Month: February 2011

All Strong!! All Brave!! All Heroes!!

/ jstater / 4 Comments

They are the Herculoids!!

After statting out the Arabian Knights, the venemous pao requested the Herculoids. My love of the Herculoids and their bizarre world of Amzot is second to nobody’s, so here they are, built with 30,000 XP each …

ZANDOR
One of the best things about the Herculoids is that they don’t seem to have ever explained them – at least not in the old days. Here’s my take – Zandor was a brilliant scientist who wanted to get “back to nature”, doing so on the primitive planet of Amzot. He took along his wife and son and a few creatures (part of Project Herculoid) created in his laboratory. The Herculoids are equal parts nature and science. This is the best explanation I can come up with for a guy who lives in a tree yet clearly understand high technology, and who fights using a sling shot and exploding rocks – rocks which also seem to be produced by Tundro. Moreover, if the Herculoids are just alien animals from Amzot, why don’t we ever see any other of their kind roaming about?

Adventurer* Lvl 12
Str 4 | Dex 16 | Con 4 | Int 5 | Wil 4 | Cha 2
HP 64 | AC 16 | Spd 0 | XP 23,400

Powers: Heroism I-L, Super Dexterity (+6)-P
Gear: Shield, sling, 10 stones (treat as grenade)

* Okay, I just got through saying that I think Zandor is a scientist, and then I go and make him an “adventurer” instead of “scientist” – why? The scientist class in MM! is good for modeling characters that use lots of scientific gadgets, and often different gadgets in different adventures. Zandor doesn’t, so I’m making him a member of the adventurer class with scientist as his background/occupation.

DORNO (Sidekick of Zandor)

Adventurer Lvl 4
Str 4 | Dex 6 | Con 4 | Int 1 | Wil 2 | Cha 1
HP 32 | AC 11 | Spd 2 | XP 3,000

Powers: None
Gear: Sling, stones (treat as grenade)

IGOO, Rock Ape

Adventurer Lvl 9
Str 11 | Dex 4 | Con 11 | Int 1 | Wil 3 | Cha 3
HP 87 | AC 15 | Spd 2 | XP 12,400

Powers: Armor-P, Enlarge Person-L*, Stoneskin-P, Super Constitution (+6)-P, Super Strength (+6)-P
Gear: None

* Based on the fact that Igoo manages to be about twice the height of Zandor in some scenes and then about two or three times bigger in others. When presented with sloppy editing – make it a power!

TUNDRO

Adventurer Lvl 10
Str 12 | Dex 2 | Con 12 | Int 2 | Wil 5 | Cha 2
HP 92 | AC 14 | Spd 2 | XP 17,400

Powers: Armor-P, Elasticity (Legs)-L, Force Missile-P, Shield-P, Super Constitution (+6)-P, Super Strength (+6)-P
Gear: None

ZOK, Space Dragon

Adventurer Lvl 8
Str 9 | Dex 11 | Con 10 | Int 2 | Wil 2 | Cha 1
HP 66 | AC 17 | Spd 3 | XP 10,000

Powers: Armor-P, Energy Ray (4d6)-P, Fly-P, Super Constitution (+6)-P, Super Dexterity (+6)-P, Super Speed (+1)-P, Super Strength (+6)-P
Gear: None

GLOOP

Adventurer Lvl 5
Str 2 | Dex 17 | Con 4 | Int 2 | Wil 4 | Cha 3
HP 49 | AC 15 | Spd 2 | XP 5,400

Powers: Elasticity-P, Jump-L, Resist Energy (Electricity & Fire)-P, Super Dexterity (+6)-P
Gear: None

GLEEP

Adventurer Lvl 5
Str 1 | Dex 12 | Con 6 | Int 1 | Wil 5 | Cha 2
HP 43 | AC 14 | Spd 2 | XP 5,400

Powers: Elasticity-P, Jump-L, Resist Energy (Electricity & Fire)-P, Super Dexterity (+6)-P
Gear: None

—

Image by Nelson Daniel

NOD 7 Cover – Reader Choice

/ jstater / 17 Comments

Two nice pieces of medieval art to choose from, though to be honest, I don’t this one is much of a contest …

Vote in the comments – Demons vs. Cityscape.

NOD 7 should be out February 14th – and if there’s somebody in your life who would actually want it for Valentine’s Day, you are probably a lucky gamer.

Contents should include …

Antigoon, City of the Sun
Blackpoort, City of Thieves
Lyonesse, the Gleaming City
Cyclopeans – new race/class for PARS FORTUNA + a mini-dungeon
Dress for Success – hygiene and costume in fantasy games
Order of the Flowery Skull – a religious order of bardic knights and their patron, St. Valentinus
Pandaemonium – two demon princes for your edification and enjoyment
Phantastes – another chapter or two

I’m thinking it will be in the neighborhood of 80 pages

Mystery Men! Gamma Release

/ jstater / 9 Comments

No, not a release focusing on emerald-hued radiation accidents that just want to be left alone, but the follow up to the gamma release. I’ve put in the beta errata and made some other big changes to ability score generation, rolling feats and the monster stats – also added the ever lovin’ blue-eyed Tarrasque and a little sample artwork that will appear in the finished product. When I find time (HA!) I’m going to go back through past MM! posts and update the stats to the Gamma edition rules and maybe re-run the combats where old procedures clash with new procedures. I also still need to update the character sheet. All in good time. So – enjoy the gamma release, give it a try, and don’t hesitate to comment here or email me with your suggestions and errata. Roll up a character and have him fight a vampire or two, or pit an amazon princess up against a titan, or place a terrific trio over a pit containing a black pudding and let me know how it comes out.

—

Illustration of Fantome by and copyright 2011 Joel Carroll.

Science Is Now Active!

/ jstater / 1 Comment

Speaking of Encounter-Criticalesque pop culture, Destructor is a web comic by Sean T. Collins (writer) and Matt Wiegle that’s made my weekly to-visit list. I think the image above tells you everything you need to know about why any lover of gonzo sci-fantasy should be reading this strip.

If things go as planned today (HA!) I’ll be putting up what I’m calling the gamma rules for Mystery Men! – no, not gamma as in radiation that turns you green and huge, but gamma as in “after beta”. I think I have enough changes to the rules to warrant another set of preliminaries.

Have fun today children – and if I hear any edition wars going on up there I’m going to tell your father when he gets home!

L. Sprague DeCamp Is Awesome!

/ jstater / 10 Comments

Okay, maybe the title of the post should be “Edd Cartier is Awesome!” My first introduction to Mr. DeCamp was in discussions of how he ruined REH’s Conan stories by over editing them. Knowing nothing else about the guy, I tended to look on him as a bit of a villain. Later, I discovered he was favored by EGG, and just finished reading his Harold Shea stories, which I found enjoyable. Then I discovered these delightful pieces of art by Edd Cartier at Golden Age Comic Book Stories (follow this blog if you follow nothing else) from a story called The Hand of Zei …

 

 

 

 

 

Nobody who can write something that inspires these gonzo images can be all bad. I have to find a copy The Hand of Zei. I have to believe the fictional creators of Encounter Critical were inspired by this story when they were penning their magnum opus in the 1970’s.

The Arabian Knights for Mystery Men!

/ jstater / 6 Comments

The good people at Hanna Barbera created many, many superheroes back in the day, besides the old Super Friends cartoons. Lots of folks know Space Ghost these days, from his popular talk show if not his fight for cosmic justice, but there was also the caveman superhero Mighty Mightor (awesome beyond belief), Birdman (greatest war cry of any superhero ever) and the Galaxy Trio. As a way to show that Mystery Men! can be used for just about any era of heroics, this post is going to focus on the Arabian Knights.

The Arabian Knights was a cartoon produced for the Banana Splits show. It concerns an deposed prince, Turhan, and a band of super powered allies trying to re-install him on the throne of Baghdad. The cartoons are actually pretty fun and imaginative for the cut-rate production values practiced by HB during that period (though, to be honest, they would get much, much worse). The upside of all these cartoons was that, even though the production values were usually not up to par, the initial design work was done by the great Alex Toth.

The Arabian Knights work well as a super team because each of the members has a small number of abilities. For this reason, we’ll build each with 15,000 XP. Without further ado, the Arabian Knights …

TURHAN, Ex-Prince of Baghdad
Adventurer Lvl 8 (11,400 XP)
Str 4; Int 2; Wis 1; Dex 12; Con 5; Cha 5
HP 50; DC 14; SPD 2Powers: P – Super Dexterity (+6) (3,600 XP)
Gear: Sword

NIDA, Daughter of the Caliph
Adventurer Lvl 10 (15,000 XP)
Str 4; Int 3; Wis 2; Dex 4; Con 2; Cha 3
HP 45; DC 11; SPD 2
Powers: None
Gear: Sword

RASEEM
Adventurer Lvl 4 (3,900 XP)
Str 6; Int 2; Wis 2; Dex 5; Con 6; Cha 2
HP 35; DC 11; SPD 2
Powers: P – Super Strength (+6) (3,600 XP)
Sidekick: Zazuum, donkey with the Whirlwind (Single-Use; 7,500 XP) power

FARIEK
Sorcerer Lvl 5 (5,000 XP)
Str 2; Int 6; Wis 4; Dex 2; Con 6; Cha 4
HP 25; DC 10; SPD 2
Powers: Sorcery (10,000 XP)

BEZ THE BEAST
Adventurer Lvl 5 (5,000 XP)
Str 4; Int 2; Wis 5; Dex 5; Con 4; Cha 5
HP 35; DC 11; SPD 2
Powers: P – Polymorph (10,000 XP)

Deviant Friday – Erica Henderson Edition

/ jstater / 2 Comments

Erica Henderson – ehenders on DeviantArt – does some nice line work – quirky and easy on the eye and deceptively uncluttered. Her DeviantArt gallery has lots of pin-up art but is light on fantasy fare, so I’m including some of the kick ass monster illos she’s posted on her blog, I Fail At Life, as well. I would seriously love to see a quirky, modern, rules lite fantasy game illustrated by Erica. Enjoy.

 

Reminds me of one of the protagonists in Alberto Varanda’s La Geste des Chevaliers Dragons.

 

 

I’d like to think this lady lives in Nod, or at least visits once and a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and many, many more …

Medieval City

/ jstater / 4 Comments

I don’t know whether you would term this a city or a town – probably a town. Either way, I found this map and wanted to share it. Had I more artistic ability (and I might go to the trouble of investing time into learning) the city maps in NOD would look like this – much more evocative than simple line maps.

The image was found at the Apollonia-Arsuf Archaeological Project from Tel Aviv University. It’s a reconstruction of a crusader city, and you can find more descriptive text at the link.

So, enjoy the map – Deviant Friday will follow in a few hours.

Thinking about some Mystery Men! Changes …

/ jstater / 3 Comments

I’m still playing with some of the details of Mystery Men!

– I’m thinking of having all ability scores rolled with 1d6 and then boosted purely by buying powers. This is based on a suggestion I got early on, and I think it makes sense to use the spending of XP to make super heroes as opposed to spending both dice and XP. Besides, some heroes have several (or all) heavily boosted ability scores (I’m looking at the big blue boyscout here), which is tougher to duplicate using the current system.

– I think I’m going to divide ability scores and levels into five bands: Normal (1-6), Heroic (7-12), Superhuman (13-18), Epic (19-24) and Cosmic (25-30). Ability bonuses will be +1 per three points of ability (i.e. +0 for a score of 1 or 2, +1 for a score of 3 to 5 etc to +10 at 30) and will only be used for attack and damage bonuses.

– Feats will require you to roll 1d20 and meet or beat a score of 10. You modify this roll by the difference between your ability score or level (depending on what you’re doing) and your opponent’s. Using this scheme you’ll always fail on a natural “1” and always succeed on a natural “20”. I think I was worried too much about normal humans getting away with facing down Galactus when nobody is going to play a normal human – oh, maybe a non-powered hero, but still a hero capable of amazing things. For feats that aren’t against an opponent, you compare your ability/level against the following scores based on the five bands: Normal 3, Heroic 9, Superhuman 15, Epic 21 and Cosmic 27. I think this might be simpler than the current scheme, although they aren’t terribly different from one another.

– For monsters, I think I’m going to refer to Hit Dice as Level for monsters and characters – keeps me from having to explain that they’re essentially the same thing. I’m going to include a Physique and Mentality score for them as well for use in feats. The monster stats should thus be: Level, Physique, Mentality, Defense Class, Speed, XP Value and Attacks and Powers.

I think that’s it for now. Still trying to find time to play the game with some friends – when I do I’ll have some play reports. In the meantime I’m working away at NOD 7 and my Frog God projects. Posts might be a bit more sporadic in February, since most of what I’m writing isn’t stuff I can preview on the blog. This week I’m going to try to write up some demon lords – something I want to make a regular feature in NOD, stat out some Hanna Barbera heroes and who knows what else. In the meantime, have fun out there!