Month: April 2011

Mu-Pan – Encounter XX

/ jstater

Another glimpse into Mu-Pan – tomorrow, Megacrawl 3000.

2202. The central three miles of this hex, running from north to south, is occupied by a massive wall. The wall is 15 feet side and 30 feet tall, with a 40 foot tall tower every 100 yards. The wall is constructed of ebony, semi-glossy stones and appears to have been constructed a millennium ago by the ophidians. Stairs leading up to the wall are located on the west face of the wall, and the east face shows signs of salt encrustation and heavy weathering, as though by the sea. Although not manned by any soldiers, the wall is sometimes used as a hideout by bandits. Many charred and shattered sections speak to attacks from armies on the wall. Each tower has a 1 in 20 chance of being home to a CL 1d4+1 monster.

CL | Possible Monster
2 | Aka-name, centipedes (giant), kaeru-ningen, nezumi-oni, zombies
3 | Banshee, bugbears, ghouls, lizard samurai, mogura-jin, yellow mold
4 | Bakemono-toro, ogres, ragged craws, tesso, tsurube-otoshi, wererats
5 | Doppelganger, grey ooze, jiki-niku-gaki, shamshir, spider (giant), wights

Mu-Pan – Encounter XIX

/ jstater

No posting tomorrow – out of town (in an airplane that hopefully will maintain its roof integrity for the entire flight). Here’s a couple more encounters from the Mu-Pan map. I’m still working on the next Megacrawl episode – sorry for the delay. More Mu-Pan monsters, comic book characters, a sample chapter from the MM! book (so you can get an idea of what it’s going to look like) and the Gods of Mu-Pan on the way. Busy busy. Have fun on the internet.

2032. Three leprous zombies (HD 2; bite causes disease) are chained to a large stone post carved to look like a column of koi. One zombie has an ivory pin (worth 40 gp) stuck through its left temple. This pen, when put to paper, causes the person’s memories or current thoughts to pour onto the page as though a watercolor painting.

2045. A trader, Kaith by name, sits by the side of the road nursing a wounded leg. He was attacked by a wild cat two days back, and now has a bad infection and a fever. If he sees people coming, he struggles to his feet and grabs his cloak, warning people to stay away. If they continue to approach, he raises the edges of his cloak like wings and a swarm of twelve giant bats (HD 4) emerges from the unnatural darkness within. As they emerge, he becomes noticeably paler and falls to the ground. The magic cloak summons the bats, but inflicts 1d12 points of damage when it does so – the damage sustained by Kaith is enough to knock him unconscious.

Monsters of Mu-Pan II

/ jstater / 5 Comments

Let’s do another round of Mu-Pan monstrosities …

On a side note – I really want to commission an illustration of the shamshir (4-armed snakey dudes), but I’m having no luck contacting artists. If you’re an artist and you’re up to making some bucks, let me know. If your rates are reasonable enough, I might have a couple other commissions to go along with it.

Baku (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 10
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Attack: 2 claws (2d6), gore (2d8)
Saving Throw: 5
Special: Astral and ethereal travel, +1 or better weapon to hit, protection circle, remove curse
Move: 12
Alignment: Law
Challenge Level/XP: 12/2000

A baku is an otherworldly creature that devour dreams and nightmares. It has an elephant’s trunk and tusks, rhinoceros’ eyes, ox tail and tiger paws. They constantly project a magic circle against evil and are capable of dispelling nightmares and curses (per remove curse). Baku can travel astrally and ethereally.

Harionago – Barbed Woman (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 5
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack: 1d10 hair barbs (1d4)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Animated hair, undead
Move: 12
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

These frightening ghouls appear as lovely women with extremely long hair. Their hair is tipped with barbs and can be controlled by the ghoul and used to attack and grapple. Barbed women usually attack young men. When a young man is encountered, the barbed woman laughs at them. If the young man laughs back, the barbed woman attacks. Barbed women eat the people they kill.

Kamaitachi (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 4
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Attack: 3 claws (1d6)
Saving Throw: 13
Special: Knock down, surprise on 1-3 on 1d6
Move: 24
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 6/400

The kamaitachi is a bizarre monster that looks like a trio of weasels with sickle-like claws riding on a swirling wind. The monster has three “attacks”, each made by a separate weasel. The monster gets three attacks per round, and uses the first to attempt to knock its opponent prone.

Monkey Folk (Chinese)
Hit Dice: 1d6
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack: Bite (1d3) or weapon (1d6+1)
Saving Throw: 18
Special: High strength and dexterity
Move: 12/12 (climbing)
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: B/10

Monkey folk are intelligent monkeys that dress and behave like humans. Being monkeys, they are chattery and sometimes unpredictable. Monkey folk are known for their high dexterity and strength (+1 bonuses). This strength allows them to wield weapons meant for man-sized creatures without penalty. They are expert climbers.

Large troupes of monkey folk are led by a sage (5th to 8th level shugenja). He is assisted by two apprentices (2nd or 3rd level). For every 20 monkey folk there will be a 3rd level ninja, and for every 100 a 5th level ninja. Most monkey folk wield staves or nine ring broadswords. When they wear armor, it is rarely heavier than a haramaki, but a few bodyguards will wear haramaki-do (AC 15).

The ABC’s of Comic Books

/ jstater / 2 Comments

Okay, here’s my nod toward the April blog challenge. I have enough other things to focus on, so I wasn’t going to participate, but then a few thoughts popped into my head, and so here I am. So …

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I was thinking today about the origin of many super heroes. I’ve been spending the past few weeks going through the Public Domain Super Heroes site, culling it for bits and pieces that can go into the sample campaign setting I’m creating for Mystery Men! – little things like the names of newspapers, or other imaginary cities / countries / etc. I think I’m going to refer to the overarching setting as Wonderworld.

Now, I’ve been planning to do a series of posts on many of these public domain heroes, including the ones that are going to be included in MM!, and one theme keeps coming up – people who should have been killed injecting themselves with serums, bathing themselves in radiation, falling into dynamos, instead pop up with super powers and fight crime in a largely imaginary world. NOD is based on a world of dreams, created from the fabric of tales told by writers ancient and modern. Maybe Wonderworld is a strange afterlife, visited by those who died in the real world with a deep-seated desire to do good. In this afterlife, Wonderworld, these lost souls find a way to live out their dreams. Perhaps people who have witnessed a loved one brutally murdered and crawled inside their own heads also roam freely in Wonderworld, meeting out vengeance. Of course, dreamers would be welcome as well. Wonderworld becomes a super-heroic version of NOD.

With that in mind, here’s an A, B and C of people who should rightly be dead, but instead are fighting crime with powers far beyond those of mortal men.

AMERICAN CRUSADER

Talk to the hand!

Created by Max Plaisted, first appeared in Thrilling Comics (1941)

When Grand University astronomy professor Archibald Manning is bathed in radiation in an accident, he gains amazing powers and becomes a costumed crusader – the American Crusader, in fact. He pretends to be a meek pushover in real life to keep his secretary Jane Peters from discovering his secret identity.

BLACK HOOD

Newspaper cannot stop the fury of the Black Hood!

Created by Harry Shorten and Al Camy, first appeared in Top-Notch Comics (1940)

Police officer Kip Burland of Northville, Canada is framed for a crime by the Skull. He is relieved from duty but pursues the Skull in an attempt to clear his name. Unfortunately, he is too successful in his investigations and is shot eight times by the Skull and his thugs and left for dead in the woods. The hermit of the woods finds Kip and not only saves him, but trains him to become a crime fighter. He takes on the guise of the Black Hood and manages to bring the Skull to justice and clear his name. Rejoining the police, he decides to continue to fight crime as the Black Hood.

CAPTAIN FUTURE

Gamma rays and infrared rays do not mix – important safety tip!

Created by Kin Platt, first appeared in Startling Comics (1940)

Andrew Bryant is a young research scientist working for Pacific Electrical Corporation. In an experiment, he crosses gamma rays and infrared rays and causes an explosion that grants him super powers. Taking the identity of Captain Future, he works with detective Grace Adams of the Agatha Detective Agency to fight crime in the Golden State.

Monsters of Mu-Pan I

/ jstater / 1 Comment

I don’t know for certain how many of these I’ll do, but we’ll call this Part I just in case.

Bakeneko – Monster Cat (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 3
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack: 2 claws (1d4), bite (1d4)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Spells
Move: 15
Alignment: Neutrality (5% are Law)
Challenge Level/XP: 5/240

Monster cats have a plethora of magical powers. Although they never appear to be anything more than a normal domestic cat, a monster cat can grow to as long as five feet in length. They have the following spell abilities: Dancing lights (3/day), ghost sound (3/day) and polymorph self (1/day). Monster cats can animate fresh corpses into zombies by jumping over them. They are also capable of walking on their hind legs. A monster cat that lives long enough has its tail split; such creatures, called forked-tails (neko-mata), have 6 HD. About 5% of monster cats are actually lawful in alignment.

Basan (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 8
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack: 2 scratch (1d6), peck (1d8)
Saving Throw: 8
Special: Ghostfire
Move: 12
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 9/1100

Basans are 10-foot tall roosters with brilliant plumage and fiery crests. They are capable of breathing cones of ghostfire (15 feet long, 10 feet at base) from their beaks. This ghostfire deals 3d6 points of damage, even to creatures normally immune to fire, because it burns one’s soul. Victims can make a saving throw for half damage.

Fox Woman
Hit Dice: 8+1
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Attack: Bite (1d6) or weapon (1d6)
Saving Throw: 8
Special: Alternate form, charm person, entourage, silver or magic weapons to hit
Move: 18
Alignment: Chaos or Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 10/1400

The fox woman is a lycanthrope than can assume the form of a silver fox, a vixen (half-fox, half-nymph) or nymph. Fox women can use the charm person spell on men at will. They dwell in lonely woodlands, accompanied by 1d4+1 charmed males who will do anything to protect their mistress. At least one male is a bujin or fighting-man of 2nd to 5th level. There is a 50% chance that another male is a bujin or fighting-man of 1st to 4th level. There is a 10% chance that one of the remaining males is a shugenja or ninja. There is a also 10% chance the fox maiden has stolen a beautiful infant girl to raise as her own.

Gashadokuro (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 5+1
Armor Class: 5 [14]
Attack: Strike (2d6)
Saving Throw: 12
Special: Decapitate, minimum damage from edged or piercing weapons, surprise on roll of 1-3 on 1d6
Move: 15
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 8/800

Gashadokuro are giant skeletons with a burning hunger for human flesh. They attack human beings on sight, trying to grapple them with their massive, bony fingers. If successful, the gashadokuro will attempt to bite their head off (-4 to hit, 5d6 damage) each round. Gashadokuro are created from the bones of people who have starved to death. Gashadokuro, despite being fifteen-foot-tall skeletons, are incredibly quiet and stealthy.

Hitotsumi-Kozo – One-Eyed Boy (Japanese)
Hit Dice: 3
Armor Class: 6 [13]
Attack: Weapon (1d4)
Saving Throw: 14
Special: Bad luck, frightful appearance, ray of enfeeblement, silence, true seeing
Move: 9
Alignment: Neutrality
Challenge Level/XP: 7/600

A one-eyed boy looks like a small humanoid with a single, giant eye and a long tongue. They enjoy frightening people, but despise noise. One-eyed boys are immune to illusions and can see through invisibility. Creatures with fewer than 3 HD must succeed at a saving throw to avoid fleeing from a one-eyed boy. The creatures can use the silence spell at will and can fire a ray that reduces the target’s strength to 3 for 1 hour unless the target succeeds at a saving throw. The weakness ray can be fire once every 3 rounds. Anyone viewing a one-eyed boy must succeed at a saving throw or fall under the effects of a curse for one month. One-eyed boys usually wield bo staves and slings.

Mu-Pan – Encounter XVIII

/ jstater / 1 Comment

So begins the day of too many posts! First up – another encounter for Mu-Pan. Later, I wade into the ABC challenge thing and later I’m going to post a few new monsters for Ruins and Ronin.

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1611. A number of winding catacombs are dug into the side of the mountains here. The catacombs run for several miles, have arched ceilings and are lined with shelves (3 feet off the ground, 3 feet deep). The floor of the caverns are cut to allow water to flow down the center, and small streams do run from the catacombs. The entrance to the catacombs is protected by a bronze portcullis that can only be opened by playing a hunting melody on a bamboo flute (or by physical force – requires 2 hours of pounding with weapons or a combined strength of 60 to pull open).

The catacombs contain numerous skeletons wrapped in leather and tied with silken cords. Several of these bodies seem to shift as one walks past them – a trick caused by thin trip wires. At each juncture of the catacombs, there hangs a bronze temple bell by a red cord. When a bell is passed without being rung, the corpses in the tunnel the adventurers have just left animate as skeleton warriors, crawling from their wrappings and relying on their claw-like finger bones to attack. There are 1d10+7 skeletons in each tunnel. Ringing a bell after the skeletons have animated does nothing.

The main inhabitant of the catacombs is Bzisfisihm, a poet and high priest of the shamshir who died over 1,000 years ago. His main tomb is located in the center of the catacombs. The tomb is preceeded by an antechamber with three red doors. The center door leads into a small chamber with a collapsible floor. Beneath the floor is a stone chute that is both covered in oils and embedded with shards of glass. Those falling down the shaft suffer 2d6 points of damage minus their total armor bonus. They are deposited in a small stone tomb, already piled high with bodies.

The other two doors lead into the tomb proper. The tomb is clad in red stone and features a white, marble dais in the center surrounded by a dozen terracotta warriors. Atop the dais there is a gaudy sarcophagus of marble and brass containing the body of Bzisfisihm wrapped in red silk and tied with golden cords (worth 100 gp). Set in the mummified remains of the high priest there is a tiger’s eye gem. This gem contains the high priest’s spirit, which can leave the gem to inhabit and animate the terracotta warriors.

The lid of the sarcophagus is heavy, requiring a combined strength of 30 to lift and move about. If placed flat on the floor, it becomes a doorway into a pocket dimension containing the high priest’s treasures. The pocket dimension appears as a stone staircase descending 100 feet and emptying onto a small island seemingly floating in space. The “walls” of the island, though invisible, do exist, and strange creatures can be seen beyond those walls, some noticing the adventurers and moving to glare at them from the walls, like curious children or hungry dogs.

This island/room contains a stout, iron chest embedded with 2-inch long spikes. The chest is locked and trapped – should one walk away from the chest, it fires its spikes throughout the room (1d4 attacks person from 2 HD creature, 1d4 damage each), accompanied by a blinding flash of light (save or blinded for 1d4 hours). Inside the chest there are a number of large aquamarines – one for each adventurer and two of each shape – circle, oval, square, triangle, etc. Each aquamarine is worth 500 gp, but they are cursed. The two holders of the same shape have their spirits switched – in effect, the players trade character sheets. The only way to switch bodies back is to bath in foamy surf of the Sea of Stars at sunset.

| Terracotta Warrior: HD 3; AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 slam (1d6+1); Move 9; Save 14; CL/XP 3/60; Special: None.

Deviant Friday – Gingashi Edition

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Gingashi calls himself nomad on DA, so I have to assume he is a deep space probe that was modified by alien technology and is now out to destroy the Enterprise. I have to assume this because I’m a geek. Gingashi has a nice, clean style – great lines, nothing overdone. Enjoy …

 

 

 

This one is my fave, and if I had more time I would work up some Mystery Men! stats. I’m thinking Super Dexterity (+12), Poison (invested in whip) and Catfall.