Thor Dee-Lite!

/ jstater

A few months back I posted about backing Jeff Dee’s project of re-producing his old TSR art that was apparently thrown away (God, to back in time to that day and dumpster dive!). A couple weeks ago I got this spiffy signed print of Anubis.

Today, he announced the re-creation of his drawings for the Norse mythos, and with the $20 level getting you a signed print of Thor – the drawing that made me a lifelong fan of the thunder god – I had to jump in. Should look good next to old Jackal-head when I get them both framed.

I love me some Kickstarter. It helped give birth to Mystery Men! and many other worthy old school endeavors. Long may it reign.

Okay – in a couple hours I’ll post those Cave Brawl teams. Until then, have fun …

Are You Ready for Some Cave Brawl?

/ jstater / 1 Comment

This idea sort of popped into my head the other day, so I ran with it …

Every year, in the Lost Valley of Dinosaurs, the various tribes and clans gather at the ancient stone arena to pay tribute to Ungawa, the Great God of the Valley. This involves a sacred religious observance in the form of a ball game, in which the various factions of the Valley test themselves in the arena, with the losers “passing through the sacred fire” to visit Ungawa in person. Strangely, most folk in the Valley prefer to avoid this particular honor.

Ungawa!

The arena is a square pit, about 21 yards wide by 21 yards long and 30 feet deep. Four caves open into this pit. Two serve as the respective goals of the two teams that compete in the game, the other two link to animal pits, just in case Ungawa is feeling a bit squirrely and wants to spice up the game.

On the board above, the light squares represent the team goals, the black squares the caves to the animal pits.

The goal is simple – put the ball into the other team’s goal area. This can be done by carrying the ball physically into the opponent’s goal area, or kicking the ball into a fairly small hole (about 3-ft in diameter) located about 20 feet above the pit floor and directly above the other team’s goal cave. Carrying the ball over the goal is worth a single point – three points wins the game. Kicking the ball into a hole wins the game outright!

Tomorrow: The Teams – Amazons, Cavemen, Reptilians and Witchdoctors!

Dragons in Blood and Treasure

/ jstater / 6 Comments

While this is a preview of the dragon stats in Blood and Treasure, it is really more of a question that I’m posing to you, the reader, about the format of the monster chapter in the book.

Initially, I intended to do a fairly straightforward layout – monster name followed by a little table of stats and then the monster description. The same basic layout that has been used for generations in fantasy RPG’s, from Moldvay to the various Monster Manuals.

Yesterday, I started thinking about doing something a bit different – somewhat inspired by the layout that I think they used in the earliest versions of the game – a table grouping all of the monster stats together, and then the monster descriptions below that.

 

You’ll notice some silhouettes of monsters from Telecanter, the most excellent master of silhouettes in the OSR blog community, if not the world, to show the size comparison.

I decided to give it a whirl using the monsters of the “dragon” type in the game. It still needs a little work (I need to include the organization information for the monsters – probably as a line beneath the description), and I need to play with the stats a bit, but I think it just might work. Printed out, it is very readable, and might make scanning for stats a little easier for the busy Referee.

What do you think?

Big Announcement in the World of Fantasy RPGs!

/ jstater / 3 Comments

I got the dragon art I commissioned a few weeks ago for one of the alternate blue dragons I published last year – indigo, to be precise. The artist is Marta S., and I think her dragon profiles are stunning. Check it out. I’m planning on commissioning a couple more for future articles.

What? You were expecting maybe a discussion of 5E? This is NOD baby – we’re about content, not controversy!

Deviant Fri … Saturday – Francis Manapul Edition

/ jstater / 2 Comments

Today, we’ll be looking at some nice superhero art (plus a little more) from Francis Manapul. Check out his entire gallery for more!

Shout Outs!

/ jstater

I’ll probably do a Deviant Friday post later, but at the moment I want to do a few “shout outs” (as the kids say these days).

First, several months ago I was sent a gratis electronic copy of a comic book to review by Gerald Cooper – Genency #1. It’s a great mag, and I apologize for taking so damn long to read it – but most folks who read the blog know that I spend a lot of time writing when I’m not working at my real job. So – a shout out to Gerald Cooper, InVision Comics and Genency – a rousing sci-fi tale and produced by an indy producer, so he shares that with lots of folks in the OSR.

Second, the Brian Wood with Awesome Dice asked for a shout out on the blog, and this is it. They sell dice (if you couldn’t put that together from the name) and also blog about gaming. Check it out, lads and lasses.

My last shout out has to be to the fine folks at Albertsons, who are finally addressing the desperate need the OSR has for a cereal to call its own. Bless you, Albertsons, and God’s speed.

Blood and Treasure Playtest + Google+ = NOD CAMPAIGN

/ jstater / 10 Comments

A couple posts ago I mentioned the idea of doing a Google + campaign set in Nod using all those hex crawls I’ve written. I’ve also been thinking about the eventual need for Blood and Treasure playtesting. So … it took me this long to realize I could be doing both at the same time. If enough people are interested, I’d love to stage the hex crawling with multiple parties at different skill levels. So – let the call go out far and wide that the recruitment has officially begun. If you would like to be involved, you need to meet the following requirements:

1) Be on Google +

2) Email me (my address is next to my picture in the column to the right) or leave a comment here stating you would like to play. If you leave a comment and I can’t find your email address or find you on Google +, you’re officially out of luck.

Character generation will be as follows …

1) You contact me letting me know you want to play. I’ll send you a streamlined version of the character creation chapter – all the basics on races, classes, buying equipment, etc. You will have the following races and classes open to you:

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.

As the game proceeds and characters are killed, I’ll open up some of the monster races to play – aasimar, centaurs, tieflings … that sort of thing … so they can be tested as well.

2) I hook up with you on Google + and send you a randomly generated set of ability scores using the 3d6 method. You can arrange them as you like and let me know the class and race you want to play, what equipment you want, etc. I’ll review and make sure everything is correct.

Once we have a crop of characters, I’ll organize them into parties (or party, depending on how many people are interested). I’ll also randomly assign people a number of XP and thus a level – this allows me the opportunity to test different levels and the overall deadliness of the system.

Once the parties are organized, I will start them out in a city-state with two or three random rumors and then you’re free to do whatever you want. The game will be a picaresque – no major earth shattering quest and storytime, just a bunch of ne’er-do-wells roaming about the countryside getting into trouble and trying to make a name for themselves.

Play will be “play-by-post”  like the Mystery Men! game I’m currently running, so you don’t need to set aside a particular time to play. I wish I could do some face-to-face video chat stuff, but my schedule makes that difficult.

If you’re interested, let me know!

—

Image from Thomas Haller Buchanon’s blog The Pictorial Arts. Check it, Nodsters.

Warriors Six

/ jstater / 6 Comments

Looking at the duelist class that I posted last night, I thought it might be a good idea to “roll up” the various fighting classes and see how they stack up in comparison to one another. My method was as follows:

Used Hamete dice server to roll up a set of stats using 3d6. I was going to re-roll until I got a set that would allow all the classes, but got lucky on the first try. The array was 16, 16, 16, 10, 8, 8 and was used for all of the different characters.

I ignored race – I wanted to compare and contrast the classes without any other interference; likewise, I didn’t use the optional feats

I placed each character at 6th level, to see how they stacked up in the “sweet spot”

Hit points were average for the class’s Hit Dice

I gave each character the best armor permitted by their class

Thus, the Warriors Six …

BARDRA

Barbarian, Level 6 (Shield-Biter)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 10; CHA 8 (-1)

HP 45; ATTACK +5; AC 18 (ring + shield); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 11; WILL 13

Abilities: Land speed +10 ft., rage (2/day, two attacks per round, +2 to Str-related tasks, -2 AC), foes gain no tactical advantage from flanking, sneak attacks or invisibility, immune to extra damage from sneak attacks by thieves of 8th level or less

Skills: Bending Bars (8), Breaking Down Doors (8), Climbing (8), Jumping (8), Surviving (13), Swimming (8)

DAVOS

Duelist, Level 6 (Daredevil)

STR 10; DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 16 (+2); WIS 8 (-1); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 39; ATTACK +5; AC 17 (leather + buckler); SAVES – FORT 11; REF 8; WILL 14

Abilities: Add intelligence bonus to AC, +2 to hit with special attacks, +4 AC when fighting defensively, +2 to initiative rolls

Skills: Balancing (8), Jumping (13)

FARRO

Fighter, Level 6 (Grognard)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 8 (-1); CHA 10

HP 45; ATTACK +5; AC 21 (plate + shield); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 11; WILL 14

Abilities: Attack twice per round

Skills: Bending Bars (8), Breaking Down Doors (8), Riding (11)

MALA

Human Monk, Level 6 (Monk)

STR 10; DEX 16 (+2); CON 16 (+2); INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 33; ATTACK +3; AC 15 (unarmored); SAVES – FORT 8; REF 8; WILL 8

Abilities: Flurry of blows (extra attack, -1 to hit an all attacks), stunning blow (1/day; save or stunned for 1d4 rounds), unarmed attacks (1d6 damage, treat as though from +1 weapon); deflect arrows (1/round), land speed +10 ft., reduce fall by 20 ft., immune to all normal diseases

Skills: Balancing (8), Bending Bars (10), Breaking Down Doors (10), Climbing (10), Jumping (10)

PARSIFON

Paladin, Level 6 (Knight)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 8 (-1); CON 10; INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 16 (+2)

HP 27; ATTACK +5; AC 18 (plate + shield); SAVES – FORT 10; REF 14; WILL 11

Abilities: Smite chaotic creatures (3/day; +2 to hit, +6 damage), heal damage (6 hp/day), immune to fear, turn undead as 3rd level cleric, paladin spells (1 x 1st), remove disease 1/week

Skills: Riding (14)

RUMACK

Human Ranger, Level 6 (Pathfinder)

STR 16 (+2); DEX 16 (+2); CON 10; INT 8 (-1); WIS 16 (+2); CHA 8 (-1)

HP 27; ATTACK +5; AC 19 (chain + shield); SAVES – FORT 10; REF 8; WILL 11

Abilities: Giant Slayer (+2 to track, extra attack each round vs. giants), ranger spells (1 x 1st)

Skills: Climbing (8), Hiding (8), Moving Silently (8), Surviving (11), Swimming (8), Tracking (11)

ANALYSIS
A quick analysis of the stats (just ranking the classes and assigning some points for best – second best – third best) makes me think the Fighter and Ranger are okay, the Barbarian might be a little too okay, the Paladin a little weak (mostly because he needs those high scores in Wisdom and Charisma – perhaps I could improve his saving throws) and the Duelist comes off as the weakest. I might boost the duelist’s Hit Dice to d10 from d8 and look into some additional skills and perhaps another special ability. Of course, it will really come down to playtesting to see what’s what.

En Garde: The Duelist

/ jstater / 2 Comments

When I dove into the Blood and Treasure project, I had two goals in mind. First and foremost, make it as rules light as possible so that the game is compatible with old school games – that also means reining in some of the power creep that was present in the 3rd edition. Second – use as much of the material in the SRD as humanly possible. Now, sometimes the first goal precludes the second. Some spells – primarily the “mass” spells were, in my opinion, part of the power creep issue. If such a spell wasn’t in an older version of the rules, it didn’t make it into Blood and Treasure. Other spells and feats played off of rules or minutia that I ejected, so they didn’t quite make it in. In all, I retained 95% of the spells, all of the monsters and probably 95% of the magic items.

One thing that didn’t make it in, however, were prestige classes. Initially, I wanted to find a way to use them. The concept isn’t as new school as some folks might thing. The paladin was originally open only to mid-level fighters of lawful alignment – i.e. a prestige class, and the bard that made it into AD-n-D was largely the same. The problem, though, was one of special abilities. So many of the special abilities of the prestige classes just no longer worked in the rules lite environment, and of course many of the prestige classes in the SRD were just patches to get around the fact that multi-classing in the d20 rules did not work properly for spellcasters.

Still, I’m a scavenger at heart, so I was determined to get something out of those prestige classes. The assassin was already slated to become a full class in Blood and Treasure, and looking at the other classes, I saw another that I thought had the makings of full class-hood – the Duelist. Truth be told, I’ve long been a fan of the duelist concept, starting from the first time I watched Cyrano de Bergerac in a freshman English class. So, without further ado, I present the Duelist in “rough draft” form – some changes may occur before it’s official.

DUELIST
Duelists are warriors who learn to fight using trickery, fancy swordplay and quick reflexes rather than armor and shields. Duelists may be swashbuckling rogues or serious and studious masters of fence.

Requirements: Duelists must have dexterity and intelligence scores of 13 or higher.

Hit Dice: d8 (+3 hit points per level from 10th to 20th).

Armor: Leather armor.

Shield: No.

Weapons: Any.

Skills: Balancing and jumping (see Heroic Tasks below).

CLASS FEATURES
A duelist adds her intelligence bonus (if any) as well as her dexterity bonus to her Armor Class while wielding a melee weapon.

Duelists can make special attacks with a +2 bonus to their attack roll.

When fighting defensively, a duelist enjoys a +4 bonus to Armor Class instead of the normal +2 bonus.

At 4th level (romantic), a duelist gains a +2 bonus on initiative rolls.

At 8th level (avenger), a duelist gains an additional +2 bonus on all reflex saving throws and on will saving throws against fear.

At 9th level (duelist), a duelist can choose to establish a stronghold in the wilderness and gain followers (see High Level Play below). A duelist who becomes a lord or lady attracts 1d6 men-at-arms per level, 1d6 first level duelists who wish to train under them and one 3rd level duelist to serve as a lieutenant. These duelists should be generated as characters under control of the player.

At 10th level (duelist), a duelist gains the ability to strike precisely with a one-handed piercing weapon, such as a rapier or dagger, doing double damage on a successful hit. The precise strike can only be attempted in the round after the duelist’s opponent has missed with one of their own attacks. When making a precise strike, a duelist cannot attack with a weapon in his other hand or use a shield. A duelist’s precise strike only works against living creatures with discernible anatomies. At 20th level, the extra damage on a precise strike increases to triple.

At 14th level (duelist), if a duelist chooses to fight defensively, one successful attack against him each round must be re-rolled.

At 18th level (duelist), a duelist using a one-handed piercing weapon may deflect one successful ranged attack per round.

Illustration of a gnome duelist by Jon Kaufman.

I Was Nobody

/ jstater

Here’s that uber-short story I wrote for a Lulu contest. It is set in the land Beyond the Black Water – which I wrote for Frog God Games. I might expand on this and make a full fledged short story of it – maybe launch a series – and then Hollywood will buy it – and make a super successful film – and I’ll use the money to buy D&D from WOTC – – – or maybe not.

—

I Was Nobody
John M. Stater

The water in the ears was the worst of it. Well, no – not really. But it was persistent and annoying. There was also the cold. Eyes staring up at black clouds. Arms and legs unable to move, throat unable to groan. Death but not death.

After minutes or days his fingers began to paw the wet sand and sometimes feel the air brush cold against his damp flesh. His eyes could blink again, his lungs breath. Awareness now coupled with mobility. Life but not life.

It was nothing short of joy when he sat up and raised his head from the rippling waters, the surge and suck. Nothing short of a triumph when he crawled up the beach to the gray-green grass on the hills. Ecstasy to see the land beyond – the pseudo-green, rolling hills. But there was no Sun here and the sky was gray, the water black save for the white shapes moving in it, sliding through it with those pearly horns breaking the surface.

His legs and arms did not hurt, but moved as though they did. Stiff and noncommittal, dazed and lethargic. He soon left the beach behind for the quiet of the hills, that great, pointless expanse. The sky was still gray. That bothered him. One foot followed the other over the hills until they limbered up and he began to run. He wanted to make his lungs burn, but they did not. He wanted to make his feet hurt and his thighs ache, but they did not. It was too quiet, so he screamed.

His eyes were attracted by a gleam on another hill, so there he went. He saw a body encased in a byrnie of steel scales and pierced by a short blade. He shuddered and this made him smile. Why a coat of armor? Why a blade? Someone died here. Something killed him. Did somebody want to kill him? He looked across the gray-green hills and licked his lips. With a bit of work he dislodged the blade, rusty and pitted, from the armor. He shook the brittle bones from the armor and put it over his own shoulders to cover his nakedness. The armor was heavy and uncomfortable, too large, no underclothing. He crawled back out of the armor and cast it aside and moved on.

The excitement of death – true death – passed eventually. He continued to wander and smiled when his head began to throb, but quickly realized it was not his head that throbbed, but the ground. Horse hoofs beating the ground. No dust filtered into the air on the horizon – were they far or near?

They were very near, upon him in fact. Men with faces like hyenas on strong horses that sucked in the still air and belched it back out as clouds of steam. Horsemen with spears leading a train of men and women in chains, not crying, shuffling, lost in thought. The men stopped and regarded him, standing there naked but for his sword. Other men joined them, a few yards separating them.

“Who are you?” they growled.

The word caught in his throat. Not yet – he didn’t want to say it yet.

“I …”, the word played on his lips, which trembled.

“Nobody,” was what he wanted to say and think. He was nobody. Nobody. Or was he nobody? It would be easier, being lost. His eyes met the eyes of the people in chains.

“Wroth,” he finally said. He was Wroth.

And the sword leapt out at the men with the spears.

Copyright © 2011 John M. Stater
All rights reserved.