Metal Earth

Halls of the Hidden Prince LVL Area 8 & 9

2012-01-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

7. The Audience Chamber

Illumination: Shimmering ball of ghostly blue energy atthe room’s center.

Smell: Dust and ozone

The broken remnants of furniture and art objects cover thefloor of this large chamber. A rusted throne of wrought iron sits on a dais ofcrumbling limestone in the center of the room’s north wall. 1d4 rounds afterthe room is entered. The shimmering blue ball will explode (no damage). Ghostlyenergy will disperse about the room and two spectral armies will form, a forceof Lizardmen and another of quite onesand stone dead. These armies willengage in a savage battle, complete with screams and the clang of weapons thatlast for 3 rounds, after which the armies will be sucked back in to the newlyformed ball. This process repeats itself every 4 rounds.

A secret compartment in the rear of the throne (found on aroll of 1 on a 1d4) contains an energy pistol with three charges. [Usingconventional rules the pistol does 3d6 damage]. Metal earth house rules it does1d6 if the target makes a saving throw or a roll on the wound table if they donot.

8. The Faux Bedroom

Illumination: verydim yellow light from a ceiling mounted crystal

Smell: Dust with ahint of oil

The noise of snoring can be heard immediately upon enteringthis room- or before that if someone listens at the door.

This chamber is an obviously an ornate bedroom. It is fullof fine furnishings, including a large writing desk; a beautiful wardrobe withgold inlay and (beneath the dust) a painting of the Cloelle the minotaur corngoddess (think of a really hot chick, but with a cow’s head); and a four postercanopy bed. The room is, ofcourse, as cobweb and dust covered as all the rest, however it appears thatsomeone is sleeping on the bed. If the sleeper is disturbed (or 3 rounds afterthe room is entered if ‘he’ is not) the door will slam closed and lock of its own accord. At this point thesleeper will rise and attack the party.

The room is actually a trap for would be assassins and thesleeper is, in reality, a techo-magical construct set there to lure in anddestroy said assassins.

Magical Minotaur Robot

AC 4 [15]

Hit Dice 4+4

Attacks: Blade 1d6/Gore 1d8+1

Move: 8

XP: 400

Special +2 to hit with Blade

The construct is a mass of gears and widgets held togetherby glowing ruin inscribed brass and stone plates. It has the shape of aminotaur.

The construct will fight until it is destroyed and is immuneto all magic.

A sword is welded into the robot’s left hand at the beginningof combat. This is a +2 magical weapon and if the MMR is defeated the sword canbe removed in 1d6 turns.

The MMR’s horns are made from strange luminous blue crystal.If removed they will fetch ~ 250 gp each.

Hiddeln Halls, level two area 4, 5 & 6

2012-01-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

Map is on the the left.

4. Spy Hall I

Illumination: Dullgreen radiance, emanating from an ancient glow strip mounted in the ceiling.

Smell: Dust.

The stonework here is rough and functional. No allowance isgiven to artifice and the entire length of the passage is bare- with oneexception. A 15’ long stone bench is situated along the last twenty feet of thesouth wall of the corridor’s southernmost east-west extension. Opposite thebench [on the wall contingent withArea 3] a brass disk, just a bit larger than a human hand, is inset into thestone. If anyone touches the disk, the corridor’s glowstrip dims and the wallbecomes transparent, providing a complete view of Area 3’s main chamber. The wallremains opaque on the Area 3 side.

The only way out of this area is through the secret doorleading to area 5, or through the portcullis leading back to Area 3.

5. Spy Hall II

Illumination: None

Smell: Dust

A second brass disk, identical to that located in Area 4, isset in the wall contingent with the short corridor connecting Areas 3 and 4. Ifanyone touches the disk an arrow/gun slit opens in the wall, providing aperfect vantage point over the passageway between the two portcullises.

The door leading to area 6 is unlocked.

The secret door adjacent to the door leading to Area 6 isextremely obvious and can be found on a roll of 1 through 5 on a d6. The door’s‘hidden’ seams don’t quite line up with the wall in which it is set and it jutsout a bit. It can be ‘opened’ by moving a small light hued stone. Doing thisdoes not actually open the door, it triggers a rock fall- 4d6 damage. The trapis slow and leads off with an ominous rumble. Who ever opens the door isallowed to roll two separate saving throws. If both saves are successful thecharacter takes no damage; if one save is successful the character takes ½damage. The rock fall will block the opening it will take 1d6 turns to clearthe way.

6. Ornate Hallway

Illumination: Flashingglowstrip, alternating from very bright to absolutely pitch black two or threetimes a second. Unless the characters make use of a good light source, allcombat rolls will be made at a -2.

Smell: rotten carpet (dry) and dust

Note- The secret door leading to Area 5 is trapped- see above.

This corridor is more elegant than Areas 4 and 5 thethreadbare remains of a moldered carpet trail across the polished marble floor.Like everywhere else a thick layer of dust covers everything.

A huge sculpted human face covers the location of the secretdoor. If anyone touches the face, it animates and attacks the party.

Stone Face

AC 5 [14]

Hit Dice 3+3

Attacks: Expectorate (1d12), Bite (1d8)

Move: 8 (See Below)

XP: 200

The stone face can levitate. At the commencement ofhostilities it lifts away from the wall and bites the closest enemy. The Facecannot leave the corridor.

The stone face will expectorate a huge wad of stinkingacidic phlegm in the second round and once every two rounds thereafter untilthe end of combat. The first time a character is hit with the loogie, a savingthrow must be made, failure results in the loss of one combat round; this roundis spent vomiting.

If the Stone Face’s hit points are brought to 0, itimmediately returns to its place on the wall, releases a horrific wail andcrumbles away to dust, revealing a small alcove lined with shelves. Most of theroom is empty, but an ornate vase and a strange looking pair of goggles sitside by side on a shelf near the door.

The Vase: Covered with a finally detailed depiction of whatmight be a wrestling match between two over muscled male minotaurs, this itemis worth 400 gp.

The Goggles are made of brass and encrusted with strange,glowing gemstones. The wearer ofthis eyewear can see any secret door (on level 2 only) within 50’- regardlessof lighting condtions.

Weird Adventures: buy it now.

2011-12-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Weird Adventures is out on rpg.now on .pdf.

I very rarely recommend or review anything, but I give this my highest recommendation. I burned a toner cartiridge printing it out and burned my weekend reading it. I really, really dig it.

It is one of two published settings that I would even consider running an entire campaign in.

Not only do I want to run it, I want to play in it and I want to write a novel that takes place in the setting. I will almost certainly hack my house rules to fit the setting and use it in its entirety at some point.

In the immortal words of Jack Kirby- Don't ask, just buy it.

The Hidden Halls Lvl 2, Area 3

2011-12-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

The map is on the left

3. Ante Chamber:

Illumination: Pale green crystal, gently pulsing on theceiling.

Smell: Dust and Mildew

The noise of rushing water is very loud here; it’s cold andthe floor is coated in a very thin layer of frost.

A rusted portcullis blocks the easternmost entrance to thisroom. A character with 14 orgreater strength has a 1 in 6 chance of being able to lift the portcullis. Acharacter with an18 or greater strength has a 2 in 6 chance. Two characters maypool their efforts, but the space is too constrained for more. Unless it ispropped up by something, the portcullis will close immediately after it hasbeen released. A metal pole will hold it indefinitely, a wooden staff will holdfor 1d4 rounds.

Beyond the first portcullis lies a reception area. The wallsare painted in a flaking pastel yellow. The decayed remains of a wardrobe liein a heap against the south wall; broken fragments of what may once have been atable and chair are strewn across the northwest corner. A search through thewreckage of the wardrobe will yield 200 GP contained within a purse of rottenleather. The remains of the deskconceal a gold pen and a matching inkbottle cut from onyx; the workmanship onthese items is exquisite and if sold as a set they may yield up to 100 GP. What appears to be a broken gearbox ofsome sort is situated on the west wall, north of the exit. Presumably itsfunction related to the portcullises. It is rusted, smashed and in no wayreparable.

The corridor exiting the room to the west is blocked by aset of portcullises separated by a 10’ passage. An assortment of bones arescattered across the floor of this passage. Any one who cares to examine thebones will note that they are exclusively phalanges, ulna, radius, carpals andmetacarpals (bones of the hand and forearm). The portcullises both operateunder the same principles listed above.

Two rounds after the portcullis set in the west wall israised the skeletal hands on the floor will become suffused in a sickly greenglow, reassemble themselves and attack; there are 20 of them in all.

Guard Hands

AC 8 [11]

HD 1 hp (attack as 1hd monster, can not score a criticalhit)

MOVE: 6

ATTACK: Gouge 1d4-1

No more than 5 hands can attack a human sized target at once.

If the bones are not destroyed (burning is the only way tobe certain) the trap will reset itself in 6 hours.

The Revolution Will not be 100% Compatable

2011-12-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry, but there it is. You will be able to export and import things like critters with no real problems, but mechanics wise everything else is on the table right now. However, the setting itself will be compatible with whatever version of THE GAME you wish to use.

What the hell am I on about?
For example: I'm thinking that Dexterity = Armor Class; wearing armor actually detracts from AC, but provides a bonus on wound table saving throws.

Also I'm going to step away from the universal ST and replace it with a dual ST (physical/mental) system.

At this point I'm just about done with the character generation rules. It's slow going though, because I'm still committed to 2000 words a day on the novel and I'm trying to make headway on my comic project as well. and then there's the ICONS game...

By the way, that's a pretty old drawing up there, I still suck, but not quite that much.

[Icons] Lost Lands

2011-12-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

This is (very) brief survey of some of the lost and hidden areas of the Earth Zero Universe, the setting for my icons campaign. I will be detailing them in play, and then writing them up here; Aquaticus and Island X are both soon to be visited by the heroes. The panels from page 6 of the Earth Zero comic (Cosmic Tales) I'm slowly putting together. The second panel is a redraw of something I posted previously. The artifact depicted is the Seer Sphere, the ultimate information gathering device. the doodz are Ord (the cybernetic looking fellow, and his brother... Aos (I can't be the only one who picked their online nick based off a character can I?)

No-space: a plain that lies between the parallel universes of Upper-space.

Hundulan: A Pleistocene world located in a hidden area of the Antarctic. Sustained by paleo-magic and ruled by sorcerous Neanderthal Priest-kings.

Posidinus: The remains of an ancient civilization hidden beneath the waves of the Atlantic. This civilization consists of 10 warring city-states.

Aquaticus: A second submarine realm, located in the pacific. Ruled by Nairamus, the Aqualord.

The Hollow: An alien constructed dinosaur preserve inside the moon.

The Nexus: The extra dimensional home of the Universals (space gods) possibly located in its own pocket dimension.

Dead Space: The primal universe, which lies outside of and is inaccessible from the multiverse. It predates the big bang and is largely energy depleted. It is the home of the No-gods, a group of evil space gods that staged and unsuccessful attempt to invade Upper Space 35 kya, using the Earth as their beachhead. They were driven back and the rift gate they created was destroyed, but the advanced Neanderthal civilization was destroyed in the process and many Universals were killed. They will stage another attempt at the close of the 23^rd century.

Island X: An island inhabited by giant radioactive monsters somewhere in the pacific.

1e DMG acquired. MSH denied!

2011-12-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

I picked this up on a field trip to the awesome Black and Read books in Arvada, CO. I was actually looking for a copy of the Marvel Super Heroes (FASRIP) rpg but came up empty.

Whatever, I've been wanting a copy of the DMG for the last couple of years, but had missed it on my previous outings to B&R, because they'd moved all the old school D&D stuff out of the used RPG section and into another section of the store. They had a shit ton of stuff. I should have taken a picture; it was unbelievable. I had to force myself to leave the store with just two items. (I also scored a copy of the Moldvay basic book, but my wife decided that I'd actually bought that for my 10 year old son and I haven't figured out a way to get it back yet).

Anyway, it's been 20+ years since I've read this 1e DMG I'm looking froward to sticking my nose into it.

In other news, I'm thinking of launching a second blog for my ICONS stuff, because I feel wrong about posting it here, which leads to frustration on my part, which in turn leads to less posting over all on any topic as I feel (for lack of a better term) creatively clogged.

Returning to the topic of MSH, I must admit some frustration. I played the hell out of this game in the late 80's and I had numerous opportunities to buy it, but passed them all up. Now, I want a hard copy really, really badly and there are none to be found at what I consider to be a reasonable price.

That said, for the .05 of you who are unaware, the complete MSH catalog is available at Classic Marvel Forever for free to download. Sadly, whereas I prefer to read novels in electronic format (i.e., on the Kindle) I require hard copies for gaming books.

[ICONS] Secret Undersaea Base (map)

2011-11-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well anway, NaNiWriMo ate my month (I made the goal). My ICONS game is going splendidly and next month, we'll be kicking off a brand new Metal Earth playtest campaign- which I'll be participating in as a player; how cool is that? I'm going to play a human that looks like a tatted up Jason Statham.

Anyway here's a novel excerpt for you:

As one, the warworms rose up and pounced on Ash. For a moment his world contracted down to cold wriggling flesh, clenching, sucking mouthparts and an unimaginably foul stink. He spent desperate struggling seconds dodging gnashing, snapping teeth before he got his sword arm free from the slimy press. The creatures tangled around each other as much as they did him. He lopped the head off one and then another. A third clamped its mouth down on his sword arm, swallowing it up to the elbow- sword and all. Ash drove the fist of his free hand through its eye mound; it did not release. Screaming in rage and pain, he whipped the thing around, smashing it into another worm, sending this one end over end into the boiling pool. It released an unsettling, infant-like scream as it died.
The last of the warworms bunched up on itself and backed away from him, hissing. Ash used the respite to pry its compatriot from his arm. Once loose, the arm bled freely; his blood spattered and sizzled on the rocks.
He raised his sword and took a step towards the hissing monstrosity before him. It roared and feinted, lunging forward, its mouth spread into a wide gory spectacle. Suddenly, it reared back, twisted itself around in a seemingly impossible fashion, and ran away.
Ash lowered his head and dropped his arms to his sides. His chest rose and fell like a bellows and the breath burned in his lungs. He wagged his head like a dog, looked at the record of destruction strewn all around him, and laughed.
Catching his breath, he tossed his head back and started to run. He came out of the canyon, and scanned the landscape. He caught sight of the boneman almost immediately. About 20 chains from where Ash stood, the undead creature had managed to marshal the fleeing warworm, and now attempted to climb into its saddle.
Howling, sword over his head, blood streaming from his arms and trailing in the air behind him, Ash sprinted.

Halls of the Hidden Prince Level Two, Murder Holes, Introduction and Areas 1-2.

2011-11-13T17:11:00.001-08:00

Note: The map is on the left.

Level Two: The Murder Holes

Introduction:

Level two is contested territory. Once long ago the Lizardmen fought a terrible battle against Trox the Robolich and his minions; evidence suggests the lizardmen lost, but for whatever reasons, Trox currently the ruler of the lower levels, did not see fit to invest any of his energy in holding this level. For the last century the Insectress (see below) has ruled here; however, not long ago, a small and well-armed scientific expedition led by Dr Maxis, a yeti scientist, and backed up by a band of mercenary Sharkmen, has begun to create instability in the area. So far the Robolich has remained aloof.

This level is considerably more lethal than the first. Player characters who do not exercise caution here will surely die. Hard.

The Insectress:

She is an elemental creature/insect demon queen, drawn to The Metal Earth by the unholy energies released by the Robolich during the course of his necromantic investigations.

Sounds, random and otherwise:

The noise of running water can be heard throughout this level.. The volume of this noise varies with proximity/acess to the river. Furthermore, there is a good deal of ghostly activity on this level as well as some other freaky shit. Sometimes, it’s noisy.

Random noise table:

Roll every now and again, at the referee’s discretion

Loud heavy noise like the slamming of a door
A woman’s maniacal laughter
Screaming, goes on for 1d4 minutes
Rattling chains
Many drunken voices singing a tavern song. This noise waivers in and out
The clang of steal against steal
Monkeys or apes screeching
Many voices, chanting. This noise seems to come from everywhere at once and will last for 1d4 rounds

Any attempt to follow any of these noises to their source should lead to frustration at the very least, but very possibly calamity. Furthermore, the more attention that is paid to the ghost of this level, the more likely they are to manifest in a visual or physical way. The exact ramifications of this are left up to the referee and should probably be improvised to fit the situation at hand. Anyway, if the PCs go looking for ghosts, they should find them and it should probably suck.

Area Descriptions:

1. The Stairs and the Main Lobby.

Illumination: None. It is very dark and very quiet here. Due to some unknown force, perhaps an unholy residue of the horrible things that went on in the chamber during the great battle, no light source will create more than a 10’ sphere of illumination. A draft blows through this chamber from west to east, torches have a 1 in 4 chance of sputtering out each turn (minute). The intense darkness should make exploring the room slow going.

The lower reaches of the stairwell are covered in dust; ropey cobwebs hang down from above; the shattered remains of a makeshift barricade partially block the bottom of the stair. A careful search through this wreckage will yield a sack containing four bullets that will fit the revolver located on level 1 in room 18. Three of these bullets are normal, but one has a bright red casing and will function as a fireball spell as executed by an 8^th level caster.

Secret doors: As stated above it is unnaturally dark in this area, so finding secret doors is going to be difficult. Secret door will be located on a roll of 1-2 on a d12. However, if the characters specifically search the floor for signs of traffic double the chance to 1-4 on a d12.

As the characters penetrate further into this chamber, it will become increasingly apparent that a great battle was once fought here. Strewn about the floor in various states, are the bodies of six lizardmen (some prone, others kneeling, one impaled on a sword blade, which can actually be drawn out as combat action on a successful to hit roll [+1/+2 vs. undead* renders user immune to petrify effect, see below] another with a caved in skull and another with a missing arm) all of who appear to have been turned to stone. These are in fact undead creatures. They will attack 1d4+1 rounds after the party passes the barricade.

Extra creepy option: Combine their initial rising up off the floor with option 8 from the random noise table above. In this fashion you can guarantee a general freak out every time this noise comes up later.

Stone Dead

AC: 4 [15], HD 2+2, Attacks: Strike, Move: 10, XP 100, Special: Petrify:

These undead creatures are usually dormant; they become active only when the area in which they reside is disturbed. They will generally awaken with a terrible scream 1d4+1 rounds after such a disturbance occurs. Each and every body movement of a stone dead generates a noise not unlike the snapping of bones. Their eyes glow with a baleful blue light and they never stop screaming. Stone dead are notoriously relentless and they will never cease in their efforts to slay or infect an enemy.

Petrify: if hit character must make a saving throw or become infected with the stone sickness. Once the sickness sets in it will spread from the point of contact across the victim’s body in 2d4 days. The victim’s skin will turn to slowly transform into stone, and if the infection is allowed to run its course the character will at the end of the gestation period become one of the stone dead. The effect can be counteracted by a cure disease or remove curse spell or something determined by the referee to be equivalent of either. Characters can only be infected once, and if they survive the ordeal they are forever immune. *Characters utilizing magical weapons or armor specifically designed to combat the undead are also immune. Characters who die after being infected will transform at the same rate as the living.

Illumination: None

Smell: Dead rat

This rough hewn passage leads several hundred feet to the north arriving at last at the dumbwaiter cabinet for this level. See Level One Area 8 for more details.

2. The Hall of Laughing Minotaurs

Illumination: Bright and cheery light emanating from glowing crystals on the ceiling 5 meters above.

Smell: Clean and fresh.

The wooden door is locked and decorated with a knocker carved in the shape of a smiling minotaur head.

The smooth walls of this passage are covered with perfectly rendered, larger than life pictures of minotaurs pointing outward (at the viewer it seems) and laughing. After the party turns the first corner a huge stone slab weighing some twenty tons will slam down, blocking the doorway. There is no way out. The noise of rushing water is especially loud at the end of the corridor and industrious characters may dig their way out and into Area 24 in 6 days (-1 day for each additional laborer with a minimum of 3 days).The door will automatically reset itself after 30 days.

Halls of the Hidden Prince areas 15-20

2011-11-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'll probably add to all these descriptions when I do the final version, so please consider this a draft. I encourage you to make comments and suggestions below. Furthermore, feel free to make use of the map[s] in your home campaign without saddling yourself with the burden of my substandard key. As usual, I'm not sure what I'll be posting next. And lets face it, I'm batting near zero with such predictions anyway.

For those of you that are interested, I'm on track with the novel- or rather I will be if I finish today's entry. I'd link you, but really, I don't dislike any of you nearly enough to point you in the direction of my first draft fiction.

Reminder: the map for this level is on the left and the tag at the bottom of the post will bring up the other entries in this series.

Carry on-

15. Wide Corridor

Illumination: Glow Strip Gold (Mellow, but very bright).

The floors are made of polished marble. Both double doors are of the same stuff, and ornately carved with the visages of serious looking minotaurs. The floor is cracked and fractured. The cracks radiate off a pair of large divets that appear to have been made by the impact of giant fists. Three desiccated bodies are pinned to the west wall with spears, about five feet above the floor. Once again everything herein is covered in dust and cobwebs.

16. The Garden

Illumination: Artificial Sun Yellow

Smell: Green growing things.

A crackling ball of orange energy hangs about 10 meters in the air above the center of the floor. The walls are covered in vegetation and the ceiling is lost in the mist above. A gentle rain drizzles down from overhead.

There are no animals in this room, and the only noise is that of dripping water and the sputtering artificial sun.

Although the room appears to be a healthy garden comprised of many different sorts of plant- there is actually only one plant: the huge, aggressive, and semi-sentient club moss.

Club moss.

AC 10[9] HD: 6 Move:0 [but can reach anywhere within the room]. Attack: Bash 1d6 (3 X round) XP: 600

The club moss will attack 1d6 rounds after the characters enter the room or when they reach an area far from the door- whichever occurs first. It takes ½ damage from fire.

If the characters decide to probe the artificial sun, any object (e.g. sword, pole) that touches it is instantly consumed and the wielder must make a saving throw or take 2d6 damage. Any living being that touches the artificial sun is instantly consumed.

17. The Processional

Illumination: none

Smell: Dust and mildew

It appears the walls in this room were once covered with tapestries. These have long since decayed and fallen to the floor, as evinced by the several piles of ragged remnants. Two of these piles are actually Raglings, and will reconfigure themselves into giant mummy like creatures 3 rounds after the room has been entered. AC 4 [16] HD 2+2 Move:12

18. Library.

Illumination: Ever burning fire in the room’s center

Smell: Moldering books

The books in this room have mostly fallen to dust. A loaded (4 chamber) revolver and spell book [contents referee’s discretion] lay on a writing desk in the NW corner of the room A wheelbarrow loaded with a pile moldering foodstuffs, four bottles of fine wine and a moth eaten sack containing 200gp rests beside the table.

19. Stairs down to level 3.

Illumination: Dull green glowstrip to the end of the corridor, the stairs are dark

Smell: Hot metal and excrement

There are fresh bloodstains smeared along the floor, ceiling and walls of corridor and trailing on down the stairs. The noise of dripping water can be heard faintly, coming up from far below.

20. Stairs to level 2.

Illumination: Spill over from area 15, which fades away to darkness near the bottom.

Smell: A rank, but unidentifiable odor.

The staircase is a wide affair of polished limestone, cut from the living rock. There is no noise or motion.

Halls of the Hidden Prince Area 11-14

2011-11-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just a little warm up as I begin today's novel plod. I've put a direct link to the map on the left, just click on the image and it will expand and shit. Furthermore, the tag at the bottom of this post should take you to the other entries.

I'm thinking of doing a new drawing for the header, if anyone has any ideas please share them in the comments.

11. The Coat Room.

Illumination: Glow Strip Yellow.

Scuff marks on the floor lead to both secret doors. They can be found in 1d6 rounds each of searching.

12. Narrow passage of natural stone.

Illumination: None.

13. Jail.

Illumination: none.

Rats and small lizards scurry away at the first sign of light. There is nothing to see here but the skeletal remains of several unfortunates.

14. Main Dining Room

Illumination: Magical torches (6)

Smell: Dust and Carnivore droppings

Despite the cheery torchlight, this room is as dusty and unused as the others. Here too, there is evidence of a struggle. Chairs and tables are overturned. Dark stains, visible even beneath the thick coat of dust, mar the walls and floor. Faded murals of Minotaurs engaged in all manner of activities, ranging from feasting to copulating, adorn the walls.

Anyone who bothers to look can see many paw prints of a medium sized quadruped trail through the dust, on the floor and up the walls.

The door in the west wall leads only to a wall of natural stone.

Three ceiling sloth live in the ornate chandelier. They have acid for blood and live in near continual state of pain. As a result they hate everything that lives.

AC: 6 [13] HD: 1+1 Move: 6 (can walk on walls and ceiling at same rate) Attack: Tail stinger 1d6 Special: on a hit from the tail stinger ST or paralyzed for 20 rounds – Constitution score. XP 100. The ceiling sloth’s preferred tactic is to drop down on individuals from above as they cross the center of the room. They will however, attack within 1d4 rounds after the room is entered.

The Dead Earth. The first sentence of my NaNoWriMo novel

2011-11-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Dead Earth
Book One: The Stolen Sun
Chapter One: The City at Twilight

Sometimes, when the dust thinned and the light of the faded silver sun came up, priests of Idoran’s dying ab-god, Marl, would leave the temple and raid the city for food.

I've written quite a bit of fiction in the past (I've even brushed up against publication on a couple of occasions) and i know that the clunker above, if not the entire beginning I'm writing now, will almost certainly be replaced before I'm done, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
Good luck to everyone else who's giving this a shot. As for me I have Robert Britan's excellent punctuation guide; a handful of grammar books; and a bunch of random text books in which to dig for inspiration. Surely, if Moorcock can do it in three days, we can do it in thirty.
I'm at 600 words, right now. Wish me luck.

The Hidden Halls rooms 1-10 keyed.

2011-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

MAP AND INTRODUCTION HERE

This is pretty text heavy. I know some of you don't dig that, so, you know, sorry and all. This level has actually been play-tested; although, it was a spur of the moment incident and not a a planned event. So don't like get to thinking I've got my shit together. I've got the rest of this level keyed waiting a proof read and some stat block additions; the other two are in varying stages of completion; when it's all done I'll do some drawings and make a pdf. I'll probably make two more levels in addition to what I've drawn already, and then i'll get back to Madling Isle, or, maybe, I'll do it the other way around. Or start something else. Who knows? I'm not to be trusted.

Anyway, it's been like 2 months since the last post, where the hell have you been?

1. Entrance point.

Illumination: Dim and flickering red.

Smell: A musty and cloying cocktail, comprised of one part sulfur and two parts stagnant water.

Details: A large, circular teleportation pool is located at the center of this room. The pool is only partially functional. It can be used to enter the complex, but not to exit. Once the players emerge from the water the pool appears to be nothing but a mundane cistern of algae covered water. The floor is covered in carpet of broken bones. A mural of two minotaurs wrestling decorates the north wall, the other walls are covered in floral patterns rendered in flaked pastel paint. A flickering crystal mounted in the ceiling (5 meters above the floor) casts an inconstant blood red light over the room There are no obvious exits. A search of the osseous detritus strewn across the floor will yield a three sided, 30cm long, finger-width sliver of silvery metal, which is taped at the ends and marked by runic etchings. Any character touching the object with bare flesh takes one point of damage per round of contact. This damage will take 4days to heal/point, and the character so inflicted will experience sleep sweats and disquieting nightmares all the while.

The room contains two secret doors. The door on the east wall can be found with a roll of a 1 or 2 on a d6; if this door is opened it will release a blast of frosty, fetid and stale air, the character opening the door and anyone else adjudged to be standing within five feet of the door must make a saving throw. Failure results in 1d4 rounds of unconsciousness, but no further ill effect. The door on the south wall can be found on a roll of a 1 on a d8.

2. Rough hewn passageway

Illumination: None

Smell: Musty and stale

Details: The corridor is very cold; breath turns into mist and spots of frost mark the walls. A heavy door of rusted iron terminates the eastern passage. The door is jammed.

3. Freezer

Illumination: None

Smell: Bad meat; very bad meat.

This room is freezing cold. Any characters that are wet will take 1 hit point of damage every round they remain in the room.

Barrels, casks and crates of ancient foodstuffs line the walls. Many of them are full, or nearly so. Roughly a dozen cleaned and dressed carcasses hang by hooks in the room’s center.

Three corpses, two minotaurs and a shae, hang amongst the frozen meat. Judging by their wounds, all three died in the midst of a savage battle. The shae has a pouch containing ten 10 GP coins. One of the minotaurs has a parchment stiff with ice crystals and frozen blood. It has a cluster of untranslatable ruins upon it that cannot be translated by any means, magical or otherwise (subject to the referee’s discretion).

4. Smooth walled passage.

Illumination: dull green glow (mold)

Smell: Dank, sulfurous.

Noise: Dripping

Huge loops of cobweb hang across this hallway. A wide crack mars the ceiling; viscous purple ichor of unknown origin drips slowly in from above, and vanishes in to a black edged hole in the floor. Anyone who ingests the ichor must make a saving throw or die. The ichor can be used to coat weapons with poison. However, the venom will burn through all substances besides glass. If a glass vial is used, enough ichor for 10 doses can be collected in an hour. The ichor has a strong sulfurous stink, known to the living creatures of the complex.

Note the doors to rooms 5 and 6 are difficult open.

5. Dry Storage (stuck door)

Illumination: None

If the door is forced it will disintegrate into a puff of foul smelling wood rot, and thousands upon thousands of black roaches will explode out of the opening. They will swarm about, flying and crawling all over anyone in the hall for 1d6 rounds. ST or scream like a girl. The room beyond is completely empty, except for some broken crates.

6. Wine Cellar:

Illumination: None

The door to this room is wedged shut with two spikes identical to the one located in area 1. A skeleton, clutching a pistol in one hand and an empty wine jug in the other, occupies the southwest corner. A large collection of empty bottles is spread out around the remains. There are 27 small, regular scratches on the adjacent portion of the western wall. A small sack containing 300 gp in gems lies beneath the bones. The pistol is old and rusted beyond repair or even recognition.

The wine racks lining the room are predominately empty, but there are 1d6 bottles of wine each worth 1d4 X100 GP. There is also a bottle of Dream Oil (worth 1000GP).

7. The Kitchen:

Illumination: none.

Smell: Dust.

Several long stone stables stretch across this room situated along the east/west axis.

Four gigantic cauldrons line the north wall of the room. There is a large Kexoke (feathered serpent) hidden in the eastern-most cauldron. AC:8 [11] HD: 4 Attack Beak 1d6 +venom attack. Move 12. Venom attack: slow poison 3x daily, only works once per victims. Save or move and attack at ½ normal rate for 1d4 hours. The Kexoke will lie in wait and attack any character searching the cauldrons. If the combat lasts more than three rounds, the 3 quite ones from Area 8 will become roused, enter the kitchen and attack the PCs.

There is a dumbwaiter in the NE corner of the room; the shaft leads down to levels two and three.

A fire pit dominates the center of the north wal; the chimney shaft leads up out of the complex. The vent is far above, and in shadow; subsequently, no light enters the room through this channel. The climb up the chimney shaft could be accomplished in roughly two hours. A Rock worm patrols the chimney. It will attack midway through the climb.

8. Office of the Chef

Illumination: None

As the PCs enter this room, four Quite Ones (AC 5[14] HD:1 Move: 8 Attack: Spiked limbs 1d6 Special quite ones project a 10’ sphere of silence) shamble towards them out of the darkness- unless they have already attacked during the fight with the feathered serpent in area 7.

Countless spikes (each identical to the one found in on the floor of area 1) pierce these desiccated rotting corpses of these undead Sasquatch zombies. The shimmering remnants of their defiled souls flicker and flash over their skin like unholy lightning.

A large writing desk dominates the southern wall.

A rack of gold and silver pots and pans lines the entire length of the eastern wall. It is rickety. If any one attempts to remove a single pot or pan the entire rack will fall across the entire room, inflicting everyone within with 2d6 damage; save for ½ damage.

9. Short Passage

Illumination: Glowstrip green (flickering).

The floor is covered in an eight inch layer of dead bugs and their desiccated casings. Walking over and through the insects generates a sticky sounding crunch.

Jaws of death: Each character has a 1 in 4 chance of triggering the man trap that is hidden beneath the insect carcasses. If the trap is activated, the character must make a saving throw. Failure results in a roll on the wound table.

10. Scullery

Illumination: Glow strip orange (pulsing)

The door latch is broken and the door swings gently open. A thick layer of dust covers everything herein, but cannot conceal the fact that, long ago, a violent struggle raged through this room.

Shelves are down; smashed dishes are everywhere. A minotaur in rich robes lies twitching on the floor transfixed by a bone bladed sword. The sword called "Bane" is a relic of the Wars of Unreason. Its victims cannot die while the blade remains embedded in their flesh. If someone removes the sword from the minotaur will scream out “no” right after the sword is free, and then vanish in an explosion of black dust. Attempts to communicate with him will most likely prove fruitless, as he has been on the edge of death- in unimaginable agony- for thousands of years, and his mind is essentially gone.

Madling Island part 2.2: Encounters in the region South west of Ssaur:

2011-08-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

The move is over at long last, so (semi) regular posting will now resume. I want to thank everyone for their feedback on the maps I've been posting.

Anyway, lets get on with it!

Critters:

Icyopteryx

AC: 7 [12]

HD: 2

Attack: Beak

Special: Dive 2d6 on first attack.

Move 15 (fly)

X.P. 60

These large birds (wingspan 15 feet) travel in hunting groups of three. During the summer months Icyopteryx primarily nest and hunt in the mountains; however, during the winter and during freak summer snowstorms, they will descend to the lower elevations in search of prey.

Icyopteryx hunt in groups of three (known as triads) and will not hesitate to attack large prey animals. They have an uncanny ability to see and navigate during the heaviest weather and will often accost prey during the peak of a blizzard.

Special Dive: prior to the first round of attack Icyopteryx will climb high and then dive, adding the benefit of inertia to their strike and therefore doing double damage.

Na-Mammoth:

AC 4 (16)

HD 6-8

Attack: Gore 1d6/ Trample 1d6

Special: Breath Weapon

Move 12

Xp 1600-2000

Na-mammoth are large mammal like creatures, which live year round on the Wasted Plain and in the Dire Hills. They are omnivores and will eat virtually anything. A Na-mammoth can breath 40 foot cone of fire, 15 feet wide at its base, twice daily. During winter months this ability is often used to soften the turf in order to access buried plant food .

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the na-mammoth is it’s life cycle. These creatures have a unique form of asexual reproduction. Every spring, the na-mammoth gives (live, pseudo-vaginal) birth to one of the humanoid creatures known as mammoth men. Mammoth men are born full grown, but despite their name, and their brutish hairy appearance, these creatures are actually sexless. Mammoth men and na-mammoth work in concert to find food. Mammoth men take their nutrition directly from the na-mammoth, drinking a milky blood-like secretion from pseudo-mammary arrangements on the na-mammoth’s underside.

When the Na-mammoth dies, the mammoth men eat its corpse. Over the next several days they work in concert to spread their excrement over a small section of tundra. The high acid content of their dung softens the earth. Once this task is complete, the creatures engage in a horrific orgy of violence, during which, they kill and eat one another. The final survivor burrows its way into the softened earth, and generates a mucus sheath around its body. After this, it hibernates for 6 or more months and transforms; a fully formed juvenile na-mammoth emerges from the earth at the beginning the following spring.

For game purposes, each na-mammoth is accompanied by one mammoth man per hit die.

Mammoth Men

AC 10[9]

HD 1+1

Attack: Club 1d6/ Tusks 1d6

Move: 5

XP 100

The larval form of Na-Mammoths, these creatures are roughly humanoid in appearance, although they sport thick coats of coarse hair and large upward thrusting tusks. They are possessed of a rude intelligence, but have no culture or language and exist only to gather food for the Na-mammoth that spawned them.

Next time: I haven't a clue, really, but, possibly, a more detailed look at Madling Isles.

Hidden Halls Levels 2 & 3 [maps] of 4 or 5.

2011-08-01T07:53:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what there is to say really. I've finished keying level 1. I think I'd like to play it before sharing it here. I'd do so via one of those funky google+ games that are all the rage right now, but I'm in the middle of organizing a state to state move.

Halls of the Hidden Prince, level one [map] and a word about my favorite blog

2011-07-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

My favorite blog these days, is without a doubt, Dyson Logos' A Character for Every Game it is all gaming, all the time. Dyson generates tons of awesome content- much of which I haven't even gotten to yet. He avoids pretty much every OSR kerfuffule, and his underground maps have made me aware of something that I'd never given much thought to before. I'm not certain if I can articulate this properly, but players need to get a groovy dungeon vibe from the referee; the ref's descriptions, the way he runs encounters and traps; what encounters, traps and dungeon dressing are included in the first place and so on. However, before she can share it, the referee also needs to get this groovy dungeon feeling. The problem, of course, for the ref is finding it. Dyson's maps give me that feeling. Also, they kick ass, and there are like seven million of them. Thanks man.

So, anyway, as an example of the sincerest form of flattery, here is my impoverished attempt to emulate his style (I've stolen the cross hatching technique wholesale), combined with some of my own notes (which were previously posted here in a slightly altered form back in 2010). A key will be forthcoming. This stuff actually does tie in to the current Madling Island project, because these levels are situated beneath the Tower of the Changer.

The Halls of the Hidden Prince

The combined cavern/room complex beneath the Tower of the Changer was constructed in stages. During the waning epoch of the Minotaur Empire, a disgraced imperial aristocrat and his retinue came to the Crumbled Mountains looking to create a new summer labyrinth far from the intrigues at court. Unfortunately, the aristocrat in question, whose name has long since been forgotten by history, had in his employ a shae sorcerer, who, not long after the completion of the complex, manifested an unexpected desire for power, coupled with a previously unexpressed talent for necromancy and a rather excessive amount of bloodlust. Anyway, good times ensued, which ultimately resulted in an empty complex- empty of the living, that is.

The next to come were a group of agrarian Lizardmen from Ssaur who were trying to create a utopian colony. Although, they installed many grow-vats and laid the foundations for a bitchen’ subterranean ecosystem, they were eventually, after a years long battle, driven out or destroyed by the undead. The undead, however, were decreased in number by this conflict, and since that time, as a result, several attempts have been made to re-inhabit the complex; a few groups, as well as many animals (eager to access the food that grows within) have made some headway, but no one controls the space.

There are four basic varieties of Architecture- natural, lizardman, minotaur and lich; although, some other groups and individuals have made modifications as well. Minotaurs like to decorate, so there are a lot of minotaur busts, murals, busts bas-reliefs. Minotaurs also like to bathe, so there are lots of baths, some of which were converted into vats or something else by the lizardmen. Furthermore, the lizardmen planted a lot of food fungus and algae on the walls, they also seeded pools with plankton, algae, fish and other stuff. They constructed mostly with metal and plastic, their machines are everywhere. Strangely, enough they were also fond of murals.

Click for larger image.

Island of the Madling: Part 2.1, South of SSaur, Weather and Hazards.

2011-07-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Part 1
Part 2

The Wasted Plain and beyond, continued.

Tundra and sub-glacial areas are often exceedingly dry; however, the same process* that results in the drainage which fills Lake Brood and, in turn feeds the River Sphere, holds the Würm in check and results in a fairly constant level of humidity and precipitation in the region surrounding Ssaur.

Note: The Rüinlands calendar is a simple affair. There are 10 months each of 35 days. A buffer period of roughly 15 days (taken up by The Festival of Promadealus**) is situated between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. Years are not numbered or otherwise counted, but named after animals. The months are numerically named thus: Onemonth, Twomonth and so on through Tenmonth. The first day of Onemonth is coincident with the spring equinox. However, aside from the gradually lengthening days, the true effects of spring are not felt, during most years, until towards end of Twomonth. Summer is in full swing by the second or third week of Threemonth. The weather turns cold near the end of Fivemonth or the beginning of Sixmonth. Winter begins a month earlier and ends approximately half month later in the mountains.

There are only two discernible seasons in the Ssaur region, summer and winter. Spring and autumn come and goes so quickly that they are hardly noticeable. The soil of the wasted plain never thaws beyond a depth of 6-8 inches even in the hottest years.

* the exact nature of the process is unknown. Some scholars postulate that the heat from a natural magma vent, contained somewhere within the vast expanse of the Würm, erodes the glacier at about the same rate that it grows. Others believe that an ancient weather control station (similarly located) performs an identical function.

** This is basically a winter festival, characterized by overeating/drinking and gift giving; the significance of the name is unknown.

Weather checks:

Summer (Check twice daily) 1d6: 1-2 rain. 3: Cool and dry. 4-5: Warm and dry. 6: Hot and dry.

Winter (Check three times daily) 1d6- 1-2: clear & cold; 3: cold & snowing (1/2 move). 4: Really cold & snowing (1/3 move). 5: Blizzard- (1/4-0 move) characters may be snowbound. 6. Freak weather (referee’s discretion).

Note: blizzard conditions should continue for 1d4 days, obviating the need for further weather checks during this time.

Hazards:

Summer:

Insect bites: All living creatures crossing through the Dire hills or the Wasted Plain during the summer months are accompanied by a personal cloud of biting, stinging, feeding and breeding insects. Characters without adequate protection, during summer will lose 1d3 hit points a day to insects bites.

Bugway Grease, is a foul smelling, bug repellant salve for sale in Ssaur (and it can sometimes be found in Shards as well). A supply sufficient to protect an individual for one week costs roughly 10gp in Ssaur and twice that in Shards. A character with the forage proficiency, access to a forest and a supply of animal grease can gather the materials to make four times this amount for 1gp in 1d3+1 days. The grease itself takes four days to cook. This process is extremely odiferous, and if done anywhere within the walls Ssaur, besides the Horn, it will result in an arrest and a level 1 punishment.

Boilfly Fever: Many species of biting insects lay eggs in the soil, just above the permafrost layer, prior to the onset of winter. These eggs hatch in the early spring, inflicting three months of stinging agony upon the inhabitants of the plain and any other creatures unfortunate enough to find themselves there.

Successful boilflies, however, lay their eggs within the body of a living host during the final weeks of summer. The host then contracts boilfly fever. If the fever is fatal, and it often is, the corpse of the host usually freezes with the onset of winter. When the thaw comes in the spring the boilfly larva eat their way out of the host, and spend their summer much like the other insects of the tundra, feeding on aurochs and other beasts. Despite the fact that only eggs lain at the end of summer are likely to survive the winter intact, boilflies mate constantly and are always on the look out for a living host in which to deposit their eggs.

For every day spent on the plain, without being smeared in bugway grease, characters have a 2 in 6 chance of being bitten by a pregnant boilfly. Characters bitten must make a saving throw. Failure results in coming down with boilfly fever in 1d4 days, at which point another saving throw can be made. Failure of the second saving throw results in a coma and death in 1d6+1 days. The disease can be cured by a cure disease spell any time after the first failed ST. If the second ST is successful, the character must make one further ST in order to successfully fight off the disease; otherwise they will fall into a coma and die in 1d6+1 days.

Due to their scales Lizardmen receive a +5 to all initial Saving Throws vs. boilfly fever. the second saving throw, however, is made as normal.

Winter:

Freezing to death: Each day that a character spends out in the harsh conditions of the tundra or high country winter, they run the risk of freezing to death. The weather attacks the character, treating their constitution as armor class (ascending). If the attack is successful, the character must make a ST. A failed ST results in a temporary loss of 1 pt of constitution. The next day the weather attack will be against this lowered number. Three successful attacks and the character falls in to a incoherent state and dies in 1d10 hours- if not gotten to shelter. Sufficiently warm cloths provide a +4 to ST vs. Freezing. Due to their thick coats, Sasquatch characters receive a +5 to all STs vs. Freezing.

All lost Constitution points can be regained (1d6 hours per point) once the character gain access to a sheltered environment.

Well, we’ll get to those Mammoths and mammoth men (and some other critters) next time. This one went off in an unforeseen direction...

Madling Island 2

2011-07-21T20:37:00.001-07:00

Before you can die on Madling Island, you must get there alive...

Part one is here.
Note 1- click on the pic for a larger image,

Note -2 links to Ssaur, The Forgotten Depths, and The Tower of the Changer can be found on the left, I did not link them again in the post.

Madling Island 2

Getting there and reasons to go:

Getting there

Preliminaries: reasons to go.

In my one on one face-to-face Metal Earth play test we’re about a session or two away from Madling Island right now. I wont force the issue, of course, but Scott (my player) has already taken his Shae sorcerer and henchmen (Two Minotaur adventurers and a Grey) through the Tower of the Changer and down into the Forgetten Depth (and found the teleportation pool back to Ssaur located in Hex 0703 of the Depths). He’s in the city right now, but I’m pretty sure his lust for magical treasure will goad him to the island as soon as he hears a rumor of it- which will be at the beginning of the next session.

As for how he got to the Tower of the Changer in the first place, at the beginning of our first session, I simply handed him a cruder version of the map above (hard to believe such a thing could exist, but it does) and said, “You left Ssaur several days ago, searching for a pathway in to a fabled hidden land that is supposedly rich in magical treasure; you’ve been dodging a band of Mammoth Men for three days and you’re just about out of food, You see a tower high up on the side of a mountain to the west.”

This above is pretty good example of my preferred method with which to start a campaign; it saves me from an evening of, “So you are all in a tavern,” which I find extremely painful. Furthermore, once the initial session (or two) is over (we played the Tower and the beginning of the forgotten depths in roughly 5 hours total play time) the players are likely to have a pretty good feel for the basics of the setting and some sort of idea of what to do next.

However, I am aware that not everyone likes to do things this way. And, although, I am doubtful anyone is actually going to use any of this material ‘as is’ I feel compelled to offer some alternatives to my rather draconian and ham-fisted starting procedure.

Characters are lost somewhere southwest of Ssaur. They spot the tower. The party comes up with its own reason for being there.
In Ssaur, there is an unnamed wine shop along the wall that divides Market Town from the Horn. The shop is frequented by members of all the races that can gain entry to the city, and by many lower and middle class Shae. Higher caste Shae will occasionally patronize the place while in disguise. One such individual, a Shae woman of obvious wealth and breeding approaches the party and offers to pay them a large sum of gold (referee’s discretion) to recover the body of her son Aldra, who 20 years ago ventured into the forgotten Depths in search of a fabled island supposedly stocked with treasure. She will give the players a copy of the map above- or one very much like it- whatever, it’s up to you (obviously).
The payers are caravan guards. You know what to do.
The players otherwise acquire the map (e.g. they buy it; win it in a card game; inherit it, or find it on the victim of a mugging).
The players find the abandon temple in Ssaur that contains the teleportation pool to Hex 0703 and start exploring the depths.
Some combination of the above.

I’m sure I could come with some more, but I’m sure that everyone reading this can as well.

Features of the Map:

The map features an area of indeterminate scale located to the southwest of the great city of Ssaur. The level of accuracy and the scale of the map are matters best decided by the individual referee. If one looks at the larger setting map, the scale and accuracy of which are also unknown at this time, one will see there is plenty of room to move on both of these issues. As a point of information, in my own game, I have decided not to decide- and I feel really, really fucking good about it.

Ssaur: soon to be remapped and updated, but the current version, available on the left, is close enough for now.

The Tower: in my game this is the Tower of the Changer. You must do as you will, of course.

The Long Stair: a leagues long, monster infested, storm prone, stairway cut in to the living rock. It leads to the Tower.

The City in the Mist: in my game this is the ruin located in Hex 0301 of the Forgotten Depths, it’s also probably important to mention that the scale of this map is completely out of whack with reality in my game. Anyway, I am eventually going to detail this location, but if you wish to use it in the meantime you are on your own, which is kind of nifty, really.

The Dire Hills and The Wasted Plain: both of these regions are dominated by large herds of dangerous herbivores and blood thirsty hominids known as the Mammoth Men.

The River Sphere: a wide, frigid and fast flowing river. Plied by steamships, manaships and barges, but also plagued by mutant pirates.

Next time: Critters- including, but not limited to, Dire Mammoth and Mammoth Men (neither will be quite what you expect, I assure you) as well as the legendary one eyed monster mammoth and terror of the wasted plain: Squint. Also, some encounter and weather tables for the region southwest of Ssaur.

Resource reorginization

2011-07-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I went through the entire blog and fixed and regularized many tags. I also added links to and reorganized the resources (on the left) under a variety of subheadings. Furthermore, I went through a couple of old entries (notably The City Ssaur) and updated them bring them in to better alignment with my current version of the setting. I even fixed a few spelling and punctuation errors; however, their number is legion still.

Anyway, feel free to peruse an comment on any of the old posts (I still get notification, so I see it all).

The fellow in the pic is ORD of the Universals, a Celestail being obsessed with classification and organization; he is a character from my (in development) web comic and an NPC in my current ICONS game. His legs are in pencil because my design ideas more or less stalled out at he belt.

Madling Island (Map) Part 1 of ?

2011-07-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

Click on the pic for a larger image.
(map is not entirely to scale)

Madling Island:

According to popular legend, as related in the wine shops of Ssaur, the so called Madling Island, located in the Purple Lake of The Forgotten Depths, is the site of an abandoned factory, which, during the Lost Wars, was used for the production of Skeletal Warriors. Supposedly, a powerful Madling sorcerer took up residence in the old factory several centuries ago, and abides there still, engaged in an attempt to reactivate the factory's eldritch apparatus in order to raise an army with which to conquer Ssaur and the Rüinlands. The sorcerer is said to have a vast store of treasure. This horde is reported to be made up of magical, monetary and technological constituents. All of this is, of course, hearsay, and it is impossible to identify anyone who has traveled to the island and returned. Thus, the claims of legend remain unvalidated, and true knowledge of the place is scant, if not completely nonexistent.

The truth of the matter is that the rumors are largely accurate, but they tell only a little about the strange and terrible place that is Madling Island.

Madling Island, Some Facts:

The island exists inside a time-space depression (TSD, henceforth); it actually occupies far more land area than it appears to from a distance. Although, at less than a kilometer away, the Island appears to be roughly 15 km from end to end, it is in truth, roughly 10 times as long. Furthermore, time flows differently there; for each day that passes on the island and in its immediate environs, a month passes in the outer world. Obviously, there is no missing the change in physical scale as one approaches the island; however, individuals within the TSD cannot detect the temporal aberration, as the day-night cycle is absent therein, replaced by an endless, brooding and blood-red twilight, punctuated only by the pulsating sullen glow of Godmount.

It is possible that a careful observer from outside the TSD might notice a dull flickering over the island, the cause of which would be difficult to ascertain.

The cause or causes of these strange conditions are poorly understood, although it is likely that the powerful reality warping magic utilized in the creation of entire armies of Skeletal Warriors- and the many other experiments and activities that took place on the island may have been among the causative factors.

Next Time: Reasons to go and how to get there.

Notes:

I like big settings, but I also like mini-settings; what I like best, though, is a mini-setting nested within a big setting. I discovered this whilst running my first full on Metal Earth game (with True20) about five years ago . During the course of that campaign, we thoroughly explored the island of Skeeme, and many of the ideas, which have come to represent the foundations of the larger setting, came into being during the course of that game. I believe the Forgotten Depths has at least four relatively self-contained mini-settings: The Abandon City (Hex 0301); the top of The Fin (Hexes 0704, 0803,0802 &0902); the Weather Control Station/City of the Sharkmen/Megadungeon (Hex 0907); and Madling Island. This is the first in what will be a very long series of posts detailing the last of these.

The Mür, scourge of the seas

2011-07-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Soundtrack for this post Led Zepplin: Immigrant Song

The Mür

AC: 4[15] (see below)

HD 1+1 (see below for attack)

Attacks: Sword or Javelin (1d6 damage)

Special: group-mind

XP: 100 X number of individual Talons (see below).

Mür are cloned beings based upon human DNA. They are vat grown in the city of Zil, located in the North Rüingulf. Mür are organized into individual bands; each band is known as a Claw (usage is the same for singular and plural). Each individual within a Claw is referred to as a Talon. A Claw is governed by a group mind. All the members share a personality, and are for all effective purposes different components of the same body. All Talons are completely unsexed androgynies. Furthermore, all Talons are albinos.

Mür claws have 2d6+1 talons. With the exception of their ruler (see below), ranking of Claw within Mür society is based upon the number of Talons. Claw larger than 13 in size are known, but rarely encountered.

In combat, Talons receive an attack bonus equal to ½ (round down) their total number (e.g., if a Claw has 7 conscious Talons, each of them attacks with a +3).

A Mür Claw is a Sorcerer equal in level to its number of Talons. One Talon stays behind and casts spells while the others engage in physical combat.

Mür gain their armor class due to segmented armor made from vat grown chitin. This armor is usually highly stylized and its appearance differs radically from Claw to Claw. Claws are very individualistic and competitive amongst one another.

Going where they will in their magically propelled longboats, the Mür are the terror of the entire Rüingulf and its coastal environs. They view all other groups as inferior. They raid often, and take many slaves to serve as domestic workers and agricultural laborers on their Islands. They place the highest value on human genetic material, and will stop at nothing when attempting to capture human prisoners.

Some scholars argue that the only thing that keeps the Mür from conquering the entire region, if not the world, is the inability for the various Claw to put aside their endless competition with one another and unite.

Mür Madlings: A lone Talon that becomes separated from its Claw by more than 1km will go through a painful process of separation, which last for 1d4 days. If not reunited with its unit within this time frame, the talon will develop an individual personality, and over the course of several weeks will sprout sex organs, and otherwise become completely human. This hyper puberty is extremely painful and distressing, Madlings are extremely unstable during the course of it. Unlike other humans, however, Madlings can wield sorcery. On the downside everyone, including other Mür hate them (even more than regular humans). Their albino appearance makes them instantly recognizable. Strangely enough, Autocrix Mandolo Boneaxe, the millennia old ruler of the Mür, is a Madling. How this came to pass is unknown.

Player characters may be Mür Madlings. (I need to work out the exact details for this).

Conan is my Green Lantern, maybe.

2011-07-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: there is no movie talk in what follows.

One of the oft repeated rubrics by which the quality of super hero games is measured is what I'll call The Green Lantern Test. Many consider the ability to adequately model the Green Lantern a key indicator of a SHRPG's flexibility. The thinking is, of course, if the game can allow you to create a playable GL, it can likely do just about anything else you need it to in terms of character generation. In the universal sense, it's not a perfect test. For example I'm fairly certain that one could adequately model GL in Mutants or Masterminds, but, given my limited intellect, I would still find it unplayable. However, if one likes the game play of a certain system and it can model GL, chances are (keeping in mind no game is perfect all the time) it will facilitate a benign SHRPG experience.

When it comes to Sword and Sorcery or Science Fantasy RPGs, GL's role is perhaps most properly assigned to Conan. Conan is at various points in his a career, a warrior, a thief, a sailor, a bandit a forager in the wilderness and many other things. Class and level based games have, by and large, two distinct ways of dealing with Conan.

The easiest method, at least in terms of book keeping, is best exhibited by OD&D 1974. Essentially everyone is either a Fighting Man or a Magic User, and the actions of players outside of their two main oeuvres are constrained only by the imagination of the player, the ruling of the referee, and the parameters within which the group can collectively suspend disbelief. As a referee I am perfectly content with this system. In my experience, players, however, like to have options. They want their adventurers to differ from one another. Occasionally, despite, the repugnance of it all, a conscientious referee must take the wishes and desires of players in to account.

This leads us, as it did the earliest formulators of the game and their successors, to the second method, found in the supplements of OD&D and every iteration of the game released henceforth: a proliferation of character classes, e.g., Thief, Fighter, Ranger, the noisome Cleric, and so on. Many of these classes model one or another part of Conan's career, and, quite obviously, go well beyond its boundaries. None of theses classes, however, adequately model Conan's entire career.

I would find this frustrating enough if the problem stopped with Conan. It does not. What if someone wishes to play a character very much like the Grey Mouser? What class should the select? The facile answer is, of course, under 1e rules, a simple Thief. I would have to disagree, though; Thieves do not fight so well as Fighters, and I never felt that the Mouser was any less of a swordsman than Fafherd or, Conan, for that matter. What if a player wants to emulate Severian from the Book of the New Sun or that Beast Master guy from that 80's movie of the same name?

Setting aside the straight OD&D option for the reasons mentioned above, how can this problem be solved, without resorting to the semi-solution of cumbersome and fiddly multi-classing? Furthermore, as has been pointed out by others, as soon as an ability (e.g. pick pockets) is given to a specific class, it is more or less taken away from the other classes.

I submit, therefore that the proliferation of character classes is an inadequate solution to the Conan/Grey Mouser/Severian problem, and, furthermore, as a phenomenon, introduces more problems to the game than it solves.

These problems have stalled my own design efforts, bringing me, in reality to a dead stop for the last couple of months.

Yesterday, I cracked the code (to my own satisfaction, anyway).

Before you continue, keep in mind that I still view OD&D 1974 (or S&W Whitebox) as nearly perfect just the way they are (the way they are practically necessitates house rules, but that's another conversation, altogether) and all my Metal Earth rule modification are modular, and any adventure material I create, or have created, can be used with the additions or without them.

The admittedly nascent system proposed below is linked to some of my earlier ideas, namely saving throw based task resolution. If you don't want to read about the stuff, just keep in mind that I use a simple system of saving throws and modifiers for non-combat task resolution. Just by reading that sentence you have been introduced to about 90% of that system.

The Fighting-man class has been, in my Metal Earth game, replaced by the Adventurer class. Other classes will be the Sorcerer, and, possibly the Mastermind.

I know it's unseemly to beg, but some comments on anything you've read here today, would be smashing .

Anyway, here it is:

The Adventurer

A member of the Adventurer class can be a Wanderer, warrior, thief, sailor, soldier or, at one time or another, all of the above and more. The ability to survive lies at the core of this class.

At first level and every 2 (3^rd, 5^th, 7^th) levels thereafter the members of the adventurer class may select one competency from the list below. For the purpose of skill advancement, the level at which the character picks a competency is treated as first level when calculating modifiers. For example if Kronark the Barbarian selects the thief competency at 5^th level, this level is considered first level when calculating all die rolls).

Offensive fighter: Offensive fighters gain +1 to attack rolls and a +1 to all damage rolls- including results on critical hits tables.

Defensive fighters: Defensive Fighters gain a +1 to their AC (unless taken by surprise) and a +2 to all saving throws vs. wounds/critical hits.

Badass: A Badass character can deal lethal damage (including critical hits) and receives a +1 to hit with unarmed attacks.

Advanced Badass: (Prerequisite, Badass or Defensive Fighter): An advanced Badass has an automatic 4 [15] AC (against melee based attacks) without armor.

Survival: Characters with the survival competency gain a +2/level to all survival related task resolution saving throws, including foraging and overland navigation.

Sailing: A sailor knows how to handle themselves aboard a ship. This includes competency at basic ship board tasks, such as getting under way and stowing cargo, and setting sail as well as more advanced tasks such as navigation.

Thief Skills: A character with the thief skills is adept at such activities as picking locks, climbing walls, and picking pockets. The character receives an initial +2 and +1/lvel to all task related saving throws whilst using these skills.

Marksman: A marksmen receives a +1 bonus to hit and to damage with firearms (including critical hits at close range).

Torture: Character that have been schooled in the art and science of torture receive a +2 per level on all interrogation based saving throws.

Art: An artist is especially skilled at some sort of creative expression. While in a city performers musicians, dancers, jugglers can earn 1d20 Zorms a week. If they are left to depend upon their creativity for sustenance, other artists will almost certainly go hungry, unless they can somehow arrange for a wealthy patron to subsidize their lifestyle.

Beast Mastery: A beast master has way with animals and can effectively charm Lvl +2 hit dice worth of creatures.

Keep in mind these are just samples, and the players and referee can easily create their own sets of abilities.

Skeletal Warrior (Player Character Version)

2011-07-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Skeletal Warrior (Player Character Version)

STR* 3D6

INT 3D6

DEX* 3D6

CON* 3D6

WIS 3D6

CHA 1D6

Skeletal Warriors, or the Half-dead as they are sometime called, were created during the course of a war lost in the Mists. At one time there were vast numbers of these creatures, but in these latter days there numbers have dwindled. Most of the Half-dead are mindless undead automatons, usually employed by a renegade Shae Sorcerer or a group like the Changers. Player character Skeletal Warriors are among the few that have spontaneously gained self-awareness. Some are haunted by hazy memories of their first life, before they were raised; many have no recollection of anything aside from their days as undead warriors. Due to the fragility of bone structure in the extremities, the hands of feet of Skeleton warriors are made from a compound of bone, necrotic flesh and enchanted stone.

Special: Skeletal Warriors have 2d6 to apply to their physical attributes (STR, CON, DEX). Skeletal Warriors do not require food or drink, but must bask in the light of the full moon for one full night every month in order to replenish their power. If two months are missed in succession the Skeletal Warrior temporarily looses 1d6 from all attribute scores. If the Skeletal Warriors passes two months without basking in the moonlight, they lapse in to a dormant state until they are exposed to the full moon for three consecutive months, at which time they wake. They must make a saving throw to retain memories and experience levels. If they fail, they revert to first level. Skeletal Warriors are immune to poison and receive a +2 to all saving throw.

Shit drawing provided free of charge. Click to enlarge- if you dare.

Burnout, thoughts on comics, two weapon fighting, Helltoad, and so on

2011-07-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears to be fading now, but sometime in May, I experienced a bit of RPG burnout. I still managed to keep my semi-weekly ICONS game afloat, but I kind of lost interest in doing any more than that. I think if I hadn't felt obligated to my players I would have canceled that too. I stewed for a week or so and then I started to focus my energy in a different direction. I allowed myself to become consumed by comics. I read some current Marvel and DC for a few weeks, but they quickly lost my interest. It's true that Infinite Crisis, The Sinestro Corps War and Final Crisis we're kind of cool as was Annihilation; ultimately, though, all these series, and several others I sampled were hampered by the need to tie into current continuity.
However, I got the big Jack Kirby Captain America Omnibus and the BPRD Plague of Frogs Hardcover for my Birthday; additionally i received The Walt Simonson Thor Omnibus for Father's Day. The first two are, of course, excellent; the third, however, pictured at the right, is the best 80$ you will ever spend on entertainment. It is over 1200 pages of cosmic ass kicking, it opens with the Ballad of Beta Ray Bill and covers Simonson's entire run on the title (some 42 issues). One of my favorite things about it is that it has been completely recolored. The new colors really compliment Simonson's artwork, imo.

Well enough of that:

Two weapon Fighting:
At fourth level members of the Adventurer class can chose to fight with two melee weapons in lieu of using a shield. upon rolling a successful attack roll the player rolls two D6, the higher result represents the damage done by the combined attack. Two weapon fighter score a critical hit on a 19 or a 20. All other critical hit rules apply.

Hell Toad
Spell level: Sorcerer 3
Range: 240 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Upon casting this spell the Sorcerer distends his jaw and vomits forth a 45 foot cone of screaming, burning, ravenous toads. The cone is roughly 10 feet wide at its base. Damge is 1d6/lvel of the Sorcerer. A successful saving throw results in half damage.

Anyway, I'm moving back to Denver next month and that means more FtF gaming and more play testing. So The Metal Earth Project is moving forward. The main slowdown right now is due to the fact that I'm trying to write up all the spells and I suck at that. My other major project right now is, for lack of a better term, a graphic novel. I've been thinking about it for years and actively working on it for a couple of weeks. I'll be moving in to my fourth page of artwork (I'm guessing it will be around 150 pages long) tonight. I have two main goals with this project: to improve my cartooning skills and to tell the kind of goofy cosmic super hero story I'd like to read. At the top of this post and below you can find Two pics (click to enlarge) of the main character, Doc Vulcan. Up top, he is transforming, below he is doing super guys do- or perhaps he is performing a dramatic reenactment of the last week or so of activity in the OSR blogsphere- you make the call. I'll also be using several public domain supers in the story. When I get about 50 pages done, I'm going to start posting it as a web comic.

Carry Me Home to the Fire

2011-05-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

The undead are a tremendous problem in The Metal Earth. The magical and technological detritus of a thousand, thousand different vanished civilizations have created a world in which a corpse can rise up to terrorize the living in any number of different ways. Coming back from the dead, or rising, as it is popularly called is one of the greatest fears of the age.

This problem is primarily addressed through the near universal mortuary practice of cremation. However, people don't always die at home or even within the confines of the cities.
For most sentients it is nearly unthinkable to allow a loved one to face the possibility of risings and families will often impoverish or even bankrupt themselves to make certain that a relative's corpse is recovered and carried home for burning.

Rates charged for corpse recovery vary from place to place; 500gp is usually the starting price for any such expedition; sometimes if the body has been lost in an especially dangerous region the price can exceed ten times this amount.

Obviously, corpse recovery can provide opportunity for adventurers looking to earn a little (or a lot of) coin. However, aside from the risk inherent in travel outside the cities, there is also a social stigma. Corpse handling is seen as the lowest sort of task and those that engaged in recovery may find themselves unable to spend their coin in respectable establishments as they will have been relegated to the lowest caste of Rüingulf society- the Burners, perhaps the only group seen to be less desirable than humans (although not nearly as subject to hate motivated violence).

Special thanks to Boulet at the therpghaven.

Space D&D & using other people's material

2011-05-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Right now, if I were going to add an outer space element to my Metal Earth home game, space craft rules would be handled by a combination of Spelljammer and XXVc; earth would be the Metal Earth, Mars would be Athas (Dark sun), Venus would be Carcosa or Athanor and counter earth would be Planet Algol.

XXCv: What is in the box

2011-05-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

So as stated in my previous post, I picked up a copy of Buck Rogers XXVc last weekend. I have vague memories of seeing this game when it was released, but I wasn't sure why I never picked up a copy at the time. I have always been mad for this kind of thing. As it turns out, the game was released in 1990, arguably the craziest year of my entire life (although the years that bracket it are also fair contenders for this title). Furthermore, I think I may have been put off of TSR product by this point for some bullshit early 20's reason or another.

I've flipped through all three books, and I'm about a third of the way through an in depth read of the first book. My initial impressions are extremely positive. The rules are AD&D based- an obvious bonus. Additionally, I'm a huge fan of Solar System SF and that is what this game is all about. I'm pretty sure I could tweak the rules for this game to emulate the settings from books like EE Smith's Space hounds of the IPCC, Bester's The Stars My Destination, Larry Niven's early Known Space stuff, and dozens of other things that I'm too lazy to type the titles of- or my own custom Solar System setting.

Anyway, onto the unboxing pics!

All these photos are crap. I can't cipher how to adjust the white balance on my camera, and my secret undersea base seems to be a less than ideal environment for taking pictures. Furthermore, autofocus sucks. I will be happy to rephotograph anything that anyone would like a better look at.
You can click on all these if you desire a larger/blurrier version.

Anyway...

First up the box. It is big and thick.

And it has a lot of stuff in it:
There are three books:

Two big ass reversible poster maps:

Counters and a (flimsy) three panel referee screen.

Several 8 x 11 planet map/stat (map on one side, stats on the other) cards.

A bunch of ship cards of the same size.
And this thing, which appears to be some sort of game aid designed to help with figuring out interplanetary travel time, fuel requirements and other junk.

Well, I have to say that all of this creates quiet an out of the box experience. It is a really nice assortment of stuff. I am not certain, however, how much table time some of the ship cards and what not would actually get. I'd have to give the game a spin in order to know that.

Playtest, Buck Rogers XXVc and some drawings

2011-05-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

My best friend Scott and I did a long playtest (about 6 hours) of The Metal Earth rules during my visit to Denver last weekend. The entire thing was completely spontaneous. Scott ran three player characters: two adventurers (a minotaur and a grey) and a shae Sorcerer, who was the leader of the expedition and in search of magical treasure. Anyway, the party explored the Tower of The Changer * in its entirety and made their way down into the Forgotten Depths* wherein the party found a teleportation pool (Hex 0703) that led back to the city of Ssaur *. We tried out new spells, several of the character generation options, combat and some other junk. It went very well, and there is nothing like running a game with the rules scattered across a couple of books and several sheets of note paper to help one get an idea of how to put together a final product.
So the work continues, although I now have a complete outline and a good deal of almost every chapter written.

*Available for free on the left.

The other awesome thing that happened: I picked up a copy of the Buck Rogers XXVc game. I missed this game when it was released and I've been curious about it ever since- to the point that along with Gamma World 1e it is on my short list of games that I will purchase on sight.
As far as my copy goes, the box is worn, but it really doesn't look like anyone ever opened the game books and all the chits are still in place. Beyond that, If anyone is interested I could probably be talked into doing a more thorough review of the thing.

In other news, I can't say why, but the online gaming world is kind of bringing me down lately. I've given up on forums completely and sadly some blogs. I'd point out what bothers me (it's not politics, btw) but then I'd have to suffer through comments where people tell me stuff we ALL already know (i.e. people can post what they want on their blogs).

Here's some "Art" click on the images for larger versions.

This one I've posted before, but this is a much better scan:
Here are the PCs from my ICONS game Doc Crucible (left) and The Fire Knight (right):
And some rushed drawings of next week's villains (The Round Up Gang):

Whiplash McKracken

The Texas Skull
And Little Lady Lariat
Theses guys are bounty hunters who are hunting down the PCs (who have been accused of being Soviet collaborators [the game takes place in 1950]) There are a couple more of this crew: Kid Snake Eye and Pappy (think like the Hulk, but a redneck feller); I haven't gotten around to drawing them yet.

Rushed gameday superficial glosses: Part 2

2011-04-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

As with last time, I've waited until the last minute and we have our game tonight. All of these were done between 12:20 and 3:20 this afternoon. For those just joining us, these guys are all aliens for my super hero game. If you'd like more of a clue see my previous post.

Click the images to enlarge

First up we have: Braino! He's thinking bad thoughts. About... you!

Next the Reptiloid!

and his pal, Squishy: the alien amoeba!

I did a line and wash thing with Squishy. The paper warped. Apparently, the scanner doesn't like warped paper. Bitch.

Next, the Glar, synthetic foot soldiers of the Krang!

And now, the last resort of the Krang! The Worminator. I rather like this one, actually.

Anyway, regarding the Metal Earth. We will be splitting our weekend game sessions between Icons and the Metal Earth starting in a bout a month. I will not be the referee for the ME game, which I think is ideal, because it will actually be more of a test of the rules as opposed to a test of my ability to make up shit on the spot (although I'm sure i will do some of that as well). And I get to play! So this will be the play test before I release a general play test doc- if I decide to do so.

Online gaming stuff, and some rushed game day drawings

2011-04-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some drawings I did for Sunday's game Earth Zero (Icons). We have finally hammered our online system down. We use Skype for voice and infrno for the game table. We turn off all A-V functions in infrno. Although a big part of face to face gaming is being, you know, face to face, we've found that online video is a pain in the ass to implement and kind of distracting on top of that. We had a blast on Sunday without it, so there you go.

Anyway, here are some extremely crappy drawings I did for the game- click to enlarge and all that. I had limited time to prep, so I spent 15-30 (or less) minutes from concept to pencil to inks on each one. I'm going to make this a regular practice, I think, and maybe allow myself an hour or two to do a post session drawing of a scene from the game. This will create a pictorial history of each campaign. Augmented with captions, I think it'll be neato- despite the rushed, substandard look of the art.
The characters (Doc Crucible and The Fire Knight) hail from 1949AD; however, as a result of a long series of events, they have found themselves on board a derelict generation star ship (pictured above) named Interphaze, which left earth in the 54th century, but has been drifting around in No Space for about 6000 years. The Biozone is designed to look like the surface of the Earth; DC and TFK actually wandered around up there for a couple of sessions before they accessed the lower level and got a look out into space and a clue. The scale is all wrong on the pic, actually, I eventually decided it was too small. I think the ship is at least a couple of hundred KM long. I'm waffling on that point. Also I did that drawing in like a minute and a half with a ballpoint, so cut me some slack if you will.
As it turns out, the human crew died off long ago and the ship is currently run by (possibly evil) gene engineered dolphins, who tend to the 20k human colonists residing stasis chambers located within giant, artificial, water-filled caverns on the systems level.
Also, there are monkey people, most of whom work for the dolphins, but some who have broken away and formed their own civilizations

Anyway, the ship has an infestation of mind control parasites known as the Krang! The Krang! arrived on the ship when their much, much smaller star ship had some kind of hyperspace malfunction and materialized inside one of the thousands of artificial caves that make up the geozone. TFK and DC are part of a temporary alliance of money people and dolphins committed to stopping the Krang before they gain access to the slumbering human colonists. The Krang! crew is made up of a disparate group of mind controlled aliens, like these guys on the left.

Here is the picture of the Krang! spaceship, which is trapped in what the Monkey people (The Imae) call "The Cave of the Old Ones." Incidentally, this is where Sunday's game came to a close:

Last but almost certainly least, a security droid that the the boys activated by accident whilst exploring another area:

Mastermind take 2, and an update on the Metal Earth book

2011-03-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

Friend of the Metal Earth, Stormbringer, has kindly offered to do the layout on the book. He has already taken it upon himself to reformat the Mastermind layout. Get it here or in the side bar. I think it looks awesome and I am very appreciative.
Thanks SB!

The Mastermind class, version 1

2011-03-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

So anyway, I'm thinking that I am going to go with Plan C as mentioned in the comments of this post. There will be three classes, the Sorcerer, the Adventurer, and the Mastermind (Click to download- also available in the side bar at the left).

In creating this I was very influenced by the Beyond the Black Gate S&W Thief Class and I used Erin D. Smale's Building the Perfect Character Class to get a baseline for xp requirements and such. I found both of these at the OSR Links to Wisdom page.

My sincere thanks to everyone involved with everything above (including S&W).

I'll likely change this up a bit in the future, but probably only a bit.
I can invent monsters and technogear and spells all day, but making classes has been the major stumbling block for me, and I feel that I am on the right track at last. I could be just a few weeks away from play test document.
Or something.

OPD Entry

2011-03-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have decided to enter The Forgotten Depths (also available in the side bar on the left) into the OPD contest. It's like a year old, so nothing to get excited about.

Character Classes: Plan A and Plan B

2011-03-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

I’m still working this out, and I have two alternating plans.

Plan A: the players may chose from the classes listed below, each of these classes will have a number of options with witch a player may further customize the character in question. For example a sorcerer may be a healer or necromancer, or a bit of both depending upon his choices. A slayer may be a soldier, an assassin or a brawler. Another level of customization may be available through mulit-classing. Each character would only be allowed to advance in one class at any given time, but may chose to take a level in a different class upon leveling up in their current class. For example, upon gaining second level in the Slayer class, Sarken the Scourge decides to take a level in the Hunter class. This would be subject to GM approval.

These are the classes under plan A

Mastermind: The scientists, intellectuals and engineers of the Metal Earth. Examples from literature: Turjan of Miir, S’nerg (Hiero’s Journey), Tomb the Dwarf (Viriconium), Guyal of Sfere (The Dying Earth), The Red Queen (Den Saga)

Outlander: A warrior from another time or place. Examples from literature: Den, John Carter, Kamandi, Sumner Kragen (Radix) and many, many more.

Hunter : Scouts, savages and beast-friends these seasoned individuals have the know how necessary to thrive in the wild. Examples from literature: Naüsica, Hiero, the gelfling chick from Dark Crystal.

Sorcerer: Wielders of the realty warping power of magic. Examples: Turjan of Mur and Mazirian the Magician (The Dying Earth).

Slayer: Soldiers, assassins, swordsmen, brigands, members of this class are skilled in dealing death to their opponents. Examples form Literature: Severian (The book of the New Sun), Tuftan (Kamandi), Ulan Dhor (The Dying Earth)

Plan B:

There are two classes Sorcerer and Adventurer, any and all special abilities have to be worked out with the referee. I may provide a list of suggestions, like “Speak with lizards” and “crack shot” and shit. I don’t know. Maybe there will be a random table of special abilities.

Regardless of which way I go (as of this writing, I’m leaning heavily towards Plan B) there will be two ‘race’ as class options (Robot and Halfdead); mutations (mostly psionic in nature) and Sorcerers will be able to use any sort of weapon- except guns (the mechanisms of firearms and energy weapons mess sorcery up).

Actually, I may have made a decision while writing this post, but I have to think on it.

Explain the OGL to me

2011-03-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here The AD&D Grognard expresses concern over the lack of proper use of the OGL and where it will lead.

I'm not sure when it is appropriate to use and when you can give it a miss.

For example:
Should I have a OGL page for monsters that use a Swords and Wizardry style stat block, but are largely my own creations such as in these posts?

How about spells, like in this post?

What about my own house rules that use common gaming concepts like hit points?

Does the fact that I'm not looking for cash here make any difference?

1d12 table of random NPC asssholery

2011-03-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote this whilst thinking about some of the people I knew in Jr high, and (especially) grad school. Some of these people will make an exceedingly good first impression, others will be blatant assholes right from the start. I actually know someone with 11 of the 12 traits (she is hygienic) so feel free to roll multiple times- perhaps you could even roll 1d12:

Persecution complex: thinks everyone is out to get him/her.
Bad hygiene: never washes, smells like a goat.
Pathological liar: lies all the time, even when the truth would suit his purpose.
Negative: interprets everything in the worst light.
Sexist: openly hates the opposite sex.
Invalidator: sneers at the aspirations and efforts of others.
Manipulative control freak: everything they do is designed to influence and maneuver others.
Whiner: bitches and complains all the time.
Cowardly.
Angry: Mad about something all the time. If one situation gets resolved, they find something else.
Traitor: Completely without loyalty.
Arrogant, self involved big talker : Begins virtually every sentence with the word “I” and is the hero of every story they tell, furthermore this individual will often pretend to have special status or access to secret knowledge.

Note: Most of the people i know from grad school are fine human beings, but it is hard to deny that the asshole index is a little higher in academia than in the general population.

Crassly Sexualized Science Fantasy Sorcerer Spells: NSFW?

2011-03-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Perky Shae Sorceress, Altia, moments from a confrontation with a mutated tree and a ~~horny~~ ~~beanbag~~… er… it was supposed to look like a rock. Honest. Fuck it. This shit is free, stop bitching… Look a tattooed elephant! and nipples! Click to ~~engorge~~ enlarge.

Ahem, anyway...

As I have stated elsewhere, clerics are rarer than humans on the Metal Earth (i.e. pretty fucking rare) . However, Sorcerers not only have all the MU spells, but access to some spells which are traditionally reserved for clerics as well. I have made small changes to most of the spells below and there are a couple of new spells too. The list below contains only first level spells; the rest will come soon.

Before I get to the spells, two items for those of you who visit regularly:

1. I’m a bit scattered lately, but a lot of the incomplete multi-part posts (like this one) will be worked out in the near future; I have no idea in what order, though.

2. I don’t really have another item, I just wanted to throw a list up because I thought it might make me look organized in front of the folks that showed up for the tattooed, earring sporting elephant (Which I think I stole the idea for from a dirty Pathfinder book I flipped through).

3. Wait, I do have something! Everything is under control. I got a scanner, the art I post will look a little bit better. Over the next week or so, I'm going to switch out some of what is already up for newly scanned versions.

First Level Sorcerer Spells

Most of these are based on the OGL spells from S&W WB. A few are my own. I have altered all but the final three, but I left them up as a convenience for those who wish to make use of the list . They can copy it all from here. I declare all of my own spells open game content.

Arcane Bolt

Spell Level: S1

Range: 20ft

Duration: instantaneous

Caster throws a bolt of howling chaos energy. This bolt will cause a minor wound to any medium or smaller creature. A second bolt (cast during the next round only) will rob the target of 50% of their remaining hit points, and expand the Minor Wound into a Major Wound.

Detect Corruption

Spell Level: S1

Range: 60 ft.

Duration: 1 hour

The caster detects creatures that have been altered or corrupted by radiation or magic within the spell’s range.

Detect Magic

Spell Level: S1

Range: 60 ft.

Duration: 20 min.

The caster can perceive in places, people, or things the presence of a magical spell or enchantment. Magical items or secretly placed charms may be discovered with this spell.

Detect Radiation

Spell level: S1

Range: 200 ft.

Duration: 1 hr

The caster can perceive dangerous levels of radiation within the spell’s range.

Infatuate

Spell Level: S1

Range: 120 ft.

Duration: Until dispelled

This spell affects living bipeds of human size or smaller, such as apes or sharkmen. If the spell succeeds (saving throw allowed), the unfortunate creature falls under the caster’s influence. In order to cast the spell the caster must possess a personal item belonging to the target, or use an obvious visible focus, such as a shiny coin.

Illuminate/Shroud

Spell Level: S1

Range: 120 ft.

Duration: 1 hour + 10 min./level

1. As an illuminate spell the caster brings into being a floating globe of light about the size of a human skull and about as bright as a torch. The globe moves with the caster or remains stationary, at thei sorcerer’s discretion.

2. As a Shroud spell, the caster instead causes night-time darkness to fall upon the area with a radius of 20 feet, regardless of extant light sources. This field of darkenss can move with the caster or remain in one place, at the sorcerer’s discretion.

Mend

Spell Level: S1

Range: Touch

Duration: Instantaneous

The caster can cure one Minor Wound or reduce one Major wound to a Minor Wound. If cast twice, the spell can cure one Major Wound or reduce a Grievous Wound to a Major wound. No wound will respond to the speel more than twice. The spell caster cannot cast the spell on herself and incurs 1 pt of Hit Point damage each time the spell is cast. This point of damage takes 24 hours to heal.

Power up
Spell Level: S1
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 min (1 charge)/ level:

The caster has the ability to power up any technological device such as an autonm, computer, raygun, or a electronic door

Protection from Radiation/Chaos

Spell Level: S1

Range: Caster only

Duration: 1 hour

Will protect caster from effects of harmful radiation, Arcane Bolts or curse squalls.

Purify/ Putrefy Food and Drink

Spell Level: S1

Range: Close/Touch

Duration: Instantaneous

1. As a Purify Food and Drink spell. the caster causes enough food and water for up to a dozen people to be made pure, removing spoilage and poisons.

2. As a Putrefy Food and Drink spell. the caster causes enough food and water for up to a dozen people to be made putrid, creating spoilage and poisons.

Read Languages

Spell Level: S1

Range: Reading distance

Duration: 1 or 2 readings

This spell allows the caster to read directions, instructions, and similar notations that are written in unfamiliar or even unknown languages. It is especially useful for treasure maps.

Read Magic

Spell Level: S1

Range: Caster only

Duration: 2 scrolls or other writings

This spell allows the caster to read magical writings on items and scrolls. Magical writing cannot be read without the use of this spell.

Sleep

Spell Level: S1

Range: 240 ft.

Duration: Referee’s discretion

This spell puts enemies into an enchanted slumber (no saving throw is permitted). It can affect a number of creatures based on their hit dice.

Note: I wrote this piece of shit in Word before moving it over to blogger and the format is well and truly fucked; I can't seem to fix it, so please excuse the goofy spacing in some places.

Sample Backgrounds

2011-03-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Characters may or may not have led active, interesting lives and gained knowledge/skills prior to the first day of the campaign. Depending upon the ruling of the referee, there are three basic options for expressing this in terms of the game.

No background at all, the character is a blank slate; her past is something that shall be determined in play.
The player has strong idea, which can be related in a minimal number of sentences (50 words is a good limit).
Roll on the table below 1d3 times. Identical results may be rerolled, or may be taken to indicate a high level of proficiency in the implied skills related to the background.

Roll 1d10

1. Forager: Foragers live outside the cities. Players with this background must pick a specific environment with which they are familiar (e.g. swamp, desert, woodland): within this environment the forager knows how to acquire untainted food and water. Any character that survives a significant amount of time the wilderness of the Metal Earth will pick up this background.

2. Scholar: At the very least someone with this background is functionally literate. The character may also have knowledge of a certain subject area.

3. Criminal: Criminals come in different varieties. At the very least, a character with this background should have black market/underworld connections in their home town. It is also possible that they are experienced in breaking and entering, extortion or some other traditionally criminal activity.

4. Outlander: This is character from another time or world. This background is available only to humans.

5. Looter: Looters have experience gaining access to and dealing with the hazards of ruins.

6. Farmer: Metal Earth farmers are adept in working with and repairing the machines of a green shaft.

7. Artists: Artists are capable practitioners of an art form (e.g., poetry, painting, sculpture) or one of the performing arts (e.g., stripping, playing a musical instrument, acting, prostitution).

8. Sailor: Sailors know about boats and junk(s).

9. Artisan: Artisans have a manufacturing skill that requires the use of their hands; this could be anything from making jewelry to blacksmithing to house painting.

10. Guard: Guards are trained in standard military procedure. Guards know how to march in formation; keep things polished; open and close gates; defend against a siege, and sometimes enforce the law.

Note: Certain species have automatic access to some backgrounds (e.g. all Sasquatch can be foragers) and may select these background in place of one random roll each). A suitable background should confer a bonus on task resolution saving throws (see here for more detail). The exact nature of each background listed below is described in terms of the Metal Earth setting. In some cases, they may well be different than what would be found in other settings. In all cases the exact impact a specific background has in mechanical terms is up to the referee.

Self Indulgence: More on The Metal Earth Book

2011-03-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today, I was thinking about buying a copy of a forthcoming retroclone, but in the end I decided against it, because I would not get much use out of it.
This led to more thoughts on the eventual Metal Earth book; looking at all my material, some of which is up on the blog, some of which is not, I came to realize that I have made significant changes to virtually every aspect of the game. Therefore I have decided that the Metal Earth booklet will be formatted in such a way so that it can be used as either a supplement or as a game. With some very minor exceptions, everything in the Metal Earth book will be compatible with the older versions of the world's most popular rpg. However, although the Metal Earth game will use the same basic building blocks as that game, it will be its own thing. To give you a slightly better idea if where I am coming from here is the first draft of the introduction:

This book is broken in to two separate parts. The first part is a generic set of rules intended to facilitate Science fantasy role-play in any setting. A referee can adjust these rules to fit a specific setting of his own design, a commercially published setting, or a setting derived from inspirational material (e.g. novels, comics or cinema). These rules are presented in a modular way in order to facilitate referee modification, further they are largely compatible with the older editions of the world’s most popular role-playing game.

The second section of the book is an example of a specific setting designed to work with these rules: The Metal Earth. However, this section will also include material that can easily be used in other settings.

To add to the confusion, some setting specific material, most of which is directly involved in character generation, will be included in the first section. Furthermore, there will be naughty pictures and bad language throughout the book.

Note: the guiding principle of design in regards to this game is brevity; four words are never used in a situation where two will do the job. It is my intention, with the exception of the aforementioned naughty pictures, to give the referee and his bitches exactly what they need to run a science fantasy role playing game, nothing more and nothing less.

The good news is- it might not take me too long, because I just finished grad school and I have yet to find a job. So I'm going to work on this while I'm not applying for work or slacking.

Humanspace playtest PC: Jak Mogan

2011-03-18T11:22:00.001-07:00

Jak Mogan
Astronaut Level 2
Male
Homeworld: Earth
Age: 25
Languages: Sunuz

Str: 12
Dex: 14
Con 15
Int: 11
Psy: 8
Cha: 9

HP: 17
AC 5 (space suit)

Weapons:
Space Sword
Disruptor Pistol

CR 0
Gear: see above

Class skills:
Engineer
Gunner
Space Swordsman
Energy Pistol 2
Navigator
Pilot

Background Skills
Primitivist
Robo Tech
Medic

The pic is a little rough, but that's because I used a digital camera as a opposed to a scanner. Anyway,I thought showing a low level pc in their natural state (wounded/near death) would be cool.

Gods, why did I eat that goblin sausage?

2011-03-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

Every day in the wilderness/cavern whatever all characters have to make 1d4 saving throws vs. taking a really, really, really inconvenient shit. There is no limit to how many days in a row this can be a problem. PC's can opt to hold the shit in, which leads to another saving throw- against 'roids. failure leads to 1d3 piles, -25% of movement rate for each one and -1 on all combat rolls for each one as well. These piles will take 2d4 days to subside, during this time the character must make hourly saving throws. A failed ST results in uncontrollable weeping- at both ends. .

Vehicles: Part 1 of 3

2011-03-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Forms of non muscle powered vehicle transportation, ranging from sailing vessels to steam wagons to rockets and starships, are all dealt with under the same system. This system is extremely abstract and simple and is more of a set of parameters intended to assist the players and referee conceptualize vehicles than a hard and fast set of rules. As with all my mechanics, these were formulated with the lazy referee in mind (i.e., me). Groups desirous of a more complex and comprehensive system should look for it elsewhere.

Vehicles are categorized in one of four classes (1, 2, 3, and 4) or land, sea, air, and space respectively. Specific vehicle characteristics represented by four statistics, Speed, Armor Class, Hit points and Upkeep. Certain types of craft may have specific restraints or bonus to be determined by the referee e.g., submarines can operate underwater; you can’t drive a tank through a tightly packed forest- at least not at its normal speed.

The vehicle classes are, for the most part, self explanatory. Obviously, for example, land vehicles are restricted to moving over land, and in many cases can only function at top speed if there is an available road or there is no obstruction (e.g., broken ground; a cliff face, rows and rows of giant phallic monoliths ect…). Special vehicles such as low rise hovercraft may be able to ignore the former of these restrictions.

Vehicle power sources and the rate of necessary refuel are determined on a case by case bases by the referee. A standardized system would suck. These points will be addressed further in the examples given in the third part of this series.

Speed:

Movement is represented by a score ranging from 1-10. This value is designed to measure the speed of vehicles in relation to one another; it is not meant to measure the absolute speed of a vehicle. Absolute speed is once again determined on a case by case basis, sometimes varying from vehicle to vehicle from place to place. Players should eschew all expectations of consistency, or perhaps, play GURPS. For the purpose of this system, each class of vehicles is considered to move twice as fast as the class below it. Therefore, a Class 1 vehicle with a Movement value of 2 moves at half the speed of a Class 2 vehicle with a Movement Value of 2 and the same speed as a Class two vehicle with a movement of 2.

It is possible for a vehicle to have more than one movement score, as may be the case with vehicles like starships and submarines which are capable of movement through different mediums. For example a spaceship may have different movement values for travel in an atmosphere, a vacuum, or hyperspace, if you feel the need, but, really, I would not bother to go into this level of detail. Just keep in mind that everything is relative and go from there.

Armor Class:

As with everything, this should be determined on a case by case basis, but it works exactly the same way as armor class does for characters and creatures. Some additional guidelines will be provided in the form of examples in the final entry of this series.

Hit Points:

Vehicle hit points are determined on a case by case basis- and as they only partially represent the vehicles integrity, may actually go up or down depending on the experience, or lack thereof, of the operator(s). For example a small sailing ship may have a base of 10 hit points, but the referee may grant another 5 if the crew manning it is experienced.

Upkeep:

This is the cost (in gold pieces, or zorms, or whatever) required to keep the vehicle operational. Also determined on a case by case basis, and possibly subject to modification. Furthermore, this cost can sometimes be covered in commodities other than gold. A sailboat may be reprovisioned with no monetary expense if the crew puts in at an island. A starship that uses human sacrifices for fuel need only do some kidnapping, or make use of an unpopular crew member. As always abstraction is useful, but one should never get carried away with it.

In the next entry I will address vehicle combat, critical hits, and I will take another look at movement (if I fucking feel like it).

Ruminations on publication and some art.

2011-02-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

It has been suggested to me (several times now) that I slap all this stuff into a book or something. I think I'd like to do it, but it will take me a long time, I think. there are many drawings to do and lots of stuff to write. I don't even know the format I should pursue (e.g. digest). Furthermore, now that White Box is dead or something (edit S&W WB has reverted to Mythmere and is in print, see comments), I don't even know if I should move it over to another rules set, or use the OGL to turn it into a complete game. There's got to be at least a couple of you sober enough to offer up some opinions.

Whatever/anyway here's some junk I drew (click for larger images):

First up, something I drew for the upcoming Planet Algol Book:

Here's my secret base:
Here's a Screamer:
And here is the byproduct of reading too many super hero comics and space opera novels at the same time (as well as running a SHRPG and planning an SFRPG). The hero is named Shockwave.
For what it's worth the comic page at the top of the post was part of a strip that I worked on with a friend called Assault and Pepper which may or may not have taken place on The Metal earth.

Men of Metal

2011-02-14T17:01:00.001-08:00

The Lost Wars and the Mists:

The Final Human Empire came together as the product of a long series of wars. Details, such as the exact number, nature and location of these wars have long since been forgotten. Peoples, generals and heroes that lived through and fought these world shaking conflicts exist in current day memory only as shadows and allusions, hidden in the myths passed down from later eras.

The endless, eldritch ages the Earth had endured before the coming of the Lost Wars are collectively referred to as The Mists; little or nothing is known of these times.

There can be no doubt, however, that powerful artifacts from these forgotten ages exist. Even so, the scholars and explorers of the current day Metal Earth are far more likely to discern a particular item’s use than the context form which it initially emerged.

The Eternal Empress

The Eternal Empress, ruler over the final Human Empire, was cursed during the Lost Wars by an enemy remembered now only as Stranger 7. This curse visited unnaturally long life upon the Empress- and her people are said to have lived as long as stones under normal circumstances. The Empress watched millennium pass; her twilight kingdom flourished and waned and flourished again- only to expire at last in the Wars of Unreason, which broke the power of men and the world with it.

During her long, long life, the Empress watched all that she loved wither and die, and she loved much and she grieved much- such was her nature, and this, of course, was the true power of Stranger 7’s curse.

A long line of husbands and consorts lived, died and fell away to dust while the Empress remained as fresh as the first day of spring. It is said a deep sadness fell upon her and she did not smile for over a thousand years. At the end of this time, in an effort to break the hold of her despair, the Empress called together her scientists and sorcerers; her necromancers, cyberneticists, shamans and surgeons, too. After working for a year and a day, the savants unveiled the product of their labor to the Empress: the now legendary Men of Metal. Indestructible, deathless beings comprised of the most advanced sorcerous and scientific components. No one knows how many the made for certain, some say there were ten, others say that ten times ten times that number were created. What is known, though, is that from that day forward, the Empress resumed the practice of taking husbands and concubines. When a man grew to an age where he could no longer satisfy Empress’ lust, she gave him over to the artificers. These technicians would strip away the man’s flesh and lock his consciousness within the invulnerable form of a Metal Man. Forever.

So well made were they that many of the Men of Metal survived the Wars of Unreason. They remain in the world still, some infamous, others hidden and unknown, all growing stranger and more inscrutable as they pass the aeons locked away from feeling and death within their indestructible roboforms.

Grax Iré Lord of the Waste (Monster/ Man of Metal)

AC: 19 [0] Special: Fireburst, Radiate

HD: 20 Move: 30

Attacks: Smash HDE: 20/ 4000 xp

Grax Iraé is 12 meter tall humanoid of burning chrome. Iré resides in the remains of an ancient starship, located somewhere in the Desert of Rust. A greedy and cruel being, Grax Iré is said to have a horde of powerful artifacts from the time of the Final Empire.

Fireburst :Once a round Iré can attack with a 40’ cone of fire. Anyone trapped in the cone must make a saving throw. Failed save takes 10d6 fire damage; successful save takes 5d6 damage. Characters who drop below zero hit points as a result of this attack must take a result from the wound table.

Radiate: Once a day, Grax Iré can radiate heat. He can use no other attack while radiating, but the process can not be stopped, unless Grax Iré is killed.

During the first round, heat is transmitted through stone, metal and similar materials in a circle of 100m diameter (with Iré as the center point). Anyone standing within the circle takes 4d6 damage (save for half damage). Space suits, magical armor and other sorts of special gear may provide complete or partial protection.

During the second round, the circle expands 100m in diameter. The damage increases to 8d6 (save for half damage). Air becomes too hot to breath properly anyone within the circle must save or suffer ½ movement (androids and robots excepted). Again, spacesuits and other gear may provide some protection.

During the third round, the circle expands 200 more meters and the air catches fire. 20d6 damage (save for half). Save or movement is reduced by ½. This effect lasts for 1d6 rounds and then the fire flares out and conditions return to normal.

Chavín de Huntar

2010-10-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's groovy to step away from the normal sources and look at something a little different.

Chavîn de Huntar is an extremely important pre-hispanic, prehistoric monumental site in the north-central Andes. It is made up of several large edifices arranged in a u shaped plaza, the open side of which faces east. The structures are riddled with constricted labyrinthine galleries, some of which are subterranean.

The exact time of the complex construction/importance is a matter of some dispute, but the most recent work places it as a center of power and authority in the region between 1300-600 BC. The consensus is that Chavín was a religious site. People traveled to the complex from all over the region. This seems pretty likely, but there is no written language, so it is impossible to prove.

Anyway, what makes Chavîn so interesting (aside from the fact that it's a giant pile of prehistoric awesomeness) is what seem to have been the major intentions of its design (or rather, its designers). In the main, these intentions were to impress visitors with spectacle and to emphasize the differences between the “shamans” (and possibly other elites) and the common folks.

These two goals were accomplished by building a huge (about .5 square km) and imposing site on a tremendous scale (just the size of the place implies power- the power to get people to build it, if nothing else) and by restricting and controlling access to certain parts of the complex.

Huge sculptures of human and animalistic/human hybrids some with fierce expressions and many of them shown to be discharging mucus, a byproduct of using hallucinogenic snuff, decorate the walls.

Hidden entrances and staircases made it possible for shamans to appear unexpectedly in places, such as on the top of buildings, . Maze-like corridors (known as galleries) wind within and beneath the structures. Special ducts were made to facilitate the reflection of sunlight into these galleries, providing illumination at strategic points, such as onto a sculpture of the main deity. There were also strategic hiding places, like above the deity sculpture, from which someone posing as the deity could have spoken. As if this wasn’t enough, there was a cleverly constructed canal network that channeled water under the site. The noise of this water is thought to have sounded like endless, extremely loud applause.

So dig it, maybe you’re a chieftain’s son, the heir to your group's power or some other sort of up and coming bigwig; whatever, on your 16^th birthday, you get sent up or down the mountainside to Chavîn. You snort some hallucinogenic snuff, which was probably mescaline (there are lots of engravings of dudes carrying around the mescaline bearing cactus, or something that looks a lot like it, at the site) with some shaman/priest guys and they take you into the central plaza where there are maybe a couple of hundred other people, also all jacked up on magic cactus. The shamans pop out all over the place, seemingly coming from nowhere. There are guys blowing conch shells all over the place. It’s loud and weird and funky. You are tripping balls and are probably loosing it a little. Maybe you’ve got a touch of the fear or you are free form love dancing. Who knows? Anyway, things get pretty groovy, and that’s when they take you down into the crazy roaring dark and introduce you to motherfucking GOD. I guarantee that if you are on mescaline, it doesn't matter weather or not God is made of stone, he is breathing and pulsating and all kinds of other shit.

It’s like a fraternity initiation and a Dead show all at once, except Jerry and

John Belushi are combined into one dude, and that dude is the LORD, and he’s got a message just for you.

Also, nothing is certain, but there’s a good chance they ate people there too, so maybe if you failed to please the god, or you hurled on the shaman’s girlfriend, or couldn't hold your snuff, you got taken off to the dinner table. Obviously, these guys knew how to party.

Whatever, imagine all that. Then imagine 500 years later when the place is completely overgrown and the shamans are long gone. Some, if not all, of their treasure remains, though, hidden away in the crazy noisy dark godmaze. Some galleries are probably unstable due to age; other parts of which may be trapped with the intent of safeguarding god’s stuff. You can bet that there are some new residents too: ghosts from the dinner table; some war worms, or mutants, or crazy robots (or orcs or something if you roll that way) reenacting the long forgotten rituals. Explorers might have bizarre flashbacks to the distant past when the place was active. Possibly, the entire place is psychoactive and just being there makes you really, really, really fucking high, which may not be all that cool when you are wandering around a monster infested labyrinth. Nothing will kill your buzz like painful grisly death- except for listening to ABBA, anyway. Maybe Jerry Godcia is still there too, only he’s more than just a statue.

Aliens and animal heads: Player Species

2010-09-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Gray: Small humanoid aliens, stranded on the Metal Earth so far in the past that they have almost forgotten that they come from another world. Usually live in homogeneous hive like settlemtents, but sometimes venture out in the world for trade and adventure.

Attribute Generation Method: 4d6 Intelligence and Constitution; 3d6 Wisdom, Dexterity and Strength; 1d6 Charisma.

Special: Mind blast: 1d6 Damage- treats everyone as AC 10 [9] unless they have a mind shield; range of 100'. All normal critical hit and wound rules apply.. Note- this power does not work on undead, magical or mechanical creatures.

Humans: Ancient race, possibly the oldest sentient species native to the planet. Humans are nearly extinct, considered to be unclean, and unwelcome everywhere.

Attribute Generation Method: 3d6 in order.

Special: Humans are highly evolved and may re- roll all 1’s during character generation. +2 on task resolution saving throws involving technology.

-5 charisma Vs. mobs formed of other species.

Insectors: Human-sized upright mantis-like insects. Usually loners.

Attribute Generation Method: 4d6 Constitution and Strength; 3d6 intelligence and Dextarity; 2d6 Wisdom and Charisma.

Special: AC 4 [15]; Two attacks a round- with claws (1d4) or one handed two one handed weapons.

Lizard Men. Savage swamp dwelling reptile species.

Attribute Generation Method: 4d6 Strength and Constitution; 3d6 Intelligence and Wisdom; 2d6 Dexterity and Charisma.

Special: Tough hide AC 4 [15]. Amphibious; Can breath underwater

Minotaurs: Bull headed peasantry of the latter earth. They like mazes.

Attribute Generation Method: 5d6 Strength and Constitution; 3d6 Dexterity; 2d6 wisdom; 2d6 Intelligence; 1d6 Charisma.

Special: Gore 1d6+ Strength modifier damage, must have a running start; without a running start horns do 1d4 + strength modifier damage.

Mongrels: Humanoids with animal like heads. Often treated like second class citizens by other species. Dogmen and pigmen are the most common "races" of sentient beings in the Ruinlands. Tiger girls are hot.

Attribute Generation Method: 3d6 in order to start, but mongrels my move around 1d3 dice.

Special: Natural Weaponry: 1d6 +Strength modifier damage. Darkvision 20m.

Sasquatch: Elusive solitary ape folk, Sasquatch are often very wise and usually smell pretty bad.
Attribute Generation Method: 4d6 for Wisdom/ Strength, 3d6 Constitution/intelligence; 2d6 Dexterity/Charisma.
Special: Blurry. +2 to all stealth related saves. Sasquatch are hard to see at a distance and have a 4 [15] armor class against all ranged weapons, furthermore, scopes and other technological aim enhancement devices do not work on Sasquatch

Shae: Diminutive, urban dwelling ultra-conformist. Shae resemble small, hairless Humans and are rumored to be a product of Human-Grey cross breeding

Attribute Generation Method:

4d6 Intelligence and Wisdom; 3d6 Charisma and and Dexterity; 2d6 Strength and Constitution.

Special: Shae are the only race which can become magic users.

I tried to make them all unique and interesting, but I need to do some more work here. Robots, cyborgs and freaks will require some random tables, and I need to think about that. Furthermore, I'll have to expand the modifier tables for scores over 18 and under 3.

Modular rule design, The mulligan point and a question

2010-09-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Yet another note about my house rule design philosophy.
I'm trying to keep all these rules modular, so that you can use what you want and leave the rest behind. Taken as a whole, the hit point and damage system is the most large scale radical change I've made to the game, but you could probably break it apart and use what you want.

Moving on, various games have a system whereby players have some kind of point store they can draw upon to influence the action at the table, or maybe re-roll a die or something. I am of two minds about these kinds of points. I kind of like the fact that a player has a mechanism to save a beloved character from time to time, but I don't like the idea that you just get these things, and that you might have a bunch of them held in reserve so you can do all kinds of stupid shit without much fear of suffering. If, as referee, I am impeded in my ability to make you suffer, something is fucked up.

So here you go.

The Mulligan point.
(Edit: changed slightly from the original version)
Characters receive 1 Mulligan pt for 500 xp/ level. This point allows the character to have a second attempt at any single failed die roll in the game. The character may never possess more than one Mulligan point at any one time. The Mulligan point must be purchased before the adventure begins- not as they are needed. All Mulligan point rolls are normal with no additional positive modifiers. Intent to use the point must be voiced immediately after the failed roll. For example if a character misses in combat, and then is hit with a critical by his opponent, he may not use the mulligan to re-roll his missed attack.

Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about this one. I'm going to have to test it in play. My gut feeling is that combat is still lethal enough that his wont fuck things up, but, we'll see, I guess. All in all, it's an attempt to implement a newish concept in an old school way. Is that even fucking possible?

All this ruminating leads to a question:
At what point have we house ruled ourselves in to another game entirely?

PSA: Skype gaming- Just do it.

2010-09-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend i did something I've been thinking of doing and half ass planning for the last couple of years. I gamed with some very old friends via Skype. we will be doing it every week form here on in. If you can read this you can probably do it as well.

Some people will tell you that it s a fairly decent substitute if you can't get a face to face group. I'll tell you that if the people are right, there is no major difference (except you can't pass the bong back and forth). What I mean by that is that gaming via Skype, or some other audio chat program, is only as much a substitute for gaming with a live group as gaming with another live group is. Sure it can suck- but so can face to face gaming.

I'll admit that if you're doing it with strangers it may be a little more difficult- maybe a lot more difficult, I dunno, but I think many of you who don't have groups right now probably have good friends you once played with that are now too far away, or have kids, or crazy possessive spouses that won't let them out of the shed, or whatever.

They're only as far away as the internet.

Anyway, it works for me. If you've been thinking about it, give it a try. If you haven't thought about it, or dismissed it- think about it.

For what it's worth, I think it probably works best with lighter rule sets.

Imagine, if you use the Metal Earth as your setting- you could use the internet to pretend to be a Sasquatch. You will have to fight off the reproductive opportunities.

I feel like I should post the word motherfucker in this thread, because it's been absent from my last few posts.
Motherfucker.
You are welcome.

You cowering bastard!

2010-09-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

I added this rule regarding missile weapon (bows, spears and such) hits to the 1d4 critical table, and also changed it so these weapons function like firearms and energy weapons.
I must say that for the first time ever, I am satisfied with the way ranged weapons work. Also I like the idea of making a player say, "I'm cowering this round."
Perhaps I'll insist they whimper.

Cowering: when fired upon with missile weapons*such as arrows, sling stones, or spears, an unsurprised character may hide beneath a large shield and will, in the case of a normal hit, only take normal hit point damage (e.g. 1d6 from an arrow). Critical hits are considered to have pierced the shield and result in a roll on the wound table. Whilst cowering, a character may move 1/4 the Normal rate.

*Not to be confused with firearms or energy Weapons

I have a 4th level Sasquatch

2010-09-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'm changing the races.
Earlier this week I had a thought and it has snowballed.
This is the new lineup.

Shae (hairless diminutive ultracomformist/opressive magic using urbanites)
Minotaur
Dirty Freak (mutants)
Mongrel: (animal people)
Cyborg
Lizard Men
Autom (Robot)
Sasquatch (replaces war ape; I realized that the Snow Apes [evil super scientists] are obviously Yeti, which made it necessary to make this change. I'm embarrassed I didn't think of it sooner)
Human (Nearly extinct, universally reviled, hangers on at the end of time)

I'm also thinking of changing the way stats are rolled up instead having racial modifiers. There are still 18 dice but different races have them allocated in different ways. For example a Minotaur might roll 4 dice for strength and constitution and 2 dice for Intelligence and charisma and 3 dice for Wisdom and Dexterity. Or something like that.
Humans would roll 3 dice for all the stats.

Edit:
Maybe something like this:

Sasquatch: Elusive solitary ape folk, Sasquatch are often very wise and usually smell pretty bad.
Method: 4 d6 for Wisdom/ Strength, 3d6 Constitution/intelligence; 2d6 Dexterity/Charisma.
Special: Blurry. +2 to all stealth related saves. Sasquatch are hard to see at a distance and have a 4 [15] armor class against all ranged weapons, furthermore, scopes and other technological aim enhancement devices do not work on Sasquatch

Creatures, critters, monsters, and meta-game knowledge: Keeping things fresh and mysterious over the long haul.

2010-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

As has been mentioned here and there, one of the problems widespread among long term gamers and long term campaigns, is a certain loss of feelings of wonder and mystery. These feelings, which are so important when we enter the hobby, fade over time as players become familiar with the game as it is documented (i.e. they read the rules). No game element is more likely to go stale than are monsters.

Here’s a typical situation: a party of adventurers encounters a troll. The characters have never seen a troll and have no in game knowledge of the troll. However, the players know all about the troll, because they would often look at the troll entry in the 1e monster manual, usually during post succubus picture jerkoff afterglow. What do you do in this situation? The gaming situation, that is; your sick fascination with succubus is your own fucking problem. Freak.

Well, I was asked "the troll question" by a fuming gamer buddy a couple of years ago. He had been hosed by the referee for trying to use meta-game knowledge of the troll, and then got frustrated when he was barred from burning the troll up because his character wouldn't know enough about the troll to pursue this course of action.
He asked me how as a referee, I would deal with such a situation.

My answer: I wouldn't deal with the situation at all- because it is never going to come up in one of my games. Never.
At best, this sort of problem is the product of poor, lackluster lazy refereeing, or, at worst, actively antagonistic refereeing, either way the players are NOT at fault. This is the reff’s problem.

Allow me to elaborate- a skeleton is obviously a skeleton, BUT a troll is a big slobbering green humanoid thing. If the characters know enough to call it a troll, they should probably be hip to the regeneration. If they don't know enough to call it a troll, then they probably aren't going to be hip to the regeneration thing either. In the latter case, the GM shouldn't say "it's a troll!" he/she should use a little imagination and just give the players a description.

Like this:

"A giant green man-thing, covered with leaking boils and stinking of rotten meat, lumbers towards you out of the darkness,"

Better still, give the creature a story and a name:

"Seek you Greenfang the Maneater who lives in the blackened stump of the Blood Tree on the Bone Mound,"

Both methods are better than, "uh... there's a troll...uh... and he, like, lives up on a hill just outside of town. You guys want to go after him?" in a whole bunch of different ways. However, there are other things you can do as well, which I'll touch on below- but, in a pinch, these two could do it.

Moving forward, I am going to divide creatures into two separate categories from here on in- critters and monsters.

Monsters and Critters, there's a fucking difference:

Critters are run of the mill examples of a species. A wolf, a gelatinous cube, an ape, and a human are all examples of critters. Monsters are individuals- although, they may be (but are not necessarily) members of a critter species, something sets them apart. A vampire is a critter; Dracula is a monster. A whale is a critter; Moby Dick is a motherfucking underworld/sea ruling motherfucking monster. I hope the difference is clear. More on monsters below; first, though, I want to talk about critters.

Critters:

Once things were different, but time has passed, and today critters taken from most of the original D&D source material are currently about as fresh as a fifty-year old dockside whore. Enough about my mom, though; lets move on. So, if we accept the fact that most every critter in the original game holds no surprises, we also accept the fact that we can’t really, for the most part, use them any more- and we certainly cannot use them “as is.” So what are we to do?

Check this out:

Trilon

AC: 9 [10] Special: radiation

HD: 2 Move: 13

Attacks: bite HDE: 2/ 30

Similar in appearance to a trilobite, the trilon is a mutant arthropod about the size of a dinner plate. Its bite is radioactive; anyone bitten must make a saving throw (+4 mod to their roll) or contract radiation sickness. If untreated, radiation sickness will lead to death in 4 days -25% hit points each day.

I originally posted the above here. That doesn’t matter, though, what matters is that it started out as standard Swords and Wizardry White Box Small Giant Centipede.

Centipedes, Giant

Small

Armor Class: 9 [10] Special: poison (save): +4,

Hit Dice: (1d2 HP) Attacks: bite:

Move:13 HDE/XP: 2/30,

Giant lethal centipedes of the small size inflict a lethal amount of poison with a +4 modifier to opponent’s saving throw, but inflict no damage if the saving throw is successful.

See how easy that shit is?

More than one of the entries in the post linked above was created the exact same fucking way. How many exactly? I don’t know, i honestly can't remember. Once I change them, they’re mine.

So here’s a simple way to go about this. Take a monster, think about it in regards to your setting. Make some changes that make it fit your setting better. Make it stronger or weaker or stranger. One thing I like to do is list out a bunch of special powers, like the troll’s ability to regenerate or the dragon's breath weapon, and give them to otherwise unaltered critters. Wolves are kind of boring. Wolves with the banshee’s save or die scream instead of a normal howl are an awesome motherfucking surprise.
I think the kids call this kind of thing re-skinning, but fuck them they don’t bear the shame of having paid real money to see Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, so they don’t know shit about pain. You do, though; use that knowledge at the table.

Now on to monsters:

Monsters:

Monsters are, as stated above, singular entities. They are, for the most part, unique. Not only are they unique, they should be, at the very least, the focus of at least a session. Monsters are all about stories. A monster has a story, often an origin story, which is usually some what tragic. This story should be, if not well known, at least rumored at, and should contain hints as to how the monster can be destroyed or warnings about the monster’s powers or information about the monster’s lair. What the players chose to do with this information will create another story.

An example from classical mythology and stop motion films is The Medusa; like her two sisters, she was both a critter (a gorgon) and a monster. Persius used details from her story to slay her, a task which required some special gear and (in the movie Clash of the Titans, anyway) gave him the juice the take on the Kraken (Cetos). Harryhausen movies are a good place to look for monsters, btw. The monsters are all unique and the fights with them are usually groovy set pieces that often require the hero to come up with a unique solution.

Here’s a monster from my last Metal Earth campaign:

The Unkillable

AC: 0 [19] Special: see below

HD:14 (84 hp) Move: 20/ 22 (when jumping)

Attacks: Bite, stamp HDE:11/ 1700

The unkillable is a giant (about three times the size of an elephant) black goat that terrorizes the island of Skeeme. It emerged one day from the shimmering blue wastelands at the southern end of island and has been on a more or less continuous rampage ever since. The islands residents, regardless of their potency all fear the beast and regard it as a force of nature, with an almost divine level of power.

The Unkillable hates everyone and everything, living only to kill and destroy. In addition to its bite and stamp (1d6 each), The Unkillable can breathe fire 3 times a day in a 45 foot cone, 15 feet wide at its base. Anyone caught in the cone takes 3d8 damage, (1/2 damage with a successful ST).

The Unkillable is immune to normal weapons and can only be harmed by magical or energy weapons.

It can also jump 100 feet horizontally and 30 feet vertically.

This monster is nothing more than a modified Devilgoat- a critter made up based upon some memories I have from doing farm work as a kid. Point of information- goats are assholes.

Devilgoat

AC: 2 [17]

Special: breathes fire, ram

HD:9 Move: 20/ 22 (when jumping)

Attacks: Bite, stamp

HDE:11/ 1700

Huge, intelligent and evil predators. Devilgoats hate everyone and every thing. They live to kill and destroy. In addition to their bite and stamp (1d6 each), Devilgoats can breathe fire 3 times a day in a 45 foot cone, 15 feet wide at its base. Anyone caught in cone takes 3d8 damage, (1/2 damage with a successful ST). Devilgoats can jump 100 feet horizontally and 30 feet.

Anyway, hopefully you get he general idea of what I’m trying to say here. If you don’t feel like doing it yourself (really, though, how hard is it to quadruple a skeletons HD, give it burning red eyes, a sinister blue radioactive glow, the ability to jump like a flea and regenerate?) there are resources out there you can draw on. My understanding is that Jim Raggi’s Esoteric Creature Generator is a fine product, for instance. I haven't bought it because I like doing this sort of thing myself.

Beyond that, 2e AD&D had a shit ton of monster books released for it- my personal favorites are the two for Dark Sun, they’ve got all kinds of crazy dangerous shit in them, which you could easily alter a bit and use.

1d4 wound and critical hit table

2010-09-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

Part 2 0f 2; part one here.
For medium and small creatures:
For use when:
1] A hit is scored with a missile weapon***a firearm or an energy weapon*.
2] A critical hit (natural 20) is scored with a muscle powered melee**weapon.
3] when a character with 0 hit points is hit with any weapon.

Roll 1d4

1. Minor Wound: 1d4 days to heal [-1 to all die rolls and - 1d4-1 to movement rate during the recovery period].

2. Major Wound: 2d8+2 days to heal [-3 to all die rolls and -1d6+1 to movement rate during recovery period].

3. Grievous Wound: d30 +10 days to heal. [-6 to all die rolls and movement reduced to 1 during recovery period]. Note: A character with a grievous wound must be stabilized within 10 rounds or make a successful saving throw otherwise the wound becomes a mortal wound, and all related conditions apply.

4. Mortal wound: Save or die. A successful save reduces the damage to a Grievous Wound with doubled recovery time. A failed save results in death in 1d6-1 rounds. AT THE REFEREE'S DISCRETION dead character may be healed by miraculous means (super science or magic) for 1d100 rounds after death.

Cowering: when fired upon with missile weapons***, an unsurprised character may hide beneath a large shield and will, in the case of a normal hit, only take normal hit point damage (e.g. 1d6 from an arrow). Critical hits are considered to have pierced the shield and result in a roll on the wound table. Whilst cowering, a character may move 1/4 the Normal rate.

Optional rule: Characters with Major or Grievous Wounds who engage in strenuous activity (e.g. combat) prior to the end of the recovery period must make a saving throw. A failed save resets the recovery period back to the beginning, and in the case of a grievous wound the character immediately becomes unconscious.

Notes:
This is simple table; the lack of descriptive text is intentional. Description and nuanced effects should be determined by the Metal Master and/or the players. For example, if a hit inflicts a mortal wound on a character and the character successfully saves vs death and has the severity of the wound reduced to grievous, the referee may rule that a limb or an eye has been lost, a terrible scar inflicted, or that a complete recovery is eventually made. This should be situational and be determined on a case by case basis- often by fiat.

* E.G. guns, blasters, and plasma blades.
**E.G. a sword
*** E.G. spears, slings and bows

NSFW?: The Scorn, Part 2

2010-08-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Note: the pic above is just so that nobody gets boobs on their blogroll by accident. See below for the source drawing in its entirety.

Scorn Drone:

AC: 9 [10]

Special: Can only attack every other round

HD: 4

Move: 6

Attacks: Fist (2d6)

HDE: 2/

Drones are the work force of the Scorn people. They are slow witted, slow moving sexless creatures usually organized in groups of 10 led by a technician or a leader. Drones are immensly strong and can lift at least a ton unaided. Dependant on the type of work they do drones range in height from 3' to 12' tall; they have dull gray hides and usually wear no clothes, except for the occasional tool belt. Drones will enter combat if urged to do so by a Leader, Technician, or Imperial, but left to their own devices they will allow themselves to be slaughtered without fighting back.

Scorn Warriors:

AC: 7 [12]

Special: Natural Camouflage -2 to hit during the first round of combat

HD: 5

Move: 12

Attacks: + 2 combo gun: energy blast (3d6) or pain bolt (save or paralyzed for 1d6 rounds). Tooth and nail (2d6).

HDE: 6/400

Scorn warriors are smarter and more savage versions of the Drones. They are organized into squads of 5 each led by a Sargent who is slightly more intelligent than the others. Scorn warriors are fearless and will fight to the last unless ordered not to do so by a Leader or a Technician. Scorn will usually shoot to kill, but situations sometimes arise which compel them tho take prisoners. In these cases, they will use the pain bolt. Warriors have no sex organs, and no sense of modesty- although, sometimes senior warriors will tie a bit of cloth around one arm, or apply war paint. Warriors have thick leathery skin and natural camouflage.

Scorn Technicians:

AC: 5 [14] (Shipsuit, silver)

Special: 2cnd level MU

HD:7

Move: 15

Attacks: + 2 Blaster (3d6) (15 charges), Energy sword (3d6)

HDE: 9/1100

Unlike drones and warriors , Technicians have a biological sex and reproductive capability. Technicians keep the complex technology of the Scorn settlements functioning; they are also responsible for supervising drones, and occasionally, groups of warriors. Every technician is (effectively) a 2cnd level magic user. All are equipped with the power up spell and another first level spell of the referee's choice. Despite their name, Technicians are able and formidable combatants. Unlike drones and warriors, technicians have a sense of modesty and tend to wear clothing when outside of the domiciles. Standard attire is a silver shipsuit- a skin tight garment, which is actually a form of high tech armor. The armor works by activating a localized micro force field at the point of impact/contact of any weapon or blow. The reaction system is controlled by a highly efficient logic circuit woven into the fabric of the shipsuit which can effectively react at light speed. The listed armor class is valid against any sort of weapon including firearms and energy weapons.

Scorn Leaders:

AC: 3 [16] (Shipsuit, black)

Special: 4th level MU

HD:7

Move: 15

Attacks: + 2 Blaster (3d6) (15 charges), Energy sword (3d6)

HDE: 12/2000

Scorn leaders run the day to day affairs of Scorn society. Like Technicians, leaders are also sexed and capable of reproduction. Leaders use a slightly better version of the shipsuit, which is black and somewhat more loose fitting. Leaders have a complex inner hierarchy which informs their every interaction with one another and with the other castes. This hierarchy is sometimes (intentionally) subverted by the Imperials. Leaders are formidable combatants, without fear, but will not throw their lives away for a lost cause.

Imperials:

AC: 1 [18] (Super skin)

Special: 5th level MU

HD:14

Move: 15

Attacks: + 4 blaze pole (5d6/ 3 attacks/round)

HDE: 15/2900

Imperials are the executives of each Scorn settlement. Although they defer to the Collective, imperials have absolute rule at the local level. At any given time there is one Female and one male Imperial for each settlement. However, Imperials are usually content to leave the day to day management of local affairs in the hands of Leaders and Technicians, preferring to fill their time with hedonistic pursuits. Imperials are hyper sexed, with exaggerated primary and secondary sexual traits. They rarely wear any clothing, and although they can reproduce, they are not, as is the case with Leaders and Technicians, compelled to do so. Imperials will occasionally go mad with lust for a member of the opposite sex- they especially prone to do this in regards to Humans who show a high degree of competence. A lust crazed imperial is liable to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of this desire.

Imperials are extremely potent on the battlefield (and in the bedroom) and will only withdraw if they are seriously over matched and losing- and even then they virtually never forgive or forget.

Here's the pic, and yeah I made some mistakes with perspective.
Edit: this looks a lot racier on my drawing board but I'll leave the NSFW tag up just in case.

Click the image for a bigger version

The Way of the Gun. Ranged weapons: Missiles, bullets and blasts part 1 0f 2

2010-08-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and trying to figure out how to keep it simple. This is what I've come up with and more or less how we've been playing.

Note- this system is designed to work with the alternate hit point rules. One of the assumptions of those rules is that hit points represent fortitude, stamina, luck and skill- not physical integrity.

A hit with a melee weapon does not cause actual physical damage (except for flesh wounds and minor bruises), but rather erodes those qualities mentioned above. When hit points reach 0 or when a critical hit is scored, it is then that actual physical damage occurs.

Ranged weapons are different. It's easier to kill people with them. You can do it from a long way off. You can do it with a single shot which they have no real chance to parry or dodge. This is perhaps an over simplification, but this game is all about over simplification.

Therefore, a hit with a ranged weapon is an automatic roll on the proper wound table for medium sized and smaller creatures.

Missile weapons (Bow, Crossbow, Spear, Sling, whatever).
Act as normal in regards to AC.

Against a Firearms and Energy Weapons everyone has a 9* [Ascending AC 10] armor class at close range. Long range results in a negative modifier of 2.

Rate of fire varies from weapon to weapon. Most firearms have a rate of fire of 2. Some energy weapons have higher or lower rates, depending on their nature. A hit with a firearm or a energy weapon results in a roll on the proper wound table (post forthcoming).

Modifiers:

Negative:
-2,-4, 20, and no.
Any complication, such as a moving target, or partial cover or whatever results in -2 modifier an additional complication results in a further -2. If there are three complications, (e.g. the target is crouched down running behind a low wall in the fog) the target can only be hit with natural 20. Certain circumstances will result in a situation where the target can not be hit, such as full cover.

Positive:
Certain devices or special weapons may come with magical or technological enhancements (e.g. scopes or blessings) which grant them a bonus. This bonus varies from weapon to weapon. For reasons I will go explore in a later post their are no magically enhanced firearms on the Metal Earth.

Next: Wound Tables.

The Scorn: Part I

2010-08-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

The Scorn:

The Scorn are humanoid aliens with several settlements on The metal Earth in the vicinity of the Burning Peaks. How long they have been on Earth is unknown as are their ultimate aims.
The Scorn are masters of Technology. They posses a full gamut of high tech items including a fleet of space worthy flying saucers.

Although they are apparently mammals the Scorn have distinct physical types associated with the types of work they do, not unlike insect castes. The Scorn come in four basic types or castes: Leader, Technician, Warrior and Drone. Of these types only the Leader and the Technician castes have sexual differentiation. Individuals of the Drone and Warrior castes are sexless brutes. Their is a fifth type of Scorn, the Imperial, of which only two adult individuals exist for each major settlement at one time.

Scorn children, known as waifs, and borne only by females of the Leader and Technical castes, effectively comprise another caste. Raised in creches by Drones, waifs nearly always grow into adult Drones, unless, however, some catastrophe has thinned the ranks of the upper casts; in which case, they will grow in such a way as to fill the gaps. In the normal course of things, birthrates are low, and Drones will actually change to fill any gaps in the Warrior class, Warriors will mutate to fill gaps in the Technician castes, and Technicians will transform into leaders. It is the task of the Imperials to decide which individuals are worthy for the transformation; these decisions are as a rule, based upon merit, but favoritism can play a role. If one of the Imperial pair dies, the surviving Imperial chooses their new mate. If both Imperials perish, their replacements are determined by a series of trials involving all members of the Leader caste.
However, death is not the end for members of the Imperial caste. If it is possible their brains are preserved in a huge tank with all those that have come before them. This tank acts as sort of living computer, known as The Collective. The collective rules over all the various Scorn settlements on a given world. It also what the Scorn consider the afterlife and the highest reward one can earn.

New Cover art

2010-08-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I tried to do something here that would capture the feel of the setting and highlight the next round of posts about The Burning Peaks region. The fellow riding the boar borrowed most of his wardrobe from John Carter and Den of Earth, but he got the boots from Conan.

Looking for artifacts in a cave

2010-06-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd hoped to get up more content before having to post this, but I lost a notebook and then kind of hit a post semester wall of sloth, and now its too late... for a while, anyway. I am an Archaeologists* (3rd year grad student) in real life and the field season is upon me.
I leave Sunday for six weeks in Northern Spain and my internet access will be, at best, sporadic, so it's not likely that I'll have much chance to post.
Anyway, I wanted to assure everyone that the long absence is a matter of necessity and not the result of a loss of interest on my part. Posting will resume in August, although this is a comps** year so I'll likely continue to post sporadically for the foreseeable future.
So for the next little while I'll be looking for artifacts in a cave, as opposed to pretending to look for artifacts in a cave.
Have a good summer, badasses.

*My particular area of interest is the Middle/Upper Paleolithic
**big exam that determines if I can go on past my MS and work towards a PhD

Critters 1

2010-05-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Screamers

AC: 0 [19]

Special: see below

HD:7

Move: 15

Attacks: claw

HDE: 11/1,700

Diseased looking, red-eyed, skeletally gaunt humanoids of giant stature, Screamers gain their name from their most fearsome attack. Once per day a screamer may release special howl which hypnotizes all within a 60’ radius. Save or paralyzed for 2d6 rounds. Screamers prefer to eat their prey while it is still alive, paralyzed and helpless. Hungry, these monstrosities roam the wastelands, continually on the lookout for fresh meat. Screamers can run fast and have the stamina to cover very long distances and they never give up. Often they hunt in packs. Due to their thick hides screamers cannot be harmed by normal melee weapons.

Zetoan

AC:4 [15]

Special: prettifying gaze

HD: 6

Move: 12 (float)

Attacks: Bite

HDE: 8/800

Extra dimensional beings that look like giant tentacled eyeballs. Anyone who meets the gaze of a Zetoan is turned to glass. Zetoans sometime construct elaborate labyrinthine gardens full of glass figures. Zetoans are irrational beings with alien motives. They communicate with telepathy.

Cave Maggots

AC: 4 [15]

Special: none

HD 1+1

Move: 12

Attacks: bite

HDE: 1/15

Meter long carnivorous iridescent worms. Cave maggots often lure prey close by clustering into a “doorway” shape along the walls of dark caves. This produces the illusion of a lit entrance way, curious animals wander close. Will glow for up to 1d6 after death and can be used as a light source. Given time they can borrow throw solid rock and subsequently are often a problem in greenshafts.

Sparkling ooze

AC: 6 [13]

Special: acidic

HD: 10

Move: 6

Attacks:1d3 pseudopod

HDE: 11/1700

Sparkling ooze was originally designed to be a self directed cleaning agent by its forgotten creators. Often found in ruined cities, this semi intelligent translucent slime is the ultimate solvent, dissolving conventional materials on contact. Conventional weapons and armor will dissolve with one successful hit. Sparkling ooze will fission if hit by energy weapons. Some sparkling oozes emit a soothing gentle noise like wind chimes or elevator music.

Slaard

AC:5 [14]

Special: Burrowing

HD: 4

Move: 12/10 (borrowing)

Attacks: Bite

HDE: 5/ 240

The green blooded, red scaled Slaard is neither arthropod nor reptile, but possess characteristics of both. While they dig, Slaard continually emit an ultrasonic pulse which destabilizes the solid rock before them and makes it possible for them to burrow at incredible rates. Slaard live and hunt in rocky badlands, often tracking their prey from beneath the surface.

Ape, Crypt

AC: 4 [15]

Special: Crushing embrace/ breath weapon

HD: 6

Move: 12

Attacks: Strike

HDE: 7/600

Voracious scavengers, Crypt Apes live under ground in the forgotten necropolises which honeycomb the subterranean space of the ancient earth. Despite their predilection for dead flesh, crypt apes will not turn away from a a chance at fresh meat. Instead of striking with its powerful fist, the crypt ape can grab hold of an enemy for 2d6 damage. ST -2 for escape. The crypt ape can also breath on anyone it catches hold of. If the victim fails their saving through (-2) they spend the next 1d4 rounds incapacitated, vomiting. This only works once per attack, per victim. A favorite tactic of crypt apes is to lay in wait for unwary grave robbers inside of empty sarcophagi.

Centauripedes

AC:3 [16]

Special: none

HD: 4

Move: 18

Attacks: Weapon

HDE: 5/240

Half distorted manthing, half centipede, Centauripedes live in savage tribes hostile to outsiders.

Trilon

AC: 9 [10]

Special: radiation

HD: 2

Move: 13

Attacks: bite

HDE: 2/ 30

Trilon, large

AC: 5 [14]

Special: radiation

HD: 2

Move: 15

Attacks: Bite

HDE: 4/240

Larger Trilon, weaker radiation; +6 to victim’s saving throw.

Trilon, Giant

AC: 0 [19]

Special: radiation breath

HD: 5

Move: 18

Attacks: Bite

HDE: 7/500

Huge (20’ long), fast moving engines of destruction. Giant trilon can project a stream their own irradiated blood in cone for 15’ (five foot wide at the base). Anyone inside of the come must make a save (with a +4 modifier for the victim). Those that fail the save take 3d6 damage and contract radiation sickness (see Trilon, small); those that make the ST take 3d6 in damage. Giant Trilon are sometimes used as mounts by the soldiers of Ssaur, but only the shae beast masters know the secret of their gentling.

Devilgoat

AC: 2 [17]

Special: breathes fire, ram

HD:9

Move: 20/ 22 (when jumping)

Attacks: Bite, stamp

HDE:11/ 1700

Huge, intelligent and evil predators. Devilgoats hate everyone and every thing. They live to kill and destroy. In addition to their bite and stamp (1d6 each), Devilgoats can breathe fire 3 times a day in a 45 foot cone, 15 feeet wide at its base. Anyone caught in cone takes 3d8 damage, (1/2 damage with a successful ST). Devilgoats can jump 100 feet horizontally and 30 feet vertically.

Iron serpent

AC: 0 [19]

Special: Bite turns victim into iron.

HD: 5

Move: 10

Attacks: bite, crush

HDE 7/ 500

Snake made of living metal. Any one bitten takes 1d6 damage and must make a ST or they will turn into iron.

THE OUTSIDER

2010-05-18T22:58:00.000-07:00

An Outsider might be a Lizard Man from the Jungle of Nool; a human warrior sent out from the Enclave on some unknown mission, or a time-lost warrior robot from the future with a sinister agenda. The possibilities are endless.

Examples: Tarzan, Conan, Taarna, Den, John Carter, Nausicä, Kamandi, Mad Max, Severian, The Terminator and Flash Gordon.

Members of the Outsider class are powerful warriors from beyond the known world. They travel for a reason. Sometimes they are looking for a place, maybe their lost homeland; other times they travel for the opportunity it provides to help the people they meet on the way; an Outsider might seek vengeance, a way home, an escape from shame, penance, the secrets of time and space, treasure or any number of other things. The character's point of origin and purpose should be mainly up to the player, although input from the referee should not be completely ignored.

Class abilities:

Select one of the following at 1st Level:

Animal Companion (1d6)

1. Mount

2. Flying Mount

3. Small animal (e.g. monkey, lizard, bird)

4. Medium predator

5. Large Predator (6hd)

6. Two large predators (6hd each)

Tech Savvy: +2 to all technology related ST.

Alert: Never surprised

Wilderness Survival: +2 survival ST

+10 hit points

Combat Bonus: +1 to hit with weapon of choice.

Select one of the following at 4^th level:

Stealthy: +1/3 levels to stealth related saves

Turn undead (as cleric)

Combat bonus B: +1 against preferred enemy.

Combat machine as in S/W core book.

May also select from table 1.

At 7^th level select again from the 1^st level list

At level 12 select one from the 4^th level list.

Starting hit points= Constitution + 1d6 +3/ level (Using the alternate system).

Money and Equipment:

Outsider characters begin at first level with no money and must roll on the table below:

Starting Equipment (1d8)

1-4. Nothing: character begins the game naked in the wilderness.

5. 1d3 Simple weapons; clothes and camp gear (10 Zorm value).

6. 1d3 simple weapons, leather armor, camp gear.

7. Energy weapon; clothes and gear.

8. Energy weapon; technological armor

Combat progression is as a fighter.

The Whitebox, Savage Swords of Athanor and Equisite Corpse

2010-05-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Some short and honest reviews:

The S&W White Box: The art is nice. The cover image is easily my least favorite of the new images, but still it's pretty neat. I liked the Mullen cover. The lower box is flimsy. I wish the box was about an inch or so thicker, so I could put some of my other digest sized booklets inside of it. The trim job on the covers is less than perfect. All my books have overlap; one of them (Book III Monsters) is kind of sloppy. It took too long to get here. The Old School Primer shouldn't be in the set. The included adventure looks pretty cool, if a bit short. I won't use it anyway. The layout is very good. I like the digest sized books. Over all, I'm glad I bought it, but I have some reservations.

Savage Swords of Athanor is an imaginative planetary romance setting for Swords & Wizardry. The book has lots and lots of typos and a few confusing and awkward sentences. Aside from two maps, there is no interior art. In every other way, though, it is excellent. I am especially fond of the mutation tables and the magical mishap tables. The monster section is nice too, providing, among other things, a groovy selection of strange vat creatures and dinosaurs. The player character races are original, weird and cool. There's also a neat little system for character skills. The author's blog can give a you a more in depth idea of what the setting is all about. If you aren't overly bothered by typos or spider people with German surnames I recommend this without reservation.

Exquisite Corpses is a funky little spiral bound book. The bulk of the book is made up of full frontal body shots of monsters divided in three sections (head, torso, legs) by dotted lines. Cutting the drawings at the dotted lines allows one to mix and match the body parts of different creatures. There are guidelines explaining how to stat up the creatures. The book also includes some sample creatures and a bunch of nifty random tables for making your monster special. I like this book. It is great idea well executed. I'm told it's fun to look at while one is chemically enhanced. Furthermore, there are naked tits. Recommended.

Notes:
1. More actual content next week. Two words: Metal Space.
2. I will not engage in any discussions regarding the Old School Primer here. I wont delete your comments, but I've said what I have to say elsewhere (mostly at The RPG Haven).
3. I'm not sure I'll ever review anything ever again.

End of semester Hiatus

2010-04-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Too much to do. Back in a few weeks.

Food and Water Part 1 of ?

2010-04-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

Greenshafts, an introduction.

One of the primary reasons that people tend to stick close to the cities is the easy availability of edible foodstuffs. Consumables found in even (if not especially) the most fecund parts of the wilderness are often unsafe to eat (for an in

depth look at how unsafe, see Part II).

Agriculture is predominantly practiced underground in natural or fabricated subterranean complexes known as greenshafts, which are usually located within cities or in close proximity to the same. Because of the frequency of curse squalls in most areas, this is a necessary and beneficial practice. However, it is unknown which came first curse squalls or greenshafts.

To put things in perspective, outdoor agriculture is unknown in most places, and you might have trouble convincing people that anyone has ever engaged in it. At best it is viewed by civilized people as something that was left behind long ago.

Within the greenshaft, agricultural production is accomplished through a variety of technologies, the power for which is usually drawn from the earth itself in the form of geothermal heat.

Areas of the greenshaft hold corral pools for hron, a species of domesticated aquatic mammal. Hron are valued for their milk (and the cheese that is made from it) and meat. Furthermore, hron hide can be used to fashion both warm and water resistant clothing. Hron meat is mostly a luxury of the elites. Additional meat is grown in vats.

Tower of The Changer 1pg Dungeon

2010-04-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Get it Here

Okay, the idea here was to create a training ground to teach a group how to think about dungeon exploration without killing them outright. The levels I'm working on now will be considerably more lethal and should be done sometime around 2015 at the rate I'm going.

Edit: there were two small mistakes in the original version. I fixed them and re-uploaded. Sorry.

Edit #2: 04/07 Once again, I've uploaded a new version. this time with a better lay out and some links and shit.