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Blood & Treasure Basic

/ jstater / 15 Comments

Yes, Blood & Treasure Basic. For now – I might change the name.

I took the last week off of work, and in between hiking, grilling ribs and a much needed massage, I found time to write Blood & Treasure Basic, as well as finish up NOD 23 (should publish by Monday).

What is B&T-B?

Ultimately, it’s that project I mentioned a post or so back in which I pondered doing different editions of a basic game using different public domain artists. While I thought of that, a couple ideas for simplifying B&T came to mind, so I started making notes, and notes led to writing, and a week later I had a game …

B&T Basic is kind of the same game as B&T, but also kind of a different game. One could easily make the jump from one to the other, but Basic isn’t just B&T with a bunch of material chopped off.

B&T Basic has the six traditional ability scores, with just a +1 or -1 modifier for high or low scores.

It has humans, elves, dwarves and halflings, with some multi-classing and level limits.

It fighters, magic-users, clerics and thieves, with some sub-classes that work like the variant classes in B&T – barbarian, paladin, ranger, assassin, bard, druid and cultist (the chaotic version of the cleric). Levels go from one to six.

The cleric and magic-user have spells from level 1 to 3, with the fewer spells than in Blood & Treasure (of course).

It has the basic equipment lists, the basic rules for dungeoneering (light, movement, tasks, combat, how to draw a dungeon, wilderness travel, settlements), all as simple as I can make them.

For monsters, you get all the basic monster types, with stats based on size and examples of monsters to make them more interesting. Why? I thought it would make it easy for TK’s to invent new monsters if they could just label something a Medium Aberration to get their basic stats, and then drop in an AC, attacks and special abilities.

For treasures, I keep it simple so you get the coins, the gems, the objects and the magic items.

I wanted to get a couple new things in the game, so I came up with a retainers system and super simple encumbrance. Since the levels only go to six so there are no rules for strongholds. In exchange, I decided that sixth level characters get a retainer, or sidekick. I also decided to roll them randomly, since I love random stuff! The retainer is a 1st level comrade for the adventurer, with whom they share some experience points. Honestly – I have no idea how well this will work. Maybe they should be higher level? Maybe second?

Anyhow – here’s the table …

At this point, the game runs about 30 pages without art – I figure when I add a title page, contents, index, and illustrations it will be around 35 to 40 pages, so not too shabby.

Preview Time

/ jstater / 6 Comments

Wow – it’s been almost a week since last I posted. What have I been up to? Well, aside from work, a little economics-oriented freelance stuff, and doing the family thang, I’ve been working on NOD 22 and the Tome of Monsters. So – time for a preview post!

[Oh – and the physical version of NOD 22 is now up for sale at Lulu!]

NOD 23 – The Ende Hexcrawl

Foreigners have called the plateau of Ende the land of monsters, and rightly so. In ancient days past, the elves dominated the west and the dragons the lands of Mu-Pan, but the rest of the planet was given over to monsters, especially the colossal mountains called the Great Yamas.

In the primordial days, the Kabir did battle on this plateau where the ancient river Ende runs down from the mountain glaciers. They clashed with the demons and other outsiders who sought to colonize Nod, leaving behind small pockets of these monsters and their servants, and a great fortress-temple called Aornus, wherein was hidden a mighty artifact of the kind they had used to defeat the demons and push them into the underworld beneath the Great Yamas.

Before the receding of the waters of Mother Ocean and the South Seas, Ende was a hilly peninsula jutting from the Yamas and dominated by two tribes, the Rakshasa and the Naga. The Rakshasa dominated the goblins and ogres, while the Naga dominated tribes of lizard-men and ophidians. Between them, the Rakshasa and Naga constructed the fortresses that would become the four great city-states of the plateau.

Eventually, the waters did recede and revealed the vast lowlands that would become the plains of Gondar and the tangled jungles of Djangala. These virgin territories attracted human, demi-human and humanoid tribes, who came under the sway of the monstrous tribes of the plateau for a time, before asserting their independence.

Due to the presence of the fortress Aornus and the mythical engine of destruction concealed within, the plateau has been visited by many armies over the centuries, including diving armies of demons and angels. As a result, the plateau is home to many more aasimar (called aasura in Ende) and tieflings (called teivas in Ende) than can be found throughout most of Nod.

Ende today is much as it has been for centuries, a land of adventure, danger and potential wealth. After many millennia of settlement, the land is rife with ruins hiding treasures beyond belief. The cities of the plateau, constructed over a thousand years ago, sit atop ancient iterations of them-selves, one city atop another, forming vast dungeons clogged with treasure and the non-human tribes that originated the cities before humans settled on the plateau.

TOME OF MONSTERS

This is shaping up pretty nicely. Art is being commissioned and is flowing in – below is a sample page as the layout now stands. Looks like this one will feature 145 new entries (some with multiple monsters per entry).

Okay folks – back to work!

The NOD Companion Released (About Damn Time)

/ jstater / 18 Comments

So I finally went and done it – I finished The NOD Companion for Blood & Treasure. What is it?

This supplement for the Blood & Treasure RPG collects in one place articles that players will find useful from NOD Magazine, including more than a dozen new character classes, new character races, new spells, new equipment and several optional rules to help customize your game experience. You’ll also learn the history of the NOD campaign setting and get a glimpse at just how large that setting is!

In more detail, the following is included in the game:

* An overview of the NOD campaign setting

* The History of NOD and its races

* Racial Class Variants – Half-Orc Thug (Barbarian), Elven Gallant (Paladin), Dwarf Prospector (Thief), Gnome Prankster (Thief), Halfling Gypsy (Thief),

* New Races – The Macabre, Notac-Ichat and Utu (the fellows on the cover)

* New Classes – Anarchist, Beastmaster, Charlatan, Chevalier, Curmudgeon, Demoniac, Demonologist, Diablo, Elementalist, Gourmand, Jack-of-all-Trades, Leech, Psychic, Puritan, Scientist, Shadowdancer, She-Devil, Slave Girl, Soulknife, Tomb Raider, Valkyrie, Vampyre, Venturer, Vigilante, Wushen

* New Weapons and Weapon Variations

* New Armor

* Partial Armor

* Used Armor

* New Henchmen and Hirelings

* Clothes Make the Adventurer

* New Spells – for the Charlatan and Elementalist, but most are available to other classes as well

* Optional Rules –

* Proficiency System for Weapons, Tasks and Spells

* Psionic Powers for All (including psychic duels)

* New Heroic Tasks (Appraise Value, Attend Court, Communicate, Disguise, Drive Wagon, Gather Rumors, Identify Specimen, Note Unusual Stonework, Seafaring, Spelunking, Tumble)

* Zero-Level Characters

All packed into 102 pages

So, if you like extras for role playing games and you like Blood & Treasure, you might want to look into grabbing this book.

E-Book is $5.99

Soft Cover is $9.99

Hard Cover is $19.99

AND – if you buy the hard cover, I’ll throw in the PDF for free. Just send me an email (check the right-hand column) with a copy of the receipt. That deal’s so good, I must be CRAZY!

A good way to end 2013, now I need to get busy writing for 2014!

NOD 21 Hits the Shelves (Electronically Speaking)

/ jstater
I have a few interesting posts a’brewing, but while I’m scratching those out please indulge me this commercial message …
NOD 21 – Finally On Sale!
NOD 21 rolls into town just in time for Halloween with a dozen new spooky monsters, the Damnable Sea hex crawl, random party events, an easy system for randomized overland travel in games, a way to use combat to resolve non-combat tasks, a quartet of automaton races based on Greek myths, and a review of Jeffries’ After London. 64 pages. $3.99 cheap!
I’ll have the print copy up for sale as soon as I see a copy to make sure all is copacetic.
I’m currently finishing up the NOD Companion for Blood & Treasure – a compilation of classes and races from the pages of NOD, updated to Blood & Treasure rules, plus a few extra bits – an old fashioned psionic system, 0-level play for B&T, a few new heroic tasks, a proficiency system for weapons, skills and even spells (well, spell specialization) and the secret history of NOD!
Okay – back to writing. I’ve got scads of fey coming, a random “why hast thou forsaken me” table, the demi-god class (trust me) and a few other things on the way.

Two New Kickstarters For Your Perusal

/ jstater / 3 Comments

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again – I get a few requests from people to share their projects and products on Land of Nod. Since I like to throw support to people who like games, I like to acquiesce. Today, we have a couple new Kickstarters you might find interesting.

RIVER-CON 2014

From Erica Lee Warren, I hear of a game convention in South Bend, Indiana (way better than North Bend in my opinion) folks are trying to get off the ground. The convention has a Kickstarter you might want to check out. From Erica:

“River-Con is going to be a one day convention in the heart of Downtown South Bend. We have a great space at the Century Center and they are also giving us a great price. We plan on growing larger every year eventually taking up the whole of the convention center. Any help you can give in this endeavor would be most welcome. Here is our Kickstarter link again.”

Click HERE or above to check it out.

CRITICAL IF GAMEBOOKS

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventures and Endless Quest Books. Well, Dave Morris informs me of Critical IF, a new gamebook imprint from Fabled Lands Publishing.

I remember loving these sorts of books as a kid and a teen, so you might want to give the Kickstarter for them a look-see HERE.

 

New Stuff in the World of Games

/ jstater

Hey folks – three new notions in the world of gaming you might want to check out. Give ’em a click.

Mischief, Inc.

Mischief, Inc. is a new company looking to produce adventures for the OSR. You can grab a preview of their first adventure, 0A – The Tomb of Rakoss the Undying, and visit forums set up for just about every OSR game in the world, including Blood & Treasure.

Project 2d8

The biggest challenge to gaming these days seems to be hooking up with other gamers. Project 2d8 has been launched on Community Funded to create an online tabletop for RPG’s. It looks pretty impressive, so check it out and if you find it a worthwhile project, throw them a few coins. You can also find them on the Book of Faces.

One Hit Die

One Hit Die is a new web series that presents D&D shot in the style of The Office. It stars Phil Burke, from Hell on Wheels. Check it out One Hit Die for more, or look them up on Twitter.

The Mottled Documentarian and NOD 19

/ jstater / 7 Comments

First – NOD 19 is now for sale in soft cover form – $9.99 cheap (as the saying goes).

Second – the Mottled Documentarian

So, I generated this monster using the dictionary method made famous a couple days ago ON THIS VERY BLOG!!!

Let’s take those threads and try to make an actual usable monster.

MOTTLED DOCUMENTARIAN
Medium Giant; Low Intelligence; Neutral (N); Pack (1d4)

HD: 7
AC: 22
ATK: 2 slams (1d6)
MV: 30
SV: F10 R12 W13
XP: 700 (CL 8)

Mottled documentarians are stout giants that stand about 7 feet tall. They are built like fireplugs and have skin a mottled white/grey in color. In their cold northern homelands, this allows them to surprise foes on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6.

Most documentarians dress in furs and when they carry weapons, they rarely carry anything other than clubs or crude spears. Mottled documentarians have no body hair. On the backs of their shoulders and necks, they have what appear to be encrustations similar to gemstones.

Mottled documentarians remember everything, but can access nothing – hence their low intelligence. Everything said in their presence, everything they have ever seen – even the thoughts and prepared spells of others in their presence – is projected from their minds into gemstones, including the encrustations on their backs. Each gemstone can hold a single fact/spaell. When one is full, their minds begin using another. When no gemstone is handy, a new encrustation appears on their backs. The typical mottled documentarian has 2d4 of these encrustations.

In combat, a mottled documentarian attacks with its giant fists. Creatures stuck by a fist and suffering more than 3 points of damage must pass a Fortitude saving throw or be knocked back 2d6 feet. A person knocked back more than 5 feet must pass a Reflex save or be knocked prone as well.

While fighting a mottled documentarian, people must beware that they don’t have thoughts and memories plucked from their brains. Each round a character is within 30 feet of a mottled documentarian, they must pass a Will saving throw or suffer memory loss. For spellcasters, this causes them to lose one prepared spell (for sorcerers, one known spell is forgotten for 24 hours). For skill-based characters, one of their skills (choose randomly) becomes a knack. For warriors, they suffer a -1 penalty to hit as they forget some of their martial training. These lost memories return after 24 hours, and are also stored either on an encrustation on the monster or on a gemstone nearby (perhaps one possessed by a player).

The memories within the encrustations (or gemstones) of a mottled documentarian can be accessed. A person must hold the item in their hand and concentrate. Activation requires a successful Will saving throw. If successful, they either gain the benefit of a random piece of information (TK’s choice) or, if capable, learn a new spell. Once information is retrieved from a gemstone or encrustation, it is erased from the item.

Special Qualities: Cold resistance, magic resistance 20%, surprise (2 in 6)

 

Merry Christmas from the Land of Nod!

/ jstater / 1 Comment

Quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and all the blessings of the season. More than getting everything you wanted, I hope you all have everything you need (and are wise enough to know it, if you do). My Christmas present to you folks today is a quick preview of some new art I’ve commissioned for the forthcoming NOD Companion – all of it drawn by Jon Kaufman – for the classes collected in the book. Enjoy the art, and I hope you all have a wonderful day, whether you’re celebrating or not.

Puritan by Jon Kaufman

 

Psychic by Jon Kaufman

 

She-devil by Jon Kaufman

 

Traveler by Jon Kaufman.

I’ll be posting a couple new ones soon that will appear in the book – The Vigilante and the Femme Fatale.

Merry Christmas folks! Thanks for making me feel like a success with this little hobby of mine. Like many folks of the geeky persuasion, I’ve never had the best self image in the world, and your support over the last few years has done wonders for me. In the coming year, let’s all remember to be kind to one another.

I Got Me a Logo!

/ jstater / 4 Comments

A couple weeks ago, I commissioned Rowena Aitken – an artist I’ve collaborated with a few times on the Hex Crawl Chronicles from Frog God Games – on a logo. Since I write and publish under my own name, not a company name, I wanted something basic – just my initials. Initially (no pun intended) I was thinking of an homage to a famous old three-initial gaming company you might have heard of called TSR. As we discussed it, though, and she showed me some other samples, I actually went for something inspired by the logo for Yes (the band, not the affirmation). So, without further adieu – my new logo in color and black and white.

Look for it on NOD 18 in about a month!

Rowena is open for commissions – logos or otherwise – give her a look!

And one more reminder – all of my print products at Lulu are now 10% off for the holidays. Enjoy! Look for a Dragon by Dragon tomorrow …

NOD 17 – Just in Time for Halloween!

/ jstater

It was a struggle today (embedding fonts in Adobe can be more frightening than a teenaged werewolf!) but NOD 17 is finally up for sale as a PDF!

Within it’s 50 pages you will find …

IXUM, City of the Savannah – a fantasy city on the savannah of Pwenet with over 60 locations.

36 MONSTERS OF DISTINCTION – If you’ve been following the blog this October, you know what to expect here – 36 Halloweeny monsters that are more than just a set of stats

DINOSAURS WITH A DIFFERENCE – A random table of modifications to make dinosaurs more memorable

IT’S THE MONSTER’S TURN – Four monstrous classes for Blood & Treasure – The Demon, the Devil, the Red Dragon and the Vampire. It ain’t just humans who like to kill things and take their stuff!

BAR FIGHTS – The bar fight matrix (and an excellent illustration by Jon Kaufman)

A SKELETON FOR EVERY OCCASION – 18 skeletons to challenge characters of any level

QUEENS OF ELEMENTAL AIR – Radiant elemental queens from the Plane of Air

SWORDS, SORCERY AND MYSTERY MEN! – A short guide to running heroic fantasy adventures  using Mystery Men!

MEET THE MACABRES – A “mysterious and spooky” race for fantasy games.

Hope folks enjoy it! The print edition will be out as soon as I get my review copy – probably about 10 to 12 days.

NOD 18 in two months will complete 3 years of this little effort of mine – can’t wait!

PURCHASE IT HERE!