Author: jstater

A Terrible Idea is Making the Rounds

/ jstater

At A Terrible Idea, they’ve come up with a pretty good idea – a community effort to pay an artist to create 60 character portraits – each about 2.5″ square – that will be released into the Creative Commons, and thus usable by guys like me, who publish game material, and by folks who just want to find a little character portrait for their games. I threw $10 into the ring, and if you would like to give to the cause, see the widget below.

If you do not want to be involved, please see the Gidget below …

And yeah, I went Sandra Dee over Sally Fields – I’m retro like that.

Venatia – Flamin’ Lizards and Three-Headed Idols

/ jstater / 2 Comments

The first 6 sample encounters for the NE portion of the Venatia map.

5604 Flamin’ Lizards: This hex is home to dozens of nests of igniguanas. The beasts seem to come here to spawn, probably because of the rivers of magma that flow and pool hundreds of feet below the surface. Since igniguanas can move through solid rock as easily as you or I move through the air, there are not tunnels or burrows in evidence. Encounters with the creatures occur on a roll of 1-3 on 1d6, and the chance of surprise is also 1-3 on 1d6. The nests, should one manage to burrow down to one (assume they are 1d6 x 30 feet beneath the surface) are made near the pools of magma or near eddies in the rivers of magma, and consist of piles of crude gemstones, worth about 500-700 gp per nest.

5701 Yellow Caverns: There is a great rend in the side of the tallest mountain in this hex. It is marked with deposits of chalk and from it flows a tiny trickle of water, colored a dull yellow. The cavern has a sulferous smell and the interior is cluttered with a magnificent array of rock formations, all tinged with yellows, oranges and reds and making the cavern look like it is aflame. Winding through these formations is the aforementioned brooklet of yellow water which, if followed, leads to a little waterfall spilling over several terraces of rock. A sharp eye will notice handholds spaced for a tall humanoid. These hand holds lead up to a narrowed cavern with a higher ceiling and more flowstone than stalagmites and stalagtites. The brooklet forms many interlocking pools here, and appears to support a crusty form of yellow crab apparently immune to the poisonous water. More than a dozen tunnels of various sizes converge in this cavern – some leading deeper into the mountain, others leading toward the peak. A variety of odd beasts dwell in these caverns, but the most dangerous is surely a cabal of yawahu bugbears.

The yawahu are to normal bugbears what ogre magi are to normal ogres. Five yawahu dwell in this cavern, at least from time to time for their machinations and explorations into black lore often carry them to far away locales. They have white fur tinged yellow from their environment, and frightful faces of the deepest blue and green, with yellowing fangs and rather long, dropping ears. The foremost of the yawahu is Grifnarg Hells-Paw, a servant of the nether powers. His fellows are Drask Arch-Draconic, Borzog the Beast, Gozr of the Mangled Claw and Zukasm Friend-of-Jellies. Collectively, they have amassed 10,000 cp, 1,000 sp, 1,000 ep, 600 gp, 10 pp and a flake of obsidian worth 3 gp and used by them as a sacrificial knife (it retains the psychic impressions of a dozen victims that can be read with the Speak with Dead spell).

• Yawahu Bugbear: HD 3 (15, 14, 14, 11, 11 hp); AC 5 [14]; Atk 1 spear (1d6+1) or 1 shortbow (1d6); Move 12; Save 14; CL/XP 4/120; Special: Change self, burning hands, cause blindness (1/day), invisibility (1/day), ray of enfeeblement (1/day) and tiny hut (1/day).

5813 Neldor: The woods in this hex thin out some, leaving room for several meadows broken up by little limestone crags. The meadows are covered in carpets of wild thyme, sweet woodruff and greenish-blue grasses that are grazed upon by wild goats and a variety of small game. A village of 300 huntsmen is nestled by a stream in a rocky valley that cuts across the hex. The village, Neldor, is composed of 60 or so timber huts built in the shape of tall beehives surrounded by a wall of stacked limestone about 10 feet tall. Situated as it is on a natural trail across the hex, Neldor boasts a cozy roadhouse (constructed like the timber huts writ large) that serves sweet berry wine and an astounding array of roasted game and the rabbit sausages that are its house specialty. The Neldorians have thick, wavy black hair and pale skin made tan by the sun. They are short and thin and have narrow faces that bring to mind hawks. The Neldorians dress in exagerated clothing in bright colors with bouffant skirts for the women and tall collars for the men. The village is defended by 20 men-at-arms wearing leather armor and carrying spears and short bows. The village is ruled by a mayor named Thoith, an overly-officious little pain in the neck. The roadhouse is run by Galin, and absent-minded fellow with an unreasonable fear of dwarfs (especially of their stubby fingers, which remind him of grubs).

5916 Gulon: This hex is the hunting ground of a gulon, a strange hybrid of cat and fox that devours its prey whole, stuffing itself so full that it must force itself to vomit its meal so that it can continue its gluttonous feast. The gulon dwells in a shallow cave near a tall oak that was split some decades back by an errant bolt of lightning. The beast is currently nursing a litter of six cubs, making it especially rapacious.

• Gulon: HD 3 (13 hp); AC 3 [16]; Atk 1 bite (2d4); Move 15; Save 14; CL/XP 3/60; Special: Devour corpse.

6123 Three-Headed Idol: A three-headed idol of Hecate stands on a hilltop in this hex overlooking the bay. The idol is constructed of limestone blocks stained with salt and stands 40 feet tall. It is quite weathered, but still recognizable as the goddess of witches, having the head of a she-hound, a vulture and a beautiful, severe woman. The statue holds a writhing serpent in an outstretched hand and a torch in the other. Those who touch the idol without first kneeling and offering a small sacrifice feel themselves become faint and suffer 1d6 points of constitution damage.

6402 Ettins: A family of five ettins has made a lair here in a large cavern. The ettins keep a herd of 15 giant goats with long, black coats and gleaming white horns. The goats give copious amounts of milk which the ettins turn into an excellent goat cheese that they trade to passers-by for tools and baubles (unless of course they decide to eat the passers-by and steal their stuff, which is often the case with adventurers). The head of the family is Arnon-Torri and his wife is called Brigga-Nimayne. The ettins cave is cramped and reeks of sour milk and body odor. At any one time is contains a dozen large, terracotta bowls filled with fermenting goat milk and twice as many bundles of cloth holding curds in various states of cheesehood. Besides their cheese (assume 1d6 x 100 gp worth), the ettins have amassed a princely treasure of 6,200 gp and a giant terracotta flask decorated with images of rampaging hecatonchires worth 800 gp.

• Ettin: HD 10 (58, 54, 50, 44, 44 hp); AC 3 [16]; Atk 2 clubs (3d6); Move 12; Save 5; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: None.

• Giant Goat: HD 3; AC 7 [12]; Atk 1 gore (2d6); Move 18; Save 14; CL/XP 3/60; Special: +4 damage with charge.

Eulion, the Wandering City

/ jstater / 1 Comment

I made mention in my “On the Drawing Board” in the sidebar that I’m working on making a free, completely open content (probably one of the creative commons licenses) fantasy city. I plan on keeping it either system neutral, or throwing in multiple sets of stats (thus – the wandering city, as it can wander from one setting to another – at least theoretically). The idea came about when I was playing with some of the random generators at Chaotic Shiny. Anyhow, I hope to have it include a brief description of the place, a map, descriptions of the inhabitants and a low-level “dungeon” linking a ruined monastery and a large graveyard – making the product useful for starting a new campaign. Naturally, Eulion is on the back burner while I work on PARS FORTUNA and NOD, so it probably won’t show up until late 2010 or 2011. Anyhow – a preview of the rough draft for the map is below …

Eulion

NOD #3 For Sale

/ jstater / 3 Comments

I’ve just put NOD #3 up for sale here as a print magazine for $10.00 and an e-book for $3.50. This one comes in at 122 pages – about 34 pages more than the last two. Articles in this one are:

Beastmen of Nabu – 13 race / race-class / monsters for your game.

Gods of Nabu – A pseudo-Egyptian pantheon of 37 gods and goddesses with 9 new spells

The Nabu Wasteland – a sandbox hexcrawl with over 150 encounters and many new monsters

The Elementalist – a magic-user who casts spells by commanding elemental spirits

The Druids of Nod – a new take on the druid class for Old School games

Phantastes, Part II – second part of our serialization of George MacDonald’s fantasy classic, with annotations for gamers

Deviant Friday – Alan Lathwell Edition

/ jstater / 3 Comments

Today’s feature Deviant is Alan Lathwell. Lathwell has a more classic style than previous featured artists.


The Mercenary
I like the pose and the helmet – basically a fighting-man with a short bow, short sword and leather armor looking for work.


Washer at the Ford

The concept of a “wandering omen” doesn’t show up much in fantasy games – banshees and black hounds are usually things that force you to roll initiative. Consider how much more effective they would be if there was nothing a player could do about them but wait and worry


The Battle
Law vs. Chaos

Travis Charest’s Spacegirl

/ jstater

I just discovered Travis Charest’s Spacegirl comic strip online. I’ve been a fan of his artwork for years, and I can’t wait to read this space opera. It sparked the following two notions:

Notion 1) The Villain’s Lair

We see villain’s like this in many books and movies – the guy in the dark chamber, spying on the heroes and doing his best to thwart him. Perhaps all those wandering monsters that adventurers are dealing with aren’t wandering at all – perhaps they are directed by a secret Villain and can provide a clue to where the Villain is hiding. You can make capturing intelligent monsters pay off if every (or many) captured monster has a piece of the puzzle – and a specific piece as well. So, to find the Villain requires the adventurers to discover three pieces of information – information that can be found through dangerous exploration, or by interrogating (or searching for clues like a certain kind of mud on their paws in the case of non-intelligent monsters) the second, fourth and seventh wandering monsters that they come upon on certain levels of a dungeon. This makes spells like comprehend languages (and intelligent characters with a wide range of known languages) or even speak with the dead more useful spells, since they can save adventurers a lot of time and trouble when they’re after the Villain and/or his horde of treaaure.

Notion 2) Pulp Sci-Fi Role-Playing Games

If you’re in the process of creating a retro sci-fi sort of game, how cool would it be to blend the game with art from this series. I wonder if a deal could be struck up between an enterprising game designer and Mr. Charest to feature some select panels in the game – not reprinting the entire thing, but maybe an image of a spaceship to illustrate the chapter on spaceships, etc. It would help the game product by making it more attractive, and could be a source of exposure for Charest (who, admittedly, probably doesn’t need much exposure). I mean, the web-comic is free, so maybe he would be open to such an arrangement.

Pars Fortuna Preview #4 – Final 4 Races

/ jstater / 2 Comments

These are the final four playable races populating the world of PARS FORTUNA. My next task will be to preview some aspects of magic and a few of the spells.

 

The attractive quadruped on the crest of the hill is a Skathra. The Skathra look like centaurs with the lower bodies of antelopes and spiral horns atop their heads. They have light brown skin and darker, auburn fur with black markings on their faces and sides. A skathra stands about 5 feet tall from hooves to head. They are wise, though sometimes confounding, creatures who dwell in the wild, green hills. Skathra have a natural wanderlust, and a desire to see everything there is to see before they die.

In game terms, Skathra are one of our magic-using classes. They combine their magical abilities with a talent for archery, lightning quick reflexes, survival skills and a knack for divinatory magic.

Slinking down the hill next to the Skathra is a Vindlu. Vindlu resemble long, thin lions covered in scales of silver tipped with aquamarine. They have long “whiskers” like those of a carp. These whiskers are extremely sensitive, making vindlu difficult to surprise and allowing them some insights into the emotions of others. Their four legs end in clawed hands. Outside their home city, they live in tight-knit family bands, hiring themselves out as “problem solvers”.

In game terms, Vindlu are one of our skill classes. Vindlu are stalkers and pouncers, and have a talent for avoiding traps and getting into places they are not wanted.

In the middle of the group is a Tachi. The Tachi are intelligent macaques who live in lattice-work cities on the thickly forested southern coasts, west of the lands of the Cakrol (and often in competition with them). The Tachi are merchants, moneylenders and bankers extraordinaire, and are always looking for a new path to riches.

Tachi are another skill class. They can literally smell gold and silver, and couple their natural proclivity for finding treasure with a head for business and a silver tongue. Tachi make natural spokespersons for adventuring parties in PARS FORTUNA.

And so we come to the last of the races of PARS FORTUNA – the Oraenca. The Oraenca are a race of stout, heavy warriors with skin like scarlet sandpaper and bones of iron. They measure four to five feet in height and are broad and muscular. Oraenca have flat faces, golden eyes, nose holes set high in their faces and broad mouths filled with chisel-like teeth. They are egg-layers and amphibious, having evolved in a shallow sea that is now a dry, salty wasteland. Exiled from their homeland, they found a home in the Empire of Vex, and have served as the foot soldiers for that empire and its Ilel rulers, for generations.

Oraenca are the heavy warriors of the game – they can use any kind of weapon and armor, and their fighting skills are primarily defensive – they gain an increased bonus with shields and can apply that bonus to a nearby comrade. Unfortunately, they are natural followers, and suffer a penalty when saving against mind-control effects.

And there you have it, the race of PARS FORTUNA – from slightly different to what-the-heck!

NOD #3 Cover

/ jstater / 2 Comments

Okay – looks like I’ll definitely have this up by Friday. Here’s the cover I’m going with …

Artist is Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957), a Czech artist. The painting is called Resistance, or The Black Idol, from 1903.

Thoughts on Suspense

/ jstater / 1 Comment

Over the past three days, I’ve been listening to recordings of Francois Truffault’s interviews with Alfred Hitchcock. I read the book based on those interviews a decade ago in college, but it has been enjoyable revisiting them.

Hitchcock, at one point, discusses the concept of suspense in film. He stresses that it is important for the audience to be aware that a momentous or terrible event is going to occur and when it is going to occur, and, of course, for the characters to be unaware. Simply blowing up a bus generates surprise, which fades fairly quickly for the audience. Letting the audience know the bus is going to explode – and that the people on that bus have no idea they’re about to die or be injured – creates a suspenseful situation that can last for several minutes.

In role-playing games, the players are both the audience and the characters. I think Referees mostly use surprise – “Black Dougal gasps ‘Poison!’ and falls to the floor” – with a bit of mystery thrown in by some of the old stand-bys – will the statue come to life and attack? does the lock contain a spring-loaded poison needle? etc.

My question is: Has anyone ever used suspense as Hitchcock defined it? For example, letting the player’s know that in 5 rounds the ceiling is going to collapse, but reminding them that their characters are unaware of this and must proceed with their fight against a gang of hobgoblins. I’d be interested to know how such a situation worked out.

Venatia – Sturmdrang Mountains

/ jstater

Here begins the preview of the northeast quarter of Venatia. This map introduces a new geographic region – the Sturmdrang Mountains. The Forest of Dread lies on the western periphery, and the Golden Coast and Golden Sea take up most of what is left.

Sturmdrang Mountains
The Sturmdang Range is connected to the westernmost portion of the Great Yamas. The Sturmdrangs are lush mountains and very ancient. A host of rivers originate in their snowbound peaks, with the Rhodon River merging with the River Dan and flowing into the Tepid Sea, and the others (Dinar, Scorda and Oeagrus) emptying into the Golden Sea.

The slopes of the Sturmdrangs are covered with coniferous forests, and the valleys are choked with broadleaf forests. The mountains are rich with flora and fauna, including brilliant red poppies, edelweiss, wild thyme, bilberry, black bears, wolves, foxes, martens, wild goats, badgers, lynx, eagles and bats. The most conspicuous inhabitants of the Sturmdrangs, and the reason for their name, are the storm giants.

NOD, unlike a world founded on immutable scientific laws, does not have natural processes per se’. The natural progress of seasons, the patterns of wind, rainfall, etc are all the labors of the fey folk and other agents of the Old Gods, including their ancient, defeated foes, the giants. Weather, of course, was the purview of the storm giants, and every region of NOD has a storm giant (or family of storm giants) assigned to govern wind and rain. The storm lord of Venatia made his home in the Sturmdrangs, where he still accepts offerings and sends forth life giving rains and death dealing bolts of lightning..

Random Monster Encounter (Roll 1d12)
1 Alp (1d6)
2 Beast (see below)
3 Carcohl (1)
4 Drude (1d6)
5 Giant (see below)
6 Griffon (1d6)
7 Humanoid (see below)
8 Lantern Goat (1d3)
9 Oread (1d2)
10 Rothran (1d6)
11 Waldgeist (1d6)
12 Wraith (1d6)

Beast Encountered (Roll 1d8)
1 Badger – Giant (3d6)
2 Bear – Black (3d6)
3 Eagle – Giant (3d6)
4 Goat – Giant (3d6)
5 Lynx – Giant (1d6)
6 Musimon (2d6)
7 Ram – Giant (3d6)
8 Wolf (4d6)

Giant Encountered (Roll 1d3)
1 Giant – Stone (1d6)
2 Giant – Storm (1d3)
3 Ogre (3d6)

Humanoid Encountered (Roll 1d8)
1 Arimaspian (3d6)
2 Barbegazi (8d6)
3 Bugbear (3d6)
4 Knocker (8d6)
5 White Lady (3d6)
6 Wild Man (8d6)