Weird Adventures: buy it now.

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

The map is on the left

3. Ante Chamber:

Illumination: Pale green crystal, gently pulsing on the ceiling.

Smell: Dust and Mildew

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

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

Beyond the first portcullis lies a reception area. The walls are painted in a flaking pastel yellow. The decayed remains of a wardrobe lie in a heap against the south wall; broken fragments of what may once have been a table and chair are strewn across the northwest corner. A search through the wreckage of the wardrobe will yield 200 GP contained within a purse of rotten leather.  The remains of the desk conceal a gold pen and a matching inkbottle cut from onyx; the workmanship on these items is exquisite and if sold as a set they may yield up to 100 GP.  What appears to be a broken gearbox of some sort is situated on the west wall, north of the exit. Presumably its function related to the portcullises. It is rusted, smashed and in no way reparable.

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

Two rounds after the portcullis set in the west wall is raised the skeletal hands on the floor will become suffused in a sickly green glow, 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 critical hit)

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 to be certain) the trap will reset itself in 6 hours.

The Revolution Will not be 100% Compatable

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

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!

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)

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.

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

1. Loud heavy noise like the slamming of a door
2. A woman’s maniacal laughter
3. Screaming, goes on for 1d4 minutes
4. Rattling chains
5. Many drunken voices singing a tavern song. This noise waivers in and out
6. The clang of steal against steal
7. Monkeys or apes screeching
8. 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.

1A

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.