Cush – Introduction

/ jstater / 9 Comments

Okay, I haven’t officially published the last piece of the Hellcrawl (about 1 more week and it’s live), but I’ve already moved on to … Cush! The next hexcrawl project is Cush and Pwenet, pieces of an Africa-themed chunk of Nod. I’m quite excited about this one – probably a good bit of art to commission (which means I’m losing money on this baby), but there isn’t much Africa-themed RPG stuff out there, and it’s a pretty rich vein to mine for adventure. Anyhow – what follows is a quick look at the different geographical regions to be covered and the full Map J12 – the eastern half will be covered in NOD 16, the western half in NOD 18, and NOD 17 will cover the city-state of Ixum. Enjoy!

Click to enlarge – or don’t, it’s up to you

HISTORY
During the Pandiluvian Age, the jungle portions of Map J12 were under water, while the Jamba Highlands constituted a chain of islands the connected to the large archipelago of the modern Wyvern Coast. The savanna of Pwenet was a land of salt marshes and grassland. The so-called elder things built small fortresses in these shallow waters to protect their larger cities in the depths. These fortresses were built with a cyclopean, luminous green stones that were fitted without mortar. Although they were hunted for sport, some mermaids established themselves in sea caves and placid island lagoons.

When the waters receeded, the swampy grasslands became a savanna and the Cush basin became a dismal, tropical swamp. It was here that the lizard men, former servants of the elder things, established themselves in walled city-states, often surrounding the citadels of their former masters. Humans from the highlands were enslaved and put to work building defenses, for the lizard kings were constantly at war with one another, their society on its inevitable march to savagery.

As the waters continued to recede and Cush became a rain forest. The savage lizard men were eventually defeated by the more numerous and clever humans and driven into the coastal swamps or into the underworld. Freed from slavery, the humans established themselves in the homes of their former masters and took up where they left off. But unlike the lizard kings, who spent centuries locked in a stalemate, one human city-state, Kolos, soon brought the others to ruin.

Kolos was ruled by an exiled Atlantean who became fascinated with the alien gods of the lizard men, especially the one they called Mictlantecuhtli. Mictlantecuhtli called out to the Atlantean from the Abyss and bound him to his service with dark, unspeakable pacts. In time, the Atlantean, now known as Kolos, would destroy his city-state in a bid for godhood.

With Kolos fallen and soon swallowed by the jungles, its tributary port, Zinj, assumed the mantle of leadership in the region. But Zinj was tiny compared to the Kolos, and its interest lied in sea trade, not the fetid jungles. Except for a brief period as a subject of the zebra-striped people of the Zebrides, Zinj has remained an independent kingdom for centuries, even briefly lording it over the purple kings of Ophir after they lost their key trade partner in the invoked destruction of the Nabu.

The tribesmen of the savanna land called Pwenet also flourished during the Silver Age. They built villages and towns of adobe and kept massive herds of cattle. They even swept over the Nabu empire and held it for a few decades before decadence and in-fighting aided the Nabu in reclaiming their sovereignty.

GEOGRAPHY
Map J12 is dominated by a hot, steamy jungle in the west and the rolling grasslands of Pwenet in the east. These two regions are divided by the Jamba Highlands, a small mountain range that feeds the Jamba River. The Adze Marsh runs for many miles along the Jamba River.

A powerful necromantic kingdom called Kolos once dominated Cush and made war with the Nabu Empire to the north. While the fall of the Nabu Empire is well documented, the disappearance of Kolos is far more mysterious, and many adventurers have entered the jungles intent on finding that lost city-state and plundering its vaults. To date, none have succeeded in returning to civilization with their lives, let alone any riches.

Map J12 has no city-states of its own. The nearest city-states are Zinj (Map I12) and Ophir (Map J11), both coastal ports. It does have a multitude of villages and supports many sentient cultures, including human tribesmen, pygmys, lizardmen and gnolls.

Adze Marsh & Jamba River
The Adze Marsh, named for one of its more dangerous inhabitants is a vast wetland composed of flat lands, lagoons and copses of trees. The area floods in the Spring, hiding much of the flat land and making the entire swamp a virtual lake.

Cush
The jungle of Cush consists of a gently sloping plain between the Tonaduhna and Jamba Rivers. It is a traditional rain forest. The trees are thick and grow close enough together to blot out the sun. Beneath the canopy live a myriad of insects and reptilian carnivores as well as pygmy deer, elephant, and the dreaded leopard. Cush is valued for its exotic hardwoods (teak, mahogany, ebony and darkwood), orchids and fauna.

AMAZONS: The amazons of Cush are related to their more northern cousins. Like their cousins, they live in a matriarchical society. Unlike their cousins, they allow their menfolk to live in their villages and work as craftsmen, farmers and fishermen. Men and amazons live in separate halves of the village.

The amazons of Cush wear little or no armor, with the heaviest armored warriors (the nobility and their elites) wearing leather armor cured from the hides of mystical beasts (5% chance of dragonhide leather armor). Cushite amazon warriors carry spears, throwing irons and shields.

BERSERKERS: The berserkers of the jungle are cannibals. They appear as normal humans, but with teeth sharpened to points and hungry, feral looks in their eyes. The cannibals of Cush live in small hunting groups of 10 to 20 warriors led by a 3rd to 6th level chief and two 2nd level sub-chiefs. They wear no armor, but 50% of the berserkers carry a shield. Cannibals are armed with nets, battle axes, hand axes or short swords.

GHOULS: The ancient city-state of Kolos fell in a cataclysm of dark sorcery, tainting the surrounding land with necromantic energies. Over the next few months the peasants and knights of Kolos, deprived of their city-state, perished. Those who survived did so on the flesh of their fallen neighbors, and thus became ghouls. These ghouls, known for their dull black skin and pot bellies, still haunt the ruins of the jungle basin. They are extremely aggressive (as they’ve been starving for centuries) and are quite resistant to turning (turn as 4 HD undead). About 1% of ruins contain a ghoul able to summon a vrock demon (25% chance of success).

TRIBESMEN: The tribesmen of Cush know the secret of working iron and mine and smelt surface deposits from sacred out-croppings guarded by traps and summoned cacodaemons. Their witchdoctors are expert brewers of poison, so most warriors go into combat with poisoned darts (poison I) fired from blowguns.

The tribesmen are also privy, it is said, to the location of ancient gold mines secreted deep in the jungle and guarded by forgotten curses and fell magical beasts.

Each tribe consists of 3d10 x 10 warriors and additional non-combatants equal to 5 times the number of warriors. For every ten warriors in the tribe there is one “Big Man” with 1d4 character levels, usually in the fighter class. The tribe is ruled by a 6th to 10th level chief and witchdoctor (usually an adept, but 10% chance of being a 4th to 7th level druid or cleric). The chief is accompanied by 1d6+6 2nd level fighter bodyguards.

All tribesmen have a very fluid fighting style, giving them a base AC of 11. Tribesmen typically wield spears and blowguns, but might also carry hand axes, short swords, daggers and short bows. Leader types might carry battle axes or long swords.

VEGEPYGMIES: These strange plant beings are approximately 3 feet in height with rust-colored skin. They are primitive in nature with a chittering language incompre-hensible to non-plant men. Vegepygmies are usually encountered in small hunting bands. Vegepygmy tribes number from 1d4 x 30.
Vegepygmy warriors usually carry spears and throwing darts covered with a rust-colored mold. The mold deals no extra damage, but does begin to grow on the flesh of those hit by the darts who fail a saving throw. After the first day, the mold begins dealing 1 point of constitution damage each day as it produces enzymes which begin liquifying the host’s body. When the host is reduced to 0 constitution, he is little more than a pile of mush, upon which several “infant” mold men begin to grow. Once the mold begins to grow, it can only be destroyed with fire or a remove disease spell.

Jamba Highlands
The Jamba Highlands are a group of snow-capped mountains and their foothills that rise above the jungle of Cush and the grasslands of Pwenet. The tribesmen believe they are the abode of their gods. This belief is bolstered by the strange, white gorillas that seem to guard the passes that lead through the mountains.

The highlands feature a plethora of simians and avians. Old stories claim that the mountains are rich in precious stones and metals, but they are far enough away from civilization that nobody has made a serious attempt to mine them.

Pwenet Grasslands
Pwenet is a land of rolling hills with scattered copses of aromatic trees and a few rocky outcroppings. Large herds of ruminants travel from watering hole to watering hole while being stalked by giant centaurs, lions and even more fantastic predators. Pwenet is said to hold both a fountain of youth and the source of the River Ish, thus making it a popular destination for explorers.

A few merchant-adventurers from Ibis travel to Pwenet once a year to trade manufactured goods for aromatic resins, ivory, darkwood and wild animals. Otherwise, the region is untouched by the people of Lemuria and the Motherlands.

Though not the most numerous, the giant centaurs of Pwenet are the region’s most prominent folk of the hills. Pwenet is also home to many tribes of gnolls and humans. The largest tribes, human and gnoll both, provide most of the region’s drama as chiefs and witch-doctors jockey for power and recognition.

Oft told tales tell of when the tribes of Pwenet united under Jobo the Great and conquered the cities of Nabu. The people of Pwenet believe that history is a cycle and that they will once again conquer the outside world when a great leader united them.

CENTAURS: The centaurs of Pwenet look like a cross between humans and giraffes rather than humans and horses. Pwenet’s centaurs are larger and stronger than normal centaurs, but also more calm and level-headed. They carry large shields and pikes.

DWARFS: The dwarfs of Pwenet are only distantly related to the dwarfs of Antilia and Thule. They have pitch-black skin and eyes and small beards of wiry, black hair. Like other dwarfs, they dwell under-ground in burrows protected by all manner of traps. The natives of Pwenet call them the utu.

The utu have different abilities than other dwarves. Their eyes allow them to see in the brightest light and blackest darkness, including magical darkness. Their skin is as hard as granite and provides them a natural armor class of 14. Utu characters have a +1 bonus to constitution and a -1 penalty to intelligence. The utu carry shields and swords made of darkwood studded with shards of jade.

Utu dwarves worship Khnum, the divine potter, creator of the universe. Khnum’s clerics are curious about the universe and spend most of their time recording their observations on clay tablets. Where other dwarfs are expert at the forge, the utu are experts working with wood and clay. Their pottery is valued by the people of Ibis.

The utu are learned in the art of conjuring spirits, from whom they obtain most of their knowledge. All non-player character utu clerics can use the spell contact other plane once per month, when the stars are aligned.

Once every century a lucky cleric is able to make contact with Khnum himself to deliver a great prophecy to all the peoples of Pwenet. On these occaisions the dwarves sound their drums and blow long horns made from hollowed darkwood trees to call all the tribes to hear the prophecy. All the great chiefs of Pwenet heed this call and travel to the appointed place with their retinues, sworn by tradition to observe a full week of peace while the ceremonial dances are performed, lineages are recited and finally the prophecy is pronounced. The coming of the current princess of the Quiet Folk, avatar of the great earth mother, was pronounced at the last convocation, and the next prophecy is due to come in the very near future.

Need Battle Maps?

/ jstater

So, a couple days ago, I got an email from the folks at EncounterMaps.com letting me know about a Kickstarter project they have going to make some high quality battle maps. Now, I’m an old schooler, so my battle maps are usually in my head or constructed with such high-quality props as books, dice, bottle caps and pennies, but I looked at the Kickstarter page and must say I’m impressed with the artwork of their cartographer, Jared Blando.

 

So, for my “new school” readers and those old schoolers who dig nice-looking maps, you might think about throwing some dollars their way.

Battle of Gaudin’s Ford – Final Rounds

/ jstater / 1 Comment

You didn’t think I forgot about the battle, did you? Of course, since today is the 4th of July, I wish I’d pitted Red Coats against Yankees, but I’ll have to settle for halflings and orcs.

ROUND FIVE

Click to enlarge

The halflings and orcs both find themselves in an interesting predicament with the annihilation of the billmen. The orcs should want to follow it up and charge in … but then they’re surrounded by angry halflings. Likewise, the halflings should want to plug the hole … but then a company of boyos has to take on the orc blackguards all by its lonesome. What to do?

The halflings decide to do the following … the surviving sheriff will retreat back to the safety of Halfling C. Those companies will stay put. The elves would really like to fire their bows at those orcs, but instead they’re going to wheel back a bit. The other halflings are going to hold their ground. All of the halfling’s with missile weapons, except Halfling I and Halfling G, are going to concentrate fire on Orc A. Halfling I is going to fire on Orc G and Halfling G is going to fire on Orc H.

The orcs decide, in true orky fashion, to charge. Orc A is going to charge in to Halfling D – if Halfling B gets in the way, they’ll hack down the elves first. This will, they hope, free up Orc E to slam into the side of Halfling I, along with Orc G. Orc H is going to attack Halfling G. Orc B is going to fire at Halfling F and Orc C at Halfling E.

So, how does it play out?

Missile Phase
Since the last report, I’ve modified the rules a bit to use normal side vs. side initiative which has to be re-rolled for each phase. For this missile phase, the orcs roll a ‘6’ and the halflings a ‘5’.

The orc crossbows let fly their bolts. Orc B scores no damage on Halfling F. Orc C inflicts 7 points of damage on Halfling E, whose leader, Merlyn, rolls his save and suffers no damage.

Orc A suffers 7 points of damage. Thundergut saves and suffers no damage. They’re battered, but they didn’t break! Halfling G scores 2 points of damage on Orc H, and sub-chief Nardo saves, so no damage. Halfling I is pretty ineffective against Orc G, scoring 5 points of damage. On the plus side, this is enough to force a moral check! The orcs, without their leader, fail the check and will begin moving away next round. The worg riders, who have been ordered to attack Halfling I, might be in trouble.

Movement Phase
Orcs roll “1” and Halflings roll “1” – they re-roll initiative and this time the halflings win.
The elves move back, and everyone else holds. The orcs now have two forced moves. The Orc G swims for their own side of the river, while the fleeing ogres in Orc D run off the battlefield. Orc A charges into Halfling D, Orc E wheels into the flank of Halfling I and Orc H rushes up the river bank to attack Halfling G. Plenty of melee combat this round!

Melee Phase
Orcs gain initiative this round, and they’re going to need it with three units already having fled or being in retreat.

Orc E plunges into Halfling I and scores 6 points of damage. Because they’re hitting the far flank, I’m going to rule that Father Godwin doesn’t have to save to avoid damage this round.

Orc A works their magic again … 14 points of damage on Halfling D. Finn, the leader of Halfling D, fails his save and is killed in the onslaught. The halflings now have to roll a morale check – they fail, and turn to flee. Because they’re in melee combat, they expose themselves to pursuit and an extra attack. The orcs score another hit, this one for 2 points of damage, reducing Halfling D’s hit points to 4.

Orc H, scrambling from the river fail to score any damage on Halfling G, who responds by scoring 3 points of damage on the yobbos.

Halfling I now counterattacks Orc E. They fail to score any damage.

No magic this round, so we go to …

Click to enlarge

ROUND SIX
The halflings know they have to destroy Orc A to break the orc army. To that end, Halfling C is going to wheel and attack their flank while Halfling E does the same from the other direction. Halfling B is going to wheel back and wait for an opening. Halfling H is going to join battle with Orc H. Halfling F sling their stones at Orc B. Halfling I is going to maneuver while in melee – essentially, they’re going to change formation this round into a square.

Orc B and C are not going to reload this round, but rather hustle towards the lines. The orc chief needs orcs on the line to hold the bank and claim victory. Orc E and H are going to continue to attack, and Orc A is going to wheel and hit Halfling C in its flank. Clearly, initiative will be important this round.

Missile Phase
No initiative this round, since only the halflings are shooting. Halfling F scores 5 points of damage on Orc B. Sub-chief Gruk fails his save and suffers the same – he’s a tough old bird, though, and keeps on breathing.

Movement Phase
Big initiative roll this round, and the orcs win it! Orc B and C move forward. They might end up being too late to do any good. Orc A wheels and moves into Halfling C’s flank. Orc G makes it out of the water on their way to flee the field.

Meanwhile, Halfling D continues to flee and Halfling E wheels and charges into the rear of Orc A. Halfling B wheels and moves back. Halfling H moves to attack Orc H.

Melee Phase
Orcs lose initiative this time to the halflings. The plucky Halfling C, flanked by the orcs, manages to score 2 points of damage on the blackguards. Halfling E, despite a rear attack and charge, score no damage. The orcs still have 11 hit points, so they don’t have to check morale yet. But the halfling leaders do some damage as well. Samwinn and Merlyn inflicts another 2 hit points of damage on Orc A – now they have to make a morale check and fail badly. This is probably it for the orcs. They immediately flee back for the river ford, and Halfling E pursues (C choose not to), but fails to score any more damage. Thundergut failed his save, and suffered 4 points of damage as well.

Halfling I continues to fight at a disadvantage against Orc E, and scores no damage.
Halfling G and H attack Orc H, combining for 4 points of damage (tough little buggers, those halfling slingers). Sub-chief Nardo fails his save this time, and takes a shiv to the ribs. He’s dead, but I’ve rewritten the rules so that the loss of a leader does not necessitate a morale check.

The orcs (what’s left of them) counterattack. Orc E scores 8 points of damage on Halfling I. They’re one point away from a morale check. Orc H scores 2 points of damage against Halfling G. Muriel fails her save and suffers 2 points of damage. Halfling G is down by at least 50% of their hit points, so they roll a morale check and pass. They stand and fight.

No magic again, so the end of round six!

EPILOGUE
At the end of Round Six, the battlefield is a bit chaotic, but the halflings seem to have the upper hand. Even if Thundergut rallies his blackguards, they’re going to have trouble turning the tide. We’ll give this day to the halflings. I learned quite a bit from this little demonstration, and I’m now ready to apply what I learned to the final mass combat rules in Blood & Treasure.

Blood and Treasure … I’m Kinda Done

/ jstater / 21 Comments

Over the weekend I finished writing Blood & Treasure. Yippee!

Up next is the final editing, which I’m beginning now (I also have a few illustrations I’m waiting on – and thanks to Jon Kaufman and Ndege Diamond for their work in this area, and of course Tanner Yea for his editing prowess) and hope to finish in about a week. After that, I create some PDFs and begin selling them while I wait for a hard copy to review – I’m trying to use the thinnest margins possible to keep the overall page count of the books as low as possible, but if the result is hard to read/use, I’ll have to fix the layout.

Anyhow, I though that people who are interested in the project might like to the a quick and dirty version of the table of contents (note: not actual TOC – I can’t really do that until I have something physical to work out the page numbering) for this beast:

I. Getting Started

II. Characters
Ability scores
Races (human, dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc)
Classes (assassin, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, duelist, fighter, magic-user, monk, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, thief)
Multi-Classing
Changing Class
Feats (optional rule)
Equipment
Henchmen & Hirelings
– Adepts
Character Details
– Alignment (3-fold and 9-fold)
– Alignment languages
– Personality and description
Strongholds
– Selecting a domain
– Clearing a domain of monsters
– Designing a stronghold
– Establishing your rule (includes random events)

Web spell by Jon Kaufman

III. Magic
Arcane Spells
Divine Spells
Spell-Like Abilities
Arcane Magical Writings
Spellbooks
Spellcasting
Magical Research
Spell Descriptions (627 spells)

IV. Rules of Play
Time
Movement
Encumbrance
Saving Throws
– Item saving throws
Survival
– Starvation and thirst
– Light
– Falling
– Disease
– Poison
Conditions
Heroic Tasks
– Bend Bars
– Break Down Doors
– Balance
– Climb Sheer Surfaces
– Decipher Codes
– Escape Bonds
– Find Secret Doors
– Find Traps
– Hide in Shadows
– Jump
– Listen at Doors
– Move Silently
– Open Locks
– Pick Pockets
– Remove Traps
– Riding
– Survival
– Swimming
– Tracking
– Trickery
– Skill Points (optional rule)
Encounters
Combat
– Initiative
– Combat Actions
o Melee Attacks
o Ranged Attacks
o Hitting in Combat
o Charging
o Fighting Defensively
o Tactical Advantage
o Special Attacks
o Fighting with Two Weapons
o Running Away
o Mounted Combat
o Underwater Combat
o Turning Undead
Damage and Death
– Hit Point Damage
o Alternate Dying Rules
– Ability Score Damage & Drain
– Energy Drain
– Healing
Mass Combat
Naval Combat
Example of Play

V. Adventures
Dungeons
– Mapping
– Dungeon Walls
– Dungeon Floors
– Dungeon Doors
– Dungeon Rooms
– Dungeon Corridors
– Other Dungeon Features
– Cave-Ins
– Slimes, Molds & Fungi
– Traps
– Running Dungeon Adventures
– Random Dungeon Chamber Generator
Wilderness
– Designing a wilderness
– Wilderness encounters
– Wilderness movement
– Wilderness combat
– Wilderness dangers
– Random Wilderness Hex Generator
Civilization & Settlements
– Vistas
– To map or not to map
– Goods for sale
– Rulers
– The long arm of the law
– The dogs of war
– Notable citizens
– Random encounters
– Urban adventure hooks
– Random Settlement Generator
The Planes
– Planar traits
– Elemental and energy traits
– Alignment traits
– Magic
– How planes interact
– One possible cosmology

VI. Monsters
Monster Size
Monster Type
Monster Intelligence
Monster Organization
Other Stats
Special Attacks and Abilities
Making Monsters
– Reskinning
– Modifications
– Creating a new monster
Monster Encounters
Monsters as Characters

Xaoc by Ndege Diamond

Monster Descriptions (538 monsters)
A – Aasimar to Azer (31 monsters)
B – Baboon to Burrawog (35 monsters)
C – Cecilia, Giant to Cyclops (32 monsters)
D – Dark Creeper to Dwarf (79 monsters)
E – Eagle (Hawk) to Eye of the Deep (15 monsters)
F – Flail Snail to Frost Worm (6 monsters)
G – Gargoyle (Kapoacinth) to Grue (41 monsters)
H – Hag, Annis to Hyena (26 monsters)
I – Ice Giant to Iron Cobra (8 monsters)
J – Jackalwere to Juggernaut (3 monsters)
K – Kobold to Krenshar (2 monsters)
L – Lamia to Lynx, Giant (27 monsters)
M – Magmin to Mushroom Man (19 monsters)
N – Naga, Dark to Nymph (15 monsters)
O – Ochre Jelly to Owlbear (9 monsters)
P – Pegasus to Purple Worm (23 monsters)
R – Rakshasa to Rust Monster (16 monsters)
S – Sahuagin to Sylph (50 monsters)
T – Tarrasque to Turtle, Giant (21 monsters)
U – Udoroot to Uvuudaum (5 monsters)
V – Vampire to Violet Fungus (5 monsters)
W – Walking Slime to Wyvern (14 monsters)
X – Xaoc, Achromatic to Xorn (9 monsters)
Y – Yeth Hound to Yrthak (3 monsters)
Z – Zombie (1 monster)
Templates – Beastman template to pseudonatural template (12 templates; 40 sample monsters)

VII. TreasureCoins
Gems
Art Objects
Magic Items
– Using items
– Size and magic items
– Charges, doses and multiple uses
– Creating magic items
– Magic Armor
– Magic Weapons
– Potions and Oils
– Rings
– Rods
– Scrolls
– Staves
– Wands
– Wondrous Items
– Intelligent Items
– Cursed Items
– Artifacts

Dragon by Dragon – October 1977 (10)

/ jstater / 2 Comments

Can you feel the chill in the air – that crisp chill of Autumn? Well, of course not. It’s July in the here and now, and just reading a magazine from October isn’t going to change that unless you have a rather powerful imagination or have been dipping into the pseudo-pharmaceuticals. Let’s see what Gygax & Co. had in store for us 35 years, when the leaves of Lake Geneva were beginning to change*

October 1977 starts off with a firecracker (mixing my seasons again), as Jon Pickens presents D&D Option: Orgies, Inc. The Mule Abides has already brought this article to prominence in the OSR, but I think it’s worth mulling over again.

The article posits the problem of too much wealth in the game. To this end, Pickens decided that treasure should only be translated into XP when it was spent. Since you can only have so many suits of platemail, 10-ft. poles and weeks of iron rations, players need something else for which to spend their gold. Pickens provides the following avenues of expenditure:

1. Sacrifices: Gold given directly to gods or demons; any character can do this
2. Philanthropy: Lawful’s can give gold to charity – but not to hirelings or fellow PC’s, of course
3. Research: This is for magic-users and alchemists.
4. Clan Hoards: Dwarves and other clannish folk can give their money to their clan.
5. Orgies: Fighters (not paladins or rangers), bards, thieves and all chaotics (except monks) can spend their money on wine, women and song

There are, of course, additional guidelines to these expenditures (i.e. how much can be spent in a night or week, etc.), but I love the idea and the restrictions. Even better, he has two appendices to the article – one on gambling and one on the effects of orgies on psionics (and in my opinion, the mere existence of this appendix should make you want to include both orgies and psionics in your next campaign).

Izzat what a female goblin looks like?

Daniel Clifton has the task of following up on Orgies, Inc., and does so with Designing for Unique Wilderness Encounters. It’s a nice little article, containing random tables for determining what the terrain looks like when a few pesky wandering monsters show up in the wilderness. The tables generate the vegetation, slope, etc., but don’t provide any guidance for how this terrain impacts the battle, which is probably a good thing.

Paul Montgomery Crabaugh presents Random Monsters – by which he means monsters generated randomly, not random wandering monsters. Naturally, I need to generate at least one (which I suppose I really should include in Blood & Treasure):

Intelligence: Highly intelligent (I have a budding genius on my hands here!)
Alignment: Chaos
Type: Mammal (which means it might be a ninja)
Speed: 12
Armor Class: 7 (would have been a 6 if it was a reptile; for B&T it’s a 12)
Hit Dice: Level -2 (level being the level of the dungeon … hmm let’s pretend we’re on the 9th level of our dungeon, so 7 HD)
Hit Dice Modifier: +0 (so, 7 HD … odd that I need to roll for the HD and then roll to modify it)
Damage: 1d8

Now I need to roll for special characteristics, which is an odd percentile table. For a 7 HD monster, I’m going to assume it works as follows:

01-39 – none
40-74 – one
75-89 – two
90-100 – three

I roll a “92” (no, really, I swear it) and thus my monster has three special characteristics. I need to roll d24 for these (if you don’t know how to roll d24, I just feel bad for you) and come up with the following:

1. Hostile to clerics
2. Has anti-magic shell
3. Hostile to magic-users

I have a very hostile monster, apparently. But he doesn’t hate cans … he hates spellcasters. This makes his anti-magic shell make pretty good sense (ah, the wisdom of dice!)

I now roll another D% to see if it has “other characteristics”, and a roll of “61” tells me it does not (otherwise, it could have some insect characteristics).

Last batch of rolls determine the physical description:

Size: Medium (6 feet)
Limbs: 2 legs, 3 arms
Exterior: Feathers
Coloring: Spotted white and grey

So, what do we end up with?

ALMESITH
Medium Magical Beast, Chaotic (CE), High Intelligence; Gang (1d4)

Hit Dice: 7
Armor Class: 12 [7 for Swords & Wizardry]
Attacks: 3 claws (1d8)
Move: 30 [12 for Swords & Wizardry]
Saves: F 10, R 10, W 11 [9 for Swords & Wizardry]
XP: 700 (CL 8)

Almesiths are strange beasts that are spawned from the residual energies of powerful spellcasting, living embodiments of nature’s abhorrence of magic. They are most often encountered in the deeper levels of dungeons, and seek out spellcasters for destruction. Almesiths look something like owlbears, and can be mistaken for those sorcerous creations. They differ in size, being no taller than a man, coloration, being covered in dark grey feathers on their arms, legs and backs and softer, white and grey spotted down on their bellies, and in two additional curiosities: They lack mouths, having instead a stirge-like tubular beak that juts 3 feet from their faces, and in that they have a third arm that juts from their chest. Almesiths attack with their large, hooked claws, and generate a natural anti-magic field (as a 7th level caster) in a 60-ft. radius. In combat, they always focus their attacks on spellcasters (clerics, druids, magic-users and sorcerers first, bards second, assassins, paladins and rangers third), ignoring attacks by non-spellcasters even when it threatens to kill them.

In the Design Forum, Richard Gilbert presents Let There Be Method To Your Madness. This is another in the series of “dungeons should usually make some rational sense” articles; the attempt to bring the retro-stupid branch of the RPG world to heel that persists to this day. I think these two camps can best be described as Phoebe vs. Rachel.

Next up is a mini-game … Snit Smashing, in which a Bolotomus waits to smash the Snits that run from the ocean so they can plant their snotch in a Snandergrab. If the Snit player manages to multiply more rapidly than the Bolotomus player can smash them, he or she wins. For the Bolotomus to win, he or she must destroy all of the Snits.

When you’re through smashing snits, you can proceed to P. M. Crabaugh‘s next article, entitled Weights & Measures, Physical Appearance and Why Males are Stronger than Females; in D&D (weird use of a semicolon). If the feminists in the audience are getting their hackles up, they might want to read the article first, they might want to read the article first. The article posits an additional 3d6 stat – Size – which can translate into bonus hit points and a modifier to carrying capacity. Yeah, males get some extra carrying capacity … and females get a +2 bonus to Con and a +1 bonus to Dex, and men get called “thick-fingered clods with facial hair”. The old “trash men to keep the feminists from calling you insensitive names” ploy. A classic.

Beyond the ability modifiers, the article has a mess of random tables for generating a random appearance (did you know males have a 30% chance of having facial hair). I don’t know that I’d use this for generating a PC, but it could be useful for generating general ethnic physical and cultural characteristics, if you want to get away from “these people look like Vikings, and these people look like East Asians and these people look like …” trend in campaigns.

The next article is Gaining a New Experience Level by Tom Holsinger. He explains that what D&D and EPT really need is some sort of dangerous ritual for characters to undertake when they have enough XP to advance in level. To which I reply, “Huh?” Favorite line in the article:

“The sacrifice of humans is generally forbidden in a populated area because too many people get upset.”

The article is actually pretty tongue-in-cheek, and would make for an interesting campaign. Essentially, it creates a sub-game that involves getting the gods’ attention with sacrifices or sacrilege, then assuming the “proper physical and psychic attitude, i.e. complete exhaustion”, which, Holsinger assures us, can only reliably be done by becoming thoroughly inebriated, during which the Emissaries of the Gods, the Great Pink Elephants, come to the character and imbue them with their new Hit Dice and special abilities. The level limits for elves, dwarves and halflings are, he tells us, because they have a harder time getting drunk. It is also why high level characters move out of town and build castles – with more hit points, they have to get super shit-faced to attract the attention of the gods, and that might mean burning things down and causing other massive disruptions to the lives of the common citizenry. This article actually dovetails nicely with Orgies, Inc. and together they could make for one hell of a fun campaign.

Next up, Edward C. Cooper‘s The Tactics of Diplomacy in Stellar Conquest. Honestly, I don’t know the game and so I’m not going to comment on the article.

In Wormy, the eponymous dragon is contemplating stumping some angry dwarves with a riddle. They’re angry because Wormy stole their bowling balls to use on his pool table. Meanwhile, Fineous Fingers is under attack by a whole guild of murderous hobbits.

And that’s it for October 1977. Good issue, I think. I have to run and set up an inflatable pool now, but I have a couple neat ideas in store for next week. Oh, and I finished writing Blood & Treasure yesterday …

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Would they be changing in October? I’ve lived in Las Vegas my entire life – Summer temperatures only finally end around the last week of October, and the leaves may not change here until well into December. Basically, I have no idea how seasons are supposed to work.

Perukes of Power [Blood & Treasure]

/ jstater

Don’t know why … don’t ask …

Cadogan of Holding: This wig is grandiose and ridiculous, being woven from two different colors of hair and being quite tall. The wearer can reach into the wig and pull out various items she has stored there, per a bag of holding (I).

Concubine’s Wig: This Egyptian-style wig of perfumed black hair allows female wearers to cast charm person three times per day and charm monster once per day. Charmed men must make additional saves each hour or be overcome by their passions. The wig just makes men look weird.

Diadem Wig: This wig of tightly curled blond hair gives the wearer the ability to cast command three times per day, and improves their charisma by 2 points while worn.

Lousey Wig: This wig of chestnut hair is crawling with nits and lice. Once per day, by shaking it vigorously, the wearer can summon an insect plague, which rises from the wig itself.

Periwig of the Rake: This wig is highly valued by duelists. Examples are either stark white and tied in ponytails, or composed of a heap of black curls. The wig grants the wearer a +2 bonus when using special maneuvers, grants non-duelists the ability to riposte as a 1st level duelist and grants duelists a +2 bonus to hit and damage when riposting.

Wig of Decay: This full, curled whig of auburn hair is cursed, making the wearer break out in open sores and effectively reducing their charisma to 3. While it is worn, the wearer also suffers a -2 penalty to saving throws vs. disease.

Wig of Glowering: This white, powdered magistrate’s wig allows the wearer to cause fear (as the spell), once per day, by scowling.

Wig of Insect Repulsion: These powdered wigs, when fluffed or shifted vigorously, produce a 15-ft. radius cloud of white powder that forces vermin to pass a Will save to enter the cloud, and even then forces them to save vs. poison (Fort) each round they are in the cloud or suffer 1d4 points of damage. The cloud persists for 1d4+2 rounds and can be created once per day.

Wig of Medusa: This wig has long, red locks that hang down to the hips. They can be animated by the wig wearer, making three grapple attacks using the wearer’s attack bonus.

Wig of Sneezing: This powdered wig can, once per day, create a cloud of powder equivalent to powder of sneezing.

(Welcome to those from the Sneeze Fetish Forum! You’ve got to love the way the internet connects everyone to everyone eventually)

Sorry folks – no magical merkins for now …

The Battle of Gaudin’s Ford – Rounds 2 to 4

/ jstater

Today, I continue with the Battle of Gaudin’s Ford. Things begin to get ugly for both sides.

ROUND TWO

The orcs are marching, the halflings are ready … let’s see what happens.

Orders Phase
The halfling commander is now going to order all of his missile troops to concentrate fire on the central company of orc yobbos. Everyone else is going to close ranks (i.e. go into a tight formation) and prepare for the onslaught. The halfling cleric is going to strike, though, this round. If the orcs get close enough, he’s going to unleash his 2nd level spell, sound burst, on them.

The orc commander is going to charge his yobbos at the enemy, even though they’re in a loose formation. He mostly wants them to screen his elite troops. Units G and H are going to plunge into the river and swim for the other side – it will be slow going, but he wants to nail those other halfling units down and keep them from harassing his elite troops. The crossbowmen are going to spend the round reloading their crossbows. The elites are going to march forward and prepare to charge!

Missile Phase
No need for initiative here, as the orcs are reloading this round.

The elves don’t score a hit this round, but the halfling slingers and archers do score some damage – 11 points in all. Yort has to make three saves and fails two, so he’s eliminated as well. That means Unit F has to make a Will save or flee, as they’ve now lost half their original hit points and their commander. The orcs roll a 9 and fail the save, so during the movement phase they will begin fleeing around those elite units.

Movement Phase
Again – no need for initiative, since the orcs are the only one’s moving. Unit F starts off by fleeing.

Melee Phase
No melee yet – next round for sure

Magic Phase
Orc Unit G is close enough, so the halfling cleric throws sound burst. Since it’s an area effect spell, it does normal (i.e. 1d8) damage to that unit, and it must save or be stunned. As it is, the unit suffers 3 points of damage, but is not stunned. Unfortunately, its commander, Fang, fails his save and suffers damage along with the unit – and that kills him. Fortunately for the orcs, the unit does not break (they never like him anyhow).

ROUND THREE

Orders Phase

The halflings are pretty pleased – they’ve eliminated one unit of orcs and a couple orc leaders. Unit I is now going to attack Orc Unit G and try to send them off the board as well. Units H and G are going to attack Orc Unit H. Unit F is going to send their stone sailing over head into Orc Unit D, and the elves are going to make that unit their target as well. With any luck, few halflings will fall this day. The cleric will cast bless on his unit, giving them a +1 bonus to hit and save vs. fear for the remainder of the battle.

The orcs, on the other hand, are having some problems. The orc commander had planned on sending his yobbos against the billmen, to allow his ogres and blackguards to form up in a tight formation before attacking. Now he’s worried that spending a round forming up will cause undo casualties from missile fire. Still, he decides to do it right – Units D, A and E will take a tight formation and charge next round. Meanwhile, Units G and H will begin swimming the river to harass the halflings on the other side. The crossbowmen will pour their shot into Halfling Unit A, to soften them up a bit. Orc Unit F, the one fleeing, has no commander, so they cannot rally – they’re out of the battle.

Missile Phase

Initiative: Halflings (5), Orcs (3)

The halfling player attacks with Unit I first. They score 3 points of damage on the orcs, not enough to cause them to flee. Lousy dice rolls!

The orc commander responds with Unit B, sending his black-fletched bolts into the billmen for 7 points of damage. The halfling commander has to make two saves, and fails one of them. He takes 3 points of damage and has 8 left. Integrating him with a unit might have been a terrible miscalculation in the long run. But the billmen have a bigger problem – they’ve been whittled down to under half their original hit points, which means it’s time for a moral check (i.e. Will save). Fortunately, they ace it with a ‘20’ and will stand and fight – for now.

[Here’s a quick aside. I might remove the moral check when a leader is killed. Leaders improve a unit’s morale checks and enable them to rally if they flee, but a leaderless unit has a weird advantage over them in that they have no leader to lose and force a morale check. I’ll have to think about this.]

The halfling commander is next, so he has Unit B – the elves – send their arrows into the ogres, scoring 4 points of damage. First blood on the ogres!

The second orc crossbow unit now let’s fly at the billmen … and fails to score any damage.
The rest of the halfling units can now go at it. Units G and H have no success against the orcs crossing the river. Unit F, on the hill, scores 1 point of damage against the ogres.

Movement Phase
Again, no need for initiative when the halflings aren’t moving.

The central orc units use the turn to form into a tight formation. They’ll charge next round. The other orc units begin swimming – they can move 10 feet per round swimming. Unit F finally quits the field. No plunder for them.

Melee Phase
Next round, for sure!

Magic Phase
Godwin now casts bless on Unit I.

ROUND FOUR
Time for melee.

Orders Phase

The halflings stick to the script, duplicating their orders from last time. Godwin, the cleric, will cast guidance on himself this round.

The orc crossbowmen are reloading this round. Units G and H are continuing their swim. Unit D, the ogres, is going to crash headlong into the billmen this round. Unit A and E will follow along, charging in the ogres stead if they are eliminated.

Missile Phase
The orcs are reloading again, so it’s all halflings this round.

The elves and hill slingers combine for 5 points of damage, forcing a morale check. The ogres say “screw this!” and are ready to quit the battle. They aren’t getting paid enough for this crap.
Meanwhile, Orc Unit G suffers 2 more points of damage. They’re still standing strong. The halfling slingers fail to do any damage to Orc Unit H.

Movement Phase
First and foremost, the ogres beat it. That leaves it up to the blackguards, who charge into the billmen. The other orcs continue swimming – they’re just about ready to mix it up!

Melee Phase
Finally, we have some melee in this battle.

In melee, both sides exchange blows. Only squadrons within a unit that can attack get to roll the dice. The orcs are using pole axes, so both squadrons (front and back) are able to attack. Likewise for the halflings, who are using bills. Two of the five halfling squadrons can attack. There’s no initiative here – all attacks are treated as simultaneous.

So, the orcs tear into the halflings, and their attack is devastating – 17 points of damage! Chief Thundergut scores 6 points of damage against the halfling sheriff, who makes his saving throws to avoid the rest of the damage – he alone survives, with only 2 hit points. Meanwhile, his troops fail to score any damage on the orcs in return! And Sheriff Brando scores no damage against Thundergut. A devastating blow to the halflings, to be sure.

Magic Phase
Godwin now casts guidance on himself.

ROUND FIVE … This Weekend!

The Gods of the Future! [Quickie]

/ jstater / 5 Comments

Found a few images today that serve well as gods of the future that might travel back to hassle pseudo-medieval adventurers …

God of Telephonics

and thus also god of telemarketers and family

His priests wear rotary dials as amulets and wear armor woven from copper wire (equivalent to chainmail), and are capable of casting message by sacrificing a silver piece.

Goddess of Automobiles

and thus also goddess of freedom, getting laid and blood on the asphalt

Her priests wear gloves, buff coats and goggles over their armor, and the men are expected to cultivate glorious full mustaches; they bear the holy spoked wheel on their round shields and can cast stinking cloud once per day

Goddess of Aeroplanes

and thus also goddess of travel, air sickness and tiny bags of peanuts

Her priests and priestesses wear golden wing pins on their blue tunics and can cast fly once per day, but must be sitting in a cart or wagon to do so – they spell effects the cart rather than the priest or priestess; in addition, the priestesses can cast create peanuts and coffee or tea (a variation of create food and water) once per day, but only while in flight

The first image is from Love Truth Beauty

Battle of Gaudin’s Ford – Round One

/ jstater / 3 Comments

Time to fight.

(Oh, and I made a mistake on my map yesterday, switching the places of the elf bowmen and halfling cavalry and mislabeling the halfling yeomen – sorry!)

As the rules now stand (yes, covering my @$$), mass combat is handled in the following phases:

1) Orders Phase
2) Missile Phase I
3) Movement Phase
4) Melee Phase
5) Magic Phase

During the orders phase, each commander writes down orders for each unit. These orders cannot be changed because of events on the field.

During each phase, each commander rolls 1d6 to see who moves a unit first, play then proceeding from commander to commander until each unit has moved or attacked during that phase.

So, orders for this phase will be as follows:

Halflings
A, C, D, E – Maintain a loose formation and wait
B – Stand ground and shoot bows at Orc Unit F
F – Stand ground and sling stones at Orc Unit G
G, H – Stand ground and sling stones at Orc Unit H
I – Stand ground and shoot bows at Orc Unit F

Orcs
All orc units are going to maintain a loose formation
All orc units except B and C will move ahead at normal speed, save the worg riders, who will have to match the pace of the units in front of them
Units B and C will target Halfling Unit A with their bows

With orders given, play proceeds with the missile phase

Each commander rolls 1d6 – Thundergut gets a ‘5’, Brando a ‘3’

Each squad of 10 figures makes a single attack, rolling damage if they hit

Thundergut has Unit B fire at Halfling Unit A, rolling a ‘13’ and ‘17’ and scoring 5 points of damage; Brando rolls a ‘18’ for his Reflex save and takes no damage

Brando has Unit B fire at Orc Unit F, rolling a ‘16’ and hitting for 5 points of damage; Sub-chief Yort rolls a 13 for his Reflex save and succeeds, suffering no damage

Thundergut has Unit C fire at Halfling Unit A, rolling an ‘11’ and ‘21’ and scoring 4 points of damage; Brando rolls a ‘25’ for his Reflex save and suffers no damage

Since Thundergut has no more missile attacks planned, it’s all halflings now

Unit F fires at Orc Unit G, rolling an ‘8’, ‘8’ and ‘18’ and scoring 2 points of damage; Sub-chief Fang rolls a ‘12’ on his saving throw and also suffers 2 points of damage

Unit G fires at Orc Unit H, rolling a ‘13’, ‘19’ and ‘17’ and scoring 4 points of damage; Sub-chief Nardo rolls a “1”, “12” and “22” on his Reflex saving throws, failing two and suffering 3 points of damage

Unit H fires at Orc Unit H, rolling a ‘2’, ‘8’ and ‘13’ and scoring no damage

Unit I fires at Orc Unit F, rolling a ’16’, ‘12’, ‘13’, ‘11’, ‘17’ and ‘1’ and scoring 4 points of damage; Sub-chief Yort rolls an ‘18’ and ‘20’ on his Reflex saves and suffers no damage

Movement now commences

Since none of the halfling units are moving this round, the movement all goes to the orcs.

Each square on the map represents 5 feet, and the orcs have a 30 foot movement rate. Thundergut has them move at full running speed towards the enemy, so they move 24 squares forward

No units are in contact, so there is no melee phase. No casters are casting, so there is also no magic phase.

So, at the end of Round One, we’ve seen some minor casualties on the orc side – nothing too dramatic yet, but we’ve only just begun the battle

Click to Enlarge

The Battle of Gaudin’s Ford – Preliminary

/ jstater

Among other things, Blood & Treasure includes some simple rules for mass combat to support the end game of stronghold and army building. While I’ve been playtesting the good old-fashioned dungeoneering and wilderness rules for a while now, I have yet to make sure the mass combat rules actually work. So, to correct this oversight, I’m going to test them LIVE, on this blog. Without further ado …

—

When spring rolls around, a young orc’s fancy turns to thoughts of plunder. And so it was that the orc chief Thundergut, rousing from a winter’s sleep, decided that it was high time to show those civilized bastards down in the valley what for. To that end, he rallied his troops (it involved lots of screaming and head kicking), convinced a few ogres to join in, and set out for Gaudin’s Ford.

Gaudin’s Ford was a ford across the River Pepp, named for a trapper who once had a trading post in the area. It provided the easiest way for many miles to cross the river and strike into the heart of the civilized area known as the Downs, an area inhabited primarily by a halfling moot called Mottlesby, with elf and human lands beyond.

As the orcs marched, they were spotted by a flock of giant eagles, who sped to the elves to warn them of the impending danger. The elves dispatched immediately a squadron of wayfarers to warn the halflings of Mottlesby and prepare a hasty defense at the ford, while the various elf princes were roused for battle and the humans were given the alarm.

And so it was that the orcs of Chief Thundergut met the halflings of Sheriff Brando at Gaudin’s Ford.

—

Click to Enlarge

The above is my battle map, whipped up in Excel for ease of use. On the right, you see the display of the forces involved, along with leader types. My plan is to run a few rounds each day and see how things proceed, dropping in a few points about the rules as I go along. Consider today the set-up, with the battle being joined tomorrow.

The orc plan is to push forward, using the yobbos to soak up missile damage and then get out of the way so the ogres and blackguards can attack the lines in waves. The archers will try to engage the enemy missile troops and keep them out of the battle. The worg riders are kept in reserve.

The  halfling plan is to inflict as much damage as possible with missile weapons, and then hope the billmen can whittle the orcs down enough that they won’t overwhelm the yeomen and boyos.

In general, I’m trying to keep this simple and just test the mechanics. The troop types and leaders are drawn from the monster section of B&T and things like hit points were rolled randomly.

Oh – rhe dark green bits are woodlands, the brown blob a hill and the light blue bit is the ford in the river. The rest of the river could be crossed by swimming.