Author: jstater

Going to Hell!!

/ jstater / 3 Comments

Here’s a first glimpse at my Hell hex crawl. Came out a little lopsided, but hey – nobody is perfect. The uppermost layer is Ante-Hell – essentially a 9th level dungeon level writ large. It is divided from Asphodel – a twilight land of rolling meadows grazed on by stench kows and populated by shades – by the river Acheron. The hexes on this one are 12-mile rather than 6-mile. It is designed to force adventurers to circumnavigate each layer to go from “entrance” to “exit”. So, roll up some paladins and clerics and you can send them on the ultimate hex crawl, beginning in a couple months!

Handy Dandy Mystery Men Subterranean World Generator!

/ jstater / 3 Comments

Check every 50 yards (i.e. Speed 1). Roll 1d6. On a 1-2 roll on the chart below.

What Does the Cavern/Tunnel Feature?

What Creature Is Encountered?

How many? Divide the total XP value of the heroes (100 XP per level + 10% XP value of powers) by the XP value of the monster. This number is the max roll on a dice. In other words, if the value is 5, then there are 1d5 monsters (or 1d10 divided by 2). For a really challenging encounter, double the number of monsters rolled on the dice.

And for an example …

Deviant Friday – JHarren Edition

/ jstater / 1 Comment

JHarren has a frantic, oozy style that I appreciate – and plenty of Kirbytech, the geometries of which make a nice contrast to his fluid inks. I can imagine all sorts of game books that would benefit from some JHarren pieces. Enjoy, an be sure to visit JHarren’s Deviant art gallery for much more.

The Rocketeer

 

Swordswoman

 

Zombie Samurai

 

Shwann 2011

 

Neverender

 

Orion vs. Beta Ray Bill

 

 

Darkseid

Nodian Oddities

/ jstater

When I’m writing a hex crawl for NOD, I like to let my mind wander once and while and create a new species or two on the fly. I’m going to collect a few of these Nodian oddities here, with some guidelines for using them as a playable race. To start with, I have three from Mu-Pan …

DIDI
The Didi are small (halfling-sized) creatures. They look like nothing but skin and bones, with large, round heads and pointed ears. Didi’s are covered with velvety, platinum-blond fur and have ugly, wan, drawn faces. Despite their appearance, they are uncommonly kind and renowned for their knowledge of the healing arts. The didi dwell underground. Seemingly immune to the chill environment of their subterranean home, they do not wear clothing, though they often don leather armor or aprons when they prove useful to their work.

Didi have a knack for medicine and herbcraft. Those under their care heal +1 hit point per night of rest and receive a +1 bonus to saving throws against the effects of diseases. Because of their frail physiques, they suffer a -3 penalty to their constitution roll at character creation, though this penalty cannot reduce their constitution score below 3. Didi have magic resistance equal to their wisdom score (i.e. a 13 wisdom grants 13% magic reistance). Didi can see in the dark as well as dwarves.

Didi are permitted to advance as cleric/magic-users (up to 5th level max.), cleric/thieves (5th/7th level max.) or as pure thieves (9th level max.). Didi clerics worship nature spirits and deities of darkness, healing and generosity.

KETEKete are tall humanoids with stark white skin, black eyes and toothless mouths. They have no hair and wear kilts and tunics of interlocking steel rings (i.e. chainmail, though sometimes so light as to be no more protective than padded armor). Kete are surrounded by an aura of heat, and they require no teeth because food simply burns away in their mouths. This heat aura gives them an unarmed attack damage of 1d4 (or +1 to damage for monks) and the blurry aura gives them a -1 [+1] adjustment to Armor Class. Kete suffer only half damage from fire attacks and enjoy a +1 bonus to saving throws against dragon fire and fire spells. Once per day they can sheath themselves in roaring flames, causing 1d4 points of fire damage to all within 10 feet of them and possibly setting flammable objects aflame.

Kete cannot wear or use objects constructed of wood, leather or cloth (hence their chainmail clothing). They can advance as fighters up to 6th level (7th level with a strength of 14+), thieves of 8th level (9th level with dexterity of 15+) or fighter/thieves up to 5th/7th level.

ZOUSHOU
There are few creatures in Mu-Pan as strange as the zoushou. They look like large, grotesque human heads balanced atop four human legs, forcing them to walk like a crab or to hop about. Zoushou have deep, purple skin. Their long toes allow them to grasp items with fine manual dexterity. While they cannot wield weapons or use shields, they can wear armor that is specially made.

Zoushou can leap five feet vertically and up to 1d6+5 feet horizontally. They can kick in combat for 1d4+1 points of damage. Because of their rugged bodies, zoushou characters begin the game with 2 hit dice (though they are still limited in the total number of hit dice they can have based on their class). Three times per day, they can use x-ray vision per the ring of x-ray vision. In place of this, they can focus this vision one time per day on a single subject within 20 feet, inflicting 1d6 points of damage.

Zoushou advance as fighters up to 5th level (6th level with strength of 13+) or thieves up to 7th level (8th level with dexterity of 15+).

—

Note: For players of Ruins & Ronin, didi can advance as shugenja up to 6th level, kete can advance as bujin up to 7th level and zoushou can advance as bujin up to 6th level.
—

At some point I’m going to have to commission art for these oddballs. Should be fun!

Shades of Red

/ jstater / 4 Comments

Yeah, yeah – the mighty red dragon, paragon of scaled evil and terror in the game. But where’s the subtlety, the range? Leave your players guessing with the following six sub-species of the venerable red dragon. The remainder of this post is declared Open Game Content.

Carnelian Dragon: The carnelian dragon is medium-sized for a red dragon (i.e. 10 HD) and always intelligent, though never capable of speech. Carnelian dragons always possess the following spells: Detect evil (3/day), ESP (3/day), Legend Lore (1/day), Suggestion (1/day). They communicate telepathically in a screeching voice that raises the hairs on the nape of the neck. A carnelian dragon replaces the red dragon’s cone of fire breath with a psychic pulse that disrupts the synapses of the brain. All within 30 feet must pass a saving throw or be affected. For the next 6 rounds, the person must pass a saving throw whenever they want to perform an action other than running away or dodging blows (but without the benefit of a shield, which requires active thinking). Any other act – attacking, spell casting, talking, tap dancing, playing checkers – requires a successful save.

| Carnelian Dragon: HD 10; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (3d10); Move 9 (F24); Save 5; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: Spells, psychic pulse.

Crimson Dragon: The crimson dragon is a large, ponderous beast with a shortened snout and heavy eyes. Crimson dragon’s never speak and are relatively un-intelligent. They relish the infliction of distress and pain, and are as often on the move as in their lairs. In place of fire breath, a crimson dragon can breath a blast of wind – hot as a desert wind – that destroys water (reduces all water stores by half), withers plant life (normal dragon breath weapon damage to plant creatures) and sucks the moisture from other living creatures (half normal dragon breath weapon damage to non-plant creatures of flesh and blood).

| Crimson Dragon: HD 11; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (3d10); Move 6 (F15); Save 4; CL/XP 13/2300; Special: Drought breath.

Florid Dragon: The florid dragon is an ill-tempered brute of medium size (i.e. 10 HD). They have shinier scales than most red dragons, and smaller, saw-like teeth in their mouths. A florid dragon has the normal chances for speech and magic use. In place of fire breath, it simply radiates a wave of punishing heat from its body. The heat causes 1d6 points of damage per round to creatures within 10-ft of the dragon, 1d4 points to creatures from 10 to 20 feet away from the dragon and 1 point of damage per round to creatures within 20 to 40 feet of the dragon. Wearing metal armor increases this damage to 1d8/1d6/1d4 respectively. The florid dragon can maintain this heat for 10 minutes per day.

| Florid Dragon: HD 10; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (2d10); Move 9 (F24); Save 5; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: Radiate heat.

Ginger Dragon: The ginger dragon is a smaller, less wicked cousin of the red dragon. Lonely and somewhat sensitive, its evil nature usually manifests in flashes of murderous rage when rejected or criticized. When not murderously angry, though, it is a welcoming companion, even generous to adventurers. Where the florid dragon radiates intense heat, the ginger dragon absorbs heat, making the area around him very cool, and thus his warm presence (think of him as a radiator with a 5-ft radius range) all the more pleasant. Within 100 feet of the dragon, the air is absolutely frigid, and people unprotected from the cold suffer 1d6 points of damage per turn from the frost. Within 1 mile of the dragon, things are notably cold, though not damaging. Ginger dragons are always capable of speech and have the normal chance for magic use. Their claws are overly long and razor sharp.

| Ginger Dragon: HD 9; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8+1), 1 bite (3d10); Move 12 (F24); Save 6; CL/XP 11/1700; Special: Absorb heat, immune to fire.

Sanguine Dragon: These infernal brutes are ever in league with the dark powers of Hell, acting as their messengers and assassins in the world of mortals. They are small for red dragons and possessed of black, branching antlers that are lovely to behold if they aren’t gouging out your eye or spleen. Sanguine dragons can always speak and cast spells, and choose their spells from the anti-cleric’s spell list. They replace the red dragon’s cone of fire with a cone of spiritual hellfire, which numbs the soul and robs one of their common decency. Those hit must pass a save or be drained of one level. Those drained of a level must pass a second saving throw or have their alignment move from Lawful to Neutral or Neutral to Chaotic for the span of one month.

| Sanguine Dragon: HD 9; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (3d10), 1 gore (1d8); Move 9 (F24); Save 6; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: Hellfire, anti-cleric spells.

Vermilion Dragon: The noble vermilion dragon replaces the fury of the red dragon with a sense of superiority and mild disdain for lesser creatures. Nevertheless, they are as close as a red dragon can get to benevolence, and officially have a Neutral alignment (with benevolent tendencies). Vermilion dragons, like actors, love nothing more than to talk about themselves and hear others talk about them, especially in glowing terms. They are large, with refined features and have a lust for gold (especially in the form of crowns and other regalia) that borders on the obsessive. A vermilion dragon’s cone of fire causes full damage on neutral creatures, 150% normal damage on chaotic creatures, and only half damage on Lawful creatures. Lawful creatures struck by the breath also have all curses and diseases removed from their person and any drained level has a 50% chance of being restored if drained in the last year. Vermilion dragons can always speak, and have the normal chance for magic use.

| Vermilion Dragon: HD 11; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (3d10); Move 9 (F24); Save 4; CL/XP 13/2300; Special: Cleansing fire.

Prelude to War! [Mystery Men! Dark Renaissance]

/ jstater

The Mystery Men! Dark Renaissance campaign I’m running on Google+ is a week old and going well. The game is currently taking place in four localities, which I’ve turned into circles on Google+. There is also a Dark Renaissance circle for communications with all the players. Today I posted the first “News of the World” – a way for players to get inklings of what is happening in the campaign world, especially in the other cities. I’m going to post those news updates here as well so people can get an idea of what’s happening in the camapaign.

News of the World
Evening Edition
March 16, 1962

PRELUDE TO WAR

Washington DC – J. Edgar Hoover has given top priority to solving a series of super villain attacks at United States military installations which his spokesmen said could be a “prelude to war.” The military remains on high alert, in the aftermath of attacks at the naval yards in San Diego and Seattle, air bases in Las Vegas, NV, San Bernardino, CA,Lincoln, NB and central Oklaholma, and Fort Bliss in Texas. Only one of the criminals, known by the moniker “Super Size”, was apprehended by naval personnel in an attackon the USS Courser at Seattle’s Bremerton Naval Base.

Tensions were further raised when it was reported that Sen. Henry Haskel (D-Alabama), head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was assaulted in his own home by a masked, super-powered assailant whose identity is being kept confidential by the FBI. Together with the attacks on military bases, this assault has put the United States on high alert. President Kennedy is expected to speak to the nation tonight about these events and the way forward for the United States.

L to R: Pinball King, Sunburst and Shatter

Chicago – Union Station in Chicago has experienced a “Great Train Robbery”, in which three super powered criminals, identified by authorities as “Sunburst”, “Shatter” and “Pinball King”, did their predecessors one better by actually stealing the train. Shatter was apprehended at the scene with the help of the heroes known as “Firefly” and “Green Mask”. Firefly sustained injuries in the brawl but was released by police doctors after regaining consciousness and showing no signs of permanent injury.

New York – Mass panic at the Emigrant Savings Bank located on Broadway, as rats swarmed the bank, sending patrons fleeing into the streets. Injuries among patrons and employees were minor. Police say the rats were a diversion, as crooks entered the bank’s subterranean vaults and made off with an as yet unknown amount of loot. The FBI does not believe this attack on the bank is connected with the attacks on several military targets in the United States by super-powered criminals.

Geneva – Talks between France and Algeria continued in Geneva today, with spokesmen saying the two sides were “very close” to a substantial agreement to end the Algerian War. Nationalist elements in France claim they will recognize no such agreement and that the “war will continue until their cause is won.”

Manila – U.S. Military Intelligence is investigating the disappearance of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 over the Western Pacific, enroute from Saigon to Manila. The Lockheed Super Constellation went down with 11crew and 96 military passengers. Sabotage is suspected.

—

As always, heroes illustrated with the help of Fabrica Herois.

Grab Bag IV

/ jstater

From the Half-Ogre Viability Dept.

Saw this picture of Mr. O’Neil and his latest paramour and immediately thought about the viability of half-ogres in a fantasy world, at least in terms of the size of the two procreators (and no, I’m not calling Shaq an ogre). It also brings up the concept of human/halfling romance, given the comparative sizes of the two in that picture. Unless O’Neil has taken a vow of celibacy and this is just a platonic romance, of course.

From the Gimli’s Favorite Recipe Dept.

While researching medieval cookery, I came across this little gem. If you like to cook, and you have a thing for dwarves, I daresay THIS BOOK is for you.

From the Quality Quartet Dept.

One of the better FF line-ups, as rendered by Bobby Rubio. I wonder how much he charges for commissions.

From the Killers of Giants Dept.

Saw the fellas from RiffTrax mock Jack the Giant Killer last Thursday (I think it was Thursday). Good stuff, and actually a movie with some great ideas, especially as concerned seizing bones. Oh, and Princess Elaine was hot.

From the Pneumatic Awesome Dept.

This is good stuff – must be a Victorian Sci-Fi game in here somewhere, along with that Flying Dreadnaught from last week. Not steampunk, though, just Victorian Sci-Fi. Jules Verne-y stuff.

From the Violence in Wonderland Dept.

And speaking of games – I think I must create a tabletop wargame based on this image and using the Little Wars rules for inspiration.

Fantasy Cuisine – Get It While It’s Haute

/ jstater / 14 Comments

When the emperor sits down at his table, surrounded by the assembled kings, nobles and merchant princes of his domain, his servants do not serve dishes assembled for their succulence, but rather for their expense. In the world of emperors and kings, one entertains to show his guests just where they stand in relation to the throne – i.e. beneath it. Of course, the table setting is part of the overall effect – plates and utensils of porcelain, silver and gold – but the dishes, composed of rare and wondrous ingredients is just as important if not more so. Thus – the patented Nodian Random Haute Cuisine Generator. With a mere handful of dice, you can cover the tables of nobles, kings and emperor’s alike with meals fit for a gourmet (or gourmand).

The true origin of these tables was in a document I use while stocking my random hex crawls. I call it “The Thesaurus”, and it began as just that – a thesaurus of color words so I didn’t have describe everything red as “red”. It soon expanded to land forms, people and then food and clothing. There are just too many excellent words out there not to attempt to use them all, you know. Having this little storehouse of knowledge, I came up with this as a way to present at least the edible part of it. You can use these tables to concoct strange fantasy recipes (either to serve players as guests, or to send players after on kingly quests) or just use them when trying to stock your own world’s and dungeons.

The process is simple. First, choose a style of dish or roll it randomly on that first table. The style of dish show you how many rolls you must make on the different ingredient tables to discover just what is needed to bring the inventive gourmand’s imagined recipe to fruition.

Once you have determined the style of dish and the ingredients, it is up to you, as Referee, to describe the dish. A few samples are included at the bottom of the page. So grab some dice and get cooking!

Oh – and before I forget, two websites were invaluable in teaching me a bit about medieval cooking: Medieval Cookery and Gode Cookery.

* Indicates that cheese is called for in the recipe, rather than milk

DRINK 

 

 

 

 

EGGS

 

 

 

FRUIT

 

 

 

 

GRAIN

 

 

MEAT

 

 

 

 

 

 

MILK

 

 

 

OIL

 

 

 

SPICES and HERBS

 

 

 

SWEETENER

 

 

VEGETABLES

 

 

Sample Dishes

The Emperor Norton is hosting a garden party for the luminaries of Brobdinag and Laputa, and his cook has worked up the following dishes to show off. The first is a thick soup of cuttlefish, komatsuna and horse gram spiced with long peppers. This will be preceded by an aspic made with duck eggs with pyrolisk and ackee suspended in it and a chickpea frytour made with cottonseed oil and spiced with Szechuan peppers. Yummy!

 

Deviant Friday – Joe Pekar Edition

/ jstater / 1 Comment

Joe Pekar – AKA JFury – besides being a generally skilled artist, is especially skilled at pin-up art. If pin-up art offends your sensibilities, you’ll find a treasure trove of offense (NSFW) on his Deviant art page. Enjoy some of his tamer offerings here, ladies and gents.

Furry Girl

 

 

Cloak and Dagger

 

 

 

Geisha

 

 

Superman

 

 

Djinni Girl

 

 

Hermione

 

 

AmericanNinjaX Lines My Colors

 

 

Conan

 

 

Black Cat Gets Away

 

 

Invasion America!

/ jstater / 2 Comments

I came across this article recently positing an invasion of the United States by the Nazis during World War II. It immediately brought to mind two games from my wargaming past – RISK and Axis & Allies (and Invasion America, though I never actually played that one). I got RISK as a kid and immediately fell in love with it – one of those “I didn’t know something like this even existed!” moments.

I was big into militaria and WW2 as a kid – watching Victory at Sea on Sunday mornings on the local TV station (KVVU, Channel 5) and playing war with other kids in the neigborhood. I remember my first game was played against a friend in the neighborhood and my dad. I played the blue army, naturally, and my father the red army. When he finally beat me, I felt like I’d failed the USA and let the Soviets conquer the world – what a lousy feeling. Fortunately, he gave me some pointers – mostly on not spreading myself thin and attacking at all costs – and I improved quite a bit at RISK. I now move at a snails pace, building up so much depth that attacks crash against me like waves on a shore. The last time I played was a few years ago, with my daughter. The first game I played with her she couldn’t roll a bad dice and she won. She decided RISK was a great game. The next two went to me and she decided she was going to take a break from RISK for a while. C’est la vie.

I was introduced to Axis & Allies (one of the greatest game covers ever, by the way) by some guys I worked with at a video store (VIDEO PARK – World’s Largest Video Store). They also introduced me to SUPREMACY. Fun stuff. I learned the hard way that Axis & Allies is designed to replicate the strategies used in WW2 – almost like wargame railroading. You wander too far off the reservation, and things can get tough. I can still remember a good friend of mine and I were going to be playing the Axis in a game and we spent the entire day at work plotting our strategy. We seized on the idea of Germany building an aircraft carrier and threatening the USA with its fighters – the Allies would never expect it – we would be unstoppable. Unfortunately, we were playing with a guy who didn’t think in terms of military strategy, but rather game strategy – and he also had a knack for rolling dice. Germany built its ill-conceived carrier and, like the real carrier built by the Germans, it took forever, was finally stuck in port, and then unceremoniously sunk when the Allies came across the Channel. Still – good times, and very instructive about the importance of understanding the logic of the game rules over the logic of the “real world”, even in terms of old school, rules-lite games.