this hex is bordered by white stones that glow lightly. Should a person try to drink from it, the fountain explodes into a water spout, throwing them 1d10 x 10 feet into the air. Should one attempt to ride this spout to the top (requires a dexterity check on 2d6+12) find they can access a chamber carved into the ceiling that contains a great trove of treasure guarded by an ancient water elemental.

121.66 Tormented Mephits: Ten fire mephitis have been chained to the ground here near a frosty cave. The cave is inhabited by three frost giant brothers, Frimli, Giri and Hundi and their pet small white dragon, Snurl. The giants torment the mephitis from time to time, carrying small torches near them and then snapping them away.

--

Image from Golden Age Comic Book Stories; by Virgil Finlay

Deviant Friday - Chen Wei

2011-12-09T13:56:00.001-08:00

Some classic stuff today from Chen Wei - Lorlandchain on DeviantArt. Some of it reminds me Chris Achilleos. All of it is excellent.

Amazon

Crane

The Jurney

Dance with Ice and Fire

Rose

Cavalier of Gold

Magical Prehistory Tour

2011-12-08T13:21:00.001-08:00

Dinosaurs. Awesome, right? Lots of them, though – hard to keep track, especially when scientists keep changing their darn minds about them (they’re brontosauruses because that name is cooler, and triceratops are so a species of dinosaurs, so shut up scientist man). Here’s a handy dandy guide to basic forms and a few handy “mutations” to keep your players guessing.

DINO TYPES

Not scientific, but just a quick batch of stats for some basic dino types. And yes - I already know it doesn’t cover everything, just the stuff that pops up most often in old dinosaur movies and the Flintstones.

CERATOPSIANS
These are the fellows with the lovely head fringes and horns, like triceratops. Assume the basic ceratopsian is about 30 feet long.

CERATOPSIAN: HD 15; AC 0 [19] front, 5 [14] back; Atk 1 gore (4d8); Move 12; Save 3; CL/XP 15/2900; Special: None.

PTEROSAURS
Technically not dinosaurs, but if they’re on the Flintstones, they’re close enough for me. These are the flyers. The basic pterosaur has a wingspan of about 15 feet and a length of about 5 feet.

PTEROSAUR: HD 5; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4), 1 bite (2d8); Move 9 (Fly 24); Save 12; CL/XP 6/400; Special: None.

SAUROPODS
The big boys – quadrupeds with long necks who make little tremors when they walk. Assume that the basic sauropod is around 150 feet long.

SAUROPOD: HD 25; AC 6 [13]; Atk 1 stomp (4d10); Move 9; Save 3; CL/XP 25/5900; Special: None.

THERAPODS
The therapods cover the bipedal carnivores, of which the T-Rex and Velociraptor are now the most famous. Assume that the basic therapod is huge in size (i.e. around 30 feet long). When a therapod bites prey, it grabs the victim in its jaws, shaking and chewing for automatic damage in subsequent rounds. Only victims with shells, bone frills, or spines can avoid the horrendous tearing damage.

THERAPOD: HD 18; AC 4 [15]; Atk 1 bite (4d8); Move 18; Save 3; CL/XP 19/2400; Special: Chews and tears.

THYREOPHERANS
These are the quadruped armored or spiked dinosaurs, like stegosaurus and ankylosaurus. Assume that the basic thyreopheran is about 20 feet long.

THYREOPHERAN: HD 15; AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 bite (1d8), 1 tail (4d6); Move 9; Save 3; CL/XP 15/2900; Special: None.

MUTATIONS
No more humdrum dinos for us, my friend. Let’s make them fabulous!

1D30 / MUTATION
1-2 Small and quick – reduce HD by half (and modify saving throws accordingly) and double their speed. In addition, they get a bonus to initiative (how much depends on what you roll, +1 if d6, +2 if d10, +3 if d20; if you roll d8, you’re weird and I just can’t help you). Decrease damage by one dice size.

3 Big and beefy – increase HD by 50%, cut movement in half and if they are at least 60 feet in length they can cause an earthquake (as the spell) once per day in a 100-ft radius. Increase damage by one dice size.

4 Red scales – dinosaur is immune to fire.

5 Blue scales – dinosaur is immune to lightning.

6 White scales – dinosaur is immune to cold.

7 Gold scales – dinosaur is immune to non-magic weapons and +2 to save vs. magic.

8 Black scales – dinosaur surprises on 3 in 6 at night, has darkvision.

9 Woolly – dinosaur has fur. This gives it a +1 bonus to AC and resistance (50%) to cold.

10 Massive Brain – dinosaur has high intelligence and can use a psychic blast (30-ft cone, save or stunned for 1d4 rounds) three times per day.

11 Draconic – as small and quick, plus dinosaur has dragon wings and the flight speed and breath weapon of a random dragon; 1 = Black; 2 = Blue; 3 = Gold; 4 = Green; 5 = Red; 6 = White. Dino-dragons can never speak or cast magic spells.

12 Spitter – can spit poison (30-ft range; save or blinded and 1d6 damage) or belch acid (10-ft cone, 2d6 damage).

13 Leaper - can leap up to 20 feet forward or 10 feet backward. When leaping to attack, treat as a charge.

14 Gorgonoid – has metallic scales as a gorgon; increase AC by +4.

15-16 Horns – has two horns or two extra horns; gains an additional gore attack for 2d6 damage.

17 Manticoroid – has tail spikes that can be fired like those of a manticore for 1d6 points of damage.

18 Displacement – per the mirror image spell (4 additional images), can be used three times per day.

19 Blink – per the blink dog.

20-21 Camouflage – surprises on a roll of 1-3 on 1d6.

22 Stone Cold Awesome – has a petrifying bite, per the cockatrice. Dinosaur can swallow and ingest the stone if a carnivore.

23 Laser eyes – can fire searing beams from eyes three times per day. Range of 60 feet, 3d6 points of damage, ranged attack required.

24 Scream – per the shout spell, usable three times per day.

25 Rider – dinosaur is ridden by a caveman bounty hunter (per dwarf fighter level 1d4+4). Rider wears the equivalent of leather armor and carries a club and three throwing spears.

26 Trill – dinosaur can trill as a remorhaz.

27 Song – dinosaur produces a vibration that causes sleep (as the spell). Usable three times per day.

28 Song – dinosaur produces a vibration that causes a charm monster effect. Usable three times per day.

29 Song – dinosaur produces a vibration that causes a hold monster effect. Usable three times per day.

30 Construct – dinosaur is made of metal and gears. Increase AC by +5. There is a 5% chance it can change its shape to that of a stone giant (also made of metal and gears, AC +5). Constructs are immune to mind effecting spells, poison and disease and take half damage from fire and lightning.

Have any other ideas? Put them in the comments – let’s take this table to 100!

--

Image from Golden Age Comic Book Stories, by the great Charles Knight.

Magic-Users in Blood and Treasure

2011-12-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

Just a quick sample of the magic-user as it will appear in Blood and Treasure. Nothing earth shattering - mostly did it to show off the sweet illo by Jon Kaufman.

MAGIC-USER

Magic-users are spell casters who can access the widest variety of spells in the game. They are scholars and thus fairly weak combatants.

Requirements: A magic-user must have an intelligence score of 9 or higher.

Hit Dice: d4 (+1 hit points per level from 10th to 20th).

Armor: None.

Shield: No.

Weapons: Club, dagger, dart and quarterstaff.

Skills: Deciphering scripts.

CLASS FEATURES
A magic-user casts spells from the magic-user spell list. A magic-user must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time. Like other spell casters, a magic-user can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Magic-User. Unlike a bard or sorcerer, a magic-user may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending one hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the magic-user decides which spells to prepare. He cannot prepare any spell not recorded in her spellbook, except for read magic, which all magic-users can prepare from memory and which they must know to read their spellbook.

A magic-user begins play with a spellbook containing four 0-level spells and three 1st-level spells. At any time, a magic-user can add spells found in other magic-user spellbooks or scrolls to her own or can conduct spell research to learn new or invent spells.

At 9th level (wizard), a magic-user can choose to establish a stronghold in the wilderness and gain followers (see High Level Play below). A magic-user who becomes a lord or lady attracts 1d6 men-at-arms per level (chaotic magic-users can choose to employ goblins, orcs or hobgoblins instead), 1d6 first level magic-users who wish to train under them and one 3rd level magic-user to serve as a lieutenant. These magic-users should be generated as characters under control of the player.

MAGIC-USER SPECIALIZATION
A school is one of eight groupings of spells defined by a common theme. If desired, a magic-user may specialize in one school of magic. Specialization allows a magic-user to cast extra spells from her chosen school, but she then never learns to cast spells from some other schools.

A specialist wizard can prepare three additional spells of her specialty school each day. Each extra spell must be from a different spell level that the magic-user can cast.

The magic-user must choose whether to specialize and, if she does so, choose her specialty at 1st level. At this time, she must also give up two other schools of magic (unless she chooses to specialize in divination), which become her prohibited schools. A magic-user cannot give up the divination school to fulfill this requirement. A magic-user may not change either her specialization or her prohibited schools later. Spells of the prohibited school or schools cannot be cast by the magic-user, even using scrolls or wands.

The eight schools of arcane magic are abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation.

Abjuration: Spells that protect, block, or banish. An abjuration specialist is called an abjurer.

Conjuration: Spells that bring creatures or materials to the caster. A conjuration specialist is called a conjurer.

Divination: Spells that reveal information. A divination specialist is called a diviner. Unlike other specialists, a diviner must give up only one other school.

Enchantment: Spells that imbue the recipient with some property or grant the caster power over another being. An enchantment specialist is an enchanter.

Evocation: Spells that manipulate energy or create something from nothing. An evocation specialist is called an evoker.

Illusion: Spells that alter perception or create false images. An illusion specialist is called an illusionist.

Necromancy: Spells that manipulate, create, or destroy life or life force. A necromancy specialist is called a necromancer.

Transmutation: Spells that transform the recipient physically or change its properties in a more subtle way. A transmutation specialist is called a transmuter.

Hell South - Preview 6: A Sphinx Says What?

2011-12-06T15:48:00.001-08:00

Another quickie preview. Soon, I'll be previewing some art for Blood & Treasure!

92.99 Criosphinx: A talkative, obnoxious criosphinx has set up shop here on a ledge about 500 feet above the ground. The ledge leads back into a natural amphitheater and several shallow mines dug ages ago by kobolds searching for gold. They finally quit when one group of miners struck an underground river, which flooded the mine and formed a waterfall for years. Eventually, the river shifted and the ledge and mines are now dry and worn very smooth.

99.95 Hidden Ropers: The landscape here contains an old stone road that descends into a deep canyon. The walls of the canyon are streaked with deposits of gold and marred by many ledges and shallow caves that spout clear, fresh springs. The springs empty into rifts in the canyon floor, keeping it from filling with water. The ledges in one mile-long stretch are occupied by several ropers that are hidden beneath a hallucinatory terrain effect created by a duergar magic-user who wants to keep the gold safe until he is ready to clear the canyon of ropers.

102.96 Stone Golem Inn: A band of enterprising svirfneblin have established a rollicking good inn here. The inn is set about 40 feet above the ground in an abandoned cliff dwelling that looks to have once belonged to mantari.

Standing beneath the inn there is a stone golem that has the appearance of a great ape with pearly eyes and upward jutting fangs. The gnomes have nicknamed it “Ook”, and are apparently capable of commanding it, perhaps by dint of their now owning the cliff dwelling. The stone golem is the only means of accessing the inn other than climbing the walls or flying in, and the gnomes only grant access to folk who appear to be no danger and who are willing to dance a lively jig for the entertainment of themselves and their customers.

The svirfneblin number four ex-adventurers and their significant others and children; there are twelve in all. They serve a passable mushroom brew using fresh water that falls down the back of the inn (a subterranean waterfall) and serve thick mushroom steaks and anything else they can get their hands on.
The inn has ten small rooms (15 gp a night), or folks can stay in the common room for 3 gp a night.

107.102 Cracking Ground: The ground here cracks and juts up at random intervals, presenting a terrible hazard to travelers (1 in 6 chance per hour of being struck for 8d6 points of damage). Amidst this chaos, there rests the magnificent Throne of Glooms, a simple throne carved from basalt (and quite rough) and set with three dozen onyx (1d6 x 100 gp each). Each of these stones holds an ethereal shade, who can emerge if a living person sits in the throne. The person is stuck fast to the throne while it drains away their charisma (1 point per round). They can only escape the throne with an open doors check, though the shades do their best to prevent this.

As a person loses their charisma, the color gradually drains away from their skin, eyes and hair. When their charisma is drained to 0, the person transforms into a terrible creature called a gloom, the genius loci of the Glooms, so to speak. At this, the terrible eruptions of the hex end and the ground becomes perfectly smooth and placid.

The newly created gloom will expect its former comrades to become its avid worshippers and help it to facilitate the re-conquest of its domain.

Martians! [Space Princess]

2011-12-05T18:58:00.001-08:00

BAH!

Ah - December! The crisp air, the smell of expensive holiday-themed candles, fruit cakes ... it always brings one thing in particular to my mind. Martians!

In particular, the hapless buggers who dared kidnap Santa Claus. Having had the annual viewing of the MST3K classic riffing of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, and with the eminent release of Space Princess, I figured it made sense to mash the two together. When the Christmas season rolls around and you've gathered your friends to play some Space Princess over a glass of eggnog, you'll be well prepared.

Martian
The Martians are green-skinned humanoids of a (formerly) warlike race. From an early age Martians are educated by thought waves projected from computer banks and received by cybernetic antennae jutting from helmets almost always worn on their heads. These helms act as communicator devices (see Super Science). Martians arm themselves with freeze ray guns. Most wear skin-tight green costumes, while leaders are designated by their use of cloaks.

Martians dwell in subterranean cities that abut their famous canals, which transfer water from the poles to the warmer climes. Martians require very little air and are immune to cold. Despite their planet's lower gravity, they appear to be just as strong as human beings.

The elders of the Martian race are called chochems. These mystics can employ four psychic powers. They dress in robes and carry staves.

For the past generation, Kimar has served as the leader of the Martian people. It was he who personally led the expedition to bring Santa Claus and Christmas to the Martians. In the time since the arrival of Santa, the Martians have become less warlike and more generous. Still, some elements among them seek a return to the old ways. A leader among these rebels is Voldar, a mustachioed thug with a cruel sense of humor.

MARTIAN WARRIOR: HD 2; DEFENSE 6; MELEE 6 (fists 1d4); RANGED 6 (freeze ray gun); MOVE N; STR 4; DEX 4; MEN 3; KNOW 5; DL 2; SPECIAL: Immune to cold.

CHOCHEM: HD 1; DEFENSE 4; MELEE 4 (staff 1d6); RANGED 4; MOVE N; STR 3; DEX 3; MEN 5; KNOW 7; DL 2; SPECIAL: Immune to cold, four psychic powers (activate +12).

VOLDAR: HD 6; DEFENSE 9; MELEE 12 (fists 1d4); RANGED 9 (freeze ray gun); MOVE N; STR 6; DEX 4; MEN 3; KNOW 5; DL 6; SPECIAL: Immune to cold.

KIMAR: HD 8; DEFENSE 13; MELEE 12 (fists 1d4); RANGED 13 (freeze ray gun); MOVE N; STR 4; DEX 5; MEN 4; KNOW 6; DL 8; SPECIAL: Immune to cold.

By the way - if any artist out there would like to draw their rendition of Capt. Kirk performing his famous flying kick on Voldar while Santa and Spock look on, well, I'm sure we'd all like to see it!

Images found here and here.

Hell South - Preview 5

2011-12-04T08:33:00.001-08:00

59.109 Ancient Lake: There is an ancient lake here, the shores of which are thick with tall mushrooms, about ten to twenty feet tall. The mud in the lake bottom is infused with spores that animate corpses as water-logged zombies. A notac-ichat necromancer called Otatach has set up shop on a secluded harbor in a half-ruined tower. He currently has a dozen of these zombies serving him, and is looking for more – a few are already buried in the muck, but new bodies can be added if their current owners die.

70.109 Blue Flame: This hex is a tableland of buttes and wide, empty canyons. The walls of the buttes are a dark gray streaked with white, and there are numerous caves. In the northern portion of the tableland, the ground drops suddenly to form a basin filled with a thin layer of salty water. Amidst this water there is a beacon tower. The tower is 50 feet tall and made of the same gray stone as the buttes. The exterior is studded with spikes and there is a powerful blue flame exploding out of the top of the tower. The flame rises about 20 feet taller than the tower. A stone door descends into the ground when a secret panel near the door is pressed to allow entry.

Inside the tower, which is 15 feet in diameter, there is a spiral stair leading to the top of the tower. The stairs are about four feet wide. In the center of the tower there are glass walls that go from bottom to top. Inside the glass walls one can see the blue fire as it erupts from the ground. At the top of the tower one is exposed directly to the flame, which gives off very little heat.

The flame is actually an ancient red dragon that defied the gods and was turned into this flame as punishment. If one can communicate telepathically they can communicate with the dragon, Vornthek, who will tell its sad tale (all lies, of course) to an adventurer in hope of being changed back, though undoing a deific punishment is no simple matter.
Some folk of the Gloom have been known to spread a tale of the great power that can be acquired by jumping through the flames (not easy, of course, as it is a seven foot jump and a fifty foot drop if one fails). Those who pass through the flames take on draconic powers.

The power comes with a curse, of course. A day after one takes on the draconic aspect, they become a bit smaller and a bit more draconic. After two days, their hands become claws, their nose extends into a snout, etc. By the fourth day the person is noticeably smaller and they have sprouted wings and begun to think like a dragon. This continues until, on the seventh day, they become a little, blue pseudo-dragon.

Draconic Powers: The person who steps through the flame gains the ability to breathe a 30-foot cone of fire for 6d6 points of dragon once per day. In addition, they are immune to fire and their AC improved by four points.

79.106 Well of Evil: A rocky hill here is topped by a shell keep with 30-foot high walls that are 15 feet thick. The walls contain several chambers in which dwell the Platinum Order of dwarf clerics and their servants, three dozen dwarf berserkers who cover their unclothed bodies in violet tattoos and wield two-handed axes.

The berserkers and clerics are the official guardians of an ancient iron well in which are bound dozens of ancient (far more ancient than the devils), evil spirits. The dwarf clerics are bound by several tattoos. They cannot speak or cut their hair, must never draw blood. If they break these taboos, the evil spirits are released from the well as a nightcrawler, a shadowy worm of immense proportions.

Deviant Friday - Armand Dmitri

2011-12-02T08:22:00.001-08:00

Some groovy stuff from Lord Mishkin (Armand Dmitri) today. I'm on my way to an office Christmas party, so I hope you have as much fun today as I do!

Heidegger

Ganondorf

Evrane

Cloud Strife

Thor

hobbit

L'homme esturgeon

Killer Girl

Family Feuds

2011-12-01T12:14:00.001-08:00

The other day, I was thinking about fantasy cities and ways to define them. Most of my cities for NOD are done as a small section of the place with interesting personalities to run into, along with a run down on the ruler, high priest or priestess, etc. Just enough to make the place memorable and with a focus on something special that might bring the players hundreds of miles – the finest armorer in the region, a black market for stolen goods, etc.

The idea of a key industry crossed my mind – think of several industries and specialties and generate one specialty in one industry in which a city excels – i.e. if you want the best éclairs, you have to travel to Barnabas, the City of Eclairs. So, Barnabus would have a bunch of master bakers who produce the best éclairs in the universe, and in fact are so skilled they can bake magical effects into their éclairs (i.e. magic potions). Barnabas would have many excellent normal bakers as well, and to support the baking industry would need associated industries like milling, farming, orchards, jelly makers, beet growers, spice merchants, etc. As I played with working this into a system, I realized that it was breaking my #1 rule for NOD – focus on adventuring. This industry stuff was interesting, but how was this forwarding the goal of sending players on adventures? Putting an hour of work into generating some demographics that will never lead to one daring sword fight, swing across a chasm, assassination attempt, kidnapping or plundered treasure horde just doesn’t make sense to me when we’re working at creating an adventure game.

One thing that did come to me, though, was the idea of rival families. You see, when I was thinking about different medieval industries, merchants came to mind. But how does a city specialize in merchants? Well, maybe banking – but every city needs merchants. And then I thought about great merchant families, and the Montagues and Capulets came to mind and I thought – you know what every fantasy city needs – rival families. Three families at least – one the most powerful, the other the bitter rival and the third the up-and-comer playing one off the other. That can lead to adventures, as players get involved with these folks and their endless machinations. With that in mind …

STEP ONE – THE FAMILY

Every family has a head – the man and woman who holds the legal reins. We need to determine how old they are and what they can do. In this case, all of these families are going to be mercantile in nature. All family heads are going to be venturers. Their level depends on their generation: Adult 1d6+1, Mature 1d8+2 and Old 1d10+3.

1-3. Adult (25 to 35 years old)
4-5. Mature (36 to 55 years old)
6. Old (56 + years old)

Now we need to roll 1d6 for the family head’s siblings. Each sibling has a 50/50 chance of being male or female and comes from the same generation as the head of the family. We’ll presume that any older family members are dead, or else they would be in the leadership position.

The siblings are probably nondescript merchant types or venturers, but might be something else. Roll to find out for sure. At the same time, roll a 1d4 to figure out their general personality.

OCCUPATION

1-6. Merchant (0-level)
7-10. Trader (3 HD)
11-13. Venturer
14. Sage
15-16. Artisan
17. Thief or Assassin
18. Magic-User or Illusionist
19. Cleric* or Druid
20. Fighter or Duelist (1% chance of a paladin)

* Clerics worship as follows: 01-70 – Deity of Trade or Wealth; 71-90 – Lawful Deity that might frown on some business practices; 91-100 – Chaotic Deity/Demon/Devil

PERSONALITY
1. Sanguine (impulsive, pleasure-seeking, sociable, emotional, creative, compassionate)
2. Choleric (ambitious, leader-like, aggressive, passionate, energetic, dominating)
3. Melancholy (introverted, thoughtful, pondering, considerate, artistic, perfectionists)
4. Phlegmatic (relaxed and quiet, lazy, content, kind, accepting, affectionate, shy)

For those with class levels, roll them as follows:

Young* - 1d4
Adult - 1d6
Mature - 1d8
Old - 1d10

* For children of adults

75% of males and females are married and have 1d4-1 children. Each siblings mate is (1-4) from the same generation or (5) one generation older or (6) one generation younger. The children are all from one generation younger than the younger partner in the marriage. Roll up the children’s personalities and occupations as well, unless the children are from the generation younger than “Young”, in which case they are too young to have an occupation.

For each person in the family, roll up their Charisma score as well on 3d6.

Adult or older children of the siblings have the same chance as the siblings as being married with children. Young children of the siblings have a 50% chance of being married and have 1d3-1 children.

STEP TWO – ASSETS

Each of these mercantile families has core assets dependent on the number and age of the family members (not including spouses). Each family also has a town house for the head of the family and each sibling, and the necessary servants for each town house (butler/valet, cook, upstairs maid, etc.)

Young - 1d20 x5 gpAdult - 1d20 x 10 gp
Mature - 1d20 x 50 gp
Old - 1d20 x 100 gp

In addition, the family gets 1d4+1 rolls on the following table of special assets.

ASSETS
1. Tied by blood to a noble family – the head of the family is a (1-3) 3rd cousin, (4-5) 2nd cousin or (6) first cousin to a (1-4) baron, (5-6) count or (7) duke or (8) king.
2-3. Tied by marriage to a noble family – replace the head’s spouse or one of the sibling’s spouses with a person of noble blood (as above).
4-9. Owns a caravan of 2d6 wagons or elephants or 4d6 camels to a nearby city
10-15. Owns a merchant galley that travels to a nearby city
16-20. Owns a caravan of 3d6 wagons or elephants or 6d6 camels that travels to a far away city
21-25. Owns a merchant cog that travels to a far away city
26-27. Owns a valuable heirloom that is (1-3) a major piece of jewelry, (4-5) a major gem or (6) a minor magic item
28-30. Owns 2d4 fine horses
31-33. Owns 3d6 fine hounds
34-36. Owns 3d6 fine falcons
37-38. Owns a single magical beast
39-40. Has a hired magic-user (roll 1d4+1 for level); all family members can cast a single non-offensive 1st level magic-user spell per day
41-43. Has a hired assassin (roll 1d4+1 for level); all family members carry vials of mild poison
44-48. Has a hired duelist (roll 1d4+1 for level); all family members +1 to hit and damage with rapiers
49-50. Has a hired gourmand (roll 1d4+1 for level)
51-55. Owns a fine manse in the city (1d6+6 rooms)
56-59. Owns a fine mansion in the city (1d10+10 rooms)
60-62. Owns a fine villa or manor in the country (1d8+8 rooms)
63-66. Owns a fabled wine cellar (total value of 3d10 x 100 gp)
67-70. Owns a fabled art collection (total value of 3d10 x 100 gp)
71-74. Owns a fabled armor and weapon collection (3d6 pieces, all masterwork and legendary)
75-78. Has a seat on the city council
79-80. Has a seat on the king’s privy council
81-83. Has master of the local merchant’s guild
84-85. Has a dark family secret
86-88. 1d4 x 10,000 sp in additional assets
89-90. 1d3 x 1,000 gp in additional assets
91. 1d2 x 100 pp in additional assets
92-95. Has a letter of marquee from the king
96. Suffers under a family curse
97. Enjoys a family blessing (an ancestor was a saint or martyr)
98. Has an infamous (and rumored) torture chamber
99. Has an infamous (and rumored) cabinet of horrors
100. Has an infamous (and rumored) shrine to a demon or devil lord

SAMPLE FAMILY: THE MONTFLEURS

Arnou Montefleur – Sanguine 4th level Venturer, Adult

Arnou has two sisters:

Gallia is a phlegmatic, adult trader (3 HD) married to Merlin, a young merchant. They have three infant sons, Merlin, Arnou and Delmar.

Allyriane is a sanguine, adult duelist (1st level) married to Octave, an adult merchant. They have three young children, Tristan (3 HD trader), Therese (3 HD trader) and Fleurette, a goldsmith.

The families assets are 10,000 sp and 310 gp in cash money, locked away in the family’s town house.

The family also owns a caravan of 5 wagons that travels to a far away city, 8 fine hounds, a merchant galley and, though this is only rumored, a shrine to the devil Mammon in their cellar (it’s really behind a sliding wall in their dining room).

Notable Nobles - Part the Last

2011-11-30T10:42:00.001-08:00

Finally, we come to the last post in the series on noble nicknames, this time with dwarf nobles. I went all out on this one and gave each three nicknames - hey, maybe dwarves like their nicknames.

WILDGRAVE OGMUND the Standard Bearer, the Tempest, White Shirt

Ogmund is a ragged, wild-haired dwarf who dwells in the rugged borderlands on the edge of the dwarf kingdom, lands invaded regularly by the goblin races, ettins and trolls. A famed giant-slayer, he is a loyal companion of Jarl Vagn, having gone on many adventures into the giant country with his father, Vagr, when they were both young dwarfs with much to prove. Ogmund’s nephew, Skapti, is rarely far from his side save when Ogmund’s berserkergang comes upon him. His retinue also includes three chroniclers, two dwarf warriors and their sergeant, Odi and Ljot, a 5th level fighter who serves as his champion and bailiff. Ogmund always dresses in a white tunic and white, hooded cloak.

OGMUND: HD 9 (52 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 5; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: Double normal number of followers, immune to fear, berskerer.

THEGN INGIRID the Treacherous, the Usurper, the Well-Served

Ingirid is the half-sister of Jarl Vagn and his most hated rival. Hated by most of her kin due to her treachery and her dealing with the goblins and orcs, she nevertheless holds fortitided iron mines in the southern mountains that keep her wealthy and influential. Her consort is Vandrad, an exile from the Jarl’s court, two scribes and one orc sergeant, Forox. Her minions are very loyal.

INGIRID: HD 5 (23 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 12; CL/XP 5/240; Special: Treasure as CL 15, low charisma (6), cast bane (reverse of bless) once per day, +1 morale bonus to soldiers.

JARL VAGN the Springer, Star of the North, the Tail

Jarl Vagn is the young, dashing king of the dwarfs, having taken the throne when his father Vagr finally passed into the halls of his ancestor. Vagn is a lover of gold and luxury, unlike his more stern father, but his glib tongue, handsome features and strong sense of justice have kept him popular with all but his half-sister Ingirid. Vagn is accompanied by the berserker Bersi, the shieldmaiden Hlif (who drives him mad with desire), four clarks (one a 3rd level fighter/thief in service to Ingirid), five dwarf warriors and their sergeant, Olaf the Round.

VAGN: HD 2 (12 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 16; CL/XP 2/60; Special: Triple normal number of followers, treasure as CL 20, +2 initiative, +2 to all attacks and saves.

The Gas Mines of Regulon-4 [Space Princess]

2011-11-29T11:48:00.001-08:00

Finally got to sit down with the Daughter of Nod last night and play some Space Princess. You met the core of her crew a few days ago. We added a couple more for this run-through - a veteran gynoid star warrior named XJ9 (pronounced "nye-in", for those who never saw the cartoon) and a genius scientist named Egon. It gave me a chance to find the missing parts in the game and tinker with the mechanics. It also was pretty fun. Here's a brief re-cap:

The gas mines are located on a small moon of Regulon-4, which is surrounded by a sort of asteroid belt / ring structure like Saturn. They represent a forward base for the empire of Lord Kang. Recently, one of the space cruisers of Kang overtook the royal yacht of the Princess Miranda and captured her. The dreadnaught took her to the gas mines, where she will be held until Kang can arrive and "convince" her to marry him, thus uniting his empire with the the Space Kingdom of New Avalon. Or something like that.

My daughter's crew has managed to sneak into the gas mines via a forgotten shaft that runs through an exhaust port for the radium furnaces located beneath the main mine structure. A diversion caused by a wing of star fighters allowed their shuttle to land in a nearby crater on the rocky, barren, slightly radioactive moon.

The action kicked off with them sneaking into the exhaust port. This was a room divided by a 10-ft wide chasm through which radioactive green gasses were vented. There was a door and control panel on the other side of the room that looked as though it extended a bridge. Every so often, gasses would be vented. The crew were in space suits, so being in the presence of the radioactivity was not a problem, but being caught in the exhaust would probably kill them. Declining to use Lum's "leap and swing" skill to vault the chasm, and instead sent Egon, with his anti-grav belt, across. Once there, he commandeered the control panel and extended the bridge. The crew waited for a venting of the gasses and then hurried across. Egon opened the door and they made their way into the complex.

A few turns later, they were listening at doors. Behind one there were many voices, so they passed it by. Another was fairly silent, so they opened it to find a sleeping carnelian space dragon and dozens of silvery gas canisters. They closed the door before it awoke and tried the door across the hall, which had the sound of industrial machinery.

This room had a balcony overlooking several machines that were extracting gas from the asteroid and packing it in the cannisters. Two maintenance drones were working here and ignored the group. The balcony had, one either end, two silvery discs implanted in the floor. Declining to look at these (I think she forgot they were there), Egon again used his anti-grav belt to reach the floor 20 feet below. Realizing the others were still trapped up there, and with some prodding by dad, she tried out a disc and found that it was a sort of elevator. When the whole crew got to the floor below, they checked out an exit door. This led into a small, 10x10 metal room with another door. Stepping in, they triggered a freeze gas trap, but all managed to duck back out before they were frozen. Egon went to work on the trap and disabled it, allowing them to enter yet another room.

This room was piled high with the gas canisters, all labeled and organized. As they entered, a computer voice asked them their business. Not knowing what to say, they quickly moved checked out another door, which led to another freeze gas trap. A third door led into a long room occupied by a floating black hole. Egon identified it as a graviton, a dangerous creature, so they retreated. Now, the computer voice was asking for a pass code. Egon managed to find a control panel and got lucky, entering a code and quieting the voice.

Passing through the trapped room, they enter a sort of small break room - coffee dispensers, chairs, tables. [Made me think of this - some language NSFW]. Sitting in here were three bounty hunters, which we nicknamed Space Cowboy, Space Pirate and Evil Space Suit. A fight breaks out, and after young Dr. Zaius is nearly killed (he has to spend a luck point to avoid death), the good guys finally prevail. Unfortunately, they've taken some damage by now. Egon and Dr. Zaius get to work jerry-rigging a medi-kit from spare parts (they take apart a communicator and locator device found on the bounty hunters, and also find another anti-grave belt and three ray guns for the scientists and psychic). While they're working on the medi-kit (takes an hour), a wandering probe-bot enters the room, stunning the scientists with an blue cone of light and nearly killing the psychic by the time they're done. Its spare parts are added to the scientists' collection, the medi-kit is used to do some healing (three uses, only three were then left), and the group gets a move on.

Their next encounter comes as they enter a large arena, setting off alarms. A slasher (essentially a robotic marilith demon) is lifted into the arena and attacks. it is defeated, but when the group tries to leave the way they entered, they find a squad of soldiers coming their way. They quickly close the doors and Egon locks them. As the soldiers blast at the doors, the group opens the other exit. Only one soldier is posted there, and he is quickly dispatched with a hail of ray gun fire. Running down the long corridor, they trip a pit trap. Zaius and Crow T. Robot fall in and have to be rescued using the anti-grav belts. The group moves to the end of the corridor and finds an elevator.

The elevator, once activated, takes them up to the plush quarters of Lord Kang, who is not present yet. Here, they find the bound Princess Miranda and a hideous Star Inquisitor. The inquisitor uses its mental domination and turns Zaius and Lum against the party. Now, XJ9 and Crow engage the Star Inquisitor while Egon tries to subdue Zaius and Zora Lum. Egon makes pretty quick work of his student, but Lum kills Zora. Egon then subdues Lum. In the meantime, the Star Inquisitor has been slowly beating Crow while the two robots, immune to his psychic powers, chip away at him. In the end, the Star Inquisitor is subdued by a final ray gun blast from Egon (probably the party's MVP for the session) and Lum and Zaius are released from his grip.

At this point, we stopped because it was getting late. Getting back out of the fortress while it was on alert would have been daunting, but fun.

--

Addenda: I used my handy dandy chamber generator to make this adventure on the fly while we played. Initially, there were no gas mines, but when the first four rooms ended up with "Gas" as special, it became a gas mining station. That, ladies and gentleman, is the value of random tables.

Alternate Dying Rules

2011-11-28T12:43:00.001-08:00

I just wrote up these alternate dying rules for Blood & Treasure. The normal rule is the old fashioned dead at 0 hit points.

ALTERNATE DYING RULES
Some referees (and many players) think death at zero hit points is too harsh and prefer a system that makes dying less common. With those folks in mind, we present this alternate death system. Using this system for most monsters can be a bit of a headache with most monsters, though it might be used for important or unique monsters.

At zero hit points, a character fall unconscious for 1d4 hours. While they are unconscious, they are completely helpless and can be slain by a foe that has the time to slit their throat, stab them in the heart or strangle them with their bare hands. Any amount of healing, either from overnight rest or magic brings them to a conscious state.

If a character is driven into negative hit points, they must pass a fortitude saving throw modified by their current negative hit point total or die.

If such a character does not die, they are considered unconscious and severely wounded. They remain unconscious until their hit point total is brought back to 1 or higher. While severely wounded, a character heals only one hit point of damage per day of rest. Moreover, they must roll on the following table to determine the extent of their severe wounds.

SEVERE WOUNDS TABLE
1-4. Facial scars. Character loses 1 point of charisma permanently.
5. Blindness. This can be cured with remove blindness.
6. Deafness. This can be cured with remove deafness.
7. Mangled limbs. Roll 1d4 to determine the exact limb (1 Left Arm/Hand, 2 Right Arm/Hand, 3 Left Leg/foot, 4 Right leg/foot). Folk with arm or hand damage lose 1 point of strength permanently and suffer from all the obvious effects of such an injury. Folk with leg or foot damage lose 1 point of dexterity permanently and move at half the normal rate.
8. Chest trauma. This might be a punctured lung, broken ribs or other organ damage. The victim loses 1 point of constitution permanently.
9. Severed limb. Roll 1d4 to determine the exact limb (1 Left Arm/Hand, 2 Right Arm/Hand, 3 Left Leg, 4 Right leg). Folk who lose an arm or hand lose 1d3 points of strength permanently and suffer from all the obvious effects of losing such a limb. Folk who lose a leg lose 1d3 points of dexterity permanently and move at half the normal rate. The regenerate spell can restore lost limbs.
10. Head injury. Victim loses 1d3 mental ability score points. For each lost point, roll 1d6 randomly to determine which ability score is affected: 1-2 Intelligence, 3-4 Wisdom, 5-6 Charisma.

Cure serious wounds, cure critical wounds and heal remove the effects of these serious wounds (except for severed limbs) as well as healing hit point damage. Lesser cure spells return lost hit points, but do not remove the effects of these wounds. Some other spells (as noted above) can alleviate these wounds, specifically any spell that heals ability score damage.

Hell South - Preview 4

2011-11-26T22:34:00.001-08:00

Another glimpse at the Underworld ...

24.94 Old Buckle: The ground here is quite uneven, with deep (1d4 x 100 feet) canyons and narrow ridges. On the edge of one such ridge an adventurer might spot a buckle and the remains of a leather belt hung on a small spike of stone attached to the ridge. An adventurer tried to use the belt as a rope to swing themselves down to a ledge located about 6 feet below the edge of the ridge. On this ledge there is a small idol of Lilith made of gold with inlaid ruby lips and amethyst eyes (worth 500 gp, weighs 100 lb). Touching the idol causes one to lose their balance. Kissing the idol teleports them into the stronghold of Lilith in Erebus, the second circle of Hell.

39.107 Quarry Men: A tribe of 200 rock men have an extensive quarry here, pulling granite from the walls of the cavern and selling it throughout the Glooms. Despite their stodgy and staid ways and dull way of speaking, the rock men are quite intelligent and excellent bargainers. The rock men dwell in small caves dug into the sides of their ever-expanding quarry. The best granite is retained and carved into new rock men. The rock men have a treasure of 2,130 sp, 380 ep, 2,520 gp, a brass icon of Vulcanus (worth 30 gp), two fine rhodochrosites worth 500 gp each and 20 barrels of mineral spirits (worth 6 gp each).

51.109 Notac-ichat: A clan of 40 notac-ichat and their 30 females and 35 young dwell here in a citadel of gray bricks, tiny windows and flat, crenelated roofs. The notac-ichat own a tapestry in which is impressed not only the image, but the intelligence of the archmage Vaunus the Vain. The tapestry advises their chief, Yar-Iskr, a rambling old male with purple chitin and a wandering mind. In truth, the archmage controls him and rules his people, using them to collect rare ingredients for a spell to make a simulacrum body that his mind can inhabit until something more permanent comes along. They currently lack an ounce of halfling blood and the wisdom teeth of a dwarf.

Image from Wikipedia

Deviant Friday - Leinilyu Edition

2011-11-25T20:41:00.001-08:00

Playing some Space Princess with the daughter tonight. Had a brief skirmish between her crew of 6 and a sapphire space dragon. She lost her gynoid star warrior, but they finally finished off the dragon. Now I'm looking at the next artist in line for a Deviant Friday spotlight, and I see that it is Leinilyu, who happens to have some nice sci-fi art. Leinilyu brings Travis Charest to mind - very nice lines, understated and beautiful, but some great action work as well. Enjoy.

Spider-Woman

Digital Girl

Nike bot

Keeping Up With the Joneses

Sketch

Saucers

Serenity Cover

Sworn Sword Cover

Holiday Pricing for Land of Nod

2011-11-25T08:50:00.001-08:00

Well, the blog is free of course ... but I've just put some discount pricing on the print products at Lulu.com - anywhere from 5 to 10% off. They're also running a sale for 25% off until Nov 27.

I'll have a more substantial post later today.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mystery Men! Style

2011-11-24T08:52:00.001-08:00

To start off, I want to give thanks for what has been a pretty good year for me. A couple years ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd now be making a few bucks writing game material and even publishing my own games. I'm thankful for the opportunities I've had and for the support folks in the game community have given me. I'm even more thankful for my wife, daughter and family and friends. Things are going well today, but I know that things can change, and I'm determined to be thankful for what I have while I still have it.

Now then, on to the goodies. When I was a kid, we used to do these book orders in elementary school. One of the items we could get from these four-page "catalogs" was a subscription to one of two magazines (I think one was four younger kids, the other for older kids, though which is which I don't remember), Bananas and Dynamite. One little article from Dynamite that stuck with me was about "Zero Heroes". Apparently, these less-than-stellar superheroes were created by B. K. Taylor as a set of stickers. Years later (now, in fact) I managed to find them online (amazing, isn't it) and happily present you a hero for the holiday (well, kinda).

The Great Gobbler
According to the back of the sticker, the Great Gobbler had some exciting adventures, but his series was finally cancelled because, no matter how exciting they were, people couldn't get over the fact that he was just a big turkey.

Cover image above from retroCRUSH.

When Monks Aren't Allowed in Dungeons

2011-11-23T08:28:00.001-08:00

So you think monks don't belong in your fantasy game?

This is what happens when monks don't have dungeons to delve into ...

For the love of Shaolin, give the monks something useful to do. Monks should be kicking orcs in the face, not making spectacles of themselves on weird game shows.

Queen and Kaiser - Some Thoughts

2011-11-22T10:24:00.001-08:00

I know - I have lots of projects to work on, but when the muse kisses you on the forehead, you have to put pen to paper or risk forgetting everything. Thus, some notes on Queen and Kaiser.

--

Theme: Full-throated Victorian adventure. All the characters in a group serve a government - their success turns into success for that country in terms of expanding its empire, inventing new devices - etc.

Influences: Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, Lewis Carroll, Thomas Hughes, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Joseph Conrad, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelly, Charles Dickens, Flashman (of course)

Replace the concept of "race" in most games with class - Low, Middle or High - maybe - might make the rest of the character creation concept too complicated

No classes - characters shaped by random experiences - kind of like Traveller.

Game set circa 1890

Roll experiences based on age of character - different tables for Youth (i.e. school days), 1881-1890, 1871-1880 and 1861-1870. Whatever age range you choose (youth, mature, middle-aged, old), you roll up to three times on a table, declaring the number of rolls before making the rolls.

The basic experiences involves adventures in Victorian England / France / Germany / Russia

One “experience” is called Bend Sinister – this sends you to a different table concerning crime and the underworld, a table one may never escape

One “experience” is called Foreign Service – this sends you to a different table concerning foreign affairs – spying, wars, going native, etc. This table can send you back home to the basic table

One “experience” is called Supernatural – this one goes into Victorian horror and science fiction – one roll, then back to the basic table and no more dips into the supernatural pool – can be ignored if the Referee does not wish to use this material in his or her game

Base the different eras on the literature and historical events of that period

Might restrict the characters in the basic game to English or German, maybe adding different groups in NOD articles - i.e. French, Russian, American, Japanese, Dutch, Ottoman

Characters can be male or female, though experiences might be different

Ability Scores – roll as normal for Target 10

Vigor (strength, fortitude, courage)

Dash (dexterity, quickness, flair for the dramatic)

Study (knowledge, learning, ability to think things through, common sense)

Charm (manners, etiquette, courtship)

You have “hit points” based on your Vigor and “charm points” based on charm, etc. to allow for different forms of combat – Dash can help in all of these things

Hit Point combat is normal fighting

Charm Point combat is about combat in the social sphere- getting the best of a person through being witty, using innuendo, out-talking people – wins people to your side

Skills
Horsemanship (riding tricks, charging, increasing daily movement, polo, steeplechase)

Fencing (swords, axes, spears, walking sticks, knives)

Ballistics (rifle, shotgun, pistol, maxim gun, light cannon)

Fisticuffs (boxing, wrestling)

Archery (bows, crossbows, slings, spears)

High Society (contacts in high society, waltzing, manners, witty conversation, negotiation, waltzing)

Sports (rowing, cricket, football, rugby, darts, billiards, bicycles, croquet, lawn tennis, roller skating)

Command (leading troops, morale checks, military contacts)

Climbing & Leaping (acrobatics, scaling walls and cliffs, leaping over chasms, balancing)

Decipher Scripts (decoding codes, reading ancient tongues)

Detection (finding clues, noticing things, sensing motivations)
Skullduggery (sneaking, cheating, lying, picking pockets, forgery, underworld contacts)

Occultism (uncovering frauds, divining the future, hypnotism, sixth sense)

Prestidigitation (escaping bonds, card tricks, sleight of hand, use of magical props)

Physician (first aid, more complex operations, etc)

Soldier (marching, camp life, cooking, resisting fear under fire)

Scholarship (basic knowledge from university life)

Invention (working with electricity, magnetism and chemicals)

Engineering (working with mechanical objects, building and repairing, clockworks)

Native (local customs and mores, finding one’s way, survival in the environment, native contacts)

Domesticity (managing books, managing servants, cooking, cleaning, first aid, contacts in the shops, commanding others)

Woodcraft (tracking, stalking, knowledge about flora and fauna, survival in home environment)

Husbandry (controlling animals, training animals, taming wild animals)

Seamanship (sea legs, climbing, swimming, gunnery, navigation)

Advance through skills as follows:
- Start at Acquainted (+1)
- Then move to Practiced (+3)
- Then Expertise (+6)
- Finally Mastery (+12)

At expertise, you may take one element of that skill set and advance it to specialization +9 (i.e. with expertise in soldiery you could become a specialist at resisting fear)

At mastery, your previous specialized skill becomes legendary (+15)

Foreign adventures and schooling tutor people in languages. For languages, it goes:
- Smattering (+1) – brief commands and a few words
- Conversational (+3) – can speak with others with no problem
- Literacy (+6) – can read and write in the language
- Fluency (+12) – can write well, have a knowledge of their history and lore and count as having a smattering of all related languages, including ancient dialects

The skills give variable incomes for expertise and mastery, based on the perceived value of the profession – this can be used to procure supplies for expeditions.

Each of the episodes in a life has a dark side as well, requiring one to make an ability check (DC 5, usually) or succumb to an injury, phobia, or some other flaw. The final character may be skilled, but will have some baggage he’s pulling around. Hopefully this makes the character breath and live in the mind of his player!

How about a war wound table?

- Lost limbs – major reduction of movement or dexterity
- Lost eye
- Wounded limbs – reduce movement or dexterity and such
- Permanent hit point loss (no more than 1) – minor wound and scar
- Dengue fever – yellow fever – malaria – reduced Vigor

Expeditions

The game concerns the adventurers being sent on expeditions by the Queen / Kaiser / Czar, etc.

Guides for different adventurers, but always focused on accomplishing a goal (first person to climb a mountain, discovering a lost city, recovering a stolen item, stealing an item, securing a fort, mapping a river, forging diplomatic ties with an aboriginal king or influential noblewoman, etc.)

There would also be a map of the colonial possessions of the empires of the period, and tables for how the world situation changes as adventurers succeed or fail at different tasks. There could always be the threat of a Great War, and the changing political climate could itself spur new expeditions (i.e. "After losing their hold on Rhodesia to the Germans, the Queen's government has decided they need to obtain the plans for the latest German cruiser which is now stationed off the coast of Tanganyika.)

Foes
Drawn from the archetypes of Victorian fiction, but also from the Gothic romances and horrors, etc. Lions, tigers and bears, of course. Wells' Martians, maybe.

--

First two images from Wikipedia

Strongman from the aptly named Olde Strong Men blog. No, I wouldn't have ever known it existed if I hadn't searched Google.

Waltz image from the Victorian Web.

First Playtest Characters for Space Princess

2011-11-21T15:02:00.001-08:00

Last night, the kid and I rolled up some characters for Space Princess to test things out a bit. Thus were born these guys ...

It was late, so there was no time to actually delve into space fortress and rescue a princess, but we did play out a couple of the "escape in a spaceship" scenarios.
Both went pretty well. In both cases, Crow was flying the Satellite of Love, a blockade runner. Lum was manning the light lasers and Zora the heavy lasers (and she was a crack shot), while Dr. Zaius was working the navigation computer - very slowly, I might add.

The first scenario pitted the blockade runner against four starfighters. After about six rounds of combat, the starfighters had been taken out of play - two having their weapons knocked out, the other two their engines. In essence, the escape was made. The starfighters had little ability to score meaningful hits on the blockade runner, so I might need to supe them up a bit.

In the second scenario, the SOL went up against a dreadnaught. This one was a bit more exciting. Initially, the SOL had no trouble out-maneuvering the dreadnaught. Crow is an expert pilot and the blockade runner is a quicker ship. Zora even scored some early successes with her heavy lasers. But as time went on, the firepower of the dreadnaught began to tell. The SOL's armor was degraded, then its weapons systems were taken out, the nav computer damaged (which prolonged making the jump to light speed). Finally, the artificial gravity was knocked out. It looked like Zaius had one shot left at making that jump into light speed and ... he did. Just barely.

The kid was charged up over the battle, and even though the mechanics were very simple (pilot check, fire weapons, navigation check), the slow erosion of the blockade runner's systems and the seemingly inevitable defeat made the process enjoyable. Mind you - one more round, and it's very likely the SOL was, well, SOL.

Over the holiday I'm going to run the first official play tests of a space fortress, and I'll post those results next week.

Hell South - Preview 3

2011-11-21T10:56:00.001-08:00

7.91 Adalark’s Tomb: A tall cenotaph of black marble stands 20 feet tall here. On the top there is a sculpture of a giant serpent, mouth open and fangs bared.

The serpent is the entrance to a small tomb complex located about forty feet below the ground. One cannot fit in the serpent’s mouth, of course, but by reaching deep into its mouth (unfortunately impossible for halflings or gnomes) and touching a stone lodged therein, a person is teleported beneath the ground.

[A] The entry chamber into the tomb is a square room with black marble walls and a 30 foot high ceiling. Against one wall there is a copper plaque bearing the following inscription: “Adalark | Called Great | Was Great | He cannot blame lesser thieves for following in his steps.”

There is a terracotta statue here of a weeping woman looking at the plaque, on hand reaching toward it. Approaching any of the walls in the room causes a sub-section (10’ wide by 10’ tall) of that wall to move backward – apparently one cannot step closer than five feet toward a wall. The walls extend back ten feet, at which point a metal portcullis descends from the ceiling, locking them in. The walls then slowly begin to crawl back to their original position to crush the intruder. The section of the wall with the plaque does the same as the others.

If all four walls are forced back at the same time, the wall with the plaque disappears completely and reveals a second chamber, and the other three traps do not spring.

[B] The trapped chamber opens here onto a balcony overlooking a square room about 10 feet below. In the room below there is gathered the treasure of Adalark the master thief, which consists of three gold ingots (3 lb each), a brass icon of a winged woman (worth 1,000 gp), a cape of deep red velvet (100 gp), six silver shields (250 gp each), thirty pairs of chartreuse gloves (they were Adalark’s trademark), a suit of halfling-sized platemail and 8,000 gp. The interior of the platemail is coated with platinum (2,000 gp worth).

Extending from the balcony there is a wall of force that does not allow one access to the treasures below. The treasure chamber is actually an optical trick called “Pepper’s Ghost”. The treasure is actually located in a room beneath the balcony. A large pane of glass slanted across the open area reflects the treasure, which is illuminated from below using a continual light spell. The most likely way of dropping into the treasure chamber is to use dispel magic to remove the wall of force. Any who then drop into the chamber without being very careful may drop through the glass into a pool of acid below (inflicts 3d6 points of damage from the fall and 1d6 points of damage each round from the acid).

14.87 Boring Wreck: A large earth borer made of steel with brass highlights has been abandoned here by the Master’s synthoids after the drill bit broke. The Master was already on to other projects and never reclaimed it. Eight were-weasels have now adopted it as a lair, and keep 60 cp, 170 gp, fifteen wolf skins (worth 8 gp each) and a small pearl worth 3 gp hidden inside.

20.92 Iromir Mine: Iromir is a natural alloy of iron and mithral. A very deep mine here, run by kobolds (who took it from a clan of svirfneblin), produced a good amount of the material, which the drow favor for their weapons and armor when they cannot find pure mithral. The shipments recently stopped. When a band of orog from the village in [32.98] appeared to investigate, they discovered the mine (it has seven levels) crawling with kobold zombies. There are now fifty orogs camped outside the mine and making some shallow forays into the place.

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Image is copyright Wizards of the Coast.

Sunday Grab Bag

2011-11-20T11:03:00.001-08:00

From the Mystery Men-Approved Vehicles Department

From the Bashful Blue-Eyed Ever-Lovin' Thing's Mom Department

From the Fab Four Department

If you don't dig Hard Day's Night, I'm not sure we can be more than friendly acquaintances.

From the Robots Have a Hard Life Department

From the "It's Called a Hobble Skirt" Department

Useful information for fans of Morticia Addams

From the "It Ain't Just Good to be a Gangsta" Department

From the Red Sonja Department

An image so awesome, I'm afraid I don't even remember where I found it. Wherever it was, thank you!

Too Many Ideas ...

2011-11-18T21:42:00.001-08:00

Queen & Kaiser

Role playing in the late colonial period. Semi-Victorian gaming - gentleman of fortune, soldiers, daredevils, naturalists, native scouts, jungle guys and gals, etc. - but the game incorporates the competition between the Great Powers, such that the victories and defeats of the PC's translate into victories and defeats by their patron power. You'd have to incorporate competitions of manners, honor, exploration, etc. Inspired as more by the satirical cartoons of the period and adventure fiction than realty. Maybe add some steampunk and occult rules for folks who want that, but otherwise keep it plausible rather than fantastic.

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Image from wikipedia.

Deviant Friday - Baretta Edition

2011-11-18T08:29:00.001-08:00

Baretta (or ~lebriz) has a cool, quirky, casual, quaint style that reminds me of the good old days of Wormy and DragonMirth. Great stuff. Visit his page and enjoy the images ...

Goat

mercenary

Wyrm Fighter

Fwoom

KIYI

sharpen

cat people

mentor

jungle boogie

DAWN

Notable Nobles - Part the Fifth

2011-11-17T10:49:00.001-08:00

For the sample nobles today, we go into the elven wood.

Anwenod the Rebel Earl of Arddus
Anwenod is a raven-haired elf earl who dwells on the fringe of the kingdom and near the border marches of the humans. Grey of eye and lean of build, he is a masterful swordsman with a deep interest in the politics of both elves and men. He is currently attempting to woo the daughter of a human baron as a hedge against perceived enemies in the royal court. Anwenod’s retinue consists of his champion, Keryd (elf ftr 3/m-u 2), four elf warriors, two elf sergeants and Cedric, son of the human Baron Donal, who is a visiting dignitary attempting to secure the marriage of his sister Yulisa to the Rebel Earl.

ANWENOD: HD 9 (48 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 longsword or longbow (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 5; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: Double normal number of followers, cast darkness once per day.

Kaith the Quick, Duchess of Beor
Kaith is a tall elf woman (5’9”, very tall for an elf) with ebony skin and a sharp jaw line. Her hair is short, curly and as black as pitch and her eyes emerald green and radiant. Kaith is a cynical woman, bored with the tedium of life inside the great elfwood. The high queen is her cousin and a tepid rival. Kaith’s retinue includes three scribes, three elf warriors, the harpist Lhart (bard 3) and the human rake Lardre, whose devious antics and disruptive presence help relieve the duchess’ melancholy.

KAITH: HD 5 (29 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 12; CL/XP 5/240; Special: Double normal number of followers, treasure as CL 15, +1 to initiative rolls.

Morgannet the Renowned, the Spider, the High Queen of Elves
Morgannet is the high queen of the elfwood, a gentle woman with nut-brown skin, gray-green eyes and golden brown hair that falls down to her ankles. She is fine-boned, but with flashing, lively eyes and a vivacious, cherubic face. Despite her childlike appearance, Morgannet is an expert politician. Her spies, the elven thieves (level 3 and 4) Blathet and Dumnann are frequent visitors to every court in the land, and little escapes their notice. Her retinue includes three maids-in-waiting (lesser nobles), seven scribes (for the elves believe that every utterance of their queen is prophetic and must be recorded), four elf longbowmen and their sergeant, Pathogius, a human found as a waif and reared by the elves.

MORGANNET: HD 2 (10 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 weapon (1d8); Move 9 (12 out of armor); Save 16; CL/XP 2/60; Special: Triple normal number of followers, treasure as CL 20, Charisma 14, Wisdom 13.

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Illustration by Arthur Rackham. Found HERE.