Monsters of Space Princess

Here are a few sample monsters – “aliens”, in fact, from the Space Princess game. The game is coming along pretty well – just a bit more writing to do and then some artwork and she’s ready for testing!

Devil Girl
Devil girls come from a female dominated society with a declining male population. Devil girls are undeniably attractive, but merciless in their treatment of others. They wear uniforms of a black, vinyl-like substance that is a surprisingly good armor. Devil girls suffer only half damage from cold, electricity and fire and they can blanket a 60-ft radius area around themselves in complete darkness once per day for 10 minutes. Devil girls are capable of seeing in this weird darkness, but other creatures are not, giving the devil girls a +5 bonus and the others a -5 penalty to attack.

DEVIL GIRL: HD 4; DEFENSE 12; FIGHT 9 (strike +1); SHOOT 9 (ray gun +5); MOVE N; STR 13; DEX 13; MEN 9; KNO 12; DL 5; Special: Darkness, resistance to damage.

Space Amazon
Space amazons are women of tremendous strength and dexterity who are sometimes hired as elite guards in a space fortress, or perhaps were captured and subsequently escaped, living as outlaws in the fortress’s myriad tunnels and chambers. Space amazons stand about 8 feet tall and have green skin, white hair, and long antennae. Large groups of space amazons are commanded by a myrmidia. Each myrmidia has a 5% chance of secretly falling in love with a male star warrior and betraying her sisters on his behalf. If spurned by him, her berserk fury is doubled against him.

SPACE AMAZON: HD 4; DEFENSE 8; FIGHT 10 (axe +2); SHOOT 8 (ray gun +5); MOVE N; STR 15; DEX 12; MEN 12; KNO 10; DL 5; Special: Berserk Fury (+2 FIGHT and +2 damage vs. males).

MYRMIDIA: HD 6; DEFENSE 10; FIGHT 13 (axe +2); SHOOT 10 (ray gun +5); MOVE N; STR 16; DEX 13; MEN 13; KNO 11; DL 5; Special: Berserk Fury (+2 FIGHT and +2 damage vs. males), chance to fall in love, double fury when spurned.

Trilodite
Trilodites are protoplasmic aliens consisting of a ooze-like interior and a pink, rubbery exterior. Trilodites “stand” about three feet tall, usually on three pseudopods. They often have three additional pseudopods emerging from higher on their bodies that they use as arms. Trilodites can use these pseudopods to manipulate small objects as a human uses hands, and can retract or grow additional pseudopods as they like, though eight seems to be their useful limit. Trilodites have a high sensory awareness, and are thus rarely surprised. Because of their alien structures and minds, they enjoy a +2 bonus on tests to resist psychic powers that attempt to control or influence them. Their elastic forms give them a +2 bonus to DEFENSE to resist attempts to grab or hold them.

TRILODITE: HD 2; DEFENSE 8; FIGHT 7 (weapon +2); SHOOT 5 (ray gun +5); MOVE S; STR 14; DEX 8; MEN 10; KNO 10; DL 2; Special: Resist psychic powers, hard to hold.

Voltan
Voltans are a humanoid species with slightly pointed ears and bald heads covered with peaked ridges. They are quite strong and very intelligent. Some voltans have red skin, while others have blue skin. The red voltans tend towards contemplation and a love of logic, while the blue voltans are emotional, over-bearing and militant. Blue voltans arm themselves with jagged blades and ray guns and wear steel mesh tunics. Red voltans do not wear armor or carry hand weapons, but do use ray guns.

BLUE VOLTAN: HD 3; DEFENSE 9; FIGHT 9 (weapon +2); SHOOT 7 (ray gun +5); MOVE N; STR 16; DEX 10; MEN 14; KNO 14; DL 3; Special: Immune to fear.

RED VOLTAN: HD 1; DEFENSE 5; FIGHT 7 (open hand +1); SHOOT 5 (ray gun +5); MOVE N; STR 16; DEX 10; MEN 14; KNO 14; DL 3; Special: ESP, stunning grasp, immune to fear.

Hell Preview 2 – The City of Goblins

Here are a couple more encounters from Nifol – the Ante-Hell.

3.56. Celdrien’s Tomb: The wizard Celdrien was laid to rest here in a fire pit (20 feet deep), his ashes mingling with the ashes of his favorite courtesans and most hated enemy. Secret catches here hidden in the walls of the black bricks that line the pit, each one containing one of his treasures:

– A large tome covered in duergar skin holding three spells: teleport, dimension door and passwall as well as demonic chants that, if repeated, summon 2d6 vrock to attack the reader. Until these vrocks are fought and defeated, the book drives its owner (and anyone who has learned a spell from it) to kill honest men and women they meet.

– An oil lamp of yellow glass. It is non-magical, but was made with pitchblende, causing the owner of such a lamp to pass a saving throw each month or lose one point of constitution from radiation exposure.

– A round +1 shield lacquered bright orange and emblazoned with a black demon head. The shield is -2 against the attacks of demons until the bearer has slain three different breeds of demon and nailed their hands into the wooden frame of the shield. After that, the shield is +3 against the attacks of demons.

– Silk hose of yellow with ribbons of pale lavender and brilliant white. They act as a ring of feather fall, but until they are dyed in the ichor of a demon they make their wearer completely passive (i.e. must save each round to fight, though they can defend themselves).

– A copper locket set with tiny sapphires. The locket provides a +2 bonus to save vs. magic, but also prevents natural healing until hairs from a bearded devil are placed inside the locket.

The pit is guarded by the spirit of Celedrien, who manifests as a raging fire elemental with a vaguely humanoid shape.

FIRE ELEMENTAL: HD 16 (81 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 strike (3d6); Move 12; Save 3; CL/XP 17/3400; Special: Ignite materials.

5.45. Dal-Berith, City of Goblins: Dal-Berith is a terrible city of goblins located near xxx. The city is constructed of large, crude stone blocks, with narrow, dark lanes in between them. Throughout the city there winds a covered lane with no apparent entrance – one can only enter it via secret doors hidden in buildings. This covered lane houses the true masters of the city-state, the Sages Who Dwell in Shadow. The sages are a cabal of black sorcerers who died and should have gone to Hell but for powerful magics enacted before they died. This gave them the power to resist the pull of Hell, but still left them trapped as shadows. They now lurk in this corridor, lit by ghostly candles, seeking new magic to free them from their curse.

Dal-Berith has a population of 5,000 goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears and orcs living in tense, angry clans always at one another’s throats. One might compare the city-state to Hell’s Kitchen. The presence of a powerful artifact in the hidden corridors of the shadow sages spreads contrariness and dissension, and each night a thousand petty arguments spreads into the streets as all-out war. The artifact looks like a simple necklace of chicken bones.

The walls of Dal-Berith are slimy and irregular. There are no gates – one can only enter through one of a dozen hidden silver mines in the hex. The walls are topped by about 100 gargoyles who guard the city. It is surrounded by foul-smelling streams and fields of mushrooms.

SHADOW SAGE: HD 6+6; AC 7 [12]; Atk 1 touch (1d4 + strength drain); Move 12; Save 14; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: Drain 1 point Str with hit, hit only by magic weapons, spells as 8th level magic-user.

Shades of White

And so we come to the trickier dragons – black and white. That means, to some extent, shades of light gray and shades of dark gray. Still – let’s see what we come up with for the white dragon’s kin.

Achromatic Dragon: The small, feral cousins of the white dragon are covered in spiked hide reminiscent of a rhinoceros’, with swept back antlers on its head and cruel, gnashing teeth in its long snout. Achromatic dragons hunt in the manner of crocodiles, lurking beneath the snow and then lunging out at victims. Achromatic dragons never speak or use spells, but they are capable of breathing a swirling vortex of snow that acts as an 8 HD air elemental’s whirlwind ability and inflicts 1d6 points of cold damage each round for ten rounds.

ACHROMATIC DRAGON: HD 5; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4) and bite (2d8); Move 9 (F24); Save 12; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Breathes blizzards.

Cinereous Dragon: Also called the ashen dragon, the cinereous is a small white dragon with an especially vicious streak. More intelligent than most white dragons, they have a 65% chance of speaking, and those who speak have a 15% chance of casting spells. Cinereous dragons cast spells as an anti-cleric and have three 1st level spells, two 2nd level spells and one 3rd level spell. A  cinereous dragon has an ash gray hide, black eyes, a purple tongue and mouth and hundreds of jagged teeth in its long snout. Atop its head are two long, black horns – like those of a Texas longhorn – and a cluster of black, horn-like spikes tips its thick tail. Cinereous dragons have no breath weapon. Rather, their presence seems to steal all the warmth and kindness from the area. All creatures within 20 feet of the beast must save each round or suffer 1d6 points of cold damage. All creatures within 50 feet of the beast must pass a saving throw any time they wish to do something unselfish or kind – i.e. a cleric using a cure spell on someone other than themselves.

CINEREOUS DRAGON: HD 5; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4), bite (2d8), gore (1d6), tail spikes (1d4); Move 9 (F24); Save 12; CL/XP 8/800; Special: Steal warmth and kindness, anti-cleric spells.

Ghastly Dragon: The ghastly dragon dwells on abandoned battlefields of the frozen north, where man has spilled the blood of man. It feeds on corpses, like a raven and can whip up the echoes of the spiritual agony of men who have died in battle. These echoes appear as swirling maelstroms of screaming spirits that cover an area 60-ft in diameter around the dragon and force people within the maelstrom to save (once) or lose 1d6 points of wisdom. Ghastly dragons have scales the color of dead, human flesh, with blotches reminiscent of decay. They have stubby spikes that run from their heads to their tails and bloated bodies that waddle about on four stubby legs. Ghastly dragons have a 15% chance of speech, and those who speak have a 15% chance of casting the following spells: Phantasmal force, cause fear and animate dead.

GHASTLY DRAGON: HD 6; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4) and bite (2d8); Move 6 (F18); Save 11; CL/XP 9/1100; Special: Maelstrom of agonized spirits, spells.

Isabelline Dragon: Isabelline dragons are large and regal, with dull, delicate scales and long, swan-like neck. Isabelline dragons have petite heads, large, sapphire eyes and swirling horns reminiscent of unicorns. Isabelline dragons dwell in vaults beneath snowy mountains. They are capable, while holding their breaths, of passing through earth as easily as air, giving them an effective burrowing speed equal to their flying speed for up to 5 rounds. Their palaces are wondrous and luxurious, with all of the dragon’s riches being spent on creature comforts and art – isabelline dragons have one-tenth the normal coins in their horde and triple the art objects/jewelry. Isabelline dragons always speak and have a 45% chance of casting 1d4 first level and 1d3 2nd level magic-user spells. In place of a breath weapon (how crude and vulgar!) they can sap the color from themselves and their surroundings (but not living creatures) in a diameter of 300 feet. Everything becomes stark white, granting the dragon the equivalent of improved invisibility and forcing those who linger in this area for more than 3 rounds to pass a saving throw or suffer from the equivalent of snow blindness (lasts for 1d3 hours).

ISABELLINE DRAGON: HD 7; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4) and bite (2d8); Move 9 (F24); Save 9; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Drain color, spells.

Ivory Dragon: Ivory dragons dwell in cold woodlands in icy caves obscured by the boughs of pine trees. It is said they even smell like pine, making detecting them difficult even for creatures with a powerful sense of smell. They have ivory colored scales of varying sizes, with two ridges of bony, fan-shaped protrusions running down their backs (in the style of a stegosaurus), long necks, small, quick heads (they enjoy a +1 bonus to initiative rolls) and whip-like tails. Two long, ivory tusks jut out of their mouths, giving them a powerful bite attack. Ivory dragons are collectors, eschewing treasure for collections of books, armor, weapons, jewels, hour glasses or some other such nonsense. Their ill-tempers often drive them to scatter treasures of coins atop mountains just to keep them from the hands of folk who do value such objects. An ivory dragon’s breath weapon is a cone, like that of a typical white dragon, but instead of cold damage, it has a hold monster effect (save negates) that lasts for 1 hour, as the spell. While held, a creature’s skin takes on an ivory sheen, making them look like a statue. Ivory dragons have a 20% chance of speech, but never cast spells.

IVORY DRAGON: HD 6; AC 2 [17]; Atk 2 claws (1d4) and bite (3d8); Move 9 (F24); Save 11; CL/XP 8/800; Special: Breath weapon (hold monster).

Pearl Dragon: Pearl dragons dwell in arctic oceans, swimming with the monsters of the deep and surfacing only to torment humanoids and demand tribute from them. Pearl dragons have bodies like elasmosauruses, with sleek heads. Their hemispherical scales gleam like pearls and their eyes shine with malevolence. Pearl dragons never speak, but can communicate telepathically up to 1 mile. They can use this telepathy to summon a pod of 1d6 orcas with a 50% chance of success once per day. Pearl dragons can cast spells as psychic powers, having 1d6 first level, 1d4 second level and 1d2 third level magic-user spells at their disposal. In place of a breath weapon, they can implant a phobia inside a person’s mind. People fighting a pearl dragon must pass a saving throw or suffer from one of the following fears:

1. Fear of boats or ships
2. Fear of pain
3. Fear of open spaces
4. Fear of wind
5. Fear of water
6. Fear of magic

The fear lasts for 1 hour, with a 1% chance of it becoming permanent. When presented with the phobia, a character must pass a saving throw or go into a panic attack, losing their turn, breathing heavily and attempting to flee from the source of the phobia. If they cannot flee from the source of the phobia, they become catatonic until the phobia disappears from their mind.

PEARL DRAGON: HD 7; AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 bite (3d6); Move 6 (S30); Save 9; CL/XP 10/1400; Special: Summon orcas, spells, zone of fear.

Image from CLKER

Spaceship Combat in Space Princess

Alternate title – if you’re expecting Rient’s Fleet Captain, boy are you going to be disappointed!

I’m writing the spaceship combat rules now for Space Princess and thought I’d bounce a few things off of my readers (wow – it feels both cool and pretentious as Hell to say “my readers”).

The Basics: Space Princess’ spaceship combat rules are designed to do one thing – simulate the rescuers of the “space princess” escaping into light speed from the Dark Lord’s minions. That’s it. If the game is successful, maybe an expansion could add more to the rules, but for the game, I want to simulate one thing and one thing only to keep it simple.

The Procedure: As it stands, the spaceship combat procedure works as follows:

1 – Maneuver: The player of the character piloting the escape ship make a pilot test to attempt to stay away from the pursuing ships. If he fails, they come closer (and closer means it’s easier to hit with weapons), if he succeeds they either stay at the same range or fall behind. There are penalties attached to his roll based on how many pursuers he’s trying to dodge, whether there are obstacles to maneuvering (the ground, canyon walls, asteroids) and damage his ship might have taken.

2 – Fire Weapons: Good guys and bad guys fire their weapons. Each hit means a damage roll for the affected ship. These damage rolls are not in terms of “hit points” or “hull points”, but rather an actual effect on the ship. The smaller the ship, the more dire a hit is likely to be. The worst forms of damage are hull breach (can suck players out into space, where they die) or complete destruction of the ship. Complete destruction is rare – the pursuers are usually trying to disable your ship and capture you.

3 – After all weapon fire is resolved, the player whose character is in charge of navigation (scientists are the best at this) makes a roll to see if she’s calculated the proper formula for light speed. The chances of doing this on the first round are very remote, but the difficulty of the roll is lessened with each failure. This means you don’t know how long it will take to jump into light speed (and safety) – should make each such roll dramatic.

That’s the basic procedure. For ship types, I’m keeping it pretty generic. In order of size, they are: Starfighter, Shuttle, Freighter, Blockade Runner, Corvette, Cruiser and Dreadnaught. Smaller ships are more maneuverable, larger ships have better armor (which actually doesn’t make sense in Zero-G, but I’m working off pulp sci-fi and movie tropes, not reality).

So here’s where I want to access your brains. I’m thinking about possible damage results on ships. Ships are rated based on Speed (includes maneuverability), Armor, Number of Engines and Different Weapon Systems (laser banks, torpedoes and tractor beams for the dreadnaughts). Here’s my list of damage effects so far:

1 – Engine Damage – penalty to speed/maneuvering; once a ship has lost all engines it is dead in space

2 – Computer Damage – maybe hits different systems – damaged Nav-Computer means you cannot jump into light speed until fixed. Weapon Systems Computer might turn off all weaponry until fixed. Maybe the engines can be knocked off line as well. Possible damage to characters from the boards sparking and going up in flame, a’la Star Trek.

3 – Artificial Gravity Lost – this would potentially damage characters on the ship from things floating about (or from them floating about).

4 – Weapon Destroyed – One of the ship’s weapon systems is destroyed.

5 – Hull Damage – lowers the ship’s Armor rating by one. Probably the best result you can get from damage. Somebody will probably mention force shields here – I’d rather just consider them part of the “armor package” – to keep things simple, if two things essentially serve the same function, I’d rather merge them together.

6 – Hull Breach – chance of sucking people into space

7 – Ship Destroyed – this would be a “roll again, if comes up again, spaceship destroyed and all aboard killed” – it’s old school, so yeah, instant death is a possibility.

All of the results except ship destroyed would be repairable – again, a scientist would be best at this (or maybe somebody invents an engineer class to lend a hand).

Visit the Bazaar / Preview of Hell

Are you in need of late ’80s or very early ’90s comic books in readable condition? Maybe some 3rd edition books from WOTC or some spell decks from 2nd edition AD-n-D? Then by golly, you are in luck. I just opened a Bazaar to get rid of this crap these wonderful artifacts from another time.

CLICK HERE and name your price or trade, folks. If I can’t shift it here, I’ll probably just give them away to a charity shop here in town.

And now that my crass advertising is finished, enjoy a preview of Hell’s doorstep (i.e. Ante-Hell), which I’m tentatively calling Nifol (“Darkness”) …

1.91. Temple of Amfelyn: A trail of phosphorescent flagstones leads to a plaza of similar construction in the middle of this tunnel. The plaza measures about 100 feet on each side and has a crypt in its center and four round towers at each corner. These towers and the crypt are carved from polished obsidian. The crypt is square and about eight feet tall, with no obvious entrance. The towers have circular bases and measure about four feet in diameter. They are also eight feet tall. Each tower is really just a stairwell for a narrow, spiral staircase that leads about twenty feet below the tunnel floor to a large cavern littered with the dead bodies of drow. Each drow has had its heart removed with surgical precision, the organ being replaced by an iron sphere.

The crypt has channels carved into the top in an “X” shape with a slight depression at the intersection. These channels extend down the sides and onto the plaza floor. Should a male touch the crypt, the sides become transparent, revealing a female drow interred inside. The woman has the dull, charcoal gray skin of a dead drow, though her form remains lovely. Her eyes are a brilliant violet and their look can dominate any male humanoid (saving throw to negate). When the walls of her crypt become clear, she stirs and attempts to use her gaze, commanding any person so dominated to deliver her the heart of a comrade. The heart must be placed atop the crypt, allowing blood to flow into the tiny channels and down the sides. When filled with blood, these side channels form the sides of a portal, which opens to allow access to the crypt. The female drow, Amfelyn, is a vampire of sorts. She will emerge from crypt and attempt to slay the dominated man, feasting on his heart. If the man is a priest, as the ones below the crypt were, the iron heart grows in their wound and animates them as a huecuva. Otherwise, their body is simply cast into the darkness to feed the oozes. Amfelyn can remain out of her crypt for one year and one day when she feasts on a heart, and then must return to her supernatural slumber.

As mentioned above, the eight bodies below the crypt are all huecuvas. They animate when the crypt is touched, but only interfere if it looks as though the dominated man will fail to slay a victim and open the crypt. The crypt, which measures about 12 feet on either side, contains Amfelyn’s treasure of 1,500 gp, a horn fashioned of white gold (1,000 gp), a Morningstar, a container of salve that grants a +1 bonus to save vs. poisons, a large bottle of green liquid (potion of heroism), a bone wand (10 charges, lightning bolt) and a single agate worth 250 gp.

HUECUVA: HD 2; AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 claws (1d4+1 + disease); Move 12; Save 16; CL/XP 5/240; Special: Change self, disease, silver or +1 weapon to hit.

AMFELYN, VAMPIRE: HD 9 (49 hp); AC 2 [17]; Atk 1 bite (1d10 + level drain); Move 12 (F18); Save 6; CL/XP 12/2000; Special: +1 weapon to hit, gaseous form, regenerate 3 hp/rd, change into giant bat, summon bat swarm, charm gaze (-2 to save), drain levels (bite, 2 levels).

Remembrance

I think it’s worthwhile to halt the gaming and comic book stuff for a day and remember the 10th anniversary of 9-11. I first heard about the attacks when I started driving to work that morning. I hadn’t turned on the TV that morning while I ate breakfast, but I had my radio tuned into NPR. As I began pulling out of the driveway, I heard the broadcaster say something about a “hole in the side of the Pentagon”. It sounded like it was going to be a story about a contractor making some mistake and putting a hole in the wall. Only a few seconds later, still on my street, I had the full news and couldn’t quite process it. When I arrived at work, I saw the north tower fall and then my boss sent everyone home. The office complex I work in contains one of the taller buildings in Las Vegas (no comparison to the WTC, which by itself held about half the total office space that Las Vegas could boast at the time) and we were near the airport, so the landlords wanted everyone out.

When I got home, my wife had already flipped on the TV and discovered what was happening. My daughter was 3 at the time, and I knew the U.S. (really, the entire Free World) had just experienced a “Pearl Harbor” moment. Having some knowledge of terrorism and anti-terrorism from following Strategy Page and reading Dunnigan’s work, I figured that we were in for something that would last longer than the Second World War, something that would make the world my daughter grew up in a different place than my wife and I had grown up in. Not necessarily worse – we grew up during the Cold War, after all, but different.

So, here’s to remembering the event and the many whose lives were affected by it and its aftermath – the dead, the wounded, the heroes and the mourners. It’s a time to think of the core values that folks in the Free World share – at heart, the notion that people do have fundamental rights to their lives and their ideas, and that nobody has the right to take those things away. It’s also a good time to remember that, of the billions of people who live together on this planet, it is a fairly tiny number who don’t hew to this notion. Most of us, regardless of nationality, philosophy or religion, live in peace – sometimes we argue and we might harbor any number of ill thoughts about one another over the course of the day, but at the end of the day any of us could sit down and share a meal or a drink with other folks and talk about the kids, the game and life in general and part with a handshake. It’s a good world we live in – don’t forget it.

The Warlock Brews Up Awesome Mystery Men! Character Sheets

And they are better than anything I’ve ever come up with. Check them out and roll up a character why dontcha?!

Side note – Bliss mentioned the game I’m running on Google +. I’ve had a few other people ask to join after the sign-ups closed and wasn’t able to accommodate them. While I plan on doing another game in the future, maybe after a PARS FORTUNA or LAND OF NOD adventure, and since I would like to encourage interest in Mystery Men!, I’m thinking about setting up a Mystery Men! Fight Club.

People submit characters, I pair them off and they fight it out in some sort of battle space on Google +. If we got enough submissions, we could even form brackets and crown a champion. Whaddya think? Any interest?

I’d also like to draw attention to some other places in the Blog-o-verse  talking about Mystery Men!, just to prove I’m not the only one.

From the Weirdlands of Xhuul comes the Gun Spectre, a very cool pulpy hero.

And an old one from Strange Stones – and using the Beta rules for MM! – some Mexican super heroes: El Aguila Solar, El Misterio Verde and Profesora Manana.

Finally, from the Chronicles of Ganth, the “Trial of the Mystery Men!” – mashing up super heroes and McCarthyism. Introduction HERE and Episode One HERE.

To everyone who has read the book, enjoyed it, and seen fit to blog about it – I thank you!

Deviant Friday – Joel Carroll Edition

Readers of the Land of Nod should not be strangers to Joel Carroll, the artist who worked on Mystery Men! and oft posted on this blog. While you folks might know him primarily for his superhero artwork, he dabbles in many eras and I actually first discovered him on a site showing some of his D-n-D monster sketches. Check it out, gentle readers …

Owlbear

 

 

Rocket Raccoon

 

 

Rocketeer

 

 

Spacegirl

 

This lady would look good in Space Princess. In fact, how about some stats for that game …

 

 

Hooked Horror

 

 

Displacer Beast

 

 

Devil Dinosaur

 

 

Bossk

 

And I might as well give him some Space Princess stats as well …

 

Bristolwhip Kaiju Tokusatsu

 

 

The Marquis